November, 1999
Blair Sandburg cursed the car gods as his beloved Volvo spurted and died. He was only two miles from the police station and he was going to be late for work. Jim Ellison, his partner at the Major Crimes unit had to get his driver's license renewed so they had taken separate cars. His father and brother were at work already.
Blair got out of the car and pulled his cell phone out as he started to walk. He dialed his captain's phone. "Banks."
"Hey Simon, its Blair."
"Sandburg, where are you?" Simon asked as he looked at his watch.
"Well, actually, I'm about two miles away. My car just broke down again. I'm going to walk then call a tow truck to take it to my mechanic."
"Sandburg, it'll take forever for you to walk here," Simon said as he tried not to sound exasperated. "Tell me exactly where you are and I'll send someone to pick you up."
"Simon, you don't have to do that," Blair protested.
"I do if I want any work out of you today," he argued.
Blair sighed and told him where the car had broken down. He hung up the phone and leaned against his car. He looked up when he heard a vehicle approach. He stood up straight when the van stopped beside him, ready to get his gun if necessary.
The driver's door opened and a man got out and walked around the van. "Looks like you could use a lift."
"That's all right," Blair said as his instincts told him he didn't want any help from this guy. "I've got a friend coming to pick me up."
"First, they have to get through the gridlock caused by the traffic light that mysteriously went out a mile from the police station," he said as he grinned at Blair. "But you won't be here when they finally do arrive. That is, of course, assuming you care if your brother lives or dies."
Blair immediately reached for his gun. The other man was faster and had his gun out and pointed at Blair before his fingers could even touch his gun. "Take it out and give it to me," he said as his English accent came forward.
"Murdoc?" Blair asked in surprise.
"At your service," the assassin grinned. Then he reached behind Blair and pulled the gun from its holster. "It's nice of you to copy your partner. Now, get in the van."
"Where's Sam?" Blair asked as Murdoc kept the gun trained on him and slid the passenger door open. Blair looked inside and saw his younger brother unconscious inside. Murdoc shoved him inside. "Try anything heroic and I'll shoot you both," he said as he started to tie Blair up.
After he had the gag securely in place in Blair's mouth, he put his gun away. Then he picked up a Polaroid camera and took the brothers' picture.
Rafe finally pulled up where the Volvo was stalled 20 minutes later. He still wasn't sure what had happened with the traffic light that had turned what should have been a five minute trip into thirty. He looked around as he got out of his car. "Great place to break down, Blair," he said as he approached the car.
The nearest building was a block away. Rafe started to get worried when he saw Blair wasn't in the car waiting for him. He saw something on the windshield. When he got to the front of the car he got his phone out. "Captain, its Rafe. You better get down here. And someone better call Jim and Sandburg's father."
"What happened to Blair?" Simon asked fear in his voice.
"I'm not sure," Rafe said as he walked back to his car to get a pair of gloves. "He's missing and there's something on his car you should see."
"All right, I'll be right there," Simon said as he hung up.
Half an hour later, the green Volvo was surrounded by members of the Major Crimes unit. Simon looked up to see Jim's truck pull up at the same time as MacGyver's Jeep. Sandburg's best friend and father looked at each other as they headed for where Simon was standing with Rafe.
"What happened?" Jim asked.
"It looks like someone has kidnapped both Blair and Sam," Simon stated.
"What?" MacGyver asked as shock and memory both started to wind their way into his mind.
"Sandburg's car broke down here," Simon said as he pointed to the car. "I sent Rafe to pick him up, but there was a delay."
"What kind of delay?" Jim asked the other detective.
"The lights at Howe went nuts right before I got to the intersection," Rafe explained. "It took me twenty minutes to get through. When I got here, Blair was gone and this was on the windshield."
He held up an evidence bag containing a picture of Blair and Sam bound and gagged inside what looked like a van. MacGyver snatched the bag from Rafe's hand. "Oh God."
"What?" Jim asked as he turned to his friend's father.
"Murdoc," he said as he started back toward his Jeep.
Jim stopped him. "Where are you going?"
"To find my sons," MacGyver said as he pulled out of the Sentinel's grasp.
"Where are you going look?" Jim asked. "Where would he go in Cascade?"
MacGyver looked at him with sad brown eyes. "I don't know."
"Neither do I," Jim admitted. "But between the two of us, we can figure it out."
"Jim, are you sure about this?" Simon asked.
