Hong Kong Heist [AHS book 2]

Prologue

Please note that I didn't study law, so I've got no idea how things like this work.

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Taehyung focus

"My Eungno is displayed in the MMCA," Taehyung whisper-shouted into Yoongi's ear and thereby made the other jump in shock.

"Shit, Taehyung, stop doing this! That's cool but I'm preparing to get a damn ex-cop out of prison, so would you mind telling me about that later?" his best friend whispered back and straightened the suit he obviously disliked.

"You look good," Taehyung tried to cheer up his friend, albeit he was a little pissed about the other's disinterest in something so obviously amusing.

Yoongi was about to get Namjoon out of prison by letting his lawyer muscles play, a turn of things that Taehyung appreciated very much. He had disliked putting an innocent man behind bars, but back then it had been their only option. However, smart, genius, talented Yoongi had had a plan and had offered Namjoon a way out if the ex-cop agreed to work for them instead of the KNP. And Namjoon had taken them up on that offer. One week ago, they had settled the conditions for the rescue mission, and now they were about to enter court.

They stood in front of the doors to the hall where the hearing would take place, and Yoongi was organizing files and replaying what he was going to say. His best friend was a multi-talent. Lawyer, hacker, fence, songwriter and what not. And still no-one knew his real name. Not even Taehyung was sure whether Min Yoongi was his best friend's real name, but he would not dare to ask. Min Yoongi was as good for him as every other name.

"Okay, where's Cloud? He should be here by now," Yoongi suddenly asked, still looking like he did not like what he was about to do. Whether it was because of getting an ex-cop out of a place he very much wanted him to be or because he had to put someone else, who under certain circumstances was more useful for them, into prison instead, Taehyung was not sure. It could be a mix of both.

"Here," a deep voice from a bench next to the door said and Taehyung was slightly startled when he saw a giant muscular man in a cheap black suit. His small eyes looked dull.

"Cloud, I almost wouldn't have recognized you. Nice make-over you got," Yoongi said, and finally Taehyung remembered. Cloud was the homeless guy his friend had talked about who would take the blame on him for a nice meal and a roof over his head even if it came in form of prison. And, of course, for a nice pocket money after he would be released, what should be in some months if Yoongi had his way in the trial.

Cloud would describe to the court how he had received money from an unknown man to put the evidence into Namjoon's safe. He would tell them that he had received the finger prints and had been told to put those on the money stacks during stowing the money in the private safe. Should he be asked why he did that, he would tell them that he needed the money for his sister who was being hospitalized. The sister, of course, only existed virtually in the database of the central hospital. Yoongi had made sure virtual-she had a nice medical record.

As a hard evidence, he would bring the set of fingerprints that would match those of the analysis in the money case, and he would answer the question how he opened the safe with: I was told I'd find it open, and I did. That was all they could do. They had an intimidating man, desperate to safe his sister from kidney failure by getting the money for a donator organ (Yoongi had considered everything else too obvious), and the hard evidence of the finger prints. The rest was up to the court.

"Are you ready?" Yoongi asked the giant.

"Yeah," was all the man replied. He sounded determined, almost a little excited.

"Do you remember what to tell them?" the lawyer asked just to make sure.

"Yeah," Cloud said again.

"What's your sister's name?" Yoongi asked.

"Mina. She's my everything. After our parents died we only had us. I'd do anything to save her," the muscle man said, suddenly close to tears. Taehyung's jaw almost hit the floor at the movie-quality display of fake emotions.

"Perfect," Yoongi said, and for a moment Taehyung was sure to see something like wise calmness in Cloud's eyes before they glossed over with a dull stare. "Good, then let's go inside and free the beast from its cage."

>4 weeks later<

"First things first," Yoongi said when Taehyung entered the room with newly released Namjoon.

"At least give him a hello," he told his best friend with a frown. They would be working with the ex-cop from now on, and this enemy attitude would only cause a bad mood.

"Hello, traitor," Yoongi tried again.

"Hello, liar," Namjoon shot back, not half as grateful as he should be for being out of prison by the help of the hacker-lawyer... hacking lawyer... law-practicing hacker? Whatever.

"Seriously?" Taehyung mumbled and left those two at the door to get a tea and sit at the table.

"Put your foot here," he heard his friend's instruction and saw Namjoon complying and placing his left foot on one of the chairs. "Paragraph one of our agreement settled that you'll wear this electronic foot chain 24/7."

It was quite ironic, Taehyung thought. The foot chain he had used to convince the cop that they were also part of the KNP now would decorate the ex-cop's ankle. They had reversed reality and had made Namjoon the consultant regarding KNP-intern information for their criminal doings.

"Moreover," Yoongi continued, "You'll wear no accessories when you're with us, no rings, no bracelets, no watches, no piercings. If I find you wiretapped, you'll find yourself as an owner of a backyard shop with black market goods and selling contracts signed with your name and a raid on your ass. Understood?"

"Yes," Namjoon sighed.

"Next: This is your phone, and this is your credit card. Both devices' activity is logged on my laptop. You call the police, I screw you up; you buy another phone, I screw you up; you do anything suspicious with those, I'm on your ass. I guess you got my message."

The ex-cop just nodded and put away the gifts. He had known what was coming at him when he had signed the contract for his release, so Taehyung could not understand the attitude that was thrown at them. After all the man had betrayed them. There had to be consequences.

"Last: Your chain will send an alarm text to me whenever you're closer to a police station than two blocks. You know where those are, so don't try to play dumb. And public phones won't work for you; they'll shut down automatically once you're close enough."

Namjoon sighed. "From one prison into the next."

"No," Taehyung intervened, understanding Namjoon's point of view but not quite agreeing with it, "You're free to visit your family and friends, you're free to find a new job, we even saved your old apartment from being sold. Well, technically, we bought it, so you'll rent it from us now. But the point is, this is not like prison. You can dress as you like when you're not with us-"

"Sorry for not being able to wear skinny yeans anymore though," Yoongi mumbled with a nasty glint in his cat eyes.

"-and you have to stay away from places that can become dangerous for Yoon and me," Taehyung finished, and Namjoon slowly seemed to see the perks of their agreement compared to his earlier state of imprisonment.

Yoongi's measures might seem hard compared to freedom, but Taehyung completely supported them. He did not trust Namjoon either, but he would give the man a second chance to prove himself to them, and maybe with time they could become more than coworkers.

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I finally finished part two of the Azalea series. 

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