Debt Paid in Blood

The Carpenters Estate, Jakarta Outskirts – Dawn. The mansion rose from mist-shrouded gardens like a ghostly palace, its marble façade streaked with rain. Beneath its vaulted ceilings, crystal chandeliers trembled as gunfire echoed in the distance. Bintang and Felix crouched behind a bullet-riddled Rolls-Royce, the scent of jasmine and cordite clashing in the air.

Felix snapping a fresh magazine into his pistol. “North wing—stairs to the panic room. Go. I’ll cover.”

Bintang staring at a family portrait on the wall—Mr. Carpenter, his wife, and two daughters. “I taught those girls to ride bikes. Damn it.”

A Syndicate enforcer rounded the corner. Felix dropped him with two shots. “Sentiment gets you killed. Move.”

They sprinted past gilded mirrors, their reflections splintering. In the grand hall, chaos reigned: Carpeter’s guards lay slaughtered, their blood seeping into Persian rugs. Above the fireplace, a keris dagger—the Carpenter family heirloom—gleamed in the gloom.