Was it a re-write based on the Stringer episode?
| QUOTE | Introduction
"The Stringer"
Looking down on the street, MacGyver watched as the world awoke from the night. He had been up since 6:30, unable to sleep, thoughts tumbling around his head. And they all came back to the same point. I have a son, he thought again. And there was more than just that idea. He also had to face the fact that there may still be a lost little girl, a lost sister of Sam's taken from her family almost ten years ago.
MacGyver - (Voice over)
Two days ago, it had seemed like a pretty regular day. But after years of being a troubleshooter, I knew that nothing started simply and ended that way.
I had arrived at the warehouse to meet a friend of Mei Jan's of the Chinese Youth Resistance Movement named Tan Yee. After getting a video tape from Tan Yee, henchmen had shown up with guns, complicating things. After shooting and killing Tan Yee, I was trapped. Luckily for me, Sam showed up, riding through the window and coming to my rescue.
As we rode off, the thought did occur to me that I could have gotten myself into a worse situation by riding off with a stranger. But looking back on the situation, I didn't really have many choices.
We rode to the Youth Resistance center where Sam introduced himself to me, neglecting the fact that he was my son. The hardest part of the evening was informing Mei Jan that Tan Yee had been killed. The three of us went into the center, watching the video and finding a scene within Camp Zero, an illegal work camp for Chinese students protesting the Chinese government.
After watching the brutal beating of a Chinese student, I had innocently inquired into Sam's presence at the warehouse. Sam told me that he was working on a story involving a man named Chung. He told me that Chung had killed his mother, relating the tale of his mother's death. After we discovered a few coincidences between Sam's mother and a friend of mine, Sam show me a picture of his father. A picture of me.
Yesterday, Sam and Mei Jan and I returned to the warehouse, meeting up with Pete Thornton. The warehouse had been emptied of all of the evidence needed to stop the American-Chinese trade talks. I introduced Sam to Pete, eventually getting around to telling him that Sam is my son. Pete, of course was surprised by this news, thinking, as I did, that Harry had been my last living relative. Sam and I collected some things from the warehouse (a beetle and an iron bar) for evidence. The boy has a good head on his shoulders. Must run in the family.
Back at my loft, we were looking through one of my photo albums, which contains pictures of Kate, when I sensed that Sam wasn't telling me everything as he related to me his daring escape from Communist China at the age of 9.
"There's more to all of this than revenge, isn't there?" I had asked.
"Yes." Sam answered after a few silent moments. "Chung didn't only take my mother from me. He also took my sister."
Wow. Sister? That caught me off guard. Sam explained. "When I was two years old, Mom was in the Middle East with a group of friends covering a story. One of Mom's friends, who was an American living there, was pregnant. During an attack by the enemy, this friend's husband was killed, herself being fatally wounded. She had the doctors deliver the baby four weeks before it's due date, and asked Mom to raise the baby as if it were her own. Mom agreed, naming the baby girl after the mother, Andrea. But we always called her Andi. Andi was always a sister to me, even though we technically were of no blood relation. Mom always insisted that we were brother and sister and that Andi was as much her daughter as I was her son."
Sam paused, looking at me before continuing. "You should know that Andi always considered you her father. Mom always said that she knew that it would never have made any difference to you. Just like it never made any difference to Mom." As Sam spoke, his eyes welled up at the memory of his lost family.
I'm not sure what surprised me more. The fact that I had a daughter or the fact that Kate knew me well enough to know that it doesn't make a difference to me, even now.
"Sam," I asked gently. "What happened?"
"That night," he began, "when Mom hid us, we watched as Colonel Chung gunned her down. Momentarily stunned, I was unable to catch Andi before she ran from the hut, screaming for Mom. As I was about to chase after her, one of Mom's friends held me back. Chung grabbed Andi, taking her with him when he left. I never saw her again." As Sam related the tale, he turned to stare out the window. "I don't even know what happened to her. She was only seven." Turning back to me, he said, "This is all I have to remember her by." As he spoke, he reached into the pocket of his jacket, removing a scrape of material. "It was part of her baby blanket. She carried it everywhere with her. She even had it that night when she ran from the hut. The night before Mom was shot, I got into an argument with Andi, ripping this corner from her blanket in anger. It's all I have left."
