Classified
Black Ink
"The secret is the answer to all that has been, all that is, and all that will ever be." --Ralph Waldo Emerson
September 3rd, 2013.
Washington D.C., United States of America.
6:46AM.
I went to the HQ early this morning so I could clear out my desk and send the files to the FBI.
As I was entering, I noticed that the front door wasn’t locked. This meant that someone was inside. I glanced around the parking lot, but there was only one car there.
And it wasn’t any of the staff’s.
I carefully took my pistol out of its holster, and stepped into the HQ as quietly as I could, pointing my gun forward.
No one comes to the HQ this early. Valle is usually the first person to come, and he doesn’t show up until seven.
I glance around the lobby. There didn’t seem to be anyone down on the first floor, so I went up the stairs. If I went up the elevator, it would’ve been obvious that someone had arrived. Our work space and desks are up on the third floor, and climbing two flights of stairs wouldn’t be overly difficult.
As I carefully exited the stairwell, I could hear the shuffling of paper coming from where our desks were. Our office is an open office, so there aren’t any walls that separate us (excluding Valle). What I’m wondering is how this intruder got into the building without a key. They could have created a copy, but thanks to the security, the keyhole can analyze the composition of the material that the key is forged from to determine whether it’s legit.
I get closer to the open office, and I can now see who the intruder is and where they are currently located.
It’s a male, with tan skin and black hair. His back is turned to me so I couldn’t get a look at his face. He’s at my desk, doing something with the transfer papers I had left there last night.
Before he can look at anymore of the information, I aim my gun towards his head. “Federal agent, step away from the desk and put your hands in the air.” I put strength into my voice, enough to be loud, but not enough to sound like I’m shouting.
The man jumps up, obviously startled. He turns around and throws his hands up as if his life depended on it.
Which, technically speaking, it did.
When I look up at the man’s face, I realize something:
It’s not even a man.
It’s a lean boy, probably around 17 years old. His eyes are wide with alarm, and his mouth is slightly agape. He’s wearing a light blue button-down shirt with black jeans. On his feet, there are red and white skater shoes. His hair is straight and somewhat long, stopping just under his eyes. He starts to shift in front of the desk, as if he’s trying to hide what he was doing.
“Move one step and I’ll blast a hole through your head.” He immediately freezes after hearing my threat. I slowly lower my gun and walk towards my desk, ready to raise my gun again and shoot this boy if he tries to do anything for me.
What I find when I approach my desk shocks me.
Instead of ransacking my desk, this boy was… cleaning it. He organized it, as I had planned to do when I arrived here.
“Who are you, and why are you here?” I turn around and raise my gun again, my finger touching the trigger.
“J-jeohui hyung [my brother] s-sent me i-in here.” The boy stammers. He mixed Korean and English together, most likely because he was afraid. At least I know what race he is.
“Who’s your hyung?”
The boy stares back at me, and then lowers his hands. “Wait, are you Ciara noona?”
“Huh?” I’m temporarily surprised, causing me to let my guard down.
Big mistake.
The boy grabs the gun and puts it on the desk. He then grabs my arm and forcefully pulls me outside.
“Hey, let go of me!” He ignores me and proceeds to drag me out of the building. Even with all of my training, his strength overpowers me. For a skinny boy, he’s extremely strong.
I try to struggle, but there’s no use. I rack my brains, trying to think of a way to get out of this.
That’s when I remember the Bluetooth clipped to my ear. I mutter some words, activating it. I call the first person that I can, which happens to be Junmyeon.
“Ciara?”
“I’m being abducted.” I whisper, trying to talk as quietly as possible. The boy doesn’t seem to notice as he pulls me outside.
“Abducted? Like, kidnapped?”
“Yes.”
“Wait, is the suspect a teenage boy with tan skin and a light blue shirt?” Junmyeon questions.
“Yeah, how do you know? Can you see us?”
“…take your Bluetooth off.”
“But--”
“And turn the volume up as loud as possible.” I don’t understand why Junmyeon’s telling me to do these things, but I obey his orders. Then, I vigorously shake my head back and forth until my earpiece falls out.
“Jongin, I specifically told you not to use force!” Junmyeon’s voice is clearly audible through the earpiece. When the boy, who I assume is Jongin, registers the voice, he immediately lets go of me.
“Sorry hyung! She was about to shoot me.”
“I told you, it’s a government facility with classified information everywhere. Of course, anyone who works there with a brain would attempt shooting you. What in the world were you doing in there anyway?”
