Fortunately, Mark was not required as the driver the entire way to Baltimore.  Losing their trackers in Philadelphia appeared to have completely shaken them off, and once Mark and Kevin were certain there was nobody on their tail, they switched places to calm Kevin’s poor nerves and make sure that they weren’t noticeable for aggressive driving.  Kai was happy he didn’t need the sleeping pills after all, but he felt he still could have done with them, because the first half hour out of Philadelphia was a bit nerve-wracking.

Since it was off season, but not the season for closing up, they were able to find a hotel in the outskirts of Baltimore for the night.  Kevin disappeared the second they’d checked in to see what the place’s security was like.  Kai was a bit surprised at this, having pegged Mark as the more competent of the two, no matter what his driving was like.

“Don’t let him fool you,” Mark said as he reached for his wallet to pay up.  “He might be a bit of a wimp sometimes, but he’s one of the sharpest strategic minds we have.  He was the one who organised the warehouse raid with Thant.”  He took his credit card out and then paused, looking at it warily.  Kai glanced from Mark to the receptionist, who was waiting with the card reader.

“How much did you say it was?” he asked the woman.  Mark gave him a funny look.

“One twin and a single, which is a hundred and thirty-six dollars for the night, breakfast included,” the receptionist repeated in a bored voice.

“I’ve got this,” Kai murmured to Mark, reaching into his pocket for the remainder of the money he’d been given to shop with in New York.  He turned back to the receptionist.  “You take cash, right?  My uncle’s card is faulty sometimes – we’re still waiting for a new one to come through from the bank.”

She looked a bit surprised to be handed a solid wad of cash, but took it anyway.  Mark took it in his stride and ruffled Kai’s hair, making him feel oddly vulnerable and childlike.  He peeked up at him.  Mark was smiling.

“Thanks, buddy,” he said appreciatively.  Kai just about managed a smile back as the receptionist handed over their keys and offered to show them their rooms.

Kevin joined about half an hour later with his laptop under his arm.

“You stay with Kai,” he told Mark.  “I’m going to be monitoring the security cameras all night from my room and it’ll probably keep him awake.”  He paused.  “Besides, you’re the better combat person, even if you’re still a bit of a technogeek.”

Both agents seemed capable of unwinding much quicker than Kai was.  He was still tense as a wire when Mark bade him goodnight and turned out the lights, and as he struggled to fall asleep, he reflected that he’d never been so constantly anxious and on edge before, even when he knew, day in and day out, that there was a change of a police raid or something similar.  He supposed that might have something to do with the fact that with the police, he was probably still guaranteed staying alive, even if he was imprisoned, which would have , but now that he was on the other side, and effectively a traitor, if he was found and caught, that would most likely mean an ugly, painful death.  He could handle pain if he had a purpose to pull through for as it caused an adrenaline rush, but not pain inflicted for the sake of inflicting it.

He must have drifted off into an uneasy sleep, because the room was bathed in daylight when he was next aware of what was going on around him, and he was alone.  Mark had left him some clothes to wear, pulled out of the collection he’d got himself in New York, and there was a note lying on top of them saying that he was through in Kevin’s room and to go and get some breakfast.  Kai did exactly that, and, half an hour later and munching on the last croissant he’d nicked from the cafeteria downstairs – did it count as stealing if they’d paid for bed and board and he wasn’t eating it in the dining room? – he knocked on the door of the room next to his.

It looked like somebody had set up a computer security room in there, and at least ten people were crammed into the room.  Kai gaped, frozen in the doorway.  Directly in front of him were two men dressed in black suits and wearing sunglasses.  Both had earpieces with transparent wired coiling down from them and disappearing into their collars, and they were talking quietly to each other.  The woman who had opened the door was much more casually dressed but had a massive navy jacket on her with FBI emblazoned across it in bright yellow.  Mark was wearing a polar neck and jeans, leaning over Kevin’s shoulder as Kevin’s eyes darted around the screens in front of him and he spoke rapidly into the headset.  The others were gathered around him.

