Metal and Bone, by Mice, chapter 3 of 4
~~~
LONE GUNMEN OFFICES
TAKOMA PARK, MARYLAND
NEXT MORNING

Byers yawned as he made his way down to the office. Neither 
Jimmy nor Frohike were awake yet, but he wanted to check on 
the search he'd left running overnight. He was sure there 
would be something useful in the files. The statistical 
variations in the notebook Scully had examined were enough to 
convince him of that.

As he passed the monitors for the security camera on the 
office door, he took a quick glance, more out of habit than 
anything else.

There was a manila envelope sitting on the stairs.

Byers stared at the monitor, blinking. He moved to the system 
controlling the security cameras and checked the alley and 
the rest of the areas around the building. Nothing out of the 
ordinary.

"Damn," Byers muttered. "I wonder what that is."

Cautiously, he opened the door. He approached the envelope 
slowly. It was too thin to be a letter bomb, he thought. Not 
enough space to pack any explosives. There was nothing on the 
side of the envelope facing him.

Every now and then, some anonymous informant or other would 
leave information at the doorstep like this, but it never 
hurt to be cautious. They'd had an actual letter bomb 
delivered once, about five years back. It had scared the crap 
out of all of them, but they'd identified it as a threat 
before anyone had actually touched it.

He picked the envelope up and turned it over. There were no 
markings on the other side, either. It didn't feel like there 
was much in it. Probably only a few sheets of heavy paper, or 
a couple of photos. He wondered what kind of case it would 
lead to. Sometimes random leads like this led them to some 
important stories. He grinned, excitement rising, and brought 
the envelope inside.

He dropped the envelope on his desk. Byers could smell the 
coffee; it was done brewing, so he went to get himself a cup. 
The scent would probably wake Frohike and Jimmy soon. It was 
Frohike's turn to cook breakfast; he wondered if it would be 
huevos rancheros. He could use something a little spicy 
today.

Coffee in hand, he returned to the office. He sat at his desk 
and skimmed the information from his file search last night, 
not bothering to check everything. Sure enough, there were 
some significant results. He'd have to call Doggett shortly, 
and Scully as well. He'd want her confirmation about some of 
what the files seemed to be saying. The information startled 
him. He knew the others would find it just as disturbing.

Taking a sip of coffee, he opened the envelope. As he 
suspected, there were only a few photos inside. When he 
turned them face up, though, his heart nearly stopped. The 
photo on top was of Doggett kissing his neck. It had been 
taken in Central Park.

With trembling fingers, Byers flipped to the next photo. It 
showed Doggett embracing him on the ferry from Liberty 
Island, Doggett's mouth on his ear.

The last photo was of the two of them outside the building 
housing the club they'd attended. Byers was rumpled and 
obviously disoriented, Doggett supporting him with one arm. 
Byers' head was on Doggett's shoulder. He was nibbling 
Doggett's neck.

Byers dropped the photos, panting in near panic. They knew. 

Rohrer. He'd been at the airport. It must have been Rohrer, 
he thought. He buried his face in his hands, trying to 
control his fear. What was he going to do?

He had to call Doggett. Byers looked up at the clock. Doggett 
was probably just arriving at the office. His head was 
spinning, and he thought the tips of his fingers were going 
numb. This was exactly what he'd been afraid of when Doggett 
had been so overtly affectionate with him in public -- a 
blackmail attempt had been inevitable.

His hand was shaking as he dialed the phone. Doggett answered 
on the first ring.

"Federal Bureau of Investigation, X Files Division, Agent 
Doggett speaking."

"A-agent Doggett --"

"Byers, did you --"

"-- got an envelope--"

"-- fuckin' photos --"

"Shit," both of them said.

Byers took a deep breath.

"I was gonna call you," Doggett said, "but something came up 
with the case. Got another dead body, same M.O."

"Do you have an ID for this one?"

"Yeah. Kid's name was Gary Rosen. Somebody found him in a 
park in Bridgeport."

"Oh, no," Byers said. His stomach tightened in nausea. 
"Wasn't he --"

"Yeah. We shouldn't talk about any of this on the phone."

"When can you be here?" Byers asked.

Doggett paused. "About half an hour, forty-five minutes. 
Depends on traffic."

"Will... will Agent Reyes be with you?" Byers wasn't sure he 
wanted to hear the answer.

"No," Doggett replied. Byers relaxed a little. At least they 
wouldn't have to discuss the photos in front of her. "She's 
already in Bridgeport. We got called in really early today 
because of the murder. I had to stay here to get what info 
you guys had from last night. We'll call Scully in after you 
and I talk."

"All right," Byers said. "I'll see you soon." 

"Yeah. Look, try not to freak on this, okay? We'll figure 
something out."

"I'll talk to you when you get here," Byers said. He hung up 
the phone and hurried to shower and dress.

By the time he was armored in his suit, Frohike and Jimmy 
were awake. Frohike was working on a batch of huevos 
rancheros.

"Agent Doggett will be here in a few minutes," he said.

Frohike nodded. "I'll make another batch. You must have found 
something good in the files last night, eh?"

"Yeah," Byers said, "but unfortunately, that's not all that's 
happened."

Frohike turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"

Jimmy looked up as well. "You look awful upset, John."

Byers lay the envelope with the photos down on the kitchen 
table. "I had a... special delivery this morning."

Frohike wiped his hands off and pulled the photos from the 
envelope. He flipped through them quickly, Jimmy looking over 
his shoulder, then looked back up at Byers. "I'd say you two 
are about to be in a world of shit."

Byers started to reply, but the buzzer went off at the office 
door. He ran down the stairs and checked the security camera. 
It was Doggett.

He was breathless as he let Doggett in, then locked the door 
behind him.

"Johnny, calm down some. You look frantic."

Byers looked up at him, surprised. "And you're not?"

Doggett shook his head. "I ain't happy, but I'm not frantic. 
We'll figure this out. You told the guys yet?"

"Frohike and Jimmy know. Langly's not home yet." Byers 
worried what this might mean for Langly and Skinner. If 
someone was watching him and Doggett, would their secret be 
revealed as well?

"Hey." Doggett cupped Byers' cheek in one hand. He looked 
into Byers' eyes. "Take a deep breath here, cub."

"Yes, Sir," Byers whispered. He closed his eyes and took a 
slow, deep breath. Letting it out, he could still feel his 
heart hammering, but a spark of calm had started settling 
into him. Doggett's touch let him focus on something other 
than his panic.

"That's right, keep breathing."

Byers nodded and complied. He focused on the feel of 
Doggett's hand on his cheek, and the forced slowing of his 
breathing. A few minutes later, he was much calmer. Opening 
his eyes, he looked up at Doggett. "Thank you, Sir."

"You just needed to remember, that's all," Doggett said.

"What are we going to do?" Byers asked. He hoped that Doggett 
had some suggestions.

"Let's go upstairs for a while."

Byers waved toward the stairs. "Frohike's making extra huevos 
rancheros if you'd like some breakfast." His stomach was a 
little calmer than it had been, but he wasn't sure if he 
could eat.

Doggett moved ahead of him. When they got to the kitchen, 
Frohike pointed to the table.

"Have a seat," he said. "You want some breakfast?"

"Sure," Doggett said. "Byers said you made huevos rancheros."

Frohike nodded. "Best you'll ever eat outside of Mexico." He 
handed Doggett a plate. "Byers?"

"Give him a plate too," Doggett said.

Byers took the plate Frohike proffered and sat next to 
Doggett, not sure he'd be able to so much as swallow 
anything.

"At least give it a try," Doggett told him.

Byers shook Tabasco sauce onto his eggs and stared at them.

"Mornin', Agent Doggett," Jimmy said. "Did Byers tell you 
about the pictures he got?"

"Yeah, Jimmy," Doggett said. "I got some photos too. They're 
probably the same ones."

Byers swallowed and took a tiny nibble at the eggs. They 
weren't quite as nauseating as he'd expected. "What can we 
do?" he said again.

"Nothing," Doggett said. "We're not doing anything about 
this."

"But what about your job?" Byers asked. "Aren't you worried 
that Kersh will try something?"

Doggett shrugged. "It's none of Kersh's business, Johnny. You 
know that. There's laws against discrimination, and if anyone 
tries to jerk me around because of those pictures, I'll get 
the Ombudsman's office and the ACLU on their ass so fast they 
won't know what hit 'em."

"I don't suppose there are other options?" Byers said.

"None that'll do us any good. If we cave to this, they'll 
have us where they want us. All they'd have to do is wave a 
picture around and they could make us do whatever they 
wanted, right?"

Byers' lips twitched. That was what he'd figured as well, but 
the idea of being out still made him extremely uneasy. The 
fact that they'd both be outed only made things worse. "If 
people know about this, they could use us against each 
other."

"You think they wouldn't do that, whether anyone else knew or 
not?" Frohike asked. "You know what's happened to Mulder and 
Scully. They could have done the same thing to us any time 
they wanted to, but so far they haven't seemed to think we 
were important enough to bother with. I'd like to keep it 
that way."

"We're easy enough to dismiss as lunatic fringe." Byers 
looked over at Frohike. "But Agent Doggett's not. He's 
important enough for them to take notice, and not so easily 
dismissible. That makes me a target too now, or maybe just a 
tool to keep him in line." 

Doggett laid a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get through this, 
Johnny."

