New
Arrivals
Author-Laura Picken
Titles
Siege
by Laura
Picken
Summary: Crossover with The X-Files and sequel to Someone to Watch Over Me. A terrorist group holds the attendees of a major political event hostage, and it's up to Mulder, Scully, Jim, and Blair to save the day.
Yes, folks, this is the long-awaited sequel to Someone to Watch Over Me. Many thanks to Tate for allowing me to continue to use the 'link' concept, and to all those who gave me such great comments on Someone…. If you haven't read that story, don't read this one. You'll probably be hopelessly lost.
Timeline notes: In terms of a timeline, this is a completely alternate universe for The X-Files. After Paper Clip, I consider nothing sacred, at least in terms of this piece. For The Sentinel, this universe branches off after Dead Drop, although I will probably stay more faithful (more or less) to the canon of The Sentinel than the canon of The X-Files. From a fanfic standpoint, I will be borrowing from concepts used in Tate's Remembering the Silences, so you can assume that this story falls some time after that one.
Disclaimer: Jim, Blair, Mulder, Scully and Skinner are not mine. Jim & Blair belong to Pet Fly Productions and Paramount, while Mulder, Scully and Skinner belong to Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen Productions and Fox. I'm really only doing this for fun, honest!
Now that I've written the shortest intro of my life, on with the show…
['Tis the season to be jolly? Santa wouldn't be so jolly if he had to sit through something like this.]
Walter Skinner was bored. Very bored. In fact, it took every ounce of military discipline in his being to not fall asleep at the head table during the Director's speech. He hated diplomatic functions with a passion, but when the Director had been asked to speak on the Bureau's anti- terrorism strategies at the Council of Governors' annual year-end law enforcement reception, he insisted that the Assistant Directors attend the reception as well. He did take some comfort, though, in the fact that he didn't have to go through this alone. He leaned over to the attractive redhead sitting next to him, and asked with great candor, "are you as bored as I am, Agent Scully?"
Agent Dana Scully had to stifle a laugh as she leaned over and whispered in reply, "to tears, sir." Truth be told, she hadn't listened to much of the Director's speech either. Her thoughts had wandered, as they often had over the past few months, to her partner. It had been ten months since her partner had developed his 'heightened senses', and since then, their strong partnership had become even stronger and closer. There was more gossip than ever about the idea that they had a 'romantic' relationship between them, but it went much further than a romantic relationship could ever have gone between them. Blair Sandburg had given her several books to read about the Sentinel-Guide relationship, and the more she read about it, the more it seemed natural to think about her partnership with Mulder in that context. She had corresponded regularly with the anthropology student and fellow Guide, and each had become a valuable resource for the other, regularly swapping stories about cases and experiments. He had helped her with anecdotal information about his work with the Cascade Police Department, and she had, in turn, helped Blair to discover more about the physiologically distinguishing characteristics of a Sentinel. She smiled as she remembered Blair's last e-mail -- he had found out about several anthropological reference texts in the annals of the Library of Congress, so he talked his partner, Jim Ellison, into going to Washington D.C. for at least part of Blair's winter break, so he would have the opportunity to look at these books, and they would both get a chance to visit Mulder and Scully. The two Sentinels had formed quite a bond over the last ten months, and, where the agents had been initially uneasy about working with the two members of the Cascade Police force, now she and Mulder were looking forward to seeing the two men again.
Applause brought Scully out of her reverie, and she politely joined in the applause as the Director sat down, his speech finally finished.
As the emcee came back up to the podium, he announced, "Thank you, Director. I'm sure we all gained quite a bit of valuable information tonight. It's a shame you won't get the opportunity to use it."
Doors slammed throughout the hall as the waiters revealed themselves to be heavily armed soldiers and moved to cover the exits. The audience began to question each other in confusion, starting to panic before the emcee fired a gun toward the ceiling to silence the crowd. He declared, "I think you all know what is now happening to you. I am in control of this room, and of everyone in it. And just in case anyone decides they want to play hero," he held up a small black box in the hand that was not holding the gun, "this room is wired with enough plastic explosive to blow everyone in this room to California. So please give your guns to the men with the automatic rifles and settle in, folks. We're gonna be here awhile."
Walter Skinner turned his attention away from their captor for just a minute to watch, concerned, as Scully had what appeared to be a seizure, but only for a split second. Then, just as mysteriously, she relaxed, looking still a bit nervous, but also like part of her mind had gone somewhere else.
*****
Halfway across town, Fox Mulder, Dana Scully's partner, who was watching the last half of the Knicks game on ESPN, nearly fell off his couch from a similar seizure, then stood up, barely able to stop himself from screaming, "Scully!" as he grabbed his coat and his gun and ran out of the apartment.
*****
Blair Sandburg collapsed on the bed of their hotel room, completely exhausted. He was grateful beyond words that Jim made the suggestion that they change their reservations and start their vacation two days early. He hated it when Jim had to work on a case involving children. It was only because Jim was able to smell the generous amount of cologne the rapist was wearing that they were able to stop the monster they were going after just before he was about to rape and murder another little girl.
Now, though, he was looking forward to getting in a few extra days of sightseeing while they were in D.C. He briefly watched with amusement the meticulous way Jim was hanging up and putting away the clothes he had brought with him, then grabbed the remote on the night stand and flipped on CNN.
*****
As Mulder reached the Washington Towers hotel, he noticed that there was nothing unusual about the outside appearance of the hotel, and it bothered him. There were no other agents, no camera crews, no police cars, nothing. It seemed like a normal night. So why did he have the feeling that Scully was in immediate danger? And that if he did nothing, that she was going to die? He tried to turn up his hearing, but the chaos of noise coming from the hotel was hard to filter through without Scully there, or at least without having some idea of what he was trying to listen for. He recalled Scully saying that Skinner was forcing her to go to some sort of boring political dinner tonight at the Washington Towers, so he walked toward the hotel, trying to look casual, as he tried to get closer to the conference rooms.
Still keeping a discreet distance, he focused his hearing on the conference room where the dinner was being held, trying to filter things out of his hearing so he could hear his partner's voice in the room. Something caught at the edges of his mind, though, before he could filter it out. He focused on it and realized immediately what it was.
Guns. Lots of them. Semi-automatic rifles by the sound. He focused, letting his sight follow so he could see what his ears were hearing, and he gasped when he saw the terrorists surrounding the room.
His first thought was to try and contact someone at the Bureau, but as he looked around, he realized that somehow, these men had gotten in without attracting much attention, and for some reason, they hadn't seen the need to call attention to themselves just yet. That meant that there was a good chance that he was the only one who knew what was going on in there. Knowing his reputation within the Bureau and, consequently, with the DCPD, there was no chance that either organization was going to believe him. And it wasn't likely that the press would either--not to mention the fact that they would be the group least able to do anything for the people trapped inside that hotel.
He got back in his car, and banged his head against the steering wheel in frustration. [What do I do now?]
*****
One of the waiters walked confidently up to the podium, and delivered his news to the emcee, who was apparently the leader of the group. "All entrances secure, sir. We await further instructions."
The emcee replied, "Good work, soldier. I think it's time we sound the charge!"
He pulled out a digital camera, set it to panoramic view, and took several pictures of the audience, taking his time to make sure his men and their weapons were in clear focus in each picture. He then took out a shotgun and asked, "Mister FBI director sir, would you please stand up?"
As Director Wylen stood up at the head table, the emcee turned to face him and declared, "Jacob Wylen, for the sins you and your organization have committed and for the sins of those who have come before you, may God have mercy on your soul."
Shots rang out, and the Director slumped to the floor, dead. Scully didn't need to look for very long to know that the late FBI director had taken at least one gunshot wound to the head. The emcee turned the dead man over and took several more pictures, then stood up and called for one of his subordinates, "Baker!"
"Yes sir!" was the immediate reply.
The emcee walked over to Baker and handed him the camera, ordering, "distribute these pictures as we had discussed."
"Yes sir!" was the only reply, as Baker took the camera, opened up his computer and two cellular phones, and got to work.
