Silent Protector

“You need him?” She tightened her lips before speaking again. “What about his needs? Hasn’t he suffered enough without being dragged from everything he’s known to live with strangers? He needs to feel safe, not scared.”

Ian held her gaze. “If Charlie testifies against his father’s killer, he can bring down that man—a man who could destroy many lives—more than you know.”

Liz went cold, despite the lapse in the breeze that had offered relief. So that was it. They stole Charlie, hoping her nephew would give a statement that they could use in court, without caring about his emotional well-being.

“So as long as you get your killer—that’s all you care about?”

Sighing, he shook his head, then looked into her eyes. “That’s not true.”

BARBARA PHINNEY

was born in England and raised in Canada. She has traveled throughout her life, loving to explore the various countries and cultures of the world. After she retired from the Canadian Armed Forces, Barbara turned her hand to romance writing. The thrill of adventure and the love of happy endings, coupled with a too-active imagination, have merged to help her create this and other wonderful stories. Barbara spends her days writing, building her dream home with her husband and enjoying their fast-growing children.

Silent Protector

Barbara Phinney

Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as

a little child, he shall not enter therein.

—Mark 10:15

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

LETTER TO READER

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

ONE

Someone was trying to run her off the road!

Liz Tate gripped the rental car’s steering wheel tightly, her heart pounding in her ears as she struggled to keep the car straight.

And not careening off the edge of the newly built causeway and into the deep water to her right.

Please, Lord, help me!

The SUV beside her, some dark blue thing she didn’t dare get a good look at, scraped up against her driver’s side once more. A painful sound grated through her senses. The sickening shove bumped her closer to the loose gravel and rocky edge.

She swerved back, slamming on the brakes to help control her car. The tires bit into the gravel then spun and slipped farther. The other vehicle backed off.

She was losing control of the car! With a wild glance over her shoulder, she yanked the vehicle back onto the road again.

Filled with dust and gravel, her brakes squealed in protest. She fishtailed uncontrollably.

Close to the end of the causeway, the SUV beside her rammed her side again. The force knocked her against the driver’s door.

Liz felt her rental spin and lurch over the gravel, catch and bump on the jagged rocks that lined the water’s edge and saw nothing but slushy, dark water ahead.

She’d come down here to Florida to find her nephew Charlie, following a set of circumstances almost too fearful and incredible to believe. And now, as the hood of her rental splashed into the murky water, as that water surged over her windshield, she knew that she’d never see Charlie again.

Keep him safe, Father God. Because I’ve failed him again.

“Are you thirsty, son? Do you need a cold drink? Something to eat?”

But Charlie Troop sat mutely across the cluttered office from Ian MacNeal, his young eyes downcast, just as he’d been for the entire flight down here from Bangor. The child hadn’t said a word to him. Not a single word. This was the boy’s second full day here and still nothing. He refused to speak.

Even when the boy’s hair had been shorn off yesterday, that matted, dirty mess of dark curls and knots that perpetually fell into the boy’s eyes, he’d said nothing. It was too hot to bear here, Ian figured, but that wasn’t the whole reason for the cut. After Charlie’s hair had been trimmed down to a longish crew cut, Ian had bleached the remaining length a dark blond. He had then given the boy a pair of glasses to wear.

Charlie had studied his new look in the mirror. But after that, his gaze fell to his feet again.

It cut Ian to the core to change the boy’s appearance, but his safety was too important. He needed his look altered.

Ian had tried several times to initiate a conversation with the ten-year-old, but Charlie would drop his gaze and bite his lip. And remain completely silent.

Even Ian’s new assistant, Monica, a young woman whose own parents died suddenly a few years ago, tried to reach him, but Charlie stalwartly refused to speak to anyone.

Patience, Ian told himself. The psychologist who’d assessed the boy said he’d been traumatized by what he’d seen. With patience, trust and time, the child would talk. Just don’t push him or he’d slip further into his mute shell, the specialist had advised.

