Chapter Thirty-One

Levi

As soon as Levi wrangled his two hundred pounds off the trunk, the tree rose to float higher in the water.

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.

Tess would 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, both the 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, that was some major pipe-hitter shit there. That was a SEAL in action.

The rope momentarily crossed their path at the root ball and caught.

Reaper grabbed around the trunk as Tess helped him to tie the tree off.

Tethered as it was to the dump truck, the tree rotated around. Now Reaper was closer to the shore, and Levi was down current.

The water did them a solid and shoved the branches closer to the shore.

Goose waded into the water and tied off the main branch with another rope. Reaper and Goose waded out of the water, each grabbing a line and pulling it toward solid ground. “Stay still!” Reaper called.

“Let go of my rope, Tess!” Levi yelled.

The moment the words left his mouth, Tess had complied.

Levi gathered the waterlogged rope and then held out the loose end. “Mojo, bite.”

In the water, following Goose’s line, Levi made it halfway to shore. where he bent in two. “Mojo jump!”

A moment later, Mojo landed on Levi’s back, claws digging into his flesh as he sailed onto dry ground, rope dangling from his teeth. Reaper accepted the end and tied it to the dump truck.

Now, Levi was methodically making his way toward Tess. With an arm around the trunk, one at a time, he grabbed a child’s arm and pressed the little one toward Reaper’s waiting hands. One after the other, to the teacher, and then finally to Tess.

On the shore, Levi and Tess lay, clinging to each other as they caught their breath.

Reaper’s hand jutted toward them, and Levi looked up as he grasped it, accepting the assist.

“Short window, man. You can rest later. We have to get back over the bridge before it falls away. There’s nothing good happening north of here.

The children were all in the back of the dump truck.

The teacher was unresponsive as Goose worked on rendering aid.

“Tess, go up with Reaper in the cab. I need to stay back here and tell Goose what happened so he knows what first aid to give.”

“I can—”

“Please, Tessy, do me a favor and go to the front. I need to know you’re warm and safe.” He put his hand on his chest. “I need that.”

Moments later, the dump truck was retracing its path over the bridge, down the road, and toward safety in Windhoek.

As they pulled up in front of the hospital to deliver the schoolteacher and her class, Tess was back in Levi’s arms with Mojo by their side.

The miracles of these last few days left Levi in awe of how quickly life could change.

This time, he’d gone into the fight and come out with a super-hero dog and the love of his life.

Worth the dangers?

Damned straight.