Fly Paper

"Men have minds like moral flypaper"

=Saturday, March 26, 2005= Fox closes the door to his room (number 242) and starts to stride down the hallway towards the stairs. His steps become hesitant and he starts to look around....up, left, right, back over his shoulder. He stops in front of a small cabinet in the wall and opens the small door that gives access to a fire extinguisher. Fox takes the magnetic key card for his room's door lock out of his shirt pocket and slips it behind the fire extinguisher. Fox hurries out into the night. From the balcony he can see a neon sign: Ashville Motor Lodge is at the top with Valley MUFON Conference in small, removable letters at the bottom. Fox follows the balcony along the entire street-side length of the second floor and then down the stairs at that end. He crosses the parking lot to the lecture hall where the MUFON conference is being held. A poster stand by the door holds the announcement: Saturday Night Owl Session, Guest speaker TBA.

Fox enters with a few other late arrivals and takes a seat near the back. While Fox is entering and getting seated, a MUFON member is making some announcements about the Sunday schedule over the loud speaker system. When the announcements are done the speaker says, "Now Rick will introduce our guest speaker for tonight."

Richard Wells, the president of the Valley MUFON Chapter takes the microphone. "Thanks, Judy. And thank you all for getting back here in good time after dinner. But I knew you would because we are all very pleased to have Dr. Dana Scully here tonight. As you all know, Dr. Scully is a medical doctor who once worked for the FBI. Over the past few years she has been involved with research at Fort Detrick, working as a consultant. Her topic for tonight is, "The Alien Genome Project."

The audience applauds and Dana rises from the first row. Wells clips the microphone on Dana's jacket and shakes her hand. She picks up a laser pointer and a remote control for the projection system and brings her first slide to the screen at the front of the room behind her (it is the title of her presentation). "Thank you for inviting me to speak tonight. This is the first chance I have had to speak in public since leaving my position as medical consultant with the Army. I think you will be very interested to hear what I will tell you, but I must say right at the start that I am still under certain restrictions. When we get to the Q and A, I will not be able to answer some of the obvious questions that you will be forced to ask. I know this will be frustrating for you, and all I can say is that it is my hope that I will one day be able to more fully describe all of what I have been witness to."

Suddenly the doors to the conference hall burst open and armed men rush into the room. Scully is grabbed by the men and dragged towards the door. The audience members are shouting protests, "Leave her alone!" "Let her speak!" "This is America, you Nazi swine!"

Mulder is the first to follow the armed men after they leave the hall. Several large vans leave the parking lot, tires squealing. An old van pulls up next to Fox and Frohike pulls open to sliding door of the van. From the front seat Byers shouts, "Get in!" Langly is driving very fast as they follow and attempt to keep up with the vans driven by the armed men who took Scully. In the back of the van, Frohike is watching a computer screen with a global positioning signal flashing on a map of Ashville.

=Sunday, March 27, 2005= Agents Skinner, Reyes and Doggett are interviewing MUFON conference attendees and collecting evidence in the conference hall.

Reyes shows Skinner three digital cameras, “We have a dozen excellent photos of the armed intruders abducting Scully.

Doggett approaches and holds up an optical disc. “This is Dana’s presentation.”

Skinner shakes his head, “Who ever is behind this has no fear.” He looks into the LCD display of one of the cameras and scans through the images.

Reyes mutters, “Or whatever.”

Skinner sounds pissed, “What do you mean by that, Agent?

Reyes explains, “Sir, look closely at the images of the ‘men’ who took Scully.”

Doggett looks through a printout of those registered at the motel. “Scully’s name is not on this list.”

Reyes says, “According to Richard Wells, she drove in last night for the talk and was not planning on staying here over night.

Skinner stops looking at images stored in the camera and holds the camera so that Reyes and Doggett can see one of the images, “Recognize anyone?” he asks sarcastically. They all recognize the Lone Gunmen in the image, pictured sitting beside a swimming pool.

“I did not notice anything unusual about the men who grabbed Scully.” Skinner turns the camera’s LCD screen back towards himself and scrolls back to the last images on the memory, the images of the abduction.

