Hunters Chapter Four
So I'm on a roll.
By the way, assume all underlined dialogue as not Korean.
Chapter One -- Chapter Two -- Chapter Three
Four - Making Bonds
Three Years Ago
The call came in four days for their first mission together and they all knew it was the first test to see if they could make it together.
--
Jonghyun found himself getting along well with both Taemin and Jinki. Taemin was like the cute little brother he had never had. Now he somewhat understood why his elder sister constantly wanted to pinch his cheeks when he was a kid, considering Jonghyun had to stop himself from molesting his youngest teammate’s face daily.
Jonghyun was a touch person. He liked to have physical contact with those around him. He was also a very active person, unable to sit still. So it was nice that Minho was always up for a round of sparring or grappling with him, especially since they both knew they had no chance against Jinki, no matter how much the leader downplayed his skills.
On the other hand though, Jonghyun had the hardest time befriending Kibum. The shooter found himself either being ignored by the hacker or being glared at by him so viciously that Jonghyun was half-convinced that he’d find scorch marks on his back the next morning.
Frankly, it made the young man uneasy to know he wasn’t on good terms with one of his teammates. Jonghyun knew while he was considered the best in his field, the point of the team was to work together and they needed to trust each other or they’d be busted immediately.
--
Kibum, on the other hand, didn’t agree. He was on the team to do a job, not be anybody’s friend and that’s how it had been for the past seven years. The hacker, of course, couldn’t ignore Minho or Jinki. Jinki was the leader and due to that, the hacker gave him the respect of at least listening.
Minho, however, knew too much of his history. After all, he had been Kibum’s training partner from day one in the army. Whether by fate, luck, or some demented bastard’s planning, the military’s star cadet and their worst nightmare had been paired together since day one and to the surprise of many, they didn’t kill each other. Some assumed it was because neither wanted to get on the bad sides of their superiors. Others assumed that they just avoided each other like the plague.
What no one seemed to realize was that the two were friends and good ones at that. Minho was the first person to challenge Kibum and the first to compliment him. It had taken a friendly sparring match to get the hacker’s attention and bragging-rights-to-winner drinking match to break down his walls.
Kibum trusted Minho intrinsically like he did no one else in the force, and that’s why Minho was glaring at the slightly older man now.
“Kibum, give them a chance,” the taller man commanded. “They’re not going to tar and feather you for talking to them.”
Kibum snorted as he ran through the data of their first mission.
“It’s not important for me to talk to them, Choi,” he replied dismissively.
Minho rolled his eyes and reached forward, grabbing the back of Kibum’s chair and forcing it around to face him. The hacker looked enraged at the contact and tried to brush the taller man’s hands off his shoulders, but Minho was faster, pining Kibum’s wrists to his sides.
“You’re being ridiculous. We’re a team Kibum, and the first step to trusting someone is to communicate with them.”
Kibum scoffed and glared, trying to throw Minho off of him. He pushed at Minho, twisted and shook, and even tried kicking the taller man to no avail.
“Why the hell does it matter?” he finally snarled, unable to escape.
“Because we need to rely on each other if we want to live,” Minho snapped back. “This isn’t regular army work anymore, Kibum. They’re going to throw us to the wolves and you know that.”
--
Wolves was right, the hacker mused as they landed within three days in Sheremetyevo International.
It was chilly, but not the freezing cold the young men had been expecting. They all arrived by different flights, each armed with a tourist visa and a beautiful DLSR camera to be reporters like himself and Jonghyun, university students like Taemin and Jinki, or a fashion photographer like Minho. Kibum had been half surprised by their roles, expecting to be the fashion photographer and half grateful not to have to deal with the stress of that role.
Walking past the baggage claim, Kibum headed for the nearest internet café. It was about a ten minute walk from the airport and it gave Kibum the added time to ditch his contacts and dark clothing to large hipster frames and flamboyant jeans, fitting in with today’s teenagers.
He reached the café and saw his teammates sprawled at on the tables, having from the sounds of it, a loud debate about current rising songstress, Hюшa and whether her latest song would finally knock Rihanna off the top spot. Sitting down comfortably, Kibum joined in the conversation, throwing in his own ideas. The young men had a few coffees and chatted some more until it became late. Then, in broken sets they departed; Jinki and Taemin first, then Kibum, then Jonghyun, and Minho last.
They all reached an expensive restaurant after changing into suits and sat down together as if part of a large foreign business meeting. After ordering their dishes and a bottle of wine, Jinki dropped the veneer of joviality and took out his cell phone.
“Here’s the plan. We’re headed towards Yaroslavl, about 350 kilometers from here. It’s an old city, settled at the crossroads of two major rivers, the Volga and Kotorosl. It’s also the hub of most of the country’s highways.”
“Major transportation point,” Taemin commented calmly.
“Exactly,” Jinki confirmed. “We’re going after a software dealer.”
That had eyebrows around the table raised.
“I know it sounds weird,” Jinki explained with a sigh. “But apparently this guy is trying to make bank off this program he created, and it’s not something we want spread around.”
Kibum scoffed. “It’s a phishing program. I haven’t gotten it, but it looks very slick. Good for getting past firewalls and decoy server blocks, commonly used by all governments, banks, and large multinational companies. In fact, if I didn’t have to protect against it down myself, I’d be interested in seeing it work,” he commented with a faraway look on his face.
“Contacts?” Minho asked after the table digested Kibum’s unhidden curiosity.
Jonghyun shook his head. “Nothing. Apparently, the Russian government is being very blasé about this threat, which makes us think it might be one of their own. The Americans, however, are already freaking out, but their hands are tied because of diplomatic respect.”
“The British?” the tallest asked.
“Too unsure,” Jinki replied. “They want solid proof before going in, unlike the Americans.”
“Japanese?” Taemin chimed in.
Both Jonghyun and Kibum snorted at that, surprising each other.
“No offense, kid,” Jonghyun started after breaking his staring contest with Kibum. “But the Japanese work in a pretty self-serving way. They only help when it’s their own ass on the line.”
“So we’re here,” Taemin started.
“Because we have a treaty with the Americans and not with Russia,” Jinki concluded.
The youngest member of team rolled his eyes and sat back, making the others chuckle lightly.
“Now that that’s cleared up,” Jinki started after letting them eat a bit of the sumptuous looking yet unfamiliar food in front of them. “There’s four routes sketched out for us. We’ll be using the public transit and cash only. The first route is mine and Taemin’s.”
--
Taemin sighed as he and Jinki waited for the train at Aэpoпopт. It was a 35 minute long ride with one stop that would land them at станция Москва-Смоленская. From there, they’d take the subway to Октябрьская and their last train to Воркута, a four hour long ride that would land them in the outskirts of Yaroslavl around 5 in the afternoon.
They were the second ones to leave after spending a night in a small dusty student lodge. It was a part of their rouse, but Taemin couldn’t help but be grateful that he was no longer a student after staying in the rundown place. It wasn’t seedy or anything, but the lack of a proper shower and no place to eat had the youngest member of the team grumpy.
Taemin looked up as Jinki returned from the station concession stand, carrying a large blini covered in strawberry jam. Grinning in delight, Taemin snatched the pastry from the older man and set to devouring it. Jinki just chuckled and took a seat next to him before grabbing a book out of his bag. Taemin caught sight of the title and raised an eyebrow at Jinki between bites.
