Chapter 3 — A Promise At The Cable Car Station

Tu turned off the walkie-talkie right after the last sentence. The buzzing sound disappeared, leaving a heavy silence in the technical warehouse. Duy looked at him, not asking who the person on the other end was. He had worked long enough with the communications system to know that the signal just now did not come from the main operating channel.

“Who said that?” Linh asked.

Tu placed the walkie-talkie on the shelf. “A noisy channel.”

“The noisy channel does not name the box.”

“You heard wrong.”

"I work in archiving. I listen and remember words very well."

Duy held out his hand to stop her from coming forward. “Tu, open contact history.”

“This device does not save.”

“The operations team's radio records the time of transmission.”

“You doubt me?”

"I don't suspect anyone. I ask for data."

Tu laughed, but the laughter didn't sound happy. "Duy, you came up here because your mother left half a ticket. And she came up because her father left a warning. Don't turn the station into an interrogation room just because a stranger said a few words."

Linh looked out the warehouse door. The wind is getting stronger, causing the technical area sign to rattle. She didn't like the way Tu avoided the question, but there was no evidence to hold him back.

“We should check locker number 17,” she said. “If someone picked the lock, they might have left a mark.”

“Don't touch,” Tu replied.

"You just said the warehouse door is dangerous. Now you say that the warehouse must remain intact?"

“Let me call the captain.”

Tu walked out. Duy waited until he was gone behind the door before bending down to check the lock. The pry mark was on the bottom, unlike the type of tool the operations team usually uses. On the cabinet's surface there is a triangle carved with a pointed tip. Inside the triangle is the number 08:40.

“Does your mother use this symbol?” Linh asked.

“I have never seen it.”

“My father could have left?”

“If your father and my mother kept this story together, they might have used symbols to identify their belongings.”

Duy took the steel ruler from his pocket and measured the distance from the engraved mark to the edge of the cabinet. He did it very carefully, then wrote the number in his notebook.

“What are you measuring?”

"The location of the mark. If the lock is changed, the person picking could scratch the paint. I want to know if this mark is old or new."

Linh leaned closer. The paint around the faded triangle is the same color as the rest, but the inside of the engraving still has very little dust. Someone cleaned it recently.

“Just cleaned.”

Duy nodded. “So the other person knows exactly what he's looking for.”

“Tu said the warehouse has been locked for a week.”

“One week is enough for all traces to disappear.”

They don't touch inside the cabinet. Duy took photos of the lock, the engraved mark and the piece of black cloth on the ventilation door. Linh opens the notes application, writes down time, location, and status. Familiar work makes her calmer. In the warehouse, between the engine oil and the damp iron, every object can become testimony if kept properly.

In the corner of the last shelf, Linh discovered an atlas rolled in a plastic tube. The paper label reads “Van Lo — temporary route under the North slope, 2008–2009”. She didn't take it out right away but called Duy.

“Is this in the equipment list?”

Duy checked the list posted on the wall. “No. The current technical map only has the main route.”

“It could be a discarded map.”

“Discarded maps don't come rolled and wrapped like that.”

He put on gloves and pulled down the plastic tube. The dust on the tube cover was wiped into a new line. Inside are three large maps, drawing old cable lines and a trail along the cliff. Some points are circled in red: lower station, upper station, pillar number 4 and a rest hut about four hundred meters from the cable line.

Sacred Point to the notes at the edge of the map. “Is there my father's handwriting?”

Duy read. "Unlikely."

The handwriting is tilted to the left, each number 4 has a dash. Father Linh has that habit. She knew because she had seen him write a list of electricity bills.

“It's my father's handwriting.”

Duy looked at her, then read the small text below: "Replacement equipment has been received. Do not hand over without a reconciliation record."

“What records are missing?” Linh asked.

“It could be a debt receipt.”

“Why does the technical map record debt?”

Duy did not speak. He used a flashlight to shine on the back of the map. Another layer of paper was glued on top, covering nearly half of the note. The glue edge has peeled off. Linh held one corner, Duy used a plastic stick to separate it very slowly. Under the paper appeared a line of red ink:

“Do not transfer obligations to people who do not sign.”

Linh felt her eyes sting. That sentence could have been written by her father, or it could have been written by Duy's mother. But no matter who it is, it shows that the debt is not something that was mistaken on paper.

“Do you know what your father signed?” she asked.

Duy turned away. "My father signed many papers. He worked in an equipment warehouse and did not read the documents carefully. After the accident, he quit his job. My mother told him to sign for the goods, not for the debt."

“If he didn't sign, why did the bank have the paper?”

“I have never seen the original.”

“We need to find it.”

"I know."

Linh put down the map. “Would you have told me this if you hadn't seen the engraving?”

"I do not know."

“That is a safe answer.”

"What do you want me to say? I've heard my mother mention your father's name many times but never knew what the agreement was between the two of them. I'm afraid if I open the box, the truth will show that my father really signed. Then I will not only lose my home, but also lose my reason to blame others."

