Hunters Chapter Five
I live!
Sorry about the wait, but here we go!
Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four
Note: Assume all italicized dialogue as not Korean.
Five - Opera
Two months after Yaroslavl
(Two years and ten months ago from present day)
Jonghyun groaned as he got out of bed, getting to his feet and stretching his arms over his head.
“Feel like you can run with me?”
The agent blinked and turned to see Minho leaning against his door, already dressed. Giving him a smile, Jonghyun grabbed his own track pants and pulled them, slinging a hoodie over his shoulder as he followed the taller man into the kitchen. Minho started to fill up water bottles while Jonghyun drank a small glass of milk to give him some sugar to burn off.
“Want protein?” Minho offered, holding up a bag of whey.
Jonghyun scrunched his nose. “Hell no. That crap tastes like ass. Unwashed ass.”
Minho rolled his eyes fondly, putting the bag away.
“Minho-ah, Jonghyun-ah!” Both looked up at the sound of Jinki’s voice. Leaving the kitchen, they walked over to the main living space where Kibum was sitting with his favorite laptop, watching Jinki pace back and forth.
“Hyung?” the youngest in the room asked.
Jinki motioned to them to sit down as he spun mid-pace. Minho and Jonghyun both shot Kibum questioning looks, but the hacker just shook his head. Behind them, the door of the flat opened and Taemin walked in, carrying bags of groceries. Sensing the tension, the youngest joined them immediately at the sofa, pressing in between Jonghyun and Kibum.
“What’s going on?” the baby of the team whispered as they watched Jinki run his hands through his hair in frustration. Jinki’s phone rang before any of them could answer and all four sat quietly as the eldest man listened to the call, his face like stone. Jinki clicked off the phone and threw it onto the coffee table with a sigh.
Jonghyun reached forward and caught Jinki’s sleeve between his fingers. “Hyung?”
“You guys might want to forget the run,” the leader advised tiredly.
They all blinked.
“You mean?” Taemin started.
Jinki ruffled the baby’s hair and groaned as he fell onto the sofa next to Kibum.
“Check our messages, Kibum-ah. Details should be coming in soon. Also, look up this name,” he commanded. “Hán Gēng.”
“Who’s that?” the hacker asked.
“Apparently, the man we’re going to meet in Běijĭng.”
--
Kibum groaned as the ferry lurched again. They had decided against planes this time because they needed to bring in their own artillery, unlike in Yaroslavl where they had been able to get all their supplies from an American undercover group.
Turning back to the cabin, Kibum scanned over his teammates. Taemin and Minho were both sleeping. They had decided to take turns especially with the lack of security on the small ferry, it was much more sensible to have at least one of them awake to watch over their stuff. Jonghyun was lying down, reading through the files on Hán Gēng again while Jinki was marking over a map, sharpie in hand, pen behind one ear, and a highlighter held between his lips.
Kibum approached him and sat down, leaning over the man’s shoulder to study the map.
“Got it all figured out?”
Jinki sighed, pulling the highlighter away from his mouth.
“I can’t believe NIS actually thinks this is a good idea,” he replied exasperatedly. “The amount of ways this can go bad is in the fucking thousands.”
Kibum glanced over to see Jonghyun sit up and slid closer to the table.
“Hyung,” the second eldest called lightly.
Jinki looked up at Jonghyun and the two stared at each other for a moment. Finally Jinki sighed, picking his hands away from the map and letting Jonghyun slid it over in front of himself.
“So we’re heading for Rìzhào. We chose it because out of all the ports because this one has the least commercial influence and no tourism sites. It’s mostly an industrial city, right?”
Both Kibum and Jinki nodded.
“We reach around 5 am UTC+8 standard time, about an hour before dawn. Gives us enough to unload and slip away before anyone notices us.” Jonghyun paused for a second to check his watch. “Need to make sure it’s at the right time. Korea’s an hour ahead, right?”
Kibum nodded as he slid the map over to himself.
“Have we figured out how we’re going get to Fēngtái?” he asked, tapping his finger on the district’s name.
“Well,” Jinki began tiredly. “Public transportation is out of the question this time. Apparently the railways are being watched just as carefully as the airports. We need to avoid all the big cities. That includes Tiānjĭn.”
“And Tiānjĭn is definitely along the quickest routes, isn’t it?” Kibum finished with a groan.
“Exactly.”
“Fuck,” both younger men commented, making Jinki chuckle. Ever since Yaroslavl, the two Kim brothers, as Minho nicknamed them, had become closer, often finishing each other’s sentences and displaying bursts of telepathy.
“So what?” Jonghyun asked. “What’s the plan? We can’t rent a car. What about a bus system?”
Kibum frowned. “I doubt any bus will be willing to carry our cargo.”
Jonghyun scrunched his nose. “Good point.”
“We find a truck or we hitchhike.”
All three men turned to see Taemin sitting up, yawning and running a hand through his hair. Beside him, Minho was already standing up, pulling a shirt onto his bare body.
“We hitchhike?” Jinki parroted.
Taemin shrugged, sliding off his bunk and sitting down next to Jonghyun.
“I’m sure there are many trucks that drive out of Rìzhào every day to make deliveries. We get on one, let it take us out as far as possible. Hop off and find another that is going a different route. We might end up circling around, but if it gets us there without getting noticed, it’d be worth it.”
Jinki studied the faces of his team before nodding.
“Split up?”
Kibum cringed. “I don’t think so. You and Minho are fluent in Mandarin. Jonghyun could probably get by too, but Taemin and I would be screwed.”
“What about groups? All five of us together would be too risky.” Minho offered as he joined them.
“I guess we could make it work. Jinki-hyung, you and Taemin together like last time?” he asked. “I’d probably be better off with Minho, but only if you’re okay to fly solo, Jonghyun-hyung.”
“No,” Jinki interrupted. “Jonghyun-ah should come with me and Taemin. It’ll be easier to have a group of mixed level speakers than to have someone on his own.”
“But the lack of resemblance between the three of you? Taemin can always pass off as a younger cousin of yours, Jinki-hyung,” Kibum commented.
