Chapter 8: Thirty Minutes to Save Them All
The countdown continued relentlessly.
29:46...
29:45...
Every second echoed through the underground control room like a hammer striking steel.
No one spoke.
The reality was too overwhelming.
Forty-six known prisoners.
An unknown number of guards still loyal to Project Mirror.
Explosives hidden beneath the entire Castillo estate.
And somewhere beyond the storm, Eduardo Castillo—the man who should have died twenty years ago—was watching every move they made.
Alejandro broke the silence.
"We're not leaving anyone behind."
Marcus nodded immediately.
"I already knew you'd say that."
He turned to his team.
"Split into four rescue units."
"Priority One: children."
"Priority Two: medical patients."
"Priority Three: evidence."
"If you encounter resistance..."
He paused.
"Neutralize them."
The agents answered in unison.
"Yes, sir."
The Cells Begin to Open
The technician hurried back to the control console.
"I've bypassed the security firewall."
His fingers flew across the keyboard.
One by one, steel doors throughout the underground complex unlocked.
A loud metallic CLANG echoed through every corridor.
Then another.
And another.
The sound repeated dozens of times.
Some prisoners stepped cautiously into the hallway.
Others remained inside, too frightened to believe the doors were really open.
One elderly woman whispered,
"Is this another test?"
A teenage boy shook his head.
"They always pretend to let us escape."
"They punish anyone who believes them."
Alejandro walked into the corridor.
His voice carried through the underground prison.
"My name is Alejandro Castillo."
"You're free."
No one moved.
Three years of captivity had taught them not to trust hope.
Elena Walks Back Into Her Past
Elena slowly entered Cell E-17.
Everything was exactly as she remembered.
The narrow bed.
The metal sink.
The tiny barred ventilation opening.
The faded gray blanket folded with military precision.
On the wall...
Hundreds of tiny scratches.
Alejandro frowned.
"What are those?"
Elena ran her fingers across them.
"I made one mark..."
"...for every day I remembered my real name."
He looked closer.
There were more than eight hundred marks.
His chest tightened.
Even after endless injections...
Even after torture...
She had fought to remember who she was.
Near the final scratches, one sentence had been carved into the concrete using a broken spoon.
Alejandro will find me.
He couldn't hold back the tears any longer.
He wrapped his arms around her.
"I should have found you sooner."
She gently rested her forehead against his.
"You never stopped looking."
"And that's why I survived."
The Little Boy
Marcus emerged from another corridor carrying a frightened little boy.
The child couldn't have been older than six.
His clothes hung loosely from his thin frame.
He clutched a worn stuffed rabbit with one missing ear.
Marcus knelt.
"You're safe now."
The boy looked around nervously.
"Is the lady gone?"
Marcus understood immediately.
"Vivian?"
The boy nodded.
"She said monsters live outside."
Alejandro crouched beside him.
"What's your name?"
The child hesitated.
Then quietly answered,
"Noah."
"When was the last time you saw your parents?"
The boy stared blankly.
"I don't remember."
Marcus exchanged a worried glance with Alejandro.
Whatever Project Mirror had done to Elena...
It had done to children too.
The Nurse Who Refused to Stay Silent
A woman in blue medical scrubs slowly walked out of one of the cells.
Her wrists were bruised.
She appeared exhausted.
Yet when she saw Elena...
She burst into tears.
"Mrs. Castillo..."
Elena stared.
Recognition slowly returned.
"Dr. Grace?"
The woman nodded.
"I tried to stop them."
Alejandro stepped forward.
"You worked here?"
"I was recruited as a neurologist."
"I believed it was a memory-loss treatment program."
She closed her eyes.
"The first time I saw them erase someone's identity..."
"I tried to report it."
"What happened?"
"They locked me in the next room."
She pointed toward another corridor.
"I've been a prisoner for two years."
Grace suddenly remembered something.
"There are more people."
Marcus frowned.
"We've searched every level."
Grace shook her head.
"No."
"Level Four."
The room fell silent.
"We're only on Level Three."
The Hidden Elevator
Grace led them deeper into the underground facility.
The walls changed.
Concrete gave way to polished steel.
The architecture became older.
Far more sophisticated.
At the end of the hallway stood another elevator.
Unlike the others...
It had no buttons.
Only a retinal scanner.
Above it were engraved two words:
FOUNDER ACCESS
Marcus muttered,
"So this is where Eduardo disappeared."
Grace nodded.
"No one except him was allowed down there."
Alejandro stepped toward the scanner.
Nothing happened.
Then Elena gently took his hand.
"Wait."
She noticed another scanner hidden beneath the first.
Smaller.
Almost invisible.
She placed her hand against it.
A soft green light appeared.
Identity Confirmed
Elena Castillo
The elevator doors slowly opened.
Everyone stared.
Grace whispered,
"I never knew she had access."
Alejandro looked at Elena.
"Neither did she."
Vivian's Betrayal
Meanwhile, miles away, the helicopter carrying Vivian cut through the storm clouds.
She finally allowed herself to breathe.
She had escaped.
Project Mirror would disappear beneath the collapsing estate.
No witnesses.
No evidence.
Her phone rang.
She answered immediately.
"I've left the mansion."
Eduardo's calm voice replied,
"I know."
"I'm heading to the secondary facility."
A brief silence followed.
Then Eduardo asked,
"Did you really believe you would still have a place beside me?"
Vivian frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"You failed."
"I gave you one assignment."
"You let Elena survive."
The helicopter pilot suddenly stiffened.
Without warning, he locked the cockpit door.
The co-pilot reached beneath his seat.
He drew a suppressed pistol.
Vivian's eyes widened.
"No..."
Eduardo's voice remained emotionless.
"Loose ends must be removed."
The line disconnected.
The co-pilot raised the weapon.
Vivian threw herself sideways just as the first shot shattered the cabin window.
The helicopter lurched violently.
A desperate struggle erupted at two thousand feet.
Level Four
Back beneath the mansion...
The elevator descended farther than anyone expected.
The digital display continued counting.
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Marcus frowned.
"This facility is enormous."
Finally...
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
A blast of freezing air rolled inside.
Everyone stepped out.
No prison cells.
No medical rooms.
Instead...
A vast underground archive stretched before them.
Hundreds of glass cylinders filled the chamber.
Inside each cylinder floated sealed folders, hard drives, and biometric samples preserved in climate-controlled cases.
At the center of the room stood a bronze statue.
Not of Eduardo.
Of a woman.
Grace whispered,
"Who is she?"
Samuel looked at the statue and suddenly staggered backward.
His face turned white.
He whispered the name with disbelief.
"...Isabella."
Alejandro turned sharply.
"You know her?"
Samuel's eyes filled with fear.
"She wasn't Eduardo's business partner..."
"...She was his first wife."
Alejandro froze.
"My mother?"
Samuel slowly shook his head.
"No."
He looked directly at Alejandro.
"She wasn't your mother."
The room fell silent.
Samuel took a shaky breath.
"Mr. Castillo..."
May you like
"I don't think Eduardo was ever your real father."
End of Chapter 8
