Chapter 5 - THE HUNT FOR JUSTICE
Gabriel didn't hesitate. He forwarded the text message link to Detective Vargas and Raúl simultaneously, sprinting back out to his car.
His phone buzzed immediately with a call from Raúl. "Gabe! I saw the link. Where are you going?"
"She was trying to tell me where they took her before they grabbed her," Gabriel said, starting his engine. "The video... look closely at the background. Do you see those yellow industrial beams and the logo on the rusted metal doors?"
Raúl, looking at the live stream on his phone from the hospital room, squinted at the image. "Yeah... it says 'Logística Vallejo'. That's an abandoned freight storage yard near the industrial rail lines in the north of the city. Hector owns a shell company that used to operate out of there."
"I'm five minutes away from the highway. I'm going," Gabriel said.
"Wait for Vargas! Do not go in there alone, Gabriel! Hector isn't a petty thug like Iván. He’s dangerous," Raúl shouted, but Gabriel had already hung up.
The drive was a blur of neon signs, rain-slicked asphalt, and sheer adrenaline. Gabriel knew he was breaking every rule, but the stakes had shifted. If Lorena was telling the truth, Mateo was still in immense danger. If Hector and his crew realized the police were closing in on the insurance scam, they would eliminate all loose ends—including Gabriel and his son.
At 3:42 a.m., Gabriel pulled his car into an alleyway a block away from the crumbling Logística Vallejo warehouse. The area was completely dark, save for a single flickering floodlight above the main loading bay.
He slipped out of his car, keeping low. His heart pounded in his throat as he approached a rusted side door that stood slightly ajar. Inside, the air smelled of damp concrete and diesel fuel.
From the depths of the warehouse, voices echoed.
"We need to clear out the safe house tonight," Hector’s voice boomed. He sounded calm, professional, and entirely detached from humanity. "Iván screwed up. He let his temper get the best of him with the kid and ruined the timeline. Now the cops have the medical files."
"What about her?" another man asked.
Gabriel crept closer, peering around a stack of wooden pallets. In the center of a cleared space, illuminated by a harsh work lamp, Lorena was tied to a metal chair. Her face was bruised, her lip split.
"She's a liability now," Hector said softly, walking into the light. He held a heavy-caliber pistol in his right hand. "She knows too much about the distribution network. Make it look like an overdose. We leave her body in a motel downtown. By the time the cops find her, we'll be across the border."
"Please... Hector, please," Lorena begged, her voice barely a whisper. "I did what you asked. I signed the papers. Just let me go."
"You lost the papers, Lorena," Hector replied coldly, raising the gun. "And in my business, errors are expensive."
Gabriel looked around frantically for a weapon. His hands found a heavy iron crowbar resting on top of a broken generator. He gripped it tightly, his knuckles turning white. He knew he couldn't outrun a bullet, but he couldn't watch a woman get murdered in cold blood, regardless of her sins.
Just as Hector took aim, Gabriel threw a heavy plastic oil drum across the floor. It clattered violently against the metal pillars, creating a massive, echoing boom.
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"Who's there?!" the henchman shouted, spinning around with his flashlight raised.
HOOK TO NEXT CHAPTER: Gabriel steps out from the shadows into the harsh beam of the flashlight, holding the crowbar. He looks directly at Hector and says, "Put the gun down. The police already have your entire network mapped out." But Hector only smiles, slowly lowering his weapon to point it directly at Gabriel’s chest as he replies: "Did you really think you were the one who tracked me down, Gabriel? Look behind you."
