================================================================

Touching Jericho (11/15)

Purgatory.

Time stopped. Mulder had read and heard the words before,
scoffed at them. Never again. He had no idea if minutes, hours,
or a millennium passed since the first roar of destruction.

Grit and gravel ground into his cheek, dirt coated his tongue
in a sticky layer. He tried to spit out the muddy concoction.
His face rested against a cool, grimy surface. Floor, or wall,
or ceiling, he couldn't tell. There was no up and down, no easy
orientation. He was the victim of an urban avalanche.

Blackness. Inky, impenetrable, final. He panicked, thinking he
was blind. Then realized his eyes had been open all along.

More thoughts trickled into his numb brain. He had been with
someone. With Scully? No, he and another agent... Jacob... ben
Jacob. Mulder remembered the incessant ring of fire alarms, the
concrete under his feet as he ran down through the corridor, a
deafening explosion, flickering lights. Then the gut wrenching
feel of his world turned upside down.

Mulder listened. Peripheral sounds, so vague as to have been
fragments of his own imagination. All was silent here in his
cement sarcophagus. He thought he heard the faint drip of water,
under the ominous creak of shifting building.

"ben Jacob?" He waited.

"Asher ben Jacob, can you hear me?"

Silence.

Mulder might have been the only man left on the face of the
earth. That thought grabbed him by the throat and wouldn't let
go, reached down and dredged up the panic from the pit of his
stomach. Entombed in a nightmare out of his darkest dreams. He
was probably going to die, utterly alone, his work left
incomplete.

After a long silence, Mulder laughed. Maybe he was dead already.

Hell needed a new press agent. Where were the flames, the heat,
the taint of sulphur, eternal damnation and the big guy with the
cloven hooves?

He sat up cautiously, at least what he thought was up, and
whacked his head on something solid.

"Shit!"

He doubled over until the cartoon stars faded. Mulder wiped the
grit from his face and winced as the movement caused pain in
unrelated parts of his body, especially the ragged twinge in his
left arm. He felt it through his jacket. About halfway up was a
swollen and throbbing lump that hadn't been there previously. He
turned it cautiously, and sweat sprang to his forehead.

Mulder took a deep breath and immediately wished he hadn't.
Dusty, fetid air rushed into his ravaged nostrils, and set up a
spasm of choking and coughing, which made him sit up as he
fought to breathe. He cracked his head again.

"Damn..." He leaned back cautiously and spoke to the darkness.
"If this is the afterlife, I think I want my money back..."


Temple Square
Salt Lake City

The closer Scully got to the gaggle of agents, the more she
felt like cramming the letter into her pocket and pretending
she'd never laid eyes on it. Unfortunately, that wasn't an
option. This time she was determined to find an explanation
aside from the obvious.

The first thing Scully heard was Martinez' voice slicing
through the crowd. "Listen. I *know* you want results. You're
just going to have to wait a little longer. We haven't even
begun to..."

As Scully approached and stopped, Riley nodded in the direction
of the man Martinez addressed. "AIC Fuller," he informed her.
"They're applying the thumb screws already. Expecting results
out of thin air."

"Agent Mulder..." Scully fought hard to control the waver in
her voice, "Agent Mulder's car is around the corner. Parked
right behind Asher's. I don't think it's coincidental."

"Shit..." Riley motioned to Christina, who was obviously happy
for an excuse to get out of her conversation with the AIC. As
she approached, Riley shook his head at Scully, "I spoke to
Mulder. He'd been... concerned. About Asher and you. He was
watching Asher. It's very likely Agent Mulder was following
him." Riley looked up at the bombed building. "And we both know
where Asher went..."

Scully closed her eyes. Just like Mulder. Stubborn as duct tape.

"They're confirming the lists now... If the agents were in
there, they should have signed in at the front desk. We'll know
for sure when they finish interviewing the security guards."

"I'd like to look at those lists," Scully said.

"As soon as they're done, I'll get you a copy," Riley promised.
He sighed heavily. "Although I can bet you Mulder was following
Ash. He was last night."

"Riley? What's going on?" Christina shuffled through the papers
in her hands and waited impatiently.

"It looks like we've got another man inside, ma'am. Agent
Mulder."

Christina stared at Scully. "Fox Mulder? Your partner? What the
hell was he doing here?"

"I'm not really sure. We have information suggesting he was
with Asher. And his car is around the corner." Scully glanced at
Riley, finally dragged the note out of her pocket and passed it
to him, "I think you should both look at this."

Riley's expression clouded as he read. He shook his head, "Aw,
man. No. Jesus, the guy was having a few problems... but this..."

Christina took the note from him, read it over. She took a
furtive glance in the direction of her boss, then lowered her
voice. "Christ. Where'd you get this?"

"I found it." Scully forced herself to give up the remaining
details. "In Asher's car."

"Pat, do you recognize this handwriting?" Christina frowned, "I
sure as hell do."

Riley gave a tiny nod, conceded, "Yes, ma'am. Looks like Ash's."

"Surely you both can't think he..." Scully looked from one to
the other, incredulous they'd be so ready to condemn a colleague
on such flimsy evidence.

"With all due respect, Agent Scully. You don't know him like we
do. And this is our case."

"It makes no sense. The car was unlocked, anyone could have had
access. You haven't taken into consideration the usual profile
of a bomber. Where's the motive?"

"That is a point..." Christina considered. She looked at Riley,
"You have anything to add?"

He inspected his shoes, then offered "Kent claimed the warning
call was internal..."

"And?"

Riley shook his head, stuffed his hands into his pockets, his
reply reticent. "A few days ago, Asher was asking about a
company... New Genesis. He said it was related somehow to what
happened at Ruskin Dam, what happened to Davi. The name rang a
bell, and I finally dug up a receipt. The address on that
receipt... was here. Right here."

The exact address she'd given Asher just the day before. Scully
chewed her lip, offered nothing.

"That's all I need to hear." Christina looked over the note
again, then gave a long-suffering sigh. "I'd say we've got our
suspect. Fuller will be livid. I'll go break the *good* news to
him. Riley, I want Asher's car impounded. I want it gone over
with a fine-toothed comb. You see to it." She made a move to
walk away.

Scully stopped her. "Could I take that note for a while? I
don't believe Asher is capable of this."

"This note doesn't leave my possession." Martinez said firmly,
but then relented a little. "I'll make you a copy... and hope
like hell you can find something to prove me wrong." She took a
deep breath. "Please. Prove me wrong."


Purgatory

The extremes to which a human being could adapt were
remarkable. While not exactly comfortable in his dank, murky
tomb, Mulder could accept it. Temporarily. The pain in his arm
was annoying but tolerable, his mouth was dry, but thirst wasn't
a pressing matter. He felt dirty and inexplicably tired, like
he'd just returned from a lengthy run. The dark was
disconcerting, his eyes played tricks on him, made him think he
could see flashes of light and things that weren't there. "If
you monsters out there want me, now's the time to cash in,"
Mulder commented to the darkness.

Points grew on his ears as he strained to hear. No monsters
replied, and the creak and crumble of the building above him was
softer than he would have imagined. He tried telling himself
there was a lesson to be learned in all this. 'Always carry your
flashlight, even in broad daylight, but especially in Utah.' It
didn't help. There was something primeval about darkness, it
tapped a fear deep inside, and put the old fight or flight
instinct on immediate stand-by. Unfortunately, you couldn't flee
what you couldn't see. And the only fight taking place was
strictly internal.

"Scully, if you're out there on your white horse, now would be
a good time." Mulder knew Scully would be trying to find him. He
had that faith. Problem was, she didn't know *where* he was.
Neither did he.

Mulder sat up suddenly, curtailed the movement just in time to
avoid cracking his head, and dug in his overcoat pocket. The
friggin' phone, why hadn't he thought of that earlier? "Because
I've been too busy banging my head against the wall... or
ceiling... or floor..."

He carefully touched the face, envisioning where the power
button was. After a false start he managed to turn it on,
wincing at the pale glow of LCD readout. It was as bright as a
signal fire after the hellish darkness. He took a moment to
glory in the precious light, then punched in speed dial for
Scully and held his breath. The phone crackled in his hand, a
hiss of static his only companion. Mulder cut the connection and
tried again with the same result. After the third try, he had to
admit it wasn't going to work. He reluctantly turned off the
phone to save the battery, plunging himself back into oblivion.

"Son of a..."

Maybe there was too much interference from the building's metal
components. For all he knew, the entire load of structural steel
sat over his head. Mulder began to get a tad claustrophobic. He
felt the sweat soak through his shirt and stain his armpits.

"I wonder if there's a deodorant strong enough for the man
who's been buried alive? Of course the market might be a bit
small... and endorsements would be a bitch..."

A sound made Mulder swivel his head so fast he almost gave
himself whiplash. It differed from the background clutter Mulder
had grown used to. The noise sounded almost human in nature.
Heart pounding, he listened again. This time he heard Eugene
Tooms slithering towards him through the gaps in the concrete.
Mulder froze, took gulping breaths, then called out. "Asher ben
Jacob? Anybody!" Again there was no answer.

Mulder began to explore the confines of his dark prison. As
near as he could tell from his brief fling with the cel phone
light, a lot of debris stood between him and freedom. If he
could determine which direction was up - and out.

The walls creaked around Mulder then stopped.

Again it came out of the darkness, the low drift of
incomprehensible speech. Not quite a cry, more of a bitten back
moan. Mulder leaned forward. "ben Jacob? Asher ben Jacob? Can
you hear me?"

There was a moment of dead silence, then a voice cut through
the darkness, slurred, and on edge. "Who is that?"

"Saint Peter, who do you think?"

"Wrong... religion..."

"Sorry." Mulder grinned to himself, giddy with the knowledge he
wasn't alone. "So, fancy meeting you in here in speluketeers
paradise."

"Agent Mulder... I thought you got out."

"You thought wrong. What the hell happened, ben Jacob?"

"A bomb..."

"Yeah, I figured that out, Einstein. What the hell did you *do*,
ben Jacob?"

"I didn't *do* anything, Mulder."

"Then who the hell thumped me? You were looking pretty damn
cozy with that bomb when I woke up, what the hell am I supposed
to think?"

"You shouldn't have tried snooping around on your own. It was
me they wanted."

"Who's they?"

"The people behind the experiments... behind New Genesis..."

"You seemed to know an awful lot about that yourself."

"Those two men weren't security... I'd never seen them before.
Pulled a gun on me as soon as the elevator doors closed." There
was a long pause, followed by a spluttering cough. "Left us both
in that room... no phone, no tools... no way I could disarm that
thing..."

"Covering their tracks no doubt." Mulder closed his eyes. "And I
guess that includes you and me... Where are we, anyway? I could
try and find a way out if I had a clue as to where to go. I must
have missed this level on the sightseeing tour..."

More silence, then a stifled groan. "There is no way out, Agent
Mulder. We're trapped... probably under the street."

"What? What the hell do you mean under the street?" Mulder sat
up. His head connected with something hard. "Ow! Damn it!"

"You okay?"

Mulder gave a harsh laugh. "Yeah, just dandy. I always wanted
to be a mole. Or is it gophers out here?" He took a cautious
breath. "So why are we under the street?"

"Because there's tunnels connecting the buildings here... they
run under the streets..." ben Jacob's voice faded.

"And everybody knows about these tunnels, right? ben Jacob?"
Mulder paused. "Hey, you still with me?"

"Yeah. Still here, Mulder..."

"Everybody knows about these tunnels, right? They'll look down
here?"

"About the tunnels, yes... but..."

Mulder didn't like the sound of that. "But..?"

"We shouldn't have been here... They're going to think we
are on the fifteenth floor..."

"Did you tell anyone what you were doing before you took off
this morning? Your partner maybe?"

"No. Did you?"

Mulder frowned to himself. From the sound of ben Jacob's voice
he couldn't be more than twenty, thirty feet away. Unless the
slight echo of the tunnel distorted things. He didn't hear the
other agent moving around. He just heard a few more stifled
groans. "ben Jacob?"

"Yeah..."

"You hurt?"

There was a pause. "Yeah."

"Bad?"

Another pause. "Pretty bad."

"How bad is pretty bad?" Mulder asked. "Are you bleeding?" He
felt along his own injured arm and winced.

"I think so... Hard to tell. Feels like it. My leg's pinned.
Maybe my arm too. Can't move it."

"Shit..." Mulder muttered to himself. "ben Jacob? Hang on. I'm
going to try and find a way over to you."

"I wouldn't advise that, Mulder."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because... I was almost at the door when the place blew...
nothing behind me but collapsed building."

"You don't know that, ben Jacob."

"I know bombs, Agent Mulder. Believe me... you're better off
staying put. Too much movement and this whole tunnel could
collapse. The blast probably weakened the parking garage
foundations. We're under it."

"Oh, great. Best I can hope for is it's a Caddy that kills
me... You just want me to leave you over there? Bleeding? I
can't do that. You're my only source of entertainment."

