Here's the next chapter! Thank you all so much for all the support you've given me! It seriously means a lot :)
PS, bonus points to anyone who can spot the different fandom that I've slipped into this story! I'm not sure if it's very clear, but yeah... :D
Nope. Still not mine.
Angelica watched the Russian woman pace around, constantly glancing at the time, both on the clock hanging on the wall and at the time on the phone. "Too long," she muttered. "It's been too long." She finally stopped her pacing and unlocked the phone MacGyver had given her, scrolling through his contacts. She found the one she was looking for and hit "call," holding it to her ear and waiting for the other end to be picked up.
"Mac?" a female voice came on over the phone.
"No, Patricia, it's Anja," Anja replied.
"Anja, is everything alright? Where are MacGyver and Jack? Why do you have Mac's phone?"
"MacGyver and Jack went to the address you gave them, and MacGyver gave me his phone to call you if he and Jack weren't back within an hour," she explained. "They left a little over an hour ago," she added. There was silence on the line, then Patricia replied.
"Anja, stay on the line. I'm going to try Jack's cell phone," she said. Anja waited, fidgeting a little. Patricia was gone for just over a minute, then she came back on the line. "It's going straight to Jack's voicemail. We're also not able to get a lock on his phone, meaning it's either off or dead."
"What do we do?" Anja asked, biting her nails and glancing over at the little girl sitting on her couch. Angelica was staring at her with confusion in her eyes.
"The team won't be there for at least another three hours," Thornton said in frustration. "I may have someone else who can help though!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Let me see if I can get ahold of them. Last I heard, they were scoping out an area near you." Patricia once again put Anja on hold. Anja held the phone away from her ear for a minute to address the little girl.
"Do you want anything to eat?" she asked gently. Angelica thought about it for a minute, then shook her head. "Alright," Anja said. "Let me know if you change your mind."
"Anja?" Patricia's voice came on the line again.
"I'm here," the Russian replied.
"I got ahold of them, they are on their way. They'll be calling Mac's phone soon, so you'll need to answer it," she instructed. It made Anja a little nervous to be taking a call from someone she didn't know, but if MacGyver and Jack were in trouble and this would help them, she would do what it took.
"I understand," she finally replied. "Who should I be expecting the call from?"
"Their names are Frank, Jesse, and Billy Colton," Patricia replied. "Wait for one of them to call, then call me back immediately and let me know what you decide to do," she instructed.
"Yes ma'am," Anja replied. The phone call was disconnected and Anja waited, somewhat impatiently for the phone call.
"Ms. Anja?" Angelica's little voice asked. Anja turned to face the girl.
"What is it, sweetie?"
"I have to go to the bathroom," she replied, looking a little embarrassed.
"Of course," Anja responded with a gentle smile. She pointed towards the appropriate room.
"Thank you," Angelica said, getting up and padding off down the short hallway.
A few moments later, the phone in Anja's hand began buzzing. She looked down at the screen and saw the face of a contact on Mac's phone. She answered it, clearing her voice before speaking. "Hello?"
"Is this Anja?" the voice on the other end asked. Anja hesitated before answering; she was always so nervous about meeting new people since her run-in with the mob, but she knew MacGyver and Jack trusted them, and she knew they needed help.
"Yes. What is your name?"
"Frank Colton," came the reply. "I hear our boys have gotten themselves into a little trouble?"
"JACK!" MacGyver shouted, leaning forward to try and see around his friend, doing his best to ignore the spots that danced in front of his eyes when the movement pulled on his shoulder. Jack had let out a yell of pain and MacGyver was scared for what he would see.
"I'm good, Mac," Jack finally said. He sounded stressed, and his voice had an unnatural hitch to it. Mac finally caught sight his friend, seeing that two of the bullets had embedded themselves in the wooden pole three inches above Jack's head, but the third had ripped into his friend's upper arm, and Jack's sleeve was quickly turning red. MacGyver was fuming. Darya crouched down next to MacGyver.
"Those were warning shots. When I come back, it would be wise if your memory improved somewhat, otherwise my shots might not be so fortunate," she threatened before turning and storming out the door. It was slammed shut with a BANG that echoed ominously around the room.
"Mac?" Jack asked, concern now flowing freely through his voice. "Kid? Talk to me!"
"I'm fine, Jack," came the strained reply.
"So on the normal people's scale of pain, that's an 'I'm in excruciating pain,' right?" Jack shot at his friend.
"Says the man who's been shot!' MacGyver said gruffly. Jack inclined his head; the kid had a point. "Give me a minute," Mac said. Jack heard rustling and he looked over at his young partner, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his arm.
"What are you doing kid?" Jack asked after a minute or so of silence. Philip, Eliza, and Alexei were looking at the two of them, a newfound look of respect on their faces.
"Getting us out of here," Mac grunted. Jack looked at his friend; he saw him wiggling his left arm, trying to keep his right side as still as possible.
"Who are you two?" Eliza asked.
"Just two people trying to do the right thing," Jack answered, a bit distractedly. He kept staring at his friend and watched in amazement as he saw MacGyver free his left hand from the bindings. "How'd you do that?" he asked.
MacGyver started to get up, but he jostled his right arm. He lost whatever color he had gained back in his face. He had to lean back against the pole he had been tied to moments before, pressing the back of his head against the wood and closing his eyes before he was able to answer Jack's question.
"Before they tied me back up, I tensed the muscles in my hands and arms. That way, my wrists were bigger than they actually were. Once they got back down to their normal size, it gave me enough wiggle room to get out of the ropes," he explained. He started to push himself back up again, eyes squinting closed as he breathed through the pain in his arm.
