Title: "Credidi me Felem Vidisse"
Author: KimotoCat
Rating: PG-13
Summary, disclaimer and all that are in part 1.
Credidi me Felem Vidisse
Part 3
The black Toyota drove up to the sidewalk outside Toledo Sports-Centre and Fox Mulder and Francis Vandenberg got out.
"She could be here," Vandenberg said as he looked at the concrete wall in front of him. He did not explain himself, in stead he walked towards the entrance without deigning to order Mulder to follow.
The two men entered into a hallway, which would usually be loud with happy crowds, going to see a sports game or hear good music. A poster explained that "Killer Bees", a heavy-metal band, had been here yesterday evening and judging from the messy floor, there had been a lot of people here to listen to them.
"Killer Bees," Mulder smiled at the poster. "Know them?"
"No," Vandenberg snapped shortly.
Mulder kept his mouth shut and skipped telling the joke, he had just invented about the band. He did not feel much like making Francis Vandenberg smile. He was not sure the withered man was able to appreciate a good laugh.
"Hey, there's no entrance here!"
The two men both turned to look at the young woman, who was yelling at them. She wore a 'Clean-Bean' outfit and a bucket and she was looking at them with a lot of authority.
"This is a restricted area," she continued in a southern accent. "There is no public access now. We're cleaning it. Now, please leave."
"Excuse me, Miss," Mulder said as he reached for his badge.
"Mrs," she snapped at him. "Mrs Raymonds, in fact. Now…" She stopped as her eyes landed on Mulder's badge.
"Fox Mulder," he introduced himself. "And this is agent Vandenberg. We're with the FBI and we are here looking for somebody."
"How the Hell was I to know that?" Mrs Raymonds defended her self. "Well, go ahead, agents. Can I help you or something?"
"As a matter of fact, maybe you can," Vandenberg said as he shoved his badge away again and took out a picture, handing it towards the woman. "This is Miss Thompson; she should be working with your company. Do you know where we may find her?"
"Erh, yeah, I know," Mrs Raymonds stuttered, looking up at Vandenberg. "Is she in any kind of trouble or something?"
"We just want to talk to her," Vandenberg assured her without moving a muscle. "Now, please Mrs Raymonds. Where do we find her?"
"She's somewhere up in them benches behind the northern goal or something," the woman answered, obviously intimidated by Vandenberg's steel eyes and their FBI-badges. "If she's finished there, she'd be at the press room, messing away or something."
"Thank you very much, Mrs Raymonds," Vandenberg said with another of his snakelike smiles. "You've been most helpful."
"Oh, that's nothing," Mrs Raymonds said in a hesitating smile. "Anything else, I can do for you fellas?"
"As a matter of fact, yes, there is," Vandenberg continued to smile. "If you would be so kind as to wait down here until we're finished doing our business here. It is somewhat confidential, you understand."
"Sure do," Mrs Raymonds said with the kind of smile, people used to have when a simple order could turn into the event of the week. When the event of the week could be to be ordered around by FBI agents…
Vandenberg turned away from the woman, giving her no further notice, being perfectly aware that she would do as she was told. Mulder followed, also not saying anything to Mrs Raymonds.
"I better call the others that Takita is here," he said to Vandenberg as they climbed the stairs, approaching the goal-rows.
"Do," Vandenberg answered shortly.
Mulder stopped on the stairs, took out his cellular phone and dialled Scully's number while Vandenberg continued upwards. First there was a tone; then Scully's voice introduced her at the other end.
"Scully, it's me," he said. "We're at the sports-centre. There's no doubt, Kimoto Takita is here."
"Mulder? I'm glad to hear from you," Scully exclaimed. "The other agent, Randolph Simmons, he has left. He said he had to find out something. And that's not the biggest problem."
"What are you saying?"
"Agent Francis F Vandenberg is a hoax!"
"What?"
"I do not know how he did it," Scully said in a restless voice. "But he is not listed anywhere here. There is no agent Francis Vandenberg within the FBI and apparently there never was. I was trying to reach the two of you, phoning Elsa at the office, when I found out."
