Here comes a new chapter, hope you like it!

Two scenes were taken from the series here.

Next update on Monday.

Please, all remarks and critics and points of view are welcome, so tell me what you think about this chapter, and about this story in general.

Hidings And Discoveries

Paul and Sam let the mattress fall down to the ground. A huge spider ran away across the dusty floor, and went hiding under the door of a cupboard. Through the dirty round window, a shy golden light was enlightening the room. Despite the opening, it was dark, because of the narrow window and the dirty glass that was capturing most of the light.

"It's not much," Revere said in a sheepish tone, looking around at the almost-empty room. "But no one is going to come looking for you here. Everyone around here is with us. You won't have to fear Red Coats as long as you're remaining in this house."

"It's perfect, Mr. Revere," Sarah reassured him with a warm smile. "Thank you very much for allowing us to hide here, in your workshop."

"Technically, we're above his workshop," James replied, struggling to climb up the stairs, carrying some clean clothes.

He threw the pile of clothing onto the nearest mattress.

"I hate stairs," he moaned.

Michael merely laughed at him.

"It's very kind of you to help us in our hiding," Michael thanked Revere as well.

"You shouldn't go out of here too often though," Sam advised. "Gage's men will not stop looking for you before you're behind bars."

The three scientists nodded silently.

"I have to say that not for a second did I imagine myself hiding in Mr. Revere's workshop when I decided to get on this ship and come back here," Ben Franklin admitted with a sigh.

He sat on a dirty chair, sweeping away the sweat on his forehead. It was even hotter in Revere's workshop than outside, and all of them felt like they were ice melting under the sun.

"What are you going to do now?" Sarah asked Sam.

The man merely shrugged.

"I don't know for now. I reckon we'd better remain discreet for a while."

"You'll probably have to hide as well, sooner or later," James told him. "You defended us this morning, you're clearly a target for Gage now."

Sam gave James one of his crooked smiles.

"I don't reckon he liked me before I defended you anyway. Thank God..."

They all smiled to him.

"You should be careful," Sarah told him.

He nodded, before taking a chair as well, and sending his hat flying across the room, and onto a mattress.

"What are you going to do now?" he asked the three scientists.

Warren came in, closely followed by Kelly, carrying more wooden chairs. Soon, everyone was sitting down around an old wooden table.

"We said we would help, and we will," Michael assured them.

"How?" Sam asked him.

Michael shrugged, looking at Sarah.

"What would you need?" she asked Sam.

"Weapons," Warren, Revere, Sam and Kelly answered simultaneously.

James winced, but Michael patted reassuringly his shoulder. He knew his friend didn't like weapons, and violence, but they didn't really have a choice. A war was coming, and Michael was sure that Yuri would not hesitate for a second to help Gage building weapons. If they wanted to have a chance, they needed to build some weapons for the Colonists as well.

"Right," Sarah nodded, thinking hard. "The good news is, as we've destroyed the battery, Yuri and the others won't be able to use any of our equipment. Which means that they don't have any advantage on us."

"But I thought the Box needed energy as well to work?" Franklin asked.

"Yes, it does, but the source is independent from the battery we destroyed," Michael answered. "And they can't take it away from the Box, don't worry."

"Why not?" Revere asked.

"Can't they find a way to use the energy of the Box?" Warren asked, clearly worried by the whole thing.

"The Box will automatically be destroyed if anyone tries to access the internal battery by force," Sarah answered. "And to open it the right way, you need to compose a code of six numbers, that only Michael knows."

"They can't use it," Michael nodded.

"I really do hope we never face this situation, but..." Franklin asked slowly. "What happens if Michael dies?"

"We're all stuck here," Michael nodded. "Unless I have the time to give the code to someone else."

"How did the German come to accept this?" Sam asked, frowning slightly. "He seems to be the kind of guy who likes to control everything and everyone around him."

The three scientists exchanged an amused smile.

"He doesn't know, actually," Sarah answered.

The Colonists all propped up a eyebrow.

"How can he not know?" Warren asked, aghast.

"I'm the engineer," answered Michael. "I'm the one in charge of repairing, improving or simply controlling all our equipment. Yuri never checked the Box battery. And as we didn't tell anyone, he doesn't know about it."

"You really did trust your colleagues from the beginning of this mission, didn't you?" Franklin smiled, amused.

"You can't imagine how much," Sarah replied in a wry tone.

