2 hours later
Mulder was sweating heavily. He was gasping for air and he couldn't breathe. Dr Fessen was nervous and was desperately trying to ease his pain, but it was too great. Mulder was going to die if he didn't do something about his physical state and fast. A couple of times he had heard him gasp Scully's name, and Dr Fessen and Skinner sat biting their nails nervously as Mulder was in critical condition.
Scully frowned in confusion as she awoke with a start as the car came to an abrupt stop. She opened her eyes and blinked at the brightness. She turned to her driver.
'This is as far as I will take you; you will have to get other transport across Brazil. This is about 200 metres away from the boarder where you can get across.'
Scully nodded at his words and felt her stomach tighten with worry as she wondered how she would get through customs.
'Thank you, thank you so much. I don't have any money, but I can give you my…'
'-No worry, I will not be needing any money or any jewellery.' The man said with a small smile as Scully reached to unbuckle her watch strap. She frowned in protest but he help up his hand and smiled.
'You are in trouble, I can see this. I will not let you lose valuable things on me, I am grateful that you are telling me the truth and that you have not disobeyed me. Therefore, I will not want any thanks.' He said. Scully smiled happily and felt so relieved at this man's courtesy. She nodded and reached out and shook his hand. The man pointed in the direction of the way she had to go, and she got out of the car. She slammed the heavy door shut and then watched as the man drove away from her, leaving her out again in the open to smuggle her way through the dangers of homeland security.
Scully made up her mind quick enough to what she was going to do. She turned on her heels and ran into the depths of the woods in front of her to find some coverage. She took out her gun and clicked it into place- not that she wanted to use it on official men.
Seeing a patch of wood that was clearing in front of her, she guessed that the border was nearing her. She frowned in concentration and tried to see through the trees as she made her way towards the clearing. The sun was bright in the sky and she held a hand to her eyes to shield them as she made her way. Suddenly she heard footsteps and took refuge behind a tree trunk, nervous she would be seen. Scully closed her eyes as she heard male voices come nearer to her and she took a deep breath, and her thoughts turned to Mulder again in this moment of silence.
Scully squeezed her eyes shut as she felt her arm pang with pain again. She tried desperately not to wince in pain as it was nearly unbearable, and the men were near. She frowned in the heat and the pain as she heard their footsteps pass her and go to the other side of the tree. She felt her palms sweat as she heard them move away from her.
A few moments later after making sure they were far enough away, Scully gritted her teeth as she turned from around the tree into the open. She was terrified that they would still be near, but to her great relief she saw that they weren't. She took a deep breath and moved further through the forest towards the border. She quickly put her gun back in its place and took long and deep breaths as the pain in her arm continued to annoy her. She was desperately in need of water and shelter- but she knew that there was no time to stop. Once she was over the border, she would keep going until she found what she was looking for- the cure for Mulder.
After about ten minutes of walking, with the leaves crackling under her boots as she staggered nearer towards a clearing, she heard the sound of cars passing. Scully gasped with surprise and broke into a run as she followed the clearing and the sound of the cars. She ran for about five minutes and then stopped suddenly as she heard voices again and sounds of radios. She gasped as she saw the clearing turning into a large security centre. She was at the border.
'We've got to get him to a hospital now.' Dr Fessen said urgently to Skinner as Mulder started to look very blue. 'He's going to suffocate! This is the time to get him out of here!'
'Scully told us not to take him to a hospital because they wouldn't understand what was wrong with him!' Skinner shouted.
'I'm going to be his doctor there! Trust me!' Fessen shouted as he grabbed Mulder's arms and held him down as his body started to thrash about violently. Skinner frowned wth concern and confusion- torn between the voice of Scully and the voice of this doctor who he also trusted, however he wasn't sure how far his trust should go. Skinner looked at Mulder again and felt his emotions take hold of him.
'All right! All right lets go!' Skinner shouted desperately over Mulder's gasps. He sighed heavily and moved towards him to help Dr Fessen pick him up and take him to the car. They heaved him upwards and then lifted him across the room and out of the door. Dr Fessen looked at Mulder with worried eyes and Skinner felt his palm sweat with fear for losing Mulder. He took a deep sigh and nodded as Fessen motioned to him to help get Mulder in the back of his car.
Scully clicked her gun into place and scanned the area suspiciously. She couldn't see anyone which posed at threat at the moment, however the area looked hard to get past illegally and she knew that she had nothing to help get her through- no passport, she'd lost that on the plane. She was also supposed to be dead.
