LII – The Thirteenth
The night seemed nothing but the usual, yet it could never be just another night of games and research. It was already past midnight, which meant it was officially February 13th, even if the sun wasn't going to rise anytime soon. An emergency alarm interrupted the teenager's game as a pop-up message flashed on the middle of the screen. One of the key targets was in danger.
Upstairs, the two had fallen asleep together only because she insisted on feeling a human body laid on top of her own. There was a sense of safety that helped ease her constant anxiety. Namikawa didn't agree at first, but he was too tired to fight with her on the subject.
However, Caterina was only slumbering. A hurricane of thoughts were keeping her alert, so much that a twig knocking on the window could jerk her awake and make her reach out for the gun on the nightstand. Her lover insisted that it was unnecessary, but caution was never a waste of resources.
As soon as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs, Caterina pushed her lover off and loaded the gun, muffling and hiding it between the covers. She was relieved to see Rin standing in the doorway, but kept holding the gun with one hand and the covers over her chest with the other.
"Glad someone's awake. An alarm just got triggered on an alley, 'bout five streets from here."
Caterina nodded. "Is the target moving? Or are they dead?" It could have been several people – the lawyer, the driver, The King, his adopted son, or Misa.
"Stood relatively still for a bit, now it's moving." Rin kept her eyes on the screen of the laptop that she was carrying.
The Italian put on a bra and a sweater, pulled up a pair of jeans and rushed downstairs. "If it's Misa, I need to reach her before she reaches the police. I'll be back in minutes. If not, contact the King."
A little while back, right after Mido's visit, Namikawa thought it would be a good idea to give everyone a way to signal if they were in trouble. As useless as it was in case of Kira trying to eliminate someone, the idea could be a life-saver in most other situations, when the enemy was an ordinary human being.
The King had also received the alarm. Without any hesitation, he woke up Yao, got him into a car so they could stay together, and drove towards Namikawa's house. Ten minutes later and halfway across Tokyo, the man saw a familiar blonde with twin pigtails fighting off a man in an alleyway. She nearly jumped in front of his car.
The Asian loaded his gun and got out of the car.
"Step away from the lady and keep your hands where I can see them. No funny business, or I blow your jewels off and your brain goes next!"
The offender, taken by surprise, took half a step back. Immediately, Misa ran behind her savior. "Thank you, sir! Misa is so grateful!"
"Hey, I just wanted an autograph-!" the stranger tried to defend himself. He smirked, ignoring the gun pointed at him.
"You did not! Pervert!" Misa yelled when she heard him blabbering a fake motive.
The King shot Misa a short glance, enough for the stranger to take out a knife from his pocket and charge towards the King. He nearly got Misa in the process, but his focus was now fixed on the intruder. Then, all of a sudden, the attacker fell to his knees and clenched his chest. His face turned a shade darker as he cringed in pain, struggling to breathe. In just a few seconds, he fell to his side and relaxed completely.
Thinking this would be a traumatizing experience for her, the King bent down and closed the attacker's eyes. He checked the man's vitals just to make sure, but it was obvious that he had died. The King then looked up at Misa and shook his head.
"Is he really dead?" was all she could ask. "That was a heart attack! Kira is watching over us," she mumbled on a sweet voice as she brought her hands together and thanked the clouds in the sky.
"No, that was a heart attack caused by high levels of stress hormones and possibly an intake of dubious substances that accelerate the cardiac rhythm," Yao corrected her from the window of his protector's car. "It's rather common, you see-!"
"No way!" Misa interrupted him. "It was Kira – I'm sure of it! He avenged my parents last week and he saved my life now because he knows I've done nothing bad, so he loves me and has my back!"
The Chinese boy remained startled by her ignorance. "Allow me to refuse discussing the subject any further…" He leaned to the side so he could see the King. "Was this the emergency?"
"Ha! So you admit I'm right!" Misa declared her victory. "That reminds me, who are you?"
The man found the situation amusing. "Yeah, this was the emergency. I'm a friend of Caterina. You're the model from Yotsuba Homes, right? Come on, I'll drive you home."
Then, Misa remembered the note she had to deliver. "No, thanks. Misa has to give something to Katy."
"I doubt she approves of the nickname," Yao mentioned just to watch the girl's reaction. She didn't look older than sixteen, so the boy was going to treat her as such.
