Sanchez felt as if a heavy stone weighed down on his heart for two consecutive days.
His mental state was deteriorating; he often woke up in shock in the middle of the night, and even the company of his favorite mistress couldn't grant him a peaceful sleep after a violent outburst.
Lascano's failure was not important.
What mattered was why Song had allowed Lascano to return to Victoria City completely intact.
He had once tried to believe Lascano's explanation that Song Heping was using their mutual suspicions to delineate his relationship with the Los Zetas Organization.
However, no matter how much Sanchez tried to convince himself to believe it, his mind remained restless.
The Los Zetas Organization had played a significant role when the Gulf Group had not yet become the powerhouse of northeastern Mexico.
They were efficient and brutally decisive, experts at eliminating threats and powerful officials, the sharpest blade in the hands of the Gulf Group.
But this blade was double-edged.
Capable people are never willing to be subordinates forever.
When the first leader of the Los Zetas Organization, Arturo, was still around, the then-leader of the Gulf Group, Cadenas, had already felt that the Los Zetas Organization was gradually gaining more independence and power in the shadows, building its own territory.
That's why he parachuted a man known as Gonzales with the codename Z2 into Los Zetas, with the purpose of monitoring Arturo.
However, because Gonzales did not have a Special Forces background, Arturo and others did not take him seriously, and it was very difficult to control Los Zetas.
As an insidious veteran drug lord, Cadenas might not match Arturo in combat, but when it came to strategizing, Arturo was not in the same league as him.
Eventually, in order to elevate Gonzales, Cadenas had informants reveal Arturo's whereabouts to the Mexican military.
Poor Arturo was surrounded by hundreds of military police during a candlelight dinner with his mistress at a restaurant.
Because he was meeting his mistress, Arturo had not brought his men and went alone.
His fate was sealed the moment he was betrayed.
In the ensuing firefight, Arturo, outnumbered, was riddled with bullets.
Thus, Arturo, the founder of the Los Zetas Organization, died at the hands of his patron, Cadenas.
This incident remained the highest secret within the Gulf Group, known only to a select few who knew the truth.
After all, if such a truth were leaked, betrayal by Los Zetas would be inevitable.
At that time, Gonzales, now Z2, successfully ascended to the position of the head of the Los Zetas Organization, becoming the second leader.
However, the good times did not last long; merely half a year later, Gonzales was captured in a police drug raid and eventually incarcerated.
Subsequently, Lascano, codenamed Z3, succeeded and became the leader of the organization.
Cadenas was also placed on the hit list by the new president last year and ultimately landed in prison.
Sanchez, as a highly competitive candidate for the leader within the Gulf Group at the time, in order to secure the position of the leader, drew Lascano to his side, promising him greater power and involvement in more group affairs. Only then did he bring him under his command, having him assassinate competitors and placing him on the throne of the Gulf Group.
Supposedly, Sanchez and Lascano were a new cooperative relationship, relying on each other, akin to grasshoppers on the same rope.
However, after Sanchez secured his position, he began to harbor fears towards the Los Zetas Organization again.
The most powerful assassination organization and the leader in the highest position of the group seemed to have fallen into a curse, where superficial enthusiasm couldn't hide the inner suspicion.
All of this erupted after Lascano's failed attack on Song Heping and his safe release back.
"Spencer, are you asleep?"
At three in the morning, Sanchez, startled from a dream, dismissed his mistress, and after watching her hurriedly leave the room cursing, with her clothes in arms and bared buttocks, he picked up the phone to call a trusted member of the group.
"Boss, what's happened so late?"
Spencer knew Sanchez wouldn't wake him up at three in the morning for no reason.
Asking if he was asleep was really just superfluous.
Even if he was asleep, if there's an issue, it needed to be dealt with immediately.
"I can't sleep..."
Sanchez sighed and picked up the half-smoked cigar from the bedside ashtray.
After exhaling a thick puff of smoke, he felt slightly calmer.
"Boss, I've noticed you seem very troubled lately." Spencer cautiously probed, "Is it because of the Lascano issue?"
"Hmm..."
Sanchez felt somewhat relieved.
Spencer had been his brother for many years, acquainted since their youth.
After all these years of following him, since he became the boss, Spencer's position within the Gulf Group also rose to the fourth highest.
Saying fourth-highest didn't really express the closeness; he was the most trusted person in the entire group, bar none.
Whenever there was sketchy business, Sanchez thought of Spencer first.
Thus, Spencer had command over all the most loyal resources and operatives to Sanchez.
"How can I not understand this matter, how could Song release someone like Lascano alive instead of sending back his dead body? If he had hanged Lascano from a lamppost, it would have established his authority more…"
"What did Lascano explain?" Spencer continued his probing questioning.
"He said it's an open strategy, Song is trying to sow distrust between him and me," Sanchez said. "The more he explains, the more uneasy I feel."
Spencer asked, "Boss, do you need me to do something?"
Sanchez remained silent for a while, continually puffing on his cigar.
Finally, he spoke, "I plan to parachute you into the Los Zetas Organization to take the second-in-command spot, just like Gonzalez did before."
"Boss, it's not that I'm unwilling, but if I go there without any foundation, it'd be pointless. Gonzalez tried before to control the Los Zetas, but they completely ignored him! It amounted to sidelining him. Moreover, there were rumors that Lascano plotted behind the scenes, leaking his whereabouts to the military and police departments... As you know, Sanchez came from the Special Forces, they have connections within the Army, it's easy for them to leak information intentionally."
"I've heard about this," Sanchez said. "Although the top echelons of the Los Zetas Organization are mostly retired or defected from the Army Special Forces, they still keep in touch, who can say for sure? That's why I'm really worried...they might…"
He paused here, not continuing further.
Shifting the topic back, he continued, "You still have to go and keep an eye on them for me. Even though you can't control their members, you can control their financial powers. The drugs business they are running now is all provided by me, and the resources are in our hands, it's easy to manage. Once I find a chance to dispose of him as we did with Arturo, I will comprehensively reorganize the Los Zetas Organization and solidify your controlling position."
Seeing Sanchez speak to this extent, Spencer had no room to refute; he could only nod and accept: "Okay, I'll follow your arrangements."
"Also, another thing, didn't I instruct you to use our inside man in the Sinoloa Group to check what exactly happened during the day Lascano was with Song? Haven't you found out yet?"
"Boss, that side is all Song's own people; we absolutely have no insider within their group. We do have an undercover in Sinoloa, but so far they haven't provided any information. I can't do anything at the moment, but rest assured, I've mobilized all resources to look into it and have offered a high reward. Eventually, we might get some leads."
Hearing Spencer's report, Sanchez could only sigh, "We can only wait then, be careful these days. I'm worried Song might launch a counterattack, don't wander around without necessity."
"I understand, boss."