You can run, but you can't hide
"Mac stop it!" I laughed as he continued tickling my ribs
"Then surrender." He told me as he continued
"Never!" I giggled still holding onto the remote
"We're not watching The Breakfast Club again." He says and stopped
"Why not? It's a classic." I said and he smiled, "Fine, you can pick the movie but I swear if it's Die Hard I'm gonna have to hurt you."
"Promise or a threat?" He asked and I smiled then he kissed me before getting up and walked over to the TV putting a movie in then walked back over and I cuddled up to him as he started it.
"Mac!" I smiled when I saw the opening title and he laughed but I just rolled my eyes and we watched it. I started to doze off and he nudged me.
"Hey sleepy head, why don't you head on up to bed?" He asked and I shook my head
"I'm comfy right here."
He chuckled then kissed my head, "I'll be up shortly ok?" He says and I looked at him
"OK." I said and kissed him then got up and headed upstairs.
Mac POV...
After Val went up stairs I turned off the movie and the living room lights then headed upstairs but instead of going into the bedroom to join her I walked into the guest room across the hall and sat down at the desk in there with the microscope that had the gear attached to it and looked at it then the picture of the prisoner, next thing I knew my eyes started getting heavy and I laid my head down on the desk.
Jack POV...
"Hey, Mac! You home?" I asked walking into their house then checked my watch, I got there ten minutes after Val texted me to get Mac because she had to run an errand before heading to the office, "Hey, man. Where you at?" I asked looking around the kitchen then headed upstairs and looked through the cracked open door of their guest room and walked in seeing him asleep at the desk, "Hey, Mac. Mac, what are you doing? Hey. You alive?" I asked then he jolted up
"External force is always zero."
"Huh? What kind of weird dreams you having, dude?" I asked him
"I was giving a lecture, on the, uh Lagrangian formulation of quantum field theory. Ah. To a class full of ten unicorns."
"Hmm. Well, aside from the unicorns...which are wicked awesome...sounds like a frickin' nightmare." I told him sitting down on the edge of the bed
"What time is it?"
"It's 11:00." I point out
"What? Where's Val?"
"She had an errand to run and wanted me to come get you, she didn't want to disturb you." I told him and he sighed, "Yeah, you know, I-I figured you were pulling another all-nighter, looking for your mystery man. It's been weeks, and you still haven't found anything. I'm starting to get worried. You're burning the candle at both ends here, and for what? For what?" I asked him then clapped my hands together and stood up, "Let's go."
"Actually, I found something." He said stopping me and I looked at him
"Really?" I asked
"Yeah."
"What?" I ask
"A name. Charles Pfeffer."
"Who?" I asked him walking over to the laptop
"Charles Pfeffer." He told me and I looked at the photo
"This is great. All right. Let's just go track down this fella."
"Already tried. Turns out, 72 years ago, he got off a boat at Ellis Island, got a New York I.D. and then well, he just disappeared. There's no employment or housing records." He pointed out
"Any living family? Anything like that?"
"No. No family, nothing. Yeah. I thought I'd made a major breakthrough. It turns out it's another dead end." He says
"What are you talking about? This is great. This is just another bump in the road, and a good opportunity for the both of us to start thinking outside of the box when it comes to looking for your dad."
"Did you just find a silver lining in a dead end?" He asked me
"I'm an optometrist."
"Optimist." He corrected
"Whatever." I tell him and his phone chimed
"Matty?" I asked
"Yeah."
"Let's go, we're late." I told him and he stood up then we headed down stairs, "Unicorns. Really?"
"Yeah. They were wicked smart, too."
While that was going on...Val POV...
I sat down the block from a light blue house with vines growing on an arch that sat at the top of the steps and just watched as I saw an old lady walked outside grabbing the newspaper off the deck then yelled at some kids that were skate boarding on the sidewalk and they left. I sighed then watched her walk back in then my phone chimed.
Sleeping beauty is awake. On our way to the office.
I read Jack's message and put my phone down, I hated lying to Mac about what I've been doing but if he knew about it he would tell me that it's dangerous and I should stop, but I can't I needed answers. What made the guilt even worse was thinking about how he told me about Nikki and how she lied to him...
