Tomb of the Khan

  There were two soldiers guarding each of the entrances, and Zhi could see no way around them. From the shadows, she fired two bolts from her crossbow, almost simultaneously, and both guards went down silently, clutching their necks. She leapt over their bodies and raced into the tent, and then dove to the side for cover.

  Lanterns hung from the thick timber frames above her, the ceiling beyond obscured by its height and the haze of smoke and incense. Silks and tapestries hung from the walls, while tall wooden screens, carved and inlaid with gemstones and precious metals, formed partitions that divided the tent into hallways and rooms.

  Zhi had only moments before the guards outside were discovered. She moved to one of the massive wooden pillars and scaled it like the trunk of a tree until she attained a vantage point in the rafters, above the tops of the walls so that she could look down into the rooms. From there she could find the Khan.

  That did not prove difficult, either. She soon located his dining hall, his throne, and then his bedroom. There were guards throughout the tent, but she could keep hidden where she was, and the wooden beams were wide enough for her to creep along unnoticed.

  When Zhi reached a point directly over Möngke, she stopped for a moment and watched him from her perch. He seemed a large man, and strong. How many deaths could be laid at his feet, and the feet of his family before him?

  A distant noise rose up, voices shouting alarm.

  Zhi’s eyes widened. She had to act. Now.

  She leapt from the rafter, straight down onto Möngke’s bed, her father’s hidden blade buried instantly in his throat. The Khan’s eyes shot open, and his mouth flew wide, but no sound emerged. Zhi made eye contact with the dying Möngke until the strength of his bleeding weakened, and she saw his body empty out its spirit and become a shell. Once he was dead, she dove from the bed and climbed back up into the rafters. That was when Owen noticed the dagger with the Khan’s armor, near the bed. Zhi had no idea what it was, but he did. He’d held one very similar to it in the memories of Varius. The second prong from the Trident of Eden.

  But Zhi now focused on escaping. She had to be quick, for once the Khan’s dead body was discovered, there would be no place safe enough to hide within the tent.

  The commotion outside had become louder, and many of the guards within the tent had either moved toward that entrance, or toward the Khan’s bedroom, so Zhi made her way toward the opposite end of the tent.

  She dropped to the ground as close to the exit as she could, and then stepped outside. The two guards standing there went down instantly, one shot by her crossbow, the other with her knife in the back of his neck.

  But this time there were other warriors gathered to witness it.

  They shouted, pointing. She heard swords being drawn, and knew arrows would fly next, so she ran, dodging between the tents, sometimes climbing up and over them, their felt coverings stretching a little beneath her feet, their wood creaking. The Mongols gave chase, rousing the entire camp.

  Beneath Zhi’s mind, Owen worried for her, silently begging her to move faster, just as Kang had done. Her only chance for escape would be the forest. Its edge lay several hundred yards away, through the enormous camp, a distance that seemed impossible, but she honed her senses and flew along the route her intuition mapped for her. In spite of her fear, with every step, she smiled, and with every breath she laughed. Her father’s death had been avenged. His memory had been honored. His blade had done what it was meant to do.

  Even if they caught her, she had succeeded.

  After dinner that night, David lay in bed in his room, awake and thinking. Something about the Aerie had been bothering him since that afternoon. He hadn’t mentioned it to any of the others, because it kind of involved them, but it went back to what Grace had asked.

  What would Dad say to you right now?

  She probably didn’t think he’d taken the question seriously, but he had. He had thought about what his dad would say, and he realized that what his dad would say depended on what his dad knew, and right now, his dad didn’t know very much. None of them did, not really, because they never asked. They were too busy thinking about their simulations. When he’d stopped to think about that, the Animus had suddenly seemed to be a distraction, and David then had remembered all the things Monroe had said about Abstergo and the Templars.

  So then he had wondered: if Abstergo wanted them all to focus on one thing, the Animus, did that mean there were things the Templars didn’t want them asking about? And what would those things be?

  The first thing that came to David’s mind was the Aerie itself, because he’d never even caught a glimpse of what was going on elsewhere in the compound. That struck him as odd, but Grace and Sean hadn’t seemed curious about that at all.

  But David was, and lying there in his bed, he decided to do something about it. Shortly after one, in the middle of the night, he got out of bed, pulled on some clothes, and crept from his room.

  He’d never been out at that hour. The Aerie was quiet and dark, but still felt alive, breathing the air circulating through its vents. David could even hear an owl, or something out in the forest, muted by the glass.

  He crept along the corridor, then down another, and another, working his way toward the walkway that connected this building with the next one over. He figured there were probably security cameras all around this place, and they’d catch him any minute, so he wanted to see as much as he could before then.

  When he reached the walkway, its outer door was closed, but it wasn’t locked. He entered the passage, and hurried through the elevated tunnel of glass, the woods above, below, and to either side of him.

  On the far side, he entered into a new building he’d never seen before. It actually looked a lot like the one where he and his sister and the others lived, and David wondered if there were kids sleeping in some of these rooms, too. Maybe the compound housed whole units of Abstergo research subjects.

