From: lee burwasser Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 17:23:54 -0500 Subject: NEW: Doggett Earns His Way (1/1) by Lee Burwasser Rating - G Category - V Spoilers - within/without, triangle Keywords - alternate universe, SSF Summary - This universe is not run by fiat. Archive - yes, with the usual provisos Disclaimer - Skinner, Doggett, Scully, Mulder, Kersh, and the inhabitants of Bellefleur belong to Carter, 1013 and Fox Feedback - sure AUTHOR's NOTE: In/Out of season 8 happened, everything beyond did not. Doggett Earns His Way by Lee Burwasser Hoover Bldg Washington DC "Sir." AD Walter Skinner looked over at the speaker. Yes, John Doggett was trying to attract his attention -- and nobody else's. Interesting. He slowed slightly to let the other man catch him up. "You wished to speak to me?" he asked quietly. "Yes, sir. But -- when was your office last swept for bugs?" Walter gave a snort of laughter. "In here, you expect to be bugged: if you want privacy, you go outside; if you're paranoid, you go to the Mall; if you're *really* paranoid, you go to Hains Point." "I don't think I'm that paranoid, sir. I just want to talk to you and Agent Scully where the whole building won't be listening in." "The Mall, three o'clock. Scully knows where. And -- persuading her to come is your job." the Mall Washington DC The three agents slowly converged toward easy conversational distance. Doggett had persuaded Scully to come. But not to be forthcoming; she and Walter waited for him to begin. He took a long breath and plunged in. "I doubt it's news to either of you that Bellefleur is still looking for its kidnapped officers and the people kidnapped with them. Or that the Portland field office is giving them low-profile but constant help. From the fact that neither of you has gone charging off to Oregon, damn the torpedos, I deduce that they are doing as well as can be expected." Walter nodded and flicked a glance at Scully. *Field this one.* Scully nodded in turn. "Standard procedures will not find the abductees until the abductors are good and ready to return them." She half-shrugged. "It's an improvement on Frame the Victim." Doggett hunched his shoulders, as though against driving rain. That's right, Agent, no easy penances here. You earn your absolution. If you can. "No excuse, sir," said Marine Sgt Doggett. "I just assumed the boss had some good reason for what he did." "And had you do," Walter added. "And had me do. I should have twigged earlier that the evidence was sliding awfully smoothly into our hands. An agent should have done a better job of hiding it, or not bothered. The credit card purchases were over the phone, so the stores didn't even know if the actual purchaser had possession of the card, much less whether he matched the security holo. When I checked over the medical records, there were discrepancies. Like Cinderella's stepsister cutting off a toe to fit the slipper." "Did you ever nail down who sent you the file on Gibson Praise?" asked Walter. "I'm working on it." He drew a long breath. "Unless you'd rather I didn't." Walter raised his eyebrows, inviting the younger man to go on. "I have enough now to to justify an official investigation into who framed Mulder. Am I being paranoid in expecting the trail to lead to a cut-off, a low-level soldier?" "Probably dead. No, Agent, it's not paranoia if they really are after you." After a contemplative silence, Scully said, "I've seen Spender in Kersh's office." "You've seen him in my office," said Walter, more to draw her out than in serious objection. "One reason I took so long to trust you. And Kersh never slipped me data under cover of a showcase chewing out." Remembering what else had been involved in that elevator, Walter wondered if his face was as red as it felt. If so, Doggett ignored it and addressed Scully. "You figure Kersh is dirty?" "At first I thought he was just a hard-ass. Former Marine and all that." She carefully did not look at either of them. "I don't blame anyone for getting infuriated with Mulder; he can be infuriating. And I expect people to try to use me to curb him; everyone's tried it." Now she did stare -- glare -- at Doggett. "I will never forgive Kersh for the methods he used, but that does not make him dirty, just a bully. What did decide it was that farce of a manhunt: the way he reacted, and the way his golden boy acted." Doggett chewed on that, then said carefully, "I thought he'd given me a bum steer, but when I thought it over, I realised it was omission rather than commission. He must have known it was a bum steer, since you used to work for him, but let me follow it." He glanced sideways at Walter. "Maybe I should leak a bit myself?" He'd do, Walter decided. At least for the short term. "That will just get the cut-outs killed off before you ever get on them. No, you concentrate on getting us ammunition against that frame, and linking Kersh with it. See if you can link him with a company called Roush. Keep your data on floppy disks, nothing on your hard drive. Give Agent Scully copies; she'll take them to an . . . outside safe drop." "What about Mr Toxic Green? There must be more of them about." Scully took that one. "They turn up seldom, but unexpectedly. The Bounty Hunter follows his own agenda, not the Consortium's. The two sometimes coincide." "So how to we tell?" Scully now took a long breath, studying Doggett. She glanced at Walter with a raised brow. At Walter's nod, she dug a box out of her trench coat pocket, removed something about an inch long and replaced the box. She held out a hand to Doggett, who hesitantly offered his. He twitched but did not jump when Walter gripped his wrist. Scully displayed what she'd taken from the box: a plastic rod with a disk at one end. She twisted off the disk and pressed the exposed needle against Doggett's finger. Walter released his wrist, and Dogget raised his hand to stare at the red drop welling out. He looked at Scully, who handed him the rod and the disk she'd pulled off it. "You press the lancet into the center of the disk to keep it from sticking anyone else before you find a place to dispose of it properly," she said. Doggett followed her instructions and stared at it until she retrieved it and gave him the box. "They make them for home blood tests. There are a hundred or two hundred sterile lancets in a box." She dug out and handed him a pressure-cap vial. "Keep half a dozen with you for when you don't really expect to need them. If you're inside, use a glass or whatever's available to contain the fumes." Doggett studied the two items, then put them in his own pocket. "What if Mr. Toxic recognises the lancet, or just doesn't feel like shaking hands?" Walter snorted laughter. "Then he tosses you across the room one-handed, and you know what he is from that." Lee Burwasser *working stiff--don't blame me for policy*