"MacGyver wrote the book on Murdoc," Jim said as he looked at his captain. "He knows this man. He knows what he's capable of. He can help us find them."
Simon just nodded.
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting at the conference table in Simon's office. They had been joined by Brown, Joel and Megan. Jim gave MacGyver a mug of tea Blair kept at his desk. "Thanks."
"No problem," he said as he sat beside him. "I think we should start by telling them who Murdoc is."
MacGyver sighed. "Murdoc is a hired assassin. He worked for an organization called Homicide International Trust. They parted company because of one blemish on his otherwise spotless record."
"What's that?" Brown asked.
"Me," he said as he looked at the detectives. "He's been after me for nearly twenty years. I know a lot of you were wondering why I stopped looking for Blair. Murdoc was the main reason. He will use anyone and anything to get to me. This is what I have feared ever since I found my sons."
"What will he do to them?" Megan asked.
"That depends on how much of a threat he thinks they are," he said as he remembered past encounters with the assassin. "In the past, whoever he's taken has just been bait. But considering they are my sons and they know how to defend themselves a little bit better than the others, I don't know what will happen."
"Where does he usually work out of?" Simon asked.
"He likes warehouses. There was one time he pulled a Phantom of the Opera thing and had a hideout under a theater. He's very good at disguises. He was dressed as a woman the first time I encountered him. And he likes booby traps. He mined an entire road once. Pictures are his signature. The one Brian found was a message to me. He know I would recognize it and who it was from."
"Okay, so how do we find him?" Rafe asked.
"I called the Phoenix Foundation. They wouldn't send the whole file, because that would take too long. But they are e-mailing pictures to Blair's computer. Some of his known disguises will be included."
Blair got up and went to Blair's computer. While he was printing the pictures, Rafe looked at MacGyver. "I'm sorry. I had no idea there was a problem with that traffic light until I got stuck there."
"It's not your fault," MacGyver reassured the younger man. "Murdoc must have rigged the light somehow. He either followed Blair or he tapped the phone line here."
"He couldn't have tapped the station's phone," Brown argued. "Could he?"
"He tapped the phones at the Phoenix Foundation."
Jim came back in with the printouts. Simon looked at his detectives. "All right, look over these pictures. Then Rafe, you and Brown start checking warehouses that have changed ownership or lease agreements in the last month. Connor, you and Joel go to the university and see if anyone witnessed Sam getting into a van, voluntarily or otherwise. Jim, I want you to take MacGyver back to the crime scene. See if you two can pick up anything Forensics missed. And people, be careful. This man is capable of anything. Any leads you turn up, come back here before you follow up on them. I don't want anyone to go after this guy without back up."
He looked at Jim when he said that. Jim just nodded as he and MacGyver got ready to leave.
Blair looked over at his brother and sighed. Sam had been out since before Murdoc kidnapped Blair. He looked around the room again. There was one exit and nothing to work with. Not even a bed for Sam. Murdoc obviously thought they would try to escape like their father would. He even took Blair's Swiss Army Knife.
He had untied them when he brought them in here. Blair had been going between pacing the room and trying to wake up Sam ever since. A chill went through his spine and he knelt beside his brother. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt Sam's pulse.
That was when he saw the puncture wound. "Damn, what did he inject you with, Sam?"
"Your brother was highly uncooperative," Murdoc's voice came from speakers over the door. "I found it necessary to make sure he cooperated. Unfortunately, it took a large dose to subdue him."
"You could have killed him!" Blair yelled at his hidden captor.
"He's of no use to me dead. Neither are you. At least, you're no use to me dead until your father arrives. Can't have you coming after me for revenge, can I?"
"Murdoc!" Blair yelled, only to hear laughter in reply.
MacGyver followed Jim as he walked around the area Blair's car had been in. Finally he found a splatter on the pavement that caught his attention. "The van's leaking oil," Jim said after he smelled it. "It will leave a pretty good trail to follow."
"Then let's go," MacGyver said as he started toward the truck.
"MacGyver," Jim started. He closed his mouth when he saw the look on the older man's face.
"I know what Simon said," he said and Jim winced a little at the tone he took. "I also know better than any of you what Murdoc is capable of. Sam was unconscious in that picture. We don't know what Murdoc did to get him in that condition. And we don't know what he's done to Blair. I'm not a police officer. I don't have to report to Simon. The only thing I have to do is make sure my sons are safe. I can do that with your help or without it."
Jim looked at him for a minute. "Get in the truck," he sighed. "When we find a location, we can contact Simon. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time I went off without backup."
