I was sitting at my desk, not in my lab but in my office cubicle. I should have been writing up the results of the yearly medicals to send through to Matty, but I was getting very easily distracted. The sound of my phone bussing on the top of my desk startled me out of the half daze that I'd sunk into. Eager for the distraction, I quickly picked it up and swiped open the message.
'Could you give me a hand for a moment?' the message read, from Mac.
'Sure. Are you in your lab?' I sent back.
I placed the phone down, but only so that I could save the report I was currently working on and shut down the computer. The computer was shutting off as the reply came through.
'No. The war room.'
I frowned at my phone but send a reply even as I was walking out the door.
'Okay. I'm on my way.'

The glass walls of the war room were frosted over as approached the room. I was debating whether I should knock on the door, walk right in or do something else. However, I was saved making that decision by the door opening and Mac walking out and towards me.
"Hey, love," he said.
"Hey. What's going on? Why do you need me in the war room?" I greeted him, questions running through my head.
"Is everyone alright?" I asked as we stepped into the room.
"Everyone here is fine," Matty said. "Take a seat."
Gingerly I sat on a chair, Mac perching on the arm next to me. Across the room, Jack gave me a quick, bright smile. Both Mac and Jack had done a little to calm me, and I was able to look across to the screen and the images on it.
"You know blondie, if you'd called your girlfriend in earlier then I wouldn't have to go over the case again," Matty said.
"I didn't know that we'd need her until you finished briefing us in the first place," he replied.
"I'm still a little lost here, guys," I piped up.
"Right. There has been multiple cases of people, mostly young women, go missing in the last two months," Matty began. "The last time each woman was last seen was at this particular pub."
A new photo came onto the screen of an old pub, the sort I used to visit when I was at university. And around it were the head shots of eight different young woman, ranging in ages from 18 to 30.
"Is there anything else they have in common?" I asked.
Matty shook her head. "They're various ages, races, hair colour and eye colour. They didn't live in the same area or work similar jobs. The only thing that can be found as a link is that they were all last seen at a live music night at the pub."
I nodded slowly, taking in the information.
"Alright, but I still don't understand why you need me?" I said.
"I've spoken to the manager and organised to have agents in the building during the next music night," Matty said.
I was starting to piece everything together and turned to Mac, who had his face carefully blank.
"You didn't," I groaned.
He smiled a little at me.
"Matty asked if I knew anyone who could sing," he shrugged.
"Jack can sing," I argued.
"And Jack will be singing," Matty cut in. "But it's a band night. Jack has agreed to play his guitar, and it turns out Riley is talented on drums. We just needed someone on lead vocals."
"And I got dobbed in," I finished. "Matty, I'm not a field agent."
"Neither was Riley when she started," Jack piped up. "And you're just as kick ass as she is."
There really didn't seem to be a way out of this one.
"Okay, okay," I conceded. "So we learn a set and play on the night. I assume Mac, Bozer and Leanna will be there somewhere as well?"
"I'm going to be on bar duty," Bozer told me. "And Leanna will be in the audience, hopefully to catch the attention of whoever is doing the kidnappings."
"And Mac?" I asked with slight trepidation.
"Light and sound technician," Matty replied.
I raised my eyebrows, looking between my partner and our boss.
"You do know that most bands and set ups don't want their tech pulled apart, right?"
I should have seen the light smack coming from beside me.
"So you're in?" Riley asked me.
I couldn't help to smile at the excitement that Riley was carefully trying to hide.
"Yea, I'm in."

Luckily Matty had given us a couple of weeks to work on the songs that we were going to present as a band. All three of us were off duties at Phoenix for the time being, though in between practising Riley was making up a social media presence that suggested this band had been around for far longer than two weeks.
By mutual agreement, practise was held at Mac's house as it had the space for a full drum kit and there weren't any close neighbours to complain about the sound.
"You know, I dunno that we have much in common in terms of musical tastes," Jack said to me the first morning.
"I've been thinking about that," I said. "I don't know that I can do any Willie Nelson, and I certainly don't have the voice for Metallica, but I reckon I've found some cross over."
I looked across at Riley, who was lounging against the wall behind the drum kit.
"I hope your taste in music matches karaoke nights."
She raised an eyebrow at me.
"Lay it on me," she smirked.
I placed a list on the table and Riley came around to look at it. There was a mix of punk pop and indie music on there, mostly songs that could be heard on the radio and a few that were less well known. Riley said she was familiar with most of the songs but Jack was not as certain. As such the first day was mostly sent listening to the songs and finding sheet music for both Jack and Riley.

