The blue and red police lights lit up the street eerily. Crowds had gathered but the cops had managed to cordon off a wide area outside the gallery. She showed her badge and a young officer held up the strip of yellow police tape to let her through. Looking around the official area she spotted Jack crouched behind his open car door. She kept down as she rushed over to him. He saw her approaching and turned to sit down and face her.
"Welcome to the show," he said when she landed beside him.
"What's going on?"
"Carson has Reilly hostage in the gallery."
"How did that happen?"
"Reilly and Salmon were going through the list of names and they were going door to door. They knocked on the right door and found the hideout. Salmon was shot. In the face. Point Blank."
"Oh my god…" her hand flew up to her mouth. "What about Reilly?"
"He's been beat up pretty bad, but he managed to sneak out a call to Watters. There are four of them. They're held up in the original room Carson tried to break into but they've covered the windows with paintings."
"No way through?"
"Not without the city getting million dollar bills from the gallery."
"What about weapons?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Twenty minutes ago she was kissing Mulder. Kissing Mulder. And now she was ducked behind a grey ford Taurus formulating a plan of attack on a museum with another agent dead. Not quite the way she thought her first kiss with Mulder would go, but then she should have known that nothing would be simple between them.
"Reilly says they each have semi-automatics, dual handguns and one of them is loaded down with grenades."
"Jesus Christ…"
"No where for that building to go except up."
"What about Watters?"
"Well…that's kind of why I called you…"
"What is it Jack?"
"Carson made a call out to Watters about an hour ago."
"What did he ask for?"
"Mulder."
"Mulder? Why?"
"He says he wants to speak to the Agent that got into his head to do the profile. He won't talk to anyone else. Watters wants to bring Mulder in but Skinner wont let him."
"Where are they?"
"Over in the swat van."
She saw the tall navy blue van across the road and rushed over to it. Banging heavily on the door it swung open and she stepped in. Skinner and Watters stood toe to toe and turned in time to see her step up.
"Scully…" Skinner took a step closer to her.
"You can't do this Watters. I won't let you." There was no disguising the anger in her voice.
"We have to. He wont talk to anyone else."
"Skinner you have to tell him. It's not going to happen," her eyes flared between the two men.
"If we don't let him talk to Mulder he is likely to blow that building and by all accounts this whole block," Watters shouted.
"I don't give a shit," Scully replied.
"Agent Scully…" Skinner stepped up to her and took her elbow. He pushed her out of the van and followed after her. "You know as well as I do that Mulder would do what he can."
"But this is not something he can do. He has no memory of his training. No viable ability to take part in a hostage negotiation. We need to convince Carson that he's talking to the Agent who profiled him and seeing as Mulder has no recollection of that profile calling him here would be pointless."
"It would be crazy to put Mulder in this position and I wont do it," Skinner admitted through gritted teeth.
"Thank you sir."
"Agent Watters?" he called into the van and Watters appeared beside them. "You took part in the profiling cant you speak to him?"
"Well sir I took notes. Mulder did the work."
"There is no way that Mulder is coming down here. You need to brush up on your profiling and talk to this guy."
"But sir I already tried that. Carson knows it wasn't me."
"I'll do it sir. I know Mulders mind. I'll know what to do."
Skinner turned to see her looking earnestly at him. In her jeans, boots and baggy jumper she looked smaller than usual but her face was stern and her eyes were flashing with a mixture of anger and tension.
"Okay…what time is Carson calling back?"
"Three minutes," Watters said as he checked his watch.
"Scully, you ready?"
"Yes sir."
"Lets do it. Set her up in the van." He turned and walked away shouting at the police to get the area cleared to a two-block radius. His voice brought anger into his orders and Scully had no doubt that they'd be carried out. One of the tech team members hooked her up to a hands free kit to talk on the phone so she could take notes. She listened to the soft static and a sudden image of Mulder lying on her couch flashed before her eyes. Wishing she could be there with him she shook away the distracting thoughts and began to compile the profile as best as she could remember.
