The hood comes off, and Keller sees Alvarado.

He expected that.

He didn't expect Tim Taylor.

- Adn heard a gurgling sound in the distance and then realized that it was close, that it came from his own throat as he heard about Magda.

It was Nacho who brought him the news.

Nacho, the harbinger, the raven, with the discreet bearing and hushed solicitous voice of a funeral director. And yet there was this salacious undertone, this frisson of pleasure as he described what the Zetas did to her.

"I'll call you back," Adn said.

He staggered up the stairs.

Did they have to do that? Strip her, torture her, slice her up, carve their filthy calling card into her? Did they have to do that?

He went to the bathroom, knelt in front of the toilet, and threw up. He vomited again and again until his stomach muscles hurt and the back of his throat was raw and then he laid his face in his forearms on the toilet.

"I'm the one who's supposed to have morning sickness," he heard Eva say.

He turned around and looked up to see her smiling at him.

"Something I ate," he said, "didn't agree with me, I guess."

"You can't eat spicy anymore," Eva said. "I keep telling the cook but she doesn't listen. We should let her go."

"Whatever you want."

Eva ran some cold water, took a washcloth, and held it against his forehead. This was her newest persona-maternal, caregiving, beatific. She'd been honing it since she came back from the doctor with the news that she was pregnant. Two months in, she already had that storied glow, although Adn suspected that was cosmetic.

When Eva had cared for him sufficiently, she went back to bed. Adn brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth and then went back downstairs.

It's over, he decided.

This overabundance of caution, this sensitivity to time and situation. It's time to deal with his enemies, put an end to things, settle them once and for all.

Time to settle with Ochoa.

Time to settle with Keller.

He called Nacho back and gave the necessary orders.

Now he sits and waits for the man to be delivered to him.

- "How long have you been working with Barrera?" Keller asks. "The whole goddamn time?"

"No," Taylor says.

They're standing outside a prefab building out in the country. It could be anywhere in the north, but Keller knows from the length of the drive that they're probably still in the Jurez Valley.

"Just now," Keller says. "You're just working with him now."

"The Zetas killed one of our guys!" Taylor yells. "And I will stop at nothing...You of all people should understand that. You think I like it? I've spent my life fighting scumbags like Adn Barrera, but now it's either him or the Zetas, and I choose him."

"So you've made a deal," Keller says. "What am I, the kicker?"

"It's not what you think."

"Go to hell."

Alvarado starts in. "You North Americans are clean because you can be. That has never been a choice for us, either as individuals or as a nation. You're experienced enough to know that we're not offered a choice of taking the money or not, we are given the choice of taking the money or dying. We've been forced to choose sides, so we choose the best side we can and get on with it. What would you have us do? The country was falling apart, violence getting worse every day. The only way to end the chaos was to pick the most likely winner and help him win. And you North Americans despise us for it at the same time you send the billions of dollars and the weapons that fuel the violence. You blame us for selling the product that you buy. It's absurd."

And convenient, Keller thinks. "You sided with Barrera and then grabbed with both hands-money, land, power."

"Just listen," Taylor says. "For once in your life, Keller, just goddamn listen."

They take him inside.

- He's aged.

Adn Barrera always had a boyish face, but that's gone now, along with the shock of black hair that always fell over his forehead. His hair is cut short, there are hints of gray, and lines around the eyes now.

He's aged, Keller thinks, and so have I.

Keller sees bodyguards stand within sight but out of earshot. They're going to shoot me right in front of him, Keller thinks. Or he'll do it himself if he's grown the balls.

Either way, it's a matter of personal satisfaction for him.

Or it might not be shooting, it might be torture.

Slower, more satisfying.

Despite himself, Keller feels a jolt of pure terror.

Adn still wears the black business suit and the white shirt, Keller notices as Adn sits down across from him. It's strange, to say the least, to be so close to this man he's been hunting for over six years now. But here he is, Adn Barrera in the flesh.

"We need to talk, Arturo," Adn says. "We've put this off too long."

"Talk."

"My daughter choked to death," Adn says. "Did you know that?"

"If you're going to kill me, kill me. I don't need to sit here waiting while you justify yourself."

"If I wanted you dead," Adn says, "you'd already be dead. I'm not a sadist like Ochoa. I don't need to see, participate in, or prolong your death. I asked Taylor to come so that you'd be reassured that I mean you no harm today."

"Just so we're clear," Keller says, "I mean you harm. Today and every day."

"The Zetas murdered one of your own," Adn says. "You, of all people, should know how that alters the terrain. Your superiors will stop at nothing to avenge him, just as you will stop at nothing to avenge your fallen comrade. Believe me, I respect it."

"You don't respect anything."

"I know what you think of me," Adn says calmly. "I know you think that I'm evil incarnate-I think the same of you-but we both know that there are far worse demons out there."