Mulder hesitated to speak.
"Mulder, get out of there. I'll call for backup and then we can find out, who he really is."
"He must be good," Mulder said as he looked up the stairs. Vandenberg was nowhere to be seen; he had probably continued upwards. "He made Skinner believe that he was to be in charge of things. Who ever he is, he is good."
"Mulder, get out of there!" Scully's voice insisted.
"Somebody has to be at Kim's side," Mulder answered. "And I don't think that Vandenberg is."
Before Scully could answer this, Mulder disconnected and put the phone in his pocket. In stead, he took out his gun, cocked it and continued up the stairs.
o o o
"Come right out, Miss Takita. I know you're there."
Vandenberg's voice echoed through the emptiness of the benches behind the goal but was answered only by silence. The lean man proceeded with caution as he carefully studied his surroundings.
Behind Vandenberg, Mulder had finished his phone-call and was approaching the benches, carrying his sidearm casually in his one hand. As he watched the other man at a distance, he could see him unholster a heavy gun of a very bulky design. It occurred to Mulder that this gun was not built for just wounding its target and with even more caution, he continued upwards.
"Mulder! How nice to see you again!"
The yell came as a surprise to both the men. Vandenberg froze on the spot and Mulder turned to look at the door of the pressroom. A woman was standing there, waving in a dramatic gesture with what seemed to be a damp piece of cloth. Even if her hair was darkened and her tail hidden, Mulder needed only the one glance to recognise Kimoto Takita.
"Listen, Kimoto," he yelled towards her as he took a few steps forward. "You'll have to come along with me. There are unanswered questions!"
"I know things weren't only at their best when we last met," Kim shouted at him. "But at least you agreed on 'Kim'. Have I let you down?"
"Sorry, Kim," Mulder returned, slowly continuing forwards and noticing that Vandenberg did the same. "Now, please come along."
"Business or pleasure?"
"Business, I'm afraid!"
"Okay, nothing personal then."
Before Mulder or Vandenberg could react, Kim simply withdrew into the pressroom, shutting the door behind her and, judging from the sound of it, locking it from the inside.
"Go this way," Vandenberg ordered. "I'll go the other way around!"
"Hey, wait," Mulder called to the other man as he quickly ran towards him, holding his gun ready at his side. "I've gotta ask you one thing."
"What?" Vandenberg had stopped again, briefly turning to meet the eyes of his partner.
It was unclear if it was Mulder's gun or his expression that alerted Vandenberg, but something made him raise his gun and point it at Mulder with the speed of an attacking snake.
"Who are you?" Mulder asked, panting a bit from the running.
"It really doesn't matter," the other man answered. "My name is Francis Vandenberg and you are to co-operate with me. That's all you need to know."
"Bullshit!"
"I really did think of you as a man of a better language," Vandenberg remarked, almost smiling. "But alas. You have to trust me. However I am, so to speak, on the right side in this."
"What is the right side in this?"
"Sorry, agent Mulder, but we do not have time for it now. Perhaps later. Now, in a slow motion, toss your weapon over the side of the fence, down towards the field."
"But-"
"Do it!" Vandenberg snapped and made a suggestive gesture with his free hand.
Sending Vandenberg an icy stare, Mulder complied and threw his gun as instructed. Then he looked at him again.
"There's no time. We have to get to Kimoto Takita now," Vandenberg said as if he read Mulder's mind. "I swear it is the best solution for everybody, including her."
"Why would I trust you?"
"You obviously wouldn't," Vandenberg sighed. "That's why I had to disarm you. Now, leave this place at once."
"What if I don't?"
"Then I'll pacify you," Vandenberg declared in a dead calm voice. "Get out!"
Before Mulder really had time to find a good answer to this, Vandenberg had turned around and was continuing upwards towards the press room. Mulder briefly stood still, looking towards him, and then he turned and ran down the stairs. He had to get his gun if he was to make any difference up there.
