(In cargo area of a ship. Two Asian crewmen, WOO and FONG, enter, speaking Cantonese. Holding a flashlight, WOO leads a nervous FONG up to one of the crates.)

WOO: (in Cantonese) Come on Fong. Don't be scared. Okay, here it is. I saw them load it in Hong Kong.

FONG: (in Cantonese) Tell me what you think is inside.

WOO: (in Cantonese) Yesterday I put my face close to the box. The thing inside tried to bite me.

FONG: (in Cantonese, not sure) Maybe it's a tiger.

(WOO carefully opens a hatch in the door of the crate and shines his light inside. Two glowing red eyes look back at him and we hear heavy breathing.)

WOO: (in Cantonese) Come on, Fong. Take a look. (FONG joins him at the window) With eyes like that, how can it be a tiger?

(Suddenly, the creature in the crate leaps snarling at the window. WOO and FONG jump back, FONG falling to the floor. They stare at the crate which is shaking violently with the force of the growling creature's struggles. After a few moments, the crate suddenly stills. WOO cautiously creeps up and kicks the crate a couple of times. No response.)

WOO: (in Cantonese) I think we killed it.

(WOO takes out a ring of keys and unlocks the crate. They carefully open the crate and look inside. Their expressions turn from that of curiosity to that of horror. Cut to …)

(Day. The T'ein Kou freighter is docked in San Pedro, California. A police car pulls up to the docks. Cut to inside the hold. YEE, the freighter's captain is leading the police down to the crate.)

YEE: This hold was secured in Hong Kong. I don't know how this happened. It makes no sense. We found the cage still locked. Two of my men are missing.

(As YEE and the officers walk around the crate, they see a man, DR. IAN DETWEILER, mid-thirties, kneeling beside it.)

DETWEILER: (angry) Who's in charge here? You?

YEE: Who are you?

DETWEILER: My name is Detweiler. I'm the owner of this cargo. I was to be notified immediately of its arrival. There's an animal in here, damn it. It needs care.

(He looks pointedly at blood seeping out from the bottom of the crate. KEE unlocks and opens the crate. He and DETWEILER look inside. They stare in horror at the mutilated bodies of FONG and WOO.)

(X-Files office. MULDER is pinning pictures of the two dead crewmen from the teaser to his bulletin board. SCULLY enters.)

SCULLY: Aren't you going home?

MULDER: (not turning around) I am home. I'm just feathering the nest.

SCULLY: What you got?

MULDER: Two merchant marines found dead this morning in San Pedro … in the hold of their cargo ship.

SCULLY: You mind if I ask the cause of death?

MULDER: (casually, trying to peak her interest, very cute) On the crime report it says multiple bite wounds.

SCULLY: From what?

MULDER: The Hong Kong manifest has the cargo listed as a dog.

SCULLY: A dog? A "dog" dog?

MULDER: Yo quiero Taco Bell. That alone is not what drew me to this case. (turns and holds the file out to her) The two men were found inside the container. It was locked from the outside.

SCULLY: (looking through the file) What happened to the dog?

MULDER: (sitting close to her) Dog gone…. Dog gone… (proudly) Doggone.

SCULLY: Yeah, I got it. Did anybody, um, examine the victims, Mulder?

(Mulder nods, shrugs, smiles, and glances at the file in her hands.)

SCULLY: Look, bite wounds are rarely lethal in themselves. I mean, they are not the cause of death. They lead to it through the loss of blood, but, uh... it makes you wonder how accurate this report is.

MULDER: Local PD wrote it up. Department of Fish and Wildlife is on the case. I got an outside source says it was a dog.

SCULLY: Mulder, I don't have to tell you how absolutely and completely wrong that seems. I mean, they were found dead in a locked cage, right?

MULDER: Yeah.

SCULLY: Two grown men?

MULDER: Mm-hmm.

SCULLY: (stares at him) You're not going to tell me that a dog did this.

MULDER: A bad dog.

SCULLY: Yeah.

(He crosses back to his desk as she sighs and looks back down at the file.)

(Suburban house. A large dog, golden retriever, is outside barking at something behind the fence. JAKE CONROY, a young man in a dark uniform comes out of his house to calm the dog.)

JAKE CONROY: Shh. Quiet. Jo-Jo, come on. Shh. Shh. Shh. That's enough now. Come on. Come on. Come on. It's okay.

(He pets her head and sees the backlit outline of another dog against the fence.)

JAKE CONROY: (yelling at the strange dog) Hey, get out of here. Go on, git! Come on, inside. Come on. Come on. Inside. Inside. Inside, Jo-Jo.

