X-Files Logo 'Improbable'

Story Code '#9X14'
by Chris Carter
X-Files Cast

SCENE 1 - CASINO

(We are in a casino. Men and women, mostly middle aged, play the slot machines and sit around the bar. A DEALER splits cards into three rows where one woman and two men are playing, all of whom are serious about their game. One of the man, MAD WAYNE, who has a large ring on one of his fingers. He ends up with cards that don't seem to be doing much for him. As the DEALER waits, MAD WAYNE folds)

MAD WAYNE:
Bitch.

(MAD WAYNE stands and leave the table. He moves slowly around the room and finds a BLONDE WOMAN at a slot machine. He stands for a moment watching her but she doesn't notice him, just continually feeding coins into the machine. From across the casino, a grey haired man known only as MISTER BURT watches them, holding a deck of cards. As MAD WAYNE walks over, MISTER BURT turns and smiles to the BARTENDER. MAD WAYNE sits down)

MISTER BURT:
Bartender, seven and seven, pack of ‘Morleys’.

(MISTER BURT returns to his game of solitaire. MAD WAYNE knocks on the bar to get the BARTENDER's attention)

MAD WAYNE:
Seven and seven, pack of ‘Morleys’.

(The BARTENDER sends a knowing look at MISTER BURT. They both smile at each other)

MISTER BURT:
We have a winner!

MAD WAYNE:
Do I know you?

MISTER BURT:
Do you know me? Come on, Wayno... I'm part of the regular game.

(MAD WAYNE turns away from BURT, clearly not knowing who this is)

MISTER BURT:
You know your problem, my friend? It's not the cards. It's playing the hand you were dealt. Plenty of guys get a bad deal. It's all in what you do with it. You know what I'm saying, partner?

(WAYNE looks at BURT for a minute, giving him a death stare and BURT turns back to his solitaire game, which is going well)

MISTER BURT:
You can think. Cards can't. They just lie there. You've got to make them work for you. Jack of hearts.

(With a smile, MISTER BURT turns over the next card showing it to MAD WAYNE without looking at it himself. It's the Jack of Hearts)

MISTER BURT:
Two million five hundred ninety eight thousand nine hundred and sixty possible five card hands. Twelve hundred and seventy seven flushes in any give suit. One million ninety eight thousand two hundred and forty ways to make two pairs. And yet... the game can't beat a man. Man only beats himself and so on and so forth.

(BURT looks at WAYNE who is now looking beyond BURT. Turning to see what the focus is, he sees the BLOND WOMAN playing the slot machines)

MISTER BURT:
She comes here every Friday and loses her paycheck- cries all weekend.

(As she plays her last coin, she stands up and begins to move away)

MISTER BURT:
She's such a nice girl. I keep hoping some night her luck is going to change she'll catch a break.

(The BLONDE WOMAN walks past them and into the Ladies Room. WAYNE follows her and stares after her as she exits, pondering something. MISTER BURT turns away from his cards and back to WAYNE)

MISTER BURT:
(Hopefully) We going to blow this joint? Call it a night?

(WAYNE stands and goes to pay for his drink, never taking his eyes off the bathroom door)

MISTER BURT:
(Hopefully) Hey, I know.

(BURT grabs a hold of WAYNE's arm, getting the man's attention)

MISTER BURT:
You're bluffing me, right? You're going to show me Fifth Street. Walk right out of here- surprise me for a change.

(BURT looks at WAYNE, as if trying to get him to do what he asks. WAYNE thinks for a moment and then pays for his drink, walking off in the direction of the bathroom. He thinks for a moment and enters. BURT looks for a while, as if regretting what has happened and then returns to his game, flipping over two cards)

MISTER BURT:
Three of hearts , Two of clubs ...

(At a slot machine somewhere in the casino, a man has hit the jackpot)

MIDDLE-AGED MAN:
I won! I won!

(BURT stops his game and sees that this MAN is at the same slot machine the BLONDE WOMAN was at. A WOMAN runs from the bathroom, screaming)

WOMAN:
Oh, my God! Help me, please! Help me! Somebody help me! There's a woman who's been murdered!

(MR BURT, clearly distressed over what has happened, turns away)

WOMAN:
Somebody help me! There's a woman who's been murdered. Help me! Somebody help me! She's been murdered!

(BURT doesn't turn, he already knew this would happen. He sits for a moment, silent and then turns over his final card - Ace of Spades)


OPENING CREDITS


SCENE 2 - FBI HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON D.C.

(REYES enters, round the corridor. She's reading the newspaper with headline 'CASINO MURDER OFFERS NO CLUES'. A photo of the murdered BLONDE WOMAN joins it. As she walks, people pass her, moving out of her way as she is so engrossed in the story. One on the left passes, moving to the other side, and then one on the right does the same. REYES steps into the elevator, and as various others enter, they form an image as if on a playing card. She continues reading her paper, unaware of this)


SCENE 3 - X-FILES OFFICE

(REYES is seated at MULDER's desk, with three folders in front of her. In her left hand she holds the fourth folder and doesn't notice SCULLY's entrance, intent on something we don't know)

SCULLY:
Agent Reyes?

(REYES looks up to find SCULLY, standing directly in front of her)

REYES:
... Three plus four is seven. Seven and six are thirteen ...

