First Assignment

by DreamWvr73

MacGyver and Gillian are sent on their first big assignment together.

MacGyver walked into Pete's office, a folder in his hands. He had been working on something and he wanted to see what his boss thought of what he came up with.

"Hey Pete, busy?"

Pete was typing on his computer; he stopped and looked at his Assistant Director of Operations. "No, I can spare a minute or two, what's up?"

"I finished that proposal you asked me to work on, want to take a look?"

"Sure, let me see."

Mac handed him the folder, he opened it and looked the papers inside it over. Pete nodded.

"It's good, I like the changes."

"Thanks, I think if we do it this way the board will approve it, the other way had no chance."

Pete shook his head. "I never even thought about it this way."

MacGyver had a grey long sleeve shirt over a t-shirt; he took it off and draped it over a nearby chair. "Well it's just a different point of view, that's all."

Pete noticed he was wearing a white t-shirt and when he saw what was written on it he looked surprised. "Mac what's with the t-shirt?"

MacGyver looked down at himself. "What's wrong with it?"

Pete shook his head. "Well, it's surprising that's for sure. Did your friend Johnny give that to you?"

The t-shirt MacGyver had on was white, it had black letters across the middle of it that said Physicists have big slide rules.

"No, actually I got this at a Science Convention a few years ago. Gillian thought it was hilarious."

Pete shook his head. "I'm not surprised, that is what one of your degrees is in right?"

MacGyver nodded. "Yeah so I bought it." He smiled. "You don't think it's funny?"

"I didn't say that, it's just not something I would expect you to wear to work."

"Aw come on Pete, lighten up! I bet no one else would even notice it."

Pete raised an eyebrow. "Care to put your money where your mouth is?"

Pete rolled his desk chair back and stood up. He put his hand in his pocket and took out his wallet; he opened it and laid out 5 twenty dollar bills on his desk. "I bet you a 100 dollars your shirt gets a lot of attention."

Mac reached into the back pocket of his dark blue jeans and took out his wallet, he opened it and took out a hundred dollar bill, he slapped it down on the desk on top of his friend's pile of 20's. "You're on, lunch room?"

Pete nodded and checked his watch, it was almost noon. "Right now. Come on, let's go down there and see how many people notice it."

Mac nodded. "Let's go."

MacGyver and Pete took the elevator down to the lunchroom. The doors opened and they walked around the corner, the glass doors were there and Pete opened them for his friend.
"After you."

Mac patted him on the shoulder and he walked by. "Such a nice guy."

The lunch room was crowded, everyone was down there and the two men got in line. "So do we get lunch or just something to drink or what?"

Pete was behind his friend. "We'll get lunch and see how many people notice your shirt and say something to you."

MacGyver nodded. "Okay, but I think you're going to be out a 100 bucks for this."

They turned around and a few people greeted them, they made it up to the counter and Mac ordered three lunches; the special that day was Lemon Chicken with rice and steamed vegetables. Pete heard his friend and looked at him.

"What are you doing Mac I can order my own lunch you don't have to."

"No its okay I got it Pete. You're going to need someone to buy you lunch after I take your money."

Pete scoffed. "Aren't you confident?"

"Yeah I am."

The sound of laughter filled the air and Pete turned around and saw where it was coming from. A group of women were sitting at one of the far tables, it was the Grapevine, they were talking and laughing; this made Pete smile, it gave him an idea. MacGyver paid for three lunches and tucked the change into his pocket; he was holding three Styrofoam containers. "Ready to go?"

"Three? Why three?"

MacGyver looked at him. "My wife?"

"Oh!"

He heard the laughter again and smiled. "There is one way for sure to see who gets the 200 bucks."

"How?"

Pete took the containers from him. "You go say Hi to the Grapevine, if they don't notice your shirt the money is yours."

MacGyver turned and looked at the table full of laughing women. "Okay, you're on."

Pete walked him over part of the way; he then stepped aside and stood over by the glass doors. MacGyver walked over to the table, the conversation stopped and all the professionally dressed women looked at him.

Mac gave them all a big smile. "Afternoon Ladies."

Sandra smiled back at him. "Hey MacGyver, how have you been?"

"Good, thanks for asking."

Stephanie turned towards him. "How's Gillian?"

"Oh she's fine. She's in her office right now so I came down here to get us some lunch."

Sandra smiled at him. "Well how very thoughtful of you." She noticed his ring and she shook her head. "You know I still can't get used to seeing you with that ring."

Mac looked down at his left hand. "To tell you the truth Sandra it did take some getting used to, but it's been over a year now."

The women at the table gasped.  "That's right it has! What did you guys do for your first anniversary?"

"We went to Colorado and spent a couple of weeks in a cabin."

Stephanie smiled and sighed. "Sounds very romantic, whose idea was it for that?"

"Mine."

Sandra grinned. "You are so romantic Mac."

He shrugged. "Well it was our first and you have to do something special for your first."

Stephanie noticed his long silver chain, it hung to the middle of his chest; it had a round piece of green jade on it. She got up and touched it. "Wow that's jade isn't it?"

Mac looked down and realized his necklace wasn't under his t-shirt like it usually was. "Yeah."

"Where did you get that? I've never seen anything like it."

MacGyver picked it up and tucked it back into his t-shirt. He wasn't about to tell the Grapevine anything about his necklace. "It was a gift."

"It's nice, jade is supposed to be good luck."

"Yeah I've heard that." He was done and sighed. "Well Ladies I'll let you get back to your lunch now, see you later." They all said bye to him and he walked back over to his friend and smiled. "That went pretty well."

Pete was scowling. "Yeah too well."

They walked out the glass doors and headed for the elevator. Pete was not happy he had just lost a hundred dollars. "I can't believe they didn't say anything."

Mac put his arm around his friend's shoulders. "Don't worry Pete; I won't take your money."

Pete looked at him. "Really?"

MacGyver shook his head. "No, but it made you feel better didn't it?"

Pete shook his head and started to laugh.

Gillian was in her office dressed in jean shorts and her green Phoenix t-shirt; she was sitting on her white couch writing on a notepad. She was working on a new proposal to present to the board; she wanted to do another dig. Her office door opened and her husband came in carrying two Styrofoam containers.

"Gill I got us some lunch."

"Great I'm starving." She set the notepad down and scooted over on the couch so her husband could join her. "What's on the menu today?"

"Lemon Chicken." Mac sat down beside her and handed her a container.

"Thanks." She gave him a peck on the cheek.

"You're welcome."

Gillian noticed the wad of money he had in his hand. "What's that?"

Mac smiled. "Oh it's 200 dollars."

"Okay, why are you walking around carrying 200 dollars in your hand?"

He leaned forward and took his wallet out of his back pocket; he tucked the money in and set it down on the coffee table. "Pete bet me a hundred bucks my t-shirt would get me in trouble."

Gillian opened the container and looked at the chicken, it looked really good. "And no one said anything to you right?"

"Right." He noticed the notepad and picked it up. "So where do you want to go dig?"

Gillian smiled at him. "That's a surprise; I just hope the board approves it."

"Well if the Assistant Director knew where the dig was he could make a recommendation to the board."

"That's sweet to offer Mac but like I said, it's a surprise."

MacGyver sighed and started eating. "Okay okay, but if you need any help."

"You'll be the first one I call." She gave his cheek another peck.

MacGyver was asleep; it was 6 o'clock in the morning. He was lying on his side, the blankets up to his neck. Gillian came running into the room and started jumping on the bed.

"They approved it! Oh my God they approved it!"

Mac rolled over and looked at his clock, he saw it was 6 am and he covered his head with the blanket.

Gillian was jumping on the bed, she was absolutely ecstatic. "Mac how can you be asleep! Get up!! Come on wake up!!"

MacGyver sat up and rubbed his eyes. He was watching his wife jump up and down on their bed, it was way too early to be dealing with this.  "Gillian, I love you but I'm going to strangle you."

She continued to bounce up and down on the bed. "I'm sorry Honey I'm just so happy! I can't believe it!! They approved it!! I can't wait!!"

Her husband sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes. "Will you calm down and tell me what has you bouncing like a jack rabbit?"

Gillian wasn't getting any calmer; on her next bounce her husband jumped up and tackled her onto the bed. Mac was on top of his wife, she was breathing hard as she looked up at her husband. "Now, as I was saying. What has got you so excited at 6 am on a Saturday?"

Gillian grinned widely. "Pete just sent me a fax! The board approved my new dig!"

Mac was still waking up. "The dig that you wouldn't tell me where?"

"Yeah! The board approved it!!" She hugged him hard. "I can't believe it! I'm so excited!"

"So I noticed, where is the dig going to be?"