Byers shuddered, remembering all the things that had happened 
to Mulder and Scully over the years -- the losses they'd 
suffered, the tortures they'd endured. He wondered if he and 
Doggett would be next. He looked at Doggett. "If they're 
following us around, what about Langly and Skinner?"

"Skinner knows the risks, buddy." Frohike took his own plate 
and sat at the table with them. "And Langly's a big boy, too. 
If somebody tries to out them, they'll decide what they wanna 
do, just like you guys."

"This could cause problems for everyone," Byers said. "What 
if it brings trouble to the paper? What if Agent Doggett gets 
fired?"

Doggett shook his head. "I'll take that risk, Johnny. Those 
bastards aren't gonna make me back down. We have to be onto 
somethin' if they reacted like this. And Rosen, he let slip 
about the nanotech. I still think this project's got 
something to do with the supersoldiers." 

"Rosen?" Frohike asked.

"Kid from the Bridgeport Zeus lab. The one who got killed 
last night." Doggett took a few bites of his breakfast. "Good 
stuff, Frohike."

"Last night? You'd think they'd need a coffee break or 
something." Frohike shook his head, then gave him a brief 
smile. "Thanks, though." He looked over at Byers. "Byers, you 
know the guys and I will stand behind you, whatever happens. 
If some of our readers get pissy and circulation takes a hit, 
we'll live. Maybe some people will think it gives us more 
reason to get to the bottom of the conspiracies -- we can 
work it to our advantage somehow, if we have to."

Byers sighed. Doggett was right, and so was Frohike. They 
couldn't let the conspirators blackmail them, couldn't let 
the threat of outing stop them from investigating and 
exposing Zeus and the supersoldiers project.

"Okay," Byers said. "If you're not backing down, neither am 
I."

"Isn't this an invasion of your privacy, guys?" Jimmy asked. 
"I mean, it's not anybody's business who a guy sleeps with."

"Yeah, Jimmy," Doggett said, "But these people don't care 
about that."

Jimmy tilted his head. "Well, of course, the bad guys don't, 
but wouldn't our readers?"

Frohike and Byers turned to stare at Jimmy.

"You could be right," Doggett said, chuckling.

"We could run a piece about attempted blackmail on an FBI 
investigation into a conspiracy regarding genetic 
engineering. It would probably raise circulation, Byers," 
Frohike said.

Byers sighed. "We don't have any proof it was Zeus, and it's 
ethically questionable for us to run that story, considering 
one of our editorial staff is one of the attempted blackmail 
victims." It was sure to cause more problems than it would 
ever solve, he thought.

"No, but if they keep messing with you guys, we'll probably 
be able to swap it to one of the other watchdog groups in 
exchange for something similar they can't run." Frohike 
patted Byers' hand. "We can hold onto these photos, check the 
envelope for prints, see if we can chase down whoever 
delivered it."

"I've already touched the envelope and the photos," Byers 
said.

Frohike nodded. "Yeah, but we know enough to eliminate our 
prints."

"If this is anything like the stuff we're working on with the 
Zeus investigation, even if you do get prints, you probably 
won't get an ID on 'em," Doggett said. "We're just gonna have 
to do what we've been doing, act like we never got the 
photos."

Byers sighed and nodded.

"But I gotta admit," Doggett continued, "you really do look 
hot in that picture from outside the club." He chuckled.

Byers sat and stared at him for a moment, his mouth opening 
and closing. "This is serious!" He couldn't imagine why 
Doggett would joke about it.

"Yeah." Doggett nodded. "And we're seriously gonna ignore it. 
I have to keep a sense of humor about something." 

"I need to call Agent Scully," Byers said.

"About this?" Doggett asked.

Byers shook his head. "No, about the information in the 
files."

"What did you find?"

Frohike looked over at him. "Yeah, Byers, what *did* you 
find?"

"I haven't had much of a chance to look it over yet," Byers 
said, "but what I did see was significant. We had quite a few 
hits on the search strings I set up last night. It would be 
easiest if we all just went over it once."

"Makes sense," Doggett said.

Frohike snorted. "I wanna know now."

"So go read the files," Byers said. "I need to do it as soon 
as I'm done here, right after I call Agent Scully."

"Oh, I'll call her," Frohike said. He grinned.

"I should have figured you'd volunteer for that," Byers said, 
allowing himself a smile. Frohike would go to the ends of the 
earth for Scully, given half a chance.

Frohike got up to use a phone.

"Hey guys, how's the morning?" Langly wandered in, a huge 
grin on his face. "Smells like breakfast!"

"Huevos rancheros," Jimmy said.

"Oh, the good stuff." Langly grabbed a plate and sat in 
Frohike's vacated chair. He vacuumed up half a plate of eggs 
before he looked up. "Byers? You look awful. What's up?"

Byers slipped the photos into his hand. 

Langly looked at them and paled. "Oh, shit."

"That's about the size of it," Doggett said. "You and Skinner 
need to lay low for a while. If they're doin' this to me and 
Johnny, you guys might be next."

"Oh, man." Langly shook his head. "This so sucks. I'm sorry, 
guys. If we were layin' any lower, I'd need a shovel, but I 
should tell Walter."

"You should," Byers agreed. "Be careful, Ree. I don't want to 
see this happening to the two of you. You might want to stay 
away from the Oasis for a while."

"We might. What are you guys gonna do about it?" Langly 
asked.

"Nothing," Doggett said.

Langly gave him a surprised look. "Really?"

"What else can we do?" Byers said. "If we react to this, 
they'll know they can use it against us anytime they want 
to."

"Dude, like Kersh is so gonna be on your ass."

"I don't care," Doggett said. "The case is too important. I 
can't let any of this scare me off."

Langly nodded, thoughtful. "Yeah, it is."

"I just wish it didn't have to be this way," Byers said. He 
wondered if Doggett thought he was important at all. Then 
again, he'd said himself that he had very little to lose, at 
least compared to Doggett. It wasn't like the guys were going 
to fire him for sleeping with the man. He didn't have a 
reputation or a clearance to lose.

Jimmy looked up, fork near his mouth. "Why do people think 
this is a bad thing, guys? I just don't get it."

"It's a really long story, Jimmy," Byers said. "A lot of it 
is because most people aren't as tolerant or understanding as 
you are."

"I just think people should be happy," Jimmy said.

"Scully's on her way," Frohike said. "You're in my seat, 
blondie. Take a hike."

"You move it, you lose it," Langly said. He stuck his tongue 
out at Frohike.

"I make enough breakfast for you, and this is the thanks I 
get."

"Guys." Byers looked at both of them. There were days when he 
really thought he should be collecting child support from 
somebody for keeping his three roommates in line.

"You find anything in the files, Johnny?" Langly asked.

"That's why I called Scully," Frohike said.

"Awesome." Langly shoveled some more eggs into his mouth.

"Get out of my seat, you hippy jerk."

Jimmy stood. "I'll get you another one." He wandered off to 
look for a chair.

"At least somebody around here respects my station." Frohike 
crossed his arms and glared at Langly.

"Just 'cuz you're a geezer doesn't mean I should have to get 
up for you," Langly sneered.

Frohike snorted. "You'd get that skinny ass of yours up for 
Skinner." 

"Last I looked, Doohickey," Langly said, "you weren't fuckin' 
me."

Frohike opened his mouth but didn't get a chance to retort.

"Guys!" Byers stood, exasperated, and leaned over the table 
at them. "Will you please stop this stupid sniping? We have 
better things to do with our time."

"He's got a point," Doggett muttered to Byers. 

Byers looked at him, displeased. "Don't encourage them. The 
next thing you know, they'll be throwing food at each other, 
and I'll be the one who has to clean it up."

Doggett laughed. "Sit down and finish your breakfast, 
Johnny."

Byers sighed and shook his head. He sat again as Jimmy 
returned with a chair.

"Here ya go, Frohike. A chair, just for you." Jimmy set it 
down between Byers and Langly. Frohike sat, still glaring at 
Langly.

"Thanks Jimmy," Byers said. He hoped it would put an end to 
his breakfast annoyance.

"How long is Scully gonna be?" Langly asked.

"Traffic," Frohike said. "Probably at least an hour."

"This is too important to sit on," Byers said. He rose from 
the table again, restless, his stomach too upset to let him 
finish eating. Grabbing the envelope with the photos in it, 
he headed for the stairs. "I've got to get started looking 
through those files."

Frohike nodded. "I'll be down in a few. Gonna finish 
breakfast first."

"I'll go with you," Jimmy said. He carried his and Byers' 
plates to the kitchen.

"I'm done," Doggett said. He got up and followed Byers down 
to the office. "I'd like to get a head start on this before 
Scully gets here, too."

"That's fine with me. The more eyes, the better." Byers 
gestured at the computer as they approached his desk. "I'll 
show you the list of search strings. You can use Langly's 
desk if you like." He needed to focus on something other than 
the photos or his twisted gut.

"Langly's not gonna have me skinned for messing with his 
computer?"

Byers shook his head and sighed. "The likelihood of Langly 
saying 'boo' to you is almost nil." He looked up at Doggett. 
"Well, okay, so he'd call you names." He let himself show 
half a grin. "But he'd be near the door when he did it."

Doggett chuckled. "I'd be more afraid of him messin' with my 
checking account."

Byers shrugged. "Well yeah, that's a distinct possibility."

"So maybe I should just look over your shoulder instead."

