Off-the-map, Ural Mountains village in USSR, Late Eighties
James MacGyver strolls confidently into the dark, seen-better-days bar, Jonah Walsh right behind him. The two huddle off to the side of the entranceway, conferring on their next move. Spotting an empty table in the back corner of the room, the spies quickly make it their own.
'Well, we're here,' Jim comments, 'let's hope Dr. Hayes doesn't take too long to make contact.'
Jonah discreetly surveys the room. 'I'm not sure that there are enough brain cells in this room to make up one PhD, let alone three,' he intones.
'Can I get you guys a drink?' a waitress asks them in English with a heavy Russian accent. Jim turns his attention from the crowd to the waitress and finds her to be a gorgeous woman with the most beautiful blue eyes he's ever seen. Her beauty leaves him gawking at her.
Jonah, seeing Jim's reaction, chuckles and then orders for them. 'Two beers,' he responds. The waitress swings her wary attention from Jim's staring to Jonah, nods, and then leaves them to fill their order, with Jim watching her depart into the crowd.
'You know Jim, we're more likely to get out of here alive if you focus on the mission and not the pretty waitress,' Jonah teases him. 'This Hayes guy better show up soon. The locals don't look too friendly towards strangers,' he says as he points out some bar rats that are eyeing them suspiciously.
Jim ignores the jab. 'We won't be here too long. As I figure, Hayes will either make contact with us shortly and we'll be on our way, or the comrades in the far right,' he darts his eyes to the men in question, 'will be showing us Soviet hospitality,' he finishes with a satirical look at Jonah.
The waitress reappears with their beers. Jim finally finds his voice and thanks her as well as pays for the beers and then some.
'For such a good tip, I'll give you one,' she replies as she counts the bills, 'be outside the south entrance of the research facility in an hour.' And with that, she again slips into the crowd.
Jim and Jonah share a look, realizing that Hayes has sent them a message. 'He must be too leery to make contact himself,' Jonah shrugs. 'Let's just finish these beers and get out of here,' Jim replies, nodding.
Research Facility, One Hour Later
Jim and Jonah stand in a darkened doorway near the south entrance of the guarded building. As they watch the two sentries chit chat, they soon notice the waitress from the bar approaching them. Jim gives Jonah a scared look.
'She doesn't know what she's walking into,' Jim hisses fearfully. Jonah looks at him briefly before turning his gaze back to the guarded entrance.
'Doesn't look like that way to me,' Jonah comments, indicating to Jim to turnaround. When Jim does, he sees that 'the waitress' has already taken out one of the guards and is about to finish off the other. He turns and smiles back at Jonah before they both hustle over to the now cleared entrance.
'You're Dr. Hayes?' Jim asks, incredulously, a smile creeping onto his face. She gives him a smirk.
'You didn't think I was really a waitress, did you?' Dr. Hayes sarcastically asks, eyebrows raised and all remnants of a Russian accent gone.
'Hate to break up this meet-cute,' Jonah interjects, 'but can we do what we need to do and get out of here?'
Jim becomes all business and leads the way into the building. Once inside, he turns to her, 'Alright Dr. Hayes, this is your turf. Where's the scientist and the nuclear lab?' he asks.
'Ivanov is two floors up, third door on the left,' she directs at Jonah, who nods at them and then takes off to get his quarry. She looks at Jim, 'I'll take you to the lab,' she says as she starts down the hallway, 'and the name is Ellen.'
Jim hurries to keep up with her. When they pause along the corridor, he offers his name to her. 'Jim,' he provides. Ellen gives him another smirk. 'Everybody at DXS knows who James MacGvyer is,' she says as she watches a pair of guards pass by in the next hallway, 'the wunderkind known for unconventional thinking and breaking things.' Jim's expression turns a bit sheepish.
Ellen levels an admiring gaze at him. 'You get results though,' she says with an approving smile. Jim's spirit immediately feels bolstered. The two share a smile as the lone person in the lab leaves.
