Chapter 10
Fornell wasn't happy about what was about to happen. He'd been sent along with Agent Mallory in the hopes of keeping things running smoothly, but he had also been told to let Mallory do his job.
The problem was that Fornell couldn't see any sign that Mallory was concerned with doing his job. He was more concerned with creating a situation in which he would receive major accolades. Fornell hated people like that. He would much rather have had Sacks with him, but Sacks was currently on his honeymoon, and while it was a serious situation, it would seem strange for Fornell to pull him away from that.
What he did hope for was that the usually-protective MCRT would be there to act as guard dogs. Mallory might not care about listening to an FBI agent who was only a year away from retirement, but he would care about a bunch of people who would not hesitate to use physical violence to protect their own.
When they got into Tim's room, Fornell was dismayed for two reasons. First, Tim was alone in the room. No attack dogs. Second, Tim still looked really bad. Fornell hadn't seen Tim at the beginning of this whole thing, but if this was an improvement, he must have been at death's door.
Mallory didn't seem to notice any of that...or else, he didn't care.
"Agent McGee," he said.
Tim's eyes opened and he seemed more dazed than anything. His eyes fell on Agent Mallory and his face scrunched up a little.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Agent Daniel Mallory, FBI."
"FBI?" Tim repeated. "Why are you here? This is..." His voice trailed off and his eyes wandered. Then, they fell on Fornell and he actually smiled a little. "Hi, Fornell. How are you?"
"I'm fine. How are you, Agent McGee?" he asked, hoping that Tim would clue into the fact that this wasn't a social visit.
It didn't work. Tim wasn't all there, and it was very obvious.
"I've been better. I feel like I'm stuck in first gear and everyone around me is going a hundred miles an hour."
"We have some questions for you, Agent McGee," Mallory said.
Tim's eyes wandered back to Mallory. "Oh? About what?"
"About the fact that last week the Navy Yard was destroyed..."
"...and repaired..." Fornell added quietly.
Mallory ignored him. "...was destroyed and three people were killed. By you."
Fornell watched as Tim digested that, and he saw the moment he understood it. And it became clear that no one had told him about that and that he hadn't known. His heart sank. What a terrible way to learn about this.
"I didn't... I killed three people?"
"I wasn't aware that you were suffering from amnesia, Agent McGee. Why don't you tell me what you remember?" Mallory said, sounding very sarcastic.
"Not much," Tim said, his voice soft. "The Yard was destroyed?"
"There was some damage," Fornell said. "Most of it is fine. What do you remember?"
Mallory glared at Fornell as Tim focused on him instead.
"I remember...Ducky. He was there. There was something in my head, a voice...those eyes."
Tim's own eyes started to glaze over a little bit.
"Then, Ducky again. My hand moved and things happened, but I tried to stop and it worked a little bit. Then, Gibbs. That's all."
"You don't remember destroying the Yard?" Mallory asked.
"No. How did I do that?"
Fornell suppressed a smile because Mallory clearly didn't want to get into methods when he couldn't actually explain them.
"Your team claims that you were possessed."
"Red eyes," Tim said softly. "The eyes were red...like a fire. I remember those eyes, but that's all."
"You expect me to believe that you don't remember anything that you did?"
"I...don't," Tim said.
Mallory started to lean in. "You have caused a nationwide panic, Agent McGee, and you expect me to believe that you're completely ignorant about what you did?"
"I killed three people?" Tim asked again.
"Yes, and we need to be able to tell their families the truth, not some half-baked story about their killer being possessed by the devil."
"Not the devil. Just evil," Tim said, but he wasn't looking at either of them. The horror in his expression told Fornell what Tim was thinking about.
Fornell had enough.
"Agent Mallory, I'd like to speak with you out in the hall, please."
Mallory looked like he was about to ignore him again, and so, instead of letting him dictate, Fornell grabbed him by the arm and dragged him toward the door.
"Thank you for your time, Agent McGee. I'm sorry that we disturbed you, and I hope you get to feeling better."
Tim didn't even reply. He looked extremely distressed, and Fornell made a mental note to call Gibbs.
"What in the world do you think you're doing?" Mallory asked. "You interrupted my investigation!"
"You weren't investigating," Fornell said. "Don't kid yourself. You came in here with a predetermined accusation and what you did was accost a very sick man."
"Are you seriously going to tell me that you believe Agent McGee was possessed?"
Fornell laughed at him. "Are you seriously going to tell me that you believe that a normal human being could destroy the Yard and then rebuild it just by waving his hands? That's what happened. He waved his hands and a ball of fire destroyed a drone. You think that you can find a normal explanation for that? You're ridiculous."
"You were sent here as an assistant," Mallory said, ignoring what Fornell had reminded him of. "I'm going to report this."
"Feel free, and while you're throwing your imagined weight around, thinking that you're going to get me fired, I'd like you to think about something else. You may not know Agent McGee's team, but you are sticking your nose into a hornet's nest by trying to lay all the blame at Agent McGee's feet."
