3.

Mulder looked behind him at the huge flight of stairs. Scully was keeping up well considering her injury. He finally reached the entrance into the next room. Scully came up behind him and they were close together. Mulder could hear her breathing next to him and he looked at her to check if she was all right. She seemed to know what he was thinking and she nodded. Mulder turned back to the room and he heard voices. They were definetely American, so it just helped assure him that this was a government operation. Scully put a hand on his arm and he turned to her.

'Mulder, let me cause a distraction. Theres a gun on the table over there, look.' She whispered, and pointed into the room. Sure enough, there was a large shotgun on the desk in the corner. The room was full of metal tables and chairs with certain documents on them. Mulder frowned in thought as he wondered what they could be. He looked back at Scully.

'Are you sure?' He asked her, and she nodded.

'Let me do this, I'll be all right.' She said quietly, and stepped forward in front of him. Mulder waited for her to go into the room.

Scully took a deep breath and edged her way into the room slowly. The men in the room were still talking in the corner. She saw that one of them was holding a gun. She felt hot beats on sweat on her forehead as she edged forward slowly. She couldn't believe that they hadn't noticed her yet. Scully waited a few seconds and then she threw her plan into action. She took a deep breath and then grabbed her side painfully and screamed out in agony. Scully threw herself to the floor.

'Help me! HELP!' She screamed as she squirmed on the floor. The men suddenly turned and the man with the gun pointed it at her head. She screamed at the top of her lungs and feigned total agony. 'LET ME OUT! I NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION!' She screamed. One of the men told the man with the gun to put it down.

'Hey! Hold back! She's harmless.' The man said and walked towards Scully. Scully started to cry desperately.

'Please… please!' She screamed to the man. He frowned in confusion.

'How did you get out Dana?' He asked roughly, and kicked her in the side playfully. Scully cried out in real pain this time as the kick was harsh and painful in the ribs. Real tears shot to her eyes. The men laughed.

'You have to let me go… I'll die.' She spluttered, but the men still laughed at her. The man closest to her kneeled down next to her.

'Aw poor little Agent Dana Scully. Not so tough now are you?' He said with a snarl, and Scully felt rage boil inside her.

'LET ME GO YOU SON OF A BITCH!' She screamed and then suddenly there was a gun shot. Scully screamed.

The man holding the gun fell to the floor with a crash. The gun fell out of his hands and fell next to Scully. She opened her eyes wide with shock. Mulder had shot him.

'Get the hell away from her!' She heard Mulder's voice shout from the other side of the room. Scully stared at the gun desperately. She had to grab it. The men were now standing around her and they were backing towards the door. Mulder had them under control.

'PUT YOUR HANDS UP!' Mulder shouted angrily. Scully took a deep breath and reached out to grab the gun. She used all her strength to jump up to a standing position and clicked the gun into place. She turned to face the men and found herself facing the man who had kicked her. She glared at him with fury.

'Turn and face the wall.' Mulder shouted, and the men looked at him with hatred, but turned.

'Hands behind your heads.' Scully said in a low voice, and looked across at Mulder, and he nodded. The men slowly put their hands up behind their heads.

'OH YOUR KNEES!' Mulder shouted, and pushed forward towards them. Scully held her gun as still as she could. Mulder went around the men and Scully saw him tie their arms behind their backs with rope. She wondered where he had found it but then looked to the corners of the room where rope and tape were draped on the floor. This was obviously a popular place to 'get rid' of people.

Scully grimaced in disgust as she thought about what could have happened in this building. They needed to expose this place, and these men. She watched Mulder as he tied the men up one by one. She took a deep breath and felt her side twinge with pain. Ignoring it, she moved towards Mulder.

'Mulder, what about the man downstairs?' She asked. Mulder looked at her.

'We need to restrain him. I'll go down and get him.' He said. Scully shook her head.

'No, let me. I'll bring him up here.' She said, and before Mulder could stop her, she was out of the door and going downstairs again.

Mulder had tied the three men to the chairs. They glared at him angrily. Mulder sat down on the table and looked at them.

'Where are we?' He asked them. No one answered. Mulder sighed. 'Listen, I can make this easy or hard. Now, you answer my questions and you get to live, you don't answer them and you get to be tortured, by me.' He said in a low, threatening voice. The anger was boiling inside of his chest. One of the men looked across at him and smiled. Mulder caught sight of him in the corner of his eye. 'What's so funny?' He asked angrily, and stood up. The man let out a small laugh which angered Mulder further. 'WHAT!'

'You'll never get the truth out of us, we don't have anything to tell you.' He said. Mulder felt his fist clench with anger.

'Shut up.' He spat at the man, and turned away again.

'It's true, the only man who knew what we were here for is dead. You killed him.' The man said as Mulder turned away. Mulder stopped dead in his tracks.

'I said SHUT UP!' Mulder shouted and turned back to the man. 'I'm sick of all these mind games you people play on me! I've had enough! Now you are going to tell me the truth about who you work for and why you want Scully and I dead!'

'Who said we wanted you dead?' The man said with a smile. Mulder felt his heart skip a beat.

'Why bring us all the way here and keep us locked up in a room which smells of rat piss?' Mulder said with anger to the man. The man's smile dropped.

'We have just been following orders.'

'Orders from who? The government? Is it the smoking man? I bet you it's him isn't it.' Mulder said angrily.

'Who's the smoking man?' The man said with a smile, in a tone that was full of sarcasm. Mulder shook his head with rage and was ready to grab him when he heard what he wished he'd never wanted to hear again in his life, Scully's scream followed by a gun shot.