Shakedown, Breakdown, Takedown
by Martha
marthalgm@yahoo.com


DISCLAIMER - The characters in this story are the creative 
property of 1013 Productions and FOX Broadcasting and are used 
without permission.  A hearty salute is also due to James Wong 
and Glen Morgan.

This is a crossover between The Lone Gunmen and the series 
Millennium.  The only thing that you have to know about 
Millennium is that, during its second season, a hacker who 
worked with Frank Black and the Millennium Group was 
introduced, one Brian Roedecker - a know-it-all, a bit of slob, 
a movie addict with more than a passing knowledge of porn stars 
- in short, a bit of Frohike and Langly  rolled up into one, 
which makes sense since Morgan and Wong also created this 
character.  If it helps to put a familiar face on Roedecker, he 
was portrayed by Allan Zinyk, Blaine `Roswell, Roswell' 
Faulkner from the "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" episode.  

There really is a game similar to the one mentioned in this 
story.  Its actual name is Majestic, which I did not use 
because that name has different connotations in the XF 
universe.

And the title is taken from "Shakedown", written by Harold 
Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, and Bob Seger, which was recorded by 
Bob Seger for "Beverly Hills Cop II".

Muchas gracias to the LSP for their support.

Classific: Story / Crossover
Spoilers:  X Files (US6&7), Millennium (US2), The Lone Gunmen
           (US1)
Rating:    PG-13 (some language)
Summary:   The Gunmen help an old acquaintance with a problem.  
           The source of that problem may be someone that they
           know. 




--- The Shakedown ---

Lone Gunmen Headquarters
Sunday
8:21 am

"What the . . ."

The rapid staccato of the buzzer interrupted Langly's reading 
of the Sunday comic section.  Abandoning the paper and Byers' 
treat of freshly squeezed orange juice, he made his way around 
the work tables to the commotion at the front door.  He paused 
when he made eye contact with the monitor trained on the 
visitor, thinking that it could not possibly be who it appeared 
to be.  The speaker was activated.  "Roedecker?"

The dark-haired man on the other side of the door was visibly 
agitated.  "Hurry up, Langly, let me in."

Langly set about undoing the locks and opened the door.  
"Jesus, Brian, when did you hit town?"  The visitor did not 
wait for an invitation to enter and was halfway through the 
front office before Langly could get around to closing the 
door.  "Couldn't this wait until a more decent hour of the 
morning?"

Brian noisily dropped his backpack to the floor, turning around 
to survey the room.  "No.  They're after me."

"Who's after you?" 

Brian jumped and let out a yelp at the sound of Byers calling 
out from the other side of the office, then settled down when 
he saw the familiar face.  "People.  Someone.  I don't know 
exactly who," he breathlessly spat out, "but this person is 
after me, I tell you.  He's going to kill me."

More stirring appeared behind Byers.  "Great.  Roedecker."  
Frohike was still in his pajamas, yawning and scratching his 
head.  "I should have known."

"It's not those Millennium people again, is it?"  Byers 
gestured towards the couch, inviting Brian to sit down and to 
get him as far away from their equipment as possible before he 
started knocking things over in his nervousness.  "I thought 
you'd dealt with that problem?"

Brian picked up his backpack and followed him.  "No, it's not 
them."  

"You can be certain of this?"

"Yeah.  Because if it *was* the Millennium Group, I'd already 
be dead."  Brian settled in on the couch and adjusted his 
glasses as the Gunmen gathered around him.  "They'd have killed 
me weeks ago in some spectacularly odd fashion.  You know, burn 
me alive, cut off my hand, seal me up in a tomb.  Your basic 
ritualistic stuff."

"Take it from the top, Brian."  Langly took the position 
directly in front of him with arms crossed.  "When did you 
first start to believe that someone was going to kill you?"

"You don't believe me, do you?  You think I'm making all this 
up."  

Byers sat down beside him to reassure their visitor.  "We won't 
know what to believe until you tell us what is happening.  Just 
start from the beginning."

Brian took a deep breath and looked around at the three. "Ever 
hear of a game concept known as Takedown?"

"Sort of a personal search-and-destroy type of game, right?"  
Byers looked to his partners for confirmation.