Gillian let go of her husband and smiled widely. "You, me, Pete and my staff are going on a trip!"

Mac was getting frustrated; his put his head down on her chest. "Gillian, please, show your husband a little mercy, tell him where he is going to go?"

Gillian sighed and put both hands on his head; she lifted it up and gave him a kiss. "Pack up your troubles Baby, we are going to Egypt!"

Mac was awake now, his eyes widened a little. "You're kidding? Egypt?"

Gillian smiled, she was getting excited again. "I'm not kidding! The board gave me the green light; we're going in 8 weeks!"

MacGyver smiled. "That's great! I've always wanted to go to Egypt!"

"Me too! I have our house decorated like a place I've never even seen but all that's going to change! We're going to Egypt!"

Mac hugged his wife. "Where in Egypt?"

"The West Bank of Luxor."

"The Valley of the Kings?"

Gillian nodded. "Yeah, one of my professors from college is doing an excavation. He thinks they may have found a new tomb, he wants me to come down and help him." She hugged her husband and started kissing him. "I can't believe we're going, it's a dream come true."

MacGyver yawned and put his head back down. "Gill, this is really good news but can we talk about it later? It's really early."

"How can you want to go to sleep at a time like this?"

"Sweets, Egypt has been there for about 10 thousand years; it can wait a couple of hours while I get some sleep."

Gillian sighed. "Fine then go to sleep." She rolled him off of her and started to get up; he grabbed her by the wrist. "Hold it a second, who said I wanted to go to sleep by myself?"

Mac was looking at her with those eyes of his, giving her that look that she could never resist. "Come on." He tugged on her wrist.

The young woman shook her head and climbed back into bed, she never could say no to that look.

Gillian had on a white tank top with a picture of the Sphinx on it and red cotton shorts; she was mixing eggs in a bowl. Her husband came into the kitchen; he had just gotten out of the shower. He opened the fridge and got out the milk. "What's for breakfast?"

"Omelets, can you get out the stuff?"

She was standing in front of her husband; he put his arms around her. "Don't I even get a kiss first?"

Gillian turned around, and looked her husband up and down; he had nothing but a pair of green shorts on. "Dressed like that will get you more than a kiss." She gave him a small kiss. "You can't eat breakfast naked Mac."

He got out the cheese and the tomatoes and set them down on the counter; he poured himself a glass of milk. "I'm not naked."

"Close enough."

MacGyver left the kitchen and went into their bedroom; he came back into the kitchen with a green tank top on. "Better?"

Gillian gave him another kiss. "Much, and no you weren't naked but it was enough to distract me terribly."

He leaned against the counter and watched as she cut up the tomatoes and cheese. "Did you sleep at all?"

"Yeah, I dreamt about Egypt."

She poured the eggs into the skillet and put the bowl into the sink. "I can't wait; it's going to be amazing to see it. I'm hoping we'll have time to do a little sight seeing."

"How are you on your Arabic?"

"Good, I took a lot of classes in it."

Mac looked at her sideways. "Yeah but are you fluent?"

Gillian was holding the spatula, waiting until the eggs were ready for the cheese and tomatoes. "Mac I'm an archaeologist with a love of Egypt, of course I can speak the native language. I can also read hieroglyphics, but you already knew that." She sighed. "Of course, it's going to sound weird hearing Arabic coming from an American woman with long red hair but nevertheless I can speak it."

Mac nodded and sipped his milk. "Since we got the language issue covered, we'll be just fine."

MacGyver and Gillian were in his office, they were sitting on his couch watching a tape. Gillian had her legs across her husband's lap, since it was Friday both of them were in shorts and t-shirts. The phone buzzed, Mac sighed and moved her legs off of his lap so he could get up. He walked over to his desk and pressed the intercom button.

"Yeah?"

"Mac, I need you and Gill to come to my office."

Mac looked at his wife. "How did you know she was here?"

"Where else would she be? Hurry up, it's important."

"Be right there Pete." He turned off the intercom and looked at his wife. "Turn it off Gill. You heard the man, I smell an assignment."

Gillian picked up the remote and turned off the TV. "You're right; we definitely need to work on his timing."

MacGyver walked over to the couch and stretched out his hand. "Come on, let's go."

Gillian took his hand and he pulled her off the couch.

MacGyver and Gillian were running through the jungle. Mac had on khaki from head to foot; he crouched down and brushed a few giant leaves aside. He peered through a pair of binoculars; he was looking at the red adobe hacienda that was a few hundred yards away.

"Well there is it, Alban's hacienda." He passed the binoculars to his wife.

Gillian was wearing a tan tank top and khaki shorts; she had on her hiking boots.

The jungle was pretty hot and sticky and sweat was breaking out on both of them, they weren't sure if it was because of the weather or their assignment. She took the binoculars from her husband and looked at the house.

"Yeah looks more like an adobe fortress though, how do we get in?"

Mac sighed and wiped his brow, it was incredibly hot. "Good question, let's get closer and see if we can find a way in."

They kept down low as they carefully moved closer to the large light red colored house.

Pete had called them into his office, he had just gotten off the phone with the Pentagon, there was a man named Alvaro Alban that was causing trouble in Guatemala; he was on the verge of starting a revolution. The government didn't like the idea of a revolution starting so close to American soil. Pete was asked to send two people into the jungles of Guatemala to bring back proof of Alban's personal involvement in the trouble.

The couple reached the edge of the house and looked around, the guards were no where to be seen. Mac shook his head, he didn't like it.

"Too easy, way too easy." He turned and looked at his wife. "We can just go on in? No, I don't think so."

Gillian nodded; it did seem terribly convenient that no one was around. "Why don't we wait until its dark Mac, then we would have the advantage."

"We can't, remember what Pete said? He's meeting with one of the General's right hand men today, pictures of the two of them would be part of the proof the Pentagon needs."

"True."

Mac reached out and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. "Besides, the chopper will be here in two hours. I don't want us to be here any longer than we have to."

Gillian smiled at her husband. "You'll get no arguments from me on that one."

MacGyver raised his binoculars to his face again and peered through them. "Looks like there is a back patio, let's go around and see if we can get in that way."

"Sure, why not?"

He tucked his binoculars into his fanny pack and they both kept down low as they used the thick dense jungle to camouflage their presence.

The couple made it to the back of the hacienda. There was a beautiful back porch area, there was white wrought iron furniture sitting just beyond the backdoor. The furniture was sitting on blue and white ceramic tile, there was a even a huge white foundation that was running.

Gillian nodded. "Very nice, looks so warm and cozy."

"Yeah, really cozy." Mac looked around and saw that the coast was clear. "Well let's go."

The couple was about to emerge from their green leafy covering when the back door opened, Mac grabbed his wife by the wrist.

"Get down!"

They both nose dived down onto the ground. MacGyver carefully lifted his head and saw the dark haired man with a thick mustache, he was dressed in a white shirt and light grey pants. He was talking to a man in a uniform. Mac recognized the man from the photo Pete had given to him. He was breathing hard as he looked at his wife.  "It's Alban, get out the camera."

"Got it." Gillian reached down and touched her pocket. She took out a tiny spy camera and peered through it, she started taking pictures of the two men. She took 6 pictures and tucked the small camera back into her pocket. "Are we still going to go in?"

"Yeah, we better get more proof other than the photos; the government isn't going to be happy with just photos."

Gillian sighed. "Oh of course not, that would be too easy." She was sweating bullets; she could feel the sweat covering her whole body.

MacGyver looked at his wife and smiled. "It's all part of the game Gill."

They watched as the two men went back into the house, Mac checked his watch. "We have an hour, come on."

Mac led the way; they came out of the jungle and ran over to the side of the house. They peered in through the glass door and saw that no one was around. He turned the door knob and they both went in.

The couple was running hand in hand through the jungle, they both were very happy and relieved.

"Pete is going to be happy, we got the proof and no one even knew we were there." MacGyver pulled his wife towards him and hugged her. "We did good."

Gillian sighed and put her arms around her husband. "Yeah we did."

Mac let go of her and started unbuttoning his khaki shirt. He had on a white tank top underneath it, he tied his shirt around his waist. "Man it's hot."

They started walking towards the pickup sight; he had his arm slung across his wife's shoulders. "What do you say we go home, climb into a nice cool shower and stay in bed the whole weekend?"

Gillian smiled at her husband. "Well, I don't want you to get too cool." She faced him and ran her hand down his chest, she was walking backwards. "Save some of that heat for later."

MacGyver smiled at his wife. "Oh I got plenty of that. I'm hot blooded, remember?"

Gillian shook her head. "Are you sure you aren't Indian?"

"It's a possibility, why?"

