Chapter 8
It had been a long day for the investigation team, what with using search engine after search engine without finding the clearest of results. True, the endless search only truly took its toll on Mello and Dagas that day. As Ryuzaki had said earlier in the day, based on what Josie had told him last night, he did have something special in mind for both Dagas and Mello to do. It was a time consuming, boring task, but it was as important to the case as anything else.
"So, how's the work going, Mello?" Ryuzaki asked as he walked in to Mello's room to check on his progress.
"Pretty good. I actually think I've found what we're looking for," he said with his eyes firmly locked on his laptop.
"Damn it!" Dagas cried from the other side of the wall separating his room from Dagas'.
"What was that about?" Ryuzaki quizzically asked her the moment she marched into Mello's room to join them.
"You guys always figure out everything before I do! Do you know how stupid you make me feel on a regular basis?" she rhetorically asked, adding a slight humor in her tone as to avoid sounding too angered.
"Oh, come now. You are not stupid at all. Besides, you've figured out a few things before any of the other people on your task force back in Japan," Ryuzaki said at a failed attempt of reassurance.
" 'A few'? Damn, don't I feel special…" she groaned as she gave Ryuzaki a disappointed glare.
"What? Did I say something wrong?" he asked Mello. His shaking head was the only response Ryuzaki got to that.
"Anyways, I think I've found a location."
As Mello pulled up a tab with statistics on it, Ryuzaki walked over to take a look at the information, his index finger thoughtfully placed on his lower lip as he loomed over Mello's shoulder.
"From the information that I've gathered, it's clear to see that the fastest growing crime rate has taken location in the general Manhattan area. I decided to do some extra research on this and, although the news reporters have taken a slight notice to this, all they seem to be taking it as is a stream of petty crimes that have no meaning. Pathetic as it is for them not to notice…"
"It makes it easier for Matt to accomplish what I was planning without being noticed," Ryuzaki finished, his eyes still looking at the statistics that had been gathered.
"Exactly… By the way, what do you have in mind for Matt to be doing?" Mello asked.
"Like he assumed, I will have him doing on location work. Sadly for him, as anti-social as he would like to be with the outside world, he is the only one of us who can do it," he explained as he backed away from the laptop, both of his hands now shoved back into his deep pockets, as per usual.
"Well, too bad for him," Mello said with a pleased grin. As for his case, he was just thankful that he wasn't the one going out to do Matt's job instead. He'd much rather do a pile of research and paperwork if it meant avoiding being victimized by the general public.
"Thank you for the research. Although you're both done, I would appreciate that you would save your work just in case we need it for future reference," he stated as he stepped out of the room.
"Alright. Have fun breaking the news to Matt," Mello called back with a humorous grin. Although he received no response, he still took pride in his unneeded sarcasm.
"Seriously? You want me to go out to do that?" Matt asked once Ryuzaki had finished telling him what he would be doing.
"Is that not what I just said?"
"Ah…" he groaned as he swung his head back. "When do you want me to get this done?"
"As soon as possible. We can't afford to waste any time at the moment."
"Damn… So what should I be looking like for this? Someone from We Energies who always wears and unnecessary workers helmet, or an on-site Best Buy employee?"
"I would have to say neither, simply because we don't want people asking too many questions. Simply a white t-shirt, a hat and a pair of jeans should do the trick."
"And if anybody ends up asking too many questions?"
"I suppose that would be up to you and your judgment, but I would try to just ignore them, if I were you."
"And for mode of transportation?"
"I've already taken care of that. I rented a pickup truck for you online. You'll have to pick it up by 6:00 tomorrow. I've also taken the liberty of asking Miss Synclair to buy a ladder from the hardware store. You'll also have to go pick that up from her home once you pick up the truck. Got that?"
"Yeah, I got it."
"You have the equipment that you'll be needing for tomorrow, correct?"
"Please, what do you think I do in my free time? Of course I have it."
"Yes, but do you have at least 120 of them?"
"120? Really?" he exclaimed as he shot his head back up.
"Yes, really," he said with all seriousness. "Do you have all of them?"
"Well, yes, but that depletes my supply by 78 percent!"
"That would actually be 80 percent," he corrected him.
"Damn!" he groaned, his hand stressfully sliding down his cheek. "Well, I have the stuff either way."
"Good. I'll have a map of all the camera locations printed out by the end of tonight. I suggest you check that you have everything in order before you go to sleep tonight."
"Yeah, I'll get on that."
"Fantastic. I thank you again for being able to do this on such short notice," he said as he began to make his way to the door.
"Yeah, no problem."
"Have a good night, Matt," he called back before leaving the room.
"Yeah, you too…" he replied. After waiting until his door had closed, Matt angrily mumbled under his breath, "He thanks me for agreeing to do this when he knew I had no choice. God, he's backwards."
