It's the same dark room you are now so familiar with that you can't ever forget. The water that drips from the leaking sewage stains the walls and brings about an odour that makes you gag.
Your fiancé and partner, Park Jimin, is pressed against your back as you scan around the room for any possible gunfire. You can hear his calm and quick breathing that sets you to comfort. That always calms you down - his soft angelic humming and his steady heartbeat.
And then it's a commotion. You hear a child screaming and crying out for his mother from inside, you rush, leaving Jimin's side, running in the direction of the cries.
The sound of bullet hitting is loud and the groan that follows is louder. You turn back and see Jimin shot on his chest, blood pulsating out rapidly and you turn back, taking a step forward but he prompts you to save the child.
And you do, but you don't see that.
All you see is Jimin lying in a pool of body, smiling at you affectionately. All you hear is the clinking of the gun and shot of the bullet, diving through the air at your lover.
The shot over and over again. And again. And again. Till that's all you hear and you're gasping awake, clutching on the hotel bedsheets and crying because you could have prevented Jimin from being shot. You could have.
You look at the clock by the bed and you are genuinely impressed that you managed to sleep for two hours. This is a lot better than most nights. You rub your eyes and decide to get up and research.
Perhaps this serial killer has a rough background with an abusive family too.
You realise it's past seven when the sunlight peeps through the thin curtains lighting the entire hotel room up. You stand up and open the windows, letting the fresh air fill the room, the smell of greenery appealing to you. Your phone rings and you look at the caller.
District Chief Cooper is calling...
You groan and answer, sitting at the table back again and scrolling through your research drafts. There is a static voice in the background and a cough, followed by a clearing of the throat.
"Special Agent," he calls out for you.
"Sir."
"I hope everything's going well," he asks. "You know that you're in a tight spot after Miami Debuncle."
"Yes, sir," you close your eyes, trying to forget the memory that haunts you as it should.
"Don't screw this up, Special Agent. Diligence is what you should have and the FBI will look into your performance."
"Yes, sir," your voice is firm, ensuring that not a single emotion spills through with your words.
"That'll be all then," he says. "Have a good day, Special Agent."
"You too, sir." He hangs up. You could go back to normalcy by not messing this case up and that's your only agenda.
Fifteen minutes later, you are at the precinct. Officers prancing around with case files and Detectives swarming the place, it is busy for a regular Saturday Morning. Jungkook meets you by the door and he waves at you.
"Had a good sleep last night?"
"I guess." Did two hours count as good sleep? After all, this is the longest you've slept in a long time. "I have the basic profile up." You look around at the chaotic precinct as you walk in and you sigh.
"Do you want my help? This can get a bit," he chuckles, "messy."
"I've got this," you push your hair behind and clap your hands together, coughing before yelling, "Hey! Eyes front! Here!"
Silence spreads slowly and everyone turns to look at you, stopping in their tracks to pay attention to you. "This is the profile of the killer we are looking for. He or she is in the age between twenty to forty. It's the standard killer age group for something this precise and sharp."
You notice few people take out their notepad and write down your words. You feel confident and you continue, "The killer is an introvert and hates social interaction. However, he or she is highly intelligent. Their methods are precise and clean. Perhaps a doctor or a pharmacist, either way, the killer definitely has pharmaceutical experience."
"This should help you narrow down your list of suspects. That will be all. Thank you," You smile courteously and Jungkook waves at the officers to continue with their work.
"Impressive work out there, Y/N," he compliments and you laugh, walking towards his desk.
"Careful, Jungkook. You sound whipped for a minute there."
"Could be. Could be not," he teases before informing you, "Anyhow, Taehyung wants to see us down at the lab."
"The autopsy came out?"
"Yeah," Jungkook looks hopeful. You realise that's what the entire detective work could be about. Just being hopeful that everything would lead to finding the culprit.
Jungkook guides you to the precinct's crime lab. It's a smaller version of the one you've seen around in the Bureau. With microscopes and burettes around the white table tops, you see Taehyung looking at a stained slide through a microscope.
"Taehyung," Jungkook calls out for him. A strand of hair falls as Taehyung looks up at the two of you. You catch your breath for a second and you realise that Taehyung is actually breathtakingly beautiful. He smiles at the two of you as you walk towards him.
"Jungkook, Special Agent, uh," Taehyung looks apologetic. "I never actually got your name."
"Y/N Y/L/N," you smile.
"Special Agent Y/L/N," Taehyung nods. "The autopsy came out earlier today morning."
Jungkook pulls a chair from the side and sits, his hand propelling his head forward as he listens eagerly. Taehyung looks at Jungkook, amused, before explaining, "The bruising on her lungs and her throat suggests mechanical asphyxiation. Your death by mask theory, Jungkook, certainly looks solid."
"The substance she was drugged with," your teeth clench together, "What about that?"
