“So you’ll be able to get rid of these people and end the trade?” Becky asked. The coffee show was scouted before hand for safety concerns, the heat has been up since the car chase. “And who's this?”

“Your fairy godmother,” Jessica answered through her shades.

“She’s making this all possible, well her and her friend,” Bora answered. Earlier in the morning Tiffany had went to the office and worked through getting the ‘package’ out to the sheik.

“Just tell your friend to hang on just a little longer, it will be over soon and she’ll be free from these guys,” Sunny answered confidently.

“How? Are you going to the police?” Becky asked. She had to explain how taking the game to the clients will push pressure onto pimps and boss-men. Powerful men won’t like to be held in blackmail or pushed around so they’ll eliminate the pimps for us; that would free the girls and keep clean their hands. “So some of the clients, the people that abuse these girls will be helping them?”

“When you put it like that, it just sounds so damn sick. Listen, we can blackmail the handlers, but this is a step further. People don’t like to be exposed to doing something that is illegal and immoral, even if they are immoral themselves. Reputation is important to some people and they will go to great lengths to protect it,” Jessica explained.

“Oh I see, so to protect themselves they’ll eliminate the people that could expose them... but wait, what does that mean for the girls?” Becky asked.

“Don’t worry, we have that handled, just trust us! Do you always question people this much when they’re helping you? Have some faith, we’re professionals,” Jessica said feeling a bit annoyed with Becky’s constant worrying. After Becky felt assured she thanked them again for their help and left the small cafe. “So I forgot there were girls in there, you don’t think they’ll take care of the girls too do you?”

“Umm, you didn’t listen to Tiffany did you? Well most girls know to keep quiet and so we feel they will be safe, but what we’re going to do free any girls they have in the slave trade and then move to back to take away the records of the girls. Local girls forced into working won’t be remembered by the bad guys since they’re come and go type girls, we just gotta get rid of number lists and free any girls they already have,” Bora explained.

“I regret my decision to help you guys...” Jessica said sarcastically.

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

“Taeng! Taeyeon! Wake up! Let me in!” Hyoyeon pounded on the door. Taeyeon woke up groggy and opened the door nonchalantly. “What is wrong with you? Do you know what time it is?”

“Huh? It’s still early...” Taeyeon replied in confusion but then glanced at the clock on her wall. It was indeed later than normal. “What? That can’t be right...”

“It is. Anything going on?” Hyoyeon asked. It was unusual for Taeyeon to be late, but then again there wasn’t really a ‘clock in’ schedule for their job. They worked hours until the mission was done but Taeyeon liked to show up early and leave the office at a reasonable time and finish her work at home. “Three hours is a bit much for you.”

“I went to bed at the normal time why would I wake up so late... I had some hamburgers but that’s a weekly thing...” Taeyeon commented. The hamburgers. It hit her that maybe someone added something to ensure she stay asleep, but for what purpose. She ran wildly for a notepad.

“What? What about hamburgers?” Hyoyeon asked. Taeyeon came back and starting scribbling a message out to Hyoyeon.

‘What if the burgers were drugged’ - Taeyeon wrote.

“And what makes you think that?” Hyoyeon asked.

"Bugs in our office... Say they make sure I’d sleep deeply so they can put bugs to monitor our progress here."

“Well Taeng, that’s really interesting, I wonder why I had an early morning today,” Hyoyeon commented playing along. Taeyeon scribbled some more asking if Hyoyeon had any of the RF detectors to look for listening devices and other bugs; she did not. The two quietly went around looking for signs of forced entry and couldn’t find any. Professionals again. This was close to home.

“I’m hungry, let’s go get something to eat,” Taeyeon said loudly but within normal range. When they were well outside of Taeyeon’s apartment she spoke regularly with Hyoyeon. “I usually wake up early every day, without using an alarm... something wrong happened... what if someone followed me from the office and put something into one of the burgers I ordered? I was using a drive through...”

“How would they? They’d have to know in advance...”

“It’s because I go to the same one every Wednesday! Sneak into the kitchen or pay an employee to add something to a burger. I mean these people aren’t paid that much so a little extra cash wouldn’t hurt them.”

“Do you want a tox screen?”

“Why bother? It obviously wasn’t a poison...They didn’t want me dead, yet.”

“We should still get you one. We’ll go down to Central to get the bloodwork done. Keep this clear from anyone at the station,” Hyoyeon said.

“Okay. But let’s get something to eat first, I’m starving...”

“Fine.”

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

“So you got in to her home and didn’t kill her?” Seunghyun asked. “My my Siwon, you have gotten soft...”

“Killing her doesn’t help us. We just needed to keep track of her progress,” Siwon defended.

“You have too much faith in her. I don’t see her as being useful.”