Those words made Linh shut up. She thought Duy hid it because he was greedy for money or was wary of her. Now she understands he is protecting a version of his family, even though that version is not necessarily true.

Outside the warehouse, Tu called out: "Duy, the captain requested to close this area. The wind has exceeded the limit."

Duy rolled up the map, but Linh held one edge of the paper. “We didn't take enough pictures.”

“Snapshot.”

They placed the map on the floor, using two toolboxes to block the corners. Linh took a photo of each part, including the back side with the red text. As soon as she put her phone away, the entire station above lost power.

Duy's flashlight turned on. The cold, damp smell poured in from the warehouse door. Outside, the warning siren sounded three times in a row.

“The whole station lost power,” Tu said. “No one leaves the station until the system reboots.”

Duy closed the lid of the map tube. “Tu, does the warehouse door have a mechanical lock?”

"Have."

“Give me.”

“I will lock it.”

“I need to check on who just came in before we leave.”

Tu stood in the doorway, the flashlight illuminating half of his face. “No one.”

“So what is the piece of fabric in the ventilation door?”

“Lost guest shirt.”

“Customers wandered into the technical warehouse, pried open cabinet number 17 and then climbed through the ventilation door?”

Tu did not answer. A strong wind passed through the crack in the door, blowing the piece of paper saying "Don't open it when only half full" flew out of Linh's hand. She caught it before falling into the oil puddle.

On the back of the piece of paper is a row of phone numbers. Linh turned on the phone light and read each number.

“Whose number is this?”

Duy looked, his face changed. “The old landline number of the lower station.”

“How old is it?”

“Abandoned since 2010.”

“So the writer knows the old system.”

Tu said softly: "Or know someone who used to work there."

A collision sounded behind the warehouse. Duy immediately turned off the flashlight, signaling everyone to be quiet. In the darkness, they heard the sound of metal sliding on concrete, then light footsteps heading towards the ventilation door.

Linh held her breath. Duy stood in front of her, holding the flashlight but not turning it on. Tu retreated towards the main door.

A figure appeared behind the ventilation grille. That person looked into the warehouse and saw that the power was off, so he didn't go in. Only a gloved hand reached through, groping along shelf number 17.

Duy threw a wrench in the opposite direction. The sound of metal hitting the iron box startled the figure. He rushed to the ventilation door, but the other person backed out and ran down the corrugated iron roof.

Tu turned on the light. The three heard the sound of feet slipping, then a heavy fall behind the station.

“Don't chase!” Duy shouted.

Tu still wanted to run but stopped. He looked at Duy with anger. “If we let him escape, we will lose track.”

“If the roof is slippery, you will fall into the abyss before you catch him.”

Linh ran to the small window. Outside there was only rain and dust and shaking corrugated iron sheets. At the foot of the wall, a black rope crosses the railing. There are no people.

Duy checked cabinet number 17 again. The cabinet's face was open, but inside there was only a rubber gasket and a light-colored rectangular mark in the dust.

“The box was taken,” he said.

“Or have you never been here?”

“Dust marks indicate that something heavy has been left in place for a long time.”

Tu walked over and looked at the rectangular mark. “If he took the box, he wouldn't leave the map behind.”

“Maybe he doesn't know the important map.”

“Or he wants us to follow the beaten path.”

Linh turned back to look at the two people. “Why does the map mark the rest hut?”

Duy replied: "Because that's where the maintenance team used to store equipment when the main line was shut down."

“And maybe where they hid the box.”

Tu was silent for too long. Linh caught his eyes and stopped at the red text. A look of calculation flashed by, then disappeared.

The operations team calls from the control room, the power alarm will be restored in ten minutes. During that time, they must stay in the station. Duy folded the map and put it in a waterproof bag. Linh took a picture of the last trace in cabinet number 17.

“I keep the map,” Duy said.

"No. We keep it together."

He looked at her, then divided the map into two parts taken on his phone. "Okay. I'll keep the original because it might get damaged in your pocket. Send all the photos to each other immediately."

Linh sent photos. Duy's phone vibrated. He checked and said: "There's a message from Mai from the station below."

“What did she say?”

Duy read in a low voice: "Someone came to our house and asked to buy our house. They knew my mother used to work in Van Lo. They asked for the box."

The wind banged on the warehouse door. Linh looked at the red text on the photo.

“So the person who wants the box isn't just at the upper station.”

Only lock the tool bag. “We have to get Mai out of the house before we go back.”

“And the box?”

"If it's taken, we find someone to take it. But first, the living must be safe."

Linh nodded. For the first time since they met, she didn't see Duy as the person blocking her way. He was setting priorities that she could trust.

The power turned back on. In the warehouse, the shadow of cabinet number 17 appears on the wall. Below it, a trail of water led out the vent, straight toward the wind-hidden trail.

On Linh's phone screen, the photo of the red text automatically enlarged. At the bottom edge, where the paper was torn, there was an unread sentence:

“If either of you does not arrive at the above station before 08:40, the debt will be transferred to…”

The last part was torn off.