Days until Trial – 6
Current Status of Witness – Alive
Location – Classified, within State lines.
"The hit and run of Alice Winchester last night shocked the sleepy residential community within which she has lived for the past ten years. Ms Winchester's untimely demise, coupled with the fact that she is the main prosecutor for the McCormack court case, has raised speculation that local criminal gang, the Purple Dragons, are raising their ugly heads once again. As a consequence all other lawyers and possible jury members are being relocated, in an attempt to stop intimidation as well as protect their own personal safety.
This is Robert Steiner for Channel Three News saying Good morning and God bless."
With a soft ooom the television in April's store returned to a mooted black. Cradling a mug of coffee she carefully picked her way over the wooden floorboards and towards the small kitchen in the rear of the building. With the blinds down, and the lights still switched off the warm shadows that cloaked her kitchen were comforting. Especially considering what she had just seen on the Early-Bird News. Pouring out a bowl of cereal, she filled the small glass jug with ice cold milk before taking breakfast, complete with a glass of orange juice upstairs. Having lived in the store all of her life April avoided the loose floorboards with ease; her destination marked out by the slit of light that came from the front bedroom. Smiling fondly she paused in the door way to look at the hunched form that now lay slumped over the computer desk. Biting on her lip, she shook her head slightly at the rounded green shoulders, and dangling purple material that draped down over the bent forearm. Creeping into the room April placed the tray down at the end of the bed, before reaching down to retrieve the thick blanket she had brought through late last night for the young boy. Unfolding it she slipped the material over his shoulders before squatting down at his side.
"Don …" one hand gently ran over the top of his forehead, "Hey Donny …" she whispered quietly, her eyes shining in part to the soft spot she held for the turtle, as well as the light that came from the computer screen.
"Huh?" Moving slowly, Donny lifted his head up to stare at April, his partially opened jaw signalling his confusion. Rubbing one half open eye with the heel of his hand he continued to stare at his host.
Her smile widened, "It's after seven. And I thought I told you to go to bed." Standing up she pushed him lightly on the shoulder, but then what had she expected? She couldn't really be surprised to see Donatello still in front of the screen, because when Donny got onto something he was like a dog with a bone. She still couldn't get over the fact that he had done a little jig at two in the morning when he had finally found something useful. "Come on, I've got some breakfast here."
"April?"
"You spent the night at the store." She gently reminded him, her pale arms remaining around his shoulders whilst she took him to the bed, and his waiting breakfast.
"Oh yea." Stifling a yawn in the crook of one arm he looked back towards the computer, "I should finish that up."
"After breakfast." Passing him the tray she returned to the computer screen to check his findings. "And a nap." She added watching his reflection in the glare of the screen. Tucking him into bed April went for the telephone, making it by the third ring.
"I caught it on the Early-Bird News." She told Splinter, her eyes focused intently on the act of wrapping the phone wire around her index finger. "Don's got a bunch of stuff on the computer to print off … Sure, I can do that … Give him an hour Splinter, he was up all night. … Yes, I did tell him to go to bed … I didn't think he would ignore me did I? It was 2am … Well, I know for next time! … Yes, okay. … 9.30 is fine. … Bye."
Placing the phone back down into the cradle she let out a long sigh. Man …
Patrick was taking each day as it came, so far it had been twenty four hours and there had been no undue concern. Or at least that was the illusion that Rory, Todd, Chas and Mark were trying to project to the old man. But even as he unpacked his small suitcase he couldn't help but feel like he was being lied to.
He only had to make it through another six days, which with all that he had seen so far was an incredibly unlikely scenario. Things were going on in the outside world that he was not to know about. And when you had been on the run for as long as he had that never meant a happy ending. Pushing all negative thoughts to the back of his mind Patrick continued to unpack his bag …
Dominic West wasn't the sort of man to break the law. He had been raised as a good little Catholic boy, he had gone to a prestigious law school, had worked hard on every single test and exam he had ever done, and yet now he was throwing it all away. It turned out that the cost of a man's life was to supersede it with another's.
