Wed May 211997
Subject: Captive 1/2
From: smythja smythja@aston.ac.uk

--------
This is a fiction story based on the characters created by Chris
Carter. No infringement of copyrights held by 10/13 Productions,
Twentieth Century Productions, or Fox Broadcasting is intended.
All unrecognised characters and plot-lines belong to me. Names,
characters, and places exist solely within my imagination, or are
used fictitiously. No connection to any person, living or dead, is
intended, and any resemblance is entirely coincidental. Feel free
to distribute, but please keep me as the author.

Rating - 15.

Classification - X.

Summary - Mulder and Scully are called in to help catch an escaped
serial killer that Mulder helped to put away. The killer has a grudge
against Mulder, and after an FBI raid on a warehouse, the agent goes
missing.

Danielle Culverson.

"Captive." 1/2

A dark-haired man sat at a desk in the basement office of the J.
Edgar Hoover building, leaning forward over the report he was
writing. He scribbled quickly, all his concentration on his
work.

The desk was a mess. - Organised chaos was how it had been
described in the past, and it had got worse since then. -
Crumpled documents and memos were strewn across it. The phone
was buried under a pile of printouts and faxes, the only evidence
of it's presence being the dirt-streaked white cord that snaked
out from under the jumble and down to the floor, where it wound
it's way over to the wall, and disappeared into a hole, the
plaster around which was in need of repair. Sunflower seeds in a
bag balanced on top of the pile of printouts, and the whole desk
was covered with the discarded shells. Pencil shavings and
coffee rings decorated the white papers, and on one a splotch of
tomato ketchup was visible.

The appearance of the man himself matched the desk. He wore a
light grey suit, the jacket of which hung on the back of a wooden
chair against the wall behind him. His suit was neatly pressed,
as was his shirt, but the way he wore it seemed haphazard, as
though he hadn't really been thinking about what he was doing
when he got dressed that morning. His tie was pulled loose
around his neck, and the top button of his shirt was undone. His
hair was tousled, and his eyes were shadowed with lack of sleep.
- Although anyone who knew him knew that this was perfectly
normal. - His age could be estimated at being anywhere between
his late twenties, and mid thirties, depending on the mood he was
caught in. However his eyes seemed much older than his face ever
did. They were intense, green orbs, with a depth that suggested
they had seen many things, and many of those had been painful.

The basement room was crowded, to say the least. Three desks, -
the one the man sat at, one alongside it which was considerably
neater, and one in front of it which supported a computer, -
three filing cabinets, a photocopier, various book-shelves and
small cupboards, a waste paper basket, a coat-tree supporting two
overcoats (one large black, and one smaller brown) and a baseball
cap bearing the letters N.I.C.A.P., and a slide projector filled
the small area. The fall-out zone around the man's desk, and the
pile of waste paper around the basket didn't improve the
situation.

The door opened, and an auburn-haired woman carrying a manilla
folder in her left hand entered the room. The man glanced up at
her, and smiled faintly.

"Hi, Scully." he greeted her.

"Busy?" Special Agent Dana Scully asked her partner. Fox Mulder
shook his head.

"Not really."

"No? - You looked pretty engrossed there."

Mulder shrugged, "It's an interesting case, but I'm not really
supposed to be working on it."

"Ah." Scully sat down in the imitation leather swivel chair
behind the desk alongside Mulder's, and put down the folder she
held. Looking over at her partner again, she saw that his
concentration had already returned to his work. A vague smile
came to her lips. - So he wasn't that busy..?

The phone on Mulder's desk rang, and he barely paused in his
writing as he moved the papers covering it, and lifted the
receiver.

"Mulder." he said flatly, "Oh, hi Stanton. - What's the
problem?" What came next apparently caught Mulder's attention,
as he put down his pen, and lent his entire concentration to the
phone call. Scully noticed, and looked up from the case she had
started to read through. "Yes, of course I remember the Coxley
case... Well, yes, having a photographic memory does help. - So
what about it?... He escaped? - And where are they now?... Yes,
of course. - But I'm not in VCU now..." Mulder paused as Agent
Stanton interrupted him, and then nodded, "Yes, of course. - I
did help last time. Okay, Scully and I'll be there in fifteen
minutes." He hung up.

