Jane Evans was becoming very worried about her next door neighbor. From what very little she saw of the woman over the weekend, she appeared to have come down with something that was knocking her out. Jane had just been coming home from the store Friday afternoon in time to see Laura being practically carried into her house by a co-worker. She had said that she was fine, but Jane wasn't sure how that could have been true.
Today, Jane had been out in the garden since early this morning and had yet to see Laura leave the house. She didn't know whether to be concerned or not about her lack of appearance; it was well past the time that she usually left for work, but maybe she'd just taken the day off...
"Would you please stop pretending to garden and go over there and check on her already?" Mikey grumbled from his seat on the porch, head still buried behind his newspaper.
Picking up the hand shovel she hadn't realized she dropped, Jane answered indignantly, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Alright, Mrs. Kravitz, but you haven't actually planted one gardenia in the last 15 minutes, so either you've changed your mind about the flowers or you're distracted by something."
She was about to reply when she thought she heard the sound of footsteps and looked over at Laura's house.
No one was there.
Glancing back at her husband, she saw the wide smirk that had spread across his face and knew she'd been caught. "Do shut up, dear," Jane muttered, causing him to laugh. "I'll be right back."
"What a good idea. What's an eight letter word for stubborn that starts with 'o'?" Mikey waited a beat before looking up, and noticed that she was no longer there. "Okay, well get back to me."
Mulder was ready to declare Jeff Marcus the most boring person on the entire planet. The man didn't do anything but go to work and go home. He didn't even vary his route to either place, no matter what the traffic.
After his information gathering session on Friday, Mulder had been forced to admit that there was something off about Agent Marcus. However, he was not quite ready to buy the Gunmen's theory.
"Is everything set?"
"You have to give me a few more days. If we do this wrong, it's all over."
"We don't have a lot more time."
"All the more reason to get it right."
There was no answer when Jane rang the front doorbell. She rang it a second time just to be sure she was heard. She reasoned to herself that she must have missed Laura leaving that morning, and that she should just go back home and take it as a sign that she was feeling better. But, for some reason, it didn't ring true with her.
Walking around to the back of the house, Jane peered through the sliding glass door. On her first glance through nothing looked out of the ordinary, but as she scanned the room one more time something near the staircase caught her eye.
Gasping, she ran back home, past her husband, who asked her what was wrong, and grabbed the phone to dial 911.
"We need an ambulance to 167 Redwood Avenue. There's a woman who's unconscious. I can't tell if she's breathing."
"Hey, Marcus! What's got you so cheerful this morning?" Agent Adam Dell, Jeff's partner, asked as he plopped down at his own desk in the bullpen.
Jeff looked up from the report he was reading through and smiled just to annoy Adam, who looked like he'd gone on a weekend bender and still wasn't over it. "I had a pretty good weekend." He pretended to scrutinize his partner. "You look like you had a very good weekend."
"Fuck you, man." The harshness of Adam's words was somewhat lessened by his shit-eating grin. "Good weekend, huh? Does that mean you scored or that your guild went on a big raid?"
"Yes," Jeff said simply, causing Adam to snort.
"You really have to stop hanging out with smart-asses -- they're ruining your country-boy charm."
"Well, I asked for a new partner, but they wouldn't give me one."
Adam gave him the one fingered salute, before actually starting up his computer, so he could pretend to work more effectively. "I was actually referring to Spooky Mulder. When did you guys get so buddy-buddy?"
Jeff tensed a little bit but tried not to show it. "Mulder's actually not that bad."
"Didn't he manage to finally drive his partner away?"
"That's the rumor..."
"I don't know how you sat through a whole meal with him," Adam laughed, ignoring how uncomfortable Jeff was becoming. "I remember what he was like the first time his partner disappeared. He was always quiet, except when he was yelling at people for no apparent reason. The man had no right carrying a gun."
"Well, he wasn't quiet or angry a few days ago. Maybe they parted on better terms this time."
"Or she left a forwarding address instead of just hitching a ride on the nearest UFO."
"Dell, shut the hell up." Jeff had meant for his words to sound teasing but he knew he'd missed the mark.
Adam's head snapped up from his computer screen, finally registering the irritation in Jeff's voice. "Hey man, I didn't mean anything by it... You're actually making friends with Spoo-- I mean Mulder?"
"He's always seemed like a good guy to me." Jeff was very quickly getting tired of defending himself. "Actually, I was thinking about inviting him to our poker game on Wednesday."
"I don't know, Marcus. You know Callen hasn't forgiven Mulder for showing him up on his profile for the Mazer case."
"Then maybe Callen won't invite himself over this week."
Adam seemed to ponder this before smiling widely. "You should definitely invite Mulder then."
"Mulder, you know that proper surveillance requires two pairs of agents, one pair relieving the other after twelve hours."
Mulder was really starting to understand the need for Article 30, paragraph 8.7. It was the fourth day of his surveillance on Agent Marcus and he was starting to go a little stir crazy. He was glad that he hadn't attempted 24-hour surveillance; he didn't much like the last padded cell he'd been put in and he wasn't tempted to return to it.
