The Paths of Time
an excerpt

Fenton was still half asleep, affected by both the medication and drugs he had been given and the tiredness of the last two day’s exertion, when through his fuzzy mind one thought suddenly struck with startling clarity.

'You can’t breathe,' he panicked as he was suddenly alert and realized that something was covering his face, being pushed down on him and cutting off his air supply, trying to suffocate him. In his current weakened state it did not even matter that he wasn’t restrained in any way, and his attacker wasn’t even trying to hold him down; he had no energy to fight back, proven by the fact that he had taken so long to register what was happening.

He heard muffled laughter in the background as he struggled for breath, trying to push the pillow away from his face, kicking frantically in the vain hope that he might manage to kick his assailant away.

The pressure never let up as it seemed to crush his face, never letting up or giving him any reprieve as it was pushed harder, making him see bright dots dancing in front of him. He knew that was a sign that he was running out of time, at the same time as he noticed he was losing control over his limbs.

'So this is what it’s like to die,' he thought as blackness overtook him, the last noise he heard being the muffled sound of the infernal steady beeping of the heart monitor.

***

Even Gibbs finally gave in and approved of Abby’s plan to search the computer for Fenton’s room, with a concerned frown replacing his calm look as time wore on and the nurse still didn’t appear.

Abby grinned she took the seat behind the computer, looking at the screen for a matter of seconds before she straightened and started working the keyboard as if she had been using this computer her whole life.

“Room 12,” she announced after couple of minutes, before pulling up something else. “Down the hall,” she added, pointing before she got up to follow them.

They were still ten paces from the closed door when they realized the muffled noises they could hear from beyond were a cause for concern.

They hurried down the hall, pulling out their weapons as they approached, automatically taking positions on either side of the door, before Tony kicked it in. It took them seconds to take in the scene; the ‘doctor’ standing over a motionless Fenton, who had been in the process of putting the pillow he was holding back under the boy’s head and the unconscious teen lying on the floor.

“Hello agents,” he greeted calmly, finishing replacing the pillow and putting his hands behind his head of his own accord. “Good timing, as always.”

Tony moved forward, yanking his hands down behind his back and shoving him out of the room as he clicked on the cuffs, snarling in his ear as they went, “you’d better hope he’s okay.”

“Oh, he’s already dead,” the man told him cheerfully. “About time we got rid of that little brat. Do you know how long people have been trying to kill him?”

Not wanting to believe him but unsure of himself thinking of the position they had caught him in, the agent paused, looking back into the room.

Gibbs had rushed over to the bed and was checking for a pulse. As he watched, he said something to Abby, who knelt down beside the boy on the floor, removing something from his hand and putting it on Fenton. This action resulted in the worst sound he had ever heard in his life.

The long, steady beeping of a heart monitor finding no heartbeat.