Landing at Xiamen airport and heading straight for Thailand, barely twenty-four hours had passed before a chilling video buzzed onto the family phone back home. In the footage was their youngest brother, fresh out of school and barely starting out in life, while the kidnappers demanded a cool forty thousand US dollars for his release. Anyone would go weak at the knees facing something like that. With an elderly father battling cancer and another brother fresh out of the military, the family was flat broke. Where on earth were they supposed to find forty thousand dollars?
The family was frantic, swearing with worry. They insisted that the person who had called the brother abroad and sent him straight to Myawaddy—someone the family trusted completely—had to bring him back in one piece, or there would be a blood debt to settle. But strangely, even with the house on fire, the eldest brother acted like nothing was wrong, dragging his feet and refusing to lift a finger. A trusted friend had pushed the younger brother into the fire pit, and the eldest brother was turning a blind eye. What kind of shady business was going on behind the scenes?
Neighbors just shook their heads when they heard about it. These days, people leave home looking to make a living, thinking they are off to strike it rich. Instead, before they even get a good look at the airport gates, they are sold off to a scam compound. The local air is thick with motorcycle exhaust and anxiety, and in this kind of man-eating trap, one wrong step is a bottomless abyss.
