From: martin@abacus.mc.duke.edu (Michele Martin)
Message-Id: <9504100027.AA10557@abacus.mc.duke.edu>
Subject: The Witness part 17
Date: Sun, 9 Apr 1995 20:27:15 -0400 (EDT)

scene 24
Metro Police Station
1:30 am

   Al was not happy.  He was confused...and worried...and really tired.  
And he had a headache.  A really strong, solid headache that had 
Excedrin, Advil, AND Tylenol written all over it.  In capital letters.  
In the five years that Sam had been leaping around through time, he'd 
seen alot of things.  An angel, something he swore was Satan incarnate, 
ghosts, psychics, and a 3000 year old mummy that had come back to life and 
actually killed someone (he shuddered in horror at that memory).  He'd 
even run into a vampire and a UFO before.  But never so many strange 
people in one place.  Immortals, vampires, aliens, AND the FBI?  He kept 
fighting the urge to yell for Gooshie to open the imaging chamber door so 
he could run off and gibber in a corner somewhere.  Sam still needed 
him.  Especially now that Scott had been kidnapped.  According to Ziggy, 
unless he and Sam came up with something brilliant soon, Scott would never 
be recovered.  Paul and Jenny would also disappear.  And now it 
seemed that Schanke, Mulder, and Scully's careers were in jeopardy as 
well.  Nick Knight disappeared and Dr. Natalie Lambert's own career went 
into a tailspin because of "personal difficulties". New information 
coming in pointed toward a failed rescue attempt that landed everyone 
involved in a heap of trouble.  Which, of course, meant that the US 
government...or at least some part of it...had to be involved in the 
kidnapping.  Not good.  Not good at all.  Al wondered what they could 
do about it.
   At the moment the group...Al wondered when he'd begun to think of them 
all as a group...was split.  Connor, Duncan, Mulder and Natalie had 
stayed at the Coroner's office.  Al had been flabbergasted when Duncan 
MacLeod had actually offered his assistance in rescuing Scott Edwards.  
After a thoughtful pause, Connor MacLeod had offered his assistance as 
well.  They'd both pointed out that perhaps none of this would have 
happened if it hadn't been for their Immortal activities and that it 
really wasn't Scott's fault that he'd seen what he'd seen.  Odd as it 
seemed, Al was beginning to think that those MacLeods weren't so bad 
after all.  All things considered, of course.  The MacLeods had also 
offered to help Natalie clean up the godawful mess that had been made of 
the examining room.  Mulder also offered to help after it was pointed out 
that he couldn't very well go back to the station with his shirt in 
_that_ condition. At least without having to come up with a _very_ good 
explanation.  Sam (and Al), Nick, Scully, and the Edwards had headed back 
to the station in order to see what information they could dig up on the 
kidnappers.  Jenny, once she'd calmed down enough to deliver a coherent 
statement, had mentioned that she was an artist and was pretty sure she 
could draw a reasonable picture of one of the men involved in the 
kidnapping.  Which was something, at least, to start with.  And Nick was 
sure that Captain Cohen was going to want some explanation.
  So now they were at the station.  Jenny was working on the drawing, 
trying to keep herself together long enough to do a good job.  Al felt 
really sorry for her--she hadn't asked to be dragged into any of this.  
He also kind of felt sorry for the ali...for _Paul_.  He looked pretty 
devasted by the news as well, and had been extremely grateful for 
everyone's offer of assistance.  Al decided he didn't care where Paul was 
from, in his book he was an okay joe.   Even if he _had_ blurted out 
Sam's identity (studiously ignoring the violent "shushing" motions Al had 
been making at the time). He had, after all, gone out of his way to save 
Mulder's life, even though it meant revealing his own oddness to the rest 
of the group.  And Al had to admit that having everything out in the open 
made things alot easier.  No more having to come up with lame excuses for 
odd behaviour.  In fact, with their pooled resources they _might_ be able 
to lick this situation yet.
  "Detectives, we've just gotten some information on the man who murdered 
Greene tonight.  Seems he was a wanted terrorist.  We just got this fax 
from an American organization known as the Phoenix Foundation.  And, in 
case you hadn't heard, we discovered quite alot of explosive material in the 
janitorial cart found near the holding cells.  Seems this Murdoc was 
planning a little terrorism of his own right here.  Any ideas on why he 
might have attacked our prisoner?" Captain Cohen asked as she came 
out of her office and handed a fax to Sam.
  "Well, we're not quite sure of the motive yet, but Agent Mulder has a 
theory that they were part of some sort of secret society," Sam ad-libbed.
  "Where is Agent Mulder?" inquired the Captain as she glanced around the 
room.  She caught site of the Edwards as they conferred with Nick and 
Scully while Jenny worked on her sketch.  "Are you two taking on this 
kidnapping as well?  It's a little out of your field..."
