~_____~

There were three more of them in the car. Namjoo was trapped in the middle, the man’s arm tucked around the back of her neck to keep her in place. The car was already speeding off into the street and Namjoo tried to make sense of the situation before she realized she couldn’t make sense of the situation. Unless they were kidnappers or random gangsters, but whatever, she needed to get out.

All was calm and quiet at first because she’d stopped struggling. They must have thought they were going to have it easy. Well, she was sure to show them. Moving quickly, she grabbed the hand bouncing off her shoulder and elbowed the man who had her trapped in his arm. Swiftly turning to the side she slammed the face of the one on her left into the window and reached over for the lock of the door. She’d rather roll out even if it was dangerous, but since when hadn’t she dealt with dangerous? Thanks to Suho, Namjoo had spent five whole years with dangerous. The scare was kind of immune to her now.

Namjoo was forced to a stop when something cold met with , “Move and I’ll slit you.”

She froze and felt him force her back into the middle. Her eyes slowly roamed over to his face before she grabbed his wrist and tried to twist it. He was as strong as his size. With a shove she pushed her whole body forward in an act to push the knife from and succeeded. However, when he withdrew his arm back he cut deep into her right arm while the man on her left forced her free arm behind her back to hold her prisoner.

“I warned you,” the man growled before replacing the knife back to .

“Hey, we’re being followed, so shut up back there.” the man in the driver’s seat told.

Followed? There was an urge to turn and look out the back window, but she end up cutting her own neck that way. Namjoo silently swallowed. So those two idiots had seen her being taken. They were faster than she’d thought. During the rest of the roller coaster ride she remained quiet in her seat.

~_____~

Kris kept his eyes glued onto the black car two cars ahead of them. They were going at quite a speed. If the taxi driver didn’t hurry up, they’d lose them in no time.

“Can you step on it?” Kris asked the driver.

“Will do, but there’s a lot of traffic here, ya know? Best to be careful if you don’t want to die,” the driver replied monotonously.

Kris rolled his eyes and turned back to look out the front window.

“Who are they?” Tao asked from the back.

“I wouldn’t know the answer to that,” Kris mumbled.

Then they silenced. For about a minute the car remained at constant speed, but everything seemed to be going too slow. The black car disappeared in front of a truck and Kris felt his eyes leap all over the place in an effort to sight it again. Swiftly turning his head to make sure that the coast was clear he suddenly grabbed the steering wheel and moved them into the right lane. The taxi driver screamed and tried to fight for the steering wheel, but Kris didn’t let go.

“Your left! Your left!” Kris shouted.

Then he turned his head to look back and make sure the car behind wasn’t too close to them before switching a lane over again. For about five minutes he zigzagged through the cars on the street like that before he soon realized they were starting for the highway. Confusion slicked his mind and he turned to look at the sign by the side of the road and glanced around. Where exactly were they going?

“I actually don’t drive passengers out of the city,” the driver told slowing the car down, “you’re going to have to get off here or we go back.”

“Your job is to follow that car, and you’re going to do it at all costs,” Kris turned to the driver before he thickened his voice, “do you hear me?”

The driver pressed his lips together and nodded.

When the driver accelerated Kris turned to look at him, “Slow down. They’re going to notice that we’re following. Go behind that car.”

The taxi driver helplessly nodded before doing as told.

~_____~

Who were they? Namjoo discreetly observed the men around her. Judging from their strong appearances, they did dirty work. Or they were the ones who ran the dirty work. Were they going to ually assault her? No, she quickly threw the thought away. It wouldn’t happen like this.

Then who were they?

Gangsters? Mobsters looking for some kind of prey to tease? What did they want from her? Why had they suddenly grabbed her? Had it been a random choice?

It wasn’t too long before the car veered off the highway. They were still particularly in Wonju, though outside of the city boundaries. So they hadn’t brought her to a different city at least.

Namjoo saw a forested area off the side of the road. There was no path, no driveway paved for miles but the car turned and the tires burned over the sticks, dead grass, and weeds on the ground. The trees waved at her when they passed by and not before long they were going up a slight slope. She kept in mind to mark the area in her mind and shook off the thought that they were a crazy team of serial killers who had teamed up.

Five long minutes ticked by before the slope smoothed. The car continued going for about another five minutes and finally stopped when a rusty shed appeared. The white walls were greased with animal droppings, spider webs, and mold. A kind of tin material made up the roof, but had now turned red and grimy ready to rust the rest of its life away.

Her feet dug into the moist soil when she was pulled out of the car. She wasn’t offered a chance to say anything before an ugly side door all beaten up with more blood colored rust was pulled open. Namjoo was shoved into the dark shed and realized that it wasn’t well designed. The walls of the shed didn’t meet with the ground, which allowed for critters to dig their way in and for cold air to seep in and out.

