Disclaimer:  See Part 1

A M B I G U I T Y  (8/8)
by Missy
missy@lexicon.net


Mulder thanked Frohike for the information and cut off his incestuous
comments that he wanted to be passed onto his Dana Scully.  Mulder put
down the cell phone and went to the computer room logging in for the e-
mail Frohike had sent.  

As it came up on screen, he heard movement behind him.  He turned
around taking in the bleary eyed status of his partner in the chennile
dressing gown again.  She took up the seat beside him, her chin resting
on her hand, with a question in her eyes as to what he was doing at the
computer.

"Frohike just rang to say he has e-mailed us the information on Jan
Berz.  He gave me a quick run down."

They watched as the information flickered onto their screen containing a
photograph in hazy black and white from the early 1950's together with a
more recent one.  Scully scrolled down the page, squinting as she slowly
absorbed the details without her glasses while Mulder ran a discourse of
what Frohike had told him.    Mulder wandered to the lounge as he
continued and picked up her glasses slipping them to her as he again sat
down beside her.

"See Scully, they have been continuing the testing under the cover of
the Human Genome Project."  

"Mulder, all you have here is details of his working on various projects
for the Government.   Our previous discoveries were of hidden projects,
not ones which they are declaring quite openly." 

"I would like to know why he was so important in these projects.  There
is no information here as to what his role was.  Our Government would
not have provided him with assylum from the Nuremburg trials unless he
could provide them with some technology like they did with Klemper."

Scully had to admit that he had a point there.  "You think it is related to
the human tests that Klemper conducted?"

Mulder replied cautiously "Or of alien origin.  The retrovirus links back
to the bounty hunter except that this one only destroys the inner
organs."

Scully grated her teeth together, counting to ten mentally before
responding.  "Mulder, the retroviruses were of totally different origin. 
There is no way, *if* the Government is involved in this, that they could
have conceivably used that retrovirus to create this new one."

Mulder conceeded that Scully would have more knowledge in the area of
retroviruses and did not continue the argument.  He picked up his
cellular phone and quickly dialled.  Scully, surprised that he had not
disputed her argument, just waited to see who he was calling.

"This is Special Agent Fox Mulder, Special Agent Dana Scully and I are
booked on the 6.07 a.m. flight to Washington D.C. this......"

Scully frowned trying to understand why Mulder had ceased his
conversation.  For some reason, his disertation had been interrupted. 
She frowned even more as a faint grin began to fix itself across his face. 
She had seen this look before and it always spelled trouble.

"Thank you for your assistance.  We will be there to catch the 10.13
flight."

"Mulder"  Scully pitched her voice low demanding his attention and
immediate explanation of his call.

"It would appear that the airport has cancelled all early morning flights
due to the fog.  They have rebooked us on the 10.13 flight out to D.C."

"Good, that means I can catch up on some sleep."  Scully yawned in
support of her statement.  All of a sudden a thought hit her.  "Why were
you 'phoning the airport?"  Suspicion filled her eyes at the answer. 
"You were cancelling our flight, weren't you?"  She had pulled herself
up to her full height, which wasn't much without her three inch heels,
challenging him to answer.  

"Scully, you think I would do such a thing"  Mulder feined innocence.

"Mulder, I don't even have to think it, I know you would."  Scully
resigned herself to the fact that since mother nature had actually
supported Mulder's plans, so she was in for the ride anyway.  "So what
were you planning for us to do this morning before our flight?"

"Just an interview with our dearly beloved Nazi SS Officer to find out
what he knows."

Scully shook her head in resignation "Okay Mulder but I am definitely
going back to bed for another couple of hours."  She softly padded out
of the room towards the bedroom in which she was sleeping.

Mulder sat down at the computer and printed out the e-mail Frohike had
sent, then shut down the computer for the remainder of the night.  He
went back out to the lounge stirring up the fire before dropping his 6'1"
frame down onto the comfortable cushions of the couch.  Time went by
slowly as he waited for dawn to arrive, his mind mulling over the
questions he wanted to ask of the mysterious Jan Berz.


CABIN IN MONTMORENCY
7.03 a.m.


Daylight had sprung lightly through the trees but was harshly reflected
in the fog that had been caught between the deep evergreen branches of
the pines.  Mulder watched the glistening droplets of dew carpeting the
forest, little rainbows of colour being created as the early morning sun
refracted through the tiny water bubbles.  He held his cell phone to his
ear waiting as the tenth ring still remained unanswered.   He began to
worry that the MIB's may have already seen to the demise of his one lead
when the phone was picked up.

"Hello" came the gutteral introduction, the accent immediately fortelling
to Mulder that this was indeed Jan Berz.

"Jan Berz?" 

"Who is this?" the voice had become shrouded with fear.

"Special Agent Fox Mulder of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  I
would like to speak with you in relation to a case my partner and I are
handling."  

"I don't think I can help you."  

