p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Under the Big Top/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ is wearing out the rim of his Ring Leader hat, privately regretting his decision to take this job, as he paces the darkened circus grounds. Mac and Desi are leaning against an old popcorn machine, dressed as acrobats./p
p class="MsoNormal"'So how long do we have to keep up with this charade?' Desi sullenly asks Russ./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yeah, my crystal ball is saying that my fortunes lie elsewhere,' Riley, wearing a gypsy costume, chirps in from the table she is sitting at, complete with the aforementioned crystal ball and Tarot cards./p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ stops his pacing to prevent the impending mutiny, 'While ridiculous our undercover identities may be, they are needed to make sure that we do not spook our killers before we get the evidence we need.' Russ hopes that his placating reasoning works./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Let's hope that Bozer's trip to check out their tent pays off,' Mac comments, 'This brother/sister knife throwing act by day, serial killer slashers by night gig needs to be stopped.' He pauses for a moment, 'Ideally before Desi and I have to fly through the air at hundred feet with no net below.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"As if on cue, Bozer rounds one of the tents in the back lot of the circus grounds./p
p class="MsoNormal"'RUN, THEY'RE ONTO US!'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Everyone is alarmed as Bozer runs past them with his clown costume sporting numerous knife-made rips. A knife flies through the air and lands in the popcorn machine. The rest of the team follows Bozer's example and scatters while screaming./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Phoenix War Room/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"The full team is gathered in the War Room, uncharacteristically waiting for Matty to style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWhen she does arrive, the look on her face tells the team that any good natured ribbing for being late would be a career limiting move./p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ is the first to speak, 'What's up, Matilda?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Turns out we've got two missions to take care of today,' Matty responds, all business like. 'Everyone, meet Agnes Roselyn Maynard,' Matty flashes up on the screen the picture of a striking woman in her 80's, 'known as Rose to friends and family.' Matty continues, 'At the request of her son, Walter Maynard, the Phoenix foundation will be sending a team to escort Rose to Cuba to attend the funeral services for her late friend, Ricardo Castillo.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Both Mac and Russ perk up at the mention of Walter Maynard./p
p class="MsoNormal"'As in the Walter Maynard of fluid mechanics fame?' asks Mac./p
p class="MsoNormal"'As in Maynard Enterprises, the worldwide conglomerate?' asks Russ immediately after Mac./p
p class="MsoNormal"Matty looks at both of them with impatience. 'You're both right, may I continue now?' she halts any follow-up questions they may have./p
p class="MsoNormal"The looks around the room suggest that everyone is wondering why a team is needed to escort a senior citizen, albeit a rich one./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't she already have a security team?' Desi asks./p
p class="MsoNormal"'She does but given her past, she requires a team with a different skill set. Ian Cain is a close friend of Rose's and recommended us,' Matty explains. At the mention of Matty's mentor's name, the team understands the importance of this mission to Matty./p
p class="MsoNormal"'What is em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"not/em commonly known is that both Rose and her late husband, John Maynard, were two of the top intelligence agents this country has ever seen,' Matty elaborates. 'In their heyday, they personally staved off World War 3 more times than Bozer has dance moves,' she continues, and before Bozer can protest, she shuts down any attempt at levity with one glance. 'Rose and John Maynard, along with their teammate Ricardo Castillo, we're focused on Cuba during the Cold War, and Walter Maynard is afraid that old enemies for her spy days may take this opportunity to settle the score against Rose once she sets foot in Havana,' Matty concludes./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ok Matty,' Mac nods, 'who's on the protection detail?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mac, Desi, you'll be by Rose's side every step of the way. Riley, you'll run the on-the-ground surveillance,' she style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span'You three, you're wheels up in 30. Rose will be meeting you on the jet,' Matty instructs and they all head towards the door./p
p class="MsoNormal"After Mac, Desi, and Riley leave, Matty activates the room's privacy mode. Bozer immediately picks up on the now charged atmosphere. 'Ok, now I'm freaking out a little – feels like we just went to Def-Con 3 or something. Should I be wishing to be headed to Cuba right about now?' Bozer inquires anxiously./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yes, Matty,' Russ looks suspiciously at her, 'what's this other mission and why all the secrecy?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Matty accesses her tablet for a moment. The big screen now displays the dossier of an FBI agent, now flagged as deceased./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Hey, I recognize that guy….' Bozer starts./p
p class="MsoNormal"'He's the one who helped Leanna set up her deep cover,' Russ finishes./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yeah, he's the one that Leanna supposedly shot and killed!' Bozer comments./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Except now he is dead for real, and my sources say Leanna is next on the hit list,' Matty tells a shocked Russ and a horrified Bozer. 'There's a mole in the joint task force and if her cover isn't blown yet, it soon will be. Since they don't know who to trust to pull Leanna out, they've requested our assistance since we are outside government channels,' Matty finishes./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Our mission is to save Leanna,' she puts simply./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"On the Phoenix Jet/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley is outfitting Rose with a tracker under the collar of her dress./p
p class="MsoNormal"'This is purely precautionary, Rose,' Riley gives her a kind smile, 'there has been zero chatter about your itinerary so it should not be needed at all.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Better safe than dead or worse, as my John would say,' Rose smirks and Riley immediately likes her./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley's curiosity get the best of her, 'I have to say, thirty plus years in the espionage game, that's impressive. Were you and your husband recruited at the same time?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose shakes her head no, 'John was the one recruited. I was a means to an end.' Riley raises one eyebrow, silently asking Rose to explain./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Long story short, John was on a mission that hit a major snag, and he needed my mechanical engineering expertise to get it back on track,' Rose elaborates, 'we complemented each other very well in the field and he had the agency make our working partnership official right after.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'And your personal partnership?' Riley asks with a half-smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose gives her a conspiratorial look, 'Not long after. Besides being the most handsome man I'd ever met, I knew almost immediately that he was someone that not only could I trust with my life but also my heart. The rest, as they say, is history.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'So where does Ricardo fit in this story?' Riley questions./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose sighs with a soft smile on her face, 'Dear Ricardo. Such a passionate soul, and quite striking too. If my heart wasn't already taken by John, who knows? Despite what we could have been though, we were both grateful for what we were – friends.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley and Rose are smiling at each other and enjoying a companionable silence when Mac approaches them./p
p class="MsoNormal"After a quick smile at Rose, Mac leans over Riley's shoulder and checks out that the tracker is working./p
p class="MsoNormal"He smiles at Riley, their faces close, 'Looks like we're good to go.' Riley responds with a smile as well./p
p class="MsoNormal"'We're about 10 minutes out. Mac, we should get changed for accompanying Rose,' Desi says she straddles up next to Mac./p
p class="MsoNormal"At Desi's appearance, Mac straightens and inches away from Riley while Riley turns back to her rig, the smile no longer on her face. As Rose watches the dynamic between her trio of companions, she thinks to herself that this trip may be more interesting than anticipated./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"A Warehouse in East LA Somewhere/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ and Bozer, looking much seedier than normal, enter an empty warehouse./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer gives Russ a sidelong glance, 'Are you sure your contacts got the details right? This place screams serial killer rather than arms dealer r us.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Taylor rolls his eyes at Bozer's remark, 'My network is solid, and we are in the right place at the designated time. As for the people we are meeting, who knows where punctuality is on their list of do's and don't's.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"They wander deeper into the space and within seconds they are surrounded by several even seedier looking men pointing guns at them./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I think we are the ones that are late to the party after all,' Russ comments as he surveys their greeting party./p
p class="MsoNormal"'And we're without any party favors,' Bozer stresses./p
p class="MsoNormal"An Asian man with the appearance of being much older than his somewhere around thirty age crosses into the circle to address Russ and Bozer, 'Which one of you is Holstead?' he asks bluntly./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I am. I take it you are Chin?,' Russ responds, losing his accent./p
p class="MsoNormal"The man nods at him and then points at Bozer, 'And he is?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'An associate – no one to be concerned about,' Russ dismisses./p
p class="MsoNormal"'On the contrary, I make it a point to know all about the people, and their people, I do business with,' Chin says pointedly./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mia!' Chin calls out. Seconds later Leanna appears behind him. Bozer and Russ give no indication that they recognize her./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Run their prints. Find out who they really are,' Chin commands./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna walks up to Russ and puts out her phone, 'Your thumbprint.' Russ gives Chin and annoyed stare and then presses his thumb on her device. Leanna checks it, 'Graeme Holstead, known mercenary with Colombian ties.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Chin keeps his face passive as Leanna moves towards Bozer. She doesn't say a word to him, simply putting out her phone for him to follow Russ's example. Bozer slowly puts his thumb on her phone, meeting her gaze as he does so./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna quickly breaks the eye contact and returns her attention to her phone./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Harper Stevens, gun for hire, dabbles as an assassin, fourteen confirm kills,' Leanna says detachedly./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ok, gentlemen, you check out. Let's do some business,' Chin breaks his stoic expression and gives them a small cold smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Havana/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac and Desi accompany Rose to the church where the service for Ricardo is to be held. As they mount the steps, Mac checks in with Riley./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Any chatter we should know about, Riles?' Mac intones. Across from the church Riley is sitting at an outdoor café table with her rig displaying multiple surveillance windows. 'All quiet so far,' she lets them know./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Thanks, Riles,' Mac turns to rejoin Rose and Desi just inside the church entrance, 'all clear.' Mac and Desi move to escort Rose./p