“Dostoyevsky?”
Jinki smiled. “I figured a story about crime would help set the mood for today.”
--
Jonghyun sighed as he rubbed his shoulder. He had been the first to leave around 10 in the morning to catch his first bus to Метро Речной вокзал. From there, he hopped onto his second bus and reached Перепечинское кладбище around 11 to catch a train to Ленинградский вокзал, a train he was currently on.
It was quiet today, the train filled with only a few passengers, a handful of businessmen, two small families, and some teenagers. But Jonghyun preferred that as he leaned back into his seat to subtly study the cabin. It was older than those in Korea, but warmly fitted with velvet seats the color of pinot noir with gold trimming on the edges of the windows and doors.
Smiling, Jonghyun slouched down and flicked on his mp3 player. He still had another twenty minutes before arriving and catching his last train that was coincidentally the same train Jinki and Taemin would be on to Воркута. Closing his eyes, Jonghyun began to bob his head along to the music.
--
Minho smiled as he thanked the young woman for posing for his pictures. He had stepped out earlier than he needed to take some pictures and also familiarize himself with the accent again. He had studied Russian during his training, but had felt rusty when they landed yesterday. Now, walking the streets, he felt more comfortable conversing with the locals while taking pictures to satisfy his rouse.
He didn’t have to leave until about noon, when he was to catch a bus to Метро Речной вокзал, the same bus Jonghyun had already taken. From there, he’d go to the underground and make his way to Красногвардейская and then from another subway station, reach Октябрьская. There, he was to take a train to Благовещенск that would arrive around 6 in the evening.
He was going later than the rest in order to avoid issues while carrying the artillery. They had figured that by sending him during rush hour, he’d get looked over for carrying such heavy bags.
Smiling thanks at the barista for his coffee, Minho jogged over the bus station.
--
Kibum had the latest route and would arrive last in Yaroslavl.
Jinki, Jonghyun, and Taemin had been sent ahead to scout and make preparations while he had held back to check on their target by following his credit card and cell phone’s GPS around. So far, everything looked on schedule with the target landing in Yaroslavl around 9 in the morning. The drop time was scheduled for 9 in the evening. Kibum knew that the goal was to get the program before then and be ready for the buyers.
Kibum looked at his watch and cursed as he realized it was noon. Packing his things together, the hacker raced over to the train station where he managed to catch his train to станция Москва-Смоленская just in the nick of time. His route was similar to Taemin and Jinki’s in that he’d land in станция Москва-Смоленская and take the subway to Октябрьская. However, his final train landed him in Сыктывкар, not Воркута.
--
It was about 6:30 in the evening when Kibum reached their rendezvous point in the center district of the city. The others had already canvassed the area around their base, the supposed drop point, and where their target was hiding out.
It seemed like an easy job to just go knocking at the door and surprising the man, but Jonghyun was uneasy as he and Minho put the guns together in a corner of the room. On the other side, Taemin was mixing together some knock out juice while Jinki helped Kibum set up the com links and surveillance.
Finishing putting together his favorite handgun, Jonghyun walked over to the hacker and leader. Jinki immediately turned and handed Jonghyun a com link which he fitted into his ear.
“Active?” Kibum asked into the mike.
Jonghyun nodded. “Loud and clear.”
“Good,” the hacker nodded before outfitting the rest of the team. The plan was to have Kibum run surveillance while Jonghyun and Jinki went after the target. In the meantime, Minho and Taemin would wait to see if they needed any backup before going to stall the buyers.
Tucking his guns into their hostlers, Jonghyun nodded at Jinki before they left the hotel room. They had a five minute walk to the small, grimy looking motel where their target was hidden. Jinki nodded at Jonghyun before entering the next building over. He’d climb to the roof of it before vaulting over to the roof of the building they needed. That way, Jinki would work his way down and Jonghyun his way up to find the target.
Entering the building calmly, Jonghyun slipped past the reception desk and into the dark stairwell.
“Hyung?” the man asked his link quietly as he reached the first floor.
“On the roof,” Jinki replied.
“The signal is steady. Target has to be there,” Kibum updated as Jonghyun hurried up the next two flights of stairs.
It wasn’t until they reached the center fourth floor that Jinki and Jonghyun met up again. The eldest nodded the younger man as they reached the last room in the hall. It was quiet as they stood outside, but Jonghyun’s nerves had gone into overdrive.
He stepped back from the door and pulled out his guns, cocking and aiming them at the door. Jinki caught eyes with him and then slammed his foot forward, breaking down the door and rolling into the room. Jonghyun entered on his heels, guns ready at both dark doorways. The elder got to his feet, pulling out his own firearm and inched forward towards one of the doorways. Nodding at him, Jonghyun went to the other, walking in quietly.
The younger agent felt the hair on his neck rise as he scanned the empty room.
“Hyung?” he called.
“Over here!” Jinki yelled back. Following the sound, Jonghyun ran over into the room and found the older man staring at a computer that was hooked up to a phone.
“Shit, is that?” Jonghyun breathed with horror, staring at the flashing device.
“It’s a decoy,” Jinki answered for him. “We’re in a fucking trap,” the man snarled before getting back to his feet.
Jonghyun felt the unease in his stomach grow into full panic as he watched Jinki tear through the rest of the room, finding it empty and spotless.
Pressing a hand to his com, Jonghyun demanded, “Where are the kids?”
“They’re already at the check,” Kibum’s voice crackled back. “Check the phone again. Is it ringing?”
Jonghyun grabbed the slender phone and looked at the screen. “Yeah.”
“Fuck. What about the screen? Is there any window open?”
Swiping a finger of the touch pad, Jonghyun stared hard at the screen, swearing as he realized the computer was functioning in English.
“It looks like a shopping site, I think,” he replied after studying the pictures and characters.
Jinki ran back over to him and glanced at the screen over his shoulder.
“Oh fuck,” the older man whispered.
“What is it?”
“It’s a dummy program that’s buying useless crap off the internet. We’ve been following a machine.”
Sharing a glance with the older man, Jonghyun pulled a folded up draw string bag out of his jacket pocket and shoved the laptop inside, throwing it over his shoulder.
“We can dissect this crap later. Let’s go!”
The two immediately ran back to the door and skidded to a stop as they heard voices in the hall coming towards them. Carefully pushing the door closed, Jinki leaned forward to use the peephole and swore.
“What?” Jonghyun breathed.
“FSB.”
The younger man swore heavily. The FSB was the current Russian security service, formed after the dissolution of the KGB in 1993. But that didn’t change too much of their operation policy. They were still one of the most ruthless agencies in the world when it came to foreign nationals in their territory. It seemed that their target was slipperier than they had prepared for, Jonghyun realized.
The younger agent gave Jinki the bag and took over his guard of the door. Keeping both guns pointed at it, Jonghyun watched from the corner of his eye as Jinki put away his gun and hurried over to the farthest window, pushing it open. The elder man scanned the street below him for any FSB personal before climbing onto the ledge. Standing on the balls of his feet, Jinki leapt up and reached for the window sill of the floor above, dragging himself onto it. Getting to his feet, the oldest agent checked around again to make sure it was clear.