"I think that you can.  I need to know about your work with the Human
Genome Project and a visit you had yesterday from Marissa Jordan." 
Mulder's mind had quickly assimilated the area in which Marissa had
been killed and the location of Jan Berz, deducing that her 2.00 p.m. visit
had been with him.

"Who are you?  How do you...."  the old man's voice trailed off in worry.

"I can explain.  Can I meet with you in" Mulder looked at his watch. 
"about an hour."

Silence greeted Mulder's query before he received a resigned and very
quite "Yes.  I take it that you have my address."

"Yes.  Thank you."

"I have no choice in the matter, do I?"


BERZ RESIDENCE
NOVEMBER 18, 1996
8.07 A.M.


Scully and Mulder had driven on the same windy road that had been the
passage for Marissa's death the previous day finding Jan Berz's address
only ten minutes away from where she had been killed.

The weatherboard house was aging fast in the harsh winter air, the
white paint anxiously begging for a new coating.  They both exited the
vehicle simultaneously, looking with trepidation at the house which could
hold the answers to their questions.

Scully raised the knocker and tapped the wooden door twice.  The noise
reverberated in the quietness of the surrounding forest.

"I don't think he would need a hearing aid to hear you call at his home,
Scully."

The corners of her mouth twitched at his jesting.  It was good that they
were on good terms again after the past few months of emotional
upheaval.   They heard the shuffle of feet on a wooden floor.

"Who is it?" came the muffled question

"Agents Mulder and Scully with the FBI" Mulder replied authoritatively.

The deadlock on the door snapped back.  The door opened to reveal a
short stocky man with nearly opaque blue eyes.  His fine steel grey hair
brushed neatly on each side of his head, the shiny bald patch on the top
of his skull reflecting the sunlight beginning to break through the thick
fog.

"Your identification."

Scully and Mulder had it all out ready for him to see anticipating his
scepticism as to their identities.   After his eyes slid over both, he
accepted their credentials by ushering them into the hallway leading
them to a small study to the left of the front doorway.  He indicated for
them to be seated in an impersonal manner indicating his resignation to
their presence.    

Mulder launched into his investigation with the enthusiasm of someone
who wants to know.    "Mr. Berz, what did you do during the Second
World War."

Scully turned her head slightly towards Mulder and blinked her eyes
slowly in surprise.  She had been expecting his initial question to
involve the Human Genome Project.   She watched the reaction of Mr.
Berz.

"That was a long time ago, young man.   It is irrelevant to current
history."  His easy dismissal of the issue was resoundingly similar to that
of Dr. Klemper.

"You were given assylum by our Government from the Nuremberg trials. 
All information on you only discloses that you were an SS Officer.  What
knowledge did you have that our Government was after?"

"I was a simple SS Officer chosen because of my ability to recognise
Jews.  Nothing more, nothing less.  It is a period in my life that I would
rather forget."

"So that you conscience will not be assailed?"  Scully interjected.  

"My conscience was with me from the beginning.  I had a choice to assist
or watch my own family die.   There was no choice."  His voice was devoid
of any emotion.  

"What did you see?" Mulder quickly spurted at him.   His mind was
putting together the previously untenable threads of the puzzle.

Mr. Berz was flabbergasted.  "You know?  But how?  Nobody was meant to
have access but those to whom I provided the documents."   He ran his
hands over his high forehead trying to assimilate the situation.    "In
late September, 1944 I witnessed the crash of a............it was
indescribable.   It was nothing like I had ever seen before.   The soldiers
came in and removed all the bodies.   There were about ten in all.  A
couple were still alive.  Within two hours, the whole area was.  It
would have been easy for me to think I had imagined it."

"But you didn't"

"No.   Since early 1944, I had been working as a medical aide officer in
one of the camps as well as still conducting my other duties.    As a
result, I had access to documents relating to certain tests being
conducted on the Jews prior to their deaths.   I also came across some
autopsy reports.    These indicated that the symmetry of their internal
organs were  *different*"

"Different?"

"Yes. I believe they were conducted on the bodies that were taken from
the crash site."

"You believe they were of alien origin?" Mulder's question was just a
hair's breadth off being a statement.

"Mulder"  Scully's tone held that gentle warning holding him back from
jumping to conclusions.

"I believe they were like nothing I have ever seen before."  Jan Berz
stated.  "After the crash, the types of tests being performed on the Jews
changed, they began......."  His discourse was silenced as a bullet pierced
his forehead.

Scully and Mulder immediately threw themselves to the floor to avoid
being hit by any further bullets.    Scully felt a flare of fire in her left
shoulder as she went down, her clinical mind registering that she had
been hit but not fatally.  She looked over at Mulder who was sprawled
face down across the floor after he had dived from the chair he was
sitting in.   When he didn't move, she began to worry that he had been
shot also.   

