Chapter 6
Agent Drazen stepped out of the car, looking around at the familiar intersection. The Shuttle Bee was sideways in the middle of the intersection of Clayton and Forsythe. A black car with its front smashed and bent in such a way that made Elizabeth almost wince in sympathy was only a couple of feet away from the Shuttle Bee. Elizabeth jogged toward the car, her eyes narrowing in surprise. The black car was a Volkswagon Jetta, but mangled, metal bars were attached to the front of the car as well as some steel or steel like protrusions.
Elizabeth shifted her gaze to the side of the Shuttle Bee, and shivered slightly as a gentle but cold breeze kicked up. The side was only superficially marred and dented-the car took far more structural damage. Elizabeth turned to face the front of the car, looking to the direction where the car had come from. She could see tire marks extend backwards and to the side of the road.
Elizabeth touched the hood of the car; it was still warm. She looked down and to the side as she could almost feel the cold rage that permeated this man, the killer. Her mind instantly put forth a vision of what had happened. The killer had been waiting, parked, or car idling, across the street. Then, when he saw the Shuttle Bee down the street, he had got into position, timing it so he could ram the Bee. Judging from the lack of blood in the interior of the car, he had bailed before the car hit.
"Elizabeth," Mulder said, startling her out of her thoughts as he jogged her way. Elizabeth looked up at him, for the first time flickering her gaze around the rest of the crime scene. On the side of the road were a group of girls, Serri, Guo-Xing, and a few others from the classroom along with other friends she or Mulder hadn't met. Serri was sitting down, a little ways from the group, watching her and Mulder. After a few moments, she stood up, slipping into the group of friends.
"Well, a few witnesses who were inside when the attack occurred," Mulder said, gesturing with his hand, "say that the guy had been sitting there for about a half an hour, for them, obviously. He sees the Shuttle, puts it into high gear, and jumps out of the car before it smashes into the side of the Shuttle Bee."
Elizabeth nodded, then shook her head a moment later. "The guy had this planned, he was waiting for them. Look at this," she said, stepping closer to the beat-up Jetta. She indicated the steel work-up. "He had this planned, the car was perfect for what he wanted."
"I'm not convinced he's an organized killer, Elizabeth," Mulder argued, shaking his head slightly. "I don't think he picks someone to play out his delusion, I think they enrage him so he feels . . . almost obliged to kill them."
"The car was stolen," Detective Miller said, striding up to the two agents. He cast a glance over at the group of friends. "Two nights ago. The gear on the front of it? Apparently the original owners had it installed for safety reasons-according to the officer who was dealing that case, the owners were a couple of nutcases-real paranoid."
Mulder caught the sly look Elizabeth gave him with a sardonic grin. "Oh right," he said.
Elizabeth gave him a slight smile, but sobered almost instantly. "What have you got from the victims, Detective Miller?"
The detective sighed. "Our perpetrator tried to stab Cyn-you recall her? Red brown hair, about five two? He had a hypodermic needle; we're having the substance anazyled right now. Um, as far as we can tell, he got on the bus, went straight for Cyn, the girls managed to hold him back until the Corazai twins really stuck it to him. You'll want to hear it from them, I'm guessing."
Mulder and Elizabeth exchanged glances and headed over to the group. One of them saw the agents and detective coming, and all discussion stopped.
Detective Miller spoke. "Arí and Hester managed to resuscitate one Mr. Collins, the bus driver. He's already on his way to the hospital," he said, gesturing at the two, taller girls.
"Very impressive," Elizabeth said, her tone genuine as she studied the two girls. "You have taken a CPR class, both of you?"
"It was a required course last year's health class," Hester said, her voice slow and somewhat deliberate.
Mulder nodded, then began questioning. "What happened, from the beginning, after he rammed the bus."
Annette spoke up; she had a darkening, bluish-purple bruise lining the left side of her face. Left handed, Elizabeth instantly realized. If Annette had been punched, that would have to be a left-handed blow. "Serri told everyone to brace themselves. Then the car hit us. Not the first time, but definitely the worst. After that, we kind of just sat there. Guo-Xing called 911 on their cell-phone and Serri went up front of see if the driver was okay."
Serri's voice was quiet as she spoke. "He looked kind of bad, so we figured we'd get him out of the Bee. I went around the outside of the car, then asked Arí to open the door."
