Secret weapon…

“But they should’ve seen him before…” Namjoo thought.

“Only if they made it back to report it, but Tao doesn’t have biographic data,” Suho pointed out. “They can’t find him anyway. He’s always been a rogue with no official information.” Then he laughed breathlessly, “They must’ve been so confused when they saw him with us.”

“Is it that easy?” Namjoo wondered.

“Why can’t it?” Suho asked. “We have to tell Donghae this. When the time comes, Tao’s our ultimate weapon.”

~_____~

Lay paced back and forth holding a bag of food behind his back. Every once in a while he’d hesitantly glance up at the building then to the guard standing outside. He was a little nervous. After yesterday he had thought of apologizing for scaring Chorong. Something in her eyes never left his mind, as if she was afraid. He was just worried about how she was doing.

Finally pausing in his steps he shifted toward traffic and pulled his phone out.

Chorong’s ringtone droned on and one for almost a half minute before he was sent to her voicemail. Ending the call he twisted around to stare at the building again and wondered if she was still sleeping. He felt slightly disappointed before his phone went off.

It was Chorong calling back.

He thought she was in after all.

“Did you call?” She asked.

“Oh…yea,” Lay replied.

There was a slight moment of hesitance before he continued, “For scaring you yesterday…I just wanted to apologize.”

“It’s ok,” was she said and they were left with another moment of almost awkward silence. It sort of felt like she was waiting for him to go on, but actually he was waiting to see if she had anything else to say.

“Then, have a good day. I’ll see you later.”

“W…wait,” Lay quickly interrupted before he was hung up on. “Actually, I was just wondering if you wanted to have lunch.”

Lay thought he could hear her hesitating on the other line before telling, “I’m at Namjoo’s right now. Sorry, but I’m not really planning on going out today.”

“Oh…is that so?” Lay mustered, covering his disappointment. “Alright then, you two enjoy yourselves. I’ll see you later.”

When Chorong hung up Lay glanced down at the food he’d brought along with him.

Since they were away from some action and stress he’d thought he wanted to just relax with a friend. Things didn’t seem to fall in his favor however.

Suddenly overcome with a headache he started back to his car and stopped when he saw an old man sitting on a mat against a building, a can beside him. Lay passed him without much thought, but suddenly stopped in his steps then backtracked toward him.

“Here,” Lay offered setting the food down in front of him. “Have something to eat.”

The old man with dark skin and a beard glanced up at him quietly, quite surprised by the sudden move.

Lay smiled in return, “Get some energy from this and have a good day.”

“Thank you, thank you,” the man nodded.

Still smiling Lay turned to strut away. There was no use in eating that much food alone. When he got home he’d sleep his headache away then find something else homey to eat. And the next time he hoped things would work out as he wanted.  

~_____~

Lying on the couch to catch up on some TV wasn’t as exciting as he expected it to be. It wasn’t relaxing either.

Leaving the TV on he shifted onto his back. With his head against the arm rest he stared up at the ceiling with a blank mind. It didn’t take long for him to feel his pocket for his phone, but when he felt nothing quickly got up to look around. He was sure he’d brought it back with him.

Suddenly getting up he dug his hands through the cushions and searched around the empty house. Still his phone never showed.

“Where did I put it?” He mumbled to himself.

It was almost afternoon and he thought it was about time to call Namjoo. He wanted to know what she was doing now and why Suho had come for her. She had made him leave without explaining anything to him.

Unable to wait for his phone to pop up he grabbed some chain before leaving the house. Almost ten minutes later he came across the payphone at the corner of the block. To his luck the booth wasn’t in use, so squeezing inside he closed the door and dialed the number he knew so well.

Namjoo’s phone rang for a half minute before she answered.

“It’s me,” he greeted.

“Why are you using a payphone?” Namjoo asked.

“I lost my phone,” he answered and smiled to himself. “You really picked up.”