Doggett settled in next to him as he scanned the screen 
quickly. "Can you maybe read a little slower, here, Johnny? 
I'm having trouble keeping up with you."

"Oh, sorry." Byers slowed his scroll, doing a little more 
reading, and a little less scanning.

Frohike and Langly came down the stairs a few minutes later, 
followed by Jimmy.

"So whatcha got, Byers?" Frohike asked.

Byers gestured at the other computers. "You can access it. I 
put it on our net." The more people looking through the 
information, the faster they'd figure out what was happening.

Frohike nodded and sat at his own desk. "Gotcha."

Langly sat as well, and turned his own monitor on. When the 
files came up and he started going through them, he whistled. 
"This is a hell of a lotta shit, Byers."

Byers nodded. "I know." He looked over at Langly. "And a lot 
of it relates to some of the projects we've investigated over 
the years." He took a deep breath. "This is significant, 
guys. There's way too much here. I'm betting this is why we 
got those photos."

"Looks like we did find some nanotech stuff," Frohike said.

"I knew it," Doggett said. "This has gotta be why Rosen was 
killed. It's the only damned thing that makes sense."

"Oh, Jesus," Frohike muttered.

"What?" Byers turned to him, nerves on edge. The tone of 
Frohike's voice knotted his stomach even harder. Langly got 
up and looked over his shoulder.

Frohike looked up. "You don't wanna see this, Byers."

"What?" Byers asked again.

"Shit," Langly said. He looked over at Byers. "Serious, dude. 
Don't ask."

Byers rose and pushed the shorter man out of the way. Looking 
at the screen, he suddenly got lightheaded. "No, it can't 
be." Byers shook his head. "Whitecorps. Again."

"You think Mata Hari's up to her old tricks?" Frohike asked, 
eyeing Langly.

"Last we looked, she was still hidden," Langly said. "Why 
would she go back to 'em?"

"Who's Mata Hari?" Doggett asked.

"This woman Byers knows," Jimmy said. "Her name's Susanne."

"Jimmy!" Byers spun and snapped at him, anger rising.

Langly answered Byers' sharp retort. "Hey, ease up, Byers. 
Just 'cuz your chickadee's --"

"We don't know who could be listening!" Byers glared at his 
friends. If they were bugged, it would be impossible to keep 
Susanne safe. It may have been a few years, but he doubted 
the conspiracy had stopped looking for her.

Doggett shook his head. "Isn't she the one you said was 
dead?"

"Does the concept of witness protection mean anything to 
you?" Byers growled.

Doggett's eyes widened, confusion filling them. "You mean --"

Byers clenched his fists. "I mean, everybody just shut up for 
a minute!" He needed a moment's quiet before he lost it 
entirely. The day had been far too stressful already, and it 
had barely begun.

"Whoa, Johnny --" Doggett held up his hands.

Byers turned on the other Gunmen. "She can't be involved. The 
failsafe would have let us know if they'd found her. Besides, 
she wasn't doing nanotech, she --"

"Okay, okay," Frohike said, "you got a point. Ease up, 
Byers."

"I'm sorry," Jimmy said. "I didn't mean to get you upset."

Byers took a deep breath, deliberately loosening his hands. 
He walked back to his desk and sat heavily in his chair, face 
held in both hands. This was going to be a lousy day. He 
wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting like that when he felt 
a warm hand on his shoulder.

"Johnny, you gonna be okay?" Doggett's voice was soft, 
concerned.

"Fine," Byers whispered. "I'm fine." He had to be fine. If he 
wasn't, the planet would probably explode. It was just that 
kind of day.

"I'm sorry," Doggett said. "I had no idea."

"Nobody's supposed to know." Byers sighed and looked up into 
Doggett's crystal blue eyes. Byers' face was lined with 
worry. "As far as we know, the only people who are aware of 
this are us and Scully, and now you. I'd like to keep it that 
way." It didn't help that he still missed her, still wished 
they could have been together.

"Uh, Byers," Jimmy said, tentative.

"Yes?" Byers turned his head to look at the big man.

"You were talkin' about maybe the place bein' bugged." Jimmy 
gestured toward the door. "Don't we keep tapes from the 
cameras at the door? I mean, did you look at those yet to see 
who might have left those pictures?"

Byers smacked himself on the forehead. God, he was stupid 
today. "No, Jimmy. I hadn't thought of it. Thank you. Maybe 
that'll show something."

"Might make the day a little easier to take," Doggett said. 
"I'd rest a little easier if I knew who did it."

"It had to be Rohrer," Byers said. "Who else could it be?"

Langly was moving before Byers could rise. He got to the 
monitor and started playing with the system. By the time 
Byers got there, the tape was spinning in reverse, lines 
flickering as it moved at high speed. They watched silently 
as Frohike, Doggett and Jimmy joined them.

A while later, Byers' attention was caught by a flicker on 
the screen. "Wait, wait! I think that was it!"

"Yeah, hang on," Langly said, hitting a few keys. "Gotta run 
it forward again."

"Too small to be that Rohrer guy," Frohike said.

"I couldn't really tell," Byers said. "It was moving too 
fast." He felt jittery, fearing the answer they were about to 
discover.

"Hang on --" Langly moved the tape forward again until a 
figure appeared in the frame. There wasn't much to go by, as 
the person leaned down the stairway and tossed the envelope.

"Frame by frame it, Langly," Byers said. His heart beat 
faster as Langly manipulated the image.

"Wait -- there," Frohike said, a finger at the top right 
corner of the screen.

"Can you zoom in on that?" Byers said. The angle was awkward, 
but it was part of a face.

"Yeah, just a sec." Langly fiddled around a little more and 
the image centered in the screen, growing larger, but 
grainier as it moved.

"Oh shit, is that who I think it is?" Frohike asked.

Byers' body froze, his stomach knotting hard. It wasn't 
Rohrer.

Doggett watched as the conversation shot back and forth.

"Fuck," Langly said, his voice flat. "It's Krycek."

"I think we're in trouble, guys," Jimmy said. He had such a 
gift for stating the obvious. 

"That guy who was always givin' Mulder a hard time?" Doggett 
said. "The one who was in the FBI for a while?"

Byers just nodded, numb. Krycek. He wasn't dead. This was the 
last thing he needed, but at least it was indisputable proof 
that the consortium was involved. Whether or not their 
current puzzle had anything to do with supersoldiers, 
Krycek's presence was an almost certain proof that it had 
something to do with the nanotech that had been injected into 
Skinner.

"Damn it," Langly said. "I knew that fucker wasn't dead. What 
do you bet that cigarette suckin' geezer's behind this whole 
fuckin' mess. Damn, damn, damn. I knew it all along." He 
slammed his fist into the counter the monitor rested on. 
"Cancerman's still runnin' around too. I can just feel it. 
Man, Mulder's gonna have an embolism."

Byers wondered if he was going to have one of his own before 
Mulder even heard about it. Krycek was a known danger, 
whereas the supersoldiers were still more mystery to him than 
anything else. He knew Krycek's contacts were deadly men, men 
with incredible power. Even after the consortium flambé at 
the El Rico Airbase, he'd held onto power and connection, 
rising even higher in the structure that was left, until he'd 
allegedly been killed.

"Shit," Langly continued. "Walter's gonna have a fuckin' 
heart attack. He swears that bastard was dead."

"It might have been a clone," Byers said softly.

"Bled red," Langly said, shaking his head. "The clones, they 
don't do that."

"We don't know what color this one bleeds," Byers replied.

"We'll figure it out later, if we have the chance," Frohike 
said. "We've got a bunch of other stuff to go through in 
these files. One mystery at a time, okay?"

"I wonder if those nanoos put him back together?" Jimmy said.

Frohike huffed. "Don't be ridiculous, Jimmy. He was dead. You 
can't put something dead back together again."

"Maybe they got clones now that bleed red," Langly said.

Byers sighed, feeling defeated. "Maybe we should just wait 
for Agent Scully to get here and let us know what she's 
found. That's more likely to get us answers than these 
speculations.

***

Doggett answered the Gunmen's office door when Scully 
arrived. The guys had been sniping and arguing for the last 
half hour, all of them tense. Byers was on edge, trying to 
hold on, but his emotions had obviously gotten the better of 
him today. Doggett couldn't really blame him, but he wasn't 
used to Byers being so obviously angry and afraid.

"Morning, Agent Scully."

Scully looked up at him. "Good morning, Agent Doggett. 
Frohike said the guys had found something."

"Lots of somethings, really," Doggett said. He stepped back 
to let her enter the offices and locked the door behind her.

"Just as well," she said, heading for the Gunmen. "My own 
reading turned up some very significant findings as well. I 
would have come over after breakfast even if Frohike hadn't 
called."

"What've you got?" Doggett asked.

Frohike looked up and beamed. "Ah, if it isn't the divine 
Agent Scully. Thank you for coming over on such short 
notice." He rose and offered her a seat.

"Thanks, Frohike." Scully sat, and the others turned to her.

"What do you have?" Byers asked, not bothering with 
formalities.

"I'd like to see what you've turned up first," Scully said. 
"We may be able to avoid duplicating our efforts. We could 
save some time."

Byers nodded. He leaned back and tapped his computer screen 
with one thin finger. "TREYNOR definitely includes nanotech," 
he said. "But it's apparently got fingers everywhere. I think 
this is a big conspiracy project, Agent Scully, interwoven 
with who knows how many other projects. I've seen mentions of 
PURITY and some of their other major work in here. We don't 
have conclusive proof that this is linked with the 
supersoldiers Agent Doggett has been investigating lately, 
but we may be able to link it to what happened with A.D. 