Scully took a deep breath and took her first few steps forward down the hill towards the heavy gate. She was still in the trees and was covered, but she needed to get down the small hill she was on and onto the road. Scully's head swam with ideas, and one seemed like the only possible way to get through the border, but she knew it was going to be incredibly risky. But she knew it was the only thing that she could do, to save Mulder's life.
Scully listened to hear the next car come near the border and in a slick movement while swinging her gun up to face the driver, she jumped out from behind the trees right in front of a small van which screeched to a painful halt.
The driver cursed loudly as he nearly ran into the short, small American looking woman and he rubbed the sweat off his brow nervously as she saw the gun in the woman's hands. He gasped and grabbed the door of his van and pushed it open quickly.
'Stay calm! I need you to stay calm!' She was saying to him. He could just about understand her English and gasped nervously as she pointed it directly at his head. He couldn't believe this was happening.
Scully felt her heart race with desperation and panic in herself. She was a mixture of emotions and tears threatened to fall from her eyes as she thought about how far she was going- but it was the only way to do it.
She didn't want to use her gun, she just needed to take control of the situation. She needed to persuade him to hide her in the back of his van so that she could get through the boarder.
'Sir, please calm down, I don't want to hurt you.' She said softly to the man who looked terrified as he raised his hands in surrender. 'I won't hurt you if you stay calm and don't shout!' She said and the man nodded weakly. She took steps towards him and saw the shock on his face. 'Do you understand me?' She asked, and the man nodded quickly.
'Y-Yes..' He said weakly. She took a deep breath and nodded.
'I need you to get me past the border. All you need to do is let me get in the back of your van and hide while you go through security.' She said simply and the man seemed to look confused. 'I need to get through the border.' Scully said slowly and then the man nodded to show he understood. Scully sensed his uncertainty of her. 'I am not a criminal- but I have no identification with me and I am on a very important mission. Please trust me, I will not hurt you.' She said slowly and clearly so he could understand. He nodded nervously and Scully moved to the back of the van. He followed slowly and went to open the back for her. She frowned in concentration as the man opened his van and showed what was inside- a few rugs and old bags. Scully looked at the man.
'I… do… deliver…' The man said nervously and in simple English. Scully nodded and got into the back of the van making her way to the very end and towards the driving seat. She would keep her gun against him to make sure he went through with it. Scully felt awful, but she knew it was a matter of life and death for Mulder.
The man nervously got into the front seat and saw her behind him and he jumped. Scully muttered a sorry but her kept her gun near his back as he turned to the front and sighed.
'I won't hurt you if you get me through this- just act as normal.' She said seriously. The driver nodded and swallowed heavily. With one last nervous sigh he started the van and made his way down the road towards the border security.
Skinner paced the hospital floors nervously as Mulder was rushed into the E.R. He closed his eyes and tried to let the stress inside of him pass, but it just wouldn't. If Scully didn't find out how to cure him and help them keep the disease under control- he would definitely be dead in the next few hours.
Skinner shook his head as the horrible thought came into his head and he felt sorrow hit his chest as he thought about Scully's reaction to the horrible event- if it happened…
Scully was sweating in the heat of the back of the van and the road was bumpy. As they turned to the right she saw the border security start to appear and she started to feel nervous. She prayed that the plan would go all right, but she feared the worst.
The van pulled up slowly as the security guards came to the side of the van and enclosed on them. Scully kept her gun in place but hid under the rugs and in the darkness of the back of the van. She tried desperately hard not to make a sound.
The muffled voices of the officials and the van driver kept her feeling alert and awake. The voices were unclear and Scully heard the mexican men talking to the driver. It all sounded very calm. Scully was relieved when the officials patted his roof of the van and then the engine started again, and it was done. She was through the border.
Scully breathed a huge sigh of relief as she felt the van moving its way along the roads. She looked up to see the driver and saw that he was driving normally. She slowly got up and made her way to the front of the van, keeping her gun low as not to frighten him.
'Thank you.' She said to him, and the man turned in surprise to her and took a deep breath. Scully looked at the road ahead. 'Where is the first village?' Scully asked. The man looked at her with confusion and the pointed ahead of him.
'Village.' He said simply and pointed to a set of straw like houses. Scully shook her head in dibelief. What a place to be hiding.
'Could you take me there?' She asked. The man nodded and they turned left off the main road and towards the village.
They neared the village and the driver started to slow down. Scully got ready to get out the van and prepared herself. She looked at the man with friendly eyes.
'Thank you, thank you so much.' She said and the man nodded, still shaken from seeing her with a gun. He slowed right down just outside the simple village and Scully opened the back door and slid out of the van. She looked ahead of her and took a deep breath. Checking her gun was in place, she ran towards the village quickly and swiftly, without being seen.
