Okay, here we go. I was just re-watching the pilot, and Irresistible, and I decided that there was more to the story of Mulder's recruitment than he was letting on. This is a strictly Mulder story, no Scully, no romance, unless you count a dead ex-girlfriend, and I don't. Rated PG-13 for violence and content. There's also a bit of profanity (I've said it before and most likely will say it again: *Bite me, Exon!*). No sex, though. :-P Fox Mulder, Bill Mulder(Short cameo), and Walter Skinner(Even shorter cameo) are property The Man, The Station, The Company, no copyright infringement intended. All other characters-Dani, Lewis, Eduards, Linfield, Halpern, Krevsky, Morrow, and Cooley-are mine. And if that ain't a cast of characters, I don't know what is. Don't worry, thought, if I can keep them straight so can you. I had fun writing it, and that pretty much tells you something about what I do for fun, so read it and be happy and all that. I love email, so please comment. I even accept flames, folks! First Blood, Book 1 by RaEnright The Hunter, part 1 June 5, 1982 Oxford University Oxford, England "Mulder, wire for you." The short man held out an envelope. Fox Mulder, age twenty two, student of psychology, looked up from his textbook and smiled. "Thanks, Lewis." "No prob. But who would want to wire you?" he asked his roommate, his thick British accent corrupting his words slightly. "I don't know. Hm, maybe I can define it using psychic powers." He pressed a hand to his head and shut his eyes. "I think...I'm getting an 'S'...yes, an S...maybe it's about this...summer!" he opened his eyes and grinned at his friend. "Sorry, Lewis, I'm punchy from finals. So, let's see-" he opened the envelope, tearing the edge off and shaking the paper out. "Hm...From America." He skimmed the letter. Lewis watched his already pale face drain completely of color as he read. "Mulder? Yo..." The paper fell to the table next to the textbook. Looking at him for permission, Lewis picked it up and read it. fox-danielle missing. suspect you may have heard of strip killer. please come, your id needed. pray. love you. mom He looked at Mulder, who was sitting rigidly, watching him. "Mulder..." "Cover for me, Lewis. I've got to go back." _____________________________________ June 6 New Bedford airport, Mass. A man in a dark suit and sunglasses met him at the airport. He held up a badge and took off his sunglasses. "Fox Mulder?" "Yeah." "I'm Aaron Eduards, FBI. Welcome back to America." "Thanks." "I'm in charge of the investigation into the possible death of your girlfriend. If you don't mind, we have the body..." "I'd like to do this as soon as possible." Eduards locked eyes with him. "Good. Come on, I'll drive you there." Over the two hour drive to Dani's hometown, Eduards quizzed him about his relationship with her. He answered apathetically, at best. "She was your girlfriend?" "Ex-girlfriend." "Records show she has no living relatives?" "Her parents died five years ago." "So she lived by herself?" "She was twenty." "We have no legal problem with that, Mr. Mulder. We merely want to make sure we have the records straight." "I understand." "Are you familiar with the Strip Killer?" "Barely." "He-well, here we are. Are you sure you can do this?" "I'm fine." He really didn't think it would be her. How could it be? The identification wasn't easy. Dental records provided an inconclusive match; no wallet or ID was to be found. Finally they managed to match the ring on her finger. He hadn't expected to throw up. Agent Eduards had found him a wastebasket and watched sympathetically as his last two meals came back to haunt him. "It's all right, Mr. Mulder. It happens to the best of us." After he'd finished, he managed to drink a glass of water and face the body again. Of course that's why they weren't able to ID her, his rational mind thought. There's not enough skin left on the body. "Yeah, it's her. That's her ring." He pointed at a bloody circlet in an evidence tray. "It's silver, onyx inlay, engraved on the inside." He fought down nausea again. "Holy Jesus." "I'm sorry." "Yeah. Me too." _______________________ "Listen, Mulder...you have a place to stay, right?" Eduards looked across the lobby at the younger man. "I'm not staying for long. I've got classes at Oxford. Just until the funeral." "We're going to catch this guy." "I hope the hell so. How can anyone...oh god." "I understand." "How do you..." he gestured at the closed door. "I prepared myself for it. I'd seen it before." "This man's killed-" "Six other girls." "Six other girls." Mulder imagined six other bodies, six other families. "Six." "He's gotten sloppy. We'll get him soon." Eduards said determinedly, but his spirit wasn't in it. "Can I..." Mulder swallowed. "Can I help in any way? I've psychology training-" "Usually we don't allow untrained persons into the field. But..." Eduards sighed, "We're understaffed and the team profilist-" "Team what?" "Profilist? He's got the flu and no-one's willing to lend us one." "Um...I could try that." Mulder ran a hand through his hair. "Can I see the file on this guy?" Eduards nodded and began to walk to the car. The AD was gonna kill him for this. But he was trying, and they could use a fresh mind. _____________________________ "Hey Eduards, who's the kid?" Krevsky gestured to the tall man standing behind his team leader. "Respect, Krevsky, he's here to help out." Eduards jerked a thumb behind him. "Krevsky, Halpern, Linfield, Fox Mulder. Mulder-" "Joe Krevsky." "Rich Halpern." "Aaaand the ever present James Linfield." The third man finished with a flourish. "Pleased to meet you." "We got no profilist." Eduards ticked items off on his fingers. "We've got to catch this man. We don't have much time." "Can we get to the point sometime today?" Halpern flicked a paperclip at the trash can. "Mulder wants to help. He's got psychology training." "What branch you in, kid?" "I'm...not." Mulder shifted uncomfortably. "He ID'd the last body." "Oh. He's untrained?" "He's got the training we need." "Morrow's gonna flip." "Not if he doesn't find out." Eduards shot down the protest. "Let's get to work. Krevsky, toss him a copy of the files." Krevsky dug through a pile of papers in the office and came up with a neat pile. "Here." Mulder sorted through them and sat down. "Now, let's take a refresher, okay?" Eduards spread out a map. "He hits women, twenty to thirty, in the Bristol, Plymouth, and Barnstable counties. He attacks, disables, rapes, and murders his victims. He then proceeds to skin the victims-" "You okay, kid?" Linfield watched Mulder turn a light shade of green. "Yeah, I'm...fine." "His first three victims had been dating him for some months, their friends said. Noone ever met him. The fourth and fifth were each murdered three weeks after the last one. The final victim," and Eduards glanced at Mulder, "We assume had been running in the park when she was accosted and disabled." "And he re-dresses them after he skins them, hence the name Strip Killer." "Where have the women been found?" Mulder flipped through the pages. Linfield pointed to the map. "First one-Somerset, Bristol county. Then Plympton, Plymouth. Cedarville, right near the Barnstable border-" "Wait." Mulder leaned forward. "The next one is Fairhaven. Right?" "Right-how did you know?" "He's moving closer to a central location. Look." He hand flew over the map. "After Fairhaven...there. He keeps getting closer to some location in Barnstable." "He *is* escalating..." Eduards regarded the young man. "That would make sense." "Wal, congrats, kid." Linfield whacked him on the back. "Welcome to the wonderful world of federal investigations." "And if he's getting closer to home-Krev, pass the profile Cooley started on this guy." "Cooley's our profilist." Krevsky explained. "Got the flu. Pain in the butt." "Here. He started the profile...He's an escalating somethinorother, can't decide whether it should be fetishist or what. Rapist tendencies-" "He could be doing that to reduce them to less than human. Makes him feel better when he kills them." Mulder said thoughtfully. "We'll add it to the profile." Krevsky tossed a sheet of paper at him. "Halpern, what's the take on jurisdiction? We gonna go back to Washington or what?" "People are scared. These murders are getting much closer together." Halpern leaned back in his chair. "As long as he's loose, they want, and I quote, 'a soothing and secure presence in the area' and I unquote." "Okay, so post the map on the wall and get to work, already." Linfield took out a box of tacks. "The murders are placed after a pattern. We just can't figure out what it is." Eduards pointed to a chart on the wall. Victim Age date method LDF one 26 7/13/80 BWH 0% two 21 11/23 Same 0% three 21 3/05/81 Same 0% four 24 4/08 Same 20% five 29 5/15 Same 15.6% six 27 5/28 Same 18% seven UN 6/05 Same UN "We haven't fully factored victim sev-your friend." Eduards corrected himself. "Now that we know her conclusive ID, we can..." he scratched UN out and entered 20. The second UN remained. "What-what does LDF mean?" "Location Discrepancy Factor. Deals with the possible location of the murder, rather than the place the body was found." "It jumps. From the first four to a twenty percent discrepancy?" "The first three were found where they'd fallen, BWH-" "Bullet wound to the head." Halpern said. "-And it was pretty damned easy to see that they hadn't been dragged in from anywhere." "What about the next three?" "Four was in her car, on an old road. She hadn't been shifted from the car, but she could have been driven there." "Five had dirt found on her clothes, evidence she fell somewhere else and was dragged for a while." "Where was she found?" "A campground." "Then...wouldn't the dirt on the ground have picked up the blood trail?" They looked at each other. "The crime scene photos-" "Jesus, he's right." "Nice job, kid." "Six was another car murder, but the gas tank was full. Still an eighteen percent chance she wasn't killed where the car was found." Eduards continued. "You ever watch Colombo, kid?" Linfield asked. ______________________ Mulder sat in the half light of the office and scribbled on the blank page. The team was out getting dinner; he'd told them his body was still on Britain time and he wasn't hungry yet. Which was about half true, but he didn't think he could eat after seeing Dani in the morgue. *Ye gods.* *What did she do to deserve that?* *Don't concentrate on that now.* He reread the notes he'd just taken. Agent Cooley believes the subject is escalating in nature, and I tend to agree. The subject is male, as identified by the rape factor, most likely normal to all outward appearances. It is my opinion that subject is young, between the ages of twenty and thirty, as are his victims. Subject is also in possession of at least one type of firearm, if not more. Skill with which the body was skinned suggests the subject has some hunting skills. Autopsy reports show loss of blood is minimal during the process. Agent Eduards believes that the possibility of the fourth, fifth, and sixth murders being relocated should be higher; I believe that once the murder is done and the 'trophy' as Agent Halpern calls it is taken, the killer ignores the body and is content to leave it as it is. The fact that the first three bodies had not been removed from their homes supports this. *Dear lord, I've reduced seven lives to statistics and numbers. I've reduced Dani to a statistic.* According to the records of the deaths, the killer is most likely residing in Barnstable county. He was apparently dating the first women for some time before committing the act, and it surprises me that upon the discovery of this first murder, the federal agents were not called in immediately. After the third victim, he shortened the time allotted to three weeks. The last two murders occurred within two weeks of each other. It is still a mystery as to why he would attempt to stalk and/or kill women so far away from his home to begin with. The killer has progressed from murdering women he apparently knows to attacking whoever may be closest. His drive to kill, whatever the reason, is increasing. He apparently rapes his victims to reduce them to less than human. He then proceeds to take a trophy, much as a hunter would. *And he's already taken seven innocent lives.