MacGyver Alternate Universe
Chapter 9
Christmas. The holiday that everyone loves. The holiday where the families gather and have a great, beautiful time. The holiday where Bozer makes pastrami. Pastrami on Christmas? Come on, Bozer. Jack, Mac, Bozer and Leanna were at Mac's house, now taking a break from decorating, setting up the Christmas tree, and Mac's invention. He has a surprise for Riley since Jack told him she never had a white Christmas. And by white, he means snowy.
Mac and Jack are sitting on the couch while Bozer and Leanna are in the kitchen. They hear Bozer say "Now, pay attention. I'm about to drop some serious meat knowledge."
"I hate to be in Leanna's place right now." Mac says.
"Dude, pastrami on Christmas?" Jack asks.
"Only Bozer." Mac replies with a laugh. Then they hear Bozer say something in Mexican. Mac knows Mexican, but Jack…no.
"What did he say? Dude, I don't speak "Taco Bell"." Jack says. Mac bursts out a laughter.
"I can't believe that made me laugh." Mac says.
"All my jokes make you laugh. You just keep holding it in. Don't think I haven't noticed." Jack says as he smiles. Okay, Mac knows that that isn't true. But he doesn't want to hurt Jack's feelings so he remains quiet.
"Are you really gonna make it snow tonight for Riley?" Jack asks with a grin.
"Yeah. After what happened with Murdoc, I want to do something right for her. And this seems like the perfect opportunity." Mac says. Jack nods and looks Mac in the eyes. It doesn't take him long to see that Mac really likes Riley. But Riley in a relationship with a secret agent? At that thought Jack's smile fades but he remains quiet.
"Speaking of Riley, where is she with Diane?" Mac asks. Jack looks at his watch.
"Well…they should've been here an hour ago. She told me yesterday that they were gonna come here. Probably Diane trying to pick what to wear today." Jack says and Mac chuckles. Jack grabbed his phone and called Diane. But no answer. He then called Riley, and no answer either.
"Everything okay?" Mac asks.
"They are not picking up. I'm gonna go and see what's going on. I won't be shocked if I find the whole bedroom tossed." Jack says as he walks out of the house. Mac laughs and goes to the kitchen to find a lot of smoke. Then the fire alarm goes off as he sees Leanna waving her hands to clear out the smoke, but it's no use. Bozer comes running for the balcony.
"What the hell happened?" Bozer asks.
"Um…kind of got distracted on my phone and forgot the sauce." Leanna says trying to hide her face from embarrassment. Mac can't stop laughing. 'This Christmas is gonna be the best. I can feel it'.
20 MINUTES LATER
Mac is back to making his machine to make it snow, while Bozer and Leanna are setting up the light on the balcony. That's when they hear the front door being open furiously.
"Guys!" Jack shouts. Mac drops everything and runs into the living room, so does Bozer and Leanna.
"What is it?" Leanna asks. Jack is out of breath. Looks like he was running, but why?
"Riley and Diane…they are gone." Jack says with fear in his voice.
"What do you mean gone?" Mac asks also worried now.
"Man, I went to the apartment and everything is turned upside down. The living room, the kitchen, everything!" Jack says raising his voice at the end. "Their phones were on the ground!" Mac has a bad feeling about this. What if it's Murdoc again?
"Do you think…" Bozer couldn't finish the question but Jack knew what he was trying to ask.
"Yeah, I think It's Murdoc. Who else would go after them?!" Jack shouts now. Mac sits down on the couch and buries his face in his hands. 'Son of a bitch, not again…'. That's when Mac's phone buzzes. He picks it up and sees that it's a message from Matty.
"Matty needs us in the war room, now." Mac says as he stands up and runs to put his shoes on.
"Now?! Man, the two most important people in the world are missing!" Jack yells.
"Jack, calm down!" Mac shouts now. "This might be about Murdoc, so let's get the hell over there, now!" Mac is furious right now. The next time he sees Murdoc, he might kill him. Mac is not that kind of a person, but Murdoc is different than any other bad guy Mac has faced. When Murdoc is free, a lot of people are in danger.
Jack does what Mac says and they all get in the car. Jack as always drives like a maniac, but how can he not? Diane and Riley might be in the hands of a murderous psychopath. They arrive in the war room and find Matty waiting for them with the windows fogged.
"Matty, please tell me this is about Murdoc. We think he has Diane and Riley." Jack says.
"This is not about Murdoc." Matty answers. Jack inhales and buries his face in his hands. "But Murdoc doesn't have Riley and Diane." When Jack heard that, his head shot up.
"How do you know?" Jack asks.
"Okay, pay attention." Matty says as she walks up to the screen. She presses a button and a piece of paper comes up. Jack knows what it is. "Seven hours ago this was posted online."
"This is a copy of an executive order giving the NSA to go-ahead to attack China with a cyberweapon." Jack says as he glances at Matty.
"China responded by sending their entire submarine fleet into attack position in the Pacific." Matty says as footage appears on the screen of submarines in the ocean. Jack is genuinely scared about this situation.
"Are you kidding me?" Jack says with a quiet voice. Mac raises his eyebrows.
"This imagery is live. Means these subs will be within attack range of our west coast within 24 hours." Mac says.
"China's message is clear. We attack them with a cyber weapon, they'll hit us back with a conventional one." Matty says.
"And we didn't call of the cyberattack because…?" Mac asks.
"Because we can't. This attack was unauthorized. This executive order is a fake." Matty says. But she didn't seem angry or something, but sad. 'Why?' Mac thought.
"Have we tried telling China that?" Leanna asks.
"Yes, but they don't believe us." Matty replies.
"But we're not really gonna attack them, so they are just racking up a lot of frequent mariner miles?" Bozer asks nervously.
"I wish it was that simple, Boze." Matty says.
"Okay, but what does this have to do with Riley and Diane?" Jack asks with an angry voice.
"A few hours before the fake attack order was leaked, someone hacked the NSA and downloaded 200 gigs of data. We don't even know what was stolen." Matty answers.
"But you think someone stole a cyber weapon and is now using it to start a war." Mac says.
"Matty, that didn't answer my damn question!" Jack shouts. Matty takes a deep breath and lets out a shaky breath.
"The one who hacked the NSA….was Riley." Matty says as a picture of Riley with a grin comes up on the screen. Her smile reaches her ears. Mac takes a step back and it's like he can't breathe.
"What?" Leanna asks.
"No, Riley? No way!" Bozer says with a raised voice. Jack just stood there and just stared at Riley on the screen.