"So... your colleagues can't use anything you brought from the future," Warren nodded. "We're all equally equipped here."

"Except Gage has an army, and we have two dozens of riffles and one barrel of powder," replied Revere.

"That's not what I meant," replied Warren, rolling his eyes.

"So..." Sarah said slowly, thinking hard. "We have to find out ways to build weapons with just what we have here. With very little equipment, and basic compounds..."

"We have an engineer," Michael said, pointing at himself, before turning his attention towards James and Sarah," and we have a chemist and a physicist. Or well, a physicist who is also able to work on chemistry," he added, winking at Sarah.

She smiled in response.

"Surely we can find something!" Michael added.

"What then?" Revere asked him.

"Hey, don't ask me," Michael protested, nodding to Sarah. "She's the brain here, it's not me!"

They laughed, before turning towards Sarah.

"We'll give you what you need to work," Sam told her.

She nodded slowly, still lost in thoughts, before turning towards James.

"Do you remember your basics in chemistry?" she asked.

"Well enough," he answered. "It depends on what you're going to ask."

"Would you be able to produce gunpowder?" she asked him.

James crossed his arms before his chest, lying back in his chair, thinking hard.

"I reckon it's a rather simple reaction," he said slowly, nodding his head. "Basically, it's a combustion of potassium nitrates, carbon and sulphur..."

"Can you make some?" asked Sam.

James nodded.

"I think so. We'll need saltpetre, coal, and sulphur. We'll need a bit of engineering too," he added, turning towards Michael. "We'll need to work with powders."

Michael nodded slowly.

"I should be able to do the trick," he answered confidently.

There was a rather long silence, before Sarah would take a quill, some ink and a piece of paper, to write down what James had required.

She froze, and remained motionless for a moment, her brow furrowed in reflection.

"We'll need soap as well," she said.

Everyone around the table frowned.

"Why would you need soap?" Franklin asked her.

"We'll need water, and sulphur..." she went on, ignoring Franklin's question. " And saltpetre as well again... And we'll need equipment to make a distillation..."

"Wait, wait, wait..." James stopped her. "You're not thinking about what I think you're thinking, right?"

She propped up an eyebrow.

"It depends on what you're thinking about..."

James's eyes grew wide.

"Bloody hell, you are!" he breathed. "Are you mad? You'll make us all blow up, that's all you'll manage to do!"

"You have so much faith in my capacities," she replied wryly, writing down the list of what they would need again.

"What are you talking about?" Kelly asked them. "What is it about soap?"

"Are you talking about nitro-glycerine?" Michael asked slowly, clearly fearing the answer.

"Yes, I am," Sarah answered.

Michael blinked.

"That's way too complicated for us..."

"No, it's not," Sarah reassured him, her voice perfectly confident.

"It hasn't been invented yet, and there's a reason for it," James replied.

"What is this nitro... thing?" Sam asked cautiously.

"Explosives," Sarah simply answered.

"Like gunpowder?" Warren asked her.

She shook her head.

"No, it's a liquid. And it's much more powerful than gunpowder."

"And it's extremely dangerous to make, and to transport..." James said.

"Everything is complicated about it..." Michael protested as well.

"But it's efficient," she replied.

James winced.

"I can't believe we're talking about making explosives..."

Michael smiled sadly at him.

"We don't have a choice, James."

"I know... Still, nitro-glycerine..."

"We could use it to destroy bridges, or roads..." Sarah reassured him.

"If we manage to produce some without blowing up!" James snapped.

Sarah rolled her eyes.

"We can still give it a try. I don't think the others will be able to produce some. It would give us an advantage"

"Or we could make the entire street explode," James replied.

"We're not going to make the street explode," Sarah assured him.

"It sounds powerful," Kelly pointed out.

"It is," Sarah nodded. "It's dangerous."

Sam nodded.

"We trust you," he said slowly. "Do it. Tell us what you need, and we'll get it for you."

She nodded.

"We'll need to work on it," she said, looking at James and Michael. "We'll tell you what we need, as soon as we'll have find out a way to produce it as safely as possible."

Sam nodded, taking a glimpse at the list.

James heaved a sigh, looking out by the window, though he couldn't see anything, as shadows had already fallen upon the world by then. Night had covered the town, and James merely stared blankly at the black veil that seemed to cover the dirty glass. He wondered what his colleagues were doing in Gage's house...