By the end of the first week, Riley and Jack had worked out their instruments and I had figured out how to change the key for a couple of songs where the lead singer was originally male. By mutual agreement, Jack and I had decided to duet a few of the songs on the list, just to change it up a little. Riley had continuously and adamantly refused to be involved in the singing.
To Mac and Bozer's disappointment, we had always finished rehearsing by the time that they returned home from work.

While the team was essentially off rota until the end of the possible kidnapping case, Mac and Bozer were still required in the R&D labs.

I was lying on the floor, the microphone stand by my feet when Mac got home.
"Are you okay down there," Mac asked, looking down at me.
"Fine," I replied, flapping a hand at him.
He looked at Jack and Riley who were sitting on the floor as well.
"Umm, are you all okay?" he added.
"We're good, hoss," Jack replied. "Just went through the full set for the first time."
Mac nodded slowly.
"We're good, just exhausted," Riley explained. "I could sleep for a week."
"Matty said we would all have a few days off when this is finished," Mac relayed.
"Thank god," Riley said, hauling herself off the floor.
"Have you eaten?" he asked, sitting down next to me.
I looked at Riley and Jack, who both shrugged. I thought a bit, biting my lip.
"I think we had like, a piece of toast earlier and some nut bars?" I replied.
"That can't be good, man," Jack muttered.
"I can make us some food," Mac said.
"Yea, no hoss. Bozer has made it very clear to all of us that you can't be allowed in his kitchen," Jack said quickly.
Mac frowned and I patted him on the leg.
"You know Jack's right. We can wait until Bozer get home."
"About that," Mac ran a hand through his hair. "Bozer's going out with Leanna tonight."
I groaned. "Fine, fine. I guess I can make something."
Before I could get to my feet, Mac passed his phone across.
"You all look exhausted and apparently I'm not cooking so, take out it is," he said to the room at large. "Though I haven't actually heard any of you play anything."
I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Patience, young padawan. All will be revealed in time," I laughed. "In the meantime, what do we want? Chinese, Thai, pizzas?"
"Might sound weird but, Mexican?" Jack asked.
"Oh yea," Riley agreed. "I want enchiladas."
"Nah, love me some tacos," Jack said. "Some good pulled pork tacos."
Mac was typing something into the phone, I had passed it back to him when the discussion started.
"What do you want, love?" he asked.
I looked over his shoulder at the menu on the phone screen.
"Hmm, I think I'll have a quesadilla," I murmured.
Leaning over Mac's shoulder meant that when I spoke, my breath ghosted over his ear. HE shivered a little, not enough for anyone else to notice but I did.
"What are you having?" I asked, purposely making him shiver again.
"Alright you two, get a room," Jack called.
"We have one, just over there," I called back, pulling away from Mac and pointing down the corridor. "We can head there now if you want?"
"Order our damn food first," Riley grumbled.
Mac tapped the phone a couple of times and then set it down.
"There, done," he told them. "Are you all getting off the floor anytime soon?"
Riley stood up and pulled her own phone out.
"While we wait, I'm going to post a few more things on the 'band's' social media," she said as she walked inside, taping at the device.
Mac stood and held a hand out to pull me to my feet. In my typical clumsy fashion, I overbalanced as I stood and stumbled into Mac's chest.
"Hi," he whispered, smiling at me.
"Hey," I replied, kissing him quickly.
"Not gonna help me up?" Jack teased.
"What, you need a hand old man?" Mac laughed but pulled away from me and walked over to the other man.
"I'll show you 'old man'," Jack muttered. He pushed himself to his feet effortlessly, glaring at Mac the whole time. Meanwhile, Mac just stood there with his eyebrow raised and arms crossed, smirking at Jack.
"See, wasn't so hard, was it?"
"You little shit," Jack started towards him and I back away from the two men. There was a 50 – 50 chance that this would end up in some sort of wrestling, probably higher at the moment given that Jack hadn't done any hand to hand training in a few days.
"I'll leave you two to it," I called as I hurriedly went to join Riley somewhere inside.

