Scully had hoped Mulder would wait until at least seven that morning to head to the prison, but he insisted they leave immediately. It was three in the morning when they arrived. She let Mulder lead, considering the time was unusual for a visit.
When they stepped inside the prison, they were greeted by Eric Valdez, the prison warden. Scully found it odd that he was there so late, but she realized he must be in hot water over the escape.
Valdez took them into the security office. Mulder popped the tape in the VCR and hit play. He froze the scene of the cafeteria and pointed to the image of the prison guard Scully told him talked with Cohen quite often.
"Who is this guard?" Mulder asked.
"One of our finest, Henry Douglas," Valdez answered. "You came over here at three in the morning to talk about Henry?"
"Is he here now?" Mulder said, not answering Valdez's question. "We'd like to see him."
"Are you thinking he was involved, Agent Mulder?" Valdez replied, taking his turn to refuse answering a question.
"We don't want to jump to any conclusions," Scully cut in since she knew Mulder wasn't going to tone down his suspicions.
"Henry's a good guy, upstanding, one of our best," Valdez told them. "I can't imagine he'd be involved."
"We'd still like to speak with him," Mulder responded.
"He's on night shift," Valdez admitted. "I'll go get him."
Valdez stepped out of the security office and walked away. Mulder ejected the tape from the VCR. Scully stood with her hands planted on her hips. Neither spoke as they waited for Valdez to return with Henry.
After several minutes, the door opened and Henry Douglas entered. His blonde hair was cut short and he was just a touch taller than Mulder.
"I'm Henry Douglas," he spoke. "Valdez said you wanted to talk to me."
"I'm Agent Mulder, this is Agent Scully," Mulder told him. "We're from the FBI. We wanted to discuss Jake Cohen."
"It's pretty crazy he escaped," Henry commented. "I wasn't here the night it happened. I don't know how he managed it."
"You weren't working that night?" Mulder asked.
"Nope," Henry answered. "My day off."
"Where were you on that night?" he went on.
"Home," Henry replied. "I ran some errands during the day; stayed in and watched a movie that night."
"Anyone with you?" Mulder's eyes were fixed on him.
"I live alone." Henry's voice hardened. "What are you getting at? You think I helped him?"
"I think you know there was something different about him," Mulder said. "And I think you know he didn't escape Tuesday night."
Henry was quiet a moment, holding Mulder's eye contact. "What are you talking about?"
"You were friendly with him, talked to him," Mulder explained.
"Yeah, about as much as I did any other inmates," Henry told him. "You got to keep 'em in line. I tell them to shut up, to not to back talk."
"We viewed the security tapes and you appeared to talk to Cohen quite a bit until Saturday," Mulder responded. "Then you ignored him."
"I don't understand how that matters." Henry shook his head. "Big deal. I'm a guard, he's an inmate, we don't have to talk every day. Now, I have to get back to my shift."
Henry brushed past Mulder and walked out of the room. Scully turned her gaze to her partner and lifted her eyebrows at him.
"That went well," she commented.
"I know he had something to do with it," Mulder responded gruffly, under his breath.
Valdez entered the room and held the door open. He looked at Mulder.
"Anything else I can help you with?" he asked, his tone indicating that he was not pleased.
"No," Mulder replied and walked out the room.
Scully held back a sigh and gave a tight smile to Valdez.
"Thank you for your time," she told him.
She left the room and caught up to Mulder's side.
"What's our plan?" she said.
"Get some rest," he answered. "Talk to Henry Douglas again later."
Scully's elbow rested on the car door, her chin planted in her palm. She stared out the window as Mulder drove. He had been talking since they turned onto the main road. Scully was half listening, half wishing she was asleep.
"He helped get him out of there, Scully," Mulder went on. "I'm not sure how, but he did. He knows what Cohen is capable of. Maybe he wanted in."
She sat up straighter in her seat and looked over at her partner.
"Mulder, a person cannot project their image like that," she told him. "And even if he claimed he could, why would Henry Douglas believe him?"
"Maybe he wanted to know how to project himself," Mulder replied. "Cohen would teach him."
"I don't know, Mulder." Scully looked back out her window. "Perhaps it's about time we join the other agents in their investigation."
Mulder was about to disagree when his cell phone rang. He reached into pocket and pulled it out.
"Agent Mulder," he said into his phone.
Scully directed his gaze back to him curiously. Mulder slowed the car and nodded.
"Okay. Yes. We'll be there."
He hung up his phone and tucked it back into his pocket.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Cohen's still in the area," Mulder informed her. "In a warehouse across town."
Mulder turned the car around on the empty stretch of road and sped off in the other direction. Scully stared at him, confused.
"How did they figure that out?"
