Chapter 15: Chapter 15 Night in the archives — Ink on an Old Map

The cold, glare of the flashlight swept along the narrow walkway between two rows of giant steel cabinets, pinning Lê An in a dead corner with no way out. From the bunker door, the sound of footsteps pounding hastily on the cement floor got closer and closer. There were at least four people, and the dry clicking sound of metal showed that they were not just ordinary security guards, but a rapid response team equipped with professional suppression weapons.

"Put your hands up! Step out of there this instant! Step into the light!"

The cold, booming voice rang out a second time, carrying an uncompromising threat. An swallowed hard, knowing she had no other choice. Hiding in the dark would only make them open fire or throw tear gas into the narrow gaps. She slowly raised her hands to shoulder height, one still clutching the bright-red X-14 campaign file, the other concealing the microscopic camera in her sweaty palm. She took a deep breath and walked slowly out of the darkness of cabinet number 17.

When the red emergency lights shone on the faces of those who had entered, An felt a chill run down her spine. Leading the security team in black bulletproof vests was Chief Khang. He was not wearing the rumpled pajamas of someone called out in the middle of the night, but a neat gray suit, as if he had stayed up in his office drinking tea and waiting for this moment.

"It's disappointing, Ms. An. Or we can say... completely within our expectations," Mr. Khang smirked, wearing the satisfied, cold smile of an experienced hunter who had just trapped his young prey. "Director Binh is truly a visionary, always three steps ahead of everyone else. He knows that a cornered animal deprived of all power will take risks before being exiled. The security system's 'accidental' acceptance of your friend's cheap fake fingerprint code was just sweet bait—a honey trap. We deliberately opened the door to invite you into the lair and obtain indisputable physical evidence of your attempt to steal national secrets."

An bit her lip until it bled and glanced around for a way out. Four muscular guards blocked the only exit at the cellar door. Basement Bunker No. 4 had been designed to withstand air strikes and theft. It had no windows or large auxiliary ventilation pipes, no backup exits—only meter-thick reinforced-concrete walls and cold metal cabinets.

"Confiscate the documents. Arrest her, handcuff her," Mr. Khang coldly ordered, pointing to the red file in An's hand. "Immediately make a report to catch the crime of illegally entering important facilities, sabotaging national security and conspiring to steal top secret documents. The sentence for this series of crimes, combined with the fabricated evidence we will add, will probably be enough for you to spend the rest of your life in an isolated prison without sunlight, impulsive young lady."

Two large security guards holding electric batons, crackling with green sparks, slowly approached An.

An took half a step back, her back touching the cold steel of a filing cabinet. If they arrested her and recovered the file, the truth about Đan Trầm and the blood and tears of hundreds of innocent people would be buried forever. The stone tablet and letters hidden at Nam's house would lose their force without the original documents proving Trần Văn Định's cruel orders. Desperation sent a rush of adrenaline through her veins, awakening a fierce survival instinct. She could not surrender. Never.

When the first guard reached out, his rough fingers almost touching the cover of the file, An suddenly counterattacked. With a lightning-fast movement trained through self-defense classes, she pulled out a bottle of strong pepper spray hidden in her sleeve, pressed the button to spray a stream of concentrated, stinging solution straight into the muscular man's eye sockets.

"Ah ah! My eyes!" The security guard screamed in pain that penetrated his soul, dropped the electric baton, covered his face and staggered back, crashing into his teammate behind him, causing both of them to fall to the floor.

Taking advantage of the brief moment of chaos and surprise of Mr. Khang and the two remaining guards, An bowed low, rushed through the narrow gap between the two fallen guards, and ran sharply into a dark corner between rows of giant steel cabinets.

"Damn it! Catch her! Shoot her in the leg, but don't let her escape with the file!" Mr. Khang roared in anger, completely losing his usual dignity.

Basement Bunker Number 4 instantly transformed into a dark metal maze for a life-or-death game of cat and mouse. The flashlight's light swept haphazardly, cutting across the long dark shadows on the floor. The sounds of footsteps running and chasing, the sound of batons hitting the walls of steel cabinets echoed harshly, screaming for their lives.

