Chapter 23 – Black Dwarf
Chapter 23 – Black Dwarf
Sgt. Kwang carried a large duffle bag full of money into Jimin's and Hoseok's living room and sat it on the floor.
"So this is it?" Hoseok asked.
Kwang began to speak to all of them, "Yes, the money is real from Jimin and Jungkook's bank account. But it's all filled with dye packs. The serial number on each bill has been recorded for insurance. If for any reason he slips away before we arrest him, the packs will explode. If the dye pack goes off, insurance will replace each bill. It's quite heavy so be prepared when you pick it up.
Jimin and Jungkook, it's time to walk through the plan.
Jungkook, you're going to drive correct? I'll be trailing behind you. I'm an ex-police officer which means I'm not part of the force. I'm just a private citizen, so my involvement in the actual exchange will be limited. But I'll be close by to monitor and provide another set of eyes.
I just did a final sweep of Min's computer. She never made copies guys. That means when we get the original memory card back, we'll be in the clear. The virus that I installed on her computer will self activate tonight right about the same time we make the exchange. I already hacked into Jackson's phone and deleted all of the files he had regarding the matter.
The text that Jackson sent last night said to meet them at the old railway at 9:00pm KST. That leaves us about thirty minutes to get there and get into position. We're going to keep this simple. You'll get there, and park as close to the old railroad tracks as possible. You'll leave the car running and keep the headlights on. You'll need to bring your camara to verify that they are giving you the real memory card."
"I'll recognize it when I see it. It was custom made and not something you can buy in stores." Jungkook added nervously.
Sgt. Kwang continued, "That's good Jungkook. So Jungkook, you'll show Jackson the money. But DO NOT give it to him. You'll ask for the card. I��m sure that Min has it, so I imagine she will be the one to hand it over. Jimin will take the card. Jungkook, you do a quick look to authenticate, then Jimin, you will need to put it in the camara to validate that the footage is still there. Once you validate it, give Jungkook the word. Jungkook, you'll then give Jackson the money. The two of you will back away and go straight to the car. The police will handle the rest. That's pretty simple right?" Kwang looked at both of them trying to read their expressions.
Hoseok piped up, "So, if Jimin and Jungkook are going to be in position by the tracks, where should Seokjin and I be posted?"
Sgt. Kwang shook his head apologetically, "I'm sorry guys. I need you to stay here in the apartment. We can't have too many people at the drop, it just complicates things. Plus, we don't want to spook Jackson and have him back out."
Seokjin let the information wash over him, he sat up startled, "Wait a minute, you're saying we can't go? But they need us. We can't let them do this alone."
"They won't be alone. Half of this south precinct is going to be right there with them. We don't need you getting in the way. You'll stay here." Kwang said finally.
Sgt. Kwang looked over at Hoseok. Jimin thought, for a brief moment, he saw them exchange eye contact and a loving smile.
Jimin spoke, "Guys, we'll be ok. Sgt. Kwang is right, we need to keep this short, simple and sweet."
Jungkook just stared straight ahead. Sgt. Kwang looked at Jimin and Jungkook again, "Guys it's about time for us to get going. Do you have any final questions? Do you understand what you're supposed to be doing?"
"Yes, we understand." Jimin and Jungkook said in unison.
Kwang received a phone call. He stepped into the corner to talk,
"Lieutenant, hello. Yes, yes, that's good to hear. So how many units are in place? Four? That's good. I'll make sure to fall back to stay out of your way. The two are ready. I gave them all of the directions for the drop. You just make sure your men are in place and ready. I appreciate it Lieutenant. Thanks.
Alright, all units are in place. It's go time boys. Jungkook, you start out. Remember, I'll be right behind you."
Jimin held Jungkook's hand and led him to the door. Hoseok caught them before they stepped out. He walked up to them quickly and touched both of their cheeks.
"You got this. Do everything that Kwang says and you'll get that card back. I'm proud of you both. I love you both." Hoseok pulled both of them into a hug.
Seokjin walked up behing Hoseok and spoke to Jimin and Jungkook, "Don't screw this up please. We have to get that card back because I'll vomit if I have to see Jungkook's penis again." All four broke into laughter.
"Let's go," Kwang called out. He slapped Seokjin on the back, but stopped and gave Hoseok a long tight hug.
Kwang, Jungkook and Jimin all walked down to the garage to their cars. Jungkook threw the bag of money in the back seat. He jumped into the driver's seat and Jimin jumped in the passenger's seat. Kwang jumped into his car and positioned himself behind them. Jungkook pulled forward and headed to the drop off location.
The old railroad was a stretch of rail that was once used by trains as the main thoroughfare for transporting merchandise into the Industrial district of Seoul. Active trains hadn't run through the area in over twenty years. The tracks were over grown with weeds and the landing was now a large parking lot covered in black asphalt.