*****
Mulder looked up from the steering wheel of his car, his face pale white with shock. In his mind flashed an image of a very dead Director Wylen, and instinctively, he somehow knew that he was looking through the eyes of his partner. [I don't care what they think of me,] he resolved, [I won't shut up until they at least come over here to check it out.] He started up his car and was about to pull out when he heard the sound of sirens in the distance coming closer to the hotel. "'Bout time," he muttered under his breath. He pulled out and moved his car a discrete distance away, then walked over to the group of patrol cars pulling in. There was no way anyone was going to keep him away from this, but for once in his life, he thought it best to at least try and go through proper channels first.
*****
As Jim Ellison closed his eyes to try to get some rest, he heard the police sirens, and tried to filter them out of his hearing, as he had been able to do to for the television that his Guide was still idly watching. He repeated his newest mantra in his mind, [I'm on vacation, I'm on vacation, I'm on vacation…] It had been quite a while since he had a vacation where he could relax and enjoy himself, and he wasn't about to let anything ruin that.
Any hopes for that relaxing vacation, though, vanished as he heard the sirens stop one block away from the hotel. He went to the window, hoping he could either see or hear something that would let him know what was going on, and preferably, that is was something that he could ignore. [Maybe I can still be on vacation?] he thought, hopefully.
Those hopes were dashed, however, as he heard the "Breaking News" story interruption on CNN.
"CNN has just received word of a hostage crisis in the nation's capital. Less than two hours ago a terrorist organization that calls themselves the "Children of the Burning Heart" stormed the Washington Towers hotel, taking control of a ballroom that was hosting a year-end reception for the Council of Governors. We have unconfirmed reports that the Director of the FBI, Jacob Wylen, who was the keynote speaker for the evening, has been killed by the terrorists. We do not know whether any of the other hostages has been harmed. CNN will keep you informed of further developments in this breaking story. Once again, CNN has just received word…"
Jim ignored the rest of the report as he went to the top of the room's dresser to find his service revolver. He checked the clip, chambered a bullet and removed the safety before slipping the gun in its holster. He then turned to his partner, expecting to have to wake him, but instead he found the younger man lacing up his boots. As Blair finished up he asked his partner, "The Washington Towers is about a block away from here, right? That's what all the sirens were for?"
Jim looked at his partner in surprise for a second before he nodded. Noticing the older man's look, Blair commented, "Jim, I should know you well enough by now to know that you can't hear a news report like that without needing to do something about it. Ready to go?"
Jim accepted the compliment in stride, replying, "yeah chief, let's go."
*****
"Stupid J. Edgar clones," muttered Mulder, "I hope one of them gets eaten by a New Jersey sewer monster." The locals had been helpful enough, and he was able to confirm the death of the Director and the other information the group had released, including their demands. However, when Section Chief Blevins and his team arrived on the scene and found out that Agent Scully was one of the hostages, Blevins took Mulder out of the investigation immediately and pushed toward the growing crowd of spectators, saying something about "conflicts of interest". Mulder knew the whole time, however, that it had less to do with 'conflicts of interest' and more to do with what Blevins really thought of him.
He looked up at the main ballroom's second floor windows, and, cutting through the tinting, he focused in to see his partner, at the head table, whispering something to Assistant Director Skinner. There were two armed men near the table, one on each end. Another man seated at the table was talking on a cellular phone, a revolver nearby. From what he could catch of the conversation, this was the leader of the terrorist group, and he was on the phone with whoever had been drafted into being Federal negotiator. Suddenly, he caught a scent on the wind that he hadn't smelled in almost ten months, and without turning around, he exclaimed, "Blair! Jim! We weren't expecting you for a couple of days."
He turned around to face the Sentinel and his young Guide, both of whom smiled briefly, then Jim, as always, got down to business. "We made it into town a couple of days early, and got here as soon as we heard, Mulder. What's going on?"
Mulder informed them of everything he had seen and heard so far, both from the 'official' side and from his own work. He then pulled the two men over to a spot where they could have a slightly more 'private' conversation, and described the experience with the seizure and the 'images' from his partner. He asked them, "has anything like that ever happened to you guys?"
Jim and Blair looked at each other and shivered, remembering all too well the last experience they had with their 'link', and Blair explained, "Mulder, do you remember when I told you about the 'psychic bond' that Jim and I seem to share that kicks in when either of us is in an extremely life-threatening situation?" As Mulder nodded, Blair continued, "that's what happened when you had what you called that 'split-second seizure'. The link kicked in." A look of realization settled over Blair's face, and he added, "You're probably still linked to Dana right now. See if you can contact her."
"How?"
"Close your eyes, take a deep breath and relax." As Blair slipped into his guide mode, Mulder complied with his instructions. "Put a mental image of Scully in your head. Do you see the link between you?"
Mulder nodded, "It's like a cord that binds the two of us together."
Blair continued, "Think of that cord like a tin can telephone. You just have to direct a thought into that cord to send it to her. Try to get your partner's attention by talking to her through that cord in your mind."
Mulder took another deep breath, then focused on the link. 'Scully?'
*****
At the head table in the Main Ballroom, Scully nearly fell off her chair. She knew, without a doubt, that Mulder was _not_ standing next to her, but she was hearing him as clearly as if he was arguing one of his theories right in front of her. She turned to Skinner and asked him, "did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
Scully shook it off, figuring it was just the stress of the situation getting to her. "Nothing sir, I guess I was just hearing things."
*****
Mulder opened his eyes, disappointed. "I don't think she heard me."
Blair shook his head, and laughed as he recalled Dana's initially skeptical response when Mulder's senses first emerged. "Knowing your partner, she probably just didn't believe you. Try it again."
He took another deep breath, and focused again on the link. 'Scully?'
*****
[There it is again,] thought Scully. She didn't want to ask Skinner if he had heard the voice again--one look at his face told her he hadn't heard a thing. [Ah well,] she thought, [if my mind is deciding to play tricks on me, I might as well play along. After all,] she sighed mentally as she looked over at the head of her captors, [it's not like I have anything else to do at the moment.] She directed her thoughts toward the 'Mulder' in her head and asked, 'yes, Mulder?'.
'Wow, you really can hear me!'
'Yes, 'Mulder', I can hear you.'
Down on the street, Mulder winced at the tone in Scully's mind-voice. It was the same tone she used when she felt forced to go along with one of his crazy theories. He 'voiced' the thought, 'you don't believe this is really me, do you, Scully?'
'You mean, do I believe that this is a part of my mind that has gone so crazy from the stress of this situation that I'm hearing Fox Mulder's voice in my head, or do I believe I'm actually communicating telepathically with you?'
'Yeah.'
'The first one.'
Down on the street, Mulder sighed. It's not like her skeptical side was anything new to him. Normally, he relied on it to ground him, keep him focused on finding concrete proof behind things he knew to be the truth. Now, though, it was going to get in the way. 'What can I do to convince you that I'm really talking to you?'
'I have absolutely no idea.'
'How about if you turn around and look out the window. You'll see me, Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg in the crowd, waving to you.' Out loud, he said to Jim and Blair, "look up at the second floor of the hotel and wave."
Jim and Blair looked at Mulder in confusion, to which he replied, "I'm trying to convince Scully I'm really talking to her. Just follow my lead, okay?"
The two men took the agent at his word, and followed his instructions, waving their arms and yelling "Scully!" at the top of their lungs, eyes focused on the second floor of the hotel.
In the main ballroom, Dana Scully looked to her captors to see if they were looking in her direction, then turned to look out the window…
And saw her partner, Jim Ellison, and Blair Sandburg waving at her, calling her name.
She promptly fainted.
*****
Mulder jumped at the abrupt blackness coming through the link. He exclaimed, "Scully!", at which point Jim and Blair stopped waving and grabbed their confused friend. Concerned, Blair asked, "Mulder, what happened?"
"The link went blank. It's still there, but it's like she's not answering."
Jim focused in on the Main Ballroom, and saw a bald-headed man kneeling over Scully with his back turned to him, trying to revive the agent. He told Mulder, "it looks like she just passed out for a minute."
"Really?"
"Look for yourself."
