MacGyver Alternate Universe
Chapter 11
ASTANA CITY, KAZAKHSTAN
It's been three weeks since Christmas. Three weeks since they locked up Murdoc. Finally! Those three weeks, they all took a break. After the Collective, and the next day after that, Murdoc, Matty gave them a break for three weeks. Mac is all healed up now and is probably the happiest person alive. Everybody at the Phoenix now knows about him and Riley, and so far him being with her, he wouldn't ask for anything else.
Right now though, he wasn't having a good time. He and Jack were sent to Kazakhstan to capture a war criminal named Victor. They did…sort of. Exfil was waiting for them on a roof of a building. They got there with Viktor tied up, but Victor was a huge guy. And he didn't give them an easy time. To be more specific, he tried to get away and headbutted Jack three times so far. So, they put a bag on Victor's head so he doesn't see where to aim.
"Come on!" Jack growls as he is giving his everything to drag Victor to the helicopter. "Let's go!" Jack stops and pushes Victor towards him. Victor without looking, headbutts Jack in the head. He screams in pain and blood starts flowing from his forehead. "That's three times now!" Jack yells.
"Four." Mac corrects him. Jack takes a deep breath and headbutts Victor back. "Hey!" Mac shouts.
"Now we're even, punk!" Jack shouts as he wobbles a bit. "Oh, Mac, I think I got a concussion." Jack says.
"Yeah, no shit." Mac says and Victor headbutts Jack again and he falls on the ground.
"Now…now I'm seeing double. Get him, Mac." Jack says as he tries to get up from the ground but falls again. Mac charges after Victor. He jumps on his back and tries to control him but Victor is too strong.
"Jack, I could use some restraints, man!" Mac says. Victor can't stop moving and then he crushes Mac against a wall.
"I'm on the ground. One step at a time." Jack says as he tries to get up again. Mac takes a hard elbow shot at his ribs which just healed. And now they are probably broken, again. As Mac falls to the ground, Jack jumps on Victor's back.
"Guys, you better hurry up." They hear Leanna over the comms. "Elvis has friends headed your way."
"Elvis? I thought you said the target's name was Victor Henley." Riley says. Mac smiles when he hears her voice even though his ribs hurt like a bitch. This was Riley's first mission assisting Mac and Jack. She was joined by Leanna and Bozer in the war room.
"Elvis is the code name we gave him. Every package gets one." Bozer says with a smile.
"Oh. It's like a spy speak or something?" Riley asks.
"Yeah, something like that." Leanna says as she laughs a bit. Riley follows the bad guys that are in the building trying to get to Mac and Jack and save Victor.
"They just got on the elevator." Riley says.
"Guys, get to the chopper now." Leanna says.
"Three stories, that means we've got…" Mac trails off as his voice is rough and he tries to crawl and get up. Jack didn't want to hear his explaining right now.
"No, Mac! This is stressful enough!" Jack shouts as he tries to keep Victor under control.
"Well, it wouldn't be if you had remembered to bring more restrains." Mac says as he gets up with one hand on his ribs.
"Hey, I'm not Costco!" Jack says.
"Mac, you okay?" Riley asks sounding worried.
"Ribs are probably broken again." Mac says calmly and then helps Jack by grabbing Victor from the front while Jack was still on Victor's back.
"The op said one guy. I brought one zip tie." Jack says. Victor crushes him against the wall and Jack screams in pain. Riley winces at the sound of that. Was she supposed to see and hear Mac and Jack getting hurt? Well, they are joking around while getting hurt so it doesn't look that bad.
"Well, we learned something today, didn't we, Jack?" Bozer asks.
"Leanna should have this job!" Jack shouts. Leanna, Bozer and a bit Riley start laughing.
"Remind me to tell Jack about the second rule of thermodynamics." Mac says as he finds a blue tarp and takes it. "It states that the entropy in any system will always decrease over time." Mac finishes as he finds a rope.
"I don't know what you're talking about over there." Jack says.
"Basically, it means that everything eventually goes caca." Mac says.
"Caca. Got it." Jack says as Victor smacks him in a pole. "I got caca."
"No, you don't got it, `cause if you did you would've brought more zip ties." Mac says.
"I'm not the bad guy!" Jack says in a high pitched voice. "I figure if we ever need anything, we'll just make it, anyway."
"That's cute." Mac says. He extends the tarp and gets the rope ready. "Okay, Jack, hold him still." Mac says.
"What do you think I'm trying to do?!" Jack says sounding tired.
"Let him go." Mac says.
"You sure?" Jack asks.
"Yeah." Mac replies. Jack gets off Victor and pushes him towards the tarp. When Victor hits the tarp, Mac with one end of the tarp in his hand, runs around Victor wrapping him up. Jack approaches Victor and starts holding him. Mac gets the rope around him and tightens it. But because Victor is like a giant, he takes his belt out and puts it around Victor.
"Give me your belt." Mac says to Jack. He wants to be sure that Victor won't get out of this one.
"What?!" Jack asks.
"Just give me your belt!" Mac says. Jack with one hand takes out his belt and gives it to Mac. Mac puts it around Victor, and uses one end of the belt to drag him to the helicopter.
"That was fun to watch." Jack hears the pilot. He looks up to see her smiling. Cynthia was one of the best helicopter pilots out there. She was their pilot a couple of times for exfil, and they know they are safe with her flying the helicopter.
"Glad we could entertain you." Jack says as he gets into the helicopter.
"Guys, chopper now." Leanna says sounding frustrated now. Jack sees Mac trying to push Victor in the chopper, but his ribs aren't helping. Jack grabs Victor and drags him in.
"Come on, big boy, get in here." Jack says. When Victor was in, Mac quickly got in aswell. He winced when he sat down and puts a hand on his ribs where it was hurting. He opens his eyes and sees men with machine guns approaching them from the door of the roof.
"We should go!" Mac shouts as he closes the door of the chopper.
"Copy that!" Cynthia shouts. When they got off the ground, Mac could hear bullets hitting the bottom of the chopper.
"Hold on to your jewels, boys!" Cynthia says. She always likes to make jokes about them in these situations. After a few moments they hear Leanna, Bozer and Riley cheer.
"Elvis has left the building." Leanna says.
"Yeah!" Jack cheers as he fist bumps Mac.
"Mac, bro, why are your ribs always getting broken, man?" Bozer asks with a laugh. Mac exhales and smiles.
"Not the time for jokes, Boze." Mac says. "Riley, you did great on your first mission."
"Thank you, Mac." Riley replies with a grin. She is proud of herself today. She thought that her first mission would be hell, like something really bad is going to happen. Jack takes the bag from Victor's head, to see a look of defeat.
"Victor!" Jack says cheerily. By the way he is acting he still has a concussion. He puts his arm around Victor's shoulders and takes out his phone. "Hey, smile for the International Criminal Court." Jack says as he turns on the selfie camera. Victor tries to say something, but they couldn't understand him because of the gag he had in his mouth.
Mac looks over and sees Jack taking some pictures. "Ah, there it is!" Jack says. Mac lifts his eyebrows and just shakes his head.
"Hey, now one for my personal dirtbag collection." Jack says as he glances at Victor who was avoiding Jack's eyes. "You can have fun with this one if you want to, okay? Something goofy." Jack says as he lifts the phone again and takes a picture. Victor isn't even looking at the camera. "Oh, there it is, thank you."
Victor mumbles something but nobody can understand him. "What? I can't make that out. Mac, can you make this out?" Jack asks.
"I don't know, something about 'I'm sorry I committed all those war crimes.'" Mac says and Victor tries to jump him. That startles Mac a bit as he backs off, the pain in the ribs hitting him like a train. Jack has a hold of Victor though, so he couldn't touch Mac.
