Five days had passed and the three leaders had yet to hear from any of their contacts at the headquarters that anyone in authority had gotten word of their prior visit or their knowledge of what was happening within the systems.

The rest of the unit had moved into their homes and began their new lives in separate cities and towns scattered along the border. From what they had heard, Yesung and Kibum were now living next door to each other. Apparently they had found some sort of solace in living with someone who had lost another person who was dear to them. The rest were placed in quiet neighborhoods where they would be safe. Or at least that’s what they thought.

On the sixth morning with no news Heechul was stretched out on the couch watching a television drama series that she had recently found and been drawn in to. This past week had been hard for the woman who wasn’t used to being cooped up in a small building. She had exhausted herself of ideas for the time being with her novel and was now moping about not being able to leave or so much as sit in her writing nook. Leeteuk had become obstinate about keeping her within his line of vision at all times and that meant keeping her in the apartment and away from the closed off window.

After the night Jasmine was killed, Heechul had begged him to move into her room with her instead of sleeping on the couch like he had been doing since she returned to her old room. After one more night on the lumpy couch and an extended guilt trip for keeping Heechul out of her comfort zone, Leeteuk finally consented. It would be easier for him to keep an eye on her at night as well. She would be right there where he could get to her if need be.

His trust in Hangeng had been slowly waning since the visit from the woman who had been introduced as Victoria. He had had an odd feeling about her the moment she walked in the door and it was only confirmed when he noticed her slide a small piece of paper into Hangeng’s shirt collar before smirking at Heechul and walking out the door. Since then, papers from the files she had brought over had gone missing. The only other person besides himself that had touched that information was Hangeng seeing as Heechul refused to go anywhere near it at that point. She was just as tired as the rest of them and her personality allowed for her to keep to herself and away from those things that disrupt her peace, if only for that moment.

Leeteuk, who was deep in thought at the moment, jumped when Heechul burst out laughing at some obnoxious character. He shook his head and looked back towards the kitchen where Hangeng was cooking lunch, keeping a sharp eye out for what he was putting in the food. He knew he was being paranoid but there were no chances that were worth taking in their line of work when it came to living with someone who kept secrets. He was pulled out of his reverie when his phone vibrated next to his hand. A number he had never seen before appeared on the screen. He was hesitant to answer but decided to risk it.

“Hello?”

Heechul turned around from her position on the couch to look at the older man with curious eyes. Leeteuk’s expression became more severe as the person on the other end of the line continued talking.

“May I ask by whom?”  Leeteuk nodded on occasion, probably not aware that the other person couldn’t see him.

“Thank you. I’ll let them know.” He hung up swiftly, his eyes darting to Heechul. He moved over next to her immediately, covering the obviousness of the protective gesture as an attempt to get his coat from the rack next to her. “That was the hospital. Eunhyuk’s just been admitted.”

“What?!” Heechul jumped up from her seat, attentive and ready to move. “What about Donghae? Is she okay?”

“They were attacked this morning. There’s no sign of her anywhere. A delivery truck found him signaling for help from the window and called an ambulance. Apparently he’d crawled over and opened it after they left. Mine was the last number he’d called.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Hangeng asked from behind them. Leeteuk turned around.

“He’s stable. They had to put him into an induced coma though. He kept panicking and screaming for Donghae. They think he’s delusional.” He explained then turned back to Heechul. “Get ready to go. We’re leaving for headquarters within the hour.” Picking his phone up again, he dialed the number for the airport and walked back into the dining room speaking whatever language was the language of the person on the other end of the line, trying to book the quickest flight. True to his word, Leeteuk had the three of them on the next flight out and on their way to the main branch headquarters.

They got off of the plane and met up at a nearby café, changed into the uniform suits and matched up IDs. They would have to work quickly if they wanted to get the information they needed. They were there to find out who had attacked their unit and who was in their area that posed a threat. There was also a very good chance that Donghae would be held within the walls of the headquarters itself. No matter how much Leeteuk did not want to, he knew that the group had to split up. He couldn’t trust Hangeng to be on his own though.

“Heechul, I need you to head to the file rooms. Look through as many of them as you can that have to do with recent traveling. The majority of them will be on the computer’s hidden files. I put Sungmin and Kyuhyun’s number on speed dial on your phone. When you get in there call them and they’ll walk you through the process. You have to be quick and accurate though.” Leeteuk said as soon as he had a moment alone with Heechul. She nodded her understanding.

“What are you and Hangeng going to do?”

“Yeah, what are we going to do?” Hangeng walked up behind the two of them. They turned around to face him.

“You and I are going to go look for Donghae down into the tombs. It’s been a while since I’ve been down there and I’m not sure I know my way around anymore. You have a more recent memory than I do so I’m going to need your help.” Leeteuk answered. He had gone over this scenario in his head multiple times while they were on the plane. This way, he would be able to keep an eye on Hangeng, know Heechul was still somewhat safe, and have an through the underground rooms that everyone that knew the place called the tombs. The name wasn’t far from accurate either. They were dark and were typically where hostages were interrogated. To his advantage though, Leeteuk knew the hallways well enough to not get lost, no matter what lie he spewed to keep the younger man within his line of sight.