I had searched for something to say, "They both knew that you loved them. And they both loved you."
"I just wish I could tell them that." Sam said as a tear slid down his cheek.
"Do you think that there is any possibility that Andi is still alive?" I asked cautiously.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Sam answered with pure determination. "One way or the other."
"Sam. . ." I didn't know how to phrase my thoughts.
"I know." Sam said. "She loved you too."
Sam was searching through all of my health food for some "real food" when Pete called. Pete informed us that the evidence from the warehouse pinpoints the warehouse cargo from the area of China where Camp Zero is located. He asked Sam and I to go over and pick up Mei Jan and the video. He also gave us Chung's address: 54 Oak Wood Estates. Sam left the room, going down to the garage to get his motorcycle and a gun. I followed him down, giving him a "father-son" lecture and convincing Sam not to shoot Chung.
When we tried to pick Mei Jan up, the henchmen show up, getting away with Mei Jan and the video. Back at the Phoenix Foundation, Pete informed me of the location of one of Chung's ships, set to sail soon. As I was leaving, Sam insisted on going with me, giving me my first "son-father lecture". I agreed to let Sam come.
At the ship, we rescued Mei Jan, but before getting off the ship, Sam went to shoot Chung. When I figured out Sam's intentions, I looked and saw an armed henchman aiming at Sam. I shouted a warning to my son, exposing myself as a potential target. After I fell over the rim of the cargo hold, Chung and his men recaptured Mei Jan and put Sam in with me, still unconscious from the fall, in the cargo hold.
Working together, Sam and I got ourselves out of the cargo hold. After rescuing Mei Jan again, Mei Jan pulled a gun on Chung. Sam, giving her the same lecture about killing that he himself recently received from me, convinced her that the killing had to stop. Smart kid.
After leaving the ship yard, following the detainment of Chung and his henchmen, we went to the Phoenix Foundation.
"Well," Pete had said as a greeting when we entered his office. "Can we consider this a done deal?"
Sam looked at me and I turned to Pete and said, "Well, Pete. There's more to the story than that." After reminding Pete of the story of Kate's death as I had known it to be the last time we talked, I explained about Andi.
"A daughter?" Pete exclaimed. "Wow! Do you think it would be possible to find her?"
"I promise you," I said to both Pete and Sam, "We'll find out what happened to her. And if we can, we'll set things right."
"And I'll offer all the resources of the Phoenix Foundation." Pete said after a few moments. "And my help. So, what's our next move? |
or maybe this one?
| QUOTE | The water splashed up into the raft and MacGyver heard a shout of surprise from behind him. He turned to see his daughter, wiping water from her eyes. Her hair hung in wet clumps around her face and she was drenched from head to toe but she was laughing, obviously enjoying the day.
MacGyver turned back to the front of the raft, using his paddle to steer the raft away from some rocks. This is great, he thought. The open water, harmless adventure, blue skies, a whole weekend away from the world with his family. And the Phoenix Foundation was picking up the tab for this little excursion. All he had to do was plant some electronic markers on the shore, every 5 miles. And meanwhile, he could run the rapids, enjoying the time with Sam and Andi.
He glanced over at Sam, who was laughing, apparently enjoying his sister's wet misfortune. He too, seemed to be enjoying their first real time out as a family with nothing to worry about but a few markers. This was the first time the three of them were together since the end of Chung's trial.
After the trial, Andi had returned to Wilman Regis for an intense study program while Sam and MacGyver went on a road trip, getting acquainted for the first time. Sam and MacGyver had just returned from their road trip when Pete asked for a favor. MacGyver was skeptical about taking a job from the Phoenix Foundation after his resignation, but after Pete's explained the details of this little excursion, MacGvyer couldn't resist. So instead of Andi flying down to L.A. after graduation, she had flown to Colorado, meeting up with Sam and MacGyver for a white water adventure. They had already placed the first two markers and were on their way to placing the third marker when they came upon an overturned raft. Up on shore, a young couple waved their arms, trying to get the attention of the threesome in the raft.
