Chapter Twelve: Pandemonium

The Phoenix Foundation…

Still, think it's a think tank?

When I was a kid my grandfather used to teach me survival skills. I really enjoyed those weekends in the forests. It was a chance to have proper quality time with him which I never really got from my father. Those skills came in handy over years and have even saved my life a few times. He wanted me to be prepared for the world and every eventuality. But I guess he never foresaw a situation where my father and a murdering psychopath with an unhealthy obsession for me to team up. I have no idea how to handle that particular situation.

The foundation was panicked, alive with activity. That was the only word to describe the atmosphere. Agents were running to and fro to complete their assigned duties. The sirens only partly drowned out the hullabaloo of their voices. Matty was in the middle of it, quietly composed as ever. Her face was fixed with a determined glare giving away none of the feelings she was effectively shoving below the surface of her calm façade. There was no doubt that she was in charge and as Mac watched her giving out orders and snapping out reminders to stay resolute, he left the respect he had for her increase. This was a woman who could handle under pressure, who despite the deep-seated feelings of rage and worry was completely and utterly in control of the situation.

"Riley, get to work tracking Oversight's cell and see what you can get from that message, Jack, sit down. You look like you're about to have an aneurism. I want to speak to the guards assigned to Oversight immediately!"

A nearby agent nodded and ran off to find the guards Matty requested. He clearly thought that it would be best for his welfare to get as far away from the Director as possible. He felt sorry for whomever it was that was supposed to be guarding Oversight. They hadn't done a very good job. Why Oversight was being guarded was a mystery to him, but he had the common sense to realise that it wasn't the time to ask questioned.

"And somebody turn off that blasted alarm!" Matty snapped once the agent had left them. "I can't hear myself think and I'm sure we have all got the message."

A few seconds later the alarm stopped. They were all grateful for the silence.

Alarms have their uses. The only thing is that they are loud. When you have not one but two high valued targets to track down the last thing you need is a headache. Headaches often disrupt the creative flow. Even I can't improvise very well when my head's splitting in two! So, I couldn't help but thank Matty's good sense to order that the annoying alarm be turned off.

Undisclosed Location…

I can tell you it's somewhere in California…

While the Phoenix Foundation was in utter pandemonium, the preparators at fault for that state of panic were far away. Murdoc smirked to himself and Daddy Oversight was sat next to him in an inconspicuous car. He always wondered what the Boy Scout's papa was like. After all, he was the only person that managed to get away from him alive. So, when he was approached to dispose of Walsh, he jumped at the chance! The chance to find more about Boy Scout and the relationship between him and his father was too good an opportunity to miss. Well, that and the money he was promised. A man's gotta eat.

"It'll interest you to know I've tracked our friend down," Murdoc informed James as they sped down the highway to their hideout.

"Really? That soon?" James asked, slightly surprised that Murdoc had had success so quickly. He knew of course that Walsh had entered the states a few days ago under an assumed identity. The intel about Kosovo had been a red herring- something to through off the CIA.

"That sounds rather like you doubted my skills, I almost feel offended."

James shrugged his shoulders, non-committedly. The man had been outsmarted by Angus of all people so he couldn't be as great an assassin as thought he was. His numbers spoke for himself though and all that mattered was that Walsh died.

"You're lucky I have a thick skin," Murdoc grunted. Normally he would have killed someone for doubting him like that, but this was MacGyver's father who wanted to kill the man who tried to hurt his son. That meant he had a bit more tolerance for that kind of thing.

The car pulled off the highway and down a small alleyway on Northwell Road. It finally came to a stop about 25 miles away from the nearest sign of civilisation. In front of the vehicle stood a concrete building, cold and unwelcoming but secure. You couldn't find it unless you knew it was there. And no one did.

But, unbeknownst to either Murdoc or James, a drone flew up above when they pulled onto the Northwell Road. They were still a little way out of the compound by then, but it was something. On the drone was a camera, for the purpose of taking pictures and videos of nature. However, that was not what it had done this time. It had taken a picture of the car and had even managed to capture Murdoc's reflection in the wing mirror. It was grainy but mistakable to anyone that knew him. The owner of the drone drove it to the floor, unaware that the unintended purpose it had been used for had saved clandestine organisation somewhere in Los Angeles and a lot of trouble.

Phoenix Foundation…

Everything's coming up MacGyver…

I often find that luck is either over or underrated. There is no in-between. I don't really believe in luck per se: you won't find any rabbit's feet in my house. However, sometimes, things can pay off in our favour. When those times happen, you should be cautiously optimistic and remember that there's rarely such thing as coincidence.

Riley couldn't believe her luck!She had not expected to get anything from Oversight's cell. He was smart enough to dump it at the earliest opportunity. However, some security cameras had spotted Oversight and Murdoc's car. They had lost them after leaving Los Angeles though. She had been ready to yell with frustration when she had managed to find photos from a drone. They had been pinged when Riley had been using her face recognition software. She had found them.

"I think I may have something!" She yelled. Matty was at her side at once looking at Riley's computer screen.

"Are there any nearby abandoned buildings?" Matty questioned.

"How far away is nearby?" Riley inquired.

"Start with a ten-mile radius and keep expanding the search until you find something."