"I'm sorry…" Matty says. Jack turned to Matty. He couldn't believe what she was saying.
"What are you talking about, Matty?" Jack says with a shaky voice which was filled with rage and sadness. "Do you realize what you're saying?! Riley would never do this! THERE IS NO WAY RILEY DID THIS!" Jack yells as he starts approaching Matty but Bozer is there to stop him.
"Dalton, calm down!" Matty shouts.
"LOOK AT HER!" Jack shouts as he points to the picture of Riley smiling. "Does she look like someone who would commit treason….TREASON MATTY!"
"Matty, all of us, including you, know that Riley didn't do this…" Mac says. He is furious too, but bursting out right now would not be a good idea.
"Clear her name, now!" Jack says.
"I can't…" Matty replies.
"Why?!" Jack shouts.
"BECAUSE..." Matty shouts, "they traced the hack back to her!" Jack keeps shaking his head. He can't believe this is happening.
"Well, she obviously did that on purpose. Telling us to do something." Leanna says.
"So, you're telling me that…Riley is the most wanted in the US right now?" Mac asks. Matty looks at him, and slowly nods. Mac collapses on the sofa. Everyday they get a mission, he grabs a paperclip and makes a figure. But not this time. He can't. His hand won't reach for the bowl that's on the table full of paperclips.
"Why would she do this, though?" Bozer asks.
"She must've been forced. Blackmailed or something. She would never do this on purpose." Leanna replies.
"Who would blackmail her though?" Bozer asks. Matty turns to Jack who is sitting on the sofa looking at the floor. Matty approaches him and puts her hand on his knee.
"Jack, has Riley been in some kind of trouble before?" Matty asks.
"I…" He wipes his cheek. Mac is not shocked that he is crying. He is close himself. "I don't think so. She always tells me everything. She has never told me that she got in trouble or something." Jack answers.
"How do we find her?" Bozer asks.
"Have you tried tracing her?" Mac asks Matty.
"Yes, but we didn't get anything. Looks like she got a new rig or something." Matty answers.
"New rig?" Leanna asks. She exchanges a glance with Bozer.
"Why, what's up?" Matty asks.
"Riley told us that there was this dude, her classmate from high school, that she only trusts him to build custom high-performance hardware. Guy is an asshole though." Bozer says.
"Do you know where he lives?" Matty asks. Bozer nods and Matty turns to Jack and Mac. "We need to find Riley before somebody else does, and I trust you guys to do it. Your first stop is the guy Riley trust." Mac stands up and walks over to Jack. He puts his arm on his shoulder.
"Come on, man, let's bring her home." Mac says quietly. Jack stands up and makes his way towards the door. He wipes his cheek when he was getting out. Mac, Bozer and Leanna followed him.
"Leanna, I need you here." Matty says. Leanna stops and faces her.
"Matty, it's Riley. I really want to help." Leanna says.
"I know you do, but they've got this." Matty says. Leanna takes a moment and then nods.
"What's this dude's name?" Jack asks.
"Jaden." Bozer answers.
The ride to Jaden's house was quiet. Bozer was driving cause Jack was not in the mood. They were all lost in their thoughts. Mac couldn't imagine Riley in prison for the rest of her life. She doesn't deserve that. And Mac knows that there is a reasoning why Riley hacked the NSA. And whoever forced her or blackmailed her, they don't know what's coming to them. They shouldn't be scared from Mac, they should be scared from Jack mostly. The fire in his eyes says it all.
They arrive at Jaden's house. When they approach the door, they can hear loud robo rock music. Jack just hates it. He knocks on the door, and nobody answers, then he starts knocking furiously, and even kicks the door. A guy answers, which Bozer doesn't recognize, so It's not Jaden.
"It takes three dudes to deliver a pizza?" The guy asks. Jack furrows his eyebrows and looks at Mac.
"We're looking for Jaden." Mac says.
"Who are you guys?" The guy asks.
"We're in the market for some new hardware. Jaden knows me, it's cool." Bozer answers.
"Wait…you-you think we're tech support?" The guy asks with a smile. Jack really wants to punch this guy. He'll punch anyone right now. He gets in, not saying another word to the guy and finds the stairs for the basement. He doesn't know if Jaden is down there, but it's always been the basement. Everytime. And this time aswell. He finds Jaden sitting on a chair in front of a monitor.
"Jaden!" Jack shouts happily. Jaden turns around and starts walking towards him. Jack puts his hands on his shoulders and pushes him back. "How you doing, man? We have some questions." Jack says as he pushes Jaden on the chair. "So, unless you like sucking your food through a straw, you're gonna answer our questions, are we clear?" Jack asks as he takes of his sunglasses.
"I'd do what he says." Bozer says. Jaden glances at him and smiles.
"Wait, I remember you. The Michael Bay wannabe." Jaden says. Bozer rolls his eyes. 'Bozer is right, he is an asshole' Mac thought.
"And what are you two, wannabe cops?" Jaden asks as he glances at Mac and Jack.
"No, I "wanna be" punching people, that's my thing. And that's what will happen to you if you don't stop dicking around, you understand?" Jack asks as he gets into Jaden face.
"Look, we're just trying to find Riley, do you know where she is?" Mac asks with a raised voice.
"Riley? No. And even If I had seen her, I wouldn't tell you. I don't even know who you are." Jaden answers.
"I'm like her father. Here's proof." Jack says as he takes out his phone and shows a picture of him and Riley at an NFL game. Jaden, though, remains quiet. And Mac didn't like the silence. So he is gonna force him to talk. He walks behind the monitors.
"What…that isn't enough proof?" Bozer asks. Jaden shrugs.
"I mean…" he couldn't finish cause every monitor went black and he sees Mac behind them. "Hey! What the hell?!" Jaden shouts.
"If you tell us where she is, I won't have to use this transformer to send 2000 volts into the rest of your gear." Mac says. Jaden again remains quiet. But until he sees Mac getting ready to send those volts.
"Okay! Okay!" Jaden shouts. Mac stops and looks at him. "Riley came to me yesterday evening. She wanted a new rig with a custom hard drive. I already had one just sitting there so I gave it to her."
"Where is she?" Jack growls.
"I don't know, but I can find out. She also asked me to put a tracker in the laptop. It was easy." Jaden asnwers. Everybody exchanged looks as they all thought the same thing. Why would Riley want a tracker in her laptop unless she wanted to be found?
"Turn it on. Find out where she is." Mac says. Jaden turns on the PC and starts searching. After a minute they got a location. Jack glances at the monitor and is kind of in shock.
