Author's Note: This chapters a bit short, but hopefully the next one will be a bit longer. Thanks again PatriciaS, Cort85, and Nedy Rahn for your reviews.

Disclaimer: I do not own.

Ryan grabbed his partner's arm, halting him in his tracks. "Stop," he hissed. "We'll never find them now. They know the land better than us."

"And whose fault is that!" Jacobs spat. The large man shrugged Ryan's hand off his arm. "It was your clever plan to make the fire, and see what happened? They escaped!"

Ryan's eyes sparked fire, and his finger twitched on the trigger of his gun. He spoke, his voice low and deadly, "You were the one who started firing at them as soon as they appeared. If you had taken the time to aim, or even better than that, left them alone, they would have thought the fire was an accident. They would have gone on unsuspecting. We could have then gotten the boy while he was alone. Thanks to you, they now know we're after them."

Jacobs clenched his fist, preparing to strike the smaller man. He took a step forward. Ryan made a small movement with his finger closing even further around the trigger. A smile played about his lips, daring Jacobs to move. The larger criminal backed down. "What do we do now?"

"We go back to his house, and wait for him," Ryan answered, "and this time, I'll do the shooting."

"Last time you did it the boy survived," Jacobs pointed out.

"He must have faked it." Ryan's eyes traveled slowly around him. "He must be more than we thought he was. A partner, maybe."

"He's awful young to be a partner." Jacobs didn't seem convinced.

"Looks can be deceiving." Ryan tilted his head. "You know the way back. You lead."

Jack Dalton doubled over, his hands on his knees. "We're going to have to stop," he gasped.

Jack halted also. He looked around, his senses on high alert, but he heard nor saw nothing dangerous. "Who are these guys?" he muttered.

"How am I supposed to know?" Dalton looked around him nervously.

Jack rolled his eyes, "I was talking to you," he thought. Out loud he said, "We'll rest for a bit." Jack Dalton nodded and sat gratefully down on the ground.

"I figured you were. To tell you the truth, I haven't a clue."

"You don't know?"

"No, but I can guess who hired them."

"Who?"

" Wilson Davis. He's a politician, running for Governor. You've probably heard of him."

"Nah. I don't pay attention to that stuff."

"We were hired to investigate some of his activities. We had hardly started when accidents began happening. Then those guys started following us. We were on a lonely road. Your town was the nearest thing. I thought they wouldn't try anything in a group of people." MacGyver's voice trailed off.

"Did you get any evidence on him?" Jack asked, attempting to keep MacGyver's mind off Frank's death.

"Enough to lock him away, but the evidence is in our hotel room."

"So we get to your hotel room without getting shot, grab the evidence, then take it to the proper authorities. Right?"

"Right. Not getting shot will be the tricky part."

"Where's your hotel room?"

"About an hour and a half's drive from here."

"Oh… Well, we better be getting back. It's going to take some buttering up for my mom to allow me to take the car that far." The memory of him accidentally backing the car up into a fire hydrant came to his mind.

MacGyver chuckled slightly, despite the seriousness of the situation. "A lot of buttering up after that."

Jack bent down and poked Jack Dalton, who was still sitting on the forest floor. "Come on. We best be getting back."

Dalton stood up. His eyes darted from one of Jack's hands to the other, "Hey, your hand! It isn't burned!"

Jack looked down at his hand. The skin was smooth and there was no trace of it having been burned. "How am I'm going to explain that?"

"Uh…"

"When did it start doing that?" Dalton asked. His eyes held an excited gleam that Jack knew far too well.

"Since this morning," Jack answered warily.

"If this happens every time... just think of it!"

"Think of what?" Jack had a feeling he knew what was coming next.

"People would pay big money to see something like that!"

"Jack! I am not becoming a circus sideshow." He reached out and slapped Dalton on the arm.

Dalton grinned at him. "It was worth a shot." He shrugged. "Seriously, how do you do that?"

Jack hesitated, unsure of whether he should tell his friend what had happened to him or not. "Jack," he started to tell him, but how in the world could he? What would he say? An alien crawled up in my head this morning? "Come on. We need to get home. And be quiet. They might be still out looking for us."

Thankfully, Dalton let the subject drop. They made their way through the woods, being careful not to make a sound. When they reached their clubhouse, they found a fire truck already there and a large group of people standing about. The fire was nearly out now, but the shack was burned down to the ground.

"Jack!" A woman's voice cried, and he turned to see his mother rushing towards him. She enveloped him in a large hug. "Where have you been!" She demanded. "I went up to your room to find you gone, and then I hear that your meeting place was on fire. I've been worried sick about you."

"I'm fine, mom." Jack guessed he must have broken the record for saying I'm fine in a single day. How many times had he said it anyway?

"Only six."

"Thanks," Jack hadn't really wanted an answer. "Me and Jack just went for a walk in the woods," he continued his conversation with his mother. He glared at Jack, silently telling him to keep his mouth shut. He didn't want his mother to worry.

Unfortunately Jack didn't keep his mouth shut, "Me and Jack have just been walking the entire time. I wished we had known about this fire sooner. We might have been able to save something."

Ellen looked over at her son's friend. She knew Jack Dalton well, mainly because he spent more time at her house than at his own. She had quickly learned that when his left eye twitched, he was lying, and it was twitching now. "Jack," she looked her son straight in the face, "what happened?" Her voice was stern.

Jack feigned confusion, "What do you mean?"

Ellen sighed, "Jack what's going on. Please tell me."

Jack sent another glare at Dalton, who promptly positioned himself so Ellen was between them. Jack closed his eyes, unsure of what he should say.

"Tell her the truth. She deserves to know."

"About you too?"

"Maybe not that."

Jack opened his eyes and looked at his mother. "Let's go to the house. I'll tell you along the way."

Jacobs pointed at Jack from the bushes he and Ryan were hiding in. "There he is."

"Not now," Ryan looked at the scene in disgust. The small shack was now completely devoured by the flames. Everyone was standing about staring at it as if they had nothing better to do. "There's too many people."

"That didn't stop you before," Jacobs grunted. He wanted to get this done and over with.

"That was different," Ryan gave his partner a look that clearly said be quiet. He was angry at himself for what he had done this morning. He had given into his weakness. The excitement of the hunt had consumed him. He had forgotten everything else, including caution. "We'll get them at the boy's house."

Jacobs snorted, "I don't see why we have to kill him anyway. He doesn't know anything. Why can't we just get out of here?"

Ryan's eyes narrowed. "Fool! Jones could have passed him information. He could have enough on us and Mr. Davis to send us to jail for the rest of our lives. Or worse. We'll have to get him before he goes to the police."

"Well, what about the woman and the other boy?" Jacobs asked sullenly. He didn't like being ordered about.

"We'll kill them too." Ryan smiled.