"Who else?"
"You have the story that was told. You have the facts. Just because you're too stupid and close-minded to acknowledge this new reality staring us all in the face doesn't change the facts. If something happens to Agent McGee because of what you did in there, if he suffers in any way from it, you had better be ready to defend yourself."
"From you?" Mallory scoffed.
"No. Not from me. From Agent Gibbs and his team. No matter how much clout you think you have, you are not ready to face them down, and you won't get any help from me. Now, you have interrogated a sick man enough for one day. You are finished. If I have to drag you out of his room again by your ear, I will."
"You'll regret this," Mallory said.
Fornell laughed. "Not as much as you will."
Mallory glared and then stalked off down the hall, phone in hand. Fornell knew he was likely risking a reprimand by what he'd done, but the very fact that Mallory was refusing to listen to what was already known and was, instead, trying to force Tim to confess to doing it somehow on his own was a good indication of how foolish he was.
He shook his head and pulled out his own phone. He thought about checking on Tim again, but when he looked into the room, it appeared as though Tim had fallen asleep. Given how weak he'd seemed, Fornell wasn't surprised and figured it would be better to let him sleep. Quickly, he dialed Gibbs' number and waited for it to be answered.
"What do you want, Fornell? I'm busy."
"Gibbs, you're going to be furious, but you need to know what just happened with McGee."
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
While Gibbs appreciated that Fornell had taken the time to let him know what had happened, he was furious about it. The one time they had all been required to be at work was the time that the FBI had swooped in to try and tear Tim down.
The worst of it was that they were all involved in a thorough debriefing and couldn't leave yet. Tim would have to wait until the end of the day.
But from now on, Tim would not be left alone. It was time to get Delilah back. They'd been told not to tell anyone and he'd been reluctant to bring her back anyway, but she could be there and she wouldn't let anyone at Tim. Probably, he should have done it sooner whether they wanted him to or not.
Too late to change that now, though.
He had been hoping to keep all that from Tim for a while longer.
"Agent Gibbs, we need to talk to you, now."
He looked over and sighed. His turn.
He nodded and went into the room.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
The water was like glass. Like a vast mirror. Instead of the rushing river, he was out in the middle of an ocean. He looked around and could see nothing. Then, he leaned over the side of the boat and looked down.
It was like looking in a mirror.
He saw himself.
No red, flaming eyes.
No evil intent.
And yet...
He stared beyond his reflection and he thought he saw something more.
It was a city. A grand city, with towers and turrets all waving flags in the breeze.
All of it was under the water.
He tried to see the details, but the water kept him from it.
Until finally, as he squinted...
Sitting up, Tim looked around, afraid of what he'd seen, brushing his hands at his arms, trying to keep away the...
The images began to fade.
What he was left with was a feeling of filth. He was dirty. His hands were red with the blood of those he had killed.
How could he, in good conscience, allow himself to stay here and live his life when he had taken the lives of others?
He couldn't.
Decision made, he looked at himself. He would have to do something, but he was in the hospital.
That was right. He remembered it now. He was in a hospital.
He couldn't stay here.
He pulled out the IV very roughly, watching as blood began to run down the back of his hand. He removed the cannula and was briefly grateful that the catheter had already been removed.
Then, he pulled on the scrubs they had left for him, although he had to pause to catch his breath a number of times. He had absolutely no energy for all this.
That didn't matter.
All that mattered was that he had killed three people and he didn't remember even doing it!
That was the only thing in the world that mattered. It didn't matter that he was tired, that he felt weak, that his hands were shaking. It didn't matter that he felt really hot and yet cold at the same time. None of that mattered.
And soon, nothing would matter.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x
Gibbs was chafing to leave. Normally, he would just leave when he wanted, but in this case, he needed to be here to make sure Tim didn't take the blame. He was sure that Vance would avoid that, but Vance was only one man, and he hadn't been there during the actual destruction, even if he could be a witness to what he had seen before the chaos had really begun.
His phone rang.
"Gibbs."
"Agent Gibbs, I have some bad news for you. Agent McGee is missing. We've looked through the entire hospital and he's gone. It looks as though he snuck out on his own about two hours ago."
"How did that happen? How did no one see him?"
"I don't know how it happened. We've been checking on him regularly and I'm trying to get to the bottom of who missed his hourly check, but he's not in the hospital. You will need to find him."
"You think?" Gibbs asked and then put down the phone.
"What is it, Boss?" Tony asked.
"McGee is missing. He left the hospital."
"We're going to look for him, right?"
"Yeah, DiNozzo. We are. Get Bishop and Ducky on it."
"Abby?"
"Have her see if she can track him down with his phone."
"Right. On it, Boss."
While Gibbs didn't want to leave, Tim's physical safety trumped his occupational safety, and unless he'd had a sudden dramatic recovery in the last eight hours, he was in no shape to be wandering around on his own.
