Chapter Two

A/N: The crossover is coming, I promise, just not in this chapter. Next one for sure.

The briefing turned out to be mercifully short. Max's had been a recon mission. To establish a persona and gather intel. But somewhere along the line things had gone terribly wrong. Alec's mission was to go in, assess the situation and get her out. Given the opportunity he should also incapacitate the kidnappers. Lydecker had no doubts that one way or another Alec would avenge anything Max had been inflicted with. And if she wasn't completely incapacitated and chose to help him, well god have mercy on anyone foolish enough to stand in their way.

Lydecker mused to himself that he had better start coming up with damage control pitches. Given both Alec's and Max's penchance for blowing things up, anything was possible.

Alec's calm laidback appearance belied his churning stomach. Manticore's air support had dropped him off about 20 miles south of Bumsville or whatever the place was called. Well, dropped off him and the beaten up old truck he was driving.

The windows were rolled down, allowing the warm breeze to play with his hair. Country music blasted from the speaker. All in all he looked about as harmless as one could be, a simple farmhand en route from one job to another.

The appearance was a complete fabrication of course. The beat-up red truck was in fact a state of the art armour plated off road truck with more nifty gadgets than even Q could come up with in a year. The country music masked the intel Manticore was transmitting in the ultrasonic range, far beyond the hearing range of the average Joe. Of course it had the annoying side effect of sending all dogs in the vicinity howling to the hills, but Alec didn't really care for dogs much anyway.

Max's last known position was the primary school where she had been subbing as a teacher. It seemed that in this particular case Manticore had decided to follow the old wisdom: "From the mouths of babes" It was as good a place to start as any. Children tended to speak before thinking.

Alec shrugged, rolling his shoulders to relieve the tension. He'd find out more when he got there.

Finding a place to park his truck was easier than he had thought. The car park servicing the school was mostly empty and security seemed as non-existent as the traffic as Alec made his way into the building, hitching his overalls as he went. Affecting a slightly slouchy walk he tipped his hat further back on his head going for the good old farm boy look. He'd contemplated chewing a haystalk but that seemed like overkill.

And he probably wouldn't have been able to convincingly pull off the cliché with a straight face. Some things just were too much. As he walked past classroom filled with the warm haze of students desperately trying to stay awake in the summer heat, following the signs for the office, he once more went through the intel Manticore had provided him with.

Max had set herself up as the innocent, friendly, slightly naïve primary school teacher. When Alec had seen the picture he had been more than impressed, once more realising why Max had excelled as undercover. Even the name had fit, a sly nod to the comics the nurses used to sneak in to them when they were young. Mary-Jane Watson was your quintessential middle American, corn-fed, apple-pie girl next door. Hair pulled away from her clean face with barrettes to tumble down her back. A pair of spectacles perched on the end of her pert little nose and she was smiling shyly into the camera. Nothing like the little spitfire he remembered from their last training exercise.

Well, he would find out what happened to her. Or to be honest, AJ Hutchins, her boyfriend, would find out. But first he would have to charm his way past the battleaxe who no doubt guarded the office.

Pasting his best happy-go-lucky smile on his face, he first knocked on the office door and then ambled inside.

"Yes?" The voice was strict, invoking elements of judgement and falling short. Projecting with a single word that no matter how important you seemed to think your problem was, it would no doubt turn out to be entirely trivial and a complete waste of time. Sharp blue eyes glared at him from a prim, middle-aged face. Her hair had been ruthlessly pinned back, not a single strand daring to leave the strictly imposed rigidity. The clothes were on the ultra-side of conservative and in the grey end of the spectrum. All in all Ms. Finnegan, as her nameplate proclaimed, was a truly impressive figure. No doubt inspiring fear into the heart of every student walking these hallowed halls. It was wasted on Alec of course, who had faced more terrifying sights on a daily basis.

"Mornin'!" He poured on the charm in a Texas drawl, which nine times out of ten brought a favourable reaction from the female population. "Sorry to disturb you, ma'am." He tipped his hat. "Ah'm looking for ma girl. Cute as a button she is."

He leaned forward conspiratorially, slightly fatuous grin in place. "Ya see. Ah haven't seen her in just about forever. We're savin for our own place. But ah thought, yer in t'area, why shouldn't ya visit yer girl."

The battleaxe hadn't mellowed in the slightest, unmoved by her appeal to her romantic side. "Get to the point young man. I don't have all day."

Alec smiled at her once more, unfazed. "So sorry, ma'am. I get to talking about my Mary-Jane and I just forget -"

"Mary-Jane Watson?" Ms. Finnegan interrupted him, her countenance softening considerably. "You're her boyfriend?"

"That I am, ma'am. Well, ah wanted to ask her to marry me this visit."

Ms. Finnegan smiled weakly. "She is such a nice young woman. The children all adore her. I didn't know she was in a relationship."

'Why am I not surprised?' Alec asked himself. 'Of course Max is the one to breach Ms. Finnegan's formidable defences.'

Out loud he just smiled and said: "She don't talk much bout us. We've been working so long to getting together, ah guess we're just both fraid to jinx it." He sheepishly dragged a hand through his hair, chafing inside at the snail's pace he had to put up with. "So where is she. I've a mind to grab her outta class and greet her properly."

Ms. Finnegan smiled weakly, worry evident in her face: "I don't know where she is. She was coming over for dinner after parent-teacher night, but never showed. I tried reaching her this morning, but she isn't answering her phone."

Alec let his face become serious. The accent subtly dropping from his words. "Can you let me know which parents she was aiming to see? Maybe one of them knows what was bothering her."