Scully heard the sound of innocent young children and families as she backed up against one of the straw houses. She felt guilt and fear for them, this was going to be dangerous. She wondered what on earth they would think if they saw her. She needed to get in without being seen. Suddenly, from out of the corner of her eye she saw a white man, who definetely did not look Brazilian. She frowned in suspicion as she saw him wearing whites and cotton trousers. This man had strong features and dark hair and was pacing in front of the house she was hiding behind. Scully frowned with concentration and edged towards him slowly. She took a deep breath and then, with all of her training and thought in order, she reached out from behind the house and grabbed the man by the back of his white cotton shirt and pulled him against the house. He cried out for a split second but Scully covered his mouth with her hand and stuck her gun to his throat.
Their eyes met and she glared into his. The man's eyes were wide and looked fearful of her and he scrambled to get free but Scully wasn't going to let it happen. She pushed the gun further into his neck and pushed him against the wall harder.
'My name is Agent Scully. I think you know why I'm here.' She said, and then in anger and kicked him hard in the balls and the man's face crumped up in agony and she kept her hand over his mouth.
'Now, listen to me. Do you know how Alexander is?' She asked slowly. The man paused for a moment and then nodded. Scully let out a small smile.
'Good. Now, can you take me to him?' She said simply. And the man nodded. Scully took a deep breath and turned the man around quickly. 'If you dare say a word I'll shoot you dead, you hear me?' She said angrily, and the man nodded nervously. Scully pushed the gun under his shirt and agaisnt his back.
'Right, take me to him, and act normal.' She said strongly, and the man took a deep breath. He walked out from behind the house. They looked normal and unsuspicious, some villagers were sitting happily and going about their every day lives. Scully kept her determination going as she was taken round the side of the house and to the entrance. The man slowly opened the door and stepped inside, bringing Scully in with him. The door closed, and that's when she heard it. Alexander's voice. Scully pushed the man forwards threateningly.
'Hey! What are you doing?' Alexander asked in a thick Russian accent and then started speaking in Russian to the man. Scully pushed the gun further into his back and the man didn't answer. She felt her sweat run down her back in suspense. Suddenly she grabbed the man by the arm and then pushed the gun towards his head and came out from behind him. Scully then turned face to face with Alexander.
Alexander stood up straight away in shock. He started at Scully with a startled face.
'Agent Scully?' He asked incredulously. Scully clicked the gun into place and the other man started shaking.
'Yes, who were you expecting? Santa Claus?' Scully joked, but didn't crack a smile. She pushed the man she had been holding down onto the dirty floor. Scully turned to Alexander and pointed the gun at his head.
'Now, I'm going to make this nice and simple. You know why I'm here, and you know what happened to Agent Mulder and I in Russia…' Scully said strongly, but the word Mulder made her voice waver slightly. '…So I want to know what I need to do to save Mulder's life. And you're going to tell me. Right now.' She said, her lip trembling with anger. Alexander didn't move but stared at her.
'How did you get here?' Alexander asked in shock. Scully moved forward and kicked Alexander in the leg with anger. He lurched over in pain.
'SHUT UP!' She shouted. 'Tell me what I have to do now!'
Alexander looked up at her with angry but scared eyes. He swallowed heavily and slowly sat back down on his chair. Scully kept her grip on the gun firmly, desperate not to do something stupid.
'The remedy for the disease is this…' Alexander said weakly, and handed Scully a formula of medicine on a piece of paper. She looked down at it and saw it was complicated.
'This is crap.' She said in fear. Alexander shook his head.
'No, it's not. But I suppose you will just have to trust me.' Alexander said. Scully felt anger rise in her body. What was she supposed to do?
'Get on the phone now.' Scully shouted at him, and Alexander reluctantly reached for his satellite phone. She felt sick at seeing this man responsible for millions of lives living in hiding and in luxury. 'Give it to me.' She said, reaching out her hand, and Alexander handed it over slowly. Scully kept her hold on her gun and reached for the phone painfully with her broken arm. Alexander noticed this.
'Oh, you can't hold two things at once?' He said with a smirk. Scully looked back at him with fury and raged towards him, she wasn't going to put up with it this time. With one sharp blow and whacked the gun across his face, and then turned back to the phone. Alexander groaned in pain.
'I'm going to wait here with you, until I hear news that Mulder is getting better. If he isn't and I find out that you are lying, I will kill you. Because I swear to you, if he dies…' Scully shouted, tears stinging her eyes. She had to stop herself before she broke down and dialled the number of George's Memorial. She kept her eye on Alexander as she lifted the reciever and waited.