  "Agent Mulder is, um, going over some evidence with Natalie. He thought 
Scully might be a bit more, ah, helpful in talking with the Edwards.  
Especially with Jenny--you know, the, um, maternal..sympathetic thing..." 
Sam floundered a bit before hitting his stride again with the second part 
of his reply, "As for the kidnapping, well, since Scott is _our_ witness, 
and given the attack earlier this evening, ah, Nick and I thought it 
might tie into the case."  Al sincerely hoped the Captain would believe 
it.  Apparantly she did.  She nodded and headed back to the office.  Sam 
looked at the fax, then took it over to where Nick, Paul, Jenny and 
Scully were.
  "Hey Nick--look what just came in.  It's about Murdoc...I don't know if 
it has anything to do with...anything, but Captain Cohen seemed to think 
it was important," he handed it to Nick.
  "Thanks Schanke...ah, Sam.  Hmm, international terrorist?  Boy, we've 
got everything here but the kitchen sink...any idea what he was doing 
here.  Besides head-hunting, of course."
  "Captain says they found some explosives in his janitorial cart.."
  Nick just rubbed his eyes.  Al sympathized.  "Okay, okay. Never mind.  
We've got more important things to worry about now, I..."
  Just then the desk sargeant (a different one...the other one went home) 
called out, "Knight?  Schanke? There's a call for you on line two.  
Someone named Thorton.  Says he's from the Phoenix Foundation?"
  Nick and Sam exchanged glances.  
  "Okay, I'll take it," Nick offered, as he headed towards his own desk.  
Al indicated to Sam that he was going to follow and Sam nodded.  Al 
wasn't sure he really _wanted_ to find anything else out tonight, but he 
figured it couldn't hurt to do some more eavesdropping.  And any 
information that _might_ help them solve this kidnapping and rescue Scott 
would be invaluable.
  "Detective Knight here," Nick said as he answered the phone. He paused, 
listening to the voice at the other end.  Al wished he could here what 
the other person was saying. *Maybe this isn't the best idea....*
  "Yes, Mr. Thorton, we received your fax.  I must say I'm quite 
surprised that we received word so quickly.  I'm sure it must be rather 
late, even on the West Coast....yes, so I understand.  In fact, we have 
reason to suspect he might have been involved in planning some sort of 
terrorist attack here.  We found explosives....what happened? Well, you 
might find this hard to believe, but he attacked a prisoner we had and he 
was shot by my partner....yes, we're quite sure he's dead....honestly, 
Mr. Thorton, he's really dead....we checked several times.....I really 
don't think he's going to come back and bother anyone.....you don't 
say....off a mountain?....an exploding truck?.....no, no, I believe 
you....I see...._yes_, we're absolutely one hundred percent positive he's 
really and truly dead...Mr. Thorton, in all honestly, I don't know of 
anyone who can survive what happened to Murdoc."  With that Nick hung up 
and shook his head.
  "Anything important?" called Sam from across the room, addressing both 
Al and Nick.  Both shook their heads.  Al could pretty much gather the 
gist of what Mr. Thorton had said.  In reply to Sam's inquiring look, he 
said, "I think he was working a little to late," at almost exactly the 
same time as Nick said it.  Sam rolled his eyes.  
  At that moment, Jenny announced, "Okay....I think I've got it.  This is 
the man I saw talking to Scott..before...." her voice trailed off.  Paul 
gave her a reassuring hug as she handed the picture to Scully.  As Al 
returned to where they were gathered, he heard Scully gasp.
  "I've seen this man before!"

  Scully looked at the picture in her hand again.  Yes, she was sure 
she'd seen that man in the FBI building on any number of occassions, 
usually going into or out of the Deputy Director or Director's offices.  
Apparantly an important man.  Who smoked.  That's what she could remember 
most distinctly about him--he was always sheathed in a miasma of 
cigarette smoke.  As a doctor, she found it truly repugnant.  Then again, 
there was something else about the man that was, well, not repugnant 
exactly. But sinister.  It certainly came through in the sketch Jenny had 
made.  Of course, Jenny was a bit biased.
  "Do you know this man?" Paul asked.  Scully looked into his concerned 
face.  He had been extremely upset by the news his wife had brought, and 
Scully didn't blame him.  She still had alot of trouble believing that 
this man was some sort of extraterrestrial.  Though her mind was having a 
very difficult time coming up with some sort of rational explanation for 
his ability to heal Mulder like he had.  Her mind was having alot of 
trouble with most of what had happened that evening.  
  "I've seen him before...at the Bureau..."
  "Then he _is_ from the government?" she could detect fatigue, and a 
hint of despair in his voice.  