She almost tripped over her own feet before balancing herself and managed to turn around to see the only exit and entrance blockaded by them. Pressing her lips together she slightly swallowed and looked them in the eyes. There was no way she was going to back down even when confronted by men bigger than her.

One of the men who had been sitting at the front dug something out from behind him and twirled a gun in his hand before looking at her. “I’ve been watching you when you arrived. You and your team mates.”

Namjoo was caught off guard. Her mind almost blanked.

“Was told one of the young ladies worked for Lee Donghae,” he glanced at the ground before raising his eyes up to meet with hers then he cocked a smirk, “took us a while to tail the right one.”

Her brows couldn’t help but slightly frown. To deny and lie would cause another whole issue, but if she acknowledged that it was she they had looked for, that would cause another uproar. So she remained silent in the end.

“So I heard Lee Donghae and his assistants have been on the lookout for Hyukjae.”

Namjoo felt her insides shake. How did they know? What were they really getting at?

“You want to meet him?” the man raised his eyebrow.

“Who are you?” Namjoo finally spoke.

“If you bring Lee Donghae here, maybe I’ll tell you.”

She gritted her teeth. Her eyes turned into a menacing glare when he stepped toward her and ran his eyes over her.

“You want to know about the missing women and children too?” he asked in a teasing, but belittling manner. Namjoo heaved a deep breath suddenly furious when he drew himself close and ran the tail of the gun up her neck. “Or do you want to go there with me yourself since you’re looking for the place anyway?”

“Shove it!” Namjoo pushed him away.

He stumbled a step back before he laughed. Namjoo decided he was over the head when he suddenly turned and lashed his gun out at her. It rammed into the side of her head and he immediately pushed her into the wall of the shelter. She could hear the weakness of the building shake from the impact and for a slight moment wondered if it might fall over them.

He locked his hands over her jaw and whispered threateningly, “I’m telling you to bring Lee Donghae here. Or you stay here with us overnight. Those boys back there are more than heated for you.”

Namjoo immediately spat in his face and swore, “.”

The point of the gun was immediately pressed against the side of her head while his other arm choked her neck against the wall.

“Call-him,” he emphasized each word.

Donghae wasn’t with this mission. He wasn’t supposed to come to Wonju. Namjoo wasn’t going to let Donghae see Eunhyuk just yet. Not until she confirmed what was real about Eunhyuk. If he was with the gang or if he was being framed in name.

Namjoo’s senses immediately calmed when she spotted shadows from the open space between the shelter and the ground where critters had left their marks from entering and exiting. She waited patiently for them to make their move. Upon the first surprised shout she heaved the man off her when his attention fell from her and kicked him in the stomach. The moment he landed on the ground she moved for the gun in his hand.    

~_____~

Tao was moving like a mouse. Kris couldn’t hear any noise from the footsteps following him up the trail. He’d had the taxi driver wait for them at the bottom while they made the rest of the way up. They covered a wide area of ground before a kind of poor designed shed came into sight. Kris ran his eyes over the building before making his way toward it.

He spotted three men blocking the doorway when he turned the corner. Peering inside he saw the gun pinned against Namjoo’s head. Kris only imagined the worst.

In an act to get this over and done with he rashly took a step forward and locked his arm around one of the men’s neck. He let out a shout before forcing them to turn and rammed Kris into the building three times before he let go. A punch slammed him across the face before he instinctively threw out his fist too.

“Ah…” he muttered and shook his hand at the pain which spread through his knuckles from the impact. He only turned in time to dodge when the man had his fist swinging toward his face.

~_____~

Tao rolled his eyes at Kris’ devious move and watched the man knock him against the wall. Since the fight had already started there was no point in just watching. Tao grabbed the shirt of the man on his left and used him as a ledger. Throwing his leg up he ran it across the other man’s head immediately knocking him out. Then with his whole body he shoved the man toward his left. The man clumsily boumced off the wall and toward Namjoo.

~_____~

His grip was tight and refused to let go of the gun. Even when Namjoo punched his hand with her fist he still didn’t let go. She resorted to the dumbest method she could think of and grinded her knees around his hand. A satisfactory shout of pain seeped from his mouth, but she still hadn’t gotten the gun. If she knew this was going to happen she wouldn’t have left the gun Victoria had handed her earlier than morning in Kris’ car. And she couldn’t even remember where his car was at this moment.

Something heavy bumped into her and forced her down on the ground. The gun slipped from both of their grasp from the surprise. When she abruptly turned to look around she saw Tao looking over surprised himself.

“Yah!!” she shrieked.