When Bozer got back we were enjoying the autumn night by the fire pit, homemade sangria in our hands.
"What is this?" He asked, taking a seat around the fire himself. "You can't even cook for yourselves for one night."
"In my defence, I'm not allowed in the kitchen," Mac said with a smile.
"Damn straight," Bozer shot back quickly. "But the rest of you, surely."
"Aww don't be so harsh on them," Mac defended us. "The take out was my suggestion. You should have seen them, all collapsed on the floor when I got home."
Bozer rolled his eyes and shook his head at all of us.
"I thought you were playing music," he mused. "Not running training sessions. I expected more, especially from you, Jack."
The man mentioned his mouth to reply and then shut it and huffed.
"Ah leave him alone, Bozer," Riley defended with a laugh. "He is an old man after all. Not up to rocking out with us younger folk."
"Y'all rude," Jack huffed.
"Only 'cause we love you," Riley retorted.

I was busy concentrating on rehearsing and nailing the music, the order and everything else that came with performing that the week flew by.
Two days before we had to perform Matty called the lot of us into Phoenix.
"We've had some more information," Matty said. She pointed a remote at the screen and a vaguely familiar face came up.
"Trish Wilton, the latest missing woman, has turned up," she told us. "As we thought, she was abducted from the pub. She doesn't remember how she was taken, or where she was held, but she did overhear snippets of conversation."
Matty flicked to another picture. A police sketch of a middle aged man, Asian looking in appearance filled the screen.
"This was the best description that Ms Wilton was able to give. It's believed that they talked freely in front of her as they didn't expect a young Latino woman to be able to speak Mandarin."
Jack scoffed from his position on the couch. "Amateurs."
He just smiled when Matty gave him a reprimanding look.
"Regardless of Dalton's opinion, they talked and Ms Wilton was able to understand some of what was said. She understood enough that she knew it was a human trafficking ring."
Mac's fingers were twisting a paperclip as Matty spoke and he placed the shape down before he spoke.
"If it's trafficking then they likely want a certain number of women," he mused. "So they will be on the look out for a replacement tomorrow."
"Exactly, Blondie," Matty gave us all a sharp smile. "Miss Martin, you will need to keep your wits about you. You are more likely to be targeted compared to the other two. It's higher risk to go after band members."
Leanna nodded in understanding.
"Jack, you can't go in properly armed. Someone is going to notice a handgun as you move around the stage," Matty told him.
I watched Jack frown and go to argue with her, but decided against it.
"I can still carry a knife or two, right?" he asked.
"I'm not going to stop you being armed," Matty told him.
"Just, keep an eye out for someone of this description," Matty told him. "And be safe. I'd hate to have to chase any of you down, or break you out of jail again."
"It was one time!" Mac and Jack said simultaneously.

Bozer, who was working the bar tonight, was home while we were all getting ready. Much to his pleasure, he was finally able to hear us perform the full set for the night.
"About time," he cheered when we had finished. "You guys know that I'm hardly going to be able to hear you from out in the bar, right?"
"Yea, I realised that," I replied. "But you might catch sound check too. Not that it will be our full set."
"You know what you just heard is top secret, right?" Jack said casually. "You can't tell a soul about it."
"You boast that you're karaoke champion in four states," Riley deadpans.
"Yea, but no one can know that I can ACTUALLY sing," he replied.
"I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell Mac anything," I said honestly to Bozer. "That last song…"
"Yea, yea," Bozer agreed hurriedly. "I can see, yea. Not a word from me."
He mimed zipping his lips and throwing away a key.
"Let's just chill for a bit," Riley said, putting her drumsticks down. "Tonight's going to be full on and I won't be able to assist from my rig."

The first time I saw Mac since he got up this morning was at about 6pm when we took to the stage for our sound check.
The lights in the room were dimmed but not off, however the stage was lit up brightly. Due to the glare I couldn't see Mac behind the desk and that helped to take the edge off of my nerves when we tuned up and I started to sing. I sunk into the semi familiar to and fro as tuning was changed and volume levels adjusted. There was also a minor argument between Mac and Jack about the volume of the fold back speaker.
As I stepped off the stage, Mac came up to me.
"You sounded amazing," he smiled.
"Hours spent practising will do wonders for improving any skill," I laughed.
"True, and you've always sounded good," he agreed.
"She looks good too, doesn't she hoss?" Jack said, clapping on the shoulder.
"I, umm, yea," Mac agreed. He couldn't help sweeping his eyes over me quickly, even though I knew he'd been looking at me earlier anyway.
"All thanks to Riley." I had to give credit to the other woman.
"Your wardrobe," Riley added as she also joined us. "I just changed up how you paired things."
She'd taken one of my dark blue t-shirts and paired it with dark grey jeans and my black boots. Then she'd straightened my hair and then helped me with smoky blue eyeshadow.
"And I think Mac wants you to wear this more often," she laughed.
"Guys, I'm on comms as well, you know," Bozer piped up.
"Same here," echoed Leanna.
"You're all no fun," I laughed. "But point taken."
Everything was ready and organised for the bands, and all our agents were in position both inside the pub and in the street around.