SCULLY:
What are you doing?

REYES:
Ten, thirteen, fourteen, sixteen ...

(REYES taps each file folder in front of her as she says each number almost as if she were assigning a number to each file folder)

REYES:
I want to ask you to open your mind to something. I don't want you to think I'm crazy, all right?

SCULLY:
Why would I think that you're crazy?

REYES:
Do you believe the universe is knowable as a mathematical calculation of the whole reducible to a single equation?

SCULLY:
No.

REYES:
Why not?

SCULLY:
Because I don't think that its complexity allows for it to be reduced so simply.

REYES:
But you accept that some people do?

SCULLY:
I presume you mean the so-called "Unified Theory?" What physicists often refer to as the Theory of Everything? An equation so simple, they say that it might be printed on a T-shirt. It's a holy grail in the world of science. Potentially, the most important question that mankind has ever asked. But that such a complex calculation is even possible is the subject of enormous controversy.

SCULLY:
Is that what you mean?

REYES:
Um... potentially.

(REYES gathers her things, SCULLY is unsure of what is going on. REYES puts a slide up on the wall. It is a dead woman with bruises on her face. There is writing around the edge of the photo and an arrow drawn to the blood near her mouth)

REYES:
Carla Marie Carpenter, born two, one, seventy-seven. Killed outside a nightclub two years ago. Her murder remains unsolved.

(REYES changes the photo. She places another photo of a blonde-haired woman dead)

REYES:
Judy Anne Fuller- born three, twenty one, sixty-nine. Killed at a mall two years ago. Unsolved.

(A third photo is shown. This is a photo of a dark-haired woman, dead in a car,)

REYES:
Julie Francis Gresham-born one, twenty two, eighty. Killed in her parked car last month. Unsolved.

SCULLY:
Agent Reyes, if there's a connection that I'm supposed to be seeing, I'm not seeing it.

(A fourth photo of the BLONDE WOMAN from the casino is put up on the overhead projector. She's dead and lying on the bathroom tiled floor. Her face bruised and bloodied. Her hair in a tangle around her)

REYES:
And our latest victim: Amy Sheridan Aufsbergher - born four, four, seventy-seven. Killed two weeks ago in a casino. Police have yet to find her killer.

SCULLY:
Agent Reyes, am I to presume that you've solved these unsolved murders by using some kind of numerical calculation?

REYES:
Letters of names assigned values, added to birth dates reduced to the lowest common denominator. A, J, S, equal one. B, K, T...

SCULLY:
Numerology, Agent Reyes? You're trying to solve these cases by using what is essentially a child's game!?

REYES:
It's been in use since the sixth century B.C. When Pythagoras determined that the world was built on the power and influence of numbers.

SCULLY:
And, uh, when exactly did you stumble upon it?

REYES:
We did it as kids. I still do it. You meet people at a party ask them their birth date. It's kind of an icebreaker. And as I was reading the story of this woman, I calculated she was a fourteen - what they call a karmic number - an extremely significant numerological number. Prompting me to look at all of these other unsolved cases the victims of which also work out to have karmic numbers- ten, thirteen, and sixteen.

SCULLY:
So, in other words, you haven't actually solved these cases.

REYES:
Maybe ‘cracked’ is a better word.

(SCULLY looks at REYES, clearly not believing this information)

SCULLY:
Without any other evidence to directly connect them... circumstantial or forensic.

(As SCULLY says this, something catches her eye in the photo and she stops)

REYES:
What?

(SCULLY turns around to look at the larger projected photo on the wall)

SCULLY:
Can you enlarge this?

(REYES refocuses the projector to give an enlarged view of the victim's face. SCULLY takes a few steps closer to the image on the wall. She sees something and turns to REYES)

SCULLY:
Can I see the rest of those photos?

(SCULLY moves back toward REYES who hands the photos to SCULLY)

REYES:
What is it?

SCULLY:
There's a pattern in the bruising.

(SCULLY finds it in each one of the photos. In the last photo of Carla Carpenter, SCULLY turns to show it to REYES)

SCULLY:
Yeah... all four of the victims have it. Three small circles. They might be from a ring that the killer wears.

REYES:
So you're saying these cases are connected. That numerology may actually be driving the killer and that I'm definitely not crazy.

SCULLY:
Or that maybe we're both crazy.


SCENE 4- HOTEL ROOM

(MAD WAYNE places a devil's face ring on his finger and dresses. He turns and walks silently to the window, looking out. Music plays in the background)