"Hey! Sit down! You just lost your daylight privileges." Jack says as Mac puts the bag back on Victor's head. Jack manages to put Victor down. "Settle down!" Jack says. He grabs his phone and sends the photos to Riley.
"Hey, Ri, identify conformation photo coming your way." Jack says. In the war room, the three of them watch the screen as photos of a happy Jack with a sad Victor come up.
"Good job, fellas. Not a bad first mission without the boss lady being here." Bozer says. Matty had to go to DC for a couple of days for meetings she had to attend, so they were on their own for this mission. And they succeeded.
"And not a bad way to start 2017 as well. I wish we had beer here." Jack says.
"The last thing you need right now is beer, Jack." Mac says with a laugh which turned into a wince. Mac groans quietly but enough for Riley to hear it.
"Mac, are you sure you're okay?" Riley asks with a worried voice.
"I'm fine, Riles, really." Mac says calmly. 'Riles?' Riley asks herself. No one has ever called her that, but she doesn't complain. She kind of likes it, anyway.
"There is some ice back there. Maybe you should put some on those ribs." Cynthia says while looking forward. She was no doctor, but everyone almost puts ice on every place where it hurts. 'Right?' she asks herself.
"Thanks." Mac says as he finds some ice and puts it on his ribs.
"Plans for tonight?" Jack asks.
"Well, I was hoping me and Riley could go out for dinner, but my ribs thought otherwise. Sorry, Riles." Mac says.
"No worries, just for you to be okay. That's all that matters to me." Riley says. Mac grins when he heard her say that. He looks over to Jack who also had a grin while looking at him. Mac's smile fell and he furrowed his eyebrows. The face Jack was giving him kind of creeps him out.
"Well, Leanna and I are free. Why don't we come to your place and I can cook all of us some dinner." Bozer says.
"I would love that." Riley says.
"Same here." Mac adds.
"Okay, Riley, your mom's shift hasn't ended yet. So go and tell her so she doesn't make other plans." Jack says. Its Diane's first day at work at the Phoenix as well.
"On it." Riley says and she is out of the war room. All of them stayed silent for a minute, until Mac heard an explosion. The helicopter felt fine, wasn't losing control or anything. He exchanged a glance with Jack and then an alarm goes off. Jack's eyes go wide cause he thinks he knows what this is.
"Is that what I think it is?" Jack asks.
"It depends. If you think it's a surface-to-air missile, then yes." Cynthia says. And that's not what Jack wanted to hear. "Strap in."
Mac and Jack put their seatbelts on, and Jack puts Victor's seatbelt on as well.
"Guys, what's going on?" Leanna asks.
"We have an incoming missile." Mac says.
"What?!" Riley asks. Leanna and Bozer turn around to see Riley walking inside the war room.
Cynthia looks at the radar on her dash, and sees the red dot approaching the center of the radar, which was the chopper. "Hold on!" Cynthia shouts.
Cynthia does a sharp 180 degrees turn, and dodges the missile. The missile hits the ground as it couldn't turn around to follow them. Mac was serious when he meant that Cynthia was the best pilot. There was some proof. The radar picks up another missile approaching them.
"Second missile incoming. I can't get a visual. Can anybody see it?" Cynthia asks. Mac and Jack looks out the window.
"No. Nothing." Mac shouts.
"Can't see anything." Jack adds. Then the beeping starts again. Cynthia looks at the radar to see two red dots approaching them.
"Third missile!" Cynthia shouts.
"I got eyes on number two!" Jack shouts. "Eight o'clock."
"Okay, I'm gonna try something." Cynthia says. 'Come on, you can do this.' She says to herself. Cynthia lowers the chopper close to the ground, and then turns right and goes up, tricking the missile as it hits the ground and explodes.
"Detonation! Confirmed, detonation." Mac shouts so Cynthia can hear him.
"Two down, one to go! Here she comes!" Jack says.
"Yeah, I got this. I got this." Cynthia says it out loud. She turns left but the missile is right behind them. "She's sticky. Changing vectors!" Cynthia shouts.
"It's gaining!" Jack yells.
"I can't break the lock!" Cynthia says. Mac looks at the bag between his feet and remembers that there is something that could help them now. He takes out the foil survival blanket.
"Hey, Mac, you know I trust you, but that's gonna make a horrible parachute." Jack says.
"Not using it as a parachute." Mac says. He starts cutting it, making it like confetti. He opens the window and throws out the pieces of the foil.
"Oh, I get it. You're making chaff. Confusing censors. Good idea." Jack says.
"Glad you approve." Mac says as Jack laughs a bit. They hear the explosion from behind them, but what they didn't expect was the blowback explosion to cause problems.
"We're caught in the blowback. Mayday! Mayday! We're going down!" Cynthia says. Riley gasps when she heard that as Bozer puts his hands on his head, and Leanna puts her hands on her mouth.
"Mac!" Bozer shouts over the comms. But Mac had other things to worry about. He tries to find something to hold on, because the impact will not be pretty. As they approach the trees, the door on Mac's side flies off and his seatbelt breaks. Which results in him flying off the chopper hitting the ground before everything goes black.
In the war room, they heard the impact and that's when the comms went off. "What do we do now?!" Riley asks almost yelling. She can't lose Mac and Jack. Those are the ones that are always there for her, bringing her up when she feels down. If she loses them both, she won't be able to recover. Leanna approaches her and puts her hand on her shoulders.
"In these situations, being calm is the key. Remember what we studied?" Leanna asks. Riley exhales and nods, trying to stop the tears from falling. "Good. I need you to use a satellite so we can find the crash." Riley quickly went to her laptop.
"Bozer, start making calls, now." Leanna says. Looks like Leanna is their Matty right now.
"On it." Bozer says as he takes out his phone and walks out of the war room.
Mac gains conscience and he slowly opens his eyes. The ringing in his head is making him want to die. He puts his hands on them as he hears screams and grunts from his right side. He turns and sees Jack, trying to lift something from the front seat.
Jack turns around and sees that Mac is moving. "Hey, Mac. Mac, come here, quick!" Jack says. Mac fully opens his eyes to see that Jack is trying to help Cynthia get out from the chopper. And he can see why Jack is trying his best. There is a fire next to Cynthia that is spreading inside the chopper. Mac's eyes go wide as a picture of Jeffrey comes to his mind. 'No, not now!' Mac says to himself as he shakes his head, gets up and runs to Jack.
"I can't get her out!" Jack says. Mac looks to see what the problem is. The whole dash is crushing Cynthia's legs.
"We're gonna need some leverage." Mac says as he looks around. He takes a piece from the chopper and puts it between the dash and her legs. "You push. I can't with my ribs." Jack nods and grabs the piece as Mac walks behind Cynthia and puts his hands under her pits.
"One…two…three." Jack pushes and lifts the dash board, and Cynthia lets out a loud scream in pain as Mac gets her out. Five seconds too late, she would have been burned alive, cause the fire reached the seat where Cynthia was.
"Hey, whoever shot us down is gonna be coming back to confirm the kill." Jack says as Mac puts Cynthia down on the ground. "This fire's just drawing them a road map."
"Can you put it out?" Mac asks. "I got her."
"I'll try." Jack says. How is he gonna put out this fire though? He's got an idea. Every Phoenix chopper has a fire extinguisher inside. The fire has still not reached the back seats and that's where they keep the fire extinguisher. 'Lucky.' Jack finds it and starts putting out the fire.
"I'm fine. Where's Victor?" Cynthia asks. Right now, Mac doesn't give a damn where Victor is. He is just focused to help Cynthia. With his SAK, he cuts her pants at the lower end, to see her leg purple. He puts his hands on it, and Cynthia cries out in pain. Mac sighs.
