The wind howled across the southern cliffs like a chorus of ghosts.
Nam moved swiftly, his boots silent on the rocky terrain. Lan and Shun flanked him, eyes scanning every shadow. The message had given them a time. A place. And a betrayer.
And now it was almost midnight.
"He's here," Lan whispered, pointing toward the edge where the extraction signal was meant to be sent. A faint blinking light pulsed there—a signal beacon.
Nam signaled to hold. "We don't move until we see him."
Minutes crawled by.
Then—footsteps.
Kai emerged from the mist, his silhouette sharp against the moonlight. He paused at the beacon, lifted a small device, and pressed a code.
The extraction beacon turned green.
Nam stepped forward. "Looking for someone, Kai?"
Kai froze. His hand instinctively reached toward his belt.
"Don't," Shun warned, gun already drawn.
Kai's eyes flicked toward Nam. "You figured it out."
"I trusted you," Nam said quietly. "We bled together in Muong Hoa. We buried Minh together."
Kai's jaw tightened. "And what did we get? Forgotten. Left behind while the real enemies wear suits and shake hands."
"That's not justice," Lan snapped. "That's vengeance."
"I don't care what you call it," Kai said, stepping back slowly. "But I'm not dying here."
A sudden flash of metal—Kai threw something.
"Down!" Nam shouted.
The explosion lit the cliffside. Rocks shattered. Dust blinded.
When it cleared, Kai was gone.
Nam cursed, scanning the ledges. "He planned this."
"But we have the beacon," Shun said. "And his signal trace."
Nam narrowed his eyes at the darkened cliff below. "Then we hunt."