"You heard the news from Lyon?" Armand asked Isaac as they stood outside on a cloudy November day.
"Ouais, the rebellion's been put down. I can only imagine the kind of horrid retaliation the Convention is going to impose."
A gust of wind blew past them.
"Je sais. Look what they're doing to our own people here. Every day it seems like some big wig meets the chopping blocking. Did you hear they guillotined Olympe de Gouges?"
"Condamner, I liked her! Saw her speak once," Isaac said.
"I'm just glad I'm not living in the city anymore. They'd have your head for drinking Austrian wine. That blasted 'Law of Suspects.'"
Normally Isaac would have made a joke about 'Austrian wine', Élise reckoned. But the mood as of late was far too dark for jokes. Illuminati fanaticism had thoroughly gripped Paris. The other cities were not so complicit. Lyon had not been the only place to rebel, but all rebellions had been crushed.
"Élise!" Timothee called. She turned. He had a proud expression. Arno was by his side. "Come." He beckoned. Her spirits perked up. Would she finally get to go back on the battlefield, after months of watching helplessly as the Illuminati ravaged France?
She followed him inside, into his study. Two chairs were pulled out. They both took a seat. There were several maps laid out. Yes, surely her hiatus was over!
"I think it's time to end your congé! I've concocted what is perhaps our most daring and valiant undertaking yet!"
"I'm very eager to listen!"
"Oui, that's the woman I know and adore! As you know, heads are being severed in the city at a remarkable rate. Many of our own are in custody, and its a miracle so many have survived so long. I suppose the Illuminati monsters have been too busy executing everyone else to attend to them. But we have an inside source from the Temple, our ancestral fortress in La Marais. You remember, yes?"
"Oui."
"Bien, our sources tells us both Madame Roland and Jean Sylvain Bailly are being held there, and on the lowest floor, the dungeon level, underground They're to be transferred to the Concierge next week." That was typically the last stop before execution. "Then, of course, off to the guillotine."
"You want us to intercept them on the way to their execution? Or the Concierge?"
"No, they'll be escorted separately, no doubt. Rescuing them both separately is simply implausible. We want you to rescue them together, from the Temple."
Those words hit hard. "You want us to break into the Temple?" she asked alarmed. She and Arno looked at one another. Now she was not so eager to end her vacation.
"Oui...well, oui! But not directly! There's another route inside!" She deflated a bit. He pointed to the map closest to her. "The Temple is in fact connected to the catacombs through a secret passage. It helped our forefathers smuggle a great deal of treasure out of the city during Philippe the Faire's répression half a millennium ago! The secret passage links to the basement floor of the fort, where our dear comrades are being held. It provides a perfect route for infiltration and extraction!"
"But the Illuminati, they're sure to know about this passage too, no?"
"Yes, but it's a precious secret! They would not want the general public to be aware, so any security there should be minimal, compared to what you'd face in a direct assault, au mions."
"Hmh," Élise said. She looked down at the maps. The closest seemed to be the dungeon, with the cells of Roland and Bailly labelled. The secret Templar tunnel was also drawn. The next map must have been the catacombs, with its many twists and turns, the junction with the Templar secret labelled, and their point of entry. The third was a map of Paris. It looked like they would enter through the Holy Innocents' Cemetery.