07x18 - Brand X

[bunniefuu]

Radio check. Perimeter is clear.

Copy that. Give me a check every ten.

Why don't you folks make yourselves comfortable?

Watch some television. Get some rest.

Try to put your minds at ease.

Just try to stay away from the windows and doors, if you would.

Do we have to ask you to use the bathroom? I feel like I'm a prisoner in my own home.

Ma'am, I apologize for the imposition, but my job is to protect you.

As of this evening, the FBI's top priority is keeping you safe.

For how long? A week? A month? Then what?

Jim, don't do this, please.

You don't have to testify.

It's not worth it. These people have a long reach. They're powerful.

I have to do this.

I'm going to bed.

Thank you.

The Grand Jury convenes at 9. We'll leave at 7.30.

I'll be right outside the door if you need me.

Jim?

Jim?

Are you feeling all right?

Jim?

Mr Skinner! Mr Skinner!

Jim?!

Dr Scobie? Jim!

Yes, at the time. I was in another part of the house.

Yes... Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir, I will have answers for you, I...

Rough night? It's shaping up to be a rougher morning.

Follow me.

There's fingerprints everywhere, but they all belong to the deceased and his wife.

The body was found here? Yeah.

What can you tell us about him? Dr James Scobie, age 44.

R&D biochemist with Morley Tobacco.

If he were alive as of 26 minutes ago, he'd be giving testimony against his former employer before a federal grand jury.

Testimony concerning what? Not even his wife or lawyer know specifics.

Only that it concerns research he was involved in, potentially damaging to Morley.

Enough so that Scobie received death threats, Given the high-profile case, the director charged me with ensuring Dr Scobie's protection.

You think someone acted on these threats? I do.

Though we've yet to determine how someone got in here, or... what k*lled him.

Can't blow the whistle with a mouth like that.

It's almost as if his flesh has been stripped or eaten away.

I mean, an assailant could have thrown acid on him.

If it was acid in the face, he would have screamed.

We're looking at all possibilities, Agent.

We don't have much time. We're up against one of the biggest corporations in America.

The director instructed me that he wants this case closed as swiftly as possible.

I trust I can count on your help.

I want you to perform the autopsy. The body's in the county morgue.

I'll get right on it. Thank you.

Ah. What?

There's no ashtrays. Dr Scobie and his wife don't smoke?

Not that I've seen. A tobacco employee that doesn't smoke.

Isn't that kind of like a GM executive who drives a Ford?

If this was a hit it seems unnecessarily high-profile. It draws attention to itself.

That could be the point - to intimidate potential witnesses.

Scobie had a supervisor at Morley - a Dr Peter Voss. I'm gonna talk to him.

You mind if I tag along? No.

Sir?

We're here to see Dr Voss.

Do you have an appointment?

Do you have an appointment?

Maybe you missed this the first time around.

Gentlemen, I can help you.

Daniel Brimley, Head of Corporate Security. Pleasure.

You're here concerning Dr Scobie's death? We are, We were all sorry to hear about it. Jim has a lot of friends in this building.

No hard feelings that he was about to turn federal witness against your company?

Nobody was happy about Jim's decision, but the timing of his death couldn't be worse.

You've no problem with us seeing Dr Voss? Absolutely not. Whatever we can do to help.

Could you, um... could you give my sincerest condolences to Jim's wife, Joan?

How is she?

I'm sure she'll take comfort in finding out why her husband d*ed.

Dr Voss, can you enlighten us as to what Dr Scobie intended to tell the grand jury?

We know it had to do with company research.

Dr Voss would be in violation of his confidentiality clause in answering that.

Dr Scobie was your friend? Yeah, for 14 years. Mm-hm.

Yet you demoted him five weeks ago. You took him off a project. Can you tell us why?

As before, Dr Voss would be in violation of his confidentiality clause in answering questions regarding the nature of his work here at Morley.

Our cooperation cannot extend itself to revealing corporate secrets.

I'm not sensing any cooperation whatsoever.

I'm one more non-answer away from getting a federal warrant and searching this building.

Then this meeting is over. Dr Voss.

Dr Voss... can you tell me what that is?

It's a tobacco beetle. Why? We found it at Jim Scobie's house.

Well, you'll find a lot of these around here.

There's probably a dozen in the grille of your car right now.

May I ask where you're going with this, Agent?

