A/N Wow! I am so sorry this took soooo long! I published this story right around the same time I was publishing my book and before I knew it I was swept up into the marketing of said book and my muse seemed to go POOF! and left me high and dry when it came to inspiration for Everyone Needs a Jack! :-( Right now I'm working on book two of my book series but I knew you all deserved an ending to this. And, to be honest, I really needed to write it! That said, I hope it lives up to all of your expectations! It was so fun to write! I hope it's just as much fun to read! I love you all! It might be a while before I write any new fanfiction but I'll always be hovering in the background . . . okay, that sounded downright creepy. LoL But you know what I mean. And, who knows, if inspiration strikes, you may see me publish a one-shot now and then. ;-) Anyway, without further ado, here is the long overdue final chapter of Everyone Needs a Jack in Their Life - Part III.
CHAPTER 15
"You sure you're ready for this, brother?" Jack asked not for the first time.
Mac gave him a sideways grin. "Not really. But I owe it to my dad, to Frankie . . . even to you . . . to find out the truth."
"Hey, now," Jack told him, "you do not owe me a darn thing. Your dad may have been a victim in all this, too, but he brought a lot of it on himself. And the stuff he didn't was not because of you."
"Jack—"
"And I'm all for following this little yellow brick road to find out if Frankie is still alive 'n all," Jack continued, "but I am one hundred percent sure that, regardless of the outcome, she would tell you the same thing."
"I get it, Jack. But I still need to do this alone," MacGyver said as he opened the door to the interrogation room.
Jack watched him go but was not happy about it. Having confirmed that Riley was okay, Mac and Jack had caught a last-minute flight back to Vegas so they could get the answers they'd need in order to find Frankie. Murdoc was currently being held at a high-security location in the Entertainment Capital of the World, and Jack had ensured that every precaution had been taken to protect Mac while inside the interrogation room. But there was very little Jack could do to protect the kid from the lies that were sure to come out of the psychopath's mouth!
So, yeah, he hated this. But. As much as Jack looked at Mac like a son the kid was, in fact, a grown man who was perfectly capable of taking care of himself in any given situation. Well, except for the emotionally traumatizing ones.
Still, Jack had to honour the kid's wishes. Which was why he was standing out there in the hallway while Mac was on the other side of that door with the man who was at least fifty percent responsible for all the crap that had happened over the past few days. Not the least of which was forcing the kid to watch while his own father was murdered and the possible blowing up of his good friend and college-crush Frankie Mallory, also done while Mac could do nothing but watch.
Man, the more Jack thought about it the more he wanted to go into that room and pummel that son-of-a—
"I know what you're thinkin', Jack, and I highly advise against it."
Jack spun around and his jaw loosened somewhat at the sight of his cousin Nick Stokes striding down the hall towards him. "Yeah?" he asked. "Why's that?"
"Well, for one thing, there's a video camera in there and anything you do to Murdoc will be recorded. Don't give him the satisfaction."
"Won't be too satisfied if he's dead," Jack retorted, clenching and unclenching his fists in time with his heartbeat.
Nick came to a stop a few feet away from him, eyebrow arched with disapproval. "Right, because you going to jail is exactly what Mac needs to come from all this!"
"Do cockroach exterminators go to jail for doin' their job?"
"Jack—"
"Relax, law enforcement dude. I'm not actually gonna kill him. No law against dreamin' about it though is there?"
"No," Nick conceded. "No law against dreamin'."
Jack studied his cousin for a moment, not much liking the way his years as a CSI had taken away his innocence. Not that Jack himself was much different after all his years in the Army, not to mention his time with the CIA, DXS, and now the Phoenix Foundation. But at least he and Nick had fond memories of their childhood years to keep them sane, to give them hope.
His gaze found the closed door blocking him from watching over the young man who'd been forced to grow up long before he should have been. Was it really any wonder that Jack strove to protect the kid at any cost? Didn't everyone deserve to feel that kind of love and devotion directed toward them at some point in their lives? To be someone's number one priority?
MacGyver was still a work in progress in that department but Jack wasn't about to give up on something—someone—so important.
