Twenty minutes later, Cam knocked lightly on Kristy’s door. She cracked the door open just enough to see it was him before opening it wide enough for him to enter. She closed it behind him and threw the locks into place. Cam could hear fear in her voice over the phone, but seeing it on her face made him realize how terrified she really was.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He put both hands on her shoulders. “Tell me what’s goin’ on.”

They sat down in her living room and she explained the situation to him. She told him about Logan’s odd request to look through Alex’s things, and about seeing his truck on the road. She told him about the gray car that had parked outside her window and about seeing the driver talking to Logan. She told him that she had made a police report, but that the car had vanished while she was on the phone. He listened attentively the whole time, nodding his head, folding and unfolding his arms, and when she was done she stuck a fingernail between her teeth and waited for him to tell her what to do.

He walked to the window and quickly scanned the parking lot. Sure enough, there was a gray car parked facing her apartment and two men were sitting inside. He stood in the middle of the room and looked around slowly, then sat back down next to her.

Cam leaned back and stroked his chin. He hadn’t been a cop for a while, but the mentality never goes away. He tried to think of the big picture. “Did Alex give you anything that was special to him before he went back? Anything that he asked you to take special care of? What all did he leave with you?”

“Uh…” Kristy thought a moment. “Not that I can think of. Come here, I’ll show you everything.” She led Cam into her bedroom. She pulled two cardboard boxes and a large duffel bag out of her closet.

“This is most of it, and there’s a few things in there.” Kristy motioned to the trunk that had recently been added to her bedroom.

Cam nodded and looked over everything quickly. He picked up one of the boxes and the duffel bag. “Let’s look through these first and then you can show me what’s in there.” He pointed with his chin at the trunk. Kristy picked up the other box and followed him back to the living room.

In an effort to make it feel like a normal social visit, Kristy offered Cam a drink. He declined and opened the first box. They took everything out and laid it out on her table one piece at a time. For Kristy, it was like opening the wound all over again. There were pictures of her and Claire, and a few of Cam and Alex together. Kristy gathered the letters she had received from Alex, and in one of the boxes they found the letters to Alex from Kristy, Claire, and Cam. Kristy looked up at him.

“I didn’t know you wrote him.”

He didn’t look directly at her. “I missed him.”

Cam pulled out the same phone Kristy had looked at, along with a digital camera. They found Alex’s wallet and boots, two decks of cards, a box of paper and envelopes, three pens, a book of stamps, and a pair of sunglasses. Cam pulled out some coins from other countries, some loose shirt buttons, a silver chain necklace, and Alex’s favorite hat. He held the hat in his hand a little longer than the other objects and smiled.

“Keep it.” Kristy said when she saw how he held on to it. Cam smiled and put it on his head.

The next box was a little smaller than a shoe box. In it they found a pack of gum, a book of one-player card games, a tennis ball, and a wilderness survival guide.

The duffel bag was full of clothes. They pulled out his dress uniform first.

“I should hang this up.” Kristy said as she ran her hand down the jacket. She set it aside and they continued to look.

They pulled out a pair of dress shoes, an Army t-shirt and some camouflage pants, three pairs of socks, another pair of sunglasses, all of Alex’s pins and ribbons, and two Army hats. They checked all of the pockets on the bag and only found shoelaces, deodorant, and Alex’s toothbrush.

Cam leaned his hands on the table. “Damn.”

“What?” Kristy’s eyes widened. What had he noticed that she hadn’t?

“No porn.” Cam shrugged and grinned.

Kristy narrowed her eyes at him. “That’s not funny.” She huffed and snatched Alex’s uniform off the table before heading down the hall.

“What?” Cam followed her to her room. “It was a little funny.” He found Kristy shoving his jacket onto a hanger.

“You know what, if you don’t want to be here, just go home.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. I was just trying to make you laugh. Come on, Kris,”

“No.” She spun on her heel and pointed a finger at Cam. “You do not get to call me that.” She closed her eyes and sucked in a breath, and turned her back to him when she felt the pressure building behind her nose. Her fingers worked the fabric of the pants in her hand as she struggled to control her emotions.

