Assassin's Creed: Winter's Falling

Chapter 18

Nerida placed her foot on Johnny's back and slid him down her glaive's shaft. Once he was down on the ground, she yanked it out. Ann gabbed the phone a wiped it down. She opened it carefully. The screen was slightly cracked, but other than that the phone was okay. Ann bypassed the password with a couple swipes and checked the data.

"That's strange," Ann showed Nerida the screen. "He didn't delete any of his info. Not even his browser history, or call log."

"Than what was that last, dramatic button push for," Nerida asked as she drew closer.

Ann tinkered with the settings and pulled up the last command made. It was a remote activation command, but to what she couldn't tell. She tried to get the phone to give up more of its secrets, but it command was untraceable. Ann gave up and began to look through the Johnny's texts. The text he had received from an unknown number right before his attack caught her eye.

"Project Knight is go. Activate tracker, kill leader." Ann read out loud. "What does that mean?"

Nerida shrugged. They stepped around the body and walked inside the check on the others. Joy was crying as Lightning gently closed Michael's eyes. Lazerus had helped Sol to the infirmary, and had then disappeared into the jungle. He came back as Ann and Nerida started telling Lightning about what they had discovered on Johnny's phone. With Lazerus came a tall blond, with light green eyes and a surfer's tan. Lightning recognized him as Jack, the pilot of the helicopter that had dropped her off in Paris. She chose to ignore him and focus on the task at hand.

"Jack and I will take care of the bodies," Lazerus said as he approached. "Michael deserves a proper send off."

"I'll help," Joy whipped her face and rose slowly to her feet.

"I'll check on Sol," Lightning said. "Ann, Nerida, come with me so you can finish telling me about what you found."

"Ann can do that," Nerida turned away. "I'm gonna go search Johnny's room."

Lightning nodded and lead Ann towards the infirmary. Nerida quickly jogged down the hall. As Lightning and Ann entered the infirmary, they were pleasantly surprised to find Sol sitting up in bed. She looked a little pale, but you could see the wheels turning in her head. She looked up sharply when she saw them approach.

"How are you feeling?" Lightning asked.

"Fine," Sol replied with a slight smile. "I'm guessing you dealt with the bodies?"

"Laz and some new guy named Jack are handling it," Ann answered. "We found some information on Johnny's phone, and want to discuss what it might mean."

"What did you find?" Sol's brow wrinkled in curiosity.

"He activated some sort of tracker device somewhere, but the signal is untraceable. And the last text he received mentions something called Project Knight." Ann explained.

"I heard about Project Knight while in Paris," Lightning's eyes grew wide. "That's their mind control program."

"MIND CONTROL!" Sol exclaimed in disbelief. "That's science fiction last time I checked."

"That's what I thought too," Lightning nodded slightly. "But while I was in Paris, I ran into one of my Assassin Brothers who had been captured during the first wave of attack. His eyes looked blank and distant, like all the life had been sucked out of him. One of his close friends tried to talk to him and he shot him. It took three of us together to put him down."