Rollie stretched and smiled running ahand through his toussled shoulder length hair as he heard the shower begin.
He flipped the covers back and climbed out of bed, pulling on his underwear and jeans where they hit the floor the night before as he and Angie made love.
She had woken up this morning wanting him again and he had readily indulged her desire for over two hours if their clock was right.
He descended the metal stairs and headed to the kitchen to put the coffee on when there was a knock at the door.
"Bluey, door." He called and walked to the monitor where his eyes went wide and he strode to the door and yanked it open.
"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! WHATEVER IT IS FORGET IT!"
"Good morning to you too, Rollie "FX" Tyler." The man in the alley smiled.
"What do you want?" Rollie muttered.
"I brought bagels." The man held up the bag.
"I know I'm gonna regret this." Rollie shook his head and stepped back allowing the man inside as he recalled their first encounter...
Angie had gone to L.A. to visit Lucinda when Rollie had gotten a call from a frantic Gary Masters begging him to come to Jersey.
The FX man on his film had been injured in a car accident and would be laid up for a week and he was already behind schedule and the studio was making noises...
He had calmed the man and packed a bag, jumped in the van and headed for the state line.
The first two days of the shoot had gone smoothly but the third night,a night shoot as it turned out,had started out bad...then got worse.
"Where's Tabor?!? I swear we're behind solely because of him!" Masters grumbled.
"Trailers empty." An assistant called.
"Probably leaking in the woods." A crewman replied causing a ripple of laughter.
Rollie chuckled as he set the last charge for the explosion that the scene called for.
"Serve him right if he got poison ivy on it." Another answered making everyone crack up.
That's cold, Rollie thought with a chuckle.
The man had been a royal pain from what some of the crew members,people Rollie had worked with before,had told him.
"Someone go find him!" Masters snapped.
Several of the crew headed for the woods around them with flashlights.
Rollie walked to the van where his PDA was and checked the readings then nodded to himself.
"You all set up?" Masters asked tiredly.
"Just waiting for Tabor." Rollie answered.
"This is the last time I do a picture with him! He's been nothing but---"
A scream erupted from the woods and the two men took off for where it came from and found the script supervisor leaning against a tree looking ashen.
She pointed behind her without turning around and they walked over then the director turned around and stumbled away where Rollie heard him retch.
The FX man swallowed the bile that threated to overwhelm him as he looked at the mangled body that wore Tabor's stricken face.
He took a step away as he heard running and turned to others coming up.
"You don't want to see this. Someone call the police." He instructed. "And take these two back to the set." He added pointing at Masters and the script girl.
Rollie and a couple of grips waited for the authorities, the grips, having taken a quick look didn't need another.
Rollie was beat by the time the authorities finished questioning him and he just wanted to crawl into bed at the hotel and sleep for the next several hours, after dismanteling the explosives of course.
He had just fallen on to the bed when there was a knock on the door. Rollie didn't move. Maybe if he kept quiet they'd go away.
"Mr. Tyler, F.B.I., I have some questions about what happened last night."
Rollie frowned and slowly sat up.
"Mr.Tyler your van's out front so I know you're there." The agent persisted.
Rollie sighed and went to the door where he found a man a little shorter than himself.
"Look Agent...?"
"Mulder."
"It's been a long night and I'm tired. I spent several hours answering the local police's questions and they were very thorough so I'm sure they have the answers you need. Now if you'll excuse me..."
"Do you think it was an animal?"
"That's for the coroner to determine, but from what I saw, yeah, it looked like an animal got to him."
"Have you ever heard of the Jersey Devil?" Mulder asked.
"Yeah, some kind of creature that lives in the woods and attacks people, it's also a myth." Rollie sighed.
"Myths usually have some basis in fact."
"So you're saying some...thing...killed Tabor? I think you need some sleep Agent Mulder." Rollie chuckled.
"I've seen more than you could ever imagine. Get some sleep, we'll talk again." The agent said walking to his rental car.
"That was strange." Rollie uttered to himself closing the door then went back to bed forgetting all about the encounter.
The ringing phone startled Rollie awake and he glanced at the clock, which read 1:30, as he answered it.
"Tyler--yeah, okay. I'll shower then change and come on over."
Fifteeen minutes later he was on the road headed for the set hoping there was something to eat since his last meal had been a late snack.
As he drove he recalled Agent Mulder's words and shook his head.
Oz had it's share of mythical creatures but none ever came to life and attacked a man.
It had to be a wild animal.
They would just be more careful, no going into the woods.
He pulled onto the set and parked, espying Masters he walked over.
"Looks like you'll have some time on your hands."
He turned to see Mulder in step with him.
"Filming is hurry up and wait."
"Word has it the film is being disbanded."