The next morning at around 6:45, after Matt had picked up the white pickup and the ladder from Josie's house, he set out to central Manhattan. As little as he liked the idea of it, he was just about to set out to what his job would be for, more than likely, the entire morning. You see, for an entire chunk of the day, he would be posing as a local maintenance worker for the area. His dreadfully repetitive and boring job would be to go to every security camera in the area and place a device in each and every one of them without being caught by any sort of higher authority.
The sole purpose of this was to record everything that the cameras see and stream it directly to a laptop specifically set aside for this. That way, the investigation team could observe the criminal activity in the area, try to find the cause of the sudden crime spike, and, if they got lucky, find out who was now working for B.
Anyway, it was a week day, which made the streets quite crowded with people struggling to get to work, whether it be by car or fast walking past the large masses of people. For his first few stops, Matt was a little nervous about his task, what with so many people surrounding him. He struggled to keep his eyes on his job, but couldn't help but notice the many people who would spare a short passing glance of curiosity as they walked or drove by. Thankfully, after the first 10 or so stops, Matt had finally gotten used to the scornful glances of the bystanders who noticed his work.
Though he managed to get past the judging stares of the locals, there was another thing that he wished he could just ignore. Unfortunately, ignoring it wasn't the best of moves since it only made the situation worse little by little until it stopped. Yes, it was the harassing comments of the delinquents. Many teenagers in the area, stupid as they are, think it's a fantastic idea to skip school every other day. Most of these teens had already been to Juvie at least once, so they knew how to harass the perfect victims at the perfect times. Matt, with his weak-looking body structure, was a perfect victim for harassment, which is why no matter how much he wished it to stop, these teens weren't going to leave until they've had their fill.
At about 10:30, Matt was only just about half way done with his job and was in the middle of being distracted by yet another group of stereotypical white gangsters with baggie hoodies draped over their shaved heads. They quickly got bored of Matt just ignoring their comments and left after making a few smart remarks. As relieved as Matt was that they finally left, the thugs were soon replaced by yet another unwanted disturbance. Behind where Matt was balancing on his ladder there stood a suspicious man. As opposed to most of the other passersby who would just take a look and move on, this one just silently stood there looking up at where Matt stood.
There was a long slot of time where Matt never noticed the silent stranger staring at him. This moment soon broke when the man asked, "What're you doing?"
Without pausing or turning to identify the man, Matt rudely replied, "Are you blind or just stupid? What does it look like I'm doing?"
"I realize what it's supposed to look like you're doing," the man suspiciously replied.
"Buzz off; I'm just trying to do my job."
"And your job would be what?"
"I'm just a maintenance worker. Nothing more," he insisted.
"Are you really, or do you just want me to think that?"
"Okay, why are you trying to pry at me?" Matt angrily asked as he spun around in a fit to get a good look at the man who was really starting to get at his last nerve.
Looking up at him from the sidewalk below, Matt saw a man who seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. He seemed to look like an overdressed business man with his black suit and tie get-up. He bore a head of shaggy black hair and a facial structure that held a permanently serious air to it. He wasn't the strongest looking of men, nor was he too weak looking to throw a punch. His shoulders were broad and face presented a pair of suspicious eyes and a very chiseled jaw.
"I'm just trying to figure out exactly what you're doing," the man replied.
"I'm just checking out all of the street cameras to see if they're operational!" Matt insisted.
"If you're permitted to fix the street cameras then who do you work for?"
"A lower class electric company."
"If that's so then why does your vehicle not have your company's logo on it?"
"It's a newer truck that we haven't printed the logo on yet," he said as he closed up the camera he had just finished working on.
"Sure doesn't look like that to me."
"Listen, I'm telling you for the last time; I'm just a maintenance worker trying to make a living by doing my job," he insisted again behind grinding teeth.
"No you're not."
He let out a frustrated sigh before sliding down the ladder, folding it up, and saying to the man, "I am what I said I am."
"Then why do you seem to be so unhinged about doing your job?"
"This is my first day."
"No company would allow you to work on something like this on your first day of employment."
"I meant my first day in this department," he said as he slammed the ladder into the back of the truck.
"Seriously? You're lying through your teeth."
"Listen, I've had enough of this. I have work to do, so go find someone else to bother the shit out of," he snapped as he opened the driver's side door to the truck and hopped in. he tried to close the door, but before he could, the strange man had already grabbed the door handle and was yanking the door open with all his might. Out of nowhere, he blurted out in a frantic tone, "You've noticed the crime rate too, haven't you?"
At that moment, Matt soon found that this was the one point in the conversation where he had absolutely nothing to say. He was completely silenced by this sudden and shocking question.
"You've noticed how New York's entire crime rate has been rising ever since that fire the other day? And how Manhattan seems to have the fastest growing rate in the area?"
Matt still could do nothing but remain silent.
"Listen, I realize you probably think I'm crazy due to the way I acted, but know that we're on your side."
"We're"? What does he mean by that? Matt thought as he gave the man a confused look.
