Castoff
part 16

"Donnie, guys, I am so sorry," April said. "I did not mean to say a word about Colón's pregnancy or the baby. That man was just so smug and insufferable that something in me snapped. I wanted to knock him off his high horse and the next thing I knew, I was blurting it out."

It was the next day. After the disastrous interview the evening before, April had gone back to the news station with Vern and Casey had returned to the lair with the turtles.

When they had gotten back they could see from the stricken look on Don's face that something was wrong. He had wasted no time on preliminaries, instead indicating that they should gather around him so that he could play back April's interview with Guerra.

This was his second replay, done so that April could view the entire thing, including how Guerra had spied on them through the bar's front window. The troubled expression had not left Donatello's face and April didn't need to be a genius to know that she had let him down.

Casey pointed at the computer screen, now frozen as it showed Guerra at the front window of the bar looking out at them. "That is exactly why I didn't want you to confront this man," he said. "He's not right in the head. If his men hadn't been there to stop him, if the camera hadn't been there, he would've attacked you. Now he believes you know where his child is and that we're working together."

April seemed near tears. "Don't you think I've been beating myself up? It's not just that I've fed his obsession, but for a moment I forgot that the police had the place under surveillance. Now they know a baby connects Guerra to Colón. It gives the man motive for her death, but it also means the police will want to find the baby too."

"They already know the woman gave birth just before her death," Casey said. "The autopsy gave them that information. The pregnancy was already on their list of possible motives for her death. What the detectives didn't know was that the child was Guerra's and that he's looking for it."

"They will be searching for Shilo," Don said in a low voice. "Guerra thought he could find the baby through Casey, now he's going to believe the two of you are conspiring to hide Shilo from him."

"I've made things worse, just like I did when Sacks tricked me into leading the Foot Clan to your first home," April lamented.

"You are family, April. We survived that attack with your assistance. By sticking together as a family, we will defeat this menace as well. Do not worry," Master Splinter said.

A sudden resolute look settled over Don's face and he put his arms around her, pulling her in for a quick hug. Stepping back, he looked at her and said, "Like Casey said, Guerra isn't sane. He wasn't going to stop looking for his child anyway. He'll never find him and neither will the police. We'll all make certain of that."

"Can you forgive me?" April asked hopefully.

"There's nothing to forgive," Leo said. "You were given an assignment and were doing your job. Now it's up to us to do ours. We've got to figure out a way to prove that Guerra was responsible for Colón's death."

"One that doesn't involve producing a baby," Casey said. "I'm waiting for Chief Vincent to get back to her office so I can do damage control. She's been getting daily updates on this case from Detective Young, who's coordinating the reports on the surveillance."

"Can't you just erase the part where April's in the bar, Donnie?" Mikey asked.

Don shook his head. "It's a live feed. We see it at the same time the police do. The only thing in our favor is that the outside camera's viewing range is limited to the door and adjacent sidewalk. It didn't catch the exchange between April and Casey outside or him jumping out of our truck."

"Guerra sure as hell did," Casey said. "I'm taking off. I may have to sit in Vincent's waiting room for a couple hours before she can see me. Maybe I can talk her out of suspending me for withholding information by making her believe I didn't have any."

He left the lair without a backward glance. For a few minutes everyone was quiet, until Shilo started whine. Don went to retrieve the baby turtle from his bassinet.

"Casey's really mad at me, isn't he?" April asked.

"He ain't happy," Raph said. Glancing at the woman, he added, "It's only 'cause he got the crap scared out of him when he saw ya' waltz into that bar after dark. We thought you'd restrict your movements in that area of town to daylight hours."

"I wanted to catch him as soon as I could," April said. "I was hoping his guard would be down after learning the police didn't have enough to hold him." She looked over at Don, who was cradling Shilo in his arms. "I'd never do anything that would place that baby in danger."

"I know," Don said. "Logically I also know that Guerra won't ever find the lair or Shilo."

"It's the mommy hormones," Mikey said. "Don freaks out on general principle."

"I didn't give birth, Mikey, therefore I can't possibly have a hormonal response," Don said, shooting a dirty look in his brother's direction.

