Act IV
April 6, 11:26 AM, New York City
Skinner was inside a restaurant talking on his phone. In the car, Agent Tolson was watching from the side window. He was also on his phone, talking to another person. "She's not here. We have to wait."
On the other end, another voice was irritated. Tolson didn't seem affected by it. "We'll deal with it. We've got another problem. I won't be coming alone. Bald guy. Don't ask."
The other voice kept talking, but Skinner was leaving the restaurant. "I have to go. Be ready." Tolson told the voice on the other end.
Skinner entered the passenger side. "Dead end. He didn't know anything."
"This guy, he's close to a lowlife I busted, Buddy Turner. Runs a body shop in Queens. We should check it out."
"Okay. What do you know about him?"
"Oh, everything. Guy's a nutcase. Nothing we could prove in court, though. Tried to shoot a man at his shop, got off on self-defense."
"Well let's not get ourselves shot here."
"I think he knows better than to shoot a fed. And we've got them, too." He nodded toward the unmarked car that was tailing them. Then he pulled out onto the street and they drove off.
12:59 PM, Queens
They didn't see the sign for the rundown auto shop first, they saw the flashing lights. Two police cars were outside of the shop. "Guess we're not the only ones wanting a word with old Buddy." remarked Tolson.
"Let's see what's going on." Said Skinner, cautiously. They stopped the car, and had their badges out before getting out of the vehicle. "FBI." Skinner said to the cop outside.
"Didn't call the feds on this. What's going on?"
"We needed to ask Mr. Turner some questions."
"You can ask all you want, that corpse won't be opening his trap."
Tolson spoke. "He's dead? How?"
"Suicide. Blew his head off. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, you know?"
Skinner then cut in. "We need to see the scene."
"Knock yourselves out. Right in there."
Down the street, the unmarked car was watching. A scruffy looking man in dirty clothes banged on the driver's side window. "Hey man, roll it down." He kept knocking on the window. "Some change?" The agent rolled his eyes, and his partner, Agent Alley, gave a quick laugh.
"Curtis, you're a cheap-ass." He reached into his pocket and grabbed a few quarters.
"Agent Alley, we have an assignment. And you're only encouraging him."
"Sure. Roll it down." He began to move the change-filled hand over his partner.
"Fine." Curtis rolled down the window, and the man clasped his hand over Alley's.
"Bless you." He smiled as he said it. Only instead of taking the money from his hand, he squeezed it and pulled, and his other hand revealed a gun pointed right at Agent Curtis' head.
Inside the auto shop, two cops were standing around, seemingly doing nothing. Skinner had identified himself, and he and Tolson were looking around. "Hey boss, check this out." Tolson found a sheet of paper. It said "Morin – Hill 5 PM Shaggy's". "Looks like our guy was gonna get a crappy burger with our other guy. And Hill was in on it."
"Okay, who is Hill?" Skinner asked.
"Oh he's…my God…" Tolson did not finished the sentence before his gun was drawn, and Skinner turned to see the cops aiming their weapons directly on him. "Good night, G-man." One of the cops said as he fired. The bullet went into Skinner's shoulder, and the next sound he heard was "you son of a bitch!" from the mouth of Agent Tolson, who fired into the cop's chest. Outside, he heard two shots fired. "You killed Danny!" the other so-called cop screamed, and fired clumsily at Tolson, missing the target. Tolson charged at the cop, knocking him down. Skinner held his wounded shoulder and found himself unable to get up. A figure came through the door, while Tolson and the cop wrestled for control of the gun. It was the cop from outside. "You dirty prick, now you're going to…" One more shot was fired.
2:30 PM, New York City, Doggett's Apartment
Doggett and Reyes were staring at a computer screen, and Doggett was at the keyboard. They were looking at an email program sending a message to the address trustnoone .
Subject: Your safety
Dear Spooky, this is a friend. I need to warn you that The Dark Archive has been compromised and your identity has been discovered. Do not trust any messages from The Dark Archive or its founder.
I also have a message from someone close, it is very important. You are not safe where you are. I will meet your partner at the rendezvous as planned.
"Do you think it's enough?" Doggett asked.
"It has to be. I just hope he reads it before something happens."
"We'll tomorrow we'll find out what Scully wants."
"Yeah."
Reyes' phone rang. "Agent Reyes."
"Reyes, this is Tolson. I have some bad news. About the assistant director."
"Skinner? What happened?"
"We were ambushed. Skinner was shot."
"Shot? Was he..." Doggett's eyes opened at the sound. Someone shot Skinner? He almost interrupted, but she stopped him with a hand gesture.
"He's in the hospital. It would have been worse. Curtis is dead. Alley is critical. It was Alley, he shot the guy who was going to kill Skinner."
"So, so do they think Skinner is going to be okay?"
"We don't know. Where are you?"
"I'm…investigating. Something." She realized how bad that sounded.
"What is it? We're working this together, remember?"
"Yeah, look, this is something private. It's between me and the assistant director."
"Who is laying in a hospital getting ready for surgery, and can't speak for himself now. You have to trust me." That last sentence rang in her ears. Something felt wrong.
4:12 PM, Wilkes Memorial Hospital
Doggett and Reyes walked down the corridor, and saw two agents standing by a door. Tolson was sitting nearby, and got up when he saw them approach. "Mr. Doggett, good to see you again. Agent Reyes."
Reyes spoke first. "Any word?"
"It's not life threatening. He will be out for a while."
Then Doggett asked "So what really happened there?"
"Mr. Doggett, that's part of an official investigation, and you're not an investigator."
"No, but I am. I want to know how it went down." Reyes said.
"Well we were checking a lead on the Morin matter…"
"Alvin Morin?" Doggett asked.
"Yes. We were checking it out, and were ambushed by some hit men."
"Who were they?" Reyes asked.
"We don't know. Just like before, only these guys weren't in the system. We're waiting on more results, but I'm not expecting much."
Doggett then said, "So you're tying all this to Morin? To the Torino mob?"
"Mr. Doggett, this is an FBI investigation."
"And I worked those cases for the NYPD."
"So did he, John. Agent Tolson was with the New York police too."
"Mr. Doggett, this isn't a pissing match. It's protocol. You're not FBI."
"But he's involved in the case, Tolson. He's with me, as a consultant." Reyes argued.
"Fine. Now, we need to find out who did this one, too. This is turning into a huge conspiracy."
"Don't they always…" Doggett remarked.
"We can't. We have to go." Reyes said.
"Where? This is the priority."
"Agent Tolson, people have died. More people will die. Unless we can do this one thing."
"I can't help you, Agent Reyes, if I don't understand. We're a team now. And I guess he's along for the ride, too. Just tell me where we are going, and we'll get there."
Doggett and Reyes looked at each other.
April 7, 9:10 AM, Milton, Vermont
It was a quiet Sunday morning at the park. Doggett sat on a bench, waiting. He checked his watch, it was past nine already. Where was Scully? Down the street, a car was parked with two people inside. Agent Reyes in the driver's seat, and Tolson in the back. Reyes was using her cell phone to check an email address she had set up the day before. There was a message, from trustnoone . Two simple words. "What rendezvous?"
Doggett was getting worried. He muttered to himself "damn it Scully. Where are you…" where no one could hear. He was startled when a voice spoke from behind him.
"Hello, John." He turned, and did not see the woman he expected to see. Behind him was Shannon McMahon.
"Shannon?"
"We've got a lot to talk about."
To be continued…