Agents Doggett and Reyes arrived at the Ruskin home in Ivory, Colorado at nine o' clock
in the morning. The official police investigation had ceased the day before; with them
they had brought a sherriff's deputy named Parsons to show them the ropes.

The house had been cordonned off from the public with bright yellow police tape. Reyes and
Doggett ducked under it and walked towards the white farmhouse. The first thing Reyes
noticed was the door. It was completely off its hinges, propped inside the doorjamb like
a piece of misplaced driftwood. It was splintered and cracked practically in half, the
tell-tale marks of an inhuman force. 

"Crazy, isn't it? Imagine---two guys did this damage," Deputy Parson's mumbled as they 
stepped cautiously inside the house. "Everything's been dusted, but not one print's been
lifted. These guys were careful. Not a trace of them left."

"Besides the wake of utter chaos and destruction," Reyes pointed out, running a gloved
finger over a shelf. "Everything has been dusted, you said?"

"Yeah, everything."

"What about the door?" Doggett suggested. 

"The knob, yeah," Parson's said. 

"I mean the rest of the door."

"No, 'course not," Parson's replied. "Seems as though they kicked it in, doesn't it? There
weren't any shoeprints, if that's what you're thinking."

"No, it's not," Reyes said, following Doggett's eyes to the center of the broken door. 
"See here?" She made a circular motion with her right index finger over a spot on the
door. "The smudges?" She grabbed Doggett's hand, splayed his fingers, and hovered it
over the faint marks. "It looks like someone put their hand here. You need to get this 
dusted and analysed."

"You think someone just smacked the door open on this woman?" Parson's asked. "You know what
kind of strength it would take for someone to do that?"

"Yeah, we do," Doggett replied, taking his hand back from Reyes and putting it in his 
pocket. "Did anyone see these guys?"

"Neighbors noticed a military vehicle outside the house at approximately the time that this
happened," Parson's replied. "George Ruskin worked for the army, though, before---they 
thought it had something to do with him. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to them."

*The military.* Doggett and Reyes exchanged a knowing look. 

"Hey, is there something you two aren't telling me?" Parson's demanded. "Because this is 
still my investigation, and if you're withholding evidence---"

"We aren't withholding anything from you, Deputy," Reyes said soothingly. "We just think 
it's curious that someone connected with the military would kill two people and steal their
child."

"We never said they took the kid," Parson's said. "This isn't a kidnapping case on top of
a double murder."

"Not yet," Doggett said. "But where do you think the boy is, Deputy? In the Bahamas? He was
hardly two years old. He can't have just disappeared."

"We haven't finished contacting all the relatives yet," Parson's replied. "Could be he's 
staying with one of them. We're not jumping to any hasty conclusions here, Agents. No need
to blow this out of proportion."

Doggett raised his eyebrows at Reyes, but they said nothing about their suspicions. Instead,
Reyes asked, "What makes you think they *didn't* take the boy?"

"His nursery was completely undisturbed. With the whole rest of the house smashed to 
smithereens, it's a little odd that the kid's room was completely left alone," Parson's
pointed out. "In fact, the whole upstairs was pretty normal. We figured they never went
up there."

The agents were silent, processing the information and deciding what to say next. Parson's
noticed the lapse into quiet and he challenged, "You want to see for yourself?"


He was right. The room was clean and normal. Nothing seemed out of place, not even a 
crooked picture or a broken knickknack. The only sign that something was missing was the
unmade crib, but Deputy Parsons shook his head.

"I'm telling you, the kid isn't missing. He's probably with some relatives. My guys are on
that now---they should have an answer within the hour."

"And if they don't?" Reyes postulated.

Parsons raised his eyebrows. "Then we start searching for him. But I'm telling you---"

Just then his cellphone shrieked.

"This should be them now," Parsons said, removing the phone and answering it. "Parsons. 
You did?" He looked at the two federal agents in a smug, knowing way. "So who's he with?
Grandparents? Aunt and uncle? Cousins? Who?" He listened for a little longer, and then
his face fell.

"Bingo," Doggett whispered to Reyes.

"Okay, I want ten men on this," Parsons demanded. "I don't care how much of a sacrifice that
would be. The feds are searching for this kid, too, and I want him found." He hung up the
phone with a frustrated grunt. 

"So I guess you two were right on the money," he told them. "Nobody's got the kid, and now
we've got a whole slew of relatives all riled up. We better find him."

But the agents were no longer paying attention. While he had been talking, Reyes had 
traveled over to a shelf that housed a half-dozen framed photographs of the Ruskins and 
their child.

"John, look at this," Reyes said in a low voice.

"My God," he said. "That's---"

"What's going on?" demanded Parsons.

"Nothing," Reyes answered quickly. She thought fast. "We were just thinking that the 
Ruskins child doesn't look much like either parent."

"Well, that makes sense, since the Ruskins adopted William a year ago," Parsons revealed.
"I don't know how you can tell, though. All babies look the same to me."

