Chapter 9

The rest of the drive out to Dorin's estate was quiet, too quiet if you asked him. Raph's grip on the wheel never loosened after they lost the Foot car that had followed them. Drawing close to the property, he parked the Battle Shell off on a hidden side road. With the deserted road and dozens of trees, he doubted it would be spotted, but now as a good as any time to be cautious.

"Now what brainiack? The guy have any security on that big house of his?" Raph asked as he sized up what he could see of the mansion from their position. It was three stories tall and looked massive, windows everywhere and an elegant dark brown siding to go with it.

"Lots of security," Don answered. "Never seen so much for a countryside house. If this was the Foot tower, that'd be another story, but it isn't."

"Bet he's trying to hide something important," Mikey joined in. "Maybe they've got Leo here and didn't send him off on the boat instead."

As much as Raph wanted that to be true, he was ready to believe either possibility. It didn't matter as much to him, they were going to bring Leo home no matter what. "Anyway to bypass the security?" He could always punch a nice hole in the wall. And at this point, it would be welcoming.

"There's a glitch in the electric fencing. If I rewire it, it'll shut off and still transmit an ok signal to the house."

"Good. Let's go." Raph wasted no time in getting out of the Battle Shell and sneaking through the large trees up to the fence that surrounded the house. He waited for Don to find the power box and begin the rewiring process.

"Done yet?" Mikey whispered.

Both Raph and Don hushed him, Raph slapping a hand over the excitable turtle's mouth for good measure.

A few seconds later, Don nodded, grinning triumphantly.

Not wasting another second, Raph slipped up and over the fence, using the few trees in the lawn to make it to the window. Crouching beneath it, he looked in, seeing a dark room. It seemed big from what light the moon gave, but he couldn't be sure of what could be in there. He turned a questioning gaze to Don, who pointed upwards.

The roof. Why didn't he think of that?

Raph slipped his shutho spikes out of his belt, deftly slipping them on and climbing up the side of the mansion. Upon reaching the third story window, he felt a hand on his ankle. Jerking out of the sudden grip, his gaze snapped down do Don. He rolled his eyes as his purple banded brother pointed at the window. Geez, give him a heart attack already. He glared at Mikey's beaming grin as Don slipped the window open.

"Do that again and I won't look first," Raph hissed, climbing through the window after Don.

"Sorry," Don whispered back.

"Where to bros?" Mikey asked quietly.

"That way."

Raph followed Don down the directed hall, trusting that his brother knew where he was going. He tried a few doors along the way, but each room proved to be empty. No people sleeping, no torture devices, and no Leo. He wished Leo was here so they could find him sooner, but he really doubted the reality of that. If the Foot wanted to get rid of Leo, they wouldn't keep him here instead of the tower where it was more guarded. Especially when they could just ship of him off. So that meant they were answer hunting. And that begged the question. Where was Dorin?

Going through a third hall that turned left off the second one, Don pointed at a tall elegant door, which without a doubt had to be Dorin's bedroom.

Raph slipped up to the door and eased it open slowly. It opened quietly into a dark and large bedroom. The massive bed was right up against the far wall, directly facing the approaching turtles. Inside the bed was dark haired, sleeping Asian man.

Dorin.

A hand reached out to grab Dorin's neck, waking the man instantly. A sai quickly came up to the man's chin. "Alert any guard and you'll lose that thick neck of yers. Got it?"

Dorin nodded quickly yet carefully.

"What do you know about Basir?" Not gaining an answer, Raph shook the man, digging his sai in a little deeper, yet not enough to draw blood yet. "We know you meet him twice a year. Answer me," he growled dangerously.

"I don't have to tell you anything," the man hissed.

"I'd watch your tongue dude. Raphy's a little mad," Mikey warned, absently twirling a chuck.

"Oh he's more than mad," Don agreed.

"I have to agree with them," Raph whispered lowly. He could gut the man right now, but they needed answers.

Dorin blinked, slowly starting to tremble. "He… he… comes every six months. Wants to know about our dealings within New York City. It's always stocks."

"But this time it wasn't."

"No," Dorin shook his head, agreeing with the red banded turtle. "It was much more. There was another like you. Out cold, blue band around his eyes. They were shipping him off to Pakistan. Something about winning fights for Basir. I had nothing to do with it. I swear!"

Raph's growl increased. His big brother made to fight for some low life from halfway around the world. Basir was going to pay. If Leo was hurt in any way, he was going to make the man pay. "And you're sure this is where they're going?"

"Cuz if it's not, we'll be back dude, and boy is Raph going to be in a rage. You don't want to see him angry," Mikey said with a slight smile.

