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WASHINGTON D.C. - FBI HEADQUARTERS
 Renjun has his reservations about Chief Blevins.He respects the man, and he won’t deny his managerial abilities as section chief, but how astute can an FBI admin be if he insists on putting two people with such glaring differences on the same case?In the overwhelmingly brown office, Renjun makes sure to keep his expression neutral. Sure, he has his opinions, but he’s still a professional—a medical doctor and a respected FBI agent. He settles into the chair across Blevins and waits for further direction.Blevins, to his credit, is mindful of Renjun’s time. With a greeting that extends only as far as a grunt, he hands Renjun a legal-size manila folder. “Agent Lee’s latest 302,” he starts, naming the form inside. “He’s requesting assignment and travel expenses for the both of you.”So partnering him with Renjun was Donghyuck Lee’s suggestion. Again. This will be the fourth case—the fourth X-file—they tackle together. There’s no guarantee that the Bureau will grant the request in question. And yet. The fact that Blevins bothered to talk to Renjun about it says enough. Holding back a sigh, Renjun opens the file. The second page includes the flight details. “Sioux City, Iowa,” he reads out. “That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”Across the cheap wood desk, Blevins appears wary. “It came up through channels from Lee’s ASAC to the District G-14 and onto my desk.”That means the form got greenlit by the higher-ups. Renjun shifts to the end of the folder and finds the final page blank. There’s only three sheets inside.“I don’t understand,” Renjun says, bewildered. Usually, when an agent requests to be assigned to a case the form is submitted with several accompanying documents. It's a petition, and it's one of the first things you learn to do on the job. The file in Renjun's hands is sparse. Almost lazy.“In essence,” Blevins leans over the desk and flips through the file. He smells strongly of cigars and detergent. It’s similar to the scent that sticks to the drywall of the university where Renjun used to study. Blevins directs Renjun’s attention to a photocopy of a newspaper clipping stapled to the top sheet. It reads: TEEN TAKEN FROM TENTS BY ALIENS. “Lee is petitioning the Bureau to assign a case number to a tabloid headline.”Now, it’s true that Renjun has only personally known Agent Lee for a few months. And it’s true that there’s no saying how far his bizarre convictions—namely, his staunch belief in both paranormal and supernatural happenings—will take him. But petitioning to investigate a tabloid with no further evidence is…foolish. And, Renjun thinks, a garish waste of Bureau resources.Believing in the plausibility of an abduction isn’t unlike Lee. But moving forward with no leads is just—childish. “He must have more evidence than…”“Not according to his 302, he doesn’t.”“I admit this is strange,” Renjun says, words careful. “Even for Lee.” During their last investigation, both agents traveled to Idaho. They were asked to look into a military official’s erratic behavior—forgetting his own name, wandering off at night—after returning from a high profile mission. Despite his skepticism, Renjun would be lying if he said Donghyuck’s conviction wasn’t intriguing. It wasn’t so much his belief in supernatural happenings that captivated Renjun, but the meticulous way he went about gathering evidence. Renjun felt curiosity and, beneath that, a prickling feeling he has now—rather reluctantly—labeled awe. Donghyuck has a youthful spirit, shrewd and unpretentious. He willingly spends long hours combing through archives and interviewing leads, shrewdly re-establishing his credibility over and over again. The funny thing is, Donghyuck doesn’t care about his reputation. Good or bad. Not unless it interferes with his detective clearance. He has nothing to prove to anyone.Coupling years of experience with that unwavering zeal, Donghyuck could confidently say he’s one of the Bureau’s best special agents. But. He doesn’t say it. No one does. Instead, they call him Spooky Lee. Or, “Believer” Lee. They laugh behind his back, and at times even, to his face. Renjun himself has thrown his fair share of wary glances his way. Compared to the ego-heads that the Bureau tends to attract, Lee’s perspective is refreshingly grounded. Renjun can’t say he understands him or his fixations, but he has gained his respect. Surely, there must be more to this than an unsourced tabloid. After a pregnant pause and a deep sigh, Blevins stands and pulls a drawer open from a filing cabinet behind his desk. He takes out another file, this one dark red. “Perhaps it has something to do with this. Take a look.”“An X-file?” Renjun studies the top sheet. It’s an intake form with Donghyuck’s sister’s information, dated ten years back. There’s a headshot secured to the form with a paperclip. She’s young in the picture, a little older than toddler-aged. Renjun sits. It’s a missing persons case.“Has he shared any of this with you?” Blevins asks.He has. Renjun says nothing.“There’s no need to protect him. He’s the agent on record. He initiated the file himself.”Renjun sighs. “She was his sister. She disappeared 21 years ago. He was twelve, and she was eight. He claims that he was in the room when it happened. He recalls a bright light outside the window and,” Renjun makes sure to keep his expression neutral. “And a presence in the room.”Nodding, Belvin asks, “In your opinion, has Agent Lee’s personal agenda clouded his professional judgment?”Renjun straightens his back. “In my opinion, no.” There’s no hesitation. Donghyuck is a rigorous investigator. Renjun came to this conclusion on his own by the time they wrapped up their first case.Blevins narrows his eyes. “But you can see how it might appear that way.” When he sits back at his desk, the chair creaks under his weight. “As you know, Agent Lee’s preoccupation with fringe matters has been a big source of friction in the Bureau. This is another case in point.” He grabs a pen and looks at the paperwork on his desk. “I’m going to disallow the 302.”Blevins rejecting the case shouldn’t be surprising, but Renjun still feels a pang in his chest. It’s confusing, but there’s no time to dissect his own feelings. Renjun clears his throat. “With respect, sir, at least let me talk with him.” He stares directly into Blevins eyes, knowing very well that most men find him nice to look at. He tilts his head gently, makes his voice soft. “Let me speak to Agent Lee first, and make a recommendation.”Renjun knows Blevins’s answer before it leaves his mouth. He sees it in the way his eyes narrow. “Alright.”   
WASHINGTON D.C. - FBI HEADQUARTERS, AGENT LEE’S OFFICE
 In the basement floor of the FBI headquarters, Lee Donghyuck has 500 square feet of office space. It looks less like an office and more like a storage closet. The shelving units house dozens of archival filing boxes, each labeled by year. Renjun paces between a shelf and Donghyuck’s medium brown desk. So far all Donghyuck has done is confirm his interest in the headline. I have every intention to look into the matter, Renjun. I have a feeling you will too.It’s only been a few minutes since Renjun arrived at the cramped office and he’s already feeling that familiar itch under his skin. The desire to understand the other agent’s thinking. His process, his motivations. His surprisingly steely reserve in the midst of all this ridicule. Renjun stares at Donghyuck head on, studying the way he listens while Renjun speaks. “It just doesn’t seem…substantial enough to warrant an investigation.”“Okay, Renjun, so we disagree.” Donghyuck’s tone is light and bouncy. Suspiciously sensible. “It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last.”“I mean, at least if we had a legitimate source, we could—”“This is the essence of science. You ask an impertinent question, and you’re on your way to a pertinent answer.”“But what makes this case any more credible than the…” Renjun glances at all the flyers, journals, letters, and printouts on Donghyuck’s desk. He picks up a magazine with a reptile wearing diapers on the bottom half of the cover and reads out the large print headline. “The 100-year-old mother with the lizard baby?”“Well,” Donghyuck starts, not missing a beat. “The lizard baby wasn’t born anywhere near Lake Okobogee.”Surely, this must be a made up word. Renjun humors him anyway. “Oko-what?”“Bogee.” Donghyuck stands, getting right against Renjun’s face. "Okobogee,” he repeats. For whatever reason, his body heat makes Renjun’s heart skip.“Is that supposed to mean anything to me?”Donghyuck leans back. For a moment, his eyes soften. He looks to Renjun and lets his amusement show completely on his face. He’s not smiling, but the tension around his mouth makes it feel as though he might any second. Just as Renjun catches the sharp glint in his eyes, Donghyuck turns around. He finds the projector at the corner of his office and wheels it closer to where Renjun stands. “Lake Okobogee. It could mean something. If you know anything about trout fishing.” He pauses here, for suspense. Or maybe just to piss Renjun off. “Or UFO hot spots.”Renjun fights not to roll his eyes. “Define hot spot.”“Four sightings.” He clicks the projector on and places a few transparencies on the projection bed. Renjun looks at the blown up image. It’s a flying saucer hovering over a dense tree line. “In 1967, August. Including one by a National Weather Service plane.” Donghyuck changes the slide. “This is a light-blasted, digitally enhanced enlargement.”“The pilot took that photograph?”“Nope. A girl scout with a portable camera. Four of the nine girls in the troop claim to have seen something. Five, if you include the den mother.”Renjun purses his lips.Donghyuck is undeterred. “The Air Force said it was a weather balloon caught in a windshield. But there wasn’t a weather balloon flying that day within 700 miles.” Knowing him, he likely spent hours going through weather reports from every station in a 1,000 mile radius. Renjun believes his summary of the data is accurate. He just doesn't believe the data itself is all that accurate. Donghyuck shuts off the machine and instantly, the buzzing sound from the power source stops. “Now read me the name of those Girl Scouts from 1967.”Renjun isn’t just humoring him anymore. This is getting interesting, just a bit. In his hands, he finds the image caption on the tabloid. “Lisa Terrel, Bonnie Winston, Doreen McCallister, Darlene Morris… Wait.”Darlene Morris.Renjun knows that name. He looks up and finds Donghyuck pointing at the recent Okobogee headline, the same one he included in his petition. Darlene Morris is the name of the woman claiming her daughter was abducted.“It’s the same Darlene Morris.”   
