Chapter Text
1888
Jacob rips a page from an old book and writes his sister's name at the top. His hand shakes over the affirmation, impossible to deny for a second longer: The Brotherhood has been compromised.
He can't think of how to help Evie but to send her to the last friend he's seen, the same friend who carries an urgent message to be sent to India by telegraph: Nellie. But how can he point Evie in the right direction without putting Nellie in harm's way, if Jack finds the letter instead? He scrawls a clumsy reference to unfortunates and their childhood neighbor. Jack could parse the meaning there, possibly, but there's no time for Jacob to revise.
He hobbles to the fireplace to slip the note into the statuette of Kali the Destroyer on the mantle, thinking, Find it, Evie, please. He doesn't notice the bloody fingerprints he leaves behind, and he won't know how Evie will press her own fingers to the stains, her throat tight.
Jacob returns to the desk, holding a hand over the stinging gash in his side. Jack wore down the others the same way, but even if he's predictable, he's powerful. Too strong to block, too fast to dodge. Jacob can't put Freddy on Jack's trail and expect him to survive where Assassins fell…but he can't betray him again either.
He gathers the documents together and tucks them under his arm. These files have all the information Freddy needs to disrupt Jack's web of influence—it's ammo Jacob should have given to him weeks ago. He spins, ready to tuck them…somewhere. The loose floorboard? The sofa?
Jack's voice cuts through the dusty flat—Going somewhere, Jacob?—and all the air leaves Jacob's lungs. It's too late.