Chapter 14 - Lázaro
For one terrible second, nobody moved.
Lucía looked at Cruz.
Cruz looked back.
Then she calmly raised her hands.
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
Marcos aimed at her.
“Explain.”
Cruz’s expression changed.
The warm professionalism disappeared.
“You really think Vidal meant me?”
Lucía stared.
“He said your name.”
“He was dying.”
“You blocked my first upload.”
Cruz didn’t answer.
Lucía suddenly understood.
“You didn’t receive the files because you were investigating Serrano.”
Cruz’s jaw tightened.
“You received them because you were waiting for them.”
Marcos moved closer.
“Are you Lázaro?”
Cruz smiled.
That was the answer.
Iván whispered, “My God.”
Cruz looked almost offended.
“Please. Serrano is a thug in a uniform.”
“And you?”
“I built the structure he thought he controlled.”
Lucía felt cold.
Cruz continued.
“Your father came close to finding me.”
“So you had him killed.”
“I allowed Serrano to solve the problem.”
“You murdered him.”
“I protected an operation.”
Lucía’s anger became dangerously quiet.
“And Sofia?”
“A pressure point.”
“And me?”
“A loose end.”
Marcos tightened his grip on the gun.
Cruz glanced toward the edge of the roof.
“You’re all making the same mistake Javier made.”
“Which is?”
“Thinking truth automatically wins.”
Then gunfire erupted from the opposite building.
Cruz’s hidden team.
Not police.
Her people.
Everyone dropped.
Iván grabbed a rifle from a fallen officer.
Marcos fired back.
Lucía crawled behind an air unit.
Cruz ran toward the helicopter.
Lucía chased her.
“Stop!”
Cruz reached the door.
Lucía grabbed her coat.
Cruz turned and punched her injured shoulder.
Pain exploded through Lucía’s body.
She fell.
Cruz climbed inside.
The helicopter began lifting.
Lucía forced herself up.
Marcos shouted, “Lucía, don’t!”
She jumped.
Her hands caught the landing skid.
For the second time that day, hundreds of feet of air opened beneath her.
Cruz looked down.
Almost amused.
“Familiar position?”
Lucía gritted her teeth.
“Very.”
Cruz kicked at her hands.
Once.
Twice.
Lucía held on.
Cruz leaned closer.
“This time, nobody is coming for you.”
Lucía looked past her toward the cockpit.
Then smiled.
Cruz’s face changed.
“Why are you smiling?”
Lucía answered with the same words she had given Iván.
“When the alarm goes off…”
May you like
A warning light suddenly flashed.
“…it’ll already be too late.”