During the drive, Jimin talked nervously to try to keep Jungkook's mind occupied, "I think my parents will give me away; my mom anyway. Dad will probably have picket signs and stage a protest out in front." Jimin laughed. He continued, "I think we should have cupcakes instead of a cake. Cupcakes are supposed to be the new hip thing."
Jungkook continued driving. He didn't acknowledge Jimin.
"Do you want to serve dinner or just pass out some liquor and get everybody drunk?" Jimin giggled nervously.
"Dinner. I want food." Jungkook finally spoke.
"I can see Sgt. Kwang trailing behind us. We're in good hands." Jimin turned around to look out the back window.
Jungkook looked into his rearview mirror and saw the unmarked car trailing about five cars behind them. He drove for another ten minutes before he came upon the drop location. He parked his car as close to the tracks as he could and left the engine running, just as Kwang instructed. He left the headlights on to help illuminate the abandoned yard. The two sat in the car for a moment.
"Jimin," Jungkook called him quietly.
"Yes, yes, baby," Jimin answered quietly.
"I can't wait to be your husband." Jungkook smiled.
"I can't wait to be yours, I love you." Jimin smiled back.
"Now let's go reclaim our smut, shall we?" Jungkook said defiantly.
"Let's get it." Jimin smiled doing his best Jungkook impression.
Both of them exited the car. Jimin immediately stepped in front of Jungkook to lead the way to the trail. Even with the light from the headlights, it was still very dark. Jimin took out his phone and used the flashlight to light the way. Sgt. Kwang had assured them that they were surrounded by police, but they certainly felt alone. It was eerily quiet and the sky was pitch black with no stars or moon. Jungkook carried the very heavy duffle bag containing the money.
They stood in the designated spot and waited.
It was 8:55pm KST.
"I think I want a cake, instead of cupcakes, you know?" Jungkook finally answered Jimin's question.
"Cake it is," Jimin said lovingly.
They waited. It was 8:59pm KST
They waited more. It was 9:01pm KST
Suddenly a voice came from the distance.
"Alright you two freaks, let's get this done so we can get out of here," Jackson slurred angrily.
Min and Jackson could be seen standing just about 100 feet away from where Jimin and Jungkook stood. Jungkook took a step forward. Jimin stepped with him.
"Here's the money," Jungkook leaned over and unzipped the bag so that Jackson could get a glimpse of the bills. Jimin used his phone to light up the contents to make sure Jackson got a good look. Jungkook continued, "give me the card, we'll verify it and then the money is yours."
Jimin looked at Jungkook and gave him a slight smile and silently mouthed, "good". Min stepped forward and handed the memory card to Jimin. Jungkook took one look at it and recognized it as his NOKIA sd memory card. He gave Jimin the nod and Jimin immediately slipped it into Jungkook's camara. Jungkook had repeatedly given Jimin instructions on how to load the card into the camara and pull up the footage quickly, but Jimin was nervous and he stumbled a bit trying to remember the steps.
"Hurry up! Are you stalling?" Jackson yelled.
Jungkook kept his eyes on Jackson. He knew Jimin was nervous but he had full faith that he would get the camara working. It took Jimin another couple of seconds of fiddling with the controls before the images suddenly popped up. Jimin clicked through. There were hundreds upon hundreds of pictures on the drive that he needed to navigate through. After another couple of tense seconds, he finally located the movie, watched a few seconds of the clip and then yelled, "We're good, you can give them the money now."
Jungkook walked over to Min. He looked at her and bowed, "Hello Min-Seo, it's been a long time." He dropped the money at her feet and backed away. Min refused to make eye contact with Jungkook. The guilt of what she was doing to him was crushing her. She told herself that it was just about the money, it was nothing personal. But she couldn't help but feel emotionally tied to this horrible deed.
Sgt. Kwang was posted across the street. He watched their every move, coaching them silently from afar, "Good job boys. Now just back away and head back to the car."
Jungkook began to back away. He kept walking backwards until he was safely next to Jimin.
Sgt. Kwang watched as Jimin and Jungkook slowly made their way towards the car. Kwang continued to coach them, even though they couldn't hear him. "Good, keep moving towards the car."
Jackson ran forward and grabbed the bag off the ground. As soon as his hands touched the handle, the entire rail yard lit up with blue flashing lights. Voices came from the distance, "Freeze, put your hands up." Jackson stumbled to the ground blinded by the flashing lights.
"It's a set up!" Min took off running in the direction of Jimin and Jungkook, she ran right past them and jumped into Jungkook's running car and took off.
Jungkook and Jimin could hear the symphony of voices shouting, "She's running, we're in pursuit. Suspect Korean female, 5"1' driving a 2020 White Mercedes SUV headed North towards downtown Seoul, request back up. All units are in pursuit." The frayed officers collectively barked Min's description into their walkie-talkie's. Three of the four units assigned to the sting took off in hot pursuit of Min as she fled the scene to try to escape. One lone police officer remained behind to take Jackson into custody.
