“I think you’re right, and if they succeed, it will start a war that will be good for no one. There are men like you and my father, and you made it to the top,” Carlos said as Paloma took his hand. “But for every one of you, there are a hundred small dealers who want to kill everything and everyone to get to where you are.”

“That’s why I’m here.” He glanced at Tracy before he said anything else, and she seemed to understand that he was having trouble verbalizing what he wanted.

“Señor Luis—” Tracy said, and Carlos lifted his hand.

“Please, we are friends here. Please call me Carlos.”

“Carlos, whatever deal your father had with Hector isn’t possible any longer. It’s time to build new alliances, because if whoever these—” Tracy stopped and smiled. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure how to say cowards in Spanish.”

“Cobardes,” Paloma said.

“Thank you.” Tracy continued in Spanish. “These cowards had the guts to take Hector on today, but I doubt they’ll be happy with only that piece of the action if they think they can have it all.”

Carlos tilted his head in assent. “The strange thing about all this is how quiet everyone is about what happened. It’s almost like the government destroyed your business, but between the both of us, we have enough people in government on our payroll to know that’s not what this was. And that means there are powerful people working against you, which puts me in line next.” Carlos stood and offered him his hand. “If you want my help, you have it.”

“Thank you, and I do need your help,” Hector said, feeling like this was the first step to right his world.

“Let’s have lunch, and we can finish our talk.” Paloma rang a small bell, and they made their way to the veranda.

Reyna was the one who put all the food on the table and left them to their meal. “I should tell you I had a talk with Cain Casey yesterday.” Carlos put a tamale on his plate and didn’t look up when he spoke.

“You know Cain?” He tried to hide his surprise, but his question gave him away.

“Cain helped me avenge my father, and we are friends, not business partners. Her cousin Colin Mead, though, is a business partner, but he and Cain only have blood in common. I don’t think she likes him.”

“Who’s Colin Mead?” This was like discovering a whole new world, and it made him feel like an idiot. “If you can’t answer, I’ll understand.”