"Greg, what are you thinking?" Leo demanded. "You can't take her anywhere! Just leave her here, and let's go!"
The sandy-haired man took a deep breath. "I'm not taking her anywhere. We'll sit right here in my car, and we'll be fine."
"This is the wrong way to do it!" Leonardo said sharply. "She's already scared out of her mind. We told her that we'd leave her alone."
"All I need is ten minutes, Leo. Ten minutes to talk to her, right outside the Travel Agency."
"I don't agree with this," the blue-masked turtle replied.
"I got that memo, Leo. Would you guys mind getting lost before somebody comes along and sees you? She'll be waking up in a couple of minutes; I only used the short-acting sedative on her."
"Where did you get that epi-pen, Greg?"
"Does it matter?"
"You can't do whatever you want with this girl just because she accidentally ran into us! This wasn't her fault!"
"Leo, you know I'm not going to hurt her; I'd never do something like that. I'm going to reason with her a little bit, and try to find out if there's anything weird going on behind the scenes."
The blue-masked turtle's eyes were narrowed as he backed away from the driver's side of Greg's Jeep. "We're not done talking about this," he said tersely.
"That's great, Leo, you can continue lecturing me later. For now, why don't you try practicing the art of invisibility?"
Greg knew he wasn't helping matters with his angry friend, but he was more concerned with protecting the turtles than satisfying them. He watched Leonardo stalk away and cut across the street to return to the waiting Battleshell. He looked in his rear-view mirror to see if the van would pull away, but the vehicle lingered. Greg could also see the Volvo ahead of him, where he knew Katherine, Tim, and Sayuri were sitting.
Dagone it, guys, just go. I can handle this without a babysitter.
Sayuri wasn't any happier with him than the turtles were, which was why she'd gone to ride in the Volvo. Greg didn't enjoy having everyone else furious with him, but he was willing to endure it temporarily in order to get some more face time with the young woman. He continued watching his mirror until he saw the Battleshell start rolling, and exhaled softly.
Greg reached behind his seat to retrieve a case, and removed a small computer that he used for FBI business. It never hurts to get some background, he said to himself, looking over at the young woman who was passed out in his passenger seat. He lifted her hand and deftly scanned her thumbprint into the machine to search through two different databases. He left both the windows searching, and didn't expect to get a hit nearly as quickly as he did.
Oh wow…she's got a record, even did some prison time. What on earth did she do?
Greg began skimming her rap sheet, while keeping half an eye on the girl in case she was waking up. Army brat. Dad's a big-time Colonel, stationed over in Europe. I bet he's proud of his little cyber criminal. Geesh, she was at MIT, and it looks like she completely screwed it up. I guess some people don't appreciate an opportunity when it's given to them. She's got to be as sharp as a tack, but she's stuck cleaning a Travel Agency? That might be a worse punishment than Prison.
Greg picked up movement out of the corner of his eye and sat up further to make sure that the safety locks were engaged. The young woman's head rose off the seat, and a diamond stud in her nose sparkled as it caught the light from an overhanging street lamp.
She swore as she came further around, while also cringing against the seat in fear.
"Easy," Greg said. "Don't panic. You're right outside the Travel Agency, and I just want to talk to you."
The young woman cursed at him more loudly when she tried the door handle to no avail. "Who do you think you are? Let me out of here!"
"I'm going to let you out, but I need to say a couple of things first."
"I don't care what you want to say, freak, this is kidnapping! I'm not important enough for you to throw your life away. You don't want to go to Prison."
"You could tell me a few things about Prison, couldn't you, Jasmine?"
She froze up as if she'd been shot. "How do you know who I am? What are you trying to catch me for? I didn't do anything!"
"I'm not here to accuse you, Jasmine—"
"Stop calling me that, and tell me what you want!"
"That's your name, isn't it?"
"Jazz, just Jazz," she emphasized. "Get to the point please?"
"Okay, the point. I understand if you need to call the police to tell them that there was a break-in. I only wanted to make sure that my unique friends aren't going to come up in any conversations."
"You mean those turtles?" She suddenly sounded breathless. "Where in God's name did they come from?"
"That's irrelevant. What matters is that you're not going to talk about them, are you?"
The girl sighed heavily, a sound much too ancient for someone in their 20's. "Punk, look at me. Take a good look. I get judged everywhere I go for being different, and I've already got the law against me. If I run to the cops with this story of talking turtles, I'll end up under Court-mandated therapy too. I think my life already sucks enough."
She focused steely grey eyes on Greg. "So, is that it? You just want to make sure that I'm not gonna blow your friends' cover to the cops?"
"Almost. Do you know anything about how this Company runs?"
She gave him a withering look. "I don't know any of their people. We come in to do the big cleaning once a month, after everyone is gone. I don't know what kind of whacked out ideas you guys have, but you need to get your facts straight. There isn't anything unusual going on here."
"I don't know that for certain, but thanks for the assurance."
"My turn," she said crossly. "How do you know me or my record?"
"I looked it up with your fingerprint," he replied honestly.
Jazz stared at the case sitting in his lap and swore. "What the heck, Man? Where did you get this crap? Are you some kind of cop in disguise?"
