Chapter 39

Mello leaned back against he couch and savored the chocolate he had in his mouth as he stared at the screen in front of him. Everything was working as he had wanted it to. Not only did he have the notebook, but he had Near's rapt attention he was sure. He had made it clear that it was he that had done the kidnappings and had control of the notebook so Near would realize he had been bested for a change. Now he also had the balls of the President of the United States in his hands by threatening to start WW3 with his control over the notebook. That was how he got the satellite feed he was watching now; the same one the SPK had so he knew what they knew. He had effectively eliminated the

SPK but had left Near standing so he'd know who did this. He had kept his word to Ross and had been eliminating rival Mafia gangs all over the city and in other locations, effectively making them number one. He had kept to his word, however, he hadn't done the killing with the notebook, he'd vowed never to kill again and he wouldn't. He had one of the men, Kal, handling the notebook. He just sat and gave the orders and made sure they were carried out.

But that wasn't the best part. Near was looking at hideouts that were old, but he knew it wouldn't be long before he figured out where they were. But he didn't have to worry right now about it because he had an honest to god shinigami watching guard at the door. He never believed in such things before but with the existence of the notebook it wasn't a complete surprise when it showed up in this room, claiming the notebook was his and frightening his crew. But he wasn't frightened of it, besides this Shinigami, named Sidoh, liked chocolate as much as he did, how frightening can that be? But the best part of all was what he had learned, information that only he and Kira knew. The 13 day rule of having to write names in the book forever once you started or you'd die after 13 days was a lie. If Kira knew this, then it was a perfect way of proving your innocence. But even better than that was the deal for the eyes..the ability to see everyone's true name and lifespan like a shinigami. Now he also knew how Kira got the names he didn't know. It still didn't explain how he got L's. The only way would have to be that L somehow had unknowingly showed himself to Kira as there were no photographs of him. He found it hard to believe L would have shown his face to anyone, but this case had obviously been so crazy he may have done it to make himself the bait for Kira, to draw him out. He sighed as the familiar ache let itself be known for just a moment as he thought of L's death. It was alright though, it was quickly replaced by the heat of the hatred he had for Kira. All he had to do now was figure out who he was.

He looked over at the man who had been forced to give up half of his life for the eyes. No great loss there, but he would be invaluable to him eventually, he knew. He had offered to give the notebook back to Sidoh once he got Kira's and in return Sidoh was watching guard. If anyone showed up, Sidoh would pull them to the surveillance cameras, Kal would see their name and face and their name would be written down. It was all too easy and it wouldn't be long he was sure before he could test the theory out.

Near played with a toy airplane as he listened to the report on the news. The

President was dead, assassination feared. Several soldiers were found dead outside an undisclosed Los Angeles location with no visible signs of death, however their helmets had all been removed by slicing the straps. He knew they had something in common, but he wasn't sure exactly what.

"It's certain that Mello had a hand in the soldier's deaths. Their helmets were removed so they could see their faces." Rester was saying. He agreed, but why not just cut their throats if you've already cut the straps on the helmet? Something was missing.

"But who discovered their hideout and ordered the attack?" Rester questioned.

"With both the President and soldiers dead we'll never know" Halle answered. Near zoomed the plane around his head as he thought.

"I think right now we should just continue to watch and stay put. " he said and continued to play as the other two watched and wondered.

Mello kept his eyes on the screen.. Whoever had set up that attack two weeks ago would definitely try again. They hadn't moved because of the satellite feed and as long as Sidoh was out there they were covered. The sound of someone gasping made him tear his eyes away for the first time in hours and they widened in shock and surprise. All around him the gang members were crying out and clawing at their chests. One by one they fell to the floor until only two remained. Then the explosions happened, two of them at opposite ends of the building. He jumped up yelling at the two remaining members to grab the notebook and bring it upstairs as he ran for the stairway.

He ran to his room grabbing his gun and a remote. He was prepared for this, there were charges all over the building – he would escape. It had come sooner than he had expected and they gave him no time to get everything together. He looked around to make sure the oxygen mask he had procured was still where he left it. He heard the sound of gunfire as he sat on the desk and waited a moment before he pressed a button on the remote. Another explosion rocked the building as a lone figure in riot gear game into the room.

"Don't move!" he yelled, "I've already blown up the entrances to this place, this will be you only warning. The next explosion will take out the rest of the building as well as your men inside so you'd better do as I say!" The man in front of him stopped and removed his helmet revealing who he was. Mello laughed.

"Yagami again, eh? Maybe I should have killed you when I had the chance. History repeats itself, but I never dreamed in a million years that I would be bargaining with you for the notebook again." He stopped talking as he noticed Yagami was gazing at him strangely.

"Your real name is Mihael Keel." Mello's eyes widened in surprise and fear. How the hell did he know?

"It's over Mello, turn yourself in. If you give up, I won't kill you, you have my word on that." Mello's eyes narrowed as he watched Yagami open the notebook and put pen to paper.

"You know how this works, if I write your name down you will die. Now take your hand off that trigger and put your hands in the air!"

Mello stared back at him for a moment. He was about to break his vow but he didn't have a choice. Maybe if he tried one more time. He lowered the remote, noting the hesitation he saw in Yagami's eyes.

"Yagami…" he began, but the man cut him off

"Don't move! I've already written down your first name and it will only take me a second to write your surname!"

"I'm truly sorry," Mello told him softly, "For what it's worth I give you my word I never wanted to kill you." He had been suddenly aware of movement to his right, one of his men had survived and began to roll over and reach for his gun. He needed to stall.

