Chapter 8 — Forest Keeper

After the survey discovered the mining site had expanded, Khue and Nguyen decided to go deeper into the area to find out where the wood transport road led. They followed the truck's tire tracks, carefully keeping a distance from the main trail to avoid leaving traces that could be detected, moving slowly through the dense bushes, occasionally stopping to listen to the surrounding movements.

"Did you hear anything?" Nguyen whispered, stopping suddenly, hand signaling Khue to be quiet.

Khue strained her ears to listen. From afar, there was the sound of an engine, not the familiar sound of motorbikes of the villagers, but the heavy engine sound of a medium-sized truck, along with the sound of people talking, although the content could not be clearly heard. She signaled Nguyen to hide behind a thick bush. They both lowered their bodies and moved cautiously toward the sound.

Through a gap between the foliage, they saw a clearing larger than they thought, where three men were carrying logs that had been sawed into square panels, loading them into the trunk of an old truck but the engine was still strong, the license plate partially obscured by a layer of mud intentionally smeared on it. All three people were wearing faded work clothes, helmets, their faces were dark from the sun and wind, they acted quickly and seemed familiar with this job.

Khue pulled out her phone and carefully took a few photos from afar through the leaves, trying to get the clearest view possible of the license plate and the men's faces without revealing their hidden location. Nguyen next to her held his breath, his body tensed with nervousness. This was clearly the first time he witnessed an illegal activity taking place directly like this.

Suddenly, one of the three men raised his head and looked towards the bushes where they were hiding, a wary look on his face. "Something's moving," that person said, his voice loud enough for Khue to hear clearly, his hand raised to point at them.

Khue's heart tightened. She held Nguyen's hand tightly, signaling to retreat immediately. They both bowed low and moved in the opposite direction in the direction they had come from, trying not to make any noise but still being fast enough to create distance. Behind them, they heard footsteps chasing, the sound of tree branches breaking, and a man's voice shouting: "Stop! Who is there?"

"Run," Khue whispered urgently, grabbing Nguyen's hand and pulling him to run in a different direction from the familiar trail, a shortcut through a steep area that she knew well thanks to many years of experience in the forest but would certainly cause difficulties for pursuers unfamiliar with the terrain.

They rushed down a slope covered with rotting leaves. Nguyen slipped and almost fell, but Khue promptly held his arm. The two continued to rush away panting, their hearts pounding, their ears still straining to listen to the sound of pursuit behind them. Fortunately, after about fifteen minutes of fleeing through the difficult terrain, the sounds of footsteps and shouting gradually faded away. Perhaps the others gave up the pursuit when they realized it would not be easy to catch up in such complex mountainous terrain.

The two stopped next to a large rock next to a small stream, breathing heavily, sweat drenching their shirts even though the weather was not too hot. Nguyen sat down on the ground, his hands resting on his knees, his chest heaving.

"I've never run so fast in my life," he said, his voice still panting, but mixed in with a dry laugh from the tension that hadn't dissipated yet. "Do you do this often?"

"Not often like this," Khue replied, also sitting down next to him, her hands still shaking slightly from adrenaline. She looked down at her phone, checking the photos she had just taken. "But this is not the first time I have encountered loggers. It's just that this time it seems more dangerous, the number of people is larger, and their reaction is too fast, too organized."

Nguyen looked at her, his eyes clearly worried. "Do you think they will seek revenge? If they realize someone is monitoring their activities..."

"Maybe," Khue admitted, her voice serious. "That's why we need to be more careful from now on, not going alone, always reporting clear schedules, and not revealing what we know until we have enough evidence and necessary support."

She reopened the photos she had just taken, zooming in to see them more clearly. Even though the angle wasn't perfect, she still recognized part of the truck's license plate — enough to start looking up the vehicle's registration information. And in one photo, although blurry, she could clearly see that on the truck door there was a small logo printed on, a stylized green leaf image, below were a few letters that could not be read clearly but could be guessed as the abbreviation of a certain company.

