The X-Files - 4.

4.16 Unrequited

German title: Unsichtbar
translation: Invisible

< U.S CAPITOL MALL NEAR THE VIETNAM WAR MEMORIAL, WASHINGTON, D.C. >

(General Block is addressing a large crowd of people. Many in the crowd are waving flags.)

GEN. BLOCH: That many of you here tonight came home not to a hero's welcome but to the hostility of the American people is a shameful fact of history. (cheers) One that I will never understand or forgive. (cheers) But it also underscores our sacred duty, not just today but forever, to honor those who served with honor and to remember those who fell, men and women whose ultimate sacrifice must never be forgotten. (cheers) There is probably no audience that understands better that our freedom is not free ...

(Skinner sits on stage near General Bloch and talks to agents out in the crowd by radio. Parts of General Bloch's speech are heard among their conversations.)

SKINNER: All right, you're my eyes out there. Talk to me. Positions report.

GEN. BLOCH: We owe that freedom to the selfless sacrifice of those ...

AGENT HILL: Sector three clear.

SCULLY: No sign of him in four.

SKINNER: Sector six, report. Mulder?

GEN. BLOCH: ... it is our duty to remember them ...

MULDER: He's here. I feel him.

SKINNER: Then where is he?

GEN. BLOCH: ... This country was born on the backs of people willing to fight for their freedom ...

(Scully sees a man in soldier's fatigues walking forward in the crowd.)

SCULLY: Hold on. I think I have him in section four.

SKINNER: Can you confirm that, Scully?

GEN. BLOCH: ... and for that, I think it would be an investment that they would be proud of today ...

(Scully looks at a photo of a man with long hair. The man she's watching has short hair but is clearly the same person.)

SCULLY: Positive ID. He's heading toward you, three.

SKINNER: Positions hold. Three and four, do you have eye contact?

GEN. BLOCH: ... There is a statue of a solider and the plaque on that statue reads "not for themselves but for their country" ...

(Hill also sees the man moving forward.)

AGENT HILL: I have him in three. He's coming to you, Scully.

MULDER: Don't take your eyes off him, Scully.

GEN. BLOCH: ... That attitude has perservered as the spirit of American soldiers, and it is in this spirit that we honor our contrymen ...

(Scully is following the man, but he stops and looks at her. He then continues forward.)

SCULLY: Mulder, he saw me. He's heading towards the sound booth.

AGENT HILL: Copy that. I'm cutting him off.

SKINNER: Talk to me, people. Does anybody have him? What's happening, Scully?

GEN. BLOCH: ... This memorial is a place where we can come and thank those men and women who died not for themselves but for their country ...

(Scully is moving closer to him.)

SCULLY: I'm closing on him.

SKINNER: Do you have him in three?

AGENT HILL: Negative.

GEN. BLOCH: ... I'm always struck by something as I walk this mall. The Vietnam Memorial ...

SKINNER: Scully? Scully?

(Scully no longer sees him.)

SCULLY: I lost him. You got him, three?

AGENT HILL: I don't see him, Scully?

GEN. BLOCH: ... always someone standing at it, always someone running their fingers across the names ...

SKINNER: What's happening, Agent Scully?

(Scully and Hill have come together.)

AGENT HILL: I can't see him anywhere.

SCULLY: He must be headed your way. You got him, Mulder?

GEN. BLOCH: ... There's a tremendous amount of emotion in that simple act.

(Mulder is at the front between the General and the crowd.)

MULDER: Not yet. (he sees the man in the crowd) I got him. (he keeps his eyes on the same place but now doesn't see him) I lost him.

(Skinner sees the man approaching the speakers' platform.)

SKINNER: Pick him up, Mulder. He's right in front of you.

(Mulder glimpses the man drawing a gun.)

MULDER: (drawing his weapon) He's got a gun!

(Skinner lunges for General Bloch, pushing him back from the speaker's stand. People in the crowd duck.)

SKINNER: General, get off the stage!

(Mulder's image of the man fades out.)

MULDER: I can't see him. I can't see him.

(Mulder stands at the front of the crowd with his weapon aimed straight ahead.)

ACT I

< FORT EVANSTON, MARYLAND, TWELVE HOURS EARLIER >

(A military helicopter lands in a parking lot. General MacDougal emerges.)

SOLDIER 1: Morning, Sir!

(The general walks across the lot and gets into a limousine.)

SOLIDER 2: All right. Let's go!

(The helicopter lifts off as the limo starts to move. The limo exits the base. General MacDougal opens his briefcase and removes a folder. The divider between him and the driver goes up and the door locks. MacDougal assumes that the driver is responsible. He sees a King of Hearts in front of him and picks it up. On the back is a drawing of a skull with a pair of bloody sabers crossed beneath it. He looks up and suddenly sees a man - the same man seen in the teaser - sitting on the seat across from him.)

GEN. MacDOUGAL: Who the hell are you? How did you get in here? (the man aims a gun at him) What the hell are you ...

(The driver, Private First Class Burkholder, hears a gunshot. He quickly pulls the car over to the side of the road and gets out.)

PFC BURKHOLDER: Lieutenant General, Sir!

(He opens the back door of the limo. He sees General MacDougal dead with a bullet hole in his forehead. The card is lying on his chest. He sees no one else in the limo.)

< FBI HEADQUARTERS, NOVEMBER 12, 7:18 AM >

(Skinner is conducting a briefing with several agents. General Bloch is also in the room.)