Mulder focused again on the Main Ballroom, and saw Skinner helping Scully back to her chair. He announced to the two men, "I'm going to try again," then focused on his partner. 'Still with me, Scully?'
'This is really you, Mulder?'
'In the flesh, so to speak. How are you?'
'I'm fine, Mulder. I just fainted. Mulder, how is this possible?'
'According to Blair, this is part of the whole Sentinel package, apparently. The link kicked in when you were taken hostage.'
Scully remembered the jolt of electricity that she felt run through her when the 'emcee' announced that they were his prisoners. 'So that's what that was.'
She then realized that Skinner had been trying to get her attention for the past couple of minutes. She turned to him with a reassuring smile and said, "thank you, sir. I'm fine now."
Skinner wasn't satisfied with that. He was still bothered by the whole seizure thing earlier, and now it seemed like she was hearing voices, fainting and blacking out. However, he knew full well by now that Scully wouldn't tell him anything unless she was good and ready to do so, so he held his tongue. If necessary, they'd find a semi-private corner in this hellhole and he'd drag the information out of her later.
But only if necessary.
*****
Several hours passed, and the standoff continued. The two major demands the terrorists made were things that seemed to be impossible: a formal apology from the government for several alleged 'crimes' and the release of twenty men they called 'prisoners of war and conscience', most of whom had been sent to prison for treason, murder, explosives violations, and several other crimes that had been connected to a number of radical militia groups.
Any ideas of staging a rescue attempt were hindered by two things: one, the number of high-ranking officials among the hostages was so substantial that they could not afford to put any of the hostages at risk; two, the sheer volume of people in the one room made it impossible for them to determine the number of terrorists they were dealing with. The majority opinion among the police and FBI encamped outside the hotel was to wait and try to talk them into whittling the number of hostages down to a smaller number-- hopefully consisting mostly of law enforcement personnel who could take care of themselves if a rescue attempt got hairy.
Unbeknownst to the police and FBI, three men in the crowd had a very good idea of what they were dealing with. However, these men knew full well that no one on the hostage negotiation team would believe them if they went to the team with what they knew. Jim was scanning the main ballroom carefully, describing the full scene to Blair, who drew up a complete map of the room, the locations of the terrorists, and what type of weapons each man was carrying. Mulder was eavesdropping on Blevins and his team, trying to gauge what their impressions were of the terrorists as well as finding out what their plan of attack was. The news did not encourage him at all.
A familiar voice echoed in his head. 'Mulder?'
'Yeah, Scully?'
In the Main Ballroom, Scully raised an eyebrow in surprise. She half expected this 'mind-talk' thing not to work. 'How are things on your end?'
'Not encouraging. Apparently Blevins and company aren't planning on crashing your little party any time soon. We can't meet their demands, but they can't plan a rescue attempt either. Too many prominent hostages. They think if they wait these guys out they can get most of the hostages released before they have to do anything else.'
'How about you and Jim? Have you come up with anything they couldn't?'
'Jim and Blair are putting together a map of the room with the locations where each of the terrorists are stationed. I'm hoping from there we can come up with a plan of attack.'
Scully rolled her eyes. 'Mulder, if half the FBI and most of the DCPD can't figure out a way to attempt a rescue, what makes you think that the three of you are going to be able to successfully take out these guys on your own?'
'I was hoping you could help us with that.'
Scully sighed loud enough for Skinner to turn around. Nervously, she turned her head away. [I gotta be careful with that,] she thought to herself, [He's starting to look suspicious.]
She then warned Mulder, 'just make sure that you factor into your planning that in addition to the automatics, they took all of our service revolvers and, according to their leader, they've also wired this room with explosives. Be careful.'
'We will, I promise.'
As Mulder ended his conversation with his partner, he walked over to Blair and Jim to check on their progress with the map. "How's it going, guys?"
Blair replied, "pretty good. Looks like we've got a fairly complete map of their layout." He looked over at Jim, who stood, motionless, looking up at the second floor.
Recognizing a zone-out when he saw one, Mulder shook him out of it gently. Jim jumped for a minute, then looked over at his federal counterpart apologetically. "Sorry."
"S'okay. Happens to me all the time."
Jim absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck to try and alleviate some of the headache and stiff neck he had gotten from making the map. He asked Mulder and Blair, "so now that we've got this map, what are we going to do with it?"
Mulder replied, "I'm still not totally sure. According to Scully, not only do these guys have the weapons we've seen, but they've also confiscated every service revolver in the place. They may have also wired the place with explosives."
Curious, Jim looked up at the building and scanned the walls of the ballroom one more time. "That part may be a ruse. I don't see any indication of a bomb in there. However, I can't be a hundred percent certain."
Blair jumped in. "There is a way we _could_ be certain."
Mulder looked over at the young guide. "How?"
"Your senses. I had been kidnapped once several months ago, and the 'link' between Jim and I kicked in. Jim was able to channel his senses through me and use them to help determine where I was being held. If we send your senses through to Scully, that could help us to determine things about their setup we can't tell from out here."
Mulder thought about it for a minute, then communicated the idea to his partner. 'What do you think? Should we try it?'
'I don't see why not,' replied Scully. Her mind was still reeling from the idea of being telepathically 'linked' to Mulder; if someone came up to her and told her that these men were space rabbits from Pluto she'd believe them. The idea of seeing what Mulder sees was not too hard to believe at that rate.
Mulder communicated Scully's agreement, then asked Blair, "okay, so how do I do this?"
To his surprise, Jim was the one who spoke up. "Do you still see the link in your mind between you and your partner?" Mulder nodded. Jim continued, "focus on it with everything you have. Throw every ounce of your being into that link. Zone out on everything else."
*****
[Breathe, Dana, breathe,] she reminded herself. Nothing she could have thought of during the past ten months of helping Mulder deal with his heightened senses could have prepared her for having to deal with them herself. All at once, everything became brighter, clearer, and almost unbearably loud. She drew in a sharp breath, and could almost taste the air as it came into her mouth, down her throat and into her lungs. [This is what Mulder deals with everyday?]
Skinner watched her, concern etched on his face. He touched her shoulder, and she jumped at the electric reaction of his hand on her skin -- it was as if someone had pushed a hot plate into her shoulder.
Over the chaos, Scully heard her partner's voice, as clear as if it were her own thoughts. 'Control it, Scully! The way you taught me!' She took in another deep breath, and fought to bring everything down to a manageable, though still heightened level. Skinner leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Agent Scully, do you need help? Do you need to get to a hospital? And don't tell me you're fine again, because it's obvious, at least to me, that you're not!"
Scully replied with the only answer she could think of. "Sir, these men murdered Director Wylen in cold blood without so much as a second thought, and haven't even done anything about removing the body. Are you sure that if we tell them that I might need a doctor they won't just decide to kill me too?"
Skinner sighed, resigned to being forced to sit back and watch whatever was going on. The rush of air by Scully's now-sensitive ear gave her the chills.
Mulder felt a twinge of regret at the concern in his superior's voice. Obviously this 'link' between himself and Scully was becoming quite a strain on her. He pulled his senses back into his own mind, at which point Scully exclaimed, 'Mulder, what do you think you're doing?'
'I heard what Skinner said to you, Scully. Are you sure you can handle--'
Before Mulder could complete the thought, Scully cut him off in his mind. 'Mulder, stop! If I didn't think I could handle this I wouldn't have agreed to it. In the past couple of hours I've been able to remember some of Blair's notes I read about the link between himself and Jim, and he mentioned how physically draining it was for him. Now if doing this is going to save lives, then I'm willing to take whatever risks that go along with it.'
'Are you sure?'
'Yes, I'm sure. Now, get back here!'
Mulder laughed at the forcefulness of his guide's tone. He tuned out his surroundings again and focused on the link. In a heartbeat he was back in Scully's mind. Her eyes were closed, and he could hear an increase in her heartbeat and her short, quick breaths. He tried to comfort and encourage her, 'relax, Scully. Take a deep breath.' Immediately he could sense her relaxing. 'Now, open your eyes slowly.' She complied, and they were able to take a good look around the room.