* He dropped the paper and glanced again at the chart. Seven innocent lives. His head dropped to his arms on the table and, for the first time since god knew when, he cried. _____________________ =========================================================================== From: raenright@aol.com (RaEnright) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: First Blood: The Hunter 2/1/3 Date: 21 Jul 1995 10:55:31 -0400 Hi all, this is the continuation of First Blood book 1, The Hunter, see pt 1 for legal details. It's also a tad confusing because I've also posted the first parts of another story, Close Shave, which has NOTHING AT ALL to do with this one, except that I posted it. I'm just trying to keep people from getting mixed up. This is an effort to explain how Mulder came to the attention of the Bureau in the first place. I have other theories, but this is the one that made it to print. Hey, I'm a LGW, I can have all the theories I want! First Blood, Book 1 The Hunter, pt 2 When the four men returned from dinner, The door was open. The kid had fallen asleep, despite his protests that he hadn't been tired. Eduards carefully picked the paper from under his arm and skimmed it. He motioned to Linfield, who was inspecting the kid as if he thought he might be some strange animal. "Look at this." He murmured. "Now if that's not a helluva profile, I don't know what is." Linfield whistled. "This kid did that?" "Look at this, Krevsky. Full persona outline. If he can investigate half as well as he profiles..." "We're out of a job." Linfield finished. "It's rough, but he's never learned the SOP for profiling, has he?" "Where'd you get him?" Halpern watched the kid shift slightly. " He came in to ID the last victim. His ex-girlfriend. He offered to help, and the guy's looking to get a psych degree anyway. I figured he could learn something and maybe help out at the same time." "Get the profile and we'll complete the form. Maybe even get a chance to use the new database Morrow's all excited about." "Get a grip, do you think anyone here actually knows how to use a computer?" "How hard can it be?" Halpern was shaking Mulder's arm. "Hey kid, naptime's over." "Hm?" he looked up wearily. Eduards noticed the faint tearstains under his eyes. "Here, have a kleenex." "Thanks." Mulder wiped at his face, embarrassed. Of all the times to fall asleep... "Got it." Krevsky was sitting at a clunky box in a corner, punching carefully at a keyboard. "I got the database hookup...so now what?" "Y'got me." Linfield whacked the monitor. "I don't know how to work these things." "Try 'search'." Eduards rolled his eyes. "Look for escalating." "Escalating." He carefully picked out each key. "It says 'searching'. What do I do now?" "You wait for the search to end, dumbass." Halpern grinned. "I knew that." Krevsky said defensively. "Hey Mulder, you know anything about computers?" "Not much." Mulder looked around, trying to find his profile sheet. Eduards held it up. "Good job, kid." "He does have a name, Eduards." Krevsky said from the corner. "Yeah, his name is Kid!" Linfield laughed. "It beats calling you Fox, or Mulder. So, Kid with a capital K, how'd you whip this up?" he pointed to the paper. "I just wrote what I thought...is something wrong with it?" "Nothing wrong and everything right. This is beautiful. Cooley'd be proud." "T-thanks." Mulder looked down at the table. "Base just shut down. I hate these things." Krevsky whacked the computer for good measure. "We lost it." "Damn." Eduards swore. "Can you re-connect somehow?" "Probably, But I wouldn't have the faintest idea how." Krevsky switched it off. "You want to call Morrow?" "Naw, he'd just chew us out for wasting our time and the bureau's money." Eduards caught Mulder's quizzical look and explained. "Morrow's the assistant director and one of the meanest sonsobitches around." "Barring that assistant of his, whatever his name is." "Walt Skinner. Whew, what a drill sergeant." Eduards shuddered dramatically. "I pity the men he's gonna be boss of." "Hey, it's already quitting time. Y'all want to head back to the motel and harass someone?" "I'll pass on the harassment, Linfield. I'm dying." Halpern coughed. "C'mon, let's go. You got a place to sleep, Kid?" "I'm staying with my father." Mulder winced inwardly. "Taking the ferry to West Tisbury." "You're going to West Tisbury? From here?" "Either that or stay with my mom in Chilmark..." "Call your dad. A big boy like you should be able to make his own choices. You can stay with us, if you don't mind sleeping on a couch." "Sounds great." Mulder smiled sadly. "Lemme make sure my dad won't murder me first." "Here." Krevsky tossed him a phone. He dialed the number while the others cleaned up and sorted the papers. "Hello." "Hi dad, it's Fox." "Hello, boy." Mulder winced and wondered why everyone still thought he was a child. "Dad, I'm staying over on the mainland. Is that all right?" "Found some girl, I suppose, and that other girl of yours not even in the ground." "No, no, I'm working with the agents, trying to help out on the case." "And abandoning your mother. You're a great son, Fox." "Dad, I'm trying to make sure this man doesn't kill anyone else. That's all. I'll be here a few days at most, and I need to help them out." "Then try not to get in their way too much." "Dad-" the click on the other end of the line was decisive. He hung up the phone. "That was fun." "C'mon, Kid, let's go. You look awful." "Matches how I feel." _____________ "Here's a the couch, I hope it's not too lumpy." Krevsky pounded on it. "The Bureau's too cheap to let us ever stay in a nice joint." "I'm used to it. Dorms." Mulder dropped his dufflebag and sat down. "Jesus Christ, and I thought my life was screwed up before." "Beg pardon?" "Nothing. Sometimes psychology can be a royal pain in the ass." "Why's that?" "Because I tend to analyze everything to death, along with every possible nuance of every conversation." "So why're you studying it?" "Honestly? I have no idea. I suppose...it seemed like a good idea at the time." "Sounds like the reason I joined the bureau." Linfield commented from the next room. "Hey Kid, let's get something to eat." "Linfield, you just had an entire order of potstickers half an hour ago." Halpern scolded. "So I get hungry fast. Sue me. You coming, Eduards?" "No, I'm gonna report back to Morrow. Krevsky?" "Forget it, I'm not in the mood to talk to that nutbag. I'm outta here." "I'll help out around here." Halpern came out of the bathroom, his face half-shaved. "I'm gonna talk to Cooley, see what he thinks. This isn't a fetishist case, I don't think, unless you count collecting human skins as a fetish." "That was tactful." Krevsky muttered to him. "Just rub salt in that kid's wounds." "Hey, I'm just doing my job. He chose to come along for the ride." "C'mon, Kid, let's get going. My treat." _________________________ "Wow." Linfield watched the kid sleep on the couch. "He doesn't eat, he feeds." "He's been working all day without food. No wonder he was hungry. Did you run a BC on him?" Eduards took a sip of his soda. "I am way too wired to sleep." "I ran a prelim check. No criminal record, nothing. Bureau records come up clean. His father works for the state department. " Halpern read off the notepad in his hand. "Nothing unusual?" "Other than the fact that his skipped three grades in grammar school." "And that doesn't qualify?" "Oh yeah...something about a disappearance. His sister, I think." "Weird." "Yeah well, from what I heard of that phone conversation, his parents aren't the most understanding people in the world." Eduards stood and walked over to the window. "Hey, he seems normal to me." Linfield grabbed a soda. "What did Morrow say?" "About...?" "Kid over there." "I didn't tell him." "He's gonna flip out when he sees this profile. How d'you want to explain that?" "I'll think of something. At worst I can tell him we got it from an anonymous source." "Cooley jealous yet?" "I read him the profile. He wanted to know since when did criminal psychologists pop out of the woodwork and offer services." " Didja tell *him*?" "I told him we had assistance. He's still throwing up, every hour, on the hour, which made it kind of hard to talk." "Sounds like fun. I'm dead. G'night." Halpern shut the door between the two rooms. Krevsky was already snoring. "Eduards." Linfield set the soda down. "You think this kid might be bureau material?" "He's certainly bright enough. But he wasn't so hot in the guts department. He took one look at the body and threw up." "Hell, *I've* done that. And she was his girlfriend, for Christ's sake." Eduards considered him for a minute. "I'm going to be very happy when we catch this man." "You and just about every single woman in Eastern Massachusetts, my friend." _______________________ 4am June 7 Mulder awoke early, his internal clock still set to Oxford time, five hours ahead of the east coast. The agents were all asleep, Linfield still sitting up in the chair. He was restless; funny that he should feel so energetic after what had happened to Dani. Oh god. Dani. He wouldn't concentrate on that right now. He pulled his sweats on and opened the door carefully, trying not to wake Linfield. Outside the sharp wind bit at his face as he ran the streets. Thankfully he knew this section of town, having stayed there often enough with Dani. Jesus Christ. He noticed a man waiting in a car for someone. Was that him? Or maybe this sicko lived in that apartment over there. Maybe he'd been watching them- Okay. Now you're getting paranoid. He stopped and took a deep breath. The sun was just coming up and the wind was getting warmer. Maybe by midday the fog would burn off. He headed back the way he came, steering a wide path around the man sitting in the car. _________________ "Okay, so we know this guy is reducing to picking girls up off the street. We know he's got some experience hunting, and at least one firearm. We know he's young, and he's getting closer to home. Now we have to nail him before he goes hunting again." Mulder rubbed his forehead and tried to concentrate. "We...we know he's getting closer to home. There weren't any witnesses?" "No. But we can get a general view of where he's going from the locations of the others." Linfield walked over to the map. "The last murder was here, right on the border." "I think it's a safe bet, with all the driving he must do, that he lived near either an expressway or an interstate." Halpern traced the line of route 6 with his finger. "What about Bourne?" "Or Teaticket, or Falmouth...face it, he could be anywhere." Linfield shrugged. "I don't think he cares. And the connections aren't there. He's killed all over, from the 28 expressway to interstate 495."Mulder studied the map. The phone rang, cutting through the grim silence. "Ye-hello." Linfield answered, yanking the receiver up. He listened, nodded, and winced. "Yeah... yeah that's us. Thanks. No, we'll be there as soon as possible." He hung up and turned around. "They found another one." Eduards said. He nodded. "Monument Beach. Two this time." "Two?" Halpern paled. "A man and a woman. The man's still alive." "Let's go." Eduards grabbed his coat. "Coming, Kid?" Mulder nodded and followed the others out the door. _____________________ =========================================================================== From: raenright@aol.com (RaEnright) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: First Blood:The Hunter 3/1/3 Date: 22 Jul 1995 16:05:37 -0400 Heeeeeeeere's Mulder! Have fun, y'all. And remember, Eno on tsurt! First Blood, book 1 The Hunter, Pt. 3 The woman had been skinned and re-dressed as according to the killer's habit; the man had simply been hit with the butt of a revolver in his forehead. He was bleeding, but lucid by the time they got there. A sketch artist was sitting with him, paper in hand. All four men watched Mulder as they approached the woman's body; he stiffened but managed to avoid embarrassing himself again. Eduards patted his shoulder approvingly. Linfield took out the map he'd hastily torn down and inspected it. "The latest murder. Man can't even wait until they're alone anymore." "No." Mulder looked up suddenly. "He could have killed that man-he didn't. He's playing with us." "Are you sure?" "Hell no. But it makes sense. He wants us to think he screwed up. Ten to one odds are the next victim is alone." Mulder's thoughts whirled. "I think he considers this a hunt and those women are the prey." "So what are we?" Linfield crossed his arms. Mulder grimaced. "Game wardens." ________________________ "Kid, give it up." Eduards rubbed his forehead. Mulder shook his head. "The answer is there." "No, it's not. The answer is *here*." Krevsky held up the portrait. "This is what we've got to go on." "No, there's a pattern." Mulder leaned over the map again. "There." He picked up a marker and outlined an area. "He's somewhere in this area." "Been there, done that. The killer is coming from somewhere in an area, defined as *a*, because of the configuration of the murders, defined as *c*. Therefore, the sum of the midpoints of c, if you like geometry, equals a." Halpern grimaced. "But you didn't correlate the timing." Mulder traced the red line. "If you try them in order of death, and factor in that he's getting closer to home, like this..." he drew with the marker over the interstates and highways. "You lower the factor of *a* by half." "Let me see." Eduards examined his work. "We still have a ten-mile radius." "But he's got to be close to the latest victim. He wants us to try to find him." Linfield shrugged. "So we can mark out some of the outer towns. Big deal. We've got at least half the inland and coastal county to search." "We've put out an APB on the drawing. Should have some results by morning." "By morning he could have killed again." Mulder faced them. "There's nothing we can do tonight, Kid." Linfield pulled the map down. "We'll keep working in the morning." "But-" "No buts. You're doing great, but even a kid needs rest. And the rest of us old farts are tired." Eduards pulled his coat on. "Let's go eat." ____________________________ "So." Halpern took a bite of his slice of pizza and smiled at Mulder. "What's Oxford like?" "S'awright." Mulder chewed thoughtfully. "You get home often?" "More often than I'd like." "Why's that?" "Let's just say Massachusetts isn't my favorite place to live. Now, New York." His eyes brightened. "Somewhere where I can make a name for myself." "How about Washington?" Linfield asked carefully. "As long as I get away from here." "Maybe come to work for the bureau?" "I could, couldn't I? Attend the academy." He smiled suddenly. "That would be interesting." "I'm from a podunk backwater town myself." Krevsky said. "Couldn't wait to escape." "The bureau." Mulder took another bite. "You do this sort of thing often?" "We're a team." Eduards said simply. "We used to be two separate partnerships, but they tossed us together just to piss us off." "Like we tolerated each other before." Linfield stole the last slice of pizza. "Does everyone have a partner?" "Why, you want a nice one?" "No. I work best alone." "You worked with us pretty well." Halpern defended. "No, I didn't mean like that-at college, I don't do study groups. They don't like me." "Why not?" Mulder tapped his forehead. "Photographic memory. People don't like it when you're smarter than them. So it was either act dumb or go it alone. I chose the latter." "That's a shame." "That's life." "That's my slice of pizza you're munching on, Kid." "That's what you think..." _________________________ "Phone's ringing!" "Astute observation, Halpern." "So sue me. You wanna answer it?" "I got it!" Linfield dove for the phone, succeeding in knocking it onto the couch and into Mulder's lap. "Kid, you make my day, and answer it?" "Hello." Mulder set the phone back on the table and held the receiver to his ear. "Halpern? Eduards?" "Sorry, hang on a minute." Mulder looked around. "Where is everyone?" "Halpern's bathing, Eduards went to the coke machine, Krevsky's locked himself in the can, and I'm dying of a broken rib." "Haha. Can I take a message?" Mulder redirected his attention to the phone. "Could you tell Eduards they got a lead on his man?" "...." "Hello?" "Sorry. They've got a lead?" "Silver Beach, down the coast. Witnesses place him at an apartment house at Height and Third street." "Got it, yeah, thanks." Mulder scribbled the address. "What sort of officials are down