Fox Mulder ran as fast as he could out into the field where he quickly retrieved his weapon, having a pretty good idea of where it fell. He made sure he was ready to use it, then turned around to run to Kimoto Takita's rescue.
Just as he did, he heard the sound of gunshots. Two different weapons were fired after which silence once more fell over the stadium, leaving Mulder with an uncanny feeling about what had happened.
Hesitating only for a second, feeling much like half a year, he started to run towards the pressroom. He jumped across several steps and virtually flew towards the open door to the room, entering with his gun ready.
It was not a pretty sight. Who ever had been hit had been hit badly. There was blood on the table and splashes of it on the wall. A penetrating shot, hitting where it hurt. But other than the blood and a coarse stench of gunpowder, there was nothing of any real interest in here. Mulder was unable to tell who had been hit and what else had happened.
Gritting his teeth, he ran outside again, scanning the rows of seats for any signs of life.
"Kim!" It was a pretty desperate search to run through row after row of empty seats, shouting for his feline friend and getting no answer, but it seemed the only right thing to do at present. "Kim! It's me, Fox Mulder, and I'm here to help you! Please…"
He knew that Vandenberg had been serious when he said he would pacify him if he didn't leave. He also knew that this made it even more dangerous to run like this, shouting for Kim, but like he told Scully, somebody had to be on Kim's side.
"Mulder!"
When the answer came, it was not a shout but a coarse whisper from beneath some seats and it immediately made Mulder turn towards it.
There she was. Lying on her side, holding on to a small gun as if it was a life belt. Her left hand coiled under her and her clearly feline face twisted in pain. Her emerald eyes were bright and gazed at him in happy recognition as she showed her obvious canines in a wide grin.
"Nice to see you," she said in the same low voice. "I know, I said we would meet again. But okay, maybe I did not expect things to go like this."
"Kim? Are you hurt?"
"Yeah, he got me, that son of… well…" She grimaced a bit and changed her position with some effort. "But I got him too. The silly oaf."
"How bad is it?" Mulder asked as he kneeled next to her, still scanning the area for signs of Vandenberg. "Need a doctor? Would you trust me to get you one?"
"I just… need a good rest," Kim sighed, twitching slightly. "He got me all right, and it hurt too, but…" She briefly paused and made a disturbed grimace before looking at him again. "He got me with his stupid tranquill... tranc-liser, that's what he did. And I just can't cope with drugs. Far too… Sensitive… Know what I mean? Pretty soon you'll have dark blue fungi growing out of your nostrils from my point of view." Kim managed a brief smile.
"Okay, I see. What can I do?"
"Get me…" Kim's voice briefly trailed off as she looked at something out of focus, then she pulled herself together again. "Get me a couch. I've tried his dirty drugs before. I'll just need liquid. Lot's of water. And a nice sleep."
"But what about-"
"Never mind what!" Kim spitted, briefly piercing Mulder with her green eyes. Then the eyes glazed and she lost trail of him. Slowly, as if trying to fence it off, her head sank towards the concrete floor of the stadium. "Mulder, my canine friend," she whispered. Get me out of here. I'm not… coming along with… Vandenberg. It's not… It's really not fair."
Mulder briefly got up, looking around for his adversary, but Vandenberg was nowhere to be seen. Then he kneeled down next to Kim, taking her fragile body in his arms and lifting her up. He was relieved to find no obvious trails of blood.
"Nice," Kim's sleepy voice sounded as Mulder started to carry her towards the exit. "Figured this when I first saw you. Wanted this… In your arms… Nice…"
Mulder smiled clumsily at the remark but did not say anything. Kim's eyes did not open and he realised that she had drifted into unconsciousness.
As fast as he could, he got down to the car and put Kim at the back seat, covering her with a blanket. With one last look at the Toledo Sports Centre, revealing only the curious stare from Mrs Raymonds, he jumped into the car and drove off.
Still having the centre in the rear-view mirror, he took out his cell phone and dialled Scully.
o o o
To be continued…