“Don’t be too eager my friend... she’s not our primary concern. Killing off more people only makes a bigger mess of things. You know we have to keep it contained and make sure things go smoothly.”

“Have it your way. I’ll handle the shortie and the junior agent, you’ll find that I’ll have far better results too,” Seunghyun said with a hint of confidence.

“You go do that,” Siwon answered sarcastically. His phone buzzed on the table; he checked the message and it came from NIS. “I’m wanted at the office.”

“Yes, go play good guy over at NIS, just remember to get the job done.”

“I don’t forget. And I always get the job done,” Siwon answered and walked out. “Don’t make anything that I can’t clean up.”

“No promises.”

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

“Hyomin? You’ve been pretty quiet lately, even for you... is something wrong?” Eunjung asked.

“Unnie has been like for a while now, she’s just going through her swings...” Jiyeon commented. T-ara had their usual early morning rounds of schedules and training; everyone was quite used to the demands and stress of the job and did their best to put up with it. When a member seemed out of it, it was usually for something personal or unrelated to work. Everyone is always tired, so feeling quiet and detached had to something more, like being sick or ill family member. They weren’t rookies anymore and well past the normal home-sickness, it must have been something related to what happened when Hyomin went out the other night.

“Did you see the news last night? They said there was shooting everywhere in the streets! I hope you had avoided that Hyominie,” Soyeon commented on their break. The managers were even talking about it. The news was hitting big nowadays; the shootings and deaths made things seem dangerous and everyone had a theory. They argued that foreigners were to blame for the violence; other said it was drugs; Hyomin was there and she doesn’t even know what exactly was going on. Various images of the night before played through her head.

The good moments, the bad moments, they kept alternating in flashes that she still couldn’t really give a solid answer on how she felt. For once “it’s complicated” seemed like a fitting answer. She loosely ran through the practice, passively moving along and getting by on muscle memory; her half-hearted efforts were good enough to make it through without any of the managers or choreographer scolding them. They were awarded their break time and all went to check their phones and drink water.Soyeon and Jiyeon played a bit with their social media and Hyomin got a new text message from none other than Sunny.

‘Hello! I’m sorry about last night! I hope you don’t hold it against me! I’ll make it up to you, I promise. I had a good time (all things considering) did you?’

Hyomin just chuckled. She couldn’t think of a reply right away, after all she was Hyomin, T-ara’s creative genius, so she needed to come up with something creative and dorky that was in her style. There just wasn’t much to say in the moment. Keep it short, simple and ambiguous.

‘It was eventful but I’m fully not satisfied... That’s not how you treat a girl to a date! I hope you have a good plan to make up for it...’

‘You have my word.’

‘Thanks for saving my life... Again.’

‘You’re welcome. I’d do it again in a heartbeat!’

‘I’m busy so I’ll talk to you later. Bye.’

Hyomin got back up to join the rest for more practice. Practice. A light shower. Schedules. Her daily life as an idol wasn’t overly complicated; there were just a lot of things to do and so little time to do them. Personal life usually took a backseat to things but this was rather big presence in her world. Sunny, Sunny, Sunny... just what was she?

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

Tiffany put the plan in action and everyone was getting ready. Bora was set with taking pictures of everything happening while Jessica and Sunny were tasked with making sure none of the girls were harmed. It seemed like such a small impact, taking out one little shop of the trade but it maybe just enough to make the world seem righteous. Here comes the Mercedes convoy, bingo it’s show time.

**No one will ever admit this but one of the best way governments like to get things done is by having others do it for them. Someone else do the dirty work. It’s cost effective; the resources to gather information and set up the blackmail, bring the bait and release the shark is way less than gathering the resources and then using your own guys. There are dangers too, no one likes to be used so there is a chance of backfire, you just gotta be ready and prepared. Know what your target, know who you want after the target and know your plans.****

Everyone was set and in position. Sunny and Jessica waited for the sheik’s people to do their thing and hopefully get away with no harm to any of the girls. There was a noticeable few girls this time for ‘work’. None of which were Becky’s friend as they could see but none the less, girls who got entrapped into the business. There was some calm but loud talking. Some defensive and aggressive denying from the men. Then there was a scream, one of those ‘that really hurts’ kind of screams. This time there was more aggressive yelling followed by denying. Bora kept snapping photos of the argument from her safe location. There was anger. People were going to die.

“Okay here’s your chance, go get the girls moving,” Bora informed them. Jessica and Sunny moved into the room from a pre-cut hole in the wall that they did earlier. The two were in the adjacent building, which by luck was vacant and up for lease. They came in and quietly worked a hole through the wall and then covered the hole until it was ready for use.

**People often reinforce doors and windows but forget the walls. It’s overlooked. Especially with most buildings of this nature; quick low grade commercial stuff, the walls are just a single layer of sheet metal or dry wall.***

“Shhhh... we’re here to help and to get you out of here. Follow her out that hole and stay quiet,” Sunny said calmly.

