Castleview Estate
Seattle
9.20AM
The estate was small and secluded. Most of the gardens displayed various kids toys and equipment but with the children at school at this early hour they were left unattended awaiting their return. Stepping through the hopscotch chalking on the path Scully smiled and followed Gordon to the front door of the house.
Plants adorned the porch, with evergreen branches still boasting their bright foliage proudly, bending slightly under the weight of the fallen snow. Gordon self-consciously fiddled with his tie and glanced over at Scully who nodded she was ready before he rapped lightly on the door.
Quickened footsteps hurried to the door and it was swung open wildly emitting a young woman in a home care nurses uniform.
"Oh I thought it was the doctor." She said dismayed then looked them both up and down and began to close the door. "What ever you are selling we don't want any."
Gordon put his hand out and stopped her from shutting the door fully. "Excuse me. We are looking for Neil Conner." Gordon asked using Nelsons pseudonym.
"He is not allowed visitors." The nurse tried to close the door but again Gordon stopped her.
"Excuse me, I'm a doctor, can I help?"
"You are?" She eyes Scully suspiciously, glancing up and down her small stature.
"Dana Scully, FBI actually," she flashed her badge. "But I am a fully trained doctor. Maybe I can help."
With worried looks up and down the street but seeing them empty she conceded her barrier and opened the door fully. "He's down here. Experiencing respiratory trouble. I've given him the terbutaline sulphate injection but it doesn't see to have any effect."
"Is he arresting?" Scully asked as they followed her down a well lit narrow hall into a smaller room that housed many cabinets of medical equipment.
"No but since the operation in May he has rejected the lungs and he's not fighting any more."
"He had a lung transplant?"
"Yes. It wasn't a great success." The nurse stood over the second door her hands poised over the handles as if she was having second thoughts.
"He's angry and violent these days but he doesn't have the energy to keep it up...but be careful." she added.
The nurse pushed open the double doors and let them into the room. On a hospital bed that was situated in the centre of the room surrounded by an oxygen tank and various medical machines was Malcolm Nelson. Without thought Scully approached the bed and saw his eyes had rolled back into his head. His mouth was open and gasping for air and on his throat was the scar from the tracheotomy.
"He keeps pulling his tubes out."
The Nurse circled to the other side of the bed and retied the straps that were holding his hands in place. She tightened the straps as Scully tried to reconnect the tube but as he ripped it off he damaged the tissue around the sunken connector.
"I don't think this will fit in any longer."
At the sound of a new voice Nelsons eyes seemed to roll around before focusing on Scullys face. The gasping lips suddenly turned into a leery smile as he eyed her silky red hair that hung about her face as she tried to fix his tubing. His left hand that was still loose moved slowly away from the mattress and stealthily inched it's way towards the bottom of her skirt.
Scully, so intent on reattaching the tracheotomy tube she didnt notice his movement until his hand touched her leg and shot up her thigh beneath her skirt.
With a start Scully jumped back and pushed his hand away. Nelson choked on a laugh that sent him into a spasm of coughs that couldn't hide his smile.
"Neil!" the nurse called out angrily as she came around the bed and tied his hand to the railing. Still coughing Nelson kept his eyes on Scully as she smoothed down the front of her skirt.
Gordon stepped forward and put a hand on her arm as he led her from the room and out into the hallway.
"You ok?" he asked standing a little closer then she would have liked with a hand on each of her arms.
"Yeah, just caught me off guard." She shrugged away from him and ran an idle hand through her hair.
"It doesn't look like we're going to get anywhere with this guy. Maybe we'll have some better luck with the local bureau."
"I agree." Scully went back into the room as Gordon walked out to the car. Beside the bed now and double-checking his hands were still tied Scully managed to the get respiratory tube reattached. The nurse switched on the maching and the humming hiss of the artificial lung filled the room. "That's only a temporary attachment. He will need a new tracheotomy point when the doctor gets here."
"Thanks for your help." Then as if it was an afterthought she asked, "What was it you were calling for?" Scully looked down to the feeble frame of Malcolm Nelson. His eyes were closing over with the sleepy recession of the sick.
"Never mind. We'll call back when he's feeling a little stronger."
"You may be waiting a while."
"We've been waiting a while already."
Scully walked calmly out to the car where Gordon was waiting, his frown encased deeply on his forehead. She slipped into the passenger seat and buckled her belt. Without a word Gordon put the car into gear and drove out of the estate.
"He's dying." She said softly. "He wants to die."
"He's taking it away." Gordon muttered as he pulled quickly away from the junction and onto the road.
"Gordon, he's a very sick man on the verge of death. I don't think there is anything he could do to solve this case for you."
