I don't know how many of you are available to read this part right now, since Thanksgiving is coming, but maybe if you're not from the U.S., don't have a holiday tomorrow, and need something to read, you now have it!
Enjoy!
Speechless Part Five
Rated: PG
MacGyver followed the two men off the designated ski slopes and into the woods, maintaining a distance so as not to appear conspicuous or be noticed by them. Something about them had bothered him ever since he first saw them. He knew they weren’t there for recreation, and he knew a cover and a contact when he saw them. Now, his suspicions were confirmed as they concealed themselves well into the deep recesses of the forest, removed from public view so they could discuss their plans privately. He hid himself atop a small, sloping hill where he could watch both of them but remain hidden by the numerous snow-covered branches that surrounded him. Their backs were facing him, so he couldn’t identify them, but he could hear their voices carry in the clear, cold air.
“It’s done, then.”
“Yes. The prime minister won’t leave California alive.”
“How?”
MacGyver watched as one of them removed a tiny device from his jacket pocket, showing it to the other man. Squinting, trying to see it but finding it difficult from his position, he assumed it was a transmitter or circuit of some kind.
“Once this is implanted in the microphone, it will be undetectable to security. It’s programmed to work on voice recognition technology, designed to trigger the explosion only in response to the right voice.”
“So when Nucci speaks…”
“He’ll be dead. Precisely.”
“And there is no way that they could link this assassination to us?”
The other man replaced the tiny device in his pocket and laughed. “Where would they look? They don’t even know we exist,” he said. “This is the most advanced piece of technology our organization has yet developed. It leaves no trace, no residue of any explosive material as a conventional bomb might. When they investigate, they’ll look for a cause and an explanation and will be unable to find either.”
MacGyver knew he had to tell Pete immediately what he had just heard once he got back to the lodge. Nikki was in charge of security for Prime Minister Nucci’s upcoming visit. Now, unbelievably he had stumbled upon crucial intelligence that indicated a serious threat to Nucci’s safety and his life. His plans to depart quietly and unnoticed were thwarted, however, when he slipped as he tried to stand. It happened so suddenly that he didn’t even have time to correct himself or use his skis, sending him tumbling and crashing down the icy hill directly towards the path of the men, loudly snapping branches as he rolled. He saw them turn and face him, alerted to the noise he was making. They looked like dummies from the ski shop, their faces completely covered in ski masks and goggles. Without saying a word, they blew some powdery substance into his face, and in a flash of white he knew nothing more.***
MacGyver shot up in bed, snapping his eyes open. Gasping, covered in sweat, his eyes darted around the plain hospital room, struggling to orient himself.
“I remember everything,” he muttered. “Oh God, I have to tell them…the microphone…it’s in the microphone…”
He felt a hand on his shoulder. “MacGyver, are you all right? Did you have another nightmare?” A man asked.
Looking up, MacGyver realized he wasn’t alone in the room. Dr. Carrington was the man who had asked him the question, a nurse also present in the room.
“Where are Pete and Nikki?” He asked. “Have they been here recently? I have to talk to them now! It’s urgent!”
All he received in response were confused stares. Dr. Carrington smiled sympathetically at him, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry, MacGyver, but we still cannot understand you,” he said.
Once again remembering his current frustrating reality, MacGyver began to sign, hoping someone would understand him or get someone in the room who knew sign language. He was desperate, and it was his only method of communication. If he was ever going to get the message to Pete and Nikki, he had to get someone with knowledge of the language to translate for him and quickly.
Need…friends…he signed frantically.
“I know sign language,” the nurse said.
“Oh, thank God,” MacGyver said.
“What’s he saying?” Dr. Carrington asked, ignoring his patient’s unintelligible grunts.
“I’m not sure…he’s signing so quickly. Can you ask him to slow down for me?”
“He can understand us just fine,” Dr. Carrington said. “For some reason, he just cannot speak properly to us. You can ask him yourself.”
“I’m sorry…I’m having difficulty understanding your signs. Can you slow down just a little? Thanks,” the nurse said.
MacGyver nodded, understanding. Sighing, trying to compose himself, he began again, this time much slower and clearer.
Need…friends… “He’s saying that he needs his friends,” the nurse said, interpreting.
MacGyver smiled at her and nodded, grateful.
Dr. Carrington looked at him. “Your friends? Do you mean your visitors, Mr. Thornton and Mrs. Carpenter?” He asked.
MacGyver nodded.
Important…must see now…he signed.
“He says that he has to see them now,” the nurse said.
Call them… “He wants us to call them.”
“What is it about?”
Private…have…to see… “It’s a private matter, and he has to see them now.”
