The Supreme Echelon recap:

“You mean, we’re doing black-ops?”

“Honestly, I’m not so sure what we are actually looking for. There’s no specific target, yet. There’s been an increase in botched Echelon operations. Although reports stated otherwise, I suspect that they were sabotaged. I think that these failed missions were used to cover up something bigger, but what? It’s up to you to find out. I wish I can do it myself, but I am only one man, and unfortunately, I’m not young anymore.”

"Right now, I will hand everything to you Taec. You have a big responsibility, not only in ensuring the success of this mission but also, to unite the squad members. Brotherhood is key."

_______

Glossary

Hyungnim - a way to address an older male

_______

Chapter 8- Sought After

In a meeting room especially for the Supreme Echelons, Taecyeon sat casually at the head of the table with the rest of his team members, discussing their next move.

“Cerberus is in Japan as we speak.” Jonghyun said as he was turning his chair, a habit he picked up when he rejoined the Echelon 6 months ago and before he joined the Supreme Echelon 2 weeks ago. Well, those office chairs were made to turn, right? That was exactly what he thought.

Minho leaned forward to the table and asked, “Did Kan tell you what they were doing there?”

“Nope. He just told me they went to Japan. I didn’t ask. Obviously it was for a mission that they didn’t want us or anyone to know. Mercenary groups, they are like that.”

Nuri chimed in, “So, why are we still sitting here? Let’s go to Japan.”

_______

Osaka, Japan

As Jonghyun talked on the phone with Kan, Minho was in front of his laptop trying to get hold of Kan’s location through that single phone call.

“What’s this Kan? I thought you were on a mission. You sound like you’re on a vacation to me.” Jonghyun then chuckled a little and looked at Minho.

Minho then shook his head, an indication for Jonghyun to speak longer so that Minho can pinpoint Kan’s exact location.

Kan replied, “Well, we’re out of Korea right? Consider this a vacation. So, what are you doing in Japan?”

“Oh, I was assigned on a mission too. It’s nothing important, just an observation mission to the Japan branch of the Echelon, boring.”

He looked at Minho again, and this time, Minho nodded and gave Jonghyun a thumbs-up.

“Hey Jonghyun, I gotta go, we’ll meet up for coffee when I’m finished.”

“Sure Kan. Bye.”

Taecyeon asked Minho, “So where’s Kan?”

“He’s in Osaka, he’s, here?”

Minho stood up and looked outside the window of the hotel room they’re in, and he saw Kan, in the building opposite to them, aiming a sniper rifle towards someone on the streets.

“He’s in the building opposite to ours! He’s trying to assassinate someone!”

Jonghyun took a pair of binoculars and looked outside the window, down to the streets, “, we need to find out who’s his target.”

Taecyeon and Nichkhun ran downstairs to the sidewalk, trying to look for the person that Kan was trying to kill. Nuri took out his sniper rifle and placed it on the windowsill, aiming his sniper reticle to the people on the streets, and then at Kan, trying to determine Kan’s target.

After a few frantic seconds, Jonghyun saw someone familiar on the streets, it’s an Echelon informant, more specifically, Mr. Kang’s informant and he immediately assumed that’s Kan’s target.

“Taec! The man with the brown jacket and red tie!! He’s the target!!”

Taec immediately ran to the man and stood in front of him, blocking Kan’s view of the man, much to Kan’s frustration.

The man then tried to walk sideways, but was blocked by Nichkhun.

Taecyeon gave the man a stern look and warned him, “I am the only thing that’s between you and the bullet that’s going to pierce your head. So stay put.”

A big truck then passed by, buying Taecyeon and Nichkhun time to drag that man into the hotel.

Kan yelled in frustration and thrashed his backpack when he realized that the man he was aiming for disappeared from his view.

The man struggled and kept begging Taecyeon and Nichkhun to let him go all the way from the hotel lobby and to their room.

That man resorted to yelling to get other people’s attention, “HELP! I’m mmmmph-”.  Nichkhun covered his mouth before he could say anything and smiled to the ladies who saw them.

They released the man only after they reached their room and literally forced the man to sit on the couch. The man then tried to leave the room but froze when he saw Nuri pointing his rifle at him. “You, sit down.” Nuri gestured for the man to sit down on the couch with his rifle.

He immediately put both of his hands up and went back to the couch slowly and gave a nervous chuckle, “See? I’m sitting down. Now, no need to blow my head off for such a small matter right?”

Taecyeon then shook his head to Nuri, some kind of warning for Nuri to which Nuri responded by putting down his rifle.

Minho then put his hand on that man’s shoulder and persuaded him, “Calm down. We’re not gonna hurt you. We’re Echelons.”

“You people? Echelons?! You should have said so earlier!”

“Do you know that someone was trying to kill you just now?”

“What? Why?”

“We were hoping to ask you about it. Who are you?”

Jonghyun then answered for the man, “Han Jaesuk. He’s Mr. Kang’s informant.”

“Oh...I know you, you’re an Echelon now? Heh.”

Jonghyun then asked him, “What brought you to Japan?”

“I’m just running errands for my boss.”

“What kind of errands?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“You need to tell us. We can’t help you if you don’t tell us. Someone is after you and we need to know why.”

