Welcome to chapter 2. Now we'll see what happened after MacGyver got buried in the fire and what Children of the United Nations is all about. Along the way we meet a couple of familiar faces.

You can find the previous chapter here.
http://www.macgyveronline.com/forums/index...?showtopic=9654

(We fade in with The 'Hood introduction tune)
Chapter II
The Island
Seven months later

An airplane zooms over. It was broad daylight. A good nice day in the early summer of 1997. It was the end of June. School was out for summer and everybody was expecting a good one. MacGyver was on the plane, flying to his next and what Pete called “a welcome home assignment”. Seven months has passed since the Dillard Elementary School drama and it was the first time since then MacGyver had been on the outside. This recovery lasted longer than when he was in coma. If the fire department didn’t get him on time, he would’ve died in the fire. He has scars all over his body and was kept in an artificial coma for weeks, than slowly the real recovery began. Six months at the hospital and one month at home. It was a long time but as usual he made it. And now he was on the way to a small island in the South Pacific to his welcome home assignment. It was one Phoenix’s pet projects and really something MacGyver would go for. He knew what it was about but didn’t know all the details so he was asked to come down and check out things. (The music fades away here)
‘So this is your first day out of the hospital, huh?’ Captain James Holland asked.
‘No, no,’ MacGyver replied. ‘I was released out of the hospital about a month ago.’
‘Really?’
‘But I had to stay flat at the houseboat as well. Pete was bugging and mothering me all the time. It was so annoying until he left to the island a couple of weeks ago.’
‘After what I read about you in the papers, I can imagine you needed your rest.’
‘Again, I was so lucky in surviving this. I was actually buried in flames.’
Captain Holland opened a small box besides him and gave Mac a can of coke.
‘Here, take this to cool off,’ he said and took a can for himself.
‘Thanks.’
‘I bet with your line of work, you do go through a lot.’
‘It’s a bit of everything: research, studies, national and international missions, political matters, nature, the environment, social causes. It doesn’t actually matter in which category you are, your life is always at stake.’
‘When was it the most sticky besides the Dillard Elementary drama?’
‘Well, almost always. I’ve been shot up, locked up, blown up and all I got it to show it for were just a few empty rolls of ductape.’
MacGyver paused a moment and took a sip of his cola. ‘Seven years ago.’
‘Then it was the most sticky?’
‘Yeah.’
‘What happened?’
‘Pete and I arranged the transfer of an Egyptian artifact that was about to be delivered to the Cairo museum. It took us a whole month to get things in order.’
‘Than what?’
‘On the day we made it official the Sunboat was stolen right from under are noses. I was calling the hospital in Minnesota. My grandfather, Harry Jackson had a very serious heart attack. He died that day. So when the thief stole the Sunboat I pursued him, but he managed to throw me off the building.’
‘Off the building?’
‘I fell from three storages up to the top of car. The chances that I would’ve been dead were pretty likely.’
‘How did you survive something like that?’
‘God knows. I was elapsed into a coma. My condition was stable but critical. Then the thief injected poison in my I.V.’
‘Wait a minute. You survived without getting an antidote?’
‘Look, what I’m about to tell you stays between you and me, right?’
‘Sure.’
‘I know, how this sounds, but it was a very near-death experience.’
‘Go on.’
‘I saw my parents and my grandfather while I was in that coma. But when Harry told me Pete’s life was in danger, I knew, I had to get off the ship.’
‘And so you did.’
‘Yeah. I saved Pete’s life. Again.’
‘Wow!’
‘You don’t believe me, do you?’
‘Sure. Why wouldn’t I? I’ve read and heard a lot about people making it. You know, coming back from the dead.’
‘Tell me about it. For some strange reason usually the bad guys come back from the dead. Why? I don’t know.’
‘Than there is this school drama being your second most sticky situation?’
‘There is a lot more than that but I’m not going to tell you everything. The flight is not long enough for that. This school thing was sure very intense and traumatizing for the children and the parents. Though I wouldn’t call it a drama per se. I saved thirty lives. There’s only one person dead and that’s the one who caused it. One person dead and a burned down school building.’
‘You almost died that night too.’
‘If those firefighters weren’t on time, yeah, I would’ve been dead again.’
‘How long have you been out?’
‘I woke up at the hospital after three months. Covered in the bandages and all that stuff. I was pretty scarred up, but with skin transplants they patched me up real nice.’
‘They did a fairly good job.’
‘A fairly good job? They did a great job. OK, they still need to take off the rough edges, but I’m good as new.’
