Chapter Six:
"Assault On Wammy House"
When they returned to Winchester, England again through a Shinigami portal, and arrived just off the cemetery grounds that connected to Wammy House and its chapel, Demetre instantly developed an ominous chill, but it wasn't the dampness in the air, it was something else.
The portal shut behind them, but Demmy stood on the spot where he had stepped out with Geist next to him. He looked around, trying to gauge the weird feeling. His eyes darted around like a small animal watching out for larger predators.
"What's the matter, Demmy?"
Demetre didn't answer him. He couldn't explain it, but he felt something like was being watched. But not in the conventional sense, it was inside his mind. He tried to shut it out, then it was gone as it feared being discovered.
"Nothing," he then answered. "Let's get going to Wammy House. I believe it's over in that direction through the thicket of trees. I'll get my phone from Matt, maybe stay for a while and visit, and then go; no more than an hour or so. Then you and Angel can do whatever you had planned. Care to tell me what she meant?"
"No," Geist said simply. "It's a thought. What if Light Yagami and the Kira Task Force are still here? It's only been a couple of hours since we we left?"
"Good thinking, we'll proceed carefully. Not that I'm hiding from Light. I'm just not in the mood to get in a confrontation with him right now."
They moved cautiously, and as Demetre did, ever vigilant, he noticed something strange. There was no one about and it was eerie silence that filled the air. Normally at an orphanage, there would be kids playing, running around, despite it being a day of mourning.
When he was younger, he went to his uncle's funeral in America and got his good clothes dirty after playing with other kids. His uncle was very high up in the book publishing trade and he had five children. Some of his cousins also came to the funeral, and there was a bit of rough-housing and excitement. At one point, kids got out of control two trying to forget about where they were.
His mother and father scolded him for getting his good clothes dirty, but his grandfather then spoke them and told them kids will be kids. Demetre was very close to his grandfather and when Light killed him using the Death Note, he had been devastated.
They reached the orphanage, which was both a school and a dormitory for the children, and Demetre pulled the handle to the first door he saw, but it was locked. He looked inside the glass of the door and was shocked to see that a chain was wrapped around the inside handles. He went around the entire building and saw that every door was the same.
That ominous feeling of being watched immediately returned to him. "Geist, can you do a little reconnaissance? Check out the premises and see where everyone is. Something's up here."
He didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but it was not normal to lock a school from the inside especially with chains unless you wanted to keep someone in. He took off his light black jacket and revealed a shoulder holster with two guns. He also had a belt with an arsenal of other items. He had dressed suitable for the trip, casual, and in all black.
"Sure," Geist said. "Be right back."
Geist stepped through the wall.
After the Shinigami did, Demetre reached behind his back for a small pouch attached to his belt and took out Geist's Portable Orb, it looked like a mini-bowling ball. He put his hand on the top and thought about who he wanted to speak to, and called home.
Seconds later, Angel's face appeared using he own Orb. All Shinigami carried one, it was their method of looking at current events instantaneously. The Shinigami's face was rounded and flat across the surface of the orb and slightly hazy.
"Angel, is Adam there?"
"Yes, is something wrong?"
Adam's face suddenly appeared next to Angel's, obviously he had been with Angel at that moment. Demetre had to extended his arm out so he can see the both of them together. "Demmy, what's up?"
"Not sure," Demetre said. "Geist just entered the main facility of the orphanage. I can't get in, but it's not because of the locks. Someone has wrapped chains acround the inside handles."
"That seems suspicious," Adam said. "Do you want any help?"
"I need you to use your awesome skills with computers and see if there is any police chatter about the situation. I don't see any law enforcement."
"Are the kids in danger? Should I try to alert someone?"
"Stand by on that, I'll let you know when I get more information. But something is happening here and I don't want to spook anyone into targeting the kids."
"Right," Adam said. "I'll search all broadband radio signals in the Winchester, England area over the internet."
Demetre thanked him, then ended the conversation and put the orb back in the pouch and attached it to his belt.
Just then, the door of the orphanage nearest to him opened. Geist had broken the chain. "We have a problem, Demmy," the Shinigami said.
He explained that the orphans were being held by four gunmen in two separate locations. One adult, a teacher, had already been shot dead, his body stored in a closet and a trail of blood was on the floor leading to the body and the Sister to the orphanage had been struck and was unconscious in one of the empty classrooms. The kids were safe. The bulk of the kids were in a larger classroom with two gunmen guarding them, another classroom had less kids and only one gunman. The last, the leader, was in the Main Facilitator's Office.
Demetre was impressed. Geist was better than the best surveillance equipment or infrared radar.