The choice of venue was suitably atmospheric; the man was to meet with the head of the Purple Dragons at the docks. With a sea fret whipping up and hovering over the water the gentle breeze carried it in over the equally miserable landscape to swallow all that inhabited the area. Pale, green eyes flickered to the illuminated clock behind his steering wheel; his 'visitors' were late. Reaching for the car door he opened it, the eerie click echoing into the smothering blanket that was engulfing his car. You could die here, and no one would ever know. The thought chilled his spine. Retrieving the black leather briefcase he was using to carry the coerced documents, Dominic climbed out of his vehicle. Shutting the door behind him, he squinted into the murky distance. With the billowing swirling fret he couldn't be sure, but he thought he had seen some movement.
"I-is anyone there?" trying to sound authoritive and in control when you are terrified was one task too many for the man. Once again his eyes squinted at the flickering movement amongst the mist.
Hugging the briefcase to his front, the man backed away from the phantoms in the mist, his nerves comforted by the reassuring cold steel his Cadillac could provide at his rear. Keep them in sight. Just keep them in sight Dom. So intent was he on maintaining contact on what he could only assume were his visitors he didn't know he was surrounded until the cold comfort of his Cadillac was replaced by the warm worn mass that constituted Hun's impressive frame.
"Why yes, yes there is Mr West." The blond haired man snarled, his brown soulless eyes meeting the fearful gaze of his companion and not flinching. The raw fear he encountered made his smug sneer all the darker.
With a final shuddering mechanical whirr the printer spat out the last in a long line of innocuous documents. Collecting them up April listened to the sound of gentle snores coming from the room behind her, before creeping downstairs to join her early houseguests.
"Ho- how did you do that!"
"You have something the Boss wants." Dismissing the question Hun got to the point, with little finesse.
Nodding Dominic held the briefcase out to the man, his shaking made all the more obvious now that he no where to hide. "You see that boys? Seems Mr West is a little scared!" Chuckling darkly, he moved silently around the man, each step surprisingly soft for a man of his bulk and size. The uneasy silence that descended over the small group was punctured by the sound of plastic thudding down onto metal. Jerking round sharply Dominic was powerless to watch the man clad in black whilst he set up the laptop computer. Satisfied with his handy work, the Foot Soldier stepped to one side, allowing Hun to take his place before the quietly hissing machine. The thud was followed by the gentle metallic clicking of his suitcase being opened.
"Well … you have what you want, so I'll … I'll be leaving you gentlemen to it." Dominic muttered quietly, turning on the spot and choosing to walk away. Disappearing into the mist his exit was interrupted by the arrival of more phantoms and ghosts. The black clad arms and legs wrapped around the man, pulling and tugging at his clothes and limbs, when he attempted to strike away one such man his attack was stopped by another. "What are you people?" he whispered, accepting his fate and allowing his terrified body to be dragged back to the behemoth that appeared to be in charge.
The alarm refused to stop beeping. Burying his head under the pillow did nothing to stop the incessant ringing, and so with much reluctance Donny got up. Dragging the blanket off the bed with him he wandered over to the computer, his nights work still present on the screen.
Breakfast is behind you, documents are printed off and downstairs. EAT SOMETHING! We are all in the living room. April
Pulling the small yellow post-it off the screen Donny sat down in front of the shining square. His eyes checked on his still waiting breakfast, it had started out its life as cold, had waited two hours anyway, and could wait a little longer. Yawning loudly, Don cracked his knuckles, and started to work on covering his tracks.
Getting a remote signal down on the docks was harder than Hun had first thought. But with a little perseverance, and a lot of anger he had succeeded in getting the connection he needed. With Dominic at his side document after document on the Witness Protection Program, and its personnel came springing up.
"This isn't what the Boss wants." Hun growled.
"The man I spoke to wasn't very specific … "Dominic could feel his words babble, "I was told to bring eve – everything."
The keyboard was spun round to face the man, "Get me everything on the McCormack trial." Wincing at the marks made on his car bonnet, Dominic nodded.
"The trial names go to the recycle bin. The recycle bin goes to the electromagnet." It was a stupid little song, but scrambling and destroying public property tugged on his conscience. Window after window degenerated into black and white squares before going blank with a satisfying little pop. Whistling quietly to himself, Don moved onto the list of safe houses.
"It's not there."
Hun's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean it's not there?"
"There … there seems to be some sort of interference." Hitting the right button on the mouse Dominic showed Hun pulled up a list of trial dates. Instead of being full of names and dates a small box merely appeared stating ominously, ''Archive Empty. 57 files deleted' "I … I don't know what is going on ..."
"Get me the safe house addresses right now."
