yunsias

[sujusanta]

For: yunsias
Title: Lost and Found
Pairing: None; Siwon-centric
Category: Police AU
Summary: A string of teenage deaths has left Korea devastated and investigators puzzled. When the deaths begin to occur in Hong Kong as well, Siwon and his team must travel out of their country to pursue their mark. With the help of the Hong Kong branch, will they be able to find their killer before it’s too late?

Lost and Found

She must have cried out in fear before the knife pierced her skin. He had imagined how she might have called his name, cried out for help, yet help had not come. Instead he watched the knife pierce fabric and flesh, her red blood spilling forth. Again he watched her stumble backwards, clutching a wound that would not close. Again he watched the light fade from her eyes. Her lifeless body hit the ground and he screamed.

-o-o-o-o-o-

“Siwon,” hissed a voice beside him. A hand was shaking his shoulder. “Siwon, it was a dream.”

The man blinked and reached up to wipe away tears that he didn’t know he had shed. “Thanks Kangin,” he mumbled as he turned his head away to stare out the window. He was glad that the other man had woken him from this dream.

Kangin grunted in response. “You might want to try not to fall asleep on the plane.”

Sungmin turned around and grinned from the seat in front of him. “He wasn’t sleeping, he was meditating.”

Behind Siwon, Kibum snorted. “Sure he was.”

Eunhyuk, who was sitting beside Sungmin, turned as well and glanced at the men. “Naw, he would never sleep on the job.

There was a snort from Yesung who was sitting directly behind Kangin, as he flipped a page of his magazine. “He never sleeps period.”

“I do sleep,” Siwon insisted.

“Two hours a night doesn’t count.” Siwon opened his mouth to respond but shut it again when the flight attendants voice informed all the passengers that it was time to tighten their seat belts.

“We are almost there!” Sungmin was bouncing excitedly with Eunhyuk.

“Aw the little lab rats are finally getting out of their hole,” Kangin teased.

“You’re just jealous because we are the brilliant minds and you are the big dumb muscle,” Sungmin retorted with a devious smirk.

“I’ll show you dumb muscle,” Kangin threatened, leaning forward.

“Kangin, Leeteuk won’t like it if you kill his best computer tech,” Siwon said, amused. Kangin grunted but sat back in his seat anyway.

Their plane broke through the clouds. Siwon glanced out the window and smiled as the glimmering lights of civilization came into view. They had reached Hong Kong.
-o-o-o-o-o-

“Really lab rats, why do you have so much junk?” Kangin groaned. He had two bags on his back, one under each arm, and one in each hand.

“Unlike you, we need more than a gun to wave around and do our work with,” Kibum told him.

“Uh boss,” Eunhyuk said as the trotted to Siwon’s side carrying three of his own bags. “How are we going to communicate? The rest of us don’t know much Mandarin.”

“If need be, I’ll translate,” Siwon reassured him.

“Maybe our boy genius can design a translator for us,” Kangin grumbled, shifting the bags in his arm.

“This isn’t Star Trek. It would take a couple of days for me to write that program,” Sungmin retorted.

Siwon set them a look to behave as a tall Chinese man walked up, flanked but two smaller men. ”I’m Shiyuan. Are you here to guide us?” Siwon said in hesitant Mandarin.

“Yes,” the man answered him in Korean. “I’m Hankyung, this is my team. Henry and Ryeowook.” When named, both men offered them smiles. “Follow me and we’ll get you settled.

-o-o-o-o-o-

“Welcome to China boys,” a tall lanky man greeted them in their own language, outside the police head quarters. He wore his long dark hair in a pony tail high on his head and a smirk was affixed firmly on his face. “I’m Heechul, head of this division and you are all mine for the duration of your stay.” His smile turned slightly dangerous and Eunhyuk took an involuntary step backwards.

Siwon watched Hankyung send his boss a look and Heechul’s smile immediately morphed to a friendlier one. “I’m just kidding,” Heechul told them jokingly. “Really though, my team will be taking point on this one but you are all welcome to offer any aid you may have. Let’s get you settled in.”

He turned and led them into the building and straight to the elevator. Somehow they managed to squeeze in, luggage and all. Still they were all grateful when they reached their first stop, two floors down.

