Chapter 14 - SITE ELEVEN
The snow narrowed the possibilities.
Sofia remembered mountains.
A black door.
A short flight.
Aunt Camilla.
Dante searched Montenegro aviation records from the six months before Helena died.
One aircraft had made an unexplained flight.
Denver to Bozeman.
Then north.
The passenger list was empty.
Fuel receipts placed the aircraft near a private landing strip in Montana.
Satellite images showed a compound twelve miles away.
Registered to the Helena Foundation.
Camilla had named an active research site after the woman she helped kill.
Dante’s face went cold when he saw it.
The compound looked like a luxury children’s retreat.
Cabins.
Playground.
Medical building.
High fencing.
No public road.
“No police raid without confirmation,” Marco said.
“If we move too early, they’ll relocate everyone.”
Dante looked at the map.
“How do we get confirmation?”
Isabela answered.
“I go in.”
“No.”
“Camilla knows you.”
“She knows Marco.”
“She knows Marta.”
“She knows you too.”
“She thinks I’m a nanny.”
Dante stared at her.
“She knows exactly what you are now.”
“Then we give her what she expects.”
Isabela contacted Camilla.
Directly.
“I want out.”
Camilla laughed on the phone.
“No, you don’t.”
“My mother is alive.”
“Dante has Sofia.”
“I don’t belong in this war.”
“What do you want?”
“Money.”
Silence.
Camilla’s tone changed.
“How much?”
“Enough to disappear with Marta.”
“You expect me to believe you’d betray Dante?”
“I’ve known him a few weeks.”
“I’ve spent nine years wishing my mother were alive.”
“I have her back.”
“I’m choosing her.”
Camilla said nothing for several seconds.
Then.
“Five million.”
“Ten.”
Camilla laughed.
“You’re learning.”
“From the best.”
That line convinced her more than anything else.
Camilla instructed Isabela to bring one thing.
Helena’s original ledger.
In return, ten million dollars and safe passage.
Meeting location:
Site 11.
Dante hated the plan.
“You don’t go anywhere alone.”
“I won’t.”
“You’ll look alone.”
Isabela smiled faintly.
“Exactly.”
Sofia listened from the doorway.
She understood enough to be afraid.
“Bella?”
Isabela turned.
Sofia ran to her.
“Don’t go.”
Isabela knelt.
“I have to help some children.”
“Like me?”
“Yes.”
Sofia’s eyes filled.
“Then sing.”
Isabela hugged her.
“I will.”
Site 11 was colder than Sofia remembered.
Isabela arrived by helicopter.
A false ledger sat inside her bag.
A tracker was sewn into her coat.
Dante’s team remained eighteen miles away.
Federal agents waited for live confirmation of children inside.
Camilla greeted Isabela personally.
Black coat.
Gloves.
No smile.
“You’re braver than your mother.”
“Or stupider.”
“We’ll see.”
She led Isabela through the black door.
Warm air.
White corridors.
No windows.
Children’s drawings covered the walls.
It looked almost kind.
That was the horror.
They passed one room.
A boy around six sat alone at a table.
Another room.
A little girl stared at a flashing light.
Another.
Two children slept beneath monitors.
Isabela’s stomach twisted.
Confirmation.
She touched the tracker twice.
Signal sent.
Camilla looked back.
“Nervous?”
“Cold.”
They reached an office.
Dr. Vale sat inside.
He looked exhausted.
“Ms. Reyes.”
Isabela placed the bag on the table.
“Ten million.”
Camilla nodded toward a laptop.
Transfer ready.
“Ledger first.”
Isabela opened the bag.
Camilla reached.
Then stopped.
She looked at Isabela.
“You know what Helena’s mistake was?”
“Trusting you?”
“No.”
Camilla smiled.
“Believing love makes people stronger.”
“She loved Sofia.”
“And died.”
“She loved Dante.”
“And lied to him.”
“She loved you.”
For the first time, Camilla’s face changed.
Isabela saw it.
A wound.
“She did.”
Camilla looked away.
“You don’t know anything.”
“I know she asked Dante not to hurt you until he knew the truth.”
Camilla froze.
Helena had protected her even in her final recording.
Isabela continued.
“She knew you were afraid of your father.”
“Stop.”
“She knew what he did to Dante.”
“Stop.”
“What did he do to you?”
Camilla slapped the desk.
“I said stop.”
Silence.
Dr. Vale looked nervous.
Isabela understood.
Camilla had been a victim too.
Perhaps not a Blue Protocol subject.
Something else.
Alessandro had shaped both children differently.
Dante through experiments.
Camilla through fear.
“What did he do?”
Isabela asked quietly.
Camilla’s eyes filled.
Then hardened again.
“He taught me the only lesson that matters.”
“Control the room before the room controls you.”
Isabela looked around.
“And do you?”
Camilla frowned.
A distant thump sounded.
Then another.
Federal entry teams.
Camilla’s face snapped toward the door.
“You.”
Isabela stepped back.
Vale grabbed the ledger.
Opened it.
His face changed.
“Fake.”
Camilla reached inside her coat.
Isabela expected a weapon.
Instead Camilla pulled a small remote.
She pressed a button.
Alarms screamed.
Vale went pale.
“What did you do?”
Camilla smiled.
“Protocol evacuation.”
Doors began opening.
Staff rushed.
Children were moved.
But not toward exits.
Toward underground elevators.
Isabela realized.
“There’s another facility below us.”
Camilla looked at her.
“Site Eleven is just the lobby.”
She pressed the elevator control.
The doors opened.
Inside stood Sofia.
Isabela’s entire body went cold.
“No.”
Camilla smiled.
Dante’s daughter stepped out.
Wearing the same pajamas she had worn that morning.
Tears streaked her face.
“Bella.”
Isabela could barely breathe.
Camilla leaned close.
“You should have asked who was watching the safe house after the court hearing.”
Sofia had been taken hours earlier.
Nobody had known yet.
Camilla placed one hand on Sofia’s shoulder.
“Now.”
May you like
She looked at Isabela.
“Let’s see whether the song still works when the child knows you betrayed her.”
