The History Maker

Written by Phil Colvin,Mon Aug 17 14:40:33 US/Pacific 1998

“Yes it’s true to say that when people pray, with the fire of God and the truth in hand, we’ll see miracles. We’ll see broken hearts making history.” (History Maker, Deliriou5?)

PEOPLES' REPUBLIC OF KROJAN

16:02 PM

The island appeared through a thin mist. First the outline, then visible landforms of hills and lakes before finally settling into a green patchwork of natural jungle and human settlement clutched around the shorelines and fresh water supplies. It reminded Gabriel of the scenes in Jurassic Park as the party arrived at the mysterious island not knowing what to expect before being plunged into a chaos.....it was understandable that Gabriel wasn’t exactly thrilled at the prospect of having to actually explore this place.

Of all the hundreds of things he’d neglected to find out about this place before setting off, the most blatant at this point was the location of the weapon itself. Mulder had referred to the island as ‘small’, but now in view it was clearly the size of a major state. It could take days to walk from one end to the other, and Gabriel didn’t care to think what vicious wildlife may be inhabiting the jungle. In front of him, the pilot was beginning a descent and was clearly waiting for some sort of directions to land. Anxiously, Gabriel scanned the landscape for clues of either the location or the presence of the prophet. The settlements were small villages, too small to be of any real importance. There was one major town, sprawled across both sides of the main river. That must be the capital. No doubt news would be filtering in about the incident in New Orleans, that meant the place would be in chaos and probably not up to helping a Schattenjager finding their supposedly top secret weapon of mass destruction.

The pilot circled the centre of the island, the back of one of the main hills came into view. On it was a large modern domed structure, like the Headquarters of some mad villain in a Bond movie. And as in any movie, it stuck out like a sore thumb. The pilot saw it too and was already manoeuvring the helicopter towards it. Hopefully he would be able to land, or there would be a winch or something to get Gabriel down there as quickly as possible. He had little idea about this weapon, but he was willing to bet that if that dome opened, it would be bad news for everyone. There was no sign of life, maybe he’d beaten General Fortz to the goal but with all that mist he might well have flown straight over them. And no prophet either, but based on past experience Gabriel wouldn’t be surprised if that guy simply walked water all the way from New Orleans. The helicopter descended further, down towards the dome.

NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT

Scully looked at her watch again. Another hour in this cell and still no sign of them being let out. It looked as if Mulder’s hypothesis was right. Fortz was simply going to leave them rotting in there, out of harm’s way whilst he was playing the madman down in good ol’ Krojan. She looked out of the small window, not that she could see anything through the thickly glazed glass but it beat looking at four grey walls. Mulder was lying on the small bed quietly munching on the sunflower seeds he’d managed to keep away from the officials at the front desk. If he was about to be wiped off the face of the Earth, he didn’t want the taste of prison food to be the last he sampled. It was a surprise, almost a revelation, when the door of the cell swung open. Colonel Jackson walked in, alone. He wasn’t carrying any little sheets from Fortz this time. He looked worried, and apologetic.

“I’ve....come to release you....” it was the voice of a man who had been resigned to perform the action after hours of arguing. Obviously there were some allies in this place.

“And there I was thinking you’d forgotten about me and my cast iron alibi”, sighed Mulder.

“Your alibi did check out, Agent Mulder”, more resignation to the fact that the evidence outweighed the conjecture, “We just had some.....paperwork....to sort out.”

“Don’t bother explaining it to us”, said Scully, “You’d do better saving it for the tribunal you’ll be facing when all this is over.” Whether or not that would be a military tribunal or supreme judgement was obviously something Scully hadn’t fully decided upon. She still doubted Mulder’s theory, even in light of Fortz’s own actions. Mulder just glared at Jackson as he moved away from the door and let the agents out.

“If it’s any comfort...I’m really sorry”, he said without any tone of apology in his voice. Mulder nodded before swinging is arm back and punching Jackson full in the face. The colonel staggered back, blood pouring out of his nose.

“Yeah, I feel better already”, murmured Mulder.

“You’ll regret that!”, shouted Jackson clutching his face, “I can send YOU up in front of a tribunal for assault!” Mulder shrugged, punched him again. This time the colonel ended up on the floor.

“Did you see anything, Agent Scully?”, asked Mulder. She shrugged.

“Not a thing, Agent Mulder.” Mulder turned to Jackson and shrugged himself.

“Your imagination must be in overdrive today, Colonel. Maybe you should consider some holiday leave....” and with that both agents stepped over him and headed for the front of the station.

The scene was still chaotic. People still trying to find out what had happened and where to go to find their injured friends and relatives. It was obvious that there weren’t going to be any officers free to help them. Mulder was wondering out phoning one of his sources, maybe his contact at the United Nations might know something....then Scully pointed out an office behind the desk.

“It looks like Detective Mosely is here....maybe he can help us?” She walked over to the door and knocked. No answer for a second, she could hear someone walking over to the door.

“Is that you, Knight?”, came the call as the door swung open. Mosely sighed when he saw that it wasn’t. “You two still here? I thought they let you out....”

“They just did”, said Scully.

“Well that must be frickin’ nice for you”, he muttered. His initial reports had said that these agents had been responsible for the tragedy and he wasn’t in a forgiving mood at the moment. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do...” He began to shut the door, but Mulder stuck a foot in it.

“One question....You seemed to be expecting to see Gabriel Knight, where is he?” The two men exchanged only casual stares. Mosely apparently didn’t want to give anything away. He only shrugged.

“Could be anyway, haven’t seen him since this morning...”

“Cut the crap, Mossey.”

“Mosely”

“Whatever....I want to know where he is....Or can I have a guess?” Mosely didn’t say anything, almost confirming Mulder’s suspicion before he aired it.

“He’s gone to Krojan, hasn’t he?”, asked the agent, “He’s gone thinking that he’s going to stop a madman with his divine influence and German ancestry’.”

“Like I said, Mulder....I dunno.”

“Well, let’s assume that he is there”, Mulder leant against the doorpost in his ‘matter of fact’ way. “And then let’s assume that he’s wrong and that it’s actually General Fortz on that island. In that eventuality, your friend Mr. Knight will find himself facing over a dozen fully armed soldiers instead of just one madman....do you trust the ol’ power of God to get him out of that one? Or shall we add his name to the list of people who’ve been killed in this thing already?” He shot Mosely enough of a glare to ram the point home. The detective sighed.

“You’re right, he’s in Krojan. But he’s not alone. Grace and that John Keller guy have gone over there too....”

“Great”, sighed Scully, “Now we have both General Fortz and the man we suspect of being his accomplice running amok on the island.”

“Accomplice?”

“We believe that John Keller is mixed up in this conspiracy, maybe using his church’s media influence to bring publicity to Fortz’s defection and what’s going to happen in Krojan. That puts both Gabriel and Grace in danger, do you want to see them BOTH die?” That was the crunch point. Mosely had known Gabriel for so long that it was just normal for his friend to start risking his butt and getting beaten up....but Grace was a different matter. She wasn’t the same and definitely didn’t deserve to die because of Gabriel’s foolishness.

“We need to get to Krojan”, said Scully firmly, “Can you provide us with transport?”

“Maybe a helicopter”, suggested Mulder. It was at that point when Mosely gave another groan and banged his head against the door. Mulder shrugged. “Something I said?”

PEOPLES' REPUBLIC OF KROJAN

Gabriel slowly hacked his way through the lush jungle surrounding him. As it had transpired, the nearest available landing spot had been a pasture field almost two miles from the hill where the dome was located. Gabriel’s pleas to try and get nearer had been met with the usual refusal of a group who didn’t want to be flying their helicopter to this island in the first place and only did it to avoid the NOPD finding out about their unpaid licences. As they landed, the co-pilot handed Gabriel a machete and no further instruction except to make sure it came back in one piece, even if he didn’t.

“Who the hell do they think I am?”, he had thought to himself, “Indiana Jones?” At least they’d agreed to stay here and take him back. He felt better knowing he could get out of this place quickly if he ran into an undead army or something worse. Gabriel’s only other similar experience had been at the Bayou St. John and this was a lot different. For one thing,. the Bayou may have had wildlife but not a snake on every single branch. It was like being in a zoo cage, he felt surrounded by horrible ‘living’ things. The other problem was the climate. It was dull and grey above him, clouds filling the sky as far as the eye could see. But it was a very warm climate, making the jungle muggy and wet. Definitely not the best conditions to be wandering around wearing a long coat. He also didn’t have the familiar comfort, or the reassuring weight, of the talisman around his neck. He had a feeling he’d see it again soon, in the hands of his foe. Gabriel could only hope that it wouldn’t be turned against him in the same way Tetelo had managed to draw upon it for strength.

It seemed to be taking hours, but in reality he had only been in the jungle for twenty minutes or so. At least the intactness of the jungle prison meant that nobody had come through this way recently, Gabriel was making a heck of a mess and so would notice any similar paths cut in the trees. Unless, of course, somebody had gone a different way. But the small comfort of thinking he was alone was the only comfort he had at this moment....Then, with no warning whatsoever, Gabriel hacked through a tree into open space. The jungle just stopped, abruptly. It was obvious that it had been cut back, and it didn’t take long for Gabriel to see why. In front of him now was a high metal fence. Very new, very unused. It stuck out in bold contrast to the trees behind him. There were no warning signs or threats of ‘certain death if you pass this point’, but then this wasn’t the sort of place that people were likely to stumble over. Gabriel decided that he didn’t fancy climbing today and began following the fence around to look for some sort of gate or entrance.

The dome was coming into view now. Behind the fence was the hill where it was housed so as Gabriel circled the fence he was circling the hill. It seemed logical that the gate would be near the dome so he hurried around to that point. It didn’t take him long to find, in fact it was very easy to distinguish.....in the fencing by the main padlocked gate was a hole, cut with wire clippers. And the unmistakable site of bootprints leading through it and into the base.....recent bootprints.

MILITARY FACILITY, KROJAN

16:54 PM

Gabriel stepped gingerly up the path cut into the hill. He was scared now, scared because he knew for certain that someone would be here. And he had no doubt who it was...and which particular Schattenjager they were waiting for. He still had the machete, but fighting with knives wasn’t Gabriel’s speciality. He’d probably end up slitting his own throat by accident, at least it would save his assailant some time. Giving him more time to destroy the world, and whatever.

The dome was at the top of a far larger complex. It was all one building, though, no outposts or barracks. This was an un-manned facility. Hopefully, that meant there would be no other weapons around for the prophet guy to use. It also meant that Gabriel was truly alone...but he was kinda used to that by now. Now he was approaching the building, he could see that the main door was open. The main padlock lay broken on the ground beside it. Gabriel examined it. It appeared whoever was here had used pretty hefty bolt cutter to cut the thing clean away.

“Jesus...”, thought Gabriel, “This guy is a flippin’ walking toolbox....” So much for the unarmed theory, this guy probably had enough implements to not only kill Gabriel but to also make a nice matching table and chair set out of his bones afterwards. But given the wondrous nature of this man and the strength he had displayed before in the murder of Celia Keller and the assault on Gabriel, it seemed weird that he’d rely on such normal tools. Maybe that talisman was having a positive effect in weakening his foe, zapping his strength or something. Or maybe it was just common sense seeing how thick this metal was. Even super-human strength had its limits.

Gabriel made up his mind that he just had to get in there and do something. There was no doubt that someone was inside and if that meant they were closer to using this weapon, whatever the hell it was, then that was a bad thing. Mustering all the bravery he could and whispering another quiet prayer to the surrounding wildlife, he stepped straight through the door.....Silence, thank God. No immediate danger, nothing to dive out of the way from. It gave Gabriel a few minutes to check around him. The inside of the facility was basically one giant room. Above him, he could make out another floor. Above that would be the dome itself. Around him were computers, stairs leading onto dark balconies and doors with red lights above them. No security systems were evident, although ‘Mr. Toolbox’ had probably dealt with those already.

Gabriel couldn’t help making the same comparison to the honfour under Jackson Square. The emptiness of the building and the technology which added to some sort of nightmare chamber. He wondered if the prophet was behind one of those doors now, waiting for him. Gabriel walked up and tried one. Unsurprisingly, locked up tight. A card-swipe was beside the door. Beside ALL the doors.