With a grunt she quickly spotted the gun and twisted her body over to make a grab for it. However, before any of them could get it Tao smartly kicked the gun away and it flew over to the side before it got stuck between the space of the ground and the shed. Deciding to forget it, she pulled herself up and reached down for the man who had cornered her earlier. There was this grudge in her that she couldn’t forget. The more she remembered the way he had spoken to her earlier, the more pissed off she felt. Namjoo tightened her grips on his shirt and heaved him up. She shoved him from her and sent another kick into his abdomen then rushed at him again to pull him up and slammed him across the face with her fist. Once again she shoved him away from her and took a half spin before kicking him across the face. The anger still hadn’t subsided even when she took a deep breath and stared down at him.

~_____~

While Namjoo attacked that man mercilessly, Tao turned and grabbed the man swinging punches at Kris by the collar of his shirt. With a loud heave Tao tossed him over his shoulder flat onto the ground.

Thinking that the fight was over Tao turned to watch Namjoo send a last kick at her opponent. Behind him Kris’ eyes widened when the man rose to his feet with a pocket knife in hand. Kris dodged back when he lashed it out and shouted, “Tao watch out!”

Tao very narrowly dodged the sharp blade just in time when the man swung it out at him before he ran toward the now relaxed Namjoo.

“Namjoo, move!” Tao raised his voice and just in time Namjoo stumbled a step back from the surprise when the man leapt at her.

Tao grumbled underneath his breath before he took a large step forward and locked his arm around the man. He quickly made a move for his hand and once he grabbed onto it started punching at his hand to get the knife out. Once it dropped onto the ground Tao tightened his arm around the man’s neck before swinging him into the wall of the shed. The whole structure shook unstably and Tao stared at it before he turned.

~_____~

“You’re bleeding,” Kris stated when he grabbed Namjoo’s arm.

She immediately pulled her arm back as if he’d done something wrong and angrily scolded, “Don’t touch me.”

He frowned and narrowed his eyes, “Yah…” then he reminded himself to remain patient and cleared his throat, “who were they?”

“You think I would know?” she asked angrily.

“You were with them, why wouldn’t you know?”

Namjoo widened her eyes angrily.

“Four men, Namjoo, you were with four men and you don’t know what they wanted from you?”

She pushed him back, “What are you implying? You think I can’t defend myself?”

“They had a knife and a gun!” Kris raised his voice. “There were four of them!”

“Hey,” Tao interrupted, “are we going to leave or are you going to call the cops or something.”

Namjoo started to walk pass him, but he reached out to stop her. Without a word said he reached down for the knife and created a slit in his shirt before tearing part of it off. He grabbed her arm again and Namjoo put up another fight before he tugged at her arm. She finally stopped moving and at last he managed to tie the rag around the cut to stop the bleeding. Namjoo slightly shoved him before walking out.

~_____~

Suho was nervous. He felt like he was intruding on Namjoo’s privacy. He watched the blue dot move around on the map on the computer screen. Straightening himself up in his seat he rubbed his thumb underneath his chin.

“Now where is that?” questioned Suho. “Where did she just come from?”

Suho ran his mouse over the woody area and typed some things into the keyboard before he zoomed in onto the area. A clear map of the forested grounds appeared on his computer screen before the door behind him opened. He turned around surprised and saw that it was Donghae. It looked like he had been running because he was panting, but there was this glow of satisfaction on his face.

“I got it,” Donghae said through his heavy breathing.

Suho very slowly stood up from his chair only sensing the worst. “You got what?”

“Get half of troop 12 ready. Send out orders,” Donghae ordered suddenly serious.

“Why? What did you find out?”

“Wonju…it’s in Wonju,” Donghae spoke. “We’re going to Wonju.”

“Are you crazy?” Suho asked. “You can’t go there!”

Donghae suddenly looked somewhat upset before he softened the gleam in his eyes. “We’re going. Tomorrow morning, we’re setting out. And you do what I tell you to do.”

“You’re going to ruin the mission if you go! Donghae, you were told to stay out.” Suho reminded and immediately blocked Donghae from the door. “I’m not letting you go.”

“Then you can stay here and do as you like,” Donghae pushed him aside, but Suho quickly blocked the door again.

“Donghae!” he raised his voice.

“Suho!” Donghae raised his too. “If you don’t want Namjoo to die out there, you get that troop ready, and prepare those guns. If you insist on stopping me, give up on it. Stay here and suit yourself because I’m not giving up the only chance to bring Eunhyuk back.”

Donghae had crushed something inside Suho when he mentioned death. Guilt flashed through Suho and he was once again reminded of that autumn day 6 years ago. Death…

***Namjoo's upset that they want Donghae in Wonju. And just want to let you know that Donghae upset Suho by bringing up 'death'. Donghae doesn't know it though. Ok, more fun in the next chapter.