Chapter 97 - [AT] On The Trail...

[After Transition]

I slam my foot down on to the brake to come to a complete stop in the middle of the road and impede traffic which results in cars going around me, horns beeping and a whole lot of vulgar language and gestures being thrown my way though thankfully they don't care enough to get out of their car and come and get physical with me as that would take even more time away from the already limited time I already have to find those three kids and save them, apparently Barbara is also confused as to why I've stopped since she looks up from her phone that she's been doing something on the entire time to question my actions. "Nick, what are you doing? Why've you stopped for? We need to find those kids now!" She shouts to which I sigh and point outside of the front window of my rental BMW and she follow my finger to look in that direction also. "This is.." Barbara mutters but I finish her sentence for her. "This is where we were blocked by that truck and lost sight of the white van, we're right back to where we started and we've lost them as well..."

"What!? Didn't you see the van as you were driving down the road, did you miss them or something?" Barbara questions me to which I growl out. "I was watching the entire road the whole time, I never took my eyes off of the road even once in case I might miss them and the only time my eyes weren't keeping a watch on this road was when we were taking the scenic route through the alleyways so either the white van passed the spot where we were waiting before we got there or.." Barbara interpreted here. "No, I know Gotham and I know for a fact we would've gotten to that alleyway way before they could've passed it, even if they were driving one of Bruce Wayne's super cars we would've made it just in time to see them go by so they can't have passed us." I continue what I was saying before she interjected. "Or they took a turn off of this road and we weren't there to see which road they took and so we can't follow them, either that or they turned around for some reason and took a different route. Maybe they noticed we were following them."

Traffic is still going by us and there are still a lot of horns, vulgar language and rude hand gestures being thrown at us but I don't feel like giving a shot about that right now, I'll react if someone gets out of their cars to start something with me but for now I'll ignore it. "No, they definitely didn't notice us following them as we were only just about to catch up to them when the truck blocked us so they shouldn't have had a reason to turn around and they definitely didn't go passed the alleyway where we were waiting. So they must've taken a turn off of the road somewhere between here and the alleyway where we came out, if we can find that then we can find those kids and help them." Not needing anymore words to be spoken I quickly start to accelerate before spinning the car around onto the other side of the road and going back the way we came ignoring all the various reactions of the other drivers on the road to my actions as I couldn't give two shits about them right now though I am surprised that nothing further happened as this is Gotham and I wouldn't be surprised for some people to start blasting just for some minor inconveniences.

"You said that there were hardly any turnoffs that lead to anywhere actually worth going on this road right?" I question Barbara while driving. "That was before I knew we were following a van with three kids in the back that were being driven somewhere to be killed, with a reason like that they could've gone down any of the turnoffs off this road." She says while rapidly cl.i.c.k.i.n.g away on her phone probably doing something to help the situation but I don't question it, I'm coming up to a turnoff on the left now and so I slow down to see if there's any clues that I can spot the might tell me if the white van went down this way but before talks again just as I begin to slow down. "Don't go down there, it's a factory that's open today with over two hundred employees working. The white van won't have gone down there as they need somewhere secluded to dispose of the kids where they won't be interrupted." I guess I know what she begun to do on her phone then, thankful that she began to get information using her phone to narrow down where the van could've gone I speed back up keeping an eye out for the next turnoff.

I continue to drive down the street occasionally slowing down a bit at any road I come up to before speeding back up when Barbara tells me that the white van won't be down there and why which I'm thankful for as its already saved us a lot of time and I'm glad I brought her along now, I've just began to slow down at the next road when she speaks out again. "This place is also a factory but it's closed today plus the gate should be tightly locked as the place has good security, check if the gates open or if there's any tire track on the muddy ground in front of the gate. If there's not we should move on to the next road which is the last one left and should be where the van went if it isn't this one." Barbara says without looking up from her phone continuing to gain information on her phone as we don't have a minute to lose, I look up at the front gat and notice that there is a padlock on the front gate and there doesn't seem to be any fresh tire tracks at the front gate either so I'm about to speed up again when I notice something.

"What about the dirt side road next to the turnoff?" I question but even as I do so I turn the car right to go into the dirt path as I just have a gut feeling that this is the place where I should be going while Barbara looks up from her phone to see what I'm talking about. "That's weird, there should be no reason to have another path to the factory when they have a main gate, it's not bad or anything but it is definite weird as why would they need a dirt path when they have a perfectly good entrance already." It's at this point that she notices that I've turned the car and I'm beginning to go down the dirt path that surrounded on also sides by dense trees so much so that it makes it hard for even any sunlight to come through the thick underbrush of the trees above. "Why are you going down here Nick? I admit it's a bit weird but it doesn't mean anything, we should've checked out the other road as it was only a minute or so away to check that off of our list because if it turns out you've chosen wrong those kids are going to die, we can still turn around and check out the other road and still have time to come back here if that road checks out." She say but I don't take my foot off of the gas for even a second.

"Barbara, this is the place I can just feel it, I can feel it in my gut. I feel it in my bones, I'm not wrong." Barbara looks baffled at my words. "But what if you are?" She says to which I shake my head. "I'm not Barbara but even if I am everything should be okay as Batman should already be on his way to help those three kids ." Barbara freezes up at my words and even in this tense situation I find it a little amusing. "W- Why would Batman know?" She questions to which I chuckle. "Because you called your father and he's probably already got a few squad cars to come out probably coming himself as well but I think that the Batman should be keeping an eye on the police as well to see if there's any pressing situations and so he should've found out by now as well and should be on his way to help those kids right now." Barbara just nods her head at my explanation relieved even though I know that the scenario I gave should mean that Batman might come late but I know for a fact that Barbara contacted the Batman before she called her father and so he should be just behind us.

With Barbara falling into silence I put all my concentration into following the dirt pathway, I'll definitely help those three kids escape the same fate that happened to me...

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<AN> I now have a Pa treon up and running and when a chapter is ready it will go up on Pa treon first so please take a look. Some support from you guys would be appreciated and motivate me.

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