Hours, and miles, of thick forest later, Bishop had bypassed 'tired', moved right on through 'hurting', and had hit the wall of 'numb'. She had tried to follow the example of the two woodsmen with her and enjoy the beauty of their surroundings, but all she could see were the spiderwebs that clung to her, the mud squelching up into her hiking boots and pant legs, and the growing tension in her Boss' shoulders as she lagged farther and father behind. Putting her head down, she had concentrated only on the endless trudging. Her focus was so complete that when Mac drew up sharply and held up a hand for silence, she actually plowed right into him and nearly knocked him over.

"Awww, c'mon, Bishop!" Gibbs growled under his breath as he grabbed her backpack to keep her from making further noise.

She sank gratefully to the ground, ignoring her Boss and instead watching Mac, who was prowling around the area like a bloodhound.

Mac hunkered down next to where Bishop had collapsed. He gestured for Gibbs to join them, and when all three were covered by the low-growing foliage, Mac shared his discovery in a low whisper. "We're on a game trail, heading towards a clearing." He paused to look up at the dark canopy of leaves above them, then pointed to an area ahead of them that glowed just a little brighter. "I'm hoping there's a water-source up ahead; would be a perfect place for our suspect to rest for a while." He gestured back down to the trail they'd been following. "I'm guessing that's what happened, because something spooked the animals here recently; a few of them doubled back, and some left the trail to hide in the trees." He tugged a paper map from his pocket and consulted a GPS reader. "The trees are too thick here for the satellite that took these images to get a good view of the ground; I'll have to send one the Phoenix birds over here to get topographical scans."

"Why?" Gibbs wanted to know, recognizing the signs of MacGyver's mind spinning into his next project.

Mac pulled his cell phone from his pocket and clipped a signal booster into the power port. A sideways glance at Gibbs' expression of surprise made the corners of his eyes crinkle. "I helped develop the software for our satellite scanning projects. I wrote it specifically for the purpose of mapping areas under the greatest threat of ecological destruction; you can't protect what you don't know is there." His long fingers danced over the phone's screen. "But, the program has other applications as well."

Bishop looked up from untying the laces on her right boot. "What other applications?"

When Mac's gaze moved to her, his brows lowered in disapproval. "Don't take your boots off," he warned, his whisper severe enough to freeze her in mid-motion. "Your feet will swell up, and you'll never get them back on. I know you hurt, Ellie, but trust me here."

Her cheeks burning in embarrassment and irritation, Ellie retied her laces. "What other applications?" she asked again, folding her arms to prove she was following directions.

"That program is tagged specifically to look for the locators we're trialling right now. A lot of people that had the potential of getting irretrievably lost while on dangerous missions will have a much better chance of making it home now."

"The chip you put on Schwimmer?" Gibbs clarified.

Mac nodded as he returned his attention to his phone. "Yeah… the biggest trick was making it invisible to ground-based scanners; the chip won't do anyone any good if the bad guys can find it too. We think we've worked out the last of the bugs." He scowled briefly as he unclipped the signal booster from his phone and stuffed everything back into his pocket. "Next up on the Phoenix's 'To-Do List' is to create a cell phone battery that lasts more than six hours at full usage." His lips curved back into a roguish smile. "The satellite will take over two hours to reposition, and we don't have that kind of time. We'll have to rely on our training and common sense for this next bit, Gibbs," he whispered in delight. "Time to go 'old-school'."

Gibbs shared his grin, then unclipped his backpack to let it rest on the ground next to a very confused Bishop. A few hand signals indicated his intended movements, and as Mac nodded in agreement, Gibbs faded silently into the trees, disappearing within seconds.

"What's going on?" Bishop demanded. She winced as her tired muscles spasmed in protest to her attempt to lean closer.

Mac motioned for her to be quiet as he strained to listen to the silence around them. When it was obvious by the purse of his lips that he wasn't able to pick up on anything, he readdressed Bishop's question. "I can't explain how I know this, but I think our suspect ran into someone out here; maybe one of his crew was waiting to take him to their hideout." He pulled the map out again, and showed her a few markings on the crumpled paper. "He would have come up this way, judging from where he left the car. This right here," he said, pointing to a new spot on the map, "is right where we're sitting. I don't think we got here in time to head him off, but we're not that far behind him."

Gibbs materialized beside them and picked up his pack. "You're gonna want to see this," he said to MacGyver.

Mac helped pull a very stiff Bishop to her feet. "Yeah?" he asked Gibbs, then rolled his eyes and fell in behind him as Gibbs turned without speaking and headed back towards the clearing.

"Interesting," Mac said slowly as they drew to a halt at the edge of the open spot. "I wonder how that happened."

"What am I missing?" Bishop demanded as the two guys stared glumly at the ground. All she could see were scattered leaves, mud, and a circle of stones with charred wood in the middle.

"We missed them… by a whole lot longer than I could have thought possible." Mac stepped sideways, his head tilted to the side as his eyes roved over the scene.

