Phoenix Field Agent
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Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Gender: Female
Country: USA
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Season: season 3
Episode:Passages
Vehicle: Jeep
Jacket: Black leather
House: House boat
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When He Wakes…
Part Twelve
Rated: R
Nikki worked exhaustively at a frenetic, harried pace, coordinating with those investigating the bridge explosion and reaching out to other government agencies that were also involved in looking into the incident, trying to dig up all she could on Brandon Scott’s background. She listened intently to every new development, now matter how small, and while she hadn’t assumed Pete’s position or taken over his responsibilities, the amount of work involved felt as if she had. She had to open her mind and her options, considering every angle, even those she had never thought of before.
“Does Pete have a surveillance camera in his office?” She asked Tom Hedge, head security officer for the building.
“Sure he does,” Tom said. “You know this whole building is crawling with hidden cameras. Mr. Thornton just prefers to pretend it doesn’t exist in his office, feeling uncomfortable but understanding of the inconvenient invasion of his privacy. How is he doing, by the way?”
“I’m afraid not much better,” she said, visiting him recently and finding his condition still delicate. “The cardiologists are doing all they can, but his recovery is going to be slow.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Tom shifted uneasily in his chair and cleared his throat, preparing to speak again and change the subject back to the matter at hand, hoping to ease the sadness and tension that had filled the room with the mention of Pete’s failing health. “Why did you want to know about the camera in his office?”
“I need to see archived footage from the day he had his heart attack,” she said. “It could be important. In fact, it could be the key to explaining what really happened to him.”
Tom arched an eyebrow. “You suspect foul play of some kind?” He asked.
“Yes Tom, I do.”
“But…how? I thought he just had a heart attack. How could anyone do anything to him when this building is secure?”
“Someone could do something to him if they were cleared to be in the building already,” Nikki said, once again thinking about Brandon. That he had met with Pete before the heart attack occurred seemed like more than a mere coincidence, leaving one more disaster in his wake.
“You mean…someone within the organization could have done this to him?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m suggesting. Can you cue up the footage for me, please?”
“Of course,” Tom said, growing interested. He worked on the monitors and found the tape, playing it. It showed scenes of Pete doing his daily work, sitting at his desk. “He looks healthy there to me,” he said. “Same old Pete.”
“Advance it a little,” Nikki said. Tom did as she asked until Brandon appeared on the screen. “Stop right there.”
“Hey,” Tom said, staring at the young man on the screen. “Isn’t that the new guy? The one who’s always trying to be like MacGyver?”
“Yes, well that new guy could very well be our suspect.”
“I see where you’re going,” Tom said, playing the tape.
Both of them watched carefully. For awhile, it appeared to be a normal meeting, Brandon pacing the room occasionally, Pete talking to him from behind the desk, occasionally sipping on the coffee Nikki had ordered lab tests on only to find nothing. As she watched the tape, she hoped she would finally find something. She was not disappointed. Minutes later on the tape, Pete dropped something, causing him to look away momentarily from Brandon in order to retrieve it. A moment was all Brandon needed, removing something from his pocket and quickly dropping it in the coffee, his movements so deft and swift they almost missed it.
“Whoa,” Tom said, noticing it.
“Stop it right there,” Nikki said. “Can you enhance the image?”
“I’ll try,” Tom said. He worked on tightening the focus on Brandon’s hands, still over the coffee mug. “I can’t move in much more without causing the picture to become all pixilated and grainy.”
Nikki squinted at the screen, trying to make out what he had. It almost looked like a small dropper of some kind, adding a clear, unidentifiable liquid to the coffee.
“He definitely laced it with something,” Tom said.
“Yeah, but he lab results on the coffee indicated there was nothing poisonous or otherwise added to it,” Nikki said. “Keep playing it. I want to see what happens next.”
