Chapter 9 — Profile 9:17

Pham Quoc Hung's death at Cho Ray International Hospital took place quietly like a candle burning in the wind, but the tape recording his final confession was like a barrel of gunpowder waiting to detonate. The next morning, Trinh Vu and Le Nhu Van met Hoang Minh again at a sidewalk cafe hidden in an alley on Tran Quoc Thao Street. Different from yesterday's excitement, today's head of the investigative reporting department's face clearly showed fatigue and stress.

"I listened to Mr. Hung's recording over and over again," Minh tapped his fingers yellowed by cigarette smoke on the wooden table. "It's a great piece of evidence in terms of journalism, but legally, it's still a one-sided testimony of a dead person. What did Major Binh from C03 say? Did they get a warrant to search the safe at Ocean Bank?"

Vu shook his head and took a sip of bitter coffee. "Impossible. Ocean Bank is a financial fortress, and Do Trong Thang is the controlling shareholder. In order for the Procuracy to approve a search warrant for a safe that is not in Thang's name, but in the name of a person who died fifteen years ago, C03 needs to prove a direct connection between Do Trong Thang, that safe and the fake acceptance report. Currently, we only have the words of a terminally ill cancer patient in a coma. refreshing."

"Thang knows this legal barrier very well," Van spoke up, his eyes dark but still shining with anger. "He is leisurely sitting in the Thao Dien villa, drinking wine and watching us run around helplessly."

"We are not helpless," Vu placed the coffee cup firmly on the table, his eyes as sharp as a razor. "If the law needs time to follow the correct process, then we will use public opinion to break that process. Minh, I need you to publish the entire story about Pham Quoc Hung's bedside confession. Name Ocean Bank and the existence of the secret safe in Ly Thi Hoa's name. Let's turn it into a media bomb."

Hoang Minh rolled his eyes. "Are you crazy, Vu? If you write an article that names the bank without the conclusion of the investigation agency, my editorial office will be sued for slander and destroying corporate reputation! Thang has the most powerful army of lawyers in Saigon!"

"I will be a free defense lawyer for your newspaper," Vu leaned forward, his voice sharp. "Minh, listen to me. Do Trong Thang is a narcissistic and controlling person. He will never sit still when he sees his biggest secret exposed in the newspaper. Once the article is published, Ocean Bank's shareholders will panic. The State Bank will be pressured to send a surprise inspection team. Thang will realize that that safe is no longer an absolutely safe place."

"And he will have to personally move that fake acceptance report somewhere else!" Van suddenly understood the problem and exclaimed.

"Exactly," Vu nodded. "We can't get a search warrant to pry open the bank's door, but we can wait for him to get the evidence out of there himself. That's our only chance to catch him red-handed."

Hoang Minh pondered. He took a deep drag of his cigarette, staring into the fierce eyes of Vu and Van. As a journalist, the desire to expose the truth has eaten away deep into your blood. After a minute of silence that lasted like a century, Minh extinguished his cigarette and pulled out his phone. "I will call the Editor-in-Chief. The article will be on the home page at exactly 12 noon today. If we lose this case, I will have to go back to my hometown to raise ducks."

At exactly 12 noon, an exclusive investigative report titled: "THE FINAL CONFESSION: THE SECRET UNDER THE OCEAN BANK BASEMENT AND THE 10-YEAR SENTENCE OF ENGINEER LE VAN SANG" officially appeared on the front page of one of the largest electronic newspapers in the country. The article not only published excerpts of Mr. Pham Quoc Hung's whispering sound, but also exposed in detail the existence of a secret safe with code 8309, in the name of President Do Trong Thang's deceased mother.

The article's effect was more terrible than what Trinh Vu predicted. Within just an hour, the article received millions of shares on social networking platforms. The wave of public indignation exploded violently. Hundreds of people, including family members of workers who died in the collapse of the Tan Cang Bridge ten years ago, began to gather in front of Ocean Bank's headquarters on Ham Nghi Street, carrying banners demanding justice.

The afternoon stock exchange witnessed a historic run. Shares of Dinh Phat Group and Ocean Bank dropped dramatically, leaving buyers empty. Bank hotlines are jammed with calls from customers demanding to withdraw money. Public pressure was so strong that, at 4 p.m., the Governor of the State Bank had to issue a directive requesting a comprehensive inspection of Ocean Bank's operations.

