'To Kill a Nightingale' 6/11 By phoenix99
(xphoenix99@hotmail.com)

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CHAPTER 6

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"All of my life, 
 I've been in hiding, 
 Wishing there was someone just like you. 
 Now that you're here, 
 Now that I've found you, 
 I know that you're the one to pull me through"

-'Deliver Me', Sarah Brightman 

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Hyw. 501 7:49 p.m.

It was still raining; the droplets were large and pounded
loudly on the metal roof of the car. The sun was just
dipping below the clouds, its orange glow lighting up
the trees and land, making the world look surreal against
the dark sky.

More and more houses began to dot the sides of the road
as they came closer to Lancaster. The sun quickly
disappeared behind the trees which were now dark and
black against the deep blue sky. The rain was still
coming on strong, trying to beat their car into the
pavement. The radio, which Mulder had turned on
before he had fallen asleep was murmuring out thunder
storm warnings.

The clouds down the road looked ominous, and normally
Scully would have stopped at the next motel and
continued their journey the next day, but they didn't
have that option. Suddenly a huge streak of lightening
flashed across the dark sky in front of their car, 
lighting up the road and trees ahead. Scully began to 
count to herself, 'one-one thousand, two-one thousand, 
three-one thousand, four-one thousand--' before an ear 
shattering crash rumbled through the clouds above. 
Four miles away.

The loud noise was enough to easily wake Mulder, who
jerked awake in his seat, taking a moment before
realizing where he was and calmed down.

"How long have I been out?" he asked, rubbing his eyes
as he turned in his seat to look back at Karen who still
slept soundly.

"You dropped off about two hours ago. We just went
through Brickerville and should be at The Waltzing
Weasel in about twenty minutes."

Mulder groaned, trying to stretch his legs in the cramped
space. "I hope the guys came through for us."

Scully just nodded. If they didn't come through for them,
or something happened, they would be stranded and it
would be no time before They caught up with them. God
know what would happen then....

There was another bright flash across the sky. Scully
began to count again, 'one-one thousand, two-one
thousand--'. The thunder soon filled their ears as it
boomed through the sky.

"Two miles," Mulder muttered. Scully smiled slightly.

The radio wasn't spitting out storm warnings anymore,
but a familiar song which caught Scully's attention.
Reaching down, she turned the volume up slightly, not
worried about waking Karen if the storm hadn't. The
Righteous Brothers were singing 'Unchained Melody'
and it immediately reminded Scully of the movie Ghost.

"You a big fan of the oldies?" Mulder asked half teasing.

"Did you ever see the movie Ghost?" Scully asked, not
hearing Mulder's question; she was too busy listening to
the sad lyrics. That had been a sad movie--well, she
hadn't thought so the first time she had seen it. But she
had rented it again a few weeks ago and it had provoked
emotions then that it hadn't the first time. She wondered
if maybe she was becoming soft.

Mulder paused, "Yeah. I think I saw it in the theater," he
answered, waiting for Scully to continue with what she
had to say. But she didn't know what she wanted to say.

"This is it," Scully remarked as the lights in the distance
became brighter and they passed a large sign proclaiming
'Welcome to Lancaster, Home of the Golden Chicken'.
"You're going to have to show me how to get to this
place."

"Uh, yeah, ok." Mulder said as he sat up straighter in his
seat, obviously puzzled at Scully's mysterious words. He
wanted to know more about it, but she didn't seem very
forthcoming "It's right on the main street."

They passed the small shops and houses until they came
to an old brick building on the corner. A grinning weasel
wearing a top hat was painted on a the large wooden sign
hanging out front.

"Turn down here... There's parking around back."

Scully turned the car down the side street and into the
parking lot. It was full of cars and there were constantly
people darting in front of them, trying to outrun the
pelting rain. Sure enough, parked near the back of the lot
was the familiar VW bus of the Gunmen. She parked the
car behind the bus and switched off the engine. The rain
was lesser here; the large trees lining the street and
parking lot kept them slightly sheltered. Mulder got out
of the car and jogged up to the side of the bus, the rain
quickly soaking his already damp clothes.

