Chapter 13: Into the Jungle
The first figure landed in a crouch.
Then another.
And another.
Within seconds, six black-clad operatives had dropped through the hole in the bookstore ceiling.
Each wore lightweight tactical gear with no insignia, no names, and no identifying marks.
Their faces were hidden behind dark visors.
Not a word was spoken.
They moved with perfect coordination.
"Get down!" Adrian Voss shouted.
It was the first time Mateo had heard panic in the man's voice.
The operatives spread through the bookstore in a practiced formation.
Two blocked the front entrance.
Two swept toward the back room.
The remaining pair headed directly for Mateo.
"They're after the girls!" Dalia cried.
Mateo scooped both twins into his arms and ducked behind a heavy bookshelf just as a stun grenade rolled across the floor.
A blinding flash erupted.
The deafening bang shook the entire building.
Books tumbled from the shelves.
Glass shattered.
For several seconds, Mateo couldn't hear anything except a high-pitched ringing.
Through the haze, he saw Adrian Voss tackle one of the operatives to the floor.
The man's leather folder slid across the room.
Lucía grabbed the laptop while Arturo disappeared into the storage room.
"Follow me!" the old bookseller shouted.
"There’s another way out!"
Mateo stumbled after him, carrying the twins as tightly as he could.
Dalia stayed close behind.
The narrow storage room was packed with dusty boxes and old furniture.
Arturo shoved aside a rusted filing cabinet, revealing a hidden wooden door.
"I've used this exit only once," he said.
"When Gabriel came here."
Mateo pushed through first.
The passage opened into a cramped alley behind the bookstore.
Sunlight flooded the narrow corridor.
For one brief moment, Mateo thought they had escaped.
Then tires screeched.
A black van slid sideways across the end of the alley, blocking their path.
Its side door flew open.
Three more operatives stepped out.
"They've sealed every exit," Lucía said.
Adrian Voss burst through the hidden doorway behind them, breathing heavily.
"They anticipated the escape routes."
One of the masked operatives raised a small device.
It wasn't a gun.
It emitted a sharp electronic pulse.
Every nearby phone instantly went dark.
Lucía looked at hers.
"No signal."
Mateo tried his.
Dead.
"They've jammed communications," Voss said.
The operatives began advancing.
Steady.
Silent.
There was nowhere left to run.
Suddenly, Arturo pointed upward.
"The rooftops!"
A rusted fire escape climbed the side of the building.
"Go!"
Mateo climbed first, balancing both twins against his chest.
Dalia followed.
Then Lucía.
Voss remained below.
"What are you doing?" Mateo shouted.
Voss looked up.
"I owe more people than I can ever repay."
Before Mateo understood what he meant, Voss stepped into the center of the alley.
He raised both hands.
"I'm the one you want."
Every operative stopped.
One of them lowered his weapon.
Another spoke for the first time.
"Step away from the children."
Voss smiled bitterly.
"I can't."
The operative tilted his head.
"Then your usefulness has ended."
A suppressed gunshot cracked through the alley.
Mateo flinched.
Voss staggered backward.
A dark stain spread across his white shirt.
"No!" Dalia screamed.
But Voss didn't fall.
Instead, he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small black remote.
He looked up toward Mateo one last time.
Then smiled.
"Run."
He pressed the button.
A violent explosion erupted inside the bookstore.
The blast shattered every remaining window.
The shockwave rocked the alley.
Dust and debris filled the air.
The operatives were thrown off their feet.
Mateo climbed onto the rooftop just as flames burst through the building below.
They ran across connected rooftops while sirens echoed throughout the neighborhood.
None of them looked back.
Nearly an hour later, they reached an abandoned church on the outskirts of the city.
Everyone was exhausted.
The twins had finally fallen asleep.
Lucía gently placed the laptop on an old wooden pew.
Arturo locked the church doors.
Mateo leaned against a stone column, trying to steady his breathing.
"Do you think Voss survived?"
No one answered.
The silence was enough.
Dalia slowly unfolded the map Voss had given them.
Her eyes scanned the markings.
"There."
She pointed deep into the Yucatán jungle.
A location with no road leading to it.
Only dense forest.
Lucía zoomed in using an offline satellite map on her tablet.
"There isn't supposed to be anything there."
Arturo disagreed.
"There used to be."
"What?"
"A military communications station."
He looked at the others.
"It was abandoned over twenty years ago."
Mateo studied the map.
"That's where Eva is."
Lucía nodded.
"If she's still alive."
As Mateo folded the map, something slipped from between its creases.
A tiny handwritten note.
It wasn't Voss's handwriting.
The ink was faded, almost erased by time.
Mateo read it aloud.
If Subject 7 reaches the facility... do not let her enter alone.
He turned the note over.
There was one final sentence.
Eva isn't waiting to be rescued.
A cold silence settled over the church.
Mateo looked down at Sofía sleeping peacefully in his arms.
Then at Camila.
Whatever waited in the jungle...
It had been waiting for them since the night they were born.
And for the first time since this nightmare began...
Mateo realized the truth.
May you like
They weren't running toward danger anymore.
Danger had been waiting for them all along.