'Let's get in there,' he says, nodding towards the lab. He and Ellen slip into the room quietly. Ellen immediately heads to the nearest computer terminal. After hitting some keys, she turns to Jim, 'here's the data.' She then moves to the side to let Jim make the required modifications that will set the Soviet's nuclear program back years. As he finishes up and Ellen covers their digital tracks, he notices another project at the back of the lab and wanders to the blackboard filled with equations and formulae. With dread, he immediately realizes what it means.
'We have to blow up this lab,' he tells Ellen, grimly over his shoulder.
'What?!' Ellen replies as she comes up from behind him. Once beside him, Jim points to the research. Understanding dawns in Ellen's eyes. 'Not just the lab. They've got storage units in the basement of the material too,' she relays. Jim can barely hide that he is impressed that she immediately understood the science without his explanation.
'You make the bomb. I'll figure out where to place it to ensure the whole building collapses,' she instructs as she returns to the computer terminal. The two work quickly and silently, and minutes later, they are ready to put their makeshift plan into action.
Jim moves to stand so that he can look over her shoulder, 'Ok, where do I have to put it?' he asks.
Ellen points to the screen. 'Right here,' she says, not bothered by Jim's invasion of her personal space.
'Ok, you get out of here. Meet up with Jonah and I'll join you there,' Jim tells her.
'And how do you think you are going to make it through the security doors?' she retorts. 'You'll need me to take care of the codes. We're doing this together,' she says as she heads towards the door. She pauses in the open doorway, 'You planning on saving the free world today or not?' she quips. Jim slowly smiles, realizing that he has a partner in his madcap plan whether he likes it or not.
Jonah paces as he and the defecting scientist watch as smoke billows from the former Soviet research facility. In what seems like an eternity to him, he finally spots Jim and Ellen escaping from the same door they used to enter the building. They see him and run over to this location, both racked by coughing fits.
'Well MacGyver, your reputation for creating a mess is still intact, but I have to hand it to you, you do know how to show a girl a good time,' Ellen laughs between coughs.
'Had to impress you. How else am I going to get you to go out with me,' Jim flirts back.
Jonah shakes his head good-naturedly. 'You two make quite the pair,' he says approvingly as Jim and Ellen simply smile at each other, both knowing that they are at the start of a great romantic adventure together.
MacGyver's House
Mac's deep into his father's journals when Riley joins him on the sofa. 'Interesting read?' she asks cuddling up to him.
'Apparently MacGyver men have a type. We both fell for brilliant, beautiful, badass women,' Mac announces dryly, putting the journal down and giving Riley his full attention. 'In the few months I had to get to know him, we really didn't talk a lot about Mom – it was too hard for him,' Mac explains nostalgically, 'but with these journals, I'm finally learning more about her as well as him and their life together.'
Riley gives him an affectionate squeeze. 'Then I'm happy you found them,' she says kindly before adopting a more devilish expression. 'Even though they are taking you away from seeing to your brilliant, beautiful, badass woman's needs,' she adds playfully.
Mac grins. 'Oh really. I would have thought that after last night you would at least want some breakfast before you needed to be sated sexually again,' he says teasingly as he toys with her hair.
Riley cups his face and strokes her thumb over his bottom lip, 'Who needs food when I have you,' she says softly before replacing her thumb with her lips. The chaste kiss is on the verge of deepening when both of their stomachs argue that food is the more pressing matter. Breaking their lip lock, both chuckle.
'Pancakes?' Mac suggests.
Riley thinks about it for a moment, 'How about waffles instead?'
Mac smiles at her, 'Deal!'
As they make it off the couch and head to the kitchen, both of their phones go off. Mac looks at Riley, 'Coffee and donuts on the way?' he offers. Riley nods, 'As long as there are sprinkles…'
Phoenix War Room
When Mac and Riley arrive, Jack is already pacing like a caged tiger. 'Jack, what is it?' Riley asks, concerned.
Jack stops his pacing to look at both of them. 'We might have an opportunity to take down Walsh,' he informs them.
Before they can ask him any more questions, Matty and Russ walk in and activate the room's privacy mode.
'Right. As Jack has probably told you, we've got solid Intel that Walsh's group is meeting with an arms dealer this morning,' Matty announces.
'And how did we come by this Intel?' Mac asks,
'Straight from the horse's mouth,' Russ replies.
