Chapter 10 - The Woman in White
Gabriel survived surgery and was transferred to a prison hospital under armed guard. Voss agreed to testify if prosecutors protected Marisol. He refused to reveal her location, claiming he did not know it.
"The woman in white always moved her," he said.
The title appeared throughout old Janus files. White Mother. No legal name. No photograph. She had supervised placements before Isadora took control.
Marisol's diary contained a cipher based on shipping routes. Santiago and Mateo decoded it into a town on the northern coast called Puerto Escondido. There, an abandoned convent overlooked the sea.
Elena insisted on joining Santiago. "Marisol tried to save you. She may trust a mother before she trusts a son connected to Gabriel."
Renata and Alma remained with Lucía and federal protection. Alma gave Santiago a small mirror from San Jerónimo.
"White Mother made us look at ourselves while she changed our names," she said. "Show her this. She'll know I remember."
The convent had no electricity and no residents, but fresh bread cooled in the kitchen. In the chapel, white fabric hung over every statue. A woman in a gray coat waited near the altar.
Santiago recognized Marisol from the photograph, though time had bent her shoulders.
She touched his face with both hands. "You have my father's eyes."
He had imagined anger, questions, and accusations. Instead, he embraced her.
Marisol cried without sound.
Elena stood nearby until Marisol pulled her into the embrace.
"I tried to reach you after the twins were born," Marisol told Elena. "Isadora intercepted me. She said the cycle required another generation."
"Who is White Mother?" Santiago asked.
Marisol looked toward the covered statues. "Dr. Celeste Armand. She founded Janus with your grandfather. Gabriel learned cruelty from her, but even he feared her. She believed identity was a disease that could be cured."
"Is she alive?"
"Yes. And she wants Alma."
Marisol explained that Alma's rare genetic marker was not connected merely to inheritance. It made her unusually resistant to the drugs used for memory conditioning. Gabriel considered that resistance a defect. Celeste considered it proof that future subjects could be engineered to retain selected memories while losing others.
"Renata has the same DNA," Elena said.
"Renata's infant surgery and early life altered the expression of the marker. Alma is the cleaner sample."
A bell rang above the convent.
Marisol's face went white. "She found us."
White smoke poured through the chapel vents. Santiago covered Elena's mouth and pulled Marisol toward a side door. Armed figures in medical masks entered from both aisles.
Mateo, waiting outside, exchanged fire with them. Santiago used Alma's mirror to reflect sunlight through a high window, signaling their emergency position.
They escaped through the crypt and reached the cliffs. A helicopter hovered above the sea. A woman with silver hair stood in the open door wearing a white suit.
Celeste Armand.
She did not aim a weapon. She lifted a tablet showing live video of the coastal safe house.
Renata and Lucía lay unconscious on the floor.
Alma stood in the center of the room surrounded by masked men.
Celeste's voice came through the helicopter speaker.
"Bring Marisol to Santa Aurelia by sunset, or Alma begins again."
The helicopter turned away.
Santiago called Camila. Federal teams stormed the safe house minutes later, but Celeste's people were gone. Renata and Lucía revived. Alma had been taken.
On the wall, written in white paint, were the words:
A daughter is only the memory she is permitted to keep.
Marisol gripped Santiago's arm. "Santa Aurelia has another level beneath Room 17. Gabriel sealed it when he took power. Celeste is going back to the beginning."
Santiago looked at Elena, then at the road below where Mateo's vehicle approached.
May you like
This time, he would not arrive as a grieving father begging for truth.
He would arrive with every survivor Janus had failed to erase.