From where Scully sat she could see Mulder conversing
with whoever was driving. After a minute or so he came
back and slipped back into the car. He was dripping
water everywhere and his hair was flat against his head.

"Frohike wants us to follow him to a motel down the road
where Byers and Langly are waiting."

Frohike was already pulling out of the parking lot,
probably anxious to get away from all the people. Scully
pulled their car up behind him and was soon following
the white bus to a seedy motel on the outskirts of town.

When they arrived, Scully pulled up beside the bus and
switched off the car. She unbuckled her seat belt and
turned around in her seat to face Karen. "Karen? We have
to get out of the car," but she received no response.

Already worried, Scully reached back, intending to
gently shake Karen to wake her up. Before she could
touch her, Karen jerked awake. The fear in her eyes
disappeared and her relief was obvious as she realized
where she was and whom she was with.

"Are you alright?" Scully said, flash backs of what had
happened at the gas station running through her head.

"Yeah, yeah," she said as she rubbed her eyes. "Lets go
see what the Gunmen have for us." She popped open the
door and stepped out. Mulder gave Scully a quick glance
before he joined Karen outside in the rain. Scully was
soon walking with them as they approached Frohike,
who was waiting at one of the many doors lining the
poorly lit building. When they stepped into the light,
Frohike's eyebrows went up and his jaw nearly dropped
to the floor.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" Frohike stammered. 
"I mean you're...." he struggled, trying to describe 
their appearance.

"Long story," Mulder said and Frohike just stared at him.
Finally, after giving him and Scully one last look, he
turned to the door.

Frohike knocked three times before he glanced back at
them again, his expression still questioning. The door
opened slowly and the familiar face of Byers peeked
around it. Frohike nodded to him and the door opened
wider.

They entered the motel room and came face to face with
loads of equipment and boxes piled on practically every
surface. Laptops and sheets of paper were scattered
everywhere.

"We're still working out a few kinks, but everything will
be set in a few minutes." Langly said, looking up from his
computer. He stopped mid-type, his eyes growing larger
as he joined Byers in a surprised stare. There was a
moment of awkward silence as they stared in disbelief.

" 'Long story'," Frohike said to them, glancing over at
Mulder. "Guys, this is Karen." Frohike continued. Byers
and Langly directed their curious looks towards her. She
smiled lightly at them and they both gave her their own
nervous greetings.

"We've got your Visas and passports ready, but we still
need to make one for you, Karen." Byers said from the
other side of the room, having finally recovered himself.
"I just need to take your picture," he said as he pulled a
camera out of a black sports bag and began to set it up on
a small tripod.

As Byers took Karen's picture, Frohike went through a
pile of folders sitting beside Langly, pulling out one and
looking through it briefly.

"We've set up a place for you in Maine. You'll be
relatively secluded and no one should bother you. There
won't be any kind of paper trail and you shouldn't have
any problems. Langly has pasted all your new personas
into the books," Frohike explained as he started handing
them various items.

"Visas, drivers licenses, birth certificates and Scully this is
your medical license," Frohike explained, pausing when
he couldn't find something. "Tickets?" he said, turning to
Langly and Byers.

"Here," Byers said as he glanced away from what he was
doing and tossed an envelope onto the bed. Frohike
quickly picked it up and glanced inside before handing 
it to Scully, "The plane leaves from Reading in about an 
hour. You'll land in Bangor where you'll have access to 
the Eastern Maine Medical Center. The place we got for 
you is up near Alligator Lake... here's a map.... It has 
everything marked on it, and here is all the information 
and keys you'll need for the house."

Scully looked through the pieces of identification
Frohike had handed her. She knew they had made a few
fake IDs for them in case of emergencies, and the ones
she was holding in her hand were really well made.
Pulling out her wallet she held her real driver's license
beside her new one. She was now Dr. Jennifer Graham,
born in Ohio on February 11, 1966.

"Hey that's pretty good." Mulder said, looking over her
shoulder at the two licenses she was comparing.

"Let's see yours."

"Ok," Mulder said holding out his new ID.

"Jason Landers..." Scully smirked.

"What?" Mulder asked, pulling the license away
protectively. "Are you making fun of my name?"