'That's right. While most of us were in sleepy land, as part of another MI6 mission, our Tac Teams took down one of the West Coast's most dangerous arms dealers, Julius Luther,' Matty explains. 'Luther knows we have him dead to rights, so he is willing to deal. One thing that came out of his interrogation is that he has a 'meet greet' set with a new para-military group for 10 am,' she stops for a moment to look directly at Mac. 'From everything Luther gave us, we strongly suspect that it is Jonah Walsh behind this new para-military group,' she finishes.
'Will Walsh himself be at the meeting?' Riley probes.
Matty shakes her head, 'No. From what we learnt, the meeting is with a man named Santos, which is good since it means that he won't recognize any of you. We're going to use this meeting to nab Santos, and hopefully, turn him,' Matty announces.
'So we think this Santos will lead us to Walsh?' Mac asks.
'Yes. I knew of Santos from my former life, and he's ambitious. If he isn't already part of Walsh's inner circle, he soon will be. He's adept at learning people's secrets and using them to get what he wants. So if we nab him, you can bet that he will be a treasure trove of information on Walsh and all his dealings,' Russ outlines.
'So what's the plan?' Jack asks, his patience wearing thin.
'We let Luther take the meeting with you and Mac as his chaperones. We want to hear what Santos is shopping for before we take him into custody. While I know we'll get him to talk eventually we need Intel now on what Walsh and Huntley may be cooking up,' Matty reveals. She turns to Russ and Riley, 'You two will be in the van, monitoring for any sign of Walsh or other undesirables,' she instructs.
Jack pats Mac on the back. 'What are we waiting for? Let's go,' he says as he leads them out of the room.
Phoenix Surveillance Van
While Riley taps away at her keyboard, ensuring their satellite coverage, Mac and Jack wait anxiously for show time.
'Boy, I can't wait to get my hands on this Santos,' he says while checking the clip on his gun, 'I'm done being the mouse – it's time to be the cat!'
Mac nods, 'I know. We've…' He stops when the back of the van unexpectedly opens. Standing in front of them is Bozer and Desi, with Luther just behind them. Mac and Jack look over at each other, confused.
'Boze, Desi – what are you doing here?' Mac asks, bewildered.
Bozer looks hesitantly at Desi before answering. 'We're here to sub in for you and Jack. Matty wants you back at the Phoenix, with Riley, ASAP,' he conveys, somewhat nervously.
Jack is the first to react. 'We're being pulled out? What the hell for?' he demands.
Desi shrugs, 'You'll have to take it up with Matty, Jack, but she wants all three of you back now.'
Mac, Jack and Riley all look at each other, totally clueless.
Phoenix War Room
'Matty, why'd you pull us out?!' Jack begins angrily as he enters the room, with an equally upset Mac and Riley right behind him. Their frustration turns to concern though when they see who is in the room with Matty. Jack, however, steamrolls on.
''We were just in position,' he laments, and not caring about the extra presence in the room, 'this recall better be worth it!' he continues.
Mac intervenes before Jack can dig a deeper hole for himself with Matty. 'Jack,' Mac's tone gets Jack's attention, 'this Eileen Brennan,' nodding to Matty's company, 'she's The Ghost's daughter.'
Jack looks back and forth between Mac and Eileen. 'The one who skipped out after offing dear old almost-killed-me-twice dad, that Eileen?' Jack asks, quieting down.
'Yes,' Mac huffs out impatiently.
A switch is immediately flipped in Jack, and he approaches Eileen, hand held out. 'Pleased to meet you. I'm Jack Dalton. Glad to hear you cleaned house, so to speak, but if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?'
Matty interjects before Eileen can respond. 'That's why I pulled you three out,' Matty explains, 'apparently The Ghost is not finished with Mac yet.'
Mac closes his eyes for a moment. 'The other bomb. The one he made especially for me,' he says simply. At Riley's and Jack's bewildered expressions he lets them know how The Ghost taunted him with a 'bomb made for you' threat before Eileen killed him.
'Aye, that's right,' Eileen finally speaks up, 'I overheard that threat too, and it has haunted me every single day since that my father's legacy of terror is not over. So for the last two years I've been retracing his movements and checking into his old contacts, hoping to discover where this last bomb is.'