Yuri was surprised to see John Adams in the hall of the Governor's House. The gentleman politely nodded to him, though he clearly wasn't particularly pleased to see him. Yuri wondered if he was already working with his cousin... Probably not though, if he was in Gage's house. The scientist nodded politely as well, waiting for the General to arrive.

After a moment, Gage finally walked down the stairs, focusing at first his attention on Adams.

"Mr. Adams," he said in the polite and yet cold intonation that never left his voice. "Thank you for seeing me on short notice."

"Happy to be of service," Adams answered, shaking hands with the General, though he was clearly not-at-ease.

Gage turned towards the scientist.

"Thank you for coming, Dr. Einbrecher. I reckon you have come to talk to me about your work?"

"Yes, General."

"I will see you in a minute. You can come in, and wait with us of course. There is nothing secret in what Mr. Adams and I will discuss."

The three men entered Gage's office, each of them taking a seat around the massive wooden desk.

"I'm told you're a man of the People," Gage told Adams. "Public Defender?"

"Yes, I believe in the right to counsel, Sir," the lawyer answered. "I also have an interest in the Constitutional Law."

Gage gave him a poisoned-honey smile, looking down at his desk, and resting his fingertips upon several papers on the left of the wooden surface.

"Here on my desk is a copy of your licence to practice law. Harvard was it? You passed the bar with honour, that's impressive, even for a provincial college. Next to that... "

Gage paused briefly, moving slowly his fingers over another paper further on the right of the desk.

"... is the deed to your family farm in the country and beside that..."

His fingers moved slowly above his desk again, before resting on the papers on the right.

"... the deed to your home here, in Boston."

John Adams stared at the General for a while, his brow slightly furrowed.

"Are you threatening me in some way?" he asked Gage slowly.

Gage gave him a little smile.

"I want you to understand how easy it is for me to extinguish what you've built for yourself here."

John stared at him, completely lost.

"I..." he stuttered. "I don't see why you'd want to do that."

Gage stared intensely at the lawyer before him.

"Your cousin," he answered calmly, though his voice was colder than before. "Samuel Adams. He seems to possess a will for disregard for what you and I both know a civilized society rely upon most: Law and Order."

Adams shifted in his chair, before leaning a bit towards Gage. And as he was speaking again, his voice was getting angrier and angrier with his growing outrage.

"General Gage, tell me... Where does your sense of law and order factor into these forced evictions you and your troops have been inflecting upon this community?"

"Mr. Adams..." Gage tried to calm him down, though his tone sounded annoyed.

Indeed, the General didn't like very much the lawyer's tone. But John went on anyway, too angry to care.

"Or the man who was flogged in Townhouse Square without any semblance of due process?"

"Mr. Adams..."

"Is this how you treat loyal British citizens?"

"Not British, they are Colonists," Gage replied coldly, staring intensely at Adams. "And all of you will be treated however I see fit until you learn to submit to your King."

There was a deafening silence, during which the two men merely stared into each other's eyes. Gage leaned towards John, speaking in a firm and slow tone.

"Where I come from, bloodlines matter. Convince your cousin to come to his senses. You have a lot at stake."

Gage finally noticed Yuri's stare set upon him, whilst John Adams was remaining speechless.

"Does your work progress as scheduled, doctor?" the General asked the scientist.

Yuri struggled to swallow.

"I'm afraid we will not be able to use the battery of the Box as planned," he said slowly.

Gage's lips twitched with frustration.

"Why?" he merely asked.

"It would seem that Sarah and the others had planned everything meticulously. I don't know how they did it, nor when but... they have secured the battery, with a code. And I don't know the right combination."

"Can't you break the chest open?"

"I'm afraid that if we try to force it, the battery will be automatically destroyed. It's useless."

Gage nodded slowly.

"We can still help you in other ways," Yuri reassured the military man.

"I'm sure you will help me, doctor. I wouldn't see the point in protecting you anymore if you were useless, you see?"

Yuri nodded.

"I understand perfectly, sir."

"Good."

Gage stood up, signalling the two men that it was time for them to take their leave, and both Yuri and John stood up as well.

"I believe our business here is done. Good evening, gentlemen."

The two men left the room, exchanging a scared look. Both of them were swimming in dangerous waters indeed...

John Adams opened the door of Paul Revere's workshop. Above his head, he could hear the sound of voices talking. The man posted outside had let him in with a quick nod of the head, recognizing him easily. Judging by the surveillance on the house, and the sound of a woman's voice coming from above his head, John easily guessed that the scientists were hidden there. He heaved a sigh.

