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Chapter 74

It was past midnight when Ezio knocked on Rosa's door. It had woken her up, and he could hear her swearing to herself about that fact as she walked toward the entrance. She yanked it open and was almost ready to hit her visitor.

"Can't you see I'm trying to…" she started before she saw who it was. Her expression changed immediately.

"I am sorry for the intrusion," he said.

"Ezio!" She threw her arms around him for a moment before lowering her voice to a whisper. "Where the hell have you been? What happened? What took you so long?"

"May I come in?" he asked. "It's a long story."

She opened the door all the way and let him through. He sat on her bed and thought for a long minute with his face buried in his hands. She lit a candle to give them some light and then spoke again.

"What happened to you finger?"

Ezio looked up at it and covered it with his other hand, then placed both hands in his lap.

"The information in the manifest you gave me was good," he told her, changing the subject. "The boat arrived on schedule."

"And? What was it carrying? Who was on it?" She sat down next to him.

"Just some guards and a box with…something important. At least, I was told it's important," Ezio said.

"Do you have it?"

He shook his head. "I followed the one who took the box through the city and ended up taking his place after I got rid of him. I joined some other guards and we carried the box a little further and-"

"Wait, why didn't you just take the box for yourself after you killed the man who had it?" she interrupted.

"They were taking it to the Spaniard. He is here in Venezia."

"Is? You mean he's still alive."

Ezio nodded. "Sì, I was not able to kill him."

She let out a deep sigh and put her arm around him. He leaned into her and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Perhaps there is still time to recover the box from him," she offered. "We can dispatch some of our spies and-"

"No, you misunderstand. He doesn't have the box either."

She pushed him away so she could look at him. He could tell she was confused and he knew that his answer to her next question wasn't going to help that.

"What? Then who does?"

There was another moment of silence as he considered how to explain everything to her.

"The Assassins," he decided to begin.

"The Assassins? You mean your uncle?"

"Not just him. There were others was well. They helped me fight off the Spaniard."

"How did they know you were there?"

"They didn't. They only knew the boat was arriving with whatever is in that box."

"That's impossible. How could they have known about it without the manifest? We have the only copy!"

"We are not the only ones who have seen it," he reminded her.

Her eyes widened. "Antonio gave that information to the Assassins?"

"Antonio is an Assassin, Rosa. So are Bartolomeo and Sister Teodora, and some of my contacts from Firenze. They were all there!"

Rosa got up and looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "What the hell are you talking about? Antonio hasn't even returned from his trip. What exactly did you see? Maybe you just imagined-"

Ezio held up is hand and showed the branded finger to her again.

She stopped and examined it for a moment. "I've seen this symbol before. What is it?"

"The mark of the Assassins."