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Mulder snorted softly. I realized that what I had said was probably the understatement of the century, so I moved on quickly, not allowing my fair complexion time to color with the slight embarrassment I was feeling at that moment.
�And I know that you have a reputation for going after leads that aren�t always as conventional as other agents would like.�
�If you called me out at three in the morning to tell me not to screw around you�ve wasted both of our time,� Mulder said.
�I didn�t call you out here for that,� I promised. I dragged my fingers through my hair and sighed heavily. �Look, off the record and on pain of castration and slow dismemberment should this become one of your X-Files, in the past I have a history of precognitive dreams. And I wouldn�t even be bringing this up�it�s not something I like to talk about�but before I called you...�
�You saw the next victim?� Mulder asked, his voice lowered.
�I did,� I nodded gravely. �At least, I think I did. Sometimes these thing just turn out to be brought on by what I�ve already seen or read or whatever, but this... it felt really real.�
Mulder nodded, motioning for me to elaborate.
I recounted the dream, alarming detail for alarming detail, and then I said, �There�s a park, like the one I saw in my dream, not far from the base. I can�t remember what it�s called... Harm might know... growing up here and all. Anyway, I think... I think that you should check it out.�
�You got a weapon?� Mulder asked, pulling out his wallet and throwing down some bills to cover our drinks.
�Didn�t really count on my tagging along,� I admitted.
�I need your memories to find the baseball diamond,� Mulder said as we headed out to his car. He popped the trunk and spun the dials on a lock box, opening it up and pulling out an FBI edition SIG Sauer P22OS. He haded the gun to me and I tested the weight. �You know how to use that?� he asked.
�Before I joined the JAG corps I trained as a weapons specialist,� I said as I checked the gun over as best I could in the low light of the coffee shop�s parking lot. It was in good working order, was obviously cleaned regularly and thoroughly, and had been fired more than once but not recently. �You always go off like this without your partner?� I asked as we got in his Taurus.
�All the time. Drives her crazy,� Mulder said as he threw the car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot.