Fire, she birthed all things, she takes all things back. Her light dancing shoes twirling the brightest near her floor, nearest to the earth, the hotest and cleanest flames are at the bottom of the fire. Cat eyes, orange hips swaying to the call of detruction, creation, destruction as she laps away life-aboreal, animal, home. Ash, all becomes darkend gnarled knuckles of tarred wood or grey snowflakes falling from thick black clouds. The sky is painted with the northern lights when the dark cotton is spun to gauze, as she removes veil by veil. She speaks with the throats of Hell, the roar of a tornado. Any who hear it, never forget it. Divine, beautiful fire-I am your prophet, I am Prometheus bringing you to the undeserving humans. I am Moses who has tossed his sandals aside, to walk into your holy presence, to hear your whispered siren song, to bring them to you, and bring you to them.
The far wall of the Seattle convention center looked like concrete stalagtites layered then melted into the wall. Above crystal clear cubes pile on top of one another, giving a vastness to the lobby that made it bigger than a cave. The storm outside made sheets of rain tumble from one to the next, made Riley think of a waterfall from a Tarzan movie that Jane always showered in.
"Oh wow." The subdued voice of Valerie Lawson said as she peered through her thick glasses taking in the sheer scale of the building and the multitude milling around in it. The annual nation STEM science fair always drew thousands of the best and brightest young minds in the US everywhere. As Valerie stepped back into Riley's legs, Riley could almost feel the fear comiing off the girl. Despite what anyone said, she constantly said she didn't belong here, that she wasn't that smart. Riley put comforting hands on the girl's shoulders. Valerie looked up at her gratefully.
Riley had to admit, she felt way out of her depth too. She had been surprised when Mac had asked her to go with them. Jack and Bozer were out of contact doing mandatory surrvival training. Riley laughed at the fear in Bozer's eyes when he learned Jack would be his trainer, not Mac. Mac had bowed out to come here and support his young protege. Mac would deny that was what Valerie was, but Riley had often seen the pride in his eyes when she would call to ask a complicated technological question way over Riley's head.
Mac had encouraged the girl to go out of her comfort zone, to show her talent to the world. All the STEM kids competed for grants and scholarships. Mac had admitted that he had won seven fairs, but amended that he only took home one trophy. When asked he would shrug and say it was no big deal. Jack had made Riley promise to get the story out of him about those other six trophies before they returned to California. Bozer said he was sworn to secrecy. When asked if it involved the destruction of another football stadium, Bozer had just laughed and said that Mac would still have gotten the trophy if that was all that had happened. Still since fair #7 had proved to be lucky, Mac had gotten a full ride to MIT. Riley knew he wanted Valerie to have the same chance he did, although she was thinking of Stanford or Cal Sci. Since she made it here the first year she was eligible to compete, Valerie had plenty of time to decide what she wanted to do.
Riley jumped as Mac materialized at her elbow. His eyes were gleaming and he was grinning like a kid in the candy store.
"I'll go get us signed in." He said. Mac seemed to bounce then was lost in the milling crowd. He reminded Riley of Tigger. Riley wasn't sure who was more excited Mac or Valerie. Pushing a bell hop cart loaded to overflowing with their luggage and crates containing parts of Valerie's exhibit, Pete Lawson drew up beside Riley panting with effort. He looked even more out of place than she felt. Riley knew the man would rather have his hands in the oily guts of a muscle car then surrounded by brilliant nerds, as Jack would say.
"Mac's getting us signed in." Riley updated him. He nodded his eyes wide. He looked down at his little girl and she took his hand. The pride on the man's face was almost palpable. Pete had told Riley over and over how grateful he was to MacGyver, not only for saving the life of his girl and getting him free of the clutches of drug smugglers, but also mentoring her. Pete understood less of what they talked about than Riley did.
"Ok, " Mac said making Riley jump. He gave her an amused smile and held out four plastic badges on blue string. "Here's our passes. And these are for out suite." He said grinning as he pulled out three key cards. He gave them to Riley, Pete, and kept one. He looked down at Valerie who shrugged.
"Did you say suite?" Riley asked. Mac nodded and went to grab the bell hop cart. Pete went to take it from him and Mac waved him away. The man stared after them a little lost. Riley reached out and pulled the man by his arm patting it in sympathy. Mac had insisted on paying all expences for the entire six days. While they stood outside surprisingly plain elevator doors, Mac kept squirming unable to stand still. Before Riley said anything a new voice interrupted her.
