It had been odd working with Yixing and Jongdae in the beginning, even when he’d already worked for them before going back to prison, but Minseok wasn’t sure that there was anything that could have prepared him to speak to Jongin again.

He didn’t know if it was because he felt beyond indebted to the first person he knew for sure fully understood him, and who had understood the importance of affirming him and his identity during the most difficult decision of his life, or if it was because he was still astonished and a little scared of the super-agent’s achievements, but seeing Jongin’s grinning face on a computer screen again after so many years made him feel like a small child staring up at a giant.

Jongin was beaming from ear to ear despite the bags under his eyes, but Kyungsoo looked like death.  Yixing was the one who did most of the talking; Sungjong was already busy with his computers and Jongdae was attempting to wake up with several strong coffees.  Jongin’s smile was soon replaced by a professionally neutral expression.

“Kyungsoo and I can probably make a break if it’s guaranteed we’ll get picked up somewhere and removed from China as soon as possible,” he said.  “Mighty Mouth’s hold is basically a giant triad patch and I’m worried that a fair amount of the government may be under the gang’s influence.  If we’re found, it’ll be unpleasant.  We need help to get out of here, basically.”

Yixing winced.  Minseok threw him a worried look.

“Normally...” the policeman began in an unusual display of hesitancy.  “Normally I’d agree no problem.  It’s just that Weiyi and Sehun are currently in danger and they no longer have the memory stick that Weiyi nicked with all the evidence.  If we manage to catch Sangchu, and we’re hoping to because it’s possible he might personally come in search of Weiyi given the way he’s still reacting now he’s recovered that memory stick, it’ll just be Weiyi’s word against his in terms of testimony.  I want to close this guy down and we can’t miss an opportunity to do so.”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes in defeat, but Jongin tapped his fingers against his chin.

“Okay,” he said simply.  “I’ve already started gathering evidence in any case.  I’ll just make sure the case is watertight and then you need to rescue us.”

“Jongin—” Kyungsoo groaned.  Jongin glanced at him.

“I know it’s dangerous, but it won’t prolong our stay that much and we’re already here and haven’t yet been found.”  He turned back to the camera.  “What are you going to do about Sehun and Weiyi?  I’m sort of responsible for her, after all, and I at least have a duty to find some way of bringing her to safety, even if I can’t do it personally.  And Luhan – what’s going on with him?”

Yixing gave Minseok an anxious look.  “Weiyi’s currently in Mt Halla National Park on Jeju Island with Sehun, and the place is swarming with Sangchu’s thugs.  Sehun said she had a sprained ankle, which is going to make movement very difficult for them, and so they’re just planning to hide out until they can get something properly organised.  They have food and money but no access to electricity and are consequently limited when it comes to communication since their phones are low on battery.  And I don’t know how long the food will last them.”

Jongin blinked steadily.  “They should be fine.  I first met Sehun on a Suvival in the Wild boot camp and he’s great at that sort of thing.”

There were noises of surprise all round in the police office.

“I mean, he grew up in the States with his grandparents, who were both spies,” Jongin pointed out.

“They still might get caught,” Sungjong pointed out without looking away from his computer.

Jongin gave a hum of agreement.

“And Luhan?” he questioned.

This time, the nervous glances were directed towards Sungjong.  The hacker, apparently aware of the attention, reached out and put on a large pair of headphones.

“We’re still working on that,” Yixing admitted as Kyungsoo gave a massive yawn in the background.  “If we can get Weiyi back onto mainland Korea where we have proper resources at our disposal, we were going to use her and Luhan as part of a sting operation to bring Sangchu in.  Luhan’s a bit grumpy about agreeing, though, because I can’t offer him any indemnities and if we do give them, I can’t even start filing for that process with the Ministry of Justice until after Sangchu’s been caught because he’ll require a presidential pardon with the way the public views him and with all the stuff that’s been going on, Minseok and I will get in a lot of trouble if it’s found out we’ve been helping him while he’s an escaped prisoner with a massive bounty over him unless we’ve got something huge to mitigate it.”

“We pulled off some pretty unorthodox stuff just to arrest Luhan,” Jongdae added, “so trying to get him off the hook with lessened sentences and stuff is going to be almost impossible anyway, considering how hard he was to arrest and the track record we have with that.”

“Then what’s the plan with him?” asked Kyungsoo.

“We don’t know,” Yixing confessed.  “We’re winging it.”

Jongin tapped his fingers against his chin again.  “That’s something that’ll need to be sorted out, but I’ll see if I can help with it too.”  Then his face broke into a massive grin, signalling that it was the end of serious discussion, and he caught Minseok’s eye.  “Minseok!  I hear you have an absolute pair of little terrors for kids!  Congrats!”

Snickering, Yixing got up and left Minseok to the social call while he and Jongdae kitted up to go out on the beat.

Monsoon season had hit, and the rain was persistent.  Shixun had found a sheltered area earlier that day among some bushes up against a rock face, well off the beaten track, and to Weiyi’s amazement, had built them a lean-to and camouflaged it so well it was impossible to see from more than twenty yards away unless you knew it was there.  Unable to do much herself, Weiyi sat there as he brought in the driest wood he could find, which he’d been collecting since it started to rain, and built and lit a small fire.  While it got going, he taught her the Korean words for the different parts of the fire and built a spit.  Weiyi discovered pretty quickly that he’d also bought a ridiculous amount of string, and when he selected more pieces of wood to bind together as a tray, she understood why.  He placed that on top of the spit and then put some of the wetter wood on top of it, explaining that it would dry out more quickly, even though it would produce more smoke, and that meant when it was burnt later that it would produce much less smoke, which was good in case it stopped raining, because once it did, smoke might give them away.

Shixun, Weiyi decided, was a very competent young man, and she was lucky he was the one who happened to be with her, because she wouldn’t have known the first thing about building a lean-to or making a fire.

“Flame,” she mumbled, pointing to the bright orange glow.  “Ember.  Ash.  Firewood.  Firelighter.  Spit.”  Satisfied she remembered the Korean words, she gave a happy little grin and pulled her coat jacket tighter around her for more warmth.

“You look pretty when you smile,” Shixun remarked absently.  It took a couple of moments for the Korean sentence to clarify itself in her mind, and Weiyi looked up, startled.

“Huh?”

He just gave a bashful smile himself.  “Ah, nothing.  Don’t worry.”

“But you said I look pretty when I smile.”

She wasn’t sure if it was the glow of the fire or if Shixun blushed, but he dropped his gaze and rubbed the back of his neck.  “Yeah, um... what do you want to eat?”

Instantly distracted, Weiyi reached out for the backpack with the food in, glow