The Silent Place

AN: I don't know if anyone has noticed this, but if you look at my fics, for whatever reason a lot of the chapter titles begin with 'C'.... (I actually had to change the title of the chapter because I was going crazy over the fact that it started with another 'C')

Also, I will be posting the prologue to my new novel length fic within the next week, once I get some feedback on it from the people I have spammed. :)

Suggested Listening: Bulletproof Skin by Institute; 45 by Shinedown

Chapter 10: Encounter

Mello's luck hadn't held out and he had woken after only a few short hours of sleep. He found that the lack of sleep affected him more now that he had a night or two of rest. He sighed heavily and hoped that he wouldn't wake Matt. Though he understood that was probably inevitable considering how tiny the room was, and he wasn't about to sit in the dark until the sun rose.

He settled for sitting cross legged on the bathroom floor with his laptop on and the door ajar. It was the only alternative to either sitting in the car, which he knew Matt wouldn't have approved of, or turning the main lights in the room on.

Neither would have ended well.

"Should I even ask?" came the half yawned question sometime later; Matt was leaned against the doorframe with tired eyes. Mello was more than happy he hadn't awoken him earlier than that.

"I didn't know if the typing would bother you, and I wanted the light on."

Matt laughed and shook his head. "Thank you, but do you mind vacating the bathroom for a minute?"

He nodded and placed the laptop on the floor and stood on shaky legs. He stretched and eased the tension that had built up over the hours and retrieved the laptop as he left. The door closed behind him and he smiled.

The digital clock in the room stated that it was just after six and Mello estimated that he'd been in the bathroom for over four hours. It was no wonder his muscles had cramped.

While he waited for Matt to finish up, though he supposed the redhead was shaving and the like as well, he dressed himself in leather once more and packed whatever he didn't need back into his duffle bag.

He opened the mini refrigerator and picked out two cartons of leftovers and one of the spare forks. Nearly ten minutes later Matt exited the bathroom and stared at him. "I guess I'm not going to get you to eat a normal breakfast am I?"

Mello shook his head much to the redhead's amusement and continued to eat the rest of the now mixed containers. They left not too long after Matt had eaten and handed in the hotel key.

Matt had just pulled into the parking lot of a store, as he insisted they needed a few things before they went to check out the camera, when his phone rang.

Mello had made a move to grab it but Matt picked it up and answered before he could get to it. "Hello?"

He watched as Matt frowned and quickly maneuvered his laptop onto the coffee holders and typed furiously with his upper body twisted to see the screen while the phone sat rested between his ear and shoulder.

"You are assuming that I give a damn." Mello could just hear a bit of laughter on the other end as Matt swore and the phone dropped. He went to pick it up but Matt shook his head.

"Hung up on me." was all he said as he continued for another few seconds to type before he smiled. "I have a feeling he stayed on just long enough for me to trace it... but I have a location. And it's very public."

Mello was surprised. Perhaps all they'd had to do was wait Anderson out; the man never had been the patient type after a certain point.

"He says he has Jasper. I'm not sure whether or not to believe him." Matt's frown had deepened as he shut the laptop.

"We can't just sit here when we know where he is. You said it's public right?" Mello only continued once Matt had nodded the affirmative. "And I may be wrong, but I don't think he'd do anything crazy in a crowded area." though after so many years Mello wasn't even so sure of that anymore.

But what choice did they have really? The entire point of them coming to New York had been to confront him; they couldn't just sit around when they knew where he was, or at least where he had been. There was no guarantee that he was still there.

There were no more spoken words on the matter as Matt turned the ignition and headed off to the busy shopping district. They parked about two blocks away and didn't immediately move into the area; having decided to do a bit of surveillance before they rushed into anything.

"He's much older, but that's definitely him. It's Anderson Carlyle."

They carefully moved with the crowd until they were mere feet from the man. "Well Mello, it has been many years for us, hasn't it?" the man's voice was scratchy and more weathered than Mello would have expected.

Then again, surviving death could do that to people.

Anderson didn't seem surprised to see them, in fact he seemed rather amused and Mello likened his confidence to be like that of before when he'd strutted around like the Don or a god.

Mello truly hated him.

"How did you pull it off?" Anderson questioned, though he made no move to get up from his seat outside of the cafe. Mello didn't need any more explanation as to what was meant.