Blair sat down on the floor beside Sam and tried to figure out a way to get them out of there. He had nothing to work with so he knew busting out wasn't an option. Then he smiled to himself when he thought of Sentinel hearing.
"Hey, Sam, did I ever tell you about the time Jim and I went fishing with Simon?"
Blair kept talking. He knew that Jim would find the warehouse and when he did, he would extend his hearing to try and find Blair and Sam. He knew that if he talked long enough, his Sentinel would hear him.
Murdoc looked at the monitor covering the room that held MacGyver's sons. He turned up the speakers and heard Blair talking. "What are you doing?" he asked into the microphone. "He can't hear you."
"You don't know that," Blair said as he looked up at the speakers. "Studies show that you can hear what a person is saying even if you are unconscious. Hopefully, he'll hear me and come around. So I'm going to keep talking to him."
Blair turned his attention back to Sam and hoped Murdoc bought his story. He knew deep down that Jim would find them soon.
MacGyver looked over at Jim. He knew the Sentinel was concentrating on the oil spots in the road. He made sure that Jim didn't focus too hard. Blair had told him about the possibility of zone outs.
Jim stopped the truck. "The trail ends up there," he said as he pointed a block up the street. "Looks like you were right. There are two warehouses down there."
"Which one are they in?" MacGyver asked.
"I don't know," Jim said as he looked at the warehouses. Then he focused on the one closest to them. He heard the heartbeats first then he smiled a little. "They're in that one," he said as he pointed toward the warehouse. "Blair's talking to Sam."
"So they're okay?" MacGyver asked as he let go of the breath he had been holding.
"I assume so. Blair's doing all of the talking but what else is new."
He pulled out his cell phone and called Simon. "Captain, we followed Murdoc's trail to a warehouse… Yes I know what you said…"
MacGyver took the phone from Jim. "Simon, Jim isn't to blame. I am. I insisted we follow up on the lead we found immediately. Yeah I know that, but I told him I would go with or without him so he came with me. Okay."
He gave the phone back to Jim, who told Simon where they were located. After Jim hung up, MacGyver looked at him. "I'm sorry if I got you in trouble."
"Don't worry about it," Jim said as he looked at the warehouse again. "Backup is on the way. It would be easier if we waited for them."
"Yeah, I know," MacGyver sighed. "I would just feel better if you could tell me Sam's all right. You said Blair's talking and he's doing that so you can find them if Sam's not responding."
MacGyver opened the door to the truck and got out. "What are you doing?" Jim asked.
"I'm going to get Murdoc away from the warehouse," MacGyver said as he looked back at the detective. "When backup gets here, get Blair and Sam out of there."
He started toward the warehouse. Then he stopped and looked back at Jim. "Tell them I love them."
"Mac!" Jim shouted as his friend jogged toward the warehouse.
MacGyver ignored Jim's call and kept jogging toward the warehouse. All he cared about was getting his sons out of that warehouse safely. He didn't care about what happened to him. He found a door and tested it. It opened without any problem. He looked up and saw a camera pointed at the door. "Murdoc, I know you're watching. Meet me outside and we'll end this."
He walked back outside and toward the dock. He turned back toward the warehouse when he heard the door open. Murdoc stepped outside. He held his hands up. "You got what you want, Murdoc. Let my sons go."
"Oh, I don't think so, MacGyver," Murdoc said as he pointed his gun at his enemy. "You see, the apples don't appear to have fallen far from the tree. If I let them live, they will come after me and I just can't have that. One MacGyver was enough. But I will assure you that their deaths will be swift. They won't suffer."
"You're not going to kill them," MacGyver said as he rushed the assassin and a struggle started.
Jim didn't wait for backup. He was determined to get Blair and Sam out of the warehouse and stop MacGyver from doing something stupid. He entered the warehouse just as backup arrived.
He heard Simon and Joel follow him in as he headed toward the sound of Blair's voice. He kicked the door in and ran to Blair and Sam. "Jim, thank God!" his partner said as he looked up. "I can't get him to wake up. Murdoc drugged him with something. He said it wouldn't kill him but he hasn't even stirred since we got here."
Jim leaned over the younger man and checked his breathing and heart rate. "He seems to be breathing okay. And his heart rate's okay. We'll know more when we get him to the hospital. Joel, can you lead in the paramedics?"
"Yeah, sure, Jim," Joel said as he patted Blair's shoulder and headed back out.
