# **CHAPTER 6**
## **THE WAR BEGINS**
10:47 p.m.
The Mahendra Investment Partners office, usually filled with the sound of conversation, had become a place thick with tension.
Several officers were still examining documents.
Computers were being inspected.
Drawers were opened.
Transaction files were collected.
Arga stood by the window, watching it all.
His face was calm.
Too calm for someone who had just been accused of market manipulation.
Raka approached him.
“Arga.”
“Yeah?”
“What should we do?”
Arga didn’t answer right away.
His eyes remained fixed on the street below.
“We don’t do anything.”
Raka furrowed his brow.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t panic.”
“But they’re searching our office.”
“I know.”
“And they have the transaction data.”
Arga finally turned around.
“That’s exactly the problem.”
Raka fell silent.
“If we panic, we’ll make a mistake.”
Arga pointed at one of the officers.
“Let them search.”
“Why?”
“Because if we don’t make any mistakes, they won’t find anything.”
Raka nodded slowly.
But his face was still full of worry.
“What about Nadia?”
Arga fell silent.
The message from earlier still echoed in his mind.
**Stop now, or the next person who dies won’t be your father.**
For the first time that night, Arga’s expression changed.
“Starting tonight, no one goes home alone.”
Raka stared at him.
“You too?”
“Especially me.”
11:30 p.m.
The inspection was over.
Nothing had been seized apart from several copies of documents and storage devices directly related to the investigation.
One of the officers handed Arga an official letter.
“We’ll contact you if we need any additional information.”
Arga nodded.
“Understood.”
The officer left.
The office door closed.
Everyone let out a sigh.
Dimas sat down immediately.
“Damn.”
Fajar, who had been silent until then, finally spoke.
“Who did this?”
Arga walked back to the desk.
“The same person who sent that message.”
Nadia looked at him.
“So they already know we found Consortium K.”
“They don’t just know.”
Arga set his phone on the desk.
“They’re afraid.”
Nadia furrowed her brow.
“Afraid of us?”
“No.”
Arga looked at the photo of himself with the team hanging on the wall.
“They’re afraid of what we might find.”
Raka nodded.
“Then should we stop looking?”
Arga gave a faint smile.
“That’s exactly why we’re starting now.”
The next morning, Arga arrived at the office before everyone else.
He opened his laptop.
One company appeared on the screen.
**Nusantara Data Exchange.**
Market value.
Rp900 billion.
Stable revenue.
Low debt.
Ordinary growth.
Nothing looked special.
But Arga knew financial statements were only the surface.
He opened the ownership data.
Then the subsidiary structure.
Then the old contracts.
One after another.
Until finally, he found something.
Nusantara Data Exchange had exclusive contracts with several major logistics companies.
The data they managed wasn’t just about shipments.
They had information on distribution patterns.
Cargo volumes.
Warehouse movements.
Supply chains.
Even intercompany transaction patterns.
Arga leaned back in his chair.
“There it is.”
The door opened.
Nadia entered.
“What is?”
Arga turned the screen toward her.
“If we control this company, we won’t have to chase every company one by one.”
Nadia studied the data.
“We can see their network.”
“Exactly.”
“Including the companies connected to Consortium K?”
“If my hypothesis is correct.”
Nadia fell silent.
“How much would it cost to control 51 percent?”
“About Rp459 billion at the current market price.”
Nadia shook her head.
“We have Rp53 billion.”
“I know.”
“So how do we do it?”
Arga smiled.
“We don’t buy 51 percent all at once.”
Nadia began to understand.
“We get in gradually.”
“Not just that.”
Arga opened a document.
“We find shareholders who need money.”
Nadia read through the list.
There were several names.
One of them made her stop.
“This…”
“What?”
“This investment firm.”
Arga looked at the name.
**Orion Pacific Holdings.**
The room suddenly fell silent.
Nadia looked at Arga.
“They own 8.7 percent.”
Arga smiled.
“Now we know where to start.”
Two days later, Arga received a dinner invitation.
The sender was none other than Richard Wijaya.
The chosen location was a luxurious restaurant in central Jakarta.
Arga arrived with Raka.
Richard was already waiting.
He sat calmly, sipping coffee.
“Arga.”
“Mr. Richard.”
Richard smiled.
“You’re advancing quickly.”
Arga sat down.
“I’m not sure whether that’s a compliment.”
“Take it as a warning.”
Raka immediately looked at him.
Richard chuckled.
“I like people with guts.”
Arga didn’t smile.
“Why did you invite me?”
Richard set down his cup.
“Because I want to save you.”
Arga raised an eyebrow.
“From what?”
“From the mistake your father made.”
His father’s name had come up again.
Arga clenched his fists.
“What do you know about my father?”
Richard gazed at him for a long moment.
“More than you think.”
“Including Consortium K?”
Richard didn’t answer.
Arga continued.
“Including SLN Property?”
Richard remained silent.
“Including my father’s death?”
This time, Richard smiled.
“That’s a dangerous question.”
Arga rose slightly from his seat.
“I’m not afraid.”
Richard shook his head.
“That’s your problem.”
He took out an envelope.
Then he pushed it toward Arga.
“Open it.”
Arga opened the envelope.
Inside were several photographs.
A photo of his father.
A photo of Richard.
A photo of Leonard Hartono.
And one more photo.
Arga froze.
It showed his father handing a briefcase to a man.
The man’s face wasn’t clearly visible.
But there was a date written on the back.
**June 17, 2011.**
Richard spoke softly.
“That night, your father made a decision that changed everything.”
Arga stared at him.
“What decision?”
Richard smiled.
“He stole something from Consortium K.”
“What?”
“Data.”
Arga fell silent.
Richard continued.
