TITLE: “The Lady of the Rings”
INFO: Written for I Made This Productions
Virtual Season 10
VS10 website is at:
AUTHOR: Ten
EMAIL: kristena@ocean.com.au
RATING: PG-13 for aftereffects of violence
CLASSIFICATION: S, Casefile, Angst, MT & ST,
MSR
SPOILERS: The Virtual Seasons branch off
from the show after “Je Souhaite”.
Minor references to “Dod Kalm”, “Kill
Switch” and the “Pusher” episodes.
Also references to Vickie Moseley’s Virtual
Season 9 story “Psi Time for
Skeptics”, and Vickie & Susan Proto’s story
SUMMARY: Mulder and Scully are kidnapped by
someone from their past, who is
determined to have revenge.
NOTE: I made up a few places in Florida so I
could put various elements in them
to serve the plot.
ARCHIVING: IMTP has a two week exclusivity
to all Virtual Season 10 stories
from the day each first appears on the
website. After that, please drop me a
note if you’d like to archive this.
My website for my stories is at:
http://bitter-moon.com/tenxffic/index2.html
DISCLAIMER: The X-Files, the episodes
referred to, Mulder and Scully and all
other characters from the show belong to
Chris Carter and his team of writers,
Ten Thirteen Productions and Fox
Broadcasting, and are used without
permission.
No copyright infringement is intended, no
profit will be gained. Characters not
recognized from the show are either mine, or
from previous VS10 stories.
THANKS TO: Debbie, Suzanne, Gerry, Mac,
Vickie and Judie – all for showing
wonderful patience, help and willingness.
Each went above and beyond the call
of duty with this story.
FEEDBACK: Yes, please! I like to know who’s
out there in the ether.
TEASER:
Late December 2002
Xavier, Florida:
Mulder stepped onto the beach and took in
the view.
Scully came up beside him and grasped his
hand. “Getting out of the unpacking,
Mulder?” she asked with affection.
“Look, Scully,” he said with contentment.
“Our beach and sea.”
“For the next week, anyway. Let’s hope that
Florida decides to let us have a
proper vacation this time.” This holiday
season was the perfect chance to try
again. A peaceful and happy Christmas had
been spent in D.C., then the agents
flew down here to the beach house they were
renting. They certainly appreciated
the change in temperature.
Scully leaned against Mulder’s side. “No
cases or recuperation or hurricanes or
humbug or psychic conventions or ‘magic’ ri-
”
He stopped her list by kissing her. Then he
said, “I’m glad that you decided to
tell your mom about us.”
“So was she. Well, she was ecstatic,
actually!”
“Bill wasn’t,” Mulder said with a grin.
“It’s not his life. It’s mine. And I am
going to live it how I want to.”
At the suggestive look that accompanied her
words, he said, “Hmm, anything
particular in mind?”
“Come inside, and I’ll explain…”
For their vacation, Mulder and Scully had
wanted someplace isolated – just the
two of them, with no neighbors close by
after what had happened on their last
‘relaxing break’ in Florida… So while they
were going over options, by chance
Scully had mentioned their search to her
friend Ellen, who happened to have a
friend who owned just such a place at
Xavier. The agents were able to rent it
for a lot cheaper than usual thanks to that
connection.
Mulder and Scully had booked this vacation a
while ago and looked forward to it
for just as long. The owners of the beach
house even gave them some leeway with
the timing, on the chance that a case might
prevent them from coming exactly
when scheduled. But it had all worked out
well.
The weather behaved itself beautifully.
Quickly the partners fell into a
routine of sorts. The morning started off
with a walk or jog along the beach.
They wore their swimwear under their clothes
so they could jump into the water
whenever they wanted. A few times they met
or saw other people along the way,
but it was mainly just the two of them.
During the day there was all the time they
desired to spend in bed if they
wished. There was also shopping and
sightseeing, the choice of eating out if
they wanted. A few movies, either at the
cinema or on video for the evening.
Even though the partners could sleep late if
they chose, they found that they
were going to bed early – for undercover
activities – then sleeping well, and
getting up early. Their surroundings were
invigorating them and they were
invigorating each other.
xXx
Monday morning
After dawn:
Mulder and Scully had walked down to a good
spot on the beach to have a game of
volleyball. A line in the sand was their
net. If they got tired of it they
could just keep strolling along, carrying
the ball, but for now they were
having fun.
Eventually the ball ended up in the surf
thanks to a wild spike by Scully.
“Good thing you’re better with a gun,”
Mulder teased, wading in to get it. Then
he turned, hearing Scully give a cry of
pain. She was holding her shoulder.
Abandoning the ball, Mulder hurried towards
her. “Scully, what’s wrong? What -”
He gave similar cry of pain as something hit
him in the shoulder. A dart.
Poison or tranquilizer? He couldn’t tell.
But either would have them at
somebody’s mercy…
By this stage he had reached Scully and
could see the dart that she had plucked
from her flesh. Quickly they looked around
them, but there was no sign of the
shooter or shooters.
“They must be in those rocks over there and
just ducked down… Did you see
anyone?” Mulder asked urgently.
“No. Mulder, we haven’t got our guns, our
phones…” Since they went into the
water every morning on these walks, they had
been leaving their cellulars in
the house.
His mind raced. The house. Their beach house
was about five minutes away. There
was nowhere else and no one else closer.
Could they reach the house in time
before the effects of the drug or poison set
in?
Mulder knew he could try a mad sprint, but
that would send whatever the dart
contained more quickly through his system –
though the adrenaline response to
being attacked had already set his heart
racing – and he’d also be leaving
Scully… He wouldn’t make it.
“Come on.” Scully was tugging at his arm.
“We have to try to get to the house.
Now!”
As they hurried along, they looked around
for their assailants. Two people – a
man and a woman – appeared from behind the
rocks and started following them,
albeit unhurriedly. “Pacing us like we’re
animals…” Mulder muttered. The man
was carrying a large sportsbag, which was
most likely concealing the weapons
used to fire the darts.
“Know who…they are?” Scully asked Mulder.
“No. Can’t…see…” The sun and distance
and the drug were conspiring against
him. And it was getting worse. Mulder
inwardly raged. There was nothing they
could use to defend themselves. If he
grabbed a rock to try to use as a weapon,
their assailants would simply wait out of
range until they became unconscious.
Mulder thought that the man and woman had
probably both fired – one aiming for
Scully, the other for him. Then the darts
could have different dosages to
compensate for their different sizes,
because if Scully had gotten the same
amount as he had, with her smaller frame she
would have been out cold by now,
no matter how she tried to fight it. Or
perhaps a single gun with time to
reload…
Mulder wished that his brain would stop
spinning its wheels in over-analyzing
the situation. The little details didn’t
matter – they were toast. And a
terrible feeling of loss and regret hit him
as he labored along.
Supporting each other as best they could,
they had almost reached the beach
house steps when Scully staggered then
collapsed, unconscious.
Trying to hold onto her, Mulder looked back
and finally got a good view of
their attackers.
The man was unfamiliar. But the woman who
was staring at them in triumph was a
blast from their Florida past. Another time,
another vacation.
Mulder found his mind flashing back, even as
he blacked out…
END TEASER
xXx
ACT ONE
Early April 2002
Beckwell, Florida
Day 1
Afternoon:
Mulder could not believe it. Thanks to a
suggestion from Skinner, he and Scully
were on an extra week of vacation.
In the first week the agents had checked
into a lovely suite at the Sheraton
Hotel in Kissimmee – of all places – and set
about doing Disney World in the
times when they had enough willpower to
leave their bed.
Then the Gunmen had arrived, in town to
attend a psi experiment at a
convention. And naturally they enticed
Mulder to check it out. Scully
reluctantly tagged along. Soon they found
themselves knee deep in an X-File,
with a psychic killer picking people off and
trying to take Mulder out at the
same time. The killer had come close to
doing so before being ‘de-powered’
thanks to a ruse from Scully and the
combined effort of a team of psychics.
So all that had cut into their vacation
time. With not long left to go of the
remainder of their one week, Mulder had
received a phone call from Skinner,
saying that some renovation work was being
done in the FBI basement area, due
to water damage which had started in one of
the bathrooms. The A.D. assured
Mulder that the X-Files office was undamaged
and would not be touched, but:
“Considering the noise and inconvenience and
no new cases, perhaps extending
your leave for another week would be
appropriate under the circumstances?”
Mulder tried not to agree ‘too’ readily, not
wanting Skinner to get suspicious.
Their boss didn’t know he and Scully were
‘together’ and the partners wanted to
keep it that way. So he had replied, “I’ll
phone Agent Scully and discuss it
with her. I’ll let you know.”
So, here they were. The agents finished with
Disney World and came to Beckwell,
near Tampa, to enjoy most of their bonus
week. At the end of it they were going
to get back to D.C. in enough time for
Scully to catch up with her mother on
the Sunday before they started work. Like
their boss, Maggie did not know they
were lovers. Having two whole weeks of
vacation and not seeing her at some
stage of it was not something Dana wanted to
achieve. Not to mention how hard
it would be to explain just how she had
spent the break…
The place they were renting was a house that
the Gunmen had found for them, an
‘apology’ for dragging them into the psi
convention and causing Mulder to be
hospitalized three times in thirty-six
hours…
Langly said about the house, “You’ll love
it. It’s right on the beach, and in a
nice neighborhood. We’ve checked out the
neighbors. A retired couple live on
one side, and a single guy on the other.”
