"This is a horrible plan!" Skinner shouted, startling half the agents gathered around him.
Scully, however, stood firm. "It's the only plan that makes sense, sir. Agent Marcus is dying in there and we have to get him out. We have to assume that any attempt to storm the house will result in Spilano killing both Mulder and Marcus."
"And how do we know that he won't just shoot you the second you’re inside, and then just shoot Marcus and Mulder for the hell of it? We gain nothing by giving him exactly what he wants."
"We gain a chance to get everyone out of this alive, and the odds are greater for this plan to succeed than any other."
Everyone looked back and forth between Skinner and Scully.
"Sir," Agent Dell said, breaking the staring contest between the two. "Agent Scully's plan makes sense. Spilano is going to get more violent if we don't give him something, and the only thing he's asked for is Scully. And, sir, if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not have to break in a new partner."
Scully silently sent a 'thank you' glance at Dell, before returning her gaze to Skinner.
"I still think this plan has disaster written all over it," Skinner sighed in resignation. "Okay, Agents, who wants to volunteer to go in with Scully and the EMT?"
Not surprisingly, several hands were raised, and first among them was Dell.
"So, how much do you think your girlfriend values your life?" Tony Spilano asked conversationally.
Mulder's facial expression didn't change, but his jaw clenched, so his words came out harsher than he intended. "Excuse me?"
Tony was sitting in a big arm chair, his feet kicked up on the coffee table in front of him, looking for all the world like a prince sitting on his dad's throne.
"Do you think the little woman is going to risk her life just to save you?"
Mulder was tempted to bare his teeth at him. "You're an idiot if you think they're going to give you anything."
"I'll take that as a 'no' then." Glancing down at Marcus's unconscious form, the only sign he was still alive his shallow breathing, Tony sneered. "You better hope you're wrong."
The phone rang. Tony waited until it almost went to voicemail to pick it up.
'This kid is going to get us all killed,' Mulder thought bitterly, as he listened to Tony trying to sound as though he knew what he was doing.
"Looks like you were," Tony said with a smug smile. "Too bad she's not going to be alive long enough for you to appreciate that fact."
Mulder opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off.
"Put the gag back on him."
"You really should get over this kink of yours," Mulder grumbled, as the muscle forced the cloth back into his mouth.
Bobby Smith hadn't been nervous on the jobs since his first month. Being an EMT involved a lot of adrenaline and a lot of quick thinking. There wasn't any time to be nervous, and you either got over it or you 'flunked out', which was not something Bobby had been prepared to do.
However, as he stood outside in the cooling Virginia spring air, watching FBI agents mill around him, he felt anxiety settle in his chest.
The agent who was going undercover as his partner came over to him and slapped him on the back.
"Relax, kid, you've got the easy job."
Scully sat by herself, eyes closed against the chaos around her. Resting a hand against her abdomen she felt tears gather in her eyes.
"It'll be okay,” she whispered. "I promise."
She desperately hoped that this had not been the first lie she would ever tell her child.
They approached the house slowly. Dell went first, controlling one end of the stretcher, followed by Smith at the other end. Scully walked closely behind to insure that she wasn't pulled in without the exchange taking place.
When they reached the front door it swung open, revealing two very well-muscled men standing behind it. Both were holding guns, and looked prepared to use them.
All three walked inside and, after the door was closed behind them, were immediately searched. Scully tried to ignore that the man patting her down took extra time between her legs, but she couldn't completely help the way she tensed up.
"They're clean," one of the men announced, and they were herded into the next room.
The room was very sparsely furnished. There was an armchair that looked like it belonged in a much grander house, a coffee table that was most likely purchased at IKEA, and a boarded up fireplace.
Standing near the fireplace was a bound and gagged Mulder being held in place by Tony Spilano's grip on his collar and his gun in his side.
Scully involuntarily started forward, but Mulder imperceptibly shook his head, halting her movements.
Over in the corner of the room lay Marcus's body, which Dell and Smith went to as quickly as possible. Smith set to work checking his vitals, and making sure they could move him without doing further damage. Dell set about trying to look productive.
Mulder's eyes widened in shock when he realized who Dell was and he began to struggle, until Spilano dug the gun further into his side. His eyes continued to dart over to Dell, hoping Scully would receive the message.
"I'm glad you finally decided to join us, Agent Scully," Spilano said smoothly. "It was very rude, you disappearing like that, without leaving a forwarding address."
"Well, you've got me here now. What's next?"
Tony's eyes hardened at her cavalier words. "Jimmy," he said to one of the thugs, "come here." The bodyguard he addressed approached him. Tony shoved Mulder in his direction, freeing himself up to walk towards Scully.
