Nowhere is Safe | Pt. 13 Desired Outcomes

[owned_by_a_cat]

Title: Nowhere is Safe
Pairing: JaeMin / MinJae
Rating: NC-17
Genre: AU, Suspense, Romance, Army!fic
Summary: Invisible up close, able to kill from a long way away… when an elite sniper operates in your neighbourhood nowhere is safe. To Major Kim Jaejoong, being a sniper is more than a job. It's a mindset he needs when the people around him fall prey to a shooter with a high-powered rifle and his new partner, Captain Shim Changmin from Army Intelligence, turns out to be as much a distraction as he is a help. Undeniably both smart and gorgeous, the man has issues. And an attitude. And he's about as subtle as mortar fire in showing his dislike of Jaejoong.
Thrown together by the crisis, both Jaejoong and Changmin struggle to reconcile mutual dislike and mutual attraction. But when events escalate and the stakes get higher, they must put their attraction and differences aside and work together.

Under Attack || Return to Base || Pissed and Pissed Off || Do Over || Attempts at Apologies || Discoveries || Close to Home || Backfoot || Traps || Confession || Plans and Pleasure || Reasonable Doubt ||

Desired Outcomes

"Can you get any more fucking obnoxious?" The venom in Changmin's voice could have poisoned half the wood, but Jaejoong only stretched suggestively and smirked.

"I don't know. Can I?"

They hadn't needed the forty-eight hours Colonel Seong had given them to prepare. They'd been ready in just over twenty-four.

Twenty-four hours spent bent over large-scale maps trying to find an area suited for their purpose: somewhere without a civilian population, not too close to the border that too much activity would attract attention, and close enough to the base to entice the sniper away from his perch.

Twenty-four hours filled with requisitions, with choosing the three men that would accompany them, with briefings and preparations, with checking and re-checking facts.

Twenty-four hours filled with too much coffee, too much tension and too few chances to touch.

Jaejoong hadn't protested the amendments to their plan that Changmin had proposed, though his sardonic grin hadn't shifted all day. And now he was driving Changmin insane.

When Changmin had suggested that Jaejoong might play the part of a bossy ass who got into constant fights with Changmin, he'd had no idea what he'd unleashed. Jaejoong had taken to the role with a vengeance, strutting, swaggering and sounding as if he meant ever word and every insult.

The other three men in their little troop - backup and props for Changmin's plan - found the sniper's behaviour hilarious. Changmin, bearing the brunt of Jaejoong's act, found it irritating.

Because in all his careful planning there was one thing he'd not accounted for: the simple fact that he might struggle to keep his hands off Kim Jaejoong.

The need to be close, to touch was like an itch in Changmin's brain that slowly spread through his whole body, leaving him strung out tight and without the patience and focus he was known for. The night he'd spent with Jaejoong had been more than Changmin had ever had with anyone. Much, much more than he'd ever allowed himself before. And yet, not nearly enough.

And while they worked to take down the shooter that threatened the base, while they prepared and planned and argued, images of Jaejoong stretched out on his bed invaded Changmin's mind and sapped his concentration. So much so, that Jaejoong had finally called him on it.

Much to Changmin's embarrassment.

"You want me to take your virgin ass out there?"

Changmin had felt the wave of heat that started in his groin and rushed upwards until his face glowed and his ears grow hot. The easy way Jaejoong could say these things was deeply annoying. Especially when it had taken Changmin three attempts to tell Jaejoong that he wanted from him what he'd never asked of anyone else.

"Yes," Changmin breathed. He watched Jae's eyes grow dark and for a strangely disconnected moment he no longer cared about the shooter, the base or even his career. He was simply desperate to have Jaejoong's hands all over him. It made no sense, then, when Jaejoong shook his head.

"No way."

"You said you top!"

"I do. But sound carries out there. And you won't be able to keep quiet."

"I will. I swear, I will."

"Yeah?" Jae's smirk came out in full now. "Let's try that, shall we?"

Changmin would swear later that Jaejoong surprising him was the only reason he ended up flat on his back with his belt undone and his fly open without making a single move to stop the sniper. But he couldn't deny that Jaejoong's ministrations had him chewing through his uniform sleeve, desperate to keep silent, in an embarrassingly short amount of time.

And now they faced each other in the woods - adversaries, comrades, lovers, whatever it was they were - intent to play out a game Changmin had devised. A game that none of the other four knew they were even playing. A game that, if Changmin had calculated correctly, would take Jaejoong out of the equation. For long enough to bring him back just in time for the endgame.

There was nobody close enough to hear their words. Jaejoong could have recited the close combat manual for all it mattered, but of course that wasn't how the sniper worked. He'd teased and insulted and teased some more, until Changmin was seething.

"Why the fuck are you doing this?"

"You're supposed to hit me, remember? I didn't think you'd make it look convincing, wound tight as you are." Jae's eyes were bright with mischief. His tongue sneaked out to wet his lips. And then he stepped almost into Changmin's space. His posture changed to a blend of challenge and derision, though his voice stayed soft and suggestive. "Just giving you a little extra incentive. Like I did the night you fucked me, remember? Just… helping you to let go."