“W-well…” Jongin stutters, “Y-you said that Ciara noona was going to come early to clean her desk, s-so I just cleaned it for her…”
“Aish…” Junmyeon lets out a frustrated sigh, “I told you to bring her to my apartment when she finished because I need to wrap up a case. I never asked you to clean up for her.”
“Well, the earlier she comes out, the more time you two get to spend time togeth--”
“Jongin, shut up.” Junmyeon pauses for a second, and then sighs again. “Can you put your earpiece back in? I don’t want that knucklehead listening to what I’m going to tell you.”
“Hey, I heard that!”
“I know.” Junmyeoon replies. I lower the volume and stick the earpiece back into my ear.
“Sorry about Jongin…he’s my younger brother.”
“You asked him to kidnap me?” I ask, amused.
“NO!” Junmyeon answers forcefully, causing me to flinch. “I told him to go tell you to meet up with me whenever you finished cleaning your desk. That was it.”
“Well…where’s he taking me?”
“My apartment. Valle sent some more info I’m going to share with you today.
“I understand. Bye.” I end the call, and I see Jongin standing by a dark blue sedan. As I walk closer, Jongin opens the passenger door and lets me in. “Thank you.”
He nods in return, and then goes over and sits on the driver’s side. Once he gets the car moving, he turns on the radio. The song “Little Talks” starts to play. Jongin worriedly glances at me.
“Is it okay if I…”
“Go ahead.” I say, keeping my eyes glued forward. Jongin starts to hum along to the song, while singing some wrong lyrics.
“Don’t you know what this song is really about?” I ask.
Jongin shakes his head. “It’s really catchy though. I hear it a lot on the radio.”
“It’s about a woman who believes her deceased husband’s ghost speaks to her while she goes insane.” I turn my head and look at him to see his reaction.
Jongin’s eyes widen for a moment, but then he chuckles, waving it off.
“Listen to the lyrics.” We both fall silent.
There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back
Well tell her that I miss our little talks
Soon it will all be over, and buried with our past
We used to play outside when we were young
And full of life and full of love.
“I still can’t understand what they’re saying. It’s not clear enough.”
I sigh, and while the song continues, I say the lyrics over top of the singing.
Some days I don't know if I am wrong or right.
Your mind is playing tricks on you my dear.
Though the truth may vary
This ship will carry
Our bodies safe to shore.
Don't listen to a word I say.
The screams all sound the same.
Though the truth may vary
This ship will carry
Our bodies safe to shore.
You're gone, gone, gone away
I watched you disappear.
All that's left is a ghost of you.
Now we're torn, torn, torn apart.
There's nothing we can do.
Just let me go, we'll meet again soon.
Now wait, wait, wait for me
Please hang around
I'll see you when I fall asleep…
After the last line I say, Jongin reaches for the power button, planning to turn it off. Before he can, I slap his hand away.
“OW!” Jongin immediately brings his hand back to the steering wheel. “What was that for? I was just going to shut it off!”
“Both hands on the steering wheel, pretty boy.”
“I can drive with one hand! And what’s with the nickname?”
“What’s your date of birth?” I ask.
“January 14th, 1994…” Jongin looks back at me, confused.
“That means you are 19 and 9 months old. According to Maryland rules, you receive your full license at 17 and 9 months. It’s only been a maximum two years since you’ve gotten your license, correct? Keep both of your hands on the steering wheel before I arrest you.”
Jongin closes his mouth and stares at the road, his eyebrows furrowing. We don’t talk until we arrive at the Veridian Apartments. It’s a huge building, and it’s not like the apartments in my neighborhood. Jongin parks the car in one of the parking garages.
“Just follow me.” He says, getting out of the car. When I get out, he locks the door to the cars and gets into the elevator.
“YAH, HYUNG, I’M HOME!” I hear Jongin call from the front door. I sigh. I had one beautiful hour of complete silence in the house, only to be interrupted, as usual, by my brother.
“Coming.” I get up from my desk and I head out towards the foyer, but before I even make it out of my room, Jongin gets to me first.
“Where’s Ciara?” I ask, noting that Jongin was completely by himself.
“She said she needed to use the bathroom…although, I think she’s taking inventory on what we have.” Jongin then lowers his voice. “Hyung, this noona’s scary. I mean, I’ve met some of your female co-workers before, and none of them have creeped me out as much as her.”
I raise my eyebrows at this. Jongin wasn’t the type to be freaked out by a person easily. “How?”