(He gets JO-JO inside and crosses over the dog at the fence.)

JAKE CONROY: Get out of here. Go on home. Go home.

(He looks over the fence. The dog has suddenly disappeared. He looks up and down the deserted street, then goes back inside the house.)

JAKE CONROY: Jo-Jo? Here, girl. (heading for the bedroom) You better not be on the bed. (sees JO-JO lying under a table) There you are. What are you doing, girl? You nut. Big ol' lazy bones. Jo-Jo, what are you doing...?

(He reaches down and touches her. He looks at his hand now covered in blood. The dog is dead. He hears a low growling and turns to see a wolf-like dog staring at him and baring it's teeth.)

JAKE CONROY: (terrified) Stay away. Go on.

(The dog's eyes glow red, the growling increases. Suddenly, it leaps at JAKE CONROY who begins screaming. Cut to …)

MULDER: Officer Jeffrey Cahn?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Yeah?

MULDER: (showing badge) I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder with the FBI. This is my partner, Dana Scully. I think the LA field office would have contacted you that we were coming down today.

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Oh, yeah. I hope you don't mind - I had to look around the ship with my men. We were pretty thorough.

SCULLY: (looking in the crate) What did you find?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Nothing conclusive, really, but I can tell you the dog's not likely still on the ship.

MULDER: How did you determine that?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: You ever owned a dog, sir?

MULDER: Yeah.

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Had to clean up after it?

(MULDER smiles, raises his hands in agreement, then claps them together and goes to look at the crate.)

SCULLY: I don't suppose you can tell us what kind of dog this is.

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: I'm not really sure. The man it was shipped to's name is Detweiler. Dr. Ian Detweiler. Calls himself a "cryptozoologist."

MULDER: (interested) Cryptozoologist?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: They deal with animals thought to be extinct.

MULDER: Animals that aren't supposed to exist like Sasquatch and the Ogopogo and the Abominable Snowman and - - -

SCULLY: (interrupting) Don't mind him. He'll go on forever. Did you have a chance to talk to this Dr. Detweiler?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: About five minutes ago.

(DETWEILER enters the hold.)

DETWEILER: Officer Cahn, any progress?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Agents, this is Dr. Detweiler.

DETWEILER: Are you from the FBI?

MULDER: Yes.

DETWEILER: Who should I be speaking to about the theft of this animal?

MULDER: Theft? What do you mean theft?

DETWEILER: This is a very valuable animal that's disappeared. A rare breed and arguably a priceless specimen.

SCULLY: A breed of what?

DETWEILER: Wanshang Dhole. It's a canid.

MULDER: That's an Asian dog. Supposed to have been extinct for the last 150 years.

DETWEILER: (impressed) Yes. That's right, actually.

SCULLY: And you have one of these?

DETWEILER: I was on the expedition that caught it.

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Be that as it may-- we now have an unquarantined animal loose.

MULDER: Loose? Sounds a little more than loose. It seems to have killed two people.

DETWEILER: No. No. Let me assure you this is not a predatory animal. Chinese folklore has imbued it with mythic qualities. But it doesn't even hunt-- it scavenges.

(COP calls from the top of the stairs.)

COP: Where's Officer Cahn? Hey, Jeff, I just got a report on the radio. Some kind of vicious dog attack in Bellflower.

(JAKE CONROY's house. Crime scene. MULDER carefully walks across the yard to the fence, avoiding the piles of dog poo. He looks over the fence just as JAKE CONROY did earlier. SCULLY walks over to him. She is carrying an umbrella.)

MULDER: (indicating the dog poo) Watch your step.

SCULLY: Jake Conroy, age 30. He was employed as a customs agent by the Federal Government. The bite marks match those of the victims on the Chinese freighter. In this case, it bit off the man's hand. There's some talk in the house that he may be involved in the theft of the animal and that it turned on him.

MULDER: Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

SCULLY: Well, it does make sense. I mean, a victim and his dog are attacked inside of a house with all the doors shut. It couldn't have happened unless the dog was being kept inside.

MULDER: If all the doors were shut, how did it get out?

SCULLY: Well, then what?

MULDER: I think we're speaking in too common terms about an animal we're calling a dog but which displays none of the behavior of man's best friend.

SCULLY: You mean covering up crime scenes?

MULDER: (smiles) You get a biscuit, Scully.

SCULLY: So, you're talking about a dog that has human intelligence. (MULDER looks innocent.) Well, even if there were such an animal where would we even begin to look for one?

MULDER: With a human that thinks like an animal.

