Usually he sees the whole chessboard, several moves in advance, but this time he doesn't realize that he's put himself in checkmate.

Neither does Aguilar or Vera-that if they are working for either Barrera or the Tapias, or both, they're about to put themselves into exposed, vulnerable positions, knights moved forward too quickly.

And Adn's carefully built protective structure-his castle-will come tumbling down.

After the castle comes the king.

But Keller pretends to put up a fight, plays the role they expect of him. "You're going to allow Adn Barrera to manipulate your entire legal system and let his nephew walk for killing two people?"

"But you would let him walk in exchange for Adn," Aguilar says. "We have to face facts. Salvador is not going to give up his uncle, but Tompkins didn't come with empty hands. It's a very serious offer-capturing the Tapias would be a major blow that would disrupt trafficking to the States for months at least and take tons of drugs off your streets."

"Why would Adn turn on his oldest friend?" Keller asks, although he knows the answer.

"Because Salvador is family," Vera says. "His dead brother's son. He has three choices-swap places with him, kill him, or free him. What would you do?"

"But why the Tapias?"

"What else does he have to offer?" Vera asks. "Nacho Esparza is going to be his father-in-law. He can't go there. The Tapias are his only choice."

"We have two young people here," Keller says, "slaughtered for nothing. We have two grieving families. What are we supposed to tell them? That we have a better deal, and they just need to understand?"

Aguilar says, "Diego and Alberto Tapia are murderers many times over."

"You sound like Tompkins now."

"Even a North American defense lawyer is right sometimes," Aguilar says. "Like a broken clock, twice a day. I say that we should accept his offer."

So if you are sucio-dirty-Keller thinks, it's on Barrera's side.

"If I get a vote," Keller says, "it's no. Check that, it's hell no."

They look at Vera.

"Gentlemen," he says, "we deal in the art of the possible. Removing the Tapias takes out a full third of the Sinaloa cartel, and, most importantly, Barrera's armed wing. I would think that DEA would be delighted. I'm sorry, Arturo, but I agree that we should seize this opportunity with both hands."

If you were on the Tapia payroll, Keller thinks, now you've flipped.

And now you're fucked.

"This is wrong," he says.

"But you'll support it?" Aguilar asks.

Keller knows what he's concerned about. One of the victims is an American citizen. If Keller leaked this deal, there'd be an uproar in the States, one that could potentially kill the fragile Merida Initiative.

They need him to sign off.

Keller is silent for a few seconds and then says, "I won't sabotage it."

Feeding them a line and feeding them line-the hook is set so let them run with it. I'll jerk the hook when it's good and set.

Three hours later Salvador Barrera and his buddies walk out of jail.

Free.

The parents of David Ortega and Brooke Lauren are told that law enforcement is doing everything in its power to find their children's killers.

Sinaloa July 2, 2007 Eva wears white.

A spring bride, virginal.

Lovely and traditional, she wears a mantilla veil with the white dress and a bolero jacket entwined with white baby rosebuds. Chele Tapia, as the madrina, sewed the three ribbons onto the bride's lingerie-yellow for food, blue for money, and red for passion.

Adn hopes that there will be passion despite the difference in their ages.

Chele had tried to talk him into the bolero garb, but he'd picked up a few pounds lately and his vanity made him reject the tight pants. Instead, he wears a guayabera shirt of the presidencial style, with embroidered designs on the front and back, over loose drawstring trousers and sandals-traditional garb for a rural groom.

Now he stands and waits for his bride.

- Eddie thinks Eva looks hotter than shit and wouldn't mind getting himself a little of that. He half thinks about asking Esparza if he has any other daughters, but the wedding day of Adn Barrera is no time to fuck around, and Esparza takes the virginity of his daughters very seriously.

Adn is going to pop a cherry tonight.

Anyway, the wedding is a target-rich environment, more Sinaloa Tens than you can shake a dick at, at least half of them beauty queens, former or current Miss Whatevers-Miss Guava, Miss Papaya, Miss Methamphetamine...

If you can't get laid at this wedding, Eddie thinks, you are a dickless gnome. That or you got no money-these babes are wearing more gold around their wrists and necks than old Cortes ever found in Mexico, that's for sure.

There's a lot of cash at this bash.

Anybody who's anybody in the narco-world is here, and Eddie knows that his presence signals a big leap in status.

Nacho is here, of course, with the wife who produced the lovely Eva. Diego is here with his wife, Chele (showing a lot of tit, a definite MILF), his brother Alberto and his hot wife, and his brother Martn and his hot wife, an iceberg that Eddie wouldn't mind crashing into.

Adn's family is here, or what's left of them.

Eddie thinks he recognizes Adn's sister, Elena-Elena la Reina-the former patrona of Tijuana. Then there's the nephew, Sal, a real hard-on, and his mom, who looks like she's been sucking on lemons. Then you got some second-tier narcos, Eddie thinks, like me, and then there are the politicians.

The head of PAN in the state.

A PAN senator.

The mayor of the local town.

At the wedding of the most wanted man in Mexico, a man the U.S. and Mexican governments swear that they just can't find. It's funny, Eddie thinks-these guys are afraid to be seen at Adn Barrera's wedding, but more afraid not to be seen.

And of course, the whole village is ringed with Diego's guys, and Eddie's. State cops patrol the roads in and out, and helicopters hover overhead, only moving away so the rotors don't wash out the actual exchange of vows.

