11:15 PM
The woman at the counter of the Inn of the Dove Hotel looked up at the sound of the door opening to the lobby. She sighed heavily, slapping her paperback onto the counter, wistfully tracing her eyes over the generic "bodice-ripper" cover. "Just when I was getting to the good part, too...never fails..."
She glanced up at the visitor, and then clicked the button on the microphone. "How long, and how many?"
"Just me," the visitor replied, and the man's deep, raspy voice made the woman look up in interest. Sure enough, this was no ordinary john looking to make a score in a cheap hotel. This guy was quality material. Tight denim jeans, leather jacket, even a clean T-shirt. Sure, the sunglasses were a bit much, but she could still see the strong line of his jaw, and the slightly worn expression on his face. She could almost imagine what his eyes must be like. She also noted the rather large workout bag that he carried over his shoulder.
"Just you, huh?" she said, knowing better. "Meeting someone?"
"Room 113," he said with a smile. "Has she already arrived?"
The woman sniffed. She was hoping he was here for the old lady in 106. At least then she could have hoped for some fun after her shift ended. "Yeah, she's in there. Popular girl."
The man laughed, pulling out his wallet. "How much?"
"Depends on how long you intend to take, honey," the woman said, casually wiping at the security barrier to get an even better look.
"How about two hours?" he replied, leaning in just a little closer, as if to satisfy her curiosity.
"Fifty, then," she said quickly. "And sign in before you go."
The man slid the money through the barely open slot under the security barrier, and then signed his name on the soiled sheet of paper taped on his side of the plexiglass: Sean O'Donnell, 113. He scanned the page for another familiar name, and quickly found it: Donna Scoletti. He snapped his attention back to the matter at hand when he heard the woman behind the counter slide the key through the slot.
"Thanks, darlin'," the man said as he slipped past the counter on his way towards the rest of the hotel. The woman took another quick look while she still had the chance, and then cursed her usual luck before grabbing her paperback and getting back to her typical kind of evening.
***
The man quickly closed the door behind him, taking a good look at his companion for the evening. As he had expected, she had been waiting for him. One look at her made him drop the workout bag by the door, waiting for her greeting.
She was not a tall woman, but she more than made up for her lack of stature. The tight, black vinyl pants displayed an athletic build, something that he had appreciated more than once over the past few months. Similarly, her black vinyl halter top was stretched tightly over her chest, emphasizing her proportioned build. Oddly, she chose a halter that stretched down to her stomach, but he was not about to question her choices tonight. Her long blonde hair fell perfectly on the smoothness of her shoulders.
"It's about time," she said, sliding off the bed onto her feet. She wrapped her arms around his waist, slipping her hands up his back. "I was waiting for almost an hour."
"Sorry to keep you waiting," he said with a grin. Returning her embrace, he pressed his cheek against hers, whispering in her ear. "Did you check out the room?" He noted with satisfaction that the blinds were already drawn.
"You bet I did," she replied sternly. "And you're clean."
"Good." He pulled away quickly, and let her step back out of his grasp. Pulling off his leather jacket, he tossed it on the bed. "I think I managed to get here without a tail." He slid his sunglasses into his pocket.
"Same here." Agent Dana Scully pulled the blonde wig from her head, tossing it onto the chair by the window. Without hesitation, she grabbed the leather jacket on the bed and pulled it over her shoulders. "Mind if I use your jacket? I had to lock the guys in the bathroom. They were just standing there, staring at me."
Agent John Doggett shook his head. "Not a problem. Though they might still stare." Scully flashed him a scowl, and then walked over to the bathroom door. "OK, we're clear." She quickly zipped up the front of the jacket.
The door opened, and Frohike gave Scully a disappointed look. "We were playing our roles, Agent Scully. We're supposed to be your clients, aren't we?"
"The blinds were closed. Who were you acting for?" Scully looked over Frohike's head and waved Langley and Byers into the room. "Come on, we don't have much time."
