I was half-sick and light-headed as Skinner pulled up in front of my apartment.
I blinked the tears out of my eyes, not wanting Skinner to see them and wonder
what the hell was wrong with me. I knew I had to tell him what was
going on in order to have his help, but I needed a few minutes to myself
first.
I was opening the door before the car had even rolled to a complete stop
and bounding up the stairs two and three at a time, too impatient to wait
for the elevator. I reached my apartment and rammed the key into the
lock, slamming the door open.
The DAT. The DAT. Thank God he trusted me not to open it. They
must have assumed that the DAT I had with me when they ambushed us was theirs.
It wasn't. It was ours.
I started across the room toward the lockbox under my book case and stopped
as my shoe slipped on something spilled on the floor. I stepped back
to see what I had stepped in and felt my breath leave in a gasp.
Blood. A small pool about the size of a golf ball. Right where
he'd stood as he'd strangled my soul.
Oh, God, Alex.
The tears won, sliding down my cheeks as I imagined him injured and distraught,
thinking only of rushing back to his nightmare so that Scully and I would
escape ours. My arms ached with the need to hold him. My lips
trembled with the need to be against his, feeling his breath, swallowing
his words as he took back the deathblow he'd dealt me to save my life.
I wiped my hand across my eyes and hurried over to the box, pushing the small
key into the lock and yanking the lid open. Inside lay a small, plastic tape
that held everything I'd ever sought in all my years since my sister's abduction.
All the information and proof I'd ever need to end my quest once and for
all. But right now, I needed it for another quest. The one to
save Alex's life.
I reached inside the box with trembling fingers and withdrew the case just
as A.D. Skinner came through my front door, frowning.
"Agent Mulder, do you care to tell me what the hell is going on here?"
I turned around to answer him and watched his eyes drop to the object held
tightly in my fingers. His brow furrowed deeply.
"Is...that..."
"Yes. It's the DAT."
"But how..."
"Alex gave it to me. I've had it for months."
"Months. Alex. Alex Krycek??" Skinner's brows arched into
the most expressive face I'd ever seen him make.
"Alex Krycek. He gave me the DAT four months ago, and he's been working
with me ever since." My lips trembled as I simplified our relationship
into a working partnership, remembering how tenderly Alex would kiss me,
how softly he would touch me, how passionately he would make love to me,
whispering husky declarations in both English and Russian.
Skinner blinked and squinted, trying to understand. "You've been working
with Alex Krycek."
And more. So much more. "Yes, sir. He's been helping me
gather information on the Project."
"I don't understand."
"Please, sir, I don't have time to explain it all right now. Alex is
on our side, and he thinks that they're going to kill me and Scully unless
he returns to them. They're going to hurt him, sir, and I can't let
that happen." I struggled to keep my voice steady, the tears in my
throat making it hard to speak.
"I'll expect to be updated more thoroughly on this situation later, Agent.
Now what are we doing here?"
I went over to my computer and clicked the DAT tape into place, punching
in a long, complicated series of codes, opening the many layers of protection
on the files. "Scully said he was headed for Base Three. I've
never seen that in the files, but it must be in there somewhere."
Skinner nodded and pulled up a chair as I began to do a search on the words
'Base Three.' A list of documents began to form, and before it was
finished, I opened the first one. It was a medical record. A
very long, complicated medical record. I hoped Scully was on her way
here, because I could only make out a small part of the information I saw.
Lists of medications, lab results, tons and tons of test results of all kinds.
I couldn't tell if they were good or bad though, I could only see that this
individual, assigned a number instead of a name, had undergone enough tests
for a whole city's worth of hospitals.
I felt my stomach begin to twist itself into a tight, sick knot. Alex was
headed straight for a medical experimentation facility. I began scanning
the document for some sign of an address, phone number, zip code, anything.
"Goddamn it!"
I swept my arm across my desk, sending papers, pencils, and other assorted
debris flying. Fortunately in a direction other than at my boss.
"Agent Mulder! Throwing your possessions across the room is not going
to get us any closer to finding Krycek." Skinner's voice was calming,
but I felt like an errant child. I sulked, turning back to the screen
as he stood from the chair.
"So this is why we have to requisition you a new phone every damned week,"
he muttered, and I jerked around in my seat, breath caught in my throat.
The phone!