"Vancouver, Canada?" Jack asks as he glances at Mac and Bozer with furrowed eyebrows.
"There, that's all I know, I swear. Now please, stop zapping my stuff." Jaden says while looking at Mac.
VANCOUVER, CANADA
They arrived in Vancouver, and tracked Riley to a park.
"Okay, Riley's tracker pings every five minutes, and the last four pings showed her heading this way." Bozer says. Jack stops the car. And now they wait. They look around and there isn't a single soul here. Mac glances at Jack and he can see that his hands are shaking, and his eyes are kind of watery.
"Jack, everything is gonna be alright." Mac says. Jack closes his eyes as a tear flows down his cheek. His mind is just thinking the worst.
"She can't…she can't go to prison, Mac. She…she doesn't deserve any of this." Jack says. Mac has never seen Jack like this. So…broken. "And if she had been in trouble, she would always tell me. Why not now?"
"I don't know…but what I do know is that nobody is going to prison except the ones who blackmailed her." Mac says. Jack shakes his head.
"You don't know that." Jack whispers. And he is right. Mac doesn't know what will happen after they fix this. And that really scares him. Riley being in a supermax is one of the things he couldn't imagine. He knows Matty will do everything in her power to prevent that from happening, but will it be enough?
"After her dad left, I was always there for her. Always waiting her to come from school, happy because she got good grades or sad because someone bullied her. And I just couldn't stand seeing her crying when she was little. That girl….is the sweetest, most caring person I know. And she doesn't deserve any of this." Jack says as tears started streaming down his face.
Mac nods as a tear came down his cheek. "I know, man." Mac whispers. Bozer puts his hand on Jack's shoulder and squeezes.
Then they hear a vehicle pulling up in the distance. A blue van. Then they see a person walking towards the van with a bag.
"That's Riley." Mac says as he undoes his seatbelt. They all get out of the car and start fast walking towards the van. They see Riley handing a laptop to the driver. Mac noticed how her hands are shaking while she was holding the laptop. When she handed it over, the back doors of the van opened and a guy pushed a female out. 'Oh my God' Jack thought.
"Diane." As soon as Jack saw her, he started running and Mac and Bozer followed him. Mac sees the van driving away, and then sees Riley hugging her mom.
"Diane!" Jack yells as he approached Riley and Diane. Riley's head shot up as soon as she heard Jack's voice. She felt relieved when she saw Jack, Mac and Bozer running towards them. Jack kneeled down in front of Diane and hugged her. "Are you okay? Are you okay? Please, talk to me." Jack says as he lets her go. But there is something wrong. It looks like she is choking. He then sees that she is pointing to her neck. Jack removes the scarf that's around her neck, only to reveal a rope tightening around her neck.
"Oh my God! Mom! Mom!" Riley shouts as she puts her fingers between the rope and her neck. Jack can hear something clicking, and then sees a little box at the back of her neck.
"Mac, come look at this quick!" Jack says. Mac goes around and kneels down to take a close look at the box. He takes out his SAK and takes out the scissors. He tries cutting the wire, but it's not working.
"It's not working! I need some leverage to cut through the wire!" Mac says as he starts looking around. He sees a small sign that says "Keep off grass". 'The wooden handle is perfect.' "Bozer, come with me!" Mac says and they both run towards the sign.
"Diane, listen to me! You keep breathing, okay?" Jack says. He then hears Riley scream in pain. He looks over and sees that he fingers are starting to bleed. "Mac, hurry up!" Jack yells.
"I'm sorry, mom, I'm trying. Please, stay with me!" Riley started to cry.
"Mac, we're gonna lose her, man!" Jack yells towards Mac. He sees Mac and Bozer running back with one end of the scissors in the wood. 'What the…'
"Okay, everybody, hold still." Mac says. He places the scissors on the wire and he gives everything he's got to cut the wire. And he does. Jack quickly removes the rope from her neck. Diane collapses in his hands, and he holds her tight. He kisses the top of her head.
"I got you. I got you." Jack whispers. Riley also came and hugged them both. Mac and Bozer turn around to give them some privacy.
"Good job, man." Mac says as he fist bumps Bozer.
They find two benches. Jack and Diane are on one bench, where Diane laid down a bit with her head on Jack's lap. He keeps stroking her hair to calm her down, because she is shaking so much. On the other bench are Mac and Riley. Mac waiting for Bozer to come back from the car with some bandages so Mac can cover up the cuts on Riley's fingers.
Bozer comes back with some bandage and a bottle of water. He gives them to Mac and goes over to Jack and Diane to give them a bottle of water too. Mac sat down next to Riley, who was shaking violently, and just looking at the ground.
"Hey." Mac whispers. Riley slowly turns towards Mac and Mac sees black circles under her eyes. She must've not slept at all last night. "Give me your hands." Mac says calmly. Riley does that. It was unbelievable how much Riley was shaking. Mac takes her hands. When he touches her he noticed the shaking slowed down a bit, but didn't stop.
He wrapped a small bandage on each fingers on her hands. When he was done, he requested for her to drink some water, but she just shook her head.
"I'm sorry…" Riley says with a shaky voice. "Mac, I am so sorry…"
"Hey, hey." Mac lifts up her chin. "This isn't your fault." Mac says.
"But it is. What I feared the most came back." Riley says. 'What does she mean?' "Mac, will I go to prison?" Riley asks with a shaky voice. "I don't want to go to prison, Mac." Mac wants to tell her that that will never happen. But he doesn't know and he doesn't want to lie to her. So, he'll tell her something that it is true.
"All of us will make sure that doesn't happen, Riley. Including Matty. You can trust me on that." Mac says as he wraps his arms around Riley and she buries her face in his neck.
Jack thought it's time to call Matty. He picks up his phone and calls her.
"Hey, Matty."
"Jack, what happened?"
"Well, we got Riley and Diane. But the laptop with the cyber weapon is gone. They blackmailed Riley with kidnapping Diane and threatening to kill her." Jack answers.
"Who are they?" Matty asks.
"We don't know yet. Riley is gonna tell us. She is just calming down right now." Jack answers.
"Jack, we need to know now. If that cyber weapon gets deployed, it will be the start of World War III." Matty says. And she is right. Riley needs to spill the beans now.
"Okay, but…can I be the one talking to her?" Jack asks.
"Sure." Matty answers. Jack looks over at the other bench and sees Mac and Riley hugging. He smiles a bit at the sight.
"Hey, you two. Come here." Jack says. Mac and Riley break the hug and they go over to Jack. "Riley, honey, I know you are scared to death right now, but I need you to tell me what is happening." Riley gulps and then nods.