"What's this from?" I asked Mac as we laid in bed, it's been 2 weeks since we've been dating and I noticed the scar on his shoulder.
"Oh that's um...before we brought Riley to the team we had another hacker, Nikki, she was good and when we had a mission to collect a bio weapon she was held at gun point when me and Jack got back to the van. Some arguing went on and the man that had her shot her, when I went to charge at him he shot me too, right there," He indicated to the scar, "Our old director Thorton gave me 3 months to recover because well...me and Nikki were involved," He told me and I looked at him, "I thought she was dead but turns out the guy shot her with a blank and she had been lying to all of us, she was actually under cover from the CIA who was after a mole known as Chrysalis which turned out to be Thorton."
"Wow." I said shocked
"Yeah, anyways after we arrested Thorton Nikki went back to the CIA and we were gonna try it again but it got to hard. She's moved on and so have I. I even forgave for the fact that she lied, but she did it to keep herself safe."
"I'm sorry I..." I started to say but he looked at me and put his hand on my face
"It's ok, you didn't know."
"Maybe I should read old mission reports to catch up." I said with a smile and he kissed me.
Remembering that made my gut twist with guilt as I continued to look at the house then my phone chimed again
War room. Now!
I read the text from Matty and I started the car then drove off heading to Phoenix.
"Now that we are all finally here, remember that EMP that we lost?" Matty asked us and I looked at Riley
"Of course." Mac said
"Well, we've just been given an opportunity to get it back. After your encounter with these guys on the back of that C-17, the whole group fell off the grid. But 12 hours ago, we intercepted chatter suggesting that they're setting up a sale. The EMP is about to switch hands."
"Do we know who the buyer is?" Riley asked
"And what they want it for?" I add
"Unfortunately, we do not. However, we do know exactly when and where the sale is going down." Matty informed us and pulled up the image of a building
"That looks an awful lot like a parking garage." Jack pointed out
"That's because it is a parking garage, Dalton. And this particular parking garage is located in Seoul, South Korea. The sale's being set up for tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m., which means you five are wheels-up in 20." Matty said and we started to head to the door, "Guys. This is our one shot to grab that device, and a bit of redemption. Make it count."
"Faster, Jack, they're getting away!" Mac tells him as we followed our target while Jack drove.
"Why do I show you three racing through Seoul at 90 miles per hour? Guys? Guys. Hello? Do you copy?" Matty asked
"H-Hey, Matty, guess what?" Jack asked her
"The buy went bad."
"Yeah. Uh, short version, it wasn't so much of a sale as it was a fatal ambush where the buyers killed the sellers and then split with the EMP. We're tailing them now." Mac told her and Jack honked the horn
"Watch it!"
"Good. Whatever you do, do not lose sight of that device. Riley, Bozer, I need to know exactly who we're chasing. Get me intel." She told them
"Copy that, Matty."
"Ooh. Ooh, you know, these G Wagons can get it. This is some pretty precision driving. Spec ops, ambush tactics. I don't know who these dudes are, but they're well-trained." Jack says serving between the cars
"That's the airport up ahead. And it doesn't look like they plan on sticking around Seoul much longer, does it?" Mac asked him
"No, it does not. Both of you put on your safety belts."
"It's on." Mac told him and we get to the airport seeing the plane take off
"Well, I don't suppose you could whip up a set of wings for this van real quick." Jack says as we got out of the van
"Probably. But I just thought of something way faster." Mac pointed out indicating to the private jet not to far from us so we ran to it climbing aboard
"Surprise, surprise. Hands up, gentlemen. We are officially commandeering your vehicle." Jack told the pilots
"Hi. I'm really really, really sorry about this." Mac told the old couple sitting in the back
"Where are we going?" The one pilot asked Jack
"Follow that plane."
"Fellas, you don't want to get in here?" Jack asked holding up his phone to take a picture "Come on. Hey. Hey, there we go." He says taking the picture as the pilots continued to look forward and Mac looked at him, "Hey, don't look at me like that. When I tell people I was in a high-speed jet chase, I'm gonna need some selfies as proof. Smile you two," He told us and I rolled my eyes after he took the photo, "Hey, there we go. Aw, that's a good one."
