Chapter 14 

 

The figure was small. Changwook realizes this at the very last moment. Far too small to be Kai or Sejoon. 

 

Or any of their stereotypically muscle-bound goons. 

 

Changwook still his trigger finger. One more iota of pressure on the trigger and the weapon would fire. Years ago, Changwook had trained with his weapon until it had become a part of him. He knew his weapon. He knew the weight of it unloaded and he knew the weight of it loaded. He knew the exact amount of pressure needed to make the weapon fire. He knew how to hit exactly what and where he wanted to hit but right now Changwook didn't really care much about how much he knew about his weapon because he had to deal with the armed figure who had unsuccessfully tried to quietly slip into their cell. 

 

Changwook's eyes narrow on the figure, noting how the slim figure move. Warily. Stealthily. 

 

Train. 

 

Changwook knew his own training. A by-product of that was that he could recognize similar training in others. He could recognize his own. 

 

The dark brown almond-shaped eyes of the slim figure quickly scan the bed in the middle of the opposite wall and then those eyes raise to meet Changwook's own head on. 

 

Her weapon was pointed upwards, held level with her shoulder. As she was trained to do, as he was trained to do, so not to accidentally shoot someone should the weapon fire unexpectedly. 

 

Her eyes met his and Changwook knew, knew it with a certainty that could only come from years of experience such as that he had. His instincts and ability to see what so few others did or even could had kept him alive when others would have perished. He was an undercover FBI agent and he was good at what he did and one of those things had made him so good was that he was able to see those little things that most people didn't, little things that could give away their secrets and the secret that the woman before his eyes was giving away was for the first time obvious but why hadn't he seen it before now? 

 

Changwook's eyes narrow in on her lethally. He knew what she was. As for who...well, not even he was that good. Changwook didn't lower his weapon, not with Yoona's life on the line but he did lower his aim just slightly from her forehead to her heart. He wanted to maintain his kill shot while being able to look her unimpeded in the eye. 

 

If she made one wrong move, she was dead. If for a moment he thought that she was lying to him, she was dead. It was as simple as that. 

 

He had never shot a woman before but he had never been in love before either and the woman he loves was in grave danger. After everything they had been through after everything Yoona had been through, Changwook was done hesitating. There wasn't any line he wasn't prepared to cross for his Yoona anymore. 

 

Even if this line was going to be the hardest one yet. Could he actually do it? Could he kill a woman, even for Yoona? It went against his very nature, his protective instincts and his own moral code but what if he was wrong? What if she wasn't what her movements were betraying her to be and she was a threat? That little dark voice inside of him asks, the voice of his warrior instincts that had kept him alive, the same one that urges him to do whatever it was he had to do to protect Yoona. 

 

If he was wrong and he risks trusting her when he shouldn't then the consequences could very well end up being Yoona's to pay. 

 

So yes. Yes, he could pull the trigger and he would if he had, too. He had come too far, done too much to trip up now. 

 

Changwook's grip tightens on his weapon but his trigger finger remains lock in place. 

 

For now. 

 

Changwook didn't care that he was pointing his weapon at a woman, he could care less, not with Yoona's life at stake nor did he care that she was so obviously government train. 

 

She could still be his enemy. 

 

Changwook wasn't going to take the chance, he couldn't take the chance but her government training had brought her the opportunity to have a brief conversation. If she said all the right things and gave all the right answers, he wouldn't kill her. 

 

If she was what her movements betray her to be and that was a big if. 

 

Right now though she was the only thing standing between him and the open cell door. This was it. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for. 

 

Mrs. Choi, Sejoon's very own personal assistant, who was dress in a black Worthington knit tank top and black Worthington fit ankle pants but was barefooted, she had most likely taken her heels off so she could move quietly on the un-carpeted floors, open her eyes wide, no doubt from correctly reading her pending death in his dark hard eyes. 

 

With exaggerated slowness, the woman Changwook knew as Mrs. Choi warily lifted her right hand from her weapon and raise it out towards him, her fingertips facing the ceiling, just like her weapon. 

 

It was an easy now gesture. She was asking him to wait. 

 

"Mrs. Choi?!" Yoona exclaims in a hush but staggered squeak, from behind him, breaking the extremely tense silence. 

 

"We have to be quick!" Mrs. Choi hiss urgently, carefully keeping her voice low, "We don't have a lot of time! I have to get the both of you out of here now! Sejoon's going to kill you!" 

 

This wasn't new to Changwook. He knew Sejoon was going to kill him sooner rather than later but judging by the older woman's urgency, Sejoon had planned to kill him very soon. 

 

Changwook had never been quick to trust in anyone or in anything except his instincts but he couldn't ignore the way she was moving. His instincts were warning him to be cautious but years of experience were telling him that she was government train but that didn't necessarily mean that she was on his side and then his dark side, his warrior side, was whispering to him that he should just kill the older woman and get Yoona the hell out of there instead of hesitating and wasting time with words. 

 

It also didn't help that his dark warrior side was consumed by rage because if this woman was really what she was presenting herself to be then she could have helped them long before now. 

 

"Who are you?" Changwook demanded, his voice hard and ice cold, fill with a lethal threat that warns her not to lie to him. 

 

Mrs. Choi obviously wasn't a secretary, not really. Either this was part of some elaborate plan of Sejoon's, to what end Changwook had absolutely no clue and Mrs. Choi was the world's best actress or she was undercover just like he had been, who was the world's best government train actress. 

 

"DEA." Mrs. Choi answers promptly in a hush but urgent voice, "Agent Choi Sunghee. I have been undercover here for three years." She looks past him at Yoona, her eyes hard, "Your dad doesn't care who he sells his drugs or weapons, too. Or what's done with them once he gets paid for them." 

 

"You are DEA?" Black rage surge through Changwook such as he had never known at having his suspicion confirmed. This woman was DEA, she had been this whole time and yet she hadn't lifted a finger to get them out or help them at all until now? 

 

Changwook had never struck a woman before and up until now, he had never even been tempted to do so but right now he was so much more than tempted. Right now he was downright livid and his hand was just itching to strike her because to him now she was no longer a woman but an agent. 

 

A DEA agent who could have spare Yoona everything she had gone through since they had been recaptured. 

 

Seeing nothing but red, Changwook lower his weapon and before he even knew what he was doing, he had stalk across the room to the older woman, the agent. 

 

Only at the last moment did the logical part of Changwook's brain remind him that this was an older woman, making him reluctantly temper his strength accordingly right before he put his hand to and push her backward until her back hit the opposite wall only just a little harder than he had intended. 

 

Mrs. Choi, no agent Choi Sunghee Changwook mentally corrected himself, wisely kept her weapon raise and pointed upwards, her grip on her weapon just firm enough that she wasn't in danger of dropping it but loosely enough that she wouldn't be hurt if he snatches the weapon from her. 

 

Changwook briefly considers taking the weapon from her but he didn't trust himself. As long as it remains pointed upwards and she gave no indication that she intended to doublecross them, she could keep a hold of it. 