Scully grinned. “Sounds good to me,” she
said teasingly.
“Don’t get any ideas!” Mulder warned her in
the same tone.
Langly continued, “The people who live there
have gone away for a month, so
they’re quite happy for someone to stay and
keep an eye on the place for
however long.”
The Gunmen were right about the property.
Scully loved it from the moment they
arrived.
While in the bedroom, Mulder looked out one
of the windows. It gave a good view
of the back yard, the beach, and some of the
neighboring property on the right.
Of the latter, Mulder could see a blonde man
in his twenties sitting on a
sundeck next to a bungalow. He was having
his photo taken by another man while
a woman sat nearby, writing in a notepad.
While the photographer changed
lenses, his subject gave the woman a
dazzling smile.
When Mulder went downstairs, Scully was
talking to an elderly man whom she
introduced as Adam, one of the retirees who
lived on the other side. He had
popped in to say hello and see if they
needed anything.
After exchanging greetings, Mulder said,
“Looks like the guy next door is being
interviewed for something. There’s a
photographer and reporter there.”
“Oh, probably the local paper. That’s Joseph
Stevens. He’s one of triplets –
the only boy. Helps his father with the
family business. Turned it around, in
fact, and saved it from going under. The
Stevens trio are always in the paper
for various achievements. Very close-knit
family too. And Joseph is quite the
eligible bachelor. More girls than I’ve had
hot dinners.” Adam gave a grin.
A few hours later the agents went for a
walk, to stretch their legs before
dinner. Mulder saw a man approaching from
the opposite direction, jogging. He
recognized the face of the man he had seen
having his picture taken earlier in
the day. “Scully, that’s our next-door
neighbor.”
When they met up, the muscular young man
stopped and smiled. “Hi, I’m Joseph
Stevens.”
“Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.”
They shook hands. A gold ring gleamed on
Joseph’s right hand. It looked like
there was a pattern on it, but Mulder didn’t
get a good look.
“Adam tells me you’re both federal agents.
Cool,” he said at their affirmative
nods. “I’d love to hear about it sometime.
Do you both jog?”
“Yes,” Scully answered.
Joseph said, “Well, if you’d like to use my
exercise equipment, just let me
know. I’ve got a set up – converted the
bungalow.” He pointed back at his
property.
“That’s very nice of you to offer,” Scully
said.
“Well, I might get some great stories out of
it. I can lend you the spare key.
If I can’t trust federal agents…” He
grinned.
Mulder could see from Joseph’s expression
that he was also doing it out of a
generous and friendly nature, and not out of
any noticeable desire to make
moves on Scully. The guy could see that she
was a beautiful woman, but also a
beautiful, taken woman.
Joseph continued, “I usually do my workout
at two in the morning. So I made
sure the bungalow is pretty soundproof.”
“Are you an insomniac?” Mulder asked.
“No. I’ve always been able to get by on four
or so hours of sleep, and I help
my father run a factory that has extensive
shift work, so I keep weird hours.
My sisters wish they only needed that much
sleep too. Lets me get a lot done.”
xXx
That evening Mulder finished up in the
bathroom and went into the bedroom,
where Scully was waiting for him in bed. “I
like that look in your eyes,” he
remarked.
She smiled. “I’ve been thinking about that
‘magic tickle spot’ you’re purported
to have, according to Zelda of Armenia.”
Zelda was a psychic who had given them
advice and help at the psi convention,
playing a part in the capture of the killer.
She told Scully: “Next time you’re
feelin’ frisky, try for the spot right
behind his knee. It’s his most sensitive
tickle spot and sweetie, you will not be
sorry.”
Mulder got into bed. “I do have it, and it
is provable, and Zelda must be a
psychic, because that’s the only way she
could possibly know about it!”
“But you’ve never mentioned it, and we’ve
been lovers since -”
“Scully, yes, that spot does fire my
rockets, but I had no complaints about how
you’ve been igniting them, and I still
don’t. I’ve been too busy enjoying
everything you’ve brought to the launch pad,
as it were, to get around to
saying ‘try here’. Hell, you’ve found places
I never even knew were erogenous
zones! I think because it’s you touching me,
any place feels good.”
“Well, it is high time I gave your knee some
attention. Let’s see what sort of
lift-off we can achieve.”
To the moon…
Several hours later Mulder woke up in need
of water. Scully was definitely on a
mission to dehydrate him – as pleasurably as
possible, of course. Perhaps that
was subconsciously why he hadn’t told her
about that tickle spot, he mused. As
he went to turn on the lamp, he saw a strip
of light coming in the window. Once
he was out of bed, he quietly crossed the
room and peered out the curtains. The
light was coming from Joseph’s bungalow.
Mulder looked at his watch. Their
neighbor had not been kidding about
exercising at 2.00 am….
xXx
Day 2:
The agents shared the newspaper at
breakfast, finding and reading an article on
Joseph Stevens. It was in the Tampa edition,
which everyone considered the
local paper.
The article was about Joseph’s opinions on
where Beckwell should be expanding
its business community in the future. There
was a picture of him accompanying
the piece, a close up with his chin resting
on his right hand. The gold ring
was clearly visible. It had a zig-zag
pattern etched into it.
There was a section of the article where the
journalist gave a rundown of his
achievements. It also stated: ‘Joseph is a
golden boy in many senses of the
word. When I admired his ring (pictured) he
explained that it is actually one
of three. Each of the Stevens triplets has
one. They came from the Hercules
nugget found by a prospector in California
in 1970. No ordinary baubles for
this family.’
After enjoying breakfast, Mulder and Scully
drove to Tampa and spent the day
enjoying some of the popular sights. When
they returned to Beckwell in the late
afternoon, Mulder went for another beach
walk, this time in the opposite
direction, to give Scully some time alone
and so he could have some time
himself.
Joseph was sitting on his sundeck when
Mulder returned past his property.
“Good article in the paper,” Mulder said in
greeting.
“Yeah, I actually got some phone calls today
at work asking if I’d sell my
ring. Dad bought them especially for us and
would kill any of us kids if we
dared think about selling, whether it was in
single or as a set! Dad said that
when he saw that two of the rings were for
women and the other was man’s size
it was like they were meant to be ours.”
“That’s an interesting pattern on it. Does
it have any particular meaning?”
“It’s the outline of the mountain range
where the Hercules nugget was found.”
Joseph invited him to sit and they talked
about sports for a while before
Scully came outside and saw them. She came
over and joined in.
At one point in the conversation Joseph made
an ‘I’d forgotten’ noise, then
said to Mulder, “I meant to ask – I hope the
lights from my bungalow didn’t
annoy you last night. I saw your light go
on.”
“No, I just needed to get some water.”
Mulder saw Scully give him a searching
look, probably making sure he was telling
the truth and not covering up a
nightmare that she had slept through. Mulder
said to Joseph, “Exercising at two
in the morning… You really do that every
day?” He occasionally went for runs
at odd hours himself, but that was when he
really had to burn off energy or
emotions. Usually he waited until daybreak,
at least.
“Yep. I feel really cranky and irritable
when I don’t have my workout, so I
make sure I always do. Like a drug, but a
good one. Then I get my sleep. Then I
go to work.” He gave them a spare key to the
bungalow before they went back to
their place.
That night, Mulder and Scully went out for
dinner. Scully had said she would be
perfectly happy to rustle something up in
the bungalow, but Mulder would not
hear of it. “It’s our vacation. Let’s go out
and enjoy it!”
As they were coming back from a delicious
and very filling meal, Mulder saw a
woman getting out of a car in front of
Joseph’s house. “I think that’s the
reporter who interviewed him. Think she’s
back to do a follow up article?” he
asked. “Or an exclusive?” he added with a
chuckle.
“Not so exclusive from what we’ve heard
about him!” Scully commented.
xXx
Day 3:
“I think I’m getting the hang of relaxing,”
Mulder commented to Scully. They
had gone over and used the exercise room,
enjoying the workout. While they were
doing so, Joseph came home from work and
took the opportunity to use the
equipment instead of going for his late
afternoon jog, so he could ask about
life as an FBI agent. When Scully went back
to their place to shower, Mulder
found out that Joseph still kept up his
fitness routine no matter what.
“When I bring a girl home, it’s only for the
evening,” Joseph said. “Then I get
them a cab or take them home or they come in
their car. Otherwise with my sleep
patterns it’s too disruptive, and ladies
seem to get very grumpy when I leave
them for an hour or so to go do weights. So
it’s easier this way.”
xXx
That night:
Mulder jolted awake. Two things he was
immediately aware of were Scully’s warm
presence against him and the fear from the
nightmare he’d just pulled himself
out of. He lay there, all keyed up and
doubtful of returning to sleep any time
soon. He couldn’t remember any specifics,
but his pounding heart and straining
lungs told him all he needed to know about
the fright factor.
Scully shifted against him, brow furrowing,
mumbling in her sleep. Mulder had a
feeling she was sensing his distress and
reacting to it. So he stroked her
gently and reassuringly and tried to get his
breathing under control, hoping it
would be enough to keep her from waking up.