Scully stood firm with each step he took towards her, even as she felt the presence of the other guard right behind her.
"Now?" Tony asked in a harsh voice. "Now you're going to pay for everything you've done to my family. You're going to cry for every tear my mother has shed. You're going to watch everything get taken away from you, just like my father did!"
"Do the victims of your family get the same deal?"
"The only people we ever hurt were people who deserved to be punished!" he shouted, unknowingly echoing his brother's words.
"What about what you've done to your own father?" Scully asked, seeking to get him off-balance. "Do you think anyone is going to believe that he didn't have a part in this? You've ruined any chance he might have had of not being found guilty."
"Shut up!" Tony yelled, raising his gun to her head.
Mulder's eyes pleaded, 'Scully, don't make him kill you,' but Scully knew she had to keep pressing.
"How do you think he's going to react to this, Tony? How many more tears is your mother going to shed when you're sharing the cell next to your father? Or when she has to watch you get the lethal injection?"
"Don't you dare bring my mother into this!"
"You brought her into this! But you can save her some of that pain... put the gun down," she softened her tone, as if talking to a little boy. "Just put down the gun and walk away. That's your best chance."
Tony appeared to be considering it for all of ten seconds, before a surprised look crossed his face. "You manipulative bitch!"
But it had given her enough time. Scully took advantage of his distraction and brought her arm down hard on his outstretched one, causing him to drop the gun. She caught it and quickly brought it down on his head, knocking him out.
She saw out of the corner of her eye Mulder ram his bound hands into Jimmy's gut, knocking the wind out of him.
Swinging around, she shot one round into the shoulder of the other guard as he was lifting his weapon. He yelled out in pain and dropped his gun. Kicking the gun away from him, Scully quickly checked that Mulder didn't need her, and then saw that Jimmy was now lying unconscious.
Keeping her weapon trained on the only alert mobster, she called over to Agent Dell, "I need the handcuffs from the medical bag."
When he didn't respond, she glanced in his direction and noticed that he wasn't paying attention to her. Instead, he was staring fixedly at Mulder, who was holding a gun in his still bound hands, trained directly on him.
"Mulder?" she asked in alarm. "What are you doing?"
Gag now hanging around his neck Mulder spoke for the first time. "He's with them, Scully."
She saw the mobster in front of her try to inch towards his gun, and swung back around. He stopped, apparently not wanting to get shot again.
"Dell?"
"Yeah. He's why we're all in this mess."
Not knowing quite how to process that, but not doubting its validity, Scully nodded. "All right. Smith! Bring me the damn medical bag."
Smith, who looked like he was seconds away from peeing his pants, nodded and with shaking hands began to walk towards Scully with the bag. There was a brief second when he crossed between Mulder and Dell, which gave Dell the exact opportunity he needed. He lunged toward the gurney and pulled out a hidden gun, pointing it directly at Mulder.
'God damn it!' Scully silently cursed, pulling the scared EMT towards her and out of the line of fire. Pulling out the cuffs at last, she quickly restrained the mobster before also turning her gun on Dell.
"Dell, there's no way you can get out of this. You're surrounded by agents, and you have no help."
To her right she heard a gun being cocked.
"Put the fucking gun down," Tony Spilano rasped.
From outside a gunshot rang out.
Skinner's booming voice resounded over the microphone. "All teams go!"
The four of them remained in a standoff: Spilano with a gun pointed at Scully, Scully's trained on Dell, Dell's still directed at Mulder, and Mulder's now lined up with Spilano.
None of them moved for a good long while.
"You know, I went to see your father today," Dell said into the silence.
Tony looked confused. "Shut the fuck up, Adam! What the hell took you so long to jump in?"
"I was waiting for the right moment."
"The right moment was when the bitch got the drop on me!"
"My bad."
"Both of you shut up," Mulder ordered. "There are going to be FBI agents flooding this house any minute now. Put the guns down."
"Don't you want to know what he said?" Dell asked, as if Mulder had never spoken.
"Fine! You want to do this now? What did he say?"
"He said he's very disappointed in you." Dell quickly swung his gun around and fired.
Tony Spilano dropped to the floor. He was dead instantly.
Special Agent Adam Dell let his gun drop to the floor and kicked it towards Scully. She bent to pick it up.
Mulder walked over to him, and taking another pair of cuffs out of the medical bag, began reading him his rights. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say..."
Dell was only half listening. He looked down at his unconscious partner, who was getting paler by the second.
When Mulder had finished, Dell simply looked back and forth between Mulder and Scully, no remorse evident in his eyes.
"Don't you want to get my partner to a hospital?" he asked, just as the rest of the team came pouring into the house, taking in the bloody scene.
Next: Chapter 10
