Chapter 5: Breakthrough

I had nightmares that night. Terrible nightmares that woke me several times throughout the night, drenched in cold sweat and breathing as if I had just run a marathon. A man, that I now knew was my father, with a gaggle of other Templars were standing over the broken form of a woman. She had been beaten and bloodied, all the while looking up at the man that she loved, who was supposed to love her, the father of her child, and pleaded with him for mercy. She asked why and how he could do something like this. And he simply looked down on her and laughed while raising a weapon to strike again. Each and every time that I woke from one variation of this dream or another, Rebecca was right there, holding me close and whispering that it would be okay.

As I sat at the table the next morning and sipped coffee, I started to think why this revelation was affecting me so much. It really shouldn't be. After all, I had no memory of my mother or father, and had not even seen photos of them until I joined the brotherhood. All I had learned about them were from stories from William, but all of that had changed. I had been told that my father had been a good man and an honorable man and an integral part of the brotherhood of Assassins, but it was looking as if they had all been misled. All the evidence was now pointing to him having been nothing more than a low life, lying turncoat. And worse, the more digging that Shaun did following the revelation, it was looking like that my own father may indeed be the reason that my mother was dead. Maybe it was that fact that had broken me. This man who claimed to love my mother at one point was the reason that I had grown up bouncing from group home to group home and never knowing love as a child. And if that were true, I had nothing but hatred for that man.

Rebecca and Shaun both agreed that all of us should avoid returning to Abstergo, at least for the time being. As impressed as both were with what I managed to overhear, it was all too likely that I had to have been spotted on security camera skulking around. It didn't matter though, as I managed to get more information than any of us could have hoped for. We now knew that it was most likely an Apple that we were searching for, as well as it all but being confirmed that it was located on a shipwreck.

"The problem is," Shaun said as he continued to stare at a map of the lakes and shipwrecks of the upper Midwest area, "is that Jack was right." I flinched at the name of my father, but neither he nor Rebecca noticed. "The sheer number of lakes and wrecks around here is absurd. We could be at this for years and never figure it out. Not to mention that I am not sure that the Apple will even be in Minnesota. That was just a theory, but it could be in any number of places."

"I know," Rebecca replied, glancing at me as I glanced at the map and took another sip of coffee. "The only positive is that there are some that we can most likely rule out. If it is indeed on a sunken ship, I think we can possibly rule out the smaller ones in the smaller lakes, as most of them have been thoroughly explored already and if it would have been on one, it would have been recovered already."

I stared down at the map, not entirely sure what I was even looking for, but wanting to help all the same. Shaun had sent the voice recording to William very shortly after he had heard it and William had called almost at once. He was going to do his best to make it up here just as soon as he possibly could, but the problem was that flights were getting canceled left and right and it was not exactly safe to be flying now. The virus continued to spread and every time any of us pulled up anything on the news, it was always the same, more and more death and political discourse throughout the entire country.

It was well past noon when Shaun decided to venture out for food, which was always an adventure considering that all our vehicles were still stashed away. With the house still being within the city limits, we all wanted to keep the impression that the house was still abandoned and two cars as well as a van sitting in front of a seemingly empty house would draw suspicion.

The rest of the day passed much the same as the morning did, with each of us pointing out different options on possible locations of this artifact, each proving to be just as unlikely as the next. Outside of a new e-mail from William, telling us to stay the course and that he was looking into the whole situation involving my father, we did not really hear from him. I was starting to seriously doubt that he would be making an appearance up here.

Over the next several days, cabin fever began to set in, and it was putting everyone slightly on edge. As weird as it sounded, I kind of missed being undercover at Abstergo. Yes, they would have happily seen me killed, but at least it was something that got me out of the house for a few hours. I was happy to continue being here and helping in any way that I possibly could but being in almost complete isolation was starting to get under my skin, and I knew that it was the same for both Rebecca and Shaun.

"What about here?" I asked pointing to one of the smaller lakes near the state border that had only one mark on it.

"Confirmed no," Shaun replied, and I could tell that he was trying not to yawn. He had heavy looking bags under his eyes from what was probably sleep deprivation.

I sighed and put a red X through the small circle that pointed out the location of the wreck. I turned my attention to some of the other locations on the map, locations that were in other states. Rebecca had glanced at them before, but they both seemed to think the idea of it being somewhere else to be unlikely.

My gaze kept being drawn to one location in particular. It was a tiny looking island that looked to be in Michigan, though it sat very close to the Canadian border. A smattering a red dots surrounded it, and I found that to be quite odd that so many ships would have gone down in roughly the exact same area. It just looked off to me.

