***The getaway is equally important as the execution and planning of the mission. Nobody likes a person who can’t close. If you make it to the championship game, might as well win it right? However a good getaway also needs some good planning, but if you don’t account for everything, then your escape can be ruined.***

A helicopter cut through the air above them in their sedan. The helicopter's spotlight and shined down on their car, suspecting the sedan that is driving just a mile away from where the drug cartel leaders were killed.

“Hey Jessica, did your plan account for the big f**king helicopter?!” Bora asked while in the passenger seat looking at the helicopter in pursuit of them.

“Relax! It doesn’t suspect anything, it’s just shinning us. If we drive normally it should be okay or maybe stop... but then they’ll want to see our papers and wonder what we’re doing. Damn...” Jessica said out-loud. She slowed down after seeing some military trucks driving up to her. “Damnit, this doesn’t look good.”

Jessica tried thinking of the possible situations that could arise. The trucks stopped them and some soldiers got out along with some men dressed in civilian attire, undoubtedly members of the Zeta drug cartel. They seemed angry and yelled at Jessica demanding to know who they were and what they were doing her. Jessica put on her biggest fear face and acted the best she could to say they were all college students from Canada who were staying in Cozumel for the winter but got lost when they took a joyride in their rental car. The man didn’t want to hear any of it and demanded to see papers. Jessica even with her fake broken tourist style Spanish couldn’t convince them.

“We’re hosed...” Bora muttered in Korean. Jessica whispered back to stay calm. There was still a chance they could get away with this. The men reached at the backdoor and opened it wide and reached in to grab Sunny. Sunny put on her act as good as she could to look like a young girl being pulled out of a car against her will.

Jessica wasn’t great at Spanish but heard the civilian dressed man saying that they might know something or the very least are good for ransom. Sunny struggled and fought, trying to sell herself as a girl (and not the trained warrior she actually was) Bora tried to get out of the door and help Sunny. They reached for Jessica next.

“Oh to the hell with this... take care of them we don’t have time for this,” Jessica said changing their plan. Sunny quickly turned the tide on the man holding her and brought him down with a military take-down and quickly leveraged her weight over him and blood choked him.

***In the military they teach you how to choke someone out and you learn that there are two methods; blood choke and air choke. Air chokes are deadly to do on your friends and in training because you can crush the windpipe and cause a lot of damage. Blood chokes are way simpler and relatively safe to do on friends, if they’re into that. It only takes seconds, literally. Technically, choking someone via the neck is called strangling (choking is preventing breathing and rather broad) and it works simple enough. Blood is traveling through to the brain, and you have the carotid arteries and the jugular veins running along the side of the neck. If you take the crease of your elbow and get it right up under someone’s chin and snuggled real close to the neck, all you do is squeeze your muscles tight and try to bring your forearm to touch your bicep and you’ll cut the blood flow of one of the aforementioned blood vessels. This ‘Sleeper hold’ is great and easy to use especially if you’re smaller than your opponent, but it’s important to remember that they’ll only be out temporarily. So when they fall take care of what you have to do.***

Sunny ran the heel of her hand straight to the guy’s temple after he went down and grabbed his rifle and moved into a defensive stance, scanning for a target. Jessica apparently had seen too many Lethal Weapon movies and slammed her attacker’s head into the side of the car several times. Bora was the last to handle her attacker, she successfully hipped tossed him to the ground but wasn’t quick enough to finish it. He stood up and tried to open fire at Bora but she jammed him, his finger squeezed the trigger but the shot went wildly away from them.

“Bora I know you’re new at this but finish him already!” Jessica said in an urging manner as she opened the trunk to get their equipment. Bora tossed the man again and kicked him several times. The helicopter in the sky witnessed the event and declared the three girls as hostile. A gunner sitting inside opened fired on them. The three rushed into a nearby treeline to try and find cover.

“Great, now they have freaking air support, you at planning Jessica,” Sunny said.

“Hey, you’re still getting paid aren’t you?” Jessica snapped back.

“You have to be alive to actually get the money you know,” Bora added. Sunny had returned fire with her rifle but it was no good. The helicopter circled about and its gunner opened up at them. Just when the three thought they were done for, a rocket flew up from the ground and zipped at the helicopter and exploded. The three girls stood looking in shock and awe wondering who had fired the rocket.

“Was that cool or what?! That was my first time firing a Stringer and it worked perfectly,” a voice cheered out from behind them. “Jessica you and your assets totally owe me!”

