Chapter 6 - THE PHANTOM GOVERNORThe sterile white lights of the Puebla Central Hospital emergency room buzzed softly overhead.
Elena lay propped up on a motorized hospital bed, an IV drip pulsing saline and antibiotics into her veins. The bandages around her neck had been freshly changed by a team of specialist surgeons, who confirmed that while her vocal cords were healing, any sudden physical strain or emotional shock could permanently destroy her voice.
Her brother Darío sat in a chair beside her bed, fast asleep with his head resting against the mattress.
Suddenly, the heavy door of the private recovery room swung open.
Magistrate Valenzuela walked in, looking exhausted, her tailored suit wrinkled from the long night of interrogations and emergency briefings. She carried a thick leather portfolio under her arm.
Elena turned her head slowly, offering a questioning look.
“You should be resting, Mrs. Robles,” Valenzuela said gently, pulling up a chair. “Though knowing you, rest is probably the last thing on your mind.”
Elena picked up a dry-erase whiteboard from her lap and quickly scribbled: Garza? Mendoza?
Valenzuela’s expression darkened. She set the portfolio down on the bedside table.
“Mendoza broke down within ten minutes of questioning. He signed a full confession, implicating Álvaro and the entire school board in the payroll skimming scheme,” Valenzuela explained. “And Garza... well, Garza is currently sitting in a maximum-security federal holding cell refusing to speak without a lawyer.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed. She wrote again: The Governor?
Valenzuela sighed, leaning forward and lowering her voice. “That’s where things get complicated, Elena. We raided the campaign headquarters two hours ago. We seized computers, financial ledgers, and offshore hard drives. But... Governor Esteban Morales is nowhere to be found.”
Elena stared at her in shock.
“His private jet departed for international airspace thirty minutes before our tactical team arrived at his residence,” Valenzuela continued grimly. “It appears someone tipped him off from the inside. Even with Garza and Mendoza behind bars, the head of the snake has slipped away.”
A cold shiver ran down Elena’s spine. She frantically wrote on the board: Sofía? Is she safe?
“She’s safe,” Valenzuela reassured her immediately, placing a warm hand over Elena’s trembling fingers. “She’s under armed federal guard at a secure safehouse with your mother. No one can touch her there. You have my absolute word.”
Elena let out a long, shaky breath, her shoulders sagging with relief.
“However,” Valenzuela added, her voice turning solemn, “Governor Morales left behind a parting gift. An automated dead-man's switch programmed to release encrypted financial counter-claims and defamatory leaks against everyone who investigated him—including you, Magistrate Valenzuela, and most notably... Elena Robles.”
Elena stared at the magistrate, her brow furrowing in confusion. Defamatory leaks? What kind of leaks?
“They are trying to spin the narrative, Elena,” Valenzuela said bitterly. “State-controlled media outlets are already broadcasting breaking news reports claiming that the missing millions from the school district weren't stolen by the administration... but that you embezzled them through sophisticated shell companies, and that Álvaro Castañeda and Commander Garza were attempting to stop you.”
Elena gripped the dry-erase marker so tightly her knuckles turned white. Pure, unadulterated fury surged through her veins.
After everything she had sacrificed—her voice, her safety, nearly her life—they were trying to turn her into the villain.
May you like
She looked up at Valenzuela, her eyes burning with an intense, unyielding fire. She grabbed the marker and scrawled four final words across the board in bold, jagged letters:
LET THEM TRY IT.