SKINNER: Lieutenant General Peter MacDougal was shot dead at extreme close range at 0600 this morning. FBI Forensics reports the wound was not self-inflicted. The murder weapon has not been recovered. The general's driver, Private First Class Gus Burkholder, is currently being held on suspicion of murder.

AGENT HILL: (looking through some papers) Well, it says here NAA tests confirm the private did not do the shooting.

SKINNER: There is suspicion of an accomplice, based on the one piece of evidence found at the crime scene, a so-called "death card" used by soldiers in Vietnam to mark their kills (he holds up the card) and by Private Burkholder's possible ties to a radical paramilitary group called The Right Hand, whose stated aim is violent revolution. After speaking with General Bloch (Mulder and Scully enter) he believes we have a high probability of opportunity for a group like this, a unique situation that can result in the very public loss of lives. Dozens of high-ranking military officials are in Washington today for rededication of the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial. Unless we can determine a clear motive, we will consider any one of them to be a target.

MULDER: What if Private Burkholder's telling the truth, that he's innocent?

SKINNER: Until we can find another suspect, the FBI will pursue The Right Hand and their leader, an ex-marine named Denny Markham, in a preemptive strategy to put a stop to any other plans that he might have made. Now you all have Markham's file in front of you. For obvious reasons, our strategy includes keeping this from the media. You'll be working in teams of two. If you encounter any resistance, do not engage - surveil and call for backup. Agent Chandler has your assignments and your field warrants. We have less than 12 hours to prevent any further execution or loss of life. Understood?

(The meeting breaks up. General Bloch shakes Skinner's hand and leaves.)

AGENT CHANDLER: All right, Beckwith and Fontana, you're going to Virginia Beach. Jackson and Miller, you're going to Alexandria.

(Scully and Mulder approach Skinner.)

SCULLY: Was that for the benefit of the general, or have you been able to develop a real strategy?

SKINNER: Right now, I'm flying by the seat of my pants.

MULDER: You mean there's no procedure outlined for an invisible assasin?

SKINNER: (to Scully) Did you talk to Private Burkholder?

SCULLY: I interviewed him and convinced him to take a polygraph test.

SKINNER: And?

MULDER: He passed.

SCULLY: The nature of his claims would suggest a false positive. The tester admitted that the results are hightly interpretive.

SKINNER: You heard his story, Mulder?

MULDER: Yeah. I found his story compelling, personally, but then again I believe the Warren Commission.

SKINNER: Well, if I have to devise a strategy around that story, then there is no strategy. Somebody killed the general, which means somebody is not telling the truth.

SCULLY: The man who heads The Right Hand - Markham. Do you have a warrant for him?

SKINNER: Yes, why?

SCULLY: Let Mulder and I serve it.

(Mulder nods. Skinner eyes them.)

SKINNER: One misstep ... Markham smells a shakedown, he's gonna disappear and find another way to push the button. And I've already seen more dead soldiers than I ever want to see.

(He hands them the warrant and they leave.)

< DEMETER, VIRGINIA, 8:48 AM >

(Mulder and Scully drive down a dirt road past a sign with the outline of a hand. They come to a gate with a speaker box. Some distance from the gate are a number of trailers. Mulder pushes the button on the speaker box. There is no immediate response, so Mulder presses it again.)

MULDER: Mr. Markham?

MARKHAM: (on speaker) Who is it?

SCULLY: Agents Mulder and Scully with the FBI.

MARKHAM: What do you want?

(Scully has been looking around. Her eyes pan across the woods on the far side of a road and catch a fleeting glimpse of a man standing there. When she looks again, there's no one there. She appears to think nothing of it.)

MULDER: It's extremely urgent that we talk to you right now, sir.

SCULLY: Mr. Markham?

MARKHAM: Gate's unlocked.

(They open the gate and approach the compound. Three Rottweilers jump out of the back of a station wagon and run toward them, barking. Mulder and Scully run back to the gate, barely getting the door closed before the dogs reach them. Mulder and Scully stand there, annoyed, as the dogs continue to bark. Markham comes out of the trailer and whistles, and the dogs calm down. He walks to the gate.)

MARKHAM: Now, you wanted to see me about ...?

SCULLY: The murder of General Peter MacDougal.

MARKHAM: Am I under suspicion?

SCULLY: No, but your group is. And Private First Class Gus Burkholder.

MARKHAM: Is that a name I should know?

SCULLY: He's on the mailing list for The Right Hand.

MARKHAM: Two thousand names on that list. I can't keep track of every one of them.

SCULLY: Well, we'd like to go over that list with you, sir.

MARKHAM: No way in hell you'll be getting that from me.

SCULLY: We already have a copy, if you'll just come with us.

MARKHAM: I'm not going anywhere.

SCULLY: Sir, we have a warrant for your arrest if you don't cooperate. (she flashes the warrant) Under the new anti-terrorism law, we can and will hold you until we get the information we want.

(The dogs bark and run away from the fence. Markham looks around and sees two groups of armed soldiers on the outside of the fence, one on each side of the compound. He looks back at Mulder and sighs.)

MULDER: There goes the neighborhood.

SCULLY: You can make this as easy or as hard as you wish, sir.

MARKHAM: The Right Hand believes in empowering the individual over a corrupt and corrupting federal government. We're prepared for the time when armed resistance will be necessary. Lives will have to be sacrificed, but that day has not yet come.

SCULLY: Would you take a polygraph, Mr. Markham?

MARKHAM: My word's good enough.

MULDER: What's your "word" on this?