She shrugged.

"Come on, it can't be any worse than Fox." he
winced as he said it.

Scully shook her head as she walked over to see what
Byers was doing.

"There you go," Byers said, handing Karen a few small
pieces of paper and plastic, and a small leather wallet.

"Thank you," she said softly as she looked over her new
identity, fingering through her temporary new life.

"We decided to make Karen Mulder's daughter, that way
she'll have a legal guardian to give the ok to any test you
have to do," Langly said as he closed up his laptop and
pulled out the cords. Mulder nodded slowly.

"We tried to get you guys some clothes and things from
your apartments, but They've got people all over the
place. We couldn't risk going in," Langly said as he
packed away the laptops and set them by the door.

"We did get you few extra things from a Buy-way we 
passed, as new cell phones and credit cards under your 
new aliases." Byers continued as he finished up whatever 
he was doing at the small desk in the corner.

"I'm going to go out and change the plates on your car.
There will be a rental car waiting for you in Bangor. I'm
going to come with you to the airport so I can drive your
car back to DC," Frohike said as he left the room. Langly
and Byers were already stuffing things back in bags and
cases piled by the door.

"When do you think we'll be able to come back?" Mulder
asked, impressed by the lengths the Gunmen were going
to.

"You guys have to disappear. Like I said before, there
were people swarming all over your apartments. We'll
check them out when things cool off a bit, but you
definitely can't come back to DC for a while. It's just 
not safe," Langly answered, opening the door for Byers 
who held several boxes in his arms. 

Frohike came in right after, grabbing a few more things
before he turned to Mulder, Scully and Karen. "We have
to get going, you've got a plane to catch."

They were leaving the room when Scully suddenly
remembered something. "Mulder, we haven't told
Skinner that we won't be into work tomorrow. We
shouldn't give him reason to start looking for us."

"We'll take care of that, Scully." Frohike said as he 
packed the equipment he was carrying into their bus.

"Ok, you guys watch yourselves," Langly said as he got in
the front of their bus with Byers. Frohike was already
getting in the driver's seat of Mulder and Scully's FBI
issued car, and he was looking over at them impatiently.

"Yeah, call us if anything happens," Langly added.

"Thanks guys, we really owe you one," Mulder said to
them.

"Come on Mulder, you're holding up the train," Frohike
called from the car. Mulder waved Byers and Langly off
as they pulled out of the motel parking lot. He jogged
quickly to the other side of their car and got into the 
front beside Frohike. They were soon on their way to 
city of Reading.

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Around 9 p.m. 
Unknown location

He had been working on the restraints since CSM had
left. His wrist felt raw and he was sure the rope was
soaked with blood. The part wrapped across his chest
was making his shirt rub and burn him. He cursed softly
as he tried to ignore the aching in his exhausted body.

Suddenly the door opened and Krycek halted his
movements. The person switched on the light and he
squinted until he could make the figure out. It was a
woman about Scully's size but definitely not as pleasing
to the eye. She was well-dressed and looked important.
As she approached he watched her with suspicious eyes,
not letting anything she did go unnoticed. She looked
him over once before pulling out a syringe from her front
pocket.

"No, don't," Krycek pleaded, beginning to squirm in his
chair, only able to guess at what was in the needle.

"Stop moving, it will hurt less," the woman said in a
strong voice. She had a bit of an accent; Spanish 
perhaps.

Krycek continued to move, but the woman didn't seem to
care. He voiced his protest loudly when she jammed the
needle into his arm.

"Fuck! What the hell was that?" he cursed as the woman
pulled out the emptied syringe. She ignored him
completely and turned and left, leaving him in the dark
again.

He went back to work on the ropes, but the more he tried,
the more tired and discouraged he became. He felt dizzy
and it took him a while to realize that it had something to
do with the injection he had received. Probably sodium
pentothal--'truth serum'. His mind began to fog and he
felt the strength drain out of his body. He was vaguely
aware of the door opening again, and the light coming
back on.

