Chapter 17 - Seventy-Eight Percent
“Pull the plug,” Javier said.
“No,” Elena replied.
The IT director looked at her like she was insane.
“If you cut power during the deletion, we may corrupt what remains.”
“Then stop the process.”
“It’s encrypted.”
Alba stared at the screen.
She read them aloud.
“Primary archive. Mirror archive. External verification copy.”
Álvaro looked up. “Verification copy?”
Alba pointed. “It says deletion requires three confirmations.”
Only two were active.
The third waited on a remote node.
Arturo.
Elena called him.
“Do not approve anything.”
“I’m not.”
The progress bar stopped at 82 percent.
Then rolled backward.
The mirror archive restored file by file.
Mateo had built the deletion system with redundancy he could not fully control.
By 2:36 a.m., investigators possessed complete copies.
That included audio, payments, forged identities, and internal messages.
Enough to collapse the story Isabel had told herself for years.
But Mateo was still missing.
Police found his car near Atocha Station.
Inside was the stolen pink envelope.
The hidden key card was gone.
Alba finally told them what it opened.
“Mom said it was for a room called Archive C.”
Elena frowned. “I never told you the name.”
“You talked in your sleep once.”
Despite everything, Álvaro laughed.
Archive C was not at Altamar headquarters.
It was in an off-site records facility near Alcalá de Henares.
A place scheduled for demolition the next morning.
They arrived before dawn.
The key card opened a basement cage.
Inside stood seventeen filing cabinets.
Most contained ordinary corporate records.
The last cabinet was labeled MARTÍN.
Elena’s hands shook as she opened it.
Inside were surveillance reports on her, Alba, Arturo, Clara, and Javier.
At the bottom lay a sealed packet.
ELENA MARTÍN - TERMINATION OPTION.
Alba whispered, “What does that mean?”
Elena did not answer.
May you like
Because Mateo Rivas answered from behind them.
“It means your mother was never supposed to come back.”
