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The following day, another two dozen new FBI agents were flown in to bolster our ranks Also, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s LA office, John Downey, was put at the helm of the task force

It was obvious that the fe every bell and whistle at FBI HQ As well it should have So that the stakes for the bureau hadn’t been this enormous since the unparalleled spree of bank robberies that had plagued the country during the Great Depression

Put si into question law enforcement’s ability to deal with him That could not be allowed to stand, especially on our own soil

If I had any last doubts about the feds’ couished when FBI Director Joseph J Rohr hi via Skype Instead ofintently and asking pointed but intelligent questions about logistics and manpower

He seemed determined that we have every resource we needed Moreover, instead of harping on ass-covering attention to protocol, the surprisingly witty fored us to think as creatively as we could in tracking down Perrine

After a few false starts, it was decided that the task force’s new pris in LA ere known to be closest to Perrine’s Los Salvajes organization Thatwith both barrels after MS-13

So on the secondafter the murder, Emily and I were teamed up with a short, extremely intense bullnecked cop named John Diaz, as a ten-year-veteran detective of the LAPD’s Gangs and Narcotics Division After the briefing, Diaz took us ier’s Deli, in the MacArthur Park area of Westlake Though it was a pretty gritty inner-city neighborhood, as we sat at abooth above the pal

“Why does that look fa at it

“That’s the Bryson Apart Fred MacMurray drives past in the beginning of Double Indemnity”

“Right,” I said excitedly “With a couple of slugs in his belly”

“Exactly,” Diaz said, nodding again “Actually, MacArthur Park has a long history of gunshot wounds in real life, too A lot of drugs, a lot of gangs They drained the lake back in the seventies, and you wouldn’t believe the nuuns they found They say this is where MS-Thirteen was started in the eighties by Salvadoran irants

“Speaking of which, I called a guy who ht be able to help us on an MS-Thirteen lead He’s a friend, so I’ve been reluctant to ask hiuys is to ask theent, this shit is obviously not business as usual He’s on his way here now”

We were ordering pastrami sandwiches when a UPS truck pulled up outside The brown-uniforarette had a goatee and more than a few tats

“And here he is now,” Diaz said, standing

“That’s your source? The UPS guy?”