He was technically watching the baby. Altaïr hadn't said anything about taking Darim elsewhere, only that he needed to be watched. Desmond wouldn't be gone long, anyways. Hopefully.
Long, meaning, all day. He'd be gone a few hours, at most.
He'd gotten a text the day before from Connor, which had been the sole reason for this meeting. He had sounded...concerned. Agitated. Which was understandable; the current situation was certainly less than ideal. They didn't have anything solid on the matter, though, so he'd keep his ears open for anything Altaïr or his wife would let out about work. Desmond would have to warn Jacob.
He slipped his shoes on with some difficulty after setting his empty bowl of cereal down in the sink, while baby Darim watched him with curious brown eyes. That baby would make a trio of Altaïr and Desmond—they looked eerily similar already, and the brothers' matching scar only further solidified their common characteristics—but Desmond wasn't complaining too much about his nephew's appearance.
After tying his laces and slipping into a grey sweater, he picked up the bundle of a baby and set him in the carrier. Darim rarely if ever fussed, thankfully, but Desmond took some formula and a pacifier anyways. And diapers. And—oh, he might as well just take the bag.
Ten minutes later, and he's headed through the ever-present Seattle traffic in an old, beat-up Ford with little Darim in the passenger seat opposite to him. Their destination was nearly an hour away, in Bremerton, excluding traffic and wait time for the ferry. He isn't too worried, though. He told Maria that he needed to be somewhere today. Hopefully she remembered.
He gives it twenty minutes. Then she'll call if she forgot.
Darim is sound asleep in his carrier, his tiny dark-haired head lolling slightly with every bump in the road. He's cute, even Desmond had to admit. He's gotta stick to the road, though, so he doesn't take more than a fleeting glance at the sleeping baby.
Fifteen minutes later and he's paid for tickets to board the ferry bound for Bremerton. And, of course, hurried calls from a sister-in-law.
He's smiling slightly when he answers it.
"My god, Desmond, I forgot you had plans for today! I am so, so sorry, it just slipped my mind–"
He interrupts her with a laugh. "It's perfectly fine, Maria, I figured something like this would happen in the end. Really, it's fine. Besides, Darim likes the gulls."
A laugh crackling over the call. "Oh, good, you're at the ferry. I was worried I might have held you up, with the sudden leave and all."
Desmond shook his head out of force of habit before responding to his sister-in-law. "What happened, by the way? You both seemed to be in a rush, to be sure."
Maria let in a sharp intake of breath. "Ah...I suppose I could tell you. It's certainly not the most believable story out there, but that doesn't make it any less true, unfortunately. Honestly, it feels like some sort of cheesy hollywood film where the directors didn't do enough research."
"Yeah?"
"We received a body last night, nothing out of the ordinary there. But, apparently this man was still alive, which is very strange. He had gotten out of his unit while we were gone and kept warm with Altaïr's coat for the night. And, of course, Evie walks in the next day, today, and sees this naked man then calls us first thing, asking for help and a full change of clothes."It's been pretty hectic since then—Altaïr spoke with Evie for a time, to make sure she was alright, Shay is currently on the phone with the hospital responsible for the incident, I am currently filing paperwork and watching the man simultaneously—but we should have thing sorted out within a few days time, maximum."
"Does he have any family? Anyone you can contact?" He's already done the research on al'Sayf, after the incident—both parents dead, no extended family, one brother who is paranoid about giving his phone number away for anything. There won't be a number listed.
"...No. There's a name, though—Kadar al'Sayf, supposedly his brother. He's guy who agreed to the termination when he wouldn't wake up. No contacts, though."
Kadar. Desmond suppressed a swear, hoping Maria didn't hear him as he did so. He'd need to tell the Kenways. And track down this Kadar, or at least set Jacob on it. He must be important if his name was listed on those documents. Oh, Starrick was good.
"Desmond? You still there?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah, sorry. Kinda spaced out on you there."
A light chuckle. The ferry pulls into the harbor, and he starts the car again.
"It's fine, it wasn't anything important. Hey, I'll finish up here and then Altaïr can tell you the rest later, 'kay?"
"Sounds good. Try not to raise the dead again this time, yeah?"
Another chuckle. "I won't, but Altaïr just might. Take care of my baby for me, alright? Lunch at 11, remember."
"Yep. I'll see ya later then."
The cars ahead of him pull into the ferry as he hangs up. Darim has woken up at this point, and is watching his surroundings with the kind of curiosity only a baby could muster. It's endearing. He shuts the car off when he pulls up and waits.
~o:O:o~
Jacob has his right foot on Connor's lap when he walks in, as said human footstool wraps a bandage around his ankle. Haytham is in the corner of the room, watching the two with a casual gaze. His eyes flick to Desmond as he walks in, before raising his eyebrows at the small load he had taken in with him.
"Babysitting again today, something happened at work for them."
"I heard. Connor told me not ten minutes ago." Jacob takes his foot from Connor's lap after the other man finishes with the bandage mid-sentence, before trying to stand up shortly after he finishes speaking. He stumbles as Desmond places Darim on the table, the baby having fallen asleep in his carrier yet again.
