In The Dark (SNOWDROP)

"all in the line of duty"

❄︎ — chapter 32 — ❄︎

With her manpower now increased to thirty police officers and ex-army personnel, Hanna arrived at the port. It was a cloudy afternoon, but she supposed it would look rather nice if it was only sunny out. The grey sky made the water a sickly green color, but she didn't really care about the scenery at the moment.

"Teams of three," she ordered. "Search every single warehouse. No ship leaves here until every crate onboard has been cleared."

It was a bit of an unrealistic expectation, but Hanna had a history of doing the logistically impossible, and she had every intention of doing it again, especially since this particular mission was so personal. She split off with Sooho and Gyeokchan, heading towards one of the cargo warehouses close to the water. After she entered the keycode, the large garage-style doors rolled open, and she found the light switch. Half the lights weren't working, and the ones that did flickered or provided only faint glows.

"Search everywhere large enough for a grown man to hide," she said, taking her revolver and flashlight out of her coat, then stalking quietly into the dimly lit building. The three of them fanned out to cover more ground.

It's much too quiet, Hanna thought as she prowled through the warehouse. The only sounds she could hear were the skittering of mice along the floor and her own quiet footsteps. Once, she heard a cardboard box fall to her distant right, and whirled towards it, her pistol leveled.

"Who's there?"

"Mianhae, timjangnim," Sooho's voice called back. "I tripped over it."

Other than that, the warehouse proved to be empty. Hanna sighed in frustration and trudged back outside into the grey daylight. Suddenly, a commotion off to the left and a lot of shouting caught her attention. A man on a motorcycle whizzed past and off the large platform, heading for the main road.

"Stop him!" she heard one of her agents yell.

Thinking fast, she took aim and fired right at his back tire. Her shot hit true, and the cyclist was flipped upwards as he lost control and the motorcycle crashed into a tree, flames shooting up from the wreck. Two agents ran towards the crash, but Hanna turned her attention back to the pier. There had only been one man on that motorcycle, and she was looking for two.

❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎ — ❄︎

"Status report," Hanna demanded into her radio fifteen minutes later. "Anything new?"

"Anniyo," Sooho's voice said over the static. "I'm on my last warehouse. And there—"

A loud noise cut him off, followed by what sounded like grunting.

"Sooho?" Hanna called, grabbing the radio. "Sooho-ya!"

A bang! sounded, a sound that Hanna knew much too well. It was, unmistakably, a gunshot.

Thinking fast, she quickly switched channels.

"Ilgeun, get some men to warehouse three, now!"

She herself was much too far away to be of any help if Sooho was in a dire situation, but she disregarded that and started running across the entire port, shouting orders to her officers to keep looking. Cheongya was already on the scene, and informed Hanna that she was converging on Sooho's last known location. From the distance, she heard two more gunshots ring out, and with each passing second her heart grew colder with dread.