Chapter 4 - The Threat to the Children
The heavy armored SUV tore through the streets of Monterrey, its bulletproof windows tinted so dark the city outside appeared to be in a perpetual state of twilight. Mateo sat in the back seat, still trying to wrap his head around the nightmare he had been dragged into.
Next to him sat Doña Lucía, staring out the window, her hands gripping her handbag tightly.
"Where are my kids?" Mateo demanded, his voice trembling with panic. "Are they really safe? If your son is a senator and a killer, why would they be safe at your house?"
"My house in San Pedro is a fortress, Mateo," Lucía explained, her voice remarkably calm despite the gravity of her words. "Alejandro would not dare launch an open assault on my property. It would destroy his political career instantly. He operates in the shadows. He uses corrupt police officers like Commander Rivas to do his dirty work."
She turned to look at him, her eyes filled with a mixture of guilt and determination. "I must apologize to you, Mateo. When you brought me the ring yesterday, I knew immediately what it meant. That ring was not just an anniversary gift. It was a decoy. My husband, Carlos, knew that if our son Alejandro ever found out about the evidence Carlos had gathered against him, Alejandro would kill him. Carlos hid the real evidence—the hard drive and the ledger—inside the washing machine in our private warehouse, knowing Alejandro's men would never think to look there."
"But why the ring?" Mateo asked.
"Because the ring was the key," Lucía said, opening her handbag and revealing the antique diamond ring. "Inside the engraving 'L + C. Forever,' there is a microscopic serial number. It is the decryption key for the hard drive your police captain just seized."
Mateo’s blood ran cold. "If the police have the hard drive... and you have the key... then we are both dead."
"No," Lucía said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "The police have a hard drive. But they do not have the hard drive."
Before Mateo could ask what she meant, a loud, deafening explosion rocked the street ahead.
The armored SUV violently swerved. Mateo was thrown against the door as the driver slammed on the brakes. Through the windshield, Mateo saw a heavy commercial delivery truck blocking the road. Three black SUVs had boxed them in from behind.
Men in tactical gear—not police, but private mercenary forces—jumped out of the SUVs, carrying assault rifles.
"Ambush!" the driver yelled, drawing his pistol. "Hold on!"
Gunfire erupted. The heavy, metallic thud of high-caliber bullets slammed into the armored glass of their SUV, spiderwebbing the windows but not penetrating.
"They aren't trying to kill us," Lucía gasped, holding onto the grab handle. "They want the ring! They want the key!"
Suddenly, the driver side window shattered as a specialized breaching charge was slapped onto the glass. The driver was instantly knocked unconscious by the blast.
A masked man ripped the door open, pointing a rifle directly at Mateo.
"Out! Both of you! Out of the car!" the mercenary roared.
Mateo didn't think. He looked at Doña Lucía, then at the mercenary. The survival instincts of a man who had spent fifteen years lifting heavy concrete blocks and fighting for his family kicked in. He grabbed the heavy fire extinguisher from beneath his seat and slammed it with all his might into the mercenary's helmet.
The man stumbled backward, his rifle firing wild shots into the air.
Mateo grabbed Lucía’s arm. "We have to run! Now!"
They scrambled out of the passenger side door, slipping into a narrow, muddy alleyway that led into one of Monterrey’s sprawling, dangerous hillside slums—the barrios.
Behind them, they could hear the shouts of the mercenaries and the heavy thud of combat boots pursuing them.
As they ran up the steep, winding concrete stairs of the hillside slum, Mateo’s phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket. It was a number he didn't recognize.
He pressed answer, panting heavily.
"Mateo," a cold, smooth voice spoke on the other end. It was a voice accustomed to television screens and political rallies. "This is Senator Alejandro Garza."
"Where are my kids?!" Mateo screamed, stopping on a narrow concrete landing, looking down at the sprawling city below.
"Your children are currently at my mother's estate," Alejandro said, his tone dripping with artificial warmth. "But my men are also standing outside that estate. It would be such a tragedy if a gas leak occurred there while my mother was... unavailable. I believe you have something that belongs to me. The ring. And my mother."
"If you touch them, I swear to God—"
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"I don't make deals with construction workers, Mateo," Alejandro interrupted coldly. "You have exactly two hours to bring my mother and her ring to the abandoned steel foundry in Parque Fundidora. If you are a minute late... I will send you your children's shoes. One pair at a time."
The line went dead.
