MacGyver Alternate Universe
Chapter 13
It's been two weeks since the day two innocent lives were taken and a dirty agent from the FBI was caught. Since then, they have been healing. Especially Matty. She and agent Paul were good friends. Have known each other for a long time, and now he is gone. That day Matty just went home, and cried. The one thing she doesn't do often. Matty gave the others a ten day break. So, Mac and Riley used the opportunity to go on a road trip, and Bozer and Leanna went to San Francisco.
The last four days, they didn't get a mission. So, it was just doing paperwork and nothing else for Matty. Mac and Bozer started working on the robot they've planned to make for so long. Leanna and Jack continued to train Riley fighting. And Diane is doing a great work so far, showing guests the places they are allowed to see.
Matty is now getting ready for work. She drank some coffee, had breakfast, she had a shower and now she is getting dressed. While she's getting dressed, her mind goes to that note that showed up on Mac's doormat. Yes, Mac told her about that because nobody from the team left it and they asked every single person in the Phoenix. Everybody said no. Only two other people know where Mac lives. Murdoc and Nikki. But they are both locked up. Matty called the blacksite so they know for sure. The thing that sucks, is that they can't figure out from who the note is. If Mac got the message on his phone or laptop, Riley or Leanna could've traced it. But no. This guy was smart.
As Matty is putting on her boots, he phone starts vibrating. She looks over and smiles when she sees who is calling her. She finishes zipping her boot and answers the phone.
"Hey, how are you?" Matty asks with a smile. But that smile falls and her heart stops when she hears what the person from the other line is saying. "What...?" she asks with a shaky voice.
THE PHOENIX FOUNDATION
After a ten day break, it was nice to be back to work. The last four days, Mac and Bozer started working on Sparky. Bozer was practically jumping when Mac told him that they are gonna start on Sparky. They had no missions those four days, so why not? Plus, their cover is a think tank. And this is what think tanks do.
Right now, Mac, Riley, Jack, Bozer and Leanna are in the lab. Matty hasn't arrived yet, so Mac and Bozer went to work on Sparky. Riley and Leanna are upgrading the security system, while Jack is sitting far back from Mac and Bozer. Apparently, Jack is scared of robots. And right now, seeing that thing laying on the table, half built, it gives him anxiety. 'What if it jumps and kills us all?' Jack can't stop asking himself that. He needs to talk Mac out of this. He stands up and walks over to Mac who is tightening a screw.
"I'm telling you, man, you are playing with fire here." Jack says. When he looks at Sparky, his body shivers.
"Jack, since the day you joined us, we have…" Mac trails off as he takes off his glasses, "…stared down terrorists, defused countless bombs, and even stopped a planet-killing virus, and you're scared off…"
"Robots." Jack finishes his sentence. "Yeah, and if you were smart, you would be, too. Haven't you heard of the robot apocalypse?" Jack asks.
"Yeah, in science fiction." Mac says as he takes a tool from the tool box. "This is science fact. If the Phoenix is to pose as a think tank, every now and then, we have to do something think-tanky." Mac says as he focuses back on Sparky.
"That's cool. Let's work on space rockets or solar panels, instead of trying to build our own Terminator here, man. It's not a good idea." Jack says with a wince and Mac glances at him.
"It's not a Terminator." Mac replies.
"Well, it looks like a Terminator." Jack says. Bozer comes back with a metal tray with masks on it.
"Come on, Jack, the earliest applications for A.I. will most likely be in the field of patient care. Virtual helpers who will remind the elderly to take their medicine. What's so scary about that?" Bozer asks as he puts the tray down.
"Well, nothing at first, until those virtual helper thingies become sentient, self-aware. They don't want to listen to us anymore, and they rise up. I mean…the next thing you know, we'll all be in float tanks with those…USB ports hanging out from the back of your head, I'm telling you." Jack replies as he puts his hand on the back of the head.
"That's The Matrix. You're mixing up your doomsday theories." Mac says and Bozer lets out a laugh.
"If you know so much about sci-fi, Jack, then you know about Isaac Asimov and the three laws of robotics that keep us all safe." Bozer says with a smile.
"When it comes to robots, there's only one man I trust." Jack says. Mac and Bozer glance at him waiting for an answer. "Schwarzenegger." Jack answers. Mac and Bozer share a glance and laugh. "I'm telling you, man, Arnie showed us the future, and it ain't cuddly, boys." Jack glances at the robot and says, "It's a killer robot." That's when the robot's eyes light up and the thing rises up quickly. Jack's soul probably left his body. He screams and punches the robot's face. The robot falls down, and by the sounds they hear, the robot broke.
"He was making a move…you saw him." Jack says. Then he groans and holds his hand because of the pain from the punch. Mac and Bozer give him an annoying look as they shake their heads. "You sa…you saw him, he was making a move!" Looks like Riley and Leanna heard the scream, cause Mac sees them running towards them.
"What happened?!" Riley asks.
"That robot was making a move. He was gonna kill us! So I knocked him out." Jack says.
"More like broke him." Mac says. Leanna and Riley glance at Jack with an annoying look.
"Seriously, Jack?" Leanna asks.
"I…I'm telling you. We're all doomed." Jack says with a dramatic voice. They all start laughing.
"You should get some ice for that, by the way." Mac tells Jack as he nods at his hand.
"It'll be fine." Jack says as he shakes his hand. "So, Mac and Riley…" They both glance at Jack, "…how was Redknife?" Jack asks with a smile. They both furrow their eyebrows.
"Yellowknife?" Mac asks.
"Whatever. How was your trip?" Jack asks. Mac wanted to take her somewhere in the states. But, since Matty gave them a ten day break, why not go out of country. Mac suggested Yellowknife, and showed some pictures to Riley of that place. After seeing the pictures, Riley agreed almost immediately.
"It was amazing." Mac says with a smile. He turns to Riley waiting for her answer.
"It was terrible." Riley says and Mac freezes. 'What…' Mac can feel Jack's eyes on him. Then Riley starts laughing and hugs Mac. "I'm kidding. I loved it."
"10/10 joke." Mac says sarcastically and hugs her back. "You sounded convincing though. Which is good. You need to learn how to lie in this job."
"Yeah, Leanna's been teaching me." Riley says. Mac smiles at her and glances at the rest.
"We stayed outside one night and watched the aurora borealis. It was the best thing I've seen in my life." Mac says and Riley nods.
"The what?" Jack asks.
"The Northern Lights." Riley answers.
"Ah…why didn't you just say that?" Jack says. Mac rolls his eyes and his phone starts buzzing. He sees a message from Matty.
"Matty needs us upstairs. Now." Mac says as he places his phone in his pocket.
"So, are we getting rid of this?" Jack asks as he points to the robot.
"No!" Mac replies.
"You done lost your damn mind, Jack. That's why you hurt your hand." Bozer says. Mac grabs a small bag of ice and throws it at Jack. Jack catches it and places it on his hand.
"Gah, I hate robots, man!" Jack says.
Mac is the first to enter the war room with everyone behind him. As he enters, he sees Matty quickly wiping her cheek. He looks at the big screen to see two smiling teenagers. One male and one female. He sees another picture of them with the girl on a swing and the boy looking at her. Mac can see the heart eyes on the boy. Matty turns around and sees that Jack has a bag of ice on his hand. She sighs in frustration.
"What happened, Jack?" Matty asks.
"I punched a robot." Jack replies as he sits down on a sofa. "What's up?" Jack asks as he nods at the big screen.
"Last night, Vanessa Frank and Daniel Lee were found dead in a small park near San Francisco." Matty says. 'Damn…they look so young.' Mac says to himself. "They were having a picnic when an unidentified man gunned them down. An eyewitness told SFPD that he thought he saw the shooter walking away, but he couldn't make a positive ID." Matty says.
"Excuse me, Matty, maybe I didn't get the memo. We're a spy agency. This sounds like a straight-up murder case. Why can't the SFPD handle this?" Jack asks. Matty stares at him for a little bit, before going to the windows. She presses her finger on it, and every window turns foggy. She walks back in front of the screen and says,
"Ordinarily, they would." Mac can hear the sadness in her voice. 'What is happening?' "But…Vanessa Frank was my goddaughter." Matty says with a shaky voice. Mac has never seen Matty like this. He glances at everyone. Bozer exhaling, Riley and Leanna both looking down while Jack stands up from the sofa and kneels down in front of Matty and takes her hand.
