Chapter 4 - The Game of Mirrors
By Wednesday, the tension inside the Catherine Williams Support Center was thick enough to cut with a knife. To the public, the center was a beacon of hope; the local newspapers ran daily features on Elena and the other families finding work through the center’s job-placement programs. But behind the scenes, a quiet, high-stakes game of surveillance and counter-surveillance was being played.
Marcus’s security team had identified two clean, silver sedans that had been idling at the corner of the block for forty-eight hours. The drivers never got out, and the license plates were registered to a non-existent car rental agency in Toluca—a classic Garza tactic.
"They're waiting for us to make a move," Julian said, adjusting the camera settings on the center’s perimeter monitors. He had spent the last two days setting up a secondary, closed-loop network that Garza’s hackers couldn't access. "The moment we bring any heavy equipment into the basement, they’ll know."
"Then we don't bring heavy equipment," Victor said. He was sitting at the conference table, surrounded by land deeds and old corporate logs from the Marcus Williams era. "We need to lure Garza out. He’s running on limited resources; if he had the power of the old cartel partners behind him, he would have just taken the building by force. The fact that he’s using burner phones and quiet surveillance means he’s acting alone, trying to secure the asset to buy his way back into the syndicate."
"So we give him an ultimatum," Catherine said. She was standing by the whiteboard, where she had traced the connections of her father’s old holding companies. "If Garza wants what’s in that chest, he has to come to the table. We set up a meeting."
"No," Victor said instantly. "I’m not letting you near him, Catherine."
"He won't hurt me, Victor," Catherine said calmly. "To Garza, I’m not just Marcus’s daughter; I’m the key to the vault. He needs my thumbprint. If he kills me, the chest remains sealed forever, or it incinerates. He knows that. I am the safest person in this room."
"She’s right, Victor," Brian agreed reluctantly. "But we don't meet him on his turf. We meet him here. In the center. During the public hours when the building is filled with visitors and staff. He won't risk a public shootout with the federal police precinct just three blocks away."
Victor looked at his wife, his heart aching with the desire to protect her, to keep her far away from the filth of her father’s world. But he saw the resolve in her eyes—the same resolve that had carried her through the darkest years of her life. She was a survivor, and she was done being a victim.
"Alright," Victor said, his voice low. "We set the trap. Julian, I want you to leak a fake digital inventory report from our construction archives to the server we know they’re monitoring. Make it look like we’ve discovered an 'undocumented historical anomaly' in the basement slab and have scheduled a municipal inspection for Friday morning."
"That’ll give Garza twenty-four hours to act," Julian smiled, his fingers already flying across his keyboard. "He’ll have to come to us before the city inspectors get their hands on the vault."
The trap was set. Within two hours, Julian’s digital breadcrumbs had been taken.
The burner phone on Victor’s desk rang at precisely 4:15 p.m.
"You’re playing a dangerous game, Victor," Garza’s voice purred, though there was a distinct edge of tension in his tone now. "A municipal inspection? You’d risk the entire foundation just to keep me out?"
"I don't have to risk anything, Garza," Victor said coldly. "The inspectors are coming. If you want what's in the chest, you meet us in the main courtyard of the center tomorrow at noon. Bring your terms. If you're not there, I’ll personally break the seal and let the federal prosecutors catalog every single document inside."
A long silence stretched over the line. Victor could hear the distant sound of city traffic on Garza’s end.
May you like
"Tomorrow at noon," Garza finally said. "Just you, Catherine, and the key. If I see a single police uniform within two blocks of that building, the neighborhood of Northside will experience a very sudden, very violent gas main explosion."
The line went dead.