Jinki gave the hacker a hard look and the younger man closed his mouth, bowing his head. The others sighed.
“Hyung,” Jonghyun started.
“No. I’ve made my decision and that’s final.”
Jinki got up from the table and walked over to the empty bunk, pulling off his shirt and crawling into it. Understanding that the eldest man wasn’t in the mood to talk anymore, the younger four picked up the maps and information, packing it back into their bags. Seeing that there was nothing left to clean, Jonghyun left the room and headed for the deck. Taemin followed him up and leaned his head on Jonghyun’s shoulder as they stopped at the observation deck.
“I get the feeling there’s something in China that’s got Hyung all strung out,” the youngest whispered, wrapping an arm around Jonghyun’s middle.
Jonghyun smiled and threw his arm over Taemin’s shoulder.
“I know,” he replied. “Keep on your toes, Taemin-ah. We’ll need to be extra sharp to watch his back this time.”
--
It was cold and wet when the ferry reached Rìzhào. The five young men managed to slip out as the crew was still in the process of docking. Taemin was running point while Jinki covered their back, the other three carrying the bulk of their cargo in between. The plan was to head away from the passenger docks and towards the maritime cargo docks where the large containers were. There they would change into new disguises and split into their groups.
Taemin was running as soundlessly as possible, running ahead and then doubling back. Seeing an unlocked container, he stopped and hurriedly gestured the others to him. Taemin nodded at his teammates before running into the open space, checking to see if the container was being actively loaded or unloaded. Seeing no one around, the young man opened one of the doors and gestured his teammates over. Minho, Jonghyun, and Kibum ran into the container, slipping past Taemin carefully. Taemin waited at the door as Jinki finished backtracking. The eldest ran into the container, nodding at Taemin to shut the door. The youngest yanked the door hard and they were all closed in the black.
“Light,” Jinki commanded.
“Light,” Minho answered, holding up a halogen stick. Beside him, Kibum and Jonghyun were digging through the bags, pulling out new clothing.
“Everybody know the plan?” Jinki asked as he pulled off his black high end clothing and switched it for the plaid shirt and worn jeans that Jonghyun handed him.
“Kibum and I head out on a west bound truck while you, Jonghyun-hyung, and Taemin go north. We switch transport as needed. We each have close to ¥ 200 CNY in cash for expenses,” Minho sketched out quickly.
“Try not to use it too often. We’re trying to look like poor young men traveling to the city for jobs," Jinki warned as he pulled out a small inexpensive cellular and handed it to Minho. The younger agent nodded as he pocketed the phone.
Kibum walked over to Minho, handing him one of the bags and turned to face Jinki. “We’ll be okay Hyung,” the hacker whispered. “We’ll see you in Fēngtái.”
Jinki nodded, watching the two leave the container quietly. With a frown, he turned back to his remaining teammates. Jonghyun finished his disguise with a pair of glasses while Taemin was setting his Glock 35 into his underarm holster.
“Ready?” the leader asked, shouldering his bag.
Both younger men nodded.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Jinki pushed the door open and let Taemin slip out first, the youngest doing a quick scan of the surroundings. Seeing it clear, he waved for Jonghyun to follow. Jonghyun shouldered the heaviest bag and winked at Jinki before heading out the door. Jinki waited for a minute before leaving and walked carefully away from the container.
Together, the three young men headed for the markets just past the docks. They had decided to find a fishing truck or something similar as their first transport. Relaxing his shoulders as they merged into the hustle and bustle of the morning vendors, Jinki lost his frown and smiled brightly at an older woman, greeting her good morning. Reaching the truck areas, Jinki saw a group of men who looked to be in their forties and tapped Jonghyun on the shoulder. Both younger men slid off to the sides as Jinki approached the gaggle of old men.
“Good morning,” the leader greeted.
“Good morning,” one of the men echoed back. “You must be new,” he commented as he studied Jinki’s face.
Jinki laughed.
“Is it obvious?”
The older man just laughed.
“So what brings you to Rìzhào?”
Jinki gave him a self-deprecating smile. “What brings any young man away from his parents’ home and to a strange new place?”
“To find money,” the older man commiserated with a sigh, clapping a frail hand on Jinki’s shoulder. He seemed surprised with how his hand bounced on the leader’s shoulder as he slapped him again, harder this time. “Got some muscle there. Useful thing to have.”
Jinki nodded. “I may not be smart, but I am strong.”
The old man gave the leader a speculative look. “I’ve driving a truck for twenty years now and my shoulders can’t take the weight of loading and unloading it.”
Jinki smiled. “I’m not adverse to a little travel.”
“I’m heading north towards Zĭbó. I have a big load to drop off there.”
“How big is your truck?”
“I carry about 20 tonnes.”
Jinki blinked in surprise. “That’s a lot. Anybody else ride with you?”
The old man shook his head.
Jinki nodded and turned, waving his hand. Both Taemin and Jonghyun approached him modestly, keeping their heads down.
“Have you found something, Gege?” Taemin asked, using every bit of muscle control he had to make his voice soft and his eyes big and round.
Jinki turned back to the old man and gave him another guileless smile. “This is my younger cousin and my brother-in-law. We came to look for ourselves, but I’d love it if we got to stay together. We’d be more than happy to unload your truck in Zĭbó and then continue on from there.”
The old man laughed. “Why not? These old bones could do with some rest. We’ll leave in half an hour.”
The three young men smiled and bowed. “Thank you.”
--
Kibum yanked his bag off the truck and jumped down, bowing in thanks as the driver drove away. They had reached Jĭníng by mid morning and decided that it was far enough west from Rìzhào. Following Minho through the city streets, Kibum studied the old buildings mixed in with the newer shops, all scattered with Confucian proverbs and statuettes in their windows.
Speeding up to Minho’s shoulder, Kibum leaned against the man.
“North from here?” he whispered without moving his lips as Minho threw a companionable arm over Kibum’s shoulders.
Minho gave him an almost imperceptible nod before suddenly changing direction and heading towards a small food stand where a woman was tossing noodles in a large hot wok.