"Matty, I'm sorry." Mac says. Jack gives her hand a little squeeze as Matty nods.
"The eyewitness was a passing driver who spotted Vanessa and Dan from the road. He told SFPD that he saw a man in a black hood walking away from their bodies, holding a gun." Matty says. Bozer's wheels start turning in his head. This sounded too familiar…about something that happened in the past.
"A young couple in the park and a black-hooded shooter?" Bozer asks.
"What is it, Boze?" Riley asks.
"The details sound…familiar. A lot like something that happened a long time ago." Bozer replies.
"The details are identical." Matty says. Mac is trying to figure out what they are talking about. And then it hits him.
"Identical to what?" Jack asks.
"The murders committed by the Zodiac killer." Mac answers as he glances at Jack.
"Zodiac?" Riley asks with furrowed eyebrows. "Like the serial killer from the '60s? I thought they caught that guy."
"No. Actually, he just disappeared." Mac replies.
"This is a police sketch of the original Zodiac from 1969." Matty says as a drawing of the Zodiac killer comes up on the screen.
"Fashion trends come and go, but creepy is forever." Leanna says as she glances at the sketch.
"Well, this has got to be a copycat. His last murder was almost 50 years ago. He'd be in the 70s by now." Mac says.
"Yeah, but the Zodiac just shot his victims. As long as the man can walk and squeeze a trigger…" Bozer is interrupted by Jack while Mac closes his eyes as he realizes that Bozer has a point.
"Alright, alright, so which is it? We're looking for a 70 year old serial killer or some brand new kind of psycho here?" Jack asks.
"Either way, I'm on the next flight to San Francisco, and I'd like for you all to come with me. This isn't an official Phoenix assignment, so I can't make you go. But I'm asking for your help." Matty says. Mac could never deny that. Matty got his ass out of many dangerous situations, even when he didn't ask for help. When Matty needs his help, he would do anything in a heartbeat no matter how dangerous it is.
"Of course." Mac replies.
"I'm in." Riley says. Mac glances at her and they share a smile.
"Me, too." Bozer adds.
"Count me in." Leanna says. They all glance at Jack who hasn't answered yet. But Mac knows what the answer will be.
"Whatever you need, Matty, you got it." Jack says.
"Thank you." Matty says with a nod. "Then you need to see what we're facing." Matty turns around to face the big screen. "SFPD won't release this video to the public. They still remember the panic the Zodiac caused when he terrorized the city years ago." Matty plays the video.
"This is Officer Janine Alvarez speaking. The time is 10:48 PM. I'm first on the scene of an apparent double homicide." The officer in the video films Daniel's body. His chest is bloody and his eyes are open wide. Riley closes her eyes as she saw the blood. "First victim, male, Asian, late teens. Appears to be shot three times in the chest and once in the right arm…signs of a struggle." Mac watches carefully to maybe spot a clue or something. Then on the video appears Vanessa laying on her stomach…not moving. She has four bullet wounds on her back. Jack looks at Matty who is looking at the ground rather than the video. And he understands why. "Second victim female, Caucasian, late teens. Shot four times in the back, right hand's covered in blood."
"She's trying to crawl away." Jack says. Mac sees that she is close to a car. And her right hand is covered in blood. 'What if she wrote something on the car…with her blood?' Mac asks himself. He's question is answered when the video shows the driver's door.
"No. She's trying to identify her killer." Mac says as the logo of the Zodiac is drawn on the door.
"Copycat or not…we're gonna catch him." Matty says with a voice full of sadness and rage.
PERSIDIO HEIGHTS, SAN FRANCISCO
The flight to San Francisco wasn't long. When they arrived, they all booked rooms at a hotel. Who knows how long they will stay there, but they are not leaving until they catch the Zodiac. Mac and Riley booked a room for themselves, so did Bozer and Leanna, Matty booked herself a room and Jack booked one for himself. They all settled in for a little bit, and then Matty took Mac and Jack to go to Vanessa's house.
"Betty Lou Jensen and David Arthur Faraday were his first victims. David was the first boy Betty's parents ever let take her out. One moment you're on your first date, but the next…" Bozer trails off and shakes his head. Those two were too young… "David was shot once in the head…Betty got five bullets to the back. Both died instantly." Bozer says quietly as he sits on the bed.
"That is really creepy." Riley says as she sits down on a chair and takes out her laptop.
"Police only proved five murders were the work of the Zodiac. But in the letters he sent to San Francisco Chronicle, the Zodiac claimed he killed 37 people." Bozer says. Riley closes her eyes. 'Poor people…' They were practically kids. And this prick just gunned them down like they are nothing.
"I'll give him this much…he knew how to dress the part. The hood, the glasses. Very creepy." Leanna says as she looks at the sketches on Riley's laptop.
"He was theatrical. The lead detective on the case believed he was inspired by movies. One of the first letters he sent quoted a line from the Most Dangerous Game, a 1932 movie about hunting people." Bozer says.
"Well, see, that's why I think this guy is a copycat. If he was the real guy, what about the creepy handwritten letters with the cipher at the bottom? That was the most famous part of the Zodiac." Leanna says.
"Yeah, but back in '68, the letters didn't show up until months after the first murders." Bozer says.
"Good thing we're not in '68 anymore." Leanna says.
"I'm gonna run a search of the cameras in the area Vanessa and Daniel were killed, see if we can get a video of our copycat." Riley says.
"Good idea." Leanna says.
"That's if he's a copycat." Bozer says.
"Come on, you really think a serial killer who's gotten away with his crimes for more than 40 years is gonna suddenly start back up again?" Leanna asks.
"A life change could suppress the urge to kill for a period of time. The BTK and The Grim Sleeper stopped killing people for years. But then, eventually, the monster inside of them woke up again." Bozer says.
"It creeps me out about how much you know about serial killers." Riley says.
"He calls it…"
"Being prepared." Bozer and Leanna say simultaneously.
"Yep." Leanna adds.
"If you ever come face to face with one, your survival hinges on being able to get inside their head. You know, figuring out what drives them, and finding a way to use it against them. Otherwise, you'll just end up another one of their statistics." Bozer says. Leanna shakes her head and glances at Riley. She realizes that Riley is genuinely freaked out by Bozer's words.
"Okay, this subject is over." Leanna says. "Let's do our jobs and catch this guy before he strikes again." Riley turns around to her laptop and puts on her headphones. She turns puts the volume on max, trying to get rid of the scary thoughts in her head.
Mac, Jack and Matty arrive at Vanessa's house. When they enter, Mac felt down. There were beautiful flowers everywhere, Mac smelling every scent of every flower. There was food on the tables, picture of Vanessa, and the house was full of people, everybody dressed in black, talking quietly to each other. The house is filled with sadness. Jack spots an old lady crying, being comforted by a lot of people. 'Vanessa's grandma…' Jack thinks.
Matty looks around, searching for Vanessa's mother. But she doesn't see her anywhere. So, she decides to ask for her whereabouts. She approaches a man and a woman. The woman spots her and gives her a sad smile. Matty shakes her hand and gives her a sad smile too.
"Hi. Can you tell me where Sarah is?" Matty asks quietly.
"Right through there." The woman replies quietly as she points to a hallway.
"Thank you." Matty says. She goes into the hallway and sees the opened doors. She turns around to Mac and Jack.
"Give me a moment." Matty says.
"Of course." Mac says quietly.
"Sure." Jack adds quietly. As Matty opens the doors so she can go in the room, Mac and Jack spot a glimpse of Sarah sitting on a chair with a tissue in her hand. Matty closes the door behind her while looking down.