“I bet that General Fortz guy has a key....”, muttered Gabriel. He was hoping that Mulder’s theory was wrong and that Fortz wasn’t actually a traitor and would soon be here to help him take on his prey. It made more sense than what Mulder had said...and was more comforting. Not appearing to be in any immediate danger, Gabriel began climbing one of the staircases. The dark balconies were actually all connected, running all the way around the sides of the building. At the ends of these were lifts, again locked with the card-swipe locks. These obviously led upwards to the dome and the technology secreted therein......Then came the first weird noise of the day.

Along the side of the balcony, in the shadows. It was some sort of manual tool hitting or scraping metal. Gabriel tried to work out what that balcony would look like and where the noise was coming from exactly....Was it somebody trying to get into one of the lifts? Gabriel moved down the walkway as quietly as he could. As he drew into the shadows, he saw the outline of something. It was definitely a person, no doubt. As expected, he was crouching beside a lift door. Again, Gabriel began moving closer....now he could see for certain who it was. It was the prophet. He was crouched by the lift control panel holding a chisel. He appeared to either be trying to open the panel or to vandalise it, Gabriel couldn’t tell which. There was no sign of the talisman, whether that was a good or bad thing remained to be seen. Gabriel was just beginning to consider how he should approach this guy when suddenly, the man’s head jerked round as if it were on a spring. Gabriel must have made a noise or something. The prophet could see Gabriel, and Gabriel could see the prophet. They both stared at each other for a few seconds, both a little embarrassed given their respective predicaments.

“Well, I guess you got me”, sighed Gabriel, “You going to kill me now, or just beat me up again?”

“I’m not going to kill you, Gabriel. Quite frankly, I don’t know where you got that idea from.” And then he did something Gabriel hadn’t expected. He just turned back to the door and continued working. As if he had just addressed a fellow colleague or something. Gabriel stood, bemused.

“Err...I’m still here.....”

“I know.”

“Aren’t you going to blast me, now?”

“Do you want me to blast you?”

“Not really.”

“Well, you can consider yourself officially un-blasted. Now I have to get back to work.” He was focused on that panel, and now it was clear he was trying to open it. He had wedged the chisel underneath the casing and was trying to pull it off.

“It helps if you have a key card”, observed Gabriel.

“Yeah, well I don’t.” sighed the man, “And I need to get into this lift!”

“Why the rush? You got a timetable or something?”

“Let’s just say that I’m rather pressed for time.” He honestly didn’t seem to care! Gabriel decided he could take this either one of two ways. The first, and by far the most likely, was that this man was desperate to get his plan underway and so was concentrating on his task and would deal with Gabriel after the apocalypse, or whatever. The other was that maybe he actually didn’t want to kill Gabriel, or actually wanted Gabriel there. Funny he should choose now to get all chummy....

“Are you just going to stand there?”, asked the man.

“What do you suggest I do?”

“If you’re not busy, then I could really do with some help here....” Oh my God, Gabriel was thinking, this guy must have gone nuts or something!

“You expect ME to help YOU?”

“If it’s not too much bother...”

“In case you didn’t notice on our previous chats, I ain’t exactly your biggest fan.”

“Can’t we put our differences aside now, Gabriel? Can’t we let bygones be bygones?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Suit yourself” He refocused on the panel he was trying to break in to. With no apparent danger imminent, and with the weariness of his bush-whacking session, Gabriel sat down beside the lift doors. The man didn’t flinch, didn’t pull out a shotgun and blow his brains out. Just kept working, just with a mind on the job.

“I dunno about you, but I’m a little confused”, said Gabriel.

“I’m not confused.”

“Maybe you can help me, then. I need you to answer a few questions.”

“If I answer your questions, will you help me open this lift door?....Quid pro quo?” It was perhaps the strangest offer Gabriel could ever remember being given. In exchange for a few details about this man’s psyche he would have the privilege of helping him destroy humanity. But if he could get his talisman back before then, maybe he’d have a chance of stopping all this....

“All right....but I want my talisman first.”

“Sorry, Gabriel. I had good reason to take it and I see no good reason to give it back.”

“It’s my talisman, bud. That’s one hell of a good reason.”

“It doesn’t belong to you, Gabriel Knight. That talisman is....on loan....in a sense.”

“And what gives you the right to have it you murdering son of a “Let me get three things straight, Gabriel. First and foremost, I am not a son of a If that were true, I would be a dog....”

“Nothing gets past you, does it?”

“...Secondly, I have perfect right to take it away from you. But remember that I also have the right to give it back if you can prove to me that you deserve it.”

“Oh, thanks for the encouragement....What’s your third point?”

“As I have told you on many occasions, Gabriel, I am no murderer....Now we have clarified our positions, will you help me?” Gabriel sat back and thought this through. The tempting thing was to get out his machete and just end this charade, but if this guy was as mad as he sounded then he might well have hidden the talisman already. And without knowing it’s location, Gabriel would lose it for the Ritters again. The other point was that this guy sounded like he needed Gabriel’s help. If he didn’t get it, maybe he wouldn’t get those doors open and this whole thing would end without any blood spilled. Priority one, decided Gabriel, was the talisman. The Ritters went first, and so getting it back was Gabriel’s aim.

“It’s your choice, bud.” continued Gabriel, “No talisman, no help with the doors.”

“Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

“You don’t seem to be having much luck so far. And by the looks of this technology, I bet those things are almost impossible to break open.”

“Nothing is impossible.”

“But it’s going to take a while, right?”

“Right.”

“Now in case you’ve forgotten, a certain General Fortz is heading this way right now with some armed soldiers. I’m not expert, bud, but I’d say that the military move pretty fast....What do you think they’ll do when they find you? Invite you in for coffee?” Gabriel smiled as he said it, the effect on the man was evident as the realisation dawned. Then, without warning, the man lunged at Gabriel. He tried to get away, but couldn’t. He felt the man’s hands holding his arms. He looked and saw that the man wasn’t attacking him, just holding him and looking at him pleadingly.

“You’re right”, said the man, “I must stop them....WE must stop them. You have no choice Gabriel, You MUST help me!” The words came strongly and meaningfully. But Gabriel didn’t want to listen to any more of this crap, he struggled out of the man’s grip. Thankfully, he didn’t appear to be actually holding Gabriel down. He got up and looked down at the man who was on his hands and knees.

“You’ve got a nerve, bud. You threaten me, threaten my friends, kill an innocent woman, steal my talisman and now expect me to help you with your ridiculous plan!...I won’t do it, I ain’t going to betray my family.” Gabriel turned and began walking down the balcony. Behind him, the man was making little sound. Gabriel even though he heard him sobbing quietly. Mad “I knew you were headstrong”, he called out, “I knew that you were impetuous. I knew that you would get involved in this. But I never thought that you would condemn so many to a death so horrible!”

“And what does that make you?!”, shouted Gabriel, “The man who intends to actually kill them! You’re asking me to do the impossible by going against everything I believe in!”

“You’ve got it wrong, Gabriel. You always did. And if you walk away now, you’ll never know the truth.”

“What is the truth?”

“I am not here to kill anyone. I did see a prophecy of blood and death and suffering and I saw the man who would initiate it. His name is General Fortz....”

“I’ve heard this one. Agent Mulder came up with a similar theory.....But you said that you were sent by God because of this prophecy...”

“Indeed I was, and I was sent to do God’s work. To save this world, not to end it! I have come here to stop General Fortz and to stop the destiny which has been written by getting to this weapon and shutting it down. I’m here to change things which otherwise will be destined to happen.”

“You’re trying to tell me....that you’re here to STOP the prophecy?”

“Yes.” He looked into Gabriel’s eyes with a sincerity which was reserved for lawyers informing clients of their fees and parents telling their kids the truth about Santa Claus. And like the opposite party, all the thoughts in Gabriel’s brain spun into overdrive at the revelation. The man had approached Gabriel now, was standing next to him. But Gabriel’s mind just refused to accept all this, not after today’s carnage....not after Celia Keller’s broken body....

“Now hang on a sec....You can’t tell me that! Not after everything you’ve done!”

“What have I done?....I delivered a warning to the people of this city through the church, I told you to keep away because I knew you would not understand and I gave Celia Keller what she wanted so desperately.”

“What the are you talking about? You killed the woman!!”

“Yes, Gabriel. But only because she asked me.....she wanted to die.” He was looking into Gabriel’s eyes, and Gabriel was looking at his trying to find the sparkle which would prove all this was lies. But there was none. Just sincerity. And after maybe a minute of spinning out a new scenario and seeing things in a new light, he could only shake his head and mutter.

“But I’m so confused.....”

“I can explain everything, Gabriel. I promise you that I will. But unless you help me get these doors open so we can get to the weapon before Fortz, we’re not going to have a chance....Will you help me?...” Gabriel didn’t know what to do, just didn’t know how to react. Grace would know, she should have been here. Gabriel now regretted going alone on this one. Should he trust this man? Go against every urge and deduction he had made? Or was this a final ploy to use on the weakened Schattenjager?.....Gabriel just didn’t know what to think. He just had what he always had, instinct. And this time his instinct was being very clear, even if the rest of his mind wasn’t....

OUTSIDE FACILITY

17:34 PM

“Gabriel’s been here”, said Grace firmly as she pushed away the last of the foliage.

“How can you tell?”, asked John coming out behind her.

“I can smell that coat a mile off.... and there’s a set of bootprints going around the side of this fence. I only know one man with such bad taste in footwear.”

“There’s actually two sets”, observed John pointing to the gate and the same bootprints that Gabriel had seen before. “He must be here too.”

“We could already be too late....” breathed Grace, “Gabriel might already have done something stupid.” Grace had tried to get here as quick as the pilot would take them. The second helicopter Mosely found was in worse shape than the first, the pilot had insisted on landing the moment they found a safe spot. Luckily, that was close to Gabriel’s original helicopter. The crew hadn’t been much help, just pointed the way through the jungle. They hadn’t seen the prophet, which may have been a good thing. Grace had almost kicked herself when she and John had pieced together all the events of the past week. She wanted to blame Gabriel for being stupid.....she wanted to blame John for not telling her exactly what he knew about Celia’s death...but most of all she blamed herself for letting her feelings for John and her confusion over him block her investigative powers and missing all the signs that this wasn’t what it had appeared. She just wanted to find Gabriel, sit him down and explain everything from the top. But she knew there wasn’t time, especially if he was already in there with the prophet. There was no more time, she turned to John.

“I’m going in there alone”, she said firmly.

“Grace, that could be stupid....”

“It would be more stupid if you went in there too! Gabriel has convinced himself that you’re a part of a plan to blow up the Earth and I don’t think him seeing you will help elevate that fear!”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to have to explain everything to him.....About Celia....and her condition.”

“He might already know. If he didn’t kill that other man then he might have an explanation already.”

“I hope so. It’ll make everything else easier.” She turned towards the gate, then back to John.

“Listen...I don’t want to say goodbye or anything...but this might not turn out right.”

“You have to think positive, Grace! You must have faith!”

“I’m trying, believe me. But if I’m already too late and Gabriel is blowing chunks out of that guy....”

“Now you listen to me, Grace”, said John firmly, “You might be underestimating Gabriel. You told me yourself about how well he has handled himself in this Schattenjager thing. Now do you trust him in being able to distinguish good from evil?”

“I think so....”

“Then you just have to believe that he will see the true good in that man. We were both able to, and he killed my wife for goodness sake! Doesn’t that say something?”

“But Gabriel doesn’t have your faith, John. He doesn’t have your forgiveness.”

“Believe me, Grace. Even if you are a Christian, it doesn’t make it easier to forgive the man who killed your wife. But I can because I know why he did it. And you know why Gabriel does what he does!”

“Yeah. because he doesn’t think....period.”

“Because he does what he thinks is right! And sometimes that is enough!” He took Grace’s hand in the same way she had taken his on that night. He looked her in the eye.

“Have faith, Grace. Don’t let that go.” He took her in his arms and hugged her. Not romantically, but in a way that could convey more than all his words.

“I’ll go back to the helicopters”, he said, “I’ll be praying for you.”

“I know you will”, smiled Grace as she left his side and walked around the fence. John watched her go around the corner before ducking back into the jungle.

