Leonardo felt like his blood pressure was spiking through the roof. "Are you saying Sayuri didn't tell you what she was going to do?" he demanded of Greg.

"Not a word, Leo." Greg huffed loudly. "Well, she told both of us that she was heading for Yokohama, but she never mentioned serving on the team that's transporting the bastard!"

Leonardo shook his head, frustration burning through his veins. "This has to be a ruse! They must be planning to boost him in transit."

"Tell me something I don't know, Leo!" Greg was clearly furious, but the turtle knew he wasn't actually angry with him. "She knows she can't stop the Akiudo single-handedly! Why would Sayuri choose to put herself directly in the line of fire?"

"Because she feels responsible for the man, Heff, the same way you would if you were in Japan."

Greg was still clutching his phone in hand, and looked like he was dangerously close to hurling it. "I should have been there! I should have known Sayuri would try something like this. And what about the kids? How do we know that they're safe?"

"We don't," Leo said bluntly. "We don't know anything."

Greg grunted angrily as he stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He strode purposefully across the room, and Leonardo jolted to his feet.

"Where are you going, Heff?"

"I don't have a clue, but I can't sit still right now!"

Greg yanked the main door open so hard that Leonardo was concerned he could have hurt himself. The man disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel, and pulled the door closed behind him.

The blue-masked turtle considered whether or not he should follow him, and decided to give Greg the space he wanted. Shell, I hope Sayuri knows what she's doing, but I can't see an up-side to this. This has to be what Takashi was working for all along. We're so helpless from here! There's literally nothing we can do. If I get a chance to see that woman again, I'm going to have a few words for her, he fumed.

Leonardo looked at the clock which proclaimed that it was about a quarter after 4 in the morning, and sighed deeply. This is great. There's no way I'm going to be able to sleep now. I wonder if I should wake everyone up and get it over with. He was a little surprised that Calley hadn't noticed him missing, but she had been deeply asleep when he'd heard Greg stalk through the hallway. Now he's out running the sewers, and I'm doing nothing. I should have gone with him. At least I would have known if Sayuri messaged him again.

Leonardo closed his eyes briefly as he felt like he was breaking into a sweat. What could Takashi have up his sleeve? I agree with Greg that he probably had a reason for calling to threaten Sayuri. And if he's not stuck on reviving the slave trade, then what's his purpose? Takashi has had a lot of time to think this through.

As the turtle leaned his head against his hand, Leonardo realized he'd already made the executive decision to not wake the others yet. It just doesn't make sense to bother them before anything has happened. So what do I do now? I'm supposed to sit here and wait to find out if the Akiudo gets him away from the authorities? Maybe there's some hope. Maybe this team is prepared for the danger, but I find it hard to believe.

We should probably be thinking about leaving. If Takashi gets loose, we're going to have to go to Okinawa to help chase him down, with or without Don's help. But the question of how to track him would be a big one.

Leonardo lay back further in the recliner as anxiety twinged in the pit of his stomach. Why? Why are we going through this all over again? Why did Sayuri have to accompany that team? What are the chances that the Akiudo would allow any of the Officers to live? Of course, Sayuri would gladly die if she thought it would keep Takashi imprisoned.

The minutes ticked by on the clock, although Leonardo was trying not to watch the numbers. He was starting to feel a little groggy as he remained motionless in the chair, until the closing of the front door brought him wide awake with a jolt.

"Greg?" he called.

"I heard from Sayuri again," the man answered. "She said that they made it to the airport without incident, and they'll be in the air within minutes. Maybe the transport team actually succeeded in tricking them."

"Or maybe taking Takashi in Yokohama was never the Akiudo's plan to start with," Leo said morosely. "He didn't just ask to be moved. He asked to be returned to Okinawa. There are still plenty of opportunities for the gang to act before he's safely behind prison walls again." Leonardo saw Greg's face fall, and instantly regretted speaking his mind.

"I'm sorry for being so negative, Heff, I'm just hard-wired to consider all of the possibilities."

"No, you're right," Greg said softly. "They're not in the clear just because they made it to the airport. I don't know why I expected an attack to come immediately. It does seem more likely that the gang would try to interfere closer to home. I'm fooling myself, Leo. There's no way this is going to end well."

"We can't know what's going to happen," Leo ventured. "There is a chance that this special team can pull this off."

"Do you really believe that, Leo?"

The blue-masked turtle wanted to say that he did, but it would have been a lie. Everything he knew about the Akiudo told him that the gang would go to any length to meet their goal, no matter how many people had to be sacrificed in the process.

"Let's just wait and see what happens," Leonardo said uncertainly.

Greg shook his head. "I can't just sit here. I'm going to take another look at my charts."

Leonardo's brow furrowed. He's already planning the flight to Okinawa. It sounds like we're on the same page. Both of us are thinking about going after Takashi, and he hasn't even escaped yet. And if he does escape, we're going to be so far behind him. Could this situation get any worse? That's what we're sitting around waiting for.