p class="MsoNormal"'If you don't mind, I would prefer to pay my respects alone,' Rose raises a hand to prevent Mac and Desi from accompanying her. Desi shares a concerned look with Mac but he relents when he sees the determined set of Rose's face./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Of course. We'll be right here if you need us,' he replies with a half-smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose murmurs, 'Thank you,' and then joins the progression of mourners, right in front of three heavy set gentlemen. Mac and Desi watch as Rose slowly approaches the front of the church. Without warning, the three men close in on Rose. The lead man shoves a gun into her side and forces her to leave with them out the back of the church as his two companion pull out guns and fire into the air./p
p class="MsoNormal"'They're taking her!' Mac pounces into the thick of the mourners heading in the direction that the abductors took with Desi close on his heels. 'Riles, can you get ahead of them, see where they're possibly headed?' Mac strains to keep his voice calm./p
p class="MsoNormal"'On it,' Riley responds, 'looks like they are headed to the main square, near the old fortress.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Copy that,' Desi replies. Mac and Desi are in hot pursuit of Rose's abductors, following them into the nearby citadel. Weaving through the throngs of people, they lose sight of her. Luckily, Riley's on comms letting them know that Rose's tracker says she's close but that the signal is fading away./p
p class="MsoNormal"'She must be going underground,' Mac deduces. Mac and Desi have the same thought at the time, 'They're taking her to the dungeon,' they say simultaneously. They immediately head into the depths of the old fortress. They reach the dungeon and see Rose crumbled on the floor opposite an open cell door. When she sees Mac and Desi, she gives them a fearful look and points into the cell. Mac and Desi lunge into the cell, ready to take on the attackers. They stop short when they realize the cell is empty. They jump and turn back in Rose's direction when they hear the door slam behind them./p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi and Mac look dumbfounded as Rose throws the latch on the door, locking them into the dungeon. Rose gives them a smirk, 'If you want to finish your mission and take me home, then you'll have to find me first.' With that challenge, Rose climbs the steps out of the dungeon. Mac and Desi stare unbelievingly at each other. Mac reacts first. He calls out to Riley on comms, 'Hey Riles, is the tracker on Rose still active? We don't have eyes on her anymore.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley's fingers pause as she asks, 'You mean you lost her?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'No, she ditched us.' Mac says grimly./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"A No-star Motel/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ and Bozer are video chatting with Matty, updating her on their contact with Chin and Leanna./p
p class="MsoNormal"'We're in. The buy is going down in two hours,' Russ informs her./p
p class="MsoNormal"'And we're sure that Chin is suspicious of Bozer?' Matty asks./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Oh yeah,' Bozer chimes in, 'as soon as he heard that I had fourteen kills to my name, he kept looking at me like he expected me to pull a knife on him. Definitely on high on the paranoid spectrum.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Matty nods, 'That's good – keep playing into his core distrust.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"There is a knock at the door. Russ turns to Matty, 'Someone's here. We'll update you if the situation changes.' Once he closes the lap top, he nods to Bozer to open the door./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer barely has the door open when Leanna's squeezes through./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Leanna!' Bozer breathes and then the two of them are instantly clutching each other in a tight embrace. Russ eventually interrupts their reunion./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Leanna, Russ Taylor, also with the Phoenix,' he says uncharacteristically humble. Leanna extracts herself from Bozer's arms and shakes his hand./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Nice to meet you,' Leanna says hurriedly, 'I can't stay long but knew that I had to make contact with you.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer takes a step closer to her, 'You're blown, we're here to extract you.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna looks at the both of them, confused, 'What do you mean I'm blown?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Your partner, the FBI agent you shot to establish your cover, well, he's dead. For real this time. Associates of Chin took him out,' Bozer blurts out./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna looks shocked, 'I didn't know.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'The CIA believes that there is a mole on the task force and that if they haven't already, you're next to be given up,' Russ explains. Leanna takes a few quick breaths to compose herself, 'Ok, so what's the play?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ outlines the plan, 'Keep it simple – gun buy goes wrong. We've already set the stage for Bozer here to try and take out Chin as his mark and you would be killed in the cross fire as collateral damage.' Leanna nods, liking the plan./p
p class="MsoNormal"'That would work but there's one wrinkle. I need to get Chin's right hand out with me too,' Leanna replies. Bozer and Russ share a confused look with each other before looking back to Leanna to explain./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I've been working on him, he's ready to talk if we can get him out. He could take down the whole organization, may be even give us the name of the mole,' Leanna spells out. She looks hopefully to the two of them./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer looks expectantly at Russ, and Russ peers at Leanna for a long moment./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Then I guess we'll have to improvise,' Russ quips./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Dominican Republic Airport Hanger/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac, Desi and Riley are entering the hanger after leaving the Phoenix jet and see Rose, now all decked out in a work shirt and Khakis, standing by a jeep./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Nice to see that you made good time,' Rose greets them with a wide grin./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Well, we would've been here much sooner if you, I don't know, hadn't locked us in a dungeon, or crazy thought here, if you told us you wanted us to bring you here in the first place,' Mac sarcastically remarks, still a little annoyed that Rose got the better of them in Cuba./p
p class="MsoNormal"'What's the fun in that?' Rose nonchalantly blows off the rebuke. 'Besides, until I met with my contact, I had no idea of our destination, or if you folks would even be up for an adventure or instead you would have simply escorted me back to my worrywart of a son.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'So the thugs, the gun fire filled abduction, trapping Mac and Desi in a grungy jail cell….that was all a ruse?' Riley asks with eyebrows raised./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Of course! Javier was so kind to give me the intel I was looking for, the least I could do was make sure that his cover with the syndicate remains intact,' Rose explains./p
p class="MsoNormal"'And your contact gave you what intel exactly?' Mac cautiously eyes Rose./p
p class="MsoNormal"'The location of a mass destruction device that I have been trying to forget about for decades,' Rose says somberly. The three of them all look confusedly at one another and then back to Rose./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Excuse me, did you say a device of mass destruction?' Desi finds her voice first./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose nods and begins her story, 'Ric, John, and I were thick into Cold War shenanigans, and during the sixties, Cuba, and its ties to Russia, was of great interest. We ran numerous successful ops to create as much havoc as possible for the Soviets. One mission failed though, thankfully.' Rose notices the questioning looks on their faces./p
p class="MsoNormal"'During the Cold War many missions hovered near the limits of morality but I can honestly say in good conscience, that I never crossed into territory where simple human decency didn't prevail. This one mission, however, crossed that line. Simply put, the powers that be thought that to destabilize Cuba without looking like they did it, they wanted to manufacture a natural disaster, something that would cripple the country on many levels. So they created a device that would use harmonics to magnify natural occurring seismic activity. Essentially it would take a minor tremor and turn it easily into a quake that would register 6 or 7 on the Richter scale, causing mass destruction, unbelievable chaos, and an unimaginable death toll.' Rose takes a deep breath before continuing, 'Our job was to situate the device in Havana but we decided that this was one mission that we could not succeed at. Long story short, we switched out the real device for a fake, went through the motions of activating it, and then got rid of the fake when the mission was deemed a failure by the folks back home.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'What happened to the real device?' Riley asks what they are all thinking./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ric had contacts on the ground, so we used off-the-books resources to hide the device near Santiago. I never knew where exactly – only Ricardo knew. At least, he thought he knew.' Rose frowns./p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac senses that Rose is about to tell them why they are really here, 'What went wrong?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'In the days leading up to his death, Ricardo was putting his things in order, one of which was confirming the location of the device to pass onto me as the last surviving member of our team. Except when he went to physically confirm the location, it was no longer there and hadn't been for some time. He was in a panic. He called me to let me know that he was going to 'shake some trees' to find out where it went and, in the event that he could not take care of it on his own before he died, that he would leave me a clue to its location. It would then also be up to me to disable the device, taking care of it for good.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'That's why you insisted on coming to his funeral,' Desi summarizes. Rose nods her head, 'That, and to say goodbye to dear friend.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac looks at Rose questioningly, 'So where is the location?' Rose holds up a necklace with a bluish-green stone pendant. Mac takes the necklace and examines the stone, 'Larimar.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yes,' Rose is pleased that Mac recognizes it, 'only found on the isle of Hispaniola.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Dominican Republic,' Mac smiles, his expression changing to one of understanding. 'In hindsight, the Dominican Republic makes total sense, given its troubled history with Cuba,' Mac comments, 'some Cuban politico probably stumbled onto the device and thought to use it for their campaign against the DR.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ok, that explains why we are here, but it doesn't tell us where the device is,' Desi replies./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yes it does actually,' Mac responds, an idea already formulating in his head, 'Riley, can you pull up a topographical map of the island?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Sure thing,' Riley answers as she opens her rig. Moments later she has what Mac is looking for, 'Here you go.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac invades her space to take a closer look at the map, 'Can you zero in on any mines?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Her fingers fly over the keyboard again and seconds later there is only one blue dot remaining on the map. Mac and Riley share a 'we've found it' smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac steps away from Riley to face Rose and Desi, 'We've got a location: Claremont Larimar Mine, established 1965,' he says with a satisfied grin./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Outside A Less Than Reputable Repair Shop/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ and Bozer pull up in a black Chevy Tahoe. As they get out, Chin and his crew arrive in two Escalades. Chin, Leanna and Zhou, Chin's right hand, get out of the lead vehicle and the rest of his men hang back around the second./p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ approaches Chin, 'You got my merchandize?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'You got my money?' Chin retorts./p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ remains cool, 'Let's see the merchandize first.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Chin shakes his head, 'That's not how this is going to go down. Show me you're legit with the cash and then we'll show you the toys.' Taylor and Chin have a short battle of wills before Russ relents. He looks over to Bozer and nods. Bozer goes to the back of the Tahoe and opens it up. Instead of turning around with the expected suitcase of cash, Bozer spins around with a gun and takes a shot at Chin, narrowly missing him in the head. After which, all hell breaks loose./p