 

Changwook's eyes were as black as ice and deadly. Never in his life had he felt so furious, so murderous towards someone who could very well be innocent of any criminal wrongdoing. Never in his life had he been so close to violence towards a woman, woman or not, agent or not, she was walking a very thin line and for her sake, she had better have good reasons for leaving them to endure what they had. 

 

Besides, this wasn't a woman this was an agent, Changwook quickly reminded himself. Had she been a man Changwook would have beaten the hell out of her. Then again, had she been a man she would have already been dead because no man would have made it through the open cell door alive sneaking in there as she had. 

 

"You could have gotten her out of here at any time." Changwook accuses savagely, from between his clench teeth, spittle went flying and his entire body was shaking from the force of his rage. It was only that Yoona was present that kept him from violence. 

 

Fear flash in agent Choi's wide eyes but only for a brief moment. After which she narrows her eyes crossly at him, either her own anger had prevailed over her fear or she was a strong proud woman who wasn't going to allow herself to be bullied. 

 

Maybe it was a little of both. 

 

"At what cost?!" Agent Choi hisses back, her own anger obvious but much better control than his, "You above all people should know what her dad is! How many times has one of the agencies gone after Sejoon only to walk away empty-handed?! I was the first agent to get close enough to Sejoon for him to trust! Close enough to gather evidence that even his team of top-price lawyers can't make go away! We were weeks away from ending this when you mess everything up!" 

 

Agent Choi pointed at Yoona with her empty right hand, "From the moment she first escapes I have had my hands full just covering up for you both and taking care of your mess! Think about it! Think! How reckless have you been since you got here?! Since the two of you fell in love?! Do you have any idea how many times you nearly blew your cover?! Remember all those little bits of good luck and narrow escapes?! That was me working my off so you could keep yours intact!" 

 

Agent Choi narrow her eyes at him, glaring at him with a laser-sharp glare, "I have heard of you Changwook, the legend of the undercover world! Mr. Professional himself but add one pair of gorgeous dark brown eyes to the mix and you are making rookie mistakes! So don't go blaming me for you both getting yourself into this mess! I have done nothing since you got here but try to keep you out of it!" 

 

Changwook carefully kept his dark expression in place but deep inside he had to wonder if her accusation was true, if falling in love really had made him careless. He had always prided himself on being better than that. He hadn't earned his reputation for being the best undercover agent by being sloppy but at the same time, he had never been in love before. It was something that he hadn't been prepare for. 

 

Hell, it was the only thing he hadn't been prepare for but how on earth did one prepare itself for the awesome force that was Yoona? 

 

"Who do you think it was that kept Sejoon from looking too deeply into your cover's backstory?! Why do you think it took Sejoon so long to get his hands on that damn medical report?!" The older woman continues on, challenging him crossly with a good dose of frustration thrown in as well. 

 

"Or that no one ever saw you on one of your little midnights strolls through the estate?! Or saw your weapon that was still here when you were brought back?!" Agent Choi looks pointedly at the weapon in question that was at this very moment aim at . 

 

"I was the one who distracted that damned goons when you kick it under the bed!" Her telling tone made it abundantly clear just how she had done so. It was a common technique used by female undercover agents, using skills that they hadn't learned in any classroom to distract and infiltrate. 

 

Changwook considers her for a brief moment. Agent Choi Sunghee was an older woman, mid-thirties to early forties maybe but she was still very attractive, a tool in her arsenal she no doubt use as often as was needed and seduction wasn't just a useful tool for female agents either, it was a skill Changwook himself had used countless times before. 

 

"Why do you think no one has come running when I broke in here?!" Agent Choi went on, apparently on a roll, she seems to be in the need to vent her frustrations towards them, "The feed is on a loop but it won't be long before they realize somethings up! At best we have minutes until all hell breaks loose and you want to waste time telling me how I haven't done my job keeping the both of you alive?!" 

 

Changwook unwillingly found himself liking the middle age woman slash agent. She had a sharp tongue, a strong will and she wasn't letting herself show just how intimidated she was by him. She was a strong woman and Changwook had the feeling that she was a good agent as well. She had to be to have been able to get where she was. 

 

Behind him, Changwook sense Yoona approach and a moment later he felt her hand gently come to rest on his shoulder, her hand as light as a small bird. 

 

"Changwook Oppa." Her voice was soft and beseeching, her intention obviously to calm him. There was fear in her gentle caring voice as well and that did more than anything to capture his attention and in effect calm him. 

 

Just like that his rage was gone. He was still angry but he was in total control of himself and his temper again. 

 

All because of Yoona. 

 

Was agent Choi right? Was he slipping as an undercover agent because he was in love? Was he getting soft? And if so, was it a bad thing? 

 

With a deep breath, Changwook reigns in the last of his temper and step away from agent Choi, lowering his hands to his sides. Then he automatically moves to stand protectively and possessively at Yoona's side. 

 

Agent Choi visibly breathes a sigh of relief and push herself away from the wall, slowly lowering her weapon to her side just as Changwook had done but she kept an angry and wary eye on him. 

 

"You should know." Agent Choi told him very reluctantly, "That I was ordered not to interfere unless I was left with no other choice." 

 

Red flash before Changwook's eyes like red lightning and just like that he was back on the verge of violence, "By who?!" 

 

"My boss." Agent Choi answer, watching him as warily as one did a maddened feral tiger, "But I had, too." She added helplessly, "I knew your dad and as far as I'm concerned, we owed you because we owed him." 

 

Seconds tick by in which not one of them dare to even breathe. The two women were instinctively stunned into stillness as they waited for the lone male in the room to react. 

 

"What?" Changwook gasp, sounding winded as though he had just been punched in the stomach. He felt like he had. His eyes were impossibly wide. He was staggered by this sudden new piece of information about his dad. He didn't understand. Why did the DEA know his dad? What did his dad have to do with the DEA? 

 

Agent Choi sighs heavily as if she knew that this wasn't a good idea but had to go through with it anyway. It all came spilling out of her in one long flood as if she had been holding it in for far too long. 

 

"Just before your parents die, we got real close to bringing the entire mafia family down, thanks to your dad but the family got to him right before we could put him and his family, put you, into witness protection. Without your dad, our case fell apart. We have been trying to bring down the family ever since that was why I was under strict orders not to break my cover no matter what." 

 

Changwook was floored. His mind had ceased to function and the pain in his chest was dangerously close to choking him. 

 

"My dad was DEA?" 

 

Agent Choi looks at him with real genuine sympathy in her now much softer looking eyes, "He was an informant. He had access to the family's books through the accounting firm. Your dad had a friend who works there. We never knew who the friend was, your dad protected him right up until the end. Your dad wanted to bring the family down by targeting the money but the family got to him first and overnight all the evidence we had on the family either disappear or was discredited by the family's team of high-priced lawyers." 

