Chapter 10 - Beneath the Chapel
Alex freed Sofi’s hands.
The child collapsed against him.
He carried her toward the entrance as smoke began rising from the lower stairwell.
Ruiz’s agents stormed through the doors.
A medic took Sofi and placed an oxygen mask over her face.
Lucia arrived moments later in a second vehicle.
She ran across the chapel and fell to her knees beside her daughter.
Sofi reached for her.
“I was brave, Mommy.”
“You were so brave,” Lucia sobbed.
Alex turned toward the underground stairs.
Ruiz grabbed his arm.
“You have done enough.”
“Marcus has Genevieve.”
“She helped him kidnap a child.”
“She also stopped him from shooting me.”
Ruiz signaled two agents.
They descended into the smoke.
The basement contained old storage rooms and the temporary server facility Ward Global had installed during the abandoned renovation.
Marcus had poured gasoline across the floor.
Flames crawled beneath the metal racks.
Genevieve was tied to a pipe near the far wall.
Marcus stood beside a rear tunnel holding the memory card.
He fired at the agents and disappeared through the passage.
The agents pulled Genevieve free.
By the time firefighters controlled the blaze, half the servers had been destroyed.
Naomi arrived with technical specialists.
They recovered several drives, but the original accounting archive was badly damaged.
Marcus had escaped through an old drainage tunnel opening near the river.
Ruiz examined the card he left behind.
It had melted.
Lucia stood near Alex while Sofi slept inside the ambulance.
“Was that the only copy?” she asked.
Naomi nodded.
“Unless Javier stored the files somewhere else.”
Lucia’s shoulders fell.
“He never told me about the first one.”
Genevieve sat on the ambulance steps with a blanket around her.
An officer guarded her.
Alex approached.
“Why did you hit him?”
Genevieve stared at the ground.
“Because he was going to kill the child.”
“You helped him take her.”
“I did not know that was the plan.”
“You knew enough.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Marcus said we needed leverage.”
“He told me Sofi would be frightened for an hour and then released.”
Alex’s voice became cold.
“You believed him because believing him was convenient.”
Genevieve looked up.
“You think you are different?”
“Your company killed Javier Herrera, and you never even knew his widow worked in your house.”
The accusation struck its target.
Alex did not defend himself.
Genevieve leaned closer.
“Marcus was not the only man who approved those false safety reports.”
“Your father signed the first one.”
Alex stared at her.
“My father died six years ago.”
May you like
“Yes.”
“But before he died, he built the system Marcus used to steal everything.”
