"So you got a call on THAT phone?!" Riley was shocked.
"I thought we were done with THAT phone!" Jack ran his hand to his stubbly hair. "And how was it even possible to call? Wasn't the phone switched off?!"
"Man, I don't know what's going on here", Bozer said overwhelmed, "It was off, but it rang on the same time."
Mac's hand flew up to interrupt his friend. "There should be an easy explanation", he said, "Someone must have switched it on and –"
"Don't fall into conclusions, blondie", Mac was interrupted on his side by Matty. "How or when this phone got switched on is our smallest problem right now."
She was met with silence. A silence because everyone knew what she was referring to. It was written in the air around them. But who was the one who would actually form an audible sentence out of these words?
It was Riley.
"Should we react to it? Should Mac play Murdoc once again?"
There it was. The sentence that was so easy to say but still so heavy in the air. So heavy in its meaning. The air was vibrating, no one commented, not even Jack was making a stupid joke. Instead Mac was surprised to see the serious look on his senior's face. His inner uneasiness grew a lot. At this point for the first time he felt a lot of eyes resting on him. Jack's serious ones, Riley's uneasy ones, Bozer's overwhelmed ones, Matty's unfocused ones as she seemed to discuss all possible outcomes of this situation in her head. His inner uneasiness grew a lot more. Mac got the feeling of loosing all the color in his face.
Matty seemed to recognize Mac's uneasiness. Her eyes grew more concerned.
"Before we think about that, what information do we have?"
Mac swallowed. Was there a lump forming in his throat?
"Not much", he said, trying to sound as confident and normal as always, but he had the feeling his voice gave him away. He coughed. "Just a meeting point and a time slot."
"No information about the job itself? Or about the client?"
"No", was Mac's short answer. With a quick move he wetted his dry lips with his tongue. Hopefully no one saw it. Behind his back he cramped his hands. Thank God no one was standing behind him to see. Mac didn't like the way this conversation was going.
Matty breathed out hard. Everyone was looking at her to make decision. A hard one to make.
"Shall we not go there to find this guy?", Bozer asked, "Maybe it's just a cute little couple like last time."
"Or maybe a terrorist organization!", Jack growled with a fierce look, "Mac, what was the voice like?"
"Eh –", Mac struggled, massaging his hands harder and harder behind his back. What was wrong with him? "Quite cold and cunning. Very clear and focused."
"See?", Jack shouted, "More like terrorists!"
"So blow them up, shall we?", Bozer asked again.
"And getting Mac in danger?!", Jack reacted way to hard, "Are you nuts? Did you forget last time?!"
Last time.
The signal for Mac to step out from the conversation. Last time. Last time he played a serial killer. Last time he was hunting someone down he didn't even know. Last time he reacted like the cold blooded assassin on the phone. Last time he was just thinking of it any other normal job.
Last time he played Murdoc.
"That's my boy scout."
Mac felt his heart rate speeding up, sweat was forming on his hands as he massaged them even harder than before. Murdoc. The way this bloody psychopath was so full of joy when Mac grabbed his throat. The way this bloody psychopath was so full of joy when he saw the hunger for blood in Mac's eyes. The way this bloody psychopath was so full of joy when he got Mac to show his inner darkness. The way this bloody psychopath was so full of joy when Mac let himself be consumed by it.
"You know, MacGyver, people just believe what they want to believe. Like right now, for instance. You want to believe that this is over."
Disgusting!
"Mac?"
Mac's eyes flew open. He hadn't even realized he closed them. He was met with concerned looks.
"Are you okay, man?", Jack asked. "You are pale as hell."
"What?" Mac hand came to his face swiping the sweat away. "Eh – yeah – yeah, everything's fine. Just – eh" He licked his lips a few times "got caught up in a memory." He moved his hand up through his hair. "Sorry", he said as he shook his head to clear his thoughts.
"Maybe we should just ignore it", Riley commented worried.
"No, really, I'm fine", Mac said determined and changed the position of his body in a confident one as he positioned his feet in a solid stance and pushed up his back. "We should at least go and take a look, it's worth a try."
The black turtleneck pullover was scratching on his neck. Mac felt like being choked by the soft material, his breathing got more and more difficult. With a finger he tried to get a little space between the fabric and his skin. Again his tongue wetted his lips.
Then his eyes fell on himself in the mirror.
He looked like one. Like an assassin.
The plain black turtleneck pullover, black jeans and heavy black boots. The also black leather jacket was still on its hanger in the locker. In the shelf the smartphone was lying.
"See that's what we are, MacGyver. We're two sides of the world's immune system. We target people that make society sick, and we stop them."
"I stop them by putting them in a cage. You stop them by putting them in the ground."
"Whose method's more efficient? Sure, you can say that killing is wrong and life is precious and death is this tragedy. But you feel that way because you're not looking at it from the right perspective. It's a lot to take in, I know, but believe me, MacGyver, you and I basically have the same job. See, the difference is that when you cage one of your cancer cells, they call you a hero. When I kill one, they call me a psychopath."
Mac swallowed hard as he recalled the conversation. It felt like it had been yesterday, but it was almost a year ago. But still he could see Murdoc's face in front of him, still smell him. Hear him.
"You are a killer, just like me. And the sooner you accept that my way is the right way, it is the only way the sooner you're gonna be ready."
Was he really a killer? Was he really a psychopath?!