"Sir! Here!" I reached out frantically toward the man crouching
on the floor, and he frowned and handed me the phone after putting the battery
back in. With trembling fingers, I began punching the keys, the sweat
on my fingertips causing me to make more errors than usual. Breathing hard,
feeling like my chest was going to explode, I hit the button to send my message.
Please, Alex, answer it.
I drove with one hand, wiping tears away from my eyes with the other, swerving
across the yellow line, barely giving a shit. With a curse, I wrenched the
wheel back, knowing that Scully would die if I was stupid enough to get myself
killed in a fucking traffic accident. I felt light-headed and queasy
from loss of blood, the pain in my side a constant, throbbing ache, the blood
having saturated my clothes down to my shoes on one side, making my foot
slip on the gas pedal.
I reached into my front jacket pocket and pulled out the fifth of vodka I'd
taken from our stash in our old meeting place. I used my teeth to unscrew
the cap, wincing at the feel of the metal in my teeth, then spit the cap
to the side and started gulping it like water. I was almost to the
base and I didn't think it would really hit me for another ten minutes, plenty
of time to complete the short drive. As I pulled the now-empty bottle
away from my lips, willing my stomach to hold onto the rocket of poison I'd
just sent down, I heard a quiet beep from inside my other pocket.
I gasped, and tears blurred my vision again as the sound that used to take
my breath away with giddy joy now threatened to steal it away with despair.
Text message. The thing that had ended my life, sucked out my soul,
broken my will with just a few carefully chosen letters.
'need u'
I roared and ripped the phone from my pocket, swerving across the lane, then
screeching over to the side of the road so I didn't kill myself and fuck
everything up. What kind of a fucking game were they playing now?
I knew they had my message address and they had corrupted my one little lifeline
to Mulder with their betrayal of our new and fragile alliance. I felt
my body sway as I stared at the phone, but I knew I had to at least look
at the treacherous message they'd sent. I punched the buttons savagely,
bringing it up.
'scully safe. love u. i no all. cum bak.'
For just one, stupid, vodka-soaked moment, I felt my heart swell, feeling
his love behind the economical display on the screen. Then bile rose and
I nearly vomited, realizing it was just a trick, a test to see if my loyalty
was as complete as they thought it was. Fucking pricks. Just
one last dig of the knife in my side to see if I'd weaken and go running
back. I brought my shaking fingers back up the keys and punched.
'im not fking stupd. go 2 hell.'
I hit the button to send, then threw the phone on the seat next to me, pulling
back into traffic with a loud screech of tires, narrowly missing a collision
with a taxi. I stepped on the gas, trying like hell to blink away the
haze falling over my brain so that I could drive one more block. The
vodka was starting to kick in, and my reflexes were failing fast.
I heard the soft beep and nearly dropped the phone. I quickly brought
up the message, my fingers slipping on the keys. My body sagged as
a heavy stone dropped into the pit of my stomach. I stared at the screen,
looking at a communication I knew Alex's fingers had keyed in just minutes
ago. God, I nearly held the phone to my heart and sobbed, and probably
would have if Skinner hadn't been there staring at me, waiting to see if
my idea had worked. I wordlessly handed him the phone.
"Dammit."
I closed my eyes, holding my hand out for the return of the phone.
Even though the words on the screen were not what I had hoped and prayed
to see, they were from Alex and therefore special. I keyed in the command
to save them and let my hand fall, the phone held loosely against my thigh.
"Agent Mulder."
I turned, forcing my eyes open. I knew I had to stay focused, keep
working on trying to find him.
"I have an idea. Hand me your phone. Your land line."
I frowned and gave it to him and watched as he dialed.
"Yes, hello. This is Assistant Director Walter Skinner of the FBI.
Badge number 756478930. I need some help finding a cellphone."
My breath caught. Another chance. Oh God please.
"No, no we can't triangulate. We don't have an open connection. But
we received a text message moments ago, and we need you to track the origin
of that message. Yes, of course it's an emergency."
Skinner glanced at me, obviously irritated, and I tried not to make a sound,
forgetting to breathe as I waited for them to respond. He turned his
attention back to the phone, listening, then I saw his shoulders sag as he
sighed.
"Yes. Yes, I understand. Thank you."
He handed me the receiver, his face dark. "They can't trace a cell
phone without an open connection. All they can tell us is that it was
roaming when the last transaction was made."
I blinked. Roaming? I knew Alex's cell worked for a two- hundred
mile radius. We'd joked about it, because he was grousing that unless
he left the state, he couldn't even force those assholes to pay roaming charges.
