Chapter 9 — A Promise At The Cable Car Station

The captain's message came while the four of them were still standing in the dark kitchen. Duy read it twice, then called directly. No one answered the phone.

“Was the cabinet opened with a key or was it pried open?” Linh asked.

“Don't know yet,” Duy replied.

“If the other person took the box, why still let us see a copy of the contract?”

Tu looked at the card in Linh's hand. “Maybe they didn't know the copy was there.”

“Or they want us to think the box is lost.”

Mai folded the copy and put it in her pocket. “I'm not going back to the upper station.”

“We won't go back right away,” Duy said. “Captain will lock down the area.”

“If the box is at the upper station, where does the person who gets it have to go?”

Tu pointed out the window. "There are two ways. One goes to the lower station, one goes through the old cable factory."

“Is the old factory still usable?” Linh asked.

“No. But there is a way out behind the cliff.”

Duy looked at the map. “If Vinh changes his name, his contractor card still has the right to enter the factory.”

“His card is in the kitchen,” Mai said. “So he was here.”

“The person entering the house doesn't have to be Vinh,” Linh replied. “Maybe someone used his card.”

Tu pulled the back door closed. “To the old factory.”

Duy kept him. “Tu, you give directions but don't make your own decisions.”

"I know."

“If I say stop, you stop.”

"I know."

They left Mai's house along the ditch. Tu goes first, Duy goes last, and Linh and Mai are in the middle. The rain has stopped but the ground is as slippery as if covered with a layer of oil. At the foot of the slope, the light of a motorbike passed by and disappeared behind a bamboo cluster.

Mai went next to Linh. “Are you scared?”

"Have."

“I thought the archivist wasn't afraid.”

“Archivists are more afraid of losing track than they are of strangers.”

Mai smiled softly. “Mr. Duy will like that sentence.”

“He doesn't like many things.”

“He likes fixing machines, drinking black coffee and pretending not to care about other people.”

“Do you know how long he was looking for the box?”

"Since mom passed away. But he didn't call it a search. He called it a file check."

“Two different things?”

“For him, just changing his name would be more comfortable.”

Linh looked at Duy's silhouette in front. He was bending down to check a piece of iron railing and couldn't hear the words. She realized that Mai understood her brother better than what Duy said. In their family, everyone has learned to call fear by a different name.

The old cable factory is located under the cliff, about half an hour's walk from the village. The roof is low, half covered by wild plants. The main door is locked with a new chain. On the wall is the sign "Van Lo — phase 1 equipment warehouse".

Tu took a key from his pocket. Duy immediately turned back.

“Whose key is it?”

“Spare key.”

“Where did you get it?”

“Old maintenance team.”

“The team no longer exists.”

“The key still exists.”

Tu unlocked. It was dark and cold in the workshop. The smell of old rubber mixed with the smell of iron. A row of hooks on the ceiling hangs guide wheels, coiled cables, connection clips and cabin license plates. A desk is located under the window, with an old computer covered with a tarp on it.

Duy turned on the flashlight and checked the background. There was a trail of fresh mud from the back door into the middle of the workshop.

“The box was brought over here,” he said.

“Or someone wants us to think so,” Tu replied.

Linh walked along the desk. There was a fresh mop on the wooden surface, and next to it was a warm cup of coffee. She touched the rim of the cup with her glove, but did not pick it up.

“There are people here nearby.”

Mai pointed to the socket. “The wire is hot.”

Duy looked at the generator in the corner of the workshop. “Someone uses secondary power.”

A very slight vibration came from under the table. Duy pulled the tarp. Old computer running blue screen. Up there Open a 2009 commodity data sheet. Many lines have been deleted, but the line “spare braking equipment — final delivery” remains intact.

Last recipient: Tran Quang Vinh.

Confirmed by: Nguyen Khai.

Supervisor: Pham Khang.

Linh took a screenshot. “This data has not been completely deleted.”

“The computer is not connected to the internet,” Duy said. “Someone booted from an external drive.”

Tu came closer and looked at the name line. “Vinh accepts the device, but your father confirms it.”

"Confirming the goods have arrived, not accepting debt," Linh replied.

“You know for sure?”

“No. But the data column is separate.”

Duy pulled the keyboard and opened the edit history. A file was accessed at 21:47, the exact time cabin number 17 began to run empty. The username displays “VK-OLD”.

“Vinh Khoi?” Mai asked.

“Or the old class Van Lo,” Tu said.

Linh zooms in on the username. In the corner of the file there is a note: "Only open when two halves are complete."

“Another reminder,” she said.

“Maybe the person who created the file wanted to protect the data,” Duy replied.

A series of sounds popped up from the computer speakers. A middle-aged man's voice echoed in the workshop, clearer than the equipment at the station:

"The person who signed the confirmation is not the debtor. The person receiving the equipment is not the owner. If you want to know who changed the name, find the weighing room."

