Chapter 31 - Into the Shadows
Armed with the exact coordinates, Elena did not immediately call the local authorities. She needed to know exactly who was brazen enough to attack her family's legacy. If this was a ghost from her mother’s turbulent past, the police would only manage to catch a low-level pawn, allowing the true mastermind to slip back into the shadows and plot another devastating strike.
She contacted a private security firm, one that had remained fiercely loyal to David and Mariana for decades. Within two hours, Elena found herself sitting in the back of a heavily armored black SUV, flanked by three highly trained security operatives. The vehicle navigated silently through the dark, rain-slicked streets of the city, moving further away from the glittering skyscrapers and deep into the forgotten, decaying industrial sector.
"Are you absolutely certain you want to be here for this, Ms. Escalante?" the lead operative, a scarred man named Vargas, asked quietly over his shoulder. "It could get very complicated, very quickly."
"I have to see the face of the person trying to destroy my mother's work," Elena replied coldly, checking the encrypted tablet resting on her lap to ensure the signal was still active. "I am not going to hide in my ivory tower."
The SUV finally rolled to a halt a block away from a crumbling, graffiti-covered warehouse. There were no lights visible from the outside, but the thermal imaging on Vargas’s monitor showed a concentrated heat signature originating from a small office space deep within the concrete structure.
May you like
"We go in quiet, secure the perimeter, and apprehend the target without excessive force," Vargas instructed his men over the radio.
Elena followed closely behind them, her heart pounding furiously against her ribs as they breached the rusty side door. The hunt had officially begun.