Beneath, Jonghyun stayed at the door long enough to make sure the FSB passed without incident before hurrying to the window. The younger agent watched dumbfounded as the elder man leapt across the two meter distance between the buildings without a running start. Shaking his head, Jonghyun holstered his guns and followed the man out the building, climbing towards the ground instead. Landing noiselessly in the alleyway, Jonghyun glanced upwards quickly to see Jinki already making his way across the rooftops. Sighing, the younger agent followed discretely, swerving through small alleys and back tracking to make sure their trail was clean.
“I’m back!” Jinki’s voice echoed in his com.
Jonghyun spun on his heel and took an alley to his left, replying “On my way,”
--
Taemin kept his eyes open for any movement at the back door of the greasy pub that had been discovered as the drop point. He was hiding in a small booth while Minho sat in full view at the bar, chatting easily with the locals. Both were on edge, listening to the revelation that their eldest teammates had nearly walked into a trap. Spinning the complimentary box of matches in his fingers, Taemin carefully studied each person in the pub, categorizing them as innocent, liability, or danger. So far, he had mostly innocents and liabilities due to the crowd of old men mixed with collegiate boys.
Minho caught his gaze at one point and the youngest nodded reassuringly. The elder man turned and replied to the teasing jab of the man sitting by him with a wisecrack of his own.
“You’re not from around here,” the man finally commented with a heavy drawl.
Minho chuckled. “I haven’t been this far north before, but I have spent quite a few years in Moscow,” he replied easily.
The man laughed in response.
“You speak well for a foreigner.”
Minho bowed his head at the compliment, raising his glass in salute before taking a sip. He watched carefully as the older man downed his drink and roared at the bartender for another.
--
Kibum’s fingers were flying over the keys of his laptop, his eyes moving from left to right in mere seconds as he tried to sort through the proxy servers of the wireless phone service, trying to track down their target.
Jinki was beside him, setting up the decoy laptop in order to see if they could back track a signal from it. In the meantime, they were waiting for Jonghyun to get back and for any updates from the youngest members.
“Fuck it. Jinki!” Kibum cried after running into another block. “Here,” he handed the older man a USB-USB cord from his bag. “Hook that laptop up to mine and we’ll see what this bastard’s been up to.”
The eldest followed immediately and watched in silence as Kibum began to hack the decoy laptop.
“Interesting guy. Damn good framework,” the hacker commented as he tore down firewalls and breezed through cracks in the security. “But it’s incomplete. Sloppy.”
Jinki leaned forward with anticipation, watching the black and green screen with tension. “Can you get through it?”
To his surprise, Kibum smirked. “Please. I wrote shit like this when I was high school.” With a few more keystrokes and clicks, the hacker let out a small whoop of accomplishment. “We’re in! Now let’s see what this bitch has been up to.”
“Got me a location?”
Kibum turned and gave the leader a surprisingly indulgent glance.
“Grocer, two blocks southwest from here. You can get there in about six minutes. Taemin, you need to head out of the pub and go east for a block. There’ll be a grocer on the corner, called бакалейщик.”
“That’s an obvious name,” Minho commented after a moment with amusement.
Kibum grinned in response. “Tell it to the man that owns the place.”
Jinki nodded at Kibum again before heading out. The hacker waved him off and went back to dissecting the decoy laptop, not even realizing that it was still transmitting a signal.
--
Jonghyun was close to their base when he heard the change of location. Sighing, the agent started to ask for directions to the grocer when a shadow in the corner of his eye made him instinctively duck. The agent dodged on reflex as a rainfall of bullets slammed into the ground next to him.
Pushing off his feet, Jonghyun threw himself into an alleyway shrouded in darkness and pulled his guns back out. Pressing against the wall behind him, Jonghyun peeked out and checked for the shooter. Seeing no movement, the agent quickly left the cover of the alley and ran behind a large dumpster, pausing again to sweep the area.
“Jonghyun, where the hell are you?” Kibum’s voice crackled into his ear.
“I’m right near you,” the agent answered as he moved further down the alley.
“Out in front?”
“No,” Jonghyun replied, confused. “Back side alley.”
“What?”
Realization hit Jonghyun like a punch to the gut as he dropped all pretenses of stealth and tore through the alley and into the back entrance of the hotel. Taking the stairs three at the time, Jonghyun swore up and down, yelling into his com, “Kibum, get your fucking gun out!”
--
Jinki felt the blood drain out of his face as he heard Jonghyun’s desperate yell in his ear. Skidding to stop in front of the grocer, the leader swore and turned to see Taemin and Minho arrive. The youngest members of the team came to the same realization as they stared at the burning building.
“Fuck,” Taemin swore. “What now?”
Pulling out his phone, Minho called a fire department to report the burning building. He then looked at Jinki for directions.
“Split up. I can hear yelling inside. Taemin and I’ll get them out. If anything, we’ll find our duped buyer. Make sure he’s alive and then we’ll hand him over to the Americans. They can interrogate him,” he ordered as he stalked over to a fire hydrant on the other side of the road. “Minho, go. You’re probably the fastest.”
Nodding, the tallest agent left, running at a ground-eating pace. Turning away, Jinki slammed his heel down on the hydrant, causing it gush open and spray directly at him. Letting himself be drenching fully, Jinki nodded at Taemin and ran towards the grocer.
Taemin followed his lead and the two agents entered the burning building. Thankfully, the flames seemed weak as they hadn’t consumed much of the structural walls. The scientist thanked the gods as he realized that meant no accelerant. He stayed on Jinki’s heels until he heard screaming behind him. Realizing it was the store owner, Taemin yelled at the leader before hurrying to help the elderly man. The man had fallen and twisted his ankle from the looks of it. Reaching down, Taemin grabbed the man up, hoisting him by the waist before taking him outside.
Seeing the youngest occupied, Jinki continued to the back where the most screaming was coming from. The leader smirked as he realized the speaker was yelling in English, confirming his theory that it was the buyer. Diving over the broken and burning debris, Jinki kicked open the door to find a man bleeding from his leg.
“Who the fuck are you?”
Jinki smirked.
“Not your friend, that’s for sure.”
--
Jonghyun slammed through the door of the sixth floor with his shoulder and found himself staring down a group of four armed men in the hallway. Without even stopping, the agent barreled into the closest man, slamming the butt of his gun into the man’s temple and spinning him around as a shield. His companions weren’t sympathetic though as they opened fire. Jonghyun held onto the man tightly as bullets riddled his body.
Using the temporary cover, Jonghyun felled two of his opponents with head shots before dropping the body. He rushed forward and drop kicked the last man and slammed his fist into his neck, crushing his trachea. Getting off of him, Jonghyun hurried over to the door of their makeshift base and kicked it open to see Kibum surrounded by three agents carrying automatic rifles. Seeing one turn towards him, Jonghyun threw himself to the side and rolled towards cover.
Kibum was on the farthest side of room, using the dresser as cover as he tried to shoot down his attackers. Keeping an eye on his teammate, Jonghyun leapt to his feet and shot down one of them in one slick movement before dropping again. His action had gotten the attention of another, giving Kibum the opportunity to shoot out his knees and bring him down. In the confusion of the felled man’s yells, Jonghyun leapt out of cover and down the last man. Seeing it was clear, Kibum moved out of cover, giving Jonghyun a grateful nod before reaching down to grab his laptop.