SCENE 5 - OUTSIDE

(MISTER BURT is outside behind a makeshift card table, playing with two old ITALIAN MEN. He looks up and sees MAD WAYNE, who after noticing him turns quickly back inside and pulls the shade closed making his window exactly like the ones on either side of him. MISTER BURT lip syncs the words along with the music singing his in French while the music is in Spanish. A young couple at a nearby table kiss three times in time with the music. A mother sitting on a bench shakes her baby's rattle thrice along with the music. MISTER BURT resumes the game and glances up to the window of a cafe. The chef shakes his container in beat with the music, a man outside shakes the salt in beat and a waitress wipes a man's head with a piece of cloth...in time with the music. MISTER BURT continues singing as a chef makes canoles, a window washer washes windows, the chef's assistant kneads dough - all in time with the music. MISTER BURT turns over the card, which is a ‘Joker’. The ITALIAN MEN cheer. A shoe shiner shines shoes, the patron taps his cigar, a barber combs hair, another barber sweeps the sidewalk, people in the background march, all in time with the music. A construction worker beats his hammer and another worker guides traffic, while the bus stops with the number ‘3’ on it. BURT watches, enjoying this "symphony' although no one else knows they are doing it. He moves his cards in time with the music and every card he turns over is the same. The ITALIAN MEN are enjoying this. Meanwhile, three Italian women fan themselves in time with the music, and pigeons fly away leaving only three on the ground. As the people in the background continue to move to the music, a woman pushes her triplets past in a stroller. MISTER BURT flips over the king of diamonds and the music ends. The ITALIAN MEN are clearly amused by this game)

ITALIAN MEN:
Bravo, Bravo. Arrivederci.

MISTER BURT:
Arrivederci.

(The MEN wander off and MISTER BURT sets up for the next game. WAYNE approaches the table, clearly not in the mood for cards)

MISTER BURT:
Wayno! Come Stai!

WAYNO:
Quit following me or you might find yourself dead real soon.

MISTER BURT:
(Cheerfully) Oh, come on, Wayno, that's not your style. Doesn't fit your pattern. Far be it from me to rat you out. Can't show 'em what they can't see.

(BURT sets up the game, flipping over the two Jokers and the King of Diamonds)

MISTER BURT:
Now, two clowns, and a man with a crown. Want to try your luck, sailor?

(MISTER BURT turns the cards back over and starts to mix them up them)

MISTER BURT:
The king runs but he can't hide. How can you lose? Kid stuff.

(MAD WAYNE points to a card, it's the Joker)

MISTER BURT:
There goes the neighbourhood but Mister Money lives right next door.

(MISTER BURT flips over the next card over. It's the King of Diamonds)

MISTER BURT:
You know there's a secret to this game, Wayno and I'm going to tell you what the secret is. Two words: ‘Choose Better’.

(WAYNE looks at BURT, confused, before moving closer)

MAD WAYNE:
You got something to say to me, you say it.

MISTER BURT:
Son, I just did.

(WAYNE knocks over the table and stomps off, cards go everywhere. BURT remains there alone. WAYNE walks across the other side of the street grimly and REYES nearly bumps into him. She walks around him and WAYNE storms off. REYES continues, with an X-File under her arm. She enters the ‘Hotel Knickerbocker’, where WAYNE has been staying)


SCENE 6 - HOTEL HALLWAY

(REYES walks through the hotel hallway and stops at a door that reads: ‘SUITE 33.VICKI BURDICK, NUMEROLOGIST.YOUR DESTINY AWAITS YOU’.

(REYES enters the suite, which has been converted into an office. VICKI BURDICK is a blonde haired woman who already knows her speech off by heart)

REYES:
Hello.

VICKI BURDICK:
Uh, there's a clipboard over there with three forms on it. Fill out the top one, or all three if you want to unlock your most secret numbers for love, life and true personal happiness.

REYES:
I'm not here for a personal chart. I'm with the FBI, investigating a series of deaths that seem to have a numerological connection.

VICKI BURDICK:
I give valuable insights to the living. The dead pretty much already know their future.

REYES:
These are murders. I'm looking for your help in trying to solve them.

VICKI BURDICK:
You may overestimate the kind of work I'm capable of here.

REYES:
My hope is in doing the victims' complete numerology you'll be able to draw a picture of the killer.

VICKI BURDICK:
I don't think you understand. I run a little business here. People come to me if they want to improve their lives how to get rich, how to marry the man of their dreams. I mean, look around. If I could actually provide that kind of information... I don't have to draw you a picture.

REYES:
You don't believe in it?

VICKI BURDICK:
At best, it's an art.

(REYES holds out the file folder to VICKI)

REYES:
I have established an undeniable numerological connection between the victims in all of these cases.

(REYES hands her a file folder, which the woman opens. She recoils at the sight of the photos we've already seen)

REYES:
If I found the killer I might prevent this happening again.

(VICKI BURDICK sighs)

VICKI BURDICK:
Let me see what I can come up with.

(As REYES' cell phone rings, she pulls it out to answer it)

REYES:
Monica Reyes.


SCENE 7 - BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE UNIT

(DOGGETT is on the phone in front of a wall of crime scene photos, wanted posters etc)

DOGGETT:
Monica. You're not going to believe this. We found two more cases- two more victims to add to this thing both with the same marks on their faces.

(As DOGGETT is saying this, the camera finds two crime scene photos pinned to the wall behind him, both of which have red hair)

DOGGETT:
Now, I knew you were good but this... this is career-launching. You better get back here.


SCENE 8 - BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE BRIEFING ROOM

(REYES enters and the room erupts into applause. She is surprised by this. DOGGETT and SCULLY are there with other agents)

DOGGETT:
Nice work.

REYES:
Thank you.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
Well done. Well done.

