SO here's my next chapter.. again many thanks for the wonderful work of MyOwnWorstCritic, who beta-read this chapter while having so much other things on her mind.
This chapter will be one without much action but with lots of information.. I promise you, this story will soon be action filled!
One small thing before I let you enjoy this next chapter.. How come I have over 1500 views per chapter and almost NO reviews? Please all, I need to know what you think in order to give you all even more reading pleasure by adapting the story to your wishes. So make me and yourselves happy by reviewing! Thank you very much in advance :)
Chapter Four: Family Ties
The ride towards Fortell's brother was filled with possible reasons why Glen Fortell was killed and who could have done it. Since they didn't have much information yet, theories soon became farfetched and unrealistic but mostly funny. Time flew and before they knew it, Sam and Nate were pulling over at the sidewalk near their destination. They got out of the car and slowly walked towards the big house in front of them.
"That's some house here, Nate. What does your psychological mind make of that?" Sam smiled while looking at Nate.
"I'd say that the guy has a lot of money." Sam laughed.
"Good thinking! I guess your study was worth something after all." Both men arrived at the front door. After some knocking and waiting, nobody answered and Sam tried the doorknob. Unlocked. Should he be doing this with Nate?
He gestured towards Nate to stand back and pulled his gun out at the same time. Nate did as he was told and was soon left alone when Sam firmly opened the door and walked into the house. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary first but he needed to be certain so he slowly scanned the whole house with his gun drawn. At the end of the living room was a conservatory, beautifully located with the sun beaming in and a view quite indescribable. While Sam took a few steps in the living room, he thought something was off. The house was nicely decorated, everything perfectly in place. But it seemed a little too perfect. Almost like nothing had been touched for quite a while. Upon entering the living room, Sam saw the shadow of someone approaching, because he had a complete view over the conservatory. Without any hesitation, he moved into the conservatory with his gun pointing towards the shadow.
"Federal agent, hands where I can see them!" The person belonging to the shadow slowly turned around, and then Sam noticed the small height of the figure coming into view. A guy in a wheelchair managed to turn his wheels around so he was clearly visible for Sam to see.
A raspy voice filled the silence, "I'm sorry but I don't think I can manage holding up my arms that long." Sam lowered his gun and let out a sigh.
"I apologize, I didn't notice that you were..." He was looking for the right word.
"Handicapped? Bound? Terminal?" Only then did the federal agent notice the two big cans of oxygen behind the chair and the tube that was inserted into the guy's nose. That would certainly explain the lack of use of the house. He stepped forward and held out his hand.
"I'm Special Agent Sam Hanna, NCIS."
The guy managed to lift his right hand just enough to grab Sam's hand.
"Derek... Fortell... You're here... For my... Brother?" Derek was already out of breath because of the sentences he had just said and had to take multiple breathing pauses while talking.
"Yes, yes, we are. I'm not alone, my partner is still outside." Upon saying that, Sam raised his voice. "Nate, all clear. I'm in the living room!"
Both men could hear the footsteps coming closer and Nate soon came into view. He wasn't surprised in the least when he saw the man in the wheelchair. Terminal lung cancer would do that do you.
"This is my partner Nate Getz, also with NCIS."
Nate didn't hold out his hand but raised it instead. "Hi. Sorry to bother you in your condition." Nate felt more comfortable talking to the handicapped man than Sam.
"Please, sit down... Would love to... Offer you a drink. But..." Derek simply gestured towards his wheelchair.
"No problem." Both men sat down on the veranda while facing Derek Fortell.
Nate curiosity got the upper hand. "How long..?"
"Do I have to live?" A coughing fit followed. Nate quickly stood up and held up one of the tissues that were lying on the table. He felt a shiver cursing through his body when he saw the amount of blood coming out of Derek's mouth while coughing. After a full minute, the coughs finally subsided.
"It doesn't need a doctor... To see it won't be... Long." Derek inhaled deeply a couple of times before continuing. "So what do you want to know?"
Sam motioned towards Nate and started the conversation himself this time. "We are very sorry for your loss…"
Mr. Fortell looked sad. "Ah well... It's not like... I could've enjoyed... Him much longer anyway..." He stirred in his wheelchair. "I just feel... So sad... For… Jen. She's great."
Sam and Nate looked sympathetic. "Were you close?"
Derek started staring into his beautiful back yard. "Jen loved... This house... The garden... Porch... Came here often."
A questioning look came onto Nate's face. "Did your brother approve of that? Ever fought about it?"
Derek shook his head. "No way... Glen was kind... Jen too... We never fought."
Sam tried a different angle when he felt like the conversation was going towards a dead end. "Do you have any idea who would've wanted your brother dead or why?"
"Like I told you... The guy was kind... Almost a... Saint."
A silence followed.
"But only after... He came back... From the war."
This got both Sam and Nate's attention. "What do u mean?"
A small smile appeared on the man in the wheelchair while thinking about back in the day. "As kids, we had... The greatest fun... Glen was... The toughest... Coolest... He even bullied... Other children..."
Nate made an mental note before Derek continued.
"But after the war... He was... Different... Kind... Never did... Anything wrong... He was..."
Sam was becoming impatient. "He was what, Mr. Fortell?"
