The emergency lights painted the hallway red.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou pulled me toward the nearest interview room.<\/p>\n
\u201cInside.\u201d<\/p>\n
The door required an electronic badge.<\/p>\n
No power.<\/p>\n
Locked.<\/p>\n
Footsteps came closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWonderful,\u201d I whispered.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou tried another door.<\/p>\n
Locked.<\/p>\n
The secured hallway had become a trap.<\/p>\n
At the far end, two figures appeared.<\/p>\n
Dark clothing.<\/p>\n
One carried something low beside his leg.<\/p>\n
A gun.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou saw it.<\/p>\n
We ran.<\/p>\n
The stairwell door opened manually.<\/p>\n
She shoved me through first.<\/p>\n
I nearly lost my footing on the first step.<\/p>\n
\u201cCareful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re the one pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRunning.\u201d<\/p>\n
We descended.<\/p>\n
Above us, the stairwell door opened.<\/p>\n
No shouting.<\/p>\n
That frightened me more.<\/p>\n
Police shout.<\/p>\n
People who want witnesses alive usually shout.<\/p>\n
These men did not.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou grabbed my hand.<\/p>\n
We reached the next floor.<\/p>\n
Door.<\/p>\n
Locked electronically.<\/p>\n
Down again.<\/p>\n
Another floor.<\/p>\n
Same.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey shut the system,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we reach the lobby?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Footsteps above.<\/p>\n
Closer.<\/p>\n
My lungs burned.<\/p>\n
At sixty-three, I discovered that international conspiracies contain far too many stairs.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou slowed for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not leaving you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not asking you to.\u201d<\/p>\n
We reached another landing.<\/p>\n
A hand appeared through the rail above.<\/p>\n
Gun.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou pulled me sideways.<\/p>\n
The shot struck concrete.<\/p>\n
The sound slammed through the stairwell.<\/p>\n
We kept moving.<\/p>\n
Then a door below burst open.<\/p>\n
A man stepped out.<\/p>\n
I nearly screamed.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere!\u201d<\/p>\n
She held a pistol.<\/p>\n
I had never seen her with one.<\/p>\n
I preferred her immediately.<\/p>\n
She pushed us through the door.<\/p>\n
An officer stood beside her.<\/p>\n
He locked the stairwell manually.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are they?\u201d Mary Lou asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said Min.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLater.\u201d<\/p>\n
A heavy impact struck the stairwell door.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin led us through a records section.<\/p>\n
Employees crouched behind desks.<\/p>\n
Emergency alarms continued.<\/p>\n
Somewhere farther away, people shouted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Choi safe?\u201d Mary Lou asked.<\/p>\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows the names.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, she was right.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin spoke to the officer.<\/p>\n
He answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cChoi was moved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSecure holding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho knows?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToo many people.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was not comforting.<\/p>\n
We reached a service corridor.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin stopped.<\/p>\n
The officer checked around the corner.<\/p>\n
Clear.<\/p>\n
We moved again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you verify?\u201d Mary Lou asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cMin accessed Kang Jun\u2019s old investigation file.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThree times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRecently?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce nine years ago. Once four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the third?\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cForty minutes ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows about us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLee?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably.\u201d<\/p>\n
The officer opened a utility door leading to an underground parking level.<\/p>\n
We entered.<\/p>\n
Rows of government vehicles stood beneath fluorescent emergency lamps.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin pointed toward a gray sedan.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Lou stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin turned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are we going?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSomewhere secure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose secure?\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin stared.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou\u2019s breathing was fast but controlled.<\/p>\n
\u201cMin approved this investigation. People with access just opened secured doors for armed men. I\u2019m not getting into another government car because someone says secure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words landed.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin lowered her weapon.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d<\/p>\n
That surprised all of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you suggest?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Lou looked around.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother\u2019s hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToo obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJi-hoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s in a guarded hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhose guards?\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin did not answer.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou\u2019s point became increasingly unpleasant.<\/p>\n
The officer suddenly raised his hand.<\/p>\n
Vehicle approaching.<\/p>\n
Headlights swept around the corner.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin pulled us behind a concrete pillar.<\/p>\n
The vehicle stopped.<\/p>\n
Door opened.<\/p>\n
A man called her name.<\/p>\n
She relaxed slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Kim.\u201d<\/p>\n