"Mood swings too," Mikey said to April, nodding sagely. "Don't you worry, girl. We've got this totally under control."

April couldn't help but smile at Mikey's antics. The orange banded turtle had a way of easing the worst situations.

"I should get back to work," April said. "I've got to file a report on what I've learned so far. Don't worry, I will leave out most of my interview with Guerra. I'll just report that he refused to answer questions regarding his criminal activities. Vern has already deleted the recording he made of our encounter."

Michelangelo walked April out, talking the entire way. After they were gone, Raph caught Leo's eye and tipped his head in Don's direction. Their brother had taken Shilo over to his computer station and was now seated in front of the bank of monitors.

All of his screens had views from the police surveillance cameras. One of them was strategically placed inside Guerra's apartment. On it they could see Guerra seated on his couch watching a program on his large screen television. Some of the men who worked for him were there as well, including the man he'd addressed as 'Javier'. The volume on the TV had been turned up so that the conversation between Guerra and Javier could not be heard.

"He knows that the police are spying on him," Don said when Leo and Raph came to stand near him.

"Or maybe he's always that cautious," Raph said.

Javier seemed to be Guerra's right hand man and it looked as if they were arguing about something. The other men in the room appeared discomfited by the conversation.

"Whatever is going on with them, they don't seem to be in agreement," Leo said.

"If it was me, I'd be telling Guerra to forget Colón and the kid," Raph said. "He doesn't seem to be the baby type and that macho crap is gonna get him in trouble."

"I think we can leave this to the police for now," Leo said firmly. "Casey and April both know to watch their backs. Our focus should be on finding Bebop and Rocksteady. Don, let's see what you've got on the Foot you've been tracking."

"Here, give me my nephew," Raph said, plucking Shilo from Don's arms. Keeping the baby against his chest and supported on one beefy arm, Raph smiled when Shilo's eyes fixed on him. "How about we get some grub little guy? You're gonna grow up big and strong like your Uncle Raph."

He moved off towards the kitchen with Shilo. Leo remained next to Don, whose fingers were skimming over his keyboard. Four of his screens switched away from the surveillance feeds on Guerra to the small red blips that indicated where the tagged Foot soldiers were currently located.

Each blip was fixed to a map of the area where the Foot were holed up. A quick set of commands split each screen so that one half showed a live feed from cameras near each building.

Don pointed at the screen. "People forget how many cameras there are in the city," he explained. "It's not just the ones that the police have installed; there are thousands of private cameras as well."

"Our guys haven't moved?" Leo asked.

"Not an inch," Don said.

"Let's keep an eye on them," Leo said. "Bebop and Rocksteady have to be running low on food since there haven't been any big hauls in the last five days. We need to be ready to move as soon as they do."

"I'm on it, Leo," Don said. "Oh, I put our two vehicles for sale online. Casey told me what he thought we could get for them. He's checking the impound lot here and in Jersey for a white panel van. He told me they usually have a few of them because they are a favorite with both drug and people traffickers."

"If we get one, no tricking it out," Leo said. "At least not on the outside. We need at least one vehicle that can go into any neighborhood without drawing anyone's notice."

"Make sure you tell Mikey that," Don said. "Just after we got the magnetic signs I saw him doodling design ideas on a pad of paper."

The remainder of the day passed uneventfully. Shilo had a bath care of Raph and Leo, who both wound up getting wet in the process. While the baby slept, the turtles had a training session with Master Splinter and afterwards each separated to do their own thing.

Casey came by later in the afternoon to let them know he'd accepted an offer on the car.

"We actually had a little bidding war going on," Casey said. "I took the best offer. You guys did a great job restoring it. The man who bought it is meeting me at the precinct with a certified check. It's enough to cover the cost of the van I found. I looked it over and it's in pretty good shape, so you won't have to put much work into fixing it up."

"How'd it go with Chief Vincent?" Raph asked.

"I'm not suspended," Casey said. "Turned out she was more concerned about having a reporter getting into the middle of the investigation than she was in learning that Guerra was the father of Colón's baby. The detectives had already followed every lead on the whereabouts of the baby and they all dead ended. Their theory was that the baby's father found out she killed the child and dumped it in the river and that's why he offed her. Now because the surveillance indicates that Guerra is the dad and has been looking for the baby, the detectives think maybe Colón gave the baby to someone, maybe even sold him for drugs."

