You can run, but you can't hide

Mac POV...

"Hey, Jack, me again." I said into my phone after I opened my front door putting my bags down then shut it, "Message number five. You were right about everything. The professor was a dead end." I said walking to the kitchen and stepped in some water, "Uh, yeah, just call me back." I hung up and saw a note on the fridge from Bozer saying he fixed it and I chuckled, "Almost, Boze. Almost." I said and dialed Jack again putting it on speaker setting my phone on the counter then moved the fridge out

"Hey, you've reached the one and only Jack Dalton, you lucky dog. Leave a message after the boopity-beep, and of course, go, Cowboys."

"Message number six. And, yes, I know you're putting me straight to voice mail." I said walking over to the drawer and pulled out a roll of electrical tape, "Looks like I'm gonna be home for a while fixing the fridge, so if you want to stop by, I've got an apology and some warm beer with your name on it." I said and hung up then my doorbell rang. I walked over wiping my shoes on the rug then opened it seeing a couple men with masks on standing there and one tazed me making me fall down and I looked up at them.


Val POV...

"I mean, just the thought of him in this house again.." Bozer tells us as we sat in Mac's living room after Jack called us to it

"Do you really think he has Mac? What about that guy you grabbed in Paris?" Riley asked Jack

"No, that guy's sucking soup through a straw in a dark hole somewhere, thanks to an old buddy of mine at the French Ministry of Defense. No, my my Spidey-senses are all telling me the same thing. It's Murdoc." He says and I continued looking at the ground

"Pull up every traffic camera in the area. I want eyes on every vehicle in the last ten hours." Matty says and Bozer moved over to the computer

"No offense to your Spidey-senses, Jack, but it's not like this Murdoc signed his name on the wall." Cage pointed out

"He might as well have."

"A pocket knife sticking out of a wine bottle, and a mask." Cage tells him

"That's Mac's little red knife out there stuck in the same wine bottle he used to blast Murdoc out that back window, next to the same geriatric mask he was wearing the first time he attacked us." Jack mentioned

"I really need to throw that thing away." Bozer says

"Yes, please do. Riley. Riley, can you find anything?" Jack asked her

"I'm working as fast as I can, Jack."

"Okay, just, come on, just, just a little bit faster, please, please." Jack says and sits back down and Matty walked over to him

"Hey, this wasn't your fault." She tells him

"Then whose is it?"

"Not yours." She says and I looked out the window seeing the forensic team process everything.


Mac POV...

I sat tied to a chair as Murdoc stood in front of me then dragged another chair over then pushed on the needle in my arm making my scream, "Oh, good, you can still feel pain. Setting the dose was tricky. Had to give you enough to slow you down, but not so much that you passed out. See, I need you to do something for me, MacGyver." He told me and sat down in front of me

"If that something is telling you where Cassian is, you can forget it." I tell him

"Oh, I know you're not just gonna blurt out where my son's being held. That is going to require some convincing."

"You know, Murdoc, you're wasting your time. Even if you do find him, once he learns who you are, he's never gonna want to be with you." I point out to him

"I strongly disagree. Sons need their fathers. You are living proof of that. Or was there some other reason why you have just returned from dining alone on the Seine? That's right. I know all about the blond Boy Scout's search for his long-lost papa bear. How is that going, by the way? Making any progress?" He asked me but I didn't say anything, "Your silence speaks volumes. All those years without him, you must have felt so alone. So unprotected."

"We can't pick our fathers, Murdoc. It's a lesson your son is gonna have to learn someday." I tell him

"Perhaps. But the difference is that Cassian's father is looking for him as we speak, while your daddy doesn't seem to want anything to do with you." He said and I went to move forward but groaned in pain, "Oh, careful, careful, please. Hurting you is my job."

"Get on with it, then."

