Junmyeon followed the van until it reached the top of the multi-storey car park, where it was open air. The dark blue van stopped abruptly in the middle of the path, and Junmyeon was forced to stop suddenly as well.

Junmyeon got out of the car. There wasn't any movement from the van for about a minute. He waited.

Suddenly, the side door was flung open and two men got out, one big-sized and the other long and scrawny, holding another smaller sized, extremely frightened looking boy at gunpoint.

Junmyeon swallowed. He didn't realise guns were part of this situation. "They are dangerous people, so don't aggravate them or insult them," Jongdae had said. Fair enough, he thought.

"Ace here." Junmyeon turned to look at another man who had climbed out of the driver's seat. He was easily twice the size of himself, with huge chest muscles bulging from his thin shirt. If that wasn't menacing enough, another huge-sized man got out from the other front seat. 

That made four men, three buff and one bony. As well as one skinny boy, presumably Kim Jongin.

"Anyone following you?" Ace barked in a gruff voice.

Junmyeon shook his head. Jongdae's words echoed in his head again, "Don't call the police, understand? They will just make the situation worse." Junmyeon was partially glad that he had listened to Jongdae. But then again, being alone isn't very reassuring.

"Good." Ace yanked the wide-eyed boy closer to Junmyeon. "You know him?"

Jongin gawked at him like a dying goose. Junmyeon steeled himself, and nodded, making the young boy gawk even more. 

"What do you want with us?" Another man with raving purple hair stepped forward, not before whispering to the tall bony guy. The man darted off into the stairwell with the gun, probably to check if they were surrounded. 

They had nothing to worry about, though. Junmyeon was truly alone.

"Release him." Junmyeon said simply.

The man with a squarish jaw scoffed. "And what do you have in return?"

Junmyeon mustered all his courage and breathed, "The thumb drive."

The previously-gawking Jongin reared his head back with a yelp of shock. The two men holding him walloped him hard in the stomach and he whimpered in pain.

"You..." Ace regarded him with curiosity. "...Are a mysterious person aren't you."

Junmyeon held his head high, ignoring his inner conscience yelling at him to RUN AWAY NOW YOU ASSHOLE.

"Well I'm willing to believe you because we have checked this dumb boy up and down," he glared at Jongin who was now lying in Purple Hair's arms in a dead faint "and haven't found it yet."

"I will give it to you, on one condition." Junmyeon spoke, his breaths coming out shallow.

"Oh? We calling a truce here?" Square jaw wriggled an eyebrow.

"Name it." Ace leaned forward towards him, leering.

"You free Jongdae and Jongin."

Ace leaned back in mock surprise. "You seem to know a lot about this, young man." He narrowed his eyes. "I'm amazed. And because of this extensive knowledge of yours, I'm slightly apprehensive about you. So fine, I accept that trade."

"Where would you like to have the exchange?" Junmyeon asked. He didn't know what he was doing anymore. 

"Oh, I decide?" Ace sounded almost pleasant.

"So that you won't try to accuse me of leading you into an ambush."

"Smart guy. We'll have it at the second warehouse just beside the expedition building. Basement. There is no one there. It's a perfect place." Ace rubbed his hands together, and then eyed Junmyeon's car suspiciously.

"You... Hand over your phone."

Junmyeon's heart dropped. "What?"

Square jaw marched up to him and searched his pockets, pulling out his phone and shoving him backwards. Purple hair hauled Jongin back into the van. Ace took Junmyeon's phone from Square jaw and pocketed it with a smirk.

"Carl, give Ethon a ring and tell him to fetch Jongdae to the warehouse. Tell him to be there in an hour. Understand?" Square jaw, or Carl, nodded. "Anything else, boss?"

"Call Spur back up. I'll tell Dem to wake that unconscious dumb boy up."

Carl started to dial a number on his phone while walking out of the top floor of the car park to search for Spur. 

Ace turned back to him. "Don't try anything funny, smart boy. We'll be trailing you there, so if you try anything stupid, a gun is going to be shoved up your mouth like this." He stuck two fingers into his mouth, and grinned when Junmyeon swallowed noisily.

"We're leaving the moment my men are back. I'm sure you know how to get there."


**********


Jongdae was lying on the ground, staring wistfully at the telephone wires that were now useless.

This is so dumb, he thought. How could I forget that I am using a public telephone? The time limit is an hour and a half. 

He leaned his head heavily on the machine and sighed.

After what felt like ages, there was a different vehicle sound. A car this time, that pulled up outside the godforsaken building that Jongdae was held captive in.

The door was unlocked, and another man Jongdae had never seen before entered. He was a younger man, strong and rather attractive looking compared to the other middle-aged ugly blokes that kidnapped him.

"Hello there, Kim Jongdae." He smirked big and wide. "Ethon here. For a while, though, I was known as Kim Jongdae." He doubled over with laughter.

What does he mean? Jongdae's forehead creased in confusion.

Ethon grabbed his arm roughly and pulled him to his feet, roughly pulling off the rope that bounded his hands. Thankfully, he did not notice the strange wire arrangement. He yanked Jongdae out of the room, and Jongdae could finally see where he was. It was an old office building that was to be demolished in a couple of weeks, and it was just a 5 minute drive away from his house.

All along I was that close to home, and I didn't know?

The sun was bright and hot on his skin. It must be past noon now. Jongdae, having been stuck in a dim room for hours, had to wince a little and narrow his eyes into slits.

Ethon led him to a car that was waiting in front of the building, and pushed him in.

"Don't try to kill me or anything, I'm currently bringing you to a place where you can get your ass saved." Ethon chuckled.

"Saved...?" Jongdae echoed.

"According to Carl, some weird dude appeared and wanted us to exchange you and your dumb brother with the stuff we need. Fair enough, actually. You aren't exactly very useful to us, anyway."

Jongdae felt his heart start to thump. Weird dude...? Could it be Junmyeon?

He kept his promise about saving me.

Jongdae leaned back on the backseat, and couldn't help but smile.


**********


Junmyeon got into the car shakily. He had no idea what on earth had he got himself into.

Not only did he not have the thumb drive, he was also driving out to the very desolate place away from the city. He knew where the warehouse was. It was an hour's drive away. And he did not have a handphone.

How now? 

Shit.

As Junmyeon started the engine, he looked into his rear view mirror and saw that Ace was watching him intensely from the driver's seat. He was going to watch. All the time.

Junmyeon couldn't think of anything that could save his life then. So now I'm walking straight into not only my death trap, but also Jongdae's and Jongin's death traps.

Why am I so foolish?

Jongdae. If only he could meet the boy and comfort him. He sounded so sad and lonely over the phone. He was such a brave boy, such an intelligent and innovative person, such a selfless and protective older brother...

Junmyeon felt his heart clench in longing. I want to meet him...

And now it's my fault we're all going to die.

He looked down momentarily, his eyes hot with tears.


And then something caught his attention. Something that might potentially save their lives.