The Sons of Liberty

Prologue

                                            {Boston, 1768}

        Samuel Adams sat at the bar staring into his drink. He was behind on collecting his payments and he knew it. How could he bring himself to take from people who had no money to give? Who were saving their payments for bread for their families? Forcing Bostonians to pay outlandish, unrepresented taxes was nasty stinking business and he hated it. He took a swallow of his beer and heaved a sigh. He knew that he had accumulated a rather large debt himself. Every unpaid debt became his own, but what did that matter? The whole damned town would become a debtors prison or a scorching inferno if the Crown kept this game up. He took another swallow. Damned Parliament. There was no colonial representative in that room and it was certainly no secret. No one spoke for the colonies. Yes, they were not even citizens as far as the crown was concerned. It left a sort of bitter taste in his mouth, rotten and cheap. The beer did not even seem to taste good anymore. Upset this his sour mood had spoiled his beer, Sam leaned back in his chair and cracked his neck. It had been a long enough day without all of the unpleasantness. There was a welcoming commotion towards the entrance and he lifted his eyes to the door. Standing in the dim candlelight, looking for him, was Joseph Warren. He sighed and sunk down into his chair. The last thing he needed was Joe giving him a scolding like a dejected schoolboy got from his teacher. He shut his eyes and hoped Joe would just leave him alone. That was not to be the case. As soon as Joe caught sight of him, he strode across the room and slid into the chair across from him, "What in the hell do you think you're doing, Sam?"

        Samuel shrugged and gestured to his beer, leaving Joe to roll his eyes with a shake of his head. "Joe, I am certainly not in the mood for this. If you wish to scold me, wait until I'm drunk, will you? Give me the benefit of that at least." He took a drink and mused, "Don't go off and be like John!"

        "Well, maybe your cousin has something right. He should get on your ass about this!" Joe hissed. Sam glared up at him and finished off the beer, tossing up his hand as a signal for another. Joe sighed and passed a hand over his mouth, giving his hands a resigned toss after Sam began on his fifth mug of the night. Joe always tried to act like the slightly less peeving voice of reason for Sam, but sometimes the fool just would not listen. If he had his mind made up, there was not a damned thing anyone could do about it; not Joe, not John Adams, no one but Sam could change Sam's mind, and this was one of those cases. He politely declined a mug and rested his arms on the table, squarely looking Sam dead in the eyes, "The warden has a warrant out for you because of your debts. If I were you, I'd find a place to hunker down for a bit until this blows over."

        Sam grinned over his mug and replaced it on the table. Joe could say what he wanted about being a decent rule follower, but he always had Sam's back and he couldn't count how many times Joe's quick thinking had gotten him out of all sorts of thorny situations. Warrants were no exception, "Who would actually turn me in, Joe?"

        Joe raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, "I can think of quite a few people and the warden's cronies are just a few of them."

        "I'll stay with John."

        "Didn't he kick you out the last time you were over because you flirted with Abbie?"

        "He's probably forgotten all about that by now!" Or not. John had specifically stated for Sam not  to come back if he ever had any more legal problems because he would not subject Abigail to any of the stress of having lawmen come to their house on top of keeping the children calm. Joe had a point. He couldn't rely on John for everything. His current situation was of his own making. Too prideful to respond any further, he resumed staring down into his mug for a while before he sighed and looked back up at Joe, who seemed to be waiting for what he was about to say. "God, Joe, I understand why I was given this job, but nothing sits more ill with me than this! This is not what I want!"

        Joe was quite for a while while he watched Sam stare back down into his mug in a state of inner confusion and disdain. He crossed his legs and looked over his shoulder to check the door before turning back around and murmuring, "Then why in the hell are you still doing this, Sam?" Sam looked up to find a very serious Doctor Warren staring back. "Why put yourself through the warrants and the running? Quit if you detest the duty."

        "I want to send a message-"

        "Then send it in a better way!" Joe hissed, leaning across the table towards Sam. "Quit your job, make your statement with your refusal of a job you deem unjust, and work from there. Sitting about and not collecting taxes is not saying a damned thing other than that you are lazy."

        Joe was right, as usual. He needed to make a statement and it needed to be loud. Everything he did was loud, yes, but this needed to be big. He wanted them to know that he meant business. But how would he do it? He sat quietly, gazing past Joe at the wall behind him, raising his hand to his chin and humming a sea shanty quietly. Joe furrowed his brow as Sam grew quieter and more pensive. That was never a good sign. A quiet Adams meant that the wheels were turning and a plan was about to be born. If it was John, Joe knew he wouldn't have to worry, but with Sam... That was a different story entirely. When Sam started to think, ideas that were not exactly Parliament friendly formed, and those never ended quite well for anyone. Finally, his hand froze on his chin and a grin slowly began to come over his face, "Aah..."

        "Oh, sweet Jesus..." Joe groaned as Sam leaped up from the table with a broad grin on his face. "What are you planning to do? Everytime you smile like that you are planning something repulsively stupid. Sam, Sam whatever you are planning to do, you better think this over!"

        But Sam was already half way to the door as Joe turned around and called after him, "Too late, Joe! I already have! This one is going to be great! I might need you later for a couple rounds of bandages!"

        As the door slammed shut, Joe brought his hand to his forehead and groaned again before turning back to the table and resting his head on his arms. He was off again. He'd show up at his house later, bruised and grinning from ear to ear like the fool he was, and Joe would patch him up and send him on his way just like he always did. He lifted his eyes towards the half drunk pint of beer and pulled it over. He exhaled in resignation and finished it off in one swallow. It was going to be a long night. He left coins on the table to cover Sam's tab and moved to leave. he had best get home to get ready for Sam whenever he got back from making himself a nuisance to whatever seat of authority he wanted to prove his point to this time. It was going to be a long, long night.