Mac was so bored he thought his head was going to explode, he hadn't spent so much time doing nothing for as long as he could remember. He always had something to occupy his hands, whether it be an experiment, a paperclip or a book he was reading. Of course, his father didn't want to give him anything he might be able to use against him, although surely he could have given him some books.

He was pacing for what felt like the hundredth time when the door opened, James walking down the stairs with a plate and a fresh bottle of water.

"Sit down please Angus."

Mac did as he was told, this was it, the moment he could finally set his plan in motion. He highly doubted the food would be drugged, his father had said that he would only do that at night, he just prayed that the man would leave and not watch him eat.

"I know it's probably pretty boring down here without anything to do," James said, as if he was reading his son's mind. "I hope you won't have to be down here much longer."

Mac decided not to respond, not wanting to risk either setting the man off or causing him to stay and talk. Luckily, James put the plate down and walked back out of the room. Mac ate the sandwich as quickly as he could, it was foolish to waste it, although he left the bottle, thinking it would be best to take it with him, not knowing how long it would be before he could find another source of water.

He careful broke the plate, not wanting to make too much noise, he then found the weakest part of the mattress and began to cut. He wasn't sure how long it would take and how long he had before his father came back. After what felt like hours he cut through to the metal coils below, now all he had to do was break one of those without cutting himself too badly. In his head this was going to be easy, apparently the coils were attached firmer than he anticipated. He used the plate as a hammer, he only needed to get one loose, he could bring the manacle over to it rather than the other way around. He was so conscious of how long this was taking, half expecting his father to come through the door at any minute. Finally, he broke one of the coils, he grabbed it and stuck it into the lock. It took a couple of minutes and it was off. He leapt to his feet grabbed the bottle of water and then stopped, realising he needed to pick the door lock too.

He went straight for the staircase knowing there were still loose nails, pulling one out took another couple of minutes, he raced up the stairs as quietly as he could, picking the lock. He listened at the door and didn't hear any movement, but that had happened last time. This time he was more careful, he opened the door and waited, if his father were there he'd expect him to go through straightaway. It was agony to wait, but he did and then he made his way slowly forward.

He looked right to where he had been led to the bathroom, he was sure that wasn't where the front door was, there was a wall directly in front of him, so the only way was to the left. He slowly started bringing the door towards him so that he could go around it, just as he was going around he spotted what he thought was the front door. His father could appear at any moment, so he had to hurry, hopefully the door was unlocked, he wasn't sure his nail was going to be any good picking it.

He had almost reached his destination when there was a sound behind him, he froze, spinning around throwing his arm up to protect himself, thinking that he was going to be stuck with a needle again. Instead there was a fist to his face, it hit him before he could get his arm fully up, it didn't knock him out so he tried hard to get to his feet, again he wasn't quick enough, the second fist to the face knocked him backwards where he hit his head on the floor, he quickly lost consciousness, missing his father's disapproving look. "Why can't you just do as you're told!"

Mac came to a while later, to a banging headache and a hard surface. He opened his eyes slowly, knowing that being too fast wouldn't be good for his head. He discovered that he was once again back in the basement, although that didn't really surprise him, he was once again chained but there was something missing this time, the mattress was gone.

He sat up slowly, feeling a little nauseous, hoping that the bottle of water would be lying around somewhere, no such luck. He couldn't quite believe that his father had done that, it was one thing to knock him unconscious with drugs, but with his fists, he'd never done that in the past. Mac brought his knees up to his chest and rested his arms on top. His second escape attempt had been an epic fail, he wasn't sure there was going to be a third, especially when he was down here. It looked like he was going to have to behave himself so that he could go upstairs permanently, maybe then he'd have more of a chance.

He had just rested his head on top of his arms when the door flew open and James came thundering down the stairs.

"You weren't out for long, maybe I should have hit you harder," were the first words James spoke as he came closer.

Mac had to admit he was a little scared, he wasn't sure if this man would actually attack him, he let go of his legs, pushing himself onto his knees, he wanted to be in some sort of position to defend himself.

"I knew deep down that you'd try and escape again, but I still couldn't believe it when you made it up those stairs. Part of me is proud of you, a mattress coil, can't have been easy to get that out."

"Believe me it wasn't," Mac replied, not wanting to stay quiet.

"You realise now that I've had to take the mattress away, you'll have to sleep on the floor, can't have you trying that again, even though it was fun to watch." James smiled.

Mac wasn't sure at first what he meant by that, the headache causing his brain to not fire on all cylinders. He slowly began to realise though. "You've been watching me?"

"Of course, I have!" James walked over to the corner of the room and pointed. "It's amazing what sort of camera's you can buy these days, you can make them almost invisible."

"If you were watching, why did you let me get to the front door?" Mac asked, afraid to.

"I wanted to see how far you'd get; it was fun to see you think you'd made it after all that effort."

Mac couldn't believe his father was saying that, there was something wrong with the man. He relaxed a little though, it didn't look like there was going to be any more violence.

"I was going to drug you again, but I haven't got too many sedatives left, don't want to use my whole supply, I have a feeling I'm going to be needing it. It felt good to put you in your place with my fists, you're lucky I only knocked you out." James paused, thinking that his son was going to respond, when he didn't he carried on. "There will be no more escape attempts, if you try again I'll give you the beating I should have given you now."

Mac believed his father, it wasn't that he was afraid of getting beaten up, it kind of came with the job description, it was the fact that the man in front of him was threatening to do it, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"You're not saying much Angus, cat got your tongue?"