“What’s going on?” A girl asked.

“We’re freeing you from your contract. Let’s go!” Jessica answered.

“There isn’t much time so hurry!” Sunny said and lead the six girls out to Jessica. Sunny quickly returned in and looked for the manifest of girls.

“We have to work or else...”

“Honey, trust me that won’t be a problem for you anymore,” Jessica said and yanked the girl through the hole. Sunny followed after and put back up the cut-out to cover the hole. “Hey B, we’re cleared. We’re moving out to the extract.”

“I gotcha! Just a few more shots, they’re not done,” Bora replied over the radio. She pulled in the last remaining photos and began to pack up her audio recording equipment. “I’m moving.”

Bora moved her way around as quickly as she could to get back to the street and strolled normally until she could meet up with the rest. Jessica had rented a van for movement of the girls. They were going to move into a safer part of town and release the girls and then to Tiffany’s apartment so she could prepare the ‘Just-in-Case’ package of blackmail material to help keep the sheik under control.

“Took you long enough kid. You clean?” Jessica asked when Bora met up with the van and hopped in.

“No one followed me, I’d check. We’re good to go!” Bora said with a light cheer which Jessica brushed off and hurried the girl into the van and drove off toward the closest university district.

“Okay. Congratulations on your new freedom. Please don’t ever come back to this type of life, and don’t ever tell anyone what happened today,” Jessica instructed the girls and then gave them a boot out of the van.

“That was a little rude,” Sunny stated.

“What were you expecting? These girls are used to it. We have to show the force that we’re in charge, let them understand it’s been handled. Besides I have to return the van on time. Lateness stands out to people who might look into this.”

“Who would look into it?” Bora asked.

“Well considering we ruined some business of some very bitter men. Word hits around about what happens people will want to know; the police, the mob, etc. We have to stay ahead of the game. You two already got people in Jasmine all worked up over you guys, there is no need to add to the list,” Jessica explained pulling over at a busy street to let Sunny and Bora out. “Okay, meet up in two hours. Tiffany will be on her lunch break and it will be at the Delights’ Cafe. Stay out of trouble.”

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

“Agent Kim, your blood work came back. It’s a mild trace of a sleep agent, biodegradable but here’s the funny thing, the compounds look very much like the same one that NIS uses,” a lab tech said.

“How much the same?” Hyoyeon asked looking at Taeyeon.

“Well, I mean it’s pretty degraded so it’s hard to say, but I would say it is the same type of we use. Just maybe a different manufacturer or combination of ingredients, it is a popular compound among intelligence agencies. I can try and get you a list of agencies that have used it before.”

“Yes, please do that. Thank you,” Hyoyeon said and dismissed the lab tech. She turned to Taeyeon. “Well, you didn’t want the bloodtox and look at that, we got a lead already.”

“Very thin one though, ‘intelligence agency’. That could be anyone who’s had training. It doesn’t help us yet,” Taeyeon replied.

“Sunny and Bora, would they have experience or exposure to it?” Hyoyeon asked, thinking about what to do with the information.

“It seems doubtful. Sunny came from a military background, they didn’t use this sort of stuff, they had tranquilizers. I don’t know how much of the espionage training those two have had, but getting the sleep compound into a burger and then breaking into my apartment. Not saying it takes a lot of skill, but that requires good planning and quite possibly even more field experience. It seems too risky for them to have done it, besides why would they try to find out what I was doing? They know we’re hunting them,” Taeyeon answered.

“We’re hunting them, maybe they want to know how much there was on us. Bora knew that we were assigned to the case and onto Sunny. Argh!!! We interviewed her twice. She was right under our noses and didn’t do anything about it!” Hyoyeon added with flair of emotion.

“It’s okay, we didn’t know. She played us both; don’t get too worked over it. I mean after all, she also has NIS training,” Taeyeon said to calm Hyoyeon a bit.

“You’re right... you’re right. But we’ll catch them, and we’ll bring them to justice, I just know it.” Hyoyeon said and looked over at the charts they had on the walls of the past events. Normally there weren’t too many violent crimes but they had already begun to assume that Bora and Sunny had some involvement in them. Each incident made room for more and more leads and they had agents around chasing down dead-ends. Today the two were going to start chasing some leads and do some street work.

“Where are we going first?”

“I think we should pay Little Bobo a visit,” Hyoyeon said with a smile and grabbed her coat. Little Bobo was a very small time and tiny player out in Itaewon. He mostly did small loans, pawning and small time drugs. He started out in his youth with pick-pocketing tourists and scamming visitors; he’s since upgraded to selling ‘magic’ pills and ‘crazy’ lettuce to tourist, college students and US troops stationed there. It was a step up and from petty crimes and he did grow up, but to say he matured was still a stretched of a statement.