REYES:
Thank you.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
By brilliantly tying these murder cases together VICAP is now working hard to develop a profile of the man we are officially calling ‘The Triple Zero Killer’. Through the identification of a pattern he leaves on his victims we have been able to connect six unsolved cases to one murderer including these two new cases. Agent Scully will act as a point person on the case forensics. That's three recent killings and three from 1999. The developing pattern now appears to be murders in threes on a serpentine trail up across the eastern seaboard. Agent Doggett will lead the task force and is ready to roll. Here's what we don't know. One: How he chooses his victims. Two: How the killer kills. And three: If he'll kill again soon or disappear as he did two years ago.

DOGGETT:
He may have been incarcerated during those years. We may be looking for someone with a record.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
That's an excellent observation.

SCULLY:
The killer is strong. He uses his fists as weapons. Brute force. He is angry and he acts on impulse.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
Good. Important. Agent Reyes we're all working off your lead. Give us the benefit of your special insight into this case.

(Everyone is silent. REYES is unsure over what to say next)

REYES:
Well... the killer probably has a soul number of either four or six. His birth path is I'm guessing, a nine, or maybe a six. The destiny and realisation numbers are definitely karmic. I'll know for sure once I've got the charts from the numerologist, but the killer is almost certainly working off numerical vibrational disharmonies.

(The agents clearly weren't expecting this, staring at REYES not sure what to say. Her cell rings and she picks it up)

REYES:
That's her now. Monica Reyes.


SCENE 9 -VICKI BURDICK'S OFFICE

(VICKI BURDICK sits in front of her computer, the telephone tucked under her ear)

VICKI BURDICK:
Agent Reyes? I've been running numbers here on the murder victims.

REYES:
Yes, uh-huh.

VICKI BURDICK:
And the strangest thing has come up.

(Behind her, the office door opens. VICKI BURDICK turns around and begins her introductory spiel)

REYES:
What? What is it?

VICKI BURDICK:
Oh, there's three forms in the clipboard. Fill out the top one, or all three if you want to unlock your most secret...

(VICKI stops as she realises something about the man who walked in the door. It is MAD WAYNE)


SCENE 10 - VICKI BURDICK'S OFFICE

(AGENT FORDYCE unzips the body back and stares down into it)

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
I want her body sent to Quantico.

(VICKI BURDICK'S face is bruised and bleeding)

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
I want facts, I want details. I want Agent Scully to go over this woman with a fine-tooth comb.

(AGENT FORDYCE is speaking with DOGGETT and REYES. Other forensics personnel scope through the crime scene)

DOGGETT:
Yes, sir.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
And I want you, Agent Reyes to tell me who else knows about this.

REYES:
Knows about what?

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
About this case, about you coming to this office to see this woman.

REYES:
I don't think I told anyone.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
Then how did the killer find his way here? Chance? Coincidence?

REYES:
I... I...

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
We got a guy working the whole eastern seaboard murdering up and down the coast. Tell me how it is he winds up here in this city, in this building on this floor, in this room on the same day you came here to see her if he didn't know.

REYES:
That's actually why I came to see this woman- to find out who the killer is why he does what he does when he does it.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
We have a reputation to uphold, Agent Reyes. The FBI doesn't go to numerologists for the same reason we don't consult horoscopes or palm readers or crystal balls. A killer kills for a reason. He lives in the world of cause and effect, as we all do. He gets an impulse and acts on it. Always the case, even if he doesn't know it and that's how we catch him.

REYES:
If he acts on impulses he can't understand isn't it possible we can't understand them either? Can we not accept that every killer is not driven by the same impulses and that there are some impulses that not every killer kills for?

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
No.

REYES:
Why not?

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
Because it's unacceptable.

DOGGETT:
But if Agent Reyes didn't tell anyone she was coming here the only person who would possibly have any idea is somebody at the FBI.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
An inside job? I don't buy it.

DOGGETT:
But don't we at least have to accept that as a possibility?

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
No, we don't.

REYES:
Why?

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
Because it's highly improbable.

DOGGETT:
But not impossible.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

DOGGETT:
How would you like us to proceed, sir?

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
The bottom line is I want results. I don't care how you go about it. What I want is this killer caught. All right, let's get the body out of here.

(FORDYCE walks off to join his men)

DOGGETT:
(To REYES) Maybe you were followed.

REYES:
How? If the killer didn't even know I was looking for him?

DOGGETT:
(Frustrated) I don't know- you explain it then.

REYES:
This woman called me just before she was murdered. She had something to tell me something she found in the victims' charts.

DOGGETT:
Their charts?

REYES:
Their numerology - a calculation of numbers that rule their lives in thirteen different categories.

DOGGETT:
But a calculation based on what?

REYES:
On names and birth dates.

DOGGETT:
Because my name is John Jay Doggett and I was born April fourth, 1960, I got some kind of magic number?

(REYES is already counting)

REYES:
Six. Which makes you an active, adaptive, curious person who insists on their independence loves a bargain and above all else wants to be successful.

DOGGETT:
Well, that describes pretty much anyone.

REYES:
People are people.

DOGGETT:
Right, they're not numbers.

REYES:
Then what was she calling me for?

(DOGGETT is at a loss for words)

DOGGETT:
I'm going to leave you here to figure that out. I'm going back to the Bureau.

