A Different Kind of Bravery - Kaisoo

A Different Kind of Bravery

Jongin hits the concrete wall hard, breath puffing out in a long wheeze. A vial full of sickly yellow liquid is knocked from his grasp with the impact and Jongin makes a desperate lunge for it, Jongdae's last words echoing in his ears.

If you can't retrieve it, destroy it.

The vial skitters along, rolling down the dirty alley and Jongin almost reaches it when it's previous owner throws himself in his path, barrelling into Jongin hard enough to knock him aside. The momentum sends them crashing into a set of dumpsters that ring with the impact. Jongin rocks to one side to dodge the follow-up punch and the man's knuckles break on the heavy steel. Jongin cracks an elbow across the man's jaw as he howls at his hand, sending him stumbling. Drawing a slim handgun from the holster that sits under his tailored jacket Jongin aims at the courier, point blank.

A child's happy scream breaks the silence and a pair of little figures tumble into the mouth of the alley nearby, chasing a balloon shaped like an elephant. Jongin immediately holsters the weapon and the courier -one hand to his now bleeding nose- resettles his weight on his shaky legs opposite him, breathing hard. The other Jongin watches slide into a pocket of his stained jeans. The man withdraws a capped syringe.

Jongin narrows his eyes. It's full of the same liquid as was in the vial. The man slowly starts backing up towards the children, speaking low. The blood makes his words heavy and he spits, adjusting the patch over his missing eye as he swipes at it.

"You're going to let me walk out of here. And if you even think about shooting at me I'm going to stab one of these brats. They'll be dead before they hit the ground."

Jongin curls his lip in frustration, hand remaining inside his jacket on the butt of his gun. The courier smiles thinly, still walking slowly backwards. His thumb inches towards the cap of the needle and he palms it warningly as he reaches where the kids are playing.

One-eye needs almost all of what's in that syringe if he's going to finish his mission but Jongin isn't willing to risk him even attempting to use one of the children as collateral. So he obediently stays very still until the man slides past the oblivious children and sprints from the alley. The moment he's clear Jongin dives for the container and scoops it up, pocketing the tiny bottle of poison.

He hits the button on his comms link of his inner ear piece. "I have the vial."

'That's great.' Jongdae's voice is faint; the link isn't strong. 'Is the target neutralised?'

"Not yet." Jongin pushes out past the kids and scans the street. "Dae he still has a syringe worth of the poison."

'Shit.'

Jongin looks back at the kids and their brightly-colored balloon animal. "We're only a block from the zoo. He's headed there and he knows his cover is blown. I need to get to him."

Jongdae makes a pained sound. 'That's too public an area. We don't know what he'll do now.'

"He'll still attempt to complete his mission." Jongin exits the alley and breaks into a run. "The South China tiger he's after is on loan. You said it yourself; that thing is critically endangered. There's none left in the wild any more. This breeding program is an act of extreme faith on the government's part. If the tiger were to drop dead in Korea's care..."

Jongdae sounds like he wants to hit something. 'Is there enough in that syringe to kill it?'

Jongin shoves through several bystanders and slows into a lope as the crowds thicken towards the zoo's entrance. "Yes," he mutters, quieter now that there are people around. "It was fully loaded."