~_____~

A narrow strip hallway funneled around them as they trekked down the hallway. Officer Choi was in a meeting and would be with them later. As they walked down the hallway with the lead of the officer in charge it was explained to them that the gang were just being interviewed.

“What’s the process?” Donghae asked.

Process? Lay wasn’t aware there were other interrogation methods used at the Detention Hall. He only knew of the watch room and the question room below. If they conducted things differently here, Lay felt really surprised. For the first time he really felt like he was stepping on different territory, none he’d been on before.

The way Donghae managed his works and how he was linked to all these facilities tended to amaze Lay to no end. He felt like Donghae was a really capable man despite all the arguments that went on and off between him and Victoria. It led him to wonder what kind of relationship the two had and why there was so much tension between them. Was it because they both held high titles in the group that they felt the need to compete for the lead? Or were there perhaps other matters mixed between all this?

“We’re currently planning on doing one-on-ones,” the officer replied, “but since there are so many of them, Officer Choi is best thinking of a way to get around it.”

“One-on-ones are too time consuming,” Donghae agreed.

“One-on-ones led to more accurate results,” Victoria butted in, “they conspire with each other if interrogated in groups of two or more.”

Donghae swiftly turned to eye Victoria with distaste without the slightest movement of his head.

“Get me a room,” Donghae ordered the officer, “bring two who seem most in charge of the gang in.”

“But that…” the officer began, but Donghae’s eyes grew stern with silent threat and business. The officer’s courage seemed to wilt under Donghae’s authority before he immediately bent forward, “Yes, sir.”

Lay turned to watch when the officer started back down the hallway they’d come from before twisting around to see Victoria step up to Donghae.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Victoria hissed.

Donghae tilted his head somewhat to look at her, “I’m getting things done. Have you tagged along to pester and interfere or are you here to do your job?”

Victoria pursed her look with irritation on her face. Lay wondered if they never tired of going against each other; almost as if it were a routine night and day.

Clearing his throat he said, “You two could be mistaken for newlyweds arguing.”

The two immediately stared at him, expressions of disgust and calling him stupid lit their faces. Lay had meant it as a joke in hopes of lightening the atmosphere, but even Victoria didn’t give him the slightest laugh. Realizing the joke failed he his lower lip.

“Should we go?” Lay said.

A few minutes later they were waiting inside a room the size of a casual office big enough for two shelves, a drawer, and a desk. All that was, except it was empty and bare but with a white table and two chairs. After aligning one of the chairs next to the other one and making sure they were against the wall so that the two gang members could sit facing them, Donghae leaned against the wall and stared at his watch. Victoria actually stood far enough from him with crossed arms staring into space.

The two were knocked back to the present when the door opened and two officers led the handcuffed prisoners in. They were limping due to the shot wounds in their legs, but despite that they looked ragged, upset, and irritated to have been brought there. The lead officer with them earlier walked in after them and ordered them seated. He reached for the handcuffs around their wrists with a key.

“Never mind that,” Donghae interrupted, “give me the key.”

The officer looked at Donghae, his courage wilting again under him before offering the key. With a nod of his head toward the door Donghae instructed, “You can leave now.”

All the while Lay felt his eyes run over the two gangmen. He knew those faces. The man with the slashed eyebrow was the one who’d aimed his gun at Suho’s head. The man beside him was of smaller size. He’d been the one who tried attacking Suho, but had gotten hit by a keyboard Suho had thrown.

Lay remembered they hadn’t gone to the site to kill, but to retrieve the girls. He and Suho had taken extra caution to cripple the man by aiming at their legs instead of shooting randomly. Lay now wondered if they should have chosen the latter. Just from looking at these men he felt the vibe that they weren’t going to cooperate with them easily, especially after seeing the glint of recognition in their eyes.

The man with the slashed eyebrow snorted disgusted and looked right at him, “You again? What do you want? I heard you got those girls back, were they good?”

Lay’s expression went flat hidden with subtle anger before slammed his palm against the table to get their attention.

“Good,” Donghae said straightening his posture, “we’re here to get some answers and you’re going to cooperate.”

“On what basis should we cooperate?” The smaller one challenged. “Are you going to let me out?”

He chuckled and turned to his partner. Grasping onto the table Donghae shoved it forward. It rammed right into the mens’ chests as if nailing them to the wall.

“On this basis,” Donghae finished satisfactorily and stepped away as the two men wriggled, their hands cuffed at their backs, “once I believe your truth, I’ll slowly relieve you.”

