Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"How can they be gone?!" Kate asked panicky in her phone.

"I can't get a hold of them, and when I called Lanie she said they had gone an hour ago. When I tried calling their cells it goes directly to voice mail." Gates explained and Kate thought quickly.

"Rick, did you tell them what forest we were going to?" she asked and Rick shook his head.

"No, I don't... wait... or... maybe I did" he said and tried to think back.

Kate looked through the back window back at the forest.

"Okay, we need back-up, the easiest way to do this is that you send the group on the way plus one car, so that Rick's family can continue home and it won't take to much time in case Ryan and Espo's in trouble" Kate said and when she looked at Rick to get his approval he nodded.

When Kate hung up Martha started talking.

"So you're telling us that you're going back?! What if the men attack you again?"

"We have to, if Ryan and Espo are in there, caught or not, we need to get tem out of there" Rick said before Kate could say anything.

"But dad, please, don't do this, what if you get hurt?" Alexis pleaded.

There was a silence, Kate didn't want to say something, cause she didn't want Alexis to be without her dad.

"There's nothing we can say to keep you from going, is there?" Martha finally said and Rick looked at Kate.

Kate could feel his gaze but didn't want to meet his wonderful blue eyes. She already felt guilty for taking him away from his family, not that she pulled him away from them it was just that she knew he spend less time with them since she got in the picture as his.

"No, there's not. But we won't get caught again, this time we will be more people and we will have vests and guns" Rick said and the ride continued in silence.

After a while they met up with the police cars the group was in. They decided that Martha, Alexis and Pi could take their own car back home while Rick and Kate got to go in one of the police cars.

"Be careful, kiddo, and can I talk to you for a second, Kate?" Martha asked.

Kate got surprised but nodded and they went a few steps away so the others couldn't hear what they were saying. Kate started to get nervous, what was it Martha wanted to say that she didn't want Rick to hear? She hadn't done anything wrong, right? Martha looked at Kate with serious eyes.

"Take care of him in there, will you?" Martha said with worry in her voice.

"Of course!" Kate exclaimed, relieved it wasn't about her not being the one Martha wanted her son to marry.

"And don't forget to care of yourself too, we need both of you back home, you understand?" Martha said and Kate could see a glimpse of a tear in her eyes.

"I will do my best" Kate said and Martha embraced her in a big hug.

"I know you will, you're the one my son's been looking for. You know, I've never seen him so happy with any other girl, you're the one" Martha whispered in her ear.

Kate's heart got warm and the flutter she so often felt when Rick touched her appeared in her stomach.

"We should go!" Rick said from the police car and Kate started to walk towards him.

"Wait, just come back, okay? Just come back, both of you" Alexis said before she hugged Kate too.

"Mr C, Mrs C to be, be safe!" Pi shouted from their car.

Kate and Rick jumped into the police car and they watched as their family ride away on the opposite direction. Kate and Rick sat in the backseat so when Kate lay her hand on Rick's knee he got the message, he took her hand and they kept holding on to each other the whole way back to the forest they just fled from.