--
Minho made it back to the hotel in record time, hauling himself up the stairs like a madmen. He kicked open the door of the hallway and swore in horror as a man on the ground aimed his gun into the room.
It was the cry of pain that had him firing without aiming, emptying his clip.
The shoots tore into Jonghyun and he let out a cry of pain as he fell onto Kibum. The hacker immediately reacted. He grabbed one of the automatic rifles from the ground and found the shooter, laying the doorway with his gun aimed.
The sound of pounding footsteps had him ready to shoot again, but Minho’s face in the door made him drop his gun and turn to Jonghyun.
“Back,” the agent whispered in pain as he gasped for air.
Minho entered the room and reached down, grabbing one of Jonghyun’s shoulders. Together, he and Kibum dragged him over to the bed, laying him onto his stomach. Minho reached into his pocket and pulled his knife, tearing Jonghyun’s shirt open. The younger man swore as they counted two bullets in the elder agent’s back.
Dropping the shirt aside, Minho ran over to where his bag was and opened it, looking for the emergency kit. He opened the box and grabbed the analgesic-general-anesthetic needles, uncapping it with his teeth before sticking it into the vein in Jonghyun’s neck.
“Kibum, find the tweezers and sutures. We have to stitch him up to get out of here.”
The hacker looked at the younger man in horror.
“What?”
Minho turned and gave the older man a hard look.
“We can’t risk being caught. We have no friends here in Russia, so hospitals and doctors are out of the question. We’ll stitch him up the best we can and get out of here. Our best bet is one of the Baltic States by train, probably Latvia and then a flight back to Korea.”
“You mean Riga International?” Kibum gasped. “But that’s like a fucking fifteen hours away.”
“We don’t have a choice!” Minho yelled finally.
The two agents stood in silence for a moment before Kibum nodded jerkily and moved back to Jonghyun. He unwrapped the tweezers and held them over the first bullet. Minho placed his hands on Jonghyun’s shoulders and his leg over the elder’s legs, pinning him to the bed. With a nod from the tallest, Kibum reached in and yanked out the first bullet.
The cry of pain from the elder agent had both of them wincing as blood began to pour from the open wound. Dropping the tweezers, Kibum grabbed the disinfectant and poured it over the wound. Jonghyun bucked again at the burning sensation and Minho shifted his weight more onto the elder man, holding him still. Kibum wiped clean the wound and then tore open the sutures and then stopped to grab a needle.
“Local anesthetic,” he explained, handing it to Minho. The taller man nodded and grabbed it from Kibum, injecting into Jonghyun’s back.
Calming his shaking hands, the hacker began to slowly stitch back together the torn skin. With aching precision, Kibum slowly pieced back together Jonghyun’s skin, using a large number of stitches in hopes of a minimal scar. It took him eleven stitches, but the skin was closed and Jonghyun was finally still, the anesthetic doing its job.
With shaking shoulders, Kibum looked up at Minho and asked “Next one?”
--
Taemin had managed to carry the old man far enough from the fire while being screamed at in Russian. Taking the man’s arm off his shoulder, the scientist glanced back at the grocer and moved to a stop as he caught sight of a shadow trying to get out from another entrance of the building. Dropping the old man somewhat impatiently, the youngest agent pulled his gun out of his holster and ran at the shadow.
It was the target, Taemin realized as he spotted the computer bag in the man’s hands as he drew closer. The target turned and caught sight of him, speeding up in a mad dash down an alley to his side.
Taemin flew after him and flew to the ground as the target fired bullets at him. Swearing, the scientist threw himself behind a nearby dumpster and checked the alley. Not seeing the man, he moved forward, keeping his gun out.
The alley was silent around him and Taemin swore. “Fuck, don’t let me have lost him,” he muttered as he panted.
The sound of a falling dumpster and scuffle in the alley to his left had the agent spinning on his heel. Taemin ran forward and caught sight of the target jumping onto a fire escape. With a harsh grin, Taemin followed him, leaping up and grabbing the ladder. Climbing onto, he raced up the stairs. The target turned back and swore at him before diving into an open window. Taemin reached the window and threw himself to the side, dodging another spray of bullets from the other man.
Swearing, the youngest leapt moved back to the window and leapt through it, throwing himself behind a dilapidated couch as the target tried to shoot him again from his hiding place behind the kitchen table. Taemin muttered a few curses under his breath as he switched clips before poking his head from the side of the couch.
“Fuck!” the youngest snarled as he threw himself back, barely avoiding the latest bullets. “Fucker’s carrying an automatic. No wonder,” he commented to himself as he crawled underneath the couch. Waiting for a moment, Taemin pushed open the flap of upholstery in front of him and fired a shot. It hit his knee, making the man cry out and fall away from his cover. The target snarled and got to his feet heading for the door. Taemin, meanwhile, pulled himself from out underneath the couch and struggled as his soaked holster got caught on the wood of the couch. The other man made it over the door and Taemin swore desperately as he reached to throw it open.
“I’d stop now.”
The target came to a stop as Jinki stood there, gun aimed at his heart. The leader glanced over the target’s shoulder at Taemin and asked, “Alright?”
Taemin twisted and managed to free himself, getting to his feet. “Yeah. Nice timing.”
Jinki smirked at compliment, tossing his head. “Cuff him.”
The younger man nodded and grabbed the target’s hands, yanking his arms back over his shoulders and twisting both wrists before he placed the cuffs on.
Watching with dark amusement, Jinki leaned into the enraged man and whispered, “Guess what? You’re going to the Americans.”
--
The train was suffocating with silence for Kibum. Minho and Taemin were sleeping while Jinki was reading. A small groan from Jonghyun had the hacker jumping his feet to check on the older man.
To his surprise, Jonghyun’s eyes were open and lucid.
“Did you get him?” the agent whispered.
“Yeah,” Kibum replied just as quietly as he checked Jonghyun’s pulse and breathing.
The older man grimaced and shifted before studying Kibum. “Good. You okay?”
Kibum swallowed thickly and nodded. He kneeled by the older man and grabbed his hand. “Jonghyun,” he started. “I’m sorry. I should’ve…”
The older man cut him off.
“Don’t be,” Jonghyun commanded. He pulled up the hand held by Kibum and turned his own until their hands were clasped tightly. “We’re a team kid. No sorries and no thank-you’s.”
Nodding, Kibum gave the older man a watery smile.
“Can I at least say you’re one hell of a shot?” he asked softly, relaxing.
Jonghyun grinned in return.
-TBC-
(A/N): I think that is the fastest I've ever written a chapter. 14 pages in less than 24 hours. That is inspired.
So, this is a flash back. I was really stressed in the beginning while writing this whether this should've gone before chapter 3, but I find that I don't mind the order. The way I see this, it's like a tv show with a long main plot with smaller stories in each episode, or in this case, chapter.
Notes on the text:
1. 5,695 words
2. Information on Russia and Latvia was gathered from Wikipedia.
3. Distances and routes gathered from Google Maps.
I have to admit, I'm still on an adrenaline rush, so I can't really speak coherently about this, but I'm just so happy with this and I hope you got the same rush I did as you read it! Though I will say, I think I made Taemin into one hell of a pouty-mouth. ^^
Let me know what you think!
(P.S. Just for laughs: I was defnitely listening to Beyoncé's Halo on repeat while writing the action sequences. ^^)
Chapter Five
By the way, assume all underlined dialogue as not Korean.
