You can run, but you can't hide
"I'm thinking ultramodern furniture in the minimalist style with a touch of Indiana Jones, like overstuffed leather pillows." Bozer says as we walk up the steps to Jack's apartment.
"Oh, come on, Bozer. You're giving Jack way too much interior design credit. I do agree with you about the leather. But, like, a ton of leather. Like, if a Whitesnake concert threw up on a condo." Riley tells him and I chuckled
"Come on, Ri. Seriously. Whitesnake? That's what you think of me?" Jack asked her
"I mean, that is what everyone thinks of you." Mac says and Jack stopped and looked at him, "You wear a leather cuff, like, all the time. Even to formal occasions."
"It has significant...you know what? If you guys don't stop Jack bashing, I'm just gonna uninvite you all right now."
"Oh, come on, Jack. Don't be like that. Bozer, Riley and I have never been to your place. We can't help but wonder what chez Dalton is like." I said to him
"Exactly. We're just excited you finally asked us over, even if it is for a midweek Bruce Willis marathon." Bozer adds and Jack chuckled
"Let's go." He says and I smiled at Mac then we finished walking up the stairs, "Okay, now, I don't have a big patio with a view of the L.A. skyline, but I think you'll find the Dalton digs are a little slice of heaven." He told us and we walked through the door and he slowed down as we saw his front door was opened and we heard voices coming from inside
"Jack, why is your door open?" Mac asked and we walked in seeing a few police standing there
"Looks like you've been robbed." Riley pointed out
"Oh, man. They took my TV?! I just figured out how to work the remote." Jack says
"Well, if it makes you feel any better they left the remote." Bozer tells him holding it up and I lightly smacked his arm
"Jack, I tried calling you, but it kept going straight to voice mail." A lady told him walking over
"Yeah, that's because somebody took apart my phone to make a tracking d..." Jack started to say but stopped, "Yeah. What happened, Janese?" He asked her
"I-I came in this morning to drop off your mail, and I found this. I-I thought I was doing a good job checking on the place twice a day. I feel like a terrible neighbor. I'm so sorry, Jack."
"No, it's...I'm sorry. It's not your fault, okay?"
"Nobody saw anything out of the ordinary?" Mac asked her
"Uh, Tommy thought he heard noises late last night."
"Carrying a flat-screen down a fire escape that can't be easy." I point out
"Other than the TV and coffee table, what else is missing, Jack?" Bozer asked him
"Well, they took my Telly Savalas painting, which had cultural significance. Took all my books. My CDs. I had so many CDs."
"Can we go back to the Telly Savalas..." I started to ask but Mac shook his head at me
"And my cigar box." Jack said and went over to a cabinet, "No, they took my cigar box." He tells us and I saw heart break on his face
"Mr. Dalton?" An officer asked and Jack looked at him, "Got a list of items I'd like to talk to you about."
"My stolen stuff? Yeah."
"Actually, no. We're gonna get to those items in a minute. There's some other stuff that's still in the apartment that kind of caught our attention. Come here for a sec?" The officer asked and Jack walked over to him, "You own a samurai sword?"
"It's called a katana. And y-yes. I got it on a trip to Japan. A business trip."
"And a two-handed broadsword." The officer says
"It's, uh it's another business trip to Scotland. Big Braveheart fan."
"And there's also a World War II-era Russian sniper rifle we found in your closet." The officer tells him and Jack smiled trying to brush it off, "Those clay-more mines stashed under your bed?" The officer asked
"They're replicas. They're not even real. You know, I'm the victim here. Instead of listing all the stuff I still have, why don't we focus on what I don't..."
"Jack. Jack." Riley cut him off walking over, "It sucks. I know. But l-let's look at the big picture here. All right? It's just stuff." She tells him
"Yeah. I know, Riley. It's just stuff. It doesn't matter except for one thing."
"The cigar box." Bozer says
"Yeah."
"What was in the box?" I asked Jack
"I'd rather not say."
Mac's phone chimed, "Matty needs us." He told us, "I'll just tell her you got some things going on. Yeah?" He asked Jack
"No. No, man, it's fine. All my stuff's long gone by now, man. What does it matter? Let's just go save the world again."
