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“Guided by Aldo Bern, Vaughn used to invest in traditionalfinancial instruments: bonds, funds, and equities bought and held through platforms in the Caymans, the Virgin Islands, and Labuan, an offshore territory run by the Malaysians,” said Louis. “But Urrea encouraged Vaughn to approach Los Brokers, a money-laundering network out of Bogotá, Colombia. Los Brokers used front companies and fake export contracts to move funds for their clients, with a lot of Vaughn’s money passing through Mexico and Costa Rica before ending up in U.S. accounts—or, more commonly, being converted into cryptocurrency. And before you ask, Urrea received a kickback from clients he referred to Los Brokers and entrusted them with some of his cash. But Urrea may have a bank of his own in Mexico, so he didn’t need Los Brokers the way Vaughn did. Urrea also regarded Los Brokers as having too many moving parts, leaving the network vulnerable. In return for referrals, they gave him a favorable rate, which he took advantage of when it suited him.

“Then, in 2021, the Colombian government moved against Los Brokers. All their channels were frozen, and Vaughn lost heavily—could have been as much as twenty million dollars. Urrea, though, was untouched. He made the last of his transfers twelve hours before the Colombian authorities pounced, and later claimed it was pure coincidence. Maybe it was, but Vaughn chose to believe otherwise, just like he doesn’t believe in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. But Vaughn was a clown for taking Los Brokers at their word about crypto, because Urrea surely didn’t. Whether he shared his reservations with Vaughn remains to be seen, but my guess is he kept quiet.

“That seems to be the origin of the dispute between Vaughn and Urrea, exacerbated by Vaughn trying to expand into markets ostensibly controlled by other clients of the PCC, who went crying to their contacts, who in turn advised Urrea to bring Vaughn under control or cut him loose. As a result, Urrea may have decided to seriously damage Vaughn using Los Brokers and let his rivals or the U.S. government do the rest.”

Louis took a moment to order a refill of coffee but also to reconsider some aspect of what he’d just shared. I thought I might be able to follow the direction of his thoughts.

“Could Urrea have been trying to ruin Vaughn from the start?” I asked.

“If not from the start, then shortly after. Why work to build your own empire in the United States when you can take over someone else’s? That prospect must have been at the back of Urrea’s mind, but he might have waited until Vaughn became overextended before pulling the trigger.”

“And if we’ve come to that conclusion—”

“Vaughn will have reached it as well,” said Louis. “So his luck goes from good to bad, then bad to worse, and it doesn’t look set to recover anytime soon, all of which he blames, rightly or wrongly, on Blas Urrea. Now Vaughn is reduced to shedding assets at fire-sale prices, and he can’t lay hands on fentanyl because the PCC has cut him off. Vaughn is desperate and wants to hurt Urrea, because if he can make Urrea look weak, he may be able to work his way back into the PCC’s good graces.”

“You mentioned that Urrea was trying to secure his family’s future,” I said. “Which means he must have children, even grandchildren.”

“No grandchildren yet, but four kids—two girls, two boys—and nieces and nephews in the extended clan.”

“And they’re all safe?” I asked.

“The source I spoke to didn’t say otherwise, but I can check.”

“Can I ask who this source might be?”

“You can ask.”

“I may be better off not knowing.”

“If you’re worried about it getting back to Urrea that we’re asking questions, it won’t. My source has no love for him.”

The loneliness of a drug lord. No wonder singers wrotenarcocorridosabout them.

“Assuming Wyatt Riggins wasn’t lying to Rybek,” I said, “and Devin Vaughn paid a team to target children in Mexico, it would make sensethat those children were somehow linked to Urrea. Vaughn would have no reason to avenge himself on anyone else down there.”

“If that was Vaughn’s intention,” said Louis, “he must have been very sure that whatever he did would leave Urrea with no room to maneuver. Urrea’s not a man to turn the other cheek, and not just because one is as ugly as the other.”

“But I still don’t understand what advantage Vaughn thought might be gained by kidnapping children,” I said. “What’s he going to do, hold them for ransom until Urrea admits that he set out to ruin him and makes up the losses?”

“People have engaged in kidnapping for less,” Angel pointed out.

This was undoubtedly true, but it still sat awkwardly with me. Nevertheless, if Vaughn’s financial situation was as wretched as it appeared, he might not have been thinking straight when he moved against Blas Urrea; that, or he figured his predicament couldn’t get any worse. On that front, at least, Vaughn was mistaken, since Urrea might be tempted to set aside his reputation for comparative restraint and skin him alive.

“What about Seeley, the one who bothered Riggins’s stepbrother?”

“I got silence when I dropped the name,” said Louis.

“What kind of silence?”

“The kind that doesn’t speak volumes. There was no echo. But if I was Blas Urrea, I’d have someone on this side of the border, someone I could trust—not Latino either, but white and superficially respectable.”

“Define ‘trust,’?” I said.

“Agreeing to a price for a service and keeping to the deal. Not playing off one side against the other.”

“A lawyer?”

“Too limited. Also, lawyers aren’t above introducing themselves as lawyers—they have no shame—and Seeley gave the preacher nothing. The American contact wouldn’t be a hired gun either, or not exclusively. More of a fixer.”