Mulder was already sitting in his car, driving speedily to Scully'sapartment.
All he could think about was what he'd found in the basement of Sixty-sixExeter Street. Tooms has Scully's necklace. That could mean only one thing:
Scully was going to be the fifth victim.
Mulder reached for his cellular phone and dialed Scully's number.
Scully's phone rang and rang and rang. "Come on, Scully," he muttered .
"Answer!"But all he heard was the sound of her phone ringing endlessly. Somehowthis alarmed him even more than seeing Scully's necklace in Tooms'sapartment.
Mulder tried Scully's number again, and then he threw down the phoneand hit the gas pedal hard . He hoped he wasn't too late.
There was, in fact, a reason why Scully wasn't answering. She didn'tanswer because her phone never rang: someone had cut the wires to herphone.
For a second, panic froze every muscle in Scully's body. I'm alone in theapartment with Tooms. Her heart hammered a rhythm of terror throughher veins. Tooms is hunting me.
She ordered herself to take a deep breath. The panic broke and instincttook over. She raced for the bedroom. She had to get her gun.
She'd left only one light on in the room. The rest of the bedroom was dark.
Tooms could be anywhere. In her closet. Under the bed. Crouching in theshadows. Please, she thought, don't let him be in here.
Frantically she looked for the gun. She forced herself to think calmly.
Where had she left it? She knew she'd brought the gun home from work. Inher bag. The gun was still in her bag. And the bag was on the bed.
She ran across the room. She reached for her bag and opened it. Her heartslowed as her fingers closed on the familiar metal barrel .
Now she was the hunter.
She braced the gun with both hands straight in front of her. Slowly shebegan to move through the apartment, searching for Tooms.
She looked under the bed, in the closet, under the desk, anywhere hemight be. But she was the only one in the bedroom. Tooms was still in theapartment, she was sure of it. And he was hiding.
She went back to the bathroom, moving slowly, silently. She looked up atan air vent in the hall ceiling. Nothing. She whirled as she thought sheheard a noise behind her. She trained her weapon on a heating grille justabove the floor. Nothing again.
She didn't see the cover of the heating grille opening. She only heard acrack as it flew off the wall and hit the hardwood floor.
Instantly Tooms's hand shot out of the vent and locked around her leg,pulling it out from under her.
Scully hit the floor hard. The gun fell from her hand. Terror paralysedher as she stared at Tooms. The rectangular air vent framed his face. Heno longer looked fearful and innocent. He looked like a vicious predatorabout to devour its prey .
For a long moment Scully and Tooms locked stares. Then a low, animalgrowl filled the apartment. And Tooms, using unbelievable strength,began to pull her towards him.
Scully knew that she'd never been up against anything like Tooms. Thatthis would be the hardest fight of her life. And that if she didn't win, it wouldbe the last.
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