WARNING: ALLUSIONS TO SUICIDE AND

“The important thing is how these even got in here,” said Yixing, thumbing through the photos carefully.  He was wearing a pair of thin gloves so that he wouldn’t leave fingerprints.  “Did anybody see these photos being dropped off?  Have we got any video evidence?”

Kyungsoo shook his head.  “The station cameras were hacked.  Is there any chance they can be put onto my circuit so I can monitor them instead of leaving it to whoever’s on the front desk?  It’s not the first time this has happened and it’s beginning to get irritating.”

“I’ve already told you that most of the police station doesn’t know about Semi’s case and questions have already been raised about autonomy and government interference just having you here because you’re from the Blue House,” Siwon reminded him with a sigh.  “Is Semi genuinely going back to the apartment?”

For answer, Jongdae and Kyungsoo both pointed the computer screens, one of which displayed Semi entering the apartment building.

“And she doesn’t know anything about Sehun’s abduction?”

“Chanyeol told her nothing,” Kyungsoo confirmed, “so unless—”  There was a loud ping! from his computer speakers and his head whipped around.  “!”  He darted back to the screens.  “She’s ringing Sehun – this isn’t going to be good….”

“Can you trace the location on Sehun’s phone if it connects?” Siwon demanded immediately as Kyungsoo’s hands darted over the keyboard and he altered the settings to allow them all to listen to Semi’s phone.  Everybody turned silent to watch him.

“That’s what I’m trying to do.”

On screen, Semi was frozen; then her phone slipped out of her hands and onto the floor, and there was a buzz of static as it went dead.

“That’s one way to hang up on a mafia boss,” remarked Yixing, “breaking your phone.”

A second or two later, Kyungsoo slumped back in his seat, pressing the enter key a couple of times, and then shook his head.  “It’s blocked.  It’ll take me at least a couple of hours to hack, and he’ll have moved on by then.  I’ll still do it, but we’ll need to focus on other things for a clue.”

Jongdae cursed loudly, making everybody in the room jump except for Jongin, who was studying the photos they’d been sent just an hour previously with a frown.

“Well,” said Yixing bracingly.  “We do at least now have a four-second clip of what I assume is Luhan’s voice.  It’s a start.”

“I will need at least fifty super-computers if you want me to start running voice-recognition checks all the time on every single microphone and mobile phone in the country,” Kyungsoo warned him.  “And if he’s got somebody able to block a phone’s location working for him, it might not even help us.”

“Is Semi going to be safe in the apartment?” Tiffany asked with worry.

“Should be,” said Jongin.  “We still have the iPhone, which is Luhan’s chief worry.  He’s going to be bargaining.  Xiumin’s microchip is still working and he can’t do anything while we’re watching him.  If Semi wasn’t going to be safe in the apartment, Luhan would have gone for her and not her brother.”

“How did Luhan find out about Sehun, though?” demanded Siwon.  “We’re the only people who know.”

“Xiumin,” said Yixing.  “It has to have been Xiumin.”

“How did he find out?” Kyungsoo demanded.  “Semi’s never even mentioned her brother in his hearing.”

“I don’t know.”  Yixing’s eyes narrowed.  “I just know it was him.”

“What about Song Qian and Taemin?” asked Tiffany.

“I can speak for them both.”  Jongin got to his feet and passed the photos to Yixing.  “These need to be dusted for fingerprints and scanned under UV lighting, but I doubt you’ll find anything.  If anybody on our team, even those two, is in contact with Luhan, then I’d be dead.  It’s pretty clear to all of us working on this case that I’m an agent rather than an intern, after all.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to clear my head and think about how we’re going to get Sehun out of this mess, because it’s going to absolutely break Semi if anything happens to him.  Even those photos are going to be bad enough.”

“It’s really weird seeing him serious,” Yixing murmured as Jongin left the room.  “I’m used to him being a goofball.”

“Weirder for me,” said Kyungsoo firmly.  “I work with the guy.  He’s usually really good at lightening the atmosphere.”

Yixing dropped the photos into a clear plastic bag, looking around at them all.  “We need to watch for Luhan trying to establish contact again.