"Okay." He says and he chuckled, "Would you tell Da Vinci to "get on with it" while he was painting the Mona Lisa, huh?" He asked standing up, "Would you tell Van Gogh to step it up while he was painting Starry Night?" He turned the chair around then sat back down in front of me, "Say did I ever tell you about Cassian's mother? Nadia. She was a lovely woman. I met her while on a job. It was supposed to be quick, a day or two, but one thing led to another. Next thing you know, Nadia has a bun in the oven and somewhere along the way, we fell in love."

"No, you didn't. You're not capable of love." I point out to him

"Okay, fine. She fell in love. I found her less repulsive than most humans, well her and another one but potato, potahto."

"Is there a point to this?" I asked him

"Oh, yes. A very pointy point. You see, the day that Cassian was born, Nadia was happier than I had ever seen her before. And as the nurse gently placed him into her arms, I knew that that was the moment I had been waiting for." He tells me and I figured it out

"You didn't meet Nadia on the job. She was the job." I mentioned

"I suffocated her with the very same pillow upon which she rested her head after bringing my son into this world. One life ended while another began. It was beautiful and poetic and almost Shakespearian."

The last story that you told me was a total lie, so how much of this one is actually true?" I asked him, "I'm guessing none of it."

"Every single word." He says standing up

"Wait you said Nadia and another one. Who was the other one?" I asked him and he gave me that creepy smile

"Oooh. You'll find out eventually."


Val POV...

"Okay, I scanned all the footage. Eight cars drove out of this neighborhood around the time Mac was taken. A DMV search gives us names and addresses on seven of the license plates." Riley informed us

"And the eighth?" Matty asked her

"According to the DMV, that license plate won't even be issued for another six months."

"That's him. That's Murdoc." I said and Jack stood up cocking his gun

"Got to be."

"Got his car parked outside a warehouse in Sylmar." Riley told us

"Go. Now." Matty says to me, Cage and Jack then we run out of the house making our way to Jack's car

"Okay, uh, how much ammo do you have on you, Cage?" Jack asked her

"Same as always. Three clips. One in the gun, two in the belt."

"Val?" He asked me

"Same as Cage."

"Why?" Cage asked him

"Because when it comes to this maniac, you can never have enough." He says and we get in, I let Cage in first then got in the passenger seat. Jack started the car and backed up but stopped and I looked back seeing Bozer standing there

"Bozer, what the hell are you doing?" I asked him opening my door

"I'm coming."

"No, you're not." Jack told him getting out

"Mac's my best friend. I'm going."

"Hey, look, I know you want to help, okay? But this is Murdoc we're talking about. You remember him, right?" Jack asked him

"Of course."

"Of course. Okay. So, you know when the bullets start flying, I can't be worried about watching Mac's back and keeping an eye on your tiny ass at the same time." Jack says to him

"All right, I'll make this simple. If you don't want me to go, shoot me. Short of that, shut up, let's get in the car and drive."

"Guys, we're wasting time." I tell them

"All right, but you better stay behind me at all times. You hear? Or one of theirs." Jack said to him indicating to me and Cage

"All right."

"The whole time." Jack said again

"All right! I promise. Cross my heart and hope to.."

"Don't. Don't say that." Jack says to him

"Okay, yeah, that was a bad choice of words. I got you, Jack." Bozer tells him and gets in the back with Cage

"Let's go." Cage says and Jack got in

"This is a bad idea, man."


Mac POV...

"Wakey, wakey, sleepy Angus." Murdoc says slapping me across the face and I open my eyes, "It's not naptime. Not yet, at least. We have so many fun games to play. I think you're really gonna like 'em. Well, maybe not like. But I really think you're gonna be impressed with the game pieces I've so lovingly crafted. You inspire me, MacGyver." He said and chuckled, "The way that you make something out of another thing. I love that. So, I went to my trusty old tools, and I gave them a fresh, new twist. And I am beyond excited to share them with you."

"The longer you torture me, the more time Jack has to..."

