Misun
My heart was racing as I saw the house engulfed in flames. I was worried both about Taemin and the people caught inside. I frowned as I found myself biting on my lower lip once more.
Taemin’s team was working tirelessly, trying to tame the fire. I wanted to go help so badly but I knew better. I would only do more harm if I got in the way. I’d give them someone else to worry about instead of focusing on the task at hand. No matter how much I wanted to help, I knew that this was not the time and place for it.
‘He’ll be okay princess,’ Jungkook said as he put his hand on my shoulder. His voice was gentle – no longer cold or teasing. In fact, it held understanding and care. I looked at him and nodded.
‘I know, but I can’t help but be worried, you know?’ I asked. He offered me a small, gentle smile and squeezed at my shoulder.
‘I understand. He’s someone you care about a lot, but this is his work. He’s a professional and the team captain. He knows what he is doing princess,’ he said, reassuringly. I nodded as I continued to look about.
I watched Taemin’s team working together like a well-oiled machine. There was constant communication which was something irreplaceable for people like firefighters and ourselves. Communication was key – it gave security and protection. Members of the team needed to know where the others were in order to function properly. Just like communication, trust was also important and I could see that in Taemin’s team just like I felt in our own team.
In the past year and a half, our team went through some major cases. We went against murders, thieves, kidnappers and corrupt politicians. We went against psychos and rich people who thought they could get away with anything, even murder. We went through members getting hurt on the job. We went through disagreements and fights but we always came back to one another because we had trust in one another.
I shook my head, trying to shake away the thoughts as I looked around at the crowd. There were a lot of people who came to see. Taemin was definitely right about that – fires did attract a lot of people. There were some who looked on with horror in their eyes, hands clasped to their mouths and eyes teary. There were others who looked on with surprise or curiosity, trying to find out what happened. Even though it was horrible, there was a sense of excitement in some, almost like an adrenaline rush.
I sighed just as I heard some commotion. I turned my head and saw one of the firefighters hurrying out with a man leaning on him. I took a couple of steps forward as my eyes roamed about, trying to locate Taemin.
‘Where’s Cap?’ one of the firefighters asked as paramedics came and took the older man.
‘There’s the old man’s niece up on the roof. He went to get her,’ he explained. I felt my heart stop and my breath seemed to hitch. I could hear the murmurs of the people growing louder but I could only focus on the burning house.
‘*, the building is not going to last much longer,’ another firefighter replied. My heart seemed to ache as I took another step forward.
‘Please…’ I whispered to myself just as I heard one of the radio crackling with sound. I let out a breath of relief as I recognized Taemin’s voice.
‘Bring the ladder,’ one of them yelled as they moved about. I remained stuck for a moment, almost as if my head was the only thing that could move.
I followed their movements and before I knew it, I finally saw Taemin coming out of the burning building. I closed my eyes and bent my head a little as I tried to regulate my breathing. I had not even realized that I had been holding my breath until my chest started to ache and my lungs to burn.
‘Oh thank God,’ I mumbled to myself as I hurried towards next to him. I watch as his two friends helped him out and I instantly hugged him, forgetting all about being professional.
‘Oh ow ow ow,’ he said, making me quickly pull away. He gave me a sheepish smile while I looked down.
‘S—sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you okay?’ I asked. I felt his fingers underneath my chin as he lifted my head up.
‘You didn’t hurt me baby girl. I think I might have broken my arm, or at least fractured it. Not your fault. Were you worried about me?’ he asked with a smirk, causing me to roll my eyes.
‘Of course I was pabo. Just because we’re not together anymore, doesn’t mean I don’t care about you,’ I said. ‘Did you get everyone out?’ I asked and he nodded.
‘Seems like it. Grandpa, niece and dog are all safe. They’ll still need treatment of smoke inhalation but they’ll be okay,’ he explained.
‘Okay good. I’ll come to talk to them at the hospital after their treatment. You should go Tae, you need to be treated too,’ I said and he nodded.
‘I’ll see you later baby girl,’ he said with another wink. I watched on as he got onto the truck and I turned around to find Jungkook.
