The detective slapped down a tan file on the counter.
"I don't know why you boys are interested in this. I'm not even supposed to show this to anyone, but since you seem to have an idea of a suspect, I'll allow it." Said the old, graying man.
I tipped my hat up a little bit so I could see the document a bit more clearly. "There's no way he stole this car."
"Yah, Raph would never take a pick-up truck." Mikey snorted.
"Not that, this guy was caught on camera. Look, here's the photos." I showed them to my brother.
"Don't he look like your guy?" Asked the detective.
"No, if it was, there wouldn't even be any photos." I slid the report back to him
"Sounds like you're looking for a ghost there, gentlemen." He swiped the file back and tucked it away into his cabinet. "Why are you looking for this guy anyway?"
"We're top secret agents." Mikey said proudly. "Undercover."
"That would explain the trench coats and the hats." The detective gestured to us. "Well, good luck."
Mikey and I turned around disappointedly and headed out the door.
"This sucks." Mikey took out his shell cell. "Leo hasn't even contacted us. He probably isn't having any luck either."
"Anything from Mrs. Jones?" I asked.
"Umm…" He scrolled through his phone. "Yah, dude this whole dead horse thing has spread all the way over there already. She said we should head over there and check it out."
"What else did she say?" I said, now enchanted by this strange news.
"She said; 'the timing of the horse's death is equivalent to the time Raph would've arrived in Dustbowl (if he had gone that way). It's very suspicious, please check it out.'" He looked at me disorderly. "Should I just tell her the lead was dead?"
"No, let's go back."
"Really?"
"Something about that place is getting to me. The way Mr. Mason acted just…makes me think he knows something."
"I felt the same way too, man. But the guy's prize horse just died, maybe he's just loopy."
"Tell Casey to meet us here, then we'll head over. Text Mrs. Jones and tell her we might not be back for a while."
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yah know… I don't have to listen to you." He smirked at me.
I looked at him, desperately trying not to say anything back. He was either completely oblivious to the current situation, or he was trying to make me feel better about it. That was just what Mikey did. Whenever tension was high, he always found a way to calm everyone down, no matter how mature he was. It was just what Mikey did and I loved him for it.
"Well I'll just do it myself." I cocked my head and pulled out my shell cell.
He quickly reached over to me and stole it from my hand. "I'll do it." He said in triumph and simultaneously texted on his phone and dialed a phone number on mine. "I'm ganna tell her we won't be back for a while because Casey is in a bar and we're going to attempt to fish him out."
"Whatever floats your boat, Mikey." I chuckled.
He stood there and tapped his foot while he held the phone up to his head. Occasionally he would look at his wrist where he wore his invisible watch.
"He's not picking up." He sighed and shut the phone.
"Great, I'll bet you my shell he got into a fight." I took my phone back from him and started to jog back towards the town.
Mikey quickly caught up to me and matched my pace.
"When I left him he was picking on a couple of older guys who he thought knew where Raph was. I told him not to kill anyone but I'm sure he didn't listen." I said.
"You left Casey alone in a bar?! Not your smartest move, man."
I felt disappointed to have Mikey embittered with me. It wasn't anything special though, I always felt that way when I failed. This one though, feels a little different. I felt like I needed to come up with an excuse in order to save my shell.
"I guess I was just so focused on finding Raph that I…"
"You don't need to explain. I understand." I felt him look over at me so I turned my head and saw his gentle smile. I honestly never thought I would see one of those from him. It made me think of Raph and Leo…and that made me miserable. I feel I've only known them as a couple andnot as individuals, so now seeing them like this was almost depressing.
When we got to the bar about 20 minutes later, my suspicions were sadly brought to a reality. Casey had certainly gotten into a fight, but he was losing.
"Come on guys, can't we just talk this over?" Casey was strapped to a round table that was pushed up against the wall. He was being used as a human dart target. Once he saw Mikey and I at the entrance to the bar, his face lit up and he started to plead for his life.
"I told you not to get into a fight!" We ran over to him and stopped the men from throwing their knives. "Please forgive our friend here." I waved my hands down for them to lower their weapons.
