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?

“She is gone, with Zita.” If Fox Uno knew more than that, he wasn’t inclined to say it.

Danny unholstered his Colt and put it on the table in front of him, between them. “Good, it’s finally just you and me. I’ve wanted to have this talk since you showed up.” He pointed at the phones lined up on the table. “Tell me, who do you really call on those things?”

Fox Uno sat back, ignoring the gun between them, regarding Danny with cool eyes. Danny first thought the old man was going to get up and walk away, but he didn’t. Instead: “It does not matter to you, but I speak to very old friends. Still loyal, or so I believe.”

“Loyal, like a dog? You tell them to bark, they bark? Bite, they bite?”

Fox Uno smiled without teeth. “Not so different than you, I think.”

Danny picked up one of the phones, it didn’t matter to him which one, and turned it over and over in his hand. It was the Blackphone. It was still warm from where Fox Uno had been holding it. “Everyone thinks dogs are naturally loyal, but I’m not so sure. There was a private I knew in the army, named Newberry. He grew up in Georgia and had himself a shepherd mutt he called Norris, short for Chuck Norris.” Danny could tell by Fox Uno’s stony expression that he didn’t get the reference, but he pushed forward. “Even as a puppy, Norris the dog didn’t want or need a master. True to his name, he was tough, the real alpha male. Didn’t like to be leashed or crated. Newberry loved that mutt, treated it as well as he could, but as he got bigger, he got tougher to control. Baring his teeth at everyone, chasing neighbor kids around. Newberry got married real young, had a baby, and that damn dog would stalk the newborn. Newberry would find it lurking by the crib, guess he didn’t like the competition. Sometimes Newberry woke up with Norris in his room at night, growling over him. Newberry was more loyal to that dog than it ever was to him.”

Fox Uno allowed a thin smile. “What happened to the perro?”