Free Assassin's Creed: Underworld by Oliver Bowden

the hell had Arbaaz been
thinking?
    Jayadeep continued. ‘Under cover of
darkness, myself and Father rode out to the street where Dani kept his lodgings. One of our
agents had bribed a nightwatchman for the key, and in the street we took possession of it,
thanked and paid the man and sent him on his way.’
    A witness
, thought Ethan. It gets
better.
    ‘I know what you’re thinking. I could
have picked the lock.’
    ‘You are an excellent lock-pick.’
    ‘The information given to us by the agent
was that the Templar Dani was expecting an attack and thus was accompanied by bodyguards during
the day. Our enemies were relying on the fact that a daytime attempt on his life would have
resulted in a public confrontation. A street skirmish involving multiple Assassins and Templars
was to be avoided at all costs. For that reason it was decided to make a night-time incursion,
and for that reason we assembled as much information as possible regarding the target’s
nocturnal activities.’
    ‘And it was you who
did this, was it?’
    ‘Yes, and I learnt that Dani barred his
door and laid traps at night, that an invasion either by the door or the window would result in
alarms being activated. So, you see, the key given to us was not to the door of Dani’s
room, not even to his lodgings, but to the warehouse next door, where I was able to make an
unobtrusive entrance. There were three men stationed in the street, looking for all the world as
though they were providing security for the warehouse, but I knew them to be Templar guards, and
their job was to see to it that no Assassin scaled the walls of either the lodging house or the
warehouse. It was clever. They had the outside of the buildings covered while inside Dani had
his room secure. It would take a measure of stealth and guile to get inside. I have both.
    ‘I waited in the shadows, taking strength
and reassurance from the knowledge that not far away my father waited with our horses, ready for
our escape. At the same time I measured the movements of the guards as they carried out their
patrol.
    ‘I had been there on previous nights, of
course, timing just as I was on this occasion, and what I’d learnt was that the guards
coordinated their movements to prevent anyone having the opportunity to scale the walls. Under
their robes they carried crossbows and throwing knives; they kept a safe distance from one
another so as to prevent a quick double-kill, so taking out one of them would alert the others.
I had no reason to suspect that they were anything but supremely competent. That is why I had
the key, Ethan.’
    ‘The key was to the warehouse?’
    ‘Yes. I had greased
the keyhole myself that very morning, and now I counted, I timed, and I made my move when the
moment was right. I streaked across the apron behind the warehouse and to the rear door, where I
thrust the key into the lock. The sound was muffled, a well-oiled click that, even though it
sounded to my ears like a gunshot, was in reality just another indistinguishable night noise,
and then I was inside. I locked the warehouse door behind me but took the key. This was to be my
escape route also.
    ‘Or so I thought at the time. But of course
I was wrong about that.’
    The boy’s head dropped once more to his lap
and he wrung his hands, tortured by the pain of the wretched memory.
    ‘The warehouse was empty. All I saw on the
stone floor was a long slatted table and some chairs. Possibly it was to have been used by the
Templars for some reason. In either case the idea of it needing an exterior guard was laughable.
Of course they hadn’t bothered to post a guard inside, but even so I stayed silent as I
made my way up steps and then ladders to the roof of the building. Once outside, I stayed in the
shadows and took my neckerchief from round my neck. You ask about my Assassin’s robes,
but, in fact, I never wore them. I was wearing then what I’m wearing now. If by some
chance I’d been discovered by the warehouse