Chapter three!
Just so we're clear, everything is now caught up to present time, so no more jumping around like a maniac :D
Sorry, no Mac in this chapter, but I promise we get to see him again next chapter!
"Where is he?" Jack asked impatiently, glancing at his watch for the tenth time in the last two minutes.
"Jack, looking at your watch isn't going to make him get here any faster," Riley pointed out in annoyance. "He probably found something and is chasing it down," she added.
"Not without calling us, he wouldn't," Jack insisted. "He'd let us know where he was or if he was going to be late. Somethin's wrong," he muttered.
"You can't know that," Riley tried, but Jack cut her off.
"You know that feeling you get when somethin' ain't right?" He waited for her hesitant nod before continuing. "That's the feeling I have right now. We need to go find him."
Riley stared at the older man for a minute before sighing and pulling her laptop out of her backpack. "Alright. Try calling him again," she instructed as she opened her computer. Jack pulled out his phone and dialed his friend's number. He listened for a minute, then turned his phone off and slid it back in his pocket.
"No use. It's still just ringing, then going to voicemail," he said frustratedly.
"Lemme see if I can ping his phone then," Riley said, tapping a few keys on her keyboard. "Got it. He's just that way," she said, pointing north of them.
"Well, let's go," Jack said, gesturing for Riley to lead the way. She walked confidently through the crowds, weaving her way through the busy street to where Mac's phone was pinging from. After a few seconds though, her face contorted in confusion.
"What's that face mean? Usually that's a look that means something's-"
"Something's wrong," Riley finished, looking at Jack. "The connection to the phone just went offline," she explained, turning her laptop around to show her older partner.
"Where was the last place it pinged from?" he asked as he looked at the laptop screen, the mask of worry deepening even more.
"Um...here," she said after a moment of typing, pulling up the last location of their friend's phone. Without another word, Jack took the lead, walking forward with so much authority the crowd parted like they were the Red Sea as he strode past them. Riley hurried to keep up, her concern for Mac growing with each step they took.
Riley was glancing around at all the shops, so she didn't see Jack stop suddenly in front of her, causing her to nearly collide with his back. "Uh, Jack?" she asked, a bit perturbed. "What are you doing?"
"What do you see that's out of place here, Ri?" he asked in a low voice. Riley huffed in annoyance.
"Jack, I thought we were in a hurry to find Mac. Why are you turning this into a training session?"
"Just look around and tell me what you see within the next seven seconds," he instructed.
"Seven seconds?" she asked dubiously. "What do you expect me to see in seven seconds?"
"Stop asking me questions and get to looking and maybe you'll be able to see what I'm talking about," he replied, looking at her with raised eyebrows. She decided not to argue with him and instead began to look around. "Seven seconds are up," Jack said. "See anything weird?"
"Besides a lot of creepy vendors?" she asked sarcastically. "No, I-" she paused as her gaze finally landed on what Jack was referring to. "Wait. Why would a shop be closed in the middle of the day? The market is crazy busy right now; what vendor in their right mind would close up shop this early in the day?"
"Bingo," Jack said as he pulled out his phone, calling Mac's number again. "Now it's not even ringing, it's just going straight to voicemail," he informed her as he walked over to the vendor across from the closed shop. "'Scuse me," he said, drawing the attention of the shop owner.
"How can I help you?" the man asked with a wide smile. Riley involuntarily curled her lip. The man was greasy. His face, his fingers, his hair, his voice... everything about him was just greasy and uncomfortable. This didn't seem to faze Jack though.
"I was hoping you'd be able to tell me when the shop owners of that booth are gonna be back?" the American asked, pointing to the store across the street. Greasy Man's smile dropped slightly as he realized the two customers weren't at his store to buy anything.
"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I do not know," he replied, much less friendly than before.
"Can you tell us if you've seen him?" Riley asked as she held out her phone, a picture of a smiling MacGyver on the screen. The man glanced at the phone briefly before looking away.
"I'm not sure. He looks slightly familiar, but I can't quite recall where I've seen him before," the man responded. Riley glared daggers at the man. "I'm sure my memory could be jogged though," he hinted, not trying to be subtle at all as he pointedly stared at his merchandise.
"Oh, your memory needs to be jogged?" Jack asked, moving forward slightly and raising his fist before Riley grabbed his shirt.
"Jack, leave him alone," she whispered. "He's not worth it," she added, a little louder as she glared at the man again. The vendor shrugged his shoulders and leaned against one of the support beams in his booth. Grumbling, Jack turned away from the seller and walked towards the closed booth. Riley gave one last, withering look to the unhelpful salesman and followed Jack, who was investigating the rear of the shop.
"Hey Riley," she heard him call out. She pushed and shoved her way through the crowds, finally making it over to Jack. He was staring into the back section of the booth, where a few chairs had been set up, along with a small table that had plates of food on it.
"So we know they didn't leave to get lunch," Riley pointed out.
"Yeah, which means that they're looking more and more like our guys," Jack confirmed. He wandered around the small area for a minute, picking up the plate of food briefly before setting it back down, as if he were checking to see if their friend was underneath the plastic plate. Riley walked out behind the rest of the booth, wandering around. She spotted something small and rectangular on the ground, and she walked over, crouching down to get a closer look.
"Jack?" she called out, her voice grim. As she waited for her partner to come to her, she pulled out a tissue from her backpack, scooping up the item from off the ground with it so as not to damage any evidence that might have been left behind. She saw another object a few feet away and her stomach sank even further.
Jack walked up to the young woman, staring at the objects she was holding in her hands. "Are those what I think they are?" he asked, his mouth slanting.
"If you're thinking it's Mac's cell phone, along with the battery, then yes," Riley confirmed.
"And lookie here," Jack pointed at the dirt roads. Riley looked at where he was pointing, seeing two sets of footprints, along with two parallel lines practically right on top of one set of footprints. The footprints disappeared, only to be replaced with tire treads that drove away onto the paved roads, leaving Jack and Riley without a clue as to which way the truck drove off. Jack's eyes hardened, and he began walking back towards the flea market.
"Jack," Riley called out, almost having to jog to keep up with the man's stride. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to see if our friend across the way has remembered anything he'd like to tell us," Jack replied.
"I'm gonna see if I can find anything out about the people who own this booth," Riley said. Jack nodded and the two of them set out to do what they could to find their friend.
Thoughts? Impressions? Guesses? Uh...anything else you want to say? XD
