The Annals of Fear

Deontic looked up as the couple walked into the mess area. Mello looked refreshed and renewed, if a little pale. Behind him, Matt just seemed tired and fractious. "How are you?" She asked, after they made their way to her table.



An empty cereal bowl sat beside her empty mug. Mello glanced at it, then across at the two airmen sitting with laptops on the settees across the room. "I\'m fine. Where did you get breakfast?"



Deontic held out her hand, palm down, something small caught beneath the hook of her fingers. After a short hesitation, Mello reached out and it was dropped into the waiting gloved hand. "Your rosary bead."



Mello smiled warmly, "Thank you." He inspected it. There were still a couple of chain links attached to it. He turned to alert Matt to the return, but Matt was already passing through the doorway to the outside. He\'d just finished one cigarette in their room, but was evidently going for another. "Who fetched it?"



Deontic nodded towards the airmen on the other seats. "Them."



Mello called across a cheery, "Thank you for recovering this."



"No problem." One replied, while the other just smiled and inclined his head.



"Breakfast?" Mello asked again. He moved around to see the laptop that Deontic was working on. She frowned, annoyed at the intrusion. "Still searching through symbols? You know it\'s one that they made up, don\'t you?"



"That is your theory. Yes."



"You haven\'t found it. I haven\'t found it. Matt\'s programmes haven\'t found it. It\'s either very obscure or else it was made up." Mello flicked back his hair. "It stands to reason that the latter is the case." He smiled at her. "Where\'s Hal?"



Deontic gave him a long, appraising look. "You\'ve already solved this case, haven\'t you?"



His grin grew wider. "Mostly. Still a couple of things to check before I know that I\'m right."



She sighed and dejectedly closed the webpage. "Hal\'s at the hospital. You haven\'t asked after Century."



Mello nodded. "But if he was dead, you would have told us the minute we walked in. I would have got a call from Hal to tell me so before I was out of my room." He sat on the table before her. "Are you alright, Dee?"



"Like you care." Deontic replied irritably. "Even before all that happened with your past, you and Matt would have left me alone. You would have done that knowing that something is out there coming for us."



"Yes." Mello didn\'t deny it. "But I\'d have also trusted in your sparkling intellect to scream at the top of your voice, thus alerting us just across the corridor. Whereupon I would have descended upon your room like the Angel of Death and took out whatever entity was molesting you. So where do I get some breakfast?"



Deontic stared at him strangely. It was one of the airmen who called across, "Just down that little passage, there is a kitchen. No chefs on, but you can knock yourself up some food."



Mello inclined his head, smiling charmingly, "Thank you, Sir." He leapt off the table and started across the room, but Matt was just reappearing, flanked by Hal. "Good morning, ma\'am."



Hal looked stressed. "Century has gone missing." She hurried past him, back to Deontic\'s side. Mello and Matt exchanged bemused glances, as Hal repeated her news for Deontic\'s sake. "Century isn\'t in the hospital. He hasn\'t checked out, but he\'s not been in his bed since at least 6am." Hal had been followed by Mello and Matt. She looked now from face to face. "None of you look surprised."



"I eat chocolate." Mello shrugged. "Matt plays games. Deontic folds paper. Near keeps up an infernal racket of clack-clack-clack on his jigsaw puzzles." He winked. "And Century disappears of the face of the God damned Earth." He indicated towards the passage. "I\'m going to get breakfast. Good luck finding him, Deontic. This is your case, isn\'t it?"



"No." Deontic\'s eyes narrowed. "It\'s her job."



Hal ran forward and placed her arm onto Mello\'s arm. "Just one thing, before you rush off, is he alright? I mean, has he just run away because he thought he\'d be taken back to W..." She glanced at the airmen, stopping almost too late and scrambling to rectify it. "Home. Or is he running away because whatever frightened him, enough to cause a heart attack, came back for him at the hospital?" Her gaze locked onto his eyes and held them. "You promised him that he\'d be safe if he came to help you. You used his knowledge. Is he safe?"



Mello sighed. "Hal, I\'m really hungry." With a short look at the passageway to the kitchen, Mello went on. "Call Chrissie and Salvo. Has he got another \'phone yet?" He waited until she\'d shaken her head. "So he hasn\'t got one off you. Get the local bobbies to keep an eye on the harbour and his girlfriend\'s house. Circulate his description with the police around here. Check the CCTV footage to see where he went."



Matt snorted. "Black haired, white faced Celt last seen in Wales. Shall we hire a stadium for the respondants?"



"And ignore my man." Mello smirked. "Matt, shut up. Breakfast." He pulled away from Hal and finally made it all the way to the passage. Hal had grit her teeth. He\'d told her nothing that she couldn\'t have decided for herself. "Oh! Hal." Mello called back. "Remember that boats don\'t just have to go to Ireland. They can come from there as well. Presumably they don\'t even have to check in at official ports, as long as the coastguard doesn\'t catch them."



Mello and Matt were back within ten minutes. Matt just had a cup of tea, but Mello had a rack of toast with some marmalade, as well as a bowl of cereal. Matt had had to carry his tea just so Mello had enough hands to convey it all into the mess room. Deontic was waiting, tapping into her laptop. "Hal\'s gone to find him."



"Heh." Mello snorted, while Matt just smiled. They sat down opposite her. "What are your intentions?"



Deontic met his gaze. "It\'s no good going home with this hanging over me. I barely slept and I\'m still convinced that something is out there, closing in. Daylight makes it no better."



Mello nodded. "Matt feels the same. He hasn\'t said so, but he keeps looking at the window. Don\'t you, Matt?"



His husband smiled. "Whatever."



