Genesis
Ally

Chapter 9

46th Street, New York City. 2:51a.m.

The streets of New York were quiet. The last of the late night revelers had long since gone home, and now the only signs of life came from the occasional sighting of a yellow cab, trawling the streets looking for business. The pavement was slick from the rain that had fallen almost continually for most of the day, and the streetlights reflected back up from it like glowing orange orbs, standing out against the darkness of the surrounding buildings.

One building, however, still sported the muted tones of a light behind tightly drawn blinds, it was a building that never completely slept, having as it did at least one man on duty there to gather any information that might be forthcoming from any of the hundreds of operatives scattered across the country.

Tonight though the man was not alone. His companion sat serenely in one of the large leather armchairs, staring out across the room, looking at nothing in particular, content to wait for the news he suspected would come in to the office any time soon. He was a patient man, in his line of work he had to be.

He removed a crumpled pack of Morley cigarettes from his jacket pocket, removed one and lit it without even looking at it. Noxious blue smoke swirled around him briefly, before the overhead fans dispersed it. The smoke disappeared as if by magic, but the tenacious odour of the Smoking Man's almost constant chain smoking clung to every surface, a persistent reminder to those who would subsequently use this room, that he had been there, waiting for a message to say that he could proceed with his plans.

His mind drifted, as it often did recently, to Fox Mulder. He found it incredible that after all this time, he would still view the young FBI Agent as such a threat, especially knowing that Mulder could never be allowed to succeed in his quest for the truth.

The Smoking Man suspected that Mulder had been spared only because he was now high profile enough to cause questions to be raised should he meet with an unfortunate "accident". Maybe two years ago they would have gotten away with it, but not now. Too many others would now take up the cause where Mulder left off, not least of all his partner.

Life was full of ironies, he decided, as he took another pull on the cigarette which rested loosely between his thin lips. The idea to pair Mulder with a partner who would invalidate his work had been his own suggestion, and it had been he who had painstakingly trawled the FBI records until he had settled on Dana Scully as the most likely candidate to debunk Mulder's work on the X-Files.

At the time she had seemed like the perfect choice. Young, ambitious, inexperienced. In short, easily manipulated to their way of thinking. It had been the biggest miscalculation of his life, and one which he had paid dearly for allowing to happen.

Almost immediately she had shown that she had a definite mind of her own, and even worse a fierce sense of integrity that only matched her loyalty to her new partner. Instead of debunking Mulder, she had begun to defend him. By the time the error was noticed, it was already too late. The damage had been done.

Several attempts had been made to limit that damage, but all had been thwarted by Mulder, who had repaid her loyalty a thousand fold by risking his own life to save hers, and now, in a strange way, the Cigarette Man actually found himself admiring them both. The way they had managed to prevail in the face of so much adversity, how they had refused to be beaten despite all attempts to break them.

The Smoking Man had come to view them as the powerful adversaries he had always suspected they could become, and he had learned the hard way that neither one of them should be underestimated. Despite this though, he was also aware of their weaknesses, the Human frailties that when exposed, could be turned to his own advantage.

Mulder had only one Achilles heel as far as he could tell, in that he cared about one individual above all others, a person who's life he valued more than his own.

Mulder had already demonstrated his lack of regard towards himself, on more than one occasion when he had been approached regarding a possible shift of allegiance, but the Smoking Man still had one more card left to play, a card which if dealt at the right moment would crush Mulder's every reason to continue.

He dropped the Cigarette in to the ash tray which rested on the arm of the chair, and was in the process of reaching for another when the phone began to ring. The younger man who was seated at the desk, answered it even before the ring had a chance to fade, and after listening for a second, he handed it to the Smoking Man.

"Yes?"

The familiar voice greeted him with the news he had been waiting for.

"Mulder's out of the way. I have a man on route to Agent Scully and the woman. Do I tell him to proceed as planned?"

The Smoking Man nodded. "Yes."

"And the child?"

"The child stays where she is . . . until the time is right to let Agent Scully see what she desperately needs to see."

"And afterwards?"

"Afterwards the child will be surplus to requirements. She will be disposed off in the usual manner. You know what to do."

There was a slight pause as the figure on the other end digested the information, then, "Our source at the Bureau. Can he be trusted?"

"Oh yes." The Smoking man allowed himself just the ghost of a smile. "I think you'll find he can be trusted implicitly."

"How can you be sure? You've made mistakes in the past."

The Smoking man's facial statement did not change, but his knuckles whitened as he gripped the receiver more tightly. "Mistakes which I might point out, resulted from some momentous instances of misinformation directed at myself."

"So you've said."

"May I remind you that if it weren't for me, the Mulder problem might have continued to escalate. As it is, we now have an opportunity to end it once and for all, and I intend to do just that. I suggest you concentrate on your own obligations apropos that outcome and let me do the same."

Without waiting for a reply from the younger man, he replaced the receiver abruptly, conscious not for the first time that not so long ago, he would not have tolerated being spoken to in such a manner, nor would he have expected it.

Oh yes, his mistakes had cost him dearly.

This, though, would erase all memories of those past discretions. The elimination of Fox Mulder would once more elevate him to the position within the group that he not only deserved, but one which he felt was rightfully his. He didn't allow himself to consider the consequences of failure. This time failure was not an option.

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