But there was an exception. He'd told me that for some reason, the
phone never worked near the Kennedy psychiatric hospital. And not just anywhere
near the hospital, but in a two block radius around it. He said he
sometimes had business there, and he'd wait to make his call to them until
he pulled into the parking lot just so the call would be billed at the ungodly
rate of sixty cents a minute. He could be such a brat.
"God. I think...I mean, I may know where he is!" I jumped up
from the chair, grabbing my cellphone and my jacket and heading for the door.
Skinner jumped up behind me and we ran out the door, each jumping into our
own cars, Skinner following close behind as I pulled into the mid-day traffic.
I pulled into the underground parking structure, my vision starting to seriously
blur as I drove down to the third level, parking the car and practically
falling out the door. I shook my head and willed myself to stay upright,
knowing I only had a short distance more to go before I'd completed my objective
and could stop giving a shit what happened to me.
I staggered over to the door that looked like it led to a storage area next
to the elevators and shuffled through the keys on my ring. Fortunately,
I'd used the key enough times that I could find it by touch, because I could
no longer focus my eyes to see it. I still stuck the wrong key in the
lock a few times before I felt the doorknob give, then I stepped into the
small secret elevator and willed myself not to puke as it began a swift descent
underground.
I staggered out as it reached Base Three, catching myself against the wall
and blinking away the intense need to fall down. I stumbled down the stark
white hallway to the main door and buzzed to be let in, giving the security
camera my sickest smile.
The heavy door opened and I stepped through, making my way over to the front
desk.
"Krysshek."
"Yeah, I know. They're waiting."
I scowled back at the look of disgust on the receptionist's face and went
over to the door, taking a deep breath before opening it and stepping in.
"Alex."
"Who the fuck are you?"
"Name's Pierce," said the young man coolly. I scowled at him and made
no move to step closer to the large mahogany desk.
"I believe you have a report to make?"
Asshole. I wanted nothing more than to grab that pompous shit by the
back of his collar and shove that smart mouth of his into the wall over and
over until the paneling was slippery and wet. I was so far in rank
above him that if I weren't in trouble with them right now I wouldn't even
get a reprimand for killing him. Maybe once I'd been through 'reconditioning',
I'd pay him a special visit. I let that thought cheer me.
"Objective achieved."
"We know," he sneered, leaning forward to punch a button. "Come and retrieve
parcel number seven."
Parcel. Nice. What the fuck ever. Scully and Mulder were
safe. That's all that mattered. The smarmy little bastard sat back
in his chair, tenting his fingers like he was somebody. I imagined
breaking them one by one and enjoying the wet cracking sounds punctuated
by screams.
"You did such a nice job," the underling said. "He was actually crying
when you left him, Alex. Poor little whiny faggot."
My whole body tensed, and I bit down hard, my vision narrowing to one sharp
tunnel. I would kill him. Maybe not now, but I needed a new reason
to live now that I'd met my goal, and I decided that it would be his slow
and interesting death. I stalked across the room toward him and saw
the fear spark in his eyes. I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything
here and now, but I'd still give him a taste of what was to come.
"I'm going to enjoy watching you scream," I said quietly. Just then
the door behind me slammed open and two thugs came in and grabbed me by the
arms, wrenching them back. I felt the wound in my side tear a little
more, more blood flowing to join the trickle still making its way into the
fabric of my clothes. Maybe they'd forget all about that and I could quietly
bleed to death. I've never been that lucky, though, so probably not.
The man at the desk smiled as the two men restrained me. I couldn't
even struggle as the combined effects of the alcohol and blood loss seeped
away my strength. As the guy came around the desk and swung his arm
back, preparing to sink it into my gut, I didn't even flinch. I felt
his fist drive the remaining air from my lungs and felt some small satisfaction
as I promptly vomited down the front of his suit just before passing out.
I pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, scanning the area frantically
for Alex's car. I didn't see it anywhere, but I went slowly, row to
row, checking every vehicle in the lot. Fortunately it wasn't a huge hospital,
just two stories high with a small parking lot. Very small. I
made the rounds twice and saw no sign of Alex's car, and I saw Skinner working
the other side of the lot, going on the description of Alex's car that I
gave him. Nothing.