Rafe and Brown came in as Joel left. "I need you two to stay with Blair and Sam," Jim said as he got up.
Blair looked at him. "Jim, where's my dad?"
"He's gone after Murdoc," Jim said as Blair got up.
"You let him go after that maniac?"
"He didn't give me much choice," Jim sighed. "He lured Murdoc away from here while I came in to get you. I'm going to go help him now."
Jim started out of the room. He heard Simon and Blair follow him. "Chief, you should stay with Sam."
"Sam would want me to go after Dad," Blair argued. "Rafe and H are getting him the help he needs."
Jim didn't have time to argue. He could hear the fight going on outside. They knew Murdoc was probably armed. They saw the two men fighting near the edge of the pier. Jim saw the gun they were struggling over and held Blair back.
The gun fell to the ground and MacGyver and Murdoc went over the edge of the pier. "Dad!" Blair shouted as he tore out of Jim's grasp and ran to where his father had fallen.
MacGyver emerged a minute later, but there was no sign of the assassin. Jim and Blair pulled him out of the water. "Where's Murdoc?" Simon asked.
"I don't know," MacGyver said as he regained control of his breathing and looked at Blair. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Blair said as he looked at Jim then back at his father. "He drugged Sam though. We don't' know with what. Rafe and H are making sure he gets taken care of."
"Let's go," MacGyver said as they headed back toward the warehouse.
When they got to the hospital, Rafe told them that the doctor was in with Sam. MacGyver started to pace. Blair fidgeted in his chair. Jim sat down beside his friend. "Chief I know this isn't a good time to ask, but what happened when he grabbed you?"
Blair sighed as he looked at his friend. "He pulled up beside me right after I called Simon. He told me to get in the van and if I resisted, he would kill Sam. Sam was already inside. He was unconscious. I don't know when he grabbed Sam. When he got us to the warehouse, he made me lead Sam inside. I dragged him in really. He locked us in a room that was totally empty. The only thing I could think to do was talk. So I talked to Sam. And I kept hoping he would wake up."
MacGyver stepped in front of his son. "You did everything you could to make sure that Jim found you. Murdoc would have killed Sam if you hadn't gone with him. None of this was your fault, Blair. If anyone is to blame, its me."
"Dad…" Blair started as the doctor came out.
"Who's here for Mr. Malloy?" he asked.
"We are," MacGyver said as Blair and Jim got up and walked over to the doctor. "I'm his father. Is Sam all right?"
"We're optimistic right now that once the drug is out of your son's system, he will make a complete recovery," the doctor hedged.
"But?" Blair asked.
"But we have no way of knowing what kind of drug was used on Mr. Malloy until the toxicology comes back."
"There's more isn't there," Blair said as he gave Jim a nervous look.
The doctor looked at Blair and sighed. "I'm afraid he's in a coma. We are positive he will come out of it as soon as the drug is out of his system."
Jim asked the question he knew MacGyver and Blair couldn't bring themselves to ask. "What about brain damage?"
"We are hopeful that any brain damage that may have occurred will be minimal. Again, we're optimistic that he will make a full recovery and that there will be no brain damage."
"Can we see him?" MacGyver asked.
"I'll have a nurse take you up," the doctor said as he headed back into the ER.
A few minutes later a nurse led them up to Sam's room. MacGyver went over to his son and took his hand. "Sam, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I tried to stop him, but he got away. I'll find him Sam, I promise you that."
MacGyver looked from Sam to Blair. Then he looked at Jim. "Take care of them for me," he said as he left the room.
"Dad!" Blair called out as Jim put a hand on his shoulder.
"Stay with Sam. I'll go talk to him."
Blair nodded and pulled a chair closer to his brother's bed.
Jim found MacGyver waiting for the elevator. "Where are you going?" he asked.
MacGyver looked behind him. "I'm going to finish this."
"How are you going to do that?" Jim asked as he turned the older man to face him.
"This has to end," MacGyver said with a determined look on his face. "I won't put Sam and Blair through something like this again."
Jim looked around and saw an empty room. He pulled MacGyver into it. 'Just exactly how do you plan to end this?"
MacGyver sighed. "It won't truly be over until one of us is dead."
"So what, you're going to kill him?" Jim asked as MacGyver looked away. "You're going to let him kill you. Mac, that won't end this. He will still go after Sam and Blair. He doesn't want them to come after him out of revenge. He told you that."
