Paige brought out a wash basin full of hot sudsy water and a wash cloth, and a basin of rinse water. Pulling the curtain around Walter's bed she smiled as she pulled his blanket down and helped him remove his hospital gown. She used the rinse water first to wet down his chest, "Paige, what about Centipede Partners?" Walter asked as she started washing.
She shrugged, "Don't really care, I quit the other day."
Walter looked surprised, "Really?"
Paige nodded, "We were in the waiting room while you were in surgery and Cabe asked me what I was going to do about them and I called Toby and told him to take Centipede Partners and shove it up his ass."
Walter started laughing, "Why did you call Toby to quit?"
"He was the one who came up with the whole thing and kept pressuring me to stay away from you and to join them." She told him. She didn't really want to talk to him about it but she knew she couldn't withhold any information about it. They just repaired their relationship and she did not want to fall back into that trap. "There is something else I should tell you but it's not good." Paige told him as she dried his chest and arms.
"Okay," Walter trusted her and gave her the time she needed.
She started washing his stomach, "We found out that Toby actually hypnotized me, using the anger I had over you to get me to stay away from you and to work against you." She looked up at Walter's face and she could see the hurt in his eyes more than anger and she sighed a little easier. She wasn't really sure if hurt was better than anger but at least his heart rate wasn't altering.
"What exactly did he make you do?" Walter finally asked as she moved lower.
"Thankfully nothing sexual or illegal, but he used a command word so that if he needed me to respond a certain way he could say it and give me a command, like that day at the office when you found out I tried to come back out to talk to you and he stopped me and used the command to make me stay and help them get that programming job." Paige told me.
Since his legs had all kinds of bandages all over she stopped from going any lower and changed out the rinse water and had him roll over facing the direction of the windows. "I just wish I could have thrown off his commands sooner, Ralph and Cabe kept pleading but even though I knew what they were saying was true I couldn't admit it I had to accept what Toby told me." She told him.
"So you finally broke it?" Walter asked.
She nodded her head and then realized he couldn't see it and she kind of laughed, "Yes, sorry I was nodding my head and you weren't even able to see it. When we came out of the meeting, I was so sick to my stomach and spent about twenty minutes in the bathroom throwing up. The guys were laughing it up and making fun of you about how hurt you looked on our way out to my car and it made me so mad. They were your friends I couldn't understand how they could derive so much pleasure from what happened to you."
"After we got in my car and we took off Sly was wanting to go out to eat to celebrate and I said no, I was taking them back to the office and they could go celebrate if they wanted but I didn't want anything to do with celebrating what we had done to you. Toby sat up and whispered Beetlejuice and told me I would go with them to celebrate and I read him the riot act. He tried it a couple of hours later when he called me on the phone. It was Katharine Cooper who put it together that he had hypnotized me and she got a Homeland psychologist to come out and Cabe sat with me here in your room and she hypnotized me to find out what exactly happened. Sadly it wasn't his command that made me leave you, that was all on me."
She finished drying him off. "I'm really sorry he did that to you. I never would have thought he would do something like that." Walter told her. He rolled back over on his back and she helped him into a clean gown. "You know that most likely Ralph is messing with Toby right?" Walter told her.
"What? What do you mean?" She looked perplexed.
Walter smiled, "The traffic violations, Toby's a jerk yes, but he's pretty responsible as a driver. Almost no way he'd accumulate even a few hundred in moving violations."
Paige stared at him for a moment and started laughing. Walter joined in a few moments later. Paige wiped at her eyes she laughed so hard. "I guess we got to have a long talk with him about that." She finally said.
"Probably wouldn't be wise to make him undo it or confess though." Walter told her.
"Who said anything about that? I just don't want him to do it anymore going forward; I don't want him getting in trouble." Paige smiled.
"You think Cabe would run you by your place before the Garage? See if you can find that USB drive? It's probably ruined but I hope not." Walter asked.
Paige pulled the curtain back and took the basins back into the restroom and emptied them and washed them out. As she stepped back out into his room, "I guess we can do that."
Walter smiled, "Maybe bring me my laptop too?"
Paige laughed, "You aren't going to try and sign yourself out are you?"
Walter looked a bit sheepish, "Cabe told you about that huh?"
Paige nodded her head.
Walter smiled, "No, I'll need it to look at the drive. Besides with these wraps on my hands it will be a little tricky to try and do the hacking needed to do that."
Paige walked over and got his laptop off the other bed and brought it to him. "We were a little worried about the security of the hospital computers so we had a certain genius go in and secure them so no one could mess with your record. That was right after Toby tried to get into the room to see you the other morning."
Walter smiled as he took the laptop and sat it on his table. Paige just stared at him, "What? You're not going to jump on it?" Paige was dumbfounded.
Walter shook his head, "With you here, I don't think so." He patted his bed and she turned and sat on the edge and scooted back and laid back against him and he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly.
