“Taeyeon? Tae…are you there?”

Taeyeon woke up from her day dream forgetting she was with Jessica, “oh sorry.”

“Are you sure you are okay?” Jessica leaned forward to take Taeyeon’s hand, “You have been spacy since Yunho came back.”

Taeyeon gave her girlfriend a reassuring squeeze, “Of course I am. Just a lot on my mind.”

“Do you want to tell me?”

Taeyeon could see Jessica looked concerned but she couldn’t tell her the real reason she was spacing out, “I umm got a new mission. You know I can’t tell you.”

Jessica nodded, “Okay…”

There was clear disappointment in Jessica’s face so Taeyeon moved around the table and held Jessica, “Baby I am sorry for worrying you. I don’t mean to hide things from you but you know…there are some things…”

“Tae…I get it,” Jessica sighed, “I do understand but it isn’t what you don’t tell me that bothers me. It is when I am right in front of you but you don’t see me there. I love that you are dedicated to your work but it would be nice if you could take a break.”

Taeyeon continued to stare into Jessica’s eyes absorbing the love and sincerity so she held onto that beautiful face and kissed her hard. She held onto the kiss long enough to pass on what she felt for Jessica, “I am sorry.”

Jessica shrugged Taeyeon’s hands away to snuggle into her shoulder, “It is okay.”

Taeyeon held Jessica closer as she caressed her soft locks, “No it isn’t. You are right. I should stop thinking of work and remember why I am so lucky to have you.”

Jessica giggled, “alright.”

Kissing her crown, Taeyeon continued to hold Jessica, “should we go to my room?”

Jessica was so comfortable, she forgot they were in a public place, “Why?”

“Sooyoung and Yuri walked in and they are making gagging gestures.”

Jessica sprung out of Taeyeon’s arms to see Sooyoung and Yuri now acting oblivious, “Hey guys.”

Walking over to the table, Sooyoung was the first to sit and cross her legs, “you know most of us are not dating so seeing whatever we saw in public might not be a good idea.”

Taeyeon stuck out her tongue, “you are just jealous we have a beautiful love.”

“Your beautiful love should be contained in a small room.” Yuri snickered as her and Sooyoung continued to make fun of the couple.

“Whatever, we will do what we like where ever we please.” Taeyeon wrapped her arm around Jessica’s waist.

“Some of us have a country to save and not eye-ting someone.” Yuri leaned forward and whispered, “Speaking of which, I have some big news.”

The group leaned in closer to hear Yuri.

“Rumor is that the Resistance founders gathered and are planning something big. I have bets it relates to the Party’s 30^th anniversary.”

“Like an attack with guns!” Sooyoung said excitedly but the others shushed her and pulled her back down to sit.

“No dummy. The Party doesn’t operate like that. I think it is the other way around. I heard a lot of our undercover agents are getting pulled back into the Resistance.”

“Isn’t that dangerous? If there is a huge recall of workers in the Party they will know what sectors we were in?” Taeyeon wondered what could really be happening.

“Yea well this is all rumors. I don’t think this is a good idea but it is up to our leaders. All I know is, this means someone is making a move, but it doesn’t sound like us.”

Taeyeon thought about it for a while, “You don’t think…the Party has the names of all those in the field? We would only pull if their status is compromised and they are in danger.”

“Could be,” Yuri sat back up, “nothing confirmed but we might be seeing some old faces around here that we haven’t seen in a while.”

Taeyeon leaned back in her chair remembering her conversation with Mr. Ok and after hearing Yunho in the interview, “we need to make a move before the Party does.”

Yuri, Sooyoung and Jessica looked at Taeyeon shocked, “are you suggesting war?”

“I don’t know, but we can’t be the ones pulling out when we have had the long-game in mind and planted our seeds carefully like that. We need to end the Party now.”

Yuri laughed it off, “okay general Kim Taeyeon. We will gather our forces and Jessica here will push you along because you still have a bum leg.”

Taeyeon looked down at her stupid leg, “I need to get better faster.”

Jessica rubbed Taeyeon’s back, “don’t jump to conclusions. If something big like that were to happen, we all would know something beyond a rumor. Right now we have reporters still coming and going from the Party, but if they were all in danger, no one would be leaving the Resistance.”

“Jessica has a point,” Sooyoung said as she apparently came back with food to eat.

“Still…” Taeyeon thought she needed to go talk to someone from Level 1. She felt so uncomfortable because Yuri wouldn’t come back with such information if not some of it was true.

“Tae…” Jessica said comforting, “how about we go for a walk to clear your mind.”

Yuri gave Jessica an apologetic look for working up Taeyeon so much, “See you two later.”

Taeyeon was helped up by Jessica as the two went around the Resistance, “Don’t take everything Yuri has to heart.”

“I just see some truth in it. I heard some things myself.” Taeyeon confessed.

Jessica felt Taeyeon’s hands go cold, “so Yuri might be right?”

Taeyeon nodded, “she could be.”