(MULDER and SCULLY drive up to BERQUIST KENNELS and park in the driveway. Sound of dogs barking. They approach a young woman digging postholes for a fence near the driveway.)

MULDER: Karin? Karin Berquist?

STACY MUIR: No. Stacy Muir. Just putting up this fence for her. She's been having some coyote problems. You two looking for Karin about boarding?

MULDER: No, it's actually more of a behavior problem.

SCULLY: (glancing up at MULDER) Yeah, he doesn't listen and he chews on the furniture.

(STACY MUIR chuckles.)

MULDER: (smiling and showing his badge) Just... can you tell her the FBI's here to see her?

STACY MUIR: Right this way.

(STACY MUIR leads them into a very dimly lit office. There are lots of books and artifacts on the walls and the many tables. All the blinds are closed.)

STACY MUIR: Karin will be out in a moment, all right?

(STACY MUIR leaves and closes the door behind her. MULDER and SCULLY are left in the near darkness.)

SCULLY: You sure this woman's not an authority on bats?

MULDER: Karin Berquist knows more about canine behaviorisms than anybody on the planet. She's lived with wild canids and wolves in the wilderness on five different continents. (opens the blinds on one of the windows)

SCULLY: How is it that you know so much about her but you don't know what she looks like?

MULDER: I never actually met her.

SCULLY: But you assume that she's going to help us?

MULDER: No, actually, it's not an assumption. She is the one who told me about his case.

SCULLY: (curious) Oh, so you two are chummy?

MULDER: Well, I've read her books.

SCULLY: (reading some of the titles) Ah. The Wolf Inside... Dogs Don't Lie... Better Than Human... Better Than Human?

MULDER: She's not a real people person.

(SCULLY crosses to a desk, turns on the lamp and aims it at the "I Want to Believe" poster on the wall. It is identical to the one in MULDER's office that burned.)

SCULLY: Well, she seems to have made a connection to you.

(She and MULDER look at each other. The door opens and a group of dogs enter followed by KARIN BERQUIST. She is mid-thirties, dressed all in black and avoids eye contact.)

KARIN BERQUIST: (to the dogs) All right... Settle down. Settle.

(The dogs all sit on the furniture. KARIN BERQUIST crosses to the window and closes the blinds that they had opened.)

MULDER: Karin, I'm Fox. Fox Mulder. This is my partner, Dana Scully. It's nice to finally meet you. (shakes her hand)

KARIN BERQUIST: I wish I'd known. I don't get many visitors. Stacy tells me you have a question about behaviorism?

MULDER: Yeah, it's about the animal I'm tracking. The one you mentioned in your e-mail - about its intelligence.

KARIN BERQUIST: Canids' intelligence is far superior to ours if that's what you want to know.

SCULLY: Intelligence enough to murder?

KARIN BERQUIST: Murder takes no intelligence. It's a human behaviorism.

MULDER: What about hunting?

KARIN BERQUIST: Coyotes use elaborate trickeries to draw out their prey. Many canids do... alone or in packs.

SCULLY: What about a Dhole?

KARIN BERQUIST: If you mean the Wanshang Dhole, it's extinct. Is there any other reason you came here?

(She looks up at MULDER- SCULLY watches them intently.)

MULDER: No. Thank you, Karin.

KARIN BERQUIST: (to the dogs) Come on.

(The dogs follow her out of the room and she closes the door.)

SCULLY: Mulder... She's a friend of yours?

MULDER: We met on-line.

SCULLY: On-line...

MULDER: Two professionals exchanging information.

(Night. Police truck pulls up to a dark alley.)

OFFICER FIEDLER: (on radio) This is Fiedler. I'm at an alley just south of Cooper in Signal Hill. Looks like something's been scavenging. I'm going to check it out.

DISPATCHER: Copy that.

(He gets out of his truck, gets a long stick out of the back, and heads into the alley. Using the stick, he roots through some garbage and finds a severed hand, then looks up to see a dog run past the end of the alley. He goes into the alley and on into a warehouse. He goes into the basement. Dark, spooky hallway. He hears a sudden sound, and turns quickly and sees a shape at the end of the dark hall.)

OFFICER FIEDLER: Hey! Hello, sir. I'm with US Fish and Wildlife. Maybe you've seen a dog I'm looking for.

(The human figure silently walks toward him.)

OFFICER FEIDLER: Sir? Can you hear me?

(The human figure kneels down and slowly changes shape. It is now a dog. It begins snarling at OFFICER FIEDLER, then leaps at his throat. OFFICER FIEDLER screams.)

