12 Hours Missing
F.B.I. Agents Martin Fitzgerald and Danny Taylor got out of the car at the school's parking lot to find Samantha Spade there with Vivian Johnson talking to some of the teachers and students. "What's going on?" Danny asked, as they joined their fellow agents.
"We have two missing teenagers," Vivian said, as she looked up at them. "They are Jessica and Eric Larson, both 17, twins. They are on the basketball and debate team. They didn't make it home last night."
"Okay. They could be out with friends."
"There was this," Sam said, as she held out the tape recorder. "It's a message."
"That's never good," Martin said, as he looked in the car. "We got book bags, basketballs, and books in the car. Looks like they were told to leave everything in the car."
"Got to love kids who are in sports," Danny said, as he looked in the car as well. "They are always in good shape. Who was the last one to see them?"
"Their Coach," Vivian replied. "He kept them after the others for a longer practice since they were late. He's in the gym. We were going to go talk to him. Sam, why don't you and Martin go do that. Danny and I will continue talking to the teachers here."
"Where's Jack?" Danny asked, noticing for the first time, that their fellow Agent Jack Malone wasn't there.
"He's talking with the Superintendent, Principal, and the parents. He'll talk to us when he's done."
"Okay, we'll go talk to the coach," Sam said, as she grabbed onto Martin's arm and they headed off for the gym. "So you remember high school? Would you ever want to go back?"
"Yeah, but I wouldn't want to go back to it," he counter, as he held the door open for her and they entered the building. Students looked at them as they passed them in the busy halls. "They look so happy to be here." They found the gym and entered it to find Coach Thompson yelling at some students to climb faster up the wall. "There he is."
"Come on, climb," Thompson yelled at the students, as they struggled to climb the rope to get up over the wall. "You have to get up over the wall to pass gym. You all know that. Not getting over the wall, means you pass. And if you don't pass gym, then you can't graduate. You don't want that, do you?"
"Coach Thompson, can we have a few words with you," Sam called out to him, only to have him swing around to look at her with a snarl on his face.
"Who are you?' he snapped, as he looked at her with greedy eyes. Martin shot him a cautious look, as he took a step closer to Sam's side. "What are you doing in my Gym without a visitor's pass?"
"Sir, we're with the F.B.I.," Sam began, as she pulled out her badge and showed it to him. "I'm Agent Samantha Spade and this is Agent Martin Fitzgerald. We are investigating the disappearance of Eric and Jessica Larson. We understand that you were the last to see them last night."
"Yeah, they were late coming to practice so I made them stay after to make it up." He then turned and blew his whistle at some of the students. "Do it again. That wasn't good enough for a passing grade."
"Sir, we need to talk to you, without you yelling at the students." He then turned and glared at Sam. "We can do this either here or done at the station. Your choice."
"Fine, Marks, take over." A man nodded as he came up to their sides. "Marks, keep them working on the wall. I have to talk to these nice people about what happened with the twins last night." Marks nodded before leaving them alone. "Okay what do you want to know about them. They were late. They were hiding something from me. A secret. I know it. They've been coming late every day to practice and it was effecting how they were playing and the team. I was going to bench them. Then this happens."
"They had a secret?" Sam shot a glance over at Martin. "Do you have any idea what that might be?"
"Not a clue. I know that it wasn't for any basketball scholarship that they had been trying to get. They both have been trying to get scholarships to get into the same colleges so that they could be together. I thought it was stupid. Why would you want to go to the same college as your siblings?"
"Thank you, Coach," Martin said, cutting him short, as he put his hand on Sam's arm. "I think we have enough. If we need any more information. I think we do know where to find you."
"I'm always here." He then turned and began to yell at the students again.
"Nice guy," Sam whispered to Martin, as they made their way out of the Gym. "You have to wonder what their secret was."
"Yeah, let's hope that it wasn't good enough to die for." They entered the hallway to find it crammed full of students. "The bell must have rung." Sam nudged him hard in ribs for stating the obvious. "Let's go see what the others have learn from their talks with the teachers and the other students. Maybe they have learned something about this big secret they were keeping from everybody."
"Their coach didn't seem all that happy to be kept out of the loop," Sam said, before she was cut short when a young man clipped her, sending her stumbling into Martin's side. She felt his hand on the small of her back, as he looked over her shoulder at the young man who had clipped her. "Are you okay?"
His eyes grew wide in fear when he saw her weapon holster. "I didn't see the twins," he cried out, as he turned and bolted away from him.
"Hey, wait up," Sam called out to him, as she and Martin gave chase to him, a tricky situation, being that they had to dodge in and out of students in order to keep up with him. "Man, he's fast." He started up the stairs towards the second floor, when Sam spotted what looked like a weapon at the back of his waist of his jeans. "Martin, he's got a weapon."
"Got it," Martin replied, as they continued up the stairs. "Stop." The kid continued to run, knocking students down, sending books and bodies all over the place. Sam got to him first and he swung around to attack her. She got slammed in the chest with a hard kick that sent her a few feet back. "Hey!" The kid looked up only to get slammed into the wall by Martin. "You just assaulted a federal officer." He pulled the weapon from his pants to reveal that it was a water pistol. "A squirt gun?"
"I was only going to scare them," he said, as he looked around at the students who were gathering around to look at them. "It's nothing." He had extreme fear in his eyes and he was shaking under Martin's hands. "I promise. I really didn't mean to hurt her."
"Martin, I don't think he meant to hurt me," Sam whispered to him, causing him to cast her a glance. He quickly did a quick check to make sure that she was all right. "I'll be okay. You do martial arts?" The boy nodded. "I should have guessed." She looked over at the other students. "You all can go to your classes now. There is nothing to see." Martin took up the boy's arm as they began to lead him down the stairs. "You gave us a good workout there."
"Sorry, I saw the gun, and paniced," he replied, as they ushered him outside, to where Danny and Vivian were talking to Jack. "I'm not going to get into a lot of trouble, am I?"
"Depends," Martin replied, as he looked over at Sam. "On what you know, and if Agent Spade here is going to press charges on you for assaulting her."
"Who's this?" Jack asked, as they came up to their sides, motioning towards the boy.
"Scotty Harper," the boy said, as he offered him his hand. "I saw something last night that might help you, and I kinda got myself into some trouble with your agents this morning."
"Oh, really," Jack said, as he looked at the young man. "Like what?"
"Just some misunderstanding," Sam said, as she looked over at Scotty. "We had a talk with Coach Thompson, and it seems that the twins had a secret."
"Yeah, they did. It was huge. The whole school knew about it." The agents turned to look at Scotty and his face turned red. "Sorry. I think it might have something to do with their futures." He looked suddenly down at his hands. "I was here last night. I saw them get into the van with a guy with a gun. They drove away. I didn't call the police, because I was scared."
"Scotty, you did okay," Sam replied, as she put an arm gently around his shoulders. "It takes a lot of courage to talk to us. Can you remember anything specific about the van?"
"It was black, with a rose on the side. I can't tell you anything else."
"You did good," Jack said. "You can go back to class." Scotty then took off for the building leaving the agents outside. "We know that they were taken in a van, last night by at least two armed men. And we have a deadline."
"That's what was on the recorder?" Sam asked, as she looked over at a couple, who were talking to a local cop. "Are those the parents?"
"Yes, those are the parents. Sam, I want you, Martin, and Danny to go to the house and check out their rooms for anything out of the ordinary. Vivian and I are going to set up the board and talk to some more teachers. We'll meet back in the pull pen in an hour." They then took off in their separate ways.
TBC
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