Sam appeared at the top of the stairs. He frowned slightly as he was recognizing his cousin, and he walked slowly down the stairs to join John.

"You have to get out of here, now," John told his cousin bluntly.

Sam grabbed his pistol, and sat down on the stairs, before starting to clean meticulously his firearm.

"Since when are you so concerned with my safety?" he asked.

John looked at him, his eyes shining with fear. When he spoke again, his voice was slightly shaking.

"Gage is coming for you," he merely warned Sam.

"I understand that."

Sam was calm, a determined glint was shining in his dark eyes. He stood up, and walked past his cousin, walking casually towards a table.

He didn't seem afraid. He seemed conscious of the risks though, he seemed to understand what all this meant, to understand how dangerous the situation was for him. But he just didn't seem to care. John stared at him for a moment.

How could he not care...?

"You'll be shot dead in the streets," John told him angrily. "A damn murder, is that what you want?"

Sam turned towards him, and stared right back at him in the eyes.

"I want Justice, John. Same as you."

He leaned against the table, still staring at his cousin. John shook slowly his head.

"You and your band of thugs, you have this," he said, pointing at the muskets aligned on a shelf next to them.

"You're forgetting the help of three scientists coming from the future," Sam pointed out, but his cousin merely ignored him.

" ...while Gage has the British Empire. An endless supply of weapons, trained soldiers, a navy... Doesn't that scare the hell out of you?"

"Yes," Sam answered earnestly.

There was a deafening silence, during which John and Sam merely stared at each other. Sam clenched his jaws, shaking slowly his head.

"But I can't just stand there, and do nothing," he told John through gritted teeth.

John swallowed loudly, before nodding slowly.

"We need a better plan," he said.

Sam narrowed his eyes, walking closer to him.

"I can help," John told him in a softer voice.

Sam nodded, a small smile curving up his lips.

"Alright then."

They exchanged a smile, and none of them noticed Sarah looking at them from the top of the stairs, a smile curving up her red lips as well.

Things were finally starting to take shape...

John Hancock was taking risks. All his life he had lived like this, taking risks as a merchant, but now he was taking risks with his own life as well, and he couldn't deny that it was quite new to him. If Gage learned where he was heading, he would be in trouble, big trouble. He silently walked through the dusty street, taking care at hiding his face as much as he could with his hat and the collar of his coat. It was just dawn, and yet it was already almost too hot for him to support the warmth of his long blue coat.

He stopped before Paul Revere's workshop, but a man blocked his way before he could reach the doorknob.

"What do you want to Mr. Revere?" the man asked, with a heavy Scottish accent.

"I'm John Hancock," the merchant replied in a low and slow tone. "And I need to talk to three of my friends who are in hiding here."

"No one is hiding here."

"My good man, I'm not stupid. I know they're here. So let me get inside."

The Scottish nodded, before opening the door. In the workshop, Revere, Sam, Warren, Franklin and the three scientists were talking around a table, eating their breakfast.

Sam frowned at the sight of the businessman, standing up quickly.

"What do you want?" Sam asked.

He turned towards the scientists quickly, clenching his jaws.

Hancock knew they were here now...

"I simply wanted to talk to the scientists."

Sam turned towards him again, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"And why would you want to talk to them?"

"I don't reckon it's any of your business, Mr. Adams."

Sam closed the space between them, their chests now almost touching, their faces merely inches apart, and he glowered at Hancock, his dark eyes burning with threat.

"You'd better leave them alone."

"Sam..."

The two men turned towards Sarah, who had stood up and was walking towards them.

"Leave him alone, please," she asked Sam in a soothing voice.

Sam heaved a sigh, before taking a step back. Hancock relaxed noticeably.

"What can we do for you, Mr. Hancock?" Sarah asked him kindly.

"I was merely coming here to make sure you were all fine, and that you had everything you needed," he answered in a soft tone as well.

Sarah smiled.

"We're fine, thank you. We should be safe enough here for a while."

"Gage is looking for you..."

"We know. It's okay."

Hancock nodded slowly, before taking some money out of his pocket.

"Take it," he said, handing her the leathery bag that was chiming with the sound of coins. "In case you need anything."

"Mr. Hancock..." Sarah tried to protest.

