Keywords: None XxXxXxXxXxX Chapter Five XxXxXxXxXxX She was too mortified even to cry. Scully spent the night curled in a ball under the starched motel sheet, blinking in the darkness. She hugged the pillow and tried to squeeze away the sound of Mulder's rejection. Of course he would be disgusted. Another man had forced her down on the ground and shoved his way inside her. She was disgusted when she thought about it. So she didn't. Think about it. But Mulder would never be able to follow suit; he thought about everything, all the time, perseverated on injustices great and small. And now, when he looked at her, he only thought about one thing. As long as he remembered, so would she. Scully hid in her bed while the dawn crept up to her window, brightening the cracks. By six she could no longer deny the sun. She dragged her stiff body from beneath the sheets and dressed tiredly with just the light from the bathroom. A quick look at her cell phone told her she'd received three new messages during the night. She left the room without listening to a single one. Outside, muggy morning air promised a scorcher of a day. Already the rain puddles were evaporating back into the sky. It was still quiet, road traffic infrequent and birds flitting in the trees. Scully squinted as she walked down the stairs to the lower level. At the bottom, the sight of Mulder's door stopped her in her tracks. She would have to pass in front of it to get to the lobby, where coffee awaited. Her anxious heart buried itself between her ribs, but her head throbbed for caffeine. Caffeine won out. Scully held her breath, kept her head down, and marched past room 134 without a backward glance. Their motel fee included a continental breakfast, which was self-served in the alcove next to the check-in desk, right between the pay phone and a rack of tourist pamphlets. Scully skipped the lackluster pastries and poured herself a Styrofoam cup's worth of black coffee. She got approximately five minutes of silence before a round, bland-faced couple and their three young children entered to raid the donuts. Scully shifted to stand near the front desk, where the young woman with a ponytail gave her a wide, friendly smile. "Hello," she said. "Is the coffee all right for you this morning?" Scully raised her eyebrows as she sipped. "Yes, it's fine. Thank you." "Y'all down for the Garden Grove square dance competition?" Scully managed to swallow the coffee without choking. "Uh, no." "Oh." The smile didn't fade. "Folks come from all over this time of year, and I just assumed when the two of you checked in last night together that's what you were here for. Leastways, that's true for most of our couples." "No, we're here to see--" Scully searched her memory for the man supposedly in charge of the UFO cult. "Jared Rentham. Do you know him?" The smile faltered and then reappeared. "Jared? Sure, everyone around here knows him. He runs that group out at the old army compound. I see him every now and then at the farmer's market buying corn. My mom said that he moved here from New Orleans, that he used to be a fortune teller there." She lowered her voice and leaned toward Scully. "His wife was murdered. That's why he came out here." "Do you know how she died?" The girl looked to make sure the vacationing family wasn't listening. "I heard she burned to death." "What about Tina Appleby? Do you know her?" "Never met her. Saw her in the papers, though, when she joined up with Jared's group. Her family wasn't too happy about it, on account of Tina had two little kids." "Why did Tina join?" The girl again cast a look over at the family before answering. "Jared, he believes in UFOs. He says that the aliens come and take people for experiments, and that the government knows about it but doesn't protect people. Supposedly..." She stopped and fiddled with the cord coming out of the computer keyboard. "Supposedly what?" The girl sighed. "I don't know if I believe it, but some folks say he can tell by looking at you whether you've been tested by the aliens." "Excuse me?" She pointed at the sky. "You know, probed...or whatever." The hairs stood up on the back of Scully's neck, right about where she'd been probed, and the coffee sloshed in her cup. "And Tina, uh, she'd been tested?" "That's what the paper said." The girl shrugged. "But it also said she's failed out of AA three times, so who can know for sure if it's true? Jared looks harmless enough to me, but I don't go out of my way to talk to him, if you know what I mean. My boyfriend Jimmy's a cop, and he told me Jared checked out okay, but then he said to stay away from him just the same. So I do. Maybe Jared's not dangerous or anything, but he sure is crazy." "What makes you say that?" The girl rolled her eyes. "He believes in aliens, doesn't he?" As if on cue, the front bell tinkled and Mulder came through the door. He stopped, feet still on the mat, and all heads except Scully's turned to stare. She looked at her cup. "Good morning," the girl behind the counter said. "Help yourself