Winning against Prosecutor Suzanne through legitimate legal means was impossible—only trickery would work. This was clearly inconsistent with Kim’s principles, but there was no other choice. Jimmy boarded an intercity bus to Houston, then transferred midway toward Shreveport, Louisiana. Along the way, he wrote numerous emails with different pens and even paid other passengers to help. After traveling over a thousand kilometers to reach Huell’s hometown, the small town of Coushatta, he sent all kinds of emails and postcards to the Albuquerque Courthouse.
Kim, meanwhile, kept pressuring Suzanne, arriving at the district attorney’s office with her legal team. Suzanne never expected such a show of force for a thief’s defense—and Kim demanded the 18-month prison sentence be reduced to a misdemeanor with probation, leaving no room for negotiation. When Suzanne refused, Kim filed a motion for a continuance to gather more evidence, along with a motion for mandatory disclosure to investigate whether Officer Pratt (the assaulted officer) had any conflict of interest with the defendant.
All of this was just to buy time for the mail to arrive. Within two days, the desk of Judge Mansinger—who was presiding over Huell’s assault case—was piled high with character reference letters from Huell’s hometown. "The townsfolk" sang Huell’s praises, and some even offered to organize a delegation to attend the trial. With hundreds of rural residents filling the courtroom, no one knew if a riot might break out. Judge Mansinger ordered Suzanne and Kim to reach an out-of-court settlement as soon as possible—he didn’t want to receive another piece of mail from Coushatta.
Suzanne refused to be intimidated. She took all the mail back to her office and had her assistant investigate thoroughly. Some letters included senders’ phone numbers, so Suzanne started calling them—but the more she called, the more uneasy she became. It seemed Huell really was beloved in his hometown, and everything mentioned on the phone could be verified online. Every detail checked out; there was no trace of a hoax.
In the small office behind the nail salon, Jimmy’s desk was covered with phones. Members of the state university’s film crew waited, following a script, for Suzanne’s calls. Jimmy even stepped in himself, pretending to be a church pastor, praising Huell’s contributions to the church and claiming he’d saved an elderly man from a fire. To make it more credible, a church donation website was set up online, with a few dollars added from time to time. Once the phones stopped ringing, Jimmy rushed to the courthouse and saw Kim arguing with Suzanne from a distance. After a while, Kim emerged victorious—their goal had been achieved.
A few days later, Jimmy was still scouting for a new office space. He was touring a property with a real estate agent when he suddenly noticed Kim standing outside. Kim had passed by, seen Jimmy’s car, and stopped to check on him. Jimmy could tell something was wrong with her and assumed she was upset about the fraud they’d pulled on the judge. He promised never to use such underhanded tactics to win a case again—but to his shock, Kim suggested they do it one more time.
Mike knew Werner was right—the young men needed to get out, breathe some fresh air, and see some women. Mike took them to a local strip club, assigning men to keep a close eye on them to prevent trouble. He and Werner weren’t interested in strip clubs, so they went to a nearby bar for a drink. After a few rounds, they started talking more freely. Just then, someone reported that there was an incident at the club.
Mike rushed to the strip club entrance. One of the crew members had tried to grope a dancer, violating the club’s rules and getting thrown out. To avoid attracting the police, Mike paid a few hundred extra dollars to hush things up. Back at the bar, he found a drunk Werner talking to other patrons about construction work—he’d even drawn a rough sketch on a coaster. Before Werner could say anything more compromising, Mike pulled him out.
After a night of fun, the crew was in much better spirits the next day. But Mike was more worried than ever about what Werner might have told the other patrons. Even though the sketch on the coaster was simple, there was no telling if someone might connect it to an underground tunnel. Werner knew he’d messed up and repeatedly promised to keep his mouth shut.
When Gustavo came to inspect the project, Mike reported the progress truthfully. The project was significantly behind schedule, and unforeseen difficulties would likely arise, but the quality was impeccable. When Gustavo asked about Werner, Mike offered to vouch for him—unwilling to see another life lost.
Since Hector had been hospitalized and the Salamanca brothers had fled, Nacho had taken over the business. Some low-level thugs thought they could skimp on payments with a new boss, but Nacho adopted Hector’s ruthless tactics, leaving such troublemakers injured as a lesson. He wasn’t doing this for Hector or the Salamanca family—he was doing it for himself. By this time, he’d accumulated a large sum of cash in a safe and prepared Canadian IDs for himself and his father, waiting for the right moment to escape. But fate had other plans: Lalo Salamanca arrived, tasked with overseeing all incoming funds. It was only a matter of time before he uncovered Nacho’s scheme.