"The Zetas?"

"You were at San Fernando," Adn says. "You saw what they're capable of. Now they've apparently done it again."

"And you're telling me you care about that."

"They killed one of my loved ones," Adn said, "and they killed one of yours."

"What do you want?" Keller asks. He's sick to death of all this talk.

Adn says, "I had you brought here to propose a truce between us."

Keller can't believe what he's hearing. A truce between them? They've been at war with each other for over thirty years.

"We make peace between us," Adn continues, "to fight the Zetas."

"I have enough hate for you and the Zetas."

"I agree that you have an unlimited capacity for hatred," Adn says. "In fact, I'm counting on it. You have ample hatred, what you don't have enough of are resources. Neither do I."

"What are you talking about?"

"The Zetas are winning," Adn says simply. "They'll soon have all of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Len, and Michoacn. They're moving in Acapulco, Guerrero, Durango, even Sinaloa. Down south they've sent forces into Quintana Roo and Chiapas, to protect the border with Guatemala. If they succeed in taking Guatemala, it's over. Neither I nor you will be able to stop them. They'll control the cocaine trade, not just in the U.S. but in Europe, too. If it gives you a personal rooting interest, they're moving into the Jurez Valley, too. It wasn't me who slaughtered Erika Valles, who tried to kill Dr. Cisneros. They'll try again. Eventually they'll succeed."

Taylor weighs in. "The Mexican government will do anything to stop the Zetas from becoming the dominant force. They would be virtually a shadow government. But the FES combined with American intelligence is by far the strongest force fighting the Zetas. We can annihilate them."

"What do you need me for?" Keller asks. "You already have the government on your side, apparently on both sides of the border."

"Ordua and the FES are loyal to you personally," Adn says. "The operation you've created together is tremendously effective. I don't want to see it disrupted. Also..."

"What?"

Adn smiles ruefully. "You're the best they have, aren't you? Taylor can put you on the shelf and send someone else, but whoever that is would be second best, and I can't afford second best. Neither can you, and I'm by far the best offer you have, the best ally. You hate me, but you need me. And vice versa."

"And if I say no?" Keller asks. "I get a bullet in the neck?"

"If you reject my offer," Adn says, "you walk away from this meeting, your organization puts you on the shelf, and it's business as usual between us."

"I'm not going to help you become the king of the drug world again."

"Do you think anyone is serious about the so-called war on drugs?" Adn asks. "A few cops on the street, perhaps-some low- to middle-management crusaders like yourself, maybe-but at the top levels? Government and business?

"Serious people can't afford to be serious about it. Especially not after 2008. After the crash, the only source of liquidity was drug money. If they shut us down, it would have taken the economy on the final plunge. They had to bail out General Motors, not us. And now? Think of the billions of dollars into real estate, stocks, start-up companies. Not to mention the millions of dollars generated fighting the 'war'-weapons manufacture, aircraft, surveillance. Prison construction. You think business is going to let that stop?

"I'll take it a step further-let me tell you why the U.S. won't let the Zetas win-because the Zetas want the oil, because they're interfering with new drilling-and the oil companies are never going to let that happen. ExxonMobil, BP-they're on my side, because I won't interfere with their business. In turn, they will not interfere with mine. Bottom line? Someone is going to sell the drugs. Now, it's either going to be Ochoa or me, and I'm the better choice. I'll bring peace and stability. Ochoa will bring more suffering. You know that. And you know that you need to do everything you can to bring him down, or you can't live with yourself."

"I'll give it a try, though."

Adn looks at him for several long seconds. "I'm going to have a child. Twins, and I want to raise them without being hunted. I don't want their lives to be like mine. If you'll end your vendetta, so will I."

End the vendetta, Keller thinks.

After all these years.

After To, and Ernie.

The children on the bridge, the dead of El Sauzal.

It's impossible.

But then there's Crdova's murdered family, Don Pedro Alejo de Castillo, the bodies in the mass grave at San Fernando.

Keller sees Erika's butchered body.

Marisol's stricken face.

Barrera is right-the Zetas failed to kill Marisol so they'll have to try again. They won't stop until they succeed. And there's something else, something ugly, and he has to face it. Barrera is right about that, too-my capacity for hatred is infinite.

I want revenge.

And I'll sell my soul to get it.

"I want them all dead," Keller says. "Every one of them."

"Good."

"You have to give me your word," Taylor says. "Your vendetta against Adn is over. Finished."

"You have my word," Keller says.

"On our immortal souls, on the lives of our children." Adn offers his hand.

Keller takes it.

Why not? he thinks.

We're all the cartel now.

"It's a new day," Taylor says.

They say that love conquers all.

They're wrong, Keller thinks.