Chapter 16: The Kidnapping
"Let's try the front door. The normal entrance."
Don walked around past some bushes toward the sidewalk where a line of doors stood.
Wet foot prints formed marks from his boots onto the dry parts of the cement
walkway. Don held the note and
looked to each door number. He was more interested in finding this place than I was.
The number was 138 and the first door was marked 132. It went with even
numbers. 134, 136-
"Ah! Here it is!" Came Don's voice up ahead. He stopped and looked to me. "It's your call, Jewel."
I walked up and stood beside him. I rang the bell once. Then waited.
I looked up into the peep hole, knowing she was looking through it. Don stepped away
from sight and went over to his brothers
down the ramp walkway. Lucy opened the door and smiled at me.
"Oh, Jewel? Hey, there!" She opened the screen next and gestured me to come in.
"Hi, Lucy." I gave her a tight hug.
"So, how are you doing?"
"Well, that's what I'm here for. To talk about that."
"Oh, okay. Well, have a seat. I see you got here alright. Despite this horrible weather."
The weather! The guys! They were still outside!
"Lucy, I have some friends that came with me."
"What? Where are they?"
"Outside. I wanted to tell you before you meet them that-"
"Oh, Jewel! Why didn't you say so?!"
Lucy jumped up and ran to the door. She opened the screen and peered out down the
walk way. She saw four men standing there all in rain gear, their faces well hidden.
Staring at them gave her a
shiver. Were these her friends, she thought to herself. They look...weird.
Their backs were huge and they only had three fingers from what she could see.
"Excuse me?" She called to them. They turned and walked over to her. "Are you Jewel's friends?"
They looked to one another and nodded at once.
"Well, you can come in! I don't expect you to stand out in the rain!"
Lucy stepped back to allow them through the door. I stood up as they
approached the living room. Lucy came around from
behind them and smiled to them.
"I'm so sorry! Jewel didn't say that she brought others with her. I thought she was alone. Would you like to remove your wet coats and sit down?"
"If it's alright with you, we'd like to keep them on." Raph said under the bundle.
Lucy looked to me for an answer. Which I couldn't give.
"Well, I don't want you to get wet clothing all over my furniture. That is, unless you mind standing the whole time?"
Leo stepped forward. "Look, Lucy. We appreciate your hospitality. But you see, our appearance might shock you."
Lucy crossed her arms. "Nothing shocks me. I work with retarded children with deformities and mental disorders. So don't tell me I'll be shocked by your appearance. How bad can it be?"
"Well, Lucy. It's nothing you've ever seen before. These guys are....humm, very different." I looked to them.
"How about I see for myself?"
The Turtles sighed and lifted their hoods first. Here came the stripping again.
Lucy watched with fascination than horror as the hats came off next. Each
unsnapped their rain coat buttons and slowly
opened it up to reveal their pale yellowish plastron underneath. Lucy stared down at
their chests.
"Is that...armor of some sort?"
"No, Lucy. It's plastron." I said.
The removing of the coats made her step back and gawk at them.
"Have you see enough?" Leo said quietly.
"Who...what are you?" Lucy sat down, never once taking her eyes off their bodies.
"Let's just say we're not your average pet turtles." Mike said.
"You're turtles?"
"Mutant turtles, that is." Leo finished
Lucy stood up and approached them slowly.
"Now, I've seen everything. Where did you find these guys, Jewel?"
"Actually, they found me." Lucy turned to me quickly. "It's a long story."
And a long story it was. We didn't get out of there till almost 10 o'clock.
We also waited for the rain to calm down outside. Lucy was most kind and
understanding to the four of them, not because of
her background with deformed children, but because she herself had a handicap of her own.
She had a light condition of dyslexia which affected her reading and writing
skills. Helping the kids in the
class also helped her too. She was also given private teachings to better educate
her. I've known of this for a long time. She has improved.
"God, Jewel, this is awful." Lucy shook her head as I finished explaining my story. I should write a book about this. Or a novel. If I survive.
"What's worse is they know about Edward being in the hospital and in his weak condition, they can easily kill him. I'm very worried about him."
"Hey, I'm worried about you, too, kiddo." Lucy placed a hand on my
shoulder. "When I heard about the disturbance in Edward's room the night
before, I asked for the security guard to make sure
nothing else would happen. I'm sure you knew about Edward being in the military.
He's got a large history and an even larger set of enemies. I only pray
they're not the ones looking for you."
"No, it has something to do with where my father worked. Someone's playing God with rare chemicals and they want to use me as their lab experiment."
"Chemicals?" Lucy's eyebrows disappeared up her forehead.
"Yes." Leo spoke up. The guys were utterly quiet the whole time. "Chemicals that may have made us what we are today."
Lucy looked to him. "They want to turn Jewel into a mutant?"
"Maybe. Or something worse."
