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Authors: Gary Williams Ramsey

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BOOK: The Spirit Survives
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I needed to find a way to keep count of the days that I was there, so I cleared out a spot next to the inventory and decided to place one rock in the cleared spot as each day passed. At least I could tell when each day ended because of the hole in the top of the cave. There was nothing I could do but sit there and think, hoping that someone was searching for me.

I missed Leah. I remembered saying goodbye to her when I left. She had a worried look on her beautiful face. She knew that I was discouraged about the move. I hoped I would live to make it up to her. She was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

My thoughts were interrupted by a gurgling sound. I looked to the source of the noise and saw that it was coming from the area that contained the small puddle of water. To my amazement, two rats sat by the puddle drinking. Adding rats to the mix of inhabitants in the cave was all I needed. I saw movement in the shadows behind the rats. Suddenly, a head shot forward and clamped around one of the rodent’s heads. Both rats were squealing, but only one could run away. The rattlesnake kept still, waiting for the venom to kill his prey. After about a minute the rat stopped squeaking as the snake grotesquely opened his mouth wider and began swallowing it. A huge lump appeared in its throat as the rat was consumed. I turned away in disgust.
 

I glanced at the wolf. He was watching the event but was quiet and motionless. In his injured condition, I guess he didn’t want to annoy the snake.

Help me please…somebody!
This was certainly not going to be a safe place to be for a long stretch of time.

Another blaring noise permeated the cave. I immediately recognized the unmistakable sound of a helicopter. I looked at the hole above and saw the copter hovering there. I started to scream but realized the stupidity of that act, so I got to my feet to scamper to the area directly under the hole to wave my arms. As I approached the area, I had forgotten about the snake lying there digesting his meal. I looked down in time to see that he was in a striking position. As the sound of the copter thundered overhead, the snake lashed out at my leg.
Oh shit!

 

Chapter 12

 

As Leah passed a sign that read “Welcome to Tomahawk,” she realized that she was exhausted. She had been running on adrenaline since the tornado had touched down at Lookout Mountain. Twilight was descending on this quaint small town and the only thing she could think of was Ben’s safety. Finding his car with a smashed window only increased her anxiety.

The first motel she saw was a Best Western, situated on a lake, and it appeared to be very nice. She pulled into the full parking lot and proceeded directly to the front desk. A middle-aged Mexican lady with a heavy Spanish accent greeted her. “May I help you ma’am?
 

“Do you have any rooms available for the night?” Leah asked.

“We have one room on the second floor, a suite,” the desk attendant replied.

 
Leah didn’t need a suite, but she didn’t feel like searching for another place to stay. She accepted the suite and presented her credit card. After filling out the paperwork, she was handed a key card and asked if she needed help with her luggage. Leah realized she hadn’t packed a bag, and that she had nothing with her. She told the lady that she could handle everything okay and asked for directions to the nearest Wal-Mart.
 

Since the motel was located on Highway 51, which was the main drag in Tomahawk, the local Wal-Mart was only minutes away. Leah purchased two changes of underwear, pajamas, jeans, a T-shirt, a tooth brush, and make-up.
Surely, Ben will be found soon
, she thought.

While returning to the motel, Leah stopped ay a KFC and purchased a chicken meal with coleslaw and mashed potatoes. When she arrived back at the motel, she went to Suite 206 to get settled in. The suite was small but well-appointed, with a small sitting area and sliding glass doors leading to a lanai that offered a beautiful view of Lake Nokomis. If only Ben were here to enjoy it with her.
 

Leah took a hot shower and put on her pajamas. She retrieved the KFC meal from the dresser, and heated it in the microwave. She placed it on the coffee table, turned on the TV to the local news, and sat down in the recliner. She ate her extra-crispy Kentucky fried chicken as she watched the news.
 