"Hey, uh, Matty, any idea where these guys are taking the EMP?" I asked her
"I've got our techs working up a list of every high-value target that one could reach with that kind of jet and a full tank of gas. Military bases, nuclear plants, industrial centers, basically anywhere that an electromagnetic pulse could fry sensitive electronics and have a devastating impact. I'm using the jet's current speed and heading to eliminate certain targets, but there's still dozens in range."
"In other words, you don't know nothing. Why don't you just say that "I don't know nothing." Your guess is as good as anybody else's." Jack told her
"If you're trying to piss me off, Dalton, you're doing a bang-up job."
"Thank you."
"All right, look, if we can identify these guys, it'll help us determine what their target is. Riley, any luck with the sellers' tech?" Mac asked her
"Nope, not yet. The sellers' phones are heavily encrypted. I'm gonna need some more time to I.D. the buyers."
"Riley, Riley, time is not something we have in abundance, okay? A-And quit calling them "buyers." Making them sound all regal and cool. They're the "shoot everybody, steal the EMPers," that's more accurate." Jack told her
"Thanks, Jack. Very helpful."
"You're welcome."
"You are on a roll today." I point out to him then the plane rumbled then Mac looked past me and out the front window
"Hey, uh, Matty, these guys have definitely changed their heading." He told her
"Yeah, I see it. We're recalculating projected flight path now." She says and we heard a ding
"What the hell is that?" Jack asked
"Probably the elderly couple whose plane we just commandeered?" I said
"Oh. Oh, oh, my gosh, I forgot all about them. I'll go back there and make sure they know we're not terrorists."
"Hold on, I'm not gonna let you do that by yourself." I told him and we walked through the door when the old man hit Jack with an ice bucket, "Ow! Oh. What are you doing? Give me that. I-I just came back here to tell you guys not to worry. We're the good guys."
"Good guys?" The man asked him and I saw him pick up a wine bottle
"Yeah."
"You're hijacking our plane!" The man yelled
"Hijack is a very strong word, sir."
"You forced your way onto our plane, you told our pilot where to fly, what do you call that?" The lady asked
"Yeah."
"That's the definition of hijacking." Mac pointed out
"Thank you very much, Merriam-Webster." Jack tells him, "Okay, okay. M-Maybe we did hijack the plane just a little bit, but it's a matter of national security."
"We work with the U.S. government." Mac says
"Hey, sonny, I wasn't born yesterday."
"No, sir, that-that's very apparent," Jack said and I smacked his arm, "but it doesn't change the fact that he's telling the truth. We-we work for Uncle Sam. We're ex-military and she-"
"Oh, no. He's lying, Saul. Hit him again." The lady tells her husband
"Now, now, now, you just wait a minute."
"You're not gonna do it, give me the bottle, I'll do it." She says grabbing the bottle
"Ah, now, now, wait a minute. Just stop it. If you three are really U.S. agents, where's your badges?" The man asked us
"Badges would be nice.." Jack says
"Yeah, we don't exactly work for an agency that goes around handing out I.D.s, but I promise you both, we're the good guys." I said to the man
"Huh? Well, why should I believe you?"
"Because me and him both have guns and didn't shoot you." I point out
"Now-now that's a fair point she's making there." He tells his wife
"Oh, Saul, are you out of your mind?" She asked him
"What?"
"You're always so trusting." She told him
"Stop attacking my character."
"Oh, what about that time you trusted your friend Gary to paint the house?" She asked
"Gary gave me a good deal on that paint..."
"Because it was lime green." She cut him off
"There's no such thing as a good deal on house paint." Jack tells him
"Oh, g-go away." The man said to him
"Yes, sir."
"Listen here, Edith, you stop pushing my buttons." The man continued
"Guys, Riley just broke the sellers' encryption." Bozer tells us
"Okay, I got a bunch of e-mails here between the sellers and a potential buyer setting date, time, place. This has got to be them."
"Anything in there I.D. the buyer?" Mac asked her
"No, but it looks like the sellers were trying to do just that. They were tracing the buyers' IPs, trying to slip them spyware. They weren't able to figure out who you guys are chasing, but then again, they didn't have access to the Phoenix database."
"Matty, you seeing this? One of the buyer's IP addresses matches a laptop Phoenix previously linked to someone named Javier Morales." Bozer told her
"Morales is a former major in the Unidad de Operaciones Especiales, Spain's version of the Navy SEALs."