to coffee and pastries right over there." "Yeah, thanks," Mulder said. Scully could feel him looking at her, felt herself shrinking inside. She watched his shadow move towards her across the floor until it disappeared into her own. Mulder breathed down on her. "Morning," he murmured, and she nodded to her coffee. She wasn't sure how this was going to work if she could never look him in the eyes again. "I called you last night," he told her, his voice still low. "Did you?" "I left you messages." "I haven't checked." She took a deep breath and met his gaze. There were dark smudges under his eyes, and she could see a nick on his jaw where he had cut himself shaving. Mulder studied her a minute before nodding sadly. "Okay. Scully, I just wanted to say--" The vacationing family trooped out behind him, forcing Mulder to crowd closer to Scully. He bumped her and she jerked back against the counter. "Sorry," he said, reaching out a hand to steady her. "Mulder, please." She squeezed from between him and the counter. "I can't do this now." "Of course not," he said quickly, and she felt her cheeks warm. The girl behind the counter listened in with the deliberate casualness of a seasoned gossip. Scully cleared her throat. "Mulder, this is..." She stopped when she realized she didn't know the girl's name. "Sharon Loeing," the girl filled in for her. "Ms. Loeing was telling me what she knew about Jared Rentham," Scully explained. It took Mulder a minute to focus enough to respond. "Rentham," he said, turning to the girl at last. "Right. You know him?" "Oh, not really. Just passing on what all I've heard." "It seems that Mr. Rentham is running a retreat of sorts for alien abductees," Scully said. "This was the reason for Tina Appleby's involvement." "She was abducted? Her brother didn't mention that part." "Maybe because it didn't really happen," Scully countered. "From what I've heard, it's Jared Rentham who determines whether someone had been abducted or not. Tina Appleby was a single mother with two kids and a history of alcohol abuse. It wouldn't surprise me to find that Jared Rentham takes advantage of people who are down on their luck and sways them into joining his... organization." "Wait, you're saying he picks the women and not the other way around?" "Supposedly," Scully said, "he can tell by looking at you if you were abducted." "Oh." Mulder stared hard at Scully. She refused to blink. So far, she hadn't heard any evidence that Jared Rentham was anything other than a charlatan who preyed on vulnerable people. "I suppose the only way to know is to find Tina and ask her," Mulder said. Sharon Loeing's eyes widened. "Y'all are going out to the compound?" "You know of a reason why we shouldn't?" Scully asked. "Well, it's just they don't welcome many visitors. There's barbed wire around the whole property." Mulder looked speculatively at Scully. "Somehow, I think he'll let us in." XxXxXxX They stopped at Chet Appleby's first. In the car on the way, Scully looked out the window the whole time so Mulder would not be tempted to start up a conversation. The landscape mirrored her feelings -- flat and empty -- and Mulder wisely kept his mouth shut. She heard him working over a seed between his teeth, a sure sign that his brain was marking double time. Scully clutched the file folders on her lap and studied the passing bramble. "Worried he'll recognize you?" Mulder asked at length. "Appleby?" "No, Rentham." She turned in her seat. "Mulder, don't tell me you believe that story." "I don't know. I'm wondering if you believe it." "I can't believe you even have to ask." "Right. It would be a neat trick, though, don't you think? If it's true." He paused. "Of course, you might not be the best person to test his apparent ability." "What does that mean?" He shrugged. "I've known you for seven years, Scully, and I still can't tell one thing just by looking at you." "I see. So if you don't find what you're hoping for in Jared Rentham, it's my fault." "I didn't say that." "What, then?" He glanced at her. "Scully, you're not always the easiest person to read," he answered mildly. "This can't come as a surprise." It did. Hurt burst inside her like a balloon. She blinked back hot tears and returned to staring out the window. I don't get you, he might have said, the one person she'd thought had understood. "I don't know what to tell you," she managed at last. "I know," said Mulder sadly. "I think that's the problem." He turned the car off the main road into Chet Appleby's neighborhood, where the grass went from dry and unkempt to green and manicured. Evenly spaced white houses lined the wide street, while the sun beat down on the treeless ground. Appleby's house turned out to be the one with the bluebird mailbox and a tricycle parked in the drive. Mulder and Scully did not speak to each other upon approach. Scully lifted the brass knocker as Mulder peeked in the column of windows that framed the front door. Appleby answered promptly and ushered them into a spotless living room that still bore