Tom pressed the play button, and both of them continued to watch. Pete returned to facing Brandon, placing the object he had dropped back on his desk. Brandon had hidden the vial of the mysterious solution by this time, smiling at Pete, pretending like he was adjusting his leather jacket, another MacGyver-like wardrobe creation. Pete began talking to him again, reaching for the mug and taking the sip that probably almost ended his life. Minutes later, he began to look gravely ill, slumping in his chair, his face pinched in pain, clutching at his chest, breathing heavily. Brandon looked concerned and went over to him, whispering something in his ear and shaking his clammy hand, smiling.
“Can you turn up the volume?” Nikki asked, growing excited. At last, she was finding the evidence she needed to build a case against Brandon.
Tom did as she asked, and they strained to listen to what he was whispering, but it sounded like static, the words faint and indistinct. Moments later on the tape, Brandon calmly left the office as if nothing had happened. Moments after that, Pete collapsed to the floor.
“All right, stop it,” Nikki said, not wanting to watch Pete suffer all over again. Both she and Tom stared at each other for awhile, speechless.
“I can’t believe what I just saw,” Tom said. “So he really did it. He tried to kill Mr. Thornton.”
“Yes he did,” Nikki said, “and now we have the visual evidence to prove it. I want you to guard that tape. Don’t let it fall into anyone else’s hands.”
“Yes ma’am,” Tom said, still stunned. “I just can’t believe…we never saw…”
“There wasn’t a perceived threat in his office at the time,” Nikki said. “It would be easy to overlook something like that. Besides, he tried to be very subtle about it. It almost looks as if he’s inquiring about his health and wishing him well when he’s whispering to him and shaking his hand, and he appears unaware that Pete collapses soon afterward. It was all done very smoothly,” she said, disgust in her voice.
“But…he did it,” Tom said.
“Yes he did. Almost certainly. Now, if I could only find out what he said to Pete…”
Tom’s phone rang. “Hedge here,” he said, trying not to sound so shocked over the phone, returning to his uptight, professional voice. He handed the phone to Nikki. “It’s for you,” he said.
“This is Nikki. Yes. Of course. I’m on my way.” She hung up the phone and bolted out of her chair. “I have to go,” she said. “It was the hospital. Pete has regained consciousness. Don’t let anyone else near that tape. Understand?”
Tom nodded, watching her as she ran down the hallway towards the exit.
***
A soft, dream-like halo glow surrounded Nikki’s face when Pete opened his eyes, almost making her look angelic. As his vision adjusted, the fuzzy outlines of her face became sharper and better defined, the light harsher and artificial, bringing him fully back into the dreary reality of the antiseptic, fluorescent environment of the hospital room. He heard the heart monitor beeping regularly, relieved to know that it was attached to him and that its steady rhythm indicated that he was still alive. Nikki smiled down at him.
“Where’s…MacGyver?” He whispered.
Nikki’s smile faded, communicating all Pete needed to know. He forgot that MacGyver was still incarcerated at the psychiatric hospital and couldn’t visit him, causing an immense sadness to fill him. It wasn’t that he wasn’t glad to see Nikki, but he would have preferred to see both of them standing over his sickbed, together as the family he felt they were. Their forced separation and isolation caused a deep pang of loneliness to rise and stir in his chest that he felt almost more palpably than the dull ache that remained from the strain that had been placed on his heart muscle.
Nikki sat beside him, gently taking his hand. “It’s such a relief to see you awake…I can’t even tell you,” she said. “How are you doing?”
“The doctors want to keep me here for awhile longer to monitor my heart, and my recovery will be slow,” Pete said, his voice still weak and tired. “Still, they’re optimistic that I will be able to leave the hospital soon with no further complications.”
Nikki squeezed his hand and smiled. “That’s excellent news,” she said.
“Yeah, well it was close there for awhile. They told me it was…well frankly a miracle that I survived.”
“But you did,” Nikki said. “You did it, Pete.”
“There’s something…I need to tell you about what happened to me, something that might not be easy to hear.”
