Left Behind
Chapter 9

For three days Monica and John had sat in their FBI sedan watching the apartment building of Alexis Chamberlain. They had traced the mysterious phone call to Mrs. Watkins about her son's abduction by aliens to this residence. So far they had seen nothing of Ms. Chamberlain.

Monica looked at a copy of the driver's license photo of Chamberlain. She practically had the photo memorized. There was no way that she would accidentally miss her. "I don't think she's coming back, John. If she's even the person we're looking for. They may have scrambled the call for all we know."

John smiled at her teasingly. "Tired of my company already?"

Monica gave John a look, but John could tell that it was only in jest. "You know that's not what I meant."

A silence settled over them again. There was only so much one could say to another during a stakeout and not drive each other crazy.

Finally Monica broke the silence again. "You ever wonder about Mulder and Scully? What they're up to?"

John cleared his throat not really certain where Monica was going with this. He felt uncomfortable, but he replied truthfully, "`Course."

A second later John realized where this was going when Monica said, "I wonder what it was that Mulder saw that scared him so badly. I wonder what it was that he was too scared to tell anybody, even Scully. He might have been able to save his life with it and he still refused to speak."

"Well I think whatever it is, Scully knows by now." John paused before mentioning something that had irked him, but more than that, had caused him some pain. "It was odd though. As much as they trusted the two of us, they kept us in the dark a lot. Like we could never quite earn their trust." John turned and looked at Monica realizing how open she had always been to him. She never hid anything from him. She trusted him.

"I don't know, John. I don't think it was ever about trust. They trusted us. I feel more like they were trying to protect us."

John opened his mouth to protest how little good protecting them was when the truth might have saved the X-Files, saved them all. But he never got the chance because the back door opened and a woman got in, closing the door behind her. John and Monica turned quickly to see who it was.

"Who are you?" John asked the blonde woman who had taken a sit in the back of their sedan. She looked nervous, on edge.

"My name is Marita."

Monica nodded. "We've heard of you. You testified at Mulder's trial. You were one of his informants."

Marita nodded. "He saved my life when his own life was in danger and I'm here to return the favor."

"Mulder's not here. We don't know where he is," explained John. He didn't know that he'd tell this woman even if he did.

"I know, but you two are here aren't you? Continuing the work?" Marita's question was more a statement.

"We're investigating the disappearance of a man," said John vaguely although he felt certain that Marita already knew that and a lot more. "What do you know?"

Marita looked even more uncomfortable than she had when she first entered the car. "Mulder and Scully know as well as I do that the timetable has already been set. They don't know how to stop it, but...." Marita looked at Monica.

John noticed it too and suddenly he was the one that was feeling uncomfortable, worried. "But what?!"

Marita turned her attention back to John and handed him a piece of paper. "Ms. Chamberlain is not coming back here." She waited until John had glanced at the paper before saying, "He will have the answers you seek although he may be unwilling to part with them."

Before either one of them could make a comment or ask any further questions, Marita exited the vehicle. She quickly crossed the street and they lost sight of her in the crowd.

They sat for a few moments before Monica said, "We have to go, John." He looked at her and she could see all the arguments against it that we're on the tip of his tongue. She didn't have to say anything though. She knew his sense of duty to find Colin and reunite him with his family would win out over all the other considerations. Who would know the pain of a missing child better than himself? The danger to themselves was not concrete and so despite not completely trusting Marita, not completely assured of his or Monica's safety, John started up the car engine.