Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note or any of the characters except for the OCs.

CHAPTER 5

Mello

BANG!

A gunshot rang through the air followed by the sound of broken glass jolted me and turned my attention right away. My trained eyes followed the direction of the noise and I spotted shattering glass on the floor below the windows near the living room. Holy shit, what the hell was going on here?

"Get on the floor!" I hollered, instinctively strolled across the room reaching for my Beretta hidden under the couch seat. I heard Valerie gasped faintly from under the kitchen counter and I cursed inwards. Dammit, there's going to be a long explanation after this.

Two more gunshots being fired, resulting in more shattering pieces of glass, and one of them penetrated through one of Matt's laptops.

"Fucking hell!" Matt cursed, moving fast to grab his gun stored inside the desk drawer. "For the sake of Mario's mushrooms I swear whoever does this gonna pay for it!"

"Save your fucking rant for later!" I quickly shifted to the wall next to the windows and knelt down, my gun positioned securely in my hands. Matt followed me and knelt on the other side. I peered through the blinds in vigilance to see who the fucking asshole behind this assault was.

Down there were parked two black limousines with five armed men standing in black suits, aiming their gunpoint toward Matt's windows. Behind them, someone with big built body leaning lazily on to the limousine, smoking cigar and arms crossed. My eyes were now as wide as plates at the sight of the person.

Shit. HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

It's him. Rod Ross is here.

What the fuck that bastard and his men doing here? Moreover, how did he found my location?

Another gunshot was fired to the windows and I jumped aside. "Fuck!" I swore loudly and aimed my gun through the window, shooting several times at those men. Two of them fell down while the rest dodged, firing more bullets to the windows. And now I saw them running toward the lobby. I was more than sure they would break in to the apartment.

"Uh oh, not so fast, baby." Matt sneered and fired his gun to the running men. As the result there was a smoke explosion surrounding them. A grin passed my lips. Matt's gun was peculiarly designed as a smoke bomb launcher. The smoke should keep them entertained for now.

"Nice shot," I said as I got up and grabbed my forgotten jacket, quickly putting them on. "We need to get out of here. Matt, prepare the car right away, I'll keep them busy for a while."

"No way." I turned to Matt who was looking firmly into my eyes. "Mello, you're the one they want. There's no fucking way I'm gonna let you do that. I'll do the job."

I glared at him. "But—"

"Besides, there's a young lady here who needs to get out as soon as possible."

He jerked his thumb and I followed the direction. Dammit, I almost forgot about Valerie. She cowered at the corner of the kitchen, trembling furiously, looking at our direction in fear. Shit. She had seen everything and there's no way I could let her go freely. Must things get even more troublesome at times like this?

I stumbled across the room to her position and hovered over her. "You're coming with me," I said in a low voice.

She didn't respond, seemingly losing her mobility, so I aimed my gun at her face. "Now." I raised my tone.

"Mello!" I heard Matt protested, but I ignored him. It's not like I had other choice. For now this was the only way so she would obey my order.

Valerie looked at my gunpoint in such horror written all over her face, finally getting up slowly, still trembling as hell. Once she could stand up I grabbed her roughly by her wrist and quickly stormed off, shoving the gun barrel to her side. "I'll call you later," I briefly said to Matt when we were already outside his flat.

"Ok. Take the emergency exit. I'm gonna play a little with these guys."

"Be careful."

With that, we parted ways as he made his way to the stairs. My hand gripped firmly unto Valerie's wrist as I literally dragged her with me to the emergency exit.

Valerie

Holy shit, what was—WHAT THE FUCK just happened?

I was far beyond shocked. Everything just blurred so fast I barely could remember any of the events.

I heard gunshots. Mello and Matt had guns. Somebody was going after them. I was being at Mello's gunpoint. And now I'm a hostage?

