Chapter 3 - Helping Out

**After spending time in the military or special operations rather, you get adjusted to sleeping anywhere and in nearly any position, but of course after nearly 7 months, coming on 8 now, of living in the civilian world, one becomes happy with the idea of sleeping in and no early morning wake-ups. There are drawbacks to drifting away in dreamland; as a light-sleeper one could hear footsteps approaching, as a deep sleeper.. well...**

“Unnie, wake up!” Bora said while kicking into Sunny. She started with the gentle taps and nudge but now turned to full kicks as the tiny fugitive refused to wake up. Sunny twitched but didn’t fully rise to the land of the awake. Bora brought a soak towel and drip the water on Sunny’s face to fully bring the girl to light. “Unnie, I’m serious, wake up! I have to go to work! I can’t have you here. NIS will look to check this place maybe, considering they understand we have a friendly relationship.”

“Oh what the hell Bora! I’m up... gosh... what am I suppose to do all day? My CIA contact is rather, preoccupied.” Sunny responded bringing herself to full speed. “The water was unnecessary you know. Fine. I’ll go. I need to go back to my place anyways.”

“Unnie, don’t get caught, and don’t do anything stupid. You owe me for helping you. If you’re caught, or worst if you’re killed, there will be no chance of me ever getting repaid the favor.” Bora said while pulling at the blankets she let Sunny used. She folded the blanket and walked it to the cabinet and went to put her shoes on by the front door. She waited for Sunny to gather her thing so they both could leave. “Hurry unnie, I prefer to not be late to work. It makes me look suspicious in the light of recent events.”

“I’m going, I’m going... say if I don’t have a place to sleep tonight... you think I could still count on you letting me stay...” Sunny asked.

“We’ll see when we get to that bridge. Stay safe okay?” Bora asked closing the door and locking it. Sunny said okay and walked to take the stairs down while Bora took the elevator.

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

“I’d said we will find her. Even if we don’t we will be okay. She’s tagged for the crime... It’s all in place, she’s a fly on the wall. We can continue with next phase. We’re ready... Understood.”

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

“So what you mean to tell me, is that we’re the NIS and we can’t seem to find her?” Taeyeon asked the team at the station. The morning briefing was off to a poor start as there were no good news to be had. “It hasn’t even been 24 hours and you guys can’t find her. These can’t be many places she’ll be. So we checked the bathhouses? Love hotels? Churches? Schools? So a supposed murdered got away from us?”

“This is a little disappointing, we’re NIS and it’s you guys who know her. You’ve worked with her, and she’s becoming difficult to find. I understand the holidays still drag over, but come on. We don’t know what she’s planning, and we still don’t know her friends.Who is she working with?! We need to freeze her bank and credit accounts. Put a hold on her passport. She can’t leave Korea, and I bet she hasn’t even left Seoul yet. So we’ll find her.” Hyoyeon added.

There was quite a buildup of files and charts pertaining to the case of Sunny. Each of the tactical officers killed were being investigated; it may be ill manner to treat the dead in such a way, but it was suggested that Sunny could have had a partner or accomplice who had more access to information. It’d only seemed logical considering she was new.

Siwon diligently worked through hustling through the office and operation center to find leads and post new information regarding the case.

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

She had stopped by a hardware store to buy a few items before returning to her apartment complex. There wasn’t much police security or NIS details that she could spot but her room did have the classic yellow crime scene tape up.

**Pretending to be a cop is tough, it most likely will get you caught when you want to look at a crime scene. Go buy a painter’s cover-all, one of those all white plastic-like jump suits, and walk around, no one will usually bother you. You just look like someone finishing up forensics work, and they won’t talk bother talking to you. That’s if you’re lucky of course...**

Sunny zipped up her white jumpsuit and stepped inside past the crime scene tape and took a moment to take in the sight. There were a lot more bullets flying around that night than she originally thought. They wrecked her apartment and forensics had been through the place but she went around looking for evidence. She went to her bedroom and began to go through her drawers. She had been in the same pair of underwear and essentially same clothes, so she pulled out a duffel bag and started to stuff in some clothes and undergarments into it.