Chapter One -- Chapter Two -- Chapter Three
Four - Making Bonds
Three Years Ago
The call came in four days for their first mission together and they all knew it was the first test to see if they could make it together.
--
Jonghyun found himself getting along well with both Taemin and Jinki. Taemin was like the cute little brother he had never had. Now he somewhat understood why his elder sister constantly wanted to pinch his cheeks when he was a kid, considering Jonghyun had to stop himself from molesting his youngest teammate’s face daily.
Jonghyun was a touch person. He liked to have physical contact with those around him. He was also a very active person, unable to sit still. So it was nice that Minho was always up for a round of sparring or grappling with him, especially since they both knew they had no chance against Jinki, no matter how much the leader downplayed his skills.
On the other hand though, Jonghyun had the hardest time befriending Kibum. The shooter found himself either being ignored by the hacker or being glared at by him so viciously that Jonghyun was half-convinced that he’d find scorch marks on his back the next morning.
Frankly, it made the young man uneasy to know he wasn’t on good terms with one of his teammates. Jonghyun knew while he was considered the best in his field, the point of the team was to work together and they needed to trust each other or they’d be busted immediately.
--
Kibum, on the other hand, didn’t agree. He was on the team to do a job, not be anybody’s friend and that’s how it had been for the past seven years. The hacker, of course, couldn’t ignore Minho or Jinki. Jinki was the leader and due to that, the hacker gave him the respect of at least listening.
Minho, however, knew too much of his history. After all, he had been Kibum’s training partner from day one in the army. Whether by fate, luck, or some demented bastard’s planning, the military’s star cadet and their worst nightmare had been paired together since day one and to the surprise of many, they didn’t kill each other. Some assumed it was because neither wanted to get on the bad sides of their superiors. Others assumed that they just avoided each other like the plague.
What no one seemed to realize was that the two were friends and good ones at that. Minho was the first person to challenge Kibum and the first to compliment him. It had taken a friendly sparring match to get the hacker’s attention and bragging-rights-to-winner drinking match to break down his walls.
Kibum trusted Minho intrinsically like he did no one else in the force, and that’s why Minho was glaring at the slightly older man now.
“Kibum, give them a chance,” the taller man commanded. “They’re not going to tar and feather you for talking to them.”
Kibum snorted as he ran through the data of their first mission.
“It’s not important for me to talk to them, Choi,” he replied dismissively.
Minho rolled his eyes and reached forward, grabbing the back of Kibum’s chair and forcing it around to face him. The hacker looked enraged at the contact and tried to brush the taller man’s hands off his shoulders, but Minho was faster, pining Kibum’s wrists to his sides.
“You’re being ridiculous. We’re a team Kibum, and the first step to trusting someone is to communicate with them.”
Kibum scoffed and glared, trying to throw Minho off of him. He pushed at Minho, twisted and shook, and even tried kicking the taller man to no avail.
“Why the hell does it matter?” he finally snarled, unable to escape.
“Because we need to rely on each other if we want to live,” Minho snapped back. “This isn’t regular army work anymore, Kibum. They’re going to throw us to the wolves and you know that.”
--
Wolves was right, the hacker mused as they landed within three days in Sheremetyevo International.
It was chilly, but not the freezing cold the young men had been expecting. They all arrived by different flights, each armed with a tourist visa and a beautiful DLSR camera to be reporters like himself and Jonghyun, university students like Taemin and Jinki, or a fashion photographer like Minho. Kibum had been half surprised by their roles, expecting to be the fashion photographer and half grateful not to have to deal with the stress of that role.
Walking past the baggage claim, Kibum headed for the nearest internet café. It was about a ten minute walk from the airport and it gave Kibum the added time to ditch his contacts and dark clothing to large hipster frames and flamboyant jeans, fitting in with today’s teenagers.
He reached the café and saw his teammates sprawled at on the tables, having from the sounds of it, a loud debate about current rising songstress, Hюшa and whether her latest song would finally knock Rihanna off the top spot. Sitting down comfortably, Kibum joined in the conversation, throwing in his own ideas. The young men had a few coffees and chatted some more until it became late. Then, in broken sets they departed; Jinki and Taemin first, then Kibum, then Jonghyun, and Minho last.
They all reached an expensive restaurant after changing into suits and sat down together as if part of a large foreign business meeting. After ordering their dishes and a bottle of wine, Jinki dropped the veneer of joviality and took out his cell phone.
“Here’s the plan. We’re headed towards Yaroslavl, about 350 kilometers from here. It’s an old city, settled at the crossroads of two major rivers, the Volga and Kotorosl. It’s also the hub of most of the country’s highways.”
“Major transportation point,” Taemin commented calmly.
“Exactly,” Jinki confirmed. “We’re going after a software dealer.”
That had eyebrows around the table raised.
“I know it sounds weird,” Jinki explained with a sigh. “But apparently this guy is trying to make bank off this program he created, and it’s not something we want spread around.”
Kibum scoffed. “It’s a phishing program. I haven’t gotten it, but it looks very slick. Good for getting past firewalls and decoy server blocks, commonly used by all governments, banks, and large multinational companies. In fact, if I didn’t have to protect against it down myself, I’d be interested in seeing it work,” he commented with a faraway look on his face.
“Contacts?” Minho asked after the table digested Kibum’s unhidden curiosity.
Jonghyun shook his head. “Nothing. Apparently, the Russian government is being very blasé about this threat, which makes us think it might be one of their own. The Americans, however, are already freaking out, but their hands are tied because of diplomatic respect.”
“The British?” the tallest asked.
“Too unsure,” Jinki replied. “They want solid proof before going in, unlike the Americans.”
“Japanese?” Taemin chimed in.
Both Jonghyun and Kibum snorted at that, surprising each other.
“No offense, kid,” Jonghyun started after breaking his staring contest with Kibum. “But the Japanese work in a pretty self-serving way. They only help when it’s their own ass on the line.”
“So we’re here,” Taemin started.
“Because we have a treaty with the Americans and not with Russia,” Jinki concluded.
The youngest member of team rolled his eyes and sat back, making the others chuckle lightly.
“Now that that’s cleared up,” Jinki started after letting them eat a bit of the sumptuous looking yet unfamiliar food in front of them. “There’s four routes sketched out for us. We’ll be using the public transit and cash only. The first route is mine and Taemin’s.”
--
Taemin sighed as he and Jinki waited for the train at Aэpoпopт. It was a 35 minute long ride with one stop that would land them at станция Москва-Смоленская. From there, they’d take the subway to Октябрьская and their last train to Воркута, a four hour long ride that would land them in the outskirts of Yaroslavl around 5 in the afternoon.
They were the second ones to leave after spending a night in a small dusty student lodge. It was a part of their rouse, but Taemin couldn’t help but be grateful that he was no longer a student after staying in the rundown place. It wasn’t seedy or anything, but the lack of a proper shower and no place to eat had the youngest member of the team grumpy.
Taemin looked up as Jinki returned from the station concession stand, carrying a large blini covered in strawberry jam. Grinning in delight, Taemin snatched the pastry from the older man and set to devouring it. Jinki just chuckled and took a seat next to him before grabbing a book out of his bag. Taemin caught sight of the title and raised an eyebrow at Jinki between bites.
