Desmond

"Yeah, I heard ya. I will keep an eye out. Thanks Altair." I hung up the phone and slapped it against my forehead. "Wonderful, just wonderful."

Tom looked over at me, eyebrow cocked and a question in his lips. I sighed and sat the phone next to me on the seat. "Before you ask, Altair just called. They picked up a tail. They were heading for a motel for the night and ditching their car in the morning."

"What the hell?" He started looking at his window and I looked out the rear view mirror.

"I know. If we pick up a tail, I don't give a fuck if that car had an oil leak or not, we are taking it and running like hell." I signaled my lane change and got into the slow lane.

"So what's so damn special about that car? I have never heard the whole story behind it. Altair has held on to that car for like forever." Tom looked in his mirror again then popped some Combos in his mouth.

I held out my hand and he put some in it. I popped one in my mouth. "The car was Alanna's to start off with. She found it and restored it. When the shit went down ten years ago, the car was shot up and pretty much a wreck. He told her he would fix it. Well, after the explosion, he went back to his cabin, burned it to the ground, and took the car back to the ranch. Spent I know a good month on it every day. The last day of him working on it, once the hood was closed, paint dried, and chrome pieces put back in place, he fired up the car.

"Now, we thought he was going to take it for a test drive. Yeah, a nine and a half year long killing spree test drive that finally ended six months ago." I put another one of the cylinder pretzels in my mouth and crunched down on it.

"That's where he went. I guess that was shortly after I left with Becca and Dawson. Damn, you guys didn't hunt him down?" He asked as he moved around in the seat. "This damn thing is not that comfortable."

I would agree with him there. I ended up with the Ford F-250. The seat was not that great for long trips. Now, I drove it a lot when I was going to get feed for the horses, but clear across the country? Yeah, now I wish I had the Ram. It was really comfy and had a bit more room. "I feel you there. I should have taken the Ram and made Dawson pull the Mustang."

He laughed in the passenger seat. "So, when is our next pull off?"

"What? You gotta pee?" I grinned at him. It was nice to talk to someone that was not going to yell back or call me a boy.

He shrugged. "My ass is numb, and I need out of this truck. I have always done horrid on long trips. Even as a kid. Drove my parents nuts when we had to go anywhere."

"Hell, at least you got to go places. I wasn't allowed to leave the Farm." I scowled and watched the road. I hated that place even today, but I now knew why I was not allowed to leave.

He snapped his fingers. "That's right. You were a farm kid. That had to suck. My folks stayed on one of the compounds for a few months when I was little, but they couldn't handle the isolation."

And that was the reason I left. The isolation, not getting to talk to the outside world. I enjoyed my freedom until I was caught by Abstergo. That was the only shitty part of being off the compound. "I think I am going to pull off here in a few minutes. I need fresh pop and might as well top off the tank." It was sitting at a half, but with Abstergo on the lookout for us, it would be better to have a full tank if they did find us and we had to run.

"Sounds good to me." He leaned back in the seat and shifted again.

I kept my eyes open for a good exit ramp to pull off on, but we were in the middle of Kansas. There was nothing here. I sighed and scrubbed my eyes. I was getting tired. I had been driving since this morning when we left. "You are going to take over when we stop. I need a bit of shut eye."

He nodded and polished off the bag of Combos. I just shook my head. I would say he was a walking stomach, but that was an understatement. I knew why Ezio, Altair, Conner, myself and to some extent, Alanna, ate so much. Ezio told me that we burn more calories than the average person because our metabolism was running high all the time. It was the immortality thing. We could push our bodies to the breaking point without taking lasting damage. A blessing and a curse.

We lapsed into silence for a while. The rich fields flew past the window and I reached over a cranked up the radio. One of my favorite songs came on and I nodded my head to the hard drums. Tom just looked at me. "What? I like hard rock. Comes from hanging in the bars all the time."

"Man, I thought they were joking when all of you were alike in one way or another. All of you guys like hard rock. That was all Altair would listen to on the way back." He moved again and looked out the window. "Look, a gas station in two miles."

That brought a smile to my face. I was glad to see the sign as much as he was. "Thank you." I cheered. I had to get out of this truck.

"So are we going in packing or leaving them in the car?" He asked as I turned on the signal.

"We are going to be carrying knives. I don't think you can carry guns into gas stations." Pulling off the highway, I signaled left and made the light. The gas station was on the right hand side of the street and I got into the lot with little trouble.

We both fell out of the truck when I shut it off. Topping off the tank, we chatted as we walked into the station. A pretty girl was behind the register. She gave me a smile and a wink as I walked in. I returned the smile and walked back to the cooler to get a pop.