'What are we looking for, Mulder?'
'Any signs of the bomb.'
They noticed a glint of metal near one of the potted plants closest to the head table, and focused in to take a closer look.
*****
Blair and Jim heard Mulder draw in a deep breath, and Jim heard Mulder's heart rate increase sharply.
Blair asked, "what do you think he's finding up there?"
Jim replied, "from the look of things -- trouble."
*****
The plants were definitely wired, but not with explosives as the terrorist group had threatened. This was much worse -- the plant had a canister of toxic chemicals connected to a small explosive charge. A thin wire ran from the plants along the floor of the Ballroom, but since they couldn't see where it lead, they could only assume that it was connected to the other numerous plants lined up along the walls. Mulder pulled himself back to his own mind, and opened his eyes to see Blair and Jim on either side of him, waiting for information. He took a deep breath, and stated, "this is much worse than we thought."
Blair asked, "how?"
"They don't have explosives, per se. It's toxic gas, hidden in the plants. If the guy in charge hits that detonator, that room is going to be filled with enough gas to kill every living thing in there."
Jim glanced over at the police and FBI encampment and added, "and if those guys do decide to plan a rescue, since they're not prepared for a gas attack…"
Mulder completed the thought, "we could have a whole lot more dead bodies on our hands."
The group was silent for a few tense minutes, then Blair directed their attention to the map he had drawn so they could review what they were up against. "Okay, from what you two have told me, we're dealing with at least a dozen men, not including the leader. There are two major entrances to the ballroom, both covered by two guards each. Three men are stationed along the side walls of the ballroom, apparently to guard staff entrances from the kitchen. Two men are stationed here," he pointed to the rough location of each end of the head table on the map, "and the leader's base is in the middle of the head table." He marked off an "X" to the left of the marking for the leader's location. "Dana is seated here," pointing to the 'X', "right under the nose of our head guy."
Mulder added, "our poison plants can be found all along here." He pointed on the map to the three walls surrounding the Ballroom's main floor.
Jim asked Mulder, "how much freedom of movement does your partner have?"
Mulder asked Scully through the link, and voiced her reply. "Not much. The people at the tables on the floor are able to move around, but the VIPs are blocked from leaving the head table by the two armed guards."
Jim started massaging his neck again. This was getting frustrating. "So we have three guys, only two of whom have weapons, against at least twelve men with automatic weapons and a chemical bomb? Mulder nodded. Jim continued, "so far I'd say we have better odds of winning the lottery than we do of getting those people out of there. Any suggestions, gentlemen?"
Mulder pulled out his cellular phone. There was one number he called when the odds were against him. Blair asked, "who are you calling?"
Mulder simply replied, "backup." As someone picked up on the other line, Mulder greeted them, "turn off the tape, Frohike."
"Agent Mulder!" exclaimed a sarcastically cheerful Frohike, "what can we do for you?"
Mulder absentmindedly rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice. They were running out of time, he was sure of it. The last thing he needed was trying to deal with a conspiracy theorist who was probably annoyed that he was getting a phone call from an FBI agent in the middle of the night who _wasn't_ a petite, attractive redhead. And he _still_ heard the ever- present tape recorder whirring away in the background. "I need you guys to find out all you can on a group called 'Children of the Burning Heart'. Who they are, who their leaders are, and what they want. Milk every connection you've got."
"When do you need it by?"
"As soon as possible. I'm sure by now you've heard of situation at the Washington Towers?"
"Of course."
"Scully's in there."
Immediately Mulder heard the tape machine turn off. To Mulder's surprise, he heard Frohike remove the tape from the machine and dump it into a nearby bucket of acid, destroying it. His tone gravely serious, the gunman then asked, "I'll wake up the guys -- we'll get on this right away. Do you need anything else?"
Actually, Mulder had remembered one thing that would be extremely useful to them. However, the Gunmen didn't bring it out except in cases of extreme emergency. He hoped Frohike would see this as just one such emergency. "Can I borrow the truck?"
"Done. We'll do the research en route to you. We'll meet two blocks south of your present location." *click*
*****
Jim looked at Mulder quizzically as he terminated the connection on the cellular phone. "Just who are these guys, anyway?"
"They're the publishers of a newsletter I subscribe to called The Lone Gunman." Understanding that the Sentinel probably listened in on the entire conversation, he added, "I realize they might seem a little paranoid, but they have access to all kinds of information. I've always been able to count on them to help me out when I needed it."
[Okay, I'll buy that,] thought Jim, remembering some of his more eccentric contacts in Cascade. "What about this truck I heard you two talking about?"
Mulder couldn't quite describe the monstrosity he often referred to as the Gunmen's EMU (short for Emergency Mobile Unit). He just grinned and replied, "you have to see it to believe it. Let's go--knowing the way Langley drives, they'll probably be waiting for us when we get to the meeting point."
*****
Sure enough, by the time the trio had walked the two blocks and reached the meeting site, a giant black Winnebago was there to greet them. Blair and Jim looked at each other in confusion, but Mulder simply chuckled and motioned for the guys to follow him. They walked up to the side door, and before anyone could have possibly had the chance to knock, a skinny, pale man with long blond hair and glasses practically yanked them into the trailer.
Jim was thoroughly unprepared for the sight before him, and he gawked for a split second at the three sophisticated computer units, video camera, and communication station they were standing in the middle of. He noticed the open door, and glanced over to find the room stocked with an arsenal large enough for the six of them to start their own little war. He wondered why he didn't hear anything while they were on the street that would clue him in to this setup, until he recognized the familiar hum of a large white noise generator in the background.
Blair stood close to Jim, dumbfounded and silent. He could see a little from the light coming off of the computer monitors, but the darkness of the room blinded him to the point where he was unable to notice anything else. He knew that Mulder and Jim would both have no problem with the levels of light in the room, but he wondered how the other three men could find their way around, much less do any work. He guessed that they were used to working in a dark environment and their eyes had adjusted to the limited level of light in the room. Still, he silently hoped that he would get a chance to interview the three men thoroughly when this whole thing was over.
Mulder walked through the chaos to a red-haired, bearded man who appeared to be the leader of the group. The man greeted him, "Agent Mulder! Good to see you, as always. Who are your friends?"
By this point Jim had composed himself, so he walked over to Mulder and the bearded man. Blair followed him closely, as Mulder introduced them to the three Gunmen: Byers (the bearded man), Langley (the pale one with long blond hair), and Frohike, a short man with glasses who was sitting in the driver's seat of the trailer, feet up, using a set of high-powered binoculars to observe the scene at the Towers. Byers looked thoughtfully at Blair, then asked, "have we met before, Mr. Sandburg? Your name sounds very familiar to me."
Before Blair had a chance to open his mouth, Frohike called out from the front of the trailer, "I think Kelso mentioned him a couple of times in his e-mails."
Byers exclaimed, "Ah yes, that's right! When you see the old man, tell him we said hello."
Blair simply smiled and nodded. In his mind, things were getting stranger by the minute.
By this point, Mulder was impatient to get past the pleasantries and get down to business. "Now that we know each other, gentlemen, what do you have for us on this group?"
Langley pulled up a web site on his computer and motioned for the group to gather around him. "We've actually found quite a bit of information on this group, but I don't think you're going to like what you hear. This is a worldwide organization, led by a guy named Tyson Costelwaite. They have their own site on the web, very similar to Heaven's Gate. Unlike Heaven's Gate, though, they believe very strongly in using force to get their message across. They've posted several encoded messages to a newsgroup, alt.children-burning-heart. When I decoded the messages, I found out that they have been planning this siege for about a year and a half. Almost every message has a reference to either David Koresh or Waco, and how they must 'carry on the work' which means…"
Jim completed the thought, "…they're not afraid to die."
Langley added, "in fact, they're counting on it."
Mulder stood up, ran his hands through his hair, and started pacing. "We need to get those hostages out of there before they have a chance to 'carry on the work'." He pulled out the map that the three men had been working from and went over to the 'dining room' table. The other men quickly followed, crowding into the remaining space around the table. Mulder reviewed the layout of the room and the positioning of the guards and 'poison' plants, then opened the floor to suggestions.
