MISPRISION

Misprision: (pronounced, miss-prizz-ee-on); adjective; Middle English, a mistake, misdirection or a misunderstanding, deliberate concealment or deflection in the release of information - from Old French 'mesprendre' to mistake, ... was still in common usage in 16th century England.

Chapter Six

6 am Scully's apartment

Mulder was staring at the perfectly formed fingers of William. 'So tiny and defenceless' he thought, and the thought made him feel both vulnerable and invincible. It was for this he had fought so hard all these years. Not just the quest to find out what had happened to his sister, but also to protect the innocent and defenceless. A task that had been redefined when he had discovered the extent of the consortium's duplicity. They may have beaten him on one front but there was still truth to be sought, justice to be done. He had been reassured that, when it came to the crunch, Doggett had stood by them. Monica Reyes too. SheĠd been a godsend. Their support, their steadfastness had made a world of difference.

Looking back at the way he had treated Doggett after he had been 'returned' he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He'd been pissy and arrogant. Then again Scully often told him he'd been like that for years. He sighed. He knew she was right. He'd been the lone voice in the wilderness for so long that he found it hard to accept others into his 'crusade'. Scully had managed to worm her way in under the fence, but even with her he'd not always been fair or supportive. His trust was hard won and he projected a prickly exterior to protect himself from disappointments and betrayals, kidding himself that if he kept people at bay he wouldn't have to deal with any of the fallout when things didn't work out. Of course that had been so much bullshit.

'Sheesh! 'Sometimes Mulder you're such a schmuck you amaze even me.' He thought.

He gently traced the outline of the baby's nose before sighing and preparing to go and tell Scully he needed to leave. He'd barely made it out of the bedroom when his cell phone rang.

"Mulder." He said in a low voice so as not to disturb the sleeping child.

"Mulder." Doggett's distinctive tones said. "How are you fixed at the moment?"

"If you mean can I spare you some of my valuable time Agent Doggett I think the answer is that I'm available. Where do you want me?"

"At the research lab of a Dr Conrad Borrachio," Doggett replied, "and preferably by yesterday."

Mulder's eyebrows rose at this.

"Hey Doggett, you asking me to work a case? Didn't you hear? I got fired." He said.

"Yeah, yeah." Doggett replied, "but you and I both know that is only going to put a small crimp in your style. Besides we need your input."

"We?" Mulder queried.

"A.D. Skinner and I have a few worrying puzzles we need to get solved asap." Doggett said. "So, you gonna get your butt out here or not?"

Mulder laughed. "How can I refuse such a kindly invitation?" He said. "Ok I'll bite, just tell me how to get there."

As Doggett gave him directions Scully emerged from the bathroom. She gave him a querying look.

"Doggett." He mouthed at her.

She nodded, understanding and went to fetch his coat.

"You go," she said, "my Mom will be right over any minute, we'll be fine."

As Doggett finished telling Mulder how to find them he reiterated the urgency.

"Hurry Mulder," he said, 'I got the feeling we don't got time to waste on this one."

"Be there in twenty minutes." Mulder promised before he hung up.

6.25 am Office of Dr Conrad Borrachio

"Hey." Mulder said as he entered the room. "So what's the all important puzzle?"

Skinner looked at him, noting the fact that his former agent was tired. No doubt, after the gruelling few days they'd all endured Mulder'd had little time for sleep. He knew he'd stayed with Scully after she was given the all clear at the hospital and that having a baby in the house might have made any sleep opportunities very limited. Nevertheless, despite his obvious fatigue, there was a light in Mulder's eyes that said he was sharp and ready for action, which was good because right now he was feeling extremely pressured. Quite why or where his sense of extreme urgency came from he wasn't sure - but as Mulder might have said, his 'Spidey Senses' were tingling.

Skinner made brief introductions before relating to Mulder the content of his 'meeting' with Spender.

"Son of a bitch is baiting us." Mulder said

"Of course he is, the thing is do we go in or don't we?" Doggett said.

Before Mulder could reply Skinner held up his hand.

"There's more and we really don't have time to go into all of it so I'll be brief, also there's something you need to see."

He gave Mulder a condensed rundown of his thesis, Billy Miles versus the Consortium, Crane and Rohrer as collaborators within it. Mulder listened carefully nodding his acceptance of his former boss's theory, until that was he reached the part about Alex Krycek and his double, plus Conrad's theory about genetic manipulation.

