Chapter 5 x-x-x-x-x To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever..... So you have to lie back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote. -- Carl Spackler x-x-x-x-x BWI Airport Maryland 10:35pm Scully drove like hell to catch a 4pm flight from Phoenix to Baltimore. Byers made it to the hospital just after ten in the morning. Scully had to admit the fake FBI ID he had gave her real one a run for its money. When this was all over, she'd have to get Mulder to push them on how they did that. Mulder. It wasn't a good night or a bad night. He just slept and slept and slept. The doctors had him on fluids -- he was a little dehydrated -- and worked to keep his fever under 100. At the Phoenix airport, Dana Scully became Jordan Cochran and with one wild idea that would make Mulder proud and the container of oil, she started back east. The oil didn't register in her carry-on as she went through security, Scully thanked God. Both Scully and Cochran arrived at BWI just after 10:30pm. Frohike, dressed as a chauffeur was there to pick her up. He even had a piece of cardboard that read "Cochran". Scully grabbed it out of her hand -- attention was not going to do her any good right now -- as he took her overnight bag. "I need to get to my apartment and depending on what Skinner is willing to do I may need you guys to secure some lab space for me." "The Assistant Director told us you can trust him." "Frohike, are you siding with the government on this one?" "No, of course not." He opened the LoneGun van and let her in, "I just think you could use a friend on the inside. He was a big help to Mulder when you were missing last summer." "And he was responsible for taping Mulder and me for months." "We'll get you whatever space you need, you know that." "I know, and I'm grateful. I'm sure Mulder is too." Scully yawned. "Oh, by the way, who are Jordan Cochran and Ben McKenna?" x-x-x-x Scully and Frohike made it to her apartment by 11:15pm. As she grabbed her laptop, a change of clothes and a felt bag from her Grandmother. Frohike arranged a meeting with Skinner in the FBI parking lot at midnight. He didn't tell the Assistant Director who he was meeting. Skinner was waiting by the third column on level "D" when Scully arrived. "I need access to Mulder's office and some lab time." she told him. "Why?" "He's sick again. And I have an idea what might help him. He had a few good hours after I got him away from Georgetown Memorial but a relapse put in back in the hospital." "Where is he? Is he alright?" "He's somewhere safe but no, he's not alright. And if he dies, I will not stop until I find the people who did this to him and bring it back to them one hundred fold." The Assistant Director took out his cellphone and dialed. "This is Walter Skinner." There was a pause, "Good thanks, listen, I'm sending Agent Scully over to SL3B. I'm a bit concerned about leaving her alone in the building this late at night." He chucked, "Yes I know how secure the building is but Kim's wallet was taken right out of her desk last week and while I think she's a great Agent, Scully is just a little slip of a girl." Another chuckle, "Yes, I do remember the good old days of height requirements. Right, I got that number. Thanks again Doug." Scully just stared at her boss. "I'm sure you know Doug Thomas." "Head of Forensic Labs." "Member of my gym. Would make J. Edgar Hoover proud when it comes to his opinions of women on the job." He took out a business card and a pen. He wrote the lab code number on the card and handed it to her. "I want to hear from you in twenty four hours." Scully just took the card and entered the Hoover building. x-x-x-x-x Scully's first stop was the X Files office. She saw the smoke alarm was already dismantled. Not sure if Skinner did that or someone with a more nefarious agenda, Scully made her way through the office quickly. She picked up her file -- the one Mulder re-started after their trip to the end of the world last summer. In their three weeks of isolation in Auckland, she worked on the little bit of "vaccine" that was left to fight the boredom. Now she hoped to recreate it and what it would do to the black oil. She grabbed Mulder's file from Russia and took the formula for the chemical his doctor found injected in his neck. It was the same compound. She also took out the file on the Piper Maru and found a similar compound. SL3B was actually was a secured lab on the third floor of Hoover. It was where she often found Agent Pendrell -- another casualty in all this. Pushing that out of her mind, she started working on saving Mulder. x-x-x-x-x Hoover Building SL3B 6:10am "I e-mailed you what I need, can you put it together for me?" Scully yawned into the phone. "This shouldn't be a problem." Frohike was happy to reply. "You know it isn't any of my business Agent Scully and of course you don't need it but maybe you'd like to drop by for a little beauty sleep. I'm