Byers spoke up first. "There are six of us, so I suggest that we come in from the three sides: the service entrances on the north and south sides, and the main entrances to the east. That leaves each of us no more than two men to deal with at a time, and we should be able to dispatch them pretty quickly."
Blair shifted uncomfortably in his seat, then voiced his objections. "While it sounds like a good idea, I have two problems with it." Once this got the attention of the others in the room, he continued, "first of all, while this takes out the main guards, that still leaves us with at least two guards and Costelwaite to deal with. Remember, Costelwaite is the one with the detonator--he pushes one button and this all becomes moot. Any plan we come up with has to be sure to get rid of that threat right at the beginning, so there is only a secondary chance of that chemical bomb going off."
While Jim agreed with that, he was curious to know something. "What's your second objection?"
Blair knew that Jim could see this one coming. "I don't like guns. I don't carry one, and I don't like to use one unless absolutely necessary. If I don't carry a weapon, that leaves me and whoever is with me vulnerable."
Jim was about to launch into a speech about how this was a time when it was absolutely necessary for him to carry a gun when he caught a glimpse of the mischievous grin on Byers' face. The gunman replied, "I'm a pacifist as well, Mr. Sandburg. I think I have something back here that you should be able to use without hesitation." He walked back to the weapons room and brought out a gun that looked similar to a .38 with a silencer, although it was slightly bigger. Mulder asked, "what is that?"
"This, Agent Mulder, is something that a good friend of ours risked his life to smuggle out of Nevada. It's a prototype weapon with surprising versatility. Have any of you ever watched an episode of Star Trek?" All five heads nodded.
If possible, Byers smile grew even wider. "Gentlemen, may I present to you what we are calling the first modern phaser."
Blair, Jim and Mulder stared at Byers in disbelief, while Langley and Frohike looked like cats who had just swallowed a flock of canaries. As Byers handed the weapon to Blair so he could get a closer look, he began to explain, "instead of a bullet, this weapon delivered a controlled electromagnetic charge." He pointed to the barrel of the 'silencer' and continued, "the strength of the charge is controlled by the level at which you set this barrel. At it's lowest power discharge, it will render your opponent unconscious for twelve hours, with no adverse side effects"
Frohike joked, "other than a nasty headache."
Mulder then asked, "and at its highest levels?"
Langley replied, "total disintegration. In a matter of seconds, you reduce your opponent to a pile of dust."
Mulder let out a low whistle, impressed at the power of the weapon as Blair handed it to him. Even at rest, he could still feel the power flowing through it. It made his fingers tingle. Yet, the weapon was lighter than the corresponding .38 would be. He passed it on to Jim, who looked at the agent with a slight expression of disbelief on his face. Apparently, he felt the same things when he touched the weapon. Blair noticed the brief exchange between the two Sentinels, and grew concerned. "Is the weapon safe for the shooter?"
Byers nodded, "Completely. Even at rest, the body of the weapon emits a slight electrical discharge, but it is only detectable by highly sensitive equipment--nothing that could be considered potentially harmful. Upon firing, the discharge increases slightly, but it simply feels like your normal level of weapons kickback."
Jim handed the weapon back to Byers, who offered it to Blair. "It's yours to use if you want it. Oh by the way," he directed his attention to Jim and Mulder, "our friend in Nevada was able to get his hand on two dozen of these, so if either of you want to test drive our little toy here, just say the word." Both men nodded.
Blair took the weapon from Byers, hefted it in his hand briefly, then set it down on the table in front of him. "Thank you. I'll try not to miss."
Byers then went back to get two more 'phasers', which he passed on to Jim and Mulder. He then returned to his seat and addressed Blair's first concern. "That leaves us with the problem of Costelwaite and the bomb. I don't think that the two guards will be an issue. We have enough of the element of surprise on our side that we should be able to dispatch the additional guards rather quickly. However, I agree that we would not be able to get to the other two guards and Costelwaite before he had a chance to set off the bomb."
An idea lit up Blair's face as he noticed Scully's location in relation to Costelwaite. Excited, he declared to Jim and Mulder, "what if we can send Scully some sort of signal, and she can distract Costelwaite long enough for us to come in and take control of the situation?"
Mulder objected, "I'm not comfortable with the idea of Scully doing that without a weapon to defend herself. Too dangerous." Mulder then came up with an idea himself, and whispered low enough for only Jim to hear, "distract the guys. I have an idea I need to talk over with Scully." Jim's barely perceptible nod told Mulder the other Sentinel had heard him.
As Jim asked the Gunmen, "all right, can we go over this again, just to make sure?", Mulder slipped into a light trance that would only be recognizable to Blair and Jim, and contacted his partner. 'Scully?'
*****
In the Main Ballroom, Scully had to take a deep breath in order for the slight surprise not to register on her face. [This mind-talk stuff is going to take some getting used to,] she thought to herself. 'Yeah Mulder?'
Mulder reviewed with her the information they had received from the Gunmen, and their tentative plan. 'Is there any way you can get your hands on a weapon without attracting attention?'
'I don't see how,' replied Scully. As she glanced around the room at her captors, she wondered where they kept the service revolvers they had taken from herself, Skinner and the other law enforcement personnel in the room. As an idea dawned on her, she asked in her mind, 'Mulder?'
'Yeah?'
'I have an idea of how I might be able to get a weapon from one of the guards, but I can't see everything I need to see from here. Can we try that sense thing again?'
'Done.' Immediately her senses magnified, and she felt Mulder's intensified presence in her mind. He asked, 'what are we looking for?'
'They took all of our service revolvers when they first locked down the room, but no one ever left with them. I want to see who has what weapons.' They scanned the room, and quickly discovered that each man, in addition to the automatic weapons they visibly carried, also carried two of the service revolvers in holsters under their uniform jackets. In addition, they noticed that the two head table guards, once they turned around, had slight bulges in their jackets at the small of their backs. Scully asked in her mind, 'do you think those are what I think those are, Mulder?'
'Apparently these guys didn't pack enough shoulder holsters in their suitcases.'
'The guys with the guns in their backs are the easiest targets. Play this right, and the guy will never even realize the gun's been taken from him.'
'Why do you say that?'
'How often do _you_ notice when _you_ lose _your_ gun?'
'Touché, Scully. Touché. So when do you want to do this?'
'Not yet. Let me know when you guys are ready, and I'll let you know when I'm in position.'
Mulder was about to pull back into his own mind when Scully asked, 'Mulder?'
'Yeah Scully?'
'I have one problem here. Skinner's been watching me like a hawk ever since this link kicked in. I don't know what he's going to do when I have to get away from him to try and get the gun. What should I tell him?'
Mulder quickly weighed their options. Skinner reported to the Cigarette-Smoking man, who, if he ever got wind of Mulder and Jim's abilities, would have no qualms about turning the four of them into living guinea pigs for the rest of their lives. But at the same time, Skinner had also stuck his neck out repeatedly in the defense of the two agents, even so far as risking his life and career to protect them when they were in possession of the digital tape. Mulder decided to take a chance. 'Scully, I trust you. Tell him whatever you have to--even our secret if it comes to that. If you can, get him to help you. But whatever you do, make sure that you don't tell us to go before you're sure you can distract Costelwaite.'
'I understand. Good Luck, Mulder.'
'You too.'
*****
Mulder pulled back into his own mind, and realized that Byers, Langley and Frohike were all staring at him with expressions of great concern on their faces, while Blair and Jim were deliberately trying to avoid looking him in the eye. He began to wonder what was going on, then he realized what he had just been doing. Not for the first time since he had met the three men, he wondered what was going through the heads of the three Lone Gunmen.
Once they had realized Mulder had gained awareness again, Byers asked him, "Mulder, you okay? We thought you were off on another planet there for a while."
Mulder shrugged it off. "I'm fine, guys. My mind was just somewhere else for a minute." He heard both Blair and Jim stifle a laugh, then continued, "so where were we?"