 

Agent Choi's gaze flicker towards Yoona before returning to Changwook, "And when Sejoon took over the family he got real smart with the family's finances so we had to approach it all a different way. A break was caught when I was hired. The higher-ups in the DEA approach me while I was still at the academy. I have work for years to get the background I needed and then we luck out when Sejoon hired me three years ago as his personal assistant." 

 

Agent Choi shook her head at herself, maybe in regret, maybe in sadness, Changwook couldn't know. 

 

"For the first year, I live completely in this life." Agent Choi told them, her tone telling them just how much of a toll such a long undercover assignment had had on her, "Not a single contact met or a moment away." 

 

Changwook winces at that, admiring her all the more. He knew what it was like to go deep, so deep undercover that at times it was hard to remember who you really were. The longest he had ever gone undercover had been eight months and it had taken him a full month to even start to feel like himself again. 

 

Three years. No doubt the woman was going to have some deep mental and emotional scars to deal with when she finally step away from what had been her entire life for three years. 

 

No doubt all three of them would have a lot to deal with mentally and emotionally if and when they made it out of there. 

 

At least he had Yoona and Yoona had him. Did agent Choi have anyone waiting on the outside for her? Inwardly Changwook winces, knowing the most likely answer to that question. She had been uncovered for three years, it was doubtful that there was anyone waiting for her like a husband or boyfriend. 

 

Undercover agents were almost always loners, meaning they were alone. No one to miss them when they disappear for months at a time or once and for all. 

 

Agent Choi looks up, looking Changwook straight in the eye, her voice hard with steady resolve, the kind that spoke with when saying something that they believe right down into their core, "Your dad was a brave man. One who wanted to make the world a better place. He wanted to bring the family down, to stop all their wrongdoing but a leak on the inside tip the family onto him and before we could get your family out the family got to them." Changwook didn't need to be told what kind of man his dad had been. He knew already. At least now he knew that his dad had died trying to do the right thing, trying to make the world a better place as agent Choi had put it. 

 

Pride swell through Changwook's chest, pride for his dad and the sacrifices he had been willing to make to do the right thing but would his dad be proud of him? Of the man, he had become? Changwook always tried to do the right thing but there was a little bit of grey in his past. 

 

He had a lot to think about but now wasn't the time. There were more urgent things Changwook needed to focus on right now. 

 

Very reluctantly, Changwook forces himself to push away all thoughts of his dad and to take a deep breath in an attempt to steady his insides. He needed to think about his past but now wasn't the time. 

 

He needed to focus on the now. Yoona. He needed to focus on getting her out but it was hard, so much harder than it had ever been for him, his steady focus was another of his attributes that made him so good at what he did, to pull himself out of his head and focus on what he had to do. 

 

Agent Choi who had shown up so suddenly without any previous hint of who and what she was before now. Could he trust her? Just because she had shown up with the answers he had been searching for about his past did that mean he should trust her just like that? 

 

"Why didn't you get Yoona out?" Changwook asks agent Choi abruptly, carefully studying her expression for signs of hesitation or deception. 

 

That was the question that was burning a hole in him now that he had forced all thoughts of his parents away for now. 

 

Agent Choi looks over Changwook's shoulder at Yoona, her expression carefully guarded but still, some of her uncertainty leaks through, "The decision was made above my head. We couldn't be certain that we could trust her. Her dad had gone to extreme lengths before to flush out undercover agents. We had no proof that she was who she appears to be and until recently Sejoon hadn't shown any intention to harm her. He's her dad. We thought she will be the one person safe from him." 

 

Changwook snorted derisively, highly skeptical of the DEA's assessment of Sejoon. More than likely, the higher-ups hadn't wanted to risk compromising their mission just for the sake of Sejoon's own daughter. 

 

He was going to have to take the risk and trust her. He had just had to keep a careful eye on her and deal with her if she did betray him but there was just one more thing first. One more thing he had to know. If the answer was no, Changwook was going to strike her. 

 

"Would you have stepped in if he had put her down here?" Changwook asks, his voice as hard and as cold as ice. Agent Choi froze, going stock-still for a long moment before she drew in a deep breath and then let it out in a rush, "I don't know. All I know is that I would have tried to get her out. Just like I'm going to get the both of you out now." 

 

Changwook wasn't particularly happy or satisfied with that answer but at least it had been a truthful answer and it hadn't been a no. 

 

Ok. It was time. Time to make a break for it, time to risk it all. They either got out one way or another all three of them would die there. 

 

Raising his weapon, Changwook took a moment to check it over as it had been firmly ingrained in him to do so. Checking that there was around in the chamber and he had a full clip. 

 

Changwook intentionally didn't think about the odds of succeeding. He was about to go to war against Sejoon and his small but well-armed army and he had one handgun with no extra clip and his odds of surviving were even worse but he had to try. 

 

Changwook looks up from his weapon, his eyes immediately going to the woman who had become his whole life and he had honestly never seen anything so pretty. This small woman with a soul as bright as the sun and a heart as true as one could ever be was his own personal precious miracle whom he would die to protect and he might die today but at least it would be for her. 

 

Since the day his parents had been taken from him, his need for justice or revenge, he wasn't sure which was it now, had driven him with an unshakeable force but now something was driving him and it was so much stronger than his need for justice had ever been. 

 

He needed to be completely in the game, he needed to be focused. 

 

He needed to be the cold fierce focus warrior he had been before he had fallen in love and to do that he needed to shut himself down inside. 

 

Changwook tore his eyes away from Yoona and once again turn his focus to the cold hard gun in his hand, focusing everything on it. He had to be as hard, as cold and as lethal as it was. 

 

"I will get both of you out." Changwook assures the two women, his voice was that of a hard season professional soldier, "And then I will come back for Sejoon and Kai." 

 

Both women gasp, Yoona in horror and agent Choi in shock. 

 

"They will kill you." Agent Choi told him straight-up. 

 

"Maybe." Changwook answer, with dismissive indifference, "But not before I take them out. This ends now." "Oppa!" Yoona half-gasp half-scolded all at the same time, but Changwook heard her fear beneath, fuelling her onwards, "Don't you even think about it! If you think I'm going to let you leave me now you are so very wrong!" Changwook couldn't help it, the smallest hint of a sad fond smile found its way on to his lips at the sight of his Yoona hissing at him with all the indignation of an aggravated kitten and this might be the last time they had together. 

 

"Yoona, I have to end this now. Once and for all." Changwook hopes that he could make her understand why he had to do this. If he didn't make it, he wanted her to know that what he had done had been for her, "This organization has taken so much from me, from so many others, I will be damn if I'm going to let them take you from me, too. I have to end this." And then Changwook step away from her and just like that he was Agent Ji of the FBI, ready to fight. 

 

"No matter what happens." Changwook narrows his hard glare on agent Choi. There was no mistaking the strict order he was giving her, "Get her out of here." 

 

Changwook wasn't ok. 

 

Yoona knew this. Knew that he wasn't his hard-set dead-on focus fully-in-control self. He had just taken a substantial emotional and mental blow, one that had swept the ground out from beneath him. 