"Did you see anyone while you were outside the Shuttle?" Mulder asked.
"No," Serri replied flatly. Elizabeth shot her a questioning look-something was up with her. The girl hadn't responded this way to Abby's attack. Elizabeth could sense anger growing underneath the surface. Elizabeth exchanged a look with Mulder, who nodded subtly.
Arí took over the narration. "I went up front to open the door. The bus driver fell out, I had to untangle him from the seatbelt. After he fell out, Serri told Hester to get down there and help her. A moment later somebody shoved me hard enough to knock me out through the door. I didn't get a look at him then."
"The guy came back here, threw Cyn into the back of the Bee, with Guo-Xing behind her," Beth narrated. "He punched Annette in the jaw, then tried to inject Cyn with the needle. I grabbed his arm. Then Serri came up, broke his hold, and knocked him around."
Guo-Xing started speaking. "The man tackled her to the ground. So," she said with a crooked grin. She held up a five or six inch pointed metal object. Congealed blood was evident on it. "Serri said she had her pencil bag. I took the compass and jammed it down into his shoulder. Now you have DNA," she said, her voice holding a note of triumph.
Mulder took an evidence bag out of his pocket, and Guo-Xing placed the syringe inside it. He looked at her, smiling slightly. "Do you realize you might just have given us a huge break on this case?"
"Yes, I do," Guo-Xing said, sounding slightly smug. Hester clapped her on the shoulder as Beth mock-solemnly shook her hand. Serri gave her sister a slight grin, which faded as she regarded the two agents.
"Ask them to describe your killer, Agent Mulder," Serri said, a challenging note entering her voice.
Cyn looked down, then up. "It was James Marsters. You know, Spike, off Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Detective Miller stared at the girl, incredulity written all over his face. At the challenging and confirming looks of the other girls, she sighed. "So maybe he had a mask of sorts."
Cyn snorted in obvious disgust. "He had a freakin' English accent. He said one word, 'Traitor', and it was so Spike's voice. He was the right height and everything. It was totally Mission: Impossible."
"It was him down to the slightest detail," Beth admitted-"and I didn't know that serial murderers went in for the whole Ethan Hunt thing."
Elizabeth took in a deep breath, but said nothing. After a moment, she looked at the girls. "You said he spoke one word-how did you know it was him?"
Annette laughed as Cyn responded. "I'm totally obsessed with that show, okay. And it was him."
"He had gray eyes and a ski mask," Serri said, her voice devoid of any inflection.
"Who the hell were you looking at?" Cyn said with some scorn. Serri caught her eye with a look.
"Seriously," Guo-Xing said with some disgust. "I think you got hit harder than we thought."
Elizabeth watched at Serri's temper flared. "Whatever," she said, her voice holding an element of disgust mixed with indignation. She shot Mulder and Elizabeth a glare of pent up anger. "All right. Cut the freakin' crap. I'll tell you what was in that stupid needle. Frickin' potassium. How the hell do I know that? It was in Cyn's story. The guy appeared in Spike's form. That was the character who almost, but not quite, died in her story. By the way, after a very questionable plot about how Spike became human." Serri glared at both agents. "How did he know who Cyn was? And moreover, how did he know where to find us?"
Elizabeth and Mulder exchanged another glance. Before Mulder could say anything, Serri glared at both of them again, her eyes shooting daggers. "You know something that you aren't telling us. He tried to kill one of my friends, and you're leaving something out."
"It doesn't matter," Mulder said, staring directly into Serri's mind.
"The hell it doesn't," Hester said, her voice rising in anger for Serri. "I maybe didn't see anything, but I'm pretty sure Serri's not crazy either."
"I saw him as he ran off," Arí said slowly, her voice soft. "And I know for a fact that it wasn't Spike. Spike has platinum blond hair, I didn't see that."
"And that would be something hard to miss," Serri said, her voice quieter, but no less intense or angry. "You have to tell us. Why wouldn't you?"
"Because you won't believe it," Elizabeth said calmly, looking over the group.
"I believe you are assuming," Hester said. "And assuming makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'."
"Just freakin' tell us already," Guo-Xing said, her dark eyes cold.