They heard a knock on the door and then it opened and a different nurse walked in, "Mr. O'Brien, I'm Stephanie and I'll be taking over for your other nurse."
"Hello Stephanie, you can call me Walter if you want." Walter told her as he closed his eyes again.
"I've got to draw blood to test for infection. Also your cardiologist is making round so you should see him in about ten to twenty minutes." Stephanie told him as she stepped over to his right side and he extended his right hand so she could draw blood.
"You guys been married long," Stephanie asked.
"We've been dating about a year now." They both answered.
Sylvester won his argument to allow him to perform a forensic analysis on the city computers but had to do so under the watch of LAPD computer science division. He kept swearing as he searched the systems, "Son of a bee sting. Whoever did this is good."
Happy looked at him, "So what does that mean?"
"It means while I can prove someone was in here messing around at the time I can't prove that they changed these records." Sylvester told her.
"Your order gives you another ten minutes," the tech told him.
"Come on Sly, at this time Walter was in a medically induced coma. No one else is skilled enough to hide their tracks from you." Happy told him.
Sylvester looked up, "Of course, it's the only answer." Sylvester initiated another command, "Got it!" Suddenly the system files reverted back to their original data.
"So who did it?" Happy asked.
"No one I can prove." Sylvester told her.
Happy smacked his arm, "Who do you think then?"
Sylvester leaned over, "Ralph."
Happy stared at him.
"So you see your honor, while I can't prove who did it, clearly the files were altered, masterly so. All the tickets that were attributed to Toby have been corrected including the removal of false violations. And we have been able to verify with twelve of the officers in question by their ticket books that the corrected data is correct." Sylvester informed the judge.
"Mr. Means, do you have anything to add before I rule on the traffic violations?" The judge asked.
"Not at this time your honor." Mr. Means answered.
"Very well I rule that all charges stemming from the traffic violations be dropped, that leaves us the issue of the impersonation charge." The judge said.
"Your honor, I was advised today that Mr. O'Brien is now awake due to an alleged malfunctioning medicine dispenser." Mr. Means advised the court.
"Your honor is my colleague suggesting my client somehow manipulated a medical device from jail so he could get bail?" Sylvester asked.
"Don't get so dramatic Mr. Dodd. Mr. Means, have you secured a statement from Mr. O'Brien concerning if Mr. Curtis is his personal physician or not?" The judge asked.
"Not yet your honor, I do have sworn statements by agent Cabe Gallo and Mr. O'Brien's girlfriend, a Ms Dineen that when Mr. Curtis quit his job at Scorpion that he also terminated his responsibility to Mr. O'Brien's care. Further agent Gallo sworn statement shows that when Mr. Curtis was advised about Mr. O'Brien's health that the defendant claimed he would see him the next day and then never went to see him." Mr. Means told him as he handed the bailiff the documents.
"Your honor, I move that Ms. Dineen's statement be stricken, she is not in fact Mr. O'Brien's girlfriend. That she broke up with him the same night that Mr. Curtis quit and we believe her statements are meant as some kind of retribution over a disagreement with my client when she quit our company the other day." Sylvester argued.
The judge looked through the statements, "Mr. Means are you able to shed some light on this matter?"
"Your honor I ask for a continuance on your ruling until I can speak with Ms. Dineen and Mr. O'Brien." Mr. Means asked.
The judge looked at his watch, "Very well, we'll stand adjourned until 3 PM this afternoon and why don't we convene in Mr. O'Brien's room if his Dr says its okay." The judge struck his gavel.
Paige turned in the documents from the accident and the adjuster wrote her a check settlement. To avoid having to meet their tow truck the next day to get Walter's car she wrote him a check for hundred dollars. Cabe came walking back in hanging up his phone as the agent left.
"Hey kid, looks like the prosecutor wants to meet with us and Walter in about an hour. We good to head to the hospital," Cabed asked.
Paige looked at her watch, "I better call Sara and see if she can pick up Ralph as well then. I don't think we can make it to the school by the time he is released depending on how long this meeting lasts. Also the adjuster was very stingy, he discounted how much they are willing to reimburse because of the damage Walter did with the sledgehammer."
Cabe nodded, "Give an insurance company a foothold and they will milk you for all they can."
They found Walter napping when they returned to his room, Paige smiled as she quietly stepped up and leaned over and kissed him.
Walter woke with a start but smiled and kissed her back.
"How you feeling kid," Cabe asked after they separated.
"Better now," Walter smiled. Paige held up the USB drive and he reached out and she dropped it into his hand. Walter struggled to pick it up between his thumb and fingers but the wrapping on his hands prevented that level of manipulation and he quickly looked at Paige and smiled, "I think I need your help for his."
Paige nodded as she took the drive back. Walter moved over a bit and patted the bed next to him and she sat down and moved over and up next to him. She reached over and grabbed his laptop and turned it on. After it booted up she slid the drive into the USB port.