“Well, for starters, she held a gun to my head and almost shot me. Then, she freaking called you through this hidden device. She also said she liked the song ‘Little Talks’--”
“You said you liked that song too--”
“THAT WAS BEFORE SHE TOLD ME THE MEANING OF THE SONG.” Jongin almost yells. “She also threatened to arrest me for driving with only one hand.”
“Ah, there you are, Junmyeon.” Ciara’s eyes sweep the room, until she makes eye contact with me. Her eyes are nearly pitch black, and when she shifts her gaze to Jongin, I can feel him cringe next to me.
Haha.
I’ve never seen him so scared of a person before.
“Jongin, can you leave? I need to talk to her about work.”
Jongin nods. “Yeah, I have to go meet Taemin for dance anyway.” He bows semi-formally towards Ciara and then proceeds to, literally, run out of the room.
“He’s lying.” Ciara says, looking at Jongin’s retreating figure. I look at her, but before I can say anything, she glances back at me. “Why did you call me here?”
“I got some information from Valle. I think he dropped it in my mailbox earlier today.” I respond. I go over to my desk and pull out the file labeled: ‘Mission: KI”
September 3rd, 2013.
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States of America.
9:12AM.
Junmyeon explained what was in the file Valle had sent him. It contained some information regarding my undercover character, a fake ID, passport, and “legal” papers.
Because I work for the Secret Service, I’m permitted to carry as many arms as I want to on the plane, however, I chose to only bring a Glock 22, which I take with me everywhere.
After Junmyeon finished talking, he dragged me to the nearest salon in the area.
“You’ve been on a lot of missions before. A lot of criminals worldwide know what you look like, so we need to disguise you a little.” He had said. The hair stylist was Korean, and she kept rambling about how healthy my hair was. She also kept asking Junmyeon if he was forcing me to change my hair.
Ha. Ha.
“So where are we going now?” I ask, glancing at Jumyeon. His eyes are fixated on the road, and he cracks a smile.
“So far, the agency thinks that you’ll be in Korea for at least 3 months. I think you’ll need to stock up on clothes.”
“You’re taking me clothes shopping?” I ask, with disbelief creeping into my voice. “For what? I don’t think I need to spend money on excess clothes…”
Junmyeon chuckles. “I think it’d be better to buy clothes in America while these Back to School sales are still going on.”
I blink, and then I turn my attention to the road in front of us. “Psht, doesn’t Korea have Back to School sales too?”
“Yeah, but haven’t you seen their kind of fashion? I don’t think you would be caught dead in any of those outfits…” Junmyeon’s phone suddenly pings, and he turns to me for a second. “Can you get that for me?”
“Sure.” I say. I take his phone out from the cup holder in between the driver and passenger’s seat. When I turn it on, I see multiple alerts.
"...your brother..." I say. Junmyeon stops the car at a red light then leans over to look.
"As you can see, my brother's...interesting. One of a kind." Junmyeon shakes his head, "I saw him at school once, and he's COMPLETELY different from the dork I see at home."
"How so...?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.
"He's a dance/music major and he acts like a bad boy when he's on campus. He acts like a player, so many girls are after him." Junmyeon chuckles. "He and Taemin are the most sought out guys at the school."
"...well...that's interesting." I mutter. The light turns green and Junmyeon steps on the accelerator.
"PICK UP THE PHONE! CIARAAA~ IT'S YOUR FAVORITE AGENT CALLING! PICK UP THE PHONE hehehe~"
I feel a vibration coming from my pocket, and I let out a sigh. Reaching into my jacket I pull out my phone and look at the screen.
"PICK UP THE PHONE CIARAA~ IT'S PROBABLY VERY VERY IMPORTANT! LUHANNIE'S CALLING, PICK UP!!!"
Lu Han's voice blares out through the speakers on my phone, and I mentally slam my head against car dashboard.
"...what the heck...?" Junmyeon asks, his eyebrows furrowing into a look that mirrors concern and confusion.
"YA! YOU BETTER PICK UP THE PHONE THIS IS THE LAST REPEAT!! CIARA JI~ PICK UP THE PHONE!!!!"
I groan, slide my finger across the screen, and then hold the phone away from my ear.
"WHY THE HECK DID IT TAKE SO LONG FOR YOU TO PICK UP?!?!" Lu Han yells, "WHAT IF I HAVE REALLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION, OR I'M ON A MISSION AND I ALMOST GET SHOT. HUH?? I COULD BE DEAD BY NOW."
"Sorry." I murmur. "Is there...do you need to tell me something?" I put the phone back to my ear, assuming that it's safe to do so.
