XI
"I can't get anything out from the girl" said the brawny middle aged man as he entered a hall filled with busy bodies.
"What? The toughest, meanest guy around can't squeeze anything out from a girl?" said an officer who looked up from his computer. There was a cohesive laugh from several other police officers in the room.
"Well, some men in black are there with the girl right now. So she's off my plate for a while." The man replied as he slumped into his chair. "Have you got your hand on the surveillance records in the subway, lad?" he directed to a newbie just across his desk. The guy raised the CD in the air and waved it. "Just about to review it sir. Also got a copy of that short message from Stryke claiming responsibility for the incident" he called out.
"Great" he replied and he looked around his desk. He can't be at peace just doing nothing; he never just leaves things to other guys. So he decided to go down and check on things.
~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~
"Lieutenant Grant." greeted one of the agents. Grant just nodded in reply. He wanted in on the new development, so he might as well chat with this guy.
"So, how's the interrogation going?" Grant asked
"She's consistent with what she's saying and seems shaken up. Must be scared like hell, somehow I pity her" said the agent looking at Grant who just raised a brow at him.
"Pity is for wimps" Grant said.
"Well, she doesn't look like she's lying to me. Besides, she's not guilty until proven, right sir?" the agent said, reminding Grant not to play the judge right away. The agent though doesn't blame the guy. Since the turn of the century, and after some terrorist attacks and threats, fear was instilled with many citizens of the nation. Some even actually turned extremists themselves, starting to judge people by their race and affiliations. He knew, he was an immigrant himself.
"I'd be going to the investigating room. I wonder if they found anything on her things" said Grant.
"Mind if I join you?" asked the agent and walked next to Grant.
~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~
In a coffee shop somewhere in the city, a boy in his teens, in a gray hoodie was silently typing away in a corner seat. A sudden vibration of his phone, which was right next to his laptop, destructed his concentration. He grunted.
"Yoh! 2nd! You dumb ass what do you think you're doing!" said the pissed of voice from the other end of the line.
"It's the snooty 1st" he thought and then sighed before replying. "What's the problem? I did what I was instructed to do."
"No idiot! Where'd the other blast went? Up your momma's ass?" replied 1st .
"And here we go again" he thought. "If you say so" he replied nonchalantly.
"You are getting' on my nerves! Now either you do your job right or I'll pick your sorry ass from there and kick you all the way back here, you hear me?!"
"yeah…yeah" 2nd replied rolling his eyes.
"You're lucky Master didn't say anything."
"He was cool with it, then what are you so worked up about, besides I was told to make a distraction and that one thing diverted everyone's attention already" 2nd explained in ease.
"Whatever. I'd be heading out now." 1st said and the call ended. 2nd sighed and blew away the blond strands falling to his eyes.
"Now about that message I have to send" he thought as he returned to his work.
~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~
Clothes, shoes and other women stuff scattered on the table of the investigation room. One of the men who were sifting through the things slumped on his chair and laughed.
"Looks like we'll just get a black sexy lingerie, yeah?" he said as he spin one of the lingerie in his index finger. His buddy grabbed the thing from him, feeling ashamed that the guy would have to act that stupid in front of the Lt. and an agent.
"So there's nothing?" Grant asked.
"Nada" came the reply.
"But there is a phone in her back pack and surprisingly it only has one number in its contacts. Pretty weird for a girl her age to have no contacts in her phone right?" said the more serious of the two.
"Hhhmm. That's interesting" said the agent glancing at Grant.
"Especially for a hottie like her, I mean look at these pictures. She's an aspiring model, did a couple of print ads and fashion shoots, see?" said the more comical guy as he spread Misa's photos on the table.
"How about we call the number?" Grant suggested.
"What if it detonates a bomb or activates something?"
"You're right."
"Well, let's just ask her." suggested the agent.
"And take her word to heart?"
"Yes. If something bad happens then she'd be in a big mess"
"That's true but…" Lt. Grant wasn't able to finish, the agent walked out the door and headed to the interrogation room.
~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~
Misa felt like just dropping dead on the floor. She felt all weak and tired. She tried both the calm and frantic approach, well she wasn't really good at this things. Who would be anyway, if each men who enters the room looked like they're going to cook her for dinner.
It's been almost 5 minutes now and this Agent Buck said that he would wait for her to speak. Everything was silent until the door opened and that Lt. Grant was back in the room again, this time with the man who came with Buck.
"Ms. Amane, I'm Agent Cole. I'm with Agent Buck here and we've found a phone in your possession. Oddly enough, for someone your age, it only has one contact? Why is that?" Cole said holding up the phone in his hands.
"L's phone! Jeez…. I forgot to return it. Wait! He can help me out of this!... or maybe not…." That was the first thing that crossed Misa's mind. She was so absorbed with what she was thinking that she forgot to answer the question.
"Well, Ms. Amane we're going to call this number. Please tell us that it is safe to do so. I mean for all we know this might detonate another bomb and we won't want any more surprises." Cole said.
"Is it safe Ms. Amane?" demanded Grant snapping her out of her thoughts. She nodded. Grant went out the room and minutes later came back with men with some sort of device and a laptop. After a couple more minutes of setting up, they told Grant that everything was set.
"Now make the call long enough so we can trace where the receiver is" Grant instructed Cole.
"Oh no! They'd know their location. L was pretty serious about hiding his identity and stuff. Shit! This isn't time for that. I just want to get out of here! Please! I hope the number is either L's or Watari's. But what if it's not, then I'm surely done for. Maybe this is when I should tell them that it's not mine, but that would make me look guilty…. URGH!" Misa thought in panic, she felt like she stopped breathing the moment Cole pressed the call button.