Jack sees a couple of pictures on the wall. He goes over to see a picture of Vanessa and her mom, with a smile that reaches their ears. Jack also spots a picture of Vanessa holding a trophy in front of a schoolboard. On the schoolboard there are some math equations, so that means she was pretty good at math. Jack smiles at that photo, but that smile drops when he hears a sob from the room Sarah and Matty were in. This family already lost a father, and now a daughter. She had a whole life ahead of her…and it was takes for no reason. Jack wasn't going to leave before they catch this guy. He hears the doors open from his side and sees Matty.
"Mac, Jack." Matty says. That's a sign for them to follow her. They both enter the room and Mac closes the door behind them. "Sarah, these are the men I was telling you about. Angus MacGyver and Jack Dalton. They're a part of my team." Matty tells Sarah. Sarah glances at them.
"We're so sorry." Mac says quietly. His eyes sting as Sarah lets out a sob. He can't imagine how Sarah feels. First, her husband dies and now her daughter. She is all alone. Jack sits down on a chair and faces Sarah.
"Ma'am, there's…there's no good way to ask the questions that need to be asked here." Jack says quietly.
"Please….I want to help in any way I can. I want to catch this monster." Sarah says. Jack gives her a sad smile and nods.
"Okay. Has Vanessa been in some kind of trouble recently?" Jack asks. Sarah shakes her head.
"No. If she was…she would've told me. She always tells me everything." Sarah says with a shaky voice. "After Mark passed away, she changed a lot. Started working harder, studying a lot. She didn't deserve this." Sarah sobs. Matty puts her hand over hers.
"We know she didn't. What about Dan? Or an old boyfriend?" Jack asks.
"Dan was an amazing boy. She always made her happy. She had no boyfriends before Mark died, and after he died, she met Dan. He was the reason she was so happy." Sarah says. She starts crying again and Matty rubs her hand on her back.
"Sarah, we're gonna find out who did this. I swear it!" Matty says. She looks at Mac and Jack who both nod. They are not leaving San Francisco until they catch this prick. Mac and Jack leave the room and enter Vanessa's room. Mac looks around. The room is tidy, bed done nicely. Everything looks clean. He spots the trophy that Vanessa was holding in the picture they saw earlier. Vanessa also put up a lot of posters of celebrities on the walls. She had a lot of pictures on her shelves with her friends, pictures from prom. And she had a lot of pictures with Daniel.
"Man, I've known Matty for a long time and I've never…seen her like this." Jack says quietly. Mac glances at him with a sad look. "We've had ups and downs back in the day, but this is the first time I've seen her this…vulnerable." Jack spots a picture of a smiling Vanessa. "I wanna catch this guy." Jack growls while looking at the picture.
"Me too." Mac says as he approaches the window. "Right now, let's just focus on finding…" Mac trails off as he sees something from the window.
"What do you see?" Jack asks as he approaches Mac.
"It's not about what I see, it's about what I don't see." Mac says as Jack looks out the window. "You see it?" Mac asks. Jack looks around and realizes that a big branch is broken, giving a clear view in Vanessa's room from the opposite building.
"Hell yeah, I see it. Somebody cut that branch so they can have a clear line of sight into Vanessa's room here." Jack says.
"Let's go there." Mac says as he is already out of the room.
They arrive in front of the building. Mac slowly opens the door so they don't make any noise. Jack takes out his gun and leads Mac up the stairs. There is a homeless man sleeping on the stairs, so this might be an abandoned building where homeless people live. It stinks, there is garbage everywhere, and there is piss on the walls. There is no power in this building, so the sun from the windows is their only light. They climb upstairs to find another man sleeping against the wall. They walk down the hall quietly to enter the room from where you can see Vanessa's room. They go to the end of the hall and find the room.
The door is slightly open so they hide first. Then Jack slowly with his gun pushes the door open. When they enter the room, the smell of shit hit them like a car. Jack gags a bit and Mac winces. The room is a mess. There is clothes everywhere, bottles, a burnt couch and a lot of other stuff. Jack checks the kitchen as Mac makes his way towards the window. He sees Vanessa's house and has a clear view of Vanessa's room.
"This is it." Mac says.
"Yeah?" He hears Jack asks.
"Yeah, take a look." Mac replies. He turns around and sees Jack coming out of a hallway putting his gun away.
"Yep. Direct view from this spot right into Vanessa's window." Jack says.
"Definitely his perch." Mac says as he looks inside the cup that was in front of him. The cup is filled with cigarettes. "Hmm. Taking his time here, too. There's got to be, like, four packs of smokes in here." Mac says as he shows the cigarettes to Jack.
"Well, he's methodical. He picks his victims in advance, waits, watches, carefully plans his attack." Jack says and then they hear the floor squeak. Mac glances at Jack.
"Did you clear the room?" Mac asks.
"Well, you told me to come to the window." Jack replies.
"Next time clear the rooms before you blindly following my orders." Mac says and Jack shushes him. He takes out his gun and goes to the hallway. They make it in front of the door and Jack with his foot smashes it open. That's when a person runs into Jack. He pushes Jack into Mac and they both fall on the ground while the person is running out of the apartment. Jack gets up quickly and follows him.
"Hey!" Jack yells as the person goes out to the emergency stairs. Jack starts running after him. This guy is fast. Jack starts to skip some stairs so he can catch up, and that's when he hears glass breaking. Glass starts raining down, so he looks up and sees Mac falling while holding onto a wire. Mac lands next to the guy and knocks him down to the ground.
"Whoa! What the hell?!" Jack asks as he arrives on the ground. Jack runs to Mac and helps him up. "That looked painful, man, you alright?" Jack asks.
"Yeah, not my uh…best landing." Mac says. Mac kneels down and drags up the guy. "What were you doing in that apartment?!" Mac asks with an angry voice.
"Yeah, what's up, man?" Jack grabs him by his shirt, and pushes his hard against the railing of the stairs. The guy screams in pain as he hits the railing hard with his back. "Start talking." Jack says as he puts his arm on his chest and points the gun at him.
"Don't hurt me. I live here, man. I live here. In this building. I-It's warm and nobody bothers me." The guy says with a shaky voice.
"Nobody bothers you, huh? While you're up there being a weirdo, chain smoking, stalking co-eds?" Jack asks.
"What are you talking about?!" The guy asks. Jack drags the guy towards him, only to push him hard in the railing again, making the guy scream in pain.
"We know you killed the girl you've been watching, man!" Jack says. The guy's eyes go wide as he glances at both of them.
"Kill?!" the guy shouts.
"You know what, I don't even need this." Jack puts his pistol away. "I'm just gonna beat the bricks off…" Jack is interrupted by the guy.
"No! No, no, no. I didn't kill anybody, man. I'm not even stalking no one." The guy says with fear in his voice. "It's my first time in that unit." He says as he points up to the apartment. "Look, I normally stay in the back stairwell, b-but the guy…"
"Guy? What guy? What does he look like, huh?" Jack interrupts him.
"I don't know, man." The guy replies sounding tired. Jack pushes him hard against the railing again.
"What does he look like?" Jack shouts.
"Normal! I don't know!" The guy shouts back. "He's not homeless, you know? We call him the smoking man. The dude's old, though. Like scary old."
"That's good. How old?" Jack asks.
"Scary old. Yeah, you know how like, Clint Eastwood is like, he looks like he'd kick your ass?" The guy asks.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. How old?" Jack asks sounding annoyed.
"I don't know, man. Later 60s? 70s?" The guy says.
"Okay, what else?" Jack asks.
"Um…he's got great hair. Um…glasses. Dude walks around with, like, this big lumbering walk." The guy says.
"Bozer said the Zodiac walked just like that." Jack says as he glances at Mac.
"The Zodia…who?" The guy asks.
"Yeah, do me a favor: stop talking, unless it's about the guy that you saw, okay?" Jack asks and the guy nods. Jack takes Mac a little further than the homeless guy. "Glasses, lumbering walk. And he is the right age." Jack says. He can see that Mac is deep in his thoughts. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Jack asks. Mac shakes his head and glances at him.
"If this is true, we might solve one of the greatest crime stories of all time." Mac says.
"Hell of a way to go down in the history books." Jack says and Mac nods.
"Let's loop Matty in." Mac says. Mac takes out his phone as he climbs up the stairs to go to the apartment.