Looking across from him this hot July day, Ian sighed. Even when he’d been a U.S. Marshal full time, long before he’d given up that life for the no-less-busy one of a pastor, he’d never had to deal with someone who so completely refused to communicate with him.

Only recalling his own turbulent youth, the gypsy lifestyle forced on him by a long line of uncaring relatives who were too busy to bother with an orphan, was he able to anticipate Charlie’s basic needs. That and the wealth of experience that his neighbors, Elsie and George Wilson, could offer.

The older couple was an invaluable help. George, himself, had been a U.S. Marshal back in the day. In fact, he’d met Elsie there when she’d been hired on as part of the administrative staff. It was Elsie who had first told Ian about the need for a pastor on Spring Island, and he was happy to be working near his old friends. Especially now. Even though the Wilsons weren’t officially on Charlie’s protective detail, the marshals had agreed to let the boy stay in their home. Their trailer was right next to Ian’s house, and they were all hoping Elsie’s grandmotherly ways would have a positive effect on the frightened child.

Ian removed his cell phone pouch on his belt and dropped it on the desk, realizing only then that the phone inside was missing. For how long? He’d used it shortly after he’d brought Charlie here, but he was sure he’d put it back into the pouch when he was done.

Searching his desk caused several files to flutter to the tile floor. “It’s nice and cool in here, isn’t it?” he asked Charlie conversationally as he stooped to pick them up. He turned to set them on top of the filing cabinet. “Remember, I told you that this building has the only decent air conditioner in the whole village. So we’ll stay in here as long as you like, okay, son? It’s hotter than Bangor, isn’t it?”

Again, silence. Ian looked over his shoulder at the small ten-year-old. He wanted to engage the child in conversation. Talk about the island here, about Florida and Moss Point and how the village came to be. But he knew he shouldn’t name specific places. The less the child knew of his whereabouts, the safer he was. “But Elsie has a good fan. It really blows around the gulf air, and that’s cool. Well, it’s supposed to be cooler, I think.”

Charlie made no comment.

After learning he was to be reinstated with the U.S. Marshal Service, thanks to a clause in his retirement agreement, Ian had read Charlie’s case file and knew right then he had to take the child into protective custody.

Funny how he’d never expected to be reinstated after he’d retired to become a pastor. He’d seen all the legal mumbo jumbo added after 9/11, the revised nondisclosure agreements, the reinstatement clauses. But it didn’t hit home until he met Charlie and was asked to return. And knew he was truly a marshal again for this very reason.

His services were needed. Charlie Troop needed a place safe enough to give his statement. The man he had seen murder his father was so dangerous that not convicting him could destroy any chances of a normal, safe life for the boy. Without a statement, the police wouldn’t be able to prosecute Jerry’s killer and hopefully bring down others high in the drug cartel for which Jerry had begun to work.

Ian stood and moved to his filing cabinet. He had a ton of other work to file away, things he’d ignored for the last month as he’d been preparing for Vacation Bible School and finishing off new programs, work he had been planning on doing before the reinstatement. The rec center here had become multifunctional, with a fully stocked clinic in back, his office up front and church in the main hall. Ian picked up a file, intent on starting some of the filing. Monica had the week off now that Vacation Bible School was over with.

But he stopped when he caught sight of Charlie. The hollow expression he cast Ian’s way cut through him.

The boy was hurting—missing his father as only a boy could. Despite the fact that Jerry Troop was a known drug dealer, the man had been Charlie’s father. And Charlie missed him.

“I know how you feel, son. I still miss my dad, and he died a long time ago.”

Charlie blinked rapidly then bit his lips and frowned, as if fighting the urge to speak.

“Do you need to say something, son?” he gently asked the boy.

As expected, the boy didn’t answer. But this time, he’d met Ian’s eyes in silent but crystal clear communication. I want to go home.

Ian tightened his jaw against the compassion lancing through him. Being a pastor sometimes meant giving bad news but to tell the boy he had no home to go to, well, that really hurt.

Instead, all Ian could do was watch him. Just tell me what you saw when your father died. Tell me, son, so I can stop that bad man.

