Jack knocked on Mac's front door and then pushed it open. "Yo Mac where you at?" He received no reply, so he walked through the house thinking maybe his friend was out on the deck. No sign of Mac there, maybe he was in the shower. He placed the bakery bag on the kitchen counter and walked towards Mac's bedroom, knocking before entering, not wanting to walk in on the dude naked. No one in there either.
His spidey senses were now tingly, where was his friend. This didn't feel like Mac had just gone out and forgotten to lock the door, he hadn't answered the text and call that Jack had sent him and his Jeep was still out front. He looked around the room and found Mac's phone on the bedside table and his heart started beating a little faster.
He immediately began a more thorough search of the house, hoping that he'd missed something obvious when he came in. The only thing he saw that he thought was a little strange was two mugs on the drainer, did Mac have company last night? After searching the house twice and not finding anything, he got out his phone to call in the team. To a civilian this would look like overkill, but to someone in Jack's line of work minutes could mean a lot if Mac had really been taken.
Fifteen minutes later Riley, Cage and Matty arrived to find Jack pacing on the deck.
"Dalton, what the hell is going on?" Matty exclaimed, he hadn't explained much over the phone.
"Mac's missing."
"Missing?" Riley asked. "What happened?"
"I turned up here and the door was unlocked but there was no sign on Mac. His Jeep is parked out front and his phone's still by his bed like he put it there before he went to sleep. I've searched the place from top to bottom, but I can't find anything out of place, it's like he just vanished."
"Are you sure he's just not out for a run and forgot to lock the door?" Cage asked, always the voice of reason.
"His running shoes are exactly where he usually keeps them, and his keys and wallet are on the table in the hall. I'm telling you, he's missing, and we have no idea for how long."
"Ok, I'm inclined to agree with Jack," Matty said getting out her phone. "I'll call in an evidence team, there might be something that's been overlooked. Riley can you look at traffic cam footage, see if there's anything suspicious."
"I'm on it."
Jack sat at the fire pit, a look of anguish on his face, if anything happened to Mac, he'd never forgive himself.
"We'll find him," Cage said, sitting down beside him.
"How?" Jack asked. "We don't even know what time he went missing, and if it was right around the time he went to bed, then that's twelve hours. Do you know what can happen in twelve hours!"
"I know it's hard, but you need to keep it together, until we know anything for sure."
Jack nodded, knowing that she was right, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he was never going to see Mac again.
An hour later and the evidence team were wrapping up, they hadn't found anything out of place, but they'd taken fingerprints from various places. They took the mugs with them for analysis, hoping that they would find DNA or fingerprints, even though they'd been washed. Riley hadn't come up with anything either, there were quite a few cars that had come and gone in the timeframe and she was still searching records. Unfortunately, twelve hours was a long time and there was a lot of traffic so they could only wait.
"I can't sit here and wait, I need to do something," Jack said, pacing across the deck again.
"I hate to say it, but there isn't a lot to do, until we get a lead," Matty replied.
"I could go ask the neighbours if they saw anything, that's what they police would do."
"And what are you going to say?"
"I'll tell them that Mac's missing and ask if they saw anything. I'm not gonna give anything away Matty, most of them know I'm Mac's friend."
Matty knew that Jack needed to be doing something, he wasn't the sort of person that was good sitting around. "Take Cage with you."
Jack nodded and walked through the house and out of the door, not waiting to see if Cage followed.
"Keep an eye on him," Matty said to Cage as she walked past. "We'll head back to Phoenix; I'll call you if we find anything."
"Same." Cage replied, following the same path as Jack and catching up to him. She just prayed that they found something soon, she hated to think what was happening to Mac at that moment, her mind couldn't come up with anything good.
Cage wouldn't have guessed in a million years that Mac's father had abducted him and he was currently in the middle of nowhere chained up in the basement of a small house.
Mac knew though, except the middle of nowhere part, although that was probably obvious. He was currently testing the slack on the chain and circling the room, seeing if there was anything lying around that he could use to pick the lock on the manacle. He'd fallen back to sleep not long after his father had left, blaming the sedative that was in his system, now he was alert and ready to get out of there. So far he'd come up empty, his father had done a really good job of stripping the room, there was literally nothing there except the mattress and a bucket in the corner of the room, that he guessed would be his equivalent of a toilet. He couldn't even use the paperclip he knew was in his hoody when he put it on, as he realised after his father had left he was wearing different clothes, which was a little disturbing, his father had really been thorough.
There wasn't even a window that he could look out of or escape through if he got free, just four blank walls. He walked up to the staircase, reaching the first step before the chain had no more give, not that walking up the stairs at the minute was an option. He instead searched the wood for any loose nails, jumping backwards when he heard the key in the lock, he didn't want his father suspecting what he was doing.
James came down the stairs, carrying a plate, he put in on floor halfway between the stairs and the mattress and started walking backwards.
"It's not much but you have to eat, I'll be back for the plate later."
"Wait, is that it? You bring me food and then leave, how long is this going to go on for?"
"As long as it takes."
"You can't keep me here, not even to keep me safe. You know it's not right."
"You won't have to stay down here forever; you'll soon learn that it's in your best interests to stay here and then you can come up to the house. But that will take some time. That's ok, we have plenty."
"I'm not going to just suddenly be ok with being a prisoner, you have to know that."
"Oh, I know they'll be some lessons learnt, you have to do what you need to, and I have to do the same. I'll be back later for the plate."
Mac watched his father go out the door again, more confused than he was the last time, what did that little speech mean. It was almost like he knew I would try to escape and that he wanted me to do it. Well he didn't want to disappoint him. He would eat the sandwich, then find a nail, pick the lock and hope that he made it out of the door before his father found out. He was positive he could take him, especially if he had the element of surprise.
Plan in place Mac felt a little better, he sat down to eat the sandwich and suddenly realised how hungry he was.
He wondered if the team was missing him yet, he had no idea what time it was, although he guessed it was late morning. He knew Jack would be around for lunch, they'd talked about taking a drive, so at least it wouldn't be another day before he was missed. He couldn't wait around though, he needed to get himself out of the mess he was in.
Food eaten he got up to find a nail, discovering one after a few minutes searching, he quickly unlocked the manacle and headed up the stairs. The lock on the door would be a little trickier but something he could do in his sleep, he unlocked it and listened to make sure the coast was clear. Unfortunately James had been waiting for him, as soon as he opened the door and walked out he wrapped his arm around his neck and pulled him against him, tilting his head to the side he pushed a needle into his neck and Mac went limp. James let him drop to the floor, shaking his head, knowing this wouldn't be the first time his son tried to escape and hoping that he was ready the next time he made an attempt.