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - DARLENE MORRIS'S RESIDENCE
 Renjun takes the case.Both agents pull up to a suburban house on a quiet street with a park and a church.When a woman answers the door, Renjun—who Donghyuck claims is easier on the eyes—is first to speak.“Darlene Morris? Hi, I’m Special Agent Huang and this is Agent Lee. We talked with you on the phone last night.”Darlene is a short woman with large eyes. They shift between both men before she finally steps aside. “Please come in.”Inside, the two-story home is relatively quiet. No crying children or barking pets. No music or sounds of the radio coming from anywhere. Darlene leads them into the dining area and begins answering their questions as best as she can. “Well I knew that if I screamed loud and long enough someone would listen, but I never expected the FBI.” She tucks her hair behind her ear and is very obviously nervous. Abruptly, she turns to the living room and gestures to them to follow her. There’s boy sitting at the coffee table with a marker in hand. Renjun hadn’t even noticed him on the way in. “This is Kevin. Kevin, say hi.”Kevin continues drawing without looking up from his stack of coloring pages.Darlene’s nervousness gets worse. She turns back to them. “Sorry about him. Would you like some coffee?”Renjun nods. He starts walking to the kitchen but stops when he notices Donghyuck hesitating by a wall of family pictures. He’s staring solemnly at a picture of Darlene’s missing daughter, Ruby Morris. Renjun can’t help but think of Blevins questioning back in Washington.
In your opinion, has Agent Lee’s personal agenda clouded his professional judgment?
Donghyuck doesn't have a personal agenda. He has trauma. And some unprocessed grief. But Renjun wouldn't say it fully clouds his judgment. It just tends to inform his methodology at times. And causes him to fixate on details that any other person might gloss over. It's unnerving at times, but it never fully interferes with his detective work. At least, that's how Renjun has felt about it. The man stares at the photos for a long time, and Renjun begins to wonder.Once the coffee is ready, the three adults settle around the table.“Some days I can’t even get myself out of bed," Darlene admits, despondent. "And… Kevin has been acting so strange. I don’t know what to do anymore. I-I just want her back again.”Renjun flicks his eyes at his partner briefly before clearing his throat. This part is uncomfortable, but it's necessary. They need motives, sure. But first, they need suspects."Ms. Morris, during the divorce, was there a custody battle?”Darlene’s demeanor changes. “Charles had nothing to do with this.”“How can you be so sure?” He asks delicately.“Because I know what happened. It’s just like it was before.”“Summer of 1967?” Donghyuck cuts in, speaking for the first time since arriving to Darlene’s home. “With the Girl Scout troop?”“H-how do you know about that?”“Your name’s on record at the center for UFO Studies in Evanston, Illinois.” Renjun has to give it to him, the man does his research.“Really?” The battered woman’s eyes widen. There’s hope in them. Renjun crosses his legs, feeling uncertain.“Yeah, a pilot for the National Weather Service made a similar sighting over the same area on the same day,” he says, evenly.Darlene leans forward. “They took her, didn’t they, Mr. Lee?”Renjun watches Donghyuck carefully. There’s a pause as Donghyuck studies the woman. He takes in her eye bags and disheveled hair. He doesn’t say anything for a moment. And then, “You said that Kevin was there the night it happened?”The woman shakes her head. “He didn’t see anything! He was asleep.”“Do you think I might talk to him anyway?” And it’s not that Donghyuck is unconvinced, but rather, he’s determined to err on the side of caution. He’s thorough, he always is, and it’s important for him to appear skeptical, even if sympathetic. Renjun admires him for this. Especially considering Donghyuck’s past.Darlene nods.Donghyuck stands and approaches the living room, where the boy still sits in front of the TV, pen still in hand. Renjun approaches too, but he stays by the hall. “Hey buddy, you mind if I sit down?”Kevin nods.“Your mom tells me you’ve been having nightmares. Wanna tell me about 'em?”Kevin shakes his head. Slowly, he looks up from his paper. “No.”“Alright. What are you writing by the way? Can I see?”Kevin looks at his stack of notes and thinks. Renjun approaches them on soft feet. Eventually, the young boy hands the sheet at the very top of the stack over to Dongyuck. Renjun looks at it.It’s a binary sequence. It fills up every blank space of the letter-sized paper.Kevin points at the TV. Renjun realizes that, although on, nothing is playing. It's just a buzzing static. Kevin keeps pointing at it. “It’s coming from the TV.”   
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE 
 The Sheriff’s office is about as small as Renjun imagined it’d be. His assistant instructed them to wait inside while the man finished up a call down the hall.While they wait, Donghyuck talks on his cell phone. “I don’t know what it is. Maybe a binary sequence of some kind. Could be anything, could be nothing.” He’s already sending Kevin's scribbles to a colleague, it seems. “Listen, I know you’re busy but... I know a friend, who knows a friend who knows a friend who can get you a ticket to a Redskins game…” He trails off, waiting for whoever’s on the other line to offer him what he needs. Renjun is smart enough to know it’s likely a cryptologist of some sort. Someone who can decode the messaging in Kevin’s odd binary scribbling. “You got it! Alright. You know where to find me? Thanks, Danny.”Renjun is about to ask about who this Danny person is—is he contracted by the government?—when the door swings open.The Sioux City Sheriff is a thin man with a wiry mustache. There’s a bounce in his step as he walks into his office and takes a seat behind his desk. “We found no evidence of kidnap,” he says, not bothering to reintroduce himself. They’d already crossed paths down by the holding area. He knows the FBI agents are here to look into a missing person’s case. Every local law enforcement’s biggest pet peeve is having a federal agency encroach on a case. Renjun isn’t all that surprised by the attitude. “No phone call, no ransom note. And since we didn’t turn up a body—”“You assume she ran away,” Donghyuck finishes for him. He crosses his arms. The point of the meeting is to debrief on any investigative work that’s already taken place regarding the disappearance of Ruby Morris. There’s no use in repeating work already done by local law enforcement. But by the looks of it, the case hasn't gotten much attention.The Sheriff shrugs. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time Ruby Morris ran away from home.”“How do you explain what her mother saw?”“She…has a very active imagination. I’ve been listening to those stories since the first grade!” He makes a face of contempt, mistakenly assuming Donghyuck and Renjun will commiserate with him.The thing is, Donghyuck doesn’t laugh. “So basically, you ignored her statement.”“I included it in my report,” The Sheriff defends.“But you didn’t bother checking it out,” Donghyuck guesses, sour tone evident in his words.“We went out to the campsite. We didn’t find anything.” He looks at both agents. “Let me tell you something. Darlene’s little girl was no prom queen. I can’t count the number of times I pulled her out of parked cars or found her puking her guts out by the side of the road. It was just a matter of time before…”“Before what?” Donghyuck asks, daring him to finish the sentence. Renjun gives him a look. Relax. But Donghyuck misses it. He stares down at The Sheriff, not bothering to hide his disapproval.“Before something bad happened to her,” he replies. Now, The Sheriff is visibly angry. Damn it. “And if Darlene needs to make up crazy stories about alien abductions to get past that, fine. But don’t tell me to treat it as truth. I’m not gonna waste my time!”It’s their cue to leave.Renjun interjects, making his eyes wide and sweet as he stands to thank him for his time.Thankfully, Donghyuck doesn’t try to prolong their visit any longer.“I just think it’s a good idea not to antagonize local law enforcement,” Renjun quips, pace brisk as they exit the Sheriff’s office.“Who? Me?” Donghyuck acts dumb, keeping up with light steps. “I’m Mr. Congeniality!”Renjun ignores this. “You never know—we might need his help one of these days.”Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “I’ll send him a bundt cake.”And that’s the thing with Agent Lee. He’s got a quip for everything. It’s annoying, not only because it makes his already thick skull seem thicker, but also because Renjun is forced to confront the fact that, on occasion, he’s…well, funny. Renjun frowns. But before he can scold him again he notices a small piece of paper tucked under their rental car’s windshield.It’s a handwritten note. 