"Move!" Jack growls at the homeless guy.
15 minutes later, Matty and the cops came by the apartment. Matty and an officer interrogated the homeless guy. As Jack comes out of the bedroom, looks like the officer and Matty finished interrogating the homeless guy, as an officer grabs him by the hand and takes him out of the apartment. Matty turns around and glances at Jack.
"Well, anything new out of him?" Jack asks. Matty shakes her head and sighs in frustration.
"No. He just repeated what he told you." Matty says as she catches a glimpse of Mac looking at the floor by the window. "A big, grey-haired, white guy came here repeatedly for the last six weeks to smoke cigarettes and look out that window, but…unfortunately, it's not enough to help us catch Vanessa's killer." Matty says.
"Well, the building was full of homeless people. You never know. Maybe one of them got a good look at him." Jack says. "But, um, Matty…those descriptions…they…"
"I know, Jack. They match to the Zodiac killer." Matty says. She then glances at Mac who is on his knees and hands, looking at the floor with the help of a magnifying glass from his SAK. "What's he doing?" Matty asks. Jack turns around and chuckles.
"Well, I never really know. It's part of his charm, I guess." Jack says. Mac gets up and glances at them.
"Is SFPD's forensics team here? I think I found something." Mac says.
"No. They'll be here in half an hour." Matty replies.
"Then, can I make my own Electrostatic Dust Print Lifter?" Mac asks. Matty furrows her eyebrows and Jack laughs a bit. She turns around and glances at him.
"What are you laughing at?" Matty asks. Jack immediately stops laughing.
"Well, I don't know." He replies sounding like a baby.
"You don't know what he's talking about either." Matty says as Jack takes a sit on the chair. She turns around and nods at Mac. Matty watches as Mac searches the garbage back. He takes out blue Mylar and a soda can and some electronic. As he is making the device, Matty glances at Jack, who only shrugs at her. "Okay, since it looks like you're just playing with the trash, you mind telling us exactly what it is you're doing?" Matty asks.
"Every step we take leaves a little bit of dust behind from all the places we've been before. It's hard to see on a dirty floor, but with a little bit of Mylar and a static charge…" he squishes a newspaper and rubs it softly over the Mylar. When he's done, he lifts the Mylar and on the other side there is a footprint out of dust. "You can see the killer's footprint." Mac says with a smile. Matty raises her eyebrows. She'll lie if she says she isn't shocked.
"Hah! The boy is a magician." Jack says. He takes out his phone and takes a picture of the footprint. He dials Riley and quickly sends the photo to her. "Hey, Ri, I'm sending you a picture of boot print. We need to know everything you can tell us about it, alright?" Jack asks.
"Yep, on it." Riley replies.
"Did you guys get anything from the cameras around the park?" Matty asks.
"No. The killer must've cased the area beforehand. He clearly knew how to avoid being recorded." Leanna replies.
"But since the Zodiac mostly killed couples in parks, we're also monitoring surveillance cameras from romantic spots all over the city. And there's a lot." Bozer says.
"Good. Maybe we can stop this guy before he strikes again." Jack says.
"How's it coming with the boot print, Riles?" Mac asks.
"I can tell you it's a size ten and a half, but finding a match in the database is gonna take ours." Riley says over the phone.
"Actually, I might be able to beat that time." They hear Bozer say. Mac, Jack and Matty all share a confused glance and wait for Bozer. "Look, the print you sent matches a boot used by the US military in the 1960s. They were called Wing Walkers. And guess who else wore them besides the US military." Bozer says.
"The original Zodiac." Mac replies.
"Yep, and he wore size ten and a half, too. If the shoe fits…" Matty stops Bozer because she knows what he's gonna say.
"Okay, let's not start touting conspiracy theories as fact. Anybody could've worn a pair of those. Boots are mass-produced." Matty says.
"Not these. Not anymore. They stopped making them over 20 years ago. Only place you can buy a pair now is a site like eBay." Riley says.
"Riley, do you think you can…"
"Find a site selling them, hack in and see if anyone near here bought a pair recently?" Riley interrupts Mac. Now, they are finishing each other sentences to. Mac, Jack and Matty both smile. "I was doing that before I started this sentence." Riley says and Jack snaps his fingers feeling a bit hyped.
"Okay, in the last four months, 11 pairs of Wing Walkers were bought in the US, and one pair was shipped to Russ Collins, who lives right here in San Francisco." Riley says.
"Beautiful. Let's go." Jack says as he claps his hands.
RUSS COLLINS' RESIDENCE
As Matty went to stay with Sarah, Mac and Jack went to Russ's house. Well, they stayed in the car in front of the house. They were having a surveillance stakeout. Jack was watching the house, while Mac was twisting a paperclip. It is night time, and they arrived a couple of hours ago. They bought themselves two burgers, which they ate earlier. Now, both of them are not talking, enjoying the silence. Well…Mac is enjoying it. Not Jack. Jack glances at Mac twisting the paperclip and he winces.
"That's starting to bug me." Jack says. Mac glances at Jack and gives him a confused look.
"What?" Mac asks.
"You, twisting those paperclips, man. It's stupid." Jack says.
"You're stupid. It's relaxing." Mac says as he goes back to twisting his paperclip. Then his phone buzzes. He picks it up and sees that it's a message from Riley.
"Ran a background check on Collins. No hits. Squeaky clean."
"Riley. She says she ran a full background check on Collins. No record, clean." Mac says as he puts his phone down. He also puts the paperclip on the dash, which is a shape of the Zodiac's sign.
"Clean, except for the fact that he special ordered the exact same pair of boots worn by a serial killer." Jack says.
"Which is merely circumstantial. Even if we found the boots, and I was somehow able to…match them to the boot print that I found, it's not enough to convict him at court." Mac says. Jack wipes his eyes from frustration.
"Okay, what about Collins? How old is he?" Jack asks. Mac grabs Collins' dossier that was on the dash and opens it.
"Born in 1949." Mac says as he scratches his head. "So he was 20 when the killings started." Mac says as he glances at Jack.
"Old enough to be the original." Jack says. Mac closes his eyes and bumps his head on the headrest. "I don't know, man. I think we're looking pretty solid." Jack says as Mac puts the dossier back on the dash.
"It's the best lead we've got. Doesn't mean his the Zodiac." Mac says. Mac closes his eyes again and rests for a minute. He then feels something on his chest. He opens his eyes and sees Jack offering him a cigar. Mac smiles and takes it.
10 minutes have passed and nothing has happened…still. Mac and Jack are having a cigar chat right now, not thinking about the mission, just them having a good old conversation about the army days.
"And I knock on the door. That's when a guy with a machine gun opened the door and I spot hostages inside. The guy took me inside pointing the gun at me. That's when an explosion happened behind me and I heard my team. So I attack the guy, get the gun from him and shoot him. All the enemies were down and Worthy comes in out of breath, saying that there were more coming. We get out and meet with the enemies. We shoot our way back to the truck. As we're all in the truck, Worthy yells out "Grenade!" When I saw him he was throwing something out of the truck, and an explosion happens. Worthy is the only reason I'm alive right now." Jack says as he takes a puff of his cigar.
"Do you guys go out together?" Mac asks as he rolls his cigars between his fingers.
"Haven't seen each other since then." Jack replies quietly. Mac glances at Jack who was looking down at his cigar. Mac takes a few puffs of his cigars and says quietly,
"What a dark day."
"Yeah." Jack sighs as he faces the open window and blows out a mouthful of smoke. "You know…I was thinking about asking Diane to marry me before Matty came to me and offered me a job at Phoenix." Mac's eyebrows shot up.
"Really?" Mac asks.
"I mean, I am still thinking about it. But now…fear is included." Jack says. Mac knows exactly what he means. "Let's say she says yes and we get married. What if an enemy of ours comes after her? It'll be because of me." Mac takes a few puffs.
"I know what you mean, man. The same thing happened with Murdoc." Mac says.