INSIDE MILITARY FACILITY

The day was moving on fast. Already the sun was hanging low, threatening to disappear at any time and plunge everything into darkness. Grace hoped she would have time, this place was creepy enough even without darkness. She had only seen a brief glimpse of the dome as the helicopter landed, and this was her first real look at it. She wasn’t exactly awed by the size of the thing, she’d seen taller buildings in New Orleans. But to have such a technological achievement in the middle of a country with a landscape so primal was.....well, an achievement she guessed. Shame that its only purpose was to make war, she wondered what the money from its construction could do for the local people. Thinking of war, she thought of Gabriel. She had that feeling in the pit of her stomach when she knew he was doing something wrong but he carried on regardless. And now she knew exactly how wrong he was...it was a bad, bad feeling. Grace didn’t note the tool work used to get into the facility, only observed that all the doors were open. Unlike Gabriel she was thinking of the whole thing on some sort of spiritual level. That this place designed to start and end wars was about to become the site for a war itself....but maybe without sides or purpose. She didn’t notice the ruffling of foliage around her, nor the sound of silent weapons being aimed. She didn’t notice anything until the gun was butted into her back.

“Turn around, please. Drop any weapons you might be carrying.” Grace complied, she wasn’t exactly in any position to argue. She found herself looking into the face of a familiar man. But not as she had ever seen him. It was General Fortz, she had recognised him from the considerable amount of television broadcasts and newspaper reports he had featured in. He was an American hero who had led countless campaigns. He was also the man Mulder and Scully had told her would be coming to Krojan to take control of the weapon and stop anybody using it. But he was dressed in full combat gear. And that even included the burnt cork on his face blackening his cheeks to provide camouflage. His thin lips and piercing eyes made him look like a snake, perfectly camouflaged into his environment.

“Who are you?” he asked as he looked her over. Grace didn’t know whether she should announce her knowledge of this operation or play ignorant. But with the gun in her chest, ignorance sounded like a nice option.

“My name is Grace Nakamura. I’m a tourist lost in the jungle.”

“A tourist? Here?....I find that hard to believe.”

“I just love unusual holidays.”

“Well, trespassing on military property is pretty unusual....And I think the only souvenir you’ll be taking home is a spying charge.”

“Am I under arrest?”

“In a manner of speaking.” He motioned towards the trees. A dozen camouflaged soldiers walked out. A whole unit. Maybe now was the time to start getting herself out of this.

“All right, so I’m not really a tourist....”

“You do surprise me.”

“...I was referred here by Agents Mulder and Scully. I believe they’re working for you.” Well, it brought out a reaction. However, it wasn’t the one Grace had wanted. Fortz’s expression turned from annoyance to pure hatred. It was then that Grace realised this wasn’t as it seemed, and that maybe Fortz’s presence on this island wasn’t for the good of national security.

“Are they here?”, he asked, “Are they inside?”

“No, as I said, I’m alone.”

“But you’ve already lied, Miss Nakamura. I don’t see why you shouldn’t be lying right now.”

“It’s the truth. Mulder and Scully told me about this place and I wanted to see it for myself.”

“A word of advice, Miss Nakamura. You should choose your friends, and your holiday destinations, more carefully.” He put away his larger gun and took out a small automatic. Grace swallowed hard as he put it against her head and held her against him. “However, if you do know them, and they are here, then your trip might not be an entirely wasted one. In all my years of service, I’ve learned many times over that the way to peoples’ hearts is through friends and hostages.”

“Am I a hostage?”, quivered Grace.

“Let’s just say that the holiday’s over.” smiled Fortz. Not a nice smile, not a nice man. Now Grace was forming a picture in her head, the same one that Mulder had formed earlier that day. The picture that there was someone trying to fire that weapon, and now she had eliminated the prophet, it left few options....and then she realised the magnitude of her situation. With Grace held tightly, Fortz barked orders and his troops moved in towards the facility.

MILITARY FACILITY

“It’s still not opening!”, shouted Gabriel as the switch clicked again, “Try something else!”

“I’m running out of options here...”, replied the prophet. “Short of blowing this thing up I don’t know how to break the mechanism.”

“There has to be something you can do with that toolbox of yours! It’s bigger than you are, for Christ’s sake!”

“Don’t blaspheme.” Gabriel was abut to shout something back but he decided not to get into a ‘theological discussion’ at this time. Against his better judgement, he was actually helping the prophet to get the lift doors open. He didn’t know exactly why. Maybe he was more scared of the alternative, leaving here and watching the world blow up. Or maybe he was curious about what was truly above them. Or maybe he was actually believing this guy....but a full explanation for the past few days was not forthcoming. That instinct of his had told him to trust this guy, and with no better judgement to go on that was exactly what he was doing. At the moment, priority one was the lift. Gabriel had given up on the talisman for now, maybe he’d be able to acquire that information at a later time. But the only way to get information out of this guy was to help him, and these wasn’t exactly much else to do in this stupid place before the military arrived to either save Gabriel or kill him.

“Try it now.” sighed the prophet, “It’s as good as I can manage!” He was holding tools inside the panel. Gabriel once again gripped both sides of the door and tried to pull them apart, but once again they were jammed shut. It was like trying to open that sacrificial table in Benin.....as if it required something more...well, Gabriel actually knew that it did. A keycard. But one of those wasn’t exactly forthcoming.

“I’m running out of ideas.” said the prophet. Gabriel sighed and looked inside the panel. It was a complicated mess of wires, lights and circuit boards. The sort of crap some guys got their thrills out of. It just gave Gabriel a headache.

“What happens if we just don’t bother, wait until Fortz arrives with a keycard, get hold of the keycard and use it ourselves?”

“Trust me on this, Gabriel. We don’t want to see Fortz until we have destroyed the weapon. It’s the only way of ensuring that he won’t use it.”

“IF he’s planning to use it at all...I still only trust you as far as I can throw Manhattan.”

“I can offer you nothing more, Gabriel.”

“You can give me a explanation.”

“Explanation of what?” Gabriel was silent. He had millions of questions he wanted answering, thousands of things he waned to say. But he couldn’t think of how to say them. “Look, Gabriel, I know you want answers. And I so desperately want you to know the truth! But we MUST get into this lift!” he turned their attention back to the panel. Gabriel looked at it and pulled out his machete.

“What are you doing?”, asked the prophet.

“Just a little something I learned in my elementary electronics class....” and with that he dug the machete straight into the panel and began cutting through the electronics inside. Lights switched off, circuits were broken. Then Gabriel got up and tried the doors, they pulled apart easily. Light flooded out from the lift inside. The prophet turned to Gabriel in fascination.

“That’s quite a trick!”

“Yep, I was always top of my class.” Gabriel decided not to tell the man that the purpose of his little sabotage had only been to loosen the boards at the back of the panel and that his elementary electronics had ended rather nastily when he’d nearly killed Mosely with a home-made hand buzzer which ran on mains electricity.

“I still don’t know why I’m trusting you.” sighed Gabriel as they got in the lift, “This could still all be a lie and you could actually be going up there to fire the weapon and your explanation could just me a ploy to get me to help you.”

“So why are you helping me?”

“Because for some stupid reason, I’m beginning to well trust you!”

“Maybe there is some of that Ritter instinct in you, Gabriel.”

“Does that mean I get my talisman yet?”

“I said you had instinct, Gabriel....That doesn’t mean you know how to use it.” The man turned and began examining the main controls. There only appeared to be two buttons on the panel, and considering this floor was one of them it made the choice easier. But as they were about to get on their way, they were interrupted by noises from the ground below. Gabriel signalled to the prophet to keep quiet whist he crept forward to the edge of the balcony. Below him, he could see people coming in through the door. He could hear voices but couldn’t make out the words. It was soldiers, definitely. And most likely General Fortz’s men. Behind him, the prophet just stayed in the lift. He didn’t seem bothered by the intrusion, in fact he seemed desperate for Gabriel to just ignore them and get back in the lift. Whatever his intentions were, he was utterly desperate to get at that weapon. Gabriel weighed up the options, maybe it would be better to get out of these peoples’ way. If the prophet was telling the truth, then these soldiers would undoubtedly be killing anyone in this facility. Gabriel was preparing to step back towards the lift when he caught a familiar voice among the soldiers. His heart almost froze with the recognition of the female voice.

“You can’t do this to me! I’m an American!” It was Grace, no mistake. And as always in these situations, thanks to the strange variety of ‘self help’ books she seemed to have read, she was turning her fear into anger. Stick her in a vat of oil in front of a load of cannibals and her last words would probably be a threat to stick the American consul on them. He could just see her now in the far shadows, she was being held by someone, or something, and unless she’d recently grown a new head, there was something nasty pointed at her own. Gabriel should have been glad to see her, he had thought John Keller might have done something to her. But not like this, not now that he suspected these men of being willing to kill. And that changed everything, this whole situation. He turned to the prophet who was still itching to go but Gabriel only shook his head.

“Sorry, bud”, he was thinking, “But this changes all our plans. We’ve got some superhero stuff to do first.” He was motioning to the prophet to come out of the lift and fully expected the man to comply. But he didn’t. He just stood and shook his head at Gabriel. And before Gabriel could argue, he had pressed one of the buttons on the control panel and the lift doors began closing. As the prophet disappeared behind them, Gabriel saw him mouthing a single word, “Sorry.”

If there had been a couple more seconds then Gabriel might easily have ran and tried to stop the doors closing. But there wasn’t, and the man was gone. Gabriel didn’t know how to feel. Had he just been betrayed? It felt like it. Of course, the prophet didn’t have any special affliction to Grace. But the moment Gabriel saw it was her they had down there, he KNEW that he couldn’t leave. He knew he had to do something...and surely the prophet had known that. Gabriel wanted to swear and curse at the man who’d just left him standing her, but he couldn’t. Might as well turn his attention back to the matter in hand, there would be time to deal with everything else later. When he looked over the balcony again, there were less solders than before. He saw one of them entering a previously locked door. The facility was being searched. Gabriel gulped, surely it wouldn’t be long before he was discovered....he sighed, looked at the doors just in case it was all a mistake and the prophet came back to help Grace. But he didn’t. That guy was obsessed either with saving the world or fulfilling his own urges. And with all those armed guards now searching the facility, he’d be found too. Now it was only General Fortz and Grace in the main area. One on one. It was back to Gabriel’s instinct again....

“I’m not armed!”, came the call from the staircase. Fortz turned to the direction of the voice. “So you don’t need to point stuff at me!”

“Show yourself.” rasped Fortz. He was a little surprised to find himself not staring into the eyes of an FBI agent, but into those of a distinctly normal person with awful hair who was wearing a ridiculous trenchcoat. And Fortz recognised him, it was the same man he’s brought in for interrogation over the death of Celia Keller. The one who Mulder had framed.

“I believe I’m addressing General Fortz?”, asked Gabriel.

“That’s right. And I believe you are Gabriel Knight.”

“How nice of you to remember....” Fortz could see that Knight’s attention was not on him, but on the person he was holding with a gun to her head.

“I’m assuming that this is your friend...”

“That’s right, bud, and I’d like you to let go of her.”

“Who else is here? Are Mulder and Scully with you?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but they were arrested back in New Orleans.”

“Then I’m a little confused, Gabriel. If they are not here, then why are you?”

“I’m here to stop a mad psycho from using a weapon to kill millions of innocent people...”

“It looks like you’ve been speaking to Agent Mulder.”

“Yeah, it was one of his crackpot theories...but when I see a man with a gun to the head of a defenceless woman, I have to wonder if the crackpot is cleverer than I first guessed....” Whilst he was speaking, Gabriel was keeping eye contact with Grace. He was scanning her for injuries, none evident thank God. Fortz wasn’t strangling her, but that arm over her neck looked as painful as a certain snake Gabriel had bad memories of...Grace was eyeing him, too. Maybe trying to send Morse Code messages with her eyelids. Tough luck that Gabriel didn’t know any morse code.

“I’m afraid that I am curious, Mr. Knight.” drawled Fortz, “Why come unarmed and ill equipped if you want to stop...a madman?”

“I’m not ill equipped, bud. I’m the Schattenjager. In case you aren’t familiar with my family of shadow hunters then I’ll give you a brief resume.” If Gabriel sounded confident, he wasn’t. It was just an act to try and make Grace feel more secure, it wasn’t working, Grace could tell he was scared, as well. “We’re a family of guys who through the centuries have fought against the forces of evil and darkness. We deal with all sorts of horrible slimy monsters and groups that think they have the power to destroy all that is just. It’s a duty, and one we’re good at.”

“This is enchanting, Mr. Knight. But let me ask you: Is your shadow hunting any match for a loaded Smith and Weston pointed at your head? Because if not, I suggest you spare a thought for your friend here and shut up.” He dug the gun further into Grace’s hair.

“You would really kill her?” said Gabriel in a tone of anger and disgust, “She’s an innocent, it!”

“We call it ‘collateral damage’, Gabriel. It sounds better on CNN.”