I’M ACROSS THE STREET FOLLOW ME 
 In sync, both agents turn to the other side of the street. There’s a library. A young, blonde woman in a black tank top stands just outside the entrance. When they turn to her, she immediately rushes inside the building. With just one glance at each other, both Donghyuck and Renjun turn to the street, jaywalking at a brisk pace to close the distance between themselves and the girl.By the time they’re inside, she’s out of sight. But Donghyuck and Renjun are FBI agents. They understand the mechanics of a chase. They know it doesn’t always involve running, or guns, or flipping cars. They slow down and begin to walk beside each other, each aiming at 10 and 2. Renjun looks out for blonde hair and black fabric. The rows of book stacks are relatively empty but they still keep quiet as they search each aisle.It takes seven minutes to find her. When they approach her, she scurries to hide in the next row of books. Through a gap on the shelf, she speaks. “You’re looking for Ruby, right?”“That’s right,” Renjun answers, keeping his voice low, but firm. “Who are you?”“Doesn’t matter.”“Are you a friend of Ruby’s?”“Ruby didn’t have friends. She just had people she liked to hang with.” She sounds bitter. Hurt.“And she liked to hang out with you?” Renjun asks gently.There’s a pause. And then, “I guess we had some times together.”“Like the night she disappeared?” Donghyuck cuts in.“It was Greg,” she explains. “She was supposed to see him that night.”“Who’s Greg?”“Her boyfriend. Greg Randall. They were supposed to meet at the lake. They had stuff to talk about.”“What kind of stuff?”The girl takes a breath. A look comes over her face. Resolve. Courage. Maybe tiredness. She squares her shoulders. “Greg got Ruby pregnant. Well, I guess, she got herself pregnant.”Renjun turns to Donghyuck and they share a meaningful look. This is helpful. It could point to a motive. A very common one. Renjun speaks now. “Do you know what they were planning to do about it?” “They were gonna leave town. At least that’s what Ruby told me.” So it is a runaway case. This girl, she must have been close to the victim, close enough to be confided in. This is a great lead.“You know Greg from school?”The girl scoffs. “Greg? School? All he ever did since we met him was pour beer at the Pennsylvania Pub.”The moment she says it, a child drops a pile of books to the floor. At the crashing sound, both agents turn to look at the noise. The child’s mother is immediately at his side, helping him recover his picture books. When they look back at their confidante—she’s gone.Dammit. Silently, they check the aisle she was standing in. But it’s empty. The girl left.Donghyuck looks at Renjun. He’s thinking the same thing he is. They have a lead now, a possible suspect. There’s no time to waste.No words are necessary. With the type of efficiency learned on the job, both men exit the library in silence, their next destination already set.   
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - PENNSYLVANIA HOTEL AND PUB
 This early in the evening, Renjun is surprised at the size of the crowd inside the pub.The main floor is littered with pool tables and standing-height table tops. Patrons huddle in groups, and a good majority of them wear studded leather jackets and biker jeans. It’s a popular spot for motorcycle clubs, Renjun guesses. He’s seen them in Illinois and Vermont. The bars are friendly to gangs, with owners who partake in gang activity themselves.Donghyuck doesn’t waste any time. Through the haze of smoke and loud conversation, he beelines to the bar counter and finds an opening. “Excuse me. Do you know where we could find Greg Randall?”The bartender can’t be older than thirty. He’s red-cheeked with a strong muscle-heavy build. He looks bored. “Who’s asking?”Donghyuck removes his FBI badge from his suit jacket pocket and brings it up to the young man's face.Immediately, the guy whistles. “What kinda trouble has he got himself into now?”“Actually, we were hoping you could tell us.”Considering two federal agents just pulled up to his bar, the guy keeps his cool pretty well. Multi-tasking, he picks up several clean glasses and lines them up on the counter behind the bar. “He called in sick about two weeks ago,” he says, wiping some used up lime slices off the edge of the counter. “I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”“Any ideas where he might have gone?” Donghyuck is cool, too. He doesn’t give off the impression that he’s desperate for information. It’s a good approach to detective work.“No but if you find him, tell him he’s fired.”Renjun takes out a card from his pants. “This is the hotel we’ll be staying at. If you hear of anything, call us.”The bartender looks at him for the first time. For a brief moment, he ogles Renjun’s eyes, dips his gaze to his mouth. Renjun is used to this type of attention. He stills. The moment passes and the man takes the card. He’s wearing a sleeveless denim jacket with studs along the neck. He gives the card a long look, reading the name slowly—Fairfield Hotel Inn & Suites—and Renjun sees the UFO tattoo on his arm at around the same time that Donghyuck does. “Hey, that’s a nice tattoo,” Donghyuck says, voice more animated now. “What is that?”The bartender bristles. “What’s it look like?”“A flying saucer.” Donghyuck answers, feigning innocence. “You don’t really believe in that stuff, do you?”Renjun can’t help it, he leans in, intrigued. Not so much by what bologna the bartender will answer with but by Donghyuck’s sharp gaze and curious style of interrogation. His voice is bland, unassuming. His interest comes off harmless and spontaneous. Renjun looks to the larger man and holds his breath.“I take it you don’t?”“No, I think it’s all just a bunch of crazy people howling at the moon,” he says, sounding like the agents who make fun of him back in Washington.The tattooed man narrows his eyes. “So, you haven’t been out to Lake Okobogee, have you?”Donghyuck’s excitement is palpable. At least to Renjun it is. Beside him, he tilts his head. “No, I haven’t, why?”“You should ride with us sometime. You might see some things that’ll change your mind.” And then, the man turns his head and lifts his long hair to reveal his ear. Or rather, the mutilated cartilage that remains where an ear would be. It’s almost entirely gone. Disconfigured. Renjun’s heart begins to race. It doesn’t look like an animal bite. Or a bullet wound. “Might get a killer sunburn in the middle of the night.”By now, Donghyuck can’t hide the look of awe that’s come over him. Which makes sense. This is the exact lake he wants to investigate. The lake from the news clippings from all those years ago. The bartender, sensing his intrigue, laughs. Cool right?, he seems to say, wriggling his eyebrows.It isn’t cool.Not to Renjun at least.It’s bizarre. And unfortunate. Maybe something involving exposure to radiation. Maybe. Donghyuck looks at him, wanting to see his reaction. Do you believe me now? His eyes say.Renjun swallows. He doesn’t.Not yet.   