"Does it really matter?" he asked and shifted ever so slightly so that his hand was on his hip, and in quick access to the gun.

"No, I suppose it doesn't. Won't you join me?" Anderson questioned with a smirk and Mello's eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses.

"It was your own fault anyway. You should have just let me climb the ranks like I was supposed to." Mello commented airily and gave a smug grin as the smirk fell from Anderson's lips. He was playing a dangerous game, he knew it, but he wasn't going to let that man keep his calm.

"You have no idea what you did, do you?" Anderson asked rhetorically with a shake of his head. "My entire family was killed because of you. My sister raped and then left to burn inside the house after they had lit it on fire. Never mind the wounds I had to survive after I had escaped."

Mello felt cold wash over him and the twinge of guilt of the innocents killed, but it only lasted a second. Anderson, and his family, deserved no pity. Not when Anderson had done much the same, even if it were only in recent days.

"What, do you want to have a cry on my shoulder?" he sneered. He watched the dark look that slithered across the aging mans face, but it passed before too long and Mello was honestly surprised at the restraint he'd shown.

Mello really didn't want to be the one to pull a gun first, though he hoped that when Anderson did he would wait before he fired. He seemed the type to monologue.

"For so many years my anger consumed me. I thought so many times of tracking you down to exact my revenge, especially as the reports that you'd left the mafia came to me. You wouldn't have the protection of the family anymore…

But then came that surprising broadcast. And what a shock it was to find that you of all people were a successor of the great L! And the humiliating tortures you endured, I did enjoy those by the way.

Well it was enjoyable until I found that you had been rescued, though it was widely speculated that you were dead."

Mello felt great fury as Anderson spoke so flippantly about his captivity, and though he didn't let any of it show on his face he had a feeling that Anderson knew about it anyway.

"It wasn't all that hard to track you down to the hospital you had been at, though I had gotten there two days too late. L had moved you to someplace else. But money is a wondrous thing, and it wasn't hard to find out just what condition that you left the hospital in." Anderson's carefully blank expression turned into a wide grin as his eyes briefly glanced at Mello's left side.

"So I've spent the last few years plotting, one might say. I have quite the little group formed. And suffice to say, none of them like you very much. You have wronged very many people, and a lot of them are in the mafia."

Mello found that he stood straighter at the news. If the mafia was involved it complicated matters a little. Though it was possible he had only rounded up a few members to add to his group and was simply boasting to unsettle him. It was impossible to truly know.

"I ordered that everyone who had ties to you be gotten rid of, though Takahashi's family had to be last as they were rather well established in this area."

Matt placed a hand on his arm and though he doubted Anderson had spotted it, he had made a slight movement towards him. He stilled, and felt Matt's grip relax slightly.

"I then used every resource I had to track down any leads on you. And what a surprise it was to get a tip about a blonde in leather surfacing in England only to vanish just like smoke. I personally took a trip there and low and behold after months of searching I found you in a grocery store, the missing hand being the clincher despite your familiar features.

I quickly put the rest of the plan into action. I knew that you would be drawn to New York, just like a moth to a flame."

Anderson paused to take a sip of whatever beverage he had, and Mello saw a scar on the side of his neck and wondered if that had been from his escape or from something else he had gotten into.

"I was surprised however to find that you had taken a lover." Mello sucked in a short breath and Matt's fingers tightened around his arm.

Anderson snickered and continued. "Oh, did you think I wouldn't know what your relationship with the redhead was? That's unlike you, leaving something unthought-of..." Anderson trailed off with a wide grin.

"Did Mello ever tell you what he used to do for the mafia? He was such a good little whore." Anderson sneered. Matt glanced at him but Mello merely snorted in mirth.

"What would you know, your slimly hands never once touched me." he supposed it was in poor taste to joke about something that had messed him up so badly but he would do it again just for the look of rage on Anderson's face.

"I'm going to end this conversation now. I have something else to do at the moment." Anderson said as he fiddled with his phone and only seconds later Matt's phone rang. "I sent you a text with directions on where to meet with me should you survive."

Mello shared a quick look with Matt and just as Anderson stood his men started to close in on them, weapons drawn.

The second the sound of one of the triggers being pulled sounded they each dove in a different direction and as the gunshots rang out screams followed. The heavily crowded area was now filled with screaming people running from something that they were not a part of.