Scully raised an enquiring eyebrow, "What was all that about?"

"Agent Stanton." Mulder replied, "When I was working in VCU, I
was involved in a case tracking down Tony Coxley. - Did you hear
about the case?"

"Err... Coxley, - didn't he kidnap men and beat them to death?"
Scully frowned as she tried to remember the details.

"Yes. - He was eventually charged with kidnap, assault with a
deadly weapon, murder, - practically anything they could get on
him. - His crimes were so appalling, they just wanted to throw
the book at him, and then lock him up and never let him out. He
got nine consecutive life sentences. While he was on the run, he
kidnapped seven men between the ages of nineteen and forty four,
and tortured them to death. - He beat them, whipped them, slashed
them, kicked them, and eventually slit their throats or their
wrists, and let them bleed to death."

"Pleasant man." Scully commented. Mulder nodded.

"Early this morning he managed to escape from jail, holding one
of the guards hostage with a knife. He didn't get very far, and
has now been cornered in a warehouse on the edge of Washington. -
Stanton wants me to go and help in the hostage negotiations."

"Because you did the original profile on Coxley?"

"Yes." Mulder nodded. He went over to the coat-tree, and lifted
down his overcoat. "Although even I never managed to work out
*why* he liked caravans."

"Caravans?" Scully raised an eyebrow.

"I noticed he always kept his victims in caravans. - No-one else
made the connection." Mulder lifted his partner's brown overcoat
from the coat-tree, "Are you coming?"

Scully nodded, and got to her feet, "Yes, I'm coming."

* * *

Mulder parked his car at the side of the road, and turned off the
engine. Scully was already getting out as he removed the keys
from the ignition. He followed her across to the small unused
building that had recently become the centre of operations for
the hostage negotiation process. They were met at the door by
Agent Stanton's partner, Agent Nancy Kirren.

"I'm glad you came so quickly," she greeted them, "they're
making absolutely no progress with it at the moment. The SWAT
boys are getting edgy, - they want to go in."

"We can't go in yet." Mulder said immediately, "Not until we
know more about the situation inside." Kirren nodded in
agreement.

"What *do* we know?" Scully asked. Kirren shrugged.

"Very little. - We know he's got Ceen in there, and Ceen's still
alive..."

"Ceen?" Scully enquired.

"Robert Ceen, the prison guard." Mulder answered.

"We also know he's armed, - somehow he got a knife into the
jail." Kirren continued, "Contact has been made through Ceen's
walkie talkie, and visual contact of Ceen has been made through
one of the windows on the first floor. - Beyond that, we know
nothing."

"Except that Coxley is psychotic, and extremely violent." Mulder
added flatly. He followed Kirren into the building, and Scully
went in after them.

The main negotiation room was small, with a table set up in the
centre, and chairs around the outside, all but one occupied. -
The one had apparently been saved for Mulder. A plan of the
building was laid out on the table, and the estimated position of
the suspect marked on it. Scully also spotted a copy of Mulder's
original profile on Coxley, and she picked it up as Mulder was
given the walkie talkie through which he could talk to the
killer. Recording devices and amplifiers were attached to it, so
that the room could hear both sides of the conversation. A board
at the side of the room listed the main points of the situation.

"Have you been involved in a hostage negotiation before?" the
chief negotiator asked Mulder. He nodded, and glanced towards
Scully. She caught his look, and knew what it meant. She sent
him a reassuring smile.

"Once."

"So you know the four imperatives..."

"Honesty, conciliation, containment, resolution." Mulder reeled
off. The negotiator looked suitably impressed.

"Okay, let's see how he responds to you."

Mulder pressed the call button, and a moment later the device
activated.

"What?" came the impatient voice of Tony Coxley.

"Tony, this is Special Agent Fox Mulder, with the FBI..."