The tornados dominated the news. Twenty-two twisters had already touched down and there was no end in sight. Four deaths were attributed to the twisters and the number of injuries was increasing as the severe weather continued. The newscaster said that the identities of the dead were being withheld until the next of kin could be notified. Leah was horrified when he reported that one body was found on Lookout Mountain. There were no injured people reported in that area.

As tears streaked down her face, Leah rushed to her purse on the dresser and found the paper on which she had written the number of the Tomahawk police. She grabbed her cell phone and punched in the number. On the third ring, a tired female voice answered, “Tomahawk Police Department, Officer Terrell speaking.” It was the same police woman who had answered when Leah called earlier that afternoon to inquire about Ben.

“Officer Terrell, this is Leah Hamilton. We talked earlier today about my fiancée who was on Lookout Mountain when the tornado touched down. I heard about the body found there. Please tell me, was it Ben Harris?” She was sobbing as the words escaped her trembling lips.

“I remember you, Ms. Hamilton. Please calm down. The body found on Lookout Mountain was female. I can’t tell you anything more until we identify it. There was no evidence that anyone else was on the mountain when the twister touched down. I’m aware that Mr. Harris’s automobile was parked there, but there was no sign of him and the search party, aided by two helicopters, was meticulous in their search. They reported a lot of destruction, but only found that one female body. They’re taking heavy equipment in there tomorrow to continue the search. Mr. Harris is the only person reported missing. According to you, he was there, but we can find no evidence of that except for his abandoned car. We’ll continue to look for him. I need for you to come to the station tomorrow to give us a description and more information about Mr. Harris.”

 
Leah managed to stop crying. “Okay, I’ll be there at 9 a.m.”

“I’m very sorry we don’t have anymore information for you. I know you must be worried to death,” Officer Terrell said.

Leah thanked her and hung up.

Leah went to the bathroom and washed her face. She had to get control of her emotions if she were to help find Ben. Total exhaustion overwhelmed her. She threw the remainder of her dinner in the waste can, turned off the TV and collapsed on the bed.

As she tossed and turned, images of Ben’s severed head floating in the clouds filled her dreams. Then a mutilated body floated by. She forced herself awake and sat up in bed sweating. This was going to be a long night.
 

As Leah lay in bed, afraid to go back to sleep, her mind wandered to her childhood.

At twelve years old, Leah had already established that she was an exceptional child. Her father was a successful Princeton-trained attorney and her mother was a professor at Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia. Her twin sister, Maria was a gifted pianist. The happy family lived in the suburbs in Wayne, Pennsylvania and occupied a beautiful Tudor home with a pool and tennis courts. During the prior year Leah competed in the national junior tennis championships and placed third. Leah and Maria were straight A students at Johnson Academy, a highly respected private school in Wayne. Her days were filled with the love of adoring parents and the companionship of her twin sister.
 

In November, two weeks before her thirteenth birthday, Leah became sick with the flu. Maria was having her first solo piano recital on Friday evening of that week. Leah wanted to be with her sister on that evening but the flu kept her in bed. Her mother arranged for her aunt Thelma to stay with her while the rest of the family attended the recital.
 

The phone call came at about 11 p.m. as Aunt Thelma was ready to panic with worry about the family. The recital was supposed to end at 8:30 p.m., and they were presumed to be home by 9:00. Leah never forgot the look on her aunt’s face when she was speaking on the phone. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she was sobbing when she hung up. Leah’s parent’s car had been stuck head on by a drunken driver. Both her parents and sister were killed instantly. Leah’s perfect world crumbled.

She was raised by her aunt, but she never got over losing the people she loved the most.
 

Now it was happening again. Ben was gone. Leah couldn’t tolerate the thought of losing another loved one. That would be more than she could handle.
 

Tears wet her pillow as she lay there, terrified of being totally left alone again.

 

Chapter 13

 

The moon had just risen, revealing a beautiful crisp night in northern Wisconsin. Deep breaths of this cool air would clear anyone’s mind and make them happy to be alive. However, the beautiful evening was lost on Bo Lopez. He just wanted a room, a bath and a strong shot of bourbon. The shitty tornado and the events that followed put him in a crappy mood.
 

