Chapter 2

The building had four floors and twelve guards.

Freen had counted them twice.

She stood in the shadows across the street, hood up, eyes moving. The shift change happened at 2am. She had watched it happen the night before from this exact spot, timing it on her watch. Eleven minutes. That was her window.

It was currently 2:03am.

She crossed the street.

The side entrance was unlocked, just like intelligence said it would be. She slipped inside and let the door close quietly behind her. The corridor was dark. Emergency lights only, casting everything in a dim yellow glow. She didn’t need more than that.

She took the stairs.

Third floor, second floor, she moved quickly but without rushing. There was a difference. Rushing made noise. She had learned that a long time ago. Her boots found the quiet spots on each step like muscle memory. Because it was.

Her earpiece crackled. “Sarocha. Status.”

It was Engfa. Her commander. The only person whose voice she trusted completely in situations like this.

“Third floor,” Freen murmured. “Moving.”

“Two guards shifted east. Adjust your route.”

“Already done.”

A short pause. “Of course.”

Freen almost smiled.

She reached the fourth floor and stopped at the door. She pressed her ear against it and listened. One set of footsteps. Moving away. She counted eight seconds then pushed through.

The corridor was empty.

She moved to the second door on the right and knocked twice. The signal she had passed through the handler two days ago. There was a pause. Then shuffling. Then the door opened a crack and a face appeared.

Young. Pale. Eyes wide with fear.

“Are you—”

“Yes,” Freen said. “We need to go. Now.”

He opened the door fully. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Probably hadn’t. “I thought there’d be more of you,” he said.

“There’s enough of me.” She was already moving. “Stay close.”

He followed without argument. Good. She didn’t have time for arguments.

They made the stairwell in under a minute. Going down was faster. She kept one hand slightly behind her, not touching him but close enough that he knew where she was. He was breathing hard. She understood. Fear did that. She had learned to breathe through it a long time ago.

“East exit is clear,” Engfa said in her ear. “Nam has the vehicle. You have four minutes.”

“Three is enough.”

“Freen—”

“Three is enough, Engfa.”

She heard something close to a sigh. It was the most emotion Engfa ever showed during a mission.

Ground floor. The lobby was dim and quiet. The security desk was empty. She could see the guard at the far end of the corridor with his back turned, refilling his water bottle. She had watched him do this every night at 2:17am for three nights running. Some people were very predictable.

She touched the analyst’s arm lightly. He stopped. She counted.

Then she moved and he moved with her, across the lobby, through the side corridor, out the east exit.

The Bangkok night hit them immediately. Hot and thick and loud with the sounds of the city that never really slept. A black car sat idling at the kerb. Nam behind the wheel, sunglasses on despite the hour, because that was Nam.

Freen put the analyst in the back seat. Got in the front.

“Go,” she said.

Nam went.

Nobody followed. No alarms. No headlights in the mirror. Just the city opening up around them, lights and noise and people who had no idea what had just happened six blocks behind them.

Freen let out a slow breath.

“Asset secured,” Engfa said. “Good work, Captain.”

Nam glanced at her sideways. “You good?”

“Fine.”

“You always say that.”

“Because I’m always fine.”

Nam made a face that said she didn’t entirely believe that but wasn’t going to push it. That was the thing about Nam. She knew when to leave things alone.

Freen looked out the window.

The city moved past in streaks of light. A street food cart still going at this hour, smoke rising from the grill. A couple on a motorbike, laughing at something. A woman in a lit office window on the sixth floor of a building they passed, bent over her desk, working late.

Freen watched the woman for the two seconds she was visible.

Then the building was gone and there was just the road ahead.

She turned forward and settled back in her seat. The debrief would be at 0700. She had a few hours. She should sleep.

She probably wouldn’t.

That was the part nobody talked about. The part after. The mission was easy. She was built for the mission. It was everything in between she was still figuring out.

Nam turned the radio on low. Some soft late night song. Neither of them said anything else.

Three weeks later, Engfa would call her into a bare room with no recording equipment and brief her on something entirely different. A law firm. A lawyer. A threat nobody could officially acknowledge.

Freen would sit across from her commander and think — a law firm?

She had absolutely no idea what was coming.

This is going to be a lengthier story… Drama, romance, action… Stay tuned!! And do vote and comment for motivation… Yes that would require for publishing more chapters 😉