(Warehouse, later. Crime scene. MULDER and SCULLY enter and are met by OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN who is extremely upset.)

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: You want to catch a killer? You arrest that crypto son of a bitch who shipped that dog over here.

SCULLY: Is it the same dog?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: That's Frank Fiedler over there. He's a friend of mine. Damn good at his job. You think this kind of thing happens here every day?

MULDER: No, I'm sure it doesn't. We're just trying to catch this animal just like you though, sir.

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Oh, you can catch it. I want to kill it.

(He walks away from them. SCULLY sees KARIN BERQUIST, dressed in dark clothes head to toe, enter the warehouse.)

SCULLY: (quietly to MULDER) I don't think wolfwoman is here to speak to me about this. I'll take a look at the body.

(SCULLY leaves MULDER and goes to look at FIEDLER's body. MULDER almost reaches for her, then sighs and greets KARIN BERQUIST.)

MULDER: I didn't expect you.

KARIN BERQUIST: "Dog eats dogcatcher." Story's all over the news this morning. It's sort of uplifting.

MULDER: (not amused) Mm-hmm.

KARIN BERQUIST: I'm joking.

MULDER: Mm-hmm.

KARIN BERQUIST: Sorry.

MULDER: That's okay.

KARIN BERQUIST: I thought you might use some help.

MULDER: You said that a dog or a canid only hunts what it needs but I've got four bodies with bite marks on it from an animal that seems to kill for no other reason.

KARIN BERQUIST: Who are the victims?

MULDER: There's two men on the ship that it came in on, a customs agent, and now an officer from Fish and Wildlife. In fact, all these men could have come in contact with the animal before the attacks.

KARIN BERQUIST: Classic dominant-alpha territorial behavior.

MULDER: No. This animal seems to have ranged many miles to make its attacks. In each case it seems to have outsmarted or at least tricked its victims.

KARIN BERQUIST: Unlike we homo sapiens a canid's motives are simple and direct. It would be an extraordinary case to find one who kills for sport. Likely, we may never know. I'm sure someone will kill it first.

(They look over to where SCULLY is kneeling at the body with DETWEILER.)

MULDER: This guy over here? He claims to have caught it once. Maybe he can catch it again. He's Dr. Ian Detweiler. Do you know him?

KARIN BERQUIST: No, but I dislike him already.

DETWEILER: I've been over the area. If that was my animal there's absolutely no evidence of it-- no prints, nothing whatsoever I can find.

MULDER: But it's still on the loose.

KARIN BERQUIST: How did you say you caught it originally?

(KARIN BERQUIST and DETWEILER stare at each other.)

MULDER: Oh, this is Karin Berquist.

DETWEILER: We tranquilized it after tracking it for two weeks.

KARIN BERQUIST: You admire it, don't you?

DETWEILER: I admire its ability to survive.

KARIN BERQUIST: Think I'll look around, too.

MULDER: Mm-hmm.

(She goes to another part of the room. DETWEILER watches her walk away.)

DETWEILER: Now, that's one strange bird.

(MULDER nods.)

(Outside, OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN is talking on his radio.)

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: (over radio) No, I'm leaving my dart gun in the car. I'm going to live rounds from here on out. I don't care what the regulations say. I shouldn't be asked to risk my life and neither should anyone else.

DISPATCHER: No one's asking you to risk your life, Cahn.

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Fiedler's lying dead. You realize that?

(He hears a noise. Camera is panning around him and the truck as if something is stalking him.)

DISPATCHER: Cahn, you still there?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Look, we need more men out here. How more many people have to go down before you guys listen? Look, I don't have a photo of this animal. No one's even seen it. Let's get more men out here so we can catch it and kill it. If you want …

(Hearing another noise, OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN turns quickly to find DETWEILER standing right behind him, glaring.)

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: You scared me.

DETWEILER: You kill that dog, and I'll kill you.

(DETWEILER walks away.)

(KARIN BERQUIST's office. She is sitting at her computer. MULDER sits on her right and SCULLY stands behind them, looking over their shoulders. There is an image of a dog's paw print on the screen.)

KARIN BERQUIST: This man Detweiler said he could find no evidence at the scene but with very little effort I was able to find several tracks on the floor of the building where the man was attacked.

SCULLY: Did they tell you anything?

KARIN BERQUIST: That this is a large, rangy animal with primitive, even pre-evolutionary aspects. It isn't perfectly visible, but with the computer I can enhance the prints so that you can see it. A fifth toe pad on the right paw. Canids only have four toes.

MULDER: Uh, he's got a vestigial toe pad on his front paws. Right there.

