Just a word, a lot of what's coming up in the actual story line will be from the actual dialogue, there's no reason to mess with perfection. Obviously the introspective stuff and relationship stuff will be all mine, but it will probably be familiar to you. I won't be doing scene for scene, you all know what happened, just the important ones that can reflect my take on things as well. I hope you continue to enjoy, and thank you all so much for your readership and reviews.

Chapter 36

The gang member was torn between being afraid to tell the Boss and being afraid to tell Mello. That skinny kid was unnerving. He wasn't big and threatening like the boss, but there was something about Mello that was just plain spooky. He was smart, really smart-no scary smart. The boss was gang smart, but this Mello guy…he'd been with them for about a year and everything he planned and did went just as he said it would. The fact that he had gotten into the gang by bringing the actual head of a rival boss alone was enough to make you worry about him. As far as he was concerned, Mello didn't need a death notebook to kill, it just made it easier. His thoughts got him to the front room where his boss and Mello were on the couch, a pretty girl next to the boss, Mello as usual with a candy bar sitting on the back of the couch. He swallowed and figured the best way to get it out was to just blurt it out..

"Boss…" Ross looked away from the girl and at him.

"Shut up, can't you see I'm busy?" Mello smirked and bit into the bar.

"Boss, we're sorry, Ed and I were just talking for just a few minutes and it looks like Takimura hanged himself with his tie!" It took Ross a moment to digest what he heard.

"What's the matter with you? What are we going to do with a dead hostage?"

"No, this will be just fine." Mello said quietly. If Kira is responsible for this, we know he can't touch us because he doesn't know our names and faces, he thought, so he killed Takimura instead. That also means he's getting his information from the police since they're the only ones who know of the kidnapping. That should make things interesting. He snapped the bar again, realizing that all eyes were on him.

"So what are we going to do, Mello?" Ross asked him.

"I'll tell you what we're gonna do. We're gonna kidnap Soichiro Yagami's daughter, Sayu Yagami." He said, green eyes gleaming at the prospect. He got off the couch and gestured at the boss.

"Get on the phone and get it done." He ordered and Ross moved immediately.

Within two hours Ross's phone rang and he looked very pleased. He looked to Mello.

"It's done. They have her." Mello smiled broadly and opened another bar and looked to Ed.

"Get them on the phone." He ordered and Ed flew to the Director's cell phone to comply. Within minutes the call was connected to the Deputy Director. When he answered Mello got right to the point.

"Look, the deal for the Director is cancelled. Takimura is dead."

"You bastard, what did you do?" he heard over the phone. That only made him smile.

"Only the deal with director is cancelled," he returned, "The new deal is this. The notebook for Sayu Yagami." He waited until all the noise died down on the other end of the line. "Since you are the Deputy Director of the Japanese Police it was stupid to tell you not to get the police involved. But you had better handle this on your own, without back up, if I see the police making any movements in the next little while, I'll kill your daughter. That's right, just as easily as we killed the Director. I'll send you a picture of Takimura's corpse to prove that we mean business. Take a good look, I'll contact you tomorrow." Then he hung up. He looked around at the Boss.

"Just make sure she gets here from Japan by tomorrow. We can't afford any screw ups on this." Ross nodded and got on the phone.

Near went over a few things in his mind as Rester let the Director Mason in at the door. He had sent FBI agent "John McEnroe" to see the Deputy Director of the Japanese Police Force to demand they hand over the notebook as they had done nothing on the case in years. Thru their wire and camera setup attached with McEnroe they heard that the director had been kidnapped, and that at first Deputy Director Yagami assumed the FBI had done it since they knew about the notebook. That meant that only the task force knew of the notebook then, not even their director knew. Near had then instructed him to tell Yagami that they would be happy to help them in their efforts to find the Director. Then they discovered that the Director had been killed. The obvious thought was that it was the kidnappers, but Gevanni voiced the same idea that had crossed Near's mind. What if it had been Kira?

"The police won't be trading in the notebook with the hostage dead so that protects Kira's interests, "he told them, "And if it is indeed Kira, we can narrow down our suspects significantly."

He had then shown Rester a picture of Mello and asked him if he had any success in finding him. It was a copy of the picture Linda had drawn so long ago. Rester had not found him yet; all he knew was that he had disappeared from the same institution Near was from. Near had nodded and said nothing else. Now he had to determine if Mello was indeed involved in this kidnapping. Somehow he felt he was.

Now Director Mason had arrived at their New York headquarters and he quickly brought him up to speed. As they were talking, the director's phone rang. He looked at the caller and was surprised.

"An unknown number? But the only person who can get thru is." he put the phone to his ear.

"This is L." he heard. He turned to Near, hand over the speaker.

"It's L..the current one."

He wouldn't allow it to show on his face, but Near's insides went completely cold. He had been throwing darts at a dartboard he had put up and he stopped mid throw. He quickly continued the throw, the dart slamming against the board and slipping to the floor. So here it was finally, the person who dared to step into his L's shoes was on the phone. He felt his anger flare and he quickly swallowed it down, he had to deal with him, he knew he would eventually and eventually was now. He stepped on the rising bile of hate in the back of his throat, and took a deep shaky breath. He held his hand out to the director.

"I'll speak," he said simply. Mason handed him the phone, Near then attaching a voice synthesizer to it and raised it to his ear.

"I'm pleased to meet you at last, L number 2." He said into the phone. He smiled at the sudden silence on the other end.

"Number 2? What do you mean by that? Who is this?" he heard in his ear. He sighed. What he really wanted to say to him would not be professional. Instead, he chose his words carefully.

