Chapter Five: Debriefing
The first sign of civilization was a little country gas station, and MacGyver pulled up outside the window.
"Yeah? Watcha want, mister?"
"Can you point me in the direction of your police station?"
"Hey, I ain't done nuthin' wrong, mister!"
"Got nothing to do with you," MacGyver assured him.
"Okay…well, just keep on Main Street; it's on the left just past the post office."
MacGyver gave him a teasing salute. "Thanks."
The police station lay right where he indicated near the center of town. MacGyver pulled into the small visitor parking lot and jumped out, then opened the back door of the Rover. "C'mon, girls." He helped them out, and they clustered around him, finding security in his presence.
As he ushered his charges into the station's outer office, he saw that the officer on duty was on the phone. Looking up at the sound of the door, the policeman held up one finger to indicate he would be with him in a second. MacGyver answered the gesture with one of his own, signaling his understanding, then let his eyes rove around the room.
"Thirsty, Lucie?" he asked, spotting a water fountain on the wall and recalling her walk in the hot sun.
"Uh-huh."
"C'mon." Lifting her up, he held her as she drank for several minutes. * Then he helped Juli and Mari, and finally bent for several swallows of cool water himself. When he straightened and turned back, the police officer was just hanging up the phone. "Sorry about that, sir. What can I do for you?"
"I need to report a kidnapping. I rescued these girls from a warehouse along the highway about eight or ten miles back; they said they were grabbed in Pine Valley."
Urgent excitement filled the officer's face. He held up a hand for MacGyver to wait a moment, then pressed the intercom button on his phone. "Chief, I have a man here with a lead on the San Diego County kidnappings."
"Send him in," the chief responded instantly.
"He's got some kids with him; says he rescued them from the kidnappers."
"Understood."
The officer clicked off the intercom and stood. "This way, sir."
The girls shrank against MacGyver as they were led into a room with several policemen occupied at various desk jobs. The chief came forward with his hand outstretched. "I'm Chief Allenwood."
"MacGyver," he responded, accepting the man's handshake.
"So, Mr MacGyver, these girls are the kidnapping victims?"
"Yes, sir. Lucie escaped on her own; I found her walkin' down the road. She told me about the others, so I went in after them."
"An' he got my teddy back!" Lucie added, hugging the bear.
MacGyver chuckled and rumpled her hair. "And her teddy," he amended.
The chief frowned. "Mr MacGyver, you're to be commended for getting them out safely, but it was highly dangerous to go in on your own; you should have contacted the police and let us handle it."
"Yes, sir. I realize that," MacGyver replied, not bothering to explain that he was often sent in to rescue people who were imprisoned in places that were hard to break into and even harder to break out of…and was usually successful. "But I didn't know how long these girls had before they were moved," he continued, casting a glance toward the children, listening to every word, and not voicing what he had truly feared.
"Higgins! Call Pine Valley and let them know we have the girls. What are their names?"
"Mari?" MacGyver questioned.
"Mariana and Juliana Delarosa," she answered softly.
"How about you, Lucie; know your full name?"
"Luciana Rodriguez, but teddy's just teddy," she explained earnestly.
Higgins nodded and picked up the phone to call the Pine Valley police station.
"There's a map on the wall here, Mr MacGyver," the chief indicated. "Can you show me the approximate location of the warehouse?…though I expect they're long gone by now."
"Unless they have two spare tires on that van of theirs, they'll be on foot; I slashed their two back tires."
The chief gave MacGyver a hard sideways look, but didn't remind him again of the danger of working on his own.
"Girls, your parents want to talk to you," Higgins called.
Three pairs of eyes lit up, but they looked to MacGyver as if for permission. He grinned and nodded, and they deserted him to cluster around Higgins. He switched the phone to speaker, and MacGyver let the sound of excited Spanish fade to the back of his mind as he studied the map.
"It would have been about here," he decided, placing his finger on a point along the highway. "There was a gravel access road, but I don't know where it leads; the girls and I climbed the embankment from the highway."
Chief Allenwood nodded and reached for his radio to dispatch several squad cars. "How many suspects?"
"At least four, possibly five. At least two of them were armed." He shifted his shoulder slightly.
Chief Allenwood relayed the information, sirens sounding in the background as the officers acknowledged.
"Were the girls…hurt?" Chief Allenwood asked in a low voice.
MacGyver shook his head quickly. "Hadn't been touched."
"Thank God," the chief said fervently.
"Yeah. I've little doubt that was the final intent, but fortunately it hadn't gone that far yet. Lucie was the only one with even a scratch, an' she did that to herself climbin' out." He turned toward Higgins as the officer hung up the phone. "What did Pine Valley say?"
"The girls' parents don't have transportation to come pick them up; I said we'd see about getting them home once they identify our suspects for us."
"I'm heading that way anyway; I can give them a lift," MacGyver offered.
Chief Allenwood's eyes narrowed. "You may be a real good Samaritan, Mr MacGyver, but I can't just release them to your custody without some kind of authorization."
Wide-eyed, the girls sidled closer to MacGyver, and he wrapped an arm around them as with a sigh he pulled his wallet from his pocket. Flipping it open to his driver's license, he thumbed another card halfway out from behind the id. "That sufficient?"
The chief's eyes widened. "dxs?" he half whispered.
"Yeah, sometimes…when they need me."
"Then I apologize, sir; when I said you shouldn't have tried rescuing the girls on your own, I assumed —"
MacGyver smiled. "No offence taken," he assured him. "I'm more or less freelance anyway…and my offer to drop the girls off is still open."
"I'll take you up on it," the chief agreed. "I'll just need to ask you to wait to leave until my men bring the suspects in."
"Sure thing. All right if I take the girls to get somethin' to eat while we're waitin'?"
"No reason why not. I'll send someone after you when you're needed."
"You got it. Let's go, girls; I bet you're as hungry as I am."
Next chapter coming next week! (Unless the library closes again. Due to a recent change on the Fanfiction website, I may not be able to post from my phone, as I did over the spring and summer.)
* Illustration for this scene can be found at www . deviantart . com [slash] femalechauvinist [slash] art [slash] Mutual-Aid-866277092
I proofread all my stories at least once before posting, but if you see any mistakes I might have missed, please let me know!
Please note that I have only minimal internet access, and may not have time to respond to all reviews/messages. (But they are much appreciated, even if you're reading this story long after I originally post it!) If you have questions regarding my MacGyver alternate history, check my profile first to see if they're answered there. Thanks for your understanding! Barbie
