The Falls City Five

by Sarah Markel

  Dani grunted in response and reluctantly climbed out of bed. “Dibs on the first shower,” she grumbled as she made her way into the en-suite.

  Max chuckled and tossed aside the thin blanket covering her nudity. “Like there’s going to be time for separate showers,” she said, stepping into the spray behind Dani.

  Dani leaned back against her when Max encircled her waist. “We’re not even going to have time for one shower if you don’t keep your hands to yourself.”

  Max smiled and pressed a kiss to the back of Dani’s head. “Okay, fine,” she teased, grabbing the puff to lather her wife’s back, “but I get to grope you on the way to the office.”

  “Deal,” Dani laughed, turning her back to the spray. Their eyes met, and the redhead struggled to keep from acting on the desire that swirled in Max’s eyes.

  Max could see the obvious struggle, and groaned loudly when Dani’s teeth caught her lip. “Why do you have to be so sexy when we have to go to work?”

  Dani smirked and switched positions, allowing Max into the water. “We’re always at work, sweetheart, when else am I supposed to be sexy?”

  Max lathered shampoo into her short black hair. “You’re always sexy, Dani. It doesn’t matter where we are, or what we’re doing. All you have to do is breathe and it’s all I can do to keep from pulling you into the nearest closet.”

  Dani smiled alluringly and drew her fingernail down the space between Max’s breasts. “I busted out of the closet when I was fourteen, honey, I’m not going back in.”

  Gooseflesh erupted in the wake of Dani’s feather-light touch and Max laughed. “No closets, got it,” she said, reaching behind her to shut off the water, “but we don’t have a lot of options. It’s either the maintenance closet or Cross’ office. I don’t think our boss would appreciate walking in on us using his desk as a porn prop.”

  Dani barked out a laugh and stepped onto the fluffy bath mat. “Thanks, Max, that’s an image I wanted in my head.”

  ***

  “Sorry to interrupt your weekend,” SSA Cross said, once everyone was seated around the briefing table. “Everyone, this is SSA Oakley Frost. She’s a Profiler out of the Salem field office.” Cross took a moment to introduce his team to the blonde, before turning the floor over to her.

  “Thank you, Charles,” Frost said as she walked around the table, distributing the stack of folders in her hand. “Local law enforcement in the small town of Falls City has requested my help with a string of disappearances.”

  Frost reclaimed her spot beside Cross and picked up a small remote from the table. She pointed the device toward the massive wall screen and five photos filled the screen.

  “Bailey Chambers and Gabriela Garcia; age fifteen,” she explained, highlighting each photo in turn, “Angelica Hinton, Frankie Sousa, and Piper Frank; age sixteen. Each of these girls has gone missing, separately, over the past three weeks. Initial assessment of the first two disappearances; Gabriela Garcia and Piper Frank, listed the girls as runaways.”

  “Both have a history of leaving their homes for up to two days, so the mothers didn’t report them missing until they failed to come home after seventy-two hours. After the third girl, Angelica Hinton, disappeared, the police began to suspect possible abduction or foul play. The locals have performed three grid searches of the community and turned up nothing.”

  “After Sousa and Chambers came up missing, Lieutenant Weston of the FCPD asked for my help. My office is handling the investigation, but most of the witnesses are teenagers and not overly forthcoming with law enforcement.”

  “If they aren’t cooperating, how do we fit in?” Dale Harrison asked.

  “We want to put a couple of agents undercover at the high school. My team doesn’t have much experience with UC work, and the local police are too well known. We want to see if we can get some details out of the students, and kids are more likely to open up to a peer than an adult. SSA Danvers recommended your team; specifically, Agents Max and Dani Prescott.”

  The attention shifted from Frost to the Prescott’s. Max and Dani exchanged a look. “You want us to go undercover at a high school? In what roles?” Dani asked.

  Frost hesitated for a moment, studying the couple. She’d read their biodata, as well as their service records, and was impressed.

