National City is the location of a carefully staged exchange that turns a familiar public parking lot into a meeting point for information, money, and competing claims of loyalty. The scene places Shag Wallace’s cooperation with General Augusto Rebollo’s side in concrete terms: proof changes hands, and so does a briefcase containing $300,000.

Setting and Role

The location is specified narrowly: a parking lot outside an Ames supermarket in National City. The narrative does not describe the wider city or identify a particular address; its focus is the lot as a place where Shag can wait in his Buick before a visitor arrives.

The Meeting

After leaving the office, Shag drives his five-year-old Buick to the lot and waits for twenty minutes. A Lincoln Navigator enters, circles slowly, and pulls beside him. A man gets out of the Lincoln and joins Shag in the Buick, shifting the exchange from a public parking space into the two men’s vehicles.

Money and Evidence

The visitor places a briefcase on his lap and opens it, revealing wrapped bills. He identifies the sum as $300,000 and urges Shag to accept it, presenting the payment as information passed from one police officer to another and saying that General Augusto Rebollo needs to know. Shag hesitates, then tells the man what he wants to know. When the man asks for proof, Shag takes it from his jacket pocket and hands it over; he then takes the money.

Narrative Significance

National City’s role in the episode is defined by the transaction rather than by a broader portrait of the place. The supermarket lot and the ordinary cars provide a mundane setting for an exchange that joins evidence to a large cash payment. The scene makes the arrangement tangible: Shag does not merely discuss information but delivers proof, while the other man makes the payment on behalf of Rebollo’s interest.