The x-files squeeze

The X-Files : Squeeeze

by Ellen Steiber

1 / 37

Contents
Chapter One: Working Late......................................................................... 3
Chapter Two: The Fingerprint..................................................................... 5 Chapter Three: A Profile of the Killer......................................................... 8 Chapter Four: The Lie-DetectorTest.........................................................11 Chapter Five: Another Victim....................................................................14 Chapter Six: The Nest................................................................................ 20 Chapter Seven: Scully in Danger............................................................... 25 Chapter Eight: TheHunt............................................................................ 29 Chapter Nine: The Fight.............................................................................32 Chapter Ten: Squeeze................................................................................ 36

2 / 37

Chapter One: Working Late
At seven thirty p.m. the Baltimore sky was striped with a bloodred sunset. Hundredsof workers crowded the streets, hurrying to get home. On the contrary George Usher, a middle-aged businessman, was returning to his office for a long evening of work. When Usher left the elevator on the fifteenth floor of his office building, he looked at the long, silent hallways, lit with Exit signs that shone in the dark. The office felt different at night. Usher reminded himself, Nobody canget in unless they work here. He walked into his office, turned on the light, and dialled a number on his phone. An answering machine clicked on and his wife's voice asked callers to leave a message after the beep. "Hello, darling," he said. "It's about seven thirty and it looks like. I'll be here for a while. Call me back. I love you. Bye." After hanging up, Usher looked at the dark hallway outsidehis office. Suddenly he felt an odd tremor: it was fear! He thought that a cup of coffee would help him, so he headed for① the coffee machine. A tiny noise broke the silence the moment he left his office. High on the wall, the cover of an air vent② began to move slowly. The two screws
③holding

the vent in place started to turn. First the right. Then the left. Then,

① ② ③

headedfor：朝着...走去。 air vent：通气口。 screws：螺丝钉。
3 / 37

very slowly, long, skinny① fingertips② came out from inside the vent, pushing the cover to one side. When Usher came back with his coffee, he stopped outside his office door; he was sure that he'd left the light on inside. He went in and tried to switch on the lamp on his desk. Then, all of a sudden, the door slammed shut with an unearthly③ force. And Ushersuddenly realised that he wasn't alone. Frantically④ he reached for the door. He got hold of the knob⑤ and tried to open it. But someone or something had hold of him. Usher fought in the stranger's grasp and slipped free⑥. He rolled across the desk only to feel powerful hands lock around his throat. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't make a sound as his body was raised into the air with inhumanstrength. For a moment the hands left his throat and his desperate scream rang through the office as his body slammed into the door with enough force to splinter⑦ it. And then there was only silence. An hour later Usher's office was a mess⑧ with blood. Directly above Usher's body, one of the screws in the cover of the air vent began to turn. Something inside the vent was screwing the cover back into thewall. Slowly. Victoriously.
① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦ ⑧ ⑨

and the carpet was drenched⑨

skinny：很瘦的。 fingertips：指尖。 unearthly：可怕的。 frantically：狂乱的。 knob：圆形把手。 slipped free：挣脱。 splinter: 使裂成碎片。 a mess：一片混乱。 drenched：浸透。
4 / 37

Chapter Two: The Fingerprint
Scully was having lunch with Tom Colton, an old friend from the F.B.I. training academy, who worked for the Violent Crimes Section. He was...