vacuum tracks on the beige carpet. He was a nebbish of a man, with too-short hair and a white, short-sleeved button down shirt. He moved a floppy stuffed dog off the armchair before he sat down. "I never wanted kids," he said. "Myra didn't either. But it was either take in Tina's daughters or have them put into foster care, and we couldn't abide that. We kept thinking that Tina would come to her senses and want them back. As you might have guessed from our phone call earlier, it hasn't turned out that way." "How long has Tina been gone?" Mulder asked from his seat on the floral sofa. "Eight months now. Tina met Rentham at the grocery and she moved out to the compound that night. She dropped her kids off here and that was that. I've talked to the Sheriff's office almost every week since Tina took up with that horrible man, but they keep telling me there is nothing they can do. She's not being held against her will. Brainwashed, maybe, but they don't use force to get her to stay." "Have you talked to Tina at all since she joined the group?" Scully asked. "She sends letters, sometimes with a few dollars to help out with the children. I can barely bring myself to read them because they are all full of UFO crap." "I'd like to see them, if you have them," Mulder said. "Of course." He rose and went to the desk in the corner, where he retrieved a small bundle of envelopes. Mulder started reading while Scully asked more questions. "Did Tina tell you why she decided to join Jared Rentham's group?" He pursed thin lips and brushed invisible lint from his pants. "Tina's had a problem with alcohol off and on for ten years now, but about six years ago was the lowest point. This was before she had the kids and before Dan died. I give that man credit for turning her around when none of us could. If he was alive today, Tina would never have fallen into Rentham's hands. Anyway, around that time, it wasn't unusual for us to go weeks without hearing from Tina. When she did show up, usually it was asking for money." "Says here that Tina remembers being abducted from a local farm," Mulder said, looking at the letters. Appleby nodded wearily. "That's what Rentham told her. More likely she just blacked out for a day." Scully looked at Mulder, but his attention had returned to Tina's letters. "Mr. Appleby," she said, "I'm not sure what you hope to get out of our involvement. The Sheriff is absolutely correct that we can't forcibly remove Tina from Rentham's compound. If he hasn't broken any laws, if she is there peaceably, then our hands are tied." "Talk to him," pleaded Appleby. "See for yourself what kind of monster he is. If Tina were thinking clearly, she would want to be home, with her daughters. She was just getting her life back and that man came and took it from her again." "But--" "If you can prove he's a fraud, she might listen to you. Please." Mulder stood up. "We'll talk to him. Agent Scully's right, though: we can't make you any promises about your sister." Appleby bit his lip. "If she just knew how much the girls needed her..." "We'll see what we can do," Mulder assured him. Scully had a hard time looking the desperate man in the eye, knowing that they were probably not going to be able to give him what he wanted. "You're going now?" Appleby asked. "Let me go with you." "I don't think that's such a good idea," Mulder said. "Please. The compound is difficult to find, but I know how to get there. I'll wait in the car if you like." Mulder sighed and relented. "You do exactly what we say." "Oh, thank you. Let me just get my things and telephone Myra to tell her where I'll be." He left the room and Scully nodded at the letters still in Mulder's hand. "Well?" she asked. "She says Rentham has seen the aliens, that they killed his wife. He says they're coming back." "Terrific. Does he give a date and location?" "No, but Tina does. The date she was abducted: August 9, 1994." Two days after Duane Barry and Skyland mountain. Scully felt like she was back playing tug-of-war with Bill and his big friends, heels sliding into the mud pit even as she held on for dear life. She swallowed with effort. "And you think this means we were riding around in a spaceship together?" she asked Mulder, more sharply than she intended. He looked down at her with compassionate eyes. "I don't know what it means, Scully, but here may be one chance to find out." Nononono. She screwed her eyes shut and gripped the back of Appleby's armchair. "Scully? Are you okay?" "I'm ready," Appleby announced as he returned to the room. Scully sucked in a breath and released the chair. "Then let's go." XxX Appleby sat in the back, twisting his wedding band around his finger and giving directions to Mulder. As promised, finding the compound involved a number of tricky turns down unmarked roads. Thirty minutes later, Mulder rolled the car to a stop in front of a high fence topped with barbed wire. "That sure as hell isn't to keep any aliens out," Mulder muttered. "Rentham says it's to keep out the nonbelievers," Appleby