Chapter 35
Christine tried to be patient and not think about what Near was doing. She had more than enough to keep her busy, most of the older kids she had known when she first arrived had left, going on to whatever careers they had been working towards. That meant there were files to close up and file away into storage. Although a lot of information was on her computer, there were still a lot of paper files to deal with as computers can be compromised and she didn't like having to rely on one source only. There were always new students, more youngsters who had lived thru the worst tragedy a child can endure and facing unknown futures, for which also new files needed to be created. They needed physicals, inoculations, psychology work ups...she sat back in her chair, the file on the desk temporarily forgotten.
Her heart belonged to all of these children, but none would surpass what she felt for her trio. They had a bond that was cemented by their relationships with L, something that no one else had nor would ever understand. It had been nearly 5 years since he was last physically in her life, but for her he never stopped being a part of it. She tried to understand what it was about L that made him such a powerful force so long after his death and she couldn't put her finger on it. All she knew was that he was, and was always there with her.
Right now she could almost feel him hovering over the phone in her pocket, apparently he was just as concerned about Near's progress as she was. She had heard from Director Mason who had returned her call about having someone to work with Near and had told her that he would make sure that there was an operative who was able to stick with Near during this operation. It was imperative that Near was protected in the first place, so having that same person work with him was a benefit. He wouldn't tell her anything else about what was going in, saying that it was up to Near to fill her in on what he thought she needed to know. She agreed and understood, but that had been several days ago and she had yet to hear from him. She knew it would be that way, it would be the same as it was with L, she didn't expect him to call her every night with a report, but she did want to know where he was and what the FBI had thought of what he had presented. Knowing that he was being assigned someone told her that they at least agreed with him and were moving forward, but moving forward how she wanted to know. She knew that from now on she was effectively out of the picture, but that didn't change that she wanted to know what was going on.
"Hmmm, I can tell by your face that you still haven't heard from him." A voice leaked into her thoughts and she looked up to see Matt, his usual smile on his face, leaning against the door to her office. She smiled back and shook her head.
"No, not yet. I had hoped that after almost 2 weeks he would have at least let me know he was alright and what was happening." Matt came into the office and sat across from her, his hand reaching into his pocket for what she knew would be a game.
"Relax Mom you know he's fine." He said, laughing at the glare he got from her after calling her mom, "he's probably just up to his fluffy head in putting together his own task force. Its not like Near's a big talker anyway, you know that." She nodded and sighed. Matt was absolutely correct, Near would fill her in when he was ready and not before.
She watched Matt's fingers dance across the game console, his blue eyes shaded by his goggles. She thought about all the different little quirks each of them had, outlets for their incredible genius she assumed, L's sweet eating, his love of his jeans and white shirt, the way he sat and held things with his thumb and forefinger; Mello's penchant for black and his chocolate eating, Near's white pajamas, hair twirling and affinity for his toys, and Matt's love of video games and his goggles. She couldn't remember when he started wearing those, but once he started they were either on his head, on his face or around his neck. Perhaps they were a way to soften the glare of his world, and maybe he just thought they were fun. Whatever the reason they were just as much a part of him as his flaming red hair. His latest habit, smoking, was not a favorite of hers, but he never did it inside and she knew it was calming for him.
"I guess you haven't heard from Mello lately, either." She stated quietly. Matt stopped playing for just a moment and shrugged.
"He called once he had arrived in LA and then said he'd probably be sending for me soon, but that was a couple of weeks ago. In the mean time I feel like I'm in limbo with nothing to do." Christine stood up and moved a pile of files from her side of the desk to right under his nose in front of him.
"Well we can't have that can we? As of right now you are my assistant until the time you get called away and have to leave. That'll keep you busy." Matt looked at the pile and then looked up at her and then flashed that grin.
"Maybe I should have gone with Near." He said and started laughing when she threatened to hit him with one of the files. He shut down the game and put it in his back pocket, then slid his goggles to the top of his head.
"Okay Doc whattaya want me to do?" she brought him over to her computer.
"Here genius, we need to get this information from the files onto the corresponding file on the computer. Its easier for me to write notes on these files when I'm with the patient than to keep coming back to the puter, but it does need to get in there. Also if you can come up with a really good way to get to some of this information faster, I would love it." Matt nodded and began to work. Christine walked over to her filing cabinet to pick out some more files, then turned and looked back at Matt. Her mind flashed to the frightened, sick and bed ridden little boy she first met. She resisted the urge to ruffle the young man's hair and went back to work.
Near looked around his new head of operations; it was everything he could possibly need. He had a force of six people, all CIA and FBI agents. The president had compiled them to create the Special Provision for Kira, a force to capture Kira independent of L as they now knew this L was an imposter. He looked at each member, assessing each of their strengths in his mind. Anthony Rester would be his number one aide. He knew he was assigned to him as more of a bodyguard than anything else, but he was intelligent, loyal and his lead crime scene investigator. Near felt instinctively that he could trust him with anything. His next most important member would be Stephen Gevanni; excellent at monitoring suspects and tailing suspects and gifted at very crafty jobs. He knew Gevanni would be invaluable to this case. The others, Halle Lindner, Ellickson Gardner, John McEnrow and Ill Ratt, were all talented and had been picked by the President. Near felt confident that he had more than enough help to take Kira down at last. They would have to prove their worth to him as time went on, however, he did not trust easily.
Mello didn't halt his stride down the stairs as his cell phone rang. One hand held a chocolate bar as the other picked up the phone. He listened for a moment and smiled.
"Yeah….alright. Contact me again soon Y320." He finished and closed the phone. Things couldn't be better right now, everything seemed to be moving along very well for him, finally. Even down to the fact that he had eyes and ears in Near's SPK. He'd know everything as Near knew it, and in a little while he'd know even more.
He and the boss of his gang, Rod Ross had arrived at their destination in the lower level of the gang's hideout, and opened the door. It opened into a dingy basement room, where there were two more members of the gang, hovering over a man tied to a chair, his head hanging down as if in shame.
"He say anything yet?" Ross asked them. One of them turned back to the man they were watching.
"So, the Japanese police are so afraid of Kira that the only one working with L are Soichiro Yagam, Kanzo Mogi and Tota Matsuda, that right?"
The man in the chair nodded, and added "Yeah. There was one other, but he died."
"And even though you're the director, you don't know anything about the notebook?" he was asked. When he shook his head, the other gang member laughed.
"What is up with the Japanese police?" he taunted the bound Director. Mello listened intently and quickly put things together. If there were only those three involved with L gone, then among those three the most important one would Yagami who is now also the Deputy Director. The way he saw it, there were two notebooks then, one with Kira and one with the NPA, the one that L received in that helicopter. He bit into his chocolate bar again. No matter what he had to do, he promised himself, he would get that notebook before Near. He looked down at the Director.
" America also knows about the murder notebook and is actively going after Kira," he informed the bound man, "We're finished if they get their hands on them. So we are going to get them first. " Ross nodded in agreement to Mello's statement. If they got one book, they could do a lot of killing without the mess. If they got Kira's as well, they wouldn't have to worry about being killed. He looked at Mello who had turned back to face him, the smirk on his face and the look in his eyes almost made the hardened boss shudder. It was obvious Mello was going to stop at nothing to get his hands on those notebooks and even he didn't want to get in his way.