"Ugh. Still wanna go to that blacksite to beat him to death." Jack says and Mac chuckles. "Plus, those Organization pricks are still out there somewhere." Jack says and takes a few puffs. 'Oh yeah…' Mac almost forgot about them. They haven't caused any problems since we stopped the virus and caught Nikki. Mac knows they are just waiting for the perfect time to attack, but they don't know that the Phoenix is always ready for them. There has been this feeling in Mac though since he got that letter.
"Do you ever had a feeling…that something bad is gonna happen in the future?" Mac asks. Jack glances at him and gives him a confused look.
"Where is this coming from?" Jack asks. Mac faces the open window and blows out smoke from his mouth.
"That letter that said "Soon." Is giving me bad vibes still." Mac says. "It sucks we can't find out who put it on my doormat." That's when they heard knocking on the car. It startles them both as they glance at a man next to the window holding an envelope.
"Delivery." The man says.
"Delivery?" Jack asks and points his gun towards the man. "We're in a parked car here dude." Jack says. The man's eyes go wide when he saw the gun and immediately putted his hands up. Mac and Jack both drop the cigars on the tarmac so they can go out by themselves. "Back up." Jack says as he opens the door and gets out of the car. Mac does the same.
"You looking to get shot tonight, huh?" Jack asks. "Get around the front of the car." Jack orders the man as Mac grabs the envelope from his hands. He glances at the paper and reads,
"'The two men in the Sedan.' Who gave you this?" Mac asks the man.
"Some guy down the street offered me a hundred bucks to walk this to your car." The man says looking scared as hell as Mac glances down the street to see if the man is still there.
"Some guy? What he look like?" Jack asks.
"Just some guy. He had on a hat and sunglasses." The man replies.
"Sunglasses at night. You didn't think that was a little bit weird?" Jack asks.
"I don't know, man. Could you please just put the gun away now…" the man trails off as he swallows hard.
"Don't tell me what to do, boy. Sit your ass down." Jack says. The man sits down on the edge of the sidewalk. Jack hears Mac open the hood of the car.
"If the killer did give him this, everything down to the glue that was used to seal the envelope is evidence. I'm gonna try and preserve as much as I can. Mac takes a bottle of water from the car, and pours the water over the hot engine, which creates steam. He puts the envelope above the steam. He shakes the envelope above the steam and the envelope opens. He grabs the paper that's in the envelope by its corner.
"This is the Zodiac speaking to the two men in the parked Sedan. You may be watching me, but just know that I am watching you." Mac then looks at the bottom right corner of the paper. "Me-39, you-0." Mac glances at Jack before he looks down the street again. It was night so he couldn't really see anything. He feels Jack shift in his spot next to him.
"Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and say it…I'm starting to get freaked out here." Jack says as he glances at Mac.
"Yeah, you're not the only one." Mac replies. He takes a quick look to the envelope again and looks at Jack. "Call Matty and tell her to get here with the police." Jack doesn't waste a second and dials Matty.
"Jack?"
"Hey, Matty, come at Collins' house with the cops. Something weird is going on." Jack says.
"What's going on?" Matty asks.
"Just, come here and you'll see." Jack says and hangs up. Mac glances at the man who is sitting on the edge of sidewalk.
"Look man, if you know something tells. The guy that gave you this envelope is a serial killer." Mac says.
"I swear, I told you everything. I wouldn't hide anything. I don't want a serial killer on these streets." The man says. Mac sighs and throws the envelope in the car.
Half an hour later, Matty arrives with the police. Nobody has gone in or out of Collins' house. Mac gives the letter to Matty and she reads it. When she's done reading, she glances at Mac and Jack with anger in her eyes.
"Let's go in." Matty says. Jack nods as he takes out his gun. The officers follow him to the front door of the house. Some officers when to the backyard just in case. Jack turns around with his back facing the door. He nods to the officers and he kicks the door open. Jack clears the entrance and goes in the living room. Mac goes in after him and turns on the lights.
"Alright, fan out. Clear the place." Jack tells the officers. Mac looks around and is kind of shocked with what he sees. Everything is so clean. It's like nothing has been touched in here before.
"I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this." Mac says to Jack. Mac catches a glimpse of Matty entering the room where they place the man who gave Mac and Jack the envelope. 'I feel bad for him…' Mac says to himself. After the officers cleared every room, Mac started looking around for some clues. But this whole house…it doesn't make sense. Collins' has been living here for years, and it's like everything hasn't been touched in decades. 'This is not right…'
Minutes later he sees Jack talking to an officer, and then Matty appears from the corner. Mac and Jack both see her and they walk over to her.
"Had a chat with your delivery guy." Matty says.
"And?" Mac asks.
"His story checks out…no priors. As much as I was hoping he was our big break, I'm thinking the only thing he's guilty of is wanting to make a quick hundred bucks." Matty says. Mac wipes his face in frustration.
"Well, did he at least give you a better description of our suspect?" Jack asks.
"Along with the hat and sunglasses, he was also wearing a hoodie. He was tall, but Ronald didn't know how old he was." Matty answers. 'So the delivery guy's name is Ronald.' Mac closes his eyes.
"Well, that helps a lot." Jack says sarcastically.
"Please tell me you found something here, because I am not going back to Sarah to tell her that we have no idea who murdered her daughter." Matty says.
"Matty, I wish we had more, but we were expecting Seven and we got Leave it to Beaver." Mac says. Matty sighs in frustration and looks down.
"Okay. Let SFPD handle the house. Let's regroup and figure out our next move." Matty says. Matty starts walking towards the door and Mac follows her. But Mac stops when he doesn't hear footsteps behind him. He turns around and sees Jack holding up one finger frozen in place.
"Jack?" Mac calls him and Jack glances at him with raised eyebrows. "You okay, buddy?"
"You know how you get that faraway look in your eye when wheels are turning in your head?" Jack asks as he looks around the house.
"No, not really." Mac replies sounding confused.
"Well, you do it all the time and I'm getting it." Jack says.
"You think you're thinking, Jack?" Matty asks and Mac snorts. Jack glances at them and wipes his face.
"Yeah. Yeah, go with me on this one. It's gonna sound like a board game question, but what is it about a serial killer that makes 'em so hard to find?" Jack asks them. Matty gives him a confused look while Mac's wheels are turning inside his head.
"They look perfectly normal on the outside because they're trying to cover up what's happening on the inside." Mac answers and understands what Jack is trying to say.
"Exactly. This place is Leave it to Beaver…dish towels folded perfectly on the sink." Jack points to the couch in the living room. "The couch…cushions look like they ain't never even been sat on, man." Jack spots a picture in a frame on the table. He has the exact same picture at his apartment. "Look. Look. That's the stock photo that came with the frame." Jack says.
"How do you know?" Mac asks.
"Well, because I have this one." Jack replies as he sets the photo back on the table. "It's all too perfect. Like it's been staged."
"Like something horrible may be lying just beneath the surface." Matty says. She is now getting Jack too. Jack sees Mac looking around them, so he knows that the kid has some kind of idea.
Mac quickly takes the Wi-Fi router and goes into the kitchen. He searches for tinfoil and finds some. He cuts a piece of it and puts it at the back off the router. He then opens the router so he can see all the wires and chips. He also spots a small radio next to him. 'Perfect. He says to himself. He takes the radio and takes out the speaker. He places the speaker on the on the router. He finds a very long cable and connects it to the socket in the kitchen. He starts walking next to the walls with the router in front of him.
"Wi-Fi signals are just radio waves. And the cool thing about radio waves is that they can travel through walls." Mac says as the router is making noise. "Now with…a dish to focus the waves and a speaker to turn reflections that bounce back into sound, we can…"
"You can see through the walls." Matty says in amazement.
"Yeah, or hear through them really." Mac says as the router makes a loud noise. They are in a room and Mac is facing bookshelves. "There is a large open space behind this." Mac says as he puts the router down. They start moving books, look for buttons, move objects, anything that can move this bookshelf. Mac is impressed with the books. He has read most of them and they are pretty good. As Mac searches the top shelf, the whole bookshelf starts moving to the left. He looks down at Matty to see that she has a book in her hand. That must've been the key.
