Just the Outlander chapter
We start two days before the end of the previous chapter. John receives a letter asking for money. A former friend needs to pay for a female stowaway. John thinks it strange but not unlikely, so he heads out to the beach to get to the port he needs to find hi former friend.
This leads to John being hit over the head and abducted. Richardson is the one involved in this, who is back in a British uniform. Which side of the War is he on? That is going to come up very soon.
Richardson brings up one Neil Patrick Stapleton. John knew him years earlier, and Richardson points out that he is looking at more of the Biblical sense of the word. John refuses to admit to anything, and points out that Stapleton must have been tortured to write his confession. Richardson points out that Stapleton is alive in London, but doesn’t say “well.”
Then Percy is brought in, who also confessed to things. John refuses to give into the blackmail. Richardson points out that eventually he will need to. He wants Hal not to give a speech at the House of Lords as that speech is what will turn the tide for the Revolutionary War. Richardson doesn’t want that.
The only thing that would stop Hal from giving that speech is for John to be tried for sodomy. At least, that’s what he’s counting on.