Day 16
Looking as official as he ever could, two letters in one hand and his badge in the other Mulder strode into Dr Franklin's office with purpose. The arrogant man invited him to sit and Mulder, keeping the letter addressed to Graham in his hand, handed over the letter demanding Graham be released to Mulder for a period of one hour. Dr Franklin read it with a look of amused confusion.
"Agent Mulder I'm a bit confused – you want me to release a dangerous mass murderer with a disturbed mind into your care for one hour for what purpose?" he asked cocking his head to the side like an intrigued puppy. Except he had no class of an animal.
"That's right Doctor, he has information that could help a case of ours but I need your cooperation." Mulder leaned forward, straightening his tie as he puffed up the doctor's ego.
"What is it I can do for you?" The doctor asked with a hint of a smile. Mulder sighed with relief; half the battle may have been already won. He sensed that the doctor had a love for theatrics and drama.
"I need 8 of your best guards to surround an area unseen until I give the word to take Mr Graham back into custody." Mulder said simply.
"We don't use the term custody here agent Mulder, we prefer to refer to these patients as being in our care." The doctor corrected with a wet smile.
"As you wish. Are you able to help me arrange this meeting or not?" Mulder said somewhat impatiently.
Doctor Franklin looked at the letter again as if pretending to deliberate before grinning with pure excitement.
"Of course."
He was told to wait by the staff entrance at the back of the parking lot and he felt he had been waiting for almost an hour before the door was slung open and an orderly shoved Graham, handcuffed, through it. Graham cast a look of aggression at the orderly before he disappeared back inside the dark hole and walked the rest of the way on his own unaided to meet Mulder sat on an old overturned log that some of the orderlies had turned into a makeshift bench. As the patient approached Mulder noticed the hint of a bruise and a cut on the man's cheek. He must have been frowning because Graham touched it self-consciously then scoffed before sitting.
"Some troublesome sex predator tried to take me on over dinner. I kicked the shit out of him but he managed to get a swing in." He said blankly. Mulder didn't respond, simply waved the letter at the man.
"Agent Mulder, I see you are a man of your word." Graham said with coldness but Mulder couldn't fail to see the delight at the feel of the sun on his skin or the smell of fresh air in his nostrils.
"I'm hoping you will keep yours." Mulder said sardonically showing the letter to the murderer then opening it for him. He handed the folded letter to the patient then watched as Graham read over the words; the fake offer of 3 hours a month on the outside. Mulder knew it wouldn't matter to Graham what was in the letter since he had no intention of going back inside but it helped add to the authentic feel of this charade. Graham nodded as if taking inventory.
"I have a question that's been gnawing away at me Will." Mulder said impatiently. Graham looked at the agent curiously. "How did you know to get to me? How did you know to involve Scully?" He asked with genuine interest.
Graham looked aggravated but obliged. "7 years after I was slung in this place I was moved to a prison unit, deemed sane enough to hang with murderers of my own kind. One day you come waltzing in with this pretty little redhead to investigate some murderer who could do shit with his mind or something. I saw the way your hand was on the small of her back, how you looked at her when she spoke like you were hanging on every word she said. You didn't even notice me and I hadn't thought of you in over ten years but then all this stuff came right back up the surface and I remembered what you did to me, what you'd taken from me and I vowed never to let you forget it. I knew her name from one of the guys you spoke to but it took me a long time to find her again when I got transferred back here again after I ripped the tongue out of a prisoner's mouth and made him eat his own words." Mulder remembered the man who could kill people with his mind but he didn't remember ever seeing Graham, not that he was sure he'd have recognized him anyway.
"How did you find her?" He asked through gritted teeth.
"I didn't, he did." Graham grinned. He looked at his letter again, recognizing the lengths Mulder had gone to secure his requests in order to find this woman and sighed. "You know I almost wish I hadn't involved this guy. She really was very pretty." He did his best to sound remorseful but Mulder had little time for the dog and pony show. He leaned in menacingly.
"Where is she Will? Who's 'He'?" He growled and the patient held his gaze for a long moment then he gaze a harsh barking laugh that lacked any inch of humor.