"Yeah, I called that. The way they took out the sellers had special ops written all over it, man." Jack pointed out
"Any idea why this Morales would want the EMP?" Mac asked Matty
"It's hard to say. Half his file has been redacted. The other half is a laundry list of medals and citations earned in hot spots on almost every continent."
"But those files end two years ago when Morales left the military. What's he been doing since then?" Bozer asked
"Well, it looks like he went into business for himself. And he's been busy recruiting operators from elite units all over the world."
"So you're saying Morales built himself a dream team of highly trained operatives?" I asked
"That's a commando Legion of Doom right there." Jack pointed out
"Okay, so now that we know who we're chasing, anyone want to guess where they're going and why?" Bozer asked
"Guys, Morales's jet just started gaining altitude. Can you confirm visually?" Matty asked us
"Yeah. Matty, these guys are climbing fast, but the real question is why." Mac said
"They're gonna jump." Saul told us and I looked at him
"What?"
"That's a spiral climb. We did dozens of them in Jump School." He tells us moving to look out the window
"You got your jump wings." Mac pointed out
"'69 Fort Benning, 75th Infantry, "C" Company. Fought about two tours in Vietnam."
"So you were Army Rangers?" I asked him
"Rangers always lead the way."
"Yes, sir my grandpa was one as well." I said and Mac put his hand on my back
"Really?" He asked and I nodded my head, "Which infatry?
"I think it was the 75th too."
"What's his name?" Saul asked me
"Kenneth Clarke."
"Kenny? I knew him we fought side by side together in Vietnam. How is he doing?" He asked and I put my head down
"He um...He..." I started to say but I looked at Saul and stopped
"I'm so sorry, he was a good man," He told me and I smiled, "Anyway, I'm taking Edith to all the places I wrote her letters from during the war." Saul said and I looked at his wife and smiled, "Those guys you're following, they won't be on that plane much longer."
"He's right, you know." I told Mac
"Yeah, Matty, these guys are circling which means they have a specific landing site in mind." He told her
"Well, you're over Shanghai now, so maybe their target's in the city." Matty tells us,
"Mac, Jack, I've got a visual on six jumpers. Looks like they're headed for Dizang Tower. You don't just halo jump onto a 128th story building just to say you did it. Whatever Morales plans to do with that EMP, I think he's about to do it now. Riley, I need eyes inside that tower. Bozer, I need you to make me a list of everything in that building worth all this trouble."
"We got to get to the ground now." Mac pointed out
"We got to get to the ground, like, right now. They already have a really big head start on us. Let's go, Captain. Get us down." Jack told the pilot
"Sorry to be the lone voice of reason here, fellas, but we are nowhere near a runway."
"Well, it sounds like you just became the master of improvisation. Get us down, Captain, right now. Now." Jack said
"You and Edith should get buckled up. We're gonna put this thing down and it's gonna get bumpy." I told Saul
"Gotcha."
We ran through the the street filled with cars and Mac went over to a man standing outside his car and spoke to him in Mandarin, "Wow, that was easy. What'd you tell him?" Jack asked Mac
"I told him that your wife's having a baby at the hospital."
"Oh. Thanks for the ride. Jack Jr., here we come." Jack says and we get into the car then drove off, "Hey, Riley, we're about five minutes out from, uh, Dinzang, uh - Dizang. We're about five minutes out from the tower. Did Morales and the Funky Bunch show up yet?" Jack asked her
"I just got into the tower security system. Looking now. Got them. They're in the northeast stairwell heading down. They just passed the 100th floor."
"Bozer, how are we doing on that list of potential targets?" I asked him
"Uh good. A little too good, honestly. The whole building is filled with high profile targets. There's a Japanese embassy, a military tech company, six hedge funds, over a dozen banks. No way to know what Morales and his men are gonna hit."