Langley stared at Mulder again for a minute, then glanced over at Blair. Something was tickling at the edge of his memory, something he read once, that he was sure was somehow connected to Blair Sandburg, and to this whole nightmare. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember it for the life of him. He shook off the feeling, knowing full well that it would come to him eventually, then leaned in to pay attention as the other men discussed their strategy for rescuing Scully and the other hostages.
*****
For the eight hundredth time since this long night began, Skinner took off his glasses, rubbed them with the handkerchief in his suit coat pocket, then put them on and glanced over at Scully. It was often hard for him to understand his two most troublesome agents on a good day. Today, trying to understand Scully was getting to be almost impossible. First the initial seizure right after they were captured, then another set of seizures two hours later. There were times she would jump at his slightest touch, other times when he probably could have thrown a glass of cold water in her face and gotten no response from her whatsoever. Then there were the things she was muttering under her breath about the explosives really being a "chemical bomb" and how she needed to "get the gun" from one of the guards.
By now, most of the other captives were sleeping, although somewhat restlessly. Scully, on the other hand, was wide awake, either talking to herself, to 'Mulder', or just wildly letting her eyes dart around the room. The only other people awake in the room, unfortunately, were the guards and their 'leader', all of whom had not moved from their positions since they had taken them almost eight hours earlier.
He noticed Scully drop a crumpled-up piece of paper on the floor as she stretched her arms back toward him. It was close enough that he acted like he dropped something on the floor in order to bend down and pick it up. As he came back up, he looked over to the 'leader', who was staring out the window with his back facing him, and cautiously smoothed out the note. It said simply:
We're going to be rescued soon. I need your help.
[How does she know this?] he thought. She turned her head just enough so she could look him in the eye, and he nodded.
Unbeknownst to them, Tyson Costelwaite _had_ been watching the whole exchange through the reflection in the window. He saw Skinner smooth out the piece of paper, and nod his response. [Enough is enough,] he thought, [it's time to make an example of these two.] He got up from his chair, walked over to Skinner and Scully, and loudly declared, "Well, well! What do we have here?" He grabbed the note from Skinner's hand and read it out loud, laughing. His laughter caused the other guards to convulse in laughter as well.
Tyson went quickly from riotous laughter to uncontrolled rage. He pulled Scully violently to her feet and looked her straight in the eye. "You seem to have quite a lot of faith, lady. Do you actually think someone's going to come and rescue you soon? Maybe your punk Fed pals?" He took one of the cellular phones on the table, punched out one of the hotel windows, and sent the phone flying to the ground below, continuing, "this is what I think of your punk Fed pals! Maybe you should follow the phone, huh!"
Even though she looked afraid, she was far from it in her heart. In fact, Scully had planned this whole charade from the minute she noticed Costelwaite force his gun down the back of his pants and the detonator in front of it. [Now,] she thought to herself, [comes stage two. All I have to do is find a way to be able to reach around to his back…]
She did a very good impersonation of faking another blackout spell, falling forward into his chest. As her arm reached around and felt for the handle of Costelwaite's gun she sent a mental signal to her partner. 'Mulder! Now!'
Tyson looked with annoyance at the red-haired woman who was falling on him. [Not another blackout,] he thought. Before he could continue, or even push the red-haired woman away from him, he heard the commotion of all of his men on the attack.
Then he noticed the first blue streak. Lightning? Indoors? Couldn't be?
Another blue streak. And another. They filled the room, hitting more and more of his men. The few seconds he stood looking at the scene dumbfounded were enough to send all but three or four of his men to the floor, whether unconscious or dead he couldn't be sure. He reached for his gun as more blue streaks sent the four men still standing to the floor…
and found only the cloth from his jeans and shirt. He turned to see the woman he was so sure was about to pass out, fully conscious and grounded to the floor, his gun in her hands. He grabbed the detonator and raised it in the air just as she yelled, "freeze, Costelwaite! Drop it or you're a dead man!"
*****
Both Mulder and Jim heard Scully yell at Costelwaite, and turned to see her leveling a gun at him, and Costelwaite holding the detonator in the air. There was no way either man could communicate with the other through the screams of the panicked hostages, but both men knew that if Costelwaite pushed that button… Getting the detonator away from him was going to be tricky, but it had to be done. Jim still wasn't comfortable with the phaser, so he pulled his gun from the shoulder holster, aiming for the detonator hand. On the other side of the room, Mulder aimed his phaser for the back of Costelwaite's head.
Both men heard Costelwaite declare, "Drop it or I'm a dead man? I got news for you, lady. I'm already a dead man!"
Both Sentinels fired.
The last thing Tyson Costelwaite remembered from that night was a blue flash of light, a feeling of falling and the sound of breaking glass.
*****
[Scully.] Reaching Scully was all he could think of. He moved through the panicked crowd like they weren't even there, finally reaching her as she sat in the nearest chair, stunned, exhausted and bewildered; the events of the day finally catching up with her. She looked up into the eyes of her partner, and, barely able to trust her voice or her eyes, asked, "Mulder?"
"Yeah, it's me, Scully. You okay?"
She nodded, although weakly. First lesson she had learned ten months ago: no sense lying to a Sentinel. They can always tell.
Mulder reached up and brushed a stray lock of hair away from Scully's face. She took his hand in her own, and both felt a slight tingly, cooling sensation wash over them, like a gentle breeze on a summer night.
As they looked into each other's eyes for a brief second, the link that had been so alive to that point faded to background noise, no longer needed, but still there should another danger threaten the Sentinel and his Guide.
*****
The confused crowed milled about, some stepping over bodies trying to get out the doors, some sitting still, crying out of nervous frustration and not knowing if these were their rescuers or just more terrorists. By this point, Jim and Blair had made their way up to the head table, and each put a hand on the shoulder of their fellow Sentinel or Guide, shaking them out of their reverie. Scully looked up to the new and familiar faces, and got up to embrace both men. "Blair! Jim! It's good to see you both."
Blair greeted her, "it's good to see you too, Dana. Especially alive and well."
Scully smiled at him, then turned to Jim, who for some reason was looking unusually pale. Blair noticed the change in the Sentinel's demeanor, and wondered what could be causing it. "Jim, you okay man?"
Mulder watched his fellow Sentinel with concern, then bewilderment as the person who Jim paled upon seeing walked over to them.
*****
For once in his life, Walter Skinner was at a total loss. One minute, he's trying to keep himself from nodding off while listening to the Director's speech, the next minute the Director is dead and they're being held hostage by a madman. Then Scully starts acting strangely, and refusing almost all help from him. He spends the next few hours alternating between worrying about her and trying to figure out a possible way to escape without getting any of the other hostages hurt. Then Mulder, of all people, storms in with that weird bunch of guys he calls sources, all of them blasting some sort of weapon at any guard within five feet of them. After all the guards are down, he sees Scully going after the 'leader' who's holding the detonator in his hand. She screams out his name [how did she know who he was?], and apparently shoots the detonator out of his hand just as one of those blue lightning bolts hits him in the head, sending him flying out the window.
Amazed that the whole ordeal was over so quickly, he started to make his way through the crowd to the two agents, hoping he could finally get some answers. Then, he noticed the other two men hovering over Agent Scully--one of them he didn't recognize, but the other one brought a gasp to his lips. Once, years ago, he thought he had helped send the man to his death. Later, when news of his 'miraculous' survival hit the papers, he was relieved that one less life's blood fell on his hands, and even more relieved when that man was able to make his way out of Covert Ops and retire to work for some police department out in Washington.
So what was Jim Ellison doing hovering over Mulder and Scully like some kind of mother hen?
*****
[What in God's name is _he_ doing here?] thought Jim. Black-tie political dinners were not something the 'Shadow men', as he used to call them, did unless they wanted something. [So what does he want?] His jaw tensed slightly, and he tried to breathe deep to return the color to his face. Skinner walked over to him, flashed his badge, and play-acted, "Gentlemen, I'm Assistant Director Walter Skinner of the FBI, I'd like to speak to my agents alone for a few minutes if you don't mind."
