Chapter 20: Research and Connections
Lucy paid for the meal as the Turtles were already outside. The evening sky was starting to darken with the winter season still around. Lucy checked her watch again. It said: 1:07pm.
"6:07." Lucy said to herself. Then proceeded to change it to the right time. Leo came over with an arm extended.
"Lucy? Are you up for some walking?"
Lucy sighed before answering.
"Where are we going now?"
"Well, Don-" Leo pointed to his brother in the phone booth. "got a hold of information for library listings. There's one called Central Library on Tavistock Road."
"Central Library!" Lucy broke in. "Now, that name sounds familiar."
"They have access to the Internet. Something called PLANet is what is linked to this library." He stared at her. "Do you want to catch a bus?"
"Not if you don't mind carrying me."
He smiled and gestured her to sit at a bus stop.
"No offense, but this might be quicker. We don't know how late they're open-"
"7pm." Don walked over to the group. "We have less than an hour."
The wait wasn't long. A double decker pulled up to the bus stop. Lucy's face beamed as she jumped on quickly.
"I love these things!" She squealed like a small child. "Come sit up here!" Lucy ran to the back and climbed the spiral staircase. The Turtles slowly followed behind.
"I thought she was tired." Mike said.
Raph shrugged. "Girls are weird."
The bus approached a fairly large building with a museum and art gallery close by.
Both were closed. Across the road stood Plymouth University, another mountain
of ancient architect. Lucy watched
the blurry scene from her window seat slow down to a halt.
"Hurry up! These bus drivers tend to take off without notice!"
Lucy flew out of the seat and down the stairs, exiting from the open back. The Turtles quickened their pace this time. The group stared at the large building, people walking in and out of it.
"Wow." Came from Don whom gawked at the sight.
The group walked in on the ground level of the Central Library, immediately squinting
at the bright lights overhead. Lucy looked all around her, finding herself venturing
off like a little kid in
some wondrous adventure. Don shook his head.
"She's as bad as Jewel. Better keep an eye on her or we'll lose her."
The others nodded, following on her trail like noon-time supervisors. If it
wasn't me, it was someone else from my family giving them a hard time. Don turned
away to go find the computers for Internet
access. With luck, he found several terminals untouched. The minutes were
slipping quickly to closing time. No one was interested in surfing the net now.
Don found a seat and began tapping up through
search engines for a C.L.R.C. laboratory.
"This could take forever." He mumbled, drumming his fingers as the host was connecting to the server.
"Lucy, what are you doing?" Raph whined.
Lucy found herself in the Drama and Music section, plugged in to a head phone set. She smiled to Raph as she placed a finger to her lips.
"Listening to music. What does it look like?"
Raph turned around to see Leo and Mike had left.
"Great. Just great."
Leo walked down an aisle, staring up and down at the books on the shelves. Mike
was located clear on the other side, in the oversized books section. 6:35. Don
pushed his sleeve back down,
making sure no one saw his green arm. The computer was slow at connecting to the
linked web sites.
Lucy finally sat up and looked around, feeling the tiredness hit her again. She turned to see Raph only standing there.
"Where is everyone?"
"You bored the hell out of them, I guess."
Lucy ignored him and walked off. Raph groaned and tagged along. She too
began looking up and down the aisles, finding nothing in particular. She stole a
glance over to where Don was sitting.
All she saw was a large person dressed in heavy clothing hunched over a monitor screen.
Tired of standing, Lucy went off again and found a large sofa, which she slumped way
low into. Raph
sat down next to her.
"Mmm, why don't you go look at books or something."
Raph looked around.
"Libraries are not on my fun things to do list to tell you quite honestly." Lucy rested her head on the cushion, her body stretched over his lap. "Hey-"
"Mmm, wake me when they throw us out, okay?"
"But, I-"
"Ladies and Gents, the library will be closing in 15 minutes. The checkout counter will be closing in ten. Thank you and good evening."
Raph groaned after the intercom shut off. He could see Mike emerging from an aisle, a smile slowly creeping up his face.
"Don't give me that look Mike! She's the one who decided to plant it here."
Mike didn't say anything. He casually strolled by as if he saw nothing.
They had to be suspicious of me being gone this long by now. After the women
left, I climbed up onto a sink, not caring about getting wet, and lunged at the window.
The sill was thick enough for my
body to rest upon. The window easily pushed up, allowing me to squeeze through the
small gap. Think thin. Think thin. I was out on a underground ledge.
A concrete hallway paved the way out to
the front of the restaurant. Better not go that way. I ducked into the safety
of the dark trees and bushes till I felt safe to make my move. Then, I remembered
the red phone booth outside. Who can
I call? Hannah's all the way on Long Island and I seriously doubted the Turtles
would be here. Or would they? Lucy would have led them here. She had a
cell phone in her purse. Now, call it luck
that she would have it with her once I start dialing. Okay, now!
Running out to the front, I jumped into the phone booth, feeling like Superman for a
split second. I looked around. No one in sight. I looked to the black
limo. Maybe I could try hot wiring it. Lots
of luck. I picked up the phone with a sense of dread. What's her phone
number??? Arrrgh! I sat on the floor of the booth, thinking hard and fast of
what it was. God, they are coming out here, I
just know it. If Travis is a true dork, he'll think I'm still in the bathroom.
