I will start off this chapter with a note from myself. As a warning, this chapter will be long. I will be jumping around from person to person because everyone is in this. The story is coming to the conclusion and it is going to be big. I thank everyone that has been reading and dealing with my slow updates. My husband and son have been taking up the computer all the time and I bought it for my use. He was playing his Xbox 360 all the time. Anyway, here is chapter 27.

Chapter 27

A cool breeze blew stray hairs across my face as I looked through the scope on the rifle I held. The base was below the hill I called my perch. Guards walked to and from across the gate as I watched them. Night had fallen, and not a sound came from the ridge I laid on, except the soft breaths I exhaled. The chill in the air caused my breath to form mist around the trigger of the M24 I held in my small hands.

"Sniper one to sniper two. What is your position?" I called out to Dawson. He was to be on my left, a bit north east of my position.

'I can see you and everyone else. Locked and loaded and ready when you are.' I could hear the smile in his voice. He was always smiling when it came to his trade.

"Sniper three?" Rebecca was it. She was north west of me, and hunkered down in some overgrowth.

'Ready and able.' She came back.

"Strike one and two?" I put out the call to the ground teams.

Altair lead Desmond and Jakob, while Ezio had Tom and Jenna. Ezio was set up under Dawson's rifle, while Altair was guarded by Rebecca. I was in charge of the main gate and taking out those men. It was not going to be a walk in the park.

'Two awaiting the first shot.' Altair's calm voice flowed into my ear from the speaker.

'One is set and ready.' Ezio's deep voice greeted me next.

"I have eyes on the front. In two minutes we start the assault. Everyone be safe and come back in one piece. Entering radio silence." I looked down the scope again. The guards were about change shift and that was our time to strike.

I watched and waited. Finger on the hair trigger and once the beep from my watch came, I lined up my first shot. The man had just walked from the small shack at the gate. A clean head shot, and I pulled the trigger. He fell and no one saw. One down and three to go. I heard the muffled shot of two more rifles as Rebecca and Dawson took aim and fired.

The teams went in. I watched them through the scope as they approached the fence line. They slipped in unnoticed. Loosing sight of them as they went their own direction worried me a bit, but they were trained in the art of stealth and sabotage. They would be fine.

My fears would not go away though. Something clawed at my gut that I could not get to leave. Breaking radio silence, I called out to them. "Team one, are you alright?"

'No radio contact.' Altair came back with a growl.

"Sorry, something just does not feel right. Be careful." I whispered into the mic.

'Don't worry. We will be fine. Nothing is going to happen.' He kind of chuckled at me.

I was a worry wart. I always have been, but something was not on the up and up. I could not place my finger on it, until I felt a cold barrel of a gun press to the back of my neck. "You should have hid more carefully. On your feet, Assassin."

I released my hold on the rifle and let the butt of it rest on the ground. Slowly I made my way to my feet and turned to see the face of the man that found me. Three Abstergo goons were there, weapons trained on me. "So, this is awkward." I smiled at them, my hands at my sides. I could pull the pistol I had at my side out, but I would get off one, maybe two shots before they pumped me full of lead. I just kept smiling at them and running scenarios though my head.

"Turn and walk down the hill." The one in the front ordered. He had his gun trained at my head still.

"Or what? You are going to shoot me in the head? Then you will not get the answers you want." I knew I was walking into untested waters, but I knew they were not under orders to shoot whoever they came across.

"You are to be taken to the base commander. I am not in liberty to ask you any questions." He watched me through the helmet he had on.

I shook my head. "You guys are fools. You should know, I will not go quietly." Grinning, I pulled the Browning from the leg holster and aimed it at the man to my left. "You pull the trigger and I will make sure I drop at least one, if not two of you, before I fall. You want me alive, so the wound you give me will not be fatal. You should know, I do not drop from one shot." And pulled the trigger.

Rebecca

I heard the shots the moment they were released from the guns. Swinging my rifle around, I looked through the scope and saw Alanna with three Abstergo guards. They had shot her, judging from the way her arm hung limply at her side.

Lining up my shot, I fired and dropped one of them. From the way the other two ran, they did not know she was there with others. I smiled at that.

"Alanna, you alright?"

'No. I took one in the right shoulder and another in the gut. I am going to bleed out in a little bit. Sorry.' Her voice was strained and I could tell she was trying to hold on.