p class="MsoNormal"Once the fire fight heats up, Bozer and Russ retreat into the repair shop./p
p class="MsoNormal"Seeing them get away, Chin yells, 'I want their heads. NOW!'/p
p class="MsoNormal"All of Chin's crew head for the building but Leanna and Zhou are out in front and the first to follow them into the building. Sounds of massive gunfire ensue, causing the rest of the crew to hang back, just outside of the building. Within seconds, the whole building explodes, tossing Chin's men like rag dolls away from the now burning building./p
p class="MsoNormal"Chin was knocked down by the blast, but as he slowly gets up, he surveys the wreckage of the building, waiting to see if anyone leaves. Satisfied that no one inside that building could've survived, he and the rest of his men get back into their Escalades and drives off./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"In the Dominican Republic Jungle/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Are you sure that we are headed in the right direction?' Rose asks Riley next to her in the back seat of the jeep the four of them are currently bouncing around in./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley checks her phone and nods, 'From the topographical maps I downloaded, we should be on top of it soon.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'The terrain has also changed,' Mac chimes in, 'we're close.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'That's all well and good, but the road we are on, and I use the word road loosely, is becoming dangerous,' Desi comments from the driver's seat. 'With all the vegetation overgrowth, we'll be lucky to even find the mine entrance,' Desi continues./p
p class="MsoNormal"No sooner than the words are out of her mouth when the jeep bounces hard to the right and nearly hits an almost completely vine-covered sign for the Claremont Larimar Mine./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Looks like we're here,' Mac smiles at them all./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"At A Staging Area Near The Repair Shop/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Matty is consulting with the Tac Team, watching some footage. Satisfied with what she has seen, she walks over to where Russ, Bozer, and Leanna are huddling together./p
p class="MsoNormal"'It looks like Chin bought it,' she says with a smile on her face, 'but to be on the safe side, we'll be getting news coverage out saying that all four of you died in the explosion.' She looks over to Leanna, 'I'm so happy that you are safe and back home.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna looks gratefully at all of them, 'Me too. And thanks for believing in me and pulling Zhou out too,' she says as tilts her head in the direction where Zhou is being checked out by paramedics. 'He's key to bringing it all down,' she finishes./p
p class="MsoNormal"'That is something for the Feds to figure out. Our job is, thankfully, done here,' Russ pipes in. With that, Russ and Matty walk away, sensing that Bozer and Leanna need some time alone./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer and Leanna simply stare at each other for a few moments before Bozer breaks the silence./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I am SO sorry that it took your fake death, resurrection and rescue to bring you back into my life,' Bozer confesses./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna takes Bozer's hands into hers, 'Boze, none of this was your fault. This is the life we signed up when we first stepped foot at spy school. I…'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Martin! Boss wants to see you,' the Tac Team Leader calls out, interrupting them./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna gives him a wave and then turns back to Bozer, 'I'll go deal with this stuff and see you later at the lab, ok?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ok,' Bozer barely replies before Leanna is off. He watches her leave with a resigned look on his face./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"In the Larimar Mine/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac and Desi lead Rose and Riley deeper into the mine, stopping their expedition when they reach the main cavern./p
p class="MsoNormal"'This place is a maze. How are we going to be able to find this thing?' Desi asks as she looks around at the multiple tunnels leading off from the main cavern./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley is working some magic on her phone, 'Mac, would it be safe to assume that this device would need to be placed at the lowest level possible in the mine?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yeah, the closer to the seismic activity, the more impact. Why? What do you got?' Mac focuses on Riley./p
p class="MsoNormal"'From the site plans, I can determine that there are two tunnels that reach approximately the same maximum depth,' Riley stares at her phone for a moment and then glances around the cavern, 'that one,' she says point to a tunnel on her right, and then turning roughly forty-five degrees, 'and that one.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ok, then let's split up. Des, you and Rose take that tunnel,' Mac points to the tunnel on the right, 'and Riley and I will check out this one. Our comms will eventually kick out at the lower depths so let's meet back here in 20,' Mac instructs./p
p class="MsoNormal"'But first, Desi, Riley, give me your phones,' Mac requests. Desi and Riley both know what that means. Desi reluctantly gives Mac her phone. Riley, on the other hand, fishes out a new phone from her jacket and hands it to Mac, who instantly begins to break the phones apart. Desi looks questioningly at Riley./p
p class="MsoNormal"'What? I always keep a spare for ICOM situations. Don't you?' Riley looks disbelievingly back at Desi./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose leans over to Desi, 'ICOM?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'In case of Mac,' Desi explains. 'Ahh…' Rose nods, realizing that this behaviour of Mac's is a common occurrence./p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac finishes up whatever modifications he is doing to the phones, 'These should now be able to detect if there are any harmful gases lurking in the tunnels. If you see the camera light go red, high tail it out of there. Got it?' Desi and Riley both nod, 'Got it.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Good. Let's get moving,' Mac says as he heads towards his and Riley's designated tunnel, with Riley right behind him. Desi and Rose take off into the other tunnel./p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac and Riley stay silent as they get deeper and deeper into the tunnel. When the slope of the tunnel starts get steeper Mac asks, 'How deep is deep, Riles?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"She checks the site plans on her phone, 'From the markings on the map, we're talking 450, 500 feet maybe.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Then we should be getting close,' he responds. Mac is quickly proven correct as they round a slight bend and come face-to-face with a large metal box anchored by two giant prongs into the ground./p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac and Riley smile broadly at each other before approaching the device. They get a few feet away from it when the ground and the walls begin to shake violently. Mac quickly sees that the tunnel is caving in. He lurches towards Riley, 'Riles…'/p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"In the Larimar Mine/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"The dust in the small cavern begins to clear. Mac is on top of Riley, having protected her from the falling debris. He holds her close until the last of the dust has settled. With their faces mere inches apart, each looks at the other with unfathomable concern./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Riles, are you hurt?' Mac urgently asks./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley takes a couple of quick breaths before answering, 'No…..I'm okay. What about you?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'I'm fine…,' Mac responds. 'No, no you're not,' Riley interrupts after looking beyond his eyes, 'you're bleeding!' She brings her hand up to Mac's face to brush his hair out of the gash now marring his forehead. Her hand then trails down to Mac's lower lip to wipe away a trickle of blood. At her tender caress, Mac is frozen in place, unable to hide the roiling sea of emotion in his eyes from her. Her breath hitches as she cannot escape his intense stare. She gulps and only hopes that she doesn't give away the impact it has on her. She then becomes acutely aware that their bodies are intimately intertwined./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mac…you should….ah, let me up,' she nervously whispers. Mac stares into her eyes a moment longer and then snaps out of his stupor. 'Ah, right, sorry' he sheepishly replies. He quickly rolls himself off of her and stands up. Riley immediately regrets the loss of contact but feels relief that she dodged the bullet of Mac learning what he does to her. The relief is gone a moment later when he helps her to feet and pulls her close to him, lightly putting his hands on her shoulders./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Are you sure you're alright?' he asks tenderly as he gives her body a once over for any obvious wounds./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Other than having a blonde genius knock the wind out of me while saving my ass, I'm fine,' she sarcastically replies and then turns away from him before he sees her mind thinking of the other way that he took her breath away. 'Blocked entrance notwithstanding, it looks like this tunnel is relatively intact,' she says, hoping to bring them back to the task at hand./p
p class="MsoNormal"Burying away his reaction to Riley and her abrupt pulling away from him for later consideration, Mac notices an even bigger problem that the caved in entrance./p
p class="MsoNormal"'It's worse than that. The device is now activated,' Mac says as he stares at the now buzzing machine./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Rose. Rose, are you ok?' Desi hovers anxiously over Rose in another caved in tunnel. Rose slowly opens her eyes and gives her head a quick shake. 'Nothing a Moscow Mule wouldn't cure,' she sarcastically replies, 'don't worry child, I'm much tougher than I look.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi looks at her with even more respect, 'That you are.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose and Desi both look back to the entrance, which is now blocked enough that they cannot pass through it without first doing some heavy lifting./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose gives Desi a side-long glance, 'I've never been one of those girls that just waits around to be rescued. How 'bout you?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi smirks her way, 'You bet your ass, I am!'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose smiles at her approvingly, 'Then let's get to it.' Both Rose and Desi jump up and begin clearing the passageway./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I like you Desi, you know what you want and go for it, never settling,' Rose comments while they make headway on clearing the debris. Desi pauses briefly before continuing to move rocks out of the way, 'Thanks,' she responds in a quiet voice. Rose notices her hesitation./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Am I wrong? You don't seem like the tentative type,' Rose says pointedly at Desi. 'I'm not… usually,' Desi answers. 'It's a recent habit,' she shrugs./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Well, not all habits are good ones. If you're not liking it, better to quit it before it becomes ingrained and you can't break it,' Rose advises as she continues to clear debris./p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi stops and looks gratefully at Rose, 'I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Rose.' Desi returns to attacking the rock debris with a new sense of purpose./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley looks alarmingly at the device, and then at Mac, and then back to the device. She takes a deep breath, and then expels it slowly. 'Ok, so how 'bout this,' she starts as she gets Mac's attention, 'we divide and conquer. You get to work on stopping that doomsday device and I get to work on clearing that doorway. Sound like a plan?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac gives her a half smile and nods, 'We got this, Riles.' Both immediately begin their assignments, with Mac explaining the finer points of harmonics while he dismantles the device. Riley tackles the rocks and debris blocking their exit with a vengeance, all the while smiling to herself as she listens to Mac go all sciency./p
