Chapter 3 — Profile 9:17

Trinh Vu's black Ford Everest turned through the misty rain, leaving behind the stuffy high-rise buildings of the city to head towards the suburbs of Di An, Binh Duong. The sound of the windshield wipers diligently sweeping across the glass creates a steady rhythm, but cannot dispel the tension present inside the car. Le Nhu Van sat in the passenger seat, her hands clasped together, her eyes fixed on the pale landscape passing by outside the window. Her father's notebook and the tape recorder were carefully hidden by Vu in a password safe at the office, but the weight of the newly revealed truths still weighed heavily on both of their minds.

"According to the demographic records that I asked a friend from the investigation agency to find, Bui Van Deo left Saigon just three months after receiving compensation for a work accident," Vu said, his eyes still not taking his eyes off the road ahead. "The strange thing is, a person with one leg disabled, who should have had a very difficult life, was able to buy a three-hectare plot of land in Di An to open a high-tech giant freshwater prawn farm. The amount of two billion dong from ten years ago, if converted at the current value, plus other hidden bribes, can completely explain this unusual prosperity."

"Will he tell the truth?" Van asked worriedly, her voice shaking slightly. "A person sold his conscience for money and pushed my father to death. I don't believe he has any humanity left to repent."

"Ten years is a long enough period of time for people to experience insecurity," Vu replied, the corners of his lips curling up slightly. "Furthermore, people like Deo, who work as henchmen for tycoons like Do Trong Thang, always live in fear of being eliminated. If we know how to hit that vital point, he will have to open his mouth."

Nearly two hours later, the car turned onto a muddy red dirt road, on both sides were dense cajuput forests and vast shrimp ponds, the water surface was gray under a sky filled with dark clouds. Bui Van Deo's farm is not difficult to recognize, because it is surrounded by a B40 steel mesh fence system that is taller than a person's head, with barbed wire on top. In front of the solid iron gate is a small guard post, where two tattooed young men wearing batwing raincoats are sitting and smoking.

Vu stopped the car about fifty meters from the farm gate. He turned to Van and instructed: "Later, you will play the role of my assistant. We are real estate investors who want to buy this area for an ecological resort project. Absolutely do not reveal your identity, especially do not mention the name Le Van Sang until I give the signal."

Van nodded, quickly took out a pair of contactless glasses from her bag and a silk scarf that she quickly wrapped around her neck to cover part of her face. The two opened the car door, opened their umbrellas and walked in the pouring rain.

Arriving in front of the iron gate, Vu knocked hard on the metal bar. The two young men in the guard booth slowly walked out, their faces full of caution and carelessness.

"This area is closed to visitors, go play somewhere else!" A guy raised his chin and blew a stream of cigarette smoke into Vu's face.

"We don't go sightseeing," Vu calmly replied, taking out a luxurious laminated business card from his vest pocket and passing it through the door. "I am Project Director project of Nam Long Group. We heard that Mr. Bui Van Deo is planning to transfer this farm so he wanted to come and discuss directly. This is an opportunity for your boss to retire early with a small amount."

The two young men looked at each other, looking hesitant. They held the business card, looked at it for a while, then one guy pulled out a walkie-talkie and mumbled a few words. About two minutes later, he pressed the button to unlock the electronic gate. "Come in. The boss is in the wooden house at the end of pond number three. Go straight, don't look around."

Vu and Van walked along the edge of the shrimp pond, which was filled with solid concrete. The oxygen-generating fan system rumbles the water loudly, drowning out the sound of falling rain. In the distance, at the end of the row of ponds is a house on stilts made of wood with a rather sophisticated design, surrounded by many expensive ornamental trees. Wealth exists in every corner of this farm, a chilling contrast to the miserable lives of the construction workers who worked under Deo ten years ago.

Walking up the wooden stairs, they were taken into a living room decorated in the style of a garden tycoon, with a massive set of rosewood tables and chairs inlaid with mother-of-pearl and feng shui marble statues. Sitting in a large armchair in the middle of the room was a man in his fifties, short and dark, with dark skin. The most obvious identifying features are the aluminum crutches propped up next to the chair and the left leg covered in a carbon plastic prosthesis. Bui Van Deo was sipping a sip of strong tea, his eyes as sharp as a razor glancing at the two uninvited guests.

"Nam Long Group?" Deo raised his voice in a loud voice, not bothering to stand up to welcome guests. "I remember that I have never sold this land. You guys seem to grasp information a bit quickly."

"Mr. Deo, in the real estate investment world, there is no land that is not for sale, it's just a matter of price," Vu smiled, leisurely sitting in the chair opposite, Van quietly sat down next to him, opened a notebook and pretended to take notes.

"Let's be honest, how much can you pay?" Deo smirked, his arrogance clearly visible on his sunburned face.

Vu leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice. "We can pay you a price that ten years ago, Dinh Phat Group could not generously pay you. Anyway, two billion dong for a human life and silence... is still a very low price."