‘What happened after those three months?’
‘Further recovery. I had to learn to walk again. I had to learn everything again, actually. Catching up with time and get on with my life where I left off.’
‘And now we’re seven months later with you on a plane flying to island in the South Pacific.’
‘Yeah.’
‘What is this project all about anyway? I know I’ve been hired to fly you over and that I would get a job at the island’s airstrip. Sounds like a good job and good money to me but what’s the project all about?’
‘I don’t know all the exact details. But it comes down to this; in association with the Phoenix Foundation, the Challengers Club, Woodman Steel and Hamilton Plaza we bought this remote island so that children of ministers, diplomats and all other political big shots from all around the world can discuss about all the problems in the world. In the end they have to make sure world peace can be at hand.’
‘Really? Sort of a mini United Nations?’
‘Yeah. It’s actually a summer camp. A United Nations inside a summer camp. It’s called Camp United.’
‘Camp United?’ James said smiling. ‘How about Children of the United Nations?’
‘Children of the United Nations. Sounds good but it’s too much of a mouthful. Besides we decided to call it Camp United because it’s still important for them kids to have fun all summer long. The camp opens up at the end of June and closes down late august early September.’
‘When school starts again.’
‘Right.’
‘How did you came up with this idea?’
‘Well actually it was Phoenix’s idea. But we work pretty close with the Challengers Club. That was my first real job in the seventies. It’s a place that welcomes every teenager with problems or kids from the street. It was a volunteering business. When I joined Phoenix, we started to support them. So we got the Challengers Club with it because Cynthia is great with kids. She and Booker were the beginning of the Challengers Club.’
‘Booker? That name rings a bell.’
‘Booker Wilson. He was the owner of the club until an extreme racist called Larson killed him because of the club and the peoples he helped.’
‘OK, and then what?’
‘So the Challengers Club entered our enterprise but of course money was needed. The Phoenix board was able to spend out two hundred and fifty million dollars.’
‘Two hundred and fifty mille?’ James asked astonished.
‘Yeah and that was just for the works on the island.’
‘So, how much did the island cost?’
‘Five hundred million.’
‘Half a billion dollars?’ James said shocked. ‘That’s a seven hundred fifty million dollar project. That’s quite a lot.’
‘Yeah, well I had to swallow too, when I heard that number.’
‘No doubt. Where did you get the money from?’
‘Woodman Steel.’
‘Oh, that big Wall Street guy?’
‘Yeah, Eric Woodman. You know him?’
‘Newspapers.’
‘Yeah, well I met his daughter Lisa, while I was in Switzerland. We had our differences in the past and persuading him to invest money in this was no picnic either. He gained his wealth by letting other businesses going out of business. He’s not a bad guy but he is pretty short sighted. But we got him into investing three hundred million dollars into it.’
‘What about the other two hundred?’
‘Hamilton Plaza.’
‘Never really heard about it.’
‘That’s Andrew Lawton’s company.’
‘Andrew Lawton?’
‘Yeah, you know him?’
‘Vague.’
‘His company constructed the Phoenix building. It’s all about grace and integrity. He invested the remaining two hundred million dollars and constructed the works on the island.’
‘Wow. Seven hundred and fifty million dollars.’
‘Yeah, I know. It’s nauseating amount of money. Coming to think of I was investigating another project like this in 1988 that was only a billion and two hundred and fifty million dollars more expensive.’
‘But if you think these investments pay up for world peace, than it must be worth it.’
‘And it will be worth it. Nowhere else in the world, kids get a say in political matters. At first it might seem quite snobbish that only children of ministers and other political big shots get their say but if it turns out to be a success also regular children might get their chance to have a say in this. This is just still in a testing phase. If it’s a success this year, next year we might have a whole different ball game.’
‘It’s great idea to have children speak up like this and on important matters. Maybe adults like us will finally bother to listen to them.’
‘That’s the idea.’
‘And it’s a great one.’
The journey continued until in the distance a black dot appeared. (The track The Island Awaits You from the movie The Island starts playing here)

‘You see that tiny black dot over there?’ James asked.
‘Yeah,’ Mac said.
‘That’s it. That’s the island.’
‘Great.’
‘Yeah, we’ll be there in twenty minutes.’
The plane zoomed over the Great Ocean towards the black dot. The black dot being the island where kids from all around the world can have a chance to talk about world peace. A massive and expensive project that was about to become reality to make the world a better place. A world without wars or racism or anything else that can destroy the earth. It might not happen very soon but the world can become a better place, one person at the time.