"He has many unexplainable medical conditions." Mikey continued. "We can't hate on the sick, can we?"
The men looked at each other and scratched their heads in confusion. Stay in school, kids.
"The answer… is no." Mike said. "Now, why don't we untie the hippie and let him run back to the little hole he crawled out from?"
"Or… we can mail him back in pieces!" One of the guys shouted which started an uproar in the bar.
"Should I call the cops?" The female bartender, who I met a few hours ago, ran up to me with a phone in her hand.
"I thought this place had bouncers, where are they?" I asked her.
"They're the ones who tied this guy up!"
I sighed and rubbed my temples. "Get everyone who's not a part of this, back." I warned her and she quickly ran off.
"Mikey, get ready." I jumped in front of Casey and pulled out my staff.
"I could get out of here any moment, I just…"
"Shut up, Casey." Mikey told him.
"Listen, we don't want a fight. I know you probably hate this guy so just let us take him out of here for you." I tried to reason with them.
"Yah, we'll turn him over to the Mafia."
"WHAT?!" Casey roared.
"No, we will not!" I whisper/yelled at Mike.
Our competition was a bit unfair now that I looked out into the crowd. It was Mikey and I against maybe 2 dozen, full grown men who most likely had guns hidden somewhere in their getups. I hated to say I started to wonder if saving Casey was really worth it.
I felt myself jump 3 feet in the air when the bar's doors slammed open and broke off their hinges. A tall, lean figure in a dark cloak and hat, walked in slowly and examined the scene in front of him. The rioting group was captivated by his presence and for about 5 seconds, took their eyes off Casey. That's when Mikey and I cut him free.
"Thanks, guys. Maybe a few minutes late but that's ok." He said.
"I will not hesitate to re-tie you up there." Mikey said quickly.
As Casey and Mikey bickered, I was fixated on this guy who was coming further and further into the bar.
"Who's this hero?" Asked one of the older men in the crowd.
"I hate outsiders! They always not walk in on business that aint there's." Another one of the men smashed off the bottom of a glass beer bottle and approached the stranger.
The masked man didn't hesitate. Once the thug came at him, he grabbed his arm and did some kind of squeeze on his wrist that forced the bottle to the floor. The bigger man shrieked in pain and then he was flipped over onto the ground.
"I think its superman." Whispered Mikey.
The stranger put one foot on the fallen man's body to keep him down on the ground. He stood erect as if to challenge anyone else who dared to approach him. No one did.
"Screw the cops." I heard the bartender woman say.
"All of you will resume what you were doing before you tied this innocent man to the wall." The stranger said, pointing to Casey.
"I know that voice anywhere." I quietly said with a smile.
"And who do you think you are?" One of the bouncers said, stepping forward. "I don't see a badge."
The stranger pulled two katana from his back and whipped them by his sides. The sound of sharp metal against the sheath caused the bouncer to take a few steps back. Despite his fear of the unknown, he charged the stranger with his fist ready to blow. It was almost hard to watch as the man easily jumped up onto the bouncer's shoulders and punched him in the back of the neck with the butt of his sword. He flipped in the air and gracefully landed on the ground just as the bouncer's paralyzed body hit the floor.
Leo pointed at Mikey, Casey and I.
"With me. Let's go." He sheathed his swords and headed for the door. I swear the three of us never ran so fast in our lives.
Once we got outside, I embraced Leo almost ready to cry.
"I don't know how you do this leader stuff." I sobbed. "That was awful, I didn't know what to do and..."
"It's ok, Donnie." He squeezed my neck and then let me go.
I looked up at his face after sensing something was wrong. It was hard to see him through the shade of his hat but I could tell he had no luck finding Raph and it was beginning to take a toll on him.
"To what do we owe the honor?" Casey asked.
"April and I had no luck at the farm so we decided to split up to make things go faster." He said. "Mrs. Jones sent me your message and it sounds like this might be our place."
"We're heading over there now. We'll fill you in on the way." I waved my hand in the right direction to Mason's farm and I was sure to let Leo lead the way. After all, leading was never really my strong point anyway.