"So," Nick said, clearly reading the situation for what it was, "if you're so concerned about your boy why are you standing out here?"
"Why do you think?" Jack snapped not unkindly. He scrubbed one hand over his scalp and moved to lean back against the wall across from the door MacGyver had just disappeared behind. "I promised Mac I wouldn't get involved."
"That doesn't mean you can't keep an eye on him," Nick hinted, tossing one thumb over his shoulder to draw Jack's attention to the door next to the interrogation room.
Jack's eyebrows climbed up to his hairline as the opportunity became clear but the realization that to do what his cousin was suggesting would mean betraying Mac's trust had his shoulders slumping again, one hand moving up to pinch the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. If he thought there was even the tiniest chance that MacGyver was in any kind of physical danger nothing in the world would be able to keep him out of that room. But when it came to emotional threats, sometimes Jack had to rein himself in and trust in his young friend's ability to take care of himself.
"Come on, Jack. This way you can put your own mind at ease that MacGyver is fine while still not interfering when he asked you not to."
MacGyver sat in a chair opposite Murdoc, nothing but a small rectangular table separating them. The last time he'd heard Murdoc's voice was when Frankie died. Or, if not Frankie, then some innocent who had definitely not deserved the fate Murdoc had forced on her.
"Aren't you going to say something, Boy Scout? Or are you trying to hurt my feelings by giving me the silent treatment? You know, if I had feelings."
Gaze hard and unflinching, Mac waited a count of 30 seconds before saying, "We know it wasn't Frankie in that warehouse, Murdoc. So, who was it and where is Frankie?"
"You always jump right to it don't you, MacGyver? Why would I tell you? What reason could I possibly have to ease your obvious distress in any way?"
"Because you enjoy the game and the game is over. We got the DNA results. You're in prison. Game. Over. You may as well lay your cards out on the table."
"The game isn't over for me. Not yet. First, I want you to let down your walls and show me some of that pent-up pain you've been hiding."
Mac's jaw clenched but he remained silent.
"Come on, Angus. There's still time. Are you really so prideful that you won't show me any vulnerability even when it could mean a chance to save your college sweetheart? Shed a few tears and I promise to tell you where she is."
"How do I know you'll keep your word?"
"Because I was never the one who wanted Frankie dead. I'm all for causing you as much emotional pain as possible before finally putting you in the ground, MacGyver. But Frankie's involvement in all this was not so much about your pain as it was about Nikki's jealousy."
The mention of Nikki had Mac's gut churning.
"Nikki never wanted you to experience pain. She was doing all this for selfish reasons. Silly girl thought that by partnering up with me that meant I wouldn't actually kill you if given the chance."
"Wait. Nikki was trying to protect me from you?" MacGyver asked haltingly.
"Not exactly. Your pain just wasn't her main motivation. She wanted you all to herself, regardless of whether or not someone got hurt in the process. It just so happened that you were one of those people. Besides, she couldn't have paid me enough to keep me from killing you," he winked. "Hashtag life goals 'n all."
"That still doesn't explain why you didn't kill Frankie or why I should trust that you'll hold up your end of the bargain and tell me where she is."
"Tsk, tsk, Angus. Isn't it obvious? Any emotion like infatuation or jealousy or anything else even remotely related to love is weak and meaningless and needs to be exterminated at all costs. Now, my other partner, he knew the advantages that come with keeping an emotional detachment for every job."
"You had another—" MacGyver cut himself off as the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place. "The Ghost."
Murdoc tilted his head from side to side feigning indecision. "Yeah, see, for this particular job I needed someone with a bit more . . . prowess in certain areas than Nikki could provide. And, sadly, delicate explosions aren't really my expertise. I prefer the less intricate versions. Less work, more mess."
"He set up the explosives and the booby traps under Jack's coffin and in the warehouse."
"You got it. So, I'm willing to offer up one person in exchange for what you give me today. Frankie. Or the Ghost."
"Frankie," Mac said without hesitation.
"Oh, but I thought you were so bound and determined to capture the man who killed your EOD training officer. What was his name? Pena? Oh yes, the Ghost had an especially fun time watching that video over and over again. He told me how much he was looking forward to killing your current mentor. Or should I say, father-figure? Hmm, it's sad really that he was deprived of that pleasure—"
"Where is she, Murdoc?"
