Mission J

As usual, it only took one ring for him to pick up.

“Hey,” Jun answered, his voice calm as ever.
“Hey,” I returned the greeting.
Jun must’ve heard something in my tone because he was immediately on my case.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, sounding slightly concerned.
“Yea, it’s fine.” I reassured him. I inhaled deeply and breathed out quietly, covering the microphone with my hand for insurance. But it was effort wasted.
“Something’s clearly bothering you.” I heard Jun say. “What is it?”

This man knew me far too well. I took a brief moment before I started to talk.

“I just finished talking to one of the detectives on Seo’s case.” I said.
“And?” Jun asked expectantly.
“It went smoothly without an issue, and we came to an agreement to use the next five days to test our cooperation.” I said.
“Okay, that’s a good start.” he said. “So what’s the problem?”

I sighed, taking a look around to see if anyone was nearby. The bay area was still fairly clear of people, even though it was now past noon.

“Well, so far there isn’t much to be worried about.” I said, shoving my hand into my jacket pocket. “The details on the murder are disturbing, but from what the detective was saying the case is growing cold already from the lack of evidence.”
“And that’s not worrisome?” Jun asked, and I could picture him raising an eyebrow.
I sighed, feeling a random headache blooming right between my eyes.
“You know what I mean.” I said dryly. “There are just not a lot of moving pieces right now. It’s too clean.”
“Clean.” Jun echoed.
“You know what I mean.” I repeated.
Jun hummed thoughtfully, and I pictured him massaging his jaw in deep thought.
“Since there is minimal evidence, you can’t get a grasp on a profile of the stalker.” he said, not asking. “That is a bit troubling…especially in such a brutal murder.”

I exhaled silently, pressing my fingertips along my brow bone. What was up with this headache?

“What is it?” Jun asked again, as if to echo my thoughts.
“What is what?” I asked.
“There seems to be more on your mind. Out with it.” he said.
I raised an eyebrow at his tone, stopping my slow pacing walk.
“Is that impatience in your tone?” I asked. “I’m sorry; did I call at an inconvenient time?”
“Anytime is a good time for you.” he returned smoothly. “Nice deviation, but you’re still going to tell me what’s bothering you.”
I scowled, hating his all-knowing tone.
“A please would be polite,” I muttered.
“Please?” Jun said, humoring me.

I sighed, and even though I knew he couldn’t see, I rolled my eyes.
“This case…I don’t think I’m suitable for this job.” I said.

Jun was silent on the other end, not responding. I took it as his signal to keep talking.

“This isn’t my type of work. Protection detail…really, I can’t even joke. I’m ill-fit for these types of jobs.” I said. “Me being a bodyguard just isn’t right.”
“But you were chosen and approved for this job.” Jun reasoned, finally speaking. “If you were so ill-fit, Director would’ve denied the request before we even heard about it.”
I scoffed, shaking my head and resumed my pacing back and forth.
“Like he could afford to refuse a job.” I muttered. “It doesn’t really matter. I’m not confident I could do this job right. All I can tell Seo is that I am capable and can be useful in his situation but I have no ways of backing it up.” I said. “I’m going to end up killing the guy myself.”
“You can’t actually know that you’re going to fail already,” Jun argued.

If he had been standing in front of me, I would have given him a look.
“Jun, I elbowed and flipped the man on his ass this morning. On my official first day on this job.” I reminded him.

Jun let out a sigh on the other end.
“Yea. I tasted the lie on its way out.” he admitted. “But that can always change.”
I frowned, considering what he was saying.
“Go on,” I said.
“I agree that if you continue on this job with the way things are now you will not get through this job. And then one of few things will happen.” Jun stated. “First, Seo will definitely ask you to leave. The job will be handed down to a protection company once a thorough evaluation of the client’s situation is conducted. More than just likely, CORE will cut all ties with this case and this job will be closed as an incomplete.”

I winced at the word ‘incomplete’. That wasn’t my style.
“You said ‘one of few things,’” I said.

“Yea, well at that point those few things will be way out of our hands to control.” Jun went on. “One, most ideally but unlikely, the police find the killer and the case is solved without our involvement. To be frank, I don’t see that happening any time soon, not with so little evidence.”

I thought back on all I had gathered so far and what the detective had revealed.
“Yea, we should talk a bit more on that later.” I said, glancing around. “But I agree, I don’t see that happening.”

Jun grunted and I heard some shuffling on his end.
“And if the case isn’t solved, you know without me telling you what it can lead to.” Jun said. “I doubt the secondary company would care about being discrete in the case so when the news of Seo hiring bodyguards come out…”

I sighed, fatigue hanging over me like a dark drape.
“It can result in more victims, depending on how his stalker takes it.” I said.
My mind started forming a web of possibilities without me even trying, none of them particularly pretty. This was going to get ugly for sure.
“I don’t want to jump to conclusions but I have a nasty feeling the murder wasn’t a one-time hit.” I said. “Jun, This stalker might attack again, soon. But I have no grasp on a profile, or how this person would act.”
“Then I guess you’re going to have to do some digging on your own.” he said. “I’ll help as much as I can, but I’m tied down with all the paperwork of the last mission.”
“It’s alright. I’ll figure something out.” I told him. “I think I know where to start anyway.”
“Are you going to tell me where?” he asked.
“The letters. I’m going to try to see if I can look through the letters to see if I can find a pattern or even profile the stalker.” I said. “Since there isn’t much to go on from the actual murder, except---”

The picture plastered above the newspaper article floated to the surface of my mind, stopping all other thoughts.
I froze, something in my head clicking, a forgotten piece of information falling into place.

“K? You still there?” Jun asked, sounding concerned again.

I closed my eyes and breathed out carefully, dread filling my chest thickly like mud. I had a gut feeling…

“Yea, Jun, listen. The trigger to the attack was probably the incident at the promotional event four days ago.” I said. “The victim got through the barriers and came in direct contact with Seo when she threw herself at him.”
“That would make sense. If the stalker saw the girl and the incident, they could have snapped.” Jun agreed. “But we knew that, why bring it up now?”
I glanced back at the nearby bench, where the newspaper had been left by the detective.
“Let me call you back once I’m 100% sure.” I said. “My transportation for the job…”
“Should be where I left it; parked in the residents’ garage of the complex.” Jun said. “I think I did a good job with the choice. You can thank me later.”

I muttered a brief thanks before I hung up the phone. I turned to the bench, swiped up the newspaper and without wasting another minute I started on my way back to Seo’s apartment complex.

It was just a gut feeling…nothing was for sure. Gut feelings weren’t the most reliable.
But my intuition was something I have learned to trust.

I inhaled deeply and cleared my mind of all thought and forced my focus into the facts and what needed to get done.
First things first, I needed to get to the car. Jun had said everything I need is where I should find it. Get to the car and get what I needed.
My boots crunched against the concrete ground as I picked up my pace. If my gut feeling had any traction, my agenda was now time-sensitive. And I was already behind on time.