Spirit of a Champion (Sisters of Spirit #7) (13 page)

If she intended to get in his head and mess up his routine, she
was doing just that. But he didn’t think so. Not now. If she had been hurt, or
killed, he had to know.

The bare Nevada hills radiated heat. It was late afternoon, but
the sun, although low, still added its warmth to the land. He read the
temperature off his car’s dash. 110 degrees. It had cooled off a little.

They said they hadn’t found a body. Was Stormy alive?

She wouldn’t let it go, of course, even when her car had blown
up. He now knew that Stormy wasn’t a fair weather friend. If she got in your
corner, she’d be there all the way. She was no quitter.

He worried all the way to Lake Havasu. It wasn’t a big place and
he soon found the search area.

He slowed down when he saw the police cars parked alongside the
roadway. A tall, dark-complected man was walking down the road toward him.
Dressed all in black, he was hard to see. Probably headed for the car parked on
the left side of the road.

Kyle recognized the man and the silver metallic Range Rover.
Stormy’s car. The
one she had had at the hotel.

He stopped his car, jumped out, and ran over to confront the
walker.

“What did you do with her?” he demanded.

“I don’t know wha—”

“Stormy. I saw her leave with you this morning. She jumped into
a car with you.” Incensed, he grabbed the man by the arm and looked around.
There was a police car parked just up the road, with two patrolmen in it.

“Come with me,” he demanded, pulling the man’s arm. The man
didn’t budge. Kyle wasn’t used to that. Usually when he moved a man, the man
moved.

Kyle tightened his grip, feeling the muscles in the man’s arm as
he resisted his pull. He looked more closely at him to see if he carried a gun.

“I’m her cousin, Hugo. I’m helping her.”

Kyle glared at him. “Cousin? That’s a laugh. She said her cousin
was female.”

“That’s right. I’m married to her cousin, so now I’m kin.”

Kyle looked closer at Hugo. Looked at his eyes. Serious eyes. A
steady gaze.

“Can you prove it?”

“Ah...yes. I guess I can. In a way.” He yanked his arm out of
Kyle’s grasp and walked over to his car and opened the door. Curious, Kyle
followed him.

Hugo pulled a laptop out of the Range Rover and turned it on. He
put in a password and a series of wedding pictures appeared.

“This is my wedding four months ago. Stormy was our maid of
honor.”

He handed the computer to Kyle. There was Stormy, looking
radiant, beside a beaming blonde bride and Hugo and another man. In another
picture he saw Jerry and Hugo and three other men.

Stormy was in several of the pictures, definitely the maid of
honor at Hugo’s wedding.

Kyle looked up at him, not understanding. “Then...why did she
claim to be out of money and having such a hard time if you were here?”

“We weren’t. My wife and I were in Washington D.C. We got home
two days ago and found out what was happening. We took Stormy home with us. I
found out the addresses and phone numbers of the ring doctors and outfitted
Stormy with cash and a credit card. And a car.”

“She said it blew up.”

“It did. Someone was trying to kill her.”

“But why wasn’t she in it?” He hadn’t been able to figure that
out.

“It starts with a remote. She had started the car while she was
paying her bill, so it would cool off before she got out to it. It saved her
life.”

It all came together for Kyle.
All true! Stormy’s stories had all been
true.

He felt like someone had given him a final blow to the stomach,
putting him down for good. His knees buckled and he put his hand on the car to
hold himself up. “And now they’ve succeeded.”

“The police haven’t found her body. I brought her here and I’m
staying until she’s found. Alive or dead.”

Kyle shook his head. “I was so convinced she was lying to me.
She had a credit card and a car when a day earlier she claimed she didn’t have
anything. Why didn’t I believe her?”

“I would have been suspicious, too. That was a sudden change of
fortune. I didn’t realize she knew you this well, or I would have had her tell
you I was helping her.”

“What happened here?”

“She called and told me she was staying at the doctor’s home
until he got back. The doctor’s wife, Isabelle, wanted to take out the jet
skis. She said they were headed back to the dock when the boat showed up.
Stormy circled and they followed her and ran her down. It allowed Isabelle to
make it to shore.”

The finality of it hit Kyle again. Her cousin had been here and
even he hadn’t been able to save her. “What can we do?” he said. “They’ve got a
scuba team looking, according to the news report.”

“Well, my wife, Perri, claims that Stormy could swim across the
English channel if she wanted to. Swims like a fish. So if she managed to jump
clear...”

“The news said they found her lifebelt.”

“She probably took it off when she saw them coming. Having your
car blow up makes you overly suspicious.”

A glimmer of hope rather than a sign of death. Kyle grabbed at
it, a mental lifeline. “So where do we start looking?”

“I rented a boat and went around the edges,” Hugo said, “but saw
no one. I’ve walked up and down this side. I was just getting ready to go over
to the other side of the lake.”

Kyle looked across the lake.
Swim across that? He couldn’t do it.
“She might have hidden
herself.”

“That’s what I thought. So she could be on either side. But the
police are searching for her along this bank. No one is even thinking of the
other side. So I’m headed there.”

“I’ll help.”

“Do you have a flashlight?”

“Yes.”

“Then follow me to I-40. We’ll drive around to the resort and
walk south from there.”

Kyle couldn’t see why anyone would swim across the lake when
they could have gone parallel to the shore and come in again on this side. But
looking anywhere was better than doing nothing.

Almost an hour later, Kyle parked his car at the resort, then
climbed into Hugo’s car. Hugo drove them a short distance south on a side road,
then stopped when the road ended into a path.