replied. "So we can't distract the others from their 'work.'" All three got out of the car, and when Mulder saw Appleby was following them, he stopped. "I thought you were going to wait in the car." Appleby's small face took on a look of determination. "If Rentham doesn't want me there, I will. Otherwise, I feel I have the right to be present." Mulder looked at Scully, who shrugged. "We do the talking," he warned Appleby. "Absolutely." They walked up the dirt road to the gate, where a camera tracked their arrival. Mulder hit the buzzer on the intercom. "FBI," he said when asked. "We're here to talk to Jared Rentham." "Mr. Rentham is not available," came the crackling reply. "He's there," hissed Appleby over Mulder's shoulder. "I know he is." "We've come a long way," Mulder said into the speaker. "If we could just talk to Mr. Rentham for a few minutes." "I'm sorry, but Mr. Rentham--" The voice broke off, and they heard nothing for several long seconds. When the speaker came back on, the voice had changed to a deep, mellow tone. "Welcome to Sanctuary House, agents. Do come in." The door gave a long buzz, and Mulder pushed it open. Inside was a small courtyard with the same dusty dirt floor, but it contained several small trees whose delicate branches suggested they might have originated in Asia. There was a stone birdbath, and two long benches that faced one another. Everything was quiet. They walked up the flagstone path to the main building -- a short, wide structure built with aging concrete. Scully almost expected to be met by a bald man in a flowing robe. She was half right. Jared Rentham emerged from a door at the end of the entry hall wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt with a Celtic clan symbol on the front. He had a long face with a long, thin nose to match, and when he got closer, Scully saw he wasn't quite bald -- there was a ring of pale, fine hair circling his head just above his ears. Scully hung back a bit as he approached. "Agents," he said. "Welcome again. I am Jared Rentham, and I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have." "What have you done with my sister?" Appleby demanded. Mulder elbowed him. "I'm Fox Mulder, and this is my partner, Dana Scully. You may already know Chet Appleby." "By reputation only," Rentham demurred. He offered his hand to Appleby, who refused it, and then shook Mulder and Scully's hands in turn. When Scully tried to pull away, Rentham held on. "I noticed you outside," he said, fingers tracing lightly over the skin of her wrist. "Have we met before?" "No, I don't think so." "I could swear it." His eyes crinkled at the corners as he tried to place her. "Oh!" he said suddenly, and Scully felt a spark against her hand. She jerked free. Rentham smiled at her. "You've been among them," he said. "You will understand how important our work is." "What the hell is he talking about?" Appleby asked suspiciously. Mulder moved himself between Rentham and Scully. "Just what sort of 'work' do you do here, Mr. Rentham?" "Information gathering, mainly," he said, his eyes still on Scully. Her breathing grew shallow, sweat breaking out across the back of her neck. She let Mulder take the lead. "Information about what?" "Them." He nodded at Scully. "If you need explanation, your partner can fill you in." "I don't know what you're talking about," Scully whispered. Rentham made a tsk-tsk sound at the back of his throat. "Denying it won't stop them. You have to understand what happened to you in order to fight." "What is this?" Appleby began backing away. "What the hell is he talking about, she's one of them?" "Calm down, Mr. Appleby," Mulder said. "We're asking the questions, okay?" "No, it's not okay! I want to see my sister, and I want to see her now." He was shaking from head to toe. Mulder gave the high sign to Scully, and she agreed: time to get Appleby off the premises. "Why don't we go outside for a minute," she suggested, touching his arm. Appleby shook her off. "Get away from me! I don't know what your connection is to this place, but just stay the hell away. Bring me my sister," he hollered at Rentham. "I want to see her NOW!" "I'm afraid that's not possible," Rentham said. "I say it is." Appleby pulled out a gun and aimed it at Rentham. "Take me to Tina." Scully's pulse tripped over itself. Mulder's jaw tensed, his eyes gone black. "Hold on a second, Chet," he said. "Let's work this out." "I want to see Tina. I want her to come home with me." The gun wavered in the air, three feet from Scully. Rentham was the only one who did not look worried. "I can take you to her," he said, "but she won't leave. I have explained before that everyone who is here stays here willingly. I exert no force. We have no weapons." He eyed Appleby's trembling gun. "Your sister is happy here. I believe she's told you before that she does not wish to leave." "You did this to her!" Appleby sobbed. "It was you!" "I did nothing to Tina," Rentham answered calmly. "It was Them." The shot split Scully's head open; at least that's how