Chapter 5
Infiltration
He was running out of time. L had already begun tossing around the idea of testing the notebook. Out of all the rules, the thirteen day rule was the most sketchy. He'd hoped that L would be suspicious of it when he'd had Ryuk write it in the notebook. That had been the plan. Have L cause his own death. Curiosity killed the cat after all.
He needed to move quickly. He'd spent three days doing everything he could to find the whereabouts of the notebook an a viable way to access it. It was being kept in a vault in the basement. Not just any vault. It was a vault that L had designed himself, he was almost sure of it.
He'd managed to come across a vague set of blueprints when he'd hacked into Ryuzaki's personal server. That feat had taken quite a bit of patience and ingenuity to accomplish, but he'd managed nonetheless. The blueprints were essentially worthless however. It gave a general outline of what to expect, dimensions of the vault, thickness of it's walls.
Basically, the thing could be hit directly by anything short of a nuke and survive intact. So procuring some explosives and hoping to blow in the door was out of the question – not that he'd really considered that option anyway. For one, where would he have gotten the explosives?
That left either tailing Watari and slipping in next time the old man went in or infiltrating it himself. Both plans had significant flaws. With the first, Light hadn't forgotten the way Watari had handled that sniper rifle in the helicopter. The man was obviously more than a servant and mouthpiece to L. He had combat training. He was probably some sort of elite special ops operative that Ryuzaki had requisitioned for his own use. The chances of getting in and out of the vault with the notebook without the old man noticing were zero. The chances of him being able to subdue the man were about the same. Scrapping with L was one thing, but trying to take down a trained fighter like Watari was something different completely.
Problems with the second option centered solely around his lack of experience. Light was an eighteen year old college student, not a professional infiltrator. In short, he wasn't Wedy. He didn't have the thief's skills. He didn't know the first thing about breaking and entering. He'd never had to rewire a security device to grant him access. He was, however, a genius and there was nothing a genius couldn't do with a little time spent researching. He hoped.
Four days after recovering the notebook, L was starting to lay down a guideline for his tests. Testing the thirteen day rule specifically. He was out of time and he knew he wasn't ready. But a sneakingly suspicious part of his mind told him that given all the time in the world he still probably wouldn't think he was ready. He needed to act now, before L did.
He took advantage of the very next opportunity. At just after five that evening, Watari told them he was going grocery shopping. After L added ice cream and chocolate covered raisins to the list, the man left. It was the opening he needed.
He excused himself to go to the washroom.
His heart was hammering somewhere around the vicinity of his throat with every step he took up the stairs to the second floor bathroom. He'd always liked action movies. James Bond-type spy movies had always been entertaining. But the medium of film failed to accurately portray just how nerve wracking putting one's life on the line really was. Adrenaline was coursing through his system so badly that his hands were shaking.
Last chance to back out, Light. You could just go back to your computer and pretend none of this happened. You could just pretend this idea never crossed your mind. You could just let L die.
No.
Impossible.
It took him fifteen minutes to set up a loop in the security feed on the laptop he'd hidden in a blind spot in the bathroom. Five minutes longer than anticipated. He'd never actually done it before, but he knew the theory inside and out. It shouldn't have taken him that long but it couldn't be helped now. He'd just have to do the rest faster, before L noticed the loop.
Optimistically, he gave himself about another twenty minutes before that happened. L wasn't stupid and he'd take notice if nothing happened on the security feed for a while. In the mean time he had to move.
He left the second floor bathroom at a dead run, taking the stairs three at a time to Watari's security center on the fourth floor. The door was locked, but he'd managed to hack the master codes out of L's personal server. A feat he was a bit proud of. It hadn't been easy, in fact, it had taken several hours, but he'd gotten through in the end.
L thought he was so smart.
He punched in the code with trembling fingers, deliberately slowing himself down so he didn't make a mistake. If he input the wrong code, it would go into lock down mode and send an alert straight to L. Certainly not something he needed at the moment.
He sighed in relief when the code was accepted and pushed open the door only to be greeted with his own face. On the monitor directly opposite the door was a live video feed of his entrance.
That's foolish. It would have been smarter to not let me know I was being recorded.
All record of his entrance would have to be erased. It was another set back, but he really couldn't afford to leave evidence behind, and he could be sure that Watari would check the video logs when he got back. The man was just as paranoid as L was.
Light threw himself into the chair and began his work. The sooner he could erase his presence, the sooner he could disable the security in the vault. The sooner he could steal the notebook and seal his fate.
Four minutes to delete the video footage. Seven minutes to break through Watari's defenses and disable the automated security alerts that would be sent to L when he broke in. Eleven minutes. More than half his time was already gone. He needed to hurry.
Making sure to close the door behind him, Light ran to a little-used secondary stairway and began his decent. It wouldn't do for one of the task force members to come across him now. He needed to make an effort not to be seen.
He heard footsteps as he came to the first floor landing and came to an abrupt halt. Someone was on the other side of the door. Had they heard him? He'd been attempting to run as silently as possible, but there was always a chance they'd heard. What could he do?
The footsteps came closer to the door again. Pacing. Someone was pacing on the other side of the door. Were they waiting for him?
Not good. If someone's out of the command center then it's likely that L has already noticed the loop I fed into the security system. I need to hurry.