“Good morning,” Minho greeted her with a warm smile.
The old woman nodded and replied.
“Are you able to give us something to eat, Aunt? We have just traveled from Qĭngdāo.”
The old woman smiled, revealing her lack of teeth, and gestured for them to sit. Winking at Kibum, the taller man sat down and began to chat up the old woman. The hacker scoffed at the taller man’s cockiness and sat down harshly, banging his shoulder into Minho’s. He listened quietly as Minho continued to chat up the old woman and she answered him in a heavy accent that Kibum could barely make heads or tails of. A few minutes of more chatter and the woman set down a large steaming bowl in front of Kibum. The hacker’s face lit up as he bent down to sniff the fragrant steam, cracking his chopsticks apart with glee. Minho and the old woman both laughed as the hacker dug into the bowl with relish.
“I think you’ve converted him Aunt,” Minho teased. The old woman laughed.
Kibum wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and nodded.
“This is wonderful Aunt.”
Minho just laughed and dug into his own bowl.
--
It was late afternoon by the time Jinki, Jonghyun, and Taemin reached Lángfáng, only one hour outside of Fēngtái.
Taemin groaned as they jumped off the truck, saluting at the driver as he drove away. It was the third truck they had taken since the morning. At Zĭbó, they had been forced to do a little creative hitchhiking and even walk for an hour until they could find a driver willing to lend them a lift. Taemin figured they were lucky that it wasn’t ridiculously hot or raining, especially considering late May was the typical start date of the monsoon season.
“Tae, where are you?”
The baby of the team blinked as Jonghyun threw an arm over his shoulder. He shook his head and gave Jonghyun a reassuring smile.
“Sorry Hyung. It’s probably the hunger pangs,” he joked, referring to the fact that they had only stopped to eat while in Dézhuō and that at a street stall.
Jonghyun just nodded and patted the younger man on the shoulder before leaving him to catch with Jinki.
“So now what?” he asked as he got within earshot.
Jinki sighed, pausing to let Jonghyun catch up with him. Before Jonghyun could anything more, a strange looking vehicle caught Jinki’s gaze. The eldest of the team let out a surprised laugh before breaking into a light jog.
“Come on!” he yelled.
Jonghyun and Taemin exchanged puzzled glances before chasing after the older man.
“Oh holy shit!” Jonghyun let out with a laugh as he gazed at the old run down truck full of sugar cane puttering away ahead of them.
Jinki glanced back over his shoulder with a grin as he climbed onto the truck. “Still hungry Taemin-ah?”
The baby of team only grinned back as he caught up with the truck, throwing his bag up and grabbing Jinki’s hand to climb up. He immediately grabbed a cane and tore off the end with his teeth, sucking the juice with relish and moaning with delight. Jinki just laughed and gave Jonghyun a hand.
“Come on, before he eats it all and we don’t get any!”
--
Kibum groaned as he stretched his shoulders. Their last truck had gotten them straight into the heart of Fēngtái, but the vehicle was small and both men had been squashed into a space that would only fit a young boy or woman comfortably. Beside him, Minho was working out the kinks in his neck. The two agents had somehow fallen asleep, much to the amusement of the elderly couple that drove the truck.
Popping his shoulders one last time, Kibum reached into his pocket for the phone that Jinki had given them earlier.
“What did we choose as a rendezvous point?” he asked over his shoulder.
Minho blinked in surprise.
“Fuck,” he breathed. “I don’t think we ever set one.”
Kibum raised his eyebrows at Minho. The taller man just raised his hands placatingly.
“Don’t give me that look. You saw how edgy Jinki-hyung was.”
The hacker just frowned.
“Conceptually, what’s the first place Jinki-hyung and the others would go?” he asked, thinking out loud.
Minho stood next to him quietly, waiting for the hacker to finish his thoughts. If there was one thing Minho had learned about the other man quickly when they were cadets, it was that Kibum was brilliant and fast. He could make connections in his mind seconds before others even thought about it. His mind was constantly whirring. The only thing was that the hacker sometimes worked better when he had someone to throw his thoughts at. It didn’t mean that he needed the other person to respond. He just seemed to muddle through the possibilities quicker if he said them aloud, as if speaking the words helped him double-check his logic parameters.
“Got it,” the hacker announced after a moment. “Bái Yún Gùan.”
“The temple?”
Kibum grinned.
“Where else but where all the best street food stalls would grab Taemin’s attention?”
Minho laughed.
--
It was easy work for the five young men to escape the streets around Bái Yún Gùan and head for their real meeting point. The man they were meeting, Hán Gēng was a high level commander of the MSS, Ministry of State Security; China’s foremost intelligence agency. However, they weren’t going to meet anywhere MSS headquarters. Their briefing had been, well, brief. As far as they knew, they were in China to help with a crisis, but the details were sketchy. In fact, the agents were surprised to be in China in the first place.
Not to put it in cut and dry terms, but the relationship between China and South Korea was anything but friendly. Almost everyone knew it was because the country that sat in between them. The problem was that while the Chinese government outwardly told the world that it didn’t support North Korean ideals, the reality was that the smaller country depended almost singularly on China for most of its imports and China’s economy got a huge boost from them. Therefore, China was adamantly against any reconciliation between the two half halves of the Korean peninsula because of the immediate loss of one of their most loyal markets.
They finally reached a stretch of apartments on top of little restaurants and stores. The area wasn’t as developed as they were used to seeing in Korea, but there was no doubt with the bright lights, loud sounds, and activity that they were in the heart of Běijĭng.
Jinki lead at this point with Minho bringing up the rear. Kibum and Taemin stayed close to Jonghyun who was carrying the most dangerous artillery, quietly taking stock of the area.
“We’re lucky,” Jonghyun whispered. “The crowd here is pretty much all local.”
Taemin leaned in. “How do you know?”
“They’re not speaking standard Mandarin.”
Taemin and Kibum each gave the crowd around them another measuring glance, trying to carefully listen as people around them spoke.
“The vowels,” Taemin whispered back after a moment.
Jonghyun gave him a tiny nod. “Běijĭng dialect is all about the rhotic vowels.”
