Chapter 25

It was finally time to put a plan into motion. As soon as May woke up and was well enough to be questioned, Casey called Mike. He was the only one he felt he could trust. With May's testimony and vivid description of the perpetrator, if they didn't already have everything they needed, they definitely did now. For safety purposes, they didn't let the press know that May was alive and well. If Nathaniel found out about it, then he could run off or come after her.

The girls all sat around at what has become their usual table at Tasty Delights. They were waiting for Nathaniel to make a move on Vanessa again. "Do you think he's going to try again?" Paige asked. "You've rejected him quite a few times now."

"I guess we're going to find out." Vanessa said.

"And it looks like we're going to find out sooner than we think." Sierra added and nodded her toward the incoming waiter. "Here he comes. You all know what to do."

"Hello ladies, can I get you started with some drinks."

"Just lemonades please." Sierra said.

"Sure thing." he then looked to Vanessa almost longingly.

"Yes?" Vanessa asked.

"Nothing. It's just that I wanted to apologize for how I was acting." he said to her, seeming almost truly apologetic. "I should have backed off the first time."

Vanessa looked to her sisters and they encouraged her to go along with the plan. She sighed and looked back up at the young man. "No, it's fine. And to be honest, I lied to you." she started. "I know I told you I was happily married, but in reality I was just fooling myself into thinking I was happy." she really felt gross saying all this.

A small smile crept across his face. "So... does that mean?"

Vanessa sighed again. "Yes, but just this one time." she grabbed a napkin and wrote down her phone number. "Here, you call me and I'll tell you where to meet me."

An excited glint sparked in his eyes as he took the napkin from her. "I'll go get those drinks for you right now." he walked away from them, not knowing that he had fallen right into their trap.


Over at Casey's farmhouse, Mike, Don, Vanessa, Raph and Melanie waited outside as they waited for their prey to show up. Leo, Sierra, Mikey and Paige were hidden in the Battle Shell by the road most used to get to the farmhouse. When Nathaniel and Jamie show up they'll know.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Don asked his wife.

"No, but I can handle it. Let's just get this over with."

"I'm gonna owe you big time after this." Mike said.

"Yeah, yeah, you are." Vanessa said with her arms crossed.

"Hey guys, we got somebody over here." Leo's voice could be heard over the headset that Don was wearing.

Over by the road, Leo had noticed a black car that had pulled up and stopped. One man climbed out of the passenger side and looked around at his surroundings. "It's him, he's heading your way."

"He's on his way. Everyone get ready." Don told them.

Everyone except Vanessa went inside and waited for their cues. Nathaniel emerged from the woods and approached her. "Hey Vanessa." he greeted.

"Hey." she said simply.

"You don't seem very happy to see me."

Vanessa looked to the younger man and sighed. "I'm about to do something that I might regret, why would I be happy about this?"

"So, prickly." he said only half joking. "I promise you the best time of your life."

Vanessa snorted.

Nathaniel wasn't expecting that as a response. "I don't know how I feel about that response."

Vanessa turned toward the door of the farmhouse. "Well, if you didn't like it, you wouldn't still be here, so you must like it a little bit." she made her way inside.

"Well, you're not entirely wrong there." he followed her inside and got a good look around. "This is a nice place you've got here. Quiet, peaceful... secluded."

Vanessa did not like the way he said that. It was like he was saying he could definitely get away with this kill because of where they were located. "Thanks." she said simply as she sat down in an armchair.

"So... what do you say we get this started?"

Vanessa smirked. It was the first time she so much as cracked a smile. "It seems I have gotten through to you." he said.

Vanessa nodded. "Yes you have. But not for the reason you might think."

"What do you mean?"

"Because, Nathaniel, we aren't doing anything."

"What... what did you just call me?"

"I called you by your actual name. Nathaniel Shelton. The Lady Killer."

Nathaniel's cool guy facade quickly dropped. His eyes widened. He slowly stuck his hand in his pocket, grabbing onto his weapon. If his cover was blown then he was going to need to take her out and get out of there.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Vanessa warned.

Before he could make a move, he felt something cold and sharp pressed against his neck. Looking where it was coming from. He saw Melanie standing there with her kunai. "Who are you?" Nathaniel asked.

"Don't worry about it." Melanie said. "Hands out of your pockets."

The young man pulled his hands out and held them up. Vanessa walked up to him and searched both of his jacket pockets, pulling out an ice pick. "Seriously, who are you people?"

"They're with me." Mike said as he emerged from the back room.