“This is our tech center,” Heechul informed them as he stepped from the elevator and led the way past equipment to where men were bustling around.

Sungmin’s jaw nearly hit the floor in disbelief. “No way! This is state of the art equipment,” he shuffled forward and ran his hands lightly over one of the mentioned pieces. “And is that a model 3X569.0?” He asked excitedly, as he hopped over to the machine.

“Yes it is and please stop poking at it,” a man said, as he shifted over giving Sungmin a glare of death.

“This is Kyuhyun, head of this department,” Heechul told them with a satisfied smirk.

“Wow I have never seen one of these things in operation before,” Sungmin said happily, completely unfazed by the mood of the man hovering over him.

“Well not many have them,” Kyuhyun said lightly, grabbing one of Sungmin’s wandering hands and shifting it away.

“I know! I just got the 3X569.1 and can’t wait to try it out!”

“Where did you get that?” Kyuhyun asked shocked. “They are still in prototype.”

“My boss has connections that have connections. I brought it with me. Do you want to try it out?”

“Yes!” Kyuhyun exclaimed immediately. His entire demeanor switched from one of irritation to one of excitement.

“Awesome!” Sungmin rushed over to Kangin and wrestled the bag that was under his right arm from him.

“Hey! Why don’t you take the rest of your crap first!?” Kangin called after the man.

Smirking Heechul gestured to one of the other people in the room. “Just hand whatever is his to this one, and he will take care of it.” Kangin nodded and began passing off Sungmin’s bags.

Siwon frowned. “He doesn’t know the name of his employees?” he muttered under his breath.

“Actually,” Hankyung answered in a quiet tone with a small smile. “He knows every single persons full name down to the very last janitor.”

“Of course I do,” Heechul breezed past them to the elevator once more. “I just don’t want them to think I like them or anything.” Siwon nodded but said nothing further of the peculiar behavior. He gave one last check to Sungmin who was happily conversing with Kyuhyun about technology, before gesturing for his team to follow.

The squeeze back onto the elevator was much easier now that they had lost one person and four bags. Heechul pressed the correct button and then stood in silence as the elevator descended again. It went down a single floor before opening its doors.

“This boys,” Heechul told them once they had all unloaded, “is forensics. That is Zhou mi,” he gestured through the glass door to a tall lanky man in a lab coat who was bent over studying something under his microscope rather intently. “And the other one is Donghae.” The one named Donghae had his shoulder length hair pulled back into a tail at the back of his head and appeared to be performing an experiment on how high he could make a ball bounce.

“Working hard boys,” Heechul asked as he entered the room. Zhou mi hummed his agreement with the statement.

“Heechul! Do you know what will happen if I drop this from the top of my book shelf?” Donghae asked excitedly.

“No.”

“Neither do I! Well I mean I know theoretically what will happen but who knows! There might be an anomaly.”

“Donghae, just make sure Zhou mi has the band aids out before you attempt it. Have you had sugar today?” Heechul asked seemingly serious, but visibly amused.

“Nope.”

“He hasn’t,” Zhou mi confirmed while twisting a dial on the equipment in his hands. “Shindong was just in here earlier and filled Donghae’s head with all sorts of ideas.”

“Don’t you have a case to work on?” Heechul asked the man.

“Yep. I am.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I’m testing a murder weapon,” he brandished his bouncy ball.

“Don’t ask,” Zhou mi cautioned.

“This is Eunhyuk and Kibum. They will be working down here with you on our joint case,” Heechul indicated the mentioned men.

“Awesome. You can help me figure out how to kill someone with a bouncy ball,” Donghae said immediately as he bounced over to the pair. Kibum sent Siwon a pleading glance but there was little Siwon could do about it. Kibum was stuck.

Kangin happily unloaded yet another bag and marched to the elevator. “Good thing I pack light.”

Siwon nodded and laughed as he returned to the elevator as well. Heechul waited until Yesung had joined them along with Hankyung’s team, before he pushed the button for the elevator to rise.

“Well that is pretty much the place. Fourth floor is where your temporary offices will be, with Hankyung’s team. For now you will just be housing with them. The rest of your boys will be put up by my boys, however if they are anything like my boys they won’t go home very often.”

“Nope, the lab rats like their lab,” Kangin agreed.

