Chapter 1 x-x-x Disclaimers at 10:57am, notes when it's over. x-x-x The following takes place between 11:00am and 12:00 noon Pacific Time, 12:00 noon and 1:00pm Mountain Time. x-x-x Montezuma Creek, Utah 12:00 noon MT "Hey little man, change in plans." Fox Mulder lifted his son away from his Bob the Builder work bench and started to the master bedroom. Master bedroom was a joke. It fit their bed and a chest of drawers with a 13 inch TV on top. If it wasn't for the built in bookcase on the headboard, neither of them would have a place to put their glasses. He shook his head, the squirming three year old in his arms was worth it all. And now was the reason for the change in plans. "Wanna watch your old Dad pack?" "Bed!" William giggled gleefully as his father planted him between the pillows. He started to roll around before a pointed finger from his father and a "Hey" had him back sitting and smiling where he was placed. "You're going to sit there." "Sit." "Excellent!" Mulder pulled a large suitcase from under the bed. "Up for a trip, my friend?" "'Donalds?" "No, not McDonalds, a real trip." The suitcase was already half packed. Underwear, toiletries, two pairs of sneakers, two pairs of jeans and a couple of tee-shirts. He started digging through the clothes. "'Donalds." "Maybe when we get there." He found the emergency cellphone in the suitcase and dialed. After three rings, he asked for his wife. "Dr. Scully's office." "It's Mulder, is she there?" "She just left to get yogurt, she should be back in about, oh, here she is, hold on." After a minute of Kenny G on hold, he heard, "Hey there." "We're going." He took about half of William's clothes out of the laundry basket. He had folded them after they were washed this morning but he didn't have time to put them away. Score one for being behind. "What happened?" "Phone call this morning from someone at CTU." Mulder tossed William's things into the suitcase. The boy started to reach for his shirts but Mulder pulled him away from the suitcase, closing it quickly. "Counter Terrorism?" "Does it matter?" "No. Is he fed?" Mulder could hear his wife moving papers, closing down her office for the day. "Planned on Cheerios on the road and lunch at the airport." "Which one?" "Your call. Farmington is closer, Grand Junction has more choices and Salt Lake..." "Is where they'll be looking for us." "Exactly. I'm thinking Grand Junction." Mulder dug another bag from under the bed. The Land's End diaper bag matched the one they usually used, but this one had an added feature -- a false bottom with cash, ID and credit cards. The original diaper bag was the Gunmen's gift to Scully when William was born, the newer one was Jimmy and Yves's goodbye gift. "Any idea where we're going?" "I've always wanted to go to Reykjavik but we'll get the first flight out and figure things from there." "I'll be waiting out back in twenty minutes." "I'll be there." x-x-x Palm Springs International Airport, CA 11:10 am PT At CTU's request, the far runway was closed. Bauer was being helicoptered back from Twentynine Palms. The call came in from the Marine base just after 8am, Bauer was there not long after. According to the Marines, what they believed was a spy drone was shot down just after dawn. Intel had all California bases on the look out for the drones after a shipment from China was intercepted just a month earlier. What the Marines shot down wasn't a spy drone -- Chinese or anyone else. The Chinese drones looked like missiles with wings. This was a plane. Plane was the wrong word, craft was better. Despite being hit by several surface to air missiles, the craft survived the Marines' attack only to crash into an empty field. When Bauer last saw it, it was on the back of a flatbed 18-wheeler being towed to Twentynine Palms. While the craft survived, the pilot did not. Pilot may not be the right word, either. Whatever the pilot was, it was dead. The green fluid oozing out of his wounds caused two Navy medics to collapse. The bio-hazard team arrived with the flatbed truck and was collecting the remains. As Bauer looked down on the Palm Springs airport, he replayed the conversation with Fox Mulder in his head. Mr. Mulder made it very clear that he was no longer affiliated with the FBI or any other government organization. He simply wanted to be left alone and slammed down the phone. Mr. Mulder was going to need to be convinced. The helicopter landed about ten feet from the CTU