The taxi carrying Misa Amane whizzed north, up the motorway from the airport towards Moscow. An unmarked car carrying two members of the Politsiya, the Russian police, was following closely behind. Rose listened to their updates, expecting the taxi to plunge towards the heart of Moscow, but to her surprise the taxi took the ring-road, circling the capital on the eastern side. She looked at the screen, where the pulsating blob that indicated the tracked police car inched slowly across the digital map, slower than a snail.

What are we going to do when we catch him? Rose pondered. The question had been niggling at her. For as much as she resented him, she had no desire to see Mello incarcerated for the rest of his life, or worse. He's not evil, he's just angry. He's too clever for his own maturity. He wants respect, and control over his own destiny, who doesn't? But we can't let these murders go unpunished. What are we supposed to do?

No answers were appearing, so she took herself into a far corner of the room and started to train. She hadn't tried to do so since before her disability, and she was shocked to feel how weak her lower body had become, and how hard it was to balance and move accurately in the mechanical boots. But Rose persevered, and slowly, after almost an hour, a little of her former grace began to return to the once-familiar movements.

"They've turned off down a track into Elk Island National Park," Matt called over to her.

She stopped her training and returned to the two young men at the screen. "How long will it take to drive there?"

"Just over an hour."

"Then we should probably get going."

"I'll get the car," Matt said, standing up to leave.

"No," L ordered gently. "You stay here."

Matt trembled slightly, and his jaw jutted in defiance. "No. I want to come. I want to see him myself, I want to-"

"I know," L replied. "And that's one of the reasons you must stay – we can't risk your emotions causing you to do something unwise. The other reason is, of course, that it is a mistake to put all one's eggs in one basket, so to speak. And since I am choosing to go, someone else must remain behind."

Matt teetered with indecision for a moment, twisting his lips, but eventually nodded. "Fine."

Darting quickly around the room, Rose gathered various useful instruments in her bag – the lock-picker with its various extensions, a small knife, miniature binoculars, a few pieces of software on a memory stick that could hack computer functions in several different ways, and two pairs of handcuffs. Once ready, she and L headed towards the door. As they did Matt tapped on Rose's back, and handed her a black, gleaming, heavy metal object. She looked down and saw that it was a gun.

"Matt! I had no idea you had this."

"Well, I do. Take it, and use it if you must. I'm damned if I'm gonna let you two die because you couldn't defend yourselves against whoever might try to kill you."

"Thank you," Rose said, and she meant it.

Soon she and L were in the hire car, and moving out of the centre of Moscow.

"Do we have police back-up?" Rose enquired.

"Except for the two under-covers already there, no," L said hesitantly.

This was unusual for such an operation, but Rose thought she could guess why. "Because of who he is, right?"

"That is correct. I've asked certain... people I know to create Mello a fake identity, but they have only just finished it, and the pertinent documents such as his passport have not had time to arrive in Russia yet. If the Politsiya apprehend him before we do, and discover who he is and where he comes from, Wammy's House will be torn apart, and perhaps all our identities will be revealed. No. I cannot risk that."

"I understand. Better to keep it a family affair for now."

There was a silence as L negotiated a busy roundabout, and Rose could see the narrowing of his eyes as he thought about something.

"I'd keep it entirely as a 'family affair' if I could," he explained after a while. "I want him to be punished, but I don't want him to go down in history as an assassin. It's a small part of Mello's life and his character. No, I'd deal with it all myself if possible, like I dealt with you."

"I'm so glad," Rose admitted. "That's exactly how I feel, but I thought you might wish that fate upon him."

L shook his head. "No. But the fact remains that if we don't present the culprit very soon to the US, UK and Russia – with a perfect bank of evidence to prove that he did it – then they will choose their own target and crush it, as I said before. Normally I wouldn't rush into action like this, I'd make a much more careful plan, but we don't have the time to waste. And it contravenes all my principles to invent false evidence. So, we have no choice but to hand him over, as soon as the fake identity is in place. I only hope that he retains the decency to stick to the false identity, and not reveal us all. I believe he wouldn't – it strikes me that in such a situation his anti-authority trait would probably cause him to side with Wammy's House over those three governments."

"I hope so."

City turned into woodland, grassland, wetland. Hints of spring were beginning to show – a flush of yellow-green here and there, or a flowering tree. There were signs of a few families enjoying the outdoors, and Rose remembered that it was the weekend. As they moved further out from the city however, the number of people dwindled.

Matt called. "You're about to come up to the track, it's on the right hand side. It goes into the wild for about 10 miles, and it's basically at the end that the Politsiya car is. I've been on the line to them, and they said that Misa's taxi left about half an hour ago with no Misa inside. They're pretty sure no one saw them, they parked behind a thicket of trees just off the track. What should I tell them to do?"

"They still believe this is a drugs bust, am I right?"

"Yes."

"Then tell them to wait there for us. We will probably need their help getting in."

"Sure."

But after a few moments still on the line, Matt made a troubled noise. "There's no reply, the line's gone dead."

"Okay. Thanks Matt." L hung up and put the phone back on his lap, returning his right hand to the wheel. "Looks like we're on our own."

It then occurred to Rose what a dangerous thing they were doing. They were going to an unknown place, with little protection, where who knows what unknown dangers could be waiting for them. The whiteness of L's knuckles as he gripped the steering wheel suggested a similar thought had occurred to him.