'And you've found it then, I take it,' Riley comments.
'Yes and no,' Eileen hedges. 'I've discovered who's helping him, 'she pauses to nod to Matty, who pulls a photo of a seedy looking man in his early forties on the screen, 'that's Rory Shamus, my father's IRA blood brother turned apprentice. I believe he is here in LA to carry out my father's vengeance against MacGyver as some sort of last call of duty.'
'Why do you think that?' Riley asks wearing a puzzled expression.
Eileen sits down on the arm of a chair, 'I've spent many hours obsessing over "the where" when it hit me. I should be focusing on "the how". She notices that everyone is looking at her, confused. She turns to Mac. 'MacGyver, he said that this bomb was specifically built for you. But how could he be sure that you would be the one to find it? Look what happened when he tried to take you out in Afghanistan. Pena found it instead,' Eileen explains. She shakes her head, 'The Ghost would have learned from that experience, and his failure at bombing your house. He wouldn't simply stash it someplace and hope that you would be the one who finds it.'
'So what are you saying? That it will be hand delivered to me instead?' Mac asks, disbelievingly.
'More or less,' Eileen nods. 'I think he did build a bomb for you but I think he was waiting for the right set of circumstances for it to be put into play, and that's where I think Shamus comes in,' she adds.
Ok, back up,' Jack interrupts, 'even if what you are saying is true, what evidence do you have that all of this is going down now?'
'Once I realized that instead of looking for where he would plant it for MacGyver to find, that I should be focusing on where he would stash it for safe-keeping, the list of possibilities got narrowed down to a handful, with Shamus at the top of the list. So I started surveillance of him a year ago, with nothing out of ordinary for an IRA terrorist happening. That is, until six months ago,' she reveals.
'What happened six months ago?' Mac probes, with eyes narrowed.
'That's when he started taking an awfully big interest in you,' Eileen nods again to Matty.
'Apparently for the last six months Shamus has had your home under surveillance,' Matty outlines as various photos of Mac, Riley, and Jack leaving Mac's house appear on the screen. Mac, Jack and Riley all gasp at the realization that they have been watched. Matty turns to Jack, 'Back to your original question, Jack – why now? Over the last 48 hours, Shamus has illegally entered the US and made his way to LA, the timing of which coincides with chatter that a bomb is set to go off in the city limits within the next 24 hours. We need to treat this situation as a credible threat,' she concludes.
'So what does that mean?' Mac asks, bracing himself to fight what he thinks is a protective custody order coming his way.
'Placing you in protective custody would be the expected course of action here,' Matty throws Mac a look to silence him while she continues, 'but we're going to throw out the playbook here and go on the offensive instead,' she finishes. Mac noticeably relaxes.
'Ok, boss lady, what did you have in mind?' Jack cautiously questions.
'We use Mac as bait to draw Shamus out,' she says bluntly.
'Wait – No,' Riley responds, shaking her head, 'there has to be another way.'
Matty focuses her attention on Riley, 'Unfortunately given the timeline, there really isn't,' Matty says quietly. She turns back to face Mac. 'It's up to you MacGyver,' she comments.
Mac stares at her for a long moment before quickly glancing around the room. He sets his mouth in a grim line, 'I've had this spectre haunting me since that day in Paris. I think it is time to put it to rest. I'm in,' he replies.
Matty nods. 'Alright then. Jack will not-so-covertly take you to the safe house where we already have Tac Teams set up. We'll wait for him to make his move and then drop a net over him. Let's get this nightmare over with it,' she concludes, dismissing them.
As Riley makes to join Mac and Jack, Mac pulls her aside. He waits until the rest of the room has left before speaking to her.
'Riley – no,' Mac takes a firm stand, his jaw twitching, 'you're not going with us. I'm not going to put you in harm's way.'
Riley does a double-take before challenging him. 'So you're pushing me away instead?' Riley demands.
Mac takes a deep breath. 'Only until this guy is caught,' he says grimly. 'This guy is gunning for me, so the safest place for you is far away from me.'
