The old man almost smiled. "They won't believe it."
Donna watched the sheriff's car speed away, dust swirling into rooster tails from its rear tires. She knew his ego had taken a fierce beating because he hadn't yet been able to locate the cult behind the atrocities, but she didn't think he or the city police were looking in the right place. Haunting the downtown Albuquerque bars and sending undercover men to the university wasn't going to accomplish anything but pay out more overtime.
She squinted at the sky, saw nothing but a wisp of a cloud that looked lost amid all that washed-out blue.
The Journal and the Tribune were screaming for someone's blood, and if Sparrow didn't watch out, it was going to be his.
Not, she thought sourly as she headed back to her car, that it was any concern of hers. He was a big boy. He could take care of himself. Just because he never paid her any mind whenever she tried to give him a hand, just because he thought she was a little off-center, just because he never gave her the time of day unless she asked him right out…
"Shit," she said, and kicked at the Cherokee's front tire. "Idiot."
She swung herself in, hissing sharply when her fingers grabbed the hot steering wheel and snapped away. A pair of colorless work gloves lay on the passenger seat, and she slipped them on, glancing in the rearview mirror, then looking toward the hill and the cloud of flies that marked the steer's carcass. Her stomach lurched; a slow deep breath settled it.
This wasn't like her at all.
She had seen worse out in the desert, and much worse in town, after a knife fight or a shooting. She had no idea why this spooked her so much.
A quick turn of the key fired the engine, and another glance in the rearview nearly made her scream.
A pickup more rust and dust than red streaked directly toward her rear bumper, sunlight exploding from the windshield, the grill like a mouth of gleaming shark's teeth.
She braced herself for the impact, but the truck swerved at the last second, slowed abruptly, and passed her so sedately she wondered if it had really been speeding at all, if it hadn't been her imagination.
A look to her right, and the other driver stared back.
Oh God, she thought.
A gray hat pulled low, black sunglasses, long black hair in a ponytail that reached to the center of the man's back.
Leon Ciola.
She didn't realize she was holding her breath until the pickup disappeared ahead of the dust its tires raised; then she sagged against the seat, tilted her head back, and closed her eyes. Air conditioning spilled across her lap; she shivered but didn't turn it down or deflect it elsewhere. She kept her eyes closed until she couldn't stand it. When they opened, she was alone; even the dust had gone.
Go, she ordered as she swallowed dryly; go home, girl.
It took her ten minutes before she could take the wheel again without shaking, another ten minutes before she realized she wasn't moving and tromped on the accelerator, ignoring the machine gun that rattled beneath the carriage, fighting the fishtail until the vehicle straightened, and the sun made her blind to everything but the road.
Home first, and a drink. Then she would call Sparrow and tell him Ciola was back.
She had a feeling the sheriff would be royally pissed.
The younger man stood, mock-groaning as he rubbed the small of his back and stretched his legs to relieve the stiffness. He tried again:
"Dugan, we can't let this happen. It will ruin everything we've worked for."
The old man didn't rise, didn't look back. His gaze "seemed to focus on the dust clouds in the distance. "We can't stop it, Nick."
"Maybe not, but we can stop him."
"We don't know for sure."
But damnit, we do, the younger man thought angrily; we know damn well it's him, and we're doing nothing about it. Nothing at all.
Asked softly: "What if you're wrong?"
Nick shook his head, though he knew the old man couldn't see it. "If I am wrong, what have we lost? The Anglos come in, they look around, they go away, we're left alone. What have we lost, Dugan?"
Answered softly: "What is ours."
Again the younger man shook his head. This was an argument as old as he, and older: let more of the world in, it can be done without loss, we have television and radio, for crying out loud; or, keep the world out because it has nothing to do with what makes us what we are.
It was the reason the young were leaving, many of them not coming back.
In a single motion so rapid and smooth it seemed like no motion at all, the old man was on his feet, dusting off his pants, checking the time by the sun. Without speaking he walked to the top of the hill, Nick following to one side and a step behind. When they reached the crest, Dugan pointed to the pale ghost of the moon.
"One more night and it will be done."
Nick said nothing, and the silence spelled his doubt.
"One more night” The old man took his arm; the way down into the valley was slippery and steep. "It takes faith these days, you know." The hint of a smile. "A lot more than it used to, I'm afraid. But it is there."
It wasn't the faith Nick worried about. He had it, too, and even during his time in the outside world, he had kept it.
It wasn't the faith.
It was the killing.
It was what the killing would bring.
SIX
Mulder strolled into his office whistling. It was the kind of day that began with a gorgeous, unreal sunrise, Hollywood at its best, and carried that so well, he was half-afraid he was earning. The heat wave had broken three days before, bringing springlike temperatures to the capital, light showers at night to wash the streets, and a steady breeze that had thus far kept pollution from hazing the blue sky.
Leaves weren't dusty, the flowers were bright… it was so utterly perfect, it was damn close to sickening.
But he'd take it. He wasn't that much of a fool.
It took a second for him to notice Scully in his chair.
"Morning," he said brightly.
Since the meeting with Skinner, he had resolved two more knots in two more cases that had been bugging him for weeks. For a change, the agents involved were openly and immediately grateful; egos weren't bruised, and two more of the bad guys were on their way to capture.
He also wasn't surprised that Beth Neuhouse, unlike Bournell, hadn't come around to apologize for her behavior In fact, he hadn't seen her for a week, another sign that life was good and maybe he'd been mistaken about the reprimand setup.
All he needed now was a generous supply of sunflower seeds, and things would be perfect.
"So what's up?" he asked, dropping his briefcase beside an overloaded desk, Scully reached down beside her, and tossed him a plastic bag.
He caught it against his chest one-handed and held it up. It was a half-pound of sunflower seeds. He smiled. A sign; it had to be a sign. The smile turned to suspicion. "You hate it when I eat these things. It gets messy. You hate messy." He hefted the bag. "What's the catch?"
She shrugged innocently and reached down again, into her own briefcase. She wore a green suit and loose matching blouse fastened at the collar.
"What's the catch, Scully?" he repeated, tossing the bag onto his desk.
She held up a folder, waggled it, and placed it in her lap almost primly.
He stared at the folder, at her, and at the sunflower seeds. They were definitely a sign, and he had no intention of reading it.
Scully smiled faintly at his expression. "Don't worry. You'll probably like this one."
He waited.
She settled back in the chair. "So, what do you know about cattle mutilations?"
"Oh, please, Scully, not that again, please." He crossed to a wheeled office chair and dropped into it, swiveling around to face her as he crossed his legs at the knee. He wasn't going to answer what was obviously a rhetorical question, until he realized he had to. She was preparing him, preparing his mind for something "ordinary" didn't describe.