p class="MsoNormal"Shortly thereafter, Riley hears a loud blast behind her. She turns around to see Mac holding up a component of some sort with a goofy, self-satisfied smile on this face. She smirks at him, 'I take it that the over-sized amplifier is no longer going to kill us?' she asks wryly with eyebrows style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Not without this it won't,' he smirks as he proudly shows her the component he extracted./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley smiles at him, 'Nice job, Mac.' She points her head to the still-blocked entrance, 'How about you now help me get the rest of these rocks out of the way so that we can get out of here before the earth decides to give us an encore?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Sure thing,' he says as he pockets the component. He walks over and starts clearing rocks with Riley. In no time, they have created an opening that they can crawl through./p
p class="MsoNormal"'That should be big enough,' Mac comments, 'let me see if I can get through.' He begins to lift himself into the opening when Riley stops him./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mac, shouldn't I go through first? I'm smaller than you and have less chance of getting stuck,' she questions him./p
p class="MsoNormal"'True, but we don't know what state the next room is in. I want to go first to make sure it's secure before you go through.' Mac explains./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley nods her head, 'Good point.' She steps back to let Mac leverage himself into the opening. After some squirming and some swearing, Mac makes it through to the other side. Once on his feet, he notices that the main mine shaft is still intact./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mac, you ok?' Riley asks in a voice tinged with concern./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I'm good, Riles,' Mac calls out, 'You're good to come through.' Mac hears Riley make the dusty, uncomfortable trek through the opening. As she begins to emerge, he catches her as she falls out of the opening, 'Whoa…I got you.' Mac holds Riley closer, and longer, than necessary. As Riley slowly extracts herself from Mac's embrace, Desi and Rose emerge into their tunnel./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley sees them and sighs in relief, 'Desi, Rose, glad to see that you're ok.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'We're a little dusty but we're good,' Desi replies confidently./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose speaks directly at Mac, 'The device?' Mac nods at her, 'Taken care of.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose looks admiringly at all of them, 'Well then, let's get out of here, shall we?' And after giving them a wide grin, she turns on her heel and leads the way out of the tunnel. Mac, Desi, and Riley all chuckle at each other and follow Rose out./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Bozer's Lab/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer is trying, and failing, to concentrate on his current project when Leanna walks in./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Hey,' Leanna softly greets him as she approaches, 'am I interrupting?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer gives up all pretense of working, 'Would love to say yes, and keep my "play it cool" image intact, but I'd be lying. All I can think about is you,' he confesses./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna is obviously relieved by Bozer's confession, 'I've been thinking about you too. So much so that I'm thinking that maybe we should try us again.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer wears an 'Am I dreaming' expression before noticeably sobering up, 'But what about your job? I know what it means to you and all, but I don't know if I can handle the long months of not knowing if you are alive or dead.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna looks like she was expecting this question, 'Believe me, Wilt, I've had my fair share of deep cover work. After this last assignment, what I want now is something in my life that makes this works mean something, like having someone to come home to. I won't say that there will never be dangerous assignments, and let's face it, you can't promise me that either, but I can at least promise no more extended undercover work.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Sooo…if you want to hang out, or whatever,' Leanna says with a mischievous smile, 'I'm going to be around for quite a while.' Her smile melts whatever restraint he had and he brings her into his arms./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Sooo…as long as you're being so reasonable…' Bozer's response causes Leanna to laugh into their embrace./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer grins as he holds onto Leanna, never intending to let her go again./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"On the Phoenix Jet/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose is sitting comfortably in her armchair when Mac drops into the seat opposite her./p
p class="MsoNormal"'You're looking no worse for wear considering you've been abducted, buried alive and worst of all, chaperoned all day by a trio of Millennials trying to keep up with you while you save thousands of people from unimaginable destruction,' Mac quips./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Just like old times,' Rose smiles, 'And I would work with the Phoenix Foundation any day. Ian was right that you were the right team for the job. You're quite the cast of characters but still highly effective.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'That we are,' Mac smiles, 'Somehow we manage to pull off some pretty spectacular stuff.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Of that I have no doubt,' she concurs happily. Rose looks earnestly at Mac for a moment, 'Can this spy game veteran give you some totally unsolicited advice?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac is flattered that she would want to give him advice, 'Of course!' he responds enthusiastically./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Remember that to win the day, you sometimes have to take big risks to get the bad guy, complete the mission, or save the world,' Rose begins and Mac smiles congenially, thinking he knows where this speech is going. Rose pauses for effect, 'The same holds true for your personal life.' Mac stops smiling and stares questioningly at Rose./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose gives him a half-smile. 'I may be old but I'm not blind, and I've been reading people for over half a century,' she smirks. 'You have all the earmarks of a man playing it safe, sacrificing his own happiness for some reason or the other,' she says with a wave of her hand. She looks Mac straight in the eyes, 'Don't make the mistake of not going after what your heart truly wants.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac lets Rose's words sink in for a moment before nodding his head and giving her a small smile, 'I'll remember that, thank you.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Good! Now I have one last request to make of you,' Rose declares. 'Name it,' Mac nods confidently./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Can you em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"alone/em drop me off at my home?' Rose requests with a flirty twinkle in her eye, 'I want my neighbours to think that I have a new boy toy….oh, I can hear the scandalous gossip already!'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac roars with laughter, 'It would be my pleasure to your arm candy,' he says with a wink./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Back in LA/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac opens the door to his home and is immediately greeted by packed bags and a couple of boxes. He sighs, knowing exactly what it means. He finds her standing by the fire pit./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Hey…' he says as he approaches. 'Hey,' Desi turns and gives him a sad smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Saw your stuff by the door...' He cautiously starts./p
p class="MsoNormal"'It's time, Mac. Being with Rose today just made it abundantly clear to me that life is too short to be with someone who doesn't love me,' Desi announces./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Desi, I love you…' Mac begins./p
p class="MsoNormal"'But you are not em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"in love/em with me,' Desi cuts in. She waits momentarily to see if Mac objects to her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe look of acceptance on his face confirms that it holds true. She sways back and forth, trying to keep herself together./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mac, I've known even before you went into the hyperbaric chamber that you weren't in love with me,' Desi holds up her hand to stop whatever Mac was going to say, 'and I'm not in love with you either.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi pauses for a moment to let Mac digest her blunt confession, 'I've been lucky to know what that true love feels like, and no matter how hard we both try, this isn't it.' She looks regretfully at Mac, 'We've both been holding on too long, trying to fill the gaps in our hearts left by others.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Do you even realize that we haven't even kissed, much less have sex, since you got rid of the nano-trackers?' Desi matter-of-factly asks. The dumbstruck look on his face is all the answer Desi needs. 'Our relationship has been over for a while now. My leaving is just making it official. Funny thing is, I'm not even really upset anymore.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'I never meant to hurt you, Des,' Mac says softly./p
p class="MsoNormal"'And I never meant to hurt you,' Desi replies gently. 'I honestly thought with all of our fireworks we could build something that would last. But instead, the fire's gone out. I think that's why we don't fight in the field anymore – our passion for each other has died off.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span'If you've felt this way for a while now, then why have you stayed with me?' Mac asks slowly./p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi shrugs, 'I wanted to make sure that you were ok after everything you've been through, and if I'm being honest, we've always run hot and cold, so I wanted to be sure of em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"both/em of our feelings before closing the door on us for good. Besides, I didn't have your back once before when you really needed it and I'll be damned to make the same mistake twice.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac appreciates how hard that admission is for her, and softly smiles at her, 'So what's next for us?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'I think we become what we should have always been, the best of partners in the field, and the best of friends off. The one em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"good/em thing that em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"did/em come out of us living together is that I think we have finally learnt em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"how/em to be friends.' Desi gives Mac a kind smile, 'I will always love you Mac, but you know as well as I do that it is time for both of us to move on.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac gives her a hug, 'Thanks, Des, for understanding, for everything. And I will always love you too.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi moves out of the hug and smirks, 'Don't thank me too much yet – you still have to help me move back into my apartment, including all the stuff I put into storage.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac chuckles, happy to see their new dynamic take hold, 'You got it. Wait,' he gives her a scared expression, 'including the pull-out?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Especially the pull-out,' she deadpans and then breaks into a huge smile. Desi gives Mac another quick hug, 'I gotta go. Take care, Mac.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"As Desi leaves, Mac sits down and stares into the flames, suddenly realizing that he is now all alone. But instead of feeling sad, he is surprised to find that he actually feels lighter than he has felt in a very, very long time./p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ is wearing out the rim of his Ring Leader hat, privately regretting his decision to take this job, as he paces the darkened circus grounds. Mac and Desi are leaning against an old popcorn machine, dressed as acrobats./p