"Because, I'm Cherokee and I'm pretty hot blooded."

The sound of a chopper stopped the conversation; they shielded their eyes from the bright sun and saw the dark olive helicopter. They saw the Director of Operations peering down at them, he was wearing khaki pants and his tan jacket over it. He was leaning down from the open doors and waved.

Mac smiled when he saw his friend. "Hey it's Pete; I guess he wanted to make sure we made it home."

Gillian nodded. "Yeah, he does tend to worry."

The chopper got lower and Pete dropped a rope ladder that was attached to the chopper. "Come on, let's go!"

The couple turned towards each other. "Who goes first?"

Mac took a coin out of his pocket and flipped it. "Call it!"

Gillian watched as he slapped the coin against his hand. "Heads."

MacGyver lifted his hand. "Sorry Sweets it's tails, I go first."

Gillian bowed. "By all means."

"Thank you." MacGyver started climbing the rope ladder.

Pete was watching as his friend got about halfway up. "Gillian, let's go!"

Gillian nodded and started climbing the ladder. The sounds of gunshots rang out and she ducked, she turned around and saw uniformed soldiers starting to come out of the jungle. She gasped and started climbing faster. Pete took his friend's hand and helped him into the chopper.

"Welcome aboard!"

"Thanks!"

They heard the shots and looked down. Mac's eyes grew wide, they weren't that far from his wife. "Gillian come on climb!"

Gillian nodded and started climbing faster, the shots were coming closer.

Mac crouched down and watched his wife get closer. "Almost there Gill, come on!"

A bullet hit the rope ladder, it hit one of the support ropes and it started to fray. Gillian saw it and she started climbing even faster. She saw her husband getting closer, a few more steps and she would be able to grab his hand. The shots were firing all around her, they sounded like bees whizzing by her ears. Another one hit the rope ladder, it hit the second rope and that one too was starting to fray. Mac laid down on the chopper and reached out. "Take my hand you're almost there!"

Gillian climbed one more step and stretched out, her hand brushed against her husband's. That's when the rope ladder snapped…

Gillian could feel herself falling backwards. She saw the look of horror that bloomed on her husband's face, she was a good 20 feet in the air; it was going to hurt like hell when she landed.

MacGyver tried to dive after her but Pete grabbed his legs. "No Mac!"

Gillian landed on her left side. She hit pretty hard, it knocked the wind out of her; the whole side of her body was screaming in pain.

"Gillian!" MacGyver got up on all fours, he tried to get climb back down the remains of the ladder but Pete grabbed him. "No! You can't go!" Pete looked at the pilot. "We have to get out of here!" The shots were still being fired, now they were aiming at the helicopter.

Gillian was finally able to breathe. She looked up at the helicopter, she saw her husband, Pete had a hold of him. She raised her hand towards him, but then it lowered again as the whole world turned black.

 MacGyver saw the soldiers surrounding his unconscious wife. He struggled against his friend's hold but it was no use, Pete was not about to let him go.

The helicopter flew just across the border to Mexico. Mac was sitting on the edge of the open door, he hadn't said a word to his friend. He was extremely angry that Pete had stopped him. They landed at a small air base, it belonged to the Mexican Air Force; they were cooperating with the Pentagon. Mac got out of the copter and marched towards the nearby hanger.  Pete got out and followed him.

"MacGyver wait a minute."

Mac didn't listen to him. He went into the hanger, there was a jet being worked on and pieces of airplane were everywhere; he didn't really want to talk to his friend right now, he was too angry. The hanger was where they had left from in the first place; it was only a short ride by chopper to Coban, that was where the hacienda was. His tan knapsack was still sitting on a table just inside the hanger; he picked it up. Pete could tell he was very upset, he sighed.

"Mac will you please wait a minute?"

MacGyver ignored him; he started looking around for useful stuff to put into his knapsack. He walked by Pete and the stout man grabbed his arm and spun him around; his friend's dark eyes were cold and dangerous. "Mac I think we need to talk about this."

"No, we don't." He started to leave and Pete once again grabbed his arm.

"Yes we do!"

Mac sighed. "Pete, I don't have time for this right now."

"Why not? What are you going to do?"

"I'll give you one guess." Mac pulled his arm out of Pete's grasp, he walked away from him.

"You can't go back there!"

"I'm not asking for your permission!" MacGyver turned around and faced his friend. "You left her behind Pete! You wouldn't let me get her! I'm going back!"

Pete lowered his head; he did feel bad that they had left Gillian behind. "We had no choice Mac."

"Yes we did! I had made mine when you grabbed me!" He rubbed his hand down his face. "Do you know what they are going to do to her? When they find that camera on her?" He shook his head and covered her eyes; he didn't want to think about that.

Pete walked over to his friend and put his hand on his back. "Mac, I know that what I did angered you and I'm sorry but I couldn't take the chance of the chopper being shot down. It belongs to the Mexican Air Force, and that could start trouble for the Mexican government, I had no choice."

Mac uncovered his face and swallowed hard. "I'm going back Pete."

He nodded. "I know, but you aren't going alone. I'm coming with you; you're going to need all the help you can get."

Gillian started to come around, her whole left side was aching; she wondered if she had broken anything, she reached down and touched her side. She opened her eyes and looked around; she was in a pretty ancient looking prison cell. The walls were made of stone and there was hay all around her, it reminded her of a dungeon, there were even shackles on the wall. She slowly got to her feet, her whole side was stiff. She was able to walk but her hip hurt bad as she did so, as far as she could tell, nothing was broken.

The door to the cell was wooden and there were bars on the little window. She pulled on the door, it was old but solid.

Gillian touched her pockets; she felt the camera and brought it out of her pocket. She opened it and took the tiny roll of film and tucked it into her left sock, inside her boot; she put the camera back in her pocket. She heard a commotion, the door was being unlocked and she stepped back away from it. The wooden door opened and three men walked in. They were all in uniforms; all of them were of Latin descent, dark haired with dark complexions. Two of the men had big machine guns, she recognized the third, it was the man that Alban had met with, he smiled at her.

"You are awake, good, perhaps now you can answer a few questions."

Gillian licked her lips and swallowed hard. She was terrified but she wasn't about to let it show. "Depends on what you ask."

The soldier speaking to her was handsome but there was something sinister about his face, he nodded. "I have many questions; first off what is your name?"

"Gillian."

He nodded. "Capitan Alejandro Joaquin." The English he spoke was perfect but there was a slight accent to it. "Now that introductions are over, what are you doing here?"

Gillian shrugged. "Nothing much."

Alejandro was standing close to her; before she could even blink he backhanded her. She stumbled back, her hair partially covering her face. She moved it out of the way and looked at him.

"Wrong! You wouldn't be here for nothing, now tell me!"

Her left cheek was stinging her but her eyes remained fixed on him. "Sorry that's the only answer I have to give you."

Alejandro did it again, he backhanded her with the other hand. He grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her up against the back wall. "Don't play stupid games with me Woman; I can make you very sorry."
There was a little bit of blood coming out of her nose, she wiped it away. "I'm not telling you anything I don't care what you do."

Alejandro nodded; she had guts that much was certain. He took a good look at her, she was beautiful, he still had his hands on her shoulders, he started rubbing his hands down her arms. "You don't huh?"

His hands on her made the young woman flinch; he smiled when he saw her carefully hidden terror suddenly appear in her dark eyes. He looked down at her hand and saw her wedding rings. "You are married, was that your husband? The man in the helicopter?"

"Yeah, it was." She wiggled a little, trying to get his hands off of her.

The Capital smiled. "Fool, he let you fall right into our hands." He leaned close to her, she turned away from him and he smelled her hair. "He must be going crazy knowing that you are here, with me." He touched her chin and turned it towards him. He tried to kiss it but she shoved him back and slapped him. "I don't think so!"

Alejandro laughed and touched his cheek. "Very good, you have a lot of fire." His smile quickly faded, he reached out and grabbed her around the throat. "And I'm going to enjoy seeing that fire slowly burn out when I get you to tell me the reason you are here!"

Gillian tried to pry his fingers from her throat but he was squeezing it too tight. "There is no reason."

The Capitan saw a bulge in her pocket. He touched it and felt something there, he stuck his hand in and brought out the little camera; he let go of her throat. "No reason huh, what's this?"

Gillian rubbed her throat. "A camera."

He showed it to her. "A spy camera! What were you taking pictures of?"

"The jungle."

Alejandro hit her again and grabbed her by the hair; he was pressing her face into the stone wall. "I want to know what you were taking pictures of and I want to know now."

Gillian cried out, he had a good hold of her hair and the rough wall was digging into her face. "Just the jungle."

