Author's Note: Phew! We got an A on the test. Good work, guys. We did it. :)
Chapter 35
October 12, 2009
I didn't think it would bother me as much as it did….
Even knowing you're gone, I can't stand to hear anyone else pretending to be you.
Eva smiled down at Elliot and Near, watching them build towers out of matches (one much neater than the other).
"Near." Anthony Rester, the Special Provision for Kira's operations manager called out form his desk. "We've just received word that the director of the Japanese police agency has been killed." Eva's smile fell, the dreadful news reminding her of her surroundings: a brand new headquarters dedicated to catching Kira, equipped with bedrooms, research facilities, and even a library so they would rarely have to leave. The dark grey chrome interior depressed her, as did the constant news of death and dismay.
"I see." Near replied, carefully stacking more matches. "By whom?"
"The kidnappers, of course. Who else?" Rester seemed confused by the question. His light blue eyes squinted at the young detective.
"It'd be interesting if it turned out to be Kira" Stephen Gevanni, another SPK member chimed in.
"That's a very good point." Near commended. "The police won't be trading their notebook if the hostage is dead, so it protects Kira's interests. And if it is in fact Kira…." Near glanced at Eva for a brief moment. "Well, that can narrow down our list of suspects significantly." Eva ignored the questioning looks she received from the other SPK members. She was not interested in Near's assumptions and speculations. She had never been interested in L's either. A strange sort of anger washed over her. She was mad…but she wasn't sure at whom. "By the way, Commander Rester, have you been able to determine his whereabouts yet?" Near pulled out a photograph of a teenager and held it up. The teenager had chin length blonde hair, ice blue eyes, and a small smirk on his pale face.
"Who is he?" Eva asked, examining the picture.
"Not yet. We were able to confirm that he left the institution four years ago, but nothing beyond that." Rester replied.
"Very well. That clinches it." Near said, handing the photo to Eva for closer examination.
"Another child at Wammy's House?" Eva put together the small bits of the conversation.
"You can call him Mello." Near held his hand out for the photo. Eva gently placed it in his hand. "We were in competition for L's title."
"So, I guess you won?" Eva concluded. Near let out an amused puff through his nose.
"I wish I could claim that. He left, surrendering the title to me."
"Near! What's going on?" a third voice interrupted them. Eva turned to find Steve rushing into the room. "The kidnappers killed Takimura?"
"Kira did." Eva corrected. "Or, at least, it's a possibility."
"If it turns out to be true, it means Kira must be getting his information from the Japanese police." Near added, switching from his match towers to his darts. He picked one up as he played with a lock of his hair, aiming it carefully, and throwing it abysmally, barely even grazing the edge of the board. As if on cue, Steve's cellphone rang.
"Yes?" Steve spoke into the device, stopping to look at the caller ID when the other side answered. Eva tilted her head in confusion at his reaction. She had never seen him so surprised before. He covered the mic and held the phone away from his face. "I don't believe it…it's L." He switched the phone to speaker and Eva winced at the quality of 'L's' voice scrambling. No one could hold a candle to L.
"I've already heard what investigator John McEnroe, or rather Larry Conners, had to say to Deputy Director Yagami in regard to the notebook and the Kira case. Will you help us with the investigation into NPA Director Takimura's murder?" the voice asked. Light…that has to be Light.
"I see…well—" Steve began.
"Pass me the phone." Near interrupted. Steve nodded, handing Near his cellphone and watching him plug it into a complicated looking device. A switch was turned, presumably to mask Near's voice, and he began to speak. "I'm pleased to meet you at last, L number two."
"Number two? What do you mean by that?" the voice asked. "Who is this?"
"There's really no point in trying to hide it." Near leaned back into his chair, letting one leg fall from the seat and straighten out. "We are a new organization known as the SPK, or Special Provision for Kira. It was established to find and capture Kira without the help of L. Furthermore, eight of our top members already know of L's death. As for myself, I am at the center of the SPK. You can address me…" Near stopped to think for a moment, a soft smirk appearing along his lips. "as N." The silence was deafening, only adding to Near's amusement. "I told you we wouldn't be relying on L, but that's a bit of an understatement. The FBI and the CIA have explicitly asked that I head up their investigation, not you. Having said that, we are outraged by the recent murder of the director of the NPA and feel something must be done. After reviewing the information, I believe there's a possibility that solving this case could lead to the arrest of Kira. As such, I'm willing to lend you my full support." Another long silence. "Is there a problem…L?" Disdain dripped from Near's tongue.