"Woman's intuition," Doggett explained. 

"Did you say the boy's name is William?" Reyes asked.

"Yeah." Parsons opened the case file. "That's what it says here."

"Can I see that?" Reyes reached for the file.

"Monica," Doggett warned softly, touching her elbow.

"I have to know," she whispered.

"Can you leave us alone for a minute, Duputy?" Doggett requested.

"What's going on?" Parsons asked, obviously irritated. "What kind of secrets are you guys
keeping?"

"Just a minute, okay?" 

"Sure, fine, whatever." The deputy turned to go. As he left, they heard him mutter under
his breath, "Feds!"

"It's not him, Monica," Doggett said when Deputy Parsons was satisfactorily out of the
earshot. "I know you want it to be, but it's not."

"John, why not? A two-year-old boy named William, adopted a year ago, who just happens
to end up kidnapped? His adoptive parents murdered by assailants that more than resemble
super-soldiers? Who else could it be?" Reyes was obviously agitated. Having helped bring
William into the world, she felt a strong bond with the young boy that she had come to
think of as a nephew. When Scully had been forced by circumstance to give William up, Reyes
had been heartbroken. And now he was missing . . . 

"I miss that little boy, too," Doggett admitted. Reyes' eyes widened. It was unlike John
Doggett to be so open with his feelings. "I was awful attached to him. But that doesn't make
this boy *him*, Monica."

"No, you're right, it doesn't," Reyes responded, closing the file and handing it to him.
"But this does."

"What does?"

"All this." She guestured around her and out the door. "Why would the super-soldiers go to
all this trouble just to kidnap a normal little boy?"

"But William *was* a normal little boy," Doggett insisted. "And besides, we don't know this
was the super-soldiers."

Reyes gave him a withering look.

"Okay, maybe we do," Doggett admitted. "But William was normal when Scully gave him up. That
stuff Mulder's half-brother---"

"Spender," Reyes supplied.

"---Spender put in him, that made him normal," Doggett said. "Right?"

"Spender warned that they would always be after William," Reyes reminded her partner. 
"That's why Scully had to give him up, to protect him. Well, obviously it didn't work. They
found him anyway. And now we have to make sure that they don't do to him what Spender
told us they would---make him a test subject."

Doggett sighed. "Okay, so what do we do about it?"

"First," Reyes replied. "We ditch the deputy."



"One ticket to Denver."

"Your name, ma'am?"

"Kirsten Leigh. I'm a federal agent, so I'll need a security clearance for my weapon,"
Leigh told the ticket clerk. She nodded and handed over the ticket.

Leigh left the line and headed towards the security guard that the clerk had pointed out
to her. Before she could get to him, though, she was intercepted by a man dressed all in 
black.  He grabbed her elbow roughly and before she could respond she felt the cold barrel
of a gun jabbed into her stomach.

Looking around him to make sure no one was watching, the mysterious man leaned close and
whispered to her, "Don't make a sound. Follow me close and I won't hurt you."

"Is that a promise?" she hissed sarcastically, allowing him to drag her along. The man 
pulled her into a large utility closet and pulled a heavy piece of equipment in front of
the door to prevent entry.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded, yanking her arm back from his grip, which had loosened
since they got in the room. When he didn't respond, she raised her voice. "Who *ARE* you?"

"Lower your voice," the man warned. 

"I *asked* you who you are!"

"I said, lower it," he cautioned again. He turned over a bucket and gestured to it. "Sit."
She didn't move. "*Sit*."

Stiffly, she took a seat. She told herself she was only cooperating with him so he would 
tell her what he wanted with her, but her hands were shaking in her lap. She noticed it
and shoved them in the pockets of her trench coat. Mustering all her courage, she asked,
her voice shaky now without the adrenaline rush, "Who are you?"

"I can't tell you my name," the man said. "But I can tell you what I want. What I want is
your help."

"My help with what?" 

"You've been assigned recently to a veteran agent . . . "

"Agent Reyes," she supplied.

He didn't respond, although she knew she wasn't giving new information. "Do you know about
Agent Reyes' previous assignment?"

"Something having to do with the paranormal," Leigh responded. 

"The X-Files."

"I don't know anything about it."

"Are you familiar with an agent named Doggett?"

"Yes. He's a friend of Monica's. Her former partner, I think."

"They worked on the X-Files together two years ago. They replaced a team of agents named
Mulder and Scully. Do you recognize those names, Agent Leigh?" He looked at her blankly. It
was odd how his face was so expressionless, how he showed absolutely no emotion. He must
have been trained---the question was, by who?

"Yes, I do."

"How?"

"Why do you keep asking me all these questions? I thought you wanted my help. *I* should be
asking the questions."

"You don't ask, you don't talk. You answer, and you listen. Got it?"

She was silent.

"*How* do you know Mulder and Scully?"

