Ah Boys to The Boys [Issue Forty-Seven: “Loose Ends”]

Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Date: 25/7/2026. Time: 9:58PM.

Valeria despised loose ends; they implied oversight, that something or someone had slipped past her. That, more than anything else, was unacceptable, which was why she was standing in to the halls of Tan Tock Seng. She observed the far end of one corridor, then looked at her watch; it read 10PM.

Visiting hours were over, but the hospital did not sleep. Even at this hour, the corridors carried a quiet rhythm: soft footsteps, hushed exchanges, staff whispering, and machines humming behind closed doors. The nurse stepped out right on time: mid-thirties, composed and efficient, trying very hard to look like she belonged exactly where she was, if not a little too hard. Her name was Jackie Chang; like so many people of Chinese descent named “Jackie”, she was named after the martial artist. That said…her build suggested she was anything but.

She barely noticed Valeria until the moment a hand caught her wrist, a second hand clamping her shoulder. A needle pressed into her neck; Jackie’s body slackened before she could even form a scream. Valeria caught her before she hit the floor. “Easy,” she murmured. No one looked; no one ever did.

Location: unknown. Date: Unknown. Time: Unknown.

It was too humid and musty to be a hospital. Jackie looked around: concrete walls and windows too high up to climb. Not that she could, anyway; her legs and hands were tied to the metal chair with thick rope. Nearby, two women sat by a table, a phone between them. Valeria sat across from her, calm and composed, typing on her phone as if she had not just kidnapped someone in such a brazen manner. Jackie’s breath hitched as the reality settled in. “Where—where am I—”

“No need to panic,” Valeria assured her evenly. “You’re not in danger…yet.”

Jackie swallowed hard. “I—I didn’t do anything—”

“You were on duty the night Stratos died.” The words cut clean.

Jackie froze. “I—there were a lot of patients, I don’t—”

“You saw something.”

Jackie shook her head too quickly. “No, you have it all wrong. I—“ Valeria placed a phone on the table; it was a banking screen connected to DBS. The number was there, plain as day:

$3,000,000.00

Jackie’s face drained. Valeria tilted her head slightly. “Three million dollars,” she recited softly, “deposited into an account that did not exist a week prior.” A pause. “Poorly hidden, I should say.”

Jackie’s breathing grew shallow. “I didn’t ask for it. I didn’t—I didn’t know it would be that much, I thought it was just—”

“So you did know.”

Silence. Then Jackie’s shoulders sagged. “Yes…I did.”

Valeria leaned back slightly. “Start talking.”

Jackie squeezed her eyes shut. Then: “He came in late. Nothing in the visitor log, no clearance. But he was stopped by no one.”

Valeria nodded. “Tsunami,” she deduced.

Jackie’s voice trembled, but the memory came back sharp. “He walked like he belonged there.” Valeria said nothing. “He went into her ward; Stratos was stable. Comatose, but stable. Monitors read as normal.” A pause. “I checked twice.” Her hands tightened. “He stayed a few minutes. Then he came out.”

Valeria’s gaze sharpened. “How?”

“Normal,” Jackie said. “That’s what didn’t make sense. He wasn’t panicking. He just… walked out.” A beat. “And then the monitor flatlined.” The room tightened. “He ran back in,” Jackie continued. “Started shouting, calling for help, acting like he just realised.” She shook her head. “It didn’t match. The timing didn’t match.”

Valeria leaned forward. “And you said nothing.”

Jackie looked at her, almost pleading. “Would you have?” she whimpered. “Do you know who he is? Have you seen what he’s done?” Jackie laughed weakly. “I told myself it was nothing, that I was overthinking.” Her voice cracked. “Then the money came in.”

A pause. Valeria looked at her. Then: “Did you get all that?”

Jackie blinked, confused. She glanced past Valeria instinctively, toward the two women clearly under her employ. “I…” she said hesitantly. “I told you everything. The phone would—“

The slap cracked across the room as Jackie’s head snapped sideways. Valeria’s voice never raised. “I wasn’t talking about them.”

