Page 57 of G8
“Isn’t it a bit late to be doubting our abilities?” G8 remarked with a touch of humor.
Biggs grunted and narrowed his eyes. “You’re telling me you can run from here to that farmhouse in…what?”
G8 eyed the distance, noting it was mostly barren ground with few trees and bushes. However, P8 answered the man first.
“A minute. Sixty seconds. Ninety seconds, tops,”
“You’re kidding, right?” Conners said.
Watching the sheriff, G8 nodded in agreement. “We can do it.”
“I can do it faster,” K8 promised.
P8 bobbed his head. “Yep! If you thinkwe’refast, you should see the girls sprinting.”
Ingrid opened her car door and slipped out, keeping her head low. “I’m coming with you.”
“No!” G8 immediately protested. The memory of Cydney being shot flashed into his head like the bullet that had entered hers. The fact that N8’s woman miraculously survived was almost unbelievable, but he couldn’t imagine them being that lucky a second time. He wasn’t going to sacrifice Ingrid. Not if he could help it. “You’re not going with us.”
“What if those babies need help?” she protested. “What if K8 needs help?”
“G8 and I can manage,” P8 argued.
“Hey! I’m coming, too!” K8 hotly reminded them.
G8 could tell Ingrid was frustrated beyond words. She stomped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest, but she didn’t continue to protest. Hopefully, her common sense had kicked in.
“Awwright.” The sheriff cleared his throat. “Let’s try it this way. P8, G8, and K8, you get out of the cars on the back side and stay out of sight. Ingrid, you follow me in your vehicle.”
“Where are we going?”
“Just up the road a bit. Not far. Just enough to where they can’t see us from the house. We’ll stop there, and you’ll wait for the others to join you when they get back. G8, you and the others hold off until Deputy Conners and I go up to the house. Once we park, you start for the house. With luck, those people inside will be watching Dodd and me to see what we want and why we’re there. And maybe they just might not be aware of you sneaking up on them.”
“And then what?” G8 queried.
Biggs shrugged. “Follow your gut instinct. Get those babies and the other K8 out without somebody getting maimed or, God forbid, killed. Dodd and I will have your back, but the burden of their rescue is going to be on your shoulders. Are you up for this?”
Casting another look at Ingrid, G8 noted her irritation had been replaced with concern. “Yeah,” he answered. “Let’s get this going while they’re still at the farmhouse.”
Without waiting for someone to comment, he opened the back passenger side door and slipped out to take cover behind a nearby tree where P8 and K8 joined him. He saw Ingrid throw him one final worried look, then slide back into her car to follow the sheriff as they pulled back onto the roadway.
26OPER8
Ingrid kepther thoughts to herself as she followed the sheriff down the road until he reached the bend. Going around it, he then turned his car around so that it faced back toward town, and she did the same, pulling up behind him. Deputy Conners also made a U-turn but stopped in front of the sheriff’s car. Biggs exited his vehicle and hopped into the passenger side seat.
She continued to watch as the two law enforcement officers drove away. Once the car went around the curve, she spotted G8, P8, and K8 dash across the road and disappear into the tree line on the other side. At one point G8 glanced her way and she flashed him a smile, knowing he’d see it, even as far away as she was. She also noticed he was doing his best not to favor his bad leg, and she wondered if he’d be able to make the dash to the house as quickly as he’d claimed.
She slowly counted to ten, then exited her own vehicle. She hoped the sound of her traipsing through the field would be covered by the noise they were making. She also took advantage of the shrubbery scattered over the field. It caused her not to make progress as fast as the others, but it didn’t matter. If she managed to make it as far as the farmhouse, and G8 confronted her, she figured it would be too late for her to go back to her car if he ordered her to.
If he ordered her to.He may order her, but it wasn’t because he was being an asshole about it. He’d be worried for her safety, and she couldn’t blame him. She felt the same way about him.
Ingrid paused at the revelation.
I feel the same way about him.
He’s been injured, and yet he’s willing to risk his life for K8 and those babies.
Thinking of the infants, she recalled how gentle he’d been when he held Cl8. The way he almost cooed over the baby boy. And the way F8 and K8 doted on the babies.
