SHADOW OF A DOUBT IV: INTRIGUE
"The Coast Guard. The fucking Coast Guard." He paced back and forth in front of me, his feet practically burning a hole through the weathered wooden deck. "You see the people sent here to make sure we don't leave the island, and you jump on their boat. What were you thinking?"
"You weren't there, Leo. You didn't see how this deal was going down. I didn't see the big 'Coast Guard' written on the side until we were already tailing them. Plus, the other guys had ski masks on, bro!" I objected. "Wearing one of those anywhere but a ski resort is like a billboard for 'Hey, I'm up to some suspect shit!'"
"And what kind of 'suspect shit' did you find on a Coast Guard patrol, Mike?" Leo steamed. I dropped the towel from my waist and fished out my Shell Cell from the pocket in my sash. Pulling up a picture on screen and wiping the water droplets from the airtight case, I flashed it before Leo's eyes. "What's that supposed to be? A generator?"
"It's a bomb, dude. The same casings Raph and I found planted in the Foot Lab where we found Donny." His eyes squinted to make out the details on the screen, then shot up to meet mine, then back to the screen.
"You're absolutely certain it's a bomb?"
"Those square parts on the corners were full of either Semtex or cheese. And it sure didn't taste like any cheese I'd eaten before."
"It still doesn't make any sense. Why would the government be buying this from some shady group of Canadians?"
"Maybe they don't want it to look like it's them bombing apartment buildings to weed out the Foot. I don't know. If anything, it says we've gotta look deeper into this."
"I get that, Mike. Under normal circumstances, I'd already have my swords out. But right now, the government is basically holding us prisoner. We can't expect them to keep us alive if we're uncovering their black ops and disobeying their rules."
"So, you expect us to sit here and let those boats go buy, let more innocent New Yorkers get blown up, just so we don't get in trouble?"
"They're not hunting for the Foot anymore, right? Now that they've got Karai, what would they need these for?"
"You're asking me, dude? If I had to guess, there's probably tons of people the Feds would love to blow up and make it look like it was someone else. These could be going anywhere in the country. Hell, the world, even. All the more reason to find out what's really going on."
"You're not a superhero right now, Michelangelo, and Raph's not a vigilante. Right now, we're all witnesses. And the best way for us to save people's lives is to stay low-key until Karai's trial. Then, once she's locked up and there's no Foot to worry about, we can look into this."
"God dammit, you're not listening to me at all!" I bellowed in his face. "For a so-called leader, you sure do sound like a fucking pussy right now! Maybe you can sit here like a bitch and let this happen, but I sure as hell can't!"
"Shit, Mike. What happened, you let Raph nut in you a couple times and now you walk and talk just like him?" My jaw clenched as I held back a growl. "You're still the baby brother, taking orders like a good soldier, just from him now instead of me."
"You're crazy, Leo! You don't know what the hell you're talking about." I seethed. "Get back on your crazy pills, dude; at least you were more fun when you were fucked up all the time."
"Oh yeah? You'd rather have me overdose again than listen to me and respect my orders?"
"Maybe. At least you were a better kisser back then." I sneered like a devil.
"What makes you think you know how I kiss now?" He screamed back. Then, after a moment's pause, he said quietly, "Wait, how would you know how I kiss to begin with?"
"Our birthday, dude? I figure you wouldn't remember, given what happened afterward, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen."
"What didn't happen?" His eyes opened wide.
"This." I leaned in, and he stayed frozen, his face still in a half-curious half-grimace. My lips planted on his, and as they plied open, I gently slid my tongue in to coax his into a dance. It lasted only a second or two before I pulled away, and my eyes opened to meet his, still dinner-plate wide and locked on my lips. "See, I knew you were better before."
"How…why…what?" He stammered.
"Now, before you run off and try to kill yourself like last time, I'm still covered in cold river muck and am absolutely dying for a hot shower." I turned and made my way to the door, chucking my towel at his feet as I stepped outside to get back to the house. Before I shut the door, I looked over my shoulder, and added, "Feel free to join me if you come to your senses." The door slammed, and I left him in the boathouse, just as the purr of Raph's boat's engine approached from the water.
As the door shut, I stopped dead in my tracks. Had my attempt to stick up for myself really worked? I'd gone from confident to angry to stupid to horny all in, like, fifteen seconds. Truthfully, I'd spent the better part of the swim back to the island thinking about what I'd have to say to Leo when I faced him, and kissing him definitely wasn't a part of that script. I hadn't even really paid attention to any feelings like that for Leo since our Mutation Day party. Yet, something about holding power over my oldest brother, even if that power was just hurting his feelings to try and get him to listen, gave me a mini power-trip.
By the time I could find the best shower in the house's maze of mad old rooms and get the hot water running, someone opened the door just as I closed the curtain. I half-expected it to be Leo. But something about the leathery grit of the hands that clasped my collarbones as he stepped in behind me said otherwise.
"You're never gonna guess what I got." Raph muttered over my shoulder. "The goons with the masks had a little place filled to the top with guns, drugs, money…shit, just about everything. Some smuggled smokes, some plastic explosive."
"Who were they?"
"Can't really say. The dude who came to pick them up was speaking French. Tall, dark, long hair…They all looked like that too. Like sunburnt Casey Joneses." He laughed to himself. "What kinda Canadians look like that?"
"Natives?" I offered.
"Indians? You mean they have those up here?" He made a dumbfounded face, as he cracked open a bottle of body wash and started to lather my neck and shell.
"Back with the Force, we caught a heroin pusher who got all his shit from Canada, and brought it in through a border crossing up around here that's run by the Mohawk Tribe. Allegedly, this neck of the Saint Lawrence was where booze was smuggled in during Prohibition. Figures there'd be some hush-hush stuff going on up here, but…what would Natives have to do with it?"
"Have to do with what?"
"The boat I trailed…Raph, the government's been buying bombs from these dudes. They're the same ones we found in the air vents up in that Two Bridges high-rise."
"You gotta be kidding me." He deadpanned.
"No lie, dude. This is fucking heavy."
"No shit it's heavy! The Feds plant bombs to take out the Foot, then hire Karai to hunt us down, then they throw her in jail, then they buy more bombs? Who's gonna die next?"
"None of it makes any sense, bro. We got a lot of digging to do."
"You mean we're leaving the island?"
"Well, we can't not leave the island. Now that we know this, if we do nothing, we'll be part-responsible for however many civilian die when the next tower goes up in smoke."
"What about Einstein and Fearless?"
"Well, we might be able to convince Donny."
"That reminds me…" Raph leaned forward to look me in the eyes. "What'd you say to Leo? He didn't give me the usual business for sneaking off without his permission when I got to shore."
"Oh yeah?"
"Didn't say a word. I could hear you two shouting from the water, though."
"Uh, I just told him to suck it, 'cause we're all practically adults now and we can make our own choices."
"Nice."