There was a rumble from the dark around them, as if to
reinforce ben Jacob's words, more shifting and collapsing of
concrete, the tinkle of broken glass, another layer of dust
added to the stagnant air. Mulder coughed and waited for the air
to settle. "ben Jacob?" He heard the sound of dripping water,
louder now, and the very faint sound of voices. "ben Jacob, you
hear that?" Mulder cupped his good hand to his mouth and yelled.
"Hey, down here!"

After the echo of Mulder's voice died, there was silence. "ben
Jacob? I think I should go for help." The other agent didn't
answer. Mulder was alone again.


State Street
Near Temple Square

It wasn't a quiet job. Agents teemed the street where Asher's
car was parked, calling loudly to each other. Every parked car
was thoroughly checked, inside and out, and its plates run for
irregularities.

Scully stood a few steps back on the sidewalk, staring at her
twisted reflection in the Stealth's immaculate paint. A tow
truck stood ready to take the vehicle into impound once they'd
completed their preliminary search. The rest would be left to
forensics.

Already lab techs stood by with fingerprint kits, shifting from
foot to foot as Riley finished bagging the contents of the
interior of the Stealth.

Riley reached in through the open driver's side window and
popped the latch, then joined Scully at the rear of the vehicle.

They stared into the gaping trunk. There wasn't a lot to see: A
small toolbox, Asher's prayer bag, and a stack of files. Scully
smoothed down her plastic gloves and nodded at the files. "They
from the office?"

"They better not be... Then again, I don't suppose Asher could
get his ass into deeper trouble if he tried." Riley flicked
through a few loose papers. "Doesn't look like bureau stuff..."
He picked up a paper by the edges and frowned. "Looks more like
medical records."

"What?" Scully carefully lifted one of the file folders and
opened it, scanning the pages. She immediately recognized what
she was looking at, despite the years. The same medical records
she and Mulder had uncovered once before in an old abandoned
mine. Files that contained her name, and Samantha's... and no
doubt Davi's as well. The same files Missy died for now held
Mulder and Asher hostage.

In her haste to get a closer look, she practically shoved Riley
aside, grabbing up the files and flipping through the pages,
tossing them down when she didn't see what she wanted.

"Hey, careful with those... we're only supposed to be bagging
this stuff."

Scully ignored him. She paused and pulled another page out of a
file, not surprised to find it also looked familiar. A computer
printout containing the same record information they'd pulled
off the hard drive of Jeremiah Smith's computer. She was sure
the origin of the files must have been somewhere in the Office
Complex.

"You know what this stuff is?" Riley tried to look over her
shoulder.

Scully used a hip to keep him away. "Bag, please..." She busied
herself sliding the buff folders into plastic bags as she
thought. Asher had definitely stumbled onto something. Whether
it was evidence that would incriminate the man, or help prove a
set-up, was debatable.

She turned the words of the note over in her mind. Something
just didn't fit. Asher would not knowingly harm people. Not
with a bomb. Not the Asher she knew. Not the man that made love
to her with such tenderness and understanding. The one who
opened the door renewing her faith, and showed her the way home.
Not Asher. Love couldn't make him extract this kind of
retribution. Could it?

"Let's take this evidence to Chrissy." Riley picked up the
stack of bags containing the files and a few other things,
motioning for the evidence techs to take the rest. "They're
going to do a forensics sweep for bomb components, explosives
residue..." He headed back to Operations, Scully trailing
behind, lost in thought.

Riley handed some of the bags to Christina Martinez, and the
rest to Agent Franklin.

"Good, Fuller's been waiting on this," Chrissy said. She walked
away without another word.

Scully found herself back outside the portable building,
walking with  Riley towards the perimeter, thoughts still on
Asher ben Jacob. And Mulder, damn him. She frowned.

"What's wrong?" Riley asked. He stopped, put a hand on her
shoulder and squeezed gently. "We're doing everything we can.
They'll find them. It's just slow going to the upper floors.
They have to move carefully."

Scully nodded without hearing. She could use some of Asher's
biblical support right now. All her Catholic upbringing could
regurgitate into her mind was the Twenty Third Psalm. It played
in an endless loop in her head, lingering on one phrase... 'Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil: for thou art with me...' The image those words
provided her wasn't of a benevolent deity, of Jesus, or even of
her father. Mulder strode the death valleys of her mind, evil
shrinking away from his very presence. He walked beside her,
never in front... Scully bit her lip again as tears threatened.
So many lives had paid the price of her diligence, and yet the
truth still remained in obscurity.

"What's wrong?" Riley repeated. He looked at her with some
concern.

"I'm fine." Scully gave him a sideways glance, took a mind
clearing breath. "The more I see of this whole set up, the less
I like it. I can't believe anyone would think Asher capable of
murder. Or terrorism. Do you honestly believe it, Pat?"

Riley looked uncomfortable. "The facts would seem to support
Asher as our bomber... then there's the letter..."

"Screw the facts! Screw the letter!" Scully jabbed his chest
with a fingertip, shoving him back an inch. "Do *you* think
Asher did it? You're his partner. More importantly, you're his
friend. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me." Scully
emphasized her next words with a jab to the chest for each one.
"Did. Asher. Do. It?"

Riley stared at her, swallowed, then looked her in the eye and
replied firmly. "No. Ash didn't do this."

Scully stepped back, blew the strands of hair off her sweaty
forehead. "Then we've got some work to do. Did you get a copy of
that confession for me?"

He nodded, retrieved the photocopy from his jacket pocket and
passed it to her. "Yep."

Scully scanned the note again, then looked at Riley, "Any
suggestions on where to start?"

Riley shrugged. "Could start at the beginning. Porter Kent
pulled the alarm..." His tone turned sarcastic, "If you make an
appointment, you might get to talk to him sometime next month.
Being a hero can be trying you know. Last I heard, he was
bemoaning the fact he hadn't seen the 'warning signs' in Ash
before the bombing. If we don't move fast, they'll have the Ash
tried, convicted, and sentenced before they find the body..."

Scully winced.

"Sorry. I keep trying to tell myself he's still alive..." Riley
turned to look at the building, "but every passing hour makes my
faith a bit shaky."

"I don't think Asher's faith is shaken at all. He's probably
praying and waiting for us to rescue him," Scully replied.

"And Mulder?"

"Mulder's probably digging his way out with a spork..." Scully
said with a laugh that turned to a bitten off sob. "He's been in
worse spots. And survived. He'll surprise you like that."

Riley looked at the building again. "If anyone can convince the
big guy to have mercy, it's the rabbi..."

Scully stopped, vague idea forming, "Riley, you may be on to
something... where could I find Asher's rabbi?"

"Rabbi Green you mean?" Riley raised an eyebrow, "You're in
luck. He's here. He was counseling survivors until he got wind
of who the brass were blaming for the bombing. He's been on
Martinez' tail ever since. She should still be in operations.
Find her, good chance you'll find him."

end part 11/15

================================================================

Touching Jericho (12/15)

Purgatory.

Mulder used the time to pull out the cel phone and turn it on,
get his bearings, then turn it off and move forward again. A
tilted concrete slab seemed to be his main barrier to reaching
the other agent. Crumpled drywall and twisted pipes added to the
adventure. Mulder felt the scrape of broken pipe across the back
of his neck. He ducked lower and paused, panting.

There was the faint whisper of a voice, and Mulder felt the
hair on his scraped neck rise before he realized it was coming
from the direction ben Jacob was trapped. The tranquility of the
half heard phrases soothed his frazzled nerves.

"ben Jacob, I'm coming over there. Stay put."

The voice stopped. "Well hurry up... I got a date at seven..."

Mulder shook his head. "Keep talking, ben Jacob. So I know
where you are."

"I told you not to come over here, Mulder."

"I'm not real good at listening."

"So I heard."

Mulder frowned. "Who the hell told you that about me? Scully?"
He turned the cel phone on, checked his bearings, and tried to
squeeze around a cement block.

"You know, you ought to take the time to listen to Dana more
often, Mulder. She's a remarkable woman. I would have popped
you one a long time ago."

"Seems you two got quite cozy in my absence." Mulder ducked and
tried to slide his six foot frame through a two foot opening.

"I know they say absence makes the heart grow fonder, Mulder...
but it also leaves entirely too much time for tefillah she-
balev..."

"For what? I can't understand you, ben Jacob." Mulder grunted
and tried his squeeze routine again with no luck.

"The contemplation of the heart, Mulder. The time you spend
thinking of things that need answers. Sometimes the conclusions
you reach are not those you expected. The danger of
introspection, Mulder, is that sometimes you get lost... in
the shadows, and fail to allow the inherent brilliance of self
to guide you... on the correct spiritual path."

Mulder stopped struggling and leaned on the concrete,
contemplating ben Jacob's words. "I bet you were a precocious
little shit when you were young, weren't you?"

"In the language of the playground, Mulder, 'it takes one to
know one'."

Mulder threw a leg over the lowest portion of the concrete slab
and tested it. "I thought we were talking about Scully."

"We are..."

"Crap!" Mulder rolled over on top of the slab and found himself
4 inches from another slab. He'd landed on his injured arm and
the pain of it took his breath away. The thought of the slab
shifting and grinding him into dog food pressed him onward. He
inched on his back across the block, sweat, dirt, and fear
lubricating his progress. He reached the end, rolled off, and
fell to the floor with a dust raising thump. Coughing, he felt
the slab he'd just rolled off of crash to the ground with a flat
whomp inches from his ear. The one above it groaned.

"Mulder?"

Mulder sent a quick prayer to Scully's god, Asher's god, and
Allah just to be on the safe side. When he wasn't crushed into
a compact package, Mulder took a small breath. And another.

"Answer me, Mulder!"

"You're out of luck, ben Jacob. The only mess that falling
concrete made was in my shorts."

A short silence greeted his reply. "There is a prayer for
fools, Agent Mulder. Just can't remember it right now..." ben
Jacob gave a weak cough.

"Well, feel free to substitute any prayers you like, ben Jacob.
I'm almost there." Mulder pulled out his cel phone and turned it
on. Out of habit, he hit the speed dial for Scully. Nothing.

He used the phone's rapidly dimming light to look around. An
opening about ten feet to his right offered the best path. To
get there he'd have to climb over more concrete slabs. Mulder
started climbing. He left the light on, rationalizing it would
help him move quicker. Truth was, he wanted to know what was
going to kill him. A sick, irrational desire Scully would
understand completely.

Mulder made it to the opening in record time, paused to rest.
He took a look around and could see the metal door that led into
the office building, bowed double from the blast and pressure.
Again concrete chunks littered the open spaces, rebar poked out
in a deadly gauntlet of spikes. The red box of the fire alarm
hung off one canted wall, the door's keypad off the other.
Mulder could clearly hear the fading Hebrew words of ben Jacob's
prayer. But Asher ben Jacob was nowhere in sight.

The silence rushed in again, no prayers to the omnipotent rolled
forth. Mulder turned off the cel phone and sank to the ground.
He wasn't sure if ben Jacob was resting, unconscious, or dead.
The guy better not be dead. Sharing space with stiffs was
Scully's department, not his. Not to mention the references to
'Dana' were getting on his nerves.

A spasm of pain shot up Mulder's left arm. "Auntie Em, I hate
you, I hate Utah, and I want to go home..." He closed his eyes.
It would be so easy to rest, just stop and wait for help to
come. Although he was sure Scully was safe and searching for
him, the niggling doubt that made his nights a living hell now
crept into his days. What if Scully waited for *him* to
find her? He had to know. He had to see her face. Hear her say,
'Mulder, what did you think you were *doing* in there with
Asher...'.

Asher. She'd called this agent by his first name several times.
The familiarity had been lost on him. Asher. Mulder tried to
replay Scully's tone of voice in his mind ben Jacob called her
Dana. Asher and Dana. They were on a first name basis. They were
searching for clues about Scully's cancer. They demanded answers
about the missing ova. They questioned about Ruskin Dam. Mulder
was the odd man out of this party. A position of his own making.

Fresh anger fueled his motivation. It was Scully's fault he
wouldn't talk to her about it. If he brought it up, a defensive
look immediately dominated her face. Like she expected his
arguments, anticipated them, dismissed them. They couldn't even
toss the idea back and forth the way they used to, worrying it
into a comprehensible shape. That battle weary, yet vulnerable
look on his partner's face was more formidable than any of these
concrete slabs.

Mulder flipped on the cel phone and took another look around.
He plotted his course and set off. "Asher ben Jacob, open your
big mouth and let me know where you are!"

Out of the darkness came a melodic voice and words half sung.
"Sh'ma Yisrael: Adonai Elohenu Adonai Ehad!"

More words followed, but Mulder understood none of them. He
continued to turn his cel phone on for short intervals and try
and pick a path over to the other agent. The soft singing was
hypnotic. Mulder finally gave into curiosity. "What are you
doing, ben Jacob?"

After a minute the other man finally answered. "Praying."

"Again? I think you better check your connection, it doesn't
seem to be working. Maybe God went out for pizza and left you on
hold."

"I know my prayers are heard, Agent Mulder. I know they will
help."

