Episode 5
967 Words
Steelhaven,the next morning
Cruz’s coffee sat untouched. His phone buzzed. Once, twice. He didn’t check it.
He was staring out the window, arms crossed. Thinking.
Behind him, Marcus spoke carefully. “We have partial matches on three cameras across Ironvale. All in the last 48 hours.”
Cruz turned. “Show me.”
A screen came alive. Three clips, side by side. All grainy. But all her.
Long coat. Hood. One showed her walking with someone — a man. It was too fast to make out his face.
“You get license plates?”
Marcus nodded. “Ran them. Rental cars. Fake IDs. Nothing solid yet. But she’s moving fast. And she’s not alone.”
Cruz watched the clip again.
“She’s building something,” he said quietly. “I just don’t know what.”
---
David hadn’t slept.
The report was still open on his screen, its words blurred from being stared at too long.
He leaned back in the office chair, jaw tight. His phone buzzed again. Elena.
1 New Message:
“Be ready tonight. Something’s coming.”
He typed back, “What?” but she didn’t reply.
David scrolled through the report again. The file was dated August 4th, 2016. It showed early product trials that had been covered up. Illness patterns. Payments.
But buried at the end was something stranger — not just cancer clusters.
It mentioned an independent whistleblower.
David frowned. The name was blacked out.
But the initials were still there: R.G.
---
That night.
A gala lit up the lower district. One of Cruz Ventures’ charity arms was holding a benefit. Black-tie. Cameras everywhere. The press circled like flies.
Cruz arrived late.
Flanked by security, perfectly tailored in black.
Hayley waited near the entrance, wearing red. She looked flawless. Empty.
“You’re late,” she said, looping her arm through his.
“I’m here,” Cruz said.
Inside, everything gleamed. Waiters circled with glasses of champagne. Speeches started. Cameras flashed.
David arrived minutes later, alone. He didn’t walk toward his brother. He made a quiet turn to the balcony and stayed there.
Cruz noticed.
So did Hayley.
“You two fighting again?” she asked lightly.
Cruz didn’t answer.
---
Outside, across the street, Elena stood watching the lights from behind tinted glass.
She wasn’t dressed to blend in. She wasn’t planning to go inside.
Not yet.
She held a burner phone in her hand. Called David.
He picked up after one ring.
“Your brother’s surrounded by press. You sure about this?”
“Yes,” she said. “We have one shot.”
“I still don’t know what you’re planning.”
“You will,” Elena said. “Watch the east wall. And stay near the fire exit.”
David paused. “Why?”
But she had already hung up.
---
Inside, Cruz finally took the stage.
He smiled for the cameras. The crowd applauded. The usual opening lines—how grateful, how proud, how committed Cruz Ventures was to health and growth in underprivileged areas.
David watched him from the side, jaw clenched.
Hayley stood near the stage, eyes distant.
Then, halfway through the speech, a screen behind Cruz flickered.
Everyone thought it was a glitch.
Until the slide changed. The logo disappeared.
A video began to play.
A quiet, shaky voice started narrating over images of lab documents, contaminated soil samples, aerial footage of test sites outside Ironvale.
“This is what they’ve hidden,” the voice said.
The crowd went silent.
“This is what killed your loved ones. And mine.”
Cruz turned around, face blank.
He looked at the screen — and saw a photo appear. His signature, dated 2016. Authorizing a site-wide dump test. Radioactive tagging. No safety oversight.
The audio continued.
“A trial masked as cleanup. A cover-up disguised as development. Hundreds died.”
Gasps. Murmurs. Phones came out. Cameras started rolling.
Hayley stepped back, visibly shaken.
Cruz turned toward the side of the stage, searching for David.
But David was gone.
---
Outside, Elena was already on the move.
The distraction was timed. She slipped into the side entrance wearing a catering jacket, face partially hidden beneath a cap.
She moved fast.
Toward the back rooms. Toward the vault where physical company records were stored during events, guarded only lightly.
Two guards stood in her way.
But not for long.
Gustavo stepped from the other end of the corridor, dropped something — a smoke device — and the hallway filled with fog and alarm.
By the time the guards reacted, both he and Elena were gone.
The file she needed—Item R.G.—was in her hands.
She didn’t stop to read it.
---
In the confusion, Cruz retreated from the stage, yelling orders to Marcus.
“Find the source. Shut it down. Shut everything down!”
But it was too late.
The press had what they needed.
And someone else was watching.
---
In a quiet apartment across town, Agent Paz sat in front of her laptop, watching the livestream replay from someone’s phone.
She didn’t smile.
But she did reach for her file — Cruz Ventures: Ongoing Federal Suspicion.
At the bottom of the file, under "Known Internal Whistleblowers: Suspected," a name was handwritten:
Dr. Rafael Gustavo.
She circled it with red ink.
---
In the final minutes of the gala, as guests fled and reporters swarmed the exits, Hayley stood frozen in the center of the ballroom.
One of Cruz’s staff brushed past her, handing her a phone.
She looked at the screen.
An email. Sent from an encrypted address.
Subject: “You’re not who you think you are.”
Attachment: Photo.
Of a woman. Standing in front of a building. Holding a child.
The woman looked like Elena.
The child looked like… her.
- Writer