Skinner."

Scully's breath caught, but she spoke without emotion. "Yes, 
the notebook is definitely recording a nanotech project. Did 
you get any indications of locations in your file searches?"

Byers nodded as Langly picked up the conversation. "Yeah. We 
got activity in Alameda, White Stone, and Queens. Can't 
really tell from this who was doing what. I think that's 
what's in the stuff you got." Langly sat back expectantly.

"Yes, Alameda and White Stone. Byers?" Scully looked over at 
Byers, who turned his face away. Doggett could see him 
suppress his reaction. "Queens appears to be the important 
one, though. That's where the statistical spike is. Something 
anomalous is happening there. The best guess I have is that 
they're using nanotech to attempt to enhance human strength, 
endurance, and sensory capacities. There were some notes 
about enhanced self-healing as well."

"So this isn't like the Jeremiahs, healing other people, 
then," Frohike said.

Scully shook her head. "No, apparently the test subjects in 
the Queens project have registered unusually fast healing 
capabilities when injured."

Byers looked back at her. "That would explain a few things."

"Do we have a ping on what TREYNOR's really about, yet?" 
Frohike asked.

"It would help to have samples of the nanotech they're 
working on," Scully said. "We don't have any way of knowing 
if it matches what was found in Skinner's bloodstream."

"They might be storing some at Zeus in Bridgeport, at the wet 
lab facilities," Byers said. His voice was tentative, as 
though he wasn't sure he could quite believe it. "But for all 
we know, they've moved it since the first two murders. I 
don't think they want to deal with a subpoena."

"First two?" Scully asked.

"There's been another one," Doggett said, "this morning. Gary 
Rosen, the kid Reyes and I interviewed; the one who let slip 
about the nanotech."

"Oh, dear." Scully shook her head. "Another autopsy then?"

Doggett nodded. "Same MO though. Head severed, probably the 
same blunt trauma you noted before."

"So am I flying to Hartford this afternoon, or is the body 
being brought here?" Scully looked up at him.

"Monica's gonna arrange to have Rosen's body transported," 
Doggett said. "She'll be back at Quantico by mid-afternoon, 
provided nobody gives her any trouble."

"Too much to assume that, Dogbert," Langly said. "These guys 
we're dealin' with, they're mean and they play for keeps." He 
gestured at Scully. "She knows that. They'll probably make 
sure the body gets lost in transport or something."

Byers looked over at Doggett, blue eyes guarded. "It's 
possible," he said. "I don't like this. I don't like it at 
all." He shifted nervously.

"Let's not assume the worst unless it happens, guys," Scully 
said. "It's possible they don't know we have this information 
yet, and we certainly don't have any evidence that points to 
a logical conclusion about the murders."

The Gunmen all exchanged uneasy glances.

"Actually," Doggett said quietly, "we have reason to believe 
they do know."

Scully looked up at him, an eyebrow tilted. "Oh? What 
happened?"

Byers looked down at the floor, blushing red. There really 
wasn't any way they could hide it. It would come out whether 
or not they wanted it to. 

Doggett didn't like talking about it any better than Byers 
did, but the time had come when he was going to have to level 
with her. Doggett leaned over and picked up the envelope with 
the photos from Byers' desk.

"I got these this morning," Doggett said. He handed the 
envelope to Scully. "Or, more accurately, Byers and I both 
got copies."

Scully gave him a puzzled look, then pulled the photos from 
the manila packet. Her eyes widened and she stared up at 
Doggett, then over at Byers, who was blushing furiously.

"Faked?" she asked. There was doubt in her voice.

Doggett shook his head. "I wish. No, they're real."

"You two..." She looked up at Doggett again. "I had no idea. 
I'm sorry, guys." Scully reached out and took Byers' hand, 
squeezing slightly. "I'm sorry."

Byers looked up at her, his face fixed and expressionless but 
for the blush. "We were careless."

"You can't be on guard every moment," Scully said, quiet. "I 
know. I've tried."

"Krycek delivered them," Byers said, pulling his hand away 
slowly.

Doggett watched as Scully's whole body tightened. He moved 
over closer to her. "Skinner said he was dead," she said.

"This might have been a clone," Frohike said.

"Couldn't tell if the other arm was real or not," Langly 
said, nodding. "Video quality was pretty grainy by the time 
we could ID him."

"Skinner *shot* him," Scully said. "He should know if he was 
dead."

"Could have been one of the shapeshifters," Byers said, "if 
it wasn't a clone."

"Or," Scully said, "Skinner was wrong." Her shoulders slumped 
and she closed her eyes. 

Doggett hesitated a moment, then laid a gentle hand on her 
shoulder. "Scully, we'll figure out what's goin' on here. We 
have to."

"We need to get back to the files," Frohike said. "This is 
obviously really important stuff. I'm guessing there are 
answers here for miles. We need to start finding 'em." He 
looked over at Byers. "I know this is rough, buddy, but we 
need to get with the program and find out what these bastards 
are up to. If we manage to figure out what the hell they're 
doing, we can publish. It's not much compensation for the 
threat in those photos, but it's something."

Byers nodded. His body was tight, his back stiff. He turned 
to his monitor again and began skimming the files. Doggett 
watched him as Byers focused on his work. "Anything I can do, 
guys?" he asked.

"We're still lookin', Dogbert," Langly said. "Hey, Byers, you 
seen anything yet that might give us any idea what TREYNOR 
stands for?"

"Not yet," Byers said, brows wrinkling. "But maybe the N 
stands for Nanotech."

"That would make sense," Scully agreed. She paged through the 
notebook in her lap. "From what I've got here, guys, the 
Queens project seems to be the key to this whole thing. It's 
where they've been having their greatest successes. The work 
there is orders of magnitude different from what's been 
happening in the other facilities. If we can find the place, 
we might be able to get some idea of their actual experiments 
and figure out what they're trying to accomplish."

GREEN PEA SUPERMARKET
RESTON, VIRGINIA
LATER THAT EVENING

Doggett wandered the aisles, searching for something to bring 
to Reyes' house. She'd asked him over for dinner so they 
could catch up and compare notes about their work for the 
day. He'd have to tell her about Byers and the photos at some 
point. He wasn't looking forward to that. Rosen's body had 
been delivered without incident though, contrary to the 
Gunmen's probably justifiable paranoia.

She'd said they'd be having pasta. He'd bring a loaf of bread 
and a bottle of wine, as usual. Maybe a decent Shiraz, he 
thought. He wondered what kind of pasta she was making, but 
didn't want to call her to ask. She liked to surprise him 
sometimes. He stood in front of the wine racks, staring at 
labels.

"Hey, Agent Doggett."

Doggett startled and his head snapped around toward the 
voice. "Agent Crane?" Gene Crane was an agent he'd met during 
the search for Mulder after the abduction. They'd worked 
together briefly in Arizona, when Skinner and Scully had 
taken off looking for Gibson Praise a few months earlier. 
Doggett held out a hand. "What's up, Gene?"

"Grabbing something for dinner," Crane said, shaking 
Doggett's outstretched hand. "On my way home in a few. 
Haven't seen you here before."

"Headin' for Agent Reyes' place. We got some work to discuss. 
Figured it would go easier over dinner. She's been in 
Connecticut all day, ensuring the delivery of a body to 
Quantico."

Crane made a face. "Great dinner conversation."

Doggett snorted. "Yeah, tell me about it. Better than that 
green slime shit at the hospital, though."

Crane shivered, his weight shifting. "Jesus, John, don't 
remind me. Disgusting stuff. Horrible smell. Almost ate 
through your shoes."

"That was a bitch," Doggett agreed. He looked back at the 
wine rack. "Got any ideas for a Shiraz?"

Crane shrugged. "I'm more a Merlot kind of guy myself." His 
voice tightened subtly. "Uh, John, you got a minute?"

Doggett looked back at Crane. "Something wrong?"

Crane shuffled slightly, looking away. "Not sure. Could be."

"You're not sure? What is it?" Doggett asked.

Crane looked around uneasily. "I don't think we should talk 
about it here. Come with me." He gestured toward the double 
doors into the back of the store. Customers could enter the 
back area to use the bathrooms, but Doggett rarely found 
himself back there.

"What kinda thing is it we can't discuss here?" Doggett 
asked, lowering his voice below the piped-in music.

"It's... look, it's work related. I don't feel comfortable 
talking about it here." Crane gestured toward the door again 
with his chin.

Doggett was starting to worry now. He wasn't in Crane's 
division. Their work had nothing to do with each other since 
his assignment to the X Files. Had photos been delivered to 
the Hoover? Crane moved toward the doors, and Doggett 
followed, drawn by nervousness and curiosity.

Behind the doors was a cluttered warehouse space. Crane kept 
walking further back. Doggett looked around as they moved, 
wondering where Crane was leading, and why. He had a strong 
feeling that the situation was wrong, in a bad way.

His stomach froze when he noticed something weird about 
Crane's collar. It lay strangely across the back of the man's 
neck, and when Crane turned his head, an odd bump was 
revealed. Doggett's gut seized. He'd seen that type of bump 
before -- on Knowle Rohrer. On Billy Miles.

"Shit." The word escaped his lips before he realized he'd 
said anything.

