This is part of an original serialized fiction project written and edited by the author. All story elements and characters are fictional.

“If you want to protect the fragment,” Gregorio said, “you’ll need more than just hiding it. This building isn’t enough anymore.”

Lucía frowned, exhausted but still firm.
“Then tell us how to protect it better.”

Gregorio nodded, though the weight of his next words was clear on his face.

“First, we need to make sure no one else can access the full system of the Chamber. That means cutting its connections — to the rest of the building... and to you.”

Before anyone could respond, a noise echoed from upstairs. A door slammed, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps pounding across the lobby floor.

Leo turned off his flashlight, eyes on the staircase.
“Méndez?”

Teodora gave a grim nod.
“It’s time to face him.”

The echo of footsteps reverberated through the basement like a warning bell. Their time was running out. Teodora, Leo, Lucía, and Gregorio exchanged glances — not of fear, but of unspoken resolve. The confrontation was coming, and there was no avoiding it.

“We can’t let him reach this room,” Leo said, fists clenched.

“If he finds the access to the technical chamber,” Gregorio added, “it’s over.”

Teodora leaned in toward the siblings, her voice low and urgent.
“We need to distract him. If we move fast, we can lead him to the wrong place — make him waste time.”

Lucía didn’t look convinced.
“What if he doesn’t fall for it? He doesn’t seem like someone you can fool easily.”

“He’s not,” Gregorio agreed. “But if we plant doubt — if he starts questioning his own assumptions — we might have a shot.”

Quickly, Teodora pulled a piece of chalk from her bag and began drawing symbols on the basement walls — careful replicas of the ones found in the Echo Chamber.

“These won’t have any power,” she said, sketching quickly, “but they’ll look real enough to buy us time.”

Leo and Lucía grabbed old crates and tools, stacking them around the partially collapsed tunnel entrance.

“This should look like a key location,” Leo said, shifting a wooden beam so it appeared to have fallen and blocked something important.

Meanwhile, Gregorio moved around the room, double-checking every wall and corner to ensure Méndez wouldn’t spot the real tunnel.

“If we move fast, we can draw them here before they realize the actual access is hidden,” he said, urgency sharpening his voice.

Lucía clicked on her flashlight and stared down the narrow hallway that connected the basement to the lobby.
“What if they’re already downstairs?”

Teodora paused, looking around at the three of them.
“Then we face them. But we do it smart.”

It didn’t take long before they heard voices — Méndez and at least two others approaching fast. The sounds of boots and murmurs echoed louder with each step, making Lucía’s heart pound against her ribs.

“Check everything,” Méndez ordered. His voice cut through the corridor like a blade. “There has to be an entrance here.”

Leo grabbed a rusted iron bar, gripping it like a weapon. Lucía held a flashlight in one hand and an old wrench in the other.

“What now?” Leo whispered.

“We stall them as long as we can,” Teodora said.

Gregorio moved into a shadowed corner, ready to intercept anyone who got too close to the real tunnel.

Then Méndez appeared at the top of the basement stairs, flanked by two large men holding flashlights and tools. His eyes swept across the room — until they landed on the symbols Teodora had drawn.