Chapter 11 - The Monastery
Sebastián rode in the lead vehicle with Adriana.
Lucía sat behind them, calling Camila repeatedly.
Every call went directly to voicemail.
Camila had been living under protection in McAllen, Texas, with Lucía’s sister.
At least, that was what Lucía believed.
The last message from her had arrived two days earlier.
I’m okay, Mom.
Studying for finals.
Love you.
Now even those words felt uncertain.
The tactical convoy stopped half a mile from the abandoned monastery.
Officers continued on foot.
The old stone building stood against the mountains, its bell tower cutting into the night sky.
No lights showed through the windows.
Adriana raised one hand.
The team separated.
Sebastián was ordered to remain behind the second line.
He ignored that order as soon as gunfire sounded inside.
Officers broke through the main doors.
The chapel was empty.
Candles burned near the altar.
A video camera stood on a tripod facing two abandoned chairs.
Blood marked the floor beside one chair, but there was no body.
“They moved,” Adriana said.
Lucía examined the ropes.
“These were cut from the inside.”
“Andrés?”
“Or Rebeca.”
A sound came from the confessional booth.
Officers surrounded it.
Adriana opened the door.
Elena fell forward.
Her wrists were bruised, and blood covered one side of her dress.
But the blood did not appear to be hers.
Valeria’s sister was alive.
“Where are the others?” Sebastián asked.
Elena struggled to speak.
“Tunnel.”
Beneath the altar, officers found a stone panel leading to an old passage.
The tunnel extended toward the hillside behind the monastery.
Adriana left two medics with Elena and entered with the tactical team.
Sebastián followed.
The passage smelled of earth and rain.
Fresh tire tracks marked the ground near the exit.
Outside, a narrow road descended toward a dry riverbed.
Two vehicles had been waiting.
One had left toward the highway.
The other stood abandoned with its driver’s door open.
Rebeca sat in the passenger seat.
Her hands were covered in blood.
Sebastián ran toward her.
“Mother.”
She looked at him.
For several seconds, she did not seem to recognize him.
Then she whispered, “He took Andrés.”
“Are you injured?”
“The blood is Octavio’s.”
“Did you shoot him?”
“No.”
Rebeca looked toward the dark road.
“Andrés did.”
Adriana opened the rear door.
A spent shell casing lay on the floor.
“What happened?”
“Octavio fired at Elena.”
“I pushed her.”
“The bullet struck my arm.”
Rebeca lifted her sleeve.
A deep graze ran along her upper arm.
“Andrés broke the chair.”
“He attacked Octavio.”
“They fought over the gun.”
“Andrés shot him?”
“In the side.”
“Then why did he leave with him?”
“Because Octavio told him where Camila is.”
Lucía leaned through the door.
“Where?”
Rebeca looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
“You raised her.”
“I protected her.”
“You allowed doctors to change her body and identity.”
Rebeca’s expression filled with shame.
“Gabriel ordered it.”
“And you obeyed.”
“Yes.”
The answer was not an excuse.
That made it more terrible.
Lucía stepped back as though looking at Rebeca physically sickened her.
Adriana searched the vehicle.
She found the black leather folder beneath the driver’s seat.
The original Alcázar trust registry remained inside.
Octavio had lost the legal weapon he needed.
But he still had Andrés.
And perhaps Camila.
Elena was taken to a secure hospital.
Before the ambulance left, she asked for Valeria.
Adriana connected a video call.
The sisters stared at each other in silence.
Eight years of grief could not fit into words.
Finally, Elena whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Valeria shook her head.
“You survived.”
“They told me you stopped looking.”
“They lied.”
“They told me my baby died.”
“He is alive.”
Elena began crying.
“Do you know where?”
“Not yet.”
Sebastián watched the sisters and understood the cruelty of Octavio’s system.
He did not only take children.
He destroyed the relationships that might search for them.
He convinced mothers their families had abandoned them.
He convinced families the mothers were unstable.
He built walls out of believable lies.
Adriana returned to the abandoned vehicle.
A navigation device had been left in the console.
Its recent destinations had been erased.
But one saved address remained.
A private airfield outside Linares.
The team contacted federal aviation authorities.
A chartered jet was scheduled to leave in forty minutes.
Destination: Belize.
Passenger names were listed as confidential.
Sebastián looked at the road.
“We won’t reach it in time.”
Adriana called the airfield.
No one answered.
Rebeca removed a small key from the lining of her jacket.
“Octavio has a second aircraft.”
“Where?” Sebastián asked.
“An Alcázar agricultural property east of here.”
“That property was sold.”
“On paper.”
She gave Adriana the coordinates.
“How do you know he will go there?”
“Because Mateo knows.”
Sebastián looked at her.
“You mean Andrés?”
“I mean the son I abandoned.”
Her voice broke.
“He learned how our family thinks.”
Adriana organized a helicopter.
Lucía remained with Elena.
Rebeca was placed under guard.
Sebastián prepared to leave.
His mother caught his sleeve.
“Do not ask Andrés to forgive me.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Tell him only one thing.”
“What?”
Rebeca looked toward the mountains.
“Tell him I never stopped counting those seven minutes.”
Sebastián pulled his arm away.
Seven minutes had determined who lived in a mansion and who lived without a name.
They had shaped two brothers who knew nothing about each other.
Now the younger brother was racing to save the elder.
At the hidden airfield, Octavio forced Andrés toward a waiting plane.
Blood soaked Octavio’s shirt.
His face had become gray from the wound.
Yet he still held the gun steadily.
“Where is Camila?” Andrés asked.
“On the plane.”
Andrés looked toward the windows.
No movement appeared inside.
“You’re lying.”
Octavio smiled.
“You will never know unless you board.”
Behind them, the sound of helicopter blades grew louder.
Octavio raised the gun toward Andrés’s back.
“Your brother is coming.”
Andrés looked at the plane.
Then at the dark field.
May you like
For the first time in his life, he had someone coming for him.
The question was whether Sebastián would arrive before Octavio decided he was no longer useful.