Heechul laughed. The doors opened to the fourth floor and he smiled and stepped out. “Well that about covers it. Welcome to China.”

-o-o-o-o-o-

“Including the ten deaths in Korea, the total is twelve victims between the ages of thirteen and eighteen that have been murdered,” Ryeowook informed them as he clicked through the pictures on the screen. “We have no leads on the case other than those that your branch has provided us with. Both crime scenes in China were wiped clean of any evidence and the bodies were long dead by the time they were found. We have no leads on the drug lord that is rumored to be behind the killings.”

“This is why we agreed to team up with your team,” Hankyung told them.

Siwon nodded. He, Kangin, and Yesung had reassembled at the office after a night’s sleep on the respective couches of Hankyung’s team. They had immediately gotten to work comparing the facts that they had on the case, however it seemed that there was little they had to offer each other.

“How does a drug lord slip into a country and no one notices? How do these children keep dying without any trace,” Siwon grumbled in frustration. He snapped his folder of papers shut and tossed them to the side.

“I don’t know,” Hankyung replied.

The phone beside Henry rang and the young man picked it up. He listened for a minute before placing it back down and looking at Hankyung. “There was a reported murder of a teen that fits the profile.”

“Let’s go,” Hankyung ordered.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Five minutes later they had arrived at the crime scene, an abandoned back ally. From a glance Siwon and Hankyung could tell that they would find no more evidence here then they had anywhere else, despite the fact that they had arrived at the scene much quicker then all of the others. Still, they set their team to work. Henry was left to question the young woman that had reported the murder. Kangin and Ryeowook were assigned to gather anything that might be evidential while Yesung took pictures of the entire scene.

“Zhou mi is on his way,” Hankyung said snapping his phone shut.

“We are always one step behind,” Siwon commented, disgruntled.

“I know. There has to be a pattern we are missing.”

Siwon nodded his agreement and watched his team work for a moment. He watched Yesung take a few pictures of a fire escape ladder before the man stood simply contemplating it for a moment. Then Yesung placed his camera around his neck, took a careful leap and grabbed the ladder. In a few short moments he had scaled it and was standing on a balcony. Beside him was an open window that he took a few pictures of before disappearing through.

“Yesung,” Siwon called after him. “What is it?” There was a shuffle of movement from inside the building and then his cell phone rang.

“I think the killer just climbed out the other window and got into a van,” Yesung’s voice told him the moment he answered. Siwon didn’t wait. He took off at a run around the corner. He was just in time to watch the van speeding away.

“Stay here and wait for Zhou mi with Hankyung’s team. I’m going after them,” he shouted to Kangin as he ran by toward their car. He flipped the phone closed before opening it and dialing Sungmin’s number.

“Yeah?”

“I need you to track a license plate for me now,” Siwon told him. He quickly gave Sungmin what he remembered of it.

“Siwon?” Hankyung asked in confusion as he met Siwon by the car. Siwon gestured to get in the car and climbed behind the steering wheel. He waited only until he had placed his Bluetooth in his ear, activated it, and Hankyung had climbed into the passenger seat before he took off in the direction the van had gone.

“Sungmin?” he asked tensely.

“Just a moment. There, Eyes in the Sky is active,” Sungmin declared. There was a slight echo of disgruntlement about the name from the background but Siwon was too worried about following the fleeing vehicle to care. “Take a right,” Sungmin instructed.

Siwon immediately pulled the wheel towards the right. “What are we doing?” Hankyung asked as he braced himself from further violent turns.

“Following a van that I think the killer is in,” Siwon replied tersely. Hankyung only nodded, not wanting to interrupt Siwon’s concentration while he was driving at break neck speeds.

“Take the next… Shit!” Sungmin’s voice was followed by the sound of rapidly typing keys.

“Sungmin?” Siwon asked.

“Hold on! No!” There was a string of curses that Siwon was going to have to lecture him about later. “Uh boss,” Sungmin said hesitantly. “We sort of lost them.”

“What do you mean sort of?” Siwon asked. His fingers tightened on his steering wheel as he wove in and out of traffic.

“We had them locked and then we were hacked. The bad news is we had to shut down our systems to stop it. The good news is that I can trace them, eventually.”

