Those who had been deported identified Suarez as a young man who would be useful to what had now become an international criminal enterprise. They trained him, cultivated his brutality, and instilled their brand of loyalty. It was a loyalty born from desperation and fear, and any betrayal of that loyalty came with a sentence of death.

By the time Suarez was in his late teens, MS-13 had established an international network that formed the backbone for one of the world’s largest criminal organizations, run from El Salvador and Los Angeles, but with a significant presence throughout Central America and the United States. Their numbers were estimated at fifty thousand strong worldwide, and they were contracted by cartels in Mexico to transport drugs from Asia and Central America into the United States. The network smuggled Suarez into Southern California, and he was installed as the military leader of the largest faction in Los Angeles, moving steadily up the ranks, leaving a bloody trail of rivals and innocents behind him as he advanced.

Two years ago, his superiors in Los Angeles had sent him to Boston to keep an eye on T’phong Soh, a young MS-13 recruit from Malaysia who was consolidating power on the East Coast. The young man’s rapid ascension had concerned the hierarchy in Los Angeles, and they wanted Suarez to learn the young man’s nature and intentions, and dispatch him if necessary.

Suarez had come to Boston with every intention of killing T’phong Soh within weeks, but he didn’t. He wasn’t sure why, but he found himself fascinated by the diminutive Asian. He had all the ruthlessness of others in the organization—more, in fact. But his ruthlessness was more directed, and more effective. He also seemed to have an endless reservoir of followers who were willing to die for him. And Suarez soon realized that Soh’s power over his followers was different from the dominion exercised by the other leaders in MS-13. The other leaders ruled by sheer force of terror and intimidation. Soh’s presence struck fear into the hearts of many, but he also inspired true belief. He quickly became an acolyte of Soh’s, and shortly thereafter the closest thing to a trusted adviser that Soh would ever have.

Now he and Soh were poised to reveal the full scope of Soh’s power to the world.

The crack whore next to him continued to breathe, and the rattle in her chest grew louder and louder until the noise clogged his ears. His nostrils filled with the scent of her—a sickly sweet combination of burned chemicals and sweat and sex, until he couldn’t stand it anymore.

He gave her body a tremendous shove toward the side of the bed. “Get out!” he yelled at her in Spanish.