"Fox Mulder..." There was a hint of anger in the response, "I
remember you. - You testified against me at the trial."

"I gave evidence, yes." Mulder agreed.

"So what do you want now, Agent Mulder? - To get me another nine
life sentences?"

"We just want to see that Robert isn't harmed." Mulder told him,
"The question is, what do *you* want, Tony?"

"I want my freedom, what do you think? - I'm not an animal, meant
to be kept caged. - I want out." The disembodied voice in the
small room rose slightly, and the negotiators around the table
waved their hands in the air, mouthing to Mulder to calm Coxley
down, and quickly.

"Okay," Mulder agreed carefully, "I can understand that." he
took a deep breath. - It was going to be a tough one, if they
were going to negotiate this out, - Mulder knew Coxley wouldn't
back down from what he wanted.

* * *

Twenty men in leather jackets with FBI written on the back in
white letters lined up in a triple row along one side of the
small negotiations room. Opposite them stood the four FBI
agents, Mulder, Scully, Kirren, and Stanton. Mulder, Kirren, and
Stanton also wore the jackets. Scully did not, having agreed to
oversee the operation when the SWAT team went inside the
warehouse

Seven hours of negotiation had made no progress at all, so the
tactics had been changed. Scully addressed the twenty men,
explaining what the plan was.

"We suspect Tony Coxley will be here." Scully announced,
pointing to a circled area on the plan of the building, "He's
almost certainly left Robert Ceen here." She pointed to another
area on the map. "He is a very violent, dangerous man, so no
heroics. - We don't think he has a firearm, but he does have a
knife, and won't hesitate to use it."

Scully glanced at the three agents standing alongside her, and
they nodded their readiness. "Okay, let's go." she said.

The team moved out quickly, spreading out to surround the
building. Scully watched from inside the negotiation room, and
saw Mulder, Kirren, and Stanton approach the main entrance to the
warehouse. Grouping themselves around it, Stanton kicked the
door open, and then dropped back against the wall opposite his
partner as Mulder went inside, his weapon drawn. Scully saw them
wave in the nearby members of the SWAT team, and disappear into
the building.

Inside the building, Mulder's photographic memory came in useful
as he tried to place his position. Silently waving the other
agents on and away, he moved deeper into the building, his eyes
flicking about quickly as he searched for any clue to Coxley's
position. Entering a room alone, he thought he heard something
above him. He started to lift his head, but too late.

A hard object hit Mulder on the back of the head, and he fell to
the ground, semi-consciouss. He heard someone jump down from the
beam above where they had been sitting, and land alongside him.
Then a voice spoke, and he would have recognised it even if he
hadn't spent the last seven hours negotiating with the man.

"Well, look what I caught. - Hello, Agent Mulder. How pleasant
to see you again."

Mulder felt Coxley pulling off his FBI coat, and then his suit
jacket, and removing the gun from his hip holster. Then the man
turned the agent over onto his back, and pulled a ball of twine
from his pocket. He tied Mulder's hands tightly in front of him
with the twine, and then wrapped a heavy duty bag around them,
and tied that on as well. Mulder was just returning to full
consciousness when Coxley next spoke.

"Come on, Agent Mulder. - It's time we were going."

Coxley placed the muzzle of Mulder's gun against the side of the
agent's forehead, and used his other hand to help Mulder to his
feet. Then he pushed him towards a door at the back of the room.
The door led to a set of steps, which went to the cellar. Five
minutes and a short walk later, they were emerging from a
trapdoor in the ground outside the building, unseen by the agents
inside, and hidden from the view of Scully and the negotiators on
the other side of the building. Coxley pushed Mulder along
roughly, and Mulder complied with the man's wishes as he tried to
think of a plan.

* * *

Scully waited at the negotiation room for the last few agents to
return from the warehouse. Agent Kirren had come out with Robert
Ceen, who looked a little the worse for wear, but physically
unhurt. So far there had been no sign of Coxley.