"Yes, please do," Detective Miller muttered under his breath.
Mulder let out a frustrated sigh. "We, or at least agent Drazen and I, think that this man can psychically see into his victims mind. He chooses his victims because they betray something close to him. All the victims have a Judeo-Christian background. Their belief in God and unrealistic optimism enrages him. He feels that they betray reality. Then, he gains access to their minds, learns about them, and kills them in the same manner the characters in the story were supposed to die. He psychically impresses his illusion on you to make you think he is that character." Mulder fell silent.
"I take it back," Hester said with a slight smile, "you're right, we don't believe you." She moved away with Beth and Annette following. Guo-Xing murmured something about it being 'a load of crap fit for fertilizer only'. Only Cyn, Arí, and Serri remained. Serri looked at Arí with a raised eyebrow and a slightly crooked smile.
"Why are you still standing here?" she asked, her voice somewhat dry and without anger.
"To see why you're still standing here. And, it is possible . . . if not likely," Arí said, still looking at Serri.
"Why are you still standing here?" Cyn countered. "You're the one who doesn't believe in ghosts, or horoscopes, or even Reconciliation for that matter. Or psychics."
"I believe there is such thing as a psychic gift," Serri said slowly, her eyes not leaving Mulder's. "I also don't think everyone with their own 1-800 number has it." Her eyes touched Elizabeth's briefly. "Why do you believe this, Agent Drazen?"
"After one eliminates the impossible, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth. Logic, my dears," she said, her own voice holding a hint of dryness. "I learned that in the Chronicles of Narnia." That prompted a smile from everyone present.
"One question," Mulder said, looking at Serri. "Where the hell are your parents? I'd thought they would be here by now."
"Phoenix," Arí said.
"Don't have a car," Cyn replied.
"Nebraska," Serri said. "Guo-Xing spoke to them about twenty minutes ago. There's like a foot of snow on the ground and more on the way, no way they're getting' back here for a while."
Saint Louis, Missouri
Unknown Residence
The man paced his room, sweat pouring off his brow. This makes no sense, he thought to himself furiously. The girl had been involved twice, thwarting his plans to carry out justice. And she had been in that dream. It didn't make sense . . . doubly so. When he had looked into her eyes, he had seen nothing but a reflection of himself, his true self, not the illusion he had wrapped their deranged minds around.
She had stopped him . . . . She was not subject to his power. Somehow the girl was protected-he had to break through that protection. It was only a matter of time before he would touch her. He paused in his pacing, calming his frustration while letting out a low growl. How did she stop him? How did she know to be in the right place? What made her different. He had to know.
He had watched afterward, waiting in the shadows, far enough away that the police could not see him. He had seen the two FBI agents come up. That surprised him . . . the murders were clearly local and the FBI had no true jurisdiction, unless the police department had forgotten their petty disliking of each other in order to bring him down. Fools, he thought. They were only aiding the true traders of all of them.
Suddenly, he moved across the room, sitting down in front of his computer and turning it on. He felt hot excitement build up within him. Perhaps the girl was protected by some evil force, but her friends were not, that was evident. He would start with the one named Cyn, slip into her mind. She would lead him to the others, and the others would be enough to allow him to defeat her.
Drazen Residence
North County, St. Louis
6:35P.M.
Christmas Eve
Mulder stared at the papers he had in front of him in frustration. They had run his prints through every crime lab possible. Everyone from one time shop lifting offenders to serial murderers who had been locked up, presumed dead, whatever. Mulder was willing to reach here, but this guy came up clean. He sighed, tossing the papers on Elizabeth's dining room table. Elizabeth, Detective Miller, and a few other officers working the case had made Elizabeth's apartment temporary headquarters. They had maps tacked up on her walls, boxes of evidence lined up on the floor, pictures tacked to a large piece of cardboard. They had surrounded themselves with all aspects of the case.
Mulder watched as Elizabeth stared at the photographs for what seemed like the umpteenth time. He was about to call her name, suggest an idea he had been considering at the back of his mind when her cell phone rang.
"Drazen," she said, her voice calm. A moment later her eyebrows went up in pleased surprise. "Monica?" she asked, a genuine smile spreading across her face. "What's up? I was just thinkin' about you." Elizabeth listened for a moment, and Mulder watched as the smile vanished from her face, replaced by seriousness. "Yes," she said after a moment of profound silence. "I know." After a few moments, Elizabeth smiled again. "As usual, you're right. Thanks. Goodbye."