"I'm so sorry, buddy." Mac tells him patting his shoulder
"Three months ago, a corruption scandal forced the president of Ecuador to resign. The very next day, Colonel Diego Zarate marched 4,000 troops into the capital and declared martial law." Matty informs us
"Yeah, this is all over the news. I tell you what. You point me in the right direction of this Zarate, and I'll put my boot right in his butt." Jack said and I looked at him
"You seem grumpier than usual, Jack. Something you'd like to share?"
"No, I'm-I'm all good here."
"Okay. Seems unlikely, but whatever. Now, as much as this will disappoint Jack, I'm not sending you to Ecuador to plant your boots anywhere. I'm sending you there to save democracy."
"Ecuador is about to hold a special election to pick their next president." Cage says
"Let me guess. This Zarate's positioning himself to be that guy." I point out
"If democracy falls in Ecuador, the entire region's in danger." Mac added
"Unfortunately, that's correct. And our only hope in stopping Zarate and saving the country is this man. Hector Leon," Matty told us bringing up a picture, "former Ecuadorian soldier turned opposition leader. Leon served as a UN peacekeeper. Iraq, Bosnia, Somalia You name a hot spot, he's been there. When Zarate seized power, Leon was the first to speak out against him. Now he's the only candidate brave enough to stay in the race. Leon's got the people, and he's projected to win by a landslide, but only if he's still alive on election day."
"Zarate's trying to kill him." Riley said
"Well, that's one way to save money on attack ads." Bozer mentioned
"So far, Leon's done a good job of hiding from Zarate's death squads. But sadly, now he has a new problem: he's actually dying." Matty told us
"Hmm. He does look pale. Sounds short of breath. Is it heart disease?" Mac asked her
"Try heart failure. If he doesn't get a heart transplant in the next 48 hours, he'll die."
"So, what do you want us to do? Find him a new heart?" Jack asked her
"There's a part of me that would just love to see what you would do with the marching orders, "Find me a heart." But, fortunately, Jack, I've already found one. The problem is it's not in the right place. I found a donor heart and a surgeon in Pasto, Colombia, and I secured an operating room in Quito, Ecuador. Mac, Jack, you'll head to Colombia and escort the doctor and the heart across the border. Val, Riley and Cage will slip into Ecuador, reach Leon, and get him to the secured hospital, where you will link up with Mac and Jack." She tells us, "We do our jobs correctly, Leon and his new heart will become one before Zarate even finds out he's sick."
"Uh everyone's got a job but me. You forgot to say what I'm doing." Bozer told her
"You're staying home. I've got a tac team heading to Germany on another mission, and they need disguises."
"On the bright side, Boze, you won't have to witness Jack commit verbal atrocities to the Spanish language." Riley told him and I chuckled
"Hey, I'll have you know my command of the Spanish language is fantastico." Jack tells her as him and Mac walked headed to the door, "My accent, perfecto. And don't make me enojado. You wouldn't like me when I'm enojado."
"You're making me enojado right now, now get out of here. Leon's corazon won't be transplanting itself." Matty tells him
"Adios, muchacha."
I rode in the car with Cage and Riley when my sat phone rang, "Hey, Matty."
"Mac and Jack have the heart and the surgeon. They're en route and six hours away. How are you, Riley and Cage doing?"
"We're just pulling up to Leon's place now." Cage tells her and we see an ambulance out front
"That's Leon." I point out as we see a gurney get wheeled up to it, "What's happening?" I asked
"Ten minutes ago, Leon collapsed in his safe house, and one of his aides called 911. EMS arrived five minutes later and they must have recognized Leon, because when they called dispatch, they referred to him by his name."
"So his illness is no longer a secret. Does Zarate know?" Cage asked her
"Not only does Zarate know, but according to our intel, he has troops mobilizing. If you two don't stop that ambulance before it reaches the hospital..."
"It won't be Leon's heart that kills him." I finished for her
"I'm trying to hack the ambulance's Bluetooth, so I can take it over remotely, but..." Riley told us as Cage followed the ambulance
"But the vehicle's too old." I point out
"Exactly, so I'm hacking the stoplights instead."
