Trouble Sixteen

Trouble Sixteen

 

 

Jon stood in front of the desk his eyes cast downwards; shuffling his feet he waited.

“So you failed?”  Richard asked, blowing large curls of smoke through his teeth.

“Not exactly.”  Jon looked up over the desk and faced the back of a large leather chair.

“You found her?”

“Er, yes.”

“Yet you didn’t dispose of her?”  Richard absentmindedly flicked as on the floor.

“Well no sir, but you see she wasn’t.”

“Yet you returned empty handed.”  Richard interrupted whirling round in his chair he studied Jon’s battered face, his left eye almost swollen shut. 

“Sir that wasn’t my fault!” Jon protested stepping nearer to the desk. “There was a.”

“Yes, a monster.  You said.”  Richard turned back to window behind his desk and relit his cigarette, lighting his face up with a devilish glow.

“What do we do now?”  Jon asked.

“We,” Richard exhaled watching the lazy white coils as they left his body and dissipated in the stale air.  “We dispose of your monster and then we dispose of her and the baby.  No one interferes with my business that doesn’t live to regret it.”  He paused to draw once more on the cigarette.  “If I let them live.”  A guttural laugh bubbled at the back of Richard’s throat.

“How?”  Jon asked after a few moments silence.

“How should I know?”  Richard snarled turning towards Jon.  “Poison, shoot them, hell drown the bastards.  I don’t care how you do it, just do it!”

 

Leonardo’s vision darkened as the room blurred away, to him all that existed was Raphael and he.  Years of pent up frustration and anger coursed through trembling his body and spilled into the polished metal held in his grasp.  Raphael quickly drew his sai and tensed.  He’d never seen him react to anything like this before.  Still, he would make his brother see sense, even if he had to beat it into him.   He readied himself for Leonardo’s first move, somehow he knew this wasn’t going to be easy.   In quick fluid motion Leonardo turned his sword over his hand before he brought his strike down with a lightening flash of metal.  Swerving Raphael felt the disturbance in the air as the blade sliced past him, but he was not fast enough to avoid the next strike as Leonardo spun into a back kick.  Staggering backwards Raphael flung his arm out to steady himself, breathing heavily to control his rage he charged his brother, thrusting and slashing his sai.  Leonardo twisted away from the attack; Raphael failed to draw his arm back before his brother caught hold of his wrist.  Resentment fuelling his strength Leonardo hurled Raphael across the room.

 

Raphael lay winded the air hammered from his lungs; he pushed himself on to his hands and knees looking up his blood chilled.  Leonardo firmly gripped the hilt of his katana with both hands as he held it aloft.  April and Carrie’s screams barely registered as he swung the sword downwards.

 

A harsh metallic sound rung out as the katana blade connected with the chain of Michaelangelo’s nunchuku, a powerful twist sent the sword clattering to the floor.  Leonardo froze as the world suddenly swam back into view.  Donatello was helping Raphael get to his feet as Michaelangelo shielded them, nunchucks still whirling.

“I, I.”  Leonardo stepped back shaking his head, he looked at his brothers glancing back and forth to their shocked faces.  His mind thudded with the thought of what he had almost done.  If Michaelangelo hadn’t have intervened, he would have killed Raphael! 

Raphael shrugged off Donatello’s attempts to support him; he narrowed his eyes at Leonardo.

“You just won’t listen to anyone but yourself will you!”  It was more of a statement then a question.  “She’s trouble!” He spat.  “And she’s dragging you down with her.”

“You’re lying!”  Leonardo shouted curling his hands into tight fists.

“Actually,” Donatello spoke up.  “He is telling the truth.” 

Leonardo looked at Carrie before flicking his attention back to his brothers. “Mike?”

“Sorry Leo, but Donny’s right.”  Michaelangelo answered relaxing a little.

 

Carrie studied the four turtles before her, she prayed this day would never come; she’d hoped she’d never be found out for what she truly was.  “I didn’t mean for things to go this far.”  She sobbed.

“Explain this Robyn!”  Raphael removed the small black book from his coat as held it up for her to see.

“Where did you get that?”  She demanded trying to snatch it from his possession only for April to stop her.

“Well?”  All eyes fell on her, she became uncomfortable under their relentless gaze.  There was no getting away from this; she would have to tell the truth now.  Slumping down into the armchair she folded her hands, nervously intertwining her fingers she bowed her head and began.

 

“You’re right, I did lie.  But you have to understand, I only did it to protect all of you.” 

Raphael snorted, but she didn’t let that distract her, without looking up she continued.

 

“My name is Robyn Hunter, not Carrie Ryan and Richard Davis wasn’t my partner, he was my boss.”  Her breath shuddered.  “Back home he rules the streets with his gangs, guns and drugs.  Life wasn’t worth living unless you were part of his corporation.  It all started with the small stuff, petty crime, vandalism, street muggings, and drugs.  But, Richard always wanted more and Richard always got what he wanted.  Soon he was forcing us onto much harder, more dangerous things.  Protection rackets, drugs pushing and prostitution.”  Warm tears hung on her cheeks.  “Many of us wanted out, but few of us ever made it.  One thing you never did, ever, was cross Richard Davis.” She swallowed.  “One night, when everyone had gone home, I went to his office, to plead with him again to release me.  I knew then I was pregnant and I didn’t want that kind of life for my child.  Only he wasn’t alone.  There was somebody there.  I don’t know why, but something made me stay that night.  I watched through the cracked door, they were arguing, over some protection money or something, that’s when he did it.”  She paused.

“Did what?”  Michaelangelo jumped at the sound of his own voice.

 

Robyn looked up.  “He killed him, shot him point blank.”  She breathed.  “The thing with Richard is he doesn’t just kill you, he wipes out your entire family, no witnesses.  I don’t know what but something inside me that night snapped.  I waited until Richard had gone and I snuck into his office.  I knew there was a book that he kept all his dealings written down in.  The names and addresses of the people he coerced money out of, his contacts, everything.  That book contains everything the police need to shut down his operation for good.”

“Why didn’t you hand it into the police?”  April asked still cradling hope.

“I was scared,”  Robyn rung her hands in her lap, “I was frightened that he would hurt my family.  So I ran away.”  She turned to look at Leonardo.  “And you know the rest.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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