The voice Mike heard on the phone belonged to Gustavo, the manager of the fried chicken restaurant. The restaurant was just a front; his real business was the same as Hector’s. He made the call to avoid conflict with Mike. After agreeing neither would draw their guns, two cars drove from opposite ends of the highway and stopped in front of and behind Mike’s vehicle. Gustavo got out of his car, dressed in a sharp suit—his taste was far more refined than Hector’s casual style. Gustavo didn’t want Mike to know his true identity, but he knew everything about Mike: he also knew that Mike wanted to kill Hector not only for his family, but also in part for the innocent "good Samaritan" who had been killed. Gustavo wouldn’t stop Mike from robbing Hector’s trucks, but he refused to let Mike kill Hector—it wasn’t in his interest.
Mike picked up on Gustavo’s implied meaning: continuing to rob Hector’s trucks was to disrupt Hector’s supply chain. He could also guess Gustavo’s identity with reasonable certainty. As long as he could make Hector suffer, Mike didn’t mind cooperating with Gustavo. Now, with the drug lord’s support, Mike’s sniper rifle would serve a different purpose. He took a small bag of cocaine from one of Gustavo’s men, then bought a pair of sneakers. He went to the highway where the refrigerated trucks crossed the border—Mike knew the trucks always stopped under a road sign marked "ALTO" to hide their guns in a bush-disguised box by the side of the road before entering the border checkpoint ahead. He stuffed the small bag of cocaine into one sneaker, tied the laces of both shoes together, and tossed them upward a few times until they hung from a power line. Then he hid behind a distant sand dune, waiting for his target to appear.
A few hours later, the refrigerated truck arrived. Since the robbery, Hector had added an armed guard. The driver stopped the truck; both men got out and walked toward the bush by the road. Mike fired a shot into the air. Startled, the two men dropped to the ground and scanned their surroundings. Mike fired a few more shots into the air. When the men didn’t spot any danger, they assumed it was a hunter nearby and let their guard down. After hiding their guns, they got back in the truck and started the engine. At that moment, Mike aimed at the sneaker—one shot, and the cocaine leaked out of the bullet hole, drifting down onto the refrigerated truck. When the unsuspecting driver chewed gum casually at the checkpoint, the drug-sniffing dog detected the scent of drugs. Police cars with flashing lights roared over to the driver.
While Mike was getting his revenge, Jimmy sat miserably outside Chuck’s house. He called Francesca to reschedule the next day’s appointments, and also told Kim he wouldn’t be coming back that night. Jimmy didn’t want to explain why—Chuck had already called the police, and he would spend the night in jail. Before the police arrived, Chuck tried to justify his actions, telling Jimmy he believed this was a necessary step to get Jimmy to reform. Jimmy was completely disillusioned. Faced with Chuck’s hypocrisy, all he wanted to say was that he would never step foot in Chuck’s house again, never take care of Chuck again. From now on, if Chuck got sick and was sent to the hospital, no one would stop the doctors from using those electrical devices—and Chuck would die alone in a hospital bed.
At the police station, Jimmy was photographed, fingerprinted, and booked like any other suspect, waiting for his arraignment. Bill, the prosecutor who had once been annoyed by Jimmy’s pestering, even came by to gloat—but since they knew each other, Bill agreed to try to take Jimmy’s case. After all, it was easier to handle things with someone you knew.
Jimmy spent the night in jail, while Kim worked only got a few hours of sleep at dawn. She was woken by her alarm at 5:30, still disheveled. She grabbed clean clothes, toothpaste, and a toothbrush, went to the gym across the street to clean up, and was ready to head back to the office energetic. But as soon as she reached the door, she saw Ernesto. Ernesto had been fired by Chuck—and he also brought bad news: Jimmy had been arrested. When Kim hurried to the courthouse, Jimmy’s bail hearing was almost over. Dressed in a prison uniform, Jimmy faced one felony charge of burglary and two misdemeanor charges of assault and property damage. Unwilling to take up more of Kim’s time, Jimmy refused her offer to represent him and insisted on pleading not guilty on his own. The judge presiding over the hearing also knew Jimmy; since Jimmy had no prior record or criminal history, the court granted bail for $2,500.
Back at the office, having changed out of his prison uniform, Jimmy told Kim the whole story and admitted he had messed things up. But the reason he hadn’t called her was that he had created this mess himself, so he should clean it up himself—and Kim’s time should be spent on Mesa Verde Bank. Jimmy’s sense of responsibility was admirable, but sometimes fate played tricks on him. He had thought that since the Albuquerque prosecutor was handling the case, they might cut him some slack because they were acquaintances. But then he got bad news from Bill: due to a conflict of interest, Jimmy’s case would be taken over by Prosecutor Hay from another city.
Prosecutor Hay was known for being tough and impartial. At that moment, she was at Chuck’s house taking his testimony. Legally speaking, Chuck did objectively describe what had happened—he didn’t smear or belittle Jimmy. He didn’t want to end up in court with Jimmy; instead, he wanted to punish Jimmy in another way, with another outcome: pretrial diversion plus one condition.
Soon, Jimmy received notice of the pretrial diversion and its attached conditions from Prosecutor Hay. He stood dejectedly outside his office, leaning against the wall and lighting a cigarette. Kim knew this was Jimmy’s way of coping when he was in distress. A year of good behavior and community service to avoid punishment was reasonable, but having to submit a written confession to the bar association was going too far—it was clearly an attempt to strip Jimmy of his law license. Yet if he refused, Jimmy would still have his license revoked by the bar association, and might even face jail time. Faced with Chuck’s one trick after another, Jimmy and Kim stood united against their common enemy, determined to teach Chuck a lesson.