(DOGGETT exits. Music starts playing as REYES pulls the window-blind up)


SCENE 11 - OUTSIDE HOTEL

(REYES looks out and we see that there is a pattern of windows with blinds pulled up and down. With some windows black and some white, it matches the six dots on a domino piece being held by MR BURT. MAD WAYNE enters the picture, BURT is sitting down in the same position as we last saw him. WAYNE is not happy that BURT is still in his life)

MISTER BURT:
Buon Giorno! Wayno.

MAD WAYNE:
Who do you think you are?

MISTER BURT:
Who do you think I am?

(MAD WAYNE glances around, seeing the officers at the entrance to the hotel. He sits down to hide his face)

MAD WAYNE:
Don't say a word.

MISTER BURT:
Do I ever?

(DOGGETT walks past them. BURT trips over the first domino which sets off a chain reaction. DOGGETT pauses, looking down at the game and then at MAD WAYNE. He walks off and BURT smiles, happy with his game)

MAD WAYNE:
You're just trying to get me caught.

MISTER BURT:
I'm just playing a game of dominoes. As long as you're sitting here, though. How are you feeling?

MAD WAYNE:
Go to hell.

MISTER BURT:
Are the reservations in your name? You're a card. You really are a card but I love you. Got time for a quick game?

MAD WAYNE:
I don't play your games.

(MISTER BURT is no longer smiling)

MISTER BURT:
Not a truer word's been spoken.

(WAYNE gets up and leaves. BURT stares down at the domino in his hand - the number 3.


SCENE 12 - QUANTICO AUTOPSY BAY

(SCULLY is examining the latest victim. She's looking through a magnifying lens at the three dots left on the numerologist's face. SCULLY speaks into a micro-cassette recorder)

SCULLY:
The deceased is Vicki Louise Burdick. Upon external examination, cause of death appears to be a fatal blow to the maxilla in which a small, three-ring pattern lies. I will begin my internal examination at...

(SCULLY glances at the digital clock above. It reads: 6:06).

SCULLY:
6:06 pm

(SCULLY turns the micro-cassette recorder off and picks up a scalpel from the tray next to her. The camera lingers on the tray in which all the necessary appliances are in sets of six. There are six cotton balls and six of everything else, including a bottle with the number ‘6’ on it. SCULLY pauses, looking at the strands of hair on VICKI's forehead, three of them shaped like '6's, or ‘666’. She tries to continue but is confused when she sees a pattern of freckles, six of them, on the skin. She is a little confused but even more so when she sees that the counter on the recorder reads ‘666’)


SCENE 13 -VICKI BURDICK'S OFFICE

(It is night. REYES is working at VICKI BURDICK's office. Behind her, SCULLY enter. REYES turns and stands)

REYES:
Agent Scully.

SCULLY:
I've got something to show you.

REYES:
What is it?

(SCULLY opens the file folder she carried in with her, opens it, and hands it to REYES - showing her the latest victim)

SCULLY:
I figured out what the triple-zero pattern on the victim is. They aren't zeros at all. It's the number six-six-six, only worn away.

(REYES looks impressed)

SCULLY:
It must be stamp on the killer's ring. Six-six-six, the mark of the devil.

REYES:
Of course. How'd you figure that?

SCULLY:
I didn't.

REYES:
Then how'd you discover it?

SCULLY:
Completely by accident.

REYES:
I discovered something, too- the victims' charts. When the numbers were figured, the numerologist found they were a match to her own numbers.

SCULLY:
How did the killer find her?

REYES:
It obviously wasn't an accident.

SCULLY:
And how does that help us find the killer?

REYES:
It doesn't.

(SCULLY and REYES look at each other. They're at a loss. More music starts playing as we cut to:)


SCENE 14 - BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE BRIEFING ROOM

(A small article on the numerologist's death is part of the bulletin board which DOGGETT is studying. The pins on the map, and the orange string connecting them, are in the pattern of a ‘6’. AGENT FORDYCE enters, startling DOGGETT)

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
Agent Doggett I think we have a psychological profile on the murderer.

DOGGETT:
What is it?

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
Based on the amalgam of forensic detail of facts such as time and place the murders were committed and the amount of force used we believe the killer is a man in his mid-twenties to late forties of average build and looks who is driven by rage stemming from a hatred of his mother from a very early age. He was a bed-wetter who was made to feel inferior which he took out on the world by killing small animals.

DOGGETT:
That's it?

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
Go to work.

DOGGETT:
That's the average profile of almost every single serial killer the FBI'S ever hunted down.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
Is that really all that surprising? Is there a problem, Agent Doggett?

DOGGETT:
It's the way Agent Reyes found the cases. I don't think she should so easily be dismissed.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
You don't believe in this nonsense?

DOGGETT:
Look at this: The path of the killer forms a number six.

(DOGGETT points to the map and the orange string which shows the large number ‘6’. AGENT FORDYCE isn't convinced)

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
Your point?

DOGGETT:
I don't know. I just noticed it.

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
(Mocking) Have you noticed all babies look like Winston Churchill? Same difference, Agent Doggett.

DOGGETT:
(Regarding the map) What if this is the killer's pattern? What if the number six has some kind of significance to the murders?

SPECIAL AGENT FORDYCE:
It may... to you and Agent Reyes, but not to victim number seven.

