Rule #14: Trust your intuition and gut instinct

"Um, good morning." Mark said awkwardly when he bumped into Saera in the hallway of the precinct the next day.

Neither of them spoke at all the whole night and the next morning. He had even sent Jackson to go pick her up from the bakery because he didn't want to deal with the passive aggressive anger.  

Saera shot him a look and handed him a cup of coffee she was carrying, "Don't push it today, detective."

Mark's eyes flinched before he took the cup from her, "I want to apolog--"

"Don't push it. Drink." She ordered while holding a finger up in his face.

Mark backed down and lifted the cup to his lips before hovering his lips over the lid. He flickered his eyes at her pleadingly, but she just crossed her arms over her chest, cocked her hips and raised her brow.

"Drink. It." She ordered through gritted teeth.

Mark rolled his eyes and took a shuddering breath before taking a sip of the coffee.  He swallowed it before smacking his lips.  

He shot her a look when he caught a glimpse of her smug smile, "You can't order me around. I'm a cop."

"Mark, your rank has never, not once intimidated me, so give it a rest. Finish it and I'll forgive you." Saera challenged.

Mark looked bewildered for a split second before his face froze over, "I don't want your forgiveness that badly."

"If you say so."  She said with a plastered smile before walking away.

Mark jogged after her and blocked off her path, "Wait. F-Fine." He grumbled.

Saera watched with immeasurable satisfaction as he turned his face off to the side and chugged the contents of the coffee cup down. He tensed his jaw before crushing the empty cup in his fist before tossing it out.

"Happy?" He grumbled.

Saera tilted her head with a pleasant smile, "Very."

"Am I forgiven?" He said blankly.

Saera's smile fell as she stared at him, "I don't know, are you going to go to the doctor about your hand?"

"Nothing's wrong with it so why should I go to the doctor's? It cramped up. It happens to everyone." He said grumpily.

"Everyone doesn't have a huge cut on their hand though."

Mark shrugged, unsure of what she wanted from him. She sighed before walking away without a word.

"Hey, we need you to look over his newest victim." Mark said while jogging after her.

Saera's footstep stuttered before she cleared , "Right. We should…uh…do that. That's why I'm here. But we need to make this quick I need to head back to the bakery."

Mark nodded, "Yeah, it shouldn't take long."

"Thanks." Saera mumbled.

Mark shrugged, "I've seen your reaction, it was the least I could do."

"You're not off the hook though." She said with a glare.

Mark gave her a look, "I'm done with the petty form of revenge, psychic. Let's move."

Saera stuck her tongue out behind his back before she followed the him towards his desk.

"Do you remember the face of the victim from when the body was sent to us?" Mark handed her a file before taking a seat.

Saera remained standing, "Not really. It was sort of a…blur."

Mark nodded and watched her flip it open. She chewed the inside of her lip as she scanned the face of the woman.

Nothing,

She had no idea who this woman was.

"Umm…I…" She nibbled on her lip, trying not to crumble under Mark's scrutinizing gaze. She stared at the picture and focused on the victim's hair.

It was the same shade of blonde that Cham Ji had and it was styled the same way too.

This was going to be a long shot.

And there was a very high percent chance that she was about to be very wrong.

"Handle with care." She said abruptly, dropping the file on the table.

Mark gave her a look, "What?"

"I see a large red 'handle with care' sticker. Like the ones you put on packages." She said while pressing her fingers against her temples.

Mark leaned forward and laced his fingers together, "You think she was mail here? Like airmail or something?"

Saera shook her head, "No…it's something else."

Her eyes darted to the Chief's door as he stepped out. The man looked at Mark and Saera before shaking his head and walking away.

Saera quickly rolled her eyes back and collapsed on the chair. Mark stood up in alarm and went over to her.

"Hey, are you okay? Is something wrong?" He asked while surveying her face.

Saera groaned and pressed her hand to the heel of her forehead, "I feel faint. And dizzy."

