Exoticbubbles, it's your birthday today, isn't it?  Sorry I'm not updating DLWL, but I hope this will do instead :D

Xiumin kept stock still as he waited for the call to connect.  He had a segment less than an estimated half a metre wide in which he could talk to Luhan without fear of being overheard, and he didn’t want to fidget his way out of it.

The longer it rang, the tenser he got.  He knew it was perfectly possible Luhan no longer used the number, in which case he was going to have to find some other way to get in touch with him, but this was the way he considered the quickest and surest.

Eventually, the line connected.  There was silence on the other end, and just from that, Xiumin knew that he was no longer the only one who knew that number.

“I’m out,” he said simply in Mandarin, his voice as low as he could make it without whispering.  Sibilance travelled and whispers hissed – that would be more dangerous and definitely more audible.

“Xiumin?”  The voice on the other end was just as he remembered it – a light, friendly tenor that he and Luhan had often joked was like a pot of honey left out for insects to die in – and charged with surprise.

Tension drained out of Xiumin’s shoulders as Luhan answered him.

“How?” the other man pressed.

“I’m in a real bind,” Xiumin told him without preamble.  “You need to back off Oh Semi, at least for a little while.”

If anything, Luhan sounded even more surprised.  “How do you know about that?”

“It’s the reason I’m out.  I got blackmailed – it was marry her or hang.”

“God dammit,” swore the voice on the other end.  “That was the idea of the ones who caught you in the first place, wasn’t it?”

Xiumin was silent.

“I need her dead, Xiumin.  She’s the only witness ever to have survived a crime scene I’ve been at and she filmed the whole damn thing.  The police even have photos of me now—”

“She filmed it?  Jesus, is that girl nuts?  What happened to the video?”

“It’s on her phone, and she still has it.  It has to be destroyed – if I ever get caught, that video’s my head.  They can’t lock me up only with copies of it, but the original’s a different story, particularly if she’s still alive to identify me.”

“Luhan, since when has anybody come close to catching you?”  Xiumin chuckled.  “You’d give Houdini a run for his money.”

“I know,” said Luhan, “but it makes me uneasy to know that video’s still out there and my life could be in the hands of a school kid if anything ever goes wrong.  Call me paranoid, but you got caught and everybody thought you were invincible.”

“I was a stubborn idiot who refused to go underground and I paid for it.  You’re not like me.  You know when to run.”

There was a fond chuckle from the other end.  Xiumin decided it was time to get back to business.

“I don’t know how long I can talk, so I’m just going to lay this straight out here.  You’ve got to call Byun Baekhyun off at least for a couple of weeks—”

“I can’t do that—”

“You’re damn well going to have to.  You owe me your life; if you value me as a brother, you can repay that debt by having a little patience.  It’s my head if anything happens to that girl, and I didn’t agree to get out of prison just to die straight away.  I need time to see how I can get out of this situation.  Believe me, if I could just turn around and kill her myself for you, I would, but I’m caged in.  They’ve micro-chipped me like a dog and every inch of this apartment is bugged and wired like nothing I’ve ever seen before in my life.  I’m followed pretty much everywhere I go and it’s only because they want me to have this conversation with you that I even have this possibility to talk to you.  They’re going to know we’ve been in contact, but it was better than me trying to meet with one of your men and leading them straight to you.  Give me nine weeks – that’s all I’m asking.  Nine weeks and she’ll be putty in my hands and I’ll bring her to you.  Nine weeks and I’ll figure a way out of here.  I’m going to need time if I’m going to pull wool over their eyes, and I need to figure out how to get rid of the damn microchip without cutting it out and ruining my tendons and arteries.”

“Nine weeks?”  Luhan sounded disappointed.  “You’re not as confident as you used to be.”

“It’s been two years, Luhan.  Prison’s taught me patience, but practice is rusty, and I’m dealing with somebody who’s on her guard.  This needs to be handled with delicacy.  The furthest you can go until I’m ready is kidnapping her, okay?  And preferably don’t even do that.”

“You’re going to pull a Prince Charming?”  Luhan chuckled again.

Xiumin grimaced.  “If I have to