Wufan wasn't stupid.

He knew exactly what he was seeing, saying, doing.

He wasn't the most elite police patrol officer in the district for no reason.


Arriving back at the police station, he found Yixing, the station receptionist officer, in the station waiting room. He was squinting hard at the computer screen, his ears plugged into the desktop.

"Has it been tapped?" Wufan flopped onto the sofa of the empty waiting room, watching his colleague.

Yixing ran a hand through his hair. "Yep. I'm tuning in now. We've picked up... A very interesting conversation."

"Hmm?" That piqued interest in Wufan, and he stood to walk over to the officer. Yixing waved him away.

"Can't let you hear yet, I'm not able to playback. It's still connected." 

"Still connected?" It has been more than half an hour.


**********


There was several collected breaths, and finally Jongdae spoke again.

"Junmyeon, you have to go to Seoul arts high school. Now."

"What? I'm not going to rescue you?" Junmyeon felt slightly alarmed at the speaker's request.

"No..." Jongdae groaned, exasperation clear in his voice. "They are after my brother, Kim Jongin. You have to go and get him before they do!!"

Realisation dawned on Junmyeon. He quickly fitted the phone back on the dashboard and plugged in the earphones again. Working quickly, he turned the engine back on and drove off as quickly as he could.

"Jongdae, don't worry BEEP I'll rescue BEEP your brother as BEEP soon as I can..." 

Junmyeon trailed off suddenly. Oh my god no.

"Junmyeon, what's that beeping sound?" Jongdae voice crackled over, in the midst of many beeps.

"My... My phone battery is running out." .

"Oh crap, how now?" Came the desperate reply.

Junmyeon wanted to smash his head on the steering wheel. Why didn't I charge the phone fully before I left the house? Then again, I didn't think I would be spending close to an hour on the phone with a kidnapped stranger. Think, Junmyeon. THINK THINK THINK!!

"Uhh..." Then he got a brainwave. "Um, I can buy a charged portable phone battery."

"Okay, go buy one!!"

"Right." Junmyeon shook his head to clear his swimming thoughts and quickly drove to the nearest hardware shop.


"You there yet? Quick there isn't much time!" Jongdae breathed into the phone, voice laced with worry.

"I'm here I'm here. Hold on for a moment, I'm going into the store, don't disconnect the line."

Junmyeon pried off the earpiece and hurried into the hardware shop. A young lady smiled at him when he entered. "Hello sir. How can I help you handsome sir?" She fluttered her eyelashes.

Junmyeon had no time for flirting. He slammed his hand on the table to jolt her from her useless banter."I need a portable charger that is fully charged. Quick."

"Oh..." She seemed visibly hurt. "Okay sir, hold on." She sashayed to the back of the shop so aggravatingly slowly. Junmyeon growled and slammed the table again. "Faster!!"

"Mind your manners." An elderly cashier flashed him an irritated look, and Junmyeon ignored him. A life was on the line here, how is he expected to keep calm?!

After what felt like a million years, the lady came back out with the charger. 

"That'll be..." Junmyeon flung a fifty at her, way more than what the charger would cost, grabbed the charger from her hands and fled out of the store.


3% battery. Oh heck thank god I was fast, Junmyeon thought, as he quickly plugged in the charger to the phone, leaning back on the seat to catch his breath.

Phew...

Junmyeon plugged the earpiece back in and immediately found himself drowning in Jongdae's shrieks. 

"...JUNMYEON!! KIM JUNMYEON!!"

"Whoa whoa I'm here, stop screaming!"

"Go now!! Quick! You don't have much time!"

Junmyeon obeyed, pulling out of the lot and speeding towards the high school where Jongdae's brother was studying at.


**********


"After you add four to the denominator you will get x to the power of..."

Jongin couldn't concentrate in class. Which was highly unusual, given his uncanny ability to stay wide awake in attentiveness every lesson while his classmates all around droop to dreamland one by one.

The thumb drive...

A feeling of uneasiness spread through him.

I have to hide it...

Jongin had opened the thumb drive the night before. He had recoiled in horror at the contents of the thumb drive, and it was clear that not only it did not belong to him, it belonged to someone who wasn't involved in legal activities.

They were gambling cheat strategies. 

Lots and lots of strategies and background information and stuff that are clearly hacked from private databases. 

Jongin shivered, as a cold breeze blew into the classroom.

His fingers curled into the thumb drive in his back pocket.


The bell rang, announcing the end of the second class. Jongin picked up his school bag and threw it over his shoulder, hurrying out of the classroom and to the male restroom.

I have to hide it...

Jongin splashed his face with water while his heart pounded erratically in his chest. 

I'm scared...

He stepped out of the washroom and headed towards the gym, where his next class was.

He never did make it there, though. Two thick hands grabbed hold of his skinny arms and began to drag him away from the gym towards the car park.

"What...?" He looked up at the men pulling him, and they had calm expressions on their faces. A facade? Jongin blinked as they bowed kindly to a teacher walking past them. Oh... They had visitor passes. 

Wait. Visitor passes? 