"This might narrow it down. They just exited the stairwell on the 90th floor." Riley told us as we get to the tower and walk through the doors
"Yeah, okay, and do we know what's on the 90th floor exactly?" Jack asked
"No clue. It isn't labeled on the building's public directory." Bozer says
"That's because the entire floor is a private residence. Belongs to a man named Ralph Jerico." Matty mentioned
"You mean Ralph Jerico the billionaire?" Mac asked
"Yeah, man. How many non-billionaires do you know that own their own floor of the building?" Jack asked him as we stood in the elevator
"The man's made his fortune in international finance. He has homes all over the world, but guess which home he's in this week?" Matty asked ststing the obvious
"The one on the 90th floor?" I asked with a smirk
"Bingo. He's in town for the Chinese Economic Summit."
"Yeah, so, what's the deal, Matty? Are these cats working for Jerico now? Are they trying to help him steal the EMP? What?" Jack asked her
"As far as I can tell, Ralph Jerico appears to be an honest businessman."
"Uh, guys, Morales and his men definitely don't work for Jerico. They just took out two of his guards." Riley tells us
"And now they're putting a shaped charge on his front door." Bozer added
"So what is this? Is this, is this a hit?" I asked
"Maybe not. Jerico's known for not trusting banks. He keeps the majority of his fortune in portable assets, preferably gold and diamonds." Matty said
"Looks like he just had a huge new safe installed with biometric and electronic locks." Riley adds
"The kind of lock you need electromagnetic pulse to beat." Mac pointed out
"Wait. Wait, wait, wait. So this is a heist?" Jack asked
"It looks that way. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to see what a man like Morales can do with millions in untraceable wealth." Matty mentioned
"Guys, they're putting all their electronics in a Faraday bag. They're gonna blow the EMP." Riley told us
"Hold on to something now." Mac says and I backed up to the elevator wall next to him and held on to the bar holding Mac's hand at the same time and he looked at me.
"Seriously?" Jack asked doing the same
"They're about to send this whole building to the Stone Age." Mac told him and the lights in the elevator went out.
Mac and Jack pushed the elevator doors open then Mac helped me out into the hallway as we see everyone running through the building, "Hey, oh, wait a minute. So you're telling me all my great airplane chase selfies are just gone?" Jack asked looking at his phone
"Yes. An EMP doesn't just turn off the power, Jack." I told him
"Oh, man."
"It burns the wires right off the silicon. So, anything within the blast radius that's electronic is dead forever." Mac adds
"It's not cool, dude."
"But, hey, we're doing silver lining today, right? For once it's not my fault you need a new phone." Mac told him and I chuckled
"Oh, it's your fault, Angus. It's always your fault."
"All right, so we're 40 floors below Jerico's penthouse." I pointed out looking at the number by the elevator as Mac walked over to the staircase doors
"Okay, so the elevator is dead. Morales and his slow bus armada are gonna have to take the stairwell. The problem is we have no earthly idea which stairwell they're gonna take, man."
"You know what, I don't think he's gonna take any of them, at least not yet." Mac says
"What makes you say that?" I asked him
"Well, think about it. Commandos coming down, fully tacked up, carrying bags of gold and diamonds. Not exactly low profile."
"They'll wait for the stairwell to clear. Then they'll make their move." Jack pointed out
"Exactly. Which will give us plenty of time to go up there and head them off."
"Yeah. Well, w-wait, hey, man. I ain't running up 40 floors." Jack said
"Yeah, you are, man. Fighting the sea of scared people the whole way up. You know what? Actually, it's gonna be easier if we can see. Let me make something real quick." Mac says walking away
"Come on Jack don't be a wimp." I told him with a smile and he laughed at me sarcastically
"Hey, you know what this is reminding me of? Hmm? Huh?" Jack asked him
"You know, I was thinking about it but I wasn't gonna say anything. A bunch of terrorists taking over a high-rise so they can pull off a bank robbery? It's..."
"No, no, no, wait, wait, wait. If anybody's gonna say it, it's gonna be me." Jack told him
"Knock yourself out."
"It's Die Hard, baby." Jack says and I rolled my eyes
"Oh, my God." I groaned
"Welcome to the party, pal." Jack said and I smiled shaking my head at both of them
"That's crazy."