“Dostoyevsky?”
Jinki smiled. “I figured a story about crime would help set the mood for today.”
--
Jonghyun sighed as he rubbed his shoulder. He had been the first to leave around 10 in the morning to catch his first bus to Метро Речной вокзал. From there, he hopped onto his second bus and reached Перепечинское кладбище around 11 to catch a train to Ленинградский вокзал, a train he was currently on.
It was quiet today, the train filled with only a few passengers, a handful of businessmen, two small families, and some teenagers. But Jonghyun preferred that as he leaned back into his seat to subtly study the cabin. It was older than those in Korea, but warmly fitted with velvet seats the color of pinot noir with gold trimming on the edges of the windows and doors.
Smiling, Jonghyun slouched down and flicked on his mp3 player. He still had another twenty minutes before arriving and catching his last train that was coincidentally the same train Jinki and Taemin would be on to Воркута. Closing his eyes, Jonghyun began to bob his head along to the music.
--
Minho smiled as he thanked the young woman for posing for his pictures. He had stepped out earlier than he needed to take some pictures and also familiarize himself with the accent again. He had studied Russian during his training, but had felt rusty when they landed yesterday. Now, walking the streets, he felt more comfortable conversing with the locals while taking pictures to satisfy his rouse.
He didn’t have to leave until about noon, when he was to catch a bus to Метро Речной вокзал, the same bus Jonghyun had already taken. From there, he’d go to the underground and make his way to Красногвардейская and then from another subway station, reach Октябрьская. There, he was to take a train to Благовещенск that would arrive around 6 in the evening.
He was going later than the rest in order to avoid issues while carrying the artillery. They had figured that by sending him during rush hour, he’d get looked over for carrying such heavy bags.
Smiling thanks at the barista for his coffee, Minho jogged over the bus station.
--
Kibum had the latest route and would arrive last in Yaroslavl.
Jinki, Jonghyun, and Taemin had been sent ahead to scout and make preparations while he had held back to check on their target by following his credit card and cell phone’s GPS around. So far, everything looked on schedule with the target landing in Yaroslavl around 9 in the morning. The drop time was scheduled for 9 in the evening. Kibum knew that the goal was to get the program before then and be ready for the buyers.
Kibum looked at his watch and cursed as he realized it was noon. Packing his things together, the hacker raced over to the train station where he managed to catch his train to станция Москва-Смоленская just in the nick of time. His route was similar to Taemin and Jinki’s in that he’d land in станция Москва-Смоленская and take the subway to Октябрьская. However, his final train landed him in Сыктывкар, not Воркута.
--
It was about 6:30 in the evening when Kibum reached their rendezvous point in the center district of the city. The others had already canvassed the area around their base, the supposed drop point, and where their target was hiding out.
It seemed like an easy job to just go knocking at the door and surprising the man, but Jonghyun was uneasy as he and Minho put the guns together in a corner of the room. On the other side, Taemin was mixing together some knock out juice while Jinki helped Kibum set up the com links and surveillance.
Finishing putting together his favorite handgun, Jonghyun walked over to the hacker and leader. Jinki immediately turned and handed Jonghyun a com link which he fitted into his ear.
“Active?” Kibum asked into the mike.
Jonghyun nodded. “Loud and clear.”
“Good,” the hacker nodded before outfitting the rest of the team. The plan was to have Kibum run surveillance while Jonghyun and Jinki went after the target. In the meantime, Minho and Taemin would wait to see if they needed any backup before going to stall the buyers.
Tucking his guns into their hostlers, Jonghyun nodded at Jinki before they left the hotel room. They had a five minute walk to the small, grimy looking motel where their target was hidden. Jinki nodded at Jonghyun before entering the next building over. He’d climb to the roof of it before vaulting over to the roof of the building they needed. That way, Jinki would work his way down and Jonghyun his way up to find the target.
Entering the building calmly, Jonghyun slipped past the reception desk and into the dark stairwell.
“Hyung?” the man asked his link quietly as he reached the first floor.
“On the roof,” Jinki replied.
“The signal is steady. Target has to be there,” Kibum updated as Jonghyun hurried up the next two flights of stairs.
It wasn’t until they reached the center fourth floor that Jinki and Jonghyun met up again. The eldest nodded the younger man as they reached the last room in the hall. It was quiet as they stood outside, but Jonghyun’s nerves had gone into overdrive.
He stepped back from the door and pulled out his guns, cocking and aiming them at the door. Jinki caught eyes with him and then slammed his foot forward, breaking down the door and rolling into the room. Jonghyun entered on his heels, guns ready at both dark doorways. The elder got to his feet, pulling out his own firearm and inched forward towards one of the doorways. Nodding at him, Jonghyun went to the other, walking in quietly.
The younger agent felt the hair on his neck rise as he scanned the empty room.
“Hyung?” he called.
“Over here!” Jinki yelled back. Following the sound, Jonghyun ran over into the room and found the older man staring at a computer that was hooked up to a phone.
“Shit, is that?” Jonghyun breathed with horror, staring at the flashing device.
“It’s a decoy,” Jinki answered for him. “We’re in a fucking trap,” the man snarled before getting back to his feet.
Jonghyun felt the unease in his stomach grow into full panic as he watched Jinki tear through the rest of the room, finding it empty and spotless.
Pressing a hand to his com, Jonghyun demanded, “Where are the kids?”
“They’re already at the check,” Kibum’s voice crackled back. “Check the phone again. Is it ringing?”
Jonghyun grabbed the slender phone and looked at the screen. “Yeah.”
“Fuck. What about the screen? Is there any window open?”
Swiping a finger of the touch pad, Jonghyun stared hard at the screen, swearing as he realized the computer was functioning in English.
“It looks like a shopping site, I think,” he replied after studying the pictures and characters.
Jinki ran back over to him and glanced at the screen over his shoulder.
“Oh fuck,” the older man whispered.
“What is it?”
“It’s a dummy program that’s buying useless crap off the internet. We’ve been following a machine.”
Sharing a glance with the older man, Jonghyun pulled a folded up draw string bag out of his jacket pocket and shoved the laptop inside, throwing it over his shoulder.
“We can dissect this crap later. Let’s go!”
The two immediately ran back to the door and skidded to a stop as they heard voices in the hall coming towards them. Carefully pushing the door closed, Jinki leaned forward to use the peephole and swore.
“What?” Jonghyun breathed.
“FSB.”
The younger man swore heavily. The FSB was the current Russian security service, formed after the dissolution of the KGB in 1993. But that didn’t change too much of their operation policy. They were still one of the most ruthless agencies in the world when it came to foreign nationals in their territory. It seemed that their target was slipperier than they had prepared for, Jonghyun realized.
The younger agent gave Jinki the bag and took over his guard of the door. Keeping both guns pointed at it, Jonghyun watched from the corner of his eye as Jinki put away his gun and hurried over to the farthest window, pushing it open. The elder man scanned the street below him for any FSB personal before climbing onto the ledge. Standing on the balls of his feet, Jinki leapt up and reached for the window sill of the floor above, dragging himself onto it. Getting to his feet, the oldest agent checked around again to make sure it was clear.