"N-no, it's just that following the death of Takimura, Deputy Director Yagami's daughter was kidnapped and we believe the same person is behind it. He's arranged for a trade in Los Angeles." the voice continued shakily.
"A trade?" Near probed. "The girl in exchange for the notebook, I assume?"
"Yes." It was a begrudging admission.
"Understood. I'll have a team on standby in LA, but for now, they'll be working on a need to know basis. Also, I can monitor the city via satellite." Near paused again. "Or…on second thought, I'll let you have full authority on this, L." He ended the connection and handed the phone back to Rester to disassemble.
"Near, is it really safe to leave this case in the hands of a fake L? He hasn't had any success in catching Kira so far." Rester bemoaned.
"I'm aware of that. That's why it's a good idea. It means there'll be an opportunity to take advantage of him." Near answered, picking up another dart.
"I know Sayu…Deputy Director Yagami's daughter. She's such a kind, trusting girl." Eva said. "What if something happens to her because we didn't act?"
"Of course, saving people's lives is important." Near agreed. "But, as the SPK, our primary goal is very clear: we'll work to get the notebook and capture Kira once and for all." And there it was: the part of L Eva had hated when he was alive, fully manifested in Near.
"I understand." Eva replied obediently. It had been a hard lesson to learn with L: to view the case like a game or a puzzle. These were all just pieces, including herself. She stood from her chair and sat down on the ground next to El, watching him try to build a match tower as perfectly as Near had. She kissed El's head, taking in the smell of his hair and smiled. It was hardly a lesson learned, more so just a reality that she had to cope with. But El was her coping mechanism now. As long as she had him, as long as he was safe and happy, that was all that mattered to her.
Hours passed and Steve's cellphone rang again.
"Right." Steve said, putting the phone on speaker and holding it up to Near who worked diligently on his cityscape made entirely of dice.
"N, I'm sure your aware of our current situation." Eva's heart skipped a beat at hearing Light's voice. Had it really been four years? Images of their childhood came flooding back to her: their late-night conversations, their rainy-day study sessions, their lives had been so intertwined. "I need you to do me a favor. Can you notify the airline's police and military on your end not to take any action yet?"
"What's he thinking? I never realized he was this unreliable." Rester mumbled, running a hand through his light blonde hair.
"Alright L, agreed." Near answered sweetly, adjusting a die until it was perfectly aligned. "We'll locate the landing site and keep surveillance over the area using our satellite video feed. If there's anything else we can do, don't hesitate to let us know." The phone call ended abruptly, this time on Light's end. "Was that him?"
"Yes." Eva confirmed, still shaken by his voice. Light…isn't Kira. The satellite video feed of the place came on the screen and Eva watched Soichiro Yagami walk out into the middle of the desert. Near shared the feed with Light. It upset her every time he called him L. "Are they going to meet him out there?" Eva asked, carefully examining the desolate surroundings of Soichiro. The ground near him began to move, exposing the door to an underground bunker.
"They're underground?!" Rester exclaimed.
"Well, well, isn't that interesting?" Near said with an amused smile.
"…it's almost like they knew we would be monitoring them via satellite." Eva posed. "Near…earlier you said 'that clinches it' when Rester was talking about not knowing Mello's whereabouts—" Eva stopped her train of thought. But how would Mello know about the notebook? That information wasn't found anywhere other than with the investigators of the Kira case….
"What are you asking, Eva?" Rester pried.
"Nevermind…." Eva whispered, keeping her eyes on the satellite feed, looking for any clue.
"Very good, Eva." Near praised her assessment and turned his attention to a computer, pressing a few buttons to connect a call with Light. "L, do you have a plan?" he asked mockingly when the other side answered. "You can't seriously think that handing the notebook over to someone you don't know is a good idea, can you?" Near scoffed when Light hung up the phone. "I must really be getting under his nerves."
It seemed like a century before things began to move on the feed again. Soichiro Yagami walked out of the bunker, holding a traumatized, but mostly fine, Sayu Yagami.
"Theyre okay." Eva sighed with relief. Another man left the bunker, wearing a white suit and a black mask.