 

She knew because she had seen it. She had seen the look on his face when agent Choi had dropped that bombshell on his about his dad. 

 

In Yoona's opinion, agent Choi couldn't have picked a worse time. They were in grave danger and Changwook being off his game could get him kill, right along with the ten thousand other things that could get him kill in their current situation but at the same time, Yoona was relieved that Changwook finally had the answers he had been searching for since his parents had been kill. 

 

He finally knew the reason why his parents had been kill and Yoona knew why Sejoon had killed them. 

 

Sejoon truly was an evil man and he needed to be stopped once and for all just as Changwook had said moments earlier. What Sejoon had done to her, his own daughter, was, in turn, nothing compares to what he had done to Changwook and his family and Yoona hated Sejoon more for what he had done to Changwook than she ever could for what he had done to her. 

 

Not that Yoona needed more reasons to hate the man. There was nothing left in him of the man that her mom had love and there hadn't been for a very long time but at least her mom hadn't lived to see exactly what her husband had become and poor Changwook. What was going through his head right now? He seems focused enough but Yoona knew better, she knew him better. They hadn't known each other for all that long but in the weeks that they had known each other they had live enough for a lifetime. They knew each other in all the most important of ways. 

 

What did knowing Changwook's favorite restaurant compare to knowing that he was a good man? One who had die to protect her if need be? 

 

Like right now. Changwook was in serious warrior mode, despite the inner turmoil Yoona knew he was trying so hard to ignore so that he could get them out of there. His eyes were black with lethal determination. His entire being right now was focused on getting them out of there and he would kill anyone who got in their way. 

 

Even the way Changwook move scream that he was lethally on a mission. Each step he took was full of purpose, each movement was intentional. He held his weapon in front of him in both hands, held high and at the ready. His entire body was tense, ready for the fight the three of them knew was coming. 

 

The chances of the three of them getting off the estate without a fight were virtually none existent. 

 

Changwook was in warrior mode but was he fully in the mode? Despite how much he appeared to be in his warrior mode Yoona could tell that not all of his head was in the game so to speak and that terrified her. At his best, there wasn't anything Yoona believed Changwook couldn't accomplish but as distracted as he was it wasn't good and it didn't help that physically Changwook wasn't at his best thanks to the toll the past weeks had taken on them both. They had either been on the run which had mainly been sitting in a car for endless hours eating whatever take-out food they could get quickly or they had been lock in a cell where they had spent the majority of their time either sleeping or sitting, although at least their diet had been a great deal healthier during their imprisonment. 

 

All of that had undoubtedly taken its toll on them both mentally and physically and it was in that mental and physical state that Changwook was going to face Sejoon's small personal army in a desperate attempt to get all three of them out of there. 

 

They had successfully managed to slip quietly from the cell in single file, Changwook in the lead with his weapon at the ready and agent Choi at the rear while Yoona was tuck safely between the two of them, Yoona was the only one of their little group who wasn't armed. 

 

They had then hurried as quietly as possible down the long grey brightly-lit corridor to the stairs at the other end that would take them up and out of Sejoon's own personal dungeon. 

 

There wasn't a goon in sight. 

 

Yoona couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She had expected them to have been a little bit better guarded that this given what Sejoon must have done in order to recapture them after their escape. 

 

Changwook came to an abrupt halt at the base of the stairs, bringing the two women following him also to an abrupt halt. 

 

Yoona kept her eyes firmly glued to Changwook, both so she would see any non-verbal instructions he gave her and to also keep an eye on him. She didn't want anything to happen to him. She loves him. She especially didn't want anything happening to him because of her. Or because his head wasn't in the game as fully as it usually was. Yoona watch as Changwook scan the stairs and space above, checking that their path up was clear. 

 

What was she going to do? Between Sejoon's numerous goons and the estate's security system there was very little chance that they will be able to make it off the grounds unseen and if and when they were seen, Changwook would have no choice but to fight their way out. 

 

What was she going to do? What could she do? Yoona couldn't let Changwook die for her, that's what she couldn't do but what could she do? Sejoon needed her and his goons know it. 

 

So how could they use that to their advantage? 

 

Yoona watch as Changwook flatten his back against the corridor wall, his weapon still held high at the ready as he turns his dark gaze to agent Choi, glaring into her eyes over the top of Yoona's head. 

 

"What's up there? What security upgrades has Sejoon made since we escape?" Changwook demanded his voice hush but harsh. There was a warning in his tone that promises something bad if she lies to him. 

 

It made Yoona shiver involuntarily. 

 

Changwook didn't trust anyone easily and when it came to Sejoon Changwook trust even less but this woman, this agent, had proven that she was on their side. 

 

Hadn't she? 

 

So what was with the unrelenting hostility? 

 

Agent Choi stares back at him, giving him as good as she got. The woman obviously was adamant that she wasn't going to allow herself to be bullied by Changwook. 

 

If she hadn't seen the flash of fear in the woman's eyes, Yoona might have believed her. It was really hard not to be intimated by Changwook when he wasn't being threatened. 

 

Yoona immediately felt sorry for the woman, after all, agent Choi had come to help them by her own choice and wanted to stick up for her but Yoona knew better when Changwook was in his warrior mode. If she interferes then she only risks making things worse for agent Choi. 

 

"He's brought in a dozen more men and upgraded their weaponry. They are all carrying automatics now as well as their sidearms." Agent Choi answer promptly and professionally. It was almost too calmly. Honestly, it sounded like she was talking to her CEO boss about changes to his schedule rather than to an armed FBI about the armed men they were facing. 

 

"He's also installed three more cameras." Agent Choi went on crisply, "Mainly around the parameter and the grounds." 

 

Changwook nodded his head once in acknowledgment and turn to go up the stairs but agent Choi's voice stops him dead in his tracks. 

 

"And there are motion sensors covering the entire breadth of the outer grounds." 

 

Changwook froze at her words. Even though his back was to them, vehemence was radiating off of him in waves. Judging by Changwook's reaction, that was bad. 

 

"Is there any chance you were able to deactivate them when you took care of the cameras?" Changwook asks, over his shoulder but his tone wasn't hopeful. 

 

"Give me a break, will you?!" Agent Choi huff in defensive exasperation, "Look, it was all I could do just to deal with the cameras! If I had turn off the motion sensors I would have definitely gotten caught!" 

 

Yoona's eyes narrow on the woman and for the first time, she realizes that agent Choi might not actually be as old as she made herself seem. At first, Yoona had to guess the woman's age to be somewhere around fifty but now that Yoona was actually paying attention to the woman her language made her seem a great deal younger. 

 

"So what was your plan to get us out?" Changwook asks, with a sharp edge to his voice that told Yoona that he was fighting to keep his temper, no doubt born from his strain nerves and frustrations, under control. 

 

"Do you know what I had to do just to get this far?!" Agent Choi practically growls at him, very clearly unable to believe Changwook's nerve to question the manner in which she had come to their rescue. 