"You held up your end of the bargain and I wish I knew so I could tell you, I really do but the truth is I don't know. I got some guy to ruin your life like you ruined mine." He said grimly and Mulder knew instantly he was telling the truth. Despite growing anger and frustration building in him he remained calm, chewing on his lower lip. Like Scully used to.
"Okay, how did you find this guy? In the yellow pages?!" He asked sharply and Graham looked at the hazy sky.
"I was an FBI agent once, I'm not stupid. I read papers. I knew about this guy going around murdering people. I placed an ad. He replied."
Mulder processed the information then abruptly stood giving a vague gesture with his hand. Before Graham's very eyes 8 guards appeared in a uniform circle around the edges of the lot. He looked confused at Mulder who took the letter from the man's hands and ripped it up.
"You tricked me." Graham said in slow recognition and Mulder held his steely gaze. "You bastard."
"Takes one to fool one." He muttered then indicated the nearest guard to take Graham back into the hospital. As the man was being escorted back in Mulder turned back.
"Maybe you can ask Dr Lecter what freedom tastes like." He shouted at the man's back. He watched as Graham showed the first real signs of emotion as if Lecter was a trigger word for his anger and he struggled against the guards that now swamped him. Mulder didn't care anymore; he felt a familiar mix of desperation and frustration but also relief that he was no longer under Graham's control.
When he told Skinner the older man cursed in anger and the conversation between them died momentarily as each processed their thoughts and potential next move.
"Roberts went to see the mother of the girl who killed herself. She denied everything and lawyered up quicker than you or I could say guilty." Another dead end. Mulder hadn't thought the lead would bear fruit but it was disappointing to hear.
"What about looking over the old cases? There might be something there." He asked.
"AD Grimes has already got Kennison on it." Skinner said and Mulder nodded slowly.
"I wondered where he had gone." He said for the sake of speaking, unable to bear the pregnant silences, then he added as if an afterthought, "Graham admitted instigating and hiring someone to attack Scully to get to me –I don't know if you wanted to start some proceedings or not.
"You bet I will." Skinner said and Mulder nodded before leaving wordlessly to skulk back to his basement office. When he got nearer he noticed the post guy and his heart dropped as he watched the young man pulling a brown package from his pile and went to drop it into Mulder's letter box. The postal guy noticed Mulder at the last minute, retrieved the package from the slot and approached the tired agent.
"Here you go Agent Mulder." He handed over the package with a smile, one Mulder couldn't share as he felt his heart drop through the floor and wordlessly took the proffered envelope. The man had moved on before Mulder regained his breath and all but fell into his office chair where he stared at the unopened package for several minutes longer than would be necessary to gain any kind of professional impressions beyond noting it had been hand delivered though he doubted this guy came in person but rather employed some homeless guy to do with the promise of food or drink. With a heavy sigh he pulled a pair of rubber gloves from a discarded box on the side and used a pencil to slit open the top noisily. He peered inside and was surprised to only see a single sheet of paper inside. Without waiting for a beat he pulled it out.
Dear Mr Mulder,
Are you prepared to make a sacrifice?
4857 Peak Drive South
Roanoke
VA24014
Mulder stared at the address, the words. Why now was this guy giving him answers? Did his visit to to Graham somehow accelerate things? He swallowed then reached into his computer to type the address; it was out in the sticks with nothing of interest around and he frowned. Was it a trap?