p class="MsoNormal"'So how long do we have to keep up with this charade?' Desi sullenly asks Russ./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yeah, my crystal ball is saying that my fortunes lie elsewhere,' Riley, wearing a gypsy costume, chirps in from the table she is sitting at, complete with the aforementioned crystal ball and Tarot cards./p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ stops his pacing to prevent the impending mutiny, 'While ridiculous our undercover identities may be, they are needed to make sure that we do not spook our killers before we get the evidence we need.' Russ hopes that his placating reasoning works./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Let's hope that Bozer's trip to check out their tent pays off,' Mac comments, 'This brother/sister knife throwing act by day, serial killer slashers by night gig needs to be stopped.' He pauses for a moment, 'Ideally before Desi and I have to fly through the air at hundred feet with no net below.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"As if on cue, Bozer rounds one of the tents in the back lot of the circus grounds./p
p class="MsoNormal"'RUN, THEY'RE ONTO US!'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Everyone is alarmed as Bozer runs past them with his clown costume sporting numerous knife-made rips. A knife flies through the air and lands in the popcorn machine. The rest of the team follows Bozer's example and scatters while screaming./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Phoenix War Room/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"The full team is gathered in the War Room, uncharacteristically waiting for Matty to style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWhen she does arrive, the look on her face tells the team that any good natured ribbing for being late would be a career limiting move./p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ is the first to speak, 'What's up, Matilda?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Turns out we've got two missions to take care of today,' Matty responds, all business like. 'Everyone, meet Agnes Roselyn Maynard,' Matty flashes up on the screen the picture of a striking woman in her 80's, 'known as Rose to friends and family.' Matty continues, 'At the request of her son, Walter Maynard, the Phoenix foundation will be sending a team to escort Rose to Cuba to attend the funeral services for her late friend, Ricardo Castillo.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Both Mac and Russ perk up at the mention of Walter Maynard./p
p class="MsoNormal"'As in the Walter Maynard of fluid mechanics fame?' asks Mac./p
p class="MsoNormal"'As in Maynard Enterprises, the worldwide conglomerate?' asks Russ immediately after Mac./p
p class="MsoNormal"Matty looks at both of them with impatience. 'You're both right, may I continue now?' she halts any follow-up questions they may have./p
p class="MsoNormal"The looks around the room suggest that everyone is wondering why a team is needed to escort a senior citizen, albeit a rich one./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't she already have a security team?' Desi asks./p
p class="MsoNormal"'She does but given her past, she requires a team with a different skill set. Ian Cain is a close friend of Rose's and recommended us,' Matty explains. At the mention of Matty's mentor's name, the team understands the importance of this mission to Matty./p
p class="MsoNormal"'What is em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"not/em commonly known is that both Rose and her late husband, John Maynard, were two of the top intelligence agents this country has ever seen,' Matty elaborates. 'In their heyday, they personally staved off World War 3 more times than Bozer has dance moves,' she continues, and before Bozer can protest, she shuts down any attempt at levity with one glance. 'Rose and John Maynard, along with their teammate Ricardo Castillo, we're focused on Cuba during the Cold War, and Walter Maynard is afraid that old enemies for her spy days may take this opportunity to settle the score against Rose once she sets foot in Havana,' Matty concludes./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ok Matty,' Mac nods, 'who's on the protection detail?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mac, Desi, you'll be by Rose's side every step of the way. Riley, you'll run the on-the-ground surveillance,' she style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span'You three, you're wheels up in 30. Rose will be meeting you on the jet,' Matty instructs and they all head towards the door./p
p class="MsoNormal"After Mac, Desi, and Riley leave, Matty activates the room's privacy mode. Bozer immediately picks up on the now charged atmosphere. 'Ok, now I'm freaking out a little – feels like we just went to Def-Con 3 or something. Should I be wishing to be headed to Cuba right about now?' Bozer inquires anxiously./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yes, Matty,' Russ looks suspiciously at her, 'what's this other mission and why all the secrecy?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Matty accesses her tablet for a moment. The big screen now displays the dossier of an FBI agent, now flagged as deceased./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Hey, I recognize that guy….' Bozer starts./p
p class="MsoNormal"'He's the one who helped Leanna set up her deep cover,' Russ finishes./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yeah, he's the one that Leanna supposedly shot and killed!' Bozer comments./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Except now he is dead for real, and my sources say Leanna is next on the hit list,' Matty tells a shocked Russ and a horrified Bozer. 'There's a mole in the joint task force and if her cover isn't blown yet, it soon will be. Since they don't know who to trust to pull Leanna out, they've requested our assistance since we are outside government channels,' Matty finishes./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Our mission is to save Leanna,' she puts simply./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"On the Phoenix Jet/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley is outfitting Rose with a tracker under the collar of her dress./p
p class="MsoNormal"'This is purely precautionary, Rose,' Riley gives her a kind smile, 'there has been zero chatter about your itinerary so it should not be needed at all.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Better safe than dead or worse, as my John would say,' Rose smirks and Riley immediately likes her./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley's curiosity get the best of her, 'I have to say, thirty plus years in the espionage game, that's impressive. Were you and your husband recruited at the same time?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose shakes her head no, 'John was the one recruited. I was a means to an end.' Riley raises one eyebrow, silently asking Rose to explain./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Long story short, John was on a mission that hit a major snag, and he needed my mechanical engineering expertise to get it back on track,' Rose elaborates, 'we complemented each other very well in the field and he had the agency make our working partnership official right after.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'And your personal partnership?' Riley asks with a half-smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose gives her a conspiratorial look, 'Not long after. Besides being the most handsome man I'd ever met, I knew almost immediately that he was someone that not only could I trust with my life but also my heart. The rest, as they say, is history.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'So where does Ricardo fit in this story?' Riley questions./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose sighs with a soft smile on her face, 'Dear Ricardo. Such a passionate soul, and quite striking too. If my heart wasn't already taken by John, who knows? Despite what we could have been though, we were both grateful for what we were – friends.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley and Rose are smiling at each other and enjoying a companionable silence when Mac approaches them./p
p class="MsoNormal"After a quick smile at Rose, Mac leans over Riley's shoulder and checks out that the tracker is working./p
p class="MsoNormal"He smiles at Riley, their faces close, 'Looks like we're good to go.' Riley responds with a smile as well./p
p class="MsoNormal"'We're about 10 minutes out. Mac, we should get changed for accompanying Rose,' Desi says she straddles up next to Mac./p
p class="MsoNormal"At Desi's appearance, Mac straightens and inches away from Riley while Riley turns back to her rig, the smile no longer on her face. As Rose watches the dynamic between her trio of companions, she thinks to herself that this trip may be more interesting than anticipated./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"A Warehouse in East LA Somewhere/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ and Bozer, looking much seedier than normal, enter an empty warehouse./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer gives Russ a sidelong glance, 'Are you sure your contacts got the details right? This place screams serial killer rather than arms dealer r us.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Taylor rolls his eyes at Bozer's remark, 'My network is solid, and we are in the right place at the designated time. As for the people we are meeting, who knows where punctuality is on their list of do's and don't's.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"They wander deeper into the space and within seconds they are surrounded by several even seedier looking men pointing guns at them./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I think we are the ones that are late to the party after all,' Russ comments as he surveys their greeting party./p
p class="MsoNormal"'And we're without any party favors,' Bozer stresses./p
p class="MsoNormal"An Asian man with the appearance of being much older than his somewhere around thirty age crosses into the circle to address Russ and Bozer, 'Which one of you is Holstead?' he asks bluntly./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I am. I take it you are Chin?,' Russ responds, losing his accent./p
p class="MsoNormal"The man nods at him and then points at Bozer, 'And he is?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'An associate – no one to be concerned about,' Russ dismisses./p
p class="MsoNormal"'On the contrary, I make it a point to know all about the people, and their people, I do business with,' Chin says pointedly./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mia!' Chin calls out. Seconds later Leanna appears behind him. Bozer and Russ give no indication that they recognize her./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Run their prints. Find out who they really are,' Chin commands./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna walks up to Russ and puts out her phone, 'Your thumbprint.' Russ gives Chin and annoyed stare and then presses his thumb on her device. Leanna checks it, 'Graeme Holstead, known mercenary with Colombian ties.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Chin keeps his face passive as Leanna moves towards Bozer. She doesn't say a word to him, simply putting out her phone for him to follow Russ's example. Bozer slowly puts his thumb on her phone, meeting her gaze as he does so./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna quickly breaks the eye contact and returns her attention to her phone./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Harper Stevens, gun for hire, dabbles as an assassin, fourteen confirm kills,' Leanna says detachedly./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ok, gentlemen, you check out. Let's do some business,' Chin breaks his stoic expression and gives them a small cold smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Havana/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac and Desi accompany Rose to the church where the service for Ricardo is to be held. As they mount the steps, Mac checks in with Riley./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Any chatter we should know about, Riles?' Mac intones. Across from the church Riley is sitting at an outdoor café table with her rig displaying multiple surveillance windows. 'All quiet so far,' she lets them know./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Thanks, Riles,' Mac turns to rejoin Rose and Desi just inside the church entrance, 'all clear.' Mac and Desi move to escort Rose./p
