CHAPTER 4: THE MEN IN THE BLACK SUVS
The first thing Valeria heard was the sound of car doors slamming.
Then came footsteps.
Heavy.
Fast.
Purposeful.
Six armed men were walking toward the house.
Rain poured harder outside, turning the front yard into a dark mirror.
Camila clung to her mother.
"Mommy... who are they?"
Valeria couldn't answer.
Because she didn't know.
And that terrified her even more.
Ricardo moved toward the window and carefully peeked through the curtain.
His face lost all color.
"No..."
"What?" Valeria whispered.
"They weren't supposed to find me."
A flashlight beam crossed the living room.
Then another.
Someone outside shouted:
"Ricardo! We know you're in there!"
A second voice followed.
"You have something that belongs to us!"
The words sent a chill through the room.
Ricardo turned around.
"They're not here for me."
"Then who are they here for?"
He looked at Camila.
The little girl.
The child who might be his daughter.
"They're here for her."
Valeria felt sick.
"No."
"Yes."
"Who are these people?"
Ricardo swallowed.
Then he said something that made her blood freeze.
"The men who kidnapped my daughter six years ago."
Silence.
"What?"
"I thought they were dead."
Another voice came from outside.
"Open the door, Ricardo, and maybe we'll let the little girl live."
Camila started crying.
Valeria wrapped her arms around her.
"No one is taking you."
Suddenly—
CRASH!
A rock smashed through the front window.
Glass exploded across the floor.
Camila screamed.
A man stepped onto the porch.
Then another.
And another.
Ricardo grabbed Valeria's arm.
"Back door. Now."
"But Mauricio—"
"We can't help him if we're dead."
Another crash.
The front door shuddered.
Someone was trying to break it down.
Ricardo pushed them toward the kitchen.
"Move!"
They ran.
The rain outside grew louder.
BANG!
A gunshot exploded through the house.
A bullet tore through the wall.
Camila cried harder.
Valeria's hands shook so badly she almost dropped her daughter.
The back door.
Just a few more steps.
Then—
BANG!
The front door burst open.
Men stormed inside.
"THERE THEY ARE!"
Ricardo fired once.
The sound deafened the room.
One of the attackers fell.
"Run!" he shouted.
Valeria grabbed Camila and ran into the backyard.
Rain immediately soaked their clothes.
Mud splashed beneath their feet.
The backyard fence was high.
Too high.
"There!" Ricardo shouted.
A small wooden gate.
They sprinted toward it.
But suddenly—
Headlights.
Another black SUV turned into the alley behind the house.
More men stepped out.
They were surrounded.
"No..." Valeria whispered.
Ricardo looked around desperately.
Then his eyes landed on an old shed.
"This way!"
They ran inside and slammed the door.
Darkness.
Only the sound of rain and their breathing.
Camila buried her face in her mother's chest.
Outside, footsteps approached.
"They're searching the yard," Ricardo whispered.
Valeria's entire body trembled.
"What do they want with her?"
He didn't answer.
"Tell me!"
Ricardo looked at Camila.
Then at Valeria.
Finally, he said:
"Because she isn't an ordinary child."
"What?"
The footsteps outside came closer.
"They killed my wife because of something she discovered."
"What did she discover?"
Ricardo hesitated.
Then—
"Camila's biological mother wasn't my wife."
The room seemed to spin.
"What?"
"She adopted the baby in secret."
Valeria stared at him.
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
He closed his eyes.
"The little girl was found abandoned as a newborn."
"Abandoned where?"
Ricardo looked toward the door.
Then back at her.
"In front of a private laboratory."
A cold feeling spread through Valeria's body.
"What kind of laboratory?"
He swallowed hard.
"A genetic research facility."
Silence.
"I don't understand."
Neither did he.
"All I know is that after we adopted her, strange things began happening."
"What things?"
"People started following us."
A loud thud came from outside.
The attackers were entering the backyard.
Ricardo lowered his voice.
"My wife found documents."
"What documents?"
"Files about illegal experiments."
Valeria's heart pounded.
"And our daughter's name was in them."
Camila looked up.
"What experiments?"
Neither adult answered.
Another noise.
Closer.
"They're almost here," Ricardo whispered.
Valeria's mind raced.
Nothing made sense anymore.
Who was Camila?
Who were these men?
Why had so many people lied?
Then—
BZZZ.
Her phone vibrated.
A text message.
From Mauricio.
She gasped.
The message read:
I'M ALIVE. DON'T TRUST RICARDO.
Her eyes widened.
Another message arrived immediately.
THEY ARE LYING TO YOU.
Another.
THE FILES ARE IN THE SHED. FIND THE RED BOX.
Valeria looked around.
The shed was filled with old tools, paint cans, and broken furniture.
Then she saw it.
A small red metal box beneath a table.
Her heart raced.
She picked it up.
Locked.
But taped to the bottom was a tiny key.
She opened it.
Inside...
were documents.
Photographs.
Medical records.
And one envelope marked:
PROJECT EVE – CLASSIFIED
Valeria opened it.
The first page made her blood run cold.
SUBJECT 17
Female.
Age: Newborn.
Genetic Compatibility: 99.98%.
Status:
SUCCESSFUL CREATION.
She frowned.
Creation?
She turned the page.
Then she stopped breathing.
At the top was a photograph.
A newborn baby.
And beneath the picture, a name.
Camila Méndez.
Then came the line that changed everything.
Biological Parents: Unknown. Child generated through experimental genetic engineering.
The papers slipped from her hands.
"No..."
Ricardo stared at the file.
His face turned white.
Outside, the footsteps stopped.
Silence.
Then a man's voice called from only a few feet away.
"We know you're in there."
Another voice followed.
"Bring us the girl... and the others can live."
Valeria looked at Camila.
At her frightened little face.
At the child she loved more than life itself.
And for the first time, a terrifying thought entered her mind:
What if everyone had been telling the truth?
What if her daughter...
had never been born at all?
Then—
BOOM!
The shed door exploded inward.
A flashlight blinded them.
Several guns pointed directly at their heads.
And a man in a black suit stepped forward.
He smiled.
Then he looked at Camila and said:
May you like
"After six years... we've finally found our little miracle."
TO BE CONTINUED...