"He could speak up. Point the finger to the men that put the gun in his hand."
"The very men who have protected him all this time?" she queried, flinching as he crossed a speed bump without slowing. The car bounced roughly on the tarmac and he skidded around the corner onto the highway onramp.
"The very men who pushed him into a life of hiding."
"Gordon, listen to yourself. You've already made your mind up." Pulling her belt tighter around herself she sat a little straighter in her seat and watched the traffic that Gordon was obviously missing.
"Look, Agent Scully," he said turning to face her. "You know I'm right. You don't see the links as clearly as I do. You didnt receive the threats as much as I did. You didnt loose anything over this case."
"Gordon-" she argued but before she could continue the car was jolted forward with a sharp ram from behind. Glancing back they saw the black van with tinted windows closing in on them again. Gordon accelerated away from the van and veered through the traffic in an effort to get away.
"Watch out!" she yelled as he came dangerously close to a truck that sped alongside them.
But as they came out from behind the truck the van was practically stuck to their boot, then she saw the second one, and the third.
"Look!" she pointed to the left where the other van was closing in on them and forcing them off the road and into the lay-by.
Gordon was force to stop the car and he pulled the keys out of the ignition with fury. One of the vans emptied and 4 suited men approached the car.
"Agent Scully, Agent Dixon, step out of the vehicle."
As they both climbed out they were pushed away from the road over to a grassy hill that sloped downwards and out of sight of passing motorists.
"ID." He demanded holding his hand out for their badges.
"What's going on?" Scully demanded but she was quietened momentarily with an icy stare. She handed over her badge, as did Gordon.
"You are in violation of your jurisdiction. You have no right to pursue any case in this state and continuance to do so will result in prosecution."
"We do have a right. The murder of a federal judge is a federal offence." She argued trying to peer over his shoulder at the car, but all she could see was the top of the hill. "Who are you? CIA? NSA?"
"You will return to your hotel and collect your belongings. You will return to DC immediately."
"You can't do this." Gordon yelled his desperation blinding his better judgement and without warning the stranger turned to him and planted a fist into his chest. Gordon doubled over in pain and fell to his knees. Scully bent to help him up, turning in time to see them leaving.
As quickly as they arrived they left skidding off the gravel in a shower of dust and pebbles. They struggled up the hill and Gordon sat into the back seat his arms wrapped protectively across his chest.
"They took everything. They took the notebook!" scully yelled as she saw the empty boot where their cases had been.
"We were so close..." Gordon gasped through the receding pain.
"We have nothing now!" the sound of her phone ringing in the glove compartment halted her thoughts and she hurried to answer it.
Seattle Airport
10.45AM
Mulder tore out of the rental carpark leaving tyre marks and curious glances behind. Coughing and wheezing still; he tried to calm his heart and lungs as he fumbled in his bag for his cell phone. Dodging traffic and pulling onto the highway he dialled her number and held his breath as he pulled the phone up to his ear. It rang endlessly over and over the tedious shrill mocking his fears.
"C'mon Scully...pick up pick up!" he urged veering dangerously across four lanes to pull off the highway and onto a Cedar River road where he knew her hotel was. Thankfully she had used her credit card and Langly was able to locate it for him.
"Scully." She said stoically.
"Scully, Scully...am I glad to hear your voice."
"Mulder?" she hardly recognised him with the wheeze disguising his normally soft tone.
"Listen to me Scully, you have to get away from there."
"What?"
"Listen," he gasped and she heard him struggling to breathe. "Where are you?"
"On Highway 113, just west of Mulberry Park."
"I'm on Cedar road. Meet me at the hotel."
"What? You're in Seattle?" Hearing her shock Gordon stood and came around to the side of the car where she was standing.
"Scully meet me in-" The car was jerked to the left knocking the phone form his hand and forcing him to concentrate on the road ahead. The black van that was trying to push him off the road was coming back for another hit and he braced himself against the impact.
Whatever chance he may have had on the highway where the morning frost had been salted away, here on the smaller side roads he was struggling to keep the car on the road. Tyres slicked and skidded on the verge spinning on the ice with no grip and no option for turning. The road ahead and behind was empty as the black van turned towards his car hitting him once again and pushing him off the road completely.
Mulder held the steering wheel tightly as the car fell over the steep verge and skidded over the snow into the forest below. Somewhere in his mind he registered Scully's voice calling his name but it all seemed too dream like as the car turned and rolled over hitting the tree on the passenger side. The airbag inflated cushioning the blow but not stopping him from cracking the glass with his head before plunging into darkness.
A/N: Den den dehhhhh!!!