"And this isn't angry?" Dorin choked out.

"No," Raph muttered lowly. He smacked the man's head against the bed frame, angered that Leo wasn't being kept here, that he really was on one of those boats. At least they knew the destination, but Basir had so much a head start on them.

"We'll get to them," Don encouraged. "Come on, we'll have to catch the soonest boat. It's going to take two days just to get back to the harbor and on the right boat."

"With his driving, it'll be only a day," Mikey joked.

Raph stomped off and out of the room. He was not going to wait around. They were going to get on a stupid boat as soon as they could.

"Why not a plane?" Mikey asked, running to keep up with Raph.

"It's harder to slip on unnoticed," Don explained.

"And too far to an airport," Raph grouched, slipping back out the window. They would be lucky if the police didn't pull them over on their way back to the city.

Leo's footsteps dragged forward, one foot in front of the other, his walk slow through the desert. The sun wasn't fully up in the sky yet, but it was hopelessly hot. He pulled the hood of the cloak over his head for some shade from the oppressive heat, yet it didn't seem to do that much to cool him off. He wished for water. And food. His stomach screamed at him, his mouth was dry, his vision was bleary. The only thing he was conscious of was Kachiuma walking beside him. He held one end of his belt in his left hand, the other end tied around the horse's neck to keep them from separating. He was slowly losing his mind and hating to admit it, but depending more on the horse than the thought.

Direction and time had no meaning by the time the sun was fully over him. The heat had increased again and he couldn't tell if he was actually walking or just trudging along one tiny step at a time.

He pat Kachiuma's nose. "We'll get home," he said encouragingly, barely realizing his words. "And then we can feed the elephants. Mikey loves to ride the elephants. Until they feed him goats that is."

Kachiuma snorted and started walking in another direction. The change in direction nearly knocked him off his feet.

Following, Leo waved his hand at nothing in particular. He tried to shake of the illusions, but they kept playing with his mind. At one point he thought he saw Raph chasing Mikey and then Mikey pausing to stick his tongue out at him before resuming his run from an enraged Raphael.

He shook his head again, griping the make shift leash tighter.

"I have to get a hold of myself," Leo muttered to himself. "I'm not going to get home like this."

He looked around.

Sand, sand, and more sand.

"Ok, first things first. Need water."

His eyes landed on a rather large cactus. Stopping to stand in front of it, he sized it up and nodded to himself. He'd seen it done on TV, one of those documentary shows Don was always watching. With a quick, if not sloppy slice of his katana, an arm of the cactus fell to the ground. Careful of the needles, he tilted the piece of cactus towards his mouth, delicious water pouring in. He smiled and drank what was there. It wasn't much, but it was good enough.

Sliding his katana back in the sheath on his back, he looked at the horse. "I wish you knew the way back to the docks. Or at least out of the sun. It'd be better to walk at night."

Kachiuma snorted and pushed against Leo's shoulder with his snout.

Leo chuckled. "I know. It's here somewhere isn't it?"

The house neighed in happy response.

He began walking with the horse again, hoping to find some shelter to wait out the day in. Maybe a rock formation or a large hole in the ground. Anything to provide shade until the coolness of night rolled in.

It seemed to be a few hours before they found even something remotely like shelter. Leo had to look at it twice and even touch the side of the old makeshift house that seemed to be standing in the desert. It seemed real enough to the touch so he rounded it, looking for an entrance. As he did so, he saw more hidden rocklike houses within the hill of sand. Abandoned village maybe?

"Maybe it belonged to the sand people," Leo joked.

Kachiuma snorted and nudged Leo towards the door.

"Ok, ok, I'm going in." Entering, he held the door for the horse to follow him in. Closing it, he dropped his belt/leash for now and searched through the rock shelves and cupboards. There were four cupboards on the left wall. Three were empty, the fourth held a great prize. A large canteen heavy with water and what appeared to be fruit of some kind.

"Someone must have been here recently," Leo said warily. He didn't see it wise to stay, yet he would not survive day after day walking through the heat, treasured find or not.

Kachiuma moved to stand by the door, ears alert, snatching a look at Leo before looking back at the door.

Leo tilted his head to the side. "You look like a guard horse. Going to stop anyone from coming in?"

The horse seemed to nod, causing Leo to laugh.

"Alright, we'll stay to wait out the day." He sat down at the far end of the room, back resting against the wall as he slowly ate one of the four fruit. Without having much, he was going to saver what food he'd managed to find. It calmed his stomach and cleared his mind even more. He stared off blankly at the wall, promising himself he would find some way out of this desert.