Organically Yours: Sanctuary, Book Five by Abbie Zanders (classic books for 11 year olds .TXT) 📗

the nearest farm supply store and the only one within fifty miles that sold and serviced equipment.

“Parts for what?”

“The Kubota. It’s rolling coal again.”

“Did you check the glow plugs?”

“Yep. Blown.”

“How many?”

Billy’s face was grave. “All of them.”

If Tina hadn’t suspected sabotage before, she did now. There was no way they should be blowing through glow plugs as quickly as they were. The recent string of equipment failures, order mess-ups, and crew call-ins was too much to chalk up to coincidence and bad luck. The look on Billy’s face suggested he knew it, too.

“What’s going on, Billy?” she asked quietly.

He looked down at the ground and lowered his voice. “I don’t know, boss, but it isn’t good. You need to watch your back.”

Billy’s eyes flicked toward the entrance. Out of the corner of her eye, Tina saw another guy come in. Billy’s eyes met hers, and she knew in that moment that the newcomer was part of the sabotage team.

“Go with it,” she said softly before raising her voice loud enough to be heard. “Not good enough, Billy. Get the right fertilizer and do it today. No more spraying until you do.”

“On it, boss.”

“If we ain’t spraying, what are we supposed to do?” the guy asked from behind her. Unsurprisingly, he was a good friend of Eddie’s, and judging by the hardness in his eyes, he wasn’t happy with the recent staffing change.

“While you’re waiting for Billy to get back, get rodent guards up on the new trees.”

He scowled. “Rodent guards? Should we be doing pest control?”

“We’re not spraying anything until I see what’s in the barn. If we got the wrong fertilizer, we might have gotten the wrong pesticides, too.”

Tina turned and walked back to her truck. It was only once she drove away that she allowed herself to exhale and slump down against the seat. That show she’d just put on drained what little bit of energy she had.

She went back to her cottage, rationalizing that there wasn’t anything that needed her immediate attention. She’d head over to the barn later and check out the remaining shipment of pesticides once everyone else went home for the day, but until then, she was going to grab a blanket or three and take a much-needed nap.

Chapter Twenty

Doc

Doc knew going to Tina’s was a risk, but after nearly twenty-two hours with no response to his texts or calls, it was a risk he was willing to take.

His main objective was exactly what he’d said it was—to see that she was okay. Additionally, he planned on offering to help in any way he could, whether it be giving her the soup Kate had sent along with him or running to the store. The ideal scenario, of course, was that she would allow him to help in other ways, too, but that might be expecting too much, too soon.

When he arrived at Tina’s isolated cottage, he found the place dark and quiet. No lights, no sound, and no smoke curling from the chimney, yet her truck was parked at a haphazard angle along the side. Instincts on high alert, he tried calling and texting again. In the muffled silence of the night, he heard her phone ringing from within.

Doc knocked on the door several times and called out to her but to no avail. Convinced something was horribly wrong, he was about to pick the lock when he heard a vehicle approaching.

An old classic car rumbled into view and came to an abrupt stop, narrowly missing the rear bumper of Tina’s truck. An old woman got out and menacingly pointed a cane in his direction.

“You there,” she called out to him in a surprisingly strong voice. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Doc instinctively knew he was looking at Tina’s grandmother.

“Checking on Tina, ma’am.”

She stepped closer and studied him through narrowed eyes. “You’re Tina’s Dr. Watson, aren’t you?”

Close enough. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, don’t just stand there. Open the door and put some shoulder into it. It sticks.”

She shoved a key into his hand and then barged right past him the moment the door was open, turning lights on as she went. “Is that soup you’ve got there? Good. Put it in the kitchen and get a fire started while I see what we’re dealing with.”

Doc hadn’t even considered not doing exactly what she’d said. Lottie Obermacher was a force of nature and exactly how Tina had described her.

He smiled to himself as he went down on his knee and got to work on the fire. Mr. O’Farrell had his hands full indeed.

“She’s had a rough time of it,” Lottie said when she emerged from the bedroom a short time later, “but it looks like her fever has broken. Best thing for her is rest. Let me put a kettle on, then you can tell me what your intentions are where my granddaughter is concerned.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Tina

The room was dark when Tina opened her eyes again. She glanced blearily at the ancient digital clock, groaning when she discovered that her short nap had lasted about ten hours.

The good news was, it looked as if her fever had broken. The sleeping shirt she’d hastily thrown on was soaked with sweat, and her hair was plastered to her face and neck.

Tina sat up, immediately sorry she had when the room began to spin. She took a moment and a few deep breaths, vaguely registering the sound of the television coming from the next room. She didn’t remember turning it on, but she’d been pretty out of it when she returned from the orchards.

The call of nature grew increasingly insistent, so once the room stopped moving, she got out of bed slowly and with great care. Her headache had lessened considerably, and the racking chills had abated, but she felt as weak as a pup. She leaned heavily on walls and furniture to make it to the bathroom without falling over. By the time she eased down onto the commode, she felt as if she’d run a marathon instead of walked