On his way to Tomahawk, he stopped at a drug store and printed the pictures from the memory stick on the camera he had taken from Harris’s car. He placed a picture of Harris and one of his girlfriend in his shirt pocket.

After looking for what seemed like an hour, he finally located a Motel 6 on the outskirts of Tomahawk. He pulled into the parking lot and walked into the reception area. He was greeted by a chubby woman in her fifties. She had short black hair, which apparently came from a bottle. The woman wore reading glasses halfway down her ample nose. Her lips were drawn tight in a forced grin. Her name tag read, Gladys Ashton. Bo thought,
I’m glad as hell that I’m not Mr. Ashton
. Fortunately he was the only customer at the desk. The woman looked at him curiously. Bo looked like shit. His clothes were torn, grimy, and bloody. His face looked like he had been in the wilderness for weeks without a bath. He explained to Gladys that he was doing some construction work in the area and needed a room for the night. She appeared reluctant, but took his cash, checked him in and gave him his room key card.
 

“There’re soap and hot water in the bath,” she sneered sarcastically. Bo just ignored her and proceeded to the room.
 

The room was simple but clean and had the necessities. Bo unpacked his shaving kit and a change of clothes. He ran a hot steaming shower and washed away the events of the day. He donned his shorts and a t-shirt, went to the bed, and sat down. Bo prepared a bourbon and water and gulped it while he searched the end table drawers for a phone book. When he located it, he looked up Papa John’s pizza, called and placed an order for a large sausage and onion pizza.
 

Bo turned on the TV, made another drink, and settled in to watch the late local news. The news was dominated by the tornados. A record twenty-seven twisters had touched down in Wisconsin that day. The first one struck Lookout Mountain. The knock-out-blonde anchor woman also reported that one female body was found. The body had not yet been identified. She reported that no other bodies or injured people were found in the Lookout Mountain area.
 

Oh shit!
Bo thought. Now he had three problems. Cherokee was missing and the witness was missing and Veronika’s body was found. The only people who could connect him to the body were Cherokee and the guy, Ben Harris. He had to make sure that both Cherokee and Harris were dead. If they had survived, Bo needed to kill them.

The hot pizza arrived; Bo paid and tipped the delivery girl five bucks. She gave him a flirtatious smile, but he just grunted and closed the door in her face. He shoved about half the pizza down his throat in fifteen minutes. He threw the rest in the waste can, finished his drink, turned off the TV and went to sleep.
 

Bo awoke the next morning to the ring tone of “Over the Rainbow” on his cell phone. Only a few people had the number, Cherokee, Elezar Fernandez, his contact with the Salazar cartel, and some family members. The shit had hit the fan. He answered the phone with a quiet hello.

“What in the hell happened?” an excited Fernandez yelled into the phone “We paid you for a professional job. The body was never supposed to be found!”

Bo let a moment pass before he answered, “It was beyond my damn control. A tornado touched down while we were taking her out. How did you know about this so soon?”

“You know we have an insider in the Ivanova organization. The police called the family late last night informing them that Veronika’s body had been found on Lookout Mountain after a tornado hit the area. The tornado didn’t kill her. It was a bullet in the head from a Colt .45. If this murder is connected to you and leads to us, then you are a dead man. Is that clear, you bastard?”

“That’ll never happen,” Bo replied in a steely voice.

“You better clean this up quick, Lopez!” Fernandez hissed and hung up.

Bo shut his phone and laid it back on the end table. He hopped out of bed and dressed. He had a mess to clean up.

He didn’t know what in the hell had happened to Cherokee and Ben Harris, so he decided to hang around the Tomahawk area for another day to see if any news of them surfaced. If that didn’t prove successful, he knew where to find Ben and his girlfriend in Green Bay.
 

BOOK: The Spirit Survives
9.22Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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