Crane turned, fast as a cobra. One hand shot out and grabbed 
Doggett's wrist. A quick twist, and Doggett yelped in pain. 
"Ahh! Fuck!" He jerked back, twisting his arm to get away 
from Crane's iron grip. Only the suddenness of his movement 
broke the handhold. He bolted away from Crane, knowing the 
man -- if that's what he was anymore -- could easily kill him 
with his frightening strength.

The supersoldier lunged at Doggett, and he dodged the grab, 
running between the piled crates of produce. He had no idea 
if he could evade Crane.

Doggett could hear Crane's feet pound on the cement slab 
floor, getting closer. He slipped around a corner and hurried 
down another aisle between the crates, head held low. The 
sound of Crane's feet followed him. He tried to quiet his 
panicked breathing, wondering if Crane could hear him pant.

"You should have been one of us, John."

Doggett grit his teeth, biting back a sharp gasp. One of 
them? He didn't even know what had been done to them -- to 
Knowle, who'd been an old friend, a service buddy. They'd 
fought side by side. All he understood now was that Knowle 
wasn't the man he'd known anymore. Something in him had 
changed, twisted, and Crane was probably exactly like Rohrer 
now. There was something evil lurking in them.

The thought of being... changed into whatever the hell these 
men had become, of being the slave of some shadowy 
organization that appeared bent on the destruction of 
humanity -- it was too much. He ran blindly, almost slamming 
into the ladder as he turned the last corner. He grabbed the 
thin metal with one hand and climbed quickly, realizing it 
led up to a catwalk as he was about halfway up. He wondered 
if he could climb up into the ventilation system and get out 
that way before Crane found him.

Heart pounding in his panic, Doggett reached the catwalk. 
From here, he could go two ways. He ran to the right, feet 
clanging on the metal grating. A quick look back, and he saw 
Crane ascending the ladder behind him.

"Fuck fuck fuck," he muttered. He kept running.

By the time Crane got to the top of the ladder, Doggett had 
come to a dead end over a maintenance platform that served 
one of the huge industrial fans ventilating the warehouse. He 
stopped, gasping for breath. Crane was too close behind him. 
He'd never make it back to where the catwalk had been crossed 
by another walkway before Crane got to him. He took a brief 
look down.

The view was dizzying. He wasn't afraid of heights, but his 
fear left him overwhelmed. There was another ladder down, but 
it was back about fifteen feet. He ran for it, hoping he'd 
make it before Crane got to him. 

The transformed agent slammed into him before he reached the 
ladder, knocking him back against the metal safety railing. 
He almost went over as he lost his balance. Doggett grabbed 
the railing with both hands, holding on with all his 
strength.

Doggett yelped when Crane's fist slammed into his face. "Ow! 
Shit!" His arm flew up to cover his face. When he blinked his 
eyes open again, his vision was blurred. Blood streamed down 
his face. Shaking his head, he grabbed Crane's arm just above 
the elbow and jerked hard, hoping to toss him off balance. 
This time, Crane was ready for him.

"You'd be good with us, John," Crane said, his voice low and 
far too calm.

"Fuck you, Crane!" Doggett could hear his voice crack in his 
terror. He lashed out with a foot, landing a sharp blow on 
Crane's knee. The supersoldier's leg slipped back, but Crane 
barely blinked. Doggett twisted away from him and ran back 
toward the fan, knowing he wasn't going to get past him to 
the ladder. Crane followed, right on his heels.

Panic rising, Doggett stopped, slamming into the chain 
between the rails at the end of the catwalk. He wondered if 
he could take the fall. There were produce crates below. If 
the fall didn't kill him, the wood shattering under him 
might. He sure as hell wasn't immune to slabs of broken wood 
thrust through his body.

He looked back just in time to see Crane swing for him. 
Doggett slipped to one side, Crane's fist creasing his 
ribcage without making full impact. The blow stunned him, but 
he didn't feel anything break; he gasped, doubling over from 
the pain. He could feel his damaged eye swelling, blood still 
flowing down his cheek as his ribs throbbed.

"You can't have me, damn it!" Doggett lurched upright, 
swinging with both fists clenched together as Crane advanced. 
He caught Crane under the chin and arced him back, flipping 
him over the chain. Crane bounced off the work platform and 
rolled, falling over the edge.

Doggett heard the scream as Crane's body hit the industrial 
fan. Blood sprayed everywhere. He sat heavily, panting. 
"Fuckin' asshole."

REYES RESIDENCE
RESTON, VIRGINIA
SEVERAL HOURS LATER

"John, you're late. Why didn't you --"

"Sorry, Monica. Things got a little... complicated." Doggett 
watched Reyes' eyes widen when she saw him.

"Oh, my God, come in." She grabbed his sleeve and pulled him 
in the door, closing it behind him. There was fearful concern 
on her face. "What happened to you?"

Doggett followed her into the living room and dumped himself 
on her couch. "Ran into a little trouble."

"That's obvious." She took his face in her hands and tilted 
his head up. One gentle thumb brushed over the butterfly tape 
that held the cut on his eyebrow closed. "What kind of 
trouble? "

Doggett sighed. He was still half-panicked but he didn't want 
her to know. He took a slow, quiet breath. "We may be bugged 
here."

She looked around. "You could be right. Come with me." Reyes 
led him into the kitchen and turned on the stove fan. It 
rattled enough to cover a quiet conversation. He sat at the 
table as she stood over him. They kept their voices low.

"John?" She stroked his cheek with one warm hand. He closed 
his eyes and leaned into the caress.

"Gene Crane, Monica. One of the agents I worked with on 
Mulder's disappearance. He's one of them. I ran into him at 
the store on my way over here. He... they..."

Reyes waited a moment, but Doggett couldn't say it. "Agent 
Crane? One of whom, John?"

Doggett took Reyes' hand. "He's one of the supersoldiers."

She gasped. "How badly are you hurt?" Reyes examined his face 
more closely. "When did this happen?"

"Just a couple hours ago. I had to file a police report while 
the medics checked me over. This is the worst of it. I got 
some sore ribs, but nothing's broken." He touched his chest 
where he'd been struck.

Reyes' hand followed his. "Let me see," she said quietly. She 
touched him where his hand rested, and he flinched, hissing. 
She pulled his hand away and carefully unbuttoned his shirt 
so she could look.

"Oh, John." He could see the purpling bruise on his ribs and 
watched as Reyes touched it gingerly with the tips of her 
fingers. She looked up at him.

"I'm okay, Monica. Really."

"Why did he attack you?"

Doggett suppressed a shudder. "He was talking like he wanted 
to take me back to them. Said I shoulda been one of 'em. I 
think they want to turn me into... one of them."

Her brown eyes snapped wide open. "No," she whispered. "No." 
She slipped her arms around his waist and sat in his lap. He 
wrapped his own arms around her and lay his head on her 
shoulder.

"It's okay, Mon. I'm okay."

He could see the distress in her face as she leaned down to 
kiss him. Her lips were soft and warm, and he needed her 
gentleness. The idea of being taken away and experimented on 
-- it shook him to the core. He felt himself start to tremble 
and wondered if Reyes could feel it too.

"I'm safe," he whispered against her lips. He wasn't sure he 
believed his own words.

"Are you? Are any of us?" She pulled back and looked into his 
eyes. "I knew this was going to go sour, John. Someone's 
going to get hurt. I don't want it to be you."

Doggett tried to still the shudder that made its way up his 
spine. He could feel the truth in her words. "I'll be 
careful. We'll all be careful."

"What happened?"

"Crane's dead. Fell into an industrial fan. It was... ugly." 
He closed his eyes, trying to block out the memory. He could 
still smell the blood. It was spattered on his suit. "The 
cleanup crew found one of those metal vertebrae. You remember 
the one we found a few weeks ago, that we couldn't explain?"

"The one that went missing."

Doggett nodded. "I think all the supersoldiers have 'em. 
Crane, he had this weird bump on the back of his neck. I 
think it's from those metal vertebrae. Rohrer had a bump like 
that, and so did Billy Miles."

Her eyes widened, one eyebrow rising. "You mean we have a way 
of identifying them?"

"Only if we can get close enough and they don't know what 
we're looking for. It's risky."

Reyes' weight shifted in his lap. She held him tighter. "It's 
better than nothing."

"Yeah, it is. But not by much."

"I wonder if an x-ray or a metal detector would find them?"

"I dunno. Scully said nobody could identify the metal the 
first vertebra was made of while they had it. It was really 
weird. We're gonna have to test this one to see if it'll show 
up on scans."

"Well, it has to be made of something. Maybe they had the 
wrong people looking at it, or they weren't doing the proper 
tests."

"I'm not sure." Doggett shrugged. "I bet Frohike could figure 
it out, if we could get the thing to him."

Reyes snorted. "Frohike? What would he know about analyzing 
an unknown metal?"

"Hey, he's a pretty clever little guy, Mon. Did you know he 
built an MRI machine out of an old TV and some spare parts?"

"You've got to be kidding." She rolled her eyes.

Doggett chuckled. "Nope. The guys have got a lot more going 
for 'em than you want to admit."

Reyes stared at him for a moment. "Okay, okay. I'll admit 
that they're smarter than I tend to credit them for, but 
really. They're... God, they're strange."

"They just take a little gettin' used to."

"I'm not sure I'll ever get used to them." She leaned in and 
kissed Doggett's forehead, touching her lips to the cut on 
his eyebrow. "But you're right. They have been helping. They 
just need to stay clear of this case. I don't like them much, 
but I don't want to see them hurt any more than you or Dana 
do."