Victoria watched quietly from the back, arms still crossed.

“What do you want?”

Suddenly stepping forward Victoria started before Donghae could, “Where was your next stop?”

The smaller shortly laughed with a crossed smile, “You just wanted to know that? Then you could have said so.” Leaning his head back he finished, “Wonju.”

Victoria felt her eyes twitch, “Why Wonju? Where in Wonju?”

The smaller man shrugged, “Beats the hell out of me. If it’s Wonju then it’s Wonju.”

Something rang inside Lay’s head. It was at the very back of his memory, but he couldn’t quite get a grasp of what it was.

“On whose orders?” Victoria continued.

The man pressed his lips together smugly and shrugged, “Never seen the guy.”

“Hyukjae? Eunhyuk?” Donghae cut in. “Is he…are they the ones controlling you?”

The two prisoners turned to look at him with crossed frowns.

“Answer!” Donghae raised his voice, his expression becoming mixed with impatience and anger.

The two men turned away in unison, but the one with the slashed eyebrow answered. “I don’t know.”

Donghae pounded his fist against the table loudly, “It has to be one of them! Don’t play dumb! Hyukjae…it’s Hyukjae. It’s him, isn’t it!?”

The slashed brow snorted and turned to Donghae, “If you know it’s him then why are you questioning us!? s like you can’t follow your intuitions. Does it make you feel big to put us on the spot like this!?”

Victoria turned to shoot Donghae a stare.

“Then what’s with the brothel?” Lay spoke up. “Is there something hidden there?”

“Girls are hidden there,” the smaller man said before the two chuckled together.

Lay’s stare became dark forcing their laughter to quiet slowly.

“It’s a mediator,” the smaller man finished. “Why are you so interested in it anyway?”

“No,” Lay refused to take the answer, “you’re lying. They’re lying.”

Victoria turned to look at him.

“Why? What do you know, Lay?”

Looking at Victoria Lay told, “It’s business for them. They take girls from the brothel; it’s not a mere mediator.”

The smaller man uttered something about Lay beneath his breath, but Lay couldn’t hear him.

“Why do you say that?” Victoria went on.

“We saw,” Lay continued, “them taking a girl and that’s what led us to the warehouse.”

“No, what about Hyukjae!? Who is the one making all the orders?” Donghae frantically pushed himself against the table for answers. “Did you lie about that too!?”

Lay felt his mind race. There was something about the brothel…the warehouse…pictures and emotions in slide rushed thorugh his head. There was something about it that he needed to ask. Something had happened yesterday that made him uncertain about what these two men were telling them.

Something…

“What about Hyukjae!?” Donghae shouted. “Were you lying about him!?”

“Donghae!” Victoria resorted to raising her voice and the silence started to ring through the air.

Lay felt himself freeze, his thoughts stop and slow. The warehouse…before he and Suho had infiltrated the men had been waiting for them.

“How did you know?” Lay broke the quiet. “How did you know we were there!?”

The two men looked up at him taken aback by his sudden franticness. Even Victoria turned surprised.

“What…” the bigger man was unable to finish.

“Before we attacked, you knew we were there. How?” Lay felt his eyes race over the tabletop in an act to assort his thoughts. He and Suho had been as quiet as mice. The three of them had been out of sight from the start yet the men knew they were there. How…

“You couldn’t have seen us,” Lay shook his head. “What was it? How did you know?”

The smaller man turned with a crooked grin, “Imbeciles.”

“What?” Victoria asked underneath her breath before shifting to look at them. Narrowing her eye she said with threat, “If you know something, say it.”

Wiping the grin off his face the smaller man resorted to withholding an expression of toughness. Instead of him, the bigger man spoke, “Why don’t you think about it?”

Lay fell into thought, but he couldn’t find an end.

“How else would we have known? We received help, an informant; suddenly we were told…there were three ants that had stolen onto our territory,” then he made a cut throat gesture, “and we had to get rid of them…fast.”

He finished with a smirk, but by then Victoria’s face had frozen stiff.

“Why don’t you,” the man went on, “think about who this informant is.”

The next second led Lay into loss and deep confusion. Victoria turned to look at Donghae with a long stare. Her face was full of contempt and beheld some other emotion Lay couldn’t read.

Walking by she ordered, “Lets go back, Lay.”

Once down the hallway Lay finally managed to catch up to her deliriously fast footsteps, “Victoria, what’s wrong?”

