Title: Adiskide
Author: Marissa
E-mail: marissa113@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13
Classification: C (JAG/X-Files), Ad, slight R
(Harm/Mac)
Spoilers: None
Summary: When a joint FBI/Navy investigation goes
terribly wrong, four partners find themselves on the
run and with no one to trust but themselves.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harm, Mac, Mulder, Scully
or any of the other JAG and X-file characters I used
in this story. I just took them out of their cages and
let them play for a while. No infringement intended.
Authors Note: Well, here it is. My second JAG/XF
crossover story, but my first finished one. For those
of you interested, I do have another in the works, but
it's quite a bit different from this one. A few notes
before I begin. First off, the title. Adiskide is Turkish
for friend. Secondly, I was sitting in a library for
about ninety percent of the time that I was writing
this story so you might find a few authors' names or
titles that you might recognize. Lastly, I like to think
that I know more than most about genetics but you
still might find some mistakes, so forgive me. Also, a
huge thanks to Frohike for editing this story and
Chantal for encouragement along the way. You guys
are the best! Okay, enough of me and on with the
story!
XXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 1
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder stared at his phone. He knew it would ring at
any moment; he could feel it.
"Mulder, is it possible to stare at that phone any
harder?" Scully teased. Then, as if on queue, the
phone rang. Mulder flashed Scully an 'I told you so'
look and picked it up.
Scully watched Mulder's face. She could usually tell
exactly what the conversation was about just by
looking at him but this time, Mulder's face remained
black. Only his eyes gave away his cool exterior.
"So?" Scully asked when he hung up.
"It was Skinner. He has a case for us," replied Mulder
refusing to look at her. That was always a dead
giveaway that he was hiding something.
"What aren't you telling me Mulder?"
"You're not going to believe this but apparently it's a
joint FBI/Navy operation."
"What? Says who?"
"Skinner wouldn't say, but I got the impression that it
came from higher up."
"I didn't even know that the FBI was willing to work
with any branch of the military."
"We aren't, but this time the Navy insisted and they
got their way. No one else wanted to bother with this,
so we got stuck with the job," said Mulder.
"So it's pure politics."
"What isn't anymore? A well-known scientist was
found murdered at the West Lake Navy base in
Virginia. All the evidence points to a Navy officer as
the murderer, but they insist on their innocence
claming that someone took an interest in the
scientist's work and wanted him dead for it."
"Who was this scientist?" asked Scully.
"Uh, a man named Dr. Heinlein, Robert Heinlein. Do
you know him?"
"Not personally but I know his work. He was one of
the world's leading scientists in genetic research. He
was on the Human Genome team but dropped out
shortly after joining to work for a private corporation.
This is the first I've heard of him since then. How'd
he end up at the Navy base?"
"He was employed there," Mulder replied.
"Doing what?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm sure we'll find out soon. We're
supposed to meet our Navy friends at the base in 2
hours," said Mulder sarcastically.
"It could be worse Mulder." said Scully, humored at
Mulder's obvious disgust, "They could've been
Marines." Mulder just rolled his eyes.
XXXXXXXXXX
Harm stared at the door of his office. He knew that
someone was coming; he could feel it.
"Harm?" Mac inquired, poking her head into the
Commander's office. "The Admiral wants us in his
office ASAP."
Harm did his best to cover his all-knowing smile as
he followed the Colonel to the Admiral's office.
"Enter!" came the Admiral's standard reply after Mac
knocked on the door.
"Colonel, Commander, have a seat. How's the case
load?"
"Fine sir," replied Harm, knowing where the
questioning was headed.
"Good. Late last night, the body of Dr. Robert
Heinlein, one of the world's top geneticists was found
at the West Lake Navy base in Virginia. The FBI has
jurisdiction over this case because the deceased is a
civilian, but they've agreed to cooperate with the
Navy because the murder took place on a military
installation. In other words, we're not wanted as part
of this investigation, so behave yourselves," said the
Admiral, directing his question purposely at Harm.
Harm ignored the comment. "Sir, am I to understand
you want us to work with the FBI?"
"That's correct, but don't let their thinking influence
you. I except a full report on my desk after this is
over. You'll meet the agents at the base. Dismissed."
"Aye Aye sir."
XXXXXXXXXX
"This should be interesting," said Mulder as he and
Scully watched the two military personnel walking
towards them. Scully couldn't help but laugh at
Mulder. Their future investigation team was
composed of two Judge Advocate General officers,
otherwise known as JAG. Not only were they
working with military officers, but they were lawyers
as well; Mulder's favorite combination. Scully wasn't
as worried as Mulder. Growing up as a Navy brat had
left her with a greater appreciation for the U.S. armed
forces than Mulder had, as well as some clue to rank
and military divisions.
"Mulder," she whispered, "I hate to break it too you,
but the woman's a Marine. Looks like we'll be
working with them after all." Mulder groaned.
"Agents Mulder and Scully?" asked the man. "I'm
Commander Rabb and this is my partner Colonel
Mackenzie."
"Nice to meet you," replied Mulder and Scully as
they shook hands. Both pairs of partners took a
moment and sized up one another.
"So," said Mulder, "Looks like we're stuck together
on this one." Scully glared at him but didn't say
anything.
"Seems that way," replied Harm. "I assume you've
been briefed?"
"Yes. You?" asked Mulder.
"Yes as well. Ready to see the crime scene?" Harm
asked.
"Lead the way," replied Mulder.
XXXXXXXXXX
Upon walking into the lab where the murder took
place the first thing both officers and agents noticed
was the smell.
"Mulder, it smells like there's been a dead body in
here decaying for weeks!"
"Speaking of the body, where is it?" asked Harm.
"It's already been taken to the morgue," replied a
young man who identified himself as Lieutenant Jim
Burrows.
"Why'd they do that?" asked Mulder angrily. Lt.
Burrows seemed to understand his concern.
"Don't worry Agent," He paused.
"Mulder."
The Lieutenant continued , "We already swept the
area for trace evidence and none was found. 'We had
hoped removing the body would alleviate the smell."
"It didn't help much," muttered Harm.
Meanwhile, Mac was paying no attention to the
current conversation and was feeling sicker and
growing paler by the minute. Finally, she could take
it no longer.
"Excuse me," she said as she hurried out of the room.
"Is she okay?" Scully asked Harm.
"We don't investigate murder cases often," he
explained, "at least, not like this. I'll go check on
her."
So while Mulder and Scully questioned Lt. Burrows,
Harm went looking for Mac. He finally found her in
the officer's lounge.
"Mac?"
"I'm sorry I ran out like that Harm, I just couldn't take
that smell anymore."
"That's okay. It gave me an excuse to get out of there
too," Harm said with a grin.
"I just don't get how those agents can take violence
like that all the time."
"That's why we became lawyers instead of FBI
agents. Now let's go see if they're done yet."
"Okay. Harm?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks."
"Hey, that's what I'm here for."
XXXXXXXXXX
Harm and Mac met Mulder and Scully just as they
came out of the lab.
"Finished?" asked Mac.
"For now," replied Mulder.
"So what'd you find?" asked Harm.
"Nothing too much out of the ordinary, just blood and
tissue fibers. One thing did stand out though." Mulder
paused and looked at Scully as if to say 'can we tell
them?'
"I know that you may not trust is, but you are
obligated to share all your findings with us," said
Harm. Somewhat reluctantly, Mulder showed him the
small plastic evidence bag. "That's a Master Chief
insignia," said Harm.
"It was found near the body."
"You think its owner is the murderer," said Mac. It
was a statement, not a question.
"It's too early to say. We'll have it sent to D.C. for
analysis. Maybe they can find something that would
lead us to its owner," replied Mulder.
"And you'll be sure to share you findings with us,"
said Harm.
Scully held back the urge to be sarcastic and replied,
"Of course."
Before the situation escalated any further between
Mulder and Harm, Mac stepped in.
"It's getting late and we still heed to find a hotel and
somewhere to eat."
"She's right. Come on Mulder," added Scully.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder was about two seconds away from pulling out
his hair. First, Commander Rabb was really getting
on his nerves, and now because of some convention
that was in town, all the hotels were booked full.
"I'm sorry sir but we only have two rooms left," the
receptionist told Mulder.
"Fine, we'll take them," he said, grabbing the keys
from the counter and stalking off with a frustrated
sigh.
XXXXXXXXXX
"I'm afraid we have a bit of a problem," explained
Scully to Harm and Mac. "They only have two
rooms." Harm and Mac just looked at each other.
"I guess we'll have to take them then, seeing that
they're probably the only two rooms left in this entire
area," replied Mac.
"If you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to talk to
Mulder." Gently she touched him on the back,
causing him to jump in surprise.
"Sorry Scully, I didn't know it was you."
"Are you feeling better now?"
"Yeah. I'm just tired."
"I know, me too. Come on, we have rooms now."
"I'm not sharing a room with him."
Scully sighed. "I knew you were going to say that."
"Come on, we'll share a room and they'll share a
room." It was a long time before Scully replied.
"Fine," was all she said before heading back to Harm
and Mac.
XXXXXXXXXX
After saying goodnight to Scully, Harm and Mac
retired to their room. Strangely enough, Mulder was
nowhere to be seen.
"That was an interesting day," said Harm, removing
his jacket.
"We've had worse," said Mac heading towards the
bathroom to change. When she came out, she found
Harm already changed and sitting on one of the two
twin beds watching TV. Mac joined him, sitting on
the other bed. After a few minutes of silence Harm
spoke,
"So what'd you think of them?" There was only one
*them* he could be referring to, so Mac didn't bother
to play dumb.
"Agent Scully seems nice enough, but Agent Mulder
seem to be quite the character."
"I got the impression that he doesn't like the
military."
"I got their files from Chegwiddgen. Interesting
reading."
"Why's that?" asked Harm.
"Oh, it's not them. From what I can gather they're one
of the FBI's best investigative teams. They have one
of the highest conviction rates in the Bureau. It's the
kind of cases they investigate that makes them so
interesting."
"Oh?" Harm asked in a questioning tone.
"They're in an investigative unit called the X-files.
Basically what they do is investigate cases into the
paranormal. Unexplained phenomena."
"Shouldn't that be the U-files?"
"I don't know. Maybe you should ask your friend
Agent Mulder that question tomorrow?" teased Mac.
Harm rolled his eyes.
"Then why are they investigating the death of a
geneticist?"
"Beats me," replied Mac. "If anything, it's looking
like someone in the Navy committed the murder.
Especially now with that Master Chief pin and if
that's true, then it'll be our jurisdiction and we won't
have to deal with the FBI anymore."
"But then again," added Harm. "It could have been
planted there in hopes that it would discredit the
military."
"Which narrows our suspect list down to only a few
million Americans."
"Not looking very promising right now huh?" asked
Harm.
"Well, I think I heard Agent Scully mentioning to
Agent Mulder something about getting a bunch of
forensic scientists down here to pick up anything else
they might have missed."
"Sounds good. One thing's for sure though, we're not
going to be able to function tomorrow if we don't get
some sleep."
"You're right. Good night Harm."
"Night Marine."
XXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 2
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXX
Harm woke up to find Mac already showered and
waiting for him.
"Agent Mulder called. He'll meet us in the lobby in
15 minutes. That should give you enough time,
shouldn't it?"
"I hope so," replied Harm, jumping out of bed and
forgetting he was only in his boxers. Mac either
pretended not to notice or simply didn't. Although
Harm would never admit it, he hoped it was the
former.
15 minutes turned out to be sufficient, so Harm
joined Mac and they both met Mulder in the hotel
lobby.
"Scully already left to do the autopsy on Dr.
Heinlein," Mulder explained. "I'm going to help the
forensics team I have coming down from D.C. and I
thought that you could see what you can find out
about the Master Chief pin."
"Okay," Harm replied.
"Call me if you find anything," Mulder called out
before disappearing around the corner.
XXXXXXXXXX
To begin their search for the missing Master Chief,
Harm and Mac returned to the Navy base. They first
checked the sign-in logs and learned that five master
chiefs had been on the base that day. With this
information, they gained access to the base's security
cameras.
"We found him Mulder," Harm said into his cell
phone.
"Great. Does he have a name?" asked Mulder.
"Robert Munzel. He was the only master chief on
base that day that went anywhere near the scientific
wings. There's only one problem."
"What's that?"
"Master Chief Robert Munzel has been dead for 15
years."
"That doesn't surprise me. Do you have his picture?'
"Yeah, a grainy still from the security camera,"
replied Harm.
"That's good enough. Hold on for a moment and I'll
give you the number to fax it to the FBI. They'll scan
it though the database there and see what turns up."
"I'll do that."
"Wait, one last thing, could you run a copy of the
picture up to me? I'm just up at the crime scene."
"Sure," replied Harm, "I'll send it with Mac." So
while Harm faxed the picture to the FBI, Mac
delivered the picture to Mulder. He was waiting for
her when she got there.
"How are they doing in there?" Mac asked referring
to the forensic team.
"So far we haven't turned up anything new, but I
think once we get everything analyzed something
should turn up." Mac then showed Mulder the
picture. Mulder looked at it for a moment before
inhaling sharply.
"What?" asked Mac.
"Son of a bitch," Mulder swore softly, "I need to call
Scully."
"Scully," said Mulder when she answered her phone.
"You're not going to believe this." Mac couldn't hear
Scully's reply but she assumed it must have been
amusing because Mulder smiled before continuing
on, "It was Krycek." A long pause followed. "You're
kidding," came Mulder's reply. After another short
pause he said goodbye and hung up the phone.
"Well, I know why it smelled so bad now, " Mulder
told Mac.
"Why?"
"Scully found traces of a fast-acting, flesh-eating
bacteria, developed for use in biological warfare.
