Chapter 2
"He's on the roof of an empty house," the officer
explained. "The best way to reach him is the way he got up
there, through the house."
They made their way to the third floor and out a window. An
officer leaned against a wall.
"Has anything been touched?" Mulder asked.
"No, sir," the officer answered. "I've been right
here. I was the only one that approached him to make sure he was
dead."
Mulder nodded to Scully, who made her way across the roof,
stopping every few feet to take pictures as she went. Finally she
sat down her case and examined the body. "He's very
muscular," she announced. "From the scrape marks on the
roof he put up quite a struggle. His assailant must've been quite
strong, to pin him down. There appears to be a single wound at
the back of the head. Doesn't appear to have been a projectile.
Some kind of sharp instrument was thrust into the brain, causing
instantaneous death. Mulder....Mulder, look at this! This jacket
is ATF! The letters that were stitched to the back have been
removed. But you can still see where they were."
She rolled the body over and shone her light on the face. She
recognized the man, instantly as she was sure her partner did.
Several months before he had shot one of Mulder's contacts at
point blank range in front of him.
"There's something in his pocket," Mulder announced.
Scully pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it. It held photo
copies. One was a photograph of her, the second one was Mulder.
the third was their immediate supervisor and the fourth was
another of Mulder's contacts. Mulder took out his cell phone. In
a few moments his superior answered.
"This is Mulder, sir, I'm with Scully examining the body of
the man who tried to kill her. He had in his pocket, sir, a
photograph of Scully, myself, you, and one of my other
associates. I would advise you to take all precautions, sir. He
may not be operating alone. No sir, I have no idea why they're
after us. No, sir, I'm working on nothing unusual at the moment.
Follow up on the Hartford kidnapping, not even an X File case.
Yes sir. Immediately, sir."
Mulder put away the telephone. "He wants us to come in
immediately," he told Scully. Mulder turned to the officer
nearby. This body is to go to our facility first," he
snapped. "It will be given to the coroner when
appropriate."
"Understood," the officer snapped back.
Scully was scraping something from beneath the man's nails.
"What is it?" Mulder asked.
"I'm not sure," Scully answered. "It appears to be
fur...very, very fine fur, like nothing I've ever seen. I can
tell better when I get some decent light."
They quickly made their way to Mulder's car, and hurried back
into Washington. As they were driving Mulder turned on the news.
They were just in time to catch the top of the hour.
"Well, UFO buffs are going to have a field day!" the
announcer was saying. "There's been a horrendous series of
explosions at Groom Lake Air Force Base, Arizona. Outside
emergency crews have been rushed into the base to retrieve the
few remaining survivors. One eye witness reports everything is
leveled! There's five huge craters in the ground and a strange
blue glow hovers over everything. But radiation detectors won't
even register, not even normal background radiation. Well,
folks," the announcer said, coming back, one thing's for
damn sure, whatever they had out there isn't out there any more.
Wait a minute! I've just been handed something else...air force
officials have just announced that they're asking people in the
southwest to be on the lookout for the remains of the
experimental air craft, that has disappeared while on a practice
flight. The craft is said to resemble a stealth fighter.
It sounds like things aren't going well for the air boys today.
Along the same lines in the suburbs of Washington this evening, a
woman reported to police she was saved from a
three-hundred-and-fifty pound rapist when a winged being landed
on her balcony, picked the man up off her, and threw him out the
window. Authorities believe, however, the woman made this story
up, as she does not want to admit she, herself, had somehow
managed to push the man to his death.
There's weird stuff tonight, folks!"
Scully turned off the radio and stared at Mulder. "I don't
know," he muttered, "I don't know."
They pulled into the bureau's parking garage and found the
entrances sealed. "What's going on?" Mulder asked.
"Bomb! In your office!" another agent explained.
"They found the body of the guy who was planting it. Bomb
squad getting rid of it. Apparently he was trying to hook it up
to your computer when somebody blew his brains out."
"A wound in the back of the head?" Scully asked.
The agent shrugged.
In a few minutes the all clear was given, and Mulder rushed to
his office.
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