Riley is not ready to buy his argument yet. 'What about us being a packaged deal, huh?' she reminds him. 'This is not the first time we've faced death together. What's changed? Why are you running away from me?' she asks in a tone the mixture of concern and outrage.
'Us! Us happened!' Mac explodes briefly, stunning them both into silence. 'That's what's changed!' he says, settling down. He takes a deep breath before continuing. 'I'm so in love with you and our life together that the mere thought of losing you paralyzes me, especially if I know that I have it in my power to save you,' he says softly as he cups her face.
Riley looks earnestly into his eyes, 'I feel the same way,' she whispers. Mac leans in so that their foreheads are touching.
'But I can't help you if I'm not with you,' Riley murmurs, not giving up.
'You're always with me. Where it counts,' he says before breaking their embrace. 'Please don't fight me on this, Riles,' Mac pleads. Riley looks desperately into his eyes again before swiftly nodding her head.
Jack sticks his head into the room. 'Mac,' he calls out, 'we gotta go.'
Mac trails his hands down Riley's arms and grabs hold of her hands. With a soft squeeze and an unspoken promise, Mac turns and follows Jack down the hallway.
Riley watches him go. 'You better come back to me, MacGyver, or there'll be hell to pay,' she mutters to herself.
Back at the Parking Garage
As they stand in the middle of the parking lot waiting for Santos to arrive, Bozer and Desi make sure that Luther knows the game plan. 'Now Luther, we know that you know that it is in your best interest to play along,' Bozer tells him.
'That means straight to business – no small talk,' Desi orders, 'you try to get him to spill his guts, then you'll spook him.'
Luther gives them both a sour look, 'I get it, I get it – I know how this works,' he says, rolling his eyes. Desi and Bozer looked a little more placated.
Any more conversation is suspended as a car enters their section of the parking lot. The car stops twenty feet away from them, and then Santos gets out and approaches them.
'Luther, what's the deal? You said that this would be a private meeting, to come alone,' he calls out, annoyed, when he is ten feet away from them, looking at Desi and Bozer with a 'WTF' expression.
Luther looks first at Desi and then at Bozer before directing his comments to Santos. 'My protection is really part of me, so you see, we are alone,' he says smoothly. 'If you have a problem with that, then maybe you should find yourself another associate,' he continues with more steel in his tone, 'but of course, they won't have what I can offer,' he finishes with a menacing smile
Santos sees that Luther is the one with the power in this arrangement and settles down. 'Nah, we're good,' he says, backing down. He adopts a more business-like demeanor, 'I hear that you can get me what I need.'
'Depends,' Luther comments casually, 'what are you looking for?'
'Full armament package for 50 plus as many anti-aircraft missiles you can get us in ten days,' Santos outlines
Luther whistles as Desi and Bozer maintain devoid expressions. 'That'll cost you, especially with that timeline,' Luther shrugs.
The tension returns to Santos. 'How much?' he asks bluntly.
'Two million. Firm,' Luther tosses out.
Santos looks like he was expecting this price tag, 'Deal. Send me the pick-up details and we'll make sure that you get paid.'
Luther can't help himself, 'We? Who are you fronting for? I like to know who I'm dealing with.'
A moment of silence hangs in the air as Santos immediately narrows his eyes at Luther.
'He's spooked,' Russ says through comms to Desi and Bozer, 'he's going to run. Take him down now!'
As if sensing the net about to be dropped on him, Santos turns on his heel and bolts. Desi and Bozer are able to get to him but Santos is ready to fight them off. After a taking a few blows from them, he is undeterred and he first throws Desi, then Bozer off of him like both were rag dolls
Desi and Bozer look at each other on the ground, both stunned at the speed and strength that Santos displayed. 'He's on KX7,' Desi breathes out.
Phoenix Safe House
Jack is discretely peering out the window while Mac stands, back to the wall, on the other side of the window.
'You know, when I agreed to be bait, I somehow thought there would be more to it than simply sitting around and waiting,' Mac says with a sigh as he tilts his head back against the wall.
'Yeah, well, enjoy the down time. Once Shamus gets here, you can bet all hell will break lose,' Jack comments. 'What would you be doing if you were at home if you weren't here?' Jack asks to distract him. 'And please don't tell me anything above PG rating concerning you and Ri,' he continues.
