John Fitzgerald Byers/Encounters

By May 1989, Byers had been employed by the Federal Communications Commission as a public affairs officer. It was in that capacity that, in May, he attended the Computer and Electronics Show at the Baltimore Convention Center, where he first met an attractive woman named . Modeski initially lied to him that she desperately needed help because she was being pursued by her psychotic former boyfriend.
In an effort to help her, Byers hacked into a secured Department of Defense site on the internet, although he was initially shocked at the prospect of doing so. He also enlisted the help of computer hackers and - later - , who both occasionally referred to him as a "narc". Byers continued to be extremely concerned about the possible consequences of being involved in hacking and was even about to turn himself in when he saw another FCC worker being wrongly arrested for the hacking he had done earlier, only to be stopped by Frohike.
Byers soon learned the truth about Susanne Modeski - that she had been framed for murder and that her "former boyfriend" was actually . After she apologized to Byers for having lied to him, Modeski convinced him and the two hackers that secret elements within the US government were responsible for the assassination of President Kennedy, had planted electronic surveillance devices in hotel Bibles and were planning to test a mind-altering gas on people in Baltimore.
Upon breaking into a warehouse where the gas was stored, Byers and his companions were confronted by Agent Mulder, who attempted to arrest Modeski and the three men. Byers tried to persuade the FBI agent that Modeski was innocent of murder, but eventually complied when Mulder instructed him and the two hackers to lie down on the ground. In events that followed, the mind-altering gas was released, Modeski fled the area and the warehouse was sanitized by a group of men, of whom Byers rhetorically asked, "Who are you people?"
Much to the annoyance of his two companions, he continued to rebelliously question the group and the man who led them, who fooled Byers into believing he was about to be shot even though the man used a gun that was not loaded. As the man and his group left the warehouse, Byers asked if their government organization was responsible for the assassination of President Kennedy, as Modeski had claimed. Before exiting the warehouse, the man replied, "I heard it was a lone gunman".
After a S.W.A.T. team took Byers into custody with Frohike and Langly, he was questioned by a Detective Munch and recounted the events that had transpired since first meeting Susanne Modeski at the Baltimore Convention Center. Byers was instrumental in realizing that Susanne Modeski had gone to the offices of the Baltimore Guardian, where he and the other two men found her. Having been unsuccessful in persuading the newspaper company to listen to her, Modeski urged Byers and his companions to tell the truth to as many people as possible and use it as their weapon. They were shocked to see Modeski be kidnapped by men in a car, one of whom was the same man who had supervised the clean-up operation in the warehouse earlier.
After the men returned to the Baltimore Convention Center, Byers and his allies met with Mulder, who explained that Modeski was suddenly no longer wanted by the FBI even though she was still missing. Byers began to tell him about the secret forces within the government, Susanne Modeski and that hotel Bibles were being used for surveillance purposes. 
Later the same year, Byers stopped working for the Federal Communications Commission, becoming no longer eligible for a government pension, and started The Lone Gunman newspaper with Frohike and Langly in an effort to discover and spread the truth to the people of America. Byers teamed up with his new partners in the belief that, as they were true believers in the promise of their country, he could work with them to expose those who would destroy the dream of truth, justice and a government as good as its people, and to write the stories those destroyers of the dream didn't want to be read He would also occasionally use the name "Lone Gunman" to describe a member of the group. 
:In events as they are seen on , Byers is the only person in the series to use the singular term "Lone Gunman" in reference to another person, which he does only once.
Byers' career decisions angered his father and the two men lost contact in that year. 
Category:John Byers