"Help? Help is a rescue crew cutting us out of this tomb, ben
Jacob. Help is something that happens when people see a problem
and address it. Help isn't begging some mythical deity to get
you out of your predicament. It's something you do yourself. God
helps those who help themselves, ben Jacob. You ever heard that
phrase?" Mulder continued to inch around his area, searching,
his cel phone light growing dimmer. ben Jacob sounded close,
less than twenty feet away.

There was a silence from the other side of the tunnel. "I don't
understand why the expression of my religion makes you so angry,
Agent Mulder."

"Religion does nothing but convince otherwise normal people
that somebody else is going to solve their problems. It makes
them complacent."

"It gives people faith, Agent Mulder. It gives them hope and
faith. Why is that wrong?"

"Because it doesn't work! You pray and pray and pray for
something, and it doesn't happen."

"Maybe it doesn't happen the way you expected it, Mulder. Whose
fault is that?"

"I just don't understand you people, ben Jacob." Mulder stopped
to rest, ducked his head and crouched down. Five minutes, and he
would go on.

"What people are you talking about, Mulder? Jews?"

"No, no, I wasn't referring to that," Mulder said impatiently,
"I meant you people... who are religious. Who go to churches and
synagogue and pray and wear symbols of your religion day and
night."

"The faithful?" ben Jacob asked.

"If that's what you want to call it."

"Do you believe in Hell, Agent Mulder?"

Mulder grinned into the darkness, exasperated, and shook his
head, "You can't scare me with hell, ben Jacob... I've already
sat through the Ice Capades. Twice."

"So practice does make perfect?"

Mulder scowled. "At times like this ... I need to be doing
something a little more constructive than just supplicating. I
can't accept a religion that constantly tests its followers."

"Ah, I think I understand now. You object to being requested to
believe in something... unconditionally. Without proof or
reason."

"Not exactly... well, maybe..." Mulder closed his eyes and
sighed.

"That's the difference you don't understand, Mulder. I believe
in my god. It's not even a question in my mind."

"Then why do you pray?"

"I'm not praying to appease that mythical deity, Mulder. I pray
to better myself, to understand myself. Prayer is contemplation
on my life and place in the world. I petition my god to help
make me a better person..."

"I'd need more work than God probably wants to put into me, ben
Jacob."

"How much are you willing to invest in yourself, Mulder?"

"What, you charge by the hour, rabbi?" Mulder smiled to
himself. "You think I'm skeptical you ought to talk to Scully.
She wouldn't believe the sun rose in the east unless she saw it
with her own eyes. Even then she'd want scientific proof..."

"Proof is not always what we expect. And Dana numbers among the
faithful, despite what's happened to her. I think you want to
believe, Mulder. You just can't let go and trust. That's the
place all true contemplation starts from... trusting yourself."
ben Jacob went back to praying.

Mulder rested and thought. In the blackness time stretched out
its hand in front of him, unraveling like a dropped spool of
thread, tinted sepia and gossamer light.


Church Office Building
Near Temple Square

Scully found herself doing something she thought she'd never do
again. Praying. Not the whiny, self indulgent litanies of her
youth, or the desperate pleas of her cancer ridden past, but
rather the calm and confident worship she'd noticed of Asher ben
Jacob.

No bargains, no promises, no deals. Just quiet prayers to a god
she still accepted. The time was right. She believed again. Hope
could coexist with despair, past with present, the memories of a
little girl would not tear her apart from the inside out. She
believed. The walls of deception Scully propped up against a
cold and unforgiving world crumbled like the bomb devastated
building before her. There was rubble to climb over, obstacles
to scale, justice to uncover. She believed.

There was the chance that Mulder would not get out of this
alive. Scully quit sidestepping the possibility and faced it
squarely. If Mulder did not survive... she would carry on
without him. She could pay homage to his memory, and satisfy her
own desire to know the truth. She was strong. She could fulfill
this quest.

Scully kept her eyes closed and breathed slowly. She stared the
possibilities in the face and hadn't flinched. Her father would
have been proud.

What of Asher? What there was between them was too ethereal to
put a name to. It was too valuable to be deemed sex, too fragile
to call them lovers. Misguided souls searching for the way home.
In her greed Scully had taken everything he'd offered and given
nothing in return. She was ashamed. His need had been no less
desperate than hers. She wanted him found, alive and well, if
for no other reason than to thank him... and ask him to forgive
her. If he was dead... Scully opened her eyes to the relentless
sun. If Asher was dead, the finest tribute she could give him
was to clear his name.

Scully again climbed the steps to the portable building that
was the operations room, again showed her badge to get past the
man standing at the door. She scanned the area, first spotting
Martinez, then the man she was in heated debate with. There was
no mistaking him, heavy beard, kipah on his head, and crusading
attitude, he had to be Asher's rabbi. As she neared, the
conversation began to drift towards her.

"And I'm telling *you* you're wrong...."

"And I'm telling *you* again, Rabbi, this isn't your concern. I
don't want to have you thrown out of here, but I will if you
insist on obstructing me..."

Scully cleared her throat, "Excuse me. I wondered it if would
be possible to have a word with the rabbi?"

Christina grunted, "Be my guest." She gave Scully what might
have been a grateful look. "And here, Riley said you needed a
copy of the sign-in sheets for the building." She rummaged
through her clipboard and yanked off a large stack of
photocopies, slapped them into Scully's hands. "I hope you find
what you're looking for. Soon."  Chrissy glanced at the rabbi.

"Has there been any word? On any other survivors?" Scully asked.

"Nothing since they pulled out that secretary an hour ago. I'll
keep you informed." She fled.

Scully turned to the waiting man who studied her with curious
brown eyes. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Scully said, and
extended her hand, "I'm Special Agent Dana Scully. Asher has
spoken highly of you."

"Ah. I'm David Green." The short, muscular rabbi shook her
hand, but still regarded her suspiciously, "You, too, want to
convince me my Asher is responsible for all... this?"

"No, sir. I don't believe that he is. That's what I wanted to
talk to you about."

He nodded at her, rubbing his bearded face. "Very well, Agent
Scully. I am at your service."

"Did Agent Martinez show you the confession?"

"No. She merely claimed to have one, and that it was the basis
of her case. Ridiculous."

Scully led him into a less crowded corner of the room, "It's a
strong case, sir, I have to admit. They believe they have
motive. And this confession." She passed it to him. "You
probably knew Asher better than most. I wanted to get your
opinion. Is this him speaking?"

Green scowled, mulled over the words. After a long silence, he
answered. "Yes. And no."

"Meaning?"

"I recognize some of this... from a letter Asher wrote to me.
Some months ago now, not long after his fiancee's death..."
Green shook his head, "But this bit in the middle... the
Apocalypse? paying with the blood of innocents? Writing out the
word God?" he shook his head, "No, preposterous. That isn't
Asher ben Jacob's words. I've never seen them before."

"Isn't it possible Asher could have amended the letter later?"

"Anything is possible, Agent Scully. But it is also highly
unlikely. For what reason? Those are not the words of the
faithful. Certainly not my Asher. Sometimes the lost sheep are
more devout than those who never strayed."

Scully took the note back from him, folding it carefully as she
thought. "Do you still have this other letter? The original?"

Green nodded, "In my files. As a matter of coincidence, I had
reason to reference it only a few weeks ago in a theological
debate about the death of... Asher's love. Porter, too, deals
with lost souls on occasion. We both wanted to help Asher
through his crisis."

Scully raised an eyebrow. "Porter Kent?"

"Yes. You know him?"

"We've met." Scully pursed her lips. "So far all I know about
him is that I've heard his name once too often today." She
tucked the note back into her pocket. "If you could get me that
letter, rabbi, I'd be grateful."

"I will go right now. Anything to help Asher."

"Thank you, sir. You've been very helpful." Scully waited until
he left before leafing through the photocopied pages. She found
what she hadn't wanted to see. The name of Asher ben Jacob,
right above the familiar scrawl of Fox Mulder. Damn.

She flipped back through the pages idly, more to give herself
time to absorb the idea. A passing name caught her eye. She
turned the sheets back. Rebekah Levine. The date/time stamp said
she'd visited the Office Building the day before, checking in at
5:00 pm and out at 6:00. Scully frowned. The ben Jacobs and
Rebekah implied they'd arrived in Salt Lake only this morning.
Hadn't they?

Running her finger across the line, she checked Rebekah's
destination. The fifteenth floor. Scully turned to the first
sheet again, and looked at the names of Asher ben Jacob and Fox
Mulder. Destination: Fifteenth floor. The sign-in time was
identical for both men. Where ever the two men were, they were
probably there together.

She recalled her own visit to the fifteenth floor. Slowly,
pieces started to slide into place. Kent bragged about
his calligraphy skills, and had seen Asher's original letter.
Did that make him a forger? Science would answer that question.
She thought harder. What else had she seen there?

Then it hit her. She'd seen stock certificates for a company
called Ursprung Neugeboren...

Newborn Genesis.


Purgatory

"Mulder?"  ben Jacob's voice was ragged, pain suppressed
through effort. Mulder hadn't heard the undertones before. Now
that he was close to the agent, the pain and fear were clear as
day. Or was it just the empathy Mulder felt for the injured man?

"Yeah?"

"You still here?"

"I'm still here. What, you think you're talking to a ghost?
They usually aren't as chivalrous as me..." Mulder leaned
against a chunk of concrete. "I don't think I can get to you,
ben Jacob. There's too much stuff in the way. My cel light's
dying on me."

"That's okay, Mulder... you tried."

"We're going to get out of here."

There was a weak laugh in the dark. "We do, we don't. It is
irrelevant now. I've made my peace with my god."

"You giving up on me, you son of a bitch? What about Scully?
You expect me to be the one to break the news you croaked
because you and God decided it was best?"

"I'm not giving up... It is written; As the whirlwind passes,
so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting
foundation..."

"Oh yeah, that helps a lot."

"The ones who caused this, the ones who sought to pervert
Adonai's creation... they think they've won. But they haven't. I
am just one of many who seek to right the balance..."

"What balance?" There was silence. Mulder waited an eternity,
then spoke. "What balance, ben Jacob? What are you talking
about?"

ben Jacob spoke softly. "The balance between good and evil.
For I have seen the face of evil, and understood. I was blind
before. Dana and Rebekah were right... 'Blessed are the people
who know the sound of the t'ruah...'"

"You flaking out on me, ben Jacob? You're not making much sense."

"Mulder? Will you do something for me?"

"Yeah, sure. What?"

"If I do not make it out of here, I want you to tell Dana I'm
sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"Just tell her. She will understand. I failed... death thrives
on failure, Mulder..."

"You die on me, I'm going to be pissed."

"Will you tell her?"

Mulder heaved a sigh. "Yeah. Now can we change the subject?
You're depressing me. Let's see, we talked about religion,
what's left? Oh yeah, politics and sports. How about those
Knicks?"

The other man gave a laugh that ended in a weak cough. "You
have to leave this place, Agent Mulder. Amalek is coming..."

"I think you took a knock in the head, pal, nobody's coming
down here to get us. Or they would have by now. So here's the
deal. I'm going out the way I came in. Back through the tunnels.
I'll get out, get help, and come back for you."

"You would leave me?"

Mulder thought back to their conversation of a hundred years
ago. ben Jacob's fear of being trapped, buried alive. Funny,
he'd shared the same fear, but after actually experiencing it,
he found there were worse things possible. He also found he
understood ben Jacob's fear in a way he never would have before.
The man didn't want to die like that. Alone. "I'll only be
gone for a while. You need help. I suck at first aid. I won't
let you end up like your friend. I promise."

"I do not fear death anymore, Mulder. As a matter of fact...
Death would be a welcome change right now..." ben Jacob coughed
raggedly.

"Don't give me that shit, ben Jacob. Scully would kick my butt
if I let anything happen to you."

"*I* didn't bomb this building, Mulder."

"I know that, ben Jacob. I've had a lot of time to think too."

"I didn't do it."

"I believe you. This whole thing is too damn convenient. I got
to get out of here before they destroy the evidence. You hang
tight. I'll be back for you."

"The minions of Amalek will try and stop you..."

"Screw the minions and the big boy himself. I got attitude, a
dying phone, and one good arm. More than enough." Mulder flipped
his phone on and flinched as the street rumbled overhead, and
dust and concrete chunks rained down again. "Shit, we need to
get out of here."

"The wall... follow the support wall... behind you..."

It took some effort, but Mulder got around the beam and debris
to look at the wall he hadn't seen from his perspective on the
other side of the corridor. There appeared to be a relatively
clear path back the way he'd come. Instead of cursing his choice
to go right instead of left, Mulder shrugged. "I'm beginning to
like that god of yours, Rabbi. Keep praying."

end part 12/15

================================================================

Touching Jericho (13/15)

Near Temple Square
Salt Lake City.

While she focused, waiting was bearable, but Scully remained
acutely aware that time was very much the enemy. Every heartbeat
that passed lowered the odds. She ducked under the police tape
and made a beeline for the press tent, Porter Kent in her sights.

