Chapter 10: The Man with the Silver Eyes
The smile lasted only a second.
Then the man folded his newspaper, placed it neatly on the café table, and stood.
He didn't rush.
He didn't wave to the others.
He simply began walking toward Mateo's booth with the calm confidence of someone who had never expected to fail.
Mateo instinctively pulled Sofía closer.
His daughter buried her face against his shoulder, but before she did, she whispered one more sentence.
"He remembers me."
A chill ran through Mateo.
"Sweetheart, what do you mean?"
Sofía didn't answer.
She had already closed her eyes as if the words had drained all her energy.
Dalia stared at her in disbelief.
"She... she has never spoken in full sentences before."
Mateo nodded slowly.
"Not like that."
The twins knew dozens of words, but they had never formed complete thoughts with such clarity.
Especially not about something impossible.
Lucía quietly zipped the laptop into her backpack.
"We have to leave. Right now."
The silver-eyed man was only twenty feet away.
The other five strangers in the terminal subtly changed direction.
Without speaking to one another, they began closing the distance.
"They're surrounding us," Dalia whispered.
Mateo stood, lifting Sofía while Dalia carried Camila.
Lucía led them through the rear exit of the café and into a crowded hallway lined with small shops.
"Keep walking," she said.
"No sudden movements."
The silver-eyed man never sped up.
He simply adjusted his pace.
Always keeping them in sight.
As they reached the terminal's west entrance, a city bus pulled up outside.
The doors opened.
Passengers poured off while others climbed aboard.
Lucía smiled.
"Perfect."
They merged into the crowd and boarded just as the driver announced the route.
The doors hissed shut.
The bus pulled away.
For the first time that day, Mateo allowed himself to breathe.
Then he looked through the rear window.
The silver-eyed man hadn't tried to stop the bus.
He simply stood on the sidewalk watching them leave.
Then, very slowly...
He raised one hand.
Not to wave.
To touch the earpiece hidden beneath his hair.
Within seconds, two black SUVs pulled away from opposite sides of the terminal.
"They're still tracking us," Mateo muttered.
Lucía nodded.
"They've already predicted where this bus is going."
Twenty minutes later, they exited several miles away in one of Cancún's oldest neighborhoods.
The streets were narrow.
Small cafés spilled onto brick sidewalks.
Street musicians played beneath colorful awnings.
It was busy enough to disappear.
Or so Mateo hoped.
They ducked into a quiet bookstore tucked between a bakery and an antique shop.
The elderly owner looked up from behind the counter.
"Can I help you?"
Lucía smiled politely.
"We're looking for the history section."
The man studied her for a long second.
Then he nodded toward a shelf in the back.
"There are no cameras back there."
Mateo frowned.
Lucía whispered, "He's one of Gabriel's contacts."
The old man locked the front door after the last customer left.
Only then did he approach them.
"You opened the laptop."
It wasn't a question.
Lucía nodded.
"We saw the files."
The bookseller sighed.
"I hoped you never would."
Mateo stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Arturo Medina."
"Were you involved with Gabriel's investigation?"
"For nearly three years."
Mateo looked around the empty store.
"You know about Project Phoenix?"
Arturo's face grew serious.
"I know enough to stay alive."
"Then tell us."
The old man reached beneath the counter and removed an old city map.
He spread it across a table.
Several locations had been circled in red.
Santa María Hospital.
A private laboratory outside Mérida.
A shipping port.
And one place deep in the Yucatán jungle.
"What is this?" Mateo asked.
"Every location connected to Helix Biomedical."
Lucía pointed to the final red circle.
"What's in the jungle?"
Arturo hesitated.
"No one knows."
"But supplies have been delivered there for nearly twenty years."
"Medical supplies?"
He nodded.
"And children."
Silence filled the bookstore.
Mateo felt sick.
"What children?"
"Officially?"
Arturo answered.
"None."
"Unofficially..."
He looked directly at the twins.
"...children who were never supposed to exist."
Dalia slowly backed away.
"You mean the missing babies."
Arturo nodded.
"They weren't all declared dead."
"They were relocated."
Mateo's stomach turned.
"To that facility?"
"We believe so."
Lucía folded her arms.
"You've never been there?"
"No one who has... ever came back."
A sudden crash interrupted the conversation.
The bookstore's front window shattered inward.
Glass exploded across the floor.
Customers outside screamed.
Arturo immediately killed the lights.
"Down!"
Everyone dropped behind the shelves.
A red laser sight swept slowly across the room.
Not from a rifle.
From a small targeting device.
Someone outside was searching for them.
The silver-eyed man calmly stepped through the broken doorway.
He wasn't carrying a weapon.
Only a black leather folder.
He looked around the dark bookstore and smiled.
"I've spent a year looking for those girls."
His voice was smooth.
Almost gentle.
Then he said something that made Mateo's blood run cold.
"Mr. Solís..."
May you like
He glanced directly toward the shelf where Mateo was hiding, as if he already knew exactly where he was.
"...it's time your daughters came home."