Misa walked around the car to sit on the passenger's seat. "But it's adorable, don't you think?"
Yao shrugged with a small smile, which Misa interpreted as an agreement. He yawned and leaned against the door so he could stare outside the window. He was going to sketch anything that caught his eye during the boring time when he will have to wait for the King to walk out of a meeting or come home from somewhere. The boy wasn't particularly good in art, but it was enough to give him something to do. He knew this, even if the King constantly tried to encourage him to take a few art classes.
The man got into the car and turned on the engine. Misa was looking through his things and happened to find a gun. "Is this real?"
The King panicked and turned to look at her. He stopped on the side of the street and took the gun from her. "Please, don't touch anything. It could be dangerous."
"So it really is real? Wow. I never held a gun before."
"Obviously," the boy commented from the back. He had seen Misa looking inside the gun. How stupid can somebody be to actually do that? Or maybe it would have been natural selection…
"Yes, it's real. But don't tell anybody, alright? I took it in case I needed it to save you." The man gave her a tense smile and stood there awkwardly, looking for a place to put the gun. "Yao, do you mind?"
The boy took the gun from his caretaker, unloaded it, and hid it between the chairs. "Don't worry."
"Wait, so I can't look at a gun, but that kid can?"
Both of them shrugged. "I showed him how to handle guns, so it's safe. The kid is way smarter than others his age. He's smarter than some adults, y'know?" he tried to pass a joke, but Misa took it as an offense.
"Are you calling me stupid?"
"Not at all-!" the King answered, but Yao interrupted him.
"Precisely. Taking the gun from you might offend you, but he probably saved your life. You could have received a bullet to the eye by accident, which would have had no trouble penetrating the skull and the brain. In fact, from such a close distance, it would have been very likely to come out through the back of your head, hit the ceiling of the car and hurt one of us as well, but I doubt I should fill your head with the mathematical explanation. Just take my word for it."
Misa looked at the King, who started the engine again. "…He's right about the danger. You could have hurt yourself by accident."
The blonde held her tongue and kept her hands busy with her phone. Perhaps searching the car of a stranger who just happens to pop up at the right time and place wasn't her best idea. She waited for the King to reach Caterina's place and park the car so she could pass the note to Caterina and go home. It was way too much action for one evening, even for her.
In the living room, Rin and Caterina were following the two targets that had become one. They could see the two red dots moving on the screen, following the map of the city. When they reached her house, the Italian went to greet them. She was relieved to see everyone alive, but her enthusiasm faded as soon as Misa opened her mouth to complain about her terrible evening and explain how everything was Caterina's fault.
"Did you bring me what Yulia gave you?" she asked once Misa took a break to breathe.
"Here!" the blonde slapped a note into Caterina's palm. "I'm going home! You don't care at all about me, anyway. Everything happened just because you wanted me to bring you this stupid piece of paper! I nearly died for a paper! If I would have stayed on my normal way home, this would have never happened!"
"True," Caterina glared at her. "It would have been worse. King, can you drive her home and make sure she gets there in one piece? After that, return."
"Sure thing." The man let Yao walk inside and opened the door for Misa to get back into his car. "Come on, little lady."
Misa dragged her feet to the car, still fuming. "Such a liar… And I tried to be super nice to her and make her have a good time for once…"
Caterina didn't bother calling her out for mumbling behind her. Instead, she welcomed Yao and went back inside to open the note. She saw the hand-written IP address and passed it to Rin. "So, this will be enough?"
The girl nodded. "It should be. Just give me some time…" The girl began typing away as Yao sat by her side. They began talking about computers and programming, but Caterina could barely understand half. It made her think about Vitto – in a way, Rin was the most valuable gift from him.
She went to make coffee for everyone and waited to hear of any progress. The next few hours were going to bring up all kinds of information to the surface, which will prove vital in the next few months. Caterina had to restore her father's name and prove she didn't need to hide behind a man, and what better way to gain fame and respect than taking out your enemies?
Ross was her worst enemy and the one who ordered the death of her parents through the Snake, but Frost was more aggressive these days. She considered the possibility of them working together, but quickly crossed it out as unlikely. Ross was probably standing back and watching the confrontations. It would be easier to let two enemies take each other out rather than trying to do it yourself – that's what Ross must be thinking.