“Think about it, Lay,” Victoria only said, “think about it.”

“What do you want me to think about?” They hurried down the stairs together, he trying to keep pace with her. “What…we’re not leaving with Donghae?”

“Leave him,” Victoria stated with even breath, “we have to get back to headquarters before he does.”

Remaining caught in her own world she walked toward the road and waved her arm out for a cab. Lay’s eyes darted from the road back to Donghae’s isolated car in the lot. What was Victoria thinking? What in the world just happened back there? What had Lay missed that made Victoria act like this?

He couldn’t make sense of anything.

“Wha…what’s going on? Victoria, what are you doing?” Lay asked when they got into a cab.

“You haven’t realized it by now?!” Victoria slightly raised her tone of voice shocking Lay.

He managed to stare back at her very quietly.

“You said they were ready for your assault,” Victoria reminded, “how, think about it. How would they have known?” She paused to let him think. “Someone is watching our very move. They’ve kept their eye on us.”

He frowned, “Who?”

“If no one else, who!?” Victoria seemed to ask him leaving him to sink deeper into the maze. “Someone on Donghae’s side! Namjoo or Suho, one of them is working against us.”

The hands of shock shook Lay into dumbfoundedness. His eyes widened, but he couldn’t find his voice. Was Victoria going just as crazy as Donghae?

“No!” Lay refused to believe it. “No! Why…no..they wouldn’t…no. They’ve been looking for Hyukjae as much as we have. Their hard work counts to…they…they wouldn’t. Suho worked so hard back there…”

“Suho? Under Donghae, don’t you think he could be just as smart as those villians pulling strings on us?” Victoria asked. “If you haven’t caught on, they’ve been withholding information from us. What better reason than that? They know stuff we don’t. An outside informant doesn’t make sense, no one knew of the assault you planned back there. Who better than an insider as an informant?

This is so ironic. The prisoner pulled into the group is the only one we can trust now. The irony of it all.”

Lay sunk into silence. Victoria’s words made sense in a kind of way, but he couldn’t believe it. Suho…had gone after those men risking his fingers…his life. He even gave away money for the girl he didn’t know.

Then Namjoo?

No…Namjoo didn’t seem like that kind of person…

Then what was it? Who could have been the informant? Had they been lied to?

As all these thoughts rushed through his head they already arrived at headquarters. Through all the silence enveloping him, his heart pounded strenuously within his ears.

The car door opened and Victoria stepped out. Lay turned when Victoria was already on the walk toward the stairs of the government building. Suddenly filled with the urgency to stop her, Lay slid out of the car.

Victoria was already up in the elevator and the doors had closed on him before he reached it. He waited a second debating about waiting for it or the stairs. In the next second he chose the stairs. His mind was still racing, his heart pounding. The day in Yeongwol shot back into his head and he recalled fighting hard to refrain from letting Suho go after those men.

“How can you just watch this happen!?” Suho shouted still trying to pull out of Lay’s strong grip. “If you have the opportunity to help, then you should do it! Doing what’s right, that’s my job! Don’t tell me yours is any different and you’re willing to go against it.”

Suho’s words had held nothing, but sense and morality. Suho was an honest leader. He was a man of words and he stood for what he knew was right not afraid to outdo the wrong. Suho was a good man. He wasn’t the informant. Namjoo was a good person too. She and Suho were good people.

When he finally arrived, he was a bit too late.

~_____~

Victoria stepped ino the doorway to stare at the group gathered in the room. Namjoo turned in her chair to look at her, pushed herself back and stood up. Suho who’d been standing against the wall turned and everyone waited in expectation as if waiting for her to start.

“You’re back?” Suho asked. “Where’s Donghae?”

Donghae this, Donghae that. Even his name seemed to annoy her to no end now.

The air stilled and Victoria stepped forward. A part of her felt so much taller than the rest that she thought she had to look down on them.

“You two,” Victoria started, “what are you hiding?”

Namjoo’s brows raised and Suho looked back blankly. To their reaction Victoria felt herself grin distastefully.

“Get off the team.” 

***Looks like a bit of Donghae has gotten in Victoria. The team is all over the place now. Even Chorong is suspecting something, remember? At least we know Lay believes in Suho and Namjoo. Obviously Kris does too. But Suho and Namjoo are in for some trouble from Victoria. It's Victoria's turn to attack Donghae's team now.

***TaoJoo up next. Chorong - Lay - Kris to Yeongwol. And Victoria makes her moves to finding out more about Eunhyuk.