This is how the dream starts: I’m lying on a bed in a hospital room. There must be some reason for me to be here, although I feel fine. I’m wearing my jeans and a T-shirt even though, as a patient, I suppose I should be in one of those embarrassing gowns with the back open. After flipping through the TV channels for a while, I get bored and wonder what’s wrong with me and when I’ll be discharged. Suddenly, a nurse comes i...

Sally poked her head into my office door and said, “The car’s here.” “Thank you, Sally,” I replied. While waiting for my new arrival, I poured myself a cup of coffee and reflected on how different this one would be from the others. In the last five years, my operation had become far more manageable and less stressful. I had put a severe limit to how many guns we ran to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and had stopped dealing in...