“How long is eventually?”

“Uh. Twenty four hours? Maybe forty eight.”

Siwon cursed and slowed the car to just below the speed limit. “Get on it.”

“Right away,” Sungmin responded immediately. “Sorry.”

“I know. Just find me whoever did it.”

“We are on it.”

“And Sungmin.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll be bringing you doughnuts.” Siwon listened to the excited noises for a moment before ending the call. He sighed. “They lost them. Apparently they were hacked.”

Hankyung sighed. “I can’t say it really surprises me. Every time we get close, they slip through our fingers. Let’s just head back.” Siwon nodded in agreement.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Sungmin, it turned out, was not thrilled in the slightest that they had been hacked, Kyuhyun was even less so. When Siwon had walked in bearing the promised doughnuts they had both barely acknowledged him before returning to a flurry of typing. From experience, Siwon knew it was better to simply leave him to it.

He returned to his team to find them still studying the pictures that they had taken at the scene. They had been informed, by Zhou mi’s examination of the body, that this was indeed another killing directly linked to their case. The victim had been killed by a knife wound to the chest and bore the characteristic deep slice across the back of the left shoulder as a mark of the killer.

Siwon was frustrated with himself that the killer had been so close and they had somehow missed it. He blamed himself for not making sure that all exits were blocked and all vehicles in the area momentarily detained in case the killer was still present. Despite Hankyung’s reassurance that there was nothing he could have done, he still felt responsible.

“Hankyung,” Henry’s voice startled Siwon from his thoughts a half an hour later. “Zhou mi says that they have something we should see.”

Hankyung nodded his understanding and lead their six man group to the elevator. The ride down to the forensics floor was a tense one. When the doors opened, Donghae and Eunhyuk were waiting for them, practically vibrating with energy.

“We just discovered possibly the biggest breakthrough in this case!” Donghae chattered excitedly as he led them to a wing of the lab. He pushed open a door reveling Zhou mi standing in the middle of the room with all three victims laid out on the tables. All were on their stomachs.

“Look at this,” Zhou mi gestured them over. He pointed to the back of the most recent victim’s left shoulder. There, around the severed flesh from the slash mark, were dark marks that resembled a tattoo of some sort. “All three of the victims had it. We never saw it before because it is inked using a special chemical that only shows up when the correct chemical is used on the surface of the skin. Kibum is trying to put together an idea of what it looks like.”

“How did you figure this out?” Hankyung asked, studying the mark closer.

“For once Eunhyuk’s clumsiness came in handy,” Kibum mumbled. “There.” He clicked once more and an image appeared on the screen. Siwon walked closer to peer at it. It seemed to be the image of a snake coiled around a dagger.

With a puzzled look he moved back to the body to look at the mark once more. Sure enough, he could make out pieces of the snake here and there. The slash where the skin had been cut was situated directly on the place where the dagger would have been. In fact if he looked hard enough he could see half of the dagger on each side.

“This was intentional,” he said softly.

“We believe so,” Zhou mi replied. “All three bodies have the mark split intentionally. Whoever did this knew that the mark was there.”

“What if,” Yesung said, “the killer knew it was there because he or someone associated with him put it there. What if it is a mark to determine their next hit? Or maybe it is a way to mark the people that were involved with him.”

“We don’t have any evidence to say that these kids were involved in the drug ring at all,” Hankyung pointed out.

“Not directly,” Siwon replied not looking up. “We do have a report that one of the victims was feeling nervous and worried before she was killed. She reportedly had asked a family member what she should do if she was ever asked to do something she didn’t agree with.”

“That isn’t a lot to go on,” Hankyung argued.

“It’s all we have. Kibum, get in touch with our branch and have them check our victims,” Siwon told him.

“Already have. Minho is on it. As soon as he gets results he is going to call back,” Kibum replied.

Siwon nodded. “Good. Hankyung I need to talk to Heechul.”

“I think he is in the main communications room.”

“Where is that?”

“The floor above our offices. Why?”

Siwon didn’t respond. He turned and headed at a brisk walk towards the elevator. “Wait,” Hankyung called after him. The Chinese man grabbed his arm just outside of the elevator. “What are you doing?”

“We have a lead here. It needs to be pursued now,” Siwon answered shortly.