The system had a problem accessing the drive so Walter instructed her how to access the Garage's VPN and then accessed the mainframe and using back up tools from it he guided her in how to access the drive and found that most of the data was corrupted. He had her open a shell prompt and type in a series of commands and they finally got a rough directory of files from the drive. Looking down the list he pointed at one called Tobias and she clicked it. The data within it was skewed but enough was still valid and Walter had her scroll through the data as he read quickly. As she reached the end of the file, "My God, did he actually succeed?" Walter mumbled.
Cabe looked up from his chair and the magazine he was reading, "What's that kid?"
Paige looked back at him, "Walter? What is it?"
"Cabe, could you get me access to Collins's computer again? I need an uncorrupted copy of this file. But if I read this right, Collins actually perfected some kind of brain interface that could allow him to code instructions to control someone's mind. And if the name on the file is any indication I'm guessing Toby was a recipient of this tech." Walter told them.
Cabe had gone back to reading his magazine and Walter and Paige had dozed off in his bed with Walter's arms wrapped around her waist.
The judge walked around the corner and into Walter's room followed by Mr. Means and Sylvester and the court recorder. Cabe looked up and his face darkened upon seeing Sylvester. The judge smiled as Walter and Paige came into view. He turned to Mr. Means and Sylvester, "Looks to me like Ms Dineen is still his girlfriend."
Mr. Means smiled and nodded his head. "I would agree your honor."
"Son of a bee sting," Sylvester whispered.
"I'm agent Cabe Gallo, can I help you?" Cabe asked.
"Judge Marshall, good to meet you agent Gallo. Mr. Dodd tried to convince the court that Ms Dineen was no longer Mr. O'Brien's girlfriend and I decided to find out for myself. This is Cheryl my court recorder; she'll be maintaining a transcript of this meeting for the court." The judge told him.
Paige stirred which caused Walter to wince and groan at the pressure placed against his hands, "Baby?" Paige asked as she looked back hearing his groan.
Walter's eyes opened, "Paige, Walter, this is Judge Marshall, he's over Toby's case, this is Mr. Means the prosecutor and you should remember Sylvester." Cabe told them.
The judge stepped forward and shook Paige's hand, "I'd shake yours too if you weren't so injured Mr. O'Brien, fantastic work by the way, dealing with that terrorist."
Walter still half asleep tried to smile and nodded his head, "Thank you."
"This is just an meeting to gather some facts, we were made aware that you were out of the coma and I wanted to verify a few things with you." The judge told him.
Walter nodded as he continued to hold Paige.
"According to Mr. Dodd you are no longer Walter's girlfriend, is that true?" The judge looked at Paige.
"That's incorrect your honor," Walter spoke up first, "She never stopped being my girlfriend. We did have a fight and she stormed out but our feelings never changed. She was and forever will be the love of my life."
Paige smiled back at Walter, "I feel the same way Walter does your honor. I was very upset with Walter that night but you can ask my son, I had told him it was my intention to cool off and then talk with Walter about what happened."
The judge smiled and nodded, "Mr. Means do you have any questions for this fine couple?"
"No your honor, I believe they answered all my questions." Mr. Means said smiling.
"Mr. Dodd, do you have any questions?" The judge asked.
Sylvester was looking everywhere but at Cabe or Walter and Paige, "Not at this time your honor. I would just like to request reasonable bail for my client."
The judge looked at Walter, "Mr. O'Brien, do you have anything you'd like to add officially to the record?"
Walter nodded, "Thank you your honor. Until the other day I had considered Mr. Dodd, Mr. Curtis and Ms Quinn as family. But after all they have chosen to do I am finished with them. What they did to me, I could forgive but learning what they did to the woman I love I can't forgive. I do not trust any of them and as I am in no position to defend the ones I love or myself I would feel safer knowing he is behind bars."
Sylvester looked stunned and softly said, "Walter?"
"Quiet Mr. Dodd, Mr. Means?" The judge asked.
"Your honor I continue to press for remand clearly this family is concerned about their wellbeing." Mr. Means told him.
The judge nodded, "Mr. O'Brien, what if I ordered ankle monitoring?"
Walter smiled, "Your honor, ankle monitors are too easy to defeat. If my hands were fully functional I could show you how to defeat it in less than thirty seconds."
They stared at Walter, "There is a chip in all monitors that is susceptible to a magnetic pulse. With the properly modulated pulse the device would unlock and give you a 40 second window you could slip the device onto someone else or even a pet and the system wouldn't even know it."
"If I have some techs come to the hospital tomorrow could you show them how this is done?" The judge asked.
"Of course your honor," Walter told him.
"Very well, I'm ordering the defendant remanded until tomorrow and if Mr. O'Brien can successful demonstrate this technique then I will remand him until trial." The judge said.