"Good eye." Mac says. Mac glances at the entrance and he can't see anything because it's too dark. Jack takes out his gun and also takes out his flashlight. He slowly and quietly starts going down the stairs. At the end of the stairs, Jack with the help of his flashlight, sees a lot of boxes, old chairs and at the end of the room he sees a desk. He finds the light switch and turns on the lights. Now they can see what's on the walls. Pictures of teenagers, old newspapers, the Zodiac killer's sign.
"Well…I think we found our guy." Mac says. Jack nods as Matty takes a closer look at the pictures and newspapers.
"1968, '69. These are the original San Francisco Chronicle articles on the Zodiac murders." Matty says.
"So either this is a shrine to the original Zodiac or this guy is the original." Jack says.
"These photos clearly aren't vintage. They've been printed off of a computer and they're recently taken." Mac says as he lifts up a photo of two teenagers. Jack looks at all of the photos. These young teenagers are now dead for no reason. They had so much more of their lives to explore…and it was just taken away in a second. As he looks at the photos, he spots Vanessa and Daniel, walking together.
"Son of a bitch. He's been scouting his victims." Jack whispers.
"Like he did with Vanessa." Matty says with a shaky voice as she stares at photo of Vanessa walking into her house. "He's been watching her for weeks. She's had no idea." By the sound of her voice she is ready to let the tears drop. Mac puts his hand on her shoulder.
"Matty, if you wanna go outside…"
"No." Matty interrupts Mac. "No, the key to catching this bastard is in this room and we need to find it!" Matty says as an officer joins them. Matty walks over to the other side of the table to look at some more newspapers. Mac walks over to the center of the desks and sees something beneath some dossiers.
"Is that a laptop?" Jack asks.
"Yeah." Mac replies as he moves the dossiers. Mac check for traps before he opens the laptop just in case. When he sees that it's clear, he slowly opens the laptop.
"Do we need to get Riley in here on this thing?" Jack asks. The screen stays black for a few seconds before it turns on, multiple opened windows appearing on the screen.
"No need. It's not even password protected. I don't think this guy ever expected somebody to find this place." Mac says. He sighs as he looks at the windows on the screen. "Okay…it looks like e-mails. A lot of them."
"What do they say?" Matty asks.
"I wish I knew. This is the code the original Zodiac used, I believe. According to Bozer, some of these were deciphered, but others not even the NSA or CIA could crack." Mac replies.
"And neither organization had themselves a Riley. Let's utilizer her." Jack says. Riley has proven herself that she is the best hacker that has worked for the Phoenix multiple times. Jack is confident Riley can decipher these codes.
"We need to get a disk image from this laptop to her ASAP." Matty says and Mac and Jack nod in agreement. "I'm calling forensics." Matty takes out her phone and leaves them.
"So out Zodiac…copies the original down to the smallest detail…even wears antique boots. But now he's sending e-mails over a laptop? Am I missing something here?" Jack asks. Every single time they find a clue, a lead for them to catch the killer, something confuses them and that's not good. This guy can strike again while they are trying to figure what's going on.
"I think the real question is…who is he corresponding with? And why?" Mac asks. Jack exhales in frustrations and wipes his face. Mac's phone starts ringing. He takes it out of his pocket and sees that it's Bozer.
"Hey, buddy, what do you got?" Mac asks.
"Right now? A serious case of the heebie-jeebies. Matty had me and Leanna take the letter you guys got from the SFPD evidence room and compare it to the letters of the original Zodiac. Officer Reyes hooked me up with a handwriting expert. Now…he's still running tests, but he took one look at your letter and said it's definitely a match to the original Zodiac." Bozer says.
"Come on, man…" Jack sighs in frustration. "I feel like my mind is about to burst." Jack says.
"I feel you, Jack." Leanna adds. "We're gonna head back to the hotel where Riley is. We'll call you from there."
"Copy that." Mac says and he hangs up as Matty joins them.
"Who was that?" Matty asks.
"Bozer. He said the handwriting expert officer Reyes hooked him up with is saying that…it's a match to the original Zodiac." Jack says.
"All units, reports of multiple shots fired at 220 9th Avenue." A female voice comes over the officer's radio. He doesn't waste a second and sprints up the stairs.
"That's Sarah's house…" Matty says in a voice full with fear. Mac and Jack glance at her with wide eyes.
"Let's go!" Jack says as he sprints up the stairs.
Jack slams on the breaks as hard as he can as he comes to a stop in front of Sarah's house. The street is filled with police cars and an ambulance. 'Oh no…' Matty is already out of the car and climbing the stairs to the entrance of Sarah's house. Police men and women were in the house staring at something. Matty gulps as she doesn't have a good feeling. As she enters the house, she sees what they are staring at. Sarah was on the ground with a huge knife that was stabbed right through her heart, and Sarah's mom lying next to her with a couple of bullet wounds on her back.
Matty covers her mouth with her hand and she couldn't stop the tears from falling. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she knew exactly who it was. She turns around and sobs in Jack's shoulder, while he was gently rubbing her back. Jack's eyes are watery too. After seeing Sarah mourn for her daughter, and now this…
Mac spots something on the wall. It's the Zodiac's sign drawn with blood. Mac goes outside cause he couldn't hear Matty cry. He has never seen Matty like this, and there is this pain deep inside him. He can't imagine how Matty is feeling. He grabs his hair and pulls from anger. It is painful, but Mac doesn't care. He looks around and sees people staring at the house, Sarah's neighbors. Maybe somebody saw something. So, he starts asking. He asks the first three people that are the closest, but nobody saw anything. He approaches a female who is staring at the house, and she is alone.
"Excuse me, miss, did you see anything?" Mac asks and the woman nods.
"As I heard the shooting, I took a peek from my window. There was this man wearing a hat…with sunglasses…getting out of the house and getting in his car." The woman replies with a shaky voice.
"Okay…anything else?" Mac asks.
"Um…I saw a person in the backseat of the car. I think it was a girl…she wasn't moving." The woman answers. 'Another person?' This killer is toying with them. Every single minute of the day. Who knows where he is now. And what's he doing with that person.
"Thank you." Mac says. Mac gets back into the house. Jack is still hugging Matty and it looks like she has calmed down a bit. They are putting Sarah's and Sarah's mother's bodies in body bags. "A woman says that the Zodiac took off in a car and he had another person who was not moving in the backseat."
"So, he might be dead too." Jack says. Mac kneels down in front of Matty.
"I'm so sorry, Matty." Mac says quietly. Matty hugs him too, and Mac can feel his eyes get watery from Matty sobbing quietly in his shoulder. This guy has ruined her in 12 hours. They needed to find him fast.
"Miss Webber," an officer calls. They glance at him. "I think you might want to see this." The officer says. If the officer is calling for her, even though he clearly sees that she is in a lot of pain, then this must be serious. They follow the officer to the kitchen. The officer stops and looks at the wall. Mac, Jack and Matty also look at the wall and it says,
"I have your little angel." It was written in blood. 'Your little angel?' Mac asks himself. What is the killer talking about? Then it hits him. The woman outside said the Zodiac had a person in the backseat. She also said that it looked like a girl… 'No…'
Bozer and Leanna are sitting in the back of a taxi. They are going back to the hotel to Riley. Bozer links his hand with Leanna's as she is looking at the city. A week ago, they came here to San Francisco and had the best time of their lives. Right now, they are in San Francisco and are probably living one of the darkest days of their lives. Leanna was singing and dancing last week at Rihanna's concert, and right now she feels like she is in a horror movie. But, she is happy she is not alone. She has the love of her life next to her, like he has been since they met.
As Bozer pays the cab driver and Leanna gets out of the cab, her phone starts ringing. She brings it out from her pocket and sees that it's Mac. When she answers the first thing she hears is Jack yell.
"Move, fool!"
"Mac?" Leanna says.
"Leanna, where are you?!" Mac asks. Leanna clearly notices the fear in his voice.
"We just got out of the cab in front of the hotel. Why?" Leanna asks. But before Mac answers her, she hears Bozer.
"No, no, no, no." Bozer starts sprinting towards the entrance to the hotel.