Krycek struggled to look at whoever was looming over him; 
his head felt like it weighed a ton. When he finally 
looked up he saw a dark-haired man, wearing what was 
obviously an expensive suit. Krycek was pretty sure he 
had never seen this man before, and that made him even 
more nervous.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions, Krycek," the man
said as he walked around the small room, circling Krycek
and making him want to puke.

"Fuck you," Krycek muttered.

"You were at the hospital looking for someone?" the man
continued, not missing a beat.

Krycek dropped his head and stubbornly stared at the
floor in front of him, refusing to say anything more to
this person except curses. Suddenly the man struck him
hard in the side of the face, the blow making Krycek
grunt in pain.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be," the man said,
sounding slightly amused. He was obviously enjoying
this little game, although Krycek couldn't see how. It
wasn't like they knew each other.

"I don't know what girl you are talking about," he
slurred. It was becoming harder for him to think clearly
and he had to concentrate on what to say.

"We found you on the security tapes from the hospital in 
Albany. You were looking for the person who was healing 
people," the man stated. Krycek said nothing. "Tell me, 
Krycek, how much do you know about these people?"

"You can kiss my ass, you shit-eating mother fucker,"
Krycek swore at the man, proud at actually being able to
come up with something when he was this drugged.

Krycek received three more hard punches for that
comment; two to the face, the third to his stomach. He
coughed after the last one, a strong metallic taste filling
his mouth. The man stopped in front of him, bending
over and grabbing Krycek's jaw, forcing his head up so
he could look into his eyes. Blinking away the blood and
sweat, Krycek looked back into the eyes of the dark-
haired man.

"I guess we'll just have to leave you here for a bit to 
think about it," the man said, smiling wickedly.

Krycek stared back at him before smirking slightly, then
he took the best aim he could and spat into the man's
right eye. The man pulled away, letting go of Krycek and
wiping the blood and spit from his eyes. He looked
like he was going to hit him again but instead just
turned to the door and left, turning the light off behind
him.

Krycek was left in the dark again to continue his futile
attempts to free himself from his restraints, but at the
moment, he felt more like sleeping than anything else.

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10:13 p.m. 
Bangor, Maine

They had said their goodbyes to Frohike and boarded
the plane. The ride had seemed unusually long and
Mulder had told Scully several times to get some rest,
even though he knew just as well as she did that she
could never sleep on a plane.

When they'd touched down in Bangor, it was after
eleven. Other passengers were yawning as they went to
find their luggage. Mulder had already gotten the key for
their rental car from the desk and they were on their way
out to the parking lot.

They finally left the airport after a brief argument over
who would drive. Scully's reasoning was that Mulder
had not yet fully adapted to his new vision, and that he
shouldn't drive for at least two more days. It took some
convincing before Mulder surrendered and got into the
passenger's seat.

He did accept the consolation prize, the navigators spot,
and read the directions to Scully as they drove through
Bangor. They had seen few cars once off the main road;
the occasional vehicle causing them all to squint at the
unfamiliar contrast in light.

"We should be getting pretty close. According to the map,
it's up here on the right," Mulder said as he crinkled the
hand drawn map around, trying to somehow achieve a
better understanding of the symbols and lines. Maps had
never really been his specialty, but at this point they
really couldn't afford to drive around all night.

"We're coming to a bridge--is there a bridge on the map?"
Scully asked, yawning.

Mulder glanced over at her. "You should have slept on
the plane," he muttered before looking back at the map,
successfully avoiding Scully's annoyed glare. "Yeah, it's
the first driveway on the right. Just make sure this is
Bronson Creek."

As they approached the bridge, Scully slowed down so
they could look for a sign.

"This is it," Scully said, pointing over at a small sign
nailed to the bridge. "Bronson Creek."

They drove over the small bridge and sure enough just
past it was an iron gate closing off a long driveway.

"This must be it," Scully said as she parked the car in
front of the gate.

"I'll go check it out," Mulder said as he undid his seat 
belt and got out of the car. He pulled out the bundle of 
keys from his pocket as he walked up to the gate. There 
was a large lock on the gate, and Mulder began to try each 
key, third time being the charm. Stepping trough the gate, 
he walked a short distance up the dirt driveway until he 
was out of range of the headlights of the car and had to 
take out his small flashlight. There were large trees all 
along the dirt path, and when Mulder shone the light into 
the brush it seemed to go on forever.