Ms Finnegan bristled startled. "That is confidential information, Mr Hutchens." Even as she spoke though she half-turned to her left and picked up a pale pink folder. Flipping through it she pulled out a single sheet of A4 and then walked to the back of the room to make a copy on the wheezing, out of date Xerox machine. Laying it on the desk between them, she let one hand rest lightly on top, making no move to push it the rest of the way to Alec.

"Such terrible things happen in this area. Young girls disappearing, never to be seen again." Ms. Finnegan's voice was quiet.

Alec staid silent, too, knowing that she needed to get something off her chest, another five minutes more or less wouldn't change anything and something in Ms. Finnegan seemed to have recognised that Mary-Jane was more than the substitute teacher she was claiming to be. Good instincts on her part.

"Mary-Jane is such a good girl. A caring heart. Perhaps too caring. It doesn't do to ask questions in this town. Little girls disappearing and then years later you see one who looks exactly like your little girl, hair maybe a shade darker, thinner, sadder. And you think it is your little girl come back, but there is no spark of recognition and maybe you have gone mad from the grief like everyone insists you have."

She stopped once more and Alec looked away, allowing her to compose herself, only meeting her now dry-eyed gaze when she spoke up once more.

"I don't want Mary-Jane to be just another statistic. And when you find her, give her my best." She finally pushed the list across the table.

"Thank you Ms. Finnegan. I'll do my very best."

Some of the old strictness crept back into her tone. "See that you do, Mr?"

Alec hesitated for a moment, then decided to go with his gut. "McDowell, ma'am. Alec McDowell."

"That's a fine name, Mr McDowell. You'll be wanting to get along now."

Alec tipped his hat once more. "Goodbye and thanks for your help."

"Goodbye, Mr McDowell." She turned back to her work, briskly efficient once more as she went through time tables and sick lists.

Alec, after one last glance, quickly left the school and made his way back to his car. Next stop was Max's house. See if there were any clues there.

Max's house was exceedingly neat and tidy. It was immediately and painfully obvious that Manticore had done the decorating to fit the persona. Pastel colours prevailed, as well as fluttery, lacey and fluffy things. It was clear to him and anybody who knew Max well, that it was just embellishment. A well-cared for painting but nothing more.

The house smelled of spring and sunshine, a warm breeze coming through the open window carried with it the sweet smell of freshly cut hay. A brief yearning filled Alec's soul, wondering what it would be like to live in a place like this, the whole picket fences deal, maybe with a cat curled up on the hearth ad somebody to share it with him. Maybe..

He shook himself.. He was a soldier with a duty to his company and his country. This whole picket fences deal wasn't for him. He was one of those that made sure it was possible for others.

Walking up the stairs, past the generic paintings and photographs that could be in any house, he found Max's room by scent alone. While still bordering on the pink explosion side of things at least this room looked lived in. A brush and comb set were scattered on the vanity, a towel had been hung to dry over a chair by the window. A dress, conforming to the whole frilly, naïve girly girl formula hung on a clothes hanger, shoes neatly set out beneath, no doubt what Max had been planning to wear to school that day.

He finally found part of what he was looking for on the far bedside table. Three picture frames sat on it. Two obviously provided by Manticore. The first was the standard loving parents pictures on front of a generic house that could be anywhere in America. A slightly younger Max smiling brightly between two adults, the psych doc and his wife if Alec wasn't mistaken. They had enough passing resemblance to fill the parental role. The second was the classic kid with dog picture.

But tucked behind the two was the picture he had in fact been looking for, Max and her siblings. It had been a surprise from Manticore for their graduation day. Again, to the casual observer it would simply look like your generic leaving ceremony picture, class of something or other. A group of about twenty sixteen-year-olds in their caps and gowns beaming at the camera. But to them all it meant so much more, their family, each face as familiar as their own, something to take with undercover and remind them what they fought for.

Alec's finger traced the faces of Max's familial unit. Zach, CO and oh so serious when it came to the safety of his siblings no matter how capable they were at keeping themselves safe. Jondy, the explosive munitions expert, Eva, who could clip the wings off a fly at two hundred paces with her custom-made rifle. Ben, his biological twin, if not where it counted, who according to the latest scuttlebutt was undercover somewhere in the Midwest as a high school teacher. Apparently he was investigating some astronomical events. Max would kill him if this was left behind and there would not be time to come back and get it afterwards. As he picked it up, he felt a faint crackle beneath his fingertips. Puzzled he flipped the frame over and saw a browned flower tucked in the back.

"Now why on earth would Max keep an old flower like this?" His voice echoed slightly in the empty house. It obviously meant something to Max, otherwise she wouldn't have it tucked away where it was safe and could not be seen.

Unbidden a picture entered his mind, of twirling a blossom much like this one between his fingers. He and Max had been sent to a park in San Francisco to observe a drug drop-off. They'd been posing as a couple of shy teenagers on a date. Lying on a blanket on the grass, the sun beating down on them from a cloudless sky, Max lying beside him, dozing in the sun, her half-closed eyes trained on their mark. When Alec had noticed the dealer staring at them suspiciously, he had leaned over Max and tucked the blossom behind one ear.

Unlikely that it was the same flower of course, to faded to tell in any case. He left it where it was and then briskly moved around the room, packing Max's things. Well those she normally wore anyway and not the things Mary-Jane Watson seemed to like. Jeans, pullovers, tees and tank tops were all neatly packed into a duffle, followed by underwear and her toiletries. Finally he placed the three pictures on top.

Zipping up the duffle he had one last look around to see if he had forgotten anything and then left to wait for sundown. There were preparations to be made and then he would work his way through the list until he found Max.