The day passed slowly. Mike, Leo and Raphael were sleeping. Don had joined them for an hour and a half, and then gotten up to resume his work on the computer. I sat with a cup of instant coffee in the over-stuffed chair, chewing on a pencil and staring apathetically at Adeline's notes and edits on my manuscript. Splinter seemed to spend a great deal of time in his room. Sometime around three o'clock, Don let out a war whoop.

"Holy Moly!" His typing was faster. He muttered to himself. "I knew it...I knew it...ah, I don't believe this...oh, boy..."

"What?" I asked, remembering to be patient if I didn't get complete sentences at first.

"Oh, I think I've found something..."

"What?"

"Hold on-" Donatello leaped up and dashed down the sleeping passage. "Hey, Leo! Mike! Hey Raph! Wake up!"

Two groggy-looking turtles emerged from the passage behind Don, a third following a moment later, looking venomous.

"Take a look at this!" said Don.

"What? What am I looking at?" Leonardo rubbed his eyes. I joined them. The computer screen held several typed messages, in some gibberish-looking code.

"This is an intercepted message," explained Donatello."That guy, the instructor from last night, had sent an E-mail to these guys," he pointed to a coded name, "and these guys have been shooting messages all over. Now, I haven't completely cracked the encrypting code, but this response..." he pointed to the second message." ...originates from..." Don hit more keys, the screen shifted to a schematic or map of some kind. "Here!" he said triumphantly.

"Wazzat?" asked Mike, yawning mightily.

"You don't recognize this place? Here let me bring it up a little." The picture enlarged, it appeared to be a blueprint of several passageways and chambers. "Look like a nice place to spend Christmas?" Don asked.

"Oh, man..." Raphael rubbed his face. "Don, that place doesn't even exist anymore. It blew up, remember? The whole block is still a pile of rubble."

"Is it?" asked Don.

"Well, even if it does exist," said Leonardo. "We laid the whole matter to rest. The organization, that whole branch of the Foot no longer exists."

"Maybe, Leo," agreed Don. " I know we've heard whoever is left is in chaos and disorganized. But someone is out there, and has tapped into the system once used by the Foot, because this blueprint is in their files. And it would seem they may be in communication with someone associated with Skylord's school."

"Excuse me," I said from behind Mike. "I don't understand. What does this mean?"

Donatello was still hitting keys, the image on the monitor changing rapidly from one configuration to another. "Well," he said. "It may mean more to us at this point than to you."

"I'm sure of that..." I said, watching the meaningless images.

"I mean, it may be more significant to us than it is to you."

I started to back away when a slight movement at my elbow made me aware of Splinter standing silently by my side.

"Master?" Leonardo addressed Splinter.

"Leonardo," said Splinter, tipping his nose up in Leo's direction. "What do you think?"

Leonardo gazed off to far corner of the room, his eyes unfocussed for a moment. "I...I'm not sure. I would like to think they are still in a state of confusion, but now it feels like something may be up. Maybe getting jumped at Amiel's the other night wasn't just a coincidence. Maybe some of them are organizing again..."

Splinter nodded, and motioned lightly with his hand. "My sons..." he turned to me. "If you will excuse us for a moment, Lia..." He led his charges away to his chamber, evidently for a private consultation.

I looked around the living room in frustration. Why wasn't I going to be included in this conversation? Were they still looking for Rose, or was this turn of events, whatever it was, going to send them off on another project? What was it with this obsession they had with these Foot people, anyway? They spent all night prowling around, or whatever it was they did, and return with some information significant only to themselves? Maybe I needed to forget this and go to the police, or the private detective Adeline had mentioned, or some more conventional means of searching for kidnapped children. Milk cartons, I thought bitterly, throwing my pencil on the table. At least milk cartons could be viewed in the light of day. I needed to talk to Adeline. Talking to another human being seemed like a very good idea.

Adeline's secretary took a long time to answer. When she did though, she put me through right away. "Hi Adeline," I said.

"Lia? Oh, thank goodness. Are you ok? Where are you?"

"I'm fine, " I lied. "I just wanted to call and apologize for cutting you off last night. I was sort of upset and I really couldn't answer your questions." That was no lie.

"Are you, ah, still in hiding?"

"Yeah, I think I have to be, for a while anyway. See, I have no way to prove I didn't have anything to do with those men being killed."

"Lia, where were you that night? Can't you prove you were somewhere else?"

"Well, no, 'cause I wasn't somewhere else. I was there." I glanced down the passageway, listening for some evidence I was being heard. "Alex was there, too. I think he's the one who did it."

"Oh dear Jesus..." Adeline sounded agitated. "Ok, ok, well honey, I'm so glad you called. I have something here for you. It's a package. It was sitting on my desk this morning. How it got in here, I have no idea, but it's addressed to you."

"Me?" I asked weakly.

"Uh huh. It has a note, here. It says, 'Caution: Chemical Combustion Hazard: To Be Opened Only By Lia Hanrahan Who Alone Holds the Key'. Frankly I've been sitting here arguing with myself about whether or not I should call a bomb squad in. But I wanted to talk to you first."

"I hold the key?' I asked.

"Mm hm. You know, it looks like it may have a tape in it. That's the shape, but I'm not about to shake it to find out."

"A tape, like a message maybe?" I sighed shakily. "Ok, I think I know what he means."

"What who means?"

"Alex. It's from Alex. It has to be."

"He was in my office-?" Now poor Adeline sounded frightened.

"Him, or one of his people." I looked up at the steel frame of the purloined pay phone and chewed my lip. "I'll be over shortly, Adeline. I suppose he wants to negotiate." I was shaking, though part of me felt calm, almost slow-motion. "I-I've been thinking Adeline. Maybe I should talk to your private investigator friend."

