12 Days until the Auction House

“We’ve gone through all of the footage, Kyuhyun. That’s it.” Eunhyuk sighed, rubbing his bloodshot eyes. The hours had ticked away, and the days had blurred together. He honestly wasn’t even sure anymore how long he had spent staring at video footage of empty streets, hoping to find more than the measly clips that reality dealt them.

“Two clips.” Kyuhyun stated flatly, the vein in his neck pulsing. He raked fingers through his messy hair, trying not to snap at the other agent. If someone like Eunhyuk swore that he couldn’t find any more footage, then it was the truth. Not to mention, he had been sitting right next to the man as he combed through seemingly endless hours of nothing on film.

Eunhyuk gave him a long look, torn between feeling bad and feeling exhausted. Settling on being mature, he pulled up the two clips in question. “It might only be two, but that’s a lot of information to work with, right? You’re a top secret agent spy. Like James Bond, except cooler and real.”

Kyuhyun snorted but didn’t deny it.

“Exactly,” Eunhyuk chuckled. “Let’s think about what we do know. First, this one,” he played the video that they had watched at least a hundred times over in the past two days.

It was a grainy clip captured in the late evening as indicated by the time stamp. The angle of the camera only allowed a clear shot of Ryeowook’s apartment lobby doors and approximately 30 feet of road extending in either direction from the doors. After a minute or so, a blurry figure – who they identified as Ryeowook – came running from the right side. His feet fit the ground in an uncoordinated, adrenaline-fueled mess. Then he stumbled up the steps, unlocked the door with his key card and disappeared into the lobby.

“Alright,” Eunhyuk paused the video. “This was way before his disappearance. If the reported date of disappearance is correct, then we’re looking at about 48 days ago. If this video footage tells us anything, Ryeowook was followed home and thought his life was in danger.”

Kyuhyun nodded carefully, playing the video again. He demeanor was slowly stabilizing again as they talked through their findings. Eunhyuk was more than thankful for that. He hated dealing with his coworker when he was moody.

“And here, we can verify that a delivery man from the restaurant that Kim Heechul told us about did come and bring him food,” Kyuhyun murmured, scrutinizing the figure driving up on a motor scooter. The ball cap obscured any outstanding features and his uniform name tag would’ve been impossible to see given the darkness.

“The restaurant also said their delivery boys are part-timers,” Eunhyuk added, looking at their informal case notes. “They’re called in to do deliveries through a third-party phone app, meaning this person could very well be affiliated with whoever followed Ryeowook that night.”

“It also means the restaurant doesn’t know about the delivery boy,” Kyuhyun sighed. “However, we can verify that more than one person is in on this. That motor scooter came up the road from the left side. That neighborhood isn’t a loop. He would’ve had to be coming from a completely different direction and given the time lapse…,” his eyes shifted back to the screen, “…of two minutes, it would’ve been impossible.”

“So, we’re ruling out that it’s a simple stalker and kidnapping situation,” the other agent agreed. “But why didn’t the kid just grab Ryeowook when he delivered the food?”

Kyuhyun shrugged. “To play more mind games? This isn’t about capturing Ryeowook. It’s about terrorizing him.”

“Is someone trying to get revenge?” Eunhyuk cocked a brow. “If so, who would it be against?”

“I’m positive I had all the enemies in our marriage and beyond it,” he responded wryly, watching the video as Ryeowook hesitantly approached the door once again and took the food. The clip ended shortly after. “What did you think of Kim Heechul?”

What a loaded question. Trying to smile somewhat playfully, Eunhyuk glanced at the other man. “Are you asking if I think he’s real competition? I’d say that it’s a possibility.”

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, tapping on the next video clip. “You’re funny. Answer my question.”

“We’ve talked about this already,” Eunhyuk hedged. He didn’t know if it was possible to have a clear-cut opinion on that particular piece of the puzzle. They had done a thorough background check on him with their available resources and there were both good and bad findings. It was a matter of accurately balancing the information and he wasn’t sure if Kyuhyun was capable of that when this case was so personal.

“No, we’ve reviewed the facts and made very few interpretations,” Kyuhyun corrected, pausing the video. Eyes cutting to Eunhyuk, he asked again, “What do you think of Kim Heechul in this case?”

He sighed heavily. “There are good things to note. He didn’t lie about the food delivery. The restaurant owner wrote that note himself and the order transaction specifically lists Kim Heechul as the customer and credit card owner. Furthermore, he has been Ryeowook’s co-worker at the studio for the past few years.”

“Not few years, for the past two years. That food delivery also proves nothing. He still could’ve known that delivery boy and specifically worked with him.”

Eunhyuk took in a deep breath, knowing that they couldn’t discount that possibility. “Look, we have to be suspicious, but we also have to accept that there are legitimate reasons for him coming to Ryeowook’s company two years ago. He was already working with the company in a different branch. The transfer was due to an employee at Ryeowook’s studio getting pregnant and married. The only person with the available credentials to take over was Kim Heechul.”

“There was no one else they could’ve sent? That studio is a huge, multi-million dollar corporation—”

“—I know what you’re actually suspicious about and we should just cut to the chase. His ties to the mafia were a red flag,” Eunhyuk admitted, glancing at the stack of documents about Heechul on the table. He picked it up, flipping to a marked page. “However, there’s been no evidence of dealings between him and any known syndicates for years. We’re talking like 6-7 years of radio silence. Additionally, the syndicates he worked with were in the ion business. Kyuhyun, you have never worked a case in your life that dealt with human trafficking and illicit ual services.”

The agent-in-question grimaced, immediately rattling his brain for even one case. A minute of silence passed and then Eunhyuk nodded soundly, passing the documents over. “Exactly. I did cross reference all your cases, which, you should know was a disgusting amount, and you have never run into any of the criminals he worked with.”