Knowing Krycek, this is exactly the type of thing he
would use. According to Scully, this bacteria is
common on the black market and extremely difficult
to trace."
"Sounds like a terrorist's heaven," replied Mac.
"Actually, it's not as great as it seems. It's expensive
and only effective in high doses at close range."
"If that's supposed to make me feel better, it's not
helping."
Mulder just smiled and shrugged. "Scully was
waiting for the results on a few of the final tests but
she said she'll be done soon."
"We can meet her at the morgue then; Harm and I are
finished here."
XXXXXXXXXX
Harm, Mac and Mulder met Scully at the morgue.
She met them at the entrance and quickly took
Mulder aside.
"What do you think is going on?" Harm asked Mac.
She just shrugged. A few minutes later they came
back to where the JAG officers stood.
"Is everything okay?" Mac asked the two agents.
"Everything's fine but I think this investigation is
pretty much over for you."
"What? That's it? What about catching the guy who
did this? You said you knew him." Harm hated to
leave investigations before they were finished.
Mulder simply said, "It's a civilian matter now and
falls under local PD and FBI jurisdiction. You've
served your purpose here."
Harm glowered at Mulder for a moment, then headed
back to his JAG-issued car, with Mac in tow. Mulder
stared after his retreating form before returning to his
car as well.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder was fighting the urge not to yell.
"It's just not right Scully. It's too simple. These men
are more careful than that!"
"But Mulder," Scully pleaded. "The men you keep
referring to are gone. They no longer hold the power
they once did. All their key players are dead;
mistakes can and do happen."
Mulder sighed. "Okay, tell me again what you told
me at the morgue and I'll try to see it your way."
"Well, I performed the autopsy and everything was
normal, if you ignore the flesh-eating bacteria that
killed him."
"That's a lot to ignore," Mulder teased.
Scully ignored him and continued. "However, when
his blood tests came back, I noticed that he had
unusually high amounts of iron in his blood. I
thought the lab had made a mistake so I sent the
samples though again but they came back with the
same results. I thought that maybe something he had
encountered in his research may have caused these
high iron levels, so I started to look into his lab notes.
But the amazing part was, at least according to the
few notes of his that I could find-" Mulder cut her
off.
"See Scully? They've already destroyed the
evidence." Scully paid no attention to Mulder's
comment.
"His notes said that he had found the gene for
behavior."
Mulder looked at her sharply, "You didn't tell me that
part."
"Because I didn't believe it at first. There is no gene
for behavior Mulder, but if there is, like Dr.
Heinlein's research is showing, it could have a very
profound effect on the scientific world. It would
settle the entire 'heredity vs. environment' debate. I'm
not sure if I'm correct though. I don't have enough
information to verify it yet."
"What about the high levels of iron in his blood?"
"I don't know. It doesn't make sense. Without more
information, I'm as clueless as you are."
"There's something we're missing," said Mulder,
drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, "Dr.
Heinlein was murdered because of his work, but I'm
still unclear as to what exactly about his work would
warrant his murder. We need to find out what else he
was working on."
"I think you're right," Scully replied.
XXXXXXXXXX
The JAG officers and the FBI agents arrived back at
the hotel at the same time. Scully and Mac greeted
each other, but Harm and Mulder refused to
acknowledge one another, choosing to return to their
rooms instead. At least, Harm and Mac did. Mulder
stopped in the hallway and drew Scully aside.
"Scully," he whispered. "We can't go back to the
room."
"Why not?" Scully asked, confused.
"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling."
Scully just looked at Mulder. "You're so paranoid
Mulder," she said, continuing on towards the room.
Mulder was about to stop her when a very loud
'BOOM' ricocheted off the walls. It was painfully
close and the quake that quickly followed it knocked
the agents to the ground. Debris rained down on top
of them, even after the building had ceased to shake.
Finally, Mulder and Scully were able to untangle
themselves from the rubble that littered the hallway
and regain their footing.
"What the hell was that?" Mulder asked.
Scully could hear the strain in his voice. "I don't want
to know. Let's get out of here," replied Scully.
Mulder didn't object. Many other frightened hotel
guests soon joined them. By the time they had gotten
clear of the hotel, the first emergency vehicles could
be heard in the distance.
"Scully, you're bleeding," said Mulder.
Scully gingerly reached up and touched the skin
above her left eye and felt the unmistakable
stickiness of blood. Covering the cut with her hand in
an attempt to stop the bleeding, Scully surveyed the
damaged hotel.
"Mulder, look." Mulder turned and saw what Scully
was pointing at. There were two huge chunks missing
from the hotel, exactly in the places where Mulder
and Scully and Harm and Mac had been staying. The
two agents stared in silence for a moment before
Mulder exclaimed, "I think they're dead."
XXXXXXXXXX
Harm had already inserted the key into the hotel
room's door when Mac remembered that she had left
all the investigation files in the car. They went back,
gathered all the files and were halfway up the hotel
stairs when the explosion hit. It knocked Mac on her
stomach, but sent Harm tumbling backwards down
the stairs until he landed with a loud thud on the
landing.
"Harm!" Mac called our as soon as she was able.
"Are you okay?"
"It's my ankle," he called back, "I think it's broken."
Mac raced down to where Harm lay. "Can you
stand?" We need to get out of here because I doubt
this building will be stable much longer." The
building chose that moment to creak and groan as if
to agree with Mac.
"I think so," replied Harm. Using Mac for support, he
carefully stood up. Part of the stairwell wall had
collapsed, blocking the exit back to the parking lot.
Harm and Mac had no choice but to continue into the
nearest hallway. Slowly, the two partners made their
way down the hall.
"Damn," said Mac, when they finally reached the end
of the hall. "The exit's blocked." To make matters
worse, the lights went out, leaving Harm and Mac in
pitch-blackness.
"Our luck just keeps getting better and better," said
Harm.
"We're on the ground floor, so I suppose we could
climb out a window," said Mac, thinking aloud.
Seeing that there was no alternative, Harm agreed
and after a minute of hobbling around in the darkness
they found a door. Mac twisted the doorknob, but
found it locked. Carefully, she placed Harm on the
ground then gathered herself up and slammed her
shoulder into the door. After ramming it a few more
times, the door finally gave in. She helped Harm to
his feet and over to the window. Fortunately, there
was no screen and Mac had no trouble climbing out.
Harm was a different story. Not only was he taller
than Mac, they now had his ankle to consider.
Finally, after a painful struggle, he managed to get
trough the window and onto the ground.
XXXXXXXXXX
Scully knew that he was right, but she didn't want to
believe that Harm and Mac were really dead.
"Scully, we should probably get out of here," he said,
gesturing to the crumbling building.
I think you're right," she replied.
Slowly, so as not to draw attention to themselves,
Mulder and Scully walked though the heightening
chaos of the emergency vehicles and personnel to the
back of the hotel where their car was parked. They
had yet to see anyone suspicious, but they both knew
from experience that these men could be anywhere
and under any disguise. Not two seconds after that
thought, Scully saw him, and he saw her.
"Mulder," she said, "Run!" Gunshots erupted from
behind them and once again masses of hotel guests
panicked. Fighting their way though the crowd,
Mulder and Scully desperately tried to allude their
follower. Finally, their bureau-issued car was in
sight. Too late, they noticed the shadowy figures by
their car, but having nowhere else to go, they
continued forward. When they got closer, Mulder and
Scully realized that the shadowy figures were none
other than Harm and Mac.
"No time to explain, just get in the car," said Mulder
jumping into the driver's seat. Harm and Mac knew
not to ask questions and obeyed. Peeling out of the
parking lot with their tires squealing, the FBI agents
and the JAG officers headed out onto the open road.
XXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 3
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXX
After many nervous glances behind them, everyone
assured themselves that they were no longer being
followed and relaxed.
"We thought you were dead, " Harm told Mulder and
Scully.
"And we thought the same about you," replied Scully.
"Are you okay?" Mac asked, referring to the gash on
Scully's forehead.
"It looks worse than it is," even so, she winced when
she touched it. "Are you both okay?"
"I think my ankle is broken, " said Harm. Scully gave
Mulder an exasperated look. This wasn't helping their
situation. Ignoring Harm for a moment, Scully tuned
and whispered to Mulder.
"Mulder what are we doing?" she asked.
"I think it might be best if we lay low for a couple of
days, or at least until we sort things out."
"Mulder, we can't do that right now. I'd be a different
story if it was just you and me but now we have
Harm and Mac with us, and if Harm's ankle is really
broken then we need to get him to a hospital."
"Scully, if we go into a hospital right now, it's a good
bet we won't come out alive. I know that these men
pursuing us are a dying breed, but they're till out
there. They believe that they have a reason to kill us
and they will do so if given the opportunity. All I'm
asking is for a day or two to figure this out."
Scully sighed then turned to the back seat where
Harm and Mac were sitting. "May I see your ankle,
Commander?" she asked.
"Sure, but call me Harm. I think we can do without
formalities right now." Scully smiled slightly.
Harm winced as he pulled his ankle into Scully's
view. She gently felt the swollen, purple flesh. Harm
grunted, but didn't say anything.
"It think it's just sprained," she told him. "We'll get
some ice and aspirin for you at the next gas station.
It'll be sore for a few days, but I think you'll live."
Harm grinned at Mac.
"I've had worse."
Scully was stalling the inevitable, but she couldn't
help it. How did you explain to someone how
dangerous the situation they were in was, when they
were clueless to the darker workings of the
government? There was no way to really explain it. It
was something you had to experience and that was
what Harm and Mac were about to do.
"We're going to have to lay low for a few days,"
Scully explained. "At least until we can get this
figured out."
"Lay low?" repeated Mac. "What about the
investigation?"
"I think it's in our best interests to forget about that
right now. Because of what we know, or at least what
certain people think we know, we're now prime
targets. They would rather kill us than have us expose
the truth."
"What exactly do we know, and who are these
*certain people*?" asked Harm.
Scully sighed heavily. "Agent Mulder and I believe
that there are men within our government, working
secretly to cover up all that they feel is a threat to
society. They're the kind of people who will shoot
now and explain later. They go to extreme lengths to
make certain that nothing is known that they feel
shouldn't be known," she said, carefully choosing her
words. Of course she was leaving out the parts about
conspiring with alien colonists and conspiring to
conceal the existence of extra-terrestrials, but they
didn't really need to hear those parts.
"Right now," she continued, "something about Dr.
Heinlein seems to warrant their attention. What it is,
we don't know but they obviously think we do."
XXXXXXXXXX
Once they determined that they had put enough
distance between them and their pursuers they found
a hotel and stopped for the time being. Again, they
only got two rooms to minimize the hassle, cost and
risk of exposure. They were all exhausted and
quickly settled in. In their haste to exit, their luggage
was forgotten leaving them with the inconvenience of
having no clothes other than the ones on their backs.
Scully made a trip to the nearby Seven Eleven for
some ice and Advil to give to Harm. They agreed to
make a quick stop at the local Wal-Mart the next
morning. After everything was taken care of, Scully
cleaned her own injury and was soon ready for bed.
XXXXXXXXXX
As tired as she was, Mac couldn't sleep. She tossed
and turned, but the thoughts in her head refused to let
her rest. Harm's deep breathing in the bed beside her
told Mac was asleep. With a frustrated sigh, Mac
tossed over once more and groped in the darkness for
the TV remote. Quickly finding it, she flipped the TV
on. She was curious to know if any news about the
murder had gotten to the local stations. After
watching for a few minutes she concluded that they
weren't going to show any and was just about to turn
it off when the announcement came.
"In national news today, " the anchor announced.
"We've learned that one of the world's top geneticists,
Dr. Robert Heinlein was brutally murdered yesterday.
His body was found at the West Lake Naval base in
Virginia. Although most of his research is under tight
wraps, we do know that Dr. Heinlein was working on
decoding the human genome. Details are sketchy at
this hours but we understand that the prime suspects
in this case, two JAG officers and two FBI agents are
on the run and reportedly extremely dangerous." Mac
was speechless and her mind refused to register what
she had just heard. Finally, she found her voice.
"Harm!" she said, getting out of bed to shake him
awake.
"Mac?" he asked, his voice full of sleep, "What is it?"
"Look," she said, pointing to the TV screen. Harm
looked just in time to see his picture on the TV
underneath the words *murder suspect*.
"What the hell," he started to say.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder sighed and looked at the clock for what
seemed like the millionth time that night. Sometimes
he really hated being an insomniac. Scully had had
no trouble going to sleep, as was evident in her deep
and even breathing. 'When all else fails' he though
picking up the TV remote and switching it on.
"In nation news today," the news anchor was saying.
"We've learned that one of the world's top geneticists,
Dr. Robert Heinlein, was brutally murdered
yesterday," Scully would want to see this thought
Mulder, getting out of bed to wake her up.
"What Mulder?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"The murder's on the news," Mulder replied nodding
towards the screen.
"Prime suspects," the anchor continued. "Two JAG
officers and two FBI agents are on the run and
reportedly extremely dangerous." Mulder and
Scully's eyes met. Things had just gotten a lot more
complicated.
Mulder went to speak, but Scully quickly shushed
him. Silently, she pointed to the door. The light from
the hallway was streaming though the crack at the
bottom of the door and spilling into the room. Within
the light was the silhouette of a man. Carefully, the
two agents found their guns and moved stealthily
towards the door. Following age-old habit, they
positioned themselves one on each side of the door.
"Who is it?" Scully called out.
"Harm and Mac," replied Harm's voice.
Harm waited while one of the agents undid the latch
and slowly opened the door. He noticed they both
looked very tense and had their guns drawn.
