Stories published in my book "Para Vivir Seguros" (2005) If you missed the previous story, here it is #575992

There were three young men. They grabbed Mrs. Nicolasa as she returned from the bakery, just as she was opening the gate that connected the garden of the house to the street. They violently pushed her inside.

Eleonora Finol saw everything from the window of a first-floor room. She was casually leaning out, smoking her first cigarette of the morning. Her heart started racing and adrenaline flowed. It wasn’t possible. Not again... Since they had bought the house in a luxurious neighborhood of Medellín, they had already been victims of crime twice. But now she knew what to do... Her husband and she had consulted a security specialist... First, stay calm. I have a few seconds while they open the front door downstairs... She took a deep breath. The children! Fernandito had a fever last night and hadn’t gone to school. He was playing in his room. She grabbed him by the arm and ran to the baby’s room. She picked up the baby and flew to the master bedroom’s bathroom. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. From the noises, she knew they hadn’t entered the house yet. She closed the door and found the emergency plan list that Danilo and she had written and printed in large letters on the computer. She realized that, in her urgency and fear, she had skipped two steps. She told the children: “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

She ran to the family room. Just where the stairs ended, following the advice of the security specialist, they had installed a sliding gate, which separated the stairs from the family room and the bedrooms. Eleonora Finol slid and locked the gate. At that moment, she heard the men, pushing Mrs. Nicolasa, burst into the house. She had a moment of fear and anguish for Nicolasa. She had been working with them for five years... But the main priority was her children’s safety. Nicolasa’s keyring didn’t have the key to this gate. That would delay them. She ran to the bedroom. She locked the wooden door. She grabbed the cell phone from its base, where it had been charging overnight, the clothes she had worn the previous day, and locked herself in the bathroom. She checked that the children were still there and bolted the door with two strong locks, installed to reinforce it. She leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. Her hands were trembling. She looked at the emergency plan list posted on the door. The police phone number was in large digits. She dialed and called. She gave her name, address, and asked for help. She also called her husband Danilo’s office and told them what was happening.

“Don’t worry. I’m with the kids in the bunker. But send someone quickly. They have Nicolasa.”

She made a third call, to a trusted neighbor, to explain the urgency she was experiencing. She heard them trying to open and banging on the bedroom door. God, they were already there! What am I missing? In the bathroom, they had a small linen closet. She took all the towels and a thick dictionary they always kept there. She made a cushy bed for the children in the bathtub with the towels. Both were crying. She calmed them down and laid them down. Quickly, she took off her robe and nightgown. She put on jeans and a t-shirt. Finally, she opened the dictionary. It had been hollowed out. Inside, it held a small Taurus .22 caliber pistol, with an additional magazine. She heard a loud bang and noises, voices, and running in the master bedroom. They had already managed to get in... She immediately felt them moving the bathroom doorknob and then a man’s voice ordering:

“Come out. We won’t hurt you.”

Eleonora Finol didn’t respond. She just pressed the “send” button on her cell phone and contacted her husband’s office. This time, Jeannette, the secretary, answered.

“Quick, they’re getting in!”

“Mrs. Finol, the police and your husband have already left for your house. What can I do?”

“Don’t hang up. Call Danilo on another phone and tell them to hurry... Don’t hang up!”

They hit the door hard. The locks held. But it was a hollow core door, not very strong. The blows shook the door again. Eleonora Finol checked that the small pistol had a bullet in the chamber. Without exposing herself, she aimed at the bottom of the door and fired twice. The noise made the children scream in terror, but the banging on the door stopped. She heard running and shouting. Eleonora Finol was pressed against the wall, away from the door. The criminals could shoot, but they wouldn’t hit her. Or the children... A few seconds passed. She remembered the cell phone.

“Jeannette, are you still there?”

“Yes, ma’am... What happened? What was that?”

“I shot through the door... And the police? Damn, I don’t think I can hold out much longer...”

“I called them again... They should be arriving...”

Minutes passed in total silence. And suddenly, she began to hear sirens approaching. She sighed deeply.

Eleonora Finol only opened the locks when she was completely sure that her husband was on the other side of the door. The house was swarming with uniformed police officers. The criminals had fled when they heard the sirens, taking a few things with them as they ran. They found Nicolasa locked in the pantry. Eleonora Finol collapsed into her husband’s arms, overcome with nervous tremors and a crying fit.

The Finol family, aware of the security situation and that living in a house made them more exposed, decided to proactively address the problem, hire a security consultant, and follow his recommendations. This allowed Mrs. Eleonora Finol to successfully withstand the criminal invasion of her home. They had installed barriers and created a small bunker or safe refuge in the master bedroom’s bathroom. If we take necessary prevention and security measures and know what to do, we can significantly reduce risks and manage situations that arise.