“Hey Scully.”
“Yeah?”
“My watch just stopped.”
“What? Mulder? Mulder!”
She heard a clatter and then a scraping sound, as if he’d dropped the phone and it had swung, dragging against some hard surface.
“Mulder, what’s going on? Mulder!”
There was an electronic screech, and then the call went dead. Scully’s heart dropped out through her shoes. She wheeled and strode quickly back up the hall, eyes scanning side to side until she spotted an airport security officer. Pulling out her badge as she walked, she made a beeline for him and held up the identification.
“I’m Special Agent Dana Scully with the FBI, and I need you to take me to the air traffic control center immediately,” she said quietly but firmly. “I have reason to believe a plane carrying a federal officer may have been compromised.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “Compromised how?”
“I don't have time to explain it to you,” she said. “I need to get in contact with that plane.”
The security officer squinted at her badge, then back at her face. “If you're really FBI, then I want to talk to your supervisor.”
“Damn it, there are lives at stake, here! People could be dying while you waste time--”
“Look, miss, you want to talk about wasting time, if the FBI is aware of a threat to an aircraft, why send an agent all the way over here instead of just picking up the phone?” He shook his head. “Doesn’t add up.”
“I was already here!”
“Then how do you know there’s a threat?” He looked smug, like he’d caught her in a lie.
“Because my partner called me from the plane!” She clenched her fists, exasperated, then took a deep breath and lowered her voice again. “And the call went dead after he told me that the flight may have been compromised. Now his life might hang in the balance while you stand here worrying about protocol. Every second we waste arguing is a second that should have been spent informing the pilot of the danger. Now either you take me up to the tower right now, or I will see you personally held accountable and prosecuted for obstruction of justice.”
The man’s eyes widened, briefly. “You can’t scare me into breaking the rules. No one, and I mean no one, is allowed into the control tower without proper authorization. So unless I hear some confirmation of what you’re saying--”
Scowling, she pulled her phone out and hit the speed dial to call Skinner, who was already on his way over to the airport to meet Mulder’s flight when it landed. If it doesn’t crash first, her mind betrayed her by interjecting.
“Sir, it’s Agent Scully. Agent Mulder called me from the airphone to tell me that the man who shot Agent Pendrell is on his flight. He had him detained, but I heard suspicious noises over the line and then the call went dead. I have reason to believe the flight may be compromised, and airport security is refusing to let me into the control tower to attempt contact with the pilot.”
“Put ‘em on.”
She handed over the phone and watched the officer’s face go ashen as Skinner read him the riot act. “Y-yes, sir, right away, sir.” He hung up Scully’s phone and handed it back to her. “F-follow me, please.”
It was a tense ride up the elevator to the tower, the man stammering after the door closed, “I-I thought you were… Jake said I should expect to be tested after, after our last security training.”
“Well it sounds like you need more training on how to distinguish test scenarios from genuine emergencies.” Ordinarily, she might have had more sympathy for the man’s position, but not when it may have cost Mulder his life. They lapsed back into uncomfortable silence, Scully dreading what she might discover once they got into the control room.
She expected to walk into a scene of chaotic activity, people on phones and radios trying to confirm whether or not there had been another crash. Instead, the elevator doors opened to a quiet room, air traffic controllers seated in front of radar screens and speaking in low, calm voices. One woman stood in the middle of the room, and the airport security officer led Scully over to her.
“Ma’am, there’s an FBI agent here to see you.”
The officer backed away, and the woman raised her eyebrows in surprise, then held out her hand. “I’m Mary Cowl, shift supervisor. How can I help you?”
“Flight 501 out of Syracuse, have you had any contact with them in the last fifteen minutes?”
Mary frowned. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to check the schedule. Which airline?”
“I don’t know. But they left Syracuse about forty minutes ago.”
“Well, in that case, they should be on approach any time now. Follow me.”
Scully followed as Mary turned and walked over to one of the computer stations on the edge of the room. She held her breath as the woman’s fingers flew over the keys, and the radar image on the screen shifted. Mary pointed to a triangle on the monitor labeled JIA501.
“They’re not in our airspace yet, just outside it actually, but that’s your flight.”
“Can we get the pilot on radio?”
“Sure, but can I ask what this is about?”
Scully quickly explained the situation, and Mary nodded gravely, then picked up a headset. “Blue Streak 501, confirm heading and altitude.”
In the conversation that followed, Scully could of course only hear the one side, but to her relief, it sounded like everything was okay. The pilot seemed to be reporting nothing out of the ordinary. Mary had to hand him over to one of the other tower controllers for landing, so Scully’s request to get Mulder on the radio was denied.
“They’ll be on the ground in a matter of minutes,” Mary told her. “If you’d like, you can watch them land from here, or I can have someone escort you to the gate where they’ll be parking downstairs.”
Supposing she could watch the landing just as well from downstairs, Scully opted to wait at the gate. Skinner called her back to say he had arrived, and she directed him to where she was. She watched plane after plane safely land, the knot in her stomach refusing to loosen, until finally she saw his flight on its final approach. She breathed a sigh of relief when it touched down without incident. The minutes dragged by while the plane taxied to the gate, and the moment it parked, she and Skinner looked at each other and nodded.
