Part Nineteen

Mulder groaned, opened his eyes to stare directly into Doggett’s stare, and groaned again.

"Well, you ain’t pretty, either, Mulder."

Mulder’s moan and Doggett’s dour remark had drawn Margaret Scully’s attention. She ordered softly, "Shhhh – Listen. If I can get your hands untied, do you think you can temporarily disable our guards without hurting them? They’re just kids."

"Sure," Mulder replied with a great deal more confidence than he had a right to feel. "Do you think you can find something I can use to cut through the ropes?" He couldn’t see her and didn’t know she wasn’t bound, too.

"No, but since the baby’s asleep it shouldn’t be that difficult to untie you," she replied dryly. She moved in next to him, wondering if their ‘hosts’ were listening to the conversation. Years of knitting and crocheting gave her an expert touch at loosening stubborn knots, and she made quick work of the men’s bonds.

It was the first time that their guards had left them alone. "I hope I disabled that camera," Mrs. Scully worried aloud. "Every time I tried to use Bill’s 35 mm, it was completely out of focus. He said I had a real knack for it. Let’s hope he’s right."

She held out her palm to display the lens she’d removed.

Doggett glanced up at the crippled instrument. The disabled camera was still suspended from the low ceiling, but its face was notably open. The former policeman chuckled. "I think it’s a safe bet it worked like a charm." He pushed himself up and shook the woman’s hand. "Thanks. Mrs. Scully, right?"

"Yes, I am. How’s Dana? Does she know that William and I are all right?"

"We’re working on that. Any idea where we are?"

A siren sounded in the distance, its wail distorting as it moved. "Sounds like we’re upstairs," Mulder answered. "Way upstairs, is my guess."

Blinking, Doggett challenged, "How do you know that?"

Mulder shrugged. "Doppler effect. The ambulance moved past us and the tones shifted. But it was at a distance, and underfoot. Had to be downstairs a ways."

Tilting her head to one side, Mrs. Scully listened. "A city," she surmised. "Someplace big. We were blindfolded once inside the car, couldn’t see where they were taking us, but there was a lot of traffic around us when we got here. You could hear street vendors and gunshots. None of the latter very close at the time, but since then we’ve heard some pretty loud reports."

At the men’s expressions, she chided gently, "I was married to a military man, gentlemen. Bill never gave me any national secrets, but he DID teach me some basic survival techniques. Did you think Dana inherited all of her intelligence from her father, or were you under the impression that becoming a grandmother automatically makes you senile?"

Go to Part Twenty.


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