A/N: Sorry for the delay D: I visited my family this weekend and didn't find time to put this online. But here you go:

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He could hear his blood rushing in his ears as he ran, always staying close to the buildings, away from windows that weren't blocked. As far away as possible from the building he had just left.

He glanced back every few metres, afraid someone could've noticed him already and be after him.

In the meantime, another part of him was going crazy with excitement about seeing the sky and breathing the fresh afternoon air. Running and being free again filled him with energy.

The factory wasn't as big as Jiho had feared, but the bedraggled state of the buildings and a ramshackled chimney that had collapsed in the way forced him to change his route a few times.

When he noisily stumbled over some rusty tools, with a start he immediately dove in between two small dens.

He didn't dare breathe for a few minutes, peeking outside and listening hard whether someone had noticed him. The whole time a giant clock was ticking inside his head, reminding him that he didn't have time to wait. He needed to run!

“Come on, just hurry up!”, he whispered to get himself going again.

The plant wasn't fenced in and soon Jiho reached the outskirts. When he had arrived here days ago, he had been sick, so he didn't remember where they had come from. The industrial facility was basically out in the nowhere, a completely neglected road leading up to it about half a kilometre to his right. Jiho decided to follow it with some distance.

He just started running parallel to it, going as fast as possible as he had noticed a grove ahead. He could reach it in maybe ten minutes, Jiho estimated. He hated how exposed and visible he probably was from the factory premises in his current position and tried to speed up, even though his ribs were already burning. The one-sided food had affected his stamina by now.

Gasping for air, he stumbled into the shadow of the trees and observed the road uneasily while he made his way through the scrub. When he left the grove again shortly after entering, there was nothing ahead where he would be able to take cover again.

God, I hope all of them are back in their hideout and I won't run into them out here!

Jiho was lucky, though: he reached a proper road after about a thirty minute jog and decided to stop the first car he'd see.

It was a truck transporting vegetables Jiho jumped in front of.

Before the driver could get out, Jiho had already run up to him.

“Call the police! This is an emergency!”

“Calm down, boy, what happened? There's no signal out here.”

“Then take me to the next police station!”, Jiho demanded. “It's really urgent!”

The driver stared at Jiho. He could see in the man's eyes he recognized him.

With a nod towards the passenger seat, the man beckoned him in.

When Jiho slid into the seat next to the man, he received a look full of sympathy, then the man opened both windows wide and drove off.

Halfway to the next village the mobile reception was back so they could send an emergency call while still on the road. The result was the police of the surrounding villages were already waiting for them when they arrived.

“Leave it, I'm fine!” Jiho pushed the doctor's hand holding a flashlight to shine into his eyes away.

He had explained everything to the inspector in charge. She had told him that this moment the handover of him an Jiyong actually was supposed to take place somewhere and a police force specialized on kidnapping wanted to try and free them without the kidnappers getting away. The fact that Jiho had escaped beforehand had messed up the plan. That they were on the countryside, far away from the supposed handover location, didn't make things better.

“We called for backup, but it'll take time until they arrive. The situation is complicated.”, the inspector explained. “Of course it's great you are here, alive and alright. But we have to change plans now. We are not a special-force, but ordinary patrol cops. Kwon Jiyong could be in great danger as the gangsters will have realized you're missing. Normally, they should be on their way to receive the ransom with both of you. And to get arrested, hopefully. But with you gone, I don't know whether they will actually show up for the handover and maybe try to fool the police about you, or whether they'll run as long as they still can. This could be the worse option for the other hostage.”

Jiho felt like . Not physically, but mentally.

It was clear now: The reason why the kidnapper had shown up alone in the cellar was that he had intended to fetch Jiyong and him. If Jiho hadn't run away, he would be with Jiyong right now, expecting their freedom.

Jiho's stomach twisted.

But who could've known that?

The doctor told him he would inject him vitamins to help his body regenerate.

Jiho neither really listened nor paid attention to the needle.

Probably, the rest of that gang had descended into the cellar a few minutes after Jiho's escape, missing their accomplice. They would've found him locked up and knocked out.

Jiho missing. Only Jiyong remaining.

Jiho pressed a hand to his mouth – he felt sick.

“Are you alright? Any pain?”, the doctor asked, but Jiho just shook his head.

If anything bad had happened to Ji, he would never forgive himself.

He realized the inspector and the other officers seemed to get ready to leave – they had put on bulletproof vests. As he looked out of the window of the small police station, he saw them splitting up on the five police cars they had.

Jiho jumped up. “What are you going to do now? What's the plan?”

“We are not specially trained for kidnapping situations, but we are going to check out the old factory. This is an emergency. Maybe they're still there, if not, we still can collect evidence.”

“I want to come, too”, Jiho demanded. “I want to see Jiyong!”

She hesitated.

“I can't promise he'll still be there, you know? You were extremely quick in coming here and contacting us, as that truck came by, but...” Jiho hated her doubting expression.

“Okay, you'll lead us to where they locked you up in this factory plant. We can start investigating there.”

Jiho followed her outside. When he looked at the other policemen, the stern looks on their faces, he didn't believe that the inspector really expected to find the factory abandoned.

She seemed to have read his thoughts: “If it's their hideout, they'll either come back there if we assume they try the handover. Or they'll try to get away from it, wiping their traces. In any case,we need to be quick!”

“Have you heard anything from the team charged with our kidnapping?” Jiho stood stood next to her car. “What's happening at the handover place right now?”

