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“Nope,” Jodie agreed.

Harold came back a few minutes later. “They found the problem. They’re working on it now.”

Willow folded her arms. “How long?”

“Forty-five minutes. Maybe an hour.”

Willow held up her phone. “It’s eighty-five degrees.”

Harold nodded. “I know.”

“And climbing.”

“I know that too, Willow.” Annoyance crept into his voice.

“Then tell them to call it.”

“It’s not up to me. They’re not at the temperature cutoff.”

“That doesn’t mean they should run horses in this.” Willow swept her hand toward the open country beyond Hank’s pasture. “Half the water sources are dry. Those horses are already stressed before you put a helicopter behind them. There will be deaths, Harold.”

Jodie stepped closer before Willow could build enough momentum to launch herself across the table.

“And we have foals out there,” Jodie said. “Older horses⁠—”

“I know, Jodie.”

“—animals we’ve already flagged for body-condition concerns. Ninety-five might be the upper limit, but that doesn’t mean ninety-four is automatically safe.”

Harold sighed. “Conditions matter. I know. Dana knows. The contractor knows. Nobody’s trying to cook a horse out there.”

“Really? Well, you coulda fooled me.”

By ten, the temperature was eighty-seven.

The shade canopy helped, though the air beneath it felt barely cooler. Smoke dulled the sky to a pale blue-white, and the breeze that had moved through camp earlier had disappeared.

Jodie was worried about the horses, but that wasn’t all. She glanced toward Mac. He was sitting in the shade now, talking quietly with Hank. The electrolyte bottle beside his boot was empty.

Good.

At ten-forty-two, Harold’s phone rang again. He answered, listened, and closed his eyes for a second.

Willow was already standing. “Well?”

“They’ve got the helicopter cleared.”

Nobody cheered.

Jodie checked her phone.

Eighty-nine degrees.

“Shit.” She turned her phone so the screen faced Harold. “Please call it off.”

“Jodie—”

A second government SUV turned through Hank’s gate just then and pulled up to them. Dana got out, took one look at the group gathered around the tables, and shook her head.