"Agent Mulder." Skinner acknowledged the man sitting across the desk from him. "I
have some disturbing information regarding your partner." He began crisply, "The
FBI is apparently not the only organization he is working for."
Mulder's lips twisted with bitterness, "I could have told you that, Sir."
Skinner sat up even straighter in his chair. "You know about this situation
already? Didn't you feel that I should be informed about this Agent Mulder?"
Skinner's voice cracked across the desk like a ruler.
Mulder looked at Skinner, aggrieved and puzzled, "It's not like it's the first
time they ever set a spy on me in the X-Files..." Started Mulder.
Skinner sighed in exasperation, "We are not talking about your paranoid fantasies
here Agent Mulder. We are discussing the fact that someone familiar with this
office ordered a male escort from a service and Agent Krycek, or rather 'Lexy'
was the person who showed up at his door."
Mulder's eyebrow popped up in surprise, "An escort?" He started churning through
every instant that he had been with Krycek, all the words, actions, and body
language faithfully preserved in his memory. His hand twitched in the unconscious
desire for a sunflower seed. "He doesn't truly connect with people. His
relationships are surface, disposable. No talk about family, friends from the
academy, or school. Isolation driving him to some kind of safe outlet for his
need for contact?"
Skinner flushed with anger. "Safe! That is one of the most incomprehensible
things you have ever said to me Agent Mulder. Considering the risks to his health
and his career, how could this behavior be considered to be safe?"
"Not that kind of safe, Sir, emotionally safe." Mulder was sure now, taking his
profile and running with it, "I think maybe underneath that bright, wet behind
the ears facade he wears, Agent Krycek is one of the walking wounded. Maybe as
long as sex is a business transaction, he is in his emotional safe zone. It is
something the other person wants, something they are paying for, something he
doesn't have to commit any feelings to. It's not that unusual," Mulder voice
faded with introspection, "I have my collection of tapes, he has his collection
of johns.
"A collection of tapes won't get you arrested, and while it might be an
embarrassment, it won't destroy your career." Skinner replied stiffly.
"The risk must be worth it to him for some reason" Mulder's mind riffling through
possibilities, fleshing out the profile. "He must need a live body, a pretense of
emotional contact, an illusion of intimacy without the emotional risks or
burdens."
"Or perhaps he has an excess of student loans to payoff." Skinner's anger was
beginning to lose its heat in the face of cool analysis. "He has no listed next
of kin and no emergency contact." He hated it when one of his agents was at risk;
he was protective of them all. None of them were perfect, God knows keeping
Mulder away from OPC was a part time job all by itself. Krycek was intelligent,
had done well at Quantico, and showed promise as an agent. Skinner took a moment
to wonder why the really promising ones always seemed to be problem
personalities? It appeared that Krycek was going to be another high maintenance
addition to his lineup of agents.
He pulled off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose in a vain attempt to
ward off the oncoming headache. "In either case he needs someone to pull him back
from the edge. Someone who will yank hard." Skinner looked across to Mulder
again. "Before I act, Agent Mulder, I need more information. There are too many
unsubstantiated maybes in your profile. Are you willing to use your contacts
outside the agency?"
"Yes, Sir."
"I want a history on 'Lexy' and a new background check on Krycek."
Mulder snorted sharply, "I think we can count on the fact that the one in his
jacket is less than complete."
"Agent Mulder, be discrete."
"Absolutely."
The Problem
by Ophite
Hoover Building