"To find us?" He asked then shook his head, "Mm. I'm afraid that's not going to happen.

"I have hidden you away quite well, my friend. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go prepare my new tools. And then we can get started." He tells me leaving the room and i moved my head down to my arm ripping the needle out then put it in the one handcuff and freed my hand then did it to my other one.


Val POV...

Jack turned down the next street and continued to speed, I looked back at Bozer and Cage then looked at Jack, "Jack. We're gonna find him." I tell him but he continued looking forward driving the same speed.


"We're clear over here. How we doing down there?" Jack asked me and Cage after we get to the warehouse and look around

"Guys?" I hear Bozer say and we run over to him seeing a dead body and run over to it, "Guys." Bozer repeated as we run past him

"Bozer." I whispered to him to be quiet and we get to the bodies.

"Ooh, yeah, this is doornail dead right here. Double tap, right to the back. Look at that. You see that, Bozer?" Jack asked him

"I see it, Jack."

"Same here. This was an execution." I point out

"The only way three people can keep a secret is if two of them are dead." Bozer mentioned and Jack moved past us to a puddle on the ground

"Yeah, it looks like the getaway vehicle had quite the oil leak. You know, I'm guessing once Murdoc offed all the, uh, nonessential personnel, he split and he took our boy with him."

"So how do we find him now?" Bozer asked

"We don't." Jack told him

"What do you mean we don't?"

"I mean, we don't." Jack repeats and I looked at Bozer

"He means the trail's gone cold. If Mac doesn't save himself, no one will." I point out

"He'll be all right." Jack says and I looked at the dead bodies with a sigh. Mac was the smartest person I know, my friend who made me feel welcome from day one, my friend who I had strong feelings for but could never tell him. Not just because we were teammates, but because of my past.


Mac POV...

I made my way through the sewers trying to keep myself moving even though the drugs in my system were making it hard.

"Macgyver, come out and play" I hear Murdoc sing but I kept moving hearing the distant shouting in the streets above and I focused on finding a way out, I needed to get out of this for my team, for Val. She was always on my mind and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why but then I did when we were on our last mission with the diamonds and I saw her in her dress, I liked her, more then a friend, and holding onto her as we hung onto the elevator then grabbing her hand running from the explosion I felt my skin tingle, my heart raced whenever she walked into the room or I thought about her, and when she smiles at me I feel my body melt. But she's my teammate, my friend, I want to tell her how I feel so badly but I'm just worried it'll affect the rest of the team if I can't emotionally compromised, or if we broke up what would happen. I couldn't focus on that right now, right now I needed to survive this.

I came to a ladder and climbed up it opening the man hole cover and crawled out onto a busy street, "Whoa, watch it, man." One of the drivers says as the drive past me and I hear horns honking but I focused on walking toards some people sitting at a bunch of tables outside

"Help me." I begged them then fell to the ground passing out


Val POV...

"We're running tox screens on your blood right now, Mac. We should know what Murdoc dosed you with soon." Matty tells him as we stand in the infirmary

"If I had my guess, I'd say something in the nightshade family. Atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine..."

"The important thing is, we got you back. Now, all I have to do is go find Murdoc and start breaking bones." Jack says

"How, Jack? We have zero leads." Matty tells him

"Not zero. We got one. We know Murdoc was holding him in an underground room, right?"

"And how do you propose we find this underground room?" Bozer asked him

"I don't know. But if he found a way out, we should be able to find a way back in there. I mean, even if Lord Nutbar's not there anymore, something in there might-might help us hunt him down, you know what I mean?"

"Well, from the spot Mac surfaced, there are miles of sewer tunnels. Searching them all could take days." Riley says

"Or weeks." Bozer added, "Mac, there's got to be something you can remember. I mean, other than popping out of a manhole and almost getting killed by a car."