As the pacer hadn't busted down the door yet, he assumed he hadn't been overheard and continued down the last flight of stairs at a more sedate, stealthy pace. He couldn't afford to be caught. Not yet. Not until the notebooks were destroyed.
The basement was deserted as always, the steel door of the vault gleaming under the stark, utilitarian lighting of the basement. With sweaty hands, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the small screw driver he'd recovered from the same stash as the laptop on the second floor. He'd managed to steal it from his father's glasses repair kit.
If the schematics that he'd found of the vault and details he'd been able to find from other sources were correct, then it should be small enough to get the faceplate off of the biometric lock beside the door. And then he'd have to hope the wiring wasn't a custom job, because he only knew the basics and he was fairly sure he wasn't going to have the time to waste figuring it out.
He approached the door slowly, his eyes falling briefly on the security camera mounted above the door. It shouldn't be active. That camera was one of the feeds he'd disabled from Watari's computer before coming to the basement. One of the secret security feeds that ran on an entirely different system than the cameras in the more common areas of headquarters.
He was sure he'd deactivated it. Positive. But he couldn't shake a really bad feeling.
Get a hold of yourself, Light. It's just nerves. There's an excess of adrenaline in your system and it's making you jumpy. Get that door open, get the Death Note and get the hell out. Now!
He forced himself forward and began taking off the faceplate with the screwdriver, heedless of the fact that he was standing directly in view of the deactivated security camera. It came away less than a minute later, revealing a complex nest of colored wires.
Not a custom job. Good.
He pulled two of the wires out immediately, stripping the ends with his fingernails before getting to work. He was conscious, at all times, of the ticking of his watch. It's steady, measured ticks were unfazed by his anxiety and panic. They were relentless, unhesitatingly marching forward towards his imminent capture.
Tick.
L has to know by now.
Tick.
It wont be long before he makes a move.
Tick.
I need to hurry. I need to get this and get out of the building.
He burned his finger a little as he wrestled a crucial wire into place, and then it was over and the six-inch thick vault door slid open revealing . . .
Nothing.
Or next to nothing.
He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting from the infamous detective L's vault, but this certainly wasn't it. The room was empty except for an average office desk sitting in the center. And on that desk sat several piles of manila folders and loose sheets of paper. It looked for all the world like it belonged in a corporate office somewhere. It was completely unremarkable in every way except one.
The Death Note sat on top of the pile furthest to the right.
I did it. I broke into L's vault. He underestimated me. Without time constraints, this would have been easy. Then again, if I hadn't disabled the traps and alarms from Watari's office, I'd probably be dead right now.
Sighing in relief he grabbed the notebook . . . and froze.
Impossible! How did he know? Is he really this paranoid?
A fake! The notebook was a fake! He would bet his life on it. He knew the Death Note intimately. He had spend countless hours with the thing in his hand. The copy was good, but it was still a copy. Completely useless. All of this for nothing.
He knew everything about the Death Note's physical manifestation. But the one thing he'd always noticed, even from the first day he'd picked it up was the texture of the cover. It was like nothing he'd ever felt before. It was dry, but immeasurably smooth. Something not of this world.
But this notebook he held in his hand was not the same. There was nothing extraordinary about it. How much time had L wasted putting this copy together? He bet that it was immaculate. That it would be exactly the same, down to the very last name. Except for the cover. That was impossible to replicate.
He screamed in frustration and threw the notebook back onto the desk, scattering a pile of folders onto the floor.
How did he know? Did Rem warn him somehow? No, she wouldn't. I told her not to. Did L bug the corridors then? Did he overhear my conversation with Rem? Or did he notice what I was researching when I was supposed to be working on the case? How did he know!
He clenched his fists angrily. He wanted so very much to punch the detective right now. Just what the hell did he think he was doing? Was he going to have to fight L every step of the way to save his life? Was L going to put as much of a fight up when Light was trying to save his life as when he was trying to kill him?
The infuriating bastard! How did he know that the notebook was in danger?
It doesn't matter how he knows right now. Get the hell out of there before you're apprehended, you idiot. Retreat and regroup. You can think of something when your ass isn't on the line.
"Damn it!" He snarled before turning away from the desk and exiting the vault. It took two minutes to put the faceplate back on the lock and close the door. Another minute and a half to get back up to the second floor, where he promptly deactivated his loop after checking to make sure the corridors were free of activity.
Then he calmly walked back downstairs to the command center, drawing on every scrap of his determination and self control as he went. He would be damned if he let L know that he'd been beaten. He would find a way to fix this.
Where would L keep the real notebook?
"Wow, Light, it took you a while. We were beginning to think you fell in!" Matsuda laughed.
Where would a paranoid super detective keep the item he believed to be the instrument of his own death?
"Yeah, I guess I wasn't feeling too well." He answered automatically. L was watching him closely, those dark eyes never straying from him.
Would he trust someone else with it? Did he give it to Watari?
"Do you need the rest of the night off, Light-kun? If you are unwell, you should rest." L said guilelessly. A flicker of emotion. The smallest twitch of his lips. Triumph. L knew the vault had been breached. And Light knew . . .
He would keep it with him. He wouldn't trust that kind of power to anyone but himself.
"Yeah. That sounds good. It's been forever since I've been home."