CHAPTER 11 – TEN MINUTES BEFORE THE FIRE
CHAPTER 11 – TEN MINUTES BEFORE THE FIRE
The temperature inside the laboratory rose three degrees in less than thirty seconds.
A mechanical voice counted down from the ceiling.
“Nine minutes and forty-two seconds until thermal sterilization.”
Steel shutters sealed the glass observation rooms.
Heavy locks engaged inside the corridors.
The ventilation system stopped.
The air immediately felt thicker.
Beatriz lay beside Subject Five’s chamber with a bullet wound in her shoulder and a smile on her face.
She was bleeding.
She was trapped.
She still believed she controlled us.
“Give me the escape code,” I said.
Beatriz laughed softly.
“There is no escape code.”
My mother pushed herself upright despite the blood spreading across her gray dress.
“There is always a code.”
Beatriz turned toward her.
“You remember the first facility.”
“I designed part of it.”
“You designed a failure.”
“I designed a place where researchers could leave during an emergency.”
“You turned it into a prison.”
The mechanical voice continued.
“Nine minutes and twenty-one seconds.”
Officer Salgado forced Judge Medina facedown and secured his wrists.
One of the armed guards lay unconscious near the operating theater.
The other had dropped his weapon and surrendered.
Elena knelt beside my mother, pressing folded surgical cloth against the wound near her collarbone.
“The bullet may have missed the artery,” Elena said.
“But she needs a hospital.”
“So do the seven children in those chambers,” I replied.
Subject Five’s heart rate held at fifty-six.
My blood continued flowing through the emergency transfusion line.
The tube stretched from my arm to the artificial womb’s external port.
The other six heartbeats were weak but visible.
Subject Seven’s chamber remained cracked.
The portable power unit maintained the emergency seal.
Amber fluid continued leaking in thin drops.
Daniel stood beside Nicolás.
Lucía remained close to Mateo.
Four frightened children watched seven unborn children fight for oxygen.
No child should have been inside that room.
No child should have understood what a heartbeat looked like when it was about to disappear.
My mother looked at the countdown.
“Thermal sterilization will begin in the upper ventilation shafts.”
“The temperature will climb from the outside toward the center.”
“How long before this room becomes lethal?” Salgado asked.
“Eight minutes.”
“Maybe less.”
He looked toward Beatriz.
“Code.”
She smiled.
“You cannot threaten a woman who is already dying.”
“You are not dying.”
“Not yet.”
I walked toward her.
The transfusion tube pulled tight.
Elena caught my arm.
“You cannot move farther without disconnecting the line.”
I removed the needle.
Blood ran down my wrist.
Subject Five’s monitor dropped from fifty-six to fifty-one.
I pressed gauze against my arm and knelt beside Beatriz.
“You are afraid.”
She stared at me.
“You should be.”
“No.”
“You are afraid because thermal sterilization destroys everything.”
“The samples.”
“The files.”
“The chambers.”
“The proof that you spent thirty years creating a dynasty from stolen children.”
Her smile faded.
“You did not activate this system because you wanted to die.”
“You activated it because you thought you could escape.”
I leaned closer.
“That means there is a way out.”
Beatriz’s eyes shifted for less than a second.
Toward the floor beneath the artificial wombs.
My mother saw it.
“The transport rail.”
Beatriz’s face tightened.
“What transport rail?” Salgado asked.
My mother pointed toward a seam in the floor.
“The chambers can be moved together.”
“They were designed for emergency relocation.”
“To where?”
“An underwater medical dock.”
Elena looked at the seven wombs.
“Can the rail move all of them?”
“If the central cradle still works.”
The countdown reached eight minutes and twelve seconds.
My mother directed Mateo toward a recessed panel beneath Subject Three’s chamber.
He pulled it open.
Inside were three large mechanical handles.
The labels had been scratched away.
Beatriz laughed.
“You will never engage them in the correct order.”
My mother studied the mechanism.
“Red.”
“Black.”
“Then red again.”
Mateo pulled the red handle.
A deep metal sound moved beneath the floor.
He pulled the black handle.
Nothing happened.
“Again,” my mother said.
Mateo pulled harder.
The handle shifted.
The entire row of chambers trembled.
He pulled the red handle a second time.
