"Escobar had made a career out of terror." "And for the most part, it had worked." "But when he parked 220 pounds of TNT outside of a downtown Bogotá shopping center a week before school started up again, no one could deny he had gone too far." "The whole nation was enraged." "There was no explaining this one away." "And no hiding from it." "DEATH TO ESCOBAR" "Forgive me." "That's right." "A guy who knew no bounds, no limits, had finally gone too far." "He probably didn't know it then, or maybe he just couldn't accept it, but the end was coming for him, and it was about time." "Our situation with Escobar is coming to a head." "Due to our efforts, his organization is shrinking." "Intel suggests that his inner circle has been reduced to a few loyal sicarios." "Bit of a mixed blessing." "Fewer sicarios, less radio chatter for me to trace." "We had a tap put on that lawyer's phone, but I guess he isn't taking any more calls." "It's Los Pepes." "They kill Fernando Duque, but they also killed his son... his wife." "But they also stabbed, viciously, his innocent mother." "But I accepted a sad truth." "No one is willing to police Los Pepes, so we're gonna concentrate on Escobar." "I would also like to say that..." "I know that someone has been in contact with Los Pepes." "And while it sickens me... there's nothing I can or will do about it." "But the man standing over Escobar when this is over needs to be a Colombian police officer." "And not some vigilante." " Thank you." " Excuse me, Colonel..." "Guten tag." "Join the DEA, see the world, right?" "The airport, anyways." "Listen..." "I need you to prepare yourself for some blowback." "It goes high up." "And these people aren't gonna like it when I try to get myself out of it." "If they come after you about what I've been doing, you protect yourself first." "You didn't know anything." "Understand?" "What are you gonna do?" "I don't fucking know." "We've all gone off the rails down here, Javi." "You heard what Martinez said." "If we're standing over Pablo at the end of this, we win." "We can get out of this clean." "So I want you to think about that before you make any more decisions that you might regret." "Remember when people used to call Pablo Escobar the paisa Robin Hood?" "Well, that shit was over." "The bombing had shocked even his staunchest supporters." "Many of the folks of Medellín who had always protected him were seeing him in a different light." "And no one knew that better than Los Pepes." "They took out ads in local papers, getting the word out to Escobar's former allies:" "Pablo was through." "Join Los Pepes or die." "And the traffickers who didn't read the newspapers, like the Gallón gang, for example, who I doubt could even read, got an in-person visit from Los Pepes' most glamorous ambassador." " Héctor." " Sir." "You want to get that?" " Murphy." " Get to Bogotá right away." " Yeah?" "What for?" " A tier-one sicario in police headquarters." " Oh, who?" " Nelson Hernández." "You know a Nelson Hernández?" " No." " Yeah, tier-one my ass." "AKA Blackie." "No shit." "Blackie." "CNP just picked him up outside of the Tequendama." "Get in a room with him and see what he can give us." "We're already gone." "Bogotá police just busted Blackie." "Maybe he'll cut us a deal." "Nabbing Blackie was a huge deal for us." "Bad news for Pablo." "And there was more bad news coming his way." "The thing about drug dealers is you can't trust them for shit." "The Lion had been running Pablo's Miami operation for years, and gotten rich too." "But the moment Cali offered him a better deal, he welcomed his new partners with open arms." "I mean, who could blame the Lion?" "Pablo was on his way out and Cali was the future." "He had introduced them to Pablo's bankers..." "Oh, thank you." "...his smugglers, all of it." "Though Pablo didn't know it yet, his biggest rivals had pulled off a silent coup." "They had stolen the crown jewel in his empire right out from under him." " Guys." " And they didn't even have to fire a shot." "Nothing relevant happened today." "While everyone could agree that Escobar had to go down, there was a lot of disagreement on how to make that happen." "Escobar was still dangerous and many in government wanted him to surrender." "To them, holding his family was not only immoral, but it could lead to more violence." "An upcoming presidential election made it a big issue." "Gaviria was under a lot of pressure to let the family go." "And it was getting harder and harder for him to resist." "This is the biggest lead we've ever had." " La Quica can give us Pablo." " We can help triangulate from the air, but really only units on the ground can find him." "So that means that we have to drive around Medellín hoping to get lucky and La Quica is using his phone?" "He will be because we'll be calling him with Blackie's phone." "He picks up, we get a signal." "Tracking phones like this is all about proximity." " If you have the number." " The number we got." "Okay." "And who else has his number?" "I mean, who else is gonna show up when we track it down?" "Just us." "Okay." " Trujillo." " Yes, Colonel." "Prepare the emergency team." "They need to be ready when we get the signal." "Go ahead, Murphy." "Copy that." "Centra Spike, you standing by?" "We are in the air." "Condition one, Murphy." "Make your call." "All we had to do was call him, hope he was in the area, pray he picked up, and then keep him on the line long enough for our triangulation to pick up the ping." "And then snatch him up without getting killed." "Easy, right?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "It was him." "Let's go." "I need him on longer, guys." "Get him back on the phone." "Keep him on." "Answer it." "Hello?" "Quica." "Hello." "Hey, guys, we got a hit." "He's in Laureles." " Murphy, Peña, one more time." " Copy, copy." "We're calling again." "Hello?" "Motherfucker." "Here we go." "We got eyes on La Quica." "He's traveling in a blue Sedan, heading east." "Pussies." "He's making a right on calle cuatro." "All units!" "Trujillo, double back on my six." "We'll go this way to cut him off." "Come on, box him in!" "Stop!" "Now I had my own history with La Quica, and believe me, I would've liked to beat him to death right then and there." "And I bet nobody would've cared." "La Quica's exploits were legendary." "He was Escobar's most prolific killer and the guy credited for putting the Avianca bomber on the plane." "But he was also his most trusted guy." "And if we could get him to flip..." "Fucker." "...that would close the book on Pablo." "Limón." "Relax." "Where is the staging point for this raid?" "He says he wants a new life in the US of A." "You give us Pablo Escobar, and I'll take you there myself." "The narcos always talk about loyalty... till their own asses are on the line." "Quica." "There you are, motherfucker." "It's after nine." "He's not showing up." "He's fucking onto us." "Goddammit." "Almost fucking had him again."