***
Mulder threw his head back against the couch and listened for the slam from the outer door. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He couldn't believe he kissed her. He couldn't believe she let him. He couldn't believe she had to go. His heart was racing and a mixture of excitement and disbelieve swam through him. When the phone rang he could have happily ignored it but when she pulled away to answer it he let her go. She avoided his gaze turning her back to him and he had to stop himself from standing up to her and wrapping his arms around her to feel her lean back against his chest. Now that she had let him kiss her he wanted to see what else he could do.
He stood away from the couch with a sudden burst of energy and walked restlessly around the small room. She could be gone hours so he tried to settle his nerves. Sitting here was doing him no good but with no key for re-entry he was stuck. A loud rumble from his stomach argued for food so he reached for the Chinese menu they'd ordered from the other night. After ordering enough for both of them thinking she might be back late but she might be hungry, he switched on the TV. Flicking through many channels he stopped suddenly when he saw Skinner being interviewed.
"…the situation is fully under control and we are only clearing the area for precautionary purposes," Skinner said clearly uneasy at being in front of the cameras.
"Has the bomb alert been verified?" the interviewer asked.
"There has been no bomb threat and report of such is only likely to cause panic. Everything is under control."
"Is it correct that an Agent is being held hostage in the gallery?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer any more questions and if you'll kindly move back to the cordoned line I'll return when I can with an update."
As Mulder watched him walk away from the camera crew his heart fell. Something in his head screamed and he knew that Dana was there. And from what little he knew of her he knew she'd be volunteering to go in first…if she wasn't already in there.
"This is Sharon Day for channel 12 news at the international Gallery."
Sinking into the couch he held his head in his hands. The elation he felt earlier had disappeared in a wave of fear and anger. Hoping that she'd remain on the outskirts but knowing she wouldn't, Mulder waited. The frustration he felt over the past few days was insignificant to the futility he felt now. He knew that he should be down there and maybe if he'd been working on the case the whole time they might not even be in that situation. A wave of guilt washed over him and even though rationally he knew there was little he could have done, he let it seep in slowly pushing away anything else.
He thought of going down to the gallery and flashing his FBI badge to gain entry but he knew there was nothing he could do down there except get in the way. He resigned himself to a long stay watching the news waiting for updates and hoping for a phone call from Dana.
***
Scully let the phone ring three times, glancing around the rooms for all them to nod before picking up the receiver. Her tongue darted out and licked her top lip before she could speak.
"Hello."
"Who am I talking to?" the voice commanded.
"This is the profiler," she said her voice surprisingly calm.
"You? Do you take me for a fool?" the voice sneered.
"Sir, I assure you that I am the profiler. I have handled over 400 cases in this country alone over the past five years," she looked over to Skinner who nodded his head slowly.
"400? That's quite a lot."
"What do you want Carson?" she asked anxious to get the conversation moving.
"I wanted to talk to the person who finally managed to get into my head. See how close you really are!"
"We need to talk to Agent Reilly."
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. He's all tied up and I don't wanna have to go through knotting them ropes again."
"I need a good faith gesture, I need something from you."
"How about you come in here and see for yourself?"
Scully faltered. She knew she couldn't go in but she had little experience in hostage talks and wondered briefly how to get out of it.
"I don't think that would work."
"Well until you're ready to make it work I'm not talking."
The voice was replaced by a continuous tone when he hung up. She pulled the earpiece out and turned to Skinner. He had removed his glasses and was rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Sir?"
"You have to go in." He turned to the swat team leader. "I want a path cleared for her. I want men all over that building and I want surveillance stepped up. If she's going in I don't want her going in blind," he said calmly and then added, "Lets get moving."
"Obviously unarmed…"
"Yes, but we'll set you up with a camera and microphone. That way we'll be able to keep track and talk you through any hassles." He watched her for a moment and then stepped closer to her. "I don't like this."
"No sir, neither do I."
"What you have to do once inside is evaluate the weaponry-," he said.
"Yes sir, I know the steps, I'll clock the weapons, threat and modes of escape."
"Don't let him know you're bugged."
"Keep away from phones," one of the swat members told her.
She lifted her jumper off over her head and held her arms up for them to attach the wires. Skinner stood next to her telling her the procedures of hostage negotiation. She knew all the steps but she let him reel them off to help him ease his mind. He was obviously worried about her going in to the building alone and unarmed but she had talked herself into a corner with Carson and was left with little choice. Watters sat on a low stool by the van door and watched her get wired up. His expression was unreadable and she wondered what he was thinking as she pulled her jumper back over her head.