“Will we get caught as foreigners?” Kibum asked worriedly.
Jonghyun smiled. “I doubt it. There’s enough foreigners in Běijĭng that we’d just be ignored. It also helps that in the last year working immigrants from Korea have increased big time.”
Their conversation got cut off as Jinki suddenly turned into a small alley and headed for a stairway into one of the apartments. The rest followed him quietly as he made his way to the fourth floor, walking quietly. Jinki reached a nondescript door and raised his fist, knocking twice.
The door swung open and the five agents carefully made their way into the darkened apartment. It was small and all the light seemed to come from a lamp at the far side of the living space. The operative who had opened the door stood behind them, expressionless. To the side, another Chinese operative sat with a laptop, fingers clicking over the keys rapidly. In the middle of the room, a tall man was pacing, running a hand through his hair.
Jinki stepped forward, making no measure to take off his shoes or greet anyone. The younger agents didn’t say a word at the leader’s uncharacteristic behavior and just followed his lead, spreading out around the living space. Jinki walked straight up to the tall man and stood in his way.
The tall man spun on his heel and stared down at Jinki before breaking into a smile.
“Hello Zhēn Jī.”
“Hán Gēng.”
The man seemed to ignore Jinki’s attitude, clapping the younger man on the shoulder.
“Sit,” he offered as he settled himself on the cushions near the operative with the laptop. “Anything to eat or drink? I wasn’t sure when you’d reach, so we have a good variety of food.”
Jinki paused to look at his teammates, silently questioning. No one moved and he shook his head, sitting down across from Hán Gēng. The man seemed to take the refusal in stride, before grabbing a file and sliding it across the table to Jinki. The leader picked up the file and scanned it briefly as Kibum came up behind him. Without blinking, Jinki handed the file to the hacker who began to study it carefully, flicking back and forth through the pages.
“So you brought us here to help you catch a bomber?”
Hán Gēng gave him a tight smile. “If only he was a bomber. He’s brilliant and has skills in chemistry and physics.”
“He’s a South Korean expatriate,” Kibum hissed, interrupting.
The others didn’t move, but the news was surprising as they exchanged glances carefully.
Hán Gēng took a deep breath in before speaking. “He has been living in China for almost eight years. He came here at the age of twenty-two and never went back. He was working as an assistant professor at Peking University when he was asked to help with an issue by the government.”
Jinki scoffed. “You mean, he was hired by the government.”
“Yes. He was part of a team researching chemical bombs.”
“Instead of nuclear?” Kibum asked.
Hán Gēng nodded. “Even we aren’t arrogant enough to ignore the threat of nuclear production. Power like that has too much of a risk to us.”
“You mean, you’re smart enough to realize it’s not worth pissing off the Russians or the Americans,” the hacker corrected. Jinki tapped the younger man to quiet as the Chinese man’s face darkened slightly.
“And?” the leader prompted.
“He was a brilliant mind. The way he worked was a bit eccentric, but he was an academic. Everyone expected that. But he was fantastic and he enjoyed his work. He took such pride in it,” the Chinese trailed off, lost in thought.
“Then what?”
“He resigned after a failed experiment almost killed the entire team. He was so distraught. We assumed that his mentality as a civilian was too fragile and we let him go back to the university. Six months ago, a tiny explosion was set off on the campus. It was reported as a minor gas leak that had gone off in the middle of the night, thankfully hurting no one.”
“The reality?” Jinki asked.
“There were three bodies. One we were able to recognize as a student that worked in the lab. The other two we weren’t able to identify, but we assume that one has to be his mentor. The third we still haven’t been able to pin down.”
The agents frowned. “Any specs?”
“Male. Mid to late fifties. Approximately 177 cm based on the size of the femur. Surprisingly low bone density for a male.”
Kibum winced. “I’m assuming you only found pieces of him?” he asked knowingly.
“Very few intact pieces at that,” Hán Gēng replied.
“Fuck.”
The Chinese man chuckled at the hacker’s expression.
“Was there any skin left?” Jonghyun asked suddenly, moving away from his corner.
Hán Gēng faced him. “Yes. The leg was intact and some of the ribs.”
“Any distinctive markings?”
The older man frowned and turned to the operative on the laptop. The operative clicked around before spinning the screen so that the agents could see the photographs.
“These are all the photographs of the site collected by the forensic team.”
Jonghyun leaned and began to study the images, scrolling slowly.
“What are you looking for?” Kibum asked as the shooter studied an image of the one leg carefully.
“He was twenty-two eight years ago. That puts him at thirty. If he’s thirty, that means his father would be in his mid-late fifties at least. Low bone density is a documented problem of children born in the years during and following the Korean War due to the lack of resources available to their mothers during gestation.”
Jonghyun glanced away from the screen to see the others in the room blinking in surprise, the Chinese operatives glancing at each other in shock while his own teammates seemed to be stuck between amusement and bafflement.
Jinki leaned forward. “So you’re looking for?”
Jonghyun grinned. “If this was his father, then he was in the army.”
Jinki laughed in realization. “Tattoos and gunshot wounds,” he finished with a grin.
Kibum stood from the table and walked over to his bag, pulling out his own laptop. “If that’s his father, then this definitely goes back farther than we were expecting. What’s his name?”
“His name is Cáo Guī Xián,” Hán Gēng answered calmly. “In Korea, you’d call him Cho Kyuhyun.”
--
After their meeting with Hán Gēng, the team had been given keys to a small apartment in another district, this one with access to the MSS servers and better concealed. Their mission was officially to create a discourse between the MSS and NIS on monitoring nuclear technology, an effort to bring nuclear peace to the region. The reality was that they were here to hunt down Cho Kyuhyun, famous chemist and physicist turned rogue bomber.
“He was right,” Kibum commented as he entered the kitchen where the others were preparing a late breakfast.
Both older men looked up at Kibum questioningly. Kibum just strolled past them to sit down on the counter where Taemin was attempting to chop onions.
