"Let's go, "Vanessa said, as she stood up and got ready to leave.
Reaper was about to do the same when something struck him.
"My keys!"
"What?"
"I believed Barnes still has the keys to my bike. Damn," he swore. Now he would have to look for the man in the maze of corridors and offices. "Look, I have to go. See you tomorrow." With that, Reaper disappeared.
There was nothing much for Vanessa to do, and so she decided to drive back to her apartment and do some more unpacking. Alone, with only the clicking sound of her heels for company, she made her way to the car park, and saw a present placed in front of the window of her car.
A huge bouquet of roses, the largest bouquet she had seen in her life.
"Oh my," she said to herself as she increased her pace and walked towards it. She stopped in front of the roses, and looked around. There was no one around. Using her right hand, she picked up the bouquet. Roses wrapped in a metallic foil type of material. No cards, no -
A surge of electric current ran through her body.
Vanessa felt as if she was losing touch with her surroundings. Suddenly she felt weak, as if all of her joints were separated from their counterparts. Without anything to support herself, she collapsed onto the floor. As as she was to slip into darkness, she saw a vehicle coming, and screeched to a stop about ten feet away. The back doors of the car opened and two men came out, walking towards her.
The Honda, she thought, as she lost conscious.
-----
Reaper swore. He was unable to find Barnes. He was not in Director Josh's office, and not in Classroom C either. The corridors were empty, and there was no one to ask for directions. He decided to forget it. Maybe if he ran fast enough, he could get a ride from Agent Lee. What he did not expect when he reached the car park was to see Agent Lee about to be kidnapped.
Two men were trying to lift her.
"FBI! Freeze!" Reaper shouted from across the car park. The two men looked up, dropped their victim onto the floor, and stared at Reaper. One of them drew out a gun. Reaper did the same, instantly levelling the weapon and levelling it at the man's head.
"Get in," the driver of the Japanese vehicle shouted. "We don't want this man."
The two kidnappers obeyed immediately, ran back to the car, and drove. Reaper gave chase, but he was not able to catch up with the car. He ran back to Vanessa.
At first he wondered if she had been seriously hurt. She looked as if she had jerked very violently and he was very worried about her. He remembered the ferocity of the attack on himself.He tried to feel for her pulse, found it, and heave a sigh of relief. He did not know how long it was, but then Vanessa finally opened her eyes, and looked at him.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Something. Maybe its related to what happened to me. " Reaper explained as he helped Vanessa into a standing position. Her legs almost buckled under her own weight, and she had to lean against her car for support.
"What happened to you?" she asked.
"I will explain later. First, I have to bring you to a hospital. "
"I am all right, " she insisted, "no hospital. I just want to go home."
"I will drive you home then,"he offered. "What about the roses?" Reaper bent down to retrieve.
"Don't!" Vanessa warned him in time. "Something from there produced a electric current when I touched it," she explained.
"Evidence then," he said as he picked it up using his coat and threw it onto the floor of the car. "We will show this to Josh tomorrow. "
As Jim drove Vanessa home, he told her what happened to him earlier in the morning, and his suspicion that both their kidnapping might by staged by the same person. And she told him about seeing the same car that morning.
"Occupational hazard, " she commented just as they reached their destination.
Vanessa lived in a rented apartment situated on the top floor. The moment they entered it, Reaper found it too dark. Well, he thought that it was too dark before Vanessa opened the windows and the large folding door that separated the living room from the balcony anyway. After she did that, the whole house was filled with sunshine.
"What do you want to drink?" she asked.
"Coffee will be fine." Reaper told her.
Vanessa's apartment was small, opposite to his which was spacious. However,he conceeded that his apartment was located in a hovel of a neighbourhood. The academy guys had tried to get him to move but he wouldn't, saying that he liked to be able to spot trouble.
He put the bouquet of roses on the table, and walked towards a painting of a night scene. It was the scene of a waterfront, with a brightly lit bridge that spanned across the water. On the other side of the water was a white-washed building with a clock tower topped with a round dome. Signed on the bottom right hand corner was the name 'Vanessa Lee' in her small, cursive handwriting.
"Like it?" he heard her voice asked from behind.
"Nice," he said, not really trusting himself to comment on a art piece. "You painted it right? Where is this place?"
"World Trade Center, Singapore, facing Sentosa Island," she told him.
The first thing that came into his mind was Michael Fay. He had read a little about her past. She smiled, as if knowing what he was thinking.
"Your coffee," she pointed to the steaming cup of liquid she had placed on the table. Both of them went back to the table, and began to inspect the bouquet. It was not as difficult to find the source of the electric current as they thought. It was a little black box, hidden among the thorns.
"Probably activated by remote control, or timer. Most probably the former. The wrapper acts as the conductor and leads the current to you as you touched it." Reaper said as he handled the culprit with a cloth folded several layers to insulate against the current, if any.