Newton. Date: 25/7/2026. Time: 10:03PM.

Daniel sat at home, the television flickered silently in front of him. Footage replayed on loop: SAFTI MI, the water, the chaos, bodies moving where they shouldn’t have. Then the CNV news anchor, speaking as if he was not betraying the very people he once praised publicly.

His phone buzzed. He picked it up; Valeria had just sent him a message. He opened WhatsApp to see it: coordinates. He went to Safari and inserted them in. Malaysia; more specifically, a quiet, unmarked building far from the main roads, passed by thousands of vehicles on the highway between Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur. The perfect spot for people to disappear. Below it, two words:

BRING THEM.

Henry received the forwarded message minutes later. Maya Singh saw it last.

The Malaysian safe house. Now.

Back in the room, Jackie was breathing harder now. “I told you everything,” she said quickly. “I didn’t touch her. I didn’t kill anyone—”

Maya studied her, then she nodded. “You didn’t,” she confirmed. Relief flickered, but died just as quickly. “But you were paid to look away.” Jackie said nothing.

“You will continue to look away,” Valeria continued calmly. “You will forget this conversation. You will not touch that money.”

Jackie nodded rapidly. “Yes. Yes, I won’t—”

“And if you ever speak of this again…” Valeria did not finish; her influence spoke for her. Jackie understood. Valeria turned just as the door opened and two men entered. They did not look at Jackie, but at Valeria as she, Maya, Daniel, and Henry walked out.

The open night air was cracking into dawn. Daniel looked around instinctively, checking for any unwanted persons, then to Valeria. “Tsunami killed her,” he said in disbelief.

Valeria stopped beside him. “Yes.” A beat. “He removed the monitor,” she added. “Used water to drown her, and then reattached it.”

Daniel couldn’t help but ask: “Why did you want me to hear what the nurse said about Stratos?”

“It was a contingency plan, to take one sizeable party off the board.” A beat. “Intelligence has Tsunami in Naypyidaw, where the Straits Guard have built themselves a pretend kingdom from the junta’s ashes.”

Daniel shook his head in disbelief. “A fucking superpowered coup…”

“Exactly. And the same people Tsunami hired for Hong Lim…the entire network is on the move. Every cell, from the Amazon to Siberia. They’re all converging in the Burmese capital.” A beat. “A mercenary force of approximately fifty thousand troops, the entire Myanmar army, and four superhumans.” Another pause. “Tsunami had a private account, too.”

“This can’t be good,” Daniel analysed.

“He was rallying supporters under a die-hard Tsunami fan persona, doxxing critics and painting himself as a godly figure. This was across different religious groups, by the way; churches, Buddhist organisations, Hindu temple communities, even mosques…every community in Singapore — religious, workplace, or residential — has at least four to eight individuals who are subscribed to his sick cult of personality. And they’ve been spreading like a plague.”

Daniel exhaled slowly. “He’ll come back.” Not a guess, but a certainty. “And when he does, they’re going to welcome his invading force with open arms.”

Valeria nodded. “He has nowhere else to go.” Silence settled between them.

“ORDINAL’s numbers are down,” Daniel reported. “Three dead, the rest scattered. We won’t survive another engagement like SAFTI.”

Valeria looked at him. Then: “I can help.” Daniel turned slightly and waited. “One condition,” she added. A pause; he held her gaze for a long moment. Then, quietly: “You’ll know when it’s time.”

Daniel considered it, then nodded. “Fine.” They lingered on the agreeement. “We’re still friends.” It landed heavier than anything else in the past weeks; Valeria chose not to react immediately. “But what you did, using me like this…using all of us…” A slight shake of his head. “That’s another thing.”

Valeria looked at him; for the first time in a long while, there was no calculation behind her eyes, only clarity and recognition. “Understood.” Daniel gave a single nod. Not forgiveness, not yet. “When the time comes,” Valeria said quietly, “I guarantee you’ll understand why.” She paused. “And I’ll come to collect.”

END OF ISSUE FORTY-SEVEN