Inside his mind he could see her rolling her eyes at him.

“Because this was an unknown number,” she shot back. “What do you want? I’m driving.”

“Driving?” He repeated, forgetting about the sudden tease. “Why? Where did you go?”

“My business. Is this all you want? I’m hanging up.”

“No, wait,” Kris hurriedly called. “You’re with Suho, right?”

There was a momentarily pause before she asked, “How do you know?”

He thought about Suho’s visit that sudden morning and wondered if Suho had said something to her. Of course he shouldn’t know who she was with or what she was doing. Pressing his lips together he worried that he’d blown his cover.

“A guess; you two are always together anyway,” he quickly said. “Anyway, you remember the date this weekend, right?”

“I know,” she said without excitement, but matter-of-factly. “I’m hanging up.”

“Wait,” he quickly interrupted again slightly desperate to keep the call going for longer. Heaving a soft, but long sigh he finally told, “I hope you’re not doing overtime work. Get some rest. I’ll see you this weekend.”

After she hung up he listened to the dead tone sullenly before reluctantly hanging up.

Namjoo still seemed so distant even after all this time. Exactly what did he need to do in order to be closer to her? She still seemed cold to him. Did he not mean anything? Was it because of Tao?

He wanted an affirmation of her feelings.

That night…why did it happen? Just because of a kiss? Just because he kissed her? But why…had she given him consent?

~_____~

Suho glanced over at Namjoo, who seemed cool and collected after the sudden call from who he supposed was Kris. Peering at her he wondered why she had to hide the fact that maybe she and Kris had something going on. It wasn’t like Donghae didn’t permit relationships at work.

“What?” Namjoo asked.

Turning away redhanded Suho laughed to himself, “Nothing.”

Namjoo turned to frown at him, “What? You were staring.”

Suho ran his thoughts over before deciding to ask, “The break we had after going to Daegu, did you go to the musical?”

“No.”

“What!? Why!?”

“I looked the musical up online; it was boring, so I never went.” Namjoo lied.

Suho made a face at her, “I spent a lot of money on those tickets! You should’ve just gone!”

Namjoo simply shrugged, “Anyway, the atmosphere this morning was awkward. Did you and Chorong talk about something?”

Recalling the feelings that he had garnered that morning he shook his head rapidly, “Nothing. Small talk, you know.”

Namjoo only raised her brows then told, “You should call Donghae. Tell him to meet us at headquarters.”

~_____~

Donghae was nearly falling asleep. In his subconscious state he could feel his hand slipping off the couch before he was jolted awake by the ringing of his phone. Groaning and desperate for rest he forced himself up before answering.

“Oh, Suho,” he answered. “What is it?”

“We discovered something interesting in Wonju. Lets meet up to talk about it.”

“Really? Ok, I’ll be there in a bit,” Donghae hung up and yawned before stretching.

Standing to his feet he turned to look at Victoria who was silently staring at him expressionlessly.

“What?” Donghae asked.

The corner of her lips curved with a small snort, “You really make yourself comfortable, don’t you?”

“Of course,” he smiled and nodded. “To your luck, I’m going to have to go now.”

Running her eyes up him she asked, “Who called?”

“Suho.”

It was easy to predict that she’d be suspicious. Even the way her brows slightly furrowed ever so softly on her face told him she knew something.

“What for? I thought everyone was relaxing today.”

“We’re running over some things. That’s all.”

“You gave my team a rest, but not yours?”

“I’m not discriminating here, don’t freak out,” he stated. “You must be relieved I won’t be here when your personal secretary arrives.”

She slightly turned away from him quietly, “It’s not like I can stop you anyway.”

Donghae glanced at her one more time and said, “I’ll check up on you later. Do you want to stay there or should I help you to bed?”

“Just go.”

Without further say he left.