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - FAIRFIELD HOTEL INN & SUITES
 The inn they’re staying at has ugly rooms.Renjun is used to it. When he travels for work, the Bureau prefers putting them in low-profile hotels. It can be sketchy sometimes but Renjun is trained in self-defense and, although he prefers not to use them, has above average skills in combat. And a gun.He looks at the PPK gun now. It sits next to an alarm clock on the nightstand. It’s 5:30 in the morning. Renjun returns his attention to the window by the small armchair across the room, where the noise that woke him up is coming from. He watches the shadows of two men approach their motel. They’re talking loudly, upset. In a second, the gun is in his hands, pointed at the hotel door. In two seconds, the men begin to jiggle the lock, not bothering to snuff out the sounds of them breaking in.In five seconds, a gun goes off and the door knob spews off the door. Before Renjun shoots, the guy in the front points a flashlight into Renjun’s eyes and blurts, “Where’s Lee?”   “Where did you get the document?”They’re in Donghyuck’s hotel room now. Two doors down the hall from Renjun’s. Donghyuck is in his sleep clothes. Which is actually just some boxers. He’s shirtless, sitting on his bed with his feet planted on the floor. “If you explain what you’re talking about," Donghyuck replies, far too relaxed. "Maybe I can help you out?”The officer motions to his partner, a taller guy who stands out of the way, by a wall. At the signal, the tall man hands Donghyuck one page of the binary scribble produced by Darlene’s boy. “This is a document?” Donghyuck looks up at both men, unimpressed. Renjun thinks his acting is pretty damn decent. “This just looks like a bunch of ones and zeroes to me.”The officer sees through him. “Tell me where you got it.”But Donghyuck is an FBI agent, he can play this game too. “Tell me what it is.”“Keep playing games Lee, and I’ll haul your ass up in front of the D-6. Maybe you can explain to them what you’re doing obstructing justice.”Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “It’s your call, man.” He stands, astoundingly comfortable in his half-naked state. “Unless they tell me otherwise, I’m not accountable to anybody outside my subcommittee.” He grabs a shirt from his discarded luggage. “I don’t care if it’s the NSA or the Vatican police.”The two NSA officers share a look. With a sigh, the shorter takes the scribble from Donghyuck and says, “It’s a defense satellite transmission.”Donghyuck gapes. Neither he or Renjun knew this. “You’re kidding.”“Just a fragment, but highly classified. We need to know where it came from.”Renjun braces himself. Buttoning his shirt, Donghyuck grins. “I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.”“That’s it, Lee, you just bought yourself a one-way back to Washington.”Just then, the tall man’s phone rings. He answers, nods twice, and then hangs up. He turns to his shorter partner. “We got it!”Before Renjun can begin to assume what information got relayed on the other end of the call, both men leave. They don’t bother with a goodbye.Donghyuck immediately turns to Renjun. “You shouldn’t have told them,” he says, less angry and more disappointed. He’s referring to the conversation Renjun had had with the NSA guys once he’d put his gun down and realized they also work for a federal agency. Renjun had debriefed them on their investigation, had told them they’re investigating a missing persons case, and that Donghyuck’s room was down the hall. “They have no jurisdiction over this case.”But what was Renjun supposed to do? Lie to another federal agency?“Lee, they’re NSA.” Before their eyes, their small town case is growing exponentially. Even if it’s just a runaway situation, there are too many parties involved now. They must tread carefully. “They think the boy might be a threat to national security,” Renjun scolds.“Oh, please. How can an eight-year-old boy who can barely multiply be a threat to national security? And people call me paranoid…”It makes very little sense. Renjun can recognize that. But across from him, Donghyuck doesn’t seem that baffled. He looks back at him straight on. And for a moment, Renjun is struck once again by his steadfastness. The firm hold he has on his beliefs, on his willingness to see things from all sides, even the absurd ones. It’s striking, yes. But right now, with a threat to national security on the table, and a small boy’s future at stake, Renjun can’t help but find it aggravating. “Well how did Kevin obtain top-secret information? Where do you think he got it from?”For once, Donghyuck doesn’t give Renjun his time. He gives him a meaningful look as if to say, You already know what I think.Which—What would that be exactly?Aliens?It can’t be.Renjun frowns, and he feels the pull of it all the way in his forehead.With a huff, Donghyuck takes his wallet and leaves.  They make it to Darlene’s house too late.By the time they arrive, there’s caution tape running along the entire block. There’s a row of police cars parallel parked along the street and when Donghyuck and Renjun make it through the throng of reporters and curious passersby, they watch as the officers tug Darlene and her eight year-old son into separate all-black, federal vehicles.“Mom!” The boy cries, once he realizes his mom is not getting in the car with him.“It’ll be alright, baby.” But she looks frightened as she cowers under the strong grip of the officer holding her. Renjun briefly catches her eyes and face change. She's betrayed. Beside him, Donghyuck is visibly upset. His lips press together and his jawline appears sharp in the morning light. Renjun knows what he’s going to say before he says it.“Let’s go in.”Renjun is already getting his badge out. He nods.   
SIOUX CITY, IOWA – DARLENE MORRIS'S RESIDENCE
 Inside, it looks like a tornado tore through every room inside the two-story household.The NSA guys had clearly done a thorough search, collecting evidence despite not having any lead on what to look out for.“You guys did really delicate work,” Donghyuck drawls. The agency men that remain make a point of ignoring his sarcastic comment.“Let’s get this to cryptography,” one of them commands. It’s the same man from earlier that morning. He hands one of his colleagues a notebook, likely filled with more of Kevin’s scribbles. “Think we got what we needed. Thank you.” He has the audacity to sound smug.In a way, Renjun understands him. It’s his job to be thorough, to be unflinching, and to hold every suspect accountable, regardless of age.It’s just that. There’s a lot of strangeness surrounding this case. What are the odds that the national security breach would happen inside a household already dealing with a missing (possibly runaway) daughter?And what really is going on at Lake Okeebogee?The NSA team file out of the house quickly. They leave behind an eerie silence and an appalling mess. Renjun looks at Donghyuck.The man stands by the window. Pensive. Like this, with the serious set to his eyebrows as he gets lost in thought, Renjun can admit he’s handsome. Sort of.“What is it?” Renjun calls out, suddenly wanting to fill the silence and end his own questionable line of thought.Donghyuck looks at him and then turns to the window. He juts his chin to direct Renjun’s attention. “I’m not sure. Come look at this.”When Renjun sees what he’s looking at, his heart falls. It’s a camper van, parked outside the Morris residence. The entire roof is burned to a crisp, blistered and charred as if struck by a massive beam of heat. A beam coming from the sky.  Donghyuck climbs to the roof of the trailer with a ladder he steals from Darlene’s shed.Renjun watches him from inside the house, positioned at the window in case anyone approaches. He watches with bated breath as his partner collects a sample of the soot. His movements are slower than usual and somehow, Renjun can see that he’s stuck in his head. Thinking. Maybe, even, remembering. Still on the ladder, Donghyuck brings the burned metal and soot to his nose.Renjun thinks of that other missing persons case, the one Donghyuck filed for his sister all those years ago. Had it smelled the same, the night she disappeared?He’s curious about it. But he knows better than to ask.   