Mello was dragging me along down the emergency stairs, skipping two or three stairs at once as I struggled to keep on to his fast pace with my numb legs. He didn't spoke any word, nor did I. His gun barrel was being shoved deeply under my ribs. His grip on my wrist was so tight that I winced, and I was sure it might leave bruise marks.

Trail of questions flooded my mind. WHO are these people? WHAT the hell I've just gotten into?

I saw everything, I knew they were no ordinary citizens, and I was more than certain they had to bring me along as their hostage so I wouldn't have any chance to run away.

Which led to another horrible question. Are they going to KILL me?

The thought itself made my breath hitched at my throat and my body trembled even more in horror.

We arrived at the basement and Mello pulled me harshly to his parked motorbike. He finally let go of my wrist, pulled out his keys and started the engine, boding in loud roaring noise. I could only watch him in silence, supporting myself by the nearest wall so I wouldn't collapse right here and right now, because my knees wouldn't stop shaking. A thought of calling the police passed my mind, but suddenly I remembered I left my cell phone in my bag and obviously I didn't have it with me right now.

I wasn't a crybaby but now I was on the verge of crying. Paranoia began kicking in. I started thinking about school, friends, and moreover: my family. Would I see them again? Dear God, can't I just get out of here by myself?

No, the latter was not evenly possible; here I was having troubles in managing myself to stand still hence I didn't even have energy left to walk, let alone running away...

Mello put on his helmet and settled himself on the motorbike before turning his head to me. "Get on," he said ominously while once again aiming his gun. Not having any other choice, I slowly stepped forward, swung my leg over the seat, and settling down behind him. I was in such a mess to the point I didn't even care that I wouldn't be wearing a helmet.

"W-where are we going?" I stuttered cautiously, my voice was raucous.

His booted feet pushed the gas and the engine roared louder. "Far," he answered gruffly, and before any of us could utter another word he took off. Soon we were out of the building and speeding down the highway, the whole sight of vehicles and buildings came into rapid blurry vision. Mello drove madly, guiding his motorbike weaving through the narrowest gaps on the crowded road.

Cold wind rushed through my sides but at this circumstance I was perplexed enough not to care about it. Both my mind and my heart raced painfully fast. I had to clench my arms tighter on his waist regarding his crazy speed.

When we came into an intersection, without even braking he turned left in swift motion, entering a much less crowded narrow street. We kept moving straight forward while Mello maintaining the same speed, nearly hitting some of the pedestrians. But unfortunately, a big surprise had been waiting for us...

Mello

I noticed two black limousines at the end of the street, blocking the way, and I had to brake abruptly, forcing my bike to stop in the middle of the street. Behind the front glass I could see the familiar men in black suit. My whole body grew stiff in alert. Matt was supposed to act as bait to those limousines and lead them as far from me as he could, wasn't he? So why were they here, right under my nose? Oh God, don't tell me that...

Hold on a sec. At the apartment I had taken a glimpse of the limousines' plate numbers and kept the little information in my mind. But these limousines before my eyes had different numbers.

My jaw clenched. I was slightly relieved since it meant Matt was ok, but fuck. I should have anticipated they would bring more men with them. Rod wasn't a complete idiot, I should have known there's no way he would only take five men with him to New York if he was after me. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more of them guarding the whole area surrounding the apartment location. I cursed mentally at my own carelessness.

At the moment I could feel Valerie's grip tightened around my waist. I could feel her trembling as well as giving erratic breathes behind my back. Dammit, having a girl with me in a situation like this would only limit my movement...

During seconds that felt like ages, my eyes wildly observed my surroundings. Even though this street was much less crowded, still there were pedestrians walking by. I couldn't risk using my gun right here, but the same would apply to those men inside the limousines as well. They were experienced Mafioso and they wouldn't risk revealing their true identity in front of the citizens. The simple thought erased a small portion of my uneasiness.

The limousines started moving. Shit. I gotta be quick!

