A Bossy Father, a Chase, and a Really Cute Officer
It’s dark. It’s cold. It’s wet. It’s rainy. Why are we out here again?
Haytham and some guy are standing outside of Fort George talking about something that’s making Haytham irritated at the man.
When Connor and I approach, he holds his hand out for us to wait.
“We need to know what the Loyalists are planning if we're to put an end to this,” Haytham says in an annoyed tone to the man in the long coat and hat.
“I’ve tried!” the man protests. “But the soldiers themselves are told nothing now - only to await orders from above.”
“Then keep digging,” Haytham snaps. “Come find me when you have something worth sharing.”
Then the informant nods and quickly leaves our sight.
Connor and I walk up to Haytham as he says confidently, “We're so close to victory. A few more well-placed attacks and we'll be able to put an end to this civil war and be rid of the Crown.”
“What do you intend?” I ask.
“Well nothing at the moment - since we're completely in the dark,” Haytham replies as if giving an excuse.
“I thought the Templars had eyes and ears everywhere,” Connor says.
“Oh, we did,” Haytham replies sounding annoyed. “Until you two started cutting them off.”
I grin as I cross my arms over my chest. “And proud of it,” I add sarcastically. Haytham turns and narrows his eyes at me. I simply smile back.
“Your contact said orders from above,” Connor says, breaking the tension. “It tells us exactly what we need to do: track down the Loyalist commanders.”
“Ooh, he’s smarter that you ever were,” I mumble and Haytham glares at me as Connor bites back a smile.
-@-
My hands slip from the ledge I hang on because of the freaking abundance of cold water running everywhere and falling from the dark sky above our heads.
The three of us are climbing up the walls and remains of the buildings charred, burned, and destroyed in the Great Fire that burned through a good portion of New York only a few weeks ago.
“Can’t we come back when it’s not cold and rainy and dark?” I complain as I hoist myself over a ledge.
“No,” Haytham snaps from above me.
“Ooh, somebody missed their nap!” I call back and receive a splash of cold water that slides down my back. “Ooh, that was cold, Haytham!”
After a few more minutes of silent climbing, we finally make it to the meeting which has already begun. The several officers in the remains of the Trinity Church are standing in small groups huddled together as they speak to one another. We jump to a ledge right above them and crouch down to watch and listen.
“Haytham, scoot your butt,” I mutter as I squeeze between him and Connor.
Haytham groans in annoyance as he moves more to the right for me. “Is this how people talk to one another in your time?” he mumbles to me.
“It’s much worse,” I reply. “I’m being nice today.” I hear Connor chuckle before we all lean forward slightly and listen to the conversations.
“Have you considered the proposal?” an officer asks another.
“I'm unconvinced,” the other replies. “To reinforce them would leave New York exposed. It's hard enough maintaining order with our current numbers. Cut in half...”
“Yet if we do not join with them, they risk defeat,” a third officer cuts in. “And then what?”
“Well they should have come by sea...”
Haytham shakes his head as he grumbles, “They're talking in circles.” The three of us rise to a standing position. “We'll learn nothing, watching as we are.”
“Then what do you propose we do?” Connor asks sounding irritated. “March in there and demand answers?”
“Well, yes,” Haytham says simply to his son as he glances at the two of us. Then he’s jumping from the ledge we stand on to bury his hidden blades into the necks of the two guards below him as he hits the ground.
“Ambush!” an officer screams as the other men scramble to grab muskets or pistols to shoot.
Haytham unsheathes his sword as he gets back to his feet and readies for a fight. “Connor! Riley! A little help here?”
“The idiot’s in way over his head,” I mutter as I cross my arms over my chest. “I say we leave him down there and see how long he lasts.” I pause for a moment as I watch the fight below. “I bet you ten bucks not even ten minutes.”
Connor laughs at me as he pulls out his tomahawk and jumps into the fight easily taking out an unsuspecting redcoat below him. I see the three head officers have set up their firing line and let the guards and other officers to deal with us.
I load an arrow into my bow and fire it into the head of a redcoat coming at Haytham from behind. And he surprisingly looks up and nods to me. I instinctively nod back.
Jumping to one of the posts still standing in the church, I get a better view of the fight and better range.
“They’re getting ready to fire, guys!” I shout to the two idiots below me.