He sighed, relaxing into the touch. He needed peace right 
now. Being in Reyes' arms felt good. It had been a long time 
since they'd spent time together outside of work. He tried to 
set aside the fear for a while. Crane was dead. There was 
nothing he could pass on to the other supersoldiers at this 
point. He and Reyes needed to get work out of the way and 
have some dinner.

"I'm sorry I didn't bring the bread and wine, like I was 
going to."

Reyes kissed him. "John." She smiled. "You're here. Right 
now, that's enough."

"Scully and the guys got quite a bit of information out of 
the files and that notebook we recovered."

Reyes stood. "If we're going to keep talking about work, let 
me make you some coffee while I fix dinner."

He nodded. "Sounds good. I could really use some." He rested 
his face in his hands while she moved about. His eye hurt, 
and he had a headache. The medic had said it would be a few 
days before the swelling went down, but it hadn't damaged his 
sight at all. He was grateful for that, at least.

It wasn't long before Reyes slipped a mug of coffee under his 
nose. "Thanks," he said.

"So what did Dana and the Stooges come up with?"

Doggett bit back a comment and gave her the information 
instead. "We got three locations with potential supersoldier 
activity: Alameda, White Stone, and Queens. Looks like Queens 
is the place where all the significant stuff is happening. 
Scully's pretty sure the experimentation there has to do with 
the expansion of human physical capabilities, probably 
somehow enhanced by all this nanotech we've been findin'. 
Langly believes it's got something to do with what happened 
to Skinner, and that what he got injected with was some 
earlier version of this stuff. 

"Langly and Frohike say they got some numbers that are 
supposed to be identifiers for individual test subjects. That 
means maybe we can get some estimate of how many 
supersoldiers are out there, at least for this phase of the 
project. I think this started after Rohrer got... changed. 
Scully doesn't think Billy Miles had anything to do with the 
supersoldier project at all. She thinks he's the result of 
something else entirely. Mulder swore the guy was some kinda 
'replacement alien', but you know how I feel about that."

Reyes nodded, stirring the spaghetti and the alfredo sauce. 
"No evidence of extraterrestrial involvement. But how do we 
know for sure there isn't any? Absence of evidence isn't 
necessarily evidence of absence."

"Well, we don't, but I'm still not buyin' this whole alien 
business. It stinks. It's just too weird." Byers had come 
close to getting him to accept it, almost managing to make it 
sound rational, but there were some lines he just couldn't 
bring himself to cross.

Reyes sat at the table with him. "I need a smoke. Do you 
mind?"

Doggett shook his head. "It's your place." He waved a hand at 
her.

She pulled out her pack of Morley Lights and lit one. He 
watched as she leaned back, eyes closing as she inhaled. The 
smoke stank, but the look on her face was sensual. He wished 
he had something that relaxed him that much, but the idea of 
lung cancer just didn't appeal.

"Scully says the stuff in the files is pretty scary," Doggett 
said. "Lots of anomalies. Stuff indicating superhuman 
strength, abnormally fast healing capacities, things like 
that. It would fit with what we know about the supersoldiers 
right now. It's looking like there's a definite relationship 
between Zeus and the supersoldiers project, though we're not 
sure exactly where. My guess is the Queens facility. It was 
in those TREYNOR files the guys found for us a month or so 
back. The genetic engineering stuff is just the surface 
level. I think a lot of it is just cover. This nanotech 
project is like something out of the movies, Mon. I can't 
believe this whole mess. If I hadn't had the crap kicked out 
of me by Billy Miles and Crane, I'd never believe in the 
damned things."

"You've always had a hard time believing in anything that you 
didn't see for yourself, John. I hate saying this, especially 
under these circumstances, but you've come a long way." Reyes 
took another puff from her cigarette. "You're a little more 
able to open your mind now, to accept extreme possibilities. 
Being able to admit they exist means you might actually be 
able to deal with them."

He wasn't sure how much he really wanted to accept or admit. 
Too much, and he'd no longer be credible. His career was 
already halfway into the toilet as it was. It was one thing 
to risk his career to bring down a tangible conspiracy; 
risking it with wild talk about space aliens was another. He 
was no Mulder -- thank God. 

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway," Doggett continued, "Scully says that 
the codes on the project aren't recognized NIH codes, so the 
National Institute of Health is out of the loop with the 
research that Zeus is doing. Nothing from the Department of 
Defense or the Department of Energy, either, even though they 
both got an interest in the Human Genome Project. No visible 
funding. That creeps me out. It's gotta be some kinda real 
hush hush stuff, something the military's burying. The normal 
regulatory agencies haven't got a clue this is going on." He 
took a deep breath. The day's discoveries had all been weird 
ones, and his encounter with Crane hadn't helped him feel any 
more secure about what was happening. All he knew was that he 
didn't want to end up as some mad science project. "I need a 
break from this for a few," he said. "What did you find?"

"Same M.O." Reyes gestured at Doggett with her cigarette. 
"Rosen's head was severed, and it looked like the same kind 
of damage McCrae and Sprague sustained. We found impressions 
of military boots again, but from a forensic study of the 
impressions so far, we apparently have three sets of boots, 
and three different individuals responsible for the murders. 
They were different sizes, with different wear patterns."

Doggett nodded. "God, we need to find out how many of these 
bastards we're dealing with. Scully's guessing a few hundred 
at least, just from the Queens facility."

Reyes shuddered. "I don't like it. It's not good odds."

"Gimme Vegas any day," Doggett said. "I'd rather take on the 
mob." If Crane was a supersoldier, how many others had 
infiltrated the FBI, or the military? How much did the 
Pentagon know -- or did it? Mulder had insisted that aliens 
were replacing key individuals -- politicians, men of power, 
agents in important positions. Aliens or human conspirators, 
it didn't matter. The fact was, something nasty and dangerous 
was happening, and there didn't seem to be any cognizance of 
it in the usual official channels. For all anyone knew, it 
was happening under the government's nose. He'd have to talk 
to Mulder again soon. 

"I delivered the body to Quantico myself, and checked on it 
before I left for the day," Reyes said. "Dana had already 
been in and at least briefly examined the body, but I haven't 
seen her report yet. I'm not sure if she did the autopsy this 
afternoon or not."

"I think she was gonna," Doggett said. "We'll probably get 
her report tomorrow."

Reyes stubbed out her cigarette. "God, I hate this habit." 
She stared at the butt in her fingers, then dropped it into 
the ash tray. Doggett bit back a gleeful comment about it, 
knowing it would only annoy her.

She stood to check the pasta. "Skinner didn't tell me 
anything when I asked, John. He and Langly have got to have 
something going on, with the way they were acting. Skinner 
doesn't just casually stroke somebody's hair. And the way 
they looked at each other? God, Langly, of all people. 
There's just something cosmically wrong with the whole idea." 
She shook her head, mild disgust on her face. "I thought 
Skinner would have better taste than that. Why won't you tell 
me what's going on?"

He shook his head. "It's personal stuff on his part. I got no 
right to talk about it, like I'd have no right to talk about 
your personal stuff. I'm sorry."

She looked back at him, disappointment in her eyes. 

Doggett headed back for neutral waters, convinced that 
telling her about the blackmail attempt right now was a bad 
idea. He knew he had to tell her, but after dinner it might 
sit better. Preferably after a few beers. "It's looking like 
we're gonna need to get into the Queens facility to get to 
the bottom of this, Monica. Probably soon. I'm getting a bad 
feeling about this whole thing, like evidence is gonna 
disappear. I don't think it's worth trying to go back to 
Bridgeport. Byers guesses that any evidence that might have 
been there is gone now, and it's probably at Queens, assuming 
it still exists. Scully thinks he's right."

Reyes looked back from the boiling pasta. "So, are we heading 
out there tomorrow? Should we get Skinner onto getting a 
search warrant for us first thing in the morning?"

"No." Doggett frowned. "I don't like it much, but the guys 
have a point. We're gonna have to do this covertly. Get in 
and get out, outside the usual channels. If we try to get a 
warrant, and there is some kind of conspiracy here, they'll 
have stuff moved by the time we have the paper in hand. We 
gotta get in and out quick, see if we can nab anything on the 
sly before they got time to move stuff."

Reyes raised an eyebrow and grinned. "You? John Doggett? 
Advocating breaking and entering? I think you've been hanging 
around with those guys too much lately. Next thing you know, 
you'll have us subverting the entire government."

"And we aren't now? Like I said, I don't like it. It stinks. 
But I think the guys are right. We go by the book, and we 
won't find a damned thing. Scully figures all we'll get is an 
empty warehouse. She says these guys -- if they're part of 
the same conspiracy -- they move fast, and they don't leave 
anything behind." 

The idea ate at his gut. The evidence, if they turned any up, 
would never be admissible in court. Not that aliens and 
supersoldiers and green-blooded clones were likely to get a 
day in court to begin with. It conflicted with everything he 
knew as a good cop. The X Files and what he had to do to 
investigate them were tearing down so much of what he'd 
considered his moral center. He wondered if he'd end up 
hating himself before they were done. Would he be the same 
man, in any sense?

He wasn't sure how Byers managed to live with it. They'd 
talked about it a little when they were in New York. Byers 
seemed able to come to some kind of compromise with himself. 
He didn't resort to murder, wouldn't stoop to the worst of 
the opposition's methods. There were lines he and the guys 
wouldn't cross. Doggett certainly admired Byers' dedication 
and his ability to cope. He wished he had a little of that 
right now.

