Page 84 of Sheltering Instinct

All Tess could think was that he had family there, and he was trying to save them.

Tess and the children scrambled inside the school. It was a relief to be inside of a structure, away from the stinging rain.

The first thing that Levi and she did was check their phones. Tess had a bar and Levi had none.

Tess dialed Gwen. Her priority was to get an expert opinion on what might happen next.

From the topo map, Tess knew that they were too low-lying for this to be a safe location.

As Gwen came on the line, Levi was asking the teacher about a vehicle, there was none.

“It’s raining that hard there?” Tess yelled into the phone so that she could be heard above the deluge.

“Who is that?” Levi asked.

“Gwen.”

He reached for Tess’s phone. “Gwen, is anyone there from Iniquus? Reaper or Goose?”

Levi turned to Tess and repeated, “They left with Enrico earlier. They were up at the Etosha kennels. Gwen warned them.”

It would have been nice if they could come with a vehicle, but Tess knew it wasn’t practical, nor was it wise.

“Gwen, write this down,” Levi said. “I need you to call this number.” He reeled out an eight-hundred number then added, “You need to say this word for word: Code Red. Code Red Code Red. Yes, you say the code three times. Next, ‘incoming message from Levi Elliot, Cerberus Team Charlie.’ Yes, Charlie. Elliot E-l-l-i-o-t.” He looked aggravated but kept his voice even. “Give them these coordinates.” Levi lifted the GPS unit and again reeled off a string of numbers. “Read the number back to me … That’s correct. Keep writing. This is our situation: Thirteen children, three adults, including a teacher, Tess, and me, and we have Mojo.”

Thirteen children? How had he gotten hold of that information so fast?

“Tell Iniquus about the storm you’re seeing. We’ll stay inside as long as we can. When the school floods … Yes, it will flood. We’re in a low-lying area. Listen, Gwen, I need you to write this down for me. ‘When the school floods, we’ll take the children to the roof.’” He paused. “I understand that. That’s why I’m giving you this information. I need the people at that phone number to send help … I don’t know, Gwen. I have no idea what help they can send. But that’s their job, so we’ll just let them figure it out. Call them now. Do it now.”

The teacher had come over and put her hands on Tess’s arms. “It’s not safe here?”

Tess split her attention between Levi’s phone call and the teacher as she explained why this area, along with the school, was so dangerous.

“Then how?” the teacher asked, “how do we keep the children safe?”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Levi

There was no easy way to the roof.

And both Tess and Levi knew that’s where they’d end up.

Already, there was a slick expanse of water that ran flush to the school’s threshold.

Levi fixed a rope with climbing knots to the stove pipe extending above the roof line.

With Mojo wrapping his neck, Levi climbed just behind Tess to keep Mojo as safe as possible.

Tess reached through the hole for the supplies they’d gathered. They moved water, food, ropes, wool blankets, and tarps to the roof.

Tess had insisted that Levi find every jug with a top and a handle that he could and send them up to her.

There wasn’t time for explanations or debate. So he did as he was asked. The teacher and the older children went off to search then brought the jugs to Levi to hand up.

Suddenly, a wave crashed the door open.

The children screamed and scrambled onto their desks.

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