The tension between the enigmatic Riley Davis and Jack was driving Mac crazy. Jack's explanation about her dad made sense, but Mac knew there had to be more to it.

Still, despite Jack's habit of trying to sort out personal issues mid-mission, Mac kept the two of them apart on the short flight to San Francisco. It wasn't too difficult with Riley. She clearly had no interest in talking to Jack anyway, and she seemed wary of Mac. Besides, she was thoroughly absorbed in the laptop Thornton had put in her hands before they left DXS. Finally, Mac sort of shook his head and flopped down in the seat across from Jack.

"So."

Jack looked up from his phone. "So, what?"

"You gonna tell me…"

Jack interrupted."I already told you, man. Her old man…"

"Okay, not what I was gonna ask. But for the record, I'm not buying that story either. What I was going to say is why did you get her involved if you knew she hated you?"

Jack sighed. "Let's just say I feel like I owe her a solid and maybe someday I'll tell you all of the why." Jack decided this was as good a time as any to reopen an old conversation and take the heat off himself at the same time. "The same someday you finally tell me about your folks for real."

Mac rolled his eyes. "Right. You want a coffee?" he asked, deciding Jack still looked maybe a little hungover.

"Nah, I'm good, kid, but thanks." He frowned at Mac as the young man rose to grab a coffee for himself. "Are you?"

Mac stopped. "Huh?"

"Good. I mean … Are you really …? I just want to … Look, you know what I'm tryin' to say here."

Mac smiled slightly. "I think so, Jack. Or I will be once we bring Kendrick and Chen in."

"Make 'em pay for what they did to you and Nikki. Yeah. I can see that making a lot of things better, kid."

Mac had no interest in having a serious conversation about Nikki or how he was actually feeling. Not here, not now. And definitely not in front of a woman he'd only really known for about forty-five minutes. So he snorted a laugh. "I was thinking more about stopping the zombie apocalypse, pal."

"Don't even joke about that, Mac."

Mac laughed again at the serious expression his choice of words put on his partner's face. "I'm not joking. But we'll make sure things don't go from bad to total shit storm."

"If we're gonna start quoting Zombieland, does that mean I should start callin' you Mission City?" Jack smirked.

"Only if I can start calling you … does that town you're from even have a name?"

"Hey now, don't you start trash talkin' my hometown, boy."

"I could call you East Texas, maybe," he grinned, thinking that was the sort of slightly cool nickname Jack would probably adopt for himself forever once this mission wrapped up.

"Oh no you don't!"

"What's wrong with…?"

"That's the nickname of this character from another plague-ey apocalypse thing."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, it's called The Stand and it's by Stephen King so you know it's full of bad news."

"You've read a book?" Mac raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.

Jack looked around for something to throw at his partner, but couldn't come up with anything. "I've read more than one book, ya brat." Mac only got into that kind of bordering on mean teasing if he was trying to keep attention off himself. So just asking if he was okay was pushing too much. Jack decided keeping it light was what Mac was asking him for, so he laughed. "Just not that one. It was a miniseries back when I was in college."

Mac grinned. Jack didn't fail to notice Mac's shoulders lowering a little. "That's more like it." Then his expression shifted into a slight frown, reminded that apocalypse humor might be common conversation between them, there was a dangerous mission in front them. "In all seriousness though, Thornton is working on mobilizing the CDC containment people in San Francisco, just in case."

"I'd like to tell you that makes me feel better, kid, but it doesn't especially."

The pilot announced approach procedures and Jack shifted uncomfortably. Now Mac was the partner who realized levity was what they needed.

"Don't worry, pal, if you start turning into a zombie, I promise I'll take you out before you eat anybody's brains."

Jack chuckled. He felt like they were already back to normal after their four month hiatus. "Well, if you don't manage it, I'm gonna be the best fed zombie in the United States of Zombieland, genius.

0-0-0

When they got to San Francisco, Riley proved that they'd been right to fight Thornton to keep her with them. Despite the fact that Kendrick had been on the move when they took off in LA, she'd tracked him all throughout their short flight. They were still taxiing when she had the name of the hotel he'd just apparently walked into.

Once Jack had "politely" commandeered a vehicle, they were on their way. The closer they got, the more intense Mac's energy was. Riley kept tossing him funny looks, like she wasn't quite sure how to take him. She also kept darting glances at Jack like she wanted to say something, but didn't know how to follow through.

Then, as Mac started working his magic, she talked to Jack a little bit, though she didn't make eye contact. Jack wanted to say something about it, and had almost worked up the courage to do it, when Mac caught sight of Kendrick fleeping the hotel.

