Chapter 5 - IN THE RED LIGHT
The red emergency lights cast long, demonic shadows across the vast living room. The deafening screech of the intrusion alarm vibrated through the walls, making communication impossible without screaming.
Hector dropped his scotch glass, his refined composure shattering for the first time. "Turn it off, Daniel! The private security force will be here in ten minutes!"
"Good!" Daniel shouted back, taking a defensive stance near the base of the stairs. "Let them come! Let them see the steel shutters locked down and the police reports filed!"
Lucía, however, didn't panic. She knew Daniel better than Hector did. She stepped toward the central home-automation panel near the hallway, pulling a heavy brass statuette off a side table. With frantic, violent strikes, she began smashing the touchscreen console, trying to short-circuit the relay wires.
Upstairs, the heavy oak door of the master bedroom clicked open.
Mateo peered over the wrought-iron balcony railing, holding Sofía tightly behind him. The red strobe lights illuminated the terror in their eyes.
"Dad!" Mateo yelled down over the siren. "The landline is dead!"
"Stay up there, Mateo! Don't come down!" Daniel ordered, his eyes darting between Hector and the hallway.
Suddenly, the loud screeching siren gave a wet, metallic pop and abruptly cut out. Lucía had successfully crushed the control module, plunging the house into a heavy, suffocating silence broken only by the hum of the red emergency backup strips.
Hector wiped sweat from his forehead, breathing heavily. He pulled a silver keycard from his inner coat pocket. "You think you're the only one who knows this system, Daniel? I wrote the access protocols for your estate holding trust. The physical manual override for the shutters is inside that locked pantry."
Daniel’s heart stopped.
The three padlocks on the oak door at the end of the hall weren't just to keep the kids out—or to lock them in. The old pantry was the house’s original hardwired junction room before the modern renovations were installed.
Hector looked at Lucía. "Get the keys from my coat."
Daniel sprinted down the narrow corridor toward the pantry, determined to block the door with his body. But Hector, despite his corporate profession, moved with surprising speed. He tackled Daniel from behind, sending both men crashing heavily onto the hard marble floor of the service hallway.
Daniel rolled over, slamming his elbow into Hector’s ribs. The lawyer gasped in pain, losing his grip, but Lucía was already running down the hall, keys jingling in her hand.
"Lucía, no!" Daniel yelled, scrambling to his feet, but his vision blurred as a sudden, sharp pain exploded across the back of his knee.
Hector had grabbed a heavy metal floor lamp and swung it like a bat, striking Daniel’s joint. Daniel collapsed to his hands and knees, groaning in agony.
Lucía reached the wooden door. With trembling, practiced hands, she began jamming the heavy silver keys into the three padlocks.
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Click. Click.
Two of the locks fell open, clattering against the scratch-marked wood.
