“You’ve been sent to debunk my work.”

“What can I say, Mulder? I’m a woman of science.”

“So you don’t want to believe?”

“With science, what I want is irrelevant. Proof of a hypothesis is all that matters.”

She tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. He could see her dark brown hair under the wig.

“What’s your current case?” she asked.

He sighed theatrically. “Tough one. There’ve been reports of an aberrant human in the Palo Alto area.”

“Aberrant?”

“An anomaly, Scully. A woman who doesn’t conform to any of the known norms of the human species. Paranormal intelligence and attractiveness. Extreme wittiness. We could be looking at genetic engineering. Possible extraterrestrial involvement.”

She finally broke character, smiled and laughed quickly, then returned to a straight face. “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

“I’ve recently confirmed the evidence.”

One of her friends, who was dressed like Uma Thurman from Pulp Fiction, grabbed her by the arm. “Hey, there you are. Let’s go.” The girl was very drunk.

“Yeah, just a minute,” Scully said quickly.

“No, come on! Paul and Ross have already left. Come on.” She was dragging her now.

Scully turned. “Sorry. Duty calls.” A coy smile spread across her lips. “Good luck with your case.”

She glanced back at him one last time before her friend dragged her out the front door.

In the kitchen, Desmond waited for the blender to stop mixing up a fresh pitcher of margaritas, then asked the host, “Who was the girl dressed as Scully?”

He concentrated on his pour. “Scully? That’s… Oh yeah. Peyton Shaw.”

Desmond opened his eyes and stared at Peyton, who was still holding Hannah’s head in her lap.

A smile spread across his face. “Hi, Scully.”

Peyton’s eyes instantly locked on to his. To Desmond’s surprise, he saw shock, then what he thought was fear. A sad, remorseful smile crossed her lips.

“What?”

“How much do you remember?” she asked.

“We met in Palo Alto. At a Halloween party.”

She nodded slowly but said nothing.

“Did I say something wrong?”

She shook her head.

“Hey,” he said. “What happened between us?”

Before she could answer, Avery shouted from the pilot’s seat. “Look alive back there. And put your headsets on.”

Desmond’s eyes grew wide when he saw the scene beyond the helicopter’s windshield.

Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Avery pulled back on the helicopter’s stick, flying above the smoke that spread out beyond Mombasa. A minute later Peyton got their first glimpse of the carnage.

Mombasa was Kenya’s second largest city and the largest port in East Africa. At the center of the sprawling metropolis lay Mombasa Island, which was connected by causeways to three peninsulas from the Kenyan mainland. Right now those causeways were packed with cars and people trying to escape the island. From above, they looked like ants marching over a bridge, fleeing the chaos.