The X-Files

- Checkmate. -

X-Files Season 5 Episode 20 - The End

Go on!

Take your shot, Alex!

Right there!

I was... sent to bring you back.

You know you're going places in the Bureau...

When the assistant Director tidies up your office.

What's up?

I was just, uh, looking.

For anything special?

I came down to ask you something.

I guess I was nosing around, wondering about you,

Your long-term plans.

My long-term plans?

You got them right there in your hands.

What do you hope to find?

I mean, in the end?

Whatever I hope to find is in here.

Maybe I'll know it when I find it.

Is that what you came to ask me?

No. There's a case. Nothing I'd send you normally.

A murder. An assassination of a Russian chess player.

The shooter is former national security agency, one of ours.

He's got a lot of people upset.

This kid Jeffrey Spender-- Special Agent Spender--

He's been given the case. He's running it.

Did you give it to him? No.

It came as an order from somewhere outside the Bureau.

He's got his team assembled upstairs right now.

He was very specific that you be excluded.

Using a weapon registered to a U.S. Intelligence agency,

The shooter fired one kill shot at Anatole Klebanow...

Before being captured, without incident, a short distance from the scene.

No motive has been established, nor has the shooter offered up a statement or accomplice.

Please continue.

The trajectory of the kill shot suggests the shooter acted alone,

But we cannot yet rule out an accomplice or conspiracy.

A single bullet was fired from a catwalk at a steep angle,

Striking the target just right of the solar plexus.

I'm sorry. Can you rewind the tape?

Please. I'll tell you where. Just take it back.

Let me get through this. If you have any questions, we can talk later.

I don't have any questions, no. I just think you're wrong.

Mulder, what are you doing?

I don't think the Russian was the target. I think it was his opponent.

His opponent, Agent Mulder, is a 12-Year-Old boy.

And a good chess player. Let me show you his best move if you just take it back.

Stop it there.

Look what the kid does right here, right before the kill shot. Play.

You see what he does? He just pushes back. You see that?

He just completed a checkmate. He's pushing back because the game's over.

You described a steep trajectory for the kill shot.

If the kid doesn't push back at that precise moment,

He catches the bullet in the back of the neck, not the Russian.

- Can we move on here? - I think Agent Mulder is right.

Looks like the boy sensed the shooter precognitively.

If you rewind the tape, you'll see it.

There's no way. It's impossible.

Let's rewind the tape so we can all see for ourselves.

You look surprised.

Is it that I'm here, or that I'm alive?

When we heard you'd been shot, we'd assumed the worst.

There were reports you lost too much blood to have survived.

Obviously you underestimated me.

More obviously, you overestimated the man you sent to do the job.

Well, let's say all is forgiven.

Now you have a job for me.

There's been an incident, an unfortunate mistake.

Yes, I've seen. I've heard. I've read.

The boy is a problem to us.

What would you like me to do?

Shoot him dead? Splatter his brains?

Dear God! What's the matter?

Does this sort of business offend you?

It's in your interest, as in ours.

You think you know my interest?

Can we count on you?

Yes.

How long have you been with the Bureau, Agent Fowley?

Since '91. I took an assignment in Europe after the wall came down,

When the Director stepped up foreign terrorism concerns.

And they brought you on this because of a terrorism angle?

No, I requested a reassignment.

There were things at home I decided I wanted to get back to.

1991? That's about when you started work on the X-Files .

More or less, yeah.

Uh, I'd better just put it down.

no offense, mom, but that was pretty cool.

homer, I think you'd agree--

Gibson?

Hi. My name is Fox.

This is Dana and Diana. How are you doin'?

I don't mind it here. They get all the good TV shows.

Where I live in the Philippines, all we get is Baywatch.

What's wrong with Baywatch?

You've got a dirty mind.

Your parents are going to pick you up on Friday, Gibson, to take you back home.

I don't want to play any chess.

How do you know I want to?

'Cause you got that cheap old chess computer in your hand.