Damn. His nightmares were a lot rarer these
days, thanks to Scully, but he
could not avoid them entirely.
It looked like Joseph’s bungalow light was
on, unless the light Mulder could
see coming in the bedroom window was
moonlight. He wasn’t sure, but was tempted
to get up and check. A burst on an exercise
machine or hefting weights would be
ideal. He could get rid of all this energy
and wear himself out in safety.
He sighed, toying with the idea. Daytime was
one thing, but at night…
“Mulder?” Scully’s voice was sleepy, but
concerned.
“I had a nightmare. It’s okay.” He explained
his idea of going to the bungalow.
“G-man, I’ve got another idea to get rid of
the energy and wear you out. Come
here,” she said tenderly.
Afterwards she held him and whispered to
him. He no longer felt the need to go
pump iron. He knew he was now okay to get
some more sleep.
And he did.
xXx
Day 4:
When Mulder saw Joseph, their neighbor said,
“I’m going to my usual bar tonight
– it’s called Troy’s. Actually, have you and
your partner been there? The
food’s great.”
And you usually manage to pick up some take
out too… Mulder thought, but kept
that to himself.
Sure enough, that evening Mulder and Scully
were involved in a frenetic card
game at the dining room table when Joseph’s
car drove past and turned into his
driveway.
Dana looked up as the car passed by. “A
blonde this time,” she remarked, then
she went back to counting her money, which
at that stage was a lot. It was
eleven by the time they turned in.
xXx
Day 5
Early morning:
Mulder woke up from a very nice sleep when
he heard a car engine nearby. The
cab for Joseph’s blonde, he thought, and
spooned closer to Scully without
bothering to check the time. Nightmare-free
sleep welcomed him back easily.
When he opened his eyes again, it was still
dark. He’d shifted in his sleep and
could now see the alarm clock. The luminous
figures burned into his eyes, even
though he quickly shut them. After two in
the morning. Damn. Why did he have to
wake up now? He wasn’t even having a
nightmare! Even the sun was still asleep.
Joseph would be up; however, this morning he
could keep his exercise routine to
himself. Mulder was determined to recapture
his sleep status. He blinked his
eyes, trying to rid himself of the flash
burn figures more easily, but then saw
something that woke him up properly. Or
rather it was something that he didn’t
see.
There was no strip of light coming in the
window to intrude on the darkness
like there should be at this hour.
Mulder turned on his lamp and sat up. His
‘spooky sense’ was sounding a few
bells.
“Mulder? Another nightmare?” Scully sat up
beside him, blinking.
“No.” Getting out of bed, Mulder went to the
window. He could see through the
gap between window and curtain that their
neighbor’s bungalow was completely
dark.
When he told Scully, she pointed out that
there could be a lot of reasons why.
Mulder explained his unease. “We haven’t
known Joseph for very long, but the
guy is a creature of habit. He’s usually
well into his bungalow exercise
routine by now. I want to go downstairs and
see if his car is there.”
“What if he’s found a woman to do an all-
nighter with? She could still be
there. Or he could have had to go to the
factory.”
“True. I’ll just go have a look out the
living room window. Won’t be long.”
Mulder went downstairs. Joseph’s car was in
the driveway. Slipping out the back
door, Mulder looked over at the man’s house
and could not see any lights in any
of the windows. The agent pursed his lips
and stood tapping his foot,
considering what to do.
A minute later Mulder was back in the living
room, looking through the phone
book. There were two taxi companies in
Beckwell. Mulder decided to try the one
that was a well-known national company
first. He dialed, identified himself and
gave his badge number, then asked some
questions. The dispatcher immediately
recognized the address. “One of our best
customers.” Yes, a cab had been
ordered to go to that address to pick up a
female tonight. “Actually, Joseph
always phones up himself but this time it
wasn’t him. It was his date.”
The dispatcher radioed the cabbie, who was
still on duty. Yes, a blonde woman
had been picked up. Only her. Then taken to
a nearby motel.
There was still no light on in the bungalow
or any sign of life that he could
see from here in the house. Mulder tried
phoning, but there was no answer. He
decided he might as well go check. If he
ended up looking like an idiot, what
else was new?
Scully had appeared in the doorway by this
stage, dressed. She was carrying his
sneakers and a bundle of his clothes. He
smiled at her. She had probably come
down while he was on the phone, heard what
he was up to, and knew what his next
move would be. Good thing she was a quick
dresser.
Clothed and armed with a flashlight, they
exited the house. Scully shone the
light across the fence onto Joseph’s
bungalow door. Its padlock was still in
place.
They went up the side of the rental house
and through Joseph’s front gate. The
automatic security light went on when Mulder
reached the porch, but that was
the only light visible. He rang the
doorbell. Nothing. Again. Nothing.
“Something’s not right…”
“He could have gone for a jog,” Scully said.
“No moon. He’d be risking life and limb on
the beach. Even with streetlights to
see by, pounding the pavement wouldn’t make
him popular with the locals at this
hour of the morning. Exercising in the
bungalow is a different story. That’s
why he set all his equipment up in there.”
Mulder tried the door. It was unlocked. At
this, even Scully looked worried.
Joseph kept his bungalow secure, so it was
logical to think he would do the
same with his house.
“Mulder, we don’t have our guns.” Since they
were on vacation, they had left
them in D.C.
“If he’s been robbed, the thief has probably
already come and gone.”
Scully had brought along her phone and used
it to summon help. She tried to
make Mulder wait until the law arrived, but
he knew that she knew it was a lost
cause.
Within a few minutes they found Joseph in an
upstairs bedroom. The young man
was on the floor next to the bed, naked,
with a head wound. Lifeless eyes
stared upwards.
END ACT ONE
xXx
ACT TWO:
Early April 2002
Beckwell, Florida
Day 5
Early morning:
It was hard to believe that someone so full
of life and energy was now no more.
Mulder and Scully were subdued, but
determined to find out who had done this to
Joseph and why. The agents had not heard
anything of the attack, since Joseph’s
bedroom was on the other side of the house.
Deputies were checking with his
other set of neighbors.
Scully could not give a good description of
the woman she had seen as Joseph’s
car had passed the house. She had only
glanced up and not gotten a good look.
Mulder and Scully went over the crime scene
with the local law enforcement, who
on the whole were just tolerating these FBI
intruders on their turf. Mulder
knew the attitude wouldn’t be as bad if he
and Scully were willing to do only
what was required of them as witnesses then
go back to their place and leave
the rest with the locals.
No way.
The local sheriff, Ben Helton, surveyed the
room and shook his head. “Looks
like the poor guy brought home the wrong one
this time. That nugget ring of his
is gone. Unless it’s in a box or drawer
somewhere or has been knocked out of
sight.”
“Possible, though as far as I know, Joseph
wore it all the time,” Mulder said.
“It probably has been taken. But his watch
is still on his wrist and it looks
pretty expensive. His wallet was in the back
pocket of his jeans. There’s still
money in it and credit cards.”
“Some might be missing. He probably caught
her in the act and she clubbed him,”
replied the sheriff. A baseball bat had been
lying on the floor nearby and they
were pretty sure it was the murder weapon.
“Since things didn’t go the way she
planned, she might have fled without taking
anything else. Unless someone came
in after the blonde left.”
“The cab dispatcher said that a female
called for a cab, not Joseph. And that
that was out of the ordinary,” Mulder said.
“When the family is able to go through his
possessions, there will probably be
other things that have been stolen, like
jewelry from drawers, that we wouldn’t
know about otherwise.”
Scully nodded at this and said, “Items that
were quick and easy to walk out
with. At least the nugget ring is very
distinctive. Easy to trace.”
“We’ve got people checking out the motel the
cab driver says he dropped the
blonde off at,” the sheriff said as he moved
off to confer with a deputy.
Mulder had been getting a distinct ‘you’re
muscling in where you aren’t wanted’
vibe from the sheriff, but that was the
least of his concerns at the moment. He
looked at Scully. “I should have gotten here
sooner.”
“Mulder, even without doing the autopsy, I’m
pretty certain that Joseph died
soon after he received that injury. It
wasn’t from a fall. He was deliberately
struck and was probably dead before his
assailant left.” She touched Mulder’s
arm and he gave her a nod, swallowing.
A deputy entered the room. His name was
Powell and he had interacted with the
agents without any sign of ‘cold shoulder
syndrome’ before moving off to try
contacting Joseph’s parents. Mulder and
Scully and the sheriff went up to
Powell, the sheriff asking, “Any luck with
the Stevens?”
“No.” Mr and Mrs Stevens were on vacation in
Africa at the moment and were
going to be hard to catch. “I tried Joseph’s
older sister, Alice. The girl who
shares a house with her – Linda Hayridge –
was just about to call us herself
when I phoned. Linda and Alice Stevens had
been out nightclubbing in Tampa but
the housemate didn’t feel well and came home
early. She found that the place
had been robbed.”
“Alice is one of the triplets?” Mulder
asked.
“Yes. Alice is older. Jemma is younger. No
other siblings,” the sheriff said.
He and Mulder asked, “What was taken?”
almost simultaneously.
The deputy said, “Nothing in the housemate’s
room as far as she can make out.
The only place that seems to be touched was
Alice’s bedroom.”
