"Man, I never thought it would feel so good to be back home." Dimitri stated carrying his bags through the door of the safe house.
"How is it that you guys carry so much gear and have no trouble with it?" Penelope asked rubbing her shoulders from carrying her equipment bags.
"We've done it for years, so I guess you could say that we're used to carrying so much stuff with us. Plus most of the time we leave most of the equipment in the van anyway. "Murray stated setting his bags on the ground.
"Right, Bentley?" Murray looked over at his friend but noticed that he wasn't there.
"Talkin' of which. Where is the turtle dude anyway?" Dimitri stated looking around the living room area for any sign of the genius.
"I saw him come into the safe house with his equipment." Panda King stated setting his firework tools onto the kitchen table.
"If he came in, then where is he?" Penelope stated.
Little did the gang know that Bentley did come into the safe house but, right after Bentley set his gear to the ground he headed straight for Sly's room. Bentley opened the door to the room and saw that it was completely empty and just the way that Sly left it when they headed for Florida to recruit Dimitri to the team. Bentley tried the study next, but Sly wasn't in the study either. The study was created for Bentley for him to read his books and for Sly to read the Thievius Racoonus whenever he needed some private time. Bentley breathed out a deep sigh. He truly is gone. Where in the heck did you go Sly? Bentley thought to himself. Bentley felt that someone was behind him. He turned and saw Murray leaning against the doorway of the study.
"I know what you're thinking. I wish I knew where he was too little buddy." Murray stated breaking the silence in the room.
"It's not only that. I just wish that he didn't leave us." Bentley said looking down at the floor shaking his head.
"I wish that too, but there's a reason why Sly left us. When you look at it, he went out on his own just like I did. We just don't know what those reasons are . . . yet. Plus, if I came back to you and Sly after being gone away for so long then he'll some back too."
Murray walked over to see Bentley, kneeled down to see the turtle eye to eye, and placed his hands on his shoulders. "To shorten it up, he'll come back to us when he's ready to Bentley. He would never give up his thieving life and he sure as heck wouldn't leave you and me."
Bentley looked up and smiled at his best friend. He placed his hand on Murray's shoulder.
"Thanks pal."
The two of them enveloped into a hug and headed back outside to help the others unpack their things.
Hours later . . .
The gang had settled down into the evening after the long trip. Everyone had put their gear into their rooms and were now trying to occupy their time. Penelope was looking over her RC car and making repairs to it. Panda King was making adjustments to his bazooka. Dimitri was laying on the nearby couch listening to his music. Guru was in a meditative trance. Murray was in the kitchen fixing dinner for everyone. Bentley was on his laptop looking up any information on Kaine Island to see if anybody had noticed what had happened to it but, mainly he was trying to see if there was any mention of Sly. Bentley checked every possible source that he could think of but could find nothing.
Everyone eventually settled down for dinner at the table but it was mainly silent while everyone ate. Everyone one was at the table all except for one and it seemed to keep everyone on the down side. Dimitri eventually broke the silence.
"Man, it's way too quiet here at this table. We could at least talk about somethin' . . . no offense."
"Sorry Dimitri, it's nice to be back home but it's just not the same with Sly not being here with us." Penelope stated putting her fork down on the table.
"I agree with Penelope. Even I admit that I miss Sly being here too." Panda King stated before taking a sip of his tea.
"We all miss him and wherever he is, I'm sure he misses us too. However, I still can't figure out what caused Sly to leave on such notice especially after pulling off the heist so successfully, even though it wasn't part of the plan." Bentley replied.
"We'll see him again, but when that's probably one thing we'll never know," Murray stated.
"I suggest we wait it out until Sly returns or until something comes up," Bentley suggested.
"Yeah, but for how long Bentley?" Penelope asked.
"I don't know, Penelope. I just don't know," Bentley said shaking his head.