Rule #11: Never sleep with the enemy.  Unless they’re really hot!

            Kyuhyun could not stay asleep when his mind was abuzz with everything that had happened over the last couple days.  Never had his life been so exciting.  Or dangerous.  It wasn’t even the life-threatening elements that felt risky and exhilarating.  Quite possibly, he was falling in love with his rescuer and he wasn’t sure if that was an entirely good idea. 

            Ryeowook seemed certain that he did not want to be in a relationship with someone.  He never claimed to want anything beyond with Kyuhyun.  So he really shouldn’t be hoping for any more from the agent.  But he just couldn’t help it.  He only felt at ease when they were together.  He only felt happy when he believed that Ryeowook belonged solely to him.  And he was only fully content when he was wrapped up in the arms of his new lover. 

            But he also had a job to do.  A job which Ryeowook found more important than almost anything else on the planet at the moment, so he was determined not to let him down.  Already, after such a short span of time together, Kyuhyun felt certain that he never wanted to disappoint Ryeowook.  He would do anything to avoid it. 

            So he worked on decoding the disc in the middle of the night on a soft chair, next to a small table lamp, in Ryeowook’s bedroom.  Every once in a while, he would steal a peek at the agent, and wonder how things would play out in the coming days.  Then he would despair, realizing he had nothing to offer the agent.  Hell, he wasn’t even employed anymore.  His apartment was likely ripped apart by Omega, looking for information about him.  And Ryeowook had smashed up his car.  He literally had nothing.  Then he’d go back to decoding until he couldn’t stand to keep his eyes away any longer.  Damn.  Ryeowook was so y.

            Kyuhyun worked until nearly dawn when something he did not expect happened.  He broke the code.  But breaking the code did not come with the satisfaction that he thought he would earn.  He looked over the information on the disc and frowned, not knowing what to do.  Did Ryeowook know about what was on the disc or was he in the dark?  What was going on?  If he woke Ryeowook and showed him the disc’s contents, what would happen to him?

            Kyuhyun set the laptop down on the ottoman and rubbed his hands over his face.  He couldn’t pretend not to have cracked the code just because he feared Ryeowook’s reaction.  He wasn’t even sure what it meant.  But he knew that the contents hadn’t been encrypted in any way.  What was on the screen wasn’t meant to be a code for something else.  This was the wrong disc.  Either Ryeowook had stolen the wrong one—highly unlikely considering the content and the fact that it had been coded—or someone had switched the discs and didn’t want him to find out too soon. 

            The last thing he was going to do was lie about what he’d found, he decided.  Kyuhyun stood up and walked over to the bed, lying down in it beside Ryeowook.  Ryeowook roused a little as the mattress dipped and his eyes slit open a little to look at Kyuhyun.  This was probably to make sure that it was him and not some assassin coming to off him.  Although he couldn’t see any weapons within sight, Kyuhyun figured that Ryeowook probably had one within reach of him at the moment, much like Saeun had at her apartment.  Before they’d left the apartment, Sungmin started showing them the creative hiding places they kept guns and knives.  They admitted they were starting to switch some of these spots, however, since they would eventually have to child-proof the house. 

            Ryeowook slid an arm around Kyuhyun’s waist and pulled him closer.  “It’s about time you came back to bed,” he muttered.  “I was getting cold.”

            “Were you?”

            Kyuhyun smiled and wrapped his lover up in his arms, wishing that he didn’t have such bad news to report when the agent appeared to finally be warming up to him. 

            Ryeowook nestled closer and pecked Kyuhyun’s lips.  “Go back to sleep for a while.”

            “I can’t,” Kyuhyun confessed.  “I have some bad news for you.”

            Ryeowook’s eyes widened and he inched back from Kyuhyun a bit.  “What news?”

            “I cracked the code.”

            Ryeowook broke into a smile.  “Why is that bad news?” he asked, cupping Kyuhyun’s face.

            “Because it doesn’t contain any contacts.  It contains a bunch of recipes.”

            “What?”  Ryeowook froze at the news. 

            Kyuhyun rolled onto his back.  He couldn’t stand to see the look of disappointment on Ryeowook’s face.  “I scrolled through everything on it.  It’s not a secret code or anything as far as I can tell.  It’s just a bunch of God damn recipes.  Someone must have switched out the discs.”

            Ryeowook shook his head.  “That’s impossible.”

            “President Choi still believes that his legitimate disc is missing, which means someone has it.  It’s out there somewhere.  You had to have taken the right disc initially.  But at some point, someone switched it out before they gave it back to you.  If the Choi Corporation had it, they wouldn’t be trying to kill us.  The men at Sungmin’s apartment asked me where the disc was.  If they only wanted me dead, they wouldn’t have asked me anything.”

            The agent sat up and ran his hand through his hair.  “Just as Donghae suggested then.  Someone at NIS is working for Omega.  But if that’s the case, why wouldn’t they just give it back?”

            “Maybe they’re being watched too closely.  Or maybe they want to exploit Choi for money.  He has a hell of a lot of money,” Kyuhyun pointed out.  “Who else had access to the disc?”

            “I first gave it to Victoria.  Then they delivered it to our computer people to try to decode it, probably either Agent M or A, since they’re the best.  Then Max had it before giving it to Eunhyuk and Donghae to give to me.  But we know it can’t be Hyuk or Hae.”

            Kyuhyun nodded.

            “So what happens now?”

            “Eunhyuk and Donghae were going to figure out who was tracking us.  This will inevitably be the same person with the disc.  Once they figure out who that is, they will find the disc.  Then they’ll bring it to us without us having to reveal our location.”

            “But what if the person spying on NIS is Victoria?  Only she knows where you are,” Kyuhyun pointed out.

            Ryeowook looked back at Kyuhyun and smiled.  “You assumed that the person I trust most at NIS is Victoria?”

            “Isn’t it?” Kyuhyun asked, feeling more perplexed than ever. 

            Ryeowook shook his head and laid back down on top of Kyuhyun.  “As every good agent knows, the person you should be able to trust the most is your partner.”

            “Agent Y?”

            Ryeowook nodded.  “And he never had the disc.  So I know that he’s clean for sure.”

            “So now we just wait for Y to show up with the real disc?”

            “Well,” Ryeowook said, smirking as he began to draw invisible designs on his lover’s chest.  “I’m sure we can find something to keep us busy while we’re waiting for him to show up.”

Earlier in the evening…

            “I can’t believe that R would just disappear without a trace like that—with something so important to NIS—and not leave the information with someone,” Victoria said, stirring food in a pan at the stove. 

            Amber looked up from her computer desk, giving her crabby roommate an impatient look.  “I don’t know why you’re surprised at all!  He pulls this all the time!”

            “But usually he tells me where he’s going,” Victoria pointed out. 

            “I suppose…you usually have been the informed one,” admitted Amber, typing on her computer rapidly.  She was also watching the footage of the apprehension of Shindong’s men on the outskirts of town on television.  Shindong himself had been eliminated finally.  It was all over the evening news.  “Are you staying here or at Max’s place tonight?”

            “I’m heading to Max’s,” Victoria told her, scooping rice onto two dishes.  “But I don’t expect him to go home for a little while yet, so I thought I’d spend a little time here before I head over.”

            Amber nodded.

            “Are you heading over to Henry’s?”

            “Nah.  Not tonight,” Amber said, her eyes still glued to the computer screen.  Just then, her cellphone vibrated in her pocket and she took it out to read her message.

            Cobra.

            Amber’s heart began to beat rapidly.  This was a personalized message that only she knew the response to and it meant that no one was lookin