She went looking to see if there were any other items of sentimental value that she could take; Her notebooks, photo albums and other things that all seemed rather silly to be ‘stealing’ from her own home. Truthfully, she didn’t have too many useful things at home. Her home looked rather normal; the dvds, the books, games, stuffed animals, all things seemed natural to be in a home of a woman in her mid-twenties. Nothing that suggested she was ever a special forces soldier or a NIS employee. It was sort of shameful that she was not prepared for the events that happened, but in her defense she never thought she would have to runaway.

After she stuffed her duffel bag she stepped out of her room, and got out of the jumpsuit and casually walked away from the complex. She flagged down a taxi and asked to be taken back towards Jessica’s apartment, thought she was careful enough to ask to be dropped off a few blocks shy of the destination, this way if the driver was questioned, he would be honest and say he dropped her off nowhere special in particular. She walked through the crowds and stopped at a little cafe to get a meal.

She noticed in the alley corner that there was a girl getting pushed around by some guy. Sunny wanted to do something, or say something but she had to enjoy her meal and keep a low profile. The girl looked young and frighten, clearly at the mercy of the man, for some reason she seemed rather apologetic to him and kept bowing and had teary eyes. Sunny finished eating and had continued to watch the scene unfold across the street. It was curious as to why no one else seemed to notice, or rather care. Finally the man walked away after giving some type of ultimatum or demand, and the girl just sort of collapsed to the wall in some signs of defeat. Sunny checked her watch and wondered why Jessica hadn’t given a call to her yet, it’d be rude to just barge in, but she was tired of waiting.

Jessica opened the door knowing full well it was Sunny at the door. Sunny walked in freely and casually and dropped her things and proceeded to take a seat on the recliner.

“This isn’t your home, you don’t just walk in freely and come as you please. I’d said I help you, but you’re taking this a bit far you know.” Jessica said after closing the door.

“Sorry, I couldn’t wait any longer. Where is Gayoon? Are you under that robe? Wait does that mean you and her....Did the um....”

“She left a while ago, and that is on a need to know basis. I don’t think you really need to know. What’s with all this stuff? I told you that you couldn’t come living here.” Jessica answered.

“It seems silly to me, considering you have a spare bedroom...” Sunny said.

“That’s not the point... I said no and you don’t listen. Anyways I did make a few calls to check up on you. It’s really tight lipped right now. No one knows anything. Except well, you don’t have credit, your bank account has shown a deposit of $500,000 and now it’s empty.”

“What?! I never had half a million dollars. Empty, what do you mean? I had like $15,000 in my bank account.”

“Keyword my dear, ‘Had’. Oh by the way, on the counter is Gayoon’s autograph. She was nice enough to give it to you. I told you were a helpless fangirl.”

“You think one signature can make up for the fact that I been robbed? I saved up and worked hard for that money!” Sunny approached the autographed photo and sighed. She noticed a photo under the autographed photo, one that showed Jessica and Gayoon together smiling, except they only had sheets covering them. “What the hell is this? What kind of photos are you taking.”

“Oh, oops, that is mine. Sorry... but anyways, I’m gonna get dress and see if I can go get some information for you. You may use my shower or whatever, but I can’t have you stay. That’s just too dangerous right now. You know?” Jessica said. She walked to her bedroom and let the robe all to the ground as she went through her closet for something to wear.

**Some things are taken for granted, like a nice hot shower. Even a cold one. When working as a special operator, you don’t always get a chance to shower. It’s the same with spies. And if you have been running for the past two days because someone wants you dead, you’ll want a nice shower too. Sometimes it’s the simple things that can bring you down to speed.**

“I understand. I got it. So you’ll go make contact with people in person?” Sunny asked while finding her way to Jessica’s bathroom to take her overdue shower. She finally was able to change into new and fresh clothes and had some shoes of her own to wear.

