Love Amidst the Flames

Chap 9

After the fierce battle, the atmosphere in the refugee camp gradually became lighter. The Japanese forces had finally retreated from the area after suffering heavy losses. Engfa and the resistance team had fought bravely, and now they temporarily held the upper hand. Everyone in the camp sighed with relief, but Engfa knew that the war was not truly over.

The dim light of early morning spread across the refugee camp, with weak rays of sunlight pouring in after a fierce battle. Engfa was resting after a long march when Sun - a close member of the resistance - approached her with a serious expression. He handed her a rolled-up piece of paper, his face showing concern.

• "This is a message from Bangkok," Sun said, his voice low but urgent.

• "The commander wants you to handle it immediately."

Engfa carefully opened the small rolled-up paper. It contained a jumbled sequence of code; the characters seemed tangled together. She frowned, unable to immediately understand its content.

• "The code is too complicated; I can't decipher it right away," Engfa sighed, her eyes heavy as she looked at the string of characters.

Sun looked at her anxiously.

• "The commander said this is important information. It could contain our next strategies or details about transportation routes. But we don't have a decoding machine here..."

• "We have nothing," Engfa replied. "We have to solve this ourselves."

Sun furrowed his brow but said nothing more. Engfa knew that under these difficult resistance conditions, there was no way to decode information quickly. Sometimes, she wondered how much information had been lost simply because essential tools were unavailable.

Feeling a mix of frustration and anxiety, Engfa tucked the coded message into her military uniform pocket. She stepped out of the command tent, walking past rows of tents, inadvertently passing by Charlotte's room.

Inside, Charlotte was focused, the weak light from the desk lamp casting a glow on her concentrated face. Charlotte was carefully jotting down notes on scrap paper, each line written quickly and meticulously.

Engfa paused for a moment, silently observing. She couldn't help but notice the secrecy in Charlotte's actions. Charlotte was not part of the command team, and her gathering of information was not a typical task. Engfa's mind began to fill with suspicion.

Why was Charlotte acting so secretly? Was something wrong? But Engfa did not reveal her thoughts.

Charlotte was engrossed in the stack of newspapers in front of her, the light from the oil lamp creating hazy streaks across the desk. The lines she wrote flowed quickly, her hand moving swiftly over the pages as if she didn't want to miss any detail. But through a small mirror placed on the desk, Charlotte caught sight of Engfa standing at the threshold, silently observing.

Charlotte slightly smiled, her lips curving into a knowing grin, and spoke in a gentle voice loud enough for Engfa to hear:

• "Standing there for so long, aren't you coming in, Officer Engfa?"

Engfa suddenly realized she had been caught. She stepped forward a few paces, trying to maintain her composure.

• "What are you doing, Charlotte?"

Charlotte turned, setting down her pen, still keeping a gentle smile on her face.

• "Oh, I'm just gathering some small bits of information to help the others in the camp understand the situation better."