"You're not getting trigger happy on us are you?"
joked Harm.
"We thought you might be someone else," replied
Scully.
"Have you seen the newscast?" asked Mac somberly.
"Yes," replied Mulder, motioning for the officers to
come in.
"Well this was totally unexpected," said Mac, after
Mulder shut the door behind them.
"Welcome to how the real world works," said
Mulder. "By making us murder suspects, we'll be
easier to track."
"So what do we do now?" asked Harm.
"We make a plan and fast."
XXXXXXXXX
The FBI agents and the JAG officers were on the
road once again. After the newscast, none of them
were ready to go back to bed, so instead they quickly
came up with their "cover our sixes" plan as Harm
called it. The plan was fairly simple, find a large city
and hide. Mulder had agreed to call the Lone
Gunmen to wire him money upon reaching Dallas,
which was their large city of choice. The car was
silent; each occupant was keeping their thoughts to
themselves. Not that there was that much to talk
about anyway.
"Harm?" Mac finally said.
"Hmmm?" Somewhere down the road, Mulder had
agreed to switch the driving duties over to Mac.
Harm was still injured and unable to do much more
than slowly walk around. Now the two FBI agents
were fast asleep in the back.
"We can't hide forever."
"I know," he said sighing, "I know."
XXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 4
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXX
Officer Ryan Stafford was new to the Bonville
Missouri Police Department. He watched his partner,
Jeff, talking with the gas station attendant as he filled
up their police cruiser. When it was full, Ryan hung
up the nozzle and went in to pay. They weren't
officially on duty for another 20 minutes so Ryan let
Jeff talk. He watched as another car pulled up and an
attractive woman got out to fill the tank. Something
about the woman looked familiar. It wasn't until the
man got out as well that it hit him, these were two of
the four fugitives wanted for the murder of some
scientist. His heart started beating faster. He could
just imagine what the guys back at HQ would say if
he was the one who brought in these fugitives, and
*federal* fugitives at that. He glanced back one more
time to make sure he wasn't seeing things and noticed
that there were two more people still in the car. The
red-haired one he recognized as the FBI agent and he
assumed the man in the front was the JAG officer.
"Jeff!" Ryan yelled.
"What?" Jeff answered, sounding angry that his
partner had interrupted his conversation.
"Aren't those four out there the same ones the chief
just told us about this morning?"
Jeff looked and saw that his partner was indeed
correct. This sentence should start the next paragraph.
"Shit you're right!" he exclaimed. "Get on your radio
and call it into headquarters right now! Then get your
ass out there and help me."
"Yes sir!" Ryan immediately got on his radio and
watched as his partner starting walking toward the
four suspects.
"Hi there!" Jeff called out as soon as he was within
range. " How you folks doin'?"
"What can we do you for you officer?" asked Mulder.
"Well sir, if I could see your identification I'd really
appreciate it. Too late, Jeff saw the women behind
him and felt the cold metal of a gun barrel on his
neck.
"And I'd really appreciate it if you would stand still,"
said Mac as she took the officer handcuffs from his
belt and cuffed his hand behind his back. After
making sure that everything was in control, Mulder
got in and started the car.
"Let's go, he said to Mac, but his thoughts turned
elsewhere when he heard someone yell.
"Jeff!" Ryan shouted, tearing out of the door and
running to where everyone stood. He grabbed for his
gun and fired two shots, but panic had gripped him
and the shots whizzed by harmlessly. Never the less,
it was enough to set Mac moving. She jumped into
the back seat with Scully and didn't even get a chance
to fully close her door before Mulder peeled out of
the gas station. The blare of sirens caused everyone
in the car to turn around.
"Damn!" said Mulder as he pressed the car
accelerator closer to the floor. "They already called
for backup."
The police cars were gaining on them.
"Can't you go any faster?" asked Harm looking over
his shoulder at the approaching police cars.
"It's an old car. Ninety is about the limit," replied
Mulder, referring to the '89 Taurus they had stolen
after ditching their bureau-issued car.
Mac, who had been watching both behind and ahead
of them noticed a small dirt road that meandered off
the to right and into the forest that was quickly
closing in on the road. "There!" she said, pointing to
it. "Go there!"
Mulder slammed on the brakes and turned sharply
right. Their tires screeched but they made it in. The
police cars behind them weren't so lucky, buying
them some time. The car continued to speed down
the road that was getting continually worse, bouncing
the car passengers around. Just when it seemed like it
couldn't get any worse, it did. "Shit, it's a dead end,"
remarked Mulder as the car rolled to a stop.
"Any ideas?" asked Harm. All too soon they heard
the sirens approaching, getting louder as they got
closer.
"The forest is pretty thick here. We might have a
chance to lose them, if we split up," said Scully.
"Yeah, but then what?" Mulder asked her.
"I saw a sign for a town called Eden about eight miles
east of here."
"Okay, then we'll rendezvous there, but let's go!" said
Harm. So the four adults scattered and ran into the
forest. They all heard the police cruisers screech to a
halt and shouts erupt from the officers.
Mulder pressed on thought the forest, glad that he
had taken up running. If he hadn't been in this current
situation, he would have probably found the forest
very scenic, but instead he ran on, careful to avoid
the low hanging tree branches.
Scully thanked her stars that she had changed out of
her dress shoes and outfit when she did. While she
didn't have Mulder's ambitions for running, she could
hold her on and pressed on.
So Mac lied a little when she had told Harm that she
ran a 'usual fifteen miles a day', but who really cared
anyway? That's when she remembered Harm's ankle.
How could she have forgotten? She stopped dead in
her tracks, then ran in the direction that she thought
she'd last seen him go.
Harm grimaced and bit his tongue to keep from
yelling every time his foot hit the ground. Scully had
wrapped it with an Ace bandage and had given him
some kind of drug that had made it feel better for the
time being. Of course, that had been when he wasn't
running though some forest, headed to who-knows-
where. It could've been worse though, he thought, it
could have been broken. Then a sharp pain shot up
from his ankle and sent him tumbling. Unable to help
himself, he cried out.
Scully heard a shout somewhere off to her left. She
stopped and cautiously made her way over to where it
had come from.
"Hello?" she asked when she thought she was close
enough.
"Mac, is that you?" asked the voice.
"Harm? This is Scully. Are you okay?"
"It's my ankle again." Ooops, thought Scully. How
could they have forgotten Harm's ankle? Of course he
couldn't run on a sprained ankle. Somehow, Scully
doubted that even Harm had remembered his ankle
when they had all been so caught up in the moment
trying of to escape. Scully found him sitting in a
small ravine. Carefully, she bent down and touched
his ankle. Harm winced but didn't say anything.
"I still don't think it's broken," Scully told him," Do
you think you can stand on it if I help you?"
"I think I have to," replied Harm, referring to the
threat of police officers in close pursuit. Carefully,
and with Scully's help, he stood up. Then, using her
for support, they slowly walked on into the forest.
"I never really realized how much taller than Mulder
you are," Scully told Harm after they had walked a
few minutes in silence. At 6'4 , Harm was a good
four inches taller than Mulder.
"And I never realized how much shorter than Mac
you are," he said back. Mac was 5'9", making her
nearly six inches taller than Scully.
"Don't underestimate me because of my size," Scully
told him.
Harm laughed for the first time he could remember
since this whole thing had started. "I won't," he said
giving her one of his smiles. Much to his surprise,
she smiled back.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mac tried to suppress the growing rise of dread
within her. She stopped and held her breath to see if
she could hear anything. The forest was eerily silent;
not even the birds were singing. This allowed her to
hear the sharp snap of a twig, amplified from the
silence of the woods. Diving for cover behind a tree,
she cautiously peeked out to see who was coming.
The person had their back to her and almost looked
like Harm. Mac was just about to call out to him
when the person turned around.
"Mulder?" she said coming out from behind the tress.
Mulder visibly jumped before recognizing her.
"Mac, you scared me."
"Sorry, have you seen Harm?"
"No."
"We've got to find him." Mulder was about to ask
why when he remembered.
"Damn, his ankle! How could we have forgotten?"
"I don't know, but I've got to go find him."
Mac seemed to be on the verge of panic and Mulder
could sympathize with her. He could only imagine
what he'd be like right now if Scully was hurt instead
of Harm. He had to put this next point across
carefully. "I'm sure Scully's helping him, Mac. I
thought I saw her heading off in the same direction
he was. I know you want to go find him, but we'll just
have to go to Eden and wait for them there."
"But was can't just leave him! What if he's caught?"
Mac asked, walking away from where Mulder stood.
"Mac, listen to me," he said as he jogged to catch up
with her. After making her turn around to face him he
continued on," I know you don't want to hear this
right now, but you and I both know it's the truth.
Right now, we're all being framed for a murder that
we didn't commit and if you go back to find Harm
now you might both be caught. Where would that get
you? If you allow yourself to be caught now, you're
facing a life in prison for a crime that you didn't
commit. However, if you'll trust in Harm that he'll get
himself to Eden safely, then we'll have a chance to
find out the truth."
Mac knew that Mulder was right but every bone in
her body told her not to leave Harm behind. "Okay,
let's go," she said softly.
"Hey, look at the bright side," Mulder said in an
attempt to lighten the mood. " Things have to get
better soon because I don't think they could get any
worse."
Mac smiled and him, not because it was funny but at
how sadly true it was.
XXXXXXXXXX
When they were talking about eight miles earlier, it
hadn't seemed that far but actually walking eight
miles through unfamiliar territory was a lot more
difficult. Finally, at 8:42 according to Mac's inner
clock, she and Mulder arrived at Eden. It was a small
town but fortunately did harbor a small inn. They
check checked in as Mr. and Mrs. George Hale.
Mulder knew that Scully would recognize his alias.
As worried as she was about Harm, Mac still allowed
herself to enjoy a hot shower and clean hair. Mulder
was next. When he came out he found Mac laying
down staring at the ceiling.
"This is insane," said Mac when she heard Mulder
enter the room, "What did you ever do to get
involved in this?"
"It's a long story," he replied.
"I'm listening."
"When I was twelve years old, my sister was
abducted by aliens." Mac raised her eyebrows in a
gesture not unlike Scully at this statement, but
Mulder continued on. "That was what I thought for
many years anyway. Not too long ago, I learned that
it wasn't aliens that abducted my sister, but some of
my dads colleagues. Along the way, I learned that
there were men secretly working with the
government to cover up the existence of
extraterrestrial life. I opened up the X-files and
dedicated my life to finding the truth."
"And have you found it yet?" Mac asked him.
"To a certain extent, yes," he replied.
"And what do you make of things?" Mac asked,
referring to their current situation.
"All I know is that Dr. Heinlein discovered that
behavior was genetic and not caused by a person's
environment, but I don't know what he was going to
do with it."
"I know someone who might."
"Who?"
"Clayton Webb."
"Who's that?" Mulder asked.
"A friend of Harm's that just happens to work for the
CIA."
"And how would we contact this person without
alerting someone to our current position?" asked
Mulder.
"I don't know really, but Harm would."
"Then lets hope he makes it."
"He will," Mac replied suddenly full of hope. "I know
Harm and he will."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Oooof," exclaimed Harm as Scully helped him sit,
then took a seat next to him on the forest floor.
"This isn't working," he told her, but Scully remained
silent. "They're probably already securing a road
block around the entire radius of the town. Even if we
do catch up with Mac and Mulder, there's no
guaranteeing that we'll be able to get back out again."
"I know what you're suggesting Harm and I'm not
going to leave you here. Come on," helping Harm up,
they continued on their way.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mac was pacing around the room and Mulder soon
joined her. Although neither would admit it, they
both feared that Harm and Scully had been caught.
Finally Mac spoke up. "We have to do something
because if we wait much longer, we'll be caught too.
This town isn't that big."
"You think they've been caught too?" Mulder asked,
finally voicing their fears.
"It's been more than two hours since we got here and
even with Harm's ankle they should have been here
by now." Mulder just sighed.
"Then it's up to us to resolve this. Let's go find your
friend Clayton Webb."
So they found and hot-wired yet another car and set
off for DC. They were careful to avoid the main
roads, instead sticking to the back ways. Just as they
exited the city limits, Mac noticed something in the
trees off to her left.
"Mulder, stop the car."
"What is it?" Mulder asked, letting the car roll to a
stop.
"I thought I saw something," Mac said getting out of
the car. Mulder followed suit. "There, listen!" she
told him.
"I don't hear—" Whatever Mulder was going to say
was cut off by a familiar voice.
"Mac? Is that you?"
"Harm!" exclaimed Mac when a very tired looking
Scully and Harm emerged from the forest's brush.
Quickly jogging over to him, Mac put both her arms
around him and hugged him tightly. Harm let go of
Scully and hugged her back. "I was worried about
you," Mac told Harm.
"Well here I am, almost as good as new."
"I'm so sorry I forgot about your ankle Harm. I never
would have left you had I remembered."
"No need for apologies Mac, I know you didn't mean
to."
Mulder walked over to where Scully stood. "I'd given
up on you."
"You know me better than that Mulder," she said.
"Now let's get out of here." Mulder smiled; never
underestimate a Scully. So Mulder helped Mac
navigate Harm to the back seat of their stolen car.
Once everyone was situated, they continued on their
journey to Washington DC.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 5
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXXX
"Harm, you know Webb's number don't you?" Mac
asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"Because he would know what's going on here. I
mean this murder. He would know why Dr.
Heinlein's discoveries are so important wouldn't he?"
"I suppose so, but if he did they'd have taps on all his
phones. There's no way we could call him without
getting caught. Our best bet it to go meet him
directly."
"My thoughts exactly," replied Mulder from the
driver's seat.