"There really is no point in trying to hide it. We are a new group called the SPK, which has been established to capture Kira without the help of L. Furthermore, all the top members already know of L's death. As for myself, I am at the center of the SPK, you can address me as N." He then went on to tell "L" exactly what he wanted to, that he would help them with the kidnapping case as he suspected it would eventually lead them to Kira. After "L" told him that Sayu Yagami had been kidnapped now and that a new trade was to be made in LA, he offered his agents in LA to help and that he would watch via satellite as best as he could. He smirked into the phone.

"I'll let you have command authority on this….."L" " He nearly spat out the title into the phone and then hung up, He had effectively told this new L that he was full of crap and it was obvious that he need Near's help. It felt good, and it would feel really good when he finally took this imposter down. He heard Commander Rester walk over to him and asked him if he was sure it was a good idea to leave this fake L in charge, as he was obviously useless in bringing down Kira. Near assured him that he was merely using him for now, and that it was probably a good idea to get the notebook out of the hands of the bungling Japanese police anyway. He threw another dart which miserably fell to the floor again.

"Commander Rester I need for you to make a phone call for me."

Christine and Matt we having lunch. Well, she was having lunch; Matt was out in the all, talking happily on his phone. Mello had just called as they had sat down to lunch, and apparently he was very happy with the way things were working for him. He had even talked to her for a few moments to reaffirm that he was fine, fit and thoroughly on Kira's case. She had handed Matt's cell phone back to him, happy that she knew Mello was fine, but concerned for what she heard in his voice. Ofcourse Mello was older than the last time she spoke to him, but his voice..the basic sound to it was off. It was deeper ofcourse, but there was a harshness to it that made her feel uneasy. She was sure he had not had an easy time of making it on his own once he had left here, but she wondered exactly what it was he had endured to make him sound so different to her. She had watched Matt talk to him for a while until Matt had removed himself from the table to have private time with Mello. He didn't seem to detect any difference in his voice from what she could see, but then these Whammy boys could hide anything they wanted to from her, she had learned that a long time ago. She sighed and took a sip of her coffee and heard her own cell phone ring. She reached into her lab coat pocket and pulled it out and then nearly dropped it. The caller read "Unknown." She willed her heart to stop pounding in her chest; she hadn't seen that on her cell phone since L had called her that last time. She couldn't stop her hands from shaking though as she opened it and put it against her ear.

"Doctor Thompson." She managed to get out.

"I'm sorry, Doctor have I called at an inopportune time?" The voice soft and quiet, so much like L's almost brought her to tears, and she was so glad to hear it.

"Near! Oh no Near it's a fine time, I've having lunch. How are you?" she asked, trying not to sound as emotional as she felt.

"I am quite well, Doctor, events seem to be unfolding well for the moment. I don't believe I should tell you everything that is going on, for your own safety, but I can tell you that I have been in contact with the fake L." Christine felt her stomach lurch at the thought.

"He called us for help in a situation he simply can't handle on his own. He, as well as the rest of the Japanese Police Department, appear to be quite useless in this Kira case. I am certain we will be able to bring Kira down without them. "

"Just as long as you catch him and you destroy that fake L along the way, it doesn't matter how you do it." She nearly growled into the phone. She heard Near chuckle at the sound of her voice.

"I knew you would appreciate hearing that I'd spoken to him. Have you heard from our lost friend?" he asked.

"As a matter of fact he's on the phone with Matt at the moment. You haven't found where he is yet, have you?"

"No, but I am also certain we will cross paths soon. Because of certain events I am almost sure I have a leak leading directly to him so he has the same information I do. This will definitely be interesting."

"I know I don't have to tell you this, Near but please, be careful. Especially stay away from that task force; I firmly believe they allowed L to be killed. Don't go anywhere around them." Once again she heard Near's amusement.

"Do not worry, Doctor. I have to end this now, there is much to do. I can't tell you when I'll call again, but I will try at some point. I know this means as much to you as it does to me."

"Thank you, Near. I don't expect you to make a nightly report, just once in a while is fine. I just want to know the moment you have Kira strapped to an electric chair and your hands around this fake L's throat." She said that as Matt walked back into the room, his eyes widening at her statement.

"I will let you know when it is done. Good bye Doctor"

"Good-bye Near." She returned and closed her phone.

"Doctor Thompson I never knew you could be so violent! " Matt said laughing. Christine huffed at him.

"Near was contacted by that fake L. Matt nodded.

"I know, but he'll take care of him, you know he will. Did he tell you how and why he was contacted by this bullshit artist?" Christine smiled.

"Only that he needed some kind of help with something. Rightly so he's not saying much." Matt nodded.

"Although Whammy's phones are bug proof, I guess you can never be too careful."

"Yes, he mentioned he though he had a leak that was giving information to Mello, so obviously he's not going to say too much out loud." Matt raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"That would explain why Mello's so damned happy. I don't know how he did it, but that must be the case." Christine almost brought up her concerns about Mello but she decided not to. No reason to put more worry on Matt's shoulders than there already was. At least they were both safe and working towards the goal of getting Kira. That's all the really mattered in the end.

Mello walked down the stairs again to see their new captive that had freshly arrived from Japan. He had just closed his cell phone after talking to Matt, and now he was completely satisfied. Matt still loved him, was waiting for him to send for him still and hopefully he'd be able to do that relatively soon; he really needed to be with him. Matt was his anchor to his old self, the one he kept hidden deep within, and he knew he needed Matt to keep that part of him alive with all the things he had to do to reach his goal. He would call Yagami shortly and set up the time for the trade; there were a lot of things he still had to plan to make sure it worked. He was sure Near was on his tail by now too, so he had to make sure he didn't get in the way. He smiled at the young girl tied up in the room he'd had prepared for her; he even put a TV in there, all the comforts of home for his guest. He reached for yet another chocolate bar, one of those notebooks would be in his hands soon.