 

"I know what!" Changwook growls back, "As for who..." 

 

"Oppa!" Yoona snap, her voice a reprimanding hiss more than anything else. She knew that Changwook was stress to the breaking point, he had been pushed over his breaking point numerous times since they had met but she wasn't going to have him talk like that to the woman who was risking her life to save them. 

 

Changwook's head definitely wasn't all in the game. When it was, he was professional, serious and focus, a force to be reckoned with but like this, he was irritable and careless. Yoona had to get his head back in the game but how? And just like the preverbal light switch clicking on overhead, Yoona knew how. Nothing made Changwook more focus, more on point than when she was in danger or when she was putting herself in danger. 

 

Drawing in a deep breath for courage, Yoona steps out of her protected spot between the two armed agents who were at this moment not getting along and move towards the stairs. 

 

Changwook thought she was reckless when it came to her own personal safety, not to mention his belief that she had a gift for getting herself into trouble. She might as well use that now to save his life by getting him back into focus. 

 

As quick as a striking snake, Changwook's hand shot out and grasp her by her forearm, stopping her in her tracks just as she steps up onto the bottom stair. 

 

As always Changwook's hold on her was painless but firm. She wasn't going anywhere unless he releases her. Yoona looks up into his hard narrow eyes but she could sense fear beneath his intense gaze. 

 

"Where do you think you are going?" Changwook demanded testily. 

 

"I'm going up first." Yoona stated simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "If there are goons up there and they see you first they will shoot first and ask questions later. I'm the only one they will be too afraid to shoot. They all know about my dad's obsession. They know only bad things await them if they harm me. So use that, use me." 

 

"You want me to use you as a human shield?!" Furious fire flash in his brown eyes like a supernova. His face turns purple before her eyes, his eyes all but bulging out of his skull. 

 

Wow. Changwook was livid. He didn't like that idea one little bit but as impressive as Changwook's homicidal temper was, Yoona wasn't afraid. She knew she could poke the bear all she wanted and Changwook would never lift a finger against her. 

 

Changwook's hold on her arm tighten, making her wince but Yoona didn't back down. It was a good idea. One that limited the risk to Changwook. 

 

"Yeah." Yoona answer, with all the innocent expectancy of a five-year-old girl. 

 

In the blink of an eye, Changwook went from deep purple to bright red, the kind of bright red that warn that he was about to explode. 

 

"My god, you two are worse than two feral cats in heat." Agent Choi said incredulously, with an exasperated shake of her head, "I know you two have to be ually frustrated, given you haven't gotten any since you got here but surely you can focus on anything else right now? Don't you think we have got more important things to deal with at the moment?" 

 

Yoona blush beetroot red. She couldn't help it. Having someone else knows that they hadn't gotten any was just too embarrassing to ignore. So Changwook was right about that they had been watched closely ever since they had gotten there. 

 

Changwook, however, seems to be steadfastly ignoring agent Choi as he was completely and utterly focus on her. Did she know him or what? 

 

"In what alternate universe do you think that I would ever use you as a human shield?!" Changwook growl dangerously at her. 

 

Yoona gave him a tender smile, the purpose of which was to rile him up even more, "In the one that you realize that I love you just as much as you love me and that I will do anything to protect you." 

 

Changwook stares back at her for what seems like an eternity, giving nothing of what was going through his head away. He just seems stuck like he didn't have the mental capacity to figure her out and then he was kissing her. In the blink of an eye he had curled his hand around her neck, cup the back of her head and crush his lips down on hers in an unquenchably hungry and fiercely passionate kiss that instantly drown out everything else except for him and the fire his kisses so effortlessly ignited deep in her lower belly. 

 

Changwook was kissing her like it might very well be their last and he was trying to savor it as much as he possibly could. 

 

"I can't believe this." Yoona heard agent Choi huff somewhere far away but she was too much in heaven to pay the voice much heed. 

 

After what could have been a minute or an hour, Changwook broke away from her, wrenching his face away from hers and pulling away from her just enough so that he could look down into her face. 

 

"I know you love me." Changwook whispers to her, his voice gentle but at the same time firm, "But it's my job to keep you safe. Even from yourself. You will stay behind me, is that clear? For once, do what you are told so I can get you out of here. For me, please?" 

 

"Oh my god. I'm actually feeling sorry for Sejoon." 

 

With a start, Yoona swung her head around to the side to see agent Choi standing there with her arms crossed across her chest, staring at them with exasperated and impatient incredulity plain on her oval-shaped face. 

 

Yoona fully expected the woman to start tapping her foot at any moment now. 

 

"You two are gorgeous together, you really are. This whole love you to death thing." Agent Choi indicated at the two of them with both hands, her somewhat sardonic tone clearly communicating her frustration at them, "But do you think we could get out of here and then do the sickly lovey-dovey stuff?!" 

 

"Don't wait for me." Changwook order agent Choi, as he steps around Yoona to make his way up the stairs, "If we meet resistance, I will clear a path. You just get her out." And just like that Agent Ji was back, except now he seems much more focus than he had been before. Yoona didn't know what it was that gave her that impression, the differences in him were much too subtle to identify but Changwook was definitely much more in his game then he had been before. 

 

Changwook surge up the stairs, not making a single sound, his weapon held once more at the ready. Once at the top, he moves his hand from his weapon to the door handle and with delicate slowness, he turns the knob and the door open without resistance. 

 

Yoona releases the breath she hadn't even realize that she had been holding. What would they have done if the door had been locked? Would Changwook have had to knock it down? If he had, there was no way that he would have been able to do so without alerting every goon in the place. 

 

Agent Choi steps around her, putting herself very intentionally in front of Yoona as she made her way up the stairs like Changwook she was holding her weapon at the ready. 

 

Yoona didn't need to be told to follow the older, how much older Yoona no longer had any clue, woman up the stairs, taking each step with care so not to make any more noise than was absolutely necessary. 

 

One false move now and she could end up getting them all kill. 

 

Above them, Changwook had already disappeared through the open doorway, stepping out onto the ground floor of the mansion. Yoona knew he was there but she couldn't hear anything except a silence that was making her heart race. 

 

Why was it so quiet? Should it be this quiet? She just couldn't seem to remember whether the mansion was usually this quiet during the day or not and then Yoona was there, at the top of the stairs watching agent Choi step through the doorway and onto the ground floor just as Changwook had done the moment before. 

 

It was so much brighter thanks to the numerous skylights in the ceiling, the light was so different than what Yoona had become accustomed too, and it took Yoona a moment to realize that it seems so bright because she hadn't seen the light of day in what felt like so long. 

 

How long had it been since she had last seen daylight? They had been lock up in the basement for so long. Their only light had been artificial light which wasn't the same as pure sunlight. 

 

It was brighter and clearer, it was better. 

