3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS

Desi and Bozer hadn't spoken in hours. They were tied up in their own thoughts, both trying to piece together what had happened to their friend. They found evidence that at some point MacGyver had slept in the control shed. Something had spooked MacGyver into taking shelter in something more substantial than a tent.

Desi spotted a rockslide scar ahead. On the downslope, there was a log next to the scar in the shade of three tall pines.

"Let's take a break here," she said, motioning to the log.

Bozer didn't agree or disagree. She sat down on a log and he sat down next to her. He didn't take his pack off, just stare down the access road.

"Bozer, drink something."

"I'm not thirsty."

"You have to be."

"I'm fine."

"Bozer—"

He heaved a heavy sigh before looking her in the eyes.

"Okay." She relented. She was thirsty so she shrugged out of her pack and set it on the log next to her, then pulled her water bottle out. The only sounds they could hear were the birds and the breezes sighing through the pines.

"I can see why he'd want to be out here for two weeks," Desi said.

"His grandpa got him started on this, you know."

"Oh yeah?"

Bozer nodded. "These radio towers that Mac takes care of were his. The two would be gone for a week or two, sometimes three. Mac always came back excited and energized." Bozer looked at his hand. "He loves being out here."

"Then why do you think he lives in L.A.?" She sipped her water.

Bozer shrugged.

"Life, I guess. I never thought to…" His voice cracked. "Can we go now?"

"Sure."

She pushed her water bottle back in her pack and stood, picking it up. It pulled back. She looked over the log, seeing it was the roots of a fallen tree.

"Just a sec," she said. She carefully untangled it and pulled it back on.

Desi turned to leave but froze. She spun around and leaned over the log, staring at the gold object almost hidden under dirt and pine needles. She picked it up, standing up.

Suddenly it was yanked from her hand, and Bozer held it up like a coveted prize.

"Mac's grandfather's compass!" Bozer yelled.

His voice echoed through the woods. The wildlife stopped making noise for several moments. Not that either noticed.

"He wouldn't have left this behind, Des. The minute he noticed it was gone he would have started looking for it and it wouldn't be here. Something happened to him."

Desi stepped back from the log, looking at the ground. She crouched down, looking at the soil. There wasn't much to go by here. She turned, looking at the rockslide. How old was this thing?

She walked to the top edge and pushed some rocks aside to look at the dirt underneath. The rocks rolled down the slide, causing a mini rockslide. She watched them go, then noticed something below. The slide was wider in one spot where one slide had stopped. But the slide now went past it, down into the trees. The second slide didn't cause as much damage, tearing up smaller trees and bushes. Regardless of the strength of each rockslide had, getting caught in one would be brutal on a human body.

"Bozer, start down the mountain on that side of this slide. Do not step onto the slide; we don't want to set it off."

"What are we looking for?"

"I don't know, but I think there was a recent slide. He may have been caught in it."

"Mac wouldn't have gone out on a rockslide. He's not that stupid."

"He may have if he was trying to get away from someone. And that would explain why he didn't come back for the compass."

"Then where's his pack? Wouldn't we have found that too?"

"Bozer, humor me?"

Bozer frowned at her. She expected him to argue more. Instead, he walked down the road to the other side of the scar.

The two started down the mountain. They were at the end of the slide before Desi saw something. She carefully made her way across the rockslide, hoping it wouldn't start again, and crouched, to pick it up.

"What did you find?"

She sighed, then held it up for Bozer to see.

"A tranquilizer?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"We're in a forest. Maybe the Forest Service—"

"Bozer, this is in the middle of a rockslide, and…" She looked at the rocks. "This brown stuff on these rocks may or may not be blood. If Mac was here, if this is his blood, someone tranquilized him."

"Before or after the rockslide?"

"I don't know." Desi stood, looking into the woods. "But God I wish I did right now."