Chapter 6 - INTO THE ABYSSDaniela handed Mateo’s cup to a paramedic, drew her sidearm, and sprinted back inside the house. The air inside had grown thick with the metallic stench of damp earth and old rust.
She pushed through the cleared pathway to the kitchen, where Commander Méndez and two tactical officers stood with their flashlights aimed downward into a yawning, black void in the floorboards. A set of rusted iron stairs descended steeply into the damp darkness below.
From the depths of the hidden cellar, a low, muffled voice echoed—reciting numbers and names like a chant.
—...thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four... they thought they could hide, but I kept the receipts. I kept everything...
—Esteban! Drop your weapon and come up with your hands visible! —Méndez shouted down into the hole, his voice reverberating off concrete walls.
There was a sudden, chilling pause in the chanting. Then, a harsh, maniacal chuckle rose from the dark.
—You think you found the archive, Commander? You only found the index. Mother never told you why the previous owners disappeared in 2016, did she? She helped me pack their lives into boxes so no one would ever ask questions.
May you like
Without a second hesitation, Esteban lunged upward from the stairs, not with a gun, but holding a heavy, yellowed photo album and a blazing kerosene lantern, threatening to ignite the entire underground cache of paper and history.
—Stay back! One step closer, and I burn the proof of everything!