"There's not much to say," he replied, thinking he had to say something.

"You're right, there isn't." James walked straight to Mac and stood over him, the anger on his face very real. "It's real simple Angus, you do as your told and we get along fine, you don't behave, and you get punished. The punishment for today is to sleep on the floor and to go hungry, let's see if you need more of a punishment tomorrow."

After that he turned and walked up the stairs, slamming the door behind him, Mac let out the breath he'd been holding, sure that the man was going to follow through with his earlier threat to beat him.

He was thankful that all the punishment he was getting was no mattress and no dinner. He had no issues sleeping on the floor, although it would have been nice to at least have a blanket, plus it was a known fact that he missed meals, the pancakes and sandwich had filled him up, he could wait. He laid back down closing his eyes, his head was really banging and all he really wished for were some painkillers.

Far away in Mac's neighbourhood, Jack and Bozer were busy knocking on doors showing James's picture around. They knew it was a long shot, but it was better than sitting around doing nothing.

"Are you sure you haven't seen him? It could have been weeks ago." Jack asked, getting the same answer at every house.

"I'm sorry but no, can't say he looks familiar."

"Well thank you for your time."

Jack walked to the next house, really hoping Bozer was having more luck. As it happened that was certainly the case, Bozer had just asked the lady at number 101 and she'd recognised the picture immediately.

"You've seen him?" Bozer asked, wanting to be sure.

"Yes, handsome devil isn't he," Mrs Mortimer said. "He was walking around last week, Tuesday I think. Thought it was a little strange, he was pacing, kept to the shadows as if he didn't want to be seen."

"But you saw him," Bozer said, a big smile on his face.

"Yes, he was hard to miss, of course I really shouldn't have kept looking, but I really couldn't help myself. He was holding this strange object, it was pointed in that direction," she pointed exactly to Mac and Bozer's house. "He was probably there for at least an hour, maybe longer, he left and came back a couple of times. Then he got into a green car and drove off, never to be seen again."

"A green car? Do you happen to know what make?"

"I don't really know much about cars I'm afraid Wilt. It was medium sized."

"What sort of time?"

"It was around 3pm, I remember because my favourite show was on just after he left."

"Thank you so much Mrs Mortimer, you've been a great help." Bozer ran away quickly before she could say anything else, immediately getting out his phone to call Jack. "Jack I've got a lead, meet me at the car."

He met Jack at the car and filled him in on what Mrs Mortimer said, calling Riley as soon as they started driving.

"Tuesday at 3pm, green car, ok got it Boze, I'll check out any surveillance cameras in your neighbourhood. I'll also add a green car to my other search, hopefully he drove the same one after he took Mac." They'd decided that it was possible the stolen car they'd been following earlier was completely unrelated. Strange, but coincidences do happen.

Riley looked up at the others, eager to tell them what Bozer had found out. "A lady on Mac's street saw James hanging around last Tuesday, apparently he had some sort of object pointed at the house, I'm thinking it might have been a homemade listening device. He left the area at 3pm in a green car. It's the best lead we've got."

"That's great news, I hope you're right about him driving the same car after he took Mac," Cage said, looking a little doubtful, they'd already followed a lead that hadn't panned out.

"Me too."

"I'll leave you guys to it, I've got to give Oversight an update," Matty said, leaving the room.

Riley and Cage both went back to their work, Riley running surveillance footage and Cage combing through James's CIA file, determined to find something everyone else missed.

Mac had fallen asleep without meaning to when he laid down, he really hoped he didn't have a concussion. He had been awake for a few hours at least, as far as he could tell, and he was beginning to get thirsty. He hadn't had anything to drink in a while, he really wished he'd had some of that water before he'd tried to escape, a thought for next time.

He was pacing again, the only thing he was able to do, random calculations keeping his mind busy. He really wished there were a clock down here, he hated not knowing the time, he didn't even remember seeing a clock in the kitchen. Maybe his father was doing it on purpose, he imagined it was a technique the CIA taught them when keeping prisoners, keep them unbalanced. The only way he could keep time was through meals, although maybe those weren't being given to him at the normal time either. He was thinking about a way he could find out how much time had passed when then door opened.

James walked down the stairs, repeating his earlier phrase.

"Sit down please Angus"

At least he seemed calmer than before, and it looked like he was carrying a bottle of water. He placed the bottle down and stood backwards.

"Drink."

Mac really wanted to refuse, convinced that the water was drugged, seeing as how he wasn't being fed. He was too thirsty though and he was sure his father wouldn't take no for an answer. He drank half the bottle than put it back on the floor, expecting to feel lightheaded, he didn't. That's when he noticed the box in his father's hand.

"Following the rules is important Angus, you didn't follow them so you're being punished. Unfortunately, because there is no food, I will have to give you the evening sedative through injection." James words were so matter of fact, as if he were speaking from a script. "You will lay down on your side and let me inject you, if you refuse or struggle the consequences will be unpleasant."

Mac had no choice, he really didn't want his father to do it, it was one thing eating food that he knew would put him to sleep, but to let someone stick a needle in him, willingly, he didn't like it. He wasn't interested in finding out what the unpleasant consequences might be, so he complied. He lay on his side arm out, trying not to be too tense as he knew that would make it worse.

James approached him, knelt and stuck the needle in his neck. Mac supposed he should have seen that coming, it's where the last injection went.

"Needless to say, there will not be a repeat of this morning in the near future, you will stay down here until I am satisfied you can behave, even if that is indefinitely."