Chapter 14 - (2.0K Words)

You watched the people as they passed you by on the street. You could still feel Mark's arm resting on your shoulder. The barrel of the gun was still lightly pressed into your side, but it was hidden by Mark's jacket. To control both you, and the environment.

There's no point in trying to escape. I'll end up with a bullet in my side.

Yugyeom was somewhere behind you with the bag. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know what was inside. After all, Mark already had a gun in his hands.

You held your head high, and scanned the people's faces around you. You watched as a couple walked by, holding each other the same way that Mark was holding you. You shivered as they passed by, seeing how happy they were made you sick.

"If you're uncomfortable with me holding you, I can let go of you," Mark whispered. "I think you already know the consequences of acting up." He shoved the gun into a holster that was hidden by the length of his shirt.

"If you could, please," you said, already pulling away from Mark. He removed his arm from your shoulder, and you stepped a good distance away from him. You needed to have some room to breathe.

You shoved your hands into your pockets, and looked out at the street. The road was entirely clogged with cars. You could see people with their phones in hand, either talking or playing games.

You saw a police car slow to a stop, and you instantly perked up. You were disappointed as you watched the car speed away with both of the officers inside it. They were probably searching the city for criminals, not lost little girls.

Besides, they'd probably never believe me anyway...

You sighed, and turned your head away. You watched your feet, trying to avoid the small cracks in the sidewalk. You had to to keep yourself entertained somehow.

After all, Mark's not the best talker...

A strong cold gust of wind came down the street. You shivered, and crossed your arms over your chest, trying to keep yourself warm. It didn't really help that all you had was a white tee shirt.

"Here," you heard Mark say. You looked up, and you saw that he was holding out his jacket.

"Don't tell me you don't want my jacket," Mark said, reaching over to drape it around your shoulders. "Because firstly, you're shivering. Secondly, Namjoon will have my ass mounted on his wall if you decide to freeze yourself."

You smiled at his remark. You slid your arms into the jacket, and you let it hang loosely around you. Another couple passed by you, and you instinctively stepped out of the way, and towards Mark. You didn't realize how close you were to him until you stepped away from him again.

"So," Mark said, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. "I actually have something that I need to ask you."

"Yes?" You asked cautiously, looking up at him. You weren't sure what he could possibly want to ask.

"I need to know, did Jackson ever get off that plane?"

You stopped walking. You watched as he paused just in front of you. You put your hand up to your eyes. You felt as he grabbed your other hand, and pulled you off to the side the sidewalk.

"I know about everything that happened. It's no secret that Namjoon wants him dead," Mark said, keeping his voice low. "But I need to know if you saw him get off of the plane. It's important."

You kept your hand over your eyes, and you stood still. The world around you seemed to slow down immensely. You were too worried about your own life to care about Jackson right now. You wanted to believe that he was alive, but you hadn't seen him get off the plane. You hoped that your presence had helped to save his life.

"Mark, I don't know," you said, trying to keep your voice from cracking. "I didn't see him get off of the plane. I thought that he was right behind me when he got off, but I didn't see him at all."

You flopped back against the building wall, and you could feel the cold tears run down your cheek. You weren't sure wether you were stressed, sad, or both. But it didn't matter at this point, nothing could stop your tears.

Jackson could be dead because of me.

"Hey, it's not your fault," Mark cooed, coming to stand in front of you. "Everything's just a mess right now, and you've been brought right into the middle of it. Nobody would have thought that this would happen."

You felt Mark's arms drape around you, and you let them. You felt cold on the inside despite his warm embrace. You buried your face deep into Mark's shoulder. You wanted to disappear off the face of the earth.

"I think I owe you some explanation," Mark said, still holding you. "You need to know what's going on, too. But we have to keep walking, otherwise Yugyeom's going to look suspicious just standing there alone."

You gazed over Mark's shoulder, and you saw Yugyeom, a few hundred feet behind the two of you. He was leaning against a building too, facing the street, the bag resting by his foot. He pushed his sunglasses up his nose, and picked the bag up, signaling it was time to go. Mark took your hand and lead you away from the wall, and you continued down the sidewalk together.

You saw a large shadow on the sidewalk, and you looked up. Two men were standing side by side, and they each had a bag just like Yugyeom. They were taking up almost the entire path. You quickly looked away, hoping that they hadn't noticed you. Mark instinctively pulled you closer, and you slid past the two men.

"We have to talk quietly," Mark whispered in your ear. "If we talk too loud, we can and will attract trouble. We're prepared to protect you, but not from a large horde of men."

