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The trio were lounging downstairs after a rather entertaining hour cutting wood.  Kathryn and Scully had taken their turns, not realizing that Mulder's reluctance wasn't laziness. While he could his home runs with a baseball bat, put an ax in his hands, and he would cut his own foot off. After several hand adjustments made by Scully, he had finally gotten the process down.

They were chatting and, somehow, the subject of handstands came up. Kathryn decided to teach them how to do one. She walked out a few feet and leaned over, when a high pitch screech ripped through the air. A ring of flames burst around Kathryn, and eerie voices wailed.

"You shall face your destiny"

Mulder, who had leaped forward at the first sign of trouble, skidded to the stop when the ring of fire appeared. Scully, understanding immediately, ran off to where she knew a fire extinguisher was. Mulder knew that that wouldn't do any good.

"Kathryn!" He yelled as he ran around the fire, looking for an opening "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" He heard her scream. "It's not burning me."

Mulder seized his fear in an iron hand and decided to try something very rash. Just as Scully rounded the corner, extinguisher in hand, Mulder leaped at the fire. It was as if he had hit a rubber wall. For the second time on this case, he flew, this time smashing through the window. About the time he landed, the flames went out. Scully ran forward, climbing through the shattered window and kneeling next to Mulder. Once she saw he was alive, she climbed back out and looked for Kathryn. All that was left was a ring of burnt ground. Kathryn was gone.

Scully helped Mulder hobble up the stairs, and made him lie down on the sofa while she checked him for a concussion. Satisfied that there wasn't one, she told him to hold still while she pulled shards of glass from his head and bandaged the wounds- he had refused to go to a hospital. Once he was doing better, they began deciding on a course of action.

"We need to notify Skinner immediately." said Mulder.

Scully looked at him like he had gone insane, then asked, "Are you sure your not dizzy, Mulder? Remember, good old 'Uncle Skinner'? What do you think he'll do to us when we tell him? Probably drag our asses back to Washington and fire us."

"Think about what he'll do if he finds out we didn't tell him. This way we can get other agents and the local law enforcement on the job."

She sighed and nodded her head. "Since you want to tell skinner so badly, you can call him, and I'll start making a map of the property."

He glared and muttered sarcastically under his breath, "I thought you couldn't get enough of him."

Scully, whose back had been turned, wheeled around and said, "What was that?"

Mulder replied hastily, "Nothing, just thinking out loud." She rolled her eyes and got back to drawing the map.

Mulder could still hear a ringing in his ear after his call with Skinner. Scully later told him that she could hear Skinner yelling through the phone from across the room.

There were currently fifty of the local law enforcement agents there, as well as ten of the promised twenty FBI agents. What started as a few worried neighbors had turned into a full-fledged search party on their own. Apparently, Kathryn was well known, and well liked. Skinner would be there in three hours, after a plane flight and a drive. When Scully had asked why so many people were involved, Skinner replied with the question of how would it look if two full FBI agents had had their charge kidnapped by three little girls. Scully stayed quiet after that.

When the size of the search party had grown to big for the house, it was moved to the barn near where Kathryn had been whisked away. Once everyone, with the exception of Skinner, was there, Mulder began briefing everyone.

"Earlier this morning, Kathryn Bergens was kidnapped. The suspects are three young girls, all with dark hair and green eyes, standing 5'5"." There were several snickers in the audience. "They are considered extremely dangerous, and are wanted for five murders in Texarkla." This silenced those laughing. "There will be five groups, one for the North, South, East, West and also for those in the middle. Each will consist of one guide that knows the terrain, and one Agent in charge. Agent Scully and I will lead the Southern search team. Agent Sparling the Northern team, Agent Angelich the Eastern team, and Agent Foster the western team. Agent Skinner, who will be here in a half hour, has chosen to lead the middle section. Let's get to it."

Mulder tossed Scully a bulletproof jacket.

"I'm not sure what good this will do us." She said as she slipped it over her head. Instead of her more recent uniform of Khaki shorts and a t-shirt, she was decked out in jeans, a black tank top, and hiking boots. Mulder was in the same, except in a gray t-shirt, instead.

"Where do we start?" He asked.

"You didn't have the benefit of a ranch foot tour." She said sarcastically. "There are caves, tree groves, nooks, and crannies where anyone could hide. Let's go."