Chapter 29: All around me are familiar faces

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When I was about six or seven years old, I had a dog named Chester. I loved that dog to pieces. One day, Chester ran away. I searched everyday for him. The first few days, I would wake up and remember that he was gone. After crying, I would set out on my search for him, with Benj, Rose and Mom. We made lost dog posters and hung them all around our neighborhood. I even had Dad take them to his work. I was determined to find my beloved dog.

It went from a thought after eating breakfast, to a daily, immediate thing. Each morning, my first thought was to look for Chester. It became part of my daily routine, so much that it started to feel like second nature. We looked for him for months, and never found him. Eventually, Mom sat me down and explained to me that we might never see Chester again. I cried and cried, and she got me some ice cream, which made me feel a lot better.

The same thing, essentially, is happening. My first thought in the morning is to head down to the Headquarters as soon as possible or patrol with Raph to look for anything that could lead us to the turtles. I've been training hard with my partner Detective Rasmussen, preparing for when we do have a lead. Rose and I search every single day for clues, and we have been for weeks, as the turtles have been gone for a couple of weeks.

The only difference really is that ice cream won't solve this one.

"Any signs of Karai or Melinda?" I ask Detective Rasmussen (or Nick, as he's called in his unprofessional environment). I look into the screen of the computer he's sitting in front of. The screen displays a security camera placed on one of the most common places for Karai to be found.

"None," Nick says, shaking his head. "Not for weeks. Not since the turtles were taken." He turns to look at me. "It's like they've disappeared from the face of the Earth."

"Karai must be hiding really well," Rose says, leaning against the desk. "Deliberately, I mean. She has to know that we're onto her and that she's gotta be careful about where she let's herself be seen. Because eventually she's gotta go back to the Dark Angels, and when she does..."

"We'll follow her there," I finish. "That's why she's been so under the radar."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Rose asks, running her hand through her hair. "We don't have a lead if we don't have Karai. We seriously haven't seen any of her Foot soldiers?"

"None of them," Nick says.

There is silence. We are all left in our own thoughts for a few moments.

"Is there anyone who might...have connections with the Foot?" Rose asks slowly.

Nick laughs without humor. "None that we want to get involved with."

"I don't really think we want to get involved with any of this anyway, so what could be worse?"

Nick cringes. "The Purple Dragons. They might know a thing or two. If we can get through their hideout with our heads still attached to our bodies."

"They've taken up a new hobby in butter-knife throwing, so I don't think it's our heads we should we worried about," I say, shaking my head. "Let's bring armor."

"It's a really bad idea," Rose says slowly. "We're already involved with the Foot Clan and the Dark Angels. Do we really want to get involved with the Purple Dragons too? They might not even know anything."

"It's worth a shot though," Nick says. He stands up from his desk. "We really don't have any other options. Gangs seem to have interesting connections with each other."

"Yeah," Rose says, laughing incredulously. "Like trying to murder each other."

"Nick's right, Rose," I say. "It's pretty much the only option we have right now, if we want to find the turtles as soon as possible."

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