(He holds up an evidence bag containing the "death card".)

MARKHAM: Where'd that come from?

MULDER: I'd like to ask you that.

MARKHAM: More men are gonna die.

(The dogs are now in cages, and soldiers are carrying weapons out of the main trailer in the compound. Scully is outside the trailer and Mulder exits it.)

SCULLY: This guy's a one-man threat to national security. I bet he's got more weapons and ammo than most third-world armies.

MULDER: He told me to pull this photo from his file cabinet.

(He shows her a photo of Markham and another man. The other man has long hair and is the same man they were looking for in the teaser, and the man who shot MacDougal.)

SCULLY: Who's this?

MULDER: He says that's who killed General MacDougal.

(They are now talking to Markham next to some cars.)

MARKHAM: Name's Nathaniel Teager. 26 confirmed solo enemy kills. A veritable killing machine. Left for dead by the same government that created him.

MULDER: Left for dead?

MARKHAM: He belonged to Green Beret detachment B-11 - The squad known as the "Bloody Sabers." In 1971, the B-11 was being transported in country when their chopper was shot down. There were no survivors.

MULDER: When was this photo taken?

MARKHAM: December 1995. Just a few hours after The Right Hand liberated him from a POW camp just outside the U-Minh forest.

SCULLY: Mr. Markham, I'm sure that you're aware that in 1973 the Defense Department determined that there were no more POW's in Vietnam.

MARKHAM: Maybe that's why they tried to kidnap Sergeant Teager when we brought him home.

SCULLY: The government kidnapped a US prisoner of war?

MARKHAM: I said they tried ... had their commandoes board our plane in San Diego. When they broke into the cargo hold where we hid him, he was already gone. I never did figure out how.

SCULLY: I think I've heard enough.

(She opens the back seat door of a car and Markham, hand-cuffed, gets in. She closes the door, and she and Mulder walk away.)

SCULLY: You don't believe him, do you?

MULDER: Well, what if he's telling the truth?

SCULLY: A phantom POW left for dead comes back to avenge the injustices?

MULDER: Maybe the war ain't over, Scully.

SCULLY: Or maybe not Denny Markham's war.

MULDER: Well, given the facts of the case and Private Burkholder's polygraph test, this is the closest thing to an explanation that we've got.

SCULLY: Or it's just a clever story being proffered as a cover-up for what is actually an elaborately orchestrated conspiracy.

MULDER: (nodding and smiling) Well, there is that possibility, too.

SCULLY: Let Markham take the polygraph.

MULDER: What if he passes?

SCULLY: He won't.

(Renee Davenport stands in front of the Vietnam War Memorial, holding flowers and looking at the name "Gary Davenport" on the wall. The name "Nathaniel Teager" is right below Davenport's. As she sets down the flowers, Teager approaches from behind.)

TEAGER: Mrs. Davenport. Renee Davenport?

RENEE DAVENPORT: Yes.

TEAGER: Wife of Lance Corporal Gary Davenport of the Special Forces?

RENEE DAVENPORT: Yes. I'm sorry, do I know you?

TEAGER: No, ma'am. I've come to act in his behalf for the reason that Gary remains a prisoner of war.

RENEE DAVENPORT: Gary's dead.

TEAGER: No, ma'am. May you forgive me as you forgive him, as a man and as a soldier, for restoring the honor and the memory of the B-11.

(Teager hands her a set of "dog tags" with the name "Davenport, Gary T." on them.)

RENEE DAVENPORT: (looking at them) Oh my God! Where did you get these? Who gave you these?

(She looks up but Teager has vanished.)

RENEE DAVENPORT: Hey, where are you? Tell me, where are you?> Where'd you go?

ACT II

< 11:48 AM >

(Mulder and Scully approach the War Memorial and flash their badges at Park Security. Workmen are erecting scaffolds for the ceremony for that night. They approach Skinner.)

SCULLY: (to Skinner) Is it true she made a positive ID from the photo?

SKINNER: From a bad fax of it. Do you have the actual photo with you?

MULDER: Yeah, and more copies to distribute.

SKINNER: We have event security checking out all vendors and workmen. We've got it out to local law enforcement, but not to the exclusion of the other suspects.

MULDER: I thought she ID'd Teager?

SKINNER: She did, but I cannot authorize or promote a strategy here that's gonna target a soldier who's officially dead.

(Scully sees Renee Davenport sitting quietly on a bench near the wall.)

MULDER: Because his name's on the wall?

SKINNER: No, because I just got off the phone with the Army Forensics Lab, where Sgt. Nathaniel Teager's remains have been stored since they were recovered from the crash site.

MULDER: They have his remains?

SCULLY: Markham may have staged this whole thing, finding somebody vulnerable like her to pass off his lies.

MULDER: Why go to all that trouble?

SCULLY: To create a decoy, to divert our attention. It seems to be working.

SKINNER: Well, this woman saw someone. I want to know who.

(Scully sits on the bench with Mrs. Markham. She shows her an enlargement made from the photo that Markham provided. Mulder stands nearby.)

RENEE DAVENPORT: Yes, that's him.

SCULLY: Are you sure?

RENEE DAVENPORT: Everything he said made it sound like Gary was still alive. (she looks down at the "dog tags") That can't be true. Can it?

MULDER: You say he just disappeared?

RENEE DAVENPORT: That's what's so strange. One minute he's standing right in front of me, and then he's gone. What if he's telling the truth? What if Gary is alive? (sobbing) I've tried to get on with my life. I've remarried. What am I supposed to tell my husband now? What am I supposed to do?

