"You seem quiet," Desmond said. They had been driving for about two hours, and she had barely said a word.
"I'm just worried, Dez. About Lucy, Shaun..."
Desmond could not deny he was too. He had spent the entire ride brooding over what they might find once they reached the distress beacon. If it was like the movies, they would have tried to torture information out of them. Would they have spilled any secrets? And how much could he blame them if they had? What would it mean for their mission, their safety?
If they had sent a distress call, they had probably already escaped, although they could not really know. Even if that were the case, the Templars would be in hot pursuit, and simply awaiting rescue would force Lucy, Shaun, and Claude to stay put: never a nice option when one was being chased.
Rebecca spoke again. "At least if Lucy's okay, she's going to be proud of what you found in the Animus. It all adds up. Ezio stole and buried the Apple in, what? 1486? 1484? It only took the Templars less than a decade to commission of a voyage sailing to the New World to get a new Apple! That's how important the replacement artifact was to them!"
"The Templars...you mean Columbus. You think he was one of them?"
"Yeah. And his ships, I mean, they were all flying the red-cross with the flair-ends."
"That's..."
"The Templar Cross."
"Hmh," Desmond said. He did not care much about history right now, with the present weighing on him.
He got back to watching the passing trees. How nice it would be to be a wild animal in those woods right now, ignorant to all of this. Or to simply be back bartending in the big city, back in his innocent existence. It seemed one never appreciated the good days until they were gone. Now peace was a thing of the past.
He thought back to his late nights motorcycling through the glimmer city, gulping down shots of vodka at courtesy of friendly customers, weekends at the gym, binge watching American Steel or Hell Raisers after a hard -
"We're getting close, Dez. Get ready." She switched off the headlights and slowed down. Fortunately there was a full moon right above them to provide a small bit of light.
How precise had the signal been? He had not bothered to ask Rebecca about the details. He had simply shuffled along, following her lead.
"There!" she said. There was a small patch of dirt, off the road. She eagerly turned onto it and parked.
At last they had stopped. The dirt patch continued onto a road into the woods, blocked off with foreboding gate, the kind for blocking vehicle traffic, chain, padlock, sign and all. "This must have been where they were broadcasting from!"
Desmond felt at once uneasy.
She opened the door and exited. Desmond hesitated.
"Out, Dez!"