(MULDER places his hand over hers on the mouse and moves the pointer over another part of the screen. SCULLY stares at their joined hands. After a beat, MULDER moves his hand back to his chin. Everyone is a little tense.)

KARIN BERQUIST: The dewclaw, serving no purpose now. Although some believe it was once a prehensile thumb.

SCULLY: And that's what you think the print indicates?

KARIN BERQUIST: I am told this animal went in and out of closed buildings.

SCULLY: Just yesterday you dismissed the possibility outright, that a dog or a... a canid, as you call it, would behave like this.

KARIN BERQUIST: I dismissed the idea of murder.

SCULLY: But you'll accept the idea that it behaves in every other way like Jack the Ripper.

KARIN BERQUIST: (backing down) I'm just going by the facts. In Chinese myth the Dhole can be evil, capable of opening doors, stealing wives and disappearing into thin air. Maybe there is some basis in reality for this trickster myth.

SCULLY: (looking directly at her, then at MULDER) Oh, I'm... fairly certain there is.

(Scully leaves the room. Mulder looks at the monitor.)

CUT TO:

(SCULLY is sitting in the car. MULDER gets in beside her and gets out the key. He pauses and looks at SCULLY.)

MULDER: Everything okay, Scully?

SCULLY: How well do you know this woman, Mulder?

MULDER: How well do you know anybody you meet on the Internet? She likes to talk.

SCULLY: Well, I question her motives.

MULDER: You're suggesting that this case was a way to get me out here, to meet me?

(SCULLY doesn't answer. MULDER smiles.)

MULDER: I'm flattered, but, no. I don't know this woman. I'd go out on a limb and say there's no way in hell she has anything to do with those four people being dead.

SCULLY: She's enamored of you, Mulder. Don't underestimate a woman. They can be tricksters, too.

(They share a look.)

(RILEY ANIMAL CLINIC. ANGIE, owner of DUKE the St. Bernard, is talking to the veterinary assistant, PEGGY, in the reception area.)

ANGIE: So Dr. Riley wanted me to give Duke three pills a day. Is the one bottle going to be enough?

PEGGY: Oh, we can get you a refill.

ANGIE: Okay.

(DETWEILER enters the vet and DUKE begins barking wildly and trying to attack him.)

ANGIE: Duke… Duke … enough!

DETWEILER: Can't you control your dog?

ANGIE: I'm sorry. He gets this way with strangers sometimes.

DR JAMES RILEY: Let's take him outside.

ANGIE: Duke, come on.

DR JAMES RILEY: Excuse me. You got him? Good luck.

(ANGIE and DUKE leave. DR JAMES RILEY returns to DETWEILER.)

DR JAMES RILEY: Sorry about that. It's usually a well-behaved dog.

DETWEILER: I'm Dr. Detweiler. I called about the animal tranquilizer.

DR JAMES RILEY: The Telezol. I don't have much occasion to dispense it. If I have any, it's very little.

DETWEILER: Well, I'll take whatever you've got.

(DR JAMES RILEY gets some boxes of medicine off of a shelf.)

DR JAMES RILEY: I have Etorphine. Can you use that?

DETWEILER: Yeah.

DR JAMES RILEY: Can I ask what these tranqs are for?

DETWEILER: An animal escaped from a pier in San Pedro.

DR JAMES RILEY: (concerned) Not that dog that's been attacking people?

DETWEILER: If you don't mind, I'm in a bit of a hurry.

DR JAMES RILEY: Uh, this dog you're looking for-- you're not looking around here?

DETWEILER: I'm afraid we are.

(DR JAMES RILEY watches as DETWEILER leaves. Later, he is closing up the clinic.)

DR JAMES RILEY: (calling to the front of the building) Good night, Peggy.

[CLOSED CAPTIONING: PEGGY: Good night.]

DR JAMES RILEY: Uh, be sure to relock that front door for me, would you? And I'll relock the back.

[CLOSED CAPTIONING: PEGGY: Sure.]

(DR JAMES RILEY walks through the kennels talking to the dogs.)

DR JAMES RILEY: Good night, Sparky. Bye, Dino.

(As he locks the back door and turns off the light, all the dogs in the kennels begin barking.)

DR JAMES RILEY: Hey, Buck. What's wrong, Buck? What's wrong, Buck?

(He turns and sees the red-eyed wolf-like dog snarling at him. As the dog runs to attack him, DR JAMES RILEY runs to the door to the office and gets the door slammed closed and locked just in time.)

(Later, police cars arrive at the vet clinic. OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN leads the team.)