 

Knowing that this wasn't the time to let herself become distracted by just how good it felt to be above ground, even the air was noticeably different, fresher, Yoona looks around, knowing what she will see but giving her eyes time to adjust while simultaneously searching for Changwook. 

 

Yoona needed to know that he wasn't far away and he wasn't. He was waiting for them just to the side of the door. He was squatting by the door with his back against the wall, his weapon held high and his eyes constantly scanning back and forth between the various entryways into the room. 

 

They were at the end of the ground floor hallway, the door to the basement was the last on the left side. The double doors at the very end of the hallway lead to her dad's massive private library while the doors along both sides of the hallway lead to either guest bedrooms, some of the staff's quarters or workout room use by the staff, her dad had his own private workout room upstairs next door to his bedroom. 

 

There was no accessible exit from where they were. The library didn't have any external doors and although the guest bedrooms and staff quarters all did, mostly French glass doors, most of the doors were kept locked. 

 

Not to mention that they risk walking in on whatever member of staff occupied the room. 

 

It was one of the reasons that Yoona had always avoided this side of the ground floor. Staff came and went all day and there was no easy way out. 

 

It was the reason why Yoona had never even know where the door to the basement was, even after living in the estate for two years. 

 

Unless Changwook chose to risk trying the doors, looking for an unlock one, they had no choice but to follow the hallway to the foyer and from there they will have their choice of exits as the foyer was the center of the house which was why it was one of the grandest and most impressive rooms. 

 

First impressions and all that. 

 

From the foyer, one could go out the front door, upstairs or walk around the grand staircase to the back of the mansion. There was also the choice of her dad's den, the other side of the house or the entrance to the kitchen located behind the staircase to the side. 

 

They needed to get to the foyer. Yoona knew that Changwook would know that that was their only option. 

 

The problem? That they were in the open both in the very wide brightly lit hallway and in the grand foyer. 

 

They had made it out of the basement. Thank god for that. Yoona hadn't realized it until now that getting out of the basement had increased their odds of escaping by a lot. The basement had only one exit, they wouldn't have stood a chance if they had been caught there. They would have been trapped. 

 

As carefully and as quietly as she could, Yoona closes the basement door behind them, no point in alerting anyone to their escape any sooner than necessary. 

 

"Stay as tightly square against the wall as you can!" Agent Choi hiss into her ear, right before both Changwook and agent Choi stood up straight and did just that, put their backs to the wall, Changwook in the lead again. Yoona hurried to obey, taking place beside agent Choi and putting her back against the wall. She was at the rear of their little group, no doubt the safest place in their current situation. 

 

More than a little irked that both Changwook and agent Choi knew exactly what to do and how to do it, Yoona copied them the best she could as they quietly move along the wall down the hallway, being careful not to brush against any of the doors. 

 

Yoona figure that that was just in case there was anyone inside any of the rooms. Brushing against the doors could make a sound and alert whoever was inside. 

 

It took less than a minute to reach the close set of double doors at the other end of the long hallway where Changwook and agent Choi position themselves against one of the double doors each where they promptly squatted low, their weapons still held high and at the ready. 

 

Yoona looks to agent Choi for instruction, knowing that that was what Changwook wanted her to do. 

 

Right now Changwook's priority and focus were what was ahead of them, what stood between them and freedom while he had task agent Choi with her protection and no doubt keeping an eye on what was behind them. 

 

Changwook turns to her, look her dead in the eye and put his finger to his lips in the class shush to be quiet gesture. Yoona quickly nodded to tell him that she understood. 

 

Then, with a deep deliberate breath, Changwook put his hand on the doorknob and very slowly and quietly, open the door no more than an inch, just enough for him to peek through. 

 

Changwook presses his head against the door, using the doorknob to hold the door in place and peek through the crack with one eye. 

 

Yoona in a deep silent breath and held it. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her chest that it was all she could hear. Her legs were beginning to protest from having to be in a crouching position for so long after being trapped in the breeding cell for as long as they had been but she steadfastly ignore her body. 

 

After a full minute in which none of them move at all, Changwook moves his gaze without moving any other part of his body to meet agent Choi's. He nodded his head once and then he was gone, slipping through the door without opening it any further than was necessary without so much as a sound. 

 

Agent Choi, staying crouched low, move to take Changwook's previous position against the open door. She peeks through the opening herself and then nodded once at her which Yoona took to mean that it was clear for the both of them to follow Changwook out into the foyer. 

 

The foyer was just as Yoona remember it. When was the last time she had been in the foyer? When was the last time she had actually been able to see it? Given the last time she had actually been there she had had a bag over her head as she had been marched into the basement to be lock up in Sejoon's sick and twisted version of a breeding cell, it was tough to remember. 

 

Once again, Yoona was careful to quietly close the door behind them, an open door would attract unwanted attention as doors were kept close in Sejoon's house and then she hurriedly move, staying low to join Changwook and agent Choi who was crouching low with their backs press against the back corner of the side of the grand staircase. 

 

Once Yoona was in position by agent Choi's side, Changwook raises himself up enough so that he could peek over the stairs, between the polish balusters that held up the handrail. 

 

Changwook very quickly ducks his head back down and Yoona knew. She knew that the coast wasn't clear. 

 

Yoona's curiosity warred with her fear. She wanted to peek, to know exactly what Changwook had seen that had set his face so grimly but if she did she risk being seen. 

 

Yoona kept her eyes glue to Changwook, not even blinking for fear that she had miss something, some crucial non-verbal instruction. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her chest that it was fortunate that they weren't communicating verbally because Yoona probably wouldn't be able to hear it if they did. 

 

Changwook whips his head back and forth, his eyes hastily scanning each facet of their surroundings. Yoona could tell that he was running different strategies and scenarios through his head while simultaneously searching their surroundings for inspiration as he desperately tried to come up with an escape plan that had the best chance of getting them out of there alive. 

 

Changwook froze, turning pale right before her eyes, a split second before Yoona became aware of what had alarmed him. 

 

Sound. Movement. Footsteps. 

 

Footsteps that were getting louder which meant that someone was coming towards them. 

 

Yoona spun her head around, in the space of a split second realizing that whoever was coming towards them was coming towards them from the rear, from the direction of the kitchen to be more exact. 

 

Whoever it was would be stepping around the back of the staircase and into sight any second. 

 

Whoever it was would see them. There was no missing them. They were exposed, squatting right in the empty space between the wall and staircase. 

 

There was no time. No time to go anywhere. They had moments, not seconds. 

 

Something flash soundlessly passes Yoona, someone dress in all black. 

 

Agent Choi. She was scrambling to raise her body into a fully upright position while at the same time trying to move as far away from them as she could. 

 

What was she doing? Was agent Choi going to leave them, abandon them to save her own skin? As far as Yoona knew, no one except Changwook and herself knew that she was an undercover agent for the DEA. 

 

Agent Choi reaches the far corner, putting herself as far away from them as she could without leaving the room while standing so she was directly facing them. 

