Chapter 9
Chapter 9 — The Name on the Page
Michael and Rita push south through the forest toward a settlement. When they stop to examine the ledger page in full daylight, Rita reveals a secret: she recognizes the KSR buyer code as belonging to her own supervisor at the department store's import division, Charles Renner. Renner had encouraged her investigation and arranged for her to travel on that specific cruise. She was not randomly targeted — she was delivered. The implications change everything: Loc had inside help from the start. They reach the edge of a small settlement called Lang Pho. Rita identifies a name on a faded sign that connects to the shipping route, deepening the conspiracy. Michael must decide whether to make the call to his Bangkok contact with information that now implicates someone back home.
They walked for two hours through forest that thinned and thickened again like a man breathing. The red triangle markers stopped after the first kilometer. Michael didn't need them anymore. South was south.
The terrain dropped into a shallow ravine where water had carved a path through red clay. Rita climbed down without help. She moved well for a woman who'd been bound with zip ties twelve hours ago. The department store had trained her in restraint techniques. She'd said that on the barge, in the dark, as if explaining why her wrists didn't tremble.
Michael's ribs had settled into a dull, constant complaint. He'd stopped noticing the individual pulses. The body learned to file its complaints.
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