"Well, hold on now. Hey. We're still on the mission you two. Act professional." I told them
"Right." Jack says nodding his head
"But let's make Bruce Willis proud." I said and they chuckled as Jack patted me on the back
"Let's do it." Mac says and light the paper towels on fire then we made our way up the stairs and Jack stopped for a moment and I laughed while following Mac
"Come out to the coast. We'll get together, have a few laughs." Mac quoted looking around the corner and I shook my head
"Nice." Jack tells him and moved forward with me following and Mac behind me then we continued forward and reached the penthouse. Jack looked over the railing as Mac went to snuff out his torch then followed me down the stairs after Jack
"Hey. There's nobody here, man. They must have already hit the safe and split." Jack pointed out
"Well, you were half right. The safe's still intact. They didn't even open it." Mac says
"What?" Jack asked
"Yeah."
"Well, if they didn't grab Jerico's diamonds, then what'd they take?" I asked then we hear a helicopter
"Whatever it was, they're about to fly away with it. Exfil wasn't on the ground, it was on the roof." Mac mentioned and we moved to the window
"The roof? No way we're making it to the roof before that chopper does." Jack pointed out and I sighed, "Step aside." Jack tells us and I saw him grab a chair then threw it at the window but it bounced right back, "That worked in Die Hard."
"Yeah, 'cause that was a movie. In real life, skyscraper windows are heavily reinforced." I mentioned to him
"Well, I can't tell Riley we lost that EMP again. I'm a father figure." Jack said and started shooting at the window, Mac pulled my arm moving me back then I see the helicopter got hit by one of Jack's bullets
"Well, they're gonna be coming down the staircase now." Mac pointed out and we headed to the staircase.
"I think we just figured out what stairwell they're in." Jack pointed out as we stood at the bottom and heard the men talking from above us
"Yep."
"Now we need to quickly, quickly come up with a way to stop a commando death squad. Come on, Jack! What would John McClane do?" Jack asked himself
"Hey, how about you two lure them down there, I figure out what they took, and steal it back?" Mac asked
"I love that." Jack says
"Yeah sure why not?" I add
"Hey, Morales! What's the problem? Did I ruin your little roof party? I tell you what, come on down to 87 and we'll hug it out." Jack yells up to them
"Very McClane." Mac told him
"Just a fly in the ointment, Hans. Just a monkey in the wrench." Jack says as he began to walk down the stairs
"Hey, hey, hey."
"Just a pain in the ass." Jack continued
"We don't have time for the whole thing." Mac told him
"Yeah, sorry." Jack said and I looked at Mac then followed Jack
"Riley, Bozer? Bozer, you there? Hey, you copy?" Jack asked into the radio
"Hell yeah we do, Jack. Where are you guys?"
"Uh, Val and I are on the 87th floor. I-I think we're playing cat and mouse with these hombres. I just wet-noodled one and took his walkie. But, uh, we have no earthly idea where Mac is. We, uh we had to split up." Jack told him
"Did you get the EMP back?" Riley asked him
"Well, no, not yet."
"What about Jerico's diamonds?" Bozer asked
"I don't think this is about diamonds. Jerico's safe was locked up tight. Morales must be trying to steal something else. We've just been a little busy to figure that out." I answered
"Actually, I think I may have the answer. Ralph Jerico just might be the most heavily insured person on the planet. Home, fire, earthquake. Even a kidnap and ransom policy he took out on his only child, Ethan. As a condition of this sizeable K&R policy, Jerico had to agree to chip his son with a GPS locator." Matty informed us
"So Morales uses the EMP to knock out the chip so the kid can't be tracked." Bozer pointed out
"This is bad. Because if they get Ethan out of the building..."
"We may never see that kid again." I said cutting Riley off and I felt a pain in my heart as me and Jack continued making our way through the floor.
"So, Morales is doing all this to bust his little baby brother out of prison?" Jack asked as we rounded a corner
"Not just any baby brother. We're talking about Rodrigo Morales. The man is an enemy combatant wanted by 16 different governments. He and Javier used to run their little commando unit together until Rodrigo got busted trying to topple the Nigerian government." Matty informed us
"These do not look like nice people. How does Jerico fit into all this?" Bozer asked her
"Rodrigo is currently locked up in a Nigerian super-max prison. Nigeria is also a country where Ralph Jerico has significant business holdings and political clout. Morales contacted Jerico asking him for help, and Jerico refused. I guess Morales is done asking nicely."