“Angle the blade away from your fingers,” Kibum corrected before facing the rest of the room. “Hán Gēng was right about Kyuhyun. Man is a bloody genius. He graduated high school at fourteen, got his first doctorate at twenty, and then got his second doctorate at twenty-three. He’s written some of the most popular reviews on thermodynamics and particulate physics in the last ten years.”
“I remember reading his doctorate dissertation,” Taemin commented. “Brilliant doesn’t even begin to cover this guy. He went through the same program I did at Seoul University.”
Jonghyun just snorted as he finished cooking the beef. “So he’s a genius. Explain to me how he became a rogue bomber.”
“I looked into his family,” Kibum answered. “Apparently, you were right. That being his father is a very high possibility as the man left Korea six and half months ago on a flight out of Incheon to Běijĭng Capital International. There is no record of him reentering Korea after that.”
“Fuck,” the shooter swore. “I didn’t want to be right.”
“So it’s definitely related to the old man then?” Minho asked as he handed Jonghyun a plate of chopped peppers. “What did you find out about him?”
Kibum smiled nastily. “Quite the wealthy family. Father owned a school. Mother owned an art academy and a café. One sister as well.”
“Mother also deceased?” Jinki asked.
The hacker winced. “This is where it gets weird.”
The other paused in their work to give the man their full attention. “There’s no record of her being dead. She was put on the missing persons list almost fifteen years ago, but there’s never been an investigation.”
“What about the sister?” the leader asked.
“She’s alive and well. Married with a fifteen month old son. She works as a receptionist and her husband is a teacher at a middle school. They live in Gangdong.”
Jinki frowned as he leaned against the counter top, replaying the information in his head. “Alright. That’s basics down. Details.”
“Father lived in Russia for three years after completing his military service. He was working as a math teacher in a special school for privileged children. I’m assuming that the school he worked in is what gave him the basis of the school he owned in Korea, considering the set up of that school is definitely not according to normal standards. There aren’t many details about his life in Russia, but I did find this,” he announced, passing a sheet to Jinki.
“He had connections with Natur Produkt International. That’s pharmaceuticals. Why the hell would a teacher have connections with a pharmaceutical company?” He handed the sheet back to Kibum, commanding. “Find out what this connection is exactly. Also look deeper into the mother. Minho, you help with that. Jonghyun and I are going to go over the Chinese intel that’s been trying to find Kyuhyun while Taemin goes to the lab to check out what exactly he was developing.”
The other men nodded, breaking back to their work.
--
Hán Gēng looked up as Jinki and Jonghyun entered the room and smiled at the men.
“Come on in. I was just looking at the latest report from one of our operatives who’s been following Kyuhyun for almost a year now.”
“A year?” Jonghyun asked. “I thought the explosion was six months ago.”
Hán Gēng sighed. “It was, but we had an operative on Kyuhyun before that. His work with the government and then him leaving was…”
“An insecure position for the government,” Jinki finished. “If anyone found out about Kyuhyun and his work, he’d be a coveted asset and that’s a vulnerability to your infrastructure that you couldn’t risk.”
The Chinese man sighed heavily. “Look, I know it sounds draconian, but we had reasons.”
Jinki just scoffed. “What’s the intel?”
“He had left Běijĭng for a while, making his way south. We almost suspected him to go to Hong Kong, but he’s back. He arrived about a month ago and he’s been spotted in various places. We think he’s definitely decided on a location as his target. He wouldn’t come back otherwise.”
Jonghyun frowned as he sat down, flipping through the data. “You know, other than the explosion at the university, he hasn’t done anything else. How are you so sure that he’s really gone rogue and is targeting a location?”
Hán Gēng sighed. “Our operative in the field is absolutely sure. All the files report that he’s determined to do so.”
“For what though?” the shooter asked, throwing the file onto the table. “Is to make a stand or an entrance? What does he want?”
“He wants to go home.”
Jinki and Jonghyun exchanged baffled looks before staring back at Hán Gēng. The older man sighed, sitting down heavily.
“It’s sticky. Your hacker, Kibum has all but confirmed the third victim to be his father and changes all of our analysis. It’s deeper than whatever we imagined. We thought it was a case of an expatriate who was sick of the system, but now with the new intel, it could be anything.”
Jinki stared at the picture of Kyuhyun quietly as Hán Gēng rambled on. The face in the picture was handsome by Korean standards; the large eyes, nostrils underneath the nose, pale skin. But something in his smile made the leader frown.
“Where is his home?” he asked, turning back to the table. “Where does he want to go?”
“Well,” Hán Gēng started. “Here, it’s been at the university. He lived on campus in a small apartment in the same area as many of the unmarried professors do. And your intel puts his home in Seoul.”
“But the house was sold,” Jonghyun interrupted.
Jinki blinked.
“What?”
“Kibum found it this morning. The family sold their original house after the mother’s café was bought out.”
Jinki grabbed the file from Jonghyun. “When?”
“Six and half months ago.”
--
Kibum looked up as Taemin entered the apartment, slamming the door shut. The youngest of the team stalked over to the fridge and yanked it open, grabbing a drink. The hacker exchanged a look with Minho as the baby of their team moved around, frustration coloring his behavior.
“Taemin-ah,” Minho finally called. The baby approached them wearily.
“Where’s the other hyungdeul?”
“Here!”
The three turned around to see Jonghyun and Jinki entering, both carrying files. Jonghyun threw his file into Kibum’s hand while Jinki set his on the table.
“What do we got?” the leader asked.
“Bullshit,” Kibum and Taemin answered together.
Minho and Jonghyun chuckled as Jinki rolled his eyes fondly.
Taemin grinned at them before starting. “Essentially, with the craptastic-terrible,” the baby corrected himself at Jinki’s glare. “Forsenic analysis that was done on Kyuhyun’s lab and the explosion plus whatever research they were able to recover, Kyuhyun was working with cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine and pentaerythritol tetranitrate.”
Kibum and Jonghyun together glared at the youngest. Taemin just laughed.
“PETN and RDX. Together, they make up semtex. At least, the explosive portion of it.”
Jinki nodded. “Plastic explosives. So what was he doing?”
