Chapter Eleven
The X-Files Office, FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
September 26th, 2000, 6:44 p.m.
Scully unlocked the door and tossed the recovered 'Litchfield experiment' X-File onto Mulder's bureau. She then closed off the office and locked herself in. Should have brought a large garbage can with me. No doubt that the amount of case files will completely fill it to the brim. Oh well. Maybe if I do it little by little, no one will notice.
She slid the top cabinet towards herself and started to thumb her way throughout the files. "Hmm...that's odd. This drawer seems less full than before." Just to make sure that she was not going insane, she opened the top cabinet adjacent to the first. It was not filled to the brim with case files either. A small premonition in the back of her mind began to grow, which made her pull a stack of the X-Files out, and they landed haphazardly onto the desk. She tore the covers away as she skimmed through the names hastily. "Flukeman, Big Blue, New Jersey Devil...what the...this can't be right."
Scully shoved the files away and returned to scour the open drawers. Seconds later, she futilely shut them. "I hate it when I'm right," she mumbled. Gone. All the conspiracy files; they were all gone. Someone had beaten her to the chore. A muffled expletive drew her attention to the locked door along with the jingling of a set of keys and before Scully could get to it, Doggett burst through the door.
"You wanna tell me why you locked yourself in here?" he barked. She turned and leaned against the front of the desk. "And why are all those files all over the place? Doing a little housework?"
"Just looking for the truth. And I'm not going to find it...in this office at least," she pointed to the cabinets with her head.
"I'm not following your riddles today, Agent Scully, I'm sorry. I've had a very long day," he announced gruffly and rested his hands atop the visitor's chair.
"As have I. I'm saying that all of our X-Files having to do with the Consortium have disappeared--not missing--but are definitely gone." When he gave her an inquisitive look with his eyes, she sighed. "That's about half of our case files."
"Well...who would do a thing like that?"
"Although I hate to admit my suspicions, I'm thinking towards Skinner."
"Oh, come on, Agent Scully, he's been a big help to us...-"
"Because he's been concerned with his health. Someone has a hold of his life and is trying to strangle him to death with the chain. I don't want to believe that it's true myself...perhaps it isn't."
"He did send us out of the office with jobs that could last all day, and besides the janitors and us, he's the only one with a key. I doubt very much that the janitors have been in here today," Doggett nodded and eyed the wastebasket that was hall full.
"Let's see if he's gone home yet," Scully said, and they rode up to his office in the elevator. Fortunately, Doggett caught hold of Kim just as she was locking up the outer door to Skinner's atrium.
"Oh, hey, Agent Doggett," Kim greeted him first. "Agent Scully. I was just on my way out. Something I can do for you?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact. He's not still in, is he?" Doggett inquired.
"No, that's why I'm closing up tonight. Do you need something from the office? I could let you back in."
"No, we don't. Skinner wasn't taking any calls or receiving anyone. Do you know if he was in meetings all day with Kersh or someone else?" Scully asked.
"I don't mind speaking with you, Agents, but do you mind if we do it while I'm going down to my car? I'm pretty tired." The assistant did not wait for their approval; instead, she just started to walk off, and they fell in step with her on the way to the lift. "Now, let's see...yes, he was in a meeting, but it wasn't with Kersh. I didn't see who it was, but I know what Kersh's voice sounds like."
"Did you recognize the voice?"
"No, but I think his name was Krycek. Walter only mentioned it once, but I remember it very clearly because it was in anger. And also because it was pretty much the only statement from him I could hear coming through that huge oak door," Kim shrugged and got into the elevator with them.
"How about any abnormal behavior from him?" Scully questioned her.
"Left the office for lunch like usual...there were a few times when I was out making some copies and for my own lunch as well, but...he came and left at the usual times. So if Walter did do anything strange, I was unaware of it."
"This man, Krycek, uh...did you hear any unusual activity coming from Skinner's office today?" Doggett queried. Kim gave him a puzzled expression as the doors opened to the parking garage.
"I wasn't really paying all that much attention, Agents, except for that one time when I heard Skinner yell at the man. Then nothing else happened. Why, is there something wrong? Is Walter in trouble?"