Reyes holds out her hand, “May I have the camera?” Skinner glares at her then hands over the camera. “I missed it at first, too.” She takes the camera to the podium and downloads the images from the camera into the computer connected to the projection system. “Let’s blow it up.” She hits some keys on the keyboard and a picture of Scully being dragged out of the conference hall fills the screen. “There.” She switches to another image. “There.” And a third, “And there.” She cuts parts of the three images out and pastes them all into a blank page, side by side. Now it is clear that the men all look identical.

Doggett whistles. “Clone troopers, Princess Leia.” He moves to the computer, “But you missed something.” He returns the computer to one of the images of the abduction and points to Mulder’s profile at the edge of the image. “Mulder was here.”

Skinner asks, “Did they take Mulder, too?” Reyes shakes her head, “No. The witnesses are all very sure, only Scully was taken.”

Skinner grabs the printout of names from Doggett. “Ya, Mulder was here, alright.” He points to a name on the list- Charles Mantle. "That’s Mulder, room 245. Reyes, get these images FTPed back to Washington. Doggett, see if Mulder left anything in his room. I want to know what he was up to. I’m putting an APB out on the Lone Gunmen. Those bozos stick out like a sore thumb and I’m betting Mulder is with them.

The map
Agent Doggett is let into Mulder's motel room by a maid. He quickly collects Mulder's belongings: shaving kit, a change of clothes, a small gym bag. Dogget puts all of Mulder's items into the bag. Just as Doggett leaves the room, agent Reyes comes down the hall. Doggett holds up the bag, "Mulder travels light."

They walk down the hall past the fire extinguisher. "Nothing in his rental car except this map." Reyes hands a road map to Doggett.

They go down the stairs and stop in front of the rental car. Skinner is telling an employee of rental company to lock the car again. "I know the car is due back at your lot by 5 O'clock, but I want you to leave it here until you hear from the FBI. I've already asked the motel manager to let it stay here. If Mulder comes back, he may need a car."

Skinner joins Doggett and Reyes who are spreading the road map on the hood of the car. "The GPS tracker is in the rental car and we'll leave a video unit in Mulder's room."

Doggett looks up from the map. "I doubt if he will come back, there was nothing of interest in his room.....tooth brush and a pair of boxers. Only strange thing is this map. Its a map of Maryland."

Reyes starts to fold up the map, "There is what looks like a small pencil mark near College Park and these numbers along the margin match the mile counts between College Park and the nearest airport."

Skinner says, "I want to know anyone in College Park that has a connection to either Scully or Mulder. Check the airlines and see if Mulder has a flight booked."

The Alien Genome Project
Agents Reyes and Doggett are on their second flight of the day. Doggett is trying to sleep and Reyes is looking at Mulder's map of Maryland. "What makes no sense is that Mulder would fly to Baltimore in order to get to College Park."

Doggett mutters, "Side trip."

Reyes realizes that she is keeping Doggett awake. She folds the map and opens her laptop, enters a password, and reads the notes she entered earlier:

Scully has been using molecular biology laboratory facilities at The University of Maryland Division of Human Genetics, in Baltimore. University of Maryland also had on record that Scully had visited the Materials Research Center at the College Park campus.

Reyes looks out the window and sees that their flight is turning towards Baltimore from the northwest. She can see Frederick. She starts to type:

Scully has been living in a rented house in Damascus, MD. for the past two years. Damascus is about in the center of a triangle formed by Fort Detrick, the University of Maryland Medical Center in downtown Baltimore and the College Park campus.

Reyes takes out the optical disc with Scully's MUFON presentation and steps through the slides.

The first slide is the title slide: The Alien Genome Project by Dana Scully

The next few slides outline Scully's work as a consultant for a government research project centered at Fort Detrick that has been developing biological warfare agent detectors. Scully had been involved in field testing the detectors and suggesting modifications.