  He pushed ahead and came to another walkway, but this one didn’t open. An electronic keylock to the side had a lens for a fingerprint, and a touch screen for a code or password. David was about to walk over to it when he heard footsteps on the far side of the door, coming toward him.

  He hurried away and down a side hall, where he yanked off his shoes and then hugged the wall. He heard the door open, and then a security guard strolled by without a sideways glance.

  As soon as he’d passed, David tiptoed toward the closing door and barely managed to slip through before it hissed and clicked shut behind him. Now he stood in another, much longer walkway. Some distance away, it seemed to bend and disappear into the darkness of the woods. David put his shoes on and glanced backward at the locked door. The security guard made him wonder what exactly would happen if they caught him sneaking around like this. Would he get kicked out, sent home? His dad wouldn’t be happy. He worried about drugs and gangs in the neighborhood, and the truth was that David did, too. But maybe Isaiah could do something worse than just kicking him out.

  He decided he had already come this far, he might as well keep going and see as much as he could before they found him. So he hurried down the corridor.

  The bend he’d seen ahead turned out to be a staircase that followed the mountain’s slope some distance downward. He descended it and reached another walkway, but several yards on, it ended at a door that seemed to lead into the mountain. A part of the complex was underground.

  David listened at the door before opening it, but heard nothing. So he pushed and found the door unlocked. Bright light filled the hallway he entered, and he had to squint for a minute until his eyes adjusted to it.

  This part of the Aerie seemed much more alert. The corridor branched ahead in four directions, and David decided to keep moving straight ahead. The doors he passed all had those electronic locks on them, so he didn’t really have an option to explore. He just kept going, creeping along, listening.

  Eventually, the hallway opened wider and soon ended at a pair of open d
ouble doors. Beyond them, David entered a huge garage full of cars, SUVs, and vans like the one that had brought them to the Aerie in the first place. But one car in particular caught his eye, a vehicle the sable color of a shadow at night. The curve of its hood rose up from what looked like a small jet engine intake at the front, sweeping away to the sides over large wheels. The darkly tinted windshield wrapped around and over a sleek cockpit, while the rear of the car rose up subtly, like a panther shifting on its haunches in ambush.

  The car was incredible. David moved toward it and couldn’t resist trying the door. It opened, so he climbed into the driver’s seat, which felt more like sliding into the pilot’s chair of a spaceship, the console covered in touch screens and dozens of controls. He closed the door and grasped the flared steering wheel for a few moments, imagining himself driving it.

  Then he decided he better not stay any longer. He was about to climb out when he noticed a massive door opening on the far side of the garage, and he ducked down low in the seat as several vehicles pulled in. They killed their lights as they entered and parked near him, and a woman wearing some kind of paramilitary gear climbed out of the forward van. Then Isaiah, still wearing his dark suit, marched through the double doors. He joined up with the woman from the van, and together they walked toward the vehicle where David now hid, shaking. But he was able to hear their muffled conversation through the car windows.

  “They’re teenagers, Cole,” Isaiah said. “I don’t understand the difficulty.”

  “The Assassins have obviously been training them,” the woman said. “The one called Javier, especially, seemed quite capable.”

  David felt a prickle at the back of his head. They seemed to be talking about the Owen and Javier that he knew. It was pretty unlikely they’d be referring to other teenagers with one named Javier.

  “This would be easier if it wasn’t a containment mission,” Cole said. “But either way, they’ve moved to a new location and we don’t have any leads. There’s a good chance they may now have access to an Animus.”

  “My concern, exactly,” Isaiah said. “Which is why you’ll be relieved to know this is no longer a containment mission.”

  “Sir?”

  “The Assassins cannot be allowed to access those genetic memories, even if that means I can’t. You are regrettably authorized to terminate them both.”

  That caught David’s breath in his throat. There wasn’t any mistaking the meaning of what Isaiah had just said. They were talking about killing Owen and Javier, and suddenly everything Monroe had warned them about the Templars returned to his mind. How ruthless and dangerous they were.

  “Yes, sir,” Cole said.

  “They must be found,” Isaiah said. “Keep me informed.”

  The director turned around and stalked away, while Cole and the other agents unloaded from the vehicles. David stayed down, sweating, holding so perfectly still his muscles and joints started to ache, but eventually the garage sounded quiet and empty.

  It was still a long time after that before he dared to stick his head up and look around. When he was certain the room was clear, he climbed out of the car and scurried back through the double doors, down the hall, back to the walkway that hugged the side of the mountain. When he reached the second building, he found it once again secured by the same electronic lock, only this time he didn’t hear anyone coming. He had to wait, and wait, hiding in the shadow of a nearby door’s alcove, the handle digging into his back, for another guard to come by. Eventually, one did, and after he’d passed by, David dodged through the opening just before it shut behind him.

  From there, he crossed the walkway, back through the trees, and returned to his building. He didn’t know whether to wake Grace right then, or wait a few more hours until morning, but either way they had to call their dad and get out of there.

