Hi readers,
Here comes the next chapter.
No warnings.
Enjoy! ;-)
Unlike the characters and everything else you might recognize, all mistakes are mine!
Summary:
A terrible accident – a Jeep, smashed almost beyond recognition – not the slightest trace of a certain blond agent… Eventually, the team have to face the fact that they might have lost their friend forever.
BETWEEN HOPE AND DESPAIR
Chapter 7
Forensics Lab
Riley had commandeered a workplace in the lab and hooked up her laptop to the largest monitor in the room, in order to make it easier to spot small things on the footage. She was frantically working her way through every satellite or surveillance cam shot of the national forest where the van with the two bodies had been found. As six eyes saw more than two, Bozer and Jill were sitting on both sides of her to help scanning the images. Jack had tried to help at first, too, but he was way too full of nervous energy to sit and stare on a screen for more than a few seconds. This was taking too long! Mac needed them, now! However, he knew that it would be pointless to send a search and rescue party without any lead where to start. The area was vast and rough, passable only by a handful of roads and endless miles of rocky, uneven paths, which were only drivable by off-road vehicles - And obviously old and battered vans.
Jack's gut told him that they were finally getting closer to Mac. He kept talking to him in his head, encouraging him, pleading with him not to give up. He was somewhere out there and Jack was as certain as never before that he was fighting for his life. He knew that Mac's scientific mind didn't believe in such things, but Jack was trying to send him as much hope and positive energy as possible and besides, even though it might sound strange, it helped Jack to keep his sanity. At least, it gave him something good to focus on.
While the other three were searching, Jill filled them in on more details of their findings. Gravel from the accident site was scattered all over the van's floor, mostly in the back and in front of the passenger's seat. Pieces of it had also been found under Higgs' shoes, but not under Arlington's. Obviously, Higgs had done the grabbing, while Arlington had stayed in the car, ready to drive off. There was a different kind of soil stuck to both their shoes, too. Soft, damp forest ground, like the kind you would find in the very forest they were searching right now, and additionally, another kind of gravel. This other dirt was found only in front of the front seats, which lead to the assumption that they'd hidden their captive wherever that stuff came from.
Stored under the passenger's seat, they'd also found a napkin with traces of chloroform and human saliva, which was run through a DNA test and positively matched Mac's. Besides, there was some rope, partly sawed into by some kind of blunt edge, and a bag made of black fabric in just the right size to fit over a person's head. This set of equipment caught Jack's attention.
"They were well prepared for the kidnapping. I still don't get what they wanted with Mac… Or me?"
"That's the million-dollar-question." Jill shrugged.
"What's that?" Bozer suddenly pointed to a spot on one of the countless satellite shots taken two days ago. It was barely visible, but if you looked very closely, you could see the rear end of a light colored van that was just disappearing under the foliage next to the road. All four stared at it.
"There's no official road there." Riley stated. "That van has just vanished into the forest. It must be them!" Jack already had Matty on the line and immediately got clearance to call in whomever he needed and start to follow the hidden path. They had to hurry. It was late afternoon already, which left them only a few hours of daylight. Finally, he got to do something! He was getting his boy back!
Inside a Phoenix transport chopper, 30 minutes later
The seasoned agent and Ex-Delta-soldier was in his element. The helicopter had just taken flight. Inside with him, there were Bozer and a handpicked assembly of Phoenix search-and-rescue specialists, 2 paramedics and a handful of employees who had spontaneously volunteered to help, when they heard that there still might be a chance to find MacGyver alive. Together, they were 11 well-equipped people.
Riley had stayed back in the lab. As soon as the chopper landed, she'd take control of a video drone and hopefully be able to point them in the right direction. That special drone was equipped with regular video, night vision and infrared, as well as a CO2-detector as an additional gadget. It was expected to ferret out various specimens of the larger local forest fauna, but also to be a valuable tool for finding a living human being. Riley subconsciously crossed her fingers, while she was waiting for the chopper to reach its destination. She dearly hoped that that was what they were looking for.
The flight took only a little more than 10 minutes. When the chopper touched down on the road near the place where the van had disappeared between the trees, the passengers were eager to get out and start working. One of the techs who had volunteered was preparing the drone. She was the first to leave the heli when the door was opened, set the drone safely onto the ground and signaled Riley to start it. The device took off within seconds and was expertly guided and supervised by the hacker. She steered it into the forest and made it hover along the rocky path between the trees, looking around for anything that could give them a lead.