"Who was that?" Mulder asked as Elizabeth continued to stare at the cell phone in her hand, a look of concentration on her face.
"A friend," Elizabeth replied. She had a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Frequent partner when I'm not on special assignment." Elizabeth hung up the phone, staring at it, then turned to Mulder. "I've been thinking." She walked into the guest bedroom and study, beckoning for Mulder to follow her. She flipped the switch, turning on her computer as Mulder pulled up a chair. She finally turned to Mulder.
"So this guy thinks all these stories are unrealstic, never going to happen. He only signed under 'Slave of Illusion' if he is going to target one of them as a victim. But that isn't his actual name on fanfiction.net. So how do we find his actual name?" she asked, shooting Mulder a look as she logged onto the internet and typed in the website's name.
"We look at the opposite kind of writing," Mulder said slowly. "Depressing stuff. Everything that he said was lacking. Fatalism, characters dying. What he says is realism."
"Exactly," Elizabeth said, her voice speeding up as she narrowed the search for type. She quickly tapped on the name 'Angst'. "So we find some guy with a screen name that reviews enthusiastically for the depressing stuff. It'll take a while, but we ought to be able to narrow the search. We can get the person's e-mail address from the server, and we probably can find out more information, seeing that we already know he's in Saint Louis or the immediate, surrounding area."
"Good idea," Mulder said. "We can put some guys on it-of course, it may not work at all, the guy might be superparanoid and never sign under his own name, but I don't think so." Mulder pondered his next words for a moment, then leaned forward, meeting Elizabeth's eyes. "I also happen to have an idea."
Elizabeth nodded, her eyes watching his, a hint of wariness entering them.
"Why not try to lure the guy into attacking us?" Mulder asked. "Why not make him come to us?"
"How do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.
"Why not write one of those types of stories, and get him to come after us? We'd have him cold."
Elizabeth stared at him, something in her eyes that Mulder couldn't discern. He looked over as Detective Miller entered the room. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Agent Mulder," Detective Miller said.
"Why not, we know how this guy works, don't we? I'm sure we could come up with a plot line crappy enough to do the job."
"You've got a hole in that logic, Mulder," Elizabeth said, shaking her head emphatically. "Think about it. The guy is psychic, if he gets in your head, he'll know what we're doing anyway. Not to mention, he'll know just how to fool you, get you off balance." Her voice lowered. "Mulder, come on, what if he appeared as Scully, or Diana, or Samantha, or hell, Alex Krycek for that matter? These are convincing illusions, Mulder, it would tear you apart thinking you would have to shoot one of them-except Krycek. We don't even know the extent of this man's powers, what if he projected an illusion that made you think I was Krycek? You'd shoot me in a second."
Mulder stared at her, for a moment ignoring her logic. "How the hell do you know about Alex Krycek?"
Elizabeth stared at him, looking frustrated. "The man is an international fugitive, everyone in the CIA and the FBI, not to mention the DOD, knows about him."
"Yeah, but you seem to know that we have a personal connection with him," Mulder said, feeling for the first time uneasy in Elizabeth's presence. She caught that unease instantly.
"I'm a street agent, undercover," she said, slowly. "I worked under A.D. Skinner for a few years on a particular assignment. Fill in the blanks."
Mulder did. He knew for a fact that Skinner didn't oversee undercover ops that regularly. Only if they were especially assigned, or he had something to do with the cases. Krycek was someone Skinner had an interest and hatred for. It wouldn't surprise him that the man had assigned someone to do some digging. But it did surprise him that Mulder didn't know anything about it, no rumors, no nothing.
"Why you?" Mulder asked as he searched her eyes. He knew that he wouldn't get much information out of her.
"I'm hard to kill," Elizabeth said with a warning note in her voice. Mulder nodded, message received-she wasn't going to talk much more about it.
"All right," Mulder said finally, looking at both Detective Miller and Agent Drazen. "We won't do that one. But let's expand on Elizabeth's idea. Let's get some tech support down here and start searching for any signatures made by this 'Slave of Illusion'."
"Got it," Detective Miller said instantly.
