Thanks for no death threats! 'Twas a pleasant surprise! ;) But I'm glad you all seemed to like the twist :D Here's the next chapter, lemme know what you think!
Newp, still not mine
Thornton's eyes widened almost imperceptibly at Riley's declaration that Christiansen was in the hospital, and she immediately took off down the hallway for the elevator. "Lock this place down!" she ordered, turning back to Riley for a moment. Riley didn't respond; she was already hacking into the hospital's security system.
Thornton got on the phone, requesting all agents to spread out and cover all areas of the hospital while she was on the elevator, foot tapping impatiently. The elevator dinged and the doors opened, allowing Thornton to once more hurry down the hallway. As she neared Mac's room, she slowing to a stop and pulled out her gun. The nurses around her gasped and shrieked, but she didn't pay them any mind as she crept towards the closed door. She reached out and grasped the handle, shoving the door open and aiming her gun in the room. The sight that greeted her made her stomach drop.
Jack Dalton was on the floor, a burger dropped beside him, and MacGyver's bed was empty. She cleared the room quickly, then pulled out her phone. "MacGyver's gone," she said to the person on the other end of the call. "I repeat, MacGyver is gone. Search the whole hospital."
She hung up and called Riley as she bent down next to her unconscious agent. "Riley," she said. "Mac's gone. I need you to run a search through all the security feeds," she instructed. "Can you see where Christiansen is now?" she asked.
"Running the trace on his phone now, and running a search through the security cameras," Riley informed her boss. "Okay, got a lock on Hunter's phone. I can't get exact details, but I can tell you that he's still in the hospital," she said.
"Search any cameras close to Mac's room," Thornton ordered. "I need you to send out an alert to any agent here in the hospital to be on the lookout for Christiansen and Mac, especially any of the exits and entrances," she ordered. "Let me know as soon as you find anything; I need to check on Jack."
"Got it, boss," Riley confirmed. The two of them hung up and Thornton immediately made her way back to the older agent, who was just beginning to stir.
"Jack?" Thornton asked. "Jack, can you hear me?"
"Wh...wh't happen'd?" he slurred when he finally opened his eyes.
"We were hoping you could tell us," Thornton replied. "Mac's been taken," she stated. Jack's eyes shot open and he sat up quickly, groaning and putting his hand to his head when his head disagreed with that decision.
"Taken?" he clarified.
"Unless this was some elaborate game of hide and seek that Mac really wanted to win," Thornton commented drily.
"Wish that was it," Jack muttered, looking around the room.
"What do you remember?" Thornton asked as Jack sat on the bed.
"Not much," the man admitted apologetically. "Mac and I were just talking, then there was a massive pain on my head. Waking up is the next thing I remember," he explained. Thornton's phone began ringing, and she picked it up immediately.
"Riley, please tell me you've got something," she implored.
"Long story short, I found a video of Mac being pushed in a wheelchair away from his room towards the elevator going down, so I canvassed the cameras at all the floors, and I found a feed only a few minutes old of Hunter pushing a wheelchair in the the southeast parking garage!" Riley said. "I've already alerted agents closest to there, and they're heading over right now."
"So am I," Thornton informed Riley. When she started to stand up, Jack grabbed her arm.
"I'm coming too," he stated.
"Jack, you need to get checked over by a doctor," Thornton said, shaking her head.
"What happened to Jack now?" Riley asked, still on the line. Thornton ignored the hacker for a moment as Jack continued his argument.
"Plenty of time to do that after we get Mac back," Jack insisted, standing up. He patted around his waist, suddenly realizing there was a familiar weight missing. "Patty, he took my gun," he informed his boss gravely.
"Riley?" Patricia said to the hacker.
"Already on it," Riley replied, seeming to read her boss's mind. "Just sent out an alert that Hunter is armed and dangerous."
"I'm on my way now," Thornton informed Riley. "Call if there's any major change before I get there."
"You got it," Riley said before hanging up.
"Patty, I'm comin' whether you like it or not," Jack informed his boss stubbornly. "So you can either let me come willingly and let me have a backup gun, or I can just go in unprotected. Potentially get Mac shot and/or killed," he added. Thornton rolled her eyes, but she couldn't waste any more time, so she pulled out her spare gun and handed it to Jack.
"Just don't shoot any of the good guys because you're unable to focus," she implored. Jack checked the magazine out of habit as he followed his boss down the hallway.