“Heechul will be locked in the communication center. You won’t even be able to get in for two hours at least.”

“I’ll get in,” he said confidently. He stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for the floor he wanted. Hankyung, his team, and the remainder of Siwon’s team scrambled into the elevator just before the doors closed.

Kangin laughed. “Siwon has their scent. Look out world.”

The elevator doors opened to the technology center. Siwon put his hand out to stop the doors from shutting again. “Sungmin,” he called. “With me.”

Sungmin looked up from his keyboard. “But I-“

“Sungmin, he has the scent,” Kangin declared mysteriously.

“Really?” Sungmin asked excitedly. “What do I need?”

“Your hand held,” Siwon replied.

“What are you planning on doing?” Hankyung asked.

Siwon offered him no answer. Once Sungmin was inside the elevator he let the door close and pressed the button for the floor above the one their offices were on. Hankyung studied him as if he could derive what the man was planning by that alone.

When the doors dinged open, Siwon was the first one out with Sungmin and Hankyung hot on his heels. He weaved through the gathered people to the large sealed door that could lead nowhere else but to the main communications room.

Once there he stopped and took a moment to ponder the entry keypad beside the doors. “Open it,” he ordered to Sungmin. The man blinked in confusion but stepped forward to do as he was told.

“What are you doing?” Hankyung asked, reaching forward to stop Sungmin.

Before anyone could blink Siwon had grabbed Hankyung’s outstretched arm with one hand and had pressed a small knife to the man’s neck with the other. Hankyung froze. In the next instant, Ryeowook had pulled his gun, switched off its safety and aimed it at Siwon.

“Let him go,” Ryeowook ordered.

Siwon ignored him in favor for watching Hankyung intentionally.

“Put the gun down,” Yesung said coolly as he pressed the blade of his own knife at the back of Ryeowook’s neck.

Kangin shot Henry a look, and the younger man raised his hands to signify that he wasn’t planning on pulling out any weapons anytime soon.

“What are you doing?” Hankyung hissed angrily.

“I need into that room,” Siwon replied.

“Uh boss?” Sungmin asked hesitantly.

“Open it,” Siwon ordered again. Sungmin nodded and connected the cord from his hand held to the panel. Anyone else in the room was still for fear of causing one of the armed men to hurt their own.

It took him ten seconds of steady typing for the alarm to sound and another twenty for the doors to hiss open. When they did, they revealed a rather disgruntled looking Heechul with his arms crossed in irritation. “You could have knocked,” he said over the noise of the alarm. “Will someone turn that thing off!?”

A moment later the alarm cut off in mid ring. “Better, now is all of this really necessary? Can’t we all just put the weapons away boys?”

Siwon immediately released Hankyung’s wrist and pulled his knife away. He slipped it into its sheath that was hidden at his waist and turned to face Heechul. Ryeowook finally lowered his gun and Yesung immediately stepped back, his knife disappearing from sight.

“Get in here, you are making a scene,” Heechul hissed. Siwon nodded and lead the way into the room. Once the last person was inside, the doors hissed shut behind them. “Now what was so important that you had to break into part of my building and raise weapons to my team?”

“We have a lead. I have reason to believe that the drug lord is marking teens with an invisible mark on their shoulder. When these kids don’t do as ordered he takes them out. All three victims are from the same school. I have reason to believe that not only are their more potential victims at that school but that the killer is there as well,” Siwon told him.

“What are you basing all of this on? A hunch?” Heechul asked.

“I’m not wrong,” Siwon said confidently.

Heechul threw up his hands. “He’s yours you decide.” He walked over and slid into a chair in front of the large screen. It was only then that Siwon noticed the image of his boss on the screen, watching it all.

“You are sure?” Leeteuk’s voice carried clearly through the room.

“Yes,” Siwon said confidently.

“Well, that is enough for me. You will have to make it up to Heechul for the disturbance but you have my permission,” Leeteuk declared.

Siwon turned to go and Heechul’s voice stopped him. “Hold it right there. You can’t go running into a school and order kids to strip so you can check for an invisible mark. This isn’t Korea you know. Give me twenty four hours. Then you can go.”

“It can’t wait that long,” Siwon protested.

