CHAPTER 12 — Three Knocks
Daniel stared at the two tunnels.
His instincts told him to run toward his children.
But something about the video felt wrong.
Inés was wearing the same clothes she had worn the previous evening.
Leo’s water glass never moved.
“It’s recorded footage,” Daniel said.
Valdés examined the screen.
“You’re sure?”
Daniel watched Inés’s fingers.
They rested against the wall beside her bed.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
The motion repeated exactly seven seconds later.
The video was looping.
Camila wanted him to panic.
“The children aren’t here,” Daniel said. “She’s protecting the ledger.”
They followed the blood trail into the left tunnel.
At the end, they found Reyes leaning against the wall.
Camila had stabbed him and taken the case.
Valdés handcuffed him while calling for medical support.
“Where is she going?” Daniel demanded.
Reyes laughed weakly.
“The old quarry.”
A second tunnel led from the chapel to an abandoned limestone quarry on the edge of the ranch.
Camila reached it first.
She stood beside a deep excavation pit, holding the metal case over the edge.
“Stay back!” she shouted.
Daniel and Valdés emerged from the tunnel.
“You can’t escape,” Valdés said.
“I don’t need to.”
Camila opened the case and removed the drive.
“If this disappears, everyone named on it will protect me.”
“They’ll kill you,” Daniel said.
“They still need me.”
“No. They needed silence.”
For the first time, uncertainty crossed her face.
Daniel took one slow step forward.
Camila backed away.
The ground beneath her cracked.
Part of the quarry edge collapsed.
Camila fell, grabbing a rusted metal cable with one hand.
The drive landed several feet from Daniel.
He ran toward it.
Camila reached for his ankle.
The remaining ground broke apart.
Daniel dropped over the edge beside her.
He caught a wooden support beam with both hands.
Below them was a forty-foot fall onto broken stone.
Camila hung from Daniel’s leg.
“Help me!” she screamed.
Daniel’s fingers began slipping.
Valdés lowered herself toward him, but the earth continued crumbling.
Camila climbed higher, pulling Daniel away from the beam.
“Get off me!”
“You don’t get to leave me!”
May you like
The wooden beam cracked.
And beneath Daniel’s right hand, the old wood split in half.