"Bozer!" Leanna shouts after him. She saw that he was looking at the trash bin. So when she glances at the trash bin, she notices a lot of smoked cigarettes on the ground. 'Oh no…' As soon as she realizes, she starts sprinting after him.
"Leanna! What's going on?!" Mac asks but she doesn't answer. She is focusing on her running right now, giving her everything. When she arrives in the hotel room, she sees Bozer already searching everywhere.
"Riley! Riley!" Bozer shouts as he looks in the bathroom. Then they both realize something on Riley's laptop. An envelope.
"To those who seek me." Bozer reads. Leanna gulps and brings her phone to hear ear.
"Guys…Riley's gone. We think…the Zodiac has her." Leanna says with a shaky voice.
"No!" Mac yells. Then Matty's voice is on the phone.
"Leanna, we sent Riley some e-mails on her laptop. Get inside her laptop and try to decipher them till we get there." Matty says.
"Got it." Leanna says and hangs up.
Jack, Mac and Matty arrive at the hotel ten minutes later after the phone call with Leanna. As Leanna is trying to decipher the e-mails, the door blasts open as a raging Mac comes in the hotel room. Bozer and Leanna jump at the sound of door being furiously opened. Bozer got in front of Mac who was spiraling at told him to calm down.
"How can I relax?!" Mac shouts. "Look…a woman outside Sarah's house saw the Zodiac leave with a person who was not moving. And she said the person looked like a female." Mac says as he runs his hands through his hair. "It had to be Riley. She…she said she was not moving. What if…" Mac trails off as he buried his face in his hands.
"You need to calm down and stop letting your mind go in that direction, Mac. We are going to find him and she will be okay. She was unconscious." Bozer says. But he didn't know who was he convincing. Mac or himself. "And what was the Zodiac doing at Sarah's house?" Bozer asks. He turns around to face Matty and Jack. When he sees Matty's face, he already knows what happened.
"The Zodiac killed Sarah and her mother." Matty replies trying hard not to let the tears fall.
"I'm so sorry, Matty." Leanna says and Matty nods.
"Let's focus on finding Riley. Did you decipher the e-mails?" Matty asks Leanna.
"Okay." Leanna says as she stands up with the laptop and gets ready to talk. "I tried tracing the e-mails. But they're single-use addresses routed though Tor. So, I moved on and tried to crack the cipher, but…it's no joke. I think he changed encryption keys from one letter to the next. I was able to partially decode a few of the e-mails, but the rest are gonna take a while."
"What did the e-mails that you could decode say?" Matty asks.
"It's correspondence between our Zodiac and someone who was actually encouraging him." Leanna replies.
"Encouraging him? Like…like what, 'Atta boy, go serial kill'?" Jack asks.
"More like teaching him. Giving him the step-by-step on how to be a serial killer." Leanna replies.
"The original Zodiac would never need anybody to teach him how to kill." Jack says as Mac puts on some gloves and takes the envelope the Zodiac left.
"This is definitely a copycat. A copycat the someone else pushed over the edge. Can you find out who the killer and the correspondent are?" Matty asks Leanna.
"I'll try my best." Leanna says. Mac opens the envelope and takes out the letter.
"This is the Zodiac speaking. I know you found my special room, and I'm sure right know you think you are smarter than me, but you pigs have never been smarter." Mac reads and glances at Bozer who was next him. "Here's my ultimatum: stop coming after me, and in 24 hours I'll release the little angel. But if you follow me, if you look for me, if you hunt for me, she'll join the others." Mac looks at the bottom right corner of the letter. "Me 40? You 0." Mac reads. Jack takes a look and is now confused.
"40 question mark…what the hell's that supposed to mean?" Jack asks.
"He's saying if we don't stop looking for him, Riley will be his 40th victim." Bozer replies.
"He's lying." Mac says as he puts the letter down.
"Yeah. He's not gonna let her go. We need to find Riley ourselves. He's just trying to stall. Changing his behavior cause he knows we're close." Jack says.
"So how do we get even closer?" Bozer asks.
"She was searching something on the browser." Leanna says as she opens the browser. "Properties all over the Bay Area." She sets down the laptop so everyone can see.
"Must be at least 50 of them." Matty says.
"All owned by the same person: Russ Orwell." Mac adds.
"And who is Russ Orwell?" Jack asks.
"According to what Riley dug up, Russ Orwell is the actual owner of the house we found the secret room in. Collins was an alias…that's why he came up clean." Matty says. 'Now it makes sence.' She says to herself.
"Looks like Orwell was a bit of a slumlord. He owned all of these properties." Mac says as Bozer's phone buzzes. "Nice work, Riles." Mac says quietly.
"So, Orwell's our guy?" Jack asks. Leanna clicks on a page of a newspaper.
"Not likely. He was killed 15 years ago. Bludgeoned to death." Leanna replies.
"Guys," they all face Bozer who is putting his phone back in his pocket, "handwriting expert just got back to me with the final results on the letter you guys got." Bozer says as he glances at Mac and Jack.
"And?" Matty asks.
"It's a 100% match." Bozer says.
"Alright, wait, wait…so now we are hunting the original Zodiac?" Jack asks. Mac is getting anxious. This is taking too long. Riley is somewhere out there alone and scared.
"Actually, no. As people age, their handwriting changes…100% match means this isn't handwriting at all. The ink on the letter came from an off the shelf computer toner…our killer scanned the original Zodiac letters and…"
"Made his own fond." Mac finishes Bozer's sentence. "Alright, can we focus on finding him and Riley now, please?" Mac says with anger in his voice.
"If he was using one of Orwell's properties, maybe he's using another one." Matty says.
"There's gotta be over 50 place there. Even if we get the SFPD's help, by the time we search them all it's gonna be too late." Jack says.
"Well, we're just gonna have to find the right one!" Mac says. "There's gotta be a dozen properties here…all occupied." Mac says as he circles an area of the map. "He would never take her there." Mac says as he removes the properties in that area.
"Okay, and this group right here is in a high traffic area…he wouldn't risk being spotted moving a hostage." Matty says and Mac removes the properties from that area.
"Okay, so we're looking for an unoccupied building." Mac says. Jack closes his eyes and shakes his head. 'This is taking way too long.' He says to himself. "Um…" Mac trails off and Jack already knows he's onto something. "Bozer, didn't you say the original Zodiac was a big fan of movies?" Mac asks.
"Yeah, why?" Bozer asks.
"Yeah, I think I know where he took her…Starview Way Cinema." Mac says as he opens a property on the map. "Looks like an old abandoned movie theatre." Mac stands up and quickly takes his gloves off. "Jack, let's go." Mac says as he walks out of the hotel room and Jack trails behind him.
Riley slowly opens her eyes. She immediately winces when she feels the pain in the back of her head. The last thing she remembers is her in front of her laptop with her headphones on. After that…nothing. She slowly looks up, but she can't see anything cause there is a bag on her head. All she can see is lights faced towards her. She is sitting on a chair and she can feel her arms and legs tied up to it. She tries moving but it's no use. She can feel the panic rising inside her. The memories of Murdoc kidnapping her are coming back. She starts breathing heavily and then someone starts moving her. That scares her and she screams in fear. The person stops moving her and then the bag is taken off. Her hair is on her face so she shakes her head so she can see where she is.
"Good, you're awake." Someone from behind her says as she can feel a hand on her cheek. She moves her head so the hand stops touching her. She doesn't even want to turn around to see who the person is. So she looks forward and realizes that she is on a stage. In an abandoned theatre.
"You thought you could track me down?" The person says and she immediately knows who it is. "You thought you could find me?" Riley slowly turns around and sees the killer. "No one's ever found me." Riley's eyes burn from the lights, so she looks down. "And now no one's ever gonna find you." The killer says from behind her and Riley gulps. Then a phone starts to ring. She realizes that it's coming from the killer's pocket. The killer starts making his way backstage as he reaches for his pocket. As Riley loses sight of him, she quickly starts twisting her arms and legs. But it's no use. 'Mac…I need you right now…'
Mac and Jack arrive in front of the theatre in the rented Mustang. They quickly get out and sprint in the theatre. Then they quietly make their way to the movie theatre. They get in and see Riley on a chair on the stage. 'Thank God she's alive.' Mac and Jack can see that she is shaking a lot. As Mac is about to make his way to Riley, the killer comes out from the backstage. Jack quickly pushes Mac down and hide behind the seats.
