BLOOD MONEY || bts mafia au

thirteen.

The only sound echoing through the empty corridor was Jungkook's heartbeat, increasing in harmony with his anxiety with every disappointment he faced at the end of the hallway.

How had he let himself be talked into this mission? The risks were too large to offset the possible reward, and yet, he'd allowed Taehyung to organize it. The other boy had looked so determined when he accepted that flashdrive, his trademark soft exterior melted to reveal the confident person he'd become despite all of the disadvantages that had been peering over his shoulder, waiting for him to give in. And deep beneath that, a flash of desperation.

Ever since he'd found Taehyung in a back alley, the other boy crawling along the grimy pavement, his voice hoarse from calling out for someone, anyone, he'd never asked him for anything. How could he take from the boy that had already been stripped of so much? But he'd grown tired of resting, Jungkook could tell. And loathe as he was to let him dive headfirst into the danger he dealt with on a daily basis, he knew that Taehyung couldn't remain shut away in his room forever.

But that didn't stop him from worrying.

"Have you found anything?" Jungkook murmured into his comm as he came face to face with another let down.

"No," Namjoon's voice responded. An intrigued note entered his tone. "I did find a rather interesting painting though."

Yoongi scoffed on the other end of the line. "This is a mission, Namjoon, not a museum tour."

"I'm just saying, if we came back-"

Jungkook tuned out the Cobras' incessant chatter, diving straight into the next hallway. They only had three minutes left before their presence was discovered. That was three minutes to locate the drugs, steal them without anyone noticing, meet back in the center of the main floor and make it to one of the exits quietly. Jin was in the control system monitoring the cameras to divert attention away from any suspicious behavior and Taehyung had disarmed the alarms, but there was only so much time they could buy.

And the last grains of sand remaining in the hourglass were lining up to take the plunge.

"Jungkook." Taehyung's voice sliced through Jungkook's whirlwind of thoughts, the anxious tinge coloring his name automatically setting Jungkook on edge.

"You have two minutes," Taehyung whispered through the comm, the words slightly shaky. They both knew what happened once those two minutes were up.

"I know," Jungkook murmured back. He bit down on his lip as he glanced both ways for guards before emerging from the corridor to join the main floor once more. But all he could see were the numbers staring up at him from his watch.

1:12

If only he could find more time. Then he could-

"I found them!" came Namjoon's announcement. A bubble of relief rose in Jungkook's chest, but its ascension was short lived. It always was.

"Hey, you! What are you doing?"

Jungkook turned at the sound, a muttered curse tearing its way free from his mouth as he spotted the guards over his shoulder, their sharp gazes trained on him. On the back of his wrist, his watch beeped its set warning a little too late.

Launching into a sprint, Jungkook veered around the corner sharply, the map of the facility firmly held in the forefront of his mind. He just had to make it to one of the exits. He just had to make it to Hoseok or Jimin in time.

"Yoongi!" he shouted into the comm, knocking into a row of weapons set up along a walkway in hopes of slowing down his pursuers. But there was only so much a bunch of discarded guns could do. "Namjoon! Jin! Cover's been blown. Forget the rest of the plan, get out now!"

He barely heard their responses over the blood pounding his head and the clamor erupting in his wake as he dashed through the maze-like corridors in hopes of confusing them long enough to allow him to escape. If he could just lead them far away from the routes Yoongi and Namjoon would take so that they could spread out and give Namjoon a better chance to make it out with the drugs this whole goddamn thing was all about.... This might actually work.

Until he ran straight into a dead end.

The guards behind him split into wicked grins, knowing that this was where their chase came to an end. There was nowhere else to run.

"We've got one of them, grab the others," one of them said into the comm placed in his own ear. His eyes glittered darkly. Jungkook wondered just what he'd done to people he'd caught in the past.

Backing up slowly as if his salvation would suddenly appear if he stalled, Jungkook glanced around desperately something. Anything. Yoongi and Namjoon would be too occupied with outrunning their own pursuers, Jin caught up in slipping out silently to avoid attracting any notice; they didn't have time to come to his aid. Jimin and Hoseok needed to be in their places to offer help to whoever made it that far.

So that left Jungkook on his own.

"So sorry to do this to you," Jungkook started as the edge of his boot caught on the wall behind him, "but this really isn't working out. It's not you, it's me."

Dropping one of his eyes into a wink, Jungkook pushed off from the ground to latch on to the bottom of the catwalk spanning over their heads, hooking his legs around the metal beam to swing up onto the platform. Barely sparing a glance toward the guards he left behind, Jungkook bolted down the walkway. Somewhere at the end, there should be a back passage that will feed out to the entrance they came in, right underneath Hoseok's nose. He was so close.

Through his quickened breaths, Jungkook murmured into his comm, "Did you guys make it out?"

He may be able to make it to Hoseok, but the mission meant nothing if Namjoon couldn't carry the drugs to where Taehyung was waiting. This couldn't have been for nothing.

There was only silence on the other end.

"Namjoon!" Jungkook nearly yelled, his desperation increasing with every passing second there was no response. He could feel everything he'd given up to get here crumbling before him. He'd swallowed his pride and agreed to work with the Cobras and risked just about everything. It couldn't have all been for nothing. "Yoongi! Jin!"

"Jungkook-" Taehyung started.

But he never got the chance to finish his sentence.

An explosion tore through the building, shattering walls and snapping supports. He didn't even have time to dive for cover.

A half-formed cry ripped from Jungkook's chest as the catwalk gave out from beneath him, metal shrieking as it buckled in the face of the blistering heat. Through the searing pain etched into Jungkook's consciousness, he heard Taehyung's tortured scream just before everything went black.

"Jungkook!"