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He put his hand on her shoulder to hold her there.

She narrowed her eyes on him, her jaw tightening. “You can’t stop me.”

“Stop you? Hardly.” He smiled. “I’m coming with you.”

When they turned off of Kamehameha Highway, the first thing they saw was a roadblock up ahead.

“No.” Mari shook her head. “No. The rain stopped last night.”

“The rain stopped,” he agreed, “but it must have started again. We just didn’t feel it in Enchanted Lakes.”

Buck drove up closer while Mari got on her phone, dialing Reiko’s number.

Her friend picked up just as their car reached the first police vehicle.

He kept an ear on Mari’s conversation as he spoke with the officer who was wearing a plastic cover on his dark blue hat. “Hello, Officer…” He read the name on the man’s tag. “Machado.”

The officer lifted a brow. “The road’s closed to traffic. We’re evacuating residents. This isn’t a place for people who are just going to drive around, curious.”

Buck tried not to bite at the man.

Officer Machado was doing his job.

Buck gestured at Mari. “She has a house close to the dam,” he explained, “she wants to check on her neighbors and make sure they evacuated.”

The officer leaned in and looked across Buck at Mari. The change of height for the officer let in sheets of rain from the storm.

Buck narrowed his eyes, trying to keep his vision clear.

“Can I see her ID?”

Buck reached out and tapped Mari’s leg.

She paused her call and looked at him.

“Honey, the officer needs to see your ID, so he knows you live in the area. Or he’s not going to let us in.”

Mari nodded and changed the phone to her other ear, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder as she reached into the pocket on the thigh of her dark pink leggings.

She handed it to him and when Buck turned to give it to the officer he saw the man’s gaze on Mari’s leg.

“Officer?”

Officer Machado actually looked a little contrite as he took the ID from his hand.

For what seemed like a long time, he looked at the Driver’s License before nodding. “Okay.” He gave Buck back the card and gestured at an officer on the other side of the barricade. “Let them through.”

The officers moved the barricade and Buck gripped the wheel. Just before he took his foot off of the brake, Mari put her hand on the steering wheel.

“Officer?”

Buck tensed as she leaned across him to look out of the window.

Officer Machado walked back over and braced his hand on the door frame. “Miss?”

Mari gave him a slight smile. “My neighbor is coming to help.”

The officer opened his mouth to speak, but Mari rolled right over him.