I'm sorry, I can't. Answering that question would violate FBI confidentiality due to the sensitive nature of our investigation.

Evenin'.

What are you doin' here?

Run outta smokes.

Me and Dr Scobie had an arrangement, as you know.

So I figured, uh... Dr Scobie not bein' around, that my arrangement with him... slides on over to you.

Here you go.

That won't hold me.

I'll... I'll bring you more. Just... just don't come here any more, all right?

It seems everybody's actin' funny around me all of a sudden, you know?

Tellin' me not to talk, to stay away from their houses.

Too bad about Dr Scobie, huh?

Yeah...

I bet people are wonderin' how he d*ed. I been workin' my own theory up in the old noggin.

I'd be happy to share it with you someday.

I think that you should leave now.

Yeah.

I don't wanna wear out my welcome.

We'll be seein' a lot of each other, I expect.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em. What have you found?

Well, the tissue damage on Dr Scobie's mouth extends all the way down his trachea into his lungs.

His alveoli look like corned beef.

What about this being the result of a corrosive agent?

No, that's not the case. There's no acids present, no caustics.

This damage isn't the result of any kind of chemical reaction.

His airways have more or less just been reamed out.

I can tell you what k*lled him, strictly speaking.

What? Hypoxemia.

The inability to transfer oxygen from the lungs to the bloodstream.

He choked to death?

However it was accomplished, someone did do this to him, Not necessarily. There weren't any signs of struggle. Maybe no one was ever there.

Where are you going with this? It isn't a homicide.

You examined the body, Scully. Did you... find any of these?

A bug? It's a tobacco beetle, yeah.

I didn't find anything like that, Mulder. Were you expecting me to?

k*ller bugs? This is what I'm supposed to tell the director?

I don't know, but judging from Dr Voss's reaction to this, I think we should investigate.

I been tellin' you all week! How many times I gotta say it?

No smoking! You hear me?

America, man!

E pluribus, uh...

I'll get you kicked out, you son of a bitch! You think I'm kiddin'? I'll do it!

The law's on my side.

Guests check in, but they don't check out.

Judging from the condition of the body, he d*ed in the same manner as Dr Scobie.

Except this man's no corporate whistle-blower.

Thomas Gustall. Out-of-date Massachusetts license, food coupons... and a certificate from a court-ordered anger-management class.

What could Morley Tobacco have against a transient from Massachusetts?

Probably nothing. What are you suggesting, Mulder?

That Jim Scobie wasn't m*rder*d. Neither was this man.

Well, then, what k*lled them?

These. We didn't find any in Dr Scobie's bathroom.

There was an open window, so they could have escaped.

It's a long sh*t, but it could be some form of contagious agent, like an insect-borne bacterium.

Which would mean that there might be other victims in this building.

FBI.

Sorry to wake you.

You didn't wake me.

Come on in.

Thank you.

We're investigating the death of the man who lived next to you - Thomas Gustall.

Do you know him?

I knew his voice.

He yelled a lot.

He yelled?

Yeah. He said I smoke too much.

What ya gonna do, man? It's a free country.

E pluribus, uh...

Do you mind? No.

You don't seem surprised that he's dead.

Guess his number come up.

I'm just glad it wasn't me.

What is your name, sir? Daryl Weaver.

Mr Weaver, did you see or hear anything unusual last night?

Little Korean fella down the hall. Dresses like Wonder Woman.

But that's every night.

Other than that?

Say, there wouldn't happen to be, uh... any reward money involved, would there?

I mean, I could use an extra buck or two.

The FBI would appreciate your voluntary cooperation, sir. That's the way it works.

Ain't that always the way?

Nope. My mind is, uh, just drawin' a complete blank.

That's my card.

Thank you, Mr Weaver.

Anything?

Two deaths in 24 hours. We've yet to find an answer.

And the only thing I have to go on medically at this point is Mulder's bug.

You know, I know an entomologist at UNC Wilmington - a Dr Libby Nance.

Good. Talk to her.

Where are you going? See about something that's bugging me.

Mrs Voss? Yes?

Fox Mulder. Is your husband home?

It's OK, honey. It'll just be a minute.

Sure thing.

I shouldn't talk to you without our lawyers. I understand your reluctance to talk, sir.

You have a nice family, a lot to lose.

What do you want, Agent Mulder?

There's been another victim. Thomas Gustall.

d*ed exactly the same way Scobie did.