Bishop tamped down her irritation; she was genuinely curious but was tired of prying the information out of them. "How can you tell?"

"How many sets of prints do you see?" he asked in return.

She studied the ground, noticing indistinct puckers in the mud. "Two?" When Mac's next breath was deeper, she shook her head. "Three? Four?" she continued to amend, noticing that he was looking a little pained. "I'm sorry, but I don't know. We're only tailing one guy, but you said he might have met up with one of his crew."

Mac shook his head. "Mud's easy, Ellie. I knew someone who could differentiate prints made in dry sand. Now that's hard!"

"It might be easy for you and Gibbs, but I missed out on those Boy Scout lessons," she informed him defensively. "I'm no Park Ranger!"

Irritation hooded his eyes as his expression stilled instantly. "No, but you are an investigator. Just because you're not in your normal surroundings doesn't mean you can't do your job!"

Properly chagrined, she stepped forward to try again. "It looks like this set here came from that direction… away from this little clearing." She waited until Mac nodded, then bolstered herself and tried again. "This set here came from…over that way, from uphill instead of from down."

"There you go," Mac approved. "And the others?"

She stared at him. "What others?"

"The other prints?" When it was obvious she didn't know what he was talking about, MacGyver stepped around Gibbs and pointed to a spot on the ground that Bishop hadn't even looked at. "A deer wandered through over here, looking for water. He was scared off, probably by the coyote that left these tracks here. That had to have been just after two raccoons went through the clearing, looking for scraps to scavenge. I'm guessing they found something, because they took whatever it was up here to the water that collected in the depression on this big rock to wash it." He got Gibbs confirming nod, then glanced at Bishop. "What does this tell us?" he wanted to know.

She spread her hands in frustration. "That I am hopelessly inept in a forest and that you should have brought McGee? He's a Wolf Pack Kid, or a Boy Adventurer, or something. This episode of 'Wild America' has been fascinating, but I have no idea of its relevance."

Mac put a hand over his eyes. "Awww, man; I feel old. Kids aren't taught basic survival skills anymore; If the world of technology ever fails us, the human race is doomed."

"This world is a different place than when you were young," Bishop reminded him. "Kids can't spend all day playing in the woods like they used to… there are too many human predators. 'Basic survival skills' now involve 'Stranger Danger', maintaining a strong password, and how not to get the crap beat out of you in school."

Both Mac and Gibbs were nodding sadly. "I'm sorry Ellie. You're right," Mac admitted. "Okay, then let me translate this scene for you. The guy we're looking for approached from the south, and hung out here for enough time to build a fire. The second guy came out of the woods, saw the fire, and waited. I can tell, because he didn't move forwards, but shuffled his feet; see how the tracks are all pointing in the same direction, but there's a million of them? When our suspect noticed him, the second guy made these tracks coming up to the fire here. After a little more conversation, they killed the fire and took off in this direction. I'm going to say it was just after dawn yesterday. The ashes from the fire are blown around, so the wind's been working at it for a few hours. The animals came back for the water after the smell of the fire died, which takes a while, and it's been a busy place when they did return." He scratched the side of his jaw as he stared at the ground. "What I can't understand is…"

"We're at least a day and a half behind them," Gibbs finished as Mac trailed off.

"I'll repeat your earlier question," Bishop offered. "How did that happen? We got moving right after the BOLO came back."

"What exactly did the information include? Did whoever sighted the car watch it drive up, or did they stumble across it?" Mac asked. "The Cougar's no idiot; he saw me come running up to Andy after he got shot. He has to know we're after him. He probably had one of his guys take his car up here to warn the rest of the crew. That could have happened right away. This area's so remote that it could have taken this long for someone to stumble across the car."

Bishop waited quietly while Gibbs and Mac pondered their options. "So, we figure the rest of the crew up here has already packed up and moved out? We can head back to DC and pick up the search there?"

Gibbs shook his head. "We assumed once, and look where it got us."

"We press on," Mac agreed as he poked through the underbrush. He came up with a short length of 3"-diameter PVC pipe and a tuft of steel wool. "I can't believe this guy!"

"Still tree hugging?" Gibbs snorted. "Bishop's right… you're gonna end up lugging a landfill out of here."

"Still not asking you to carry anything extra," Mac said with deceptive lightness. "Lead on, Gibbs."

Bishop trailed off after Gibbs' long strides, unable to stop herself from looking over her shoulder as MacGyver knelt to rearrange the supplies in his pack. He'd pulled out a length of steel wire, which he re-wound into a tighter roll and tucked inside the PVC pipe with the steel wool. Putting that on the bottom of his pack and tossing everything in on top, Mac zipped his bag closed and got back to his feet.

"I don't understand you," Bishop admitted, hoping he didn't hear her.

The look he shot her out of the corner of his eye meant he had heard her words, but he didn't say anything as he walked past her.

-..- .. -..

Any guesses on what Mac is going to come up with, using the materials he's found already?