p class="MsoNormal"'If you don't mind, I would prefer to pay my respects alone,' Rose raises a hand to prevent Mac and Desi from accompanying her. Desi shares a concerned look with Mac but he relents when he sees the determined set of Rose's face./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Of course. We'll be right here if you need us,' he replies with a half-smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose murmurs, 'Thank you,' and then joins the progression of mourners, right in front of three heavy set gentlemen. Mac and Desi watch as Rose slowly approaches the front of the church. Without warning, the three men close in on Rose. The lead man shoves a gun into her side and forces her to leave with them out the back of the church as his two companion pull out guns and fire into the air./p
p class="MsoNormal"'They're taking her!' Mac pounces into the thick of the mourners heading in the direction that the abductors took with Desi close on his heels. 'Riles, can you get ahead of them, see where they're possibly headed?' Mac strains to keep his voice calm./p
p class="MsoNormal"'On it,' Riley responds, 'looks like they are headed to the main square, near the old fortress.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Copy that,' Desi replies. Mac and Desi are in hot pursuit of Rose's abductors, following them into the nearby citadel. Weaving through the throngs of people, they lose sight of her. Luckily, Riley's on comms letting them know that Rose's tracker says she's close but that the signal is fading away./p
p class="MsoNormal"'She must be going underground,' Mac deduces. Mac and Desi have the same thought at the time, 'They're taking her to the dungeon,' they say simultaneously. They immediately head into the depths of the old fortress. They reach the dungeon and see Rose crumbled on the floor opposite an open cell door. When she sees Mac and Desi, she gives them a fearful look and points into the cell. Mac and Desi lunge into the cell, ready to take on the attackers. They stop short when they realize the cell is empty. They jump and turn back in Rose's direction when they hear the door slam behind them./p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi and Mac look dumbfounded as Rose throws the latch on the door, locking them into the dungeon. Rose gives them a smirk, 'If you want to finish your mission and take me home, then you'll have to find me first.' With that challenge, Rose climbs the steps out of the dungeon. Mac and Desi stare unbelievingly at each other. Mac reacts first. He calls out to Riley on comms, 'Hey Riles, is the tracker on Rose still active? We don't have eyes on her anymore.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley's fingers pause as she asks, 'You mean you lost her?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'No, she ditched us.' Mac says grimly./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"A No-star Motel/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ and Bozer are video chatting with Matty, updating her on their contact with Chin and Leanna./p
p class="MsoNormal"'We're in. The buy is going down in two hours,' Russ informs her./p
p class="MsoNormal"'And we're sure that Chin is suspicious of Bozer?' Matty asks./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Oh yeah,' Bozer chimes in, 'as soon as he heard that I had fourteen kills to my name, he kept looking at me like he expected me to pull a knife on him. Definitely on high on the paranoid spectrum.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Matty nods, 'That's good – keep playing into his core distrust.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"There is a knock at the door. Russ turns to Matty, 'Someone's here. We'll update you if the situation changes.' Once he closes the lap top, he nods to Bozer to open the door./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer barely has the door open when Leanna's squeezes through./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Leanna!' Bozer breathes and then the two of them are instantly clutching each other in a tight embrace. Russ eventually interrupts their reunion./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Leanna, Russ Taylor, also with the Phoenix,' he says uncharacteristically humble. Leanna extracts herself from Bozer's arms and shakes his hand./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Nice to meet you,' Leanna says hurriedly, 'I can't stay long but knew that I had to make contact with you.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer takes a step closer to her, 'You're blown, we're here to extract you.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna looks at the both of them, confused, 'What do you mean I'm blown?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Your partner, the FBI agent you shot to establish your cover, well, he's dead. For real this time. Associates of Chin took him out,' Bozer blurts out./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna looks shocked, 'I didn't know.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'The CIA believes that there is a mole on the task force and that if they haven't already, you're next to be given up,' Russ explains. Leanna takes a few quick breaths to compose herself, 'Ok, so what's the play?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ outlines the plan, 'Keep it simple – gun buy goes wrong. We've already set the stage for Bozer here to try and take out Chin as his mark and you would be killed in the cross fire as collateral damage.' Leanna nods, liking the plan./p
p class="MsoNormal"'That would work but there's one wrinkle. I need to get Chin's right hand out with me too,' Leanna replies. Bozer and Russ share a confused look with each other before looking back to Leanna to explain./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I've been working on him, he's ready to talk if we can get him out. He could take down the whole organization, may be even give us the name of the mole,' Leanna spells out. She looks hopefully to the two of them./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer looks expectantly at Russ, and Russ peers at Leanna for a long moment./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Then I guess we'll have to improvise,' Russ quips./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Dominican Republic Airport Hanger/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac, Desi and Riley are entering the hanger after leaving the Phoenix jet and see Rose, now all decked out in a work shirt and Khakis, standing by a jeep./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Nice to see that you made good time,' Rose greets them with a wide grin./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Well, we would've been here much sooner if you, I don't know, hadn't locked us in a dungeon, or crazy thought here, if you told us you wanted us to bring you here in the first place,' Mac sarcastically remarks, still a little annoyed that Rose got the better of them in Cuba./p
p class="MsoNormal"'What's the fun in that?' Rose nonchalantly blows off the rebuke. 'Besides, until I met with my contact, I had no idea of our destination, or if you folks would even be up for an adventure or instead you would have simply escorted me back to my worrywart of a son.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'So the thugs, the gun fire filled abduction, trapping Mac and Desi in a grungy jail cell….that was all a ruse?' Riley asks with eyebrows raised./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Of course! Javier was so kind to give me the intel I was looking for, the least I could do was make sure that his cover with the syndicate remains intact,' Rose explains./p
p class="MsoNormal"'And your contact gave you what intel exactly?' Mac cautiously eyes Rose./p
p class="MsoNormal"'The location of a mass destruction device that I have been trying to forget about for decades,' Rose says somberly. The three of them all look confusedly at one another and then back to Rose./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Excuse me, did you say a device of mass destruction?' Desi finds her voice first./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose nods and begins her story, 'Ric, John, and I were thick into Cold War shenanigans, and during the sixties, Cuba, and its ties to Russia, was of great interest. We ran numerous successful ops to create as much havoc as possible for the Soviets. One mission failed though, thankfully.' Rose notices the questioning looks on their faces./p
p class="MsoNormal"'During the Cold War many missions hovered near the limits of morality but I can honestly say in good conscience, that I never crossed into territory where simple human decency didn't prevail. This one mission, however, crossed that line. Simply put, the powers that be thought that to destabilize Cuba without looking like they did it, they wanted to manufacture a natural disaster, something that would cripple the country on many levels. So they created a device that would use harmonics to magnify natural occurring seismic activity. Essentially it would take a minor tremor and turn it easily into a quake that would register 6 or 7 on the Richter scale, causing mass destruction, unbelievable chaos, and an unimaginable death toll.' Rose takes a deep breath before continuing, 'Our job was to situate the device in Havana but we decided that this was one mission that we could not succeed at. Long story short, we switched out the real device for a fake, went through the motions of activating it, and then got rid of the fake when the mission was deemed a failure by the folks back home.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'What happened to the real device?' Riley asks what they are all thinking./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ric had contacts on the ground, so we used off-the-books resources to hide the device near Santiago. I never knew where exactly – only Ricardo knew. At least, he thought he knew.' Rose frowns./p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac senses that Rose is about to tell them why they are really here, 'What went wrong?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'In the days leading up to his death, Ricardo was putting his things in order, one of which was confirming the location of the device to pass onto me as the last surviving member of our team. Except when he went to physically confirm the location, it was no longer there and hadn't been for some time. He was in a panic. He called me to let me know that he was going to 'shake some trees' to find out where it went and, in the event that he could not take care of it on his own before he died, that he would leave me a clue to its location. It would then also be up to me to disable the device, taking care of it for good.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'That's why you insisted on coming to his funeral,' Desi summarizes. Rose nods her head, 'That, and to say goodbye to dear friend.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac looks at Rose questioningly, 'So where is the location?' Rose holds up a necklace with a bluish-green stone pendant. Mac takes the necklace and examines the stone, 'Larimar.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yes,' Rose is pleased that Mac recognizes it, 'only found on the isle of Hispaniola.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Dominican Republic,' Mac smiles, his expression changing to one of understanding. 'In hindsight, the Dominican Republic makes total sense, given its troubled history with Cuba,' Mac comments, 'some Cuban politico probably stumbled onto the device and thought to use it for their campaign against the DR.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ok, that explains why we are here, but it doesn't tell us where the device is,' Desi replies./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yes it does actually,' Mac responds, an idea already formulating in his head, 'Riley, can you pull up a topographical map of the island?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Sure thing,' Riley answers as she opens her rig. Moments later she has what Mac is looking for, 'Here you go.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac invades her space to take a closer look at the map, 'Can you zero in on any mines?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Her fingers fly over the keyboard again and seconds later there is only one blue dot remaining on the map. Mac and Riley share a 'we've found it' smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac steps away from Riley to face Rose and Desi, 'We've got a location: Claremont Larimar Mine, established 1965,' he says with a satisfied grin./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Outside A Less Than Reputable Repair Shop/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ and Bozer pull up in a black Chevy Tahoe. As they get out, Chin and his crew arrive in two Escalades. Chin, Leanna and Zhou, Chin's right hand, get out of the lead vehicle and the rest of his men hang back around the second./p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ approaches Chin, 'You got my merchandize?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'You got my money?' Chin retorts./p