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Come on!

(They run inside and find DR JAMES RILEY.)

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Where is it?

DR JAMES RILEY: He's trapped in a kennel behind that door.

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: How'd it get in there?

DR JAMES RILEY: Uh, it must have come around back.

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Lowell and Shoen, go around back. (looks through the frosted window in the door) All right, I'm going to open the door. Doc, you're going to have to move back. I'm going to have to shoot him. (opens the door quickly and sees the shape of a large dog) See him!

(OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN fires four shots.)

DR JAMES RILEY: You hit him?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: I think so. He's down.

(Close up of the dog shows that it is the St. Bernard, DUKE. DR JAMES RILEY goes over to the wounded dog.)

DR JAMES RILEY: Duke... It's the wrong dog.

(Later, OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN meets MULDER and SCULLY as they arrive. It's raining.)

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Came out for nothing.

MULDER: How's that?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: Took out somebody's pet.

MULDER: What kind of pet?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: St. Bernard. It was dark. I just saw something moving.

(Inside the vet, DR JAMES RILEY is just finishing surgery on DUKE.)

DR RILEY: Okay, Duke... All done, pal. You're going to be all right. Now we got find out how you got back in here, huh?

(Close up on the dog's face. SCULLY enters the building and finds a picture of KARIN BERQUIST with DR JAMES RILEY. Signature on the photo says "To my good friend Jame Riley…Stay well, Karin" She hears DR JAMES RILEY screaming and goes to investigate, gun drawn.)

SCULLY: I'm a federal agent. I'm armed. If you can hear me, don't move. Just stay where you are and tell me if you're okay.

(She finds the bloody body of DR JAMES RILEY on the floor next to the table where DUKE is still lying. She hears footsteps.)

SCULLY: Mulder?

MULDER: Yeah?

SCULLY: Come take a look at this.

(MULDER enters. SCULLY is kneeling on the floor beside the body.)

SCULLY: I'll call the paramedics.

(She and MULDER leave the room. DUKE morphs into the wolf-like dog and gets off the table.)

(KARIN BERQUIST is sitting in her dark office with her dogs. She is looking at her computer monitor. SCULLY enters alone.)

KARIN BERQUIST: Where's Fox?

SCULLY: Continuing his investigation.

(SCULLY walks to a chair near Karin and looks at the dog lying there. It immediately vacates the chair, and she sits, nicely setting the mood for the rest of the scene, heh heh.)

KARIN BERQUIST: You're not working together?

SCULLY: No. This is my investigation.

KARIN BERQUIST: Of...?

SCULLY: You.

KARIN BERQUIST: I have no idea what you mean.

SCULLY: I thought at first that they were eccentricities or affectations-- the dark, the clothes-- but it's photosensitivity. Your sleeves cover up skin lesions. It's why you're here amongst the humans instead of out in the field. Systemic lupus erythematosus.

KARIN BERQUIST: Lupus... From the Latin for "wolf." Ironic, isn't it?

SCULLY: Ironic or perverse?

KARIN BERQUIST: I've ignored the symptoms for years. I've always felt more like a wolf than a person.

SCULLY: But not with Mulder. With Mulder, you found somebody you could communicate with.... someone who challenged you... But that wasn't enough. You needed to lure him out here.

KARIN BERQUIST: I lack your feminine wiles.

SCULLY: (looks away for a moment) You don't believe it, do you-- not for a minute-- that there's an animal out there killing?

KARIN BERQUIST: I don't believe that this man, Dr. Detweiler, ever caught it. I lived in Asia. I know about the Wanshang Dhole and if it survived for over a century it was because it was more cunning than man, more cunning than this man Detweiler ever dreamed of.

SCULLY: More cunning than you?

(KARIN BERQUIST looks startled.)

SCULLY: (warning) I'm watching you.

KARIN BERQUIST: You watch... But you don't see.

(At the vet, MULDER is scraping up bloody goo and going through drawers. He finds receipt for boxes of the pills that DR JAMES RILEY gave to DETWEILER. He picks up his phone and dials.)

(CUT TO: OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN's car parked outside the warehouse.)

DISPATCHER: Officer Cahn, we have an emergency phone call we'd like to patch through to you. Officer Cahn, are you there? Officer Cahn, please respond. Officer Cahn? Please respond.

(OFFICER JEFFREY Cahn runs up and picks up the radio.)

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: (on radio) This is Jeffrey Cahn. Go ahead.

DISPATCHER: We have an FBI agent holding for you. I'm going to patch him through now.

MULDER: (on phone) Officer Cahn?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: (on radio) Agent Mulder.