(He points to VICKI BURDICK's photo and walks off, DOGGETT looking after him - not happy)


SCENE 15 - HOTEL HALLWAY

(SCULLY and REYES leave VICKI's office. REYES is holding all the information, she is completely engrossed in this information)

REYES:
If we could analyze these numbers I know we could figure this out.

SCULLY:
Well, despite what we know about the victims' numerology, about the ring that we think that he wears, we really know next to nothing about where to start looking for this man.

(They stop at the elevator)

REYES:
The answer's going to come to me.

(The elevator doors open, to MAD WAYNE. The elevator bell rings)

SCULLY:
You going down?

(MAD WAYNE nods and the women step on. REYES is lost in the charts. She barely notices the man in the elevator. The three of them stand in the elevator side by side as the elevator doors close)


SCENE 16 - ELEVATOR

(Night. The doors open. REYES, engrossed in the information, automatically steps out and MAD WAYNE holds his hand out to stop the doors from closing)

SCULLY:
Thank you.

(SCULLY looks down, noticing the ring on his finger. She stops and looks back at him, smiling as she climbs out of the elevator. He drops his hand and SCULLY pulls her gun out, turning to MAD WAYNE. There is no one in the hotel lobby at all, not even working. REYES is completely engrossed in her information until she hears SCULLY yelling)

SCULLY:
Get out of the elevator! Move!

(This surprises MAD WAYNE)

MAD WAYNE:
Just be cool. Be cool. All right? Everything's going to be fine. Be cool.

(MAD WAYNE raises his hands and begins to move forward out of the elevator. Just as the doors begin to close, he takes a step back successfully enclosing himself in the elevator and leaving SCULLY and REYES standing in the lobby)

SCULLY:
It's him.

REYES:
He's going down.

SCULLY:
Stairs.

(REYES drops her file and the two run to the stairwell, REYES gets out her gun as they descent)


SCENE 17 - HOTEL PARKING GARAGE

(SCULLY and REYES burst out of the stairwell, just as a sedan screeches out of the parking lot. SCULLY and REYES are too late to get out of the garage before the door closes)


SCENE 18 - HOTEL PARKING GARAGE, LATER

(SCULLY and REYES head back the way they came. REYES pulls out her cell phone and tries it)

REYES:
I'm not getting reception.

(SCULLY heads for the elevator, tries it. The elevator doesn't respond)

SCULLY:
Great.

REYES:
"No service".

(SCULLY heads for the stairwell door handle and tugs on that. It doesn't budge. She bangs the stairwell door three times in frustration. They're locked in the garage)

SCULLY:
We have to get an APB out on that car. Did you happen to see a plate?

REYES:
No.

(REYES shakes her head. SCULLY turns back to the combination lock on the stairwell and begins to randomly push the buttons hoping something will work. )

SCULLY:
We got all the numbers on this case except for the ones we need.

REYES:
Maybe there's another way out.

(REYES is looking around. SCULLY checks her watch)

SCULLY:
Well, it's only midnight. There's got to be somebody coming in or out soon.

(SCULLY is putting her gun away when REYES turns to her)

REYES:
How do we know who was driving that car? That it was even him? That's the killer's not still here?

(Both of them suddenly realise this and pull out their guns, walking slowly through the cars)

SCULLY:
We're federal agents and we're armed. If you are here and you make any sudden moves we will be forced to consider you a threat.

(In the distance, a man clears his throat. SCULLY turns and heads in the direction of the sound. A man is sitting in a classic green car)

SCULLY:
Stay where you are! Right there!

(SCULLY positions herself behind a car and has her weapon on the man inside the car. REYES soon joins her)

REYES:
Hands where we can see them! Get out of the car slowly.

(MISTER BURT climbs out of the car)

MISTER BURT:
Did I do something wrong?

SCULLY:
Step around the back of the car.

(Both SCULLY and REYES also move out in front of MISTER BURT. )

SCULLY:
I want you to show us some identification.

MISTER BURT:
I don't have a wallet.

REYES:
Do you have some form of I.D.?

MISTER BURT:
I don't think so.

SCULLY:
Sir, what are you doing here?

MISTER BURT:
Waiting for a friend.

SCULLY:
At midnight? In a parking garage?

MISTER BURT:
We have this regular game we play.

REYES:
What kind of game?

MISTER BURT:
Checkers.

(SCULLY turns to REYES, both of them disbelieving what he says)

MISTER BURT:
The checkers are in the trunk if either of you play.

SCULLY:
Sir, does it look like we're here to play checkers?

MISTER BURT:
No. What are you here for?

(MISTER BURT lowers his hands)

REYES:
Get your hands back up in the air. Step forward. Put your hands on the trunk.

(REYES pats him down, SCULLY lowers her gun)

REYES:
He's clean.

SCULLY:
All right. Let's pop the trunk.

(The trunk opens, a checkerboard sits on top of some CDS, with the labels blank)

SCULLY:
What's all this?

MISTER BURT:
Music.

REYES:
(Facetiously suspicious) You must really like music.

MISTER BURT:
Oh, I love it. The classics, of course. Mozart, Bach, the earlier jazz: Louis Armstrong, Sinatra, ‘Doo-wop’, Elvis, marching bands ...