XXXXXXXXXX
"There he is," said Harm, handing the binoculars to
Mac. They had arrived in DC the day before and had
immediately set up surveillance on Webb, but DC
was a big city and finding someone when you
yourself were trying to stay hidden, was not the
easiest thing to do.
"Okay, here I go. Wish me luck," Harm said as he got
out of the car. As casually as he could, he sauntered
up to the CIA agent. "Webb, nice to see you again,"
he said, smiling at Clayton's obvious surprise.
Clayton Webb spun around to face the familiar
figure. "Jesus Harm," Webb whispered fiercely. " Do
you have any idea how many people are looking for
you right now? Jesus," he said again, running a hand
through his hair.
"Hence the urgency."
"Is Mac with you?"
"Yes, along with the two FBI agents," Harm said
nodding at the car over Webb's shoulder.
"We shouldn't be seen together like this."
"Then where should we meet? I mean it Webb, this is
important."
"Two*** o'clock at the Barns ***Barnes*** and
Noble on the corner of Bush and Wellington."
"I'll be there." They shook hands, just in case anyone
really was watching them, then parted. Fighting to
urge to jog, Harm calmly walked back to the car.
Thanks to some kind of pain medications Scully had
gotten at a pharmacy on their drive to DC, Harm's
ankle was doing much better. He got into the car and
Mulder drove off.
"So?" Mac asked.
"The Barnes and Noble at the corner of Bush and
Wellington at two o'clock."
"That gives us forty-five minutes to get there."
"Are you sure he'll show?" Mulder asked Harm.
"He will. Webb may be CIA but he keeps to his
word."
XXXXXXXXXX
Forty-five minutes later Mulder, Scully, Harm and
Mac all had themselves strategically positioned
throughout the bookstore. It was really Harm who
was meeting Webb, but the others were there for
support and backup, just in case something went
wrong. Harm was closest to the doors so he saw
Clayton Webb walk in. He made sure that he was
seen before picking up a book and pretending to read
the back. Webb walked over to where Harm stood
and pretended to browse.
"I think I was followed," Webb whispered without
facing Harm, "so I'll make this quick. There's a
warehouse about twelve miles from here," He
carefully slipped Harm a small piece of paper. "I can't
tell you what's in it, but I can guarantee it will answer
your questions. I can also assure you that it's heavily
guarded. How you get in is your problem."
Harm nodded his head in understanding "Thanks
Webb," he said. "I owe you one."
"Harm, right now you owe me so much I've
practically secured a lifetime of favors from you."
Harm grinned. "I hope this works out because if it
doesn't, I won't be around to carry out all those
favors."
Webb looked grim, "Good luck and take care Harm."
He walked away and out the door.
Harm signaled to the others that it was time to leave
by walking out the door and a couple of minutes
later, met them all at their car that was parked a few
blocks away. "We've got it," Harm told them holding
up the piece of paper that Webb had given him. "He
said the answer we're looking for will be in this
warehouse, but it's gonna take some planning because
he also said it was heavily guarded."
Mac groaned. "What I wouldn't give to for this to be
over."
"I know Mac," Harm said squeezing her shoulder,
"but hopefully it will be soon."
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder checked his gun for what seemed like the
thousandth time that night, before tucking it in the
waistband of his pants.
"You okay Mulder?" Scully asked, laying a hand on
his arm.
"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just ready to get this over with,"
he replied. She and Mulder, along with Harm and
Mac, had been sitting in their darkened car parked
close to the warehouse, waiting for the right time to
put their plan into action. Mac and Harm were going
to distract the guards patrolling the outside of the
warehouse, while Mulder and Scully slipped inside.
"Are you guys ready?" Mac asked them, sounding
very tense.
Scully exhaled a breath she didn't know she'd been
holding. "Yes, let's go." The four of them got out of
the car and prepared themselves for action.
"Good luck you two," Harm said to Mulder and
Scully. Just in case we don't make it out of this, I
want you to know that it's been a pleasure working
with you."
"Thanks, but hold your good-byes," Mulder told him.
"We'll make it out of here. I promise."
"Then let's go. I'll cover your six."
XXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 6
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder and Scully moved as close to the warehouse
as they could, without risking being seen, then waited
for Harm and Mac to do their jobs.
Meanwhile, Harm and Mac ran towards their starting
position, keeping low and hiding behind the
numerous piles of debris that littered the area. They
finally moved themselves behind two huge shipping
crates. While it wasn't the greatest of cover, it
allowed for an easy escape in almost any direction.
Harm took careful aim on the closest guard, inhaled
deeply and shot him in the leg. The gunshot, and the
scream that followed from the wounded guard,
ricocheted off the silent warehouses and sent the
remaining guards running. Harm and Mac noticed the
shadowy figures of Mulder and Scully running inside
the warehouse just as they heard the click of the
safety being removed from a gun behind them. Both
spun around and found themselves face to face with
Alex Krycek.
"I'm sorry," he told them. Mac thought he sounded
like he really was genuinely sorry. "It wasn't
supposed to be this way," he continued. Keeping his
gun and eyes trained on the two officers, he yelled to
the guards that surrounded their fallen comrade and
before Harm and Mac could even think to escape,
they were trapped.
"Drop your weapons," one of the guards said. Mac
and Harm obeyed and their guns were quickly picked
up. Two guards stepped forward and forced them to
their knees. Mac heard, rather than felt the butt the
guards rifle make contact with her head and a second
later was out cold.
XXXXXXXXXX
Unaware of the predicament they had left their
companions in, Mulder and Scully entered the
warehouse. Mulder hadn't been sure what to expect
but what he saw definitely surprised him.
"Files," he said.
"Lot and lots of files," replied Scully. Indeed there
were files. For as far as either agent could see there
were file cabinets, stacked in rows from floor to
ceiling. Scully walked over to one and was surprised
to find it unlocked. She pulled out a file. Written in
large, bold letters on the front was ROSWELL, NM.
Inside were memos. Scully read one, "Frank," it said,
"the ship has been successfully moved to its holding
place and the cover story is in place. Jim."
"Amazing," Mulder said as he reached for another.
Scully stopped him, "Mulder, we don't have much
time." She replaced the file and walked on. Mulder
sighed but followed. After realizing that the files
were in alphabetical order, they set out for the 'H'
section. "Mulder, over here." Scully finally said. She
pulled open the drawer and pointed to the file that
read, HEINLEIN, DR. ROBERT A. Mulder's fingers
had no sooner closed around it, when he felt the hard
metal of a gun barrel pressed against the back of his
neck.
"Move and you're dead." He was shoved roughly to
the ground and handcuffs were placed around his
wrists. His attacker forced him to his feet and
marched him the down the aisle. Although he
couldn't see her, Mulder could hear Scully following
him. They were taken out of the warehouse and
shoved into a car with darkly tinted windows. The
engine of the car rumbled to life and moved away
from the building.
"So much for our plan," was all Scully said.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mac awoke with a splitting headache. She opened her
eyes, but the bright fluorescent light forced her to
quickly close them again. Suddenly, her memory
returned and Mac sat bolt upright. Light exploded in
her head and it took every ounce of her being not to
throw up. Several deep breaths later, the pain had
subsided enough to allow Mac to open her eyes once
again and look at her surroundings. What she saw
made her heart skip a beat, for lying on a cot in the
corner of the room was a very bloody and very still
Harmon Rabb. Unable to speak, she raced over and
took his wrist in her shaking hard, in an attempt to
find a pulse. Unable to contain herself when she
could find one, she let out a sob. Mac willed herself
to regain her composure, then leaned over Harm's
body and placed her ear close to his mouth, hoping to
hear him breath.
"What are you doing Marine?" Harm's deep voice
said quietly in her ear.
"Harm!" yelled Mac, throwing her arms around his
neck.
"Ouch," winced Harm. "Contain your excitement
Mac, I'm an injured man."
"I'm sorry," Mac replied withdrawing her arms. "I
thought you were –"
"Dead?" Harm finished for her. "Well if this
headache is any indication, I can assure you I'm still
alive."
"Here, let me see." Carefully, Harm sat up and turned
around so that his back was facing Mac. Mac cringed
at his blood-encrusted hair. "There's a lot of blood,"
she told him.
"Head wounds always bleed a lot," he reassured her.
Harm was surprised at the calm town of his answer. 'I
must still be in shock', he thought.
"Harm, look at me." Harm slowly turned around
again and faced Mac. She stared into his blue eyes.
Unsure of what exactly it was she was doing, Harm
stared right back into her deep brown eyes. A
moment of silence passed between them. "I think you
have a concussion," Mac finally said. "Are you
dizzy?"
"Kind of," came Harm's reply, without cutting their
eye contact. It was Mac who finally broke the
connection. "Come here and lay down," she told
him. Carefully, Harm did so, laying his head in her
lap. Once he was comfortably settled, Mac brushed a
few stray strands of hair off his forehead. "How did
we ever get into this mess?" she asked him.
"I don't know," he replied as he reached up and took
her hand in his, "but I sure hope we can get out of it."
"We'll get out of it," Mac finally replied, looking at
their entwined hands. One thing was for sure,
wherever they were going, they were going there
together.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder and Scully watched as the heavy steel door
locked them in their tiny, featureless room. Scully
sighed and sat down on the bare floor. Unsure of
what to do, Mulder sat down next to her.
"What do you think will happen to us?" she asked,
staring straight ahead.
"Do you want me to be honest or hopeful?"
"Honest," she said, finally looking at him and taking
his hand in hers.
"I doubt we'll ever get a trial. They'll either kill us or
keep us in a place like this until we die. Of course,
they'll fake our deaths and all that will remain will be
memories."
Scully squeezed his hand tighter. "I changed my
mind, tell me the hopeful."
"We can hope that Harm and Mac escaped and are
going to find out the truth and get us out of here."
"I can't believe I'm trusting two military officers with
my life, especially after meeting you." Mulder
smiled.
"Me neither, but no matter what happened to us,"
Mulder said putting his arm around her, "I promise
I'll always be here for you," he finished, drawing her
into a hug. Scully wrapped her arms around Mulder's
middle and hugged back.
"You don't need to tell me that Mulder and you know
I'd do the same for you." They remained sitting in
that position until Scully's deep and even breathing
told Mulder that she was asleep. He watched her face,
so peaceful in sleep and wondered what the future
would bring.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mac didn't even realize she'd been sleeping until a
loud banging on the door woke her up.
"Harm," she said, gently shaking him awake. Slowly,
he sat up, groaning as he did so. "Are you okay?" she
asked him.
"Yeah, it's nothing I can't deal with." Mac muttered
something about men that Harm didn't quite catch.
Any further comment however, was stopped when
both the officers heard the door being unlocked.
After it opened, a familiar figure walked in.
"Admiral," said Mac, her voice full of surprise as she
jumped to attention.
The Admiral, noticing that Harm was having a hard
time getting to his feet quickly gave an 'at ease' order.
"Are you going to live Rabb?" the Admiral asked.
"I hope so sir," Harm replied with a grin. "It's good to
see you again."
"You too Commander, Colonel. Do I even want to
know how you got yourselves here?"
"Probably not sir," replied Mac.
"Admiral, how is it that you're here?" asked Harm.
"I'm here to release you," he replied.
"But how?" asked Mac.
"You mean the murder charges?" Mac nodded.
"They've been dropped and the government
apologizes for any inconvenience."
"Apologizes?" asked Harm in a somewhat disgusted
voice. "Was the real perpetrator caught?"
"Not exactly, replied the admiral, "The Rear Admiral
was arrested yesterday after an investigation revealed
that he was on the payroll and was conspiring with
the biotech company, BioGenerations."
"The same one that employed Dr. Heinlein," said
Mac.
"Correct. The Rear Admiral later admitted to hiring
someone to kill Dr. Heinlein after he threatened to go
public with his research."
"But I still don't understand Admiral, what about Dr.
Heinlein's research is so important?" asked Harm.
"Apparently, Dr. Heinlein was researching whether
behavior was caused by genetics or a person's
environment. When the investigators tried to find out
what this research was going to be used for, they
found that all of his records had been destroyed.
However, the Rear Admiral refuses to take
responsibility for it."
"Well we're right back to where we started," said
Harm. "Now we know that the military really is at
fault, which was what we set out to disprove in the
first place."
"Don't get too upset Commander, no one's blaming
you. I hope to see you both back at work on Monday.
Things have been pretty hectic back at JAG with you
missing."
"Well it's nice to know we're appreciated Admiral,"
said Mac. The admiral nodded, then left the two JAG
officers alone.
"Well this was a big waste of time," Harm said
bitterly after the admiral left.
"Don't let it get to you Harm," soothed Mac.
"Besides, I wouldn't call it a total waste of time," she
said taking his hand in hers.
Harm looked at her and smiled. "I guess not," he
replied. "Now let's get out of here."
They were nearly to the exit when they bumped into
Mulder and Scully.
"I take it you've heard." Mulder nodded.
"And I take it from your reaction that you're not very
surprised," said Harm.
"We get cases that end like this all the time. After a
while you get used to it," Mulder replied.
"Well, even though this case didn't turn out like I
expected, it was a pleasure working with you," said
Harm.
"Likewise," replied Mulder, "Just let me know if you
ever need a paranormal expert." Harm laughed. They
all shook hands and exchanged smiles. Harm and
Mac said their good-byes and exited. Mulder watched
their retreating forms then turned to Scully. "They did
it again, Scully, they got away with it."
"Not entirely. They admitted to their wrongdoing. If
anything, it's a step in the right direction. Besides
Mulder," she said giving his arm a reassuring
squeeze, "they may have won the battle, but there's
still a war to win."
