27. Counter-Hacking
Blood SisterPossibly a double update if you haven't read chapter 26 from yesterday.
One of the few things in life that still made Minseok shudder with dread was Yixing’s smile when he got what he wanted. In this particular instance, it was a fully processed warrant to go after a senior government official who was currently staying with his family in an apartment in Busan, and Jongdae looked just as alarmed as Minseok felt.
“Well, shouldn’t go on holiday when you’re involved in illegal arms smuggling,” Yixing said happily, cracking his knuckles before he gave the warrant an exaggerated kiss. “And thank you, Luhan, for the information we needed to finally nail the b*gger.”
Jongdae had proposed a SWAT team, but Yixing was having none of it. Even before Luhan had turned up, the government official had been on Yixing’s radar, but never in the area long enough for Yixing to do anything about it, and since Luhan had said the man had connections to Mighty Mouth and there was also a threat to the Blue House, Yixing wanted to deal with it personally.
Which meant a three-man team of himself, Minseok and Jongdae, until Sungjong insisted that they were idiots not to have backup and effectively commandeered the entire operation.
“I feel you should know that there are armed security guards in the area and two Dobermen,” the young hacker told them through their earpieces as they parked the police car a street away and assembled their gear. Then, as an afterthought, he added, “Do you know if it’s possible to tell whether an animal has rabies just by looking at it? Because if it is, I think they both have rabies.”
Yixing snorted softly with amusement and checked that he had everything with him.
“Well, let’s roll,” he said, locking the car and leading the way.
Sungjong continued to chatter as they walked over to the apartment building.
“I’ve got all the cameras under my control,” he informed them just as they were reaching the door, “and if you want any of the footage wiped or anything—”
“Sungjong,” Minseok sighed, cutting across his incessant babble. “This is all entirely legal.”
“Oh, right, sorry.” There was barely a second’s pause. “Still, I’ve frozen the security guard’s computer at the front desk to keep him occupied, and I’m sending the lift down to the ground floor now for you—”
Jongdae looked a little overwhelmed.
“Don’t pull that face at me, Kim Jongdae, I can see you on fifteen different cameras.”
Minseok and Yixing both had to smother their laughs at Jongdae’s expression of utter alarm.
“Fifteen security cameras on the front door and foyer is a d*mn lot,” Sungjong muttered. “Just how paranoid are they?”
He continued mumbling to himself for a little while, but as he had said, the man behind the desk was distracted by his computer not working and waved them on through without even looking up at them.
Sungjong interrupted himself to tell them that they wanted the eleventh floor before returning to his mutterings. They were just passing the eighth floor when there was a brief silence in their ear pieces.
None of them had the time to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Oh, sh*t,” said Sungjong abruptly. “Abort mission.”
“Wait, what?” demanded Jongdae as the lift drew to a halt on the tenth floor.
“Get out,” Sungjong’s voice commanded. “Get out now.”
The doors opened, revealing seven tall, burly men dressed in black and wearing balaclavas.
“Oh, sh*t,” Yixing agreed as Jongdae mashed on the close door button, but the men were already beginning to pile in.
Minseok moved first, planting himself in front of the other two as he swept out his baton and taser, and he wasted no time in attacking with both of them. Amid a crackle of electricity, the two nearest thugs collapsed before they could even reach him, and by that point, Yixing and Jongdae had both had the time to react.
“Sorry, guys,” Sungjong said as Minseok took out three of the remaining men with sharp hits from his baton. “You should have given me time to check the building – it looked like an entire gang has moved in.”
The three policemen paused for a breather and Jongdae took the opportunity to drag them all fully out into the corridor and line them up in an unconscious row on the floor.
“And it looks like this government official is not actually on holiday with his family,” added Sungjong.
“What, he’s not here?” Yixing demanded in alarm. They’d checked only two hours ago that they would be able to find him in the apartment.
“Oh, no, he is – he’s in his apartment right now,” said Sungjong. “But his family’s not. And he’s supposed to be on holiday with his family.”
Yixing muttered something that sounded like “what a can of worms”. Jongdae gave him a serious look.
“Do we bail and come back with SWAT?” he asked.
“They’ll have moved,” Sungjong pointed out. “Okay, he’s not in his apartment anymore. He’s holding what looks like a shotgun and is heading in your direction. Oh, and incoming from behind you. And the floor below.”
The three of the spun around to find nobody in the passage
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