Mac smiles at Jack's entreaty, knowing deep down that the guy likes that he and Riley are together. 'I'd most likely be combing through my Dad's journals, trying to find anything that might help us take down Jonah,' he answers.
'Oh yeah,' Jack nods, 'those old notebooks tell you anything useful?'
Mac shakes his head, 'Not yet. I'm still in the early years when my Mom is still alive.' Mac smiles to himself. 'I'm starting to understand how deep their bond was and why her death left him the way it did,' he shares.
'I'm glad you're getting some closure out of it,' Jack replies, 'it would be icing on the cake though if you also found out something that Jonah wants. It would be a great lure to get him to pop his head out of the hole that he has been hiding in.'
'Let's just hope that Matty can get Santos to talk,' Mac responds, 'the more I read, the less certain I become that there is anything in there that can help us.'
'Well, worst comes to past and that happens, we can still use them to draw him out,' Jack decides, 'he wouldn't know that they contained nothing, would he?'
'True,' Mac acknowledges. He is about to say more but his phone rings. 'Matty,' he says as he answers the call on speaker.
'Hey Matty,' he says, 'any update on Shamus or Santos?'
Matty jumps to the heart of the matter. 'Mac, we had it wrong. You're not the target,' she asserts urgently.
Jack interrupts, 'what do you mean Mac isn't the target? The Ghost specifically said that he had a bomb meant for Mac.'
'There's more than one way to destroy Mac and The Ghost wanted to shatter Mac in the worst way possible, that's why Shamus has waited all this time,' Matty relays. Sudden realization of what Matty is saying hits Mac like a sledgehammer.
'He's going after Riley,' Mac declares grimly.
Parking Garage
Bozer and Desi chase Santos through the parking garage, dodging cars and passersby.
'Russ, he's headed for the East entrance – block him off! And get something ready to knock him out!' Desi shouts over comms.
'On it,' Russ replies.
Seconds later the Phoenix van pulls ahead of Santos, blocking his way out. Trapped, he turns around to face Bozer and Desi. Desi gets to him first. The two exchange blows with Santos having the noticeable upper hand. When Bozer arrives, he and Desi start to tag team, trying to buy Russ time.
Russ jumps out of the van, needle in hand. At the sight of Russ and the needle, Santos pulls out a knife.
'Oh boy,' Bozer mutters, 'the super soldier has a knife.'
Desi takes a deep breath and then re-engages with Santos, trying to get him on the ground while avoiding the knife he is welding. Bozer attempts to take him out from behind but Santos kicks him in the gut, knocking him hard to the pavement. Desi tries to get the knife out of his hand, to no avail. Santos instead slices her arm before backhanding her, and then starts to run away. Fortunately, Bozer is able to grab his foot, tripping him. All three of them then jump on him when he is down. Russ jabs the needle into Santos's neck. Soon after the performance-enhanced thug stops struggling, fading into unconsciousness.
'Well, that went well,' Russ chirps, to the exhausted dismay of Bozer and Desi.
Riley's Apartment
Mac and Jack rush through the apartment building doors, making a beeline for Riley's place. On the drive over from the safe house, Matty explains to them that, even though she went home to her apartment, Riley continued to run surveillance on Mac's safe house. She was on the phone, giving Matty an update when Shamus and his crew barged in.
'Last thing I heard before the line went dead was Shamus telling me to tell MacGyver to come see his world end,' Matty tells them. 'Of course we pinged her phone, not expecting to find it since its Riley's, but the bastard turned on the GPS – he wants you to find her,' Matty huffs out, her normal control slipping. 'She's at her apartment. Be careful,' she says before ending the call
When Mac reaches the door, he stops and pulls Jack up short too. 'The door's wired,' he warns Jack.
As he inspects the door, Mac calls out to Riley inside, 'Riley! We're here – Jack and I. Everything is gonna be fine!'
'Mac!' Riley yells out from inside, 'the door's rigged to blow! The windows too. Stay back!'
'We see that,' Mac yells back. 'What about the bomb inside with you?' he asks, trying desperately to keep calm and not to let his panic over Riley seep through into his words.
