Grits And Glory. Ron Benrey

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ I shouldn’t have made an offhand comment. You probably have a heavy-duty commercial model that starts automatically in the event of a power failure.”

      “I don’t know what we have, only that there’s a large gray steel cabinet behind the church.”

      “Well, I’d better get back to van. I have less than thirty minutes to put Carlo on the air.”

      Ann forced her frown into a smile. “I know you’re busy, Sean, but before you go, could you do me a favor?”

      He peered at her uncertainly. “If I can.”

      “Look, you seem to understand generators. Would you help me make sure that ours is okay?”

      He glanced at his watch. “Well, I suppose I can give you two minutes. Take me to the generator control panel.”

      “Control panel?” She hoped that she looked less bewildered than she sounded.

      “A small metal box with buttons and lights.” He looked at his watch again. “Maybe I should come back later.”

      Ann fought back a touch of distress she didn’t want Sean to see.

      “No need. I know what you’re talking about. It’s hanging on the wall in the utility room.”

      She quickly led Sean to the control panel. He took a moment to examine it. “Who’s Richard Squires?”

      “One of our members—why?”

      “There’s a note on the wall. ‘In case of a problem with the generator, call Richard Squires.’”

      “Is there a problem?”

      “We’re about to find out. The generator is set to automatic, but you can test it by pushing the red manual start button.”

      Ann pushed the red button. Almost immediately, she heard a growling noise outside, then the reassuring rumble of an engine. Three small indicator lights on the control panel began to glow green.

      “The engine’s running fine, there’s plenty of fuel, and the system is producing electricity.”

      “Great!” Ann said, full of relief.

      “Hit the black button to turn it off,” Sean said.

      But before Ann could lift her hand, the middle light began to flash red. A second later, the engine quit.

      “What’s wrong?” she asked.

      “According to the indicator light, something in the fuel system.”

      “Can you fix it?”

      “I’m sorry. I don’t even have time to try. We go on the air in a few minutes. Perhaps you should call this Richard Squires guy on the note.”

      Ann immediately felt foolish for not thinking of Richard herself. “Good idea. I’ll call Richard. He’s the church volunteer in charge of the generator.”

      “I need to get back to our van.”

      “Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.”

      “I’ll see myself out.”

      “Be careful out there,” she said, reaching for the cell phone in her pocket.

      The generator is Richard Squires’s baby. He’ll know what to do.

      TWO

      Sean studied the pewter-colored but rainless sky. The break between rain bands gave him a small window of time to deploy the lights and camera. Everything should be fine unless there was an unexpected problem with the camera’s focus and color balance.

      I could encourage the unlikely to happen and Carlo would never know.

      Sean pushed the delightfully evil thought out of his mind. He would do his job properly, even though he ached to make Carlo look like a fuzzy, multicolored blob. Sean finished setting up with four minutes to spare. He found Carlo in the back of the van memorizing a script he’d written on a yellow notepad.

      “Everything’s ready for you,” Sean said.

      Carlo looked up and smirked. “Kind of like blond little-miss-what’s-her-name.”

      “If you’re talking about the woman in the church, her name is Ann Trask.”

      “So it is.” He chortled. “She’s not up to my usual standards, of course, but one can’t be choosy during a hurricane.”

      “This isn’t spring break, Carlo. You’re in Glory on assignment, remember?”

      “An assignment in a hick city is a perfect opportunity for a quick encounter with a local lass.”

      “Ann Trask doesn’t seem a ‘quick encounter’ type of woman.”

      “Says who? She checked out my ring finger, I checked out hers. Didn’t you spot her come-hither look when she saw me?”

      “That’s nonsense!”

      “There’s nothing like stormy weather to relax a woman’s inhibitions, if you know what I mean.”

      “I do know what you mean—and you’re making me angry.”

      Carlo snorted. “You sound as if you like her.”

      “What if I do?”

      “Great! We’ll both court her. Competition increases the joy of victory,” said Carlo.

      Sean flinched as a bolt of lightning illuminated the interior of the van. The thunderclap came less than a second later.

      “That was close,” Carlo said. “Since when do hurricanes have lightning?”

      “Most don’t. Gilda is a special storm.”

      “Which means?”

      “Her vertical wind flows are creating an electrical field. That’s unusual.”

      “Unusual bad? Or unusual good?” Carlo’s normally melodious voice had become a little shrill.

      “I don’t know.”

      “You have to know. You’re the expert. You actually have a degree in meteorology.”

      “Don’t get your rain pants in a twist. Lightning doesn’t make a hurricane more powerful.”

      “But it definitely increases the danger to reporters broadcasting from parking lots. I’m not in the mood to get struck by lightning this afternoon.”

      “We’re parked next to a tall aluminum light pole. If lightning hits anything around here, it will be that.”

      “Are you sure?”

      “Completely.” СКАЧАТЬ