Spirit of a Champion (Sisters of Spirit #7)

by Nancy Radke

  She was a fish. She would just have to start swimming underwater again as she got closer.

  She was doing fine, except that her right leg had started to cramp. She went into float mode once again and reached down to work on it. She wondered what Hugo was doing.

  Kyle finished his workout and got into his rental car. He went to put it into gear and the wipers swiped mightily until he turned them off and found the gearshift. It reminded him of Stormy. He didn’t want that. He clicked on the radio to take his mind off her.

  “...oria Drake, sister of the boxing contender, Jerry Drake, is missing and presumed drowned on Lake Havasu.”

  What was this? Stormy? A cold chill swept over him.

  “The contender is in seclusion right now and will not talk to anyone. Elston “King” Drake, who is both his father and trainer, is going out to the site to look for his daughter.”

  An exploding car and now this? Someone was actually trying to kill her?

  “Evidently Ms. Drake was visiting at Lake Havasu and went jet skiing. Witnesses said a boat hit her jet ski. They have found remnants of the ski and also her lifebelt. Police are looking for the boat and driver to see if alcohol was involved. Again, that is Victoria Drake, missing and presumed dead in a boating accident.”

  Kyle swerved over to the side of the road and stopped, his body shaking. This was no made-up faery tale. He listened for the details. Why was she out there?

  “Another update on that boating accident on Lake Havasu. It was reported by a doctor’s wife who had been out jet skiing with Miss Drake.”

  The doctor. Of course.

  “A boat ran over the jet ski with Miss Drake on it. They are conducting an extensive search, but haven’t found the body. It was reported as a hit and run accident. The boat stayed around for about ten minutes, then left the scene. Police say the boat was just reported as stolen.”

  Kyle couldn’t breathe. A sickness churned the pit of his stomach and black spots appeared before his eyes. He fought back the desire to faint and struggled against an overwhelming sense of loss.

  He waited until he could see again. He could barely drive, but he pulled out into traffic and took the road south towards Lake Havasu instead of going to the hotel and eating his evening meal. He had to know what happened.

  She had said her car exploded. He hadn’t taken her seriously. He hadn’t listened to her. What was wrong with him? Why hadn’t he paid more attention to the plight she was in?

  What if he lost her now, now that he had just found her?

  He couldn’t believe that he’d been so intent on the upcoming match that he had ignored the potentially deadly situation she had put herself in.

  What was wrong with him? It sounded like a lie, but he should have checked it out.

  His manager, Leon, had downplayed things, claiming Stormy made up diversions to help her brother. Was he just telling me that to get me to focus on the match again? It was only four days away.

  Still there was no excuse for him. No excuse.

  His foot was pressed on the accelerator and he forced himself to slow down. His getting in a wreck, or a speeding ticket, wouldn’t help any.

  He had a press conference tonight along with Jerry. Jerry wouldn’t be talking to anyone, so he guessed someone would have to stand in for both of them.

  It wasn’t important. Nothing else was important. Only Stormy.

  He started praying. If only he weren’t too late.

  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.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  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 cir
cled 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!”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “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 n
o 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.

  At the car, Kyle held her while Hugo opened the door and turned off the dome light. Stormy and Kyle got into the back seat and Hugo drove off.

  “Where are we going to hide her?” Kyle asked. Stormy lay against him and he pulled her closer. She was starting to shiver, so he took his shirt off and wrapped her in it.

  “I was thinking at my ranch.”

  “No,” said Stormy. “Absolutely not. I don’t want to bring those killers anywhere near Perri. I don’t know how they found me out here.”

  “They knew you were contacting the doctors. They probably already had a man here, watching his house. Or just sent them out once you left Vegas.”

  “So where do I go? Back to my hotel?”

  “No. You are officially dead,” Hugo said. “I’ve got a room in Vegas. I guess I could hide you there. It’s not very big, but it’ll only be for a few days.”

  “She can hide in my rooms,” Kyle said. “I have a suite. Two bedrooms and a bath off a sitting room. No one would expect her to be with me.”

  “How about your trainer? Doesn’t he stay there?” Hugo asked.

  “No. He planned to when we first got the suite, then decided to move in with a friend of his while here.”

  “What about the hotel staff?” Stormy said. “Won’t they wonder?”

  “I’ll tell the desk that I’m concentrating on the fight and don’t want any maid service until afterwards. They’re always happy to do that. And I’ve done it before.”

  “That’ll keep you close,” Hugo said. “I don’t want you telling your dad or Jerry that you’re alive, until just before the match. I don’t want them acting differently.”

  “How about Kyle?” Stormy asked.

  “He won’t be expected to grieve over you. They don’t know how he feels.”

  Stormy looked up at Kyle in the dim light. “How do you feel?”