"Whoever they were Mr. Hamato, they came specifically for the compound. Not another thing is out of place, nothing."
Donatello tried to push thoughts of April from his head, to pay attention to what was nothing short of a crisis. But despite what was a feeble effort at best, his assistant's voice still trailed away.
He didn't know why April thought lying to him to the point of a break-up, then following him around and tormenting him with her presence was a good idea, but he was getting sick of it. If she wanted to be done with him she should just go. In honor of everything they had, she could at least leave him with his dignity, and stop rubbing Casey Jones in his face at every turn. Why is she doing this? It didn't make any sense. One day they were blissfully happy, the next she was keeping secrets and sneaking around.
"Mr. Hamato? Sir?"
His assistant blurred into focus as he passed through the rear entry hall into the main lab. "I'm sorry Kate, what were you saying?"
"I've had the techs running a complete inventory since I realized MBC-26 was gone this morning." The brunette pushed her coke-bottle glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose and stood straight before him, a clipboard under one arm.
His head hurt, swimming with April O'Neil, Casey Jones, lies, tabloids, and now a missing compound that could end mutants forever. He had to compartmentalize. In here, his focus was the lab and the compound. Surely, this is a mistake. "Is it possible it's just been moved?" But he knew it wasn't. He was the only one with access to it.
Kate shook her head, her straight hair swishing over her cheeks. She fumbled with her clipboard then dropped it. "I've looked everywhere, Sir. The uh- vault was open. It's like whoever took it wanted us to know it was gone."
Donnie looked from his fidgeting assistant to the open, bank-size door behind his desk. He marched across the room, into the vault, past his bo-staff, his retired mask hanging next to it, stopping before the back wall where he kept the most dangerous compounds he worked with. Kate is right. Only one thing is missing. Donatello ran trembling fingers over the empty space, felt the green draining from his face. "Have you reviewed the security footage? And who alerted the press?"
His assistant shifted on the balls of her feet outside the vault. "The footage doesn't show anything. And no one contacted the press. I know how dangerous this compound is. Sir, I would never."
Donnie's chest tingled, his spine drawing straight as if someone were pulling a string taut. No one was allowed in his vault. No one had the code. He examined the lock, found it undamaged. His feet were thousand pounds stones, his legs numb as he made his way to his desk. His pulse thrummed in his finger tips, each stroke on the keyboard recoiling in his heart like the stings of a severe lashing. "Who called the police?"
"No one Sir, they were here when I got here, said someone called in a tip on a robbery here in the lab. I came in, found the vault open and the compound gone. I asked them not to report it until they spoke to you. I called you. Then I began running an inventory to determine if anything else was missing."
The back of Donatello's throat hurt. The screen before him kept blurring as he struggled not to think what his brain wanted to scream, but he didn't want to believe. He selected the surveillance footage from the night before. As the video played nothing happened. He fast forwarded through it, relying on his skilled eyesight to catch something, anything.
Then, three-fourths of the way through the time stamp blinked but did not change. It was on a loop. He squint, replaying it again, then played the day prior at the same time. A bitter taste rose in his mouth, his stomach lurching, as he found what he was looking for.
April had brought him lunch, supposedly wanting to talk, but the conversation had been strained, ending in yet another argument. There he was talking to her, then, there he was leaving her to answer a question for a lab tech. In just a few minutes she'd done something on his computer, slipped an object under the lip of his desk, and taken his keycard without him noticing. Donatello's blood flared. Some ninja I've become!
"Mr. Hamato, the officer wants to speak with you. He wants details about the compound."
Donnie swallowed hard, resisting the urge to launch his computer across the room in a very Raphael-like tantrum. How could she betray me like this? And why? WHY? Feeling the keyboard snapping beneath his grip he released it, took a breath and managed to direct his assistant. "Send the officer away. Tell him my brother is Sergeant Leonardo Hamato, and I will call him to handle this case directly. And Kate-"
"Yes Sir?"
"Have him sign a confidentiality statement before he leaves. In fact, have everyone here sign one. I have to make a phone call… or two."
As she rushed from the room he reached under his desk, felt the envelope, and tugged it free. His hands were shaking as he ripped it open, pulling the letter from the manila-colored enclosure.
Hi Donnie,
I'm so sorry. You must be so sick of hearing that. But I am. I know you won't understand but I had to do this. I had to help her. She was going to do this alone and it just got bigger than what she can handle. Time has grown short. It's happening too fast.
You're vault combination melts my heart Love. I thought at first it might've been your mutation day, or the day you became a citizen. But it's still the day we met… I thought you would've changed it from that by now. I'm glad you didn't. I love you too and I hope you can forgive me someday… even if it doesn't feel like a possibility right now.
I'm doing this for the entire Hamato clan Donatello.
I love you,
April
Donatello stared at the parchment, typed in an elegant font that made his lip curl. She'd taken her time with this, planned it out. She'd betrayed him. Stolen from him. Lied to him. And what she'd taken, couldn't even affect her at all. So why? He closed his eyes, took a deep breath then reached for his phone.
"Cccc-" his voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "Call, April."
He wasn't surprised when the phone rang until it went to voice mail. He pressed his lips shut, determined not to give her the satisfaction of his outrage. If she wanted to play games, she'd messed with the wrong turtle.