"Ambulances don't stop for lights." Cage tells her
"But they do stop for traffic jams." She says and suddenly all the cars stopped including the ambulance but then suddenly the ambulance turns driving over a curb heading down a different street
"This isn't a computer problem, this is a people problem. We've got to get ahead of them." Cage says and pulled around the car in front of us then drove over the curb heading down a different road.
"Take a left." Riley told her and she turned, we saw the ambulance and she speeds up
"So this is your solution? A game of chicken?" I asked her
"It's not a game. They're medics. Dedicated towards saving lives. They're not gonna let anyone get hurt." She says and we slammed on the breaks the same time the ambulance did then we got out and she went to the driver while me and Riley went to the back
"Out! Fuera, por favor." She tells the driver then joined us in the back after we opened the door seeing an EMT there next to Leon
"Out. Now." I said to him and he gets out then I climbed in
"Senor Leon. Mi nombre es Riley Davis. Esto es Valarie Clarke." Riley introduced and he looked at me then back at her and she continued to talk to him in Spanish and I got out walking over to Cage
"We have Leon. We're five miles from the surgery center..."
"No, no, no. Change of plans. That place is crawling with Zarate soldiers," Matty says cutting her off, "I found a new operating room, but it's 11 miles away. New facility, very private. None of Zarate's radio communications have ever mentioned it, so it looks like he doesn't even know that it exists. I'm gonna send you GPS coordinates now. Oh, and you're gonna have to keep a low profile for longer than expected. Mac and Jack ran into a little trouble at the border." She tells us and I looked at Cage.
"Why am I not surprised." I point out and Cage smiled.
"Me and Cage will take care of Nurse Ratched here, you get us a room." I tell Riley as we looked through the window of the door in the hospital seeing a nurse standing there
"I'm on it." Riley says and opened the door for us then walked past the nurse as Cage pushed the gurney up to her
"Disculpe. Tengo un paciente VIP aquí y no necesito miradas indiscretas." I said to the nurse telling her I had a VIP guest and didn't need prying eyes.
"¿Quién eres tú? Déjame ver tu identificación." She said demanding our ID's
"¿Mi identificación?"
"¡Yo soy el que está a cargo por aquí! ¿Cuál es el nombre de su paciente?" She asked for his name and Riley walked over handing me a clip board
"Ronaldo Rodriguez." I tell her handing her the chart
"I can't believe that worked. Nice Spanish Val." Riley told me as we wheel Leon into the operating room
"Thanks. Helps to take 4 years of Spanish in high school and spend 2 years in Mexico."
"Ms. Davis where are we?" Leon asked her
"A plastic surgery center. One Zarate doesn't know about. This is where you're gonna get your new heart."
"Would you hand me those?" He asked her and she walked to the other side of the bed
"You really should be resting."
"Please." He begged as she handed him the clip board while Cage grabbed the oxygen tank from the gurney and I set up and IV
"What are you writing?" Riley asked him
"The speech I was planning on delivering on election day. Just some words to encourage the people to ignore Zarate's threats, be brave, and to vote to save our nation. If I'm not here to deliver this speech, promise me you'll get it published for all to see so that someone else might continue the fight." He says to us and I nodded then Riley's phone rang.
"Do you know what you're doing?" Cage asked me as I got gloves on
"I volunteered at the local hospital during high school as a nurse. I could do this in my sleep." I tell her and continued what I was doing
"Hey, Matty, we got Leon settled at the hospital. How long before Mac and Jack arrive with that heart?" Riley asked her
"It's gonna be a minute. Right now, there's a bit of a problem."
"Whoa. Jack, you look really pale." Riley tells him and I see Mac and the surgeon walk Jack into the room
"Yeah, I know. It's not my, uh, best look."
"Jack." Cage says and walked over to him while I stood by Leon when the surgeon walked over checking him
"Okay. We got Leon. We have the heart. All set, Doctor." Mac says and the power goes out then the emergency lighting came on
"Oh for crying out loud." I mumbled
"Uh-oh. Looks like somebody forgot to pay their electric bill. This is a great time for a good heart pun. Just let me think of it. I got it." Jack says and I shook my head
"Seriously, you got to stop." Mac told him and Cage's phone rang
"Okay."
