Chapter 13 - THE PHANTOM ISLAND
Inside the warm, wood-paneled galley of The Golden Dragon, Captain Binh poured cups of steaming ginger tea for the children. Rosy quickly drifted off to sleep on a bunk, exhausted, while Minh sat near the engine hatch, watching the door.
Binh spread an old navigational chart of Ha Long Bay across the dining table.
"Your sister didn't hide in the villages because she wanted to abandon you, Linh," Binh said softly, tracing his rough thumb over an unmarked cluster of limestone islets eight miles offshore. "She hid because Han’s network owns every police station from Haiphong to the border."
"Where did they take her, Binh?" Linh demanded, leaning over the map.
"Cat BaIslet 9," Binh answered, his voice dropping into a solemn murmur. "It’s a abandoned French-era artillery fortress built into the karst cliffs. Han’s syndicate uses it as an offshore transit hub before moving victims onto international cargo freighters."
"Why didn't Mai run further away?" Linh asked, tears choking her throat. "Why stay so close to Ha Long?"
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"Because she was waiting for you," Binh revealed, looking Linh straight in the eye. "Every month for six years, Mai sent me into the city night markets to check if you were still wearing that grey coat. She knew Han was watching you, but she couldn't leave Vietnam until she had enough hard evidence to destroy him without putting you in the crosshairs."
Linh buried her face in her hands, her heart breaking into a thousand pieces. Mai hadn't been running from her—Mai had been acting as a human shield for six long years to keep Linh alive.
