They returned to Juan’s house in a blue, weather-beaten Ford Taurus. As they parked it, Juan opened the front door and waited for them.

“Wow, that’s a stunner.” Juan joked.

“I named her Diamond.” Cam said as he walked past Juan into the house.

“After that stripper at The Body Shop?”

Cam turned back to Juan and said sternly, “Hey, she was working her way through college.” They both laughed at what must have been an inside joke.

Kristy walked in behind Cam. She laughed as they joked with each other. It made the whole situation seem a little lighter. When Cam disappeared into the hallway, Kristy approached Juan.

“I want to do something for Cam. I’m the reason he’s here, and he’s done so much. His cabin got trashed last night, and I know this isn’t easy for him. I’d like to take some of the stress off of him, see him relax a little. Maybe we could all go out for dinner? Get some drinks? What do you think? What would he like?”

Juan nodded and thought about her question for a moment. “I understand what you mean, and I think he’d like that, but not now. Let’s hang out here tonight. We’ll make some dinner and turn on some music, play some cards, and try to relax our nerves, just the three of us. I will tell you, though, that his birthday is next month.” Juan winked at her and looked up to see Cam making his way back to them. Kristy thought about what Juan had said and hatched a plan to celebrate Cam’s birthday.

“We’re going to go to a motel.” Kristy heard Cam telling Juan.

“No, stay one more night. Let’s just hang out tonight. Try to relax. You’ll both rest easier in a house with one more friend.” Juan tried to persuade him. Cam’s eyes wandered the room while he thought about his friend’s offer. “I’ll make some dinner and we’ll just kick back.” Juan continued. “Give your mind a break. That’s when ah-ha moments happen.”

“That’s usually true.” Kristy chimed in.

“And who knows,” Juan saw that Cam wasn’t completely convinced. “Maybe I’ll get a lock on Kristy’s phone before tomorrow. If not, I can at least beat your ass in a few card games before you go.”

“Okay.” Cam nodded and laughed. “But no poker. I’m serious, man, don’t trust her.” He nudged Kristy as he walked past her.

Cam followed Juan into the kitchen to start preparing dinner. Kristy sat down on the couch with her laptop. She needed to check her work email. She wasn’t expected at work until next week, but she was now wondering if there was something she could do from home. She was hoping for something to fill the time until their next move, whatever that would be. Kristy sent a quick email to her boss telling her that she could take on a story while she was home. Almost instantly her email pinged. There was a new story about a police sting operation bringing down a handful of drug traffickers in the area. Kristy would have to go into her office to get the original report. She could do that in the morning. She was sure Cam would want to come with her.

Work made her think of Jordan. She smiled as she dialed his phone number. “Hey,” she said sweetly into the phone when he answered.

“Hey,” Kristy could hear the smile on his face. “How are you?”

“I’m good. Still with Cam.”

“He’d better be taking care of you.”

“He’s doing a good job. How are you? How’s work been?” she asked.

“It’s been empty. I miss you.”

“I’m coming in for a minute tomorrow morning. I’m going to take some stuff home to work on.”

“Will you come see me when you get there?”

“Of course.” Kristy smiled.

“Good. I can’t wait.”

Kristy giggled into the phone. “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“It can’t come fast enough.”

After they hung up Kristy sat and smiled to herself. She was sure she looked ridiculous and was glad the guys were in the other room, but she just couldn’t help the giddy feeling, and she kind of liked it.

She glanced back at the email her boss had sent her and tried to search for stories of police stings and drug arrests to familiarize herself with the subject. She was a few lines into an old article when the idea hit her.

“Hey guys,” she walked into the kitchen and saw that they were preparing burgers. Cam was forming hamburger patties in his hands and Juan was shucking corn. Kristy stood next to Cam and dug her hands into the bowl of meat. She formed a couple patties as she spoke. “What if we set a trap?” Both men stopped what they were doing and tilted their heads like cocker spaniels.

“How do you mean?” Cam finally said.

“I was just reading about sting operations that the cops do. You guys should know about that. What we need is proof, right? Proof of who they are and that they have committed some kind of crime.” Kristy explained excitedly.