“Alright? You done? I have your number, I’ll call you if something comes up. You can leave the stuff in that closet but you can’t really stay here. So let’s go. Do you want me to drop you off anywhere?” Jessica asked as she chambered a round into her Glock and hid it in her jacket. Winter made it so easy to hide a weapon thanks to the bundling of layers of clothing.

“I don’t know where I could go. The mall maybe?” Sunny replied walking out with Jessica to the garage parking lot of the complex. Jessica had a little money from her spy work. She had spent a good $42,000 on shares of Ford Motor Company back when it was under a dollar per share. After the price soared north of $15 per share, she sold 20,000 of her shares and cashed in on nearly $300,000. She left the rest in the market to make money and has been living comfortably for the past few years on that money. She always says, that she loved the economy in Korea, but for her it was pretty cake.

“The mall? Okay, I guess that will work. Get in!” Jessica demanded. The 2013 Mustang, was no doubt purchased as a token of appreciation to Ford for making her rich. “Pretty isn’t it? It’s definitely one of kind. They don’t have any V8s here, so I had to upgrade the suspension and exhaust by getting the army guys in motor pool to do it. Heh, I’m so bad! Abusing the US government for my personal entertainment... but remember! Stay safe and lay low!”

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

“What do you got?”

“Look at her bank statement. She had half a million US dollars in her account and then it was all withdrawn. She’s definitely on the run. With that kind of money she could fly anywhere.”

Bora heard the comment while working at her desk. It troubled her to think that Sunny really was a traitor and had stolen information and sold it. If Sunny really had all that money, why did she need to stay with her? Sunny could have found a hotel, a boat or something to leave. No, she knew Sunny, no way Sunny was really guilty of the crime. It made it all the harder to work there while they were investigating Sunny.

“Hey, did you get the information on her family contacts?” Siwon asked Bora.

“Oh yes, parents located. We have a team sitting on the house and watching to see if she tries to make contact with them.” Bora answered diligently.

“Very good, keep it up. You might just have what it takes to be an agent yet,” Siwon replied and walked off with the papers to ask some other junior agent for something.

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

***Boredom . It comes and goes as it pleases and is annoyingly hard to force out of one’s system. Boredom drags things out. Time slows down. Patience can only last for so long before one gets restless. Being restless can be problematic. Restlessness brings on a mental fatigue that can lead to carelessness, and being careless in the field usually ends badly. Usually death. Ways to combat boredom vary as much as their effectiveness. Usually it comes down to three basic ideas; food - find something to eat, cook, or drink, sleep - catch up on rest, or go looking for action.***

Sunny noticed the same girl being tormented by the same man as earlier near Jessica’s neighborhood. This time the conflict didn’t look as serious, but she still had the same scared and worried look. The man said some ultimatum and walked back into the gentleman’s club. The girl just stood there in a light sob, wearing a big outer coat. Sunny decided she had enough of the bully and walked to the girl.

“Are you okay? Why do you let him do that?” Sunny asked.

“What? What do you mean?”

“You let him push you around. Why?” Sunny asked again.

“I can’t say, I have to get going. Sorry.” The girl turned to walk away but Sunny grabbed her and stopped the girl.

“No, you’re not going anywhere. You’re going to answer my question. This is the second time in hours that I have seen him in your face. What’s going on? And What are you wearing?” Sunny asked, this time noticing the coat was a bit spread and showed what looked to be tight and revealing clothing.

“I work inside, as a server... it’s not what you think...”

“Who is he, and why does he have you all afraid? You’re just a server right. or is there more going on?”

“I can’t say... I really can’t., he’ll get mad... I’m sorry”

“Listen. I’m going to help you whether you like it or not! Either you tell me, or I go in there and ask him myself.”