"Yes and no."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I work for a certain branch of law enforcement, but this particular trip is off the books."
"All of you are crazy out your minds. I'm sitting here minding my own business, and you gotta come and bust me up?"
"I'm sorry for that, Jazz, I truly am. We didn't mean to ruin your night; we had no idea you were inside."
The girl eyed him suspiciously. "Are you going let me out of this car, or am I going to have to scream my head off?"
"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't. It's not a pleasant sound."
"Then you'd better let me go before I have to get loud on you!"
The screech of tires caught Greg's attention outside, and he looked in his rear-view mirror to see a dark-colored SUV pulling up behind him. His brow furrowed as the vehicle came within inches of his bumper. Dang they're close to me. It's not like they needed the space to fit.
While he was still watching his mirror a second SUV turned onto the street about a block away, and immediately began rolling his direction too. This is weird, he realized in an instant. It's not right. Time to go. Greg started his Jeep and slammed it into drive.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Jazz demanded. "You said you'd let me go!"
"Miss Stewart, I'm going to need you to sit tight and buckle up, because I think we have a problem behind us."
"What are you talking about?"
Greg didn't answer. As he pulled away from the curb, he recognized that the other SUV was trying to get ahead of him. "No you're not boxing me in!" he said heatedly, flooring the accelerator.
"Are you insane?" Jazz's voice rose. "Stop the car and let me out!"
"In case you couldn't tell, that's exactly what they want!" Greg returned. "If I stop, we're both dead meat!"
"Who's trying to trap you?"
"Seat belt, Jazz, now!"
Greg jerked his head in the direction of the SUV that was fighting for the dominant position at the head of the pack, and picked out what appeared to be Asians up front. "Crap, crap, crap!"
He hit the accelerator again, narrowly avoiding parked cars as he strove to stay ahead of the SUVs. Beside him Jazz was screaming, and he tried desperately to tune her out so that he could focus on driving. Was the Akiudo watching the Agency after all? But they took so long to make their move!
Greg veered into the lane of oncoming traffic to give him more room to escape from the black vehicles. I don't think I can outrun them. I need reinforcements if there's going to be a fight, but I also need to get this chase away from civilians!
The sight of approaching headlights made him steer back into the correct lane, cutting it extremely close with the driver behind him. As he neared the next intersection an idea occurred to him. The docks! They're probably abandoned around this time.
He used both hands to make a sharp left turn onto the side street that he knew would connect him with the harbor, and then yanked out his cell phone. Greg mashed Leonardo's speed-dial without hesitation.
The blue-masked turtle answered immediately. "Please tell me you let—"
"Leo, shut up!" Greg ordered. "I've got two nasty tails, and I'd guess one-hundred to one that they're Akiudo!"
"What? Where?"
"They just showed up all of a sudden when we were parked out front of the Agency! I'm heading for the docks, and I could use some assistance!"
"We're turning around!" Leo barked. "Don't let them stop you, Heff!"
"I'm doing my best – hurry up!"
Beside Greg, Jazz was swearing and holding on to her seat for dear life. "You crazy bastard, what are you getting me into?"
"It's complicated," Greg replied helplessly. "My friends are coming; we're gonna be all right! Just hang on!"
Jazz looked dangerously close to throwing up, which also happened to be what Greg felt like doing. He sucked air greedily as he ran a red light, speeding through an intersection seconds after another car came through from the perpendicular line of traffic.
Get to the docks, get to the docks – but what am I supposed to do when I get there, drive in circles? That'll buy me about thirty seconds!
Another look back told him that running the light had bought him a little more wiggle room, but not much. He performed a half spin with the Jeep as he pulled up on the asphalt a few yards away from the water. He'd no sooner started turning the wheel again, when the engine inexplicably died.
"What?" Greg jerked his keys around to restart the motor, but it refused to turn over. Frantically he grabbed his phone and called the blue-masked turtle back. "Leo! Leo, we're sitting ducks! My car just died, and I can't do anything!"
"Were you still headed for the docks?"
"We made it here, Leo, but we're completely stuck now!" Greg's hands shook as they grasped the wheel, and he spotted headlights. "They're coming – they're here, Leo!"
"Greg, we're coming as fast as we can! You have to stall somehow!" The anxiety in the turtle's tone made the man feel even more desperate.
"I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I'll try!" He hung up the phone and dropped it on the dashboard.
Greg growled angrily as he tried the key a couple more times. Running didn't seem like a viable option, not with how close the SUVs were. It would be nothing for them to catch up to us on foot. He glanced over at Jazz, and found the young woman digging through his glove compartment. "What are you looking for?"
"Your prescription! I know you've got one around here somewhere!"
"Jazz, we're in a lot of trouble! I need you to stay calm."
"You – you're in a lot of trouble! I've got nothing to do with any of this!
"No, you don't. But you're here, and that means you're in just as much trouble as I am!" Greg turned his head as he heard an SUV bearing down on them.
He heard Jazz take a deep breath a fraction of an instant before something metal made contact with the back of his head. The blow wasn't hard enough to faze him and he jerked around in time to see the Maglite coming a second time.