The drizzle that had been falling since morning seemed to never stop, enveloping the city in a melancholy that dampened the earth. On the outskirts of the city, the gentle rain became lighter as it reached the public cemetery, which was located in a somewhat remote area. The wet and muddy ground was a silent witness to the newly erected gravestones, while the flower arrangements, once beautiful, now looked wilted and drenched by the continuous rain. Around the cemetery, two figures stood alertly near the tightly sealed grave: a man dressed in a loose black suit and a young woman holding an umbrella, sheltering from the rain. From a distance, they might have looked like administrative staff from the foundation who had simply come to pay their respects and represent their institution. But in fact, beneath the raincoats they wore, Rizal and Sari were hiding tiny voice recorders and hidden cameras neatly attached to the brooches on their clothes.
The young man being buried was known as Dani, a foundation volunteer who, according to official reports, had "committed suicide" just two nights earlier. The funeral ceremony was very simple, but what was puzzling was that many of the faces in attendance looked unfamiliar. They were not Dani's family members, nor were they his college friends. A group of men in dark suits and several women wearing sunglasses stood at a distance, staring intently at the grave, as if waiting for something. Not far from the crowd, a black car was parked with the engine still running. From behind the car's tinted windows, the faint shadow of someone observing the situation while lighting a cigarette could be seen.
Quietly, Sari whispered without turning to Rizal. "Riz, they're not family. I asked the cemetery guard, and he said her mother is sick in the village, so she couldn't come."
Rizal replied calmly but cautiously, "Then this isn't just a funeral, but more like a closed meeting. They are using Dani's death as a warning to others."
Suddenly, a woman dressed in white stepped forward to the gravestone. Although she appeared calm, her gaze was sharp and meaningful. Carefully, she placed roses one by one on the grave before speaking briefly but thought-provokingly. "He was a good boy. But he knew too much," she said.
Without waiting for a signal, Sari glanced quickly at Rizal. "Did you hear that?"
"Of course, I heard it," replied Rizal. "And if someone dares to say such words in public, it means that everyone here already knows exactly what happened."
With the manner of a meeting leader, the woman continued her speech while looking at the crowd. "Let us respect this sacrifice. But remember, for those who speak without permission... they will follow. The foundation will not protect a traitor."
Everyone who heard his words suddenly fell silent, looking down as the quiet atmosphere was broken by the sound of increasingly heavy rain.
Sari immediately looked down, lowering her umbrella, while her hand went into her pocket and pressed a small button on her voice recorder. "We have all the evidence, this is a direct threat that has been recorded."
"Wait," Rizal calmed her, "Don't make a mistake, let them move forward first."
Before they could finish their discussion, a well-built man with a military posture emerged from the black car. The man was not part of the foundation. His steps were firm, both hands hidden in his coat pockets, but his movements were stiff, as if he were doing routine exercises. Confidently, he walked straight towards the woman in white and handed her a tightly sealed envelope. The woman opened it quickly, read the contents, then nodded briefly as if she understood the message.
Rizal sensed something strange—the man's standing position, hand gestures, and the way he looked around seemed suspicious. He thought the man resembled a field soldier, but not one from their team. Although his uniform was unclear, Rizal's instincts told him that this was no ordinary civilian.
They spoke very quietly—too far away to be picked up by the microphone. However, Dito, who was observing from the surveillance van outside the cemetery, managed to intercept part of the conversation using a long-range boom mic. Through the faint recording, a woman's voice could be heard saying, "Orders from above. The 'balance' project must continue. Don't interfere with those in the government, their positions have already been arranged." Then a man's voice replied briefly: "And Bravo?"
Shortly after, the signal suddenly cut off—they had switched to a more secure communication channel, or perhaps realized they were being tapped.
Quickly, Dito pressed a button on his radio. "Rizal, your team's name has been mentioned. I repeat: 'Bravo'. Your position has been exposed, move slowly to get out of there!"
Rizal responded in a controlled voice, saying, "The position here is crowded—so we can't move quickly. We need a plan."
Suddenly, Sari's gaze shifted to the rear. "Riz, see that man near the tree—the one wearing a gray rain hat?"