THE END
Feedback appreciated at marissa113@hotmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/darthvaderx
Author: Marissa
E-mail: marissa113@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13
Classification: C (JAG/X-Files), Ad, slight R
(Harm/Mac)
Spoilers: None
Summary: When a joint FBI/Navy investigation goes
terribly wrong, four partners find themselves on the
run and with no one to trust but themselves.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harm, Mac, Mulder, Scully
or any of the other JAG and X-file characters I used
in this story. I just took them out of their cages and
let them play for a while. No infringement intended.
Authors Note: Well, here it is. My second JAG/XF
crossover story, but my first finished one. For those
of you interested, I do have another in the works, but
it's quite a bit different from this one. A few notes
before I begin. First off, the title. Adiskide is Turkish
for friend. Secondly, I was sitting in a library for
about ninety percent of the time that I was writing
this story so you might find a few authors' names or
titles that you might recognize. Lastly, I like to think
that I know more than most about genetics but you
still might find some mistakes, so forgive me. Also, a
huge thanks to Frohike for editing this story and
Chantal for encouragement along the way. You guys
are the best! Okay, enough of me and on with the
story!
XXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 1
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder stared at his phone. He knew it would ring at
any moment; he could feel it.
"Mulder, is it possible to stare at that phone any
harder?" Scully teased. Then, as if on queue, the
phone rang. Mulder flashed Scully an 'I told you so'
look and picked it up.
Scully watched Mulder's face. She could usually tell
exactly what the conversation was about just by
looking at him but this time, Mulder's face remained
black. Only his eyes gave away his cool exterior.
"So?" Scully asked when he hung up.
"It was Skinner. He has a case for us," replied Mulder
refusing to look at her. That was always a dead
giveaway that he was hiding something.
"What aren't you telling me Mulder?"
"You're not going to believe this but apparently it's a
joint FBI/Navy operation."
"What? Says who?"
"Skinner wouldn't say, but I got the impression that it
came from higher up."
"I didn't even know that the FBI was willing to work
with any branch of the military."
"We aren't, but this time the Navy insisted and they
got their way. No one else wanted to bother with this,
so we got stuck with the job," said Mulder.
"So it's pure politics."
"What isn't anymore? A well-known scientist was
found murdered at the West Lake Navy base in
Virginia. All the evidence points to a Navy officer as
the murderer, but they insist on their innocence
claming that someone took an interest in the
scientist's work and wanted him dead for it."
"Who was this scientist?" asked Scully.
"Uh, a man named Dr. Heinlein, Robert Heinlein. Do
you know him?"
"Not personally but I know his work. He was one of
the world's leading scientists in genetic research. He
was on the Human Genome team but dropped out
shortly after joining to work for a private corporation.
This is the first I've heard of him since then. How'd
he end up at the Navy base?"
"He was employed there," Mulder replied.
"Doing what?"
"I'm not sure, but I'm sure we'll find out soon. We're
supposed to meet our Navy friends at the base in 2
hours," said Mulder sarcastically.
"It could be worse Mulder." said Scully, humored at
Mulder's obvious disgust, "They could've been
Marines." Mulder just rolled his eyes.
XXXXXXXXXX
Harm stared at the door of his office. He knew that
someone was coming; he could feel it.
"Harm?" Mac inquired, poking her head into the
Commander's office. "The Admiral wants us in his
office ASAP."
Harm did his best to cover his all-knowing smile as
he followed the Colonel to the Admiral's office.
"Enter!" came the Admiral's standard reply after Mac
knocked on the door.
"Colonel, Commander, have a seat. How's the case
load?"
"Fine sir," replied Harm, knowing where the
questioning was headed.
"Good. Late last night, the body of Dr. Robert
Heinlein, one of the world's top geneticists was found
at the West Lake Navy base in Virginia. The FBI has
jurisdiction over this case because the deceased is a
civilian, but they've agreed to cooperate with the
Navy because the murder took place on a military
installation. In other words, we're not wanted as part
of this investigation, so behave yourselves," said the
Admiral, directing his question purposely at Harm.
Harm ignored the comment. "Sir, am I to understand
you want us to work with the FBI?"
"That's correct, but don't let their thinking influence
you. I except a full report on my desk after this is
over. You'll meet the agents at the base. Dismissed."
"Aye Aye sir."
XXXXXXXXXX
"This should be interesting," said Mulder as he and
Scully watched the two military personnel walking
towards them. Scully couldn't help but laugh at
Mulder. Their future investigation team was
composed of two Judge Advocate General officers,
otherwise known as JAG. Not only were they
working with military officers, but they were lawyers
as well; Mulder's favorite combination. Scully wasn't
as worried as Mulder. Growing up as a Navy brat had
left her with a greater appreciation for the U.S. armed
forces than Mulder had, as well as some clue to rank
and military divisions.
"Mulder," she whispered, "I hate to break it too you,
but the woman's a Marine. Looks like we'll be
working with them after all." Mulder groaned.
"Agents Mulder and Scully?" asked the man. "I'm
Commander Rabb and this is my partner Colonel
Mackenzie."
"Nice to meet you," replied Mulder and Scully as
they shook hands. Both pairs of partners took a
moment and sized up one another.
"So," said Mulder, "Looks like we're stuck together
on this one." Scully glared at him but didn't say
anything.
"Seems that way," replied Harm. "I assume you've
been briefed?"
"Yes. You?" asked Mulder.
"Yes as well. Ready to see the crime scene?" Harm
asked.
"Lead the way," replied Mulder.
XXXXXXXXXX
Upon walking into the lab where the murder took
place the first thing both officers and agents noticed
was the smell.
"Mulder, it smells like there's been a dead body in
here decaying for weeks!"
"Speaking of the body, where is it?" asked Harm.
"It's already been taken to the morgue," replied a
young man who identified himself as Lieutenant Jim
Burrows.
"Why'd they do that?" asked Mulder angrily. Lt.
Burrows seemed to understand his concern.
"Don't worry Agent," He paused.
"Mulder."
The Lieutenant continued , "We already swept the
area for trace evidence and none was found. 'We had
hoped removing the body would alleviate the smell."
"It didn't help much," muttered Harm.
Meanwhile, Mac was paying no attention to the
current conversation and was feeling sicker and
growing paler by the minute. Finally, she could take
it no longer.
"Excuse me," she said as she hurried out of the room.
"Is she okay?" Scully asked Harm.
"We don't investigate murder cases often," he
explained, "at least, not like this. I'll go check on
her."
So while Mulder and Scully questioned Lt. Burrows,
Harm went looking for Mac. He finally found her in
the officer's lounge.
"Mac?"
"I'm sorry I ran out like that Harm, I just couldn't take
that smell anymore."
"That's okay. It gave me an excuse to get out of there
too," Harm said with a grin.
"I just don't get how those agents can take violence
like that all the time."
"That's why we became lawyers instead of FBI
agents. Now let's go see if they're done yet."
"Okay. Harm?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks."
"Hey, that's what I'm here for."
XXXXXXXXXX
Harm and Mac met Mulder and Scully just as they
came out of the lab.
"Finished?" asked Mac.
"For now," replied Mulder.
"So what'd you find?" asked Harm.
"Nothing too much out of the ordinary, just blood and
tissue fibers. One thing did stand out though." Mulder
paused and looked at Scully as if to say 'can we tell
them?'
"I know that you may not trust is, but you are
obligated to share all your findings with us," said
Harm. Somewhat reluctantly, Mulder showed him the
small plastic evidence bag. "That's a Master Chief
insignia," said Harm.
"It was found near the body."
"You think its owner is the murderer," said Mac. It
was a statement, not a question.
"It's too early to say. We'll have it sent to D.C. for
analysis. Maybe they can find something that would
lead us to its owner," replied Mulder.
"And you'll be sure to share you findings with us,"
said Harm.
Scully held back the urge to be sarcastic and replied,
"Of course."
Before the situation escalated any further between
Mulder and Harm, Mac stepped in.
"It's getting late and we still heed to find a hotel and
somewhere to eat."
"She's right. Come on Mulder," added Scully.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder was about two seconds away from pulling out
his hair. First, Commander Rabb was really getting
on his nerves, and now because of some convention
that was in town, all the hotels were booked full.
"I'm sorry sir but we only have two rooms left," the
receptionist told Mulder.
"Fine, we'll take them," he said, grabbing the keys
from the counter and stalking off with a frustrated
sigh.
XXXXXXXXXX
"I'm afraid we have a bit of a problem," explained
Scully to Harm and Mac. "They only have two
rooms." Harm and Mac just looked at each other.
"I guess we'll have to take them then, seeing that
they're probably the only two rooms left in this entire
area," replied Mac.
"If you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to talk to
Mulder." Gently she touched him on the back,
causing him to jump in surprise.
"Sorry Scully, I didn't know it was you."
"Are you feeling better now?"
"Yeah. I'm just tired."
"I know, me too. Come on, we have rooms now."
"I'm not sharing a room with him."
Scully sighed. "I knew you were going to say that."
"Come on, we'll share a room and they'll share a
room." It was a long time before Scully replied.
"Fine," was all she said before heading back to Harm
and Mac.
XXXXXXXXXX
After saying goodnight to Scully, Harm and Mac
retired to their room. Strangely enough, Mulder was
nowhere to be seen.
"That was an interesting day," said Harm, removing
his jacket.
"We've had worse," said Mac heading towards the
bathroom to change. When she came out, she found
Harm already changed and sitting on one of the two
twin beds watching TV. Mac joined him, sitting on
the other bed. After a few minutes of silence Harm
spoke,
"So what'd you think of them?" There was only one
*them* he could be referring to, so Mac didn't bother
to play dumb.
"Agent Scully seems nice enough, but Agent Mulder
seem to be quite the character."
"I got the impression that he doesn't like the
military."
"I got their files from Chegwiddgen. Interesting
reading."
"Why's that?" asked Harm.
"Oh, it's not them. From what I can gather they're one
of the FBI's best investigative teams. They have one
of the highest conviction rates in the Bureau. It's the
kind of cases they investigate that makes them so
interesting."
"Oh?" Harm asked in a questioning tone.
"They're in an investigative unit called the X-files.
Basically what they do is investigate cases into the
paranormal. Unexplained phenomena."
"Shouldn't that be the U-files?"
"I don't know. Maybe you should ask your friend
Agent Mulder that question tomorrow?" teased Mac.
Harm rolled his eyes.
"Then why are they investigating the death of a
geneticist?"
"Beats me," replied Mac. "If anything, it's looking
like someone in the Navy committed the murder.
Especially now with that Master Chief pin and if
that's true, then it'll be our jurisdiction and we won't
have to deal with the FBI anymore."
"But then again," added Harm. "It could have been
planted there in hopes that it would discredit the
military."
"Which narrows our suspect list down to only a few
million Americans."
"Not looking very promising right now huh?" asked
Harm.
"Well, I think I heard Agent Scully mentioning to
Agent Mulder something about getting a bunch of
forensic scientists down here to pick up anything else
they might have missed."
"Sounds good. One thing's for sure though, we're not
going to be able to function tomorrow if we don't get
some sleep."
"You're right. Good night Harm."
"Night Marine."
XXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 2
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXX
Harm woke up to find Mac already showered and
waiting for him.
"Agent Mulder called. He'll meet us in the lobby in
15 minutes. That should give you enough time,
shouldn't it?"
"I hope so," replied Harm, jumping out of bed and
forgetting he was only in his boxers. Mac either
pretended not to notice or simply didn't. Although
Harm would never admit it, he hoped it was the
former.
15 minutes turned out to be sufficient, so Harm
joined Mac and they both met Mulder in the hotel
lobby.
"Scully already left to do the autopsy on Dr.
Heinlein," Mulder explained. "I'm going to help the
forensics team I have coming down from D.C. and I
thought that you could see what you can find out
about the Master Chief pin."
"Okay," Harm replied.
"Call me if you find anything," Mulder called out
before disappearing around the corner.
XXXXXXXXXX
To begin their search for the missing Master Chief,
Harm and Mac returned to the Navy base. They first
checked the sign-in logs and learned that five master
chiefs had been on the base that day. With this
information, they gained access to the base's security
cameras.
"We found him Mulder," Harm said into his cell
phone.
"Great. Does he have a name?" asked Mulder.
"Robert Munzel. He was the only master chief on
base that day that went anywhere near the scientific
wings. There's only one problem."
"What's that?"
"Master Chief Robert Munzel has been dead for 15
years."
"That doesn't surprise me. Do you have his picture?'
"Yeah, a grainy still from the security camera,"
replied Harm.
"That's good enough. Hold on for a moment and I'll
give you the number to fax it to the FBI. They'll scan
it though the database there and see what turns up."
"I'll do that."
"Wait, one last thing, could you run a copy of the
picture up to me? I'm just up at the crime scene."
"Sure," replied Harm, "I'll send it with Mac." So
while Harm faxed the picture to the FBI, Mac
delivered the picture to Mulder. He was waiting for
her when she got there.
"How are they doing in there?" Mac asked referring
to the forensic team.
"So far we haven't turned up anything new, but I
think once we get everything analyzed something
should turn up." Mac then showed Mulder the
picture. Mulder looked at it for a moment before
inhaling sharply.
"What?" asked Mac.
"Son of a bitch," Mulder swore softly, "I need to call
Scully."
"Scully," said Mulder when she answered her phone.
"You're not going to believe this." Mac couldn't hear
Scully's reply but she assumed it must have been
amusing because Mulder smiled before continuing
on, "It was Krycek." A long pause followed. "You're
kidding," came Mulder's reply. After another short
pause he said goodbye and hung up the phone.
"Well, I know why it smelled so bad now, " Mulder
told Mac.
"Why?"
"Scully found traces of a fast-acting, flesh-eating
bacteria, developed for use in biological warfare.