"Do you want something to drink?" He asked while she fanned herself.

She nodded weakly resting her head on back of the chair, feigning nausea. "BamBa--"

"No!" She exclaimed, grabbing his arm.

Mark blinked at her in confusion but she quickly cleared and let go of his arm before groaning again, "You go get it."

Mark laughed incredulously, "Excuse me?"

"Get me water!" She demanded loudly while flailing her feet. Mark scoffed and shook his head and walked away, leaving her on her own.

Once he was out of sight, Saera crouched down and ran into the Chief's office, looking around to make sure no one saw her.

She stayed close to the ground and crawled behind the Chief's desk before trying to open the drawers.

But they were all locked.

Saera hissed and tried all the drawers, but none of them opened. She reached the bottom most drawer and felt her heart rate pick up when it slid open horizontally, revealing a small safe.

She peek her head over the desk and spotted Mark still in the kitchen, talking to a few detectives.

She focused her attention back at the safe before reaching into her bag and pulling out a compact with face powder. She snapped it open before using her jade ring to scrape the powder before holding the compact up to the key pad.

She blew on the powder and let it stick to the 10 keys. It was such a cheesy move that she learned from the movies, but she couldn't help it when her heart jumped when four of the keys had makeup stuck to it.

2,6,1,9

She had twenty four combinations to try out an very, very, limited time. She glanced over the desk again where Mark hissed when the water from the glass spilled on his clothes.

When he turned back to the water jug, she focused her attention back and used her ring to frantically jab in different combinations of numbers.

"Come on, come on." She muttered under her breath.

6 1 2 9

INCORRECT

"." She muttered while trying a new combination of numbers.

-----

"Damn." Mark muttered while brushing off the water on his jacket.

He turned and refilled the glass before walking out to his desk. His footsteps slowed down as he stood in front of the chair that was in front of his desk.

He furrowed his brows, "What the hell?"

"Oh thanks." Saera said while grabbing the glass from him and chugging the contents down.

He narrowed his eyes at her, "What's wrong with you? Why are you sweating?"

Saera wiped her forehead with her sleeves while emptying the glass into , "I had a better vision."

"Really?" He asked cynically.  

"Your Chief lied to you." She said while handing the glass back to him.

Mark took it from her with a dubious look in his eyes, "Yeah we figured that out a really long time ago."

"No. He lied to you after that." She repeated while scooting her chair close to him.

Mark looked doubtful, "What is it this time?"

"Cham Ji's handler wasn't a guy…it was a girl. The same girl whose body is currently in your morgue."

-----

"Megan Lee. She was American Special Forces before she moved down to Korea to pursue a e ring."  Jackson read the document as the three of them stood in the Chief's office.

Chief Kwon sighed in resignation, "The reason I hid her identity was because her cover still couldn't have been blown at the time. But I was just called from the morgue and found our latest…victim."

"Maybe that's what Cham Ji meant by not alone." Jackson offered.

Mark shook his head, "That doesn't make sense, why would she need to write that down? It's not like the people involved from the precinct didn't know that she was working with a handler."

Kwon nodded, "He's right. The best possibility is that she's referring to The Collector. He must be working with someone."

Mark glanced at Saera who wasn't paying attention. She was staring off to the side while chewing her nail. She seemed distracted as she shifted on the balls of her feet. Her jaw was tensed and her burrows were lightly creased as her eyes stared at the floor.

"How did you know The Collector had a partner?" Mark asked suddenly.

Saera stiffened, her heart rate picking up, before glancing up at him, "Is that what the final assumption is now?"

"That's what we've gathered." Jackson chirped.  

No.

It can't be.

It's impossible.

The two of them can't be connected.

It's just a coincidence. Don't over think it.

Don't let them get inside your head or you'll complicate it.

It's nothing. It's probably nothing. Let it go. Don't freak out.

But what if it's true?

She felt a cold sweat form o