SCULLY:
Sir, enough.

MISTER BURT:
Don't get me wrong. I love all music but I prefer the stuff that lasts.

(MISTER BURT smiles. REYES reaches in and takes out a couple of CDs)

MISTER BURT:
You like them? Keep 'em. Thanks to the wondrous world of digital technology I can always make more.

SCULLY:
What time is your friend coming?

(MISTER BURT looks down at his wrist, as if checking a watch, but he isn't wearing one)

MISTER BURT:
Soon.

REYES:
(To SCULLY) What do you want to do?

SCULLY:
I don't know. I don't know.

MISTER BURT:
I have some nice dance music.

SCULLY:
We happen to be here, sir because there is a serial killer on the loose.

MISTER BURT:
How many did he kill?

REYES:
Seven women now.

MISTER BURT:
How are you going to catch him?

SCULLY:
We're not, stuck down here.

MISTER BURT:
You sure there's nothing I can do?

SCULLY:
Do you have the combination to the door?

MISTER BURT:
No.

REYES:
Do you have a cell phone that works?

MISTER BURT:
I wish I did.

(Silence)

MISTER BURT:
There's always checkers.

(SCULLY looks at REYES who shrugs. MISTER BURT smiles)


SCENE 19 - LATER

(MISTER BURT sitting at a makeshift portable table with the checkerboard set up on it. His hand come out and he jumps over all of his opponent's checkers. SCULLY can't believe it)

MISTER BURT:
Next victim?

SCULLY:
(To Reyes) How did we get ourselves into this?

(REYES looks over at MISTER BURT who nods his head that he's ready)


SCENE 20 - LATER STILL

(The same checker layout is on the board for REYES as was for SCULLY. MISTER BURT once again jumps over all of his opponent's pieces. REYES looks up at BURT, shocked. Three gunshots ring out and everyone turns. SCULLY stands with her gun drawn on the door. She is shooting at the door but it won't open. She continues in the background, looking for an escape route.


SCENE 21 - LATER STILL

(REYES and SCULLY are now playing each other, REYES on red, SCULLY on black. MISTER BURT dances the ‘Cha cha’ around the game, singing along to the music. REYES stops, realising something. She turns the board around, so that SCULLY is with red and REYES is with black)

SCULLY:
Agent Reyes?

(The music fades. BURT and REYES stand looking down at the board, SCULLY stands also)

REYES:
Your hair colour.

(SCULLY reaches up and touches her own hair)

SCULLY:
I don't believe it.

MISTER BURT:
What?

REYES:
What if we're his next victims?

MISTER BURT:
You?

REYES:
The seventh victim was a blond.

MISTER BURT:
But neither of you are blondes.

REYES:
He kills in threes. Blond, redhead, brunette. The next victims will be a redhead and a brunette.

MISTER BURT:
Amazing - from a game of checkers.

(SCULLY pulls her gun on him)

SCULLY:
Who are you?

MISTER BURT:
Obviously someone you are very lucky to have run into.

SCULLY:
No. No. You're part of this.

MISTER BURT:
How do you figure that?

REYES:
No, it's all in the numbers. It makes perfect sense. The numbers led us to the killer the killer led us to the garage and now all we've done is recognise the killer's real serial pattern.

MISTER BURT:
So you're saying I didn't have anything to do with it.

SCULLY:
Hey, keep your hands up.

MISTER BURT:
Why?

SCULLY:
I don't know.

(SCULLY puts her gun down. MISTER BURT puts his hands down now)

MISTER BURT:
What's this about numbers?

(SCULLY raises her gun on him again)

SCULLY:
Will you just... ?

MISTER BURT:
I'm very good with numbers.

REYES:
The killer is driven by an impulse we believe is numerological.

MISTER BURT:
Of course. He's a serial killer.

SCULLY:
No, that's not what she means. She thinks that his acts are determined by a calculation of numbers.

MISTER BURT:
So the killer's not in control of his actions; the numbers are?

REYES:
Yes.

MISTER BURT:
Well, are the numbers helping you catch him or are they helping him not get caught?

REYES:
That's a good question.

MISTER BURT:
So, it's a kind of a game.

SCULLY:
No, it's not.

REYES:
No, maybe it is. Maybe that's what this is about- who wins the game.

MISTER BURT:
I think she's onto something.

SCULLY:
Agent Reyes, you can't reduce a complex factor as physical and psychological into a game.

REYES:
You're a scientist, Agent Scully. Your world is ruled by numbers: Atoms, molecules, periodicity.

MISTER BURT:
Wow!

REYES:
And wouldn't it follow that everything made from those things is ruled by numbers, too?: Genes, chromosomes, us, the universe.

MISTER BURT:
Go, girl.

SCULLY:
Agent Reyes, that is utter nonsense, okay? It would mean that all we are checkers on a checkerboard being moved around by some forces completely outside and unbeknownst to us.

REYES:
What did Einstein say?

MISTER BURT:
Einstein- now there's a winner.

REYES:
"God does not play dice with the universe."

SCULLY:
Nor does he play checkers. Look, Agent Reyes, you can't reduce all of life, all creation, every piece of art architecture, music, literature into a game of win or lose!

REYES:
Why not? Maybe the winners are those who play the game better; those who see the patterns and connections like we're doing right now.