"You? You're that detective that came to my cafe, asking questions."

Mike nodded. "I have to admit you really had me believing that you were innocent in all this, but you made a couple fatal mistakes." he handcuffed the young man and sat him down in one of the chairs. "You went after her." Mike pointed over to Vanessa who just sat in the chair with a somewhat smug grin on her face. "Her husband isn't very happy with you either."

"If anything I was doing her husband a favor."

"How?"

"Oh please, don't act all innocent. You're just a little whore like the rest of them."

Don, who was listening in another room, had heard enough by that point. Hearing someone call his wife a whore made him snap a bit. He stormed into the room and before anyone could say anything, he whacked him upside the head with his bo staff, knocking him out. Everyone was shocked by Don's sudden urge for violence. Even Raph, who had stepped out of the room, after him was a little bit shocked.

"Donnie!" Vanessa exclaimed.

"Oops." he said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Didn't know you had it in you bro." Raph chuckled.

"Yeah, me neither." Don said.

Mike sighed. "I guess we should get his sister in here."

Don took that as his cue and spoke into the headset. "We got him, get the other."

"We're on it." Leo said back. "Let's go, Mikey."

Mikey drove the hauler out of its hiding place and stopped right in front of their target. Making the occupant in the car rather nervous. Jamie noticed the armored truck and immediately moved to try and call her brother. When he didn't answer she began to panic. "Come on, you big idiot. What's going on in there?" after the third try, she decided she was just going have to run. She quickly turned the car around and started to drive back from where she came from. Looking behind her in the rearview mirror, she saw that she was still being followed by the armored truck.

"Stop in front of her." Sierra ordered.

Mikey sped up some and easily passed her. He turned the wheel causing the hauler to turn to the side blocking her path. She wasn't prepared for this, she couldn't stop in time and crashed her car into the side of the vehicle. "Ladies, you're up." Mikey said.

Both Paige and Sierra climbed out of the hauler and approached the driver side with some duct tape. They opened the car door to saw that she was rubbing her head, she must have hit her head on impact. Before she could get her bearings, Paige had already placed the tape over her mouth and was pulling her out of the car. Both of them guide her to the back of the hauler and they pretty roughly toss her in and hold her down. Mikey took off back toward the farmhouse. Between getting kidnapped and seeing two giant turtles she wanted to scream, but the tape prevented that from happening.

When they got there, the girls brought her inside where she was immediately handcuffed and placed next to her unconscious brother. They didn't take the tape off. They just let her sit there and cry. "Two down, one more to go."


They waited a few hours for Nathaniel to wake back up and when he did, he had a splitting headache. Looking around, he saw that his sister was sitting beside him handcuffed and with tape over her mouth. "Jaime, are you okay?"

"She's fine. Just a little startled." Sierra said as she came into his view, patting the young girl on the head.

"There's more of you?" he asked.

"Yes, yes there is." Paige added. "A whole clan actually."

"You came after one of our own and that was your downfall." Melanie said. "For you, your sister and your father."

Nathaniel grew nervous at the mention of his father. He couldn't believe that they even knew about him. "How much do you know about us?"

"We know enough."

Nathaniel could only look to his sister and apologize.

"Now, I just have to call my partner." Mike stood up and headed out the door with his phone in his hand.

"Who are you people?" Nathaniel asked once he was out the door.

"People that you never should've messed with." Melanie asked.

"Listen, I was doing the world a favor."

Sierra rolled her eyes. "By killing women."

"No, by killing cheaters. People like that don't deserve to live." Nathaniel said and then looked to Vanessa. "Like you."

"Me? What the hell did I do?" Vanessa asked.

"I would like to know too." Don said as he stepped in front of both of them.

Jaime, who still had tape over her mouth, let out some muffled screams when she saw the giant turtle again. "What the hell are you?" Nathaniel asked.

"I'm the guy that hit you over the head. So, unless you want that to happen again, I suggest you answer the question. You're not in any position to be asking questions now anyway. Now, why were you going after my wife?"

"This is your husband?" he chuckled. "Didn't know you were into freaks."

Don rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, totally have never heard anyone call me that in my forty years of being alive. Gonna have to try something different if you want to upset me."

Nathaniel looked over to Vanessa. "I heard you talking about how you couldn't stand your husband and you don't know how much longer you can deal with taking care of him." he explained, Thinking he's got her, he smiled smugly.

It must've clicked for Vanessa and Don because they looked at each other and he said. "Is he talking about your patient that's been giving you a hard time at work?"

