Word spread fast within the Assassin Order. By mid-September not only had Siegfried's whereabouts been discovered, he had also been murdered. Siegfried was found to be living in New York City under a different alias. Coincidentally, his business was under the protection of the D'Aquila family, which Carlo worked for.
It was all a matter of pulling some strings and connections and soon Siegfried was killed. His body was found floating in the Hudson River days after his death, badly decomposed.
As a token of appreciation, Darko sent a sum of five thousand US dollars to Carlo, expressing his heartfelt thanks. If there was one thing Darko hated more than Templars, it was Assassin turncoats.
In the meantime, the Swiss Assassins had been restored to their former glory, with Darko in the charge of taking out Templars that had surfaced across Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Also, the Swiss Assassins had made allies within the Swiss government, in exchange for their protection. After all, the Interwar Period was not as peaceful as one might have thought.
Now that the Swiss Assassins power had been stabilised, Darko decided to help out with the re-establishment of the Italian Assassins, who were greatly weakened with the rise of fascism and Templars in Italy.
Most, if not all of the remaining Italian Assassins had made their way to Sardinia, where they rebuilt their Order, setting up bases all over the island. Nikolai had even purchased a resort in Sardinia's capital, Cagliari, using it as the new base of operations for the Italian Assassins.
"Sardinia might have the least number of Templars in the whole of Italy, but that's still a considerable amount of them," Nikolai said. "Even here in Cagliari there's a few Templars around. The bulk of them the others can handle, but there's one or two Templars that you should take care of yourself."
"Who are they?" Darko asked.
Nikolai handed him two gelatin-silver print. Frank Gatti recognised the person in one of the prints and said, "That's Benedict de Bourbon, a French member of the royal house of Bourbon. He's a minor member of the Regional Council here, if I'm not wrong, as well as a Templar."
"That is correct," Nikolai said. "The second man here is Alessandro Fermi, a retired professor of Paris University. Now he spends his time enjoying his retirement."
Alessandro, who was in his late fifties, was fishing just a few kilometres off Cagliari, on a modest-sized fishing boat.
His attention was caught by a motorboat approaching him. Alessandro waved at the man on the motorboat, a calm-looking man approaching his thirties. As Alessandro waved at the man cheerfully, Darko shot a Phantom Blade at him. Alessandro slumped against the side of the boat.
"The Assassins send their regards," Darko said as he got on the fishing boat, retrieving his Phantom Blade and throwing the dying Alessandro into the sea.
It was time to make it look like a mishap. Bringing over a jerry can of petroleum from the motorboat, Darko empties its contents on the fishing boat. One can was just enough to cover the whole of it.
Producing a matchstick, Darko lit it and threw it at the fishing boat from the relative safety of the motorboat. Once he was satisfied with the way the fire was escalating, Darko left.
That evening, it was just another day of work to Benedict. Leaving his office, Benedict got into his Citroën Type B2 and began the drive home, which was nearly forty-five minutes from Cagliari.
On the road, Benedict saw a tramp lying on the road. He barely had enough time to stop the car.
"Please get out of the way!" Benedict said angrily as he stepped out of the car.
"My…my apologies, signor," the tramp said, attempting to get up from the ground and move away from the road.
Benedict sighed. "Come, come, I'll help you."
"Thank…thank you so much, signor. May you be bless…blessed for eternity," the tramp bowed.
As Benedict pulled the tramp up from the ground, the tramp produced some sort of weapon and stabbed him in the chest.
"Hidd…Hidden Blade," Benedict fell to the ground, clutching his chest. "Assassin!"
Putting away his Hidden Blade, the tramp, actually Darko, smiled. "As the French would say, au revoir, monsieur de Bourbon."
Dumping his body into the back of the Citroën, Darko got into the car and drove in the direction where the car had come from. He eventually drove the Citroën Type B2 into the sea east of Cagliari.
On the very same day, two men, with seemingly no relations to one another, had mysteriously vanished. The first, Alessandro Fermi, was reported by the newspapers to be a retired university professor while the second was Benedict de Bourbon, a low-ranked member of the local Regional Council, who had been last seen leaving his office the previous evening.
"Well done, Darko," Nikolai praised. "You indeed are my younger brother. But our strength and influence here is far from stable. You must go to the city of Sassari in the north, and aid our brothers there. You should find is Professor Domenico Thaon, who works at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sassari."