With a flourish, Matty signs her name at the bottom of the report and sets it aside.
While nearly all of the reports and correspondences within Phoenix are electronic, there are still some—whether for personal or security reasons—that Matty insists on going old school and keeping on paper.
And while physically signing sheet after sheet of paper is time consuming and makes her wrist ache—a side effect she tells herself is due to repetition, the sheer number of pages that require her signature, and old injuries acting up and not due to the number of birthdays that might have passed—she finds it exceedingly satisfying to be able to physically see herTo Dopile shrinking and herDonepile growing.
Matty looks over at the right side of her desk, at her now emptyInbox, then glances towards the left at the tall stack of completed file folders and smiles, pleased.
It has been too long since the right side of her desk held nothing. Far too long since she's had a moment of calm, of peace. A moment free of worry and stress and carefully worded sitreps and debriefs.
A moment free from shenanigans that make her feel like she's overseeing a classroom full of kindergartners instead of an organization full of highly trained operatives.
Though, that last designation needs to be amended. From aclassroomfull of kindergarteners to simply a certaintwoof her highly trained operatives, she thinks to herself with a fond shake of her head.
It had taken the planning and foresight that only the Director of a top-secret government agency could pull off, but in the end the sleepless nights and endless phone calls were worth it. Vacations had been booked, overdue skills training arranged, and missions completed.
Even the bad guys seemed to be cooperating with her coordination and staying quiet.
She's reminded of the old sayingSilence is golden… unless you have kids, then silence is years in the business has her knowing that saying also applies to terrorists and insurgents, as well.
And their silence is very suspicious, and very worrying. But, for now, that's a problem to fix another day.
She had even taken it upon herself to organize Mac and Jack's manniversay getaway this year, planning ahead for their annual vacation with a notation on her calendar so she could ensure the utmost security and safety for them this time around. The look on Jack's face when he'd come to her, ready to wheel and deal to get approval for the time off, only for her to hand him a complete and detailed package of a small lakeside cabin in a quiet wooded area in the upper part of the state was priceless.
Matty pours herself another cup of tea from her china teapot. The steam rises in wispy tendrils as it curls up into the air and she closes her eyes and inhales deeply, savoring the rich, sweet aroma of jasmine and the quiet that fills her office.
A soft knock on her door breaks the silence and she can't help the sigh that escapes her lips.
"Come in," she calls.
"Director," Jill says as she takes a couple steps into the office. "I know you ordered to only be disturbed in an emergency, and I'm still not even sure if this is an emergency, or if it even qualifies as something I should bother you with, or if it—"
"Jill…" Matty holds up a hand to stop her forensics expert from going any further. "I trust your judgement. If you felt the need to bring whatever this is to my attention, that's all the qualification I need. Now, what do you have?"
"Local news agencies are reporting an explosion in the northern part of the state—"
Matty ears and her full attention perk at that revelation, and she straightens in her chair. "An explosion in the northern part of California?"
"Yes, ma'am. They say it appears that a lake was destroyed," Jill informs her. "I pulled satellite surveillance from the time of the blast. The detonation doesn't appear overly large—"
"Large enough to garner the attention of news agencies, apparently. What other details do you have?" Matty questions, herDirectorhat firmly back in place.
"Unfortunately, not much more than that is currently being reported. But it was the exact location that caught my eye. The lake is in a heavily wooded area of a small town, ma'am," Jill tells her as she hands Matty the tablet she brought in with her.
The location data verifies what Matty suspected and her finger hovers for a moment over the play button before she taps it and replays the satellite video.
Matty watches with bated breath as the force and heat of the explosion whites out the feed, the air rushing from her lungs in abject relief as the image slowly—finally—clears and she spies two heat signatures running in the opposite direction.
"Isn't that where—" Jill starts to ask
"Yes." Matty takes a deep breath and shakes her head in exasperation. "Yes, it is."
"Would you like me to recall Agents Davis and Bozer from their conference, Director? I can arrange for the jet to leave now to retrieve them?"
"Hold off on that for now," Matty instructs. "Let me make some phone calls."
Her phone rings at that exact moment and Matty looks down at the screen and the image displayed, not sure if she wants to growl in frustration or commend him for his timing.
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Ms. Morgan. I'll take it from here."
"Yes, Director Webber," Jill says as she leaves the room.
Matty taps the greenacceptbutton on her phone and brings it to her ear, not bothering with a greeting as she answers the call. "What did you two do this time?"