Mulder raised an eyebrow at Scully. “Joseph
and Alice robbed in the same
night… Where does Jemma Stevens live?” he
asked the deputy.
“Locally, in a house with her boyfriend. No
answer on the phone. We’re
dispatching someone to go there and check
that all’s okay. And if she’s there,
to break the news. We’re also trying to
track down Alice in the clubs.”
Mulder said to the deputy, “I need to speak
with Alice’s housemate.” Soon he
was on the phone with the young woman.
“Linda, do you know if Alice was wearing
her ring tonight? The one from the nugget?”
Since it was the only known thing
missing from Joseph’s possessions, Mulder
was curious to see if Alice’s ring
had disappeared too.
“She never wears it out to the clubs,” came
the answer. “She leaves it at home
on those nights because she thinks it’s too
showy. Guys kept coming up to her
and giving pick up lines like, ‘I’d offer to
buy you a drink, but from the
looks of that, you can get me one’.”
“Do you know if it was taken by the thief?
Can you go with one of the deputies
who’s there, to make sure you don’t disturb
any evidence, and show them where
to look?”
The housemate and deputy were able to find
Alice’s jewelry box, where the ring
was always kept when not worn. Linda said,
“The ring is gone. But as far as I
can tell, everything else is there. You’d
need Alice to say for sure though.”
“But can you think of anything else that
might be missing?” Mulder pressed.
“No. Everything seems to be here, just
tossed out of drawers.”
“Like someone was looking for something.”
“I guess…”
Mulder thought for a moment then asked,
“Where does Alice usually keep her
jewelry box? In sight?”
“No. In a desk drawer, under some things.”
That explained the search.
When he got off the phone he told Scully,
Sheriff Helton and Deputy Powell what
Linda Hayridge had said, then: “Someone –
and it seems like it’s this mystery
woman – is stealing the rings that came from
the Hercules nugget. That’s all
she’s focused on, leaving everything else
she could have easily taken, even in
an attempt to deflect attention. Admittedly,
we’re onto her earlier than she
would have been counting on, but let’s hope
we can catch up with Jemma Stevens
in time.”
He thought the sheriff might pour scorn on
this theory, but Helton had to admit
that both rings being stolen exclusively was
something to follow up, especially
since there was one left. Hopefully a chance
to capture the thief.
Mulder thought for a moment then told them
what Joseph had mentioned about
people phoning up wanting to buy the ring.
“They were told he wasn’t interested
in selling. His secretary might have kept a
record of who called though…”
The sheriff gave the task of checking that
to one of his men, then answered a
call on his cellular. When the conversation
was over, he told Mulder, Scully
and his team: “The motel the blonde asked to
be dropped off at has no one
booked in matching her description. Looks
like she went there to lay a false
trail.”
Another deputy reported back that Joseph’s
neighbors on the other side had not
heard anything suspicious during the night.
Mulder asked Sheriff Helton if there were
any legends or powers attributed to
the rings or the nugget they came from. The
sheriff gave him a look. “They’re
expensive enough in their own right without
needing ‘special powers’, but I
suppose that would be added motive for theft
if someone *thought* they were.
There may be something about the rings being
lucky but that’s all I can think
of. Lucky to be able to afford them, more
like.”
“But the triplets were successful,” Mulder
said.
“Yeah. Until this happened anyway…” The
sheriff’s tone had an ‘I’ve been more
than accommodating with you but this is not
an FBI matter’ sound to it. “You
two have been very helpful, thank you. We
have your statements and will let you
know if we need anything else. But for now,
if you’ll excuse me…”
Mulder and Scully watched him walk off.
Scully said, “Since this is a local case,
they probably won’t let me do the
autopsy. I’ll volunteer anyway and see. Or
they might let me observe.”
He nodded. “I should go with Deputy Powell
or one of the others to use the
computers at the station – do some
checking.” He hesitated. “Or stick around
here in case something comes up… There had
to be some way to track down the
Stevens girls. And to get information on the
Hercules nugget.”
Before Scully could comment, Deputy Powell
had more news, and the agents
hurried over to hear while he told the
sheriff. “I was able to reach Jemma’s
boyfriend. Jemma is staying overnight with a
friend in an apartment building
downtown.”
“Is she wearing her ring?” Mulder asked.
“Yes. Her boyfriend said it’s on a chain
around her neck. No answer at her
friend’s apartment. Same with Jemma’s
cellular.”
“Call the building’s security and let them
know what’s going on. Let’s go,” the
sheriff said before Mulder could say
anything. But apart from a look, he made
no verbal objection to the agents joining
Powell to head for the apartment
building. Finding Jemma was the priority.
On the way over, Powell was telling them
that his father had been an FBI agent,
but the deputy stopped talking when he
received a radio message at the same
time as they heard fire sirens. A fire alarm
had been set off in the apartment
building in question.
Mulder couldn’t see any smoke or flames as
they approached. It looked like
everyone had been evacuated and was waiting
outside for the all clear. People
were also appearing from other buildings to
watch.
“This fire could be why we couldn’t reach
Jemma. Her cellular might be still up
there,” Scully said.
Upon pulling up as close as they could to
the activity surrounding the
building, the agents and Deputy Powell
looked around for the nearest person in
charge, whether building security or from
the fire department. The sheriff and
other deputies pulled up as they did so.
“Has everyone been evacuated?” Deputy Powell
asked the first fireman he could
find.
“As far as we can tell. We’re checking now.”
“I bet that’s a false alarm courtesy of our
thief. She probably set off a
hand-pull alarm in one of the hallways,”
Mulder said.
“All this for three rings?” Scully asked in
disbelief.
“There’s got to be something to them. Or
somebody thinks there is.” Again
Mulder wished he’d had time to do some
checking first. Or that he’d asked
Joseph more about the rings when he had the
chance. “The thief could have set
off the alarm to get everyone outside,”
Mulder said. It made sense. As the
residents and neighbors and gawkers milled
around, the thief could search
through them and find the unsuspecting Jemma
Stevens. Easier than trying to get
to her in the building itself. Then it would
be a matter of knocking Jemma down
– in all the confusion it could easily be
staged as an accident. Or getting
close enough to make one quick tug and the
ring would be gone and the thief had
an excellent chance of getting away in this
crowd.
“Find Jemma and we’ve got a good chance of
finding the killer too,” Mulder said
urgently. He hoped that building security
had found Jemma or were looking for
her too, but with this unexpected
development and complication…
There had been family photos in Joseph’s
house and on a wall of his bungalow,
so Mulder and Scully knew what his sisters
looked like. The agents hurried
along together, scanning faces, while Powell
gave orders to other deputies to
do the same.
With people weaving their way around each
other, craning to spot friends and
catch up with people and watch the unfolding
drama, everyone ‘looked’ suspect
to a degree. It seemed like all of Beckwell
had arisen from their beds to find
out what was going on and then watch.
Too bad we couldn’t use a megaphone, Mulder
thought. But that could draw Jemma
to the killer’s attention at the same time
as to theirs.
Suddenly Scully had to stop to help one of
the bystanders, a middle-aged man
who was having trouble breathing. Mulder
could hear an ambulance coming and
Scully indicated that it was all right for
him to keep up the search while she
helped the man. Mulder moved off.
Then Powell was at his elbow and said,
“There she is. Jemma!”
A strawberry-blonde young woman stared at
Mulder and the uniformed Powell in
confusion as they made their way over to
her. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
she asked in a scared voice. The ring was
dangling from a long chain around her
neck.
They hurried up to her, Powell saying, “You
may be in danger. We need to get
you somewhere safe.”
And tell her the bad news, Mulder thought.
He looked around while the deputy
said this and while Jemma was asking why.
Suddenly Mulder froze, his attention caught
by a woman who was standing on the
edge of a group of people about ten yards
away. She wasn’t blonde, but she did
have two rings on her right hand, very
familiar-looking rings. One was on her
thumb, the other on her index finger. She
wasn’t staring at the building or at
any of the bustle. She was staring at Jemma.
“Deputy,” Mulder whispered, “I think the
suspect is in sight. No sudden moves
or we might lose her. I don’t know if she’s
armed.” He gave a quick description
of where she was and what she was wearing,
while cautioning Jemma not to turn
and look. “She’s not even concerned that
you’re here, Deputy. All she sees is
the ring. She’s waiting for her chance. If I
have the ring, she’ll focus on me,
not Jemma, and not you slipping away to
alert the others. Jemma, give me the
ring. We’ll explain soon.”
The confused and frightened girl stared at
him, then at the deputy.
“He’s an FBI agent, Jemma, do as he says and
come with me. It’ll be okay,”
Powell said quietly.
Jemma pulled the chain off over her head and
handed it and the ring over, then
the deputy ushered her away, whispering to
her to act ‘normal’.
Mulder’s theory proved correct. The woman
made no move to follow Jemma. Her
eyes were now fixed on Mulder’s hand. He
held the necklace and ring up, then
put them in his pocket and began moving
away, trying to get her away from
everyone else, which was going to be a
difficult task. But he had no idea if
she had any weapons.
He certainly didn’t have his gun. Though
pulling it on her at the moment would
be very risky anyway. He needed to keep her
distracted until the deputies could
cut her off.
