Chapter 6
Dana Scully pulled into the Wayside Motel in Follansbee, WV on Monday evening. Rain lightly misted the windshield of her Ford Aspire. She pulled her suitcase and computer out of the way back, and made her way to the office.
"Yes, I'd like a room for the night." She shifted from one foot to the other.
The spectacled clerk looked at her. "Yer not from aroun' here, are ya?" he asked.
"No, I'm from Maryland. Taking a trip to clear my head and rejuvenate myself."
"I see."
Scully was a little unnerved, but tossed it away. "How much?" she asked as she pulled out her wallet.
The clerk typed into the computer. "That'll be $37.50. You wanna pay cash or credit?"
Scully knew Mulder was following her and that his only way of finding her was through her credit card receipts. However, she also knew that things were going to get hairy and that there were multiple players involved. "I'll pay cash."
Xxx
Four disillusioned souls sat at a corner booth in the dimly lit Wayfarer's Bar & Grill later that evening, nursing their drinks and weighing heavily into their thoughts. Mulder, wondering if Scully was O.K. and as to where she could be going, and the boys trying to figure a way to broach the subject they knew needed airing.
A lazy haze hung in the air like a fog and smelled of cheap cigarettes, piss and vomit.
"Nice place you picked here, Langly," Frohike intoned. "I think I'm gonna be sick."
"I didn't hear you offer up any suggestions," Langly snapped back. "At least they have A-1…"
Mulder broke in. "Guys! What the hell is going on?"
"Mulder, we know where Scully is going," Byers said flatly. "We've always known." He could see Mulder's ire raising its ugly head. "But, before you decide to kill us, we had no choice. It's not something we wanted to do, and even tried to get out of it. Frohike's van was bombed; Langly's cat skinned alive. I almost got mowed down crossing the street."
"These fucks mean business." That came from Frohike's general direction.
Mulder stared. "What the hell are you saying? You're in on it?"
The Three Musketeers looked at each other and back at their friend. "Yes," they chorused.
"Well, isn't that some shit," Mulder spat. "I thought I could trust you guys. Guess I was wrong."
"You can trust us," Byers said. "That's why we're telling you now. Before something dire happens."
Mulder stroked his chin. "Someone just please tell me the truth."
Frohike pulled a manila envelope from his jacket. "Agent Scully's pregnant." He looked at Mulder. "She didn't want you to know."
Mulder ripped the envelope to gain access to its contents. He studied the papers, and blankly looked into space as they fell to the table. "It's mine, isn't it?"
The boys looked at each other again, not really sure how much they should tell him, and then decided to just go all in.
Byers began. "Agent Scully was hired by the syndicate to spy on you, discredit you, to ruin you. She never intended for it to go any further than that."
Mulder just sat listening, maybe slightly hearing, but not really tuned in.
"They came to her right out of the Academy. Told her they would make it worth her while. She kept very detailed notes on your investigations."
"Yeah, I saw those in her laptop," Mulder said. "They weren't too hard to find."
Langly spoke next. "They were meant for you to find. Those are her cover notes. The detailed ones you never saw. Very damning information. The syndicate has all the information they need to bury you to China and back."
Mulder began to get interested. "But the Syndicate is dead, gone, finished."
"No they're not," Frohike chimed in. "It was and has been their sole purpose to eliminate you from the game from day one. Your father, Scully's first abduction; which was faked by the way. Alvin Kurtzweil was part of it, too. He had to get you to believe the whole thing. I guess we're not saints in that department, either."
A large bosomed waitress walked over to their table with fresh drinks. Conversation immediately quieted down. No need for this to get out in public.
"Just….I….why?" Mulder asked as if he were going to cry.
"You were getting too close to the truth," Byers added. "Your sister was dead the next day after her abduction. Your father saw to that. They killed him when he threatened to go public. I believe the double agent Krycek did that. Agent Scully had already been implanted in the office, had her feelers out. Got all she needed."
"No, if that were true she would have been gone long ago," Mulder said flatly. "She would have no reason to stay. Why rub salt in the wound?"
Frohike cleared his throat and took a sip of his drink. "I think she fell in love with you. And what she's doing is her way of redeeming herself."
Mulder stared at the men seated across from him. "Redeeming herself of what?"
"What she had done, what had been done to you," Langly said. "There is some information that has come to light to us recently through deep Syndicate channels that she isn't even aware of. The child she's carrying might not be yours. She thinks it is. We are not 100 percent on that. There is an obscure place in Canton, Ohio called the Borderland Institute. She's going there to…"
Mulder's face went ashen. "To kill it," he mumbled.
The other men sat silently for a moment. "We're sorry, Mulder," Frohike said. "We know you love her and always have. That's why we kid you about it all the time. But this is serious. The Syndicate has no idea that she's doing this. They believe her to be on her way to Indiana, but they have no idea why. We've been giving them false information for weeks. Damn the consequences."
And at that moment, a very buxom waitress picks up a cell phone and presses #1
Xxx
The Leer Jet screamed across the sky on its way from California. A man with piercing blue eyes and black hair was seated comfortably in a high-backed swivel chair sipping on a mimosa when a steward handed him a phone on a silver serving tray.
"This is he," he spoke into the phone. "That is interesting…are they still there….all four of them…have they made any phone calls….no, that's not necessary…thank you."
The steward returned to his cubical. The blue-eyed man pulled another phone from his inside jacket pocket. He tapped a few numbers. After a moment, coughing could be heard on the other end.
"We have a problem…."