Chapter 7– "The Wolf"
Concord Suites Hotel, Cairo, Egypt
Year 2034- Present Day
Katerina "Katya" Winter—Age 25
Katya and Lucas were in their penthouse suite in a hotel whose company was a subsidiary of Concord's.
Katya was in her bedroom, wearing a scarlet robe in bed while listening to a nonfiction audiobook about the Isu on her tablet.
She was close to falling asleep when she heard Lucas talking to someone on the phone in the room outside hers.
Katya hit the pause button on her tablet's audiobook app, got up, tiptoed toward the door and put her ear to it.
"You're saying Essen was a dead end?" said Lucas. "Damn it… that lines up with what Otso Berg said about the Ankh. What about my mining company's findings? Have they located it at any of the sites accessed in Bayek's memories? No?"
Katya tried to process the implications of Lucas's phone conversation.
This business trip of Lucas's… it's about finding the Ankh of Eden?
"You're saying they need someone with a high concentration of triple-helix DNA to be accessed? Hmmm… actually that gives me an idea," said Lucas. "No, that's perfect. I'm already on the way to see him. Don't worry, RavenCorp will protect me from the Wolf. Not to mention I'm the one who…"
Lucas's voice grew too far away to hear, likely due to his moving into another room.
The Wolf? said Katya. I wonder who he's referring to.
Katya used her Eagle Vision to see Lucas's gold aura through the walls. He had moved into the living room.
She quietly opened and closed her bedroom door behind her, then hid underneath the dining room table and eavesdropped on Lucas from there.
"What? You moved the meeting up to tomorrow? Why?" Lucas paused. "What part of 'I'm the one who's in control' didn't you understand?" Sighing, Lucas put a hand to his head. "Right… they're getting greedy. We'll have to show the Wolf his place once more."
Lucas said, "I guess I need to make sure the meeting room is in order… Yes. Concord Suites, floor 72, that's correct."
Lucas is having a meeting in this hotel? Katya thought. On floor 72…
She wondered if she'd be able to infiltrate said meeting and learn more about Lucas's business dealings.
Unfortunately, even if she was capable of doing so, she wouldn't get the chance to.
The next morning, Lucas left her a note on the kitchen table saying that he'd be gone for most of the day and that she was to stay in her room, and not answer the door for anyone.
Katya's stomach was grumbling.
Katya went to the refrigerator. It was still empty.
Of course.
Looking around, she thought, looks like I'm going to have to answer the door for someone if I want to eat breakfast.
Katya showered and got dressed into a gray T-shirt and khaki shorts that hadn't been part of their luggage that was lost at the airport.
Looking at her body in the mirrors in her bathroom, Katya said, I've really filled out nicely despite that I've gone hungry for most of my life. Not to mention all the awful things I went through while living on the streets.
She decided to order room service.
She waited out on the penthouse balcony, looking at the skyline of Cairo and the sun rising above the horizon. She could see the Suez Canal in one direction, and a massive sandstorm coming in from the Sahara Desert in the other.
When she heard the doorbell ring, she went to open the penthouse suite's entrance doors.
Outside was a dark-skinned Egyptian man who was moving a cart with bowls full of fresh fruit, and plates of Belgian waffles covered in maple syrup, hash browns, and eggs cooked sunny-side up.
"Breakfast order for Katya Winter?" said the man.
Smiling, Katya said, "Yes, that's me. Thank you."
The man nodded, and was about to roll the cart into her room when a silenced bullet pierced through his skull.
Katya's face went white.
She began to scream, but it was too late.
Someone wearing a black commando suit and mask with the insignia of a wolf embroidered in red on both snuck up from behind her, grabbed her, and put a knife to her neck.
"Ah ah ah!" said the man grabbing her. "Don't scream if you know what's good for you."
More intruders wearing black commando suits and masks with the same red wolf insignia on them entered the penthouse through the open door, stepping over the corpse of the man who had delivered breakfast to her. They were all wielding automatic rifles, and had pistols, grenades, and combat knives strapped to their belts.
Hyperventilating, Katya was on the verge of dissociating.
"How did you get in here?" Katya said.
"I assume you're talking about me," said the man; strangely enough, despite that he was clearly Arabic, he spoke in a British accent. "The balcony doors were left open. I assume that was your mistake."
"What do you want from me?" she said.
"Do you think Lucas Winter loves you?"
Katya began to tremble.
"Please… I don't want to die…"
"We won't kill you if you answer the question. Truthfully, that is."
Katya shut her eyes, trying not to cry.
"Yes… he loves me," said Katya.
"Lucas is a monster," said the man grabbing her. "You merely think he loves you. With that said… you did answer our question, and I believe you told the truth."
"You're our bargaining chip with the Mad One," the man said as he holstered his knife and pulled out a chloroform rag. "You're coming with us… Katya."
"No…"
As the man known as the Wolf pressed the chloroform rag to Katya's nose and mouth, Katya fell unconscious in a matter of seconds.
