TITLE: None So Blind (5/5)
AUTHOR: bcfan
FEEDBACK: bcfan@shaw.ca
RATING :strong NC-17 for disturbing content. Please heed the warning.
SPOILERS: post-episode, Fallen Angel
CATEGORY: X (casefile), M/S UST
SUMMARY: Child sexual abuse cases leave Mulder and Scully struggling for resolution.
NOTES at the end.



Catastrophe hovered in the air around the decrepit apartment building.
Fully two-thirds of the windows were boarded up, and a private property sign across the front doors nailed them shut. A siren shouted in the distance.
Mulder imagined a black hole sucking life from the crushed neighbourhood.
A patrolman had found the first clue. Alerted by a strong burning odour, he'd shoved aside a stack of dilapidated cardboard boxes and found a broken window.
With a patrol car guarding the front and an INS team in place, a circle of officers surrounded Ortega and Mulder in the alleyway.
Mulder stood silent as Ortega gave directions for the search. His brain was firing overtime and an intuition he hated to rely on told him exactly where to look. He glanced at his watch. Scully would be there soon, but he couldn't risk the wait.
"Captain Ortega, I want to go in with the basement team."
Ortega nodded. "Mike, start your team at the top. Harris, Rachel, Jaspreet, Agent Mulder, basement. Careful, everyone. There's no power and the place is a condemned shithouse, so no one has a legal right to be in there. Slow and thorough. We'll have a crew stationed outside to handle anyone you flush out. Keep in contact."
Mulder grabbed a two-way radio from the supply box as one of the men used a crowbar to snap the lock.
"Agent Mulder," Harris said, "it's our bust. We'll go first." He gestured to Mulder's bad ankle.
Mulder's jaw clenched as he bit back an argument. He knew they were right - on both counts - but the drive to find Jimmy seemed to be pulling him into the building. He nodded once, sharply, and followed the others.
They filed through the splintered door and down the stairs into a level of hell.
Spray paint obscenities bled into ragged holes in the walls, and glass littered the floor. The fetid tear-down was filled with trash. A rat darted boldly between Mulder's legs.
All four switched on their flashlights and Harris gave a hand signal to split them into pairs. Harris and Rachel went east.
Mulder looked at Jaspreet. "Ready?"
At Jaspreet's nod, they approached the first abandoned apartment in their wing.
The door was partly open, so Mulder pushed until they had a clear view.
They stepped inside and searched the other rooms.
Empty.
The ominous odour of scorched garbage hovered in the air but its source was impossible to pinpoint. We'll have to do this one room at a time, Mulder realized. That would take time, and time was not something they had to spare.
Next apartment, then the next, and the next. Nothing.
Mulder tried another door. A surge of adrenaline followed noise in a back room. Mulder and Jaspreet assumed firing stance, waiting to see if the sound would come again. When it wasn't repeated, Mulder used his left arm to shove a rotten mattress blocking the way.
A shriek - and an angry ball of cat shot into the next room.
Mulder licked his lips. "This doesn't look like the Pussy Cat Lounge."
He glanced over and noticed a fine sheen of sweat on Jaspreet's face. Mulder felt it too. Hot weather and Kevlar was only part of the reason.
They silently continued their search, Mulder's eyes straining in the gloom. He pressed his lips in a thin line to keep the frustration inside.
This was their last hope, he thought as yet another apartment revealed nothing. If they didn't find Jimmy in this building, Mulder's theory would be dead wrong. Dead wrong probably meant dead Jimmy.
Three apartments left. Mulder reached for the door, but some change in the air told him to turn.
The burning stench, always strong, was suddenly stronger, and it choked the air from his lungs. A dark form roared toward him, missed his head by a fraction, and Mulder crouched low, his back pressed against a wall.
"What the hell?" Jaspreet gasped just as the black form swept him to the ground.
Mulder looked up. The shadow was taking shape, solidifying before his eyes. A black grin leered down at him.
The Boss pulled off his sunglasses. Mulder looked into the monster's eyes and his mind was instantly overwhelmed. Blood, death, hunger, power - a demonic dance filled his head as he gasped for air. Fighting the urge to curl in on himself, Mulder lifted his gun and pulled the trigger, again and again, emptying his weapon, but to no effect. The creature loomed over him, as if preparing to strike.
Then, with a shrug, the Boss grabbed Mulder by the lapels and hoisted him effortlessly into the air.
A suddenly clatter of footfalls came from the stairwell, distracting his captor. Mulder sagged in the creature's grip.
"Next time," the creature sneered, exhaling brimstone. The Boss tossed Mulder to the floor like yesterday's garbage. He replaced his glasses and the shards of pain behind Mulder's eyes slowly retreated. The Boss turned and glided to the far exit, seeming to dematerialize as he travelled. Within seconds, Mulder was squinting at an amorphous shimmer.
Mulder struggled to his feet, head throbbing, and shouted, "Officer down!" into the two-way. "Our perp entered the west stairway, probably heading for ground level."
Harris and Rachel crouched by Jaspreet's body.
"He okay?" Mulder asked.
"Unconscious. I've called for an ambulance," Harris replied. "What the hell happened?"
"It attacked him."
"It?" Rachel asked.
"Our perp," Mulder replied as he changed the clip in his gun. An open door as the end of the hallway called to him. The Boss had probably come from there. And maybe -
He had to know.
Mulder stepped carefully around fast food wrappers, toilet paper and discarded condoms. As his eyes adjusted to the twilight, he switched off his flashlight.
The next room. No - the next one.
There.
A soft little naked body huddled in the corner, all arms and legs and a preschooler's tummy.
Mulder walked in and slowly reached out a hand, then stopped in midair.
Alive. The boy was alive.
Mulder spread his feet, crouching low to make his frame as small as possible.
"Hi."
The boy stared with frightened eyes.
"My name is Fox. I'm with the police. Are you Jimmy Findlay?"
A slow blink in a tear-streaked face.
"Are you hurt, Jimmy?"
"Uh huh." The boy sniffled. "I want my mommy!"
Mulder swallowed, struggled to maintain a calm face. The boy's genitals were inflamed. He eased off his coat and sat cross-legged on the ground.
"Are you cold?"
Jimmy whimpered, "Mommy."
"Jimmy, I'm going to put my coat on the ground. You can put it on."
Mulder placed his cell phone, badge, and two-way radio next to his thigh. He stretched his jacket in front of him. The tot pulled on a sleeve and wrapped himself up, covering everything but his eyes.
Mulder reached for his weapon - then stopped - at the sound of familiar footsteps.
"Mulder?"
"Hi, Scully," Mulder whispered. "Let me introduce you to Jimmy Findlay."
Scully dropped to her knees next to Mulder and smiled as she spoke. "Hi Jimmy, I'm Dana. I'm a friend of your mommy's. I'm so glad we've found you. She misses you so much, Jimmy."
Jimmy shuddered, and huge tears ran down his face. Scully sat next to the tot and, after a hair's breadth of hesitation, he leaned against her. "Mommy."
Mulder's muscles sagged as he rubbed an aching spot on his forehead.
There wasn't going to be another unhappy ending.