Agent Stanton came out with the last two men from the SWAT team,
and they came into the building. Scully frowned slightly.

"Where's Agent Mulder?"

There were shrugs all round. No-one had seen Mulder for at least
ten minutes. Scully's frown deepened.

"Go back inside," she ordered, "and search the building for any
trace of him."

The men nodded, and returned to the building. Scully went with
them this time, and she searched too. Finally there was a shout,
- although not one of success.

"Agent Scully, over here."

Scully went in the direction of the voice, and found two of the
SWAT team crouched on the floor in one of the rooms near the back
of the warehouse. She went over to see what they were looking
at.

It was a grey suit jacket, lying on top of a leather FBI jacket.
Scully recognised it instantly, and what it meant. Her throat
went dry. Agent Stanton ran in behind her.

"What is it?" he asked, and then spied the jackets on the floor.

"It's Agent Mulder's jacket." Scully replied flatly, staring at
the garments, "Coxley's got him."

* * *

Coxley pushed his captive down in a corner of the derelict
caravan, and stood over him. Then he produced the ball of twine
from his pocket again, and crouched down at Mulder's side. He
tied the agent's ankles together firmly, before standing up
again, and moving over to the bench on the other side of the
room. He sat, regarding Mulder in silence. Mulder regarded
Coxley in return.

"I think my luck has definitely changed." Coxley said finally,
nodding to himself, "Of all the people who could have walked
through that door, the one I wanted most..." He nodded again,
and then cocked his head on one side. "Are you afraid of me,
Agent Mulder?" he asked, "Because you should be. - I'm not
going to use you as any bargaining chip. I've got what I want
now. - I'm going to kill you. But I'm going to make sure you
hurt first. I'm going to make sure you regret ever having heard
the name Tony Coxley."

Mulder said nothing. He took in his surroundings. - The caravan
was medium sized, probably a six person. There was a kitchen
area near the "back" door they had entered through. Beyond that
were three doors he assumed led to the bedrooms and bathroom.
Opposite the "kitchen" was a dining area. Then there were the
three benches lining the end of the caravan he sat in, with just
one break for the "front" door. He sat in the corner between two
of the bench seats. Coxley sat on the third seat.

A phone rang. Mulder recognised the ring of his cellular, and
realised Coxley had taken it from his jacket pocket earlier.
Coxley took out the phone.

"Hello?" he listened, and smiled. Then he turned to Mulder.
"Know anyone by the name of Dana Scully?" he asked him.

"My partner." Mulder replied dully.

"Yes, Agent Scully, I do have your partner here." Coxley spoke
into the phone, "Perhaps you'd like to hear him?" Coxley kicked
Mulder in the side. "Say something." he hissed.

"Hi, Scully." Mulder said, speaking loud enough for the phone at
Coxley's ear to catch his voice.

"No, I won't let you speak to him." Coxley told Scully, "I
actually doubt you will ever speak to him again... No, I don't
want anything. I know you can't bargain for him. - I already
have what I want."

Coxley disconnected, and his gaze returned to Mulder, "Oh yes, I
already have what I want." he said, and the threat in his eyes
spoke more than his words.

End of part 1.

I'd appreciate any comments or constructive criticism from fellow X-philes.
Email me on <smythja@aston.ac.uk>.

Danielle Culverson.

From smythja@aston.ac.uk Wed May 21 03:42:15 1997
Subject: Captive 2/2
From: smythja <smythja@aston.ac.uk>
--------
This is a fiction story based on the characters created by Chris
Carter. No infringement of copyrights held by 10/13 Productions,
Twentieth Century Productions, or Fox Broadcasting is intended.
All unrecognised characters and plot-lines belong to me. Names,
characters, and places exist solely within my imagination, or are
used fictitiously. No connection to any person, living or dead, is
intended, and any resemblance is entirely coincidental. Feel free
to distribute, but please keep me as the author.

Danielle Culverson.

2/2.

* * *

Scully approached Walter Skinner's secretary, a slight crease on
her forehead the only indication that she was concerned about
anything. She held the Coxley case-file in her left hand, and
had her handbag over her right shoulder.

