Chapter 28 -Quest for Katie-

"Katie! Hey, Katie, come on. This isn't funny…"

Where the shell could she be? It's an island for goodness sake. It's not like she could just hop a bus and leave town.

Donatello was beginning to worry. He'd covered half the island already in a systematic search. He'd come across several guard towers, but so far Kanar's hired help had left him alone, mainly because he'd avoided being seen by the men staring out of the guard-tower windows.

He'd avoided two search parties already. Kanar obviously wasn't relying on Donatello alone to find his precious daughter. He had most of his guards out looking for her as well.

Don worked his way around to the side of the island he hadn't visited. The trees were thinner here, the brush thicker. He walked carefully as the landscape changed. There were gullies, little valleys, any one of which could hide a fallen, unconscious body.

Suddenly, Don came out of some large leafy plants, and stopped short. He was standing on the edge of a cliff. He shivered, looking down. It was a long drop to the sea crashing into the rocks below.

If Katie fell here… Don shuddered and stepped back from the edge. Katie'd spent her entire life on the island. She knew the landscape, studied the plants. She'd never be so foolish as to walk off a cliff, would she?

No way. The way Katie moves through this jungle… And I saw her climb the waterfall… no way she fell over a cliff. She's fine. She's just hiding. She's angry. She's upset. She's like Raph that way, she just needed to burn off some steam. I'm going to find her, and she'll be fine. Donatello struck out, heading back toward Katie's bungalow.

It'll be dark soon. Maybe Katie headed back. She might be waiting for me there, worrying. I'll check in with Kanar, and see if he's found any trace of her. If she's not waiting there, I'll search around the other side of the lagoon.

Donatello frowned. Something was hovering at the edge of his memory. Something about…

The lagoon! Katie nearly drowned, and I found that tranq dart… no way was that coincidence. She's missing. Something's rotten in Denmark. I've got to get back to Kanar and warn him. Someone's after Katie!

Donatello made good time, racing through the jungle toward Katie's bungalow. He thought of nothing now but getting back, of warning Kanar before it was too late.

How could I have missed this? How could I have been so blind… Katie's a strong swimmer, she didn't go under for no reason. I should've realized, the moment I found that dart… Serling. It has to be. She's attacking Katie to get to me. Don picked up the pace.

He was half-way back to the bungalow when he heard the sound. It was so faint, he nearly missed it. Voices, muffled by the thick undergrowth.

"We've got you, Miss Kanar… It's going to be all right. Jake, get the stretcher…"

Donatello moved stealthily toward the voices. He heard Katie cry out, and dashed forward, his caution forgotten. He burst through the heavy leaves, and skidded to a stop, gasping as the pain hit him like a tidal wave.

Don dropped to the ground, writhing. He clamped his teeth together. Through blurring vision, he saw two of Kanar's guards. They were kneeling beside a crumpled figure.

Katie… Oh, no. Her face was turned away from Donatello, but he could see the unnaturally pale skin of her cheek, damp with sweat. Her hair was thick and matted with blood. Her leg was bruised, small cuts leaking red up and down her thigh. One arm was bent at an unnatural angle.

Donatello stared, horrified, as she struggled to speak through swollen, bruised lips.

"Miss Kanar, stay with us now," said one of the guards. "Can you tell us who did this?"

"Jake, where's that stretcher?" the other guard barked into his radio.

"We've got you, Miss Kanar. You're safe now. Who did this?" The guard's voice was far away, and fading.

"…D…Donatello," Don could barely hear Katie's whisper above the roaring that filled his ears. His limbs twitched and flailed, rustling in the brush.

"You! You did this!" The young guard growled, leaping to his feet.

"No…" Don moaned. The guard planted himself between Donatello and Katie.

"Miss Kanar says you did," he growled. "Ain't that your fancy stick?" Donatello followed the young man's glance, and gasped. His bo, his new, white bo, lay a few yards away, spotted with what was unmistakably blood. Katie's blood.

Donatello's nightmare threatened to close in around him.

"No…"

The guard grabbed Donatello by the back of the shell, hauling him back, away from Katie.

Katie… no… make it stop… just let it stop… I was trying to help her… stop… please stop…

The agony went on and on… Donatello's vision grew hazy, and darkness closed in. He heard Katie's voice from far away.

"Donatello," she whispered. "Why?"