The print-shop owner stepped out.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou?\u201d<\/p>\n
He adjusted his glasses.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou seem disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Confused.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is healthier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin had contacted him when the building lost power.<\/p>\n
He arrived in an old delivery van with PRINTING SOLUTIONS written along the side.<\/p>\n
Nobody would mistake it for government transportation.<\/p>\n
Perfect.<\/p>\n
We climbed inside among boxes of paper.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim drove.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin sat beside him.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou and I crouched in the back like criminals with office supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is absurd,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou began laughing.<\/p>\n
Not a small laugh.<\/p>\n
A real one.<\/p>\n
It came out at exactly the wrong time and therefore became impossible to stop.<\/p>\n
I started too.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin looked back.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you both all right?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Mary Lou said.<\/p>\n
That made us laugh harder.<\/p>\n
Perhaps fear had simply run out of dignified places to go.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim drove us to his print shop.<\/p>\n
The shutter came down behind the van.<\/p>\n
Only then did Soo-jin explain.<\/p>\n
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Min had been quietly removed from direct access to the case after Choi named him.<\/p>\n
Someone informed him.<\/p>\n
Within fifteen minutes, the building\u2019s power system was disrupted.<\/p>\n
The armed men entered using credentials belonging to security contractors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere they after us?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cLikely Mary and Choi.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re part of the archive key.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe archive is open.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLee may not know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Lou sat at the old desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat about Choi?\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin made a call through a secure device.<\/p>\n
Minutes passed.<\/p>\n
Then she looked relieved.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoved to another facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMin?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMissing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
People in this story had an irritating tendency to disappear immediately before police wanted them.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin opened her laptop.<\/p>\n
Investigators outside Min\u2019s chain of command were checking the Busan information Choi provided.<\/p>\n
No action yet.<\/p>\n
Too risky.<\/p>\n
If Lee had access to internal communications, any obvious operation could warn him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what happens?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe verify the ship independently.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin looked at Mr. Kim.<\/p>\n
He smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrinting?\u201d<\/p>\n
I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apparently Mr. Kim had once worked in freight documentation before opening the shop.<\/p>\n
Of course he had.<\/p>\n
Nobody around Mary Lou had a simple r\u00e9sum\u00e9.<\/p>\n
He accessed commercial shipping schedules using legitimate industry databases.<\/p>\n
Several container vessels were due to depart Busan the following evening.<\/p>\n
Choi had provided a berth number.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim found the matching ship.<\/p>\n
The Haneul Star.<\/p>\n
Destination listed as Kaohsiung, then Singapore.<\/p>\n
A company connected indirectly to Lee controlled several containers scheduled for loading.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou leaned closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould someone hide inside?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim shrugged.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople hide everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
One container had unusual documentation.<\/p>\n
Declared contents: industrial pumps.<\/p>\n
Weight: significantly below what the listed equipment should weigh.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin copied the information.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat could be Lee\u2019s route.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr Choi sent us toward an empty container,\u201d Mary Lou said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we verify without telling Min\u2019s people?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin contacted a customs investigator she trusted personally.<\/p>\n
One person.<\/p>\n
No broader alert.<\/p>\n
He agreed to inspect the container quietly before loading.<\/p>\n
We waited.<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
I began hating clocks.<\/p>\n
At two in the morning, Mr. Kim made coffee.<\/p>\n
At three, Mary Lou fell asleep in a chair.<\/p>\n
I covered her with my coat.<\/p>\n
Her face looked younger asleep.<\/p>\n
Not twenty-one.<\/p>\n
Not the girl who left.<\/p>\n
But younger than the woman who had faced Choi in the tunnel.<\/p>\n
I wondered what twelve years had done to both of us.<\/p>\n
There would be time to discover it.<\/p>\n
I insisted on believing that.<\/p>\n
At 3:37, Soo-jin\u2019s secure phone rang.<\/p>\n
The customs investigator.<\/p>\n
The container was empty.<\/p>\n
Not empty exactly.<\/p>\n
Inside were crates containing industrial pumps.<\/p>\n
Correct equipment.<\/p>\n
Correct serial numbers.<\/p>\n
Correct weight once weighed independently.<\/p>\n
The suspicious paperwork had been manipulated.<\/p>\n
\u201cA decoy,\u201d Mary Lou said after Soo-jin woke her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cChoi lied.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
I shook my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gave you the right berth.\u201d<\/p>\n
They looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he wanted to send us nowhere, why use a real Lee-linked shipment?\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the shipment itself matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr because the container isn\u2019t for Lee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Lou sat upright.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney.\u201d<\/p>\n