"Police got a call from a man who saw Cohen and even talked to him," Mulder explained. "That's how I know it's not his projection."
He pressed his foot harder on the gas pedal and they reached the warehouse in ten minutes, despite missing a turn the first time around.
As soon as Mulder parked the car, he was working his seat belt off and reaching for his gun. Scully cautiously unbuckled her seat belt.
"Maybe we should wait for back up," she suggested.
"I'm not letting him catch on and get away," Mulder replied and got out of the car.
Scully frowned and popped open her car door. She stepped out and quietly shut the door. Mulder headed for the worn metal door in the front of the warehouse. Scully pulled out her gun and followed after him.
It was dark inside the warehouse and Scully kept close to Mulder. There was old machinery and construction materials littering the floor.
"I'm going to head that way," Mulder whispered and pointed, "you fan out over there. Call if you see him and I'll back you up."
"Okay."
Mulder, gun and flashlight aimed, walked cautiously away from Scully. She glanced at her partner before heading in the direction he had indicated. She kept her eyes wide, sweeping over the darkness, looking for Cohen.
Scully was careful and deliberate with each step. She was still a little on edge about going in without back up, especially since this man was dangerous, but she knew they couldn't be without help for long.
Mulder saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned and ran toward the movement. He spotted Jake Cohen and picked up his pace.
"Freeze, Cohen," Mulder commanded. "Or I will shoot you."
Scully heard Mulder call out and tried to figure out where he was. She began to run toward the sound of his voice when suddenly she was grabbed by the arm and yanked backward as another powerful hand knocked her gun from her grip.
"Mulder!" she screamed.
The hand that grabbed her covered over her mouth, muffling her voice. She felt the barrel of a gun against her temple. She turned her head just enough to see Jake Cohen out of the corner of her eye.
"Don't move, don't fight, don't make a sound," he warned. "I have no reason to keep you alive, so the moment you make a mistake, I will put a bullet through your brain."
Scully was breathing in and out heavily through her nose, trying to form a plan on how she was going to get out of this. She wasn't sure where her gun was and she knew any tactic to get him away from her would lead to his gun going off.
"We're going to wait, understand?" he asked. "We're going to wait just a little bit, okay?" He pressed the gun harder against her head. "Okay?"
She nodded and he tightened his grasp on her.
"Now, I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth so I can get this tie around your wrists and if you make any noise at all, you'll be dead before you can even finish a word, got it?"
Scully nodded again. Slowly, Cohen removed his hand from her mouth. Her lips parted and she breathed in as he brought out a long cable tie from his pocket.
She weighed her options. It was either let Cohen do what he wanted or try to fight him. But she knew he was unstable and if she did try to escape, he could shoot her without a second thought.
Cohen pressed himself against her as he worked the tie around both her wrists. He pulled it tight and she winced. She could hear Mulder calling out for her, but he wasn't near her. He sounded worried.
"All right now," Cohen whispered in her ear as he covered her mouth once more. "We're going to walk very slowly. Again, if you try something, you're dead. Now move."
He gave her a nudge and she stepped forward. He forced her to take a few more steps before he stopped.
"Get your shoes off," he commanded. "They make too much noise."
She didn't move.
"Now."
Scully used her left foot to slide the back of her right shoe off her heel. She slipped out of the shoe and then did the same to her left foot, having a bit more trouble using her bare foot.
Once both shoes were off, Cohen kneed her in the back of the leg to get her moving. Scully began walking, not knowing where he was taking her. She could no longer hear Mulder and she wondered where he was.
They reached a closed door and Cohen turned her around. He used his backside to push against the rail and open the solid metal door. He pulled her outside with him.
The ground was cold on her feet and she stepped in a puddle as he forced her over to a dirty dark blue van. He kept the gun against her head, but removed his hand from her mouth.
"Shhh..." he said and opened the back door of the van.
Cohen shoved her inside and slammed the door shut. Quickly, he got in on the driver's side and sped off. Scully rolled around on the cold metal of the floor as he took corners too fast and sharp. When he stopped at a red light, she worked on sitting up.
But, as he took off again, she fell over, landing hard on her arm. Scully let out a shaky breath and wondered where he was taking her and what he was going to do. She felt sick and wished she had tried to call out to Mulder again, despite Cohen's threats.
"Scully! Scully."
Mulder heard a snapping sound come from below him. He aimed his flashlight on the ground and saw he had stepped on a cell phone. He picked it up and realized it was Scully's.
His flashlight beam quickly scanned over the floor, but stopped when it landed on Scully's gun. Mulder reached down and grabbed her gun.
"Scully?" He called out, taking another look around. "Scully!"
He took a few more steps, flashlight still aimed on the ground as he wondered if he would find her there, hurt or worse. Mulder stopped when he saw her shoes. He aimed the beam forward and that was when he saw the door across the room.
