Chapter 3
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Disclaimers at 10:57am, notes when it's over.
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The following takes place between 1:00pm and 2:00 pm Pacific
Time, 2:00 pm and 3:00pm Mountain Time and 3:00pm and
4:00pm Central Time.
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FBI jet
Somewhere over Missouri
3:00pm CT
"Trying to figure out where we are?" Monica Reyes saw John
Doggett looking out the window. She was back from the
plane's galley with two bottles of water. The Justice
Department-provided transportation was much like a typical
corporate jet, allowing her to sit directly across from her
partner.
Doggett turned to her, taking the water. Leaning his head back
into the chair and closing his eyes, he sighed, "I really thought
we were done with all this."
"You'd rather be interviewing Department of Homeland
Security job applicants about their home addresses when they
were seven and where they spent spring break in their junior
year of college?"
"No, I'd like to do what the FBI recruited me to do, investigate,
work cases, be useful."
"This seems..."
"This is something that Mulder and Scully could have handled
ten years ago. I'm not the man for this. We haven't been in the
field in months. They've got Skinner running the compliance
end of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate investigations. None of
us are qualified for this anymore."
"Who else are they going to call?"
"Seems like Mulder and Scully." Walter Skinner returned from
the front of the plane. "The CTU agent in the field contacted
me after he contacted Mulder."
"I bet that didn't go well." Doggett turned his attention to his
water bottle and took a long drink.
"The head of CTU in LA just told me that Mulder and Scully
are on the run with William."
"Do you think they'll find them?" Monica asked.
"Part of me thinks no, Mulder and Scully have been preparing
for this since he got custody of the boy but I think after two
years of laying low and keeping their heads down, they're not
ready for running with a child."
"If they get them, what, they're going to turn the plane around
and send us home?" Doggett wasn't sure what bothered him
more, being dragged from his desk punishment for a field
X-File or being returned to it.
"I don't know. If they are found, how much help can they be?
Mulder hasn't been a field agent since the spring of 2001,
Scully was riding a desk before that." Skinner noticed
Doggett's wince at the "riding a desk" comment, "Sorry about
that. Either way, they've been out of the loop for a long time."
"The X Files have been closed for a long time." Monica
commented.
"Looks like whatever this is," Skinner handed the faxed picture
of the craft to her, "needs the full attention of someone."
"And those someones are us." Doggett said, more to himself
than anyone else.
"Excuse me, Mr. Skinner." The flight attendant, himself a DoJ
employee, entered the cabin. "CTU is on the phone again."
"They got 'em." Doggett said.
"Let me find out." Skinner followed the flight attendant
shaking his head.
x-x-x
15 miles outside of the Bluff Airport
2:15pm MT
The CTU Bell 427 helicopter wasn't built for a child. Jack and
Michelle were able to rework Dr. Scully's seatbelt so she and
the boy were secured in the same seat. A ski cap borrowed
from one of the pilots helped secure the headset around the
child's head.
Dr. Scully took incredible care to comfort and reassure the
child. She was polite and respectful to all involved. Fox
Mulder took an equal amount of time ensuring the child's
comfort but made no attempt to mask his anger at the Colorado
State Police and the CTU agents.
The boy, William, was obviously excited by this new
adventure. He looked at everything in the helicopter, even
putting his arms out like a plane when the chopper took off.
Dr. Scully pulled his arms down, whispered something into his
ear and he sat quietly for the rest of the ride.
"First helicopter ride, Mr. Mulder?" Jack tried to cut the
tension in the small cabin.
"Can my son hear this?"
Jack leaned over to the headset on the boy's head and saw the
speakers were off. "Nope."
"Unless you're returning my family and me to our home, fuck
off, Mr. Bauer."
"Mr. Mulder, we just need to ask you and Dr. Scully some
questions."
Mulder was able to locate the power switch to his headphones
and turned them off. Jack watched as Dr. Scully did the same
and started playing clap hands with the child. This was going
to be a long interrogation.
x-x-x
FBI jet
3:20pm CT
"They're in custody." Skinner sat next to Monica and looked at
Doggett.
"All of them?" Monica asked.
"The CTU agent in Los Angeles asked for a list of Mulder and
Scully's relatives so he could get someone to stay with
William."
Doggett was surprised by how little CTU knew. "What did you
tell them?"
"They caught 'em, they're CTU's responsibility. My guess is
Mulder will make their lives miserable while entertaining
William. Scully won't give an inch until she can guarantee
their safety. I don't see how giving CTU an option to make
things easier for them is going to do anything but make things
harder for the Mulder family."
Monica recapped some of her e-mails with Dana. "Not like
there is a whole lot of family that could help anyway. Mrs.
Scully is with Charles and his family to Long Island, Dana
mentioned that Bill has been transferred to Pearl Harbor and his
wife couldn't be happier living in Hawaii."
"Would it have been better if they stayed put?" Doggett
wondered outloud. "They're in a place where any government
raid wouldn't sit well politically."
"After I finished with CTU, I spoke with the Colorado State
Police. There was a roadblock, helicopters chasing them.
CTU didn't care. They wanted the two of them in custody and
it really didn't matter." Skinner shook his head. "Shit, if
Mulder stayed home, they would have been separated when
they were brought in. That wouldn't work well for either of
them."
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Tony Almeida's Office
CTU
Los Angeles, CA
1:30pm PT
"Milo, I need you up here." Tony called from the landing
outside his office. With Chappelle trying to undercut Tony's
authority by putting his own loyalists on Tony's staff, Tony was
thrilled to see Milo's availability and willingness to return to
the L.A offices.
The young computer expert dropped himself into a guest chair
while Tony scribbled the full names and social security
numbers of Mr. Mulder and Dr. Scully on a sheet of paper.