there? Okay, we're on our way." He hung up the phone and turned to Linfield. "They got him." "They *what*?" "Witnesses place him in an apartment in Silver Beach." "Get Halpern and Krevsky. I'll go find Eduards." "Halpern!" "I'm in the bath! What's the hurry?" "They got him!" "Why didn't you say so! Yo Krevsky, get your rear in gear and get ready to move!" "Got it!" Linfield was back. "Damn Eduards decided to go on a snack run. Come on, we don't have time to get him." They were out the door, Linfield jumping in the driver's seat and motioning the others to hurry. Mulder hesitated before grabbing Eduards' holster and gun off the table and following the agents. ___________________ "Stay here, Kid." Linfield pulled up to the apartment house. "But-" "You're not an officer, or an agent. Anything you say or do can rightfully be prosecuted. Trust me, I majored in law." Halpern shut the door. "You helped a lot, Kid, but you can't come any further. The law's the law." Mulder watched helplessly as the three agents strolled down the sidewalk, heading for the apartment. One knocked on the door and soon they were allowed inside. He counted slowly to ten and followed. ___________________ They cased the apartment, taking up locations at the stairs before rushing it. Bursting inside, they confronted a man, kneeling over an unconscious girl. "Freeze! Drop the gun! Hands in the air!" Krevsky called. "Not a chance." The man sneered, holding the gun to the girl's head. "You want this one alive? Tough shit." He began to back out another door, into the hallway. They chased him, keeping enough distance to keep the girl safe. "Shit." Krevsky swore. "He's gonna break for it. Hal, call for backup." "I'm on it." Halpern doubled back, headed for the apartment and the telephones. "I'll get barricades up all over the city." "I'm after him!" Linfield called. "Krevsky-" "Got the stairs." Krevsky headed for the other side of the hallway, taking the stairs three at a time, almost falling. "We'll never make it." he muttered under his breath. "He's got a hostage and a head start. Shit. *Shit*!" _____________________ The hunt was ending. Oh, but he'd get this last prey, yes he would. He'd take the prize and run with it. Maybe head for high country, better game. He'd hunt the mountain breeds. That was it. If he just managed to hide from those troublesome policemen- He backed into the bush, the perfect hiding place. A cold metal nozzle bit into his neck. "Let her go or so help me I will blow your fucking brains out and skin you while you still have the nerves to feel it with." A voice whispered in his ear. _______________________ *Ohgodohgodohgod-* Mulder fingered the gun in his hand. The man had emerged from the house, the girl clutched in his arms. Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of police force out there, waiting for him? He'd been watching too many cop movies. He circled around, using the crosswalk up the street as cover. The man backed into the bushes, and he saw his chance. He shoved the handgun into his neck, clenching his teeth. "Let her go or so help me I will blow your fucking brains out and skin you while you still have the nerves to feel it with." He whispered. The man stiffened and tightened his grip on his own revolver. "You do that, my friend, and I'll still have enough time to take this one down with me." "I don't really give a fuck." Mulder said softly. "Because at least you'll be dead." Then he did something that would have gotten him in very deep trouble if anyone had ever found out about it. He rammed his knee straight up against the man's groin. He doubled over in pain and gasped, giving the younger man a chance to grip his gun and yank. Hard. It went off, right next to his ear, leaving a ringing sound. The girl fell, released from the man's grasp. Mulder hit the ground hard, rolling away, both guns in hand. The man half stood, trying to run. "Hold it." Krevsky stood outside the bush, a slight smile on his face. "Freeze, you sonofabitch." "I've got him." Mulder held up one of the guns. "Back away, Mr. Mulder." "Like hell." "Back away before I am forced to arrest you ." "Damned bastard deserves to die." "Sir, back away or I will have to incarcerate you. I'm just following procedure here, Mulder." "He killer her." "And he'll get what he deserves. But you have to let us handle this, Kid." Mulder's gun wavered, and dropped. He knelt next to the girl and checked her pulse. "She's alive." Krevsky was handcuffing the suspect, and reciting his rights. Linfield and Halpern arrived simultaneously, out of breath. "Linfield, call an ambulance. And the hotel, maybe Eduards made it back by now." "Right." Linfield ran off in search of a phone. Halpern knelt by Mulder. "You okay, Kid?" "She needs help." "I didn't ask that." "I don't care." ______________________________ The four men stood and gazed around in disgust. "Oh my god." Eduards muttered. The apartment was adorned with 'hunting trophys', skins set out to dry on racks, wall hangings... curtains... "No god did this." Krevsky gagged and stepped back, out the door. Mulder stood against the wall nearby. "How horrible." He murmured. "What sort of monster does this?" "Very human monsters, Kid. He's not the first." "How do you stand it?" "We just do. It gets better." Mulder swallowed. "That's what I'd be afraid of. The fact that it could *stop* touching me like this." "It never stops, Kid, but it gets more bearable. Work with men like this for twenty, thirty years and you'll see." "The choices you have to make..."Mulder said to himself. "To go on seeing this every day of your life...or to know it's here and you aren't doing anything to stop it." "That's your choice, Mulder." "Some choice. Death by drowning or by hanging? Either way, you're dead." "If it prevents others from dying, I'd rather do this." Krevsky shook his head and went back into the apartment. ________________________________ Assistant Director Morrow shifted in his chair and rubbed his forehead. "So you're telling me some eggheaded college kid came up to you, offered his services, and proceeded to profile, and almost solve, this case-when none of you smartass vets could?" Eduards smiled. "He's a very *smart* college kid." "I need a new job. You are going to kill me. Get the hell out of here and find that kid. I want him recruited as soon as humanly possible." "I'm afraid that's impossible, sir, he's already left he country." "He's *what*??!!" "He's gone back to college, sir. But he'll be available in about two years or so." Krevsky supplied, enjoying this. Morrow just shook his head. "You keep an eye out for him, Eduards, hear me? The minute, the *minute* he graduates I want you on his case and I want him in my office! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?" "Sir, yes sir, will do, sir." Linfield saluted as they exited. __________________________________ Senior Thesis, Fox Mulder On the behaviour of serial killers and the motivations behind them, as based on the case of Klaus Ammer, the so-called Strip Killer, solved by Federal agents Aaron Eduards, Joseph Krevsky, Richard Halpern, and James Linfield. END Belief Initiates and guides action- Or it does nothing. -Lauren Olamina, Earthseed: The Books of the Living Octavia Butler, The Parable Of The Sower From: raenright@aol.com (RaEnright) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: First Blood: The Chase 1/2/3 Date: 4 Aug 1995 10:49:11 -0400 Hi all! This is the second 'book' in a trilogy of stories, entitled First Blood. Each installment is in three parts. Part one, The Hunter, has already been posted, and part three, The Kill, is due out in a few weeks, if I ever get around to finishing it. Basically they deal with Mulder's experiences before joining the bureau, while he's still in college. Part one details how he came back to America to identify the remains of an ex-girlfriend after she was brutally murdered. He meets four agents, Eduards, Krevsky, Linfield, and Halpern. Agent Cooley, the team profilist, appears for the first time in this one, though he's mentioned in part one. Through Mulder's profiling skills they manage to catch the man before he can kill his last victim. This is a sort of weird portrayal of Mulder, he's a lot shyer and not so sarcastic(I figure years of being called crazy did *that* to him.) This can stand on it's own if you don't mind being a tad confused at first, and it is a self-contained story, it DOES NOT leave you hanging at the end of part 3(not *much*, anyway.). There is no mention of Dana Scully in this story. Fox Mulder, Walter Skinner, and Phoebe Greene (Short, short cameo) are copyright The Man, The Station, The Company, no copyright infringement intended, etc...Eduards, Krevsky, Linfield, Halpern, Cooley, Morrow, and Lewis are out of my head and belong to me, muchas gracias, tu viajas con extranjeros? This is in part dedicated to Keri for re-introducing me to one of my favorite authors of all time. Enjoy! First Blood, book 2 The Chase, part 1 August 2, 1984 Oxford University Oxford, England Lewis Burbridge sat on his bed and watched his roommate pack. "Now, let me get this straight." He was clearly confused. "You're going home." "That's right." "On a holiday." "That's right." Mulder scratched absently at his bandaged wrist, the result of trying to cook breakfast last week. "Voluntarily." "For the first time in my life, Lewis, yes." he zipped the dufflebag shut with finality. "And what brought about this change of heart?" "Two words, Lewis: Federal Agents." "Won't Phoebe be angry?" "I guess so. I don't care." He checked his pocket for the plane ticket. "She's been around all summer and I want to take two weeks off. She'll live." "But will you, when she hears about it?" "Are you going to drive me to the airport or just sit there and find flaws in my reasoning?" __________________________ August 3 Washington Airport Washington, DC "Kid! Kid!" It took Mulder's tired mind a few minutes to realize those shouts were directed at him. A group of sober suited men stood in a corner of the lobby and yelled. He waved, and the noise lessened. He managed to pick out which was Eduards and Linfield behind the identical suits and sunglasses that were almost screaming FBI to the rest of the airport. The others remained unidentified until he crossed the floor to greet them. "Hey kid!" "How's life?" "Oxford treatin' you okay? What's with the wrist?" He responded as best he could to the questions that hit him from all sides as the knot of men enveloped him. Linfield whacked him, hard, on the back. "Good to see you, Kid." "He has a name, Linfield!" Krevsky scowled. "How are you, Mulder?" "I'm fine, thanks." He smiled at them. "Stupidity notwithstanding. I tried to fry eggs on a heat plate. It didn't work too well." He held up his wrist. "Come on, come on." Eduards started herding the group towards the door. "We can talk in the car, but Morrow only gave us an hour." Two Buicks were waiting outside in the parking lot; they were a nice change from buzzing around in Lewis's little VW Bug, Mulder thought. He climbed into the front, noting Linfield and Krevsky had already taken the back. Eduards sat in beside him and started the car. "So, kid, you up for more G-man duties?" Linfield munched on a SuperPretzle and grinned. Krevsky punched him. "More?" Mulder looked back incredulously. "Sure." Linfield ignored Krevsky's failed attempts to prevent him from eating in the car. "The only reason Morrow gave us the time, not to mention the cars, to come and get you, was he wants you recruited. You up for some action?" "Sounds good to me." He smiled. His last foray into Federal affairs had landed him the respect of four agents, and, surprisingly, he had enjoyed the challenge, however subdued he was over the loss of his friend. Dani had died a wrongful death, and he had a hard choice to make. "We brought Cooley along with us this time, too, maybe he can give you a few pointers." Eduards hung a left onto the freeway. "What a pain in the butt." Krevsky muttered. "Take my advice, Mulder, and don't let him get to you. Self-important-" "Enough, Krev." Eduards cut him off. "None of us like him much." He explained to Mulder. "But he's a good profilist, and we can tolerate him for that." "I thought the Kid was better." Linfield said in a stage whisper to Krevsky, who nodded. Mulder looked down and toyed with the strap on his dufflebag, embarrassed. ______________________________ "I forgot to mention this part." Eduards pulled up to the J. Edgar Hoover building. "Morrow wants to see you before he lets you go running around with us." "Be warned, if he's not in a good mood all hell'll break loose." Linfield said in his ear. They were all shown into the office by Morrow's secretary, who assured Eduards that Morrow was indeed in a good mood, he'd be in in a minute. Mulder stared around him. This looked just like the offices of the professors at Oxford, minus the books and term papers. There was a harrumph from the door and they turned in unison. Assistant Director Morrow was a huge man, easily six five, heavyset, with a nose that Linfield often said could cut cheese and darting, intelligent eyes. He motioned for them to sit, and Mulder to remain standing. Mulder straightened his stance as the man drew closer, and looked him right in the eye like his father taught him. "So, you're the smartass who profiled for the Ammer case, is that right?" He began to pace around the young man, speaking softly. "Yessir." "And you have no bureau experience?" "Nosir." Linfield smirked in the background and Krevsky mentally warned Mulder to brace for impact. "And what, under the sun or in Satan's fire made *YOU* think *YOU* were *BUREAU_ MATERIAL?* That you could just *WALTZ* in here and expect *ACCLAIM?*" Morrow began shouting, his face inches from Mulder's ear. His eyes darted nervously, trying to see if he was intending to attack him. "The fact that I have already assisted in the closing of one case and the consequent survival of one Anna Martinez, the hostage mister Ammer took as we attempted to apprehend him, sir! I have never asked for credit on that case or acclaim, sir!" Mulder's voice turned slightly hysterical at the end. "And *WHAT* made you offer your services in the *FIRST PLACE?