Mac saw Kendrick through the billowing smoke and his stomach dropped. For a split second, he was falling off that bridge again, bleeding. It only caused him a moment's hesitation though. He took off running a second later. Then his eyes landed on something even more unsettling. "Nikki?" he breathed. He shook it off. That was impossible. It was just the shock of seeing Kendrick. He took off running again.

He counted on Jack to be following and just pelted toward his objective. He skidded around the corner after Kendrick and felt like a bullet had slammed into his chest again. "Nikki!" he shouted.

Her eyes met his for a split second and he felt like a hole had opened up to swallow him. He only had that split second to process it though. As soon as she dove into the car, Kendrick turned on him, weapon drawn, and started firing. Mac ducked out of the way, but Kendrick had already started moving toward him, still firing. Mac changed directions and ran.

Where the hell is Jack?

Another bullet ricocheted off the brick and he doubled his speed. He thought he heard Jack yell but he couldn't be sure. Kendrick was still practically on his heels. Mac had no illusions about how this would end if Kendrick caught up with him again.

His brain didn't quite process that he was nearing the end of his attempt to flee. He almost ran full tilt into the chain link fence at the end of the alley. He started to try to climb it, but his chest, his shoulder screamed. He'd been honest with Thornton when he told her it was "coming along". It was, but he wasn't a hundred percent. Maybe eighty.

Besides if he started scaling that fence, he'd just be a target.

Mac spun and started looking around for options. Kendrick was almost on top of him. Mac's eyes settled on the fire escape between him and the head of the alley. It was a risk. Kendrick might just shoot him without getting close.

Then again, Kendrick couldn't have that many rounds left. It was a good gamble.

Mac loosened the pin, then looked around frantically for something to dive behind. Too late. Kendrick was here.

"Oi, MacGyver!"

They locked eyes. Mac put his hands up.

"Well, I guess this is the end of your silly game of hide-and-seek, MacGyver."

Mac's hand struck out, fast like a snake and he pulled the pin. He thought maybe Kendrick squeezed off another shot right before he went down, but Mac was pretty sure he didn't hit anything. Once Kendrick was on the ground, Mac started back up the alley, Nikki the only thing on his mind now that he wasn't trying to avoid Kendrick taking him out.

He didn't even process Jack's arrival. He sort of heard Jack say, "You all right?"

He just kept going. Jack made sure Kendrick was out cold, then followed his partner, worried about the wild eyed blank looking on the kid's fast. "Mac? Mac, where you going?"

He finally caught up with Mac. The kid didn't even look like he knew where he was. He looked like … well, like he was in shock. But he wasn't bleeding. That was good. He grabbed Mac's arm and made him look at him. "What are you looking for? It's over, man." Mac just shook his head. "We got him."

Mac shook his head again. "No, it's not …" Another head shake. This time he looked like he was trying to clear it after getting his bell rung by somebody twice his size. He swallowed a couple of times and finally managed. "Nikki's alive."

Jack blinked. "What do you mean Nikki's alive?"

The pain on Mac's face was worse than any Jack had ever seen. Mac looked like he was afraid Jack wouldn't believe him. Which given some of Mac's history, Jack supposed he understood. "I saw her," Mac insisted earnestly. "She was with Kendrick." Mac grimaced and Jack thought he knew what someone's face would look like if someone reached directly into his chest and ripped out his heart. "They've been in on this together."

Riley had joined them in the mean time. She didn't exactly know Mac but the look on his face scared her a little. He struck her as a guy whose mouth butter wouldn't melt in, but right now he looked like he was being burned from the inside. And Jack … she did know him. And Jack looked scared shitless. But not from any outside threat. He was looking at Mac like the dude was dying right in front of him.

She needed info. " Whoa, guys, time-out." They both looked at her. "Are you talking about the same dead Nikki? Your girlfriend Nikki?"

Mac breathed, "Yeah."

"How is that possible?" she demanded.

Jack's face harder, and suddenly Riley wondered how she or her mother ever believed this guy was in retail. "We're about to find that out," he growled.

"Where are you going?" Riley asked as he started to stalk away. She turned to Mac, "Where's he going?"

"To get Kendrick." Mac took a couple slow measured breaths. He had to box up these overwhelming feelings and finish this job. Lives were on the line. "Hey, can you go get the van?"

"What for?"

"Jack's getting ready for an interrogation."

"So?"

Mac met her eyes. "We're gonna need some privacy."