  "Probably.  But that doesn't give him the right to kidnap your son!"
  "No, it doesn't.  Especially in _this_ country. Okay, we've got a 
picture, now we need to find this guy.  Any ideas?" Nick Knight said. *A 
vampire?  Not even Mulder believes that....*
  "Scott dropped his sphere....if he doesn't have it, I can't find him..."
  "And even if you could, they'd be waiting for you.  I have a feeling 
this was very carefully planned by someone who knows alot about you," 
Schanke...no, _Beckett_...*Do I _really_ believe that?  Does it matter?*... 
pointed out.  
   "Probably George Fox. Or someone who read George Fox's files.  
Hmm...Mulder received a copy of those files the night before we left to 
come here..." Scully began.  She got up and went to Mulder's briefcase to 
look for the file.  It was gone.  She slammed the briefcase shut.
  "What's wrong?" asked Beckett.
  "It's gone...I don't know how, but it's gone!"
  "But who could have taken it?"
  Knight sighed, "I have a sneaking suspicion.  But it's not important 
now.  What _is_ important is how to find and rescue Scott.  If it is some 
covert governmental organization that's behind this we can't wait for 
ransom notes or demands because there won't be any."
  Scully agreed. "But what do we do?  Even if we do find Scott, we won't 
be able to convince them to let him go.  They believe he's half-alien, 
and from what I saw of that file and what you've told us, Paul, they're 
not going to let him go just because we ask nicely.  They truly consider 
both of you a threat.  Though, from what I've seen, they're way offbase."
  "Thank you," Paul said quietly and sincerely.  Jenny smiled at Scully 
in a way that also said 'thank you'.  Scully smiled back, hoping she 
looked more optimistic than she felt.
  "Therefore, we have to kidnap him back!" Beckett said.  Something in 
his voice caught Scully's attention.
  "You have a plan?" she asked.
  "I've got a plan to find him _and_ rescue him.  Look, these guys are 
expecting Paul, whom they believe to be a dangerous extraterrestrial, to 
come along and do something weird and alien in order to rescue his son.  
They've probably talked to Fox or brought him along or something so 
they've got some idea of what Paul might do.  But they _aren't_ 
expecting two Immortals, a vampire, a time-traveling quantum physicist, a 
hologram, two FBI agents, _and_ an extraterrestrial."
  "Would you be?" Scully replied.
  "No.  And that's the point--there's no way they could be expecting us."
  "Are you suggesting that we basically out-weird them?" Knight asked, 
looking a bit sceptical.
  "Do you have a better plan?" replied Beckett.
  "So how do we find Scott?" asked Paul.  Beside him, Jenny Edwards 
looked totally confused.  Scully didn't blame her one bit.  Scully knew 
some of what was going on, and even she was confused.  Jenny was probably 
better off not knowing.
  "I'll tell you once we get back to the Coroner's Building," said Beckett.
As they headed out the door, Scully thought to herself, *Oh, I _know_ 
Mulder's just gonna love this!*

  Seated at Nicholas's desk, LaCroix watched the whole exchange in 
mild amusement.  No one, not even Nicholas, was aware of his presence 
{though if Paul hadn't been so distracted, LaCroix might have been a bit 
surprised....} which was how he wanted it.  He flipped through the file 
he'd found in the FBI agent's briefcase, so carelessly left where anyone 
could find it.  An alien...how interesting.  LaCroix's curiousity was 
piqued.  This was something new...and things new were so _rare_ these 
days.  Especially to someone over a millenium in age.  All this talk 
about Immortals and physicists and holograms sounded interesting as well, 
but one thing at a time.  
   LaCroix had at first been planning to confront Nicholas about the 
beheadings and Gregory's attack, but had failed to find Nicholas at 
the station.  Of course, it would have been a simple matter to track 
Nicholas if he'd felt it necessary, but he knew he would return here 
eventually.  So instead, he decided to wait...and do some investigating 
of his own.  It had been most enlightening.  Now he knew, or at least 
had some idea, of what had happened to Gregory.  He was almost tempted 
to try his strength against this alien, this intruder into 
his world, but wisdom won out.  LaCroix was supremely confident of his 
own abilities, but he wasn't stupid.  If this being could overcome 
Gregory so easily, he was a force to be reckoned with.  But from what 
he'd gathered from the file, inspite of what George Fox and the others 
believed, this being just wanted to be left alone.  With his family.  And 
LaCroix could respect that because he felt much the same way.
   However, he..or it...knew about them, because of Gregory's...and 
Nicholas's...carelessness.  And so, apparantly, did some of these others. 
The situation wanted careful watching. LaCroix might have to take...
measures.  He carefully closed the file as Nicholas and the others made 
their way out again.  He followed, deciding to keep the file.  It might prove 
useful someday.