Even Jaera seemed to sense how serious things were when the family plus Luhan filed quietly into the garage shortly before midnight.  She was sleepy, eyes half-lidded as she rested her small hands and head on her father’s shoulder, trying to absorb what was going on around her and looking to her big brother for cues, but as Minseok shifted her weight on his hip so that he could fish out the car keys, she gave a yawn and snuggled closer into the warmth of his jumper.  Minseok paused for a moment to shoot her a fond glance and the top of her head.

“How are we going to play this?” Semi asked as she checked that the house’s security system was fully on and functional.  “Even in the rain, they’re going to notice if there are five of us in the car and it could take us a while to lose them.  It’s a bit unfair to shove Luhan in the boot while he’s still unwell.”

Luhan had opened his mouth to complain about exactly that, and turned to Semi in surprise when she voiced it first.

“We’re going to try to make it look like I’m going alone,” Minseok said.  “All this stuff with Taeyong has been going on for years and it’s been recorded in police data bases both here and in Seoul for a while.  I’ve taken time off at short notice to go up to Seoul to check on him and to pick him up from wherever he’s run away to before; Lay’s putting it down as that in the records and it’s not inconsistent with previous incidents.  I’ve booked myself into a hotel in Seoul, too, so if they’re following credit card transactions, they’ll have seen that.  They’ll probably still follow us for as long as they can in this weather, but you can bet they’ll be checking whatever they can get their hands on to see what cover we’re using to anticipate our next move, but if it genuinely looks like I’m repeating a solo trip up to Seoul to look after a runaway teenager, they’re probably going to waste at least a day hunting around here for more clues.”

“But you’re not solo and you’re not going to Seoul,” Luhan pointed out.

“No.”  Minseok passed Jaera to Jaehwan, who had already climbed into the car.  “Until we can slip their tail, I’m going to need you all to curl up in the footwells so I can drive normally and with you being relatively comfortable, but so that nobody can see you when their headlights are on the car.  Sungjong has remote control of some of the house’s electrics and I’ve asked him to keep some of the lights on for a bit as though Semi or I is still up and to gradually turn them off as though somebody’s going to bed.  It’ll make it more convincing that it’s just me leaving, though it won’t hold once morning comes.”

Semi paused as she put a large knapsack of food in the back and looked over at Minseok, her eyebrows pinched together.  Minseok pursed his lips together uncomfortably.  He knew that Semi would go through with it, but it didn’t make him feel any better about it.  Even though she’d learnt how to drive and was more or less comfortable with it, there were set routines and patterns she had in a car, conditions she avoided driving in, and upsetting all of that threw an awful lot up in the air.  But she nodded, albeit with a grimace, and checked all the luggage was in the boot before shutting it.

“Wanna see Taeyong oppa,” Jaera mumbled just loud enough for the adults to hear as Jaehwan encouraged her to curl up with him in the footwell behind the driver’s seat.

“Soon, poppet, soon,” Semi told her before drawing herself up and fixing Luhan with a stern look.  “I’m going in the front or I won’t be able to handle this journey.”

He shrugged and made his way around to the other rear car door.  “You’re the ones running the risks for me; I don’t think I have the right to call the shots.”

Minseok shut the door nearest his children and turned to Semi.  “Sorry, sweetheart,” he murmured.  “It was the best we could think up at short notice.”

She kissed him on the cheek as she passed him to get round to the other side of the car.  “I know.  Don’t worry – I’m sure I’ll live.”

Backing the car out into the driveway, even though he knew nothing was likely to go wrong, was nerve-wracking.  The absolute worst that could have happened was that their watchers were blocking the end of the driveway, or that they’d somehow force them to stop to look inside the car, but they’d always preferred to loiter on the opposite side of the street.  As it was, Minseok was a few hundred metres down the road in the sleeping neighbourhood before headlights came on, indicating that the watchers were planning to follow, and even then, he’d deliberately gone off down the street in the opposite direction to the one they were facing, so they wasted precious seconds turning their vehicle around.  Minseok took the opportunity to nip into the first side street he saw to take a short cut towards the main road, but he couldn’t make it obvious that he was trying to lose them in the residential area because then they would get suspicious.  He did, however, have the benefit of knowing the local area like the back of his hand, and a combination of that, the weather, and some beautifully timed traffic lights meant that they hit the highway tail-free.

Still cautious, Minseok drove two or three service stations along the motorway before pulling in at one and finally letting go of Semi’s hand, telling everybody that they could get into their seats.  Despite losing the watchers, there was a strong chance they would have guessed Minseok was heading for one of the main routes out of