Nodding, fear drove Dominic to many simple errors. Upon his successful third attempt the small sigh of relief he was going to exhibit became one of horror. "Something is eating the system!" he squealed, his eyes bearing witness to the destruction of carefully archived, apparently untouchable data.
"Well stop it!"
"This isn't my area of expertise …" Dominic whimpered in response, the small cursor highlighting and pasting the partially destroyed document into the Notepad on the laptop. In the reflection of the windshield he saw Hun's face contort with rage, and once again he made minor errors. Reaching into his back pocket he produced another cell phone, flicking it open, the larger man hit the speed dial, before holding the phone to the man's ear.
"You had best get me something Mr West." The same cold voice that had arranged the meeting demanded his tone calculating and cruel.
"And done!" Leaning over April's keyboard Donny reluctantly hit the delete button. Letting out a long sigh he stared at the blank white windows that glared back at him.
"How is it going?" Leo hung in the doorway, they had been waiting for about half an hour for Donny to get his act together and come downstairs. Finally Leo had decided to come and get him.
"I've just finished up." Was the succinct reply. Turning around in the chair Donny got up, "What are we doing now?"
"Family meeting." Turning from the doorway Leo paused as Donny over took him. "Don?" When his brother looked back, he was greeted with a good natured smile and a nod back to the bedroom. "Breakfast."
"No … no … no …" Even the soft whispering beneath his breath and frantic shaking of the connection wire couldn't bring back the files. It's gone. Dominic could feel the emotion of the desperate situation he was in come up to swallow him. Blinking he wiped away the tears that spilt from his eyes.
"What is the problem Mr West?"
Dominic wasn't sure how a man who was clearly not present could possibly leave such a feeling of dread in his stomach. "It's … it's not here." He whispered into the small microphone. Striking the back key Dominic followed the links on the site, only to be confronted with the horrible truth for the third time.
"Not there?" the laughter that echoed down the phone line was both eerie and pitiless. "How does one manage to lose access to confidential, encrypted files Dominic?"
"I … I don't know. I swear to you it was all here this morning. It's just gone, it is like a virus has come through and eaten everything. Please, you have got to believe me … I understood your message, got it loud and clear last night when you called. I … I have no desire …" the telephone moved away from his face and back to the ear of his large visitor.
"Turtles." Sitting in his office Saki stared at the far white wall, the large room reflecting the morning light with clinical effect. The fingernails of his right hand ran rhythmically off the top of the hard wood desk whilst he thought. "Dispose of Mr West. And this time try to find a manner that is not going to attract the attention of the New York press. Let's try to stay one step a head of the pack this time shall we Son?"
Moving his right hand from the table Saki reached over to the speaker phone on his desk and pressed the disconnect button. He could trust his Son to be creative in his work, and hopefully he could salvage something from this little enterprise. For Hun's wellbeing, he sincerely hoped the man could.
"Okay … that pile is all the personnel." Donny pointed to the pile that Mikey had picked up from the table, "That one is a list of all the safe houses in New York State, along with the occupants that are supposed to be residing there. I'll handle that one, there is some cross referencing that still needs to be done. Raph, can you take the list of addresses for houses in New York City and figure out where they all are?" Donny didn't wait to be told yes or no. Raph wasn't that great at research anyway, "And that one is all the people connected to the trial, along with the list of all evidence and where it is being held." He shoved that one Leo's way.
"How come we gotta do this right now? Bond never does anythin' like this …" Mikey pouted.
"Because I don't know how far a head of the Foot we actually are." Donatello pointed out.
"But ya scrambled the files …"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean that Shredder can't get the information some other way, additionally I don't know if I beat him to the punch. He's had years to prepare for this ..." From across the room Leo cleared his throat, effectively cutting off the end of Don's tirade, We've had 36 hours. Not to mention we're pretty much running blind
The telephone in Saki's office rang several times before being diverted to the answer machine. After the beep, Hun voices crept through the crackling microphone;
"Good news Boss, turns out that kid did pull up something useful. Got the name and address of ol' Paddy's handling officer right here. Me and the boys are gonna go upstate and get the details from the horses mouth, so to speak." A dry chuckle echoed down the line. "Might wanna call the cops down to the docks at Saki Fishing – turns out a terrible accidents gone and happened to the night watchman."
And with that the line, just like Dominic West, went dead.