"Cars. There was definitely more than one car." Mac pointed out

"Yeah, okay, b-but before that, when you were walking around in the sewer, do you remember seeing any, uh, signs, graffiti?" Jack asked and I stepped forward

"Stop, stop. I need a minute alone, just with Mac and Riley." I tell everyone

"What for?" Jack asked me

"Loftus and Palmer, 1974. Their experiments proved how even the most seemingly benign questions can alter a witness' memories. Even create false ones. I need his memories pure. Which means I need everyone but Riley to leave." I said to them

"Yeah, okay. Um, but we're gonna be in that room right there. I'm not taking my eyes off you." Jack told him and they all walked out except for Riley

"We're gonna play a little memory game. It's one Rudyard Kipling wrote about. It's called the Jewel Game. Now everyone calls it.."

"KIM." Mac finishes, "Keep In Memory. We learned it in EOD training."

"Good. So, whenever you're ready, you can close your eyes, put yourself back in the place where Murdoc took you. Here's the catch: you don't name what you see, but rather, you describe everything around you." I tell him and he sighed then closed his eyes

"All right, I'm-I'm sitting in a chair, just..." He says and stopped looking like he was struggling so I walked over and held his hands

"Okay, just remember simpler. Just the visceral. You can describe colors, shapes, textures, sounds, smells."

"It's damp. Smells like, uh mold. Burnt motor oil. And bleach. I'm sitting on metal. It's cold. It's rough in spots, it's jagged. It's old. All around me are flat, rough, gray rectangles. There are hard, smooth bands cutting into my wrists, and a there's a pain in my right arm. Just below the.." He stopped and and gasped opening his eyes but I still held his hands

"It's okay, it's okay. It's okay. It's vivid recall. It's really normal. Just lets you know the game is working. Just, whenever you're ready, if you can go back.." I tell him and he sighed again

"Yeah, the sound of, uh, metal, it was jingling. There's a strip of wood around a gray metal rectangle. I can feel cold air seeping in from the other side. It's a way out. Uh, I'm on a path now, it's cylindrical. I can hear splashing it's wet, it-it's water. It's-it's moving with me. And after about 20 minutes, I heard, I heard something. It was, like, uh b-bells. Ch-Church bells. But it wasn't just church bells. It was something else, it was another sound. Right after the church bells started, there was a second sound, it was harsher. Second sound, it was, uh..Air raid siren? Fire station. It was a fire station." He said opening his eyes, "Means I know how to figure out where I was."

"You do?" I asked him and looked down at my hands then took them away from his

"Yeah. It was, um Church bells, they ring every half hour. And it was about 15 minutes before I crawled out of the manhole. So 1:30 p.m. And by law, the LAFD keeps a record of every siren, so, Riley, maybe you can..."

"An alarm sounded at Grand Street Fire Station at 1:29." She told him

"1:29 and how many seconds? It's..it's kind of important."

"Fifty-eight." She says

"Fifty-eight. 58 seconds, okay," He got off the bed and grabbed a marker going to the window that the others were watching us through, "That fire alarm, it sounded before the church bells. But I heard it after. And that's because sound travels at 340 meters per second, approximately, and it propagates out into a circle, so I have to solve for the radius, but you know what? You guys don't need an explanation, right? I can just do the math?" Mac asked us

"No, I'm good.

"Yeah, go nuts." Riley adds and he continued to write

"So, we are looking for a sewer tunnel that is 1,020 meters from a church and 1,700 meters from that fire station." He tells Riley and walked over to her

"Can we come out now?" Jack asked me and I chuckled then nodded for them to come in

"I got two that fit your criteria, but only one where the water is flowing towards your exit point." Riley informed him

"That's perfect. Okay. So, I was drugged, disoriented, probably moving no more than 1. 5 miles per hour. Which would put Murdoc's torture room right about there." Mac said pointing to a spot on the map


"We clear?" Jack asked a TAC team member after they walked into the room and looked around

"Yes, sir."

