Afterwards, once they'd gotten back to the van and had gotten the hell out of Rome, it’s all Shaun could think about. Why had Desmond given him the hidden blade? It would have made more sense for him to pass it off to Lucy. Yes, he had admitted to Desmond that he had killed before - hell, they all had - but guns were his specialty. He wasn’t… He was actually pretty bad with knives or things like that. That was Lucy’s area. So why him?
Behind him, Rebecca was typing away furiously on her laptop. There wasn’t much she could do with it at the moment, but damned if she wasn’t going to at least try to track which direction Vidic’s hired men had taken Desmond. Unfortunately, reality demanded the use of a more powerful computer than the one she was currently using. Stopping to set up a new base so she could get the desktop hooked up and running though felt sort of like giving up. It felt like they were just letting him go.
You’d better come after me.
Not you guys. You. It was like Desmond trusted him to do it. Not the others. Not Lucy. Not Rebecca. Him. But why?
“Shaun!”
Brought out of his thoughts, Shaun blinked as look up to meet Lucy’s eyes. She looked concerned and tired and her hands were clenched tightly on the wheel. “Sorry ‘bout that. What’d you want?”
“I was asking if you were okay. Well actually, first I asked if you thought that safe house we about forty miles from here would still be safe to use, but you weren’t answering.”
“We should be fine,” Rebecca spoke up from the back of the van. “At least for a little while. Those guys seemed pretty focused on Desmond; it was like they didn’t even care about us. Plus, now that they actually have Desmond, there are other groups out there that are bigger priorities. Even if they are still tracking us, we should have at least a couple of days before they can pinpoint our location.”
“A couple of days? I should hope we’ll be gone and have Desmond by then. It’s kind of a situation that needs to be dealt with as fast as possible, Rebecca.” Shaun’s fingers tightened involuntarily around the sheath of the hidden blade. He knew he probably sounded harsh, but… Desmond was counting on him. Desmond trusted him, and he wasn’t about to let him down.
You’d better come after me.
“Look, I’m sorry Shaun, but there’s only so much I can do. Abstergo might not have my imagination, but they have better resources. While they might have problems locating us, it’s going to be just as difficult for us to locate them. I mean, we don’t even know what direction they were going, so it’s not like we can narrow down the list of possible locations. We have no idea how far they’re going or even what kind of car they were driving. At the moment, we have nothing. Finding them is not going to be easy, and it’s going to take some time.”
Before he could say anything, Lucy interrupted them, her tone leaving no room for argument. “But we will find him. He’s one of us; we’re not going to abandon him. And we’ll get him out of there. He’ll be fine.”
“In case you forgot Lucy, but you told us yourself that Vidic had decided that Desmond had - how did you put it? - outlived his usefulness. That’s why you called us when you did, remember? I mean, really, how do we even know they didn’t just kill him already and dump his body somewhere?”
Rebecca snorted. “That’s stupid. Were you paying any attention back there? They wanted Desmond alive. Why go through all that trouble to get him to go with them willingly if they were just going to kill him? They need him for something, and as long as they need him, they have to keep him alive. And they’ll have to be careful. Since he’s already starting to show signs of the Bleeding Effect, they’ll have to go slow. You know, to make sure they don’t burn him out before they get whatever information they need from him.”
It was true, he knew that, but it made him feel a little better to hear someone else say it. Desmond was important; Abstergo would have to be careful. That would buy them some time. Letting one of his fingers carefully trace over the straps of Desmond’s hidden blade, Shaun could only hope that it would be enough.
Come After Me [Part 3/X]
Why him?
Afterwards, once they'd gotten back to the van and had gotten the hell out of Rome, it’s all Shaun could think about. Why had Desmond given him the hidden blade? It would have made more sense for him to pass it off to Lucy. Yes, he had admitted to Desmond that he had killed before - hell, they all had - but guns were his specialty. He wasn’t… He was actually pretty bad with knives or things like that. That was Lucy’s area. So why him?
Behind him, Rebecca was typing away furiously on her laptop. There wasn’t much she could do with it at the moment, but damned if she wasn’t going to at least try to track which direction Vidic’s hired men had taken Desmond. Unfortunately, reality demanded the use of a more powerful computer than the one she was currently using. Stopping to set up a new base so she could get the desktop hooked up and running though felt sort of like giving up. It felt like they were just letting him go.
You’d better come after me.
Not you guys. You. It was like Desmond trusted him to do it. Not the others. Not Lucy. Not Rebecca. Him. But why?
“Shaun!”
Brought out of his thoughts, Shaun blinked as look up to meet Lucy’s eyes. She looked concerned and tired and her hands were clenched tightly on the wheel. “Sorry ‘bout that. What’d you want?”
“I was asking if you were okay. Well actually, first I asked if you thought that safe house we about forty miles from here would still be safe to use, but you weren’t answering.”
“We should be fine,” Rebecca spoke up from the back of the van. “At least for a little while. Those guys seemed pretty focused on Desmond; it was like they didn’t even care about us. Plus, now that they actually have Desmond, there are other groups out there that are bigger priorities. Even if they are still tracking us, we should have at least a couple of days before they can pinpoint our location.”
“A couple of days? I should hope we’ll be gone and have Desmond by then. It’s kind of a situation that needs to be dealt with as fast as possible, Rebecca.” Shaun’s fingers tightened involuntarily around the sheath of the hidden blade. He knew he probably sounded harsh, but… Desmond was counting on him. Desmond trusted him, and he wasn’t about to let him down.
You’d better come after me.
“Look, I’m sorry Shaun, but there’s only so much I can do. Abstergo might not have my imagination, but they have better resources. While they might have problems locating us, it’s going to be just as difficult for us to locate them. I mean, we don’t even know what direction they were going, so it’s not like we can narrow down the list of possible locations. We have no idea how far they’re going or even what kind of car they were driving. At the moment, we have nothing. Finding them is not going to be easy, and it’s going to take some time.”
Before he could say anything, Lucy interrupted them, her tone leaving no room for argument. “But we will find him. He’s one of us; we’re not going to abandon him. And we’ll get him out of there. He’ll be fine.”
“In case you forgot Lucy, but you told us yourself that Vidic had decided that Desmond had - how did you put it? - outlived his usefulness. That’s why you called us when you did, remember? I mean, really, how do we even know they didn’t just kill him already and dump his body somewhere?”
Rebecca snorted. “That’s stupid. Were you paying any attention back there? They wanted Desmond alive. Why go through all that trouble to get him to go with them willingly if they were just going to kill him? They need him for something, and as long as they need him, they have to keep him alive. And they’ll have to be careful. Since he’s already starting to show signs of the Bleeding Effect, they’ll have to go slow. You know, to make sure they don’t burn him out before they get whatever information they need from him.”
It was true, he knew that, but it made him feel a little better to hear someone else say it. Desmond was important; Abstergo would have to be careful. That would buy them some time. Letting one of his fingers carefully trace over the straps of Desmond’s hidden blade, Shaun could only hope that it would be enough.
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