The X-Files Walkthrough & Analysis
The Missing Links – An Interpretation
Assume that Agent Willmore realizes all this on April 7th, after meeting Agent Mulder. Willmore should know most, if not all, of the following by this time. Remember, this part of the game is open to interpretation by The X-Files fans/fans of the game. You can be sure of one thing though – most of the following could be the only plausible explanation.
Willmore now knows that a body jumping alien was responsible for frying the Tarakan crew and the crewcut man. It seems entirely possibly now that the alien’s first host was a member of the Tarakan crew. That crew member could very well be James Wong. That explains why Wong had a slicker in his cabin labeled “Tarakan.” Hey, Wong could’ve well been the captain of that tug. Perhaps, the alien-controlled Wong fried the rest of the crew members. 4 members were fried and fell on the floor of the tug. 4 others perhaps fell into the sea after they were fried – if you remember, the fence of the tug in the cabin exterior was completely destroyed. And since Wong was host to the alien, he obviously escaped. Wong’s meddling with that industrial-grade-lead container must have happened before the alien crashed into the area of the Tarakan.
Mulder says that the government apprehended the alien being. It did. The alien was apparently captured along with Wong and they probably managed to seperate the alien from its host. Dr. Rauch was one of the government members who helped capture the alien. After the government captured it, the navy surgeons operated on it in the boxcar. Willmore was right in recognizing it as not being human, in that video. Something happened after this – something that caused the alien to escape and jump into Rauch. Whether this happened during that operation or not is not clear, but Rauch was most likely the alien’s second host.
The three men who tried to kill Agents Mulder & Scully at the dockside warehouse were NSA agents. Two things are possible here:
1) Rauch could’ve gone there, as a host to the alien and fried the three NSA agents. But, apparently the alien-controlled Rauch was not interested in capturing Mulder during that time.
2) It’s just as much possible that the alien-controlled Wong was captured sometime after this happened. In which case, he could have fried the NSA agents.
Mulder & Scully had indeed informed the Seattle FBI Field Office when they arrived in Everett. Guess who took the call – Agent Cook. Agent Cook had been working for the NSA men secretly. The NSA obviously did not want Mulder & Scully to find anything about the secret experiments, UFO or anything about what happened in the Tarakan. He informed the NSA agents about the activities of Mulder & Scully. That’s how the NSA agents knew about Mulder & Scully’s visit to the dockside warehouse. So, the NSA agents went there to kill Mulder & Scully.
The alien-controlled Rauch/Wong had left immediately after frying the NSA agents. Mulder dropped Scully at the sanitarium. He hadn’t informed anyone about dropping her there – but actually he was very close to informing someone – Cook. Mulder had immediately called the Seattle office for backup and to tell them about everything that has happened. Cook had answered again. Cook must have been surprised to hear Mulder’s voice – he expected Mulder & Scully to be dead by that time. This time, Mulder probably found something suspicious about Cook’s tone or attitude while speaking to him. He asked for backup anyway (he was going to get back to the warehouse), but perhaps decided that it’s best not to tell anyone about Scully’s location. This time, he must have been alert – he must have watched the warehouse from a distance before deciding to enter again. Once he realized that NSA agents were being sent to the warehouse again, he must have left.
When exactly was Mulder kidnapped? Two possibilities:
1) If the videotape (Rauch frying the crewcut man) was clear enough to indicate the license number of the car and if Willmore correctly identified the car as the one rented by Mulder, then it’s likely that Mulder must have visited RR #1121 sometime on April 3rd, 1996, or perhaps on April 4th, 1996, early in the morning. It could not have been later than this. He probably got into the boxcar and was looking at the things there. The alien-controlled Rauch surprised him there and kidnapped him – Mulder is very lucky himself not to have been fried. Mulder must have been kidnapped by Rauch no later than on the early morning of April 4th. Why? This is because the videotape Astadourian showed Willmore clearly shows Rauch getting out of Mulder’s rental car – this can only mean that Mulder has already been kidnapped. The alien-controlled Rauch probably dressed to look like Mulder and took Mulder’s car. Why? Because it wanted to get back to its ship without all the hassles – dressing like Mulder and taking Mulder’s car would have prevented it from gaining too much attention. Mulder was probably tied up in that car when the alien-controlled Rauch fried the crewcut man. How is it that Mulder survived for the next two-three days? That is just pure luck. For some reason, the alien-controlled Rauch found Mulder to be useful. That’s perhaps why the alien-controlled Rauch didn’t kill Mulder.
2) If the videotape was not clear enough to indicate the license number on the car, then the only thing that makes sense here is that Willmore either incorrectly identified the car as the one rented by Mulder or he just didn’t know for sure if that was Mulder’s car. In this case, it’s very likely that Mulder was still well on his feet around that time – he wasn’t kidnapped yet. It’s likely that Rauch must have kidnapped Mulder on the 4th day (April 5th, 1996) of Willmore’s investigation. Mulder must have visited Rural Route that day, probably before the NSA agents set fire to the boxcar. Rauch must have surprised Mulder there and kidnapped him.