"Hey, Matty," Jack drawls. "I…ah, gather from your greeting that you heard, huh?"
"Yes, Jack, I heard," Matty quips. "Not only is it all over the news, but in case you forgot, we have a building full of, as you like to call them, computer nerds whose exact job description it is to watch for and report on things of just this nature. Were you hoping that I hadn't, so you could spin your tale first?"
"What? No, 'coursenot," he defends. "Actually… ain't really all that big of a deal."
"Not that big of a deal?" Matty scoffs. "You blew up a lake, Dalton! How in the hell do you blow up a lake? The entire thing is gone, Jack!"
"It's not really theentirelake, Matty," Jack drawls easily, like they're talking about the morning weather and not reports of an explosion that's broadcasting on every major news station. "You know how the media loves to over exaggerate just to get some clicks. It's just a bit of…water displacement is all."
"It wasn'tjust a bit of water displacementthat showed up on satellite feeds, Jack," Matty counters.
"You, ah, saw that too, did ya?"
"Yes, Jack, I saw it. You of all people should know by now that nothing hides from our technicians that have been trained by your girl."
"Yeah, Ri is the best," Jack says, and Matty hears the smile and pride wrapped around every word. "But now, see, it wasn't really our fault. Not, exactly. We were relaxing like you ordered us to. See, we were magnet fishing and—"
"Magnet fishing?" she repeats in disbelief. And really, by now nothing should surprise her when it comes to these two. "Macyver brought a high-powered magnet with him on vacation?"
"No, 'course not… This is Mac we're talkin' about, Matty. The kid made one."
"In the middle of the woods? You know what? Never mind. It's probably better if I don't know."
"That's the spirit, boss lady,"Jack agrees. "I stopped asking questions ages ago. Better for my blood pressure that way."
"And…" Matty prompts easily slipping into her bestDirector Webbervoice to keep Jack focused, sure somewhere in this story will lead to exactly how an explosion happened and how her two best agents, off duty and on vacation, are involved.
Because it's not even a question as to whether or not they are. Even not knowing any of the details yet, it is a 100% certainty that if there's trouble of any kind, Macgyver and Dalton are smack dab in the middle of it.
"And… well, anyway…" he continues. "You know how Mac loves to explore, almost as much as he loves collectin' his thingamabobs and doohickeys and he thought it would be cool to combine the two and see if he could find anything interestin' in that big ole lake, 'specially seein' as how old the area is."
"Jack…"
"Right, right... And I thought fishing, yeah? Mac can get his nerd on, and I can kick back, work on my tan, relax, catch some zzz's to the swayin' of the boat. Low key, no fuss, no muss. Stayin' outta trouble. What's the worst that can happen, right?"
"What's the worst that can happen,"she mutters with a shake of her head. "The two of you can find trouble in an empty room."
"Well, now, see this is where I have to say Mac would mention in our defense that there's really no such thing as a completely empty room. Something about atoms, and molecules, and particles of light and the such that he would go on and on andMacsplainabout."
"Jack…" she grits out. "Get to the part of your story where the two of you caused an explosion on US soil so I know whether or not to expect to see the faces of my two best agents on wanted posters accused of being domestic terrorists."
"Your two best agents, huh?"
"Jack…"
"Yes, ma'am. Nah, it's nothing like that, Matty, I promise. You can stand down,"Jack assures her.
Matty takes a deep breath and blows it out slowly, releasing the adrenaline that had started to spike, confident in Jack's assurance to her. He may joke and goof around, drive her crazy with his own special brand of mischief from time to time, but he takes seriously the safety of his family and his duty to his country and its citizens.
"So, anyway, on to the point," he continues. "We were magnet fishing and Mac, he, well… He kinda hooked an old WW2 magnetic mine."
"I swear... Only you two."
"Yeah, yeah. I can never say my life's boring, that's for sure. Anyway, long story short, the ordinance bein' so old and unstable, Mac was concerned about moving it, never mind trying to dismantle the thing, and when the bomb nerd is nervous about somethin'—."
"You listen and do what he says."
"Exactly. Especially when he wakes you out a dead sleep with an,Oh shit…Jack!Detonating the thing in the middle of the lake was the safest option for not only the town, but the surrounding forest as well."
"Are the two of you alright?" she asks. Already pulling up the mental map she has of the area, visualizing where the town's emergency services are located, the names and backgrounds of the local doctors, which EVAC team is on duty and how long it would take to get a chopper there. "Any injuries?"