“Okay fine, but not here... somewhere inside, and warmer...” The girl said giving into Sunny’s persistence. Sunny held the girl’s hand tight and walked her into a cafe and grabbed a corner table. Sunny choose the table that best gave them privacy and yet gave her a view of all possible entry/exit points, something she had learned in training. Sunny ordered the girl a mocha coffee, the girl took a sip and then told her story.

“I’m Sunny. What’s your name?”

“Becky.”

“So what is going on Becky? Tell me.”

“I recently graduated and moved here because there was a job. I took it, but the job wasn’t as good as it promised. I was getting in debt, so I borrowed money from a loan shark. He’s the man you saw, he owns that strip club. I was able to pay my bills and expenses but I didn’t make enough to pay back. So he started to take my things. I couldn’t go to the police, because he took my passport too. He said if I try anything, he’d hurt me. Finally he made me start working in the club as a server to repay the loan. I work seven days a week, 16 hours a day. He says it’s not enough...”

“You took a loan from a loan shark? How much did you take?”

“$14,000, US dollars”

“What?!?! That’s like... um... 15 million won! What did you need the money for?!”

“To pay my rent, pay back the bills, I went by for months without paying the rent but they finally told me I needed to pay or they kicked me out. I the company I worked for went out of business, and I had no money to go back home. I took a part-time job at the language school to teach English and Chinese, but I still wasn’t making enough. So I heard about the man, and talked to him. He seemed nice and said the interest wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. I been working at the strip club for two and a half months now. He says I’m not bringing enough money, and says I need to move to the stage and start stripping and dancing. I told him no.... He worked me over and threaten me. He said he’d get his money from me, even if I have to work there my whole life.”

“So basically, he has you like a slave until he thinks you made enough to repay him?”

“Yes, he wants me to start dancing tomorrow night. I refused but he asked me how it felt to be sleeping on the streets. All my salary goes straight to him, even from the language school, i barely make enough to eat two meals a day. I know I’m going to dance for him at his club, that’s the only way he’ll call it even...”

“To the hell with that! What’s wrong with you?! The minute you get on the stage he will own you for sure, if he has cameras, that’s blackmail. He’ll know you’ll be in his mercy. Are you the only girl which this problem, are their others?”

“The other girls, the dancers, I think they were hired. Most of them are foreign like me, but some I think are indebted to him.”

“What else can you tell me about this man? We’re going to bring him  down and make sure he never bothers you or any other girl again.”

**Generally speaking, loan sharks, like mob bosses are business people. They want money, usually with a reasonable approach, a negotiation can be made. You can always asks for more time, it won’t be particularly easy; there might be a little show of force and whatnot but more often than not they’ll give you an extension to get the money. Why? Getting paid later is better than never. A sicko would just end you, a greedy little loan shark will wait for the money, and what’s more that same greedy little loan shark will always want more money.**

“So wait, what are you going to do again?” Becky asked.

“We’re going to destroy his organization from the inside out.”

“Wait, why would you do that? He’ll kill you. Why would you risk all that to help me?”

“Because you need help and the police won’t do it. Besides, I’ve taken down international terrorists before, this will be easy. I need you to get my a job at the club with you.”

“What?!”

“I’ll make a scene about how he’s an , and I’ll help you repay the loan by working for him. He won’t turn it down.”

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

“Jung?! What are you doing here? I thought you were on an extended hiatus?” The girl in the office asked as Jessica walked in.

“Oh, I am, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still come in and do a little work if I want to. Who's going to care? I’m not hurting anyone, and I’m not in the fiel,.” Jessica answered. Jessica had one disadvantage in her spy trade; her good looks.

Pretty people are easy to remember, as well as ugly people, but pretty ladies such as herself usually stand out in the minds of bad guys. It had severely limited the espionage work she could do. The CIA ordered her time off after her last assignment to allow time for people to forget her. It seems silly, but it’s what had to be done. She could only play Ms Kim, Ms Tran, Ms Lee, Ms Chan, Ms Song, Ms Joo so many times before people start noticing.

