Chapter seven
As dawn found them, Nikki's naked body was rolled in a soft plaid and she rested on Mac's bare shoulder. He was contemplating the ceiling, one arm around her, thinking about how strange life was. His wound had prevented him from satisfying his own body, yet he had found a great pleasure in giving her his full attention. He was also deeply touched by the respect and understanding she had showed him when the conversation had gone on the subject he feared the most. He had not realized it then, but the more he thought about it, the deeper the feeling of her respect for him touched him. If she could keep it that way, he felt he actually could come to be less afraid by the idea of commitment.. It was too early to know of course, they had only been together for a few weeks, it was not really love, but it felt good and secure. As for children... He always thought he would like to have one, he loved kids and they usually loved him too. But never having been able to commit to a potential mother, he had always kept away from the idea. It would be nice to have kids. Wasn't it strange to feel less scared of having a kid than to commit to a woman? Having a child was the strongest commitment he could ever make, and yet, it did not scare him. That kind of commitment felt just fine, he knew he could be a good father. A very good father indeed. But well, again, it was just an idea, it would probably never happen. He wondered what Nikki's dreams were when it came to children?
As sun rays entered the house boat, Mac stood up, found his sweater and went silently to the kitchen to prepare some pancakes. As he was opening the oven to keep the first ones warm, Nikki woke up: "Hi. Mmmm, smells good! What are you doing?"
Mac: " My famous whole wheat banana pancakes! Slept well?"
Nikki: "Wonderful. Your couch is very comfortable you know?"
Mac: "Yeah, I've had a couple of nights on it myself"
Nikki stood up, and warping the plaid around her she joined Mac in the kitchen. She cuddled up with him: "I had a wonderful night, thank you" He smiled and kissed her softly.
"I don't think you'll have time for more than a very quick shower before this is ready. But you'll find a robe in the bathroom, could be more convenient than holding the plaid while eating your breakfast"
When she came down, the table was dressed and warm pancakes awaited.
"Splendid!" she said appreciatively. "Or how to start a delightful day" He smiled at her before pouring tea in her cup.
Mac was sitting in the bus, waving to Nikki who grew smaller and smaller as the bus drove away. There was only three other passengers and they sat each at their end of the bus, so Mac rolled his jacket under his head and was soon dozing. He woke up in the middle of the day and had a snacks while he looked around at the landscape. He was glad that he was not driving that never-ending road himself. At last he arrived at destination. The car rental was just back the bus stop, and he could see a sign to the motel a little further up the road. That was a little town alright! He walked to the motel to drop his stuff and phone Pete and Nikki, letting them know he had arrived. Then he went to the local bar and enjoyed a simple but large meal. The day had been long, sitting in that bus, so he decided to take a walk before sunset. The nature was beautiful but he knew it could get quite chilly at night so he took a little rucksack with an extra jacket and some snacks. He run the first kilometers so as to use some of his energy, as well as for checking how his ribs would respond. He could feel it was not completely healed but he managed to run and was happy to be able to do so. The day after, he walked from the motel on a large round trip that covered five of his sample spots. Then he would have eight left for the day after, but he would need to rent a car as the area was too far away to walk to.