Jack had his team check the coms one last time. They could all hear each other, and had and open line to Riley and Matty at Phoenix. They followed the drone at first, carefully scanning their surroundings for anything that looked out of place. The ground was rocky and very uneven. If Jack hadn't seen the van take this path, he wouldn't have believed that a non-off-road vehicle could manage it, but it obviously did. The reddish rocks beneath their feet didn't show any tire marks, but every now and then the search party came across a displaced piece of rock or a spot where the underside of the van had scraped over the stony surface.
They were on the right track, but their progress was slow. Under the dense foliage of the trees, it was rapidly getting dark. Although the party was equipped with flashlights, it was getting harder by the minute to spot the small and unobtrusive signs that the dirty white van had taken this route. The path twisted, turned and forked several times. Riley's drone weaved in and out of the trees, circling the forest beneath the green ceiling that was blocking the last rays of sunshine of the day. It was equipped for night vision, but the search party on the ground would soon have to call it a day, unless they wanted to take their chances with a hungry bear or other large predator looking for dinner. Riley had already spotted quite a few potential threats in the near vicinity. The forest was a refuge for all kinds of animals and not safe for humans to roam at night. Jack caught himself not caring and wanting to keep searching all night, if he had to, but he knew he had no business risking those people's lives. He had to admit grudgingly that the chances of a successful search would be so much better at daylight the next morning and without the prospect of ending as a free dinner for a hungry bear or mountain lion. Still, it would mean he had to let his kid down once again…
Matty finally called them off. Jack dutifully gathered the fanned-out team members around him and sent them the way they had come back to the helicopter. Naturally, Matty caught up on what he was doing.
"Dalton, I mean all of you!"
Jack froze. "Matty, I can't leave now. We're close, I can feel it!"
"Jack, you won't find anything in that darkness. I'm not losing you to a bear or something! You return to the chopper and come back home now!"
Jack had an idea. "Matty, wait, please! Just one minute."
"What?" Matty didn't even try to hide her annoyance.
"Riley, you can see every animal large enough to eat me with that magical gizmo of yours, right?"
Jack could practically hear her eye-roll. "It has nothing to do with magic, Jack. But yes. And there are enough of them to be more than a match for you, even with all the weaponry you carry around."
"Whose side are you on, anyway?" Jack grumbled just loud enough for the com to pick up. Matty put her foot down.
"Jack, you can't help Mac when you're dead, or missing any major body parts. This is final: You come back here and get some rest. As soon as the sun rises, you'll be back and resume the search. Am I clear?"
Jack didn't respond. There was a war going on inside him.
"Am I clear?"
"Technically I'm not even on duty…" Jack tried one last, desperate and absolutely stupid approach. Matty had had enough.
"Dalton, don't you even think about splitting hairs with me! I'll beat you in that department with both my hands tied behind my back. By the way, your people have strict orders to bring you back with them. Unless you plan to shoot them, you are coming back! Now!"
Jack looked into the faces of the men and women gathered around him. They were sympathetic, but determined. His race was run and he knew it. Mumbling and grumbling under his breath, he joined the trek back to the chopper.
Meanwhile, not too far away
Mac had fallen into a fitful sleep. He was having nightmares and didn't fully wake from them. Instead, one just blended into the other, strung together into one endless series of pain and being tortured, by a herd of small demons for instance, which were chewing on his flesh with razor-sharp teeth. They slowly tore narrow stripes of flesh away from his side, cackling shrilly when he moaned, and enjoying his pain and misery as they feasted on him.
Before he even knew it, he was cuffed to a metal chair, the demons were gone and in their place was Murdoc. The psychopath repeatedly pressed a red-hot branding iron to his side and was gleefully grinning at him when he tried to scream and didn't manage, because his mouth and throat were as dry and rough as sandpaper. All he could produce was a hoarse kind of wheeze, as his voice wasn't working at all. A dry, hacking coughing fit shook his abused body.
"Nobody's coming for you. Your friends are convinced you're dead, they've stopped looking for you. It's just you and me and we're gonna have sooo much fun!" Murdoc gloated at him and put the iron aside. He chose the by far worst tool of torture next: When his hand reappeared, it was clutching a bottle of water. Crystal clear, ice-cold water. Mac could tell it was cold by the fine layer of condensed moisture covering the bottle. Murdoc moved slowly and deliberately, making sure that the bottle stayed plainly in Mac's line of sight, when he opened the lid.