"Um…you remember Peyton and Kai?" Riley asks. And Jack nods. Peyton and Kai were Riley's best friends after high school. The three of them were into technology. The problem was that the two of them were happy when making trouble (Kai mostly), so Riley left them cause they were hacking ATMs. Well…that's what Riley told Jack anyway.
"The real reason I left them was…that they wanted to join this hacker group, called the Collective. They are criminals. They traffic in stolen data. I didn't want that kind of life." Riley says.
"Why did they come after you?" Mac asks.
"I…I don't know." Riley replies.
"Okay, Matty, did you get that?" Mac asks.
"Yeah. I know who they are. They have quite the reputation for state-sponsored hacking. The kind of people that would stand to gain, if two superpowers were at war." Matty says.
"War?" Diane asks.
"What war?" Riley asks even more scared now. There is no point in lying now. Mac sighs.
"If we don't stop the cyber weapon, it might be the start of World War III." Mac says. Riley's eyes go wide.
"What?!" Riley asks with a raised shaky voice. She starts shaking even more know. Everyone tried to calm her down, but the shaking and the fear got the best of her, as she vomits on the ground. Stress and anxiety can cause nausea, vomiting. Mac knows that. He had a couple himself when he was in Afghanistan. They give her water, while Jack and Mac go a bit farther from the others to talk to Matty.
"We have to find out what was stolen from the NSA guys. I know Riley is frightened, but we have to know." Matty says.
"I'll go ask her." Mac says. He sits down next to her and takes her hands in his. She looks at him with red watery eyes. "Riley, we can still fix this. We just need to know what you stole from the NSA." Mac says.
"It…it-it…a cyber weapon called Cannibal. I read that it allows the user to take control…of modern cars and drive them remotely." Riley says.
"Matty, did you get that?" Mac asks while still holding Riley's hands. He had no intention of letting go. Matty caught the convo through their comms.
"Yes, Mac." Matty answers as Jack walks over with Matty on the call.
"Okay, so if that's all that was stolen from the NSA, then let's just call China and tell them to call of their subs." Bozer says.
"Bozer is right. The Chinese must be expecting their nuclear plants to start melting down. Worst case scenario, they're gonna have an increase in fender benders and weekend traffic." Jack says. He then sees Riley shaking her head. Mac notices that aswell.
"What is it, Ri?" Jack asks.
"It's….it's worse than that. Uh…with Cannibal, the user could alter the code to take control of any number of other systems." Riley says.
"So, we don't know what they are gonna do with it." Bozer adds.
"But…umm…while I was hacking the NSA I also hacked one of the Collective's servers. Something is going down in a building in Shanghai…16 hours from now." Riley says as she looked at her watch. She then turns around to see them smiling at her. Especially Mac. He had the biggest smile of them all.
"That must be it." Mac says as he rubs her back, releasing some stress.
"Jack, can I talk to you in private?" Matty asks. Jack walks away from the others and faces Matty on the phone. "We need Riley in Shanghai. She is the one who hacked the NSA, she could be the only one to stop Cannibal." Matty says. Jack took a deep breath and closed his eyes because he knew that Matty was right. But he didn't like the idea one bit. Jack walks back to them and kneels in front of Riley.
"Riley, honey, I know this is too much to ask but…will you come with us to Shanghai? You might be the only one who can stop this." Jack says.
"What?" Diane asks.
Riley nods. "Yes. I'll come with you. I need to fix this."
"Jack…" Jack takes Diane away from the others. He puts his hands on her shoulders. "I promise you with my life, that I will bring her home without a scratch." Diane can see that Jack is telling the truth. So she nods. Plus she doesn't want World War III to start.
"Just, please come back to me. The both of you." Diane says.
"I will, I promise." Jack says as he gives her a kiss on the lips. Matty heard everything, and she is relieved.
"Bozer, you and Diane come back to LA. Mac, Jack and Riley, go and stop The Collective." Matty says as she hangs up.
"That was good thinking. Hacking their servers." Mac says with a smile.
"I just thought about what you would have done." Riley says blushing a bit. Mac smiles at her as they get in the car.
THE PHOENIX JET
They left Vancouver and were on their way to Shanghai. Jack was sleeping at the front of the plane, Mac was in the bathroom, and Riley was just looking out the passenger window. Thinking about the consequences if they don't stop the cyber weapon. Thinking about spending her whole life in prison after this. She closes her eyes as tears start falling. She is startled when Mac opens the bathroom door and comes out. When he sees her crying, he goes and sits next to her.
He takes her hand to reassure her that everything will be alright. That they will fix this. "You can always talk to me, Riley." Mac says.
"Mom and I were just sitting, watching TV like every other night….and then…there is this loud crash from the front door. We…we shot up from the couch as 2 people with….machine guns come towards us. They….they had us against the wall….started searching us from top to bottom…" she says and that thought makes her shiver "…they started tossing everything searching for my laptop. When they found it, they realized that with that laptop they couldn't do anything. So they told me what to do or they would kill my mom. They took her and they left me alone, with everything turned upside down around me…" Riley says while sobbing.
He wrapped his arms around her and lets her cry. When she stopped she whispered "I don't want to be that kind of a person. I never want to be that kind of a person."
"Hey, look at me." Mac says as Riley backs up and looks at him. "You are the complete opposite. Agreeing to come with us and making this right, that shows that you are a good person. Don't you ever tell yourself that you are a bad person. You deserve all the good that's in this world, Riley Davis." Mac says with a smile as he moves a curl of her hair from her face. From the way they are positioned, all he wants to do is just lean in and kiss her. He wanted that since he met her. But what if she doesn't want that? He doesn't want to ruin what they have now, so he just holds her.
"Get some sleep. Looks like you haven't slept in days." Mac says. Riley couldn't sleep before, but now with Mac by her side and holding her, knowing she is safe, she dozes off in an instant.
SHANGHAI, CHINA
With the data they got from the servers that Riley hacked, they ended up in front of a big, tall building. In front of the building there are counters, selling hats, gloves, Christmas stuff. Mac looks over to the building while pretending to be a buyer, searching for stuff at the counters. Jack and Riley were on the other side, also pretending to be buyers. Like Jack promised Diane, he ain't leaving her side.
"Well, whatever is inside that building, it's got a lot of security. Riley, you got eyes inside yet?" Mac asks.