*" "The fact that the team profilist, Agent Cooley, was ill and that I had some psychology training sir!" his voice cracked. Eduards smiled approvingly. "YOU CALL THAT A REASON?" Morrow roared. Mulder gave the man a sudden mild look, surprising himself. "Yes sir, I do." Morrow was quiet for a minute before he grinned at Eduards and nodded. "Very good, Mr. Mulder." he moved back to stand in front of him, his voice returning to normal. "You pass." "I...pass?" "Report to personnel for your temporary ID and then get your ass in gear. For the next two weeks you are officially a federal agent." He handed Mulder a small yellow slip. Eduards stood and took his elbow, guiding the bewildered man out of the office. "That had style, Kid." Halpern said as they moved down the corridor. "Nice going." "What the hell was that all about?" he asked, examining the sheet carefully. "Morrow had to make sure you had some guts. He doesn't like his agents sniveling on the floor all the time." Krevsky said, with a meaningful glance in Cooley's direction. "He just tested you for stamina." Eduards grinned. "That was great. You passed with flying colors. Takes guts to even look that bastard in the eye." "Oh." The next half hour was spent waiting in lines, filling out forms, and standing still for ID photos. Mulder was exhausted. "Do you have to fill out this amount of paperwork all the time?" "No, today's a light day." Cooley said thoughtfully. _________________________________ "Okay Kid, here's the deal." Eduards tossed a folder at him. "We've got another serialist, but this time he doesn't kill his victims, he just kidnaps and scares the hell out of them." "Scares the hell outta me, too." Linfield tipped back in his chair. "He takes these people, as far as we can tell, he chloroforms them, god only knows why since I didn't think anyone even made the stuff anymore, and then he tortures them, psychologically." "Should be fun getting into this one." Halpern commented dryly. "We just got it this morning and we're still going over the evidence." "I think we'd better chart." Eduards walked over to a whiteboard in the corner and began to write. "First victim, White female, age thirty-four." "Second victim, white male, age twenty." Linfield read from the sheet. "Third victim, Hispanic female, age forty. Fourth victim, white female, age ten." Halpern winced at the age. "He's not even following a basic gender/age/race pattern." "Which makes him all the more dangerous." Eduards continued to write. "Fifth victim, black male, age twenty six." "And that's all she wrote. For now." Krevsky shoved some papers into a box and dumped it off his desk. "He's working in the midwest." "Oh boy, Kid, you should have saved yourself the trouble and just bought a ticket straight there. Orders from above are sending us straight into the beloved heartland. Lincoln, Nebraska. In the pithy words of the agents already stationed there, and I quote-'God's Country'-and I unquote." Halpern read over Linfield's shoulder. "But we have until tomorrow to start work on him. Let's go." "Go?" "We're going to spend the rest of the day somewhere where Morrow or his snitch Skinner can't find us." Linfield jerked his thumb downwards. "The basement." _________________________ "Wow." Mulder's statement, though brief, said it all. The basement room Eduards had led them to was dimly lit, the walls bare except for a few movie posters. He thought he recognized some from Star Wars. "The sanctum sanitarium. It used to be the photocopy room. Now it's our hiding place when Morrow goes on the warpath. Whaddaya think?" Eduards bowed deeply and stood in the middle of the room. As Mulder stepped inside, he got a sudden feeling of...rightness. *Weird.* He shrugged it off and tried to adjust his eyes to the lack of light. A huge battleship model sat in the corner, half of it's hull missing. Krevsky touched the mast lovingly. "We come down here to work quietly. It helps the thought process." "Did you build that?" Mulder watched with interest. "Sure did. And that, and that." He pointed to a few other models around the room. Mulder recognized a B-52, the flying fortress, and a 1929 Ford Model A. "Sit down, sit." Linfield gestured to a scroungy looking chair in the corner. Eduards dropped onto the couch. "So we've got, what, Cooley?" The short, rather fat man paced the floor. Eduards rolled his eyes. "The killer is male, white, between twenty and forty, in good physical condition, for starters." "That helps. Do you know how many athletic, white males between twenty and forty there are in Nebraska?" "Now, Halpern, don't be prejudiced. Just because it's the midwest it doesn't mean everyone wears ten gallon hats and chews tobacco all the time." Cooley lectured. "Yes, dad." "Cut him some slack, Hal?"Eduards asked. Mulder was examining a cabinet in one corner. He took a bag of sunflower seeds out of his pocket and crunched on one thoughtfully. "Yuck." Krevsky yanked on a small string and dabbed some glue on it. "How do you eat those things, Mulder?" "What-what's this?" he pointed to the metal cabinet. "Those are what we lovingly dub the Looney Files. We read them for kicks sometimes." "The Looney Files?" "Technically, the X-Files. It's a dumping ground for stories nobody else wants to read or investigate because it's too weird. Kind of like tabloid stuff." Linfield explained. "Okay, children, let's work on the case, for at least a few minutes?" Eduards held out a tape. "Recording of the interviews with the victims. Transcription's in the file." he laid his head against the armrest and tossed the tape to Halpern, who popped it into a player. A ragged voice filled the room. <"Oh god, the rats...water, the-water, give me water, please-" there were muffled scraping sounds as someone brought her water. "Nonono, I want water, Jesus Christ, it's coming at me, it's going to-nooo...the blade, I can't see it, if I jump Oh god there's nothing there-"> Linfield cut in, reading from the file. "Apparently, they've all had to be sedated and hospitalized. All sorts of weird shit found in their blood." The voice changed to a rougher, deeper tone as the first interview ended. <"Can you hear me?"> <"Yeah...keep it off me, keep it away from me-"> <"Keep what away from you?"> <"The disease, the disease, blood on my hands, on my arms, I can't control it, it hurts, ohmygod, get the blood off me-"> "Man had small pinpricks all over his body, like someone spiked a rolling pin and massaged him with it." Cooley gagged, but continued scribbling furiously. <"What does he say to you?"> <"He say, he say he going to kill me, he call for someone, he say he no want to run no more-"> A thick accent made her words hard to understand. Mulder shut his eyes and concentrated. Cooley looked at him as if he were crazy, and continued to take notes. <"He says he doesn't want to run? Does he say what he's running from?"> <"He say he no run, he say he going to kill me, make him leave it so dark madre de dios ave maria purisima!"> "She's the most coherent one so far." Halpern observed. <"Okay, just relax and tell us what you saw."> <"Huge...ohmygod it's huge, it's outside the window, don't let it in."> <"Huge and black-yellow and red eyes, horrible red eyes-"> Linfield reached over and switched off the tape. "So." He said calmly, noting the confused faces around him. "Anyone up for a little LSD trip while we take this one on?" "Victim four, the last one we just heard, had large amounts of the drug still in his blood when he was recorded." Krevsky glanced at the report and went back to his model. "So he could have still been high. How'd you do that, Linfield?" "Lucky guess." He shrugged. "Your take, Kid?" "Sounds as if he's trying to convey some sort of message. That part, the section about him not wanting to run-could he be an escaped convict? Some sort of fugitive?" "I disagree." Cooley tapped his notepad. "I think he's running from something else." "Any idea what?" Eduards winked at Mulder. "I couldn't begin to say, at this point. There's no commonality about the methods of torture, no thread...yet." "Wunderkind, do your thing." Linfield scowled. "If Cooley can't, and Kid can't, we're in DEEP trouble." "We have no evidence." Cooley looked to Mulder for support. He was absorbed by the file cabinet again, absently crunching his seeds. "Yo...Kid! Wake up!" Linfield tossed a wad of paper at him. "What could possibly be so interesting about those files? We get all the weird ones anyway. You want looney, he's the men." He pointed to the composite sketches in the file. Three different versions of the same face stared at him. "We have an APB out but if this is the best they can do it could be anyone. Looks like we're tripping on out to Lincoln." "Great." Krevsky muttered. "We go hunting for the invisible man with a psychosis that may not exist. My idea of a good time." End pt 1 =========================================================================== From: raenright@aol.com (RaEnright) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: First Blood: The Chase 2/2/3 Date: 4 Aug 1995 10:49:30 -0400 Hello all, welcome to my weird world. I'm tired of legal trash, let's get right to it, shall we? First Blood, book 2 The Chase, part 2 August 4 USAir flight 107 Bound for Lincoln, Nebraska "Ugh." Linfield snorted in disgust. "Even *I* can't eat this stuff." "I don't see why not." Eduards said from across the aisle. "You eat everything else." "And still stay in tiptop form." Linfield said proudly. "It's the grease. Melts excess fat right off the body." "Whatever." Halpern rolled his eyes and crunched on his biscuit. Mulder reflected that they looked like some sort of business-suit fraternity. He felt a little out of place. He didn't even own more than one suit, and he certainly hadn't packed it. He had to be content with jeans and an Oxford sweatshirt. At least Eduards had found a cool pair of Ray-Bans for him to wear. "Twenty minutes to touchdown." Linfield picked at his lunch again. Krevsky snored and tilted his head the other way, ending up with his forehead pressed against the plastic of the window. Mulder picked at his own food, his bandage getting covered in gravy. "Eat up, Kid, that's good solid plastic and Styrofoam." Linfield gestured with his fork. "Thanks, I forgot I hadn't had my daily serving." He responded dryly, making Halpern choke into his soda cup. ________________________ 1 pm Lincoln's Mercy Hospital Lincoln "You can try, for all the good it'll do you." The nurse squinted at the five suited men and some kid in jeans. "He with you?" "He's in training." Eduards shot a wry look at Mulder. "Yes, we'd like to talk to her. And...the other victims are being held here also, is that right?" "We've got them in a ward together. Separate rooms." The nurse showed them to the hallway. "Third door on you left. Her medical records-" "We have them, thanks." Halpern held up the folder. "Anything new come out so far?" "The little girl's finally been able to give a statement. I'll make sure you get a copy." She nodded curtly and walked off. "Yeesh, a ten-year old girl. That takes cold blood." "Yeah, it does." Mulder agreed distantly, remembering another little girl he'd known. The third room was occupied by a blonde woman, IV attached at the wrist. She was conscious, staring at the ceiling. Eduards motioned for Halpern and Linfield to wait outside. "I don't want to scare her. Kid, you go first." Mulder opened the door slowly, staring at the woman on the bed. "Ma'am?" Eduards followed him. "Ma'am, we're from the FBI. We're here to help you." "Water-" "Ma'am, we need to talk to you." Krevsky held out a glass of water from the tray. She ignored it. "He gave me food...no water..." "Krev, get a tape recorder in here." "M'on it." Krevsky pushed past Cooley and out into the hall. "Ma'am, what did he do?" "S'dark, can't see anything-he fed me, so hungry, but no water-" "What did he feed you?" Cooley asked. Eduards stared. "Meat...some sorta meat...hot meat, pepper...m'tired, water-" "You're too late, Krev." Eduards said as Krevsky rushed back in, tape in hand. "She's out." _______________________ "Well, *that* was productive." Linfield drawled as they moved to the final room. "An hour of incoherent mutterings. You sure Morrow didn't give this to us just to annoy us?" "I don't see why he would. We found Kid for him, didn't we?" Halpern leaned against the wall. "We also took in an unauthorized man, allowed him access to our files, not to mention our firearms, and fed him off the FBI tab." Eduards smiled to take the sting out of his words. Mulder looked in the window of the final room and winced slightly. This was going to be fun. "Problem, Kid?" "no...no." Mulder said, more to himself. "I'm fine." _______________________ 3:30 pm Travelite Inn Near Lincoln's Mercy Hospital "So we have factors, now, do we?" "Subjects all refer to being kept in total darkness; subjects are fed and kept alive, excepting the case of subject one, where no water was supplied, subject was returned, no prints, no nothing, to her home, in a severe state of dehydration. All subjects were abducted off the street, apparently, and then returned several days later to their homes, presumably found through identification the people carried, all subjects were incoherent, yadda yadda yadda...." Eduards took off his tie. "Cooley?" "Definitely a sadist." Cooley looked a little green. "Kid, your thoughts?" "Well, he's following his own little pattern, but until we know what it is..." Mulder shrugged. "And the running...it's throwing him off. Since we don't know where he takes them, we can't see if he's actually *running*, or if it's some sort of metaphor." He rubbed is chin and looked at Cooley. "What about-" "The houses." They both said at the same time. Cooley looked around for a map, while Mulder reached for the papers on the table. Eduards and Linfield exchanged confused glances. "Here." Cooley spread the map on the table. "Where's the first?" "1115 Canley." "Got it." "Apartment 25, Kent street, north section." "Next." Halpern, catching on, leaned over Mulder's shoulder. "Is there a pattern?" "Not yet. Keep going, Kid." Cooley responded, marker poised. They mapped all five locations, but it jumped all over the city, east side to downtown, slums to suburbs. "No match." Cooley sat back. Mulder leaned forward again, tracing streetlines with his hand. "No pattern." "Shit." Eduards rolled his sleeves up. "You're saying this could be anyone, anywhere, no pattern, and we're supposed to *catch him*?" "If he didn't want us to chase him, even subconsciously, he would have killed his