The bathroom door opened as the toilet flushed.
“Dude didn’t even wash his hands,” Gray muttered in disgust.
“That’s the least of our problems if they come downstairs,” Ash warned.
“They won’t,” I whispered as I tucked the USB into my jeans and the envelope into my back pocket. “Let’s move. One at a time, like always.”
Ash was the first out of the study, and for a guy of six-four, he was almost dainty as he crossed the hall and disappeared into the kitchen.
“Are you sure, dear? It won’t take a minute.”
“No, honey, let’s just go back to sleep.”
I grinned at Gray, who rolled his eyes at me for being right, before he left the study and crossed the hall and entered the kitchen. Casting a quick look around to make sure the room was as we found it, I followed them out. When I got to the kitchen, they were already outside, and I left quickly, Ash closing the door behind me.
We waited on the back porch for a few minutes before, one by one, we ran from the house back to the car.
Within ten minutes of being in the house, we were driving away with a USB stick and an envelope, hopefully telling us what we needed to know. No one spoke during the trip back, not even as I parked the car outside the house, and as quietly as we had left it this evening, we made our way to the top floor.
In my room, Gray and Ash disrobed of their black clothing and pulled on their pajama shorts. While they got ready to look like they had been in bed in case anyone came looking for us, I fired up the spare laptop I kept in the back of my closet.
“Was easier than I thought,” Gray said as he pulled a chair up beside me. It was the first any of us had spoken since we left the targeted house.
“Too easy?” Ash asked as he sat on the bed, his eyes on the screen. “What’s in the envelope?”
“A code,” I told him as I tossed it over to him. “I would guess it’s the passcode.”
“Yeah,” he nodded and then looked at the screen. “Swap seats. If it’s encrypted, I’ll get in quicker than you.”
Not a lie. Ash studied computer science, and I did economics. Both of us were shit-hot on computers; he was just better at coding and, in this case,decoding.
As we waited for the USB to come to life, I peeled my own clothes off. Unlike my brother and cousin, I slept naked, so I had no sleepwear to change into. However, they were used to seeing me in my underwear, and it was too humid tonight to keep my jeans on. Ash was grumbling about idiots and easy codes as I tossed my stuff in the hamper.
“It’s so hot,” I grumbled as I took Ash’s vacant spot on the bed.
“I’m in,” Ash said. “Looks like a video, we watching?”
“Fuck yes, we are,” Gray said as he leaned closer.
Twenty minutes later, not one of us had spoken a word.
“Fuck,” I finally murmured.
Ash huffed in agreement, his eyes on the now black screen.
“I . . .” Gray trailed off before his hand ran over his hair. “I will never unsee that.”
“What a sick bastard.” Ash shook his head as he stood up. “What a sick, twisted fuck.”
“We need to identify her,” I spoke softly as I looked at the two of them. “She probably has family who have no idea where she is or what happened to her.”
“We need to identify the four bastards in the video also.” Gray’s voice was hoarse.
“Well,Harrywasn’t one of them,” Ash spat. “But I bet he knows who they are.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I told them. “Jesus, I don’t think I can sleep after that.”
“We have to.” Gray stood too. “Who’s keeping it?”
