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“Yes, sir. It’ll keep trying to broadcast our location until I shut it off or the battery runs down. But Seong Hyeon will get an alert as long as there’s a wireless network in range.”
Tae Hyun quietly huffed as he pulled his hand away, ignoring the sweat that had started running down the back of his neck. The hood over his head was hot and stuffy. “I wish they’d take these hoods off us.”
“The hoods are a good thing, sir. They only care about what you might see if they’re going to let you go.”
“Oh.” Tae Hyun hadn’t considered that. “So what do we do now? Just wait?”
“I can’t think of anything else to do. I don’t know for sure where we are or who’s here. There could be four men or twenty. At least one of them is armed, so we have to assume they probably all are.”
Tae Hyun huffed, wondering what Jason would do in that situation. He’d probably use whatever advantages he had to gain the upper hand. For Jason, that was his mouth, his temper, and, if need be, his fists. Tae Hyun had already tried fighting and running, which got him knocked out with the butt of someone’s gun. He’d tried complaining, but not very hard. And that only got him told to shut the fuck up. His greatest strengths were his talents and charm. He didn’t know how far those would get him with his kidnappers. Unless they happened to beXTCfans.
Someone opened a sliding door beside him with a loud thunk. They were definitely in a van, not a truck. “Alright, assholes,” a new, shrill voice said as a pair of hands grabbed Tae Hyun. “Let’s go.”
Tae Hyun grunted as whoever had grabbed him yanked and pulled until he reached the door opening, then let him fall onto the hard, paved ground. He cried out more from shock than pain as he smacked the pavement. Still, it was enough to get someone’s attention.
“Hey, dumbass,” Do Hyeon called out. “The boss wants him unharmed.”
Shrill Voice scoffed. “Yeah, with what the boss has planned, I don’t think it’ll matter if he gets a little bumped around.”
Someone grabbed Tae Hyun and helped him to his feet. “Yeah?” It was Do Hyeon. “You’re welcome to explain to the boss why you disobeyed his orders when he gets here.” He gently pushed Tae Hyun forward. “Come on, it’s this way.”
Seong Min grunted and hissed as someone pulled him from the van. But, thankfully, there was no noise from him striking the pavement. Tae Hyun tried to pay more attention to his surroundings as he was led away. The droning rush of highway traffic wasn’t far off. The pungent air had an earthy, oily, iron odor that he could smell even through the hood, reminding him of the motor pool at the army base where he’d been stationed. He knew he wasn’t on an army base, but it could’ve been an auto repair or storage facility. Or, more likely, a scrapyard.
When the ground transitioned from rough to smooth, Tae Hyun assumed they’d gone inside. The echoes from his footsteps were wide and long, so it had to be a big space. A warehouse, maybe? Going inside also made Seong Min’s labored breathing seem louder. Tae Hyun wondered if his bodyguard’s self-diagnosis ofjust a scratchwas even true.
“You shot my friend,” Tae Hyun announced.
“I know,” Do Hyeon confirmed. “I was there.”
“Is he alright? He sounds terrible.”
Do Hyeon scoffed. “Don’t be so dramatic. He’s well enough for now.”
“For now? What’s going to happen?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.” Do Hyeon stopped Tae Hyun. “Okay, sit here.”
Tae Hyun heard Seong Min walk up beside him as Do Hyeon helped him sit on the cold, smooth concrete floor. Then Seong Min sat, too. And both their helpers left without saying anything more.
After a minute or so, once he could no longer hear anyone’s footsteps, Tae Hyun cautiously whispered. “What do you think he meant bywhat the boss has planned?”
“I don’t know, sir.” Seong Min’s breathing had calmed, but his voice was still strained. “And you don’t need to whisper. If they want to know what we’re saying, they just have to stand right next to us. It’s not like we’d see them.”
Tae Hyun shivered at the thought that they could literally be surrounded by people and not know it. Except, he didn’t think they were. He wasn’t sure how, but he sensed that the only thing near them was a pillar. Maybe it was having been trained as a dancer? He’d been naturally gifted with a strong, almost unconscious awareness of his surroundings that he’d honed through many years of dance training. Moving onstage without running into or tripping over the others near him was an essential skill for any idol who danced.
Or, that could all be bullshit Tae Hyun was using to comfort himself. Either way, he didn’t think it mattered if anyone overheard them. He wasn’t a spy. He hadn’t been kidnapped by agents from the north to spill the state secrets he carried. Whoever had targeted him probably knew everything about him already.
“I don’t think this is a kidnapping,” Tae Hyun finally admitted.
“What’s that, sir?”
Tae Hyun realized how silly that sounded. “I mean, I don’t think the kidnapping part is the end goal.” He swallowed, wishing he could have some water. “I keep thinking about the graffiti.”
Seong Min let out a slow breath. “Remember Jong Soo?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.” Seong Min paused for a pair of long breaths. “Okay, yeah. I hadn’t been thinking about that, but I am now, and it’s–” He sighed. “–troubling. Can you tell me how tight your restraints are?”