"Des, I think that girl likes you. She has been watching you since we walked in." He nudged me with his shoulder. I couldn't help but grin at him.

"She is pretty hot, but we are running for our lives right now." I grabbed some pop and an energy drink from the cooler.

He grabbed some too. "No, let's rephrase that. I am running for my life. You are running with me. If they shoot at me, no offence, I am pulling you in front of me." He smirked and turned to walk up front.

"Hey!" I caught up to him. "That's not cool."

He laughed and put his stuff on the counter. "You'll be fine. I have seen you take worse."

This was true, but I hated being a human bullet catcher. Having them removed hurt worse than being shot because pain meds did not work on us. The healing factor in all of its glory. "Yeah, I know but still not cool."

He just smiled at me and then turned to the cashier. She smiled at me and I returned it again. Telling me my total, I handed her some cash from my wallet. That was what we were all going on right now. No plastic at all. No buying anything that required the use of an ID.

When she handed me my change back, there was a slip of paper in it. I waited until I got outside and into the passenger seat to look at it. It was the girl's number. I looked at it and through the window. She waved at me as we drove away.

"What's that?" Tom asked as he turned back onto the highway.

I laughed. "Her number."

He reached for it, but I held it out of his reach. "Are you going to call her?"

"Yeah right." I shook my head. "Uh that would make an interesting date. She would ask what I did for a living and I would say, 'Well, I am an immortal assassin who is in an all-out war with Abstergo'. I would end up in the loony bin faster than you can devour food."

He scratched his head, shrugged and set the cruise. "Wow that is pretty fast."

I slouched in the seat and readied myself for a shitty nap.

Ezio

I pulled in the drive and Jenna came walking out of the house, Marcus at her heels. He saw me and squealed. I knelt down and caught him as he ran to me. "Daddy's home!"

I picked him up and held him close. He was my world. Him and Jenna both. She walked over and accepted a kiss. "So, how is everything so far?"

Walking in the house, I shut the door behind us. "They found Altair and Alanna."

"Did they..?" She looked at me with those blue eyes of hers.

Shaking my head, I sat Marcus down. "They got away. Both of them are fine and will be back on the road in the morning."

She exhaled the breath she was holding. "That's good. How did they find them?"

"That is the part I am still wondering." I ran my hand through my hair and shook my head. "I just don't get it. I was the first to leave. They would have followed me, but they followed them instead."

We walked into the kitchen and Jenna got a juice from the fridge for Marcus, who took it with a smile and walked off to play with his toys, leaving us to talk. "Do you think it was Kate?"

I had been keeping her up to date on everything that had been going on. I shook my head. "No, I don't think so. I had a talk with her before I left. She left because of what they were doing to the people that they took. She say first-hand what the Animus was doing to their minds. It was her information that helped the Brotherhood find Desmond."

Taking a seat at the table, she unrolled a map of the United States. Pointing to an area on the map, I saw it was the ranch. "This is where you guys were, and this is where they are heading," She ran her finger down to Conner's place, "but this is where the fight ten years took place." And she pointed to the site we blew up.

"So, I know where they all are, Jen." I looked at her.

"Ezio, you know I am good with patterns. Look at where Alanna turned up at." She pointed to Golden, Colorado. "It's only a hundred miles or so from that site. She told you she rode the trains and everything, but why would she stay in the same area that she was trying to get away from?"

I stood next to her over the map, and looked at the area she was talking about. My eyes widened. "Are you saying they may have found her before she woke up?"

Shrugging, she looked me in the face. "I got ahold of one of the assassins that was on the inside of Abstergo until just a few years ago. He told me they had been doing a top secret project in Denver and that only the heads of the company could access it. The files he stole were encrypted. No one has been able to break that code. Maybe you or Rebecca could give it a go."

I shook my head. "Not me, but I know Rebecca could. I am good at computers, but not like she is."

"Good, because I have the files here." And she pulled a flash drive out of her pocket. "I had him bring it to me when I found out. William is going to be pissed that I have it."

"And I love you for it." I kissed her deeply. "I think you just broke this wide open, my angel."

Blushing she pushed me away. "You had better email it to her right away. I think it will take a lot to crack it, and you guys are on borrowed time as it is."

I rushed to the computer room in the basement and dialed Rebecca's cell. She answered after two rings. "You need to find a wireless hotspot. I have a few files you need to decrypt."

'What are you going on about?' She sounded half asleep.