Reyes comes to a slide titled "False Positives" followed by a list of test locations. The next dozen slides show her analysis of each case and an account for the false detection of an apparent biological warfare agent. Reyes yawns and shakes her head at Scully's methodical devotion to detail. She mutters to herself, "Those MUFON geeks would have been bored to tears. It crosses her mind that maybe they hired the hit men so that they could get out of Scully's lecture and hit the bars early."

But then she sees the slide for last remaining false positive:

Molecular analysis unusual nucleic acid backbone sugar: tagatose six distinct nucleotides 3 allowed base pairs

The next few slides then describe how the biological warfare agent detector was able to detect the unusual nucleic acid.

The plane has reached the gate and passengers start to gather their belongings. Reyes goes back and notes the origin of this sample. It is listed as, "FBI- missing person crime scene."

The final group of slides deals with Scull's on-going effort to adapt DNA sequencing technology to the task of determining the sequence of nucleotides in the unusual nucleic acid sample.

Reyes wakes up Doggett and they leave the plane. "I think I know why Mulder was thinking about going to College Park. Scully must have gotten the Materials Research Center there to help her with analysis of the alien DNA."

Doggett rubs his face, shaking off sleep. "What is this about alien DNA?" Reyes explains the contents of Scull's planned presentation at the MUFON conference. "So Scully was trying to decode the gene sequence this unusual nucleic acid sample?"

Reyes nods. "Think about it, John. This is the perfect way to detect aliens. Aliens can't possibly remove every molecular trace of their presence on Earth. Scully apparently has an alien DNA sample and has been working to show that it contains alien genetic instructions."

They reach a shuttle bus to a car rental shop. Doggett says, "Okay then, you seem to have a handle on this DNA angle. We'll split up from here. You hit the two University of Maryland labs and I'll head north to Scull's place and Fort Detrick.

Reyes nods agreement. "There is one thing about Scull's presentation that bothers me."

Doggett asks, "What's that?"

Calling it "The Alien Genome Project." That is so NOT Scully. I mean the word "alien" is nowhere else in the whole presentation."

Doggett chuckles. "It stinks of Mulder."

Reyes asks, "Do you think Mulder put her up to it?"

Doggett shrugs. "Why else would Scully even be at a MUFON event? I think it was Mulder trying to attract someone's attention. Scully was the bait."

"Fly paper? Well, if so, Mulder should have known better." Reyes disparages the Lone Gunmen. "Placing Scull's life on the line and trying to back her up with the help of the three stooges?"

They exit the bus and get in line to rent cars. "I don't know. Maybe Mulder did not even know that the Lone Gunmen would be there." Doggett speculates, "Maybe I'll find something at Scully's house. A message from Mulder or something explaining his plan."

They are occupied for a while getting keys to their rental cars. Reyes advises Doggett, "Your only chance is that Scully left something on her computer. When she was still with the FBI she was using a hardware encryption device that the Lone Gunmen gave her. I heard that when she was run out of the FBI they spent six months trying to crack into her computer files and eventually gave up. You'll never get into her files without her password."

Doggett puts his bag into his rental car. "Thanks for the warning, but Skinner and I were involved with getting her security clearance for working at Fort Detrick. Given her track record with data files, they insisted that there be a fail-safe on Scully's computer. Her keyboard was bugged and Skinner told me he could get access to her password."

Reyes groans. "That's a dirty trick, but it might help save her life."

Doggett starts to drive off then calls to Reyes, "Hey, can I have that road map? Where the hell is Damascus, anyhow?"

Baltimore
The Sunday evening traffic of people returning home from their weekend excursions was compounded by road repair work. It is after dark by the time Reyes reaches the University of Maryland Medical Center. With the help of her cell phone and a cooperative Medical Center operator, she is able to find her way to the lab where Scully has been doing her DNA work. She finds room D934 and reads the sign next to the door:

Dr. W. Westlake. Diagnostic Genetic Assays Laboratory.

Before Reyes can knock, the door opens a crack. Reyes holds up her badge, "FBI. I think I spoke to you on the phone about an hour ago."