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - FBI REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS
 “We scanned all 77 pages through the mainframe in Washington.”Renjun leans in, arms crossed. “And none of the information is actionable?” He asks, reiterating what the analyst said earlier.“Other than the satellite transmission, nothing can be construed in any way as a national security risk.” From his spot next to him, Donghyuck sighs in relief. “As far as I know, the boy’s being released this afternoon.”It’s all almost too good to be true. “So it was just a random set of ones and zeroes?” Renjun asks.The analyst shakes her head, perking up. “On the contrary, there was nothing random about it.”“I don’t understand.”The young woman is clearly excited by Renjun’s confusion. She takes a large breath, eager to explain her area of expertise to both agents. “All information can be rendered digitally in a series of ones and zeroes,” she starts. She walks over to her computer and begins pressing on a few keys. The desktop screen blinks to life. She inputs a passcode and taps the ‘Enter’ key with a sharp nail. “When we downloaded the data, we found an amazing range of… Well, see for yourself.”Renjun and Donghyuck lean in as the coding sequence transforms into a rendering of da Vinci’s Universal Man. It appears that one of Kevin's binary codes translates into a painting. She clicks on another tab and hits the render button again. “A DNA double helix.” This next code translates into a scientifcally accurate biological model. She opens a third tab, and Renjun feels goosebumps erupt over his arms when he the third coding sequence renders a piece of music. The audio bleeds out of the computer speakers and Renjun immediately turns to Donghyuck. He’s just as shocked as he is. “That’s from the Bratenburg concertos,” he breathes out, disbelief thinning out his voice.Donghyuck looks back at him, in awe.“They’re just fragments,” the analyst explains. “A few notes here, a few notes there. Some lines from the Quran, from a Shakespeareean sonnet…”“Almost like someone switching channels, huh.” Donghyuck’s eyes have changed. He’s thinking about something, already coming to a new conclusion. It’s fascinating.The analyst tears her gaze from her computer screen and tilts her head. “I didn’t think of it that way.” She beams at them, clearly in love with her job. “I guess so, yeah.”   
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - NSA REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS
 Renjun and Donghyuck come to an easy decision after the coding discovery.They have to speak with Darlene Morris again.They wait for her in the lobby and, just like the FBI analyst had said, they release her and her son from interrogation later that day.When the woman sees Donghyuck, she frowns. Before Donghyuck can speak, she snarls. “I have nothing to say to you.”But Donghyuck has been dealing with people for years. He knows their emotions, and in the case of Darlene, he’s very sympathetic to them. He runs after her. “Mrs. Morris, please give me a minute to explain.”Renjun trails behind him and watches Kevin’s tired face as he stares at the adults. It takes a moment for Darlene to make up her mind. But eventually, she has her boy stand to the side as she turns to look at the agents. In a very obvious way, she’s furious.“I thought you two came by to help us.”“Mrs. Morris, this has all been a terrible mistake.” It’s Renjun who speaks first. “And I assure you that the government will pay for all repairs and damages.”But Darlene’s fury doesn’t go away. “I don’t want your money. I want my daughter back.” She flicks her gaze between Renjun and Donghyuck. “And I want you to leave us alone!”Dongyuck can’t stay quiet any more. “But your son has seen something.”“You stay away from me,” Darlene answers. She’s no longer emotional about it. At least, not outwardly. Her voice is low and threatening. “And stay away from my child.”   
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - HIGHWAY US 75
 Renjun really only has himself to blame.This is his fourth case with Donghyuck. He should know what he's gotten himself into.Most agents understand a dead-end when they approach one. They know when to retreat. When to go home and begin typing up a closing report. When to schedule a closing debrief meeting with subcommittee heads to finalize the end of an investigation—successful or not.But Donghyuck is not most agents.He’s behind the wheel of their rental car as they pass their exit.“Where are we going? That was our exit.”Donghyuck bites his lip. He makes no effort to merge right and take the following exit. “The boy is the key, Huang. I know it.”“The key to what?” Renjun tries not to snap at him. But it's hard.“To finding Ruby.”It makes no sense. The boy’s ability to create a code for all those images and sounds is beyond precocious. It’s nonsensical. Possibly, unexplainable. There could be more. Maybe Donghyuck’s method is, in fact, appropriate for a case like this. For an X-file. As strange as it is, Renjun understands why Donghyuck would want to connect Kevin's odd codes to Ruby's disappearance. But thinking that Donghyuck's knowledge of the supernatural could be applicable now is one thing. Accepting it is another. Renjun turns to look out the window.There must be another explanation. And he’s mad at himself, because he can’t think of it.Donghyuck senses his agitation and does his best to explain himself. “Just think about it. This is a boy who is receiving all kinds of digitized data from a television screen.” “The analyst said it was a statistical anomaly,” Renjun counters.Donghyuck gives him a look. He’s not pedantic, and he’s not condescending either. He’s worried. For the boy, for Ruby.“Okay," Renjun concedes. "I admit it’s not much of an explanation, but—”“I think that Kevin is a conduit of some kind.”“A conduit.”“A link,” he explains, very earnest and a little vulnerable. “Or a connection to whoever or…whatever took Ruby that night.”“But how?” Renjun can hear the high volume of his own voice. But he can’t help it. This is outrageous. But like Donghyuck, he’s worried too. And he does want to solve this damn case.Donghyuck pauses. He looks at Renjun, searches his face. “If there was an abduction, it’s likely that Kevin was touched in some way.”It hits Renjun, then. And it’s not because of what donghyuck says, but how he says it. Donghyuck was touched too. Just like Kevin. Renjun’s stomach churns. “Donghyuck, I know what you’re thinking,” he says slowly. “I know why this is important to you. I know.”His words come out uncharacteristically gentle. Almost maternal. Donghyuck peels his eyes from the road to glance at him.“But there is no evidence indicating an abduction.” Renjun tries to imbue his words with firmness.Donghyuck nods. He seems to agree with him. For a moment, Renjun feels relief. And then he opens his mouth and the relief is gone. “That’s why we’re going to Lake Okobogee.   
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - LAKE OKOBOGEE, CAMPSITE 53
 Somehow, Donghyuck already has the police photos on him.He refers to them as he leads the way to the last spot where Ruby was sited. The campsite is by a lake, at the edge of a forest wall.It’s a pretty classic location for a murder, especially for a teenage girl of her size. The perp could have sought cover in the forest. It’s unfortunately common. Renjun tells Donghyuck as much.“Have you noticed the tree line?”He points to some enormous pine trees at a distance. Renjun squints and notices the top fifty or so feet of each tree is singed off. Burned to a crisp.“Heat damage,” Donghyuck tells him.“Or an electrical storm.” Renjun shrugs, feeling haughty. He feels it’s now his mission to help Donghyuck see reason. “Besides which, there’s nothing to connect it to the night of Ruby’s disappearance.” Renjun turns to him and finds him crouching down with his fingers in some dirt.“That’s true,” he replies, pragmatic. Renjun watches as he pulls an oddly-shaped rock from the lake shore. It’s shiny. “Do you think a lightning strike could have caused this?” He doesn’t ask because he wants to know what Renjun thinks. He already knows what Renjun thinks. Because the only answer is a simple, no. It’s scientifically impossible. He walks over to Renjun, strides wide as he gains momentum. “Do you have any idea at what temperature sand solidifies into glass?”He offers the piece of glass to Renjun. It’s big. The organic shape is lightweight. Under the daylight it sparkles, almost like something from another world.“250,000 degrees fahrenheit,” Donghyuck answers himself. “Something was out here, Huang. Something hot enough to turn sand into glass.” He points at the burnt pine. “To singe those trees and to blister the roof of that camper trailer.”He’s no longer trying to convince him. The facts speak for themselves. Mostly.As Renjun watches Donghyuck study the sand bed for more clues, Renjun grapples with that feeling he’s growing more comfortable with, the more he works with Agent Lee. Wonder, curiosity. Fear.Fear is a common feeling in their line of work. They put themselves in danger every time they agree to a case. Such is the nature of their job. But over the years, especially when Renjun switched to academia and research, he forgot what it felt like to feel true curiosity. To feel as though he were on the brink of pure, transgressive discovery.It’s probably why what happens next feels so bittersweet.Donghyuck and Renjun find a body.In less than half an hour, The Sheriff arrives with his team of techs. They ID the man.It’s Greg Randall. Renjun looks at Donghyuck. “That was Ruby’s boyfriend.”The Sheriff, hearing this, scoffs. “Ruby had a lot of boyfriends.”Donghyuck is slow to react. He’s assimilating it. By now, both agents have discarded the possibility of supernatural intervention. With the discovery of the body, the case begins to model a vast majority of other homicides. And when Donghyuck discovers a handwritten note in the victim’s wallet—one that resembles the scrawl-like penmanship of the blonde girl in the library, the one who claimed Ruby was pregnant—it all starts to become clear. 