Sayuri couldn't relax, not even on the plane ride back to Okinawa. The Asian woman found herself examining each member of the team closely, as if any of them could be a traitor in disguise. She wasn't discounting Hayashi either, if she was being honest with herself.

The woman hated the familiar paranoia that preyed on her mind as she was forced to question every individual around her. She'd just finished staring down the man in front of her when she realized that Hayashi was looking at her. Sayuri met his dark eyes briefly, before averting her gaze to the window.

"You must have a terrible history with that man," Hayashi said quietly.

Sayuri shook her head. "I would rather not discuss him."

Hayashi nodded out of the corner of her eye. "I don't mean to pry. This just feels like a personal mission to me, and then the way that he reacted to you…"

"You want the tale of our sordid past?" she asked sharply. "He is one of the most dangerous men that ever walked the planet. Do you know the full story behind the Akiudo?"

"I know that they were involved in the slave trade for several years."

"And they are murderers," she said emphatically. "The Akiudo are cold-blooded killers, who will crush anyone in their path. I was on a special task force that had been tracking the gang years ago. We got close to them, near enough to be caught up in one of their death traps. The Akiudo don't leave very much of a trail, and if they are discovered…they will destroy entire structures to cover up evidence.

"That is what happened in the course of our investigation. A bomb was detonated within a safe house we'd discovered. There were eight others on my team, and I am the only one who survived."

Hayashi grimaced apologetically. "I am sorry. I know how closely knit a unit like that can be. It must have been like losing your entire family."

"They were closest thing to one that I had," she replied.

"But it didn't end there, did it?" he asked. "I have heard stories…"

"I was accused as a terrorist?" Sayuri suggested with annoyance. "Is that what you would like to ask me about?"

"I beg your forgiveness, Detective Kimura. I did some research on you myself before coming to Yokohama. It is all rather confusing."

"What didn't you understand?" she demanded. "I was set up for crimes that I didn't commit."

"Yes," he said evenly. "But why?"

"You would have to ask the people who framed me," she said evasively. "I was on the task force in Okinawa for many years, and helped bring many men to justice. There were a lot of people who had motive to attack my character."

"After I read further into your history, I remembered hearing about the terrorist accusations in the News. Such a thing is not often attributed to a woman. At the time, I confess I wondered why you didn't simply turn yourself in to the Police if you were innocent."

"Why don't you try walking in my shoes for a few days before you ask me any more questions?" Sayuri asked heatedly and returned to staring out the window.

"I apologize once more, Detective. I didn't mean to offend you."

Sayuri spared him another short glance. "If you knew where I have been, or how I have had to live, you would understand why I am so worked up over this one man."

"I do understand," he countered.

"No, you don't. You don't know their history, or the people who have been viciously killed by them. You have not seen the countless pages of young girls, who still have not been recovered. All that I desire is to see justice served. I want Takashi to remain in Prison for the rest of his miserable life. But even now, I fear what he has in mind. He sits chained in the back of this plane, and I am tensing as I anticipate an assault. I cannot believe the Judge agreed to transfer him."

"I heard that the evidence in his case was compelling."

"Don't say that; don't agree with him," Sayuri said angrily. "I pray that you don't have the opportunity to learn about Takashi's manipulation firsthand. He fooled that Judge and perhaps a few more people, but I know better."

Hayashi's brow creased, and he looked like he didn't know what to say. "I have heard that you carried out your own crusade against the Akiudo behind the scenes," he said finally.

Sayuri's heart leapt into her throat. "Who said that? Who told you that?"

"I talked to another Detective from Naha."

"It sounds like you performed a full-out investigation on me." Sayuri glared at him openly.

"I did not understand your eagerness to accompany the transport team," he replied. "I thought that you could be involved in some sort of resistance."

"You thought I wanted to set him free?" Sayuri couldn't believe her ears.

"You suspect every man on board this plane of the same thing. I have watched you studying them, including me."

"I have been double-crossed before," she answered. "Once you have been betrayed, the possibility of a reoccurrence will always exist in the back of your mind."

"Do you want to know what I think?"

"I am sure you are going to tell me." Sayuri was exasperated with the man.

"I think you know more about the Akiudo than you want to let on to anyone. The question is, why?"

Sayuri's didn't blink, although she felt a tremor run down her spine. "Stories are stories, Sergeant. I know the Akiudo because I studied them; my entire task force did. We were thorough in our research. We thought we knew what to expect from them, and we were wrong. The Akiudo will throw you for a loop, and attack you when you are not looking for them.

"There is a reason that this transport to Okinawa makes me nervous, and their callous attitude toward taking human lives is it. You will probably never meet another man who is so willing to destroy someone else to further his agenda. If that is not frightening, I don't know what is."