"Don't worry about me," he assured her.
"I'm taking the stairs," Thornton stated. They were only on the third floor of the hospital, and Thornton knew she could make it down three flights of stairs before the elevator would be able to make it down. "Jack, you take the elevator, come in behind him if you can."
"Are you just trying to get me to take it easy by riding the elevator?" he asked incredulously.
"Jack, stop arguing with me!" Thornton ordered. Jack shook his head, but he did go for the elevator while Thornton took the stairs.
0-0-0
A Few Minutes Earlier
Christiansen shut the door quickly, then lunged for MacGyver, who had reached for the 'call' button. The politician grabbed Mac's hand before he could press it, twisting it around so that MacGyver had to let go of the button with a yelp. Hunter pulled on Mac's arm, yanking him out of the bed and depositing the kid on the floor with a thud. MacGyver grunted as he made contact with the hard floor.
Hunter grabbed a wheelchair from the corner of the room and dragged it over. He set it up, then grabbed MacGyver, who was trying to use the bed to climb back up. He grabbed the kid by the shoulders and lifted him into the chair. MacGyver was surprised by the amount of upper-body strength the politician had.
Hunter wrestled with MacGyver to keep the young man in the wheelchair as he pulled out zipties. MacGyver was putting up quite a fight, and he actually began to get away from Hunter. In frustration, Hunter kicked Mac's injured leg, and the young man immediately stopped struggling. He groaned and leaned forward to try and grab at his leg, but Hunter pressed him back into the chair, securing his wrists to the arms of the wheelchair with zip ties.
"Cheap...shot," Mac grunted out painfully, glaring at Christiansen in loathing. The politician shrugged.
"No one ever said I had to play fair," he pointed out. "Now," he said, walking over to Jack's unconscious body and taking his gun out of his holster. "You're going to behave yourself, yes?" he asked sweetly.
"Probably not, no," Mac shot back.
"That is unfortunate," Hunter said as he cocked the hammer on Jack's weapon. "Because any attempt to call for help will end with that person's untimely demise, as well as anyone else who is around to hear," Christiansen threatened as he set the gun in MacGyver's lap, then covered it with a blanket.
"You're willing to kill doctors and nurses?" MacGyver asked dubiously. "You couldn't even kill Jack and I the first time; you sent Carter and his men do it!"
"Well, it's like that old saying goes. If you want something done, and your men are apparently too stupid to do it," Christiansen said, pausing to bend down and zip tie MacGyver's good leg to the footstand on the chair. MacGyver noticed that Christiansen didn't secure his injured leg, which immediately sent his brain into overdrive, thinking of different ways he could use that to his advantage.
"Maybe rethink who you hire?" Mac finished snarkily, tugging on the restraints in a vain effort to get away.
"You've got a smart mouth, kid," Hunter growled as he straightened back up.
"Got a smarter brain," MacGyver informed the politician. The agent could see Hunter's fist opening and closing in an attempt to remain calm.
"We are going to take a walk. You are going to sit there and act like a good patient, and if you don't do anything stupid, no one else has to get hurt," he explained as he wheeled the chair over to the door. He opened it and pushed MacGyver out into the hallway, quietly shutting the door again before he began walking down the hallway towards the elevator.
MacGyver knew his options were limited with his hands tied to the wheelchair, and he didn't want to take the gamble of Hunter's threat to kill whoever Mac tried to warn. He glanced around, noticing a security camera blinking at him. He stared intently at the camera, mouthing the word "help" over and over again until they passed out of the camera's sight.
Christiansen pushed the call elevator button, and the two of them waited for the doors to open. While they were waiting, they both noticed another nurse coming down the hallway towards them. "Not a word," Hunter muttered as he plastered a smile on his face.
"Howdy," the nurse greeted.
"Hey," Christiansen replied. MacGyver gave a slight nod and a tight smile as his greeting. The nurse stared at Hunter for a minute.
"I'm sorry, you look really familiar," he said. "Have we met?"
"I mean, it's a hospital. I'm sure we've crossed paths on an occasion or two," Hunter replied with a chuckle.
"Maybe," the nurse said, trying to study Christiansen's face. The elevator dinged, and Hunter immediately pushed the wheelchair into the elevator car.
"Sorry, we've really gotta be going," he apologized to the nurse. The doors closed, and Hunter patted Mac on the shoulder. "Good job, kid," he praised. "Maybe no one else'll have to get hurt after all!"