The door is opened all the way by graduate student Karen O'fein. "Come in." Karen locks the door behind them. "We're told to keep the doors locked at night. Sometimes people wander over here from the hospital wing."

Reyes is looking around the lab, wondering where Scully does her lab work. "Why are you here on a Sunday night?"

Karen shrugs. "Just trying to complete my research and graduate. I already have a postdoc lined up in Oregon."

"On the phone you indicated that you know Dr. Scully."

Karen leads Reyes to one of the desks in the lab. "This is Dana's desk. I've known her for two years."

Reyes taps the keyboard of the computer on Scully's desk. A password dialog window comes up on the screen.

Karen says, "Hey, don't you need a search warrant or something?"

Reyes takes out her cell phone and tries to contact Skinner. "No, not really. Dana was abducted. I need any information that might help us find where she has been taken."

Karen gasps. "Abducted? When? By who?"

Skinner answers the call, "Skinner."

Reyes turns away from Karen and speaks to Skinner, "Reyes here. I've got Scully's computer in Baltimore. Doggett told me you can hack her password."

Skinner says, "Give me the number on the keyboard."

Reyes flips over the keyboard and reads off, "KY2230745GRZ7a."

Skinner repeats the number back and then says, "Give me 5 minutes."

Reyes looks at her watch and turns back to Karen. "Dana was abducted by armed men just about 24 hours ago."

Karen asks, "That UFO thing?"

"MUFON meeting in North Carolina," Reyes replies.

"Ya, that's it. She was laughing about it all week while she was putting together her presentation. It was 'Mulder's a sucker' and 'Mulder really owes me now'." Karen points to a picture of Mulder on a nearby book shelf. "He came into town about six months ago and took Dana to dinner."

"Mulder and Scully worked together at the FBI." Reyes picks up the small framed photo.

"That's what Dana told me, and something about Mulder's obsessions being the cause of her getting kicked out of the FBI."

Reyes returns the picture to the shelf, "Dana was given the chance to resign and the FBI helped get her a new job. Do you know the nature of her work?"

"We're all working together on Dr. Westlake's Army contract. Dana is our contact with the lab up at Fort Detrick. I'm sure she knows aspects of the work that I'm unaware of."

Reyes asks, "You did not hear that Dana terminated her consulting work with the Army last week?"

Karen nods. "Dana said it was a temporary leave, that she was going to be doing some traveling and speaking for a while. She left for North Carolina on Friday. She said she was going to make a bit of a vacation out of it."

"Did Mulder call and speak with Dana last week?"

Karen shakes her head. "Not that I know of, but I probably wouldn't know. You still have not told me what happened. Is this Mulder character a suspect?"

"No." She shows Karen a picture of one of the clones that abducted Scully. "This is the suspect. Look familiar?"

"No. Who is it?" Karen asks.

Reyes' phone rings and she answers the call, "Reyes."

It is Skinner calling back. "Try this: Majestic-hybrid."

Reyes enters Majestic-hybrid into the password dialog and gains access the the operating system. "I'm in."

Skinner instructs Reyes, "Establish a connection with the internet and leave it running. We will download everything from this end."

"Let me know if you find anything about her contacts with the College Park lab." Reyes confirms the internet connection.

Karen says, "Sometimes Dr. Tekalni comes up from the College Park campus to work with Scully. And I know she has been going down to his lab a lot lately, too."

"What does Tekalni work on?"

Karen shruggs. "Its fairly mysterious. Something to do with nanotechnology. She and Dana kept talking about atomic microscopy. I think Tekalni was reading the structure of molecules in some of Dana's samples by atomic force microscopy."

"When was the last time Dr. Tekalni was here?"

"Hmm. Its been a while. A couple of months ago she was here every week but she has not been here for about a month."

Reyes logs off of the computer. "Did Scully seem nervous or upset about anything this past week."

"She seemed a bit giddy. I figured she was excited about having a chance to talk about her work, but all she did was joke about those MUFU guys....she did not seem to take them seriously. You know, I think she has a soft spot for that Mulder guy. Maybe she was just excited to be meeting him in North Carolina."