Choi\u2019s notebook.<\/p>\n
Cash.<\/p>\n
Escape routes.<\/p>\n
Lee would need resources wherever he went.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin called the customs investigator again.<\/p>\n
Check adjacent containers associated with the same shipping broker.<\/p>\n
One stood out.<\/p>\n
Refrigerated cargo.<\/p>\n
Medical products.<\/p>\n
Its paperwork had been amended six hours earlier.<\/p>\n
New container number.<\/p>\n
New seal.<\/p>\n
New truck.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is it?\u201d Mary Lou asked.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim traced the truck\u2019s logistics record.<\/p>\n
It had not reached the port.<\/p>\n
Last checkpoint: forty kilometers north of Busan.<\/p>\n
Then nothing.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin looked at us.<\/p>\n
\u201cLee may be traveling with the container.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Lou shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo risky.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless he has no better route.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought about the private aircraft.<\/p>\n
A plane that supposedly changed course and disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if the plane was the decoy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants investigators watching airports and coastlines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Lou understood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile he travels by road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim pulled up maps.<\/p>\n
The truck route passed near several private industrial properties.<\/p>\n
One belonged to a logistics company named Seongjin Maritime.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin searched the archive.<\/p>\n
The name appeared.<\/p>\n
Multiple times.<\/p>\n
Payments.<\/p>\n
Choi.<\/p>\n
Lee.<\/p>\n
And one entry from Kang Jun.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou pointed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s that date?\u201d<\/p>\n
Two days before Kang Jun\u2019s crash.<\/p>\n
A payment from Seongjin Maritime to a vehicle leasing company.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin searched further.<\/p>\n
The truck involved in Kang Jun\u2019s fatal crash had been leased through that company.<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found the truck connection,\u201d Mary Lou whispered.<\/p>\n
Another piece.<\/p>\n
Not just Park\u2019s authorization.<\/p>\n
Not just Han\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n
The corporate chain.<\/p>\n
Seongjin Maritime had supplied the vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho owns it?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kim traced the registrations.<\/p>\n
Shell company.<\/p>\n
Another shell.<\/p>\n
Investment trust.<\/p>\n
Then a director appeared.<\/p>\n
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Min\u2019s brother-in-law.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Min wasn\u2019t just protecting Lee.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Soo-jin said. \u201cHis family benefited.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conspiracy was becoming less abstract.<\/p>\n
People.<\/p>\n
Money.<\/p>\n
Specific choices.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin forwarded the evidence through a channel outside Min\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Then her phone rang again.<\/p>\n
This time, she listened without speaking.<\/p>\n
Her expression hardened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
She ended the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
My chest tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cJi-hoon?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Lou stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean gone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDischarged himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith a gunshot wound?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody knew.<\/p>\n
Then Mr. Kim looked toward the desk.<\/p>\n
The wooden compass box was missing.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou checked her coat.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin searched the table.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Ji-hoon had possessed it last before the reservoir.<\/p>\n
But after the shooting, police had catalogued it.<\/p>\n
It should have been in evidence.<\/p>\n
Soo-jin called.<\/p>\n
The evidence record showed it had been released.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n
She listened.<\/p>\n
Then went pale.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeputy Chief Prosecutor Min.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Lou stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore we discovered he was compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n
The compass was gone.<\/p>\n
Ji-hoon had disappeared.<\/p>\n
Min had disappeared.<\/p>\n
And the object connecting Kang Jun\u2019s hidden evidence to his surviving brother was now somewhere between them.<\/p>\n
Mary Lou looked at the shipping map.<\/p>\n
\u201cJi-hoon isn\u2019t running.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he spent fourteen years running.\u201d<\/p>\n
She pointed at Seongjin Maritime.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going after Lee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soo-jin shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t know Lee is there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe might.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Lou looked toward the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Ji-hoon was watching Lee long before any of us knew his name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she picked up her coat.<\/p>\n
I already knew what she was going to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to find him before he turns Kang Jun\u2019s evidence into revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The emergency lights painted the hallway red. Mary Lou pulled me toward the nearest interview room. \u201cInside.\u201d The door required an electronic badge. No power. Locked. Footsteps came closer. \u201cWonderful,\u201d … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17006,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16979\/revisions\/17006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}