victims. He would have tortured them to death." Mulder said thickly. "How d'you figure?" "I...I'm not sure. But if I were him...that's what I'd think about doing." "That scares me, Kid." "Not half as much as it scares me." ____________________________ "You eat like a pig, Linfield." "I wouldn't talk, Halpern." "Pass the ketchup?" "How much salt do you *need*?" "More than that, I can tell you." Five men sat at the hotel table, which was littered with hamburger wrappers, French fries, cups of soda, and condiment wrappers. The Kid sat nearby on the couch. "Hey, you doing okay?" Linfield looked at him, concerned. "Have some dinner, Kid." He tossed a still-wrapped hamburger at him. He thanked him and unwrapped it. "Something bothering you?" Eduards asked. "Just this case."The Kid smiled sadly. "I don't want to give up. Either that or my mind won't let me." "Curse of the profilist." Cooley observed. "The first time you climb into another man's head and look around. It can be frightening." "I hate to interrupt this Kodak moment, but would you mind telling me if you can see anything *useful* as long as you're in someone else's head?" Linfield waved a fry in front of Cooley's face. "There's got to be something triggering it." The Kid muttered. "Something that makes him say, this is the person I take." "Schizophrenia?" Cooley offered. The Kid nodded. "Could be." "Does that scare you as much as it does me?" Halpern whispered to Eduards, who nodded. The Kid stood and ran a hand through his hair. "We...had a case like this in one of my classes. The woman would find people, homeless people, off the street, and care for them. Then...she'd kill them." "We've handled cases like that." "The professors said it was the mothering instinct gone wrong." He thought for a minute. "So what is it about these people that makes this man decide that they're the one?" "Maybe we'd best go back to the hospital." Eduards said quietly. They couldn't see the victims that night; after being told to wait in the cafeteria for an hour, and then dealing with the 'demoniacally possessed', nurse Bieyr, as Krevsky dubbed her, they gave up in disgust. Ignoring Halpern's helpful suggestion that they shoot her, they climbed back into the cars and drove back to the motel in defeat. ___________________________ 2 am August 5 Travelite Inn Linfield awoke to the muffled sound of crying. *What the hell?* He looked over to the couch, where the cries were apparently coming from. The Kid was tangled in the blanket, and something was most definitely wrong. "Hey Kid! Hey Kid!" he whispered, not wanting to wake Krevsky, asleep in the next bed. No response. Throwing his blankets off, he hitched up his pajama bottoms and stood, almost stubbing his toe on the nightstand. "Kid!" He tapped him on the shoulder and was rewarded with a clawing hand on his sleeve. His arm was pulled down and his shoulder nearly dislocated. He yanked back, and his sleeve was released. A frightened pair of eyes looked out from the blanket. "Samantha?" he asked hoarsely. Linfield touched him again, and he flinched away. The Kid was obviously still not quite awake, his pupils dilated, sweat running down his forehead. "Sorry Kid, just Jimmy Linfield. Remember?" "Linfield?" "Right. And if you don't quiet down, Krevsky's gonna be over here too." The blanket fell off the couch and he stood, unsteadily. "You need anything, Kid?" "Just some fresh air." Linfield followed him out the door. He leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths. "Must've been one helluva nightmare, Kid." Linfield surmised. "You can say that again. God...I wasn't...yelling, was I?" "No." Linfield smiled. "Do you often yell the names of strange girls?" "Samantha?" "She your girlfriend?" "Hardly. She was-*is*, my sister." "And you have nightmares about her? She must either be really ugly or-" suddenly he remembered what Halpern had said, . *Oh great, foot in mouth time...* "She's gone." Mulder said to himself. "I assume you read my background report?" "You're clean." "Always nice to know. They mention my sister, don't they?" "Vaguely." "She disappeared. When I was twelve." he took a deep breath. "But nobody believes me. I see her, in my dreams. She didn't just vanish, she wasn't just kidnapped. Someone, some*thing*, took her. But nobody wants to believe me." "I want to believe." Linfield said softly. "And you're what, twenty four?" "I should be past it by now, it was twelve years ago-" "No, that wasn't what I meant. Sometimes, when we become adults, memories from childhood can show up. Sometimes as dreams." "Hey, who's the psychology major here?" Mulder grinned. "I stick to you for a while and I'll end up in some leather-lined office shrinking heads for a living. Are you gonna be okay?" "I'll be fine. Can you answer something?" "Sure." "Does it ever seem...do you ever get the feeling that you're on the wrong side of the looking glass? That reality gets...skewed?" "Every day of my life." Linfield grinned. "When you look into the abyss...the abyss looks into you. Someone really deep and smart said that, and for the life of me I don't know who." "Beware the monster lest the monster you become." "And that rings especially true for you, Kid. Be careful that you don't climb too far into our man's head, or you might not be able to get back out. Let's go inside, I'm freezing out here." _________________________ 9 am "We need to talk." Linfield climbed into the car next to Eduards. Krevsky and Halpern looked up from the back seat. "Here? Now?" Eduards hissed. "What about?" "Kid. I sent him off with Cooley, we've got a few minutes. I think we need to keep an eye on him, Ed." "Whyinhell for?" "Because he is a lot more than what he looks like." "He looks like a Kid to me." Halpern said. "Exactly." Linfield pointed at him. "Did you, any of you, wake up around two this morning?" "Not me." "Well, I did. And you know what happened to him? Poor kid was crying in his sleep. Halpern, how much did you get about his sister?" "Just that she disappeared." "They don't tell you that he still has nightmares about her. He thinks something, accent on *thing*, took her. And he's scared shitless of what he can do." "What he can do is he can brilliantly profile killers while still practically in grade school. I don't see what there is to fear in that." "Of course not." Linfield waved the other car on. "You aren't the one doing it. He's becoming this guy, thinking like him. It's spooky, and he doesn't like it. If we're not careful, he's going to run back to Oxford. And I can guarantee you he won't take work at the bureau when he graduates." "Okay, skunks, remember that then. Give the kid a break." Eduards started the car. "But until then, we have a job to do." He pulled out of the parking lot and followed Cooley's car to the hospital. __________________ 9:12 Lincoln's Mercy Hospital Waiting room Mulder was buried in thought as he pushed the door to the hospital open. Eyes set on something in the distance, he didn't notice the man limping towards him, cradling a broken arm, until it was too late. "DAMN!" the man yelled. "Watch out, man!" Mulder muttered an apology to the man, who was already out the door, still cursing. "Now *there's* psychotic for you." Linfield looked over his shoulder. "They must've given him the good stuff." "Good stuff?" Mulder echoed, distracted. "Painkillers and all that. Something wrong?" Mulder watched the man walk off. There was something about him- "No, just tired, that's all." He smiled reassuringly at Linfield. __________________________ "I don't see it." Eduards crossed his arms. "What could be visible enough to be seen from a passing car, yet not visible enough to be seen by six men *looking* for it?" Mulder lifted the man's foot and tilted his head quizzically. "I'm not sure." "What are you looking for?" "I don't know. I'll tell you when I find it." "Krevsky, you're a doctor, you take a look." Krevsky probed the man's neck. "I don't see anything unusual anywhere." "Great." Eduards snorted. "This is killing me." "He'd be able to notice it from far off...maybe deformity of some kind..." Mulder mumbled to himself. "Can you pass the medical report?" Krevsky handed him the clipboard. Halpern came in. "We just finished the first victim. Nothing there either." Mulder flipped the pages of the medical report. "He had a broken arm...why doesn't he have a cast on?" "It should be on the medical charts-look." Krevsky pointed with his pen. "They found the arm had healed sufficiently." "Yeah, the lady had pins in her wrist. No mobility. That's the kind of thing they-" Halpern cut off as Mulder left the room. "Hey Kid, what's up?" He fumbled with the doorknob on the third victim's room, the Hispanic woman. She was awake, muttering incoherently, "Ave maria purisima no dios agua por favor..." and absently scratching at the ace bandage on her elbow. Mulder halted and checked her chart, so suddenly that Linfield, following him, bumped into him. He whirled, and Linfield got a clear picture of brilliant hazel eyes before he was out in the hall again. "Kid, are you feeling-" "Not right now." The next stop was the second victim, a tall white man with a prosthetic hand. Finally, the little girl's room. Mulder flew in, startled for a minute by the dark-haired sleeping figure, and they flipping through her records as if they might vanish. And there it was. Previous injuries to admittance- Accidental laceration to the upper bicep muscle, multiple stitches. Finally he stopped running and whirled on Eduards, out in the hall. "Sir, where would you go if you wanted to...watch people?" Eduards shrugged. "I don't know, the train station, maybe. Kid, are you feeling well?" "No. But if you wanted to watch people, observe them, without them thinking you were crazy, or on drugs, where would you go? A place where people are like that all the time, right?" "Like..." "The hospital." They all said at once. "And then he stalks them, waits until they're alone..." Cooley was already scribbling again. "Krevsky, go find out where the victims were hospitalized before coming here. Halpern, get out a warning, eyes only, to the security sections of every hospital in Lincoln and outlying areas. Cooley, what ya got?" Eduards moved them to the side of the hall. "Sadist, stalker tendencies, Kid, you notice anything else?" "Something...that's why I noticed him, ye gods I'm becoming a stalker myself." Mulder murmured. "That man I ran into-maybe a Freudian slip-I'm gonna go help Krevsky." He ran off. Cooley exchanged a confused look with Eduards. "He's got a great mind, but no discipline." "Can we save this chat for another time?" Eduards rubbed his chin. "Go find Halpern. See if he's got that memo out yet." =========================================================================== From: raenright@aol.com (RaEnright) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: First Blood: The Chase 3/2/3 Date: 4 Aug 1995 10:49:31 -0400 Here we go a-gain! So just what is it that Mulder saw? Well... First Blood, book 2 The Chase, part 3 9:28 Lincoln's Mercy Hospital Lincoln, Neb. "Yeah, that's it...you have the sketch? Great, great, keep an eye out. No, don't sound an alarm, I don't want anyone alarmed unnecessarily. Yeah, call us, here's my pager number, 555-1011." Halpern clicked the phone and checked the next name on the list. "I checked their records." Krevsky ran up, Mulder in tow. "Listen to this-all of them were either treated or hospitalized at two different hospitals, Willed Hospital or Allenburg Treatment Center." "Got it." Halpern looked at the directory. "I've already hit Allenburg. I'll call Willed." "Now what?" Mulder asked. "Now we *wait.* Sit down and have a coffee, you look awful." "Thanks. Where's Eduards?" "Over here!" someone yelled. Eduards was sitting with Cooley and Linfield at a booth in the cafeteria. "Got you a drink, Kid." Linfield handed him a soda bottle. "Thanks." He slumped into the booth, disturbed by his own behavior. Eduards gave him a concerned look. "Are you sure you're okay?" "Yeah. Wow." Mulder took a sip of the soda. "What a rush." "The flip side of the coin." Cooley intoned. "You figured it out. Good going." "Thank you." Mulder noticed his hand trembling, the other one gripping the bottle so hard his knuckles were turning white. He forced himself to relax. "Here's the game plan." Eduards leaned forward. "We're gonna split up, Linfield, Halpern, and Kid, you take Willed. Cooley, you and Krevsky take Allenberg with me. We're gonna stake them out. Remember, athletic white male, ages 20-40, looks like this." He held up the vague ID sketch. "And try to look sick or something, you *are * staking out hospitals. Shouldn't be a problem for you, Kid. Remember, don't make a scene, the last thing we need are hysterical outpatients beating you with crutches." He joked, trying to lighten the mood a little. They smiled grimly. "Kid, you especially, don't try to take him down yourself, you've got no gun. He's probably working at one of the two, or someone would have caught him by now. I'm having the branch office run background checks on the staff, but it'll take a while. Let's go." __________________ 11:30 Willed Hospital, Lincoln "You seen anyone yet?" Halpern sidled up to Mulder. "Not yet." Mulder cradled his arm and tried to look injured. "There's too many people here." "That can be a good thing. We blend in easier." "So does he." Linfield muttered. "I found some poor woman whose husband ditched her with their kid. I'm gonna go play Daddy." "Good luck, hope he doesn't puke on you." Halpern said. Mulder grinned. Halpern's pager beeped, and he made his way to the nurses desk. Mulder saw him covertly flash his badge and ask to use the telephone. _________________ "*Eight* suspects match the sketches." Halpern was back. "We can't possible check them all out without alerting someone. Two orderlies, the four janitors on the day shift, and two doctors." "I'd say the orderlies, most likely. They'd have more maneuverability. The doctors have too much of a spotlight on them, and the janitors can't get close enough to examine them without risking getting caught. What have we got on them?" "Both in one of those 'halfway house' programs, were on the streets, but managed to pull themselves up and get decent jobs-" Someone tugged at his elbow. He turned to see a nurse. "Dr. Glanville will see you now, sir." Mulder started to protest, but Halpern shook his head. *Don't blow our cover.