Agent Drazen stepped out of the car, looking around at the familiar intersection. The Shuttle Bee was sideways in the middle of the intersection of Clayton and Forsythe. A black car with its front smashed and bent in such a way that made Elizabeth almost wince in sympathy was only a couple of feet away from the Shuttle Bee. Elizabeth jogged toward the car, her eyes narrowing in surprise. The black car was a Volkswagon Jetta, but mangled, metal bars were attached to the front of the car as well as some steel or steel like protrusions.
Elizabeth shifted her gaze to the side of the Shuttle Bee, and shivered slightly as a gentle but cold breeze kicked up. The side was only superficially marred and dented-the car took far more structural damage. Elizabeth turned to face the front of the car, looking to the direction where the car had come from. She could see tire marks extend backwards and to the side of the road.
Elizabeth touched the hood of the car; it was still warm. She looked down and to the side as she could almost feel the cold rage that permeated this man, the killer. Her mind instantly put forth a vision of what had happened. The killer had been waiting, parked, or car idling, across the street. Then, when he saw the Shuttle Bee down the street, he had got into position, timing it so he could ram the Bee. Judging from the lack of blood in the interior of the car, he had bailed before the car hit.
"Elizabeth," Mulder said, startling her out of her thoughts as he jogged her way. Elizabeth looked up at him, for the first time flickering her gaze around the rest of the crime scene. On the side of the road were a group of girls, Serri, Guo-Xing, and a few others from the classroom along with other friends she or Mulder hadn't met. Serri was sitting down, a little ways from the group, watching her and Mulder. After a few moments, she stood up, slipping into the group of friends.
"Well, a few witnesses who were inside when the attack occurred," Mulder said, gesturing with his hand, "say that the guy had been sitting there for about a half an hour, for them, obviously. He sees the Shuttle, puts it into high gear, and jumps out of the car before it smashes into the side of the Shuttle Bee."
Elizabeth nodded, then shook her head a moment later. "The guy had this planned, he was waiting for them. Look at this," she said, stepping closer to the beat-up Jetta. She indicated the steel work-up. "He had this planned, the car was perfect for what he wanted."
"I'm not convinced he's an organized killer, Elizabeth," Mulder argued, shaking his head slightly. "I don't think he picks someone to play out his delusion, I think they enrage him so he feels . . . almost obliged to kill them."
"The car was stolen," Detective Miller said, striding up to the two agents. He cast a glance over at the group of friends. "Two nights ago. The gear on the front of it? Apparently the original owners had it installed for safety reasons-according to the officer who was dealing that case, the owners were a couple of nutcases-real paranoid."
Mulder caught the sly look Elizabeth gave him with a sardonic grin. "Oh right," he said.
Elizabeth gave him a slight smile, but sobered almost instantly. "What have you got from the victims, Detective Miller?"
The detective sighed. "Our perpetrator tried to stab Cyn-you recall her? Red brown hair, about five two? He had a hypodermic needle; we're having the substance anazyled right now. Um, as far as we can tell, he got on the bus, went straight for Cyn, the girls managed to hold him back until the Corazai twins really stuck it to him. You'll want to hear it from them, I'm guessing."
Mulder and Elizabeth exchanged glances and headed over to the group. One of them saw the agents and detective coming, and all discussion stopped.
Detective Miller spoke. "Arí and Hester managed to resuscitate one Mr. Collins, the bus driver. He's already on his way to the hospital," he said, gesturing at the two, taller girls.
"Very impressive," Elizabeth said, her tone genuine as she studied the two girls. "You have taken a CPR class, both of you?"
"It was a required course last year's health class," Hester said, her voice slow and somewhat deliberate.
Mulder nodded, then began questioning. "What happened, from the beginning, after he rammed the bus."
Annette spoke up; she had a darkening, bluish-purple bruise lining the left side of her face. Left handed, Elizabeth instantly realized. If Annette had been punched, that would have to be a left-handed blow. "Serri told everyone to brace themselves. Then the car hit us. Not the first time, but definitely the worst. After that, we kind of just sat there. Guo-Xing called 911 on their cell-phone and Serri went up front of see if the driver was okay."
Serri's voice was quiet as she spoke. "He looked kind of bad, so we figured we'd get him out of the Bee. I went around the outside of the car, then asked Arí to open the door."