Little Bobo knew tourist were better off if they weren't’ getting ripped off or robbed from; if people have a good time in Korea they’ll come back or tell their friends, that would mean more business. The Yakuza and Italian mafia employ similar tactics; protect the people of their area regardless who it was. Ever wonder why Little Italy was always so nice to visit? Underground crime is bad, but they have some good uses. Bobo’s territory wasn’t big and he hardly had a large posse of people to help him. Bobo stayed out of jail simply through a misplaced charm and sly tricks, and frankly because the local police were too busy to notice.

The dark navy blue sedan pulled up into the district. Field work is dangerous business, but Little Bobo wasn’t exactly imposing in fear so even the likes of Hyoyeon and Taeyeon could sway him around. They walked into the noodle shop nonchalantly and went to the desk to speak to the manager. “We’re a little lost, do you know someone who can help us?” They were pointed to a door that led to the back. “Thank you.”

Hyoyeon walked in first and spotted the little man sitting at a table with stacks of money; he was working on printing some flyers with dates of events, apparently he really had taken some interest in the tourism business. “Can I help you? What are you doing here?” He asked noticing the two ladies.

“Just a bit lost and looking for the right directions from the right guy,” Hyoyeon spoke out. Hyoyeon often played bad cop and had a very aggressive tactic when her patience was low; for now she was still in a reserved mood.

“I don’t think I can help?”

“That’s a shame, from what I heard you were the one to see... Why would you lie Bobo?” Taeyeon added. “We know you know.”

“I know nothing.”

“Why do you play these games?”Hyoyeon asked as she took a seat on the table and pulled the laptop onto her lap. “What is this... what are you doing? Internet ?”

“Hey! I’m working here, I don’t come bother you at work do I?” Bobo clearly annoyed.“But you can’t come visit us at work, so we brought it to you... I’ll say again, we need some directions,” Hyoyeon stated in her usual calm demeanor.

“That’s not how it works, didn’t anyone tell you?”

“Oh that’s right,” Taeyeon said while smacking her head. She pulled out her cellphone and pulled out a few green bills and walked closer to his direction. “So like we were saying, we needed some directions.”

Hyoyeon placed the laptop down and looked sternly over at Taeyeon. “Oh no don’t! We’re not going to play his game!” She spun on the table and kicked her legs to his chest knocking him and the chair down to the ground and she immediately got on top of him.”Directions now!”

“Are you ing insane?! Do you want to die?!?!”

“Do you?” Hyoyeon asked back coldly with a devilish grin. She pulled out a tiny pocket knife and flipped it open with her right hand and ran the blade along his cheek. “You missed a spot shaving, let me help you.”

“Hyo... don’t...” Taeyeon pleaded.

“Oh no, I intend to get my directions...”

“Bobo, you better tell her, she’s very adamant today,” Taeyeon said.

“Alright! Alright! What do you want to know!?” He said giving as he felt the blade peel away some loose hair.

“You’ve seen what’s been happening on the news right? Tell us what you know,” Hyoyeon demanded.

“What are you talking about?” Bobo cried.

“Don’t play dumb now, the shootings, the car chases, the dead people everywhere. You have a blade on your face and an unstable person holding it... this is not the time to play around,” Taeyeon said.

“I just hate it when a grown man can’t shave himself properly... you know what I mean?” Hyoyeon grinned through her teeth. Her blade skipped to the other cheek and tugged at his skin.

“Bobo...”

“Alright! ALRIGHT! I know something, just get off of me!” He shouted and struggled to push Hyoyeon but she pushed him back down and placed the knife back to his face.

“Not so fast, I gotta like what I hear first,” Hyoyeon responded.

“Okay! Okay! There’s some heat on these two girls. I don’t know who they are or what they did but people want them. Want them bad. Some say it’s Jasmine who wants these girls.”

“Says who?”

“I don’t know! Birds don’t have faces or names that I can remember. Local small time thugs are on the lookout, there is a bounty. I haven’t heard anything. Hell I haven’t even seen a picture of the two chicks. I just know someone wants them, I heard they’re wanted by the police too,” He said freely.

“We’re not learning anything new are we?” Hyoyeon asked to Taeyeon. Taeyeon shook her head no. “You’re going to have to do better.”

“The Americans want them too!” Bobo screamed as the blade made a like scratch on his skin. “The Americans want the girls too!”

“What? What do you mean the Americans?” Hyoyeon asked a bit curious. She was aware that Sunny and Bora were placed on the allied net and wanted for possible murder, treason, espionage, etc. The allied net and all the other watchlist were more of ‘if you see this person, please detain and contact these people’. Why would the Americans be interested in two Korean nationals?