I'm sorry to hear that.

But what's that got to do with me? Well, we found these all over him.

I believe that that's what k*lled both men.

Tobacco beetle. It's an herbivore. It eats tobacco. Hence its name.

I understand that, but... maybe these don't.

I'm not required to talk to you, am I? No, But why are you hiding behind your lawyers, Doctor?

How many people have to die before you do the right thing?

I'll get it!

Hello? What did he want?

Are you spying on me? I'm not spying on you, Peter.

I'm looking out for you. What did he want?

There's been another death. Downtown.

How did it happen? I don't know. I don't know.

This has gone on long enough. We should come forward. I should.

Do you hear what you're saying, Peter?

Now, I want you to just take a moment.

I want you to think about what really matters to you.

Now, tell me where I can find Daryl Weaver.

Why?

This was my mistake. I'll clean it up.

I don't know where he is.

This doesn't make sense.

What doesn't make sense?

Well, it's a lasioderma serricorne - tobacco beetle, Only...

I've never seen one exactly like this.

What are the differences?

Physical differences. Minor but definitely notable.

Deviations in the mandibles, the antennae, the body segmentation.

What if such deviations arose from genetic engineering?

Engineering the bugs themselves? No. I was thinking about another possibility.

Transgenomics. Which is...?

It's a form of DNA manipulation - alterations made on the genetic level.

It is widely known that tobacco companies pour money into that kind of research.

Changing the tobacco plant itself in order to make it hardier, give it less nicotine, more nicotine, make it naturally menthol-flavoured. You name it.

A form of what? Super-tobacco?

Which possibly could have created super-bugs.

I guess the real question is could they have become dangerous to humans?

Mr Weaver!

Mr Weaver?

Sorry, Doc, no vacancy.

What happened there?

Well, you tell me. You're the one with the PhD.

I'm just a big old guinea pig.

Listen.

Um...

You have to leave town.

And give up all this?

Me not doin' my part for science?

Here.

Take it. It's everything I have in the bank. Four thousand.

It's not much, but, uh... it's a start.

I'm not kidding. You gotta get outta here.

Why?

I got a good thing goin' here.

I got cash money.

I got all the coffin nails I can suck down.

Although... lately I been thinkin' this particular brand, it doesn't... do anyone else any favours... health-wise.

Been thinkin' that too, huh?

Would it bother you if I lit one up?

Toodles.

No, you don't understand. Morley is a multi-billion-dollar global corporation.

You think they're gonna let you endanger that? They'll k*ll you first.

Well, it sounds like a Daryl Weaver problem to me.

Yeah...

What am I looking at? Thomas Gustall's left lung and bronchus.

Well, I guess that explains where the beetles came from.

Hey. Where have you been? Talking to lawyers at Justice.

Trying to get a look at Morley's files. Well, take a look at this.

They're the larval stage of the tobacco beetle, Mulder, and somehow they have ended up nesting in Thomas Gustall's lungs.

What doesn't make any sense is why Scobie's lungs didn't show this same condition.

The larvae must pupate inside the lungs, and then once they mature into beetles, exit the body en masse. It explains the state of the face and throat.

How did they get in the lungs to begin with?

Mulder?

How is he?

We're using a deep-suction technique that's been designed for asthma and cystic fibrosis.

And, so far, we're having some luck at clearing his lungs.

But...? For every one of those things that are in his lung tissue there may be a dozen eggs that have yet to be hatched.

Eggs? His pulmonary tissue is riddled with them, and they're going to hatch. It's just... We're buying time.

How did this happen? How did the eggs get into his lungs?

I'm thinking he inhaled them.

The tobacco beetle lives out its life cycle on or around the tobacco plant.

That's where it lays its eggs. If those genetically-altered beetles we found did that, then maybe the eggs survived the processing into cigarettes.

And been carried into his lungs as smoke? Right.

Like spores or pollen, somehow small enough to be airborne.

But Mulder isn't a smoker, and neither was Scobie.

Maybe they were around someone who was.

Don't bother calling Security.

Federal search warrant, as promised.

Do it.

You're gonna talk to me. One of my agents is dying of the same thing that k*lled Dr Scobie.

I believe you can save him.

We stand by our contention that all information is proprietary, and is therefore the sole property of Morley Tobacco.

Listen to me, you son of a bitch. This isn't about Morley or your precious research.

This is about saving lives.