"Thanks for your time." Reyes hands Karen a card. "If you think of anything else, like maybe a name Scully might have mentioned recently.....anything unusual recen-"

"There is one thing I have been wondering about. After the work with Dr. Tekalni wound down, Dana ordered a bunch of unusual enzymes and then did a bunch of sequencing runs. I saw her collect a sample of her own blood and I think she was using her own DNA as a control. Why would she do that? We have standardized human genomic DNA in the freezer. When I asked her she just said, "I know my own DNA like the back of my hand. What is that supposed to mean?"

"I guess she's just used to using her own DNA."

Karen shakes her head. "You know what I thought? I wondered if Dana is sick or something. I know some people who experiment on themselves. I thought, maybe she is trying to treat herself for some genetic disease. She started reading all these papers about genetic engineering." Karen points to a stack of journal articles on Scully's desk.

Reyes heads to the door, "Try not to worry about Dana. As far as I know she is in perfect health. I think she was going to talk about some biowarfare topic and the people at Fort Detrick found out and stopped her."

"You think she was abducted by the Army?"

"Its a logical guess, at this time." Reyes unlocks the door and exits to the hallway. "Thanks."

Karen follows and locks the lab with a key. "I'll walk out to my car with you. Sometimes its creepy down there at night."

They take an elevator down to the underground parking garage. Reyes asks, "Have you ever been out to Scully's house?"

Karen gets into her car. "Ya. She had the whole lab out there when she moved in. Why?"

"Nothing much. It just occurred to me that maybe she has a house mate or a boy friend or something."

"I don't think so. She has often said how quiet it is out where she lives. I think she gets lonely out there. She's often in here with me working on the weekends. You know, I don't think she has a real life. I hope I don't end up like that."

The usual suspects
Karen drives away and Reyes gets into her rental car. She calls the College Park campus operator and gets into a mechanized directory that provides both an office and a lab phone number for Dr. Tekalni. She tries both numbers and gets no answer. Next, she tries to get a home phone number for Dr. Tekalni, but none is listed publically. She puts a request in for the home number through the FBI.

She calls Doggett and he answers, "John Doggett."

Reyes says, "Hi, John, this is Monica. Where are you?" She puts on her hands-free phone gear and starts the car.

He replies, "I'm heading for Frederick. I'll find a room near Fort Detrick and get over there first thing Monday."

Reyes is out of the parking garage and into street traffic. "I was lucky enough to find a student here at the lab and sent the contents of Dana's lab computer to Washington. I'm going to try to contact a Dr. Tekalni who did dome DNA work with Scully at the College Park campus. I'll probably just go home tonight."

Doggett asks, "No luck finding Dr. Westlake?"

Reyes replies, "I did get through to his wife. She confirmed that he's sailing on the Bay and never takes a phone sailing. He's expected back sometime Monday."

Doggett says, "We're not doing real great are we? Scully's rental house is like a bachelor pad. She doesn't even have cable so I pulled the hard drive out of the computer. I'll try to FTP the contents to Washington from my hotel tonight."

Reyes' phone chimes. "Hold on, John. Incoming call." The other call is the FBI getting back with the home phone number for Dr. Tekalni. Reyes takes the home phone number and street address and connects back to Doggett. "Westlake's student indicated that it was Mulder who got Scully to talk at the MUFON conference. I don't think Dana realized there was any danger in her giving a talk down there."

Doggett fills her in on some information from Washington. "Well, according to Skinner, the army is claiming total ignorance about Scully and her abduction. She sent them the contents of her presentation and they didn't care. They told her that there was no evidence that she had found alien DNA, but it was only her personal reputation at risk if she wanted to talk about aliens."

Reyes says, "Okay, John. I'm going to try to phone Dr. Tekalni. If I get anything from her I'll call you later. Other wise, call me Monday from Fort Detrick."

Dogget signs off, "Okay. Good night, Monica."

"Good night, John." She calls the home phone number of Dr. Tekalni.

Dr. Tekalni answers the call, "Hello."