He opened the camera and saw that it was empty. "Where is the film?"
"I don't know."

The Capitan let go of her, he shoved her hard against the wall. "I am sick of your games Woman!" He punched her and she slid down the wall.  He grabbed her by the arms and hauled her back up. "You tell me or I'm going to make you sorry! And I guarantee that your husband won't come within 10 feet of you by the time I'm through!"

Gillian couldn't help but laugh. "I don't think so."

Alejandro got extremely angry. He punched her again, she fell back against the wall and down on all fours. He kicked her in the ribs; the force of it flipped her onto her back.

Gillian was having a hard time breathing, everything was killing her. She didn't have the strength to get up. The Capitan saw this and smiled, he stood over her. "You don't think he won't touch you? We'll see." He started unbuckling his belt, he crouched down close to her as he opened it; he started to unzip his pants.

Gillian's heart was slamming into her rib cage; she started breathing hard out of sheer terror. She started feeling around on the ground with her hands. 

Alejandro stretched out beside her and started to kiss her, she struggled against it but moved partially on top of her and he was very heavy. Gillian's right hand was touching the straw. She found something hard in it, it was a rock and she started trying to pick it up.

Alejandro was fumbling with her belt; he was going to do the unthinkable. She was not about to let him, she finally got her fingers around the small rock; she lifted it and brought it down on his head. The Capitan pulled back, he touched his head. Gillian swung it again and hit him right across the face, he fell to the side; his cheek was cut open and bleeding. He was furious now; he grabbed his gun out of his holster and hit her across the head. She fell back unconscious on the hay, the rock falling from her hand.

Alejandro slowly got up and fixed his pants. He looked down at her before turning his attention to the two guards that were with him.

"She is tough but we will see how tough she is when the General gets here." He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and put it to his cheek; the three men left the cell and locked the door behind them.

MacGyver and Pete were back in the helicopter, they were going to go to get dropped off by the border; the rest of the way had to be on foot. He was thinking about his wife, he stuck his hand in his white tank top and brought out his necklace. He started rubbing it in between his fingers, Gillian said the stone was a reminder of his courage and strength, and that was exactly what he needed right now. Pete was sitting beside him, he saw him.

"What's that?"

"Jade."

"Yeah I can see that. I meant where did you get it?"

Mac turned towards him, his face reflecting fear and worry. "Gillian gave it to me." He swallowed hard. "For our anniversary, it belonged to her father."

"Oh." Pete sighed; he could tell how scared his friend was. "We're going to get her back, you know that right?"

"Yeah." He didn't sound too convinced, he just kept rubbing the green stone.

"She won't tell them anything Mac."

MacGyver closed his eyes briefly. "That's what I'm afraid of. They're probably going to try to get her to talk." He got this image of his wife being tortured or worse came into his mind; he squeezed his eyes shut against it. It was the worse part that had him terrified.

Pete put his arm around his friend's shoulders. "Try not to think about that, okay? Gillian is strong and she's tough and so are you."

"I don't feel so tough right now Pete. I just keep seeing her reaching out to me."

Pete nodded. "So do I." He leaned back in his seat. "What were you doing in the base kitchen?"

Mac opened his knapsack and brought a few things that looked like grenades. They were plastic white tubes of PVC pipe that he had covered heavily with silver duct tape; they had fuses attached to them. "Cooking up a little surprise for our soldier friends."

"Grenades?"

"No, special grenades. I just hope they work and buy us a little time to get Gillian out of there."

"And we don't even know where she is."

MacGyver put the grenades back in his knapsack and unzipped his fanny pack; he brought out a small receiver and turned it on. Pete creased his brow when he saw what his friend was holding.

"What's that?"

"A little something I made before we left. I put a transmitter in Gillian's necklace in case we got separated." He looked down at the display. "Right now she's north of here about 10 miles away. She'll be closer though when the chopper drops us off."

"So all we have to do is go in, grab her and make it back across the border, that's simple enough."
Mac turned off his little black box receiver. "Yeah that's what we said about getting the evidence too and looked how that's turned out so far." He leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes; he had his hand closed over his jade necklace.

MacGyver wished so hard that there was some way he could know if she was okay, just one little tiny hint. He started thinking hard about her, her face, her smile, his heart started beating hard. He got this soothing warm feeling, like he had splashed himself with warm water. He only got that whenever Gillian was using her abilities on him, he opened his eyes.

"Pete?"

The Director of Operations was relaxing, he turned his head towards his friend, his eyes were closed. "Yeah Mac?"

MacGyver swallowed hard, that feeling wasn't going away. It was a strange sensation and he wondered if maybe it was his wife trying to reach him. "I know this is going to sound completely nuts but, I feel her."

Pete opened his eyes. "What?"

"I can feel her; I can almost smell her perfume."

Pete sighed; he hated to bring this up. "Mac I adore Gill you know that but, and I hate to say this, but how do we know she's still alive?"

MacGyver shook his head. "She's alive Pete and she's close. I would stake my life on that."

"And that is exactly what you are going to do."

Mac got up from his seat and went over to the pilot; it was time to drop them off. The pilot gave him a thumb's up and Mac sat back down.

Gillian woke up to find a metal tray and a metal cup sitting down on the ground beside her; it had what looked like stew on it. She wrinkled her nose at it, she wasn't about to eat. She was one big ball of pain, everything hurt from her hair down to her toes, especially her face. It felt beaten and swollen; she could only imagine what she must have looked like. She sat up slowly and leaned against the wall. She thought about her husband, she closed her eyes and thought about him.

"Mac."

Gillian knew he was probably coming for her but the question was, when and how. She couldn't wait for him to break her out; he would be taking a terrible risk. She couldn't let him do that; he would end up beside her in that filthy little cell. Gillian had to think of a way to get out and go to him. But how? And with what? 

The young woman sighed and looked around.  "Come on Gill, you can do this. What you Mac do?" Her hair was loose and she ran her fingers through it. "Well, he would think of a way to defend himself, but with what?"

There was nothing in the cell but the straw, the walls and the shackles hanging from the walls.

"Damn it!" Gillian covered her face with her hands and breathed through them. "Where are you Mac? I need you, help me get out of here!"

She uncovered her eyes and the first thing she saw was the metal cup. She could hear her husband telling her that even the smallest things could be turned into something useful; he always told her that.  "The cup? How useful would this be?" She picked it up by the handle and looked at it, the handle was loose. "The handle." She grabbed it and pulled it off of the cup; the end that was connected to the cup was sharp. She touched it with her fingertips, it was sharp but it could be a lot sharper, like a knife. She needed something to sharpen it against. She was leaning against the wall and she turned towards it and started rubbing the end of the handle against it.

MacGyver and Pete had been dropped off; the chopper turned around and headed back for Mexico. The two men had been running through the jungle, they were both out of breath and stopped for a second. MacGyver crouched down on the ground, he took the receiver out and turned it on, his wife was about 2 miles away. Pete was bent over; he was trying to catch his breath.

"If I had known I was going to be doing all this running I would have gotten into shape."

Mac got back to his feet and wiped the sweat from his face. "You're doing good Pete; we have 2 more miles to go."

Pete straightened back up. "So what's the plan?"

"I don't know yet." He put his receiver back in his knapsack. "Ready to go?"

Pete took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yeah."

The two men once again started running.

Gillian had her extremely sharp toy tucked into the back of her belt. She was lying down on the straw, her left hip especially was hurting her; she was rubbing it, hoping that she was going to be able to run. She heard the sound of the door unlocking, it swung open and she was once again face to face with Capitan Alejandro Joaquin. He didn't look very happy and she could see why, his whole right cheek was split open; it looked like he had been slashed with a knife. He was back with his two guards that were there before; he was looking down at her. Gillian couldn't help but smile.

"Hi Alex, nice face. Cut yourself shaving?" Her smile disappeared. "That's what you get for trying to take something that doesn't belong to you."

Alejandro's jaw clenched; he just wanted to grab her and beat the truth out of her but he was able to restrain himself. "No, but I do owe you for it."

"No, I don't think so. I hit you with a rock you hit me with a gun, I say that makes us even."

The Capitan laughed. "I don't agree, but then again I am no longer in charge of questioning you."

Gillian sighed out of relief. "Oh good, so who is?"

He stepped aside and behind him stood a woman. She was dressed in green camouflage; she had long dark hair that hung to her chest and dark skin.

Alejandro cleared his throat. "May I present General Luisa Robles."

Gillian was surprised. "Wow a lady General, how very impressive."

Luisa gave her a nod. "Thank you." She turned to her Capitan. "Have you frisked her? The film could be on her."

"No General, I haven't had the chance."