"Your tibia's fractured. I need to stabilize it…otherwise, the bone might cut your artery." Mac says as he glances at her. He starts looking around to see if he can make something. "I'll be right back." Mac says as he stands up.
He walks over to the chopper. As Jack is trying to put out the fire, Mac takes the seatbelts from the back seats and the tarp that Victor left behind. 'How are we gonna find him…' Mac asks himself. He takes a stick that's on the ground and goes back to Cynthia.
He puts down the stuff and lifts her leg up and she screams. "Sorry, sorry." Mac says. He puts the stick at the back of the leg, wraps the leg with the tarp and tightens it with the seatbelts.
"Thank you." Cynthia says.
"You're welcome." Mac replies.
"Okay…" Cynthia was interrupted by Mac.
"I know, Victor." He says as he puts his hand up to tell her to calm down.
"Fire's out." Jack says as he throws the extinguisher on the ground. "Anyone know where we are?" Jack asks.
"We're about 50 clicks from Taraz, just north from the Kazakhstani border. That's probably the closest sigh of civilization." Cynthia says. Jack feels something going down his nose. He brushes it off, only to see that is blood. But it's nothing serious so he leaves it.
"They'll find us. Don't worry." Jack says.
"Look, we were flying way under radar altitude when we were diverted from our flight plan when those missiles started flying, and our transponder's in there." Cynthia says pointing to the wrecked dash that's on the ground.
"Our trans…" Jack trails off.
"Done. It's done." Cynthia says.
"Our transponder's in there." Jack says. 'Awesome…' "So…they have no way of knowing where we are?" Jack asks.
"No." Cynthia replies.
"That's….that's fantastic." Jack says sarcastically.
"Yeah, well, that's not our only problem." They hear Mac coming from behind. When they look at him, Mac lifts his hand showing a pair of handcuffs opened. 'Victor's gone.'
Back in the war room, Riley is searching for the crash site while Bozer was pacing and Leanna staring at the screen.
"Okay, aircraft is in the area."
"Mark it if you can see it."
"Do a quick search."
"I need you."
They can hear the techs from the other room doing everything they can to spot the chopper. A bald guy in a suit and a woman behind him walk in the war room.
"Okay, we're briefing the Pentagon in ten minutes. Have you been able to locate the site of the crash yet?" he asks.
"No, the chopper's transponder isn't pinging and we can't spot any smoke or debris on the satellite imagery." Leanna answers. "There is not sight of the crash site. Just endless wilderness."
"Well, maybe they didn't crash." Bozer says.
"We heard the impact, Bozer." Leanna says.
"It's more likely the ground cover is hiding the debris. And they put out any fires to stop whoever shot them down from finding them." The woman says.
"If they put out the fires, at least that means they're alive." Bozer says.
"The Tyan-Shan wilderness is hundreds of square miles of hostile territory." The woman says.
"Even if we could mobilize a search team, finding them in those woods? Like a needle in a haystack." The bald guy says.
"Then I guess they better start looking." Leanna says. "Because as long as that needle's still out there, I don't care how long it takes to find it." Bozer raises his eyebrows when he heard Leanna say that. 'So hot' he says to himself. He turns around to see Riley still typing. She's been typing for 10 minutes straight. He's not going to stop her cause she might find something from the way she is searching.
Mac opens the bag that fell out of the chopper when they crashed, and finds a bottle. He shakes it and there is still water in it. It was half filled so it was enough. He took one sip, so did Jack, and the rest he gave to Cynthia.
"Biggest fear with a break like yours is fever and swelling. Best way to fight that is by staying hydrated." Mac says as he gave Cynthia the bottle. "Drink." He says with a smile. Jack comes back with the headphones Cynthia was using while flying.
"Well, the helicopter's comms are burnt to a crisp, and whatever was in that survival kit's now…scattered for miles." Jack says as he throws the headphones on the ground. "And none of us are gonna even get one bar service on our cell phones out here. But good news is, no roaming charges." Jack jokes trying to lighten up the mood. Doesn't seem to work though.
"Oh, wait, I-I had a SAT phone in a…red backpack." Cynthia says. Mac and Jack start searching. Mac goes behind the chopper and Jack goes by the river. And he picked the right spot because he sees the red backpack….in the water.
"You mean this one?" Jack asks as he lifts the backpack and shows it to Cynthia. Cynthia closes her eyes and sighs.
"Yeah, that's the one." She says as she takes a sip of her water. Jack opens the backpack and takes out the SAT phone. Water is dripping from it.
"Well, um…don't suppose anyone got a bag of rice in hand?" Jack asks. Jack throws the SAT phone to Mac and he catches it. He looks at it, shakes it so some of the water comes out. They didn't have a bag of rice but Mac had an idea.
"Well, there's no groceries stores out here, but I think I can whip up something that uses the same principal." Mac says. He walks over to the chopper and grabs a piece of wood from under it. "Dry rice is a desiccate."
"Of course it is." Jack says as he rolls his eyes. Mac takes the empty bottle from Cynthia and shakes it so all the drops come out. For this, the bottle needs to be dry.
"Meaning it soaks up moisture. Baked wood does the same thing." Mac says as he puts the SAT phone and the baked wood in the bottle. "So, if I can put the phone in an airtight bottle, it might be able to soak up enough moisture so we can turn it back on again." Mac says as he closes the bottle tightly.
"Okay, how long is that going to take?" Cynthia asks. Mac takes him a second to answer.
"Few hours." Mac answers. Jack closes his eyes and sighs. "If we're lucky."
"It's gonna be night when that thing starts working again." Jack says.
"Got a better idea?" Mac asks. Jack groans and shakes his head. He puts his hands on his waists and realizes something. He starts searching the ground. Behind the helicopter, at the river, behind the trees…and nothing.
"You guys want some good news?" Jack asks. Mac and Cynthia glance at him. "I can't find my gun." He says.
"Well, where was it before the crash?" Mac asks.
"Well, I thought it was in my holster, I think." Jack says.
"You think?" Mac asks sounding angry now. Jack searches the ground around them once more.
"Well, I…" he trails off as he glances at Mac who was furious. "Hey, come on, man. My life just flashed before my eyes, I've had like four concussions, I can't even see straight." Jack says with a raised voice. "My retention level is not….detail-oriented right now." Jack says. 'Oh my God…' Mac says to himself. Jack can't even find the right words to use right now. 'So, Victor might have the gun…'
"Well, this certain detail is somewhat important because it's the difference between your gun being somewhere out here or in the hands of someone who knows how to use it and kill people really well." Mac says.
"Well, if you put it that way, it doesn't sound real good." Jack says. Mac leaves them and starts searching for a trail so they can find Victor.
"So, basically the war criminal we were bringing back to stand trial, that bombed the hospital, killing innocent people and children, is loose in the forest possibly armed?" Cynthia asks.
"That'd be my bet, yeah." Jack says as he closes his eyes shut. Cynthia just nods. Then they hear Mac from the distance.
"Guys, blood trail. Over here. It's fresh." Mac says. "It leads this way. It's gotta be him." Mac finishes as he walks back to them.
"Okay, come on, we gotta go after him." Cynthia says as she tries to get up, but with her leg shattered, she isn't going anywhere.
"Uh, I…Look, I really…I appreciate your enthusiasm, Cynthia, but you're in no shape for the hunt right now." Jack says. Cynthia glances at Jack, and then at Mac who gives her a sad look.
"Jack's right." Mac says.
"I'll be fine. Look, there's no way we can call for help right now anyway. By, the time we catch him, hopefully our SAT phone will dry up and we can call in for some exfil." Cynthia says.
"We both know, we can't allow Victor to find his way out of here." Jack says as he glances at Mac. "Plus, that SAT phone isn't gonna dry up till night fall, so we need to find Victor before it gets dark."
