After 36 hours of torment, Jimmy’s phone finally picked up a signal. When Kim—who had stayed up all night—heard his hoarse voice, she burst into tears of joy. Jimmy told her not to come pick him up; he would never let Kim get dragged into this mess. He and Mike found a gas station along the highway, bought water, and sat in the shade waiting for Mike’s men to arrive. The money was safe, but Mike needed to cook up a story to avoid arousing the suspicious Lalo’s doubts.
Jimmy had no idea the real reason—he thought Mike just didn’t want to get involved with the drug cartel’s dirty business. After all, if Lalo suspected his true identity had been exposed, he would surely silence them both. Once back in the city, Jimmy took a separate taxi to the detention center. The two massive sacks of cash left the staff behind the window stunned. Four people were urgently summoned from the finance office, and it took hours with counting machines to tally the money—they even returned the extra $100,000 to Jimmy. The incident attracted the attention of judges and prosecutors, but even if the court reopened an investigation into “Jorge’s” identity, Lalo didn’t care. By this time tomorrow, he’d be in Mexico.
As Mike had anticipated, Lalo wanted to know why Jimmy had taken an extra day to return. Following Mike’s script, Jimmy claimed his car had broken down on the way back. Unwilling to hitchhike with millions in cash, he’d tried to hike through the mountains but gotten lost. Lalo seemed to buy it. Before leaving the detention center and getting into Nacho’s car, he even praised Kim—saying a woman who would risk everything for her husband was truly exceptional. Jimmy’s heart sank: Kim hadn’t escaped his notice after all. Back home, Kim helped treat the sunburned, peeling skin on Jimmy’s limbs and felt a surge of seeing the blisters on his shoulders. She drew him an oatmeal bath to help reduce inflammation. Feeling much more relaxed, Jimmy told Kim to look at the $100,000 in the bag—the reward for his ordeal. But Kim’s eyes weren’t on the ten thick stacks of cash; they were on the canteen at the bottom of the bag. There was a bullet hole in it, proving Jimmy hadn’t told the truth. Yet Kim chose not to press him—she was just grateful he was safe.
Meanwhile, Mike was at the fried chicken restaurant, briefing Gustavo on the past two days’ events. He’d just heard from Nacho that Lalo would visit his uncle Hector at the nursing home tomorrow to say goodbye before returning to Mexico. Mike would keep tabs on him the entire time, waiting for the right moment to strike once Lalo crossed the border. Gustavo was pleased with the plan. As Mike was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something: Nacho intended to quit after this job. Besides, with Lalo gone and Nacho in hiding, Hector’s operation would naturally fall apart. But Gustavo refused to let Nacho go so easily—he’d rather control him than destroy him. “And a dog that bites its master,” he said, “either gets chained up or put down.” The words sent a chill through Mike, making him realize Gustavo was truly ruthless.
The next day, Kim had planned to take a sick day to stay home with Jimmy. But Jimmy’s phone kept ringing nonstop, and he couldn’t bear to damage the reputation he’d worked so hard to build. Reluctantly, he rushed off to court. Yet one thought lingered in his mind: he’d survived a shootout, narrowly escaped death, and now he’d helped a murderer evade justice. The sad, angry faces of the wire transfer victims’ families haunted him, leaving him unable to focus. As a result, he lost the case in court—to his longtime rival, Prosecutor Bill.
Jimmy returned home early and lay in bed. Kim didn’t get back until dusk. She had made a decision too: she was quitting her job at the law firm and turning down Mesa Verde’s offer. In Kim’s eyes, Jimmy thrived as “Saul Goodman,” while she preferred taking pro bono cases to help the helpless and poor. She’d supported Jimmy’s seemingly absurd decisions before, and now she hoped he’d support hers.
Jimmy couldn’t understand why Kim would give up such a well-paying job, nor did he have time to answer his repeatedly ringing phone. Their argument was interrupted by a knock at the door. As Kim walked toward the living room, Jimmy finally answered his phone. It was Mike’s deep voice, telling him to hide the phone and not hang up. Jimmy froze. When he saw the look of sheer terror on Kim’s face as she opened the door, he knew something terrible was happening.
Lalo was inherently suspicious. Nacho had just dropped him off at the border dry well when he changed his mind, turning around to head for the spot where Jimmy claimed his car had broken down. He climbed down into the gully and inspected the damaged Suzuki carefully—spotting a bullet hole in the door. That’s how Lalo ended up at Jimmy’s house, knocking on his door. With Kim staring at him in horror, he walked inside, sat down on the couch, and made no attempt to hide the gun tucked in his waistband. Acting like the master of the house, he gestured for Jimmy and Kim to sit, then told Jimmy to repeat the entire sequence of events from picking up the money to delivering it—over and over again.
It was a common police interrogation tactic: finding contradictory details in repeated accounts to expose lies. Jimmy suspected Lalo had either found a flaw or was testing him. His only hope was to stick to his story and not crack. But when Lalo mentioned the bullet hole in the car door, Jimmy felt utter despair. He didn’t expect Lalo to spare him—he only begged Lalo to let the innocent Kim leave.
At that very moment, Mike was on the roof of the opposite apartment building, aiming his sniper rifle at Lalo inside. If Lalo made a move, he’d pull the trigger—he didn’t care about the trouble it would bring Gustavo. Yet the seemingly delicate Kim suddenly channeled her inner top lawyer. Her defense for Jimmy was simple: this was New Mexico. In a place flooded with guns, people would shoot at a soda can by the road just for fun. Jimmy had been unable to go back for his car—who was to say some armed thugs hadn’t shot it for sport, then pushed it down the gully afterward? Lalo was stunned by Kim’s courage and couldn’t think of a rebuttal. Reluctantly, he stood up and left, getting into Nacho’s car and driving toward Mexico.