“Right…” Juan said slowly. “And we need someone to take it to. If the inspector is the one committing crimes when he’s supposed to be stopping them, I don’t know who to tell.”

“Can’t we Google it and see who’s above the inspector?” Kristy suggested.

“If there’s really some national security info at risk, I can take it to the police chief. He’d know who to contact.” Juan suggested.

“We could,” Cam said, “but then what? How do we get this proof?”

“Can we try to talk to them? Record a conversation or something like that? Do some kind of wiretap, or some other police-y thing. I don’t know. I was sort of counting on you two to figure out all that stuff.”

Cam laughed. “I see.” Then he exchanged a look with Juan and turned back to Kristy. “You have a good idea. Something like this may actually work. Let me think on it for a while.”

Kristy let a huge grin spread across her face. She’d been feeling so helpless lately. It was nice to finally feel like she’d contributed something.

They sat outside on Juan’s porch while Juan grilled the burgers and corn. Kristy brought out a plate of all the cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes she had sliced along with an assortment of condiments. The food smelled great and they were all smiling. Soon the food was done and silence fell over the table as they ate. They were all hungrier than they had originally thought.

“Thank you. That was great.” Kristy said when she finished.

“You’re welcome. So was breakfast.” Juan held up his beer and Kristy clinked the neck of her Corona bottle against his.

She dumped the last bit of Corona into her mouth and got up for another. She brought a couple beers for Cam and Juan when she came back to the table. They were finished eating and they all sat back in their chairs and enjoyed the cool night air. Kristy listened to Cam and Juan tell stories of things they had done when they worked together. She laughed at their stories and inside jokes. On the outside they all looked carefree. One would never guess they were still holding fear and uncertainty in the back of their minds.

Late that night, after all the food was put away and the dishes were done, Kristy curled up at the end of the couch and opened her laptop. She inserted the flash drive and flipped through the photos Juan had uncovered just a day ago. She looked at each one carefully, looking for anything that could tell her more about who these men were. She thought about everything she knew about Logan and decided to do a search. She knew from her job that there were many ways to find people. She logged on to a website dedicated to finding people who had served in the military. She entered the first name Logan, selected Army, and hit enter. A window popped up asking for a last name. Damn, she thought. Kristy stared at the screen and a thought popped in her head. She entered Logan as the last name and hit enter. Soon she was staring at a long list of past and present soldiers with the last name of Logan. None of them had pictures, but she was able to eliminate some based on their age. If she knew his rank she would be able to narrow it down even more.

She was flipping through the pictures looking for the ones that showed Logan when Cam sat down next to her.

“Don’t do this to yourself.” He said.

“It’s not what you think.” She showed him her search. “I’m trying to see if I can tell what rank he is, or see his name on his uniform anywhere. I don’t even know if Logan is his first or last name.”

“Let me see that.”

Kristy moved the laptop closer so they could both look at the pictures. “He’s not in any of the ones taken outside. Here we can see Stearns and Reed,” Kristy pointed to the two men in one of the pictures with dead bodies. “But Logan is only in the ones in this building.”

“One of the reports listed Garcia, Hillman, and Wolfe too. One of them might be Logan. I’ll try a search with those as his last name.” She entered the first name Logan and searched each of the three last names. They all came up with too many results to have any idea. If they knew his rank or even where he lived, they might have a chance.

“He’s careful.” Cam sighed. “Put it away. We should get to bed.”

“Hey, I need to go into work in the morning, just for a few minutes. I’m picking up some stuff.”

“With all this going on, you asked for work?” He chuckled. “You’re incredible.”

She laughed and let her head hang for a moment. “I thought it would help take my mind off some of this. You don’t have to go with me; I just thought you’d like to know where I was.”

“Thank you, but I’ll take you over there.” He smiled. “What time?”

“About nine.”

“Okay. I’ll be ready.”

“Thanks,” she bent down to get her sweat pants out of her bag. “I’m going to go change.”

Cam didn’t move. “You slept on the couch last night. I’ll take it tonight.”

Kristy opened her mouth to protest but remembered what happened last time she argued with him over which bed to take. She decided not to go there again.

“Thank you.”