With a satisfying click the metal strip Scully had fashioned, unlocked the cell door. She gave herself a triumphant smile, the first of which to grace her face in what felt like years; maybe it was years, maybe the last time she had smiled was the last time she had been happy with him. Across the way Mike rolled his eyes; he had seen Scully work and bend the metal she had pulled from her bra for 3 days with little progress but as the door swung open with a creak he sat up wide-eyed and ready to take notice,
"Wha? Don't leave me here!" he cried and she hushed him snappishly, insisting she would come back for him though she sensed his disbelief. The building was a maze with many doors and she had no idea which door her captor would come from. She slowly and quietly turned the knob of the nearest door but it didn't open. She quelled the rising disheartening fear she felt as door after door was found locked until she found herself in the office where she had been subjected to the frightening lucidity of the man holding them prisoner. Her breath hitched when she pushed the door open half expecting to find Anton Kurelov sat at his desk and that a grisly end would befall her. He was however no where to be seen and she let out the breath she'd held and slipped into the room quietly. She cringed as the door closed shut with a low creak and froze listening for any sign of life. She heard no movement and immediately began evaluating the room for a weapon. Her eyes finally settled on a metal baseball bat and she had a momentary flashback to a time when she someone she loved tried to teach her to 'shag balls'. She shook the memory away and tried to ignore the matted, coagulated blood and hairs at the thick end from a previous kill and raced for the old Bakelite phone on the desk. With as much speed as she could without causing too much noise she turned the dialing circle 3 times to dial 911 and waited.
"911 what's your emergency?" The metallic voice on the other end said and Scully almost dropped the phone in surprise. Before she could say anything however she heard the telltale signs of heavy footsteps and placed the handset down on the desk before squeezing herself into the space between where the door would open and the wall, her hand clamped over her mouth. Kurelov strode into the room and looked around like a predator looking for an easy kill. He reached over and pulled a 9-inch serrated hunting knife from the drawer and was about to leave with a sulky growl.
"Hello ma'am?! Are you there?" The tinny voice of a woman from the desk said, catching Kurelov's attention. Scully's heart pounded as he turned to the desk, spotting the phone handset which he slammed back on the receiver.
"God damnit!" he hissed and she crept forward, taking advantage of his distraction. When she was free for a full swing she put her full petite force into the swing of the bat. He turned at the last minute and she didn't react fast enough. He grabbed the bat midair causing her stumble back in surprise. He backhanded her hard but she only gave a gasp when he grabbed the back of her neck and hair and slammed her into the wall. He came up behind her, his hold on her heavy and iron-like. He ran the knife flat up against her cheek and she tried to turn away as he pressed into her.
"I hate little bitches that don't play nice." He murmured and removed his knife from her skin before settling on an altogether more sensitive spot on her navel. Before he had the change to plunge the blade in she stamped her food down on his and with the extra room brought her knee up into his groin with a ferocious strength she had forgotten. With him bent over she quickly picked up the bat and he was unable to react fast enough to avoid it being brought down on his head. He fell to the ground like a brick and instinctively Scully reached in to check for a pulse. In her panic she couldn't find one. After a second attempt she froze as she heard someone calling her name desperately, someone familiar. Her breath hitched and she ran out into the corridor wondering whether she was hallucinating.
Mulder left the note addressed to Skinner on his desk telling skinner of Scully's supposed whereabouts in case she was not released by morning and he set out for Roanoke. It was a town he had never been to but the places he passed reminded him of the rural house he and Scully used to live when they were happy, or at least when he had thought they were happy. He felt that familiar pang of heartache that he had learnt to push down over the years until those FBI agents had walked into his lecture hall just under 3 weeks ago. But it was more than that; he felt a strange sense of home sickness. Like the only place he belonged had been in that rural Virginian home with no one else but her. He then realized with a start that he had not thought of his home in Hanover, hardly even considered it his home deep down. After a long and arduous drive he came to a slow stop outside the farmhouse the GPS has directed him to. He cast a glance down the long dark driveway; there were no lights on and he wasn't convinced it was the right building.
Nevertheless, he parked his rental and approached the house, knocking twice and waiting but when he got no response he peered in through the window. There was no movement, no noise and he came to a stop around the back unsure what to do. The darkness hindered his sightline but he could make out a few barns on the edge of the property line. Beyond that was a high thick row of fir trees.
"Scully!" he shouted with every ounce of energy he had left. He listened in the dark, the only sound being crickets and the occasional night-owl hooting. Mulder scrubbed a hand over his face fearing he was being led on a wild goose chase.
"Scully!" he shouted desperately and sighed heavily after another heavy silence filled with quiet longing and deafening fear. Mulder went to leave, defeated when he heard something; a voice calling distantly from his past. He turned his head to listen but couldn't pinpoint the direction. He listened hard. It sounded like his name and it only took a few seconds for his mind to reconcile the caller. His heart raced in anticipation and he felt sick with relief.