As they got out, Kyle pulled out his cell phone. “Give me your
number so I can call if we get separated too far.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Why not.”

“I’ve been looking into this fight and the promoters. These men
cover all the angles. They’ve bugged your phone and Jerry’s. One was bragging
about it.”

“Then I’ll get a new one,” Kyle said, angered at the news.

“That will alert them. Keep yours until after the match. You can
conveniently lose it in the hotel room then.”

“And in the meantime?”

“Be careful what you say. If we do find Stormy, you call me and
ask what time we should switch.”

“Who are you?” Kyle said. “Who do you know to be able to do some
of these things?”

“I’ve got connections. ” Hugo handed him a bottle of water.
“I’ll walk the area just below the path. You search nearer to the lake. It’s
rough going down there, so after awhile we’ll switch. Don’t use the flashlight
until it really gets dark.”

Hugo started walking, stopping now and then to call Stormy’s
name and mention his name. Kyle dropped down closer to the lake and did the
same.

Hugo seemed to know what he was doing. Kyle wondered again
exactly what his job was.

He climbed along the rocks above the water, checking in crevasses
and under overhangs, calling Stormy’s name as he went along and identifying
himself. He realized that she might hide from him if she didn’t know who he
was, especially after people had twice tried to kill her.

The footing was rough, sharp and rocky. The shoreline was
extremely irregular, so that he had to keep going around small inlets. He could
see Hugo canvassing back and forth as he went along, also having difficulty
with the terrain.

Luckily the moon was out, almost full, but he fell to his knees
many times and had to backtrack often to find a way past some deep crevasses.

If she had made it to this side of the lake, she would have been
exhausted. No water unless she went back down to the lake and drank.

The temperature was falling. She was out here with just a
swimsuit on.

It made him want to hurry, but he refrained from doing so. If
she was asleep, he could go right past her, so he made himself go slow enough
to cover all the area.

“Stormy!” His voice seemed to echo in the stillness, bouncing around
the barren landscape and then back to him. He figured he’d come a mile, but it
was hard to tell. His hands were raw from catching himself. “Stormy! Stormy!”

If he ever found her alive, he wasn’t going to let her go.
He felt so discouraged. If
she had been injured, she could have drowned attempting to swim away, no matter
how good a swimmer she was.

“Stormy!”

“Ouch!” Her voice was weak, but it was Stormy’s voice!

He had stepped on her foot. He dropped to his knees beside her
and pulled her into his arms and just held her. He was shaking and almost
crying with relief.
She was alive! She was alive!
He couldn’t believe it. Tears flooded his
eyes and he blinked them back.

“Kyle?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

“You came?”
She sounded amazed by the fact. Well, he hadn’t been too
encouraging when he saw her last.

“Yes.”

“I was waiting for Hugo.”

“He’s here, too. What made you think he would look on this side
of the lake? It’s a big lake.” He himself wasn’t a very good swimmer and still
couldn’t imagine anyone swimming that distance. He had felt searching here was
hopeless.

“He knows I could swim it. Or at least Perri knew.”

“Are you hurt at all?”

“No. Just exhausted. I was waiting until it was dark to move. I
keep dozing off.”

“Here’s water.” He handed her the bottle of water and when she
fumbled with the cap, took it back, opened it and handed it back to her.
She was alive.
He felt like jumping up
and shouting it to the world.

Instead he called Hugo on the phone, having a hard time keeping
his voice normal. “What time do you want to switch?”

“Now’s as good a time as any. Wave so I can see you.”

Kyle stepped up on the rocks and waved, using the light from the
cell phone as a beacon.

 Hugo spotted him and came down.

“How is she?”

“Boiling mad,” Stormy said. Her voice was stronger now. “And
thirsty. I was waiting till dark to go back down to the lake and get a drink.
This neon bathing suit is not very good camouflage.”

Hugo chuckled and stepped down into the crevasse where she had
crawled. He handed Stormy his water bottle and she drank it all.

“We need to get her to a hospital,” Kyle said.

“Why? Is she hurt?” Hugo asked.

“No. No hospital,” Stormy said.

“I agree. Kyle, keep walking, like you’re still searching. I’ll
do the same. Stormy, here’s my phone. After it gets a little darker, we’ll come
back. Call Kyle’s phone...speed dial the 2. Don’t say anything. We won’t
answer, but we’ll know we’re close.”

“Why are we doing this?” Kyle asked.

“She needs to stay dead for awhile. At least until the match is
over. If anyone is watching us, it will look like we just got together to
switch places. Stay hidden, Stormy.”

“Okay.”

The two men started walking again, Kyle now nearer the path and
Hugo walking the shoreline. Twenty minutes later it was dark enough to turn around
and start back.

Hugo joined him on the path and they started back together. Kyle
had been counting his steps since he left Stormy, and now started counting
again.

Hugo started to talk and Kyle told him what he was doing.

“Good thinking. We’ll walk differently on the path, so we won’t
go the whole distance. ”

They walked in silence as Kyle counted and as he got close to
his number, Hugo started singing a barroom song, loudly.

His voice, a beautiful baritone, carried well.

Immediately his phone rang.

“That’s her,” said Kyle. “I’ll go get her.”

Hugo went too, and Kyle was glad as getting Stormy over some of
the rocky areas was no snap. She wasn’t a big-boned woman, but muscular, so
weighed more than he’d expected.

Once on the path they walked closely together, supporting Stormy
between them. She needed it as she was still weak, and also, as Hugo pointed
out, it would look more like two people walking together if anyone had night
vision glasses on them.