Activity at the Zander Office had taken on an even sharper edge as the day of the trial for David Morales approached. The deeper Uriel Zander and his team went into the case, the more convinced they were that this wasn't going to be just another trial but rather a real powder keg—a situation where everything they touched, every new piece of information they found, happened to point toward something bigger, something more brutal, lurking behind the scenes.

The Torres Cartel was there, but it wasn't just them. The deeper they went, the more Leo Ramirez's flair for numbers uncovered unnerving insight—the cartel and the nameless organization from the Caden Spears case were inextricably intertwined in ways nobody could have fathomed. Something else had come up in their investigation though—something even more troubling.

Not that the organization behind the scenes was hiding; it was preparing to disappear.

Uriel was standing over the desk of Leo, staring as the forensic accountant worked his magic across the screen of his computer. He had been tracking financial transactions related to both the cartel and this organization; what he'd found during the last week was subtle yet alarming.

"They're closing up shop," he muttered, fingers flying across the keyboard as he scanned information in. "It's slow, methodical, and just quiet enough; it wouldn't raise any flags to the untrained eye. But they're moving money, liquidating assets, and strategically dissolving shell companies."

Uriel frowned. He leaned in a little closer to the screen. "How long has this been going on?"

Leo leaned back into his chair and began massaging his temples. "It's hard to say exactly, but the activity picked up right after we started looking into their books. It's like they knew we were coming for them, and now they're covering their tracks."

"Liquidating assets?" Karen repeated, from across the room, her voice full of concern. She stood and walked over to join them, her arms crossed tightly. "That means they're getting ready to disappear."

Uriel nodded, his mind racing, and said, "It fits with everything else we uncovered. This whole operation of the cartel has been to make use of money funneled through shell companies washing their various monies. But since we started sniffing around, they're closing everything down."

"And nicely, too," Leo put in. "They aren't raising a flag for anyone. The liquidations are tiny, and their impact will be buffered in time and carefully masked as business as usual, but take it in context—that it's positioning when they want to sever and disappear."

Karen turned to him, her eyes keen. "What does it mean for the trial?"

Uriel slowly exhaled and took a moment to consider it. "It means we are running out of time. They are dissolving the organization because they want to disappear before we can get somebody in a court of law. They disappear, and we have no leverage, which will ensure Morales takes the fall for everything."

"So, what do we do?" Karen asked. Her tone had a laced note of urgency.

Uriel straightened, racing with the implication of what to do next.

"We do. If we can prove that the cartel and the organization are liquidating their assets and shutting down shop, we could admit it into court. It won't be easy, but may raise enough questions to change the narrative. We got to make the jury and the judge understand there is a much bigger conspiracy occurring here, one that extends over Morales."

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Leo nodded. "Boy, if we can show that the organization is trying to hide its tracks and disappear, it goes pretty well in undermining the prosecution's case. The DA is portraying Morales as the central figure, but if we can prove he is a pawn, we may have a chance at turning things around."

Karen looked grim. "But we're cutting it close. The trial's coming up soon, and we're still piecing this together."

Uriel met her gaze—perfectly composed, perfectly firm. "We've come back from worse. We'll be ready."

Days passed by, and Uriel, Karen, Leo, and Jake did their best to be prepared for whatever the trial might reveal. They moved on a tightrope, given the necessity of developing evidence, not to face an all-too-possible reality that the organization wouldn't be able to disappear prior to exposure. With the old contacts that he had when he used to be a detective, Jake was deepening the operations of the cartel, further investigating any person who might shed light on the inner mechanism of this organization.

"We need more than just the financials," Jake said late one evening, voice tired but resolute. "The jury's not going to be convinced by numbers alone. We need people—witnesses who can back up what we're finding."

"I'm working on it," Karen said, flipping through witness statements. "But anyone affiliated with the cartel is either too terrified to talk or now has a permanent gag placed on them."

Uriel leaned back against his desk, crossing his arms as he thought. "We'll use the financials for the foundation. If we can prove the cartel and the organization are in tandem and trying to disappear, that gives the jury something to think about. But you're right—we need someone to back it up."

"Morales?" Leo said, rolling over.

Uriel shook his head. "Morales is useful to us in terms of proving he didn't commit the murders himself, but he's too compromised to be our principal witness. We need someone closer to the organization—somebody who can give testimony about their role in all this."

Jake sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "That's a tall order. These guys are pros—they cover their tracks, and anyone who gets close enough to know the truth doesn't usually live long enough to talk."

Uriel nodded gravely. "That's why we have to hurry. The longer we wait, the more they disappear."

As the trial drew near, Jake got his first break. He'd been pursuing low-level associates of the cartel—those who had once been in but, since then, had lost favor. One such contact was Luis Rivera, an accountant for the cartel, before he fell out of favor.

Jake had set up a meeting with Rivera in a quiet diner in the Bronx, knowing he could hopefully persuade him to talk.

"We got one shot at this," Jake told Uriel and Karen before the meeting. "Rivera knows the books inside and out. If we can get him to cooperate and give testimony, it gives us leverage against the organization."

Uriel nodded vigorously. "If he talks, we will protect him; all he had to do was tell us everything."

Karen's face was pursed with concern; she turned to Uriel. "And if he's too scared to testify?"

Uriel's jaw clenched slightly. "Then we find another way. But we don't give up."

With the trial just a few days away, tensions at the office were palpable. Uriel and his team worked diligently, piecing together evidence and following the money in preparation for one of the most harrowing trials they would ever be called upon to undertake. The cartel was closing in—the organization was—but Uriel did not back down. He had once faced impossible odds and knew the key to victory was persistence. If they could survive the trial and prove that Morales wasn't the killer and that the strings were being pulled by the cartel and the organization, then they could walk away with a win. But time was running out, and the shadows were getting gradually darker.

It was late when, one evening, Uriel sat in his office poring over their strategy, looking out the window in view of the city below. Never had the stakes been so great, but he was not afraid. This was what they did, Uriel thought. We embrace the impossible. And with that belief, he went back to work, resolute to see it through to the end.

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