Beneath, Jonghyun stayed at the door long enough to make sure the FSB passed without incident before hurrying to the window. The younger agent watched dumbfounded as the elder man leapt across the two meter distance between the buildings without a running start. Shaking his head, Jonghyun holstered his guns and followed the man out the building, climbing towards the ground instead. Landing noiselessly in the alleyway, Jonghyun glanced upwards quickly to see Jinki already making his way across the rooftops. Sighing, the younger agent followed discretely, swerving through small alleys and back tracking to make sure their trail was clean.
“I’m back!” Jinki’s voice echoed in his com.
Jonghyun spun on his heel and took an alley to his left, replying “On my way,”
--
Taemin kept his eyes open for any movement at the back door of the greasy pub that had been discovered as the drop point. He was hiding in a small booth while Minho sat in full view at the bar, chatting easily with the locals. Both were on edge, listening to the revelation that their eldest teammates had nearly walked into a trap. Spinning the complimentary box of matches in his fingers, Taemin carefully studied each person in the pub, categorizing them as innocent, liability, or danger. So far, he had mostly innocents and liabilities due to the crowd of old men mixed with collegiate boys.
Minho caught his gaze at one point and the youngest nodded reassuringly. The elder man turned and replied to the teasing jab of the man sitting by him with a wisecrack of his own.
“You’re not from around here,” the man finally commented with a heavy drawl.
Minho chuckled. “I haven’t been this far north before, but I have spent quite a few years in Moscow,” he replied easily.
The man laughed in response.
“You speak well for a foreigner.”
Minho bowed his head at the compliment, raising his glass in salute before taking a sip. He watched carefully as the older man downed his drink and roared at the bartender for another.
--
Kibum’s fingers were flying over the keys of his laptop, his eyes moving from left to right in mere seconds as he tried to sort through the proxy servers of the wireless phone service, trying to track down their target.
Jinki was beside him, setting up the decoy laptop in order to see if they could back track a signal from it. In the meantime, they were waiting for Jonghyun to get back and for any updates from the youngest members.
“Fuck it. Jinki!” Kibum cried after running into another block. “Here,” he handed the older man a USB-USB cord from his bag. “Hook that laptop up to mine and we’ll see what this bastard’s been up to.”
The eldest followed immediately and watched in silence as Kibum began to hack the decoy laptop.
“Interesting guy. Damn good framework,” the hacker commented as he tore down firewalls and breezed through cracks in the security. “But it’s incomplete. Sloppy.”
Jinki leaned forward with anticipation, watching the black and green screen with tension. “Can you get through it?”
To his surprise, Kibum smirked. “Please. I wrote shit like this when I was high school.” With a few more keystrokes and clicks, the hacker let out a small whoop of accomplishment. “We’re in! Now let’s see what this bitch has been up to.”
“Got me a location?”
Kibum turned and gave the leader a surprisingly indulgent glance.
“Grocer, two blocks southwest from here. You can get there in about six minutes. Taemin, you need to head out of the pub and go east for a block. There’ll be a grocer on the corner, called бакалейщик.”
“That’s an obvious name,” Minho commented after a moment with amusement.
Kibum grinned in response. “Tell it to the man that owns the place.”
Jinki nodded at Kibum again before heading out. The hacker waved him off and went back to dissecting the decoy laptop, not even realizing that it was still transmitting a signal.
--
Jonghyun was close to their base when he heard the change of location. Sighing, the agent started to ask for directions to the grocer when a shadow in the corner of his eye made him instinctively duck. The agent dodged on reflex as a rainfall of bullets slammed into the ground next to him.
Pushing off his feet, Jonghyun threw himself into an alleyway shrouded in darkness and pulled his guns back out. Pressing against the wall behind him, Jonghyun peeked out and checked for the shooter. Seeing no movement, the agent quickly left the cover of the alley and ran behind a large dumpster, pausing again to sweep the area.
“Jonghyun, where the hell are you?” Kibum’s voice crackled into his ear.
“I’m right near you,” the agent answered as he moved further down the alley.
“Out in front?”
“No,” Jonghyun replied, confused. “Back side alley.”
“What?”
Realization hit Jonghyun like a punch to the gut as he dropped all pretenses of stealth and tore through the alley and into the back entrance of the hotel. Taking the stairs three at the time, Jonghyun swore up and down, yelling into his com, “Kibum, get your fucking gun out!”
--
Jinki felt the blood drain out of his face as he heard Jonghyun’s desperate yell in his ear. Skidding to stop in front of the grocer, the leader swore and turned to see Taemin and Minho arrive. The youngest members of the team came to the same realization as they stared at the burning building.
“Fuck,” Taemin swore. “What now?”
Pulling out his phone, Minho called a fire department to report the burning building. He then looked at Jinki for directions.
“Split up. I can hear yelling inside. Taemin and I’ll get them out. If anything, we’ll find our duped buyer. Make sure he’s alive and then we’ll hand him over to the Americans. They can interrogate him,” he ordered as he stalked over to a fire hydrant on the other side of the road. “Minho, go. You’re probably the fastest.”
Nodding, the tallest agent left, running at a ground-eating pace. Turning away, Jinki slammed his heel down on the hydrant, causing it gush open and spray directly at him. Letting himself be drenching fully, Jinki nodded at Taemin and ran towards the grocer.
Taemin followed his lead and the two agents entered the burning building. Thankfully, the flames seemed weak as they hadn’t consumed much of the structural walls. The scientist thanked the gods as he realized that meant no accelerant. He stayed on Jinki’s heels until he heard screaming behind him. Realizing it was the store owner, Taemin yelled at the leader before hurrying to help the elderly man. The man had fallen and twisted his ankle from the looks of it. Reaching down, Taemin grabbed the man up, hoisting him by the waist before taking him outside.
Seeing the youngest occupied, Jinki continued to the back where the most screaming was coming from. The leader smirked as he realized the speaker was yelling in English, confirming his theory that it was the buyer. Diving over the broken and burning debris, Jinki kicked open the door to find a man bleeding from his leg.
“Who the fuck are you?”
Jinki smirked.
“Not your friend, that’s for sure.”
--
Jonghyun slammed through the door of the sixth floor with his shoulder and found himself staring down a group of four armed men in the hallway. Without even stopping, the agent barreled into the closest man, slamming the butt of his gun into the man’s temple and spinning him around as a shield. His companions weren’t sympathetic though as they opened fire. Jonghyun held onto the man tightly as bullets riddled his body.
Using the temporary cover, Jonghyun felled two of his opponents with head shots before dropping the body. He rushed forward and drop kicked the last man and slammed his fist into his neck, crushing his trachea. Getting off of him, Jonghyun hurried over to the door of their makeshift base and kicked it open to see Kibum surrounded by three agents carrying automatic rifles. Seeing one turn towards him, Jonghyun threw himself to the side and rolled towards cover.
Kibum was on the farthest side of room, using the dresser as cover as he tried to shoot down his attackers. Keeping an eye on his teammate, Jonghyun leapt to his feet and shot down one of them in one slick movement before dropping again. His action had gotten the attention of another, giving Kibum the opportunity to shoot out his knees and bring him down. In the confusion of the felled man’s yells, Jonghyun leapt out of cover and down the last man. Seeing it was clear, Kibum moved out of cover, giving Jonghyun a grateful nod before reaching down to grab his laptop.