When was Mulder taken to Rauch’s house? – Quite possibly on April 6th, 1996. The fax that was sent to Willmore’s office that day confirms it. Regardless of when Mulder was kidnapped by Rauch, Mulder could have been taken to Rauch’s house only on April 6th, 1996. Why? Rauch had not passed through the Canadian border into Alaska earlier in Mulder’s car. If he had, a Canadian border would have died that day and Mulder’s rental car would have been observed crossing the border that day itself. Had this been the case, Willmore would have received a fax regarding this much earlier.
Why did the crewcut man try to attack Rauch? The crewcut man was a government operative himself. That’s why Willmore couldn’t find any matches of him in the ING database (remember the check on the government database returned a message saying “restricted?”). Apparently he had his own stiletto. He was perhaps ordered to kill Rauch since things had got out of hand. Obviously, he was unsuccessful. What happened to the crewcut man’s stiletto then? The NSA crew probably got there before Detective Astadourian’s SPD crew and confiscated it. I’m sure they must have stolen the crewcut man’s body from the Coroner’s after the autopsy, just as they stole the Tarakan crew’s body. They don’t want anyone to find anything about the alien, the boxcar experiments, UFO, etc.
Why was Wong killed? As a distraction. Willmore would not have got much out of Wong anyway even after the background check showed who he is really (he will not remember anything about what happened during the time he was being controlled by the alien). So, Willmore would have proceeded to pursue other leads – the real proper leads. Furthermore, imagine what would have happened if Cook wasn’t dirty. The laptop would not have been stolen. Willmore would have got a wealth of information from Scully’s laptop (she continously updates information about cases in her laptop and about Mulder’s theories). Surely, questioning Wong again would have revealed something. Agreed. But it would not have revealed much that Willmore can work on. So, Wong was not killed because he talked to Willmore. Wong didn’t know anything about secret government experiments. So, there was no plausible reason for the NSA agents to kill Wong (other than to distract Willmore and to try and steer him in the wrong direction). So, why did he run off so quickly after Willmore questioned him? He was just scared, that’s all. After all, it’s not as though he wasn’t guilty of any wrongdoing. He was still taking stolen painkillers and had connections to plutonium smuggling. So, he had every reason to be scared. That’s why he hurried out of there.
Who killed Wong? Two possibilities:
1) Cook must have been handed the gun that shot Scully to kill Wong. So he could have killed Wong.
2) One of the NSA agents could have killed Wong.
In either case, Wong did not know his killer. He was indeed surprised. The NSA’s plan was merely to make his murder serve as a distraction for Willmore – they hoped Willmore will be working on a wrong track while the NSA agents will be allowed time to hide everything they could and perhaps bring everything under control (kill Mulder, get Scully’s location and kill her and apprehend the alien again).
Did their plan work? No it didn’t. They apparently did not know about Wong’s “Tarakan” slicker. If they did, they would have confiscated it, in which case Willmore would have never found a reason to visit Tarakan. Wong’s death had the unintended effect on Willmore’s investigation (from the NSA’s point of view). Cook’s panic reply to Willmore confirms this – Cook never expected Willmore to find a reason to visit the Tarakan. Willmore’s field notes from the Tarakan would have sent the shivers to Cook, which is why he sends a strange reply. The NSA men also did not count on Willmore visiting Gordon’s Hauling or RR #1121. Sure, Cook would have informed them that Willmore was going to conduct a 2nd night surveillance at the warehouse. But they must not have expected him to pick up a note that read “RR 1121” & “82434” from that truck. Things got complicated for them when the crewcut man died the next day ‘coz now Willmore had a strong reason to visit Gordon’s Hauling.
What happened to Scully’s laptop? Although it will be known for sure later in the game, Willmore would have guessed this quite easily by this time – Cook took it to his own apartment and dropped it off there. Then he staged the break-in at the Field Office.
Who are the men in the black sedan? By this time, it must be obvious to Willmore – NSA agents. That’s why Willmore couldn’t find any matches of their sedan in the ING database. Remember the “restricted” message that came up when Willmore checked on the sedan in the government database? Why do you think that this information was restricted?
What about Cook’s fingerprints? Did he really investigate the fire? Yes he did! Here, he was telling the truth. But he hid a lot of other things and lied about the other things. He told Willmore that he did not find anything during his investigation. Quite the contrary, he found a lot of things. That’s how he first met the NSA agents. He had found a lot of unusual things on the tug. He would have mentioned all the unusual things he found on his report, had he been clean. But obviously since he’s dirty, he never mentioned anything. The NSA agents had met Cook, made a deal with him so that he doesn’t mention anything about what he found on the Tarakan. After cutting a deal with the NSA agents, he helped the NSA agents confiscate all the evidence found in the tug. Then he cleaned things out for them. This must have happened after the forensics team had done its work. While cleaning up after the NSA agents in the Tarakan, Cook left his fingerprints in the wheelhouse.