"Actually, we have plenty of time," Byers said apologetically.
That stopped Scully cold. "Please tell me you haven't come up empty again." She glared at the three Lone Gunmen with an uncharacteristic rage. "It's been two months! I thought you guys were supposed to be the best!"
"Our kung fu is the best," Frohike said, his voice resigned. "But there's nothing out there. Not one mention of Mulder, or circumstances that sound remotely similar to what you encountered in Oregon or Arizona."
Doggett looked the men over and shook his head. "Nothing? Not even something about alien bounty hunters? I thought the Internet would be jam-packed with that sort of thing."
Langley slipped his laptop out from under his jacket. "Check for yourself, if you like."
"Dell, and the wireless Internet," Byers said with satisfaction. "At least we saved some time while we were standing in the bathroom." He glared at Frohike.
"Hey, you were getting a good look yourself, bud," Frohike said, looking back at Scully. "You know, it might help if we broke up the routine a little. I mean, Doggett's been coming in like that since we started this whole business. Maybe one of us should play the big john next time."
"Got anyone in mind?" Langley said, smiling widely as he prepared the computer for another search.
"All right, guys, let's knock it off," Doggett said, stepping behind Langley, who set the computer on the small table by the window. "I take it you've looked at the all the public information, but what about the private access?"
"I thought you disapproved of those methods, Agent Doggett," Byers said calmly. "Especially the part about breaking into classified files and government databases."
"I still do," Doggett replied. "But I'm losing my patience as much as anyone. I find it hard to continue respecting the privacy of the Bureau when every step they take seems to be designed to get in our way." He pointed to the screen. "Just see what you can find this time."
Scully caught his eye from across the room, and he walked over to join her. "You all right?"
"Yeah, John, I'm fine," Scully answered, running her hands over her eyes. "Just not feeling entirely well. I think these late night meetings are getting to me a little."
Doggett paused for a moment, as if choosing his words carefully. "You know, Dana, I don't want to intrude on your personal business, but is there anything I can do to help? I know you've needed some personal time now and then, since Mulder went missing."
Scully shook her head. "Nothing you can really help solve, John. Part of it is the same old story. I miss him. I miss him terribly. And the longer he's gone, the harder it is to believe that everything is going to turn out happy in the end." She forced herself to smile. "How are you holding up?"
"Better than I thought I would be," Doggett replied honestly. "It's been a hard pill to swallow. Going from a great career track, and then finding myself in the most ridiculed department in the entire Bureau."
"Tell me about it," Scully muttered. "I felt the same way. But at least in those days, there was the semblance of something a little more respectable. We still worked on regular cases in the violent crimes unit from time to time, and of course I was the medical consultant on the team." She sighed heavily, shaking her head. "I don't even know why they bother asking me for reports anymore. They don't expect me to debunk Mulder's work anymore, that's for sure."
"It's something that's been bothering me ever since I was assigned to the X-Files," Doggett added. "When Mulder was around, there seemed to be a certain expectation. He would go off on one of his X-File cases, and you were there to more or less ground him in reality."
"That was my original assignment," Scully admitted. "Things changed, of course, but the entire idea was to find a rational explanation for the events in those files."
"Exactly my point," Doggett agreed. "So why was I assigned? I'm not a scientist, so I'm not going to come up with some theory as to why something can't be a green eyed monster from outer space. And as much as you want to take on Mulder's legacy, it's not a perfect fit. So what is the value of having the two of us on the X-Files in the first place?"
"I'm not sure, but it has to be related to the reasons why we can't seem to find any more leads on Mulder after all this time," Scully said. "More than once in the past, for more than one reason, they have tried to reassign me to other departments whenever there was an excuse to close down the X-Files. So why not this time?"