"Sadly we don't know," Taehyung frowns. "Whatever compound she was drugged with was out of her system by the time we found her." He runs a hand through his hair, fixing his glasses, before continuing, "However, we know that it was definitely a paralytic, hospital-grade one but beyond that we have got nothing."
The drumming sound of feet tapping against the tile is loud and you look to where the sound originates. A bright faced woman with a beautiful smile and the happiest face you've ever seen in this line of work claps her hands as she shouts, "Jungkook, Jungkook, Jungkook!"
Jungkook gets up, taking bigger strides towards her and you follow. The woman jumps from her seat and hugs Jungkook before calming herself down while Jungkook pats the back of her hair fondly.
"Meet Lisa Manoban. Our smartest and only technical analyst and data specialist," Jungkook introduces her to you.
"You're the FBI liaison!" She points at you happily and extends her arm forward. "You're very pretty."
"Why, thank you," you smile confidently. "You're beautiful yourself, must I say."
She falls back on her seat and swirls it to face the large number of computers in front of her. Lisa points to one of her many monitors where several complex images have been overlaid for comparison.
"We ran ammonium acetate and cross acid absorption tests and discovered trace iron impurities in the quartz," she chirps like she's found something unique but you and Jungkook look at each other, lost as to what the pretty woman before you speaks.
"Uh, I'm sorry, but that means?" You rub the back of your head nervously.
"Thank God I'm not the only clueless one around here," Jungkook whistles.
"Ah, I'm sorry. So what I'm saying is that I run a chemical analysis on the plaster in the mask and guess what I found!" Jungkook turns to look at you.
"Uh, trace iron impurities in the quartz?"
"Yes!" Lisa turns around again to face the computers. She furiously presses on a few keys on the keyboard before her, pop up windows appearing from three different monitors before they show a map.
"The components in the mask indicate that the plaster was imported from Southern Europe. Tuscany, I guess."
She presses a few more buttons and you just watch her in amusement. She explains as she proceeds, "We just bring regional shipping manifest, cross reference them against local art supply specialty stores and," Few art galleries pop up and fade away in a second before another map appears wide on the screen. "Voila! Only one business in San Francisco that deals with this plaster - Italia Imports and Exports and it's located down by the waterfront. Guess what their description reads," Lisa fakes an Italian accent, "We deal in exotic masks."
"A lead!" You clap your hands together, high fiving Lisa in impulse. Jungkook looks at the two of you in amusement and smiles before saying, "Thanks, Lisa. We'll get going."
"You did well, Lisa," Taehyung calls out. She blushes, her eyes wrinkling in joy. You raise an eyebrow at the minor observation you just made, not deciding to comment anything on it. "You need to come back down here later today," Taehyung informs and you look at him with confusion written all over your face.
"Why?"
"For the standard procedure. We need to get your DNA in our system to differentiate it from the rest."
"Sure," you nod and leave with Jungkook, shutting the door to the lab carefully.
Back in the car, Jungkook lets you drive his baby after much persuasion. Your fingers graze the rubber on the steering wheel slightly as you look around in awe.
"It's beautiful, right?" Jungkook speaks out, voicing out your thoughts exactly and you nod. "Then, please don't hurt my baby."
"Don't kill the mood, Detective," you roll your eyes. You turn the keys, starting the engine on ignition and letting the engine burn for a while before pressing on the gas.
"Your technician is quite the kind," you smile, your eyes focussing on the road ahead because you are sure that Jungkook would give you an earful if you looked anywhere other than the road, more over the worry of the safety of his car than your or his life.
"Who? Taehyung?" Jungkook smiles with nothing but pride, almost as if he reared these kids himself. "He's quite ignorant and looks like he doesn't care most of the time, but damn, that boy is smart; wickedly smart."
"I meant, Lisa," you smile, images of Lisa smiling filling your head and swelling your heart with this kind of sibling affection. "You don't find many with that sort of personality in our line of work."
"God, she's a technical genius. There is no one out there that can work imaging and analysis like she can, Y/N," Jungkook has his fatherly smile back again and you chuckle.
"What?" He asks.
"You sound like a proud father."
"I feel like a proud father," he laughs. "Lisa grew up in a pretty sheltered home. Only child and so, she doesn't have a lot of real world experience. Like zhe's been sheltered her whole life that she thinks everyone has some good in them. Even when she is in this line of work."
"I think she might be the first person I like in San Francisco," you inform Jungkook.
"Isn't she the best? Like Lisa-" Jungkook pauses. He slowly looks at you, processing what you just said. "Wait, what about me?"
You smile teasingly. Jungkook whines repeatedly asking, "What about me, Y/N? Don't you like me? Don't you? Don't you?"
"We're here, Jungkook," you laugh, pulling the car over by the side and in front of a shabby building.
"I'm not letting you off the hook for that statement, Special Agent."