Luke wasn't prepared for the knock on the back of the minivan, and the way Greg jumped a mile, it seemed like he wasn't expecting it either. Leonardo ducked around the driver's side a couple of seconds later. "We're set with the decoy on the camera loop. We should get moving."
"Geesh, Leo," Greg complained. "You could have warned us you were coming or something."
"I figured you'd be watching for us," the blue masked turtle returned impishly.
"As if watching would help?" Luke spoke up. "If we were able to see you coming, that would mean someone else could too. You don't operate that way."
Leonardo gave them a grin along with his shrug. "C'mon. Let's go."
Luke climbed out the passenger door, shaking off the tremor that was threatening. Why did I insist on coming with them? This isn't my specialty at all. But I feel responsible for it, since it's Caleb's Lab and all. A pang of guilt overtook him before he could squash it. We don't have a choice, he reminded himself. We're not selling his research, or taking anything away from it. We're appropriating the information we need to save a life. Period.
Luke's eyes hardened defiantly as he rose out of the jolt of conscience, and he continued following Greg, bringing up the rear of the group. To his surprise, Leonardo doubled back to join him.
"Are you supposed to be at the head of the group?" Luke asked. "I'm new to this espionage, I realize, but I thought you were the leader of this band."
The turtle chuckled. "Not when it comes to all things technical, Doc - you know that. Don is responsible for getting us into the building undetected, and I'm responsible for making sure that you and Greg don't accidentally give us away in the process."
Luke snorted quietly. "It sounds like you have a lot of confidence in us. What did you drag me along on this trip for?"
"You made us bring you, Doc."
"As if I could make you do anything, Leo."
Leonardo looked over his shoulder at the van. "It's not too late for you to wait in the car," he said seriously.
"Forget it," Luke replied firmly. "I said I was going in with you, and I need to be there. This was my plan, my doing...and Caleb is my friend."
"No one would blame you for feeling guilty about this, Doc," Leo said. "We don't like doing it either."
Luke set his face on watching where Donatello was going. "It is what it is, Leo. We're not ripping him off. We're getting his help without asking him for it."
His heart beat faster as they approached the Institute, and Donny steered them away from the path a roving flashlight was cutting across the property. The purple-masked turtle flattened against the building, and Luke followed Greg's example as the other man crouched close to the ground. He resisted the urge to speak, realizing that now was not the time to start asking questions.
Luke felt a little better the instant Leonardo landed beside him, as the turtle gave him an encouraging smile. If he's grinning, everything must be going according to plan. The blue-masked turtle nudged him, and Luke realized that Donatello and Greg were moving again. Don't get lost in your thoughts, Barrows. Keep your head out of the clouds.
He tried to move his feet carefully across the ground, but inevitably kicked up small stones as he walked. They may as well have been boulders to his hypersensitive nerves. He felt Leonardo hovering behind him, but the turtle never said anything about it.
I guess if I really screw up, he'll find some way to let me know.
Donatello disappeared around a corner, with Greg only inches behind him. Luke started to follow, when Leonardo suddenly caught him by the sleeve, and yanked him down behind an air-conditioning unit.
"Don, company," the turtle hissed.
Luke held his breath to stop his chest from heaving, while a pair of flashlights crossed dangerously close to their hidden position. The men went by uneventfully, and Luke exhaled quietly.
"I am not cut out for this," he murmured.
"You're doing fine, Doc. Hang in there. Don is going to find us a door, and we'll be inside soon," Leo told him.
Greg peered around the blind side of the corner. "He's working on one as we speak," he informed them.
They waited in baited silence, within which Luke kept imagining that the guards would be coming back to bust him and Leonardo hiding there. It felt like an eternity had passed before Greg returned.
"The door's open, and we need to move fast," he announced.
Luke didn't understand the sudden urgency, but he rapidly obeyed, and Leonardo closed the door behind them.
Donny quietly called for everyone's attention. "I've activated the disruptor, so say goodbye to your electronic devices."
Donatello was handling an interesting device that Luke had never even seen until the night before. The man pulled out his cell phone just out of curiosity, nodding with approval when he discovered the device had died.
"The phone being dead is a good thing?" Luke verified.
"It means I shut down the correct frequency. I've set the monitoring center up with footage from last week that's on a corresponding time loop with the correct hour. That means they won't be watching the real feed, or noticing the cameras failing over the next few minutes," Don replied. "C'mon up here with me, Doc. We need to find this Lab and get to work."
"So everything leading up to this point doesn't qualify as work?" Luke asked ironically.
Donatello smiled. "Capturing the flag is the work, Doc. Everything else is just part of the intrigue."
Luke caught himself watching the motion sensors and cameras, despite the appearance that they weren't operating. Even though all of his companions had maintained a sense of humor between them, Luke noticed that they stayed absolutely silent. His own feet felt heavy and ponderous, and he regretted once more his desire to join in their spy game.
