House of Cards by: sugamins

Part 16

Namjoon ended the call and he pulled his phone away to stare at the screen for a few seconds before lowering it down onto the table. After all of that waiting, fretting and sweating over everything that had happened over the last eighteen or so hours he finally had the answer that he had been desperately hoping for. It felt rather strange now knowing that everything was alright after it had all seemed to have gone so wrong, but it was comforting too. Namjoon finally felt like he could breathe again and the lack of worry was a wonderful feeling, no more crushing weight on his chest dragging him down. No need to check the news religiously every three minutes just in case an update was released, no more pacing and restlessness plaguing him so that he could hardly sleep or eat.

Taehyung was alive . Injured and beaten down but still very much alive. It was enough to make him let his breath out in a soft laugh and before he could stop himself he was actually laughing without a single care. Laughing in a mixture of relief and joy, laughing because he now felt light and filled with relief; not manically but rather just jubilantly.

"Is he alive?" Hoseok asked in a cautious tone, even when it was a pretty stupid question. Of course Taehyung was alive, he had just been talking to him for several minutes now and had said his name multiple times in his presence. But he completely understood his teammate's want to confirm it and be certain. So he held his hand up to him, giving him an 'OK' sign with his fingers whilst the last few soft giggles escaped. "Oh, thank fuck."

Namjoon logged into the database that he had set up for their exchange of information and with several clicks of his mouse he located the latest recording. He deleted it without so much as a blink. There, all physical proof of their conversation had been erased and there was nothing to possibly link back to their department.

"You mentioned the word 'shot', someone being shot; what happened?" Hoseok asked as he folded his arms on his desk. "Who got shot at?"

"They're both alive, The Boy is unharmed from what I know but not Taehyung, he took a bullet for him." At his words he saw Hoseok's expression shifting, hardening at the corners of his lips. "In the shoulder, he said he received treatment of some kind so hopefully everything is fine."

"What a pair we are, both all stitched up like fucking rag dolls." Hoseok shook his head at this. It had been quite some time since his stitches had dissolved but the sentiment was still fitting. "Let's hope he doesn't get any permanent damage, shoulder injuries are risky in general and getting shot even more so. There's so many chances of ligament or cuff damage. Remember that time I damn nearly tore a ligament during a raid? I can't fucking imagine the pain he must he going through. But hey, with an injury like that Tae could retire on a hero's pension the second he's finished working undercover."

"Don't give him any ideas..." Namjoon muttered under his breath as he eyed the phone again. The rectangular disposable phone was a cheap and rather ugly block of grey plastic but looking at it right now was like looking at The Holy Grail. It was the bearer of great news and he strongly had to resist the urge to lift it up and kiss the device in relief. "Guess what?" Hoseok raised his eyebrows at him, curiosity all over his face. "Jeon already knows about the pornography server hack. Taehyung had to contact him and he told him about a problem, something to do with ceasing production. So that means that Jeon knows, he has to or else he wouldn't have told Taehyung that."

"...This is too much luck for one man," Hoseok remarked with a head shake. His expression was one of sheer disbelief. "First Tae survives a hit job and now Jeon's covering his ass. Hey, let's hope that his luck extends that much further so he can pull off the operation."

Namjoon made a noise in agreement as he turned back to his monitor. Yes, that really would be a blessing. There was no denying the fact that Taehyung was currently having a string of lucky escapes but it couldn't last forever. Their teammate needed to get out of hot water as fast as he could and avoid getting into trouble again for as long as possible, lay low and try and not test the waters again for awhile. Hoseok's joke had been very accurate, it really was too much luck and it would soon run out at this rate. But the most worrying part of it all was that there was a very high chance that Taehyung wasn't ever going to get out of danger because he had joined Haedogje Pa in the most deepest of turmoil: the power shift. For Taehyung things might only ever get slightly calm before danger and trouble came out of nowhere. The casino shootout was proof enough that nothing could really be predicted anymore, especially not from outside of the gang. If Taehyung himself could barely stay ahead then there was no chance that they could, for Namjoon had a feeling that the team were still so very far behind him.