He was about to call it a night when a Lexus pulled up in front of Marcus' house. A blonde-haired man with heavily gelled hair climbed out of it and looked around nervously before walking up to Marcus' house.
When Agent Marcus opened the door he did not seem happy to see the other man. Their conversation appeared to get pretty heated, but not so loud that Mulder could catch any of it. He briefly considered trying to get closer, but then the blonde man pulled out a stuffed white envelope and, after shoving it into Marcus' hand, stormed away. As he was getting in his car, Mulder took a picture of the man, trying not to feel like a PI. Marcus watch the man go with a look in he eyes that appeared to be a cross between anger and regret, before going back inside.
Mulder waited a few more minutes to make sure Marcus was settled in for the night before driving off himself.
Mulder watched as Langly's hands flew across the keyboard, looking up the license plate number he'd gotten off the blonde man's car. The Gunmen had gotten to work as soon as Mulder had finished telling them about the strange encounter.
"Mulder," Byers said, getting his attention and leading him away from the other two, "there's something we haven't asked you..."
Mulder sighed, not really liking the sound of this. "What?"
"Do you want us to try and find Scully?"
"No." Mulder almost surprised himself with his quick vehement response.
Byers nodded in acceptance, but he had to double check. "Are you sure?"
"Byers..." Mulder sighed and slid a hand down his face, suddenly exhausted, "if I know where she is, I don't know that I'd be able to stop myself from following her there. I have to assume they're watching for that. I won't put her in that kind of danger."
Again Byers nodded. "Okay."
"Ha! My kung-fu is the best!" Langly exclaimed, arms raised in victory.
Mulder and Byers smiled and went to join the other two as Frohike groused that Langly should stop gloating and just tell them what he found.
"You're just jealous, Frohike," Langly teased a little more, before turning to Mulder. "Mark Engleside."
"That's who Marcus was meeting with?"
"That's who owns the car," Langly clarified. He turned the computer screen with Mark Engleside's DMV photo on it. He was at least 50, with graying hair than had originally been brown. "Doesn't really look like your guy, does it?"
"No, it doesn't," Mulder agreed, sitting down on a nearby stool in frustration.
"What's with the celebration then?" Frohike asked.
"Oh, ye of little faith." Langly hid the photo of Engleside and brought up another window. "Is this him?"
Mulder sat up a little straighter. "Yeah."
"Is he Engleside's son?"
"No, Mark Engleside has no living relatives. This is Jeremy Miller. He's the co-signer on the lease to Mr. Engleside's home."
"Does either of them have any connections to the Spilanos?"
That took a little of the wind out of Langly's sails. "Not as far as I can tell."
There was a moment where none of them said anything. Byers laid a hand on Mulder's arm. "We'll keep looking."
Mulder nodded and went to say something when his cell phone rang. Walking away from the group, he went to answer it.
While he was out of earshot, Frohike leaned over and punched Langly in the arm. "No connection to the Spilanos?"
"I can't create a connection where there is none, Doohickey!"
"But did you have to get his hopes up?"
"I was happy I found the guy!"
"Guys!" Byers warned, as Mulder walked back over looking confusedly at his phone.
"Apparently I'm going to play poker..."
Scully's head was killing her. As she lay in what she assumed was a hospital bed (judging by the sounds and smells of the room), she tried to crack open an eye, but the little light that let in sliced like a razor blade through her head. Maybe she should just sleep a little longer...
An hour later, she woke up again. Her head still hurt, but it was a little more manageable. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a tall figure with brown hair standing by her window.
"Mulder?"
"No, Agent Scully, it's Marshal Mann." The marshal sat down in the chair next to her bed. "You gave us all a scare."
"What happened?"
"Well, it seems you were unsuccessful at busting your skull open."
"That's a relief, because it sure feels like I did."
"I'm sure." Mann gave her a small smile. "I'll go let the doctor know that you're awake."
Scully managed to get herself up into a sitting position without throwing up by the time Mann returned with the doctor.
"Hello, I'm Doctor Thomas."
"I'll be right outside if you need me, Laura," Mann told her, she assumed to let her know that she was here under her new name.
"Thanks."
"You have very loyal friends," the doctor observed. "An older couple came in with you until your friend outside showed up. I believe a young girl also came to visit you while you were unconscious."
Scully could only nod.
"Now, you were very lucky. You'll have a bad headache for awhile, and you have a relatively minor concussion, but both you and the baby are fine, so - "
Scully's head snapped up quickly, but she was in so much shock she didn't notice the pain that motion caused. "Excuse me... What?"
Mulder walked up the driveway to Marcus' house and rang the doorbell. He was beginning to doubt the wisdom of accepting this invitation, but figured there might at least be an opportunity to look around for some more information.
The door opened and he walked in. As soon as the entrance was shut behind him, he heard the click of the safety of a gun.
"Agent Mulder, I'm so glad you could make it."
Next: Chapter 6