Dr. Carrington frowned at his patient in puzzlement and concern. “All right, I’ll see if I can get them here as soon as possible,” he said.
Thank you… “Thank you,” the nurse said.
Relieved, MacGyver knew he was closer to stopping the assassination, now that he remembered what happened. Still, when he listened to Dr. Carrington and the nurse speak, he thought he heard a distortion in his hearing, a ringing accompanied by a muffled, crumpling sound that was similar to having water lodged in his ear. For a brief moment, he couldn’t hear them. It worried him, but it didn’t last long. He decided it was nothing and waited for Pete and Nikki to arrive.
***
“So, what’s this all about?” Pete asked, both he and Nikki following Dr. Carrington down the hospital corridors toward the observation wing where MacGyver was being kept.
“I don’t know for sure, Mr. Thornton,” Dr. Carrington said. “All he could tell us in sign language was that he needed to see you both about an important private matter. He seemed distressed and excited about something.”
Pete and Nikki exchanged glances, knowing what it meant. He knew something new. He remembered something. Anxious to reach MacGyver’s room and find out what he had to tell them, they quickened their steps, almost outpacing the doctor. When they reached his room and were admitted, they found MacGyver pacing the room. He saw them and stopped, staring at them, his wide brown eyes communicating his urgency.
“They’re here, MacGyver, just as you asked,” Dr. Carrington said. “I’ll leave you alone so you can…” he paused, thinking of the appropriate word, since his patient couldn’t speak normally. Stumped, he couldn’t think of a proper term. “I’ll return later to check in on you and see how you’re doing,” he said at last, smiling. He gently closed the door behind them.
“MacGyver, it’s good to see you again,” Nikki said, hugging him. “I’ve been so exhausted. You don’t know how extensive the security preparations have been for Nucci’s visit, and I still have a feeling they’re unfinished.” She released him and looked up into his soulful, pleading dark eyes that were heartbreaking for her to look at under the best circumstances and tragic to behold in his current wordless condition. “I hope you have more information for us, something useful.”
MacGyver nodded.
“What is it, Mac? What happened? Did you have another dream? Dr. Carrington told us you had just awakened from sleep when you signed that you needed to see us,” Pete said.
MacGyver began to sign when he realized he couldn’t understand a single word Pete had just said. The muffled, distorted, crumpling sound had returned to his ears, and when it subsided this time the words Pete said sounded like gibberish, just as his words must have sounded like to them. Somehow, his condition had deteriorated, worsened to the point where he was no longer simply unable to communicate clearly; he couldn’t understand clearly. The communication barrier thickened, further surrounding and isolating him.
Pete and Nikki noticed MacGyver’s panicked, confused expression.
“What’s wrong?” Nikki asked.
All his hopes that the condition was temporary faded as MacGyver realized he couldn’t understand what Nikki said, either. It was as if they belonged to separate countries that spoke different languages and they had been placed in a room without an interpreter, neither country knowing the other’s foreign language.
Repeat…he signed.
“What? Repeat what?” Pete asked.
MacGyver shook his head, still not able to understand.
Can’t...understand…he signed.
Please…repeat… “He says he can’t understand,” Pete said, looking worriedly at Nikki.
“Can’t understand what?” Nikki asked him, gently taking hold of his arm, trying to reassure him. “MacGyver, look at me! What is it you can’t understand?”
MacGyver shook his head again, a look of sheer terror in his eyes as he realized what was happening, their nonsensical words sounding discordant and unpleasant. He couldn’t bear to hear them anymore. He didn’t want to acknowledge or believe what was happening to him or how much more serious his condition had become, how much more significantly impaired he now was. Not being able to use speech properly was frustrating enough, but at least he could hear and comprehend their words when they could not comprehend his. Now, he was utterly alone, lost without meaning.
My God, he thought.
I can’t understand them at all! Help me! Pete! I can’t understand… Help…he signed.
Can’t understand… “Mac, what’s wrong? What’s happening?” Nikki asked. “Tell me!”
“He wants help,” Pete said. “He keeps signing that he can’t understand.”
“Yeah, but he can’t understand what?” Nikki asked.
Pete watched MacGyver for awhile, noticing how he shook his head and stared at them, a lost look to his eyes.
Help…can’t understand…please help… “That’s all he keeps signing, that he needs help and can’t understand,” Pete said. “Nikki, I think his condition has become more severe. You know how we can’t understand him? Well, now I don’t think he can understand us, either.”
Help…can’t understand…please help…Pete…can’t understand…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
Eeek! More tension for Mac! These evil corporation conspiracies are nerve-cracking! 