  Agent Mackenzie Prescott was a six-year veteran of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. She held a doctorate in English and specialized in crime scene interpretation. Her accuracy rate was in the high eighties, and her eidetic memory was a trait envied by many within the Bureau.

  Agent Daniela Prescott, née McKenna, was five years younger than her wife. Although she’d only been with the FBI for four years, she had quickly proven herself a valuable member of her team. As a linguistic profiler, her skills would be put to the test on this case. Frost knew from experience that the subtle nuances of adolescent vocabulary could be difficult to interpret.

  Where her wife’s eyes were the tool that helped Max with fine-detail recollection, Dani’s secret weapon was her ears.

  Dani’s ability to hear and focus on minute changes in the sounds around her was a unique gift. She could listen to an audio recording and point out the origin of nearly any sound present, even those that most wouldn’t hear above the chaos of everyday situations.

  “That’s where this could get a bit tricky,” Agent Frost said, “We need to send someone in who can bond with the students and gain their trust. Obviously, we can’t send in an actual teenager, so we need an agent that can pose as a classmate.”

  “Local law enforcement and my team are handling the public investigation. All we need from your team is intel. We have a feeling that some of the students may know more than they are sharing.”

  Dani paled and shot her wife a warning glare when Max snorted. Dani knew what the blonde agent was hinting at, and she wanted no part of it.

  “Max won’t be able to pass as a high school student,” she said, unrealistically hoping the Agent had a different action plan.

  Snickers rounded the room, earning the others a death stare from Max. “Dani’s right,” she admitted, turning to grin at her wife, “but she could pull it off. Can she join the cheerleading squad?” she asked, her grin changing from teasing to hopeful.

  “She could,” Agent Frost replied with a knowing smile, “but it would be a little suspicious if a mother was caught drooling over her seventeen-year-old daughter.”

  Max’s jaw dropped. “What!” she asked in disbelief, “you want me to pretend to be my wife’s mother?”

  Frost and Cross exchanged a conspiratorial look. “No,” Cross said, preparing himself for the outburst he could see brewing in Max’s eyes. “We want you to pretend to be an English teacher, who happens to have a teenage daughter.”

  Max’s mouth worked, but no words came out. Dani, obviously enjoying her wife’s discomfort, took the chance to poke at the taller woman.

  “Who’s my daddy?” she asked, putting on her best excited-little-girl smile. “Can it be Young?” she added, scooting her chair away from the table and out of Max’s reach.

  Max’s expression turned to shock, and Young’s face flamed. Peter Young was an effeminate man, and rarely carried out an undercover operation. Unless the ploy called for a gay man, Young always volunteered to take the recording duties.

  Young was an adept investigator, specializing in forensic computer analysis. He could give an eerily accurate profile of a person with nothing more than their browsing history.

  For some reason, one that was unclear to everyone else, Max and Young couldn’t stand to be in close proximity to each other for an extended period.

  Laughter erupted from the rest of the team, including Agent Frost. She’d observed the tension between the two agents when they’d entered the room and conspicuously sat themselves as far apart as possible.

  “No,” she said reassuringly, “you won’t have a daddy living with you. There are many commonalities between the missing girls, and single mothe
rs are one of them. The girls also had a habit of wearing provocative clothing, outside of school.”

  Dani scooted her chair back to the table. She wasn’t one to flaunt her body, unless it was for Max’s eyes only. While the redhead was in no way a prude, she didn’t believe in teasing or tempting others. She respected the sanctity of her marriage, and the idea of allowing anyone to see parts of her that were reserved for Max was unsettling.

  “I don’t know about this,” she said, nervously spinning her diamond wedding band, “That means I’d have to take off my ring.”

  Frost gave the younger woman a sympathetic nod. She understood Dani’s hesitation all too well. She’d never once removed her wedding ring, and couldn’t imagine how she would feel being required to do so.

  “A diamond that big, yes, you will need to remove it. But,” she added when Dani whimpered, “I’m sure we can find a less flashy ring for you to wear in its place. I don’t think there are too many teenagers wearing rocks like that to school.”