"I will get one of the guys to come back for you. Try and stop the bleeding as much as you can." I reached down to change the frequency when she came back.

'Don't. I will try to get somewhere where they can not find me. I will be fine. Keep an eye on the others.'

"Alanna, you need help..."

She cut me off. 'And they need to finish the mission. This is our only hope in stopping this. If someone has to come back for me, then that leaves them one man short. It has to be this way.'

She had a point. "Fine, but get out of there."

'I will.'

I watched her through the scope limp off deeper into the woods. I did not like not knowing where she was heading, just in case she would pass out, but the mission came first before anyone. I swung the scope around and found the others.

Flipping to Altair's frequency, I called to him. "Alanna is down. Three goons found her."

'Shit! Do they know we are here?'

"Dawson took out one of them and I took out one. The third is heading back there, but I think Alanna shot him. He was moving pretty slow." They entered the building for the satellite controls and the damn thing itself.

'As long as they do not know we are here, it will be fine. Was she okay?'

I heard machinery in the back ground as he talked. "No. They shot her twice, but she was getting out of there."

'Good. Keep us posted on anything else.'

"Will do, and be careful."

Ezio

'Alanna's down.' Altair's voice came through the earpiece I had. 'They found her position.'

"Damn it! How?" I called back.

'Don't know, but I think we have a traitor in our ranks. Keep an eye on your team.'

I looked at the two that were with me. Tom and Jenna guarded the door we had just came through. I had only known them a short time, but would they betray us? Jenna looked at me, a question in her eyes. I wanted to confront them, but if one of them were the snitch, then that would be the would be the end of this mission and the end of us.

"Come on. We need to get moving. The other team is guarding us on the outside." I waved them forward.

From the blueprints Shaun was able to get for us, the room we wanted was in the center of the building. Blow up the control room, and they would not be able to launch. A bomb would be planted on the missile as well. Altair's team was taking care of that one. I just hoped he could make it there without a problem.

Quietly and carefully, I made it to the room we were to have. Once I opened the door, I was greeted my the barrel of a Beretta. "Drop your weapons and step inside the room." The man behind the helmet told me.

I lowered my gun to the floor, followed by Jenna and Tom. A second man walked behind us. They knew we were coming. "Hands behind you heads and move slowly into the room."

I raised my hands did as he asked. I would not put the life of my team in danger. They were not like me and would not live through a bullet or three. "This does not have to end in bloodshed." I would not let it come to that.

"As long as you cooperate, it won't. Now, where are the others?" He asked as we stopped in front of the console for the missile.

I decided to play dumb. "What others?"

"The other three that are not accounted for." He told me.

So, they had not got Altair and the others yet. That was a good sign. He might be able to get us out of this yet.

"Got them."

Well, so much for that. I watched as they marched Desmond, Altair, who was sporting some blood on his hands and face. Who's blood it was I would not know. Jakob walked in behind them, gun drawn and shoved into Altair's back.

"I see you found the mole." I looked at the Arab.

The older man grunted, and smirked. "Yeah, but they lost five men getting me. Dawson, Becca and Alanna are long gone. So is Shaun."

I nodded. That was good to know. At least three of the nine made it out. I turned to Jakob. "So, why did you do it? Why did you betray us?"

"Money, power, greed. Don't really have a reason. I have been working for them since I was in my teens. They seem to be on the winning side." He shrugged and stood off to the side. "Now, where is the dead man switch? I know you have it. I want it, along with the Apple."

Altair

I am going to kill that kid once I get the chance. I glared at him. "You are an idiot. The Apple is not here and the person that has the dead man switch took off. You had better hope she is far enough away before she passes out."

Jakob smiled at me. "So, Alanna has it. Well, I guess we are going to have to find her. I know she was shot."

Just then a guard came flying into the room on his back. "You don't have to go far to find me." Alanna walked into the room, blades covered in blood, as well as her clothes. She was favoring her right shoulder. "You sent three men after me. Far too few if you ask me." She smirked at him, then held up the switch. "This is what you want, is it not?"

He looked at it and smiled. "You are just making my job easier."

He waved the guards towards her, but she pulled out a gun, and put it to her own head. "One more step and we all meet our maker tonight."

"Alanna, are you off your rocker? We would not live through that." I hissed at her. What the hell had gotten into her? I was hoping this was all a bluff and she would not do it.

