The Hostages

The guard shoved D.O back into the cell and locked the door behind him. “Did they hurt you?” Wendy murmured, lifting her head slightly.

D.O dropped to the floor and ran his hands over the chilled stone. “What are you doing?” Mark asked, sitting up.

D.O sat up and sighed. “He kept his word. The heat’s back on.”

“What? How do you know?” Taeyeon asked.

“They took me to a room and made me play chess with… someone. I couldn't see his face. He said if I won he'd turn the heat back on.”

“And if you had lost?” Taemin asked. D.O shrugged. “Does it matter? I won.”

“He's right, I can feel the room warming up,” Chanyeol said, putting his hands to the floor.

“Why would he do something like this?” Jeno wondered.

“He's obviously a psychopath,” Amber decided. “He gets his kicks out of making us miserable.”

“We have to be ready for anything,” Mark concluded.


******


“We went back to our dressing rooms after our performance,” Victoria remembered. “I don't remember seeing her after that.”

“Did you have any communication with her, calls, texts?”

She shook her head tiredly. “No.”

The detective tapped his pen on his notepad. “Is there anything else you can remember, anything odd or out of place?”

“No. Nothing.”

The detective nodded. “You can go. Send in,” he checked his notes, “Krystal, please.”

Victoria got up and left the room, feeling drained by all of the questions. The other girls were waiting outside and they all perked up when she came out. She nodded at Krystal. “He's ready for you,” she said, pointing at the door. She collapsed in a chair and sighed loudly.

“Did he tell you anything?” Luna asked, crouching beside her.

“No, he just asked me a lot of questions about MAMA. It was like the more he asked me, the harder it was to remember.” She sighed again. “I don't think they have a clue what happened.”

“That's why they're doing this,” Luna reminded her. “Someone's bound to remember something, and the police will use it to find them.”

“I should've gone to look for her,” Victoria said tearfully. “It's my responsibility to make sure we're all safe. I should've checked!”

“You couldn't possibly have known,” Luna said, covering Irene's hand with her own. “None of us could have. We're going to get her back, Irene.”

They waited for Krystal in silence, trying to believe Luna's words.


******


“It's my fault,” Minho said bitterly.

“What are you talking about?” Onew asked, entering the room.

“Taemin and I were supposed to go to the after party together. If I had waited for him instead of leaving, he wouldn't have been kidnapped.”

Onew took an empty bottle out of Minho's hand. “How many bottles of soju have you had?” he asked, peering into the bottle.

“Don't know,” Minho said dully, “and don't care.”

Jonghyun came in and sat down on the couch beside Minho, only to wince in discomfort. He reached down and pulled two more empty soju bottles from the cushions. “You're going to make yourself sick, drinking like this,” he said, setting the bottles on the floor.

“I hope it makes me sick,” Minho said savagely. “It's no more than I deserve.”

“Okay, time for bed,” Onew said, pulling Minho to his feet. He put Minho's arm around his neck and Jonghyun took the other side, staggering slightly as Minho teetered from side to side. “I hope it makes me miserable,” Minho muttered.

“It's definitely making me miserable,” Jonghyun grumbled. They guided Minho to his room and helped him lay down. Onew pulled his shoes off and put a blanket over him. “Just don't vomit on the carpet,” he said, turning off the light.

“I've never seen Minho drink like that,” Jonghyun whispered. “Unless you count that one time in Tokyo. What's wrong with him?”

“He's riddled with guilt like the rest of us,” Onew said tiredly, “except now he'll be hungover too.” They walked back to the living room just as Key was coming in. “Did you have a party while I was out?” he asked, nodding at the soju bottles.

“Minho's way of coping. He should be fine in several hours.” Onew looked at the clock. “It's getting late. Shouldn't we have heard something by now?”

Jonghyun shrugged. “Maybe there's nothing to tell.”

Onew’s phone rang and he answered it quickly, almost dropping it in his haste. “Hello? Yes sir. Yes sir. We are. For how long? I understand. We will.” He hung up and sighed.

“What? Do they know something?” Key asked anxiously.

“We're in lockdown,” Onew said grimly. “Until the investigation's over.”