Ian had already tried that line several times on the plane coming down here but to no avail. The child was too traumatized to discuss it. He was still in shock, still trying to push aside the painful emotions until he could cope with them.

Again, Ian hated his inability to get the boy to talk. He’d been trained to deal with frightened children, and his failure here irritated him. His supervisor was expecting results, and Ian hated that he had none to offer him.

Ian searched his messy desk for his cell phone. He’d shown Charlie a picture of William Smith, the one he had on his cell. Their only suspect. But the boy had remained mute. Maybe this afternoon would be different.

Ian needed him to talk, because their only suspect wasn’t the kind to allow any witnesses to live.

Abruptly, the front door banged open, the sound vibrating through the quiet building. Monica threw open his office door.

“Pastor Ian! You have to come quickly! There’s been an accident. A car drove right over the causeway and into the water. Whoever’s in it will drown!”

“Call 911!” Ian took flight. In one swift motion, he grabbed his hat and his handgun, as was his first reaction, then he grabbed Charlie. He wasn’t about to leave the boy alone.

It was exactly as Monica had said, Ian noted as he hurried down the road, Charlie in tow. She’d said she was out for a walk and had heard the crash. A quarter mile stretch through the forest broke free at Spring Island’s side of the sun-bleached, half-built causeway. It wasn’t ready for public traffic, yet. But Ian could see that someone had moved the large barriers. The ferry sign still stood, though the ferry was gone. The causeway was still gravel atop larger boulders that made up the foundation.

Now in the bright sun, Ian tugged down the brim of his hat. He scanned the edges of the causeway, finding what he expected on the north side. A small car bobbed in the water. Bubbles danced all around it, and it was slowly sinking.

A woman was slumped over the steering wheel.

“Stay here, Charlie. In the shade.” Ian pointed to the edge of the forest nearest the sign. Then he raced along the center of the causeway and down over the other side.

At that moment, the front end of the car dipped into the murky water, and its driver lifted her head. Ian could see water filling the interior. The woman turned to the door window, panic exploding on her face in one swift swell of fear as she slapped her palms against the glass.

“Roll down the window!” he called to her.

Ian leaped into the water, reaching the car door after one hard stroke of his arms and a push off the rocks. He caught the woman’s attention. She was panicking, unable to free herself with her fevered movements.

Ian tried the door. It was locked.

“Unlock the door! Pull up on the knob!” he yelled at her.

She obeyed quickly. Working against gravity and time, Ian tugged open the door and jammed his body against it to block it from slamming shut again. The door hit his back hard as he braced himself against the frame.

Water had already lapped the woman’s shoulders as the whole car sank sluggardly into the murky water between island and mainland.

“Can you undo your seat belt?”

“I don’t know…it’s…” Her head was barely above the water as she trailed off.

Ignoring the fear in her voice, Ian leaned over her, dipped his face into the water as he felt around for the release button. The woman gripped him in order to stay above the water line. His hat, now free, floated above him.

He found the latch and clicked it. It smacked back into his face as he lifted his head, and the car door pressed its weight against him. But the woman was free.

He pushed it open farther to allow the woman to swim out. By the time she stood on the door frame, the water had already filled the interior and was now close to their necks. The car sank deeper into the muck.

“I’m okay,” she whispered breathily. “You can let go of the door now.”

He did, and it splashed into the water. Finally, the whole car plunged deep down. The accident had stirred up muck and mire, obscuring any evidence of a vehicle, except for the lines of bubbles. Grabbing his hat before it floated away, Ian swam behind the woman as she dog-paddled to the rocks nearby.

She collapsed, half in and half out of the warm water, her arms splayed out and her eyes closed. Ian swam up beside her. Soaking wet curls, dark and shiny, covered her face. Ian could see her lips moving but heard nothing.

Finally, she lifted her head, with a weak lift of her hand, threw back her sopping hair. “Thank you,” she sputtered out.

“Auntie Liz!”

Ian’s head snapped up. Charlie was standing on the partially finished road above them, peering down at the woman with great excitement.