"Food?" Jack asked.
"Please, yes," Riley added. "Any suggestions?"
I snorted.
"I know we had Mexican just the other day but," I shrugged. "It was an old Uni tradition to have burritos on nights that we went out to live music."
"None of us had burritos," Mac pointed out. "We can still do that, if you all want?"
"I am all for traditions," Jack added. "Let's get us some burritos!"
I looked across to check with Riley that she was okay with this plan, but she merely shrugged and tipped her head to the door.

The walk from the pub to the burrito place didn't take any more than three minutes, and the place wasn't busy yet. It was easy to find a table once we had ordered, and the food came out quickly. The four of us were idly chatting and eating when our comms all crackled to life.
"Your four o'clock, blondie," Matty said to us.
Before Mac could turn and look over his shoulder, I picked my phone up off the table top and pointed it at him.
"Smile, darling," I said. But rather than taking a phone of Mac, I had the camera pointed behind him. Then I slide the phone over to him. Over his shoulder was our target in the flesh.
"Yea, I see him Matty," Mac said. Beside him, Jack twisted a little and casually surveyed the room.
"Second that," he said. "We'll keep an eye on him. Do you reckon he's headed to the pub?"
"I'll have someone try and track him through the security cameras," Matty informed us.
"Roger that, boss lady," Jack said.
We continued to talk and eat, all of us keeping an eye out for our target as he moved around the place as well.
Luckily for us, he stood and put his rubbish in the bin just not long after we had finished our own food. There was barely a word spoken as we all stood, throwing away our own rubbish as we followed after him. As we walked it turned out that he was indeed going to the pub.
"I'm going to leave you all," Mac said as we re-entered the pub. "I need to check everything for the first band."
"The way I see it, we have two choices," Jack said. "We could go backstage and wait or we could stay out here for a bit."
I could tell that he wasn't keen for me or Riley to be out where our target was. I was an untrained agent and therefore more of a liability than anything, and while Riley was trained her skill set lay more in technology than hand to hand fighting.
"It's alright, Jack," Leanna said. I looked across the bar and found her sitting at a corner table.
"Between Bozer and I, we've got him covered. Go backstage and see if anyone there knows anything more."
Jack thought about it for a moment before he nodded, knowing that both of the other agents were watching him.
"Why don't we head back," he said to us as though we hadn't all heard the same conversation on the comms. "I want to check the strings on my guitar."

We all sat around back stage for a while, Riley and Jack chatting with other band members, while I sat tried not to give in to the anxiety. Someone came and sat next to me, the movement pulling me out of my spiralling thoughts.
"Alright there?" the woman asked.
"Yea." I gave her a weak smile. "Just nervous, you know."
"I get that way too," she said reassuringly. "No matter how many times you do it, it still feeslike the very first."
I had to agree with that, even though it was actually my very first time singing as a band in front of a crowd.
"Though, I've never had the sound system sound this good," she mused.
I snorted. "That'd be about right."
She looked at me strangely and I gave her another small smile.
"He's my partner," I explained. "An engineer, and a menace. He's always fiddling with electronics. We've lost a couple of toasters to his inventions. But we've also got a single machine that can do toast, waffles and pancakes so…"
We chatted for a little longer, and I even chanced asking about the disappearances but she didn't know anything about that.