Sound off. Mai stepped back, bumping into the metal shelf. A cable hook fell down.

“Where is the weight room?” Linh asked.

“Behind the cliff,” Duy replied. “That area was filled in after the landslide.”

Tu looked at the back door. “The entrance is still there.”

“Have you been in?” Duy asked.

“Once, when the team removed the equipment.”

“How long ago?”

“Eleven years.”

Linh looked at the computer. “Vinh wants us to go to the weighing room.”

“Or someone pretending to be Vinh,” Duy reminded.

On the table, next to the computer, there is another memory card covered with tape. Linh informed Duy, who used tweezers to pick it up. The memory card contains a folder of photos. The first photo is the corner of the equipment warehouse, taken on August 19, 2009. Father Linh stands next to a blue tin box, mother Duy holds two pieces of ticket. Mr. Khang stood at the door, but Vinh did not appear.

The second photo is of a debt receipt. The borrower wrote "Nguyen Minh Quang", Father Duy. The guarantor wrote "Nguyen Khai". The recipient of the money is "Tran Quang Vinh".

Mai saw her father's name and her hands trembled. “My father has never borrowed money from Vinh.”

“Maybe the signature was forged,” Linh said.

“Or my father signed it because he thought it was a device receipt.”

The third photo has just one page with red text: “Last recipient changed after supervisor left the room.”

Duy placed his hands on the table and breathed slowly. “The supervisor is Mr. Khang.”

“He left the room,” Tu said.

“And maybe saw someone change the paper.”

Tu did not deny it.

Linh flipped to the last photo. It shows a steel door with a sign "Weighing room — no duty". On the door is a triangle and the number 08:40. Photo was taken at 02:11 this morning.

“The photographer is still in this area,” Duy said.

A noise echoed from the factory roof. It's not rain, but the sound of light footsteps running on corrugated iron. Duy turned off the flashlight, pulled Linh and Mai behind the cable reels. Tu closed the main door but did not lock it.

A shadow of a person passes through the window. A metal object fell onto the roof and rolled. The person stopped, then jumped down behind the workshop.

Duy looked at Tu. “I stay with Mai.”

“Are you going alone?”

“I'm going with Linh.”

“She doesn't know the way.”

“She knows how to keep data.”

Linh did not have time to object. The two of them walked through the back door. Beside Outside is a narrow path leading under the cliff. V-shaped shoe prints are clearly visible in the mud, next to them are small wheel prints like a tow truck.

They walked about a hundred meters and saw the other person in front of them. He wore a black raincoat and pulled a low cart covered with tarpaulin. Hearing the noise, he abandoned the car and climbed up a stone step.

Duy did not chase. He knelt down to check the car. There are no boxes under the canvas, just old cables and a signal generator.

Linh found a piece of oil paper in the tire. On it is a diagram of the weighing room and a handwritten sentence:

“Don't give the box to someone who just wants to clear his name.”

From above, Tu called out: "Duy, someone is injured!"

They ran back to the factory. Mai was kneeling next to the door, while Tu helped a middle-aged man who had slipped off a cliff. That person is not Vinh. He was wearing an old reflective vest, his wrists were tied with red ribbons, and his face was covered in dirt.

“Who are you?” Linh asked.

The man looked at her and then at the half ticket in Duy's hand. His lips trembled.

“I was the one who took your father to the weight room that year.”

“Your name?”

“Kang.”

Mr. Khang is still alive, but blood is flowing from his forehead to his neck. He grabbed Duy's sleeve and whispered:

"The box isn't at the station. It's where I locked it from the night your father was forced to sign."

Outside the cliff, the sound of a truck sounded again. Mr. Khang opened his eyes, frightened:

“Vinh found us.”

Duy pulled Mr. Khang back into the workshop, and Linh quickly closed the back door. Tu inserted the iron bar through the handle. The sound of the truck stopping at the rocky beach, followed by the sound of the car door opening and many footsteps stepping on gravel.

“How many people?” Mai asked.

“I don't know,” Tu replied.

Mr. Khang held Linh's wrist. "Don't let them take my card. The card has the code to open the weight room."

Linh put the card in the evidence bag and recorded the blood on the surface. Duy wrapped a towel around Mr. Khang's forehead and whispered: "You have to wake up. You know where the box is."

Mr. Khang nodded, but his eyes were blurred. “I locked it because your father said… if one day the two halves of the ticket meet, let the living decide whether to open it or not.”

Outside the factory, a man's voice called out: "Mr. Khang, we know you're in there. Give us the card, we'll take you to the hospital."

Mr. Khang smiled faintly, blood flowing down the corner of his mouth. "Vinh never called me Mr. Khang. He called me by my old name."

Duy looked at Linh. On the outside, the other person knew too much to call it a random search.