In the Lone Gunmen's office, Scully and Mulder listen, as Frohike reveals what he suspects to be the chilling, secret past of The Cigarette- Smoking Man. Hiding in a nearby high rise, The Cigarette-Smoking Man eavesdrops on them with electronic listening devices, his sniper's rifle trained on the office's front door. Who will be his next target?

Frohike believes The Cigarette-Smoking Man was orphaned as a baby. His father, a Communist spy, was electrocuted. His mother died of lung cancer. In 1963, he was an Army Captain (whose only friend is the proud father of 1-year-old Fox Mulder). Recognizing his capabilities, the right-wing conspiracy that operates within the shadows of the official government recruits the young officer - his first assignment: the assassination of JFK. In its successful aftermath, he lights his first smoke...and becomes The Cigarette-Smoking Man.

By 1968, even J. Edgar Hoover takes orders from the Cigarette- Smoking Man, and no President has ever suspected he exists. The Cigarette-Smoking Man personally takes charge of the operation against Martin Luther King. Yet, even The Cigarette-Smoking Man has a dream. He longs to be a published author, and writes political potboilers under a pen name. Despite a pile of scathing rejections, he keeps trying.

Christmas 1991. The Cigarette-Smoking Man has covertly started wars, assassinated world leaders, rigged elections, the Oscars, the Olympics, the Super Bowl and moved the Rodney King trial to Simi Valley. Despite his power, he's a lonely man leading an empty life. He still can't get his written works published. And with the Soviet Union gone, he doesn't even have any more enemies.

Then it happens. A survivor is discovered in the wreckage of an alien craft. His mysterious associate, known to Mulder and Scully as Deep Throat executes the only alien which survived the crash The Cigarette- Smoking Man has a new purpose, and new truths to conceal. He goes forth on this mission with a vengeance. Young FBI agents Fox "Spooky" Mulder and Dana Scully take on the "X-Files." Unknowingly they are part of The Cigarette-Smoking Man's plans.

This year. The Cigarette-Smoking Man is jubilant when a magazine finally accepts one of his stories. He prepares his resignation, and lights his last cigarette. Until he realizes the magazine is nothing but a cheap girlie rag -- whose editors even had the nerve to change the story's ending. With all his dreams destroyed, he sits on a park bench and muses about the similarity of life to a cheap, tasteless box of chocolates. Resuming his role, The Cigarette-Smoking Man lights up a smoke.

The present. The Cigarette-Smoking Man's finger is on the trigger of a sniper rifle, ready to repeat the act which started his shadowy career. He watches Frohike leave the office. Does he shoot? No. He can kill Frohike any time he chooses, and he revels in that power.