"We're not sure of that yet, but we hope not," Scully replied evasively. As Kim parted ways from the two, Scully signaled Doggett to follow her over to her car. "Get in."
"Whoa, what's going on?"
"We're going to Georgetown University to question some doctors over this case."
"What do they have to do with Skinner? Or our case files' disappearance?"
"Nothing, on those two particular issues."
"I need a better explanation before I go free falling into an infinite black hole like this, Agent Scully."
"Just get in, and I'll explain on the way. Please trust me." Once he acquiesced and shut the passenger door, she started the engine and backed out of the space.
"I've been compromising myself and the Bureau...for selfish purposes, I'm afraid," Scully began. "Like I said at the beginning of the Litchfield case, we were being used...by a group of men and women that are immune to the laws of this country."
"Why? And how?"
"Because they have an alternative agenda...supposedly to protect the human race from being annihilated."
"Ah, so this is all a big conspiracy to stop the aliens from killing us...like that movie...what was it...Independence Day?"
"Sort of...except for the fact that no one got to meet with them before the killing happened. Please don't ask me for the details--I'm not sure of how everything exactly occurred. I just know how we're being used...our department, I mean." Scully pulled out in front of a Lincoln Town car from the 1970s and received the very loud blare of a horn for doing so.
"All right, I think I'm getting it, sort of. We were pulled off of the case and Skinner was infected. They wanted to keep using those kids. What I don't understand is why they'd do such a thing. Can you fill in some of those blanks for me, Agent Scully?"
"A few years ago, Agent Mulder and I investigated into some cases of extreme radiation that were brought over on a French marine vessel in California. The end result of those was not due to exposure; we found that it was a parasitic being that was infecting its host. If it stays long enough in the human body, it can ingest all of the vital organs and eventually propagate from that state."
"What's this thing look like?"
"A filmy black oil. It can jump from body to body if needed--or even be injected into the bloodstream just like a bio-weapon."
"I've never heard of anything like this...just like that cloning you were talking about. Is this some kind of alien technology, too?" He removed his SIG Sauer's empty clip and exchanged it for another.
"No, it's a virus that grows into an actual being. Mulder called them extraterrestrial biological entities. I think what the Consortium's now trying to do is rid them from wiping out our species. And they're using the children to eradicate them."
"By killing off the humans this virus has infected? Sounds like a good plan all except for this...how do they know who's got it?"
"I'm not sure. That's why we're going to Georgetown to talk to the doctors that are creating the children."
"And what was your role in all this?" His tone had changed from the typical one he used with colleagues to the pitch and intensity that he usually reserved for his suspects.
"I lied to you and Skinner a few days ago when I said that I hadn't been approached by anyone--back at my hotel, Krycek was there, along with another woman involved in this conspiracy. They convinced me that if I helped bring these two doctors together, Bowman and Gossamer, that it would help..."
"Help what, Scully?" He was fuming at this point, and she did not blame him.
"Help bring Agent Mulder back."
"You weren't kidding about being selfish." Doggett replaced the weapon into his arm holster and tucked his trench coat around it. "What else did they want you to do?"
"I was supposed to also destroy several of the X-Files. But I suspect that Skinner was involved in that," Scully continued and ran a red light.
"Were you actually going to go through with it?" Her reticence was enough of an answer to his inquiry, but Doggett was overwrought with his emotions. He wanted more than just a hunch that he was right. "Goddamnit, Scully, if you ever expect me to trust you ever again, you'd better give me a goddamned verbal response!"
"Ask yourself what you'd do if it were you."
"Don't change the subject! It doesn't matter what I'd do, because you apparently didn't trust me enough to ask me beforehand or explain any of this."
"It does, too, because you'd immediately run to Skinner for approval, or even worse, Kersh."
"Is that what you think of me, Agent Scully? That I'm a big tattletale? Maybe you don't know me as well as you'd think. We've known one another for about five months now, and I've gotten to know about you. But you've never given me the chance to reveal who I am to you." Doggett glanced down at the tie that was choking him, yanked it away from his neck, and gave her a wintery glare. "I admit that I do play by the rules, but from what I understand, you used to do that, too."