"What's up boss?"
"I want you to find me every living relative of these two people
in a 150 mile radius. The FBI is being most uncooperative in
this matter. Michelle just phoned in and the two of them have
a child."
"Hand the kid over to social services."
Tony held up the sheet of paper with just the word "William"
on it. "This is all DoJ would provide about the child. I can
barely get a marriage license on these two, let alone anything
on the boy. Somehow I don't see Dr. Scully or Mr. Mulder
handing the child off to strangers."
"Don't give them a choice."
"Milo, Jack wants them to help."
"Keeping the kid from them might make them very helpful."
"That," Tony pointed to a two inch thick file folder on his desk,
"is Mr. Mulder's FBI discipline file. I figure Fox Mulder has
done whatever the hell he's wanted for most of his career. The
only file bigger the FBI provided was the list of cases Mulder
and Dr. Scully solved. I'd rather have him working with us,
than working against us."
"You're the boss." Milo started to leave.
Tony began to wonder if all this work wasn't making Mr.
Mulder and Dr. Scully the team leaders.
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Bluff Airport
Bluff, UT
2:40pm MT
"I'm going to need to inspect that bag before we can take off
ma'am." The pilot pointed to the diaper bag as he finished he
pre-flight preparations.
"It's a diaper bag." Scully put William in the seat next to the
window. Mulder was directly across from the child, she was in
the seat next to William.
"I'm aware of that, ma'am, but I can't start the flight until I
check the bag."
"Don't give it to him. We have no interest in leaving Utah."
Mulder added helpfully.
"Ma'am please, I can have Agent Bauer..."
"Fine." Scully took the bag from under her seat. Instead of
handing it to the pilot, she dumped the contents on the chair in
front of her. She then tossed the empty bag at the pilot, much
to her son's delight. "You're not screwing up my son's toilet
training by taking away his training pants."
The pilot gave a quick look into the empty bag. A plastic baby
bottle, a snow globe, a couple of kids' books, Huggies Pull-Up
pants, the training pants, baby wipes and something about the
size of a covered dog bowl called "The Portable Potty" sat on
the seat. "Do I want to open this?" He handed the bag back to
Scully but picked up The Portable Potty.
"I wish you would." Mulder replied. "Toward you if possible."
"It's empty." Scully's anger abated when the diaper bag was
returned. "It is for road emergencies."
"We have bathrooms in the back of the plane."
"We weren't planning on being on this plane today." Scully
started repacking the gear.
"Sorry, ma'am. Just doing my job." The pilot started to return
to the cockpit.
"So was Eichmann." Mulder mumbled, pushing the diaper bag
under his seat this time. "How you doing there, William?"
"Plane?" William pointed to the helicopter that sat outside of
his window.
"Helicopter."
William looked at his father
"Hell"
"Hell"
"A"
"A"
"Cop"
"Cop"
"Ter"
"Ter."
"Hel-a-cop-ter."
"Hel-a-cop-ter." William threw his arms up in the air.
"Good boy." Mulder and Scully said in unison. Scully kissed
his forehead before turning her attention to her husband. "You
OK?"
"William, you're a good influence on your Dad, you know
that."
William pointed out the window again and said "Hellycoter."
"Helicopter."
"Helicopter."
"Good boy." Mulder reached down and grabbed the diaper
bag. "Here." He smiled at his son, handing the boy the
McDonalds snow globe.
"Snow."
Michelle walked down the aisle, joining the Mulder family.
"Mr. Mulder, Dr. Scully we're about to take off, do you need
anything?"
"Returning my car and freeing my family and me would be a
start." Mulder replied.
"If you have a little apple juice or some milk. Maybe
something in a juice box?" Scully tilted her head toward
William.
"I'll check. After we take off, I'll be back."
Michelle returned to Jack and buckled herself in. "I don't know
if this is a good idea."
"Chasing down a pair of retired FBI agents, picking up their kid
and whisking them away from their home, no, I can't see the
flaws in the plan."
Michelle thought it was the first time Jack ever cracked a joke
just for her. The plane started taxiing down the runway. "Dr.
Scully wants some juice for the boy."
"Make sure the boy's needs are taken care of, anything they
want for him, we get."
"Mr. Mulder wants to be dropped off at home."
"Did you ask Tony to arrange for some child care?"
"Yes, he said he'd work on it." Michelle took a deep breath as
the plane started to take off. "Do you think they're worth it?"
"The FBI is hiding their records, they went on the run when I
called, I'm as interested in the cover-up here as I am in the
craft."
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The Morgue
TwentyNine Palms Hospital
2:55pm PT
Sean Hamlin agreed to let the Navy pay for medical school in
1996. The world was a much simpler place then. He figured
he'd do his seven years at Pearl Harbor if he was lucky,
Brunswick Maine if he wasn't. Instead, he spent 2000 in
Yemen, 2001 in Afghanistan and 2002 in the Gulf. This was
supposed to be the quiet time at the end of his military career.
The Navy transferred him off the Roosevelt and to Twentynine
Palms. Training accidents replaced ship mishaps as his area of
expertise.
The body sat in contamination unit. What was in the
contamination unit wasn't in his area of expertise. He made a
few phone calls before the CTU fed told him to stop calling
anyone. No one was to see the body, no one was to move the
body and no one was to know about the body. Those were his
orders.
So Commander Sean Hamlin, MD, graduate of Emory and
VCU Medical School was now babysitting a dead body
covered in green blood..
Join the Navy, see the world, he thought. Now he was looking
at something from another world. The Gulf was beginning to
look good right now.
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If you wonder where the M&S attitude comes from, this picture
was the inspiration.
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