"Becs?" I said, my eyes darting to Rebecca who turned to face me. "Don't you find this a little odd?" I gestured at the large number of marking around the island that I had been looking at.

"We all do," she replied with a small smile to try to hide the fact that she too was getting frustrated with being stuck inside. "I'm personally hoping that it isn't anywhere near there though. Too many wrecks and too many tiny islands. What you see there is actually one of the biggest islands, the rest aren't even really mapped."

"Can't get there without a boat," Shaun said. "And tricky to even navigate considering when we make our move, we want it to be in the dead of night. That island is a massive destination for tourists, and I don't know about you, but I would rather try to avoid any unpleasantness around large crowds of people."

"Makes sense," I said, thinking back once again to New Orleans and how we made our move for the Staff when that cathedral was empty of all except the Templars. "Still, it could be worth looking into," I went on, my eyes still staring at the red dots, "since everything else so far has been a dead end. Plus, if Abstergo hasn't bothered to look into it yet, it could give us a jump start should anything come up."

"Maddi's got a point, Shaun," Rebecca said, turning her attention to Shaun. "It's time to start facing facts, every lead that we've dug up locally has been a bust. It may be time to start looking elsewhere."

"I guess you're both right," Shaun said with a sigh. "I guess it's time to dig back into the archives. We know that an artifact went down with a ship somewhere up here, but the problem is that so many ships came through here that it could be any of them."

"All in," Rebecca said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I'm personally missing warmer weather,"

Shaun rolled his eyes and chuckled. "You can sell that to someone else, Becs," he mumbled. "But I know for a fact that you just want to get back to your alone time with Maddi."

I blushed as Rebecca flung a pen at Shaun's head.

And so, I was back in the cramped, musty basement where we kept off of our computers. Space heaters set up in the corner kept us from freezing to death as the loud hum of a generator did its best to keep us from focusing. I didn't know what exactly I was looking for, but I read each file carefully, looking for anything that could give us even a slight hint that maybe our artifact was close by. I was almost wishing that we would have had an Animus here, at least it would have given me something to do besides pour over scanned documents that were hundreds of years old.

My whole life I had wanted to live some place that had four proper season. Winter had always fascinated me as something that I had never properly experienced growing up and living in the south, but as I took a walk late one night with Rebecca, under the cover of darkness, I decided that I was over it. I missed the warmth; I missed the beaches and the ocean. I was ready to be home, in my own bed, with Rebecca next to me.

Both my phone and Rebecca's chimed at the exact same time. I already knew that it was Shaun sending us a group message. My screen glowed bright in the pitch-dark night as I removed it from my pocket and stared at the text, Rebecca looking down at my screen as well. The message was short and to the point. I think we have it, was all it said.

I smiled as I read the words over and turned to look at Rebecca, who I could tell was also smiling. "Guess it's time," I said.

Shaun was waiting for us in the kitchen when Rebecca and I walked in. A small lamp was turned on giving the room an eerie feel. His phone was propped up against a coffee cup and I heard a voice that I immediately recognized coming from it. Shaun had William Miles on a video call, and he smiled softly as both Rebecca and I stepped in view of the screen.

"Any update on him?" I asked before William could even say hi to me. I couldn't bring myself to use the word father to describe the man.

"Straight to it then," William said, and he looked older than the last time that I saw him. "No beating around the bush. I like that about you." He lowered his eyes, not exactly meeting mine. "In the case of Jack, what little I was able to dig up was not pleasant. I don't know how the bastard managed it, but he did infiltrate deep into our ranks." He sighed deeply before continuing. "I know that I never would have guessed that he was capable of that. He and your mother were two of the best of us, both brilliant. Whether he was always a Templar, or he was converted while he was with us, I cannot say, just as I cannot say whether he himself was the one that killed your mother or whether he just had a hand in it. All I can say is that whatever the case was, he fooled us all, and he has been a goddamn expert at keeping himself hidden from us until recently."

I nodded, quite surprised that I did not feel any hint of sadness at William's words, only white-hot anger. That man may technically be my father, but he was nothing to me. I felt nothing but hatred for him if he was indeed the reason that I grew up as an orphan and vowed to myself right then and there that if it came down to it, I would not hesitate to end his life.

"And the Apple?" Rebecca asked quietly. "If it is indeed an Apple."

"That I may have a little more information on," William replied. "Though it is still a very long shot."

Shaun laughed softly. "A long shot is better than anything we have right now," he said.