Changmin's fist took him square in the chin and sent him flying.

Then their plan played out as devised. Jaejoong's fury was a sight to behold. Rough hands stripped Changmin of his pack and weapons and the handcuffs left a chilly kiss on his wrists. He stood alone beside a tree while the other four conferred, suddenly no longer part of the team, but simply a delinquent waiting to be dealt with.

Then the huddle broke apart, and reformed with Jaejoong standing alone. And as Changmin was being lead away, he had a last glimpse of the sniper rubbing at his aching jaw, that tiny spark of mischief still lighting his eyes.

***

Jaejoong breathed easier as the distance between him and the troop grew larger. He'd been on tenterhooks all morning, waiting for the telltale hiss and thump of a bullet hitting flesh. Dreading the resulting confusion. He knew how impossible it was to spot a sniper that had had time to set up. The only way to stay ahead of that scenario was by staying quiet, invisible and on the move… not something a troop — even a small one — was properly capable of. Not when faced with someone as classy as Ran Joon.

Now that he was by himself he had a better chance of evading a sniper tracking him and finding and following him in return. Though he'd be lying to himself if he pretended that he wasn't missing Changmin. And not just because the attraction between them hadn't had time yet to burn itself out.

He hadn't been entirely truthful. Neither with his CO nor with Changmin. The shooter's apparent sloppiness was bothering him, but everything else he'd said had been a smoke screen. Not once since seeing that ginkgo leaf charm nestled in the hollow of Changmin's throat had he doubted that they were facing Ran Joon. He wasn't doubting it now. He just couldn't work out what game the bastard was playing.
Having Changmin around to bounce ideas off of would have helped.

And yes, he was crap at lying to himself. He didn't just want Changmin around to bounce ideas off of.

The uneasy feeling in the pit of Jae's stomach didn't subside. Neither did his scalp prickle with the knowledge that someone was watching him. The wood lay around him entirely too serene. The way it was when he patrolled the mountains, when he slid through the vegetation like a ghost, disturbing nothing and leaving no trace.

It shouldn't be like this.

Not now, when he was expecting Ran Joon to trail him, hoping to find a way and a place to take him out. His skin should be crawling with prickles, the back of his neck should be tight with tension. Every muscle should be taut as his whole being was on the lookout, watching for a telltale shift of shadows, a sudden flight of birds or a tiny twig moving when it shouldn't. His ears should be on alert to catch the minutest of sounds like the soft brush of cloth against bark, the squish of a soft step in an unseen patch of mud, the muted clink of a buckle.

It shouldn't be like this.

Shouldn't be quiet and peaceful, the air surrounding him without a hint of threat. The tranquillity could only mean one thing. And the moment the thought occurred to Jaejoong, everything that had happened began to make sense.

He wasn't the target.

He'd never been the target.

The one they wanted, whoever they were, was Changmin.

And Ran Joon had been trying to tell him so all along.

The man's unusually clumsy attacks on the base hadn't been real. They'd been meant to attract Jaejoong's attention, alert him to the fact that he'd been called in after the first, the perfect attack. That the shot that had taken out Jong Ki had been the one thing in that whole scenario that mattered. Because it had brought not just Jaejoong to the base — something that would have happened anyway —but Shim Changmin. And if Jaejoong had been less focussed on getting his own damned way, or getting one over on the distracting Captain Shim, he would have seen it immediately. Instead, he'd had his head stuffed up his own backside, using the past as a shield for his inadequacies.

He wasn't usually that stupid.

Jaejoong turned and headed back the way he'd come. His heart pushed him to make haste, to speed through the trees as fast as he could, but his mind urged caution. If Changmin was the one they wanted, and Changmin the one the enemy was following, then they surely didn't bank on a pissed-off sniper joining the party at a time that suited him.

And Jaejoong needed to keep it that way.

He retraced his steps, stealthy and swift, the former bait now the hunter. He picked up the enemy's trail half an hour after passing the small clearing where they'd stopped to play their charade, travelling in the opposite direction. The men trailing Changmin had been careful to leave little sign, but not careful enough for someone who knew the area as well as Jaejoong.

The sniper had no trouble following and no trouble staying out of sight.

Options and consequences aligned in his mind into various courses of actions. Apprehension. Termination. Or even letting the enemy lead him. The decision depended on when and where he made contact with the rest of his team and whether or not they were able to communicate.

The flat pop of a muffled gunshot froze him in his tracks. A wave of heat rushed through him so swiftly that his vision blurred. Half adrenaline, half anger, it made him double his speed, even though he knew he was still too far away to be effective. He spotted movement in the trees in front of him, heard another muffled pop and then a third. When he was finally close enough to use the scope, the sight that greeted him froze his anger into ice cold rage.

Four prone figures, every single one known to him, none of them moving.

Part 14: Old Foes, New Allies