She kept coming toward him, eerily not
speaking. She looked to be in her early
thirties and had an odd intensity about her.
Mulder continued to back away,
trying to buy time. He wanted to keep her in
sight and see what she was going
to do. He couldn’t risk losing her. People
continued to mill about and chat and
look at the building, unaware of the
unfolding drama nearer to them.
The pavement abruptly disappeared during one
of Mulder’s steps and he stumbled
backwards. He had unknowingly reached the
gutter. He managed not to fall, but
his foot had landed awkwardly and pain shot
up his right leg. He grit his
teeth, stumbling backwards.
“Give me my ring,” the woman said. It was
stated as a simple, straightforward
order.
“Why?”
She frowned, then held up her right hand,
palm out. The two rings gleamed in
the streetlights. Mulder at first thought
that was her way of answering his
question, but then realized she was
concentrating. Like she was expecting a
burst of power to fly from her hand and zap
him. He had seen a lot of strange
things in his time, so a ring that allowed
its owner to wield power would not
surprise him. And he’d had no time to
attempt to duck or leap out of the way.
He didn’t feel anything though, apart from
the pain in his ankle.
The woman stared in confusion. It was
obviously not what she expected to
happen. She shoved her palm out forcefully
towards him again. Nothing, apart
from a few passing odd looks from people in
the vicinity. Fortunately the
number of people was thinner in this area.
With a noise of fury, the woman looked
around. She was right next to a public
trashcan. With a quick movement she snatched
something from it and began
advancing towards him once more. He saw that
she was holding a broken bottle
firmly by the neck.
Great.
Mulder called out to people to stay back –
some had seen the woman grab the
bottle and hastily retreated even before he
started to speak. The woman ignored
them all. One man hesitated, looking like he
was considering jumping the woman
from behind, but Mulder called out to him to
keep back. He obeyed. The agent
kept shuffling away painfully, facing the
woman. Help was bound to arrive at
any moment –
“Don’t move! Put the weapon down!” Scully
yelled. The woman froze then looked
over at her. So did Mulder, since there was
still a distance between himself
and the woman. Scully was holding what he
assumed was a borrowed gun, training
it on the woman.
“You’re surrounded. Put down the bottle, get
down on the ground and put your
hands behind your back.”
Deputies were moving around into position as
she spoke.
The woman dropped the bottle, fury on her
face. “You have no right,” she said
coldly. She held her hands up. As the law
moved in, she made another of the
palm thrusts, this time towards Scully.
Scully didn’t fire in response, since
the woman clearly had no weapon. Yet the
woman seemed confused when her gesture
had no effect, just like when she had tried
it on Mulder.
As the woman was being handcuffed and read
her rights, Scully handed the gun
back to the deputy she had appropriated it
from, and hurried to Mulder, who had
hobbled back to the curb. Scully waved off
assistance from others and helped
him to a nearby bench. She clearing it of
spectators, and knelt down to check
out his ankle.
“Mulder…” She sighed in both relief and
exasperation. “We were supposed to be
on vacation to get away from cases *and*
away from you getting injured!”
“Scully, I honestly wasn’t even *trying* on
either count.” Their eyes met when
she raised her head from her inspection of
yet another injured Mulder body part.
“Well, it looks like you just gave it a good
twist instead of a sprain.
Amazing.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t feel too bad now.”
They were trying to keep their professional
masks down, but their eyes conveyed
a lot more than any words.
A deputy came over and got the ring from
Mulder. As he carried the jewelry
away, Mulder noticed the woman, as she stood
between two deputies. She wasn’t
watching the ring anymore, she was watching
him and Scully. She kept watching,
even as she was being led off to a squad
car.
The fire alarm had been a false alarm, so
people were being allowed back into
the building. Mulder and Scully were feeling
the effects of being shortchanged
on sleep, but pushed that aside and
accompanied Powell to the station.
There Sheriff Helton produced a thin file of
information, which was all that
his people had been able to gather in the
interim about the rings and the
nugget. As Mulder sped-read through it, the
sheriff announced that the mystery
woman they had arrested had no ID on her.
She was refusing a lawyer, for now.
“And, she said she’d only talk to the two of
you.” From the sheriff’s
expression, it was clear the woman had meant
what she said and he had no choice.
Mulder and Scully looked at him in surprise.
Mulder handed Scully the folder.
“We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
xXx
The tape recorders had been started. “Please
state your name and address for
the record,” Mulder said.
“Tara Josephine Keating,” the woman replied.
She was sitting calmly in her
seat. She gave an address in New York.
Her surname sounded a bell from the file.
“Are you any relation to the Simon
Keating who discovered the ‘Hercules’ nugget
in 1970?” Mulder asked.
“Yes.”
“And that relationship would be…?”
“I’m his daughter.”
Mulder opened his mouth to ask another
question, but Tara cut in. “They took my
rings off me.” She held up her now bare
right hand. “I want them back. Tell
them to bring them back to me now.” She
directed her instructions to the
sheriff, as if he was her servant.
He raised his eyebrows. “Well, Ms Keating,
those rings are actually stolen
property.”
“They’re mine!”
“How did you get them?” Scully asked.
Tara returned her attention to the agents.
“The nugget revealed itself to my
father.”
“No, I mean in your possession now -” But
Mulder made a signal that halted
Scully.
He asked, “The nugget – you’re saying that
your father didn’t find it? It found
*him*?”
“Yes. Now when can I have my rings?” she
replied as if that explained
everything.
“Tell me more about the nugget first.”
“Why?”
“If you tell us why those rings are yours
and what happened last night -”
“Oh, you’ll understand that they’re mine and
give them back to me.” Tara gave a
smile.
“Perhaps. I can’t guarantee that. But saying
nothing is definitely not going to
get them back.”
“Well, once I explain, you’ll see that I
need them.” With that reasoning, Tara
leaned forward earnestly. “My parents were
told that they couldn’t have
children. They had been married for a while,
and nothing had happened. Then one
day my father was prospecting and the nugget
let itself be found. That night I
was created. Dad said that the nugget bought
them good luck. He called it
‘Hercules’ because it was so big. He had it
melted down into rings. One for
himself, one for Mom, and one for me.”
“Nuggets are worth more if they’re *not*
melted down,” Scully said. “He didn’t
want to sell the nugget?”
“My family was wealthy then. There was no
need. Dad wanted to keep his special
find in the family.”
“‘His special find’. So he believed he found
the nugget, not the other way
around, like you think?” Mulder asked.
“Yes. But I knew the truth. There was a link
between me and the gold. There
still is.” Tara smiled.
“A link strong enough to steal them? To kill
to get them?”
“I didn’t steal them.” Tara was explaining
patiently, as if to children.
“They’re rightfully mine. And I *will* have
them back. Mom shouldn’t have sold
them in the first place. Dad would never
have let her.”
“Why did she sell them?” Scully asked.
Sheriff Helton was keeping quiet and
listening, since they were able to get
information out of the young woman.
Tara’s face clouded over. “Dad made some bad
deals and lost heaps of money.
Then he had a stroke and needed constant
care. Mom panicked and sold a lot of
stuff. She sold the rings. I didn’t know who
to. I was only nine. She told me
she didn’t want to hear another word about
the rings, that she had no choice
but to sell them and that was that. She
convinced me that I was being silly
about how special they were. When Dad died,
Mom and I struggled on, then I had
to look after her until she died.”
“So you wanted the rings back because they
had great sentimental value to you?”
Mulder asked.
“For the powers they have.”
“Powers?” came from Mulder and Scully at the
same time.
“The ring for me was made adult-sized, so
when I was grown up I could wear it
properly. I was allowed to wear it on a
necklace on special occasions when I
was little. Sometimes I would slip it onto
my finger. It was loose, but I could
feel its power.”
“You say power, but can you be more
specific?” Mulder asked.
“It made me smarter. If Mom had let me wear
it to school, I would have done
much better on tests. When I had two of the
rings on, I could hear them talking
to me, telling me things. And I could feel
energy coming out of my hands. With
the third ring I’ll be able to understand
more and be the genius I was always
meant to be and be able to do special
things. Mom and Dad never felt that power
when they wore their rings, because the
rings were tied to me, not them. The
gold made me. The rings will guide me. I
will be whole again.”
Mulder and Scully exchanged looks. Tara
truly believed what she was saying.
“The rings wanted me to find them,” she
continued. “When I saw the photo in the
paper of Joseph Stevens wearing one of my
rings, I knew. It was a sign. I was
visiting Tampa while on vacation and saw the
article. That did not and could
not happen by chance. The rings were guiding
me, probably because I was near
them again and they sensed me.”
“And what did you do then?” Mulder asked.
“I phoned his office and said I wanted to
speak with him about the rings. But
his secretary told me that none of them were
for sale.”
“Did you tell his secretary who you were?
That your family originally owned the
rings?”
“No. I knew it wouldn’t make any difference
if I did.”
“And then?”
“I wanted to see one of the rings and try it
on to find out if I was
remembering correctly from when I was
little. I went to the Tampa Public
Library and read up about the Stevens
triplets from the newspaper archives,
which was easy enough because they were in
the papers so much. Talked to some
of their friends in the nightly hangouts.”
“And decided that Joseph would be the
easiest one to approach?” came from
Scully.