  He was walking toward his room, thinking about what to say, when a voice behind him called, “Hey, what are you doing?”

  David panicked and acted on an impulsive idea. He turned sharply to the right and walked straight into the wall, then did it again, and again, like a fly bumping its head against a window.

  “Hey,” the guard said. “Hey, are you okay?”

  David walked into the wall one more time before he felt the guard grab his shoulders and spin him around.

  That’s when David pretended to wake up. “Huh?” He acted as confused and frightened as he could, and rubbed his eyes. “Where … ?”

  “Were you sleepwalking?” the guard asked.

  “I guess so.” David blinked and rubbed his head. “I haven’t done that in a long time. Do you think it’s the Animus?”

  “I don’t know.” The guard’s mustache sat at the angle of his frown. “But you should go back to your room, and I’ll let Dr. Bibeau know about this.”

  “Okay,” David said, yawning again. “Thanks for waking me up.”

  He turned and walked straight toward his door. The guard followed him the entire way, and nodded when David reached it and went inside. The small room, which until then had felt bigger than his own bedroom back home, suddenly felt instead like a prison.

  He never did get back to sleep. He lay there trying to figure out what to say to the others, and worried that as soon as that guard mentioned the sleepwalking to Victoria, she’d pull up the security footage to see what he’d been up to. If Isaiah was willing to kill Owen and Javier, he was probably willing to kill any of them.

  When his alarm finally went off, he hurried through his shower and got dressed quickly, and then went to the lounge to meet up with the others for breakfast.

  Natalya was already there, eating a yogurt. David sat down next to her, bouncing his leg.

  A few minutes passed.

  “What?” Natalya asked.

  David frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “You look like you have something to say.”

  “I do,” David said. “But let’s wait until Grace and Sean are here.”

  Natalya went back to her yogurt. “Oh-kay.”

  His sister took a long time to show up, but when she finally came in, Sean wasn’t too far behind her. They got their food and sat down, and then David leaned in toward them.

  “We have to get out of here,” he said.

  “Why you whispering?” Grace asked.

  “Because I don’t want them to hear me,” David said. “Obviously. And I’m serious. We have to go.”

  “Go where?” Sean asked.

  “Home,” David said. “But that probably isn’t safe, either.”

  “What are you talking about?” Grace asked.

  So David told them everything. How he had left his room and gone to explore, how he’d found the black jet-car, and everything Isaiah had said. He told them how he’d fooled the guard on the way back. They listened to him with frowns and scowls, and when he finished, Sean shook his head.

  “You’re making this up.”

  “No, I’m not,” David said.

  “Then you were dreaming,” Sean said. “Maybe you really were sleepwalking.”

  “I wasn’t,” David said.

  The three of them looked at one another.

  “I didn’t dream it,” David said, his frustration rising.

  “Think about it,” Sean said. “We’ve been here for weeks, and we could have left at any time. They’ve treated us really well, and now you say they’re trying to kill Owen and Javier? I don’t buy it. The Templars are not what Monroe said they are. They’re trying to improve the world. That’s what I’ve been working on with Isaiah—”

  “That’s just what he wants you to think.” David turned to his sister. “We need to call Dad.”

  “And tell him what?” she asked. “That Abstergo is really a front for a secret society that murders kids?”

  “Yes,” David said.

  “You know what I think?” She raised an eyebrow and fixed him with her older-sister glare. “I think you’ve been playing your World War video game for too long.”
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  “I’m not making this up!” David said. “You’re my sister. Why can’t you have my back?”

  “I always have your back,” she said. “Why can’t you have my back for once?”

  “You don’t think I have your back?”

  “No, I don’t. I’m trying to keep us both here, and what do you do? You go sneaking around at night. You’re going to get us kicked out!”

  David leaned away from them. The only one who hadn’t spoken up was Natalya, so he turned toward her. “What do you think?”

  She pushed her empty yogurt cup away. “I certainly don’t trust Abstergo. But I’m not sure they would murder Owen and Javier.”

  David couldn’t believe this. All three of them were idiots.

  “Hey.” Natalya reached her hand along the table toward him. “I don’t think you’re lying. I just don’t know if you heard what you think you heard.”

  David knew what he’d seen and heard. He just couldn’t make them believe him.

  “Do you know what we’re giving up if we leave?” Sean asked.

  “Are you talking about the money?” David asked.

  “That’s a part of it,” Natalya said.

  “But that’s not all of it,” Sean added. “If we leave, we’re giving up an opportunity we won’t find anywhere else. I’m not ready to throw it away.”

  “Neither am I,” Grace said.

  So this was hopeless. David wanted to leave, but he wasn’t ready to leave his sister behind, and without Grace on his side, he wouldn’t be able to convince their dad to come get them. So he sat back in his chair, feeling as though he had just slipped sideways into some alternate world where he had to just forget about the fact that Isaiah wanted two of his friends dead, and go on with the Animus simulations like nothing was wrong.

  “I’m heading out,” Sean said, wheeling away from the table. “See you all later.”

  “I’m going, too,” Grace said, rising to her feet.