Riley wasn't facing the building, but with her tablet, she opened the selfie camera and tried to look inside, but nothing. "No, I don't. Sorry, Mac. I-I'll try harder, wait…"
"Hey, hey." Jack placed a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, okay?" Jack says with a smile. Riley sighs and nods. "Can you think of another way?" He asks calmly.
"I'll see what I can do." Riley says.
"So, what do we think is in there?" Jack asks.
"Whatever it is, we have only one hour to stop the Collective from using Cannibal, taking it through those doors, and deploying it." Mac says.
Riley tries to ignore that and looks around and spots an ATM in front of the building. She has an idea. "That ATM," Riley says as Jack sees it, "It has a camera. I can hack it and have eyes outside so we can spot the Collective." Jack smiles.
"You heard her, Mac?" Jack asks as he and Riley walk towards the ATM.
"Yep." Mac says as he puts down a Christmas mug on the counter and approaches Riley and Jack.
As Riley hacks the ATM, Jack just can't keep wondering something so she asks Riley "Hey, Ri, why didn't you tell me the truth about Peyton and Kai? I'm not mad, don't worry about that, I just want to know."
"I'll tell you Jack, just…not right now. Need to get in there." Riley says. And for Riley to be sure Jack is not angry, he gives her a smile and gives her an "okay.".
After a few minutes, Riley has hacked the ATM and now has access to its camera. She rewinds the footage just in case, and that was the right thing to do because she sees something familiar.
"Um…guys…" they glance at Riley when they heard her shaky voice. "That's my laptop." Riley shows the footage of a man dressed up as a guard walk inside the building with Riley's laptop to Mac and Jack.
"Cannibal is in the building…" Mac says quietly.
"Okay, so we have to get in there." Jack says.
"How? This place is a fortress." Riley says with a shaky voice. They both turn around and see Mac thinking. And when he faces them, they knew he came up with something.
"I have an idea. Stay here, I'll be back in five." Mac says as he starts running. While they wait for Mac, Jack can see that Riley is tense. Of course she is. She has only seen these kind of situations in movies. And she is on a mission with them when she doesn't even work at the Phoenix. He goes over and hugs her tight. She buries her face in his chest as she wraps her arms around him.
"Is everything going to be okay?" Riley asks.
"I promise you, everything is going to be alright." Jack says. He can feel Riley's head shaking against his chest.
"You don't know that, Jack. I could end up in prison for the rest of my life." Riley says.
"Hey, that will never happen, you know why?" Riley looks up at him "Because you don't know Matty like I do." Jack says with a smile. He then kissed her forehead and hugs her tight again.
Then Mac comes back running with a cap in his hand. He puts the hat on Jack's head and smiles. "We're tourists from Cleveland. You are her dad," he turns to Riley, "and you are my girlfriend." Mac smiles when he says that. Riley's eyes go wide when Mac said that. "Shall we?" he ask while extending his hand. Riley takes it and smiles. They walk inside holding hands, while Jack was next to Mac.
"Hey there." Mac says with a grin to a guard. "Me, my girlfriend and her dad are here on vacation, and we are looking for Shanghai Tower. Is this it?" Mac asks the guard. Riley remains silent and Jack is getting his fists ready if he has to punch somebody.
"No." the guard answers.
"Really? I…could've sworn it was." Mac says as he glances at Jack and Riley.
"Yeah, that's not what the map thingy on my phone says." Jack adds as he waves his phone. 'Oh my God, Jack…' Mac thought. Jack then glances at the guard. "Maybe I should go there and check."
"Hey!" the guard shouts as he stops Jack. That shout startled Riley a bit and now was kind of scared. That's when they hear a siren. An air raid siren.She hears the guard shouting to other people something in Chinese. She glances at Mac and he winks at her. 'This was his plan. He made an air raid siren' Riley thought and she smiles at him.
Jack looks around and see people in tac gear, with machine guns coming out from corners. 'Whoa, where the hell are we…' he wonders. He takes a step back next to Riley.
"This building is now on lockdown. You have to come with me." the guard says approaching the three.
The guard keeps taking them from floor to floor. So Jack decided to add some spice to the situations. "Hey, you can't just take me wherever you want, okay? I'm an American citizen. I have right. I demand to speak whoever's in charge immediately."
"This vacation has literally gone to shit!" Mac says playing the part with Jack. Riley was in the middle of them remaining quiet, scared if she says something that will ruin their cover.
"Well, maybe next time you'll come to me when you help finding a place for a Christmas vacation, you idiot." Jack says knowing Mac knew what he was thinking.
"What do you even know about planning a vacation, you grandpa." Mac says as he looks around trying to find a way to get away from the guards.
"Well, at least I wouldn't have ended up in a building that's on lockdown!" Jack says.
"Yeah, you probably would have taken us to Antarctica so we can freeze to death. You are probably gonna become a Jack-sicle." Mac says as he still kept looking around. Two people walk past them, who they look like computer technicians.
"What's wrong with Antarctica dude?! There are penguins there, and penguins are awesome!" Jack says.
"I literally just told you what's wrong with Antarc…" Mac trails off as he spots a room full of servers. 'Oh shit…'.
"You will be free to go when we figure out what is going on here." The guard says as he swipes his card and opens a door. "For now, you will be comfortable here."
"Yeah, I bet." Jack says as he walks inside. Mac follows Riley inside while quietly takes out his SAK and takes out the scissors.
"Riley, here. When he gets here, cut the rope with the card that's on his waist. Okay?" Mac says and Riley quickly nods and takes the scissors. And before the guard gets out and closes the door, Mac goes to Jack and pushes him.
"Who you calling an idiot, huh?" Mac asks. Jack furrows his eyebrows. But when Mac winks at him, he knows what his plan is.
Jack gives him a hard push. "You, dumbass! Who knows how long we will be stuck here!"
Mac gives him a harder push. "How was I supposed to know that this building will be in lockdown, huh?!" Mac shouts. Riley just watches them with wide eyes as the guard approaches and goes in between Mac and Jack.
"Hey! Calm down! We will get you out as soon as we can!" the guard shouts. Mac adjusts his jacket as he looks Jack in the eyes. Then the guard leaves and now they are locked inside the room. Mac turns to Riley.
"Did you get it?" Mac asks. Riley smiles as she shows the card to Mac. Mac grins. "Nice!" Mac says as he gives Riley a high five. "Anyway…I know what building we're in." Mac says as he puts the card in his pocket.
"You guys noticed the computer technicians, rooms full of high-end servers, the Chinese special forces? All that adds up to one thing." Mac says. Riley is confused. "This is Chinese central command!" Mac says. Riley's eyes go wide, and Jack lets out a nervous laugh.
