CHAPTER 5 — THE SECRET BENEATH THE MOUNTAIN WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE FOUND
The words "Project Genesis has just awakened" echoed through the radio long after the transmission ended.
No one on the mountain understood what they meant.
But the expressions on the faces of the government officials told Carmen everything she needed to know.
They were afraid.
Not of her.
Not of the abandoned ranch.
They were afraid of what lay beneath it.
For the first time since losing her husband, Carmen realized something terrifying.
She had never been hiding on forgotten land.
She had been living on land that someone powerful had been desperately trying to keep forgotten.
Attorney Verónica Salgado slowly lowered the court order in her hand.
Her eyes never left the open iron hatch.
Behind her, the six private security officers instinctively tightened their formation.
One of them whispered into his headset.
"Seal the perimeter."
"No civilians leave."
"No one enters."
Within seconds, two officers moved toward the hatch.
Don Onofre stepped directly into their path.
"You'll have to go through me."
The taller officer smiled without humor.
"Old man..."
"You don't know who you're dealing with."
Onofre's weathered face remained calm.
"I know exactly who I'm dealing with."
"I've spent twenty-two years waiting for you to come back."
The officer's smile disappeared.
For a brief moment...
Recognition flashed across his face.
"You..."
His voice became almost inaudible.
"...you're still alive."
Verónica immediately interrupted.
"Enough."
She turned toward Carmen.
"You and your daughters are being placed under temporary protective supervision."
Carmen's heart sank.
"You lied."
"This isn't about my children."
Verónica hesitated.
Only for a second.
Then she answered.
"It started that way."
"But it isn't anymore."
"What is beneath this property is now a matter of national security."
Luisa stepped forward.
"My mother isn't leaving."
"We're not leaving."
One officer reached toward her arm.
Before he could touch the teenager...
A loud metallic click echoed through the yard.
Everyone froze.
Don Onofre calmly stood holding Rafael's old hunting rifle.
Its barrel pointed directly at the ground.
He wasn't threatening anyone.
He was making a statement.
"I don't want violence."
"But no one lays a hand on those girls."
Silence swallowed the ranch.
Even the wind seemed to stop.
Investigator Esteban Ruiz quietly approached Verónica.
"This is getting out of control."
She nodded.
"I know."
He lowered his voice.
"She's not the criminal here."
Verónica looked toward Carmen.
For the first time...
She truly saw her.
A widow wearing patched clothes.
Hands cracked from hard work.
Two frightened daughters standing behind her.
This wasn't the dangerous fugitive described in the reports.
This was simply a mother trying to survive.
Something inside Verónica shifted.
But duty still held her in place.
Suddenly...
The radio on one of the security officers crackled again.
"Alpha Team."
"Stand by."
A new voice came through.
Older.
Calmer.
Far more powerful.
"No excavation."
"No arrests."
"No confrontation."
A long pause followed.
Then came the unexpected order.
"Protect Carmen María."
Every officer exchanged confused glances.
The command made no sense.
Only moments earlier she had been the target.
Now she was the priority.
Even Verónica looked stunned.
"Repeat the order."
The voice answered immediately.
"Protect the widow at all costs."
"If she dies..."
"The archive dies with her."
Carmen frowned.
"What archive?"
No one answered.
Because no one there knew.
Hours later, after the government convoy reluctantly withdrew to establish a checkpoint farther down the mountain, the ranch fell silent once more.
Only Verónica remained.
She removed her official badge and placed it on the kitchen table.
"I'm staying."
Carmen crossed her arms.
"Why?"
"Because someone inside the government wants you alive."
"And someone else wants you dead."
"I haven't figured out which side is winning."
That evening...
The four adults sat around the wooden table while Luisa and Ana Clara slept in the next room.
Onofre quietly unfolded Rafael's hand-drawn map.
Verónica studied it carefully.
Then her eyes widened.
"I've seen this handwriting before."
Carmen stared at her.
"That's impossible."
Verónica slowly shook her head.
"No..."
"It isn't."
She reached into her leather briefcase.
From inside, she removed an old classified photograph.
The edges were faded with age.
It showed twelve men standing in front of a mountain excavation nearly thirty years earlier.
Each face had been labeled.
Except one.
His name had been blacked out with thick government ink.
Verónica placed the photograph beside Rafael's map.
The handwriting was identical.
Exactly the same.
Carmen felt the room spinning.
"You're saying..."
"My husband worked here?"
Verónica looked up.
"I don't think he worked here."
"I think..."
"...he designed the map."
Onofre stared at the photograph.
His breathing became heavier.
Slowly, he pointed toward one of the faces.
"This man..."
"I remember him."
"He was the engineer."
Verónica nodded.
"Officially, he died twenty-eight years ago."
Onofre's finger moved to another face.
"And him."
"The military commander."
"He disappeared."
Then...
His hand stopped.
At the man with the blacked-out name.
His entire body began trembling.
"No..."
"No..."
Carmen grabbed his shoulder.
"What is it?"
Onofre looked as though he had seen a ghost.
"I know why they erased his name."
"Because he never existed."
Luisa, who had quietly entered the room unnoticed, looked confused.
"How can someone who never existed appear in a photograph?"
No one answered.
Because none of them understood.
Just before midnight...
A strange sound echoed beneath the floorboards.
Knock...
Knock...
Knock...
Three slow knocks.
Everyone froze.
Ana Clara ran into the room, frightened.
"Mom..."
"Someone's under the house."
Another knock.
Louder this time.
Then another.
The old wooden floor vibrated beneath their feet.
Onofre slowly reached for the crowbar.
Verónica drew the small service pistol she had hidden inside her jacket.
Carmen instinctively pulled both daughters behind her.
The knocking stopped.
For several seconds...
Absolute silence.
Then...
A deep mechanical rumble shook the entire ranch.
Dust drifted from the ceiling.
The iron hatch outside slammed open by itself.
Far below the earth...
Lights that had remained dark for decades suddenly flickered to life.
One after another.
Stretching far beyond the limits of the flashlight beam.
As though an entire underground complex...
Had just awakened.
Then, from somewhere deep beneath the mountain...
A voice echoed through ancient speakers still somehow connected after all these years.
Calm.
Artificial.
Waiting.
"Identity confirmed."
A long pause followed.
Then the voice spoke again.
"Welcome back... Engineer Rafael María."
Carmen felt every drop of blood leave her body.
Her husband had been dead for eight months.
So why...
May you like
Was the mountain welcoming him home?
End of Chapter 5
