2666

Part 3 of 2666 follows a 30-year-old journalist from New York. Oscar Fate (the pen name of Quincy Williams) works for a Black-centric magazine titled Black Dawn, based out of Harlem, New York City.

Fate is told that his mother is dead. He arranges her funeral, though he is unsure of how to proceed. He asks for “something simple and intimate” (233), mistaking the name of his mother’s church and hoping that the service can be arranged as quickly as possible. Returning to his office, he collates his notes on his latest story for his magazine. He is writing a piece about Barry Seaman, a former member of the Black Panthers who is now famous for writing a recipe book. At the office, he learns that the magazine’s sports correspondent has been stabbed to death by “some black guys from Chicago” (235). Fate attends his mother’s funeral and prepares for his interview. He travels to Detroit, listening to other people’s conversations. In Detroit, he rents a car and visits Barry Seaman. They talk about Barry’s history, lectures, and time in prison. Fate watches Seaman deliver a lecture on five subjects: danger, money, food, stars, and usefulness. After the lecture, Fate drops Seaman at home and returns to his hotel. He falls asleep in front of a German movie and has a dream about Antonio Jones. While he sleeps, the television news reports on an American woman killed in Mexico. She is the latest entry in “the long list of women killed in Santa Teresa” (258). The next day, inspired by a memory in his dreams, Fate picks up a copy of The Slave Trade by British writer Hugh Thomas. He receives a telephone call from his editor: Since he is already in Detroit, he is asked to fly to Mexico to cover a boxing match that would have been covered by the murdered sports correspondent. A Harlem light heavyweight named Count Pickett is up against a Mexican fighter. Fate visits Seaman a final time and, as he travels to Mexico, he reads sections from The Slave Trade.

Fate travels via Tucson. In a diner, he overhears a young man talking to an older, white-haired man about serial killers. The young man praises the old man, referring to him as Professor Kessler, and asks about the recent murders in Santa Teresa. Kessler is unwilling to offer his professional opinion on the killings until he has visited Santa Teresa. Speaking to the staff at the diner, Fate is told to be wary of driving in the desert. Fate drives to Santa Teresa, getting lost several times, and books himself a small motel room in the north of the city. Most of the reporters are staying at the Hotel Sonora Resort. He accompanies the seasoned sports reporters, learning how they cover fights. When visiting the training camp of the Mexican fighter, he meets a Black American sparring partner named Omar, who assures Fate that he should bet on the Mexican fighter, Merolino.

Fate goes out for drinks with the other reporters. He meets Chucho Flores, a Mexican reporter who is intrigued by the idea of a magazine for Black American readers. Fate meets Chucho’s friends. Charly Cruz owns a video store, and he talks incessantly about a lost Robert Rodriguez film that he has in his possession. Fate is more interested in Chucho’s women friends. The next day, Fate receives advice on how to cover the fight from his magazine’s sports editor. He goes to speak to Count Pickett about the fight. Afterward, he learns from Chucho Flores about the women who are being murdered in Santa Teresa. Fate begins to believe that it would be “much more interesting” to write about the murders than the boxing match (287). When he emails this pitch to his editor, however, the editor disagrees. Fate thinks about another failed pitch: He interviewed members of the Mohammedan Brotherhood after noticing that they were “marching under a big poster of Osama bin Laden” (291), then notorious for his involvement in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Fate interviewed the organization’s members about their antisemitic conspiracy theories and their version of Black nationalism, but his editor told him to forget about the story because the organization was assuredly infiltrated by many law enforcement officers. Similarly, Fate believes that a story about the killings in Santa Teresa would be “a sketch of the industrial landscape in the third world” (294), but the editor remains uninterested.

After speaking to his editor, Fate meets a reporter named Guadalupe Roncal, who is covering the killings. She reveals that she is working undercover after her predecessor was killed while investigating the murders. She offers Fate the chance to come with her to meet “the chief suspect in the killings” (298), a German-born American citizen who lives in Mexico. He has been in prison for years while his trial is planned, and the murders of women have continued. Guadalupe wants Fate to accompany her for “company and protection” (299). Fate arranges to go with her to the prison to meet the tall, thin suspect with “the face of a dreamer” (300).

Fate spends the rest of his day drinking with the other reporters. He meets Chucho, and they drive around the city. The next day, Fate wakes up late. Searching for the other reporters, he finds them at their hotel bar. The preparations for the fight begin. Fate watches the local elite arriving in their glamorous outfits. Someone is in his seat, so he wanders through the chaos until he finds Chucho Flores. Chucho is at the fight with Charly Cruz and two women. Fate already knows Rosita Méndez and, for the first time, he meets the “extremely beautiful” Rosa Amalfitano. The fight finishes quickly: The American boxer knocks out the Mexican boxer with ease. Rosita makes polite but uninteresting conversation, using Rosa as a translator. She speaks about sports, still believing that Fate must be a sports reporter. Fate quickly becomes smitten with Rosa. He accompanies the group as they visit a restaurant and several clubs. They are joined by a quiet man named Corona. Eventually, they arrive back at Charly Cruz’s house. Growing bored and perturbed by Charly’s conversation about the lost Robert Rodriguez movie, Fate searches for Rosa. He finds her in a dark room with Chucho, who claims that they are “doing some business” (317). Rosa seems high; she is doing cocaine with Chucho and Corona, who seem to be arguing. Fate invites her to leave with him. When she takes his hand, Corona steps forward aggressively. Fate punches him and knocks him down. He leaves with Rosa in a quick, anxious manner. Chucho accompanies them, though they leave him at a bus stop a short time later.

Rosa drives around with Fate for some time. In his motel room, she tells him the story about how she became involved with a drug dealer like Chucho. She is 24, she tells Fate, and has been with policemen and drug dealers. Chucho was a habitual drug user, and, over the course of the relationship, Rosa became interested in taking drugs herself as things became “stranger and stranger” (330). At the same time, her father’s behavior was becoming increasingly odd. Amalfitano did not like Chucho. She learned that Chucho was a jealous and insecure man but stayed with him because she had developed a taste for cocaine. She broke up with Chucho before the fight; she had agreed to meet up to use his cocaine but, she tells Fate, she “had no intention of going to bed with him” (338).

As Rosa falls asleep, Fate is increasingly paranoid. He is concerned that a drug dealer like Corona might now be seeking revenge. A call from the motel reception warns him that people—under the guise of being police officers—are searching for him. Fate knows that he must get out of the city. He wakes Rosa, who takes him to her house. There, Amalfitano understands what has happened. He gives his daughter money and supplies to get across the border and return to her native Barcelona. He entrusts his daughter to Fate. As they depart, Fate remembers that he agreed to meet Guadalupe. Rosa accompanies him to the interview. They enter the prison and speak to the giant German American man, Klaus Haas. Then, they cross the border into the US.