“A while ago, some American came asking about the two girls and asked about some things regarding Jasmine. She wanted to know details about Jasmine activity but I told her they don’t really play in this territory. She wanted to know about some minor drug movement, and she wanted to know a new car guy.”

“Who is this person? How do you know she’s American?” Taeyeon asked.

“I sell information to her, she’s American intelligence!” Bobo said feeling some hairs t off his eyebrows. Hyoyeon and Taeyeon exchanged a look with each other; they both were curious to what the CIA or NSA would want with Sunny and Bora. American intelligence usually meant CIA, but there were a few NSA operatives and offices in Korea.

“Where can we find her?” Hyoyeon asked. Bobo shrugged his shoulders. “Tell us something about her!”

“Korean, Blonde hair, taller than both of you, drives an American car. The newer Ford Mustang! I only seen her a few times. She’s very pretty... you wouldn’t be able to forget her face!”

“How about a name genius?” Hyoyeon asked poking the knife into Bobo’s face.

“I don’t know it. She never told me. She could have been CIA, NSA, I wouldn’t know. The money was mint and government sealed. It was always just business,” Bobo answered. Hyoyeon pulled the knife away and got off of him. Bobo sat himself up and brushed himself off.

“Are you guys satisfied? I’d like to be able to get back to work now...” Bobo said with some displeasure.

“Yeah, go back to your and scraping tourists. We’ll be back,” Hyoyeon said and walked off. “Thanks for nothing.”

Hyoyeon and Taeyeon walked out and headed to their car. They hardly learned anything new except that the Americans had an interest in their two wanted felons. Jasmine. The Americans. None of it at the moment seemed to added up. The glanced over their car and the surroundings once over before getting in and driving off.

“So now what?” Hyoyeon asked.

“We look for an Korean-American girl who drives a Mustang. There can’t be too many of those right?” Taeyeon asked while writing down some notes into her cellphone from the passenger seat.

“Is this information even any good to us? How does it even make sense?”

“Well that’s what we’ll just have to find out won’t we?” Taeyeon stated. “Hey do you think I can be the bad-cop next time?”

“I don’t know… It’s just not your style… I don’t think you have the fearfulness to make it work.”

“What?! I’m scary, I can be scary!” Taeyeon protested.

“Yeah, you’re as scary as a box of kittens…”

“Hey, if you were allergic to cats, then a box of kittens would be pretty damn scary…”

“And that is why you don’t get to be bad-cop…”

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

“Do you feel good about helping out the girls?” Bora asked while they walked the busy sidewalks.

“I think so, we helped out Becky’s friend and took some bad guys off the streets,” Sunny answered.

“But there will always be more.”

“We can’t change the world, we can only do our part...Oh look! Girls’ Day socks!” Sunny said and darted over to the idol socks out on display at the stall. “These are so cute! Bora look!” Sunny went through and pulled down some of the socks and went to pay for them; Bora just carried a look that combined confusion and amazement.

By now Bora should have noticed that Sunny was bit of a free spirit and very relaxed, but Bora suspected that it was how Sunny trained or taught herself to get through moments of high stress. Bora was thrilled about being able to help those girls but still the gravity of the situation she was in kept pushing down on her. She felt like screaming and pulling her hair out; Sunny on the other hand is buying socks. The girl had a strange way of getting around but it must be how people in her profession did it; everyone had their ways. Sunny was just to be a silly, cheerful and carefree girl.

“Sunny I don’t get you sometimes... really... I mean we have to meet up with Tiffany and Jessica in two hours. Socks? Really, argh... I’m hungry too, I’m not sure if I can wait two hours...” Bora pouted.

“I think you’ll have to wait... we can’t afford to stop for food... I think we’re being followed,” Sunny said carelessly taking a look through the contents she just purchased in its plastic bag.

“What?!”

“I can’t be certain, but I do see some people over there from a while back. They weren’t following us before, but I think they were a random patrol they recognized us and they went out of their way to follow us,” Sunny explained.

“Who?” Bora asked acting more nonchalant. Sunny carefully described the four people following them; three males and one female. There were subtle hints that tagged the four as possible Jasmine operatives. They didn’t wear heavy clothing, and had a thermal layer on for warmth and the way one of them made a call on the cellphone. It was brief paranoia and really just a struck of luck that Sunny spotted them. Sunny had learned how to read lips but wasn’t fluent and it wasn’t an exact science just yet, but she was sure they called in to report.

Sunny and Bora left the little shop to continue through the crowd of the sidewalk to make some distance on their followers but keeping visual was becoming difficult too. They stayed on the main sidewalks and avoided going through alleyways and small roads until they could create more space; taking a detour too soon could result in bad results and lead them to an ambush or a dead-end. Either would be bad.