 

Yoona watches dumbly/cluelessly as agent Choi's hands scramble urgently over her body and clothing, tucking some stray strands behind her ear, straightening the front of her top and pants before her head snapped up, whoever it was had obviously come into view. 

 

Agent Choi hastily plasters a very flirtatious smile on her perfectly painted face. The only thing about her that look out of place was the fact that she had no shoes on. 

 

"Changmin, darling." Agent Choi or was this Mrs. Choi, agent Choi's undercover persona?, crooned, keeping her voice seductively low, "Where have you been?" 

 

"Looking for you." Came an irritated gruff response, his voice husky and low. 

 

Yoona froze in fear. Changmin. She hadn't known the name but she knew that voice. He was one of the goons from her protection detail. 

 

Hang on. Darling? Mrs. Choi and Changmin? Since when? 

 

Regardless of how her feelings towards agent Choi aka Mrs. Choi had changed in the last hour, Yoona didn't want the mental images that threaten to come with her current line of thought. 

 

Now Yoona knew exactly what agent Choi had implied too when she had said that she had taken care of the security cameras. She didn't know the details and she really didn't need to know. She had enough of a picture already. 

 

Yoona didn't want to watch but she was helpless to look away, no doubt something she had regret later. 

 

Agent Choi back herself into the corner of the doorway that leads down the hallway they had just come from and the back wall that ran along the back of the staircase. 

 

A moment later the large muscle-bound goon, Changmin, step into view but his eyes were no doubt glued to the woman in the corner, therefore his back remains mostly to where Yoona was crouched down beside Changwook. Agent Choi opens her arms to the goon, both her gesture and seductive grin inviting him in. An invitation to which the goon only seem eager to accept. He closes in on her, backing her into the corner, his excessively large hands coming to rest on her hips and suddenly Changwook wasn't beside her anymore. 

 

Yoona blinks twice, lowering her gaze from Changmin's back to realize that she knew that Changwook was no longer beside her because he was now between her and the couple who were getting pretty hot and heavy very fast. Changwook was moving quickly but silently towards the embracing couple, taking each step quickly but cautiously so not to make a sound that would alert the goon to his presence. 

 

Yoona couldn't see his face as his back was to her but Yoona knew that Changwook's eyes were focused completely on the back of the goon's head. 

 

Yoona knew what was going to happen. She knew that she shouldn't watch but it was like witnessing a car accident, she was helpless to look away. 

 

Agent Choi's eyes remain on Changmin's face, right up until Changwook came to a stop right behind them and straighten up to his full height. 

 

Agent Choi's eyes flicker towards him over Changmin's shoulder but Yoona would never know if Changmin had sense someone sneaking up on him because before the large goon could do anything, Changwook was in motion, moving fast and efficiently like the highly-train agent that he was. 

 

Changwook's arms whip up and before Changmin could react, Changwook had curled his right arm around Changmin's thick neck from behind. With practice efficiency, Changwook then presses his forearm hard into Changmin's throat and lock his right arm in place using his left arm. 

 

The only sound was a barely audible choking sound coming from Changmin that Yoona wasn't even sure that she actually heard it. Even though her view was mostly blocked by the two men's large bodies, Yoona could see that Changmin was clawing at Changwook's arms, his struggles rapidly becoming weaker and clumsier. 

 

Changwook kept himself doggedly in place as the seconds continue to tick by, keeping his arms lock in place and keeping Changmin lock in the chokehold. 

 

After what seemed like an eternity to Yoona, Changmin's arms drop limply to his sides. 

 

Changwook held on for a second more and then he was once again in motion. Changwook carefully and quietly lower Changmin's unconscious body to the floor at agent Choi's feet. 

 

The two share a silent moment between them, Changwook nodded once in silent thanks and a respectful well-done to agent Choi. 

 

Yoona stares down at Changmin's motionless form on the floor. 

 

One down but how much more to go? 

 

Changwook briefly considers hiding the large unconscious goon, dragging him into a cupboard or something but he quickly dismisses the idea. He will leave him where he had fallen. 

 

Changmin would be out for hours. Moving him would just be a waste of time and Changwook was done wasting time. 

 

He had to get Yoona out of there but first Changwook had to deal with the two goons that strategically position at the front door that he had seen when he had peeked over the staircase. They were position on the outside of the double front doors, facing outward but they were there to keep certain people in, namely Yoona and himself, as surely as they were there to keep others out. 

 

They were standing guard. They were the first station guards that Changwook had seen but he knew there were more. There hadn't been any station guards before he had been lock up downstairs. This told him that Sejoon had made some serious changes to his home security since they had bolted from him, possibly even more than agent Choi knew of. 

 

The woman was the man's personal assistant, not his wife. Changwook imagines that he allow Mrs. Choi to know only what he wanted her to know. 

 

This meant that his best chance of getting Yoona out of there was to act quickly rather than covertly. He only had to get Yoona out the front gate. Changwook hadn't had any contact with his office in far too long but he knew that his boss would have agents staked out within sight of the front gate. 

 

She was too much of a well-season harden professional not, too. The men staking out the estate would be highly trained FBI agents who would snatch Yoona up the moment they saw her. They had no doubt snatch him up too if they saw him but whether they actually would was another story and even if and that was a big if, there weren't FBI agents staked out in front of Sejoon's estate which really wasn't likely knowing his boss, there was still agent Choi and the DEA. 

 

With an undercover agent inside, the DEA wouldn't be camped out too far away. 

 

If he could get Yoona off the grounds, she stood a good chance of getting away. 

 

He couldn't ask for more than that. 

 

So that was the plan: get Yoona out no matter what but it was easier said than done. Sejoon had taken steps to prevent his daughter from escaping from him again and Changwook would have to deal with each and every one of them if he was going to get Yoona out of there. 

 

The new security cameras and motion sensors meant that sneaking successfully off the estate was now highly unlikely which only left making a break for it, getting out as fast as they possibly could but now getting out requires getting past the armed guard's station around the estate at unknown locations. 

 

What was he going to do? How was he going to get Yoona out? He would do anything to get Yoona out of there but he had to be smart about it. 

 

He wasn't who he was because he was impulsive and reckless. 

 

Dropping to his knees beside Changmin's unconscious form, Changwook briskly and proficiently patted the man down from his ribs to his ankles, searching the man as quickly as he could. 

 

Changwook was rewarded for his search with two black sigs, both with a full clip that he found tuck into a double-sided shoulder holster. He promptly handed one of the loaded sigs to agent Choi and they both check the weapons as they had been trained to do to assure that there was nothing wrong with the weapon or that it wasn't properly cared for. 

 

Changwook wasn't sure whether to be glad that both sigs seem to be in excellent condition or displease that Sejoon's goons were clearly professionals and therefore presented a greater threat. 

 

Dismissing the conundrum altogether, Changwook slips the second weapon into his pants at his back, both partially concealing it and keeping it readily handy. There was very little doubt in him that he will be using it soon. Satisfied that Changmin could be of no further use to him, Changwook rose to his feet and with a brief glance at agent Choi to assure that she was with him, both physically and in mindset, she was, her hard all business expression told him so, he turns back to Yoona. 

