Disclaimer: I OWN nothing & CLAIM nothing!
Summery: One of Mulder's many nemeses from his past returns with a vengeance & the unrelenting pursuit of evil becomes all the more personal for Mulder when his quarry begins to hurt those closest to him. As always, please R&R.
Scully opened the door to their basement office & was greeted by an envelope as it fell to her feet. "Did you see this? It's addressed to you using..." "I know, my nickname, Spooky. I've been getting them for a couple of weeks now." He finished for her without taking his face out of one of the many tabloid magazines that he always picked up on his way to or from work. He always grinned bashfully when she told him that it was a useless waste of his money, "You never know; we might find our next case in these pages." He would always reply. "& what about the letter? Aren't you even going to read it?" Scully asked again, Mulder opened his mouth to answer when their phone rang. "Saved by the bell!" Mulder said in dry enthusiasm as Scully picked up the phone. "Skinner wants to see us." She said uncertainly. "Mulder, some disturbing news came my way this morning, it concerns those three friends of yours. You need to meet Langley & Frohike down at Virginia Memorial right away."
"What happened?" Mulder asked, his grief taking over as Langley & Frohike rose to meet them. "We don't even know for sure, Byers said was going to see a guy about a CPU & the next thing we know, we're getting a call from the hospital." Frohike replied. "Forgive us if we're not much help, we're still in shock ourselves." Langley said as he pulled off his cap & ran his hands through his hair. "Mulder, I know you're thinking that someone is trying to get to you through your friends, but you should also entertain the possibility that Byers was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." "But, this killer still has to be stopped, regardless weather or not Byers was his intended target." Mulder replied flatly as he left to get coffee for them both, Scully looked after him worriedly.
It was many hours before the doctor led them to Byers' room, the extensive tissue damage that could have only been caused by a bullet but neither they nor I could find any trace that a bullet ever passed through his body." Doctor Raymond said to Mulder & Scully in the waiting room later that evening. "I had a look at Byers' wounds & there is no trace of metal or gun powder, but the amount of tissue damage points to a gunshot wound." Scully said as she, Mulder & Skinner walked to their cars. "But… that doesn't make sense." Skinner interjected. "I guess Byers dodged the bullet on this one." Mulder said, his dry humor returning as he gave her a boyish smile. But the guarded rise in hope was not to last, suddenly, Skinner's face contorted & he fell to the ground. "Mulder!" Scully yelled as Mulder rushed back into the hospital to fetch a doctor.