They both quickly grab a nearby soldier and prepare for the bullets. The rain continues to fall and dampens my already heavy robes and makes me feel cold and even more tired that I already am.
Then suddenly out of nowhere, a bullet is whizzing past my ear and it smacks the post behind me.
“Oh hell no, not again!” say angrily as I put my bow back around me and jump from the pillar. I land on the red coat who thought it was smart to try and shoot me with a musket. A big mistake.
“Riley, on your left!” Haytham shouts to me as he stabs his opponent in the stomach.
I get to my feet and easily sidestep a bayonet in my ribs. Then I whip around and look the officer in the eye. He drops his musket and gets ready to run. I see the sheer terror in his eyes as I drive my hidden blades through his neck and chest.
Connor fires his pistol causing the sound to echo around the ruined church walls as he takes out the final guard. All that remains are three terrified officers who seem to shake in their boots at the sight of us. Heck I would too.
“We'll bring them to my quarters at Fort George and see what secrets they might share,” Haytham orders us as he tightens the ropes around the wrists of the third officer.
But then, I forget that the cute officer in the middle loosens his ropes and takes off running down the road.
“Aww crap,” I mutter.
“Really?” Haytham complains as he throws his hands up in exasperation then turns to his son. “Well you'd best get after him, then.”
“You go,” Connor counters. “We will watch the prisoners.”
“No, you do it,” Haytham snaps back.
“Why me?” Connor complains.
“Oh for the love of God!” I shout as I rip my bow, arrows, and sword from my body. “Hold these.” I toss my weapons to the two bickering idiots and take off after the officer.
“Help! Save me! I need help!” the officer screams as he runs through the streets shoving people as he tries to get to the guard tower nearby.
Getting the idea, I quickly scale a wall to a tall building and begin to run along the edge to keep sight of the terrified officer. I think he gets the impression that he lost me and slows down his pace. I fall onto a wooden ledge where most people have put their plants or where signs hang.
The officer looks up and panics when he sees me again and then tries to run faster. It’s useless. But then he suddenly takes a sharp turn into another alleyway.
“Dammit,” I mutter.
I jump up and grab the wooden post with a pulley hanging from it and find myself swinging into the alleyway. I drop down and roll forwards to absorb the fall and jump right back up and take off running once again.
When I reach the end of the alley, I look to my right and see the officer turning the corner to go around the building. Then I get a smart and stupid idea that could easily kill both of us when I look up at the wall before me.
I quickly climb up the brick wall in front of me and jump into an open window. Knowing that this is somebody’s house, I try to get out as fast as possible and slide under the table before me and in slow motion it seems, I break through the large glass window with my body and find myself landing on the officer.
“Gotcha,” I say triumphantly.
-@-
“W-wait a minute, you’re a girl?” the cute officer stutters as I realize my hood fell off when I jumped through the building and hit the ground. So no everybody can see my awesome blond and rainbow hair.
“Absolutely,” I say with a teeth-showing pearly white smile as I push the officer forward again towards Fort George. I blow blue and red hair away from my eyes. “Now, move!” I say to the annoyingly unmoving officer.
“Go to hell,” the officer snaps back. “I will not tolerate such rudeness and disrespect from a child and I certainly will not take orders from a girl.”
I stop in my tracks as my grip on the officer’s arm tightens and be begins to shift uncomfortably at the pressure. “I swear to God, if I hear one more comment about my height or about how women don’t do anything but sit at home and have kids, I’m gonna kill somebody. Again.” The officer glances back at me in shock as if offended by my words and the fact that I’ve killed more than just a couple of people. It seems that the men of this era can’t stand women talking back to them or being able to stand on their own. “Now move your butt!” I shove the redcoat forwards again.
Once we’re at the entrance to Fort George, the cute officer stops again. “Wait, wait!” He says quickly. “I'll tell you anything you want. Anything! Only don't make me go in there!”
I laugh as I stand next to him. “I’m gonna let you in on a little secret.” I pause for a moment until he locks eyes with me. “I know exactly what’s gonna happen in there and exactly what you’re gonna say. So you might as well just chill out and let this stuff happen.”
“But that means you know that when I cross that threshold and I'm a dead man!”
“Riley!” The officer and I turn forward and see Connor walking towards us. “I was worried you might have gotten lost.”