"Well, he is injured." Mac says as he points to the blood on the ground. "Means we do have a chance of catching him before the sun goes down."
"Yeah, let's go." Jack says. Cynthia tries to stand up and in the process, she screams in pain.
"Hey, hey." Mac says as he helps her get up. Cynthia gets up on her leg and tries to balance on a tree and on Mac. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine." Cynthia says. But Mac knows that's not true. If she wants to walk with them and hunt for Victor, she needs something to hold on since she can't walk on her right leg. 'A crutch.' Mac thinks. He looks around and sees some stuff that would be perfect to build a crutch. Or something similar.
"Wait right here." Mac says as he takes out his SAK. He sees the helicopter's landing gear on the ground, or skid and starts cutting it. He goes over and takes out the cushions from the seats.
"What's he doing?" Cynthia asks as she glances at Mac.
"Being MacGyver." Jack answers. With the rope that was on Victor, he ties the cushions on the skid and hands it to Cynthia, making a perfect crutch.
"You must've won every merit badge as a kid." Cynthia says as she leans on the crutch.
"I was actually kicked out of the Scouts." Mac says with a smile. Not a proud moment for him, and an embarrassing one.
"I don't believe that." Jack says as he hands Mac the bottle with the SAT phone in it.
"You know, for years, I've heard about your…unusual field skills. But I never thought that my entire life would depend on it." Cynthia says with a grin.
"So no pressure." Mac says.
"Let's go." Cynthia says and starts moving. Mac offers her help but she shakes her head. "I got it. It's fine." She assures him.
"Yes, ma'am."
Bozer walks inside the war room with three cups of coffee. Riley is on her laptop, while Leanna is sitting on the sofa and looking at the big screen.
"Any news?" Bozer asks as he sets down the cups on the table. Leanna glances at him and stands up.
"Riley reassigned a KH-11 recon satellite." She says as she walks to the screen. She puts up images from the satellite of the forest Mac and Jack are in. "These are images from after they went down." Leanna puts up three more images. "These are from before they went down. If we could spot a difference, it could be the crash site."
"Looking for a needle in a haystack by looking at the hay. Smart." Bozer says as he crosses his arms in front of his chest. He glances at Riley and his face falls. She's been at this for 1 hour nonstop. He exchanges a glance with Leanna, and she nods.
"Riley, you need to take a break." Bozer says as he approaches her.
"No, no." Riley says with a shaky voice. "They are out there, and we need to find them." Bozer and Leanna can hear the fear in her voice, and that breaks their heart. Leanna kneels down in front of her. She grabs the laptop from her and tries to pull it away but Riley won't let her. So she uses a bit more force and she succeeds. That's when they notice how Riley was shaking and her eyes were watery.
"Hey, hey…" Leanna whispers. "They are alright. They put out the fire, which means they are alive. There is nothing to worry about."
"Plus, Mac is probably building a new helicopter out of bamboo and pine sap so Jack can fly them home." Bozer says with a laugh. That forces a smile on Riley's lips. Leanna grabs her hand and squeezes.
"Trust me. We're all freaking out. But that's not gonna help them. But, when Mac finds some weird-ass way to send out an SOS, we'll be right here waiting on the signal." Leanna says. Riley glances at her and nods. "Now, come on, sis, grab the coffee and let's go outside. I want to hear about the date Mac took you on last night." They both stand up and take their coffee. Leanna nods at Bozer, telling him to keep watch and if there's any news, to call them immediately.
Mac, Jack and Cynthia do make some progress. They have been following the blood trail for half an hour now. Jack was leading them, while Cynthia was in the middle with Mac behind her.
"You okay?" Mac asks Cynthia.
"Yeah. I'm not the biggest fan of humping it. Too used to being up there." Cynthia says and Mac smiles. Then Cynthia stops in front of him. "Remind to do a better job at avoiding the missiles next time." She says glancing at Mac. Mac and Jack let out a laugh cause Cynthia is being ridiculous.
"I'm fairly certain we're only alive because of your fancy flying skills." Mac says.
"Definitely. That was the best…" Jack trails off as he sees Cynthia getting tired. "Here." Jack offers her to lean on him.
"Thanks." Cynthia replies.
"That was the best crash landing I've ever been a part of." Jack says.
"You've had more than one crash landing?" Mac asks.
"….no." Jack says. "But, I did come close once. When I was in the CIA, we had this mission in Norway. Sons of bitches almost shot us out of the sky with RPGs. We avoided one rocket by an inch."
"Jeez…" Mac says.
"Yeah, man, scary stuff. I'm not a fan of RPGs too." Jack says.
"Just one second." Cynthia says as she stops. Jack lets go of her and faces Mac.
"You know, you could've made a heavier crutch." Jack says sarcastically.
"Shut up." Mac mutters. Cynthia puts her hand on Jack's shoulder and Jack kneels a bit so Cynthia can lean on him. They start walking again and Jack speaks.
"So, how was date night?" Jack asks.
"Seriously?" Mac asks sounding like he doesn't want to talk about date night right now. And he doesn't. Not in the middle of the woods while hunting a war criminal.
"Yeah, seriously." Jack answers. Mac closes his eyes and sighs. He knows Jack won't let this go so he tells him.
"It was great. We had dinner and went shopping a bit downtown." Mac says. When Mac sees Jack opens his mouth he quickly says "End of story."
"You were gonna go on a date tonight as well. Two nights in a row." Jack says.
"And?" Mac asks. Jack remains quiet in his thoughts. He tells himself that he shouldn't ask this many questions, should just leave them alone. He trusts Mac.
"Nevermind. So the plans we had for tonight are obviously dead, so how about tomorrow?" Jack asks.
"Yeah, that's a good idea." Mac asks.
"What plans?" Cynthia is curious.
"We are gonna have dinner at Mac's place tomorrow night. You're more than welcome to come." Jack says with a smile. Cynthia chuckles.
"Thank you for the offer, but after this…I just want to go home and lay down for 2 months." Cynthia says. They all let out a laugh.
"Are we gonna invite Matty the Hun too?" Jack asks. Cynthia stops and they both glance at Jack with furrowed eyebrows.
"Matty the who?" Mac asks. Jack rolls his eyes. He hasn't told Mac that he used to call Matty, the Hun.
"Our boss lady." Jack answers.
"Why are you calling her "the Hun"? Mac asks.
"Cause…we didn't connect very well the first few weeks we worked in the CIA together. And I don't want to talk about this right now." Jack says.
"Well…you started it." Cynthia says.
"Don't worry, I'll get it out of you eventually." Mac says and Jack chuckles. 'Yeah, we'll see about that.' Jack says to himself.
"Gotcha!" They hear Riley say.
"Is it Mac and Jack?" Bozer asks as he walks over to her.
"Next best thing. The crash site." Riley says as two pictures on the big screen come up. One the left picture they see clear green trees, but on the right they see a burnt helicopter on the ground.
"Can you toggle to thermal and look for heat sources?" Leanna asks. Riley nods and gets to typing. She finishes, and no heat sources come up.
"It's gonna be impossible to find heat sources in this forest." Riley says. Bozer looks at the pictures and has an idea. Time to test Riley's mind.
"Riley," Bozer calls her and Riley glances at him, "lesson 3, paragraph 5." Riley needs just a few seconds to think before she answers the conclusion of the paragraph.
"An agents just need a scrap of actionable intel." Riley says. Bozer smiles and points to the picture. Riley smiles when she figures it out. "That's our scrap." Bozer nods.
"So, there is got to be something that we can do with it." Bozer says.
"So…" Bozer looks at Leanna, "what are you waiting for? Start making some calls." Leanna tells Bozer. Riley laughs when Bozer's eyes go wide and grabs his phone quickly.