"Agent Scully... Dana?" A thickly accented voice stopped her in
her tracks.

Scully gave the woman approaching a sympathetic look, reached
out and took her hands, "I'm very sorry, Rebekah... about Asher.
I don't have any news."

"They will not let me in. I thought maybe you could...?"

Scully's heart went out to the woman with the haunted dark
eyes. "They won't let me do anything either... experts are on
the job." She paused, not sure how to frame her question. "There
was something I wanted to ask you. This morning you said you'd
only just arrived... but according to the building's logs, you
were here yesterday. Was that to see Porter Kent?"

Rebekah stared at her. "Yes. We had... unfinished business."

Scully noted Asher's father approach. As Dr. ben Jacob took his
place beside Rebekah, and put a hand on her arm, he didn't quite
seem as fearsome as he had that morning. He looked tired, and
more than a little worried. Scully returned her attention to
Rebekah. "What kind of unfinished business?"

Before answering, Rebekah glanced briefly at the man beside
her. "Family business."

Scully got the distinct impression she wasn't hearing the
entire story. "Rebekah. This is very important. They are trying
to blame Asher for the bombing. If you know anything that could
clear him, you have to tell me."

"I cannot help you." Her voice was almost inaudible.

"My son will be cleared," Daniel ben Jacob interrupted, "He is
innocent!"

"I know that. I'm doing what I can to help him." Scully looked
over at the press tent. Porter Kent was still the man she wanted
to see. "I have something I need to do. Stay close by. I'll let
you know if I get any further information."

Scully left them and headed into the press tent. She paused
near the front, peered into the pandemonium. She'd thought the
operations room had been chaos. This place made operations look
like a smoking club.

Although Asher seemed to like Porter, Scully was not one to
like a man who couldn't see past his own ego. She moved into the
thick of the action, then settled in to listen to the head of
the security team tell his tale.

When his turn came, Kent didn't disappoint. He held reporters
transfixed by what must have been at least the tenth recounting
of his well embellished tale of quick thinking and bravery that
had saved so many lives. By the time things started to repeat
themselves, Scully was seething. This man was doing nothing but
cashing in on the misery of others.

She had no qualms about interrupting. "Excuse me, Mr. Kent. I'd
like to ask you a few questions. In private."

"Don't you read the papers, lady?" one of the reporters joked.

"Miss Scully? I'm terribly sorry for your loss." Porter Kent
came forward, oozing regret. "I only wish one of us had seen
this coming... maybe we could have prevented that misguided
young man from doing what he did." He reached for her hands, but
Scully stepped back.

She pulled out her ID, and presented it with immense
satisfaction. "Special Agent Dana Scully, FBI. Come with me, I
have some questions to ask you."

Kent's eyes narrowed, and for a moment his ever present charm
failed. "You're FBI?"

The press sniffed and surged, hyenas on the scent.

"Agent Scully, did you know the agent who planted the bomb?"

"Did he give any indication he was crazy?"

"Agent Scully, what was your relationship with the deceased
agent?"

Scully looked at them, then firmly answered. "No comment." She
hooked a hand on Porter Kent's arm and pulled. "Come with me.
Showtime is over."

She shoved him unceremoniously towards a quiet corner amidst
the popping of flashbulbs. "Ursprung Neugeboren, Mr. Kent. Please
tell me exactly what that is."

Kent's expression hardened. "I don't know what you are talking
about."

"I saw the certificates in your office, with my own 'pretty
little eyes'."

He raised a challenging eyebrow, "Agent Scully, if I didn't
know better I'd say you were accusing me of something."

"Just answer the question, Mr. Kent."

"I had many things in amongst those papers you saw... none of
it meant anything. They were samples, that's all..." He smiled
easily, "I couldn't tell you half of what I have there."

"Did you see Agent ben Jacob this morning?"

"Yes, as I already told both Agent Riley, and Agent Martinez...
twice."

Scully folded her arms. "Humor me and tell me the story again."

"I saw Asher, and another man in the lobby, about 30 minutes
before I got the warning call. Asher said he had something he
wanted to do, and that he'd meet me later, really, it wasn't a
conversation at all... anyway, he never showed up, and I was
unable to locate him. I tried to find him again after the
warning, I needed his advice. I had a lot of men on the lookout
for him, but no one saw Asher after that."

"Another man? Who was it?"

"I believe he said his name was Agent Mulder--"

Scully didn't get to question the man further. A commotion from
behind interrupted her, and she found herself momentarily off
balance as a woman pushed passed her and pinned Kent against the
wall.

It was Rebekah, spitting fire. "How dare you stand up here and
say those things about Asher! I know what kind of man you are...
I told you you wouldn't get away with it this time."

Kent squirmed and pushed at her. "Someone get this crazy woman
off me!"

Kent's outburst not only attracted the attention of reporters,
but also AIC Fuller.

The gentle voice of Daniel ben Jacob was too close to that of
his son, and a side of the man Scully had not yet seen. A hand
reached past her and pulled Rebekah away.

"Please. This isn't going to help Asher, Rebekah." Daniel ben
Jacob turned to Scully. "Do your job. Arrest this man."

Surprise registered on Scully's face, "Are you suggesting Mr.
Kent is responsible for the bombing?"

Porter Kent went a deep shade of red, "How dare you--"

Scully put a hand up to keep him quiet. "Excuse me, I was
talking to Dr. ben Jacob." She dismissed Kent and looked back to
Asher's father. "Do you have any information, any proof at all
to back up this accusation?"

Daniel ben Jacob's face was calm, but fury shone in his eyes.
"No."

"I'm very sorry, Dr. ben Jacob, but I need more than your
opinion before I can take that kind of action."

Daniel gave Rebekah the slightest of nods.

Rebekah stared at Scully for an instant, her expression
unreadable. "If you need proof, I will see that you get it."

She looked at Porter Kent, then before anyone could stop her,
slapped his face. The sound echoed through the area and brought
everyone to a standstill. "Get out! God will see you pay for
what you have done. So will I."

"Rebekah! Enough!" Dr. ben Jacob grasped Rebekah's arm and led
her away through the excited reporters.

A young church security man in a white shirt rushed up to
Porter. "Are you okay, sir?"

"I'm fine..." Kent stopped rubbing his face.

The young man handed him his jacket. "Here, sir. Put this on.
You better come with me."

"Very well." Kent shrugged the jacket on and let the security
man lead him away.

Scully was stopped from following by Fuller's hand on her arm.

"Agent Scully. Outside. Now."

Scully gave a nod. She'd clashed with him more than once that
afternoon all ready.

AIC Fuller was a heavy-set man, his face dominated by thick and
unruly eyebrows, a 20-year veteran who knew the book backwards
and had no qualms about beating someone over the head with it if
the need arose.

Fuller led her around the corner, away from the nosy reporters,
then scowled at her, keeping his voice low, "I will *not* have
you upsetting the victim's relatives, or the witnesses. Nor will
I have you involved in a scene in front of a score of reporters.
I understand how close you are to the missing agents, but I
still can't tolerate this behavior. Porter Kent is a highly
respected member of the Church, and you *cannot* go around
making unfounded allegations against him."

"I don't believe the accusations are unfounded, sir. I believe
the confession you have was forged - by Porter Kent."

"You can prove this?"

"I spoke to Rabbi Green concerning the so called confession. He
suggested to me that the phrasing was taken from a letter Asher
sent to him - and that it had been doctored. Porter Kent is also
a calligrapher, I saw samples of his work yesterday in his
office. He could have done it."

Fuller frowned, shaggy eyebrows drawing together, "You're going
to have to do a lot better than that, young lady.  The evidence
says ben Jacob may be responsible. If the letter is indeed a
fake, that will bear out under forensic investigation. For now,
we work with the evidence we have."

"To the exclusion of all else? If you investigate Kent's
background, I'm sure you'll find--"

"Contrary to what you seem to think, Agent Scully, I *do* know
what I'm doing. The ATF team needs more hands for their search.
I'm giving you a choice. Go back to Washington, or report to
Agent Markus."

"But, sir, I--"

"Would you like me to have you removed from the scene
completely?"

"No, sir."

"Then go now, Agent Scully. Before I change my mind."

Scully stalked off, glad to have her anger fueled. There was
still work to be done. She found a quiet area of the parking
lot, retrieved her phone, and dialed. "Frohike... this is
important. I don't have much time, so just listen."

"Agent Scully! What the hell is happening in Utah?"

She slowed her impatience and sighed heavily, "You don't want
to know..." Scully considered telling him about Mulder, but
discarded the idea. Forming the words would be too difficult,
make things sound too final. "I need some information... as fast
as you can get it. Faster."

"My fingers are at your command..."

The innuendo fell on deaf ears. "A man called Porter Kent. He's
a secretary to one of the apostles for the LDS church here in
Salt Lake. I believe he has links in the Middle East... and probably
Germany. I need anything and everything you can find on him. And
remember how I asked about Rebekah Levine? She had a brother...
Binyamin. He was killed in a bombing in Jerusalem ten years ago.
I need to know if there's any connection between Kent and Ben
Levine."

"This is going to take some time..."

"I don't have time. I need to know, and I need to know now.
Lives may depend on it."

"Fast as we can, Agent Scully..." she heard the clacking of
keys in the background, "Where's Mulder? Did he get my message?"

"As soon as you can, Frohike. Call me back." Scully snapped off
the connection.


Purgatory.

Mulder wiggled and squirmed and scraped his way down the
destroyed corridor. Sweat and dust and dirt formed an itchy
paste in his hair, between his fingers, even in his underwear.
Scratching made it worse. After another fifteen minutes, he
stopped to rest, good hand immediately clawing at the dirt on
his body. The cel phone was dying, the light dimming bit by bit.
By now Mulder's eyes were well adjusted to the shadowy gloom. He
half- wished Eugene Tooms *would* appear, so he could take a
punch at the guy.

Every so often, he called back to Asher ben Jacob, partially to
keep his bearings, partially to reassure the injured man he
wasn't alone. ben Jacob quit answering ten minutes ago, either
unconscious again, or too weak to make his voice carry this far.
Mulder turned on the cel and checked his bearings. There was a
path off to the right, through the debris. It looked relatively
clear.

He was able to traverse it quickly, despite the gimp arm and
tiredness tugging at his heels. He checked for outlets as he
walked, another HVAC duct, a door, a window, anything.
Everything looked the same, crushed sheetrock, chunks of
concrete, broken lights. Mulder continued to follow the
corridor, climbing over cement barriers, shoving crumpled walls
out of his way. He coughed from the dust it raised, and pressed
onward, desperately thirsty.

There was a door. Bowed outwards from the shockwave, hinges
stripped, it beckoned like the Holy Grail. Mulder staggered up
to it, and thrust at it with his good arm. There was a
horrendous shriek and clumps of plaster and dirt fell in his
hair, a broken pipe swung around and smacked him in the left
bicep. Mulder fell to his knees and waited until the flashes of
pain became manageable.

"Shit..." He bowed his head and reflected on the need to
improve his vocabulary. Then he climbed wearily to his feet and
squeezed through the opening, taking a scrape across the ribs
and a gash to the chest for his trouble.

The corridor ahead summoned. Mulder made his way down it,
clambering over the concrete and debris on autopilot, light too
faint to guide him more than a few feet ahead. The debris
deepened, and Mulder staggered forward, surprised as hell by the
appearance of another door. This one gaped open, torn off it's
track by the blast. The area beyond was shrouded in the ever
present darkness. Mulder leaned on the wall and attempted to
catch his breath. "At least Sisyphus had a rock to keep him
company..."

The light from the phone grew dimmer. As it slipped away,
jagged concrete surrounded him, a macabre facsimile of the jaws
of death that promised to swallow him whole. The eventual
darkness was a physical force, suffocatingly benign, it bore him
steadily downwards, reducing his limbs to leaden weights.

His ten minute rest turned into twenty. Only the thought of the
surprised look on Scully's face propelled him to his feet and
back into the fray. Through the door, over the chunks of debris,
one foot in front of the other. Around him the building creaked
and spoke in an undertone to hushed to hear. Mulder began to
hallucinate, believing he heard words being murmured. When he
stopped to listen, they vanished. Angry, he dropped down on a
piece of tile and concrete, gulping in the stale, fetid air as
if it were caviar. He closed his eyes and forced his pulse to
slow. In the long silence, the murmuring rose, slow, hypnotic,
like water filling a pool.

"Sh'ma Yisrael: Adonai Elohenu Adonai Ehad...Barukh Shem Kevod
Malkhuto le-olam va-ed..."

Great, now he was not only hallucinating, but he was doing so
in another language. The words were soothing, half-familiar, and
Mulder listened to them drift on the stagnant air, felt them
hover and float, then slide like rain into his ears. He could
wait here, forever if need be, listening to the melodious buoy
of soft prayer.

Sh'ma Yisrael: Adonai Elohenu Adonai Ehad...Barukh Shem Kevod
Malkhuto le-olam va-ed...

Prayer.