"This is agent Monica Reyes of the FBI calling for Dr. Tekalni."

"Speaking."

"Dr. Tekalni, I understand you have done some DNA research with Dana Scully."

"Yes. That work was completed about a month ago."

"Dr. Scully was abducted by armed men yesterday. Do you have any idea why someone might kidnap Dr. Scully?"

Dr. Tekalni gasps. "Abducted? You think it has something to do with her work? I know she was working on an army-funded project, something to do bith biological warfare."

Reyes replies, "We are working on the assumption that her abduction is related to her contact with the army and the work on DNA."

Dr. Tekalni says, "Well, that DNA she had was certainly interesting. Unique. But Dana would not tell me much about it. When I pressed for more information, Dana said that access to more detailed information than what she had told me was restricted by the military."

Reyes asks, "Did you ever meet Fox Mulder?"

"Not that I recall."

Reyes explains, "I have reason to believe that Mulder may have been planning to visit you. Either today or Monday."

Dr. Tekalni is puzzled. "Not to my knowledge. But wait. I have not checked my office voicemail since Friday. Hold on." Several minutes pass. Reyes reaches Interstate 295 heading south towards Washington. Takalni comes back on the connection to Reyes. "A Mr. Mulder left me a message. He said he would be in Maryland today and he wanted to meet with me. He mentioned Scully. Said he knew of me through Dana."

Reyes asks, "Why do you think Mulder wanted to meet with you."

"It must have something to do with that strange DNA Dana is working with. Who is the Mulder, anyhow?" Takalni asks.

Reyes replies, "That's a rather complicated story. Can I meet you tonight?"

Dr. Tekalni sounds nervous. "You have me some what upset. You tell me that Dana has been kidnapped and I do not even know who you are."

"I'm sorry to contact you in this way, but we are trying to find any information that might help us figure out who abducted Dana. Let me give you the number of my office, the FBI in Washington. Call and ask them about me and this investigation. Then call me back at this number. I'd prefer to meet you tonight. If you can think of anyone who would abduct Dana, you need to tell me that right now. Otherwise, I'd like to make an appointment to see you first thing Monday."

Dr. Tekalni takes the phone number for the FBI. "I'll call you back."

Reyes is off 295 and getting close to Dr. Tekalni's home town by the time her cell phone rings. "Monica Reyes, here."

"Pearle Tekalni. I just spoke to someone named Skinner at the FBI. He says I can trust you. Let me give you my address."

"I have your address. You can expect me in about five or ten minutes." Monica breaks the connection and tries to figure out the local streets leading to Tekalni's house. After a few wrong turns it is close to ten minute before she finds it. A man opens the door after Reyes rings. "I'm Agent Reyes with the FBI. Are you Mr. Tekalni?"

The man nods. "Please come in." He leads Reyes to an adjoining room.

Pearle Tekalni is sitting on a sofa with a laptop. "Have a seat Agent Reyes, I'm just checking my email. I discovered that Dana sent me an email on Friday saying that she would be passing through Washington on Monday or Tuesday and she would stop by the lab if I was going to be available."

Reyes sits in a chair and asks, "Did Dana mention Mulder in her email?"

"No." Pearle turns to her husband, "Maybe you can check on the tea." She turns back to Reyes. "Would you like some tea? I decided to have some. I doubt I am going to get much sleep tonight."

Reyes leans back in the chair. "Yes, please, I'll have tea." Reyes smells something like pastry and realizes that she has not eaten a real meal all day. "I want to tell you that we are doing everything possible to find Dana. I'm not sure if you know this, but she was an FBI agent until about two years ago."

"Yes, Dana once mentioned that."

"I'm not sure if this will make you feel any better, but Dana is tough and resourceful. She has been abducted before, when she was an agent, and she always seems to find her way home."

Mr. Tekalni brings in tea and hot pecan cinnamon rolls. Reyes' stomach growls and they all laugh. Pearle says, "If my motherly instincts are still working, you have not been taking care of yourself. Dana is your friend?"