Mello was crouched behind a rubbish bin that was only just wide enough and peered behind the side of it. His heart was pounding in his chest and he idly wondered where the hell the police were, unless Anderson had ties to them, in which case they wouldn't be coming for some time.

He could only just see Matt, who was closer to the cafe than him, and noted with some alarm that Matt seemed to be edging his way closer to him. He would be shot full of led before he even had a chance to get halfway across the open space between them. There was nothing for him to take cover behind and Anderson's goons wouldn't miss the opportunity.

"Don't come closer! Get the hell out of here!" he screamed. It drew their full attention to him rather than at Matt, who was closer. Matt hesitated but still appeared to be thinking of running across the firing to get to him.

Mello refused to have him hurt, or worse, killed. He pulled the gun from its position tucked into the leather and fired off a few rounds by the men who shouted obscenities at him.

"I'll call soon." he yelled to Matt as a line of gunfire peppered the rubbish bin he hid behind. A few straggling street goers screamed and took off running from some store entryway to the left of the cafe and Mello took his chance and ran.

Gunfire followed him and though he hated doing it he put the group of people between himself and the gunmen. He heard a startled scream and a thud and prayed that the person wouldn't die.

His breathing was labored and he heard the pounding of footsteps behind him but didn't look to see if it was the remaining street goers or Anderson's men. He knew Matt would be pissed at him for this, but the idiot hadn't given him a choice. Despite that, Mello supposed it was actually the best decision to have been made.

They had been sitting ducks before but now as they, or at least he, moved though the streets they had better coverage and a chance of blending in and surviving.

He hoped that Matt had gotten out of there, because if Matt-

He closed his eyes briefly and forced the thoughts from his mind. If he got distracted he was as good as dead. "Hurry!" he heard a soft yell and noted a middle aged woman waving to a group of sobbing girls who came from the same direction as him.

"He's got to be around here somewhere, find him!" he swore as he heard the shouts of Anderson's men and quickly darted in behind the girls and into the clothing store. The manager, if the tag was correct, shut the door and locked it before drawing the expensive looking blinds closed. He hunched foreword slightly, hand on his leg for support. He cursed himself for letting his body get so out of shape.

Physical injury or not it was no excuse. Had he been any slower he probably would have been shot already. He made a mental note, that if they got out of this alive, that he was getting in shape again.

"Are you alright?" the manager asked both him and the girls. He nodded while the girls let out a gaggle of shaky answers. He moved away from the door as his breathing calmed and looked around the store to find a few dozen other people locked inside with him.

Some of them were huddled together and whispering whiles others talked loudly into their phones or texted. But he was sure all of them were going on about the gunfire. There would be wild theories going on, and he was sure that his and Matt's descriptions would be going out as the ones being fired on, though they would still be wanted for questioning.

But if Anderson truly did have people inside the police then being detained by them was the absolute worst case scenario besides being caught by Anderson's men.

Now that things had clamed down and the adrenalin had worn off he sagged slightly, wearily. He looked over at a boyfriend cradling what he assumed was his girlfriend in his arms. Matt would definitely be pissed, but he would hopefully be alive.

Though he could only imagine what Matt would be thinking at this time. Was he still stuck in harms way? Was he worrying over him?

Mello winced at the last thought. He desperately wanted nothing more than to call the redhead, but if Matt wasn't in the clear that call could spell his death. With nothing more that he could do for the moment he slid to the ground, back against one of the walls, and waited.

He had to give Matt time to get somewhere relatively safe. He doubted the redhead would have been as lucky as he had been. Had that women not left the door open those few precious extra seconds he would have been trapped on the streets and left to find another place to hide.

As a general rule, the longer you went without cover the better the chance at being found.

He leaned his head against the wall and counted the minutes that went by. Each minute he counted the more his anxiety levels rose. He was able to wait just under forty minutes before the urge to call won out.

He walked up to the small group that had migrated to the door, peering out through the slits of the blinds, the manager included. "Excuse me, does anyone have a phone I could borrow for a second?" he asked quietly so as to not startle them.

"Sure, here you go." a business like woman, decked out in a designer suit with her nearly platinum blonde hair pulled back, told him as she reached into her purse and handed him a sleek black phone.

He thanked her and though he wanted to be away from them while he called he stayed right there so the woman wouldn't be suspicious of him, though he figured he was just being paranoid again.