Steel rails emerged from the floor.
The chambers locked onto a shared platform.
The monitors flickered.
Subject Five’s heart rate dropped to forty-seven.
“Do not move them yet,” I said.
“She is barely stable.”
“If we do not move them, none of them survive,” my mother replied.
Salgado searched the walls.
“Where is the entrance to the dock?”
“Behind the sterilization chamber.”
“Which direction?”
My mother pointed toward a steel door at the far end.
There was no keypad.
Only two glass plates mounted at different heights.
Beatriz saw us looking at them.
Her expression changed.
My mother understood.
“It requires two palm prints.”
“Whose?” Elena asked.
“Two members of the Armenta bloodline.”
I looked at my mother.
Then at Beatriz.
“You built the exit so no one could leave alone,” I said.
Beatriz said nothing.
“You and my mother.”
“My father designed the original lock,” she replied.
“He believed family members should watch one another.”
“He understood betrayal.”
“No.”
My mother struggled to stand.
“He created it.”
Salgado helped her toward the first glass plate.
She pressed her palm against it.
A blue light scanned her hand.
One indicator turned green.
The second remained red.
Everyone looked at Beatriz.
“No.”
Her answer was calm.
The countdown reached seven minutes.
Salgado lifted her by the uninjured arm.
She cried out.
“Put your hand on the scanner.”
Beatriz laughed through the pain.
“You cannot force the correct pulse pattern.”
“It reads more than fingerprints.”
“What does it read?” Elena asked.
“Temperature.”
“Blood flow.”
“Voluntary pressure.”
“If I resist, it fails.”
My mother leaned against the wall.
“Beatriz.”
Her sister looked at her.
“You spent your whole life claiming you wanted to save the Armenta bloodline.”
“Seven children will die in this room.”
“Two belong to that bloodline.”
“Possibly more.”
Beatriz glanced toward the chambers.
“You destroyed their viability when you disabled the reservoir.”
“I prevented you from choosing one child over six.”
“You always preferred moral gestures to results.”
“And you always used results to excuse cruelty.”
The countdown reached six minutes and thirty seconds.
The laboratory temperature rose again.
Sweat appeared on Daniel’s forehead.
Lucía coughed.
Nicolás moved closer to Subject Five.
“She is getting slower.”
Her heart rate had fallen to forty-three.
Beatriz looked at him.
For the first time, something almost human crossed her face.
Not love.
Possession.
He was still valuable to her.
The unborn girl was valuable too.
I stood between Beatriz and the chambers.
“Help us open the door.”
“Then face the truth outside this island.”
“Or stay here and watch your work burn.”
She looked toward Judge Medina.
He remained on the floor beneath Salgado’s control.
“You promised a secure exit,” she said.
Medina laughed bitterly.
“You promised the police would never reach the lower level.”
Their alliance was already collapsing.
Beatriz looked at the unconscious guard.
Then at the sealed corridor.
Then at the children.
She understood that no rescue team was coming for her.
I held out my hand.
“You can walk through the door.”
“Or you can die beside the numbers you gave these children.”
She took my hand.
I helped her stand.
Her blood soaked the sleeve of her sterile gown.
She moved toward the second scanner.
Before pressing her palm against it, she looked at my mother.
“You should have stayed dead.”
My mother met her eyes.
“You should have learned why I refused to.”
Beatriz placed her hand against the glass.
The scanner turned blue.
Then red.
“Voluntary pressure,” my mother reminded her.
Beatriz pushed harder.
The light became green.
The steel door unlocked.
Cold air rushed into the laboratory.
Beyond the door, a steep ramp descended toward darkness.
The smell of lake water entered the room.
The transport platform moved automatically.
All seven chambers rolled toward the exit.
Elena and Mateo walked beside Subject Seven, holding the portable power cable above the floor.
Nicolás stayed beside Subject Five.
Daniel and Lucía helped support my mother.
Salgado forced Medina forward.
The two surrendered guards followed with their hands raised.
Beatriz walked beside me.
I kept one hand around her arm.
The ramp descended beneath the island.
The countdown continued through hidden speakers.
“Five minutes and twenty seconds.”
At the bottom, an underwater dock opened before us.
A long medical vessel waited inside a concrete chamber.