"Did you see anyone while you were outside the Shuttle?" Mulder asked.
"No," Serri replied flatly. Elizabeth shot her a questioning look-something was up with her. The girl hadn't responded this way to Abby's attack. Elizabeth could sense anger growing underneath the surface. Elizabeth exchanged a look with Mulder, who nodded subtly.
Arí took over the narration. "I went up front to open the door. The bus driver fell out, I had to untangle him from the seatbelt. After he fell out, Serri told Hester to get down there and help her. A moment later somebody shoved me hard enough to knock me out through the door. I didn't get a look at him then."
"The guy came back here, threw Cyn into the back of the Bee, with Guo-Xing behind her," Beth narrated. "He punched Annette in the jaw, then tried to inject Cyn with the needle. I grabbed his arm. Then Serri came up, broke his hold, and knocked him around."
Guo-Xing started speaking. "The man tackled her to the ground. So," she said with a crooked grin. She held up a five or six inch pointed metal object. Congealed blood was evident on it. "Serri said she had her pencil bag. I took the compass and jammed it down into his shoulder. Now you have DNA," she said, her voice holding a note of triumph.
Mulder took an evidence bag out of his pocket, and Guo-Xing placed the syringe inside it. He looked at her, smiling slightly. "Do you realize you might just have given us a huge break on this case?"
"Yes, I do," Guo-Xing said, sounding slightly smug. Hester clapped her on the shoulder as Beth mock-solemnly shook her hand. Serri gave her sister a slight grin, which faded as she regarded the two agents.
"Ask them to describe your killer, Agent Mulder," Serri said, a challenging note entering her voice.
Cyn looked down, then up. "It was James Marsters. You know, Spike, off Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Detective Miller stared at the girl, incredulity written all over his face. At the challenging and confirming looks of the other girls, she sighed. "So maybe he had a mask of sorts."
Cyn snorted in obvious disgust. "He had a freakin' English accent. He said one word, 'Traitor', and it was so Spike's voice. He was the right height and everything. It was totally Mission: Impossible."
"It was him down to the slightest detail," Beth admitted-"and I didn't know that serial murderers went in for the whole Ethan Hunt thing."
Elizabeth took in a deep breath, but said nothing. After a moment, she looked at the girls. "You said he spoke one word-how did you know it was him?"
Annette laughed as Cyn responded. "I'm totally obsessed with that show, okay. And it was him."
"He had gray eyes and a ski mask," Serri said, her voice devoid of any inflection.
"Who the hell were you looking at?" Cyn said with some scorn. Serri caught her eye with a look.
"Seriously," Guo-Xing said with some disgust. "I think you got hit harder than we thought."
Elizabeth watched at Serri's temper flared. "Whatever," she said, her voice holding an element of disgust mixed with indignation. She shot Mulder and Elizabeth a glare of pent up anger. "All right. Cut the freakin' crap. I'll tell you what was in that stupid needle. Frickin' potassium. How the hell do I know that? It was in Cyn's story. The guy appeared in Spike's form. That was the character who almost, but not quite, died in her story. By the way, after a very questionable plot about how Spike became human." Serri glared at both agents. "How did he know who Cyn was? And moreover, how did he know where to find us?"
Elizabeth and Mulder exchanged another glance. Before Mulder could say anything, Serri glared at both of them again, her eyes shooting daggers. "You know something that you aren't telling us. He tried to kill one of my friends, and you're leaving something out."
"It doesn't matter," Mulder said, staring directly into Serri's mind.
"The hell it doesn't," Hester said, her voice rising in anger for Serri. "I maybe didn't see anything, but I'm pretty sure Serri's not crazy either."
"I saw him as he ran off," Arí said slowly, her voice soft. "And I know for a fact that it wasn't Spike. Spike has platinum blond hair, I didn't see that."
"And that would be something hard to miss," Serri said, her voice quieter, but no less intense or angry. "You have to tell us. Why wouldn't you?"
"Because you won't believe it," Elizabeth said calmly, looking over the group.
"I believe you are assuming," Hester said. "And assuming makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'."
"Just freakin' tell us already," Guo-Xing said, her dark eyes cold.
"Yes, please do," Detective Miller muttered under his breath.