“My colleagues said the kidnappers didn't contact them yet to decline or change the transfer setting or time. This could either be good or bad. They'll contact us as soon as they've got news.”

Feeling anxious, Jiho got into the police car and they drove off. When he looked into the driving mirror, he saw the rest of their small unit behind them.

By the time they reached the old factory, the unit at the handover place had called the inspector and informed her that the kidnappers had neither shown up, nor contacted them. They therefore assessed the handover as a fail. The backup was to catch up soon and the inspector got instructions for the case they might really stumble upon the kidnappers when they reached the factory.

When the police drove up to the yard where Jiho and Jiyong had been kicked out of the truck, the kidnappers were just about to leave.

In fact, the truck in which Jiho had been kidnapped in together with Jiyong was ready, two men visible behind the window pane. When they saw the police cars approaching, they started the ignition. Jiho felt his hackles raise. The truck was massive enough to crush their cars and everyone within them. He wondered what would happen now. They wouldn't do anything reckless, would they?

The inspector was cursing under her breath and the police slowly circled the truck.

All cars had almost come to a halt, when the kidnappers decided to try and break through. They revved up the engine. The inspector reacted quickly and gave order through her radio to stop the truck by shooting at the tyres.

She hadn't even finished her sentence yet when the truck gave a roaring sound and the kidnappers sped up right towards them. Jiho clinged onto his seat even though he knew it wouldn't save him if they were crashed. The inspector dropped her radio, floored the accelerator and drove backwards at full pelt. Jiho watched in horror the quickly approaching truck. The policemen in the other cars opened fire, the noise of gunshots and engines was ear-deafening. For a few seconds Jiho felt like the inspector would risk them being crushed by the truck, but then she spun the steering wheel, Jiho got knocked to the side and the truck rushed past them. Two seconds after that, there was a bursting sound and the truck swerved to the side, towards one of the storehouses. Its stoplights flashed, then the vehicle crashed into the wall of the storehouse.

“Got them!”, the inspector shouted.

The police rode up, formed a semicircle around the truck with the inspector only having to turn her car. Now the gangsters were trapped between the storehouse and the police. Their truck was pretty demolished and seemed unable to drive.

Jiho was relieved. It looked like it was over. When they got the kidnappers, he could look for Jiyong.

For a few moments, everything was silent. Everyone stared at the truck, observing whether the kidnappers in the truck would stir. They couldn't be unconscious, could they? The crash with the storehouse had not been that heavy.

Indeed, the men inside the truck recovered quickly. The doors to the shipping space swung open and the other two men appeared. Jiho recognized them as the two seniors of the group. One of them had grabbed Jiyong in a rear choke hold and put the gun to his head. Jiho immediately realized the delicate way his Hyung held his hands in front of his body. He had his eyes halfway closed and just leaned into his captor lethargically. Something inside Jiho cringed. What had they done to Jiyong yet again?

The other kidnapper pointed his gun randomly at the police cars, not sure where to shoot at.

Jiho held his breath.

“Keep your head down.”, the inspector ordered quietly, but Jiho could hear that she was only trying to sound calm.

Jiho was sure if she stared at the windscreen more intently, it would burst.

“Don't leave this car, under no circumstance!”

Jiho swallowed and nodded.

He saw the officers in the other cars observing the kidnappers.

The policemen had gotten their guns out as well, but no one made a move to get outside their car. The inspector stared outside and clinged to her radio, but didn't answer as one of the officers asked what to do now. It seemed like time had frozen outside, apart from Jiyong's faint struggles for air and to keep his balance on his hurt foot.

Jiho felt the urge to run up to him and help him.

“Wait for them to make the next move.”, the inspector said into her radio. “The hostage is too endangered right now.”

After another nerve-racking minute, everything suddenly happened at the same time: Like at a secret signal, all four kidnappers started firing without a warning.

Jiho saw the tyre of the police car next to theirs getting hit. The inspector next to him cursed, then Jiho felt their car getting hit by a bullet and he ducked behind the dashboard.

After that moment of shock, the police also took action. They were firing back, but only at the two kidnappers still inside the truck.

Jiho dared to glimpse over the dashboard and saw one of the police cars catching fire, the officers bolting out of it, taking cover behind the car next to theirs and an old tank close to the storehouse wall.

They don't want to risk hitting Jiyong..., he realized.

The windscreen of the inspector's car made a terrible sound as it was hit by a bullet. Jiho and the inspector screamed, with the latter calming down much quicker. The missile was stuck right in the middle of the bulletproof glass and the fissures made it hard to see anything that was happening outside.

Jiho could guess that he wasn't the only one wishing for the backup to appear right now, as this situation now completely was over the heads of the foot patrol officers.

He tried to look for Jiyong and panicked for a second when he spotted the kidnapper dragging him slowly backwards and into the darkness inside of the storehouse.

“Shoot them, if necessary.”, the inspector ordered, opened her door and tried to get a better line of fire, let alone sight on her aim.

Before she even pulled the trigger, Jiho slid out of the car without further thinking, ducked to the wall of the storehouse and flit around the corner, out of reach of the bullets.

Jiyong was in danger.

Jiho had passed this storehouse when he had fled the factory earlier, he knew it was huge, but had several smaller entrances. He didn't care whether anyone noticed his leaving, all he could focus on now was helping Ji. When he ran towards the next doorway, he subconsciously noticed the sound of cars somewhere in the distance. Then he entered the dusty storehouse while the police and the other kidnappers were still busy outside.