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CHAPTER 69

GUSTAVO SAT IN the passenger seat of a roomy Lexus UX 200 with Manny at the wheel and three Diablo cartel members in the back seat. All were armed and had been watching the two FBI agents from California, one tall white man and one Asian woman. As the two new agents exited the airline terminal, they were greeted by Ruiz and Dougherty, FBI agents based in Monterrey.

Gustavo watched Ruiz hug the one he knew as Molinari, saw the four laughing and walking to short-term parking.

He gave instructions to the driver: “Manny, hang back. Don’t attract the traffic cop’s attention. Okay, now go. Slow.”

Manny slowed the car, backed into an empty parking spot, and watched as the four Feds got into a run-down black Mercedes sedan. He stayed in his parking space until the Mercedes pulled out of the lot. Then Manny followed them to the airport exit road.

It became clear to Gustavo that the Feds were going through Cadereyta Jiménez, the municipality seat. There were parallel roads to the town with intersections crossing Federal Highway 40. As Gustavo and his guys continued on, they would have options to take alternate routes if they were recognized. Gustavo told Manny to let a Chevy truck behind them overtake, and Manny did as he was told.

To prevent the driver of the Mercedes from noticing that they were being tailed, Gustavo told Manny to take a left to the service road running parallel to the highway and cut back to 40 at the first right.

Manny hooked a left at the intersection, then drove a few hundred yards before asking Gustavo, “This right?”

“Yes. And step on it.”

Manny again did as he was told.