Before The Shadow: White Chrysanthemum Flowers

Chapter 18: Team Beta

The next evening

It's slightly freakish how much knowledge Jimin has about weapons and how many BTS as a group actually uses. I thought my head was going to explode with all the new information Jimin was giving me but now I can proudly say I know how to arm and disarm all the firearms we have.

Yoongi is avoiding me well and has been since yesterday's meeting. I thought he'd at least come to bed but he didn't.

Tonight is the night we will be infiltrating Jieun and Yeong's hideout. I'm not sure what the outcome of this will be but I know I want to help regardless. I strap my bulletproof vest on, another requirement for me to be allowed to go on the mission. Jimin hands me a gun and a knife and an in-ear radio to use to communicate with Hobi. I gear myself up and head outside and see Yoongi leaning up against the side of the car fiddling with his gun.

"Hey," I say softly so I don't startle him.

He turns and looks at me and places his gun back in its holster before smiling warmly at me "Hey," I step towards him and he holds my hand in his. "Nervous?"

"No way," I say playfully. "You?"

"Of course not," He smiles but I watch as his eyes tighten.

"I'll be fine. I promise and with this on," I pat my bulletproof vest. "I'm practically invisible." I tease but he still looks apprehensive. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Our faces are mere inches away from each other and I can feel his breath on my skin, "Boss." We break apart suddenly and I want to die from embarrassment when I see Namjoon standing by the entrance to the house. He looks slightly apologetic, "We're ready to go."

"Good. Let's get going then," Yoongi says.

The drive isn't long and along the way, I feel somewhat anxious but I'm also happy that I'm being allowed to do something. We arrive and split into our groups, Jimin and Hobi are our surveillance and head towards the roof of one of the main buildings inside the compound. Yoongi, Namjoon and Taehyung are team alpha as they are heading up front while Jin, Jungkook and I are team beta. Our job is to cause a distraction to lead as many of Yeong and Jieun's men away from team alpha, once that is done we are to watch from the sidelines and jump in if team alpha starts to struggle.

I watch Yoongi set off with Namjoon and Taehyung into the cover of the night toward their position, "Hailey, let's go." Jin ushers and I follow him.

We head towards one of the abandoned buildings containing heavy machinery on the compound and see from the shadows that it's not being guarded. We step over to the door cautiously and Jungkook tries to open it but it's locked "Damn, any other options?"

I look around and notice a window a few feet above the door. I pat Jin on the shoulder and point to it, "Window."

"Looks pretty small," Jin says unsure.

"I can fit."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, just let me take this off," I strip off my bulletproof vest and place it on the floor as it's too bulky to wear through such a small gap. Jin and Jungkook interlock their hands together and boost me up to the window. I jump and just barely grab onto the frame and pull my body up onto the tiny ledge. I open the window and half climb in and asses how I will get down. Straight drop to the floor huh, that's too high for me to land without hurting myself. I look ahead and see that a pipe runs across the space a few feet down. I can jump to that then swing down...here goes nothing I guess.

I jump from the window frame and catch the pipe in my hands, swinging back and forth before dropping down to the floor. I walk over to the door and unlock it and let Jin and Jungkook inside "Nice one." Jungkook fist-bumps me.

"Here's your vest," Jin lifts the vest but before I can grab it I hear voices and suddenly bullets start flying through the air. "Shit!"

We jump apart and take cover, we had gone over a situation like this back at the house. If it came to a fight like this then Jin would give us cover while Jungkook and I would sneak around and attack from behind. I pace slowly around the large pieces of equipment and take my position to strike, Jungkook does the same on the opposite side of the room. I look at Jin and he nods his head that he's ready, he stands to his feet and shoots the lights out and plunges everything into darkness. I take no time at all to advance towards my target and kick the gun out of his hand and punch him hard in the face. The man staggers but comes full force at me and pulls out a knife. I pull out mine and the moonlight shines through the broken roof revealing the man's deranged look on his face. He lunges and tries to take a swipe at me, I dodge and he tries to attack again but I duck and slash his leg. He winces and I take the opportunity to kick him hard in his knee cap and a gruesome cracking noise echoes through the building. He falls to his knees in agony and I elbow him strongly in the nose and he collapses to the floor. I look and see that Jin and Jungkook are also done with their targets.

I walk over to them, "How's team alpha, Hobi? Over." Jin asks into the radio.

"They're looking good. They haven't been noticed yet, what about you guys? Over."

"Few guys here, nothing we couldn't handle. Over." Yoongi is going to be worried after hearing that...

"I'm fine...over," I say into the radio.

"Ready for the distraction? Over." Jungkook asks.

"Yep, over." Hobi answers and we begin pouring gasoline over a few of the rubbish skips that are in here. This is our distraction, a fire. Jin lights the fire and the fire alarm starts to blare and the sprinklers go off. We dash out of the room and head towards where team alpha is per Hobi's instructions.

It works, from our cover, we can see about fifteen or so guys rushing towards the building to deal with the fire. I hope this clears up Yoongi's route. We wait outside one of the main storage units for updates on what to do next. I feel nervous...Yoongi is in there but is he alright? Is he hurt?

It's been twenty minutes, how long does something like this usually take? Our distraction won't last too much longer. Suddenly the doors to the storage unit open and Yoongi, Namjoon and Taehyung run out and fire their guns wildly at the men chasing them. I try to stand but Jin pushes me back down "Not yet," he whispers.

"But-"

"They're okay Hailey. They ran out here to get some cover from Jimin and Hobi," Jin points to Jimin's location and I can see him holding a sniper. He shoots the men effortlessly and they fall to the ground one by one but out of nowhere a bullet comes from the opposite direction and rips through Namjoon's arm. We whip our heads around and see Yeong appearing from the darkness, a crooked grin covers his mouth as he holds his gun high.

"Nice of you to meet us, Yeong." Yoongi says in a dark tone as he turns to face him.

As if on cue Jieun also appears from the cover of night at Yeong's side with her gun ready in her hand. "Hello Yoongi," she says in a venomous tone.