--
Minho made it back to the hotel in record time, hauling himself up the stairs like a madmen. He kicked open the door of the hallway and swore in horror as a man on the ground aimed his gun into the room.
It was the cry of pain that had him firing without aiming, emptying his clip.
The shoots tore into Jonghyun and he let out a cry of pain as he fell onto Kibum. The hacker immediately reacted. He grabbed one of the automatic rifles from the ground and found the shooter, laying the doorway with his gun aimed.
The sound of pounding footsteps had him ready to shoot again, but Minho’s face in the door made him drop his gun and turn to Jonghyun.
“Back,” the agent whispered in pain as he gasped for air.
Minho entered the room and reached down, grabbing one of Jonghyun’s shoulders. Together, he and Kibum dragged him over to the bed, laying him onto his stomach. Minho reached into his pocket and pulled his knife, tearing Jonghyun’s shirt open. The younger man swore as they counted two bullets in the elder agent’s back.
Dropping the shirt aside, Minho ran over to where his bag was and opened it, looking for the emergency kit. He opened the box and grabbed the analgesic-general-anesthetic needles, uncapping it with his teeth before sticking it into the vein in Jonghyun’s neck.
“Kibum, find the tweezers and sutures. We have to stitch him up to get out of here.”
The hacker looked at the younger man in horror.
“What?”
Minho turned and gave the older man a hard look.
“We can’t risk being caught. We have no friends here in Russia, so hospitals and doctors are out of the question. We’ll stitch him up the best we can and get out of here. Our best bet is one of the Baltic States by train, probably Latvia and then a flight back to Korea.”
“You mean Riga International?” Kibum gasped. “But that’s like a fucking fifteen hours away.”
“We don’t have a choice!” Minho yelled finally.
The two agents stood in silence for a moment before Kibum nodded jerkily and moved back to Jonghyun. He unwrapped the tweezers and held them over the first bullet. Minho placed his hands on Jonghyun’s shoulders and his leg over the elder’s legs, pinning him to the bed. With a nod from the tallest, Kibum reached in and yanked out the first bullet.
The cry of pain from the elder agent had both of them wincing as blood began to pour from the open wound. Dropping the tweezers, Kibum grabbed the disinfectant and poured it over the wound. Jonghyun bucked again at the burning sensation and Minho shifted his weight more onto the elder man, holding him still. Kibum wiped clean the wound and then tore open the sutures and then stopped to grab a needle.
“Local anesthetic,” he explained, handing it to Minho. The taller man nodded and grabbed it from Kibum, injecting into Jonghyun’s back.
Calming his shaking hands, the hacker began to slowly stitch back together the torn skin. With aching precision, Kibum slowly pieced back together Jonghyun’s skin, using a large number of stitches in hopes of a minimal scar. It took him eleven stitches, but the skin was closed and Jonghyun was finally still, the anesthetic doing its job.
With shaking shoulders, Kibum looked up at Minho and asked “Next one?”
--
Taemin had managed to carry the old man far enough from the fire while being screamed at in Russian. Taking the man’s arm off his shoulder, the scientist glanced back at the grocer and moved to a stop as he caught sight of a shadow trying to get out from another entrance of the building. Dropping the old man somewhat impatiently, the youngest agent pulled his gun out of his holster and ran at the shadow.
It was the target, Taemin realized as he spotted the computer bag in the man’s hands as he drew closer. The target turned and caught sight of him, speeding up in a mad dash down an alley to his side.
Taemin flew after him and flew to the ground as the target fired bullets at him. Swearing, the scientist threw himself behind a nearby dumpster and checked the alley. Not seeing the man, he moved forward, keeping his gun out.
The alley was silent around him and Taemin swore. “Fuck, don’t let me have lost him,” he muttered as he panted.
The sound of a falling dumpster and scuffle in the alley to his left had the agent spinning on his heel. Taemin ran forward and caught sight of the target jumping onto a fire escape. With a harsh grin, Taemin followed him, leaping up and grabbing the ladder. Climbing onto, he raced up the stairs. The target turned back and swore at him before diving into an open window. Taemin reached the window and threw himself to the side, dodging another spray of bullets from the other man.
Swearing, the youngest leapt moved back to the window and leapt through it, throwing himself behind a dilapidated couch as the target tried to shoot him again from his hiding place behind the kitchen table. Taemin muttered a few curses under his breath as he switched clips before poking his head from the side of the couch.
“Fuck!” the youngest snarled as he threw himself back, barely avoiding the latest bullets. “Fucker’s carrying an automatic. No wonder,” he commented to himself as he crawled underneath the couch. Waiting for a moment, Taemin pushed open the flap of upholstery in front of him and fired a shot. It hit his knee, making the man cry out and fall away from his cover. The target snarled and got to his feet heading for the door. Taemin, meanwhile, pulled himself from out underneath the couch and struggled as his soaked holster got caught on the wood of the couch. The other man made it over the door and Taemin swore desperately as he reached to throw it open.
“I’d stop now.”
The target came to a stop as Jinki stood there, gun aimed at his heart. The leader glanced over the target’s shoulder at Taemin and asked, “Alright?”
Taemin twisted and managed to free himself, getting to his feet. “Yeah. Nice timing.”
Jinki smirked at compliment, tossing his head. “Cuff him.”
The younger man nodded and grabbed the target’s hands, yanking his arms back over his shoulders and twisting both wrists before he placed the cuffs on.
Watching with dark amusement, Jinki leaned into the enraged man and whispered, “Guess what? You’re going to the Americans.”
--
The train was suffocating with silence for Kibum. Minho and Taemin were sleeping while Jinki was reading. A small groan from Jonghyun had the hacker jumping his feet to check on the older man.
To his surprise, Jonghyun’s eyes were open and lucid.
“Did you get him?” the agent whispered.
“Yeah,” Kibum replied just as quietly as he checked Jonghyun’s pulse and breathing.
The older man grimaced and shifted before studying Kibum. “Good. You okay?”
Kibum swallowed thickly and nodded. He kneeled by the older man and grabbed his hand. “Jonghyun,” he started. “I’m sorry. I should’ve…”
The older man cut him off.
“Don’t be,” Jonghyun commanded. He pulled up the hand held by Kibum and turned his own until their hands were clasped tightly. “We’re a team kid. No sorries and no thank-you’s.”
Nodding, Kibum gave the older man a watery smile.
“Can I at least say you’re one hell of a shot?” he asked softly, relaxing.
Jonghyun grinned in return.
-TBC-
(A/N): I think that is the fastest I've ever written a chapter. 14 pages in less than 24 hours. That is inspired.
So, this is a flash back. I was really stressed in the beginning while writing this whether this should've gone before chapter 3, but I find that I don't mind the order. The way I see this, it's like a tv show with a long main plot with smaller stories in each episode, or in this case, chapter.
Notes on the text:
1. 5,695 words
2. Information on Russia and Latvia was gathered from Wikipedia.
3. Distances and routes gathered from Google Maps.
I have to admit, I'm still on an adrenaline rush, so I can't really speak coherently about this, but I'm just so happy with this and I hope you got the same rush I did as you read it! Though I will say, I think I made Taemin into one hell of a pouty-mouth. ^^
Let me know what you think!
(P.S. Just for laughs: I was defnitely listening to Beyoncé's Halo on repeat while writing the action sequences. ^^)
Chapter Five