Page 62 of End of Days

He left without waiting for an answer, entered his little office, and saw Leonardo had returned. He said, “So we’re good for Beirut?”

“Yes. Raph and I fly tomorrow. But you really have to be ready. We do this, and we might not come out alive. I don’t want the trip to be for nothing. The contact is not someone to trifle with.”

Garrett nodded and said, “Yes, yes, I understand. Trust me, I gave my manhood to finally understand. Don’t question me.”

The men in the room all heard the words and glanced away, not wanting to face Garrett’s fury.

Garrett said, “But we have an immediate problem. There are two men upstairs who are from the United States asking about Donatello. I don’t think they’re U.S. State. I think they’re something else. I need Raph and Mikey to track them to wherever they’re going next. They came in a car, so you need to get your scooters. How far away are they?”

Raph said, “Just up the street, but why?”

“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know the damage done by Donatello. But it could be significant, and we need to tie it off, right now. Do you still have a limpet mine?”

Michelangelo said, “I have one left, but I have to get it.”

“Do so. Get the bike, get the mine, and come back here. You have probably about an hour. Maybe less.”

Raph said, “Are we going to kill them?”

“No. Not yet. I just want you to follow them. It may be nothing, and I don’t want to draw attention. It could be just a simple inquiry. But if it’s not, I want to be ready. And I need some explosives of my own.”

Leonardo said, “Why?”

“I need an ISIS necktie for another problem. Don’t ask.”

The three Turtles looked at each other, each wanting to say something, but none did. Garrett said, “Let’s go. Get on it.”

They left the room in a rush and he rubbed his eyes, wondering if his entire plan was now falling apart. He went to his computer and began his research on the inspector, digging into every database with which he had access. It took him into a vortex of searches, with one after another coming closer, then failing. He slapped his computer keyboard in frustration, wishing he could leverage Leonardo’s skill for the search, but that was impossible.

He continued.

Thirty seconds later, like a miracle, her address spilled out from a search engine. He stared at the screen, wondering if it was a trick. It was not. He had her location in Trastevere.

He clapped his hands and smiled, and heard a knock on his door.

He closed out his search results and said, “Yes?”

The secretary entered and said, “They’re gone. The lieutenant would like to talk.”

She didn’t look like it would be a good conversation. He said, “I’ll be right up. Thank you.”

She left, and he went on Zello, to the Turtle channel they’d created, saying, “Do you have them? They’ve left.”

Raph said, “Yeah, we have them, but they didn’t take a car. They went on foot back to the square.”

What the hell? Why would they leave the car?And it became clear—they were reporting to someone else close by and moving the car would be too much of an effort.

“Okay. Stay on them until they come back to the car. They’re meeting someone.”

“What do you want us to do?”

Aggravated, Garrett said, “Just follow them for now. Nothing more. Find out who they’re meeting and get some pictures. I have to go.”

He went upstairs to Marco’s office, knocked, and entered. The man was still in his robes and didn’t look happy. Without preamble, he said, “Donatello was literally killed during the assassination attempt. According to the U.S., he attempted to run over people trying to prevent it.”

Garrett said, “That’s impossible. You know Donatello. You know he wouldn’t do that. Why would he try to kill a United States naval commander in Bahrain? That makes absolutely no sense. They’re hiding something. Something else is going on.”

Marco turned to gaze out a window, saying, “Perhaps. No doubt it is strange, and I’ve been around politics enough to realize that someone may be asking questions solely to prevent questions about their own conduct, but I’ve also seen enough corruption to realize that something else may be going on. What was Donatello doing in Bahrain?”

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