FBI Surveillance Chapter 1

Lexi moaned and thrashed the covers in an attempt to wake up. The dreams were back. She sat up and rubbed her face then looked at the clock. 3:57 am. Ugh. Sliding her feet into slippers she stood and steadied herself. Kitchen. Milk.

Every time there was stress at work Lexi had the dreams. Someone was coming for Angel and Josie. The worst part was she couldn’t stop it. She was powerless in her dreams. She ran the water from the kitchen sink and splashed her face. Might as well get up. She dressed and made coffee. Too early to go anywhere. She sat in the lounge and pulled a blanket across her knees then picked up the file she’d brought home from the office.

Twelve years ago, Lexi Hunter’s world had turned upside down when her best friend Josephine Barton had gone missing. She simply never came back from the California University library where she had gone to study on a sweltering Saturday morning. The hours had stretched into days, weeks, and eventually eleven years, but the absence of her best friend during those years remained like a shadow that never quite faded.

The initial shock left Lexi grappling for answers. How could someone you love simply vanish, swallowed by the world? Her mind raced, replaying every moment in disbelief. When she had seen her coming out of their apartment with her books in her arms. A wave and a smile as she knelt and picked up a page that slipped out of her notebook. Then she had disappeared around the corner headed for the library across the campus. Lexi wouldn’t see her again for eleven years.

The heartache had been palpable. The laughter they once shared was replaced by a deafening silence that echoed through her empty days. Every corner of her life felt tainted by Josephine’s absence. The search for answers became consuming. Questions swirled through her mind endlessly. Where did Josephine go? Was she safe? The journey led Lexi through an overwhelming sense of loneliness, a burden that felt too heavy to bear.

Fear cast a long shadow over Lexi, and her family and friends who loved Josephine. What if she was hurt? What if she needed help? The uncertainty gnawed at Lexi’s soul, creating a storm of anxiety that never quite settled. It was natural to feel anger, directed toward circumstances or even the universe itself. Why had this happened? Lexi’s confrontation with an unjust world left her feeling powerless.

Yet, in the chaos, a flicker of hope persisted. It fueled Lexi’s anger and then her determination to remember and seek the truth, to keep Josephine’s spirit alive in her heart and in her life. The anger changed Lexi and it changed the course of her life. That’s when she decided to become an FBI Agent.

Lexi turned on a lamp and flipped open the file. Steven Roberts. The man who had orchestrated Josie’s kidnapping. Why Josie? Other than her obvious beauty, why had he chosen Josephine? That missing piece had niggled Lexi’s thoughts for two years. There was something she wasn’t grasping. Was it her family’s money? Or something else he’d wanted?

Her thoughts turned to David and Miles. Two very special men. David had also went missing after he came for Lexi. If it wasn’t for David and Miles, she’d be dead. A wall came up in her mind. She couldn’t think about that awful day.

Miles had stayed with her through recovery. She couldn’t have a better partner. For a few weeks she’d lost her confidence, but Miles had been there every step of the way. She thought back to Quantico where she had first met Miles.

Lexi’s heart raced every time she stood in front of the crowded room of agent trainees, her mind swirling with the countless threads of information she had collected. Josephine’s face haunted her thoughts, ethereal yet agonizingly present. The search for her missing best friend had transformed into an obsession that consumed every waking moment. This consuming drive fueled her passion to become an agent, but it was also threatening to derail her newfound career.

Special Agent Miles Quinn was a seasoned investigator with a calm demeanor and an uncanny ability to see past the chaos. He was that man when he met Lexi during her training at Quantico, instantly recognizing her talent, and more importantly, the emotional burden she carried. Lexi had taken full responsibility of her friend's disappearance and as her training partner, he made it his mission not just to work alongside her but to help her confront and overcome her obsession to find Josephine.

Miles was patience, slowly guiding Lexi through a series of exercises designed to harness her energy and focus it into productive investigation skills. One day, he led her to a quiet spot behind the training center, where the world fell away, and it was just the two of them.

“Let the past inform you, but don’t let it define you,” he advised, introducing her to the beauty of mindfulness. “Imagine a river, Lexi,” he continued, a kind seriousness in his eyes. “Those memories and emotions are like debris floating on the surface. You can acknowledge them as they pass by but don’t let them pull you under.”

His words struck a chord. She understood that her obsession didn’t have to be a chain that shackled her, but she struggled to transform it into a sense of determination that propelled her forward. Eventually the work began to pay off. She felt guilty for the emotional detachment—something every investigator had to master in their line of work. Lexi had to compartmentalize her feelings, separating personal grief from professional duty. Through studying scenarios and intense discussions with Miles about evidence, she started to sharpen her instincts, learning to focus on the case at hand instead of spiraling into despair.

Together, they reviewed old case files, breaking them down and analyzing patterns. Miles encouraged Lexi to share her theories, but he also challenged her when she leaned too far into her obsession.

“What do the facts say?” he would ask, grounding her back to reality.

Gradually, Lexi began to peel away the layers of her fixation. Instead of just seeking to find Josephine’s whereabouts, she started to approach cases with a broader perspective, understanding that solving each case mattered just as much.

She learned techniques for self-care that included journaling, and channeling her thoughts into writing, that had been eclipsed by her relentless pursuit. They would often take walks during their breaks, conversations meandering and light, reminding her that life still existed beyond the shadow of her loss.

As Lexi began to find balance, the heaviness lifted. She realized that while Josephine would always be a key chapter in her story, she could become an exceptional agent—and a whole person—without letting that chapter consume her.

Empowered by Miles' unwavering friendship and the techniques she was learning, Lexi began to change and her obsession that had been a driving force that had not served her purpose, evolved from a state of desperation to one of empowerment. Their partnership had turned into a friendship. They became true partners at the LA Bureau Analysis Unit, solving crime together.

And then they found Josephine.