****Experience is often important in working in the field. It’s a big catch-22, to be in the field you need to be experienced but in order to get that experience you have to be given a chance to work in the field. Too often that means on-the-job training, which also means there are plenty of of mistakes to be made. You learn from them, but often time you won’t like it. You learn very soon that besides flight or fight, there is another option: give up. There is a time to run, a time to fight, but sometimes you got have to put your hands up and be captured.****

“Bora wait! Not that way!” Sunny shouted. Bora was walking faster than Sunny and had taken point leading them through the maze. They took a turn onto a cross street and went on heading towards the back end of some smaller back alley behind some shops. They rounded around the corner and found some men standing with weapons trained at them. “Crap... We can’t get out of this one...”

Sunny whispered loudly to Bora and gently placed her hand on Bora’s right arm telling her not to draw her pistol. They had lost this round.

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

“Unnie, I think Hyomin is dating someone,” Jiyeon said to Eunjung. “She’s been acting weird lately, well she’s always weird.. but like she checks her phone way more often than normal... and not just that, she looks at the phone and thinks about sending a message but she then stops and doesn’t...”

“If you try to understand Hyomin you’ll only get lost... she’s too busy to be seeing anyone... we all would know about if she was... don’t you think?”

“Idols can be very sneaky you know,” Jiyeon countered.

“Except for idols like her, she’s a brilliant girl... but I mean, that doesn’t make her the first choice bulb,” Eunjung said.

“Hey, what are you guys talking about?” Hyomin walked in.

“Lightbulbs,” Jiyeon answered. Hyomin had a confused look on her face and wondered why lightbulbs would be at all an interesting conversation. “Don’t worry about it Hyomin, it’s not a big deal, just lightbulbs.”

“Uh okay... anyways manager says they’re gonna take us out to ice cream tonight!” Hyomin said.

“Why?!”

“I don’t know, that’s what Boram told me. I’m not complaining, it’s ice cream,” Hyomin responded and looked at her cellphone. Jiyeon and Eunjung could sense that Hyomin was waiting, or rather wanting someone to call or text her.

“We must have done something right, it happens...” Eunjung joked.

Hyomin smiled and laughed with the joke while playing with her phone in a highly impatient manner. She walked with the crowd out to the practice room where one of their managers was waiting to take them to get ice cream. Well actually frozen yogurt, nothing simple like a Good Humor bar or Blue Bell, but the popular self-serve and top your own treat type. She trailed behind everyone so she could dial her phone.

The number you reach is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.’ Hyomin sighed and cursed at her phone. The damn girl didn’t pick up.

“Hurry up Hyomin, or we’ll leave you!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” She shouted back and quickened her pace to the van.

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

They were tied up and placed into the trunk of a large sedan, a large professionally prepared one too. The glow in the dark emergency trunk release lever was missing, no rough edges, nothing. There was no light that could be seen. Their feet and arms were bound with zip-ties.

“I hope you have a plan for this one...” Bora said, feeling the tension of the situation.

“Sort of. Can you reach for my shoes?” Sunny asked wiggling her way towards Bora.

“Let me try... why, what’s up...?” Bora responded working her hands, which were tied in front of them.

“My shoelaces... we need them to get out of these zip-ties,” Sunny explained moving her feet to better position for Bora to work with.

***There are many ways to get out of zip-ties, but a lot of those options disappear when you’re in a trunk, so it really helps to have the right tools. Replacing your shoelaces with 550-paracord, or parachute cord comes in handy. It’s very sturdy and powerful, and very useful. A trick I picked up from those American D-boys (1 SFOD-D, Delta Force). This cord is pretty handy and popular for outdoors people as well; you can use it to tie down cargo, hold things together, etc. In this case, the paracord can be used as a ‘saw’ to cut through the plastic of the zip-ties. It takes a little bit of work to set up, but once you get the cord set on the plastic, it won’t take long to ‘burn’ your way through the zip-ties.***

Bora caught on to Sunny’s plans and they were able to get free of the zip-ties; freeing their feet and then their hands and pulled off the hoods over their heads.

“Where do you think they’re taking us?” Bora asked.

“I don’t know somewhere unpleasant. They most likely want us alive just long enough to plant us somewhere...”

“That would make sense, they took our guns, and we’re already being labeled as traitors... Jasmine wants to frame us for more, now that they have us... it’ll be easy... right?”

“Um... I don’t know, just... let me get my shoelaces back in...”

“That was a really cool trick, now I know why all your shoes have those ugly laces, they’re really paracord...” Bora said.

“Yeah... we’ll have to wait until we stop and they open the trunk for us to make a move... they cut off the trunk release latch in here,” Sunny noticing the environment around her.

“That sounds crappy too though, we’re still at a disadvantage... the only difference is that our hands are freed... we can’t just escape now too... we need our guns back... our fingerprints and...” Bora thought outloud.

