Chapter 2 - THE HUNT FOR FLIGHT 402
The satellite phone clicked once before a cold, professional voice answered on the first ring. "Sir. We are ready for your arrival in Monterrey."
"Cancel the flight," Alejandro Villalobos commanded, his deep voice vibrating with a terrifying, calm fury that made his security chief, Arturo, instantly tense. Alejandro looked down at the photograph of Héctor, the man who had pulled him from a burning coffin of metal eight years ago. Then he looked at Sofía and Diego, who were watching him with wide, innocent eyes. "Arturo. Look at the tarmac. Gate 17. Flight 402 to Cancún. Is it still on the ground?"
Arturo quickly tapped his tablet, his eyes scanning the airport logs. "It just pushed back from the gate, Boss. It’s taxiing to runway 05 Right. It will be airborne in four minutes."
"Stop it," Alejandro said flatly.
"Sir?" Arturo gasped. "That is a commercial airliner with two hundred passengers. We don’t have jurisdiction over airport traffic control in the capital—"
"I don't care about jurisdiction," Alejandro cut him off, his eyes flashing like flint. "That plane is carrying a thief who just abandoned Héctor’s children to die in this terminal. If that plane leaves the ground, Arturo, you will be the one explaining to me why my debt to a dead man went unpaid. Call the Director of Aviation. Tell him if Flight 402 lifts its wheels off the tarmac, every investment my conglomerate has in the capital's infrastructure ceases permanently by midnight. Ground it."
Without waiting for a reply, Alejandro knelt back down in front of the twins. The sheer aura of power radiating from him usually terrified grown men, but as he reached out to gently touch Diego’s shoulder, his touch was as soft as a father's.
"Diego, Sofía," Alejandro said softly. "Do you trust me?"
Sofía looked at the big man, then down at his tailored suit, and finally into his eyes. Children have an innate ability to sense monsters, but they also know when a monster has chosen to become their protector. She nodded slowly. "You knew our daddy?"
"Your daddy was the bravest man I ever met," Alejandro said, a rare, genuine smile breaking through his hardened features. "And tonight, he sent me to take care of you. You are never going to be cold, hungry, or afraid again. I promise you this."
Suddenly, the roaring sound of jet engines echoing through the terminal glass shifted. The high-pitched whine of an aircraft braking hard reverberated through Gate 17. Outside, Flight 402 to Cancún had ground to a sudden, violent halt on the taxiway, surrounded by three airport security vehicles flashing red and blue lights.
Inside the cabin of Flight 402, Valeria was adjusting her sunglasses, already imagining the white sands of Cancún and the luxury resort she had booked using the first installment of the insurance money. When the plane abruptly braked, she lurched forward, her designer purse falling to the floor. Contents spilled out—including a thick envelope stuffed with cash and two forged international passports for the twins, stamped with fake exit visas.
"What is the meaning of this?" Valeria snapped at a flight attendant walking hurriedly down the aisle. "We're supposed to be taking off!"
"Please remain seated, ma'am. The captain has been ordered to return to the gate due to a security anomaly," the flight attendant replied, her face pale.
Valeria’s heart skipped a beat. A security anomaly? Had they found the kids already? No, she reasoned, the airport was too big. They were just two quiet children among thousands. Nobody cared about abandoned kids. She reached into her bag, checking the legal documents she had spent weeks falsifying—the ones stating that the twins had been sent to live with relatives in Spain. She had it all covered. The multi-million dollar life insurance policy from Héctor’s 'accident' at the construction site was legally hers. She was free.
But as the plane taxied back to a different gate, not Gate 17, but a private, secluded hangar on the edge of the tarmac, Valeria felt a cold sweat break out on the back of her neck.
The cabin doors didn't open for the jet bridge. Instead, the heavy steel door was forced open from the outside. Two federal officers stepped in, followed by a tall, imposing man in a charcoal suit whose face looked as if it had been chiseled out of obsidian.
Alejandro Villalobos walked down the narrow aisle of the commercial plane. Every passenger held their breath; the sheer authority he carried was suffocating. He stopped right beside row 12, his piercing eyes locking onto Valeria.
Valeria tried to maintain her aristocratic composure. "Who are you? What is the meaning of this interruption?"
Alejandro didn't answer her. He looked down at the luxury handbag on the floor, specifically at the corner of the thick envelope labeled 'Seguros de Vida – Beneficiario Único' (Life Insurance – Sole Beneficiary).
"Valeria Ramos?" Alejandro’s voice was a low, terrifying growl.
"Yes? And who are you to demand—"
"I am the man who is going to make you wish you had never been born," Alejandro whispered, leaning down so only she could hear. "You left two angels to rot in a terminal so you could run away with a dead man's blood money. You think you're escaping to Cancún? Lady, you haven't even begun to see the nightmare I have prepared for you."
He stood up and looked at the federal officers. "Take her off the plane. Secure her baggage. Every single document."
"You can't do this! I have rights! I am their legal guardian!" Valeria screamed as the officers grabbed her arms, dragging her out of her seat. Her designer heels scraped against the carpeted floor as she desperately yelled, "They are my children! I can leave them wherever I want!"
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"They were your golden ticket," Alejandro said, turning his back on her. "Now, they are mine. And you are just a ghost waiting to vanish."
As Valeria was dragged screaming down the steps into the dark, rainy night of the Mexico City tarmac, Alejandro looked back at the private hangar where his security team was holding the twins safely inside a VIP lounge. He knew this was only the beginning. A woman like Valeria didn't pull off a multi-million dollar insurance scam and forge federal transit documents alone. She had help. And whoever helped her kill Héctor—because Alejandro knew in his gut that a master mechanic didn't just 'fall' from a scaffold—was going to pay in blood.