"You know nothing is ever that easy, MacGyver. I told you, I want something in return. So, come on, out with it," he added, making a swirling motion with one hand.
"Out with what?"
"Tears, MacGyver. I want to see the pain you wouldn't let me hear when you watched your dad die, when you watched or thought you watched Frankie get blown up! And, let's not forget, when you thought dear old Jack was going to die. I even want to see the pain you felt when, from what I've heard, you had to kill your girlfriend. All of it."
"You want me to cry," Mac said, disbelief colouring his tone. "Right here."
"Wow, look at you. You are a genius."
"I can't just cry on cue, Murdoc."
"Yes, I suppose you would be the last person on the planet to win an Oscar what with the way you wear your heart on your sleeve and all. Always the Boy Scout, never the sociopath." Murdoc shook his head in disappointment, then reached across the table. "Give me your phone."
Mac studied him a moment, then reluctantly pulled out his phone and handed it to Murdoc.
"What the heck is he doin'? That's it," Jack said, making a move for the door. "I'm puttin' an end to this once and for all."
Keeping his eyes on what was happening on the other side of the two-way mirror, Nick blindly latched onto his cousin's elbow. "Mac made you promise not to interfere, Jack. Remember?"
"I've been to this rodeo already, Poncho!"
"After seeing the state Mac was in after everything came to a head with Murdoc, I'm sure you have. But you need follow Mac's lead here. He needs you to trust him, man."
"I know he does," Jack lamented. Although it went against every fibre of his being, Jack acquiesced and watched closely as Murdoc turned the screen of Mac's phone in such a way that would prevent anyone behind the two-way mirror or watching the security feed from seeing what he typed into it.
It was clear that Murdoc knew they were being watched which made the fact that he wanted Mac to break down into tears all that much more reprehensible.
Murdoc handed the smartphone back to MacGyver. "Press play," he instructed with a barely suppressed glee. When Mac hesitated, he sighed impatiently. "You know, the big white arrow in the middle?"
After another moment, MacGyver finally touched the screen and began to watch his father's death play out all over again.
Blue eyes welled with emotion.
Jaw muscle pulsed with the effort of keeping a tight rein on the emotions threatening to break free.
Cheeks burned with mortification knowing that his pain was on display for all to see.
Murdoc glanced knowingly up at the security camera knowing full-well that the knowledge everything in that room was being recorded would make this show of vulnerability all that much more difficult for his young nemesis. He eyed the blinking red light above the lens with a gleam in his eye. The security guard on the Organization's payroll would be procuring a copy of this little session before Mac even left the building.
BANG!
Murdoc snapped his gaze back to MacGyver. The playback on the recording would never be able to surpass his memory of the live event happening before his eyes as Angus MacGyver watched his father crumple to the floor of his house. The sociopath's gut clenched with excitement as not one but two tears slipped down the pink-tinged cheeks. Even the slender shoulders shook with what had to be the sobs he could no longer keep bottled up inside.
Then—quite suddenly—it was over. MacGyver was wiping the tears off his face, straightening his back, and standing up from his chair. But the most disturbing part for Murdoc was the smile on Mac's face as he turned for the door.
"Wait, what's happening? Where are you going?"
"Oh," MacGyver said, turning to face him again. "Sorry. That's all I've got for you today."
"You were faking it?"
"The whole time," Mac nodded, chuckling softly. "I'm pretty sure the Academy is still accepting nominations for that highly coveted Oscar, by the way. Feel free to give them my name."
Murdoc narrowed his eyes, hatred now boiling over through his gaze. The only thing he'd have now was the recording but he could make due with that. He could pretend. After all, Murdoc was nothing if not imaginative. Stamping down his anger, he gazed at the younger man loftily. "Gloat all you want, MacGyver, but now you will never know where your friend is. She'll die because of you."
Lips quirking with amusement, Mac said, "We already know where she is, Murdoc. You told us all we needed to figure it out." The curve of his lips growing into a full-fledged smile at Murdoc's obvious confusion, MacGyver pulled the earbud out of his ear. "Riley tapped into the signal on my phone and hacked into your little website-for-psychopathy while you were completely taken in by my Oscar-worthy performance."
