From: Amatia Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 17:49:09 -0600 (CST) Subject: "Dark Frontier" (1/1) by Amatia Title: Dark Frontier Author: Amatia Email: violinst@pitnet.net Disclaimer: Since Carter shot Spender, can I have him *now*? And we all know that Krycek doesn't belong to anybody... Category: V,A Rating: PG-13 for Krycek's overuse of the word "damn". Archiving: Gossamer. All else, please ask. :-) Summary: Mulder finds Krycek in the X-Files office moments after Spender is taken away, dying... Note: This is the eighth piece in the "Hawk and a Handsaw" series. In order (by episode, not written) they are: "1969", "Fly", "Approaching Armageddon", "One Hand", "Nice Work If You Can Get It", "Crater", "Satellite" and this one. You can find them on my webpage at: http://personal.pitnet.net/london/fic/fanfic.html *** "Dark Frontier" by Amatia I'm standing on the edge of a room that seems to have no end, a room that was black with ugly emotion that had finally reared it's head. Cigarette smoke is lingering in the air, mixed with the fresh coppery smell of blood. My men have just taken Jeff Spender away, barely alive, his chest ripped open by a wound, made by a bullet from his father's gun. I'm surprised that no one has come down here yet, that the sound of the shot didn't alarm anyone. Maybe it was mistaken for the weapons display on the tour they give of the Hoover building. One of my men is cleaning the blood from the floor, and the wall. When he's finished it will look like Jeffrey Spender has just disappeared - vanished into thin air, like I did all those years ago, when it was time to leave Mulder behind. Of course, I haven't left him behind. It would be impossible to. If I'd really left Mulder behind, I wouldn't be standing here, under the shadow of several counts of murder that could be dropped on my head if I was caught. Mulder and Scully needed Jeff Spender. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday they would need Spender's knowledge of the Syndicate, and his knowledge of his parents. I heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, but I didn't turn around. Mulder's footsteps, undeniably. He never takes the elevator. I can let him find me here, he owes me since I saved his life on the ice field. I leaned against the doorframe, and watched my man apply a disinfectant to the last part of the wall. He looked at me when he was done, and I gestured for him to leave though the hidden door. Moments later, Mulder's voice reaches my ears, a tough of harshness to it, but quiet. "What are you doing here?" "Cleaning up the mess the Smoking Man left," I replied, turning to look at him. He looks a little haggard, and altogether confused. "Where's Spender?" "Can I trust you enough to tell you where he is?" I asked, making the mistake of looking into his eyes, and seeing the defeat that was there - mingled with joy. I could tell that he was torn between wanting to know, and wanting to handcuff me. I am, after all, wanted by the U.S. Government on several counts of murder, treason, and whatever else he could dig up on me, hoping that it would get me caught faster. "Mulder?" I asked after a moment, when he didn't respond. He came toward me, and pushed me into the office, closing the door behind us. I tried not to react when his hands touched me, and I escaped to the comfort of Spender's office chair as he closed the door, and locked it. He sat on the edge of the desk. "Tell me." "Jeffrey Spender was shot by his father, the Cigarette-Smoking Man, twenty minutes ago. I arrived with a team of medics five minutes after the Smoking Man left, and they took Spender to a secure medical facility, one that I have made sure is secure." "How do you know it's secure?" I looked at him calmly, the nervousness I'd felt when driving him and Scully to the faraway airport nowhere to be felt. "Sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight." His lips turned up at the corners when I said it, but it wasn't a real smile. "Do you know why?" "Obviously his father tried to kill him because Spender finally developed a backbone," I replied. "He just gave you back the X-Files, Mulder. What bigger treason is there than that to the Syndicate?" "Aren't you committing treason telling me these things?" he asked, crossing his arms. "There is no such thing as treason in my world." "Obviously," he muttered. I smirked. "So how come no one came down here to investigate but you?" "No one heard the shot, I guess," Mulder replied. "I just came down to thank Spender for giving us back the X-Files. Why are *you* here? As in, you specifically." "T-R-E-A-S-O-N, Mulder. Word of the day." "That's not it, Krycek. Why are you always helping me?" The ultimate question. I stood up, tryng to appear nonchalant. "I think I better go. Is that the elevator?" He blocked my way. "Krycek." "You want Scully to find me here?" "I'm not as stupid as you think I am, *Alex*. I figured out that it was you that gave Skinner that disease. And I want to know why." Damn it, I couldn't tell him. He was still standing in my way, glaring at me. "Damn you," I growled. He tapped his foot impatiently. "Are you going to tell me anytime today? Or do I have to wait all week?" I tried to get around him, but he wouldn't budge. "I know you weren't working for the Syndicate when you did it, Krycek," he continued. "Goody for you. Now, let me leave, or Scully's gonna shoot me." "Do I have to spell it out for you? Why? W-H-Y?" "You're crazy, Mulder." "KRYCEK!" he roared, and I jumped back. "Dammit, I'm going to arrest you if you don't tell me right now!" I looked in to his eyes. You don't want to know, Mulder. You don't want to know I love you. We're not going to go there, because it's a very, very, dark frontier. violinst@pitnet.net Site X - http://personal.pitnet.net/london