Journey's end

Ch 13. Lost and Afraid

Raph sat at the kitchen staring down at his cell phone. His family sat with him but no one spoke. They were waiting for the police to get back to them but so far there had been no further word. It was early in the morning and the last anyone had heard, the detectives had been looking into the connection with Moore and Bradford. Casey had promised to call as soon as he heard something, but Raph's phone had not rung since they last spoke with him yesterday.

Splinter got up and walked over to where Raph sat. He placed his hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle squeeze. "Perhaps we should have some breakfast." He told him. He looked up at Michelangelo who had been attempting to read a comic book, but the words blurred together through his tired eyes. He nodded in response to his Sensei. They all were exhausted and no one had slept in two nights. But Splinter knew he had to keep his sons' strengths up, as well as his own.

"I don't want food." Raph whispered before Mikey could even start. "I don't want to eat or sleep…I just want to find him and get him home!" He voice crescendo into a loud yell and he pounded his fist on the table in emphasis. "Why hasn't Casey called?!" He yelled exasperated.

"Raphael." Splinter knelt in front of him and stared intently into his eyes. "Casey will call when he has something to tell us." He told him. "Not allowing yourself to eat or forcing yourself to stay awake will not help Leonardo."

Raph took a deep sigh and shook his head. "I know Sensei but it's been too long." He told him. "They were looking into Bradford and his connection to Moore." He looked from his Sensei to his brothers. "Why hasn't he gotten back to us?"

"Donnie?" Mikey turned to look at him. "Maybe you can find something?"

Donnie sat with his laptop in front of him, he had been typing away and his family had assumed it was something for work. He looked away from his brother with shame filling his eyes. "I…uh…I already did Mikey." He whispered.

His family looked at him in shock. "Well…what did you find?" Raph demanded.

"Nothing." Donnie admitted.

"What do you mean nothing?" Mikey asked. "There had to be something!" Mikey pleaded with him. "Maybe Moore is keeping Leo at Bradford's old house...or..or his old dojo."

"I thought of that Mikey." He looked at Raph. "Which I'm sure the police did too."

"And." Raph urged.

"The only thing I could find is that Bradford taught Moore martial arts in LA." He told them. "I checked into Bradford's previous addresses and his last home here in New York was sold to a family several years ago and they've since sold it as well." Donnie looked downcast. "As for his old dojo, that's now a bakery." He looked from his father to his brothers and sighed in defeat. "This is why I didn't say anything." He finally admitted.

Splinter stroked his long beard. "There has to….."

The ringing of Raph's cell interrupted Splinter's thoughts. "It's Casey." Raph said excitedly, he put the phone on speaker. "Hey Case." He answered. "You're on speaker. Please…tell us you have some news."

"Hey guys." Casey's voice sounded exhausted. "Slash and Spike have been going over Bradford's records of his previous known addresses." There was a long pause as Casey took a deep breath. "And I'm afraid they really haven't found anything that could help." Casey could almost hear his friend's faces falling as they heard the news. "We've discovered Bradford had an old training camp in upper state New York about three hours from here." Casey informed them. "They checked it out yesterday but it's been shut down for years and there has been no sign that anyone's been there recently."

"Casey." Donnie spoke up. "Who funded this camp?"

"What Don?" Everyone looked at Donnie curiously.