Chapter 5 - The Glass Fortress
Mariana shut off her phone light instantly, dropping to her knees behind the heavy brick structure of the kiln. The darkness of the ruined patio swallowed her, but the crunch of Rodrigo’s expensive shoes over the debris was getting closer.
"You think you’re smart, Mariana," Rodrigo said, his voice bouncing off the charred walls. "You think because you have a corporate title, you know how the world works. But my family has owned the infrastructure of this state since before your father laid his first brick. That land belongs to us. It was promised to us."
"You killed him," Mariana whispered from the dark, her voice carrying through the gaps in the bricks.
Rodrigo laughed, a hollow, rattling sound. "I didn't kill anyone. I told my uncle to handle the situation. The old man was supposed to take the money and move. He was stubborn. He locked himself in the study with his files while the back room was burning. It’s his own fault he died for a piece of dirt."
Behind him, another set of footsteps entered the house—heavier, slower.
"Enough talking, Rodrigo," a deep, raspy voice commanded. It was Hector Salazar, Rodrigo’s uncle, the powerful notary whose signature could legalize any lie in the state of Jalisco. He was flanked by two men in plain jackets, their hands tucked significantly into their pockets. "Find the girl. The police captain called me—the federal injunction hasn't been processed yet because the clerk was paid off, but if she delivers those physical documents to the regional office in the morning, the state will be forced to launch a public inquiry."
Mariana squeezed the tin box against her chest, her mind racing. She couldn't outrun two armed men through a collapsed house, and her mother was waiting in the car outside. If they found her mother—
She looked down at her feet. Beneath the loose ash was the old iron grate for the basement storm drain—an old tunnel her father had built to prevent the patio from flooding during the torrential summer rains. It led directly out to the municipal drainage canal behind the property line.
With all her remaining strength, Mariana slid the iron grate back. The rusted metal shrieked against the stone.
"There!" Hector shouted.
Flashlight beams instantly illuminated the patio. Mariana dropped into the dark, narrow stone chute just as a bullet shattered the firebricks above her head, showering her in red dust. She slid down the wet incline, landing hard on the concrete floor of the municipal canal twenty feet below the street level.
She ran through the dark concrete trench, the sky above her a narrow strip of deep blue as dawn began to break over Tlaquepaque. She climbed the access ladder three blocks away, her clothes covered in soot and mud, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
She made her way back to the main avenue by a circuitous route, her heart stopping when she saw her SUV still parked by the police tape. The windows were intact.
She ran to the driver's side and ripped the door open. Doña Rosario looked up, her eyes wide with terror, but she was unharmed.
"Drive, Mariana!" her mother cried. "They're inside!"
Mariana slammed the doors shut, locked them, and started the engine, tearing away from the curb just as Rodrigo and his uncle’s men ran out from the blackened entrance of the house. In the morning light, Rodrigo’s face was white with fury as he watched her escape for the second time.
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"Where now?" Rosario asked, looking at Mariana’s bleeding hands.
Mariana held up the brass key. "Banco del Bajío. The main vault opens at nine o'clock. We have exactly four hours to clean ourselves up and become the biggest problem the Salazar family has ever faced."