(Scully sees a small amount of blood near her eye.)

SCULLY: Oh, your eye.

RENEE DAVENPORT: What? (she puts a tissue to it and sees the blood) Oh, my God! What's happening to me?

SCULLY: I think you just burst a capillary.

RENEE DAVENPORT: Oh my God!

MULDER: Scully?

SCULLY: (to Mrs. Davenport) Hold a tissue there.

(She rises and steps aside with Mulder.)

MULDER: Can we give Mrs. Davenport an eye exam?

SCULLY: An eye exam? For what?

MULDER: By all accounts, the man we're looking for - the man she saw - has a knack for vanishing in plain sight. Maybe there's a connection.

SCULLY: Mulder, what she has is a simple sub-conjunctival hemorrhage. It's probably brought on by her emotional state.

MULDER: And how did she reach that emotional state?

SCULLY: What about you? What are you gonna do?

MULDER: I'm gonna see if we're really chasing a dead man.

(He leaves. Scully looks back at Mrs. Davenport, who is still crying.)

< ARMY CENTRAL IDENTIFICATION LAB, 1:22 PM >

(Mulder meets Dr. Keyser in a hallway.)

DR. KEYSER: Agent Mulder?

MULDER: Yes.

DR. KEYSER: Dr. Benjamin Keyser. (they shake hands) I think I located what you're looking for. It's a small miracle I found it, actually. The record had been partially destroyed.

(They've stepped into a lab. Keyser reaches for a small tray, labelled "Teager, Nathaniel J.", that contains three teeth. He hands it to Mulder.)

DR. KEYSER: Two bicuspids and a molar.

MULDER: This was all that was left of Teager at the crash site?

DR. KEYSER: Well, I've seen findings made with far less. And these are Sgt. Teager's teeth. I cross-checked them with his dental records.

MULDER: Is there any way to tell how the teeth were extracted?

DR. KEYSER: Well, I would assume that they were pulled. On each of these teeth, there's a pronounced scoring in the enamel. (he puts one under a microscope) See for yourself.

MULDER: (looking through the microscope) Can you tell if that was pre- or post-mortem?

DR. KEYSER: No, not really.

MULDER: Well then this is presumptive, isn't it? A finding of death based on inconclusive evidence?

DR. KEYSER: Well, actually it was noted right here, even underlined. (points at the word on the report) "Inconclusive."

MULDER: Whoever signed off on this death chose to ignore the facts, huh?

DR. KEYSER: I couldn't tell you who that was. As I said to you, these records were partially destroyed.

MULDER: Is there any other way to tell?

DR. KEYSER: Well, based on the records and the reports filed at the same time, we can make a pretty good guess.

(Mulder nods.)

(A mobile phone rings and the driver, in military uniform, answers.)

DRIVER: (to phone) Yes. Yes, just a moment. (to General Steffan, in the back seat) It's for you, sir.

GEN. STEFFAN: (to phone) Hello.

(Mulder is on his cell phone, calling from a hallway at the Army Central Identification Lab.)

MULDER: General Steffan, this is Special Agent Fox Mulder with the FBI. I'm calling because we have reason to believe that your life may be in danger.

GEN. STEFFAN: What are you talking about?

MULDER: That the person or persons responsible for the murder of General MacDougal this morning may have chosen to target you.

GEN. STEFFAN: Based on what information?

MULDER: Based on a death certificate that you may have put your signature on. A death certificate for Sgt. Nathaniel Teager.

GEN. STEFFAN: I don't know anything about that, but I'm on my way to the Pentagon right now.

MULDER: Listen, sir, I'm ten minutes away. I gonna have to ask you to trust my risk assessment on this and take every caution.

GEN. STEFFAN: Right.

MULDER: OK, do you know your driver, sir?

GEN. STEFFAN: Yes. He drives me all the time.

MULDER: Good. I'm gonna put two FBI agents there to escort you just as a precaution. They have my mobile phone number, OK?

(At the Pentagon, a female private is giving a tour to a group of small children. They are just outside the metal detectors.)

PRIVATE: How many of you know what a pentagon is? (the kids all shake their heads) A pentagon is a shape of five sides, and the Pentagon is just that. We're standing right now in Section A, built in 1941 through an act of Congress, the Pentagon is virtually a city in itself. Almost 23,000 people ...

(General Steffan, with two FBI agents, approaches and passes through the metal detector.)

SECURITY OFFICER: General, sir.

GEN. STEFFAN: Good afternoon.

(Teager now walks through the metal detector. The security video monitor shows him walking through. The metal alarm sounds, but when the security officer turns, he doesn't see anyone.)

(The two agents, one of whom is Agent Hill, enter Steffan's office and see no one else in there.)

AGENT HILL: All clear, General.

GEN. STEFFAN: Thank you, gentlemen. That will be all.

(The agents step outside. The general puts his hat on the desk and finds a "death card.")

(Mulder is at the Pentagon entrance when his cell phone rings.)

MULDER: (to phone) Mulder.

(Scully is calling. Renee Davenport is with a doctor in the background.)

SCULLY: Mulder, I'm at a Georgetown medical center.

MULDER: Did you find out what caused her eye to hemorrhage?

SCULLY: No, but the opthamologist discovered something. Something called a transient scotoma.

MULDER: Scotoma?

SCULLY: A floating blind spot.

(Mulder has reached the metal detectors. He hands his badge and weapon to the security officer.)

MULDER: Well, what would cause that?