“After a few days here, he was easy enough
to find and flirt with.”
“You were wearing a blonde wig?”
“Yes.”
“So you could then ‘change looks’ to go
after the next ring?”
“Yes. Joseph let me try the ring on while we
were at the bar. It was Dad’s
ring, so it would only fit properly on my
thumb. And I felt a change in myself.
I knew then I hadn’t been dreaming or making
it up when I was little.”
“So you went with Joseph back to his beach
house?”
“I know you have evidence that I did, so why
would I deny it?” Tara was still
speaking calmly.
“You went back there so you could steal the
ring,” Scully continued.
“Not steal. Reclaim what is rightfully
mine.”
“By seducing Joseph Stevens and then killing
him.”
At this Tara showed some emotion. “No! I was
not trying to kill him. Just knock
him out. He was trying to hurt me.”
“Before or after he caught you trying to
take the ring?” the sheriff asked.
“I wasn’t -”
Mulder had been silent, absorbing her
replies. But now he jumped in and
rephrased the question. “Caught you
reappropriating the ring then?”
“He became violent before that. I was
defending myself. He was alive when I
left.”
“Ms Keating,” Scully said, “when the autopsy
is done I’m fairly sure it will
indicate that Joseph Stevens was not alive
for very long after you hit him.”
Tara remained silent.
Mulder said, “That would make sense, because
otherwise you most likely would
have tied him up and gagged him, so the
alarm wouldn’t be raised until you’d
had the chance to get the other rings. You
couldn’t risk trying to take it
while he slept.” Tara kept looking at him.
“Time was of the essence, with two
more to go in the one night in the same
family, seeing as how it would be
quickly put together that they were gone.
How did you know where to find the
other rings? Did you get it out of Joseph
under the guise of small talk or
through talking to the triplets’ friends?”
He and Scully knew how open and
friendly Joseph was. And if friends had been
plied with alcohol in clubs and
queried…who knew what they had unwittingly
revealed.
“Some from him,” Tara answered. “Like that
his sister Alice didn’t often wear
her ring. But the ring I got back from him
told me where the others were. They
were calling to each other. And once I had
my father’s ring on again, I could
hear them.”
Scully regarded her skeptically. “Those
three rings are very distinctive. They
all have that matching pattern of the
mountain range. Did you really think
you’d be able to get away with taking all
three and keeping them?”
“Once I wear the three, I will have access
to such power… Police and laws
will be insignificant. They are
insignificant,” Tara said.
“They’d never be able to catch you?” Mulder
was making connections. “So that’s
why you were wearing two of the rings when
you were caught. You thought their
combined power would protect and help you.”
Instead of being a dead giveaway.
“I thought they would help me.” Tara
regarded Mulder and Scully closely. “There
are two possibilities why they didn’t work
when I was arrested. Something about
the two of you or between the two of you
rendered the power useless against
you, or it is *all* three rings that make
the power come completely together
under my control. You must let me have them.
Without them, I’m nothing. A
mediocre nobody in a dead-end job. But I can
do such good in this world with
them.”
“Like you did to Joseph Stevens?” the
sheriff asked.
“I only knocked him out!”
“Even if you hadn’t meant to kill him, you
did so during a crime. That makes it
aggravated manslaughter,” the sheriff said.
“I can make up for it a thousandfold with
those rings. They are mine, by
literal birthright. Why can’t you see that?”
“Those rings are just rings, that’s all,”
Scully said.
“Then it won’t hurt for me to hold them,
would it? For old time’s sake.” There
was a silence. Mulder knew that Scully was
thinking the same as him. For Joseph
to die for this…
The sheriff started asking questions about
the fire alarm being set off in the
apartment building. Tara answered that she
had started the alarm – as Mulder
had thought, because it was easier that way
to reach Jemma Stevens – but Tara
was now acting distracted, looking at Mulder
and Scully again.
She pointed to Scully. “It’s obvious that
you don’t believe.” Then her finger
shifted to Mulder. “But you’re more open to
the mystical.”
“I must admit that in this case, even I have
my doubts,” Mulder said. If that
statement made her clam up, they had more
than enough of a confession for now
anyway.
But Tara wasn’t finished. “A skeptic and a
believer as partners… That could
be why the rings didn’t work… You had a
canceling effect.” She sat back in
her chair, a thoughtful look on her face.
So that’s why she wanted to see us, Mulder
thought. She wanted answers too.
Then Tara asked where the rings were now.
“They’re in a safe place,” Mulder said.
“The rings are all together? Then they will
tell you to bring them back to me.
Or perhaps not you, since you seem to be
immune to their effects.”
“Lucky me. They’ll tell someone? How – like
hypnosis?”
“In a way.” She sat there, smiling, as if
convinced that at any minute a
glazed-eyed deputy would walk in and hand
over the trio.
xXx
A few minutes later, out in the corridor,
Mulder and Scully conferred with the
sheriff.
“Well, I know Tara Keating was caught red-
handed – or gold-handed as it were –
but for her to just confess like that is
very odd,” Scully said. “Where will it
get her, apart from a place in a psychiatric
ward? She won’t get those rings,
which is all she wants.”
“She’s convinced that she’ll get to put all
the rings on at some stage,” Mulder
explained. “That they will be ‘brought’ to
her. Even if during a session with a
shrink or in court with the defense trying
to prove that she’s delusional. An
insanity plea. She thinks that’s all that
she needs. Those three rings on her
fingers and she’ll be able to escape.”
“By turning invisible in the middle of the
courtroom?” Sheriff Helton asked in
a very Scully-like voice.
“I don’t think she’s putting anything past
the capabilities of those rings. At
the apartment building she was so focused on
them. Law enforcement being around
or how she was going to get away were
secondary matters. Or she thought that
the rings would ‘provide’ the answer or
protect her.”
The sheriff shook his head, more as if to
clear it than disagreeing with
Mulder’s theory about Tara’s method of
logic. He had seen how convinced she was
of her beliefs, of the powers of the rings.
Then Helton was called away to a
nearby desk.
Scully turned back to Mulder and said, “It
sounds to me like a classic placebo
scenario. All those times in movies and
sitcoms and books… Like for example
when the young hero keeps striking out in
baseball, so his father gives him a
magic keyring to have in his pocket to bring
him good luck. The kid, more
confident, goes on to crack the baseball all
over the field. Then comes the big
game, bases loaded, his turn at bat… And
he realizes he’s lost the keyring.
‘I can’t do it! I don’t have the magic
keyring!’ The father says, ‘It wasn’t
the ring! It was just a cheap toy. It was
you all along!’ So the boy goes out
there and hits the home run.”
Mulder smiled. “Ever thought of being a
storyteller, Scully?”
“The point is, Tara Keating kept referring
to herself as a mediocre person. Her
school results will probably show average to
below-average grades. She’s
blaming all that on the loss of those
rings.” His partner looked him squarely
in the eyes. “Do you think the rings are
magical?”
“Perhaps in Middle Earth. I’m not getting an
X-File ‘feeling’ or a paranormal
smell to this one. The normal answers all
feel right.”
Scully gave him a look of mock shock. “The
Florida air must really be having an
effect on you.”
“I think Tara Keating is a victim of her own
delusions, yes, but it wouldn’t
hurt to get all three rings analyzed. She’s
certainly extremely confident that
we will decide that the rings are rightfully
hers and that we’ll hand them
over, despite everything. Sociopathic
behavior. Anything required to get what
they want is acceptable to a sociopath.”
xXx
Jemma Stevens did not recognize the woman
who had killed her brother. The cab
driver who had gone to Joseph’s house did
identify her in a line up as the
woman he had collected and dropped off at
the motel. “She was a blonde when I
picked her up, but yeah, that’s her. Wasn’t
talkative.”
And some friends of the Stevens triplets
identified Tara as well, from her
talking with them in the nightspots when
trying to get information on the trio
and the rings.
The autopsy of Joseph showed that the blow
to his head had been
almost-immediately fatal.
The rings were analyzed in a lab. There was
nothing special about them
whatsoever. No mysterious energy emanating
from them. No strange metals in
their make up.
A sanity hearing was held. Tara did get to
try the rings on and then as Mulder
expected she promptly tried to vanish or zap
out with the power. But to her
obvious distress and amazement, nothing of
the sort happened. She started
yelling at Mulder and Scully, as if they had
neutralized the rings either
permanently or by them simply being in the
room with the jewelry. She demanded
that the agents be removed from the hearing,
from the building, the state even.
She saw absolutely nothing wrong with what
she had done in Beckwell: Joseph’s
death, the thefts, starting the fire alarm
and threatening Mulder. The rings
were her property and whatever she did to
reclaim them was therefore all right.
She did understand that killing in itself
was wrong but didn’t see that the
rules applied to her in this case because
she had been trying to get the rings
back.
Tara ended up being committed to a mental
hospital where she would stay until
she could convince the authorities to
declare her sane. If she could. Mulder
doubted that would happen. “She believes in
those rings too much to recant how
special she thinks they are, or to see the
error of her ways.”
END ACT TWO
xXx
ACT THREE:
Late December 2002
Present day:
Dizzy… Nauseous… Thoughts scattered to
the wind.
Scully groaned.
Mulder. The beach. Something had happened to
them both. Darts! she remembered
in a flash. But she wasn’t lying on sand.