Gillian crossed her arms over her chest. "He was too busy beating me up."

Luisa glanced at the young woman. "Frisk her Capitan."

Alejandro smiled widely. "Yes General."

He walked over to the young woman and grabbed her by the arm; he hauled her to her feet.

"Ow hey I could have gotten up on my own!" He had her against the wall.

"Put your arms behind your head and lace your fingers together." Gillian reluctantly did what he asked, her left hip hurt to stand on it. Alejandro started with her shoulders and worked his way down to her chest. Gillian started to squirm; his hands touching her filled her with complete disgust.

"Hold still!" He was lingering on her chest and Gillian was getting more and more antsy about it.

"She said frisk me not feel me up!"

Alejandro sighed and moved down. He was touching her waist; he lifted up her tank top and stuck his fingers in her waistband.

Gillian sighed, she made a note to herself that when this was all over she was going to soak in a bathtub filled with disinfectant to get his touch off of her. "Can you hurry up?"

"Quiet!" Alejandro crouched down. He was touching her shorts; he put his hands on her legs and started caressing them.

Gillian didn't like this, not one bit. There was only one man on the whole planet that was allowed to touch her like this and it certainly wasn't Alejandro, she had enough. She looked down at him and saw how he was smiling, he was enjoying himself. The Capitan was close to her legs, she decided to get even for the way he was touching her. She brought her left knee up hard; it hit him in the chin. He fell back onto his butt.

Alejandro was furious; he got up fast and pulled his gun from his holster. "You are going to pay now!"

"Capitan!" The angry man turned and looked at his General.

Luisa was frowning. "Take your men and leave me alone with her."

Alejandro tucked his gun back into its holster, he was rubbing his chin. "Yes General." He looked at his men and they all left the cell and closed the door behind them.

Luisa put her hands on her hips and walked closer to the young woman. "Let us talk you and I. How can I get you to trust me?"

Gillian looked at the dark haired woman. She had a knife strapped to her leg and a gun on her hip; she glanced at them both quickly and shrugged. "Nothing comes to mind."

Luisa saw what she had looked at. She did a strange thing, she took off the gun and the knife and walked over to the door. She put them through the bars on the little window and dropped them. "There, is that a start?"

Gillian shrugged. "Maybe."

Luisa walked back over to her and stood before her. "I am not an unreasonable woman Gillian, Alejandro told me about the camera, all you have to do is give me the film and you are free to go."

The young captive woman shook her head. "I can't do that General, I'm sorry but I can't."

The lady General nodded. "I understand, I know all about loyalty." She shook her head. "But if you do not tell me where it is I will have to hand you over to Alejandro and let him do what he wishes to you. The Capitan can be very brutal, especially to female prisoners he finds very attractive."

Gillian casually put her hand behind her back and took out her sharpened cup handle. "I won't tell you anything, but I will say this. If he tries to touch me again we are going to have a problem, and only one of us might survive it."

Luisa nodded. "Then you give me no choice."

Gillian had her weapon in her hand. "You leave me no choice either."

The General turned her head and called for Alejandro to come back into the cell. She faced the young woman again and that's when Gillian took a step towards her and right crossed her. It turned Luisa to the side and Gillian grabbed her around her neck and pulled her close; she lifted her chin and put the knife against her throat. The cell door opened and Alejandro and his men pulled their guns.

"Release the General!"

Gillian shook her head. "No, drop those guns or she's dead."

Luisa could feel the sharp point of the sharpened cup handle press into her jugular vein.

"I'm not bluffing Luisa, tell them to drop them or I swear I'll put this through your neck!"

Luisa felt Gillian put pressure on the handle; it was going deeper into her skin. "Do as she says."

The three men dropped their guns and Luisa looked back a little at her captor. "How did you get that? Alejandro frisked you."

Gillian was behind Luisa, she had her hand against the dark haired woman's forehead and had her head pulled back a little. "Yeah Alex frisked me, but he was enjoying himself too much to do a real thorough job and as for where I got this. I'm married to a very ingenious man; part of that ingenuity has rubbed off a little." She looked at the two men. "Step away from the door!"

The three uniformed men reluctantly moved away and Gillian and the General walked out of the cell. She closed the door behind them and locked it.

MacGyver and Pete were up in a tree, just outside the perimeter of the camp. They were looking down into the compound, there was a huge grey stone building that was surrounded by a lot of armed guards. Mac was sitting on a thick branch, he had his binoculars raised and was looking through them.

"Nice fortress. This is going to be tricky, guards everywhere."

Pete nodded. "Yeah so I see, what's the plan?"

Mac lowered the binoculars from his face. "We're going to wait here. It'll be dark in a few of hours and that's when we'll go."

"Any idea where Gillian could be?"

MacGyver got out of his receiver and turned it on; he saw the red light and looked at the stone building. "According to my transmitter she's at the far end of that building." He turned it off and put it back in his fanny pack.

There was a commotion coming from that end of the building, he saw the men pull their machine guns off of their shoulders and go running over to that far end. There was a pair of doors that were thrown open and the two men watched as Gillian came out of them. She was holding something shiny to the throat of a long haired woman.

MacGyver's eyes got huge. "Oh my God!" He was terribly relieved to see his wife; his heart was thumping in his chest.  He quickly opened his knapsack.

Pete too was very surprised. "Holy Cow! She's got one of them!"

"Yeah, come on Pete, we have to lend a hand." He set the knapsack between them and took out a lighter and some matches; he gave a few matches to his friend. "Here, light the grenades and start tossing them."

Mac flicked his lighter and grabbed a long silver tube. He lit the fuse and drew his arm back. He tossed the lit grenade in the middle, it went off, exploding into a pink fog and the men around it all yelled and covered their eyes with their hands.

Gillian heard the explosion and saw the way the soldiers reacted to it, she found it strange. She caught a whiff of the air and her eyes grew huge. "That's red pepper, vinegar, and lemon juice!" She knew there was only one person that used that combination of ingredients, her husband. Gillian started looking around, he was close by.

Pete lit the grenades and started throwing them everywhere. They were exploding and the soldiers were running around trying to get away from the blinding stinging pink fog.

Mac took something out of the knapsack and it was a small black backpack. He put it on, and looked at his friend. "Don't just use the grenades, use the fireballs too. I'm going to go in and grab her, cover our escape, okay?"

Pete nodded and touched his arm. "Be careful."

Mac pointed to the pack on his back. "Don't worry Pete; I got a fool proof way of getting us out of this." He gave his friend a wink and got up. He walked over to the edge of the branch; he grabbed a smaller one and swung down from the tree. He landed in the middle of the compound.

Gillian dragged Luisa with her as she walked around, looking for her husband. She saw the direction that the grenades were coming from and she headed towards it. They rounded the building and Alejandro was waiting for them, he waited until Gillian was passed him; he took out of his gun and started shooting at her. Gillian turned towards him, she let go of Luisa and brought her arm down on the back of her neck, knocking her out. She dropped her and started to run as fast as she could, with her left hip that wasn't very fast. Alejandro was firing at her, one of his bullets hit her left leg and she screamed and fell to the ground; her whole leg was throbbing. She tried to get up but there was no way, she started to crawl on her stomach.

Mac heard his wife scream, he ran in the direction it came from. He rounded the building and saw his wife crawling on the ground. Alejandro was walking towards her, his gun in his hand. Mac licked his lips and pressed them together; he took off his backpack and unzipped it. He got out his surprise and started walking towards his wife.

Gillian was breathing hard, her whole leg was screaming in pain. She looked over her shoulder and saw Alejandro was close, she rolled over and started crawling backwards.

The Capitan smiled. "Your time has come Gillian. I am going to enjoy this; you're never going to see your husband again."

Gillian shook her head at him, but deep down she knew he was right.  She was still trying to get away, she was moving backwards. She bumped into something and looked up, she gasped when she saw her husband looking down at her. She felt a lump form instantly in her throat. "Mac."

MacGyver was holding 8 sticks of dynamite all taped together with duct tape. Alejandro saw him and pointed his gun at him. Mac shook his head. "No, I don't think so, she's coming with me." He took his Zippo lighter out of his fanny pack and flicked it.

Alejandro shook his head. "No, you both are my prisoners."

"Wrong, there's enough dynamite here to level a good portion of this jungle." He looked down at his wife. "Gill, can you get up?"

Gillian shook her head. "I don't think so Mac, my leg."

"You have to try."

Gillian carefully got to her feet; she put her weight on her leg and cried out. "I can't walk, it hurts too much."

"That's okay." Mac looked at the Capitan. "Put your gun down or this whole place is a pile of dust."

Alejandro scoffed. "And you long with it, you aren't going to kill yourself or your wife."

