W-A-R-N-I-N-G This chapter is rated 'R' for strong language.

Chapter Five

The following morning, a persistent ringing in her ears aroused her from her fretful sleep.  She slowly pried her lazy eyes open and pondered a moment about the strange environment before it all came crashing back.  She groped around for the phone and brought the receiver to her ear.  "Scully."

"Agent Scully, I've been waiting for you at the station for an hour now."

Mulder's unemotional tone didn't escape her.  "Sorry, Mulder, I overslept.  I'll be right there.  Give me twenty minutes."

"No need, Agent Scully, we're headed out to a potential stake out.  I just figured I should call and tell you I'll be unreachable for a while.  You do whatever you feel you need to do.  Good day, Agent Scully."  He hung up.

Scully wanted desperately to throw something – anything of reach.  Nothing exasperated her nerves like this man.  He was impossible and incredibly stubborn.  He was a man who knew what he wanted and was rampageous – even childish – when he couldn't get it.  And right now what he wanted was she.

Scully got up, showered, dressed quickly, and was out the door in fifteen minutes.  As she traveled down the winding roads, she pushed in a speed dial number and waited till she heard the usual greeting from her partner before snapping: "There is no possible stake out.  How dumb do you think I am?  We don't have leads to suggest anyone or place."

"You calling me a liar, Agent?  You don't trust me to tell you the truth?  Indeed we do have an assigned stake out.  All the bodies were discovered on the North side of town in the same general area in the woods.  A few deputies are being sent out there as we speak.  And I plan on joining them soon."

Scully sighed and bit her tongue before continuing calmly.  "Mulder…I…just don't do anything stupid, ok?  I really would like us to go through at least one case where you don't get banged up."

"So you do care," he bit sarcastically.  "How about I tell you not to worry about Spooky ole'me and if I do get in trouble, don't bother bailing me out.  Ok?"

Scully stared ahead and watched as the buildings whizzed by.  The temperature seemed to be dropping as the wind picked up.  She took a final breath.  "Mulder, I'm almost at the station.  Why don't you just wait for me?"

"Sure.  Fine.  Whatever," he said crisply, throwing her words from a previous case back at her.  Then he hung up.

Moments later, Scully pulled into the police barracks and raced inside.  The heat struck her face with an unexpected force and she paused before continuing.  Her eyes fell on a tall, dark figure and cringed inwardly at the sight of him.  He was in his wild, determined mode.

He spotted her, caught her eye, then turned away.  He felt her rather than heard her approach him from behind.  "Nice of you to join us, Agent Scully."

"Mulder…"

"Mulder," a deep voice hollered into the crowd.  A burly man stood in the entrance of an office.  "Agent Mulder, we've got someone claiming to be the killer on the phone.  He's asking for you."

All went dead silent and for a brief time everything and everyone stood still.  Then Mulder leapt to life and rushed to the office with Scully and Jennings trailing behind.  Mulder snatched the phone and pressed it urgently to his ear.  He took a moment to collect him self.

"This is Special Agent Mulder.  Who is this?"  He pushed the speakerphone button and rolled his hand in indication for them to start the trace.

"Uh, Fox, how are you?  It's been a long time hasn't it?"  The man's voice was sinisterly charming.

"Do I know you?"  Mulder sat behind the desk and Scully went to stand beside him.

"Oh, you do, but you don't know you do."

"What are you talking about?"

"You feel obligated to save this little girl, don't you?  Some personal reasons have brought you out here haven't they?  I was hoping you would come."

Mulder glanced at Scully who gave him a questionable look.  "I'm not sure I follow you, er…"

"You can call me…Sam.  Yes, Sam sounds good.  What do you think?"

"I think you're a dick."

"And indeed you may be right.  Now, you want to know what I meant, right?  Well, I think you know well enough as to what I'm talking about.  You recently had a death in the family, right?  Yes, your father was murdered and your mother committed suicide.  Am I missing something?  Oh, yes, duh, you found your sister through an anonymous tip.  Her precious bones dumped in an unmarked grave out in the desert.  I wish I could've made the funeral, but I was to busy plotting my scheme."

"And what scheme would that be," he seethed.  "Killing innocent children?"

