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"Jack! No!" Jack knew the voice and he stopped dead in his tracks both from the surprise of hearing Mac's voice behind him and from the command in that voice. He had been so focused on the car and Cory's scream that he had not heard Mac pull up in his Jeep. The younger man had pulled up and jumped out of his car, running to get to his friend before something irrevocably bad happened.

"MacGyver," Thornton said warningly, but Mac ignored her, his eyes focused on the car and on Jack.

"Is she...," Mac started to ask Jack, his eyes never leaving the car.

Jack nodded and reached to put a hand on Mac's arm. "She's in the trunk. "She's OK Mac. We just need to open it and...," he never finished the sentence because Mac cut him off.

"No. It's a trap," Mac said quietly, but still loud enough for all to hear. "The car is wired. You open the trunk and it'll blow." A quick look over at Jack. "You'd better step away...just in case."

"Not happening, Mac," Jack said planting his considerable, solid bulk more firmly.

Mac just nodded, he knew Jack would not leave him and was already focused on the wires in the trunk. He walked around the car several time, tracing the wires and looking at them from all angles. It looked complicated and deadly, but, in reality, it was quite a simple bomb. This made Mac nervous and suspicious; he did not like it when things were too easy. But anyway he looked at it, he saw the same thing. It was a very rudimentary bomb. Finally, Mac nodded to himself, took out his Swiss Army knife and cut one wire. A breathless moment passed, and nothing happened. Mac took a slightly shaky breath. "Cory," he called. "Are you OK?"

"Mac?" The young woman's voice carried just an edge of hysteria, but, Jack noted with pride, she was holding herself together. An audible click followed as Cory released the child safety mechanism and the trunk flew open.

The next moment, Mac saw his sister sitting up and blinking in the bright light. "Cory!," he called as he and Jack both ran to the car and helped the young woman out. Mac wrapped his arms around Cory and held her close as she clung to him. He stroked her hair, whispering in her ear as Jack, Thornton, and Riley all stood back to give the two a moment or privacy.

Another moment and Cory, becoming self conscious, broke the embrace. Mac took her by the shoulders so that he could examine her more closely. He saw the bruising on her face. She winced as he reached out to touch it. She moved her head, "I'm OK." Mac looked her over, and realized that she was dressed only in pajamas and her feet were bare.

"Mac," Cory said quietly, not meeting his eyes. "I am so sor...,"She never finished.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this just precious." Cory had never heard the voice before, but seeing the tension in Mac's body, she had a feeling she knew who it was. "See, MacGyver, I knew you would need a little extra encouragement to come meet me. And I was right." A pause. "Now, you and I are going to have a little fun...Follow the path."

Mac looked around and saw an aisle between several large mounds of discards and trash. "Now. MacGyver." The voice had now taken on a more commanding tone.

"He isn't going anywhere, you freak," Jack called out, looking all around for a target.

"Oh, quite on the contrary, I think he will," came the salt-assured voice.

"Jack," Mac whispered. His eyes on the little red dot that appeared on Jack's chest. There was another one on Thornton and one on Riley's throat. Mac looked at his three friends.

"No. Mac," Jack whispered. Just then a loud explosion echoed through the opening. Thortnon cried out and fell, clutching her shoulder.

"Remote controlled sniper rifles. Quite accurate. Unless you want a further demonstration, MacGyver, do as you are told."

Mac was still holding Cory's shoulders and now, with a grim look and compressed lips, he half pushed, half guided Cory to Jack. "Keep her safe, "he said quietly, his voice hoarse with unspoken emotions.

"No," Cory cried. "Mac, please no. Don't go." She struggled against Jack who held her in an embrace that simultaneously comforted her while still held her firm.

Mac walked carefully between the piles of trash. His eyes were alert for the assassin. An unexpected corner and Mac just about walked right into the business end of the rifle. "This has been such a pleasure," the man holding the gun said. "You have been the greatest challenge I have had in a very long time."

Mac looked at the other man. "You have me. Now let my friends go."

"Oh, you didn't read the fine print, did you?" The man smirked. "I will let them go not when you get here, but when you are dead." Mac did not realize that his pocket knife was in his hand, but he opened it and threw it at the tank behind the assassin. The tank was essentially empty, but in the heat, enough gas had built up to create a large cloud that obscured Mac's escape. The agent managed to grab his knife and run back into the mountains of trash.

Mac knew that he needed to find a way to free his friends. As he ran, he looked for materials. The guns may be very technologically advanced, but they were controlled by simple radio waves. Very quickly Mac found what he was looking for. Huddled behind a particularly large trash heap, he put his radio jammer together and aimed it at the guns.

"I'll be damned," Jack muttered. "The kid did it." All three laser targets were gone. When he looked toward the emplacement, he saw the guns pointed down and away from them. Jack looked over at Thornton who was leaning against the car, holding her bleeding shoulder. "Are you OK Patty?"

She hated being called that. "I'll live," was the terse reply. "Now go get that lunatic."

Cory was not going to be left behind. "Not without me." Jack looked at the young woman. Even after everything that she had been through, her eyes were bright and alert and her body tensed for action. "I can help," she said.

Jack nodded and knelt to get his spare gun from his ankle holster and handed it to Cory. "Be careful," he said, Cory nodded and ran off in the direction that she had seen her brother take.

Mac knew the guns has been silenced and that his friends and his sister would be able to leave safely. When he took a turn and again ran right into the assassin, he was at peace; he had done what he need to do. He did not want to die, but his family was safe and that's what was important.

He saw the man take aim. "You know Angus, this has been the most interesting assignment I have had in a long time. Thank you."

Mac played for time. "You know my name. What's yours."

That caused the other man to pause. "When you are in my profession, you acquire many names. I think out of all of them, my favorite name is Murdock."

Mac and Murdock locked eyes, neither man willing to look away.

"Put the gun down, you son of a bitch," Jack growled as he put his gun to the assassin's head.

"Oh very good, Jack, very good." Murdock almost chortled.

Jack took the gun and forced the man to his knees, fastening his wrists together with single-use handcuffs.

Cory had been running through the yard. Her feet ached; she knew that they must be cut and bleeding, but she didn't care. She needed to get to Mac. By the time she had reached the clearing, her gun ready, she saw that Jack had disarmed the other man. She was now able to look at him more closely. He was kneeling with his wrists bound together. She noticed that he was fiddling with something. At first Cory thought that it was nervous tick, but it was very methodical; this man did not strike her as somebody who wasted movement on being nervous.

She scanned the tops of the trash heaps and her eyes fell on Mac, standing a few feet back, observing the restrained assassin. Cory's heart skipped a beat when she saw the two red dots on her brother's chest.

I have a bad feeling about this. I hope you liked this chapter and I am sorry about another cliff hanger (well, only a little bit). Please let me know what you think and please leave a review as I love your thoughts and comments.