“I know, they can use it to frame us, that’s why they took them from us like they did, instead of just disposing of them... I’m not sure what to do anymore, they have our phones?” Sunny asked.

“Just our burners, but being that they’re Jasmine, they might find the origin of the burners. It should be okay, but Korea isn’t that big, they can trace it back if they are patient enough...” Bora noted.

“Okay, this is the plan, I’ll take whoever is on the left... you take the right...” Sunny started.

“Wait wait wait... when you say left like our left, or the car’s left, as in driver side left... or is our right...”

“Okay, I’ll take whoever is on the driver side and you take whoever comes to get us from the passenger side, okay?” Sunny asked. Bora nodded. They would have to be quick and swift; they were in a rough spot. “Man, maybe we should have waited for them to pull us out of the trunk first than gotten free...”

“You haven’t done this before?”

“No... I mean in the army you don’t really spend time attacking people from trunks of cars you know...” Sunny replied with a slight glare.

“Great... okay well I hope this goes well...” Bora said uneasy with the plan. The car eventually pulled to a stop. They knew they were somewhere secluded from the outside because the sound of pedestrians and other cars were no longer apparent. “This is it...” Doors opened and there was very little chatter; the men in the cars already knew what they had to do. The girls had to be fast if they want to make this work.

The trunk lid flew up open and instinctively Bora grabbed at the single man and pulled him in towards the trunk. It was a swift and fluid motion and brought his head to trunk lid, resulting in a bump and a daze. The man closest the driver side was a bit a ways off and Sunny quickly leaped at him and caught him off guard. Bora quickly looked for the pistol while Sunny did the same as she was taking down her target.

There were four men from the car they were in. Sunny had obtained a gun quickly and work to shoot one of the other men. Shooting one-handed was Sunny’s least favorite shooting platform but she had no choice as she had to quickly drop the man as his gun was already drawn and pointed at her. Bora found the gun and shot at the other man but not after taking a few bullets fired in her direction. She wasn’t hit but it was close for comfort; but they weren’t safe just yet.

They had arrived in a convoy with a van where other men with weapons where. After dropping all the men from the car Sunny was able to get both hands on the pistol and quickly engaged at the men from the van. Bora made her way out of the trunk to get into better position and engage the men from the van as well. The men had been relaxed after successfully getting Bora and Sunny into the trunk and it showed. Bora and Sunny quickly dropped the four guys and one chick from the van.

“You okay?” Sunny asked Bora. Bora nodded and said yeah. Both of them had emptied their pistols and still had been able to win the firefight. “Let’s find our things and get out of here... I’m sure someone else heard all the shooting.”

“I think it’ll be in the van, should we search for intel?” Bora asked. Sunny just shook her head. They knew well enough to know these guys were Jasmine and she knew the cellphones were burners, and wouldn’t get them any information. Bora found their phones and their guns. “I got our stuff, let’s get out of here.”

The two quickly and carefully looked for an exit and made it back out side of the building they were in. They were a bit far off from the inner metro area of Seoul.

“Got my socks right?” Sunny asked.

“Yeah, I got those too. We’re running late, Jessica and Tiffany are expecting us,” Bora answered looking at her cellphone’s clock. They were due at the Delight’s Cafe in twenty minutes, and with the where they were and how far they had to travel, there was no way they could make it in time. Sunny’s phone buzzed.

“Hello? Oh I know, I’m so sorry I missed your call. I’m not avoiding you. I really wouldn’t. I’ll come see you tonight! I have a lot to make up to you, yes I know. I will, I promise,” Sunny said over the phone as the two entered a cab. “But I can’t use this number anymore, I’ll get a new one, so if you see a number you don’t know, it could be me... This number just isn’t safe anymore okay, it’s not a big deal... okay”, Sunny answered.

“Who was that? Who could you possibly be risking your life to see later today?” Bora asked.

“Oh, you really wouldn’t believe it if I told you,” Sunny replied in the cab. Bora raised her eyebrows in curiosity. Sunny leaned in to whisper it into Bora’s ear to avoid letting the cab driver listen in, just in case he was one of those nosy cab-drivers. “WHAT?! Really?! Like Bo Peep Bo Peep?!”

Sunny nodded. Bora was stunned, shocked and confused. Was Sunny doing the same thing that Jessica does with other girl idols?

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

“Taeng, I got a hit on the mustang,” Hyoyeon said.

“Oh? A Korean-American with a new Ford Mustang? So Bobo comes through after all, we might need to start being nicer to him,” Taeyeon replied. Hyoyeon looked at Taeyeon for a moment and both said ‘nah’ at the same time. “Who is it”

“Jessica Jung is her legal American name. New 2014 Ford Mustang, very new. There aren’t that many on the streets here in Seoul. Says she’s a business consultant.”

“Jessica eh? Business Consultant, what is she really?” Taeyeon asked.