As Reaper examined the device, it occurred to him that he had seen such things before, in the military. They were small devices which the Special Forces used to relieve the world of certain 'harmful influences'. To be honest, though, this did not seem like a military operation. They would have taken her at home, not at Station X. Lost in thought, he heard her say,
"But why? We just started."
"There is never a reason for everything. Tomorrow, we will show this to Josh. Maybe he will have a better idea of whys," Reaper suggested. " I proposed that you kept everything today, and passed all of them to Josh. For fingerprints, if anything. "
Vanessa nodded. Her whole body was still numb, and a sleep was what she wanted most at this time. Reaper noticed her tiredness too, and decided to leave.
"Just be careful when you are alone, and when you are not."
" I will, and thanks for driving me back," Vanessa thanked him as she closed the door. She then locked the door, went to bed, and promptly fell asleep. She was too tired to think of anything else.
" I will, and thanks for driving me back," Vanessa thanked him as she closed the door. She then locked the door, went to bed, and promptly fell asleep. She was too tired to think of anything else.
The next morning, the two of them ventured back toward Station X, but realised that they had no idea where they were headed. Fred Barnes spotted the two of them as he headed back to work, and smirked, noting that whilst they may have made their away from the place last night, getting out of Station X was a breeze in comparison to finding the entrance back in. It had been well designed. The two of them pulled off the road and he pulled in behind them.
"Can I give you a hand?", said the deceptively plain agent. "Well...." "I'll organise someone to come and get your car. No drama!"
The two of them gratefully accepted the lift, especially after the incidents of yesterday.
At the same time, Josh was in his office, checking the video footage of the incident. He was furious. For the second time in as many days trainee agents had been attacked. The attacks were becoming a little too commonplace for his liking. But the most worrying aspect of this attack was that it had been here at Station X. Until this most recent of attacks, they had been isolated and away from the facility. But that had changed, and it was concerning to say the least. There were groups that didn't want the X-Files Division operating. Nothing official of course, but there were plenty of indications and rumours dancing around. But these two recent attacks had him concerned. For now, however, he had to just be watchful. For a moment, his mind went back to the incident in the park with Kate last night, when she'd hesitated for a moment. He wondered if there was a link, but dismissed it as he saw Fred's car arriving. Noting that his students were with Fred, he headed down to meet them at the entrance. Without saying a word, he guided them back to the classroom where they had commenced things the previous day, and perched himself on the desk. Looking at Vanessa, he could see that she was still a little shaken, even though she tried her best to hide it.
"Do you want to tell me about it?", asked Josh out of the blue, shattering the stilted silence, and bringing both of the agents back from their thoughts.
"Sorry?" "Do you want to tell me about what happened yesterday?"
Vanessa looked at him, the shock obvious on her tape, and then looked in the direction he pointed. In the corner, virtually impossible to spot except for a tiny bulge down from the roof, was a minicamera mounting for a video surveillance system.
"We have them mounted everywhere throughout the complex. Part of the security measures. We captured the whole incident on video. But, there wasn't a great deal they been able to discover. The attackers were all covered in balaclavas, disguising their heads. They wore bulky clothing, giving no indication of their builds and the vehicle was stolen and dumped not far from Station X. Whoever they were, they were informed and well organised. This wasn't an amateur job." That thought also stayed with Josh for a moment, but he dismissed it, and realised that he'd said it aloud.
"Is there anyone that would have something against you, or your family?", asked Josh, trying to work out possibilities for why it had happened.
After a moment's pause, Vanessa shook her head. "No," she said, "I don't think so." Reaper had spent the previous night going through his mind, racking his brains trying to remember what the hell he remembered about that device. Then is struck him. While serving in the marines, Jim had been involved in a skirmish in Granada. In fact, he had been badly injured when fighting hand-to-hand with some Guerilla's. Three men had fought him and Jim achieved a victory, but not without price. He was stabbed in the chest and spent many months in hospital. It was during that time he had decided to join the X-Files. Those SOB's at high command had told them it was just some kids with hand guns. They had gone on to find regular army, armed to the teeth. Anyway, he must shut that out. It was important to the division, and Vanessa, that he focus on the present, not the past.
"I've seen work like this before," he said to the room. Everyone looked at him, silently urging him to speak. "There was a guy in recon, never knew his name, who used to put this kind of stuff together. He was rather infamous in the Corp because two of his bombs had killed a marine unit. Rumour has it that when he came out, he went to work for the highest bidder. Could be that this job is down to him."
"Really. Give Fred the details later, Jim, and we'll get someone on to it. In the meantime just be bloody careful!" Josh almost shouted. Both of the agents obviously felt they had been rebuked, and Josh apologised. "It's just that we've had a few of these now and I don't want to lose you. Now, let's get down to business..."
NRPG:
Just thought I'd fill in a few blanks for Reaper.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Respectfully submitted, FCO Olivier Patru, USS ORION NCC1997, Starfleet. Special Agent Jim Reaper, X-Files Division, FBI. Pvt. Eoin McDonald, Ranger, Team LEO. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------