DR. JACK FOWLER

AUG. 7 @ 2:30, BE THERE
 The note is an appointment reminder.   
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - POLICE STATION, INTERROGATION ROOM 
 The handwriting is an exact match.Dr. Jack Fowler is a gynecologist.And once they’re able to speak to his medical office, the agents find out that Ruby wasn’t pregnant at the time of her disappearance. The appointment was made for her classmate, the blonde girl from the library. Her name is Tessa Seers.In the interrogation room, Renjun speaks first.“We know you lied to us the other day at the library. We know that you had the appointment with Dr. Fowler. Not Ruby.”Across the table, Tessa’s blonde hair is blown out in big waves. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days. “You don’t know nothing, do you?”Renjun doesn’t want this to go longer than it has to. He looks at her, sympathetic. “We can prove it, Tessa. And we can prove that Greg was the father.”Tessa doesn’t seem as scared as she should be. “So what if he was the father?”So far, Donghyuck has stayed silent. He stands to the side, just outside the overhead light’s soft halo of brightness. Renjun lowers his voice. “This is very serious, Tessa. Do you understand how serious this is? You’ve waived the right to an attorney, so if you lie to us here today, you could be charged with perjury.”Tessa doesn’t reply right away. Renjun has done this enough times to know a confession is imminent. For some reason, though, he doesn’t feel the usual bout of adrenaline that comes with getting so close to solving a murder.Eventually, the girl lowers head. “He promised we’d be in L.A. by Christmas. He had a friend there. And I’d never seen the ocean.”“You said that he and Ruby were seeing each other. You said that they were planning to meet at the lake. Is that true?”Tessa looks up, defensive again. “I was nowhere near the lake that night, okay?”As if summoned, Donghyuck walks into the light, face cast in sharp shadows as he bears down on her. “You knew they were meeting,” he accuses, and his intimidating interrogation tone makes him seem like a completely different person. “So you sat there and waited for them. You were angry,” he says, eyes wide and scary. “And you were jealous.”“I wasn’t—”“You sat there and waited and when they showed, you killed him first. Isn’t that how it went?”It’s a good tactic. One that works on a lot of suspects. If the play-by-play is right, they’ll snap. If it’s wrong, they’ll snap, too. Either way, they snitch.“No!” Tessa is finally snapping.“You snuck up behind him and you shot him in the back of his head.” Donghyuck slams his fist on the table. “Bam!” He walks over to stand directly next to where Tessa sits. “And then you killed Ruby.” Reaching out an arm, Donghyuck slams the table again. “Bam!”Tessa jumps.“What was she doing before she died?” Donghyuck asks because they still need to dig for more information if they hope to find the body. “Was she pleading for her life? Was she running away?”“I didn’t kill her.”“Where is she buried, Tessa!”“I don’t know!”“You don’t know where you buried her, Tessa?”“I didn’t kill her!”Renjun isn’t breathing. Donghyuck does a great job of acting haughty and accusatory. He’s not budging. He can’t, if he wants to weasel out more information. They can't fully close the case until they find a body.Tessa’s eyes are wild as she follows Donghyuck’s angry pacing. “Ruby wasn’t even there that night!” She cries out.Well there goes one confession.Donghyuck crouches down beside her. Whispering, he asks, “Well how would you know that, if you weren’t there?”Tessa says nothing. She knows now that she’s lost.Renjun breathes out.The interrogation is over.  The halls of the police station are loud and frenetic. There’s a lot of movement as officers and assistants move from one floor to another, bobbing in and out of offices and wheeling carts with paperwork and filing bins from one area to another.Renjun stares at his own leather oxfords as they make their way down to the first floor. Internally, Renjun is at war with himself. The case will close soon, and if the lake search fails, the missing persons aspect of the case will be classified as such indefinitely. It’s not a resolution, but it will be the end.Donghyuck just spent a full minute ranting about why that’s wrong.“Lee, you’re just not seeing the whole picture here.”“Which is what, Huang? Say it out loud.”“In all likelihood, Ruby is dead.”Donghyuck shakes his head; slowly, the way one does when disappointment is greater than actually irritation. “Is that your conclusion, or the conclusion of the Sioux City Sheriff’s Department?”He throws out The Sheriff’s department as if it’s a bad word. As if there’s bad play at work. But, although the man has a clear disdain for the trouble some of the town’s kids bring to the area, he isn’t doing any aspect of his job wrong. Renjun needs Donghyuck to see that.“They’re searching the national park and a professional dive team is coming in from Des Moines to drag the lake,” Renjun reminds him. Maybe it’s fatigue. Maybe it’s the fact that, for whatever reason, Renjun cares enough about Donghyuck to want to change his mind, to help him see reason. Not to belittle him, but to help him let go and save him from all that pent-up frustration. This is not his job as his partner, but Renjun can’t help it.“They’re wasting their time!”Renjun’s emotions are confusing. He’s angry, too. But it's for a different reason. “So you believe Tessa Seers? You believe she never saw Ruby by the time she arrived at the lake?”“Why not? What if Ruby never even showed up that night?”Renjun shakes his head. “Tessa lied to us at the library. She lied to us about her pregnancy. What makes you think she wouldn’t lie to us about killing Ruby?”Studying his face, Renjun sees that unmovable glint in Donghyuck’s eyes. His voice dangerously steady, he answers: “Because something was out there in those woods.”Maybe the Bureau guys were right. Agent Lee is Spooky Lee. He’s crazy. He’s brilliant, yes. But he’s crazy. Renjun tilts his chin up. He’s no stranger to delusion. He’s spent his fare share of years working and studyiing with problematic men.Barely containing his anger, Renjun lays out the facts of the case. “We have a suspect in custody. We have a confession to one murder, and we have a statement which speaks to an intent to commit another murder. It’s over, Lee! It’s time to go home and turn this over to local law enforcement.”Donghyuck’s eyes are livid. “I can’t do that.” He turns around and pushes the front doors to the precinct wide open.“Where are you going!” Without thinking, Renjun runs after him.“To talk to the boy.”He can’t be serious. “Darlene won’t even let you in through the door! Are you crazy?”But Donghyuck doesn’t bother looking back at him as he strides forward, so determined it makes him look like a man with no mind, only impulses—a single impulse. It makes Renjun’s stomach churn. Donghyuck’s determination could get like this sometimes. Manic. But Renjun doesn’t want to laugh or jeer at him, like the guys at the Bureau do. Like Renjun might have, before they started working together.“Donghyuck, stop!” He yells, with surprising emotion. In front of him, Donghyuck finally halts to a stop. “Stop running after your sister.” These are the words that have been looming over their heads from the very moment Donghyuck filed that initial petition. Donghyuck turns around. Renjun’s heart stills. “This won’t bring her back.” He walks towards him. Exhaustion makes him too honest. Renjun almost considers reaching out for his hand.But Donghyuck’s eyes are cold, mouth set in a hard line. “Come with me or don’t come with me. But until they find a body, I’m not giving up on that girl.”For weeks, Renjun will look back on this moment and remember it as the day he felt a new emotion for the first time in years, maybe a decade. It's warm and titillating and it messes with Renjun's head.Donghyuck’s resolve is partly foolish, partly noble.Without realizing, Renjun’s feet are moving. He’s following him.Donghyuck’s resolve is addicting.Together, for the third time that week, Donghyuck and Renjun make their way to Darlene Morris’s house.  
