Free Maverick Mania by Sigmund Brouwer Page B

carry as I swam.
    Then I noticed the locked fuel flap on the side of the truck. It gave me an idea. I could at least use the tire iron to pry it open, couldn’t I?
    And once it was open, I could...
    I grinned in the darkness. Whatever happened in the next half hour, I would be happy knowing I had done something to make trouble for Charlie Riggins.
    Once I was finished with the gas tank, I hid my clothes. If Charlie Riggins got back without seeing me in the lake, I didn’t want him to know I’d been here.
    Then I stepped into the lake. I walked until the water was waist deep. The water sent shock waves running up my body. I didn’t stop to think about how cold it was. I dove forward into the dark water.

chapter twenty-two
    The putt-putt of the small outboard motor on the rubber dinghy got farther and farther away. Riggins was cutting at an angle across the lake. By the time I started swimming, it was at least the length of four soccer fields away from shore. As I swam, that distance grew and grew.
    I wasn’t worried about Riggins seeing or hearing me in the water behind him.
    While the moonlight showed the jagged edges of the low mountains on the other sideof the lake and the pale gleam of my arms as I lifted them out of the water, most of my body was hidden in the depths of the dark water. Even if he happened to look back, he would probably see nothing but lake.
    I tried to swim steadily. I tried to block all thoughts from my mind. I tried not to remember that Lake Havasu was really a dammed-up section of the Colorado River, and that somewhere far below me was the old riverbed. And that the water was cold and dark and deep and...
    Soccer. Soccer. Soccer. I put my mind on soccer.
    The Mavericks had won three games, tied one and lost one. We shared second place with two other teams. If we ended in a tie with any team, the higher ranking would go to the team with the most goals scored. That meant we really, really needed Caleb. Tomorrow morning, if we all got to the...
    I gritted my teeth and kept swimming.
    Tomorrow morning, when we all got to the soccer field, we would keep feedingthe ball to Caleb and let him pour in the goals. That would leave us with one last game in the afternoon. If we won that, we would move on to the sudden-death playoff on Thursday.
    I pictured players on the field—Johnnie Rivers cutting across for a long pass, Stew Schmid diving with his arms stretched to stop a goal, me breaking up the field and beating defenders.
    The soccer thoughts calmed me.
    I got into a rhythm as I swam. My breathing grew harder, but I had plenty of energy. My eyes got used to the water. And no big fish came up to drag me down.
    Before I realized it, I was halfway across the lake.
    I stopped and treaded water. The stars put on an incredible show above me. The lights of Lake Havasu City glowed fifteen miles down the valley.
    I looked ahead to the far shore for signs of the pontoon boat. I saw nothing. I listened hard and heard the putt-putt of the outboard motor straight ahead.
    I started to swim again. Two-thirds of the way across the lake, I began counting my strokes.
    Two hundred and one. Two hundred and two. Two hundred and three.
    Two hundred and four. Two hundred and five. Two hundred and—
    The putt-putt sound of the motor suddenly sounded louder.
    I stopped and treaded water again. I pushed my wet hair back and strained to look ahead.
    I realized this putt-putt sounded deeper than the outboard motor on the rubber dinghy.
    Then I saw it. Like a shadow pulling loose from the dark outline of the far shore. It was the Rigginses’ pontoon boat. Heading toward me. About the length of five soccer fields away.
    Where were they going?
    I watched a moment, and the answer came to me.
    It would be much smarter to sink the pontoon boat in the center of the lake.In the bottom of the old river canyon now filled by this lake, it would never be found.
    As I waited, the pontoon boat grew more clear in the