"So one phone call from him could end this whole thing?" Bozer asked
"Yeah, which means releasing Rodrigo back into the wild, which ain't exactly a good thing he's a rowdy one. Matty, did you at least call Jerico, tell him not to make any phone calls till we confirm they've got his son?" Jack asked her, "There's no sense in giving Morales what he wants if he doesn't even have the kid."
"I convinced Jerico to give us a half an hour, but unless he has proof that his son is safe in 29 minutes, 18 seconds and counting, he will make that phone call. So, I need to know where Mac and Ethan are right now."
"I know that, Matty. I'm not stupid. But me and Val don't know how to find him if we don't know where to look."
"Hey, Matty, remember that miracle you asked for? Check this out." Riley told her
"Did you just X-ray the entire Dizang Tower?"
"Sort of. Since every cam in the building's fried, I used Wi-Fi signals from nearby buildings to build a radar image of what's going on in there." Riley says
"You mean like the thing Morgan Freeman did in The Dark Knight?" I asked her
"Yeah. Before you ask, that was real."
"Yeah, whatever. Batgirl, use the Bat-thingy and tell me what floor he's on, pronto." Jack told her
"Unfortunately, this technique doesn't give us enough resolution to make out faces. But those guys definitely have machine guns. And that guy's holding the EMP. So, if I had to guess, those two blots heading straight down an elevator shaft are Mac and Ethan."
"Looks like they're headed for the lobby." Bozer adds then me and Jack turned back around and ran off
Me and Jack turn the corner just in time to see one of Morales's men pointing a gun at Mac then Jack hit him with his gun knocking him down then I grabbed the guys weapon, "Yippee-ki-yay..."
"Shh! Got a kid present." Mac said cutting Jack off
"Sorry."
"Who the hell is this old fart?" Ethan asked
"Old fart? Watch my language?" Jack asked looking at Mac
"You're the adult."
"Yeah, well, watch your mouth, Curlicue." Jack warned the kid and I rolled my eyes
"I take that back." MAc pointed out and I smiled at him
"Bozer, we found Mac and the kid. We're in the lobby, headed out front. Pick us up." Jack said into the radio and we moved
"Guys, looks like Shanghai SWAT just got here." Riley told us
"Yeah, well, in that case, Matty, tell Jerico his kid's safe. With four minutes to spare." Jack says and we look to see the SWAT men shooting at security guards so I pulled the kid behind me
"What the hell? What the hell is going on?" Ethan asked
"That's not Shanghai SWAT." Mac pointed out and we ran back the way we came
"Hey, change of plans, Matty. Morales's boys just took the lobby. And we just lost our only way out." Jack told her
"Mac, they are securing every door and stairwell, cutting off all exits. Once that is done, they are gonna go room to room until they find you." Matty informed us
"Then I guess this is where we make our stand."
"Well, that's fine with me. I don't mind making a stand. But let-let's come up with a plan so it's not our last stand." Jack tells him
"Yeah. On it. Um..look, we're gonna get you out of here, okay? You're gonna be with your dad soon." Mac says to Ethan
"Not that he'd even notice. He's too busy flying all over the world, building his empire."
"Yeah, well, just 'cause your dad's busy doesn't mean he doesn't care about you." Mac mentioned
"He had me chipped by the same people that put locators on his cars. I'm just another possession to him."
"When I was your age, my dad walked out on me and he never came back. And I was angry, just like you are." Mac says and I looked at him
"So, what? Now you're gonna tell me that my dad really loves me and it's all gonna get better someday?"
"No, I'm not gonna tell you that. I'm just gonna say that I know how you feel. It sucks and I'm sorry." Mac said
"Yeah, I mean at least you have a dad who cares." I add and Mac put his hand on my shoulder
"Guys. No one likes an ill-timed heart-to-heart more than me, but we have some very aggressive company coming this way, and I got one clip left for this bad boy plus whatever Val has and it won't be enough so unless they attack all lined up in a row for me just to take 'em out at once, this ammunition limitation's gonna be a problem. Capisce?" Jack asked
"That's it." Mac mentioned hitting Jack's arm, "That's it. We're gonna take 'em all out at once. It's brilliant."