“You Gabriel couldn’t believe how sick this guy was! He’d heard how men had been deranged by war and gone loopy, but this guy seemed sane. He knew exactly what he was doing! And that made him as frightening as any slimy monster. “What sort of General goes around killing defenceless women?!”

“One who knows that some must die for the good of many. And seeing as you don’t understand the reasoning behind my actions, I don’t see how you and your little shadow hunting friend could comprehend this....” Maybe it was just a gut reaction from blind panic, or some sort of reflex action to the danger, but Gabriel could swear that Grace was trying to tell him something. Throughout the last minute or so of conversation, she’d been squirming in Fortz’s grip. Not so he noticed, but it had allowed her to push her arm right up to her head. As if she were preparing to do a fancy tai-chi move...then Gabriel realised that she was trying to get him to make a distraction. He looked back up at Fortz.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Maybe I can’t stop you. But at least if I’m here in this building when you fire the weapon, I won’t get killed.”

“Very true, Gabriel. That’s why I’m going to blow your head off before-hand.”

“Well...I don’t want you to go to any trouble....” He was watching Grace slowly bring her arms into position. Gabriel didn’t know any tai-chi, he frankly couldn’t care less, but he realised that the gun was going to be the problem. If Grace got this wrong, she’d get a bullet in the brain.

“You’ve gone very quiet, Mr. Knight.” said Fortz coldly, “Have you been struck dumb?”

“No, I just didn’t have anything to say. I was always taught that it’s stupid to open your mouth without reason and say things you don’t mean, otherwise you could get yourself into all sorts of trouble...trouble you didn’t even see coming...” Unfortunately, the cryptic nature of the comment aroused Fortz’s suspicions. He looked down at Grace, but it was too late anyway. Pulling with some strength Gabriel didn’t even know she had, she forced Fortz’s gun hand away and appeared to poke it or something before ducking down and pushing herself away. Gabriel thought she was crazy, then he heard the yelp of pain from Fortz. He saw that the General’s arm was hanging down, almost limp. As if it were dead. He dropped the gun, he couldn’t hold it. Gabriel ran over and kicked it away then grabbed Grace and pulled her up.

“What the hell did you do?”

“Just a nice sensory block I picked up in an old manual, a sharp impact on the nerve in the right place can cut off all impulses.” Fortz by now was screaming in a mixture of pain and rage. He turned to Grace.

“Don’t worry, it’s only temporary....feeling will return to it soon.”

“Feelings???!!!! I’ll give you feelings!!!!” he began running towards them, Gabriel pulled Grace towards the stairs. But neither of them had the strength to out run Fortz. If his arms had both been working, he could easily have ripped them both in two. But now he just jabbed in the air trying to hurt them. One of his wild blows connected with Gabriel, sent him onto the floor. He stood over his fallen prey, prepared for some sort of kill blow.

A shot rang out.

Gabriel closed his eyes, waited for the pain. It didn’t come. He hadn’t been shot. He turned his body to the door. Agent Scully stood there, gun aimed at Fortz. Her first bullet had gone over his head.

“Step away from him, General Fortz” came the shout from Agent Mulder, who was already running towards them. The General gave the new arrivals a look of rage, thought about what to do and then decided retreat was the best option before heading towards the nearest lift. It was closing just as Mulder reached it. “See you in hell.” grimaced Fortz as the doors slammed shut.

INSIDE MILITARY FACILITY

18:01 PM

Mulder tried once again to dial out on his cell phone. But he just kept getting static. It was surprising considering the huge amount of electronic equipment herein and the influence it had on radio waves, but it didn’t stop the necessity of his call. Scully, who had just finished examining Grace, walked over to him.

“Is she OK?”

“Just some bruising and a little shock. But other than that, she seems fine....Any luck calling Skinner?”

“None whatsoever. Unless we can find a land line connection in this place then we’ll have to deal with Fortz without reinforcements.”

“Mulder, there are a dozen armed soldiers in this facility who are very likely to shoot us on site...I don’t think we can just walk in here and expect them to yield.”

“Then we’ll have to be sneaky. We can’t leave, Scully. The price is too high.”

“We haven’t seen Fortz or any of his troops, so he must be already on the next level.”

“Terrific....he’s probably already starting up that weapon.”

“Gabriel says that there’s another person in here already who might be able to slow Fortz down.” Mulder nodded and went over to see Gabriel who was helping Grace to her feet. Scully’s diagnosis seemed right, Grace wasn’t displaying any signs of serious injury.

“Mulder..”, began Gabriel, “I never thought I’d be pleased to see you...but I am.”

“You certainly know how to find trouble. I honestly didn’t know whether you would be alive or not. I think you now know how dangerous General Fortz truly is.”

“And psychotic”, added Grace, “I thought he was a war hero...”

“He is”, sighed Mulder, “I haven’t been able to run a full background check on him. But this displays all the classic signs of a traumatic past being turned into some sort of lust for revenge against society.”

“And we thought that was only confined to crummy action movies and bad political fiction.” murmured Gabriel.

“Scully tells me that you have someone else with you, is it John Keller?”

“No, he’s back at the helicopter. And he’s not involved in this, Mulder.”

“I figured that much out for myself...Who is here?”

“The prophet.” Gabriel saw Mulder’s eyes roll when the man was mentioned. “I found him here trying to break into the second floor.”

“What’s his story?”

“Apparently he’s trying to stop Fortz as well. I didn’t get the full story, he ran out on me the moment Fortz arrived.”

“That’s a bit of a change from the story you told me before.” said Mulder, “You led me to believe he was trying to use this weapon too.”

“I think I get that wrong”, sighed Gabriel, “Badly wrong”

“If he’s up there alone then he doesn’t stand a chance. Scully and I are trying to get help, but if we can’t then it’s just us four against everything Fortz can throw at us...Are you two up to the challenge?”

“No problem, Mulder. I do this stuff in my sleep!”

“It shows.”

Mulder and Scully once again went into their little huddle leaving Gabriel alone with Grace. She was now looking around the building, and making the same comparisons to the Gedde honfour which Gabriel had. Her neck felt store, he whole body felt stiff after being held so tight. But gradually she was coming back to her old self. Not unlike Fortz, she knew that in a couple of minutes his right arm would be back up to killing standard. She kept one eye on the lift he’d retreated into, just in case.

“It’s great that you’re here.” said Gabriel, “I wasn’t sure if you’d come.”

“In other words, you were hoping I wasn’t.”

“Look, Grace...I just didn’t trust that John Keller guy. I thought he was...well...”

“Brainwashing me? Turning me into a nice Christian girl who didn’t believe in dirty old men? He isn’t like that.”

“I know he isn’t, now!”

“Why couldn’t you just bring yourself to trust him in the first place? What’s this problem you had with him, yet you didn’t have with his wife?”

“I guess...”, Gabriel couldn’t believe he was saying this, “...I guess I was just jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Yeah, jealous!”

“Jealous of what?”

“You and him, you got so close so quickly...You seemed to be closer to him than you ever are with me. I thought he was taking advantage of that closeness, and I thought you were falling for it...”

“Gabriel, you’ve been trying bad chat up lines and pickups for over five years now. Do you really think I’d fall head over heels for the first man I saw who had a way with words?”

“I dunno, Gracie. You’re unpredictable.”

“Maybe I just like to keep you guessing.” she smiled. Gabriel wanted to drop the subject, make it appear as if he had his mind on the job in hand, but he didn’t now.

“So, tell me about this prophet.” Grace thankfully changed the subject for him. Gabriel shrugged.

“I arrived here expecting another bruise to add to my collection, it turned out that he wasn’t in the mood for a fight, this time.”

“So you got him wrong too? You’re not very good at judging people, are you Gabriel?”

“Don’t rub it in, Gracie. Just because she managed to pick put the good guy from the start...”

“I’m not rubbing it in, Gabriel. I just find it amazing that your opinion of people can change so rapidly. A couple of days ago, you wanted that guy hung for murder and John Keller arrested for attempted assault, or something worse!”

“I’ve just seen another side of him....But I still don’t know for sure. He retreated the moment Fortz arrived, left me here to deal with him myself.”

“You could have gone with him, Gabriel. You could be up there now kicking some butt.”

“But I couldn’t. Not when you were down here...” he looked her in the eyes, “I just couldn’t leave you here like that.” she returned his gaze, but the moment passed.

“Did you get the talisman back?”

“No, he wouldn’t let me.”

“Oh, great...”

“Look, Gracie, it’s a little harder than you think...”

“Gabriel, you realise what you’ve done? He’s up there, alone, facing thirteen armed soldiers. If he dies, which is incredibly likely given the circumstances, then you could lose the talisman forever!”

“I know, dammit!”, shouted Gabriel, “Don’t you think that wasn’t the most important thing on my mind!”

“Oh really?”, said Grace, “A few seconds ago, you said it was me who was the most important thing on your mind.”

“Just shut up, Gracie.”

“We have to find him, Gabriel. At least find out where he put the talisman.”

v “He’ll be all right, Gracie. I just know it.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because he’s...special. There’s something about him that’s weird. As if he doesn’t dear death or anything....Do you believe in angels, Gracie?” He felt almost silly in suggesting it, but for faliure of a better word than it was the best way he felt to describe their mysterious stranger.

“Classical white wings and harps or the more modern interpretation?”

“Just in general.”

“I believe that there are people who have some sort of duty to do, and who have the power to do it even if they don’t understand it fully...like the Schattenjagers.”

“This prophet guy is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to an angel....I could almost believe it, too. Except for the fact he murdered a woman to get here.”

“That isn’t true, Gabriel.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I went to see John this morning, I made him tell me everything about Celia. And there’s a few things you should know.”

“Does it make a difference?”

“I think it does. But it depends on your beliefs.”

“Don’t talk riddles, Gracie. I need to know. He keeps saying that he ain’t a murderer, if that’s the truth then I need to know how and why she died.”

“I’ll tell you later.”, sighed Grace, “It’s along story and I think we’ve got work to do.” She pointed to Mulder who was motioning to them and began walking over. Gabriel trailed behind, now even more confused. What had Grace found out? Had she solved this thing when he wasn’t looking? She probably had, he’d seen the way she could piece things together in any situation. She’d probably been doing a crossword puzzle clue when Fortz had been holding her. She was that sort of person. Gabriel hated having to talk to her like that, after some sort of situation when they’d nearly been killed. He never knew the right things to say to her, how to express his feelings for her without sounding desperate or even romantically interested. How do you tell a person you love them, but you don’t love them? Grace probably knew, she’d probably thought that one through whilst she was being held by Fortz too.

“How many floors are there in this place?”, asked Mulder.

“Only two”, replied Gabriel, “That’s how many buttons are in the lifts.”

“How did you open the lift doors?”, asked Scully, “Don’t they need identification?”

“Whilst I was here with the prophet guy, we amused ourselves messing around with the electrics.”

“Your idea of a fun Wednesday night, is it?” said Scully dryly.

“I make my own fun.” smiled Gabriel.

“Thank you for you input, people”, said Mulder, “But I think I can make things easier on all of us.” He pulled out some cards from his pocket. They were plain, with ‘Security Pass’ written on them with felt tip pen. They had the familiar credit card style swipe but looked like something out of a children’s’ toy set.

“I had these made up by a friend of mine”, smiled Mulder.

“This is what your friends do for fun?”, sighed Gabriel, “No wonder you’re so weird.”

“Believe it or not, Gabriel, these things do the job.” He walked over and slipped it into the panel by the nearest lift. The doors smoothly opened without a complaint. Mulder waited for a round of applause or word of acknowledgement, none came. Scully just raised her eyebrows, Mulder’s techno friends got less impressive after the third military installation.

“Why didn’t you give us these in New Orleans?”, asked Gabriel,

“You could have saved us hours of work! I might have been up there right now at that weapon!”

“And that”, smiled Mulder, “Is why I didn’t give them to you.”

“You don’t think I can be trusted?”

“I don’t think you should fiddle around with an armageddon device, that’s on Page 1 of ‘How to live longer in the Secret Service.’” All four of them bundled into the lit as best they could, the less doors they opened, the less likely they were to run into armed guards.

“So, what’s the plan?”, asked Grace.

“Kill bad guys, get the girl, save the world.” said Mulder.

“Or as I look to put it”, continued Scully, “Find this weapon and make sure it can’t be used, find a way to disarm General Fortz so he can be brought to justice and avoid getting killed at all cost.”

“And make sure neither of you kill the prophet guy”, said Gabriel, “I need to speak to him.”

