"Exactly." A quiet fury turned the single word to lead. "We brought the van over to a fish market, where we knew she had - we called it a 'lab', the place where they made the drugs, but it was more of an abandoned warehouse. It was early in the morning, so the market was busy: lots of people bringing in what they'd caught, people looking to buy. We'd hoped that would keep the woman - her name was Evelda - from starting any trouble. She came out with two bodyguards and her baby strapped in a sling across her chest."

Her voice hitched in her throat a little at that, but she had enough distance from it at this point that it was easier to tell. "Then I saw a great big long, low car pull up with some more of her men in it, armed. I tried to tell everyone in the van it was a bad idea to start anything until we had backup. John agreed." She closed her eyes. "The head of the DEA called it anyway and they all busted out of the back of that van like their asses were covered in ants. They opened fire. Evelda had been hiding a machine gun underneath the sling, used her own baby as a weapon blind, and fired back. So did the guys in the low-rider. It was ... to understate it, a mess."