She looked at me and smiled. "I only have a few to get you out of here." She turned her attention back to Jakob and the other goons. "One of your men shot me in the gut and the shoulder. Now, the shoulder I can live with, but I will drop over from the blood lose in about 30 minutes." She looked down at her stomach. "Well, sooner because I ran here. Then had to fight off some of your guards to get in here. Now, your choice. You can let us go and I don't blow this place up, or we sit here at a standstill until I bleed and fall. Then we all die. Choose and quickly."

I watched Jakob, and the wheels in is head began to turn. He may have us, but at the cost of his own life. "They go, you stay. I have to give someone to the bosses or I am dead."

"You were dead the moment you let us know who your really were, Jakob. You will never be safe from us." I growled. I would see him dead.

"No Jakob, it's all or nothing. We all go or we all die." She leaned against the door frame.

The color was draining from her face and the blood was dripping onto the gray tile beneath her. She did not have much time. Why did she not stitch herself then come? I was beginning to think she had done it this way as a bargaining chip. Hoping he wanted to live more than he wanted to die.

"Alanna, you had better hold it together or they will be cleaning us up with an eye dropper." Ezio looked at her. I glanced in his direction and saw the concern on his face.

She smiled at him, but I was forced. "I am, but Jake had better decide soon, or the choice will be taken from him."

"Men, stand down. Let them leave." He held up his hand. "Well played, Alanna. Too bad you will still have Abstergo hunting for you at every turn."

"Don't count on that. I have gotten away from them before and will do so long after you are worm food. You are too young to play the game as well I do. Better luck next time." She stood straight and turned for the door, but then stopped. "By the way, there is a mile radius on this thing. If I do not get a mile away before I pass out, you are dead. Hope that does not happen."

She had gambled and won. We were free for now, but the mission was a scrap, unless there was another trick up her sleeve that I did not know about.

Taking our weapons back, I walked slowly out the door, following the trail of bright crimson Alanna was leaving. I jogged up next to her. "You are not going to make it to that mile mark."

She nodded and stumbled. I grabbed her arm to steady her. "I know."

"The switch?" I looked down at it in her white knuckled grip.

"Get them out of here." She spoke in a hushed tone. "You have to get them away from here. I will be fine."

She was talking about blowing herself up. "Oh no you don't. None of us know what that type of blast will do to us. You might not live through it."

"Then I have had a good run. It would be my time and you three will know what to avoid in the future. If they want me to stay alive, then it will be done, but my fate is in someone else's hands tonight." She looked ahead of her and at the door.

I would not let her do that. I would not allow her to sacrifice herself for all of us. "No. I will not stand for this."

She stopped and looked at me, a small smile on her lips. "You have no say in the matter."

I was so fixated on her face that I did not see it until the last second. Then the pain. I looked down at my chest. Her dagger was thrust into the heart of me. "I told you, you have so say in the matter. I'm sorry."

Darkness descended and I felt no more.

Desmond

Altair dropped like rock. A dagger sticking out of his chest. "Get him out of here. Do not look back whatever you do." Alanna opened the door and held it there.

"You can not be serious?" Ezio's eyes widened as did mine at what she was telling us. "You can not do this."

Her gray eyes narrowed. "Do not make me take you two out and have those two drag the three of you off base. We do not have time for drama. I am slowing you down. Get out of here."

"Alanna..." I started but she smiled a bit.

"I know. I am sorry it has to be this way. Tell him I am sorry." Looking down at the man she had come to love more than her own life, I heard a sigh escape her lips. "It has been a good run."

I leaned over and hugged her. I did not know what else to do. She was not going to leave and I knew there was no way to make her. "Please come back to us. I need a friend and you are the only one I really have."

After I released her, I bent down and picked up the ancient assassin. He was going to be one pissed off person when he awoke, but there was nothing to be done now. I looked at her one more time, and made my way out the door. I would not look back. I couldn't. I was leaving her there to die and there was nothing any of us could do about it.

Alanna

I watched them walk out the door and away from it all. Sliding down the wall I was leaned against, I could feel the coldness take over my body as my heart began to flutter. It was coming to an end. I knew it and accepted it. There would be no turning back. No final goodbye. I was alone, but not afraid. It was the cold reality that was getting to me.