Hearing the words "two billion dong" and "Dinh Phat", Bui Van Deo's face suddenly changed. The tea cup in his hand shook slightly, the tea spilled out and fell onto his lap. Deo placed the tea cup firmly on the table, his panicked eyes mixed with murderous intent stared at Vu.

"Who are you? Who sent you here?" Deo roared, grabbing the aluminum crutch next to him.

Vu did not show any signs of flinching. He calmly pulled out a photo of a copy of the metal-printed transaction document from his breast pocket, placed it on the table and pushed it towards Deo. "Ten minutes before the Tan Cang Bridge scaffolding collapsed, a legal entity named Di An transferred exactly two billion VND to his account. And it was he, the construction team leader, who asked to leave the scene to go to the bathroom right at that moment of death. Incredible luck, Mr. Deo."

Bui Van Deo stared at the photo of the document. His face turned pale, beads of sweat began to pour out forehead even though the air in the room is quite cold. "Where... where did you get this? This story ended ten years ago. The police concluded that engineer Sang miscalculated the load. I don't know anything!"

At this point, Le Nhu Van could no longer hold back. She took off her contactless glasses and threw them hard on the table. "You don't know anything? My father did not miscalculate the load! It was you who received money from Do Trong Thang, turned a blind eye to them pouring a lot of poor quality concrete P-250 into the bridge piers, then went to court to testify falsely to blame all the sins on the dead! Do you know how frustrated my mother had to die?"

The sudden appearance of Le Van Sang's daughter was like a strong blow to Deo's already shaky psychology. He stepped back, his back hitting the chair, stammering: "You... you are Mr. Sang's daughter? It can't be... This... I'm being forced! I'm really being forced!"

"You were forced to accept two billion dong?" Vu coldly interrupted. "Mr. Deo, I didn't come here to listen to your explanation. I came here to give you a way to live. We have an audio tape proving that Do Trong Thang threatened to force engineer Sang to sign the acceptance certificate. Now we have your documents. Do you think Do Trong Thang, with his current power, will let you live alone knowing that this evidence still exists?"

"Mr. Thang doesn't know!" Deo shouted, his voice lost in panic. "He took all the papers, I swear I didn't keep anything. I had to leave the country, hide in this corner for ten years, changed my name, lived in fear. He promised to leave me alone if I obediently kept my mouth shut!"

"And you believe the promise of a ruthless murderer?" Vu smiled bitterly. "Yesterday, the envelope containing this document was sent anonymously to my office. That means there is a third force that wants to turn this case over, and they are targeting Do Trong Thang. When Thang knew the case had been overturned, the first person he went to to silence was the only surviving witness. It's you, Deo."

Vu's analysis was like a knife piercing the heart of the former construction captain. Bui Van Deo hugged his head, ruffling his salt-and-pepper hair. He understood Do Trong Thang's cruelty better than anyone. If the truth is revealed, Thang will not hesitate to crush him into dust to save himself.

"Okay... okay..." Deo panted, lifting his sweaty face. "I will say... I will say everything. But the lawyer must ensure my safety. Must take me out of here, abroad, anywhere!"

"As long as you go to court to testify and tell the whole truth about how Do Trong Thang ordered you to swap materials and remove scaffolding bolts, the law will have a witness protection program for you," Vu replied, pulling out his notebook to prepare to take notes. "Now, let's start from September 15 of that year..."

Before Deo could open his mouth, a loud explosion rang out, shaking the entire wooden house. The window glass shattered, shards of glass scattered all over the room. Vu reacted extremely quickly, rushing forward to pin Van down on the floor right at the moment a bullet grazed the spot where she had just been sitting, hitting the wooden wall in front of her. after.

"Damn it!" Deo screamed loudly and rolled under the massive tea table. "They're here! Thang's henchmen have come here!"

Outside, the loud barking of dogs mixed with the rapid footsteps of many people running on the concrete road surrounding the shrimp pond. The chaotic screams of the farm guards rang out, suppressed by several powerful warning shots. The assassins arrived so quickly, it was as if they had been following Vu's Ford Everest from the moment he left the center of Saigon.

"We can't go out through the main door!" Vu shouted through the noise. He pulled Van up and at the same time kicked open a small cabinet in the corner of the room. Behind the cabinet is a wooden louver window facing the drainage ditch behind the farm.

"Deo, stand up! Get out this way, quickly!" Vu turned grumpily to the man trembling under the table.

Deo grabbed an aluminum crutch and scrambled up. Vu used his elbow to break the wooden shutters, pushing Van to climb through the front window. Then, he pulled Deo up, pushing him down into the ditch filled with mud and moss below. As soon as Vu threw himself through the window, the main door of the wooden house was kicked open. Dark figures wearing raincoats, holding cold weapons and silenced guns rushed into the room.

The rain grew heavier and heavier, obscuring vision and drowning out sounds. Vu, Van and Bui Van Deo dived into the stinking ditch, groping along the embankment to escape to the cajuput forest behind the farm. The rain was cold, but in their hearts was now a fire of life-and-death battle burning. The only living evidence of the 9:17 record is right next to them, and they must survive to bring this evidence to light. The manhunt has officially begun, and lawyer Trinh Vu knows that he has no way back.