“Did you see any fire?” G8 asked and hoped the sheriff wouldn’t mind his interruption.
She shook her head. “No, but I smelled smoke. I was about to take the stairs when I thought about the babies and the other unborn fetuses. I knew I couldn’t leave there without knowing if they’d been taken out. When I went to the nursery, that’s when I discovered they’d been abandoned. The nurses and caretakers were gone, leaving those infants to die.” Her eyes teared up at the memory.
“I found a cardboard box and put them in it. There wasn’t much room to add a lot formula or diapers, but I packed what I could to get me by for a while. I figured I could get that stuff at the grocery store when I ran out. I carried the box upstairs to the lobby, and from there I went to the garage to retrieve my car.”
“No one stopped you or looked inside the box to see what you were carrying?” Biggs queried.
“Many people had boxes of stuff. Mostly personal items. Luckily, the babies slept through the whole thing, but that wasn’t surprising.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’re given suppressants in their bottles to make them sleep longer than normal.”
“What about folders and other paperwork?” the sheriff asked.
“Most of that was burned or shredded. But the printed stuff was secondary. The valuable information was never printed out. It was all computerized.”
“Miss Shyne.” G8 sought her attention again. The woman turned to him, and he noticed the fear etched on her face. He’d heard it in her voice as she told her story, but not the reason behind it. And after she made that odd remark about being killed over a bit of plastic… “Did you say you were in fear for your life?”
Her pale face went paler. “Yes, I did.” It was a whisper. “And for the babies.”
“Tell us again about these babies, and why they’re so special,” Biggs inquired.
6INSINU8
“Their names are Cl8 and Sl8,”Ingrid began, when the man standing off to her right and slightly behind her spoke up again.
“How do you spell that?”
Thinking he was taking notes, she complied. “Cl8 is spelled C, L, and the number eight. Sl8 is S, L, and the number eight. The number eight indicates that they’re part of the Eighth Species division. Those people who came here from the labs? Their names use the number eight, too, but they’re first generation. These babies are second generation, which is why they have two letters to begin their names. At least, that is how it was explained to me.”
The sheriff slowly shook his head as if he was having trouble taking it all in. “And you claim you worked only in that section where the…would you call it where the regeneration took place?”
“Yes.”
“Have you met the first generation?” the man behind her asked.
She turned to him. He wasn’t wearing a uniform, making her think he might be undercover. He had to somehow be associated with the sheriff’s department or else he wouldn’t be here.
“No, I haven’t. I’ve read some reports about them. I’ve seen their dossiers and photos of them, but I’ve never met them personally.”
The man exchanged looks with the sheriff, who snorted and went around his desk to sit down.
“Okay. Let me see if I’ve got this down. You used to work for those labs… Hold on.” He picked up the phone on his desk and pressed a button. “Milton, find out what county Docenti Labs is in and get back to me with that.” He hung up to continue. “You said the place caught on fire, and all personnel were evacuated. But before you also left, you first went back, retrieved the infants, and where did you take them?”
“I started to take them to my apartment, but I decided that wouldn’t be wise.”
“Why not?”
“In case someone noticed I had the boys, or someone went to look for them and found them gone. Since I worked there, they have my home address. That’s when I decided it would be safer, at least for the moment, to go to my parents’ house. I was also hoping Mom and Dad could help me take care of them.”
“Where doyoulive?”
“In Ryler.”
“Where do your folks live?”
“In Bakkonville.”