It was dark when he came back to the motel after his first day. A car was now parked in font of the room next to his, and he could hear a child complaining from inside. He went to his room to drop the rucksack and take a shower, then he went out again to get some food. While he was eating a well earned meal, he studied the map over the area he would cover the day after. Back at the motel, he did not switch the lights on but went directly to the bathroom, then to bed. He was taking his clothes off when he noticed a shadow in front of his window, someone was trying to see inside his room... The door knot was slowly turned, and as the door was locked, the knot was turned silently back to place. The shadow walked past his window again and disappeared. Mac ran to the window, trying to see who it was and where it went. It looked like the person went in the room next to his, and he heard the door closing. This was very strange! His first thought was the Russians. But he knew they were in jail. Then Murdoc. But even if Murdoc was alive, he would probably not be fit enough to follow Mac so soon after his fall from the Widowmaker. Who could that be?! Mac slowly opened his door and had a careful look through the neighbor's window. He could only see a woman with a woolen shawl and a little boy with jeans overall and very short ginger hair. The boy was sitting on the bed, sobbing, the woman speaking nicely to him, offering a cup of what looked like warm cocoa. The boy refused it and turned his back to her, so she put it back on the table. Mac could see nothing strange. He waited a little so as to see if there was someone else in the room, but as he could not see anything alarming, he went back to his room, wondering if the shadow could have been the woman? Perhaps she wanted to check that they had no neighbor so as to make sure the child would not disturb anyone? He went to bed and mentally prepared his trip for the day after, when he jumped as the child next room was suddenly shouting. He could not distinct the words, but that child was angry alright. Angry and... scared? There was something in the tone of the boy that made Mac run to the bathroom to fetch a glass which he applied against the wall. He pressed his ear against it and listened. "I want to go home!" cried the child. "Take me back, I want my Ma!" The voice of the woman came muffled and it was difficult to understand the words, but she was speaking calmly. It sounded like she managed to calm him down and it was silent again. Mac kept listening for a while but did not hear more. He wondered what that was about, was the child on a trip with some relative and did not want to go? Well, that was probably nothing to worry about. He went to bed and fell asleep.
Early in the morning, Mac parked his rented car on a rest area along the road, and taking his backpack he walked toward the first sample spot on the map. The forest was damping from the night's humidity and he enjoyed the scents of humus, the sound of a running creek and the birds' songs. He felt he was lucky who had such a job that sent him on missions feeling more like holidays than work. He checked his GPS, followed the creek for five more minutes and fetched a test tube in the rucksack. He filled it with water from the creek, corked it and put it back in its holder in the backpack. Then he walk toward the next plot on his map. The round trip for all the five samples took him four hours. He enjoyed his lunch on a little hill from where he had a nice view. The rest area was within a stone's throw away, so he could hear before he saw that someone was having troubles with a car back there. When he arrived, a woman was trying to open the smoking hood of a brown car. Mac let his backpack in his car and went to her: "Hi" he said, which made the woman jump in surprise. "Sorry, I did not mean to scare you. Mind if I have a look?" The woman smiled at him in a strange way, like she wasn't really happy for the company but felt she did not have much choice. However, she used a very friendly tone to answer: "Yes of course, please! I don't know what happened to this car, I never had problems with it before"
Mac: "Well, it looks like it got too warm, that's all. We will have to wait so that it cools down before we can open the radiator and fill it" Mac recognized his neighbor from last night, the woman with her woolen shawl and her calm voice.
Mac: "You're not usually driving long distances with that car, are you?" Reluctant to answer his question, the woman just shook her head. He insisted: "I don't know how far your car can hold before you have to pay a visit to a garage" The explanation seemed to relax the woman's suspicion. She told him that the car was mostly used for short distances but that she and her son were taking a holiday and they would be driving quite much, so if he could help them to fix the car she would be most grateful.
Mac: "I can check the liquid levels for you but without tools there isn't much more I can check. Do you have a bottle or something? We will need some warm water to fill the radiator" The woman went to the car and found an empty bottle. "Johnny!" she said to the boy in the car "You will go to the lavatories and get some warm water please" Without a word, the boy took the bottle and went to the lavatories. Mac couldn't help noticing that he had gone to the ladies.
When he came back, he handled the bottle to Mac but did not let go of it. He was looking at Mac as if he had seen a ghost... Mac smiled and thanked him. Then the boy released the bottle and cast a glance at his mother, who was observing him carefully. "Go back in the car now Johnny please" she said in a soft but yet cold voice. Menacing, Mac thought... The boy was hesitating. "Er... Yes Mother" Mac filled the radiator, advised the woman to stop at the next garage to get the car checked, and wished her and her son a pleasant holidays. Then he sat in his own car and drove away. He had had an unpleasant feeling about this woman all along and was glad to leave. He had noted her car number, just in case. There was probably nothing but he had a feeling...
The next sampling area was a little more than one hour driving away, but he had only three samples to take there. As he passed a little town on the way, he filled the tank and phoned Pete about the car. Then he bought some snacks and phoned Pete again to hear if he had anything on the woman.
Pete: "The car is registered to a Mrs Austin. Do you have a description of this woman? She live in the same neighborhood as a little girl that disappeared yesterday"
Mac: "She had a boy with her, no girl. She is of middle height, bony profile, protruding blue eyes, reddish hair, in her forties"
Pete: "Sure it was a boy? Got a description of him?"