“Just as long as he doesn’t shoot at us”, said Mulder.

“That reminds me, you guys have got guns”, observed Gabriel, “But we don’t. What happens if we run into armed guards?”

“You run away in the opposite direction, very fast”, said Mulder. The lift came to a halt after only a few moments. Mulder and Scully both loaded and cocked their guns. Mulder gave a nod to Scully, who pushed the door controls, and the doors slid open...

UPPER LEVEL

The silence was as welcome as the distinct lack of any other human life. Mulder and Scully went out first, just checking the area. If they hadn’t have all felt the lift moving upwards, they would have sworn it was the same floor. There were very few differences to speak of. The same white walls, doors with red lights shining and balcony area above them. But now they could see right up above them into the dome. The huge ominous structure glistened in the light provided by small bulbs. Mulder checked around a corner, then ducked back.

“First enemy of the day”, he whispered to Scully. She in turn looked around the corner. One of the soldiers stood guard. He had his gun by his side, his full camouflage intact and he looked bored. More to the point, in this clean white room he stuck out like a sore thumb. But there again, so did Mulder and Scully in their respective suits and Gabriel’s trenchcoat gave itself away by smell more than anything else. Scully decided to take the initiative and nodded to Mulder, they quickly turned the corner, weapons raised.

“FBI! Drop your weapon!”, The guard turned around, didn’t go for his gun. He saw two guns pointing his way and threw his own to the ground.

“Are you Mulder and Scully?”, he asked in a worried tone.

“How did you guess?”, asked Mulder.

“I’ve been waiting for you! I don’t want to be here!”

“The feeling is mutual...”

“General Fortz is going nuts! He’s trying to get us to kill people! I don’t want that!”

“How can you help us?”

“All the others are on this level, Fortz has headed up to the weapon. I dunno about anyone else!...Can I go?” Mulder nodded, he didn’t care about these small fry. He only wanted to see Fortz brought to justice. The soldier gave a word of thanks before ducking into the lifts. Gabriel and Grace came out of their hiding place.

“That looked easy.”

“They won’t all be like that”, reassured Scully, “Especially not if they’re staying with Fortz.”

“At least it’s good to know that there are still moral standards in black ops units”, said Grace.

“I think we should split up.” announced Gabriel. He knew it would raise objections but he needed to have his say. “I need to find this prophet guy, he’s got my talisman...”

“All right, Gabriel. If that’s what you want.” said Mulder “But in that case, stay away from Fortz. If Scully and I are having to deal with him alone, we don’t want to have to start rescuing the civilians. Agreed?”

“I’ll do my best”, assured Gabriel before leading Grace off in another direction.

Once again it was Schattenjager and company on their own without the help of local law enforcement. Gabriel guessed that Mulder had been glad to get rid of them, it was the only way to explain the ease of their split. He was glad that Grace was here, she always was when it came to the big fiery finales. Gabriel had seen the size of this place both inside and out, he hoped he wouldn’t have to escape here in a hurry. He had no idea how to stop a weapon like this, and he prayed it didn’t involve blowing the whole place up.

“So then, Gabriel”, whispered Grace as they ascended the nearest staircase to the balcony, “Do you really believe in angels?”

“I didn’t say I did”, replied Gabriel, “It was just the nearest comparison I could make...You have to admit, he is a weird guy with all that disappearing, reappearing, speedy travel stuff.”

“Actually, I wasn’t trying to debunk your theory. It’s long been heralded throughout history that angels may well have intervened in some of the great events on this Earth.” Gabriel’s eyes rolled, he hated having history lessons form Grace.

“Like when?”

“During the First World War at one of the offences in France, the British troops had been pushed right back. Things were looking bad since the Germans had managed to almost surround them. The German army appeared to be looking at something on a hill just behind them. And instead of going in and finishing off the British, the Germans turned and fled in panic and fear.”

“That ain’t strange, Gracie. I’d probably do the same thing if I ran into a load of British people.”

“Will you let me finish before starting up the xenophobia?”

“Sorry.”

“So, anyway....Afterwards, it transpired that the German general had ordered the retreat after seeing the ‘true size of the British army’. He claimed that on the hill behind them had been another force, much larger than the German army, led by a figure on a white horse.”

“What was it?”

“Nobody knows. It couldn’t have been any more of the British army, they were all trapped with nowhere to go. In any case, the survival of the British army in that offensive helped pave the way for the final British and French victory over the Germans in 1918.”

“Gracie, that’s fascinating but is it really a case for proving the existence of angels?”

“No, of course not. It’s just an example. It’s interesting, really. Remember how that prophet guy kept telling everyone about being a history maker in Keller’s church? We all assumed that he was going to make history by killing people, but by stopping Fortz from doing the same thing he could also be making history. Like how in that example, even though the British won the war, it was the German retreat which caused it, not the Brits fighting back. It works both ways.”

“But it can also mean making bad history, Gracie. Remember that Francis Ferdinand stuff I told you where it was the prophet guy who gave the prophecy AND started the First World War?”

“Yes”, sighed Grace, “But that’s your own superstition, Gabriel.”

“It was in the Schattenjager archives, Gracie. That counts for something.”

“You can’t just believe anything you read in a book, Gabriel. That tale could have had any number of different connotations or errors....”

“Oh, I see.” sighed Gabriel, “When I start taking things out of books, I’m being historically naive. But when John Keller takes fancy speeches and his entire philosophy out of one book...”

“Don’t start, Gabriel.”

“Where is he, anyway? Did he get scared or something?”

“For your information, I told him to wait by the helicopter. I didn’t know whether we’d get out of this in one piece....and I don’t want to see both Kellers lost.”

“That reminds me, you were going to tell me the truth about Celia Keller’s murder.”

“Hey!”, Grace interrupted, “Isn’t that your prophet!”, she was pointing along the balcony to a bank of large computers. Behind one of them, the prophet was indeed crouching. He looked nervous, twitchy. Gabriel put his finger to his lips as a signal to Grace and stalked towards him. He noticed them before they got there.

“Good to see you again, Gabriel.”

“Oh, nice of you to remember me.” rasped Gabriel, “Oh, by the way, thanks for helping us back there.”

“I’m sorry, Gabriel. I had to get here as quickly as possible. And anyway, you seemed to handle yourself admirably. And you managed to get your partner back.”

“Yeah, and it was no thanks to you!”

“Stop arguing, Gabriel.” snapped Grace. “What’s going on?”

“General Fortz has got to the control systems. He’s with about five guards, the rest of them are looking for Mulder and Scully.”

“Why Mulder and Scully? Why not Gracie and I?”

“I think Fortz wants the pleasure of killing you yourself...he was mentioning something to his guards about dislocating your limbs, I believe.”

“Geez, it was only a temporary block”, sighed Grace.

“Never try tai-chi crap on psychos, Gracie.” assured Gabriel.

“Anyway”, continued the prophet, “Hopefully an opportunity will arise for me to get close to some of these central computers.”

“Then what?”

“Then I must do what I must do.” The prophet said, nonplussed.

“You don’t care whether you get killed?”, asked Grace.

“Or maybe you can’t be killed at all”, suggested Gabriel.

“I can be killed, believe me”, sighed the prophet, “And I can assure you that I’m trying to avoid that eventuality at all cost.”

“We need a plan.” said Gabriel.

“Hold on a sec!”, said Grace, “Mulder and Scully told us to stay away from Fortz!” Gabriel snorted.

“Yeah, like hell.”

“Sorry, Grace.”, said the prophet, “This is my duty. Whether or not someone else actually stops this weapon doesn’t matter, but it must be stopped.”

“This is kinda like that bit in Star Wars when they’re going down the Death Star trench”, said Gabriel. The others just looked at him.

“Well....minus the spaceships and whatever.”

“What’s your plan?”, asked Grace to the prophet. He shrugged.

“I’m just waiting for an opportunity.”

“A diversion?”, asked Gabriel. The prophet nodded.

“Yeah, anything to get them away.” He wasn’t actually suggesting that they go make a diversion, but Gabriel took it upon himself to do so. He removed his coat, no good for running, and walked boldly out of his hiding place.

“What the hell....”, breathed Grace. “Is he mad?!”

“I don’t think so”, mused the prophet. “After all, Fortz wants him alive. He’s the most likely one of us not to be shot on site.”

“You haven’t heard Gabriel’s diplomatic skills, have you?”, sighed Grace, “If there’s any one of us MOST likely to get shot after opening our mouths, it’s Gabriel.”

Gabriel wandered along the balcony. There were no guards along this section, they were all grouped together at the end. Now he could see the end platform clearly. It took up the top half of this level, nearest to him were banks of computers. Beyond that was a large console. Trust the US military to create an armageddon weapon which looked like it belonged in a Bond film. And like a Bond villain, Fortz stood at the end by the console, pushing buttons and setting up the weapon. Gabriel got as near as he could without anyone seeing. Then shouted.

“Hey, guys!” every soldier on the platform spun round. The camouflaged faces looked directly at the figure wearing a T-shirt and jeans. Fortz didn’t turn round. Gabriel shouted again. “That includes you, chrome dome.” That caught Fortz’s attention. Especially considering that he wasn’t actually bald except for a small spot on the back of his head.

“You have our attention, Mr. Knight.” he said tonelessly. “What do you want?”

“Well, if you could all run after me then it would be nice.” Gabriel smiled, then stopped. Oh yeah, he wasn’t meant to make it that obvious.

“Very well, Mr. Knight.” said Fortz. He motioned to his soldiers. “I want him back here alive.” The soldiers began walking towards Gabriel, then jogging, then running. Gabriel waited as long as he could bear before spinning round and sprinting away. He shouted to Grace and the prophet as he passed.

“You see! Piece of cake!.....”

Grace and the prophet began running towards the platform. Grace wasn’t sure if she should actually be here doing this, but this was as much her case as Gabriel’s. And at least she might have a hope as to understanding what would follow. Fortz saw them coming, saw that he was alone. They both stood in front of him.

“When I first planned all this”, said Fortz, “It was going to be a quiet, private affair. Just me and my own special set of troops. But it seems that we have many uninvited guests today.” He walked long the console, flicking more switches and levers. “I thought that this would be a lonely moment in my own confinement. But nothing is sacred, is it?” More switches flicked, more time gone. Grace knew she could stand there all day and just watch him do whatever he was doing. Neither her nor the prophet were brimming with ideas.

“Why?”, she asked. “What’s all this about?”

“You already know what it’s about”, said the prophet. It was the first time he’d spoken upon reaching Fortz. Upon reaching his target. He seemed calm and composed. Fortz was intrigued.

“Who are you, may I ask?”

“I am you, General Fortz. I am what you almost became.” Grace stepped back, watched the expressions on both faces. Whatever was being said now, it was obviously the conversation that the prophet had come all this way to be a part of. The one which he’d spoken about so many times, and the one a woman had died so he could deliver. Grace realised that Gabriel was going to miss all this, the explanation that seemed to have alluded him. But just as long as he was keeping the guards out, he was doing something positive.

“What are you talking about?”, continued Fortz with a narrowed gaze.

“We have shared something which has brought us both here, but which has turned us into very different people....I assume you know what I’m talking about?”

“The visions”, replied Fortz, “The prophecy.”

“We both saw the rivers of blood running down our land. We saw the bodies and the destruction. We shared an picture of a future created by our own interventions. It seems impossible, seeing as how we’ve never met, but we have both led lives along the visions we saw. Carving our plans out with the constant reminder of what was to come. Yet we stand here now, not as partners in the same destiny, but as rivals.”

“Only because you have misinterpreted what you saw”, spat Fortz. “If we did indeed share these images, then we would both be here now to carry them out.”

“Why must your interpretation be correct?”, asked the prophet.

“Because my life has followed the images precisely! From the day I was first enlisted and went to Korea, through the conflict in Vietnam. In each place I have seen and been a part of the cleansing and the fighting. I have never deviated from carrying on along that road on which i was sent.”

“But did you ever ask for guidance? Did you ever question what the images meant?”

“Ask for guidance!”, laughed Fortz, “From whom?”

“You’ve never sought to find out what was truly meant by your visions. You never spoke to the one who gave them to you. I have, and that is why I stand here now. Not to be a part of them, but to stop them. For that was my duty.”

“Rubbish!”, snorted Fortz, “Are you honestly suggesting that you had a nice chat with God?”

“I asked him for guidance and he gave it to me. And he told me the truth. That the prophecy we saw was not something we should aim to bring about. But one we should seek to put an end to at all cost! And that I was to tell this to the people of our nation and the world!”

