Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man

A smoker armed with a sniper rifle and covert surveillance equipment spies on a meeting between Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, and lone gunman Frohiki. The latter reports that he managed to find information about the mysterious past of the Smoker. It turns out that his father was executed as a communist spy, and his mother died of lung cancer, which caused him to grow up in orphanages in the Midwest.

1962. Smoker is a U.S. Army captain stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He talks to his friend and subordinate soldier Bill Mulder, who shows a picture of his young son Fox. The smoker is invited to a meeting with the general and several people in suits. They instruct him to kill US President John F. Kennedy. In November 1963, a smoker hiding under the pseudonym "Mr. Hunt" shoots John F. Kennedy and frames Lee Harvey Oswald. After that, he smokes his first cigarette from a pack of Morley's that Oswald gives him.

1967. A smoker under the pseudonym "Raoul Bloodworth" writes the novel "Risk-a noble cause: The Adventures of Jack Colquette "(English "Take a Chance: a Jack Colquette Adventure"), in which he tells about his life in an embellished form. After hearing Martin Luther King's speech criticizing the distribution of wealth within the United States and the attitude of the country's authorities to social revolutions abroad, the Smoker holds a meeting with a group of people, among whom is the head of the FBI, John Edgar Hoover. Unlike most of them, Smoker considers King a great man for his principles and perseverance, however, in his opinion, the further growth of his popularity may prevent the United States from winning the Vietnam War. He convinces the group to arrange for King's murder and personally shoots him on April 4, 1968. Also mentioned is the involvement of a Smoker in the assassination of former Attorney General and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, which occurred on June 4, 1968. Shortly after these events, he receives a letter from the publisher refusing to publish his novel.

In 1991, the Smoker meets with his operatives. In the course of their communication, his involvement in the Anita Hill scandal and the Rodney King trial becomes apparent. Smoker notes that the Buffalo Bills will not win a future Super Bowl, and also admits to poisoning a Soviet goalie in order to avoid a Soviet victory in a hockey game that became known as the"Miracle on Ice". One of the Smoker's subordinates invites him to a family dinner, but he politely refuses, citing plans to visit the family. After the meeting, he gives each of his employees a Christmas present – a striped tie. A smoker passes by Fox Mulder's office.

Later, while at home, the Smoker receives an urgent phone call from Deep Throat, whom he meets at the UFO crash site. Nearby, a living alien who survived the disaster is found. Deep Throat and Smoker recall how many times they changed the course of world history. Next, the Smoker throws a coin to decide who will kill the alien. Deep Throat loses, then shoots the creature.

A few months later, in March 1992, Smoker attends an event where Scully joins Mulder in working on The X-Files, and overhears the agents ' first meeting. In 1996, he receives a letter stating that his novel will be published in parts in the magazine Roman a Clef. He draws up a letter of resignation, then impatiently goes to buy a magazine at the kiosk. However, the publication turns out to be a low-grade magazine, the editors of which also changed the ending of the work. A sad Smoker sits down on a bench next to a homeless man, and delivers a monologue about how "life is as disappointing as a box of candy." He tears up his resignation letter and leaves the magazine on the bench.

Present time. Frohiki informs Mulder and Scully that everything he tells them is based on a publication in a magazine of which he is a subscriber. After informing the agents of his decision to get proof of the story through a hacker friend, Frohiki leaves the editorial office where their meeting took place. At the moment of his departure, the Smoker aims a rifle at him. With perfect conditions for a fatal shot, he decides not to kill Frohiki, quoting the last line of his unreleased novel: "I can kill you at any moment… But not today."