"I don't know Agent Mulder," she told him through clenched teeth. "I've only heard his name.
Agent Scully was an instructor of mine at the FBI Academy at Quantico. I didn't know her 
very well. What do they have to do with me?"

He said nothing in response. Instead, he asked:

"Where is Agent Reyes now, Agent Leigh?"

"I don't know."

"You do know. And you're going to tell me."

"I said I don't know."

"I don't believe you."

She was silent.

"That doesn't matter. I already know where she is. And I know who she's with---Agent John
Doggett."

"So?" Leigh raised her eyebrows. "What do I have to do with that?"

"You're headed to join them, aren't you, Agent Leigh? You're following them, even though
they left you behind here in Washington. Why? Don't you trust them?"

"Not that it's any of your business," Leigh replied, crossing her arms. "But no, I don't."

"Well, that's good. Because they don't trust you." The man sat down. "And you shouldn't
trust them, Agent Leigh. They're liars, and they're conspirators. They're in Colorado
tracking down something we don't want them to find."

"Who is *we*?" she asked.

He ignored her question. "We need your help, Agent Leigh. There is only so much information
we can discover from bugging and surveillancing Agents Doggett and Reyes. They are careful
not to talk about Mulder and Scully where we can hear them, and as far as we can tell they
don't contact them by any means that we can detect."

"What is so important about Mulder and Scully?" Leigh demanded. "If you want my help, you 
have to tell me what's going on."

"I can't tell you much, but what I can say is that Mulder and Scully, and, through them,
Doggett and Reyes, are serious security threats to this country," the man said. "We cannot
permit them to compromise us any longer. They must be eliminated."

"Eliminated? As in killed? I'm sorry, but I'm not an assassin for hire, no matter what my
ex-boyfriend will tell you," Leigh responded. She stood up. "I'm sorry, I can't help you."

"You will help us. We don't expect you to kill anyone, Agent Leigh. That would be 
compromising your integrity, and your morals. We just need you to bring Mulder and Scully 
to us."

"And what about Agent Reyes? Agent Doggett?"

"You use them to locate the others, and then we will take care of them."

"You say they don't trust me."

"Earn their trust."

"Easier said than done," she muttered.

"Agent Leigh, you took an oath to uphold the laws and ideals of this great nation," the man
reminded her. "You took an oath to protect the people. I am giving you the chance to do
more than that---I'm giving you the chance to be a hero, to live on in human memory until 
the end of time." His lips curled in an ironic smile, but she was too focused on his words
to catch it.

"So I deliver you Mulder and Scully . . ."

" . . . and I give you immortality."

She sat down again and put her head in her hands, contemplating seriously his proposition.
After a few minutes, the man stood and moved closer to her, eclipsing her with his
shadow.

"So do we have a deal, Agent Leigh?"

She did not respond, but the expression in her eyes told him everything he needed to know.



"So what did you guys talk about in there?" Parsons asked as Reyes and Doggett left the 
nursery. "Secret government conspiracies? Super-soldiers?"

The agents tensed immediately.

"What did you say?" Doggett demanded.

"Conspiracies?" Parsons looked nervous. "Super-soldiers?"

"Yeah, that."

"I was just joking, man, lighten up," Parsons said, patting Doggett reassuringly on the 
back. "Okay, so what's the deal? You guys done or what?"

"Yes," Reyes answered quickly. "For now. Your investigation seems to be going fine. We're
just going to file a report and go back to Washington for the time being. You'll call us
if anything comes up?"

"Sure, I guess." The deputy looked confused. "You're not going to stick around to find the
kid?"

"No," Doggett said. "We have faith in the Ivory County Sherriff's Department to handle this
by yourselves."

"If you need anything, though, don't hesitate to call," Reyes said, touching Doggett's 
arm, lightly steering him towards the door. "I'll leave our contact information at your
headquarters."

"Okay." Parsons ran his fingers through his hair in a bewildered manner as he watched the
two agents disappear out the door. *I wonder what they're hiding*, he thought.



"What the hell's going on here?" Doggett demanded as he and Reyes drove away from the 
Ruskin house. "Why couldn't we stick around to find the boy?"

"Because we don't know who we can trust," Reyes told him. "Remember Parsons' remark about
the super-soldiers. What if it wasn't a joke, a lucky guess? What if he *knows*? We'd be
playing right into their hands."

"Okay, so what now? Where do we go from here? We've got no evidence, no leads, no suspects.
All we've got is one missing little boy and a bunch of rampaging super-soldiers on the 
loose. That's not what I call progress."

Reyes was silent for a moment. He looked at her expectantly, trying to figure out what
she was thinking. When she spoke, it was to ask a question:

"Do you believe it's William? Scully's William?"

"I gotta admitt all signs point to yes at this point," Doggett said. "Let's put it this way
---if you believe it, then I believe itt. I trust you."

She smiled at the compliment, then sobered. "I do believe it."

"Then I guess there's only one more question to ask ourselves."

"Which is?"

"Do we tell them?"

End of Chapter 2---continued Chapter 3