I smile and shake my head as Connor hands me my weapons. “What? Me get lost?” I ask sarcastically then I laugh as I sheathe my sword. “No, I only had to get a little… creative with my tactics.”
Connor grins. “Haytham is waiting.” He says his father’s name and the grin fades from his face.
I nod as I push the officer forward. “Let’s go, dude.”
“No, no, please,” he stutters.
“It’ll be fine,” I say sarcastically. “And I thought you were the cute one.” I shake my head.
“What?” Connor asks.
I shake my head again as I laugh and we begin to enter the cellar. “I’ll tell you later, Connor.”
“There you are, Riley,” Haytham says in a sarcastic tone when he sees us walk in. “I was beginning to worry.”
“Aww, Haytham missed me, you guys,” I say in my happy and sweet tone to the five alive and dead guys in the room as I put a hand to my heart. Connor grins as Haytham rolls his eyes.
Connor then ties the officer to the middle chair binding his hands behind him. The redcoat looks around at the three of us with a terrified look in his eyes. I have to keep myself from looking at the two dead officers behind him in the dark shadows of the room. I wish they didn’t need to die.
“What are the British planning?” Haytham asks after Connor steps away from the officer and stands beside me.
“To march from Philadelphia,” the officer replies timidly. “That city's finished. New York's the key. They'll double our numbers - push back the rebels.”
“When do they begin?” Haytham jumps right into the next question seeing that his first was answered. He holds his hands behind his back as he slowly paces back and forth before the redcoat.
“Two days from now,” the officer answers.
“June 18th…” Connor says to his father. “We must warn Washington.”
Haytham nods then turns back to the officer. “You see? That wasn't so very difficult, now was it?”
“I've t-told you everything!” the officer exclaims. “Now l-let me go!” He looks right at me and I have to turn away.
“Of course,” Haytham says simply as he uses his hidden blade to cut the ropes that bind the officer’s hands. I quickly shut my eyes and grip Connor’s arm as I look away when I hear the hidden blade slice through the officer’s neck and the muffled yelp before he dies.
I turn my head back around and see Haytham walking towards us and a bloody officer dead behind him with his head down. “The other two said the same,” he says calmly to us as if a kill is nothing to him. But I know he hates doing it, he just never shows it. “It must be true.”
“You didn’t need to kill all of them,” I say slowly with harshness in my tone.
“They’d have warned the Loyalists,” Haytham says in protest. “You know better than anyone else here that I was going to do that anyway.” He points an accusing finger at me as he speaks. “So why does this bother you so much, then?” I say nothing. Haytham sighs. “They’d given up everything they knew. I’ll meet you two at Valley Forge.” With that, Haytham leaves the room.
Connor and I find our own way out of Fort George in silence. I’m not quite sure what to say and it appears neither does Connor.
The streets of New York are quiet and now most of the people are probably asleep. British soldiers stand guard on rooftops or outside on the smelly and quiet streets watching the night. I pull my hood farther down over my face when I catch an officer’s eye.
We decide to leave New York A.S.A.P. and get into the forest. So we steal a couple horses and ride into the Frontier in a still silence.
“Riley?”
Connor’s voice breaks me out of my thoughts. “What?” I ask quietly.
“Why does this bother you so much?”
I heave a heavy sigh. “I don’t know… it just does. I mean, I knew Haytham was gonna do it, but it just didn’t seem real until now.”
Connor is silent as he thinks on this. Then he speaks with a calm voice that makes me feel a bit better. “You know this story better than anyone ever will, Riley. So you know that things must happen the way you saw them.”
My breath is shaky and I close my eyes to avoid tears that threaten to come. I don’t want him to die. “But I don’t want things to happen the way they should.”
We decide to stop for the night in a nearby cave next to a stream and finish the journey in the morning. I tie off our horses when Connor makes a fire at the mouth of the cave.
I take a seat across from him as we stare into the orange and red movements of burning light.
Connor suddenly chuckles softly.
“What are you laughing at?” I ask looking up at him.
He looks back at me, the fames dancing across his dark golden eyes. “Do you remember that night when I found you in Boston and we camped out in the woods?” I smile and nod. “And you showed me your sketchbook and you didn’t know if I was real or not?”
“That was before I knew what I was getting myself into,” I say with a small grin.
Connor smiles. “I wish it would always be that simple.”
I shake my head. “No. if it was, things would never be the same.”