"I can try and reach him. When will you be here?"

"As soon as I can, Adeline. Bye." I hung up, turned hurriedly around, and plowed right into Donatello.

"What's up?" he asked, catching my shoulders as I nearly lost my balance.

"Not much," I gulped, trying to sound casual. I could see behind him Leonardo and Raphael standing still in the arched doorway. I wondered how much they heard. Raphael shook his head in disgust and crossed over to the couch, throwing himself into it. Based upon that, I could imagine they had heard everything.

"Where are you going, Lia?" asked Leonardo calmly.

I laced my fingers together and studied them, feeling strangely like a little girl caught playing hooky. "I...um...I just talked to Adeline. Someone left a package with a tape in it addressed to me. I need to go get it. It's from Alex. Maybe he wants to negotiate."

Donatello frowned. "Has anyone played it?"

"No, no," I turned away from him. "Only I can open it. It's like got some chemical self-destruct device on it or something."

"This doesn't sound like a good idea," said Leonardo.

"No!" I didn't let him finish. "This is the message we've been waiting for! The deal Alex wants to make!"

"Sounds more like 'Mission Impossible'," said Michaelangelo from behind Leo.

"I have to go-" I pushed past Donatello and grabbed my backpack off the floor. "We can find out what he wants-" I rummaged for a hair tie and pulled my hair back into a pony tail. "If he wants to negotiate, then there's a chance-"

"You are gonna cut a deal with this jerk?" asked Raphael from the couch.

"That's my daughter out there! I'd cut a deal with the Devil himself!"

"Wait," protested Donatello. "You can't just go out there in broad daylight-"

"No!" My voice was rising. "It's you who can't go out there in broad daylight! I can go anywhere-!"

"Lia," said Leonardo, still maintaining a maddening sort of calmness. "It would actually be a lot safer for us to go, than for you."

"Why is that?"

Donatello answered. "Well, aside from this whole thing stinking to high heaven of a trap, and aside from the fact that our ability to cover you would be severely compromised, there's the little matter of two, possibly three, rather large and serious organizations out there looking for you right now."

"Three?" I asked. "What three organizations? What are you talking about?" I slung my back pack over my shoulder.

"Lia, wait, wait. You'll miss Fox Kids if you go now-" Mike pleaded not very convincingly. He shrugged at Donatello's dismayed look.

Leonardo shook his head, stepping further into the living room. "Look, we just can't let you go out there."

"You what?" I yelled. "You can't let me? No, no, you can't stop me!" I sat on the little stool by the door and jerked on my boots. I glanced up. Splinter had entered the room. Leonardo gestured to him helplessly.

Donatello tried one more time. "Please, Lia. We know you're really upset, but this just doesn't sound safe. That package could be rigged with-who knows- plastic explosives. We just want you too wait and think about this, and not uh, act...not act..."

"Not act?!" I asked, jumping up, furious.

"Irrationally."

"Oh. Great. I'm irrational. Well, you just wait until your two-year old is kidnapped by some sadistic megalomaniac and see how rational you feel!" I spun around, jerked open the wooden door, and ran out the short passageway. As I pounded and pressed on bricks, looking for the one that slid the door open, I could hear them.

"Lia-at least wait until tonight so I can diffuse it-"

"Forget it, Donnie. She ain't listenin'."

"What're we gonna do, tie her up?"

"Maybe you could sit on her again?"

I found the brick, the door groaned open, and I took off at a dead run down the half-lit tunnel.

It apparently didn't take them more than a minute to recover from the shock of my escape. I heard them running up behind me, splashing in the water and making no attempt at stealth. I felt panicky. They did not understand. The only real connection had appeared and they were trying to stop me. I ran headlong.

Someone caught my arm and spun me around. I flung myself back and fell up against the hard wall. In a panic, I tried to cover my face with my hands and pull away. "No! No! No!" I cried, ducking down and trying to double over. "Leave me alone!" Two implacably cool and firm hands took mine and pulled my hands to my sides. I found myself pressed up against the brick wall, nose to nose with Leonardo. His face was hard. I stood gasping, gazing into his bright, furious eyes. That was about as angry as I ever needed to see Leonardo. He waited a moment, eyes fixed on mine, before speaking.

"When you asked for our help, and we agreed to do so," he said evenly, "I took on the responsibility for that, and to see to it that you would be kept safe from harm. I have responsibilities to my brothers and to my sensei, as well, and I take all my responsibilities seriously. In order for me to do this, I need to know I have your cooperation. I cannot allow you to jeopardize any of us, or even yourself. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

I tried to keep my eyes on his, but I couldn't. "I-I didn't mean to-I just-just-" I tried to speak , but my voice failed, and I crumbled inside. Leonardo released my hands and I slid down against the brick wall, and sat in a little heap, dropping my head and covering my eyes. I felt stupid, trapped, defeated. Everything felt so hopeless. I stifled a sob.

"Look, Lia," Leonardo knelt beside me, his voice a little softer. "You just have to trust us."

I nodded behind my hands, and felt a hand on my shoulder. Michaelangelo said. "We have to work together. You can't just run off like that."

"It's all I've ever done..." I answered without lifting my head. "Running away is what I do..." When I did look up, Leonardo was still crouched next to me, looking at me intently. He stood up and reached his hand down to me.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go back home and talk about how we're going to do this."

Walking back with them I felt numb. I glanced over at Raphael. In the dim gloom I could make out an expression something like a smirk on his face. "What?" I asked.

He looked pleased and directed his gaze up at the curving walls. "Well, no one can say I'm the most out of control person around here, anymore."