  “It’ll be alright, baby,” Max said, momentarily forgetting their audience as she pulled her wife closer and took Dani’s left hand. She brought the woman’s ring to her lips and kissed it softly. “I’ll put it on a chain and wear it around my neck. That way, you will still be able to see it.”

  Dani sucked in a deep breath and released it heavily. It helped to know she’d still be able to see the symbol of their union, even if she wouldn’t be wearing it. Dani could feel tears welling in her eyes, and decided to lighten the suddenly morose mood.

  “I am not calling you Mommy,” she said with a teasing smile. Max’s eyes widened. She’d completely forgotten about the role she was expected to play.

  “Good,” she said, her voice squeaking slightly, “that would really put a damper on our sex life.”

  Harrison barked out a laugh and Cross’ face flushed. Hoping to avoid further talk of love-lives, he cleared his throat to remind the agents of his presence.

  “You’ll have to call her Mom,” he said avoiding eye contact with Max, “at least while out in public. Falls City is a small town, with a decent-sized LGBT circle. Most of the residents are highly religious people, and the appearance of indecency between the two of you would raise a big red flag.”

  “Great,” Dani said, rolling her eyes as she resumed her professional demeanor. She hated religious communities, and the hatred they tended to promote.

  “Don’t worry, Agent Prescott,” Cross said, sensing Max’s thoughts, “The community is relatively accepting of LGBT people. Many of the most respected people in town are either gay or lesbian.”

  The Agents sat quietly as Agent Frost gave them her preliminary profile of their UNSUB. After answering the few questions posed to her, Frost dismissed the group.

  “Alright then,” Max sighed, squeezing Dani’s hand, “Since we don’t seem to have a choice, I guess this means I need to take my darling little girl shopping for her first day of school.”

  Chapter 3

  “We’ve got everything set for you to start on Monday,” Frost said, passing Max and Dani a large Manilla folder. “Inside are your new identities. Harrison and Young are wiring the house with A/V as we speak, and Cross is briefing the School Board Director. No one, not even the Principal is aware of the op, and we need it to stay that way.”

  Max opened the folder and pulled out the contents. “We get to keep our first names?” she asked, holding up the teacher’s badge she’d been provided with, “Mackenzie Willows. I like it. It’s unassuming.”

  Max passed a second ID card to Dani as she read over her falsified biography and credentials.

  Dani looked at the student identification card and grimaced. The photo was definitely her, but the IT department had obviously had a field day creating her seventeen-year-old cover.

  She’d posed for the photo a few days earlier, but hadn’t expected so many changes to be made. In the photo, Dani’s perfectly straight teeth were burdened by braces. The photo had been altered to give her skin a slight shine, and someone had added a pair of wire-rimmed glasses over her eyes.

  “Oh God,” she said, her face contorting with disgust, “I didn’t even look like that when I was in high school. How am I supposed to explain the changes?”

  “That ID card is dated for last year, and is from Willowbrook Academy. All the phony transcripts are also from Willowbrook. Same with your credentials, Max. As far as Falls City High School is concerned, you are both transferring from the private school in Marilynn. When you start on Monday, the office will issue a new one with your current picture.”

  “We’re going to have prosthetic braces applied to your teeth, and provide you with all the accessories that other teens have. The glasses aren’t necessary, so you can claim that you are wearing contacts. We are going to add something though,” Frost added, pulling a bright pink hearing aid from her pocket.

  “This hearing aid is a cover for the bug you’ll be wearing. We will be able to communicate with you through it, and it has a pinhole camera at the top of the arm.” Frost passed the device to Dani and waited for the woman to put it on. She pushed a button on a small remote and an image flooded the wall screen behind her.

  “Oh, wow,” Max said, her eyes on the screen. Agent Frost’s every move was playing on the screen, in high-definition. “That’s cool.”

  Dani panned the room and jumped when Agent Frost’s voice rang, loud and clear, in her ear. “Can you hear me?” Frost whispered into her hand.

  “Yes,” Dani replied. Max looked at her with confusion, and Dani tapped the hearing aid.