"I'll go along with you on the Billy Miles front up to a point, but come on Skinner, Krycek was always a rat bastard. I don't see anything inconsistent in his behaviour here. He played both sides and this time he chose the wrong one. You had to shoot him, and believe me I am not going to shed any tears over that." He said.

"How easy would it be for you to identify your former partner Mulder?" Skinner asked.

""Pretty easy I'd say."

"You know about his distinguishing marks?"

"Apart from the long rat's tail you mean?" Mulder said smirking, but then he became serious. "Sure I know about the scar he had, it was pretty long and ugly if I recall. He seemed pretty embarrassed about it, said he'd got it in an accident as a kid."

"That's right, and being so distinctive a scar would you therefore be surprised if the man I shot showed no signs of any such scar or even any injury in that area?"

"Well sure, even with plastic surgery there'd still be a mark." Mulder said.

"Exactly Mr Mulder," Conrad said, "yet this body had no scar tissue in that area at all. Some small incision sites near the kidneys, but nothing else."

"What about..?"

"The arm?" Doggett said. "Well that's a complete mystery. I mean why would anyone go to all the trouble to encase a perfectly good arm inside a false prosthesis?"

"Perfectly good? No Krycek lost his arm in Tunguska from just above the elbow, the left one." Mulder stated.

"How sure are you?" Doggett asked. "Did you ever actually see it?"

"Once." Mulder said thoughtfully. "After Russia, before he came to tell us about Oregon. There's no way you could hide it or repair it. It was a real mess."

"Well then, if you are sure of these facts then you'll have to agree that the man A.D. Skinner shot last night was not Alex Krycek." Doggett said. "Dr Borrachio took pictures before he began the autopsy, here." He handed a small set of Polaroids to Mulder. "Take a look at them carefully."

"Well there's certainly no sign of the scar on this man," Mulder said, "but why are you showing me photos? Don't you still have the body?"

"Indeed I do," Conrad replied, "perhaps when you see it you'll understand our perplexity and our anxiety." He opened the door to his research lab and Mulder, Doggett and Skinner followed him inside. The gurney was still in the centre of the room. Conrad lifted the sheet to show Mulder why Polaroids were a better idea than the actual body when it came to identification.

Mulder looked carefully at the body, pulling on latex gloves from the box on the instrument table, and probed and prodded the cadaver before he announced - "You're right, there's definitely no sign of any of the marks Krycek should be carrying."

"So do you agree that this isn't Krycek?" Skinner asked.

"It would certainly seem that way." Mulder said. "The question is where is the skulking rat bastard?"

"No Mulder," Doggett said, "the question is, why the deception? And maybe also, what produced the curious accelerated decay of this body?"

"Maybe we find the answer to one and we'll find the answer to the other." Mulder responded.

"But where do you start?" Conrad asked.

"Zeus Genetics." Doggett and Mulder said together. Then both looked at each other in amazement, but it seemed that for once they were both agreed on something.

"Zeus Genetics it is then." Skinner said. "It's logical to assume that it must hold the key to everything or else why would Spender be so set against a free and fair investigation into it? The only reason I can think of is that he is running scared and Zeus Genetics holds the key."

"But where do you start?" Conrad persisted. "If the facility was burnt to the ground what is there left to investigate?"

"That's just what they'd like us to think." Mulder said. "However, they also love to taunt us, send us on wild goose chases time and time again. Who's to say that this time is any different?"

Well what say we go and find out?" Doggett said. "If my vote counts for anything here, I'd go for looking back at the site of the research laboratory, Dr Lev's lab."

"OK sure, sounds like a plan." Mulder said,

"Then I'm coming with you." Conrad insisted. "I'm damned if I'm going to stay in the dark about this any longer than I have to."

"What about the body?" Skinner asked.

"I'll put it on ice, that should halt the decay, and in any case he isn't going anywhere." Conrad said.

"OK. No problem." Skinner said. " We can leave agents to guard your lab in case. If you're sure you want to come it could be handy to have a medical expert along. I should warn you though that this is not official FBI business so we'll have no backup if anything goes wrong. Also, the people we are up against play hard ball and they are unlikely to let any perceived insult or interference in their work go lightly.

"Walt. If you're trying to scare me off it's not working." Conrad said. "I just have to know what in the hell they did to that guy in there to produce such results, and why the incisions to the kidney area were made, and I'm sure I can think of other questions I need answers to. Just accept the fact that I am coming too and let's stop wasting time and get going."

And so it was decided.

end of chapter 6

Chapter 7

Feedback is welcomed at any time

sharonmarais@sam27.demon.co.uk

Return to Sharon's Library