‘Where the hell did that pabo go now? I swear these boys are out there to give me a heart attack,’ I mumbled to myself as I walked about.
‘Jungkook?’ I called out, but there was no sign of him among the crowd. I felt my lips run dry as a heavy feeling continued to grow in my stomach.
I increased my pace as I went around until I pulled out my phone and began to call him. ‘Pick up, please, pick up,’ I said as it went into voicemail. I redialled and continued to jog around until my ears picked on the familiar tune of his ring tone.
I ran towards the noise which led me to an alley. It was well lit, clean…and silent except for the phone ringing. My phone dropped from my hand as my eyes fell on a small puddle of blood, next to Jungkook’s phone.
I gasped as I felt as if my heart was being crushed. Something had happened to Jungkook. I looked around for any clues until my eyes fell on a CCTV camera. It was the only lead I could have.
I closed my eyes as I felt tears rolling down my cheeks. This was my fault. I had been too distracted with Taemin’s safety I forgot about my partner. What the hell was he thinking leaving on his own?
I groaned loudly as I opened my eyes and lowered down to pick up my phone. My hands were shaking and I took a steady breath, knowing I needed to calm down if I were going to actually focus on finding my partner.
I dialled Yoongi’s number and the phone seemed to ring on for forever until he finally answered. ‘Misun? Is everything okay?’ he asked in a groggy voice.
‘No. There was another fire. There were no victims but, I don’t know what happened. Jungkook is gone. I found his phone and there’s blood. I think…I think he saw something, followed and got attacked,’ I said, my breath hitching, even though I was trying to control it.
‘*, *, okay, okay. I’ll get the others and meet you at the precinct,’ he said.
‘Yoongi there’s a CCTV camera here. Do you think you can hack into it?’ I asked, only to hear him scoff.
‘Of course I can. Get me its details and I’ll have the footage. We’ll know what happened,’ he said. I nodded, even though he could not see me. ‘Misun, we’re going to find him. He’s going to be all right,’ he said.
‘I hope so Yoongi, I really do,’ I said, as I sniffed one more time.
Yoongi
All of us managed to get to the precinct, including Huening Kai and Beomgyu. I was going to need their help. We walked in to find Misun pacing around the board room with Captain Sejin sitting down, trying to keep her calm.
‘Misun I need to know you can still work this case,’ he said. Although his voice was authoritative, there was concern in his voice. I knew he was worried for both Jungkook and Misun.
‘I can. I’m just…I need something. I need to know what happened so I can start thinking of some damned plan,’ she responded, slamming her hand on the desk.
‘Misun,’ I said, forcing her to turn around. I noticed her eyes which seemed to have a bit of red to them. It looked like she wanted to just burst out crying.
‘We need to find him,’ she said and I nodded. I turned around towards Huening Kai and Beomgyu.
‘Boys, I want you to try and dig up anything you can find on the judge. Cross reference with the previous victims, check for any connection,’ I said.
‘Yes sir,’ they both said at the same time. They gave a slight bow and left with a jog to go to my lab.
We all sat down around the table, ready to get to work. I opened my laptop as I looked at Misun. She took a deep, but shaky breath as she handed me the paper with the information.
‘Is this enough?’ she asked as I looked at the serial number. I nodded and started to work.
‘Misun-ah, can you walk us exactly though what happened?’ Jimin asked, his voice soft.
‘Jungkook came over to my apartment with some food and then Taemin came over too. We were discussing the case and what we could do, but then Taemin got a call about another fire,’ she explained.
She closed her eyes for a moment and clasped her hands together. Anyone could see how tense she was and everyone understood. Her and Jungkook always teased each other but they truly cared a lot about one another. They had a special bond.
‘We went with Taemin so we could look around for anything suspicious. I got distracted because Taemin was still inside. Dammit, if I didn’t get distracted…’ she said, her voice rising in pitch.
‘Hey this is not your fault Misun!’ Jin was quick to say as the others nodded.
‘It’s not about being distracted. You were worried for your friend,’ Hoseok added, but she continued to shake her head.
