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"So you're saying... there are other people who are actually deeply involved with..." Leiya paused for a moment, unable to continue her speech at the trauma of what she saw directly in front of her own eyes, last night was exactly one year of the events full of destruction and chaos.
Ezgar and Idgar could feel how the pent-up emotions on Leiya's face, which made her skin redden. Ezgar's slow nod of the head was enough to make Leiya instantly conclude, he would take revenge on whoever was involved with the death of his father, and the breakup of his family's large Cartel. The small black box that had been overlooked, Leiya took a long look at it, eventually Leiya would see the face of who was in there involving himself with destroying the name of the Cartel.
"You must decide quickly, after you find out who became a traitor to the fall of your father's Cartel." Idgar continued after drinking his drink until it was finished, Leiya glanced only with the movement of his eyeballs.
"Wait here for a moment."
Leiya placed the small box on the table, got up and walked to the second floor where her room was located. Inside the room with the dominant light gray wall paint lay, some parts of it close to the bed, plastered with Leiya's polaroid photos. Containing all of Leiya's memories together with her father who spent all the opportunities of his youth, to take care of his daughter, Azaleiyá Hyuazaiya.
For a moment, the girl stood in front of one of the photo frames with her father's face at the age of 56, with a stern look that would make anyone shudder, after picking up her laptop that had not been used for a long time.
"I will destroy anyone who makes your role as my father disappear in one night, Father. Leiya promises." Leiya said with trembling hands, her chest rising and falling to show her unease.
Leiya's feet moved as her body and eyes were still glued to her father's picture frame, as if it had another way of thinking to bring the girl downstairs to meet Ezgar and Idgar again. Downstairs, the two Uncles were still talking but sounded as if they were in the distance, Leiya pondered. Her body walked with her to the living room, but her mind wandered elsewhere so she didn't hear what was being said.
Ezgar saw Leiya's arrival first with his blank eyes staring straight at her, without blinking. "Leiya, don't brood."
That reprimand, just a few moments immediately made Leiya awaken from her causeless musing, her mind felt blank, dark not seeing anything. The girl shook her head softly, taking a deep breath that filled her lungs and puffed up her cheeks. Idgar stood up to her, holding Leiya's shoulders hesitantly before he opened his palm to ask for the laptop from his niece's hand.
"I saw Father's picture earlier, my mind got a little distracted." she said in a voice almost like a whisper that was easily swept away by the wind, then handed her laptop to Idgar to turn on.
It didn't take too long for Idgar to turn on Leiya's laptop which initially didn't show the power light on a few times. Most likely because it had been stored unused for too long, because Leiya did not want to turn it on again, so many other memories with his father were stored there. Leiya didn't want to fall further into the depths of sadness.
When the laptop successfully turned on, Idgar immediately turned on the device in the small black box containing a chip to connect to Leiya's laptop. Ezgar noticed Leiya's face full of fear mixed with worry when she saw the wallpaper of the laptop was a picture of her with her father. Idgar pushed Leiya's face away from the screen, until he was completely finished and successfully connected the important device in front of him.
In just a few minutes, a live recording of Idgar opened that came from the successfully connected chip. Leiya shifted her body to sit closer, looking at the nighttime video footage of a person in a closed suit. Then in front of that person, there was another person wearing a local Spanish police uniform, complete with badge. There was money taken out from under the police uniform, a brown envelope with a paper.
Because the situation in the video looks like a room that is only illuminated by one dim light, it makes it difficult for Leiya to clearly see who is actually in the room. The paper held by the policeman, his movement suggested that he was conducting an illicit transaction, or perhaps an agreement as it was seen from the policeman who signed first. Leiya looked up to stare right into Ezgar's face, the man only moved his head briefly telling Leiya to keep watching.
"Did the policeman just do a drug deal?"
The question that came out of Leiya's mouth went unanswered. Each of Idgar and Ezgar were focused on watching the video footage that was now playing showing the person in the closed suit, running his fingers over the paper as if signing as well. After the two people shook hands, Leiya still didn't have any clue as to who was involved in the transaction with the police. But as the person in the closed suit turned his face to the side, Leiya's eyeballs rounded as if shrinking at what had just been displayed.
"There she is," Ezgar chirped, glancing at Leiya's reaction for a moment.
Leiya's chin seemed to fall, her mouth wide open without a word coming out of her mouth. Idgar stopped the recording just as the face of the covered person was clearly visible in the recording, the person the three of them really knew very well. A woman who looked to be about 30 years old, with such a disguise, she did not cover her face. And straight into the path of Idgar, as the one who first found the footage, showing the footage to Ezgar before finally becoming the reason for them to search for Leiya's whereabouts.
"Margaret Qué Guardians... it's really her, right?" Leiya felt her tongue go numb, she couldn't say anything seeing the woman close to her as part of Capos* who was directly in charge of El Patrón, Leiya's father.
"Margaret is very likely to be involved as the one who got our family cartel caught. Especially if it is true, the transaction she made earlier, related to the amount of money paid as a ransom agreement and the paper she signed. It was indeed a contractual agreement from Margaret to the police or vice versa, to leak the news to GRECO that your father was at the distribution site that night." Ezgar said what he had concluded all along, there was no other way to trust Margaret once the footage was obtained.
"I firmly believe, Leiya, that Margaret was paid by the police to divulge your father's whereabouts at the distribution site heading to North Africa. Or perhaps, Margaret went to the police on purpose to pay her to open her mouth." Idgar added.