“Maybe I’m seeing things differently, here”, interrupted Grace. “But I think both of you are right,”

“How do you mean?”, enquired Fortz through those narrowed eyes.

“Well”, sighed Grace. Not knowing whether she believed any of this herself, anyway.

“Maybe you were both given the same image, but were always destined to meet like this. One of you was destined to be the warmonger and to try and carry out the destiny. And the other, the history maker, was meant to stop that destiny from happening.” There was silence, the two men examined each other carefully. Considering this point of view. Grace shrugged. “Of course, it’s just an educated guess.”

“But an interesting one”, smiled Fortz. He descended the short flight of steps to the prophet and walked around him. “And in that case, you my friend are in the wrong. For it is I who is following the destiny. You are simply trying to change it. If something is written as destiny, surely it is meant to happen.”

“You aren’t one to talk of destiny. Not after your crimes.” replied the prophet.

“What crimes?”, asked Grace.

“This man is an evil, cold hearted killer. He has killed civilians, slaughtered innocents and murdered all in the name of democracy. But because our society has become so obsessed with victory and spreading the ‘true way’, his crimes go under the guise of some sort of heroics and he is revered.”

“There are winners, and there are losers.” shrugged Fortz, “I’ve always aimed to be a winner. And knowing that so many would die today, does it matter if others died on the path?” He turned away from the prophet in disgust of the man he viewed as weak and went back up the stairs.

“Both of you will now watch the destiny of mankind happen. You will see what brought us here today....and your presence has only confirmed that this is not only the true way, it is also the right way.”

“Answer me one question.” shouted Grace. Fortz turned again, quite bored by the theatrics. She also turned to the prophet. “I want an answer from you, too.” They both turned towards her. “If this is all part of destiny, did any of you foresee the intervention of myself and Gabriel Knight? Or Mulder and Scully, for that matter?” Both men shrugged and looked slightly bemused.

“No, we didn’t”

“Where’s this going?”, asked the prophet interestedly.

“Maybe destiny has already changed. Maybe the sole act of others being here shows the crumbling nature of the prophecy. And so your victory, General Fortz, is not so assured.” The prophet nodded at her, he saw her point. Although even Grace was at a loss as to why she had felt compelled to make it. Fortz, however, was obviously confused.

“If there has been intervention, then it will be stopped.” He picked up his walkie talkie and rasped orders. “Attention all guards. As of now, Gabriel Knight is also to be exterminated on site as well as Mulder and Scully.” He saw Grace’s eyes widen, but didn’t meet them. He checked his watch, still on time. As soon as these final calculations were complete, he’d kill this prophet and Miss Nakamura. No hurry, after all, destiny was on his side.

UPPER CORRIDORS

The only way Scully could hypothesise to avoid having to run into Gabriel Knight again would be to explore the side of this level in the complete opposite direction to the one he had walked off in. Mulder wasn’t going to argue with her sound reasoning, so he followed her through the back end of the weapons system. This section of the floor was totally filled with computers. Huge white cases at least 5ft high each laid out in a grid system. Neither of the agents had any idea what these computers did, but this place felt powerful. Scully could put her hand to the machines and almost feel them operating. Mulder offered to try a similar test on her, just to make sure everything was in working order, but she declined. Guns drawn, they moved in between the computers. Weaving a path to ensure they searched every nook and cranny.

“These computers could be controlling the weapon”, said Mulder, “Do you think we could get them off-line or something? It might help us stop Fortz.”

“Sure”, said Scully, “I’ll just go out to the helicopter and get my standard issue FBI bazooka.”

“Point taken.” Mulder was feeling the machines too, looking for some sort of weak spot or at least some way to get inside them. Why were these things never labelled? It was a s if they’d been built for the sole purpose of annoying anyone who came into contact with them. The most user un-friendly machines imaginable, Bill Gates would surely love to get his hands on this lot and turn them into something even the most paranoid FBI agent could operate.

“You know, Scully. We must have a record for bad luck. Three times in the past three years we’ve visited New Orleans, and on all three occasions we’ve been subjected to operating with Gabriel Knight and his little house of horrors.” “Maybe it’s fate, Mulder.”

“What do you make of their latest addition, the prophet?”

“I’m sorry, Mulder. But I find it hard to have any feelings for a murderer.”

“Ah, come on Scully, we’ve shot a few people in the line of duty....well, a few mutants and the odd Alien Bounty Hunter....”

“You said it yourself when we found the body, a cold blooded and calculated murder. And the whole church and baptising angle makes it....well....like some sort of evil fetish.”

“I’ve been thinking about all that, Scully. Maybe the baptism thing is different to the way we first viewed it.”

“How do you mean?”

“We assumed that it was some sort of religious nutcase who was baptised because of his craze, but what if he was doing it to purify himself.”

“Purify himself?”

“Yeah! As if he knew exactly what he was going to do in the minutes afterwards and wanted it to be in somebody else’s name but his own. So it was God’s work, officially.”

“Mulder, that still makes him a nutcase. Moreso, in fact.”

“But it also explains why he has such an interest in stopping this weapon. Maybe that’s God’s work too.”

“So God wants to save the Earth but he doesn’t mind killing the odd Christian along the way?....I didn’t know you subscribed to theories like this anyway, Mulder. Usually you leave it to me for this particular area of ‘crackpot junk’”

“I’m not saying that I hold any belief in the claims. But as an analyst, clues like this go a long way to explaining his actions...and more importantly, what he might do next.”

“Do you think he’s a danger?”

“This man is clearly in a state of delusion. And I think if he is so extreme in his opposition to this plan, he’ll go straight to the top.”

“Fortz?”

“We have to stop him, Scully. If we want Fortz brought to justice...”

“You know something, Mulder. That theory isn’t as mad as it sounds. After all, there’s another man in this building to whom you formed a similar profile three years ago.”

“Gabriel Knight?”

“Precisely...In his case, you said that after a traumatic upbringing with the deaths of his parents, the suicide of his great uncle drove him over the edge. You said that he was so traumatised by it, that he formed the belief that it was actually a special ritual suicide and that all this Schattenjager stuff was actually real. So much so that he’s carried the title for five years and even managed to convince others of his credibility. It seems ludicrous when you sit and think it all through!”

“Try telling Grace Nakamura that.”, sighed Mulder, “I thought she was a sane person when we first met her. How can one man cause so much grief to a woman’s life?”

“I don’t know”, sighed Scully, remembering the times when she used to be able to go to sleep at night without examining all the phones in her house for bugs and checking the toilets for mutants. “Do you think that the prophet had a similar experience?”, she continued, “That maybe an event in his life marked him so much that he’s led a life like this?”

“It’s the conclusion I would have come to. I’m impressed, Scully. That sort of psychological reasoning is beyond the call of duty for a medical doctor.”

“I guess I’ve learnt a few things of my own in the past five years...”

“In that case, would you back me up with my petition.”

“What petition?”

“Well, you know that I’ve been trying to have Gabriel Knight admitted for psychiatric help for the past three years?....”

“Yes”, sighed Scully, “I remember you forming a case to have him incarcerated on the grounds of the murder of Baron Von Glower....which was thrown out after you added the footnotes about lycanthropy.”

“I’m raising a new petition based on Gabriel’s actions over the past few days. I think it’s reached the point where he’s a danger to everyone else around him and we have to protect them....” Mulder didn’t have a chance to finish before the gunfire started. He pushed Scully down behind the nearest computer. But no bullets rained down. They were being fired somewhere else. And then, from the direction of the gunfire, Gabriel Knight came sprinting round a corner and ran straight past them down the row of computers. Following him came four or five guards. There was a lot of shouting and confusion.

“As you can see”, shouted Mulder over the noise, “Trouble seems to follow him just about everywhere.” “I think I will sign that petition....” sighed Scully. Mulder loaded his weapon and got up. “Where the hell are you going?” “Unless I save his I don’t get the pleasure of locking him up.” He began running after the crowd. “Get to Fortz! And keep that prophet away from him!” He shouted. Scully nodded but Mulder was already running out of sight. She sighed and got up. Back to the grind stone.

LIFTS

Gabriel was running out of steam now. It was hard sprinting down corridors and weaving through the banks of computers. He had thought it might have been an easy run, especially considering the fact that these guards were under orders NOT to kill him. But a few minutes ago, they’d begun to pick up speed and even start firing at him! All those bullets...they could really hurt someone! He’d actually run all the way back down to the lifts, and that wasn’t fooling the guards who were just coming through the last of the computers. He spun around, pushed the lift button. But the thing was back on ground floor. And it was so slow! He stood still and just waited. The guards were getting closer, he could hear their shouts and occasionally see a piece of camouflaged uniform appear. They were positioning themselves, getting into place like a pack of wild animals planning their kill. Too organised. And then they came. Five guards, walking straight towards him, Gabriel put his hands up in a resigned look, but they didn’t stop walking. They didn’t put the guns down either. A bit strange considering Fortz wanted him alive...

Suddenly, another one lunged from the side. Gabriel was slammed against the lift doors. He slid down, blood oozing from a cut on his face. And then he saw that it wasn’t a guard. Mulder was standing there, firing off rounds at the guards. And those guards were firing back! Gabriel stood up, he felt dizzy. Somewhere, he heard a bell ring...then Mulder pushed him backwards into the open lift. Mulder himself jumped in too and jabbed the button. The doors shut as bullets flew towards them, imbedding themselves in the metal. And then, silence. As the lift moved slowly downwards, the noise gradually dispersed like a spring breeze. Mulder pulled Gabriel up.

“Sorry about the violence, Knight. But it’s better than a bullet in the face, I think you’ll agree.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Mulder? They weren’t trying to kill me!”, Mulder snorted in response.

“It didn’t look like that from where I was standing.”

“It’s true! They were going to take me to General Fortz so he could rip my limbs off!”

“And that’s a preference, is it?”

“Anything’s better than having to admit that you saved my life, you kooky son of a I guess it’s a change. It wasn’t long ago when you were trying to get me locked up!”, laughed Gabriel. Mulder joined in.

“Yes...it seems like only yesterday....” Suddenly, the lift came to a halt. Mulder checked his gun, two rounds left. If there were guards here, then he was dead. And Gabriel could kiss his limbs goodbye.

“Listen, Knight. I’m going to press the door button. When I do, step outside with your hands up.” Gabriel nodded. Mulder pressed the button ad they both walked out.

Four armed guards. None of whom looked pleased. Mulder uttered a swear word, but Gabriel just smiled. After all, he wasn’t the one who was about to have his face blown off. Mulder threw his weapon to the floor. The guards took aim and armed their weapons.

“Hey! Wait a sec!”, shouted Gabriel, “You’re not supposed to kill me!”

“We have orders to kill both you and Agent Mulder on sight.”

“Tough call, Knight”, smiled Mulder, “Looks like we go down together.”

“I can think of people I’d rather be next to.”

“So can I.” All the guards armed their weapons again, they had orders to get this right, leave no injured parties or mistakes. Just a clean kill. Gabriel gulped, Mulder whistled to himself. Might as well go out with a strange expression on his face. In fact, the only thing common to both men at that moment were their thoughts. They were both thinking about the women in their lives.

“Drop your weapons!” The guards all turned around. Mulder and Gabriel looked over to where the noise came from. A second group of soldiers stood in the room. At least fifteen of them. They were in standard military attire, no ridiculous camouflage. This was the real army, not some group of black ops. And the guard knew it. They dropped their weapons. Mulder grabbed his gun and approached the new group of soldiers.

“Who are you guys?”

“Agent Mulder?”, asked the one with the most badges and medals.

“That’s right.”

“My name is Captain Tranter. We’ve been sent here to round up General Fortz and his defectors.”

“Well, I’m glad to see you. There are twelve soldiers as well as the General. They’re armed and as you can imagine, should be considered EXTREMLEY hostile.”

“Any other persons?”

“Two females and one male. Agent Dana Scully, Grace Nakamura and...some other guy.”

“We’ll go up and get them.”

“How did you guys get here?”, asked Mulder, “We didn’t send a message.”

“No you didn’t”, said another familiar voice, “But I did, Agent Mulder.” It was Skinner, standing with the troops. Mulder went over to him.

“Sir, I’m glad to see you.....but how?”

“I told you from the beginning that I wasn’t fully happy with General Fortz’s mission and his command. So I’ve been running background checks on him.”

“Any insights?”