* "Dr. Glanville?" He asked. "He's a *friend* of ours, Kid." Halpern said, and the meaning was all too clear. *Check him out.* Mulder let himself be led off. Linfield looked confused, but stayed where he was. ___________________ 11:46am "Now then, sir, can I ask your name?" the doctor took his injured hand and examined the sloppy bandage. "Fox Mulder. I don't have records here-" "We're used to that, emergency rooms and all. You have insurance?" Dr. Glanville asked quietly. "Yes." Mulder lied. "Good, you're going to need it." And the world went black. ___________________ 12:30 pm Mulder groaned and opened his eyes. Not that it helped, it was pitch black. Maybe his eyelids weren't responding. "Well, awake are we?" a harsh tone rang in the darkness. "Having fun?" "Who the hell are you?" he managed to slur, pushing himself upright. His hands were tied, in front of him, and his legs bound with tape. The ties hurt like hell. "A comrade in arms." The voice said, as if this were a great joke. "Who are you?" "I have a feeling I'm 'in trouble'." He muttered. "You know, I was like you." The man's voice echoed in the dark. "I tried, too." "Tried what?" "Your wrist. I tried to die." Mulder decided his psychology training could kick in anytime now. "What?" "I took my own life. What's it like? You must know. I knew." "Know?" *dolt, say something original.* "They wouldn't let me." The voice turned vindictive. "I tried, I tried, they wouldn't let me, they stuck a needle in my arm, my blood full of drugs...Linnea..." the voice trailed off. The there was an evil laugh. "Are you scared? Do you want to die? I wanted to, and I was scared. Well, they didn't let me, so I help others." "I can help you." Mulder said. "Can you untie me?" "Do you read Poe?" "Do I *what?*" he asked incredulously. Oh god, he was in trouble. "Poe, the greatest author ever. He wrote, you know, great books. He was insane." "Can you untie me? I can tell you all about Poe." "Oh really? Can you, now? Let's hear it." "I'd like to have my hands back." "Oh no, you might try to hurt yourself, before I could help you. Couldn't have that. Tell me about Poe." Mulder closed his eyes and flipped through the index cards in his mind, finally finding the references he as looking for. He began to read off the page in his head, silently blessing whatever gods existed for a photographic memory. He had to keep talking. *Well, I found him. Now if they can find me...* ______________________ 1 pm "You do know a lot about Poe, don't you? Can you recite his books?" The voice was softer, less harsh. "I wouldn't have to die if I could do that. But Linnea used to love him, yes indeed. She used to read about him all the time. She was like you, she remembered him." "Linnea was your wife?" Silence. "Who was she?" "Tell me 'The Raven'." "Who was Linnea? Did she die?" That had to be the stupid question for the year. His wrists were tingling, his fingers swollen and numb. His shoulders were cramping, and he was a more than a little tired of the dark. Something wet was running down the side of his face, and it itched like hell. "She died. The Raven, if you please." "Was she your daughter?" "They all tried. They did, I know it. They had excuses, but how could anyone want to live? Tell me that, how would anyone else want to live without her?" "I don't know. Who is she?" "She tried, and he did, he even cut his hand off! Can you imagine that? And the little girl, she was so small..." *He's talking about the other victims; he thinks they tried to kill themselves.* "They were hurt accidentally. They didn't even know Linnea." "Everyone knew Linnea. Now, sir." His voice rose an octave. "A recital, before I help you to your grave." Mulder swallowed and decided if he pushed any more he might indeed end up meeting Linnea. "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore..." _____________________ "Very good, sir. You do have a gift. Now, for your turn. Are you grateful?" "For what?" "For the chance to die?" "No. I don't know Linnea, Doctor. Please, don't do this." "Oh, but I know you want to die, your wrist is bandaged. They did it to me, so *I* wouldn't do it. You don't have to lie." "I'm not, believe me." "Have you read The Telltale Heart?" "Want me to recite it?" he said hopefully. Maybe if he could stall...where the hell was everyone? "I want you to live it." A dull *thud*ing started in the room; Mulder recognized it as the dead man's heart, taken out of the story. *And now what do I do, confess to murder, like the character did?* A door slammed, and he was alone with the heartbeat. Thud...Thud...Thud... Thud...Thud...Thud... ____________________ 2:15 pm "Whereinhell is he?" Linfield had given up the concerned father act and was now pretending to read the last rites over some unconscious soul in the hallway. "I don't know. He was going to check on one of the doctors-oh, shit, I didn't just..." "I think we'd better go find that doctor." Linfield dropped the man's hand and started purposely towards the nurse's station. Halpern almost slammed into him as he stopped. "Excuse me, can you page Dr. Glanville?" "Yes sir." The duty nurses' eyes widened. Five minutes passed. "He may have checked out early. He sometimes goes visiting at some of the other hospitals in the area." "Ma'am, we're with the FBI." Linfield held out his badge. "Can you tell me where he lives?" "Y-yeah." She dug through the rolodex and handed them the card with his address on it. "Halpern, stay here. Get Eduards on the phone and tell him to look out. I'm going to check his house." "I'll have backup there." "Tell them to be careful, possible hostage situation, agent may be down." ___________________ 1:47 Thud...Thud...Thud *Confessing may not be such a bad idea. Maybe he'll turn the damned thing off.* Thud...Thud...Thud... "I confess! Doctor, I murdered him!" "The heart knows all, sir! You'll have to do better than that!" *What I wouldn't do for a swiss army knife right about now...* Thud...Thud...Thud... ____________________ 2:28 The car whipped around, rattled up the suburban street noisily. Before it had even stopped fully, Linfield was out, leaving his keys in the car, gun drawn. A SWAT team member met him there; the Kid had better appreciate this. "We're heading in. Do you know *anything* about what kind of weapons this guy may have?" "No idea. Poor kid didn't even have a gun on him. Clear the house, but leave the final arrest to me. Got it?" "Right." ___________________ 2:15 "Feeling fine, sir?" Thud...Thud...Thud... "B-bastard." Thud...Thud...Thud... "You'll see soon. If you don't, I'll send you off like the others." Thud...Thud...Thud... *He's going to drive me insane.* ___________________ 2:28 "Freeze!" "Clear!" Nothing. "Freeze!" "Clear!" Nothing. The basement was the only place left. __________________ 2:29 *Funny, I can hear voices.* *You're losing it, Mulder.* Thud...Thud...Thud... "Do you hear the angels coming for you?" __________________ Linfield kicked the door in, reminding himself to put a new pair of shoes on the FBI expense roster. Not to mention a foot cast. The good doctor stood there, in a lit booth, a tape recorder set in front of a microphone. He was unarmed. He submitted easily, and Linfield cuffed him for good measure. "Can't have you attacking us, doctor. Find out what he did with our agent." He ordered the man who took custody. He reached out and switched the tape off as they led him out the door. "Am I dead?" He ducked automatically, the realized it was coming from a speaker in the wall. The Kid's voice, small and frightened. "Doctor?" "It's all right, Kid. Linfield here." "Would you mind turning on the lights?" __________________ *Perfect.* Eduards thought as he looked in the window. *One more veggie, courtesy of the FBI.* The Kid was in there, asleep, and pretty much drugged out of his mind. "Tell ya, kid's got *style*." Linfield said. "I turn the tape off and he asks if he's dead. That takes guts." "It may have taken the last of his, ever think of that?" Eduards said sharply. "Do you really think there's a chance in hell he won't try to put as much distance as possible between himself and the bureau once he gets out of here?" "Come on, it wasn't that bad. A bump to the head and a few hours in a basement. That's not so awful." "Hey look, he's up!" Halpern pointed. The Kid was blinking, trying to sit up and failing miserably. "Now *that's* guts for you, Linfield." "We'll see." Eduards pushed open the door. "Agent Mulder! Lay back down there." The Kid's head snapped up, and he smiled. "No sir, Agent Eduards, sir, I think I'd rather sit up." Krevsky supported his back as he winced. His hands were still swollen and the angry burn on his wrist was chafed. "Thanks." "No problem." "Hey, Kid, how's the dead man?" Linfield ignored the angry look Eduards shot him. "I think I'm alive, now, but I could be wrong." He shook his head. "What did they do to me?" "Morphine and assorted other painkillers." Krevsky said professionally. "And you need them, believe me." "Did you get him?" "Nailed him. But next time, try not to be live bait? Too often you could end up *dead meat.*" Halpern held out a tape. "He was trying to drive you crazy." "Tell me about it. But...." He smiled. "I don't think there's gonna *be* a next time." Linfield frowned. "Mulder, I know how you must feel, but the bureau needs you." Eduards said softly. "You can't-" "No, not like that. No more serial killers, not until I get a gun and some training. And until they get rid of the lunatic that sent me along with that guy." He said, with a pointed look at Halpern. "Right, I hereby resign." Halpern tossed his badge at Mulder, who considered it suspiciously and tossed it back, grimacing as his fingers gripped it. "All right, forgiven. But this is you last chance." "Gee thanks, Director Mulder." ____________________________ August 10, 1983 Lewis- Thought you might like a postcard. That picture's of the building where I've been working for the past week. We just wrapped up another case and I'm due back for school soon. This chasing drug dealers and killers is getting boring. We just caught another murderer. Ho hum. Can you do me a favor? There's a large volume of Edgar Allan Poe's works on the bookshelf in my bedroom. I want you to go get it and either sell it or burn it. Don't ask why, I'll explain some other time. Tell Phoebe I said hi, and if she hasn't trashed my reputation all over Oxford(again) tell her I'm sorry, and that all the guys here say hi too(Especially Krevsky, he says she looks like a 'babe'). The bureau is great, I'll tell you all about it when I get back. Federal Bureau Of Investigation Special Agent Fox Mulder(Has a nice ring to it.) ____________________________ Prodigy is, at it's essence, adaptability and persistent, positive obsession. Without persistence, what remains is an enthusiasm of the moment. Without adaptability, what remains may be channeled into destructive fanatacism. Without positive obsession, there is nothing at all. -Lauren Olamina, Earthseed: The Books of the Living Octavia Butler, The Parable Of The Sower From: raenright@aol.com (RaEnright) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: First Blood:Final Hunt 1/3/3 Date: 9 Sep 1995 12:28:51 -0400 And here it is, book three of First Blood. It's called Final Kill, and finally, Mulder's finished up at Oxford and joined the bureau. All is not well thought, in Mulderland, as we soon find out. For those who haven't read books 1 and 2, those took place quite a few years earlier, when Mulder was still in college and not even imagining working for the FBI. He assists four other agents in bringing a serial killer, and then a kidnapper, to justice(As well as a few other undocumented cases). There's a little explanation in there, but it's pretty brief. I'd recommend reading books 1 and 2 first, but it's not mandatory. This is really more of a personal development case on Mulder's part. Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Walter Skinner, Reggie Purdue, et cetera are copyright The Man, The Station, The Company, no infringement intended. Eduards, Krevsky, Linfield, Halpern, Cooley, and Morrow are mine. Whew, what a mouthful. Pay attention to the first couple of dates--they jump a bit. First Blood, book 3 Final Kill, part 1 Prologue June 8, 1988 Quantico, Virginia post-graduation "Are you nervous?" "Are you kidding? I'm scared out of my mind!" "Just remember, we're all watching *YOU*." Mulder smiled as Linfield peered at him. "Thanks, you're a big help." "That's *my* job, Linfield." Halpern said. "Surveillance. I've got a bug in the chair, you know." He wheeled over to Mulder and pointed to the handle. "Right in there." "I heard about that." Mulder said solemnly. "I'm sorry." "Naw, just a little gunshot. I'm doing fine, surveillance suits me better anyway." "And he's now officially 'Hal on wheels'." Krevsky tipped the wheelchair back and Halpern let out a yelp. "As soon as Eduards gets here, we can give you your graduation present." "Where's Cooley?" Mulder cocked his head at Halpern. "You guys didn't get him killed, did you?" "Would you believe he defected?" Halpern put a hand over his mouth and breathed deeply. "Come with me, Luke. Join the Dark Side." "So why isn't he here?" "He just...vanished one day. We added him to the loony files." "And here comes Eduards." Linfield waved. Eduards paced across the Quantico lawn, a grin on his face. "Well, Kid, big day. You coming ta woik for us, capisce?" "Right." Mulder stretched. "Der wunderkind de der Violent crimes." "Beg pardon?" "The child prodigy of Violent Crimes, section head, sir!" Mulder saluted. "I'm not really going to have to be polite to you now, am I?" "You'd better watch it, Mulder, or they'll stick you in with the dopes in Surveillance." "I resent that." Halpern whacked him in the leg. "We aren't dopes, thank you, we're geeks." "My mistake." Eduards bowed to Halpern. "Linfield, do you have the gift?" "Right here." He pulled a clumsily wrapped package out of the bag on the back of Halpern's chair. "As a new recruit and formal graduate of the Federal Bureau Of Investigation's academy, Quantico, you have hereby gained respect and admiration as an officer and a gentleman." He said with a flourish. "So we, the violent crimes section head, Hal On Wheels, the Krevmeister, and your ever-present class clown, hereby present this to you as a token of our esteem." "And if you understood