“I already know about it,” Nikki said. “I saw the footage of the security camera from that day. Although it was difficult to see at first and would be easy to miss if I wasn’t watching closely, I saw Brandon put something in your coffee. I know that’s why you kept mentioning it that day. You knew.”
Pete smiled slightly at her. “So, those cameras are actually useful, after all,” he said. “I always used to think they were a nuisance.”
“Yes well, I ran some lab tests on the coffee, and they found nothing. Whatever he used, it was untraceable.”
“I swear, it was so quick, Nikki,” Pete said, draping his arm across his chest where he still felt lingering pain. “I took one sip…and then it started. I never felt more ill in my life. Even if the lab results were negative, I know he tainted it with something. MacGyver was right about him, and unfortunately I almost paid with my life to learn the truth about him. He’s dangerous. I don’t know who he really is, but he was able to deceive and betray us all. At least now that you have the security camera footage, you can begin to build a case against him.”
“What did he say to you when the symptoms began? I saw him whisper something to you and shake your hand.”
Pete shuddered. “I’ll never forget what he said. His voice lost its innocence and became malicious, dropping his façade and revealing who and what he really was. He knew a camera was watching him, so he pretended to be concerned for me, shaking my hand. All he said was, ‘It was in the coffee, but they’ll never find it.’ That’s why the lab couldn’t detect anything unusual with the coffee when they tested it. I knew he was a murderer and that I was dead the moment my heart fluttered and my chest began to feel crushed.”
“Well, you didn’t die. He didn’t succeed,” Nikki said.
Pete smiled again. “Thank God for that,” he said.
Nikki returned the smile, but it quickly fell, replaced with worry. “Even if I have the security tape and your eyewitness testimony, we still may not have enough evidence to convict him. We know by now that he was behind the bridge explosion that killed those agents, but we have nothing to prove it conclusively. As for MacGyver…anything he could say against Brandon would be inadmissible because of his psychiatric condition, which I’m sure the slimy, duplicitous weasel was counting on,” she said angrily, a hostile, bitter edge creeping into her tone of voice.
“Hey,” Pete said, tugging at her hand to get her attention. “Look at me.”
Nikki looked at him. Although he was still pale and sickly, strength shone in his eyes.
“You’re not alone in trying to solve this,” he said. “I know it feels that way right now, with me in the hospital and MacGyver locked away. We are your two strongest allies, after all. Still, you should know that despite the enormity of the challenge facing you right now, you have a team of talented people at the Foundation supporting you as well behind the scenes, working as hard as they can. It will work out eventually. You will make progress.” He smiled. “I’ve been watching you these past few years since you’ve joined us,” he said. “You always think you have to handle everything, shoulder every burden on your own. Well, you don’t have to, Nikki. Sometimes, you have to admit your limitations and allow others to offer their assistance and expertise, even if their advice or opinions differ from your own staunchly held views.”
Nikki knew he was referring to MacGyver when he said this. They had a history of bickering, and some of it she now admitted was very petty. She smiled to herself when she realized how ridiculous she had been and how much time she had wasted arguing with him. She knew she was stubborn and had a difficult time accepting other approaches than her own. Now, feeling overburdened with stress and anxiety over trying to control everything and hastily assemble a favorable outcome, not wishing to see the two best people she had ever known suffer any longer, she realized that she needed to seek and understand that she had help, now matter how hard it was for her to do so.
“It’s just…how much longer can any of us wait?” She asked aloud, her thoughts overflowing, unable to be contained any longer in her mind, needing an outlet. “What if Brandon tries something else? We don’t know what he’s capable of. If he can kill some of our top agents, almost cause a fatal heart attack in you, or perhaps be the cause somehow of MacGyver’s current mental state, then what will he do next? We can’t afford to keep him loose out there. We need to stop him, and soon, before things get even worse than they already are.”
