“Because I said so.”
“Where’s my brother?”
Rena shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care. We’re leaving. Just in case your brother was able to find someone out there.”
Her lip quivered and Rena tried not to care. She tried not to think about what might happen to a ten-year-old boy in the middle of this storm.
“Get. Up,” she repeated and showed the girl her gun.
She complied.
Rena took Avery to the truck and told her to climb into the driver’s seat. Then she climbed into the passenger seat, cut off the zip ties on her wrists. The girl had rubbed her skin raw.
“Put your hands on the steering wheel. Both of them.”
She did.
Rena took out fresh zip ties and tied first one hand to the steering wheel, then the other. “You’re driving.”
“I don’t have my license.”
“I don’t care. I’ve been driving since I was fourteen, my guess is so have you.”
Rena pulled the gear and put it in reverse. “Now, go. Or I swear, I’ll shoot you in the head and toss your body into the ditch.”
Her voice was serious, and as Rena watched Avery, she knew the girl believed her. She could see it in her eyes, the way they darted around, looking for escape. The resignation. The fear-filled hate.
Rena had never killed anyone before in her life.
But there was a first time for everything.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Ryan! Your radio is squawking!”
Ryan had just gotten in from school when his mother yelled at him about his radio. He wished he hadn’t even gone, most of his friends hadn’t gone because of the storm, but because he lived in town he didn’t have an excuse to skip.
“Thanks, Mom.”
He ran up the stairs to his room and hoped it was Avery. He worried about their farm because Avery and her family were concerned, especially after the hail damaged their vineyard. He’d wanted to help them, but his dad said no. After all his lectures about being a good neighbor and helping people, he wouldn’t let Ryan miss school to help the McKennas.
“… please answer. Over.”
It wasn’t Avery, but the voice sounded familiar.
He grabbed his radio off the charger and depressed the talk button. “Who’s this? Over.”
Silence, then in a rush, “Ryan, is that you? This is Bobby McKenna and we’re in trouble and I can’t call home and I need you to call my mom and get help.”
He didn’t say over, but Ryan heard the click telling him that Bobby was waiting for a response.
“Bobby, it’s Ryan. What happened? Talk slow, you’re crackling. Over.”
“Avery is in trouble. She’s at… There are bad people… a gun. I lost my boots and am hiding in the old equipment shed near… Mendozas’ house. Call your dad and… be careful because they have a gun. Over.”
Ryan’s head was spinning. “Bobby, I only caught part of what you said. Avery is in trouble? Where, is she? Over.”
“The Mendozas. She and Gianna and Gianna’s family. There are bad people… Avery is tied up. Call your dad! Over.”