She was lying on her side on…
Scully opened her eyes and managed to focus.
A concrete floor. And a few feet
away was…
“Mulder! Mulder?” She pushed herself up then
promptly went back down,
everything spinning. Some deep breaths and
she tried again. This time Scully
was successful, pushing herself up enough to
scramble over to her partner,
looking him up and down on the way. Her
partner was also lying on his side,
facing her, eyes closed.
Don’t be dead.
“Mulder?” He gave no response. There were no
visible signs of wounds or trauma
that she could see, but… Scully checked
his vitals as she started to look
around them, checking for danger or some
clue as to where they were. Neither of
them was tied up.
Scully felt hung-over from the tranquilizer
dart, but did her best to force
that to one side. She located a slow, steady
pulse on Mulder’s wrist while
scanning the area. It looked like they were
in a deserted warehouse. So far, so
good, on both counts. She felt Mulder’s
chest rising and falling under her hand
– thank you God – as she kept looking.
A doorway. An open doorway in the wall of
the structure. One of those large
doors you could get a truck in through. She
couldn’t tell how far away it was –
her vision was now okay but the tranquilizer
or whatever else she had been
given after it was making her thinking
fuzzy. Bright sunlight was visible
through the door.
And leading up to the door, spaced out at
intervals, were entertainment unit
set ups. A TV and VCR on a pedestal. Four
times. And each TV was displaying a
figure. 40. Power and extension cords snaked
away from them across the floor.
Scully quickly finished her scan, now
looking at the area that had been behind
her.
And what she saw nearly stopped her own
breathing and heart.
About seven feet away from the agents was a
bomb.
The device was secured around a steel
support post. It looked like it encircled
it. A digital screen facing Scully
displayed: 40.
Scully shook her comatose partner. They were
still in their beachwear. No
phones. No guns. She began backing away from
the bomb while grabbing Mulder
under the arms and pulling him with her,
getting ready to stand and haul him.
Her mind was analyzing the bomb and the
danger as best it could while fighting
the after-effects of the drugs. The sight of
the explosives certainly helped
her focus her thoughts. She knew enough from
her brief time in domestic
terrorism that she could not disarm the
bomb.
The count stayed on 40.
“Mulder!” She looked around desperately. No
one in sight. Apart from the bomb
and the TV equipment there was nothing –
Then she looked further up on the post that
the bomb was attached to and saw a
cluster of things high up out of reach. A
loudspeaker, a microphone, and
surveillance cameras.
Suddenly the loudspeaker crackled to life
and a voice came out of it. Female.
Scully tried to place it. “Hello, Special
Agent Scully.” The voice started out
cheerful then became forceful. “Stop moving
right now, unless you want me to
detonate that bomb. Have a ‘seat’. We have
things to discuss.”
Scully hesitated.
“I mean it, Agent Scully. That’s as far as
I’ll let you go, for now at least. I
have the power to blow you to bits within
seconds if you disobey. Don’t make me
have to detonate before time. A lot of work
has been put into this.”
Scully sank down, ending up with Mulder’s
head resting against her abdomen,
holding his upper torso in her lap. She
remained ready to spring up and drag
again – if the opportunity presented itself.
“Who are you?” The voice was
familiar in some way…
“This is Tara Keating. Remember me? Doesn’t
my name have a familiar ‘ring’ to
it?” the woman asked mockingly.
Uh-oh.
“It’s been a while. You’re both still
together. I see you haven’t got a ring
either, Agent Scully. Something we both have
in common. Well, perhaps the
‘suffer-ring’ part.” Her voice was hard.
Bile rose in Scully’s throat but she managed
to force it down. She had to stay
focused. “Tara -”
The woman pressed on. “Thank you for your
valiant efforts in reaching the house
after we darted you. I knew you’d try to.
This means we didn’t have to haul you
very far at all. That wouldn’t have been
good for our backs.” She laughed. “And
don’t bother trying to wake Agent Mulder. We
made sure he won’t be waking up
any time soon.”
“Why? What have you done?”
Another laugh. “He’s out for the count.
Literally. Plenty of sedative in his
system to ensure that his contribution stays
at being unconscious and
decorative. I wanted this to be between you
and me. Us girls. It’s more
interesting this way.”
“How so?” Scully’s mind was racing, trying
to remember what had happened to
Tara. Mental hospital. She couldn’t have
been released, surely? The last the
agents had heard about her was a few months
ago. Mulder’s prediction had held –
the killer could not give up her delusions
about the rings, not even to be
declared sane. And if she’d tried to pretend
she had seen the error of her
ways, it had been quickly seen through in
the interim.
Scully could not help the wry thought that
she and Mulder were NOT proving to
have a good track record when it came to
Florida and vacations…
Tara’s voice continued over the speaker,
“I’m a safe distance from this little
scenario. But we spent so much time cooking
it up, that I had to make sure that
I could see the drama unfold. So I’ve got
audio, both ways, and video. Multiple
angles on video, actually, to ensure I don’t
miss anything. And the remote
control to detonate that bomb whenever I
choose. All under my power. So make
sure you don’t make me decide to speed the
schedule up.”
To detonate the bomb? Then why the countdown
screens? Scully wondered. Unless
Tara had misspoken in her gloating and
excitement. And why a countdown at all?
Scully tried to speak, but Tara cut her off.
“My rings may not be with me at
the moment, but they sent me messengers to
help me get them back. They sent me
Brian. He worked at the hospital you got me
locked up in. He fell in love with
me and the rings. He wants to reunite us.”
And share in that ‘power’ too, no doubt,
Scully thought. How reassuring that a
mental hospital worker was just as capable
of being sucked into such a delusion
as one of the patients was!
“I have wanted revenge on the two of you for
what you did to me. I spent so
many nights coming up with scenarios. I told
Brian, and he promised to help me.
He’s organized everything. He’s so clever.
What he doesn’t know, he finds out
about. He knows so much about computers. And
he found an interview with Joseph
Stevens’ father. Daddy Stevens was moving to
Seattle, not wanting to stay in
Beckwell.”
No wonder, after what happened, Scully
thought.
Tara continued, “His daughters didn’t want
to wear the rings anymore, so he was
keeping all three, as a reminder. Very handy
for us. So it is time I reclaimed
them. And through the wonders of computers
Brian was able to find out about
your planned trip back here too, Agent
Scully. We couldn’t let that opportunity
pass, could we? I’m sure the rings brought
you here to be dealt with. So when
the time was right, Brian helped me get out
of that place -”
Escape, Scully translated mentally. He must
have stolen the explosives and the
drugs…
“And now we can deal with you two, then be
free to go reclaim what is
rightfully mine. It has all fallen into
place perfectly.”
“Tara -”
“You kept me from my birthright. If I had
those rings, I would have been
somebody. But you wouldn’t let me. So why
should I let you have each other?”
“Tara, we didn’t -” But the woman was not in
a mood to discuss, and Scully knew
that she would not be able to convince Tara
that the rings had no power.
“You also blocked me from using the rings
properly. Once you’re out of the way,
I can go get the rings and this time
succeed.”
Scully thought about the possibilities of
rescue. How many places like this
could there be in the area? Hopefully
someone had seen something and help was
on the way… She and Mulder had been
staying on a fairly isolated section of
beach – a mistake she was not going to
repeat if they lived to be able to take
another vacation. They had been kidnapped
about half an hour after dawn, but it
still took time for them to stumble up the
beach and then be loaded into a
vehicle. If there had been a passerby at any
stage of that, even from a
distance, it would have been an out of the
ordinary sight and therefore
noticed.
Tara had run a risk in grabbing them like
this, but with the isolation and
timing, Scully assumed it had been the best
‘chance’ the woman had. And she had
certainly taken it. Like with the rings, the
end result was worth whatever it
took.
Anyway, the more she kept Tara talking, the
more chance of help arriving in
time.
“Tara, we can help you find your rings again
and get them back. You don’t need
to do all this.” Whatever ‘this’ was.
“Agent Scully, there’s one thing this all
boils down to. Just a choice.”
“A choice?”
“Yes. I got the idea from a movie I saw
once. ‘Sophie’s Choice’. It was set in
World War II and the heroine was begging a
Nazi not to kill her two children.
He said he would spare one, but she would
have to choose which.”
Scully felt a shudder go through her. The
thought alone was horrific enough,
but now if Tara was going to put it into
reality…
Tara continued, “I think *you* should have
to make a decision like that. Once
the countdown is started, *you* have enough
time to get out, if you run.”
Me. If I abandon Mulder.
“If you try getting him out, you’ll never
make it. You’ll die.”
I abandon Mulder and he dies. I try to get
him out and we both die. My choice
is no choice. Either way, she ‘wins’, Scully
thought, staring down at her
partner’s face.
Tara laughed. “So, you see why Agent Mulder
had to be unconscious to make this
more fun and interesting. I promise that
I’ll wait the full 40 seconds before
detonating the bomb. Leave him, Dana. I’m
sure you’ll be able to live with
yourself.” She sounded smug.
It won’t be living, and you know that.
“That’s not a choice!” Scully yelled.
“You’re the one deciding that, not me. See
how you like being without the most
important thing in your life. Being
incomplete.”
