Chicago incident

He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. This article contains spoilers, meaning it has information and facts concerning Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple. If you do not want to know about these events, it is recommended to read on with caution, or not at all. This template should be removed from the article 17 September 2025.

"From what I could tell from the CCTV footage, the plates matched Olivier Garneau's car rental. And it does look like him but, well, that's not his best angle, to say the least. It's all speculation, of course, because the official version is that he never made it to Chicago."

―Layla Hassan commenting on the incident, 2017.

The Chicago incident was the assassination of the Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of Abstergo Entertainment and key Templar ally, Olivier Garneau, perpetrated by a Chicago-based fixer on 30 May 2014. The fixer acted on a contract given to him by the Assassin Brotherhood.

Prelude

"And Olivier is missing. He left for Chicago two days ago but... no one's seen him since."

―Melanie Lemay to the research analyst.

In early November 2013, Garneau's presence was requested in Chicago for a shareholders' meeting held on 15 November through to 17 November. He sent emails and CC'd several colleagues. After having left for the meeting, he was not heard from again and was presumed missing, with the most likely suspect for his disappearance being John Standish, a Sage who had infiltrated Abstergo Entertainment and took a research analyst hostage before being killed by security.

Unknown to Abstergo, Garneau had made it to Chicago safely, though effectively ghosted the company. He lived in the city for six months, and a receipt from 25 May 2014 showed that he had a meal from Quinkie's. Despite his efforts, however, Garneau's presence in the city did not go unnoticed by the Assassins, who worked to track him down.

Incident

Five days later, on 30 May 2014, while driving his rental car down the main Chicago highway over the bridge, Garneau was accosted by an unknown assailant who ambushed him, forcing his car to slam out of control into the concrete side guards before bursting into flames. Garneau made it out of the wreck alive but, as he tried to crawl away, he was shot in the back of the head by the fixer. Despite this, official word from Abstergo was that Garneau had never reached Chicago at all.

Aftermath

"I must say, I wasn't exactly eager to get involved with you people again after the Chicago incident. However, putting personal feelings aside... I can't exactly stand by and let some soulless company enslave the world."

―The fixer mentioning the incident and his brief association with the Assassins, c. 2023.

Initially sending the Templars and Abstergo Entertainment higher-ups into a panic, Garneau's position was eventually replaced by Melanie Lemay, former lead on the Sample 17 Project.

In late 2017, the Abstergo employee Layla Hassan obtained CCTV footage of Garneau's assassination, which she kept in her personal files on other mysterious disappearances and deaths related to Abstergo.

In 2023, the fixer who had carried out the hit was contacted by the Assassin Nathan Zhang, requesting assistance against Abstergo Industries. The fixer noted the last time he had worked with the Brotherhood and reaffirmed his distrust of the Assassins, though he was willing to become involved if it meant stopping Abstergo's plans for global domination.

Behind the scenes

Olivier Garneau's assassination in Chicago is an easter egg referencing the mission "Requiescat In Pace" from the 2014 video game Watch_Dogs, in which protagonist Aiden Pearce is hired by the Assassins to neutralize the Abstergo Entertainment CCO. However, it should be noted that the objective of the mission is to simply knock down Garneau and that his death will automatically fail the mission, although it is possible to execute him afterwards.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Origins (photo only)
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple (mentioned only) (first identified as "Chicago incident")