"Conversely, I\'m fine." Mello shovelled cereal into his mouth. "Last night might have been fucked up, but it cleared something. I\'m no longer afraid of my past, but you pair are." Beside him, Matt took his laptop from its case and set it up. "Matt needs to get his car back from the house. I\'m tempted to go alone to do that. I could take your BMW and ask these gentlemen if..."



"No." Deontic replied. "If anyone\'s driving my car, it\'s me."



"Just as I thought." Mello grinned, scraping the bottom of his bowl. "Then I\'ll arrange another lift up there. You pair can continue the research here."



Matt eyebrows rose. "Fuck that."



"No." Deontic frowned. "If you\'re going back, so am I. It might be your case, but it came after me and that makes it personal. Besides, who\'s to say that you won\'t get into trouble up there? Just because one aspect of your past feels eased, you\'re bound to have something that plays on your fears. You came back a very different person to the one who left at fourteen. You\'re not telling me that nothing traumatic happened in the interim."



"What I\'m going to do at the house is likely to be dangerous. It\'s also not something that I can discuss in advance." They were both staring at Mello now. "It might not work, but if it does then it\'s not going to be pleasant."



"I\'m coming." Matt told him. He logged onto his server, like there was really nothing more to say about that.



Mello looked around for a knife to spread his marmalade onto his toast. "I\'d really rather you didn\'t." He commented, as he rose and raced back to the kitchen for one. He was soon back. "All good." He waved the knife around as evidence.



"I either go with you or I go alone. Would you rather me where you can see me or not?" Matt hissed.



Mello smiled. "Excuse us a moment, Dee." He picked up a newly spread piece of toast and pulled on Matt\'s sleeve. "A word."



Matt was peering at this laptop. "Hold on, Mell. Silver thinks he\'s definitely got the third album this time. It\'s got a different track on it."



"Oh?" Mello stopped pulling and leaned over to see. Deontic also ran around the table. Matt frowned at them looking at his e-mails. "Scroll down the tracks." After Matt had done so, Mello cheered triumphantly. "The extra track is called \'The Banshee\'!"



"It\'s not an extra track." Matt pointed. "It replaces \'Ghostpath.\'"



"Good." Mello grinned. "Because that was shit." He hurried away towards their rooms. "E-mail it to me, Matt, then delete it."



Matt turned in his chair to watch him go. "Arse."



Deontic returned to her seat too, asking briskly, "Can I have a copy as well please?"



"You realise that this is likely to be the track that\'s killing everyone?"



She nodded, as if that was of no concern, "Yes."



Matt rolled his eyes, as Mello returned with his laptop. "All Hail the Watari kids! Solving cases far more important than their own lives!"



Mello sat down beside him. "You appear to be pontificating, Matt. What\'s up?"



"You pair. You both want this track, even though all of the evidence points to the fact that those listening to it kill themselves shortly afterwards." Matt sat back. "What is the death toll? 182 people, plus Century there proving that an education like ours is no shield against it. Yet you\'re both clambering for me to send it to you."



Mello frowned. "It\'s evidence." He freshed his e-mails. "I still don\'t appear to have it." He looked at Matt, who smirked. "Matt, send the track now before I get annoyed with you."



"I would like it too." Deontic interjected quickly.



Matt shook his head. "I\'m going to run this through some programmes first. I\'m going to look for hidden tones, that might be too high in pitch for the human ear to easily distinguish. I\'m going to strip down its layers. I\'m going to see what\'s here. Then, if you\'re both good, I\'ll send it to you."



Mello arm reached out and his fingers grabbed Matt\'s collar. It was none too gentle how he pulled his husband out of his seat towards him. Mello followed through, a hand on Matt\'s back, helping to push him over Mello\'s lap. Matt put a foot on the floor, flailing to retain his balance, but Mello still had a tight grip on his collar. He curled a leg around Matt\'s leg and kicked, until Matt had no option but to sprawl onto the floor, lest he be garrotted. His right hand even now grasping Matt\'s collar, Mello leaned across with his left hand and forwarded the e-mail from Matt\'s laptop to his own. "That\'s that sorted."



"Fuckwit bastard!"



Deontic, who had been watching with an expression caught between mirth and trepidation, now stared at Mello. "Please may I have a copy?"



Mello surveyed her with dark amusement. "You want my case, Dee?" But he was already forwarding it to her. "I\'d be obliged if you\'d listen to it and report back any strange urges to top yourself."



Deontic tensed, but saw the e-mail appear. "Thank you."



Matt had finally made it onto his knees. With Mello still pulling down on his collar, he couldn\'t rise much further. "Mell, let me run my programmes."



Mello glanced down like he\'d only just remembered that Matt was there. He smiled. "I do love you kneeling in front of me." He released the collar, moving his hand to stroke Matt\'s hair. "You probably won\'t have time. I\'m going to solve this case today and it\'s already gone 11am. But please do." He took his hand away. "You may get up."



Matt rose with a glance at Deontic. His cheeks coloured, though he\'d quickly turned away to conceal the slight tenting of his jeans. Mello had noticed. His grin was smug. Matt tried to move away, to encircle Mello and return to his laptop. Mello was quicker though. His arm snagged around the front of Matt\'s waist and coralled him back onto Mello\'s lap. "What?"



Mello grinned at him. "Just a kiss, then I\'ll let you get back to trying to disobey me." He tilted his chin and Matt, despite Deontic\'s watchful eye, kissed him. The whole cat and mouse scenario was going straight to Matt\'s groin and Mello knew it. He winked before he let him go. "Love you, baby."



"Yeah, fuck off." Matt commented, as he was finally allowed to leave. But as he sat down again, uncomfortably, leaning over his laptop, he added. "Volim te." And Mello smiled.