It resembled a narrow ferry with a sealed glass cabin.
The transport rail continued directly into its center.
My mother stared at it.
“This was not here before.”
Beatriz smiled faintly.
“We improved the design.”
“Can it carry everyone?” Salgado asked.
“It can carry the chambers.”
“What about us?”
“There are twelve passenger restraints.”
We counted.
Seven chambers occupied the center.
There were thirteen conscious adults and children.
My mother.
Me.
Elena.
Daniel.
Lucía.
Nicolás.
Mateo.
Salgado.
Judge Medina.
Beatriz.
Two guards.
One wounded officer who had followed us from the service tunnel.
Thirteen.
The transport held twelve.
Someone would have to remain behind.
The mechanical voice announced four minutes and fifty seconds.
Salgado looked at the surrendered guards.
“One of you stays.”
Both men immediately protested.
“They surrendered,” Elena said.
“They are prisoners.”
“They are also human beings.”
Beatriz stepped toward the vessel.
“Leave Medina.”
Judge Medina looked up sharply.
“I protected you for fifteen years.”
“You were paid for fifteen years.”
“You know where the offshore accounts are.”
Beatriz turned toward him.
“Which is why I would prefer the fire destroy you.”
Medina lunged.
He struck Salgado with his shoulder.
The pistol at Salgado’s belt shifted loose.
Medina grabbed it.
Everyone froze.
He backed toward the ramp.
“Open the vessel.”
“It is already open,” Beatriz said.
“Then move.”
He pointed the gun at Daniel.
My body reacted before I could think.
I stepped in front of my son.
Medina’s hand shook.
“You destroyed everything.”
“No,” I said.
“You signed the papers that tried to destroy me.”
“You should have boarded the flight.”
“You should have stayed a judge.”
He aimed at my chest.
A gunshot echoed through the dock.
Medina’s weapon fell.
He collapsed.
The wounded officer behind him lowered his pistol.
Blood spread beneath Medina’s shoulder.
He was alive.
He would not be running anywhere.
The countdown reached four minutes.
Salgado dragged Medina into the vessel.
We loaded the children first.
The transport platform locked the seven chambers inside the sealed medical section.
Subject Five’s heart rate remained at forty.
Subject Seven’s seal began leaking again.
The portable unit was losing charge.
My mother collapsed into a passenger seat.
Elena secured her restraints.
Beatriz sat opposite us.
Salgado cuffed her wrists to the metal frame.
The guards were placed at the rear.
There were enough seats now that Medina could lie on the floor between them.
The vessel’s door remained open.
The control panel requested an authorization code.
My mother tried the code she remembered.
It failed.
Beatriz leaned her head against the wall.
“The vessel was upgraded.”
“Give us the new code,” I said.
“I do not know it.”
“You ordered the upgrade.”
“Mateo handled transportation.”
“Mateo Salazar?”
“Yes.”
The man who had followed us through the tunnel.
The man trapped behind the gate.
The man Rosa had said worked for the foundation.
He knew the exit code.
And he was not with us.
The countdown reached three minutes and twenty seconds.
Salgado struck the control panel.
“There has to be a manual release.”
My mother examined the lower compartment.
“It requires a physical key.”
“Where?”
Beatriz looked toward the metal dock office.
“Mateo kept one there.”
Salgado ran out of the vessel.
I followed.
“Stay with the children,” he ordered.
“You do not know what the key looks like.”
“Neither do you.”
We entered the small office.
Heat had already reached the upper walls.
Smoke pushed through the ventilation grates.
Files covered one desk.
A bank of security screens showed the facility.
Most corridors were empty.
One screen displayed the burning boathouse.
Another showed the laboratory we had left.
The artificial womb room was already glowing orange.
A third screen showed a man running down the transport ramp.
Mateo Salazar.
He had opened the tunnel gate.
He was coming toward us.
His shirt was wet.
Blood marked one sleeve.
He carried a silver key in one hand.
A pistol in the other.
Salgado aimed at the doorway.
“Drop the weapon.”
Mateo stopped outside the office.
“You need the key.”
“Slide it across the floor.”
“No.”
The countdown reached two minutes and forty seconds.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Subject Seven.”
“Why?”
“Because that child belongs to my client.”
“Who is your client?”
