Jim was conscious of the curious looks Mulder was sending his way and was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Blair noticed his partner's discomfort and stood, interrupting Simon's explanation of their newest case for the two agents.
"Sandburg, do you have a problem?" The Captain asked impatiently. He wanted to get the briefing over with and the Feds out of his office as soon as possible.
The newest detective in the Major Crimes family checked his watch. "Captain, we need to go and talk to the expert I was telling you about."
Simon looked puzzled for a moment. "Right, that Duncan MacLeod guy from Seacouver."
Mulder's interest sharpened. The FBI had a very thick file on Mr. Duncan MacLeod. He always seemed to be in the area whenever there was a series of decapitations. They had never been able to prove anything; the man always had an alibi. He had come to Mulder's attention when he was connected to the reported resurrection of the religious leader John Kirin. The agent stood as if to follow the two men.
Ellison paused at the door. "Captain, since we don't know how long this is going to take it might be a good idea for Connor to take Agent Scully and Agent Mulder to the crime scenes before it gets much later. I'm sure they will want to check for any similarities to the decapitations they have on file."
Simon and Agent Scully both nodded in agreement. "Good idea.' Simon responded. "Send Detective Connor in here on your way out."
Jim and Blair made their escape.
OoooO
Duncan MacLeod handed the keys for his Thunderbird convertible to the young parking attendant. He entered the hotel, mentally castigating himself for accepting the invitation to speak at the convention. He was in the process of signing in when he heard a voice behind him.
"See, I told you he would be here."
Duncan turned and placed the voice with a young man who looked familiar. The big man, however, was an unknown but his bearing screamed Police.
"Mr. MacLeod, I'm Blair Sandburg. You may not remember, but I sat in on your History of Warfare class a few years ago." Blair held out his hand as he spoke. Duncan shook the younger man's hand, smiling as he remembered the young student who had asked more questions than any student he had taught before or since. "This is my partner, Detective Jim Ellison." Duncan took a second look at the young man; he would have never guessed Blair to be a police officer.
When Jim shook Duncan's hand, the feel of electricity emanating from the man's hand startled him. Jim quickly pulled back. Duncan was confused by the big man's reaction. He looked at Ellison for a moment before turning his attention back to the younger man. "We came to request your help." Blair added.
"What can I do to help?" Duncan asked wondering what was going on.
"Since you are a expert on swords, we hoped you would be willing to help us with the identification of a sword we found at a murder site."
Duncan felt a chill and wished he had checked with Joe about any immortal activity in Cascade. "Sure, hopefully I'll have the information you need. Just let me take my bags up to my room. I don't have to speak until later this evening." The Immortal wanted to get his dealing with the local police over with as quickly as possible.
"No problem." Jim answered. "We'll wait here for you."
Blair watched as Duncan boarded the elevator. When the doors closed, he turned to his partner. "Man, what was up with the handshake?"
Jim wasn't surprised by the question; he knew the younger man monitored his reactions as closely as Jim watched over Blair. Both men had long since given up any notions of privacy. "I don't know what happened. Shaking his hand was like holding a wire with low voltage running through it."
"Maybe there's something about MacLeod that amplifies the body's natural electrical impulses."
Jim shrugged. "I guess that makes sense." He decided to find out what he could about their new expert.
Duncan rejoined them after he finished a brief phone call with Joe. The watcher hadn't heard about the battle the night before. He did, however, warn Mac that there was an unknown headhunter that had just moved to the Cascade area.
"Whenever you're ready." Duncan motioned to the exit.
When they exited the building, Duncan found the teenager he had left his car with only minutes before and directed him to bring it around.
"We could give you a ride." Blair offered.
"No, I'll follow you. That way I can get back without taking anyone out of their way."
As the car pulled up, Blair could only say one word. "Wow."
They led Duncan to the Forensics department where the tests were being run on the sword. Jim spotted their favorite Forensics Tech. "Serena, what did you find out on the sword?"
She sat the sword on the counter. "This wasn't the murder weapon. The blood on it belongs to someone else, probably the killer. The fingerprints all belong to the victim."
"Have they been able to identify him yet?" Blair asked.
"Jordan Marshdon," was the quiet response from the man examining the sword.
"What? You recognize the sword?" Jim asked.
"The last time I saw this sword, it was in the possession of Jordan Marshdon. He would never willingly give it up. This sword," Duncan caressed the blade, "has been in his family for over two hundred years. It was given to Marshdon by Lafayette during the revolutionary war, after saving the general's life."
"Could you come and identify the body?" Jim asked.
"Yes." Duncan said sadly.
After completing the sad duty of identifying a friend, they returned to Major Crimes to complete MacLeod's statement about the sword. As they were finishing, Jim could hear what sounded like an exasperated Megan fending off questions from Agent Mulder. The big detective's jaw muscles clenched when he realized the questions were about him and his partner.
Blair returning from the breakroom was surprised to see that the relatively relaxed partner he had left moments ago had been replaced by an angry statue who was glaring in the direction of the elevators.
"What is it? What happened?"
"Agent Mulder doesn't know when to back off." Jim said, momentarily forgetting about MacLeod.
Duncan's head shot up from the paperwork he was reading over. "Fox Mulder?" He asked, heartrate rapidly increasing.
"Yeah, why?" Jim asked.
"I've had a few run-ins with him and his section of the Bureau."
"His section?" Blair questioned.
"He and his partner get all of the strange and bizarre cases. They call them X-files. All of the reports of aliens, mutant killers, the weirder the better." Duncan explained.
Blair and Jim exchanged a worried glance. An angry Connor entered the bullpen trailed by the FBI agents.
