Chapter 1 - Rocha’s Girl
Alex Diaz was focused on his computer screen, going over the details of a new robbery case that had found itself in the FBI's clutches. It was a simple case, though it involved several security concerns. Suddenly, his focus was interrupted by one of his colleagues as she called his name and approached him with a startling speed.
“Hey Alex, we’ve got a picture of Caleb Rocha on a footage from a video game store. The owner says he remembered seeing his face in the newspaper.” Shay Miguel said as she hurried over to Alex’s desk. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement. She looked like she’d just found a fresh lead on a near dead case.
He looked up at her, inquisitive. “We already have photos of Rocha.”
“That’s true.” Shay agreed, but she had a grin on her face that told Alex that there was more. “But we don’t have any photos of his hypothetical girlfriend. Now, we do.” She was grinning. Around the office, Shay was definitely one of the most beautiful females. She had a perfect body and a pretty face. She’d always had her eyes on Alex, but he never seemed to be interested. Now, he was interested, but not in her.
“Did you run it through facial recognition?” Alex questioned her, excited. They hadn’t had any leads on this case for almost a month. This could be a big break.
Shay planted a file onto Alex’s desk. “I couldn’t find her in any of the criminal records, but I ran her through the DMV database and this came up. Her name is Kelsey Winters. She’s twenty-nine years old. A professor of math at Long Beach.”
Alex picked up the file, taking a look at the photo on the CCTV footage. Caleb Rocha was clearly visible and there was no doubt that the person in the photo was him. The girl beside him was stunning. Focusing his eyes on her DMV picture, Alex was slightly taken aback. “They look very different.” He noted. But even he could tell that it was the same face. After all, the FBI technology hadn’t proven itself wrong yet.
“It’s the same face, Boss.” Shay said. “What do you want to do?”
“Let’s go pay her a visit. If this is really Rocha’s girlfriend, then we have a good lead. Get the team together.” Alex ordered, quickly glancing through the file.
“A team?” Shay sounded uncertain. Her expression conveyed the same message. “Alex, a whole team put together for a math professor?”
“If she really is Rocha’s girl then yes. He might be there, too. We might have a chance at catching him. We’re not going to lose the chance just because we were unprepared. If we run into Rocha, there’s no doubt that he’s going to put up a fight. He knows we have a warrant with his name on it. No, I definitely want a team ready as soon as possible. Get a warrant.” Alex was determined to not let this mission go down badly. If his instincts told him to be ready, he was going to be ready.
He glanced over Kelsey Winters’s file. He had no idea how a mathematics professor managed to get involved with someone like Caleb Rocha, but that wasn’t something he needed to focus on. They had photos of the woman with their criminal. That proved association. There had to be some connection. His instincts told him so. And so far, Alex’s instincts were the only thing he trusted. Nothing else.
“It’s all set, Boss.” Shay’s voice broke into Alex’s thoughts. “Are we ready?”
“Without a doubt.” Alex declared. He’d waited far too long to get his hands on Caleb Rocha, it wasn’t even a game, anymore. The guy was brilliant when it came to staying hidden. And any time he was nearly caught, he wasn’t afraid to fight back and he wasn’t afraid to take risks that might not end well for him. He was the most dangerous kind of criminal. But he was exactly the kind of criminal Alex had sworn to take down when he’d chosen this job.
One glance at Kelsey Winters’s house and you couldn’t imagine that the woman might be harboring some kind of criminal inside of it. The yard was small, but well-maintained. Her door was shut. The lights were on inside the house, but blinds were shut. Occasionally, a shadow passed the window, confirming that there was someone inside. The house was clean, actually. Alex had no doubt though, that Kelsey was the kind of woman who kept to herself and didn’t associate too much with the neighbors.
He had to admit that her profile didn’t match the kind of woman that Rocha usually went after in the past. Sure, Kelsey matched a few profiles. She was blonde. She was about the right age. She lived alone. But a few things also didn’t match. She wasn’t all that gorgeous, for one. The women that Rocha usually went after were drop-dead gorgeous.
“I want this to be quick.” Alex instructed his team. Beside him, Shay, Dylan, and Erik were all set. They had their bullet proof vests on and their headsets put on. “I don’t want anyone who might be inside to get a chance to escape. I want Kelsey Winters alive.” His team nodded in confirmation. There was no chance for mistakes here. “And I want Caleb Rocha, too. Today could finally be the day we have him.”
“We’re ready, boss.” Shay declared, clutching her Glock in her hands. Dylan and Erik had the same determined, serious expression on their faces.
