Chapters (110)
- Cover
- ALSO BY J. TODD SCOTT
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- PROLOGUE
- I
- II
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- PART TWO
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- PART THREE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- PART FOUR
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EIGHTY-TWO
- EIGHTY-THREE
- EIGHTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
- VI
- VII
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Excerpt from LOST RIVER
- LITTLE PARIS
- DILLON
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
Fox Uno started to walk again, turning his back to the bookstore. “I need only a few days. Men will come, with money, new documents. Important things I had to leave behind in my haste, now that I cannot return to México. I will make a call every day until they are here. That call will keep her madre, mi hermana, hidden and safe, because as long as I live, men must still fear me. They must obey me. But if I cannot make this call, if I disappear . . .” Fox Uno didn’t finish the thought, and didn’t have to. “When Zita and I are gone, you will never see us again.”
“As long as you’re alive, that means others might come for you, too. Someone will be hunting you, right?” Chris asked.
Before Fox Uno could answer, Amé finally spoke up. “The girl, Zita, too? She will leave with you?”
“Por supuesto, ella es mi hija.” Fox Uno smiled at Amé. “You can come with us, if you wish.”
Amé nodded. “Then let me take you wherever you need to go, both of you. Tell your men I will bring you to them,” she said. “No one has to come here.”
“Not happening, ever,” Chris said, crossing in front of Fox Uno and putting a hand on the old man’s chest, stopping him, feeling his heartbeat. It was slow and steady, unconcerned. Human. Chris used to think Sheriff Ross didn’t have a heartbeat at all. “I’m not letting her do that. If you try to leave the Big Bend with her, I’ll have marked units parked at every highway, farm road, and cattle path. Everyone I know with a badge and a gun for three states.” Chris stared Fox Uno down. “There have to be other people here who can help you, hide you. Someone else who can give you whatever the hell you need. You’ve never had any trouble conducting business on this side of the border before.”
“Esto es verdad. But this is not, as you say, before. This is now. No sé en quién confiar, sin duda usted entiende.” I do not know whom to trust. You certainly understand that.
“I do . . . yet you’ve somehow decided you can trust us. Me and Amé?” Chris said it all in Spanish. It wasn’t perfect, but it was close enough.
Fox Uno smiled again. “I thought you might know the language. You are very clever, Señor Cherry. Pero no, I trust only her.” He pointed at Amé. “She has never failed me.”
When Fox Uno said that, Amé’s eyes flashed with anger. Chris wasn’t sure what the old man meant, but he didn’t like the sound of it, and neither did she.
“Don’t suggest I’ve ever helped you,” she said in Spanish, spitting the words at his feet.