He dialed Matt's number by memory and waited while it dialed. It didn't matter if their numbers floated around anymore as Anderson had both of them, probably through his connections only as the man had never been technologically savvy, and it would need some good equipment to have gotten their numbers. They would need a new everything by the time things was said and done, probably even a new flat.

"Mello?" Matt picked up on the second ring and sounded shaky. He closed his eyes and smiled slightly in relief.

"Thank god you're alright." he whispered.

"You are a complete asshole, just to let you know. I fucking love you, but I'm pissed as hell at you." he let out a breathy laugh but honestly didn't care how pissed off Matt was. He peered through the blinds to catch the street name and mentally calculated where exactly he was.

"Think you can meet me over by-" he dropped his voice to just below a whisper as he noted that the people around him seemed to be paying special attention to his conversation.

"Yeah, I'm not too far from there. Just don't panic if I'm not already there when you are, alright?"

He frowned at Matt's slightly amused tone but let it go. "Yeah. Hey Matt... I love you. Stay safe." he ended the call before anything more could be said and closed the phones lid. He mused on how much easier it was to tell the redhead he loved him when it was over the phone. He would have to work on that... among other things.

He handed the phone back to the woman, who's gaze had softened somewhat, and turned to the manager.

"Can you let me out, I'm meeting a friend in a few minutes?" he asked.

"Why would you want to go back out there? Stay here, it's at least a bit safer." the manager tried to persuade him.

"There haven't been any shots for a while now, and I can't leave my friend out there by himself." he insisted in a tone that suggested he would leave whether she willfully opened the door or not.

There were a few murmurs of agreement from behind him, though most were still glued in their spots and pouring over the news on their phones. The woman hesitated for a moment longer, obviously hoping that he would change his mind, before she took out her keys and unlocked the door.

He thanked them before darting out the door, two others following him before splitting off down the street. It was eerily quiet outside and it took him a few moments to get used to how much noise he could make.

The chosen place of meeting was around three blocks away from his location, as he still wasn't too sure if Anderson's men were lurking in the area or not. They were to meet behind one of the stores, and while it wouldn't provide great cover, it was better than standing in the street.

The closer he got the more people he saw and he relaxed only slightly. It seemed that nearly an hour was enough for people to start reemerging and ignoring the danger that had passed. But for them, perhaps it was a more common thing.

He walked more normally now, as skulking around would have drawn attention, and eventually ducked behind one of the stores. He waited anxiously for another ten minutes before he saw a flash of red and he was enveloped in strong arms.

He struggled slightly but calmed as he knew it was only Matt. "I thought you were done with those reckless actions?" Matt hissed into his ear and his grip tightened on him.

"You started it..." he murmured softly. Matt was safe. That was all he cared about. If Matt needed to vent a little he would let him.

Matt eventually let him go, but not before a quick kiss, and pulled out his phone. "I have the address that he sent me."

"It's a trap. Jasper might already be dead or not even there at all." Mello commented, though by Matt's nod he already knew. "We need to finish this..."

"Yeah, I guess we do." Matt fiddled with the phone for a moment though Mello didn't have a clue what he could be doing other than getting directions.

"I sent a message to L to tell him what we're up to. I don't expect help but at least we gave him a heads up." Matt shrugged.

"I bet you anything the police L notified will come to our aid after the situation is resolved." he commented dryly. Matt shook his head with a laugh and grabbed his hand.

"Come on, let's go borrow a ride."

Mello, despite himself, smiled.

-End Encounter-

AN: Wow this chapter got long...... it also marks the first time EVER that I have written 1800+ words a night three nights in a row. That will probably never happen again. (yes I'm a slow writer, I started out with a minimum of 500 words a night for all my fics, but Choices blew that out of the water and started the 1,000 words a night tradition though I generally get like 1200. I'm lame....)

And yes, OMG the next chapter is the conclusion. But don't worry there is an epilogue, though I wonder at that..... *shrugs*

5/1/2010===Oh, for Silent Dance fans..... here is a summary of the sequel (though I currently am not writing it, it's slow going with that idea so it may be a year or more before I even make an attempt)

Silent Reprise

Summary: this place was full of unspoken rules and unspeakable acts… and yet despite that, it may have ended up being the best thing to happen to him. ~Silent Dance: Mello's Side

You all love me right?