Unlike her male counterparts, those field intelligence operatives, they could usually spend their ‘non-espionage’ in the mountains of Afghanistan being an advisor. Plenty of the CIA field guys had military experience, so it was cake. Females like Jessica usually get rotated to some desk job for a year or so or get placed on an extended vacation.

“So I heard some crazy things going on over at NIS, what do you know Tiffany?” Jessica asked taking a chair next to her.

“We’re still working on it. I think we’re going to have official orders to do an investigation as well, the Korean director believes that a breach exists and might ask for our help. But I really shouldn’t tell you more, you’re not exactly active right now. Sorry.” Tiffany said.

“That’s fine, I just wanted to see a few Americans, talk in English, see an NBA game... you know...”

"Do you even like basketball?"

"That's not the point.."

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

“The CIA? How much do they know? Really now?! This is the last thing I need right now. The Americans will think we can’t handle our own. What a load of...... okay. Well they haven’t said anything other than that so I guess we’re still okay.” Taeyeon said with frustration.

“I don’t know what’s going on exactly but we’ll figure it out. We’re already here for the investigation, no need to involve the CIA. Where’s that Siwon guy? He said he would compile the timeline of Sunny’s events for us.” Hyoyeon responded.

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

“Who is this?” the man asked.

“I came here because you have been giving Becky a hard time. I’m here to tell you to leave her alone!” Sunny said. She was wearing young cute clothes that made her look closer Becky’s age.

“No, don’t, I don’t want any problems, please. You’re going to get hurt.” Becky pleaded.

“I’m not afraid of him. Do you hear me! Huh?! Leave Becky alone, or else!” Sunny threaten. The man grabbed at Sunny and pushed her into the wall and left her slightly off the ground.

“Or else what?! Who do you think you are to talk to me like that!? Or else what?”

**Sometimes the mission requires you to take a hit. It can be degrading, playing the victim. Being the aggressor isn’t hard, but pretending to be dominated is. It requires a complete follow through; emotions have to be kept in check so that all the training and skills don’t accidentally show up.  It’s hard to keep being the victim if you can knock out someone 3 times your size.**

Sunny whimpered in fear and screamed, she cowered at the man. He felt powerful, and let him have the satisfaction, she needed him to exhibit his authority for the plan to work. He dropped her to the ground

“Your friend needs a lesson in manners. Maybe I’ll just have to take it out on you! Aren’t you supposed to work tonight? Coming to me with this, your friends? You think you can get out of this? Huh?!” He raised an arm but Sunny grabbed it pleading ‘no’ telling him not to hurt Beckie.

“Please, don’t hurt her. I’ll help her, I’ll work to help pay back her debt, please don’t hurt her. Please...” Sunny cried with tears in her eyes, showing concern for Becky.

“Oh willing to help her out huh? You must be so desperate to ask even your friends to work for you. Fine. You can work. I don’t think it will help her pay me back any sooner but you can try.  You can start tonight. Go see Tony… and if you ever pull any more tricks on me, I will finish you.” He said one last time and walked away.

Sunny wiped her tears away and dried her face, and smiled at Beckie.

“Alright, I’m in. All we have to do is get through the night, and the rest will come.”

“What, you’re going to actual do the job? Were you just using me to get a job?!”

“No, does it look like I want to wear whatever it is you’re wearing and serve drinks and food to erted men? I need to put some time in the work so she doesn’t think anything of it. I need to get a scope of the place, and hit his office to find dirt on him,” Sunny said with reassurance.

“What?! Are you crazy?! How long will this take?! Go to his office? Do you want to die? He’ll kill you!”

“Two nights or so just put up with this for a few more days, no more than a week. I promise you we’re going to end this.” Sunny said as Beckie led Sunny to Tony, to get her outfit for the night.

“Okay, I hope you’re right.”