MULDER: (on phone) Yeah, I'm back at the animal clinic. You know Detweiler had been here.

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: (on radio) Dr. Detweiler was there?

MULDER: (on phone) Yeah. He signed for something. It looks like, uh... Eet... Etorfeen, Etorphine?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: (on radio) Tranquilizers-- ampules.

MULDER: (on phone) Are you anywhere near here at all?

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: (on radio) Not far. Why?

MULDER: (on phone) You have access to a lab. There's something I'd like you to check for me.

OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN: (on radio) I'll be there in 15 minutes.

(OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN gets into his truck and gets out his keys. He looks in the rearview mirror and sees the wolf-like dog in the backseat growling at him, eyes glowing red. He screams at the dog jumps at him. Exterior shot shows the truck rocking and we hear him yelling.)

(Next morning. MULDER enters the hospital and goes to OFFICER JEFFREY CAHN's room. He is unconscious. DETWEILER is sitting beside the bed.)

MULDER: What are you doing here?

DETWEILER: I'd heard what had happened. I didn't know how bad he would be. I thought I might get a description of the animal.

MULDER: How did you learn about the attack?

DETWEILER: I'd been in contact with Officer Cahn. I learned through his office.

MULDER: No, you didn't. No, you hadn't. Officer Cahn didn't want to have anything to do with you.

DETWEILER: He was going to kill it.

MULDER: Does that frighten you? (pulls him up)

DETWEILER: (defensive) Please, sir. This is ridiculous.

MULDER: You aren't hunting this animal. You know very well it can't be caught.

DETWEILER: Then how did I bring it here?

MULDER: That's what no one can figure out except for Karin Berquist. She knows what was in that cage and she knows it must be killed and that's the thought she can't bear because she doesn't want this thing to be extinct anymore than you do.

DETWEILER: You're not making any sense.

MULDER: No, I think I am. You went to China looking for that animal and you may have tracked it as you claim but the rest is far from the truth. You found the Wanshang Dhole, but you never caught it. It caught you. You may not have known what was happening to you at first but you're well aware now-- that when night comes, you stop being yourself.

DETWEILER: That's insane.

MULDER: No, you become the trickster-- a shape-shifting man who becomes an animal.

DETWEILER: (starting to leave) I've heard enough.

MULDER: (stopping him) No. You killed because you could. You may have resisted it at first. You may have hated what you'd become. Eventually it took you over. That's where the tranquilizer came in. I found traces of Etorphine and animal blood at the clinic. You injected yourself with the tranquilizer hoping to stop the killings... But they didn't and they haven't and they won't.

(DETWEILER leaves. As he walks down the hall, he is approached by KARIN BERQUIST.)

KARIN BERQUIST: I protected you as long as I could. I won't any longer.

(MULDER comes into the hall and sees them. They all make eye contact. DETWEILER leaves.)

(KARIN BERQUIST is sitting at her computer. Dogs pant contentedly as MULDER enters her office.)

KARIN BERQUIST: I can usually get a sense of a person right away from the dogs. Dogs are the best judges of character I know.

(MULDER scratches a dogs head affectionately. After the dog vacates the chair, MULDER sits across from KARIN BERQUIST, and sighs.)

MULDER: I'm sensing something myself here. I'm thinking maybe I've been misled, that you haven't been totally honest with me about this case.

KARIN BERQUIST: I've been honest with you, though perhaps not myself. I was looking forward to meeting you. I wouldn't admit how much.

MULDER: But you might also have admitted what you knew about this animal-- that it wasn't an animal at all.

KARIN BERQUIST: I heard the reports and called you out if only so you could disprove them. What I knew was it couldn't be a dog responsible for those killings.

MULDER: It's Detweiler, isn't it?

KARIN BERQUIST: Yes.

MULDER: So you knew that and didn't say.

KARIN BERQUIST: I only realized it when I saw him. My failure was in thinking I was protecting the animal that by deceiving you, it might be captured alive. He's got to be put down, Fox. It's the only way to stop this.

MULDER: I've got Scully on him, tailing him watching his every move.

KARIN BERQUIST: He'll elude her easily.

MULDER: So, where's he going to go?

KARIN BERQUIST: To the man he only wounded-- to the hospital, to finish the kill.

(MULDER picks up her phone and dials.)

MULDER: (on phone) Scully, it's me. You got to get to the hospital. … You got to make sure Cahn is protected. … Yeah, he's in danger.

(While MULDER talks to SCULLY, KARIN BERQUIST looks sadly at the "I Want to Believe" poster on her wall.)