He sighed and shook his head. Some questions were too hard to 
answer. These weren't ordinary perps. Nothing like this was 
provided for in the book -- the men in the conspiracy 
manipulated the government and made the laws. With the X 
Files, the book kept changing every Goddamn day. It didn't 
seem like there were any rules but stay alive. He'd been 
trying to accept that everything was different now, but 
sometimes it was hard. What the hell did a guy do when his 
UNSUBs were most likely science experiments gone wrong? Were 
Miles and Rohrer and the others like them even still human? 
He just didn't know anymore. He hated the moral dilemma. More 
than that, he hated the fear he felt. 

He was terrified that they wanted him. How far would they go 
to get him? What would they do with him if they caught him? 
Obviously they weren't above using Byers as a pawn. He rose 
and went to Reyes, slipping his arms around her from behind, 
resting his chin on her shoulder. "I don't wanna be what they 
are," he whispered to her. "I don't want 'em to turn me into 
some kind of a monster."

"John." She turned in his arms to face him, and put her own 
arms around him. "Stay tonight."

He nodded, burying his face in her shoulder. He wasn't sure 
he wanted Byers to know what had happened today. At least not 
now, not tonight. The photos had shaken his sub already, and 
this -- Doggett thought it might be too much. "Yeah. I'll 
stay. Thanks, Mon."

She raised his face and kissed him. This time he answered her 
kiss with need. It felt good, soft tongues brushing together; 
the heated scent of her body making his heart pound. It had 
been too long since they'd shared a bed and he wanted her, 
needed the feel of her body on his. Her kindness and passion 
wrapped him like a warm blanket, and he desperately needed 
that now. She'd known him for years, and what he craved, 
Byers couldn't give him. Not now, not yet. He needed the 
comfort of familiarity, and the easy grace of long knowledge 
and acquaintance. With Reyes, he wouldn't have to explain 
anything. She would know without his asking.

Much as he was coming to care for Byers, the man couldn't 
provide those things. No one else could. There were passions 
and history that bound him to Reyes as surely as Luke's being 
had bound him to Barbara. He knew it. Reyes knew it. They'd 
both accepted it years ago. This intimate friendship and the 
nights they spent together, they were a part of the rhythm of 
their lives.

"Thanks for bein' here," he said.

She held his face in her hands, locking her deep brown eyes 
on his. "Someday, John, you'll have to make up your mind. I 
won't wait for you forever."

He nodded. "I know."

"I wish we were closer."

Doggett could hear the ache in her voice. He knew she wanted 
them to be more than they were, but he just couldn't be what 
she wanted. He couldn't give up what he found in being with 
other men, and he doubted she'd be likely to accept his more 
unusual desires if he ever asked her to play. He kissed her 
hard, wanting her but regretting the chasm between them.

"I can only offer what we've already got, Mon," he said when 
he came up for air. Their hearts were pounding, and he could 
feel her heavy breath. "You know we can't be more than this. 
We've known it for years. You keep asking me back anyway."

"I know." She traced a finger along his cheek to his chin. 
"But I need someone to be with, not someone who's in and out 
of my bed like this. I hope someday you'll stay." With a 
disappointed sigh, she turned in his arms again and checked 
the pasta and sauce. "It's ready. Would you get some plates 
and silverware out?"

They ate in near-silence, side by side, thighs touching. 
Doggett knew they'd share a bed tonight. He wanted it deeply, 
wanted her. She was hot and sweet and incredibly sexy. He 
slipped a hand onto her leg, caressing gently. She smiled up 
at him. The look in her eyes was tender. 

For a moment, Doggett's chest ached. "I don't wanna be taking 
advantage of you, Monica. We both know this isn't gonna 
change. Maybe we shouldn't be doin' this. It's not fair to 
you."

She shook her head. "I still enjoy making love with you, 
John. I don't want to give that up just yet. I need that from 
you sometimes."

He took a deep breath. "Yeah." He nodded. "Yeah, I do too. 
You're really something special to me."

Reyes lowered her eyes, smiling. "So are you." She covered 
his hand in her lap. "I just wish things were different, 
that's all. It would be so much easier for both of us."

Doggett leaned toward her, taking her in his arms and holding 
her tight. Her softness and warmth were so necessary to him 
sometimes. There was an intimacy between them that he'd 
rarely felt with others. Sometimes he wondered what might 
have happened if he'd met her instead of Barbara, how his 
life might have been different. Would Luke have... He 
couldn't go there.

Reyes kissed him with passionate intensity, leaving him 
gasping, mind dragged back into the moment. He stood and 
pulled her up with him.

Body to body, they kissed again, heat rising between them. 
He'd forgotten how good she felt. Her hands slipped down his 
sides to his hips, caressing and arousing him. He moaned as 
her hands moved, and she echoed his sound.

Pulling back, she caught her breath. "I have to do the 
dishes."

"Tomorrow." He pulled her back to him and took her mouth, 
tongues slipping together, leaving him achingly hard. His own 
hands roamed her body, exploring the slopes and curves of her 
familiar form. There was something irresistible about the way 
she felt in his arms, under his palms. 

When she took his hand and let him to her bedroom, he 
followed without hesitation.

They undressed each other slowly. She showed herself off to 
him, wanton, stroking his chest when he took off his shirt. 
His ribs ached where Crane had struck him, but the touch of 
her hands aroused him despite the pain; small and soft and 
slipping along his ribs and over his nipples. Her fingers 
were slender, light and agile.

He cupped the mounds of her breasts as she revealed them to 
him. He could feel the nubs of her nipples rise into the 
center of his palms as he stroked them, a sweet sensation 
that left him hungry for her. 

This kiss was deeper than the ones that had come before. He 
felt as though they were trying to consume one another, steal 
each other's souls through their mouths. She was so familiar, 
so comfortable. He pressed himself slowly against her body, 
his hardness meeting her belly as they caressed one another. 
Their mutual touch left a trail of gooseflesh where their 
skin met.

Doggett squeezed and kneaded her breasts, gentle but urgent, 
and she moaned into his mouth, leaning into him with all her 
weight. Her tongue burned against his.

She took one of his hands in hers and brought it to her lips, 
kissing and licking his palm with sensual heat. He shuddered 
at the soft, wet flame that bloomed in the center of his 
hand.

"Ohhh, Monica." He lowered his face near hers and sucked on 
her fingers as she teased his palm. He wanted to be inside 
her hot, wet core, sliding his rod between her slick lips, 
bodies tangled and thrusting together. He craved her legs 
around him, holding him tight, a willing prisoner to her 
embrace.

He kissed and nipped his way up her arm to the curve of her 
neck, and she groaned, arching back to let him explore her 
more fully. His hands took advantage, slipping her jeans down 
her hips. He growled quietly, sucking at the tender flesh 
behind her ear. Reyes moaned again in response.

He could feel the rumble of her moan through his body, 
resonating in his chest and belly. It made him harder with 
want and he pressed the length of his shaft against her.

"Mmmm... God, John. Want you." 

Her hands opened his belt and unbuttoned his trousers. They 
slipped down along his ass, tracing the lines of muscle, 
pushing his pants down from his hips. Her fingers found the 
crevice between his cheeks and slipped softly along it. He 
shivered. His naked cock met her bare flesh and the heat of 
their bodies stoked the flames within him. 

She reached over toward her bedside table. He knew what she 
wanted.

He kicked his shoes off. "Yes." He eased her down onto the 
bed, pulling her jeans from her legs, and stepped out of his 
pants. Reaching over, he pulled a condom from her drawer and 
slipped it on.

She pulled at his shoulders. "C'mere, John." Her voice was 
deep and sultry, like buttered rum. 

He lay atop her, kissing her fast and fierce, over and over 
again. He wanted her too much to speak, his need expressed in 
quiet, rumbling sounds as his mouth searched her body. With 
lips and tongue he explored her arms, her breasts, her belly. 
She moaned, then gasped as his teeth pinched her ripe, brown 
nipples.

"Oh, yessss..." Reyes' fingers stroked through his short 
hair, unable to get purchase as he followed the curve of her 
belly to nuzzle in her pubic hair. "Please." She raised one 
knee, opening her legs to him. The scent of her wet lips 
pulled him close and he licked at her with the tip of his 
tongue.

Shuddering, she groaned and pressed his head between her 
thighs. He plunged into her sweet cunt, licking and sucking 
at the soft flesh, invading her deeply with his tongue. She 
was so hot. His heart pounded as he pleasured her, slipping a 
finger inside to give her more sensation.

"Aaaah..." She bucked into him, pressing his hand deeper into 
her wetness. "Unh, oh, John..."

The burning reality of her body, the taste and scent of her, 
the wetness surrounding his fingers as he slipped another 
within her, it fired him with passion. He didn't think he 
could wait longer, but he wanted her to come before he 
entered her. He loved slipping into her as she bucked and her 
tight opening spasmed around him. She always made the most 
incredible sounds when he thrust into her like that.

"Mmmmm..." Doggett sucked at her clit, and she bucked, 
gasping.

"Unh, yeah! Oh God, more!" Her head thrashed back and forth 
on her pillow. He smiled as he licked, and stroked his 
fingers into her more deeply. With each thrust, she got 
slicker. He could feel her clit swell under his tongue as she 
fell more deeply into her pleasure. It wouldn't be long.

Reyes wrapped her thighs around him, forcing him closer, 
deeper. He pulled at her clit with his lips, sucking hard, 
driving her mercilessly toward the edge. His fingers slid 
over her sweet spot, pressing into her again and again.