"Wait, you're telling me that we just wandered into the heartbeat of the Chinese military here?" Jack asks. Mac nods. "Seriously?" This couldn't get messier. Well, it could, if they don't stop the Collective for using Cannibal. Mac was in his thoughts again, but right now Jack kind of saw fear in his eyes.
"Wait, Riley…" Riley quickly turned to Mac when he heard the fear in his voice. "…can Cannibal be used to hack any other kind of vehicle?" Mac asks.
"Well, they have to tweak the code, but…with some simple changes, Cannibal can be used to control any number of…" Riley couldn't finish cause she was interrupted by Mac.
"Submarines?" Mac asks. 'No…' Riley realized what Mac was trying to say. "That was the Collective's plan the whole time." Mac says.
"To threaten the Chinese to get them to move their submarines within range of the West Coast, then remotely take control of those submarines and attack the United States?" Jack asks sounding scared.
"Oh, God. World War III starts as soon as my laptop's plugged in." Riley says. She is starting to shake again.
"Well, let's make sure that doesn't happen." Mac says as he approaches the door, swipes the card and the door opens.
They find the elevators. Mac uses his card to open them and then presses every floor button.
"What the hell are you doing?" Jack asks.
"Naval operations servers are where they'd go to deploy Cannibal. It'll be on a restricted level. Whatever doesn't light up is it." Mac says. And the 30th floor doesn't light up. Mac puts the card on the sensor for the elevator to close so they can go up to the 30th floor, but it doesn't work. Jack snaps his fingers.
"As usual, you might want to hurry up there, bud." Jack says.
"I don't think this is gonna work." Mac says as he glances at Jack.
"I think we need an RFID from one of those techs we've been hiding from." Riley says.
"Alright, I got this. I'll just gently grab the next one that walks by and kindly persuade him onto the elevator." Jack says as he looks out of the elevator and smacks his fist into his other hand.
"What?" Riley asks.
"And then what?" Mac asks and Jack shrugs. "We can't take a hostage with us or leaving him unconscious somewhere, Jack." Mac says. "Plus, I got a better idea. Follow me."
They follow Mac to the computer maintenance room. "Jack, you're lookout. Riley, you're with me." Mac says as he enters the room with Riley and Jack stays outside.
Riley watches Mac do his thing now. "This is important. Hold on that for me, will you?" Mac asks as he gives her a chip.
"Sure." Riley replies. Mac smiles at her.
"I've been meaning to ask." Mac says while he is building a device. "Are Kai and Peyton working for the Collective?" That's not what Mac wanted right now. Two of Riley's ex best friends, and if they work for the Collective and find out Riley stopped the attack, it will get ugly.
"I don't know about Kai, but…I think Peyton has her own company now. She is not a criminal. I really hope Kai isn't also." Riley says quietly.
"Look, Riley," Mac puts down everything and faces Riley, "I know you think that you are the only person that has done this kind of thing. But that is not true. Every good person risks something so they can do something for their loved ones. And especially in my line of work, for example, if it comes to saving the ones I love or other innocent people, I would do whatever it takes to keep them safe. Especially you….and of course the rest of the gang." Mac says as he scratches his neck. He almost told Riley his feelings about her.
Riley didn't realize that a tear came out and flowed down her cheek, until Mac reaches and wipes it off. Riley hugs Mac so tight, it was like he almost couldn't breathe. But he wasn't complaining. Riley's hugs where one of the best.
"Thank you." Riley says. When she pulls back, Mac just couldn't resist, as he leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek before hugging her again.
"Always." Mac replies. 'Mac kissed me on the cheek…what?' Riley was hiding her smiling face in Mac's shoulder. They remained like that for a minute, forgetting about the mission, until they heard a knock on the door.
"Stay here." Mac says as he goes and opens the door. "Somebody coming?"
"No, but it's been like 4 minutes, dude. Hurry up." Jack says.
"Yeah, right, sorry." Mac says. He rushes back and quickly makes the device. It takes him another minute and they get out and meet with Jack.
"Thank God." Jack says. "That a teleportation device?"
"What? No." Mac answers as he glances at Jack. "And by the way, that headline you saw was about quantum teleportation. Only works on individual atoms." Mac says with a laugh.
"The elevator only moves if the RFID fob is near the reader. This is a range extender." Mac shows the device to Jack and Riley. "It'll boost the signal of any fob nearby."
"Okay, so we don't need to get someone with the key fob onto the elevator, just near it." Riley says.
"Exactly." Mac says with a smile.
"And how close do they need to be?" Jack asks.
"Uh…20 feet." Mac answers.
"Okay, you two go to the elevator and get ready." Riley says.
"Whoa, whoa, what?" Jack asks. "No, no, that's not happening. You are not leaving my side."
"Jack, please, I'll be careful, just…let me do this. I need to do something good." Riley says and as much as he wants to say now, Jack just can't say no to those puppy eyes.
"Alright, but if you're not back in 4 minutes max, I'm coming to look for you." Jack says. Riley nods.
"Avoid everyone, okay?" Mac says.
"Got it." Riley says and with that she is gone searching for a tech. Mac and Jack arrive at the elevator and just wait for Riley.
"So, are you gonna tell me what took you so long to make that thing?" Jack says as he glances at Mac with a smile.
"I asked her about Kai and Peyton." Mac answers. And then Jack's smile fades. Jack thought Mac would start by saying that he kissed Riley, because he heard that, but he didn't hear the conversation they had before. He still is waiting for an answer from Riley as to why she lied to him.
"What about them?" Jack asks.
"I asked her if they work for the Collective." Mac answers. He glances at Jack staring at him, and then Jack opens his arms to tell Mac to continue. "She doesn't know about Kai, but she told me that Peyton has her own company or something." Jack nods and remains quiet. They hear Riley approaching.
"…my friends, who if you saw them, would make you totally freak out and sound the alarms…" Riley arrives in front of the elevator with a tech who looks like he doesn't know a thing what Riley is saying. "…could steal the signal off that fob clipped to your pocket and…" Riley trails off as she turns to the guys. Mac places the fob reader in front of the sensor. The light turns green and he gives a thumbs up to Riley. Riley turns around and glances at the tech.
"You just helped save the world." Riley says and she kisses the tech on the cheek. Mac saw that and turned away. He will admit, he was kind of jealous. And then a thought came to his head. 'What if that kiss made her uncomfortable? Oh man…' "Thanks, bye." Riley says as the tech touches the place Riley kissed him on. She got on the elevator as Mac pressed the button for the 30th floor.
