Then the line cut off.
Dammit.
Lyla ran up to him. “Whisper Creek is at its banks. But it looks like the water is diverting east, not west. That’s good, right?”
Partly, Jake thought. At least better than the alternative. The bulk of their pastures were west of the creek. But if it flooded to the east, they’d lose the sunflowers and half the wine grapes, not to mention, depending on the severity, Baldwin’s property could flood.
Not your concern, Jake thought. It was Verdacorp’s concern now.
But he thought about Greg’s horses. He still had the ten-acre parcel with his house and horses, and there was no one there to make sure the horses were safe.
He hadn’t heard from the sheriff if Greg’s caretaker was there. Mateo took care of feeding and watering the horses this morning, but the storm had to be agitating them.
Jake looked back down the road, willing Bobby to drive up. He could have gotten the ATV stuck again—how many times had Jake had to pull Bobby out of a jam?
“Jake, what’s wrong?” Lyla asked.
“Just worried about Bobby. Mom is on her way back and will stop at the Mendozas.”
Lyla frowned. “She needs to get home fast. The creek is going to flood the road. She won’t be able to get through.”
“Mom knows.” He put his arm over Lyla’s shoulders and squeezed. He didn’t want her to worry. He had enough worry for both of them.
Penny called out, “Jake! Ryan’s on the phone.”
“Avery’s not here,” he said, irritated.
“He asked for you.”
Jake didn’t want to talk to Ryan. They were friends, sure, but ever since Ryan started dating Avery at the beginning of the school year, things were just weird.
He went inside the house. “Ryan? It’s Jake. I’m in the middle of—”
“Bobby called me over the radio, over the channel Avery and I use. He said that Avery is in trouble at the Mendozas’ house, that there’s something going on there, that a stranger is in the house and has a gun. Bobby is trapped in the old equipment shed on the other side of your creek.”
“You talked to Bobby?” Had Jake not heard the radio? He didn’t always have it on him when he was at home, but Lyla would have heard it in the barn.
“I don’t know why he didn’t reach out on your family channel,” Ryan said. “Except that maybe if he’s right, and there’s someone with a gun at the Mendozas, he has Avery’s radio. I’m on my way now, I told Bobby to stay put. I can help you get to him.”
“Where are you?” Jake asked.
“Just coming up to the Sorenson Ranch. Visibility is crap.”
“It’ll take you at least another ten minutes to get here, probably longer. Our road is partly flooded, and Whisper Creek is about to breach to the east.”
“That’s where the equipment shed is,” Ryan said.
“I’ll get Bobby.”
“I can—”
“Do you have your radio?”
“Channel nine.”
“Okay, let me know when you turn onto Orchard, and I’ll let you know if we need help, otherwise I’ll see you at the house.”
“What about Avery?”