Stuart will catch on quickly. I dialed the area code first, then slowly
pressed out the next seven digits, hoping they were the
right ones. I waited patiently. It rang once. Twice.
A loud ring came from Lucy's purse. Jolted out of sleep, she freaked and fell off the couch, stunning Raph.
"I'm awake! I'm awake! I'm leaving. I'm- what's that ringing?"
Raph stood up and looked down on her.
"I dunno. You got a phone in that purse of yours?"
"Omigosh! My phone is ringing!" Raph nodded, like 'duh!' Lucy crawled around to sit back up while digging through her purse. Four, five rings. "God, I'm gonna lose this person!"
"Eh, it's probably no big loss." Raph sat down next to her.
"Hello?! Who?!" She gasped and looked to Raph. "Oh, my God! It's Jewel!"
"Holy, shit! No, way!"
Lucy nodded as she waved her hand. "Go find the guys. Hurry! Yeah, okay. Where are you, hun?! Wait, slow down."
I groaned as I continued to look at the restaurant entrance.
"Dammit, listen! They're taking me to a laboratory in Cheshire. Do you know where that is?!!"
"I know where Cheshire is but not the laboratory." Lucy looked to see Don was getting ushered off the computer by a librarian. "I just hope I got enough information."
"It's a research lab. It's called the C.L.R.C. Daresbury Laboratory. Do you got that?"
"Yes, yes. But where are you right now?!"
"I don't know. We pulled off to some cheesy restaurant. They're traveling by car. You have to help me....oh, God! Lucy, please!"
"Jewel? What is it?"
I could hear Lucy start to sob as the phone booth door swung open. I knew she heard me scream in the phone. One of the dorks pulled my hair.
"What do you think you're doing, you little whore!"
It was Travis. That made me angry. Very angry. I kicked him hard in the balls. He doubled over in pain, falling to his knees with low moans.
"That's for calling me a whore! Dork!"
Either he was very weak or I made direct hit. He passed out right in front me.
I turned and ran off. I didn't even stop to look behind me. I knew the
others were coming out. I knew they were
going to try and run me down in their car or something. But I kept running.
And running. Running till I tasted blood. If our waitress wasn't so
gorgeous, I wouldn't have been so lucky. The other
guy including Stuart were totally thrown off-guard, talking incessantly to her. She
probably sensed I was in trouble and tried to keep the others occupied. God, I loved
that woman.
The Turtles and Lucy were the last ones shoved out the door. Raph consoled Lucy whom was still holding the phone, sobbing uncontrollably. I never did hang up the phone in the booth.
"Uh, miss? You alright?" The man locking up the doors looked to her with concern.
Lucy shook her head, unable to speak. Mike attempted a cover-up.
"Uh, she just returned a sad movie. A real tear-jerker you might say."
"Oh? Which one?"
"Ummm...." Mike was thrown off completely. "Ummm.....Titanic."
The man frowned.
"Oh, the poor dear! Yes, that was an awfully sad movie, I must say. And she must be telling her friend about it on the telly."
Mike grabbed the phone away from her.
"Right, right! Totally blew the ending. Uh, huh!" Mike pretended to talk in the phone. "So much for renting it now. Buh-bye!"
The man nodded and headed off.
"Well, have a good evening all."
"Cheers." Mike waved. Then smiled to the group. "I could get use to this!"
"Thanks for the cover, Mike." Lucy said miserably. "I felt so helpless on the phone. I don't know where she is now but I do know what town they're going to. Addresses are needed now. Don?"
"Yeah, Lucy?" He didn't look up.
Lucy noticed Don was sorting tiny notes out. Notes with much scribbled information. Her question went forgotten. She gasped and sighed happily instead.
"I love you!"
"Hmm?" Without a warning, she fell into his arms and squeezed him. "What the....hey! What's this for?"
She pulled away and gestured to his hand full of papers.
"I'm thanking you, silly! You found out where they're taking Jewel! How absolutely fabulous!"
Don backed away, afraid she'd hug him again.
"Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute. Don't thank me yet. I just jotted down some stuff from the internet about this C.L.R.C. lab. The information may not be correct."
"Oh." Her cheeks turned bright red. "I- I thought you had something and I wanted to thank you for helping me out."
Don smiled broadly.
"Well, I might have something useful here to help Jewel but I need to look it over first. And, heh, I appreciate your gratitude."
A crack of thunder clasped right above them. Dark clouds had already formed
around the small town earlier. The storm was real close. Everyone froze and
looked out to see a heavy down pour
start to drop from the sky. They were safe under the high beams of the tall library
structure. But now, stuck without a place to stay. Lucy crossed her arms.
"Are you guys still considering finding Jewel in this mess?" Again they
were silent. "Please, I want an answer. Because I'm telling you I'm your
ticket around town. I can get you transportation,
food, shelter, and a place to sleep. Now, either you come with me to find a hotel,
or walk the whole way to this laboratory by yourselves. And let me tell you.
It is not around the corner."
They were still silent, knowing she was right. Leo finally answered.
"You win."