Seno stood beneath the flickering light.
Rain fell slowly behind him.
Raka didn't move.
For years, he had believed Seno was dead.
In his memory, Seno was one of the team members who went missing after their last operation. There had been no body. No word. Only a brief report stating that Seno had failed to return.
But now the man was standing right in front of him.
Alive.
And smiling as if they'd only parted yesterday.
“How are you alive?” Raka asked.
Seno slipped both hands into his coat pockets.
“A lot of questions.”
“Answer that one.”
Seno stared at Raka for a long moment.
“Because that night, I wasn't where I was supposed to be.”
Raka furrowed his brow.
“What do you mean?”
“I was ordered to leave before everything happened.”
Bayu immediately stepped forward.
“Who gave you the order?”
Seno looked at Bayu.
“You still ask too many questions.”
Bayu fell silent.
Raka watched Bayu's expression change.
There was something between them.
Something Raka didn't know about.
Seno then looked at Laras.
“And you're still here.”
Laras didn't answer.
Jaka stepped forward.
“If you know who the traitor is, say it.”
Seno smiled.
“That easy?”
“We don't have time.”
“Precisely because you don't have time, I won't tell you now.”
Jaka looked annoyed.
Raka raised a hand.
“Then why did you come?”
Seno looked at him.
“To save you.”
Raka gave a quiet laugh.
“After disappearing for years?”
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
Seno shook his head.
“Not that night.”
The words left Raka silent.
Seno walked closer.
“Raka, you have to remember what happened before the operation.”
“I've tried.”
“Don't try to remember everything.”
Seno stopped right in front of him.
“Remember one thing.”
“What?”
“Who gave the final order.”
Raka closed his eyes.
Old sounds came rushing back.
The radio.
Rain.
Footsteps.
A commander's voice.
Then a sentence.
“Don't come back until the target is secured.”
Raka opened his eyes.
“Arman.”
Seno nodded.
“Yes.”
Bayu cut in immediately.
“Don't drag Arman's name into this.”
Raka turned to him.
“Why are you defending him?”
Bayu said nothing.
Raka became even more certain that something was being hidden.
Seno looked at Bayu.
“You haven't told him?”
“Shut up, Seno.”
“What haven't you told me?” Raka asked.
Bayu didn't answer.
Seno said,
“Bayu isn't the traitor.”
Raka was startled.
“How do you know?”
“Because the real traitor is the person closest to Arman.”
Raka looked at Laras.
Then Jaka.
Then Deni.
No one spoke.
“Who?” Raka asked.
Seno pulled a small object from his pocket.
An old military badge.
He placed it in Raka's hand.
Raka recognized it.
The badge had been given to every member of their team after a major operation.
But something was different.
There was a small scratch on the back.
A code.
Raka examined it.
“What is this?”
“A clue.”
“For what?”
“To find the person who orchestrated everything.”
Seno stepped back.
“If you want to know the truth, don't trust anyone.”
Raka stared at him.
“Not even you?”
Seno smiled.
“Especially me.”
Then the sound of a vehicle came from the distance.
Seno turned.
“Our time's up.”
He walked toward his car.
Raka chased after him.
“Wait!”
Seno stopped for a moment.
“What?”
“Why me?”
Seno looked at him over his shoulder.
“Because you're the only one still alive among the people who know what really happened.”
Raka fell silent.
Seno got into the car.
Before leaving, he rolled down the window.
“And one more thing.”
“What?”
“Don't take Adrian's documents.”
Raka furrowed his brow.
“Why?”
Seno answered,
“Because those documents aren't evidence.”
The car started moving.
“Then what are they?”
Seno only smiled.
“Bait.”
The car vanished behind the rain.
Raka returned to the building, his thoughts in turmoil.
Bayu stood near the table.
“He's right.”
Raka turned to him.
“The documents are bait?”
Bayu nodded slowly.
“At least, that's what we're starting to suspect.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I wasn't sure who could be trusted.”
Raka looked at everyone.
Deni seemed uneasy.
Jaka looked angry.
Laras, on the other hand, was far too calm.
Raka approached Laras.
“You know something?”
Laras looked at him.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“There are a lot of things you still don't remember.”
Raka studied her eyes.
“You know about that night.”
Laras didn't answer.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Laras drew a breath.
“We were ordered to secure someone.”
“Who?”
“A witness.”
“And?”
“The witness never made it to the location.”
Raka fell silent.
“Why?”
Laras looked at him seriously.
“Because someone leaked our position.”
The room fell silent.
Raka finally understood something.
The betrayal hadn't happened after the operation.
The betrayal had happened before they arrived.
Someone had sold them out.
And if Seno was telling the truth, that person was still alive.
Raka's phone suddenly vibrated.
A message came in.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO THE TRAITOR IS, COME ALONE TO THE SITE OF YOUR LAST OPERATION.
Raka read the message.
The location was listed beneath it.
A place he'd spent years trying to forget.
The place where his old life had ended.
Raka slipped his phone into his pocket.
“I'm going.”
Bayu looked at him.
“Don't.”
Raka grabbed his jacket.
“I need to know.”
“Raka, it's a trap.”
Raka stopped at the door.
“Maybe.”
He turned.
“But if I keep running from my past, they'll keep controlling my life.”
Raka walked out.
In the distance, thunder boomed.
That night, the former soldier who was now becoming known as part of the robber crew returned to the place that had once destroyed his life.
And without his knowledge, someone was already waiting for him there.
Someone who knew the whole truth.
Someone who might be the traitor.
Or perhaps the person who had been trying to save him all along.