"Want some?" He asked casually. He held it in his hand, the opening drawing nearer to Mac's chipped lips. Mac could almost smell the fresh liquid, feeling the cold falling off the bottle onto his chin. He tried not to fall for Murdoc's bait, not to try and reach it, but his craving for a drink was so intense, that his body was reacting without his consent. He tried to lean forward to reach the precious liquid, but his head was firmly held in place by a belt around his forehead, which tied him to the high back of the chair. It was wound so tight that it made his head hurt. It felt like it was putting pressure on his brain. Murdoc brought the water ever closer to his dried out mouth, stopping not even an inch before touching his lips. Mac desperately put out his tongue. He could reach it, just a little farther… He closed his eyes, nearly tasting the water on his tongue already... Before he could touch the first drop, he heard Murdoc laugh hysterically, maniacally, cruelly. He could have cried in frustration, but he had no tears to shed. He should have known that he was never going to get any water. The laughter died and was replaced by a slurping noise. Mac didn't want to watch, but he couldn't help it. Murdoc was sitting opposite him, the upturned bottle at his lips and letting the water flow into his open mouth. He gulped some down as noisily as possible, but most of it just ran down his face and onto his clothes.
"Oops! How careless of me!" He mocked, looking down his drenched front. With a lot of unnecessary theatrics, Murdoc placed the open bottle with one last swallow of water in it into Mac's lap, full well knowing that his captive had no chance of reaching it, as he had taken exceptional care to make sure that his victim couldn't move one little bit. The tormentor rose from his stool and headed for the door, but turned around halfway to look at Mac.
"You don't look too good, Angus. You should take a drink." Mac let his eyes close again. Why couldn't that son of a bitch just shut up? Just this once?
When he opened his eyes next, the scenery had changed yet again. He wasn't locked in anywhere, but his hands where tied behind his back this time. He was walking, or more precise, dragging his feet through hot desert sand, and when he looked around, he saw others who were tied up like him. The group of uniformed and very miserable looking prisoners were surrounded by several heavily armed men, who were hiding their faces behind shawls and scarfs. He had never been this thirsty in his life and he realized that he'd almost entirely stopped sweating. A clear sign that he was an inch away from heat stroke. Several of his fellow captives had already succumbed to that fate.
Whenever one of the captives slowed down, they got hit hard by a rifle barrel. When Mac stumbled and fell to his knees, one of the guards rammed his barrel into his ribs and yelled at him in broken English to get up, but he was too weak and dizzy to get to his feet again. He swayed – and the man shot him. Pain exploded in his side when the bullet entered his body and he was thrown into the burning-hot sand. Lying there, too weak to move and his vision blurring quickly, he watched helplessly as his blood seeped into the sand in a steady stream and he realized that this would be the last thing he'd ever see. "Nobody's missing you!" Murdoc's voice sang in his head as he blacked out.
Jack's apartment
After yet another night full of nightmares, Jack was up and raising his caffeine level way before dawn. He forced down a stale bagel, which was a leftover from the day before, texted Riley and Bozer, got into his car and took the fastest route to the Phoenix Foundation. His two teammates both wrote back in under a minute; a sure sign that their night had been about as restful as his. It didn't matter, they would sleep when they'd gotten their friend back.
A good thing about driving this early in the morning was the relatively light traffic. OK, it was light compared to the usual standards of Los Angeles, but as Jack was well used to managing the traffic even in the worst rush hour, he could allow his mind to roam elsewhere, while steering his car like on autopilot. It was three days ago that Jack had been woken by Matty and she'd told him that his partner had presumably died in a car accident. It felt like ten years. He also looked like it had been ten years, but only if the judge on that was being nice. Realistically, it looked more like 20.
Today, something was going to happen, one way or the other. Jack had long ago learned to trust his guts and they were now telling him that today was the day when he'd find his friend. What his guts weren't telling him, was whether he'd be in time to save him. Higgs and Arlington had been killed the same day they'd taken Mac, which probably meant that he was on his own since; somewhere in that forest, he was sure of that. If MacGyver was on his own for three days and hadn't yet managed to get back home, or at least signal for help somehow, this could, in this case, only mean one of three options. 1: He was either tied up or locked in too well to free himself or contact anyone. 2: He was too hurt to do either, or 3: He was dead. No, Jack kept telling himself, 3 isn't an option!
