#013: tango

the night would have returned to its usual peace and quiet, if not for jaehyun’s desperation resonating through their earpieces.

Everyone agreed that the dinner Shownu had made was pretty damn good as they dispersed from the dining room. Daniel was kind enough to stop Shownu from entering the kitchen again to wash the dishes and volunteered to do them instead. He had to, for the fun of it all, throw Momo under the bus as well, when he caught the girl already creeping up the stairs to her bedroom. She flipped him off from the top of the stairs before she grudgingly made her way back down again.

RM had called for another meeting 30 minutes later, to discuss the massive infiltration that they were to do that night. With every second that passed, it also meant the longer those girls’ lives were at risk.

Sejeong had decided to hang out with Lisa on the couch before the meeting started and headed to the fridge to grab them both a drink. Living together for a good amount of time meant that all the agents had somehow fallen into a silent routine, where they each had certain responsibilities they had to fulfill. Sejeong pursed her lips and made a mental note to smack Jaehyun the next time she saw him when she realized he had forgot to restock most of the drinks in the fridge.

Standing on her tiptoes, Sejeong pushed cans of red bull and cola aside, in hopes that she could still find a lone green tea can sitting somewhere at the back of the fridge. She had, however, froze mid-search when she felt fingers brush lightly across the exposed skin of her waist due to her shirt riding up. The touch came as soon as it left as she saw Sehun’s left arm reached past her head to grab a can of beer. “You’ve got to excuse me, sweetheart.” The male had muttered lowly into the girl’s ear as he finally stepped back. Sejeong whipped around quickly and could only gape as he sent her wink before joining Shownu and RM back at the dining table.

Sejeong quickly turned back towards the fridge, trying to hide her flushing face. It didn’t help that the fridge had started beeping, warning her that it was open for too long, and she hastily swiped too cans of iced teas before slamming the doors shut.

Hastily making her way to the couch, she shoved one of the iced teas into Lisa’s hands before plopping down, making sure that her entire back was facing the dining room. Lisa could only give the girl a questioning glance as she cracked the can open and took a gulp.

“What was that all about?” Lisa her lips before levelling a curious glance towards Sejeong, who was gulping down half her iced tea in an attempt to clear her mind. She lowered the can from her lips and shook her head, her lips pulled into a grimace. “It’s nothing I can’t manage.” Sejeong swallowed, feeling her heart beat slightly faster at the thought of the kiss.

Lisa eyed Sejeong’s uncertain expression skeptically but knew better not to push any further. Sejeong was extremely tight-lipped if she wanted to be and decided to just hang around when Momo squeezed the details out of Sejeong.

The sound of chairs scrapping against the marble prompted Sejeong and Lisa to climb to their feet as well. The meeting was about to start.

Sejeong had tried her best to keep as much distance between herself and Sehun. The mixture of anxiety, excitement and awkwardness was too much for her to handle, and she decided that the space was absolutely necessary to prevent her head and chest from exploding.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, allowing Sejeong to worm her way in first to ensure that Lisa and RM could become her human shields. The sound of footsteps thumping from the kitchen, however, had made her gulp instead as she saw Daniel and Momo make a quick break for the elevator as well.

“You all dump the dishes onto the two of us and wanted to leave first? Fat hope.” Momo blew a raspberry as she shoved herself in last before jamming the elevator doors shut.

The space that Sejeong had so desperately wanted had rather turned to all of them breathing the same air, and with the commotion that was Momo, Sejeong had found herself wedged uncomfortably between the elevator walls and Sehun’s firm chest. Sejeong gulped furiously and kept her arms placed firmly at her side whilst Sehun’s slowly climbed up, his palm resting above Sejeong’s head.

Sejeong had told herself that she was going to let go and was hell bent on keeping her word. That little taste of emotions was too much for her to handle. Besides, relationships were complicated and never lasted. She was still beating herself up over that slip up that she had with Sehun, and now that she told herself it was done, he started something all over again? She was getting a serious headache and didn’t want to psychoanalyze Sehun and the whole situation again. Men were complicated, and she had believed in that ever since her dad walked out on her family.

She was snapped out of her daze when she heard the elevator ding, signaling that they had arrived at RM’s office. The rest were filtering out while Sehun’s arm slowly slid down the elevator wall, his fingers lightly brushed a loose strand of hair out of Sejeong’s face. The girl instinctively glanced up, meeting the male’s warm gaze before he pulled away. She stood rooted to the ground and had finally come out of her stupor when she saw the elevator doors begin to close. Sehun gave a light chuckle as he held the doors open, watching the girl stumble out and avoid eye contact as much as possible. Taking a seat next to Shownu, she shook her head, clearing her mind of all distractions. Tonight’s mission was going to be a big one, and she would be damned if she didn’t perform well.

“Mission Caged Birds will be launched in T-4 hours. It is our first mission together in the dark, so I want everyone to focus and be careful.” RM had started, sliding his fingers across his tablet to project a blueprint of Dr. G’s lab.