it felt. Her ears hurt and the terrible noise reverberated in her skull. When she opened her eyes, she saw Rentham lying dead on the ground. She didn't even need to take his pulse. Appleby's shot had gone through Rentham's left eye and blown apart his brain. Her mouth hung open in horror so long the back of her throat dried out. When at last the noise cleared, she became aware of wracking sobs from behind her. She turned and saw Mulder restraining Appleby. "She's free now," he said over and over. "She can go home." XxXxX At the Sheriff's station, they were alone in a room with the woman who had caused more heartache than Helen of Troy. Tina Appleby was small like her brother but rounder and less edgy. Where Chet had vibrated with anger, Tina wept quietly at the interrogation table, dabbing her eyes with a wrinkled Kleenex. "What will we do now?" she asked of Mulder and Scully. "Jared was the one who brought us together. He was the one who knew what was happening. He said if we didn't prepare for Them to return, we would end up a slave race. Chet didn't understand. He didn't see that I was doing this for my children and for their children's children." "When did you first meet Jared Rentham?" Mulder asked. Scully, still rattled, leaned against the wall near the corner. She looked at this woman with her bad dye job and chewed-off fingernails. This is not me, she thought. "He was really friendly-like," Tina was saying. "Asked me about my baby, Charlene, and told me I seemed real familiar. I had seen him before. Everyone said he was kind of a freak, but when you talked to him, it was like... like talking to God. He could see right inside me. He knew right away that I'd been through a tough time, what with Dan getting sick and passing on, but when he mentioned the lights from the Hartman farm, I just felt a chill go through me. I'd never told anyone about that night before." "Which night?" Mulder asked. Scully folded her arms. "About six years ago, before I knew Dan or anything like that. I--I was drinking a lot back then. Me and Rudy Hartman were down at Jimmy Z's bar until around closing, hitting the Jack and Cokes pretty good. When Jimmy kicked us out, Rudy said he had a six-pack back at his place, if I wanted to go back with him. I said sure. We drank and fooled around a bit, you know. I don't remember much after that, except I think I went outside to get some air. I remember looking up at the stars and thinking they were brighter than I'd ever seen before, like when the sun glints off the water. Then the lights started moving. I felt myself being lifted in the air. The next thing I know--" she broke off and looked at her lap. "The next thing you know, what?" Mulder prodded. "I know this sounds stupid. But I was on a train." Scully felt a chill go through her. She backed further into the wall. "I don't know how I knew this. Maybe someone told me. Maybe I heard the whistle, I don't know. But I was on this table, under a sheet, and I didn't have any clothes on. The whole room kind of glowed with this eerie blue light. I wasn't tied down but I couldn't move my arms or legs. Men in masks, like surgeons, came in and out. Sometimes they would talk to me but usually not. I was so cold that I couldn't feel my toes." "What did these men want with you?" Mulder asked. "I don't know. They hooked me up to machines and poked me with cold metal instruments. I couldn't speak to ask what was going on, but I don't remember being very afraid at the time." "How long were you on this train?" She sniffled. "I couldn't say. It felt like forever but also not long at all. I can't describe it. But I remember this one man, an Asian man, who came in near the end. He was gentler than the others. He stroked my cheek and he talked to me." "What did he say?" Mulder asked, leaning forward. "It makes no sense," Tina replied. "It was like a saying or something." "What?" She took a deep breath. "He said, 'Even the smallest ant--" "--can destroy the dam," Scully finished with her in a murmur. Only when Mulder turned did she realize she'd spoken aloud. "Yeah, that's right," Tina agreed. "Scully?" Mulder asked, looking at her with concern. She felt the floor shift under her, the room suddenly airless. "I'll be back," she said, heading for the door. She barreled through it to the cool, dark corridor on the other side. Gulping air, she went to the rest room and washed cold water over her enflamed skin. Her hands still trembled when she held them out in front of her, so she paced the length of the room slowly, talking herself down. You're okay. It's all right. Just get control and go back in there. Her phone made her jump when it rang. "Scully," she said crisply, hiding her weak limbs with a sharp voice. "Dana, this is Chris Clark with the DA's office." She let out a long breath. "Mr. Clark, of course. What can I do for you?" "I have some potentially good news. Detective Savioshy arrested a suspect this evening. He's in custody as we speak." XxXxX End Chapter Five. All feedback welcome at syn_tax6@yahoo.com