Chapter 10 - THE CHOICE ADRIÁN OFFERED
Nicolás stared at the two screens.
“Touch either child, and there will be nowhere on earth you can hide.”
Adrián laughed.
“That threat worked better before I learned how much fear controls you.”
Valeria pressed both hands against the screen showing Mateo.
“Please.”
Adrián looked at her.
“You were always the weakest piece.”
“You are talking about children.”
“I am talking about inheritance.”
Elena’s voice came through Nicolás’s earpiece.
“We located Luca on the second floor.”
“And Mateo?”
“Opposite side of the building.”
Adrián had placed them as far apart as possible.
He expected Nicolás to divide his people.
Sofía studied the factory floor.
Old ventilation ducts crossed the ceiling.
Chemical warning signs remained on the walls.
“What is stored here?” she asked.
Nicolás looked around.
“Industrial fabric treatments.”
A hiss came from the ceiling.
White vapor began entering Luca’s room.
The boy coughed.
Valeria ran toward the stairs.
Nicolás caught her.
“That is what he wants.”
“That child will die.”
“So will Mateo if we move blindly.”
Sofía looked at the pipe labels.
The vapor was not poisonous gas.
It was concentrated fragrance mixed with irritants.
Dangerous to Mateo.
Less dangerous to Luca.
“He wants us to think both rooms contain the same threat.”
Nicolás understood.
“Mateo’s room has no vapor.”
“Not yet.”
A second hiss began.
This time, vapor entered Mateo’s glass office.
His heart rate jumped on the monitor.
Sofía grabbed a maintenance diagram from the wall.
“The ventilation systems connect here.”
She pointed to a central wash station.
“If we flood the intake with water, we can reduce the concentration.”
Elena’s team moved toward the control room.
The doors locked electronically.
Adrián’s voice came through the speakers.
“Eight minutes.”
Nicolás looked at Sofía.
“Can you reach Mateo?”
“Yes.”
“That was too quick.”
“You once gave me one hour to save him.”
She held his gaze.
“I need six minutes now.”
Nicolás handed her his jacket.
“Cover your face.”
Sofía ran toward the east corridor.
Valeria followed.
“Go to Luca,” Sofía said.
“I am going to my son.”
“Luca is alone and frightened.”
Valeria stopped.
Sofía pointed toward the stairs.
“Mateo has me.”
Valeria looked at the crying boy on the screen.
Then she ran upstairs.
Nicolás forced open the wash station valve.
Water blasted through the old ventilation intake.
The white vapor thinned.
Sofía reached Mateo’s office.
The electronic lock would not open.
Mateo began coughing.
She wrapped Nicolás’s jacket around her hand and struck the emergency glass panel.
It cracked.
She struck again.
The glass shattered inward.
An alarm screamed through the factory.
Sofía climbed inside.
She wrapped Mateo in fresh cotton from her bag.
His skin was reddening again.
“I am here.”
His eyes opened.
His fingers reached weakly toward her.
Across the factory, Valeria found Luca’s cage.
The lock was chained.
Luca pointed behind her.
“The man with the ring.”
Adrián stepped from the shadows.
He held a metal bar in one hand.
Valeria placed herself between him and the child.
“You will have to go through me.”
Adrián smiled.
“I already did.”
He raised the bar.
A gunshot struck the ceiling above him.
Elena stood at the far end of the walkway.
“Drop it.”
Adrián grabbed Valeria and pulled her against him.
He pressed the bar across her throat.
“Lower the weapon.”
Luca reached through the cage.
He grabbed the chain around Adrián’s ankle and pulled.
Adrián lost his balance.
Valeria drove her elbow into his chest.
Elena rushed forward.
Adrián threw Valeria aside and jumped over the railing onto a lower conveyor.
He disappeared through another passage.
Valeria unlocked Luca.
Below them, Sofía carried Mateo toward the exit.
Nicolás reached her.
“Is he breathing?”
“Yes.”
“Is he safe?”
“Not until we leave.”
The factory lights shut off.
Emergency doors slammed down.
Adrián’s voice returned through the speakers.
“You were never choosing between the children.”
May you like
Metal shutters sealed every exit.
“You were choosing whether all of you would be buried with them.”