James places his headphones over his head. ‘Control tower, this is Captain James Holland from Camp United Airlines, asking clearance to land, over?’
There was a moment of radio silence until a voice replied.
‘Captain James Holland, this is joyous Jack Dalton. Clearance to land has been authorized. You are clear to land, over.’
Mac’s face cleared up when he heard Jack’s voice. He took his own headset and placed it over his head.
‘Hey, Jack, how ya doin?’
‘Mac?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Hey, hey, buddy. Good to hear you.’
‘Same here.’
‘Can’t wait to see you down here.’
‘Can’t wait to see you too, Jack.’
‘We’ll be landing in about five minutes, Jack,’ James said. ‘Than you can have your reunion.’
‘OK, than. In the meanwhile I’ll double check the runway. Oh, and James?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Make sure you don’t hit the hangar with your wing this time.’
‘I didn’t hit the hangar with the wing last time, you did. I was your co-pilot on that flight and I told you to look out, didn’t I?’
‘Just don’t hit it.’
‘See you in five, Jack, over and out.’
James looked at Mac. ‘He really hit the hangar with the wing, I didn’t.’
‘I’m not saying, you did. I’m sure Jack was the guilty party on that.’
‘You don’t believe me, do you?’
‘Believe me, I do,’ MacGyver said smiling.
The landing gear came down and the nose of the plan was aimed to the ground. They touched down on the runway and the plane slowed down and drove neatly into the hangar. (The music fades away here)
‘Just like a pro,’ James cheered. ‘Thank you for flying with Camp United Airlines.’
‘You did alright, James,’ MacGyver said while releasing his straps.
‘So, now what?’ James asked while closing everything down.
‘Checking things out,’ Mac smiled. ‘Thanks for the flight.’
MacGyver got up and patted James’s shoulder when he said that and left the cockpit. James continued locking down and left the cockpit than with his pilot jacket over his shoulder. MacGyver pushed the button to open the door. The door opened and he saw Jack Dalton, Pete Thornton, Nikki Carpenter, Cynthia Wilson and Eric Woodman waiting for him.
He was welcomed back by applause. They brought a small metal staircase to the plane so Mac could get off.
‘MacGyver! Welcome to Camp United,’ Eric said welcoming him.
‘Hey, Eric. How’s Lisa doing?’
‘She’s fine.’
‘MacGyver! Good to have you back,’ Pete said as they embraced.
‘Good to be back.’
‘MacGyver, glad to see you,’ Cynthia said welcoming him. They also hugged and MacGyver gave her a kiss.
‘Hey, Mac, how was the flight?’ Jack asked.
‘Outstanding, Jack.’
‘But the food sucked, right?’
Mac looked at James over his shoulder who was loosening his tie and unbuttoning his top button of his shirt. ‘It was a first class meal, Jack.’
Bugged Jack looked at his rival colleague friend. James couldn’t help but to taunt him a little.
‘By the way, Jack, did you see that landing?’ James asked. ‘Now that’s how pros do it.’
‘Hmph.’
From behind a dark haired and fully dark clothed woman approached the gang.
‘Hello, MacGyver,’ she said smiling.
MacGyver’s face cleared up again when he saw Nikki.
‘Excuse me, gents, milady,’ he said to the crowd that was around him and walked towards Nikki. ‘Hey, baby.’
MacGyver embraced Nikki like the sister he had missed all his life.
‘I missed you,’ she said.
‘I missed you too.’
*flash*
MacGyver and Nikki looked up at the sound of the flash.
‘Sam?’
‘Dad!’ the young man smiled.
They hugged in father-son hug.
‘I didn’t know you were here.’
‘Well after I found out you were coming this way, I asked Pete to check out this program as well when I finished my last assignment.’
‘This is great.’
‘Yes, but to achieve more greatness and success, we have to get down to business,’ Eric said interrupting the father-son reunion. ‘First there is the tour in the camp, then we’ll discuss your assignment involving the camp and some of the kids in my office. Then you can check out the camp, if there is still time left.’
‘Alright, straight to the point,’ Mac said. ‘Keeps one awake in business.’
‘Yeah, you know, how I am in business like this, right MacGyver? Shall we?’ Eric asked a bit in forced businesslike politeness and aiming his hand in the way that Mac should go.
‘Just a second,’ he said and walked back to James. ‘James, thanks again for flying me over.’
‘Sure, no problem, MacGyver. If you need me, I’ll be in my office. Just a shout away.’