“Tara -”
“Time to make your choice. Bombs away! Or
rather, countdown commencing!”
The ’40’ on the counter changed to ’39’.
Scully reacted, her hands under Mulder’s
arms to lift his upper body and drag
him backwards towards the opening. As she
got her feet under her, she stumbled
and swayed slightly from the effects of the
drugs. She could hear Tara’s
laughter.
“How sentimental! Dump him and run, Scully!
He’s just going to get you killed!”
“You’re the one that’s getting me killed,
not him!” Scully yelled back as she
hauled Mulder along. “But you can stop this,
right now!”
“Why would I want to do that?”
Scully looked around. There were other
exits, but they were further away than
the one that Tara had set up and they
weren’t open, so she couldn’t tell if
they were unlocked or boarded up or what.
The steel support posts were too
narrow and at distances – they would afford
no protection even if she did
manage to get Mulder over to one and attempt
to hide behind it.
If there had been time and if she wasn’t in
light beach gear, Scully would have
used something like a trenchcoat to hook
around and over Mulder’s shoulders and
use it to drag him with. Instead she
struggled along, pulling him as best she
could.
Scully cursed her small frame and Mulder’s
large one. Tara really had picked a
perfect ‘Sophie’s choice’ scenario for them.
There had been situations over the
years where Mulder had been injured and they
had needed to get out of danger as
quickly as possible. On those occasions
Scully had been relieved that there had
been others around to aid them or her
partner had been conscious enough to help
get himself to safety. Even if he was so
dazed at the time that he wasn’t fully
aware of what was going on, like when she
had rescued him from torture at the
‘hands’ of an artificial intelligence just
before it blew up the trailer its
hardware was housed in.
This time they weren’t going to make it, but
it wouldn’t be through lack of
trying. Adrenalin was Scully’s best friend
at the moment.
Mulder’s head hung limply as she backpedaled
them past the first of the TV set
ups, making sure she didn’t run into it.
Vaguely she noted that there were
other tracks on the floor – probably from
Tara and her accomplice setting up
the equipment and the van or transport that
must have brought the agents in
here and dumped them next to the bomb.
Muscles that were already abused or sluggish
were protesting, but Scully
disregarded them. And even though Mulder was
unconscious, his body was still
getting punished by being a dead weight and
having his limbs pulled every which
way and dragged along the floor. But she
figured that if by miracle they got
out of this alive, he would forgive her the
pain. Getting a teasing or
complaint would be worth it anyway. And God
only knew how ‘gentle’ Tara and her
partner-in-crime had been in the process of
kidnapping them and dumping them
here.
Scully considered that even if she and
Mulder did get out by miracle, would
that be far enough? The bomb could be strong
enough for the blast to follow
them through the door – or walls – and still
get them.
It occurred to her that Tara had taken a
huge chance. If Scully had chosen to
save herself, then her first act would be to
hunt the killer down. And she knew
Tara’s plans – though with the woman’s
history, as soon as Tara escaped the
authorities would know there was a good
chance of her trying to find the rings
again. And perhaps Tara had found out enough
about the partners to know Scully
would not abandon Mulder. Scully thought
that if she did get out, Tara’s
boyfriend might be there waiting, just in
case, to hold her hostage… Or
finish her off, since Tara believed that she
was able to block the power of the
rings…
Seconds raced by.
So this is how it will end, Scully thought,
glancing at Mulder again as she
kept hurrying and dragging. No dying
together of old age. The closest we got to
that was on the Ardent. At least it will be
together, at once. Neither of us
will have to exist without the other. Exist
is all it would be.
I’m glad he’s unconscious for this.
We know how we feel about each other and we
acted on it. Otherwise that is one
thing I’d go to my grave regretting. But if
only there were more time…
Time – she glanced back at the readout that
was next to the bomb, though she
had been keeping a mental count as well in
one part of her mind as the rest of
it raced with other thoughts. Six seconds
left. Still too far… Impossible.
Scully twisted them around so that her body
was now the one nearer to the bomb
instead of Mulder, and she pulled them
behind the closest TV setup. Hopefully
it would provide some protection. She
dropped down, throwing her arms around
Mulder, tucking her head in against his,
shielding him as best she could.
Braced herself.
And waited.
And waited.
Nothing.
Did the last seconds of a person’s life
stretch out like infinity? Was Tara
toying with them – making Scully think that
she was safe, then she would
detonate the bomb?
Scully raised her head and sought out a
display. There were still two in front
of her, before the open door. The screens
were on ‘0’. But the countdown had
not been linked to the bomb’s detonation, it
had just been Tara’s fiendish idea
of a ‘grace period’. Tara had been going to
detonate the bomb herself. Yet the
loudspeaker was silent.
Scully got up again, raising Mulder into
position at the same time, and got
moving. Her muscles were screaming, but her
spirit and determination were
screaming louder. Whatever was going on, she
had to take advantage of it.
Though Tara and her boyfriend could be just
outside the door, waiting for them,
enjoying their ‘efforts’ just like at the
beach.
She heard noises outside. Raised voices.
Then a voice came through the speakers. A
male voice. “Agent Scully, this is
Deputy Reade. We’ve got Keating and her
friend. No one will be detonating that
bomb.”
Scully inwardly cheered over her jangling
nerves and pounding heart, but she
and Mulder were still in too close a
proximity to the bomb regardless. You
could never be too careful when it came to
explosives.
“Sit tight. We’re coming,” Reade continued.
“I don’t intend to sit, not yet, thank you.”
She kept hauling Mulder the hell
out of there as fast as she could.
END ACT THREE
xXx
EPILOGUE
Xavier, Florida
December 2002
The effects of the tranquilizer had worn off
on both agents, but it was going
to take longer for the soreness of their
muscles to abate. They were lying on
the bed at their beach house, Scully feeling
the effects of dragging Mulder,
and Mulder feeling the effects of being the
dragee.
He shifted and winced. “Have you found a
comfortable position yet?”
“No.”
“Let me know if you do.” They were managing
to hold hands, not just because
they needed the contact after their close
call.
A member of the public had witnessed Mulder
and Scully’s abduction from a
distance on the beach. “It could have looked
like a couple were helping another
sick or drunk couple, but you don’t load
sick people into your car trunk to
take them to a hospital…”
The man had hurried to the nearest phone and
immediately an all points bulletin
went out on the car. The man hadn’t been
able to see the license number, but
gave make, model and color. He was able to
give general descriptions of the
people he had seen. News bulletins were
issued. Law enforcement combed the area
and beyond. They knew that the victims were
FBI agents and that there was a
chance that one of the kidnappers was the
killer who had escaped recently from
a Florida mental hospital who had links to
the agents.
Finally a woman heard a description of the
car on the radio and realized she
had seen one being driven on her way to her
factory shift earlier. Her
information on where she saw the car
narrowed down the search and saved
valuable time. Fortunately the law had found
Tara in a building near the
warehouse. She had been so focused on
watching her scenario play out that they
were able to take her by surprise, not
giving her time to detonate the bomb.
Her boyfriend had been taken into custody
near the warehouse itself.
And here Mulder and Scully were now. Alive.
They were going to live to see the
New Year after all.
“Sorry I wasn’t a lightweight, Scully,” he
said.
She managed a laugh. “I can’t believe our
luck. We came to Florida for a
vacation. Where do we go to have a vacation
from our vacation?”
Mulder gave her a look. “Well, we thought
we’d gotten off cheap instead of
paying plenty for an isolated beach house.
Now we’re definitely paying for
it… Ouch. So much for our romantic
vacation.”
“At least we’re alive.”
“Every part of me is reminding me of that
fact!” His wry look became more
serious. “It’s worth it.”
“We did get some good days in before
everything hit the fan,” Scully reminded
him. “All right, they were better than
‘good’. Spectacular! But we can be very
romantic and meaningful without the sexual
side of things. We’ll just have to
use the remaining time as a refresher on
just how we managed before we started
sleeping together.”
“We can still sleep together, it’s just the
bang and the -”
“Mulder, I’m in enough pain without the pain
from a bad joke.”
“Hmmph.” Then the insulted look changed to a
sheepish one. “Oops. I didn’t even
think about the bomb when I said ‘bang’.
Sorry. Typical me.”
“That’s okay.” At least he hadn’t done any
‘haul ass’ jokes or ring jokes.
But even as she thought that, he grinned and
said, “How long do you think until
we’re right to go to the movies again? I
really want to see the next ‘Lord of
the Rings’ installment.”
Whacking Mulder with a pillow was worth the
aches it set off. Then she said,
“Why see it? We just lived it!”
There was silence for a little, then Scully
said, “When Tara told me her ‘great
choice’, I wondered if she’d been taking
lessons at the Modell/Bowman School of
Diabolical Scenarios.”
Mulder opened his mouth and then hesitated.
Scully knew that he was about to
refer to the choice that she had made, but
she also knew that he knew he would
have done exactly the same in her place and
why she did. There was no argument
to be had or statement of ‘you really
shouldn’t have done that, you should have
saved yourself, I’m not worth it’. They were
past that sort of introspection in
their relationship.
So when Mulder spoke, it was simply to say a
heartfelt, “Thank you.”
Scully caressed his fingers with her own.
“Anytime.”
THE END.
Virtual Season X 