“Tiffany?” Jessica said and turned recognizing the owner of the voice. Bora and Sunny looked at each other and wondered what would happen next. They never seen Tiffany before but knew she was a member of the CIA, the both decided to keep their back turned to Tiffany. “What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious?! I just saved your life, you can do a lot of badass stuff but you still at planning. I saw a copy of your initial plan and knew it would go wrong. You think killing some Zeta drug lords would be that easy?” Tiffany responded.

“Well... yeah... I pulled the trigger and lots died,” Jessica answered with a tone. Tiffany walked up and close to Jessica. She smiled at Jessica before turning to look at the two assets that Jessica had chose to work with.

“You... what are you two doing here?” Tiffany quickly asked and raised her rifle at Bora and Sunny. Bora and Sunny raised their weapons up to Tiffany in response.

“Wait a minute now. Put your weapons down! Tiffany it’s cool they’re with me. Chill out!” Jessica said stepping in to break up the confrontation.

“It’s cool?! They’re with you?! Jessica they’re wanted fugitives! What the hell are you doing with them?”

“They’re my assets,” Jessica said.

“They’re wanted for murder, treason and conspiracy. You’re supposed to turn them in,” Tiffany said.

“They’re innocent. They were set-up and it apparently gets even more complicated...” Jessica started.

“Complicated... yeah whatever... I’m going to turn them in,” Tiffany said. Sunny quickly moved to disarm Tiffany and bring her to the ground.

“I don’t think so, you’re not turning anyone in,” Sunny said putting leverage over Tiffany and pinning her down on the ground.

“I don’t want to interrupt anything, but we should probably get moving since there was an explosion and all, I think they’ll noticed a missing helicopter,” Bora chimed in.

“We need to go. Sunny let her up, and give her back the weapon, she won’t be a problem,” Jessica said. Sunny let Tiffany up and handed the American back her SCAR rifle.

“No, let’s go. I have a way out of here,” Tiffany said and led the three through the night at a fast pace and avoiding detection from the corrupt military and police officials looking for them. They made way to a near a small shanty village where a convertible was waiting under a tent. Tiffany had paid $2,000 the family of the property to keep the car there.

“We’re going to drive?! What, we’re going to Guadalajara?! That’s miles from here! How does going to Mexico’s second largest city, which is said to have cartel influence would be any help of us?” Jessica asked.

“No, just shut up and get in,” Tiffany said starting the car and driving out on the road. “There’s a bag in the backseat, change into those clothes there. I only thought it was going to be Jessica and myself, so I hope you guys can fit into them.”

It was lucky that everyone had idol like bodies and relatively thin waistlines, but it wasn’t to say some had a bit of a squeeze getting into the shorts. Tiffany had managed to somehow pull out of her pants and into shorts all while driving; the assistance of cruise control and Jessica holding the wheel was most likely a helpful factor. The four ladies were dressed like college girls on a vacation, as that was their cover; Canadian college students on vacation to get away from the winter harshness for fun in the sun in Puerto Vallarta. Puerto Vallarta’s a popular Mexican resort vacation spot on the Pacific, especially for Los Angeles and San Francisco folks; there would be plenty of Asian-American people there to blend into and hide among the English speakers.

“Puerto Vallarta? Why do we need to go there though?” Bora asked. “Can’t we just go back on a military transport in a crate like how we got here?”

“You sent them here in a crate?” Tiffany asked.

“It was the easiest way for me to get them through. No worries with customs, airport security and all that. No one checks a US military plane. How will Sunny and Bora get back to Korea? They won’t make it past the security check,” Jessica said argumentatively.

“I’ll figure something out okay? Let’s get to the resort first!” Tiffany said.

“Resort? Like a vacation place?” Sunny asked.

“Really, we’re in Mexico running away from corrupted people and drug enforcers and you’re thinking about vacation?” Bora asked.

“It’s not my fault, she said resort!” Sunny replied.

*******************************

“Nothing even makes sense as the evidence starts coming together,” Taeyeon whined going through the notes.

“Of course it makes sense, what are you talking about? Bora and Sunny, the picture from the crimes all add up. Nothing seems out of place,” Hyoyeon answered.

“I know.. the evidence is just too damn good, the only thing that doesn’t make sense is why she didn’t kill me. Her informant on the inside would have alerted her who I was right? More importantly why Bora and Sunny? Two young operatives with no high-level clearance or connections, it doesn’t make sense though...”