The second band was on when I heard a commotion over my comms.
"Matty, I chanced going for a walk and someone's following me," Leanna whispered.
"We've got you on cameras and there's a unit not far from you," Matty confirmed. "I think it's our target."
There came the faint sound of footsteps and I looked across at Jack. He has excused himself from conversation and was loitering near the back door. I could see from every line of how he was holding himself that he was preparing to run after Leanna. I nearly jumped when Leanna yelled in the ear piece, then there was a flurry of movement and shouts from Matty. Jack looked two seconds away from running there himself, the only thing stopping him was that we didn't know her location. Then the sounds stopped and there was panted breaths down the comms line.
"Leanna," Jack whispered.
"I'm here, I'm here," she replied. Across the room from me, both Jack and Riley relaxed.
"Matty," Leanna continued. "I'm going to need a clean up crew in the alley."
"Please tell me you only subdued him, agent Martin," Matty said sharply.
"Yes, director," Leanna dutifully replied with a small laugh in her voice. "I just need someone to come and collect him. I ain't carrying his unconscious body anywhere. I'm heading back in to hear our team perform."
Matty was giving instructions through the earpiece but I noticed that Jack, under the guise of scratching his head, had removed and pocketed his. Riley surreptitiously removed her own earpiece as well, and I took that as confirmation that I could do the same.
"Hey Mac," I said, just before I took my earpiece out.
"Yea," came the reply.
"See you out there."
Then I removed my own earpiece.

The jitters I was feeling as I waited seemed to disappear or at least dull as soon as I stepped onto the stage. Then, when Jack started playing the first strains of our fist song, I felt like I slipped into some sort of trance and the set just happened.
When the last song came up, Jack took hold of his microphone before I could speak.
"This last song is for someone special to both of us," he said. "He and I might not have got off to the best start, but I hope he knows I'd do anything for him. We both would. So, this one's for you, Carl's junior."
Even though the crowd was loud, I could swear I heard Mac gasp.
But before I could think, let alone over think anything, Jack launched into the start of 'Walk me Home' and I started with the first verse.
As Jack was singing the second verse, I tried to see through the gloom and at Mac, and I could faintly see his figure. He was still behind the sound desk, but leaning against the wall in a position I knew was his default when he was trying to look casual but was actually overcome with emotion.
We finished the song together and then left the stage to huge applause.

Riley checked her phone and broke down laughing, before handing it across. Matty had text to say that the whole performance had been streamed to the Foundation, thanks to Mac's camera. I felt my face flush and Jack groaned. Before I could worry anymore about that, my own phone buzzed.
'I can't believe the two of you.' It read. 'Thank you.'
'I love you too.' I text back to Mac.
"Why that song though," Riley asked as we caught our breath. "Like, Jack's verse I get but yours?"
I smiled softly at her.
"That was basically how our second date went," I explained. "I could see that something was weighing on Mac's mind, and he asked if I'd come back with him. We just sat and watched movies all night and fell asleep on the couch."
Riley looked at me equally softly.
"Yea, you two are something else," she said. "I'm glad, after everything he's been through, that he's got you."
I looked across at her.
"He has all of us," I replied. "And for that I am indescribably thankful."

It wasn't until much later, once we had returned home and were getting ready for bed, that Mac brought up the song choices.
"Who picked the set list?" he asked.
I was sitting in bed, reading a few pages off my book.
"Me," I replied, marking my page and placing the book on the bedside table. "Why?"
"That makes sense," Mac laughed. "Not enough Willie Nelson for it to have been Jack's decision. But the songs were a good mix of all of your favourite genres."
I hummed in agreement and watched Mac for a second. He was trying to figure something out, I could tell. He also threw his t-shirt at my head when he realised I was watching him undress.
"Hey," I shouted when it hit me. "What was that for?"
"You were watching me," he whined.
"Yea," I agreed slowly. "I kinda am allowed to do that."
Mac huffed.
"No, seriously though. What's going through that brain of yours?"
"The last song," he began, "That was..."
He was twisting his hands restlessly, and I couldn't see a paperclip to throw at him. Instead, I beckoned him to get his now pyjama clad self into bed. Once he was there, I grabbed one of his hands in my own.
"What about the song?" I asked gently.
"You two really meant that?" he asked in the end.
"Every word," I told him seriously. "You mean the world, to both of us, Angus MacGyver."
The noise he made was somewhere between a snort, a laugh and a sob. I gave him a few moments to collect his thoughts, gently running my thumb over his hand.
Eventually, he spoke again.
"I can't believe you found a song that was identical to our second date," he whispered.
"Oh good, I'm glad you remembered it as well as I did," I laughed a little.
"You mean a lot to me," he shrugged. "But you do know that I'm getting Riley to use some of the mission footage every time Jack's being annoying, right?"
I shook my head with a laugh.
"I would expect nothing less," I told him. "But what do you say, we get some sleep now?"
Mac yawned as he slid down the bed, pulling me with him.
"Best idea you've had all day."
"Shut up and go to sleep," I huffed as he threw an arm over my side.
It didn't take us long to do just that.