The men shook hands and MacGyver turned away back to Eric. James looked at Jack.
‘Come on, Jack, there’s paperwork waiting for us,’ he said while turning his back to the gang.
‘But actually I was going to…’
‘Now!’
Jack let his head hang down in disappointment. ‘Great! Paperwork!’
‘Hey, Jack, don’t worry, I’ll be right out there,’ MacGyver said.
‘Whatever.’
‘He can be a real baby sometimes,’ Nikki said.
‘Tell me about it.’
‘Come on,’ Eric said and led the gang out of the hangar to the camp.
(The tune Camp Chilly Wa-Wa day 1 from the game Pink Panther Passport to Peril starts playing here)

MacGyver came outside the hangar and had a revelation of what he saw. He saw a children’s paradise on earth. He came in front of the main lake where children were swimming and playing. On the right side was the main building that contained the offices of the important big shots of the island. Each branch that helped building the island, this being the Phoenix Foundation, the Challengers Club, Woodman Steel and Hamilton Plaza had their offices in it. On the left side of the lake there was another building located where all the Phoenix-scientists and architects were working to expand the project. Since the lake came until the building a little bridge was build over the lake so you could reach it that way. On the other side of the lake on top of six hills wooden cabins were constructed. Between those hills two long waterslides were installed going into various directions around the hills. The waterslides came out at the lake.
‘Wow, this is like the coolest summer camp, I have ever seen,’ Mac said with the joy of an eight year old. ‘Not that I’ve been to many summer camps, but still.’
‘I knew you’d like it,’ Pete said.
‘Everybody duck!’ Nikki said all of a sudden.
They all ducked as a little girl on a hoverboard flew over.
‘Wow!’ Mac exclaimed. Astounded he looked at the others. ‘Was that a hoverboard?’
‘Yeah,’ Pete said.
‘Back To The Future toys? Are you sure those are safe?’
‘We haven’t had any accidents yet,’ Eric said. ‘But they have to follow lessons if they want one of those. We can’t have kids here with broken arms and legs.’
‘I will have to look in on those safety prescriptions,’ Mac said.
‘You got it,’ Pete said.
‘Come on, we have to get moving,’ Eric said and took the lead in leading the company down the path around the lake to the main building.
They passed by a flagpole with a yellow flag on it saying: “Camp United” with the United Nations peace logo on it. They went to the main building but before Mac entered he took one last look around.
‘Wow!’ he said for the last time.
‘MacGyver, come on. We’re going to brief you about your assignment,’ Nikki said. ‘You can scout and check things out when we’re finished.’
She had to pull him in like a child to get him in. (The music fades away here)

MacGyver followed her to the conference room where the others already were. Everybody took their seats in front of a screen while Eric, Pete and Cynthia remained standing. MacGyver sat in between Sam and Nikki. Nikki took out a pencil and paper for taking notes.
‘Alright,’ Eric started. ‘MacGyver for starters I would like to welcome you, in name of all the companies that made this reality, officially to Camp United. It’s of great importance that you are here with us today.’
‘It’s great to be here too,’ MacGyver said.
‘You might know the reason already why you are here?’
‘Yeah, checking things out.’
‘Not just checking things out.’
‘Most likely but I still would like to look in on those safety prescriptions on those hoverboards. In fact I would like to see everything involving the security around here.’
‘And you will,’ Pete said. ‘That’s why you are here. It’s your assignment to check out the security here and to make sure improvements are done. Just like we did with the Ming Dragon exhibition, remember?’
‘This is a remote island. Have you fenced down the perimeter?’
‘Yes. Though the kids can’t get off the island by themselves, they can still get lost in the jungle. Even with guides it’s a bit too dangerous for them to be out there all alone.’
‘What does our endangered species program say about this? By building this island, you probably have been forcing endangered species out of their natural habitat.’
‘We knew you were going to ask this question,’ Eric said. ‘We’ve indeed had to be forcing some of the animals back into the jungle and had to threw some trees down. But what do you value the most? A few animals in their natural habitat or the setting of world peace?’
‘Both,’ MacGyver answered.
‘You can’t have both. It’s either one or it’s the other. There’s still enough of the jungle left for your animals.’
‘Yeah, and what if we keep expanding?’
‘Animals will be transferred to the zoo then or to other jungles.’
‘But we’re running out of jungles.’
‘Hey, come on,’ Pete said. ‘MacGyver, this is the risk we had to take. Besides this is the safest place for the kids to be somewhere remote from the outside world where they could discuss political matters as this. We didn’t had much choice but to push the jungle back as well as the animals. We already had to transfer some of the animals to zoos and other jungles in the world.’