The Assassins' Sleeper Cell, An-Nusayriyah Mountains, Syria
When Katya began to wake up, she felt that her arms and legs had been cuffed to a chair of some kind upon trying to move them.
As her vision became less blurry, she saw that she was in a room of an ancient castle, complete with ancient bookshelves and furniture, as well as stained glass windows.
Wait a minute… she thought, this castle, it's…
Katya became dizzy and lightheaded for a moment as she hallucinated.
The castle's facade turned brighter and less ancient-looking.
She saw several men wearing white robes, capes and hoods moving around her, all of them with missing fingers.
One of the men in white was talking to an older man with a long beard.
As he turned around, Katya saw his face.
"Altair!" said Katya.
"Altair?" said a familiar British-Arabic voice.
As the hallucinations began to dissipate, Katya shut her eyes and shook her head in an attempt to make them go away.
"You know where we are…" said the man who kidnapped her. "Most curious."
"We're in…"
"Masyaf… the old home of the Assassin Brotherhood," said the man as he removed his mask.
"My name is Basim ibn Ishaq," he said. "Your foster father, Lucas, has something I want, Katya. That's why I'm going to use you to bargain with him."
"Provided Lucas actually does love you, I'm sure he'll cooperate with us. If he doesn't love you, or rather, he doesn't see the point in getting you back… well, we don't see the point in giving you back."
Katya trembled in fear. "You're an Assassin?"
"No," said Basim. "I was a Hidden One once. But once I realized who I truly was… I had things I needed that were much more important to me than mere creeds to follow. As for the Assassins… there was a time when I worked with them, just like there was a time when I worked with the Templars… and your father."
Katya said, "You said you were a Hidden One… but their brand of the Assassin's Creed hasn't existed for close to a millennium."
"Correct," said Basim.
"Then how are you a–"
"I'd answer your question with words if it weren't easier to just show you," said Basim as he pulled out a massive Staff of Eden.
"The Staff of Hermes Trismegistus!" said Katya. "Now I remember who you are… You're Loki's reincarnation!"
"Correct again," said Basim.
Katya looked around.
"If you're not an Assassin… why are you doing this to me and Lucas?"
"Why not is a better question," Basim laughed. "Lucas gave you a taste of the good life, apparently not doing enough to show you its cost. I suppose I could sell you back to your biological parents… or better yet… the people who made your life a living hell for all those years."
"No!" screamed Katya. "No…"
Tears ran down her eyes as she stared emptily at Basim.
"I want to confirm something," said Basim. "I was unable to access the Grey in its entirety when Eivor Varinsdottir uploaded my mind to Yggdrasil. I tried to coax answers from the Reader after he made his appearance after averting the Second Catastrophe, but he did such a good job deflecting that frankly I suspect he didn't know why that was the case either."
"For some reason, you're experiencing the Bleeding Effect. You've taken part in Altair's memories."
"No I haven't–"
"Telling lies to a trickster like myself, and telling them that badly at that, will only make you look like boring prey, Katya," said Basim. "Did you experience the Bleeding Effect of Altair's memories with or without reliving them through an Animus?"
"No…" said Katya.
"Let's make this interrogation more fun then," said Basim as he loaded a single bullet into one of the six chambers of one of three revolvers lying on a crate nearby.
"You've got much more to lose than you do if you tell me the truth, Katya," he said as he spun the magazine of the revolver with the bullet in it, then clicked the magazine into place and cocked the gun.
"I told you the truth," said Katya, who frowned at Basim.
"Since you're such a fan of lies and tricks…" said Basim, "...have several."
Basim quickly juggled the three revolvers with his hands, then pulled the trigger once with one of his hands. Katya jumped in her chair at this.
Basim continued to juggle the three revolvers, pulling the triggers of the revolvers with his hands several more times. Katya grew even more physically terrified as he kept pulling their triggers.
"Please! I told you the truth!" Katya cried.
"Lies, Katya, and you know it," said Basim as he sped up his juggling and pulled the trigger again.
Squirming in her bonds, Katya was crying and breathing rapidly.
She screamed, "ALL RIGHT!"
Basim pulled the trigger one last time, and fired at the floor between her legs.
As Basim let the other revolvers fall to the floor, she looked at the ground where he fired at her after catching her breath and looked up at him.
"It was a blank?" she cried.
"Like I said, you're my bargaining chip," said Basim. "You're no good to me dead… but I have other ways of making you talk. Most of them aren't as fun… or painless."
Katya sighed, and looked at the floor while saying, "You're right… Somehow I'm able to relive the memories of certain people throughout history, experience the Bleeding Effect from their memories… without an Animus. I've always been like this and I don't know why. I'm telling the truth."
Standing back, Basim stroked his beard for several seconds. "You're much more than a bargaining chip. You might just be the key to winning the war against Lucas, Concord, and Abstergo."
Katya looked back up at Basim and grimaced.
She couldn't help but get the feeling that her new, comfortable life with Lucas was likely over.
Said feeling was right.