Read Online The Territory: A Novel by Tricia Fields - Free Book Online
Authors: Tricia Fields
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to Red Goff. The guns ranged from a $250 handgun to a $4,000 Colt M4 Commando and a $5,000 shotgun from the former USSR. Each gun on the list included the owner, purchase price, date of purchase, and a serial number. It was a big break. At least they had something to work with in tracking down the guns. At first glance, she figured the collection was worth at least $175,000. Red was a forklift operator at a small manufacturing plant on the outskirts of town. His pay was probably worse than hers, so how could he afford bulletproof glass and the guns to accompany it?
A final section in the notebook was separated from the rest by a red sheet of paper with the words FRIEND OR FOE handwritten in block capital letters. A skull and crossbones had been drawn with a black marker under the title. Following were two pages labeled “Foe,” with forty-seven names written in differing handwriting. Number fourteen was her name. Sheriff Martínez was nineteen. She quickly identified two other state law enforcement officers on the list and then scanned the rest. She recognized at least half the names. Most were either affiliated with government or were well-known local liberals. Josie wondered what Bloster’s motivation was with the Gunners. It wasn’t unusual to collect guns; it was unusual, however, to view the people who were elected and hired to protect you as the enemy. Hack Bloster’s own boss was on the short list.
The last sheet in the book had the word “Friends” written across the top. She felt like she was in grade school again. Eighteen names, including Fallow’s and Bloster’s, were listed. She and Otto would begin interviews that afternoon.
Josie’s phone buzzed and she picked it up.
“Sauly Magson called,” Lou said. “Says he’s found a dead cow in the Rio. Says it’s hung up in a logjam outside his house.”
“Tell him to call Parks and Wildlife.”
“He claims its belly is packed full of cocaine.”
* * *
In 1976, Macon Drench purchased Artemis, Texas, the first of three ghost towns at the end of Farm Road 170 along the Rio Grande, for ten thousand dollars. Drench was an oil baron from Houston, disillusioned with the money and excesses in the city, and in search of a place to live connected to the land. He spent twenty million dollars of his own fortune and installed sewage and water lines, bartered with the phone and electric companies to stretch lines to a town that barely existed, outfitted a police department, built one pole barn to house the first grocery store, and another to serve as the town bank. Working with a city planner from Houston, he designed a central square and laid the downtown area in a grid with main streets leading strategically to major geological formations: the Chinati Mountains north of town and the Rio Grande and Mexico a direct route south. River Road, running parallel to the Rio Grande, was the only marked road that led directly into Artemis, and that was the appeal for Drench and most of the residents.
By 1985, Artemis had more than 1,500 residents. Drench invited family and friends to settle the area, promising nothing but a new experience. Word spread and a unique group of adventurers turned land most thought uninhabitable into a thriving community. Judicious use of water and organized supply runs had made the town a home for people running away from, or running to a new, life.
Sauly Magson was one of the original founders of Artemis. He was a scrawny bald man who typically wore a blue bandanna tied around his neck, a pair of grimy jean shorts, and nothing else. Most of the businesses in town ignored the No shirt, no shoes, no service rule with Sauly. When he had to wear shoes, he wore a pair of leather thongs that provided no more protection than the soles of his own feet. Sauly liked the psychedelics and spent much of his time in a state of wonder at the world around him, but he was as kindhearted as anyone Josie had ever met.
Sauly grew up in northern
A final section in the notebook was separated from the rest by a red sheet of paper with the words FRIEND OR FOE handwritten in block capital letters. A skull and crossbones had been drawn with a black marker under the title. Following were two pages labeled “Foe,” with forty-seven names written in differing handwriting. Number fourteen was her name. Sheriff Martínez was nineteen. She quickly identified two other state law enforcement officers on the list and then scanned the rest. She recognized at least half the names. Most were either affiliated with government or were well-known local liberals. Josie wondered what Bloster’s motivation was with the Gunners. It wasn’t unusual to collect guns; it was unusual, however, to view the people who were elected and hired to protect you as the enemy. Hack Bloster’s own boss was on the short list.
The last sheet in the book had the word “Friends” written across the top. She felt like she was in grade school again. Eighteen names, including Fallow’s and Bloster’s, were listed. She and Otto would begin interviews that afternoon.
Josie’s phone buzzed and she picked it up.
“Sauly Magson called,” Lou said. “Says he’s found a dead cow in the Rio. Says it’s hung up in a logjam outside his house.”
“Tell him to call Parks and Wildlife.”
“He claims its belly is packed full of cocaine.”
* * *
In 1976, Macon Drench purchased Artemis, Texas, the first of three ghost towns at the end of Farm Road 170 along the Rio Grande, for ten thousand dollars. Drench was an oil baron from Houston, disillusioned with the money and excesses in the city, and in search of a place to live connected to the land. He spent twenty million dollars of his own fortune and installed sewage and water lines, bartered with the phone and electric companies to stretch lines to a town that barely existed, outfitted a police department, built one pole barn to house the first grocery store, and another to serve as the town bank. Working with a city planner from Houston, he designed a central square and laid the downtown area in a grid with main streets leading strategically to major geological formations: the Chinati Mountains north of town and the Rio Grande and Mexico a direct route south. River Road, running parallel to the Rio Grande, was the only marked road that led directly into Artemis, and that was the appeal for Drench and most of the residents.
By 1985, Artemis had more than 1,500 residents. Drench invited family and friends to settle the area, promising nothing but a new experience. Word spread and a unique group of adventurers turned land most thought uninhabitable into a thriving community. Judicious use of water and organized supply runs had made the town a home for people running away from, or running to a new, life.
Sauly Magson was one of the original founders of Artemis. He was a scrawny bald man who typically wore a blue bandanna tied around his neck, a pair of grimy jean shorts, and nothing else. Most of the businesses in town ignored the No shirt, no shoes, no service rule with Sauly. When he had to wear shoes, he wore a pair of leather thongs that provided no more protection than the soles of his own feet. Sauly liked the psychedelics and spent much of his time in a state of wonder at the world around him, but he was as kindhearted as anyone Josie had ever met.
Sauly grew up in northern
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