There would be even more security, Eddie knows, except that we're relatively at peace, only at war now against the Tijuana boys, who aren't about to come down here to take a shot at Adn under these circumstances.

Peace is good, Eddie thinks, even if it meant playing kissy-face with those Zeta cocksuckers. But for the time being, it's nice not to have your head on a swivel, although it takes a little getting used to. Nice not to have to worry about a bullet or a grenade, or ending up guiso'd.

And nice to be making money again.

Nice to be sitting next to a hot woman, a genuine Sinaloa Ten, even if he's here as Adn's beard.

- Magda Beltrn thinks that Eva Esparza looks pretty, too.

The tight-twatted little bitch.

That's not fair, Magda thinks. I'm sure she's a perfectly nice, sweet little girl, and, in all honesty, exactly what Adn needs at this moment. But still, a woman can't help but feel a little jealous.

Clever move, she has to admit, Adn bringing Nacho into the family. Peace breaks out and the king settles down to the business of getting a queen and cranking out some princes.

Your basic fairy-tale ending.

Real Walt Disney.

All we need are cartoon birds singing.

Then again, Adn always gets what he wants. He wanted Nuevo Laredo and he got Nuevo Laredo. Now he has a secure port through which to ship the cocaine she arranged for him-independent of Diego or his new father-in-law-and free of the burdensome piso, which he can now charge others.

And slowly, quietly, with Magda's help, Adn has been recruiting his own force, independent of both Nacho's and Diego's. The Gente Nueva-the "New People"-mostly former and current federal police-owe their allegiance only to Adn.

So he has his own cocaine supply and his own armed force.

He has Laredo, and Nacho is gaining ground in Tijuana, now connected to Adn again by family.

"How's your little virgin?" Magda asked Adn the last time she saw him, to go over some cost and pricing issues.

"She's my fiancee now."

"But still a virgin?" Magda asked. "Yes? No? Never mind-a gentleman doesn't tell. But you know Nacho will be watching for bloodstained sheets to be draped out the window."

Adn ignored the jibe. "My marriage doesn't need to change anything between you and me."

"Does your little virgin know this?" Magda asked.

"Her name is Eva."

"I know her name." After a while, she asked, "Do you love her?"

"She'll be the mother of my children."

"Mexican women." Magda sighed. "We're either virgins, madonnas, or whores. There are no other choices."

"Mistress?" Adn suggested. "Business partner? Friend? Adviser? Choose any. My preference is you choose all."

"Maybe," Magda said. His business partner she certainly is. As for the rest, she's not sure. She is sure that she wants to extract more of a price. "I want to be invited to the wedding."

It was fun to see Adn taken aback, if only for a moment.

"You don't think that would be awkward?" he asked.

"Not if you find me an acceptable escort."

So now Magda sits with this handsome young North American, who is very sweet and attentive but has a wandering eye for every attractive woman at the wedding, of whom there are many. She's not offended-he assumes that, as Adn's woman, she's out of bounds. It would serve Adn right if she slept with him. Maybe she will, but probably not. Magda can't help teasing him a little. "I've heard you have a nickname."

Crazy Eddie.

"I don't like it." She finds it funny that he pouts.

"Based on your wardrobe," Magda says, "I hear they call you 'Narco Polo.'"

Eddie laughs. "Well, I like that."

- Diego Tapia has been a busy man.

Security for the wedding has been brutal.

First there was the problem of the multiple dates and locations. Just yesterday, Diego's people reached out from a network of cell phones all over the country, to call the guests and tell them the real location.

Then and only then did Diego distribute his sicarios, in concentric circles around the village, with special attention given to the roads in and out. He stationed more men at the local airstrips to meet the many guests who were coming in on private planes and take them to the wedding site.

All cell phones and cameras had to be politely but firmly collected, and each guest just as politely and firmly informed that they must not, under any circumstances, talk about the wedding afterward, not even to the extent of mentioning that they were present.

Adn is firm about this-he wants no pictures, no videos, no recordings, and no gossip afterward. The guest list alone would be a treasure trove for DEA and other enemies.

Arriving cars are searched far outside the village. Snipers are hidden in the hills above the village, with more heavily armed men standing by in vehicles that block roads at all compass points.

Nobody is going to go in-or out-of the village without Diego's knowledge and permission.

Not that they're expecting trouble now that there's peace with the Gulf. The only possible threat is from La Familia, which is deeply angered at Adn's abandonment of them. But they're too busy fighting off the army and the federales, and besides, not even Nazario is crazy enough to attack Adn Barrera's wedding ceremony in the heart of Sinaloa.

La Familia's jefe may be insane-he's not suicidal.

Now, watching Nacho walk Eva down the aisle, Diego is unsettled. Nacho got Tijuana. Now he's going to be Adn's father-in-law? It's like a screen door shutting in Diego's face. He can still see through it, but from the outside.

I shouldn't worry, he tells himself. I'm Adn's cousin, more like his brother. We've been friends since before our balls dropped. And Nacho is also my friend and my ally. We have interests together. Nothing has really changed.

Then why do you feel that it has?

"I'd like you to be in charge of our relationship with Ochoa," Adn said to Diego after the peace meeting with the CDG. "Make him your friend."

"Now you're pushing it."

"And meet with our friends in Mexico City," Adn said. "Make sure they know that the CDG is under our protection now, in Michoacn as well as Tamaulipas."

"I'll do it," Martn said.