“You know how bad guys don’t like to wait sometimes, they got impatient, who knows Tae, but still everything falls into place,” Hyoyeon.

“But don’t you think it’s a little too into place?”

“Okay, we did get the information a bit faster than usual, but come on is that really something to complain about. I mean the evidence is convincing, Jasmine’s possible involvement makes it even more probable. I don’t want to believe that we had traitors working here as NIS but it seems to be so,” Hyoyeon commented.

The two joined the rest of the task force assigned to this case to go over notes. Siwon had been courteous and provided snacks for everyone but Hyoyeon still thought he was rather a strange character. ‘The guy just urks me’ was Hyoyeon's private response to Taeyeon. He was a good looking guy who had a rather polished and good career but rather quiet. On no one’s radar and was fast-tracked in several areas. Taeyeon gave the morning brief to the team as towards the progress of the investigation.

Hyoyeon and Taeyeon went to talk to the station chief to after the briefing to go through various histories of employees and relations pertaining to Bora and Sunny. It always seemed like they were missing something. Though the addition of Jasmine into the equation left room to consider outside forces at play, NIS still believed that there were several more insiders within the station that could be on someone else’s payroll. Hyoyeon and Taeyeon still haven’t turned anything up from the witch-hunt other than what was already provided.

“You don’t think he’s holding anything back do you?” Hyoyeon asked about the station chief while they went into their office.

“I think he’s telling us everything he knows. I think he feels pretty hurt; he seems to have had like Sunny and Bora, or the very least have high expectations of them. They were his people... hmm that’s odd,” Taeyeon replied.

“What?”

“I didn’t use the phone this morning, did you?”

“Nope,” Hyoyeon answered. She went over to the desk phone and examined it. In all appearances it looked like a normal CISCO IP corporate phone but Hyoyeon picked it up the receiver to find a small chip in the plastic. Someone had pried the receiver apart and put it back together. Hyoyeon slammed the receiver onto the desk to break it apart, and behold a there was an electronic bug inside. “I guess someone is interested in our calls.”

Taeyeon looked at the desk lamp and noticed another listening device. She pulled it out and showed it to Hyoyeon.

“I guess someone wants to listen in on us,” Taeyeon said, checking around the room for anything else. They didn’t find any. “So who was listening?”

“I don’t know, I guess the witch-hunt continues.”

***********************

“Wake up!” Jessica said shoving at Sunny. It was the next morning and Tiffany was already up and out of the room getting things taken care off. Jessica stayed behind to watch Bora and Sunny. Bora and Sunny again shared a bed; originally Tiffany had only planned for just her and Jessica so the reserved room only had two beds.

“Where did Tiffany go?” Sunny asked while getting up.

“We can trust her right Jessica?” Bora asked.

“Well she did let you guys sleep here and didn’t kill you guys or turned you in while you were snoozing. She’s my friend, she’s good people okay. She may be little by the book and a girl scout but she’s good, I trust her,” Jessica said.

“Where are the guns?”

“She went to get rid of them?”

“So we have nothing to defend ourselves with?” Bora asked.

“Relax! You guys have superior training, you’ll be okay. Besides I still have mine,” Jessica said sitting at the little table cleaning her SCAR and pistol.

“Why do you get to keep yours?” Sunny asked with a whined.

“Um... because I like my guns... and they’re sort of issued to me, part of my ‘kit’. But mostly because they’re mine, Tiffany kept hers too,” Jessica answered.

“So the Americans get the guns and the Koreans get nothing?” Bora said flatly.

“Don’t look at it like that, we’re going to be fine. The CIA is good at this stuff, plus it's a vacation on the US tax payers’ dime,” Jessica said with smile. “Oh, get into some bikini tops and be ready to head out. We can’t look like college students if we’re not scantily clad and trying to have a good time.”

The door opened and Tiffany walked in with breakfast in hand and a smile. She was not fond on the idea of helping two fugitives but for the sake of Jessica she would do what she could. She woke up and had worked some fake ID kits for everyone.