"You realize if you do this, your career is over, right?" Mac pointed out as the elevator began descending.
"It was over the minute that idiot Carter got himself caught in a hostage situation," the politician growled. "I knew it was only a matter of time before he was caught, and I knew the burner number on his phone could be traced to me. But with you, I have the chance to get away, get a new start," he said.
"You can't think that people aren't gonna notice something's weird at an airport?" Mac asked, jerking on his arms to emphasize. "You got lucky the nurse wasn't paying enough attention to me to notice the zip ties. Other people are going to be more observant."
"That's why we're not going to a public airport," Hunter sneered as the doors opened, revealing the parking garage. "There are some great perks to being a well-known politician. People owe you favors. One of the men who owes me a favor happens to own a jet, and he is waiting to fly us to a non-extradition country. Once we're there, maybe I'll let you go," he mused.
"No you won't," Mac said in an almost bored-sounding voice. He knew there was no way he was going to survive if he actually got on that plane with the politician.
"You're right," Hunter agreed.
"So why not just kill me now and get it over with?"
"Really?" Hunter asked, sounding disappointed. "First of all, you're just my getaway ticket. As long as I've got you, people aren't gonna try anything stupid."
"You could have just said I'm a hostage," Mac pointed out drily. "Y'know, like I was less than six hours ago, when your man Carter botched the job? Remember how well taking hostages worked out for him?"
"Okay, it's time for you to stop talking now," Christiansen said crankily. MacGyver saw a small pothole coming up in the parking lot, and his brain immediately came up with a plan.
Usually I wouldn't be this happy to see a pothole, I admit. I may be into weird things, but potholes are not one of them. Also gotta say...I know this is gonna hurt really bad, and it might not even work, but someone has to have noticed that something's wrong by now, so if I can get even just a few seconds of stalling, maybe someone will catch up with us.
"I could stop talking," Mac admitted, preparing himself for the pain that would be assaulting his leg soon. "Or I could do this."
He timed it just right, and he put his unbound, injured foot down in the pothole. The wheelchair flipped over, throwing Christiansen off-balance. MacGyver tried to keep his head high to keep it from hitting the pavement. That worked, but unfortunately, his shoulder took the full weight of his body as the chair came to a rest, a few feet away from the pothole. The blanket came off of Mac's lap, and he heard the gun clattering away. He was slightly shocked the weapon didn't go off. Grateful, but shocked.
MacGyver grit his teeth as the pain assaulted his leg, which was screaming at him for being such a dummy. His shoulder was now adding in its cries of protest as well. Mac stared sideways as Christiansen got up from where he had tripped, coming over to Mac with a murderous look in his eyes.
"You really shouldn't have done that," he growled.
"What're you gonna do?" Mac challenged from the ground. "Kill me? We both know you won't do that, at least not until you're out of the country," he reminded the politician.
"I might not be able to kill you just yet," Hunter agreed. "But I can cause you more pain than you've ever felt before," he added.
"Are we talking physical or emotional? Because I've been hit pretty hard in both categories, and I'd like to see you try and top either of those experiences," Mac snarked. Hunter smirked and crouched down, grabbing Mac's leg with both hands and squeezing. MacGyver squeezed his eyes and mouth shut, digging his forehead into the asphalt of the parking garage.
"How'm I doing so far?" Hunter asked cruelly. The pain and pressure continued for a moment longer, but before long, Hunter and Mac heard a car door open, and a familiar voice called out,
"Mr. MacGyver?"
Mac and Hunter both looked up to see Faith and Hope standing by their running car, peering out from behind the car doors. The two women realized what was going on, and Christiansen knew he had been caught. His eyes flicked to the side where the gun had fallen, and MacGyver knew he had to get the women out of there.
"Faith, Hope, go now!" he shouted. Hope jumped back in the driver's seat as Christiansen dove for the gun, which had fallen a little more than five feet away from MacGyver. Hunter grabbed the gun and immediately straightened and turned around, intending to aim and fire the weapon at the two old women. Before he had the chance to pull the trigger though, Hope's car hit him. It wasn't a hard hit, the car couldn't have even been going more than five-to-seven mph, but it was still enough to send the politician sprawling on his butt. Mac's face split into a grin despite the pain he was feeling as Hope put her car in park and she and Faith hurried over to him.