Asher ben Jacob.

"ben Jacob?"

The flow cut off. "Mulder?" The sound of his name was weak,
spoken with effort, in contrast to the liquid flow of the prayer.

"Yeah, it's me. Again."

"You didn't find... a way out?"

Mulder leaned his head back and fought the unfamiliar prickle
under his eyelids. He'd spent his entire life going around in
circles, why should today be any different? "Yeah, well... I
came back for the scintillating conversation."

ben Jacob went silent. His eventual reply was so soft, Mulder
almost missed it. "Thanks..."

"Don't mention it. But on my next go round, I'm out of here,
come hell or blue water. Count on it." Mulder wiped his sleeve
over his eyes, and attributed the burn to ground in grit. "ben
Jacob? I got to ask..."

"Ask?"

"What are your intentions towards Scully?"

"Intentions?"

"Polly want a cracker? Yeah. Intentions. Plans? Goals?
Objectives? Designs? You know, intentions."

"I have no designs on Dana, Mulder. You know as well as I, that
it is not possible."

Mulder shifted position. "Why not? If you love her..."

There was a very slight laugh. "Love. Admire? Cherish? Value?
Respect? Love is... complicated, Mulder."

"You don't love her?"

"I will never forget her, as long as I live..."

"But you don't love her." Mulder gave a short laugh. "Don't
know why I'm surprised to hear that, considering last night..."

"You're talking about Rebekah?"

"That's the woman you were with?"

"Last night... wasn't what you perceived it to be. I probably
should have explained, but..."

"But it was none of my goddamn business?" Mulder shrugged to
himself. "Yeah, I know."

"Mulder... my father... redeveloped an interest in the old ways
the past few years. He has never been... overly religious. I was
an anomaly to him. When he began to practice his religion more
diligently, I thought we had reached a common ground." ben Jacob
gave a minute laugh and paused, the silence teetered on the brink
of taking over. "Then he arranged for me to marry Rebekah. This
was a while ago, after he found out Davi could not have
children."

ben Jacob continued, "What could I do? It was as if he was using
my religion against me... He fought long and hard to get his way,
Mulder, despite the fact I only wanted Davi. But now she's gone...
As I am reminded, I have my responsibilities, and I have no reason to
refuse any longer. While Rebekah remained in Israel, I assumed
the status quo could remain."

"So much for that idea," Mulder commented.

"I never intended to marry her. I was looking for a way
to let her down gently. It just dragged on... I thought Rebekah
understood. Or maybe she just prefers not to. Davita was the
love of my life, Mulder. I loved her so deeply... so
completely... I don't think I can ever love another that way."

"You can't? Or you won't?" Mulder asked. He rubbed his finger
over the face of his cel phone.

"I never meant to hurt anyone, Mulder. I just can't seem to
make people understand that I am not over Davi yet. Maybe I
never will be."

Mulder's response was a long silence. He could do without being
a captive audience. "Maybe you just don't want to get over her,
ben Jacob. Maybe you like being a martyr to the cause."

"What cause?"

"The 'I should have saved the one I love' cause. Either that or
you're a sadistic bastard that just likes beating himself up
over something he can't control."

"You don't understand. I should have recognized what Davi was
going through. I should have been there. I should have been more
worried with her concerns with abductions and implants. And
being sterile. Maybe things would have been different--" ben
Jacob's voice broke off abruptly.

"And maybe things would have been exactly the same."

"Maybe I could have stopped her from going to that bridge and
getting herself flamed by whacko terrorists... Why did Dana
live, and Davi die? It makes no sense."

"She didn't live because someone was able to stop her from
going to the bridge. If I were you I'd get down on my knees and
thank that god of yours that *somebody* lived through that
atrocity. Because none of us mortals deserve any credit for it."
Mulder raised his voice. "And while you're at it, take your
overabundance of guilt trip and shove it. It's getting old."

"Screw you, Mulder."

"It's been done by the best, ben Jacob. You'll have to take a
number," Mulder snapped, "Why don't you go back to praying? I
thought atonement was one of the perks of religion."

"Some things... there is just no atoning for. Not that *you*
would understand."

"I might not understand atonement, but I sure as hell
understand guilt. What did you do that was so wrong? Huh? Did
you arrange to have her kidnapped? Did you hold Davi down and
put that thing in her neck? Did you physically strip away her
ova so she could never have the children you wanted?"

"No! Of course not--"

"Well *I* did, ben Jacob. I hurt Scully that way. I put that
thing in Scully's neck just as sure as if I wielded the scalpel.
They chose *her* because of *me*. I'd say that sure as hell
makes it my fault. Your guilt is nothing compared to mine, ben
Jacob, nothing. Because no sooner did we get that piece of metal
out of her neck, then I had to turn around and make her put the
damn thing back in again. Make her hand over control of her life
again. Sometimes I wonder how she can even stand to look at me."

"Dana doesn't blame you-"

"Well, she should. The best thing she can do is stay as far away
from me as she can." Mulder rubbed his face, made a choking
sound, "Sometimes I'll even make a complete ass out of myself
just to remind her what I am. As if I could ever forget."

"You got that part right at least. You're a complete ass..."
There was a long silence.

"At least this saves her from telling me to crawl into a hole
and die," Mulder finally commented.

"Dana would be the first to give you credit for bringing light
into the darkness... Here I was thinking how magnanimous it was
of me to forgive Adonai for letting Davi die... In my arrogance
I overlooked the person who needed it most..."

"ben Jacob?"

"What?"

"Shut up." Mulder's hand reach out in frustration, contacting a
small chunk of concrete. He threw it away hard, half expecting
it to rebound straight back into his face.

Instead there was a long silence, as if the concrete vanished
into a bottomless pit. Then the rumbling started.


Near Temple Square
Salt Lake City

Scully refused to allow herself idle time. Time to worry,
reflect, and chastise. Time to make a case, then dismantle it
point by point, only to rebuild the damning evidence over again.
Time to wonder if she'd ever hear her partner's voice again.

Rescue Operations refused her help, saying they'd call her if
they needed her. So she followed orders, and donned overalls
and protective gear, then joined forces with ATF and other
federal agencies investigating the blast.

A radius of over 300 meters had been cordoned off, marked out
and gridded. Crumpled chunks of a bas relief world sculpture that
topped the two story entrance to the COB lay broken on the
ground, Africa here, North America shattered over there,
Australia split in two, white granite sparkling in the sun. The
Relief Society Building had sustained heavy damage to its
granite pillars as well, golden wheat sheaf decorations wilted
and threatened to fall. Construction crews attempted to shore up
the pillars, working around the gaping hole in the ground where
the west wing of the Church Office Building used to be.

Every fragment of debris was chalked, catalogued and bagged,
each piece of the puzzle as important as the next. It was
meticulous, mind-numbing work, requiring full attention to the
task. Precisely what Scully needed, something to keep her
occupied while she waited. Her position allowed her a clear line
of sight to the rescue vehicles.

It was an irony that destruction on such a wide scale really
only hit home to her via the smaller pieces. So far her haul was
meager. A few twisted and fused metal fragments she stared at
for some time, finding it impossible to identify what they had
once been; The charred and buckled remains of a pair of reading
glasses not unlike her own; The fused components of something
electrical; A curiously unscathed soda pop can.

She crouched at the next piece, poised, but only rubbed the
back of her neck, stiff from painstakingly examining the ground
inch by inch, red from exposure to the sun. Her overalls were
heavy, too hot for the warm weather. Her hands were sticky and
uncomfortable in their bio hazard rubberized gloves. She'd
endure hours of this discomfort if only Mulder would come
walking out of that ruined building. Scully's gaze drifted up
again, scanned the personnel, then dropped back to her task. As
the time passed, her hopes sank down to mingle with the twisted
debris in front of her.

Another fragment dropped into the plastic bag in her hands. As
she got to her feet, she noticed Porter Kent in a heated
discussion with a man holding a camera. They weren't close
enough for her to get a good look, or overhear the conversation,
but she was positive the unidentified man was the same one she'd
noticed hanging around Asher's car that morning.

She started towards the pair, doing her best to keep them both
in her sights.

A large figure stepped into her path. She looked up into the
weary eyes of Pat Riley. He gave her a half hearted smile. "They
found someone..."

"Mulder?" Scully's attention immediately focused on Riley. "Is
he...?"

"All I got was word they found someone alive. Under the ground,
of all places. In the tunnels."

"Do you think it could be Mulder? Or Asher?"

"Yes." Riley scrubbed a paw over his face. "Whatever Ash was
investigating in that building, it had to have been off the
beaten path. And if Ash had been trying to disarm a bomb... the
parking garage would have been a logical place for it to be.
Tunnels run off of there. Come on. " Riley headed for the corner
of the building.

Scully hurried to match Riley's long strides. "Why on earth
would Asher try and disarm a bomb on his own? Not raise the
alarm or call in for backup?"

"Only one reason I can think of. No other options." Riley
stopped to talk with one of the agents guarding the site. They
were allowed through to the area congregated with rescue
workers. AIC Fuller, Christina Martinez, Agent Franklin, and
several paramedics stood waiting, a dozen yards back from the
white garbed search crew and a coffin-sized hole punched in the
ground. Porter Kent stood well back from the hole, behind a
contingency of security men. He avoided looking in Scully's
direction.

Riley stayed back out of Fuller's line of sight and motioned
for Scully to do the same.

She shot him a puzzled look. "What's going on? Surely he won't
mind us waiting to see if a fellow agent gets rescued?"

"Fuller isn't here to throw Ash a party. Franklin told me first
thing the AIC is going to do if they pull Ash out alive, is
arrest his ass and charge him with this bombing."

"That son of a bitch!" Scully blew a strand of hair off her
forehead with an exasperated gasp. "Asher didn't *do* this."

"I know that, and you know that, but proving it's a whole
'nother enchilada. Fuller's politicking. Playing it safe."

"Son of a bitch," Scully repeated. She tensed as the rescue
workers began clustering around the hole. Fuller be damned, she
needed to see what was happening.

Riley was right alongside her as she moved ahead. They paused
on the fringes to wait anxiously.

"They've got him! They're bringing someone up!" Word passed
through the gathered personnel like a flash fire.

The two agents surged forward as one, anxious to see who earned
their escape from hell.

end part 13/15

================================================================

Touching Jericho (14/15)

Purgatory.

Maybe it was the nervous silence that did it. Mulder thought he
heard the clunk of tools, the sound of voices. Mulder strained
to listen. There was an undertone, a murmur reminiscent of a
classroom just before the teacher walked in. Voices. Rescue.

Mulder sat up cautiously. "ben Jacob, you hear that?" There was
no reply from the other agent, but Mulder chattered anyhow. "I
think there's someone close by. Didn't you say there were air
vents in these tunnels? I think I passed one in my travels. If I
can get their attention..."

He slid off his chunk of concrete and began to feel his way
towards the sounds. "You hang in there, ben Jacob. Trust me..."
Mulder found himself able to roll over the top of the concrete
slab that almost flattened him. Picking and sliding and scraping
his way another twenty feet backwards, Mulder made it to where
he thought the air vent was. The murmuring seemed louder.

Encouraged, Mulder fumbled around in the darkness, finding a
twisted piece of rebar he managed to whack the ceiling with. A
shower of dust and debris fell in his face. He ignored the
choking onslaught and tried to smack the ceiling rhythmically.
"Hey! Down here..." After a minute he had to stop, the swirling
dust falling into his mouth and nose. He heard nothing above
him. Nothing at all. Panicked, he resumed pounding the rebar on
the ceiling. "Down here..."

This time when he stopped, a faint voice came back to him.
"Somebody down there?"

Mulder took a sudden deep breath, and almost choked on the dust
before forcing the words out. "Yes! Down here."

"Hang on, we're going to try and make an opening. Back off from
the vent if you can."

Mulder moved back - but not too far. The giddy idea of rescue
from his tomb was too important for space. The hammer and thunk
of tools grew louder. A chunk of ceiling fell to the floor,
stirring up a pillar of choking dust. When it cleared, Mulder
realized he could see. There was light spilling down from above.
Mulder blinked and squinted, determined not to miss a minute.

The voice was even louder now. "You still there?"

"Yeah. I'm here."

"What's your name, buddy?" The sounds of digging punctuated the
words.

Mulder thought it a beautiful noise. He'd never cuss Capitol
Hill construction again. "Fox Mulder. I'm an FBI agent. You need
to get a message to Dana Scully, she's my partner..."

"What did you say your name was? Ox?"

"Mulder! You need to get word to Dana Sc--"

There was a crash as more space opened up. "Hang on, Ox. We're
almost though."

"It's Mulder..." Mulder watched anxiously as the hole widened
by degrees. He'd fit through, barely. At this point he didn't
care. Just get him the hell out of hell, and he'd be happy. He
moved closer and got a face full of debris for his troubles.

In the midst of his spitting and hacking, the voice called down
to him. "It's almost through. Are you injured?"

"Just a little. Get me out of here and I'll be fine."