"I give him 15 minutes tops before he sends someone looking for me." Riley says with a smile, feeling a bit proud that she did good.
"Mhm…" Mac hums sarcastically while looking down.
"Nice work, honey." Jack says with a grin. But, now that Mac mentioned Kai and Peyton, he wanted to know now why did she lie to him. "Can you tell me about Kai and Peyton now?" And when Riley heard that, her smile was gone. Riley sighs. Mac will remain quiet and not get involved, but they were in an elevator and it was hard not to hear them.
"After my dad left, you came. And I loved you since day 1. You made me happy, you have been there for me all the time. I lied to you because, I thought if I told you the truth that…you would leave me and mom." Riley says as she gets ready to cry, her eyes are getting watery. "Telling you I nearly worked with criminals, I was scared you would get hurt, disappointed and leave. I didn't want you to leave us, I never want you to leave us." Riley says as tears stream down her face.
Jack couldn't hold back the tears when he heard Riley say that. Nobody ever said that to him, he never felt this much loved before. He goes over and hugs Riley. "I would never, ever, leave you Riley. You and your mom are the most important people in my life, and I would do anything to keep you safe. And if you did tell me the truth, I would be there to help you and tell you that it was wrong. But you figured it out by yourself." Jack says. He kisses her forehead and starts laughing.
"Man, I'm pumped!" Jack says. "Let's do this shit!" Mac and Riley laugh as they reached the 30th floor. Mac steps out only to have a gun pointed at his head.
"Mac!" Riley shouts. Jack charged and tackled the guy with the gun. He falls down but quickly gets up. Mac took Riley's hand and ran to the laptop.
"Okay, Riley do your thing." Mac says as he watches Jack fight with the member of the Collective. Riley gets to typing, while Jack is dodging every single punch and kick. Jack catches his hand, hits him in the stomach, then in the right cheek, and then gives him an uppercut and the guy falls to the ground. But he doesn't give up so easily. He tries to get back up, but Jack gives him a hard punch that sends him into a coma. Jack takes off his hat, and spins it midair, and falls next to the guy.
He then approaches Mac and Riley. "How's it going?" he asks.
"Can you stop the missiles?" Mac asks Riley.
"All of them." Riley answers. Jack and Riley sigh in relief. Then they hear a beeping. "Except one." Riley says with a shaky voice. Mac looks at the screen and reads "Missile number 5 launched." 'No…'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Matty paces around the war room as she watches the missile on the screen approaching the US. Then her phone rings. It's Jack, so she picks up.
"Hey, Matty, um…we have some bad news." Jack says.
"I know, Jack, I'm watching on the screen." Matty says. Jack can hear she is sad and disappointed. She can hear Riley in the background.
"What have I done? Mac, what I have I done? Jack…" she was spiraling. And Matty doesn't blame her.
"Matty, how long until impact?" Jack asks as Mac tried to calm Riley down. She tried to hack the missile but It was no use.
"Ten minutes if we're lucky." Matty answers. "Can Riley hack the missile?" Matty asks.
"No, she can't. She said that after launch, the only signals it will listen to are pings and GPS satellites." Jack answers. Jack turns around and sees a familiar look that he loves so much. "Wait…wait a minute…I know that look." Jack says as he is looking at Mac. Riley also glances at Mac who has his eyes wide.
"I know how we can stop the missile." Mac says.
"Really? You just figured out how to stop a missile that's halfway across the world?" Jack asks.
"Yeah."
"How?" Matty asks.
"We just gotta move the Earth." Mac says sounding like it's a simple thing. Well, for him it might be, but for the other they all say "what?" simultaneously.
Mac grabs a fire extinguisher and starts hitting the wall. "What the hell are you doing?" Jack asks as he goes to Mac. A piece of the wall falls down to reveal a metal mesh.
"This! This metal mesh. That's what we're looking for. That's what's the wireless signals from coming in and out of the building. But we're gonna use it to send one, so I need you to cut a piece of it out of the wall, and then bend it." Mac says. He then turns to Riley who is looking at the ground, her hands shaking violently. Mac kneels in front of her and puts a hand over hers. That seem to help a bit, as the shaking slowed down.
"Riley, can you hack the Chinese GPS Network? We might have a chance to stop the missile." Mac says. Riley looks up with a little hope in her eyes and then nods. "We need to find out which satellites are guiding that missile towards the US."
"Okay, I can do that." Riley replies and she gets to work. Jack is breaking the wall, while Mac opens a vent and grabs the power supply. Jack takes out the metal mesh, and Mac helps him bend it. Then, Mac finds a rooter. He breaks it and grabs the WiFi antenna. He also told Jack to take out the metal leg from a table.
As Mac is working, Jack asks "So, what is this?"
"Well, GPS chips, just like the one on your phone, calculate your location using signals from satellite dishes. Four or more. Now those satellite dishes are 12,500 miles away in orbit. That missile's is only 3000 miles away, so if we can build a stronger, closer satellite dish, we might be able to aim it at that missile and trick its GPS into thinking that California isn't where it thought it was, and…"
"Move the Earth." Riley finishes. Mac glances at her and sees the amazement in her eyes.
"Riley, which was is west?" Mac asks. Riley opens a compass on her laptop and then points towards the window. "Perfect, Jack, break the window."
"Oh, fun!" Jack says with a smile. He picks up a chair, and throws it towards the window. But he aimed perfectly so the half of the chair hits the wall and the other half the window. Which was enough to break it. He doesn't want to kill a civilian if that chair flies out the window.
"Once you access the GPS satellites, find the furthest one and mimic its signal." Mac says to Riley and she nods. Mac aims the dish towards the window. Then his phone rings, and he picks up.
"Yeah."
"The Pentagon is 60 seconds from launching a counterstrike, and I can't do anything about it. So, if you're gonna do something, now is the time, Mac." Matty says.
"This should do it, but the dish isn't transmitting!" Riley says. Jack extends his arms glancing at Mac telling Mac to tell them what's wrong.
"Oh, we need power!" Mac says. He hangs up and goes to the vent he opened earlier and grabs a wire. He wants to connect it with the other wire that's on the dish, but there is nothing to hold it with.
"I need something to hold it like a binder clip or a stapler."
"Or a Jack Dalton." Jack says as he grabs the wire and connects them with his hand, burning him and sending electricity in his body.
"Whoa!" Mac shouts.
"Jack!" Riley yells. Then her laptop starts beeping. She looks to the screen and sees that the transmission has started. "We're transmitting." Riley says.
