Hi-ho! 'Tis me! I present another chapter! Hope you enjoy :)
Do I really have to put this disclaimer on every single chapter, or can I just tell you guys that I never have, do not, and probably never will own any part of this wonderful TV show?
Freezing water was splashed onto the unconscious Jack, making him jerk to reality with much gasping, sputtering, and cursing. He jerked around when he realized that he was sitting on the cold hard cement, hands tied behind the post at his back. He glared up in the face of the nameless Russian who had just thrown the bucket of water on him.
"When I get outta here, I'm comin' after you first," he threatened. The man didn't say anything; he simply turned and walked away, leaving Jack with the view of four other people tied up in the room with him. There was MacGyver, still in his leather jacket, and two people he assumed were Angelica's parents. Jack was unsure who the fourth man was, though.
MacGyver was still unconscious, but he was stirring, and Jack figured the kid would be waking up soon. Jack realized that he and Mac had both been left with their first layer of jackets, but their thick, outer coats had been removed and taken somewhere. Jack could only hope and pray that they hadn't found the USB in Mac's jacket pocket.
The other three people were staring at the two newcomers, confusion written all over their faces. They didn't ask anything though. Jack shook his head, trying to get water out of his eyes, then grimaced as he realized that was a poor idea, seeing as how he had a pounding headache.
"Philip Chambers?" Jack asked quietly, glancing around to make sure they were alone. He didn't see any cameras, but judging by how old the room looked, it wasn't surprising. The man he was addressing looked up.
"Yes?" he responded. "How do you know my name? You're American! Did the government send you?" he asked hopefully. Jack shook his head.
"Not the government, no," he replied. "I, uh, met someone on the streets who said you needed help," he explained.
"Angelica?" the woman exclaimed quietly, leaning forward as much as she could. "She's not here, is she?" she asked frantically.
"No, no, don't worry!" Jack said. "Don't worry, we left her with a friend of ours," he explained, nodding towards the slowly-awakening MacGyver.
"I told you she'd get away!" Philip said to his wife, a relieved expression crossing both of their faces.
"So your friend," the other man chimed in, his Russian accent surprising Jack a little. "The one Angelica is with; they know you're here, yes? They will send help?"
Jack squirmed a little. "Well, they know we were going to see someone, but they don't know we were grabbed, or where exactly it was that we were going," he admitted. "Who are you, anyway?" he added, directing the question at the last man who had spoken.
"My name is Alexei Mikhailov," the man replied.
"Well whaddya know," Jack said. "You're who we were going to see. Met your secretary," he added. "Pretty girl, but a little psycho if you ask me. You may want to start looking at getting her replaced soon."
Alexei nodded. "Yes, Darya. I can't believe she would do this. Such a nice young woman. She's been with me for almost eight months, and I've never heard anything but good comments about her." he replied. Jack opened his mouth to say something else snarky, but before he could, Mac finally opened his eyes.
"Jack?" he asked, looking around with a slightly dazed expression.
"Over here kid," Jack said. MacGyver's head turned in the direction of his friend's voice, finally locking eyes with the older man. "Morning sunshine," Jack said in a joking tone. MacGyver scoffed quietly as he tugged on the ropes around his wrists. He looked around at the others in the room and Jack made the introductions. "Mac, this is Philip Chambers, his lovely wife, uh…"
"Eliza," she supplied. Jack smiled gratefully.
"His wife Eliza, and Mr. Alexei Mikhailov. Everyone, this is MacGyver, and my name is Jack." he finished. MacGyver's eyebrows had gone up a little at the last name.
"So they got all of you?" he asked. Three heads nodded in unison. "What do they want?"
"We were working on a new treaty," Philip started. "A group of radicals burst into the meeting, forced us into a van with no windows and drove us out here. I'm not sure how long we've been in here," he added. "I think it's only been about a day though."
"Wait, your wife and daughter were in the meeting with you?" Mac asked. Philip shook his head.
"No, they were upstairs in one of the bedrooms of the hotel we were put up in. We were downstairs in one of the conference rooms," he explained. "The radicals did their homework; they knew exactly what room we would be in, and what room Eliza and Angelica were in. They picked the time that no one was around, and they were in and out in less than three minutes."
"How did Angelica get out?" Jack asked.
"They didn't have us tied up as tightly as they should have, and Angelica was able to work her little wrists out of the ropes. She untied Eliza, but as they tried to get Alexei and me untied, we heard someone coming. We knew we had to get word out somehow, and we were able to get Angelica out through that window before they came into the room," Philip replied, nodding his head at a now boarded-up window. "It definitely wasn't our first choice to send her out alone, but she was the only one small enough to get through the window without any difficulty. We also wanted her to get away in case anything happened, and we figured people would be more likely to stop if they saw a child running through the streets more than they would an adult," he added.
Mac had to agree with the diplomat there. If it had been one of the adults, they probably would have been passed off as a raving drunk. "So what do the radicals want?" he asked again.