There was a laugh. "We're moving as quick as we can. I'll be
down there in a few." A last slide of ceiling, and the piercing
stab of a searchlight penetrated the hole.

Mulder threw his good arm over his eyes. When he was able to
open them again, a figure stood in front of him, dressed in
white from head to toe, helmeted and wearing a face mask.
Visitor from another planet. The searchlight pointed to the floor.

"Ox?"

"It's Mulder."

"Okay, Mulder. Let me take a look at you." After a quick once
over, the figure nodded. "I think we can just hoist you up."

"God, yes, get me out of here."

The man shouted up the hole, gave directions, and soon a rope
and harness came tumbling down. He guided Mulder under the hole
in the ceiling. "I think we'll hold off on the first aid until
we get you out of here. Keep that arm against your chest." He
wrapped the harness around Mulder's waist and secured the
carabiner and rope, looked up. "Ready, guys?"

"Wait!" Mulder said. "There's another man down here."

"There is?" The rescue worker spun in a circle, flashlight held
high and pointed down, illuminating the piles of concrete and
debris. "I don't see anyone."

"He's back down the tunnel. I was talking to him."

The worker came back and looked at Mulder's eyes. "You sure?
Looks like you got whacked in the head."

"I'm telling you, he's back down the tunnel about 20, 30
feet... he's hurt, but I talked to him not ten minutes ago."
Mulder tried to move forward, but the rope stopped him. "Asher!
Asher ben Jacob! Do you hear me?"

They both listened to the creak of the building and murmur of
rescue workers.

"He's back that way..." Mulder pointed. "You got to get to him.
He's hurt bad."

The rescue worker patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, Ox. I'll
check it out. Let's get you out of here, and get you to first
aid. Pull him up, boys."

Mulder began to rise in the air like Peter Pan in a really Off
Broadway theater production. Hands reached down from the hole,
guided and delivered him into the world above.

The light, blessed light, stabbed through his tightly closed
eyes. He felt the warmth of the sun bathe his face, the giddy
smell of fresh, undusted air, then the uneasy sensation of a
half-dozen hands grabbing at his body. He opened his eyes to the
tilted impression of white uniforms and black suits sliding past
his vision. He thought he saw a flash of red in the distance,
but people closed ranks around him and the sight vanished. Hands
released him from the harness and began to grope him in an
overly intimate manner. Voices hammered at him from all sides.

"Where you hurt, buddy?"

"Turn this way."

"Don't try and get up, hold still."

"Bring a stretcher over here!"

"Look up, please." A penlight flashed in his eye. Mulder jerked
his head away.

"Is there anyone else in there?"

This last question came from the bull-necked suit scowling down
at him.

"Yes..." Mulder licked his dry lips. "Asher ben Jacob. He was
about 20, 30 feet from my location--"

The man turned and began barking orders, tearing most of the
rescue crew away from Mulder and directing them back to the hole
in the ground.

The flash of red dodged around the shouting AIC and skidded to
a halt in front of Mulder.

Scully.

Mulder felt his heart constrict painfully, and wondered if he
was more seriously injured than he thought. He ignored the
medics removing his shredded jacket and examining his arm, and
drank in the spectacle of his partner, clad in oversized
coveralls and sporting a smudge of dirt on her cheek. "Why can't
you vacation at Disney World like everyone else, Scully?"

She smiled. A full blown, no holds barred, eye crinkling, cheek
stretching, genuine smile. "Mulder."

Mulder returned her grin, and felt the pull of grit and scrapes
on his face.

Scully knelt next to the paramedic. "I'm Agent Scully with the
FBI, I'm also a medical doctor. How is Agent Mulder?"

"He got off lucky, ma'am." The medic picked up a penlight,
flashed it in Mulder's eyes. "Pupils look good. That cut on his
head seems superficial. It's stopped bleeding already. Lots of
contusions and abrasions, and I think he has a fractured radius."

Scully nodded as she listened. Her hands probed Mulder gently,
checking for herself. She tore what was left of his shirt off
his shoulder.

Mulder grinned at her, "If you wanted to get kinky, Scully, you
should have picked somewhere more private."

"I'll assume that's the bump on your head talking..." Scully
gave him a slight smile and recruited the medic's assistance in
getting a splint put in place.

"Ow..." Mulder winced as they handled his arm, and provided her
with the most pathetic look he could muster.

"We'll need to get him to the hospital and get that arm set
properly." The medic got to his feet and helped Mulder up. "Just
hop on the stretcher--"

"I'll walk."

"Sir--"

"I'll walk," Mulder insisted.

Scully rolled her eyes. "He needs to be kept quiet. Let's take
him over to the ambulance."

The medic kept one hand under Mulder's good arm and led him
through the debris to a waiting ambulance.

Mulder stopped on the step and looked back. Riley stood with
the other suits near the widening hole in the ground, attention
riveted downwards. "I want to wait. They're looking for ben
Jacob."

Scully whirled to face him. "Asher? He's alive?"

"Yes. At least he was a half an hour ago. He was trapped down
there with me. Talk about your long day..." Mulder watched
Scully close her eyes and breathe a sigh of relief, then move
her lips silently. Maybe religion was catching.

The medic tugged Mulder in to sit on a stretcher. "We'll get
you to the hospital in a few. Wait here with the doctor. I'll be
right back." The medic excused himself to go back to the hole.

"ben Jacob's alive, Scully. He's pretty banged up, probably
worse than me, but I've been talking to him this whole time."

Scully opened her eyes and gave him a vague smile. "So that's
what it takes to get you two to talk? Locking you in a room
together?"

"Yeah, well, running like hell from a bomb does wonders for
your camaraderie." Mulder winced as he shifted his arm. "Asher
told me that New Genesis was what was in the basement of this
building..." He nodded towards the devastation. "He said he saw
rows of fish tanks filled with green fluid... and people. He
made the connection between the ova and the people they were
creating. He's too damn smart, Scully. He compared New Genesis
to Nazi Germany and human experimentation. He stole records,
documents. Things I'm sure *they* don't want seeing the light of
day."

"I've seen the files, Mulder. They were in the back of Asher's
car." She looked at him, "Medical records, computer printouts,
everything we've been after. It looks like Asher had the good
luck to grab the files you need to prove what we've been saying
all this time."

"Where are they?"

"Riley and I tagged and bagged them, and turned them over to
the ASAC. They should still be in the Operations' trailer."

Mulder looked at her. "I want to see them. Now. Let's go.
Before they bomb Operations..."

"Mulder, you need to go to the hospital--"

"Now, Scully. Please."

She studied his face then nodded. "Okay. Then will you go to
the hospital?"

"I'll even let you give me a shot," Mulder assured her.

Scully lead Mulder over to the makeshift operations room. A
lone policeman stood outside. He nodded in recognition as Scully
flashed her badge, and let them enter. It was eerily quiet, most
of the action now going on outside. Scully started digging
through the boxes, looking for the one containing the evidence
collected from Asher's car.

"I saw it, Mulder... the records we found from the mine, from
social security..." She dragged a box out onto the desk and
started going through it, "Here... this is it."

Mulder hung over her shoulder expectantly, nursing his arm and
grinding his teeth.

Scully tugged another pair of latex gloves out of her pocket,
then slipped them on. She eased the pile of folders out of the
box, opened the plastic bag, "It was all in here..."

She flipped through the first file, a frown forming slowly,
then the next file, then the next, her expression changing from
baffled to annoyed. "This isn't what I saw..." Scully searched
through the files frantically, loose papers spilling out on to
the floor at her feet, "None of it is here. It's gone. They've
switched them on us, Mulder!"

He sighed and rubbed his face carefully. "Why am I not
surprised?"

"Damn!" Scully threw the folders down in disgust, heaved the
box away from her, "Damn..." She kicked a chair and knocked it
over. "Son. Of. A. Bitch."

"Scully..."

"All of this... and I still don't have one scrap of evidence to
prove *anything*. Asher's innocence. What's been going on here.
Nothing."

Mulder reached out his good hand and grabbed her chin, waited
until she was concentrating her attention on him. "There's no
evidence to prove ben Jacob did it either, Scully. Because he
didn't."

"They... I found a letter in his car. It looked like a
confession..."

Mulder shook his head, "I was with him this morning, Scully. I
saw him put the files in the trunk of his car myself. There was
certainly no letter, I would have seen it."

Scully brushed the sweaty hair off her forehead with one hand,
"Not exactly concrete."

"Asher *wanted* me there with him, Scully - if he'd wanted to
bomb the building, I would have just been in the way. It makes
no sense he'd take me with him if that was the case. He wanted
me for backup. He knew it was dangerous, what he was doing.
Going after more evidence. Then Porter Kent intercepted us and
sent Asher off with some security guards. When I caught up with
them, someone popped me from behind... and I know that someone
wasn't ben Jacob. He was in front of me."

"Are you telling me Porter Kent gave Asher instructions?"

"Porter told Asher to go with a couple of security guards to
the basement. Said it was a "delicate matter", and told me to go
hang out on the observation deck until Asher was done..." Mulder
frowned. "Asher looked surprised at what was going on, Scully.
It obviously wasn't routine. He told me the security guards took
his gun and locked him in with the bomb."

Scully chewed on her lower lip. "Porter Kent also owned stock
in a German company called Ursprung Neugeboren. Newborn Genesis.
If that isn't a hell of a coincidence, I don't know what is."

Mulder swore. "That pretty much tells us there's something
dirty here. And ben Jacob's looking more and more like a loose
end--"

A shout from outside distracted them. "Pull him up!"

Scully's eyes widened. "Asher..."

They both climbed out of the trailer and moved towards the
activity, moths to a bug zapper.

Mulder watched as the site sprang back to life, witnessing his
own rescue in instant replay. Except he hadn't been pulled out
of the abyss on a backboard, and he hadn't been covered with so
much blood. Beside him he heard Scully suck in her breath, and
he automatically put his good arm around her shoulders and gave
a squeeze.

Scully slipped out from under his arm. Mulder let her go.

Scully picked her way across to where ben Jacob lay on the
ground, medics working efficiently, speaking in shorthand, suits
standing a few feet back, faces grim.

She was stopped before she got close enough to see Asher by AIC
Fuller, his face set in its perpetual scowl. "I thought I told
you to stay off this site, Agent Scully."

"I wasn't about to observe Agent Mulder's rescue from the
sidelines," Scully told him bluntly. "Or Agent ben Jacob's." Her
eyes darted to Asher, noting the crimson that painted the
agent's face and chest before reluctantly turning her gaze back
to Fuller. Please, Lord, let Asher be okay... "How is he?"

Fuller studied her a moment then nodded. "The medics think
he'll make it. He lost a lot of blood and he has some broken
bones. Maybe internal injuries. They're going to get him
stabilized before they transport him to the hospital."

The medics transferred the backboard to a stretcher, and moved
Asher to a nearby ambulance. Scully made a move to follow, but
Fuller intercepted her. "I'm sorry, Agent Scully. No one speaks
to him." He turned and gestured. "Agent ben Jacob is under
arrest. Riley, you go to the hospital, stick with ben Jacob. No
one interrogates him before I do. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" Riley backed away, casting a glance at Scully
before departing.

Mulder shook his head, "You've got the wrong man."

"And you are?" Fuller snapped back, eyes on the ambulance.

"Agent Fox Mulder."

"Mulder. The Washington geek. What were you doing in this
building?" Fuller turned to look at him.

"I was with Agent ben Jacob. We were checking on a lead about a
company called New Genesis."

Fuller studied Mulder, interest plain on his face. "Are you
telling me you were with ben Jacob the entire time he was inside
the Office Building?"

"Yes... uh, well... no." Mulder rubbed the back of his head
gingerly, gave Scully an apologetic look, "I was unconscious for
a time..."

"Then I suggest you get treatment, Agent Mulder, and let us
worry about the case. Get to the hospital. Now. Take Agent
Scully with you. I'm tired of tripping over her." Fuller stalked
away as the ambulance carrying Asher ben Jacob pulled out.

Scully escorted Mulder back to the other ambulance and made him
lie down. She apologized absently to the medic for taking his
patient. "Let's get him to the hospital."

Scully leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Mulder was
alive. Asher was alive. For the moment, that's all that mattered.


LDS Hospital
Salt Lake City

Scully had the utmost respect for the triage program, but she
wasn't above using her influence and knowledge of the medical
profession to speed Mulder's treatment along. She even managed
to obtain a maroon scrub suit to replace his tattered clothing.
While he was complaining to the tech about the cast colors left
available to him, she slipped out to check on Asher.

Riley stood near a busy treatment room at the end of the ER. He
shook his head at her approach. "I'm sorry, Dana. No non-medical
personnel allowed. You heard Fuller."

"Please, Pat. I need to know he's okay." Scully tried to keep
the frustration from her voice. "I am a doctor."

"I'm sorry, really... but I have my orders." Riley stepped
closer to her. "They're still working on him, Dana. He was
unconscious when they brought him in. Other than that, I don't
know anything more." Riley rubbed a hand over his hair and
sighed. "Tell you what, as soon as the uniform get here to take
my place, I'll find something more on his condition and let you
know. How's Mulder?"