This is certainly not my forte; I should have let Kat do this. She probably could have been more of an actual asset to them.
"Does this look like the right way to you, Doc?" Don asked.
Luke glanced around, studying the hallway that seemed so similar to many others. He looked further ahead, and saw the glass doors that he recalled from the day before. "We're on the right track, Donny. The Labs are through this connecting portion."
Yesterday there had been someone manning the small desk inside the glassed in portion that separated the Institute from the connecting Labs, but tonight it was dark and empty. The absence of bright lights made Luke naturally feel safer. Donatello drew a flashlight next to him as they moved into the darkened corridor. He handed it to Luke, and the man held it up for him while the turtle got the door opened with the access card.
"What happens to the electronics when your disruptor is out of range?" Luke asked.
"They come back on like nothing happened," Donny answered.
"Why doesn't the disruptor affect the key pads, or even the lights? They're all electrical, right?"
"Different frequencies," Don replied. "It's honed in on very specific parameters that most commonly affect the devices we needed to shut down."
Luke nodded with understanding, and glanced back at Leonardo and Greg. The man looked completely calm, and the blue-masked turtle was alert. Leonardo never stopped scanning their surroundings, even as Donatello led the way out of the strange glass chamber into the hall on the other side.
"Which way, Doc?"
"I'm pretty sure I remember it being three doors on the left."
Luke had an avid sense of unreality as he walked behind Donatello down the dim hallway. This doesn't feel real. It's like some kind of movie I've seen over and over with the hero on the move...Only I don't feel anything like a hero. I feel like the guy who shouldn't even be here.
As he and Donatello passed inside a Lab, Leonardo hesitated on the other side.
"We'll watch from the hall," Leo volunteered.
"Keep the door open, Leo," Donatello called sharply.
"There's no Akiudo here, Don." Luke swore he heard Leonardo chuckle.
"I don't care. You're not allowed to separate yourself from me at any time or place, particularly inside creepy Labs."
Luke gave the purple-masked turtle a sidelong glance. "Creepy? You're not nervous too, are you?"
"Just an expression, Doc," Donatello said distractedly, as he took a seat by a monitor. "Now this is where the work really begins...and I hardly know where to start."
After getting two different computers logged in, Donatello set Luke to work on one of them, skimming information at a rate that made the man feel like his mind was on overload. He'd only been reading for a few minutes when the weight of the volumes of research hit him like a load of bricks.
"This is intense, Donny," he said out loud. "I mean, I studied a couple of semesters of genetics in medical school, but this is like advanced rocket scientist type jazz. How are you getting through it over there?"
The turtle looked up briefly. "It's all very complicated, and it's hard to tell what we're going to need. I'm not even sure if the correct research is on this hard drive. I guess we're going to have to copy everything we can get our hands on, and hope for the best," he told him. "I brought a number of my external flash drives. Let's stop reading and start downloading."
Luke caught one of the drives as he tossed it to him. "I feel like I'm violating someone," he admitted.
Donny nodded, though he didn't look his direction.
If only my parents could see me now, Luke thought glumly. I don't want to imagine what they'd think of this.
He waited for the drive to format itself, and begin the tedious process of copying. Donatello's souped up drives could hold vast reams of information, but it took time to unload the whole hard drive, no matter how fast his creation reproduced it. The download was still continuing as they hit the one hour mark for the amount of time they'd spent inside the Institute.
I don't like this. I don't care how quiet it's been - I don't like it. I want to get out of here so badly, I can hardly stand it.
Luke began to check the amount of time the flash drive had left before completion, and was startled when Greg jerked the door open further.
"Someone's coming. Grab your stuff, guys, because we have to go."
Luke ripped the unfinished drive out of the CPU and hurried to give it to Donatello, who was rushing to put his equipment away.
"I need a few more seconds here!" the turtle said. "I have to cover our tracks on both computers."
"Finish it, Don, you'll have that much time," Greg assured him before plunging back into the hallway.
"What are we doing?" Luke blurted out.
"We can't fight them, so flight is our option," Leonardo replied.
"I'm with you guys on that, so make sure you follow it through," Greg said pointedly.
Luke stared aghast for a moment as the man took off in the direction of the footsteps echoing down the hallway. He didn't take any time to think about it before he dashed after Greg.
"What are you doing?" he asked Greg.
"What's it look like? They know someone's here, so I'm giving them their bogey. You shouldn't be following me!"
"Are you the designated sacrifice on this mission?"
"Sure, Luke, we all take our turns. I drew the straw on this round, so-" Greg cut off sharply as three uniformed men appeared in their path. The man swore under his breath as Luke froze at his side. "Don't say anything," he whispered fiercely. "Not a word, Luke, understand?"
Luke's heart jumped in his chest as they were ordered against the wall. I get Greg's point. If they have us, they won't pursue the guys. Please, please let them get out of here while they still can.