"L..." Rose ventured after a little deliberation. "Is it worth protecting Wammy's House from being exposed, if in the process we both die and Mello is not apprehended?"

His face, in profile as he watched the road, was mostly hidden by the sweep of his tangled black hair, but Rose saw his shoulders rise and fall with tension he was attempting to control.

"For me, it is worth it. Better to preserve the institution than one of its products, for more products can be made if one still has the set-up with which to do it. Destroy the institution, and the future is lost. I have made my choice, but I cannot make yours for you. If you've had second thoughts and wish to go no further, I will drop you somewhere and continue."

Rose looked at him, but there was just a curtain of hair. "Don't be stupid, of course I'm coming. I just wanted to check that you realised what we were doing."

"Of course I realise," he said, in a half-echo of her words. "Besides – do we really have that much to worry about? We have the element of surprise, good martial skills, and a generous portion of brain-power. That should see us through most difficulties."

And the car grumbled onwards up the track. Presently, Matt called again.

"I've been searching the area on various maps – there's no sign of any buildings, so I'm guessing we must be dealing with something underground. Just a heads up."

"We'll bear that in mind."

"Also, you're a mile from the Politsiya vehicle now, and considering they ain't responding, I wouldn't drive much fuckin' closer to be honest."

"Okay. Thank you."

L pulled over, and they began to walk down the track. It was gravelled, but thin dry grass was peppered throughout it, and this softened their footfalls. All along the sides of the track were narrow grassy banks and ditches, and behind them nothing but trees, as far as they could tell. In low murmurs they discussed plans – what they would do if they came across people that weren't Mello, what they would do if people tried to fight them, what they would do if Mello was alone...

Twenty minutes later they reached the unmarked police car. It sat there, undamaged, locked, with no one inside. It was as if the policemen had just gone for a walk.

The trees were beginning to rise a little on either side of them – they were entering a low valley. The national park was mostly flat marshy grassland, so this was a little unusual. The earth was noticeably drier here. And it was quiet. Very quiet. Neither was speaking now, and so Rose jumped when L whispered to her.

"We must be close now. Let's approach through the trees."

They crossed the drainage ditch and bank, and moved forward amongst the aspens, birches and pines. Damn the fact it's still early spring, Rose thought. If the aspens and birches were in leaf we'd have much better cover. After a further five minutes they rounded a slight bend, and found they'd reached the end of the small valley, and the end of the track. The track led right up to a huge, cragged outcrop of rock, and simply stopped. A few birches clung grimly onto life, wedging their roots in the bigger cracks in the stone.

Rose motioned to a good spot behind two pine trees. They had agreed to stop and simply watch the area for a little while, and so each sat beneath a pine, peering under its branches towards the track.

"Clear signs of well-used ground, snaking round the right of the outcrop," L muttered, "what looks like badly covered up tire tracks. And seemingly no paths or roads into the trees behind."

Rose visually scanned, and nodded in agreement. Then she was struck with a memory of the last time she and L had been looking at clues in a forest – when she'd taken 'Ryuzaki' to the Mendips to find out if he was L, and the attentive way he'd tracked the deer. I've changed so much since then. We both have.

Almost forty minutes passed in quiet focus, whilst nothing happened. But then, dimly at first, they heard a clank, a grumble, then a screech, and round from the right-hand edge of the crag came a silver car, seemingly from nowhere. It wasted no time, and sped off down the track towards civilisation.

After a while longer it was apparent that no other vehicle was to follow, and Rose and L in silent agreement got up, and began to move through the woods round the back of the jagged stone behemoth to get a better look at the entrance to whatever was below ground. Hidden from the track, a large rusty double-door was embedded in the rock. It looked too old to be usable, and had Rose not witnessed a car appear from it with her own eyes she'd have assumed it to be defunct.

L had taken the binoculars out of her bag, and was studying the rock face carefully. "There doesn't seem to be any cameras, but I can't say for sure. They could be VERY well hidden."

Rose looked at the door in despair. Modern doors I can do – things protected by computer are well within my capabilities. But THIS ancient monstrosity? I'd need at the very least an angle grinder, or perhaps a diamond edged circular saw, maybe even some dynamite. Hardly stealthy options, and currently impossible anyway. But there's got to be SOME kind of weakness or flaw to it that I can exploit, if I can just work it out. "I'm going to investigate closer," she informed L.

"Okay. Be on guard."

Rose edged through the trees, and with a searching glance and a careful listen all around her, approached the door. Except for the thickly bolted frame the door was simply two large slabs of iron with not even a lock. Could that be right? She examined it more carefully, but there was no opening mechanism at all. Interesting. So it can only be opened from the inside; that must mean there's another entrance somewhere.

Satisfied that she'd learnt all she could from the door, Rose turned to rejoin L. She reached the trees with no problems, and caught L's eye with relief. And then, within the space of a second, she heard a heavy 'clack', and felt something sharp pierce her neck. She cried out in alarm, and pulled the item out of her skin, just as she heard another 'clack', and saw an identical object bury itself in L's neck. Pulling the thing out of her flesh hurriedly, Rose had just enough time to see that it was a stun dart before collapsing onto the leaf-litter, out for the count.

Thanks for reading! Sorry to leave it on a cliffhanger for a few days, but probs won't be able to write until early next week now. Have a good weekend =]