"Will they keep trying to find Shilo?" Don asked.

Casey shook his head. "Doubt it. I mean, if they got some clue to his whereabouts they wouldn't ignore it. Having the baby's DNA as proof of Guerra's biological donation would strengthen their case against the man, but it's not going to be what puts Guerra behind bars for the murder."

"I'm beginning to think that nothing will," Raph said gruffly.

"We need the proverbial smoking gun and we don't have it," Casey said. "Just so you know, Guerra hasn't stopped looking for his kid. He's got a lot of his men out on the streets terrorizing anyone he thinks might know something. From what I've gathered, he's letting other business slide and that's not sitting well with some members of the Mala Noche."

"That must have been the reason for Guerra's argument with Javier earlier," Leo said. He told Casey what they'd seen on the surveillance of Guerra's apartment. "It was clear to us that they both knew the police might be monitoring their activities. I can't imagine that having that kind of heat directed at their gang would make any of them happy."

"I don't think Guerra has enough sense to let it go," Casey said. "He's bent on proving he's man enough to father a kid."

"Then he'll make a mistake," Mikey said. "The bad guys always do, don't they? When they get obsessed about something?"

"Yeah, that's probably what's got his gang worried," Raph said.

"One of you guys want to open the tunnel so I can drive the car out of here?" Casey asked. "I'm supposed to meet the buyer at seven. That'll give me time to wash the car."

"I've got it," Raph said and headed to the tunnel with Casey.

Night fell and still the Foot clan ninjas did not make a move. Donatello monitored the police frequencies, listening for reports of food thefts, but there were none. The only activities around the places the four Foot soldiers called home were their own fast food deliveries.

It was nearing midnight when the police scanner in Don's lab began to squawk. Don had been seated on the couch under the sun lamps with Shilo, reading to the baby, when the sound drew his attention. His father, who was next to him, took the baby so that Don could investigate what it was that had caused the alert.

Leo was quick to join him as Don dropped into his desk chair and rolled up to his computer array. Seeing the flurry of activity, Raph jumped down from the weight room to meet them. Mikey finished washing baby bottles and left the kitchen to see what had caused the excitement.

Don's fingers danced over the keyboard as he talked. "There was a break-in at the TCRI building. I'm pulling up the security feeds now. It's gotta be Stockman. He'd know exactly where everything is in the building and probably built back doors into the security systems."

Police dispatchers were still calling out instructions over the scanner and reports were starting to come in. Whoever had broken in to the building were gone, but the police were searching the surrounding area for the thieves.

A camera located near the back loading dock had filmed two large trucks backing up to the shipping doors. The back door of the lead truck slid open and several people garbed entirely in black leaped out. One of them partially scaled the side of the building in order to spray paint the lens on the security camera, while another climbed a power pole in order to do the same to a second camera.

"Switching to interior cameras," Don said.

The screen flashed to a shot from inside the shipping area. It showed the door sliding open and the thieves flowing into the building. One of them immediately disabled the camera.

"Damn Foot," Raph growled. "If they're painting the cameras so no one knows it was them they did a piss poor job of it."

The Foot repeated the process with each security camera they encountered as they entered the lobby of the building. Their progress was caught by the cameras inside the pair of elevators they took. Before they covered those lenses with paint, Don zoomed in on the control panel to see which floor they had been accessing.

"The thirty-sixth floor. That's the floor where Stockman's lab was," Don said. "It's where all of his equipment is located."

"They aren't painting the cameras to keep people from knowing the Foot were responsible for the theft," Leo said. "They're doing it so no one knows what they're stealing."

"I downloaded a list of the equipment and chemicals Stockman had in his lab," Don said. "They never cleared it out after he disappeared and no one has been in there. It took me a day to hack in to his personal secured server so I doubt even the TCRI management knew what he was doing. I don't know why the police never raided the lab . . . ."

"Another time, Donnie," Leo interrupted. "What's in there that they'd want to take?"

