PART 6 – THE TRAITOR INSIDE
PART 6 – THE TRAITOR INSIDE
The alarm sounded at exactly 2:17 a.m.
Every light inside the Santillán estate flashed red.
Security doors sealed automatically.
Within seconds, armed guards rushed through the hallways while Rodrigo ran barefoot from his bedroom.
"Mariana!"
"I'm here!"
She stood in Santiago's room, holding the frightened little boy tightly against her chest.
Nicolás was already searching every corner of the nursery.
Nothing appeared out of place.
No broken windows.
No forced doors.
No intruder.
Yet every motion sensor in the east wing had activated simultaneously.
Head of Security Carlos Mendoza frowned as he examined his tablet.
"Someone was here."
"Where?"
"The nursery."
Rodrigo looked around.
"But no one is here."
Carlos zoomed in on the security map.
The sensor trail began inside the hallway...
entered Santiago's room...
stood beside the bookshelf...
and disappeared.
No exit.
No second trail.
It was as though someone had simply vanished.
The following morning, Detective Alejandro Ruiz arrived carrying a sealed evidence box.
No one spoke until Santiago had been taken outside to play with Doña Mercedes.
Ruiz placed Verónica's final message on the table.
Trust Nicolás.
Rodrigo looked at the young man.
"You've never met Verónica."
"I haven't."
"Then why would she leave your name?"
Nicolás remained silent for several seconds.
Finally he spoke.
"I think... she wasn't talking about me."
Everyone stared at him.
"What do you mean?"
"My full legal name is Nicolás Cruz."
"But the elders in Oaxaca always called me by another name."
"What name?"
He answered quietly.
"Nico."
"They never used Nicolás."
Ruiz frowned.
"So?"
"So whoever wrote that message probably didn't know me."
"They only knew my legal records."
Silence settled over the room.
Someone had researched him.
Someone with access to official documents.
Ruiz ordered another investigation.
This time not into outsiders...
but into every employee who had worked for the Santillán family during the past ten years.
Drivers.
Gardeners.
Chefs.
Security guards.
Personal assistants.
Housekeepers.
More than one hundred people.
Three detectives worked nonstop.
Most backgrounds were spotless.
Some had minor financial problems.
Nothing unusual.
Until one file raised questions.
Carlos Mendoza.
Head of Security.
Employed for nine years.
Former military.
Excellent references.
Perfect record.
Too perfect.
Ruiz requested deeper verification.
Military headquarters replied with unexpected news.
Carlos had indeed served.
But not for nine years.
Only three.
The remaining six years...
didn't exist.
There was no employment record.
No tax history.
No passport activity.
No driver's license renewal.
Nothing.
For six years...
Carlos Mendoza had simply disappeared from every government database.
Meanwhile...
Nicolás returned to the abandoned Helix laboratory.
This time alone.
He couldn't explain why.
Something inside the building kept calling him back.
Dust covered everything.
Broken glass crunched beneath his shoes.
Most rooms were empty.
Then he noticed a loose floor tile beneath the old toxicology lab.
He knelt.
Lifted it carefully.
Below...
A rusted metal box.
Locked.
He forced it open with a piece of iron pipe.
Inside lay dozens of water-damaged notebooks.
Laboratory journals.
Research logs.
Photographs.
One photograph immediately caught his attention.
A group of scientists stood outside the building twenty years earlier.
In the center...
A familiar face.
Younger.
Smiling.
Raúl Santillán.
Rodrigo's father.
Nicolás turned the picture over.
A handwritten note covered the back.
Project Aurora – Final Approval.
Date:
Twenty-one years earlier.
That evening Rodrigo studied the journals.
Every page deepened the mystery.
Helix had officially researched rare botanical medicines.
Unofficially...
They had been developing microscopic airborne delivery systems capable of carrying natural compounds through enclosed spaces.
Most experiments failed.
Some caused severe illness.
Others left permanent lung damage.
Rodrigo slammed the notebook shut.
"My father would never approve this."
Ruiz wasn't convinced.
"Maybe he didn't."
"Then why is his signature everywhere?"
No one had an answer.
Across town...
A black sedan stopped outside a quiet cemetery.
An elegant silver-haired woman stepped out carrying white lilies.
She walked directly to one grave.
Raúl Santillán.
She smiled faintly.
"You always underestimated people."
She placed the flowers carefully.
"Your son is asking dangerous questions."
She looked toward the mansion visible in the distance.
"He has your curiosity."
"And that's going to kill him."
She turned and disappeared before the cemetery caretaker noticed her.
Back at the estate...
Mariana couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching them.
She checked every window before bedtime.
Locked every door.
Closed every curtain.
As she tucked Santiago into bed...
He whispered,
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"The lady came back."
Her heart stopped.
"What lady?"
"The pretty one."
"She stood in the garden."
Mariana forced herself to smile.
"It was probably a dream."
Santiago shook his head.
"She waved."
"And then she said..."
The little boy frowned, trying to remember.
"...don't let the bookshelf fall."
Mariana's blood ran cold.
She hadn't told anyone.
But earlier that day...
The new wooden bookshelf had nearly collapsed while a worker was adjusting it.
Only Nicolás had prevented it from crushing Santiago.
How could a child dream about something that had actually happened?
The next afternoon Ruiz finally received Carlos Mendoza's financial records.
Hidden accounts.
Offshore transfers.
Monthly payments.
Always the same amount.
Always arriving on the fifteenth.
Always from shell corporations.
Ruiz traced one transfer.
Then another.
Both eventually led to the same dissolved company.
Helix Biotechnologies.
He immediately drove toward the estate.
Halfway there...
His phone rang.
It was Carlos.
His voice sounded calm.
"Detective."
Ruiz's grip tightened.
"Where are you?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you."
"You've been lying to us."
"I know."
"Who are you working for?"
Carlos remained silent.
Then he said something unexpected.
"I'm not your enemy."
Before Ruiz could answer—
A deafening explosion echoed through the phone.
The call ended.
Police reached the location within minutes.
Carlos's vehicle had been destroyed.
Flames climbed into the night sky.
Investigators searched through the wreckage.
No body.
No blood.
No sign that anyone had been inside when it exploded.
Carlos Mendoza had vanished.
Again.
Back at the mansion, Rodrigo gathered everyone in the living room.
"No one leaves alone anymore."
"Security shifts double starting tonight."
"Nicolás, you stay close to us."
Nicolás nodded.
Then something caught his eye.
A small envelope had been slipped beneath the front door.
No one had seen who delivered it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Taken only hours earlier.
It showed the entire Santillán family having lunch in the garden.
Someone had been close enough to capture every smile.
On the back, written in elegant handwriting, were only eight words:
"This time, I won't miss the child."
Mariana's hands began to tremble.
Rodrigo immediately pulled his family close.
Outside the gates, hidden behind rows of trees, a woman lowered a pair of binoculars.
She smiled.
"Phase Three," she whispered.
May you like
"Let them be afraid."
Then she walked into the darkness, leaving behind only the sound of the wind... and the certainty that the real battle had only just begun.