"You don't have to trust me; in fact, I don't expect you to trust me at all. But if you need any assistance," he said as he slipped a grey business card into Matt's lap. "Don't hesitate to call." With that, the strange man let go of the door handle, backed away from the car and began to walk down the sidewalk like nothing had happened.
What in god's name was that? He asked himself, confusion spinning around in his head as he looked down at the business card. He barely had put any thought to what was printed on it before placing it in his jeans pocket and starting the ignition to go to the next location.
"I swear to god, it was the weirdest thing I've seen here," Matt explained to L as they sat on a bench by the back wall of the hotel gym.
"And you had no clue who he was?"
"Not at all. He never even bothered to say his name."
"Maybe he's FBI or CIA?" Mello suggested as he took another swing at Dagas with his foot.
"Not likely. They would take longer to make the connection with the murders and the crime rate. They should notice once the media takes an interest to it, which may still be a while," L replied.
"Could it be an undercover division stationed here?" Dagas asked as she blocked a couple swings.
"It could be, but I doubt it. An undercover division would most likely be sent by the FBI or CIA, which we've ruled out."
"And what exactly did he say?" Mello asked.
"He questioned me for a while like he completely distrusted me and right as I was about to leave, he held the door open, asked about me knowing about the crime rate, handed me this business card and said he was 'on our side'."
"On our side…?" Dagas echoed before being slammed to the floor by her opponent.
"You lost your focus," he pointed out as he held out a hand to help her up.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," she groaned.
"May I see the card?" L asked as he held out his hand.
"Sure… here," he said as he handed it to him.
With a quizzical look, L held up the card with his thumb and index finger and took a close look at the print. Sitting on the light grey-shaded card, two lines of silver print were displayed. On the first line, there lye a simple phone number, suspiciously lacking any sort of New York area code. Under the phone number, the fine print read, "Call in case of emergency".
"Hmm… Interesting. Have you ever seen this number before?" he asked Matt.
"Never before in my life."
"Let me see," Mello insisted as he made his way to where the two sat. "No, I haven't seen it either."
"And neither have I…" Ryuzaki replied. "I'll have to run this through some systems later on. I suppose we're done here for today," he said, directed to Mello and Dagas, who had been practicing their martial arts when Matt had arrived back at the hotel.
"Remember not to get distracted next time, Dagas," Mello advised.
"Yeah, I got it. And It wasn't my fault; those two were making me curious!" she replied in her defense.
"Just try not to let that happen when you're in a real world situation."
"You say this like I don't know that."
"So Matt, aside from what happened, you placed all of the devices, correct?" Ryuzaki asked.
"Of course I did. It took a hell of a long time, but I got it done."
"Great, then we'll start the observations tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, all of you get some rest. I need you all on high alert to spot anything suspicious in the recordings."
"Got it," the three all chimed in exhausted tones.
Later on after all four of them had returned to their rooms, L found it would be best to start analyzing the phone number on the card as soon as possible. Once in his room, he sat down in front of his laptop and got straight to work. Surprisingly to him, finding the origin of the phone number took much longer than expected. It had taken him about an hour to actually figure out where the number came from, but eventually he managed to find the exact user of the number. The number was apparently being used by an organization for keeping the peace all across New York, but that was obviously just a surface description. Determined to find out exactly who this man was working for, L insisted on himself to look deeper into this. After another hour or so of hacking and gathering information, he soon found who was behind this strange event, and in a word, the result was completely and utterly unexpected.
"My, my… so it's him…"
"So, what exactly did you do while you were gone?" a blond haired woman asked as her co-worker entered the dimly-lit room.
"Well, I planned on looking for any suspicious activity around town."
"You planned on it? What happened?" asked a large man from the other side of the room.
"I did find suspicious activity, but not from anybody posing to be an enemy."
"Seriously, spit it out. Who did you see?" asked yet another voice from the chair sitting in the middle of the room.
"Someone I saw tampering with the street cameras. From what I saw, he was placing rerouting devices in as many as he could. I questioned him about it and came to the conclusion that he knows what we know."
"About the crime rate?"
"Exactly. He refused to admit it, seeing as though he was undercover, but I handed him the business card before I left."
"Huh… Another person who's taken note of these happenings…"
"So what do we do now? Do we try to make contact with this guy again?" the blond woman asked the small person in the chair.
"Nope. Right now, what we have to do is just play the waiting game. If and when they need our help, they'll call and we'll be ready to answer."
"'They'? What do you mean by that?" the woman asked.
"There's more with him. And if my suspicions are correct, than I believe we've found another set of allies that will be glad to help."
The group of people were silent.
"Heh… I suppose this is what they mean by your past coming back to haunt you. I would love to call this a happy family reunion, but if who I figure is involved is, then he won't be too happy at all."
"Who are you talking about, sir?" the large man asked.
"I suppose you could call them old acquaintances…" he said as he took aim at a dart board with the dart in his hand. He paused his thought to toss the dart, hitting yet another bull's-eye. "More or less…"
