“Tell me again why you brought Heechul along?”

Donghae rolled his eyes and knocked Hyukjae lightly on his forehead. “Are you still holding a grudge against him or what? He’s proven to be innocent. Don’t tell me you’re still suspicious of him.”

Hyukjae grunted at the pain and scowled softly. “I’m not. I just don’t like looking at his face. He makes me want to puke.”

“Well, we need all the manpower we can get for this operation so he’s staying with us whether you like it or not. End of story.”

“Fine. As long as he doesn’t get in my way,” Hyukjae grunted again, folding his arms over his chest as they waited.

Kyuhyun stayed in the back of the police van, carefully monitoring everyone’s whereabouts. So far, so good. There didn’t seem to be anybody about in the dead of the night, which should be a good thing, but he knew that anything could work against their favour if they weren’t careful enough.

“The coast is clear, Inspector,” Kyuhyun relayed. “No suspicious people are about. I don’t even think there’s anybody in the warehouse at the moment, but you can never be too careful.”

Donghae nodded and commanded his officers to strap their guns and be prepared. “We’re going to surround the warehouse and bust their operations, whatever illegal things they’re doing. They’re dangerous people, so I want everyone to be on guard, at all times. Let’s go.”

The inspector led his team to warehouse 06, ordering his men to stand guard at every entrance so that no one could escape. Donghae then surveyed around and tried the first door he reached, Hyukjae close behind him. They didn’t expect the door to give at once without resistance, and Hyukjae couldn’t help letting out a soft gasp. “It’s not locked?”

Carefully, Donghae pushed the heavy metal door open and shone his torchlight into the warehouse. He caught sight of a half-painted Mercedes in a corner and another Porsche with its seats missing. Hyukjae stuck his head through the door and gasped again. “We found the chop shop!”

“Shh, keep quiet. This place could be y-trapped so stay with me.” The inspector stepped into the warehouse, quietly gesturing for the others to follow him. Shining torchlights around, they could make out nearly half a dozen luxury cars in the middle of repainting and reupholstering, with multiple licence plates scattered on the ground, clearly faked. Hyukjae let out a low whistle. “They’ve got a beautiful operation going on here for who knows how long. This alone should be enough evidence to lock Do Kyungsoo in the slammer for some time.”

“I’d never have thought that Ryeowook would be in cahoots with him in this business. Their performance really fooled us all,” Donghae grunted softly. “Now where could those two criminals be hiding?”

“Who knows?” Hyukjae replied with a shrug. “We could split up and look. I’ll take the left and you take the right.”

 “Hyukjae wait!!”

Donghae hadn’t even got the words out of his mouth before Hyukjae tripped over an invisible fishing line, and a snapping sound was heard. A large and heavy fishing net fell right on top of the officers, successfully snagging them up in a confused bunch as they fell over each other in the dark. Donghae had seen it coming and managed to roll away safely, but he’d dropped his flashlight in the confusion. Cursing softly, he quickly knelt down to find it but to no avail.

“Well done, officers. I heartily congratulate you on successfully finding our chop shop.”

Donghae was on guard at once. He’d recognise that voice anywhere. “Ryeowook,” he growled, hands immediately reaching for his gun holster. “Don’t try any dirty tricks on us. We know what you’re up to, and we’ve got enough evidence to lock you up for the rest of your life.”

Officer Ryeowook giggled, then burst into laughter. “Really now, Inspector? Do you think you can say that to me in this predicament, right now? You can’t even see me; how are you going to arrest me?”

Growling, Donghae pulled out his gun and aimed in the dark, trusting on his ears to detect where the other’s voice was coming from. “Why don’t you show yourself instead of hiding in the dark? Are you such a coward that you can’t even face me man to man?”

Suddenly, a flash of lightning bolted across the night sky, illuminating the warehouse through the dirty glass windows, followed by a loud crack of thunder. Donghae caught sight of a moving figure in front and immediately opened fire, being instantly rewarded with an anguished yell that Donghae could only guess belonged to Ryeowook. Did that mean he’d managed to shoot him? He could only guess he did. Donghae cocked his gun and aimed again, ready to fire another shot when he suddenly felt the cold metal barrel of a pistol resting against the right side of his skull, and suddenly the inspector was entirely covered in cold dread.

“If you pull the trigger again, I promise you I’ll blow your brains out, and it won’t be a pretty picture, you know?” A new voice hissed, venom dripping in his voice. The inspector recognised the voice as the sweet little waiter's at his favourite deli store. Except he didn’t sound as sweet anymore.

In the background, Donghae could still hear his men struggling out of the heavy fishing net. He had to think and act quickly to save all their asses. Slowly, he lowered his gun and dropped it to the ground, raising both his hands in the air. “I’m not gonna shoot. Take that gun away from my head.”

Donghae swore he could hear Kyungsoo grin. Without missing a beat, the Inspector quickly swung around and knocked the opponent’s gun out of his hands. The other let out a surprised sound, but somehow was able to dodge most of Donghae’s attacks and land a couple of blows against the inspector’s stomach as well. Doubled over in pain, Donghae fell to the ground as another streak of lighting lit up the entire place for another split second, just making out a silhouette lunging forward with his fist high in the air, ready to strike. Just like in slow motion. Donghae instinctively curled up and prepared to defend himself, when suddenly he heard his name being screamed from across the room.

The blow didn’t come. Donghae got up on his feet at once, prepared to attack. With help from another bolt of lightning, Donghae saw that Hyukjae was scuffling with Kyungsoo on the ground, fighting to reach for the dropped guns on the floor. Within a second, the warehouse was pitched into darkness again, and Donghae quickly got onto his knees to grab at the guns.

In his haste to retrieve the fallen guns, Donghae didn’t hear heavy footsteps approaching him from behind. Too late, he spun around as he felt the evil aura but immediately got kicked back onto the floor instead. Spluttering and gasping for air, Donghae lay on his side to nurse his bruised stomach. It was hurting like a , and the inspector swore he actually saw stars. He then heard a loud grunt, and felt a body falling right next to him. Another flash of lightning, and Donghae saw it was Hyukjae, lying face down, with scrapes and bruises all over. He didn’t respond even when the inspector nudged him with his knee. Hyukjae was out cold.

Rain began to fall heavily, noisily splattering huge drops of water all around the warehouse. Cracks of thunder sounded throughout, making Donghae’s headache intensify. He couldn’t think straight, let alone fight back. Where were his men when he needed them? Still tangled up in that stupid fishing net? Really? Wow. Donghae was unimpressed.

A sinister laugh brought Donghae back to the situation. Here he was, technically not alone but still alone, facing two highly skilled g