Queen of the South - My Season 6: Full Circle

Chapter 6, The Deep End

On the Airplane

The flight from London to NYC seemed long as it was their second one and despite the wider seats in 1st class, Pote couldn't sleep and envied James who had been dozing off for more than half of the time. The conversation with Teresa lingered in his mind and wouldn't give him peace. He had fought many battles alongside James and knew very well what the man was capable of, they also had been shooting at least weekly ever since the shooting range opened four years ago, but the worry that he won't be able to protect him and by extension won't be able to protect Teresa, gave him a gnawing feeling. She had said that she was not his 'patrona' anymore, had not been for many years and that all his debts to her had been paid, however, he knew that they were not, at least not as far as he was concerned. He had to do something to figure out if James felt the threat was real and how far he intended to go to neutralize it.

An hour later James woke up, rubbed his eyes, stifled a yawn, and looked at Pote who was watching a movie on the screen in front of him in the semi-darkness. Then he checked his watch, pulled out his bottle of water from the pouch in front of him and drank.

"The food was too salty. Even you don't use so much salt", James said, "I need a coffee, when was the last service?"

"You can ring for anything whenever you want, this is 1st class", Pote mumbled.

James looked up and pressed the flight attendant button, still rubbing his eyes.

"We need to talk about what we are getting into, cabron!", Pote ventured

"We don't know yet, it could be Camila, or it could be Isabella, or it could be a 3rd party. I know we have to locate my nephew and put him on a plane to Cape Town as we don't know if they know about him", James said. "Charger, who still lives in Dallas, is our best bet for ammo and a vehicle...yes, I kept tabs on him, and I know for sure he is there ...and I am sure he won't run when he sees me"...James said in response to Pote's unbelieving look.

The flight attendant came over, took the order, and left. Pote had stopped watching so he paused the movie and turning to James said in a serious manner: "You are half Mexican, cabron, and we have worked together many times, but...please don't get this the wrong way...I worry that you got softer way back in NOLA and nothing has happened to change that back to how you need to be now!"

James's face showed lack of understanding, so Pote continued: "Whoever this is, they are after Teresa, looking for bloody venganza (vengeance) and it won't be pretty. You know the rules of the Cartel, they are unbending and this goes even further ...because Camila got her revenge for Epifanio, she got Guero killed, she should not be coming back after us...this is something else ..and someone else."

"You believe Isabella is pulling the strings?" James asked.

"Yes, and the little brat didn't see how things really went down as she was on the plane with you and Guero, but I saw it....", Pote nodded.

"What do you mean?", James was trying to follow, but the sleep was still in his head.

"Teresa shot Epi twice, the second shot was fatal...both times she shot a second before he would have shot her...it was self-defense 100%, James. She never told you?", Pote spat out.

"No, it's not a period of our lives that we enjoy talking about", James shook his head.

Pote continued unfazed: "And the bitch Camila was pushing his buttons, he wanted her out of the biz as he had given it up for his political career, and Teresa was trying to resolve the matter peacefully at the thought of no competition...all she wanted was half the coke, which was hers anyways...but Camila said there could only be only one queen, the pinche pendeja...and that pushed Epi over the edge, man...he saw no other way to save Camila from the biz but to remove Teresa, her competition!"