“You’re positive?” Kyuhyun muttered, still looking unconvinced as he leafed through the report.

“The closest one was your undercover work with that drug lord in Bangkok who loved hookers. And in that case, Heechul had never been in contact with anyone from that area.” Eunhyuk scrubbed a hand over his face, feeling tired again. “You can stack a lot of coincidences against him, but there’s an equal amount of evidence that points away from him. The most damning of those though, is that he’s never harmed Ryeowook.”

“You don’t actually know that,” he fired back immediately.

Eunhyuk shrugged. “And you don’t actually know that he’s done anything. If anyone was going to stage a kidnapping, Heechul would’ve been in prime position to do it multiple times.” He stood up, digging through another pile of papers for a slightly crumpled traffic accident report. “Let’s just review one more time for the sake of it. We tried to track down Kang Ho Dong, remember? His traffic accident and phone records indicate that he placed a call to Ryeowook’s phone shortly before being run off the road by someone. Heechul was with Ryeowook at the time, that’s true, but that wasn’t the last time they were together, right?”

Kyuhyun stayed quiet.

“Let’s say Heechul was working with whoever kidnapped Ryeowook. If they got the evidence confirming that he is your husband and that he is important to you, then why wouldn’t they have used one of the times that Heechul was alone with Ryeowook to stage the disappearance?”

“Heechul is still a citizen with a job. Perhaps he didn’t want to get caught up in an investigation.”

“He placed the missing person’s report. If he didn’t want to get involved in the investigation, why didn’t he push another coworker to file the report? Our own investigation is quickly adding up to make him a prime suspect.”

Kyuhyun’s eyes narrowed. “…you think he’s being framed?”

“I think he’s being used to distract us from looking beyond our borders.” Eunhyuk turned back to the computer, almost reluctant to watch the video footage again. “I know we’ve already seen this clip, but let’s watch it without coloring our thoughts with Heechul as the top conspirator in the case.”

He pressed play.

Ryeowook stepped into a moderately busy waiting area of a restaurant. This was the night he disappeared and in a crazy turn of events, the restaurant cameras had captured the moment…sort of. It all happened subtly.

One second, Ryeowook was standing alone away from the doors, and the next, two men were coming up from behind him – indicating they must have been somewhere inside the dining hall earlier. They stood on either side of him, their much larger frames and plain black suits a dead giveaway to their less than legal affiliation. Thirty seconds passed and then Ryeowook was being escorted out of the restaurant. However, his back and most of his frame were obscured by the two men.

Even when they switched to the outdoor camera after finding this clip, it was for not. It was too dark to make out the vehicle that picked them up.

Eunhyuk closed the video. “What we need to focus on right now is—”

“—wait.” Kyuhyun pulled the video back up, watching it again. His eyes shifted away from the obvious situation, scanning over the faces and behaviors of the bystanders. Rewinding again, he slowed the video down to half-speed, scrutinizing the blurry images. “There’s just something strange about this clip. I’ve thought so for a long time.”

“You’ve watched it over and over already though,” Eunhyuk remarked, curiosity getting the better of him as he stared at Kyuhyun.

“You’re the one who said to stop being preoccupied with how Heechul could’ve rigged this kidnapping. I’m doing that.”

Slowly, Eunhyuk turned his head, eyeing the background and minor players in the video rather than the distracting image of Ryeowook being hauled off by criminal aides. Even so, he didn’t get what he was looking for. The slower processing speed could’ve also been due to sleep deprivation and too many energy drinks.

“It’s a dining hall.”

“Yeah…,” Eunhyuk responded carefully, squinting as Kyuhyun played the video once more.

“It’s a place that only serves groups and couples.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

Kyuhyun paused the video, tapping the screen just over a figure sitting in a corner of the waiting room. A blond head of hair, dark sunglasses indoors, and wearing an overcoat. “Him.” He glanced at Eunhyuk who remained mildly confused. “He’s alone,” Kyuhyun sighed, impatiently. “He never takes off his coat either. Pull up the feed.”

Eunhyuk quickly found and opened the original video feed, speeding it up until the blond man entered. Sure enough, he was alone. He took a seat almost immediately without approaching the hostess stand. From there, it was a solid thirty minutes until Ryeowook emerged on screen and was hauled off. It would take another thirty minutes for the man to stand up and make his way to the door.

It was their own stupidity for not watching the video all the way through until that moment. How could they have guessed though?

The blond man paused at the doorway, tilted his head back, and smiled the slightest bit at the security camera.

Fire flared in the pit of Kyuhyun’s stomach. I’m being played. Clenching his fists, he grabbed his jacket off the back of a chair. “We’re going.”

“Where?” Eunhyuk scrambled up, tugging on his own jacket haphazardly.

“We need more resources.”

“You gotta tell me more than that,” he snapped, rushing after Kyuhyun who was making a beeline for the car. “This is our first breakthrough since the case started and I haven’t seen direct sunlight in three days,” Eunhyuk complained, hurrying to the passenger side door.

“It’s nighttime. You aren’t seeing daylight for a while longer,” Kyuhyun scoffed. “And we’re going to the main office. We need the director’s support.” Kyuhyun peeled out of the parking spot. “They want us to find him. They want me to find them.” Taking a deep breath, he glanced at a very confused Eunhyuk. “That jacket the man was wearing is an exclusive piece by an infamous Chinese fashion designer. It can only be bought in China or Hong Kong by certain families. Of all the jackets to wear, he chose one that’s easily identifiable.”

“By families…”

“Yes. I mean criminal families.” Kyuhyun pressed a little harder on the gas, heart racing. “Our resources only extend to the national networks. We need international support if we’re going to move forward.”