"Yeah, and nearly every single time that I insisted upon doing so, I got bitten right in the ass for doing it." She returned his vexed stare and braked sharply as she wheeled the car to the right.
"Believe it or not, Agent Scully, but I have made exceptions...for you, in the past, I might add. There was a case I was involved in not too long ago that involved Agent Mulder in the murder of a man. A man, not a kid," he interrupted her before she could utter an objection. "I investigated it, and as it turns out, it wasn't exactly a normal man. Nor did Mulder kill him. But you signed that 302, though you didn't go with him. This was about two weeks before he went missing. Sound familiar?"
"Vaguely."
"I was there, in that town, in Pennsylvania, less than a month ago following up on a lead on Mulder. But do you know what I realized after it ended? If I reported that event or any of your deceptions that you'd be dismissed and your reputation tarnished. That's just one instance."
"Why didn't you tell me about this before?"
"Isn't that my line?" Scully pulled into the science buildings' parking lot, rolled down her window, and showed her credentials to the guard. The blockade came up shortly afterward and he waived them ahead. "Look, just what is it that you plan on doing afterward...if we get to question these mad scientists?"
"What I originally planned to do at the beginning of this investigation--stop and arrest the offending parties. I apologize for not being truthful with you, Agent Doggett." She parked the car, and they strolled into the organic sciences complex.
"What can I do for you, sir and ma'am?" a patrolling sentry questioned them and after the FBI agents offered up their identification, he released his grip on his sheathed blackjack.
"We're looking for Professor Shannon Bowman. He was also working with a female named Dr. Anne Gossamer. She looked like this," Scully declared and held up a photograph of Gossamer. He scrutinized it very carefully and shook his head.
"Yep, I know who Professor Bowman is, but I ain't seen the likes of her."
"How about him? Have you seen him at all today?" Doggett prodded.
"Nope. He's been out sick--all of his classes got canceled today, as a matter of fact." The two agents traded eye contact and the same expression of doubt.
"You remember where his office is?" Doggett asked Scully who nodded. They took off in a rapid pace with the poor security guard out of breath just behind them. As suspected, the office that had been completely filled with plants, books, and diplomas was now empty--as was the receptionist's desk. The phones had also disappeared. All that remained was the furniture.
Scully used her picklock to the previously locked door to the laboratory. The only equipment that was around was a set of Bunsen burners, a test tube rack, and a few flasks and beakers. Everything was as clean as a whistle as she inspected it and even free of fingerprints as Doggett dredged some of the test tubes in powder. "They sure made a clean sweep," the sentry commented and scratched his white haired head.
"I'm gonna call Detective Gardener. She might have an idea of what to do next. I also want to see if she got those files that you sent, " Doggett stated and retrieved his cell phone. He inched closer to the window for better reception and about thirty seconds later, hung his head in defeat. "No answer. But did you-"
Scully shook hers in response and left the tampered equipment alone. "I never got the chance. I was stuck doing autopsies all day, remember?"
"Right. I guess that's that."
"What do you mean? Call her back up--or try the receptionist and ask if she's been into the precinct yet today. If she's not, we're going to Arizona."
"Look, Agent Scully, I'm all for checking up on a fellow officer's well being, but we shouldn't pursue this any longer. Remember that we'd not only be disobeying the FBI but the Attorney General as well. I'm not so sure that I'm so willing and able to flush my career down the tubes just like that," he snapped his fingers.
"All the Attorney General has to know is that we're looking into finding a person that's gone missing and is in possession of a federal case with sensitive information."
"All right, I agree with you. I'll meet you at the airport tomorrow morning with our travel arrangements."
"Good."
Scully's Apartment, Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
September 26th, 2000, 9:27 p.m.
After she dropped Doggett off back at Headquarters, Scully went straight back home and found Skinner standing outside her doorstep. He looked just as exhausted, if not more than she. "Sir, what're you doing here?" she inquired and the doctor in her began to check him out.
"I haven't been injured, Scully, leave me alone," Skinner replied while he watched her open up her apartment and usher him inside. "But I feel as if a thousand bricks have been dropped on me."
"Sit down, sir. Do you want any tea?" she questioned him as she dumped her keys onto the same table her phone and answering machine shared.
