Trading Post

In the last light of day and a mile out of the Fort Detrick gate, Doggett sees the glowing sign of a dinner called "The Trading Post". Doggett pulls off the road and parks. He tries to reach Skinner again.

Skinner opens the connection. "Skinner."

"This is Doggett. Did you get the message from Reyes?"

Skinner replies, "Washington says that Reyes left me a message. Something about Scully being the source of the strange DNA."

"Ya, we should have guessed that if Scully was working on branched DNA it would be related to her brain cancer." Doggett speculates, "It sounds like the army biowarfare agent detector was sensitive enough to detect the low level of branched DNA that is still in her blood."

Skinner says, "I'm on my way back to Washington. This search out here seems like a classic Mulder-initiated decoy."

Doggett asks, "Why would Mulder want to throw us off the trail?"

"Why would Mulder put Scully in danger in the first place if not to make contact with those who caused Scully's brain cancer? He might not want us trailing him and scaring off those who were attracted by Scully's presentation. By the way, the MUFON website for the Ashville chapter posted the title of Scully's presentation on Friday."

Doggett shakes his head. "The Mulder broadcasting system. Okay, I'll see you back in Washington." Doggett breaks the connection. It is now night. He gets out of the rental car and immediately notices a large blue van in the well-lit parking lot. He draws out his gun and walks over to the van and looks into the passenger side window. From behind and by the corner of the dinner, one of the clones shoots Doggett in the back with the same type of built-in weapon that had been used on Reyes. Doggett turns and fires his gun at the clone. Crack! Crack! Crack!

The clone's head splinters and blood sprays the wall of the dinner. Doggett's knees buckle as the drug from the crystal projectile reaches his brain. He aims his gun up under the rear of the van and fires the rest of his clip. Gasoline starts to leak onto the pavement. Doggett tries to move away from the van but consciousness slips away. Soon he is in a pool of gasoline.