Covert Chapter 1

8 weeks before…

So Hyun~

Ring. Ring. Ring…

My hand grabbed the phone off the nightstand table and instantly pressed it to my ear.

“Hello?” I whispered into the phone, dreading for the reason behind this call.

“MinHyuk’s family has been taken hostage. I have no choice but to ask you for your assistance with the case.” Seo Eun Kwang’s usual clear pronunciation was inculcated with a touch of despondency.

“I’ll be right there, sir.” I stated, swinging my feet over the bed.

“Meet us at the crime scene. Hyun Woo will text you the address.” I stood up, noticing that it was still dark outside. I glanced upward at the clock on the wall and saw that it was four in the morning.

In the bathroom I splashed cold water onto my face in an attempt to get a grip on reality. MinHyuk’s family was taken hostage. I stepped into the walk-in-closet I shared with my fiancé, SungJae to get dressed. My work attire consisted of pressed shirts and blazers. I briskly threw some of the essentials into a duffel bag, which I would need for the next following nights at work. Placing my gun and badge into my purse, I walked over to SungJae’s side of the bed where he was fast asleep. I wrote him a quick note on a post it note and stuck it to a glass of water with his antibiotics.

“I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry.” I whispered, pressing a light kiss to his eyelid. 

I showed my badge to the officers guarding the house, waiting for them to permit my entrance. The officer lifted up the yellow strips for me to walk under, allowing me onto the scene.

“So Hyun!” My fellow team member, Seo Woo called out. I walked into MinHyuk’s family home, analyzing the scene with every passing second as Seo Woo greeted me somberly. “If only we were able to celebrate your return.” She muttered, guiding me through the house.

I recalled the first thing I noticed, which was the door was perfectly intact. There was no sign of forced entry, so the unsubs could have deployed a ruse to get into the house. The interior wasn’t ransacked, yet there were minimal blood splatters on the carpet.

“What are we thinking? A ruse was used. One of the members must have been hit with a weapon of some sort. The others might have been coerced into following the abductor’s orders to keep a member safe.” Although I was close with MinHyuk and he talked frequently about his lovely family, I thought it was best to keep the victims at a distance to work objectively.

“I concur. There’s only one blood splatter and it’s very likely that the unsub forced the family members to follow his orders by threatening the life of the member, who the blood belongs to. Hyun Woo already checked all security systems and anything relating to their activity, but there’s nothing helpful there. Our best bet is to reduce a list of past offenders and families that would have abducted them for retribution.”

“Alright. Call Hyun Woo to go through past cases and reduce a list of unsubs that used a similar m.o. That’s the only suspect list we can put together.” I told her, going upstairs to where our Section Chief Seo Eun Kwang and Hye Jung were scanning the house. “Sir. Hye Jung. I’m here.” I announced, entering the parents’ bedroom, which seemed perfectly normal.

“Thanks for coming, So Hyun. CSU already processed the entire scene. We’ll be heading back to the headquarters to work the case, but before we do that I need you to ride with MinHyuk.”

“Of course.” Nodding, I walked outside of the house to see MinHyuk standing by the cars.

“The section chief sent you, didn’t he? Because I can’t read you. My family needs me, So Hyun! Remember how you felt when SungJae was found on his assignment with a gunshot wound that could have killed him unless SVU got there in time. I need to work this case.” I couldn’t reply, but only listen to his urgency that would soon drive him livid.

My team members and I entered our conference room, where our tech analyst remained waiting for us. He averted his eyes away from MinHyuk as he pulled up the list he complied. We all took a seat at the table, scanning the never ending list of unsubs we put away since working here. Our average case time is a week, which means that we’re able to catch the unsubs within the span of a week.  Now that left us with hundreds of unsubs, who had similar M.Os to the house invasion and abduction that transpired.

“I’m not a material witness. I can help with the case, sir. Please.” MinHyuk pleaded to our section chief as Hye Jung, Seo Woo, and Hyun Woo looked away with sorrow.

“On one condition. We’re not giving ourselves a week. Abductions are crucial to the timeline, so in the following twenty four hours we have, we must find the person responsible for this.” Everyone nodded in agreement at the section chief’s words. 

MinHyuk and Hyun Woo were going through the entire list, trying to rack his memory regarding any particular unsubs that would have held a grudge for him. Meanwhile the rest of us were trying to predict what he would do next as we waited for a ransom note to arrive.

Hye Jung and I went into the break room for our third cup of co