She bucked frantically against him. "Aaauh! aauh! aaaaaugh!" 
The tight muscles within her clamped down on his fingers, and 
he pulled them out of her as she rocked with her orgasm. 

Sliding up her body, he entered her quickly, the wet heat of 
her throbbing passage drawing an explosive shout from him. 
"Unh, aaah, oh God, Monica!" Thrusting hard, he pushed her 
past the crest of the orgasm and she gasped, breathless and 
moaning.

Whimpering, she pulled at him, scratched at his shoulders and 
ass, clenched his hips to her with her powerful legs. "More," 
she groaned.

He stroked into her deep, giving her what she wanted -- what 
he needed. As she peaked into a second orgasm, he gasped and 
cried out. It was good. It was hot. It was so sweet.

It wasn't Byers.

Doggett came hard, groaning, wishing she was Byers. He'd 
never felt that way with Reyes before; never wanted her to be 
anyone else. Why the hell did he want Byers? Why right now, 
like this? Exhausted, he slumped onto Reyes' body as they 
moaned together. He clutched her tight to him.

"Uh, uh, uh, John..." She was gasping with the slowing spasms 
of her orgasm. God, she made him feel good. 

"Mon," he whispered, panting. He tried to put Byers' dark, 
red-brown hair out of his mind. He was with Reyes. He wanted 
to be here. He cared for her so much, loved her in his own 
way.

"God." He squeezed his eyes shut and held her even closer. He 
could hear the distress in his own voice, and hoped she 
wouldn't notice.

Reyes' breath steadied beneath him. "John? Are you okay?"

He shuddered, a brief, sharp movement. "Yeah. Yeah." He 
nodded. "I just had a really rough day. I'm sorry."

"Roll over on your side." He complied, and her body followed 
his, the two of them still joined as they lay face to face. 
She brought one hand to his face and stroked his cheek. "It's 
okay to look at me."

He opened his eyes. "I'm sorry, Mon. I'm just -- I feel like 
half of me isn't here right now."

She kissed him softly. "You look a million miles away. Do you 
want to talk about it?"

"I have to," he said. "It's... what happened, it effects both 
of us. It could really make a mess of things at work." He 
pulled out of her gently and kissed her neck.

"What is it, John?"

He took a deep breath, let it out. "You're not gonna like 
it."

She stroked his cheek with her thumb. "How bad is it?"

"Somebody's threatening to blackmail me, Mon."

"Oh, no. How? With what?"

Doggett braced himself. "You know I been seeing a guy again 
lately."

"For the last month or so, yes." She looked at him, dark 
brown eyes concerned.

"We... I got a little careless. Somebody got pictures. 
Nothing graphic, just... a little bit indiscreet. It was 
enough." He could feel himself start to blush, hoping she 
couldn't see it in the dark.

Reyes ran a hand along his shoulder. "You don't usually see 
men for long. Admittedly, it could be a problem at work, but 
if you're not seeing the guy anymore --"

"I'm still seeing him, Mon."

"Well, maybe you should stop, then. Reduce the risks. "

Doggett shook his head. "No, it's not that simple. I really 
like this guy. He's different than the others; I... I care 
about him. And... well, it's just not that simple."

"Why not?" The question was cautious. "Walking away from them 
has never been a problem before. Who is he? Someone the 
blackmail could hurt?"

"Monica, it's --" he took a deep breath. "It's John Byers."

Her eyes opened wide in shock. "Byers?"

Doggett nodded. "Yeah. This whole thing is as much a threat 
to him as it is to me. He got copies of the photos too. You 
know what the guys do, and how they're involved in this case. 
They're hoping to scare us off it. It's not gonna happen."

Anger settled into Reyes' face. "Get up. Get dressed. I'm not 
talking with you about this in my bed."

Well, that didn't really surprise him. He rose and found his 
clothing, put it on. Reyes did the same, fuming.

"I know you don't like him, but it's not like you know him 
that well," Doggett said. "You don't know what he's really 
like. Can't you give him a chance?"

Reyes' eyes hardened. "Living room. We'll talk there." She 
pulled her t-shirt down over her head. "I can't believe you 
could be that stupid," she muttered.

Doggett returned to her living room in silence. He didn't 
want to make things worse, but she had to know. The blackmail 
attempt was a problem that was leaking all over this case. 
They'd known each other for years, and he'd been aware that 
she wouldn't like the situation, but they had to find a way 
to work through this -- to work together and solve the case. 
He didn't want to lose her over this.

"First our boss and Langly, now you and Byers," Reyes 
grumbled. "What's next? A fivesome with Frohike?"

That hurt. "Monica, please."

She came up behind him, zipping her jeans. "I can't believe 
you two. At least Skinner isn't going to go after you for 
sleeping with a man -- even if it is Byers. I assume he 
knows?"

Doggett nodded. He sat on the couch. "Yeah, he does. It's all 
recent though."

"Do you understand what kind of a risk you're taking with 
your career -- what kind of a risk Skinner is taking with his 
-- in being with those guys? You could get seriously hurt 
here. You could lose your security clearance -- your job. You 
could lose everything, John. I just don't think Byers is 
worth it!"

"It's nobody's business who anybody sleeps with except the 
people involved. You've never had a problem like this before, 
so why now? Why about John? You act like the guys have a 
criminal record, like they're the ones we should be putting 
in jail. They've never been convicted of anything, Monica. 
And since you don't really even know him, who are you to 
judge if he's worth taking a risk for?"

"They may not have a record, but you can't tell me that what 
they do isn't illegal. How can you want someone like that? 
How can you *like* someone like that?" He could see the anger 
in her eyes, hear it in her rising voice.

"Intent is important too. The guys, they're on the right 
side, Monica. They're trying to do the same things we are, 
they're just doing it differently. It seems like any other 
time, you'd be on their side -- you fight for the underdogs, 
Mon. You're not makin' sense here."

"What the hell do you see in him, John? He's paranoid. He 
lives in a warehouse. He's... he's a *man* -- you've never 
been interested in a man for anything more than a little 
messing around before. He's not even your usual type! Why 
can't you just let this go? Walk away from him, take the case 
out of their hands?" 

She didn't know that he'd sometimes had feelings for other 
men beyond just the sex before. He'd never told her -- how 
could she know? "We need them right now. You know as well as 
I do that nobody in the Bureau can do a better job at what 
they're doing. And my reasons for liking him are my own. I 
don't think you really even want to hear what I see in him; 
you wouldn't listen, not when you're acting this way. You're 
not usually like this, Mon, and I don't get it. You don't 
judge people like this. What is it that you dislike about 
them so much?"

Reyes paced the living room, lighting up a cigarette. "How 
could you, John? It sounds like you're... you're getting 
involved with him. I can't believe this. It's like he means 
more to you than they usually do."

The simple truth was, Byers did. Why should that be so awful? 
Confusing, sure, but he was upset that it seemed to be 
causing her such a problem. Doggett looked up at her, 
puzzled. "Monica, are you jealous?" It was the only thing 
that made much sense to him. She'd never been angry about him 
being with guys before. He didn't think her general dislike 
of Byers and his friends would make this much of a difference 
to her.

She looked at him, arms crossed tight over her chest. "No, 
John. I am not jealous." The fury in her voice told him a 
different story.

"It's not like you've never seen anyone else," he said. "We 
don't have any kind of exclusive claim on each other. Never 
have. But we've always been there for each other, ever since 
we met. I don't understand why you're being this way. You've 
always been the open-minded one, way more than me. Monica, 
I've got trouble here -- we've got trouble. This whole 
blackmail thing, it's not gonna stop me from working on this 
case, but you have to know that it's dangerous. What are 
these guys gonna do next? They're definitely trying to stop 
us -- not just me, us."

"John." Reyes sighed and her face softened. "I'm sorry. Yes, 
some of what I've said was un-called for. I'm very concerned 
about you. I think staying involved with Byers and keeping 
them on the case is going to get you hurt -- and maybe other 
people too." She looked away. "I think if you keep seeing 
Byers, you're going to bring nothing but trouble to yourself, 
and to this case."

"John hasn't got anything to do with why the supersoldiers 
might want me, Monica. I think that started a long time ago, 
when whoever it is got their hands on Knowle." He wrung his 
hands together then rested them on his knees. "This whole 
mess, John is really just incidental to it. It can hurt him 
too, but I really don't believe he's their target. He doesn't 
think anybody in the conspiracy takes him, or any of them, 
seriously. Just like you don't."

Reyes looked back at him. "You know Kersh will use anything 
against us now. He seems to have a particularly bad attitude 
about you, and I think this could shoot your career down."

Doggett nodded. "Oh yeah, Kersh has a hard-on about it. But 
let's be realistic here. There's anti-discrimination policies 
in place. It has to go outside of his chain of command before 
they can do much to me. It would have to go through legal and 
the ombudsman's office. Kersh can't just arbitrarily toss me. 
And I'll fight it every Goddamned step of the way."

"I know you will, John." Reyes sighed. "You're a stubborn 
man, and I love you. But I think you're making a mistake."

"Then it's my mistake to make." He stood.

Reyes walked to the door with him. "Good night, John." He 
could hear the resignation in her voice.

He was hesitant when he spoke. "Good night, Monica." Doggett 
looked back at her one last time before he shut the door, 
wishing it had been easier. He hoped she'd talk to him in the 
morning.

~~ end chapter 3 of 4~~