"I need to speak to the Assistant Director." she told the
secretary, "It's rather urgent."

"I'll just see if he's free." the secretary smiled at Scully,
and opened the intercom link to the inner office. "Sir, Agent
Scully is requesting to see you. - She says it's urgent."

"Send her in." came the voice of the Assistant Director. The
secretary motioned Scully towards the door which led through to
the inner office. The agent moved quickly towards it, and went
inside.

Walter Skinner was seated at his desk when Scully entered. He
looked up immediately from his work, and gestured towards the two
chairs in front of him. "Please have a seat, Agent Scully." he
said. She sat on one of the chairs, feeling harassed and
awkward. - It showed in her posture. "What is the problem, Agent
Scully?" Skinner asked. Scully lifted the Coxley case-file from
her lap, and placed it on the desk between them.

"Sir, Tony Coxley escaped from jail last night, where he was
serving nine consecutive life sentences for murder, kidnapping,
assault, and other crimes. The Violent Crimes Unit dealt with
his original case, and were called in to help with his
recapture." Scully summarised, "Agent Mulder was working with
VCU at that time, and was one of the primary agents on the case.
Agents Kirren and Stanton asked him to go along and help out this
morning, as a negotiation for the release of Coxley's hostage was
in progress, and Agent Mulder had done the original psychological
profile on Coxley. Agent Mulder and I went to help with the
negotiations, but eventually a SWAT team was sent in. Agents
Mulder, Kirren, and Stanton went in with them. Agent Mulder did
not return, and Coxley got away. A later search of the warehouse
where Coxley was hiding out revealed Agent Mulder's jacket,
discarded near the entrance to a cellar, an unknown exit to which
was later found outside. When I called Agent Mulder on his
cellular phone, I got through to Coxley, who now has Agent Mulder
hostage."

Scully fell silent, and watched the Assistant Director for a
reaction. The man frowned.

"Mulder always seems to manage to get involved in these things."
he muttered, "What is it you want to do, Agent Scully?"

"Initiate a full search for Agent Mulder." she replied, "Coxley
has a personal grudge against Mulder, because he testified at
Coxley's trial, giving an account of the psychological profile he
had prepared on Coxley."

"And what do you think Coxley will do to Agent Mulder?" Skinner
asked. Scully paled slightly.

"I don't like to think, sir. - He's a very violent person. - Over
the phone he told me that having Agent Mulder and his freedom was
all he wanted, and that he didn't think I would ever talk to
Mulder again."

"You think he plans to kill him?"

"Possibly so, sir." Scully nodded, and unconsciously glanced at
her watch.

"Okay, Agent Scully. - You know the Bureau protocol on hostage
negotiation in cases like this. You have whatever resources you
need at your disposal to help you find Agent Mulder."

"Thank you, sir." Scully got to her feet, and left the office.
Nodding to Skinner's secretary on the way out, she headed for the
elevator that could take her back down to the basement.

In the X-files office once again, Scully sat down at her desk,
and was silent and still for a moment. She stared at the surface
of her desk without seeing anything, as confused thoughts circled
in her head. Then she took her cellular phone out of her
handbag, and dialed the number of her partner's.

"Tony? It's Dana Scully... Yes, is he alright?... What do you
mean?" A frown creased Scully's brow as she heard words she
wasn't keen on. "What are you going to do to him?" she asked.
her eyes widened as she heard faint cries of pain through the
phone. She recognised Mulder's voice in the background, cut off
as he cried out again. "What are you doing?" she cried, "Leave
him alone. - He was only doing his job when he testified at the
trial." There was muffled talking at the other end of the line,
and then another yelp from Mulder. Then the line went dead.
Scully stared at the phone in her hand in silence.

* * *

Mulder watched as Coxley switched off the cellular phone, and put
it down on the bench seat he had been sitting on. Coxley turned
slowly back to Mulder, and glared at the agent hatefully. Mulder
stared back coolly, his face impassive.