"So, I broke into their database through the IP you brought me…" Rin eventually said. "There are accounting files that I can't open because I don't have the program, it's only used by central banks."
"We've found child pornography and I think I can identify the men in the pictures. I need my laptop from home." Yao was looking at the faces of the men.
Rin nodded. "I'll create a private network so I can send you all this. It will be nearly impossible to track."
"Is there any possibility?" Caterina asked.
After a long pause, Rin nodded. "…They would need a very capable hacker and know where to look for our connection, but it's possible for the information to be tracked down to his laptop. At least in theory, any computer can be tracked, but the chances are small."
Caterina went to call the King so the man could bring Yao's laptop. "Then, we're going to risk it. This is too important to back down now."
At the first hour in the morning, Caterina already had printed files on Ivan Frost, Misa's new friend, Kitamura and his associates, people in the secret services and members of the ICPO, accountants, financial directors, managers of all kinds working for Yotsuba and for the competition. She thought about calling Yukimura, but she ended up calling Light instead. "Good morning, darling. Turn on your TV."
Taken by surprise, he took a moment to recognize her voice over the phone. "My love… What are you going to do?" But before he could receive an answer, Caterina had already hung up.
'What was that? A bit early for morning chit chat, if you ask me,' Ryuk said. He found it a little confusing.
As Light sat up in his bed, he rested with an elbow over his knee. "I think… I'm going to be a few steps closer to my New World by sundown." A sly smirk spread on his face. "I just hope that my father's superior is on her list, too. Dad deserves a promotion."
The shinigami smirked. 'Finally, something's about to happen!'
"Have you been anxious for it, Ryuk?" Light asked with amusement.
'Just bored, really – I thought the two of you were never going to do anything exciting again! …Which reminds me, what about Frost? You did collaborate.'
Light eventually decided to stand up, after rubbing his eyes and stretching his arms. "I couldn't care less about him. I'm just following my plan, while he is not part of my plan."
'Well, yeah, but aren't you worried Caterina's going to find out?'
He shrugged on his way to the bathroom. "Not at all. She couldn't do anything to me, just like I couldn't do anything to her. If not out of love, at least out of respect. We both knew that I had at least a few occasions when I could have ended her life, but I chose otherwise."
As Shimura was just waking up, he turned on his television out of habit. He liked some background noise in the house while he got ready for work and on occasion, he could hear something useful from the news. The man wrote a note on his fridge to remember and pack his bags for the Wildcard Conference held tomorrow, then returned to his room and took out a suit from his wardrobe.
'Wait… We've just been informed by one of our sources that the computers of several police officers have been hacked! What's more surprising is that no files were stolen – on the contrary! The printers are now running on their own. It seems someone is trying to give information to the police. We'll be back on the subject as soon as we have any news.'
Kitamura was shocked to see everyone in his office standing in a circle around the two main printers.
"Sir! Good morning, sir. Won't you take a look at this?" one of his subordinates greeted him. "A hacker is giving us information on these people. Look! The first one is Satori Yukimura, lawyer. It says here we should check these bank accounts in Switzerland – 'the three safes of bribes and extras'. Next paragraph reads, 'S.Y. should be investigated for erasing the evidences in the following cases: The Spyder Virus'. Sir, isn't that the virus that erased all of our data base a few years ago? This is amazing!"
The man felt his blood's temperature rising. Suddenly, he was in hell, stepping over burning coals while the soles of his shoes were melting too fast. "Give me that!" He snatched the papers from his subordinate's hand and pushed him aside. "For how long has this been going on?!"
"I-I thought this would be… helpful, sir!" another employee mumbled.
"How long?!"
"Half an hour, the amount of time you're always late, sir," a man eventually answered him. "We do know that hacking into our database is a serious crime, but given the circumstances, I decided we should let the hacker deliver us all of the information they wish to deliver. This is a historical chance, sir, and I thought you, of all people, would have been capable to realize this. Detective L also agreed we should take advantage of this golden opportunity."
"Aizawa…" his superior growled. "Are you defying me?! Do you deliberately choose to listen to a criminal sending you their personal notes?! What are these? A list of random events! We need real clues – names, witnesses, security cameras tape, not this bullshit!"