Running, Mulder hit the door at full force, throwing it open and causing it to smash into the wall. He looked around at the outside environment, but there was no sign of Cohen or Scully.
"Scully! Scully!"
A police car came to a screeching halt in front of Mulder. The passenger side door flew open and a blonde woman, no more than thirty five, stepped out of the car. She approached Mulder quickly.
"Agent Mulder?" the woman said. "I'm Detective Sandra Hayes. What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Cohen took Agent Scully," Mulder told her.
"You saw him?" Hayes asked, eyebrows raised.
"I think," Mulder replied. "He was definitely here though because my partner is gone."
"You should have waited for back up," Hayes responded harshly.
"I couldn't let him go," Mulder explained.
"Well, you did, didn't you?" she retorted.
Three more police cars pulled up. Detective Hayes signaled them to go inside the building through the door Mulder had used to get out.
"It's not exactly my fault," Mulder defended himself. "Cohen plays tricks."
"Right," she agreed crisply.
Detective Hayes headed toward the building. Mulder remained outside, trying to figure out his next move. Cohen had Scully and Mulder had no idea on how they got away, where they were going, and what he would do to her, but he knew for certain that it couldn't be good.
"Come on."
Cohen dragged her into the small cabin in the rural woods. Scully found herself standing in a living room with fireplace. It smelled musty and she identified the prison guard, Henry Douglas, in a family photo on the wall.
"He was in on it," she said and looked at Cohen.
"Shut up, please," he replied calmly and pulled her toward the hallway.
"I have to use the bathroom," she told him.
He took her down the hall and she could see the kitchen in front of her. There was a closed door off to the left. Cohen yanked her into a room on the right. It was a small bathroom with a tub and no shower.
Cohen shoved her toward the toilet and spun her around to face him. He reached for her pants and she stepped to the side.
"What are you doing?" Scully demanded to know.
"Do you have to go or not?" Cohen asked in response.
"I can do it myself," she assured him.
"Go ahead."
Cohen stepped away from her, his eyes locked with hers. She stared at him in return.
"Untie me," she said.
"No," he replied.
"Just so I can use the bathroom," Scully told him.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" He lifted his eyebrows at her. "Huh?"
Cohen reached for her. She flinched as he stuck his hand into her pocket and pulled out her FBI wallet. He flipped it open and examined it.
"Dana Scully, huh?" He looked up at her. "Scully. What kind of name is that? Where's it from?" Cohen waited briefly for a response. "Hm? What. You're not talking to me now? I can just let you piss your pants, you know."
He placed her wallet in his pocket and reached for her pants again. She tensed, but didn't fight him. He unbuttoned her pants, then ran the zipper down. He yanked her pants and underwear down and shoved her harshly down onto the cold toilet seat.
"What's your middle name?" he asked.
"Don't have one," she answered.
"Liar." Cohen folded his arms over his chest. "I see your cross. You're religious. Your parents gave you a middle name. Or you've got a confirmation name. Catholic, right?"
Scully didn't want to have a conversation with this man, so she gave into his first question.
"Katherine. What's yours?"
"I honestly don't have one," he responded.
Cohen pulled her back to her feet and yanked up her pants and underwear. He zipped her pants, but left them unbuttoned, and brought her back into the hallway.
He took her into the kitchen and to a door in the corner of the room. He opened it and flicked on a light switch before going in first.
Cohen held her hard by the arm and pulled her down an old staircase. When they reached the ground, she saw she was in a basement. It was retro in decor, the furniture from the 1970's with their faded orange, yellows, and browns.
"They're going to find me, you know," she told him.
"Of course they will," Cohen agreed sarcastically.
He led Scully over to the couch and took out a pair of handcuffs. He placed a cuff around her right wrist and let the other half hang.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, trying not to sound panicked.
Cohen yanked her hard toward the support pole next to the arm of the couch. Cohen cuffed her to it before pulling out a switchblade knife. Scully winced as she felt the metal against her wrist. He quickly cut the cable tie and it fell to the floor.
Scully pulled her now free left arm around her, thankful that it wasn't strained anymore. Cohen shoved her down onto the couch and the handcuff dug into her wrist. She fumbled with it, changing the angle of the cuff to make sitting on the couch easier.
Cohen picked up a basin from the corner of the room and brought it over to her. She eyed it up as he placed it on the other side of the couch, next to the pole.
"Use that to piss in," he instructed. "I'll see you later."
He walked to a CD player next to the staircase and turned it on. Music started playing, too loud for her ears. Cohen walked up the stairs, turned off the light, and slammed the door. Her eyes widened as she tried to see in the pitch darkness and she was very much alone.