Mulder let out a frustrated sigh. "We, or at least agent Drazen and I, think that this man can psychically see into his victims mind. He chooses his victims because they betray something close to him. All the victims have a Judeo-Christian background. Their belief in God and unrealistic optimism enrages him. He feels that they betray reality. Then, he gains access to their minds, learns about them, and kills them in the same manner the characters in the story were supposed to die. He psychically impresses his illusion on you to make you think he is that character." Mulder fell silent.
"I take it back," Hester said with a slight smile, "you're right, we don't believe you." She moved away with Beth and Annette following. Guo-Xing murmured something about it being 'a load of crap fit for fertilizer only'. Only Cyn, Arí, and Serri remained. Serri looked at Arí with a raised eyebrow and a slightly crooked smile.
"Why are you still standing here?" she asked, her voice somewhat dry and without anger.
"To see why you're still standing here. And, it is possible . . . if not likely," Arí said, still looking at Serri.
"Why are you still standing here?" Cyn countered. "You're the one who doesn't believe in ghosts, or horoscopes, or even Reconciliation for that matter. Or psychics."
"I believe there is such thing as a psychic gift," Serri said slowly, her eyes not leaving Mulder's. "I also don't think everyone with their own 1-800 number has it." Her eyes touched Elizabeth's briefly. "Why do you believe this, Agent Drazen?"
"After one eliminates the impossible, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth. Logic, my dears," she said, her own voice holding a hint of dryness. "I learned that in the Chronicles of Narnia." That prompted a smile from everyone present.
"One question," Mulder said, looking at Serri. "Where the hell are your parents? I'd thought they would be here by now."
"Phoenix," Arí said.
"Don't have a car," Cyn replied.
"Nebraska," Serri said. "Guo-Xing spoke to them about twenty minutes ago. There's like a foot of snow on the ground and more on the way, no way they're getting' back here for a while."
Saint Louis, Missouri
Unknown Residence
The man paced his room, sweat pouring off his brow. This makes no sense, he thought to himself furiously. The girl had been involved twice, thwarting his plans to carry out justice. And she had been in that dream. It didn't make sense . . . doubly so. When he had looked into her eyes, he had seen nothing but a reflection of himself, his true self, not the illusion he had wrapped their deranged minds around.
She had stopped him . . . . She was not subject to his power. Somehow the girl was protected-he had to break through that protection. It was only a matter of time before he would touch her. He paused in his pacing, calming his frustration while letting out a low growl. How did she stop him? How did she know to be in the right place? What made her different. He had to know.
He had watched afterward, waiting in the shadows, far enough away that the police could not see him. He had seen the two FBI agents come up. That surprised him . . . the murders were clearly local and the FBI had no true jurisdiction, unless the police department had forgotten their petty disliking of each other in order to bring him down. Fools, he thought. They were only aiding the true traders of all of them.
Suddenly, he moved across the room, sitting down in front of his computer and turning it on. He felt hot excitement build up within him. Perhaps the girl was protected by some evil force, but her friends were not, that was evident. He would start with the one named Cyn, slip into her mind. She would lead him to the others, and the others would be enough to allow him to defeat her.
Drazen Residence
North County, St. Louis
6:35P.M.
Christmas Eve
Mulder stared at the papers he had in front of him in frustration. They had run his prints through every crime lab possible. Everyone from one time shop lifting offenders to serial murderers who had been locked up, presumed dead, whatever. Mulder was willing to reach here, but this guy came up clean. He sighed, tossing the papers on Elizabeth's dining room table. Elizabeth, Detective Miller, and a few other officers working the case had made Elizabeth's apartment temporary headquarters. They had maps tacked up on her walls, boxes of evidence lined up on the floor, pictures tacked to a large piece of cardboard. They had surrounded themselves with all aspects of the case.
Mulder watched as Elizabeth stared at the photographs for what seemed like the umpteenth time. He was about to call her name, suggest an idea he had been considering at the back of his mind when her cell phone rang.
"Drazen," she said, her voice calm. A moment later her eyebrows went up in pleased surprise. "Monica?" she asked, a genuine smile spreading across her face. "What's up? I was just thinkin' about you." Elizabeth listened for a moment, and Mulder watched as the smile vanished from her face, replaced by seriousness. "Yes," she said after a moment of profound silence. "I know." After a few moments, Elizabeth smiled again. "As usual, you're right. Thanks. Goodbye."
