Chapter 5 - The Alignment of the Wolves
By 6:00 a.m., the storm had passed, leaving San Pedro Garza García buried under a thick, silent crust of white ice. The sun rose behind the mountains, casting a cold, brilliant light across the valley. Inside a private conference room on the fifth floor of the State Prosecutor’s Office in Monterrey, the heating units groaned against the chill.
Inspector Hector Palacios sat at the long table, his ancient laptop connected to a portable projector. On the wall, a massive spreadsheet of transactions had been cross-referenced with the data recovered from the mansion’s hidden drive. Three senior prosecutors from the Financial Intelligence Unit stood behind him, their expressions completely grim as they reviewed the lines of code.
"It’s much bigger than a simple fuel fraud, Sergeant," the lead prosecutor said, turning to Santiago, who stood by the window with a paper cup of coffee. "Don Arturo wasn't just hiding his operational debt. He was running a secondary logistics network for an unauthorized mining consortium operating in the mountains near Coahuila. They were using Northstar’s registered trucks to move rare earth minerals across the border without paying the federal extraction royalties."
"And the forged signatures?" Santiago asked.
"Every single one of them originates from the IP address registered to Doña Rebeca’s private study," Palacios answered, tapping his screen. "She wasn't just a passive bystander. She managed the secondary payroll for the drivers who handled the illegal routes. We have the digital authorization codes signed with her private bank token. They were paying these men out of the joint account that belonged to you and Mariana."
Santiago’s hand tightened around the paper cup until the hot liquid spilled over the rim, stinging his skin. He didn't blink. "They used my deployment salary to fund the drivers moving the illegal cargo."
"Yes," Palacios said softly. "That way, if the federal police ever seized a truck, the paper trail led straight back to an active military officer's personal funds. It gave them perfect deniability. They could claim you were running a rogue operation from inside the zone command, using your family's trucks as cover."
The door to the conference room opened, and a young attorney from the Herrera family’s primary law firm stepped inside. He looked pale, his expensive suit slightly rumpled from an all-night session. He placed a leather portfolio on the table, refusing to look Santiago in the eye.
"My clients are prepared to offer a full civil settlement," the attorney said, his voice trembling slightly under the gaze of the three state prosecutors. "Don Arturo will sign a total release of the Northstar corporate assets to Sergeant Herrera. Doña Rebeca will transfer the title of the San Pedro mansion to a private trust for the minor child, Valentina. In exchange, we ask for a complete dismissal of the criminal complaints and an immediate seal on the financial records."
Santiago walked over to the table, looking down at the settlement documents. The signatures of his parents were already at the bottom, shaky and uncertain, but legally binding.
"Tell them no," Santiago said.
May you like
The attorney blinked. "Sergeant... this is everything you asked for. The house, the company, the financial independence for your wife. If you go to trial, the assets could be frozen for years by the federal government. You won't see a single peso."
"I didn't come here for a settlement, counselor," Santiago said, leaning down until his face was inches from the lawyer’s portfolio. "I came here for a conversion. Your clients thought they could use the law as a transaction to buy their way out of a freezing porch. Go back to the mansion and tell them to start packing their bags. The state troopers will be at the gate by noon."