Hangeng nodded his agreement and started off ahead of them.

“Be careful. Make sure you get in and get out. We’ll meet in the alleyway across the road.” He nodded towards a dark alley that was more of a walkway than anything else. Heechul looked to Hangeng whose back was turned for the moment then back to Leeteuk.

“You be careful too.”

“I don’t want you in there for any more than an hour. If you don’t find anything I want you to get out by then; do you understand?” His eyes bore into the woman. She nodded her understanding. “We’ll meet you there. I don’t know how long it’s going to take for us to find Donghae but if I’m not out by dark I need you to get back on the plane and go to stay with Kangin. He’ll protect you until all of this can blow over.”

“Leeteuk –” Heechul started. There was no way she was leaving him behind, no matter what may or may not have happened.

“Promise me!” It was not a request but a command. She caught the tone in his voice, sighed, and gave a single nod.

“Fine. But you have to promise me something too.”

“Okay.”

“That I won’t have to go to Kangin’s. You know I can’t get along with him.” Heechul chuckled morosely. Leeteuk glared. “Oh come on! I’m kidding.”

“I’m not. I’m being dead serious.”

“Lighten up. We’ll be okay.” Heechul wished she could have said this with as much confidence as she was trying to muster. But at this point, she was just trying to convince herself of the same thing.

“Leeteuk! We’ve got to hurry. We’re starting to draw attention.” Hangeng walked up, getting the other man’s attention. He nodded and turned to follow his ‘guide’. “You know how to get to where you need to be, right?”

“Yep.” They started walking in the same direction, their demeanor changing almost immediately. They went from what people would think was a cute couple with a third wheel to a group of people who were complete strangers.

Heechul stopped and acted as if she were looking into the window of a shop while she waited for the men to disappear through the gates of the headquarters. From behind her sunglasses she saw Leeteuk take a quick look behind him as he followed Hangeng. A moment later, her phone rang with her text ringtone. See you in the ally. –L

She hid her smile as she had been trained to do for most of her life as she answered. See you there.

Taking note of her surroundings, she began her trek into the building. She showed her ID to the guard at the door with confidence and walked through like she owned the place. She began to breathe again when she made it past the third door and into the main lobby. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized that getting into the building was the easy part. She now had to get into the file room, hack the computers, rummage through the paper files looking for the needed information all the while keeping an eye and ear out for people that could catch her and in all possibility kill her on sight. And she had to do all of this in less than an hour.

As she walked down some familiar hallways and some not so familiar ones, she found herself starting to sweat. It had been a while since she had done something like this. She could swear people were watching her through the windows and doorways, suspicious that she was up to something. The more paranoid she became the more she focused on making herself look natural. As if she belonged there. She even found herself nodding at people she had never met before and would mentally slap herself every time she did. Finally she reached a corridor that she recognized. It was the one she had worked in while she was working in headquarters. Her heart began to speed up when she realized she had to turn down that particular hallway to get to her target room. She walked swiftly, praying that no one would recognize her. Those prayers were in vain when she heard her given name coming from an all too familiar voice.

“Chullie?” The high pitched airy tone rang from the nearest cubicle. Heechul kept walking as if she didn’t hear it, hoping the woman would think she had made a mistake then go back to her work. And it was only a hope.

“Kim Heechul! I know that is you. Turn around and look at me.” Heechul walked faster and turned the nearest corner when she heard heeled footfalls start to come up behind her. Taking another sharp turn, she broke into a run and waited until she felt she knew fairly well that the woman she knew as Taemin had gone back to her office. Poor girl. I hate doing that to her, she thought. Taemin had been there about half the time that Heechul had. Heechul had been one of the people who trained her before she went into the undercover unit and was never seen again. She was surprised that she was recognized as easily as she was. Then again, Taemin did always have a good memory. It wasn’t for any old reason that she had been place in the analysis unit.

Making sure the coast was finally clear, she made her way into a dim hallway where the file room was located. It wasn’t hard to find. There was a large wooden door with a lock that was twice as old keeping it closed. Heechul looked over each shoulder and down the hallways for any signs of life. There were none. She then proceeded to pick the lock with a hair pin until she heard the satisfying click of the bolt.

The room itself was filled with out of date computers and papers that were scattered on every surface of the desks, some even on the floors where information had been grabbed in a hurry then forgotten by those who had left it there. A lot of the file cabinets that lined the edges of the room had a thick layer of dust attached to them from not having been touched for years. It smelled musty and slightly of rotting paper. Not to mention it was cold.

Heechul made sure the door was closed firmly behind her before hurrying over to the computer nearest the center of the room. There were two doors that led into the room. Should someone come in from either one of the doors, she wanted to be able to make a quick getaway by the opposite door before they could realize that she was not meant to be in this particular room. Pulling up the nearest metal chair, she set to work on finding their information.