Chapter 17 - WHAT HAPPENED TO IGNACIO RIVAS
The scream had come from Rebeca.
She had accompanied police through the tunnel.
Against Salgado’s wishes, she insisted she knew the underground layout better than anyone.
Now she stood at the base of the stairs.
Sebastián saw her.
His expression changed completely.
“You.”
Rebeca looked at the gun in his hand.
“For once, you don’t get to decide what happens.”
Sebastián aimed at her.
Mateo moved.
The shot exploded.
Rebeca fell backward.
Police returned fire.
Sebastián disappeared through an upstairs window onto the roof.
Mateo dropped beside his sister.
The bullet had struck her shoulder.
She was bleeding but conscious.
“Go.”
Mateo stared at her.
“Go.”
She gripped his sleeve.
“Don’t let him disappear again.”
Paramedics rushed toward her.
Mateo followed Salgado outside.
Sebastián had climbed down from the roof and was running toward an old mine access road behind the cabin.
Police surrounded the area.
There was nowhere left to go.
Sebastián reached an abandoned storage shed.
Inside, he locked himself behind a steel door.
Salgado shouted.
“It’s over.”
Sebastián laughed from inside.
“You think prison scares me?”
Then smoke began seeping beneath the door.
“He’s burning evidence.”
Police forced entry.
The room was filled with boxes of documents and old video tapes.
Flames climbed one wall.
Sebastián stood beside them.
Mateo saw a labeled cassette.
IGNACIO RIVAS.
He ran toward it.
Sebastián grabbed him.
They slammed into a table.
Salgado pulled Sebastián away.
Officers restrained him.
Mateo seized the tape before the flames reached it.
Hours later, investigators restored the footage.
Mateo watched with Laura, Elena, and Salgado.
His father appeared on the screen.
Younger than Mateo remembered.
Angry.
Alive.
Across the table sat Ernesto.
Ignacio demanded that his brother turn himself in.
Ernesto refused.
Then another man entered.
Alonso Varela.
Sebastián’s father.
The argument became heated.
Finally Ernesto said the words nobody in the family had ever heard.
“If you testify tomorrow, you won’t reach the courthouse.”
Ignacio stared at his brother.
“You would kill me over money?”
Ernesto looked away.
The tape ended.
Elena began sobbing.
Mateo could not move.
His father had known.
He had faced his own brother.
And three days later, he died.
Salgado placed a hand on Mateo’s shoulder.
“We have enough.”
Mateo looked at the frozen image of Ignacio.
“No.”
He thought of Emiliano beneath the floor.
Jimena tied inside the factory.
Laura in the cabin.
May you like
Rebeca crying in the interrogation room.
“Now we make sure everyone knows.”