“Does this also have to do with Yunho? You were there when he was getting interviewed.”

Taeyeon pulled Jessica down into an empty hallway before looking around to make sure no one was in ear-shot, “I have something to ask you.”

Jessica usually liked it when Taeyeon held her close like this but the tone in her voice was so serious that it made her blood go cold, “w-what?”

“You wouldn’t have any affiliations to the Party right?”

“I still know people there, but I wouldn’t call them my friends anymore.” Jessica tried to gauge Taeyeon’s cold tone and face, but it just made a shiver go down her back.

Taeyeon leaned forward and crashed their lips together in a slow but meaningful kiss, “my job…it makes me not able to trust people, but I trust you…God I mean I trust you with my life.”

Jessica smiled softly and held Taeyeon’s face, “Me too. I wouldn’t have followed you or come here if I didn’t feel the same.”

“Jessica I am not sure it is a good thing. How I feel for you could be used against me one day.”

“Taeyeon I know you have been part of the Resistance for nearly your whole life. I can’t imagine a life where I was constantly afraid that the person next to me could be my enemy but Taeyeon I have been nothing but honest to you. If you need someone to lean on, I will be here to support you because I rely on you so much. I am not sure I have said this but I love you.”

Taeyeon closed the space again and kissed Jessica slowly, “I love you too.”

“I want to be someone you trust and can rely on Tae….if there is something on your mind, I hope you will open up a bit. Your goals in life are the same as mine since the day you pulled me into that bar. I blindly followed you then and I am still following you in the darkness not knowing if either of us will come out of this alive, but it is a journey I want to take with you.” Jessica gave Taeyeon a quick peck on the lips.

Taeyeon smiled happily, “Okay…then…I do have something to tell you.”

--------------------------------

Making his way back farther into the woods, Taecyeon occasionally stomped his feet to feel the ground hoping for an unusually hard feeling of a metal door, but nothing. There was no way that the entrance would disappear overnight so Taecyeon continued scoping the area for something that looked out of place. That was when he saw something that looked like fake brush. Knowing the military-style cloaking material, Taecyeon was sure something must be hidden there. Clearing off the fake branches and cloth, Taecyeon found a brown metal door leading down he supposed, “finally.”

Reaching down, Taecyeon pulled the latch open as he looked into the darkness of stairs leading down. Knowing it was his only chance, Taecyeon entered and closed the latch above him.

Careful not to make a sound, Taecyeon walked down the ladder slowly, but when the darkness persisted, Taecyeon came to a conclusion that this place must be abandoned. Once he arrived at the bottom, he reached into his pack and pulled out a flashlight. With what little light his flashlight gave, Taecyeon tried navigating around the facility. He could see that this was defiantly a bunker at one point with the solid concrete walls and flooring. It was cold and damp as if no one was down here for quite a while.

Stepping away from the ladder, Taecyeon could see the barren hallway led only one way so he made his way down with one hand on his knife attached to his hip, hoping that this place was truly empty like he thought. Eventually, hallway branched into two directions so Taecyeon went to the right first hoping to come back to the left eventually.

To the right, Taecyeon found a row of smaller rooms. The doors were all locked but Taecyeon flashed his light into the window of each cell, “These look like holding chambers…” There wasn’t even a bed or bathroom, but there was no other logical reasoning to an empty room like this other than to hold someone, almost like a prison. Taecyeon looked into each room, but each looked the same so he turned around and made his way back to the left side of the bunker.

The left side was very different. It led to an open room with rows and rows of metal tables. Taecyeon was aiming his light to every corner and space, trying to find anything to figure out what the hell this place was used for. Just then he spotted something shiny in the corner so he rushed over to pick it up. Holding the object close to his light, Taecyeon couldn’t figure out what it could be, “A transmitter?” It was so tiny that even Taecyeon hadn’t seen this before, not even in school when the Party supposedly taught them all the latest technologies used.

Taecyeon placed the object in his pocket so he could continue to scan the room. There were a few cabinets and sinks as he went in further so he bent down to look through the cabinetry but there was nothing inside but what looked to be black strings and a few pieces of woven fabric. Taecyeon looked at the black string closely, “Could this have been a hospital or medical lab?”

Standing up, Taecyeon used his light to scan the entire room in an attempt to picture what could have been there. In his mind he had a disturbing thought of dozens of people laying on those tables helpless to the scalpel blade cutting into them and being sewn shut with the black sutures before they were thrown into the empty cells on the other side of the bunker.

Taecyeon shook his head fiercely trying to forget the horrible image, “No way…that can’t be.”

Taking a few breaths, Taecyeon looked the place once over again, but came up empty handed so he went back to the ladder ready to go back up, but as he went up he heard voices right above him. There was no place to run and no place to hide in the facility but he hurried back down the ladder just as the latch was opened and a small object was thrown down. Taecyeon looked at the round thing closely until he realized it was a grenade. At that moment, he ran as fast as he could down the hall before it went off.