"Sam!" MacGyver called, nodding his head in the direction of the couple on shore.
Sam turned to look where his father was gesturing, spotting the stranded couple. He nodded in response, using his paddle to help guide the raft to shore.
Pulling up on the shore, Sam climbed, pulling a rope from the raft and securing it. MacGyver climbed out from the raft, turning and offering his hand to Andi. She looked at him with a smile as the rung out the ends of her sopping wet sweatshirt. After she was out of the raft, MacGyver turned to the couple.
"Have some problems with your raft?" He asked, trying not to smile too much at the couple's misfortune.
"As a matter of fact, yes." The woman said, stepping forward and offering MacGyver her hand along with a pleasant smile. "I'm Lydia and this is my husband Alex. He thought he could handle the rapids but obviously..." she said, gesturing to the raft. MacGyver could see a large tear in the side. It had apparently got caught on some rocks.
Lydia was tall, probably just under six feet and about 35 years old. She had soft black hair and deep black eyes. Her husband was also tall, muscular with an olive complexion, probably Italian. They made a nice couple.
"Nice to meet you." MacGyver said, taking Lydia's extended hand. "This is my son, Sam and my daughter, Andi."
"Out for a family trip?" Alex asked, as he shook MacGyver's, then Sam's and Andi's hands. He looked at each person carefully, his eyes searching Andi's face for a moment more than necessary.
"You could say that." Sam answered eyeing Alex skeptically and wrapping a protective arm around Andi's tiny waist. "Can we do anything for you folks?" MacGyver asked, trying to draw Alex's eyes from his examination of Andi.
"Actually, we lost everything when the raft flipped." Lydia explained. "Except this bag. Would it be possible to hitch a ride with you as far as the next check point?"
MacGyver considered this. The next check point was seven miles up the river and they had to place another marker in four miles. He couldn't very well leave them here and Alex seemed to have lost interest in Andi. "Sure." he answered after he considered everything carefully. "But we'll have to stop about four miles up creek for a break. We can stop for lunch there. I'm sure we've got plenty to eat."
After everyone was in the raft, Sam undid the security line, using his paddle to ease the raft away from the shore and back into the main stream. Four miles up stream MacGyver and Sam tied to raft back up on shore, climbing out and getting ready to set the third marker.
"Why don't you guys go off and set the marker. I'll work on lunch." Andi said as she pulled the small cooler from the raft.
"Are you sure?" Sam asked.
"Yes. Go!" she said, smiling at them with her radiant smile.
After the two of them had walked off, Andi turned to the task of preparing lunch. "I don't know about those guys, but in this wet sweatshirt a fire sounds good." she mumbled to herself as she built a small fire. As she bent to pick up a piece of wood, she noticed Alex and Lydia standing together near the raft. There was something in their postures that told Andi that they were having more then just a friendly conversation. She glanced over her shoulder to the path that Sam and her father had just disappeared down, wishing she hadn't urged them to go place the marker.
Andi turned back to the couple, spotting their one remaining bag at their feet, part of it coming unzipped. Straining her eyes she caught sight of the contents of the bag. It was apparently stuffed full of money! She returned her glance to the small fire, trying to pretend like nothing was unusual. After a few moments, Andi nervously glanced over her shoulder again, then back to the couple. Lydia turned and saw her looking at them. Lydia tried to give Andi a casual wave but as she lifted her arm, her jacket shifted, exposing a gun. A look of terror crossed Andi's face and she move to stand, turning towards the path. But before she could move very far, Alex had a hold of her hair, putting a gun at her head, He let go of her hair, his hand reaching around and covering her mouth. "I wouldn't move it I were you!" he whispered into her ear. |
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If I remember correctly both of them were done by the same author - she'd created this world with the additional daughter and I just LOVED it!!!!!!