"This earpiece will let us talk to you."
She took the small skin coloured object and slipped it into her left ear. A small pin in the shape of a clover was pinned onto her collar and twisted until the tech could see the picture clearly on the screens in front of him.
"Okay, you're ready to go," he declared the smile on his face quickly fading as he realised what he was setting her up for.
She glanced over at Skinner who took her arm and led her out of the van. A small troop of four swat members was hunkered down by the side of the road and as she and skinner walked over two of them took off and ran towards the building, covering the entrance. Skinner spoke to her about keeping Carson talking and recommending that he release Reilly and she half listened to him as she tried to think of the profile her and Mulder had gone through the morning of the accident.
"Don't do anything rash and don't put yourself in a position where-."
"Sir, I'll be fine."
She pulled her hair into a ponytail and tapped the swat member's shoulder. Skinner watched as she ran towards the building with both of them and finally disappeared behind the large oak doors. He hurried back to the van to watch the feedback, readying the swat for a raid in case anything went wrong.
Her steps echoed in the empty gallery halls as she cautiously made her way up to the second floor. Their voices carried out through the open door and part of her wished she'd brought a gun even though she knew they would remove it. Pausing a minute before entering she took a deep breath and tried to steady her wildly beating heart.
"Come on in," Carson called, "or are you going to stay out there all night?"
She stepped through the door and glanced around the room searching for Reilly. He was tied up to a radiator his face bloody and battered. His head hung back at an angle that she knew must be hurting and he wasn't moving.
"So you decided to come in…unarmed I assume, save for the repertoire of procedures you law types tend to get logged down in," Carson said his voice sneering across the room getting a laugh out of the others.
"That's Wright over there," he pointed to the man without a gun, "that's Fergus and that's Mark."
Skinner surveyed the room from the swat van and counted all the guns they wore. One of then stood empty handed his army jacket closed tight showing some unusual bulges in his chest and back.
"What is that guy wearing?" Skinner said pointing him out to the swat leader.
"Looks like he's got strapping on. Could be a bomb."
"Jesus Christ. I want the team ready to attack. Surely we can gain entrance easily enough now that we've seen the room."
"Sir the paintings in that room are priceless-."
"I don't care if the god dammed Mona Lisa is in there, they are not worth the lives of two agents."
"Yes sir." The leader took a print out of the room out to the rest of the squad telling them where to go and they separated across the lawn in different directions ready for the signal to enter the building.
"What do you want Carson?" Scully said twisting around the room to make sure they could get a full picture back in the swat van.
"So you're the famous Mulder."
"What?"
"Mulder…the profiler. I didn't imagine you to be so pretty."
"You seem to have imagined yourself into some sort of position of power easily enough," Scully retorted angrily knowing Mulder would return with a smart comment.
Carson walked over to her and leaned into her, his stale breath caressing her neck.
"You see I thought you were a guy," he whispered.
"Hey Carson," Wright shouted, "let's get the gear and get out of here." Scully looked up and saw him walking over.
"I'm trying to get us out of here in one piece," Carson replied without looking round.
"This is fucking stupid," he shouted again, this time louder, "the bloody FBI is crawling all over the place, there are swat members out side-."
Carson turned slowly and faced him fully before pulling out his gun and pulling the trigger. A loud crack resonated around the room and Wright fell to his knees clutching his stomach.
"The stomach wound…slowest and most painful…a treasure to witness," Carson said.
He returned his gaze to Scully but the two other men were getting restless. Looking at each other with worried glances they didn't want to speak up afraid they'd be next. Wright lay wounded on the cold floor, his blood pooling around his torso and his moans loud and disturbing.
"Hey Carson…what's the plan?" Mark called out uneasily.
"Well…firstly we are going to gather the paintings…then we'll get to the roof and this lovely Agent Mulder is going be our insurance for a safe getaway," he said his eyes never leaving hers.
