Mac could remember bits and pieces of the trip or what had conspired during that time, but he foggily remembers stopping and Murdoc strapping something into the seat next to him. It hurt him to try and remember anything more.
He shook his head to clear the thoughts and closed his eyes to get rid of the blue film that covered his eyes. He knew they were moving again, the gentle purr of the engine let him know before the blurred figures flying past him told him so. A new unfamiliar sting on the lower half of his leg, one that bothered him a lot. What happened? When did I get this? He couldn't see it but he felt the way the fabric of his pants stuck to his leg he knew it had to be less than a few hours ago.
"What is that?" Mac nodded his head in the direction of a-Mac's heart dropped. It was a car seat, one that was too small for Cassian. "What's it for?"
"Glad to see you awake after your failed attempt!" Murdoc was as cheerful as ever.
"My what?!" Mac skimmed through what was left of his memory, nothing. He had no knowledge about any escape attempt. All he knew was he head hurt worse than before and his leg had a dull sting in it.
"Oh my! You don't remember do you?" Murdoc's voice became low and condescending. "Well, that might have something to do with your little head injury."
"What is the car seat for?"
"No, the correct question to ask would be who is the seat for. And we went over this once before. Before you tried what you tried and I did what I had to do."
"What did you do?" Mac fixed his positioning and grunted at the littlest movement so he gave up and decided to stay where he was.
"This is too great MacGyver!" Murdoc laughed. "Your head injury is getting worse and worse, and we are getting further and further from anyone that once cared about you."
"Once?" Mac whispered. He knew that all of this is just part of Murdoc's mind games, even down to the wording. Mac cleared his throat and spoke louder. "What did you do?"
"You can feel pain correct? Or did some brain injury severe some tie to the nerves that cause pain?" Murdoc glanced back. "I shot your leg. It's just a graze. Not much damage but it sure did stop you from what you were doing."
Oh great, that's what that is. Who is the car seat for? Not Cassian, he doesn't have any relatives...I think. It hurts. Jack help. Mac swallowed hard and asked again. "Who is the seat for?"
"We've already gone through this." Murdoc shook his head out of frustration. "I am not going to keep telling you if you are just going to keep forgetting it."
"Forgetting what?" Mac's head swung to one side and his eyes fluttered open again.
"I was hoping you'd stay lucid for a bit longer. I guess these things can't be helped after all."
"What things?" Mac's mind blurred ideas, sentences, and words together, unable to tell which part belonged to which.
Silence fell in the car as Mac waited for a response. Nothing. No words came. Just the sounds of other cars flying by.
"Who is the car seat for?"
"Shut up and put your head down." Murdoc was no longer laughing or teasing Mac due to his inability to form anything but questions.
"What? Why?"
"Do as I said." Murdoc snapped.
"What's happening?"
"Put your damned head down!" Murdoc had enough of Mac. Not that he wasn't still inspired by him, just that if he had to deal with him he'd rather do it while Mac was at full strength.
Mac meekly did what he was told because even in a confused state he knew better than to piss off a man with a gun when he could not do anything to stop from getting shot.
"That's a good Boy Scout." Mac cringed and blinked sluggishly.
They were pulling over. What's going on? Everything began to begin to cut in and out. One moment they were pulled over the next Murdoc was standing outside of the car and another the back passenger side down opened and there were voices. So many voices and figures everywhere. Jack help me.
Mac's head stopped for a solid moment.
"Who's that?" A female voice with a Russian accent gestured towards Murdoc.
"Just my special guest. I talked about him briefly." Said Murdoc.
"I see. He will no be a problem I assume?"
"No. No. I told you, I am not sloppy. If he would have been interference, he wouldn't have made it this far." Mac swallowed hard. His head hurt too bad to come up with a witty comeback before his head began to spin again.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jack shook his head. "What the hell girl?"
"What?" Rena asked innocently.
"Matty will have my head if anything happens to you."
"We were fine Jack!" She protested.
"Hanging off the side of a semi with an automatic pointed your way is not my definition of fine!" Jack shook his head again. "Fine is sipping a cold beer next to a pool on a weekend!"
"At least it worked," Rena looked at Riley who had met them in the hallway before the War Room. "Correct Riley?"
"Yeah, it did." Riley looked over at Jack. "Don't worry you won't have to explain anything to Matty, the satellite cams caught it all."
"What? Oh please tell me she doesn't have that look on her face."
"Which look?" Rena looked at Riley for hopes of an explanation.
"Oh trust me, kid, you do not want Matty to give you the look. That thing will make your brains melt from the inside out."
"Is that what happened to you, Jack?" Riley turned to walk back in the War Room before Jack could create a comeback.
"Hey, watch it Ri." He called.
"Jack," Rena laughed. "Let's go in a see what we can find out."
"That's the plan."