SCULLY: Well, any number of diseases can scar the retina. Diabetes, glaucoma, macular degeneration. In turn, they, they create a visual field deficit.

(Mulder goes through the detector but it alarms.)

SCULLY: Well, does she have any of those diseases?

(He tosses his keys to the security guard.)

SCULLY: It doesn't appear so.

(Mulder goes through the detector OK. The guard hands him his keys, badge and gun.)

MULDER: Well, don't you think it's odd, Scully, that she'd have a blind spot that she wouldn't, uh, that she wouldn't have noticed before? (to security guard) Thanks.

SCULLY: Well, not necessarily. Uh, the processes of the brain fill in and the visual cortex compensates conceptually.

MULDER: Well, that might account for Teager's vanishing.

SCULLY: I asked the doctor that, and he laughed at me.

(Mulder half-laughs as his phone beeps with another call.)

MULDER: Oh, hold on second, Scully. (he hits a button to switch to the other call) It's Mulder.

(Steffan is calling from his office.)

GEN. STEFFAN: Agent Mulder, this is General Steffan. I found something on my desk ... something very troubling.

MULDER: Where are you?

GEN. STEFFAN: In my office.

MULDER: All right. The agents that I assigned to you - are they with you?

GEN. STEFFAN: No, no, they're just outside.

MULDER: I want you to call them into your office right now, General.

GEN. STEFFAN: Who put this here?

(Teager is seen behind the general. He loads a round into the chamber of his gun.)

MULDER: Listen to me very carefully, OK? I'm on my way over there.

(Mulder hears a gunshot over the phone.)

MULDER: General Steffan? General Steffan?

(He starts running.)

(The two agents burst into Steffan's office, guns drawn. They see no one else there. Mulder enters behind them.)

MULDER: Call an ambulance.

(One of the agents steps out. Mulder walks to Steffan, who is lying on his back behind his desk. He picks up a "death card" from the general's chest. Teager stands several feet away from him, off to Mulder's left. Mulder suddenly looks in that direction, but sees nothing. Mulder closes his eyes and shakes his head. He looks back at the card.)

ACT III

< 3:44 PM >

(Still in Steffan's office. Scully shines a light into Steffan's eyes. Several agents and soldiers are in the area. Mulder walks toward Scully.)

MULDER: The general's secretary had been in here organizing his desk no more than fifteen minutes before the general was shot. He never saw this card (shows it to her) and he never saw anyone go in and out of the office aside from the general and the agents assigned to him.

SCULLY: Well, from my cursory exam, nothing about the general can explain your narrative.

MULDER: I was on the phone with the man. He was shot at close range in the forehead. I think he would have seen the shooter.

SCULLY: Not necessarily. He could have turned and been surprised. There's far too little forensic evidence yet to know, Mulder.

MULDER: No scotoma?

SCULLY: It's beyond my capabilities here to make that kind of analysis.

MULDER: I think it's beyond all our capabilities, but somebody's got to explain how a four-star general could be shot and killed in what is symbolically the best guarded military base in the country.

(Skinner enters and approaches them.)

SCULLY: Sir?

SKINNER: I need both of you out here to see something. Now.

(They follow him out.)

(They are viewing the security video of the metal detector area. The video shows Teager passing through the detector and the security guard turning to look but taking no action.)

MULDER: That's him. That's Teager.

SKINNER: Whoever it is, I want to know how the hell this happened.

SCULLY: Neither of us has a clear explanation, sir.

SKINNER: You were on your way here, Agent Mulder. You knew the general was in danger.

MULDER: I did everything I could. I put two agents with him ...

SKINNER: This is insanity. This man is killing at will.

MULDER: That's correct, sir.

SKINNER: Well, he's unstoppable, is that what you're telling me?

MULDER: I think that Teager has an ability - the ability to effectively erase himself from the visual field.

SKINNER: If he's invisible, then why is he on this video, clear as day?

MULDER: I think he can hide himself from human sight by manipulating something that Scully has referred to as naturally occurring, a blind spot.

SCULLY: That is conjecture, sir.

SKINNER: You mean even if I'm looking at him ...

MULDER: You might not be able to see him. Isn't it true that American soldiers have reported the unexplained appearance and disappearance of V.C. guerrillas? I've read the dispatches myself. I mean, maybe Teager learned something from his captors in 25 years of isolation.

(Skinner glances at Scully. She looks mildly uncomfortable with Mulder's theory but doesn't offer any comments either way. He walks away, with Mulder and Scully following.)

SKINNER: I've got 4 miles of crowded streets where 31 military officers are staging for a parade into Freedom Square. If what you're saying has any truth to it, I can't protect these men.

SCULLY: Call it off.

MULDER: Parade or no parade, those men are gonna be vulnerable. The only way to stop this killer is to catch him.

SKINNER: How do we do that?

MULDER: By finding his next victim before he does.

< ARMY DETENTION CENTER, FORT EVANSTON, MARYLAND, 4:08 PM >

(General Bloch, followed by another officer and a security officer, walk down a hallway. The other officer opens the door for General Bloch and leaves him alone in an interview room with Denny Markham.).

GEN. BLOCH: I'm Major General Benjamin Bloch.

MARKHAM: He did it again, didn't he? I told him he would.

GEN. BLOCH: According to the FBI, you know the man they're looking for. Maybe you can tell me why they can't seem to find him.

MARKHAM: The same reason you can't. Which I imagine is the same reason you're here right now.

