Chapter 28:
No Way Out
Hoa turned the steering wheel sharply.
The ambulance skidded along the road before coming to a
sudden stop, only a few dozen paces from the rear of the black car.
Before they could recover, two more cars rushed in from both
sides of the road, blocking them from the front and the rear.
Car doors opened in rapid succession.
More and more feet struck the road.
Somewhere nearby, a chained dog barked furiously. Below
them, river water slapped against the foot of the embankment.
“Get out! Quickly!”
Hoa pulled open the door and dragged Khai Minh out.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he staggered and
nearly fell. His entire body was still weak because the medication had not
fully worn off.
Hoa wrapped an arm around him, leaned close to his ear, and
spoke quickly.
“There’s a wall on your right. Follow it straight ahead.
After about fifty steps, you’ll reach an old pier. Hide there and lie still.”
She tightened her hold on him.
“Don’t call for help. I’ll go back and draw them away.”
“Come with me.”
“There’s no time.”
Hoa pushed him toward the wall.
“As long as you’re alive, Mai Ngoc may still have a chance
to clear her name one day. Go!”
She released him, spun around, and deliberately made as much
noise as possible in the opposite direction, shouting loudly so the men would
follow her.
Khai Minh pressed his back against the cold wall and felt
his way forward through the darkness.
The cane touched the ground, striking an iron pipe and then
a coil of rope.
The smell of mud and brackish water grew stronger.
He was approaching the river.
But behind him, the footsteps changed direction.
“He’s running this way! There’s the blind man!”
Someone had spotted him.
The pounding footsteps drew closer and closer.
Khai Minh tried to move faster, but his legs felt as heavy
as lead.
He stumbled over a sloping step and pitched forward.
The cane flew from his hand, clattering down several steps before
disappearing.
Khai Minh pushed himself up.
Without the cane, he had only his hands reaching through
empty space.
The sound of water was directly below him now.
Very close.
He had reached the edge of the pier.
He had also reached the end of the road.
A man’s voice came from behind him, calm and triumphant.
“You may as well stop there, nephew. Where else can you
run?”
Khai Minh went rigid.
“Uncle.”
Minh Quan approached, his leather shoes grinding against the
ground.
He stopped several steps away and folded his arms.
Before him stood his own nephew, alone at the edge of the
water, his hospital clothes disheveled, his eyes wide open yet unable to see
anything.
A cold satisfaction rose inside Minh Quan.
“You should have died with your parents seven years ago.”
He gave a scornful laugh.
“You’ve held on to that life of yours for a long time. But
however stubborn it is, it ends today.”
“You killed my parents. You killed Aunt Mai Ngoc.”
Khai Minh’s words came out trembling.
“Do you think killing everyone will make it all go away?”
“Of course it will.”
Minh Quan took another step.
“The dead have no mouths left to speak.”
He paused.
“And as for you, you’re a blind madman who escaped from a
psychiatric facility, wandered to the river at night, and lost his footing. Who
would question it?”
“People will only pity a poor sick boy. That’s all.”
Behind Minh Quan, his men spread into a line and slowly
tightened the circle around Khai Minh.
The dog continued barking, its chain pulled tight.
Khai Minh listened.
There were men to his right, to his left, and behind him.
Every direction was blocked.
Only one path remained open.
The black river behind him.
Khai Minh stepped back half a pace.
His toes touched the wooden edge of the pier.
Below, cold mist rose and brushed against the back of his
neck. The current roared heavily through the night, dark and deep.
One path meant dying in Minh Quan’s hands, dying like an
animal, while the name Lam Khai Minh remained forever branded as a madman and a
murderer.
The other was the freezing river, with no way of knowing
where it would carry him.
In that moment, Khai Minh’s mind became strangely calm.
He thought of his mother and of the watch still ticking on
his wrist.
He thought of An Nhien and of the promise he had made to
those who had died.
He had not yet repaid that debt.
He could not die.
He had to live.
Whatever it cost, he had to live.
“You’re right, Uncle.”
Khai Minh raised his head and turned his face directly
toward Minh Quan.
The corner of his mouth lifted.
“Someone may die tonight. But that person may not be me.”
Minh Quan seemed to realize what he intended.
“Grab him!”
Several figures lunged forward.
But Khai Minh had already taken the final half step.
He spread his arms and let himself fall backward into the
empty darkness.
The coat Hoa had placed around his shoulders caught on the
edge of the pier and slipped from his body.
For one instant, there was only the wind screaming past his
ears.
Then the freezing water struck him like thousands of needles
and closed over his entire body, swallowing both him and Minh Quan’s shout from
the bank.
The name Lam Khai Minh slipped beneath the surface with him,
dragging everything down into the bottomless darkness of the river.
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