"Double check, we can't be too sure with this guy. Let's go, let's go." Jack told them

"Got something over here." Riley said and we walked over seeing a bunch of different tools sitting on a table

"Looks like Murdoc forgot to put away his toys." I point out

"And I think he left a message for Mac. Check this out." Bozer says and we walk over to a wall seeing a message

BE SEEING YOU

"Tear this place apart." Matty told everyone and we all split off. I walked into a different room with my gun raised looking around when my phone chimed and I looked at it seeing a text message from an unknown number

I'm watching you

I dropped my phone and smashed it with my shoe and looked around then heard a gun shot go off so I followed it seeing Mac helping Cage walk over to a medic.


"We checked every rooftop and window on every building on his sight line for over a mile and got bupkis. There is no sign of Captain Crazypants anywhere, Matty." Jack told her as we walked in

"Well, then, look harder."

"We...Fine." Jack said then both him, Mac and the TAC team went to walk out.

"Matty, maybe we should go with my plan." I tell her and she looked at me

"No, out of the question."

"What plan would that be?" Mac asked and I looked at him then Matty and sighed

"Using myself as bait." I tell them and they all looked at me confused, "If Murdoc is still around here I could try and draw him out."

"How?" Cage asked and I ignored Matty shaking her head at me

"I had Matty hide something from all of you for awhile now that I'm not...not really proud of." I said and they still looked at me, "Murdoc is my father." I tell them and saw different expressions come from all of them.

"Your...how?" Bozer asked me

"Do I really have to tell you how? Because that's not something I wanna do."

"No I think he means...we only thought he had one kid." Riley mentioned

"Cassian is my half brother, and the rest is a long complicated story that we don't have time for."

"I agree, and about your plan it's a no. We'll think of something else but in the meantime I need your eyes on something we found over here blondie." Matty told him and I looked at Mac who was looking at me then I looked at the ground as he walked over to her

"We found a trash can full of ashes. Looks like Murdoc tried to cover his tracks." Riley told him

"Yeah, this is the biggest piece. Feels like photo paper, but we can't make out the image." Bozer added

"Hey, you don't have a portable X-ray machine in your field kit, do you?" Mac asked one of the forensic guys

"In the SUV, but why would you?"

"Don't ask questions. Just go get it." Matty told the guy and he left.

"I, uh, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I need to go back into the room Murdoc planned to kill me in and turn off all the lights." Mac says to us grabbing a camera and one of the lights unplugging it then walked away and we followed him into the room and I stood at the top of the stairs next to Bozer, "That photo's days of reflecting visible light are over. The fire scorched most of the emulsion. But if there are any silver bromide crystals left, they should still glow if we hit them with enough X-rays." He explained and the forensic guy handed me the light which I past to Bozer and Riley handed it to Mac, "Thank you. That's why I'm opening this portable X-ray emitter and removing the voltage resister. If I swap it for a penny, I can use the copper to rebuild the connection, and get a higher output of X-rays."

"Is it safe?" Bozer asked him

"I would recommend stepping back and covering yourselves." He said and finished what he was making, "Val, the lights?" He asked me and I turned to the switch turning the lights off

"Uh, Mac? I don't see anything." Bozer tells him

"You don't, but the camera sure does. Lights again." He says and I turned them back on, "It's called X-ray fluorescence." Mac says and we moved down the stairs while Riley walked over to him

"It's called a damn miracle." Matty said

"That's about all I can do. Riley, do you think you can clean this up? Get us a good look at the face?" Mac asked her and she opened up her laptop

"Actually, I think I can clear this up enough to let my facial recognition software do its thing."

"Nice." Mac says and I saw him glance at me but I looked forward

"All right. We got a hit." Riley told us

"Hey. Hey." Bozer says walking over to her, "Nice work, Riley. Which database did you find our mystery man in?"

"CDE."

"Wait, the California Department of Education?" I asked her

"Yeah."