An had a unique advantage in this unequal chase: she was small, agile, and most importantly, she had an excellent optical memory for spatial navigation. Although the bunker was very dark, through studying the design diagrams and arrangement habits of the archive, she could visualize the location of each row of cabinets.

She wriggled through narrow passages that could barely fit one person, slid around sharp turns, and hid under shadows where the guards' flashlights couldn't reach. While running as fast as she could, her heartbeat pounding like a drum in her ears, An realized a bitter truth: she couldn't take all of this red-covered file with her outside. It was too big, cumbersome, too prominent under the warning lights and made her move slowly. She would be caught before she could climb up the ventilation shaft.

Hiding behind row of cabinets number 42 in the farthest corner of the tunnel, hearing the sound of loud footsteps surrounding them from both ends of the narrow passage, An decided to act at the speed of light. She knelt on the floor, flipped through the files on her lap, and pulled out a tiny digital camera. Under the dim, ghostly red light of the rotating alarm light on the ceiling, she held her breath and pressed the camera continuously. She took a photo of the cover page with the fresh signature of Political Commissar Trần Văn Định, a map of the agarwood cave system drawn by a military engineer, and most importantly, a clear photo of the page of typed text clearly stating the cold-blooded order: "Forcibly relocate... destroy all biological obstacles."

The camera's tiny flash flashed on and off like ghostly flames in the darkness, recording evidence of the heinous crime.

After taking about a dozen pages of decisive documents, An quickly pulled the tiny memory card out of the camera and stuffed it tightly into the secret slot under the sole of the sneaker she had prepared in advance. She threw the empty camera to one side of the hallway to create a distracting noise. Then, she took the original file, rolled it up and threw it hard into a narrow gap stuck between two wall cabinets, so deep that no one could get it out with their bare hands without moving the cabinet. Even if they found it later, she already had a digital copy with destructive power.

"It's there! Row 42! Behind locker number 4!" A scream rang out. The powerful headlights shined directly on An's back, revealing her position.

She ran with all her might toward the secret passage leading to the stairs. The guards chased closely, their footsteps as fast as bloodthirsty hunting dogs. Approaching the slightly open steel door, An turned around and put all her strength into spraying the pepper spray bottle, creating a cloud of concentrated chemical fog that blocked the narrow passageway. The guards rushed forward, were hit by the stinging cloud, stopped, coughed, and cursed loudly.

Not missing the golden opportunity, An slipped through the steel door, pushed it partially closed to block the way, then rushed up the dark concrete stairs like an arrow. Fifteen floors of underground stairs. Her lungs burned like silk, the air was lacking, her calves were tired and numb, but she didn't dare stop for even half a second.

When she reached bunker number 1, she staggered toward the generator room. The giant iron ventilation door was still slightly open, welcoming drizzle and the fresh air of freedom. An gripped the damp wall with both hands and used all her strength to pull herself up the ventilation pipe.

Just as her upper body had just poked out of the alley, a cold, muscular guardian hand from below the ledge grabbed her ankle, pulling her back with terrible force.

"Stop, you brat! You can't escape!" A security guard caught up through a shortcut. He used all his muscle strength to pull An back down into the tunnel.

An screamed and used her free leg to kick the man in the face and shoulder. Her hard heel struck the guard's nose, breaking the bridge and sending blood pouring out. He roared in pain and reflexively loosened his grip.

Just waiting for that, An gained momentum, leaned forward and crawled out of the muddy alley, rolling many times on the cold ground to reduce injury. During that fierce struggle, the tiny communication headset attached to her ear slipped off and fell into the underground sewer with gurgling rainwater.

"Nam! Can you hear me? Nam, open the car door!" An shouted into the rain, groping at her ear and finding only empty space. Rain and distant police sirens were the only sounds. She had completely lost contact with her only teammate.

There was no time to hesitate or fear. Flashlight beams from the basement began to shine on the ventilation door, and voices calling to one another grew louder. An scrambled up, suppressed the sharp pain in her slightly sprained ankle, and ran headlong into the thick night rain of the capital. She had escaped from Basement No. 4 and Director Binh's trap, but a far vaster and more terrifying darkness lay ahead. She had to find Nam. They had to release the photos on the small memory card that night, before the power of the man who rewrote history blocked the entire city and crushed the truth again.