‘I should have paid more attention,’ she said. ‘One moment he was there, the next he wasn’t. I started looking for him, calling him and then I just found his phone in an alley next to a small puddle of blood,’ she said just as I managed to crack into the video system.
‘Got it,’ I said as everyone turned their eyes on me. I connected the laptop to the larger screen in the board room. I typed in the time I wanted until it finally showed a man walking into the alley hurriedly.
‘He’s in a hurry,’ Taehyung commented just as the video showed Jungkook following behind him. The man stopped and turned around.
‘He seemed jittery. Maybe that’s why Jungkook followed him,’ Jimin commented.
‘He looks scared,’ Misun commented as she chewed on her bottom lip.
‘Yeah, he keeps looking around though,’ Hoseok just as the video showed another man coming from behind Jungkook, hitting him in the head.
‘Oh God,’ Misun said as her eyes went wide. I felt my own heart skip a beat at the footage as Jungkook fell to the ground. The other male, who looked somewhat young, hit him in the head once more, rendering him unconscious.
The two males seemed to argue before they started to drag him with them. ‘He was right about his suspicious but got blindsided,’ Taehyung said.
‘We’re looking at a pair working together, not just one,’ Jimin said.
‘Then it could possibly be more related to revenge than arson fame so to call it,’ Namjoon said as Misun nodded.
‘Makes sense and—’ she pause as the door opened and Huening Kai and Beomgyu both rushed in with huge smiles on their faces.
‘We found the connection,’ Huening Kai said as Beomgyu connected their tablet to the screen.
‘They’re all related guys. The judge, the lawyer and the student,’ he said. ‘They were all involved in the same case,’ Beomgyu said.
‘A year ago, there was a case of a hit and run on a girl. The girl was just seventeen years old and the driver was just eighteen,’ Huening Kai began.
‘It was said that he was drunk and ran her over at the lights,’ Beomgyu added. It was clear to see they were excited about what they found.
‘The student was with the driver and gave a witness account while the lawyer was the driver’s lawyer. The judge obviously was the one who did the ruling,’ Huening Kai explained.
‘Let me guess, it ruled in favour of the driver?’ Captain Sejin asked as both of them nodded.
‘He got a really, really light sentence, just a few months in jail. I…we don’t want to speculate but, the driver’s father is a very rich guy,’ Huening Kai said, sounding nervous.
‘It could be he bought off the judge. I mean it wouldn’t be the first time,’ Beomgyu said.
‘The victim, the girl, she had two older brothers. They both served in the military and get this,’ Huening Kai.
‘Their father, he was a former firefighter,’ Beomgyu said.
‘That might explain how they knew so much about fires,’ Taehyung said.
‘I honestly don’t know what I would do if someone hurt my little sister like that and then practically got away with it,’ Namjoon said as he ran his hand through his hair.
‘It’s really frustrating because the law is supposed to be there to protect people but if someone is willing to pay, then it might just close its eyes to atrocities like this,’ Jimin commented.
‘I can understand them wanting to get justice by their own hands but it can never justify this,’ Taehyung said.
‘Of course not, but it definitely gives perspective,’ Hoseok said.
‘It does. If I were them and I knew I got caught, I’d go after my proper target – the driver,’ Misun said.
‘We’ll get you the information on him and the brothers,’ Huening Kai said as I nodded towards them.
‘Try to make it quick. Get me any addresses you think are relevant,’ Misun said as she stood up. ‘We should start gearing up,’ she said as we all stood up as well.
‘We’re going to get Jungkook,’ Jimin said, touching her shoulder. She nodded while her hands balled into fists.
‘As soon as we do, I’m going to *ing kill him myself for pulling that stunt,’ she said as she left out of the room. I turned to look at Huening Kai and Beomgyu who both blinked after Misun, surprised by her actions.
‘Don’t mind it. They’re just really protective of each other,’ Namjoon said, clearly catching on.
‘Anyways, good job guys. We couldn’t have cracked this as quickly without your good work. Keep it up,’ I said as they both smiled happily, clearly pleased with the praise.