Chapter 11 - THE FACTORY WITH NO EXIT
Darkness swallowed the factory.
Mateo whimpered against Sofía’s chest.
Nicolás used his phone light.
Red emergency symbols flashed above the sealed exits.
Elena’s voice came through the radio.
“The building’s fire system has been reversed.”
Sofía looked upward.
“What does that mean?”
“The doors lock during an alarm.”
Smoke began rising from the western storage room.
Adrián had started a fire.
Valeria came down the stairs carrying Luca.
The boy buried his face against her neck.
“Where is Adrián?” Nicolás asked.
“He escaped through the conveyor passage.”
Elena checked the factory map.
“That passage leads outside.”
“He locked us in and left,” Valeria said.
Nicolás looked toward the spreading smoke.
“No.”
He shook his head.
“He stayed to make sure we die.”
Sofía felt Mateo’s breathing quicken.
“Smoke will hurt him before it hurts us.”
Nicolás searched the walls.
“These buildings have underground drainage.”
“Can we reach it?”
“Through the chemical rinse room.”
They moved beneath the conveyor belts.
Smoke lowered from the ceiling.
Sofía kept Mateo’s face covered with damp cotton.
Luca began coughing.
Valeria carried him closer to the floor.
The rinse room door was chained.
Nicolás wrapped the chain around a metal wheel and pulled.
It did not break.
Elena fired at the lock.
The bullet struck the floor.
The chain remained intact.
“Move back,” Sofía said.
She opened her medical bag.
Inside were two small oxygen canisters.
She placed one beneath the lock.
Elena understood.
“Everyone down.”
She fired at the valve.
The pressure blast snapped the weakened chain.
The door flew open.
Cold water covered the rinse room floor.
At the center was a maintenance hatch.
Nicolás lifted it.
A narrow tunnel descended into darkness.
“Valeria takes Luca.”
“Sofía takes Mateo.”
Elena looked at him.
“And you?”
“I go last.”
They entered the tunnel.
Smoke poured into the rinse room behind them.
Halfway through the drainage passage, Mateo began crying.
Sofía stopped.
“What is wrong?” Nicolás asked.
She examined his skin.
The cotton around his legs was wet with factory runoff.
The water carried traces of the same chemical.
“We need clean fabric.”
Nicolás removed his shirt.
“It was washed at the mansion.”
Sofía shook her head.
“Not safe.”
Luca took off his cotton T-shirt.
“My grandfather washes my clothes at home.”
Valeria looked at him.
“You will be cold.”
“I am not a baby.”
Sofía wrapped Mateo in Luca’s shirt.
The infant’s crying softened.
Nicolás looked at the boy.
“You saved my son.”
Luca looked down.
“He saved me first.”
Nicolás did not understand.
“Mateo cried when the tall man came near the cage.”
Luca touched his chest.
“I knew he was behind me.”
They reached a drainage gate.
Fresh air came through the bars.
Nicolás kicked the rusted latch.
It opened onto a storm canal behind the factory.
Police vehicles surrounded the property.
Paramedics took Mateo and Luca.
Valeria climbed into the ambulance.
Sofía followed.
Nicolás remained behind.
Elena approached him.
“We found Adrián’s vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Burning near the southern fence.”
“Was he inside?”
“No.”
Leonor arrived under police guard.
She had insisted on being brought from the mansion.
When she saw Mateo alive, her legs nearly failed.
Nicolás did not help her.
Leonor removed a small key from beneath her pearl necklace.
“There is a vault under the family chapel.”
“What is inside?”
“The original trust agreement.”
“Why tell me now?”
“Because Adrián cannot activate the transfer without it.”
Elena took the key.
“Then he will return to the mansion.”
Leonor looked at Nicolás.
“He does not need to return.”
“Why?”
Her voice broke.
“Because I signed a duplicate.”
Nicolás stared at her.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“What does it give him?”
Leonor began trembling.
“If Mateo dies before midnight tomorrow, Adrián gains full control of the trust.”
“And if Mateo lives?”
Leonor looked toward the ambulance.
“Then he needs Nicolás’s signature.”
Elena’s phone rang.
She listened for several seconds.
Then she looked at them.
“Dr. Montalvo just entered a private hospital using Mateo’s identification.”
Sofía stepped from the ambulance.
“Mateo is here.”
May you like
Elena nodded.
“The hospital has another infant registered under his name.”