Rollie looked at him then walked up to the director.
"Has the film been disbanded?" He asked.
"The studio said this was the last straw."The director sighed heavily.
"You gonna be okay mate?"
"Oh yeah, I have several offers." Masters replied absently.
Rollie placed a hand on the man's arm.
"I just can't get him out of my head. What kind of animal would rip him apart like that?"
"There are a number of animals that could leave the human body in that condition, bear, wolf, big cat...but none live in these woods." Mulder offered.
"I'm gonna load up my equipment." Rollie said giving Mulder a look as he walked toward the set.
He could feel the agent trailing him and studiously ignored him as he packed up his larger effects gear and started carrying it to the van.
Mulder appeared next to him with his make-up kit.
"You trying to give him a heart attack?!?" Rollie rebuked, taking the kit and stowing it into its assigned cubby hole.
"You could probably run a small country from this van." Mulder observed.
"What do you want from me?" Rollie asked looking at him.
"Your help in locating the Jersey Devil."
"You want me to help you chase down a myth? Is this what I pay taxes for?"
"What if it's not a myth? Just suppose Tabor was killed by an unknown creature living in these woods right here and we have the chance to locate and stop it."
"They must love you in D.C." Rollie shook his head and started back to the set.
"There's a diner about three miles up the road, meet me for a late lunch in an hour." Mulder called.
Rollie didn't respond but when he turned back with another case Mulder was gone.
He finished loading up and climbed into the van to leave, when a thought occured to him and he slid into the back in front of the computer.
Rollie pulled up to the diner at the designated time and spotted Mulder's car as he got out and headed inside.
The Aussie joined the agent and ordered coffee and a club sandwich.
"So what do you have in that van of yours to track the devil?"
"You said you've seen things I couldn't imagine, tell me about them." Rollie requested with a serious face.
"Have you ever heard of 'chupacabra'?"
"Mexican isn't it?"
"Yes, though it has also been spotted in Puerto Rica and more recently California. Translated literally from Spanish as "goat sucker" it's said to attack small livestock and drink their blood. The Jersey Devil is said to be similar."
Rollie sipped his coffee then smiled at Mulder.
"No wonder they call you 'Spooky'."
Mulder stared at him then smiled ever so slightly.
"Friends in the bureau huh?"
"I've helped out a few times."
"Is that a yes?"
"How are we going to do this?" Rollie nodded thinking Angie would have had a field day with this stuff.
"The best way to catch a devil is in hell."
Rollie checked his glow in the dark watch and saw it was after 11 p.m. as they pulled up to the movie set which hadn't been completely struck yet.
The two disparate men moved into the back and Rollie turned on the satellite and booted up the computer.
"Anything out there that's warm blooded will register." Rollie said as the computer extropolated the data from the satellite.
Red dots started appearing on the grid and the computer analyzed each one scrolling the information across the bottom of the screen.
"We've got something big...it's moving east." The Aussie reported.
"I'm going to follow it." Mulder said heading for the door.
"Hold up mate." Rollie called grabbing his PDA and a couple of pair of night vision goggles and set the alarm before following him out.
Mulder donned the goggles Rollie handed him and they set off.
They tracked the things movement for half a mile when Rollie stopped.
"It's heading back this way." He said.
"Let's get closer."
Rollie had no choice but to follow once the man started on the move again. The hairs on the back of his neck began to stand on end as they intersected with the animal.
Before Rollie could reacted something big with red glowing eyes came tearing at him and Mulder shouted.
Instincts kicked in and Rollie dove to the left, he heard three pops then silence.
Climbing slowly to his feet he realized he had lost the goggles and was now effectively blind. Kneeling, he swept his hand around the area he thought he had been but came up empty.
He heard rustling near-by and froze.
"Scared the devil out of you huh Rollie?"
"Funny Agent Mulder! Do you still have your goggles?" Rollie asked standing.
"Yeah." Mulder replied and took his arm.
"You get it?"
"Just wanted to scare it off. We'll look again tomorrow."
"Count me out mate, I might do some crazy things but this is above and beyond."
"Uh-huh."
"I mean it!"
"No worries." Mulder answered.
"Rol, how about we have--oh, I didn't know we had company."
Angie said coming into the kitchen tightening the belt of Rollie's robe.
"I'm sorry for intruding on your morning Miss...?"
"Angie Ramirez, Agent Mulder, F.B.I." Rollie introduced.
"Rol..." She warned.
"I haven't agreed to anything." He defended.
"What'd you come here for anyway?" He asked Mulder.
"It's baaack."
Rollie groaned and shook his head.
"What is he talking about Rol?"
"You're gonna love this Ange...." Rollie replied and launched into the tale of his encounter with the Jersey Devil.
The End