"He's in the casting room, getting his arm treated and making a
nuisance of himself. He came through this a lot better than
Asher..." Scully stepped back to allow a man lugging a camera on
his shoulder through, then waited as the remainder of the news
crew filed past into Admitting from the ambulance bay. "They
just don't give up, do they?"

"Fuller and the hospital relations guy cut a deal. Just them.
Twenty minutes and they're out of there." Riley checked his
watch, "And I'm timing them... Where will you be?"

"I guess we'll be in the cafeteria. Mulder seems determined to
eat a horse."

"At least someone's hungry." Riley glanced at the treatment
room then looked back at her and gave a wan smile.

"Has anyone spoken to the ben Jacobs or Rebekah?" Scully asked.

"Chrissy went to round them up and bring them in. They should
be here soon."

Scully dropped her voice so only Riley could hear. "Make sure
you keep an eye on Asher, Pat."

He matched her tone. "What's going on?"

"Asher may know the identity of the bomber."

"Are you saying the bomber is still around?" Riley glanced over
his shoulder at the treatment room. Techs and doctors still
bustled in and out through the double doors.

"Just watch him, Pat. Okay?"

"I got it covered. We'll have a uniform available to keep an
eye out. Fuller should be back to talk to him soon. If he
regains consciousness..."

"When he does." Scully gave him a half-hearted smile and turned
to trudge back down the long service hall towards Radiology. She
passed a secluded waiting area. Dr. ben Jacob leapt to his feet
and intercepted her.

"Agent Scully? Have you any word on Asher?"

"I'm sorry, nothing yet. He's still being treated."

She stopped and looked at the couple. Dr. ben Jacob clutched
his wife's hand like a lifeline. Sarah ben Jacob patted his hand
absently and spoke in a soft voice. "Asher is a strong boy. He's
had to be."

Sarah's unshakable composure was that of her son. Scully bit
her lip. "Did Rebekah come with you?" she asked, glancing around.

"Yes, she's with Agent Martinez..." Dr. ben Jacob dropped back
into his seat heavily, like an old man. "Will this nightmare
never end?"

Sarah perched beside him and took his hand once again. "Soon,
Daniel. Soon." Her smile was nothing like Asher's, almost feral
in the harsh hospital lighting.

Scully paused, then shook her head, murmured apologies, and
left them. She returned to the casting room.

As soon as he spotted her, Mulder started. "Do you *believe*
this, Scully? A hospital this big, and all they could come up
with to cast my arm, was teddy bear wrap. Teddy bears. I'll
never live this down. I'd rather leave it broken..."

She listened to him grumble all the way to the cafeteria, where
he devoured three cheeseburgers of dubious origin, washing them
down with a carton of apple juice.

Her untouched coffee still sat on the table in front of her.
"You really should take the doctor's advice and stay here
tonight, Mulder."

"No. I'm not being cooped up for another second. I've been
imprisoned enough for one day, thank you." Mulder fidgeted with
his straw, tapped a foot rhythmically. "I'm fine."

"That's adrenaline, Mulder. It won't last."

"Hey, look! We're on TV!" One of the hospital workers pointed
to the corner of the cafeteria, where the television was running
silently. Another worker jumped to turn the volume up as the
shot of the outside of the hospital dissolved into a picture of
the Emergency Room.

Mulder grinned and turned his attention to the TV, "Fifteen
minutes of fame, Scully..."

The room hushed, and the TV droned on. "...standing here in the
Emergency Room where doctors and nurses have been working
diligently since the first rumble from the explosion shook the
city early this morning. Not only do these medics have the
victims of the bomb blast to deal with, but a three car pile up
on I-15 has victims arriving here any second. The doctors--"

Scully's phone shrilled. She dug it out of her pocket and
answered impatiently. "Scully."

Mulder amused himself with the news report, one ear on her
conversation.

Scully gave a curt, "Thanks," and hung up.

Mulder glanced at her expectantly, then went back to watching
the TV, tuning out the reporter so he could listen to her.

"That was Frohike. He's connected Porter Kent to several
aliases, all of which were directly involved with similar
bombing incidents overseas - including the one that killed
Rebekah Levine's brother. We have to find him."

Mulder's jaw dropped and he nudged her, pointed at the
television set, "Uh, Scully... I think I found him..."

"What?" Scully studied the television screen.

"There, in the background."

Scully scrutinized the picture, eyes growing wider by the
second. "It looks like Porter Kent and the security guard from
the office building... I saw those reporters setting up in
E.R...."

"You think Kent would chance it? Here?"

"Asher..." Scully leapt to her feet, jarring the table and
sloshing coffee in her haste.

Scully tucked her badge over a coverall pocket and charged
forth, face set in a no nonsense glare. Mulder trailed in her
wake like a buoy at sea.

No one attempted to stop them. In the rabbit warren of
immediate treatment rooms, medics popped in and out of view,
grabbing equipment and checking lab reports. Scully crossed the
hall and turned to the row of treatment rooms near the service
corridor. She stopped short.

Mulder plowed into her from behind and swore as he bumped his
arm. "What?"

"Riley's gone. He's supposed to be guarding Asher."


end part 14/15

================================================================

Touching Jericho (15/15)

ER was chaos. People and equipment, victims and relatives,
crying children, doctors and technicians all dodging one
another. A reporter, collecting a mesmerized audience, spoke to
a television camera.

One man should have stood out from the crowd. Instead, Porter
Kent glided effortlessly through the confusion, up to the door
of a treatment room, spoke to the officer and waited while the
uniform walked away. Kent then slipped inside, and stopped at
the end of the gurney that held Asher ben Jacob.

Kent studied the young man. ben Jacob looked restless, although
asleep, maybe unconscious. Hopefully unconscious. It just seemed
too simple. Carefully, Kent slid the syringe from his pocket,
readied it, repeated the directions to himself, and inserted the
needle into the shunt at the top of ben Jacob's IV line.

He pushed the plunger and watched the deadly contents surge
through the transparent tube towards its quarry. For a fleeting
moment, he thought he saw movement from ben Jacob; the faintest
flicker of an eyelid, the twitch of an arm.

He stepped forward for a closer look. There was no movement.
ben Jacob looked peaceful. Kent withdrew the syringe, touched
the agent's arm a second, then turned to go.

The treatment room door crashed open.

Scully was just in time to see Kent try and stash something in
his pocket, his eyes wild. She reached into the back of her
coveralls for her weapon. "Mr. Kent, stop right there!"

At her words, Porter Kent bolted, into an adjacent treatment
room, out through its double doors into a heavily trafficked
corridor.

Scully took off after him, hit the doors with her shoulder and
barreled through, Mulder behind her. "FBI, Mr. Kent, stop!"

Kent was in the middle of the hall, about thirty feet from her
when the doors at the other end of the corridor opened.

Christina Martinez stepped through and leveled her weapon.

"Get down!" Mulder's decisive voice bellowed down the corridor.
"FBI, everybody get down! He's got a gun!" Trays clattered to
the ground as stunned people dropped in their tracks, a
kaleidoscope of colored folders and equipment skittered across
the slick linoleum.

Scully held her fire, yelled again from her position directly
behind the fleeing man. "Mr. Kent, stop and put your hands on
your--"

The bark of the weapon was shockingly loud in the panicked lull
of the corridor. Porter Kent froze, body rigid, then flopped
backwards to land on the floor with a sodden thud.

A profound silence ensued.

Mulder stopped alongside Scully, the two of them moved forward
as one, Scully's weapon pointed down at the figure on the floor.
She glanced at Porter Kent, then tucked her weapon away. Kent
wasn't a threat, considering there was one large entry wound
where his heart used to be.

Mulder looked at Martinez. "What the *hell* did you do that for?"

"He had a gun and failed to stop when ordered. You saw it."
Martinez put her weapon away and met Mulder's glare.

"That's not what I saw."

"You said he had a gun."

"I was trying to get everyone down the easy way!"

The babble of bystanders crashed over them like a wave as
people recovered from their shock and began inching closer to
the spectacle.

Scully crouched beside Kent, careful to not contaminate the
scene. She nudged opened his hand. A syringe rolled out on the
floor.

Martinez craned her neck to read the small label on the side.
"Digitalis?"

They all stared at it a few seconds.

"Oh my God. Asher." Scully jumped up and fled down the hall,
dodging clustered personnel to smash back through the double
doors like a linebacker.

Mulder watched Scully disappear, swore to himself and turned
his attention back to Kent as Martinez began inspecting the
body. He leaned closer to her. "I didn't see any gun."

Martinez regarded him a moment, then shoved a pencil through
the trigger guard of a weapon on the other side of Kent's body.
She dangled it in front of Mulder's face. "That answer your
question?"

Mulder stared at the weapon, reached out and turned her hand so
he could read the serial number. He groaned and sagged against
the wall. "It certainly answers the question about who thumped
me... That's mine."

"Looks like you'll have to do without it a little longer."
Martinez dropped the gun into a plastic evidence bag and sealed
it, then continued checking over the body. She withdrew a sheet
of paper from Kent's inside pocket, straightened as she read it.

They were besieged from all sides by security guards, nurses,
and at least three doctors who finally decided it was safe to
come closer. The medics began to examine Kent, and the guards
began to clear the area of shaken onlookers as soon as Martinez
flashed her badge.

Fuller emerged from the other end of the corridor, Agent
Franklin in tow. He put the other agent to work interviewing
witnesses, then walked over to them. Fuller groaned softly at
the sight of Kent on the floor, gave one of the doctors a
questioning look.

The doctor gave a minute shake of his head, called for an
orderly.

"No." Fuller stopped him, "No one touches anything. I want this
scene documented. The press will have a field day with this. I
want statements from everybody, in triplicate." He glanced
around, "Where the hell is Riley? I want this corridor closed
off, now!"

"You'd better look at this, sir." Martinez intercepted Fuller,
glanced at Mulder a moment before continuing. "Paperwork
relating to Church construction projects overseen by Kent. Large
amounts of C-4 are unaccounted for."

Fuller raised a bushy eyebrow. "Interesting. Why would he be
carrying around something like that?"

"Question is does it incriminate him, or just prove he
identified the real bomber?" Mulder glared at Martinez. "Now
we'll never know."

"He might have been afraid the papers would be found in the
Office Building during cleanup operations." Martinez dropped the
memos into a plastic bag and sealed it, ignored Mulder's
comment. "We'll probably find more evidence once we start
digging. Now that we know what to look for."

Fuller gazed down at the sprawled body of Porter Kent. "Nice
shot. What the hell happened?"

"Mr. Kent is suspected of injecting Agent ben Jacob's IV with
the contents of this syringe." Martinez held up the evidence
bag. "Digitalis. Agents Mulder and Scully saw him in ben Jacob's
room with the syringe in hand. He fled, failed to stop when
ordered, and was reaching for a weapon when I was forced to fire."

"A damn irresponsible action, if you ask me," Mulder
interjected. "This corridor was full of people."

"Nobody's asking you, Agent Mulder," Fuller said.

"Just as well ben Jacob didn't decide to take a walk to the
men's room while he was still one of your 'suspects'," Mulder
commented with a scowl.

"Agent Mulder, you're out of line," Fuller replied, "I'll
attribute it to your injuries and say nothing more, if you drop
this nonsense here and now. Agent Martinez stopped a man who
apparently bombed a building and caused untold millions in
damage and injured dozens of people, not to mention the
attempted murder of a federal agent."

"'Attempted', sir?" Mulder asked softly.

"You stopped him, didn't you?"

Mulder rose to his feet, straightened until he was looking down
on the other man. "I think we were too late."

Without a word, Fuller whirled and headed back towards the ER.


Scully darted down the hall to the treatment room, heart
bounding, swung the door wide, and took in the scene.

Asher lay motionless on the stretcher, eyes closed, face
bruised and battered, right hand thrown outwards, other hand
clenched by his side. The bandage on his left shoulder was
dislocated, revealing a nasty gouge.  His clothing and tallit
lay discarded on the floor, shredded and blood-soaked,
surrounded by stained gauze and torn sterile wrappers. He was
utterly alone, and still, only the background hum of equipment
broke the silence.

Oh, God. She was too late. Scully moved forward. Maybe if she
got the IV out and started resuscitation... What was the
treatment for an overdose? Gastric lavage? No, that was for
ingestion... Could she do anything? Please, God...

Scully leaned over and felt Asher's throat for a pulse. It was
there, warm and steady under her shaking fingers.

His eyes flew open, gold flecked warmth shining clear. Asher
looked at her a long moment, then a wan grin spread across his
wounded face.

Her knees trembled and she grabbed at the table to keep
upright. "You're alive?" Scully stared down at Asher, then
looked at the IV. "How? Kent... he had an empty syringe of
digitalis... I thought..."

Asher shifted his left hand, groaning as the movement tore at
his broken shoulder. "Please get the needle out, Dana, I can't
hold this much longer..."