Knowing Krycek, this is exactly the type of thing he
would use. According to Scully, this bacteria is
common on the black market and extremely difficult
to trace."
"Sounds like a terrorist's heaven," replied Mac.
"Actually, it's not as great as it seems. It's expensive
and only effective in high doses at close range."
"If that's supposed to make me feel better, it's not
helping."
Mulder just smiled and shrugged. "Scully was
waiting for the results on a few of the final tests but
she said she'll be done soon."
"We can meet her at the morgue then; Harm and I are
finished here."
XXXXXXXXXX
Harm, Mac and Mulder met Scully at the morgue.
She met them at the entrance and quickly took
Mulder aside.
"What do you think is going on?" Harm asked Mac.
She just shrugged. A few minutes later they came
back to where the JAG officers stood.
"Is everything okay?" Mac asked the two agents.
"Everything's fine but I think this investigation is
pretty much over for you."
"What? That's it? What about catching the guy who
did this? You said you knew him." Harm hated to
leave investigations before they were finished.
Mulder simply said, "It's a civilian matter now and
falls under local PD and FBI jurisdiction. You've
served your purpose here."
Harm glowered at Mulder for a moment, then headed
back to his JAG-issued car, with Mac in tow. Mulder
stared after his retreating form before returning to his
car as well.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder was fighting the urge not to yell.
"It's just not right Scully. It's too simple. These men
are more careful than that!"
"But Mulder," Scully pleaded. "The men you keep
referring to are gone. They no longer hold the power
they once did. All their key players are dead;
mistakes can and do happen."
Mulder sighed. "Okay, tell me again what you told
me at the morgue and I'll try to see it your way."
"Well, I performed the autopsy and everything was
normal, if you ignore the flesh-eating bacteria that
killed him."
"That's a lot to ignore," Mulder teased.
Scully ignored him and continued. "However, when
his blood tests came back, I noticed that he had
unusually high amounts of iron in his blood. I
thought the lab had made a mistake so I sent the
samples though again but they came back with the
same results. I thought that maybe something he had
encountered in his research may have caused these
high iron levels, so I started to look into his lab notes.
But the amazing part was, at least according to the
few notes of his that I could find-" Mulder cut her
off.
"See Scully? They've already destroyed the
evidence." Scully paid no attention to Mulder's
comment.
"His notes said that he had found the gene for
behavior."
Mulder looked at her sharply, "You didn't tell me that
part."
"Because I didn't believe it at first. There is no gene
for behavior Mulder, but if there is, like Dr.
Heinlein's research is showing, it could have a very
profound effect on the scientific world. It would
settle the entire 'heredity vs. environment' debate. I'm
not sure if I'm correct though. I don't have enough
information to verify it yet."
"What about the high levels of iron in his blood?"
"I don't know. It doesn't make sense. Without more
information, I'm as clueless as you are."
"There's something we're missing," said Mulder,
drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, "Dr.
Heinlein was murdered because of his work, but I'm
still unclear as to what exactly about his work would
warrant his murder. We need to find out what else he
was working on."
"I think you're right," Scully replied.
XXXXXXXXXX
The JAG officers and the FBI agents arrived back at
the hotel at the same time. Scully and Mac greeted
each other, but Harm and Mulder refused to
acknowledge one another, choosing to return to their
rooms instead. At least, Harm and Mac did. Mulder
stopped in the hallway and drew Scully aside.
"Scully," he whispered. "We can't go back to the
room."
"Why not?" Scully asked, confused.
"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling."
Scully just looked at Mulder. "You're so paranoid
Mulder," she said, continuing on towards the room.
Mulder was about to stop her when a very loud
'BOOM' ricocheted off the walls. It was painfully
close and the quake that quickly followed it knocked
the agents to the ground. Debris rained down on top
of them, even after the building had ceased to shake.
Finally, Mulder and Scully were able to untangle
themselves from the rubble that littered the hallway
and regain their footing.
"What the hell was that?" Mulder asked.
Scully could hear the strain in his voice. "I don't want
to know. Let's get out of here," replied Scully.
Mulder didn't object. Many other frightened hotel
guests soon joined them. By the time they had gotten
clear of the hotel, the first emergency vehicles could
be heard in the distance.
"Scully, you're bleeding," said Mulder.
Scully gingerly reached up and touched the skin
above her left eye and felt the unmistakable
stickiness of blood. Covering the cut with her hand in
an attempt to stop the bleeding, Scully surveyed the
damaged hotel.
"Mulder, look." Mulder turned and saw what Scully
was pointing at. There were two huge chunks missing
from the hotel, exactly in the places where Mulder
and Scully and Harm and Mac had been staying. The
two agents stared in silence for a moment before
Mulder exclaimed, "I think they're dead."
XXXXXXXXXX
Harm had already inserted the key into the hotel
room's door when Mac remembered that she had left
all the investigation files in the car. They went back,
gathered all the files and were halfway up the hotel
stairs when the explosion hit. It knocked Mac on her
stomach, but sent Harm tumbling backwards down
the stairs until he landed with a loud thud on the
landing.
"Harm!" Mac called our as soon as she was able.
"Are you okay?"
"It's my ankle," he called back, "I think it's broken."
Mac raced down to where Harm lay. "Can you
stand?" We need to get out of here because I doubt
this building will be stable much longer." The
building chose that moment to creak and groan as if
to agree with Mac.
"I think so," replied Harm. Using Mac for support, he
carefully stood up. Part of the stairwell wall had
collapsed, blocking the exit back to the parking lot.
Harm and Mac had no choice but to continue into the
nearest hallway. Slowly, the two partners made their
way down the hall.
"Damn," said Mac, when they finally reached the end
of the hall. "The exit's blocked." To make matters
worse, the lights went out, leaving Harm and Mac in
pitch-blackness.
"Our luck just keeps getting better and better," said
Harm.
"We're on the ground floor, so I suppose we could
climb out a window," said Mac, thinking aloud.
Seeing that there was no alternative, Harm agreed
and after a minute of hobbling around in the darkness
they found a door. Mac twisted the doorknob, but
found it locked. Carefully, she placed Harm on the
ground then gathered herself up and slammed her
shoulder into the door. After ramming it a few more
times, the door finally gave in. She helped Harm to
his feet and over to the window. Fortunately, there
was no screen and Mac had no trouble climbing out.
Harm was a different story. Not only was he taller
than Mac, they now had his ankle to consider.
Finally, after a painful struggle, he managed to get
trough the window and onto the ground.
XXXXXXXXXX
Scully knew that he was right, but she didn't want to
believe that Harm and Mac were really dead.
"Scully, we should probably get out of here," he said,
gesturing to the crumbling building.
I think you're right," she replied.
Slowly, so as not to draw attention to themselves,
Mulder and Scully walked though the heightening
chaos of the emergency vehicles and personnel to the
back of the hotel where their car was parked. They
had yet to see anyone suspicious, but they both knew
from experience that these men could be anywhere
and under any disguise. Not two seconds after that
thought, Scully saw him, and he saw her.
"Mulder," she said, "Run!" Gunshots erupted from
behind them and once again masses of hotel guests
panicked. Fighting their way though the crowd,
Mulder and Scully desperately tried to allude their
follower. Finally, their bureau-issued car was in
sight. Too late, they noticed the shadowy figures by
their car, but having nowhere else to go, they
continued forward. When they got closer, Mulder and
Scully realized that the shadowy figures were none
other than Harm and Mac.
"No time to explain, just get in the car," said Mulder
jumping into the driver's seat. Harm and Mac knew
not to ask questions and obeyed. Peeling out of the
parking lot with their tires squealing, the FBI agents
and the JAG officers headed out onto the open road.
XXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 3
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXX
After many nervous glances behind them, everyone
assured themselves that they were no longer being
followed and relaxed.
"We thought you were dead, " Harm told Mulder and
Scully.
"And we thought the same about you," replied Scully.
"Are you okay?" Mac asked, referring to the gash on
Scully's forehead.
"It looks worse than it is," even so, she winced when
she touched it. "Are you both okay?"
"I think my ankle is broken, " said Harm. Scully gave
Mulder an exasperated look. This wasn't helping their
situation. Ignoring Harm for a moment, Scully tuned
and whispered to Mulder.
"Mulder what are we doing?" she asked.
"I think it might be best if we lay low for a couple of
days, or at least until we sort things out."
"Mulder, we can't do that right now. I'd be a different
story if it was just you and me but now we have
Harm and Mac with us, and if Harm's ankle is really
broken then we need to get him to a hospital."
"Scully, if we go into a hospital right now, it's a good
bet we won't come out alive. I know that these men
pursuing us are a dying breed, but they're till out
there. They believe that they have a reason to kill us
and they will do so if given the opportunity. All I'm
asking is for a day or two to figure this out."
Scully sighed then turned to the back seat where
Harm and Mac were sitting. "May I see your ankle,
Commander?" she asked.
"Sure, but call me Harm. I think we can do without
formalities right now." Scully smiled slightly.
Harm winced as he pulled his ankle into Scully's
view. She gently felt the swollen, purple flesh. Harm
grunted, but didn't say anything.
"It think it's just sprained," she told him. "We'll get
some ice and aspirin for you at the next gas station.
It'll be sore for a few days, but I think you'll live."
Harm grinned at Mac.
"I've had worse."
Scully was stalling the inevitable, but she couldn't
help it. How did you explain to someone how
dangerous the situation they were in was, when they
were clueless to the darker workings of the
government? There was no way to really explain it. It
was something you had to experience and that was
what Harm and Mac were about to do.
"We're going to have to lay low for a few days,"
Scully explained. "At least until we can get this
figured out."
"Lay low?" repeated Mac. "What about the
investigation?"
"I think it's in our best interests to forget about that
right now. Because of what we know, or at least what
certain people think we know, we're now prime
targets. They would rather kill us than have us expose
the truth."
"What exactly do we know, and who are these
*certain people*?" asked Harm.
Scully sighed heavily. "Agent Mulder and I believe
that there are men within our government, working
secretly to cover up all that they feel is a threat to
society. They're the kind of people who will shoot
now and explain later. They go to extreme lengths to
make certain that nothing is known that they feel
shouldn't be known," she said, carefully choosing her
words. Of course she was leaving out the parts about
conspiring with alien colonists and conspiring to
conceal the existence of extra-terrestrials, but they
didn't really need to hear those parts.
"Right now," she continued, "something about Dr.
Heinlein seems to warrant their attention. What it is,
we don't know but they obviously think we do."
XXXXXXXXXX
Once they determined that they had put enough
distance between them and their pursuers they found
a hotel and stopped for the time being. Again, they
only got two rooms to minimize the hassle, cost and
risk of exposure. They were all exhausted and
quickly settled in. In their haste to exit, their luggage
was forgotten leaving them with the inconvenience of
having no clothes other than the ones on their backs.
Scully made a trip to the nearby Seven Eleven for
some ice and Advil to give to Harm. They agreed to
make a quick stop at the local Wal-Mart the next
morning. After everything was taken care of, Scully
cleaned her own injury and was soon ready for bed.
XXXXXXXXXX
As tired as she was, Mac couldn't sleep. She tossed
and turned, but the thoughts in her head refused to let
her rest. Harm's deep breathing in the bed beside her
told Mac was asleep. With a frustrated sigh, Mac
tossed over once more and groped in the darkness for
the TV remote. Quickly finding it, she flipped the TV
on. She was curious to know if any news about the
murder had gotten to the local stations. After
watching for a few minutes she concluded that they
weren't going to show any and was just about to turn
it off when the announcement came.
"In national news today, " the anchor announced.
"We've learned that one of the world's top geneticists,
Dr. Robert Heinlein was brutally murdered yesterday.
His body was found at the West Lake Naval base in
Virginia. Although most of his research is under tight
wraps, we do know that Dr. Heinlein was working on
decoding the human genome. Details are sketchy at
this hours but we understand that the prime suspects
in this case, two JAG officers and two FBI agents are
on the run and reportedly extremely dangerous." Mac
was speechless and her mind refused to register what
she had just heard. Finally, she found her voice.
"Harm!" she said, getting out of bed to shake him
awake.
"Mac?" he asked, his voice full of sleep, "What is it?"
"Look," she said, pointing to the TV screen. Harm
looked just in time to see his picture on the TV
underneath the words *murder suspect*.
"What the hell," he started to say.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder sighed and looked at the clock for what
seemed like the millionth time that night. Sometimes
he really hated being an insomniac. Scully had had
no trouble going to sleep, as was evident in her deep
and even breathing. 'When all else fails' he though
picking up the TV remote and switching it on.
"In nation news today," the news anchor was saying.
"We've learned that one of the world's top geneticists,
Dr. Robert Heinlein, was brutally murdered
yesterday," Scully would want to see this thought
Mulder, getting out of bed to wake her up.
"What Mulder?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"The murder's on the news," Mulder replied nodding
towards the screen.
"Prime suspects," the anchor continued. "Two JAG
officers and two FBI agents are on the run and
reportedly extremely dangerous." Mulder and
Scully's eyes met. Things had just gotten a lot more
complicated.
Mulder went to speak, but Scully quickly shushed
him. Silently, she pointed to the door. The light from
the hallway was streaming though the crack at the
bottom of the door and spilling into the room. Within
the light was the silhouette of a man. Carefully, the
two agents found their guns and moved stealthily
towards the door. Following age-old habit, they
positioned themselves one on each side of the door.
"Who is it?" Scully called out.
"Harm and Mac," replied Harm's voice.
Harm waited while one of the agents undid the latch
and slowly opened the door. He noticed they both
looked very tense and had their guns drawn.
"You're not getting trigger happy on us are you?"
joked Harm.