"Indeed," William went on. "I was able to dig up some information on a cargo ship that seems to have been a cover for the brotherhood that sank around the area that you informed me about." He looked down and I could only assume that William was looking at some old papers that were just out of view of the camera. "What was on that ship at the time of it sinking, I cannot say. Very little is actually known about it, but whatever it was carrying must have been of great value as even the archives are lacking anything."

"Well, that is more than what we had before," Shaun said. "We just need to know where to look and with any luck at all, we can have this artifact and be out of here before any of the suits at Abstergo are any wiser."

I saw the faint hint of a smile on William's face before he spoke again. "We could only wish that it were that easy," he said softly. "Unfortunately for us, those string of islands are the home to a dozen or more sunken ships, many of which went down around the same time period as ours."

"Of course," Rebecca said with a sigh. "Things can't be easy for us, can they?"

"Apparently not," I said.

"That's why this is going to be a long shot," William said. "As far as we know so far, the Templars are not even looking in that area yet and with our options running out here, it is time to take a chance and make a move before they do. Now, I have arranged for your entry into Canada. Go to Thunder Bay, and you three will find a houseboat waiting on you with all of the scuba equipment that you will need and enough oxygen tanks to last for several dives."

"Uhhh, William," I said nervously. "You mentioned scuba diving, well I should mention that I've never even come close to doing anything of the sort."

"I'm aware of that," William replied to me. "Fortunately for you, both Rebecca and Shaun are both extremely knowledgeable and very experienced at it. Just follow their exact instructions and you'll be fine."

All I could do is nod as Rebecca put an encouraging hand on my shoulder to reassure me that she would not let anything happen to me. "You leave at first light tomorrow," William said, and his voice had changed to one that was all business. "Good luck team. I don't think I need to tell you how much is riding on this. It's all or nothing."

The video call cut off and I looked around at the other two that were in the room with me. It was finally time. There were no smiles at the notion of finally making a move on the artifact. It was all business and mental preparation. Shaun was the first to move. Without a word, he pulled out his phone and looked up the quickest route before walking out the door.

"Time to pack," Rebecca said as soon as Shaun left the house. "We have a lot to get done in a short period of time." She must have sensed that I had a small part of my nerves getting to me because she wrapped me in a hug and spoke softly. "It's all going to be fine," she went on. "Remember what I said before, I'm never going to let anything happen to you just like you won't let anything happen to me. We've got this."

By the time that Shaun had made it back, pulling up in front of the house in a large van, Rebecca and I had mostly gotten everything sorted. The portable generator had been carried up from the basement, cables had been wrapped and tied up, the space heaters had been turned off, which in turn made the house even colder than it normally was. I was hoping that whatever kind of houseboat that we were going to be on had a place to plus these heaters in. If not, it would be completely unbearable on the lake, especially considering we were all going even further north.

I threw what clothes I had with me in my luggage, not even bothering to fold it, Rebecca and Shaun did the same and those too were tossed into the van. It was going to be an almost six hour drive into Canada to get where we needed to go. I was wishing that Rebecca would be able to ride with me, as I was still not comfortable driving in icy conditions, but we all needed to take our own cars.

By the time that everything was loaded up, sunrise was only about an hour off and none of us had so much as even had a nap. I was not looking forward to the drive, but at least it was only five and a half hours, which would feel like nothing compared to when I originally drove up here. Hopefully I would be able to have a nap when we got to the boat.

Shaun dropped us off at our cars and handed Rebecca and I each a two-way radio to stay in touch on the road. Rebecca gave me a hug and a quick kiss as I climbed into my car and cranked the engine. She told me to be safe as I closed my door and watched her slide into her own car. Shaun did a quick radio check and once we assured him that we could hear him and he could hear us, we were off, pulling out of the parking garage and onto the dark highway. I steeled myself for the drive ahead and called out over the radio that I wanted to stop and grab a few energy drinks for the road.

This is it, I thought to myself. It was time to strike once more against Abstergo and hopefully deal a crippling blow by denying them yet another Piece of Eden.

Witchy's Notes:

I'm going to level with you guys, I am not at all happy with how this chapter came out. If you look back to last chapter in my notes, I said that I had written myself into a corner. Well, this was that corner. I'm not happy how it came out, but I had to put something down. I spent way too long trying to figure this out and it was starting to affect me. I know exactly how I am going to have the rest of this story play out, the next chapter is going to be a little slow, but the one after that is the conclusion where everything comes to head. I'm excited to finally see this coming together and hope that you all enjoy. I haven't yet decided if this is going to be the end of Rebecca and Maddi's story, but right now I am leaning towards it being the end. Time will tell and I will have to wait and see.