Once they reached the school car park, there was a van in the middle of the car park with the door swung open. The two men walked nonchalantly towards it, with Jongin in between. From far, it almost seemed like Jongin was walking alongside two school visitors. But in reality, they had clamped him tightly and he couldn't escape if he tried.

Oh my god...

Soon they were near enough to the van. One of the men glanced around quickly, and he picked Jongin up, throwing him into the vehicle swiftly. Jongin opened his mouth to scream, but his mouth was firmly clamped shut with a giant hand.

A breathed tickled his ear as it came close. "You scream, you die."

Jongin held his breath and bit on his tongue hard.


**********


After signing in as a visitor's vehicle, Junmyeon sped into the school and headed for the car park. 

"Okay we're here, Jongdae. I'm just going to..." The remaining sentence tumbled down his throat as his eyes widened.

"Junmyeon? What's wrong? What's wrong?" Came an anxious reply.

He watched as a visitor vehicle drove right past him.

"Jongdae, describe the vehicle you were kidnapped in." He fought to keep his voice calm.

"It was dark blue, rather old looking..."

"Damn!!" Junmyeon slammed hard on the steering wheel.

"Junmyeon? What's wr... Oh my god THEY GOT HIM FIRST?!"

Junmyeon gulped down huge breaths, his heart racing painfully. "What should I do now, Jongdae." His voice came out strangled and resigned. 

He had failed in rescuing Jongdae's brother, it was all his fault.

"Follow them, Junmyeon. Follow them!!"

"Okay," Junmyeon reversed the car out of the school and immediately gave chase.
 

As he drove, Jongdae conveyed instructions to him firmly yet gently.

"Junmyeon, listen to me. Don't call the police, understand? They will just make the situation worse. I want you to follow them and make sure my brother is safe. Give them what they want, and rescue my brother. They are dangerous people, so don't aggravate them or insult them. You hear me?"

Junmyeon nodded breathlessly, his eyes focused on the dark blue vehicle weaving along the road in front of him. "Okay."

"Take care Junmyeon. And... Thank you." Jongdae's voice was tired and trembling. He must be so scared, Junmyeon thought. Heck, I myself am crazily scared right now.

"Jongdae..."

"Hmm?"

"Could you tell me how you managed to call me?"

"I... There is a public phone in the room where I'm held hostage. One of the men destroyed it before they left, but I somehow managed to fix the spewed out wires together and establish this connection."

Junmyeon was truly awed. "That's amazing..."

"Tsk. That's not important. Now focus and don't talk. Remember, you need to save my brother."

The car was silent for a while. The van seemed to be sticking to the left lane, and Junmyeon followed suit. Jongdae's breathing was slow and laboured against his breathless panting.

"Jongdae..."

"Hmm?"

"What about you?"

"...What about me?"

"Saving you. What about saving you?"

There was silence on the other side, aside from mild static sounds and slightly shaky breaths from the boy.

"That's not important. Just go rescue my brother."

"No." Junmyeon's chest squeezed painfully at how despondent Jongdae had sounded. 

"I promise that after I save your brother, I'll come and save you."

"Junmyeon..."

"Hush. That's final. I'll come get you soon, okay?"

"I w-" 

Zzzzzch. The line went dead.

Junmyeon felt his heart skip a beat as he turned to look at his phone on the dashboard. It showed the main screen.* Frantic, Junmyeon jabbed his phone multiple times, yet there was nothing. "Jongdae Jongdae Jongdae Jongdae...." He chanted, but there was silence. 

"Oh my god..." 

Junmyeon felt frustration and anger build up in his chest. In front of him, the dark blue van swerved abruptly into a multi storey car park, and Junmyeon quickly followed suit.


**********


Yixing blinked. "The line went dead."

Wufan furrowed his brow. "It was about time..."

The shorter man started to type on the computer, stared hard, and picked up the phone to make a call.

"Hello? This is the police station, I would like to enquire if a certain Kim Jongin is still in school..."

Wufan went up to Yixing and mouthed, find me Kim Jongdae's house number, and the latter gave a quick nod, his fingers flying across the keyboard.

Yixing then mouthed out the numbers to him, and Wufan nodded, keying them into his handphone and pressing the call button.

There was ringing for a while, but no one answered. Strange, Wufan thought. Wasn't that supposed Kim Jongdae at home when I visited him just now? Wufan glanced at his watch. It was 11:52AM, about an hour had past.

Then came the answering machine. It was a young, slightly high pitched male voice.

"Hi, Jongdae here, ha ha sorry we aren't at home to answer your call, so call back again later!!"

Wufan froze. 

The voice that was Jongdae was completely different from the voice belonging to the man who claimed he was Jongdae. In fact, that voice from the answering machine had the same lilt as the voice that shrieked at him on the phone earlier.

That's confirmed. And the paleness of Yixing's face told him that this wasn't an everyday prankster case.

"Kim Jongin, Jongdae's brother, is missing from school. He attended the first two lessons and then completely vanished. He was last seen flanked by two rather big sized men."

Wufan went round the table and pushed Yixing out of his chair, the shorter man yelping out in annoyance.

"Let me hear the tapped call. Now."



*it showed the main screen, not the caller screen, which is usually displayed when you are in a call with someone.