Kristy scrambled back away from the door. She pressed her hand over her mouth and held her breath. Her lungs burned and she sucked in short, deep breaths. Oh, God. She couldn’t do this. Couldn’t make herself run outside. Alone. In the dark. But what was the alternative? Whoever was outside would come in here, and then what?

She closed her eyes and breathed in and out shakily, trying to find her strength. She looked down at the keys in her hand and drew in another deep breath. She knew what Cam had told her to do.

“It’s okay,” she whispered to herself, “You can do this.” She got up, opened the door, closed her eyes tight, and bolted toward the truck. She’d only taken a few steps when she ran into someone. She felt a man grab her from behind and struggled against him.

“Get off me!” She screamed into the night, knowing there was no one around for miles. No one would hear her. Still, she fought. “Let me go!”

“Hey,” She recognized Cam’s voice. She stopped struggling and he wrapped her up in his arms. “It’s okay. There were just a few birds walking around. I got one.” He tried to make her smile, but Kristy was trembling with fear. She clung to him. Cam rocked her back and forth. “Shhh, shhh… It’s okay. I’m here. Everything’s okay.”

Her whole body was shaking violently. Her breathing was heavy; labored and shaky as she convulsed with fear. She buried her face in his chest and let a sob escape her throat. He hugged her to him and soothed her until her breathing slowed.

“It’s okay. Shhh. I got you. It’s okay.” When she looked up at him, he gave her a lopsided smile. “You okay?”

“I thought you…” She couldn’t make herself say the words. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and let her head fall back into chest.

“You won’t get rid of me that easily.” He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “Come on. Let’s go back inside.”

* * *

When Cam opened his eyes it was still dark outside. He looked up at the clock to see he had only been asleep for two hours. He shifted on his cot and closed his eyes when he heard a noise. He stiffened, concentrating on every small sound in the cabin. He sat up slightly and peeked out the window when he heard the noise again.

The floor creaked in the other room.

Cam sat up cautiously and reached for his pistol. He looked around the darkness and spotted a shadow moving in the kitchen. His feet touched the hard wood floor and, with the gun in his hand, he started across the room.

A board groaned under his feet and his froze and cursed under his breath before moving closer. Cam could see a shadow on the wall and prepared himself for the worst as he tip-toed around the corner.

“Shit, Kristy, you scared me.” She spun around at the sound of his voice. “I thought… I don’t know what I thought.” Cam wiped the sweat off his forehead. “What are you doing in here?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I was trying to be quiet,” She looked down at the floor before her eyes met his again. “I can’t sleep. I’m still a little wound up from earlier.” She turned back to look out the window and let out a long sigh. “Being up here reminds me of when Granddad used to take us all camping. I was always afraid to be alone in the woods and Alex would tell me ghost stories to scare me. Gram would try to convince me that his stories weren’t true,” she looked down at the floor and laughed, “But then he always let me sleep in his tent when I was scared at night, so I guess he really did care.”

Cam walked up behind her and stood next to her against the counter top. “So… you want me to tell you a ghost story?” They both laughed.

“No. I feel like we’re living one.” Kristy turned serious again. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

“It’s okay. Come here,” he draped his arm loosely around her shoulders and they shuffled back to the couch. He set the gun on the end table and they sat down. “I hate that you’re going through this. I should be able to do more. I’m sorry.”

She let her head rest against his shoulder. “There’s nothing else you can do. I don’t know anyone who would have gone through the lengths you have in the last two days. I just… I wish Alex would have told me if something was wrong so I would at least have some idea of what’s going on. I swear, if he wasn’t dead I’d kill him for leaving me in the dark.”

She heard Cam’s smile. “I think I’d probably help you. Hopefully Juan can give us something a little bit useful.” Cam turned to look at the clock. “Get us one step closer to figuring it out.”

Kristy looked up at him. “I don’t know what I would have done without you. I’d have crawled in a hole and hid. I’ve never been this terrified of anything in my whole life. I just want you to know how much I appreciate you being here.”

Cam smiled a shy smile. “I told you, if you ever need anything.” He said when his eyes met Kristy’s again.

“I know. But I kinda thought you meant, like, if I had a flat tire and was stranded somewhere I could call you for a ride.” She lowered her eyes and picked a fingernail. “I didn’t mean it to be this.”

“I meant anything.” He told her firmly. “And I’m not sorry. I’m glad you called me when you did. Now, let’s try to get some sleep.” He said more gently.

“I don’t like being alone in there. I keep hearing all these little noises.”

“You want to sleep on the couch? I know it’s not a tent, but I can share the room if it would make you feel better.”

“I’d like that. I’ll be right back.” Kristy came back with her pillow and blanket in hand. Cam started to get up to give her more room. “No. Stay.” Cam’s eyes widened slightly and Kristy regretted asking. “You know what, it’s okay. You need to get some sleep too.”

“Uh… no, I can stay. It’ll probably take me a minute to get back to sleep anyway.” He let out a nervous laugh and returned to his seat on the couch. Kristy tossed her pillow down near where Cam was sitting. She lay down and pulled the blanket up to her chin. She still felt a little tense, but she forced herself to close her eyes. Even though she was only getting to know Cam, she was grateful he was there watching over her. It was like she still had a big brother around to keep her safe. She had been feeling so helpless lately, and it was nice to have someone she trusted to lean on.