half of what he just said, you've got my admiration." Krevsky cracked. Mulder accepted the box carefully and gravely unwrapped it. Inside the package was a black leather shoulder holster, with the words "Fox Mulder, The Kid" imprinted along the side of the strap. "It's a lot better than the cheap government issue. For special occasions." Eduards said. "It's great!" he took it out and examined it. A pair of Ray-Bans fell out. "Ah, those are from Morrow." Linfield picked them up. "So you won't have to look him in the eye ever again." ______________________________ June 15, 1992 FBI headquarters VCS offices of Purdue and Mulder "Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!" "Don't do that, Mulder-" "He shoots, and it's...awww! He misses by a mile!" Mulder whirled around in his chair and pointed at the paper ball, which was lying in the corner after Reggie Purdue's aborted free-throw at the trash can. "AIR-ball!" "Well I would have made it if you hadn't been chanting Reggie then entire time." Reggie glared. Mulder just smiled and bent back over his desk. A few minutes later a man looked in the open door. Reggie started to open his mouth when he put a hand up and pointed to Mulder, who was buried in his paperwork. Slinking across the floor, he reached out to whack the younger man in the back of the head- "Shouldn't you have retired by now?" Mulder asked, without looking up. "Not before I get you once, just once!" the older man yelled, disappointed. Reggie watched with interest. "Linfield, you sonofabitch, you won't ever get me." Mulder grinned up at him. "Not until you figure that your shadow falls across the desk when you sneak up from the front." "Awww, you're no fun." Linfield shoved his hands in his pockets and looked hurt. "Aren't you gonna introduce me?" "No, because Reggie is obviously on your side." Mulder stood up. "Damn, s'good to see you, Jimmy." "Jimmy...Linfield..." Reggie murmured. "James Linfield, I presume?" "In the flesh. You must be Reggie Purdue, I've heard about you." Linfield shook the man's hand. "I have only one question to ask. Howinhell do you put up with him?" "It's rough, but someone's gotta do it." Reggie smirked. Mulder crossed his arms and leaned against his desk. Purdue continued. "I mean, living in the shadow of the next Director, putting up with his eccentricities because the man's IQ is higher than his monthly car payment, having to remember that the little piss-off is gonna be my boss one day..." "Gee, Reggie, you flatter me." Mulder tossed a paper ball at him. "So Linfield, what brings you to this neck of the VCS?" "Blevins, actually." Linfield cocked his head at a certificate on the wall. "Above and beyond the call of duty? Mulder, what have you been *doing*?" "Blevins sent you? Why, if I can keep you on subject for more than three seconds at a time?" "Some weird case he wanted me to check out, and he suggested I bring you along. By the way, Eduards says hi, now that he's practically chained to his desk." Linfield tossed the file at him. "Agent Purdue, I'm sorry about this, but-" "The sooner he's out of my sight, the better." Purdue shook his head to take the sting out of his words. "Wouldn't want to stand in the way of greatness." "Greatness? Him? You must be joking. Hey Kid, wrap up whatever you're doing and meet me in my office." Linfield tossed him a thumbs-up and left quietly. Reggie whistled. "That was...James Linfield himself. Do you *know* how high up in the Bureau he is?" "Graduated Quantico in 1978, became a part of the Serialist team in 1983. He took over the esteemeed job as sections sub-director in-" "Okay, okay, I don't need the man's life history, Mulder. But why was he here?" "I don't know." Mulder crunched on a sunflower seed. "Sorry to leave you with the Cartman murder to wrap up, Reggie-" "I meant it, Mulder, I'm not gonna stand in the way of greatness. Maybe he's retiring." Reggie winked. "Good luck." __________________________ "That was quick." Linfield looked up from his desk and waved Mulder inside. "Purdue give you a hard time, Kid?" "Naw, he's a good partner." Mulder settled into the chair comfortably. "So what's this big case that Blevins personally earmarked for you?" "Actually, he had it marked for you, but I snagged it before it made it that far. Kid, I'm dying here." Linfield leaned forwards. "I can't sit and push papers for much longer lest I go insane and run amok with a pencil sharpener. I'm going to hurt someone. So I figured I'd take this one with you. Besides, it gives me an excuse to get everyone back on the team..." "What?" Mulder asked, sitting up. "You're calling in Krevsky and Halpern?" "Sort of." Linfield tapped on the desk. "We need a pathologist, and Krevsky qualifies...we need someone who knows something about technology, and Halpern fits the bill. And Eduards...he's itching to go on one more case before he kicks the bucket." The thought of Eduards 'kicking the bucket' made Mulder grin. "So what, exactly, is this case?" "Two murders, each occurring in Tennessee. A teenage boy and a college girl from Tennessee state." Linfield tossed him the file. "Both shot in the head, both found in their homes." "So...?" "So, take a look at this." He pulled the x-rays out. One was a dental shot, with a pen circle around the back molars. Two small black dots were apparent in either side. Another shot showed the wrist bones of one victim, filled with some sort of weird... "What is it? Bird shot?" "I don't know." Linfield sighed. "And it makes me wonder why Blevins sent it to you in the first place." "Never seen anything like it." Mulder frowned, puzzled. "Have they been identified?" "Not so far." A new voice from the back of the room came. Halpern wheeled across the floor from the back door to the office. Krevsky followed. "Kid, Jimmy." He nodded. "Good to see you, Krev, Hal." Mulder returned the nods. "So you don't know what this is?" "Best guess?" Halpern handed him some papers. "Some sort of shrapnel. But the boys at the lab 'lost' the hard evidence, so all we have are the x-rays." "What do you mean, lost?" Mulder demanded. "Lost, as in those lovely little strips of metal no longer exist, as far as we're concerned." Krevsky answered. "Autopsy turned up nothing unusual other than the metal...but both those kids must have been extremely accident prone." "Scars all over the place." Halpern continued. "Not the sort you get from shaving, either." "Well, gentlemen." Linfield rubbed his hands and stood up. "Who's up for Bluegrass country?" "I am." All four turned and stared at the open door. A tall man in jeans and a polo shirt stood there, holding a wad of tickets in his hands. He was grinning from ear to ear. "So, Kid, Hal, Krev, Jimmy-what are we waiting for?" ______________________________ They got the page from the car--Linfield was to return to the bureau immediately. He shrugged and waved them on, saying he'd catch a cab and meet them there. He'd have time to catch the next flight out. When he got to the bureau, he was ushered into Morrow's office. Even if he was sub-director, he still had to dance attendance on the A.D. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door to the inner office, entering at Morrow's command. The older man looked harried. In the background, two more men were evident; Agent Skinner and...oh, wonderful. *Him*. But he didn't have much time to speculate; Morrow cleared his throat. "Take a seat, please, Linfield." "No thank you, sir." Linfield never took his eyes off *Him*. "I'd rather stand." "Relax." *He* said, as he puffed at a cigarette. "You won't be here long, you may as well appreciate it." Linfield narrowed his eyes at Skinner before finally slumping into the chair. "Oh, it's everyone's favorite nicotine addict. How's your stoma coming along, sir?" "This isn't a time for jokes, Linfield." Skinner said. "Well, excuse me, agent Skinner." Linfield cocked his head at him. "Get a toupee." "Enough, Linfield." Morrow leaned on his desk. "We've called you here on very serious matters." "Concerning...?" "Agent Mulder." "Oh." *Mulder?!* "What are your candid thoughts on him, Linfield?" The man with the cigarette asked. "Candid thoughts on Mulder? He's honest, hardworking, the best profilist I've seen since Cooley 'disappeared', and he enjoys his work." Linfield rattled off. "Can I ask why?" "We've taken...a special interest in agent Mulder." Skinner said. "Oh, it's we now? You decided to join the ranks of the slightly unlawful?" "*Assistant Director* Skinner has been advising us." Morrow said. "I'm resigning my post, as of tomorrow morning." *Oh shit.* Linfield glanced again at Skinner. *Open mouth, insert foot. Lovely little toupee comment, that's gonna earn you bonus points. Can you hear the flushing as you career goes down the toilet?* "Congratulations, Skinner." Skinner merely nodded. *God, what a slimeball.* Linfield thought. "You will be staying here and supervising the agents' work from your office." Morrow continued. "And hopefully, you will be able to debunk their work." "Ah...beg pardon?" "Really, Jimmy." *He* said. Linfield gritted his teeth and let it pass. "You didn't take a close enough look at the file designation." He held out a copy of the folder ID sheet. The serial number read X1121897. "X?" it hit him like a few tons of mortar. "The X-Files?" "Precisely, Linfield." Morrow frowned. "Think of it as a test in remote surveillance." "I see, sir." Linfield put a tight leash on his temper before he attacked someone. "Is that all?" "Dismissed." Morrow began shuffling papers. With a curt nod to Skinner and completely ignoring the man smoking in the corner, Linfield left. "Mulder, Mulder, Mulder." He murmured to himself. "What have you fallen into now?" ___________________________ End pt 1 The blackest night must end in dawn The sun dispel the dreamer's fear: When shall my soul's bleak hopeless pain Find solace in it's darkening weyr? Anne McCaffrey, Dragonflight =========================================================================== From: raenright@aol.com (RaEnright) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: First Blood: Final Kill 2/3/3 Date: 9 Sep 1995 12:28:50 -0400 Fox Mulder, Cancerman, et cetera belong to Chris Carter blah blah blah o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave...Linfield, Eduards, Krevsky, and Halpern, as well as Morrow, are mine, just like this story. What a coincidence! All psychological tests administered are made up--I know next to nothing about psychology except for the fact that I dislike having my head shrunk. Historian's note: the movie Fire In The Sky wasn't out in 1992--it's called 'Suspension of disbelief'. Run with it, all right? First Blood book 3 Final Kill part 2 Bethel Springs, TN June 19 9am "So what do we have?" Eduards opened the casefile. "We have two kids murdered, both with odd scars and some sort of shrapnel embedded in their bones. And laser-drilled cavities in their teeth." "Ever seen Fire In The Sky?" Krevsky muttered. "Hey, take a look at this." Mulder tapped the folder. "The serial designation. X1221897. X?" "The X-Files?" Halpern's jaw dropped. "They sent us on an X-File?" "Those were...the ones in the basement, right?" Mulder concentrated. "The Loony Files?" "Good memory, Kid." "Photographic." "I don't know, Mulder, this sounds awfully like a setup. Who did you piss off in the bureau lately?" Krevsky asked. "Nobody I can name. I haven't...have I?" "People get jealous, Mulder. They know as well as I do that you're on the up--you're destined for greater stuff than field agent status. And they tend to get mean. You ask Reggie, he'd tell you." "The case, everyone?" Eduards reminded them. "We can chat politics later. Says here they've both been in psychiatric care--could be they were doing this to themselves? Naw, you can't drill your own teeth." "What about some sort of stigmata?" "Teeth don't usually respond." Mulder said with a smile. "Can we talk to the men who were working with them?" "Just one." Krevsky checked the file. "Both were working with a hypnotherapist named Verber." "I think we should pay a call to Mr. Verber, don't you?" _________________________________ Office of Dr. H. Verber Downtown Bethel Springs, TN Verber was a quiet, almost pathetically thin man who ushered them into his office as soon as they flashed their badges. They found themselves in a minimal room with lots of surveillance devices and a few papers scattered around. Three chairs and a desk completed the setup. "You're here to see about Eileen and Tau, aren't you?" he shuffled the papers into a pile. "I have their records around here somewhere...ah, here we go." He held out a pile of papers and cassette tapes. Halpern held one up. "Tau Christian--Regression for April 6. What are these?" "Hypnotic regression tapes. I was using hypnotherapy to help them with their problems--" "--before you finish," Eduards interrupted, "What problems were those?" Verber shrugged. "Sleepwalking, extreme paranoia, flashbacks..." he tapped the tape. "I'd like to play this for you." "Did you find out why they were behaving erratically?" Mulder asked. "Repressed memories." Verber replied. "Abuse?" Mulder queried. "What level of psychosis were they experiencing?" "A twelve on the JCS." "What about the RM scale?" Verber did a double take. "You know a bit about psychology?" "Majored in it." Mulder shrugged. "Are they RM?" "Yeah." Verber watched him for a minute. "And they've been that way for quite some time." "Can I ask, what were they repressing? In English, Kid?" Halpern asked. Verber's brow creased. "You'd better hear for yourself. I thought at first it was abuse, but now I'm not so sure." He took the tape from Halpern and popped it into the nearby stereo. His voice emerged. "All right, Tau, let's take it from December ninth, 1987, okay?" "Okay." "This is under deep regression." Verber put in. "This was the first breakthrough." The tape played on. "What do you remember about December 9?" "I was...yeah, I was at home. I was sitting there, doing' homework, you know?" "What time was it?" "Oh...eight o'clock. I'm doing my trig homework." "Good. Now, let's go a little later. Can you jump ahead to around ten pm that night?" "Yeah. Mom sent me to bed--school day, and I have to get some sleep." "Is anything unusual happening?" "No, I--hey, yeah. There's something at the window." "The window?" "Yeah. It's a big white thing, shinin in my eyes. I stand up to check