"Cage. I'm watching the electricity go out all over Quito. You guys still have power?" Matty asked her
"We're in the dark. So is the whole block. If the power's gone out all over, that's got to be Zarate. He's the only one with access to the grid."
"Zarate can't find Leon so he's cutting the whole city's power hoping to stop the surgery." Riley added
"Hey, Zarate cut the power so he could.." Jack says and I looked at him, "So he could stay in power."
"Someone help Dalton into a chair before he hurts himself." Matty says and I walked over to Jack
"Come on big guy." I tell him and pulled a wheel chair over sitting him down
"Look, the colonel is clearly willing to do anything to kill Leon. He's shutting down the city's power grid, and he's sending men to all the hospitals and clinics to find him."
"No problem. We got Mac. Mac can fix anything. You can fix this, right? Huh? All you got to do is.." Jack began to say
"All I got to do is quickly whip up a way to perform a lifesaving heart transplant."
"Yeah." Jack agreed
"In the dark. But, uh, you're right. No problem. No problem at all." Mac says
"Guys, Leon's fading fast. I need to operate now, but I can't perform surgery without power." The doctor tells us
"Just scrub in and start your prep. I'll have power back by the time you're ready." Mac told her
"You will? How?"
"Uh, not sure yet, but by the time you're ready, I'll have it figured out." He says and I see the nurse from earlier walk in with two others
"What the hell is going on in here?" She asked then looked at Leon, "Is that Hector Leon?"
"The smallest acts of courage, when done together, can move mountains. Stand with me now, and let's build Ecuador a new future together." Hector Leon wrote this speech for the people. If he doesn't get into surgery now, he won't be alive to deliver it. You can call the cops.." Riley says to the nurse
"Or you can help us save him." I tell her
"What do you need us to do?" The nurse asked
"Scrub up. I'm gonna build us a generator." Mac told her
"Well, the surgery was a success." Mac tells us while we looked into Leon's room
"Yeah, but we're too late. It's election day, and Zarate's about to declare victory on television, because nobody even knows Leon's still alive." Cage pointed out and I looked at Leon
"I think I can fix that." I said and they all looked at me, "But I'll need your help." I tell Riley and we walked away.
We stood in the room watching Leon give his speech in the suit coat I managed to find after I had Riley hack into the coverage feed and I smiled at her then Cage.
"Hey." I said to Mac walking onto his deck that night as he stood there looking off at the city
"Hey." He responded then looked forward
"Penny for your thoughts? Or in your case a paperclip." I tell him handing him one and he chuckled, "Found it on the floor."
"Nice." He tells me with a smile and started to play with it, "I was just thinking."
"Are you ever not thinking?" I asked him and he looked at me.
"Touche." He said and I smiled, "No I was just thinking about my dad, and this." He indicated to the watch, "I feel like I hit a dead end in finding him."
"You haven't found any more clues?"
He shook his head, "No, and I'm starting to think maybe...maybe I'm not meant to find him."
"Mac.."
"No Val it's just.." He sighed and faced me, "How can he leave me these clues then the trail gets cold? Does he want me to find him? Or did something happen and he wasn't able to leave any more?" He asked and I looked down
"Look Mac, I get it. I mean, my dad may be a psychotic killer with no heart but...we have no leads on him and to be honest that scares me," I tell him and he looked at me with concern, "But your dad is different, I'm sure there's a clue somewhere you just...got to keep trying, have faith and who knows you might just find him, or get the answers you need." I tell him and he gave me a small smile.
"Thanks Val."
"Anytime." I said and turned back to face the city and so did he
"We'll find Murdoc." He says and I feel him put his hand on mine, "I promise." I looked at him and smiled then before I knew it we both started to lean in towards each other, we were just a few inches apart and my heart was pounding like crazy when we hear Bozer yell for Mac then we moved away from each other and I looked down at the ground hearing Bozer come out onto the deck.
"Oh, hey Val."
"Hey Boze." I replied then glanced at Mac before looking away, "I'll um see you later." I tell them and left then got into my car trying to calm my heart down leaning my head against the seat.
"Holy shit."
A/N: Court~ Thank you again for the nice review it means so much to me and I'm really glad you are enjoying this story :)