"Angus MacGyver? Is that really you?" They all turned. The man striding toward them was tall and broad. He wore an expensive suit obviously tailored to fit him. He had dark, almost black eyes and short hair that looked shellacked in place. He reminded Riley of Clark Kent. As he neared, she didn't miss the two guards flanking him farther away trying to blend in badly. He had a hypnotic gaze that seemed to rake in every curve and crevice. He reminded her of Kaa from the jungle book. When he turned away, Riley found herself letting go of a breath she hadn't known she was holding.
When MacGyver introduced her, the man smiled and kissed her hand. His grip was limp and sweaty. She surreptitiouly wiped her hand on her pants when he turned back to Mac. There was something about him that made her skin crawl.
"Riley, this is Derick Trevers, we were in alot of the same STEM fairs together." Mac was pleasant, but Riley could tell there was definitely no love lost between the two.
"Mac is being modest as usual. He trounced me over five times, although he did end up forfeiting three of those letting me slip into the winning spot." He turned back to Mac and slapped him hard enough on the back to make him take a step forward. Mac rolled his eyes. "And is this our newest contestant?" Derick said reaching out a hand to Valerie. Valerie reluctantly shook then her father did. Neither said anything. "When I heard there was another entry from Mission City I just knew you had to be involved." He said beaming at Mac.
"Valerie is here all on her own, I had nothing to do with it." Mac said softly looking impatiently at the elevators. So what are you doing here, Derick?"
"I'm one of the sponsors." The man said. Mac's eyebrows raised. "After I graduated with honors from Carnegie Mellon I founded a R and D company that focuses on designing new protective equipment for first responders, especially fire men." Mac gave a sincere smile.
"That's great finding ways to help those guys, they sure deserve it." Mac said. Derick preened under the praise. Obviously he still felt very competative with Mac.
Mac pressed the lit up button hoping the elevator would come faster.
"What about you? I heard you were at MIT, then left it unexpectedly." Derick said. Riley wanted to step in and blast the condescending ass. Mac layed a hand on her arm and shook his head. Riley sniffed. Of course Mac was perfectly composed, after all the things he's faced a braggart he knew as a kid was hardly a blip on the radar. However, Riley did notice him repeatedly looking at the elevator wanting to escape as much as she did. Derick was oblivious to all this.
"I work at a think tank." Mac said. Riley noted the ease which he dodged all of the questions Derick would try to make sound like failures.
"Ah, so you sold out to the government machine." The man said. Riley was about to laugh when she realized Derick was perfectly serious. Her and Mac shared a puzzled look.
"No, we're more of an independent entity." Mac said smoothly.
"And what do you do there?" Derick asked. Riley was tired of being just a bystander.
"A little of this, a little of that." She said. Derick looked at her with a flash of anger. She smiled sweetly. The elevator doors opened with a ding.
"This is us, nice to see you again Derick." Mac offered with an overly exaggerated pleasantness. Derick nodded and gave him a little bow, his dark eyes never leaving Mac's face. After the doors closed, Riley shuddered and looked at Mac.
"What a creep!" She said. Mac smiled reachng over and hitting the button.
"You should have seen his father." Mac offered.
"No, thank you." Riley said looking up at the numbers inching by floor by floor. She so needed a shower. She told herself it wasn't because of Derick Trevors, but she admitted that would only be partly true.
Bozer was breathing hard and hurt in places he didn't even know muscles existed in. He had blisters on his feet and hands as he used the thick rope to climb the cliff face. Jack had already scurried up the mountain like damn spiderman.
"C'mon bud, we only have an hour before dark." Jack called down. Bozer scowled at the amusement in his voice.
"Climb up a damn cliff, what do I look like a damn goat…" Bozer kept up a steady stream of complaints as he went, under his breath of course. If he didn't pass this week of training, he would be grounded from going into the field until he passed. Riley had passed. Of course Mac had been her trainer. She had complained bitterly about it, but Mac had to be better than Jack, right? Finally he reached the top and grabbed onto Jack's gloved fist. He helped Bozer over the ledge and let him take a break to catch his breath.