Frohike shook his head.  "Care to lay it out for us?  I haven't 
had my morning dose of caffeine yet."

"Takedown is comprised of two different sets of subscribers: 
the prey and the hunters," Brian began.  "Those who want to 
become the prey give us just basic information; you know, name, 
city, email addy.  The hunters get the data and then proceed to 
track them down, to get as much on them as possible.  The prey 
have to figure out who is stalking them and then confront them 
with that information." 

Frohike was incredulous.  "You're telling us people *pay* to be 
stalked?"

"In a lot of cases, it never gets anywhere near that.  The game 
attracts a lot of practical jokers on both sides.  You know, 
seeing if they can one-up the other like enrolling them in the 
Underwear of the Month Club, pizza deliveries at 3 am, sending 
strippers to the workplace.  That sort of thing.  Some people 
really get into the undercover sleuthing bit and actually send 
daily videos to the other person."

Langly spoke up.  "Hey, I've read about that.  Is this done by 
on-line subscription?"

"Not to the general public, but we do have a number of test 
groups on beta right now."

"We?" Byers asked.  "What's your connection to this game?"

"I'm one of the moderators - one of the people who receives the 
information from the new users and passes them on to the 
hunters.  The hunters in turn put the pursuit into motion.  I 
keep files on all the submitted updates from both sides and 
when takedowns become final."

"So far, a typical job," quipped Langly.

"Until about the second week of the latest go-round.  That's 
when someone started pursuing *me*."

"Why?  Did some file info get crossed?"

"No, it didn't."  Brian's voice grew more hushed, as if he were 
alone and giving himself a pep talk.  "I checked all of the 
activation and send messages.  *No one* should have gotten my 
demographics in place of someone else's."

The three Gunmen looked to each other and waited for a further 
explanation.  "So," Byers prompted, "what are they doing?  
These people who are after you?"

"It started out with these hang-up phone calls."  Brian slumped 
further into the couch, embarrassed to be relating the story 
but grateful to finally get it off his chest.  "My caller-id 
program would tell me that they were coming from my friends and 
other people that I work with, but when I called them back, 
everyone said that they didn't call me.  I even had calls 
coming from my parents' phone, and I know damn well that they 
would never call me in the middle of the night."

"It's just been these phone calls?"

"No, it's not *just* phone calls."  Brian again grew nervous 
and reached for his backpack, pulling out sheets of paper.  
"It's faxes with a picture of me in a mock-up wanted poster.  
It's emails threatening to do the most vile things to my 
privates.  I'm on sex offender neighborhood watch lists, and 
I've never even been arrested for anything like that."  He 
noted Langly and Frohike exchanging knowing looks with the 
other.  "Hey, we might all get a big laugh if this was 
happening to someone on a TV show, but believe me, it's no 
laughing matter when it's happening to you."   

Frohike was only partially successful at suppressing a grin. 
"Have you ticked off anyone recently?  Present company 
excepted.  I know it's a loaded question, but it has to be 
asked."

"I thought about that, but the info that I've been able to 
trace backwards doesn't make any sense.  The majority of the 
email and site addresses have been manufactured or are 
redirects back to sites that thousands of users have access 
to."  Dejected, Brian again slumped back into the couch.  "I've 
already moved once.  I had about two quiet days and then it all 
started back up again.  So I thought I'll just pack up and head 
back East, but if I stay anywhere for more than forty-eight 
hours, he finds me.  The fucker somehow finds me and starts 
this crap all over again."

"So that's why you came to us?" Frohike challenged.  "Because 
you want us to find out who this person is that's targeting 
you?"

"I heard through the grapevine what you guys did with that 
First Person Shooter game."  Brian's voice was now a revenant 
whisper.  "I heard you slayed a ninja babe."

"Yeah, well, we had help.  Like we're gonna need here."  
Frohike turned and started walking out of the room.

Langly followed him part of the way.  "Where are you going?"

"To call Jimmy.  If what Roedecker says is true and someone's 
been pegging him all along the way, then he's not staying here 
and dragging us into this warped little game."

"Jimmy's not really going to be of much help with finding out 
who's doing this, you know."  Langly did not want to have to 
point out the obvious but he was more concerned with Jimmy 
hogging the Sunday comic section should he come over now.