"But tell me, Yagami-you've never killed before have you?" As Yagami stared back at him startled, the thug grabbed his gun, rolled over and shot Yagami letting the gun empty before dropping it. At the sound of gunfire the rest of the police came flying in as Mello reached down and grabbed the oxygen mask he had lying on the desk and put it on. He looked sadly at Yagami lying on the floor, at least he hadn't done it. He eyed the cops as they ran in and then turned his back as they yelled at him to surrender, praying he could outrun the worst of the flames. He hit the button and ran to the window as the explosion nearly deafened him and threw him forward.

Christine walked down the hall with the Computer Operations teacher, Geoffrey Donovan. They had eaten lunch together again today and were still having conversation when they reached her office door. She found him handsome, intelligent and interesting to a point. She knew she was forever spoiled when it came to intelligent conversation and interesting males after L, no one could ever live up to that; but he was at least a bit interesting. If nothing else helped the time fly and keep her mind off of Mello and Near at least for an hour or two and that was welcome. They parted at the door and she noticed Matt was watching from the desk and then turned back to computer in front of him. She walked in and sat at her desk, leaned forward on her hands and smiled at him.

"Did I detect a note of disapproval on your face, Matt?" she asked sweetly. Matt laughed and turned back to face her.

"Getting a little cozy with Mr Donovan aren't you?" he asked grinning.

"Well, not that it's any of your business," Son", but not really. He's just a time killer actually. I don't do relationships at work." They both looked at each other then and burst out laughing. She could feel the color rising up her neck as she thought of L.

"Well, L was a different situation altogether, Matt you know that. There could never be another situation like that for so many reasons." He grinned at her.

"Oh yea. I remember you telling me you were just good friends way back. Even then I knew there was more going on than that." She blushed again.

"I remember. I didn't know what to say to that." He shrugged.

"There was nothing to say. We all knew your relationship with L was a bit more…um..hands on shall we say…than you guys were letting on. But we were kinda glad that L had someone, he'd always been alone except for us. And its not like you were some dipsy blonde or hideously ugly or anything." Matt laughed at her incredulous look from across the desk. Then something began to form in her mind.

"Matt, is that why you don't like me hanging with Mr. Donovan? Is it because of mine and L's relationship?" Matt stared at her for a minute looking totally surprised, but then after a few moments his eyes looked away from her and down at the desk. Then he stood up and stuck his hands in the pocket of his tan, fur striped vest and sighed heavily.

"I guess I never really thought about it before, but I think you're right. The best times I can think of revolve around the guys and L and…." He looked at her, "You. You became part of the family we had, and I think in my mind you belong to it and you're not supposed to be involved with anyone else except us. It's the five of us and no one else because no one else understands. And without L, then there's just the four of us with that bond with L no one else could ever understand." He looked down at the desk and shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sorry, Dr. Thompson that's a terrible way to feel." Christine stood up and walked over to Matt, so touched by his words that she was near tears. She wrapped her arms around the young man before her and held him against her.

"Oh no, Matt that is a wonderful way to feel, I'm so honored and touched. You are right, no one in the world would ever understand the insanity that is us and I will never be able to be involved with anyone else the same way I was with L, or you guys for that matter." She hugged him again and then pushed him away.

"Now stop trying to get out of filing." He grinned and walked back over to the desk and then a thought struck him.

"You know we're going to have to start the program again." She stopped on her way back to her desk.

"What program?" she asked.

"The heirs program. Near will need heirs." Christine stopped and stared at him.

"New heirs? For Near? Oh, god not again." Matt laughed so hard he almost didn't hear the sound of his cell phone as it went off in his pocket. He pulled it out and smile happily when he saw the caller.

"Mello how the hell are you!" He asked and then the smile immediately disappeared from his face and he turned frightened eyes to Christine.

"Mello? What's the matter I can barely understand you.." Christine's heart rate sped up as she watched Matt try to listen to the phone conversation.

"Okay, hold on let me get a pen and paper.." he gestured to her and she provided him with what he needed. "Give me the address I'm ready. Mello you still there?..Mello? Yea, yea I'm ready." She watched Matt hastily write on the paper and the reread the address back to Mello over the phone.

"Mello are you alright you sound….look just hang in there we'll be there on the next plane. Don't move do you understand me? I love you, you better be alright when I get there!" he took the phone away from his ear and the terror in his eyes frightened Christine.

"Matt what's the matter, what's happened to Mello?" she asked afraid of the answer.

"He's hurt bad, he could barely talk to me. He said something about a fire and not being able to go to a regular hospital. Some kind of gang medic he went to and they put him up in some room which is where he is now. We've got to get on the next plane, you have to come with me!" Even if she had even thought of not going the fear in Matt would have not let him go alone. She stopped the fear in her own mind for a moment to think about what she had to do.

"Okay, Matt go tell Roger there's an emergency and we both have to go for an undetermined amount of time. Have him get the nurses he had in here before when I'm innoculoating. I'll get on the phone and get us on the next flight and…wait..where are we going Matt?"

"California, Los Angeles. I've got the address of where he's at right now." She nodded picking up the phone.

"Alright, the next flight and I'll get us hotel rooms, if he's hurt and for some reason can't go to the hospital he'll need someplace clean to go to. You go take care of Roger he won't argue with you. Go on.." she started dialing the phone, stilling the shake that was starting in her hands. She also ran over in her mind what she would take with her. If he were burned there was risk of infection, she might have to remove dead, burnt skin..her hand flew to her mouth to try to calm herself as all the possibilities of his injuries crossed her mind. But then the travel agent was on the phone.