After Dark (Prompts)

Confidential Assignment - 15

Note: Thanks for all the comments and I'm sorry to leave you guys hanging last night! If it helps, I couldn't sleep either thinking of this next part. =)

***

Fantastic work, Min Tae Gu, he scolded himself. You lived with her, slept with her, took her in all those positions in bed and you didn't even bother getting her number?! What a jerk!

He pulled his hair in frustration. Now back in his flat, he paced around trying to think of ways that he can track down Baek Jang-mi.

Ways... legal ways, of course, because if he weren't limited by what was lawful, he would be having his old contacts track her down and provide him leads by this time.

He tried to get the information from the agents but privacy laws did not allow them to disclose her information since she did not authorize it and he had no grounds to ask for it. He wasn't even a legal partner for the hospital to show him whatever records they had on her and her discharge.

The phone she used was no longer working, dumped along with the last burner phone she had. He even asked Na Wol Suk, through Pyo Chi Su, and the other ahjummas. However, they also used the same mobile number he had, which he called close to a hundred times by the weekend, but would go straight to voicemail and then eventually no longer worked.

Cho's office was shut down the day after the drop operation so it was unlikely that Min Tae Gu would find Baek Jang-mi in the vicinity. The locks of the apartment they lived in have been changed so they can no longer access the place, all their possessions left to Min Tae Gu because he was the only one the cleaners could contact.

The only connection they had left was his pawnshop.

Much to his dismay, the NIS asked him to shut down operations for a few days until they reviewed his records to make sure that no remaining illegal items were in his inventory and they retrieved all the papers they need to make sure the case stuck.

Min Tae Gu bugged Agent Kim daily. "Aren't you guys done yet? I need to make money here!"

The agent rolled his eyes knowing the ex-criminal did not need the money. As agreed, the funds of Min Tae Gu and Baek Jang-mi were already released to them. Well, about half of it. The other half was sequestered in favor of the government as payment of their debts to society. After all, they had a lot to pay for.

Still, although they won't be living the life of a chaebol, they won't be out on the streets scrapping for food, which was something Min Tae Gu was adamant about. "I'm going to give all of you hell if I find out she's starving out there."

Threatening an agent, great job Tae Gu, he thought again.

Agent Kim talked to him patiently. He was aware of the goings on with the people he worked with and from the reports he was given, he knew Min Tae Gu and Baek Jang-mi had developed a... connection.

"Are you certain those two aren't sneaking out at night to meet their former cohorts?" Agent Kim once asked an officer doing the stake out.

The officer rolled his eyes. "When they get home early, let's just say... they are only busy with each other."

The bill he received from the owner of the apartment proved it. Broken bedside lamps, ripped sheets, a broken chair... those two were 'busy'.

Now, unaware of where the woman was, Agent Kim could tell Min Tae Gu was beside himself with worry so the agent let his threats slide. For now.

Walking to the floor to ceiling windows , Min Tae Gu looked at the city that was now dark. In a few minutes, another day would have passed without news on her. "Where are you, Jang-mi-ah? You told me to come home to you... but where are you?"