Demetre crossed his arms across his chest and pulled out his guns, twin Beretta 90Two .40 models. He had purchased them illegally, and he didn't have an official gun license, but in has current situation battling the League of Darkness and his entanglements with Zurn Wellington personal protection was essential. And Geist could not kill for him or the Shinigami would die. And yet, the guns were merely for a deterrent. Like the Death Note, he wanted options to avoid a dire alternative. He would shoot to wound. Killing was a last resort.
Entering the orphanage, he followed Geist. He saw the blood trail on the floor, but it was not necessary to check on the dead teacher, and moved on.
He peeked through rectangular view windows on doors as he moved through the hallways, unlabeled rooms and classrooms. The school was forefront, while the dormitories were in the rear of the property. The orphanage was a place of learning for special and gifted kids.
He looked in one classroom and saw a large group of kids with two gunmen, this was one place that Geist mentioned. He made note of the classroom, but he left them for the moment. There was no point in storming the room creating a relativity safe situation into an unstable one. Whatever the gunmen wanted, they had already made their point in killing someone, so they wouldn't hesitate in harming the children.
Moving along, he looked in the other classroom with the kids a little down the same hallway, this time with the smaller capacity, and a faculty teacher was inside with them with one gunman holding them hostage.
Now that he had confirmed the location of three out of the four gunmen, the only one left was in the Main Facilitator's Office, their leader.
The children were relatively safe and there was no point in destabilizing those situations, so he proceeded to the Main Facilitator's Office, where he heard voices. The leader was talking, but his voice was muffled as if wearing a mask. He heard money being demanded, speaking on a phone. He didn't know whose son the gunmen's leader demanded a ransom for? Everyone who lived at Wammy House had no parents.
Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from down the hall. It sounded like the squeaking of sneakers on a hard floor. Someone was down the next hallway and had seen him, then most likely ducked behind a corner about ten meters from the office. He ventured closer to the corner, guns raised. If he had too, he would try an alternative approach without shooting first.
Was it another gunman Geist had not seen? Even Shinigami could be fooled. They were gods of death, not the Almighty God.
"Geist," Demetre whispered, pointing in the direction. "Go see who it is," he said.
But before Geist moved, the mysterious someone peaked out from the corner. It was a boy, and Demetre gasped in surprise at who it was.
"Demetre?" Matt said. He ran to Demmy and wrapped his arms around him like a big brother. "You got my message, I knew you'd come! Thank god! Men just stormed the orphanage and took everyone hostage, they even killed a teacher."
"I know," Demetre said. "You cracked my phone and sent that hand-pinky emoji to my friend's phone for me knowing it would get to me, that was clever. You knew I'd understand it." He holstered his left gun in the right holster and extended his left hand with the pinky out, Matt saw it and they shook a Pinky Friendship Shake. "Where did you find my phone?"
Matt back off a little. "Near L's grave. I went back a third time, hoping you were still there. Remember when I said you can call on me anytime, I realized I never gave you any contact information. That's when I found your phone. Your password wasn't hard to figure out, sorry I did that. It wasn't long after that the gunmen stormed the orphanage. I wasn't with the other kids, that's why I'm here, and I have kept out of sight."
"Good strategy, Matt," Demetre praised, ruffling his hair. "Now, can you tell me more detail of what is going on? I managed to get a general idea. Who is it that the gunmen are demanding a twenty-million dollar ransom for?"
Matt nodded. Then he proceeded to tell Demetre everything that he had witnessed thus far...
They stormed the orphanage without remorse. They were armed and forceful.
One teacher became mortally wounded when he was shot in the stomach, his body taken and stored in a closet, and the Head Sister was back handed slapped hard across the face and laid unconscious by one of the four gunmen—their leader. Her body was dragged away.
The gunmen easily took Wammy House hostage, and with their quickness, no communication to the police was sent out. And yet, the gunmen had conducted preliminary tactics to prevent such a thing and cut the main phone lines and blocked internet. There was no way to contact the outside world.
The children were all herded into two classrooms in separate groups. The orphanage was not only the residence to gifted children, but it was also their school. The residential dorms were attached to the school. A church stood outside near a cemetery.
One child began to cry and a teacher tried to calm him down. One orphan even got a bit mouthy, a blond haired boy about fifteen year old. He tried to act tough as if he wasn't afraid of the assailants. But he was quickly silenced by the same teacher. The gunman told the teacher she was very wiser to keep order.
The main facilitator of the orphanage, Roger Ruvie, was held in his office by the leader of the gunmen. The leader wore a ski-mask to hide his face, and was a big, bulky individual.
Roger, a thin, balding man with small round glasses, looked up the barrel of the leader's weapon that was pointed at him and was informed the orphanage was now under their control. It was then explained to Roger that they were here to locate a kid, fourteen and small, who often came to the orphanage to play with the others.
The boy's parents were large contributors to the orphanage.
Just then, the kid in question was brought into the office by one of the leader's men.
The ransom was going to be hefty.
To be continued...