Mac shrugged. "Now that isn't necessarily true. Yeah we'd die but at least we would go together and take all of you with us." His face was very serious, he wasn't bluffing and he moved the lighter closer to the fuse. The Capitan could see that MacGyver was not kidding clearly in his eyes; he uncocked his gun and tucked it back into his holster.

"Good boy, now, get out of the way. We're leaving."

Gillian was standing behind her husband. She had her hands on his shoulders; her adrenaline rush was gone. "Where is the gate?"

Alejandro motioned with his head. "Over there."

Gillian smiled. "Good."

Mac was looking around; all of the soldiers were standing still. No one was about to mess with him. "Gill, get on my back."

Gillian put her hands on his shoulders and jumped up, she wrapped her one good leg around his waist. She wasn't holding on that well but she knew that both of his hands were busy at the moment.

MacGyver started walking backwards towards the gate. "Gill, keep an eye on what's behind us."

She was looking over his shoulder. "I'm checking, we're clear."

Mac was walking backwards; they made it to the gate.

The explosions started up again and the men were scrambling about, all except Alejandro. He was watching the couple, he wasn't about to let them get away.

MacGyver smiled at him. "Well it's been a lot of fun but it's time to go." He lit the fuse and drew his arm back; he threw the bundle right at the building. He turned around, grabbed his wife by the legs and ran.

Alejandro pulled his gun and was going to shoot at them. The bundle exploded into a huge amount of thick white dust, they sticks weren't really dynamite. The cloud of dust was everywhere, enveloping everything, blinding the soldiers and covering their escape.

MacGyver had a good hold of his wife as he ran. Pete was not far behind him, he had his friend's knapsack around his chest.

"Where are we going?"

Mac looked over his shoulder at his friend. "The river!"

Gillian had her hands on his husband's shoulders, she was exhausted and a terrible mess. She put her head down on the back of his neck.

They were running at top speed through the jungle, getting beat and whipped by thick leaves as they did so. The sound of rushing water got their attention, they emerged from the jungle and saw the river, it was just below them, about 10 feet away. Mac looked down at it, Pete was beside him.

"If we jump, that'll buy us some time; we'll only be about 5 miles to the border."

Pete nodded. "Then I say we jump."

MacGyver checked over his shoulder. "How are you holding up Gill?"

Gillian looked down at the rushing water, they didn't have much choice. "I'm a mess but I think I can make it."

He nodded and stepped back. "Okay, on the count of three we jump and let's try to stay together."

"You got it."

Mac took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "One, two, three!"

They all jumped. Gillian had a tight hold on her husband; she took a deep breath and put her head down.

The two men and one woman hit the water, the river was strong and it swept them away. Gillian was holding her husband but the impact knocked her off of his back. She was trying to swim but the current was strong, it carried her for a short distance. When the water calmed down she swam over to a large rock and leaned against it; she was out of breath as she pulled herself partially up on it.  She turned around and looked across the water, she didn't see anyone else.

"Mac? Pete?"

Pete came up a short distance away, he swam over to her and Gillian hugged him. "Pete, are you okay?"

The stout man coughed and wiped the water from his face. "Yeah, but where is MacGyver?"

Gillian shook her head. "I don't know, I lost him when we hit the water." She was looking around, she was getting worried. "Mac?"

He came up behind her and started coughing, he was out of breath. "Wow what a ride!" He smoothed his hair back and wiped his face. He saw his wife and he went over to her and hugged her hard. He closed his eyes; he was very relieved. "Are you okay?"

Gillian put her arms around his neck. "No, not really." She was trembling against him and he hugged her tighter. "It's okay Gill its over, you're safe now."

She put her head down on his shoulder. "I knew you would come for me."

He pulled back and looked at her face. She was all beaten and battered; he touched it gently. "Of course I would come for you." He touched his forehead to hers.

Gillian was starting to calm down; she still had her little sharpened cup handle in her hand. "I guess I don't need this anymore." She lifted her hand and opened it. Her husband saw it and picked it up. "Cup handle?"

She nodded, Mac smiled at her. "What gave you that idea?"

"You did."

"Well it was a very good idea." Mac leaned forward and kissed his wife gently. He was looking at the purple marks that were on her cheeks and he touched one. "What do you say we get out of this water and find someplace to hide until it gets dark?"

Gillian nodded. "Okay."

He bent over and scooped her out of the water; the threesome walked to the shore and started looking for a place to take shelter.

MacGyver, Gillian and Pete were in a cave They found it about a mile from the river, under a huge clump of trees. They covered the entrance with branches and leaves, they were in pretty far and Mac used his Zippo to make a small fire.

"Okay Gill, let me see that leg."

She was lying on her right side; she unbuckled her shorts and started to pull them down. Pete turned his back, trying to give her as much privacy as he could.

"It's okay Pete. You've seen me in less than this, you don't have to turn around."

She slid her shorts down her leg and took them off. Mac saw her whole hip was so purple it was black, he hissed through his teeth. "From the rope ladder falling?"

"Yeah, I'm lucky I didn't break my leg."

"Or your neck." He turned towards his friend. "Pete can I have my knapsack?"

The stout man turned around; when he saw her leg his eyes grew wide. "Holy Cow Gillian."

"I know, first I fall on my leg and then I get shot in it."

Mac handed his friend a flashlight, the small fire gave off light but not enough. "Here Pete hold this."

"Sure." Pete turned on the flashlight and shined it on his wife's leg.

"You're not shot Gill. The bullet hit you yeah but it gave you a pretty good size scratch on your thigh."

Gillian sighed. "It felt like my whole leg got ripped off and you say it's just a scratch?"

MacGyver took a small first-aid kit out of his knapsack. "I know grazes hurt as bad as being shot." He took the cap off of the bottle. "I'm going to clean it out."

"Go ahead, it already hurts pretty good."

He poured the peroxide into the large scratch and it made her flinch. "Sorry." The peroxide was bubbling turning the cut white.

Gillian sighed. "I can't believe what a day this has been."

Pete nodded. "Yeah it's been an adventure." He looked at his best friend's wife. "Gill, about the camera."

She looked over her shoulder at him. "They took the camera."

The Director of Operations sighed. "It's okay Gill, we'll get the proof another way."

Mac finished cleaning out her wound and put gauze on it, he secured it with first-aid tape. "There." He looked at his friend. "Don't worry Pete I'll go back and get the proof."

Gillian shook her head and started to laugh. "You two don't listen too good do you?"

The men turned towards each other. "We listen."

She rolled over partially so she could see both of them. "Apparently not. I said they got the camera, I didn't say they got the film."

She reached down towards her left boot but her hip wouldn't let her. "Mac, take off my left boot please."

MacGyver untied her left boot and took it off, he looked inside it. "I don't see anything Gill."

"My sock." She had on slouch socks, they were baggy.  He carefully pulled it off and the tiny roll of film fell out; she had tucked into the baggy folds of her sock. He picked it up and smiled. "Clever place to hide it." He handed it to Pete. "Here is all the proof you need to go along with the papers I gave you."
Pete sighed and smiled at her. "Thanks Gillian, I know it must have been tough for you."

"Yeah well, Alejandro tried to get me to tell him where that was; he used his fists and his gun mostly."

Mac crawled around to her head, he took out some gauze and wet it with peroxide. She had a cut on her forehead above her eye and he gently dabbed it. "Is that what caused this?"

Gillian hissed through her teeth. "Yeah."

"Why did he do it?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it."

Mac's heart started beating hard in his chest; he licked his lips and looked at his friend. "Pete, can you get that canteen out of my knapsack and go fill it?"

Pete got the hint. "Sure." He got out the canteen and started crawling towards the entrance. When he was gone Mac touched her shoulder, he was absolutely petrified. "Gill, why did he hit you with his gun?"

Gillian looked at him and shook her head. "Please Mac; I don't want to talk about it."

He closed his eyes briefly. "No secrets, remember?" He swallowed hard. "Did he…" He couldn't even say the words.

Gillian could see the terror in his eyes, she knew what he was thinking and she shook her head. "No Mac, that's why he hit me."

MacGyver let out a huge sigh and wiped his hands down his face. "Then why don't you want to talk about it?"

She swallowed hard. "He tried to though." She sat up and moved close to him. "He found the camera and it made him mad; he got even angrier when he found out it was empty. He thought he would soften me up first with a nice beating, that's how come my cheeks have those marks. He also thought kicking me in my ribs would take the fight out of me. He was right, I was hurting pretty good." She licked her lips. "He said that he was going to make it so that you would never want to touch me again; he started to take off his pants. He got down on top of me and he was so heavy, it was like an elephant was on top of me." She was starting to get upset. "I couldn't breathe Mac. He was so heavy; I'm not used to someone so heavy being on me. He started fumbling with my shorts and that's when I got scared and angry."