"Jim, I'm tired of looking over my shoulder," MacGyver said as he went over to the window. "And it's not fair to ask Blair and Sam to do that. I need to protect them and make sure they're safe."
"Fine, do that," Jim said as he walked over to him. "But not like this. Letting Murdoc kill you would hurt them more than it would anything else. You know that. You can keep them safe, we both can. Besides, you don't even know where Murdoc is. You need to be here for Sam and for Blair. Murdoc will turn up eventually. And when he does, I promise you I will do everything in my power to make sure he doesn't hurt any of you again."
"Jim…" MacGyver started but Jim held his hand up.
"You've told me countless times that I am part of this family. Family protects each other. Besides," he grinned, "this guy attacked my territory. Blair will tell you how primal I get when that happens. Now, let's go chck on Sam."
MacGyver nodded and they headed back to Sam's room. Simon was waiting for them in the hallway. "I just wanted to let you know that the Coast Guard has started to search the area around the pier for any sign of Murdoc. So far they've turned up nothing. It's possible he could have drowned, but until they turn up a body, I'm working under the assumption that he got away. I can put a guard on Sam's door and put you and Blair in a safe house until we know something for sure."
"That's okay, Simon," MacGyver said as he looked inside the room at his sons. Blair was talking to Sam in an effort to try and bring his younger brother out of the coma. "Murdoc won't be back right away. He'll bide his time because he knows our guard is up. He'll wait until enough time has passed before he strikes again. When that will be, I have no way of knowing. Excuse me."
Jim and Simon watched as he went in and put a hand on Blair's shoulder. Simon looked at Jim. "Blair told me that Mac had gone after Murdoc."
"He wanted to," Jim admitted. "He wanted to make sure Murdoc never went after them again. Damn it, Simon, he was going to let Murdoc kill him."
"Jim, you don't have kids," Simon said as he thought about Daryl being held by Kincaid. "No matter how old your kids are, you will do anything and everything to protect them. Even die for them. I know I would die for Daryl. I was prepared to in Peru and with Kincaid. I know what he's going through, Jim. When Sam wakes up, he'll start to relax."
Jim nodded and they went into Sam's room. Blair looked up at Jim. "I can't get him to wake up. I've done all the things I do with you when you zone, but they're not working."
Jim knelt down next to his friend. "This is different than a zone, Chief. Sam's in a place of healing right now. Like you were with the Golden. His body needs to get the drug out of his system. And you need to rest and to get something to eat. Why don't you and your dad go back to the loft for a little while? I'll stay with Sam and I'll call you if anything changes."
Blair looked at his father who nodded. "Okay," he said as he got up. He took his brother's hand again. "We'll be back soon, Sam. You concentrate on getting better."
MacGyver bent over his youngest son and kissed his forehead. "Don't stay gone too long son. We need you here."
Blair opened the door to the fridge when they got to the loft and pulled out a beer for himself and a juice for MacGyver. "I still can't figure out what happened with my car," he said as he sat down on the couch. "I just had it checked out and for the first time in a long time it was running perfectly."
"Murdoc probably did something to it," MacGyver observed. "He's an expert mechanic as well. He sabatoged Nikki's car once."
"Dad, I need to know what you were going to do when you left Sam's room," Blair said as he set down his beer.
MacGyver sighed and told Blair what he had told Jim. Blair nodded and leaned back on the couch. "That's what I was afraid of," he said as he closed his eyes. "Dad, you letting Murdoc kill you wouldn't have solved anything."
"I know that now. When I left that hospital room, all I could think of was what happened to you and Sam today. It's still happening to Sam. He's still fighting that drug. And there could be brain damage because of it. I never thought he would come after you two if I was out of the picture. I should have. Because he's right. The two of you would have gone after him if he had killed me. And you wouldn't have stopped until you had either caught him or he had killed you. It's never going to end."
"It will," Blair promised. "One day Murdoc will get what's coming to him."
They went back to the hospital and learned there had been no change in Sam's condition. They took seats on either side of the bed and watched over the youngest member of their small family.
MacGyver looked up and saw that Blair had fallen asleep in his chair. He got up and placed one of the blankets one of the nurses had brought in on him. As he sat back down he looked at Sam again and thought about when he had found out he a fathered a second child with Kate Malloy.
He remembered when he found out she had been killed. He was at a briefing at the DXS when Helen brought a message in to Pete. One of the agents assigned to Bejing had reported that a photojournalist had been killed because the Chinese government had thought she was a spy. He had asked the photojournalist's name and after the meeting was over he went straight to his car and pulled out the picture of Kate and a newborn Blair and cried.