He’d said something!

The boy turned his attention to Ian. “That’s my auntie Liz. She’s come for me, just like she promised!”

TWO

“Charlie!”

With strength she didn’t think she had, Liz scrambled over the rocks and up to the road. Though soaked through and still panting, she grabbed Charlie into a tight embrace.

Then, after a long moment of holding Charlie, one full of prayer and the pain of thinking how close she’d come to never seeing him again, Liz set him slightly away from her.

His front wet, he blinked up at her. “Auntie Liz! I didn’t think you were ever coming! I thought you didn’t love me anymore! When I called, you promised me you’d come!”

She tried in vain to contain the choke of emotion. It had been only two days since he called, but even to her, it felt like a lifetime. “Oh, Charlie! I’m here! I’m here, and I do love you very much!” Crying, she swung him up into her arms again. “I’m so sorry about your dad. It took me forever to get a flight down here. And I wasn’t even sure where to go. But I found you, sweetie! I’m here to take you home now.”

As she spoke, she fingered his short hair. Jerry never bothered with barbers, and the last time she’d visited, Charlie’s curls had been tightening into horrible dreadlocks. But she’d held back her complaints on many an occasion, not wanting to jeopardize the tenuous hold she had on visiting the boy.

Now, his hair was barely an inch and a half in length, and dark blond, with messy streaks that mimicked the sun’s effects. Gone were the gorgeous black curls of his babyhood.

She peered hard at him. And glasses? Charlie’s eyesight was fine, she was sure of it. So why was he wearing glasses now?

Only then did she sense the other person on the unfinished causeway. Yes, the man who’d saved her life. She turned, slowly, feeling his presence rolling over her soaking frame.

He was tall, as wet as her, and though she knew she’d had a good look at his face as he’d rescued her, she looked at it now as if for the first time. He’d shoved back his hat, one of those soft, wide-brimmed, beige things, and because of that she got a clear view of his face.

He was handsome, but his features were tightened into a hard frown. His lips were now a thin line.

And he pointed a gun at her.

She gasped and pushed Charlie behind her, blocking the boy from the gun. She knew her bravado wouldn’t last, but she ground out, anyway, “I don’t know who you are or who you work for or even what your reasons are, but I can tell you that you’ll be charged with kidnapping so quick it’ll snap your head back! And don’t think that gun is going to scare me off because it won’t!”

“Who are you?”

“Liz Tate. Who are you?”

“Ian MacNeal. How do you know this boy?”

Liz felt Charlie peer around her waist. She shoved his head back. “I’m his aunt. And I’m here to take him home with me to Maine. Now, we can do this without anyone getting hurt, or we can do something stupid like you appear to be doing. It’s your call.”

Oh, yes, her bravado was just an act. Inside of her, Liz felt her breath stop in her throat and her fear pour ice into her heart and her whole body quiver. The wildlife refuge where she worked owned a rifle for emergencies, but no one had any need to use it. Until this minute, she’d never been close to a firearm.

Still, she refused to fail Charlie again. He didn’t deserve it.

“Wait a minute.” Liz straightened. “You went swimming with that gun. I doubt it will fire anymore.” She tipped her head to one side and frowned. “Besides, if you wanted to kill me, you could have not rescued me. So, why don’t you just put that gun away and let us leave quietly?”

The man in front of her lowered his gun and shoved it into the back of his jeans’ waistband. She wasn’t completely sure if he had carried that gun into the water with him, but she’d let her courage speak in case he had.

“Your car is at the bottom of the inlet, and it’s a long, hot walk back to Northglade. That’s the nearest town.” He shoved his hand onto his hips. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” She nodded, grateful to see the gun disappear behind the man’s back. She still wasn’t sure of the man’s intentions, but logic and common sense were winning and aggravating this man would be foolish. It would be better if she stayed calm. A prayer or two wouldn’t hurt, either. Help me, Lord. “Um, well, thank you for helping me out of there. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“You’re welcome.” He squinted against the sun as he scanned the shore of the mainland. His gaze returned to Liz’s waist, his head tipping to one side to catch sight of Charlie. “We shouldn’t stand out here. We can talk in the rec center. It’s air-conditioned, and I should be able to find a few towels for us.” He leaned to his left to catch Charlie’s shy stare. “And you can tell me where my cell phone is, because I know you took it to call your aunt.”