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - DARLENE MORRIS'S RESIDENCE
 The house is cleaned.But it’s abandoned. Both agents take their time inspecting the home. There’s a kettle on the stove, the stove is on. They must have just left.Neither of them speak out loud. The heated argument is still too fresh. But Donghyuck doesn’t seem upset. He’s too busy pouring over the binary code scribbles he brought with him in his suitcase. He lays them out in the living room in one massive grid formation. Renjun watches as he studies each document. Donghyuck can’t read binary code. No one can, without a machine processor.But Renjun lets him. It’s almost sunset now. And the lights in the house don’t work. A dark feeling begins to creep into his stomach the more Renjun watches him.“I’m going to check upstairs,” he tells him, wanting to give him privacy.Donghyuck nods, but says nothing.Renjun isn’t hoping to find anything. He goes away to feel productive, to give Donghyuck time to process his resurfaced grief. So the shock he feels when he peers down at Donghyuck from the second floor landing is violently visceral.From his high vantage point, Renjun discovers that all the papers laid out in order come together to make the face of a young woman, smiling. It’s a portrait made of at least one hundred sheets of paper.“Lee! Lee come up here!”Two steps at a time, Donghyuck climbs the stairs. Renjun soaks in his reaction once he sees the figure. His eyes are ablaze.“It’s Ruby.”  
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - LAKE OKOBOGEE NATIONAL PARK
 They don’t have a plan.Which should be the first red flag.As rational as Renjun knows himself to be, he’s not exactly concerned about it.Donghyuck drove them to the campgrounds and by the time they arrived, the sun had already set.They’re quiet as they search the parking lot. Renjun thinks of the conversation they’d just had in the car.
“When I was a kid, I’d close my eyes before I walked into my room because I thought that one day, when I opened them my sister would be there. Just lying in bed, like nothing ever happened. You know I’m still walking into that room…every day of my life.”
Renjun doesn’t know what it’s like to have a sister disappear. He’s seen that grief, that particular type of unresolved loss, on other people because of his line of work. But he’s never felt it firsthand.There’s something infectious about Donghyuck’s attitude. He’s not an emotional person, is very much just as logical and reason-oriented as Renjun. But unlike Renjun, he has something driving him forward, eternally whetting his appetite for a more grounded sense of truth.Renjun has never known what it’s like to have a sister disappear. But working beside Donghyuck, he thinks he might start to understand it. If he had to describe it, he'd say it was a painful itch at his side.Donghyuck finds Darlene’s camper first, but it’s Renjun who cries out, who pries the door open and locates two flashlights for them.It’s Renjun who finds the nearest trail, the one that Darlene and Kevin probably took. Renjun leads the way. Renjun hears Darlene’s cry for help first. Renjun finds her, panting on the ground. She’d clearly been running.“Darlene!”“I saw it!” The woman cries. “It’s here. I saw it.”“Where’s Kevin?” Donghyuck asks.“I couldn’t keep up with him. He-he went that way.”Renjun turns to his partner. They both know what they have to do. “You go. I’ll stay with Darlene.”Donghyuck doesn’t need to be told twice. He runs on, yelling for Kevin as he veers off the trail.Renjun helps Darlene to her feet. “We wanted to see the lake again. To get out of the house. It was K-Kevin’s idea.”Renjun offers his shoulder and hums to show he’s listening. Darlene is experiencing shock. She hasn’t described what ‘it’ was. Renjun doesn’t ask. They walk in the direction Kevin and Donghyuck went, albeit much slower. It takes twenty minutes to get to a clearing.Renjun sees her before Darlene does.But it’s Darlene who screams.Immediately, Renjun checks for a pulse. “She’s alive,” he rushes out, to get Darlene to stop screaming.“My Ruby! My Ruby!”Resuscitation is a simple procedure. There’s only one right way to do it. Renjun’s medical background makes him confident. He begins to pump her chest. Ruby, face a pallid shade of blue, doesn’t move. Darlene cries out, loud and wanton. My Ruby! My Ruby! And it echoes through the trees. She’s not waking up.Donghyuck shows up with Kevin clinging to his legs, both of their faces ashen.“She’s unconscious,” Renjun informs him.The agents divide tasks. Donghyuck calls for help. Renjun checks for a pulse again and offers his suit jacket to a trembling Kevin. “She’s alive,” he tells Darlene. This time, he can’t hide the bewilderment in his voice.How is Ruby alive?And what exactly had Darlene seen?  
SIOUX CITY, IOWA - MERCY ONE HOSPITAL
 As a doctor, Renjun combs through the medical report with relative ease. It doesn’t really answer any of their questions.But this case, this entire bewildering experience, is an X-file, after all. Renjun looks up at the numbers on the door. Ruby’s room is 32B. He turns to Donghyuck. “Nurse says she’s been awake for almost an hour.”Donghyuck gestures at the report in Renjun's hand. “Any idea what caused the coma?”“There’s no sign of head trauma.” As they walk, Renjun keeps his nose in the report. Scanning it once more. “No narcotic traces, or electrolyte abnormalities.” He turns a page. “Except, well, her white-blood cells were sky high.”Donghyuck is wearing a different suit today. They’ve been in Sioux City for almost three weeks. This one is more brown than the others. Or maybe it’s his tie. Donghyuck leans in and Renjun goes a bit cross-eyed. Is that cologne? “By any chance, was there an attendant reduction in the lymphocyte population? Or a release of glucocorticoids?”Right, the report. Renjun turns to the second page of the chart that shows Ruby’s blood results. Under the chart, there are two paragraphs of text. Renjun skims them quickly. Huh. “Yes to both.” He glances at his partner. Donghyuck isn’t a doctor. Only Renjun is. “How did you know that?”“They’re symptoms of prolonged weightlessness,” he says, evenly. “Shuttle astronauts have reported similar imbalances.”Weightlessness.It’s no use fighting. The data is in Renjun’s hand, in the medical report put together by board certified doctors. Instead of looking smug, Donghyuck looks torn. He’s closer than he’s ever been to proof that aliens exist. But contrary to what others might think of him, he’s not leaping for joy at the near discovery. He’s pensive. Introverted. They arrive to Ruby’s door and Renjun has to fight the urge to hold him. It’s going to be okay. I’m sorry about your loss. I know it’s been twenty-one years. But I’m sorry.Donghyuck looks at him, bores his eyes into him. It’s as if he could read Renjun’s thoughts. He looks younger like this, sad. Renjun doesn't blink. I'm sorry.And then, the moment passes. Donghyuck nods. Wordlessly, Renjun knocks on the door.Kevin opens it. Together Agent Lee and Agent Huang walk into hospital room 32B.Face pale, and lips dry, Ruby Morris stares back at them. Wide awake.  The conversation lasts less than five minutes.
They told me not to say what I saw.
She refused to say anything else. And she was in no state to hold conversation.And then her mother came in and shooed both agents out of the room. The case is closed. Thank you for helping me find her. But please, I never want to see either of you again.Renjun must admit, he’s devastated.  
WASHINGTON D.C. - AGENT HUANG'S BEDROOM
 The process of closing a case is tedious because of all the paperwork.Blevins assigns Renjun to manage the report because he trusts him more. And so, Renjun pours over his notes from the twenty-day assignment and begins transcribing them at his home desk.It’s the first time in his career—as a doctor, as a professor's assistant, as a special agent—that he struggles to write. There’s templates to follow, so the process is easy. But he’s distracted.On the third night back in Washington, Renjun finds himself replaying that final conversation they’d had with Darlene.
Just outside of Ruby’s hospital room, Donghyuck had turned to Darlene and spoken.

“She should be encouraged to tell her story, not to keep it inside. It’s important that you let her.”

He wasn’t talking to her as an FBI agent. But as a lay man. A guy who’s also had his own encounter with the supernatural. He and Darlene were not that different.

“Important to who? I finally have my daughter back. I don’t want anymore trouble. Besides, she can hardly remember anything.”