“Data on the entire network of companies they controlled.”
Arga’s breathing grew heavy.
“Where is the data?”
Richard met his eyes.
“That’s what we never found.”
Arga stood.
“And you think I know?”
“I think your father left something for you.”
Richard paused for a moment.
“If you find it, you won’t just learn who killed your father.”
He leaned forward.
“You’ll learn who really controls the economy from behind the scenes.”
Arga left the restaurant without answering.
Inside the car, Raka looked at him.
“Do you believe him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because Richard talked too much.”
Raka nodded.
“Then why did he give us the information?”
Arga looked out the window.
“Because he wants us to look for something.”
“And?”
“He wants to see what we find.”
Raka fell silent.
Arga took out the photograph again.
“Something’s strange.”
“What?”
“Look at the date.”
Raka looked.
“2011.”
“Right.”
“So?”
Arga pointed at the photograph.
“Behind my father, there’s a project board.”
Raka zoomed in on the photo.
Several words were faintly visible.
Then he read one of them.
**NDE.**
Raka immediately looked at Arga.
“Nusantara Data Exchange?”
Arga nodded.
“That company already existed back then.”
Raka fell silent.
“So NDE isn’t an ordinary company.”
“No.”
Arga put the photograph into a folder.
“That’s why they want us to stay away.”
That night, Arga contacted someone.
Not Nadia.
Not Raka.
Someone he had never involved in the business before.
His uncle.
The phone rang for a long time.
Finally, someone answered.
“Hello?”
“Uncle.”
The voice on the other end immediately changed.
“Arga?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I want to ask you about my father.”
Silence.
“Why now?”
“Because I found something.”
Arga’s uncle didn’t answer.
“I found the name Consortium K.”
The sound of breathing came through the phone.
“Who told you?”
“Richard.”
The silence grew longer.
“Uncle.”
“Don’t dig any deeper.”
Arga closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“Because your father already tried.”
“And?”
“He failed.”
Arga clenched his fists.
“How did he die?”
His uncle didn’t answer.
“Uncle.”
At last, the voice came.
“It wasn’t an accident.”
Arga froze.
“What?”
“Your father’s car did go over a cliff.”
“Then what?”
“The brakes were cut.”
Arga couldn’t speak.
For years, he had believed his father died in an accident.
But he hadn’t.
“There’s one more thing,” his uncle said.
“What?”
“A week before his death, your father came to the house.”
“Why?”
“He left a box with me.”
Arga immediately stood.
“Where is it?”
His uncle fell silent.
“Uncle?”
“It’s still here.”
“Where?”
“At the old house.”
Arga grabbed his car keys.
“I’m going there tonight.”
“Don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because someone’s been watching the house since this afternoon.”
Arga stopped.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
The call disconnected.
1:20 a.m.
Arga stood in front of his family’s old house.
The house had been empty for years.
The paint on the walls was beginning to peel.
The yard was overgrown with grass.
His uncle was already waiting for him.
“Come in.”
They walked toward his father’s room.
An old wooden cabinet stood in the corner.
His uncle opened the bottom section.
He took out a metal box.
Arga stared at it.
“This?”
His uncle nodded.
“Don’t open it here.”
“Why?”
His uncle pointed at the window.
A shadow moved outside.
Arga immediately turned off the lights.
They stayed silent.
A few seconds later, the sound of a car engine came from outside.
A black vehicle stopped in front of the house.
His uncle whispered,
“They’re here.”
Arga gripped the box.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
Suddenly, the car’s headlights went out.
Then the vehicle’s door opened.
One person got out.
Then two.
Then three.
Arga looked at his uncle.
“We’re going out the back.”
They moved slowly.
But before they reached the back door, the front window shattered.
Something was thrown inside.
Smoke began filling the room.
His uncle coughed.
“Arga!”
Arga pulled his uncle along.
“Get out!”
They ran through the back door.
Footsteps echoed from inside the house.
They ran toward the garden.
A voice shouted from behind them.
“Hand over the box!”
Arga didn’t stop.
He kept running.
Until they finally reached the narrow road behind the house.
A car was already waiting.
Raka got out.
“Get in!”
Arga and his uncle quickly climbed inside.
The car sped away.
A few seconds later, gunshots rang out in the distance.
Raka looked in the rearview mirror.
“Are they following us?”
Arga nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Then what’s inside the box?”
Arga looked at the metal box on his lap.
“I don’t know yet.”
He unlocked it.
Click.
The lid slowly lifted.
Inside was a hard drive.
A notebook.
And an old photograph.
Arga picked up the photograph.
The faces in it made his blood run cold.
There was his father.
Richard.
Leonard.
Daniel.
And another man.
A man no one had ever mentioned.
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten message from his father.
**“If you found this, it means they already know you exist.”**
Arga read the next line.
**“Trust no one.”**
Then the final line.
**“Including the person helping you.”**
Arga slowly lowered the photograph.
Raka saw it through the rearview mirror.
“What is it?”
Arga didn’t answer.
His eyes were fixed on a single name written in the notebook.
A name he had never expected.
The name of someone who had been very close to him all along.
Very close.
Arga closed the notebook.
“Pull over somewhere safe.”
Raka slowly applied the brakes.
“Why?”
Arga looked at him.
“Because we have a traitor on the team.”
Raka froze.
“Who?”
Arga looked at the photograph one more time.
Then he said softly,
“I don’t know yet.”
He slipped the hard drive into his bag.
“But from now on…”
Arga stared at the dark road ahead.
“…no one can know what’s inside it.”
That night, Arga finally understood one thing.
The war he had thought was only just beginning had actually been going on for fifteen years.
And without realizing it…
**he had been part of that war since the day he was born.**