Reyes takes a bite of a cinnamon roll and finds her teeth threatening to lock up on its content of an imbedded sticky caramel swirl. After a sip of tea she finally replies, "Yes, I worked with Dana when she was with the FBI. We became quite close."

Mr. Tekalni sits down next to his wife. "I'm surprised that you are on the case if it involves a someone you know."

"In cases like this it can be useful to involve people who know the victim well."

Pearle asks, "And what if you are so anxious to find Dana that you do not take time to eat and you do not bother to sleep and then you start showing fatigue and making errors?

Reyes asks for a second roll. "Then I rely on good luck to find someone who will feed me and remind me to take care of myself. Do not worry about me. I do not live far from here and I plan to catch up on sleep tonight. I'm waiting to talk to Dr. Westlake, and it looks like he is out of reach until sometime Monday."

Pearle says, "Yes, I met Westlake several times when I was meeting with Dana in Baltimore. I understand he is a sailing enthusiast."

Reyes asks, "Did Dr. Westlake closely supervise Dana?"

Pearle replies, "No. Westlake works with his students. The contract that he has with the Army is basically a way to buy Dana lab bench space and access to the molecular biology facilities in Baltimore. There may be some technology transfer, too, but mostly what Westlake gets is money. He has no say in Dana's work."

Reyes is not happy to hear this. She had been hoping that Westlake might be working closely with Dana and be able to provide some insight into her plans. "Did Dana tell you that she had taken leave from her work for the Army?"

"No. When did this happen?"

"The leave took effect about a week ago. I have been told that it is temporary, to give Dana time to travel and do some speaking."

Pearle gestures to her laptop. "I'm surprised. I could show you a rather heated exchange of emails I had with Dana about a month ago. I was trying to get her to agree to publish our results on the unusual DNA she is working on. She refused. I even requested that I be able to give a presentation on the DNA analysis at a scientific meeting and she refused. She claimed it had to be cleared by the army and that they did not want to permit it."

"Well, something changed about a week ago. She requested and got permission to give a presentation in North Carolina. She was just starting to speak when a gang of armed men grabbed her right out of the conference hall."

"Strange. I was upset with Dana, but now it sounds like she might have been protecting me. I can't help thinking that maybe the army is involved in the abduction."

Reyes shakes her head. "Not as far as the FBI can determine. The army approved the content of her presentation." Reyes hands Pearle the optical disc with Scully's presentation.

Pearle inserts the disk and brings up the presentation. She laughs at the first slide. "Alien DNA? Is this a joke?"

Reyes grins. "Do you know Karen O'fein?"

"Isn't that one of Westlake's students?"

"Yes. She told me that Mulder was responsible for the title of Scully's talk."

Pearle scans through the rest of the publication. "It is strange that Scully would agree to use that title. What kind a meeting was she at?"

"A MUFON event."

Mr. Tekalni laughs. Pearle asks, "What is 'MUFON'?"

Mr. Tekalni explains, "UFO nuts."

Reyes explains further, "Mulder has long been interested in finding evidence for aliens on Earth. It seems likely that it was Mulder's idea to interpret Dana's results with the DNA analysis to aliens."

Pearle frowns. "I hope the FBI does not think that aliens abducted Dana."

Reyes shows Pearle the photo of one of the men who abducted Dana. "Do you recognize this man?"

Pearle hands the photo to her husband and she opens her laptop. She brings up an image. "About two weeks ago there was a break-in at my lab. One of my students has a webcam on his computer that captures an image of the inside of the lab every five minutes. This image apparently shows the person who broke into the lab."

The webcam image is not very good. Reyes is not sure if the man's face matches the appearance of the group of clones who abducted Scully. Reyes asks, "What was taken from the lab?"

"Nothing, but my office adjoins the lab and that night the hard drive of my computer was taken."

"I assume that your hard drive contained information about the DNA you and Scully were working on."

"Yes, it was annoying to have to get a new drive. My computer archives data to servers on the university network every night, so nothing was lost."

Reyes says, "I need the original webcam images and I'd like to send all of you emails and other information related to Dana and the DNA work to Washington."