An automated voice leads her to Mulder.

"HE-LLO DA-NA. WE. HAVE. YOUR. PART-NER. NINE. TWEN-TY. BRENT-WOOD. ROAD. COME. A-LONE."

Click. the call ended. Dana set her chunky black cell phone down on the dash in disbelief. The voice on the other end of the line had been synthesised, almost robotic. Just what exactly was going on here?

For a second, she considered reaching out to someone for help, Assistant Director Skinner, or the Lone Gunmen, but she had been warned to head to the location alone. Maybe they were bluffing, but with Mulder's safety on the line, that wasn't a risk the agent was willing to take.

That and her loins burned with the illicit thrill of it all.

Scully drove to Brentwood Road and got out of her car. Staying low, she approached with her gun drawn. The place looked deserted, a mixed office-industrial area. Up a flight of stairs, there was one office with a light switched on.

Sidling up to the door, Scully took a breath and steeled herself, before bursting in, sweeping her pistol across the room.

"Federal Agent! I'm a Federal Agent!" the redhead called out, as she had a hundred times in the handful of years since she'd joined the X-Files. Only this time, Agent Mulder wasn't doing it alongside her, and the room stayed quiet. No one was there.

"Dammit..." Scully panted. As she lowered her gun, she tried to ignore how soaked the crotch of her panties felt.

She cast an eye around the room. A small office with only the one exit. There was a bathroom, empty. Pushed up against the wall of the office, across from the front door was a TV/VCR cart.

There was a videotape on top of the TV. Her name on the label left Dana with little doubt who the intended recipient was.

Swallowing a little, she inserted the tape, and hit play.

Handheld videocam footage showed a new location, nondescript, industrial. As the camera shakily panned across she saw Mulder! Her partner looked roughed up, and exhausted. He was on his knees, hands cuffed behind his back, in a blue shirt, his mouth gagged.

"Agent Scully, we have your partner." Another voice, the person recording the footage spoke up. She sounded unedited, female, youthful, and nervy. "Come to 427 Charles Terrace, or Agent Mulder here is gonna get it."

As if to make a point, the unseen camerawoman levelled a pistol, which Dana recognised as Mulder's service weapon, at the restrained agent.

"You have an hour. Get moving!"

The tape cut off. Scully's mind raced, who was doing this? Why the automated voice on her cell and a human one on the tape? Why kidnap Mulder?

Above her head, she noticed a pair of security cameras tracking her movements, a red light next to the lense of each indicating they were currently active. The redhead suddenly felt very watched.