Route 2

8:00 AM

Alyssa unzipped her bomber jacket and began to take a few deep breaths.  It was always easier to start this way. It made for clearer visions.  She steadily began to relax her body, going through the motions.  She started with her shoulders, worked her way through her arms and down through her body all the way to her toes.  Finally she opened up her mind, and there it was. The way it had happened. It had taken her but a moment to weave her way through the impressions left behind by the police and the FBI agents that had originally searched the scene.

She wasn't sure when it had happened. Possibly when the dreams had started. She wasn't sure yet if they had been precognitive or had started the moment there was a serious threat to Mulder. At the moment though, finding out what had happened on this lonely road, was her only lead. Their only lead. 

The first thing she saw was a woman. She had short curly brown hair and wore sunglasses with a baseball cap pulled far enough down that Alyssa couldn't make out her face. She was standing by an old run down jeep that had looked like it had seen better days. The hood was up and she stood looking back towards the way she must have come. A car was approaching. It slowed as it neared, then came to a complete stop not five feet from where Alyssa now stood.

She recognized him as soon as he got out of the car. It was Mulder. He looked so relaxed, in his jeans and leather jacket.  He had approached the woman, taking the shell of a sunflower seed out of his mouth before saying hello.  She spoke to him, telling him of her trouble with her jeep. How it had finally run its last mile. Mulder had offered to give her a lift back to Skykomish and she had accepted. They had both moved to the back of her jeep to retrieve some things when, as Mulder leaned in to retrieve a bag, the woman had made her move.

He must have seen it coming as he looked up into the jeep's rearview mirror, or caught a glimpse of the movement from the corner of his eye, either way, he caught the blow on his shoulder before it could find its mark. Alyssa watched as Mulder went on the offensive and instinctively swung at his attacker, missing her face but knocking her cap and sunglasses off. That was the moment of his undoing. He wasn't prepared for whom he'd seen before him. That was all she had needed to take him out.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Scully stood by the driver's side of the car. It was cold, and the three-quarter suede coat that she wore over her jeans and denim shirt didn't seem to be providing her the warmth that it usually did. She watched as Alyssa walked towards the point of the ditch where Mulder's car had been dumped, and later found. All she seemed to hear were the slight thuds coming from Alyssa's own hiking boots. It was hard for her to stand there and watch as this woman tapped into residue energy patterns.

"Alyssa, let's go, this is pointless." It had been five minutes and Scully was already getting impatient. 

Alyssa didn't respond. Scully assumed that she must not have heard her so she called out one more time before walking up and putting her hand on her shoulder.  It was like being thrown into ice water. The moment Scully placed her hand on Alyssa's shoulder she found herself watching as Mulder pulled to the side of the road to help some stranded woman. Leave it to Mulder to find a 'damsel in distress' in the middle of nowhere.

She watched as he approached the battered old jeep and its owner. Watched as they moved to the back of the jeep to get some bags. Watched as the woman reached into her pocket for a small club and prepared to strike.  Scully acted on instinct, as she had always acted in order to protect her partner; she reached for her Sig. just as Mulder brought his fist up. All at once the image was gone. Mulder, the woman, and the jeep disappeared from where they were as if they'd never been. It was like someone had slammed a door in her face.

Scully realized that what she had seen was the result of her contact with Alyssa. They had only been observers in a drama that had been played out, possibly days before.  She again brought her hand up to touch Alyssa; this time she was prepared for the shock of contact, she wanted to know what had happened to Mulder. When she tuned in this time, the woman had just finished readjusting her cap and sunglasses. Mulder was lying at her feet.

His assailant then made some space in the back of the jeep and then turned to drag Mulder closer to it. She steadily began to hoist him into the back compartment then reached into Mulder's coat pocket to retrieve the keys to his rental, which she proceeded to drive into the ditch, before getting into her jeep and driving off.

That was it. Alyssa came out of her trance-like state. She had been aware of the moment Scully had made contact. She didn't know that it was possible for such a thing to happen. That Scully could link up with her and see what she saw. But once she had accepted her presence she ignored Scully and concentrated on the scene being played out before them.

The sight of the woman's face had shocked her. Alyssa felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. Had Scully seen it? she thought. She knew that there was a moment when Scully had lost contact, but she didn't know at what point.

"My God." Scully said. The distress was evident in her voice. "I'm sorry I doubted you.  We've got to find him, Alyssa." Scully dipped into her coat pocket and pulled out her cell phone to call the Seattle field office so they could put a trace on the jeep's license plate.

Putting the shock, and the woman, aside for the moment, Alyssa turned to examine the area around her, hoping to find something that the forensics team had missed. She found what she was looking for on the other side of the road. It must have fallen from the jeep as Mulder was unceremoniously hoisted in. It was a small brochure for a lodge located at Lake Wenatchee. The lodge boasted many types of water activities, and for those seeking privacy, cabins located at various points about the lake just far enough from each other to provide complete privacy.

This must be where she took Mulder, she thought. She just hoped that they were not too late.

"What did you find?" Scully asked as she came up from behind. 

"Oh," Alyssa started. "It's just some old brochure. I was hoping that it was something important. A clue to Mulder's whereabouts, but it's nothing," she lied, crumpling up the brochure.

"In that case, I can sympathize. The license plate was a bust," Scully said as she watched Alyssa discard the piece of paper. "It turns out that the jeep was stolen last week. I kind of figured that would be a dead end, but I was hoping that there would be a chance."

They both paused, waiting for the other to say something. Finally, Scully broke the silence.

"What are you thinking? Did you recognize the woman that jumped Mulder?" Scully asked hopefully.

"How where you able to tap into what I was seeing?" Alyssa asked. She wanted to avoid talking about what the woman looked like. Someone she most assuredly did recognize.

"What?" Scully replied, a bit taken aback by the sudden change in subject. "I don't know."

"Has it ever happened before?"

"No," Scully said, annoyed.  She recognized the change in subject for what it was and felt her suspicion rise.  "You didn't answer my question. Did you recognize the woman?"

"I've never met anyone that looked even remotely like her." Not a total lie, she thought, I never had the pleasure of actually meeting the woman. "Did you recognize her?"

"Actually," Scully replied, crinkling her brow. "I didn't get a chance to see her face. I lost contact at that point." She felt a tingling sensation in her head that she couldn't quite shake.

"Why don't we head back to Skykomish? There may be people there that we could question. If Mulder made a stop there, someone may have seen him. It's possible that someone may have seen the woman there to."

Alyssa had noticed the look on Scully's face and knew that it was just a matter of time before Scully discovered that she was the cause of the tingling in her head. She needed Scully distracted if she was going to follow through with the plan she was already formulating in her mind.

"Well, it's not as if we have any other leads. Are you sure that brochure is nothing?" Scully asked, looking down at the crumpled piece of paper.

"Trust me. It's nothing," Alyssa said, heading towards the car. She stopped when she noticed that Scully wasn't behind her. "Coming?"

"Yeah, right behind you." As soon as Alyssa turned her back, Scully scooped up the discarded piece of paper and put it in her pocket. For some reason, on some level, she knew it was important; yet, at the same time she found herself thinking that Alyssa was right and it was nothing. Who knows? Maybe it was nothing, but better safe than sorry.