MacGyver reached out and put his hands on her shoulders, he could feel her trembling. "What did you do to stop him?"

Gillian swallowed hard again. "I was touching the ground, trying to find something. I touched a rock and I hit him on the back of the head. He finally got off of me, that's when I hit him across the face. That's why his right cheek was split open."

Mac remembered the man with the gun, his face was cut open. "That's who had the gun on us?"

She nodded. "His face was bleeding really badly, that's when he knocked me out with his gun."

He drew her to his chest and hugged her. "It's okay Gill, you did the right thing."

She hugged her husband. "He wanted to do horrible things to me Mac. I could see them." She started to cry. "When he was on top of me he said that he was going to make me scream."

Mac hugged her tighter; she burst into tears against him. "Shh, its all right, it's over now. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you." He stroked her hair, and kissed her head; he was just as upset as she was.

"Luisa told me that if I didn't tell them about the film she was going to give me to him. That's when I grabbed her and put my little handle to her throat."

"Pete and I were both very surprised to see you coming out of that building with a hostage."

Gillian pulled back and wiped her face. "Yeah, when the explosions started, I knew it was you."

He creased his brow at her. "How?"

"Yeah, who else would make grenades filled with red pepper, lemon juice and vinegar?"

MacGyver smiled at his wife. "It's better then C-4 and it burns really bad."

Pete came back into the cave. "Mac, Gill, we got trouble, the soldiers aren't too far away. We can't wait 'til dark, we better get moving."

The threesome was racing through the jungle; they had been running as fast as they could for the past hour. Gillian was on her husband's back, her leg felt better but still not good enough for her to run. They were getting close to the Mexican border. The sun was starting to go down but that didn't stop the soldiers' pursuit of them. They could hear the sound of dogs along with them.

MacGyver had a hold of his wife's legs. "The border should be coming up."

Pete was behind him. "How far?"

"Less than a half mile." Mac lifted his wrist and looked at the compass built into his watch; he checked it to make sure they were going the right way.

They could hear the sound of dogs, they were getting closer.

Mac stopped, there was no way they could out run the dogs; they were getting louder. "Gill can you get down for a second?"

"Sure." She carefully climbed down from his back. "What's wrong? Why did you stop?"

"The dogs are coming; we'll never be able to out run them."

Pete was out of breath. "They'll rip us apart, how can we stop them?"

The part of the jungle they were in was pretty dense; there were thick leaves and trees all around them. MacGyver had his knapsack around his chest. "Pete you didn't use all of those grenades did you?"

"No."

Mac found them in the bottom of his bag, there were three of them and he handed one to Pete and one to his wife. "Okay, peel the tape off and unscrew the caps; sprinkle the mixture all over, everywhere."

Gillian still had her little weapon. She took it out of her pocket and cut the silver duct tape that was around it and twisted off the cap, her husband's special mixture looked like harmless pink powder, but it wasn't. The powder had been sprinkled with vinegar, then cooked in a skillet until the vinegar was absorbed into the powder, carefully stirred around until it had dried. Gillian could smell it.

"Wow Mac you really were liberal with the vinegar this time weren't you?"

Mac used his Swiss Army knife to cut the top off of his grenade, he handed it to Pete. "Yeah I was, don't breathe it in."

Gillian sprinkled the mixture all over, Pete cut the top of off of his grenade and started sprinkling it on everything. "I feel sorry for those dogs when they hit this stuff."

"That's the idea Pete. Don't worry the dogs will be fine, and so will the soldiers."

Gillian was done and she handed her husband the empty container. "Okay now what?"

Mac tucked their empty containers back in his bag. "Now we hide, if it doesn't throw off the dogs I'll have to light it."

Pete brushed off his hands. "Done, where do we hide?"

MacGyver looked around. "The only place we can hide, the trees."

The dogs barking and howling got louder. The three of them ducked behind some trees, Mac had Gillian on his back again, they peeked from around two trees. The soldiers were there and Gillian could feel her heart racing, she was scared. The dogs were with them on; they came to the area and started sniffing around. They hit the mixture and they started whining, they shook their heads out, they ran back in the other direction. Some of the soldiers chased after them but some stayed behind.

Mac reached into his right pocket and took out some matches. He dragged it along the tree trunk and tossed it on the ground. He hit a patch of powder that his wife had sprinkled, it blew up and the soldiers covered their eyes. MacGyver lit another match and threw it at another group of soldiers, it blew up again and they all turned around and ran off in the other direction.

Mac sighed and looked at his wife over his shoulder. "Now we can relax."

Pete came out of his hiding place and patted his friend on the back, he was smiling. "Good going Mac, you'll have to give me the recipe for that powder."

"No way! Secret family recipe."

Gillian shook her head. "Oh it's easy Pete all you need is."

Mac reached behind him and put his fingers over her lips. "Uh uh, I told you that in confidence."

Gillian took his fingers from her mouth. "Okay okay, I won't tell him."

She looked at her friend. "Sorry Pete, my lips are sealed."

Pete shook his head. "It's okay Gill." He checked his watch, it was almost 7 o'clock. "Come on let's get to the base before it gets dark."

Gillian was lying in a small hospital bed. The base doctor had checked her over, she had a lot of bruises but nothing was broken. Her left hip was the worst; it had taken the full brunt of her fall. She was going to have to baby it for a while.

MacGyver was with in the room with her, he was dozing in a chair. Pete came into the room and touched his friend on the shoulder, he started awake. "Oh hey Pete."

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

Mac got up from his chair and followed his friend out into the hall. "Is something wrong?"

Pete shook his head. "Oh no everything is fine. I just got off the phone with the Pentagon, I faxed them everything you guys found, including the pictures. I arranged for a courier to deliver everything in person."

MacGyver yawned and rubbed his face. "And what did they say? Is it enough proof?"

"More than enough, The Pentagon was very pleased." He reached into his pocket and took out the photos. "Here have a look."

Mac picked up the pictures and went through them. "Hey these came out great."

"Yeah I know, and it's good that you not only took photo of those papers but took some of them with you. They're really solid proof of Alban's treachery."

"All in a day's work." Mac gave the photos back to his friend.

"Yeah." Pete put the pictures back in his pocket. "What did the doctor say about Gillian?"

"She's going to be okay, she's just bruised."

"Even her hip."

"Yeah, she won't be walking too well on it for a week or two but she's going to be fine."

Pete sighed out of relief. "I'm glad Mac. You both really came through for us on this one; the Pentagon is grateful and so am I." He looked at the open door at the young woman lying in the bed. "She really went through a lot to keep this film from getting into the wrong hands."

Mac nodded. "Yeah she did." He sighed. "I'm going to go back and sit with her."

Pete patted his friend on the back. "I'll try and find us something to eat."

"Okay." Mac smiled at his friend and walked back into the room, he closed the door behind him.

The door to their house opened and the couple walked in. Gillian was walking with a very obvious limp but at least her leg still worked despite how much it hurt to walk on it. The Pentagon had flown them home in a military airplane, it was a long bumpy ride and they both were so glad to be home. MacGyver took off his knapsack and dropped it.

"Remind me never to take a military plane ever again." He stretched his arms over his head.

"Yeah I know, the doctor told me to take it easy. That plane ride was not easy, we should have just walked home." She was rubbing her hip. "Pete knows that we are unavailable for the next few days, right?"

MacGyver scoffed. "Under penalty of death he is not to call us for the next 72 hours." He put his arm around his wife's waist. "Come on, let's clean up."

Gillian shook her head. "Clean up? I think we're beyond that Mac. We need to go run through a car wash about 10 times."

"Well we were in the middle of the jungle all day."

"And in a filthy cell." She sighed. "I don't think I'm going to shower Mac. I don't think I can stand anymore."

"Want me to draw you a bath?"

Gillian smiled at him. "You would do that for me?"

"Sure." He put his arms around her and hugged her. "Why wouldn't I?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

Mac kissed her head. "Which tub?"

"The guest one, that tub is a lot bigger than the one in the master."

"Bubbles?"

"A smidge please."

He gave her head another kiss and went down the hall, the first door to the right just past the kitchen was the guest bathroom. He went into it and started the water for his wife.

Gillian slowly made her way down the hall, her hip was getting stiff again and she rubbed it. She made it to the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. MacGyver came back into the bedroom.

"It's almost ready Gill, how's the hip?"

"Sore and stiff and I'm hoping it will get better fast."

Mac crouched down in front of her. "Well we can do some things to help it, like rub it down and make sure you exercise it."