“He’s a madman, Mulder. Underneath all the glowing reports and military honours, we have records of him being involved in some of the worst slaughters of recent military history. In Korea, Afghanistan, ‘Nam....It was through his records that we found out about this weapon, and how he intends to use it.”

“Really?”

“Before he enlisted, General Fortz was a preacher. He’s been telling apocalypse stories for years. As he rose though the ranks, he told the troops under him that he was some sort of servant of God and that each massacre they took part in was a part of a greater plan. He obviously told his black ops squad the same thing.”

“How dangerous is he?”

“At this moment, he is the most dangerous man in America. And he WILL use that weapon, I have no doubt of it.”

“He’s up there now with Scully and some others....”

“Then we have to get there now, he’ll kill her!”

“I’m on my way!”, Mulder spun round and led Skinner to the lift. But it was already gone, up to the second floor. And in it had gone Gabriel Knight.

Gabriel had only heard scraps of the conversation, that Fortz was dangerous and that he was a killer. But the moment he heard the preacher angle, the final pieces of this puzzle slotted into place. That linked him into the prophet and meant that every single person on this floor was in danger. The new arrivals might take care of the black ops unit, but Scully, Grace and the prophet were with Fortz. And that meant absolute trouble. Gabriel kicked the lift’s side. Why the hell had he lost the talisman? And why the hell hadn’t he got it back? That was his only weapon against Fortz. He didn’t want to have to kill him, like Mulder and Scully he wanted to see this man brought to justice for his crimes and the day’s disaster in New Orleans itself.

As the lift doors slid open, he began running through to the computers section. They were still busily humming away. They didn’t care who was using them, they’d just do their job. But there was something else with the whirring too...a deeper hum. And as Gabriel looked at his feet he saw a large beam of light appear over them....gradually getting bigger. He looked up and his fears were confirmed, the dome was opening...

CONSOLE

Scully crept towards where she heard the voices. The first figure she noticed was General Fortz himself, standing on a platform fiddling with the controls. Then she saw Grace Nakamura, holding some sort of discussion with him and another man....Scully’s heart almost stopped, it was the prophet. It had to be. The man she’d built up a hatred for based on his crimes was there. But now he was with the good guys, and she’d have to trust him. Fortz didn’t seem to be shooting anyone, maybe he was relenting on his threats. Gabriel and Mulder weren’t here, Scully hoped that they were OK...whatever they were doing, at least it was keeping the guards away. Scully stepped out towards Grace and the prophet. Fortz noted her presence.

“It’s strange....when I first had you and Agent Mulder assigned to this mission, I knew that you two would be a danger. And even though I set up the perfect way to ensure your incarceration today, I just knew that you two would get out and would be right here when I placed the final stages of my intentions into motion.”

“I think that just shows careless planning on your part. Agent Mulder and I both know that you set up the incident in New Orleans for the sole purpose of framing us and drawing attention away from yourself.”

“Very true, Agent Scully. I have no need to hide my plans from you now.” He pointed to the slowly opening dome. “In the time it takes for me to recount them, half of the United States could be destroyed.” He turned his attention back to his work, Scully walked over to Grace and the prophet.

“Are you two all right?”

“At the moment, yes. But I don’t think Fortz has any intentions of letting us out of here alive.” murmmered Grace.

“You let me worry about that, I want you two out of here now.”

“We can’t leave, Agent Scully”, said the prophet, “Not whilst Fortz is still proceeding with his plan.”

“I’m ordering you to leave”, said Scully with the authority she usually saved for annoying witnesses and inept law enforcement agents.

“You’re an FBI agent, you have no authority on this island”, replied the prophet. Scully turned to Grace, who also shrugged.

“I’m not going, either. And like he says, you can’t force me.”

“Do you really want to die?”, asked Scully, “This man will kill you!”

“And he’ll kill you too, Agent Scully. Along with several other million people.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t sure.” He replied. Scully put her gun away, this situation was getting less and less attractive all the time. Maybe staying in prison for the rest of the day hadn’t been such a bad idea. Suddenly, Gabriel Knight ran in from the computers. He was breathless and worried.

“Gracie! The dome is opening!”

“I noticed, Knight”, sighed Grace pointing at the roof.

“Haven’t you stopped him yet?”, asked Gabriel to the prophet.

“What do you want me to do? Blast him?”

“It would be a help!”

“Sorry, Gabriel. I didn’t put my ‘blasting briefs’ on the morning.”

“Oh, great! You can kill an innocent woman in cold blood but when you actually NEED to do something....”

“Excuse me?”, asked Fortz inquisitively. “Kill a woman?”

“Yeah, this is the guy who killed Celia Keller and whom you couldn’t catch. It shows how pretty useless you are”, snorted Gabriel. But Fortz wasn’t looking like a useless man, he was smiling in some sort of self gratifying triumph.

“Well, well.....You come in here, sanctimoniously preaching away about how I am an evil killer. And yet now I find it was you who crushed the throat of an innocent woman. Who’s betraying the prophecy, now?”

“She had to die”, replied the prophet.

“Oh, really?”, Fortz smiled, “Explain it to us.”

“You don’t have to”, whispered Grace, “You don’t have to give him the benefit.” But the prophet shrugged. Like Fortz had been saying, it was so late in the plan that it just didn’t matter.

“Celia Keller wanted something. Something which I gave her in return for her services.”

“Services?”, asked Gabriel, “Surely not....”

“Not those services, Knight”, snapped Grace.

“I needed her services as a baptiser. After I refused to be baptised on that first day in John Keller’s church, I received more images and dreams. I released that if I was to carry out his work, I had to be one of his servants. And I guess a baptism in John Keller’s church was God’s way of an initiation. I went there two days later to be baptised, but something happened....”

“You met me”, sighed Gabriel, “You found out that not only was there a Schattenjager in town, but that I was also going to the same church. You realised that you couldn’t get baptised that day. That’s why you kept telling me to keep away. You didn’t want me to get too close to Celia Keller because by that point, you knew she would have to die....But I still don’t know why.”

“Celia was a very different person to whom you thought. She was a special person. She had very close and personal beliefs which I respected and found I could help her with, in return for her services.”

“What beliefs?....”

“The belief that to live in pain, and to be unable to do one’s duty is a far worse fate then death itself.”

“Euthanasia?.....But she was a Christian and anyway....” Gabriel stammered, he was still confused. But he didn’t get a chance to hear out the discussion. The sound of approaching guards was obvious. Mulder and Skinner had obviously found another lift, and soon fifteen armed soldiers would be here to dispatch Fortz once and for all. But the General didn’t seem concerned. He flipped a few more switches. From the roof of this area, huge sheets of steel descended. They were false walls, which blocked off all the exits from this control suite. Scully watched Mulder reached the wall and heard him shout, but then there was silence as he was blocked off. She was stuck here with Gabriel, Grace, the prophet and Fortz. And now Fortz had got his automatic weapon out, ready for the final tactical manoeuvre.

“It appears that there are many more people at this gathering than I even begun to anticipate. Maybe it’s time to start lowering the numbers.” He pointed his gun towards the group, but not at any individual. “The only question is, which of you is to go first....”

OUTSIDE CONTROL SUITE

“Can we get this thing open!”, shouted Mulder. Skinner checked with Captain Tranter who just shook his head.

“Sorry, Mulder. These walls were built to withstand full bazooka attacks....nobody is getting in there.”

“We have to get these things down. Scully’s in there! And so are three other innocent people! That madman will kill them!” He began banging on the wall again, but it made no difference. Scully was in there alone. Sure, she could handle herself. But with Gabriel Knight and his select group of nutcases?...It wasn’t a thought he relished.

CONTROL SUITE

The dome was opened fully now. Gabriel looked up into the evening sky, the moon was visible almost directly above. A few stars were visible. There was silence from the outside world, the jungle which had been teeming with nature appeared to be quiet. And even inside, there was no noise. Just the occasional noise from the computers, or Fortz programming more controls.

“Just a few minutes”, said the General. “It’s not long, now.”

“What happens, then?”, asked Gabriel, “And afterwards?”

“I finish the task which I was set. I will use this weapon, created by our own, to fulfil a prophecy. There is nothing else.”

“So you don’t care what you leave behind?”

“It isn’t my responsibility.”

“Yeah, isn’t it convenient how you can shove the blame onto someone else.” sighed Gabriel. He turned to Scully, she looked rather confused. He didn’t blame her, she hadn’t quite been expecting any of this. But then, neither had Gabriel until a few hours ago. Beside him were the prophet and Grace, neither of him seemed ready to burst into action just yet. They’d have to get their plans together soon, Fortz was nearing the end of his systems check.

“Any ideas?”, whispered Gabriel to Grace. She shrugged.

“I was hoping that our friend here would do something.” But the prophet wasn’t moving, he had his eyes locked on Fortz. This wasn’t exactly the time for a staring match, but maybe he was thinking up his master plan to save the world. Gabriel checked his watch, he’d never worked out at which time exactly this thing was meant to take place. He guessed that it didn’t matter. After all, Fortz seemed only to have received visions about performing actions. The timeframe was probably up to his own reckoning. The prophet just had to follow.

“This is ridiculous”, sighed Gabriel, “Fortz is holding all the cards...”

“Not all of them”, replied Grace, “You are still the Schattenjager.”

“How does that help me? I don’t have the talisman!”

“Gabriel, if you still believe that the only power your family has lies in that lump of metal, then you know less about all this than I think! It doesn’t matter if you have the talisman or not! You have right on your side! That’s what matters!”

“God makes sure good always conquers evil, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why does God have to make everything so frickin’ difficult?...” Gabriel moved across to the prophet and whispered to him.

“Well, bud, if you’re going to do something about this guy then it’s going to have to be now.” But the prophet didn’t look in any desperate hurry to be doing anything, he just stood there.

“Listen, bud!”, Gabriel rasped, “We’ve come all this way, I trusted you! You told me you could stop him!”

“I told you I could try...”

“So you’re giving up? Without even trying?”

“Maybe he is right, Gabriel. Maybe I am in the wrong.”

“Have you ever believed that? Truly? Because if so then you ain’t worthy to be here at all!” Gabriel moved forwards. It was now or never. He could see Scully shaking her head, almost pleading with him not to do anything stupid. But the time for judgement and FBI protocol had passed. Now was the time for stupidity.

“Hey, Fortz.” He shouted. Fortz turned around.

“Yes, Mr. Knight.”

“I was just wondering....If you’re so great and whatever, how come you’re dressed so badly?” Gabriel smiled in triumph. Grace shook her head, Scully raised her eyebrows. Fortz winced.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Well that cork and crap is just SO uncoordinated. The light shining off your face makes you look kinda constipated. And look at those trousers! Jungle mud and camouflage? I think not! And those ridiculous Dr Martens! They may be fashinable but you’re obviously so braindead that you can’t even do up the laces!” Fortz gave Gabriel a quizzical look, then looked down at his boots.

“But they’re not untied...” He murmured, not noting as Gabriel ran forward and punched him in the gut.

“Made you look!”, he rasped in Fortz’s ear before wrestling the General to the ground.

“Gabriel!”, Grace was shouting, Gabriel pointed to the computer.

“Don’t just stand there, Gracie! Do something!!” Grace and Scully ran for the computer. It might as well have been an alien spacecraft. All the knobs, levers and dials just meant nothing.

“We have to get the walls up so Mulder and the others can get in!”, said Scully.

“I’m open to suggestions.” sighed Grace. She looked for some sort of instructions, maybe a manual or something...didn’t these military types leave nice little diagrams?

“You might need this.” came the prophet’s voice from behind her. He handed her a schematic diagram of the controls.

“How did you get that?....”

“I came prepared.” He turned towards the struggle, but didn’t move towards it. He was waiting for something. Gabriel was losing. The General managed to jab a well aimed elbow into his stomach. Then he raised his gun. Grace’s eyes widened, this was it. Gabriel was a dead man.

“I’ve had enough of this!”, shouted Fortz, “None of you can stop me! You hear!?”

“Try and stop us”, shouted the prophet. Fortz aimed his gun straight at him.

“No!!”, shouted Grace. But it was too late, the prophet went reeling straight down the steps. Blood was splattered at each place where he fell. There was silence. Gabriel watched in disbelief, Scully and Grace in horror...they’d been so sure that it was Gabriel who was to be shot.... Scully raced down the steps.

“I’m a doctor!”, she shouted as she knelt beside the still body of the prophet, “Get these walls open, NOW!” Grace unfolded the schematics, she looked at them with the same eye she viewed ancient documents in her history studies and research, almost an alien language...but there had to be a way to decipher it. Meanwhile, Gabriel spun back to face Fortz.