Don looked up at him. "Neutronium. He must have gotten it from the parts that made up the Arc Capacitor. There were schematics in his files and he'd already begun to duplicate those parts. If that's what the Foot retrieved from his lab, then it has to be because Stockman is trying to recreate the Arc Capacitor in order to open another portal."

"Now we know why they're trying to keep such a low profile," Raph said.

"They're trying to bring the Shredder back," Mikey said.

"To bring back the Shredder they'll have to bring Krang back as well," Leo said.

"Which means the Technodrome comes with him," Don said. "The whole cycle will start over again."

"We're not going to let that happen," Leo said. "Why didn't you get a signal from your tracking devices that the Foot were on the move?"

"Because those four didn't go anywhere," Don said. "They must be assigned to the food retrieval unit."

Don's shoulder mounted com unit beeped and he quickly answered it in speaker mode. "Hey Casey."

"I'm at a break-in at the TCRI building," Casey said, talking fast. "I'm pretty sure it was the Foot clan."

"It was," Don said. "We were just looking at the security feeds from the building."

"They bypassed the alarm system somehow," Casey said. "If it weren't for a night janitor, we wouldn't have known about it until morning. The police are going floor by floor trying to discover what they were after."

"The police must not have looked at the recordings yet," Leo said. "They were after equipment on the thirty-sixth floor. That's where Stockman's lab was located."

"Before ya' ask, they were stealing stuff that Stockman can use to open another portal," Raph said.

They could hear Casey cursing under his breath as Don typed in a series of commands on his keyboard. A moment later images of the two trucks popped up on his monitors. It showed them driving away from the TCRI building and then splitting off from each other to go in different directions. A moment later both disappeared.

"That's impossible," Don said, jumping from one street camera to another. "Stockman must have created something to make those trucks invisible to the cameras. I've got license plate numbers, Casey. Pass them along and maybe a patrol unit will spot the trucks."

He read the two plate numbers out to Casey and then sent pictures of each plate to the man.

"Thanks," Casey said. "Let me get this out over the air. They've got a big head start on us so I'll tell the guys to widen the search area."

He signed off and Don returned to reviewing security footage, shaking his head as he flipped from screen to screen.

"That Krang guy was no fun the first time around," Mikey said.

"There won't be a second time," Leo said. "We're going to find Karai and Stockman and we're going to shut them down."

"Bebop and Rocksteady have to be on guard duty for the Foot," Don said. "Our best bet for finding them and Stockman is to stay on those food thefts."

After agreeing that's all they could do for the moment, the brothers returned to their previous activities, with Mikey taking over Shilo's care so that Don could remain at his computers.

Updates were slow coming in but after a couple of hours it was clear that the police weren't going to find the trucks. Master Splinter, Leo, and Raph finally turned in for the night. Before Leo went up to bed he admonished Don not to stay up all night.

The TV was on low in the background and a short time after the rest of the family had gone to bed, Mikey walked over to Don's workstation. He was holding Shilo against his shoulder and the baby was fussing, though he hadn't started to cry yet.

"I think Shilo wants his mama," Mikey said. "I tried to put him down for the night but he's not happy about it."

Don quickly stood up to take the baby from his brother. As soon as Shilo was cradled in Don's arms he stopped whining.

"See?" Mikey said. "Moms always have the magic touch."

"You are not going to stop calling me that, are you?" Don asked.

Mikey grinned. "Shilo likes it and it's less confusing anyway. When he gets older and yells 'dad' how are you and Leo supposed to know which one of you he wants?"

"I'm still trying to figure out how you decided that Leo is supposed to be the dad," Don said as he walked up to their shared bedroom.

He sat on his bed and rocked back and forth, his gaze fixed on Shilo's face. Shilo stared up at him and then his little eyes began to close. Within minutes the baby was fast asleep.

Mikey stood next to him while Don was rocking the baby and he followed after his brother as he put the infant turtle into his crib. They both stood looking down at the baby.

"I think he's the best thing that ever happened to our family," Mikey said, keeping his voice low. "No regrets, right Donnie?"

"No regrets at all," Don said as he watched his child sleep.

TBC…