Another dumb mistake.
"OF COURSE I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING. IF I DIDN'T WOULDN'T THAT TOTALLY DEFEAT THE POINT OF CALLING YOU!" Lu Han screeches.
"Ah..." Switching to Mandarin in an attempt to calm him down, I try to apologize, "Sorry, I'm just--"
"It's okay, I know you're going through a lot right now. I heard you're being transferred to South Korea."
"You knew? How?" Ciara asks. I pull into the parking lot of the shopping center and put the car into park.
"DUH. EVERY SECRET SERVICE BRANCH AROUND THE D.C. AREA KNOWS." Lu Han was speaking so loudly, I could hear him even though Ciara's phone wasn't on speaker. What he says next isn't audible (for me), most likely because he had dropped his voice down to a whisper.
"I'm sitting next to Junmyeon right now in the car. No, he's not driving, we're in a parking lot. Alright." Ciara shoves the phone to my ear, letting go the second I put my hand on it.
"Junmyeon, how could you send Ciara to South Korea by herself? Haven't you heard about her past?"
"Of course I've heard, but it wasn't my decision to send her there. If it was, I would've sent someone to go with her. The president specifically stated that she was to go there on her own."
"You know that her childhood was dark, just like the rest of ours. You can't just send her back to the place where all of her nightmares revolve around. What if she gets flashbacks or meets someone from her past? That'll throw her off the mission. Does the president even know this?"
I hesitated before answering. Did the president know about Ciara's past? "Lu Han, I'm just as worried as you are."
"I know, but I need to do something. She's like a sister to me; I can't just let her go to the hell where she was born, on her own."
"Lu Han--"
"I'm going to Korea with her."
"You can't do that, Lu Han, that's a direct violation of the president's orders. You'll get fired immediately."
"Even if I get fired, I can still go."
"They're most likely going to prevent you from leaving the country. The only thing we can do is watch."
There's a long silence on the other end of the line. Lu Han's volubility was gone, and his typical witty nature had darkened.
"If you want, i can ask if you can transfer to our base," I offer, hoping it'll at least somewhat console him.
"...alright," Lu Han finally answers. The line goes dead, and I hand the phone back to Ciara.
"What did he say?" Ciara asks.
"You weren't listening?" Ciara has sensitive ears, resulting in her having excellent hearing.
"I didn't need to. I respect your privacy." Ciara replies.
"Then why were you asking me?" I shoot back.
Ciara shakes her head, "Forget it then."
September 3rd, 2013.
Washington Dulles Airport, Sterling, VA, United States of America.
11:47AM.
"Your flight takes off at 12:30PM, so you should arrive by 5:05PM in Seoul," Junmyeon explains, "You'll be attending Seoul National University, the same school that the boy is attending. Your tuition will be paid by the United States government, so you won't have to worry about making your own money."
He then proceeds to take out a black leather wallet, "Your passport is in here, along with a debit card that we will deposit money into every month."
"I see. How will I be communicating to the base?" I take the wallet, and I look through it. I see a driver's license, Korean currency, and a debit card.
"Here," Junmyeon gestures to the black suitcase positioned next to him, "Is your suitcase. Inside are the clothes we bought today--"
"Psht. You mean the clothes you bought today."
Junmyeon igores my snarky remark and continues talking, "Along with your files, legal papers, everything Valle sent this morning, a DSLR camera and..." Junmyeon lowers his voice, "A lock picking kit, tracking devices, binoculars, spy cameras...oh, and you're getting a new phone."
"A new phone?" Before I can even say anymore, Junmyeon whips out a small sheet of paper and s it into my hands.
"This is the address of the store in Korea. Go there, and your phone should be ready for pick up. You can still use your personal phone of course, but not in public. We can't afford to have someone hack into your phone and get all of the information in it."
I raise my eyebrows, "Who exactly are we up against?"
Junmyeon shrugs, "We're just preparing for the worst. It can just be another colleague playing a prank on this Kyungsoo or...something much more...serious."
"Serious how?"
"Ciara, you've been on these kinds of missions before. It could be a drug lord or a sociopath. It's one of those things we'll have to find our own."
Great. I could be up against an international fugitive for all I know. Or a maniacal serial killer. Things are really looking up for me, aren't they?
I close my eyes and take a breath, "Anything else I need to know?"
Right when Junmyeon is about to speak, he gets cut off by his phone ringing. His expression reflects irritation as he takes out his phone and answers the call.
"What do you want?" Junmyeon pauses and then continues, "I though you said you brought your car there."
