Haze of Obedience (Behind Closed Doors #3) - Maggie Cole Page 0,44

coast is clear, open the door all the way, and step out.

The rain is a steady drizzle.

She walks a few feet ahead of me.

"You're going the wrong way," I tell her.

She spins. "This is the way we came."

"Keep your voice down."

She glares at me.

I point out toward the water. "We can't kayak in those waves. Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

I put my arm around her, and this time, she doesn't shirk out of it. I follow the trail to the resort docks.

"What are we doing?"

"Stay quiet."

There's a locked, metal key box that is attached to a cement pole. I dig into my backpack and pull out my toolkit and unlock it.

"Pick," I tell her.

She takes the keys from B12, and I lead her onto the dock to that slip. The boats are all smaller fishing boats with no shelter except for a small area over the drivers and passengers seats, but it's the best we're going to get.

I help her on the boat, unhook the ties, and push the boat away from the dock then jump on.

The boat starts, and I try to navigate through the dark rain, but it's challenging. When we get far enough away from the resort, I turn to her. "Let's hope there isn't any lightning."

She sits in the passenger seat and ignores me.

"You aren't going to talk to me?"

"It's early. Can we be quiet for a bit?"

"Zoe, I didn't—"

"I don't want to talk right now."

"You're pissed at me. I get—"

"We're fine. Can we ride in quiet, please? I'm tired, and I don't want to fight."

I turn away from her and concentrate on finding our path.

The sun rises as we're going around the peninsula. I stay close enough to see the coast, but I worry about it being too shallow, and the depth finder isn't working, so I am farther out than I would like.

The waves are rough, and the boat slams hard onto the water.

"Zoe, you okay?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Yes. Hang on. It's choppy."

For several hours we travel through harsh conditions until the rain stops and the waters calm. The navigation system beeps.

"Finally!" I turn the boat to go closer to shore. We ride for several minutes, and I point ahead. "What is that?"

Zoe rises. "It's a trash island."

"What's that?"

"Honduras blames Guatemala for it. The communities dumped their garbage into a river that flows into the Gulf. Guatemala denies it, of course."

"It's massive," I mutter.

"Yeah. Sad, isn't it?"

"Horrible."

I slow down, several feet from the edge of the waste that is littered everywhere. It seems to go on forever.

"Oh no!" Zoe exclaims.

"What?"

She points. "Look at that dolphin!"

Several feet from the edge, a baby dolphin is stuck in the trash, flopping around. A plastic ring that would hold a six pack of beer together is on his nose. The closer we get, the louder the noise from his fin hitting the garbage sounds.

I stay on the side of the trash, hoping we don’t get any trash in the motor. "He must have swam underneath and gotten stuck."

Zoe holds her hand to her heart. "We have to help it!"

I idle the boat. “We need to find something to scrape the trash aside. We can’t take the boat in that mess or we could get stuck.”

Zoe pulls a fishing net out of the side panel. "Get me closer." She leans over the boat.

"Be careful." I hold onto her waist, and she bends further. "You're too far."

"Make sure I don't fall then." She drags the net through the trash, trying to create an opening. "There's so much of it, and it's so deep."

"Let me try. You're too far overboard."

"No. I can do this."

"Zoe—" The dolphin jumps up and swims through the path she cleared.

"Yay!"

I pull her back in and spin her into me. "Great job."

She points. "Look!"

Three dolphins flip in the air.

"Aww. They're playing!" Her face lights up. All the anger and sadness I saw all morning is gone.

I circle my arms on her waist and murmur. "I love watching you like this."

She freezes. "We should get going before we drift into the trash, and it gets stuck in the propeller." She puts the net away and sits in her seat.

"Zoe—"

"Thanks for stopping. It meant a lot to me to save it."

"Of course. You have a good eye to have seen it."

"It would be a shame to have something so beautiful destroyed from filth," she quietly says.

I lean down and kiss her head. She slowly looks up. "The thing about true beauty is that filth can't destroy it. When the dirt

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