"True, but he can sit tight on Roedecker and prevent anyone 
from getting within ten feet of him while we look into it."

      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~      ~

Lone Gunmen Headquarters
1:12 pm

Langly reset the locks on the front door upon his return to the 
warehouse after delivering their early morning guest to Jimmy's 
apartment.  "Have you guys been able to find out anything in 
that pile of paperwork Brian left for us?" 

"Not much, just yet."  Byers was still on the couch, reading 
through the various faxes and expense receipts that had been 
given to them.  "We know that he has access to Roedecker's 
phoning habits and that he can fool his caller ID system."

Frohike had confiscated Roedecker's laptop and was reviewing 
the threatening emails that had been received.  "Ever think 
that one of our phone numbers might be in that system?"

"I don't see how."  Langly was now reading over Frohike's 
shoulder.  "I haven't heard from Brian in several years."

"These are his receipts for his hotel stays for the past month 
when he started heading here."  Byers had picked up a handful 
of paper and joined the other two at a work table.  "After his 
first stop, he quit using his own VISA card.  After the third 
stop, he quit using *any* credit cards; he's been operating on 
a cash basis since Salt Lake City."

"What about bank withdrawals?  Wouldn't that give him away?"

"But how would this person know where he was staying or if he 
was even still in the same town?"

"Something's not right here," Frohike remarked after reading 
several more emails.  "Roedecker insists that he hasn't done 
anything, but it's my experience that you don't continually 
pursue someone this way unless that person has done you some 
serious wrong."

"Maybe he did do something but doesn't realize it."  Langly's 
attention was still focused on the laptop screen.  "Or maybe 
this other person is seriously disturbed and just *thinks* that 
some harm was done to him."

Byers laid out the receipts on the table in date order.  "He's 
been able to track him in large cities and small towns.  It's 
as if he's right there on his tail, following him the entire 
way."

"You don't think he's been bugged, do you?"

Frohike let Langly take over the work on the laptop and joined 
Byers on the other side of the table.  "I ran him by the 
equipment before he left here.  Both he and that backpack are 
clean.  If he had anything on him, he lost it before he came 
through our door, thank god."

"Can't be his car," Langly added, providing information that he 
and Roedecker had discussed on their way to Jimmy's.  "He 
ditched that in St. Louis and bought another, but he left that 
one in Atlanta and came up here by Greyhound."

Frohike was picking up various hotel receipts, examining each 
for the coding of the charges.  "Which of these places did he 
say that he didn't receive any threats?"

"That would be Dothan, Alabama."  Byers pointed to the Shoney's 
Inn receipt.

Langly was confused.  "What's so special about Dothan, 
Alabama?"

"Trust me," Frohike deadpanned, "*nothing's* special about 
Dothan, Alabama."

"Then maybe he should go back there."

Byers shook his head and blinked hard.  He had been staring at 
the pieces of paper now for over an hour, trying to determine a 
pattern.  "What has he been doing in these places?  He hasn't 
been so careless as to log into any of his web accounts."

"Not directly, no."  Langly brought up a second window on the 
laptop to start another search.  "I'll recheck the gateways he 
uses, see where any may have been compromised.  By the looks of 
things, we even use some of the same ones."

Byers held out his hand to Frohike for the rest of the 
paperwork.  "I need to have some room to play with all of these 
receipts, see if there is any kind of pattern." 

"Why did he keep all those pieces of paper, anyway?" Frohike 
asked.  "What would be the point?"

"I don't know.  Maybe he just didn't want to leave any trash 
behind for this guy to use against him."  Byers' explanation 
was barely audible to the rest as he made his way among the 
shelving maze to another area of the warehouse.

Langly was still playing with the gateway traffic.  "You think 
he's okay?  Brian, I mean.  Being with Jimmy?"

"I made it quite clear to Jimmy that neither of them were to 
use the phone for any reason except to page us.  And there are 
plenty of take-out places right near there so they won't 
starve.  What kind of trouble could they get into at Jimmy's 
small apartment?"  Frohike stood at the table for a second 
before turning around and meeting Langly's glare over the 
laptop screen.  "No, wait, don't answer that."

end part 1