It was after exactly 3 rings that someone answered the call.
"Hello" said Cole waiting for an answer and he placed the call on speaker.
"Hello. May I inquire who this is?" came a reply from a deep voice.
"Forgive me but may I know who this is?" Cole asked.
"Well, sir, I'm currently busy right now and if you don't go straight to business, I would have to end this call immediately" came the reply. Agent Cole hated the authority in the deep voice but spoke in his usual manner anyway.
"This is Agent Cole, I found your number on a phone, carried by a suspected terrorist. It is the only contact on the phone." said Cole, looking over at the guys trying to track the location of the receiver. There were furrowed foreheads behind him, looks like he should be chattier.
" Is that so?" came the calm reply of the deep voice.
"Yes and it would be really great if you can provide us with an identification." Cole said looking over at the guys who seemed to come up with nothing. "As you said you're busy. I too am busy." He added.
"That's not necessary."
"Why is that?" Cole asked with a raised brow. "You know how serious this is right?"
"Yes. By the way Agent Cole, is there any chance that the name of your suspected terrorist is Amane Misa? She's a Japanese National, a teenage girl with blonde hair." inquired the deep voice.
Everyone listening to the conversation was surprised. Grant and Buck who were getting irritated with the conversation perked up and looked at each other. The men trying to trace the call still come out with nothing.
Misa who was listening felt like wanting to jump up and down but she was constrained and she wasn't in the mood anyway. She felt somewhat relieved though that someone did answer the phone.
"How did you know?" inquired Cole "Sir, may I now know your name for identification?"
"As we are speaking I believe you are trying to trace the call, which means that there is a laptop near you. Now Agent Cole, for identification I would want the guys in charge of tracing the call to listen to my instructions. This call I believe is on speaker, so they'd hear."
Agent Cole with his patience, felt like shouting at the guy on the other line. He now tells them to do as instructed. Without waiting for any reply from them the voice set out a number of instructions and after a couple of minutes, the 2 guys in charge of the call trace stood up from their seats, with a look of pure astonishment in their faces.
"This has got to be a joke" said one of the guys and then he carried the laptop to the table. The call then ended before Cole can say anything. Everyone else in the room went in front of the laptop to check what's up.
"What's this joke?" Grant complained looking at the Old English letter L logo on the screen.
"No, this isn't. I am L." came the modified voice from the laptop.
Upon hearing this Misa saw a spark of hope come to light. She witnessed the dropped jaw and the surprised looks on the men's faces, even Grant.
"Now, about your suspected terrorist. She isn't the one who should be keeping you busy right now. As we speak the real terrorist is on the loose, preparing for his next move. I am currently working on the case and I assure you, we'll catch whoever is responsible for this. Stryke, is a group of highly skilled individuals and so if you would like to cooperate with me on catching them it would be well appreciated."
"Why should we trust you? You hold the case? For all we know you might be a fake. I'm not even sure you exist." Grant exclaimed.
"You are free to contact any of your big bosses anytime and they can confirm that I do exist." came the confident response. "Now that you know who you are speaking to may I know the name of the one in charge at the moment?" The men exchanged glances upon hearing this but Grant took the bullet.
"Yeah, this is Lt. Grant."
"Lt. Grant, I believe that Ms. Amane is currently in the same room as you are right now. May I speak with her?"
"Alright" Grant replied after looking at the other men.
"Misa, you met the one who left the bomb in the subway station right? Do you remember the person? If so, please describe the suspect." L said. Misa decided to answer the question and say no more and no less.
"Yes, I was sitting on a bench then. There was an old lady in between us but I saw him." Misa started her voice still a bit trembling but she swallowed to clear it. "He was around my age, blonde and there is something about his eyes. His eyes are heterochromic, I thought he was a cosplayer so I stared at him for a while but he caught me so I looked away. When I looked back at him, he was already on his way up the stairs, leaving that bag behind."
"Thank you Misa. Lt. Grant, as we were speaking I was reviewing the footage of the security camera's in the subway and it would show you that the guy who sat in the same bench as Ms. Amane did left the bag and I'm sure he didn't leave it to pass it to her."
"L, that's what you're called right? Well, this is Agent Buck, I would like to ask you if why would a phone containing only your contact number be with this girl?" Buck asked.
"Not relevant at the moment but to suffice your curiosity, she helped me with a case. I lend her that phone, which only has my contact number, and I let her keep it. Now let's get back to the matter at hand. I wish to speak with anyone who is willing to help catch the bomber in a separate room. I believe that as we speak a request to form a team for this case just arrived in the police commissioner's table."
"Alright, is there anything more you want?" said Grant sounding irritated.
"Yes. Ms. Amane, please release her as soon as this conversation ends and please return the phone to her."
"You just can't tell us to release her" ranted Grant. "You may have worked with her but are you sure that she isn't in on the terrorist plot?"
"I am and I'm never wrong. That is all" said L and then the conversation ended.
All eyes are now on Misa, who looked back with stubbornness. The door opened a bit and a head poked inside saying that the commissioner was expecting to see everyone in 15 minutes. The men exchanged looks.
One of the guys in charge of tracing the call looked up at Grant and said "Well, looks like that was really the one and only L."
Note: I bet some of you are wondering where the phone from chapter 7 went. Hahaha here it is! Anyway thanks for reading this far. 3 3 3 Please let me know what you think of it :))