it out--think maybe it's Mike playing a joke." "So you get out of bed. Then what happens?" "I'm...I can't move. The light's in my eyes, but I can't move!!" "Calm down, Tau. Why can't you move?" "I don't know!! Jesus, what the hell--ohmygod..." Verber popped the tape out. "At that point he spontaneously emerged from hypnosis. Extremely agitated." "What did he see?" Krevsky asked. "As far as I can tell?" Verber looked nervous. "He was abducted by a UFO." Halpern burst out laughing. "You can't be serious..." "I am." Verber said calmly. "Please, take this seriously." "You think...this kid was being abducted by beings from another planet." Krevsky said dubiously. "And the stuff found in their bodies would be--" "--Implants." Verber finished. "Look, I've been all over the country. This is my specialty. And these two kids fit the bill perfectly." He looked back at Mulder for a minute, and said cryptically, "You get to a point where you can tell instinctually." Mulder looked away. Eduards, oblivious, continued. "Doctor, do you think these kids could have committed suicide?" "It's always a possibility. But the police reports I saw said they couldn't have." "There's no evidence of it, and no weapon left behind, but we still can't rule it out." Krevsky held out his hands. "They could have had assistance." "Can we take these?" Mulder held up the rest of the tapes. "Sure, they signed waivers allowing anyone access to them." Verber shrugged. "Call if you need anything." __________________________ "Hey kid, you've got a photographic memory." "So?" "So I think we're being followed. Rewind your internal video camera and tell me if the guy off to the left there--the one with the buzzcut--has been hanging around." Mulder thought about it for a minute. "Yeah, I saw him at the motel as we were coming out. And he stood outside while we ate breakfast." "Maybe we should see why?" Halpern was a fan of the direct approach; he wheeled over to him and smiled ingratiatingly. "Excuse me, could you give me the time?" The boy backed up as if he'd pulled a gun. "Um...left my watch at home." "Really? Well, maybe that's why you've been following us." Krevsky stood behind Halpern. "Or there was another reason?" The boy turned to run--right into Mulder. "Take it easy, we're not going to shoot you." "Yes you are--they're gonna kill me..." "Who's going to kill you?" Halpern asked. "You are! Oh, shit." The kid sagged in Mulder grip. "Go ahead." "Go ahead what?" Mulder asked. "Go ahead, arrest me." "We can't arrest you unless you commit a crime." "I have. You're the ones chasing Tau and Eileen's killer, huh?" "Yeah." Krevsky exchanged a look with Mulder. "You know something about that?" "NO--I mean, I...sort of..." "Let's go back to the motel, hm?" Mulder suggested. _________________________ The boy couldn't be more than fifteen, maybe younger. Mulder set a Coke in front of him. "Now." Eduards paced the small motel room. "We aren't going to shoot you. And we aren't going to hurt you. Can you tell us what you know?" The kid swallowed nervously. "Do I have to tell you my name?" "Not if you don't want to." Krevsky gestured to Halpern, who flicked a switch on his chair. The recording device flipped on. "I...Tau came to me last year, 'cause we were both at Dr. Haitz's office." "Haitz Verber?" The boy nodded. "And...Eileen too. And then..." he looked down. "They got afraid. Of something. Tau kept at me, and at me..." "About what?" "He...he got a gun. He wanted to shoot himself, but he...he made me." The boy looked down miserably. "He made me! He shot Eileen and then...." he broke off in a sob. "Tau was...he wanted to die to get away from Them." "Them?" Mulder asked. "The ones who were after him. Go ahead, cuff me." "Eduards, can we talk outside?" Mulder asked. Eduards nodded curtly. Mulder turned around as soon as he shut the door. "Look, I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out." He took a deep breath. "What if this kid is telling the truth?" "About the murders or about Them?" "Both." Mulder ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. What if something *is* going on here and we're out of out depth. And this kid is *scared*, Eduards." "Look, Mulder, I think he's suffering the same level of psychosis that the others were. You heard him, he was seeing Verber too. I think he's highly delusional and I think you're picking up on it." Mulder shook his head. "I want to talk to Verber again." ___________________________ Same time, Washington DC Sub-director Linfield's office Linfield shook his head. He didn't understand this. He'd been in the business long enough to understand most of the bureau politics that went on. But why would someone want to assign Mulder an X-File? It was obviously either Morrow or the mystery man who had it sent to him. And they must have known it would come through Linfield's office. So...why? Mulder was on his way up--Linfield expected to leave his job with Mulder when he retired. And this little sidetrack was very, very confusing. What did they expect? And why were they so interested in Mulder? Linfield reached back in his memory to the case they were on before Mulder even joined the bureau. And the night he'd woken up with what looked to good ol' Jimmy like intense, horrific nightmares. And what he'd said about his sister... Could it be that someone actually *did* know what happened? And this was a clue? He picked up the phone and dialed Eduards' cellphone number. "Eduards here." "Hi, it's Jimmy. Just checking up." "We've found some interesting twists, Jimmy. Some kid following us, claims he shot the boy and the boy shot the college girl." "*What*?" "It gets weirder. They were all seeing a doctor named Haitz Verber." "The regression specialist?" "You've heard of him?" "He was in DC a few years back. Anything else?" "Yeah. Verber's convinced that the boy, Tau Christian, was abducted by aliens." "You're kidding." "Look, Mulder knows more about this stuff, I'm gonna put him on." "All right. Kid, you there?" "Yeah, Linfield. This guy played some hypnotic regression tapes--the sort of hypnosis where people relive what happened years ago and was repressed?" "Okay..." "And he believes they've been experimented on by extraterrestrials." "What do you think?" "It's possible." Linfield asked his next question carefully. "Do you believe them?" "I want to, Jimmy, I really want to." End pt 2 Until a man has found something to die for, he has not truly lived. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. =========================================================================== From: raenright@aol.com (RaEnright) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: First Blood: Final Kill 3/3/3 Date: 9 Sep 1995 12:29:02 -0400 We all know what to say here, right? They belong to them and the others belong to me, and we're all one big happy family. First Blood book 3 Final Kill part 3 June 19, around 1 pm Washington DC "Nice office." Linfield looked up from his paperwork. "You aren't welcome here." The man waved his cigarette. "No, but I'm here anyway." "You know, those things are slow suicide?" "That's the point." The man answered. "Agent Linfield, we've come to a point where a compromise has to be made." "What is with you? Why is Mulder so important?" "Mulder's a pawn. But he's an important pawn." "You know what happened to his sister, don't you?" "I can make an educated guess." The smoke puffed. "Which is why I sent the file to him. Agent Linfield, Mulder is a very special case. He is a Truth seeker, and that's a dangerous thing. Which is why we've done what we've done." "Because if he gets too high in the bureau he won't listen to you anymore, will he?" "And so we've...distracted him. The X-files are what he's been looking for--you'll see it for yourself when he comes back. Of course, not from an official position..." "Excuse me?" "You know, a job like yours is very stressful. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't retire early. You're a smart man, you've saved enough to last you through retirement." "I don't want to retire." "These stressful jobs--they're the reason so many men commit suicide. I'd hate to see you kill yourself because of a job." The implication was clear. There was nothing he could do about it. "You're a slimeball, you know that? Mulder's no idiot. He'll shut you down." "We'll see, agent Linfield. We'll see. Skinner will receive your resignation tomorrow." Linfield rubbed his eyes. The final embarrassment--he had to resign to *Skinner*. "This isn't over." "It's never over, James." ______________________ Same time, Dr. H. Verber's office "Dr. Verber?" Verber whirled. There was the FBI agent, the one who'd come in earlier. But this time he was alone. "Agent...Mulder, right?" The young man nodded. "I...came to tell you we apprehended the killer." "Really? That's wonderful!" Verber smiled. "Who?" "That's why I'm here. It's another one of your patients." Verber paled. "Marcus?" Mulder nodded. "He claims Tau shot Eileen and then had Marcus shoot him. He showed us where the gun was. I'm sorry." He said honestly. Verber shook his head. "I knew something like this was going to happen. Tau was so very afraid of Them." The young man could tell about them, he decided. He knew. Verber took a deep breath. "He confessed?" "And they'll probably expect you to testify at the trial." Mulder continued. A car horn honked outside. "Your friends, they don't believe me, do they?" Verber asked suddenly. "Not entirely. I think they'd like more proof." Krevsky leaned in the door. "You coming, Mulder?" "Agent, I'd like to try something." Verber said conversationally. "I think it might validate my work a little." Eduards joined Krevsky. "And what would that be?" "If I may, I'd like to try regression on one of you." Verber shrugged. "My appointment book is clear for the day. Today was...Tau's day." Krevsky gave Eduards a look that said *Should we humor the bastard?* Eduards nodded. "I'll go get Halpern." ________________________ "This is crazy." "Investigative procedure, Halpern, we should check everything out." "Shut up, Eduards." "Who are you going to try this on?" "It's not gonna be me." "I don't know." Verber said. "I think Mulder might do best. He's the most familiar with this sort of thing." Mulder looked reluctant, but agreed. Eduards watched as Verber ran through the normal steps to hypnotize the subject. "Mulder, can you hear me?" "Yeah." "All right, we're going to give you a choice. Where do you want to go?" "My sister." Eduards glanced at Krevsky. He looked nervous. Verber was puzzled. "When was that?" Mulder licked his lips. "November 1973." Krevsky was scribbling on a pad. He held it out to Verber. HIS SISTER WAS KIDNAPPED. NEVER FOUND. NOT A GOOD SUBJECT! Verber switched on the tape recorder, belatedly. "Mulder, what time is it?" "Nine in the evening." "Where are you?" "In bed." "Where is your sister?" "In the other bed, in the room." "What's her name?" "Samantha." He was answering in a complete monotone--like it was nothing at all. "What can you see?" "Nothing. See nothing." "Are you asleep?" "No, nothing's happening." "But your eyes are open?" "Yeah, they're open, but...s'like...nothing's happening." "Try turning your head." "...I can't...?" "Why not?" "I don't know. I...can't move. So I don't--I just lie there in bed." Eduards looked alarmed. *What is going ON?*. Verber continued. "Can you see your sister?" "No. But I can hear her." "What is she saying?" "She's calling out my name." *Abuse?* Eduards thought. *His parents?* "Over and over again. She's crying out for help..." Suddenly he felt guilty to be sitting there. They shouldn't be witnesses to this sort of thing. This was Mulder's demon. Of that he was sure. "I can't help her. I can't move..." "Are you scared?" "I know I should be, but I'm not." "Do you know why?" "Because of the Voice. The voice in my head." Halpern shuddered visibly. This was way too weird. "What's it telling you?" he couldn't keep from asking. Verber shot him a look. "Not to be afraid." Mulder answered. "It's telling me that no harm will come to her, and one day she'll return." "Do you believe the voice?" "I want to believe." Suddenly Mulder jerked up, like he was coming awake. He looked like he was going to be sick. "Mulder?" Halpern asked. "Are you okay?" "He's out of the hypnosis. Mulder, deep breaths." Verber put out a hand as Mulder started to swallow convulsively. "Mulder, calm down." "I saw them." He gasped. "Jesus." "Thank you for your time, Dr. Verber." Eduards stood up. "We'll call if we need anything. Come on, Mulder." They ushered him out into the car, and back to the motel, and to the airport to return to Washington. He never said a word. ________________________ AD Skinner-- Here is my resignation. I know you were expecting it, bastard. I don't think you're giving any of us much credit, but then that's not really anything new. So I hereby resign from the bureau, effective immediately. You won this time. I expect you'll ask for Eduards to resign next. Let me know, all right? Because if someone isn't there to calm him he's going to get a lot more violent than I have. Oh, and Walt? Get a toupee. Sincerely, James Linfield. _________________________ APPLICATION FOR DISABILITY LEAVE Date: 6/21/92 Name/Status: Fox Mulder/Special Agent Badge #: JTT047101111 Terms of application: Disability leave due to psychological instability. Expected duration of leave--2 weeks. Approved by section head Eduards and assistant director Skinner. _________________________ APPLICATION FOR FILE OPENING Date: 7/12/92 Name/Status: Fox Mulder/Special Agent Badge #: JTT047101111 Terms of application: Agent Mulder applies for permission to reopen files serial numbered X, and should permission be granted, for transfer to X-Files department. Approved by assistant director Skinner. _________________________ APPLICATION FOR TRANSFER Date: Name/Status: Walter Skinner/Assistant Director Badge #: ASR632896626 Terms of application: Request transfer of Agent Dana Scully, current status Instructor at Quantico Academy, to X-Files Division, as assistant to Agent Fox Mulder, X-Files Section head. Believe Agent Mulder to be instable; assistance is required. Approved by :::::||||:::::Censored. _________________________ END And it's so clear standing here, where I am Ain't that what justice is for? Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn, anymore... Billy Joel, Famous Last Words