Scully glanced down, and saw the IV needle embedded in the back
of Asher's hand... the plastic tubing wrapped around his thumb
and forefinger, pinched firmly shut. He grinned at her through
the pain.

She laughed abruptly. "Asher... If you weren't hurt, so help me
I'd..." She tugged the tape loose and eased the needle out of
his hand, turned off the flow and laid the IV bag on the
counter. She shook her head and turned back. "Asher."

"All I could think of under the circumstances, Dana... " He
groaned again as he tried to move his arm. "'Offer the
sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in Adonai...'"

"Shh, Asher... You're going to be okay. Just relax." Scully
checked under the bandage, and began to reposition it.

Behind them the doors to the treatment room burst open, Scully
flinched and reached for her weapon. The ben Jacobs, Rebekah,
Fuller, two doctors and a nurse poured into the room. Scully
relaxed and looked at them.

"What the hell is going on in here? Who are you people? All of
you, get out," one doctor ordered.

Scully pointed to her badge. "I'm Special Agent Dana Scully
with the FBI, That is AIC Fuller of the FBI. Someone just
attempted to inject this man with an overdose of what we believe
to be Digitalis. We'll be taking that IV bag as evidence. Agent
ben Jacob needs treatment, his wound is bleeding."

The doctor stepped forward and immediately focused his
attention on Asher, rebandaging the wound and ordering another
IV hung.

Fuller looked at Scully, gave a slight nod, then stepped over
to check Asher. He murmured something in the injured man's ear,
then wheeled around and left as abruptly as he'd come.

Scully moved over to the ben Jacobs and Rebekah, lead them to
a corner of the room. The girl looked haggard, eyes flooded with
unshed tears, and she stood with a fist pressed to her mouth,
watching the doctors work on Asher.

"Asher will be fine," Scully assured them. "Once they get him
cleaned up he won't look so bad either. Why don't you go back to
the waiting area? I'll make sure someone keeps you informed of
his status, and *I'll* make sure he's okay."

Daniel ben Jacob finally allowed himself to look at his son.
"He hasn't been okay for months, and now someone tries to kill
him?"

"Daniel--"

"My son should not be in such pain, Sarah."

"It's over, now."

Rebekah finally made a small sound. "I *told* you Asher would
not allow--"

"Rebekah!" Sarah  ben Jacob frowned at her. "Enough. We need
not speak of it."

"I told you, Asher is no Joshua," the girl repeated stubbornly.
"Or even a Binyamin."

"And Daniel is no Abraham. So, now we know what we are not.
This is a good thing." Sarah took her husband's hand. "Come, we
will wait outside, and let the doctor work." She led Daniel ben
Jacob away.

Behind the doctor's bulk, Asher's eyes followed his father out.

The second doctor turned around and scowled. "Ladies. Leave
please. We have things under control."

Scully shook her head. "Rebekah will go, I'll stay until
there's a proper guard on Agent ben Jacob." She stared down the
doctor then looked at the girl. "Go. See to his parents. They
need you."

"But I--"

"You'll have plenty of time to talk to him while he recovers.
Go." 

Rebekah reluctantly left, and Scully moved to Asher's side.

"We gave him something for the pain, ma'am, he'll be out before
long," one of the doctors told her. "We're moving him out of
here in a few, to Pre-Op. He should never have been left alone.
I don't know what happened."

"It was probably nothing you could have prevented," Scully said.

"A hospital security guard will be placed--"

"Thanks, tell him to guard the door. You can go," Scully added.
The medical personnel hesitated, but after another look at
Scully's crossed arms and determination, they gathered up their
things and left.

"Dana? Did Rebekah...?"

Scully touched the uninjured side of Asher's face with her
palm. "She's in the waiting room with your parents. Is this what
you want, Asher? To marry that girl?"

"You making me a counter offer?" Asher gave her a weak grin.
"Yes. I will marry her. Despite everything. It's for the best.
And I'm tired of fighting."

"I never pictured you as one to give up, Asher ben Jacob."

"I'm not giving up. I'm just learning to fight a different
way..." He smiled slightly to himself. "I am sorry, Dana... this
wasn't exactly how I'd planned for you to find out about her.
When I got her letter... I wanted to wait for the right time. It
just never came."

"Asher..." Scully looked down at him, and rested her fingers on
the top of his right hand. "They tried to accuse you of bombing
the Office Building."

"I didn't."

"I know. I spent my day trying to clear your name."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me. More than you will ever
know." He caught her hand and squeezed it lightly.

"It was the least I could do. I came, I took from you, I pushed
Davi aside, I didn't even try to help you through your pain."

"'And Adonai shall help... he shall deliver them from the
wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.'" Asher
studied her. "You trusted, didn't you...?"

"Yes." Scully returned his scrutiny with a faint smile.

"Then I am content. David was right. There is more satisfaction
in fulfilling my obligations to my fellow man, than in arresting
all the criminals on the most wanted list. Perhaps I *am* in the
wrong line of work... "

"Are you? And what about you, Asher? What now?"

"Perhaps you were sent here for a purpose..." Asher continued
to contemplate her. "Amalek's building is gone. His tools are
gone. I have learned the meaning of being consumed. I have
learned more about myself than I ever thought possible. For the
moment, it is enough. And this? This is finally over."

Scully remained silent. It was never over.

"Dana?"

"Yes?"

"Will you do something for me?"

"Of course. What?"

"I'll have to marry her now... Will you come to my wedding? I
would like you there. As a friend."

"Sure, Asher. Just let me know when." Scully checked his vitals
again. "Anytime..."

"Good." Asher closed his eyes. "Bring Mulder. I kind of got
used to having him around..."

Scully smiled. "He does grow on you." She touched his cheek
lightly. "Take care, Asher. Go with God." At the sight of Pat
Riley sticking his head in the door she stepped away from Asher
ben Jacob, and didn't look back.

She grabbed Riley's arm, pushed him out the door, and up
against the wall. "Where the *hell* were you? You were supposed
to be watching your partner! He could have died!"

"I-- A uniform took my place... I went to the cafeteria looking
for you like I said I would. Next thing I know all hell breaks
loose. I never would have left if I thought there would be
trouble." Riley frowned, "What happened? Is Ash okay?"

"No thanks to you. He'll be fine. Now. I'm sure Agent Martinez
can fill you in." Scully shoved past him and slammed out of the
ER.

In the hallway, she found herself face to face with Asher's
family again.

Rebekah looked at Scully. "Mr. Fuller has explained everything
to us. I told you you'd get your proof."

"Yes, you did..." Scully searched the other woman's eyes. They
were veiled and dry.

Rabbi Green walked up to the gathering, and nodded. "Rebekah."

"David." Rebekah turned and tried to hold the gaze of the
rabbi, then looked back at Scully. She finally dropped her eyes
and turned away. Sarah ben Jacob gestured for her to follow.
Daniel ben Jacob slipped an arm around the girl's shoulders as
they moved down the hall.

Green watched them walk away, then turned to Scully. "I have
the letter, Agent Scully. Although I'm told it's no longer
needed."

"Asher is no longer a suspect, but we still need the proof.
Unfortunately, the evidence he worked so hard to get about what
was going on in New Genesis seems to have disappeared." She was
unable to keep the bitterness from her voice.

"Those that seek to eradicate mankind will not succeed, Agent
Scully. For *we* are the true inheritors of God's gift. It is
people like Asher that ensure this...." Green looked at her a
long moment. "Good *will* triumph over evil. This I know." He
reached inside his jacket and pulled out an envelope, handed it
to her. "'Blessed are the people who know the sound of the
t'ruah,' Agent Scully.'" He walked away down the hall, in the
opposite direction from the ben Jacobs.

Scully closed her eyes an took a few deep breaths to gather
herself. Mulder paced back and forth at the end of the corridor.
He stopped and smiled when he noticed her, beckoned.

"There's just one thing about all this I can't figure, Scully."

"What?" Scully sighed, suddenly more tired than she could have
ever imagined.

"How the hell did Martinez have any idea why, or even if, we
were after Porter Kent?"

Scully shrugged. "She might have seen the TV too. Put it all
together."

"She didn't know about Kent's connections. She didn't know how
Kent set ben Jacob up."

"Maybe Riley filled her in."

"Just seems a little too neat for my liking..." Mulder rubbed a
hand over his face, "You know, with Kent dead, so is any link we
had to what was going on here, including New Genesis."

Scully's free hand clenched and unclenched at her side.

Mulder let it drop. He studied her, then spoke softly, "You
want to stay here with Asher a while?"

Her jaw set, Scully gave a terse shake of her head. "No. It's
not my place."

"Oh... I guess he told you then." Mulder tipped his head, "Are
you all right?"

She nodded stubbornly, but her gaze remained fixed on Mulder's
belt buckle. "I'm fine."

Mulder stepped closer, then leaned over and said quietly in her
ear. "No, you're not."

At first Scully did nothing. Then her hand reached out and
clutched at his shirt, and she shook her head, then leaned
against him.

For once Mulder kept his mouth shut and just held her.

After a while, Scully choked back a few sobs and mumbled into
his chest, "Mulder... you smell bad."

Mulder rubbed her back.

"I'll meet you outside, Mulder... Just give me a few minutes."

He looked down at her, searching her eyes for assurance that
really was what she wanted. "Didn't realize I smelled *that* bad."

"I just need a minute, Mulder, please."

He squeezed the back of her neck lightly, gave a small nod,
dropped his hands, and walked away.

Scully stared after him a moment, then found herself a quiet
spot, and opened the letter.

 "To: Rabbi Green, 
 From: Asher ben Jacob 
 Salt Lake City, Utah
 15 Nisan 5759, Rosh Chodesh

 "My name is Asher ben Jacob. I am an FBI agent. I hold a
position of trust and power in the area of law enforcement. I
took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. I
am also a Jew. Schooled and trained in the best secular and
rabbinical colleges. I am a teacher, entrusted with the faith of
my people.

 "Yesterday I committed a crime.

 "It was not the first time.

 "Have mercy upon me, Oh G_d... For I acknowledge my
transgressions... Against thee, and thee only, have I sinned,
and done this evil in thy sight...'

 "I doubted my god.

 "In my anger I forgot that justice and judgment were not mine
to make.

 "In my sorrow I thought myself forsaken.

 "I inhabit an odd profession for one who wears tallit. Some
might say evil is my living. I deal with men who choose
terrorism and suffering to make their points, who persecute
people on the basis of color, religion and government. I didn't
think there could be a worse enemy to face. How wrong I was.
There are those that not only seek to persecute the whole of
mankind, but to eradicate it. Men who seek to rid the earth of
its true inheritors.

 "Men who tried to contaminate the things most precious to me;
Davi, and my love for my god.

 "Since the day I discovered the burned and twisted bodies on
the bridge, there was an accumulation of dark, sleepless nights
spent in prayer, in tefillah she-balev, the contemplation of the
heart. It was not enough. In my rage I did not expect to hear
the sound of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah this year. I did not
want G_d's judgment tempered with mercy. I desired revenge.

 "In my anguish I yearned to take up the ram's horn as my
ancestors once did; as a signal, a predecessor of the communal
cry. You reminded me justice and judgment were not mine to take.
That I could not reach G_d through a barricade of my own making.
That undue mourning is a rebuke to the very one I hold most dear.

 "I have come to this decision. Here it ends. The walls must
come down.

 "Have mercy upon me, Oh G_d, according to thy loving
kindness... Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from
my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever
before me.

 "Davi, my love.

 "Zikronah l'Brakhah. May her memory be for a blessing.

 "Asher Arel ben Jacob"


Slowly, carefully, Dana Scully folded the letter and slipped it
back into the envelope. Hot tears blurred her vision and rained
down on the paper. She scrubbed the moisture away, tucked the
letter into her pocket and squared her shoulders.

Scully took a deep breath, and headed down the hall towards the
exit. She found her strength in an unexpected place, a place
that had been there all along, waiting patiently as she stumbled
through the darkness. Opening the door to the crisp, night air,
she found her way back to Mulder's side.

end part 15/15

================================================================

Author's Notes.

We would like to thank our beta readers, Connie, Jeannie, Mary,
and Kelly, and most especially Sue, Grace, and Jesemie's Evil
Twin. Your feedback and comments were invaluable in the final
crafting of the story.

Any and all discrepancies regarding religion in this story are
the sole responsibility of Ford Luxem. He is not a rabbi. Nor
does he play one on television. The majority of biblical
passages were taken from the Book of Psalms. Specific lines and
chapters on request.

The destruction of the LDS Church Office Building by bombing
was solely a plot device, as was the use of a fictional
secretary to the Apostles. No defamation against the Mormon
Church was intended. Religion aside, the real FBI frowns on
blowing up buildings, crawling around in duct work, or thumping
people over the head. Don't try this at home.

No beanie babies were harmed in the making of this fic.
Although a few traveled long distances and odd trajectories at
times...

March 1999
Ford and Ursula Luxem
email: mmckenzie@dll-lever.com

This and other X-Files fan fiction available at
http://www.dll-lever.com/icarus/