"I'm good, I'm good," is Jacob's first response, followed by a sarcastic eye roll from both Kenways.
"I received a confused and angry email from your brother not an hour ago, detailing the situation at hand," Haytham states. "He expressed his suspicions about both the hospital and the criminal underground." His voice is almost completely monotonous, if not for the slight amusement that had crept up when he mentioned Altaïr's suspicions.
Desmond nodded towards the older man after he finished. "I'll try to keep him out of this, as usual. How's the search for Attaway going?"
"Terribly, unfortunately," Jacob sighed. He collapsed into his chair before continuing on. "Starrick's hidden absolutely everything about her. It's as if she never existed."
"And before you ask, Desmond, he really isn't exaggerating. We can't find anything—no public record, no cell, no record of a degree or time spent at any college—it really is strange," Connor cut in. "Starrick's been travelling a lot as well, as of late."
"What's he been doing? No, that's a stupid question. Why is that guy in the morgue, of all places?" Desmond asked. God, he needed to pay more attention to everything.
"That's the thing—we're not sure. Haytham think's it might be because of your family. Because you're with us an' all, you know," Jacob replies. It's possible—Desmond is all to familiar with having to shake some of Starrick's cronies off his tail—but not very likely.
"There's something we're missing, here—why Malik, of all people? And how did they get him, well, there? He's supposed to be dead. Like, actually dead," Desmond says. "Did you guys find anything else?"
Haytham shook his head and took a seat beside his son. "That covers most of it. Jacob had something to say, though…?"
Said man cleared his throat when Haytham turned his gaze to him. "Erm, yes. Yes I did. Freddie's after us again."
Desmond suppressed a groan with little success. Connor had been working to keep the man away from them. What had Abberline found out, and why?
"He's getting dangerously close to unmasking the killer behind the infamous "Rooks' Hunt", and is almost certain that someone," Jacob says, gesturing none-too-vaguely to both Kenways, "...is helping him from within."
Connor waved his hand in some sort of gesture, as if to say 'I did what I could but I'll try better next time'. "We need to focus on one thing at a time. We're trying to stop Starrick, right? We can't find Attaway, al'Sayf has ended up in the morgue with forged hospital documents, Abberline is on our tail, and Starrick himself is on the move. Not to mention the reports father and I need to put together on Jacob every month, because of how pushy your brother has been lately, Desmond."
"He's not wrong," Haytham says. "Clearly, Starrick is up to something–"
"No shit," Jacob grumbles.
"–but I believe these other matters can be used in our advantage, if we weigh their interests against one another," he finishes, giving Jacob a withering look.
"How so?" Desmond asks, before the two start giving each other the cold shoulder again. That had happened once, and it had not gone well.
"Take Abberline, for instance," Haytham replies. "He's a generally good person by most people's standards, from what interaction we've had. Help the general public, promote the safety of man, denounce the false truths of crime, so on and so forth."
"And…?" Jacob draws the word out almost unnecessarily, in an attempt to get a rise out of the older man to no success.
"Does he know about Starrick and all the corruption he regularly partakes in? Does he know about the prostitution rings, or the slave exchange, or the moles in almost every level of government? I think not," he says as his eyes wander between the three other men in the room.
"So you're saying we should just...turn this whole thing over to the very thing we work against? You know that he's got eyes and ears everywhere, and that he's got his cronies in power, too. There's no way we can get that to him without revealing ourselves. And that's not including the chance of them actually approving such an investigation." Jacob looked to be rather worked up at the prospect, which, really, Desmond couldn't blame him. Those things he said would absolutely happen because of the causes ge listed—that is, if they actually went about what Haytham had proposed in such a manner.
"I think me means to bait him," Connor said after Jacob finished. Haytham nods gratuitously towards his son in response.
"My point exactly. We lead our dear friend Abberline on a merry little chase. He'll think he'll be after the killer when really, we'd be turning one enemy against the other. Even if he does piece it together, that alone would solve so many problems of our own."
Jacob seems to take this into genuine consideration for once, before nodding slowly and looking towards Desmond. He shrugged.
"Sounds like a plan," Desmond states in response. Darim begins to squirm in his sleep. Connor offers to keep him quiet when he wakes, surprisingly. Desmond never saw him as a man who would particularly enjoy children, but to each his own, he supposes.
"So, what's the game plan?" Jacob asks after a moment.
"We find Attaway and take her out," Connor states matter-of-factly. "In the meantime, I will work with Altaïr and Maria–" Darim gurgles at the sound of his parents' names, "–about the Al'Sayf situation while keeping an eye out for any possible intentions Starrick might have with him. Jacob, you go after Thorne. She got away from you seven months ago when you killed Ferris, and she's caused enough trouble since then."
Haytham nods in approval. "I will look for Attaway, then. Desmond, how did your interview go?"
He smiled in response to the older man as two pairs of eyes trained on him. "Fantastic. I start on Monday."
Darim gurgled happily.