"Scully!" He cried, desperately scanning the area. She called again and he raced towards to the back property line where the thick grove of trees gave way to a builders fence marked with 'no trespassing' signs. He called again and raced through the open gate to what apparently used to be Roanoke Life Sciences to come face to face with a grey and incredibly aged building which still professed to be Virginia's leading animal testing facility despite having been abandoned for what seemed like decades. The unit was huge and he looked around, listening for his name again. A voice came from his left and he jogged over to an outbuilding, a dank grey concrete prison labeled 'dogs'. Before he got there the door was pushed open and she fell, bloodied and bruised into the cool air. His breath stopped when he saw her; it was the first time in two years and she was still every bit as beautiful as in his memories.
"Scully," he barely croaked, his voice failing him as every emotion he had ever felt for her came rushing back in a flood that rivaled adrenaline.
She looked at him for a long moment before dropping the metal bat onto the gravel with a dull 'thunk' and ran towards him. With about 200 yards or so between them Mulder matched her speed and they collided in seconds. Scully thrust her arms around his neck and pressed her face tightly against the crook of his neck. He held her tightly, one hand resting on her back and the other tangled in her knotted hair. He noticed with a level of sad poignancy that she didn't quite fit like she used to. She began to cry softly, gripping him so tight he was afraid of passing out.
"It's okay, I got you." He murmured with a cracking voice as tears sprung to his own eyes. After several minutes he eventually pulled away placing both hadn't on her face. "Are you okay?" He stroked her face gently, noting the developing bruises.
She nodded, the shock starting to wear off somewhat. "I think I killed him." He didn't need to ask what she was talking about.
"Okay I'll call for help." He removed a hand from her face to get his phone but she instantly missed the contact.
"Shit." He muttered turning the phone around so she could see the battery was dead and she deflated slightly, turning back to the building from which she had come.
"There's a phone in the office." She said uncertainly and Mulder shared her uncertainty, not keen to drag her back into the cage from which she had just broken free.
"My car's just up here, forget him, let's just leave." He said after a long moment.
"There's another prisoner." She said avoiding his gaze and doing her best to distance herself emotionally from the situation.
Mulder's sense of duty and care crept up on him and he sighed. "Damn." He muttered then turned to her. "Okay." Was all he said and the pair took off cautiously towards the wooden concrete building. Mulder led the way with a small flashlight with Scully bringing up the rear like the old times. As they worked their way through the maze of corridors and old offices Scully reached for his hand either seeking solace or to guide the way, maybe both. Regardless Mulder felt a spark at the contact and she motioned wordlessly to the door which he should go through. He sidled up alongside it like he'd done on thousands of raids before settling on his mundane job as a teacher. He let go of Scully's hand to reach for his gun; an object he had only recently reacquired but it felt like an appendage that had been reunited after being lost for so long. He drew it up parallel to his face unaware of what he might find on the other side. With a deep breath he reached for the doorknob, pushing the door open half expecting something to jump out on him but the office was empty and Mulder rushed into the room to use the phone, holstering his gun. Scully trailed behind him, her face contorted in shock and fear when she peered around him to see the man was no longer lying on the floor.
"Oh my god." She whispered thickly and Mulder paused mid dial to look at her.
"What, what is it?" he asked noting the panic on her face.
"I-I-he was right there. I hit him around the head, and he had no pulse!" she stammered wondering whether her shock had rendered her ability to be a rational doctor useless. Mulder paused, momentarily torn between getting help and recognizing the danger, wanting to leave stat. After a beat he replaced the phone on the cradle and turned to face her.
"Okay, listen to me Dana." He started. It hurt her to hear him use her proper name. "We gotta get outta here and we'll drive to the nearest police station in town." She didn't object and this time he took her hand tightly and together they fumbled through the dark labyrinth to the exit. The pair burst into the clearing and fought their way through the trees. They didn't stop running until they had reached the old farm house 50 yards off the road. Mulder came to a dead halt and patted his jacket pockets and trousers.