It's not so cheap.

Don't you want to see how fast you can beat it?

No.

Maybe because you can't.

I'm right, aren't I? You know what I'm talking about.

You knew the moment I came in.

That's how you win, isn't it? How you know what your opponent's going to do?

You get inside his head. You read his thoughts.

That's how you knew that man was going to shoot you, isn't it?

I know what's on your mind.

I know you're thinking about one of the girls you brought.

Oh?

And one of them is thinking about you.

Which one?

He doesn't want me to say.

This kid is going to need round- The- Clock protection.

Mulder? What was that all about?

The kid's no chess master. Under controlled conditions, I could probably beat him.

He's recognized internationally as a prodigy. He's beaten grand masters.

With the most unfair advantage. What he's doing amounts to a kind of parlor magic trick.

He was goofing on you. He was playing along.

What you're positing is that this kid can read minds.

We've seen a number of these cases before.

We have seen cases of fakers and lucky guessers,

But no one that has ever been able to stand up to any rigorous testing...

And no one who has gone so far as to claim that they can zero in...

On the mind of one person in a crowd of thousands.

Maybe that's why they want him dead.

Who are you talking about?

I don't know. I'm not the mind reader.

Say that what you're suggesting were even possible,

Who would want to kill a kid whose abilities would offer you the ultimate advantage?

I mean, in business, in war, in anything.

Maybe somebody whose business is in keeping secrets.

Well, let's test him. I think the kid will stand up.

Let's run a brain scan and a psych evaluation on him.

You know what to do, Diana.

So you two know each other?

It was a long time ago.

What are you doing here? I want to talk to the shooter.

I've just spent the last six hours talking with him.

He's not been what I would call forthcoming.

Let me see what I can do. I'd prefer you stay out of there.

In fact, I'd prefer you stay out of this thing altogether.

When I first met you, I figured you were just ambitious.

This morning my opinion changed, and I thought you were arrogant.

Now I'm beginning to wonder what you're protecting.

I'm trying to run this thing right, not like some ridiculous paranormal free-For-All.

You're insulting me when you should be taking notes.

Somehow you got the big assignment,

But just because you're wearing the suit doesn't mean it fits.

You're lucky you're not busy defusing an international incident,

Kissing some serious Russian ass...

And sending a whole lot of agents barking down a whole lot of bad leads.

Now, the kid is the key to this, and the shooter knows why.

Excuse me.

What does it take to kill a kid?

Money or just evil stupidity?

I didn't kill a kid. No, thanks to the kid.

You want to talk about heartlessness?

Your squeaky friend there...

Hasn't given me any food or water for what, like 16 hours?

I won't tolerate that. Spender, you got to get this guy some food.

Come on.

I've got nothing to say.

I read your bio. You've been trained, special forces.

You were in Grenada, Zaire.

You were inside Saddam's palace with a hit squad when they started raining bombs over it.

Yet you failed to kill him as well.

- Like I said-- - I know. You got nothing to say.

That's okay. I'm a pretty good guesser.

The kid reads minds. How's that?

Why don't I tell them you told me that, and then let's see how safe and snug you feel in here?

What can you do for me?

I don't know. I might be able to get you immunity...

Or get you into the witness protection program.

Never happen.

Think about it.

What'd you get? Did you get anything?

Just his attention.

How are you doing? I didn't like those tests.

I didn't like being in the machine. Little scary, aren't they?

- You're wondering, aren't you? - About what? About you?

About that other girl.

She's wondering about you too.

We're going to show you a group of cards.

As we look at them, we want you to tell us what we're thinking.

Now, take as much time as you need.

Chair.

Piano.

Piece of pie.

Light bulb.

Smiley face.

Statue.

Cat. It's amazing. It's hard to believe.

I've witnessed clairvoyants who were over 90% accurate...

And seen telepathy being demonstrated,

But I don't know I've ever witnessed anything quite like this.

Where'd you see that?