It was pretty clear who the real villain was in all of this, but the agents didn’t have anything substantial to apprehend him yet. Was that really his lab? The documents Sejeong got confirmed that there were these inhumane tests being conducted, yet none of those lab reports or research papers had anyone sign off on them. All tracks were wiped clean and the only thing that was tangible was the actual lab itself. RM was skeptical that the lab was cleared out when their covers were blown, and had Daniel send a drone to check if that place was burnt to the ground. Fortunately, it was not, and RM had spent the next 16 hours planning their mission to the T.

“The only thing we want is to rescue these girls. SSE will be conducted but I want most of the lab to remain as untouched as possible. We still need evidence and leverage against Dr. G but I don’t want them to have any leverage against us.” RM had instructed, turning the blueprint to give everyone a 360-degree view of the lab.

“Everyone will be deployed onto the field for this mission, and we will be split into three teams – tactical, intelligence and extraction. Lisa and I will be under intelligence, and we will be providing real-time updates on your surroundings. Wonwoo, Daniel and Momo will be under extraction. They will make sure that all the girls are safely transferred to a secure facility that The Syndicate is preparing as we speak. And finally, the tactical team will include Jaehyun, Sejeong, Sehun and Shownu. Jaehyun will be located away from the building as our final back-up and the rest will be the first to enter and the last to leave.”

The air was extremely still. There was so much at stake and even though RM was the smartest person they knew, he could never be 100% sure that the mission would be a success. Was it right that they did their infiltration in the dead of the night? Were they properly equipped? Was everything going to go according to plan? The only thing they knew was that they had to work together as a team and like a well-oiled machine.

Sejeong could remember the lab as clear as day and clenched her fist tightly when the image of those caged girls filled her mind again. She had been haunted ever since that mission and knew that she could not properly rest till the day they were rescued. 

A warm hand wrapped around Sejeong’s wrist, and she was hardly surprised, and actually welcomed Sehun’s touch. She had come to realize that even though he made her go crazy sometimes, he was also the one that always knew how to calm her down and bring her back. His thumb made slow circles on the inside of her wrist, and she blew out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding. “You’re gonna be ok.” Sehun muttered under his breath, his hand now gripping hers softly. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.” Sejeong heaved out a loud sigh. Yes, she was going to be ok. They all had each other’s backs and she was improving leaps and bounds as a secret agent. She trusted her teammates and should’ve trusted herself more as well.

“If everyone is good, we’ll get prepared and get this show on the road.” RM’s eyes disappeared as he smiled, and Wonwoo gave a little hoot from the end of the table. If RM could take this huge load on his shoulder whilst smiling, Sejeong definitely could too.

𝛃

The helicopter ride was tense despite the few jokes that Shownu had tried to crack here and there. Sejeong could hear her heart palpitating over the sound of the whirring blades and had to take deep breaths in order to calm herself down. She glanced at Sehun in the cockpit, noting the grim expression that he wore on his face. Since Wonwoo wasn’t part of the tactical team, Sehun had received a two-day refresher course on how to operate a helicopter. Sehun had dug out his old helicopter pilot license for reassurance, but it had still almost given Shownu a heart attack when he found out that this was Sehun’s first time flying in five years. Sehun, however, was quick to remind him that the other way to reach the lab was to use the Humvee to cross the rocky terrain, and that Shownu had a serious motion sickness.

Sejeong felt a reassuring squeeze on her forearm and she glanced towards Shownu, his reassuring smile causing his eyes to pull into tiny slits. That made Sejeong give out a breathy chuckle just as the helicopter dipped. “Landing zone in sight, we’re descending.” Sehun’s voice cackled over their headsets as the helicopter lurched slightly again. It definitely wasn’t as smooth as compared to Wonwoo’s landing, but for someone whom hadn’t flown in such a long time, she thought that he was doing pretty well.

The helicopter did one final lurch before slowly settling down onto the roof top. Gravel and chipped pieces of concrete swirled around as the trio hopped off, doing a quick sweep of their surroundings. The whirring blades had steadily come a stop, engulfing them in dead silence. The air was humid tonight, and it was as if every leaf and branch stood still in anticipation for this extremely high-risk mission.

The three had immediately spread out across the roof, looking for any threats or signs of distress. Sejeong noticed the mortar stand laying haphazardly at the corner of the roof and shivered slightly at the recollection of that close shave as she pressed a finger to her earpiece. “Team Tango reporting from the checkpoint.” Sejeong glanced towards Shownu and Sehun as they both gave her a nod. “All’s clear.”

And just like clockwork, a small drone came whirring out and up from the dense foliage, heading towards the lone building they were currently perched on. Daniel had hyped and raved about this drone’s features, saying that it could detect the slightest movements through the thickest of walls and had B.I..H. programmed on it as we