"There's a company logo on the car," she said, showing the phone to Nguyen. "This could be the 'legitimate business cover' you talked about the other day."

Nguyen stared intently at the screen, trying to read the blurred letters clearly. "The letters K... and P, it seems like that. Can you look it up to see if there are any forest product companies registered to operate in this area with such abbreviations?"

"I will ask May Tra to help. She is more familiar with the district's business management system than me." Khue put the phone in her pocket, carefully as if she were keeping a precious treasure. "But now, the most important thing is to get to the safety station first."

On the way back, the two walked more slowly, carefully observing their surroundings, there was no longer any part of the conversation as comfortable as when walking. The silence between them this time was not because of embarrassment, but because they were both lost in their own thoughts about what they had just witnessed, about the true level of danger of what they were getting into.

When approaching the station, Nguyen suddenly spoke, his voice somewhat hesitant. "Hey Khue, I don't want to seem weak, but honestly I was really scared just now. Not scared for myself, but scared if something happened to you."

Khue turned to look at him, a bit surprised by his frankness. "Thank you for your concern. But I'm used to the risks in this profession."

"I know," Nguyen said, his voice low, "but being familiar doesn't mean it's not something to worry about. Your father was also 'familiar' with this job, and..." he paused, realizing he might have said too much, "...sorry, I didn't mean anything else."

"It's okay," Khue replied, her voice softened, not at all offended by his straightforward words. "You're right. That's what I remind myself every day. But I can't stop, not now, when everything is starting to reveal itself."

Nguyen nodded, didn't say anything more, but his steps naturally moved a little closer to her on the remaining walk, a small gesture but enough for Khue to feel a silent protection, unobtrusive, without any big promises.

Before entering the station, Khue stopped by the equipment gathering area, took off his muddy boots, and sat down on the wooden steps to temporarily dry them. Nguyen sat down next to her, didn't say anything, just quietly gave her the remaining water bottle in his backpack. She took a sip, felt her thirst quench, then gave it back to him.

"Aren't you scared when you get a job and come down here?" she asked, suddenly curious about the motive that made a young veterinarian, with a degree from abroad, accept a remote ranger station like Ngan May instead of working at more convenient conservation centers downstream.

Nguyen laughed softly, looking far away at the mountains that were gradually sinking into the dusk. "Honestly, at first I was a bit shy. But reading the records about the Ngan May reserve, about the remaining white-rumped langurs here, I see that this is one of the rare places that still has the opportunity to do something truly meaningful, before everything disappears completely. Besides," he hesitated a bit, "I'm also tired of sitting at a desk, writing reports for projects that are never actually implemented."

"So how do you feel now, after a week here?" Khue continued asking, her voice containing a rare gentle teasing tone.

"It's a lot more dangerous than I thought it would be," Nguyen replied, laughing out loud, "but it's also a lot more valuable than I thought it would be." He looked at her, his eyes sincere. "I don't regret accepting this mission."

Those words made Khue smile, a rare smile of relief after a stressful day. She stood up, brushed the dust off her clothes, and signaled him to join her at the station.

Arriving at the station, they immediately reported to Ma Van Loc about the encounter, although Khue was somewhat reserved when giving details, only saying in general that they discovered a group of illegal loggers and promptly retreated safely, not mentioning deeper suspicions about the connection with her father or about the company logo on the truck. Loc listened, his face tense, ordered increased patrols of that area in the next few days, and promised to report to the district police for coordinated investigation.

That evening, when Khue sat alone at her desk, recording all the day's events in her private notebook, she couldn't help but think of Nguyen's unfinished sentence on the way home. Her father was also "familiar" with this profession. That sentence, although unintentional, touched on the deepest fear that Khue had never dared to say out loud, even to herself: that the path she was on might lead her to the same end as her father.

But when she looked out the window and saw the small light still on in the rescue barn where Nguyen was staying late to check on Nau and Mun one last time before going to bed, a warm feeling crept into her heart, easing some of that fear. For the first time in eight years, she felt she no longer had to face the ghosts of her past and the dangers ahead alone.