GEN. BLOCH: I am here because people are dying ... soldiers who dedicated their lives to the defense of this country.

MARKHAM: I guess that's one way of looking at it.

GEN. BLOCH: As it stands, you are facing charges of conspiracy to commit homicide and treason. But if both those fall through, there is still enough evidence to convict you for possession and transport of illegal arms.

MARKHAM: Are you threatening me?

GEN. BLOCH: No. I am offering you a deal ... for you and the people you represent.

MARKHAM: If you think I've got any sway with Teager, you're mistaken.

GEN. BLOCH: (leaning close to him) I just need to know what he wants.

MARKHAM: You know what he wants. And we both know you can't give it to him. Not without dragging that nice, clean uniform of yours through the mud.

(General Bloch grabs Markham by the collar and shoves him against the wall.)

MARKHAM: (calmly) Whatever you do to me won't change his mind, General. He's sending a message and making damn sure everyone hears it loud and clear.

(Bloch releases him.)

(A parade is preparing to start. Crowds are lined up on both sides of the street. A marching band is part of the procession.)

BAND LEADER: Men! Mark time!

(The band marches in place and starts a drum cadence. The crowds wave flags and take pictures.)

(Just ahead of the band, Teager stands at the side of the road.)

(Mulder stands in the Lincoln Memorial, looking at the statue of Lincoln. Marita Covarrubias appears nearby and approaches him.)

MARITA COVARRUBIAS: You told me you were in a rush.

MULDER: Cross-town traffic's all snarled up because of the parade.

MARITA COVARRUBIAS: You need information on American prisoners of war?

MULDER: A man named Teager.

MARITA COVARRUBIAS: I have no information on him.

MULDER: Then why did you come here?

MARITA COVARRUBIAS: Tell me what you know.

MULDER: A POW named Teager may be back home carrying out death sentences against the men that left him in Vietnam.

MARITA COVARRUBIAS: Who are those men?

MULDER: Generals - Steffan and MacDougal.

MARITA COVARRUBIAS: They have a connection.

MULDER: What is that?

MARITA COVARRUBIAS: A recent news story, extremely embarrassing to the US military, about the disposing of South Vietnamese soldiers.

MULDER: Men employed by our government as spies and commandos and then left behind enemy lines to certain capture and death. The operation was disavowed and their lives were erased from the records.

MARITA COVARRUBIAS: By a secret three-man commission who may now be facing charges. Whose testimonies might be used in the calculation of reparations.

MULDER: Are you saying that our government wants these officers dead? Why would they ask us to protect them?

MARITA COVARRUBIAS: Because they know you can't.

(She walks away.)

MULDER: (following her) Well, who's the third man? I need a name.

(Teager continues to stand beside the street, with the marching band still playing and marching in place. Behind the band, a procession of military vehicles carrying officers stretches under an overpass. The band starts to march forward. Skinner and Scully run in the other direction, through the band toward the military vehicles. They head toward General Bloch's jeep.)

SCULLY: General Bloch?

SKINNER: General, sir, stop the car!

GEN. BLOCH: What's going on here?

SCULLY: We need you to get out of the car, sir, for your own safety.

GEN. BLOCH: Why?

SKINNER: We just received information your life might be in danger.

GEN. BLOCH: From who?

(Scully scans the crowd just down the parade route. She spots Teager.)

SCULLY: Shooter! Get down!

(She moves toward Teager, drawing her weapon. People in the crowd duck and scramble. Scully no longer sees Teager.)

SKINNER: (also with gun drawn) Where? Where is he?

SCULLY: He was there! I saw him, I ... It was him, sir! It was the man in the photo!

(She lowers her weapon and walks a few steps forward, looking a bit flustered.)

SKINNER: (following her, also looking at the crowd) Are you sure?

SCULLY: I saw him, sir. It was him.

SKINNER: Are you sure?

ACT IV

< 5:05 PM >

(An honor guard carries flags on a speaker's stage, with a large American flag behind them. A crowd begins to gather in front of the stage.)

HONOR GUARD LEADER: Right, mount!

(Skinner is in a tent nearby, completing a phone call.)

SKINNER: (to phone) ... when you find out.

(Mulder enters the tent and approaches Scully.)

MULDER: Scully. I heard what happened. They told me you saved General Bloch's life.

(Scully still looks a bit uncomfortable about the experience.)

SCULLY: He's doing all right. He's over there.

(She looks to the side, where Bloch is on the telephone.)

MULDER: They told me you saw somebody on the parade route.

SCULLY: I'm not really sure.

MULDER: You saw him, didn't you? You saw Teager.

SCULLY: I told you. I'm not sure, Mulder.

MULDER: Yeah, but you drew your gun, Scully. You must have been a little more convinced than that.

SCULLY: How are you so convinced that General Bloch was his next target?

(Mulder steps past Scully and raises his voice so Skinner, who is standing just beyond them, can hear.)

MULDER: I found out about General Bloch from the same person who told me that we were never meant to save Bloch's life ... or the other generals.

SKINNER: What are you talking about?

MULDER: This case - why do you think it was dumped in your lap, unless heading up an anti-terrorism detail is all of a sudden part of your job description.

SCULLY: Well, that doesn't prove that he was set up.

MULDER: Well, they knew about Teager. They'd known that he'd be unstoppable from the beginning.

SCULLY: You're saying they wanted Skinner to fail?

MULDER: And us. Given the nature of the case, they knew that you'd bring us in.

SCULLY: Mulder, the government is not about to sacrifice the lives of ranking military officers just to discredit us.

