Free Blood Ransom by Lisa Harris

think so.”
    She drove with trembling hands until she came to the relative safety of the guarded parking lot of a hardware store. “I’m so sorry about your camera, Joseph.”
    He nodded at his backpack sitting on the floorboard in front of him. “We still have the printed photos in my backpack.”
    Running her fingers through her hair, she worked to steady herbreathing. So much for clearing her head. She couldn’t even think. All she could hear was the shattering of the backseat window replaying in her mind like a broken record.
    Joseph picked off a shard of glass that had stuck to the collar of his shirt. “You should call the police.”
    Natalie tried to swallow the lump of irritation rising in her throat. Of all days. She’d had several friends robbed at intersections in their cars, but she had enough trouble to deal with today without having to fill out a police report on items she’d probably never see again. She made a quick inventory of what was missing. A handful of change, her international driver’s license, Joseph’s camera…
    Joseph’s camera.
    She felt the acid rising in her stomach. What if this hadn’t been a random theft after all? Stephen knew she had an extra set of photos. What if he’d told Patrick? Patrick might deny the existence of the Ghost Soldiers, but if there was a cover-up involved…
    The implication ripped through her like one of the shards of glass on the seat behind her. If Patrick was involved, he’d have had just enough time to arrange a local thug to ensure that no evidence remained of what had taken place in Joseph’s village.
    No. Surely she was jumping to conclusions. She needed to go home and think.
    The jingling of her cell phone made her jump. “Hello?”
    “Natalie, it’s Chad.”
    Relief flooded through her as she checked for traffic, then exited the parking lot. “The phones have been down. I’ve been trying to call you.”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I…” Her voice broke.
    “Natalie—” The line crackled.
    “Chad?” No , Lord. Please. I’ve got to have someone I trust. She pressed the phone against her ear and tried to stop the rising panic in her voice.
    “Natalie, what happened?”
    She breathed out a sigh of relief. “I went to Joseph’s village. It’s true. The Ghost Soldiers exist, Chad. I have pictures. Proof.”
    A pause. “I thought you weren’t going to get involved.”
    “I couldn’t ignore what Joseph saw.” Natalie blinked and tried to see through the tears.
    “Maybe not, but this isn’t a game, Natalie. Especially if the Ghost Soldiers exist. It’s too dangerous.”
    “Really.” Anger seeped through the tears. “I’d say so. Someone just smashed the back window of my car and took my purse with the camera and memory chip.”
    “Are you in your car?”
    “Yes.”
    “Come to the hospital, and we’ll figure out what to do together.”
    Squeezing the phone against her shoulder, she turned left onto her street. “I’m already here at my house—”
    “Natalie, you don’t know if it’s safe.”
    “I need to go inside and try to sort through what’s going on.” She waited for Joseph to open the gate for her before pulling into her driveway and turning off the engine. The front door was shut, and the metal bars were still intact on the windows. Nothing looked out of place.
    “Everything looks fine here.” She hurried up the porch steps. “I’ll be at the hospital in thirty minutes. Forty-five, tops. I promise.”
    She hung up, then jammed her key into the security gate, thankful Joseph was with her. The small entryway looked undisturbed. Her umbrella hung on the iron coat rack. Yesterday’s mail lay unopened on the half-moon table.
    She looked farther in. A stream of light shone onto the tiled kitchen floor.
    The back door stood open.
    “ No, no, no… ” Natalie took a step sideways, knocking into Joseph in the process. She looked into the living room. Her couch was tiltedforward. Drawers had been pulled out and