"Look, if Murdoc destroyed the picture, we have to assume this teacher is his next victim." Matty pointed out


After a long awkward car ride with Jack and Mac we get to the teachers house and Mac knocked on the door then it opened, "Uh, Mr. Fletcher? Mr. Henry Fletcher?"

"That's me. Can I help you?"

"Yeah, we..we have reason to believe that there may be an international assassin on his way here now. To kill you."

"May we come in?" Jack asked him then walked past as me and Mac followed

"I don't understand. This is insane." Mr. Fletcher says to us

"I know it must feel that way, but we need to get you to protective custody immediately." Mac told him

"B-Because of this man, this Murdoc?"

"We think he's been hired to kill you." I tell him

"Why would someone be hired to kill me? W-Why would anyone want me dead?"

"Those are both really good questions, Mr. Fletcher, to be answered at another time, like, when this Murdoc fella is safely back behind a set of three-inch bars. You know what I'm saying?" Jack says walking over to me and Mac

"And until then, we're gonna take you to a secure facility where you will be safe." Mac added

"I can't just leave. I-I've got papers to grade, uh, parent-teacher conferences."

"Not anymore, you don't. Just go pack your stuff, dude, 'cause in ten minutes, we're hitting the road with whatever you can shove in a bag." Jack told him and he looked at us

"This is insane."

"No. Insane is the man who's coming for you. And believe me, you don't want to meet him." I said to him and Mac looked at me.


"O-Okay, okay. You now have less than six minutes to pack your stuff." Jack told Mr. Fletcher as he started to walk up the stairs, I strongly suggest you utilize that time knocking it out. Let's go."

"But.."

"Henry. I know this is a lot, and I promise we'll answer every question you have when we're in the car. But right now, we just need you to gather your stuff. Please." Mac begged him

"Let's go. Let's go." Jack told him and Mr. Fletcher walked up the stairs and Jack looked at me, "Okay so I still don't get it..."

"Really Jack? Now?" I asked him

"I just want to understand why you didn't tell us."

"Because..." I started to say then glanced at Mac, "Because I knew you all would stop trusting me."

"Val we aren't..."

"Alpha-Bravo-Omega. How we looking, guys?" Cage asked over our radios cutting Mac off

"All clear."

"Same."

"Yeah, nada."

"Okay. So we're three minutes from rolling out with the package." Cage said and Mr. Fletcher walked into the room

"He's got a gun, Mac!" Jack yells and Mac pushed me down then got in front of me as we got shot at and he liffted up the coffee table covering us while I pulled out my gun then we hid behind a wall with Jack

"Shots fired. I repeat: shots fired. Murdoc's breached the perimeter. I need all agents at Fletcher's house." I hear Cage say over the radio

"It's not Murdoc, it's the teacher." I tell her

"You okay?" Mac asked Jack

"Got ten fingers, ten toes. You both all right?"

"Really confused, but I'll be fine. Who the hell is this guy?" Mac asked

"I was gonna ask you the same thing." Jack said and we hear a door close

"Schoolteacher's on the move, Cage. Headed your way, coming in hot!" I warned her then followed MAc with Jack behind me as we ran out of the house seeing a car drive past Cage as she rolled onto the hood

"Cage! You okay?" Mac asked her

"Yeah. But you really need to work on your timing."

"Yeah, he'll have to work on it later. Right now, we have a psychotic fifth grade teacher to catch." Jack says and we get in the car following him, "Schoolteachers don't drive like this, man."

"You think?" Cage asked and suddenly we get shot at so we all ducked

"And they don't shoot like that, either. Who is this guy?" Mac asked

"Working on it. Boze, you got something for me, or am I gonna have to come down there and start ripping out his floorboards myself?" Matty asked him over the radio

"Save your manicure. I just found a stash of passports and I.D.s. You getting these, Riley?"

