The Territory A Novel - By Tricia Fields Page 0,69

and the sheriff sent two of them to the Arroyo County Jail with a sheriff’s deputy. She asked an EMT driver to get the man who’d been shot stabilized but to stay on-site and prepare the Trauma Center team. It was too soon to leave with the county’s only ambulance.

After things quieted down, Josie pulled Marta into her squad car and shut the doors. Marta filled her in on the details, her voice still unsteady from the stress of the night. Josie sat in the driver’s seat listening.

“How do we deal with this? How can one small town fight an army equipped with this kind of firepower?” Marta finally asked.

“The sheriff and I called several ranchers along the border and asked them to be on alert tonight. We talked to six families, all living within a half mile of the river.”

Marta looked surprised. “They aren’t trained for this kind of fight.”

Josie pointed to the row of police cars, lights, and the similar row of cars facing them from across the river. “We’re beyond training. We’re just trying to hold the line. I’ve already called Moss and told him we’ve got to get National Guard presence immediately. He doesn’t want to admit we can’t handle this on our own, but surely he realized it tonight.”

At five o’clock in the morning, the situation resolved itself when the Mexican contingent pulled back and left the explosives and trailer, apparently resolved to the fact that there was no chance of crossing into the U.S. in front of, by that point, eight police cars from five different police agencies and a helicopter guarding the trailer of explosives. By 5:30 A.M., officers from ATF were dismantling the truck, inventorying, and removing everything inside. Crime scene technicians from the Department of Public Safety were going over the area, and after preliminary paperwork was started, local law enforcement was dismissed. Marta drove home to her daughter, prayers answered yet again.

* * *

An hour later, Josie pulled onto Tower Road and saw Dillon’s car parked in her driveway. He met her at the front door and pulled her into his chest when she walked inside.

She pulled back slightly and saw the exhaustion in his face. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on hers. “Josie. I’ve been worried sick about you. Artemis has been all over the local news.”

“Have you been up all night?” she asked. Invariably it caught her by surprise to find someone emotionally affected by her well-being. She wasn’t sure if she should apologize for being an inconvenience.

“I couldn’t sleep last night, so I got up and turned the radio on. The DJ was talking about the standoff in Artemis along the river. I called your house and then gave up and came over here to wait on you.”

“Guess I should have called to check in.”

“You had bigger worries. I’m not mad. I’m just glad to see you. Are you upset I came over?”

“No, of course not. I’m just exhausted. Let me take a shower and we can talk.” She kissed him on the cheek and left him sitting on the couch in the living room. He looked as tired as she felt.

Standing in the shower, she let the hot water beat against her back and replayed the conversation with Dillon in her head. Second-guessing her actions and wondering if she had said or done the wrong thing; the frustrations she had wrestled with throughout their last involvement were coming back to her. Her body ached and eyes stung and she wanted nothing more than to slip between the sheets and give in to sleep. She did not want to worry about another human being’s feelings.

She slipped on a light nightshirt, pulled her hair into a ponytail, and found Dillon standing at her bedroom window, tucking a comforter over the curtain rod. Although it was daylight, close to eight in the morning, the room was the color of dusk.

He pointed to the bed, his expression kind. “Take your nightshirt off, climb in, and lie on your stomach.”

Dillon turned from her and she pulled her nightshirt over her head, pushed the cover and pillows away, then pulled the sheet over her bottom and lay flat on her stomach, her arms to her side. She closed her eyes and felt Dillon’s weight settle onto the bed, his knees straddling her hips. She listened to his hands rub together and knew he was warming lotion between his palms, a treat she’d missed since he’d