Mac, Jack and Cynthia are still following the blood trail. With Mac at the front, and Jack and Cynthia following, they've been walking for an hour now. Jack really needs a break right now, and it's like Mac has read his mind because he stops in front of him. But then he starts looking around.
"What is it, Mac?" Jack asks.
"Blood trail ends here." Mac replies. Jack lets go of Cynthia and starts looking around too. He sees to leafs covered in blood. Mac goes a bit further and sees something familiar. He leans down and picks up a bullet that's opened. He shows it to Jack and Cynthia.
"Well, I guess, now we know for sure that Victor's got my gun." Jack says.
"Yeah, but why would he crack open a bullet and leave the slug and the shell behind?" Cynthia asks.
"Cause he used the gun powder to cauterize his wound, and those leaves to treat his burns." Mac says.
"Awesome." Jack says sarcastically. "Now he's gonna be moving faster with my gun in his hand." They hear something approaching, so they duck. Cynthia tries her hardest not to scream in pain as she lays down. Mac slowly looks up and see what he didn't expect to see here. Jack looks at Mac's shocked face and is wondering what he is seeing. So he looks up and…
"Is that a tank?" Jack asks with fear in his voice.
"Yeah…that's a tank…" Mac says. 'Oh…boy…' "They are looking for Victor…which means they are looking for us too." Mac says shakily.
"Man, if we get spotted, we're dead in an instant!" Jack says.
"Tank…how the hell do they have a tank?!" Cynthia asks sounding scared.
"I don't know, but we need to find Victor before his friends do." Jack says. Mac gulps. Almost on every mission he feels confident, that they are gonna get out alive. Well…this was not one of them.
"We need to be careful. Make sure we don't get seen." Mac says. They both nod and Cynthia glances at the bottle Mac is holding.
"What are the chances that my SAT phone's dried up so we can call for help?" Cynthia asks. Mac opens the bottle and takes out the SAT phone. He opens the back and takes out the battery. He licks his finger and touches the battery that send a little electricity through him.
"Battery still works, but…" he sees some drops in there, "the circuitry's a little wet so…no." Mac says as he puts the SAT phone back in the bottle.
"Can you speed up the decimator?" Jack asks as he waves his fingers.
"It's called a desiccator." Mac says.
"Whatever." Jack says as he shrugs.
"And yeah, I could swap some freshly baked wood in, but…if we start a fire, it could lead Victor's friends right to us…who have a tank." Mac says with a sigh.
"So, the answer's no? Well, why didn't you just say no?" Jack asks. "Every once in a while. Just…cut right to the chase, Mac." Mac kneels down in front of Cynthia to see if the leg is doing okay.
"Good?" Cynthia asks.
"Looks like the splint is holding up, yeah." Mac says as he stands up. He puts his back hand on Cynthia's forehead to see if she has a temperature. "And you feel warm but…I think that's more from exertion, not a fever, which is a good thing. How do you feel?" Mac asks.
"I'm good. Let's just go get this bastard and get the hell out of here." Cynthia says. Mac gives her a sad smile.
"I like it but…there's no blood trail to follow anymore." Mac says.
"Blood trail? We don't need no stinkin' blood trail." Jack says. They both just stare at him. "Nobody? Really? Treasure of the Sierra Madre? Humphrey Bogart?" Jack asks. They both shake their heads slowly. "Okay, we got to fix this right now. Can you make a DVD player out of sticks, some rocks and twigs, or something?"
"Yeah. Get right on that." Mac replies sarcastically.
"My point is…we don't need a blood trail. I've takes AMOS." Jack says.
"Advanced Mountain Operation School." Mac and Jack say simultaneously.
"That's right, I'm a good dog to hunt with. Victor might not be dripping blood, but he's still dropping clues." Jack says as he turns around. "Yeah, come on. I think he went this way." Jack says as he starts walking and Mac and Cynthia follow him.
"Really?" Cynthia asks Mac.
"He might actually know what he is talking about." Mac says as he helps Cynthia. He feels a couple of drops of rain fall on him. The sky turned all grey in that one hour. 'Perfect, rain was the last thing we needed.'
"Yeah, he's unconsciously taking the path of least resistance, cause he's tired, wounded, disoriented. His legs are pulling him downhill, not up." Jack says as he watches his step and searches for clues. He glances forwards, "We must've dropped a hundred feet in elevation since the spot where he cauterized his wound. We'll find him." He looks forwards on the ground and sees something. "Look, over there. He's sliding around all over the place. We can't be more than 15 minutes behind him."
"Nice." Mac says.
"I impressed you guys, didn't I?" Jack says with a grin.
"Kind of…" Cynthia says and laughs a bit.
Bozer walks in the war room while hanging up on the phone. "Alright, ladies, great news. The CIA is coordinating with the nearest US Army base. They've agreed to send a search chopper for Mac and Jack starting with the crash site we found."
"Awesome, now we wait. See, Riley? Everything is going to be fine." Leanna says as she glances at Riley, only to see her eyes wide looking at the screen. "Riley?" Riley raises her head and glances at the big screen.
"Why do you have that look on your face?" Bozer asks as he turns around to face the big screen. The weather radar was on.
"There's a storm headed straight for them." Riley says with fear in her voice. "By its color, that is a big storm."
"That rescue team better move quick." Leanna says.
The dark arrived. It gets a bit colder now, and the drops of rain falling isn't any help. Jack leads them with his phone in his hand pointing it to the ground so with the help of the flashlight he can look for clues.
"Yeah, here we go." Jack says as he sees a footprint on the ground. "The left print on this boot is getting deeper."
"Think he was limping on his right?" Mac asks.
"Yeah, I think so. He's exhausted. We'll catch him soon but….now that its night it'll be harder." Jack says. Then they hear a helicopter approaching. They look around see a Black Hawk above them. It was hard to spot it, but they had some knowledge in choppers.
"It's a search team. But…they'll never see us through all this foliage." Cynthia says.
"And if they mark off this area, they're not gonna be coming back here, either." Jack says. Mac sighs and takes out his phone. He gives the bottle that the SAT phone is in to Jack.
"Wait here." Mac says.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Jack says. Mac knows this is a lame idea but he doesn't have any other.
"I'm gonna try and turn on the flashlight on my phone, point it at the sky and hope they see it." Mac says.
"What if they don't? You don't have a different idea?" Jack asks.
"If it was day and the sun was out, I could've reflected it of my knife, but…" Mac says. Jack just sighs and nods.
"Let's hope it works." Jack says.
Back in the war room, all three of them are just standing in front of the big screen that shows every single area Jack and Mac might be in.
"Phoenix, this is Alpha Bravo 17, coming into segment 14D of the search grid." They hear the pilot say over the comms.
"Come on, Mac, make some noise! Show 'em where you are." Leanna says out loud.
Mac is running like his life depends on it…because it does. If they get left out here, with a war criminal on the loose and his friends who have a TANK searching for them, they will be dead. It was hard to run with the phone pointing forwards so that he can see where he is going. He was jumping trees, making sharp turns as he can see lights from the sky. The pain in his ribs was killing him, but he couldn't worry about that now. It was hard seeing a black chopper at night. Mac arrives in an area where there are no trees. He stops and points the flashlight upwards. He thinks this won't work, but it was all he had right now.
"Come on, come on…" he whispers. Then he hears sticks breaking behind him. While still pointing the flashlight up, he turns around and sees a light pointing towards him. 'They landed?' Mac asks himself. His question though is answered when he hears a gunshot. He quickly runs and hides behind a tree. That wasn't the rescue team. 'Victor…' How did he miss him though? Victor's aim is one of the best. Unless he shot at him with his none-dominant hand.