He kept walking, the drive climbing up a small hill and
curving left. Just around the corner the area was lit up,
and Mulder quickly switched off his flash light as he 
slowed down, treading as lightly as he could in case 
someone was there. When he peeked his head around one of 
the large trees he saw that the lights were outdoor lights 
from the house. There weren't any cars, and it didn't look
like any one had been around. The inside of the house
was dark, and Mulder couldn't see anything from where
he was standing.

He walked up to the house, up the steps leading to the
porch and to the front door. There was a sign nailed
above the door which read 'Plan B' and it was at this
point that Mulder began to wonder whose house this
actually was.

He knocked first, just in case, but after a few minutes
without any answer Mulder decided the coast was clear.
He slipped the key into the lock and opened the door. It
was pitch dark inside, but Mulder ignored it as he
focused on the small lit-up panel that controlled the
security system. He punched in a few numbers and the
panel beeped once before the little green light beside the
word 'unarmed' lit up. The little panel seemed to control
a few other things as well, including heating and air
conditioning, but there didn't seem to be any way to turn
on the main power. Maybe there was a generator or
something. He fiddled with it for a bit before he finally
thought he had the heat on, but he wasn't sure about the
electricity.

With that task completed he began to feel along the walls
for light switches. He quickly found one, but when he
flicked it on nothing happened. "Damn," he murmured to
the empty house. There must be a separate place for the
water and electricity, he thought. Using his trusty flash
light he explored most of the main rooms. The furniture
was covered in sheets, but from what little Mulder could
see everything seemed clean and in order. It looked like
an expensive place, and he began to wonder in earnest
who it belonged to. He had never heard of any of the 
Gunmen owning anything like this.

He finished his brief tour of the house, and after not
finding anything strange or suspicious returned to the
front of the house. Scully was already pulling up with the
car.

"I didn't think waiting out front would be such a great
idea," she said as she and Karen got out.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Mulder replied, looking
up at the clear starry sky above them. "We'd better get our
stuff inside and figure out where every one will stay," he
finished. Of course he would have rather liked to lay
down on the roof of the car and look up at the sky for a
while.

He never saw the stars anymore; the city lights always
managed to keep even the brightest constellations down
to a dull glow. Sometimes he and Scully had gotten cases
out in the sticks, were there were only some small towns
and no big cities close by. As lame as many of those cases
were, he always loved them because whenever the skies
were clear at night he would creep out of his room and
find a good place to lay down outside. Often it was the
roof of their car; some times he was lucky enough to find
a way onto the roof of the motel they'd been staying at.
Those moments he stole watching the stars were always
very special to him. They allowed him to clear his mind
and to work things out in his head. They were always a
fulfilling escape.

But after awhile he began to feel lonely. He wanted to
share what he saw with someone. For awhile now he had
wanted to invite Scully with him, to share that private
part of his life with her, but he hadn't been given the
opportunity. Many of their cases recently had been in
cities, or the skies were overcast, or they didn't have 
time.

Here the stars shone bright, thousands and thousands of
pinpricks of light lit up the black, moonless sky. Each
one gave off its own glow, making it look as though
they went on for an eternity, and maybe they did.

"Mulder?" Scully said, snapping him back into reality.
She smiled at him, obviously aware of his drifting. "Don't
go spacey on me now," she said, handing him one of the
bags the Gunmen had given them.

He took the bag, quickly glancing inside of it before
trekking into the house. Dropping the bag at the foot of
the stairs, Mulder turned when he heard a noise from the
living room across the hall. When he came to the door he
found Karen had pulled open a large sliding door and
now stood outside on a large wooden deck. As he walked
up to the open door she spoke. "This place is amazing..."

Mulder came up beside her and leaned forward against
the iron railings around the deck. Below them was a
small ravine that dropped down to the rocky water's
edge. On the shore was a small wooden dock, not hard to
see the surreal glow that was cast over the landscape. He
could hear the light waves washing up against the shore,
splashing around the rocks. They could see across the
entire lake from there, the distant shore lines and the
surrounding mountains. The water was black like the sky
except for the silver reflection of the stars on the tops 
of the small rippling waves.