"Yeah those things will help."

Mac let go of her and got up. "Come on let me help you get into your tub."

Gillian stood up and carefully walked down the hall. They went into the bathroom and she started taking off her clothes, she saw herself in the mirror. "Well I don't look as bad as I thought I did."

She had a bruise on each cheek, and she had a cut and a bruise above her right eye from the pistol.

"No you don't look bad at all."

The bathtub in the guest bathroom was huge, it looked like a mini pool, it was almost twice the size of the one in the master bathroom. Gillian looked at the tub, there was no way her hip was going to let her get into that tub the way she normally did. "Umm… I don't think I can get into it."

MacGyver was snickering. The tub was pretty big, it made his wife look like a dwarf in comparison. "Need some help?"

Gillian narrowed her eyes at him. "It's not funny."

"It is from my end, that tub makes you look pocket sized."

"I am not pocket sized! I may not be very tall but I'm still tall enough to kick you in the butt!"

Her husband grinned at her. "You can't with your bad leg."

She lifted her head and looked at him. "I have two legs Mac, the other one is working just fine." She put her hand on her hips. "This is your idea of helping me? Standing there laughing?"

Mac cleared his throat. "No, I said I would help and I'm going to."

"After you stop laughing."

She opened the door and started pushing on his chest. "That's okay I think I can manage."

Mac sighed as his wife pushed him out the door. "Come on Gill, let me help."

"I'll take care of it thanks." She closed the door and locked it. "Men!"

MacGyver was knocking on the door. "Open the door Gill."

"Ha! Dream on!" She was trying to decide what was the best way to get into the tub without falling on her face, drowning or hurting her hip.

The door was still being knocked on. "Gillian open the door!"

She turned towards it. "Forget it Mac! Go take a shower!"

"Don't make me find a way to get in there!"

"That's the only way you're getting in!"

Gillian sat down on the edge of the tub. She leaned back and carefully swung her legs around and into the warm water, it was a tad soapy, that was the way she liked it. "Aha! Bingo!" She slid down into the water and sighed, she didn't even notice how quiet it was.

The lock on the bathroom door was like a deadbolt. It was not part of the knob but separate, when it was locked a 2 inch piece of metal went into the door frame. Gillian had her head against the edge of the tub, her eyes closed, there was a hissing sound coming from the door.

"Mac?"

The door burst open and in he came, he had a fire extinguisher in his hand. Gillian looked at him with wide eyes. "But the door was locked."

He lifted the fire extinguisher and showed it to her. "Carbon Dioxide, it froze the lock, one good hard shove and it broke like glass."

"Oh." Gillian closed her eyes.

Mac set the fire extinguisher down on the floor and sat on the edge of the tub. "How did you get into the tub?"

Gillian shook her head. "I'm not speaking to you."

MacGyver nodded. "Oh I get it, you're mad because I didn't help you like I said I would is that it?"

She lifted her head a little but she still wasn't speaking to him.

He nodded. "Well then I guess there is only one thing for me to do, since my wife is mad at me."

Mac put his legs up on the rim of the tub and simple keeled over into it.

Gillian was waiting for him to come up but he didn't, she felt around with her hands. "Mac?"

She moved to the middle of the enormous tub still trying to find him. "Mac?"

"Looking for me?"

Mac was sitting where she had just been, she scowled at him. "Very funny! What were you trying to do drown yourself?"

He took off his white tank top, wring it out and tossed it on the floor. "Maybe, but it got you talking to me again didn't it?"

Gillian moved to the other side and crossed her arms over her chest. "Wanna bet?"

Mac wiped the water off his face; he went over to the other side. "Come on Gill, I was going to help you."

"No you weren't." She turned her head away from him.
He touched her chin and moved it back. "Yes I was."

She uncrossed her arms. "Really?"

He nodded. "Really." He smiled. "It just made me laugh to see you standing next to this massive tub; you looked like a little girl."

Gillian put her arms around his neck. "Sorry I threw you out of the bathroom."

"It's okay. So how did you get into the tub?"

"Almost the same way you did but I didn't just fall over I swung my legs around and put them into the water."

"That'll work." He put his arms around his wife and kissed her, he touched his forehead to hers. "We had a pretty scary day didn't we?"

"Yeah we did." Gillian looked into his eyes, she saw something in them. "It wasn't anyone's fault Mac, they shot the rope ladder out from under me and they caught me. There was nothing you could have done."

"I didn't want to leave you behind; I tried to get to you."

She touched his face with both of her hands. "Stop it; it wasn't your fault I got caught, got it?"

MacGyver nodded and hugged her. "Got it."

Gillian started kissing her husband. "Damn it I wish my leg wasn't messed up."

He kissed her face a few times. "Why?"

"Why do you think?"

Mac raised an eyebrow. "Well yeah a bruised hip might make things a little difficult."

"And painful, I can't even lay on that side."

He grinned at his wife. "But there is more than one way to split an atom."

Gillian creased her brow. "How? How can we possibly do anything?"

"Let's get out of this tub and I'll explain it to you."

Mac stood up, his shorts were soaked and he wrung them out as he got out. He picked up towel and wrapped it around him. He got a second towel and set it on the sink. He lifted his wife from the tub and gently set her down on the floor; he picked up the towel and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Does your leg feel better?"

"Actually yeah it doesn't feel as stiff."

"Good, come on."

They left the bathroom and walked down the hall to their bedroom; they dried off and put on their pajamas. Gillian put on a short nightgown; she didn't want the shorts she usually wore to press on her hip.

"Is it really 3 am?"

Mac put on black shorts and peeled back the bed, he checked his watch. "Yeah it doesn't seem like it does it?"

"No." She climbed into bed and stayed on her right side. "So you said you were going to tell me how we are going to fool around with a purple hip?"

"Oh that's easy." He got into bed and moved close to her. He put his arms around her and whispered in her ear.

Gillian creased her brow; she was listening to what he was saying. "No way, are you sure?"

"Positive." He started kissing her neck. "Trust me."

"You know I do I just don't want to hurt my hip."

He kissed her deeply. "I won't hurt your hip." He looked down at her. "What do you say, want to try it?"

Gillian smiled. "Since when do I ever say no to you?"

Mac nodded. "That's true, you don't."

They started kissing and he gently rolled her over onto her back.

MacGyver opened his eyes, the green display on his clock read 4 30. They had left all the lights on, the room was bright. He looked beside him and saw Gillian was asleep on her right side; the sheet was covering her, all except her left leg. Her hip area was still almost black but the rest of it was purple, he scooted closer to it, it looked so painful. Mac sighed and shook his head, he leaned down and kissed her on the head and smoothed her hair back away from her face. He carefully got up out of bed; he had on his shorts and went to get something to drink. He thought about bringing an ice pack for her leg but he didn't want to wake her up. He walked down the hall and turned on the kitchen light. He opened the fridge and got out the milk; he picked up a cup out of the drain board and filled it.

Mac was drinking his milk as he got back into bed; he was looking at his wife. He set his glass down on the nightstand and stretched out beside her. He pulled the sheet back, she had put her nightgown back on; her hands were tucked under her chin, he carefully separated them. He scooted down some and put his head down on her chest. Gillian stirred; she put her arms around his head and kissed it.

"I thought you were asleep."
She sighed. "I was until I felt you get up." She gave his head another kiss. "How come you aren't asleep?"

"I was but I got thirsty so I got up and got a glass of milk." He lifted his head and kissed her. "How's your hip?"

Gillian smiled. "It's okay."

"It doesn't hurt?"

She shook her head. "Surprisingly no, I thought after all that it might but its fine." She got an idea. "You know if you aren't tired, we could." Her face broke out in a grin.

"I'm a little tired."

"So you aren't interested in any more fun?"

Mac started laughing. "Gill, let me tell you a little something about men."
Gillian looked at him. "Okay, what?"

"There isn't a man on this planet that is ever too tired for sex; even if he's already asleep he's willing."

Gillian closed her eyes and started laughing really hard, she wiped her eyes. "And I take it present company included?"

MacGyver nodded. "As long as I'm breathing, I'm interested."

Gillian shook her head at her husband. "Mac you are without a doubt a complete and total maniac." She gave him a kiss and touched her forehead to his. "But I love you anyways."

MacGyver smiled at his wife. "Hey, you're a maniac too you know."

Gillian looked at him. "I am? Why?"

"Because you married one, so now who's the nutball?"

She sighed. "Well I guess I am."

Mac shook his head. "It's okay though, nutball or not I still love you."

Gillian gave him a kiss. "Oh good, now that we got that settled I say the time for talking is over."

They touched foreheads and started laughing.