MISTER BURT:
(Snaps his fingers) Free will.

REYES:
Maybe we're not the next victims. Maybe we're here because we saw the numbers and read the patterns and we're here to catch the killer.

SCULLY:
But the killer is outside, killing and we are stuck in a parking garage.

REYES:
What if he's not? What if we didn't look hard enough? What if the killer's still down here?

(REYES draws her gun and a figure hiding behind a car backs into the shadows. BURT smiles)

SCULLY:
What are you looking at?

(The lights go out leaving them standing in the darkness)

MISTER BURT:
Same thing you are.


SCENE 21 - PARKING GARAGE, LATER

(INT. HOTEL PARKING GARAGE - NIGHT]

(The only light is coming from outside. BURT starts stacking checkers and putting his stuff away. REYES and SCULLY get their guns ready)

MISTER BURT:
So what now?

SCULLY:
(To REYES) You go left, I'll go right. (To MR BURT) You, you stay right where you are!

MISTER BURT:
Oh, there's no getting rid of me.

(Both women split and start searching the garage once more. REYES moves past the elevators and a hand grabs her, muffling her yell. SCULLY continues moving on, not knowing. SCULLY notices the breaker box is open. REYES struggles to free herself from MAD WAYNE and the two fall to the ground. REYES gun goes sliding away. MAD WAYNE gets the gun and swings around to REYES. Someone fires three shots at MAD WAYNE and the lights go on. AGENT DOGGETT is standing there, with his gun, still smoking. SCULLY rushes over to them and checks on MAD WAYNE. DOGGETT helps REYES up. MAD WAYNE is still alive)

SCULLY:
He's going fast.

(With an arm around her waist, DOGGETT helps REYES to her feet)

DOGGETT:
Are you okay?

REYES:
Yeah, I think so.

SCULLY:
Can you hear me?

REYES:
Why'd you do it-kill those women?

(MAD WAYNE dies. REYES and SCULLY turn to DOGGETT)

SCULLY:
How did you ever find us?

DOGGETT:
I saw something in his pattern. It made me realise there's going to be nine victims. Maybe you two were going to be eight and nine.

(SCULLY and REYES look at each other, realising the same thing, and then run to where BURT was. But he is gone)

REYES:
Where'd he go?

(As music starts to play, the agents notice BURT's car is also gone)


SCENE 22- BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE BRIEFING ROOM

(FORDYCE and his agents are looking at something that is confusing them - a map with the pattern of kills. The six upside down makes it a ‘9’, and FORDYCE and the agents all tilt their heads round to see this)


SCENE 23 - SCULLY'S APARTMENT, NIGHT

(WILLIAM is lying in his crib, SCULLY stands above him, rubbing his cheek. She leaves the door ajar as she goes out. Settling in to her own bed, she turns off the light but can't get to sleep. She turns it back on and reaches for the phone)


SCENE 24 - REYES' APARTMENT, NIGHT

(REYES answers it. The clock reads ‘9:09’)

REYES:
Hello?

SCULLY:
All right, I need to know.

REYES:
What?

SCULLY:
What my numerology is, and what my number... whatever you call it. What am I?

REYES:
You're a nine.

SCULLY:
Which means what?

REYES:
Nine is completion. You've evolved through the experiences of all the other numbers to a spiritual realisation that this life is only part of a larger whole.

(SCULLY sits silently, taking this in)

REYES:
Dana, are you there?

SCULLY:
There's something else that's bugging me.

REYES:
What's that?

SCULLY:
Who was that man?

REYES:
God knows.


SCENE 25 - OUTSIDE HOTEL

(MAD WAYNE's body is taken by cops, a crowd is gathering around watching. The two ITALIAN MEN are singing the song that is playing as they walk through the street. First the OLDER ITALIAN sings, then his HEAVY counterpart. They each have a second turn and walk past the Festival, singing and talking oblivious to what is going on. A canole-eating contest is being held, of which we saw being prepared earlier. Two people come in front, asking them to move from the parade. They argue back and forth and end up leading the parade. The woman, AMY sings as well. The dancers begin to dance and everyone in the crowd dances also. As we pull back further and further, we hear the two ITALIAN MEN singing together, we pull back way, way, way out of the city and the image we see leaves us with the familiar smiling face of MISTER BURT...)

[THE END]



Gillian Anderson (Special Agent Dana Scully), Robert Patrick (Special Agent John Doggett), Mitch Pileggi (A.D Skinner), Annabeth Gish (Special Agent Monica Reyes), Nick De Marinis (Pizza Man), Amy D'Allessandro (Amy), Ernesto Gasco (Heavy Italian Man), Ellen Greene (Vicki Louise Burdick), John Kapelos (FBI Agent Fordyce), Ray McKinnon (Mad Wayne), Benito Prezia (Old Italian Man), James & Travis Riker (William Scully),Burt Reynolds (Mister Burt), Larry Udy (Middle Aged Man), Beth Watson (Woman), Angelo Vacco (Bartender)

Directed by Chris Carter

TX:
US TX - 7th April 2002

Notes:
*Featuring Special Special Agent Dana Scully, Special Agent John Doggett, Special Agent Monica Reyes and A.D. Walter Skinner