"I think Deputy Director Kersh might be involved," Doggett replied, after a moment of thought. "He acted like he wanted me to find Mulder more than anything in the world, Dana, and then once that Gibson Praise business came down, it was a whole different ballgame. Even Skinner's noticed. We get these ridiculous assignments again and again, dealing with who knows what, but not one thing about the search for Mulder. And how long has he been missing?"
"Too long," Scully whispered. She looked into Doggett's eyes. "Look, John, I know that this might sound bizarre..."
Doggett gave her a slightly intolerant glare. "Are you going to start with the aliens again? Because I think I heard enough about that with the bounty hunter."
"No, not that," Scully said quickly. "I'm talking about why you're on the X-Files. Skinner told me once that you were considered the best of the best, a real top candidate for a director's position. Then Kersh comes along, puts you in charge of finding Mulder. Only to assign you to the X-Files when that search runs dry after a day or so. Keeping us on assignments so that we don't even have the time to look into the medical records, or the travel records, none of it."
"What are you getting at?" Doggett said, but his expression suggested that he had considered what she was about to say more than once.
"Kersh used to be in charge when Mulder and I were assigned to the domestic terrorism unit a couple years ago. More than once, he made it clear that it was his job to keep us from looking into the X-Files. So I know for a fact that he has the resources to keep us, and that includes Assistant Director Skinner, from looking where he does not want us to look."
"And it conveniently keeps me in a position where I can't threaten his authority, while my own reputation gets dragged through the mud," Doggett said, his tone betraying his anger. "I've gone over it before in my head, Dana, but I still can't figure out why. And what kind of resources Kersh would have."
"I have some ideas," Scully said, but she forced herself not to say anything more. She trusted Doggett, that much was beyond question by now. But there were some things that had to wait. Alex Krycek, and the fact that he had not been seen since Mulder's disappearance, was one of those things. Only she and Skinner knew what that might mean, and that was personal.
"Let me know if they work out," Doggett said, knowing better than to press her on the matter. "In the meantime, I think we should stick to the plan. Remain absolutely professional in all ways while on the job. Assume we are being monitored at all times, in the field and otherwise. The more they believe that we have little or no common interest, the less reason they have to wonder what we're up to."
"It is the safest thing to do, even if it is frustrating," Scully agreed.
"Scully, Doggett, come look at this." Frohike waved them over to the computer. "I think we might have something."
Scully ran over to the computer. "What is it? Does it mention Mulder?"
"No, not specifically," Langley said with a hint of apology. "But it does mention a murder case up in New York. One of the detectives apparently found himself standing in a patch of green liquid that ate right through the bottoms of his shoes. Take a look."
Scully scanned the page, and then turned to Doggett. "Would you happen to know a Detective Thomas Egan?"
"Know him?" Doggett said with a grin. "I used to work with him all the time. He still working in Queens?"
Scully nodded. "Apparently this happened in Long Island City, in the industrial section."
Doggett walked over to the door and grabbed the workout bag. "Sounds like a lead, and one that we can do something about without anyone catching on. I've got some personal time on the books that I should take sooner or later. Think Skinner will mind if I take it now?"
"I'd say no," Scully answered. "Especially since we have precious little else going on right now."
Doggett nodded. "Then let me get changed. I'll call Skinner from the house, and I'll catch up with you once I find out what happened to Tommy. Will you be able to do some forensic testing, if we need it?"
Scully considered the notion. "I can't see why not. If you're on leave, they'll probably have me running tests in the meantime. Fitting something extra in shouldn't be a problem." Scully hesitated, and then said carefully, "I should go with you, though. If there's any chance that Mulder is there..."
"Then I'll tell you right away, Dana," Doggett assured her. "Let's keep this simple for now. This might be nothing. Tommy should play it straight with me. We'll know quick if this is just a waste of time."
Scully was still unsure, but she finally nodded her assent. "You're right. Besides, I'm still waiting on something here."
Doggett raised an eyebrow. "Personal business?"
"Personal business," Scully admitted. "Like I said, nothing to worry about."
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