Mac: "Very short ginger hair, freckles, brown eyes, about eight, ten year-old. She called him Johnny"
Pete: "Then it is probably nothing wrong with her. Want me to check with the police?"
Mac: "You are probably right, but check it out anyway. I had a strange feeling, something was not as it should be. There was something the boy said yesterday... That he wanted to go home to his mom or something. I thought then that she would be some relative, but today he called her Mother"
Pete: "I'll check. Give me a call in one hour"
Mac: "Pete, I'll drive to my next area. I phone you as soon as I find a phone, right?"
Pete: "Right. Drive carefully now"
Mac: "Yes mom"
He was driving through a no man's land and it took a while before he could find a gas station from where he could call Pete back.
Pete: "Ah! It's you! What took you so long?!"
Mac: "Well, there was no..."
Pete: "Doesn't matter, listen! The description of the woman you saw corresponds to this Mrs Austin. She is living alone, not very social. Her caretaker says she never took a holidays since she moved inn 4 years ago. And that she has no children"
Mac: "No children? So the boy...?"
Pete: "Exactly! The police is closing the roads to Canada now"
Mac: "I told her to check on the car in the next town, want me to drive back?"
Pete: "No Mac, she's probably passed you by now, but the police is informed, they will have an eye on her and this little girl. There's no much more you can do now, nice job!"
Mac left the main road to a forest lane and followed it for some miles before he spotted the path he was looking for. He grabbed his rucksack and the map, checking on the GPS that it was the right place to start from, then he walked briskly toward the first afternoon's sampling spot. It was about five o'clock when he placed the day's eighth sample with the others in the backpack's holder. On his way back, he spotted a cabin with smoking pipe, which was uncommon this time of the year as the area was mostly used by town people during week ends and holidays. Feeling social, Mac made his way toward the cabin. Someone was sitting on a chair under the porch. The poor man had bandages on the head, plaster cast on one arm, and from the look of the blanket on his lap, he also had one on a leg. At first Mac felt compassion for the wounded man, but as he came closer, he froze in astonishment and horror! Murdoc had also recognized him and was pulling a bazooka from under his blanket! "Hello MacGyver!" the madman laughed, aiming at him. Mac, running away for dear life, felt the blast and the warmth from the explosion in his back. He heard yelling as Murdoc was calling for his accomplices to run after him. "It's not possible! It's not possible! He is dead! He has to be dead! That's a nightmare!" thought Mac who could not make sense of it! Bullets were fired at him but they were still far away, he had a fair chance to escape. Holding his ribs, he ran all he could to the car, but as he spotted it, he brutally stopped. Someone was standing there. It was the boy with ginger hair!
Coming back to his senses, Mac ran to him: "Johnny? What are you doing here?"
Johnny: "Please don't be mad at me!"
Mac: "Are you alone here? Where is your mother?"
Johnny: "She is not my mother. I don't want to go back! Please! Don't take me back to her!"
Mac, trying to calm the child, made him climb in the car and, checking for Murdoc's accomplices, he drove away as fast as he could. Then, he asked the boy to tell him what had happened. "I saw you at Mr Huntman's shop the other day. You are the man with the jeep, you were late. I saw you, I often sit there after school. When I recognized you this morning, I thought you could take me home so I hide in your trunk when Mrs Austin told me to go back in her car"
Mac: "In my trunk? Oh man!" he sighed... "You've been in my trunk all afternoon? And Mrs Austin? She's the woman who was with you? I thought she was your mother"
Johnny: "No, she is not! She took me to her flat yesterday, it was raining and she said she would give me a cup of cocoa. Then, I fell asleep. When I woke up, we were driving in her car. She said I had to call her Mother. She thinks I am Johnny, but I am not, he is dead"
Mac: "Er... What? Wait a minute! Who is Johnny then? And you... Who are you?"
Johnny: "Johnny is her boy. He drowned in the harbor when he was 4. She took me with her and cut my hair so I would look like a boy, she thinks Johnny's come back. But I am not Johnny, my name is Melissa and I want to go to my Ma"
TBC...
