BooksBarbecue
Back This Side of Night
Chapters (110)
  1. Cover
  2. ALSO BY J. TODD SCOTT
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. I
  7. II
  8. PART ONE
  9. ONE
  10. TWO
  11. THREE
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. SEVEN
  16. EIGHT
  17. NINE
  18. TEN
  19. ELEVEN
  20. TWELVE
  21. PART TWO
  22. THIRTEEN
  23. FOURTEEN
  24. FIFTEEN
  25. SIXTEEN
  26. SEVENTEEN
  27. EIGHTEEN
  28. NINETEEN
  29. TWENTY
  30. TWENTY-ONE
  31. TWENTY-TWO
  32. TWENTY-THREE
  33. TWENTY-FOUR
  34. TWENTY-FIVE
  35. TWENTY-SIX
  36. TWENTY-SEVEN
  37. TWENTY-EIGHT
  38. TWENTY-NINE
  39. THIRTY
  40. THIRTY-ONE
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. THIRTY-FIVE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. PART THREE
  50. FORTY
  51. FORTY-ONE
  52. FORTY-TWO
  53. FORTY-THREE
  54. FORTY-FOUR
  55. FORTY-FIVE
  56. FORTY-SIX
  57. FORTY-SEVEN
  58. FORTY-EIGHT
  59. FORTY-NINE
  60. FIFTY
  61. FIFTY-ONE
  62. FIFTY-TWO
  63. FIFTY-THREE
  64. FIFTY-FOUR
  65. FIFTY-FIVE
  66. FIFTY-SIX
  67. FIFTY-SEVEN
  68. FIFTY-EIGHT
  69. FIFTY-NINE
  70. SIXTY
  71. SIXTY-ONE
  72. PART FOUR
  73. SIXTY-TWO
  74. SIXTY-THREE
  75. SIXTY-FOUR
  76. SIXTY-FIVE
  77. SIXTY-SIX
  78. SIXTY-SEVEN
  79. SIXTY-EIGHT
  80. SIXTY-NINE
  81. SEVENTY
  82. SEVENTY-ONE
  83. SEVENTY-TWO
  84. SEVENTY-THREE
  85. SEVENTY-FOUR
  86. SEVENTY-FIVE
  87. SEVENTY-SIX
  88. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  89. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  90. SEVENTY-NINE
  91. EIGHTY
  92. EIGHTY-ONE
  93. EIGHTY-TWO
  94. EIGHTY-THREE
  95. EIGHTY-FOUR
  96. EPILOGUE
  97. I
  98. II
  99. III
  100. IV
  101. V
  102. VI
  103. VII
  104. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  105. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  106. Excerpt from LOST RIVER
  107. LITTLE PARIS
  108. DILLON
  109. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  110. What’s next onyour reading list?

There was no blood on him, not yet, because Juan Abrego had given the order he would not be harmed. And there was a bottle of water that his men had been giving him mouthfuls of as a small mercy, next to his shoeless, bruised feet, and another filled with sour goat’s milk and cayenne pepper for Juan Abrego to spray up the man’s nose, if he chose to do so. There was also a bag of pepper in a small bowl ready to push directly into the man’s face as well, to force him to breathe in deep, like inhaling raw flame. The barn was brutally hot from the burning barrel and the man had sweated twice through his shirt. It clung to him, revealing a thin body, the very count of his ribs. He had been brought here in a hood, but that had long been tossed aside in the hay, which should have terrified the man as much as anything; a fresh understanding that it did not matter what he saw at this ranch, even if it mattered very, very much what he said here.

Then there were all the other items Juan Abrego had ordered to be made ready: more copper wire, two machetes, a bag of broken lightbulbs and glass, a hammer and nails, and a brand-new set of medical implements. Scalpels and saws and specula of all sizes and shapes reflecting the men standing in the shadows. All these things had been carefully, specifically, laid out on a horse blanket in front of the man, and his eyes roamed wildly over them.

There was a real doctor sitting in a car outside the barn, driven in from Ciudad Jiménez wearing a hood of his own, with a bottle of Juan Abrego’s favorite Tres Quatro Cinco and two freshly cut limes, grown right here at the ranch, on a tray in the passenger seat to help steady him. He’d been brought here not to use the new medical instruments, but to keep the man in the barn alive as long as necessary.

Juan Abrego knew terror intimately, knew the very curves and contours of it as well as he knew those of any woman he’d ever had, so he stood in front of the bound man for a long minute, watching him. Watching him breathe faster and faster and then piss himself as the terror took hold. He let it embrace this man, when Gualterio appeared at his side.