HER DARK PATH

THE UNSEEN ENEMIES

Chapter 8

The Unseen Enemy

The rain had stopped by morning, but the city was far from calm.

Every television station carried the same breaking news.

SEVEN MEMBERS OF A NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL SYNDICATE FOUND DEAD.

POLICE BELIEVE THE SILENT KILLER HAS STRUCK AGAIN.

The university cafeteria buzzed with discussion as students crowded around a television mounted on the wall.

"I heard those men were involved in human trafficking."

"My cousin said they kidn*pped people for ransom."

"So... does that make the Silent Killer a hero?"

"Or just another criminal?"

The debate grew louder.

Nadia quietly walked past the crowd with a bottle of water in her hand.

She didn't stop to listen.

She simply continued toward her first lecture.

"Morning."

Ethan fell into step beside her.

"You've already seen the news, haven't you?" he asked.

She nodded.

"It's all anyone is talking about."

"I spent half the night reading the police report."

She looked at him with amusement.

"Do you ever sleep?"

"Eventually."

She laughed.

"I'll take that as a no."

Ethan smiled before becoming serious.

"The strange thing is... every victim had a criminal record."

"Really?"

"Officially, only two of them did."

He glanced around before lowering his voice.

"But after digging through old court records and archived news articles, I found connections between all of them."

Nadia raised an eyebrow.

"You found all that overnight?"

"I told you."

He smiled.

"I enjoy solving puzzles."

She looked at him thoughtfully.

"You'd make a good investigator."

"I've heard that before."

"And?"

"I prefer computers."

Their lecture ended earlier than expected.

As students filed out of the hall, Vanessa deliberately walked past Nadia.

Their shoulders brushed.

"Oh."

Vanessa turned with a polite smile.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's alright," Nadia replied.

She bent down to pick up the notebook that had slipped from her hand.

Vanessa smiled sweetly before walking away.

No one noticed that during the brief collision, she had quietly slipped a folded piece of paper into Nadia's bag.

Not even Nadia.

Later that afternoon...

The university library was almost empty.

Nadia and Ethan sat across from each other, surrounded by textbooks and financial reports.

"This section needs more references," Nadia said, pointing to a paragraph on Ethan's laptop.

"I thought you were going to say that."

"You know me too well."

"I've been learning."

He made the changes while she continued reading.

After a few minutes, Ethan suddenly frowned.

"That's strange."

"What is?"

"My laptop detected an unknown device trying to connect through the library network."

"Can you find out who it is?"

"I'll try."

His fingers moved swiftly across the keyboard.

Lines of code flashed across the screen.

A moment later, he sighed.

"They disconnected."

"So you couldn't trace them?"

"They knew enough to disappear before leaving a trail."

Nadia studied his expression.

"That doesn't happen often, does it?"

He slowly shook his head.

"No."

"For the first time in a long while..."

"...someone actually challenged me."

As evening approached, Nadia returned home.

She had barely stepped through the front door when her father smiled.

"You're late."

"The library kept me."

"Working with your project partner?"

She nodded.

"He's very hardworking."

Her father chuckled.

"You've mentioned him twice this week."

"Have I?"

"You have."

A faint blush crept onto Nadia's cheeks.

"I was talking about the project."

"I'm sure you were."

Before she could respond, her brother walked into the living room carrying a letter.

"Sis, this came for you."

Nadia accepted the envelope.

There was no sender's name.

She opened it carefully.

Inside was a blank sheet of paper.

Nothing else.

She frowned.

"That's odd."

Her brother shrugged.

"Maybe someone made a mistake."

"Maybe."

She folded the paper and slipped it back into the envelope.

Outside the apartment building, a man wearing a black cap lowered a pair of binoculars.

He made a phone call.

"I've confirmed her address."

A deep voice answered from the other end.

"Good."

"Keep watching."

The call ended.

The man never noticed another figure standing silently on the rooftop of a nearby building, watching him from the shadows.

Neither face was visible.

The night was becoming far more dangerous than anyone realized.