“I agree Nikki, but there’s only so much you can do. Remember that. I’ve had to tell Mac the same thing. You may not want to hear this or you’ll disagree, but you two are more alike than you think. You both feel that you have to do everything yourselves, and when things don’t work the way you want or anticipate, you carry a tremendous amount of unnecessary, unreasonable guilt.”
In the past, Nikki might have strongly protested and made her opinion well known, but this time she said nothing. Pete watched her, knowing she was pondering what he said. He smiled.
“Well, enough lecturing from me,” he said, shifting carefully on his hospital bed, trying to get comfortable. “I need to rest. Just do what’s right and what you can. I know you will.” He closed his eyes, settling back into a peaceful sleep.
Nikki watched him for awhile, listening to him breathe, glad that he still had breath in him, not knowing what either she or MacGyver would do if he had died. It wasn’t that he had solved all her problems, but when she left his room she felt considerably more confident and relaxed than she had when she first entered, knowing that somehow things would take care of themselves, even if she had to wait for a satisfactory conclusion to present itself to her.
***
Nikki’s patience and deference to experts was finally rewarded, more damning evidence against Brandon arriving from an unexpected source. Late one night when she was trying to get the first sleep she had in weeks, her apartment seeming like strange, unknown territory to her, she received a call from Dr. Perry Andrews in the Phoenix document preservation lab. She had been there before, finding the work fascinating. They restored historic documents, taking ancient, yellowed, and torn paper and making it come alive again, the words written on it as fresh as they had been the day they were first printed. They also studied documents for authenticity, specializing in fraud investigations. Various documents in different stages of restoration surrounded the laboratory, under lights and microscopes, some sealed in special containers meant to preserve them from harmful environmental factors in the lab that could further deteriorate the sensitive, delicate condition of the aged paper. She had met Perry before as well, and he was an anachronism, fighting the present by trying to revive the past, treasuring an old document more than anything modern technology could offer, only grudgingly using the Foundation’s lab equipment in his research, deciding that if it benefited his study of the past, then it was acceptable. When she received the call from him at three o’clock in the morning, she knew he was obsessed and seemed never to leave his lab as if he lived there. She also knew, however, that he had found something important.
“I didn’t know you were involved in the investigation,” she said, yawning, squinting at the lamp light that now flooded her bedroom.
“Well, I wasn’t, not officially anyway,” Perry said. “But I had an idea. Everyone was checking Brandon’s background, but were they checking the documents he provided to establish his identity?”
“What do you mean?”
“Nikki, they’re forged.”
Nikki sat up straighter in bed. “Forged? Are you sure?” She asked, her interest growing.
“Positive. Trust me, I know more about paper than anyone, and the paper used to make his social security card is different from the paper the federal government uses. It’s a fake.”
“Wait…how did you get his social security card?” She asked.
“He never got it back. Some mix up in personnel.”
“And he never asked for it back?”
“Apparently not. It seems he just forgot about it.”
Nikki couldn’t believe the fortuitous turn of events. One small mistake made by human resources, misplacing Brandon’s social security card, and she had managed to end up with more evidence against him. It still might not have been enough to charge him for attempted murder and conspiracy, but forging government documents was a serious matter. After all, she had to remind herself that Al Capone was finally arrested, not for his gangster activities, but for income tax evasion. It was still a victory for justice.
“How did you end up with his records?” She asked.
“I was curious,” Perry said. She could almost feel his meek shrug over the phone. “Anyway, I wanted to help you. I care about Pete and MacGyver as much as you do. Besides, the staff in human resources owed me a favor.”
“Well, I still don’t know how you managed to do it, but you’re incredible,” Nikki said.
“Don’t mention it. At least now we know that whoever this man is, he’s not Brandon Scott. According to this fraudulent document, Brandon Scott does not exist.”
To be continued…
 "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."
--Henry David Thoreau
brains+brawn+beauty+personality=MacGyver
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Wow, great chapter, MacsChick!
