Desmond

The snow fell around me as I walked the streets of Trenton. My mark was not at home and I had not had any luck at the local restaurants. I ground my teeth in frustration. I hated just waiting around for someone to show up. Tucking my hands firmly into my pockets, I played with the change I had in my pocket. There was about fifty-seven cents there. I had left most of the money I had in the car that was parked in a lot about a mile from here. My target's house was right around the corner from there, but when I got there, there were no lights on.

I kicked a small rock, and watched it skid across the icy street. I can't believe the one time I need this man to be on a normal schedule, he's not.

"Des!" I turned when I heard my name. Gwen, the young girl that befriended Alanna at the Farm jogged up to me. She was one of the assassins that Dad had sent to help us on this assignment.

She stopped in front of me, breathing hard. Bending over, she took a minute to catch her breath. "I found your guy. He is with mine. Just showed up a few minutes ago. They were driving to the local steakhouse."

Oh I wanted to kiss this girl at that moment. "Where is your car?" I asked.

"I hit a patch of ice and slid into a curb, busting the tire from the rim. I was running around looking for you. No one would answer their phone and yours is the only number I didn't have. Lucky me I guess." She sighed. "So, you want to team up?"

I nodded. "I was about to go stir crazy. Come on, walk and talk, Gwen." I started for the car, and fell into step with me. "How did you find me?"

"I know where your target lives. I figured you were either there, or near there. That's where I was heading." She told me and shook the snow from her hair. "So, why are we not killing them tonight?"

"Because we have to know when to strike. Everyone has to be hit at one time. The thing is we can't hit the target we scouted." I informed her. That was what Ezio had said. Less chance someone can point a finger at one of us.

"Oh okay. I guess that makes sense." She shoved her hands in her pockets. "Damn, it's cold here."

I laughed at her. "Try being in Montana in a blizzard. That is cold. Alaska is worse though." I had been in Alaska several years ago trying to clear my head, when a freak snow storm came out of nowhere. Was stranded there for a few days. It wasn't so bad. It was actually kind of peaceful.

We walked back to the car I had on loan. It wouldn't have been my first choice. I was into bikes, not muscle cars. Altair, on the other hand, was a car man. I wasn't even listening to him when he told me what it was. All I know was what the badging said. A Ford Thunderbird.

Gwen looked at the car and whistled. "Is that yours?"

I shook my head. "Nope, it's Allen's. The man is gifted with a wrench and knowledge of old cars."

She looked the car up and down. "Wish I could do that."

I unlocked the car and climbed in, reached over and unlocked her door. "Get in." She did as she was told and buckled up. "Where am I heading?"

Gwen gave me directions and I headed there, only sliding a few times. The roads were like glass. Granted, the car was heavy, but being rear wheel drive, it was the not the best in the snow. How I wished to be back in Greece, on the beach, surrounded by bikini-clad women. That was a nice dream.

Pulling, well rather sliding, into a parking spot, I killed the motor and got out. Grabbing some bills from the glove box, I shoved them into my jeans pocket and waited for Gwen to join me at the front of the beast.

She got out, and looked at me. "What's our plan of attack?"

"Try to get as close to them as we can. If not, we have to just watch them. If they leave before we can, one of us is going to have to follow them." I told her.

"And if they split? My car is not going anywhere anytime soon. I…ugh… don't have a spare tire. It's already on the car." She smiled nervously. "I popped one coming here."

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. "Doesn't he give you guys any money at all?"

"Who? The Grandmaster?" She looked at me curiously.

I growled. "Yes, the idiot that is in that position."

She shook her head. "Not really. I mean, we live off the grid. We get what we need for missions, and that's it. This is the first time I have been away from the Farm this long."

I ground my teeth. That was the reason why I left in the beginning. I could not stand to be off the grid, disconnected from the world. I understand why we do it, but in the same breath, it is not the smart idea. I have learned more about the Templars and their ways being in the world than I ever did sitting on the Farm. "I will get you a tire in the morning. They don't expect us back until sometime in the next day or so."

Gwen pushed her coppery hair away from her face. "You really don't have to do that. I am not that worried about that car. I don't think it's going to last much longer."

I took her arm and started for the door. "Well, you are going to need it for right now. We will get you a tire and have Allen look at it when we get back. Like I said, he is a wiz when it comes to cars. I have seen him repair a car with duct tape and a tin can. Damn thing got us about a hundred miles before the motor finally blew on us."

"Wow. Maybe he will give me some pointers. I have no clue about cars. I know how to put oil in it, gas, and change a tire. That's my knowledge." She chuckled as we walked in.

I laughed along with her, because before I got hooked up with the ancients, I had no idea about cars as well. I have come far in twelve years, both as a person and an assassin. The immortality thing helped a bit with the assassin thing, but I would keep that part to myself. "I was the same way before I had a few lessons from the guys."