“Thankfully Kyuhyun has a tendency to write his notes in the same style of one of our professors. I’m pretty sure he worked under him for his doctorate. But anyway, Kyuhyun’s goal was simple. PETN is great because it’s chemically stable, but it’s difficult to detonate. Same thing with RDX. Stable, but doesn’t ignite. It burns. That’s why semtex has an antioxidant that really starts off the explosion. Kyuhyun was trying to develop a nitrate based explosive that was stable and could be used as a primary explosive.”
Jonghyun winced. “Fuck. Did he succeed?”
Taemin sighed. “I can’t tell. The notes are incomplete. They stop after he quit the government program. So what he managed to do in the last year since he’s been a civilian is anybody’s guess.”
“Double fuck,” Minho commented and then blushed, realizing he had picked up Jonghyun’s habit. Jinki just chuckled.
“Double fuck is right. We apparently have no idea what he’s been doing and the only demand we know of seems ridiculous and unexplainable.”
Kibum started. “Wait, he has a demand. What is it?”
Jinki exchanged a pained look with Jonghyun before answering. “He wants to go home.”
The hacker stared at the leader open-mouthed for a moment before shaking his head. “What?”
“Don’t start Kibum-ah,” Jonghyun commented tiredly, placing a hand on the younger man’s arm.
“Anything more on the parents?” Jinki asked Minho while Kibum sat stupefied.
Minho smiled tiredly. “Not much. The father’s connection with Natur Produkt International seems to be pretty much coincidental. The company’s then-president had a daughter enrolled in the school and that’s how they met. But there’s really no more information than them having a casual friendship. I mean, it was almost thirty years ago and that president retired almost fifteen years ago.”
Jinki frowned. “What about the mother?”
“This is where it gets a little weird again,” Minho answered hesitantly.
“Just tell us,” the leader demanded.
“She was an Olympic hopeful for swimming and then suddenly she dropped from the team after a medical exam showed her to have cancer. That was when she was fifteen. She was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Granted, children today have an eighty-five percent survival rate, but in 1971…”
“She should’ve died,” Jinki finished. “Why didn’t she?”
“Don’t know,” the taller man replied. “She falls off the radar completely until the missing persons report.”
“That’s not possible,” Taemin interjected.
“It is when files are classified under a gold lotus with two dragons,” Kibum replied dryly.
“Presidential seal. Shit. Did you request information?” the youngest asked.
The hacker gave the chemist a dry look. Taemin just cringed and moved away quietly, pouting at Jonghyun.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jinki commented, diverting their attention again. “I don’t think it has to do with the mother’s life as much as it has to do with her disappearance. Kyuhyun was in college when the report was filed. He must’ve left Korea when nothing was found out, and then lost it when his father showed up in Běijĭng.”
“He was a gifted child, right?” Jonghyun asked.
“Exactly,” Jinki replied. “Gifted children typically cling to one person in their life, usually a parent.”
“And her disappearance and perhaps death was what set him off? So he’s crazy?” Minho concluded skeptically.
Jinki frowned. “I don’t think crazy is the right word. He’s distraught and he’s also scared. He ran out of fear, he’s back because he thinks it’s safe.”
“What about the intel of him wanting to blow Běijĭng sky high?” Kibum asked.
Jonghyun swore. “Son of a bitch, please don’t tell me he’s suicidal!”
Jinki shook his head. “No. He’s not suicidal. We’re missing something and I don’t know what, but we need to find it soon.”
“Well you might want to start by figuring out what the hell this means!”
All five men jumped, guns at the ready as Hán Gēng strode in, throwing a sheet of paper at Jinki. The leader caught and frowned, handing it to Taemin.
The youngest’s jaw hardened as he studied. “Where did you get this?”
“That’s not important!” the Chinese man bellowed. “My operative told me that he’s not already decided his location, he’s already started setting up, so stop questioning me and do your fucking job!”
Jinki stood up and pushed Hán Gēng away hard. “Take a step back and relax. You don’t get to yell at my team.”
Hán Gēng scoffed and pushed him. “Your team is supposed to be catching this man before he blows up my city!”
“Oh don’t even try to fucking put this on us,” the leader snarled back. “You brought a civilian into a military operation. You made him an asset and then you lost him. Didn’t you learn anything in Hong Kong?”
Hán Gēng laughed dryly. “You’re saying this to me? You were the one who hesitated!”
“That’s because I don’t kill my own people, not when they’re innocent!” Jinki yelled finally.
“He wasn’t innocent!” the Chinese man countered, grabbing Jinki’s arm.
Jinki wrapped his hand in Hán Gēng’s shirt, dragging the man towards himself. “He wasn’t guilty!” he hissed before releasing the man and turning away, taking deep breaths to calm himself.
“Běijĭng World Park.”
Everyone turned to Taemin. “That’s the place.”
Hán Gēng frowned. “But why there? There isn’t even a Korean monument there.”
Taemin sighed and held up the paper. “The world is changing and people need to know that there is a change occurring. They need to know or else they will fall victims to those that only want to use them,” he read slowly before looking back up at the men.
Jinki moved first. “Get your things and let’s move. Kibum, use MSS’s server and shut down that area now. Taemin, can you disarm the explosives?”
The youngest locked eyes with the leader.
“Can you?”
He nodded finally.
Jinki turned to Hán Gēng. “Get your team and get the all the civilians out of there.”
The Chinese nodded, spinning on his heel and leaving immediately.
Jinki turned back to his team. “Let’s move!”
--
Jonghyun swore as he shut down the engine. They had arrived at the park, but the place was still packed. He hadn’t expected it to be empty considering it was still day, but the amount of people made the shooter nervous.
“This isn’t good,” he whispered to Minho. The taller man nodded, feeling his anxiety.
“Where are Hán Gēng’s teams? There’s still too many people here.”
Kibum and Taemin reached their position and took in the size of the crowd with dread.
The hacker swore and then turned back to his team, pausing as Jinki joined them, a large team of Chinese operatives waiting behind him.
“Where can I get access to the park’s security?” he demanded of the breathless leader.
