You can't deter me that easily!

Chapter Two

The office held a staleness that she could feel in the pit of her stomach. After the funeral, Mulder had insisted on being alone. Probably to sort through what he was now going to do with his life now that his quest had reached the end. But he had never returned and an inspection of his deceased parents' summerhouse proved to show that he had left – taking all his belongings with him.

Now there he was slumped over a file as if the past week hadn't occurred. Crease lines etched his brow and Scully noticed not for the first time worry and age lines around his haunted hazel eyes. She sighed and wearily approached his desk. "Mulder," she chided. "Where the hell have you been?"

What she really wanted to say was 'why did you tell the Gunmen and not me?' And 'why did you swear them to secrecy? Did you want me to go ballistic with the chance that maybe you had stuck the barrel of your gun into your throat?'

Mulder ignored her until he heard her frustrated sigh. He risked a glance her way before mumbling: "I had to get away for a while. I didn't want you to come after me. Be happy that I at least told the guys in case something went wrong."

Silence overtook the time until Scully couldn't handle it anymore. She stepped over to his side and coughed politely. "What's this, Mulder?" She read the caption on the top of the page. "Mulder, this is a VCS case. Why are you interested in it?"

Mulder gazed up into his partner's bluish emerald eyes and saw him self reflected in the soft pools. He whispered: "I'm profiling this one. A kidnapper has been on the loose for weeks. His prime targets are eight year-old girls from comfortable homes. He prefers brunets. The thing is not a one has been found. We fear that he's killing them and hiding the bodies. But without a body to confirm it, they're treating it as a missing persons case."

Scully's hear sank with a tremendous thud. This was too close to home. And it was too soon after the discovery of Samantha. Anger boiled through her veins at whoever had handed him this assignment. How dare they be so cruel?

Mulder seemed to have read her mind as usual. He shook his head slowly. "I found the case on Skinner's secretary's desk. I requested it. First I was denied, but with coaxing I was able to weasel my way into it." He shut the file and stood up. Our plane leaves in a few hours. Let's go."

SIX HOURS LATER…

Mulder tapped his foot relentlessly against his other leg. He repeatedly glanced at his watch as if the very act would force the time to move faster. Finally, after what felt like an eternity an officer came hustling over to them. "He can see you now. Sorry about the hold-up."

So now they were seated in front of a burly man with a friendly, sad smile. "It's horrible. It's truly rotten that things like this happen. Those poor little girls and their families."

Mulder shifted in his chair, the plastic fabric squeaking in protest. "Detective Jennings, do you have any suspects? Any new leads? How could five girls in a town of only five hundred just disappear?"

Scully chewed on her bottom lip and watched as Henry Jennings shrugged mournfully.

"I don't know the answers to any of your questions, Agent Mulder. I wish I did. I want this bastard behind bars more than you can imagine. One of the victims was my niece."

Scully's eyebrow arched curiously. "Was?" She anticipated him to correct him self to the presence tense. There hadn't been any bodies found. At least not yet…

Jennings sighed sorrowfully and took his time in forming the hardest words he had ever uttered. "Sally Jones is my sister's youngest. She was taken on October second. We found her body yesterday." He stared down at his entwined beefy hands. "It's a real shame that young, innocent children have to die that way."

Mulder jumped the gun. "How did she die? How was she found?" His voice softened and he calmly continued with pain glittering in his eyes. "I know this is a difficult topic for you to discuss. Yet, I need to know everything. It'll make capturing the son-of-a-bitch a whole lot faster."

Jennings sullenly stood up from his chair. He was taller than the first impression led you to believe, but he was still kind of stubby. "I'll take you to the morgue and try to answer all your questions there."

Jennings led the way with Mulder practically on his heels. Scully was sure that if her partner knew where he was going, he would've been there long ahead of them. Yet, as it was, he ambled in short steps alongside the detective.

Inside the morgue, Scully pulled back the sheet and gasped at the sight before her. Never had anything unnerved her to the core the way the poor child' body did. The face was beaten so badly it would take a miracle to identify the body without dental records. Her clothes were torn and caked with dry blood, including the skirt that was close to shreds. The bruises, scratches, and deep gashes that ran along her entire body were enough to make Dana Scully M.D. with the FBI sick to her stomach.

Mulder's face turned ashen, his skin grew clammy. He stared down at the brown curls of the little girl as if transfixed into a far off land. Then he whipped around and dashed out of the room into the bathroom across the hall. He made it just in time as his body started to empty out his insides.

Scully approached him cautiously, her hand resting gently on Mulder's heaving shoulders. "Mulder…I think maybe we should hand the case over to someone else. This is too close and too gruesome, especially right after…Mulder, I'm worried about you."

Mulder straightened up, shrugging off her warm hand. "No, I won't quit now. I won't quit ever. No one else will be taken." He stood on jelly legs and gazed with dangerous passion into her eyes. "This bastard is going to wish he never crawled out of Hell because when I'm through with him, Hell is going to be his Haven."

Scully involuntarily shuttered at the cold, murderous look in his eyes. Fear. This was the first time she felt honest-to-God fear towards this man. And it scared her even more.

End Chapter Two