Chapter 4 - Eleven Seconds in the Dark
The blackout lasted eleven seconds.
Long enough for somebody to move.
Long enough for the pink envelope to disappear.
When the emergency lights flickered on, Alba was under the table, exactly where her mother had taught her to go if adults started shouting and lights suddenly failed.
Álvaro was on his feet.
Javier was swearing.
Clara stood near the door.
The envelope was gone.
But the flash drive was still in Javier’s hand.
“You took it,” Álvaro said.
Clara stared at him. “I did not.”
Mateo’s voice came through the locked door. “Power fault. Open up.”
Javier looked at the photograph lying on the carpet.
Someone had taken only the paper envelope, not the photo or drive.
“Why steal an empty envelope?” he asked.
Alba crawled out slowly.
“Because it wasn’t empty.”
Everyone stared.
“There was something in the lining.”
“What?” Álvaro asked.
“A key card.”
Clara’s face tightened.
“What did it open?”
“I don’t know.”
That was a lie.
Elena had told her only one thing: If anyone asks what the card opens, you do not know.
Javier finally let Mateo inside. Security reviewed the eleven seconds of corridor footage.
Nobody entered.
Nobody left.
Which meant someone already inside the room had the envelope.
Mateo ordered everyone searched.
Clara objected first.
Álvaro objected second, but for Alba.
Then they searched the executives.
Nothing.
Mateo frowned.
“It vanished in a sealed room.”
Alba looked at the conference table.
One chair sat slightly farther back than before.
The dead CFO’s old seat.
Nobody had used it that morning.
Alba knelt and looked underneath.
A strip of fresh pink paper was caught on a metal bracket.
And taped beneath the chair was a small black transmitter blinking green.
Álvaro crouched beside her.
“That isn’t ours.”
Mateo went still.
May you like
Javier stared at the device.
Someone had been listening to the meeting before Alba ever walked in.