"Yep. Looks like our boy Henry was quite the world traveler." Riley says

"With a different name in every port." Matty added

"And bad luck seems to follow him wherever he goes. I'm running his alter egos through the NSA database. Every time one of his passports was recorded entering a country, someone in that country vanished. A journalist in Kiev, a prosecutor in Berlin, a banker in Shenzhen..."

"I think we're looking at a fader." I point out

"A fader?" Riley asked me

"You want someone to go out with a bang, you hire Murdoc. But you want someone to just fade away..."

"You hire Fletcher. So he's a hit man." Riley concluded

"Yeah, that kind of became clear to us when he tried to murder us with a machine-gun pistol." Jack says

"But why would Murdoc be hunting another professional killer?" Mac asked

"You know who might know that? Fletcher. So why don't you four focus on catching him?" Matt asked us

"Um, Matty, someone's trying to calling us." Riley says to her over the radio

"Put it through."

"Matilda and Riley." I hear the voice that makes my blood freeze and my body tense "Two of my favorite people. How have you been since I almost killed you and everyone at your organization?"

"Well, why don't you stop by the Phoenix and see for yourself, Murdoc? I have a bunch of agents that would just love a face-to-face with you." Matty tells him

"Tempting, but my calendar's so full. Gonna have to take a rain check. I'm so happy that the boys and...my daughter got to meet Henry, though. That man is full of surprises."

"So kidnapping Mac was what? Your crazy way of tricking us into taking out your competition? Didn't want to do the dirty work yourself, huh?" I asked him over the radio

"Oh ho there she is the prodigal daughter." Murdoc says and Mac looked back at me, "On the contrary. I live for the dirty work. In this case, it made more sense to let you handle Henry."

"So, what happened, Murdoc? Fletcher steal a few jobs from you? Maybe your clients were looking to work with someone a lot more stable." Matty says to him

"Hurtful, Matilda. Hurtful. And here I thought we were friends."

"Friends? No. It's hard to be friends with someone who kidnaps one of my operatives and shoots another." Matty told him

"In the vest! My little way of welcoming Cage to the team. Honestly, it was more of a love tap. Just like the one I'll give my daughter if we are ever reunited." Murdoc said and I clenched my fists, "Well, I hope any hard feelings won't stop you from catching Fletcher. You have to admit, the world will be a better place with him behind bars. What's the alternative? Letting him go?"

"No. Of course not." Matty says

"Think of this as, uh, kind of a team up Enemy of my enemy and whatnot. Oh, ta-ta for now. It's been so lovely chatting with you. And good luck collaring Henry. and Valarie..I'll be seeing you." Murdoc says and I looked at Mac for a brief moment then looked away.


"So Murdoc wants us to catch Fletcher?" Cage asked as we continued following him

"Man, now I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this." Jack pointed out

"I don't care what Murdoc wants. I want us to catch this guy." Mac said

"You heard the man, Cage. Step on it." Jack told her, "It's time to get hot for teacher. Val, out the window." He told me and I looked at him as he moved his head out of the window around Mac with his gun

"What are you doing?" I asked him

"Hey, Jack! Keep your gun in your pants! I have an idea." Mac told him and he got back in

"Care to share?" Cage asked him

"Yeah, sure, but, uh, for this to work, we need to get in front of him."

"Okay, watch this." Cage says took a hard turn then drove through a parking lot getting us in front of Fletcher's car

"Yeah, that's it. Get it, girl." Jack tells her and we face the back pointing our guns

"Hey, hey, Mac, I-I think he's reloading. You might want to.." I started to tell him

"Yeah, yeah, hurry up. I know." He said and moved Cage's sun-visor down

"Mac, I'm kind of driving here." She told him moving it back up

"I know. Just need to..." He says and the topper of the car lifts up and the cover flies off hitting Fletcher's car and he crashed into another car then me, Jack and Cage quickly got out with our guns raised at him

"Hands in the air! Now!" Jack yells at him as Fletcher got out raising his hands up, "Up against the wall! Don't move. Don't move. Don't you move." Jack said and patted the guy down

"Matty? Yeah, we got him." Mac told her

"Excellent. Bring him in for interrogation. Hopefully, he can help us find Murdoc."