"Who was that?" Mulder asked as Elizabeth continued to stare at the cell phone in her hand, a look of concentration on her face.
"A friend," Elizabeth replied. She had a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Frequent partner when I'm not on special assignment." Elizabeth hung up the phone, staring at it, then turned to Mulder. "I've been thinking." She walked into the guest bedroom and study, beckoning for Mulder to follow her. She flipped the switch, turning on her computer as Mulder pulled up a chair. She finally turned to Mulder.
"So this guy thinks all these stories are unrealstic, never going to happen. He only signed under 'Slave of Illusion' if he is going to target one of them as a victim. But that isn't his actual name on fanfiction.net. So how do we find his actual name?" she asked, shooting Mulder a look as she logged onto the internet and typed in the website's name.
"We look at the opposite kind of writing," Mulder said slowly. "Depressing stuff. Everything that he said was lacking. Fatalism, characters dying. What he says is realism."
"Exactly," Elizabeth said, her voice speeding up as she narrowed the search for type. She quickly tapped on the name 'Angst'. "So we find some guy with a screen name that reviews enthusiastically for the depressing stuff. It'll take a while, but we ought to be able to narrow the search. We can get the person's e-mail address from the server, and we probably can find out more information, seeing that we already know he's in Saint Louis or the immediate, surrounding area."
"Good idea," Mulder said. "We can put some guys on it-of course, it may not work at all, the guy might be superparanoid and never sign under his own name, but I don't think so." Mulder pondered his next words for a moment, then leaned forward, meeting Elizabeth's eyes. "I also happen to have an idea."
Elizabeth nodded, her eyes watching his, a hint of wariness entering them.
"Why not try to lure the guy into attacking us?" Mulder asked. "Why not make him come to us?"
"How do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.
"Why not write one of those types of stories, and get him to come after us? We'd have him cold."
Elizabeth stared at him, something in her eyes that Mulder couldn't discern. He looked over as Detective Miller entered the room. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Agent Mulder," Detective Miller said.
"Why not, we know how this guy works, don't we? I'm sure we could come up with a plot line crappy enough to do the job."
"You've got a hole in that logic, Mulder," Elizabeth said, shaking her head emphatically. "Think about it. The guy is psychic, if he gets in your head, he'll know what we're doing anyway. Not to mention, he'll know just how to fool you, get you off balance." Her voice lowered. "Mulder, come on, what if he appeared as Scully, or Diana, or Samantha, or hell, Alex Krycek for that matter? These are convincing illusions, Mulder, it would tear you apart thinking you would have to shoot one of them-except Krycek. We don't even know the extent of this man's powers, what if he projected an illusion that made you think I was Krycek? You'd shoot me in a second."
Mulder stared at her, for a moment ignoring her logic. "How the hell do you know about Alex Krycek?"
Elizabeth stared at him, looking frustrated. "The man is an international fugitive, everyone in the CIA and the FBI, not to mention the DOD, knows about him."
"Yeah, but you seem to know that we have a personal connection with him," Mulder said, feeling for the first time uneasy in Elizabeth's presence. She caught that unease instantly.
"I'm a street agent, undercover," she said, slowly. "I worked under A.D. Skinner for a few years on a particular assignment. Fill in the blanks."
Mulder did. He knew for a fact that Skinner didn't oversee undercover ops that regularly. Only if they were especially assigned, or he had something to do with the cases. Krycek was someone Skinner had an interest and hatred for. It wouldn't surprise him that the man had assigned someone to do some digging. But it did surprise him that Mulder didn't know anything about it, no rumors, no nothing.
"Why you?" Mulder asked as he searched her eyes. He knew that he wouldn't get much information out of her.
"I'm hard to kill," Elizabeth said with a warning note in her voice. Mulder nodded, message received-she wasn't going to talk much more about it.
"All right," Mulder said finally, looking at both Detective Miller and Agent Drazen. "We won't do that one. But let's expand on Elizabeth's idea. Let's get some tech support down here and start searching for any signatures made by this 'Slave of Illusion'."
"Got it," Detective Miller said instantly.