I just stared at the name plate on my desk. Nikoli Schneider. The youngest and possibly most field experienced special agent, completing all five required fields. I looked up from my desk when a file was dropped on my workspace. Looking up, I saw the special agent in charge, special agent Keith Johnson.
"You have a job, Detective Schneider. It's a small town called Hamelin. It's prominently German, and there's been a strain of serial kidnappings. None of the children taken nor their bodies have been found." He said grimly. I shook my head, disgusted by the monsters that live among us.
"How many have been taken?" I ask, picking up and flipping through the file on my desk.
"From the last count, 27 that we know of."
"27?! Why were we not notified sooner?!" I demanded, angrily, standing. I expected a small number like 4 or 5, not in the double digits.
"I'm not sure, the police in that area have gotten nowhere in their investigation. Go get your partner, you're leaving later today." Johnson said. I nodded and he walked away. I grabbed my gun and strapped it into the holster around my shoulder before putting on my suit jacket and fixing my tie. I grabbed my cell phone, FBI badge, and wallet, putting them in my pocket before grabbing the file and reading through it as I made my way through FBI headquarters to my partner's deck.
"Berkly." I simply stated, looking at my younger partner. James Berkly is still a rookie agent, aged 22. I'm 26 but I've been in the FBI for years, graduating way early so I have more experience than most twice my age. I basically grew up in the Academy and the field.
"Y-yes sir!" He said, standing. I shook my head, I don't know why we were given this job, I don't think Berkly is ready for the field. He's more of a desk worker. I'm taller than him, and a lot paler than him, considering I spend all my time working, and he goes out in the sun with his already dark skin tone.
"We have a job, if we leave now, we might get there before sunset," I told him, making him scramble to get his stuff together. I turned and walked out, still reading.
Hamelin is a small town made of German immigrants. It seems like Germany's Hamelin moved here, so they kept the name. The ages of the children range from the youngest being 5 and the oldest 12. No children have been found, no bodies recovered. They live in the middle of a forest, but I find it hard to believe there's a place to keep 27 children. The disappearances began on June 26, only 4 days ago. 27 kids go missing in 4 days. How is that even possible? As I walked outside I'm hit by the summer heat. I already miss the air conditioning. It's June 30, so the sun is ruthless, even more so at noon. I closed the folder, walking to the rows of cars and choosing a sleek black unmarked Mercedes S Coupe, turning on the air. I looked at some of the kids' pictures while waiting for Berkly. The first 24 hours after a child abduction is crucial because most aren't found after that time frame ends. Daily abductions, yet no witnesses. The likelihood is that most of them are dead or will never be found. The townspeople are the most likely suspects.
My jet black hair that's always messy and longish hangs in my sterling silver eyes. I don't have enough time to style it in the morning, so I leave it alone. I have a German accent left over from growing up in Germany because my family is German, which is probably why I was chosen for this. I know how to speak fluent German if needed. Berkley, on the other hand, has a military buzz cut and is Jewish. His hair is brown a shade lighter than his dark skin, and his eyes are a dark brown, almost black. He's all muscle and I'm lean and skinny. Although I'm taller than him, we're complete opposites. He's friendly, outgoing, wears his heart on his sleeve, messy, and forgetful. I am the complete opposite. I'm a cold, jaded, antisocial introvert who has a good memory and is nearish. I have controlled chaos, he has complete chaos. I push up my black rimmed Wayfarers glasses with photochromic lenses, so I don't need sunglasses. He slid into the car, but I didn't look up or stop reading.
"Gun." I simply said, using my peripheral vision to watch him as he checked his empty holster before cursing and slipping out of the car, running inside. I shook my head. "Airhead."
"Sorry sir, we can go." He said sheepishly. I nodded, closing the file and pulling away from the curb.
Because of my insomnia, and my extreme dislike to show weakness/vulnerability (for example, sleep) in front of others, I drove the whole time. This case bugs me. Something about it...I'm not sure. I'd grown numb to this sort of thing a while ago, making me something less than human. But the people I track down, they're the real monsters. Kidnapping kids, murdering, sex trafficking. Those people deserve to rot in hell.
We got there as the sky darkened, pulling into the Hamlin Police HQ. I got out, banging on the passenger window to wake Berkly up. I walked in, listening to him scramble from the car. I walked in, looking like a cliche FBI agent, suit, sunglasses (glasses with the lenses, whatever they both serve the same purpose).
"Welcome to Hamlin Police station! It's really great to get your help in this case." A girl who looks to be in her thirties says cheerily. I nodded.
"Happy to help," I said, indifferent. Berkley just grinned and shook her hand, excitement evident on his face.
I looked around the small, cluttered office. Where I work there are cubical but the partitions only go up halfway and are made of glass from the desk up. Everything is spaced out. Holding cells in the basement, spacious interrogation, and meeting rooms off to the side. Bigwig offices on the top floor. Different departments get different rooms. Autopsy in the half of the basement not using holding cells. Here everything is slammed together. Desks close, people milling around. There's a small meeting room and a single interrogation room off to the right. There's an office meant for the chief to the left, filled with boxes and books. I sighed, my head already beginning to throb. This is going to be a long case.
YOU ARE READING
The Missing Children (#OnceUponNow)
Mystery / Thriller#OnceUponNow story. In the small German town of Hamlin in the secluded forests of America, children begin to disappear without a trace. No one is found and no bodies are recovered. After 4 days and 27 disappearances, two FBI special agents are...