“Mark, the kid’s up!” called the woman.

Every single head in the room swivelled around to face Kai.  He hastily swallowed the last bite of his croissant and wiped the crumbs off his hands before holding one up and giving a tentative wave.  Mark grinned at him and beckoned him over.  Kevin resumed speaking into his headset, and just like that, everybody returned to normal.

“What are you doing?” Kai asked curiously as he looked at the screens.

“We’ve got some drones up,” Mark informed him.  “Kevin’s been scouring the city with infrared all night.  We think we may have cornered your old boss.”

Kai took another look at the screens.  “Where did you get all the computers from?”

“Kevin always has two with him and the others tipped up with extra this morning.”

Kai raised his eyebrows incredulously.

Without turning towards him, Kevin nudged the microphone away from his mouth and addressed Kai.

“Kid, did you say you’ve been to the warehouse in Baltimore?”

“Yeah, but it was a while back.”  Kai shifted from foot to foot.  “I’d recognise it if I saw it, but I don’t think I’d be able to lead you to it.”

“Oh, good,” said Kevin, immediately pulling up three pictures.  “Is it this one?”

Kai blinked, absolutely astonished.  “Y-yeah.  How did you—?”

“Infrared cameras last night.  Nobody stays in a warehouse overnight for a good reason.”

Kai just nodded.  Mark ruffled his hair again.  Kevin nudged the mic back up to his mouth.

“We’re sending agents in within the next ten minutes,” Kevin said.  “Is there any information you have that might be useful?”

Kai wracked his brains.  “It feels like it might collapse on you at any moment,” was all he could come up with.

Kevin allowed himself a little grin.  “Yeah, I think I got that one.  The building was slated for demolition back in 2001 – God only knows why it didn’t happen.  Okay, guys, standby for the signal.”

The operation went so smoothly Kai was almost sure it was a joke.  It wasn’t until Thant rang up, asking for Mark to bring Kai down to the local police station to identify the captives, that he actually allowed himself to believe it.  Kai stared through the one-way glass into the interrogation room, still trying to take in the man sitting in handcuffs, refusing to speak to the agents talking to him.

“We should have him in court within the next couple of days,” Thant said.  “We’ve had the case prepared for a good while now – our lawyer’s flying in from JFK this afternoon.”

Kai nodded.

“We’re also going to double your guard and put you up in a safehouse,” Thant added.  “We never found that Gonzalez thug when we raided Charlotte and we don’t know where he’s gone to ground.  And I thought you’d like to know that Myungsoo will be arriving tomorrow.  We’ll need him to testify, of course, but since you’re a minor, we thought you might like to have him registered as your guardian for the trial.”

Kai looked up at him.  “Really?”

“Yeah.”

It seemed surreal.  Maybe it was because he’d been sitting in a bulletproof glass witness box with Myungsoo and one of his guards from the FBI he’d only met once, but it was still hard to believe this was really happening, even half a week into the trial.

It still seemed like it was a dream to see his former boss in the defendant’s dock, surrounded by guards.

It still seemed like it was a hallucination to see his ex-girlfriend’s father remaining stone-faced and silent in response to all the charges levelled against him.

It still seemed like he was hearing things as the lawyers grilled each other and the various witnesses.

It still seemed—

There was a light touch on his arm and he jumped.  Myungsoo was still facing the judge, but his right hand was hovering at Kai’s elbow.

“Are you okay?” he murmured.  “You look like you’re going to throw up.”

Kai swallowed.  To be honest, he’d felt like he was going to throw up continuously from the second it had hit him just how serious it was to be involved in the organisation of helping to bust one of the biggest cartels in the Americas.  He glanced at the FBI agent who had turned towards them at the sound of Myungsoo’s voice, and then at the policemen sitting in the box with them, and then at the ground.  Myungsoo had told him that a witness box like this wasn’t a given, that he was in danger even in the cou