"Good work Sirena." Matty greeted them as they walked in, "Jack your driving can use a little work but all in all five out of ten."
"Five? That's all I get?" Jack stood astonished.
"Back to business," Matty's tone became flat. "Thanks to your hard work we were able to get the other three semi's locations. But unfortunately, the final semi had already been picked up.
"Did you talk to the driver of the fourth one?" Jack lowered his view to the file of a middle age man who just happened to be the truck driver.
"Kage did and what she found was an empty lot with no cameras anywhere for twelve miles with over thirty-two different roads leading out. Not one of them caught a single car leaving to get on the freeway. Not one."
"Whats the search radius?"
"Well from where we found the semi and when the driver picked it up, about 60 miles and that was ten minutes ago." Everyone stood silently in the room.
Rena read the room and knew everyone was trying to find out possible solutions. "I have to ask, were there any indications that Agent MacGyver was even in that semi?"
"Yes, there was," Matty looked at the ceiling and turned around to click the screens. "Blood and other bodily fluids were found in and around the bed that is located in the back of the truck." The images popped up. "A direct match to MacGyver."
When images of the back of the truck popped up along with a picture of Mac, Bozer made a quick line for the door. Riley followed after him.
"I had to ask. I didn't want to follow a lead that was dead." Rena said like she had done something wrong.
"It's okay. I was going to have to get there eventually." Reassuring her that she hadn't asked anything wrong.
"What else? Any bragging notes or calls while we were gone?"
"While Murdoc is that type of person, he hasn't sent us anything yet." Taking a closer look at the pair Matty saw that both Rena and Jack were exhausted. "Before you fight me on this Jack, this is an order. Go get some rest, clean up, sleep. Do whatever you need to do to refresh. You too Sirena."
"Yes, ma'am." Rena agreed to avoid 'the look' Jack and Riley were talking about.
"Matty you-" Jack started
"Jack. Order. Go. Now." Matty shook her head. "I don't want to see you on any of my cameras for the next five hours."
"But Matty. It's Mac and I need-"
"Need rest. Take Sirena and yourself to a room and go sleep, Dalton." Matty using Jack's last name sealed his fate.
"Jack, if anything happens in the case I'm sure someone will come to get us, but until then, you need rest. C'mon, I'm resting for Macalynn and you should rest for MacGyver. Please." Her eyes pleaded with him and eventually won over the reluctant Jack.
"Matty. Anything happens, you call me."
"Alright, Jack." Matty took less convincing than Jack.
"Anything." He added as he started for the door.
"I will." She nodded in reassurance to put him at rest.
"I mean it." He popped his head back through the door before leaving finally.
"Go." She called back at him and received a thumbs down from Jack through the windows of the War Room.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Mac was groggy, confused, and couldn't manage to open his eyes this time. They were just too heavy. It was too warm to leave the darkness. So he didn't he let his ears do all the work for him. Although he didn't find much out he heard a song, the song Murdoc is so fond of, but this time there were two voices. One he was able to determine was Murdoc's and the other a high and soft tone that would melt hearts, one that even melted and smoothed out Murdoc's own tone and pitch. It was young and docile. It was fragile and it was in the hands of a destructive human being, and Mac wanted to scoop it up and hide it away. All this from just a tiny voice.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Murdoc was extremely pleased with himself. Everything was going as planned and he had even gotten Mac to start singing along with him in a dazed state. He did everything he possibly could to push Mac's voice higher so that he could hear it, but with every attempt, Mac got even quieter. So he let Mac sing together. I have got to record this and send this to Jack or someone. Someone that would see MacGyver was beaten, bloody, barely conscious, and singing. Oh, Jack would get a kick out of that! But I can't risk that. Not now. I have other issues to tend to. He thought to himself.
"How are you doing back there?" Murdoc glanced back at the new passenger who was mindlessly looking out of the window. No response, just a gentle humming that followed Mac's singing. "C'mon, you can talk to me!"
"Who are you?" The docile passenger asked.
"It's me. I'm your Uncle Dennis!" Murdoc said in a cheerful yet manipulative voice.
"Momma never talk about Uncle Dennis."
"Well, I'm new. Someone your mother will be happy to see."
"New?"
"Yep. New, old. I'm both. New to you. Old to others." Murdoc grabbed a green and purple sippy cup and pasted it to the person in the back. "Here, drink something and take a nap. It will be a boring ride."
"New to me?"
"Yep. New and exciting."
"I don't know. Momma told me not to-"
"Talk to strangers? That's good. But I am not just any stranger, I'm Uncle Dennis. Remember?"
"Yes I 'member." The child grabbed the sippy cup and began to mindlessly watching out the window, periodically taking long drawn of drinks from the cup.
"Good." Murdoc took up his singing once again with Mac at a low hum now.