As Jackson climbed to his feet, he pulled a .45 caliber automatic hand gun from his waist band. The officer saw Jackson's gun and tried desperately to release his side arm from his holster, but Jackson was too fast. The officer never had a chance. Jackson shot the officer three times in the chest killing him dead on the spot.
Jackson spun around and pointed his gun at Jimin and Jungkook. They both stood frozen, not sure what to do. Their car was gone and they had no other place to take cover.
Sgt. Kwang ran furiously trying to get to the scene but he was too far away to get there in time to stop the events from unfolding.
Without warning, Soujin stepped from behind the one remaining police car with her own 9mm pointed at Jackson. She began pleading,
"Bub, put the gun down. Please bub, you're not in your right mind. Please. You've already hurt someone Jackson, put the gun down. Please Jackson please." She had her gun firmly pointed at Jackson's chest.
"Jinny why are you here? WHY ARE YOU FUCKING HERE?" Jackson yelled almost incoherently. "I'm not going to jail because of these two freaks. I WON'T GO TO JAIL. I'LL KILL THEM FIRST!"
"Bub, NO, please, please, look at me. We can get you some help. Please. You don't want to hurt them. They're good people Jackson. He's the same Kookles you've always loved, you can't hurt him. He's your best friend. Look at me Jackson PLEEEEEEEEEASE, LOOK AT ME!" Soujin continued to beg her brother to put his gun down. Her voice was calm and steady. She hid her panic as best she could.
"You won't shoot me. You won't choose these freaks over your brother. TELL ME YOU WON'T CHOOSE THOSE FREAKS OVER YOUR OWN FUCKING BROTHER!" Jackson was so high that all rational thought had left him.
"I won't, I love you Bub, you know you're my number one. Just put the gun down and no one gets hurt and we can talk about this ok? Please don't hurt them Jackson," Soujin continued to plead through tears.
"FUCK YOU SOUJIN!" Those were the last words Jackson said before he aimed the gun directly at Jimin and fired.
Jungkook out of complete instincts, stepped in front of Jimin pushing him behind him. The bullet hit Jungkook on the left side of his chest, traveled through his flesh and exited through his upper left shoulder. Once the bullet exited Jungkook, it continued to travel and struck Jimin in the chest and lodged there deep within his flesh.
At the exact moment that Jackson shot his first shot, Soujin shot a single bullet into Jackson. The first shot hit him in the arm. Jackson was not deterred, he drew back his finger to release the trigger and shoot them again, however before he got his second shot off, Soujin emptied three more shots into Jackson. She released a blood curdling scream as her brother fell to the ground dead.
Jungkook turned around quickly to face Jimin, his eyes full of terror. He immediately began holding Jimin's wound with both hands to try to stop it from bleeding.
"Jiminie, baby, you're hit, you're hit, oh God, we have to get you to the hospital," Jungkook cried.
"No. No. Not me. You." Jimin's eye's were wide. He shook his head. He needed Jungkook to understand. He was speechless as he watched blood pour from Jungkook's chest.
"Baby, I'm sorry, you're going to be ok, you, love k? love k?" Jungkook rambled.
Jimin put his arms around Jungkook. Jungkook continued to ramble, "love u, k?" He slid through Jimin's arms and dropped to his knees. His eyes went blank as he toppled over onto his side. A pool of blood quickly gathered underneath him.
Jimin was still holding out his arms in the same position as if Jungkook were still there. The horrific nature of the events before him sent him on a slow decent into madness. The camara spilled out of his hands and dropped to the ground by his side.
He stared straight ahead into the darkness; seeing nothing, hearing nothing. When suddenly, a light shined brightly in his face. It wasn't warm, but it was comforting and familiar. The light was so bright that Jimin had to squint a little. He immediately recognized it as the light of his moon. Jimin broke into a brillilant smile because the glow from his moon made everything ok. He spoke to him,
"Jungkookie?"
"Hi Babe."
"We're hurt, aren't we?"
"Yes Jiminie. We're hurt very badly."
"Jungkookie, what are we going to do?"
"We have a wedding."
"I'll follow you wherever you go. Do we stay or do we...go?"
"We'll stay."
"That's a good choice, I think - I'll never leave you Jungkookie."
"It's going to take me longer Jimin, will you be strong for me?"
"Yes- can I trust you with my heart Jungkookie?"
"Of course - I promise. I think we should go back now Jiminie."
"Whatever you say my love."
"Let's get it!"
Jimin laughed. And then just as suddenly as the bright light on Jimin's face appeared, the light dimmed. Jimin's smile faded. Darkness was all around him again. He could hear the screams of Soujin as she clutched at her brother's dead body. A single tear rolled down Jimin's cheek before he collapsed in a heap and fell over the top of Jungkook.