“Those fuckers would stoop this low?” Vincent asked. He punched the top of the table and raised his voice.

“Emma just ran into Agent Phillips in the bathroom and told her something about it.”

“Who the hell is that?” Vincent asked.

“You remember her as the friendly flight attendant planting bugs in your plane,” she said, and Vincent flattened his hand.

“See?” He pointed at her. “You should’ve let me throw her out over the Atlantic on the way home. I wouldn’t have minded the long way around.”

“I agree, but there are two other feds I’d like to eliminate for trying to intimidate a child into doing their jobs for them. Don’t worry, though, I’m going to be good. There’s no sense inviting someone to crawl up our collective ass if two agents show up missing or dead.”

“Thanks for that visual,” Ramon said and laughed. “What these people did is not acceptable, and something must be done. Does everyone agree?”

They were in unanimous agreement, which was good, but they still had to proceed cautiously. “Thank you, but let me dig deeper into this. When I tweeze the ticks out, I don’t want any part left behind to fester.”

“Damn right,” Vinny said. “These fuckers have been building up to something like this for a while. We either take it or not.”

“I’m not taking it, but like I said, I need more information. There’s plenty I’m willing to take, but when it comes to my children, I have a low threshold when it comes to bullshit. And this is nothing but bullshit.” She lifted her glass again and everyone did the same. “To friendship.”

“To friendship,” Ramon said. “We’ll keep an eye on the situation with Hector, but on this too. If the feds are going this route with you, we won’t be far behind.”

“Going to war with the feds isn’t something I’m going to do lightly,” she said, and that was all she needed to say out loud. Action didn’t require permission from the other families, and they didn’t expect her to ask.

“Let’s have dinner, everyone,” Vincent said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

They went back upstairs, and Cain winked at Emma when she faced her. “You know what I’m in the mood for?” she asked, whispering in Emma’s ear.

“If it’s anything but crab salad, wait to share that information until later,” Dallas said, making Emma snort.

“I’m thinking more about drinks and dancing at a place named after my wife, lady with a dirty mind,” Cain said, making Dallas and Emma laugh. “How about a double date after this?”