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And the drone had gone down in the river.

Normally, it was a cement walled channel where the normal flow of water went out to the ocean.

Due to the storm, it was overflowing the cement banks.

His drone was lost, but that wasn’t the important thing.

They’d lost Buck and Mari.

He’d seen it happen.

The boxes had gone into the back of the truck, covered quickly with a tarp.

He’d just tucked it in and turned around.

Hoss was carrying the elderly woman in his arms, her head tucked under his chin and her thin form lost in his muscled embrace.

Riptide looked past his friend and back toward the house.

The floodwaters were silent.

They rushed under the canopy of the fruit trees on the properties around Mari’s house and just as Mari reached out for Buck’s hand, the porch pulled away.

Mari fell as if the ground had opened up and swallowed her whole.

Riptide only had that one moment to see Buck’s face, the look of horror as Mari was swept away.

And then he saw the shock as the water pulled Buck’s feet out from beneath him.

Had he just seen another one of his team taken away?

The energy of the group shifted in a heartbeat.

It went from relief from a job done to shock.

Orders were called out.

Tasks were delegated.

Riptide grabbed his drone and took it up into the air.

Unspoken amongst the raiders was the thought that they were not going to lose Buck.

Not another teammate.

Not again.

And not… in the water.

A call came in through his phone and Riptide turned his tip to Kid.

The younger man pulled the phone free and answered it.

“Hello? No. This is Kid. Who…”

He looked up at Riptide. “Anuhea?”

Riptide nodded, staring at the feed from his drone, he felt the bed of the truck dip. He kept a firm hold on the controls and heard Kid speak near his ear.