Dr Katy Marks is my own character that I added to this story. Look out for sequels coming soon!
Disclaimer: I do not own MacGyver (much as I would like to!) or any of the characters, only the character of Katy Marks.
*****
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in!" Pete Thornton shouted, sitting behind his desk, surrounded by a mountain of paperwork. The door swung open and his best friend MacGyver stuck his head in.
"Hi Pete! You called?"
"Yeah, yeah. Come in and take a seat."
MacGyver came in and closed the door behind him.
"Wow, Pete, this sounds serious."
"Yeah, it is. I got a call early this morning from the Phoenix branch in Vancouver, Canada. One of the employees has been working with a group of natives from a village about 50 or 60 miles outside Vancouver, up in the mountains. She's been missing for over a week now."
"Well, haven't they got a search and rescue team up there?" MacGyver asked, a frown beginning to form on his face.
"Yeah, but they won't fly near the village. They haven't got anyone to send out to look for her that knows the area. Apparently, there've been reports of the villagers doing some pretty strange things in the last few weeks."
"Like what?"
"Unexplained lights and explosions in the forest in the middle of the night, groups of people wandering around for no reason and a few mystery deaths that no-one can account for."
"Deaths?!" MacGyver exclaimed. "What about the police?"
"They leave the village alone most of the time. It's too far out of town and the people don't like strangers coming into their territory."
"Which is why no-one's tried a rescue?" MacGyver made an educated guess.
"Yeah. Look, Mac, I know it's a lot to ask, but you're the best person I know to handle this type of thing, and I really appreciate…"
"Don't worry about it, Pete. I'll leave this afternoon. Umm… this employee, what's his name?"
"Her name. Dr. Katy Marks, from Hampshire, England. She just started at Phoenix six months ago."
"Okay, I'll let you know when I get there."
"Thanks, Mac. Thanks a lot," Pete looked very relieved.
"No problem," MacGyver grinned back as he left the office.
*****
By the time he'd flown all the way to Vancouver, no one would tell him anything. He learned that this Dr. Marks had no relatives in North America and very few friends to speak of. The receptionist he spoke to said she was a nice enough person really, but because she travelled a lot, not many people in the area knew her very well.
They gave him a map of the area, marked with the location of the village and wished him good luck. It was rather disconcerting that the receptionist's parting words were,
"Stop worrying. If you're not back in a few weeks, I'll call Mr. Thornton and let him know."
*****
The helicopter dropped him off about ten miles away from the village, on a gentle grassy hill. He'd asked the pilot to take him further, but he refused. Something to do with all the weird behaviour in the area later. It made some people superstitious. MacGyver shrugged to himself. It made little difference; he would have had to search the area for the missing scientist anyway, this just meant he had slightly further to walk.
About an hour into his hike, and making good time, MacGyver noticed sets of tracks crossing the rough path he was following. They were bare human footprints. He bent down to inspect them. Some of the tracks were almost worn away, but over the top was a fresh set of tracks, maybe only an hour or two old. MacGyver debated with himself as to which lead he should follow. Eventually he stood up, and stepped off the path in the direction of the footprints.
*****
MacGyver knelt down in the bushes. He knew someone was following him. He'd been following the tracks for a few hours now, and they weren't exactly leading him in a straight line. But there was someone behind him as well. Whether it was the same person who had made the tracks, or someone that was following the footprints the same as him, he didn't know. But it was time to find out. He stayed absolutely still and quiet and waited.
A few minutes later a girl came running past and then stopped and looked around. MacGyver watched her closely for a minute. She was inspecting the tracks and seemed confused by MacGyver's sudden disappearance.
'Oh come on! That's probably the lady you're looking for!' MacGyver thought to himself. Then he shook his head and stepped out of the bushes, onto the path that ran right past the shallow stream. She stepped back as soon as she saw him and looked ready to run, when MacGyver said,
"Dr. Marks? Katy Marks?"
"Yes," came her surprised reply. "Who are you?"
"My name's MacGyver. The Phoenix Foundation sent me to find you."
"Oh really? How nice!" she said sarcastically.
"What's going on? Who are you tracking?" MacGyver could sense that something else was going on here but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Look, it would probably be a lot better if you just went home. It's not safe here," Katy turned away from him as he walked closer.
"What happened? I'm not going anywhere until I get the whole story, okay?" MacGyver grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him. She stood several inches shorter than him at about 5'8'' or 5'9''. Her blue eyes stared up at him, full of worry and pain, as well as a flicker of hope. He noticed the smudges of dirt down her face and the old tracks of tears. Her longish brown hair was tangled and swept back, as if she'd tried to keep it out of the way.
"Come on, what's going on around here? Why didn't you contact someone?"
"I couldn't. The people at the village won't let me leave the area, and they won't let me interfere either."
"Interfere with what?"
Katy sighed and stared down at the small footprints on the bank.
"Well, let's go back to the village and I'll tell you on the way." She started walking back the way she'd come.
"Doesn't this village have a name?" MacGyver asked her. She smiled for the first time since he'd seen her.
'It makes her look twice as pretty,' he thought randomly, before getting back to the matter at hand.
"Yeah, it does," she replied, "but I can't pronounce it! Most the things around here are still in the old Native American languages. You can ask the elders back at the village, if you really want to know."
"Are they going to be okay with me being here?"
"Well, they don't usually like strangers, but they let me rent a room there sometimes, when I'm doing my research. After they'd gotten used to me, of course. They're not that bad really, they're just doing what they think is right."
MacGyver glanced at her as they walked.
"Is it right to hold you against your will?"
She sighed again.
"I suppose I'd better tell you what's happening before we get there."
"Yes please."
"I've been coming out here for a couple of months now, to record the number of different species of wildlife in these forests. The elders of the village offered me a place to stay, which is infinitely better than camping. So I took them up on it. Then about two weeks ago, I came up here and they were acting really strangely, like they were hiding something. When I was in the forest, I found one of the kids running around with a bomb."
"A bomb? What do they want a bomb for?!"
"That's what I asked them. Now, these people are very religious. They live by the word of their god, and they obey every law, you have to understand that. They claim their god told them it was coming; the end of days, and the end of the world. They believe that their god will favour them in the next life if they help things along a bit."
"What?!" MacGyver stopped walking and turned to face Katy.
"Yeah. They've been gathering nuclear bombs, I don't know where they got them from, and they plan to blow them all up together."
"Oh man! That would cause global destabilisation! It would wipe all life from the face of the earth!!"
"I know. I've been trying to stop them, but there's not an awful lot I can do by myself."
The look on MacGyver's face was devastating. He looked so angry and determined, that Katy was almost afraid of him.
"MacGyver?" she said quietly. He grabbed her arm roughly, adding,
"Come on, we have to get to that village." Katy bit her tongue to keep from saying anything, and led the way down the slope to the village.
They came out of the trees fairly quickly. Half way up the next hill, among the scattered trees and boulders, was a cluster of buildings, settled on a large outcropping of granite rock.
"Okay, where are these elders? I want to talk to them!" MacGyver demanded.
"MacGyver, I don't think that's such a good idea."
"Why not?"
"Because they won't like what you have to say. Believe me, I'm already tried. They'll either lock you up, or they'll kill you."
MacGyver took a deep breath.
'Okay, maybe I was being a little rash there. But how am I going to get their attention and get them to stop this?'
He looked at Katy. She was looking pale and scared.
"Right, what do you suggest?" he asked her, more patiently this time.
"Why don't we go and get some dinner and then we can work out what we're going to do?"
"Fine," he sighed.