Matty sees on the screen that the missile is starting to change course. "Whatever you're doing, don't stop." Matty says.
"Detonation, in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…" Mac glances at Jack who is red as a tomato in the face.
"Detonation! We have detonation!" Matty says. Mac wastes no time and moves Jack away from the wires. Jack screams in pain as he holds his hand. Mac takes a look and sees that the hand is burnt.
"You're an idiot you know that?" Mac says. Jack though, he starts laughing. Then so does Mac. Mac then turns to face Riley.
"Is it over?" Riley asks.
"It's over. Nothing happened." Mac says and grins. Riley runs and hugs him. Mac lifts her up and spins her while laughing. When Mac puts her down, she goes over to Jack and sees his burnt hand.
"I'm fine, sweetheart. I'm fine. Come here." Jack extends his hands and hugs Riley. "I am so proud of you." He doesn't let her go for a minute. Then Matty speaks on the phone.
"And some other good news. Since Riley helped to stop the missile, all charges on her have been dropped. So Riley, you'll get to go home knowing you saved only God knows how many lives. But I can tell you, it's a big number." Matty says. When Riley heard that, she started crying from happiness.
"I'll be damned. Did we just pull off a genuine Christmas miracle?" Jack asks while grinning.
"Hey, Matty, can you take care of our friends that are probably on their way up here?" Mac asks. He is talking about the Chinese special forces.
"On it." Matty says as she hangs up.
THE PHOENIX JET
After a successful mission, they are on their way back to LA to celebrate Christmas properly. Jack and Mac were getting drink from the bar that was on the jet, while Riley was sleeping like a baby at the front of the plane. She needed a good sleep after everything that happened. They made themselves a martini and took a seat at the back of the plane. Jack catches Mac how he was looking at Riley with a smile on his face.
"So, when are you planning on telling her how do you feel?" Jack asks. Mac glances at him with wide eyes and red cheeks. Jack just couldn't hold back a laugh.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Mac says as he takes a sip from his martini.
"Seriously?" Jack says while laughing. "Dude, I might not be smart, but I'm not blind either. And I'm not deaf aswell. I heard a kiss while I was keeping watch in front of the maintenance room." Mac's head falls back on the seat as Jack laughs a bit more.
"I kissed her on the cheek, there." Mac says.
"Was that so hard?" Jack asks with a grin.
"So why did you ask me what we were doing inside if you were listening?" Mac asks.
"I wasn't listening. I only heard the kiss part." Jack says.
"Mhm, sure." Mac says sarcastically. He takes another sip from his martini. But Jack's question remains in his head. 'So, when are you planning on telling her how do you feel?'
"What if she doesn't feel the same way?" Mac didn't realize that came out from his mouth until he finished the question. So what's the point in even hiding now. "I don't want to ruin what we have now."
"You will never know unless you tell her. And you will not ruin anything, Mac, trust me. You're one of the most important people of her life." That gave Mac a little hope. Maybe he should do it tonight, on the balcony while it snows. Which reminds him he has to go to the store real quick to grab something for the machine. Yeah, he'll tell her everything then.
MAC'S HOUSE
Jack, Riley and Diane all enter Mac's house to find Bozer, Matty and Leanna in the kitchen, and the smell of pastrami. They all hug and say "Merry Christmas".
"How's the pastrami, Matty?" Bozer asks.
"It's actually delicious, but pastrami on a Christmas?" Matty asks. Bozer gives her a disappointing face.
"I expected better from you, Matty." Bozer says as he gets back to cooking while the others laugh.
"Where is Mac?" Riley asks.
"Oh, he said he needed to go to the store to get something. Should be back soon." Leanna answers. They all know why Mac needed to go to the store, except for Riley and Diane. Matty's phone buzzes and she takes a look at the message.
"Good news, everyone! All the members of the Collective have been tracked down and taken into custody. The organization has been neutralized." Matty says.
"Alright!" Jack shouts.
"Um, Miss Webber…" Riley gets interrupted by Matty.
"Call me Matty." she says with a smile.
"Okay, Matty, any chance there was a member of the Collective by the name Kai?" Riley asks. Matty takes a look at her message again.
"By the looks of it, no." Matty answers. Riley sighs in relief.
Half an hour has passed and Mac hasn't come back yet. 'What was taking him so long?' "I'm gonna call Mac. See where he is." Jack says as he stands up with the mug in his hand and goes to the living room. He finds Mac's number and calls him. It rings a couple of times before it answers.
"Hey, man. Where are you?" Jack asks. But there is no answer. It's just silence. Then the phone makes a sound and Jack sees that Mac wants to video chat. 'Why would he want to video chat while in a store?' Anyway, Jack accepts the request and what he sees makes him drop the mug on the floor and it shatters to pieces. Mac was tied up on a chair, shirtless with cuts all over his body. Everybody heard the mug breaking so they didn't bother to get up. But when they heard Jack shout "Mac!" they all jumped and ran in the living room.
They all gasp at the sight of Mac. Then the camera is turned the other way to reveal the person everyone hates the most right now.
"Why hello there Phoenix. How are you all doing on this lovely evening." Murdoc says.
"What did you do to him?" Jack growls.
"Oh, Agnus and I had a little fun before you called. Well…I did, I'm not sure about him." Murdoc replies. Riley's eyes burn when she knew what Murdoc meant by "fun".
"You are dead, you son of a bitch!" Jack shouts. Then Mac starts screaming very loudly. Murdoc turns the camera so they can see Mac's red face, how his veins are popping out. By the sound of it, Mac is being electrocuted.
"Stop, please!" Riley yells. And when Murdoc heard that voice, he released the button he was pressing and Mac stopped screaming.
"Is that Riley I hear? My BFFs girlfriend?" Murdoc glances at Mac. "So that's why you brought all of that stuff from the store. You were gonna make it snow for her. How cute." Murdoc says. 'Mac was gonna make it snow, for me?' She sees Mac looking down. "Oh…I guess the surprise is ruined now."
"What do you want, Murdoc?" Jack asks.
"Oh, I think you know what I want, Jack. I want to watch the Phoenix Foundation burn down with every single living soul in it. So, I'm making a team. Contacted some friends, this and that." Murdoc says.
"You and I both know you don't have friend, Doc. And nobody will join your stupid little team. Everybody is against you. Now, if you do something else to Mac, I swear to God, you are gonna wish you never lived!" Jack shouts.
"Let me tell you something Jacky boy. Those who are not with me, are against me!" Murdoc says with a raised voice. "And, I crush anyone…" Mac starts screaming in the background "…who stand against me!"
The call ends.