"Jenna got some information from one of our friends. Just pull up your email in a bit and you will get all the info you need, alright?" I began to type feverously at the keyboard and inserted the drive into the tower. "I hope you can do something with it."

'I'll see what I can do. I don't have the good tech on me. That is in the trailer with Conner, but the computer I have should do the trick. Hopefully.'

"I hope you are right. We need this as fast as you can get it done." I hit send and sighed. "I just sent it to you. Can you get back to me when you manage it?"

'Will do. I will have Dawson stop here shortly and I'll take a look.'

"Thanks Becca, you are a lifesaver." I smiled at the phone. She was the best at what she did.

'You say that now. Just give me a bit, alright? I will talk to you soon.' And she hung up the phone.

I sat mine on the desk, and looked at it for a minute. Picking it back up, I dialed Altair's number. Two rings, three rings, four rings later, his sleep heavy voice answered the phone. 'What do you want?'

"Everything okay on that end?" I asked as I leaned back in the chair.

'It was great until you woke me up. No more fights and fleeing. Everything is fine and if it changes, I will call you.' I heard a yawn and him moving the phone to the other ear.

"How's Alanna taking it all?" I was worried about her.

'Fine, she's sleeping right now. So if you don't mind, I would like to get back to that as well.'

I chuckled. "Fine, fine, get back to your sleep. I will call you in the morning."

'Yep.' And the line went dead.

I looked at the phone and shook my head. I heard the stairs creak and turned my head to see Jenna walking down them holding a plate. She came over and sat on my lap. "You look like you could use some food."

I took the plate, went over her head with it and sat it on the desk. "What I could really use is you." And wrapped my arms around her.

She laid her head atop mine and sighed. "So is this how it will always be?"

"Huh?" I asked as I held her.

"With us. I mean, you have been gone a lot, and I understand why, but I don't want it to be like this forever." I heard the sadness in her voice.

I had been gone a lot lately. Trying to keep Abstergo from finding us, helping Altair out at the ranch, and making sure nothing else went wrong. "I will make you a promise right here and now. When this is over, I will hang up the gun and blades. I will stay here for as long as you like. I swear to you."

She sighed. "I just want you for as long as I can have you."

I knew what she meant. I was going to have to fake my own death sometime in the future. We decided that when Marcus was born, we would not tell him anything. It was what I did with my other two children. They never knew about my immortality. It was safer that way. Let them think me dead than a monster that would live forever. "I will stay for as long as you wish, my love." And I held her in my arms.

Rebecca

I had Dawson find the nearest electronics store. I needed some parts and a wireless router. When I had him stop so I could check the emails, I had a feeling this was going to be a fun one. They were not large files, but the encryption was complex. They did not want anyone in this that didn't have access into this baby. I rubbed my hands in glee. I hadn't had a challenge in quite some time.

We found a computer store and I grabbed everything that one would need for what I was about to do. I sat in the back seat of the quad cab pickup. A small power generator at my feet and three laptops hardwired together. Hopefully with the speed amped, it would be no time at all before their secrets were mine.

"So how goes it back there?" Dawson asked looking at me through the rear view mirror.

I smiled at him. "Shouldn't be too long. I have them doing their thing and when it is done, I will be able to view it on my tablet." I held the black thing up and gave it a small twist. "I love computers."

Climbing into the front seat, I buckled up and leaned back a little bit. "Cool. I wonder what is in those files that they needed so much secrecy for." He pushed the bill of his baseball cap up a bit and looked over at me.

"It's Abstergo. Their secrets have secrets." I took of drink of my water. "We can't say anything. We are the same way, just not so high-tech."

He smiled. "This is true. Hell, I think our secrets' secrets have some dark secrets of their own, and their names are Desmond, Altair, Ezio, Conner and Alanna. They are the real dark secret of the Brotherhood, aren't they?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I know, and we have been covering three of their asses for ten years now. Plus our own. It is hard to keep track."

"Tell me about it." He snorted and shook his head. "So, what do you want to eat?"

"Anything that will not eat me back." I grinned and so he found the nearest Taco Bell. When we got together, I was a strict vegetarian, but now I will eat some meat. Chicken mainly. I forgot how damn good it was.

Getting the food and getting back on the road, we were in Oklahoma before my laptop told me it was done. I leaned over, plugged in my tablet and downloaded the file to it.

I began to read and my eyes began to grow wide. "Honey, we need to get the hell off the road and find an internet signal. Ezio is going to want to see this."

Another twist in the tale. I told you I was not done and was working up to something big. The sad thing is this is only the middle. There will be a lot more to learn in the coming chapters. See everyone later and thinks for the great reviews!