Agent of Chaos (The X-Files: Origins #1)(10)
The power went out and the front door was open. Just like when Samantha was taken. The details were so similar.
Sarah’s photo appeared on the TV screen again, and the police chief took over. “Sarah Lowe has blond hair and brown eyes, and a small scar above her right eyebrow.”
Mulder focused on the photo: Sarah’s happy-kid grin, minus a front tooth. The dimple in her left cheek. Gray elephants marching across her white pajamas, except for the brown one above the top of the zipper. Mulder leaned closer and realized it wasn’t an elephant at all. It was a brown stain, shaped sort of like a hippo.
“The search is ongoing. If anyone has information related to Sarah Lowe’s disappearance, please call the tip line.”
Mulder stood in front of the TV set in a daze. He didn’t even remember getting up from the chair. All he could think about was Samantha and Sarah Lowe, gray elephants and a brown hippo-shaped spot—and two front doors—both hanging wide open. He was still standing there when his dad walked into the living room and turned off the television.
“Didn’t you hear me calling you?” His father’s harsh tone yanked Mulder back to reality.
Did you hear about the missing little girl? That was what Mulder wanted to ask, but he settled on “Obviously not.”
If he brought up the newscast, his dad would inevitably make a rude comment about Mulder’s “unhealthy obsession” with Samantha’s disappearance, causing Mulder to fire back with a rude comment of his own. Phoebe’s visit would be over before it started. And he had to talk to her about this.
“I don’t appreciate your attitude, Mulder.” His father stalked down the hallway to his room. “One day that smart mouth of yours is going to get you in real trouble.”
The bedroom door slammed, and it took Mulder a minute to fully absorb the significance of what had just happened. In the last hour, his father had managed to ruin his night, proving, yet again, that Mulder couldn’t count on him. But something else happened, too.
Mulder smiled.
He had finally gotten his dad to stop calling him Fox.
*
After the eleven o’clock news, Mulder’s eyes started feeling heavy, not that it mattered. Insomnia won its nightly battle 90 percent of the time. Sleep equaled nightmares: the chance to relive the worst night of his life over and over.
Mulder’s mind flashed on Sarah Lowe’s photo from the news. Another flash hit, and he found himself staring at the face of a different eight-year-old girl.…
Samantha sitting cross-legged on the living room floor of the Chilmark house with a Stratego game board in front of her.
The news was on in the background—a report about Watergate. Fox’s favorite show was coming on in a few minutes, and he couldn’t miss it. He captured one of his sister’s Stratego game pieces and took it off the board.
“Do we have to watch this, Fox?” she whined.
“Leave it. I’m watching The Magician at nine.”
“Mom and Dad said I could watch a movie,” she argued.
“They’re next door at the Galbrands’. And they said I’m in charge.” As far as he was concerned, that meant he was in charge of the TV, too.
Samantha got up and changed the channel to a stupid Western.
“Hey! Get out of my life!” Fox yelled.
Samantha shrieked in his ear, but she wasn’t getting her way tonight.
He switched it back and stood up, towering over her. “I’m watching The Magician.”
The lights went out suddenly, and that was where the memory got fuzzy. He remembered his heart pounding and hearing Samantha scream his name. “Fox!”
Then the room faded.…
When Fox regained consciousness minutes later, he was lying on his back in the living room, staring at the cracks in the ceiling.
Why was he sleeping on the floor out there, instead of in his bedroom? What time was it? He remembered arguing with Samantha and the power going out.
Something was wrong.
Fox bolted upright, an overwhelming sense of dread clutching at his chest. His gaze shot to the rug where his sister had been sitting a few minutes ago. Stratego pieces lay scattered across the board, but no Samantha.
Where did she go?
“Samantha?” Fox called out. No response. Instead he heard a familiar creaking sound behind him, and he turned around slowly.
The front door of the house was wide open.
Fox ran to the door, heart pounding. The sidewalks in his quiet neighborhood were dark, except where the lampposts cast pale halos on the sidewalks. Had Samantha gone outside? Maybe she was next door with their parents?
But as he raced down the front steps and into the middle of the street, Fox knew the truth.
His sister was gone.
CHAPTER 5
Rock Creek Cemetery
March 31, 8:40 A.M.
Mulder woke up earlier than usual the next morning. Avoiding his father was an art, and he didn’t want to be home when his dad left for the airport. The nightmare about Samantha already had him on edge.
He jogged the same route every Saturday—down New Hampshire Avenue, past the convenience store, around Rock Creek Cemetery, and back to the apartment. Running cleared his head, and if he lucked out, he would pass a hot girl. Not that any of them compared to Phoebe.
Today, even Phoebe’s long legs and killer smile couldn’t take his mind off the missing kids. First the little boy, Billy Christian, and now Sarah Lowe. What were the odds of two children in the metro area disappearing within a week and a half of each other? What if the police didn’t find them?