***Spies are trained to make fake IDs, and not the type that you would use to go to the club or get into a bar and get drinks, but serious pro-grade papers to get them across borders and such. How is it that they are able to do this? It’s rather simple really; they have ‘blanks’ straight from country they claim to be from. America does its best to their hands on all sorts of government passports from various nations and of course not all by legal means. However, using a cover ID isn’t easy. You need to learn that person’s life, even though it’s completely fiction. It’s best to go with simple and small lies, nothing too complicated so that you can remember and defend if you’re ever questioned. Know your story and know how to act. So if you have to be a college girl having fun in the sun instead of freezing in Canada, then you go with it.***

The four girls went outside to the poolside with laughter and banter and showing off their fit bodies and meshing into the crowd of tourist and vacationers in swimwear. Jessica ordered drinks while Bora grabbed some chairs to lounge in. They began conversing in Korean to try to maintain some privacy. The news was they were going to have to party two days here before leaving. Having a room for just one day and one night will just be too conspicuous. They will fly out to California via airliner and then fly out to Japan on a Navy airliner jet and then to Korea via Air Force plane. They wouldn’t be bothered on the military flights, most service members know better than to try and make a conversation with a spook.

Tiffany didn’t bring any case files or anything to work on other than her laptop so they couldn’t hide out in the room and investigate; they were to have fun. For Sunny and Bora it was their first time to Mexico after all and the two did enjoy the brief pause from having to run and fight for their lives. They took themselves out to the beach and into the perfectly wonderful Pacific waters. Splashing around and riding the waves softly. It was nice to feel the water and relax a bit and Jessica joined the two girls out into the water.

“So why are you two just dallying out by your lonesome? Does Bora not trust my little friend?” Jessica asked while taking a leisure backstroke around them.

“It’s not that, I’m okay with Tiffany. She’s been good to us thus far, no reason to doubt her. The problem still exists about us finding out who set us up...”

“And when do we get paid?” Sunny chimed in.

“Money will come real soon, we like to put things in cash and it will go to me first and I’ll split your cuts. Now as far as solving this burned thing, we can do it when we get back to Korea. Right now you should just be happy knowing that you helped the fight in the war against the drug cartels, Americans will be happy. We can try to recruit Tiffany to your cause and we’ll be much stronger,” Jessica said.

“Oh and we still have that project to help Becky with that human trafficking thing,” Sunny added.

“You amateurs! I'll help you guys with that too, that is definitely way over your heads,” Jessica said. The three made their way back to the shoreline and found Tiffany. They posed for a few photos for the local staff to take pictures. Their first day has been rather inconspicuous; they played the part of tourist well and even ate out at restaurants. They also bought a rather large supply of sunscreen to get through their two days.

They were partied out and done as much as they could, they kept up on the local news and had noticed police officers moving here and there around the town but the girls had made a relatively quiet getaway. For that they were grateful, Tiffany had already sent away their weapons via a secure military transport. They were flying out that night and moving non-stop to get to Korea.

“I can’t believe we got away so cleanly with this, Tiffany really knows how to work her stuff,” Bora said when they sat down in first class. “I never flown first class anywhere before either.”

“Okay calm down, you two can’t go on acting like everything is special and new, just sleep, we basically have a whole 24 hours of flying ahead of us.”

*************************

“They been really quiet. They’ve lay low for a while now, but we’ll find them. No sir, I wouldn’t worry. Continue as planned. These two are not going to be a problem, they know nothing.”

“Make sure that it stays that way. I wouldn’t want any complications.”

“I assure you that there won’t be any at all sir. I have my people working on it. We’ll find them and destroy them.”

“Good. I don’t have to remind you the importance of leaving no traces do i?”

“Not at all sir.”

*****************************************

***Jet lag is something you get when flying cross-oceanic around the world or even just across multiple time-zones. People think it’s because you’re tired from flying, but really it’s because your body’s natural clock and sleep patterns have been screwed up so you feel tired. There are other symptoms too, which are nastier but it’s a chronobiological issue. It can last for several days, and there are various ways to combat it before and several treatment options after. Of course if you been trained in and conditioned to by government and military training to deal with it, then you’re not worried and ready to go right back to work... Though personally extra sleep never hurts***

The four returned to Jessica’s apartment definitely feeling some effects of travel that even sleeping on a plane could not fix. Tiffany had been busy scolding Jessica for killing an innocent maid but in the end understood that collateral damage did happen.

“Fine, I'll accept what happened, it had to look a little messy but Jessica that doesn’t mean you can take it lightly! I expect some charity work from you to make up for what you did?” Tiffany had said. Jessica scoffed off the idea of doing anything but would settle to make some donation to some organization to keep Tiffany from screaming.