He took a few steps forward until he was standing at her side. “I’m sorry. He always said that when he talked about you. It just… anyway, I’m sorry.”

“This scares me. Something weird is going on and I don’t know what to do.” Her voice cracked and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

“I know, and you’re right. I shouldn’t have made a joke out of it. I’m sorry.” He set his fingers on her shoulder. “I want to help you. Can I look in the trunk now?”

Kristy nodded and grabbed another hanger out of her closet. Cam lowered himself in front of the trunk and opened the top.

“Did you throw anything away? Have you moved anything? Did you put some of his stuff up, or give it to Gram?”

“No, but I did take a necklace out of the trunk. It was Granddad’s. I tried to get Alex to take it with him when he was home the last time, but he didn’t.” Her voice faded as she recalled being there with Alex.

“Okay.” Cam nodded and dug around in the trunk a little more, running his hand over the objects inside again as he thought about what to do.

Kristy turned back to hanging up her brother’s uniform when she felt something in the pocket of the pants. “Hey,” she pulled out a small drawstring pouch. “Look.” She handed it to Cam. He gently pulled it open and turned it over. A flash drive and an earpiece fell onto his palm. It looked like some kind of wireless communication earpiece that would connect to a radio or a network of other devices.

Confused, he turned them over in his hand and looked up at Kristy. “Where’s your laptop?”

“Out here,” she said slowly. She left her room and Cam followed. Kristy found her laptop on the kitchen counter and turned it on. While she did, Cam checked out the earpiece. He turned on the small switch on the back and fit it into his ear. After a few seconds, his eyes got wide and he reached out and tapped Kristy. She turned around and opened her mouth to say something, but he put his fingers over her mouth and shook his head telling her to stay quiet. Her heart pounded. Something was wrong.

Cam grabbed a pen and paper from Alex’s belongings and scribbled a note. He held it up to her face and took the earpiece out of his ear.

Don’t talk. They are listening. Grab what you need. We have to leave.

Kristy’s eyes got wide and she covered her mouth with her hands. Terror seized her. She stared up at Cam and almost froze in fear, but he held her eyes with his and gently rubbed his hand over her shoulder a few times. Kristy composed herself and swallowed the panic. She nodded and sprang into action. Kristy grabbed a change of clothes out of her room and shoved them into a bag, trembling the whole time. She had changed out of her pajamas and into sweat pants when Cam said he would come over, but she didn’t know when she’d be back. Kristy shoved her feet into the flat brown boots next to the couch and snatched a jacket off the nearest chair.

She was ready.

Except she wasn’t.

Cam set aside the pens and paper and survival guide that were with Alex’s things. He wrote another note for Kristy.

Do you have a back door?

She shook her head rapidly. He thought a moment, and then wrote something else.

I have an idea. Play along.

Kristy nodded. She swallowed again and braced herself for whatever she may have to do. Cam started to speak out loud.

“There’s nothing here. I think you’ll be fine. Do you want me to stay or can I head home?” Cam nodded his head when he said the word home. Kristy knew that was the answer he wanted.

She hesitated a moment. Struggling to sound as natural as possible, she replied, “Uh, no, you don’t have to stay. I’ll be fine. I’m sorry I called you over here. I’ll just take a shower and go to bed.”

“No problem.” Cam wrote again while he replied, “You can call me anytime.” He held the paper up for her to read.

Follow me to my truck. Stay close.

She nodded and looked again. He had written something else. He was pointing toward the hallway.

Go turn on the shower.

“Thanks.” She said loudly as she headed towards the bathroom. She turned on the water and brought her bag over to Cam so he could throw in the paper and pens. She added her laptop and the thumb drive and they were ready. Cam started to pull the door open when Kristy remembered something and tapped him on the shoulder. When he turned to her she held up her finger for him to wait one minute and went to her kitchen. After some searching, she shoved a small piece of paper in her purse and was back at Cam’s side. He opened the front door slowly and Kristy locked it from the inside.

