Running out of Time - [part three]
“This---this---! SHIT! How?! Show me---" Siwon was at a loss for words, and Kyuhyun dragged him over to the central computer.
“It’s the accounts---you know how our account system is closed? Someone’s gotten in and created a new account---and the email system? We can only send to and receive from the system email accounts, yes? With the hacked, newly created account, they’ve forwarded an email to all of us---no one’s opened it…Siwon…” Kyuhyun swallowed hard.
“Fucking shit…” Siwon shook his head, staring at the computer’s monitor in disbelief. “Open one of our decoy accounts, and open the email from there…”
“Got it…” Fingers flying furiously across the keyboard, Kyuhyun commenced Siwon’s order and brought up the email.
“There’s an attached video file…should I---“
“Open it.”
Kyuhyun nodded, gulped, and played the video.
A middle aged woman was gagged and bound to the single chair in the middle of the gray room surrounded by glass walls on the large screen. All of the members gathered around, watching intently.
“Hello agents of SACPA. Yes we know who you are. All of you---right up to your pretty-boy leader - Choi Siwon…but this isn’t about you. It’s about us. Why we’re here today. What we have to show you…”
The voice paused, and a shadowed figure removed the cloth from the woman’s mouth. She immediately began screaming curses at her captors, until she received a harsh blow to the back of her head by the black figure.
“This woman is our lucky first experiment. She has a husband, young children; a loving family overall………You see, our assistant is currently injecting her with a little something we happened to get our hands on…It is a lethal virus---our test today will just prove how potent it actually is. It is a fairly large dose for a woman of her age and size, but no matter...that just means that the effect will arrive sooner.”
The mysterious ‘assistant’ untied the victim and evacuated the room.
“Ah…now you see our test subject exhibiting the first symptom---her body temperature is rapidly decreasing.”
The woman’s body was violently shivering; her teeth chattering. She tried to rub her arms with her quivering hands.
“Observe how her body convulses in a feeble attempt to raise her warmth…though, she won’t need to as the next symptom takes effect…and here it is…”
Very suddenly, she stopped shaking, and sat very still for just a few seconds. Then without warning, she began tearing at her clothes, running around her prison and screaming bloody murder.
“OHMYGODITBURNS!!!”
“You see, she is currently running a fever well over a hundred degrees. An extreme difference from being below ninety degrees just moments ago...Her skin is hot to the touch…”
She collapsed, sprawled on the floor, her arms barely able to keep her in a somewhat upright position.
“Currently, our dear test subject is perspiring her body’s supply of water away…soon, she will surely dehydrate. But it won’t be the dehydration to kill her…that would be no fun at all…As her insides are boiling away…she needs to expel some kind of substance to stay cool…”
Her skin had already become red from her internal heat, but now took on splotches of a different shade.
She wiped her forehead with a weak hand, and a scarlet streak formed.
“Wh…wha---“
Then she screamed in pain and horror.
She was sweating blood.
“While you see that she is sweating out her own bodily fluids, her blood vessels are also bursting - simultaneously, I might add. It’s simply excruciating…”
The woman writhed on the ground in agony.
“And finally, we reach the final stage…”
The woman pulled herself across the floor toward the direction of the camera; a smeared trail of blood following behind her as she choked out helpless, pained sobs of misery. As she drew nearer, she continued to cough, and bright red flecks sprinkled the glass. Bloody tears streamed down her face as the same liquid seeped from the corners of her mouth, her nose, her ears…
“...she will bleed from virtually every orifice of her body…”
With a sudden, shuddering gasp, her body fell flat onto the floor, face-first.
“…and die…” the voice concluded with a hint of twisted satisfaction.
“So SACPA…we sincerely hope you consider this video seriously and take some action. It would be our pleasure to have you look into this case…Come find us. But don’t keep us waiting long…who knows who the next unsuspecting victim may be…?”
The woman’s body gave a final spasm, and was lifeless once more - a scarlet pool leaking out from beneath her corpse.
The video ended.
.........
SACPA’s headquarters were silent. Not one employee could do anything but gape at the screen, frozen in disgust and horror.
“Those SICK---FUCKING---BASTARDS!!!” Siwon banged on the table with a clenched fist, and sat with his head in his hands, breathless.
“Siwon…” Hangeng’s hand came to rest on the younger man’s shoulder.
“Never…nothing I’ve ever seen…nothing could have ever prepared me for that…” Yesung - the weapons specialist - spoke finally.
“We’ve gotta get these guys…we’ve gotta…we’ve---“ Kyuhyun choked.
“Kyuhyun, how soon can you get some men and start backtracking? We need to find the source of this email…” Siwon said.
“I’ll get started now.”
“We need phone lines screened---someone, check to make sure our calls aren’t being intercepted as well…”
As Siwon continued his orders, members scurried about the headquarters. …They had a serious case on their hands.
-|-|-|-
“Siwon…what’s wrong?” Hangeng asked as he slid under the covers next to him.
He sighed. “Earlier…this new case…”
“I know…”
“I mean…how could one human being do such a thing to another…and enjoy watching??” Siwon asked, disgusted.
“I wouldn’t call them ‘human beings’…doing something like that…it’s a sin against humanity…it’s monstrous…despicable…” he shook his head. “Don’t worry on these things too much…you need your sleep, Siwon.” He placed sweet kisses onto the man’s clavicle and continued up his neck until their lips finally met.
“I can’t make any promises…” Siwon said with a sigh as they parted.
“Just try…good night, Siwon…”
“…good night, Hangeng…”
-|-|-|-
[ - flashback | three years ago | Siwon’s POV - ]
I was just twenty-one years old, and already the leading agent at SACPA. Only serious dedication and perseverance could have gotten me that position; I had worked hard. And now? For Korea’s sake, I had to bring myself lower. I had to ask China to help me save my own country. I felt like less of a man…
The day we met them…nothing had made my blood boil more.
BAOHU-[AC]…who did they think they were? Did they think themselves better than us? So what if China was a bigger country??
We met them outside the day they came.
A slender man in a black suit approached me, followed by a small crowd of other members.
“Hello. Could you please introduce me to Choi Siwon?” his soft voice greeted---the same voice from the phone.
A twinge of annoyance ran down my spine.
“I am Choi Siwon.”
“Ah! My apologies…” He bowed in courtesy. “My name is Han Geng. This is our team from BAOHU-[AC]...” he gestured toward the group behind him.
“Welcome.” I replied stiffly.
They followed us inside, and Hangeng walked beside me.
...
“It’s unfortunate that we had to meet under these circumstances, but here we are…” he said. His lips smiled slightly, but his face remained the same.
What was with the sudden courtesy? This bizarre feeling of friendly warmth he was giving off?
I was uncomfortable already.
“Where do you want us to set up?”
“Ah…” I scanned the headquarters, but it didn’t seem that we had any free desks. Damn…
“I suppose we’re going to have to share…” I frowned a bit.
“Will we be sharing, then?” When he looked at me…it felt more as though he was looking right through me…
I swallowed deeply.
“Follow me……this is my desk. You can set up your things here…”
‘Siwon, what is going on with you?’ my mind screamed.
“Thank you.” He smiled and I watched his delicate hands as they carefully removed the contents of his small box.
Things kept going from strange to even stranger in just a short time…