Uncharted: A Thief's Legacy

Chapter XI - One Last Time

Two weeks passed before they were able to book their flight to London. The whole time all three of them were on the edge of their seats, antsy, ready for an adventure. However, it took more than a week before Nathan started to feel better. He spent days in bed or on the couch, feeling rather dizzy and nauseous. The headaches came and went. As much as he wanted to be off to Europe, he was happy to delay because of how out of sorts he constantly felt.

In addition to the general restlessness that loomed over the house, everyone felt uneasy and frankly, unsafe. They still had no idea how they were being tracked and were unsure if the Order knew about the Drake's house. It felt as though at any moment, their house could suffer the same fate as Sam and Sully's Havana abode.

In order to give Nathan time to heal and let Charlie construct a proper plan, they waited until the last minute to reserve plane tickets. Additionally, they wanted the minimal amount of time between booking and traveling. The less time the Drake's name was attached to the flights, the lower the chance someone could track and sabotage them before they were in the air.

While the Drakes waited, anxious and impatient, Charlie, on the other hand, worked tirelessly. He spent his days after returning to London checking in with contacts, reviewing old blueprints of the abandoned London Underground, and oftentimes staking out to watch people come and go through every entrance he could find.

Charlie could feel the threat of danger surrounding the Order better than the Drakes could from halfway across the world, and he vowed to be more prepared than they had been twenty-three years prior; when he, Nathan, and Sully had barged in to steal the astrolabe. He remembered all too well how they had barely made it out with their lives that night, after the elder Marlowe had deployed her small army upon them.

Nathan had been careless in those days, and Charlie knew it. He didn't look back on those adventures with fondness. He, Sully, and Chloe Frasier had followed Nathan with a blind loyalty, but it had ended with Charlie out of commission and Chloe ditching the treasure hunt entirely. He and Chloe both couldn't justify the cost that came with following Nathan to the far ends of the Earth. Charlie didn't know Sam well, but just in this last meeting he could see the same desperation, obsession, and recklessness in the older brother. He took it upon himself to make sure that this infiltration was much more secure. Charlie would make certain of the aspects the Drake family had a natural inclination to overlook.

By the time Nathan called him to inform him they were boarding a flight the next morning, Charlie had a fairly comprehensive plan together. He promised Nathan that he would have his flat ready for the three Drakes to stay in, and apprehensively awaited their arrival.

Charlie arrived at the airport to pick them up nearly twenty-four hours after they had left Miami. Despite the jetlag, they were as ready as ever; they seemed to be running on pure adrenaline as the group went back to Charlie's flat.

Cassie's eyes grew wide as they entered the flat; whatever she had expected, this wasn't it. Charlie himself seemed out of place in the midst of the tall, Victorian bookshelves, and dusty windowsills, and an old wood-carved table that took up most of the main room. She felt like she had walked into 221B Baker Street, not Charlie Cutter's home. When she asked Charlie how old the building was, he laughed.