The man was holding another stack of papers. "Actually, sir, you may consider turning in your badge. You are being accused of collaborating with a criminal. If Satori Yukimura is found guilty, you will also be investigating for aiding and protecting him. Until then, sir, you will be suspended."
"What, just like that?! What evidence do you have against me?!" Kitamura raised his voice, but Aizawa kept his calm. His colleagues followed his example.
"Your name is specifically mentioned several times. Until these declarations are being verified, it is best for you to go on a short vacation, although on the territory of our country only."
At the same time, the last sheet was being printed.
"Aizawa? I think this comes from our hacker's employer."
Ignoring Kitamura's poor anger management, Aizawa turned to his colleague who handed him the paper. He began reading out loud.
"It reads, 'To the NPA and L, you have failed miserably at assuring the security and safety of the people. However, as you will discover very soon, it was not your fault entirely. I have decided to send you these reports on your fellow officers that had been bribed and involved themselves into illegal and harmful actions. As the only survivor of my family, I remember clearly when my father and I asked for protection as key witnesses in at least two cases of murder – that of my mother, followed shortly by one of my father's employees – as well as a case of robbery. It is rather amusing and ironic how you investigated my father instead. To this day, I applaud the sense of humor of Koreyoshi Kitamura, who ordered Soichiro Yagami to deal with us as quickly as possible.'" Aizawa stopped to think for a moment. "Does anyone recall this, or anything similar?"
His colleagues shrugged. Nobody had any idea.
"Chief, do you remember anything?" Aizawa asked through a microphone. The connection with L's computer was still active.
'We will need to go over the files. I can't remember anything precisely, but I think there were two unresolved murders one or two years ago,' Yagami confirmed. 'There was a woman disappearing at sea. I think her driver was killed shortly after, before we could question him.'
"Then… is it true? Are there corrupted people among us helping criminals get away with it?!" Matsuda asked, tears blurring his vision. "No wonder someone is ready to go this far just to put a spotlight on them!"
"Don't forget hacking is against the law, Matsuda," Aizawa warned him before he went on. "It continues, 'I hold no grudges against those following orders.'"
A collective sigh could be heard in the office.
"'However, all of those who had contributed to the death of my father and had hid the criminal of my mother are going to pay. When the police can no longer do its job, we, the citizens, are left to survive on our own. Please trust me when I write that I will be the next unsolved murder case, unless I take this matter into my own hands, so I wish to ask you two things. First of all, I wish that you will investigate every single piece of information sent to you by my associate. Also, I am warning you and kindly advising you to stay out of my way. Let me handle the underworld, while you do your job right this time. P.S.: Detective L, why haven't you considered tracking down real criminals, like Rod Ross, Ivan Frost, The Snake and others?' That's all it says…"
"Is that all? …Wait, is that a threat? Where they say we should stay out of the way… Is it from Kira?!" But Matsuda's enthusiasm deflated in a second.
L had turned on the microphone by pressing the red button on the side. "I doubt it… This is not Kira, but the successor of someone. If I were to guess, I would bet on the Dragon."
Yagami, who had not responded to the NPA's early alarm that morning, was still with L. "What are those names that they mention?"
"Aliases… These are the 'stage names' of mafia heads that they use to communicate with their subordinates or with each other. Using their real names was risky before, but now that Kira had surfaced, it is even more of a threat to their own personal security. Therefore, they use shorts of their real names, odd nicknames inspired by characters in movies or legends, symbols and so on. For the past three to four decades, the black market, also known as the 'underworld' has been controlled by mainly three people: Rod Ross somewhere in North America, Ivan Frost in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia, and the Dragon in Southern Europe and Asia. My guess is that the one sending these files is either the blood successor or a protégé and student of the Dragon, who has died sometime between November and February. The Snake had also disappeared from all radars sometime in December."
'Should I email you the files, L?' Aizawa asked through the computer.
"No. Bring them with you when you return to our headquarters. You may leave copies of those containing information about police officers only." He released the button which closed the microphone. "What seems peculiar is that last phrase of our witness… It seems they do not consider Kira a 'real criminal'. So, although our witness is not Kira, they must have a similar system of beliefs. In the best case, they are a supporter of Kira. In the worst, they are indifferent towards Kira, enough to disregard the threat that he poses to most members of the underworld."
