"Eleven Fifty-Nine A.M." intoned the mechanical voice just before the beep.
"Hi guys, it's Meena. Something came up; I have to go run a quick errand. I'm OK, so I don't want you to worry.... Don't wait dinner for me. I promise I'll be back for our date.... I love you. Be back soon."
Frohicke pressed the "pause" button on the mini-compact CMP3 player, and hit the "back" button. The five people listened to the message several times in an effort to figure out what had happened.
Meena never made it back for he date with her parents. It had been fourteen hours since she left her message.
The Lone Gunmen, Mulder and Scully had assembled in the subterranean bunker that hid sequestered under the rec room at Beyer's house. Byer's wife knew nothing about the little "hobby" that took up so much of her husband's time... Only that he spent most of it in the rec room with his two nice (but odd and strange) friends. Outfitted with the very latest in twenty-first century technology, the only people who knew of the room under the room were the five people hidden in it.
"I knew the X-Files would be re-opened someday, and I suspected that one day, we would need to assemble the old gang," Frohicke commented, "but I never thought it would be for something like this. I remember that little chickadee when she was no bigger than a pause at the end of sentence," he waxed. "Let's not start talking about her in the past tense yet," interrupted Langly. "Much obliged, gentlemen," Scully quietly replied. Frohicke looked sheepishly at Scully. "My apologies...."
"OK, guys; what have you got?" asked Mulder. The Lone Gunmen sprang into action. "We were able to apply a series of filters to the message CD, in an effort to get a location where Meena was when she phoned," Langly began. "We immediately picked up a lot of background noises, so our first theory was that she was in a park or large meeting place." "We did not hear too many nature sounds - in fact, not any at all, so the park's out,"
Frohicke added. "Well, that only stands to reason, Einstein," quipped Langly. "Unless you've got nature piped in, the only way to get sounds of nature is to be in nature." "Your grasp of the obvious is uncanny," Forhicke began. "Can we go on, ladies?" asked Scully. The investigation continued.
"We figured out that she was phoning from the mall, and we were able to trace the call through cell phone records to the Arlington Lakes Mall..." Langly hesitated. "What is it, fellas?" Mulder pushed. Frohicke continued. "You may want to sit down for this," he began. Scully locked the Lone Gunman in a steady gaze. "No. I can take this. Tell me. Just tell me."
Byers turned on the 19 inch TV monitor on the counter. "We were able to intercept transmissions from the mall security cameras at Arlington Lakes Mall and download them on tape. Antiquated, I know, but sometimes the old way works the best. It appears that Meena made an appointment to see this man here." Byers froze the tape so Meena's parents could see.
It was as if they had seen the dead come back to life before their eyes.
"Kryceck?!"
Mulder and Scully stared at the screen in horror and disbelief. "That can't be him," Scully said. "He's the same age as we are, if he's still alive. That is not a man in his early sixties or even his late fifties. There has to be some mistake."
Frohicke paused. "Not if it's his son. And we have good reason to believe that it is."
It took a while for the news to set in. "Well, I guess this just proves that even the lowest life forms possess the innate need to procreate," Mulder replied. "And you're absolutely sure that this is Krycek's son," asked Scully. Byers nodded. "Yes, we have every reason to believe it is." "How?" asked Mulder. "Are we talking about the normal way, or single-cell, amoebic subdivision?" "Your standard, 'birds-do-it-bees-do-it' as referred to by the Noel Coward ditty," replied Frohicke.
Langly jumped into the conversation. "As we all know, once upon a time, there was a less than trustworthy ice princess named Marita and a low-life we all know and hate called Krycek. These two boils on the hindquarters of humanity worked very closely together to wreak whatever havoc they could; worked so closely, in fact that they often had an on-again, off-again relationship. It was during an 'on-again' phase that the beautiful..." "...But not as lovely as the enigmatic Dr. Scully-Mulder," interjected Forhicke. "She's married, moron;" replied Langly, "notice the ever present husband in the room..." "She's married, yes, but flattered nonetheless," Scully replied. Frohicke smiled....
"Fellas? The story...?" Mulder began. "Right," Frohicke replied. He continued where Langly left off. "It was during the 'on-again' phase that Marita discovered that she was pregnant. One could say that she had a change of heart of the kind that effects expectant mothers. She was hit by an overwhelming sense of parental responsibility, and decided to disassociate herself with all things evil, up to and including the baby's father."
"And was she successful?" asked Scully. "She gave it the old college try," replied Byers. "As you may recall, she went missing three months after Mulder's disappearance." Scully nodded. "She changed her name to Mary Conners," Byers continued, "and settled outside of Manhattan near Nyack. She gave birth to a healthy, 8 pound, five ounce baby boy around the time Mulder came back, and Scully gave birth to Meena."
"You know, if we didn't have the DNA tests to prove it, things might look a fishy for your husband over there," Frohicke joked. "Just kidding, Mulder. We know you better than that." "But that still doesn't explain who the baby's parent's are," said Mulder. "It doesn't prove that Marita Covarubius is the mother." "We have Marita's death certificate, which is dated shortly after her baby was born." "She died from complications suffered in childbirth?" asked Scully quietly. "That's what's listed on the death certificate," Langley replied, "But we think that was the only way the doctors could explain her demise." "We tracked down all the records of suspicious deaths attributed to childbirth that happened in the past 25 years," Byers continued. "One stood out in particular at a woman's hospital on Long Island. The birth was seemingly normal, but shortly after delivery, the mother developed a very high fever and went into convulsions. The attending OB-Gyn's thought that it was sepsis, and immediately administered antibiotics, but it was too late. One of the abnormal factors in this death was the oily film that covered the body shortly after death, and the presence of a dense, black film over the iris, cornea and pupils of the deceased..."
"The black oil," said Mulder. "But she was vaccinated," Scully replied, "She received the same vaccination I did when Mulder found me in the Antarctic." "As you may remember, they developed the vaccine you received by using several strains of it on Marita Covarubius," replied Byers. "The final strain of the vaccine you received was perfected in the lab. She died as a result of an injection from one of the earlier test trials. In light of the many times they injected her, I'm surprised she didn't succumb before she did."
"So what happened to the child?" Mulder asked. "Marita, or Mary Conners as she was listed on the child's birth certificate, did not list any next of kin," Frohicke replied. "The child was slated to be turned over to DYFUS when a 'Father McManhoman' from Saint Ambrose's Child services came to the hospital claiming to be a representative for the child and the child's mother. He must have presented the right papers and credentials, because the child was released into his custody." "And was there really a Father McManhoman of Saint Ambrose's Child services?" asked Scully, "or do we already know the answer to this one?"
"So I'm asking again," replied Mulder, "What happened to Krycek's son?" "We can accurately state that the child was placed with a family back in Nyack, a Janet and Robert Covington," Byers replied. "The last accurate record we have is of an Andrew Covington being registered at RFK elementary. And that's where the trail ends."
"There is one more thing you should know," Frohike quietly replied. He picked up yesterday's newspaper, and handed to Scully. "Look at the second page, third column on the right."
Scully read aloud. "Chief Resident Missing From New York Hospital." She paused. "Scully, what is it?" asked Mulder. "Chief Resident in Neo-natology, Dr. Andrew Covington, was reported missing after he did not show up for his scheduled pediatric rotation," Scully read. "Hospital authorities became suspicious after they had not heard from Dr. Covington for over thirty hours. Police are requesting that anyone who sees a man who looks like the one in this photograph contact the police immediately."
Scully placed the newspaper on the counter. Everyone gathered around it and looked at the picture.
The man in the newspaper was a dead ringer for the one on the mall surveillance tape.