2 WEEKS

It had been a long two weeks without MacGyver with the team. The team had been on two missions that would have gone a hundred percent better if he'd been with them. But he was coming back today, and there wouldn't be nearly as many mission hiccups.

Riley walked off the elevator, seeing Desi walking down the hall toward her.

"Hey," she called

Desi looked up from her phone. She offered a weak smile.

"What's wrong?"

"Have you heard from Mac today?"

Riley shook her head. "You haven't?"

"No." She looked at her phone. "I've been texting and calling him since yesterday afternoon. He hasn't gotten back to me."

Bozer walked off the elevator, joining them.

"Ladies," he said.

The two offered him a smile.

"What are we gossiping about?"

"Have you heard from Mac?" Desi asked him.

"Naw. But you know, he comes off these Pine-Sol trips exhausted. He probably fell into bed and will be late."

"Pine-Sol trips?" Riley asked.

"That's what I call them. When he comes back, he smells like pine trees and campfire." Bozer frowned. "I am not a fan of either."

"Has Mac contacted any of you?" Matty's voice demanded.

They turned. She was standing in the door of the War Room.

Bozer started to say, "I was just telling Riley and Desi that—"

"I heard you. Answer the question."

"No," the three answered.

"His phone has disappeared off the grid." Matty went back into the War Room.

The three were stunned for two seconds, then hurried to join her. She was staring at a satellite map of a forest. There were several red circles on the map.

"His phone was at the parking lot at Big Lake, where he started from, then two cell pings on the way up to the radio tower. The logs from the tower show when he powered various parts to make repairs and upgrades. Then I see the phone going down this road here." She zoomed in on a service road leading up to the radio tower. "He told me he was making a loop down to Butte Lake and back up to Big Lake. This is the last tower the phone pinged on, five days into his trip. There is nothing after that."

"Let me pull up the satellite on those timestamps. Maybe we can see him."

They waited for Riley to work her magic and she swiped the images onto the room monitor. "Okay. I can't get the exact times for all of these, but here's an image of the second day. His Jeep is parked at Big Lake. Then I have another image of him on the road toward Widow Mountain, you can't mistake that bright orange rain cover on his pack there. Two more satellites caught him all three days he was working at the radio tower. That's all the images I have of the last area. The next satellite over the area of his last phone ping was two hours later."

Matty looked back at the last satellite.

"Should we be worried?" Riley asked.

"Is his Jeep still at Big Lake?" Matty asked.

Riley pulled up a satellite image and his Jeep was not in the parking lot. "That was from yesterday at two in the afternoon. It's gone."

"Keep going back, Riley. Find the lasts time his Jeep was in the parking lot."

Riley had to find four different satellites to do that. "Here. This is the last time any satellite saw it in the parking lot."

"What day is that?"

Riley pulled up information on the image. "That was… That was four days after he'd arrived." Riley looked up. "But he was at the radio tower then."

"Maybe someone stole it?" Bozer suggested.

"Desi and Bozer, get packed and head up there. I want you to hike up to the radio tower and take the alternate route down to Big Lake. I'll make calls and get people searching in the other areas he was going. Riley, go to his house and see what you can find there."

The three left the War Room. Matty went back to the last image of MacGyver. He was sitting next to a breaker by the radio tower, working on something in his lap. It didn't look like a repair or upgrade. What was he working on?

/_\

Riley slowly stopped her car outside of MacGyver's house.

"What the hell?" she muttered.

There was a For Sale sign in the front yard and today, there was apparently an open house. She jumped out of the car and dialed Bozer's phone number.

"Did you find him?" Bozer asked.

"No. Was he planning on selling his house? Did he say anything to you?"

"No. He'd never sell that house. He loves that house."

"Yeah, well, it's for sale."

"I'm coming. Desi, we need to go to Mac's. Someone put his house up for sale."

She heard Desi bellow, "WHAT?!"

"I'm calling Matty," Riley told him and hung up. She dialed Matty's number as she stormed toward the front door.

"Matty, we have a problem and I need you to stop it right away."

Riley threw open the door and stared, speechless. The house had been cleaned out. Nothing of MacGyver's was left in the house.

"Hi there," a cheery voice said.

Riley turned, watching a woman in a fashionable skirt suit walk toward her. She held out her hand. "Melonie. Next Door Realty. Are you here for the open house?"

"Why are you selling this house?" Riley demanded.

"What?"

"Why are you selling this house?"

Melonie looked a little surprised. "Well, because the owner wanted to sell it, Miss. Is there a problem?"

"Yeah. The owner has been missing for two weeks. How the hell did he approve the sale?" Riley held her hand up to stop the woman from responding. "Matty, get here now. This… This is a disaster. This cannot be happening right now!"