p class="MsoNormal"Russ remains cool, 'Let's see the merchandize first.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Chin shakes his head, 'That's not how this is going to go down. Show me you're legit with the cash and then we'll show you the toys.' Taylor and Chin have a short battle of wills before Russ relents. He looks over to Bozer and nods. Bozer goes to the back of the Tahoe and opens it up. Instead of turning around with the expected suitcase of cash, Bozer spins around with a gun and takes a shot at Chin, narrowly missing him in the head. After which, all hell breaks loose./p
p class="MsoNormal"Once the fire fight heats up, Bozer and Russ retreat into the repair shop./p
p class="MsoNormal"Seeing them get away, Chin yells, 'I want their heads. NOW!'/p
p class="MsoNormal"All of Chin's crew head for the building but Leanna and Zhou are out in front and the first to follow them into the building. Sounds of massive gunfire ensue, causing the rest of the crew to hang back, just outside of the building. Within seconds, the whole building explodes, tossing Chin's men like rag dolls away from the now burning building./p
p class="MsoNormal"Chin was knocked down by the blast, but as he slowly gets up, he surveys the wreckage of the building, waiting to see if anyone leaves. Satisfied that no one inside that building could've survived, he and the rest of his men get back into their Escalades and drives off./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"In the Dominican Republic Jungle/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Are you sure that we are headed in the right direction?' Rose asks Riley next to her in the back seat of the jeep the four of them are currently bouncing around in./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley checks her phone and nods, 'From the topographical maps I downloaded, we should be on top of it soon.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'The terrain has also changed,' Mac chimes in, 'we're close.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'That's all well and good, but the road we are on, and I use the word road loosely, is becoming dangerous,' Desi comments from the driver's seat. 'With all the vegetation overgrowth, we'll be lucky to even find the mine entrance,' Desi continues./p
p class="MsoNormal"No sooner than the words are out of her mouth when the jeep bounces hard to the right and nearly hits an almost completely vine-covered sign for the Claremont Larimar Mine./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Looks like we're here,' Mac smiles at them all./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"At A Staging Area Near The Repair Shop/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Matty is consulting with the Tac Team, watching some footage. Satisfied with what she has seen, she walks over to where Russ, Bozer, and Leanna are huddling together./p
p class="MsoNormal"'It looks like Chin bought it,' she says with a smile on her face, 'but to be on the safe side, we'll be getting news coverage out saying that all four of you died in the explosion.' She looks over to Leanna, 'I'm so happy that you are safe and back home.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna looks gratefully at all of them, 'Me too. And thanks for believing in me and pulling Zhou out too,' she says as tilts her head in the direction where Zhou is being checked out by paramedics. 'He's key to bringing it all down,' she finishes./p
p class="MsoNormal"'That is something for the Feds to figure out. Our job is, thankfully, done here,' Russ pipes in. With that, Russ and Matty walk away, sensing that Bozer and Leanna need some time alone./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer and Leanna simply stare at each other for a few moments before Bozer breaks the silence./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I am SO sorry that it took your fake death, resurrection and rescue to bring you back into my life,' Bozer confesses./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna takes Bozer's hands into hers, 'Boze, none of this was your fault. This is the life we signed up when we first stepped foot at spy school. I…'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Martin! Boss wants to see you,' the Tac Team Leader calls out, interrupting them./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna gives him a wave and then turns back to Bozer, 'I'll go deal with this stuff and see you later at the lab, ok?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ok,' Bozer barely replies before Leanna is off. He watches her leave with a resigned look on his face./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"In the Larimar Mine/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac and Desi lead Rose and Riley deeper into the mine, stopping their expedition when they reach the main cavern./p
p class="MsoNormal"'This place is a maze. How are we going to be able to find this thing?' Desi asks as she looks around at the multiple tunnels leading off from the main cavern./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley is working some magic on her phone, 'Mac, would it be safe to assume that this device would need to be placed at the lowest level possible in the mine?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Yeah, the closer to the seismic activity, the more impact. Why? What do you got?' Mac focuses on Riley./p
p class="MsoNormal"'From the site plans, I can determine that there are two tunnels that reach approximately the same maximum depth,' Riley stares at her phone for a moment and then glances around the cavern, 'that one,' she says point to a tunnel on her right, and then turning roughly forty-five degrees, 'and that one.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Ok, then let's split up. Des, you and Rose take that tunnel,' Mac points to the tunnel on the right, 'and Riley and I will check out this one. Our comms will eventually kick out at the lower depths so let's meet back here in 20,' Mac instructs./p
p class="MsoNormal"'But first, Desi, Riley, give me your phones,' Mac requests. Desi and Riley both know what that means. Desi reluctantly gives Mac her phone. Riley, on the other hand, fishes out a new phone from her jacket and hands it to Mac, who instantly begins to break the phones apart. Desi looks questioningly at Riley./p
p class="MsoNormal"'What? I always keep a spare for ICOM situations. Don't you?' Riley looks disbelievingly back at Desi./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose leans over to Desi, 'ICOM?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'In case of Mac,' Desi explains. 'Ahh…' Rose nods, realizing that this behaviour of Mac's is a common occurrence./p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac finishes up whatever modifications he is doing to the phones, 'These should now be able to detect if there are any harmful gases lurking in the tunnels. If you see the camera light go red, high tail it out of there. Got it?' Desi and Riley both nod, 'Got it.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Good. Let's get moving,' Mac says as he heads towards his and Riley's designated tunnel, with Riley right behind him. Desi and Rose take off into the other tunnel./p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac and Riley stay silent as they get deeper and deeper into the tunnel. When the slope of the tunnel starts get steeper Mac asks, 'How deep is deep, Riles?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"She checks the site plans on her phone, 'From the markings on the map, we're talking 450, 500 feet maybe.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Then we should be getting close,' he responds. Mac is quickly proven correct as they round a slight bend and come face-to-face with a large metal box anchored by two giant prongs into the ground./p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac and Riley smile broadly at each other before approaching the device. They get a few feet away from it when the ground and the walls begin to shake violently. Mac quickly sees that the tunnel is caving in. He lurches towards Riley, 'Riles…'/p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"In the Larimar Mine/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"The dust in the small cavern begins to clear. Mac is on top of Riley, having protected her from the falling debris. He holds her close until the last of the dust has settled. With their faces mere inches apart, each looks at the other with unfathomable concern./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Riles, are you hurt?' Mac urgently asks./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley takes a couple of quick breaths before answering, 'No…..I'm okay. What about you?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'I'm fine…,' Mac responds. 'No, no you're not,' Riley interrupts after looking beyond his eyes, 'you're bleeding!' She brings her hand up to Mac's face to brush his hair out of the gash now marring his forehead. Her hand then trails down to Mac's lower lip to wipe away a trickle of blood. At her tender caress, Mac is frozen in place, unable to hide the roiling sea of emotion in his eyes from her. Her breath hitches as she cannot escape his intense stare. She gulps and only hopes that she doesn't give away the impact it has on her. She then becomes acutely aware that their bodies are intimately intertwined./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mac…you should….ah, let me up,' she nervously whispers. Mac stares into her eyes a moment longer and then snaps out of his stupor. 'Ah, right, sorry' he sheepishly replies. He quickly rolls himself off of her and stands up. Riley immediately regrets the loss of contact but feels relief that she dodged the bullet of Mac learning what he does to her. The relief is gone a moment later when he helps her to feet and pulls her close to him, lightly putting his hands on her shoulders./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Are you sure you're alright?' he asks tenderly as he gives her body a once over for any obvious wounds./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Other than having a blonde genius knock the wind out of me while saving my ass, I'm fine,' she sarcastically replies and then turns away from him before he sees her mind thinking of the other way that he took her breath away. 'Blocked entrance notwithstanding, it looks like this tunnel is relatively intact,' she says, hoping to bring them back to the task at hand./p
p class="MsoNormal"Burying away his reaction to Riley and her abrupt pulling away from him for later consideration, Mac notices an even bigger problem that the caved in entrance./p
p class="MsoNormal"'It's worse than that. The device is now activated,' Mac says as he stares at the now buzzing machine./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Rose. Rose, are you ok?' Desi hovers anxiously over Rose in another caved in tunnel. Rose slowly opens her eyes and gives her head a quick shake. 'Nothing a Moscow Mule wouldn't cure,' she sarcastically replies, 'don't worry child, I'm much tougher than I look.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi looks at her with even more respect, 'That you are.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose and Desi both look back to the entrance, which is now blocked enough that they cannot pass through it without first doing some heavy lifting./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose gives Desi a side-long glance, 'I've never been one of those girls that just waits around to be rescued. How 'bout you?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi smirks her way, 'You bet your ass, I am!'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose smiles at her approvingly, 'Then let's get to it.' Both Rose and Desi jump up and begin clearing the passageway./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I like you Desi, you know what you want and go for it, never settling,' Rose comments while they make headway on clearing the debris. Desi pauses briefly before continuing to move rocks out of the way, 'Thanks,' she responds in a quiet voice. Rose notices her hesitation./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Am I wrong? You don't seem like the tentative type,' Rose says pointedly at Desi. 'I'm not… usually,' Desi answers. 'It's a recent habit,' she shrugs./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Well, not all habits are good ones. If you're not liking it, better to quit it before it becomes ingrained and you can't break it,' Rose advises as she continues to clear debris./p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi stops and looks gratefully at Rose, 'I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Rose.' Desi returns to attacking the rock debris with a new sense of purpose./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley looks alarmingly at the device, and then at Mac, and then back to the device. She takes a deep breath, and then expels it slowly. 'Ok, so how 'bout this,' she starts as she gets Mac's attention, 'we divide and conquer. You get to work on stopping that doomsday device and I get to work on clearing that doorway. Sound like a plan?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac gives her a half smile and nods, 'We got this, Riles.' Both immediately begin their assignments, with Mac explaining the finer points of harmonics while he dismantles the device. Riley tackles the rocks and debris blocking their exit with a vengeance, all the while smiling to herself as she listens to Mac go all sciency./p
