Ingrid by Miriam Minger

Author:Miriam Minger [Minger, Miriam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-943644-33-9
Publisher: Walker Publishing
Published: 2019-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Wide-eyed in horror, Ingrid watched as Seth and Andreas jumped to their feet as well, but Joshua gestured sharply for them not to follow him.

“Stay here and protect the women and children,” he ordered sternly, and then he said to Caleb, “Cover me.”

Ingrid gasped as Joshua and Caleb, with their guns drawn, moved swiftly to the arched entryway. They paused for only an instant, Joshua giving a signal, and then he bolted to the reception area opposite the dining room while Caleb fired several shots toward the foyer.

Ingrid heard the frightened cries of other hotel patrons when the man who’d yelled at Joshua fired back, one of the double doors at the hotel entrance slamming hard against the outer wall. Realizing their attacker must have retreated outside, she gathered Emily and Davy closer, both children holding tightly to her and trembling.

“It’s going to be all right,” she whispered, shaking from head to foot herself, Anita genuinely sobbing now, too. Would it be all right, though? Desperately Ingrid started to pray as Caleb disappeared around the corner after Joshua, both men she imagined taking cover closer to the hotel entrance.

“Hold your fire, Sutherland!” came Joshua’s shouted demand. “It’s not too late to surrender! Let’s talk before anyone gets hurt—”

“No talk, Logan! One of your deputies tried to stop me from coming into town and got a bullet to the head with witnesses aplenty. If I surrender I’ll be swinging at the end of a rope anyway, so come out here and face a dead man!”

“Oh, Joshua, no…” Ingrid pleaded while it seemed the whole world had stopped around her.

She no longer heard Davy and Emily crying in her arms.

She no longer saw the ashen faces of Molly and Charles underneath the table, or Andreas kneeling down to try and comfort Anita, or Seth crouched near the dining room entrance with his gun poised at the ready, or Kari with tears streaming down her face as she stared, stricken, at her husband.

All she heard ringing in her ears and her heart was her fervent whispered prayer repeating over and over, “Please, Lord, protect him. Please, Lord…”

She jumped at the sound of the hotel door kicked open and slamming against the wall.

She bit her lip, drawing blood, at the deafening report from a revolver, followed almost instantly by another, the two shots reverberating all around them.

Then she heard shouting from the street as if townspeople were running to the scene from every direction.

No, no, no, not to look at Joshua lying dead just outside the hotel doors, please, God, no!

“It’s over!” came Seth’s cry as he ran back to the table to sweep his sobbing wife into his arms. “It’s safe to stand up!”

Safe? That must mean Joshua…! Swept by overwhelming relief, Ingrid struggled to move with the children still clinging to her. At once Molly rose and came running around the table to take Emily into her arms while her husband hastened over to assist Ingrid with Davy.

Caleb returned, too, looking grim as he holstered a small pistol inside his coat.

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