"We thought you might be someone else," replied
Scully.
"Have you seen the newscast?" asked Mac somberly.
"Yes," replied Mulder, motioning for the officers to
come in.
"Well this was totally unexpected," said Mac, after
Mulder shut the door behind them.
"Welcome to how the real world works," said
Mulder. "By making us murder suspects, we'll be
easier to track."
"So what do we do now?" asked Harm.
"We make a plan and fast."
XXXXXXXXX
The FBI agents and the JAG officers were on the
road once again. After the newscast, none of them
were ready to go back to bed, so instead they quickly
came up with their "cover our sixes" plan as Harm
called it. The plan was fairly simple, find a large city
and hide. Mulder had agreed to call the Lone
Gunmen to wire him money upon reaching Dallas,
which was their large city of choice. The car was
silent; each occupant was keeping their thoughts to
themselves. Not that there was that much to talk
about anyway.
"Harm?" Mac finally said.
"Hmmm?" Somewhere down the road, Mulder had
agreed to switch the driving duties over to Mac.
Harm was still injured and unable to do much more
than slowly walk around. Now the two FBI agents
were fast asleep in the back.
"We can't hide forever."
"I know," he said sighing, "I know."
XXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 4
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXX
Officer Ryan Stafford was new to the Bonville
Missouri Police Department. He watched his partner,
Jeff, talking with the gas station attendant as he filled
up their police cruiser. When it was full, Ryan hung
up the nozzle and went in to pay. They weren't
officially on duty for another 20 minutes so Ryan let
Jeff talk. He watched as another car pulled up and an
attractive woman got out to fill the tank. Something
about the woman looked familiar. It wasn't until the
man got out as well that it hit him, these were two of
the four fugitives wanted for the murder of some
scientist. His heart started beating faster. He could
just imagine what the guys back at HQ would say if
he was the one who brought in these fugitives, and
*federal* fugitives at that. He glanced back one more
time to make sure he wasn't seeing things and noticed
that there were two more people still in the car. The
red-haired one he recognized as the FBI agent and he
assumed the man in the front was the JAG officer.
"Jeff!" Ryan yelled.
"What?" Jeff answered, sounding angry that his
partner had interrupted his conversation.
"Aren't those four out there the same ones the chief
just told us about this morning?"
Jeff looked and saw that his partner was indeed
correct. This sentence should start the next paragraph.
"Shit you're right!" he exclaimed. "Get on your radio
and call it into headquarters right now! Then get your
ass out there and help me."
"Yes sir!" Ryan immediately got on his radio and
watched as his partner starting walking toward the
four suspects.
"Hi there!" Jeff called out as soon as he was within
range. " How you folks doin'?"
"What can we do you for you officer?" asked Mulder.
"Well sir, if I could see your identification I'd really
appreciate it. Too late, Jeff saw the women behind
him and felt the cold metal of a gun barrel on his
neck.
"And I'd really appreciate it if you would stand still,"
said Mac as she took the officer handcuffs from his
belt and cuffed his hand behind his back. After
making sure that everything was in control, Mulder
got in and started the car.
"Let's go, he said to Mac, but his thoughts turned
elsewhere when he heard someone yell.
"Jeff!" Ryan shouted, tearing out of the door and
running to where everyone stood. He grabbed for his
gun and fired two shots, but panic had gripped him
and the shots whizzed by harmlessly. Never the less,
it was enough to set Mac moving. She jumped into
the back seat with Scully and didn't even get a chance
to fully close her door before Mulder peeled out of
the gas station. The blare of sirens caused everyone
in the car to turn around.
"Damn!" said Mulder as he pressed the car
accelerator closer to the floor. "They already called
for backup."
The police cars were gaining on them.
"Can't you go any faster?" asked Harm looking over
his shoulder at the approaching police cars.
"It's an old car. Ninety is about the limit," replied
Mulder, referring to the '89 Taurus they had stolen
after ditching their bureau-issued car.
Mac, who had been watching both behind and ahead
of them noticed a small dirt road that meandered off
the to right and into the forest that was quickly
closing in on the road. "There!" she said, pointing to
it. "Go there!"
Mulder slammed on the brakes and turned sharply
right. Their tires screeched but they made it in. The
police cars behind them weren't so lucky, buying
them some time. The car continued to speed down
the road that was getting continually worse, bouncing
the car passengers around. Just when it seemed like it
couldn't get any worse, it did. "Shit, it's a dead end,"
remarked Mulder as the car rolled to a stop.
"Any ideas?" asked Harm. All too soon they heard
the sirens approaching, getting louder as they got
closer.
"The forest is pretty thick here. We might have a
chance to lose them, if we split up," said Scully.
"Yeah, but then what?" Mulder asked her.
"I saw a sign for a town called Eden about eight miles
east of here."
"Okay, then we'll rendezvous there, but let's go!" said
Harm. So the four adults scattered and ran into the
forest. They all heard the police cruisers screech to a
halt and shouts erupt from the officers.
Mulder pressed on thought the forest, glad that he
had taken up running. If he hadn't been in this current
situation, he would have probably found the forest
very scenic, but instead he ran on, careful to avoid
the low hanging tree branches.
Scully thanked her stars that she had changed out of
her dress shoes and outfit when she did. While she
didn't have Mulder's ambitions for running, she could
hold her on and pressed on.
So Mac lied a little when she had told Harm that she
ran a 'usual fifteen miles a day', but who really cared
anyway? That's when she remembered Harm's ankle.
How could she have forgotten? She stopped dead in
her tracks, then ran in the direction that she thought
she'd last seen him go.
Harm grimaced and bit his tongue to keep from
yelling every time his foot hit the ground. Scully had
wrapped it with an Ace bandage and had given him
some kind of drug that had made it feel better for the
time being. Of course, that had been when he wasn't
running though some forest, headed to who-knows-
where. It could've been worse though, he thought, it
could have been broken. Then a sharp pain shot up
from his ankle and sent him tumbling. Unable to help
himself, he cried out.
Scully heard a shout somewhere off to her left. She
stopped and cautiously made her way over to where it
had come from.
"Hello?" she asked when she thought she was close
enough.
"Mac, is that you?" asked the voice.
"Harm? This is Scully. Are you okay?"
"It's my ankle again." Ooops, thought Scully. How
could they have forgotten Harm's ankle? Of course he
couldn't run on a sprained ankle. Somehow, Scully
doubted that even Harm had remembered his ankle
when they had all been so caught up in the moment
trying of to escape. Scully found him sitting in a
small ravine. Carefully, she bent down and touched
his ankle. Harm winced but didn't say anything.
"I still don't think it's broken," Scully told him," Do
you think you can stand on it if I help you?"
"I think I have to," replied Harm, referring to the
threat of police officers in close pursuit. Carefully,
and with Scully's help, he stood up. Then, using her
for support, they slowly walked on into the forest.
"I never really realized how much taller than Mulder
you are," Scully told Harm after they had walked a
few minutes in silence. At 6'4 , Harm was a good
four inches taller than Mulder.
"And I never realized how much shorter than Mac
you are," he said back. Mac was 5'9", making her
nearly six inches taller than Scully.
"Don't underestimate me because of my size," Scully
told him.
Harm laughed for the first time he could remember
since this whole thing had started. "I won't," he said
giving her one of his smiles. Much to his surprise,
she smiled back.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mac tried to suppress the growing rise of dread
within her. She stopped and held her breath to see if
she could hear anything. The forest was eerily silent;
not even the birds were singing. This allowed her to
hear the sharp snap of a twig, amplified from the
silence of the woods. Diving for cover behind a tree,
she cautiously peeked out to see who was coming.
The person had their back to her and almost looked
like Harm. Mac was just about to call out to him
when the person turned around.
"Mulder?" she said coming out from behind the tress.
Mulder visibly jumped before recognizing her.
"Mac, you scared me."
"Sorry, have you seen Harm?"
"No."
"We've got to find him." Mulder was about to ask
why when he remembered.
"Damn, his ankle! How could we have forgotten?"
"I don't know, but I've got to go find him."
Mac seemed to be on the verge of panic and Mulder
could sympathize with her. He could only imagine
what he'd be like right now if Scully was hurt instead
of Harm. He had to put this next point across
carefully. "I'm sure Scully's helping him, Mac. I
thought I saw her heading off in the same direction
he was. I know you want to go find him, but we'll just
have to go to Eden and wait for them there."
"But was can't just leave him! What if he's caught?"
Mac asked, walking away from where Mulder stood.
"Mac, listen to me," he said as he jogged to catch up
with her. After making her turn around to face him he
continued on," I know you don't want to hear this
right now, but you and I both know it's the truth.
Right now, we're all being framed for a murder that
we didn't commit and if you go back to find Harm
now you might both be caught. Where would that get
you? If you allow yourself to be caught now, you're
facing a life in prison for a crime that you didn't
commit. However, if you'll trust in Harm that he'll get
himself to Eden safely, then we'll have a chance to
find out the truth."
Mac knew that Mulder was right but every bone in
her body told her not to leave Harm behind. "Okay,
let's go," she said softly.
"Hey, look at the bright side," Mulder said in an
attempt to lighten the mood. " Things have to get
better soon because I don't think they could get any
worse."
Mac smiled and him, not because it was funny but at
how sadly true it was.
XXXXXXXXXX
When they were talking about eight miles earlier, it
hadn't seemed that far but actually walking eight
miles through unfamiliar territory was a lot more
difficult. Finally, at 8:42 according to Mac's inner
clock, she and Mulder arrived at Eden. It was a small
town but fortunately did harbor a small inn. They
check checked in as Mr. and Mrs. George Hale.
Mulder knew that Scully would recognize his alias.
As worried as she was about Harm, Mac still allowed
herself to enjoy a hot shower and clean hair. Mulder
was next. When he came out he found Mac laying
down staring at the ceiling.
"This is insane," said Mac when she heard Mulder
enter the room, "What did you ever do to get
involved in this?"
"It's a long story," he replied.
"I'm listening."
"When I was twelve years old, my sister was
abducted by aliens." Mac raised her eyebrows in a
gesture not unlike Scully at this statement, but
Mulder continued on. "That was what I thought for
many years anyway. Not too long ago, I learned that
it wasn't aliens that abducted my sister, but some of
my dads colleagues. Along the way, I learned that
there were men secretly working with the
government to cover up the existence of
extraterrestrial life. I opened up the X-files and
dedicated my life to finding the truth."
"And have you found it yet?" Mac asked him.
"To a certain extent, yes," he replied.
"And what do you make of things?" Mac asked,
referring to their current situation.
"All I know is that Dr. Heinlein discovered that
behavior was genetic and not caused by a person's
environment, but I don't know what he was going to
do with it."
"I know someone who might."
"Who?"
"Clayton Webb."
"Who's that?" Mulder asked.
"A friend of Harm's that just happens to work for the
CIA."
"And how would we contact this person without
alerting someone to our current position?" asked
Mulder.
"I don't know really, but Harm would."
"Then lets hope he makes it."
"He will," Mac replied suddenly full of hope. "I know
Harm and he will."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Oooof," exclaimed Harm as Scully helped him sit,
then took a seat next to him on the forest floor.
"This isn't working," he told her, but Scully remained
silent. "They're probably already securing a road
block around the entire radius of the town. Even if we
do catch up with Mac and Mulder, there's no
guaranteeing that we'll be able to get back out again."
"I know what you're suggesting Harm and I'm not
going to leave you here. Come on," helping Harm up,
they continued on their way.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mac was pacing around the room and Mulder soon
joined her. Although neither would admit it, they
both feared that Harm and Scully had been caught.
Finally Mac spoke up. "We have to do something
because if we wait much longer, we'll be caught too.
This town isn't that big."
"You think they've been caught too?" Mulder asked,
finally voicing their fears.
"It's been more than two hours since we got here and
even with Harm's ankle they should have been here
by now." Mulder just sighed.
"Then it's up to us to resolve this. Let's go find your
friend Clayton Webb."
So they found and hot-wired yet another car and set
off for DC. They were careful to avoid the main
roads, instead sticking to the back ways. Just as they
exited the city limits, Mac noticed something in the
trees off to her left.
"Mulder, stop the car."
"What is it?" Mulder asked, letting the car roll to a
stop.
"I thought I saw something," Mac said getting out of
the car. Mulder followed suit. "There, listen!" she
told him.
"I don't hear—" Whatever Mulder was going to say
was cut off by a familiar voice.
"Mac? Is that you?"
"Harm!" exclaimed Mac when a very tired looking
Scully and Harm emerged from the forest's brush.
Quickly jogging over to him, Mac put both her arms
around him and hugged him tightly. Harm let go of
Scully and hugged her back. "I was worried about
you," Mac told Harm.
"Well here I am, almost as good as new."
"I'm so sorry I forgot about your ankle Harm. I never
would have left you had I remembered."
"No need for apologies Mac, I know you didn't mean
to."
Mulder walked over to where Scully stood. "I'd given
up on you."
"You know me better than that Mulder," she said.
"Now let's get out of here." Mulder smiled; never
underestimate a Scully. So Mulder helped Mac
navigate Harm to the back seat of their stolen car.
Once everyone was situated, they continued on their
journey to Washington DC.
XXXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 5
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXXX
"Harm, you know Webb's number don't you?" Mac
asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"Because he would know what's going on here. I
mean this murder. He would know why Dr.
Heinlein's discoveries are so important wouldn't he?"
"I suppose so, but if he did they'd have taps on all his
phones. There's no way we could call him without
getting caught. Our best bet it to go meet him
directly."
"My thoughts exactly," replied Mulder from the
driver's seat.