"Huh? What? You want to fill us in here?" I asked him
"All right, so This is a light ballast. I need as many of these as we can find." Mac told us tearing one out of the ceiling, "Okay, okay. Here. You take that." He says handing it to Jack
"You want me to do this?"
"Yes. Take it. In the lights. Go. Val I need you to help me with this." He told me and I followed him
"Yeah, uh, obviously, I understand what you're building, as usual, but...but what about Small Fry here? You know? It's a teachable moment, here." Jack says standing next to Ethan
"I know what a Faraday cage is, dumb-ass."
"Hey, watch your mouth, kid." I warned him
"Starting to like this kid. And, uh, yes, Ethan, it is a Faraday cage. Which will shield whatever's inside of it from the electrical energy outside of it." Mac pointed out
"Obviously. But I-I don't understand how a far away cage i-is gonna stop a group of highly-trained killers from bearing down upon us with with automatic weapons and ill intent." Jack says as I helped Mac
"You let him carry a gun?" Ethan asked
"Watch your mouth." Jack said
"It's a Faraday cage, Jack, and it's not. It's just gonna keep us from getting electrocuted." Mac told him
"Electrocuted?"
"Yes.
"But I-I thought you said the EMP knocked all of the electricity out of the building." I point out
"No. It fried all the electronics in the building. The city's electrical grid is still going strong. And since we are on the first floor, which means we still have power." Mac answered opening an electric panel
"Let's kill those bastards." Ethan says
"Easy there, Chucky." Mac tells him
"No, no, I'm with him." Jack said agreeing with Ethan
"Relax. We're just gonna knock 'em out long enough for the cavalry to come."
"Dad? Dad, I-I don't know if you can hear this, but I got separated from the guys who were trying to save me. I'm hiding. In an accounting office on the first floor. Are you there? Dad? Dad? Are you there?" Ethan asked into the radio to lure the men to us, "What happens if your Faraday cage doesn't work?" He asked Mac
"As a friend once said, then the rest of the day is gonna suck."
"Indeed." Jack agreed and the men walked over to us
"There they are. Don't move."
"Now!" Ethan screamed
"Now." Mac said and flipped the switch and all the men got electrocuted
"Now that was cool!" Ethan say
"Hell yeah it was!" Jack agreed
"Language." I told him
"Hey, have you heard him talk? He's a little wolf cub."
"Damn right I am." Ethan says
"See?"
"Dad! Daddy!" Ethan yelled running to his dad
"Ethan! Oh, gosh! You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah? Oh, I thought I lost you." His dad says
"You probably would have if it wasn't for this guy. That's MacGyver. He's really weird, but he's also kind of cool."
"MacGyver. Thank you so much for saving my son." Jerico tells him
"Of course."
"If there's anything I can do to repay you..." Jerico says
"Uh, no. You don't owe me anything. Actually, you know what? There is one thing. Spend more time with your son. Make him a priority. He's a good kid. He's got a mouth on him, but he's a good kid. But for him to grow into the man that you want him to be, you gotta be around. So try not to lose him again. You may never get him back. Trust me." Mac told him and I wrapped my arm around his waist and he did the same to me
"Thank you."
"See you around, Curlicue." Jack says to him
"See you around, old fart." Ethan replied then me and Mac laughed
"What? It's not that..."
"I got the EMP back!" Riley exclaimed coming out of the building
"Nice!" I told her
"Mac fried it to smithereens, but I did get it back."
"Bravo." Jack cheered, "Bravo. Yeah, a-and happy trails, Morales." Jack told him as SWAT escorted him and his men to the van and Jack looked at us, "I can't believe none of you guys got that reference."
"What reference?" Bozer asked him
"Die Hard? Happy trails, Hans."
"Yeah, never seen it, Jack." Bozer says
"Wait a minute. You've never seen Die Hard?"
"Of course I've seen Die Hard, Jack." Bozer told him and I chuckled, "Just wanted to see if I could make your head explode. Almost did."
"It was pretty close. After today I have a whole new respect for John McClane I'll tell you that much."
I pulled up to the house and sat there for a good 5 minutes before I finally worked up the courage to get out and walk up the steps then stopped at the door then sighed before I knocked, after a minute or so it finally opened, "Who are you?" The old lady asked me
"My name is Valarie Clarke. I'm your granddaughter."