Liz opened her mouth to protest but shut it immediately. She peered down at the boy, whose watery, kicked-puppy look blinked back up at them. “Charlie, did you take his phone? Was that the cell phone you used to talk to me?”

“Yes. It’s under my mattress,” Charlie answered quietly. “But the battery’s dead.”

Ian lifted his eyebrows. “How long did you talk on it?”

The boy peeked up at him. “Couple of minutes,” he answered in words barely above a whisper. “I just played all your games after I called Auntie Liz.”

“When was that?” Ian asked.

He shrugged. “I dunno. When I first got here. I was scared.”

Tears stung Liz’s eyes as she fought back the urge to grab Charlie, to hold him until the fear in his voice was gone forever. She threw the man a cool look. “Don’t you think you’ve scared the boy enough? You’ve stolen him from me, after all that’s happened to him, and then you try to shoot me. Think about how that’s affected him!” Liz shook her head quickly. “I’m surprised that he talked to you with that gun you keep waving around.”

The man turned his attention back to her. “He hasn’t talked at all, I’m afraid. Charlie hasn’t said a word since he arrived, Ms. Tate.”

He took off his hat and wrung it out. “Look, we’re both soaking wet and standing in the hot sun. Why don’t we walk down to the rec center? We can finish our conversation in there. The police and ambulance won’t be here for another fifteen minutes at least.”

“Just a minute, Mr. MacNeal—”

“Pastor Ian MacNeal.”

Pastor? She gaped at him. No pastor she knew of would point a gun at a woman he’d just fished out of the water. In fact, no pastor she knew even owned a gun.

Seeing her hesitate, he added, “We’re both wet, and if you don’t mind, I don’t want to be out here talking. I had told Charlie to stay put by the trees while I helped—”

He cut off his words. Liz watched him frown at the edge of the trees and then followed his gaze down to the end of the causeway, where beside a beaten sign saying Moss Point, stood a woman. She held one hand to her mouth.

The man in front of Liz cleared his throat. “Let’s go to the rec center. I promise you, you’ll come to no harm. If nothing else, let’s go there just to get out of this sun.”

True, Liz thought. The sun was brilliant today. She’d lost her sunglasses the first moment she’d been bumped by that other car. Liz stared at the murky water. Had it sunk that quickly? Was the water that deep? She quickly glanced around for the other car.

Nowhere. Maybe they should get off this death trap of a causeway, before whomever it was that ran her off the road came back. Which way had he gone? Onto the island, or had he turned around and sped back to the mainland? She couldn’t remember. Nor was she completely sure she should tell this gun-toting pastor a thing.

With that, she grabbed Charlie’s hand, putting him on the side farthest away from the man. “Lead the way.”

The atypical pastor who’d rescued her led her off the causeway. Beside her, gripping her hand tightly, Charlie piped up, “Auntie Liz, isn’t it hot here? Even hotter than the sun!”

“Yes, dear. Let’s get inside, okay? Show me where this rec center is.”

Charlie clung to her hand as they approached the young woman who stood in front of the sign at the end of the causeway. The woman clasped her hands in front of her. Tightly, Liz noticed.

“Are you all right?” the woman asked, not to anyone in particular, Liz thought.

“We’re fine,” Ian answered tersely.

Liz glanced up at him, surprised to see the man frowning hard at the other woman. Then she looked back at the woman. She was about Liz’s age, maybe, and dressed in a cheap, plain shift dress much more suitable for the weather than Liz’s dripping pants and blouse. Liz had been wearing this outfit since the day after Charlie called, the day she’d driven to the airport to catch the series of delayed flights that finally brought her down here to the southwest end of Florida.