Page 90 of Sheltering Instinct

She nodded.

“If we can catch hold of something on the bridge, I'm going to try to get a rope from the pipe to the pillar. And when it happens, Tess, listen, it’s going to be violet, and it’s going to be fast. That water is going to ram the structure against the barrier.”

“I wish we knew how deep the water is. Maybe the floor of the school is very near the bottom of this flood. Maybe that’s why we’ve only sunk this far.”

“My hope is that we have enough time to get at least some of the kids to safety.”

When Levi was with the SEALs, they were given impossible tasks without a clear means of accomplishing them. It was a challenge he really enjoyed.

The Team would brainstorm possibilities, and even the craziest ideas were put on the table. Right now, without equipment, Levi wasn’t coming up with any ideas, workable or not.

The children hunkered together, moaning their distress.

Levi held the binoculars up to assess. “Sweetheart, from what I can see, there is metal undergirding. It’s possible that I could put you on my shoulders, and you could tie the rope.”

“Then what?”

“You crawl up and straddle the beam, and I start moving kids to you.” He pulled off the binoculars and handed them to Tess.

She stared at the bridge for a long moment. “Yeah, I think I see what you’re suggesting. And under any other circumstances, I’d say you’re crazy.”

“A touch of crazy usually helps in tight places like this one.”

A wave pressed behind the school, and suddenly, there they were, hitting the pylon.

Without further discussion, Tess reached out, climbing onto Levi’s shoulders as she clung to his hands.

With the school sinking even deeper into the water, Tess couldn’t reach the beam. “Levi, I need to stand on your shoulders.”

The school shimmied and shook; getting her up that high would be a trick. But Levi knew that tone in her voice. She’d committed to the idea and wouldn’t be easily swayed.

It was nothing Levi had tried before, but they fumbled through. With Tess’s sneakers on his shoulders and his hands wrapping her ankles to hold her steady, he could feel her straining upward.

“Still not high enough, Levi. Grab my ankles tighter, and I’ll lock my knees. You can shove me up there the length of your arms, right?”

Levi wasn’t so sure about that.

His legs wide and his knees bent for stability, Levi knew just how precarious this all was. But what choices did they have?

When he was a SEAL based out of California, he’d learned to surf. Was this that much different?

Probably.

But Levi was projecting only good outcomes.

“Just another little thrust, and I can hook my arm. Push me a little farther, Levi.”

He didn’t want to do that. It meant gaining inches by shifting his feet closer together and unbending his legs. Less stability, more danger.

But he did it. Because sometimes there were no choices.

And this time, it paid off.

Tess was able to get her hands on the beam and rest her hips there, allowing her to

throw a leg over and push herself to a seated position. Tying the rope into place, she called down, “Okay, ready.”

Thirteen times, Levi pressed a child onto the rope. Thirteen times, Tess grabbed them at the top and positioned them on the beam.

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