“Okay.” Alex nodded, taking a deep breath. Anxiety filled him. His heart was racing but he knew that today wasn’t the say to get nervous. Today was the day to make things right. “I want Erik and Dylan to take the back of the house. Shay and I will take the front. I want everyone to be on their guard. There should be no surprises.”
Erik and Dylan nodded, accepting their order. Erik had joined Alex’s team right from the start. They’d been working together the longest. A couple years later, Shay joined the team. She’d previously been a part of the LA Police Department. LAPD. Dylan was the newest addition to the team but still very trust-worthy. Overall, this was good team and this was his team. It was Alex’s responsibility to make sure that each and every person on his team got home in one piece, just as good as they were when they got here.
“Okay. Go to the back. When I say, break in.” Alex ordered.
“Got it.” Dylan and Erik said. Alex and Shay hurried over to the front door as quietly as they could. They hurried over to cover the back of the house while Shay and Alex went to the front door.
“When I say go, okay?” Alex whispered into the microphone. There had been some shuffling inside the house, but that suddenly stopped and the house had gone eerily quiet, which wasn’t very encouraging for him, but he didn’t intend to back down. This kind of scene was exactly what Alex had been training for. “Go!”
At Alex’s orders, the front door swung open and Alex and Shay sauntered inside, both their guns positioned to fire. "FBI!"
“Kitchen…Clear!” Erik’s voice echoed through the house.
“Living Room…Clear!” Shay called.
“Bathroom…Clear!” Dylan called. Alex scanned the house and the team tore it apart, inspecting each and every bedroom, bathroom, and closet.
“There’s no one here.” Shay was the first to speak. “It’s all empty.” Her eyes scanned the house once more, as if she was expecting someone to pop out of nowhere, but nothing had happened.
“Impossible.” Alex declared. “I saw shadows inside. She’s in here. There must be a trap door, a secret room. Something. There’s no way she just vanished into thin air. I expect to find her.” Alex looked around, his eyes landing on a closet right by the front door. The door had been covered by the front door when we opened it.
Alex silently motioned towards the door when my team looked at him. Dylan’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, considering he was new, but Erik and Shay were unaffected.
“Cover me.” Alex ordered in a whisper. He didn’t want Kelsey Winters to become alert when he opened the door. More importantly, he didn’t want her to expect him to open the door. Shay positioned her gun at the door while Alex swiftly made his way over to the door. He gave Shay one meaningful look, before flinging the door open, however so many years of training and experience could not have prepared him for the black fur ball that launched itself at him as soon as the door was open.
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“And class is dismissed!” Kelsey Winters announced, glad the day was over. This was her last class and she was more than ready to go home, with a big bundle of papers, of course. While Kelsey loved numbers, this was getting to be a little too much, even for her.
Thankfully, none of her students decided this was a good day to ask questions because Kelsey was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go home and crawl into her sheets and sleep the exhaustion away.
She gathered all her belongings and exited the classroom and sought temporary refuge in her office. She pulled open her bag and started gathering papers that she needed to grade, along with unplugging her computer. She sighed, realizing that her age was getting to her. She was almost thirty and single and miserable, turning to papers given to her by her students to grade. They were miserable doing them and she was miserable grading them, yet that was what they paid her for. This was what paid for her house, her food, and her father’s medical bills. The job stayed.
Once she was satisfied that she had everything, she flicked off the lights and stepped into the hall, making sure to lock the door behind her. If any of her students got in, she couldn’t imagine the consequences. She had notes, tests, and her whole lesson plan in there.
She took a deep breath, satisfied, before venturing out of the building. She smiled and waved at her various students as she made her way through the campus. She had been teaching here for quite a while, now, and despite her low profile, her students recognized her as well as other faculty members.
When she finally reached her car, she felt a lot better. She loaded her stuff into the car and got into the driver’s seat and started it. This was what her life had become. It revolved around her job. Her students called her Frosty Winters. It was clever, yet very offensive. Kelsey was sure nobody ever ridiculed Kara for their last name. Kara would have taught them a lesson or two.
Kelsey sighed, again. She felt like she was doing a lot of it recently. She hadn’t seen her twin sister in years. She’d lost track of how many. She was a math professor and she was losing track of time. The thought made her want to sigh again. Even though Kara and Kelsey were identical, nobody ever had a hard time telling them apart. They’d grown up together, but at the age of ten, when their parents got divorced, Kara went with their mother and Kelsey decided to stay with their father. Ever since then, their paths divided and they’d rarely seen each other.
Kelsey slowed to a stop in front of her house, pressing the button and waited for her garage door to open. She eased the car into the garage, right in the middle. She lived alone. There was only one car. It made parking in a garage much easier. That was for sure.