"So, you know the whole story about Jackson, right?" Mark asked, keeping his voice low. You nodded your head, and waited for him to go on.

"You've met Jackson, so you can see that he's a very...entertaining person," Mark said, causing you to roll your eyes.

That's not exactly the word I'd use.

"Well, there are several people that support Jackson. Almost as many people that support Namjoon. Jackson was actually the next in line to become the leader if anything were to happen to Namjoon. And up until this point, nothing drastic has happened. They both had a lot of respect for each other, and they trusted each other more than anything."

"The thing was, nobody knew why Jackson was smuggling the money. They still don't know. As soon as he wired the money to the bank in America, it was like it all disappeared. Namjoon had no idea where it went until Jackson made a slip up."

"But when Namjoon found out that Jackson was smuggling their money, he was outraged. It didn't matter how much it was, that trust between them was broken. About three months ago, Namjoon started looking for Jackson so they could reclaim the money, and he put Jin ask next in line, which shocked everyone."

"Wait, Mark," you interrupted. "Leader of what? Are they--?"

"Yes they're a gang, but we can't talk about them here," Mark said, immediately silencing you. "We'll get in a lot of trouble if you say the right thing around the wrong people, okay?"

You looked down at your feet and nodded your head. Mark was right, you had to be careful out here. You were probably walking alongside those wrong people.

Maybe I should think before I speak.

"As soon as Namjoon decided Jin was next in line for the job, it was like the world split in two. The people who supported Jackson more left Namjoon. A lot of people didn't really know what was going on, and they thought there had been a spat between them that made Namjoon change his mind about letting Jackson lead."

"So, Namjoon's influence dropped because of all the people he lost. The only way to bring those people back to him was to bring Jackson back. But, that proved to be harder than they thought it would be. Somewhere along the line, Namjoon decided it would be easier to kill him than have to deal with him ever again."

"But, he can't kill him, can he? That would cause too many problems," you said, reminding yourself to keep quiet. Your cheeks were dry now, and you were interested in what he was telling you.

"Exactly," Mark replied, proud that you had figured it out on your own. "If he were to kill Jackson himself, then that would cause even more problems between him and Jackson's followers. His cronies can't do it in his stead, either. He couldn't have anyone directly connected to him kill Jackson, because it would have the same effect. So, he had to find another person to kill him."

"But then, why would Jin attack him on the plane?" You asked. "He knew that it would look bad if he killed Jackson, so why even attempt it?"

"It was meant to be a warning. I'm sure of it," Mark confidently stated. "They needed to make theirselves known. It's not in their ways to be cowardly."

"They have to find somebody that they can get to kill Jackson. But, they can't already have any connections to them, otherwise they can link Namjoon to the killer. So, they have to find a way to get someone to willingly come down and kill Jackson."

"It shouldn't be too hard for them to do. Namjoon is the smartest person I have ever met. But it also means that it's going to get even more complicated from here on out," Mark said, running his hand through his hair, and tightening his grip on your hand.

"I don't know if they had a plan yet, or if Jackson was already gone. Nobody knows. I thought that you would, but I guess we've all been left in the dark," Mark sighed. "And right now, there's only one thing that we know."

"What is it?" You asked skeptically.

"If you didn't see Jackson get off of that plane, then that might just make you the last person to have seen him," Mark said. "If he doesn't show his face soon, that might look very bad to certain people. That's probably why it took you so long to get to Daegu."

"What do you mean?"

"You've been here almost two days now," Mark said, pulling you out of the way of another couple. "It doesn't take two days to get from Seoul to Daegu, everybody knows that. The only way that you can waste two days on a trip like that is if you take the back roads and drive around in as many minor towns as possible."

Two days!? I haven't been here that long, have I?

Your hand went up to your mouth, and your eyes were wide with disbelief. You didn't believe him, he was lying. There was no way you had been here two days and not realized it.

"You're very valuable to them. They wanted to make sure that you could get through Daegu without any problems, even if that meant they couldn't be here to watch over you," Mark said, leaning over and smirking at you.

"The reason they're not here is because they won't exactly get a warm welcome from the people here. But the reason they can't take you on the outskirts of town is because it's very dangerous out there. It's not safe for someone like you."

"They want to keep you hidden, but I'm not sure from what. Maybe from the public, maybe from Jackson's people, I don't know what they're trying to do. They sure are making a production out of it."

"But no matter what happens, you're wrapped up in this mess too."