"Nah, we're old pros at getting blown up by now. Doin' better than the fish, I imagine. Bit of a headache and a little vertigo from the literal blast wave and all the water in my ears, but that's it,"Jack tells her. His trails off for a moment, and when he speaks again, his voice is full of concern.
"Aww, man, the fish. Do you think they're okay? I mean, there they were just swimmin' around with their little fishy families mindin' their own business and BAM! Their whole world is rocked right out from around them. Probably blew their tiny little eardrums out. Wait… do fish even have ears?"
Matty rolls her eyes, grateful that their call is voice only as it's all she can do to stop the laugh that wants to burst forth. As it is, it takes all her disciplined professionalism to school her voice from fond amusement back to all business.
"Focus, Dalton," she orders. "I'm quite sure that Blondie can give you an entire dissertation on the subject of fish and if they do or do not have ears…Later. Right now, I need to know about the town authorities? Do I have to smooth anything over with Sheriff Sullivan?"
"It's all handled, boss lady," Jack informs her. "Didn't even need a cover story of any kind this time. Truth was the way to go, our service records spoke for themselves. Local LEOs actually recruited Mac to assist with dredging the lake to check for more, make sure this was just a lucky—or unlucky as the case may be—one off. Last thing we want is some kids findin' more while swimmin' or fishin' and thinkin' it's a toy."
A shudder runs through Matty at even the thought of that scenario happening.
"If a bomb was going to be found, as much as I don't like my agents lives at risk, I am glad it was the two of you who stumbled across it. The thought of what the outcome would be if a child came across one is something I don't even want to imagine."
"You and me both, Matty"
"You know, you and that partner of yours are 0 for 2 the past couple of years for these manniversaries of yours," Matty remarks with exasperation. "I personally did all the research, made all the arrangements and security swept the area for possible threats. I even went so far as to lay out the entire route between Phoenix and the cabin to include roadway camera placements for added security measures and vetted every single person in that town as well as the two towns on either side, and you bothstillmanaged to find trouble.
"This was supposed to be a low-key, relaxing getaway and instead you almost get blown up and now you're working a grid search and bomb disposal."
"We're lucky like that, I guess. You know, though, it's actually all good,"Jack admits. "Well… I could've certainly done without the whole almost getting blown up—again—part, but, even with that? You have to admit this is lightyears better than our last attempt at a manniversary getaway."
"Amen to that," Matty avows.
Nightmares still plague her of those long days and longer nights of nothing; no clues, no hints, only the mangled, blood-splattered remains of their SUV. It was like the desert itself had taken them and hidden them away.
She wakes with her heart pounding, breath caught in her throat as insistent voices play on a loop in her mind. The relief of the news that Mac and Jack had been found shattered by the bark of orders over comms calling for immediate medics and EVAC, the urgent shouts of TAC as they demanded Jack start breathing again.
The most haunting of all, Mac's voice, broken and trembling, as it filtered through the speakers of the War Room;I killedhim. I killed him.
Jack talking pulls Matty from her spiraling thoughts. She grabs onto his voice, letting it ground her, letting it remind her that both he and Mac not only survived, but healed physically and psychologically, stronger and impossibly closer from the torture that Griggs put them through.
"It'smore than just an opportunity to get away that I insist on these manniversaries every year,"she hears Jack say. "It's to remind Mac, and Ri and Boz, too, that life is too short, never so much more than in our line of work. You have to leave the evil and ugly of our jobs and responsibilities behind every so often. Go out and have some fun, see the world and what exactly we fight and sacrifice each day to save or it's gonna destroy you. Darkness almost took me more than a time or two, you know?"
"I do," she says softly, remembering their time together in the CIA and watching, worried, as the light slowly faded from his usually expressive eyes.
"You should see him, Matty," he tells her, and he can hear the fond amusement in his voice. "Sure, he's technically workin', but the kid is havin' the time of his life. His eyes lit up like a damn Christmas tree when he caught sight of the sonar equipment and the rest of the gear that the aquatic team brought down for them to use. For a tiny, little town these guys have some serious high tech. He's down there right now in all his glory, goin' all Bill Nye, geekin' out with all the other science nerds. Nobody else understands a word any of 'em are sayin' except the others of their own kind."
"And you?" Matty asks. "This is your vacation as well. Your time to decompress and have some fun as well."
"Aww, don't you go worryin' about ole Jack none, Hun,"he insists easily. "My boy's happy, that's all I need. 'Sides, me and Sully are kickin' back in a coupla comfy chairs on the shoreline, supervising and tradin' stories."