She closed the door before turning the engine off and stepped out of the car, deciding to leave her stuff in the car. She would take it out later. Satisfied that the garage door was shut, she made her way to the door that connected the house to the garage and opened it, expecting her little fur ball to pounce at her. Kelsey easily caught her. “Did you miss me, Professor?” The cat purred in response. Kelsey smiled. “I don’t know what I would do without you.” She murmured, not caring that she was talking to a feline. Professor was all she had, now. It was a bad name for a cat, but it was suitable. Kelsey had waited and studied for years just to acquire that title. She’d given it to her cat, too. He deserved it.
She made her way to the kitchen, inspecting the house to make sure Professor hadn’t gotten to crafty with her furniture, smiling when everything seemed normal. Kelsey was a little bit of a neat freak. Was it wrong to feel good when everything was in its place?
I set out Professor’s food and smiled when he made his way over to his meal. Kelsey might have been a vegetarian, but that didn’t give her the right to mess with Professor’s meal plans.
Suddenly, Professor meowed and went over to the door and started scratching it, something he usually did when Kelsey’s father came over. It was a little humiliating to admit that he was her only regular visitor. Who could it be? Kelsey wondered, making her way over to the door. She pressed her forehead against the door and peeped through the peephole.
Her eyes widened at the right. Two individuals, one male and one female, were approaching her door with guns in their hands. She shot a panicked look to her cat, who seemed unaffected by the tension in the room. “What did you do this time, Professor?” She asked, scooping up her cat. She scanned the room, looking for a place to hide. She didn’t know who those strangers were and she didn’t want them to find her. She patted her pockets, suddenly feeling foolish for leaving her phone in the car. Her eyes landed on her coat closet and without a second thought, flung the door open and slipped inside, quietly shutting the door behind her.
She set Professor down, feeling anxiety build up in her stomach. The sound of her front door being burst open made her jump and she groaned, wondering what she’d gotten herself into. She briefly cursed herself for not carrying her phone on her. If he father found out, he would be so disappointed.
“Kitchen…Clear!” A voice spoke up, loud and clear.
“Living Room…Clear!” A second voice said. Two voices. That meant two people in her house. Things were looking bad already.
“Bathroom…Clear!” A third voice called. Doomed. Kelsey now knew she was doomed. How could she possibly take down three armed people? All she had was Professor.
“There’s no one here.” That was the second voice. It was the only female voice. “It’s all empty.” That meant that there were two men and one female.
“Impossible.” Kelsey wanted to bang her head against something. Three men? “I saw shadows inside. She’s in here. There must be a trap door, a secret room. Something. There’s no way she just vanished into thin air. I expect to find her.”
Kelsey wanted to cry. It was only a matter of time before they would find her, provided they were looking for her. What could it be? A student disappointed with his grade? They could have just come and spoken with her in her office. They would have sorted things out. This was wrong.
And how long had they been watching her? Had they seen Kelsey arrive at home? Did they see her pull into her garage? They knew she was here. It was hopeless.
Suddenly, the closet door flew open, making Kelsey flinch. Professor vanished from her lap and she looked up to see where the cat had gone, only to see him on the strange man in front of the closet. Kelsey was suddenly grateful for Professor’s strange habit.
My hero.
It took Kelsey a second to realize that she had to make her escape or she was as good as dead. She quickly flew to her feet and ran out of the door.
The math professor inside of her told her that she was doomed anyway. There were four people in her house against her and her cat. Professor had taken down one, but that still left three. The optimist in her burst through, though, encouraging her to make the run anyway. Adrenaline flooded through her as she made it past the first man only to find three guns pointed at her.
She froze.
“I’ll fix it.” The words were out of her mouth before she even knew what she was saying. Her hands were raised in surrender and panic was evident in her eyes. “Whatever it is, I’ll fix it. We can talk about this. Violence is not the answer.” Confusion was clear in all three pairs of eyes, giving Kelsey a little burst of hope. “Is it an exam? A project? I haven’t gotten to grading yet, but I’m sure we can reach a solution.”
Sense had seemed to reach the female, who was rather attractive, Kelsey noticed, as she put her hands down. “You have the right to remain silent.” Huh? “Anything you do or say can and will be used against you.” Then, much to Kelsey’s horror, the woman pulled out a pair of handcuffs from her back pocket.
“Okay.” She said, slowly. “I don’t know what kind of fantasies you all are into, but you’re clearly in the wrong house.”
This was the first chapter! I'll explain more in the next chapter. Happy Reading!!