“Over there!” Jinki pointed at a tall nondescript building off away from the main park ground. The hacker nodded and ran off. His job was to take over the live feeds and hunt down Kyuhyun the best he could while giving support to his team.
Jinki turned to Taemin next. “There’s a bomb squad coming in. You’re in charge. Disarm those bombs, got it?”
Taemin nodded and ran off to his position.
“So we hunt down Kyuhyun while the Chinese operatives clear the civilians?” Jonghyun asked.
“You ready to be point?” Jinki asked back.
The younger agent just nodded, pulling his trusty CZ 110 out. They had guessed for Kyuhyun to target the Asia section of the park and Jonghyun headed for that first, jogging lightly as he moved through the crowd. He could feel Jinki, Minho, and the other operatives spread out behind him; the Chinese operatives taking extra moments to tell the civilians to leave.
Katsura Imperial Villa was the first attraction. The villa was small with only one large building that allowed entrance. Jonghyun and Minho split up on the inside, the former on the ground floor while the latter took the stairs two at a time and check through the upper rooms, throwing shoji doors open violently as he moved.
“Clear!” Minho yelled, running back down.
“Clear!” Jonghyun yelled back, already outside and heading for the next attraction, the traditional Chinese Gardens. Jinki was already there, waving his hand in a circular motion to let the others know it was clear. Seeing him, Jonghyun only nodded and kept running. The next place was the Great Wall. He ran onto the main walkway, followed by two Chinese operatives. The wall was empty, nothing but flyers and trash as the shooter checked the inside of the guard towers and their roofs.
“Anything?” Jinki yelled as Jonghyun jumped off the wall and ran towards him.
Jonghyun grimaced.
“Nothing!”
The elder man swore as they turned and past the Fogong Temple Pagoda. Both knew that building couldn’t be entered as it was a just a façade. Minho joined up with the older agents as they reached Persepolis.
“Nothing in the Mogao Caves,” he yelled.
The three agents split up again and ran through the imitation ruins of Apadana Palace, Jonghyun heading in the left most direction.
“Jonghyun!”
The agent jumped as his com came to life.
“Kibum! About damn time! Give us a place!”
“I’m working on it!”
The shooter just kept running, nearly bowling Minho over as he spun around a final arch. The taller man caught them both before they could fall. Nodding in thanks, Jonghyun followed him out of the ruins and towards Borobudur.
Minho just scoffed as they reached the monument. “Fuck, don’t be here.”
Jonghyun sighed. The monument was small, but both knew how the structure was designed like a large mandala. It would take too long of a time to search, time that they didn’t have. “Head straight up and go down from the back side. I’ll start from the bottom and hopefully meet up” he commanded before running around the structure. Minho nodded and headed up the ascending path, moving as quickly as possible.
Jinki, in the meantime, had moved past Borobudur and headed for Bablyon Gate. Thankfully, this structure was almost two dimensional with no rooms or alcoves. Through it was the Taj Mahal. Jinki grimaced as he ran up the steps into the marble tomb. The open room showed no sign of their target and he swore.
“Dammit Kibum! Hurry!” he yelled as he ran out of the Taj Mahal and back onto the main path.
“I got him!” his com crackled as he neared Shwedagon Pagoda.
“Where?” the leader demanded.
“The last Asian attraction, the Grand Palace.”
Pulling the safety off his gun, Jinki ran full speed around the Pagoda. Behind him, he could hear Minho and Jonghyun also running. They were almost in the sight of the Palace, its golden turrets sparkling in the light of the setting sun.
Jonghyun caught up to Jinki’s pace, his back burning as he powered in front of the leader. They slowed to a lighter jog as they finally reached the palace, Jinki and Minho immediately moving around it to surround it. Jonghyun headed straight, his gun ready.
The shooter nearly jumped as he caught sight of a man sitting outside the throne room, legs stretched out casually. Holding his gun steady, Jonghyun approached the man calmly.
“Cho Kyuhyun!” he called as he approached the man.
The man looked up at Jonghyun and then smirked. The shooter swore as he felt rumbling beneath his feet. Throwing caution aside, Jonghyun dove forward as the ground where he stood exploded. The shooter rolled over onto his back and stared at the smoking broken pavement in horror.
Getting to his feet, he ran to the closet turret for cover.
“Guys!” he yelled into his com.
Jinki’s voice patched through. “How the fuck did he do that?”
Jonghyun stood still. “I don’t know. Taemin-ah!”
“He’s not using bombs, Hyung.”
The shooter swore and then jumped as someone tapped his shoulder. Seeing that it was Minho, the shooter relaxed and only gave the younger man a glare.
Minho turned his face to stare at the rogue professor. “How do we get close to him?”
“I don’t know,” Jonghyun replied. The shooter was about to mention an idea when he saw his leader leave cover and head for Kyuhyun. “Oh what the fuck!”
Jinki approached the professor slowly, stopping a good distance in front of the man and then holding up his gun. He made a show of ejecting his magazine and clearing the barrel before tossing the gun away from himself.
“Hello Kyuhyun. I’m Jinki,” he called as he slowly began to approach the man, hands up in the air.
Kyuhyun gave him a cold glare. “What do you want?”
Jinki smiled weakily as the ground rumbled again. “I just want to talk.”
“About what?”
Jinki paused, licking his lips with nerves. An idea hit the leader and he slowly put his hands down. “Who used you, Kyuhyun? Your notes said that people would get used and then hurt. Who used you?”
The professor frowned.
“My notes? How did you get my notes!?”
Jinki winced as he felt the ground beneath him crack.
“Those were private!” the man finally bellowed, standing up in rage.
“I know,” Jinki yelled back, letting desperation color his voice. “But I didn’t know how else to find you!”
The man just scoffed, angrily wiping his eyes. “What do you want from me?”
“I just want to know what happened. I know that someone hurt you,” he called, walking very slowly towards the agitated man. “I want to help you,” Jinki finished as he stood less than two meters from the man.
Kyuhyun looked straight at him and Jinki took stock of the man’s pale face, heavy circles under his eyes and the ways his hands shook uncontrollably. For a moment, the man seemed to calm and then his face twisted again.