"14D clear. Moving on." The pilot says. Riley looks down and starts pacing. This can't be happening. 'Please, God…' She can't imagine her life without Mac and Jack in it. They are the two people that make her happy the most. She can't lose them…
"Mac!" Mac jumps when he hears Jack's voice. He turns around and sees him running towards him. "Hey, you got to…" Jack trails off trying to catch his breath as he points to the direction he came from.
"I just saw Victor. We can go get him." Mac says.
"No, Victor…forget Victor. You got to come back right now. Cynthia's not doing good. Come on!" Jack says. Mac quickly nods and starts following Jack. When they arrived, he sees Cynthia on the ground, shaking violently. Mac puts his back hand on her forehead, and she is burning up. She's got a bad fever.
"Does she need a mouth to mouth or something?" Jack asks. He has no idea in these kinds of stuff.
"She's not drowning, Jack. She's feverish. She's hypothermic." Mac replies.
"Oh…"
"If I don't build a fire right now to raise her body temperature, she's going to die." Mac says.
"Obviously, I don't want her to die, okay? But if we go building a fire, it's gonna tell all of Victor's guys, 'Hey, look, everybody, we're over here, come blow us up with your tank.'" Jack says. He glances at Mac and can see that Mac is scared. Mac knows Jack is true but, they can't do anything else.
"What other options do we have?" Mac asks quietly. The sadness and fear could be heard in his voice clearly. Jack stares at him for a moment, and with a sad look he nods. He goes over and starts picking up sticks, when Mac saw a blue flash in the clouds in the distance. That's when they hear thunder. Mac can't see how big and dark the clouds are, but from their luck today, he thinks that it's a big storm.
"With the wind blowing in our faces, that storm is coming right to us." Mac says. Mac glances at Jack who is now losing hope. It's written all over his face. If that storm is bad, the choppers will back out and Cynthia will die. Mac lifts Cynthia and sets her against a tree. Jack makes sure the fire is under the tree so that the drops of rain don't put it out. Mac takes sticks, grass, anything he can find to put around Cynthia.
"Tell-tell dad I can make it." Cynthia says with a shaky voice. That sentence breaks Mac's heart. Cynthia's dad was the one who taught her how to fly. When she was a baby, her dad flew with her in his Cessna. She was so happy when she was in the air with him.
"Hey, easy. Just, take some time, okay?" Mac says. Jack is rubbing two sticks together to make a spark, but it isn't working. Mac notices that, and he reaches for the bottle that has the SAT phone. He takes out the battery from the SAT phone and points the wire upwards.
"Jack, let me try." Mac says.
"Is that working?" Jack asks as he points to the SAT phone.
"No, I just needed the battery. Since rubbing two sticks together isn't working…" he takes out his SAK and takes some sap from the tree, "…I will use tree sap, cause tree sap is an accelerant." Mac says as he puts the sap on the pile of sticks. He puts the wire of the battery on the sap, and it creates a spark, which results in smoke, which means fire. Mac puts rocks around the fire place so they don't set the whole forest on fire.
"Feeling better?" Mac asks Cynthia and she nods. Her shaking slowed down and she constantly rubs her hands. Mac walks over to Jack who was scanning to see if anybody is coming.
"She okay?" Jack asks.
"The shaking slowed down but…it's still there." Mac replies.
"How much do we have to wait before we get moving? I don't want to sit here and wait for the bad guys to spot our smoke signals." Jack says. Mac sighs.
"She needs to stop shaking." Mac answers. "But…if you hear anybody coming, get her out of here fast." Mac says as he starts walking.
"Hey, no, no. Wait a second, now." Jack says as he grabs Mac and pulls him back. "Where you going?"
"I'm going after Victor." Mac replies.
"By yourself? I don't think so." Jack says. Mac sighs.
"Look, without Cynthia, I can move faster. I can catch up to him, I might be able to get in front of him and cut him off." Mac says. Jack simply shakes his head.
"I might be able to get in front of him and cut him off…let me go!" Jack says.
"No. You need to stay here and protect her. If they spot the smoke and get here, she's gonna need the best protection she can get. And that's you, man!" Mac says with a raised voice at the end because Jack kept shaking his head while Mac was speaking.
"Dude, they have a freaking tank!" Jack whispers loudly. "What am I supposed to do against a tank?!" Mac didn't know how to answer that question. "And are you forgetting what Victor did to us on that roof? He's a big dude, man."
"I remember very well. He hit me with his right hand." Mac says. Jack gives him a questionable look.
"So?" Jack asks.
"Well, when I was in the clearing, he shot at me and missed. And he is one of the best in the aiming game. He couldn't have missed me if he shot at me with his right hand." Jack still doesn't get it. "He shot at me with his left hand. No one uses their none-dominant hand when shooting, unless he had no choice. Plus, he was limping on his right leg. I think his right arm is broken." Mac says.
"So, if I can find a way to take out his left, I stand a chance." Mac says. Jack bites the inside of his cheeks, indicating that he isn't a fan of this plan. But he knows he can't talk Mac out of it. As Mac starts walking Jack says,
"Hey…don't die."
"That's the plan." Mac replies. As Mac storms off, Jack has a sad look on his face. The stakes are higher for them not to survive this, considering what's searching for them from the ground, and what's coming for them from the sky. Not to mention that Cynthia might die. Jack just hopes that the kid avoids the bullets Victor is gonna be shooting at him. 'Is this the end? Are we gonna die?' That thought kept running around in Jack's mind. And that thought kind of made his eyes watery.
The thought of never seeing his friends back at the Phoenix, the thought of never seeing Riley and Diane again. It hurts. But, if he dies, at least he will know that they are safe now. With Murdoc and the Collective gone, they are safe. But he wants to see them again. He wants to see them everyday, be with them. Play with Riley on the racing game she has at home, spend time with Diane watching a movie, cuddling and all that stuff.
"Jack?" The sound of Cynthia's voice brings Jack back to reality. He doesn't realize that a tear is sliding down his cheek when he feels a tickle there. He wipes it off and turns to Cynthia. "You okay?" Jack approaches her and gives her a fake smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine…"
Back in the war room, silence filled it. Nobody has said a word since section 14D was clear. And now, a couple of more have been cleared aswell. The search team are moving quicker since the storm is closing in, and they haven't found Mac, Jack and Cynthia yet.
Riley was sitting on the armchair just staring at the screen. In her mind, all she could think about was the worst scenarios. Bozer notices that by the look on her face, so he sits on the opposite sofa and glances at her.
"One time, when we were kids, Mac's grandfather took us camping. I got all excited." Bozer says as smile grows on his face as the memory comes back to mind. "Went out and bought a latter, a water purifier, little stove. But when we got to the trailhead, Mac's grandpa wouldn't let me take any of it. Said, 'All you need to survive is what's up here," Bozer says as he points to his head, "and what's out there." He says as he points to the forest on the big screen.
"We spent three days with nothing. And on the third night, I stepped out into the woods to, uh…to relieve myself. And was suddenly face-to-face with a massive bear." Riley's eyes go wide. "I started moving back, but he started following me. I swear he was about to charge when Mac showed up out of nowhere, and told me to make myself as big and loud as possible. Because the bear was afraid of me." Bozer says.
"So…I did what Mac said. And you know what? He was right. The second I growled back, the bear ran off. I mean…I had to throw my underwear and couldn't sleep for three weeks afterwards, but…" Riley and Leanna let out a laugh, "it worked." Bozer says. Riley glances back to the screen to see another area become red.
"Trust me. If there's anyone who could survive this, it's Mac." Bozer says. Riley glances at both of them with watery tears, and nods with a grateful smile on her face.
"…nine…ten…eleven…" a thunder claps. "Two miles." Jack says. "The storms a little over two miles east now."
"So…it's coming right for us?" Cynthia asks.