On the way to headquarters he felt kind of sorry for some reason he couldn’t describe. Perhaps it had to do with leaving Victoria in the state she was in. He could only suppose she wasn’t feeling very comfortable nor could she be comfortable anyway. If she was in pain she should have said something, anything at all. It wasn’t like he was a cold blooded being.

Heaving a small sigh he drove faster down the lane before arriving at headquarters where Suho and Namjoo were already waiting for him inside. When he found them in the conference room he first shot Namjoo a glance wondering why she had such dark bags under her eyes.

“You ok?” He worried.

“What?” She asked.

He pointed to his eyes, “You look tired.”

“I already said that,” Suho added.

Namjoo made a face at him before turning back to Donghae, “I’m fine.”

“If you say so,” Donghae agreed before sitting down with them. “So what do we have here?”

Suho pushed over some papers toward him. Grabbing them he quickly skimmed them over before raising his brow, his heart slightly thumping harder by the second.

“What’s this?” Donghae asked and looked up at them.

“Well…” Suho began, “we went to Wonju. We found these there.”

“We’re being watched,” Namjoo told, “by this point I don’t think being cautious will keep us from falling in danger. They know about us.”

“But,” Suho quickly added, “there’s a catch.”

Donghae glanced at him and waited for him to go on.

“They have nothing on Tao,” Suho finished. “Nothing at all, as if he doesn’t exist. It seems like they don’t know he’s with us.”

Staring into his face Donghae couldn’t fathom how that was possible. After this much time, how?

“We don’t know,” Namjoo told, “but there’s nothing on him. If it means things come to the worst, Tao’s the only one we can use.”

“Use?” Donghae repeated as if surprised that they made Tao sound like some kind of weapon.

“I said if,” Namjoo repeated herself.

“What about Eunhyuk and Hyukjae? Nothing?” Donghae was anxious for news about them.

They had to have a lead at least. He wanted to hear that Suho and Namjoo had found something about them. To his dismay they shook their heads.

“Give us some more time,” Suho told. “It’s not going to be that easy locating him.”

“How’s Victoria?” Namjoo asked.

“She’s having someone else work for her,” Donghae answered. “I’m keeping an eye on her.”

“Sorry,” Suho apologized. “Just be patient a little more Donghae.”

“No,” he shook his head, “it’s what I expected anyway. You two have worked hard. Just get some rest.”

“What are we doing tomorrow?” Namjoo wondered.

“I’m going to assign another break,” Donghae said after a moment of thinking. “I told Victoria I’d let you guys follow your intuition. Just do that for now.”

Stretching as he got up Suho exclaimed, “My intuition tells me to sleep in.”

“Whatever you want,” Donghae smiled.

“Should we have lunch before we split?” Suho asked.

“Lunch?”

“Treat us,” Suho suggested before nudging him. “At least do this small thing for us. We haven’t had a meal since these assignments.”

Donghae overlooked his assistants before giving in, “Fine. What do you want?”

Walking toward the door Suho started down the hallway excited, “Steak! Grade A steak!”

Donghae smiled with a hearty laugh. It had been quite some time since the three of them took some time to eat out or spend time together. Ever since the arrival of Victoria’s team they’ve been split up into different groups each time he’d hardly caught up with how the two were faring along. He thought he should feel sorry for putting them up to so much.

As they started down the corridor he reminisced the days when they used to eat out at their usual grilling restaurant once their shifts ended. That was after Eunhyuk disappeared and he had no one left, but the two of them.

Time had passed by so quickly.

After a few more steps he asked, “What about you Namjoo?”

There was no reply.

Wondering why she was saying anything he turned around to see that she was a few steps behind them, but her knees were buckling underneath her.

“Namjoo?” Donghae called out uncertainly.

From in front Suho turned around as well before his eyes went wide.

“I think…I think…” was all he heard from her before her legs gave out and she started falling forward.

“Whoa!” Suho shouted before rushing forward to catch her just before she hit the ground. After a second he turned around to look at Donghae, “I think she out.”