[I haven't been out of the game that long, Skinner. I can play too.] Out loud he declared, "all right. We'll be over there if you need us. Come on, chief." He walked over in the direction of the area where the Gunmen had congregated, Blair closely following. The Guide could tell by the look on Jim's face and the set of Jim's jaw that he was still focused on the conversation between Mulder, Scully and Skinner behind him, so Blair led him halfway between the Gunmen and the agents, directing him into two available chairs. He started to pretend he was babbling, so convincingly that only people within three feet of the young man would know that they weren't having an actual conversation. Jim looked intently at his partner, eyes focused on the animated gestures of his Guide, ears focused on the conversation going on behind him.
*****
With Ellison out of his thoughts for the moment, Skinner was able to focus his attention on his two agents. "All right, would someone _please_ tell me what went on here tonight? And I want the _real_ truth, not the politically correct version I know you're going to give the powers that be later on."
Mulder and Scully gave each other a look that didn't need to be communicated through any sort of telepathic link. Mulder started, "I heard about the attack on CNN earlier tonight, sir. I called my usual sources, and received some disturbing information about the group that was holding you hostage. Together, we were able to use that information to plan the rescue you just witnessed."
He looked over to the one he normally considered the level- headed partner for confirmation. "Agent Scully?"
"Don't look at me, sir. I was in here with you the whole time."
Skinner moved his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose in a futile attempt to ease the tension headache that was starting to build. "And your unusual behavior tonight, Agent Scully?"
Agent Mulder looked at her with practiced surprise, and Scully tried to cover, "I guess the shock and stress of the night just got to me, sir."
[Somehow I knew she was going to say that,] thought Skinner. He pulled up a chair in front of the two agents, sat down and leaned in, telling them both, "Look, I know the two of you well enough by now to know that you just handed me a plate full of lies. Give them to Blevins if you want, but I'm not swallowing them this time." He looked over at Ellison, who seemed to be listening to the man he called "chief" in an animated conversation, then returned his gaze to the two agents and added, "I had hoped by now that the two of you would have realized that I'm on your side in this whole thing. Now, I can understand if you're trying to protect someone else in addition to yourselves, but I need to know the truth--especially if it will help me to protect both of you in the future."
*****
Jim took in another deep breath, and let it out slowly. Apparently, the Walter Skinner he knew from his pre- Sentinel days had turned over a new leaf. He still wasn't entirely sure if the guy could be trusted, but part of him was willing to take the chance, for Mulder and Scully's sake. He remembered how many times Simon had been willing to go out on a limb with him, or Blair, or (usually) both of them, sometimes solely based on 'hunches' Jim got from his heightened senses. He knew that it would be good for them to have their supervisor on their side like that, and it would be good for them all to have someone on their side who knew the 'Shadow Forces', should anything ever happen. However, he also knew the type of men that Skinner used to answer to.
Whatever his opinions on the subject, though, this was a decision for Mulder to make, so he spoke in Blair's direction, hoping Mulder could hear him, "Mulder, if you hear me, and if you can trust him, then I think the five of us should set up a meeting. If you want to tell him, we should tell him together. Knowing the men Skinner knows, this affects Blair and I just as much as it affects the two of you."
*****
[How does _he_ know who Skinner knows?] thought Mulder. He had indeed heard Jim, having considered it a fairly safe assumption that the Sentinel would not have given in to Skinner so easily if he didn't plan on listening in on the entire conversation. It was also apparent from the initial look on Jim's face when he saw Skinner that the two men knew each other, but how? Since he agreed with Jim about the meeting, he decided to arrange it, but he made a mental note to _definitely_ find out more about Jim's past…and soon. He looked at Scully, who seemed to be willing to go along with anything Mulder was willing to do, then told Skinner, "all right, but we can't talk here." He took out a piece of paper and a pen and scribbled down an address. "Meet us at this address at 7 p.m. tonight. We'll tell you everything then."
Skinner looked down at the paper and nodded. This had to be some secret for Mulder and Scully to go to such great lengths to keep it quiet. He stole a quick glance over at Ellison, and wondered briefly what he had to do with it. He put those thoughts aside, knowing he would find out later, and went to deal with his 'normal' nightmare: defending Mulder and Scully to his underlings and the standing "powers that be".
*****
It was three o'clock in the afternoon before Mulder, Blair, Jim and the Gunmen were allowed to leave the J. Edgar Hoover Federal Building. All of the men were frustrated and exhausted, but relieved that their ordeal had finally come to a close. Mulder, Jim and Blair were immensely grateful that the group was questioned together instead of separately, since none of them had a chance to put together a believable story before they were all hauled away for questioning, and keeping them together helped them all to keep their half-truths straight 'on the fly'. Byers was rather disappointed that the Bureau confiscated their phasers, but he considered it an acceptable loss in the face of the fact that there were no lives lost in the rescue. All of the guards awoke in the hospital two hours earlier to find themselves with unbelievable headaches and two National Guardsmen standing outside their doors. Costelwaite had sustained several broken bones in the fall from the second story window, but was expected to be released into custody in about a week or so.
Scully, who was the only one who had been allowed to get any sleep (having been released shortly after Skinner forced Blevins to stop questioning her and let her go home), rescued the truck from it's parking place near the hotel, and brought it over to pick up the group, once Mulder had called her to let her know they had been "granted the final pardon", as he so tactfully put it. As she pulled up, the six men piled in and collapsed, exhausted around the table they had used to plan the rescue less than a day earlier. Blair exclaimed, "Man, am I glad that's over! If I get asked another question today I'm going to scream!"
Mulder, who had been in a bit of a brooding mood ever since the incident with Skinner at the hotel, chuckled a bit at that remark. "I know what you mean. But, there is one question I do have to ask." Trying to keep an accusing look off his face, he looked straight at Jim and asked, "how in the world does a Major Crimes detective from Cascade, Washington know one of the Assistant Directors of the FBI?"
[Should've seen that one coming,] thought Jim, [this is, after all, 'Spooky' Mulder we're talking about here.] "I was in the military before I went to work for the Cascade PD. Covert ops." At hearing the dreaded words 'covert ops', the faces of the two agents and three gunmen turned grim and angry. He could even see Mulder and Scully start to reach for their guns. He tried to get the lynch mob to back down, declaring, "whoa, whoa, guys! Take it easy! I haven't been in the game for almost eight years now. And at this point, I think they'd be rather happy if I simply faded into obscurity." He continued, directing his next comment mostly at Blair, "The now Assistant Director Skinner was one of the men who signed the orders for the mission to Peru." Blair's eyes widened in recognition, then darkened with the grim recollections of the things Jim told him about the mission from which his Sentinel senses emerged.
Jim continued, "Several years ago, I was ordered to bring a team down to Peru. Very top secret hush-hush mission." Mulder and Scully nodded. They knew the covert ops drill as well as anyone. Jim went on, "The helicopter that carried my team crashed. I was the only one to survive, and I ended up living in the jungle for over a year with the natives before I was finally rescued. I have a feeling that the delay in my rescue was because 'the powers that be', including your man Skinner, assumed that I was dead. When I returned, I didn't hear from any of them, I was given an honorable discharge and sent on my way. Guess they pretty much wished I was still dead."
Mulder asked, "So they don't know about your…?"
Jim finished the thought, "If they did, do you think I would be sitting here talking to you?" Mulder stared down at his shoes briefly. Jim did have a point.
Jim added, "Which brings me to my main concern. Mulder, do you really think we can trust Skinner?"
Mulder began to find his shoes quite fascinating again. "Honestly, I'm never entirely sure that I can trust Skinner." He brought his focus up off his shoes, looked Jim straight in the eye, and continued, "however, he has protected us several times in the past, and I do believe he has had to go to the mat for us more times than he's told us about. Do I know what he's going to do with the information we're about to give him? No. But I'm about ninety percent certain that the last thing he would do with it is pass it on to 'the powers that be'."
"I hope your right, Mulder. For both our sakes."
Langley listened to the conversation, fascinated. It was as if the information he remembered about Sandburg was trying to push its way to the front of his mind again. All the talk about Peru and information and living alone in the jungle was continuing to fire triggers in his brain. Brooding, he told the group, "excuse me, I just need to check on something…" and went over to his computer.