"Just... take it," Hancock shushed her.

Sarah took the money, smiling.

"Thank you," she merely said.

"If you need anything, you know where I live."

Her smile widened.

"We'll see each other again soon enough, Mr. Hancock," she answered, her voice cloaked in mystery.

But Hancock didn't ask for more details. He guessed he would understand her words sooner or later.

"Take care of yourselves," he told the three friends, who all thanked him in unison.

He started towards the door, closely followed by Sam, who's jaws were still tightly clenched. Before Hancock could walk away in the street, Sam grabbed his arm, and pressed him against the wall outside Revere's workshop.

"If you're talking to anyone about where they are," Sam warned him through gritted teeth, his voice shaking with threat. "If I learn that you've talked to Gage about anything concerning them, I'll break your neck. Am I clear?"

Despite how scared he was before the wrath that had ignited Sam's dark eyes, Hancock held his stare, resisting his urge to flinch.

"Mr. Adams, they are my friends as well. Now, I may not be as reckless as you, I'm not the kind of man who would betray his friends. I just wanted to help."

Sam let go slowly of him, his expression still menacing.

"Don't come back here."

Hancock walked away, straightening his coat.

Somehow, he had a bad feeling, a feeling that something terrible was coming for him...

He didn't notice the Red Coat who was watching him walk through the street from afar.

"There's no way I can do that."

"I thought you were the engineer."

"Doesn't mean my name is MacGyver."

"I can't work without distillation. And by distillation, I mean a more precise technique than the one used to produce liquor."

"I understood that, Sarah. And what I'm telling you is that I have no idea how to do what you want."

Sarah and Michael stared at each other, while the door opened on Sam and John Adams. John shook hands with Revere, Franklin, Warren and the three scientists, before sitting around the wooden table, just like the others.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, putting down the bag full of apples he had just bought, and sitting down as well.

"Sarah and Michael are bickering, as usual," James merely answered, picking up an apple, and biting fiercely into the fruit.

"I do beg your pardon?" Sarah protested, propping up an eyebrow. "You and Michael act like an old-married couple!"

Franklin turned to Sam, unable to hide his amusement.

"Apparently, they are facing a few technological problems," Franklin told Sam.

"What kind?"

"The main problem is," Michael answered, struggling to keep his voice steady as he was still angry at Sarah, "the form of glass that we have the capacity to produce here doesn't possess a sufficient resistance to heat to be used in the fabrication of nitro-glycerine. Which means, that we can't produce any."

"Of course we can," Sarah replied.

Michael breathed deeply, trying to calm down.

"Do you ever listen to me?"

"I am listening to you, Michael."

"We can't produce nitro-glycerine."

"Not with this glass, we can't," Sarah replied. "But with the one we brought with us, we can."

Michael and James both blinked.

"You're not serious?" James breathed.

"Why not?" Sarah shrugged.

Warren frowned.

"How will you get it?" he asked naively.

Sarah shrugged again, taking an apple as well.

"We steal it," she answered in the most natural way.

Sam propped up an eyebrow.

"And..." he asked slowly. "How do you propose to enter into one of the most secured house of Boston?"

"And to get out of it with all your equipment?" added Franklin.

"I've never said I had thought about all the details yet," she replied, her voice still full of confidence.

Sam couldn't refrain a smile.

"And I thought you were supposed to be the wise one here," he said, teasing her.

She propped up an eyebrow.

"I reckon James would fit much more to the job."

"And here, the blame falls down on the Englishman again," James sighed with a smile.

They all laughed softly.

"There are other things though, that must be discussed," Franklin said.

"There are indeed," Sam nodded, swallowing his mouthful of fruit. "John seems to have a plan."

"An idea," corrected his cousin.

"What kind of idea?" Franklin asked, clearly interested.

"I don't think that we can... handle this on our own," John said. "We must unite."

"Many in Boston support us already," Revere answered.

But John shook his head.

"We must create a consortium, all of us, the thirteen colonies. Nobody in England will listen to the City of Boston, but if we can convince the other Colonies to join..."

"Then our voice can be heard," completed Sam, nodded in agreement.

"How do you propose to organize this?" Warren asked him.

"I have friends in the other Colonies," John answered. "I'll write to them, and ask for a meeting."

Franklin nodded.

"You're right. Unison is our only chance. Divided, we will fall."

Sarah, James and Michael exchanged a glance.

Things were set in motions, at last...