Gulf Stream. Michelle Dessler was waiting for him inside the plane. None of her news was any good. "I'm in." Jack Bauer called to the pilot as he locked the plane's door. "I had the FBI send over Mr. Mulder and Dr Scully's personnel records." She handed them to him. Bauer was disgusted. "This is supposed to help us?" With the exception of maybe ten or eleven words per page, most either "Agent Mulder" or "Agent Scully," all of the records were blacked out. "Have they been told this is a matter of national security?" "The FBI is sending out two agents, Reyes and Doggett, and an Assistant Director named Skinner to help with this." Bauer flipped back through the faxed pages. "Well, here on one of the Agent Mulder pages are the words Skinner, Doggett and Reyes so maybe they know each other. This is worthless. I assume these people are based in DC?" "Yes." "Great, they'll be here after six o'clock. Useless." Bauer called to the pilot, "How soon can we get to Utah?" "They live in the middle of nowhere. The closest airport is in Bluff, which is about an hour away. You're on your own after that." "We have transportation waiting." Michelle said absently while going through other paperwork "Tony is trying to get in touch with the FBI so we can speak to their people." Finding what she was searching for, she passed it to Jack, "According to their tax records, Mr. Mulder and Dr. Scully live on an Indian Reservation." "If we have to go get them, that's going to be a logistical nightmare." "I think that's the idea." Michelle handed Jack more records, "Mr. Mulder, outside of a few articles published in some Omni and Issues in Science and Technology Magazine, doesn't seem to work. Dr. Scully is one of two doctors working at the Montezuma Creek Medical Center and is the coroner for the Utah division of the Navajo Nation Police Department." "Nice guy, she has two jobs, he has none." Jack's phone rings. "Bauer." "Jack, it's Tony." "Tony, the material from the FBI..." "Is crap, I know. I'm patching in Assistant Director Walter Skinner from the FBI." "Skinner here." The voice on the phone was gruff. "Mr. Skinner, this is Jack Bauer, I'm trying to get in touch with two former FBI agents, Scully and Mulder. I can't confirm this but I believe you know them." "I'm really not at liberty to discuss Mulder and Scully." "So you know them." "Mr. Bauer, I can not and more importantly will not discuss Fox Mulder and Dana Scully with you. I've been told you've found something." "Which I've been led to believe Mr. Mulder and Dr. Scully can assist me with." "Mulder and Scully will not be assisting you, I can pretty much guarantee it. I have Special Agent Monica Reyes and Special Agent John Doggett with me. Both of these agents have an expertise in this area." "Would either of these agents be able to contact Mr. Mulder and Dr. Scully...." "Mr. Bauer, I don't think I'm getting through to you so I'll try this again, Mulder and Scully will not do anything to jeopardize the status quo of their lives. Do not contact them, nothing good will come of it." "And if I've already contacted them?" "Then you've given them a nice head start." x-x-x Montezuma Creek Medical Center Montezuma Creek, UT 12:30pm MT Dana Scully took a gym bag with her as she left the clinic. She crossed Trading Post Road to find her family sitting in their SUV. The truck originally cost more than their house, the improvements to the engine only added to the difference. She was never so happy he spent the money. This was always the plan, they always knew it was coming. "Hey." She leaned over and kissed Mulder, the perfect picture of marital bliss, and turned to her son. "Hey back there, you being a good boy for Daddy?" "Donalds." "He thinks we're going to McDonalds." Mulder pulled the car into what was loosely called traffic there. There was one other car on the road. "No. We're going on a trip." Scully noticed a hand full of Cheerios on his car seat tray. "Joseph is going to drop my Jeep off at the house, his brother is coming in for an x-ray this afternoon so he'll get a lift back." "We'll make him dinner if we ever get back." "Any idea where we're going?" "None, just wanted to get you and get out." He fished the cellphone out of his pocket. "Can you call Susan?" "You didn't call her." "Didn't want to raise any flags. Dr. Scully may have an easier time." He watched his wife plug in the speed dial code before turning his attention back to the road. "Any other