CHAPTER EIGHT
The First Door
That evening, Gila sat in the university library surrounded by books she wasn't reading.
The photograph lay beneath an open notebook.
She had spent two hours trying to understand the markings visible in the background.
Nothing.
The location remained unidentified.
The date remained unexplained.
And the message on her phone continued to haunt her.
THE RIVER IS WAITING.
She looked at the photograph again.
There had to be something she was missing.
Something everyone else had overlooked.
She enlarged the photograph on her phone.
The faces became blurry.
The river became a collection of shadows.
The dock remained visible.
Then she saw it.
A symbol.
Carved into one of the wooden posts.
Three intersecting lines surrounded by a small circle.
Gila stared.
She had seen that symbol before.
Not in the photograph.
In the documents.
She pulled them from her bag.
Pages scattered across the table.
She searched through them until she found the reference.
There it was.
The same symbol.
Beside a series of coded entries.
Gila's pulse quickened.
She copied the reference number into the university database.
The search returned one result.
A research archive.
Her heart began beating faster.
She opened it.
The file was restricted.
ACCESS DENIED.
Gila stared at the screen.
Then she smiled.
"Of course."
She knew someone who could help.
Twenty minutes later, she was standing outside an office on the second floor.
She knocked.
"Come in."
The professor looked up from his desk.
He was an older man with silver hair and the permanently tired expression of someone who had spent too many years reading documents nobody else cared about.
"Yes?"
"I need access to an archive."
He studied her.
"Which archive?"
Gila gave him the reference number.
The professor's expression changed.
"Where did you get that?"
"I found it."
"That isn't an answer."
"I know."
He stood.
"Where?"
Gila placed the photograph on his desk.
He looked at it.
His face became completely still.
"You shouldn't have this."
"Why?"
He picked it up carefully.
"Because this photograph was never supposed to exist."
Gila felt a chill.
"What does that mean?"
The professor looked toward the closed office door.
Then lowered his voice.
"Years ago, there was an investigation."
"Into what?"
"Smuggling."
Gila's eyes hardened.
"What kind?"
"People. Artifacts. Documents. Anything that could be moved without attracting attention."
"And Rymus?"
The professor looked directly at her.
"You know his name?"
"Yes."
"Then you know enough to understand why you should walk away."
Gila shook her head.
"No."
The professor sighed.
"That is what everyone says before they discover what he is capable of."
"Then tell me."
He stared at her.
Finally, he walked to a cabinet and unlocked it.
From inside, he removed a thin brown folder.
He placed it on the desk.
"This is everything that survived."
Gila opened it.
The first pages contained maps.
The second contained names.
The third contained financial records.
Then she saw it.
Rymus.
His name appeared beside several companies.
Different names.
Different addresses.
Different countries.
But the same symbol appeared beside each one.
The symbol from the photograph.
Gila looked up.
"How many operations?"
The professor shook his head.
"We never knew."
"Why?"
"Because the companies changed faster than we could investigate them."
Gila turned another page.
There were photographs.
Boats.
Warehouses.
Remote villages.
Men standing beside crates.
And then she saw something that made her stop.
A university seal.
Her university.
"What is this?"
The professor's expression darkened.
"That's why the file was buried."
Gila looked at him.
"Rymus had people inside the university."
"Not had."
He corrected her.
"May still have."
The room seemed to become colder.
Gila slowly closed the folder.
"Who?"
The professor looked toward the door again.
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I am protecting you."
"From whom?"
He didn't answer.
Then footsteps sounded in the hallway.
The professor's eyes widened.
He quickly took the photograph.
"Leave."
Gila didn't move.
"Now."
The footsteps stopped outside.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Someone was standing there.
The professor whispered:
"Do not let them see you."
Gila moved behind a tall shelf.
The door opened.
A man entered.
He wore a dark jacket despite the heat.
He didn't speak.
He simply looked around the office.
The professor stood calmly behind his desk.
"Can I help you?"
The man smiled.
"I was told you received a visitor."
"I receive many visitors."
"Her name is Gila."
Silence.
Gila held her breath.
The professor shook his head.
"I don't know anyone by that name."
The man stared at him.
Then smiled again.
"You should be more careful about the people you protect."
He turned and left.
The footsteps disappeared down the corridor.
Gila remained hidden for several seconds.
Then she stepped out.
"Who was that?"
The professor looked exhausted.
"Someone working for Rymus."
Gila felt anger rise inside her.
"They're already here."
"Yes."
"Inside the university."
"Yes."
She looked down at the folder.
"Then this isn't just about the past anymore."
The professor nodded.
"No."
He opened the folder again and pointed to a final page.
"This is the reason they came."
Gila read the heading.
A list of locations.
One was circled.
A remote river settlement.
Beside it was a handwritten note.
TRANSFER POINT — ACTIVE.
Gila looked at the professor.
"When was this written?"
He hesitated.
"Three days ago."
Her heart stopped.
Three days.
That meant the operation was active now.
Not years ago.
Not something buried in history.
Now.
Gila closed the folder.
"Then we're going to the river."
The professor stared at her.
"You don't understand what you're walking into."
Gila thought about the photograph.
The message.
The man at the door.
And the person she had begun to care about.
"I understand enough."
She picked up her bag.
Outside, the university continued as if nothing had happened.
Students laughed.
Doors opened and closed.
Music played somewhere in the distance.
But beneath that ordinary life, something darker was moving.
Rymus had built a network.
Someone inside the university was protecting it.
And Gila had just opened the first door.
She didn't know yet how many doors remained.
But she knew one thing.
She was going through every one of them.