Mulder and Scully left Alexandria and got on the Beltway heading north toward Maryland. Traffic on the interstate made the broad strip of pavement look more like a parking lot than a road, and it was more than an hour before they reached their turn.

Gradually, the crowded buildings of Metro D.C. gave way to open meadows and pockets of forest. The setting of the Oakview Retirement Community lived up to its name- a cluster of tall, stately trees ringed the modern building, presenting a welcoming façade to guests.

Mulder and Scully went to reception and were directed to a suite of rooms on the second floor. As soon as they stepped off of the elevator, Scully noticed a short, gray-haired man perusing a stack of charts.

"Dr. Rickman?" she called out. The man looked up. The expression on his face betrayed that he was surprised and not entirely pleased to learn that he had visitors.

" Dr. Rickman…" Scully began again, using her most polite and professional voice," I'm special Agent Dana Scully. This is Agent Fox Mulder. We'd-"

" How did you find me?" the doctor hissed.

Scully stopped, surprised by the harsh interruption and not to certain of how to continue. Mulders stepped in."We located you in the FBI database- it keeps track of hospital admissions in the D.C. area. You had hip surgery at Mercy General last year. We were able to use that information to trace your address and find you here."

Dr. Rickman did not seem reassured by the explanation. If anything, his uneasiness seemed to build.

"You're with the FBI?"

Scully offered her badge for inspection. "Yes, sir. We'd just like to ask you a few questions."

" I have nothing to talk about."

"Maybe you do," Mulder said, his voice a little firmer than before, "Are you aware of an investigation of your practice being conducted by a former agent named Alex Krycek?"

"Alex Krycek?" Dr. Rickman paused to consider the name. "I…surely…? Do you mean Andre Krycek?"

Scully met Mulder's eyes with a questioning look. Did Alex have yet another alias?

Mulder met Scully's gaze with a concerned frown but continued speaking to the doctor in a patient tone, "He's a fairly young man- about six feet tall with brown hair and light green eyes?"

The glimmer of recognition in Rickman's eyes faded and he shook his head vigorously. "No, that's not the man. Andre would be past sixty by now. He was a colleague of mine once…it must have been twenty or thirty years ago by now. I suppose that the name was just a coincidence."

"A coincidence?" Mulder echoed, clearly skeptical that any mystery involving Krycek would happen by chance.

Scully took over the questioning. "We think that Agent Krycek's investigation was connected to your work with the late Doctor Bonita Carne-Sayer."

At the mention of the dead woman's name Doctor Rickman paled.

" You don't know what your own man wanted?"

"Well..."Mulder began uncertainly.

"Agent Krycek is no longer associated with the FBI." Scully offered for him. "We're trying to tie up his open files. It would be extremely helpful if you could tell us about your association with Dr. Carne-Sayer."

"I'm afraid that work was classified," Rickman said.

"Doctor," Mulder's voice was beginning to show his impatience," I assure you that we have Top Secret Clearance for all government information."

" This goes beyond Top Secret. It's-" Dr. Rickman paused, his face betraying recognition of the fact that he had already said too much." I can't help you."

Mulder sighed in frustration and then shoved a card toward the old man's hands." Call us if you reconsider- it could help a lot of people...It could help you."

Dr. Rickman bowed his head." I may be beyond help." he whispered cryptically, "If you found me...they can't be far behind."

The interview was clearly over. After exchanging a look of mutual disappointment, Mulder and Scully headed back to the parking lot.

"Well that was another incredible waste of time." Mulder griped as he waited for Scully to unlock the car.

"Maybe not. Now we know he was connected with the Smallpox project."

Mulder rolled his eyes and muttered something indiscriminate under his breath.

" What did you say?"

"I said 'Casey Milk'- this will probably turn out to be another Casey Milk- we get all worked up , track down leads, interview witnesses, and end up with somebody's grocery list."

"Getting disillusioned with detective work, Mulder?"

"It's a lot more glamorous on TV"

As if to compensate for him late hours the week before, Mulder was uncharacteristically late on Monday. Scully had already been at her computer for an hour before he arrived.

"Anything up?" he asked casually, not really expecting an answer. He took the morning mail from his "in" box and rifled through it quickly.

"What's this?" he said , stopping at a largish yellow envelope near the bottom of the pile. He tore into it eagerly. There was no note. No marking of any kind.

There was nothing but a small silver disk.

Mulder almost ran to his computer. The twenty seconds it took to boot up the disk seemed like an eternity, and when it finally did..." Dammit!" Mulder slammed his wrists against the desk." It's the same encryption as the State Department disk."

Scully rushed to his side. Her eyes swept over the consonant-rich nonsense words that filled the screen- words she would have dismissed as gibberish if not for their earlier discovery. "Apache?"

" Looks like it." Mulder removed the disk and placed it in his jacket pocket.

"Where did it come from?"

"I'm not sure." He retrieved the envelope from the floor. There was no return address, but he checked the postmark and frowned. "Oakview, Maryland. It was mailed on Saturday."

"That's the day after we visited the retirement center. It must be from Dr. Rickman... But why?"

Mulder was halfway out the door before he answered. " I don't know, but he has some explaining to do."

Scully hurried after her partner to the parking garage." We need to stop at my place before we head to Maryland," Mulder said as he slid behind the wheel."

"You need to get something?"

" No. I want to get rid of this before we go." Mulder tapped the paper sleeve protecting the disk, " I don't want to give Dr. Rickman a chance to reconsider before we find out what it says. And if somebody else knows we have it- I don't want to give them the chance to take it away."

The drive to Mulder's apartment wasn't far. Scully waited in the car while he dashed inside and quickly returned.

"Aren't you a little bit nervous leaving it at your house?" she asked as they pulled back into traffic.

Mulder shook his head." It's in a very good hiding place."

"Do I get to know where this wonderful hiding place is?"

Mulder smiled at her. "How do I know you're the real Scully?" He teased before admitting, " Its behind my Elvis Live in Las Vegas CD."

Scully laughed. "Okay, I admit that it's probably safe. No one but a masochist would look there."