Spitefic: Operation Twilight

[afterandalasia.livejournal.com]

Title: Operation Twilight
Author: afterandalasia
Fandom(s): Twilight
Rating: PG
Word Count: 858
Inspiration: Honestly, I do not know. This just happened.
Warnings: Discussion of serial killer practices, but no detail.
Summary: The string of murders has been going on for long enough. Charlie has been in deep cover to watch the Cullens, and now he's getting a partner to help take them down. And who would suspect a moody, clumsy highschooler of being a trained FBI operative who specialises in these sort of bait operations?
Disclaimer: Twilight is most definitely not mine. My knowledge of police and FBI procedures is informed by the media as well as my own research, and I doubt that it's entirely accurate. But it is more fun.

---

It had to be one of the most awkward reunions in history.

Never mind that I'd seen photos, it didn't mean that I recognised her. Pale, dark-haired girls are rather more ubiquitous than fiction would have us realise, and it wasn't until I realised that one of the disembarking figures was making a beeline for me, and my patrol car, that I caught on, perked up, and smiled.

"Hey, Bella," I said. For a moment, I considered going in for a hug, but that was just too awkward.

She flashed me a smile. "Hey, Charlie."

"Let's get in before it rains," I added, with a nod to the car. It was overcast but dry, better than some of the weather we get up here, but I didn't trust it to stay that way for long. I grabbed her bags and put them in the trunk before climbing in; just in time, as it turned out, as almost on cue, the heavens opened.

"You're going to call me Charlie?" I said, once we were in the car.

She shot me a glance. "Plenty of kids call their parents by their names."

I supposed that she was right, and at least it would feel rather less uncomfortable. It was going to be strange enough using the name Bella again, having another person in the house.

Bella looked out at the rain, frowning. "Why the hell would they pick here, of all places?"

"That's one of the things we want to figure out," I replied calmly. "Though it does seem that they prefer to be further north. Anyway, they're here, so we're here."

It's amazing how much better people drive when they see a cop car on the road with them.

"And as for starting this in the middle of the year, it's to make you stand out, isolate you somewhat--"

"I know, Charlie."

We'd gone over it a hundred times, but I wasn't as good at this as Bella was. "The Blacks are going to be helping out. Billy's in on it -- he remembers you -- but Jacob isn't. He was too young to remember when you used to play with the twins."

Bella was good. Bella was the best. So good that she had made me call her Bella from the first time that we spoke, because she didn't want to run the risk of my being familiar with her real name. The fact that she could pass for a high schooler despite being twenty-four didn't exactly hurt her skills in deep cover, but from what I'd heard through the grapevine she had been doing this since she was in her teens.

And now she was coming to Forks, taking the place of my daughter who had lived with her mother since she was a toddler, to help me get the evidence I needed against these Cullen bastards.

It had taken us years to find them. It was always hard, proving the patterns, tracking them down. But serial killers always left the pattern eventually. These ones had just been harder to pin down because there were a group of them: most work in pairs, some alone. Sure, there have been a few examples of 'team killers' in the truest sense, but it had been like an epiphany when we realised what we were dealing with here.

Of course, it fit perfectly once we realised. The charismatic leader, the unswerving beliefs of the rest of the group, the insularity they presented. The younger ones had various levels of success in posing as highschoolers, of course -- but if Bella could do it, why couldn't they?

Eventually our suspicions had fallen on the Cullens. But they were good, as well, maybe as good at what they did as Bella was at what she did. We couldn't risk scaring them by going in hard, and there wasn't evidence to find. Which was why I, long-term deep operative Charlie Swan, was getting my 'daughter' back so that we could take them down once and for all.

Operation Twilight. Time for this to end.

"I've got you a car," I went for instead, trying a different tack. "It's from Billy -- remember I told you about his accident? Jacob's done some work on it. I've made some enquiries at the school as well, and you'll be sharing some classes with the younger ones... well, the ones in Junior year, anyway."

"Charlie." I glanced across to see Bella looking at me pointedly, albeit with a faint kindly smile on her face. "I know all of this. This is what I do." She reached across to pat me on the arm, briefly, before slipping back into character again and slouching down in her seat. "Thanks for the car, though. I wasn't expecting that. And it'll give me a good reason to have contact with the Blacks."

There hadn't been deaths over on the reservation. Of course, most killers target their own racial group...

"Well then," I said as we pulled into the driveway. I hit the parking brake, then took a deep breath before reaching across to open the car door. "Welcome to Forks."

Comments

[albion-witch.livejournal.com]

This is awesome.

[afterandalasia.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was great fun.