"Considering Sheriff Sullivan is a former SEAL, I'm hoping that you're not usingkickin' backin the literal sense," Matty says, the warning clear in her tone.
"Not at all, scouts honor," Jack promises, and Matty rolls her eyes, clearly picturing the scout salute she's sure that he's giving her. "Delta, SEAL rivalry goes back as far as any of us can remember. I can't be breakin' a time-honored tradition, now, can I? Goes against the code. It's all in good fun, though. Sully a great guy, for a water baby that is. He's a worthy opponent, guy can give as good as he gets."
"Well in between your verbal sparring, be sure to extend to the Sheriff the full assistance of Phoenix," Matty advises. "If we can be of any assistance in clearing the lake and assuring its complete safety, or in tracking down where exactly that thing came from, let me know. I can have a chopper with whatever you guys need up there immediately."
"Hard copy."
"And Jack…?" Matty calls.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"You and Mac have four more days of leave left…Stay out of trouble. That's an order."
"Stay out of trouble…Yes ma'am," Jack replies, voice prompt and crisp, the soldier in him showing through."I will relay that directive to Mac, and we will do our absolute best to follow it to a T."
"Please see that you do," she asserts. "Now go, get back to our boy and your manniversary adventures."
"Don't have to tell me twice," Jack proclaims. "Hasta luego, arrivederci, au revoir, var-vell, sayon—"
"Goodbye, Jack," she says with a fond shake of her head, cutting him off before he ends their call with a goodbye in every language he's even partially fluent in, the sound of his laughter filling the space between them as she tapsendcallon her phone.
Matty looks at the cup of tea on her desk, long since cold, and with a sigh pushes it carefully off to the side.
Fourmore days.
She opens the side drawer and lifts the false bottom, pulling out a crystal tumbler and the bottle of top shelf whiskey she keeps there for just these types of occasions.
She pours two fingers, then a bit more and takes a sip, the aged liquor smooth as it slides down her throat.
She places the tumbler on her desk, the bottle of whiskey beside it and stares at it in thought for a moment before she grabs her leather-bound notebook from the top drawer.
She writesMANNIVERSARYacross the top of the page and then takes her pen and crosses it out. She changes it toSTAYCATIONinstead, labeling what Mac and Jack's annual getaway will actually be next year. The two of them already have 2 strikes against them and she refuses to even tempt fate by risking them getting a third.
The pages are soon filled with ideas and diagrams transforming the unused lower storage levels of Phoenix into a retreat paradise. She makes notations in the margins to bring Bozer and Riley in on the top-secret project. Let the two of them lose, give them full rein to use their talents to set up a theatre, laser tag arena, arcade, and whatever else their creative minds can create.
After all, with Russ Taylor funding the Phoenix, money is not an object.
She question marks the wordsciencewith Mac's name beside it, not sure yet what the best—safest for all of them—thing to include for him would be. An idea starts to form for an escape room. A room full of puzzles to solve, revolving puzzles, perhaps? It would certainly engage his mind and his love of tinkering and problem solving. It would be a challenge to design riddles that would stump Angus MacGyver, but her organization is full of the best and brightest minds, plus, she knows a ringer that she can bring in to help. Frankie would probably the love to opportunity to stump her old friend.
Diagrams fill the following few pages as she thinks of Jack and his love of losing himself within the pages of one of the many books he owns. It's a part of himself he shares with only those closest to him, and something he doesn't get to do as often as she knows he would like.
Her sketches transform one of the small rooms into a cozy nook, with warm wood and soft lights. Full of fluffy blankets and soft pillows, overstuffed chairs, with shelves lined with rare editions and classic tales. She goes back and adds an additional memo to herself before she turns the page and continues on, making sure among the seating arrangements is a replica of Jack's beloved recliner.
Matty works late into the night as she brainstorms and lays out a rough draft of a plan, still needing to figure out food section ideas and the technical possibilities of installing a pool area of some sort. All while thinking of ways to keep this entire project from her two best agents for almost twelve months.
But Blondie isn't the only one who loves a challenge.
Jack is right about the need for manniversaries. Not just as a tradition for him and Mac, but for all of them. She has been witness to too many agents burning out, too many times that the darkness has won.
She refuses to let that happen to her family and she'll do whatever she needs to do to keep them safe. The fish will thank her—as well as all the first responders and TAC teams who don't have to field search-and-rescue teams or bomb disposal warnings for next year's manniversary.