He never heard the second message about an American boy who had wandered into Bejing a few days later. No one knew the boy's name so no one connected him to Kate Malloy until that fateful night in 1992 when his 19 year old son wound up saving his life.
He watched as that young man lay motionless in a hospital bed and tried not to cry. He closed his eyes for a minute only to open them when he heard the soft voice say, "Dad."
He looked over at Blair and saw he was still asleep. He started to close his eyes again when he heard the word "Dad" again. Slowly he looked at Sam's face and saw that his eyes were open. "Sam," he said as he got up and went over to the bed. "You're okay, son."
"What happened?" Sam asked.
MacGyver poured a cup of water and put a straw in it. Then he held it to Sam's lips. "Just take a couple of sips."
He glanced over at Blair while Sam sipped the water. He noticed that Blair was starting to wake up. "That's enough for now. We'll get the doctor in here. Do you know where you are?"
"The hospital," Sam said as MacGyver pressed the call button for the nurse. "How did I wind up here?"
"What's the last thing you remember?" MacGyver asked as the nurse came in.
She smiled and said "I'll go call the doctor."
MacGyver nodded as Sam looked up at him. "Murdoc. It was Murdoc, Dad. I tried to get away from him, but he gave me some sort of injection. He said Blair was next. Oh, God, Dad, he might have Blair!"
"Sam, Sam, calm down," MacGyver said as he stroked his son's hair. "Blair's right here."
Blair stood up and took his brother's hand. "I'm okay, Sam. It was you we were worried about. Whatever Murdoc gave you was pretty powerful."
"Is he…" Sam started to ask as he looked from his brother to his father.
"I'm afraid not," MacGyver sighed. "But don't worry about him. Just concentrate on getting better."
The doctor came in and ushered them out as he went to examine Sam. Blair looked up at his father. "I'm not an expert, but I would say the fact that he recognized us and remembers what happened would indicate that there isn't any brain damage."
"Yeah, it would," MacGyver said as the tears he had been holding back for so long finally started to flow.
Blair wrapped his arms around his father. "We're okay, Dad. We made it out of this in one piece. And Sam's going to be all right."
"Yeah, I know," MacGyver sighed. "I guess it's all starting to catch up with me. When I found out Murdoc had kidnapped you two…"
"I know, Dad," Blair said as he looked at his father. "But we all made it out of this in one piece. Don't worry about something you can't change."
MacGyver nodded as the door to Sam's room opened and the nurse came out. 'You can go back in now," she said.
They went in and went straight to Sam's bed. "How is he?" MacGyver asked the doctor.
"He's doing very well," the doctor said smiling. "There doesn't appear to be any brain damage from the drug. We'll run some more tests to make sure before we release him. There are one or two physical effects from the drug. But once it has fully worked it's way through his system, I see no reason why he shouldn't make a complete recovery."
"What physical effects?" Blair asked as he gave his brother a concerned look.
"His left hand is a bit numb. And his balance is a little off. But, like I said, these things should clear up once the drug has completed its way through his system. Until then, he'll need the support of a cane."
"Wait, how long will it take for the drug to leave his system?" Blair asked as the doctor started to leave.
The doctor sighed. "I'm not sure. If we knew the kind of drug that was used and the dosage, I could better answer that question. When the numbness in Sam's hand starts to decrease and his balance comes back on-line will be fairly certain that the drug has finished going through his system. If the tests I have scheduled for the morning show no brain damage, he should be home by tomorrow afternoon."
"Thank you, doctor," MacGyver said as the man nodded and left. Then he looked at Sam. "You should get some rest."
"I just woke up Dad," Sam said smiling a little. "I'll rest, I promise. But first I want you to tell me what happened with Murdoc."
Blair and MacGyver looked at each other. Then Blair looked at each other. Then Blair told Sam what happened when Murdoc kidnapped him. Father and son took turns telling the story. When they were through, Sam took his father's hand. "I'm glad you didn't go after Murdoc."
"So am I," MacGyver said as he smiled a little.
The next day, the tests showed that Sam hadn't suffered any brain damage and he went home. He only needed the cane for a week before he was able to regain his balance. MacGyver knew that until he was positive Murdoc was finally out of his life, he would always look over his shoulder. But now he had help in making sure the assassin never hurt the people he loved again."