Bracing myself, I roared the engine and swiftly made a U-turn. I could hear the limousines behind me sped up as well, so I pressed the gas, pushing my bike faster, and moving forward to the previous intersection. But suddenly a blur of red flashing from an alley of my right direction, nearly crashed me down if only the driver didn't hit the brake at the crucial time. I heard Valerie yelped. The sudden encounter forced me to stop as well, and I was ready to beat the fucking asshole behind the wheel up when a head poked out of the driver's window frame.

"Jesus, Mels! You surprised me!" came the hectic voice from a familiar face.

"Matt?" I blinked, eyes wide opened. "How the hell do you get here? Do they lose you?"

"Well, I suppose I managed to confuse them since I take random winding turns on the alleys but..." A sound of moving vehicle behind his car cut him off. Matt snarled. "... Oh shit. Here we go again."

"Go!" With that both of us sped away from the three limousines and we're back to the crowded highway, I was being on the lead, racing through the other vehicles and ignoring the sound of angry horns directed to me. Despite the cold air, beads of streaming sweat began to pour alongside my temples. I seethed inside. Rod you son of a bitch. What else now do you want from me?

Suddenly Matt's car appeared by my right side and I glanced slightly at his direction when the window slid down, revealing his face. "Mello!" he cried out loud among the noise of the highway, "I'll use the bombs!"

"No way!" I hollered back. "Matt, we're on the public!"

"But we're only wasting time! We've got to stop them immediately!"

"Do you wish to live behind the bars, huh?!"

"No if I could avoid it!" Matt slipped in through a narrow gap between two cars in front of him before turning his focus back to me. "But still, we have to do something!"

My thoughts battling. There were too much risk, but as what Matt said, we've got to shove Rod and his men immediately. Finally I turned my head back on him. "Fine, but wait until the next intersection!"

A wide grin passed the redhead's face. "Roger!" he said before he disappeared behind the black tinted window, and I retained my focus on the road.

We reached the next intersection in the nick of time. Luckily there weren't too much vehicles here, and from the rear-view mirrors I saw the limousines were now chasing right behind our backs. I casted a look at the traffic light that blaring a bright green light, silently prayed so it wouldn't turn red within the next seconds.

When the light went yellow, I gave an approving code toward Matt. He replied by a thumb-up.

The glass window beside him went down, followed by his head poking out of the frame as well as his outstretched gas launcher, turning backwards. Matt shot several times at the direction of the limousines and soon a large amount of smoke surrounded them, blocking their view of my bike and Matt's car as well as impeding their movement. Both Matt and I used the brief opportunity to speed up through the intersection, just in time before the light turned red.

The vehicles that were previously lining up from both left and right side were now rushing to each opposite directions. When that happened, Matt and I had successfully reached the other side. We made winding turns through an alley before finally found a place to stop.

I took my helmet off and placed it in front of my bike, swiping the sweat over my forehead and temples. Valerie finally took her death grip off my waist. I got off the bike and exhaled sharply in relief. We made it safe and we managed to stay out of Rod for this time. Thank goodness...

Matt stepped down from his car. "Man, we made it!" he exclaimed. "That was fun. I should give it a go with the cops some other time! Just kiddin' Mels," he quickly added when I threw him a glare.

"Don't party too soon," I reminded him. "Now that Rod knows I'm in New York we've got to keep our eyes open all time. Obviously the bastard got other nasty tricks under his sleeves."

"If so, then we'll built up something that even nastier," Matt replied slyly while leaning unto the door and crossed his arms. "Now what are you up to? We can't go back to the apartment—well, at least for this noon."

"I have in mind that I will—"

"Before you discuss that," a raspy feminine voice interrupted my sentence and both Matt and I turned our attention away.

Valerie struggled to get off the bike and when she did, she drew herself up before our eyes. Her face blanched, her body quivered, but even I had to admit that the furious look of hers ditched all the jitters.

"Can someone explain what is going on? I'm still here, people!" Her eyes glared daggers at Matt's and mine.

I bit my lower lip. Fuck. This really gonna be a long explanation.