Tobias Fornell was in his own private hell. Though his body was unresponsive to the prodding and poking of the doctors, his mind was going at full speed as though nothing had happened. He couldn't think of torture worse than this; he wanted to talk—hell, he wanted to shout—but all he could do was lay there and wait for his body to catch up to his mind.
Did they know who had done this to him? He couldn't know for sure who it had been, but he had a damn good idea. It all came back to that case. He was the only one who knew the identity of their thief. A lot of help that knowledge was doing for him now. He could know the meaning of life itself, but it wouldn't do him much good if he could tell them, now would it?
The door to his room opened. "Hello, Agent Fornell," a female voice chirped. It was one of the nurses, the one who had introduced herself as Sally. Good. The other nurse had spent an hour venting to him about her worthless ex-boyfriend who'd had an affair with her mother and had gotten both of them pregnant or whatever. Fornell wasn't one for the Jerry Springer type drama so he'd kept praying that she'd either shut up or be called away to another patient.
"I'm not sure if you can hear me," she said, "but if you can, Agent Sacks called. He said he and your other agent would be by later to visit. He also wanted me to tell you not to worry, that they're on the case."
That's good, Fornell thought. Sacks is a good agent and Krieger can hold her own.
"You'll be happy to know that a lot of people are worried about you. We've had phone calls from lots of people, especially from the FBI. Also a couple of people from another agency called. I think it was CSI or CIS or something."
Fornell inwardly chuckled. Of course his buddies at NCIS would be worried. One of them had very good reason to want to know his condition.
"Oh, and your wife called to say she would try to bring your daughter by later today."
My ex-wife, he thought emphatically, and I'll bet she will. When Diane says she'll do something, it means she'll do it if it doesn't interfere with her spa plans for the day or doesn't require her to exert too much energy. Of course, she'll get on my back if the alimony check is even one hour late.
He heard a squeak which most likely meant Nurse Sally had taken a seat. "I'm guessing it must be lonely just lying there, huh?"
Honey, you have no idea.
There was the sound of soft footsteps down the hall which seemed to get closer. Those footsteps entered the room. "Any response?" he heard a foreign male voice ask.
Yes! he screamed in his mind. Damn it, I can hear you!
"Nothing yet, Doctor. Brain wave activity is showing up, but we're getting no physical reactions yet."
"I'll check in later. Let me know if anything happens."
"Yes, Doctor."
The footsteps retreated, much to Fornell's frustration. I can hear you! I can hear everything, I just can't talk! He groaned inwardly. What a time to not be able to communicate. I have to tell someone. I can't let that pencil-neck geek get away with it.