Derek turned his head around to face the agent.
"Too kind... Glen had become too kind... Like a bad thing... Had come to hunt him... And he needed to... Come clean... He quit the Marines... So soon after he came back... Working in a supermarket... Strange... It was off."
"Did he ever talked about it with you, or his wife?"
Derek now focused completely on the two agents again. "No... Tried to ask but... He always told me... He was fed up... With fighting... And I didn't push him... Maybe you should ask... His friends... From his platoon..."
Sam and Nate stood up and Nate moved closer towards the man in front of them. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Fortell, and…" Nate took a moment before he continued with an honest voice while holding out a card. "And I hope it will be a painless ride for you. Please call me if you feel the need to talk about it."
Derek Fortell was truly moved by Nate's words. "Thank you, son. Thank you."
Sam patted Nate on the shoulder, a motion that they were ready to go. Both of them said their goodbyes and found their way out of the house towards the car. Both of them were still touched by the scene they just witnessed and the ride back to the office became a quite one.
Sam and Nate had arrived earlier than Callen and both of them were drinking coffee while waiting for their colleague. Nate took a quick look around.
"Have you seen Kensi?"
"Nope." Sam smacked his lips loudly after another sip of his coffee, which earned him an annoyed look from Nate.
"Shouldn't we be looking for her?"
Another smack.
"Why? She's not 12 years old."
Another smack.
"No, but the case does hit close to home." Nate got really annoyed when he heard another smack.
"There's always something hitting close to home. And you know what's really annoying?"
Nate head became slightly red with the irritating sound of Sam's lips. "You smacking after every sip of coffee you take?"
Sam smiled genuinely, happy that he had once again succeeded in annoying the psychologist.
"What's really annoying, is when your partner has 37 homes. There's always something hitting close to home." Sam's smile grew wider, and when the meaning of Sam's words came through, Nate couldn't resist to smile too. Soon both of them were laughing out loud. A sudden hand on Nate's shoulder made him silent abruptly when Nate looked up in shock to the cause of their laughter.
"Oh. Hi Callen."
G stared at his partner. "You were laughing at me, weren't you?"
Sam stood up and put his arm around Callen's shoulder while smiling. "We only speak of love when we speak about you G. Only love."
Just before G was about to answer that, a whistle could be heard. They all looked upstairs to see Eric leaning over the banister. "We've got something."
Only then did Nate see Kensi standing behind Callen. Just as she was about to start walking towards the stairs, he stepped in front of her.
Kensi looked annoyed. "Nate, I don't need this right now." Nate's eyebrow rose. "I'm fine." The annoyed look stayed.
"Should you be in on this case, Kensi? Isn't this too much for you?"
Kensi slowly but firmly pushed Nate aside, choosing not to answer him.
"If it's too much, you'll be the first to know." With that, Kensi almost ran upstairs followed by a sighing Nate.
Once upstairs, Eric began talking immediately.
"I looked at every security camera near the site the video was taken, but couldn't find anything. None of these cameras got a clear view of our victim or killer."
"So that's nothing. What's the something?" Upon hearing Sam's question, Eric smiled.
"What I didn't know was that there is a different camera."
"A different camera?"
Everybody in the room looked confused, so Eric elaborated. "A different camera was installed by the hospital. Nearby the hospital, they hold a storage for medical supplies but someone stole a large amount of supplies from the storage a while back, after which the hospital decided to put a camera over there to prevent it from getting stolen again." The room stayed silent, so he continued while showing the view of the camera near the storage of the hospital.
"That camera, indeed captured something." Now, Eric got everybody's attention and with a smile, he pressed play.
"Footage from the hour our victim was killed."
The video showed the grass field where Glen Fortell was eventually robbed of life. He appeared on the screen and stopped in the middle of the field to catch his breath. His face was shown on the camera and he painfully held one hand on his leg where the syringe had entered his body. He was sweating all over his face and body. After a minute or so, he straightened up and took a step towards the hospital, when another guy in black clothes approached him from behind. Glen looked around shocked, and tried to fight of his attacker but failed miserably. With a blow to the head, Glen fell down on his back. A syringe was pulled and the attacker kneeled down.
The syringe entered his leg and the victim quickly dead suffering from whatever toxin was circulating in his body.
The video froze.
"So there was indeed another syringe." Sam, Nate and Eric turned around to look at Callen, which made the Senior Field agent start to explain what he and Kensi had found at the crime scene. After that, Sam also shared their part.
Callen turned towards Eric. "Can you identify the attacker at all, Eric?"
"No. No face. The only thing I can say for certain is that the guy from this video is definitely not the same guy as the one from the first video."
"So two attackers, working individually from each other." Callen's mind began working.
"Okay, this is what we'll do. Nate, you will do a full profiling of our victim, his wife and his brother." Nate nodded in agreement.
"Kensi, you'll keep us posted about the coroner's findings." Kensi also nodded towards their team leader.
"Eric, you start looking for anything that might help us identify the attackers. And Sam and I will walk through both crime scenes, see what we can come up with."
All of them made a move to start their respective tasks, when they were abruptly stopped in front of the doors of the OSP Center by an angry Hetty Lange.
"You won't do anything until I speak with Ms. Blye."