We waited a few minutes for a table and luck held out because we were put a few tables away from the two men we had to watch. They were having a rather heated talk when we past to go to our table. I sat with my back to them and Gwen sat in front of me.

After placing our drink order, I attempted to listen to their talk, but because of the noise in the place and the televisions, I could only catch a few words here and there, but it was enough to piece together what was going on.

"The man I am supposed to be tailing is moving in a week to the instillation in China. He's not happy about it, but he is going to do it." I told her in a low voice.

She looked at me. "You can hear them? I can't make out anything."

I nodded. "I have good hearing." I wasn't about to tell her that I knew ancient secrets of the order and learned from the best. "That does not give us a lot of time to get this together." Ezio needed to know this now.

"So, what do we do now?"

I was about to answer when our server walked over with our drinks and was ready to take our order. We told her and she walked off to put it into the kitchen. Once she was gone, I focused on Gwen. "That is up to Eric. He is the one coordinating this whole thing. I am just here to get info for him and Shaun."

"What are they saying now?" Taking a sip of her drink, she added another sugar packet to the sweet tea.

Listening in again, they were talking about something to do with a new subject. These guys must be high up on the food chain if they knew things like that. "They are talking about another target for their experiments. I haven't said their name."

Pulling out my phone, I opened a new text window and began to text Ezio what I had heard. He replied that I may have to take them out tonight, but to wait until he found out more. I didn't have the money on me to stay in a hotel, and I was not sleeping in the car.

Listening to them a bit more, they had left the topic of Abstergo behind and began to talk about their girlfriends. I shook my head and drank my pop. Gwen waited until I was ready to talk. Finally when I realized that they were done talking about work, I turned my attention on her. "They are not going to talk about work anymore." I sighed and ran a hand down my face.

"Can I ask a personal question?" She leaned her elbows on the table, and rested her chin on her hands.

"Why not? I guess we have kind of become partners for the night." I shrugged.

"How old are you? I mean, I know you are William's son, but you left the Farm twenty years ago. That would put you in your thirties, but you don't look that old." She looked at me with those green eyes.

So I lied. "I have good genes. I age well, and that is all you are getting from me." I smiled at here. "You are what, eighteen?"

Gwen's nose scrunched up and she sat up straight. "I am twenty-two."

I smirked. "You are still a baby in this world, sweetheart."

"I am not!" She looked a bit offended that I would call her that.

Trying to smooth her ruffled feathers, I smiled. "What I meant by that is, you have not done half of the things I had done at that age. I learned what I know on the run, while you have stayed in the safety of the Farm. I was not being you were a baby because of your age."

I saw her relax a bit. "Oh, sorry. I am used to the guys giving me shit about being my age and not going on as many missions has they had. This is the first time I have really been on my own and I am just gathering info."

"You will get your shot. Just give it time."

Altair

I lounged in the back of the cab. The driver did not ask any questions when I told him to follow the woman if from to us. Hell, for what I had paid him, he was smart not to open his mouth. I think what he had in his pocket paid for his rent for next four months. It didn't bother me. I hated driving in the city. The drivers on this damn island pissed me off too much for me to keep a cool head. That was why when I stayed here with Ezio, he did all the driving. I was not the nicest person behind the wheel.

The driver took a right turn and stayed near the Lexus, but far enough behind to not think she was being tailed. I would give the man props. He knew what he was doing. "You are good at this following people." I told him as I looked out the windshield from my place in the back.

I heard him chuckle. "You would not believe how many people I have followed over the years. Couples wanting to follow the other to see what they are doing behind each other back. Private investigators needing a place to hide while watching someone. You see it all as a cab driver."

"So it would seem." I watched her, Linda Pallus, pull up in front of a building and my driver pulled past her and stopped in front of a coffee shop. I was not worried about someone trying to claim the cab. The sign was off signaling he was not for hire.

Turning slightly, I looked out the back window and saw her hand the keys to the valet attendant. According to my information, she didn't live here. Her apartment was on seventeen blocks from here, but from the way the valet inclined his head to her, he knew her.

I thumbed through the file I had, but there was no mention of this place. What the hell was here? I turned to my driver. "I will be right back."

I grabbed the sports coat that I had borrowed from Ezio, threw it on, and got out of the cab. Heading to the valet, he was about to get into her car, when I called to him. He looked up from the driver's side, hand on the handle. "Can I help you?" He asked as he looked at me.

"I was wondering if you knew the woman that just walked in there." I stopped short of the car and looked at him.

He arched a brow and watched me carefully. "Can I ask who you are?"

I flashed my bounty hunters badge. That got his attention. "I am trying to find a guy that fled captivity a few days ago. A tip led me to the woman that walked inside. I was trying to find out if she lives here or not. I have her address a few blocks from here."