Then I saw a small service vehicle, one of those little golf carts with gardening
tools in it, putter up a small cement roadway and then disappear into the
side of the wall behind a breezeway. I pulled the car over to the curb
and got out, unsnapping the holster of my gun and pushing my coat back, making
sure it was easily accessible. I looked over and saw that Skinner had
pulled up at the curb and was watching me. I walked over to him.
"I'm gonna follow it."
"You shouldn't go alone, Mulder. We'd better wait for Scully and my
men to get here."
"Sir, it may be too late if we do," I said, not allowing myself to really
think about it what that could mean for Alex. He frowned, considering,
then nodded once.
"Let's go."
I sighed with relief as Skinner stepped out of the car, readying his own
weapon. Silently we made our way up the small road and around the wall
I'd seen the cart go behind. I was only slightly surprised to see that
the road led downward into a hidden underground parking garage. Very
interesting, seeing as how the hospital wasn't that large and the small parking
lot not even half-full. We made our way slowly into the dark, scanning
for Alex's car once more, each taking a different side of the garage.
The structure was full of cars, but it was small, so it didn't take us long
to search the first floor and find the road down to the second. We
covered that floor, finding nothing, and made our way down to the third level,
becoming increasingly frantic. I was scanning the cars, trying to control
my rising panic, when I saw Skinner waving me over.
Alex's car. He was there.
I went to the driver's side door and peered in, but of course the car was
empty. To my utter surprise, the door was unlocked, and I pulled it
open, leaning in.
The front seat was covered with blood. The dark blue velour upholstery
was soaked through with it and still very wet to the touch. I breathed
slowly and carefully, trying to stay objective, looking for clues as to where
he might have gone. Other than the cellphone sitting on the passenger seat,
the only other thing I found was an empty fifth bottle. 'Our' fifth
bottle. The vodka we kept in our little secret stash under the floorboards.
My jaw clenched, and I lifted the bottle to my mouth, running my tongue around
the rim, trying to taste him. Of course I couldn't, but I could remember,
and I knew his mouth had been there, so I licked the traces of vodka away,
hoping the alcohol had helped to dull the pain I knew he must be in.
I tucked the precious bottle into my pocket and slipped his phone in with
it, then got out of the car and looked around the area.
"What is it, Agent Mulder."
"Just his phone, and empty vodka bottle."
Skinner nodded and looked down, obviously concerned for me. Then his head
bolted up. "Mulder."
I looked at him and he glanced down at the ground and back up at me.
I looked down and felt my stomach turn as I saw the trail of blood Alex had
left for me. With heavy steps I followed it to the elevator doors.
Skinner trailed me, watching my back.
When I reached them, I was surprised to see that the trail didn't lead to
them, but rather to a small door to the side of them. Alex, are you in there?
I stepped over the door and reached for the knob. It was locked, of
course, and I swore and rattled it, shaking the heavy metal door only slightly
as I tried in vain to get it to give. He was in there. Alex was in
there and I was going to get through this door and find him.
"Mulder, you're going to alert someone to your presence shaking the door
like that."
His tone was quiet, not chastizing. He was right, of course, and mistakes
like that could get me killed, and then I'd never be able to get to Alex.
"I've gotta get in there, sir."
"I know, Mulder. I have some things in my trunk. You wait here."
Skinner headed quickly for the ramp leading up, and I made my way back over
to Alex's car. I hunkered behind it, taking small comfort in the meager
cover. I pulled my gun out and flipped off the safety just in case,
then settled in to wait.
I didn't have long. But it wasn't Skinner that showed up. The elevator
doors opened soundlessly and two men in riot gear stepped out, scanning the
area.
Shit. I ducked down lower, making myself as small as possible, but
they seemed to know right where I was. The sound of their heavy boots on
the cement was ominous as they stalked toward me. I heard the sound
of semi-automatic weapons being cocked.
"Come out with your hands up, sir."
Oh God, Alex. I'm so sorry. I fucked up. I stood up, holding
my gun in the air.
"Slide the weapon to us across the ground, sir."
I looked at the two big men with their two big guns and knew I was screwed.
I flipped the safety on and slowly lowered the gun to the ground, then slid
it toward them. One man stayed while the other came over and frisked
me, and soon they'd found my backup weapon on my ankle as well. I had
no thought for what they might do with me. My only thought was that
now I couldn't save Alex.
Maybe Skinner and Scully would do better. As I was hustled into the
elevator and began a rapid descent, I prayed it was so.
Title: Love Hurts IV: Bent