Sunny was on the phone with Becky telling her things will be worked out soon enough. Bora was busy taking a hot shower because in Tiffany’s infinite wisdom, she didn’t pack winter clothes for their return trip from Mexico to Korea. The blast of winter chill was a bit much for girls dressed in only shorts and sweatshirts.

“Damnit Bora, that’s my shower, hurry the hell up. I want hot water too!” Jessica said pacing around the living room. “Oh and Sunny, I have something for you to do tomorrow so stay the night.”

“Does this have to do with meeting some person that you mentioned a while back?” Sunny asked while plopping down to watch yet again the music show on TV. Of course cheering wonderfully when Girls’ Day came on with ‘Something.’

“Oh you like this song too?” Tiffany asked, a little surprised. She too liked ‘Something’ and it was something she had in common with fugitive.

“It’s cute, in that y kind of way, I think they look amazing,” Sunny replied. “I like girl groups.”

Jessica came out of the shower and proceeded to order dinner to be delivered and checked her phone. She had left her phone at home during her trip and knew she had several missed calls. She plopped down onto the couch and read through her text messages and voicemail. She angrily pointed at Tiffany’s feet and motioned for girl to remove her feet off her coffee table and pointed at Bora’s class of water demanding that a coaster be used. Jessica liked to keep a neat place; after all it was not only her home but her place of extracurricular business.

“Gone for a few days and people nuts,” Jessica muttered.

“Why who’s looking for you this time?” Tiffany asked.

“Oh don’t you know? Jessica has dates with idols, she got me Gayoon’s autograph,” Sunny added. “Oh wait, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything...”

“Oh don’t worry... I know all about Jessica’s indiscretions and little dates... so Miss Popular, who is it this time?” Tiffany continued.

“I don’t think it’s any of your business...”

“I’m the one who gets you the information you need half the time, your fake press passes, the access codes to their dorms, class schedules...” Tiffany ranted.

“Hey! You don’t need to go telling that much to people!” Jessica shouted. The doorbell rang alerting them of the dinner, Jessica worked her way to pay the man and returned to dining room table. “If you want to eat, do it here! I’m not letting you guys stain the white leather!”

“So you get her information on the idols and she does what with them?” Bora asked.

“Maybe you should ask her?” Tiffany answered with a certain insinuation.

“Well when I was here, she had with Gayoon...” Sunny said sticking a piece of meat into .

“Really Sunny?! Really?! I can see why they want to take away your top secret clearance,” Jessica shouted in shock.

“But... I never had ‘top secret’, just ‘secret’....” Sunny muttered.

“Well we can see why don’t we?” Jessica said sarcastically.

“I only have ‘secret’ too...” Bora added.

“How was Gayoon?” Tiffany asked with a smirk. It was clear that Tiffany knew more about Jessica’s little ‘dirty side’ and was pushing on Jessica’s buttons to try and make the girl feel uncomfortable.

“Amazing of course,” Jessica answered frankly.

“So is Gayoon your girlfriend, are you two dating?” Bora asked, truly curious to the whole nature of Jessica.

“She doesn’t do girlfriends...” Tiffany started but was cut off by Jessica.

“I can answer myself... Geez.... Bora sweetie, I don’t have a girlfriend and neither does Gayoon. We may see each other from time to time and go on dates, but we’re not dating. I merely provide companionship to her and other idols as they need it,” Jessica answered. Bora swallowed her food and asked if Jessica saw a lot of idols.

“She tailors exclusively to female idols only, don’t you Jess?” Tiffany asked. Jessica nodded in agreement.

“Wait you never answered Tiffany’s original question... who is it time?” Sunny asked.

“It’s not one person okay! Hara has been looking for me like crazy, and I have various new clients that wish to meet with me and so forth. So there is plenty on the plate,” Jessica sighed and answered.

“New clients?” Bora asked.

“Well Tiffany used to get me information, but just tiny stuff. A lot of times, it’s a word of mouth thing as you can imagine... I’m pretty discreet,” Jessica said with a slight air of confidence.

“How do you trust them?” Bora asked.

“Oh, I tell them I’m a CIA spy and that I am good at keeping secrets and they should too, or else bad things can happen,” Jessica answered just before gulping a mouthful.

