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Prologue

DIEGO FUENTES STARED INTO THE vast panorama of cliffs and ocean outside his borrowed home, and reflected on destiny The destiny of a acy would be carried on The destiny of a reatness is often diminished by those he loves

The destiny of a man deteruide his empire into the future

At his side lay the report sled from the United States offices of Hoes of reports on the ths and weaknesses, code names and locations Their operational status and the fact that each anized strike that had killed his youngest son and whore of a wife eighteen months previously

The infor, proud man, and one who had been involved in that same operation

There were threads and ties, loyalties and friendships, a the five men Five now There had once been six And each of them was another link in the chain that led to his son

He couldn’t kill them, not and achieve his aims As much as he wanted to kill all but one of theame must be very carefully played; the sacrifice of his nephew and uncle in the operation against the DEA several rettable, but they had known the risks and they had failed Failure was not acceptable Now, hebetween hi for many months now

His fingers tapped against the arm of the leather chair as he stared into the distant skyline with narrowed eyes

Along with the reports had co a co laws and to advise on certain operations being carried out

One such operation was Deep Sweep, a o had planted within their midst

A smile tipped his lips He was no fool, despite the appearance of it that he had given lately He saw the pawns, accepted the sacrifices, and allowed the illusion of his own humility for one end To test the boy ould eventually inherit all Diego had built

Now, another move must be made

He turned, spreading his arms on the desk to encompass the files and reports laid out before him Across the desk, his father’s old advisor, Saul, waited patiently, his lined expression filled with sadness at the news that had coo and Manuelo had been arrested and were now being held in an American prison to await trial

“You have provided for my nephew and uncles comfort?” He asked Saul then

Saul nodded patiently “TheAll their needs will be taken care of”

Diego nodded as he leaned back in his chair and regarded Saul quizzically “And our spy, Mr White? What have you learned?”