Don't you dare dying up on me now, pal!
During the last 3 days, Jack had repeatedly wondered what he was going to do with his life without Mac at his side. When he first realized that his partner was gone for good, he wanted to quit Phoenix and being an agent immediately, but Matty had refused to accept his resignation. They'd argued and in the end, Jack had grudgingly agreed to wait. He had been taken off duty anyway, along with Riley and Bozer, so he could as well deal with the paperwork later. Because there was absolutely no way he'd stay in this job without his partner. That much was a fact. The two of them worked as a pair only. They trusted each other blindly, they worked together like parts of the same well-oiled machinery. They knew each other so well, that they didn't need many words to understand what the other was thinking, not only in the field, but also in their friendship. They knew what the other needed, and right now, Mac needed Jack to find him, badly! And Jack was going to do just that, and today, he wasn't stopping for anything until he found him!
Jack had reached his usual spot in the Phoenix parking garage already and was now heading for the elevator.
"Hey, Jack! Keep those doors open for me!"
Jack stood in the light barrier to keep the doors from closing and waited for a winded Bozer to catch up.
"Did you run here?" Jack asked him by way of a morning greeting, taking in his heavy breathing.
"Of course not! Mac's the runner, not me. I just saw you arrive and sprinted the distance from my spot to the elevator. Didn't wanna be late, you know?"
"We're early!"
"Riley is already in the War Room, has been for two hours already. She's been scouting out more of the forest with her drone to give us a lead."
Jack was impressed. He hadn't even realized that they'd left the drone there the day before. His girl had used that to start working before anybody else could.
When the two men entered the War Room a couple of minutes later, Riley was steering the little device through the woods. As there was no daylight yet, she was projecting the night vision and infrared camera footage onto the big screen. A smaller corner of the screen was dedicated to a topographical map of the area. Matty was there, too, looking totally awake and alert, as if she'd just enjoyed a good night's sleep, which she most definitely hadn't. Bozer wondered whether that woman needed any sleep at all. He, Jack and Riley were clearly showing every single hour of sleep they were lacking.
The night vision camera showed the greenish outlines of a small wooden house, when Riley landed the device.
"Batteries are dead." She explained, when the camera images flickered and vanished. Jack swore.
"What's that building?" He asked.
"It's an old abandoned ranger station. Would be a good place to hide someone for a while."
"We'll check it out when we get there. Did you get a glimpse inside?"
"Only from the front, but there was nobody in sight. Had to land, before I could get to the back. I'm glad the batteries held long enough to reach it at all. Aimee can replace them when you get there."
"Who?" Jack asked.
"Aimee Vaughan, the tech that brought the drone."
"You'll start in 10 minutes." Matty said. Jack just nodded.
Just hang on...
The helicopter landed in the clearing closest to the old ranger station this time. It was still gloomy beneath the trees, but they could see where they were going. The group had split into two parties. One, with Jack, Aimee the tech, one of the paramedics and two others went for the former station, the other, with Bozer and the rest of the people, started a search pattern towards the place where they had been forced to stop the day before.
When Jack's team reached the house, they saw that it was old and shabby, but stable. It was more a hut than a house. One story, two rooms, a smaller one to the front and a larger one to the back. Both were completely empty and the thick, undisturbed layer of dust left no doubt, that nobody had been in there for ages. Jack squeezed his eyes shut in frustration, rubbing the back of his neck. He tapped his comm.
"Riley? Nothing in the hut. Anything else to check out?"
"Except for a couple of fire lookouts there are no further buildings around there, except for the new ranger station. As that one is in daily use, they won't have hid Mac there."
"They won't have just tied him to some tree out in the open." Jack was more thinking aloud than talking to anybody. If they've done that, he's dead for sure...
Bozer's voice came over the comm. "So we have no further buildings. Fine. But what about natural shelters? I remember that there were a couple of caves mentioned on the map. Riley?"
"Yeah there are; lots of them, actually. Wait! There are three, maybe four that are accessible from the path the van took. If Mac's inside a cave, it's got to be one of them. Bozer, your group is closest. If you move north-east for about two miles, you'll stumble right into one of them."
"Roger!" Bozer and his group confirmed.