“I can’t tell if that’s a joke or not...” Bora said. Jessica just shrugged her shoulders and continued eating. Tiffany left shortly after and promised not to tell anyone about Sunny and Bora but she said she didn’t want any part in helping them any further. Bora and Sunny eventually retired for the evening in the guest bedroom.

**********************************

“Why are you looking all nervous and excited? Feeling anxious?” Eunjung asked noticing the girl frantically going through her wardrobe to look for something to wear.

“It’s nothing. I’m meeting a friend tonight, and just hope nothing goes wrong you know? I haven’t seen them in a while so it’s exciting,” Hyomin answered while shuffling through the hangers. It was rather unusual for her to be just standing in her underwear trying to pick out an outfit. It was the reason why Eunjung said something.

“Oh, okay. Well hurry up and find something to wear and get on with it. I mean Jiyeon already walks around without clothes on, we don’t need you to do it too. Come on now, clothes seriously. You’re the fashion queen of T-ara, this shouldn’t be a big deal,” Eunjung said.

“I know...”

“Who is this friend anyways?” Eunjung asked, curious to who could possibly have Hyomin acting a bit out of character.

“You don’t know them; I found what I want to wear. If the manager asks, I’m with a friend. I’ll be back later!” Hyomin said while putting on her clothes. She had a taxi waiting already at the parking lot and she quickly got into the cab and gave the address that was provided to her. She arrived at the restaurant, and entered the place a bit nervous. She was in a relatively a foreign place; it was a bar and grill that tailored to the higher-end foreigners who most of which would most likely not even know who she was. Not quite comfortable with her English, she just said “Jessica’s friend.”

The Caucasian woman understood what she meant and led her to the back at a table which must have been Jessica’s usual spot.

“Ma’am, I believe this lady is looking for you,” the hostess said to the tiny female already seated in the booth.

“Thank you,” She said with a smile and looked up. She just laughed. “You’re the person I’m supposed to meet tonight?”

“Are you disappointed?” Hyomin asked in a worried tone.

“Not particularly, have a seat. Relax! Maybe you can tell me why you’re here,” Sunny said.

“Well I really wanted to thank you for saving me life and Jessica said she knew how to get in contact with you. So here we are,” Hyomin said with a slight chuckle.

“You wanted to see me again? Wow... I’m flattered... an idol who wants to see me...” Sunny said a bit astonished. Hyomin was relieved to find that Sunny was rather excited or glad to see her again. “Um... is there anything you want? Something to drink, I can order you anything you like.”

Jessica had given Sunny 1000 US dollars prior to the date and given instructions to treat the guest to a good time. She ordered a few light and fruity drinks to break into the evening of festivities.

“I really never got to repay you for saving my life, I mean in the street and then at the mall...”

“Well actually the mall thing might have been my fault, but in retrospect I did it to save your life! But still, I’m a huge fan. You’re my favorite member out of T-ara! You were really cute in that farming show too,” Sunny replied. Hyomin blushed hearing the information, she was an idol after all and used to compliments but it felt different coming from the woman who saved her life. “I’m sorry you must get that a lot.”

“Thank you. It’s still always nice to hear. It keeps us going. You really liked me on Invincible Youth?”

“Yes, I think that little shy quiet girl act is funny and adorable. I really liked the show; until it ended… they should have kept going!” Sunny answered.

“I’m really glad, people don’t know that I can be more fun and active and stuff, I’m not like that in real life you know?”

“Oh I know, I saw Dream Girls, Hello Baby and Tiaradotcom you’re definitely fun and interesting. Yes in real life you’re clumsy and slip on ice on the road and I had to save your life,” Sunny said with a laugh. Hyomin took humor in the joke and laughed along. “I feel so weird… I watch you guys, and other idols on TV all the time and to think I’m sitting here with Hyomin and about to have dinner, oh we should probably order something.”

Sunny went through the menu and helped Hyomin around with the English. She had steak and lobster with Jessica, but she could be craving other Westernized foods that her promotions didn’t allow her to eat. Sunny order a burger, bacon, cheese and a meaty filled meal, Hyomin ordered philly cheesesteak. They discuss T-ara promotions, slight gossip of other idols and various other things. Hyomin was still surprised of how people didn’t know her here. Sunny never been here herself, but it was a comfortable place that had a lot of privacy and was clear why Jessica chose this place. Hyomin wanted dessert, well Sunny pushed her to get the dessert since it wasn’t her money to spend plus she had remembered about how Hyomin had not eaten a lot from prior promotions.

