Agents of Lies

Chapter One

The woman hummed softly as she braided back her long golden hair.

"Mom," her fifteen-year-old mini me opened the door. "I'm leaving."

"Have fun at school, kiddo," the mother moved her wheelchair back from her vanity and faced her daughter.

The teenager smiled and hugged her mom before leaving.

The woman then made her way to the kitchen to make herself some coffee before work. She smiled at the picture of herself with a dark haired man and glanced at the ring on her finger. "Just a few more months. I think after ten years, I can wait a few months." She sighed. "But then you'll have to know."

"By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomon'
Where me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'"

The blonde looked around. There was no reason for any music to be playing much less that song. She grabbed the pistol she kept in a cabinet. "Who's there? Gia?"

But before she knew it, something sharp pierced her neck and everything was black.

~*~

"O ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye
For me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'."

The eleven and twelve year old girls stood side by side, the younger clinging desperately to her older sister's hand in fear that if she let go, she might lose her, too.

Despite the day being sunny and warm, the Jareau sisters wore black dresses as they watched their oldest sister be lowered into the ground.

"Why did she do it?" the youngest asked.

"I don't know, J," the older blonde sighed. "I don't know."

"JJ," Dr. Spencer Reid got the attention of his teammate SSA Jennifer Jareau. "Garcia has a new case. I know that you're supposed to leave for California soon, but I think you'll want to hear it."

Once the agents were assembled in the meeting room, Penelope Garcia started.

"Over the past few months, ten women have been kidnapped from their homes in California. First, Dana Grayson, 31, from Mariner Bay. Then, Trini Scott, 34, Cassie Johnson, 32, and Ashley Hammond, 33, all from Angel Grove, taken within a few days of each other. In the past month, Rose Ortiz, 24, of San Angeles; Jennifer Collins, 30, from Silver Hills; Alyssa Evans, also 30, from Turtle Cove," Garcia paused and looked at JJ. "And, yesterday, from Harwood County, 36 year old Taylor Earhardt."

"I feel like I'm missing something," Agent Alex Blake interrupted the silence. "Who is Taylor Earhardt?"

JJ promptly ignored her fellow profiler. Other things sprang to mind. "What makes you think my sister's disappearance has anything to do with the disappearances of these other women?"

"It's the same MO," SSA David Rossi looked up from where he'd been reading the file. "A beautiful woman taken from her own home in the middle of the day."

"Then, there's the setup," Garcia showed a picture of a dining room table with a small white envelope on a plate between two candles. "This was the same at each scene. Notes for family members: husband, kids. There's even one for you, JJ, at your sister's house."

Aaron Hotchner looked pointedly at Agent Jareau. "Cancel your flight. You're landing in California earlier than expected.

"Wheels up in thirty."