"Yeah, I think he is."

"What?" Nathaniel asked, smug smile dropping.

"Yeah, I work in a hospital and sometimes I have difficult patients. If you're gonna eavesdrop, then the least you can do is get all the information."

Sierra just laughed. "So you were coming after my sister... for nothing."

Melanie laughed too. "You're an idiot."

Nathaniel looked shocked and embarrassed. Shocked that this misunderstanding had cost him, his sister and soon, his father. And embarrassed at how careless he was. "Well, it seems I owe you an apology."

"Apology not accepted." Vanessa said without any hesitation.

"You should've quit while you were ahead dude. Maybe you could've gotten away with it." Paige added.

Mike came back inside. "Okay, now we just have to wait. Did you find out why he was coming after you?" he asked Vanessa.

"Yep and it was just one big misunderstanding." she said to him.

"My only question is, why go through all this?"

"Like I said, I was doing the world a favor."

Melanie rolled her eyes. "You're insane."

"It was for the benefit of others. You wouldn't understand."

"You're right, I wouldn't, because I'm not psychotic."

"Okay, that's enough." Mike stopped them both. "Ladies, do you mind? I'd like to start questioning him."

"Fine, we'll be quiet." Sierra said. "But we're staying in here, in case he tries something."

Mike shrugged. "Fine by me. I'd prefer it that way."

Don headed back out to keep a look out for Henry while Mike questioned Nathaniel. Or at least he tried to, but he answered every question the same way. He truly believed that he was doing the world a favor and wouldn't say anything otherwise. After a while, Mike kind of gave up. If anything he had basically admitted to doing what he did and that was all he needed. Now he just had to hear the excuse his partner was going to give.

It wasn't long before Henry pulled up to the front of the farmhouse. "Someone's pulling in Mike. Could be your partner." Don warned into the headset.

"Got it. I'll meet him out there." Mike stood up and headed out to the front porch to greet his partner and former friend.

"Hey Mike, what's this about you catching the killers?" Henry asked.

"I meant what I said." Mike explained, keeping all emotion off his face. "I set a trap for them. They're inside. Come on, I'll show you." Mike led Henry inside, fully expecting him to try something.

When Henry got inside and saw the two people handcuffed, he immediately snapped. "What the hell is this?"

"What does it look like? I caught the killers."

"These are my kids!"

Mike didn't look back at him. "I know."

"Dad, let it go." Nathaniel said. "They already know."

Henry calmed down some. "Fine, then if that's the case," he pulled out his pistol and pressed it to the back of Mike's head. "I'll have to stop you."

Mike couldn't help, but smirk a bit. "Well, this sucks. I was hoping that you being involved was all just a big mistake. I didn't want it to be real."

"Well, it is. Now, I'm going to need you to let those two go." Henry said.

"Yeah, I'm not doing that." Mike answered.

"Do it, or I will blow your brains out." Henry threatened.

"You can do that all you want. As you can see," he pointed to the women standing behind Nathaniel and Jaime. "I am not alone, so you won't get very far."

"I'll gun them down too if need be."

"Why are you doing this? You are an officer. You're supposed to protect people."

"You know as well as I do that kids come before the job."

"Not if my child is a murderer!"

"There's more than just these four." Nathaniel warned his father. "Some weirdos in turtle costumes."

Henry let his guard down. "What?"

Before he knew it he had his wrist wrenched behind him and his gun taken away. When he turned to face his assailants, there was a katana in his face courtesy of Leo while Raph held the gun, waving it in his face. "He was talking about us." Leo said.

"Now, be a good little officer and sit." Raph added.

Having no other choice, he took a seat. "How did you find out about us?"

"I had some help from your brother, Devin." Mike answered. "He had all sorts of photos and audio evidence of you and your kids."

"That's impossible, I made sure to erase everything he had."

"So, it was you. You killed your own brother." Mike shook his head at the depravity of his former partner. "Unfortunately for you, you didn't thoroughly check because he had a USB drive with everything on it."

"Welp, that's all of them." Raph said. "What are you going to do now?"

"Nothing else I can do. I got a confession. I'm just going to call reinforcements and they'll come and deal with them."

Mike alerted his boss that his plan had worked and they were all ready to be taken away into custody. The back up arrived hours later, the chief himself even showed up personally so he could look at the person that betrayed them. They were all piled into cop cars and driven off.


This is also almost over. One more chapter to go.

Then I can finally move on.