It’s morning. The money mule—or lavador, as the cartels call their pet launderers—steers into a sweltering strip mall parking lot somewhere in Miami. He pulls into an open space, looks around, opens his trunk. Before long the adjacent space is occupied by a bagman, who emerges with a package full of cash. A silent greeting, or maybe a quick pleasantry, and the bag goes into the trunk before the two men roar off in opposite directions. Easy as that, and several hundred thousand dollars changes hands. Glance at your phone and you might miss it.

But 50 yards away, a chic, striking young Russian woman catches it all while idling in her blacked-out Pontiac. She looks like she’s on her way to the office, but she’s already at work. She’s Special Agent Lili Infante, a rookie DEA officer in the Miami unit, on her first field surveillance lead.

The mission is a setup. The bagman is an undercover agent. Arrayed in position around the strip mall are a dozen or so heavily armed federal agents, all waiting on Lili’s command. Less than a year out of the academy, this is her first major test. She’s not just coordinating surveillance, but she’s taking “the eye,” meaning she is tracking the target so the entire unit can follow, undetected.

So far everything is going to plan, which is a relief, because Lili is desperate to prove herself. She’s an Ivy League grad and a Russian immigrant, and she was the only woman in her academy class.

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