XXXXXXXXXX
"There he is," said Harm, handing the binoculars to
Mac. They had arrived in DC the day before and had
immediately set up surveillance on Webb, but DC
was a big city and finding someone when you
yourself were trying to stay hidden, was not the
easiest thing to do.
"Okay, here I go. Wish me luck," Harm said as he got
out of the car. As casually as he could, he sauntered
up to the CIA agent. "Webb, nice to see you again,"
he said, smiling at Clayton's obvious surprise.
Clayton Webb spun around to face the familiar
figure. "Jesus Harm," Webb whispered fiercely. " Do
you have any idea how many people are looking for
you right now? Jesus," he said again, running a hand
through his hair.
"Hence the urgency."
"Is Mac with you?"
"Yes, along with the two FBI agents," Harm said
nodding at the car over Webb's shoulder.
"We shouldn't be seen together like this."
"Then where should we meet? I mean it Webb, this is
important."
"Two*** o'clock at the Barns ***Barnes*** and
Noble on the corner of Bush and Wellington."
"I'll be there." They shook hands, just in case anyone
really was watching them, then parted. Fighting to
urge to jog, Harm calmly walked back to the car.
Thanks to some kind of pain medications Scully had
gotten at a pharmacy on their drive to DC, Harm's
ankle was doing much better. He got into the car and
Mulder drove off.
"So?" Mac asked.
"The Barnes and Noble at the corner of Bush and
Wellington at two o'clock."
"That gives us forty-five minutes to get there."
"Are you sure he'll show?" Mulder asked Harm.
"He will. Webb may be CIA but he keeps to his
word."
XXXXXXXXXX
Forty-five minutes later Mulder, Scully, Harm and
Mac all had themselves strategically positioned
throughout the bookstore. It was really Harm who
was meeting Webb, but the others were there for
support and backup, just in case something went
wrong. Harm was closest to the doors so he saw
Clayton Webb walk in. He made sure that he was
seen before picking up a book and pretending to read
the back. Webb walked over to where Harm stood
and pretended to browse.
"I think I was followed," Webb whispered without
facing Harm, "so I'll make this quick. There's a
warehouse about twelve miles from here," He
carefully slipped Harm a small piece of paper. "I can't
tell you what's in it, but I can guarantee it will answer
your questions. I can also assure you that it's heavily
guarded. How you get in is your problem."
Harm nodded his head in understanding "Thanks
Webb," he said. "I owe you one."
"Harm, right now you owe me so much I've
practically secured a lifetime of favors from you."
Harm grinned. "I hope this works out because if it
doesn't, I won't be around to carry out all those
favors."
Webb looked grim, "Good luck and take care Harm."
He walked away and out the door.
Harm signaled to the others that it was time to leave
by walking out the door and a couple of minutes
later, met them all at their car that was parked a few
blocks away. "We've got it," Harm told them holding
up the piece of paper that Webb had given him. "He
said the answer we're looking for will be in this
warehouse, but it's gonna take some planning because
he also said it was heavily guarded."
Mac groaned. "What I wouldn't give to for this to be
over."
"I know Mac," Harm said squeezing her shoulder,
"but hopefully it will be soon."
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder checked his gun for what seemed like the
thousandth time that night, before tucking it in the
waistband of his pants.
"You okay Mulder?" Scully asked, laying a hand on
his arm.
"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just ready to get this over with,"
he replied. She and Mulder, along with Harm and
Mac, had been sitting in their darkened car parked
close to the warehouse, waiting for the right time to
put their plan into action. Mac and Harm were going
to distract the guards patrolling the outside of the
warehouse, while Mulder and Scully slipped inside.
"Are you guys ready?" Mac asked them, sounding
very tense.
Scully exhaled a breath she didn't know she'd been
holding. "Yes, let's go." The four of them got out of
the car and prepared themselves for action.
"Good luck you two," Harm said to Mulder and
Scully. Just in case we don't make it out of this, I
want you to know that it's been a pleasure working
with you."
"Thanks, but hold your good-byes," Mulder told him.
"We'll make it out of here. I promise."
"Then let's go. I'll cover your six."
XXXXXXXXXX
Adiskide Part 6
By Marissa
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder and Scully moved as close to the warehouse
as they could, without risking being seen, then waited
for Harm and Mac to do their jobs.
Meanwhile, Harm and Mac ran towards their starting
position, keeping low and hiding behind the
numerous piles of debris that littered the area. They
finally moved themselves behind two huge shipping
crates. While it wasn't the greatest of cover, it
allowed for an easy escape in almost any direction.
Harm took careful aim on the closest guard, inhaled
deeply and shot him in the leg. The gunshot, and the
scream that followed from the wounded guard,
ricocheted off the silent warehouses and sent the
remaining guards running. Harm and Mac noticed the
shadowy figures of Mulder and Scully running inside
the warehouse just as they heard the click of the
safety being removed from a gun behind them. Both
spun around and found themselves face to face with
Alex Krycek.
"I'm sorry," he told them. Mac thought he sounded
like he really was genuinely sorry. "It wasn't
supposed to be this way," he continued. Keeping his
gun and eyes trained on the two officers, he yelled to
the guards that surrounded their fallen comrade and
before Harm and Mac could even think to escape,
they were trapped.
"Drop your weapons," one of the guards said. Mac
and Harm obeyed and their guns were quickly picked
up. Two guards stepped forward and forced them to
their knees. Mac heard, rather than felt the butt the
guards rifle make contact with her head and a second
later was out cold.
XXXXXXXXXX
Unaware of the predicament they had left their
companions in, Mulder and Scully entered the
warehouse. Mulder hadn't been sure what to expect
but what he saw definitely surprised him.
"Files," he said.
"Lot and lots of files," replied Scully. Indeed there
were files. For as far as either agent could see there
were file cabinets, stacked in rows from floor to
ceiling. Scully walked over to one and was surprised
to find it unlocked. She pulled out a file. Written in
large, bold letters on the front was ROSWELL, NM.
Inside were memos. Scully read one, "Frank," it said,
"the ship has been successfully moved to its holding
place and the cover story is in place. Jim."
"Amazing," Mulder said as he reached for another.
Scully stopped him, "Mulder, we don't have much
time." She replaced the file and walked on. Mulder
sighed but followed. After realizing that the files
were in alphabetical order, they set out for the 'H'
section. "Mulder, over here." Scully finally said. She
pulled open the drawer and pointed to the file that
read, HEINLEIN, DR. ROBERT A. Mulder's fingers
had no sooner closed around it, when he felt the hard
metal of a gun barrel pressed against the back of his
neck.
"Move and you're dead." He was shoved roughly to
the ground and handcuffs were placed around his
wrists. His attacker forced him to his feet and
marched him the down the aisle. Although he
couldn't see her, Mulder could hear Scully following
him. They were taken out of the warehouse and
shoved into a car with darkly tinted windows. The
engine of the car rumbled to life and moved away
from the building.
"So much for our plan," was all Scully said.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mac awoke with a splitting headache. She opened her
eyes, but the bright fluorescent light forced her to
quickly close them again. Suddenly, her memory
returned and Mac sat bolt upright. Light exploded in
her head and it took every ounce of her being not to
throw up. Several deep breaths later, the pain had
subsided enough to allow Mac to open her eyes once
again and look at her surroundings. What she saw
made her heart skip a beat, for lying on a cot in the
corner of the room was a very bloody and very still
Harmon Rabb. Unable to speak, she raced over and
took his wrist in her shaking hard, in an attempt to
find a pulse. Unable to contain herself when she
could find one, she let out a sob. Mac willed herself
to regain her composure, then leaned over Harm's
body and placed her ear close to his mouth, hoping to
hear him breath.
"What are you doing Marine?" Harm's deep voice
said quietly in her ear.
"Harm!" yelled Mac, throwing her arms around his
neck.
"Ouch," winced Harm. "Contain your excitement
Mac, I'm an injured man."
"I'm sorry," Mac replied withdrawing her arms. "I
thought you were –"
"Dead?" Harm finished for her. "Well if this
headache is any indication, I can assure you I'm still
alive."
"Here, let me see." Carefully, Harm sat up and turned
around so that his back was facing Mac. Mac cringed
at his blood-encrusted hair. "There's a lot of blood,"
she told him.
"Head wounds always bleed a lot," he reassured her.
Harm was surprised at the calm town of his answer. 'I
must still be in shock', he thought.
"Harm, look at me." Harm slowly turned around
again and faced Mac. She stared into his blue eyes.
Unsure of what exactly it was she was doing, Harm
stared right back into her deep brown eyes. A
moment of silence passed between them. "I think you
have a concussion," Mac finally said. "Are you
dizzy?"
"Kind of," came Harm's reply, without cutting their
eye contact. It was Mac who finally broke the
connection. "Come here and lay down," she told
him. Carefully, Harm did so, laying his head in her
lap. Once he was comfortably settled, Mac brushed a
few stray strands of hair off his forehead. "How did
we ever get into this mess?" she asked him.
"I don't know," he replied as he reached up and took
her hand in his, "but I sure hope we can get out of it."
"We'll get out of it," Mac finally replied, looking at
their entwined hands. One thing was for sure,
wherever they were going, they were going there
together.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mulder and Scully watched as the heavy steel door
locked them in their tiny, featureless room. Scully
sighed and sat down on the bare floor. Unsure of
what to do, Mulder sat down next to her.
"What do you think will happen to us?" she asked,
staring straight ahead.
"Do you want me to be honest or hopeful?"
"Honest," she said, finally looking at him and taking
his hand in hers.
"I doubt we'll ever get a trial. They'll either kill us or
keep us in a place like this until we die. Of course,
they'll fake our deaths and all that will remain will be
memories."
Scully squeezed his hand tighter. "I changed my
mind, tell me the hopeful."
"We can hope that Harm and Mac escaped and are
going to find out the truth and get us out of here."
"I can't believe I'm trusting two military officers with
my life, especially after meeting you." Mulder
smiled.
"Me neither, but no matter what happened to us,"
Mulder said putting his arm around her, "I promise
I'll always be here for you," he finished, drawing her
into a hug. Scully wrapped her arms around Mulder's
middle and hugged back.
"You don't need to tell me that Mulder and you know
I'd do the same for you." They remained sitting in
that position until Scully's deep and even breathing
told Mulder that she was asleep. He watched her face,
so peaceful in sleep and wondered what the future
would bring.
XXXXXXXXXX
Mac didn't even realize she'd been sleeping until a
loud banging on the door woke her up.
"Harm," she said, gently shaking him awake. Slowly,
he sat up, groaning as he did so. "Are you okay?" she
asked him.
"Yeah, it's nothing I can't deal with." Mac muttered
something about men that Harm didn't quite catch.
Any further comment however, was stopped when
both the officers heard the door being unlocked.
After it opened, a familiar figure walked in.
"Admiral," said Mac, her voice full of surprise as she
jumped to attention.
The Admiral, noticing that Harm was having a hard
time getting to his feet quickly gave an 'at ease' order.
"Are you going to live Rabb?" the Admiral asked.
"I hope so sir," Harm replied with a grin. "It's good to
see you again."
"You too Commander, Colonel. Do I even want to
know how you got yourselves here?"
"Probably not sir," replied Mac.
"Admiral, how is it that you're here?" asked Harm.
"I'm here to release you," he replied.
"But how?" asked Mac.
"You mean the murder charges?" Mac nodded.
"They've been dropped and the government
apologizes for any inconvenience."
"Apologizes?" asked Harm in a somewhat disgusted
voice. "Was the real perpetrator caught?"
"Not exactly, replied the admiral, "The Rear Admiral
was arrested yesterday after an investigation revealed
that he was on the payroll and was conspiring with
the biotech company, BioGenerations."
"The same one that employed Dr. Heinlein," said
Mac.
"Correct. The Rear Admiral later admitted to hiring
someone to kill Dr. Heinlein after he threatened to go
public with his research."
"But I still don't understand Admiral, what about Dr.
Heinlein's research is so important?" asked Harm.
"Apparently, Dr. Heinlein was researching whether
behavior was caused by genetics or a person's
environment. When the investigators tried to find out
what this research was going to be used for, they
found that all of his records had been destroyed.
However, the Rear Admiral refuses to take
responsibility for it."
"Well we're right back to where we started," said
Harm. "Now we know that the military really is at
fault, which was what we set out to disprove in the
first place."
"Don't get too upset Commander, no one's blaming
you. I hope to see you both back at work on Monday.
Things have been pretty hectic back at JAG with you
missing."
"Well it's nice to know we're appreciated Admiral,"
said Mac. The admiral nodded, then left the two JAG
officers alone.
"Well this was a big waste of time," Harm said
bitterly after the admiral left.
"Don't let it get to you Harm," soothed Mac.
"Besides, I wouldn't call it a total waste of time," she
said taking his hand in hers.
Harm looked at her and smiled. "I guess not," he
replied. "Now let's get out of here."
They were nearly to the exit when they bumped into
Mulder and Scully.
"I take it you've heard." Mulder nodded.
"And I take it from your reaction that you're not very
surprised," said Harm.
"We get cases that end like this all the time. After a
while you get used to it," Mulder replied.
"Well, even though this case didn't turn out like I
expected, it was a pleasure working with you," said
Harm.
"Likewise," replied Mulder, "Just let me know if you
ever need a paranormal expert." Harm laughed. They
all shook hands and exchanged smiles. Harm and
Mac said their good-byes and exited. Mulder watched
their retreating forms then turned to Scully. "They did
it again, Scully, they got away with it."
"Not entirely. They admitted to their wrongdoing. If
anything, it's a step in the right direction. Besides
Mulder," she said giving his arm a reassuring
squeeze, "they may have won the battle, but there's
still a war to win."
THE END
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