“You son a he yelled, jabbing his elbow into Fortz’s arm and sending the gun spinning off towards the floor. But Fortz wasn’t worried, he just had glare of victory in his eyes.

“That man was supposed to stop me, was he? I think this proves whose prophecy was right.” He snarled, but Gabriel wasn’t giving up. He put a hand around Fortz’ throat.

“You forgot one thing, bud. There’s another warrior in town, and his name’s the Schattenjager. And the Schattenjager doesn’t take crap from anybody who shoots people in cold blood whether they’re a psycho or the son of God or anything else!” And with that he landed more punches into Fortz’s face, keeping the man down on the floor. Scully was still beside the prophet, blood pouring from his chest. He was in a bad way, a real bad way.

“Grace! This man is dying! Get these walls open!”

“I’m doing the best I can!”, she shouted back. Again, she scanned the schematics...each button was labelled differently, in some sort of code...but one of them just had to be some sort of over-ride. Some sort of ‘off’ switch. The computers were still all lit up, and behind them, some sort of electricity was flowing around the dome...something big was powering up...the weapon... Grace watched in horror as around the dome, new lights flickered on. Lights were shining straight up and growing more intense with every second.

“Gracie!”, shouted Gabriel, “What the hell’s happening?! That weapon is firing!!”

“I’m doing this as fast as I can, Knight! Just shut your mouth!”

“Just find a big red button and PRESS IT!!”

“I said, shut up!!” And as if in pure anger, Grace’s eyes locked on one label on the schematics, some sort of over-ride, but she had no idea what. She found the appropriate button and slammed it down. And as if nothing had ever happened, the buzzing stopped and the machine went silent.

“No...”, breathed Fortz, “That’s impossible!”

“Shut it”, rasped Gabriel, punching him again. “Game over, you frickin’ mad

The walls were opening now, There were shouts being heard. Mulder rolled underneath as soon as the gap was big enough. He ran over to Scully, saw the blood on her hands.

“Scully....”

“It’s OK, Mulder. It’s not me, it’s him”, Mulder saw the prophet and knelt down. There was blood everywhere. “I need some first aid equipment, now!” she shouted. One of the soldiers ran forward holding a box. Several more ran over to Grace near the computers and began flicking switches, shutting down systems and turning off the weapon. Assistant Director Skinner walked in last and saw the carnage.

“Would someone like to explain what just happened, here?”

“Nope”, said Gabriel, “But I think you can make a few deductions for yourself.” Mulder walked over to him, and General Fortz who was sitting there, speechless. Everything had just gone. His life, his plan, his destiny...

“I don’t understand...”, he breathed, “I saw it...I knew it was going to happen...I got rid of the opposition!”

“Shame you didn’t think of everything”, sighed Gabriel.

“But you’re not anything!”, rasped Fortz, “You didn’t have the vision!”

“But I have something more, General. I know what’s right and wrong. Maybe you should have thought things through.”

“He’ll have plenty of time to think things through”, smiled Mulder,

“Because this man isn’t seeing anything more than the inside of a cell for the rest of his life.” He put his face close to Fortz’s “It’s been a pleasure working with you, General. I think I’ve had a valuable insight into the world of modern diplomacy.”

Grace came over to where Gabriel was crouched. Blood was running from several cuts on his head and arms. Other than that, he seemed perfectly fine.

“Need a hand, Schattenjager?”

“Thanks, Gracie.” She helped him up, he was leaning on her heavily. His strength had almost gone in holding off Fortz.

“You did well, Gracie.” he managed to smile at her, “You saved New Orleans!”

“Great!...I think....You weren’t so bad yourself, but it was still stupid.”

“I just had to do something, Gracie. Otherwise...anything could have happened.” Gabriel began to feel angry all of a sudden, angry at the prophet. Why had he just stood there? Was he scared? Stupid? He walked over to where Scully was leaning over. Whatever he felt, he couldn’t forget that the guy had taken a bullet, and maybe a bullet meant for Gabriel himself. After all, if that guy hadn’t of been there and said what he said, Fortz would have had no reason to shoot him instead of Gabriel...and then Gabriel realised, maybe that had been his plan all along. Maybe he had realised that it would have been his sacrifice which would save them all.

“Hi, dude”, whispered Gabriel, “How are you feeling?”

“Better....now I know....that it’s over....” he was struggling for breath. Scully was applying injections and calling for backup. But her face said it all, this guy was as good as dead.

“How did you get that schematic?”, asked Gabriel, “We would have been lost without it!”

“There are others.....those who were close to Fortz.....but didn’t want to see an apocalypse.....one of them....gave me the plans....” Gabriel smiled, the work of a great investigator was finding the leaks in his quarry. But then his expression sobered.

“It looks bad, bud. But I have to thank you, I think I know what happened. I know why you just stood there, as a diversion so I would stop Fortz in time.”

“Then maybe...you are the Schattenjager....after all.” Slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the talisman. It glinted in the light coming from the bulbs around the room. He passed it to Gabriel.

“Thanks, bud”, smiled Gabriel as he put it back around his neck. It felt good, warm, the energy was there.

“Gabriel....I must tell you.....Celia...”

“You don’t have to, save your energy, we have to get you to a hospital!”

“Celia...was dying....she didn’t want to suffer....I didn’t want to see her...suffer...”

“I still don’t know what you mean. I just don’t understand.” But it was too late, the prophet’s head had gone back and he slipped into unconsciousness. Scully shook her head, sadly. Gabriel felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Grace. She knelt beside him.

“Celia was dying of cancer, Gabriel. John told me this morning. She found out that she was going to either die slowly, or be paralysed and spend the rest of her life suffering. Both John and Celia believe in the concept of euthanasia, that loving thy neighbour means making sure they don’t have to live in such relentness suffering. The prophet offered her the chance of eternal peace, in return for his baptism. She obviously accepted. It was painless, Gabriel. She didn’t have to suffer.” Gabriel looked down at the prophet, tears welling up in his eyes.

This was truly a good man, someone who had received an extraordinary message and had given up his life to see if fulfilled. He had faced the anger and rejection of so many people because of his message. Unlike Fortz who had been hailed as a hero and adorned with honour after honour. Why had this man died?...Why?....And then, Gabriel had an idea. It was something which before this week he would never had considered. But in the light of this moment, it seemed as clear and as obvious than any action he had just performed.

“Gracie...did you say that John was here?”

“Yes, he’s by the helicopter but....” But Gabriel didn’t hear any more. Almost at the point of sobbing, he picked up the limp body of the prophet in his arms and began walking towards the lifts.

“What the hell is going on here!” breathed Skinner. But Gabriel just past him, and broke into a run.

“Gabriel!”, shouted Grace from behind him, “Where the hell are you going!”

“I’m gonna get this guy back, Gracie! I’m gonna ask for him to live again!”

“What is he talking about?”, asked Scully, “That man is dead!” They watched him get into the lift and jam the button. Mulder just sighed.

“What a nutcase....”

“Excuse me?”, shouted Grace in an outpouring of rage at the agent,

“What the hell did that mean?”

“Grace, that man is dead. I don’t quite no what ancient German ritual Gabriel hopes to perform but....”

“Well perhaps you should go back to your fun little life of X-Files, alien abductions and conspiracy theories and stay out of the real world where real peoples feelings are at stake!” She ran towards the lifts herself, Mulder and Scully both watched her go.

“These people, Scully. These people are truly dangers to all those around them.”

“Maybe”, she sighed, “But sometimes they get it right. Maybe they do know something we don’t. Something we just cannot hop to understand without something more raw than our own twisted emotions....faith. In themselves, each other, and something higher.”

“I still think that ‘nutcase’ is the more appropriate term”, he sighed, “C’mon, Scully. We’ve got some real work to do back here. Then we can go back to our fun little world of X-Files and conspiracies...” as they went back to the clean up squad.

v KROJAN JUNGLES

Gabriel huffed and puffed, trying to take strong breaths, but it was hard to run whilst cradling a limp body in his arms. Luckily, John and Grace had dug out some more of the foliage so it was almost a straight run out from the weapon. Gabriel didn’t know how long he had, how long after death these sorts of things worked. He didn’t even know IF this would work, or why he was doing it. But right now, it just seemed right. And after everything that had happened, everything that he had seen and heard, maybe it wasn’t such a leap of the imagination after all. He just wanted to be able to thank this prophet guy properly, he’d given up his life for them! If anyone deserved another chance, it was this guy. Gabriel almost dropped his load, his hands were slicked with his own blood and this man’s too. Somewhere, he could hear voices. He must be nearing the edge of the jungle now.

“Come on, Knight”, he thought to himself, “Just one final effort....”, and with something resembling a burst of strength, he crashed out of the jungle and into the huge clearing, where three helicopters now stood with their respective crews laughing and joking. Seemed like Mosely had been pretty busy calling in favours...

John was talking to some of the crew members from the helicopters when the shout came out that there was someone coming back. He hurried round to the front of the clearing? Was it Grace? Was she OK? It wasn’t her, it was Gabriel. And he looked like hell. He was running, full pelt through the clearing. John watched him with curiosity. Gabriel was shouting and screaming, as were the people closest to him....in fact, they were running away in terror. What the heck was he holding?...A body?....

“Keller!”, shouted Gabriel, “John! I need you!” John just stood, rooted to the spot like some horrified teenager encountering his first dead animal on the road. He stood speechless as Gabriel ran right up to him and almost threw the body onto the ground.

“Gabriel...”, he began, “Are you all right?....What about Grace?....”

“No time to talk about all that! This man needs you.” Gabriel was breathless, trying to stay conscious. John just shook his head as he knelt by the body.

“I’ve told you before that I’m no doctor. I don’t see what I can do...this man is dead, Gabriel.”

“But you can help him!”, breathed Gabriel, “I know you can! YOU know you can!”

“How?....”

“Do what you did for that other guy! The one who was shot outside your church before this whole thing started and whom you resurrected!”

“Now, wait a second, Gabriel.....”

“No time, John! I’ve got to save this guy, he just threw away his life to probably save the entire world! If you can resurrect a gangster then surely....”

“But that’s just it, Gabriel. I CAN’T resurrect anyone.”

“What?....” Gabriel choked back the tears that were forming in desperation, “...Are you telling me that you’re a fraud?”

“I’m no fraud, Gabriel. I’m human. I don’t resurrect people! I pray for them to be resurrected by....”

“Yeah, I know, God and crap. So pray for this guy!”

“It isn’t as simple as that!”

“Are you saying that you can save a gangster, the of the Earth, but you and your God won’t save a guy who is PURE goodness! Somebody who has led a life in such a way as to always follow his beliefs exactly and die for them!” John put a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder and spoke quietly and calmly.

“Gabriel, if you truly believed that this man could come back from the dead, then it would not matter if I prayed or not. Your faith alone is as good a prayer as any I can say!”

“But....why isn’t he back?” The tears began trickling down his cheeks. John continued speaking softly.

“For the same reason that most other people don’t come back. His life is finished, it is over. There was no more for him to do and no more to be accomplished. If his death was what has saved us all, then maybe his death was just meant to be...maybe his own death was the blood he saw running down. Maybe the reason he became so attached to you was because he knew that you may be the one to try and save him.” He looked Gabriel in the eyes.

“But I tell you this, Gabriel. I have no doubt that this man has gone to a better place. One where there is no suffering and no evil prophecies to be stopped. A place we have all been promised, if we just carry out the plan we are offered. If we all become history makers.”

Gabriel couldn’t take any of this in, not now. He just looked sorrowfully down at the man lying in front of him. And then he fell to his knees, tears running down his cheeks and sobbed bitterly. John knelt down beside him and cradled Gabriel in his arms and prayed a prayer of thanks out loud. And those around who had stood in fear of the corpse also fell silent, and some prayed and shouted too....as much in awe and fear as if there had just been a miracle performed before them.

The atmosphere of praise and joy was as much alive as any had been in John’s church and it continued as the sky darkened and the sun finally began to set but the impromptu service didn’t stop until long after the last of the troops had left and the island returned to the same misleading peace it had seen that morning...with the dome weapon still very much evident on the hillside. The landmark of technological terror, or man’s accomplishment to obliterate himself, on an island otherwise untouched by such evil. And now, disarmed and dismantled, a symbol of hope to complement the faith and love shown that day....that Judgement Day.

Continue on to Chapter 10

If you have any comments, you can email Phil Colvin at sculder_mully@geocities.com.

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