“I’m sorry. Did you think this was up for debate? It’s not. Now get out of here and behave before I throw you on the next plane to Korea,” having given his orders, Heechul turned his attention back to the screen.

Siwon did not know what to say, so instead he turned and walked out.

-o-o-o-o-o-

“Do I need to worry about you stabbing me and escaping while I am sleeping?” Hankyung asked conversationally as they lounged on his couch that night.

“No. I’m sorry,” Siwon said softly.

“Are you going to tell me why this is so urgent, beside the fact that teens are dying?”

“Isn’t that enough,” Siwon replied and sipped his tea.

“Yes, but this is personal. I can tell.”

“No.”

“No, it’s not personal?”

“No, I won’t tell you. Not yet.”

“I think answers are in order before you leave,” Hankyung argued.

“I will tell you before we go back to Korea, I promise.”

“Fair enough,” Hankyung rose and crossed his small apartment to the sink. He placed his cup gently inside it. “Get some sleep. It will be a long day tomorrow,” Hankyung told him and then he switched off the light.

-o-o-o-o-o-

“That makes six,” Kibum told him quietly, staring down at his clipboard.

Siwon nodded. Six students. That was six marks that they had found in the last hour. Six kids that could possibly be the next targets. Six lives that he would make sure to protect. He dismissed Kibum to return to his makeshift desk where he had been collecting all of the records.

They had entered the school an hour ago, under the pretense of medical health exams. A separate curtained off area for males and females had immediately been set up. The medical employees inside ran through the general physical examination procedures with one addition, they also checked for a skin condition by swabbing a simple solution on the student’s left shoulder. If a student with a mark was found, they were quietly removed into police protective custody. For now this simply entailed an empty classroom with Yesung, Ryeowook, Kangin, and Henry standing guard. Hankyung and Siwon wandered around the area keeping both eyes open and trying to look inconspicuous.

“I think there is something you need to see,” Donghae told him quietly. Siwon nodded and followed the man back into the room that had been partitioned for males. Inside Zhou mi stood behind a student that had removed his shirt. On his left shoulder, in bright ink was the mark. Unlike the other marks the snake possessed wings that unfurled from it as if it was ready to take flight. It also had clawed feet, one of which was curled around the hilt of the dagger.

“Is there something wrong with my skin?” the student asked.

“Nothing is wrong,” Zhou mi told him. “We just have to run a few more tests to be sure.”

“Did you see something there?” fear colored the students voice.

“Nothing that we can’t deal with. Don’t worry,” Zhou mi tried to reassure the student. He glanced at Siwon who nodded. The Chinese man moved away to grab his camera. The moment he turned, the young man took off at a run.

“Stop!” Zhou mi called after him.

Siwon didn’t waste time with words. His body surged into action and tore after the student. The young man dodged down the hall and to the stair well with Siwon hot on his heels. When he reached the stairs, he began to ascend.

Up they rose, Siwon never getting quite close enough to grab the student in the deserted stairway. They ran, one following the other, until they reached a door which the student burst through first. Siwon squinted at the sudden sunlight as he stumbled out onto the roof top. It only took a moment for him to see that the student had no where further to go, so he stopped moving and drew his gun.

“Nowhere to go,” he called. “Why don’t you just come peacefully?” He began to slowly advance on the male.

The student stopped a few feet from the edge of the building and turned to watch Siwon. He smirked. “I thought so,” he sneered.

Siwon narrowed his eyes. He heard movement from the doorway and glanced long enough to see that it was Hankyung, before he returned his attention to the student.

“You must be her brother. The resemblance is just too uncanny. Do you know you look just like her?” he sneered.

Siwon’s eyes widened in shock.

“She was a fighter you know. Gave me this,” he pointed to an almost healed slash mark on his stomach. “But in the end she was just like everyone else. She screamed and bled just like a stuck pig.”

Siwon, who had advanced to just a few feet away from the student, released a rage filled noise and lunged forward. His fist caught the student in the stomach causing him to double over. Before he could recover, Siwon spun and kicked the male in the shoulder, sending him to the ground.

The student rolled onto his back laughing. “It was such a pretty noise. Better than all the rest really. I wish I would have had time to stab her again and again just to hear it.”

Siwon stood over him holding his gun with both hands, aimed at the students head. “You will pay for what you have done,” he gritted out.

