The NamSeok Mysteries

Eight

Hoseok let out a deep sigh, did a sign of the cross and a silent prayer.
Namjoon bowed his head, deep in thought.
Jacquie kicked a nearby bin over and spat out, "bastards."

"The Russians haven't wasted any time and there's a chance now they know about us. There's no way Moore would have been able to hide the fact he spoke to us. We might actually be in real danger," said a sombre Namjoon.

"Where the hell were your MI6 friends when he needed them??? They should have protected him!" Jacquie yelled in exasperation. "These bloody Russians, someone has to teach their stupid mafia gang a lesson. I know they don't give a shit who they remove from their path, but I do!" Jacquie was fuming. She was about to kick another innocent inanimate object when Hoseok stopped her in time.
"I think we'd better leave the museum Jacs, these bins really did nothing to be the brunt of your anger," said Hoseok. He ushered Jacquie and Namjoon outside and led them to the car park. Myrtle sat there dutifully waiting to be of service.

Namjoon took his phone out and was just about to make a call, when so,ethogram occurred to him. "I'm just going to make a quick call," he told the others, walking alway from them until he was out of earshot. He pressed '1' on his speed dial and had a quiet conversation with the person at the other end.

"Hope Namjoon actually comes up with a decent plan. He's clearly intelligent, but is he actually smart?" Jacquie mocked.

"Er, aren't they the same thing?" asked Hoseok.

"It's one thing being book smart, it's quite another knowing how to apply that knowledge. So far, all I've heard from him is a lot of background noise," complained Jacquie.

"Easy Jacs, that's a bit harsh. He's a newcomer and all this is a lot to process! Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, eh?" Hoseok tried to placate Jacquie's impatient nature.

Namjoon walked back towards them. "That was MI6. They're sending someone over to meet us at the church to go over this code."

"Great, let's make a move then," said Jacquie impatiently.

"No, you'd better not join us, MI6 don't take too kindly to involving civilians," said Namjoon quickly.

"What about Father H? Isn't he a civilian?" she challenged.

"He's a man of the cloth, so he's naturally sworn to secrecy and maintaining confidentiality," replied Namjoon, thinking on his feet.

"What the f-" started Jacquie, but Namjoon interjected, "Alright then Jacquie, we'll update you as soon as we know anything new. Come on Father H, I mean Hoseok. Let's get Myrtle going."

Hoseok looked at Namjoon and Jacquie during this tennis-style banter, bewildered by what was going on, but remained silent. There was something niggling at him in the back of his mind, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He obediently started Myrtle and drove back to the church. He saw Jacquie, from his rear view mirror, scowling as she walked to her car. Namjoon was engrossed in whatever his thumbs were busy tapping on his phone so he didn't want to disturb him. Soon they were back and as soon as Namjoon got out, he quickly scanned the surroundings and beckoned Hoseok to get inside the building quickly.

"So where's this MI6 friend of yours? If he's running a bit late that's good, 'cos I need to check if we have enough tea and biscuits," he stopped when Namjoon started shaking his head. "Oh, doesn't he like custard creams? No matter, I can go get some Jammie dodgers ins-"

"No, no, forget the tea and biscuits. There's no MI6 person coming, I lied about that. I had to get us both away from the Museum as soon as possible."

"What? Why?"

"I don't have time to explain now, Father Hoseok, but our lives are in danger right now. Is there any place here we can hide? There must be some secret underground passages or something in such an old church like this."

"Actually, yes there is! No one knows about it, but I did a lot of snooping around when I first came here. Oh right sorry, come on, let's go" he said when he saw Namjoon's expression change.

After pushing a few loose bricks by the podium on the main prayer hall, they entered a dimly lit tunnel. After closing the 'door' behind them, Hoseok led Namjoon through the tunnel for what seemed like an eternity in the dark, but was actually five minutes. When they came to the end of the tunnel, there stood a narrow spiral staircase made of stone. When they climbed to the top, they ended up entering through the floor of a bunker. "This bunker was build after World War I," Hoseok explained. "We're in the middle of the woods, and the exit in the surface is well hidden. We're quite safe," he reassured Namjoon.

"Now, tell me what you couldn't say at church, and why you had to lie to about meeting someone from MI6?"

Namjoon shook his head apologetically and replied slowly, "I'm sorry to break it to you, Father Hoseok, but our lives are in danger........from Jacquie."

"What?! Jacquie?! What in heaven's name do you mean? Why would we need protecting from Jacquie? Her friend's been murdered, she's trying to find her killer. And now Mr Moore......" Hoseok paused for a second and frowned as something occurred to him. Namjoon knew what he was beginning to realise. "Yes, Hoseok......?"

"That's what was bugging me earlier. How did Jacquie know that Mr Moore's body had been found dead? Police wouldn't release that information to her. MI6 certainly wouldn't. So......so.....she had something to do with it?" Hoseok asked Namjoon, hoping he as wrong. Unfortunately, Namjoon agreed. "I called MI6 to find out if what she said was true. Someone had killed Mr Moore, but it wasn't the police who found him. MI6 did. They were on their way to see him, but unfortunately were too late. So of course, she would have known some other way."

"Hang on, my head is spinning. What about Maggie? Was that....? No way, Jacquie was devastated when she found out. Maggie was her friend....." Hoseok knew it must be true, but couldn't believe it.

Namjoon said, "I knew something was off, but I didn't suspect Jacquie at all up until she said Moore's body had been found. She seemed to know too much too quickly. She knew exactly where to find him when we went to visit him. She was quick to divulge that information about the blood diamonds and the secret passages. She told us enough, but not too much. How did she know that much in such a short space of time? I'm sorry to say this but it would have been easy for her to pretend she didn't know about Maggie. As to whether she killed Maggie herself, we can't be sure yet. What we can assume now is that Jacquie is working with the Russian mafia. She led them to Maggie who probably found out about her, led them to Mr Moore, and very likely already knew about Strike. I'm pretty sure she wanted to keep us close so she could see what we knew. This is why I think our lives are in danger. We have to find out this code says and plan what to do next before Jacquie and the Russians find us," Namjoon urged.