“It’s confidential. I really can’t tell you.”

Nuri then stood up and dragged the man to the door, “Then get out.”

“Okay okay okay! I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you! I would like to live longer. Please help me!”

Han Jaesuk then ran back and sat on the couch, this time determined to not get thrown out of the room again.

Nuri gave out a lopsided smile to which Nichkhun smiled back.

Han Jaesuk sighed and said, “I was supposed to deliver a briefcase, to a person. They asked me not to open it, and well, it looked expensive so I opened it and as luck could have it, they crept up on me and saw me opening it. But I ran, and then there were fierce fights, of course I used my outstanding kung fu-” He stood up and punched the air with his fists “-and they fell and I ran like a maniac, and I escaped.”

Jonghyun gave Han Jaesuk a look of amused disdain, “You? Kung fu? Uhuh. So what’s in it? And who were you supposed to hand it to?”

“It was a device of some sort. I didn’t know what I was looking at. But it looked really high tech. Like my story, I didn’t even get close to the person who’s supposed to receive it. I ran.”

Taecyeon queried Han Jaesuk, “So where’s the briefcase now?”

Han Jaesuk answered, “It’s in a safe. In a bank.”

Jonghyun then thought aloud to himself, “Then why did Cerberus wanted to finish him off? It’s not like he knows what that thing is. Hyungnim, is there something else that you know, anything at all?”

“I don’t know. There’s nothing really!”

“Please think harder hyungnim.”

“I really don’t know.”

“Fine, you think about it first, tell us if there’s anything. We need to get you somewhere safe. Just stay with us for now. “

Just right then, the windows shattered and continuous rounds of bullets made their way into the room, sending all six of them on their feet and shooting back with their own handguns while trying to run out of the room and keep the now hysterical Han Jaesuk safe.

Nuri stayed behind with his sniper rifle near the window, alternating between ducking and firing his rifle. He ordered the rest of them to go while he snipes out the enemy one by one. “I’ll buy us time. GO!!”

Taecyeon ran back to the windowsill, “I’ll stay with you Nuri. The rest of you, take Mr. Han elsewhere!!”

The other three obeyed Taecyeon’s order and  escaped with Han Jaesuk to the streets.

As Nuri and Taecyeon fired back to their unknown enemies, Nichkhun, Minho, Jonghyun and Han Jaesuk were being chased by a bunch of armed men, sending them into the alleys.

The four of them tried to formulate an escape route as they were running down the alley, while yelling at the people in the alley to get out of their way. Minho then suggested that they separate before those men catch up to them, “Mr. Han! Take off your jacket!!”

Han Jaesuk obeyed and tried to take of his jacket albeit clumsily to which Minho took and exchanged with his blue hoodie. “Wear this Mr. Han!!”

Minho wore Mr. Han’s jacket and ran straight ahead while Nichkhun turned to the left with Han Jaesuk and Jonghyun to the right on the three-forked alleyway.

The men mistook Minho for Han Jaesuk and chased after him, exactly what Minho intended to get those men off Mr. Han’s trail.

Minho ran into a busy morning market and slowed down, took off the jacket and threw it in a dumpster, and tried to blend in with the crowd. He then stopped by a vegetable vendor and pretended to look at the vegetables. The men ran right past him. Minho breathed a sigh of relief and called Nichkhun, “Hey, is Mr. Han ok?”

Nichkhun replied, “Yeah, he’s alright. Taecyeon called, he said they’re alright too. Nuri got a slight scratch, he should be ok. So where do we meet?”

“Let’s go back to the hotel and get our stuffs back. I’m calling the Japan branch of the Echelon to help clean up. Call Jonghyun, will you?”

“Ok.”

_______

All six of them, plus Han Jaesuk, sat around a meeting table in a conference room in the Japan branch of the Echelon, in a teleconference with Mr. Kang.

“Why would Cerberus try to kill Mr. Han? First with a sniper and then with a bunch of men?”, Nichkhun said, directing the question to anybody who could answer.

Jonghyun retorted, “No, those men who were chasing us were not Cerberus. Cerberus is a mercenary group. There’s no organisation behind them, much less a big group. Those men, they were working for someone else.”

Han Jaesuk chimed in, “Whoa, I’m that popular?”

Minho added to the conversation, “Could it be the briefcase? Maybe Cerberus and those men were looking for the briefcase.”

Mr. Kang responded, “If they wanted the briefcase, they wouldn’t kill Mr. Han, if they did kill him, they would never get the briefcase.”

Jonghyun added, “Perhaps, Cerberus wanted to prevent anyone from getting the thing that’s in the bag. And to do that, they have to kill Mr. Han because only he knows where the briefcase is. The other group was trying to get their hands on the briefcase, they were trying to catch Mr. Han, interrogate him. Find out where it is.”

Taecyeon replied, “That, seemed like a plausible theory for now. I’m sure they got a clear shot of Mr. Han, but they didn’t kill him. I guess they needed him. Unlike Cerberus.”

Han Jaesuk waved his hands in the air, “Ermm, hello? You people talk like I’m not here.”

Nuri leaned towards the table, “Take us to the safe.”