problems back there?" "No, told them we had a family emergency. Told them this might occur when I took the job, they understood." She put her hand up, "Susan Morgan please, it's Dr. Dana Scully." "Donalds." "William, you need to be quiet for a second, Mommy's on the phone." "Phone," William whispered and then giggled at his own joke. "Phone is right," Mulder stage whispered to his son. "Shhhh." "Shhhh." William agreed. "Hi Susan, it's Dana." "Every man's dream come true, my current wife talking to my ex." Mulder mumbled. "Shhh." William added from the backseat. Mulder only got Scully's side of the call, "Mulder got a call this morning, we're on the move." Pause. "I'm not sure because he's not sure. We're just being careful." Pause. "He said the call was from CTU, we did some counter-terrorism work years ago but I mean nothing beyond some domestic terrorism incidents around 1997." Pause, "That sounds like a good amount. Thank you for arranging this." One last pause "We'll give you a call when it is safe. Goodbye." "Money in the account?" Mulder asked. "She was moving it as we spoke." She handed the phone back to him, "I checked the credit cards on the first of the month, credit limits are fine, bills are paid and obviously the cell phone works." "We need to lose this." Mulder holds up the phone. "Next trash pail I see." She turned to William. "Thank you for being quiet." William smiled at his mother. "What do you think they wanted?" Scully asked as Mulder moved from the rural road to a four lane highway. "Don't know, don't care. Obviously CTU didn't get the memo." "I don't know about this." "Scully, we negotiated this life. All of it. They have no right." "It must be bad if they're calling us." "We're keeping up our end of the bargain, they can too." x-x-x Bluff Airport Bluff, UT 12:50pm MT The plane was beginning to make its descent when Michelle's cell phone rang. The conversation was short, she was never happy to be on the phone while a plane was landing. What was the old joke? She loved to fly, it was the landing and taking off she could do without. "That was Tony." Jack was returning from the bathroom. "Dr. Scully left the Medical Center where she works about half an hour ago. She told the director that there was a family emergency. Mr. Mulder picked up her and they were gone." "Dammit, AD Skinner said they'd see the call as a threat." "How far can they get in half an hour?" "I called less than an hour ago and they're already on the run. Maybe Mr. Mulder wanted to be left alone because he knew something like this would happen." "We're not going to do anything to him, just ask some questions." "Questions he obviously doesn't want to answer. What kind of transportation do we have here?" "Helicopter and SUVs." "What are they driving?" "They have two cars, a 1998 Jeep Wrangler, red and a 1998 Range Rover, black. Four state APBs are out on both." "Frank." Bauer called to the pilot of the Gulfstream. "Yes, Mr. Bauer." "What sort of flights could you get out of the Bluff airport?" "Short hop flights, mostly to Salt Lake City, Provo, Farmington, Flagstaff, Grand Junction. Salt Lake is the only major airport, Provo, Grand Junction and Farmington are decent sized, Flagstaff is the smallest." "So if you wanted the most flights available." "Salt Lake has international flights. All of those other airports would bring you someplace else before you get to where you're going. Most the flights out of Provo and about half out of Grand Junction would bring you to Salt Lake." "Thanks. We're going to need to leave for Salt Lake as soon as we can get off the ground in Bluff." "What..." Michelle turned to Jack. "I want you to get into one of the helicopters and fly to Farmington, since that should be the closest, I'm going fly to Salt Lake and see if they arrive there. Send the SUVs to Flagstaff, Grand Junction and while we're at it, Phoenix as well. Those roads are clear most days and it is a good diversion." "Provo?" "If all roads in Provo lead to Salt Lake, it is a waste of time and manpower." "What if they don't want to stop?" "We'll encourage them to stop and put them on a plane. Back at CTU we'll find out why they're on the move. Something is up here." Bauer showed her the blacked out FBI files. "I want to know why Fox Mulder was the man to call and why he and Dr. Scully are running not talking." x-x-x Feedback is better than 'Donald's French Fries -- and that's saying something. maureen_b_ocks@yahoo.com