 

To find that she was no longer where he had left her. 

 

Panic and fear surge through him like an electric jolt right before his eyes found her but at the sight of what she was currently doing didn't improve his inner state any. 

 

Yoona was on her hands and knees, her back to him and she had her delicate little neck stretch out so she could peek around the staircase and see the rest of the foyer. 

 

If either of the station guards at the front door looks inside they would see her. If anyone enters the foyer from either the front, left or right then they would see her. 

 

Changwook was going to kill her. Because he loves her and because she had a fondness for sticking her neck out right in front of the nearest trouble. 

 

Forgetting all about the unconscious man at his feet and everything else, Changwook threw himself at her, half sliding across the floor for the last few feet until he was close enough to grasp hold of her ankle and yank her backward. 

 

To her credit, Yoona didn't make a sound, even as Changwook yank her back from behind so hard that she drops down onto her belly on the floor with a soft meaty thud. Once she was flat on the floor and safely out of sight, Changwook grasp hold of her shoulder and roll her onto her back. 

 

He didn't dare utter a single word. The goons guarding the front door were within earshot and he had no idea where the other goons were. Even now the three of them could be seconds from discovery. 

 

Instead from where he knelt on his hands and knees over her, caging her beneath him like a wounded gazelle beneath a black jaguar, Changwook glare furiously down into her startled face, conveying all his frustration, anger, panic and disbelief at her with his fierce burning gaze. 

 

This woman was going to be the death of him. If she somehow manages not to be the cause of her own death, "What are you doing?" 

 

The voice was loud and it was close. It was coming from the other side of the foyer. Right by the front doors. Where there were two armed goons standing guard. 

 

"I thought I heard something." Came a prompt straightforward reply, from much closer to them than the front doors. 

 

Changwook's face was as hard and as lethal as black ice. 

 

One moment he had been glaring down at her from above as though he was sorely tempted to put her across his knee and spank her and the next there was cold death in his eyes. The kind that promises death to any and everyone he faces. Against her will, Yoona's insides shudder in fear. Not for herself but for Changwook and also for the men approaching that Changwook considers his enemies. 

 

Like a shot, Changwook's feet were once again beneath him. He wasn't kneeling over her anymore but his head didn't rise a single inch. Crouched low on his toes and fingertips, Changwook moves around her where she still laid on her back on the floor and took positioned by her head so that Yoona found herself staring up at Changwook's backside. 

 

If it had been any other time, Yoona would have taken advantage of her position to really admire Changwook's very nice but she had pushed her luck enough today just with that one peek she suddenly had been unable to resist taking. 

 

She had wanted to check that the goons at the front door hadn't heard them but she had only ended up drawing their attention when Changwook had yanked her rather unceremoniously backward. She had managed to keep her startled yelp from escaping but the sound of her hitting the marble floor must have been enough for one of the goons to hear and now they were coming to investigate. 

 

Agent Choi appear in her vision and a moment later Yoona felt the older woman's hand on her shoulder and she was jerk up into a sitting position. 

 

The next thing Yoona knew, her back was up against the side of the staircase and agent Choi's arm was around her waist, holding her against the wall as though she fears that Yoona would try to break away but the older woman neither have bothered because Yoona was frozen in place, her wide eyes glue to Changwook as he waited crouched in front of them, his body tense and ready to attack. 

 

Her terror for Changwook was so potent that she was in serious danger of being sick. What was he doing? Shouldn't they be hurrying the other way before the goon saw them? 

 

Once again, Yoona couldn't see the goon but she could hear him. Hear his slow footsteps as he rather cautiously made his way towards their hiding place. 

 

A moment later Yoona heard a second set of footsteps, starting from the front doorway. 

 

"What? I didn't hear anything." The first goon said, from the front doorway, the same one who had asked the second one what he had been doing only moments before. 

 

"I don't know." The second goon answer, his voice so loud and clear that she knew that he was right there on the other side of the corner of the staircase. 

 

Changwook looks over his shoulder, not at her but at agent Choi. He nodded his head once, a message Yoona couldn't read in his steady eyes but agent Choi didn't seem to have the same problem because she surges to her feet, tuck her weapon in the top of her pants at her back, right next to the one Changwook had given to her that he had taken from Changmin then she drew a deep silent breath and walk casual pass them and out into the open, "You don't know what?" Agent Choi asks the two goons briskly. 

 

"Oh, Mrs. Choi." The second goon said, rather awkwardly as if he had been caught doing something embarrassing by someone he hadn't expected to catch him. 

 

Yoona held her breath. Agent Choi seems to be one very capable woman, smart too. What was she going to do with the two of them? 

 

Yoona saw agent Choi her head to the side as if she was trying to understand something and she wasn't quite sure why she was trying to understand it and then she took two long steps forward and to her right, taking her out of Yoona's line of sight but at the same time agent Choi was drawing their attention towards her and away from their direction. 

 

If they were looking at agent Choi then they were looking away from their direction and like that Yoona realize what the older woman was doing. She was craftily keeping their attention on her while at the same time making them turn their backs to Changwook. 

 

It was Changmin all over again, only times two and Changwook were ready. He had his black handgun in his left hand, holding the grip tightly but his trigger finger was resting on the outside of the trigger guard rather than on the trigger itself and he was sneaking up behind the two goons who had been at the moment before been posted at the front doors, blocking their escape. 

 

One of the goons and the shoulder of the second one came into sight and Yoona stops breathing. They had put themselves in a better position to better converse with agent Choi and in effect put their backs to Changwook but the risk of that was that if one of them glance over their shoulders, both Changwook and herself would be in full view. 

 

Changwook made absolutely no sound as he moves up behind the two armed goons. He moves with astonishing stealth, agility, and purpose, reminding Yoona in earnest that Changwook was a trained agent who could take care of both himself and her. 

 

Standing undetected behind the two, Changwook raises his left-hand high, the handgun held tightly in his grip. Yoona had no idea what he was planning to do. She could only once again watch in fearful silence as Changwook attack. 

 

The of his weapon that Changwook had brought down with all his strength, hit the first goon in back of the head with enough force that with a spray of blood, a hearty thud, and a pained grunt, the first goon was sent tumbling forward, landing on his face on the marble floor where he stays, not moving but Changwook was already in motion again before the first goon had even hit the floor. 

 

The second goon gave a startled furious cry, scrambling to reach for his weapon in its holster while simultaneously throwing his big body to the side, away from his fallen fellow goon and the threat at his back and narrowly miss connecting with Changwook's flying right fist that whirl through the empty air where the second goon had been the split moment before. 

 

The second goon rips his weapon free of its shoulder holster and before Yoona's wide horrified eyes, settled his aim squarely on Changwook's chest. 

 

The sound of the shot reverberating around them as loud and as startling as thunder in the dead of the night. Then silence and then all hell broke loose.