"What you said at my trial sent me to jail for what would have
been the rest of my life if I hadn't managed to escape." he said
quietly. Mulder shook his head.

"No, what you did to those seven men was what sent you to jail. -
I only gave my account of what happened during the search for
you."

"And your "psychological profile" of me." Coxley added, "You
told them that I would kill and kill again until I was stopped.
You told them that I was the lowest form of criminal, acting
without motive or need, and with no apparent environmental or
physical cause for my behaviour. - Oh yes, I remember everything
you told them about me. - You made me out to be some sort of
subhuman monster, scaring them so much they felt they had to put
me away to sleep well at night.

"Have you any idea what jail is like, Agent Mulder?" Coxley
leaned over Mulder as he spoke, "Do you know the sort of sick
perverts you get in there? Have you any clue what happens to
people when they first arrive in jail, - what the other inmates
do to them? Oh, you're punished alright, when you're sent to
jail, - and I'm going to make you go through twice as much hurt
as I went through in there. Not the same way as they hurt me, of
course. But I'll hurt you alright." Coxley squatted down beside
Mulder, and said in a quiet voice, "When I'm close to finishing
with you, you'll be begging me to kill you, and let you escape
from me that way."

Then he got up, and went over to the kitchen area. Opening one
of the cupboards, he pulled out a short piece of rope. Winding
one end around the palm of his right hand, he advanced on Mulder
slowly. Mulder watched his approach in silence, his face
emotionless as his eyes followed the movement of the rope between
Coxley's hands. The man stood over the agent, and looked down at
him. Mulder saw a fury raging in his eyes, - a fury only just
kept in check as he raised the crude rope whip, and brought it
down against the agent's side. Mulder flinched away as Coxley
brought the whip down a second time, turning his face towards the
bench he sat next to, and lifting his arms to protect his head.

"I'll teach you to know better." Coxley declared, and brought
the whip down against Mulder's stomach, making the agent draw his
legs in hurriedly, curling himself into a ball to protect
himself. The whip came down again and again, biting through the
thin material of Mulder's shirt, and into his flesh. He bit down
on his tongue to keep from crying out.

"I'll make you sorry..." Coxley declared, his breathing coming
faster from his exertions with the rope. Finally he stopped
whipping Mulder, and gave the agent a few solid kicks in the side
instead. Each kick was punctuated with a quiet grunt from
Coxley, and a yelp of pain from Mulder. Coxley slumped back onto
the third bench seat, and gazed at his captive, who was still
curled up in the corner made by the other two seats, his hands
raised over his head to ward off the blows. A faint smile came
to Coxley's face.

* * *

Mulder watched Coxley warily when the man came out of the
bathroom. Coxley smiled slightly when he saw the look of
uncertainty in the agent's eyes. He pulled Mulder's cell phone
from his pocket, and looked at it. Then he looked up at the
agent.

"What's your partner's number?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Mulder countered. Anger surfaced
immediately in Coxley's face. He strode over to where Mulder was
sitting, and slammed one foot into the agent's side. Mulder
cried out, and this brought a smile to Coxley's face.

"What is the number?" he repeated the request. When Mulder
hesitated, he started to draw his foot back for another kick.
Mulder sighed.

"555 6431" he replied. Coxley pressed the numbers into the
phone, and listened to it dialing. The phone at the other end
rang, and in a moment, Scully's voice answered.

"Scully."

"How's the search going, Agent Scully?" Coxley asked, his eyes
fixed on Mulder.

"Is Mulder alright?" Scully countered.

"Sort of." Coxley replied, "He's alright at the moment, and
he'll be alive for some time yet, - but I think he's going to be
in quite some pain very soon."

"Tony, you're only making things worse for yourself by doing
this."

"Worse? No, whatever happens to me after this, I'll have the
knowledge that I've put him through hell for what he's done to
me."

"Mulder didn't do anything to you." Scully corrected, "You did
it to yourself when you kidnapped and murdered those seven men. -
Let me talk to Mulder."