"Shit!" he hissed angrily and she looked at him questioningly, her breath coming out in ragged gasps. "I must have dropped the keys." He ran a hand over his face in frustration before pulling his gun from the holster and pressed it heavily into her hands. "Wait here, I'll go back and see if can find them." Before she could say anything he started to jog back towards to the laboratory. He had gone five or six steps before she called him back with uncharacteristic vulnerability.
"Mulder don't go back in there, let's just walk." She said softly as he reached her side once more. Mulder looked around, trying to calculate the distance but when he looked at her bloodied, bruised and looking exhausted he made up his mind. She needed medical attention and he wouldn't subject her to an exhausting walk into town. He chewed his lip then focused on the house in front of them.
"There's gotta be a phone in that house." He said more to himself than Scully. She followed his eye line but before she answered he had started to walk towards it.
"Mulder?" She called, confused and he told her to wait there. Cautiously he took the steps two at a time and knowing the door wouldn't yield thrust his shoulder forward splintering the wood and smashing the glass panes. From inside the house came the shadow of movement and before he could get a step beyond the threshold he came face to face with the man who had been holding Scully captive though he was unaware at that moment.
"Mulder!" Scully shouted fearfully. Her tone told him everything he needed know and he reached for the gun that wasn't there. The man already had the knife in his hand gaining the advantage automatically. It seemed like slow motion as the man thrust his hand towards the agent, plunging the knife deep into Mulder's right flank, eyes wide in shock before the dull pain set in. He fell to his knees momentarily before falling flat on his back on the wooden decking. Pain dulled his senses and his heartbeat pounded in his ears. From somewhere in his past, or his present he couldn't tell, a woman shouted "No!". Scully ran up the steps and fell to her knees by his side. Kurolev looked down at her as she cradled Mulder's head in her lap, her thumb stroking his cheek. Her eyes locked with the man who kept her prisoner.
"Game over Doctor Scully." He said with a mirthless smile and stepped over her. She heaved a sob in disbelief as the man began walking away until she remembered the gun and aimed it at him. But in her mind of altered rational and mentality she struggled to remember the training from so long ago. She fired repeatedly anyway until the gun clicked loudly telling her it was empty and she threw it down on the wood with a dull thud. She shrugged off her Jacket with already bloodied hands and tried to ignore the growing red sea staining the wooden decking as she pressed the fabric over the wound causing Mulder to wince noticeably.
"Stay with me Mulder." She murmured emotionally and his eyes spun desperately trying to focus on her face.
"Scu-Scully." He spluttered against the fading pain. She smiled against the rising tide of tears. He lifted a red hand to touch her face. "I love you." He whispered so delicately she wasn't sure she had heard him.
"Agent Mulder!" another recognizable voice called.
"Over here!" She called tearfully and after a few minutes a harassed Skinner burst into view, his gun drawn.
"I heard shots." He said before surveying the scene before him. Scully looked desperately at him, her hands pressing down hard to try and save the life of the man before her. Skinner holstered his gun and ran towards her, shrugging his own jacket and placing it around her shoulders though she wasn't cold. Skinner pulled out his phone dialing 911 for help.
"How did you find me?" Scully asked breathlessly, adrenaline either kicking in or wearing off.
"Mulder left me a note with this address, it didn't sound like he was coming back so I rushed out here, what happened?
"This guy, his name is Anton Kurelov, he attacked Mulder and I fired his gun 7 or 8 times, I don't think I hit him, he ran off in that direction." Scully said in a fragment of her former investigative self. As she listened to Skinner talk to the dispatcher she looked down at the man in the lap; he was pale, his breathing was labored and his pulse was thready but his eyes were still open though his gaze unfixed and glazed. After what felt like hours there was a growing haze of red and blue lights on the horizon and soon a steady scream of sirens as the paramedics and police pulled to a halt outside the farm house. Scully however would not relinquish care of her former partner until Skinner carefully pulled her away to watch as Mulder was lifted into an ambulance. Scully, her white blouse now stained red, informed Skinner of the other prisoner before climbing into the ambulance.