'Yes, this is Agent Scully with the FBI, or Doctor Dana Scully. I am calling about Mr Fox Mulder. Has he been ommitted into hospital yet?' Scully asked, biting her lip to stop her from crying. This connection with home was effecting her emotionally. The nurse on the other end checked her files.
'Yes Miss Scully he has.' She said. Scully took a deep breath and knew that wasn't good. She nodded.
'Ok, I need to get this information to his doctor. Doctor Fessen. Please could I speak with him right now.' She said and the nurse transferred her over to his office. Alexander glared at Scully with defeated eyes.
Scully waited for Doctor Fessen.
'Dana?' He said on the other end. Scully breathed a sigh of relief.
'Doctor Fessen. I have an antidote for Mulder. I need you to make this right away and to get it into his system. Please don't ask questions and don't slow me down. You know how desperate this is.' She said forcefully, and got ready to read out the ingredients for the remedy.
Scully read everything out and Doctor Fessen took everything down. Scully took a sigh of relief.
'Please, call me back on this number when Mulder's condition has changed. I will need to get back to Washington in time to give him his final antidote so I need to know fast.' She said desperately, and when Doctor Fessen agreed.
'In the meantime, get Skinner on the line, I need to give him my coordinates.' She said, and Fessen quickly moved Skinner onto the line.
'Dana? Are you all right?' Skinner asked. Scully took a deep breath.
'Yes Sir, I'm all right. I have found an antidote which will help Mulder's condition and keep him stable for six or seven more hours. Sir, I need you to send the fastest plane you have over here right away to pick me up. I also have two prisoners.' Scully said, looking at Alexander and his man. Alexander sighed heavily.
'I can send an Army plane, it should get there to you in about two to three hours. It's the fastest available right now.' Skinner said and Scully nodded in approval.
'Thank you Sir. You have my coordinates?' She asked.
'I got them right here, we have a team tracing this call and we got it, that's the good thing about satellite phones.' Skinner said jokingly to calm her nerves. Scully nodded and sighed heavily. She wasn't going to ask about Mulder and show Alexander her weakness, not now.
'Thank you Sir.' She put down the phone and stared at Alexander with furious eyes. Scully slowly pulled a chair over for her to sit on and clicked her gun into place.
'Now, we wait.'
Doctor Fessen and the laboratory technicians started working on the antidote as quickly as they could.
'Sir, this mixture seems extremely… strange to say the least.' One of the technicians said. Fessen nodded and pushed away the comment with frustration.
'I know! But we need to make it now! Please stop commenting and just do it!' He said in a hurry, and the technicians turned back to their work with low heads and worked hard in fear. Fessen was desperate for this to work. He looked across to the medical room to his right where Mulder was in intensive care and was in a bad state. He felt great worry for him and felt like he had a great responsibility on his shoulders. He couldn't mess this up.
Scully blew air out of her mouth so that it pushed a flyaway piece of hair from her eyes. She was so hot, the sweat was wet on her skin and she pulled her hair into her hand and over her shoulder. She looked across at Alexander and his guard man to see them tied to their chairs securely. She had tied them up after she had finished speaking to Skinner to stop them from escaping or annoying her even more than she already was. They glared back at her with angry eyes and Scully didn't flinch. She wanted to appear strong and confident. She held her gun in her other hand and started checking the bullets. Alexander looked at her gun with anticipation.
'Are you going to give me the antidote?' She asked in a questioning and threatening tone without looking at them. They didn't answer and Scully sighed.
'There's no point keeping it from me, I'll get it off you in the end. It just depends how much pain you want to feel.' Scully said and clicked the gun into place. She looked up at Alexander who was glaring at her. She raised her eye brows questioningly. 'I'm going home with that antidote whether you like it or not.' She said with force and a no nonsense attitude. They didn't answer her, but Scully looked away from them and back at the phone with tearful eyes. She looked brave on the outside, but on the inside she was crumbling.
Skinner turned back to the medical room where Mulder was resting, nearly unconcious. Doctor Fessen was in the lab next door making the adtidote. Skinner looked across at him with what he wanted to look like a reassuring glance, but then realised that he couldn't do it. Skinner sighed and awkwardly turned away from Doctor Fessen and took a deep breath. If only Mulder knew where Scully was now.
Skinner looked at Mulder's limp figure in the bed and looked at all the medical equipment surrounding him. He felt a stab of anger towards rhe men that had done this. He had instructed the team flying out to Scully to bring the Russian's back alive for questioning but he had no idea what really was going to happen. He just hoped that it would be all right. With one more sad glance at Mulder, he turned away from him and in anger and frustration, Skinner made his way to the hospital's cafeteria to try and cut himself off from the action at present.