“Bye.” He said as he pulled the door closed behind them. He grabbed her free hand and they carefully walked along the wall of her building. He was thankful it was dark outside and they would be hard to see in the shadows. When they approached his truck he stopped and turned to whisper to Kristy. She had paled slightly and she sucked in short breaths, exhaling shakily through her nose.

“Hey,” Cam felt Kristy’s hand shaking inside his. “You’re doing great, okay?” She licked her lips and nodded. “Give me your bag. I’m going to open the passenger door and put it on the seat. When I do, you climb in and sit on the floor. Get as low as you can. If they watch me leave, they can’t know you’re with me. I need you to stay close. You ready?”

She swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

They walked quickly to his truck and he opened the door. Without hesitation, she climbed inside and crouched down. She sucked in short, deep breaths and tried to calm her shaking nerves. Cam set the bag on the seat and closed the door. The moon cast an eerie glow into the empty cab. She hunkered down even lower, trying to make herself invisible, and wondered what had led to her being forced to sneak out of her own home. Cam walked around to the driver’s side and climbed in. He started his truck and turned the radio up and started to drive. When he came around the corner toward the gate he noticed the two men in the gray car near Kristy’s apartment watching him. He knew they were looking to make sure he was leaving alone. He pretended not to notice them when he drove by.

When they were a safe distance away from the apartment complex, Cam looked around to make sure the car hadn’t followed him.

“All clear.” He said when he was sure it was safe.

“Where are we going?” She asked as she buckled herself in the passenger seat.

“My place, and then I’m taking you to my hunting cabin until we figure this out.”

“Thank you.” She was quiet for a few minutes and then decided to tell him what she had been thinking since the moment she made the decision to call him. “I was really scared to call you. I didn’t know if I should ask you for help.”

Cam jaw tightened and he rubbed his free palm across his jaw. He let out a deep breath, but said nothing. Neither of them spoke the rest of the way to his house.

When they reached his house, he backed into his driveway and opened the garage.

“I’m going to get some things. You can come help me or you can stay here.” He shut the door hard and left her sitting in the truck to make the decision herself. She got out and entered the garage behind him. He was pulling things off shelves and forming a pile in the middle of the garage.

“What can I do?” She asked as evenly as she could manage. She could tell he was doing his best to hide his anger.

“Start putting this stuff in the back of the truck.” He pointed to the pile. He had pulled out two sleeping bags and one cot, a large plastic bin, and an ice chest. She picked up the first sleeping bag when he went into the house. He came back with a bag of clothes, two heavy jackets, and a paper bag full of food. He threw the bag of clothes into the back of his truck and handed the jackets to Kristy.

“Put these under the seats.” He ordered brusquely.

Cam picked up the ice chest and headed for the fridge in the garage. He quickly emptied a shelf full of drinks into the ice chest and set a few of the food items on top. He stuffed the dry food in a smaller ice chest and lifted it into the truck. With Kristy’s help, he loaded the plastic bin and the full ice chest into the end of the truck bed. He latched the tailgate and stretched a bungee cord over the sleeping bags.

“Be right back.” He went back inside. He came back with a backpack, a small box with a handle, and a long gun case. He put them in the truck behind the bench seat and put the backpack in the bed of the truck.

“Get in.” He said as he opened the driver door. Cam hit the button to close the garage, started the truck, and they were gone.

They were both quiet; lost in their thoughts. Kristy took out her phone and dialed a number. Cam heard it ringing and then he heard the voicemail pick it up.

“Jordan, it’s Kristy. Please call me when you get this message.” Unsure of what else to say, she hung up.

Cam kept his eyes on the road ahead and Kristy stared out the passenger window. They had almost a two hour drive, so Cam flipped on the radio in an effort ease the tension.