Chapter 67 — Shrimp Street Without Name

During two tense days of waiting, Hai Yen could hardly focus on any other work other than following every smallest update from the lieutenant about the campaign to arrest Nguyen Dang Hoai in the border area. She tried to keep a normal routine, visiting Mr. Tam who was recovering, assisting lawyer Hoang in completing the documents, but her mind was always focused on that distant border.

One afternoon, while she was sitting with Kien at a familiar cafe, her phone rang, it was the lieutenant's number. She picked up the phone immediately, her heart beating rapidly.

“Miss Yen,” his voice rang out, it was hard to guess the emotion through the tense tone. "We were able to approach the place where Nguyen Dang Hoai was hiding, a small house near the border gate. But when the authorities entered, he was no longer there."

Hai Yen's heart sank. “Did he escape?”

“Not quite yet,” the lieutenant replied quickly. "According to the traces left behind, he seems to have just left not long ago, possibly having received advance notice of the raid. We are expanding the search scope to surrounding areas, and coordinating with border guards to block routes he may have used to cross the border."

That news made Hai Yen both disappointed and worried. She immediately thought of the possibility of an information leak that the group had suspected before, now seemingly confirmed once again. “Someone broke the news to him first,” she said, her voice filled with frustration.

“We suspected that too,” the lieutenant admitted, his voice heavy. "And this time, the scope of people who knew about the specific location was very narrow, only within the task force participating in the operation. This suggests that the leak may be happening at a more serious level than we had previously feared."

The call ended, leaving Hai Yen and Kien sitting quietly in the coffee shop, the surrounding atmosphere was still noisy and bustling as usual, completely opposite to the tension that was surrounding them both. “We need to find out who is leaking information,” Kien said, his voice serious. “Otherwise, all our efforts will always be one step behind.”

Hai Yen nodded, her mind racing thinking about the possibility that someone within the task force might be working for the other side. This is a terrifying possibility, not only because it hinders the investigation, but also because it shows how deeply the influence of this criminal network has crept into the very system tasked with fighting it.

Three days later, an unexpected turning point occurred. During the process of expanding the internal investigation, the internal security unit discovered that a low-ranking officer in the task force had money transferred to an account of unknown origin, coinciding with the failed operations. After being questioned, this person admitted to receiving money from an unknown intermediary to reveal information about the activity schedule.

“This is a heavy blow to internal trust,” the lieutenant said when reporting this news to Hai Yen, his voice both relieved to have found the source of the leak and bitter at the betrayal from his own comrades. “But at least, we can now eliminate this weakness, ensuring that further operations are kept strictly confidential.”

“Did he say who paid?” Hai Yen asked.

“Him "I only know a contact phone number, I don't know my real identity," the lieutenant replied. "But we are tracing that phone number, hoping it will lead to more clues."

This news, although it brought both relief and bitterness, also gave Hai Yen a new belief that, no matter how bumpy the road, the truth will always find a way to emerge in the end, as long as there are enough persistent and righteous people who continue to search for it.

While waiting for the results of tracing the phone number, Hai Yen decided to spend time synthesizing everything she knew about Nguyen Dang Hoai, hoping to find some clue that could help predict his next move. She invited Minh Khang to participate, taking advantage of his experience in journalistic investigation to analyze the psychology and behavior of a person who was being closely pursued.

“People like him, when they feel cornered, usually have two options,” Minh Khang analyzed, his voice thoughtful. “One is to recklessly try to cross the border at any cost, accepting high risks. Second, hide carefully in a safe place in the country and wait for the situation to calm down before taking further action."

“Based on what we know about him,” Kien said, “he seems to be the type of cautious, professional person who is not prone to reckless actions. Maybe he will choose to hide rather than risk crossing the border immediately.”

Hai Yen nodded in agreement. She remembered Mr. Ba Do's description of the way this scarred man negotiated, always calculating carefully, never in a hurry. “If that's true, he's probably still somewhere in the area, not too far away, waiting for the right opportunity.”

She shared this analysis with the lieutenant, who agreed to expand the search scope to include closer areas, not just focusing on the border. The investigation team began combing through locations that could be potential hideouts: little-known vacation homes, real estate under the name of shell companies that they had discovered through previous financial investigations.

Two days later, a clue appeared: one of the properties indirectly owned by the network, a small garden house hidden in a quiet residential area on the outskirts of Ca Mau city, showed signs of being inhabited even without registered temporary residence. A secret reconnaissance team monitored this area for two days, confirming that a man matching Nguyen Dang Hoai's identity frequently appeared, always going out at different hours to avoid creating a predictable pattern.

“We believe this is where he is hiding,” the lieutenant announced, his voice filled with determination. “This time, we will prepare more carefully, minimizing the number of people who know about the plan to avoid information leaking again.”

Hai Yen felt her heart beat faster at this news, a mixture of hope and anxiety as she thought about the possibility that, after all they had been through, they might be about to reach the decisive moment of the entire investigation.

That night, she couldn't sleep, her mind racing with images of what might happen in the coming hours. She texted Kien, even though she knew he was having a similar sleepless night.

“Do you think we'll catch him this time?” she texted, her fingers shaking slightly on the phone screen.

“I hope so,” Kien replied almost immediately, showing that he was also awake. "But no matter the outcome, we did everything we could within our power. You should try to rest, tomorrow will be a long day."

Hai Yen put down the phone and tried to close her eyes, but her thoughts continued to swirl endlessly. She thought of her father, of all the victims who had been waiting for justice, and of herself, who had gone through a long and tumultuous journey since the day she returned to Nam Can. If tomorrow's campaign is successful, this will be the most important turning point since it all began.

She finally fell asleep in the first hours of the morning, a fitful sleep filled with fragmented dreams of the sea, of her father, of the faces of all the people who had accompanied her on this thorny path.

She dreamed that she was standing on the beach, the wind was blowing, and her father was standing next to her, pointing out to the distant horizon where the sun was rising. In the dream, he didn't say anything, just smiled, a peaceful smile that she hadn't seen from him since the days before everything fell apart. She wanted to run to hug him, but the distance between them never seemed to close, no matter how many steps she took.

She woke up just before dawn, sweat beading on her forehead, her heart still beating fast from the dream. She sat up, looked out the window where the first light of a new day was beginning to filter through the curtains, and told herself, whatever that dream meant, it was a reminder that she was doing all of this out of love, not out of hatred, and that, more than anything else, would lead her in the right direction.