Enjoying the sight of Murdoc's fury, Mac placed one hand on the doorknob. Then he glanced up at the security camera and, as if just remembering something, he placed the earbud back into his ear. "Oh, Riley, don't forget to delete all the security footage starting with me giving Murdoc my phone."
Murdoc's eyes shot back to the red light on the security camera just in time to see it flicker for a few seconds, then wink out entirely. "Nooo!" he growled. "You can't do this!"
"We already did," Mac told him calmly as he opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.
No sooner had Mac closed the door behind him than he found himself enveloped in the hard embrace of one stressed out Jack Dalton! He felt the hand cup the back of his head but Jack seemed to be using the embrace to comfort himself as much as Mac. "Jack? Are you okay?" MacGyver asked tentatively, not sure what was going on.
Over Jack's shoulder, Mac's gaze found an apologetic looking Nick Stokes standing next to a partially open door. The placard on the door read 'Observation Room'. Aw, man! Jack had seen all that? That was never the plan.
Before MacGyver had time to wrap his arms around Jack in return, the former Delta Commando pushed him away to arm's length. Eyes downcast, Mac said softly, "I'm sorry, big guy. I didn't want you to have to witness that. I just knew Murdoc was going to lie to me and Frankie doesn't have time for his games! I can feel it in my gut, we're running out of—" He risked a glance at his partner's face and was rendered speechless by the toothy grin seconds before being pulled into another rough embrace.
"Are you kidding me, bud? I am so freakin' proud of you right now!"
After several moments, Jack released him and Mac was a little surprised to see him wiping tears off his own face. "So, what now?" Jack asked.
"Now, we let Riley work her magic with a keyboard."
Using the metadata Riley found on the inner workings of Murdoc's website and, more specifically, on the video he had compiled of Nikki's comings and goings earlier that week, Mac and Jack were able to find Frankie locked in the cellar of an abandoned farmhouse a few hours outside Boston.
Apparently, instead of killing her, Murdoc had arranged for someone to supply her with just barely enough food and water to survive. Still, she was injured from an altercation with Nikki because Frankie was not the type to just let herself get grabbed off the street in the middle of the night without putting up a fight, and she was suffering from malnutrition and dehydration—Murdoc's idea of 'survival' was much different from anyone else's.
Jack stayed outside to guard the door and to keep an eye on the tree line because the someone who brought the supplies could come back at any time. Meanwhile, MacGyver helped Frankie traverse the stairs leading up from the cellar and into the night air. As they walked, he explained his version of the events that had led to her kidnapping and, finally, to her rescue. Which of course almost completely negated his heroic steps to achieve that goal. In fact, the story was quite self-deprecating in Jack's opinion.
"Frankie," MacGyver said as they stepped out to join Jack. "I am so sorry that you got dragged into this. Nikki somehow found out how I felt about you . . . how I still feel about you . . . and—"
Frankie held up her hand to stop him from continuing. Her eyes filling with sadness as she purposefully stepped out of his hold. "I'm sorry, Mac. But . . . I just can't take any heartfelt confessions right now. One emotionally charged experience at a time, okay?"
He studied her a moment. "Okay," he said, watching as she turned and limped to their SUV on her own power.
Jack nudged him in the shoulder, gaze moving between Frankie's retreating back and the steadily darkening tree line. "I'm sure she meant to say 'thank you'," he said, lips quirking in an effort to lighten the mood. It didn't work, leaving Jack to worry that all he'd done to convince Mac that none of what happened was his fault had just all been tossed out the window. "Mac—"
"Not my fault," MacGyver finished for him. "I know, Jack."
"You sure?"
"My head knows it," Mac clarified. "It's just gonna take a bit more time for my heart to catch up."
"Fair enough," Jack nodded.
"Do you know what's going to make that a heck of a lot easier?"
"What's that?"
Mac turned to lock eyes with his best friend. "The fact that you'll be driving me crazy every step of the way."
Jack grinned. "You know it, brother. And, you know, driving you crazy is something I excel at."