"No. - But I'll let you listen to him, if that will make you feel
better." Coxley replied. Mulder saw the dangerous glint of
anger in his eyes. Coxley drew his foot back, and slammed it
hard into Mulder's ribs. The agent bit back his cry, only to
have it jerked out of him by a second blow to the same spot. He
turned, trying to protect himself, but unable to get away from
the repeated blows Coxley was getting in.

"Tony!" Scully was yelling at the other end of the phone line,
"Leave him alone! - What is it you're trying to gain by this? -
Mulder can't take back what has happened."

"No, but I can feel better about it, having got what I've been
promising myself through all the years I've been in jail so far."
Coxley replied, and snatched up the rope whip again. Scully
could hear it cracking in the air, and thudding into flesh, even
from the other end of the phone. She could also hear Mulder
groaning and crying out occasionally from the pain he was in, -
and she knew it took a lot of physical pain to make her partner
cry out.

"Tony, please!"

She was answered by a scream from her partner, and then a dead
line.

* * *

Scully sat at her desk in the X-files office, staring at the dead
phone in her hands. She placed it carefully on the desk in front
of her, and gazed at it. She felt sure that she was missing
something. There was something she had been told, or something
she knew, that would help her to locate her partner, but she
couldn't think what it was.

Teams of agents were searching Washington for any clue to where
Mulder and Coxley were, but they had nothing to go on in their
hunt. - It was worse than looking for a needle in a haystack.

Scully swiveled her chair to look at her partner's unoccupied
desk. All his work was still strewn across it, left as it had
been, without any time to tidy up. Her eyes traveled across his
half of the office, taking in all the things she knew so well,
and had begun to take for granted. A small part of her mind
asked her what would happen if Coxley carried out his threat. -
If Mulder was murdered, how would she feel about it? The very
numbness of her mind's response to this question led her to think
her reaction would not be good.

The phone on Scully's desk rang, and she snatched it up before
remembering that Coxley would call her mobile.

"Scully." she answered, "Oh, hi Kirren. - What's the news?...
No, I didn't hear that... Yes, it is, I guess... Yes, I am
worried. I just got a call from Coxley. - I don't know what he
was doing to Mulder, but I could hear him crying out in pain. -
Coxley's insane. I'm afraid he'll kill him." Scully listened
for a minute, and then nodded, "Let me know how it goes." she
said, and hung up.

Scully opened the case-file, and looked at the photograph of
Coxley it contained. - She had never actually seen the man who
had her partner in person. - As she looked at the image, the
words Mulder had spoken to her when he told her they were going
to the negotiations came back to her.

"...He was eventually charged with kidnap, assault with a deadly
weapon, murder, - practically anything they could get on him. -
His crimes were so appalling, they just wanted to throw the book
at him, and then lock him up and never let him out..."

Scully winced at the thought that her partner was in the hands of
this man, but something in her told her she was getting
somewhere, and she allowed her memory to continue.

"...He beat them, whipped them, slashed them, kicked them, and
eventually slit their throats or their wrists, and let them bleed
to death... even I never managed to work out *why* he liked
caravans..."

"Caravans!" Scully sat up suddenly, as the last of the memory
came back in a rush.

"...he always kept his victims in caravans..."

Scully grabbed up the phone from her desk, and dialed quickly.

* * *

Coxley sat down on the bench seat opposite Mulder, and gazed in
satisfaction at his captive. A faint smile came to his face when
he thought he caught a look of fear in the agent's eyes. He
turned the knife he held over in his hands, admiring it's sharp
edge, and letting Mulder take a good look at it too.

"The waiting is almost as bad as the pain, isn't it, Agent
Mulder?" he murmured, "Never knowing when the next strike will
be..."

Coxley stood up, and squatted down beside his captive. He held
the knife up against Mulder's neck, and let the blade run lightly
across the skin, without cutting at all. Then he lowered the
blade again. "Do you still think I'm sub-human, Agent Mulder?"
he asked, and then suddenly anger exploded out of him, and he
rammed Mulder's head back against the bench, and pressed the
knife to his throat. "Do you?" he demanded.