What’s with Cook’s visit to Willmore’s apartment? Firstly, if Willmore e-mailed the Tarkan notes to Cook, he would have got back a reply from Cook – in the reply, Cook says that something has come up with the militia case and that he’s gotta run out. Truth is, Cook got very nervous and was afraid that Willmore might find something out. He never expected Willmore to visit the Tarakan since he thought Wong’s death would not take Willmore there. Now that Willmore was in the Tarakan, Cook was getting scared. Willmore mentioned in the e-mail that he found fingerprints. Cook would have started panicking when he read this. Going by the idea that Willmore had been sending e-mail updates to Cook, Cook must have been too late to do something about the fingerprints. Amis must have already lifted the prints (but not before the guys in the sedan set something off in the Tarakan; they had been following Willmore). That’s why Cook visited Willmore’s apartment. He was not being followed by anyone. He wanted to make sure that Willmore didn’t find anything – especially something that would indicate Cook’s involvement.
The next obvious question is – What if Willmore never e-mailed Cook? Well, Cook would have found out about Willmore’s visit to the Tarakan regardless. How? Willmore and Astadourian were followed. They were followed by the men in the sedan. They had followed Willmore all the way to the Tarakan. They had probably been following him ever since Willmore left the field office. This was perhaps to make sure that everything was going according to their plan. Right after Willmore and Astadourian left, they had gone inside and set something off (they do not know about the fingerprints). John Amis had to suffer because of this. Why did they do this? They didn’t want anyone snooping around in the Tarakan. They would have informed Cook about Willmore’s visit to the Tarakan. So again, Cook was getting very nervous about Willmore’s visit to the Tarakan.
Willmore told Cook about his night survelliance. Why didn’t Cook tell the NSA agents about this? Cook must have, in fact, informed them. Then why didn’t the NSA agents use this opportunity to kill Willmore? They were already having too many problems with the alien being escaping and all – they would have feared that another FBI agent’s death would have brought too much attention to what they were doing. They didn’t want to kill Willmore…at least not right away and not in this open manner. They wanted Willmore to die in a manner that best served their interests. That’s where Cook comes in. They never expected Willmore to get inside the truck and find that note though.
There was no Fred Kohler. There was no survelliance conducted in Smolnikoff’s warehouse. All of this was a setup. Cook had planned with the NSA agents, and arranged for the raid in the hope that Willmore will get killed in the line of fire during the raid (he was already disappointed that Willmore didn’t get killed in the explosion at Gordon’s Hauling the previous day). This is why right after Willmore took down the three men at the entrance, Cook disappeared. Cook was obviously not planning on helping Willmore. So, he just went off somewhere leaving Willmore alone to face the other two men. In the event that their plan backfired, Cook was ordered to plant the .38 weapon in the warehouse. The plan did backfire. Willmore took Smolnikoff’s men down with ease. And so, Cook planted the weapon there.
The raid was arranged by Cook, not just to have Willmore killed, but also for another reason – so that Willmore and Astadourian will not visit Rural Route #1121 that day. This gave the men in the sedan the time to get to the Rural Route, clean everything out of the boxcar and burn it. Had Willmore and Astadourian visited Rural Route that day, they would have surprised the men in the sedan during their attempt to burn the car. Willmore and Astadourian planned to visit Rural Route on that particular day (April 5th, 1996). Remember what Astadourian says to Willmore at Gordon’s Hauling when he tells her about the shipments between the dockside warehouse and Rural Route #1121? – “I guess we know where we’re headed. This wasn’t a wasted trip after all.” So, clearly Willmore was waiting for a call from Astadourian to visit Rural Route #1121 on April 5th, 1996. Cook made sure that Willmore was not going to take a trip to the Rural Route that day.
Is the Cigarette Smoking Man involved? My guess is that he is. If someone had watched the “Piper Maru” (don’t know if that’s the right spelling) episode, they would know that The Smoking Man knows how to deal with these aliens. Just as he had made a deal with the alien-controlled Alex Kraijeck in that episode (bringing the digital tape), he could have made a deal with the alien-controlled Rauch. I think as part of the deal, he gives the location of the spaceship to the alien. There’s no other plausible reason why the alien being will be bothered about destroying the papers at Gordon’s Hauling. It set that bomb off as part of the deal with the Smoking Man. Obviously, this is one part Willmore would have never been able to figure out.
Why shouldn’t anyone know about Willmore’s possession of the stiletto? Why would such knowledge endanger Willmore’s life? That must be obvious to Willmore by this time. Remember what Mulder said? The alien being gains access to knowledge that the human possesses. This agrees with it being able set the bomb at Gordon’s Hauling. So, imagine what would happen if the alien being gets into one of the people who is aware of Willmore’s possession of the stiletto. It would know that Willmore has a weapon that can kill it. So, it’ll go for Willmore and fry him. Scully and Astadourian finding out about Willmore’s possession of the stiletto had already compromised Willmore’s chances of survival. This doesn’t mean he’ll definitely die though. As long as the alien doesn’t jump into Scully or Astadourian, Willmore’s safe. Another reason why no one should know of Willmore’s possession of the stiletto is that many others want that weapon as well. Remember what Mr. X said? – “Men have died in order to possess this.” There are people who would kill to gain access to that weapon. There are also people who would not like anyone to know the existence of such a weapon. These are basically the reasons why Willmore should try his best to prevent people from knowing that he has the stiletto.