Chapter five:

Near gets a message telling him to contact them. He heads to a remote part of the library and takes out his cellphone. He dials the number and waits.

"Password."

"146827." Near responds simply.

"Excellent. I will patch you through." The voice confirms and Near waits for the connection to happen.

A few moments later another voice comes through the other end of the line. "Good to hear from you." The voice greets to Near. "There is something that is needed from you. You will be meeting with someone in a location that will be texted to you. You will be going there tonight and arriving at midnight. Once you meet the person waiting for you there you will be given further instructions. Is this understood?"

Near lets out a silent breath so as to not be heard by the person on the other side of the line. "I understand." He confirms to the other who hums sounding pleased to hear this.

"Good. We will see you then." The other hangs up.

Near is left standing there for a few moments before he lowers the phone and waits for the text to come through. He gets the text and he gets the location which is just outside of town. He lets out one more breath before he turns and heads to go to find Mello to be able to talk to him about what he had just been called about. He finds the blonde just finishing the evening soccer match. He catches the blonde's gaze long enough to nod to signal that he needs to talk to him. He then heads back into the orphanage.

Mello hangs back for a bit to not be seen following Near before he heads inside as well. He follows Near leaving a bit of space between them and they arrive to the platinum haired boys room with no one knowing that they went there together. "What happened?" He inquires to Near.

"They want me to meet them at a location. To meet someone who will be meeting me there tonight at midnight." Near informs the blonde who lets out a slightly concerned hum at hearing this.

"Wonder what they could want from you now." Mello wonders out loud.

"Mello." Near speaking up causes Mello to blink at him. "I am worried that this might be leading up to something really bad. First they want Matt's cooperation then they suddenly want me to meet up with someone. I've been forced to try my best to spy on L by them. Now that they have Matt-" He is silenced when Mello puts his finger over Near's lips.

"I will be coming with you on this meeting. Don't you dare think that they are going to take you out because you're no longer useful. They know that they have your cooperation and they can indeed guarantee that you will do as they want. No way are they getting rid of you yet." Mello tells Near who nods softly so he drops his hand from Near's lips. "Let us go find how Matt is doing with the whole hacking into the computers of these guys." He leads the way after Near nods his head. He gets the two of them there without anyone seeing them.

Matt glances from his work to them before he turns back to what he was doing. "I've made a lot of progress. I am almost in their system." He informs them. "I should be in by tonight."

"They called Near and want him to meet someone at a location." Mello reports to Matt who hums thoughtfully.

"Must be some new mission for them." The red head mentions thoughtfully. "I will let the two of you handle that and I will focus on this."

"Sounds good to me." Mello smiles confidently and turns to Near. "Okay. So I will follow you and they won't even know that I am there. I will be your back up just in case things go south."

"Alright." Near agrees turning to Mello. "I really hope that things don't go south." He adds bringing a hand up to twirl a strand of hair around his finger nervously.

Mello puts a hand on Near's shoulder being able to pick up on his nervousness. "It will be alright. We've got this. Besides I have been in enough fights that I have won to be able to really back you up on this." He mentions to which Near smiles appreciatively.

"Thank you Mello."

Later…

Near and Mello sneak out of the orphanage grounds together and they head towards the destination meet up spot with Mello following behind at a distance now.

The streets are quiet with the air almost feeling ominous and tense. The darkness not helping in this strange feeling of dread looming over them.

Near and Mello press on despite this.

Near can see the person up ahead who is standing there looking around as he waits for the platinum haired boy to arrive. He glances back only catching the briefest moment of Mello moving to another hiding spot. He turns back to the hooded person.

This person is wearing a black zip up hoodie, black sweats tucked into black cowboy boots, and is wearing a flame pattern bandana as well as sunglasses to hide his facial features.

Near lets out an almost silent breath making sure his mentally emotional mask is put on properly before he approaches causing the man to turn to him.

"You made it." The man's deep voice greets and it is someone Near hasn't heard the voice of before. He doesn't even have any sort of clear accent to tell Near much about him. He reaches behind himself clearly grabbing something from the back of his pants. "I was wondering if you would actually show up to this meeting or not."

"Why wouldn't I?" Near questions keeping his gaze on the man. He doesn't show it however he is quite cautious about what in the world is going on. "I have no reason to not do as I am told."

The man lets out a hum of agreement to that. "I suppose that is true." He mentions in return to the platinum haired boy. "Though didn't you think it weird that you were sent to meet someone when before instructions would be left for you somewhere with no one around?"

"I did." Near admits slightly taking a step back. "Is this is supposed to be a tactic to end the whole agreement thing that I have with you guys?" He demands to the man who lets out a throaty chuckle at hearing this come from the boy.

"I like your smarts kid." The man swiftly pulls out a black pistol aiming it right at Near's head with his finger on the trigger.

Mello gasps and gets ready to charge in to help save Near, though he isn't sure that he can move faster than a bullet. He will just have to hope that he can get there before the shot is fired.