  “You’ll have to show me how to turn down the volume, though,” Dani said to Frost, “My ears are very sensitive, and I could hear you, even without the bug.”

  “Sorry,” Frost apologized. She took the device from Dani and fiddled with a dial on the back side of the arm. “Try that. I’ll go out in the hall to test it,” she said, handing the hearing aid back.

  Dani affixed it to her ear and waited while Frost exited the room. “Is this better?” Frost’s voice was much softer, and Dani could hear the sounds of other agents working in the office.

  “Much,” Dani said when Frost stepped back into the room. Frost nodded her approval and pulled an iPhone from the pocket of her blazer, handing it to the redhead.

  “This phone is a dummy. The hearing aid is one-way, so the phone will allow us to hear what you hear. To others, it will look like you’re texting. What you’ll really be doing is making note of who you are talking to.”

  Dani took the phone and examined it. It looked like her own phone, only this one had a case featuring a large smiling poop emoji. Dani wrinkled her nose at the happy little turd and frowned when she realized the device was emitting a faint humming sound.

  “What’s wrong?” Max asked, noticing Dani’s slight wince.

  Dani rubbed her ears and set the phone on the table. “Is it going to hum like that all the time?” she asked Agent Frost.

  “Wow,” Frost said, clearly impressed, “your ears really are sensitive. The frequencies of the phone and the bug must be interfering with each other. I’ll send it back to the techs and see what they can do about it.”

  “Any questions?” she asked, leaning against the rounded edge of the table beside Dani.

  “What’s the living situation going to be?” Max asked. She hoped they weren’t going to be stuck in some dingy little apartment.

  “We have a house set up for you. That’s where Agents Young and Harrison are, setting up the surveillance. They’re dressed as movers and employees from the electric company, just in case the neighbors get too nosey.”

  “They’re also setting up Dani’s room with audio and video surveillance. Teenage girls tend to gather in their room when friends visit, so we want to be prepared. Just in case you meet your next BFF,” Frost added with a chuckle.

  Dani rolled her eyes and Max laughed. “I’m not going to sleep in there,” Dani grumbled, “make sure they don’t wire Mom’s room. I’m
not into exhibitionism.”

  Max blushed scarlet and covered her face with her hands. “Good Lord, Dani,” she groaned, “don’t call me Mom if you’re going to make a sex joke. It’s creepy.”

  Agent Frost laughed. “Max’s room won’t be under surveillance. Just the common areas and your room. There will be three-sixty surveillance on the outside of the house, though. I must strongly caution you both; be very careful how you act around each other with the curtains open. We don’t need an accusation of incest floating around.”

  ***

  “I just want you to know,” Dani grumbled as she and Max settled in for the eight-hour drive to Falls City, “I hate everything about this op.”

  Max let out a sigh and reached over to rest her hand on Dani’s thigh. “I know, babe. I don’t like it either, but this is what we do. If we only worked the cases that we liked, we’d never work.”

  Dani grimaced but didn’t say anything. She watched the flat, brown scenery of northern Idaho pass by as Max took the I-84 W exit out of Boise.

  The Bureau had intended for the couple to fly to Portland the next morning, but Max and Dani had declined. Both women enjoyed road trips, and opted to drive the nearly six-hundred miles to their destination. This decision had the women leaving home on Saturday morning, a full twenty-four hours before the original departure time.

  “What’s rolling around in that beautiful head of yours, sweetheart?” Max asked after an hour of silence.

  “Nothing,” Dani replied, glancing over at Max with a smile, “I was just thinking about the last road trip we took.”

  Max barked out a laugh. She remembered that trip all too well. “We agreed to never speak of that trip again.”

  It was Dani’s turn to laugh. “If you had just let me drive, we never would have gotten lost.”

  Max shot the redhead a glare. “I did exactly what the GPS told me to do. It was the stupid gadget’s fault, not mine.”

  Dani raised her hands in surrender. “Yes, my love, yes you did. Although, you said you had been there before. All those claims of a photographic memory looked pretty suspicious when we ended up almost a hundred miles off route.”