The clear skies were a relieving site after all the rain 
they had seen the days before. Perhaps it was an omen, a 
sign that they would be safe here; that the stars were 
looking out for them.

Scully came out not a moment later, taking the same
position as Mulder on the opposite side of Karen. Mulder
looked over at her as she appreciated the view, a smile
growing on her face as she admired the beauty before
her. He watched her eyes track up until they rested on the
star lit sky. Her gaze stayed there for a while, and Mulder
couldn't stand it and had to look up with her. He smiled
as a shooting star danced across the sky. They all stood
there for a few more moments; the forest around them
was quiet and filled with shadows. Not a budding leaf
rustled or a bug sang; only the soft sound of the pebbles
on the shore moving with the waves could be heard.

"I'm going to go uncover the bedrooms," Scully said,
obviously disinterested with what she was saying, her
words coming out slowly. "Mulder, maybe you could see
if you can get the water and electricity going?"

Scully's words immediately reminded him of the last
conflict he'd had with utilities, or more specifically, 
plumbing. Hopefully this would only involve the flipping 
of a switch, not the need for any kind of skills.

Scully took one last look over the water before losing a
battle with a yawn that betrayed the level of exhaustion
she was feeling. She stepped away from the railing, and
quickly disappeared into the house.

Mulder stood up from the rail, wanting to do what Scully
had asked, but also wanting to remain outside, despite 
the cold. He was about to turn and leave when Karen's 
voice stopped him. "She misses the stars too," she said 
with a small smile as she gazed up at the sky. She turned 
to him, still smiling before she walked past him and 
jogged up the stairs after Scully.

Mulder could only smile wryly to himself. The irony of
the situation had just occurred to him. He had the perfect
opportunity to further his relationship with Scully--
secluded, romantic--except they wouldn't exactly be alone
while they were there. And Karen was the reason they
were there in the first place.

He sighed, turning away from the fairy-tale landscape in
front of him and going into the house to challange his 
skills with the electricity and water.

X<>X<>X<>X<>X<>X

11:21 p.m. 
Washington DC

It was relieving to finally be home. The keys were
unceremoniously tossed at the coffee table, his jacket
slung over the back of the couch. Flopping down onto
the couch was a wonderful change from the past eight
hours. Walter Skinner wasn't usually this sloppy, but
tonight he really couldn't care less.

He dropped his head back against the couch, slowly
sinking into the soft pillows as he closed his eyes and
rubbed them tiredly. The flight to Albany and back had
been a waste, a tiring waste. Mulder and Scully had
already disappeared, having gotten out of another
impossible situation--as unlikely as it had seemed--and
had successfully gotten themselves into another.

Skinner had felt horrible when he'd heard about the
accident, since he was the reason why they were there in
the first place. But now it seemed that Mulder was okay
and that could only mean one thing. There really must
have been an angel of some sort, and they had found it
before Krycek. If that was true, then they were probably
on the run.

He wished for sleep, his body was exhausted, but it
wouldn't come. His mind was not at ease and it kept
bringing up questions he didn't want to think about.
Sighing loudly, he pushed himself up off the couch and
went into his kitchen. Opening the fridge, he browsed
through the items before deciding on some orange juice.
After pouring a small glass he returned to the couch and
flipped on the TV. Mostly infomercials, but he didn't
care. The noise helped to distract him from the past
twenty-four hours. He took a small sip of his orange
juice; it tasted watery... he had forgotten to stir it 
again.

Just as he felt himself begin to relax, the phone started to
ring, pulling him out of his lethargy. He didn't move at
first, not wanting to get up to answer it. It would have
been nice to tell the person on the other end to fuck off,
but it probably wasn't worth it.

Reluctantly he grabbed the phone sitting beside him and
brought it to his ear. "Skinner," he said, trying not to let
his annoyance show in his voice.

"This is a friend of Mulder and Scully."

Skinner paused. "Has something happened?" He heard
what sounded like arguing on the other end of the line.
He knew who it was immediately, and he wished they'd
get to the point so he could go back to watching
infomercials.