I was going to die. Here, in this Templar base. I would not walk out of here and live. That was my fate. Tears leaked from my eyes as I looked at the ceiling. Bump, bump. I felt my heart beat slow. Bump...bump. It was like the batteries were running out in a child's toy. Bump...bump. It was slower still.

"You are a brave woman, Alanna."

I turned my head and looked at the man next to me. Jakob stood there alone. I had not the strength to answer. My limbs were dead weights, but yet I still held the dead man switch. I would not release it until the last breath left my body.

"You have caused us a lot of trouble. I didn't think I would be able to get so close to you and the others. You are too trusting. My men are going after your friends as we speak. They will not get away." He smiled at me and all I wanted to do was punch him, but I did something even better.

Using the last bit of my strength, I smiled back. "You will die with me, asshole." And let the trigger roll from my hand. Bump...

Jenna

The building erupted in a fireball behind us as Alanna's body gave up. Tears ran down my face as I punched the old Expedition's gas pedal. I knew in my heart she did not live through the blast, but I still had some hope. I did not know what they could live through and what they could not. The other three did not know either. It was a gamble that she was doing.

"Ezio, do you think..." I let the question hang in the air.

He looked out the windshield. "I don't know. I really do not know."

"What happens now? We can not go back to the cabin. They know where it is." I rocketed down the back roads. I did not know where to go.

I heard him sigh. "We go to Montana. That is the last place she had, and the last place we have to go. We all need to stay off the grid from now on. There is no other choice. To the world, we are dead."

The thought of losing my family did not sit well with me. "What about Maya and Mike? Will I be able to see them again?"

"No. You are dead. We all died in that blast, not just Alanna. She gave herself for us to get out. We will do what we have always done. We take the battle to the ground." I could tell he was having a hard time with it. "I am sorry, Jenna."

Anger clouded my mind. I was losing the only family I had left. "Save it. Just tell me how to get to the ranch." I didn't want to think of my family. My only family. I was now ordered to leave them behind.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Two days and little sleep later, we pulled into the gravel drive for the ranch Alanna had owned. I was still strange to think of her in past terms. Altair still would not accept it. He had refused to speak to anyone since he woke up a night ago.

Once the SUV came to a stop, everyone got out. I took in the landscape and smiled a bit. This was somewhere you could get lost at. It was an assassin's dream. "It's beautiful here."

"That it is." Ezio stopped on the side of me. "Are you still mad at me?"

"Mad? No, I never was. I was upset that I had to leave it all behind. I am not like you guys. Being able to leave at a moment's notice. I love my family." I sighed and shook my head. We had launched our phones into the nearest river and watched them sink to the bottom of the murky water. My life was all but gone now. Replaced my a few men and one other woman. "Do you think Altair will be okay?"

"That remains to be seen. I have seen him like this one other time and it took years for him to come back. He is different when Alanna is not here. Well, I think we will be seeing more of the brooding Altair for here on out." He looked out at the mountains with me.

"I don't know if I can handle that. He was already hard to handle before all of this." I shook my head. "Will he be alright?"

"One would hope, but only time will tell, and unfortunately we have a lot of that."

We grew silent after that. I knew one day I would look older than him, and I would die while he lived on. I have come to accept that. If that is what I had to endure to stay with him, then that is what I would deal with. The heart was a strange thing.

Altair

I could not, would not believe that she was gone. I would not accept that was the truth until I saw her body in front of me and she did not awaken. I would not let myself believe that I would never see her gray eyes smile at me anymore, or that she would never glare at me for saying something stupid.

I raised my head to the sky as the first drops of rain fell from the heavens. They splashed onto my face and clothes. "Alanna, why did you do this? Why?"

Silence greeted my ears and the only sound was the soft noise of the raindrops hitting the dirt. It was deafening. After standing there for a few minutes, letting the rain soak my clothes and body, I screamed. I let it all pour out. The guilt, the pain, the lose. It all came out in that one moment in time. The sound carried over the hills and echoed off the plains. I could not contain it any longer. I had lost her. For good this time.

"Alanna, I am so sorry."

Sorry, I know this chapter was a little rushed, but I have been trying to work on it for like two weeks. My brain is on melt down and I have so much going on. This and the last chapter will be loaded together. The final chapter will be in a general POV. There will be a sequel when I get the chance. Thank you to everyone.