“Well, I looked into the business she works for, and her address. It’s all registered and legit. Even her housing. All very neat on paper. Her number is registered to another American entity. If the police were to look this girl up, it would just seem like she’s hard working American gal. It’s that good,” Hyoyeon answered.

“That good eh... maybe we should pay her a visit. We could use a consultation don’t you think?” Taeyeon asked with a smile. It was clear to the both of them that Jessica Jung was an American government employee. ‘Unnamed Female’ existed on American roster for the CIA branch out in Korea; information the Americans shared with the Koreans, just as all the Korean agents in America are listed on a roster. The sharing of lists was meant for allied countries to share a basic roster of who is working in the embassy or field station that will be protected via immunity if anything were to happen and to get a count of number of operatives have in country. ‘Unnamed’ anything usually represented someone under a NOC list or undercover; namely a spy.

“Should we schedule an appointment? Or perhaps make a call for an urgent meeting?”

“Oh, I do feel like we need immediate consultation,” Taeyeon replied with a tiny smirk.

***********

“Oh man, what is taking them so long?” Tiffany asked while claiming her table in the corner of the Delights’ Cafe. Jessica had already made her way into the cafe and was seated next to Tiffany. “Did you get the van returned alright?”

“Of course, went without a hitch,” Jessica answered confidently. “They’re running late.”

“You think something happened to them?”

“If something did, then bummer... I doubt it though, I told them to stay out of trouble,” Jessica answered calmly while looking through the menu. Bora and Sunny stumbled into the cafe and found their American friends. “You’re late.”

“We know, we got caught up in something,” Sunny replied.

“Caught up, or caught?” Tiffany added.

“A bit of both, we got tagged by a rogue patrol and they threw us into trunk and drove us something...and...” Bora started.

“And... we escaped, handled everyone and now we’re here... but we’re going to need new phones... they might have copied data off our phones while we were in trunk,” Sunny finished.

“Handled... you mean you killed them?” Tiffany pointed out.

“Well they weren’t exactly playing nice,” Bora responded.

“What part of stay out of trouble was too hard for you?” Jessica asked without looking up from the menu. “Doesn’t matter, let’s get something to eat and work this out later.”

“Yeah, I’m starving let’s eat,” Bora said. Jessica smiled.

“You’re paying... both of yah. I have to get you guys new phones, so lunch is on you guys. You guys got paid, so I know you can do it,” Jessica said in such a manner that clearly indicted there was no aruging with her. “So what will you have Tiffany?”

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

“I finally put your goons to real work... they had Bora and Sunny in their hands and lost them, and now they’re dead,” Seunghyun commented and sipped the coffee once while playing with the throwing dagger in his free hand.

“They were a roaming patrol, they weren’t the best but I was assured they were capable,” Siwon defended with a very slight annoyance, but he agreed with Seunghyun.

“Good help is always hard to find,” Seunghyun said. It was an off color comment. One wouldn’t know if it was an insult or a matter of statement. Some men walked up to the two of them.

“Sir, we got something.” The men said and handed Siwon the folder. Jasmine had some men gather up any data from the scene. “We got some things off their phones. They’re burners so the origin will take a while. We went through the contacts and found just what we had expected, except for three numbers that we didn’t recognized.”

“Anything useful?” Siwon asked.

“Look for yourself sir.”Siwon looked at the numbers and names registered. Two of the numbers were prepaid mobiles and untraceable burners. One however was registered to a company. Siwon, rather masterful with acting and facial expressions had a genuine look of confusion.

“What is it?” Seunghyun asked. He worked with Siwon enough times to know the NIS man was rarely ever stumped. This must be something big.  

“This number, it’s registered as a number to CCM,” Siwon answered.

“CCM?”

“Core Contents Media... Mnet Media... who would they know from Mnet?” Siwon asked to noone in particular.

“An employee? A friend? Didn’t you cross check everyone they knew?” Seunghyun asked.

“We did... you said Sunny was spotted in the Lexus with a female passenger?” Siwon turned his attention to the men. They nodded. “Hmm, she was seen twice with a female we didn’t know of... check the news around CCM and the internet.  Find out everyone who works there and get their whereabouts. Find out who this number belongs too.”

“Yes sir,” the men nodded and walked off.

“What are you thinking?”

“Oh I think Sunny’s new friend is gonna help us out.”

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

I've combined Chap 12 and 13 from the ious story into one Chapter 12 for you, so I do apologize for the size and length of this update. If you see any errors, point them out, i edit this a bit while at work so it isn't perfect. I'm seeing if you guys prefer the serif font over the san serif. Serif like Times New Roman were said to lead the eyes/reader the the next letter which makes them great for bodies of text. That's what I learned from journalism class in high school years ago anyways. Enjoy, thanks for the support.