"What about Reilly?" he asked and Scully could tell by the look on his face that he was afraid of the answer
"Reilly?" Carson stepped towards the radiator where the other Agent Lay. He grabbed a handful of hair and pulled his head up. Scully could see his face more clearly now and his eyes were open and glazed over. She couldn't tell if he was dead with out a closer look but she was pretty sure he was. Her stomach churned at the thought of a wasted opportunity. She should have known he was dead when they wouldn't let her talk to him. Her eyes widened as she watched Carson pullout his gun and hold it under Reilly's chin.
"No!" she yelled but her voice was drowned out by another crack of the gun.
Mark and Fergus looked away as the blood burst across the wall staining several paintings. Carson stepped away rubbing his hands on his jeans, his smile wide and repulsive.
"Scully get out of there," she heard Skinner yell in her ear.
"Let it go Carson…I'm outta here," Fergus said throwing his gun to the floor he made his way out to the door prepared to hand himself in to the FBI. But before he could make it out of the room Carson lifted his gun and without a word he pulled the trigger bouncing him off the half open door. His body slammed to the floor forcefully and lay still. Marks eyes flew from Fergus to Carson and to Scully. He lifted his own gun and aimed it at Carson.
"Carson, you've gone fucking crazy…CRAZY!!" he shouted backing away from him towards the door. Carson's smile widened and he turned his gun onto Mark but before he could do anything Mark pulled his trigger hitting him in the shoulder. Carson staggered but he didn't fall. He looked up at Mark this time laughing and shot him.
Scully yelled at them to stop but regretted her decision when they both turned their guns on her. Without thinking she dove for cover sliding across the floor bullets narrowly missing her spraying the wall where she stood before.
"GO IN, GO IN," Skinner voice was loud and she knew he was telling the swat team to charge the building.
Looking around she saw Marks bloodied body lying on the floor motionless. From behind the fallen chair she couldn't see Carson but soft moans came from the other side of the room.
"It's too late Mulder," Carson yelled his voice choked. She carefully leaned out past the edge of the chair and she could see him lying on his back inching his way towards Wright's body. "It's too late."
His body wrenched as he coughed up a stream of blood that ran down his face and trailed after him. He tried to laugh but with the blood choking him it turned into a rattling splutter.
"Don't move," Scully shouted but the gun he held against his chest moved towards her and he pulled the trigger, the back kick hurting him more than he thought.
"Mulder, you should know…I'm not the giving up type," he said as he continued to move. "And I do like to go out with a bang."
"Scully that guy is strapped with a bomb. You need to get out of there," Skinner said surprisingly calmly in her ear. "I can't send the swat team in with that treat. We have a bomb squad on the way but just get out of there."
She watched unable to move as Carson sidled up to Wrights body and ripped open his jacket showing her the plastic explosives he had strapped to him.
"No, Carson…don't."
"Too late Mulder, too late," he said as he reached up for the timing mechanism.
"Shit," she muttered under her breath as she struggled to her feet and ran for the door. The room was showered with bullets as Carson tried to stop her escape but she managed to duck behind the door.
"TOO LATE MULDER."
She could hear him shouting as she dashed down the stairs talking them two and three steps at a time. The blast shook the floor beneath her feet and behind her a warm flash rose getting closer and closer.
Skinner watched from behind the swat van as the explosion shattered the gallery's windows, an enormous ball of flame blasting out of the walls. The feedback from her wire went to static and he could only watch helpless as the building half fell, fires raising from the remains.
***
Mulder sat on the low table in an effort to get closer to the television, hoping he'd spot her in the crowd as the camera panned around the scene. The reporter commented on the swat teams that had scattered around the building but he paid her little attention. Suddenly the blast shook the building almost knocking the cameraman to the floor.
"Oh god…" he whispered his eyes widening
The gallery stood as bare remains, fires exploding across it and he looked on in terror. Inside him fear coursed through his body as he watched transfixed unable to move. The TV crew scattered and ran towards the fallen building. But the police held them back.
"We're not sure what happened or who may have been involved but the explosion has shattered the building, knocking the eastern face," the reporter said into the camera, "fires have already broken out but there seems to be no sign of any survivors."
"Dana…" his fingers reached out and her gently touched the screen. "Please be okay…please be okay."
** I've written out two endings to this story and I'm not sure which one I like best. It's a tough choice. But I'll have it up in a day or so…I hope! **