That's exactly what we were trying to do. Dr Voss, I'm advising you not to speak.

This has gone on long enough.

We thought we were doing a good thing. We knew people were never gonna stop smoking, no matter how unhealthy it was, so why not genetically engineer a safer cigarette?

Except you engineered the bugs as well.

We recruited test smokers. We conducted focus groups. There were no problems.

And, um... after a few months in, things... things got bad.

We had four test subjects, and, uh...

three of them d*ed.

Is that what Dr Scobie was gonna testify about?

Yeah.

Yeah. And the company wanted us to keep it quiet.

But I thought, let's correct the mistakes and face the consequences.

Jim didn't.

He was monitoring a focus group, and that's... that's how he got infected.

You said only three d*ed.

Who was the fourth?

Clear.

Go ahead.

He told me he meant to get Weaver. Looks like Weaver got to him first.

Mr Brimley, can you hear me?

You got Mickey's Big Mouth?

There's no smoking in here.

Mickey's Big Mouth.

Anything else? Carton of cigarettes?

You don't have my brand.

It must be bad.

How do you feel?

Like a DustBuster att*cked me.

We're looking for someone who may be able to help - a Morley test subject by the name of Daryl Weaver.

Mr... E Pluribus.

Yeah.

Mr Weaver seems to have some kind of tolerance or immunity, and we're hoping that once we find him we'll be able to figure out how to treat you.

Mulder?

Doctor!

His stat's down to 72. Get some 02 on him and call the code.

Susan, code blue!

Right, Doctor.

Over to my side.

Dr Scully?

We've got him stabilized on ECMO, but we won't be able to maintain him on it for long.

Of course, you see why.

There's more now than six hours ago. They're blocking the flow of blood.

Our best bet is to go back in there.

I think this time we have to cr*ck the chest.

No.

No, l... He's too weak for thoracic surgery. He'd die on the table.

I don't know what our other options are.

I'd say for the time being we just wait.

That'll definitely k*ll him.

Sooner or later.

Mrs Voss, I'm Assistant Director Skinner, FBI. May we come in?

What is this? What's going on?

I have to ask for your cooperation. These men are here to protect you and your family.

Oh, my God. Why?

Your husband hasn't told you about this? He's not here.

He told me he was headed home. Try Dr Voss at work.

I've just been trying. There's no answer.

Behind you.

I was just leavin'. I got what I came for.

He took the test cigarettes. I couldn't stop him.

Stop right there!

Why?

You gonna sh**t me?

I'm not gonna let you go and infect more people.

You're gonna let me do whatever I wanna do.

Dr Voss here tells me you need me.

You need me to save your boy.

Don't do it.

They say these things k*ll people, you know?

Any brand, sooner or later.

But, you know, it doesn't have to be that way.

I think Dr Voss is really onto somethin' with his research. I do.

It's over. Weaver. I'm through.

Oh...

Come on, now. I mean...

You gotta figure...

The first, um, car k*lled a bunch of people... before they perfected it, cos it's all just part of the scientific process, you know?

Mr Weaver, I will sh**t you.

No, you won't.

I'm a regular damn scientific marvel.

They're gonna study me, they're gonna, uh... write scientific papers about me...

I could be the cure for cancer.

Me, Daryl Weaver.

You ain't gonna sh**t me.

Toodles.

How's Mulder? Not good.

Let's get the blood work on this man.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

Get me 30 milligrams of methyl pyrolidinyl pyridine.

Nicotine? Yeah.

I think this could save Mulder's life.

Hey.

Good to be back?

Beats the alternative.

You'll be interested to know Morley Tobacco has subpoenaed all of our files on the case.

They seem very interested in your recovery. What about Daryl Weaver?

He's well enough to have been moved to the hospital ward at Riley Correctional.

It was the nicotine itself that was keeping him alive?

His fingers were stained with it. He was a four-pack-a-day smoker, far heavier than any of the focus-group members who d*ed.

Nicotine is extremely poisonous. It's actually one of the oldest known insecticides.

It's good for k*lling tobacco beetles.

Once we loaded your system up with enough of it, it acted as a sort of chemotherapy.

Except it almost stopped your breathing too. That's not all it did.

I bought these on the way to work.

You're not gonna start smoking?

They say the addiction is stronger than heroin.

Mulder...

Good. Skinner‘s waiting for us in his office. I'll be right up.

I made this!