"Revenge.  You were never supposed to find out about your sister.  After your government was through with her they let me have her.  They made their clones and finished their experiments on her.  I hid her body well and figured it'd never be traced to me.  You believed she was alive somewhere hidden away by the shadow men."

"Who are you?"

"I worked for them.  That's how I met your sister, Samantha.  She was such a beautiful fourteen year-old.  You know that's how old she was when they were done cloning her, right?  Anyway, I just had to have her.  And boy, did I have her real good and hard."

"You fucking son-of-a-bitch!"  Mulder leapt to his feet and screamed with all the passionate anger he'd been storing.  "I SWEAR TO GOD I'M GOING TO KILL YOU WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS YOU PERVERTED, FUCKING BASTARD!"

Crackled laughter erupted on the other end before the line went dead.

Mulder threw the phone down and it shattered across the desk.  He stormed out of the room in blind rage.  Scully raced after him and finally caught up to him in the parking lot.  He was leaning forward with his palms down on the hood of the car, breathing heavily.

"I'm so sorry, Mulder."  She felt her own tears sting at her eyes.  "We'll catch him.  We will."

In a matter of an hour they had police officers and FBI from all over the state surrounding a ten-mile radius around the town.  At least a hundred officers wandered through the woods.  Mulder and Scully were, of course, part of the search team.

Hours turned into longer hours, but there was still no trace of the killer.  Dogs were roaming the area and Mulder had managed to get one to take a liking to him.  So now he trailed behind the animal with his weapon drawn.

"Mulder, he may not be out here.  We weren't able to trace the call.  He could be anywhere."

"He's here, Scully.  I know he is.  I can just feel…"

The dog's urgent barking up ahead broke him off.  Both agents sprang into action and rounded a hill.  The dog was now growling at a thick brush of bushes and weeds.

Mulder cautiously, quietly reached his hand in expecting to hit rock.  Yet, instead, his whole arm disappeared into the underbrush.  He pulled back, glanced at Scully, and then entered the hidden cave.  Inside was freezing, damp, and smelled of mildew.  It was dark so he pulled out his flashlight and he waited till his eyes adjusted before trekking deeper inside.

They came across a large room and were startled by a demand: "Drop your weapons or the girl dies.  It's your choice."

Mulder slowly turned a ninety-degree angle to be faced with a nightmare.  The killer, "Sam", held a pistol to the little girl's temple.  He had her placed in front of him as a shield.  Mulder's heart throbbed in his ear and he let his gun go.  It clattered noisily to the hard floor with a shrill cry.  Scully followed suite.

"Ok, Sam," Mulder rolled the name disdainfully off his tongue.  "We're unharmed now.  Let her go."

"No."

"Come on, this isn't about her.  It was never about any of them.  Let her go."

"You know, her name's Samantha, too.  Now isn't that a coincidence?  I've raped and murdered one, why not two?"

"Because you don't want her.  You want me.  Let her go and I'll take her place."

"You know, the most dangerous man is the man with nothing to lose.  I don't have anything."  He glanced over at Scully and looked her up and down.  "My, my, my, you've fetched yourself a good one."

"What is it you really want," Mulder asked, taking Sam's attention away from Scully.

"The question is, my friend, what is it you really want?  And what are you willing to pay for it?"

"You know what I want."

"Life isn't fair, Agent Mulder.  You of all people should know that."  He tossed his gun behind him and withdrew a knife.  "I like these weapons better.  They're more personal…more erotic."  He took the tip and ran it across Abby's throat, causing a trickle of blood to form.  She cried out.

"Stop it," Mulder screamed.  "There's no reason to hurt her."

Suddenly a form came bounding in and brought all attention to it.  The dog snarled at the killer.  Mulder took his chance and whipped the tiny pistol from his ankle holster and fired into the criminal's head.

Abby wailed and collapsed to the ground, shaking terribly. 

Blood splurged from Sam's wound. 

Scully ran to check on the girl then went to feel Sam's neck for a pulse as Mulder scooped Abby into his arms and carried her out.

End Chapter Five

DDstalker:  You better update soon!  I've been waiting for about month now for Chapter 3 of For Better For Worse.

Keys:  I think that you know by now that I love drama, too.  Lol.  So, my darling Drama Queen, don't your fingers ever itch to type a drama story?  I know I've asked you this before, but will you ever write a story?  (One can never give up hope.  Lol.)