Part 2

Murdoc expertly picked the lock, taking all of 5 seconds and making only the tiniest click. He held a wet rag in one hand and gingerly opened the door with the other. It creaked quietly, alerting MacGyver to the entrance of the intruder. Still thinking that Mac was upstairs, Murdoc stepped inside and locked his gaze on the stairs. He unsheathed a knife from his belt with his free hand and pushed the door closed with one black boot.

He was unprepared for the hockey stick to the face.

"Ahhh…" he groaned, but quickly recovered. He swung the knife up at MacGyver's good arm and opened a gash in his shoulder, causing him to release a quick cry of pain. Swinging the stick at Murdoc again, he got another good hit on his opponent's face and blocked another thrash of the knife, which Murdoc thrust sideways, sticking it solidly in the wall. With one hand open, he reached up and grabbed the end of the hockey stick. Due to the injured arm, he was easily able to wrench it out of Mac's hold, and he threw it across the room. MacGyver threw a punch at the assassin, but Murdoc grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back. Before he could react, he raised the wet, sweet-smelling rag and covered Mac's mouth and nose.


Ashton could hear the scuffle begin downstairs, but she knew Murdoc far too well to run downstairs without thinking. She opened the door of the bedroom she was hidden in just enough for her to squeeze through. She heard a loud clatter like something being thrown across the room, and, a few moments later, the sounds stopped, save some heavy breathing. She peered over the railing of the loft and saw Murdoc, standing over an unconscious MacGyver and wadding up a piece of cloth. As stealthy as a cat, she climbed onto the edge of the railing and jumped down onto Murdoc's head and shoulders.

Her sudden force caused the two of them to crash to the floor, but her fall was at least cushioned by the unsuspecting assassin. She drew back her fist, at the ready to knock him out as well, but that appeared to already have been accomplished by the force of her leap.

She stood, looking around for a coil of rope or a roll of duct tape to restrain him with. She saw a roll on one of the far bookshelves and ran over to pick it up. She heard the rapid thuds of someone running across hardwood floors, turned around, and saw that Murdoc was gone.

She sighed. It didn't surprise her. She knew him better than anyone, and if she only knew one thing about him, it was that somehow, some way, he always got away. She had been taught that skill, too.


The first things that he noticed were running water and the pains in his arm and other shoulder. The next thing that he noticed was that he was lying on the couch, on his houseboat, with nothing obstructing his breathing. MacGyver opened his eyes.

"MacGyver!" the girl called, walking over to him with a glass of water in her hand. "Are you feeling all right?" she asked, slightly apprehensive.

He sat up and ran one hand through his messy hair. "I think I'll be okay."

She held out the glass of water to him. "Rinse your mouth out with this," she kindly instructed him. "Judging by the sweet smell of that rag and its effects, I'm certain that was chloroform. Do you think that it got it in your eyes?" MacGyver shook his head and handed back the used glass. He glanced at his shoulder, which Ashton had expertly bandaged.

"Who taught you about this stuff?"

She hesitated for a long moment while she rinsed out the glass. "Someone who knows a lot about it," she replied vaguely. She was sure that she could trust this man, but she didn't want to reveal that she was one of the best-kept secrets this side of North America yet. "I called Pete, too. I explained the situation to him, and he's on his way right now."

"How do you know Pete's phone number?" he asked, turning to look at her and suddenly realizing how little he knew about this girl.

She opened her mouth to reply, but was again interrupted by the sound of another arrival. The door clicked open and in walked Mac's closest friend and boss, Pete Thornton. He looked from the girl to MacGyver and back again and exasperatedly asked, "What the…?"

"My name is Ashton," the girl offered, gravely serious, and stuck her hand out at him. After an awkward handshake, she continued. "We have to get out of here, now. Murdoc is still around somewhere. I'll fill you in on the drive. Do you know where a safe house might be, preferably a secluded place in the woods that he doesn't already know about?"

Pete hesitated. He still knew next to nothing about this kid, but she seemed to know quite a bit about them. Then again, this girl had already saved his best friend's life once, and she looked completely genuine about wanting to help.

"I think that there's a retired Phoenix safe house near the Sequoia National Forest. Very few people know about it because it's rarely used. We can go there, and it should be empty. In fact, I don't think that anyone has been up there in the past few—what?" He had just noticed Ashton staring at Mac like he was actively sprouting a third head. Then Pete saw what she was looking at, too.

The red dot of a viewfinder's laser was flicking around the back of their friend's head.