“She will one day, one way or another. Even if it’s only in dreams. And when she does, she’s going to want to talk about it. She’s going to need to talk about it.”
Darlene gives him a look. “Like I did? Listen to me. All of my life, I’ve been ridiculed for speaking my mind.”
“But it was the truth, Darlene.”“The truth has caused me nothing but heartache.” In her voice, pain was obvious. But she’s tough. She looks at Donghyuck head on. “I don’t want the same for her.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way for Ruby.”

For a moment, Renjun thought Donghyuck finally broke through to her. She hesitated. But then she squared her shoulders and looked away. “As far as I’m concerned, she spent the last month on the back of a Harley-Davidson.”

“Is that what you’re gonna tell Kevin?”

It’s at this part of the conversation that it seemed to click for her then. Donghyuck clearly has personal stakes in this case. If she began to sympathize with him for it though, she didn’t show it. She shook her head, her mind made up the moment Ruby returned.

All she said to end the conversation was a weak, “I’m sorry. The case is closed. Thank you for helping me find her. But please, I never want to see either of you again.”
From that point on, Donghyuck shut down.They packed their bags and boarded their flight home.They set up a meeting with Blevins and requested the related forms for a proper close-out. Generally, the committee heads were pleased. The case was solved after all. But Renjun goes home every night feeling restless. Every night, sleep evades him.  The following day, Renjun walks into his apartment with a cardboard filing box in his hands.It’s filled with cassette tapes he checked out from HQ’s evidence room. This particular box belongs to the unsolved missing persons case for Donghyuck’s sister.He’s not sure why he does it, although he can come up with a few guesses.He’s searching for closure, is one. And maybe, he misses Donghyuck.Renjun microwaves some chicken noodle soup and brings out his cassette player. The first one that catches his eye is a recording of teenage Donghyuck’s hypnotic regression therapy session.  
Donghyuck Lee / Hypnotic Regression Therapy

Number 2B, June 1st
 It’d been conducted as part of the psychological assessment part of his sister’s investigation.His soup bowl temporarily forgotten, Renjun presses play.A voice Renjun doesn’t recognize starts off the second side of the tape recording.“But your eyes are open?” It’s the therapist.“Yeah they’re open but, it’s like, nothing’s happening.” Donghyuck sounds considerably younger. Voice more nasally and high.“Try turning your head.”“I can't.” He sounds drowsy. He’s under hypnosis. “Why not?”“I can’t…” There’s a pause in his speech. “I can’t move. So I don’t. I just lie there in bed.”“Do you see your sister?”“Yes.”Renjun leans forward in his chair.“What is she saying?”“She’s calling out my name over and over again. She’s crying out for help, but I can't help her, I can't move.” Donghyuck’s words are slurred. Renjun gets a knot in his throat.“Are you scared?” Depending on how Donghyuck answers, the therapist will end the session.“I know I should be, but I’m not.”“Do you know why?”“Because of the voice.”“The voice?” The man scribbles something down here. Renjun can hear the pen scratch against a notepad of some sort.“The voice in my head,” Donghyuck says, baring his soul under the pull of the hypnosis.“What’s it telling you?”“It’s telling me not to be afraid. That one day she’ll come back to me. That one day she’ll return.”It’s easy to picture adult-Donghyuck saying the same thing. Without needing to be drugged, or hypnotized, Donghyuck would bravely stick to his understanding of the world, to his conviction that there’s more to it than we think.“Do you believe the voice?” The therapist gently asks.Donghyuck’s answer takes a few beats. It makes Renjun sad. “I want to believe.”  The following night, Renjun invites Donghyuck over.He’s not expecting him to be available on such short notice but, to his surprise (and pleasure), Donghyuck shows up.He replaces his usual FBI suit-and-tie combo for a slightly more laidback jacket and jeans get-up. Renjun also wears jeans, but his are more fitted.“I’m not the best cook, but I figured we could still celebrate solving the case.”Donghyuck takes a sip from his wine glass. Renjun is well aware he wouldn’t consider the case solved. But Donghyuck is in a good mood, he grins. “They didn’t offer a culinary class in med school?”Renjun rolls his eyes.“I’ll cook for you one day. I’m a great cook.”“You cook?” For some reason, the mental image surprises him. Up until this point, Renjun has only ever pictured him pouring over aging paper, faded photographs, and independently "published" science reviews. He can’t imagine Donghyuck having the finesse required to be a cook, let alone a good one.“Sure, I do. I could write a book on it.”At whatever face Renjun makes, Donghyuck laughs.When they both clear their plates, Donghyuck offers to help wash the dishes. Renjun hates washing the dishes, so he lets him. Dinner is essentially over, but he can’t bring himself to end the night just yet.It’s almost midnight and Donghyuck is still here. Sitting with his long legs draped over Renjun’s living room couch. Donghyuck doesn’t look like he plans on leaving any time soon, which is good because Renjun isn’t planning on kicking him out. He should. It would make sense to call it a night and to bid each other good night. See you at HQ, maybe.But Renjun can't bring himself to initiate the farewell process. He sits on the opposite end of his couch and unfastens the fold clasp on his silver wristwatch. He breathes in deep. It's been a long day.When he breathes out, he feels Donghyuck's eyes on him."Lee, I listened to your hypnosis tapes," Renjun confesses."You can call me Donghyuck, you know." He sounds unfazed. But Renjun knows he's not half-bad at putting on a front. For all he knows, Donghyuck could be having a minor panic attack. Renjun studies his face. They're both the same age, thirty-three. Lounging casually in his off-duty t-shirt, there's a youthfulness to him and it makes Renjun think of his soft voice in the recordings. The boy under hypnosis who dreamt of his sister. Who still thinks of his sister, every day."I'm sorry," Renjun whispers."What for?"For what it's worth, Donghyuck doesn't seem upset anymore. He's resilient. It reminds Renjun of himself, of the grueling med school days. Renjun smiles at him. And Donghyuck smiles back."Do you still think I'm Spooky Lee?" He asks, joking.Renjun narrows his eyes. "I never thought that."He means it, too. As Donghyuck digests that, his face changes. It's subtle. It's not his eyebrows, or even his eyes. It's the muscles around his eyes. The corners of his mouth. It all softens, and opens up his expression. He's waiting for Renjun to say more.And so, with a steady gaze, Renjun leans in. "I want to believe, too."The statement settles in like a landslide. It's not a bomb, or an avalanche. It's much more gradual and encompassing. Donghyuck gapes at him, not expecting this in the slightest. Not from Dr. Huang Renjun of all people. At some point Renjun scoots over. There's not much distance between them now. This time, Renjun takes Donghyuck's hand. "For the record, I don't believe just yet."Donghyuck turns his hand so his palm faces upward, meeting Renjun's. "That's fine.""I need scientific proof.""So do I," he smiles."Reliable sources. Legitimate testimonies. Substantial confessions.""Right, right." Their faces are close. Renjun can almost smell Donghyuck's body wash. Or is it cologne? Donghyuck kisses him and Renjun takes a moment to realize what's going on. When it fully registers, Renjun gasps.And Donghyuck laughs. The sound is dorky. "Sorry.""It's alright." Renjun kisses him again. And then a third time. Donghyuck holds his arm and squeezes."It's getting late, I should probably head out..."It's a reasonable thing to say, given the time. But Renjun's head has gone fuzzy. It's been a long time since he's kissed someone. "Sure," he says, a little breathless. "Of course."Neither of them move.Before his cognitive functions can fully recuperate, Renjun lunges. He kisses him again, with tongue this time, and revels in the light moan that falls from Donghyuck's warm lips. "Right, yeah. Bed time." He stands.Donghyuck looks up at him, jaw dropped. Renjun smirks. "Next time you request me as a partner, give me a ring. I rather not find out from Blevins."Donghyuck nods. "Fair enough. Look forward to it, then." He grins. "To the next X-file."Renjun rolls his eyes. But he's smiling, too."I will."