"From what we've heard while we've been here, they simply want money. They think that our governments will pay a ransom for us, especially once they find out that they have a small child," Alexei answered.
"But there hasn't been a report of the kidnappings yet," Jack pointed out. Alexei nodded.
"They were getting ready to release a statement along with a video of us, demanding to be paid, but Angelica got away before they could record a video. They knew having a young child would gain attention, so they have been looking for her since she got away. They want her back before they go public with anything."
"We're not due back in the states for another three days," Eliza cut in. "They have at least that much time to search for and potentially find Angelica. Please tell me she's somewhere safe?" she implored, looking between the two men. MacGyver nodded.
"She's safe," he promised. A moment of silence passed, then they heard clomping footsteps coming towards the door, followed by the click click click of heeled shoes. A key was inserted and turned in the lock, and the door to their prison was opened.
Four men walked into the room, and in the middle of the group was the secretary from Mikhailov's office, Darya. The men spread out, placing themselves strategically around the room while the woman walked towards Jack.
"Listen," Jack said as she approached. "Something's up with your coffee; you probably need to get a better brand or something." She sneered at him, and instead of responding, she jerked her head at one of the goons standing near MacGyver. Immediately, the man delivered a kick to the young man's side, making the blond gasp in surprise and pain. "Hey, hey, hey!" Jack said, his voice rising with every word. "It's not his fault your coffee is crap!"
Another kick left MacGyver groaning. "Jack, please stop talking," he begged through clenched teeth. Jack wisely shut his mouth about the coffee. Darya looked at him.
"You know, my men confiscated a gun from you while you were unconscious," she informed them. "What are two tourists doing carrying around a gun?" she asked suspiciously.
"I have a permit," Jack said smoothly. She scoffed.
"You Americans and your love of guns," she said, shaking her head in what appeared to be disbelief. Mac and Jack glanced at each other. Hopefully they'd be able to keep her thinking that they were nothing more than tourists in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Where is the girl?" Darya asked harshly.
"What girl?" Jack asked innocently, staring into her cold blue eyes without flinching. She studied Jack for a moment before nodding again.
"I saw how your friend refused to leave you back at the office," she commented. "He is very loyal to you. I wonder if you are as loyal to him? Tell me what I want to know and I won't harm him," she offered. Jack glanced over to see two men moving towards his friend.
They knelt down and cut the ropes binding Mac's wrists and grabbed his arms before he could make a defensive move. They dragged him to his feet, one man each holding one of his arms. "Jack, don't do it!" MacGyver insisted loudly, earning him a punch to the stomach. He wheezed and doubled over, but he kept eye contact with Jack, letting him know without speaking that Jack was to say nothing about Angelica's location.
"Listen, if you do anything, I'm gonna-" Jack was cut off as the woman snapped her fingers. Almost immediately, there was a sickening POP and Jack heard MacGyver yell in pain. He also heard Eliza gasp. "Son of a-" he muttered, leaning over to look at his friend.
MacGyver's face was white as a sheet as he was lowered back to the ground. Jack winced when he saw the kid's right shoulder. It was definitely not where it was supposed to be, and Jack knew they had just popped Mac's shoulder out of it's socket. "Mac?" Jack said, trying to stay calm and not lash out with his legs at Darya; he knew that would just end badly for his friend.
"'M...I'm fine," the young man panted unconvincingly. He gasped as his arms were once again tied behind the pole at his back, his face going even whiter than Jack thought was possible.
"Now," Darya said, feigning a pleasant voice. "Are you ready to tell me where the little girl is?"
"Why don't you take a long walk off a short pier?" Jack shot back angrily. This time it was him who was hit, but he didn't mind terribly. At least it meant MacGyver was getting a break. His cheek stung where it had been slapped, but it was a weak pulsing pain, nothing more. Jack simply shook his head a little, ignoring the pounding from the headache, and stared the woman defiantly in the face. "Is that the best you got?"
The woman sneered. "Oh no. I have plenty more where all of this came from," she threatened. "I guess your vacation isn't going as well as you planned, is it? I promise, this can all end if you just tell me where the little girl is," Darya said.
"You're not going to get anything from us," MacGyver said, pain lacing his voice. Darya turned towards him.
"And why is that?" she asked. "You don't know her or her family. What are they to you? Why are you willing to go through so much for someone you don't know?"
MacGyver shook his head. "You don't honestly think that just because we don't know this family, we are going to let you use a little girl for leverage to get what you want, do you?"
Darya glared at him. "You are going to tell us where she is," she insisted.
"I'm sorry, I just don't remember," Mac replied with sass and contempt, though he was unable to mask the pain that his dislocated shoulder was putting him through. "Sometimes when you hit someone really hard in the back of the head, it affects their memory, which is what seems to have happened between us. Sorry," he finished, definitely not sounding sorry at all. The woman considered him coldly before she pulled a gun from the the waistband of her slacks and fired three shots at Jack.
Dum dum dum... There ye be! Whatcha think? I'm not sure if Mac was OOC, especially in the last paragraph...