Mark Gimenez: The Governor's wife

In his cafe in Laredo, Luis Escalera got drunk on whiskey.

Two hundred miles downriver in the clinic in Colonia Nueva Vida, the governor of Texas spoke of the doctor on the small television, and Sister Sylvia wept.

In his office in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Ernesto Delgado watched the governor on television as he spoke of Jesse Rincon, and at that moment, he decided to retire. He did not want to die in Washington. He wanted to die in Laredo. On the border. Where he belonged.

"I will not be a candidate for the presidency."

The reporters erupted as one, shouting questions at him. Bode held a hand up until they calmed down.

"I lost my way here in Austin. Ambition can do that to a man, blind him to what's important in life. I found my way again in Nuevo Laredo. I remember what's important now."

He put his good arm around his wife.

"I'm going back to where I belong with my wife and my children, Becca, Alejandro, Miguel, and Josefina. And our dog, Pancho."

The room had fallen silent. A reporter spoke softly.

"Governor, after killing El Diablo, you'll be unbeatable. You can be the next president of the United States of America. You're a living legend. There's even talk of erecting a statue of you here in the State Capitol-next to Sam Houston."

"A legend, huh? Well, I don't deserve a statue. You want to erect a statue, make it of Jesse Rincon. He made a difference in people's lives. I just wanted their votes."

"Governor, you're really going to walk away from the White House? It's really over?"

Bode Bonner nodded.

"It's over."

Two hundred thirty-five miles to the south in the white compound in Nuevo Laredo overlooking the Rio Bravo del Norte, the teenager with the altar-boy face watched the Texas governor's press conference on the flat-screen television on the wall of the office that was once his father's. He pointed the remote at the screen and froze the image. He was now El Capitan, head of the Los Muertos cartel. In the week since he had witnessed his father's death at the hands of the governor in this very office- in his own home! — he had finally become the man his father had always hoped he would become. And he had sworn to God that he would avenge his family's honor. That he would dispense justice. Julio de la Garza now raised his father's machete to touch the image of the gringo who had murdered his brother and father. He would seek venganza.

"No, Governor-it is not over. It has just begun."