"Yeah. We'll need secure transport." He said and walked over to me and Cage

"Copy that. Exfil on its way."

"Is Matty gonna be pissed about the car?" Cage asked him

"Only if she sees it."

"Or if she hears you talking about it because you forgot you're still on comms." Matty tells him and I gave a small smile

"Hey, for the record, what you did to that convertible is way worse than anything you've ever done to my phone. Ain't that right, schoolteacher?" Jack asked him moving past us and Cage followed him

"Val." Mac said stopping me and I looked at him, "Can I just ask, why didn't you tell us?"

"You mean why didn't I tell you that I'm the daughter of an assassin who tried to kill you guys, kidnapped you and shot Cage?" I asked him and he nodded his head, "Because like I told Jack. You all would stop trusting me if you knew."

"It's not that we won't trust you it's just...it's a huge bomb to drop."

"I know, trust me, but I'm still me. I don't want this to define my life, that's why I hid it. I'm nothing like him."

"If it helps. I believe you." Cage said walking over

"Me too. We can't pick our fathers." Mac agreed and I smiled, "Any more secrets?" He asked me and I looked at Cage then him

"I'm afraid of heights, " I tell them and Cage smiled as Mac looked at me shocked then we started to walk over to Jack.


"Okay, Henry's on lock down, perimeter's clear, and there's no sign of Murdoc anywhere in the city. So, what do you think? You think he, uh, you think he skipped town on us?" Jack asked walking over to me and Mac

"Well, we did what he wanted Took down his competition so, not much reason to stick around." Mac says

"Yeah, but he also wanted you dead, so the sooner we get home, the better." Jack pointed out

"I'm all for that, and, uh I should have said this earlier, but I'm sorry." Mac told him

"For what, the whole "lie to your best friend and put yourself in danger for no good reason" thing?"

"Yeah.

"Yeah, that? Yeah, okay. Well, thanks. I appreciate that." Jack says

"This whole search for my dad is it's rough, to say the least."

"No, I know it is."

"I mean, every step I take, I keep finding myself wondering if-if he even wants to be found. Does he even want me in his life?" Mac asked and I look at him

"Look, I didn't know your dad, but I know this world's a lot cooler place with you in it. And if I got to do a little helicopter parenting here and there to keep it that way, that's what I'm-a do. You're just gonna have to deal with it. Hey, that's the way families work. Capisce?" Jack asked him

"Capisce."

"Good and same goes for you there Val," Jack told me and I looked at him, "Your father may be a wonko in the brain but if you ever need anything.."

"Thanks Jack." I tell him and he put his hand on my shoulder

"Now let's go home. I think you owe me some warm beers." Jack says to Mac

"Well, that I do. Almost forgot." Mac said and he opened the door to the armored truck for me t get in next to Cage in the back then got in the front as Jack started it and we started to drive. Just then we see a missile heading towards us, "Jack!" Mac yells and it hits us causing the truck to flip and land on its topside. I tried to move but couldn't then I hear whistling then the door next to Fletcher opened and he got out

"Henry! Oh! Such a pleasure to finally meet you." I hear Murdoc say and I tried to get free and grab my gun, "I know that you said that you always work alone, but seeing as how I just saved you from life in prison, I'd say you owe me a big favor. Let's talk a little shop, shall we? See, I'm starting my own business venture A little collective, if you will And you are my first recruit." He tells him and I see him walk to Mac's side looking at me then at him, "Thanks a million, MacGyver. I'll be seeing you. Be seeing you real soon." He started to walk away, "Oh and Valarie, you be a good girl for Daddy now." He says and I struggled to move as he walked away.

A/N: Bet you didn't see that coming did you?