xXx

"I heard from Mary Findlay last night, Mulder."
"Yeah?" Mulder looked up from his desk. "What did she have to say?"
"She called to thank us again, and to say that she and Jimmy are doing better. They're both in therapy and it's helping."
Mulder sucked in his lip, worried it. "Jimmy's got a lot to deal with."
Scully nodded. "I've got my mom on it, Mulder. She was already flying out to San Diego to visit my brother, so she's going to contact some friends, see what they can do to help."
He gazed into her serious eyes. A caring woman, he thought absently. "Navy connections?"
Scully smiled. "And the church."
"Sounds like the Findlays are going to be tag teamed."
Scully nodded. "I just wish-"
"What?"
"I just wish we could have caught the perp."
Mulder shrugged. "You know what Ortega said, Scully. A shimmery darkness and a strong stench of burning garbage, but nothing solid. Besides-"
"Yes?"
"You can't catch the boogyman."
Scully frowned. "So it would appear."
"Are you humouring me, Agent Scully?"
"Not at all." Scully wrinkled her nose, closed the file she was reading and handed it to Mulder. "These are the kinds of cases I'm learning to expect in our partnership."
Partnership. Mulder heard unspoken promise in the word, an affinity he'd yet to experience and thought to never have.
Mulder stood. As he walked easily to the projector he felt energized, pain-free after almost a month and ready to start the next fascinating case.
"In that case, partner," he lit the screen with his first slide, "there's been a series of mysterious fires outside of San Francisco. Here-" click "-here-" click "-here-" click "-and here."
"And?" Scully asked.
"Have you ever heard of a bonnacon?"
"A what?"
"A bonnacon. It's a Chinese ox-like creature with harmlessly curled horns. It's reputed to be able to defend itself by passing gas so strong that it starts fires."
Scully snorted. "You mean a Chinese ox-like mythical creature, right? A powerfully farting fictional creature? Wouldn't that be kind of hard to hide - even in San Francisco?"
"None so blind, Scully."


END None So Blind (5/5)


Notes: 

This story is dedicated to MaybeAmanda. All thanks go to her. MaybeAmanda not only held my hand during the entire writing process, but provided invaluable instruction on how to construct a casefile (something I probably wouldn't have attempted if I'd known how difficult it was - and never would have finished without Amanda's help). Sadly, Amanda didn't provide a Manda-to-bc brain transplant along with her help, so any mistakes in this story are due solely to my own leaps of illogic. 
I have never been to National City, California. All National City locations and people mentioned in my story are the purest fiction.
Finally, I was dismayed to learn while doing research that Los Lenones is an actual, real worldwide association of pimps, routinely locating their underage brothels in neighbourhoods like the one described in this story.