Mulder didn't answer. Coxley lifted the knife away from the
agent's neck, and stood up. "What you *think*," He accentuated
the word with a kick into Mulder's side. "is that Tony Coxley is
*crazy*," Another kick. "and should be locked *up*." Another
kick. He squatted down by Mulder's head again, "Don't you?"

When Mulder didn't answer, Coxley went into a frenzy, kicking and
punching the agent, slashing at him wildly with the knife, making
several nasty gashes on Mulder's arms and back. Mulder shrank
away, groaning with the pain inflicted on him. Suddenly his head
was wrenched back by a hand gripping his hair, and he felt the
knife at his throat. He looked up into Coxley's crazy eyes, and
forced a hoarse whisper to his lips.

"Please..."

Coxley paused, considering. He allowed the blade to puncture
Mulder's skin just a little, then lowered it and slammed Mulder's
head into the bench seat with his hand. Mulder groaned, and
slumped to one side. Further kicks had little effect on him, and
Coxley eventually left him, and returned to the third bench seat.

There was a noise outside the caravan. - It sounded like there
was someone near the "back" door. - Coxley heard it, and picked
up the gun he had taken from Mulder's holster back at the
warehouse. He aimed it at Mulder, and fixed his eyes on the
door. After a moment, it flew open, and a woman with short blond
hair burst in, her gun in hand.

"Federal Agent!" she yelled at Coxley, "Drop your weapon!"

"Agent Scully?" Coxley asked, and indicated the gun he had on
Mulder when she nodded her head. She looked uncertain suddenly.
"I suggest you drop *your* weapon, Agent Scully." Coxley said,
"Unless you want me to shoot your partner."

Mulder lifted his head as the woman placed her gun on the "dining
room" table. A flicker of confusion passed over his face, and he
quickly hid it. - The woman by the table was Agent Kirren, not
Scully. - There was something going on here.

"Scully," he said weakly, his voice hoarse, "please tell me you
called for back-up before you came?"

Kirren allowed a look of horror to cross her face, which she did
a bad job of hiding. Coxley lowered his gun to his side, and a
faint smile came to his face.

"All alone, Agent Scully?" he asked, "What a shame. - But you
wanted so much to know that your partner was alright, didn't
you?"

"Federal Agent. - Put your hands on your head." came a cool
voice from the "front" door of the caravan. Mulder turned his
head to see Scully standing there, her gun aimed at the back of
Coxley's head. Coxley raised his hands slowly. Kirren moved
forward from where she was standing, picking up and reholstering
her gun as she did so, and handcuffed Coxley. Then she pushed
him to the "back" door, where Agent Stanton met them, and helped
them out. Scully came over to her partner, and knelt down at his
side.

"Mulder, are you alright?" she asked, as she set to work untying
his hands and feet. He nodded.

"Oh yes, Scully, I was having a great time. - Why did you stop
the party?" His voice was scratchy and hoarse, and Scully
smiled.

"You had me worried." she told him, as she checked his wounds
over.

"I'm glad to hear it." Mulder smiled, and winced when he turned
his head slightly. Scully noticed the cut on his neck.

"We'll have to get you to hospital. - That will need stitches."
she told him, and then sat back to look at his appearance. "It's
a good thing Skinner can't see you now." she said. Mulder
grinned. - His shirt was bloodstained and creased, with rips
along the arms and back where the whip had cut through it. His
suit trousers were similarly marked.

"How did you find me?" he asked.

"I remembered what you said about the caravan connection. - There
aren't that many unaccounted for caravans in the Washington
area." Scully smiled, and helped her partner to his feet. "Come
on, let's get you to the hospital."

Mulder leaned on her gratefully as she led him out of the
caravan, and back to freedom.

The End.

I'd appreciate any comments or constructive criticism from fellow X-philes.
Email me on <smythja@aston.ac.uk>.

Danielle Culverson.