N0 B0DY, N0 CRIM3 | Bang Chan

Sparks fly

'Are you ready to tell me the truth about Kiera Campbell or do I have to blow something else up?' -Marvin

Hyunjin stared at the text message on his phone in shock. His jaw clenched together and he shook his head. He had to give Marvin credit, he blew up his whole art gallery. Multiple hours of work were gone, thankfully the place was insured. It'd take a while, but the gallery was replaceable. He ignored the message and sent a text to Chan. 

When Chan received Hyunjin's text, he was still in the back of the Bronco. Han tossed back his beanie. Chan shoved the baggy black beanie over Kiera's head and laid her on his lap, so nobody could see her. His fingers moved frantically across the screen as he shot back a reply. 

A bump in the road caused him and Kiera to bounce. He kept an arm slung over her torso as a makeshift seat-belt while she laid on his lap. In a few more minutes, they'd arrive back at their house in the suburbs. Chan figured it'd be the safest place for now. 

The rumble, that was once the Bella-Nova, was unsalvageable. It'd take days, if not weeks, to clean it up. Hyunjin would have to start from the very beginning. There wasn't anything anyone could do to change the outcome. It was a miracle everyone made it outside the building in one piece. 

Lee Know drove everyone away just in time. Since they were further away, the evening sat silent again. There was no indication that anything happened in the first place.  Surely, cops would arrive soon. There was no doubt about it, people in the surrounding area heard everything. If they didn't hear the structure collapse, they felt it. 

Panicked conversation filled the car, but Chan ignored all of it. He moved onto texting I.N about the bombs. He wanted to know everything about them. It didn't matter if Chan needed to grill him all night, he'd do whatever it took to find the truth. 

Nobody knew I.N took special orders and sold his homemade bombs to people. It shouldn't have been surprising considering he made his own clothes, but nobody knew. They knew he made them and they sometimes used them, but they hadn't been aware that people were illegally purchasing them. 

He could apologize as much as he pleased, but it was too late; the Bella-Nova was already destroyed. Sure it was devastating, but it wasn't I.N's fault. Nobody thought their own creations would be used against them. Marvin didn't know about the group and I.N didn't know about Marvin. It was an unfortunate mistake. 

"My wolf plushie!" Felix cried out. 

"Relax, Pup, Kiera's got it." 

Kiera held up the stuffed wolf. Chan grabbed it from her and pushed it over the back of the seats. Felix snatched it, gripped it tightly, and began to coo. Beside him, Changbin rolled his eyes. Felix caught sight of this, picked up his plushie, and slammed it into the side of Changbin's arm. One of the marbled eyes caught Changbin's skin. 

"Hey!" Changbin cried out. 

"Don't be mean to him!" 

"I'll rip its goddamn head off!" 

"Enough!" Lee Know snapped. "We've all had a long night and none of us are in the mood to hear the two of you fighting. Both of you say you're sorry." 

Changbin and Felix glared at each other. 

"Don't make me pull this car over," Lee Know warned. He glared back at both of them from the rear-view mirror. His eyes darted between the two before his gaze went back to the road. 

Two mumbled apologies came from the two men. Chan leaned down and lifted Han's beanie off Kiera's face a few inches. "Kiera?" 

"Huh?" 

Kiera was in a daze from everything happening. She woke up by being slammed into Chan's back. By the time she glanced up, she caught the last glimpse of Hyunjin's art gallery. Chan shoved her in the trunk and the pair watched the building explode without a word. 

"Who is Marvin?" 

"Marvin?" Kiera echoed. 

"Marvin Wilson, the director of the secret service, who is he to you?" 

Kiera pulled the beanie up a little more, so she could see Chan. "He's just the director of the secret service. Why?" 

"He figured out Hyunjin took you from DC. He showed up at the gallery earlier today and demanded to know where you were. Hyunjin just texted me. Marvin was the one who planted bombs. He wants to know the full story." 

Kiera's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "I've only interacted with him once after my mom died. When my mom was shot, he knocked me down on the ground and covered me. Afterwards, he handed me a bottle of water, led me back to my room, and gave me a hug. He mentioned I reminded him of his daughter, but that's about as much as I know about him." 

"So you're not close to him?" 

Kiera shook her head. "We've held one conversation and that's it. I don't know why he'd be so invested. It's not like we've ever known each other personally. I never knew who he was until I moved into the white house. We only knew each other for about a week maybe?" 

Chan pressed his lips together trying to figure out why Marvin desperately wanted to know where Kiera was. The cold metal of his lip ring bit into his top lip. He pulled out his phone and sent another message to Hyunjin. 

'Tell Marvin you want to meet with him. I'll tell you more when we get home. We'll be there in about five minutes.'