Leiya's jaw hardened, her teeth immediately gritted but her eyes were still fixed on Margaret Qué Guardians' face on the laptop screen. For Leiya, this recording was more than enough as the most powerful evidence, showing that Margaret had indeed leaked information to the local police. She clucked and hissed as she felt her blood rush to her brain, forcing her anger that was about to explode to remain silent without showing any expression of annoyance. What Leiya said to herself in front of her father's picture in the room, Leiya decided perfectly, she would destroy Margaret Qué Guardians.
Ezgar picked up his cell phone on the side of the table, displaying its screen which contained several captured images. "There's actually one other thing I find very odd, Leiya."
"What is it?"
"In addition to our family's Spanish Cartel that collapsed last year, there were several syndicates of the family Cartel whose existence was also reportedly discovered by the law and were directly eliminated in the same year. I've searched for a bit of information. The cartels that fell were from Japan, Afghanistan, Guatemala, Italy, and Brazil." Ezgar's latest news raised new suspicions for Leiya.
Leiya thought hard in his mind about the information that attacked him at one time, after the news of Javier's arrest was reported on television. "That means there were six Cartel network syndicates caught and eliminated in the same year, then. We should not just move, because there have been six major Cartels that have fallen in the same year, then the world's legal apparatus may be like the FBI will hunt down other Cartel networks that have not been revealed. Our position is still very threatened, the three of us are the only tools for revenge and rebuilding the cartel network."
Ezgar looked at Leiya with a proud smile, like seeing the figure of his brother-in-law speaking in his nephew. "You're right, Leiya. The name of our Cartel has indeed been considered lost or vanished, but the other part of the Cartel, us, still exists. We can still rebuild the alliance if we manage to find your father's Capos or Plaza Boss*, who are still hiding out there. I'm sure they're not completely dead."
Leiya's inner spirit for revenge was instantly boosted, she could feel that there was still a very big hope for her to continue living. "We can actually reconnect our Cartel network with our counterparts in Mexico and Morocco, they should recognize me as the son of the big boss of the Spanish Cartel."
Idgar's one hand raised, he snapped his fingers in agreement right between Ezgar and Leiya. "That's a great, great decision. Or if you guys are really willing to listen to my advice, I'll ask for help from other Cartel networks, beyond the ones we've been working with for a long time."
"Meaning?" asked Leiya and Ezgar almost simultaneously.
Idgar took over Leiya's laptop he swung it fully towards her, he quickly typed in the name of a website in the search bar. The website had an unfamiliar name, Akllospiere.com. When the web name was at the top, Idgar immediately hovered to open it. But it ended up not being able to, only showing a loading sign in circles. Leiya kept silent waiting for what Idgar really wanted to do. As for Ezgar, he already realized where his brother's thoughts were heading.
"The Akllospiere Web, if you don't know, Leiya. This web is the only way for major Cartels in various countries to cooperate, or just find out about competing Cartels. There are also powerful Mafia syndicates hiding in its existence, and there are also Cyber Criminals who offer their jobs to anyone who can reach this web." Ezgar's explanation immediately made Leiya blink his eyes several times, he felt very familiar with what was said, but he felt like he forgot something.
"But this is the difficulty, Leiya's laptop is not strong enough to open this web, we need more advanced technology to successfully reach this deepweb." Idgar ruffled his hair feeling a little uneasy, then rubbed his own face. "If we can reach this deepweb. At the very least, we can find out more information about the five Cartels that collapsed in the same year as ours."
"What's that for?" Ezgar threw a confused look at his brother.
Leiya tapped Ezgar's shoulder so suddenly that his uncle jerked his head. "I just remembered about this deepweb. Akllospiere can be used only to find out the Cartel, Mafia, and Cyber Crime syndicates. But to contact them, or look for other more powerful illegal goods trading networks that are not easily detected, through the Moulekilque darkweb... if I'm not mistaken."
"Leiya..." Idgar called his niece softly, Leiya turned her head and raised her chin briefly. "Do you know where this is all from?"
The girl stood up from her seat and rubbed her head with both hands. "I'm a Capos too, Uncle Idgar Uncle Ezgar." Leiya pointed at herself with both index fingers. "Father told me all this, as a guideline that I would fully replace him in running the Cartel."
Idgar and Ezgar locked eyes for a few seconds before finally laughing together realizing that Leiya's position was the highest Capos in the Cartel. Leiya was silent feeling confused about what response he could give to the actions of his two Uncles, who had just realized that his nephew's position was the highest. Leiya herself had been directly involved several times in taking part in smuggling goods, she became less involved when she was 22 years old. The sound of laughter that echoed out from Ezgar and Idgar began to diminish, Leiya shook his head slowly before sitting back to his place.
"So what do we do now?" said Leiya quickly.
"Actually, if we really wanted to, we could contact the cartel network in addition to our counterparts in Morocco and Mexico, but I'm sure that would be difficult for us. So instead, how about we look for the Capos and Plaza Bosses under Leiya's father who are still out there, or find other acquaintances who can strengthen the Cartel's new foundation." After Idgar offered his proposed idea, Ezgar rubbed his chin to think deeply considering the great risk of his younger brother's idea.
Leiya squinted her eyes at Idgar, her eyes blinking a few times with lips that murmured without making a sound. "Uncle Idgar's first idea could be considered, but... yes, it would be very difficult for us then. We still have other subordinates who I believe are still loyal to my father."
"Then we have to move as quickly as possible, but with a really thorough plan and a clear structure. Because I also actually found out that the Guardians, just a few months ago, built the largest cartel network in the country of Venezuela." Idgar interjected again with more shocking information every time he spoke.
*Capos: Mid-level leaders who oversee specific regions or divisions within the Cartel. They report directly to El Patron or the big boss.
*Plaza Boss: Local leaders who oversee operations in a particular area. They are tasked with ensuring the smooth distribution and smuggling of goods.
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