"No, I think I might need something stronger. I don't suppose you'd...-"
"I'll be back in a minute." Scully disappeared from sight, and Skinner pulled out a chair for himself at her dinner table. By the time she came back, she was settling two tumblers down onto it in front of him as well as a full bottle of Dewar's scotch. "I decided that I needed one, too," she muttered and let him pour his own first. "Before we say anything else, I just want to know if I was right."
"I did. I did it, Scully." She watched him consume a double like it was a glass of water and let the liquid pour freely into her own tumbler. "But I tell you, that in doing so, I feel as if I'm now carrying the weight of an elephant on my shoulders. I destroyed your work...years of Mulder's hard toil...and for what you might wonder? Deep down, Agent Scully, I always knew that Mulder would die for the X-Files...and later on, I realized that I would do the same. But for you, I was never sure--I'm still not. And when your life was threatened, I just couldn't say no to him."
"What do you mean, sir?"
"I lied to you back in the hospital...hell...two years ago, I lied to you, too, when I said that I didn't know who was behind the nano machines in my blood. It was Krycek all along, and he showed me proof that he could do almost the exact same thing to you."
"How?" Scully proceeded to toss back a gulp of the scotch and wiped some of it off of her lips with the back of her hand.
"The chip that was given to you to cure your cancer. Its technology is miraculous, but it came with a price. He could push the button on either of us if he wanted to and we'd be dead in an instant. I told him that he could kill me if he wanted to...that my life was forfeit...but I cannot stand to see one of my agents suffering."
"I should've let Mulder kill him a long time ago," Scully mumbled and removed her suit coat. "And I was asked to do the same thing, but you kind of...acted first." She suddenly felt glad that if Mulder came back, that she would not at least feel quite so guilty as Skinner, since he was the one that had acted first.
"So that's where you were for the past two days. How far does your betrayal go? I know I'm not an Eliot Ness myself, but I'd like to know as your friend and as a superior." He wanted to take some more but knew that he'd regret it--he was already breaching protocol by visiting a female underling by himself and consuming alcohol with her was an even bigger sin.
"They asked me to find out where the final Eve 8 was and bring her to work with one of their scientists at Georgetown University. Apparently, they'd hit several dead ends and needed outside help. So, I did. I also went to the Gunmen to retrieve the actual case file." Scully finished her glass and capped the bottle. "Sir, I just remembered something. You didn't destroy everything. They have been recovering files that had been thought to be lost in the fire. And I took the Litchfield file with me--I never returned it back to the office until today."
"It's no good, Scully. They're probably still going to be monitoring you from all sorts of channels."
"Then we'll investigate those types of cases...unofficially," Scully resolved. "I want to bring them down. I don't care about aliens or invasions or viruses or plagues anymore. I want those bastards brought to justice somehow."
"You also want revenge for being double crossed...don't you?" Sometimes she hated being read like a book--by Mulder was one thing since he used to profile, but when her boss was starting to predict her MO, she became even more disturbed.
"Among other reasons," she hissed. "Doggett and I are catching a flight out to Flagstaff tomorrow morning. Detective Gardener's gone missing. Will you be coming with us?"
"No, I'll stay here in D.C. to keep up appearances. She'll be dead, Scully. That I'm sure of. You know how these people don't like to leave loose ends. I'm surprised that you didn't find the scientists the same way. Am I right?"
"We didn't find them at all. Gone--left without a shred of evidence. Dr. Bowman called in sick and high tailed it out of there probably with Dr. Gossamer."
"Well, I'd better head off back home." Skinner took his glass into the kitchen and left it on the counter.
"Are you sure you want to be driving now, sir? You just had a bit to drink."
"I can hold my own, Agent. I didn't have any more than two shots. At my height and weight, my alcohol capacity stretches about five times more than Mulder's. Not that I've ever seen him drunk, but I have a feeling that he'd be a flyweight."
"Do you think...sir...that if he comes back, he'll ever forgive us?"
"I think he'll come to an understanding, Scully, especially with you. He's hurting just as much as you are right now because he's not with you." Her eyebrow furrowed at that comment but realized that he probably was speaking about work. Skinner took out his keys from his coat pocket and let himself out. "Thanks for the drink."