Leonardo's heart was beating so hard, it felt like it was about to come out of his chest. His muscles were completely rigid as he rode in the back of the Battleshell with his brothers. The blue-masked turtle's first objective was to control his own anxiety, so that he could focus more readily on Raphael and Michelangelo.
I don't believe this. I don't. We assumed too much. Why didn't we check Brandon's implant to start with? We let him go completely off our radar and didn't even question it. Leonardo rubbed a hand over his eyes as he took a deep breath. Please, God, let him be alive. I don't understand what someone could want with Bran. Please let him be alive.
Leonardo regretted the simple version of the beacon with which Brandon was implanted, as it couldn't give them anything but a location. I'm grateful for that much, but I'd give anything to know that he's okay. Get it together, Leo, you have to get it together.
He took few more strong breaths, and looked up at his brothers across from him. Michelangelo's leg was vibrating non-stop, displaying his nervous energy openly. Raphael was stoic, but the way he folded his arms across his chest and rested his head against the sidewall of the van revealed his inner turmoil.
"We're going to need some ground rules going into this." Leonardo finally broke the silence. "We have to let Kat and Tim take a stronger role up front to find out if there's a possibility of foul play."
"If?" Raphael repeated sharply. "If there's foul play involved, Leo? You're outta your gourd if you think Bran would choose to disappear like this. He was supposed to get on that dang plane. If he wanted to get away from us, that was all he had to do, not run to some stupid night club in Greenwich Village!"
Michelangelo shook his head. "He wouldn't do it, Leo, no matter how mad he was at Donny. That's not Brandon."
"I don't think it is either," Leo said quickly. "I'm only saying that we need to figure out what's going on before we storm the place."
"And how are we gonna figure out what's happening if we don't go in, Leo?" Raph asked pointedly. "Don and Heff are our techies, and neither of them is here. All we've got to go on is our own eyes and ears."
"We're going to have to use them," Leo said shortly. "But we can't just run amok in the daylight. The temptation is to rush in with barrels blazing, but we have to take it a little bit slower."
"We can't leave without him either, Leo. Whatever it takes to get to Brandon, we've got to do it. I don't care if fifty people see us in the process. They're not gonna believe what they see anyway; no one ever does the first time!" Mike shot off in one breath.
"Okay, Mikey, breathe," Leonardo urged. "No, we're not going to leave without him. That isn't what I'm suggesting. The only thing I'm asking for right now is some patience. Let Kat and Tim do what they're good at and we need to hang back until we have some information. Can you guys handle that?"
Mike nodded, and Raphael grunted something indiscernible.
Within a few more minutes, it felt like the van was coming to a definite stop. Leo was expecting a phone call, so he was surprised by the knock at the back door. He glanced at his brothers mutely, and no one moved until the correct knock followed it. The blue-masked turtle rose to unlock the door.
Kat looked inside sheepishly. "Sorry. I kind of forget that part sometimes."
"You and your old partner." Raphael snorted. "Greg's been known to give us a heart attack too."
"Where's Tim?" Leonardo asked automatically.
"He's heading inside to find someone to talk to," Kat answered.
"By himself?" Leonardo's eye ridges rose. "Kat, if there are dirty dealings here—"
"Leo, relax. He isn't going to directly ask about Brandon, or give any indication of an investigation. He just wants to get an idea of the layout, and try to find someone in a management position."
"What will you be doing?" Raphael asked knowingly.
"I'm going to poke around the exterior and search for inconsistencies, anything that looks out of place. If Brandon's being held against his will, it wouldn't be up front where any club patrons could see him. I'm going to search for clues that they're hiding something, and I thought another pair of eyes would be useful."
Her gaze fell on Leonardo, and Raphael immediately made a scoffing sound.
"Figures. Fearless goes, and Mike and I get to babysit the Battleshell, right?"
"Not for long," Katherine said briskly. "If we find one shred of evidence as to Brandon's location, I'll be happy to watch you take this place apart to get to him."
"Kat, hang on," Leo said firmly. "You can't forget what we are, or the time of day it is. I'm more than willing to take the risk to get Brandon back, but we can't be reckless. We have to remain invisible."
The woman shifted awkwardly in her stance. "We have to get to him, Leo."
"We're going to," he reassured her, and looked back at his brothers. "Just stay—"
"Stay here; we got the memo, Leo," Raphael said bitterly.
"We'll be back in a little while," he said softly.
Leonardo drew the bill of a ball cap further down on his forehead to complete his outfit, and followed the bronze-haired woman out of the car, and around the back of the parking lot.
"Stay behind me, Leo, and I'll keep a close watch on what's ahead. Then if you need to—"
"I can disappear."
"Right. You know what you're doing, so I'll stop trying to tell you everything."
As they reached the right side of the building that was facing a residential street, Leonardo's eyes were already roving for details, searching for disturbances in the gravel. He bent down close to the ground, surveying scattered rocks. At the sound of people close by in the neighborhood, the turtle tugged harder on his sweatshirt and kept his head down.