“I’m curious, how do you know Jessica?” Hyomin asked.

“I’m not sure you really want to know, it’s pretty secretive stuff. I’m not sure I should tell you…”

“You can trust me! Come on, I’m really curious how a nice girl like yourself is associated with a girl like Jessica?”

“You make her seem bad! She’s not some shady person you know. I guess you must know about her associations and services… wait if she sent you to me so that meant that you saw her… So did she ‘service’ you too?”

“What?! Well not like that… I mean I was on a date with Jessica because Eunjung had set it up for me. She said I needed a 'pick-me-up' and thought Jessica was the answer, and Jessica figured out that I needed to see you so here we are… which leads me back to how do you know her? Come on, you can tell me, don’t you trust me? I’m an idol I’m good with secrets,” Hyomin said.

“I know Jessica from my work. We spent some time overseas together,” Sunny answered ambiguously.

“That’s it, there must be more!”

“Do you know what Jessica does, for a living I mean?” Sunny inquired.

“Well actually I don’t, she does have money, so she’s not is she?”

“No, she’s not a hooker gosh... though I guess she’s can be a viewed that way by the government uses them sometimes you could think it that way... but no she’s not an ,” Sunny laughed. Hyomin had a confused look on her face. Jessica laughed and leaned in close and whispered. “Hyomin, Jessica’s an American spy.”

The news floored Hyomin. American Spy?! She pictured scenes from the dramas Athena and IRIS and thought of movies like Bourne and SALT came to her mind. Jessica was a spy? Then what was Sunny? Hyomin was suddenly curious as to Sunny’s profession. She was awfully good at taking down those two armed men. Sunny knows Jessica from work, but wow Jessica was an American but could hide her accent so well. Sunny informed Hyomin that Jessica was capable of replicating several dialects and accents of Korean. The mousse cake came out momentarily distracting Hyomin from the thought at hand.

“Oh my gosh! This is the best cake ever! It’s so sweet, moist and creamy. Chocolate... Oh my... Jessica sure knows good places to eat! I forgot what we were talking about earlier. Can I get one to go?” Hyomin said through the bites. Sunny flagged down the waiter and ordered a full cake to go, she said she should share it with the other members when Hyomin got back to the dorm. “That’s so sweet of you, it’s really too much. It’s an expensive dessert. You’re already paying for dinner.”

“It’s no biggie, I have money to spare!” Sunny said with a smile. She hesitated a bit on her next question but asked anyways. “May I have a photo with you?” Hyomin nodded and said ‘of course’ their waitress came to take the photo for them. Sunny led Hyomin out back to the parking lot where Sunny had a Lexus IS350 waiting, a rental that Jessica provided. After they got into the car Sunny confessed she didn’t know where the T-ara dorm was.

“I can tell you how to get there, don’t worry,” Hyomin said with a smile fastening her seatbelt. “But I’m not ready to go back to the dorm yet, we don’t get out THAT often you know, let alone when it’s just time to myself outside of the dorm.”

“Oh where would you like to go?” Sunny asked and pushed the engine start button. She pulled out and into the semi-congested traffic of the Seoul. “Idol Village would be fun but that’s too long of a drive.”

“Can we just go for a drive? Somewhere scenic, maybe Incheon, just run along the water and the lights?” Hyomin suggested. Sunny nodded and pulled onto the freeway and drove around on the streets. “I like to see the lights and relax sometimes. Do you think... no it’d be silly...”

Sunny asked what lingered on Hyomin’s mind and she said she wanted to switch seats and drive. Hyomin haven’t had time to actually test for her driver’s license but she did know how to drive and want to do it since well, normally she couldn’t. Sunny pulled over and two switch seats and Hyomin happily sped through the streets. Sunny understood the thrill and excitement of driving; when you start off driving, it’s fun and exciting and then it becomes a chore. Their dinner had been at around 6:45 and after  their driving it was now nearing 9:45.

“You’re lucky we kept the heater off, otherwise that cake would have been destroyed. I did pay an awful lot for that cake,” Sunny commented after they parked at a local coffee shop to pick up two cream tea blend drinks.

**************************

“Sir, you’re not going to believe this...”

“I don’t have time for games, what is it?” Siwon asked while at the NIS office.

“I spotted one of the female subjects at a bubble tea cafe,” the henchman answered.

“Which one?”