p class="MsoNormal"Shortly thereafter, Riley hears a loud blast behind her. She turns around to see Mac holding up a component of some sort with a goofy, self-satisfied smile on this face. She smirks at him, 'I take it that the over-sized amplifier is no longer going to kill us?' she asks wryly with eyebrows style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Not without this it won't,' he smirks as he proudly shows her the component he extracted./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley smiles at him, 'Nice job, Mac.' She points her head to the still-blocked entrance, 'How about you now help me get the rest of these rocks out of the way so that we can get out of here before the earth decides to give us an encore?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Sure thing,' he says as he pockets the component. He walks over and starts clearing rocks with Riley. In no time, they have created an opening that they can crawl through./p
p class="MsoNormal"'That should be big enough,' Mac comments, 'let me see if I can get through.' He begins to lift himself into the opening when Riley stops him./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mac, shouldn't I go through first? I'm smaller than you and have less chance of getting stuck,' she questions him./p
p class="MsoNormal"'True, but we don't know what state the next room is in. I want to go first to make sure it's secure before you go through.' Mac explains./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley nods her head, 'Good point.' She steps back to let Mac leverage himself into the opening. After some squirming and some swearing, Mac makes it through to the other side. Once on his feet, he notices that the main mine shaft is still intact./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mac, you ok?' Riley asks in a voice tinged with concern./p
p class="MsoNormal"'I'm good, Riles,' Mac calls out, 'You're good to come through.' Mac hears Riley make the dusty, uncomfortable trek through the opening. As she begins to emerge, he catches her as she falls out of the opening, 'Whoa…I got you.' Mac holds Riley closer, and longer, than necessary. As Riley slowly extracts herself from Mac's embrace, Desi and Rose emerge into their tunnel./p
p class="MsoNormal"Riley sees them and sighs in relief, 'Desi, Rose, glad to see that you're ok.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'We're a little dusty but we're good,' Desi replies confidently./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose speaks directly at Mac, 'The device?' Mac nods at her, 'Taken care of.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose looks admiringly at all of them, 'Well then, let's get out of here, shall we?' And after giving them a wide grin, she turns on her heel and leads the way out of the tunnel. Mac, Desi, and Riley all chuckle at each other and follow Rose out./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Bozer's Lab/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer is trying, and failing, to concentrate on his current project when Leanna walks in./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Hey,' Leanna softly greets him as she approaches, 'am I interrupting?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer gives up all pretense of working, 'Would love to say yes, and keep my "play it cool" image intact, but I'd be lying. All I can think about is you,' he confesses./p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna is obviously relieved by Bozer's confession, 'I've been thinking about you too. So much so that I'm thinking that maybe we should try us again.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer wears an 'Am I dreaming' expression before noticeably sobering up, 'But what about your job? I know what it means to you and all, but I don't know if I can handle the long months of not knowing if you are alive or dead.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Leanna looks like she was expecting this question, 'Believe me, Wilt, I've had my fair share of deep cover work. After this last assignment, what I want now is something in my life that makes this works mean something, like having someone to come home to. I won't say that there will never be dangerous assignments, and let's face it, you can't promise me that either, but I can at least promise no more extended undercover work.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Sooo…if you want to hang out, or whatever,' Leanna says with a mischievous smile, 'I'm going to be around for quite a while.' Her smile melts whatever restraint he had and he brings her into his arms./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Sooo…as long as you're being so reasonable…' Bozer's response causes Leanna to laugh into their embrace./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bozer grins as he holds onto Leanna, never intending to let her go again./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"On the Phoenix Jet/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose is sitting comfortably in her armchair when Mac drops into the seat opposite her./p
p class="MsoNormal"'You're looking no worse for wear considering you've been abducted, buried alive and worst of all, chaperoned all day by a trio of Millennials trying to keep up with you while you save thousands of people from unimaginable destruction,' Mac quips./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Just like old times,' Rose smiles, 'And I would work with the Phoenix Foundation any day. Ian was right that you were the right team for the job. You're quite the cast of characters but still highly effective.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'That we are,' Mac smiles, 'Somehow we manage to pull off some pretty spectacular stuff.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Of that I have no doubt,' she concurs happily. Rose looks earnestly at Mac for a moment, 'Can this spy game veteran give you some totally unsolicited advice?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac is flattered that she would want to give him advice, 'Of course!' he responds enthusiastically./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Remember that to win the day, you sometimes have to take big risks to get the bad guy, complete the mission, or save the world,' Rose begins and Mac smiles congenially, thinking he knows where this speech is going. Rose pauses for effect, 'The same holds true for your personal life.' Mac stops smiling and stares questioningly at Rose./p
p class="MsoNormal"Rose gives him a half-smile. 'I may be old but I'm not blind, and I've been reading people for over half a century,' she smirks. 'You have all the earmarks of a man playing it safe, sacrificing his own happiness for some reason or the other,' she says with a wave of her hand. She looks Mac straight in the eyes, 'Don't make the mistake of not going after what your heart truly wants.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac lets Rose's words sink in for a moment before nodding his head and giving her a small smile, 'I'll remember that, thank you.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Good! Now I have one last request to make of you,' Rose declares. 'Name it,' Mac nods confidently./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Can you em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"alone/em drop me off at my home?' Rose requests with a flirty twinkle in her eye, 'I want my neighbours to think that I have a new boy toy….oh, I can hear the scandalous gossip already!'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac roars with laughter, 'It would be my pleasure to your arm candy,' he says with a wink./p
p class="MsoNormal"~/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Back in LA/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac opens the door to his home and is immediately greeted by packed bags and a couple of boxes. He sighs, knowing exactly what it means. He finds her standing by the fire pit./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Hey…' he says as he approaches. 'Hey,' Desi turns and gives him a sad smile./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Saw your stuff by the door...' He cautiously starts./p
p class="MsoNormal"'It's time, Mac. Being with Rose today just made it abundantly clear to me that life is too short to be with someone who doesn't love me,' Desi announces./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Desi, I love you…' Mac begins./p
p class="MsoNormal"'But you are not em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"in love/em with me,' Desi cuts in. She waits momentarily to see if Mac objects to her style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanThe look of acceptance on his face confirms that it holds true. She sways back and forth, trying to keep herself together./p
p class="MsoNormal"'Mac, I've known even before you went into the hyperbaric chamber that you weren't in love with me,' Desi holds up her hand to stop whatever Mac was going to say, 'and I'm not in love with you either.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi pauses for a moment to let Mac digest her blunt confession, 'I've been lucky to know what that true love feels like, and no matter how hard we both try, this isn't it.' She looks regretfully at Mac, 'We've both been holding on too long, trying to fill the gaps in our hearts left by others.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Do you even realize that we haven't even kissed, much less have sex, since you got rid of the nano-trackers?' Desi matter-of-factly asks. The dumbstruck look on his face is all the answer Desi needs. 'Our relationship has been over for a while now. My leaving is just making it official. Funny thing is, I'm not even really upset anymore.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'I never meant to hurt you, Des,' Mac says softly./p
p class="MsoNormal"'And I never meant to hurt you,' Desi replies gently. 'I honestly thought with all of our fireworks we could build something that would last. But instead, the fire's gone out. I think that's why we don't fight in the field anymore – our passion for each other has died off.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span'If you've felt this way for a while now, then why have you stayed with me?' Mac asks slowly./p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi shrugs, 'I wanted to make sure that you were ok after everything you've been through, and if I'm being honest, we've always run hot and cold, so I wanted to be sure of em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"both/em of our feelings before closing the door on us for good. Besides, I didn't have your back once before when you really needed it and I'll be damned to make the same mistake twice.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac appreciates how hard that admission is for her, and softly smiles at her, 'So what's next for us?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'I think we become what we should have always been, the best of partners in the field, and the best of friends off. The one em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"good/em thing that em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"did/em come out of us living together is that I think we have finally learnt em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"how/em to be friends.' Desi gives Mac a kind smile, 'I will always love you Mac, but you know as well as I do that it is time for both of us to move on.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac gives her a hug, 'Thanks, Des, for understanding, for everything. And I will always love you too.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Desi moves out of the hug and smirks, 'Don't thank me too much yet – you still have to help me move back into my apartment, including all the stuff I put into storage.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"Mac chuckles, happy to see their new dynamic take hold, 'You got it. Wait,' he gives her a scared expression, 'including the pull-out?'/p
p class="MsoNormal"'Especially the pull-out,' she deadpans and then breaks into a huge smile. Desi gives Mac another quick hug, 'I gotta go. Take care, Mac.'/p
p class="MsoNormal"As Desi leaves, Mac sits down and stares into the flames, suddenly realizing that he is now all alone. But instead of feeling sad, he is surprised to find that he actually feels lighter than he has felt in a very, very long time./p