Free Silent Protector by Barbara Phinney

reached for the telephone on his desk. “Hello?”
    He listened closely, grabbing a pen and paper. He scribbled down something and then turned to the computer.
    When he’d hung up, he looked up at her. “The tropical storm that’s east of the Yucatan is increasing in strength. They expect it to become a hurricane by tonight. And it’s supposed to move eastward.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “Everything to us. Evacuations, preparations for that.” He ran his fingers through his hair. Hadn’t George warned him last night about having too much responsibility?
    Yes, one more reason to leave. “May I borrow your phone? I’d like to order another car.”
    “They won’t deliver one until after the storm.”
    “Let them tell me that.”
    Liz slipped in behind the desk. A few minutes later, the rental agency said they couldn’t deliver another car until after the storm. Ian was right and had allowed her to discover that for herself. She needed to trust him more.
    And no sooner had she set down the phone did it ring again.
    Ian answered it, and after hanging up, he said, “That was the tow truck. He’s almost to the causeway.” He glanced over at Charlie.
    Liz read his thoughts. “I’ll take Charlie back to the Wilsons’ house, and then we’ll go.” She stood and took the boy’s hand. “We’ll talk about leaving later. We may even be able to get a ride with the tow truck driver.”
    Before he could contradict her, she and Charlie walked out of his office.
    Ten minutes later, she met Ian in front of the rec center.
    “The driver is at the causeway, waiting for us,” he said tersely. “He called after I’d finished telling my supervisor about Monica.”
    And my desire to leave, Liz thought.
    They hurried down to the causeway in time to see the driver’s assistant standing on the rocks, hook in hand, looking grimly down at the water. He wore a wet suit but no goggles. His face was flushed and sweating in the heat of the morning.
    After speaking to the driver who stood near the bumper, the younger man waded into the water. He dipped down under the water and resurfaced a moment later without the hook.
    Liz watched, held her breath without knowing why and all the while berated herself for the unsettling feeling. It wasn’t as if there was a body slopping about in there. Though it felt like that.
    Yuck. She’d watched too many crime shows on TV.
    At the front bumper, the driver picked up the winch control and took up the slack. With sickening groans of suction and scraping, the rental car slowly emerged, hood first. The driver parked it on the rocks to drain it.
    Ian walked around the back of the truck, and Liz followed. When they reached the far side, Liz stopped and gasped.
    The whole side of her car was scraped. Long blue streaks started from the mirror, which was now dangling, all the way to the rear bumper. Her rental was red. The blue stood out starkly.
    Crossing her arms, she shivered, despite the heat of another sweltering day. The driver told them he was going to turn around and back in to hoist the car up and over the remaining rocks, before he towed it away. To the police station, he added after pointing to the scrapes on the side.
    “But first, I’ll drain it all completely. And check for snakes,” he added.
    “Snakes?” Liz echoed.
    “Yup. Got them old water moccasins here and they can be nasty. That’s why my guy’s wearing that suit. He doesn’t like to get bit, and those snakes are mean. We’ll drain the car and see if any of them hitched a ride.”
    Liz shot a shocked look at Ian. “You have poisonous snakes here?”
    “Relax. We have traps all over the place. Under the rec center are at least four of them.”
    “Traps? How good are they?”
    “They work. But don’t forget, water moccasins like to live in water, hence their name.”
    “Not all the time,” the guy in the wet suit called over his shoulder.
    Liz blinked at Ian as he led them out of the other men’s earshot.