"Woah kid, take it easy," Jack cautioned. "Take your time." MacGyver opened his eyes slightly, giving his friend a deadpanned stare.
"I'm sorry, yes. Let me leave all of you tied up so that the radicals can come back, find me untied and capture us all over again, subjecting us to torture and pain before they finally kill us when they realize we aren't going to tell them anything," he snarked at his friend. Jack rolled his eyes. He knew Mac was right, but it didn't mean that he had to like it. Jack hissed as a fresh wave of pain rolled through his shoulder, and MacGyver's eyes snapped open all the way.
He watched as MacGyver slowly made his way over to him, then sat behind the pole and worked at the knots tying Jack's wrists with his left hand. Mac let out a frustrated breath after a few moments. "What?" Jack asked. "What's wrong?"
"They tied this really well," he admitted. "If I could use both hands I could probably get it faster. Give me a minute to think," he said, sitting back on his haunches and rubbing his face with his left hand, glancing around at all they had at their disposal. He saw a large rock sitting a few feet away and he reached over and grabbed it. It had one sharp side, and Mac grinned. "We may have a chance," he thought to himself.
He started sawing away at the rope with the sharp side of the rock. "Sorry," he said as he accidentally nicked Jack's hands.
"Trust me kid," Jack said. "That's definitely not the worst pain I'm feeling right now." Finally the ropes were frayed enough that Mac knew Jack would be able to get out.
"Jack, pull against the ropes as hard as you can," he instructed. Jack did as he was told. It took a few tries, but finally the rope fell away from Jack's wrists. Jack immediately got up and moved to be kneeling in front of MacGyver, pushing the pain aside as he stared at his friend's strange looking shoulder.
"Come on," he said. "Let's fix your shoulder." He started to reach for Mac's right shoulder, but MacGyver pushed his hand away.
"Get everyone else untied," he insisted. Jack stared at him dubiously. "Go!" Mac said, shoving his friend, not hard, but definitely not gently. Jack finally relented and hurried over the the other three prisoners, holding his arm as if it were in a sling.
A few minutes later, the other three were free and rubbing their wrists, trying to get circulation back. Their skin was red and raw, but no one seemed to care about it; they were all just happy they were free from their bonds.
Jack hurried back to his young friend as soon as the last person was untied. "Alright bud, it's your turn," he said, his voice taking on the tone of 'I'm not taking 'no' for an answer'. MacGyver had leaned up against the pole Jack had been tied to, resting his head and closing his eyes. At the sound of his friend's voice, he opened his eyes.
Mac glanced around and saw that everyone was untied. He looked back at Jack and nodded, sitting up. Jack maneuvered his way around towards Mac's back. "Okay, count of three?" he asked, preparing to pop his friend's shoulder back in place.
Mac shook his head. "No, I know you're just going to do it before the count of three to make sure I'm not prepared and tensed up, so just go ahead and do it whenAH!" He was cut off by his own yelp of pain as Jack popped the dislocated shoulder back into place.
"You good?" Jack asked. Mac clenched his teeth together for a minute, then let out a long, deep breath. He nodded.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good," he finally got out. He looked at Jack. "Let me patch that up quick," he said. Jack was going to protest, saying that they didn't have enough time, but Mac was already tearing the bottom of his shirt into a long strip. He zipped up his jacket when he was done tearing his shirt so that he could keep at least some of the cold air out. Mac wound the strip of shirt as best and as tight as he could around his friend's arm, tying a knot to keep it in place.
"Ow," Jack whined, only half joking. Mac shook his head with a small laugh.
"Oh I'm sorry, I should have just let you bleed everywhere. It's fine, here. Let me get rid of the bandage for you," he offered sarcastically, reaching with his left hand for the cloth. Jack smacked his hand away.
"Leave it alone," he griped at the young man. MacGyver smirked at Jack, then looked at everyone else.
"Let's get out of here," he said. His shoulder still ached, but he knew he should be able to function until he could get to a proper doctor. He shook his head to clear the fog a little, then walked towards the door. Like he assumed, the handle was locked. He looked back at Eliza. "Do you have any hair pins?" he asked. She nodded and reached up, pulling out a few bobby pins and handing them to the young man.
"Here," she said. He muttered a quick thanks, then went to work, bending the pins until they broke. He was left with four straight-ish bobby pin parts, two of which he stuck in his mouth. The other two he inserted into the lock until they were in the position he needed them, then he grabbed the remaining pieces out of his mouth and stuck them in the lock as well. After a few minutes of careful twisting and turning, the lock finally clicked open softly. Mac was about to open the door, but a hand on his left shoulder made him pause and look back.
"Let me go first," Jack insisted in a whisper. MacGyver studied his friend for a minute, then consented and stood aside, allowing Jack to open the door and peer out first.
Jack looked out through the crack, seeing two guards outside the room. He opened the door as quietly as possible, just wide enough for him to slip through. He crept up behind one of the guards and delivered a blow to the back of the man's head, hard enough to knock him out.
That obviously didn't go unnoticed by the second guard, who turned around quickly. He started to raise his gun, but Jack knocked it out of his hands and jumped behind the man, wrapping his uninjured arm around the Russian's neck and holding fast and tight, until the man dropped to the floor unconscious. Jack grabbed both of their large guns, slinging one across his back while keeping one of them in his hands. As he was situated, he turned back to his fellow hostages.
"Come on," he whispered as he beckoned for the rest of the prisoners to come out. Slowly they followed him out the door and down the hallway.
What didja think?