"How ya doin' Boze?" Jack said eyeing the younger man up and down. Bozer took a long drag of cool water from the water bottle strapped to his leg. He forced himself to smile.
"Is that all you got, Jack?" Bozer said his voice thick with bravado. Jack's laugh put a chill up Bozer's spine.
"Oh no, Boze. That's just getting to the test. We haven't even started yet." The older man patted Bozer on the back then headed into the woods setting a grueling pace. Bozer groaned and fought to keep up. Jack seemed to float through every bush and briar that lashed painfully onto Bozer's clothes. He didn't turn to check on Bozer and he didn't stop to offer help. Bozer was fine with that, but the man didn't even have the good grace to look remotely winded.
Fire. How these animals that flee before your might fear you. And yet you spare them taking only the weakest, thinning the herds of Caribou, deer, and countless others who think they are safe in the forest's embrace. And man, man called you friend, believed they have trained you, they are your zoo keeper. Foolish mortals. Natives say you were brought by the Trixter god Coyote from fire mountain. Man thought to warm them, to cook meals and save them from disease. But Coyote is mischievious, he knew your nature would break free, always be unconquered. You are the 100 firebirds Hui Lu tried to trap in his magical gourd that escaped and reigned terror down on millions. You are Agni, consuming and consuming, making all life new in your wake, purifying souls, making us immortal.
Riley felt about twenty pounds lighter when she came out of the single bedroom. She had a towel rolled up in her hair like a turban. She admired the suite realizing what a pretty penny it must have cost. There was a large central room with white and silver modern couches and chairs, a glass coffee table, and demure short red area rug that just about covered the entire room. Mac sat on the couch staring into a huge stone fireplace that was empty except for blackened logs. He stared into space that was much farther away than just the hollow opening before him.
"Hey Mac." Riley said. When Mac didn't answer, Riley stepped over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped and put his hand over his heart.
"Riley! Damn you're going to give me a heart attack." He gasped. She laughed and sat beside him.
"What has you a million miles away?" She asked. He looked down at his hands and frowned.
"I was just remembering the last few times I was here." His smile was sad. "The first couple of times Gramps came with me, then Mr. Anderson came once."
"And the other times?' Riley asked gently. Mac smiled and stood up.
"Anyway, Valerie and her dad went off after food, are you hungry?" Riley frowned at the obvious side step. Riley let it go. She wasn't Jack and she didn't feel like it was her place to pick Mac's life traumas apart until he was ready to share them. She stood up.
"I heard there's a killer donut shop in Seattle." She said. Mac's eye brows vanished in blonde bangs.
"Donuts for supper?" He asked. She grinned and waited. Mac laughed and shrugged. Jack wasn't here, why the hell not?
"There are a lot more than just one." He said. She shrugged.
"Let's hit them all." She said, giggling mischieviously. Mac shook his head.
"Ok, but don't come crying to me when you are unconscious with a blood sugar of 1000!"
"What a way to go!" Riley cooed following him out of the suite. They were in the elevator when it stopped at the forth floor. A man got on that made Riley uneasy. He was thin with a huge nose that seemed to twitch. His eyes were wide apart and Riley felt like they were moving in different directions to watch her. Riley looked up at the numbers wishing they would go faster. She glanced over at Mac who was studying the man with a worried frown, or more exactly what the man was carrying. The man held a cleaning caddy with several cleaners in it. He held a mop full of wire and electroncs and a roll of twine under his left arm. She was going to open her mouth to ask him what was wrong but he looked at her and put a finger across his lips. Riley nodded understanding. They got off at the lobby level as planned.
Mac pivotted and watched the numbers go down to a second basement. He scowled and nodded to himself. He turned and grabbed Riley by the arms.
"Get everyone out of here." He said Mac's voice was calm, but urgent.
"Mac? What's he doing?"
"He's going to set a bomb down by the propane boiler. It could blow up this whole building." Her eyes widened.
"Are you sure?" She asked, hoping he'd deny it. He gave her a look, the look. It was a guess, but a brilliant guess fully backed up by every instinct Mac had. She nodded, Riley trusted Mac never seeing him ever be wrong yet. She turned and ran for the front desk. Mac's eyes wondered around until he found a door marked stairs. He braced himself and broke into a run, knowing the seconds were ticking by fast.