PART 8 – THE OBSERVATORY
PART 8 – THE OBSERVATORY
The convoy left Mexico City before sunrise.
A cold mist hung over the highway as Rodrigo drove the lead SUV, while Detective Alejandro Ruiz followed close behind with Nicolás and Don Esteban.
No one spoke much.
Each of them was occupied by the same question.
What exactly had Raúl Santillán hidden in the Observatory?
Rodrigo tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
His father's final letter echoed in his mind.
"Helix was never destroyed."
If that was true...
Then everything Rodrigo believed about his family's past had been a lie.
Back at the Santillán estate, Mariana watched the vehicles disappear beyond the gates.
An uneasy feeling settled in her chest.
She tried to focus on Santiago.
They spent the morning baking cookies in the kitchen.
For a while, the laughter returned.
Then the electricity flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The lights went out.
The emergency generator activated almost immediately.
Yet something was wrong.
The security monitors remained black.
The intercom system was silent.
The telephone lines were dead.
Mariana felt a chill.
The estate had become completely isolated.
Carlos Mendoza was alive.
Far from the mansion, hidden inside an abandoned church on the outskirts of Oaxaca, the former head of security stared at a map spread across an old wooden table.
His jacket was stained with blood from the explosion he had barely survived.
Across from him sat an elderly priest.
"You cannot keep running forever," the priest said quietly.
Carlos shook his head.
"I'm not running."
"I'm trying to reach them before she does."
The priest sighed.
"After all these years..."
"You still believe you can make things right?"
Carlos looked toward the mountains.
"I helped build the cage."
"The least I can do now..."
"...is help them escape it."
By early afternoon, Rodrigo's convoy reached the abandoned mountain road.
The Observatory stood at the summit.
It was older than anyone expected.
Built of weathered stone instead of concrete.
Its massive dome was cracked.
Vines covered much of the structure.
Nature had almost reclaimed it.
"It doesn't look like a laboratory," Nicolás whispered.
Don Esteban nodded.
"That was the idea."
"The perfect place..."
"...is the one no one suspects."
Inside, dust covered everything.
Ancient telescopes filled the main chamber.
Old astronomical charts still hung on the walls.
Rodrigo frowned.
"This can't be it."
Ruiz remained cautious.
"Search everything."
They divided into pairs.
After nearly an hour...
Nothing.
No documents.
No computers.
No hidden laboratory.
Just an abandoned observatory.
Then Nicolás noticed something unusual.
One telescope pointed downward.
Not toward the sky.
Toward the floor.
He walked closer.
The telescope's base had deep grooves from years of movement.
As he rotated it slightly...
A deep metallic click echoed through the chamber.
The floor trembled.
A circular section of stone slowly slid aside.
Cold air rushed upward from the darkness below.
Ruiz drew his weapon.
Rodrigo switched on his flashlight.
Stone steps descended into the mountain.
The underground facility was untouched.
Unlike Helix...
No one had stripped it clean.
Rows of filing cabinets stood exactly where they had been left.
Shelves filled with research journals stretched into the darkness.
A backup archive.
Raúl had hidden everything.
Rodrigo opened the nearest cabinet.
Project Aurora.
Project Eden.
Project Atlas.
Hundreds of files.
Years of research.
Ruiz found another room.
Locked.
The heavy steel door required a numeric code.
Above the keypad someone had engraved six words.
Knowledge survives only with courage.
Don Esteban closed his eyes.
"I know the code."
Everyone looked at him.
"I helped design this place."
His fingers trembled as he entered six numbers.
The lock clicked open.
Inside stood a single computer terminal.
Miraculously...
It still had power.
A backup battery system had preserved it for decades.
The monitor flickered to life.
A video file appeared automatically.
The timestamp read:
Recorded twenty-one years earlier.
Rodrigo pressed Play.
His father appeared on the screen.
Older than in the photographs.
Exhausted.
His eyes were filled with regret.
"If you are watching this..."
"...then I am probably dead."
Rodrigo swallowed hard.
"I created Helix with one dream."
"To cure children who had no hope."
"We succeeded."
"But success attracted people who wanted something else."
"They saw medicine."
"They imagined weapons."
"I tried to stop them."
"I failed."
Raúl looked directly into the camera.
"There is one person you must never underestimate."
"She has changed her name many times."
"She never grows old in the records because every ten years she becomes someone new."
"Today you may know her by another identity."
"But I knew her as..."
The recording suddenly froze.
Static filled the screen.
Then it went black.
"No!" Rodrigo shouted.
Nicolás immediately examined the hard drive.
"It's not damaged."
Ruiz frowned.
"Then why did it stop?"
Nicolás stared at the screen.
"It didn't stop."
"Someone erased the end of the recording."
At that exact moment...
Hundreds of miles away...
The silver-haired woman watched a satellite image of the Observatory.
"They've entered."
The young man beside her smiled.
"Should I destroy the archive?"
She shook her head.
"No."
"They've already seen enough."
"What matters now..."
"...is making sure they never leave."
She pressed a single button.
Deep inside the mountain...
A hidden sensor activated.
A quiet mechanical sound echoed through the underground corridors.
Nicolás heard it first.
"Did you hear that?"
Another sound followed.
Then another.
Ruiz looked toward the ceiling.
"The entrance."
They ran back toward the staircase.
Too late.
With a deafening crash...
The massive stone door slid shut above them.
Daylight vanished.
They were trapped.
Back at the mansion...
Mariana finally restored the emergency radio.
Only static answered.
Then...
A man's strained voice broke through.
"Mrs. Santillán..."
She recognized it instantly.
"Carlos?"
"I'm sorry."
"There isn't much time."
"Listen carefully."
"They're not after Santiago anymore."
Mariana felt her heart pound.
"What do you mean?"
Carlos answered in a whisper.
"They already have what they wanted."
"They're after Nicolás."
The radio went silent.
Inside the mountain, the emergency lights switched on.
Red.
One by one.
A computerized voice echoed through the underground facility.
Unauthorized access detected.
Archive lockdown initiated.
Facility purge in thirty minutes.
Rodrigo looked around in disbelief.
"Purge?"
Nicolás opened a nearby control panel.
His face lost all color.
"It's going to destroy everything."
"The files."
"The evidence."
"The entire mountain."
Ruiz tightened his grip on his flashlight.
"Then we have thirty minutes..."
"...to uncover a twenty-year conspiracy..."
"...and find a way out alive."
As the countdown clock illuminated the wall, another screen suddenly flickered to life.
A live camera feed appeared.
Someone was watching them.
Then the elegant silver-haired woman stepped into view.
She smiled calmly.
"Welcome to the Observatory."
"I've been expecting you."
The transmission ended.
May you like
The countdown continued.
29:59... 29:58... 29:57...