"Yeah…" Jack sighs.
"So, what's our plan if MacGyver doesn't come back?" Cynthia asks.
"He'll come back." Jack answers immediately.
"Right, I mean, I know he's coming back, but….we should still have a plan….in case." Cynthia says and she glances at Jack who is looking forward. 'He has to come back…' Jack says to himself.
"He'll come back." Jack repeats. That's when the wind started picking up. Mac is hiding behind a tree. After he set everything up, connecting ropes to some rocks, he switches off his flashlight and hides. The rain is getting heavier now, since the wind picked up and the storm is getting closer.
He hears sticks breaking and groans, so he takes a peek and sees Victor with the gun in his left hand with the flashlight turned on. While looking at Victor, Mac pushes the rope he is holding towards him, which drops a big rock behind Victor. Victor quickly turns towards the rock, and that's when Mac uses the second rope, to drop a big stick. Victor glances in every direction and sees nothing. That's when Mac uses the third rope to drop a stick from the trees. Victor turns to where the noise was made, and Mac made his move. He grabs a huge stick and hits Victor's left arm and hits him in the back. The gun falls on the ground, and so does Victor. Mac picks up the gun and glances at the giant.
"Sup, Victor?"
Jack and Cynthia are hiding under the tree as its starts pouring down. Jack hears trees braking from his right side. He turns around quickly and hears a familiar voice.
"Jack, it's me." Mac says as he comes out from the bushes all wet with his phone in his hand for the flashlight. Jack releases a sigh of relief.
"Did you find Victor?" Jack asks. Mac pushes a rope he is holding towards him, and Victor comes out from the bushes. "Oh, my man!" Mac puts his phone in his pocket and gives Jack his gun back.
"You dropped this." Mac says.
"Yeah, thanks." Jack says as he takes his gun. Mac drags Victor to another tree in next to the one Cynthia is leaning on. "What are you doing back on that leash again for, Victor? You been a bad boy? You know what you need? A spanking."
"Jack, he can't talk back. He's gagged." Mac says as he sits Victor down against the tree, and ties him up with the rope.
"Yeah, well…that's just the way I like it." Jack says. "Hey, man, that SAT phone has to be dried up by now." Jack says sounding annoyed. Mac opens the bottle and takes out the SAT phone.
"I think it's dry." Mac says with a smile. But that smile falls quickly. Jack never likes that look on Mac's face, and is getting tired of it.
"What is it?" Jack asks.
"The battery shorted out when I used it to start the fire." Mac says. Then they hear a familiar engine. Very familiar since Mac and Jack have been in the army. Ground's starts shaking a bit…
"That's Victor's friends." Cynthia says. Jack checks how much ammo he's got…not that it's gonna do any good for them.
"Two rounds?! Victor, what have you been shooting at?!" Jack asks with a high pitched voice. Cynthia sighs and stands up.
"Okay, what's our plan?" Cynthia asks as a thunder claps. Jack glances at her and gives her a sad look. They can't call for help and a tank is hunting them down. Jack's pistol isn't going to do anything against a tank. Then he hears Mac speak.
"Wait…maybe we can call for help." Jack glances at Mac who is glancing at the sky. 'Oh no…'
"I'm getting a bad feeling that you know a way how to get us out of here that involves chaos and danger." Jack says.
"Uh-huh, the best part is…we won't have to worry about Victor's friends if it doesn't work, cause it'll kill us instantly." Mac says. And that's what Jack was afraid of. 'Great…'
Mac takes out his SAK, and starts cutting something on Cynthia's crutch. Jack looks at him as Mac takes out a spike of metal. "I'm gonna use this to recharge the battery." Mac says as he starts searching for the things he needs. Cynthia glances at Jack.
"How?" she asks.
"I learned not to ask." Jack says with a wince. Mac comes back with two big rocks in his hands.
"In 1752, Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous kite experiment." Mac says as he kneels down and puts the rocks on the ground.
"Okay, yeah. B. Frank. Lightning boy, got it." Jack says. Mac stands up and points towards him.
"Exactly." Mac says. He picks up the bottle and searches for the nearest stream. When he finds it, he fills the bottle half. "But, there's two things most people don't know. One is there was a string from the kite going down to something called a Leyden jar." Cynthia glances at Jack and he just shakes his head.
"Which was the first device capable of storing electric charge. And that's what I'm making." Mac says as he closes the bottle and walks back to them. He sees some roots on the ground and picks them up. "Now, a Leyden jar is basically a container, made of an insulating material, such as Cynthia's bottle…" Mac trails off as he starts crushing the roots between the rocks. When he's done, he puts the crushed roots in the water in the bottle. "…filled with salt water from the ground up roots." Mac picks up the metal handcuffs they've been carrying since the crash. They are lucky they did. "Then, I wrap metal around the container." he wraps the handcuffs around the bottle. "Then spike this down the center." Mac says as he stabs the skip through the lid in the center. "This spike creates ambient electricity and stores it."
"'Ambient' meaning air from the lightning storm. You're gonna take your magic bar into Zeus's party over there, all lightning rod style?" Jack asks. Mac gives him a sad smile.
"I got no choice. I need a charge to power the phone, and the only way to get that charge is by going into that static electricity in that storm." Mac says. The storm hasn't reached them yet, but by the way the rain is coming down, it isn't that far. Mac looks over to where he can see lightning strikes hitting the ground. Then he hears Jack.
"What's the second thing?"
"The what?" Mac asks as he glances at Jack.
"Benny Frank's little kite experiment. You said there were two things a lot of people don't know. What's the second thing?" Jack asks.
"It never happened. It's a myth. If it did go down the way the history books say, then he would've been killed instantly." Mac says.
"Okay, well, thanks for the pep talk." Jack says as he puts the big stick down.
"What are you doing?" Mac asks.
"I'm coming with you." Jack answers.
"No you're not." Jack glances at Mac with raised eyebrows.
"Excuse me?" Jack asks.
"This could go wrong in an instant. We could die." Mac answers.
"I'm not letting you go out there alone. You go kaboom, I go kaboom." Jack says. He doesn't wait for Mac to speak and gives the gun to Cynthia. "Keep an eye on Victor. If he gets squirrely, blast two rounds in him, alright?"
"My pleasure." Cynthia replies as she takes the gun. Mac and Jack notice that she is starting to shake again, so they better move quickly.
Mac and Jack arrive at an opening where there are no trees. The sky flashes and Jack starts counting.
"One…two…" Thunder claps loudly which makes them jump. "Storm is above us." Jack says. They are soaking wet from all the rain. They can still hear a helicopter in the sky, but from how the rain is coming down, the search team will back off. So this is their only chance. They walk a bit further in the opening and their ears start ringing.
"Ah…what's that?! What's happening?!" Jack says as he covers his ears.
"Uh, it's called the corona effect! The moisture in the air becomes ionized!" Mac shouts so Jack can hear him. "Any last words?!" Mac asks before he puts the bottle on the ground.
"I wish this works, so we can go back home. See Diane, Riley and the guys. Have that dinner together!" Jack shouts. Mac stares at him and gives him a small smile.
"Me too." He replies.
"Drop it!" Jack shouts. Mac puts the bottle on the ground.
"Run!" Mac yells. He starts running and Jack slips a bit, falling back behind Mac. Mac jumps as he hears thunder hitting the ground behind him. Mac opens his eyes as his ears start ringing even louder. He groans and he can't hear it. But he knows the effect will pass. He looks next to him but Jack isn't there. He looks behind him and Jack is on the ground too.