She gingerly crawled over to him clasping her arm in her stomach to
prevent any jarring of her shoulder which would exacerbate the pain
radiating from the bullet wound.   Her thoughts were anxious over her
partner lying comatose before her.   

"Mulder"  she whispered in his ear as she heaved his body over so that
she could examine him.  Blood was trickling down the side of his face
from a deep graze on his right temple created by a bullet.  She could see
no other bullet wounds deducing that he was merely stunned.  She
repeated his name another couple of times before she got a groggy
response.

Scully helped him into a sitting position as his thought processes began
to sync with each other.  "Come on Mulder, we've to get out of here."  she
said.  

They both crawled across to the doorway and out into the hall drawing
their guns in the shrouded darkness  before rising to their full height
using the wall for support.     

"Do you think they would have surrounded the house?" Scully queried
automatically wanting to locate a means of escape.

"It's hard to say.    How long was I out for?"

"Only about thirty seconds."  

"That means they will probably storm the front door any moment now. 
We'll have to take our chances with going out the back."  

Mulder and Scully ran towards the back of the house knowing that time
was of the essence.   They reached the back door in the kitchen only to
find it deadlocked with no keys in sight.   Both of them looked at each
other knowing the desperation of their situation as they listened for the
breaking of the front door.

"Scully, it's been a couple of minutes since they shot Mr. Berz. 
Something's not right here."

Both their eyes widened to enormous proportions as they *knew* for
sure what was going on and raced for the nearest window.  Mulder
picked up a kitchen chair slamming it through the window shattering the
glass pane into miniscule pieces.  Scully threw a kitchen towel over the
jagged edges and Mulder helped her climb through before she
disappeared out of his sight.  He was just out of the window pane
jumping down the eight foot drop to level ground when he heard the
initial explosion begin within the house.

"Scully! Run!" 

Mulder gained his footing on the slippery grass his long legs easily
catching up to his partner.  As he drew level with her, he put his left
arm across her shoulders helping her to move faster away from the house
towards the forest area.  

All of a sudden, there was a series of small explosions before one final
blast lifted the two of them off their feet into the forest greenery. 
Mulder heard the spinning of tyres down the dirt road before his slipped
into unconsciousness.


ITHACA GENERAL HOSPITAL
ITHACA, NEW YORK
NOVEMBER 20, 1996


Mulder sat uncomfortably in the waiting room chair dressed in his usual
suit feeling the full effect of the bruises creating a mottled kaleidoscope
of colours all over his body.  He fingered the small piece of gauze
covering the indentation to his temple thinking how close they both came
this time.  So close to death yet also to the truth.

He stood as he caught sight of his auburn haired partner, her left arm in
a sling, coming down the hallway carrying a large stuffed toy in the form
of a green frog under her right arm.  The colour clashed abysmally with
her red pant suit and that frog was ugly!  Frohike had sent it to her as a
get well present and a reminder of himself.

"Couldn't get rid of it, right?" Mulder asked trying not to smirk.  She
had been up to the children's ward trying to leave it here.  

Scully scowled at him.  "Don't even ask, Mulder.  I couldn't even bribe
any kid into taking it."  She spat out the last word in distaste.

"Give it to me."  

Scully passed the luminous green toy to him eager to be relieved of
Frohike's bad taste.  Mulder walked up to a young child also in the
waiting area and after a few quiet words and a five dollar bill, he left the
obnoxious toy with the boy.  

"I don't know how you do it, Mulder" she said shaking her head. 

They both slipped into their own thoughts as they walked side by side
out of the hospital.  

They had both been released that morning after twelve hours
observation for concussion.  Scully's bullet wound had been patched up,
it having cleared through her shoulder with minimal damage.

"How did he find us Mulder?"  Scully looked up at her tall partner whose
face was looking quite comical with all its multicolours. 

"Skinner claims he received a message that we were still investigating
the disappearance of Dr. Subanzki and was coming up to escort us back
to D.C.  The message was a warning.  It even stipulated our location."  

"Who do you think it was?  X?" Scully asked quietly.

"No.  I don't think so.  They way the information was provided, I have an
idea that it was one of *them* again." Mulder said simply.

They reflected over the events of the previous day.  Skinner had found
them both unconscious on the edge of the forest clearing near the house
which was no longer having been blown up incinerating every piece of
evidence inside.  Their car also came to grief under similar
circumstances destroying Scully's laptop and their files.  

"They've managed to destroy all evidence, Scully.  There's no proof."
Mulder was despondent.  "Scully, I want to believe but how can I do that
without evidence."

"Mulder, I believe that there is a shadow Government are performing
tests on innocent humans.  I saw it for myself in West Virginia and now
*I* want to find the proof." 

Mulder watched the determination flash through the clear blue of
Scully's eyes.  He turned her to face him.

"We will find the truth, Scully.  They may have succeeded this time but
we will win and we will get justice."


FINITO!

Thanks for reading .  I hope you enjoyed it.

End 8/8