Chapter 13 - The Eyes in the Wall
Valeria did not scream.
She reached for the nurse call button, then stopped.
Whoever had placed the camera might be watching her reaction.
She covered Mateo’s bassinet with a blanket as if shielding him from the light.
Then she typed a message to Adriana.
CAMERA IN AIR VENT.
PHOTO SENT FROM UNKNOWN NUMBER.
DO NOT CALL THE ROOM.
She placed the phone face down.
A nurse entered two minutes later.
Her name badge identified her as Marisol Vega.
Valeria had seen her twice since the operation.
Marisol checked the IV line.
“You seem tense.”
“I’m tired.”
“Would you like something to help you sleep?”
“No.”
“The doctor left an order.”
“Which doctor?”
“Dr. Zamora.”
Valeria looked at her.
“Dr. Zamora was removed from my care.”
Marisol’s expression did not change.
“The electronic record still lists him as supervising physician.”
Valeria felt cold.
“Please leave.”
“I need to replace your medication.”
“I said leave.”
The two officers outside did not react.
Either they could not hear her or they were not supposed to.
Marisol picked up a syringe.
Valeria reached beneath the blanket and pressed the emergency alarm attached to Mateo’s bassinet.
Nothing happened.
The alarm had been disconnected.
Marisol moved closer.
“You should not make this difficult.”
“Who sent you?”
“The people who understand what will happen if these records become public.”
“You mean the doctors?”
“I mean the families.”
Valeria understood.
Octavio may have managed the network.
Rebeca may have protected it.
But hundreds of wealthy and powerful people had benefited from stolen children.
They were not going to allow the truth to emerge quietly.
Marisol reached for Valeria’s arm.
The bathroom door opened.
Lucía stepped out holding a metal towel rack.
She struck the syringe from Marisol’s hand.
The syringe slid across the floor.
Marisol turned.
Valeria grabbed the water pitcher and threw it toward the door.
The glass shattered.
The officers outside finally entered.
One attempted to restrain Lucía.
The other moved toward Marisol.
Adriana’s voice came through the corridor.
“Do not let anyone leave.”
State investigators surrounded the room.
Marisol was arrested.
One of the original guards attempted to flee but was stopped near the elevator.
The second guard surrendered.
The red light behind the air vent went dark.
Adriana entered and removed the camera.
“It transmitted through the hospital network.”
“To whom?” Valeria asked.
“We don’t know.”
Lucía looked at Marisol.
“I remember you.”
Marisol said nothing.
“You worked at Santa Elena.”
Still no answer.
“Elena said a nurse held her down while Zamora injected her.”
Marisol’s eyes moved toward Lucía.
That tiny movement was enough.
Adriana ordered her taken to an interrogation room.
Valeria looked at the syringe on the floor.
“What was inside?”
A technician placed it in an evidence container.
“We will test it.”
Dr. Salgado arrived and reviewed Valeria’s electronic file.
His expression grew darker as he scrolled.
“Someone restored Zamora’s access credentials.”
“From inside the hospital?” Adriana asked.
“Yes.”
“And there is an order authorizing sedation and psychiatric transfer.”
Sebastián entered with Andrés.
The brothers had come directly from the airfield.
Sebastián saw the broken glass and rushed to Valeria.
“What happened?”
“They found another way inside.”
He looked at Mateo.
“Is he safe?”
“Yes.”
Valeria watched Sebastián’s face.
Months earlier, he would have demanded explanations from everyone except his family.
Now he listened before speaking.
It did not repair the past.
But it mattered.
Andrés stood near the foot of the bed.
Valeria recognized him immediately.
Age had sharpened his features, but he was still the young man who once helped Dr. Herrera search old birth records.
“Andrés.”
He nodded.
“I’m sorry I disappeared.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“So did Octavio.”
Valeria looked toward Sebastián.
The resemblance between the brothers unsettled her.
Not because they were identical.
They were not.
But certain expressions belonged to both men.
The same way they narrowed their eyes when thinking.
The same tension in the jaw when angry.
The same habit of standing slightly to the left of a doorway.
“Did Dr. Herrera know who you were?” Valeria asked.
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Since I was twelve.”
“Why didn’t he tell Rebeca?”
“He believed she was still working with Gabriel.”
Sebastián looked at Andrés.
“Was she?”
“I don’t know.”
Andrés removed a small notebook from his jacket.
“Dr. Herrera kept this in a bank deposit box.”
“I opened it after his death.”
Inside were handwritten codes, account numbers, and initials.
One page contained a list of hospitals.
Another listed judges.
The final page held twenty-three dates.
“What are these?” Adriana asked.
“Children taken through Casa Esperanza.”
“Only twenty-three?”
“Twenty-three whose original identities Herrera confirmed.”
Andrés pointed to the last date.
Eight years earlier.
Elena’s delivery.
Beside the date were two initials.
C.N.
“Camila Navarro,” Lucía whispered.
Andrés nodded.
“Dr. Herrera knew where Elena’s child had been placed.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?” Valeria asked.
“Because he feared Octavio would kill both Lucía and the child.”
Lucía touched the initials with shaking fingers.
“Camila deserves to decide what name she uses.”
“No one will force her to change anything,” Adriana said.
Andrés turned the page.
A symbol had been drawn beneath the initials.
The Alcázar falcon surrounded by a circle of thorns.
But one thorn had been crossed out.
“My grandfather used that symbol for compromised accounts,” Sebastián said.
Andrés nodded.
“It means someone inside the network became a threat.”
“Who?”
Andrés pointed to a third set of initials hidden beneath the binding.
G.A.
Gabriel Alcázar.
Their father.
Sebastián stared at the page.
“What did he do?”
Andrés looked at Rebeca’s twin sons.
“According to Herrera, Gabriel tried to shut down Casa Esperanza before he died.”
Sebastián remembered his father’s final months.
The unexplained arguments with Rebeca.
The locked office.
The night Gabriel summoned Octavio and dismissed every servant from the west wing.
Three days later, Gabriel suffered a fatal heart attack.
“Was my father murdered?” Sebastián asked.
Andrés closed the notebook.
“Dr. Herrera believed he was.”
Adriana looked toward the hospital corridor.
“Who certified the death?”
May you like
Everyone already knew the answer.
Dr. Zamora.