A frown ripples across Junmyeon's face, "Are you serious? How are you going to go home then? No, I am not going to Taemin's house to pick you up. Where is he going? Can you ask he can drive you home?"
He then shakes his head and sighs, "If he's going to a family's member's house that lives in...yeah, I know. Just ask him if he can drop you off at Dulles Airport. I can drive you home from there. Yeah, I know you're dumb. Bye." Junmyeon ends the call and shoves his phone back into his pocket.
"Was that Jongin?"
Junmyeon nods, "That idiot. Well, as I was saying, there's something else that you have to remember." Junmyeon walks over to me and leans over so that his mouth was an inch away from my ear. Shocked, I was about to pull away when I heard him whisper something.
"Don't fall in love."
Ciara reeled back.
Is this some kind of sick joke Junmyeon's playing on me?
She fakes a smile, about to go along with Junmyeon's "game", but when she sees his grim countenance, she just mutters her thoughts.
"What does love have to do with anything...?"
Junmyeon, in return, shakes his head, "It was written in bold on the list of things I was supposed to tell you. They think that if you fall in love, it will put the whole mission in jeopardy. In particular, if you fall for our protectee. People will do dumb things for the ones they love, Ciara."
I can't deny that.
The man suddenly breaks out into a smile, just as Ciara was going to snap at him, "Get this case done. It doesn't matter how long it will take, so don't rush through it. Remember, quality, not quantity." He ruffles the girl's hair and chuckes.
Junmyeon drops his voice to a whisper for the next part, "Your suitcase has been altered so that they can't detect anything...'dangerous' in it. You don't worry about that."
It wasn't like I was worrying about it in the first place anyway.
"Last, but not least, is your plane ticket. Unfortunately, you had to be put in the Economy seating because of your alias, so try not to act too ovious. The agency tried very hard to get you a seat by yourself, but there weren't any."
"So you're saying that I ould be sitting next to an eccentric elderly woman or a child?" Or possibly the person who's behind the death threats.
"Correct. That's why you have to be cautious. There are a lot of...overly curious people nowadays," Junmyeon's eyes flit up towards the clock, "You better go now if you want to catch your plane on time."
Ciara nods, "It would be best for me to go now, wouldn't it?" She turns around, heading towards the security. Junmyeon suddenly grabs her arm and pulls her back, enveloping her in his arms.
"Be careful, Ciara. I need you to come back alive," Junmyeon breathes out, hugging Ciara like it was the last time he would see her, "Please, think before you act. Don't do reckless things."
"Junmyeon..." Ciara bites her lip to hide the quiver in her voice.
As much as I'd hate to admit it, I'm really going to miss the agency. I'm going to miss everyone there, even Baekhyun, who just entered last month. I'm going to miss passing by the broken fountain every day on my way around D.C. I'm going to miss everything.
"Promise me that you'll come back," Junmyeon's tears threatened to start pouring out, but he tried to hold them in, "Promise me you won't get hurt."
"I..." Ciara glanced at the ground. I can't promise to do something that I probably won't have control over...but... "I promise."
Junmyeon breathes out a sigh of relief and lets go of Ciara.
"Alright, Bam Yu Ryeong, are you ready to face Korea?" He's smiling, but underneath it, he doesn't want to watch her go.
Ciara nods, "Of course." Not.
"Go, you're really going to miss your flight if you don't go now," Junmyeon lightly pushes Ciara towards the security. Ciara nods one last time, and takes off.
~
"You really love her, don't you?" A voice coming from behind Junmyeon startles him. He turns around to see his younger brother with a grimace etched into his face.
"Yeah, I guess I do." Junmyeon forces a smile as Jongin walks towards him.
"You shouldn't have made her promise to do something that she can't do."
"I know. It was selfish of me, wasn't it?"
"Hyung..." Jongin says, putting a hand on his older brother's shoulder, "Don't do things that will end up hurting you."
It's much too late for that.
Long time no see~
Sorry, I was really going to update earlier but I had second semester transitions, tests, projects, state exams, and a whole boatload of other things.
AND FOR ALL YOU TUMBLR PEOPLE:
I'll be posting updates on when I post a chapter, what could be coming next, //maybe some bonus chapters in the future//
Next chapter will be Kyungsoo's story, which hopefully, will be a lot...brighter?
Nah, probably not.
Just another thing...
Please pray for the people on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and those who were injured or killed in the New York gas explosion today.
My heart goes out to their families and loved ones.
~Jang Eun
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