“The shorter one.”

“I see, hold position, I’ll send you help. Don’t let her out of your sight!”

“She has someone with her, some civilian female,” man replied.

“I don’t care. You know what the standing order from the boss is, so handle it.”

“Understood.”

****************

Sunny and Hyomin enjoyed a bit of drinks in the car while listening to the radio. Hyomin thanked Sunny for the drink and for going inside to the shop. Hyomin was able to stay hidden from public attention behind the tint of the windows of the sports sedan.

***Being a wanted target put things differently for you. Paranoia becomes an increasingly annoying part of your life, it becomes almost automatic. It does put a burden on you trying to have fun and relax when you’re out with other people. I guess that’s why you’re not suppose to be too social during these periods. But you’re having fun with an idol, and the last thing you want to do is show off that you’re some weird paranoid freak who turns at every breeze. Special training does allows you to try and work through who is friendly and who is hostile, but still at the end of the day it’s a form of profiling. Observing is half, the other to calculating and considering the possibilities; but some things do stand out. Like too many cars pulling into parking spots around you, and not like around you like the next car over but like the opposite lot, a block down. Normally this isn’t too suspicious but when you noticed each of these cars have multiple passengers and are pretty specific about getting a spot and they come at relatively the same time or within minutes of each other. It’s how police take down teams move on a target location, it’s how nearly everyone sets up for an extraction.***

“Oh Hyomin, are you done with that? I’ll throw it away and how about I drive us back. It’s getting dark, I’m sure there will be a lot of police out looking for drunk drivers. If we get pulled over and they see you don’t have a license, it would make a bad scandal,” Sunny said. She took the cups and stepped out of the car to throw it away in a trash can and walked around to the driver side. Hyomin cautiously got out and quickly went to the passenger side, successfully avoiding attention from passer-bys. Sunny noticed that men and women in various types of winter clothing were closing in on the car. “Oh Hyomin, how do feel about me having to save your life again?”

“Huh?”

“Buckle up and hold on.” Sunny pulled the shifter into reverse and pulled out of the parking lot right into traffic; causing great deal of panic, honking and unpleasantness outside as well as some screaming from Hyomin inside. Sunny’s paranoia was right on, as the aforementioned men and women ran after the car but this time with weapons drawn and some even opened fired. “Hyomin get down! No, keep your seatbelt on too!”

***Evasive driving and true defensive drive means pushing the car to the limits to safely get away from your opponents creating both time and distance. Everyone knows that a minute, even a second is hard to make up. A popular Hollywood car stunt is a ‘J-turn’, which is sort of derived from the bootlegger’s turn back from America’s prohibition days. A bootlegger’s turn is basically a ‘J-turn’ except without the reverse. J-turns look flashy because you go in reverse and suddenly flip 180 and go forward, but in practical terms, it allows that quick 180 getaway change of direction in seconds and without you losing too much momentum. In an automatic car like the IS350, completing the J-turn is a matter of completing a few steps: 1. Accelerate in reverse up to 30-35 mph (45-55kph) and keep your foot on the accelerator. 2. Place your left hand at two o’clock and your right hand at 8 o’clock on the steering wheel. This will make it easier to turn. 3. You’re at the right speed and your hands are set, in ONE and QUICK motion get off the accelerator and rip the steering wheel counter-clockwise (to the left) at least a half of a turn, but the more the better. 4. You’ll turn really sharply to the right (driver’s right). When the car is about to complete the180 degree mark, make another sharp turn of the steering wheel in the opposite direction to bring the wheels back in line. 5. Slip the shifter to Drive and punch it. ***

Sunny flipped the Lexus and punch in through traffic darting through existing traffic and now trying to run away from the cars following them.

“Sunny’s what’s going on?! What are you doing?!” Hyomin screamed.

“There are some bad people after us, well actually after me and if they catch us, they’ll kill us both. I don’t think they make exceptions for idols. I’m sorry…” Sunny answered, and emphases the ‘sorry’ with sympathy. “Not quite the night you were looking for huh?”

“After you?! What did you do?! What’s going on?!”

“I’d love to tell you, and I will later. But first I let me save our lives and get away from these guys and get you home safely,” Sunny said while focused on driving.

“What?! Weren’t they just shooting at us?! Sunny, what aren’t you telling me?!”

“I promise, I’ll tell you later. But remember when you asked how I knew Jessica? I’m sort of in that line of work…”