'I'm wearing it,' Riley responds, 'it's a bomb vest.'
Mac's heart sinks and Jack nearly crumples into the hallway wall. Mac takes a deep breath, 'Can you tell me more about it?' he calls out.
'No,' she lets him know, 'I can only see the C4 in the front. Everything else is in the back.'
'Ok Riles, I'm going to disarm the explosives around the door and I'll be right in,' Mac responds.
'NO!' Riley shouts, 'he told me the bombs are linked. You disarm the door then the bomb on me blows ten seconds later.'
Mac sends an alarmed look Jack's way. 'There's no way that I will be able to disarm the bomb around her in less than 10 seconds going in blind,' he says quietly to Jack. 'I need to find a way to get in there,' he stresses.
Jack thinks for a moment, then an idea hits him. 'What about through the ceiling, like you did at the Phoenix when Murdoc's crew invaded?' he pitches to Mac hopefully. Mac shakes his head, 'I don't have the right materials for that, but…' he pauses as an idea takes hold, 'we could go through the adjoining wall from her neighbour's unit.'
'Trust me,' he smirks at Jack, 'the walls are pretty thin.'
'Trust me, when I say that I don't want to know how you know that,' Jack hurriedly retorts.
Mac ignores him and points to a wire at the top of the door frame. 'When I tell you to, cut this wire. It will disable the explosives and you'll be able to get in. Got it?' Mac demands. He waits for Jack to say 'Got it' and then takes off down the hallway to bust into the adjoining apartment.
'Ri, Honey, you just stay calm now. Mac is on his way to you,' Jack calls through the door to Riley in his most reassuring tone.
'NO, it's too dangerous. Stop him, Jack,' Riley pleads.
'You know that ain't gonna happen, Ri,' Jack replies. No sooner are those words out of his mouth than a loud bang is heard inside Riley's apartment.
Moment later, Mac enters Riley's living room from her bedroom, covered in drywall dust. He sees that Riley is tied to a chair in the middle of the room. He rushes to her. 'Riles,' he breathes as he kisses her head before he drops down to her eye level.
'I'm definitely not getting my security deposit back,' Riley jokes bravely at seeing Mac's dusty appearance.
Mac kids along with her to keep her calm as he coolly checks out the bomb strapped to her back. 'You knew that after our first night together here when you woke up to find me improving your water pressure,' he smirks.
'That I did,' Riley acknowledges with a small smile. 'How does it look back there?' she asks, trying to keep the wobble out of her voice.
Mac doesn't lie to her. 'It's not good. Housing surrounding the detonator prevents me from seeing how to disarm it and it's the housing that is sync to the outside explosives. And from the timer being displayed, as soon as Jack cuts the wire to disarm the ones around the door, we've got five seconds, not ten, to disarm this one. And if we disturb the housing, then the outside explosives are triggered.'
'So what you're saying is that no matter what, something is going to explode,' Riley bottom lines it. Mac looks at her and nods.
Riley looks to the ceiling in despair, breathes deep and then looks back at back. 'There's got to be a way to beat this,' she says to him earnestly. 'What's the biggest hurdle to defusing this thing?' she asks him as he unties her hands and feet from the chair.
Mac sits back on his heels and thinks for a moment. 'The countdown timer. Five seconds is not enough time for me to remove the housing and disable the detonator,' he tells her.
The wheels in Riley's brain are in motion, 'The timer uses a wireless connection to sync with the outside explosives. Mac, pass me my rig,' she commands. Mac gets her rig from the coffee table and hands it to her. Riley's fingers fly over the keyboard. 'I won't be able to cut the connection but I can slow it down to give you more time to get the housing off and disarm it. Would that work?' she asks as she looks up from her rig to him hopefully.
He gives her a slow smile, nodding. 'It should,' he confirms, 'if you can slow the countdown process down, Jack can do his cut and then I should be able to get the housing off with enough time to neutralize this one.'
'Let's do this….together,' Mac says softly to her. 'Together,' she echoes. She punches a few more keys and then nods to Mac.