Rizal looked in the direction Sari indicated. The man was standing not too far from them, his face looking familiar. Rizal remembered seeing him at headquarters once. "That's... from Colonel Hendra's unit," Rizal muttered suspiciously. "Did they send a supervisor?"
However, the man did not give any sign of offering help. Instead, he stared intently at their team, one hand tucked behind his jacket, as if preparing to pull something out.
Sari's uneasiness grew stronger. "Riz... if that figure really is the watchman, why...?"
Just as Sari finished her sentence, there was a small explosion. 'Whiz!' Suddenly, a metal projectile flew by, hitting the gravestone near them. Spontaneously, Rizal immediately pulled Sari down to hide behind a large stone gravestone. Panic instantly spread around them. People in the cemetery began to run for their lives, while the black car, which had been passive until then, slowly moved forward without showing any signs of haste. No one had time to call the police.
Rizal quickly dragged Sari out of sight. "Dito, where did the shot come from?!"
With a worried tone, Dito's voice came over the radio, "From the left corner of the cemetery! The shooter is not clearly visible—wearing the same jacket as the internal security members! The local task force hasn't arrived yet!"
On the radio, Maya's voice could be heard giving orders from another surveillance car. "Riz, I see a man in a gray hat! He's opening his pocket—taking out a bag... not a weapon—it's a jammer! They're trying to block the radio signal!"
Rizal gritted his teeth, fully concentrated. "They're trying to cut off our communication. Sari, we'd better split up. I'll go left, while you head to the gate to call the backup team."
Although she looked nervous, Sari nodded bravely, "Be careful."
The increasingly heavy rain wet the ground, causing the surface to become slippery, and the gravestones were covered with rainwater. Rizal moved to the other side, moving nimbly between the graves. The sound of footsteps mixed with the patter of rain. About 30 meters away, the figure of a man in a gray hat reappeared. He seemed to be looking at something in his hand: a cell phone with a small skull logo on the screen before it went blank. He glanced at Rizal before rushing to the back of the cemetery and disappearing over the rusty iron fence.
Sari appeared from the right side, quickly calling for a rescue vehicle using a small flashlight. Maya, who was tasked with picking them up, hurriedly got out of the car. "Get in quickly!"
From a distance, the faint sound of sirens could be heard, but they were still far away and approaching the scene. Rizal managed to reach the car with his clothes soaked and breathing heavily.
After they all got into the car, Dito immediately turned off all the monitors. "We lost them. The black car's license plate number was not registered. However, the jammer signal affected all CCTV cameras for about three minutes. They moved very cleanly."
From headquarters, Fauzan's voice could be heard nervously monitoring the situation. "They must have known you were all there—either this information leaked from our headquarters directly, or perhaps from external observers."
Rizal was still staring out the car window, his blank gaze fixed on the cemetery gate. "What's clear is that they know Dani's position is the pressure point. After this, there won't be any more warnings; they'll go straight to execution."
Sari turned her face toward Rizal. "When that woman said, 'The Foundation doesn't protect traitors'—that was part of their strategy, Riz. If we can scare one of the 'middle levels,' there's a chance he'll come to us."
Rizal took a deep breath. "Yes. It's just that we can't guess for sure how many members of 'Skull Zero' have infiltrated various official institutions. Earlier, it was clear that someone was using methods similar to those of Hendra's unit. If they have people in the ranks of the authorities, then this is no longer a matter of a routine field mission, but has become an infiltration of the internal structure."
In a soft sigh, Hasan's voice could be heard on the radio. "The fact that you managed to get out safely is very lucky. But if the enemy can disguise themselves like us... we have long been involved in an invisible war."
Rizal saw his own blurry reflection in the fogged window. "This war started in the forest," he said softly, "and now it has spread to every institution, every rank. This is no longer an ordinary battle. This is an infiltration of the system."
The car drove out of the cemetery. Unbeknownst to the team, the CCTV camera at the gate silently followed them—without an operator. All the recordings were then stored on a server with an IP address that, unbeknownst to them, led to the domain of a security company that had once sponsored the same foundation.
This story ends with a tension that is no longer about weapons or rituals alone, but the challenge of how the enemy has now become part of the official structure. Terror has changed its form. Now, anyone can easily wear a similar uniform.