The doors to the stairwell burst open, and Phoenix agents poured through the doorway. Patricia was among the agents that poured through, and Riley came through the door a few moments later, slinging her backpack onto her shoulder.
"Mac!" a shout came from behind. MacGyver recognized the voice of his older partner immediately, and he felt relief wash through him as he realized his friend was alright.
"Mac!" the young hacker yelled, hurrying over to her friend. She and Jack reached Mac at almost the exact same time.
"Dude, what were you thinking?!" Jack asked, trying to stay calm as he cut the zip ties binding his friend's wrists to the arms of the wheelchair.
"Thinking?" panted MacGyver. "You mean when I didn't fight back against Christiansen after he threatened to kill anyone I talked to, or when I jammed my leg into the pothole to stall for time?" he asked snarkily.
His leg felt like it had lightning firing through it, and his shoulder felt like it had been rubbed raw through the thin hospital clothing. He glanced down and realized that it actually had been rubbed raw. The cloth covering the his shoulder had ripped, and his left shoulder had a nasty road rash on it.
"Both!" Jack replied, gently pulling his friend up. Hope righted the wheelchair, then looked at Jack.
"He's probably going to actually want to sit in this," she said, noticing how pale and shaky the blond looked.
"Good call," Jack agreed, easing MacGyver into the upright wheelchair.
An agent hauled Christiansen to his feet, and Faith walked over to him. "You're the man behind all this?" she asked crossly. Hunter didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. "Shame on you," she said, slapping him across the cheek. Patricia's eyebrows raised in amusement, but she didn't do anything to stop it.
Hope followed her sister up to the politician as well. Once her sister moved away from him, Hope slapped his other cheek. "We'll be sending you the bill for everything damaged in our home during the attack from your men," she informed him coldly.
"Yeah, well you hit me with your car," Hunter griped at her as his hands were cuffed behind his back. "I'm gonna bring a lawsuit against you so big it'll take your grandchildren years to pay it off!" he threatened.
"Hit you with their car?" Mac asked from the wheelchair. "I didn't see that," he informed Christiansen smugly. "Did anyone see it?" he asked, looking around at the Phoenix agents in the parking garage. A chorus of 'no's' emitted from everyone, and Thornton looked at Christiansen with a smug look of satisfaction.
"The security tapes will prove everything," he insisted pompously. Thornton raised her eyebrows once more in amusement as she glanced at Riley.
"Will they now?" Riley asked as she pulled out her computer. "Hmm...because that's not what they're showing me," she replied. She hit a few keys on her keyboard, then after a moment, she turned her laptop around so Hunter could see what was on the screen.
Everyone watched as the tapes showed Christiansen wheeling MacGyver through the garage. They watched MacGyver trip the both of them, and the next thing the tapes showed was Christiansen on the ground while Hope was hurrying over to MacGyver with her sister.
"From what it looks like," Riley said. "These two women saw someone in need of help and they stopped their car to get out and see what they could do," she said with a smirk. Hunter's face looked like a chilli pepper and he sputtered, trying to come up with an argument as he was led over to a car that had just pulled up. Thornton walked over to the car as he was loaded into it.
"You know, if you really wanted to play in my league," Thornton said before the door was shut on Christiansen. "You really should have gotten a team that's qualified to play against my people."
The door shut on the politician's angry face and the car drove away. Thornton turned to her team. MacGyver was sitting in the wheelchair. He was pale, shaky, and sweaty, but triumphant-looking. Jack and Riley were standing on either side of him, and Faith and Hope were behind the wheelchair. They all seemed to be unconsciously forming a protective circle around their injured friend. Thornton smiled slightly and walked over to them.
"I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you getting into trouble, can I?" she asked with half-fake exasperation.
"Guess not," MacGyver replied with a smirk.
"Well, something tells me we should probably get you checked out. Again," Thornton said, shaking her head in mild disbelief and amusement.
"Definitely," Jack agreed.
"Traitor," MacGyver muttered.
"Always," Jack said pleasantly as he pushed the wheelchair back towards the elevator. "Let's try to avoid crazy, homicidal politicians this go-round though, yeah?" he suggested. MacGyver laughed.
"Yeah, I guess I can agree to that," he said as the elevator doors closed and they began their ascent up to the main floor of the hospital.
So? Sorry the action only lasted a chapter longer :/ It just felt right... Unfortunately, I think this story only has one or two more chapters, but worry not :) I've got plenty more stories in the works :)
What did you all think?