"This area has seen a good deal of foot traffic. Does that make sense to you?" he asked.
"Well…that's probably a service entrance over there." Katherine pointed to a large steel door. "I'd wager they receive deliveries on this side, judging from the size of the door."
"Do you think the amount of disturbance can account for a normal working environment?"
"It doesn't stand out to me. Let's keep looking."
After thoroughly searching the exterior, they back-tracked through the parking lot to check the other side. This part of the structure opened into an alley which was flanked by a second building. Leonardo's eyes probed the early evening shadows, hoping to find something that would be worth their time.
Everything looked normal from the surface. The typical dark blue dumpsters were in place, along with a door that looked like it could be a second service entrance.
Exactly what did I expect to find out here? I mean, how stupid could—
Leonardo's thought was cut short by the squeal of the door. He vaulted over one of the dumpsters, praying for enough room to squeeze up against the building. To her credit, Kat was only a split second behind him.
From his end behind the dumpster, he could just make out the door as it inched open, and he fell back partway as someone hesitated under the frame. Leonardo heard a muffled voice traveling from inside the building, but couldn't tell what the person was saying.
Move on, he pleaded softly. Just keep going, don't linger.
Leo heard soft footsteps in the gravel as the figure walked out into the alley, and the man's voice rose with whomever he was addressing. After an instant of shock, he recognized the foreign language being spoken.
"I know you think me a fool, but I am going to prove otherwise to you. We are making the most of our time here. Why do you keep questioning me about our activities? I told you we were keeping a low profile."
"Leo, is that Japanese?" Katherine hissed from beside him.
"Yes," he whispered in return. "Let me listen, okay?"
The blue-masked turtle pressed up against the outer edge of the dumpster, trying to get a better look at the man without revealing himself.
"I know you don't like it, but what would you have me do? You exiled me to this godforsaken city with so few resources. Why on earth does Takashi-sama wish to return to this place? It makes no sense to me."
Leonardo caught his breath at the same time as he heard a soft gasp from Katherine.
"Did he just say something about Takashi?" she demanded softly.
"Yes; be quiet," Leonardo insisted.
"It is my business! You said we would be nearly partners in this, but you give me so little money that we have to find a way to meet the needs by our own means. These men will not follow us based on my word alone. I have to either provide for them, or lead them in the efforts to fulfill our requirements to live."
Leonardo couldn't resist the urge to see the speaker any longer. He boldly emerged partially from hiding, since the man seemed to be so engaged on his cell phone that he probably wouldn't notice him immediately. He stayed close to the ground as he took another step out of hiding.
When the turtle laid eyes on the figure with the phone, his blood literally ran cold. He rammed back up against the building, sliding entirely behind the dumpster to rejoin Katherine.
"What did you see?" she whispered. "Does this have something to do with the Akiudo?"
"It's Daichi." Leonardo spoke the man's name as if it were a curse word. "He's not acting alone either; someone sent him here."
"Takashi?"
"No, he was talking about Takashi, but not directly to him. They've got to be formulating some type of a strike against us." Leonardo wanted to bang his head against the brick building.
"They already struck, Leo. Donny. Brandon," Kat said mechanically.
"So it would seem. The pieces fit," Leonardo said angrily.
"Wait a minute," Katherine realized. "Daichi's in charge of this little operation, and we just let him walk away?"
Leonardo glanced back out into the alley, and caught sight of Daichi's form continuing out onto the sidewalk on the opposite end. "He'll be back, Kat, and we'll be waiting for him. In the meantime, we're going to get your brother out of there. We have the element of surprise on our hands. They don't know we're here, and they probably don't have very much by way of security. We need to see what's behind that door."
Leonardo crept away from the dumpster with Kat behind him, and he tried the door handle. "Locked. We could break in, but I'd rather not give ourselves away if we don't have to."
"So we need some keys," Katherine said thoughtfully. "Leave it to me, Leo. I'll go see who Tim found to talk to inside. There has to be someone here who can unlock the door."
"Kat, maybe we should consider another option. If these people are harboring the Akiudo…"
"Leo, the club owner might not have a clue who he's handling. They probably have some extra space, like storerooms or a basement, and the Akiudo are simply using it. Maybe the owner is involved – maybe he isn't. I'll be careful either way. Go back to the van and break the news as carefully to your brothers as you can. I'll check in with you in another half an hour, tops."
Leonardo agreed to the plan, and silently strode through the alley to the parking lot to return to the Battleshell. The guys are going to be furious that I let Daichi walk, but this will be easier to accomplish if he isn't here. I'm with Mike; whatever it takes, we have to get Bran out now. God only knows what they've been doing with him. I don't even what to think about it.
Daichi will be back, and we'll be ready for him. He won't get away with what they did to Don, or taking Brandon. This ends today.