MULDER: Discrediting us in this case is only secondary.

SCULLY: Secondary to what?

MULDER: To maintaining their secret policy of denial about POW's, which required silencing the men who made that policy.

SCULLY: I think Denny Markham's story is having its intended effect. I think you're buying into the lie, Mulder.

MULDER: No, no, Denny Markham may be the only man in this case who's telling the truth. But if you don't believe me, why don't you ask General Bloch himself.

(He points back at Bloch, who is approaching them.)

GEN. BLOCH: Ask me what? (Mulder glances at Skinner) Look, I can't wait around here any longer. I'm delivering the keynote address in five minutes.

(Bloch puts on his hat and starts to leave.)

SKINNER: You might want to reconsider.

MULDER: He won't reconsider. (Bloch stops and turns back to them) Not going out there would be an admission of guilt.

SKINNER: We still have reason to believe that your life is in danger.

GEN. BLOCH: (walking up to Skinner) It's your job to protect me still, isn't it?

SKINNER: That's what we're trying to do.

GEN. BLOCH: (sharply) Then do your job.

(He starts away again.)

SKINNER: General ...

(Bloch doesn't stop. Skinner calls the agents around him.)

SKINNER: All right, people, listen up because we don't have much time here. You all know your responsibilities. You have your sectors and your assignments.

(The ceremony is now beginning, with large crowds on the ground in front of the speaker's stand and in bleachers along the sides. Teager is at the base of the bleachers and starts out into the crowd in between them. A man in the lower rows of the bleachers, Leo Danzinger, recognizes him. The speakers can be heard in the background.)

ANNOUNCER: It's a great pleasure to introduce a very special man, wounded and decorated for gallantry in Vietnam, he had an idea ...

DANZINGER: Teager?

ANNOUNCER: ... a vision, to create a national memorial inscribed with ...

DANZINGER: Hey man, is that you?

(Teager continues into the crowd. Danzinger follows, trying unsuccessfully to catch up with him.)

ANNOUNCER: ... the names of all Americans who gave their lives in the Vietnam war.

DANZINGER: Hey, where are you going?

ANNOUNCER: ... Ladies and gentlemen ...

DANZINGER: Hey!

ANNOUNCER: ... it is with great pride ...

DANZINGER: Hey! Hey, where are you going?

ANNOUNCER: ... that I introduce the founder of the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Fund - Mr. Jan Scruggs.

(Teager has walked behind a fence, behind the crowd. Danzinger follows moments later, but he doesn't see anyone in the darkened area.)

DANZINGER: Teager?

SCRUGGS: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. We are here to rededicate this memorial on this important day. We especially respectfully remember those who cannot share this day with us, the soldiers, the airmen ...

DANZINGER: Hey, Teager?

SCRUGGS: ... and the sailors who remain missing in action from America's longest war. We are gathered here to remember times of war, yet pray for times of peace...

DANZINGER: It's me, Leo Danzinger. I saw you, man. Where are you?

(He has walked farther along the fence, but he still doesn't see anyone.)

TEAGER: Behind you.

(Danzinger turns to find Teager a few feet away.)

DANZINGER: I, I thought you were dead. That's what they told us.

TEAGER: Because that's what they wanted you to believe.

DANZINGER: I don't understand.

TEAGER: You will ... after tonight.

DANZINGER: What are you talking about?

TEAGER: I waited for them, Leo. I waited for them to come. But they never came.

DANZINGER: Maybe they didn't know.

TEAGER: They knew. They just figured letting me die off was easier than admitting the truth.

DANZINGER: It's all over, Teager. It's been over for a long time now.

TEAGER: Not for me. Not for the others.

DANZINGER: You're telling me there's more?

(Teager hands Danzinger a folded piece of paper. Danzinger opens it. It has several dozen names on it, along with their military ID numbers. Danzinger looks up, but Teager has vanished.)

DANZINGER: What are you doing, man? Where are you?

(On stage, the ceremony is continuing.)

ANNOUNCER: It is a distinct honor to present to you now another great American, and a brother in arms. Major General Benjamin Bloch.

(Bloch steps to the speaker's stand. He finds an Ace of Clubs on the stand and turns it over. It is another "death card." He looks at the crowd, then starts to look back at Skinner, who is seated behind him and to his right, but instead starts to speak.)

GEN. BLOCH: Admiral Leitch. Senator Bain. Fellow Americans. And especially, the veterans.

(Teager is now walking through the crowd again.)

GEN. BLOCH: There is probably no audience that understands better that our freedom is not free ...

(Skinner communicates with agents in the crowd by radio. Parts of General Bloch's speech can be heard among their conversations.)

SKINNER: All right, you're my eyes out there. Talk to me. Positions report.

GEN. BLOCH: ... We owe that freedom to the selfless sacrifice ...

AGENT HILL: Sector three clear.

GEN. BLOCH: ... of those whose names ...

SCULLY: No sign of him in four.

GEN. BLOCH: ... are on this wall. And for that, it is our duty to remember them ...

(Scully spots him, heading toward the stage.)

SCULLY: Hold on. I think I have him in section four.

SKINNER: Can you confirm that, Scully.

GEN. BLOCH: ... their sweat, their long hours, their own blood. And for that ...

(She compares the man with the photograph.)

SCULLY: Positive ID. He's heading toward you, three.

SKINNER: Positions hold, three and four. Do you have eye contact?

GEN. BLOCH: ... and not too far from here, there is a statue of a solider ...