"The suspect is headed for a helicopter." Steve pointed out. "Based on our intel, that's his only method of transportation."
"So, this means that we can be absolutely certain that the notebook has been exchanged." Near called Light again.
"Be careful, we still don't know what they're planning to do beyond this point. N, I need you to maintain surveillance of that helicopter until it lands. Don't lose sight of it, no matter what." Light instructed.
"You seem to think that's quite an easy task." Near replied with some annoyance in his voice. "Nevertheless, we'll do what we can."
"It doesn't make sense." Eva said.
"Hm?" Rester asked, leaning over to hear her better.
"Why take the precautions of a bunker to make the trade, but transport the notebook via helicopter? They were clearly worried about surveillance, but any idiot can piece together what happened if Soichiro is leaving with his daughter and the man is leaving with a briefcase. Why get sloppy now?" Eva pointed out. Near perked up at the question.
"I'm sorry." he told Light over the phone. "I'm afraid we've been tricked." Eva noticed a separate image on the screens out of the corner of her eye: another hidden bunker. It opened much further than the entrance Soichiro had used.
"A missile…." Eva let out a laugh in her disbelief as the enormous launchpad emerged from the ground.
"We won't be able to track that." Near stated.
"Near! The helicopter!" Gevanni pointed out the explosion on screen: metal chunks and debris fell to the desert floor, embedding themselves in the sand.
"I thought so." Near sighed.
"Damn! I can't track it. We've lost the signal. It could be anywhere by now!" Gevanni pulled his headset off, taking a moment to grip his black hair with both hands in frustration.
"How long do you think it'll take them to retrieve it?" Eva asked.
"It depends…." Gevanni shrugged. "At most? Maybe an hour or two. There's nothing we can do in the interim." Eva nodded and made her way over to Near, who had built his dice city up significantly with the help of El. She watched them work for a while, and when the towers got too high for El to reach, she decided to interrupt.
"Let's go to bed." She held out her hand for El and he looked up at her with doleful eyes and a small pout. "It's not going to work." It was a lie. He was so adorable. It always worked. She was entirely at his mercy.
"Fine." El mumbled, climbing down from his chair and bumping Near's arm in the process. The slight movement caused tower after tower of die to come crashing down on the ground. It was so loud that Eva barely heard Steve's cry in the mixture.
"Steve!" Eva ran over to him, helping him down into a sitting position as he clutched his chest. His sharp, short breaths eventually stopped. "S-Steve?" Eva barely had time to process the shock before another member began to show the same symptoms, and then another. Kira….
"Mom?" Eva followed El's eyes to a member of the SPK who slowly brought a gun to his head. She rushed to cover his eyes, barely able to pull him way from the scene before the gunshot echoed through the building and blood splattered against the wall. The horrifying scenes continued for a full three minutes until the screaming, gasping, and moaning finally came to an end, and all that remained were dead bodies. Eva looked around at the surviving members: Near, Stephen Gevanni, Anthony Rester, and Halle Lidner. Near turned to the phone without a word, calling Light again.
"L." Near called out.
"Yes?" Light responded.
"He got us." Near picked up a fallen die and began to fiddle with it.
"Got you?" Light asked.
"Yes, the majority of the SPK's members have just been killed by the notebook. L, you were the one who handed over the notebook without a fight. You and your people were totally helpless." The anger was clear to see on Near's face.
"N, are you saying if you were in command, you wouldn't have handed it over?" Light argued.
"No, considering their preparations, it would have been impossible to avoid this." Near admitted. He began twirling a lock of hair around his finger. "There's really no point in us quarreling. I propose we work together and share the information we know so far. For starters, I should admit that I have a very good idea of who the culprit behind this might be. I suspect the person who arranged the kidnapping and the trade is someone who goes by the name Mello."
"Mello? Who's he?" Light asked.
"I don't have his photograph and I don't know his real name." Near lied. "All I know about him is that four years ago, he was living at an orphanage located in Winchester, England, known as Wammy's House. I believe Mello is playing a game with me. He wants to know which of us will be the first to take down Kira—the final challenge."
"I understand. Thank you, N." Light ended the call and Eva gave Near a quizzical look. Why did he tell him so much? She shook her head. She couldn't worry about that now. Eva picked up El, careful to keep his face covered as she stepped over the dead bodies. Is this the life you would have wanted for your child, L?
