The phone buzzed. The sheriff picked up the receiver. “Yes? It’s in Gundermon County? Find out who the sheriff is over there. Also, when you call that department, see if they’re aware of a fire breaking out at the labs. Get back with me on what you discover.” He hung up and leaned back in his chair. “Miss Shyne, tell me again what made you decide to bring the infants here.”
“Because of the first generation Chimera. They came here, so I figured they’d be best able to take care of them.”
“Because they might have special abilities like the first generation?”
“Yes, sir.” She added a nod.
Sheriff Biggs pointed to the man behind her. “Do you have any more questions for this young lady?”
“Yes, sir. A few.”
The sheriff waved for him to continue, and the guy walked around to the side of the desk to face her. Ingrid didn’t know what he planned to ask her, but she wasn’t prepared for his first question.
“What’s on that bit of plastic you showed us that you believe will get you killed?”
Ingrid stared at the man. “It has reports. Graphs. Data. Just about everything you’d need to know about what was going on in those labs.”
“Insurance, eh?”
“Yes.”
“Also, now that you’ve brought those infants here to dump them off on those other people, how can you be sure the Chimera will accept them? Have you tried contacting them?”
“No. I don’t know how to contact them. That’s why I came here. I figured you people would know.”
The man persisted. “Let’s assume the Chimera agree to care for the infants. What makes you think you still won’t be tracked down and killed after those people tracking you torture you to tell them what you did with the babies?”
She stopped as cold fear crept up her spine. She hadn’t thought about that. “I…I…”
He leaned forward slightly. “Have you made a backup copy of what’s on that drive?”
“No. Not yet,” she hastily told him. This close to her, she could tell his eyes were blue, but with a strange greenish halo around the pupil. One halo,not two, like the babies’.
Something in the back of her mind… Something she’d read…
Ingrid jerked with the realization as the man threw out another question.
“Who else besides your parents know about the infa?—”
“You’re one of them,” she almost stammered, interrupting him. “You’re… You’re the one whose outward appearance changes every month, aren’t you?”
She’d swear man appeared a bit flustered, but he quickly shook it off and smiled. Leaning back, he crossed his arms over his chest.
“If you know that much about me, then you know my name,” he replied in answer.
“Not specifically, nooo… Wait!” She held up a finger when it suddenly came to her.
The man laughed out loud. “Close, but no cookie.”
“Huh?” She peered at him when she got the joke. “Okay. That one almost got by me. Are you…G8?”
He held out a hand to her. “G8 Children. My official name.”
“But you’re…”
“I just molted. This is me for the next four weeks.”
“Miss Shyne.” Sheriff Biggs directed her attention back to him. “First off, since you don’t have a backup of that flash drive, would you be willing to let me have it for the time being? Until you or somebody can make a second and maybe third copy for insurance?”