"Where do we go?" Jack asked.
"You head straight west and after three miles, you'll reach the path again, close to another cave entrance. I'll try to check out as much as possible with the drone, but I can't fly inside, there will be no reception in there."
Jack and his group followed Riley's directions. Jack was jittery and walked faster without even realizing he was doing so. They'd lost so much time again! He dearly hoped that Mac had not only shelter from the elements and hostile animals, but also at least some food and water. Three days! Mac was gone for three days now. Three days without food sucked, but didn't even come close to being life threatening. Three days without water on the other hand… Depending on temperature, constitution of the person and physical activity, that could very well be terminal. Over in the desert climate of the Sandbox, he'd seen people die of dehydration in only a couple of hours. However, if Mac was indeed inside one of the caves, it was expected to be cool in there, which would considerably extend survival time… Unless he was hurt and losing blood… Which he, judging by the stains in the van, did. Jack picked up speed yet again.
"Riley?" Bozer's voice came over the comm. "Where's the next cave?"
"What's wrong with the first one?" The hacker asked back.
"Uhm… Everything. It's caved in." Jack stopped dead in his tracks and froze.
"Caved in?" His voice shook. "Like… recently?"
Bozer knew why he was asking and hurried to reassure him. "No. By the looks of it, it has happened years ago." Jack let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding and resumed his quick walk.
Riley's voice came over the com again. "Bozer? You follow the path west, take a left turn at the next fork and after about half a mile you'll reach the next one." Bozer confirmed.
Thirty minutes later, Jack's group reached their first destination. The entrance was a gap between two tall rocks. The search party switched on their flashlights and looked around in the narrow space. Jack studied the gravelly ground intently, but he didn't find any sign that somebody had been in there lately.
"This isn't it." He declared, disappointment audible in his voice, and the group retreated. When he'd left the cave, he heard Riley's voice in his ear again.
"Jack? I think I found the right one! You go along the path uphill for about 2,000 feet. I landed the drone in front of the entrance. There's soft ground… And tire marks! It's gotta be it!"
Jack felt something like an electric jolt surge through him, when a fresh dose of adrenaline dumped into his bloodstream. They were close! Hang in there, bud!
Spurred by new hope, they were almost running towards the spot that Riley had pointed out. The distance felt to Jack like the longest 2,000 feet of his life, even compared with crawling through a minefield while being shot at. His hands were shaking and he was breathing harder than the physical activity justified. After an eternity, they saw the camera drone neatly landed on soft forest ground. It was sitting next to several tire marks and two sets of boot prints. Two? Jack studied them. Judging by the pattern, two men had been carrying something (or someone) between them. Mac! God, why did they have to carry him? Jack remembered the chloroform-soaked napkin and prayed that it was just because he was still unconscious from that, or maybe tied up. The tracks led towards an opening in the rocks, which was partly hidden by low hanging branches. Jack shoved them roughly aside and switched on his light.
"Mac? You here? MAC!" he called out loudly and listened, but got no response. His heart sank, as he proceeded further into the narrow space between the stony walls. He took in every detail. The ground was even and covered in gravel. It looked as though it had once been walked on regularly. There were a couple of low passages, where he had to duck, but finally, the tunnel opened up to and ended in some kind of chamber.
"MAC! Answer, if you can hear me! Buddy!" he yelled again, but to the same effect. He let the beam of his flashlight travel around the space.
It was empty.
A huge lump formed in his throat and he had to blink rapidly. After several deep breaths, he opened his eyes again and stared at the narrow rock, which his flashlight illuminated. A dark spot caught his eye and he got closer to have a look. When he crouched down next to it and examined the reddish-brown streak near to the ground, his insides clenched. It was unmistakably blood! Not much, but combined with the bloodstains found in the van, it meant that Mac had been bleeding enough to soak through his clothes for quite a while. Jack remembered the knife-wound his partner had sustained on their last mission and figured that the stitches must have reopened and by the height of this stain, Mac had likely been tied to that stone. Shitshitshit! He'd been there and now he was gone. They were too late!
Jack felt all the adrenaline drain from his body. He let himself sink to the ground, leaned his back against the rock Mac had been tied to before, drew up his knees, rested his elbows on them and buried his face in his hands. He didn't even try to stop the sobs that shook his shoulders. He was too late! Mac was gone! How were they going to find him now? He had failed him again…
To be continued…
