Chapter 5 - The Tracker
The tracker had been placed beneath Mateo’s crib because Nicolás visited the nursery at predictable times.
Morning.
Lunch.
Midnight.
When Mateo screamed, Nicolás stayed longer.
The device mapped his routine.
His security gaps.
His movements.
The sick baby was not only leverage.
He was bait.
Tomás had spent weeks learning when Nicolás was most exposed.
Sofía felt sick.
“What was the endgame?”
Rafael answered:
“Abduction.”
Maybe.
Then Tomás clarified on the phone.
“Sign the transfer, Nicolás.”
“Where is Gabriel?”
“Alive.”
“Let me hear him.”
A groan.
Then Gabriel’s voice.
“Don’t sign.”
The line cut.
Nicolás turned to Rafael.
“Find him.”
Rafael started calling contacts.
Sofía watched Nicolás.
His face was blank.
Too blank.
He was going somewhere dangerous inside himself.
She said:
“Mateo needs you here.”
He looked at her.
“My son needs this ended.”
“Your son needs a father who doesn’t walk into a trap because someone made him angry.”
The room went silent.
Valeria looked at Sofía with gratitude.
Nicolás stared.
Then exhaled.
“Fine.”
Small victory.
Then the dermatology specialist arrived.
Dr. Elisa Márquez.
Patch testing confirmed severe contact dermatitis triggered by the preservative used in the fabrics.
Not fatal by itself.
Painful.
Repeated exposure could create systemic stress.
The ventilation concentration was higher.
Dangerous to an infant.
Then toxicology showed something worse.
Trace sedative in Mateo’s blood.
Not enough to sedate him fully.
Enough to make symptoms harder to interpret.
Sofía looked at the medication chart.
“Who administers his nighttime drops?”
Valeria answered:
“Usually me.”
Then:
“Sometimes Leonor.”
Leonor looked offended.
“I use what the doctor prescribed.”
Dr. Márquez checked.
The bottle did not match the prescription.
Same label.
Different formulation.
Someone switched it.
Then Sofía remembered the medical box in the wall.
“Dr. Ferrer had access.”
Rafael checked entry logs.
Ferrer visited eleven times without Nicolás present.
Authorized by Leonor.
Leonor sat.
“She told me she was monitoring him.”
“You let her in alone?” Nicolás asked.
“She was a doctor.”
That excuse sounded weaker every time.
Then investigators quietly searched Ferrer’s office.
Found bank records.
Arcos payments.
And photographs of Mateo.
But no sign of Gabriel.
Then one email.
Ferrer to Tomás:
Baby responding too strongly. Family bringing outside nurse.
Tomás:
Remove nurse if necessary.
Sofía read it.
“Remove?”
Nicolás looked at Rafael.
Security tightened around her.
Sofía hated it.
“I’m not staying in a safe room.”
“You are now a target.”
“So is Mateo.”
“You will stay with him.”
That was different.
Then Dr. Márquez asked:
“Why would they label a bottle S.R.?”
Sofía froze.
Her initials.
The bottle in the wall.
They had prepared something for her.
Rafael opened it under protective protocol.
Not fabric spray.
Aerosolized sedative.
Stronger.
Nicolás stared.
“They planned to knock her out.”
Sofía said:
“Or make me look incompetent.”
Then she looked at the medical folder.
If the nurse identifies textiles, move to delivery system B.
If Sofía became confused or collapsed, her diagnosis could be discredited.
Mateo would be redressed.
Symptoms return.
Crisis continues.
Then Rafael’s analyst shouted from across the room.
“We found Gabriel’s location.”
A warehouse near Toluca.
Nicolás stood.
Sofía said:
“Don’t go alone.”
He looked at her.
“I won’t.”
Then his phone buzzed.
A photograph.
Gabriel tied to a chair.
Behind him was a digital timer.
01:00:00.
One hour.
Tomás’s message:
SIGN OR HE DIES.
Then a second image arrived.
The background showed a Velasco shipping container.
Nicolás stared.
He knew the code.
May you like
That container was registered to one of his own secure yards.
Tomás was hiding inside Nicolás’s empire.