Blair asked, "what's with him?"
Scully just laughed, "trust me Blair, if you have to ask, you probably wouldn't want to know."
Langley typed furiously, searching the net for the information that he was now trying desperately to recall. He finally found the Rainier University mainframe, and searched for anything related to Blair. As the gunman read the title and briefly skimmed parts of Blair's Master's thesis, the pieces fell into place, and he looked over at the table in shock. He whispered only loud enough for the Sentinels to hear, "can you hear me right now, Mr. Sandburg?"
Jim and Mulder looked at each other and sighed. If they didn't explain it, knowing the three paranoid information hounds sitting in the truck with them, they'd find out somehow anyway. Mulder replied, "Blair can't hear you, Langley. But we can."
He looked at the pale expressions of the three gunmen, then turned to the other Sentinel sitting across from him and asked, "do you want to start the explanation or shall I?"
*****
Not surprisingly, the three gunmen seemed to take the truth pretty much in stride. In fact, to Byers, many of the events of the previous night started to make more sense, particularly in light of the idea of Mulder being telepathically 'linked' to Scully. The three men even offered to keep a protective eye on their mutual enemies so that if anyone ever found out about the Sentinels' 'abilities', the two men and their Guides would be given plenty of lead time to, say, leave the country if necessary. It felt good, thought Mulder, to finally have allies on their side, the way that Blair and Jim had Simon back in Cascade.
He wondered if Skinner was going to be an ally as well, or if this would be the biggest mistake of his life. The meeting place he had suggested was an abandoned farm he knew of just outside of town. Scully had suggested that the group of them go out in the truck, which would be the best way to insure that they were not followed, and the group agreed. They pulled up next to a Bureau Motor Pool Taurus, and the group got out, Mulder going straight over to the battered wire mesh fence where Skinner had been pacing waiting for them. The others held back at a distance, waiting for a cue from Mulder as to when they should come over.
Skinner watched the truck with concern as it pulled in. He had taken great pains to make sure he wasn't followed, and it appeared that Mulder had done the same. So why was the whole group of them, including Scully and Ellison, with him? This must affect them all. [Some secret,] he thought.
Mulder walked up and stood next to Skinner at the fence, asking, "were you followed?"
Skinner shook his head. "What is this about Mulder? I haven't seen you so paranoid about security since I had the digital tape."
Mulder drew in a deep breath and released it. "As you know, sir, there are several things that Scully and I neglected to mention in our testimony about what happened at the Washington Towers last night." Skinner nodded, encouraging him to continue. "If this information were made public, sir, it would put my life, and possibly the lives of Agent Scully, Blair Sandburg and Jim Ellison at risk as well." Skinner nodded his understanding, and Mulder began his explanation.
"In order to explain what happened at the Washington Towers, sir, I need to start at the beginning. Ten months ago, I was working on the Marcus Christopher murders, when a lead in the case brought Scully and I to Cascade, Washington. While there, I began to suffer from unusual episodes…"
"Episodes?"
"Yes sir, where I would begin to see or hear things that I thought weren't there. At first, I thought it was an aftermath of the trauma I suffered in New Mexico. And then the accident happened."
Skinner remembered the case well. "Agent Scully narrowly missed getting hit on the head by a sandbag while she was interviewing the drummer on stage."
"Yes sir. What the report neglected to mention was that I heard the fibers of rope as they were breaking and was able to move Agent Scully out of the way before she could have been injured."
Skinner ran his hand over his scalp as he tried to absorb the implications of Mulder's words. "You heard the individual threads in the rope as they were breaking?" Mulder nodded. "And how high up was the bag?"
"At least a good 50 feet above the ground, sir. The Mystic Center had very high ceilings."
Only one word ran through Skinner's mind. "How?"
"I really couldn't begin to tell you, sir. Apparently I was born with a genetic predisposition to having enhanced senses, and the near-death experience I had in New Mexico caused those senses to emerge. Actually Scully and Blair suspect that they might have started to emerge after my sister's disappearance, but that all but my sixth sense were repressed to avoid any other prolonged shock to my system."
[Sixth sense?] "How many of your senses are enhanced, Mulder?"
"All of them."
"And what do Ellison and that other guy have to do with this?"
"Detective Ellison developed the same abilities after…"
Skinner completed the thought as he muttered under his breath, "Peru."
"Yes sir. In Peru, he was able to deal with them because of an old tribal legend. Apparently, being born with heightened senses was not unusual in their culture. Those who possessed such heightened senses were called Sentinels, and they were trained to use their abilities to protect the tribe and warn of impending danger. The elders of the tribes Detective Ellison encountered recognized his abilities and help him to deal with them. When he left Peru, he met Mr. Sandburg, who is a cultural anthropologist who studies Sentinels. The two men, in turn, helped me to control my abilities as they emerged during the course of the investigation in Cascade."
Skinner tried to imagine what it would be like to go through something like that. He couldn't imagine coming out sane on the other end. "And the training they gave you keeps you from losing your mind?"
Mulder chuckled a little at the thought. "No sir. The training they gave me was just the beginning. Working with Agent Scully is what's kept me from losing my mind the past ten months."
Now Skinner was really confused. Did Mulder admit to what he thought Mulder just admitted to?
Mulder took one look at Skinner's face and could immediately tell what the implications were. He told Skinner, "I have a feeling I know what you're thinking, sir, and I can tell you without hesitation that Agent Scully and I are _not_ involved in a romantic relationship." As Skinner let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding, Mulder continued, "A Sentinel needs someone who can continually help him to control and focus his senses to the best of his ability, as well as to be there to help him pull out if he focuses too much and loses touch with reality, which has been known to happen. Mr. Sandburg does that for Detective Ellison, and Agent Scully does that for me. If I didn't have her around, sir, I might definitely have gone insane."
[Okay,] thought Skinner, [that helps to explain some things, but…] Out loud he asked Mulder, "does this whole Sentinel thing account for Agent Scully's problems in the Ballroom last night?"
"In a way, yes," replied Mulder. This was the part he dreaded talking about, mostly because it was the least believable, even for him. "Apparently, when either Agent Scully or I find ourselves in an extremely life-threatening situation, a sort of 'link' kicks in that we are able to communicate through telepathically."
[Great,] thought Skinner, [now I've _really_ heard everything.] "So that accounts for Agent Scully's behavior: the blackout spells, her knowing Costelwaite's name when he took great pains not to tell the hostages who he was, her knowing that we were about to be rescued minutes before you barged in?"
Mulder nodded, "Everything you just described can be explained either by the physical demands the link can place on us, or by communication she was receiving, from me, through the link."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Two reasons," explained Mulder. "One, it will be helpful to us in the future if you have some possible explanation for when Scully or I do something that might seem 'unusual'."
"And the second reason?"
"The second reason has to do with the history you have with Detective Ellison."
Skinner nodded. He could see where this train of thought was going.
"If, for some reason, either Detective Ellison or Mr. Sandburg, or Scully or I, should happen to 'mysteriously' disappear, you now have a reason why."
Skinner nodded his understanding. He then walked over to where his car and the Gunmen's 'truck' were parked side-by- side. The group nodded their greetings to the Assistant Director. He, in turn, nodded greetings to them, adding an acknowledgment, "Ellison," to Jim, confirming his acceptance that the group already knew of the previous relationship between them. He then announced to the group, "I just wanted you all to know that if anything should happen to either of you," he motioned to both Jim and Mulder, "it will not be as a direct result of this conversation tonight. I'll keep your secret."
Mulder and Scully acknowledged, "Thank you, sir."
Not wanting to jeopardize their position by continuing on any longer, Skinner wordlessly got in his car, started the engine, and drove away.
*****
Alone, a solitary figure sat in shadow behind the abandoned farmhouse. He put out his cigarette, the last of his pack of Morleys, and smiled. "Yes, yes, Mr. Skinner. You will keep their secrets. But will there be secrets to keep?"
He cleared away all traces of the listening equipment he brought with him and hid in the nearby field, waiting for the truck to drive away before he made his exit.
-end-