Mateo smiled.
“Not Beatriz.”
The truth shifted again.
He had worked with her.
But not for her.
“Who hired you?”
“The family that financed the final chamber.”
“Family A-17?”
“No.”
He looked toward Elena.
“Her father was only the accountant.”
“Then who?”
“Transfer Subject Seven to the secondary capsule.”
“I give you the key.”
“You leave with the other six.”
“You expect us to hand you an unborn child?”
“I expect you to decide whether one life is worth eleven others.”
The same choice.
Always the same weapon.
Sacrifice one child.
Save the rest.
I was tired of adults building rooms where children became currency.
“No.”
Mateo raised the pistol.
“Then you all die.”
Salgado fired first.
Mateo moved behind the doorway.
The shot struck concrete.
Mateo fired back.
Salgado fell against the desk.
A bullet had entered his thigh.
I pulled him behind the wall.
The countdown reached two minutes.
Heat filled the office.
Mateo shouted from the corridor.
“Last chance.”
I looked at the security screen.
Behind him, another figure appeared on the ramp.
Rosa.
She moved unsteadily.
Blood covered her back.
One hand pressed against the wall.
The other held the pistol she had used in the boathouse.
Mateo did not see her.
I stared at the screen.
Rosa lifted the weapon.
She fired.
Mateo’s body jerked.
The silver key fell from his hand.
Rosa fired again.
His pistol dropped.
He collapsed on the ramp.
I ran from the office.
Rosa fell to her knees.
I caught her before she hit the floor.
“You should be with paramedics.”
“They left me when the island alarm started.”
Her breathing rattled.
“I followed the police boat.”
“How?”
“Another boat.”
She pressed the key into my hand.
“Take Daniel.”
“I am taking you too.”
“No.”
“There is room.”
“Not enough time.”
The countdown announced one minute and twenty seconds.
Salgado limped from the office.
Together, we lifted Rosa.
She cried out.
We carried her toward the vessel.
The transport door began closing automatically.
Elena held it open.
“Move.”
We pushed Rosa inside.
Salgado entered behind us.
I inserted the silver key into the control panel.
The engine activated.
The vessel door sealed.
Forty-nine seconds remained.
The underwater gate opened.
Lake water rushed into the outer chamber.
The vessel rocked violently.
Daniel grabbed my hand.
The transport descended into the dark water beneath the island.
Behind us, the thermal system reached zero.
The explosion came without sound at first.
A white flash filled the rear windows.
Then a shock wave struck the vessel.
The cabin tilted.
Children screamed.
One of the chamber restraints broke loose.
Subject Seven slid sideways.
Elena and Mateo threw themselves against it.
The lights went out.
Water sprayed through a crack near the ceiling.
The vessel dropped deeper.
Then the emergency engines activated.
We rose.
The transport broke through the lake’s surface less than a mile from the island.
Behind us, Isla Cardenal burned from the inside.
Smoke rose through cracks in the ground.
The villa collapsed.
Fire erupted from the medical dock.
Police boats raced toward us.
For the first time in ten minutes, I believed we might survive.
Then Nicolás pointed toward the chamber platform.
“Laura.”
His voice was strange.
I turned.
Six chambers remained locked in place.
Subject Five.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Six.
The seventh position was empty.
Only a broken restraint and a severed power cable remained.
Subject Seven had not fallen inside the vessel.
Its chamber had been ejected through the damaged rear hatch during the explosion.
I ran to the window.
Something floated in the smoke behind us.
A small secondary capsule.
A motor activated beneath it.
The capsule turned away from the burning island.
A figure climbed from the water and pulled himself onto its roof.
Mateo Salazar.
Rosa had shot him.
But he was still alive.
He looked toward our vessel.
Then he raised one hand in a mocking farewell.
Subject Seven’s capsule accelerated across the lake.
A message appeared on the medical screen.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
NEW DESTINATION: SANTA EMILIA.
Beneath it was a photograph of the unborn child inside the stolen chamber.
Then a second image appeared.
A woman’s face.
Silvana.
The screen displayed a genetic match.
MATERNAL SOURCE CONFIRMED.
May you like
Subject Seven was Silvana’s biological daughter.
And Mateo was taking her back to the hospital where every lie had begun.