“I don’t trust you. You came with them!” he yelled, his voice cracking.
Jinki felt his stomach fall to the ground with nerves. “With who? I’m from Korea, just like you.”
“I saw you with them!” the man yelled, tears filling his eyes.
Jinki froze as the ground between him and Kyuhyun crumbled in. The man began to sob as he stood there, tears falling down his face as he crumpled to his knees.
“I just want to go home,” he cried, burying his face in his hands.
Jinki stood quietly, letting the man sob as he analyzed the situation. He turned his head to see Jonghyun and Minho moving closer slowly. Minho was almost within reach of the man and Jinki nodded at him.
“Kyuhyun, we can take you home,” he called softly.
The man looked up at Jinki with surprise and then laughed hysterically.
“You’re lying!” he screamed then, angry once again. “You can’t take me home. I don’t have a home. I’m a monster. Don’t you get it! They made me do this and I couldn’t stop. Now I’m a monster. Monsters don’t have homes!” he cried, sobbing again.
Before Jinki could counter him, a young woman screamed.
“Guī Xián!”
Kyuhyun looked up and immediately saw Minho, his face twisting into a snarl as the ground in front of Minho blew up. Jinki swore as the younger agent went flying back, but stayed in his spot. The leader felt frustration bubble as the young woman emerged from behind Minho, ignoring the fallen man as she walked towards Kyuhyun.
The professor stared at the woman approached him.
“Qiàn, what are you doing here?”
She smiled weakly at him.
“I couldn’t let you be alone,” she whispered as she reached to place a hand on his cheek. Kyuhyun froze at her touch at first but then smiled.
“It’s not safe.”
She laughed sadly.
“It will be now.”
Jinki could hear himself yelling as the woman pulled a gun from her back and pointed straight at his chest, firing. Kyuhyun’s eyes went wide as the impact ripped through him, staggering back as blood began to seep through his clothes.
Jinki ran forward and kicked the gun out of the woman’s hand, grabbing her by the throat. Jonghyun ran behind, catching Kyuhyun as he fell back. The leader glared at the woman as she stood in his grasp trembling.
“Give me one good reason,” he hissed before pushing her away and falling to his knees to help Jonghyun.
“She didn’t get his heart, but the lung is punctured for sure,” the shooter reported as he held his hand tightly over the man’s chest. Jinki looked up to see Hán Gēng run up to them. To their surprise, the Chinese man went to the woman first.
“Are you alright?” he asked as the woman turned and saluted him. He glanced at them before turning back to her. To the agents’ shock, the woman launched forward, decking the tall man in the face.
“I’m good now,” she gasped heavily. She then fell to her knees next to Jinki and Jonghyun, ripping her shirt off to hold to Kyuhyun’s chest.
Hán Gēng laughed weakly as he spat out blood. “Qiàn,” he started, staggering over to them.
“Fuck you Hán Gēng. I did my job. Now do yours,” she hissed, tears streaking down her face. “Get us a fucking medic before he dies or I won’t ever forgive you!”
--
The army hospital was silent. Jinki sat with Jonghyun as they waited for news on Kyuhyun. Minho had also been admitted. Thankfully, the tall agent was fine, only suffering a minor concussion and a few contusions. He’d be discharged by the morning.
Jinki looked up at the woman sitting across from them, her clothes still covered in Kyuhyun’s blood. From what he had heard as the woman and Hán Gēng yelled at each other, she was the operative that had been following Kyuhyun for the last year since he had left the military project. The woman hadn’t wanted to be a part of the retrieval project, but her compliance had been forced.
“Do you think she loves him?” Jonghyun whispered.
Jinki sighed. The woman had been crying as they held Kyuhyun together until getting him to the hospital. She hadn’t been hysterical until Hán Gēng had cornered her outside of the operation theater. There, she finally lost all her calm and decked the commander again, giving him a broken nose to join the bruised jaw she had given him earlier. She fought with Hán Gēng and managed to get the man to give into her demand that Kyuhyun be allowed to go home as there had been no bombs in the park and all his notes were in the government’s custody. The man hadn’t wanted to agree, but she wasn’t willing to budge. Hán Gēng gave in finally, realizing it was easier to give him to Korean custody where he’d be put in protective care. Now she was silent, waiting for news of the professor.
“In a way, I think she does,” he answered finally. “But whether it’s as a woman loves a man, I don’t know.”
Before Jonghyun could ask him any other questions, Kibum and Taemin strode in. The baby of the team dropped onto Jonghyun’s lap with a groan as Kibum sat down next to Jinki.
“Can we go home yet?” Taemin asked with a whine, glaring blearily at Jinki.
Jinki chuckled and turned to Kibum.
The hacker just smiled.
“As soon as Minho’s discharged, we’re out of here. First flight out of Běijĭng Capital International.”
“What about Kyuhyun?”
Jinki looked up at Sòng Qiàn and gave her a companionable nod.
“I think he’ll be in good hands.”
-TBC-
(A/N): I live! I'm sorry about the long wait, but I hit a horrible writer's block after writing 'Can You Meet Me Halfway?' I think I somewhat murdered my muse with that angst-ridden drabble and had to coax it by watching Mission Impossible 4 and a little bit of City Hunter. (Lee Min Ho... *swoons*)
Anyway, here is chapter five of Hunters and we go to China. I know using Han Geng and Victoria was a little contrived, but I hope you enjoyed their cameos. As for the plot, there is so much more foreshadowing in this chapter than I was planning on putting in that when we get to that point, you may just scream at me. Mostly, I feel like while this doesn't have the same action as the fourth chapter, I hope that it still carries the same intensity and gives you more to chew on about the boys. Let me know what you think!
Notes on the text:
1. 9121 words, counted by MS Word.
2. The ferry between Korea and China does exist. You can find it here.
3. Information about Beijing, Fengtai, and Rizhao along with routes was all collected from Wikipedia and Google Maps.
4. Information about Semtex can also be found on Wikipedia.
5. Information about Beijing World Park found here and here.
P.S. Cookies to whoever finds the reference to SHINee's Hello Baby!