MULDER'S APARTMENT
24 HOURS EARLIER THAN THE END OF GETHSEMANE



Mulder is watching the tape of the astronomers speculating on the existence of extra terrestrial life. Tears streak his face.

MULDER
voice over
I've held a torch in the darkness to glance upon a truth unknown. An act of faith begun with an ineloquent certainty that my journey promised the chance, not just of understanding, but of recovery. That the disappearance of my sister, 23 years ago, would come to be explained.

Mulder stands and puts his hands to his face

And that the pursuit of these greater truths about the existence of extraterrestrial life might even reunite us. A belief which I now know to be false...and unformed...in the extreme. My folly revealed by facts which illuminate both my arrogance and self-deception.

He picks up his gun from the coffee table.

He looks at it in his hand

If only the tragedy had been mine alone-- might it be more easy tonight to bring this journey to its end.

He checks the clip. There are bullets in it. He loads it...the phone rings. He picks it up but doesn't say anything

KRITSCHGAU
on phone
Agent Mulder?

No answer.

Agent Mulder?

MULDER
Yes...

KRITSCHGAU
There's a matter of security. Something I hadn't anticipated. Just after I left your apartment--

MULDER
Who are you?

Cut to Kritschgau in a phone booth at night

KRITSCHGAU
Just after our last conversation, I was followed by people--

MULDER
Who are you?!

KRITSCHGAU
Are you listening to me, Agent Mulder? Are you hearing me? We can't talk now. I have reason to believe--

MULDER
Did they give...Agent Scully this disease? Did they do this to her because of me?

KRITSCHGAU
They may be listening, Agent Mulder. They may be watching you. Everything you do and say.

Mulder starts to look around his apartment.

Are you listening, Agent Mulder?

Mulder looks to the ceiling at the light.

Agent Mulder?

There's a little pin hole next to the ceiling fixture. Mulder hangs up. We see through the surveillance camera at Mulder looking at the camera. Mulder runs out of the apartment.



UPSTAIRS

Mulder runs up the stairs and kicks in the door to the apartment right above him. He has his gun pointed. There is a man, Scott Ostlehoff, who is burning evidence: papers, videos, etc.

MULDER
Back away!

He does. Mulder tries to stomp out the fire. Mulder looks up to see Ostlehoff grab a shotgun.

Cut to the hallway outside. A gunshot. Camera pans to the door which is ajar. A hand closes the door.

Opening credits



SCULLY'S APARTMENT

Scully walks into her apartment and locks the door. She walks through the dark. She plays her answering machine. No new messages. She takes off her coat. In Scully's darkened bedroom as she is just about to take off her top

MULDER
Keep going, FBI woman.

SCULLY

Mulder? What are you doing? Why are you sitting in my bedroom in the dark?

MULDER
It was too crowded in my apartment; I couldn't sleep.

SCULLY

I'm not kidding, Mulder.

MULDER
Good, 'cause neither am I. There's a dead man on the floor of my apartment, and it's only a matter of time before he starts to stink the place up.

SCULLY
What are you talking about, Mulder? What's going on?

Mulder stands from his chair in the corner and walks to the window, looks outside, shuts the blinds and turns on a lamp

MULDER
Apparently somebody thinks my life is interesting enough to put on videotape. My apartment's been under an electronic surveillance for at least 2 months. Look at this, courtesy of the US government.

He hands her Ostlehoff's ID card

SCULLY
That's the dead man in your apartment?

MULDER
Yeah, he works...he worked for the Department of Defense.

SCULLY
How did he die, Mulder?

MULDER
Gunshot wound to the face.

SCULLY
Have you contacted anybody at the Bureau?

MULDER
I can't do that, Scully, I can't go to the authorities with this.

SCULLY
What are you talking about?

MULDER
This man, Ostelhoff, worked for the military. Are you beginning to get the picture? Do you see what's happening here?

SCULLY
That the hoax is connected to the military, just like Kritschgau said it was.

MULDER
This hoax, your cancer, everything! It just doesn't lead back to the military, it leads right back to the FBI!

SCULLY
What?


SCULLY'S DINING ROOM

Mulder and Scully walk into the dining room. Mulder switches on the light, and Scully sits at the table.

MULDER
This man, Ostelhoff, was set up in the apartment directly above mine. I caught him trying to destroy phone records on which the same number was called 17 times.

Scully looks at a phone log Mulder shows her.

SCULLY
This is a PBX operator at the Bureau.

MULDER
Yeah.

SCULLY
Who would he be calling at the FBI?

MULDER
I don't know.

SCULLY
Mulder, how long has this been going on?

MULDER
Maybe since the beginning, since you joined me on the X-Files.

SCULLY
That would mean that for 4 years we've been nothing more than pawns in a game, that it was a lie from the beginning. Mulder, these men... You give them your faith and you're supposed to trust them with your life.

He kneels down beside her

MULDER
There are those who can be trusted. What I need to know is who among them is not. I will not allow this treason to prosper, not if they've done this to you.

SCULLY
Mulder, we can't go to the Bureau making these accusations.

MULDER
No, but as they lie to us, we can lie to them. A lie to find the truth.



MULDER'S APARTMENT BUILDING
6:47 AM


The elevator lights are shown. The car is going up. It opens to reveal Scully as she was in Gethsemane going into Mulder's apartment.

MULDER
voice over
Let the truth be known though the heavens fall. The web of lies entangling us can now be connected back to the very institution which brought us together.

Scully shows her ID to the cops in Mulder's apartment, and she is let through.

The facts supported by a byzantine plot, executed by someone inside the FBI who, if named, could be tied to the hoax meant to destroy me.

Scully sees the body on the floor in front of the couch.

And to the terminal disease inflicted on Scully. In four years, I have shared my partner's passionate search for the truth. And if my part has been a deception, I have never seen her integrity waver...

The detective pulls the sheet up from the dead man's face

or her honor compromised.

Scully nods

But now, I ask her to lie,

SCULLY

Yeah

MULDER
to the people that lied to us. A dangerous lie to find the truth. To find the men who would be revealed as its enemy...

Scully enters the hallway

as our enemy. As the enemy within.


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