(Hospital corridor. MULDER enters and finds SCULLY sitting on a couch reading a magazine. She gets up and faces him as he approaches.)

SCULLY: (not pleased) Now tell me why you pulled me away from the suspect and chained me to this chair 'cause I haven't seen hide nor hair of Detweiler since I've been here.

MULDER: (sitting on the couch) That's aptly put... but it's not yet dark. You should take a load off. We might be here all night.

SCULLY: What do you mean?

MULDER: It's Detweiler... but it's not Detweiler. It's something that he becomes.

SCULLY: (warning) Mulder...

MULDER: Through some blood curse, this man undergoes some kind of nocturnal transformation. He becomes the same shape-shifting trickster as that mythical dog.

SCULLY: So, what is he going to do? Walk in here, skitter across the linoleum and pee in the corners?

MULDER: It's about territoriality. He's going to come back here tonight to make sure his dominance isn't challenged. He's going to put down the threat he failed to eliminate when he attacked Cahn. Karin Berquist confirmed it.

SCULLY: Mulder, the only thing Karin Berquist is interested in is you.

(MULDER chuckles dismissively.)

SCULLY: You're kidding yourself if you think that she hasn't manipulated this entire situation for her own purposes.

MULDER: He'll come here tonight, Scully. You'll see.

(MULDER picks up her magazine to read it. SCULLY smoothly takes it back and sits beside him and begins reading. He sighs and reaches into a pocket - probably for some sunflower seeds.)

CUT TO:

BERQUIST KENNELS.
2:02 AM

(KARIN BERQUIST is settling dogs in the outdoor pens for the night. She hears a noise and senses something near by.)

(Cut back to hospital corridor. MULDER is reading SCULLY's magazine. SCULLY sits beside him, head back and snoring softly. He checks his watch, then stands and gently brushes her face with the magazine.)

MULDER: Okay. He's not coming.

(SCULLY sighs, waking up slowly.)

SCULLY: Well, you've got no argument from me.

MULDER: (disappointed) He's not coming here tonight. Karin knew that. She lied to me.

(Cut back to KARIN BERQUIST's office. She goes upstairs and reluctantly loads a dart into a tranquilizer gun. Looking out the window, she sees the dog run across the yard. Her phone rings and her answering machine picks up. She takes the phone off the hook.)

MULDER: (on phone, voice) Karin, it's Fox Mulder. If you can hear me, I know what you're doing. If you can hear me, lock your doors. I'm on my way. (hangs up)

(Downstairs, the dog has entered the house. It goes upstairs. She hears a growl and sees the wolf-like snarling at her. She aims the gun, then slowly sets the gun on the table and faces the dog.)

KARIN BERQUIST: (softly coaxing) Come on, dog. Come on.

(With a final snarl the dog launches himself at her throat. Outdoor shot shows them both come crashing through the second floor window and falling to the ground. Dogs bark wildly.)

(MULDER and SCULLY arrive and find DETWEILER's body.)

SCULLY: Mulder...

MULDER: Yeah.... It's Detweiler.

(They then see KARIN BERQUIST's body. SCULLY looks up at MULDER sympathetically. He shakes his head slightly.)

(MULDER sits with his head in his hands. SCULLY enters.)

SCULLY: You going home?

MULDER: (looking exhausted) Yeah, pretty soon.

SCULLY: You think this is your fault.

MULDER: (sighs) I think that I... believed her very quickly. I think maybe that was my fault, yeah.

(SCULLY sits on the corner of his desk.)

SCULLY: Why wouldn't you believe her?

MULDER: I barely knew her.

SCULLY: (gently) Well, she had a lot of secrets, that's for sure. I think that Karin Berquist lived by her instincts. She sized people up pretty quickly and I think she figured you out to a "T." (MULDER looks up at her.) I think she saw in you a kindred spirit, Mulder. She may not have been able to express that to you. Maybe what she did was the highest form of compliment.

(MULDER looks at her and sighs.)

SCULLY: You going to be okay?

MULDER: (smiles) Uh, yeah.

SCULLY: Oh. This came for you.

(She hands him a long mailing tube.)

MULDER: Thank you.

(SCULLY leaves the office. MULDER looks at the return address. It is from BERQUIST KENNELS. 917 Creekview Rd. Topanga, CA 90290. SCULLY gets her jacket and he watches her leave. He opens the tube and removes a poster. He looks at it, then pins it to the wall. He sits in his chair and looks up at it. It is the "I Want to Believe" poster from KARIN BERQUIST's office. )

[THE END]