The detective leaned towards the table and picked up his cup of overly sweet peaches and mango tea. He took a sip and stared into his cup for a long moment.
"You said you do remember something about two unsolved murders, correct, Chief?" L looked up at Yagami. "I want to see those files."
A chill ran down the Chief's spine as he remembered the murders even better. One of the witnesses was a girl that his son had been dating back then. They had both been involved in a series of coincidences and it seemed they were the wrong people at the wrong time, constantly. "Alright. I will find the files in the archive myself."
"If I am right… there may be a way in which the witness and Kira are connected," L mumbled right before sipping some more tea from his cup. He began thinking about the witness – the person had to be fairly young, though he couldn't decide yet if they too were impulsive and childish, or if they were exposing themselves on purpose.
It was quite rare, but sometimes serial killers with unfinished business would deliberately expose themselves. It was a way of claiming certain crimes as their own, so that a certain someone would realize something. The purpose could be to threaten someone, show off, or prove their worth in front of someone higher on the hierarchic scale.
The exposure was different from the signature. It was more complex, sending a precise message. It could consist in puzzles, like Beyond Birthday used, or it could consist in a certain context or set up, like Kira uses.
"…Unless we can prove the witness had hired a hacker, we can't arrest them. We'll be investigating a new series of crimes sooner than I'd thought," he mumbled to himself.
By noon, a dozen of corrupted officers had turned themselves in after receiving threats via their fax or printers, either at home or at work. As soon as the first shift ended, the first murder appeared.
The detective was eating vanilla ice cream drowned in chocolate sauce and three types of chocolate chips. He was watching the security footage that showed one of the officers taking their personal car at the end of their shift. At 4:03 PM, the man left his office. At 4:14, he was leaving the building. He had used the time to change into civilian clothes. At 4:16, he was leaving the parking lot. At 4:30, a traffic camera showed him waiting at a red light. At 4:31, his car exploded.
"Such unlucky February the 13th…" Kira mumbled to himself as he saw the report on the news. He was helping his mother by setting the table for three again. His father had called to say he won't be home in time for dinner, as usual.
His mother turned around. "Did you say anything, dear?"
"Yes. It was a strange coincidence, don't you think? It's February 13th today. For the westerners, it's one of the unluckiest numbers."
The woman stopped for a moment to watch the screen. "My…! Poor man. He must have been burned alive. Such terrible fate!"
"Indeed, but I wouldn't pity him. They're not saying this on TV because it would stain their image, but the police had just found out about him and a few others that they've been bribed. They helped criminals and thieves by destroying evidence. People died because of his greed, you know? So, he kind of got what he deserved… That's what I think, anyway."
Shaking her head, his mother sighed. "He should have spent his life in prison if he helped criminals escape, but dying this way? I think it was too much."
"Maybe," Light shrugged. "Did you call Sayu? When is she coming home?" His sister was off to help a friend choose between two pairs of shoes. Actually, that was most likely an excuse so they could hang out at the mall for seven hours.
"I haven't yet. Why don't you call your sister? Leave the rest to me." The woman smiled softly, watching her son as he nodded and took a few steps towards the living room.
He sat on the couch, watching the rest of the news report as he called Sayu to remind her of the time. Light couldn't help but wonder if Caterina was doing the right thing. His father had already told him about the hacking and about the message of a witness in two murder cases left unsolved.
If she would have asked, Light would have told her to act fast and use the advantage she had to the fullest. This way, neither Frost, nor the officers would have know what hit them – or that they had been targeted in the first place.
However, Caterina didn't seem very fond of this technique. Rather, she was coming out in the open with her own black list, declaring the hunting season open. This gave Frost a chance to prepare himself, come up with a plan and even think of a counter-attack. It was more glorious, but far riskier. Also, by addressing L directly, she made sure to have his full attention on her.
In his mind, Caterina had an Ace up her sleeve – one or more, actually. She must have found a way to contact her father's people, so it was only a matter of time until the world would receive another hot warning.
What Light didn't know was how right he was.
Author's Notes:
Chapter proofread by my beta, AbandonedSock.
So... Caterina did a thing. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it a complete disaster? I want to know what you think.
Also, than you for your support and know that I'm reading every review and it makes my day!