“Who, us?” Jonghyun exclaimed.

“All the affected groups. We have to get to the SM building.”


******


“But I don't understand! Why are we in lockdown?” Sunny demanded.

Suho sighed. “If you’ll just calm down-”

“Our friends have been abducted, we're being forced to live in this building for who knows how long and you want us to calm down?!”

“Freaking out isn't going to help, Sunny!” Krystal snapped. “Get a hold of yourself!”

Xiumin saw Onew walk in and he jogged over, glad for an excuse to get away from the hysterical Sunny. “You made it!” he said, grabbing Onew's bag.

“Didn't have much of a choice,” Onew replied, holding the door open for the others. “Is everyone here?”

“Yeah, you're the last group,” Xiumin replied. Minho stumbled past him and he looked at Onew, eyebrows raised. “What happened to him?” he whispered.

“I can't go into that right now,” Onew groaned. “But he'll be fine.” He looked around the room. “What's all this?” he asked.

“Well, it turns out we're all staying on the same floor, so everyone's kind of gathered in here. We've got mostly calm people over here, tense and jumpy people here and openly hysterical people over there,” Xiumin said, pointing. “Table or booth, sir?”

Onew chuckled. “I'm glad someone's still got a sense of humor,” he said, clapping Xiumin on the shoulder.

“Okay!” Taeyong shouted over the hubbub. The room quieted, mostly out of surprise. “Everyone take a deep breath. We're all scared and upset, but panicking isn't going to help things.”

“They wouldn't have put us here unless they thought we were in danger too!” Hyohyeon shouted. “We're the next targets!”

“Will you get a grip?!” Yoonah retorted. “No one's coming after us!”

“Hey!” Victoria interrupted, coming between them. “Taeyong’s right. We have to remain calm.”

“We should be spending our energy trying to help Wendy and the others,” Joy added. “We can't give in to despair!”

“What about our tour?” Jaehyun asked. “We're supposed to leave for Japan in two days.”

“I heard they're cancelling everyone's schedules indefinitely,” Lay volunteered, flipping his pen with one hand. “Other companies are thinking about doing it too.”

“What?!” Chenle said incredulously. “Can they do that?”

“They have to,” Irene sighed. “They can't risk losing anyone else.”

“Shouldn't they be focusing on finding the people already missing?” Baekhyun demanded.

“They are,” Suho said, putting a hand on Baekhyun’s arm. “They're doing everything they can, Baek.”


******


“I don't get it,” Taemin said.

“Get what?” Mark asked dully, staring at the ceiling.

“We've been here almost three days, but all this ‘man in black’ does is make us play games with him. What's the point?”

“Does there have to be one?” Taeyeon asked. “Maybe he's bored and wants to pass the time.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Mark said dryly. “There's some purpose behind it.”

“What was it he said to you, D.O?” Taemin asked, nudging him.

“Hmm?” D.O stirred slightly. “He said if I won he'd turn the heat back on.”

“See? It was a threat. So far we've all beaten him and he hasn't done anything to us,” Mark said. “We've just got to keep winning until the police find us.”

“What do you mean, ‘find us’?” Amber demanded. “He obviously wants something. Maybe he's trying to get SM to pay a ransom.”

“If that's true, why haven't they paid it?” Wendy wondered.

“If I was him, I'd wait several days before demanding anything,” Taemin decided.

“Do you hear yourself right now?!” Chanyeol asked. “Are you taking notes or something?”

“Chanyeol!” Taeyeon gasped.

“I'm just trying to figure this out,” Taemin said defensively. “At least I care!”

“Everyone cares, Taemin,” Wendy said, coming between them. “Please don’t fight.”

They heard footsteps and they all got up immediately. The guard opened the door and pushed Jeno into the cell. Jeno's face was pale and he was trembling slightly.

“Jeno, what happened?” Mark asked, taking step toward him.

Jeno held his hands out carefully. They looked like they had been whipped. His fingers were swollen and bruised, and there were cracks where the welts had split open and blood had trickled down.

“What did they do to you?” Chanyeol breathed, unable to look away.

“I… I lost,” Jeno whispered. “He made me play, and I lost.”

Notes