"Mulder and Scully would like to use some of their
vacation days," the voice said. It sounded like the tall
dark haired one... the one that always wore a suit. Byers,
was it?

"Where are they? When was the last time you spoke to
them? And why aren't they telling me this themselves?"

There was another pause. "We spoke to them about three
hours ago. They would be talking to you except they had
to disappear."

Skinner wished that someone would give him some straight 
answers for once. It was like having to connect the 
dots without numbers or any idea about what it was
supposed to look like when it was finished.

"What do you mean they had to disappear?"

"We can't give you many details. We really don't know
what's going on ourselves. We were asked to tell you that
they may not be back for awhile."

"You don't know how long?" Skinner asked, surprised.
These three guys usually knew everything that was going
on.

"No."

"Alright, but I can only cover for them for so long. I want
updates."

"We'll see what we can do," the voice said quickly,
obviously wanting the conversation to end.

"Ok."

There was a click and Skinner dropped the phone back
down on its cradle. He yawned as he laid back down on
the couch. It was so frustrating. There had been a time
when he was included in these escapades they went on,
but now that they knew he was compromised they
always kept their distance.

Damn Krycek and his nanos. Every moment, every
decision he made, he always knew his life was in the
balance. And when he chose something that Krycek
didn't agree with, it wasn't long before he heard about 
it.

Now he was always in the dark about what was going on,
and because of this Krycek hadn't been knocking at his
door as often, which was fine with him. But he truly
wanted to help his agents. It had occurred to him that if
he couldn't help Mulder and Scully directly then maybe
he could help them from afar and in the process he could
take advantage of having to see Krycek.

So one day, when Krycek had been more distracted than
usual, Skinner had slipped a small bug into his jacket
pocket. It had thankfully gone unnoticed by Krycek who
was much too worried about getting his surveillance tape.

Once Krycek took off out of his office he had pulled out
the little PDA used to track the bug, blessing the people
working down in the tech lab as a little red dot that was
Krycek appeared on the screen. After slipping the small
computer into his pocket and grabbing his jacket he'd
left the office, telling Kimberly he would be out for a 
bit, but in reality he'd had no idea how long he would be
gone for. She told him about a meeting that Mulder had
asked for regarding a new case, but it would have to wait.

He'd been tired of sitting on the sidelines and
watching his agents get screwed because of his own
cowardice. The back-stabbing would end here.

He'd followed Krycek all the way to Albany, only losing
him for a couple hours due to having to take a later flight.
When he'd reached Albany the little red dot on the PDA
had soon reappeared and he'd spent the rest of that day
and night at St. Peter's Hospital, following Krycek as he
walked aimlessly up and down the halls and stairs. He
couldn't figure out what the man could possibly be
doing.

Too tired and irritated to fly all the way back to DC at
that time of night, he had booked a room in a hotel
downtown. He guessed that Krycek would probably get a
place outside of town, and that way they wouldn't run
into each other. No need to make Krycek more paranoid
than he already was.

When he'd awoke the next morning, there had been a
newspaper at his door. He wasn't too interested in the
Albany news, but had decided it would be something to
read on the plane home.

That's when he'd found out what Krycek was doing at
the hospital. The article had been short, but it was
enough of an explanation for him and plenty to tantalize
Mulder and Scully's curious nature. It had just been a
matter of dropping the news paper off at Mulder's door
and knowing indefinitely that he'd take the bait. And he
knew that, being the impatient man that he was, Mulder
wouldn't be able to wait until Monday to ask him about
following up on it, so they'd go without telling anyone.
Krycek wouldn't know anything about it until it was too
late.

It had been a perfect plan, infallible and ingenius. It was
the only way to for him fight back, to help Mulder and
Scully with out getting burned. Not that there wasn't a
chance of that still happening.

Obviously things hadn't worked out as well as he had
hoped. Krycek's plans might have been foiled, but
Mulder had almost been killed in the process, and now
he and Scully were fugitives running from people who
never tired and had nothing to lose.

Had it really been worth it? He might never know.

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END OF CHAPTER 6

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