Page 96 of Sheltering Instinct

That was a good thing and a bad one. Soon, the water would lift them above the apron of cement. Then, the only way to get out would be to dive.

And with the floats, that would be impossible.

Without the floats, the children would drown.

Tesswould drown. And he simply wouldn’t allow that.

Mojo was going ballistic at the front of the tree. The sound of his barks sure sounded like he was trying to get someone’s attention.

That might well be wishful thinking.

Levi wasn’t going to depend on help from anyone.

It might well be that Mojo was warning away one of the animals that were struggling to keep their heads up and make it to shore—a floating lion or hippo.

The cull had been one way that the animals of Namibia were affected, but this was a devastation to the living that could take generations to right.

Levi bent his knees to lift his feet in the swells. Moving hand over hand, he tried to slow his pace as he reached the drowning hazard of the branches. As he passed by, Mojo lowered his head and gave Levi a quick tongue bath before he went back to barking.

Here at the fork in the branches, Levi paused to assess, to test the limbs, and to imagine different scenarios.

Finally, he moved into the fork of the tree and reached his arms around to pull the limbs into a hug. As soon as he did, boththe narrowing of the branches and his weight popped the tree under the apron and out into the broad expanse of fast-moving water.

“Hang on! Hang on!” he called back.

The children screamed and bent forward to clasp their arms around the trunk.

Mojo laid flat, but his barking was incessant.

They flowed southward.

But Mojo scrambled to turn and look behind them as he barked.

Looking over his shoulder, Levi saw a dump truck driving over the bridge with the window down. It was possible the driver would hear Mojo and take a look. It was also possible that the driver was wide-eyed in fear as he raced toward his family like the man in his pickup truck had earlier when all they had to do was escape a fire.

That must have been what Mojo had sensed.

The truck took a left off the bridge, driving at top speed parallel to the flow, bypassing them. They were probably trying to race away before they, too, were caught in the flash flood.

Levi was struggling in the water. Hugging the branches to him, he’d lifted his knees to his chest to lessen his drag, but the current was intense.

The root ball turned, where Tess was perched was swinging around until the tree was horizontal to the current.

Tess was yelling something.

All he could make out was, “Levi!” He desperately wanted to see her and make sure she was all right.

The root ball was forward, and he trailed behind. It took Levi some time to twist himself around to see down the river.

Ahead, the dump truck had stopped, and there was a bustle of activity. Could it be that someone was doing something that would help them?

Mojo had stopped barking, his focus on the shore activity. His tongue hung long as he panted.

They were close enough now that Levi could make out two men in gray tactical wear. Then he realized that Reaper and Goose had found them. His teammates must have gotten the message from Gwen or Iniquus and jumped into action. Where and how they’d acquired a dump truck would be a story he wanted to hear. But it was a genius choice.

Reaper stood on top of the dump truck cab, and just before a tree floated by, he did a surface dive with a rope attached to his waist.

Now,thatwas some major pipe-hitter shit there.Thatwas a SEAL in action.

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