"You're not wrong," Mac agreed drily.
"Look, I gotta keep an eye on things until our backup teams get here to gather up all the evidence to track down whoever Murdoc hired to keep Frankie here. And you're about to collapse from exhaustion. Why don't you join Frankie in the SUV and get some things out in the open?"
"I don't know, Jack. She said she didn't want to talk about it."
"I'm not sayin' you gotta tell her you're in love with her. In fact, maybe you don't have to say anything at all yet. Because I'll tell you one thing, that young lady in there needs to talk about what happened as badly as you did before we left Vegas."
Blushing a bit at the memory of Jack's interventions back at the hotel, Mac nevertheless saw the wisdom in his partner's words. He stepped towards the SUV, the suddenly stopped and turned around. "Hey, Jack?"
"Yeah?" Jack asked, pulling his attention away from the tree line and back to MacGyver.
"Thank you."
The sincerity in those blue eyes almost brought tears to Jack's. "Anytime, brother. Anytime."
Several hours later, their jet touched down at LAX. As they made their way through the airport parking lot towards the GTO, Jack's gaze flicked to his partner. He eyed the dark circles under his eyes, the fatigued gait. "You ready to go home?" he asked.
"Not yet," Mac told him. "I need to stop by Phoenix first."
Matilda Webber sat at her desk, going over her notes from her visit to Guantanamo. Her head snapped up in surprise when the door to her office opened with more force than necessary.
"MacGyver? How are—?"
"I'm fine," Mac said curtly.
"Okay," she replied, drawing the word out a bit as she attempted to decipher the outrage emanating off her most skilled albeit unpredictable agent. "What are you doing here? Didn't Jack tell you? I gave you both the next two weeks off considering what you—"
"Actually, Jack is the one I'm here to discuss," he said, cutting her off once again.
Matty's gaze snapped to the empty hall outside her office.
"Don't worry, he's waiting for me downstairs. I told him I just needed to come up to clear the air a bit."
The director eyed MacGyver with trepidation and more than a little curiosity. "Well, then, why don't you have a seat, Blondie."
"I won't be here long enough to need one," he said, stepping up to her desk. "Listen, Jack may not be as traditionally educated as most of your other agents but he is the smartest tactician you will ever have the good fortune to meet."
"Mac—"
"He may not speak 'science' very well but he does speak 'MacGyver' better than any I've ever known."
"What's your point?" Matty asked, arms crossing over her chest as her own temper began to flare a little bit.
"My point is," Mac continued, gritting his teeth against the sudden sting behind his eyes,"if you ever separate me and Jack, you won't need to find me another partner because I will quit the Phoenix Foundation without a second's hesitation. Because there is no one who could replace Jack Dalton." Without another word, he spun on his heel and headed for the door.
"Angus MacGyver!" Matilda said, her voice as stern as she'd ever used on any agent. However, when he turned to face her again, the broken look in his eyes caused her to gentle her tone somewhat. "I know that you've been through a lot this past week—scratch that, you've been through a lot this past month—so, I'm going to let this little outburst of yours slide. But, rest assured, if you ever come into my office and speak to me with such utter disrespect again, you won't have to worry about quitting because I will fire you faster than you can say improvise. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal," Mac said, rage dissipating a bit as he realized belatedly that perhaps Matilda Webber wasn't the one he should be angry with, maybe it was Oversight proposing to separate him and Jack. He turned to leave again but stopped, considering his next words carefully.
Matty saw MacGyver's back tense as he seemed locked in an internal debate and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
"I can't lose another member of my family," he finally confessed, voice breaking even while his gaze was locked on the empty hallway beyond the door.
"Understood," Matty responded, maternal instincts for her youngest, most talented field operative kicking into high gear and causing her voice to gentle even further. She'd never had any children of her own but if she had . . .
Mac didn't turn around again. He simply nodded, then pushed the door open and left her office.
As Matty watched him head for the elevator, her mind drifted back to the file on her desk. Little did Mac know that she no longer had any intention of splitting up his and Jack's partnership. Especially not after her little sabbatical to visit Patricia Thornton.
THE END