Cam sat with one arm stretched out along the back of the couch and stared into the darkness. His mind was full of questions. Would Juan be able to tell them anything tomorrow? What was Alex into? And how deep in was he? Someone wouldn’t have followed Kristy around and bugged her apartment for something that wasn’t serious.

He contemplated the possibilities, but came up empty. He sighed and looked down at Kristy. Her breathing was deep and steady, and he was sure she was asleep. He was glad he could be here for her, but now he was afraid to admit to her how scared he was to mess this up. He was always messing things up. And this time the consequences could be deadly. Still, he would do whatever it took to keep her safe. He felt it was the least he could do for his best friend, even if Alex was gone. Before he left her side, Cam made a silent promise to Alex to watch over his sister for as long as he was alive.

* * *

Kristy and Cam sat at the same table in the diner they met Juan at the day before. While they waited for Juan to arrive, they ordered breakfast. Cam had steak and eggs and Kristy had an omelet. It was delicious and they devoured their food without a word. They were quiet, both anxious to know what Juan was able to recover on the flash drive. Finally, Kristy looked up and spotted Juan walking toward them.

“He’s here.” She reached across the table and tapped Cam’s arm. His eyes darted up to see his friend. When Juan reached the table, he slid into the booth next to Cam and set Kristy’s laptop on the table.

“Morning.” Cam said, “You want something to eat?”

“Morning, brother. No, thanks. I already ate.” Juan turned to Kristy. “Morning, Kristy.”

“Good morning.” She twisted her fingers together, and drummed her thumbs on the table. She didn’t realize she was being so fidgety until Cam looked at her hands and raised his eyebrows. Not wanting to make Juan nervous, she stopped immediately.

Juan took in a breath and looked at them both. “I have some things to show you.” He opened the laptop and inserted the flash drive. He positioned the computer at the end of the table with the screen facing all three of them and opened the first picture file. Kristy looked at it with confusion all over her face, but Cam’s eyes got wide. They were looking at a time stamped picture of three women younger than twenty years old sitting on the floor of a small, empty room. The women were dirty and looked malnourished.

“This used to be a cat,” Juan started. “But the cat picture was just the carrier for this picture. It was hiding this picture. All of the pictures you found on here were carriers.”

“What… how? I’ve never heard of anything like this.” Kristy searched for the right question. She wanted to understand.

“It’s called steganography. See, all picture files have a certain amount of room for error in their data, and other data can be put into that space to keep it hidden. So if you know what you’re doing, you can hide a picture or even an audio file in that extra space. You have to have a certain kind of software to do it, but it’s easily found on the internet. I had to try a bunch of different ones, but once I found the one he used to hide it, I could uncover it, no problem.” Juan explained.

“Do you know anything about the picture? Where it was taken?” Kristy asked.

“It’s difficult to tell by looking at just one picture, but all of the pictures together tell a bigger story. They’re all date and time stamped. There’s no way to tell exactly where they were taken, but you said your brother was stationed in Afghanistan, so that’s a safe guess. Your brother was very smart to hide them like this.”

“What are the other pictures of?” Cam asked.

“Here, you guys should flip through them together.” Juan moved the laptop closer to Cam so he could reach it. Cam and Kristy took their time looking though the pictures Juan found hidden. There were pictures of investigation reports with Alex’s signature on them, and one of a group of soldiers holding up the severed heads of Afghan men and women. There were pictures of soldiers standing next to dead women and children holding their guns up as if they were celebrating. Cam stole a glance at Kristy. Her fingers were twisted together on the table and her eyes seemed to get wider with each picture.

They saw several pictures of a man in an Army uniform exchanging papers and envelopes with an Afghan man. Both men looked like they were authority figures. There was a picture of a soldier putting a gun to a young woman and then another picture of the same soldier pulling her by the hair down a dark hallway.

“Wait, go back.” Kristy tapped Cam’s arm rapidly. He clicked back to the previous picture.

“That’s Logan.” she pointed at the picture and looked at Cam. “That’s the guy who came to my door and who I kept seeing. This is what he was looking for. These are the pictures he wanted.”

“Are you sure?”

“It has to be, right?”

“Okay, this is starting to make a little more sense.” They continued to look at the pictures.

“Is there anything else?” Cam asked when they were done looking at everything.

“The one with the password, it’s a video. Don’t watch it in here. It’s pretty appalling. There is also an audio file that needed a password, but I cracked it too.” Juan smiled, clearly proud of himself.

“Okay. Thanks, man. We can work with this.” Cam closed the laptop and the three of them got up to leave. Outside, Cam and Juan shook hands. “I really appreciate it. I might need to call you again.”

“No problem, brother. Glad I could help.” He held out his hand to wave as he walked away.

Kristy thanked him as well before she climbed into Cam’s truck. Her mind was spinning from all she had just seen.

“How you doing?” Cam asked her when they were about half way back to his cabin. She hadn’t spoken since they left the diner.

“I don’t know.” She answered honestly. “I feel like we found some answers, but now I have more questions. It’s confusing.”

“I know.” He told her. He stretched his arm across the back of the seat and squeezed her shoulder. “When we get back let’s look through them again and read some of the reports that were there and see what else we can find out. We just have to keep adding pieces to the puzzle.”