'Jack, cut the wire,' Mac yells out. Jack cuts the wire and immediately the countdown timer on the detonator housing initiates. But as Riley promised, the countdown seems to hang. By the time the timer displays two seconds, Mac has the bomb disarmed. He heaves a huge sigh of relief as he and Jack remove the vest from Riley and the chair. As soon as she's free, Mac envelopes her into a tight embrace with a smiling Jack right beside them.
'I was wrong before. You were right – we should've stuck together,' he says into her hair. 'You wouldn't have been in this mess if I hadn't pushed you away,' Mac laments while he strokes her back.
Riley pushes herself out of Mac's embrace and cups his face with both hands. 'No, you were just trying to protect me. This is NOT your fault. Shamus could have easily captured both of us and then you wouldn't have been able to save the day,' she tells him firmly.
Mac grasps both her hands and kisses them before bringing them and her to his chest. 'We both saved the day today. If you hadn't been able to create that time delay, we'd both be at the pearly gates right now,' he corrects.
Riley smiles lovingly up at him, 'At least we would be together…'
'If you two are done being lovey-dovey, can we get back to the Phoenix? We caught ourselves another hooligan,' Jack announces.
Phoenix Infirmary
Mac, Jack and Riley stand with Matty outside a secured medical bay, staring at an unconscious Santos.
'It took all three of them and enough sedative to knock out a horse but they were able to take him down,' Matty recaps the effort it took to bring Santos in.
'Obviously he's on KX7,' Riley observes, 'the question is why isn't he dead yet?'
Mac shrugs, 'They must've made some modification to the formula or found a way to counteract the fatal aftereffects. Could explain why it seems like they have stopped looking for my Dad's journals.'
'We'll have answers soon enough when he regains consciousness,' Matty promises. She turns to look at the three of them, 'Nice work back there in Riley's apartment.'
'I'm just mad that Shamus got away,' Jack fumes.
'Oh, he didn't,' Matty smiles. 'Eileen's network tipped her off as to where Shamus was hiding out. Our Tac team rounded him up about an hour ago,' she informs them.
'Well, this day is getting better and better,' Jack says, beaming at the thought of the beat down he's going to deliver to Shamus.
Matty touches Mac's arm, 'Turns out The Ghost left Shamus instructions to put his revenge into play only after you looked like you had real love and family in your life. The Ghost was destroyed when he lost the love of his life and his family, so he wanted to take you down the same way.' Matty looks over to Riley and Jack. 'With Jack's return and you and Riley getting together, Shamus figured that the conditions The Ghost set out were finally met,' she explains.
Mac nods quietly at Matty's words and then looks over to Jack and Riley. 'They certainly are,' he says with an earnest smile.
Jack attempts to lighten the mood, 'I'm just glad that we have one less lunatic on the loose gunning for us. I think it is time to celebrate. Pizza and Skee-Ball anyone?'
As Matty, Mac and Riley chuckle at Jack's invitation, Russ, Bozer and Desi join them.
Bozer greets them with a 'Hey guys, nice to see that you're not blown to smithereens!' and a big grin.
Mac brings him in for a hug. 'Could say the same about you three,' Mac wisecracks back.
'We had it completely under control,' Russ boasts.
'Says the man who stayed in the van until it was all over,' Desi quips, sporting a bandage on her forearm.
Riley spies the new injury. 'How's the arm?' she asks.
Desi shrugs, 'Just a scratch really. Well worth it for taking Santos down and finding out what they're shopping for.'
'And what are they shopping for?' Mac inquires with a raised eyebrow.
'Oh….just what you would need to invade a small country,' Bozer downplays.
Matty rolls her eyes as the team starts to take turns making more outrageous comparisons of what could be done with all the firepower Walsh, via Santos, was seeking to buy.
The bantering stops when Dr. Sandria enters the room. Matty notes that she is wearing a worried expression, 'Dr. Sandria, what it is?'
Dr. Sandria takes a calming breath, 'The blood tests are in. As expected, we found KX7….but we also found something unexpected.' She takes another deep breath. 'Nanites. We found nanites – the same nanotechnology that was in Mac and Riley,' she reveals.
Shock seizes the entire Phoenix team. Mac is the first to recover.
'They're using it to beat the aftereffects of KX7,' Mac announces grimly.