I'm sorry this took so long coming, and I apologise if you were waiting. I've had a lot of computer trouble recently and I just got it back from the shop yesterday, so the first thing I'm doing is posting this!!

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Ben scrambled up onto the rocky ledge just above their heads, calling for them to follow. They had asked him to show them the location of the bombs, and he had done just that, managing to lead them almost round in circles, under they started up the rockiest, steepest mountainside MacGyver had ever had to climb without a harness. Ben was having no problems with it, but Katy kept glancing down behind them and flinching. MacGyver resolutely decided not to look down as well, just in case, and stuck to the task of keeping Ben within their sights.

"Dr. Katy! Mr. MacGyver!" came his muffled shout. MacGyver and Katy shared an exasperated glance, before they helped each other climb up to the ledge. Once there they could see where Ben had gone. A wide crack in the rock face presented the mouth of a narrow cave. Katy shivered unwillingly at the dark and cold feeling she got just by looking at the entrance. MacGyver sensed her discomfort and walked in first, pulling his flashlight out of his pack as he did so. She followed him very closely, not wanting to be left alone. Ben was sitting on the ground at the back of the cave, lighting an old oil lamp, which had obviously been left there from previous trips to the cave. To the right of them, the cave opened out and dropped away. MacGyver swung his light round, as he noticed a thick bundle of wires running up the slope towards them. They were connected to a detonator, lying on the floor near where Ben was sitting. He picked it up.

"My brother and the elders instructed me to come here and press this," Ben indicated the switch on the detonator. MacGyver carefully passed it over to Katy and told them both,

"Don't touch anything! I'm going to find the bombs. If I yell, run."

"Wait! Mac…" Katy began to protest, but it was too late. He had already slid down the slope to their right and was out of sight. All they could hear was the scrape of loose dirt and stones being dislodged. Katy strained her ears to hear more, and then it all went quiet.

*****

He skidded down the last three or four feet of the steep slope, coming to a sharp stop at the bottom. Straight ahead of him sat about a dozen grey boxes, all identical, with wires trailing out of each and leading back up the ascent. He dropped to his knees next to the closest one and eased the lid open.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed to himself. "These are nuclear reactors! How did they get hold of these?"­

Without any further delay, he grabbed his Swiss Army knife from his pocket and began to cut the wires leading to the devices. Then he very gently picked up each one of the boxes and moved them to separate locations around the fairly spacious cave. Having done that, he pulled the rope from his bag and yelled up the slope,

"Katy! I'm throwing you a rope. I want you to tie it to something solid, okay?"

A faint, "Okay," came drifting down to him.

He threw the pile of rope as hard as he could in the direction of her voice, discovering it was more difficult than it seemed. On the third try she caught the end of the rope and the slack was taken up. Giving it a firm tug to make sure it wasn't loose, he began to pull himself up, slithering on the free stones underfoot.

When he reached the top, he was immediately enveloped in a tight hug from Katy.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" she explained unnecessarily.

After giving himself a brief moment to hug her back, he added,

"Well, it's not over yet. We got to get some help, and get someone to take these bombs out of here quickly."

"How?"

"We need to attract the attention of the authorities somehow."

MacGyver thought furiously for a minute, glancing over at Ben, still sitting on the floor at the back of the cave.

"Okay, we know the Phoenix foundation is aware we're up here, and they know there might be some trouble. We also know that we are a couple of hundred feet above and north of Vancouver. So if we can convince them that there's a good enough reason to come up to mountain, we can get out of here and so can these bombs," MacGyver thought out loud.

"How?"

He didn't reply, but instead he walked outside. The hillside dropped away beneath his feet and MacGyver shuddered. Then he looked above his head. After ten feet up there was a wide ledge of rock, more of a crack in the mountainside, but still wide enough to stand on. Quickly he scrambled over some large boulders and pulled himself up onto the ledge. The view was breathtaking. He spotted the village they had come from, the stream running through the trees and off in the distance, a helicopter was circling the treetops. MacGyver dug his binoculars out of his pocket, and could just about make out the word 'Phoenix' across its side.

Glancing down, he saw Katy and Ben watching him curiously.

"There's a helicopter! Now we just need to signal it."

He grabbed a handful of yellow chalk-like rocks from some loose stones nearby and began scratching it into the side of the rock.

"What's that?" Katy called.

"It's called limonite. It's decayed limestone rock. Should be bright enough to attract some attention," he called back. He swiftly drew a large M on the rock face, knowing that Pete and anyone else looking for him would know what it meant. Dusting his hands off, he yelled back down to the cave mouth.

"Toss me your flashlight!"

Katy threw it to him and he flicked the switch. Angling it so it bounced off the  yellow-gold limonite markings, he glanced back at the helicopter. It changed its direction promptly, heading straight for MacGyver's position.

Feeling satisfied with the results, he turned off the flashlight and climbed carefully back down to the other two. Just a few minutes later, the helicopter was hovering above them and a rope ladder was being swung down towards them. MacGyver gestured for Katy to go ahead. She looked at him steadily for a few seconds, then leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"Thanks Mac," she added, gripping the rope firmly in her hands.

"Just get up there. We can talk later," he grinned back. She nodded, smiling, and expertly climbed the rope ladder.

*****

MacGyver watched the police detectives leave the room and heaved a huge sigh of relief. He had spent three and a half hours at the Phoenix foundation branch in Vancouver trying to convince them of the events that had taken place on that mountain. The bombs had been taken care of and officials were now investigating the little rural town Katy had been living in for the past few months.

And speaking of Katy…

He hurried down the hall to her office, wanting to catch her before she left. Now that she could no longer work with the natives on the wildlife research, she was out of a job. This was his chance to convince her to come back to LA with him. He knocked softy on the partially open door.

"Come in," came her quiet reply.

"Hey, it's me." He settled himself on the corner of the desk, watching Katy as she stood at the window, gazing out across the city.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, she sighed. "It's just… this all went so wrong. I was happy here, and now… well, there's nothing else for me to do."

"You'll find something else. You're a very intelligent person, there's loads of stuff you can do, and it doesn't have to be here."

She turned to face him, frowning slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you considered maybe… moving to a new area, making a new start?"

"Well, I had thought about going back to England for a while, but isn't that like running away?"

He didn't say anything at first, but moved over to the window to stand next to her.

"If that's really want you want, I'm not going to stop you. But I had something else in mind."

She glanced at him in surprise.

"Come back to LA with me," he suggested.

"Why?"

"These last few days have been an experience, and not one I really want to forget. I think you're terrific. I don't want to lose you. If you come to LA, you can get a job at Phoenix and we can see each other more often… I mean… if you want to…"

She turned to face him fully.

"Are you really asking me to move to Los Angeles so we can carry on seeing each other?"

"Well… um… yeah."

Her face slowly lit up in a wide grin, and she hugged him.

"You have no idea how much I was hoping you'd say that!" she whispered. He smiled too and wrapped his arms around her, so glad that she had agreed to stay with him.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked, just to make sure.

"Absolutely! Ever since I met you, I've been dreading the day when you would have to leave. You're the most amazing man I've ever met."

He gently lifted her face up and stared into her deep blue eyes. Then he leaned down and kissed her thoroughly. When they broke apart, panting slightly, she smiled nervously.

"When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow. It's the start of something new and different, for both of us. I can't wait!"

~~Fin~~

Look out for a sequel! Coming very soon!