Agent of Chaos (The X-Files: Origins #1)(6)

Gimble leaned toward Mulder and whispered, “Whatever you do, just don’t tell him that your dad works for the government.”

“Why not?” Fox glanced at the intimidating man staring up at him.

“You don’t want to know.”





CHAPTER 3

Winchester Residence

3:56 P.M.



The Major extended his hand before Mulder made it down the steps. “Major William Wyatt Winchester, United States Air Force, 128th Reconnaissance Squadron.”

Mulder stuck out his sweaty palm. “Fox Mulder. Gim—I mean, Gary’s friend from school.”

The Major clasped his hand in a death grip and shook it. “Gary tells me you have security clearance?”

Security clearance?

Mulder’s dad tossed around the term all the time in an attempt to make his boring job at the State Department sound interesting. Mulder wasn’t sure the Major had enough clearance to get into his own bank account.

Gimble did a face-palm, Mulder’s cue to play along. “Of course, sir.”

The Major nodded and headed for the living room, motioning for the boys to follow him. “Glad to hear it. I can never be too careful. My work is highly classified, and the government would kill to get their hands on it.” He gestured at the sofa and turned on the TV set and the VHS player. “Have a seat.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your clearance level?” After seeing the house, Mulder couldn’t resist asking.

Gimble’s eyes bugged out, and he mouthed, What the hell?

The Major laughed. “This is a black op, son, and it’s my operation. Clearance doesn’t get much higher than that. Every move I make is classified.” He tapped on an AM radio on the shelf above the VHS player. “All my communications are encrypted, and information is supplied on a need-to-know basis.”

“Which means no one knows anything,” Gimble said under his breath.

“How many people are in your unit?” Mulder asked.

And are they real?

If the Major knew that Mulder was humoring him, he didn’t let on. “I keep my unit small—three people, including myself. The members of my unit are true patriots, willing to risk their lives to expose a government conspiracy of epic proportions.”

“I’m going to show Mulder the telescope,” Gimble said.

“You’re not going to watch the transmission?” the Major asked.

“I’ll watch Project U.F.O. with you tomorrow. Mulder wants to see the telescope. He’s into space stuff.”

“We can check it out after the episode,” Mulder offered, sitting on the shag carpet. “I don’t mind.”

The Major nodded his approval. “That’s what I like to hear.”

“Fine.” Gimble looked annoyed. “Then can we start watching it?”

The Major crossed his arms. “I don’t think I heard you correctly, airman.”

Gimble stood and saluted his father. “Can we start watching it, sir!”

As if on cue, the opening sequence filled the TV screen and the Major sat down in his recliner. Mulder was sucked in the moment the opening montage started. Diagrams of schematics of flying saucers straight out of a sci-fi novel filled the screen, while a narrator explained that biblical Ezekiel “saw the wheel”—a UFO—and other people have seen them, too. So the US Air Force created a team to investigate.

“Of course they chose our boys,” the Major said, touching the US Air Force patch on his chest. “But they never wanted them to actually find anything.”

The episode dramatized a scout leader’s encounter with a UFO, outside a small Mississippi town. “I saw a flash of light in the sky, and I went to check it out.”

A fake UFO that looked like a spaceship in a comic book zapped the guy with lasers that left his arm covered in burns.

“It was probably swamp gas playing tricks on the guy, like they said at the beginning,” Gimble said.

“That’s what the government wants you to believe.” The Major was glued to the television, and Mulder couldn’t blame him.

On-screen, the scout leader dragged a hand over his face. “I never should’ve gotten close to their ship.”

“Whose ship?” one of the air force investigators asked.

Mulder knew what was coming.

After a dramatic pause, the scout leader finally spoke. “Aliens.”

The Major said the word along with him.

“I bet he burned himself while he was building a campfire,” Gimble said. “And he didn’t want to lose his job.”

“Being a scout leader isn’t really a job,” Mulder pointed out. “They don’t get paid.”

“Gary is a skeptic.” The Major rose from his chair and turned off the VHS player. “He doesn’t know the truth.”

“I’m not a skeptic.” Gimble leaned forward and dropped his head in his hands, exasperated. “Do you think President Carter would let anyone put a show like that on the air if aliens really existed?”

The Major looked at his son. “By telling everyone that aliens and UFOs exist, the government is proving they don’t.”

Mulder nodded. The argument made a certain kind of sense. People expected the government to keep secrets. “Your dad has a point.”