sure I can straighten up the back room after I put this..." "Thanks for the offer Frohike but I need get out of her before the building gets busy and I need to get back to Mulder." "He doesn't deserve you." "We don't always get what we deserve." For some reason Scully's mind went back to the last time she and Melissa were sitting in her kitchen. "I'll be over in about an hour. Find me a plane to New Mexico." Scully planned to sneak into the Hoover gym for a quick shower and change of clothes. Scully packed up her laptop, put her gun in her jacket pocket and started her way out of the back lab. She was unhappy, but not completely surprised to see Diana Fowley waiting for her. "Shouldn't you be rifling through Mulder's files or something?" "How is he?" "He seems to keep scratching these burn marks on his chest and side. Know anything about those?" "When the ambulance came to get him he became violent. One of the EMTs had to use the stun gun to protect himself." Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the situation or maybe it was the ridiculous lie Diana just told, but Scully almost laughed. "Are you morally or physically unable to tell the truth? I'm thinking morally myself, but it may be a physical condition." "Excuse me?" "You know when I first started working with Mulder, he had all these ideas of a grand and efficient conspiracy on almost an intergalactic scale. But seven years later I've realized it isn't so much a grand and efficient conspiracy as it is a large bureaucracy where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing." "You've lost me." "I'm not that lucky." Scully sighed. "Whoever sent you to babysit or electrocute Mulder didn't tell you his apartment was under surveillance did they?" "I'm..." "...You're on video tape giving him the shock of his life, so to speak." "I was only doing it for his own good." "After I shot him I told him that and he believed me. Somehow I think you have a harder sell." Scully turned to the door only to have Diana grab her left arm. Scully put her right hand on her weapon. Staring at Diana she asked, "Do you know you're touching me?" Diana let go of her arm and took a step back, "You won't be able to save him. His only chance for survival is with me. I can get him to people who can provide the medical attention he needs." "You've got that wrong, again. Your only chance for survival is Mulder. Your place in whatever is going on here is solely based on your relationship with him; your ability to get him to do what they want him to do. That's gone. So unless you provide other unique services, and Mulder did mention who he found in your bedroom back in February, you may have a serious problem." "That's offensive." "And this is tiresome." Scully opened the door and saw Rick Hammersmith in the hallway. At least she thought it was Rick Hammersmith, Introduction to Forensic Evidence was almost seven years ago. "Rick?" Oh please be Rick, she hoped. "Dr. Scully, I thought that was you. I was picking up some files when I smelled coffee." Over the years, he added about ten pounds to his already beefy 6 foot 4 inch frame. A few grey hairs as well. "Hey, long night or early morning?" "Can you come here for a second?" Scully had one eye on Diana at all times. As Hammersmith came to the door, Scully pulled a piece of paper out of the side pocket of the laptop briefcase. She hoped it was the right one -- at this point she could use a break. "Do you know what this is?" "Yes, ma'am." She turned to Diana, "Can you please tell Agent Hammersmith who you are." "I don't have time for this." Diana bristled as she pulled out her badge, "I'm Special Agent Diana Fowley." Scully looked to Hammersmith, "Well Agent Fowley," the younger agent began, "according to this piece of paper Dr. Scully here has a court order requiring you to stay at least 500 yards away from her at all times. Dr. Scully, how would you like to handle this?" Scully would have loved somehow to put Diana in jail, but she really just needed to get out of there -- now sadly without the shower. "Are you doing anything for the next 15 minutes?" "Only what you ask me to do." He flashed her a smile. "Keep Agent Fowley here until 6:30am at which time she can leave. I should be well away from the building by then." "Sure Dr. Scully. You want to sit down somewhere Agent Fowley, you're not going anywhere for a few minutes." "This is outrageous." "Don't be afraid to detain her by force if you must," Scully used a stage whisper for Hammersmith, "Assistant Director Skinner will tell you she's under investigation for some fraud and somehow feels Agent Mulder and I are involved. She's very bitter about the whole thing." Hammersmith just nodded and smiled, happy for the first time in his life to be the teacher's favorite and not the coach's. As Scully walked down toward the elevator she made a call, "Hi it's me...remember the offer of the backroom? I could really use a shower." ###