Mac crawls to him and shakes him. "Jack?!" Mac shouts. Jack doesn't move though. Mac shakes him even more and shouts his name a couple of times but nothing. He turns him around and Jack's eyes are closed. Mac's eyes go wide. 'Was he far enough?!' he asks himself. He puts his fingers beneath his chin to check for pulse. Nothing. 'No, no, no! Please tell me he was far enough, please, please God…'
He puts his hands on his chest and starts CPR procedure. "Come on, Jack. You can't leave us, brother, come on!" He still isn't waking up. It's been 30 seconds. "Come on, Jack! Wake up!" Mac yells. After a couple of more seconds, he hears Jack gasp for air and screams in pain.
"Holy shit!" Jack yells as his back arches up. "I feel like I was hit by lightning!" Mac lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. 'Thank God.' Jack looks around and now he remembers. "Do you think it worked?!" Jack asks loudly.
"Only one way to find out!" Mac replies. He gets up and goes to the bottle. He takes it and runs back to Cynthia. Jack slowly tries to get up, which he does, but everything hurts. When they arrive, Cynthia's shaking even more now, and Victor is just looking at her with an ugly smile. Jack goes over and gives him a hard punch.
"Smile again and I'm pulling all of your teeth out." Jack growls.
"Okay." Mac says as he puts the bottle on the ground. "I need to borrow a zipper from your flight suit." Mac tells Cynthia. Cynthia nods and Mac gets to it, while Jack puts some grass and sticks around her to keep her worm. The rain has reached the fire and putted it out. Mac cuts the zipper, opens it and puts it on the top of the bottle.
"We should be able to use these as wires to connect the positive and negative terminals of the jar to the SAT phone. And if it works, I can use it to transmit out GPS coordinates." Mac says. While Mac is doing his thing, Victor starts screaming. And there's that familiar engine and the shaky ground.
"Mac, you might need to hurry up cause Victor's friends are closing in." Jack says.
"Okay, moment of truth." Mac says as he holds the power button of the SAT phone. After a few seconds the screen turns on. "We got power!" Mac says and starts laughing. Cynthia gives him a smile. Mac starts typing away and hits send.
"Did it work? Did it send?" Cynthia asks.
"It doesn't say. I sure as hell hope so." Mac says.
"Um…guys…" Jack calls them. They can hear the fear in his voice, and they find out why. The massive tank comes out from the bushes from the other side of the forest. The lights they had on the tank were bright, so they knew. "If they got the message, shouldn't a chopper be passing by now?"
"Not if they backed out." Mac sighs. The tank stops. And just sits there. The engine is rumbling as Mac and Jack exchange confused looks. They look back at the tank, and that's when the canon starts turning towards them. 'They saw us…' Now the canon was pointed directly towards them, and they couldn't do anything about it. 'I guess this is it…' Mac says to himself.
That's when they hear a rocket come down from the sky and hits the tank. The front end of the tank goes up in the air, as its canon shoots. Let's hope that doesn't kill anybody where it'll land. As the tank lands back on the ground, another rocket hits it from the side, which resulted in the tank flipping over. Mac, Jack and Cynthia hear a couple of choppers passing by them. Jack starts laughing and jumping from happiness. They were tired, they were soaked and they just want some sleep.
Mac and Jack fist bump and they both hug Cynthia. When the choppers land, soldiers run to them and help them get on the chopper.
"Hey, glad to see you alive. We'll take you to the nearest US Army base to get you checked out, and then we'll fly you home." The pilot says.
"Copy that. Thank you." Mac replies.
LOS ANGELES, CITY OF ANGELS
Riley, Bozer and Leanna are waiting for Mac and Jack to come back from the hospital. Cynthia was already at the Phoenix have a debriefing in the war room. The three of them were pacing outside the war room as Jack comes out of the corner. As soon as Riley sees him, she is running towards him. Jack gets pushed back a little by the force of Riley's hug. He laughs as he hugs her back tightly.
"You did good, Ri. I'm so proud of you." Jack says as he kisses her forehead. Jack also hugs Bozer and Leanna as Riley is curious to where Mac is.
"Where's Mac?" Riley asks.
"He forgot something in the car. He went back." Jack says. And after the moment he says that, Mac comes out from the corner. Mac sees Riley running towards him with smile, ready to jump him.
"Careful! Careful!" Mac says quickly. Riley slows down and stops in front of him with a confused look. "Ribs." is the only thing Mac says. Riley smiles and carefully hugs him. They stay like that for a minute before they break the hug, only for Riley to her hands on his cheeks and kiss him on the lips.
Jack, Leanna and Bozer turn around so the two lovebirds can have some privacy. That's when Cynthia walks out of the war room with two crutches.
"Wow. You guys take debrief serious." Cynthia says as a male and a female walk past them. "Their heads almost exploded when I told them about your little lightning trick." Cynthia says as Mac and Riley join them.
"Maybe leave that part out next time." Mac says with a smile.
"What lightning trick?" Bozer asks. Mac's smile falls. He wants to tell them about his idea, but…he almost lost Jack. So first, he will speak with Jack and if he approves telling them what happened, he will tell them. But now, he remains quiet. "Oh, oh I get it. You three spent some time in the woods together, now you have this bond."
"It was not fun." Mac says.
"Cynthia, this is Riley, Bozer and Leanna. Guys, this is Cynthia, the most badass helicopter pilot I've ever seen." Jack says. Cynthia hides her sheepish smile.
"You Boy Scouts saved my life. Thank you…for everything." Cynthia says.
"You're welcome." Mac replies with a smile.
"Cynthia!" they hear a male voice from behind.
"Scott." Cynthia says. The person…Scott, comes over and hugs her tightly and kisses her. From that, they realized that Scott is Cynthia's husband.
BOZER'S APARTMENT
Bozer and Leanna enter Bozer's apartment. They throw their bags on the ground and Leanna just collapses on the couch. Bozer laughs as he goes to the kitchen.
"Hungry?" Bozer asks. As he opens the fridge to see what he can cook.
"Starving." Leanna mumbles with her face in the pillow. "But first, I'm gonna take a shower." She says as she stands up.
"Hey." Bozer calls after her. She stops and sees him approaching her. He puts his arms on her waist and kisses her. "I'm proud of you." He says quietly. "I mean, the way you were giving orders to the CIA, the way you acted like Matty today, it was soooo hot!" Bozer says and Leanna laughs. "You turned me on, girl." Leanna runs her pointer finger down his cheek, to his lips.
"Well, why don't you join me in the shower so I can cool you off?" Leanna says quietly. She turns around and takes off her shirt to reveal her bare back. Bozer's jaw drops to the floor as he sees her taking of her pants before entering the bathroom.
"Yes, ma'am." Bozer says as he takes off his shirt and follows her in the bathroom.
MAC'S APARTMENT
Mac and Riley are cuddled on Mac's couch in front of the TV watching a movie. They had lunch, and now they are resting before the others come by for dinner.
"Mac?"
"Mm?"
"I was really scared while you were out there. Not knowing if you're okay or not." Riley says. Mac turns to face her and removes a hair from her face.
"I know." Mac replies.
"What if I'm not good for this job? I can't be shaking and crying every mission." Riley says.
"For a first mission, Riles, this is normal." Mac says but Riley shakes her head slightly. "You are too concerned with what was and what will be." Mac says and that makes Riley glance at him, look him in the eyes. "There's a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present." Riley smiles and kisses him on the lips. After a few seconds Mac deepens the kiss and Riley climbs on to his lap. Mac breaks the kiss and says,
"I want to go slow, but we need to be quick cause we have guests coming over." Mac says against her lips with their foreheads touching.
"Yeah." Riley sighs. Mac kisses her and smiles against her lips. He picks her up and carries her into his bedroom.
After what Mac has been through yesterday, being hunted by a tank, carrying a person with a broken leg who might have died, rain pouring over them, and of course nearly getting struck by lightning, this is what Mac needed right now. Just him and Riley.