Riley nodded and set to work. Matty left the war room to go and speak to the guards that had done a piss-poor job of actually guarding people. It may be a bit harsh and not entirely fair but right now Matty was far too angry at the situation to care about that. Urgh. She would have to update the CIA soon. She wasn't looking forward to that conversation.

"Mac?" Riley prompted softly.

Mac looked up. He had been sat on the sofa fiddling with a paperclip. He was so bored. He just needed to do something. Jack had insisted he stay here and if that wasn't enough, Matty had forbidden him to go anywhere but the foundation. Jack was currently speaking with a few agents, formulating a plan of attack. Bozer was in the lab working on a few new disguises in case they needed to run. In short, Mac felt useless and that was not something he wanted to feel. With Riley so busy with the very important task she was taxed with, he hadn't expected her to call on him.

"Yes?"

"You don't have to tell me what happened with your father, but you can talk to me. I wanted to make sure that you knew that."

"I don't want to distract you," Mac explained. It wasn't the only reason. The longer he pretended that everything was all right the longer he still had someone who didn't know how weak he'd been.

"Mac, you know me," Riley pointed out, glancing up from her screen so that she could raise her eyebrows at the blonde before turning back to her work. "I could do this with my eyes closed and an arm tied behind my back. You can talk to me."

Mac considered this. Riley knew better than anyone else here what it was like to have a father like James. Bozer and Jack meant well, and Mac loved them for it but they didn't understand. How could they? Their fathers were brilliant and nothing but loving. Riley's experience with Elwood meant that she had been through what he had been through- or at least something similar.

"He hit me a few times," Mac blurted out. Then, seeing Riley's look, rushed to explain. "It wasn't that bad- better than when I was a kid. But you know what Jack's like."

Riley let out a low growl. Mac was her family, and someone hurt her family. She didn't like that. She knew that James hadn't been the best father to Mac. He'd upped at left when Mac was 12 on his birthday. However, she didn't know that he'd actually been physically abusive towards him now and when he was a kid. Well, if he escaped custody she would destroy him online.

"If that son of a bitch hit you then he deserved everything he got. If it were me in that situation, you would say the same thing."

"I guess," Mac murmured, and he sounded just as unsure as the wording suggested.

"I'd kill him if I thought it would help you, but I know it doesn't. I'm here. I get what you're going through. I'm part of the Crap Dads club." Riley comforted. In her opinion, James had been worse than her father. Elwood never hurt her physically and left her alone during adulthood. Mac's dad hurt him emotionally, physically and had manipulated him from the start.

"I know Riles; I know." Mac agreed "I feel so useless. Everyone's doing something and I'm just sat here. I have to be useful. I have to."

"You don't need to anything except rest and heal. You've been through a lot the last through days. We're your family Mac. We love you unconditionally." Riley attempted to reassure him.

"I just. I just- I wish he loved me. Is that stupid?"

"Of course not. All children want their parents to love them. But parents aren't just by blood. God knows that Jack's been a better father to me than Elwood. I know he feels the same about you. He loves you just like a father should love a son."

"He's always been there for me. Ever since that day in the Sandbox, Jack's been there but-" Mac broke himself off when he saw his friend's face. "Riley?"

"I think I've found them!"

Partly disclosed location…

(Riley knows it, but you don't!)

"We can't stay here long," Murdoc commented as he placed the gun back in his holster. "They'll be searching for us and your son will be at our heels, no doubt. He's smart."

James pulled a disgusted face. Angus was stupid. He didn't have the brains to outsmart him. He knew the team's skills and weaknesses. He had the advantage here. Murdoc seemed to forget that.

"Agnus is an incompetent brat," James corrected "He'll be no problem."

It was Murdoc's turn to pull a disgusted face. The more time he spent with James MacGyver the more he hated him. He didn't like the snide comments he made about Angus. If he didn't take that threat seriously, it would be their downfall. Still, he didn't have to like him to complete a job for him.

"No. You are an idiot if you choose to underestimate him, James. As much as it saddens me to admit he survived me. No one has done that before. I've faced him and his team twice and he's won both times. I can't imagine he'll be very easy-going after today." Murdoc rebooked.

Oversight glared at that. He wasn't used to being addressed in such a fashion and he wasn't going to take that disrespect from an assassin. Then, James smirked arrogantly at the thought of Angus being a threat. Murdoc was blowing things way out of proportion. Oh well. He would just have to soothe his nerves. That would be easy enough.

"You don't have to worry about him Murdoc." James reasoned "He wouldn't dare mess with me and my business."

"Then you don't know your son. There's a reason why I can Angus Boy Scout. He's so imperiously good. He won't even let you get away with conspiracy to commit murder."

Angus' father knew less about his son than the man who had tried to kill him. If Murdoc saw the irony in that statement he didn't laugh.

"Oh, trust me Murdoc, I know my son. I know he won't cross me. He knows the consequences of disobedience and disloyalty."

"What do you mean by that?" Murdoc asked dangerously. He did not like the sound of that.

"He knows that I'll give him the beating he so richly deserves. One that he will never forget." Was James' bragging response. He even had the audacity to smile as he said those words.

"You what?"

If Murdoc was dangerous before he was goddamn murderous now. His father had been like Angus' and he hated him for it. He could never lay a hand on his son. The thought of someone else hurting Boy Scout made him ballistic. He alone was allowed to hurt Angus. It didn't mean he was against hurting Angus. It was the opposite. But no one else got to do that and certainly not Angus' father.