"There's no cover between us and the stage, man. If we make a move he will see us." Jack whispers as he takes out his gun.
"We just have to make sure he is looking the other way." Mac says as he spots some movie wheels. He makes his way over to them and Jack follows so he can help with whatever he is making. Meanwhile, the killer gets in front of Riley with a gun in his hand. Riley sees the gun and inhales a shaky breath.
"Look…you don't have to do this." Riley says with a shaky voice. "I don't know who you are, I don't know…I haven't seen your face." She's practically trembling now. "You can let me go, and I won't be able to tell anyone what you look like. Please, I…" Riley couldn't finish as she received a hard backhand slap on the left cheek. The slap echoed through the movie theatre. Mac's head turns quickly towards the stage. He can see the killer putting his glove back on while Riley is looking down shaking. He squeezes the bottle that it's in his hand so hard. 'I'm gonna bury that son of a bitch.' Mac says to himself. He quickly gets back to work. The faster he makes the bomb, the faster he can get to Riley.
Riley has tears streaming down her face now. The pain from the slap didn't help. She quietly sobs as she looks up to see the killer standing in front of her. He approaches her and lifts his mask up while putting his face in front of her eyes.
"What about now, little angel? Now you've seen my face. So what could you possibly say that would keep me from sending you with the others?" the killer says. He slowly backs up and puts his mask on. He reloads his gun and points it towards Riley. Riley closes her eyes as the tears fall down. But then she opens them because the killer looks like he is hesitating. Then it hits her. The Zodiac never did this. He never killed someone in a movie theatre. And if he does kill her in the theatre, he won't be a good copycat.
He hears the killer groan in frustration as he keeps moving his hand with the gun. Then an explosion happens behind him. That scares the shit out of Riley as the smoke is spreading everywhere. She closes her eyes and can hear footsteps running away from her on the left. She starts coughing as he hears a familiar voice shout after her.
"Riley!" 'Mac…' She opens her eyes and sees Mac and Jack running towards her. And she couldn't be happier that she did. Mac jumps on the stage and kneels down in front of Riley. "Are you okay? Are you okay?" He asks and she nods with a smile on her face. Mac takes out his SAK and cuts the duct tape. He then hugs her tightly and so does she.
"How did you find me?" Riley asks.
"With the stuff on your laptop." Mac replies.
"We need to find the asshole. Did you see where he went?" Jack asks. Riley didn't see but she did hear. She points to her left. Mac kisses her when she received the slap and stands up.
"You two, wait here. I'm going after him." Mac says.
"What?! Hell no!" Jack says and Mac expected that.
"Look, he'll come through there…" Mac points to the entrance to the stage. "…he'll come back here cause he'll think we are both looking for him. So I need you here, okay?" Mac says. He doesn't wait Jack to answer and runs after the killer. He so wants to catch him so he can receive more than a backhand slap. Mac makes the corner and sees a trapdoor on the floor. 'Crap!' Looks like the killer won't come back to the stage. Mac considers telling Jack, but there is no time. He jumps down and starts walking slowly. He enters a room where there are mannequins everywhere. When he comes out of the room, he spots the killer further away. He takes cover as the killer shoots at him. When the shooting stops, Mac starts running for him.
The killer took some stairs and Mac reads on the wall that it takes you to the stage. 'Perfect!' But Mac can probably catch him even before they reach the stage because he is right on his tail. As the killer slows down to make the turn to the stage, Mac takes the opportunity and tackles him. He smacks him against the wall hard and they both fall down. Mac gets on top and starts punching the killer. He can hear Jack and Riley shouting at him to stop, but he doesn't. Not after what he did to Riley.
"Mac, enough!" Jack shouts as he puts the gun away. He approaches Mac and drags him away from the killer. Mac starts fighting back and Jack uses all of his strength to keep him still. "Hey! I said enough!" Jack yells as he pushes Mac away. Mac glances at him with fire in his eyes. He comes back to his senses and raises his hands up, telling Jack that he is calm. Riley runs to him and hugs him. He takes a good look at her face now and sees that her lip is cut a little.
Jack takes off the mask of the killer to reveal a familiar, and now bloody face. "The homeless guy. What the hell?" Jack asks. The same guy that they found in the apartment in the building that was opposite to Vanessa's house. "Didn't we just send this bum over to the SFPD?" Mac looks at Jack and shrugs.
"I guess they let him go." Mac says.
"I'm sure that won't happen again." Riley says. Mac hugs her tightly now to make sure that she is here. That she is safe. 'Riley's safe.' He keeps repeating that in his mind.
As Mac and Jack are explaining everything to an officer, Bozer, Leanna and Matty storm in the theatre. They see Riley getting her lip treated by a medic.
"Riley." Leanna calls her. She turns around as the medic finishes and hugs Leanna tight. "So glad you're safe." Then Bozer hugs Riley and so does Matty. They see the killer being taken by officers in handcuffs. All of them saw the look he gave Riley that sent shivers through her body.
"Meet Russ Orwell's son, Wyatt." Matty says as she shows a picture of a young Wyatt and his dad. Mac and Jack join them. "After his father was killed, Wyatt was wanted for questioning, but the cops never could find him. Looks like he's been living off the grid for years, using his father's money and properties to hide." Mac sighs in frustration.
"I can't believe we had him the whole time and didn't even realize it." Mac says.
"And sent us on that wild goose chase looking for the Zodiac." Jack says.
"What about the person who was on the phone with Wyatt?" Riley says. When the cops arrived, they immediately started tracing the calls.
"We traced the calls to someone on the island of Oahu, a Dr. Madison Grey." Matty says.
"I got an old buddy in Hawaii. He's on some task force out there. I'll give him a call." Jack says as he takes his phone out of his pocket.
"Hold on, Jack." Matty says as he puts her hand on his phone. Jack stops and glances at her. Matty faces everyone and exhales a shaky breath. "I just wanted…to say thank you. Thank you for risking your lives to help me. The people in this city now can live in peace, knowing that the killer has been caught." Matty says. 'But we caught him too late…' she says to herself. Tears start flowing down her face now. She starts sobbing quietly knowing that Vanessa and Sarah are gone. Jack kneels down and hugs her, letting her sob in his shoulder.
They are on a plane now, heading back to LA. Mac has Riley in his hands, holding her tight cause he think if he lets her go, she will disappear. He knows it's ridiculous but right now all he wants to do is hold her. He lets out a shaky breath and Riley lifts her head up.
"You okay?" She asks softly. Mac smiles at her and kisses her on the lips carefully avoiding the cut.
"With you in my arms, I couldn't be happier." Mac says with a smile. Riley smiles and buries her face in his neck, leaving a soft kiss. Mac closes his eyes and enjoys the moment. It's been a really, really dark day. But, there is only one light that could make Mac's day brighter: Riley Davis. He's really glad that he told her how he felt. If you love someone, you tell them. Even if you're scared that it'll burn your life to the ground. You say it and you say it loud.
Mac and Riley make their way towards Mac's house. After the day they had, sleep could really be helpful now. Mac spots something white on his doormat. He stops and so does Riley. They both look at each other with a confused look.
"Stay here." Mac says to Riley and she nods. He slowly makes his way towards the doormat. He doesn't see any traps, so he picks up the piece of paper. He opens it and it just says one word. Soon. He got one 2 weeks ago. Riley makes her way over to Mac and sees the word. She remembers Mac asking if anybody dropped a piece of paper.
"Let me check the house first." Mac says.
"Okay." Riley replies. Mac opens the door quietly and goes inside. After checking every single room, he shouts "It's clear!" to Riley. Riley finds him in the living room staring at the piece of paper.
"What does it mean?" Riley asks. Mac glances at her and shakes his head.
"I have no idea…and I have a bad feeling about it." Mac says. It has happened twice now. Same word, same spot. Again after a mission.
"What the hell is going on?"