"A soul less victim." I whispered. "I was told that I was to be brought to this person already dead so that the experiment will have the full effect."
Lucy finally stood up and began pacing.
"This is incredible. Edward told me that your father has been trying to contact you. He called about a week ago and Edward forgot to give you the message."
"Was it to wish her a happy anniversary?" Mike joked.
"He said it was urgent. Something about coming out for a visit to New York."
I stared at Lucy.
"Edward forgot? That's not like him to forget. When's my father coming?"
Lucy looked at the Turtles who remained in their seats.
"He's here now. In Manhattan. I'm sorry no one told you, Jewel, but he asks to see you immediately. He really misses you."
"Well, tell me where he is and I'll go see him."
"Better yet, I'll take you there."
I soon felt uncomfortable. I could see the Turtles were starting to look
suspicious of this girl. Lucy backed up against the wall as if she was up to
something. We all frowned at her sudden movement.
Next thing I knew, the lights in the living room clicked off, leaving us in a total
darkness! Shuffling was heard around as a hand flew over my mouth before I got the
chance to scream. Oh, no! Another
cloth with chloroform pressed against my nose. I passed out again within seconds.
The last thing I heard was my named called by one of the Turtles then nothing.
Was this something I already went through just days ago? Someone threw me into
the trunk of a car with my hands tied, eyes blindfolded and mouth gagged. Déjà vu.
I feared the worse for what
might have happened at Lucy's with the Turtles. I missed another great battle with
more men in dark clothing. After my kiddnapping, the guys had their fun with the
intruders. Men with their own set
of weapons. More MP5's. I'd hate to see the end results of Lucy's home; last I
heard she's still renovating. Leo and Don went one on one combat while in another
section of the room, Raph went
off on two men at the same time. Mike was all over the place, running and punching,
running and punching. He became a rapid fists and kicks machine as he flew around
her house. He was mostly
trying to dodge the rain of bullets. Lucy huddled on the ground with her hands
covering her head. The only lights visible were bolts of lighting going off every
now through the windows and then the
Turtles had to rely on their night vision. The Turtles succeeded after a long
battle, coming up horribly injured and badly beaten. Luckily, the men's aim were
worse then their fists because none of
them were hit. The Turtles did get their hits though. With weapon meeting
flesh. There were a total of 12 men this time. Huffing and puffing, the
Turtles stood in the trashed room, blood stains
lined the white walls as well as the carpet suffered some crimson red discolorment.
Angered and confused, Lucy was pulled off the ground and bombarded with questions
from them of my whereabouts.
"We don't have much time. I must warn you they're taking her somewhere far away."
Leo was still wiping blood off his sword as he glared at Lucy.
"How far?"
The car moved silently along. There was heavy traffic on the road from the rain. I could hear them talking briefly about where they were going.
"Is this the exit?" "Yeah, right there." "You know, I ask because we hardly go this way." "No, it's fine. You're going the right way. Just stay in this lane."
I heard the sounds of a fog horn going off! Followed by a boat horn. Oh, my
God! They were going to push this car in the ocean! I wasn't sure what to
think. They drove the car down by the
docks of the Harbor, abandoning it. Oh, help! Someone, please! The car
started to move again. Then I felt light as a feather. The car was placed on a
large boat, shipping me overseas to Lord
knows where. I wanted to see where I was headed. The waiting was excrusiating.
Leo had to allow what Lucy said to settle into his head before having a coniption fit.
"ENGLAND?!! She's going to England?!! What the hell's in England?!! Her father's already here! Who's taking her to England??!!"
"Those men are taking her. The ones who've been after her." Lucy
slumped down in a broken chair, only for it to fall apart from under her. Mike
helped her back onto her feet. "Thanks. I know I said
her father's here because he wanted to see her. But that's not the whole
truth."
Lucy bundled up before being dragged outside to her vehicle. She explained on the
way of what was to happen to me. The Turtles were once again silent. Lucy
looked to her right where Leo had
positioned himself in the front seat; his face covered in dried blood stains. She
couldn't help but frown to him before looking in her rear view mirror to see the others
with the same expressions.
"Please, forgive me." She whispered. "I thought she'd be alone. When they knew she was coming to my house, they came after me and threatened to kill me if I didn't do what they told me to do."
"How did they know she was coming?" Leo asked but soon figured it out before she answered him.
"They picked up the message from her cel phone eariler." Leo nodded as she continued. "It's like a game of tag to them. Now, you guys are 'it'."
"It?" Leo repeated.
"Uh, huh. You're chasing after them. And when they're 'it', they'll take her back. It won't end until-"
Leo waved a hand. "I get the idea. Just take us as far as you can. We'll take care of the rest."
Lucy nodded and turned her attention back to the road. Once again, it was going to be a long night for the Turtles. And a major change in time zones was yet to come.