(Hill spots him as well and moves quickly toward him.)

AGENT HILL: I have him in three. He's coming toward you, Scully.

MULDER: Don't take your eyes off him, Scully.

GEN. BLOCH: ... and the plaque on that statue reads "not for themselves but for their country" ...

(Scully is closing on him. Teager turns and looks back at her.)

SCULLY: Mulder, he saw me. He's heading towards the sound booth.

AGENT HILL: Copy that. I'm cutting him off.

SKINNER: Talk to me, people. Does anybody have him?

GEN. BLOCH: ... when they were in Vietnam (cheering) This memorial is a place ...

SKINNER: What's happening, Scully?

GEN. BLOCH: ... where we can come and thank those ...

(Scully still sees him.)

SCULLY: I'm closing on him.

GEN. BLOCH: ... men and women who died ...

SKINNER: Do you have him in three?

GEN. BLOCH: ... not for themselves but ...

AGENT HILL: Negative.

GEN. BLOCH: ... for their country.

SKINNER: Scully? Scully?

GEN. BLOCH: ... I'm always struck by something as I walk this mall ...

(Scully no longer sees him.)

SCULLY: I lost him. You got him, three?

AGENT HILL: I don't see him, Scully.

GEN. BLOCH: ... The Vietnam Memorial ...

SKINNER: What's happening, Agent Scully?

(Scully and Hill have come together.)

AGENT HILL: I can't see him anywhere.

SCULLY: He must be headed your way. You got him, Mulder?

MULDER: Not yet. (he sees him standing in the crowd) I got him. (then he doesn't see him) I lost him.

(Skinner sees Teager moving forward in the crowd.)

SKINNER: Pick him up, Mulder. He's right in front of you.

(Teager draws his weapon and cocks the hammer. Mulder glimpses him and hears the sound. He draws his weapon.)

MULDER: He's got a gun.

(Skinner lunges toward Bloch, pushing him aside. Those in the crowd near Mulder duck to the ground.)

SKINNER: General, get off the stage!

(Mulder no longer sees him.)

MULDER: I can't see him.

(Scully approaches Mulder.)

SCULLY: Mulder ...

MULDER: Teager's here. I saw him out of the corner of my eye.

SCULLY: Mulder, he's gone. He's gone.

ANNOUNCER: There's no cause for alarm, ladies and gentlemen. Just a minor disturbance. Let's try and keep some order.

MULDER: Where's General Bloch?

SCULLY: He's with Skinner.

MULDER: We've got to stop him.

(They walk along the front of the stage, in the direction that Skinner and Bloch went.)

SCULLY: What's going on here, Mulder?

MULDER: He can only hide himself in somebody's direct line of sight.

SCULLY: When you're looking directly at him?

MULDER: That's why he killed General MacDougal and Steffan at close quarters - MacDougal in his car and Steffan in his office.

(They go around a fence and see Skinner and Bloch ahead of them, walking toward a car. Mulder draws his weapon.)

MULDER: Get away from the car! He's in the car! Teager's in the car!

(Skinner and Bloch stop. As Skinner looks toward the car, a shot is fired from within it. Skinner pushes Bloch down.)

SKINNER: Get down! Down!

(Five more shots are fired as everyone ducks for cover.)

MULDER: Get out of the car with your hands in the air! It's over, Teager. Come on out.

(Mulder, Scully and Skinner now advance toward the car, crouching and with guns raised. Mulder moves around in front of the car. The engine starts. Mulder rises and points his gun at the windshield but has to jump aside as the car starts forward. The car approaches Hill, who fires four shots at the windshield and then jumps aside. The car crashes into a barrier, knocking the driver's door ajar. As everyone holds their guns on the darkened driver's area, Teager falls out.)

SKINNER: Get an ambulance over here!

(Mulder checks Skinner's arm, which was grazed by a bullet. Scully goes to Teager, who has blood coming from his mouth.)

TEAGER: Teager, Nathaniel J. Sergeant, Green Beret detachment B-11. Service number 82278. Date of birth: March 7, 1952. Teager, Nathaniel J. Sergeant, Green Beret detachment B-11. Service number 82278. (whispering) Date of birth: March 7, 1952 ...

(The next day, Skinner stands at the wall of the War Memorial as Mulder approaches.)

MULDER: The Pentagon is claiming that the man who was killed was a Thomas Lynch. He's a vet who's been in and out of VA psychiatric hospitals for the last 15 years.

SKINNER: And a sometime member of The Right Hand. His name was on Denny Markham's mailing list. Markham made a positive ID.

MULDER: They must have gotten to him.

SKINNER: Army forensics claims to have multiple confirmation.

MULDER: You heard him! We both did! It's happening all over again. They're covering the lies with more lies, trying to make him invisible. We've got to subpoena Markham and General Bloch, and we've got to petition the State Department to release Teager's body ...

SKINNER: I can't do that, Agent Mulder.

MULDER: Why not?

SKINNER: This investigation has been turned over to C.I.D. It's no longer our jurisdiction.

MULDER: Don't let them do this.

SKINNER: Let it go, Agent Mulder. You did your job.

MULDER: So did Nathaniel Teager.

SKINNER: You found the man you were looking for, but now he's dead. It's over.

MULDER: Is that what you believe? Is that what you really believe? They're not just denying this man's life, they're denying his death. (he moves closer to Skinner) And with all due respect, Sir ... he could be you.

(Mulder leaves, and Skinner turns back to wall, looking at the name "Nathaniel Teager.")

THE END