The boy shook his head. "No sir, she does not live here, but knows someone that does. I think it is her boyfriend. She comes over a few times a week, but never for more than a few hours. After that she leaves. She has never stayed the night. Not once in the five months she has been coming here."

That was interesting. "Thank you. Do not tell her I was here." I pulled a few bills from my pocket and handed them to the kid. "For your silence."

He took the money and looked down at it. "I will not breathe a word." He smiled and got into Pallus' car.

I headed back to the cab and the driver was standing on the curb, smoking a cigarette. He held out his pack. "Want one?"

I took one and lit it up. I had smoked a few times in my life. My thought was, like it was going to kill me. Through the sixties, I think I did every illegal drug out there. Those were the fun times. Ezio did the same. The bad thing was, with the way our bodies worked, we were fine a few hours later.

The smoke rolled from my mouth as I exhaled. "Thanks."

He nodded. "You looked like you could use it. I don't smoke in the cab and I was hoping you would stop so I could have one. I remember a time when I could and no one would complain. Now, it's like lighting one up in front of people, you are the Devil himself." He exhaled and ashed.

"I know what you mean." I kept an eye on the building. "My partner would yell at me every time I would light up in his car. I quit so I did not have to hear his mouth." Ezio had forbid me from smoking in his apartment, so I would go out onto the fire escape. Then he would yell because I opened the window in the middle of winter. After listening to it for so long, I sat the habit down. It was not worth it to hear his mouth.

"My wife keeps trying to get me to quit." He dropped the cigarette and put it out with the heel of his boot.

Alanna did not know I smoked, or used to. I don't know what her reaction would be to it. "Want to get some coffee? From what the kid said, she is in there for a few hours sometimes."

He shrugged. "Sure, why not."

We walked into the coffee house after I finished my smoke and ordered two black coffees. The woman behind the counter smiled, and handed them to us. I think she was used to getting orders for lattes and cappuccinos, but that was not for me. Give me normal coffee and I was good.

We headed back out and got back into the warm cab. The snow had stopped for now, but the ground was covered in white. I watched the front door from the back window, while the driver sat in his seat doing a word search puzzle.

An hour passed and Pallus walked out of the building. The kid retrieved her car, and she was off once more. We took off as well, but after she was already a block away.

Tailing her for another hour, I watched her just drive around. This woman's paranoia could give mine a run for the money. She passed her building three times and then finally, when she thought it was safe, she pulled up to her valet. We were parked in a garage across from her, up on the second floor. I watched her climb out and hand her keys to the man outside.

"Well, I think I am done tailing her. You are free to go." I looked at the man that had been driving me around for four hours.

"You sure? You don't need a lift somewhere else?" He sat on the hood of the cab and watched me.

I shook my head. "I will call my wife to get me. I am going to make sure she does not leave again for the night and then head home. Thanks for the lift."

He nodded and jumped down. "You need a driver again, look me up." Opening the car door, he got in, backed up and left.

I pulled out my phone and called Ezio. He answered. 'Got something for me?'

"Linda Pallus has a boyfriend. She goes there a few times during the week. Stays no more than a few hours and then goes home. Watch out because she is paranoid and drives around until she thinks she is safe." I looked down at the street below. "You have anyone else in the city that needs to be watched?"

'Nope. Alanna just checked in with Rebecca. She is going to check out her target's place. Desmond and Gwen are paired up right now, and I have not heard from Conner as of yet. I will give him another hour before I call him. Dawson, Hunter, Steve, Casey and Brett have all check in as well. They have eyes on their targets and have given the green light on their whereabouts.' I heard the strokes of a keyboard. He was at the computer.

"Good. Let me know if you do not hear from Conner. I will go down there personally to find him." I shifted the phone. That boy was too much of a lone wolf for his own good. He did good work, but did not like to play by the rules.

I heard him exhale. 'Dawson is closer. I would send him before I sent you, but you and Alanna are next in line. I wish that boy would listen to simple instructions.'

I knew what he meant. "Alright, keep me posted."

'I will. See you when you get back here.'

I hung up the phone and dialed Alanna's number. She picked up after four rings. 'I have a few minutes. What do you need?'

"Wonderful greeting. Happy to hear from you as well." I rolled my eyes.

'Sorry. I am about to pull up to McDaniels' place. He is still there with his buddies and I want to make sure I have all the info about this guy.'

"I am done with my tail. Whenever you are ready, you can come get me." I began to walk through the garage towards the exit.

'Give me a bit. I will come get you. Where are you at?' I gave her the address. 'Why don't you head my direction? His place is nine blocks away from there.'

That sounded like a plan. I could watch out for her target while she did her snooping. "Okay. I will see you in a little bit."

The line went dead and I shook my head. This was turning out to be an interesting night.