At this time, on the 35th floor of the Ocean Bank headquarters building, Do Trong Thang was standing in front of the transparent glass door, looking down at the crowd of protesters as vague as a swarm of ants on the street. His face was twisted in extreme rage. He had underestimated the recklessness of Trinh Vu and that newspaper.

"President, the situation is getting out of control," the bank's Security Director, a muscular man with a faint scar on the corner of his eye, entered the room, his voice filled with tension. "Party C03 has just sent an official dispatch requesting the cooperating bank to provide information about the list of customers renting safe deposit boxes. Sooner or later they will have an order to blockade the entire basement."

Thang turned around and threw the crystal ashtray onto the floor, shattering it. "You bastards! Do they dare to use public opinion to force me? Listen carefully, Tung. Tonight, as soon as the protest crowd disperses, you personally go down to the basement, use the spare key to open the safe in Ly Thi Hoa's name. Take all the documents in there, especially the red envelope with the seal of the Department of Construction. Burn it immediately for me!"

Tung bowed his head and obeyed. "Okay, Mr. Chairman. I'll go to the side tunnel at the B3 parking lot."

The clock hands inched towards midnight. The protesting crowd was tired and dispersed, returning quiet to Ham Nghi street. However, in basement B3 of Ocean Bank, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense.

Vu's Ford Everest secretly followed a truck carrying money and was able to sneak into the VIP parking area since early evening. Vu and Van sat quietly in the dark, the engine was turned off, their vision facing straight ahead The armored elevator door leads to the vault area containing the safe.

"My magazine is fully loaded," Major Binh sat in the backseat, checking his K59 pistol. He decided to bet his whole career on Trinh Vu's intuition, silently leading two of the most elite scouts to hide troops here. "If someone comes out of that door carrying documents from the safe, we will have a good reason to catch the act of destroying evidence red-handed."

At exactly 1 a.m., the elevator bell rang dryly. The armored door slowly opened. Tung, the bank's Security Director, walked out. He was wearing a black suit, carrying a shiny aluminum alloy briefcase. His eyes wandered around the empty parking lot, then quickly walked towards the black Mercedes SUV parked not far away.

"Target appears. Ready for action," Major Binh ordered through the miniature radio attached to his collar.

Vu started the engine, intending to hit the accelerator and rush out to block the Mercedes. But at that moment, a terrible event happened, completely unexpected by everyone.

From a hidden corner of the parking lot, two black pickup trucks without license plates suddenly sped out at a terrifying speed, crashing straight into the Mercedes. The deafening sound of metal colliding rang out, tearing through the silence of the basement. The pickup truck door opened, five masked men dressed in black, armed with pistols with silencers rushed out. They are not C03 people, nor are they Do Trong Thang's juniors. They are a mysterious third force.

Two assassins shot down two bodyguards who were protecting Tung in the blink of an eye. Tung panicked and pulled out his gun to shoot back, but a bullet hit him in the shoulder, causing the aluminum briefcase to fly onto the cement floor, sliding a distance.

"What the hell is this?" Van screamed in horror.

"Someone wants to steal the report before us!" Vu gritted his teeth and stepped on the accelerator. The Ford Everest roared like a beast, rushing straight towards the masked assassins, its bright headlights blinding them.

The sudden intervention of the Ford made the assassins stop. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Major Binh kicked down the car door, jumped out, fired two warning shots into the tunnel ceiling, loudly shouted: "This is the police! Everyone stand still, put down your weapons!"

A chaotic firefight broke out in the enclosed space of the underground parking lot. The harsh sound of bullets hitting the car's tires and the burning smell of gunpowder filled my nose. Amidst the stray bullets, Trinh Vu's eyes locked on the aluminum alloy briefcase lying alone in the middle of the floor. The proof that determines Do Trong Thang's fate, and also the honor of engineer Le Van Sang, is right at hand, but can also slip away at any time.

Vu pushed the car door, crouched down and rushed out of the car, ignoring Van's screams of intervention. He couldn't let ten years of searching for the truth end with this blatant document robbery. Tonight, either expose the light, or bury everything.