“Siwon!” Hankyung called sharply, his own gun trained on the student as well.

Siwon let out an animalist snarl and swung.

-o-o-o-o-o-

“It’s probably a good thing that you didn’t drive him, otherwise he wouldn’t have made it there,” Kangin said conversationally as he slapped Siwon’s back.

Siwon said nothing, choosing instead to watch Ryeowook and Yesung, loading the identified students into a van.

“Although it is strange that he is still breathing,” Kibum said calmly.

“I’m not him,” Siwon replied after a moment. “To kill him like that would have made me no better than him. Jiwon deserves more than that.”

“Jiwon?” Hankyung asked quietly. He remembered hearing that name somewhere before but he couldn’t place it.

“Wasn’t that the name of one of the first victims in Korea?” Zhou mi asked.

Siwon nodded. “You were right Hankyung, this was personal. “The second victim to be killed in this case was my little sister Jiwon. She died because I didn’t pay attention to the signs. Her death is my fault.”

Hankyung stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We are closer than ever before to catching the true evil behind this.”

“I know,” Siwon said with a sigh. He paused for a moment. “Do you want to go get something to eat before heading back?’

Hankyung’s smile was genuine, “Sure.”

-o-o-o-o-o-

Siwon bowed deeply in front of a rather amused Heechul. “I am truly sorry for my behavior and am ready to accept any consequences that may have resulted. Please don’t punish my team. They were only following my orders.”

“Oh I think we can find some sort of punishment for you,” Heechul smirked and moved towards the large screen in his communication center. “Shindong, if you would get the head of the South Korean division for me.”

There was a nodded and a moment later Leeteuk’s face was filling the screen. “Heechul,” he greeted.

“About the matter discussed?” Heechul prompted.

“I have decided to defer to your judgment on the matter.”

“Excellent,” Heechul turned from the screen to face Siwon. “Choi Siwon, I hereby sentence you to stay in China for the duration of this case. You will serve out your sentence working side by side with Hankyung’s team and responding promptly to any and all orders from me. Do you understand?”

Siwon blinked. “Yes, but I thought-“

“My decision is final. Now get to work before I decide something stricter is in order,” Heechul dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

“Thank you sir,” Siwon replied, bowing deeply. Hankyung lead the way out of the room wearing a satisfied smile on his face.

“I don’t understand,” Siwon muttered once they had returned to their desks.

“Heechul was more amused than anything I think. Kyuhyun got chewed out for the fact that Sungmin had been able to hack into his system so quickly and they spent the time that we were working basically fixing that,” Hankyung told him with a shrug.

“But that doesn’t explain why he let me stay without any consequences.”

“It’s Heechul,” Hankyung said simply.

“You say that as if that is reason enough,” Kangin replied with a laugh.

“It pretty much is,” Ryeowook smiled.

There was the quiet sound of shuffling papers as everyone began to focus on their separate tasks. The silence only lasted a few moments before Siwon interrupted it again. “We sort of got off on the wrong foot I think. Sorry for my behavior for the last few days.”

“It’s not a problem,” Hankyung told him.

“It is. It was unacceptable even with the circumstances,” Siwon insisted.

“Alright. You can buy me dinner to make it up to me,” Hankyung said with a smirk.

“Oh lord, if you both agree that you are friends and that this is the start of a beautiful relationship, I am going to barf,” Kangin groaned.

“As long as you barf to the left,” Yesung, who was sitting on his right, said.

“Hey!” Henry, who was sitting to his left, protested. “I disagree. He can just barf into his own lap!” There was a collective laugh.

“Siwon!” Sungmin called excitedly, racing off the elevator and weaving between people. “Siwon! We found them!”

“What?” Siwon asked.

“We found them! We traced the hacking and we think we might have found them. We can’t be completely sure because of several factors, but there is a chance.”

Siwon nearly leapt from his chair.

“Here we go again,” Kangin grumbled as he and the rest of the men rose to follow Sungmin.

“We have to tell Heechul right away,” Siwon declared, as he pressed the button for the floor above theirs. The doors to the elevators closed and it began to rise.

Hankyung smiled and exchanged a look with Siwon. “This time, I’ll knock.”

END.