Chapter 9 - The drive back to the mansion lasted nineteen minutes.It felt like nineteen years.
Police surrounded the property.
Ricardo entered through the front door with Inspector Herrera beside him.
The living room was empty.
No Diego.
No Valeria.
No duplicate.
Only a television.
It turned on automatically.
Valeria appeared on screen.
She looked exhausted.
“I know you hate me.”
Ricardo stared.
“You should.”
She lowered her eyes.
“But everything I did was because of Gabriel.”
“Where is Diego?”
“With the only person Gabriel was ever afraid of.”
“Who?”
Valeria looked toward the camera.
“Your mother.”
Ricardo felt anger rising.
“My mother is dead.”
Valeria shook her head.
“That is what they wanted you to believe.”
The video continued.
“Your mother discovered the identity program before your accident.”
Ricardo listened.
“She knew Gabriel wanted to use your technology to create artificial identities.”
“Then why didn't she stop him?”
“She tried.”
“What happened?”
“She made a deal.”
“What deal?”
Valeria swallowed.
“She agreed to disappear.”
Ricardo's breathing stopped.
“In exchange for what?”
“Your life.”
The video cut.
Inspector Herrera stared at Ricardo.
“There's something I haven't told you.”
Ricardo turned.
“What?”
“Your mother's death certificate is false.”
He stared.
“Then where is she?”
“Mexico City morgue records show no body.”
Ricardo's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A woman's voice said:
“Ricardo.”
He froze.
He knew that voice.
He hadn't heard it in twelve years.
“Mom?”
Silence.
Then:
“You finally came back to me.”
Ricardo closed his eyes.
“Where are you?”
“Not where they think.”
“Where is Diego?”
“With me.”
“Is he safe?”
“Yes.”
“Let me talk to him.”
A pause.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because there is someone in your house who must never meet him.”
Ricardo looked toward the hallway.
“Who?”
His mother's voice became colder.
“The original Gabriel Santoro.”
Ricardo frowned.
“Original?”
“There are two of them.”
Silence.
“The man you knew was a copy.”
Ricardo felt a terrible realization forming.
“Then who have I been fighting all these years?”
“The copy.”
“And the original?”
“He created the copy.”
Ricardo's hands went numb.
His mother continued:
“Gabriel learned from your technology.”
“What technology?”
“Human behavioral reconstruction.”
Ricardo stared.
His own company had created systems that could predict human choices.
Patterns.
Habits.
Voice.
Movement.
Identity.
Someone had gone further.
Much further.
They had built a system capable of reconstructing a person's behavioral profile.
A perfect imitation.
His mother said:
“Gabriel couldn't become you.”
“So he created someone who behaved like you.”
“Yes.”
“Then the man beside Valeria…”
“Is neither you nor Gabriel.”
Ricardo looked toward the door.
“What is he?”
His mother whispered:
“The first human prototype.”
The call ended.
Ricardo stared at the phone.
Then Diego's voice came from somewhere inside the mansion.
“Daddy!”
Ricardo ran upstairs.
He found nothing.
Only a small speaker hidden behind the wall.
Diego's voice played again.
“Daddy!”
Then another voice.
Valeria's.
“Come find me.”
A hidden door opened.
Inside was a staircase.
Ricardo descended.
At the bottom was a laboratory.
Valeria stood there.
She looked directly at him.
“I knew you'd come.”
“Where is Diego?”
“Safe.”
“You've said that before.”
“This time it's true.”
“Then tell me everything.”
Valeria shook her head.
“You still don't understand.”
“What?”
“You think you're trying to save your son.”
Ricardo stepped closer.
“I am.”
She whispered:
“No.”
“You're trying to save the wrong child.”
Ricardo's face hardened.
“What does that mean?”
Valeria opened a metal cabinet.
Inside was a birth certificate.
She handed it to him.
Ricardo read the name.
Then looked at the date.
Then the father.
His blood turned to ice.
The father listed was:
GABRIEL SANTORO.
Ricardo looked at Valeria.
She whispered:
“Diego isn't the child Gabriel wanted.”
“Then who is?”
May you like
Valeria's eyes filled with tears.
“The second child.”
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