‘One jungle looks like the other, dad,’ Sam said. ‘So they’re still in their natural habitat.’
‘And for the other animals we only choose the zoos with the most respectable reputations,’ Nikki added to that.
‘OK, sorry, Eric.’
‘It’s your job to hear us out, MacGyver.’
‘Alright. For as far as I have seen this island is a children’s paradise on earth. I want those safety prescriptions of the hoverboards in my…,’ MacGyver stopped when he realized he didn’t have anything yet of accommodation.
‘Do I have a room here or maybe a bed?’
‘We’ve kept a cabin free for you,’ Nikki answered.
‘Good. Safety prescriptions of the hoverboards tonight at my cabin.’
‘MacGyver, you will get them by tonight.’
‘Are there any other questions?’ Eric asked.
‘Yeah. How will those peace talks be run?’
‘The kids will be doing to peace talks in form of classes like they have in school,’ Cynthia said. ‘And I will be guiding them in it and so will Sam and Nikki.’
‘That, I like. Just how did the children got here?’
‘Since the island’s got a private airstrip, the kids were brought here by their private airplanes holding the colors of their homeland,’ Pete said.
‘Cool. But once this camp becomes a success the airstrip becomes a full sized up and running airport, right? How will those children sleep with all the noise?’
Eric sighed and became annoyed by MacGyver’s questions.
‘MacGyver, that doesn’t matter right now. What matters now is you checking out the security and getting to know the children.’
‘I’m waiting for an answer here.’
Eric looked at Pete to help him out.
‘MacGyver, I’m sorry, but Eric is right. It doesn’t matter right now. This is still all experimental. When the time comes we can expand or move the cabins to somewhere else. When the airstrip becomes an airport, we will only allow arrivals during the day.’
‘Just remember to plan ahead.’
‘Oh, and we will,’ Eric said reassuring. ‘Anything else?’
‘Nope. I’ll see what I can do about upgrading the security around here.’
‘Good, now we can carry on to the next part of this meeting. Cynthia?’
‘Besides checking out the security, you will have to keep an eye on some of the children here.’
‘You want me to babysit?’ MacGyver asked.
‘Not exactly. Just stay around those kids as much as you can. Kids love you, once they get to know you.’
MacGyver smiled. ‘That’s what Booker said too when he wanted me to keep an eye on Ray.’
Cynthia smiled now. ‘And he was right. Ray got to know you and so did Breeze and they both love you. That’s why we wanted you on the job.’
‘Who’re the kids, you want me to take care of?’
‘Just a second,’ Eric said when he put on the slides on the screen.
The slides were set and the first slide contained a collection of children faces.
‘From left to right we have Nigel from the United Kingdom, Cheone from Egypt, Yung Li from the Peoples Republic of China, Anonda from Bhutan, Endrani from India and Kumoken from Australia.’
‘Wow, Europe, Asia, Oceania. They really come from everywhere.’
‘Almost,’ Nikki said.
‘These children belongs the diplomats, minister-presidents and other political…’ Cynthia said but was interrupted by MacGyver.
‘Big shots, yeah, I know.’
‘We tried to be discreet as a good as possible but we still may fear these children might be victimized to terrorist strikes.’
‘Just for the record. How old are all these children?’
‘Between eleven and thirteen.’
‘Great, than they are at least potty trained.’
‘MacGyver, we didn’t ask you to come down here and change diapers,’ Nikki said.
‘As if he ever did that,’ Sam smirked.
‘Might be surprised what a few cloths and ductape can do, Sam,’ MacGyver said.
‘Can we continue?’ Eric asked.
‘Look, I think I know all there is to know by now.’
‘There’s more.’
‘That may be, but I got the faces of the kids you want me to babysit on. I’ve been on a plane for the past six hours now. I’m tired and jetlagged and I can use a shower to freshen up and something to fill my belly with,’ MacGyver said tapping his tummy.
‘Yeah, maybe you’re right, MacGyver. Sorry if I’ve been pushing you,’ Eric said apologizing.
‘Not at all.’
‘You might as well go to your cabin and rest for a bit. We’ll see if the kitchen can bring you something to eat.’
‘That would be great.’
‘It’s great to have you here.’
‘Great to be here,’ MacGyver said while getting up.
The screen was shut off and Nikki took her things and placed it back in her bag.
‘You know what, we’ll come back down here in a couple of hours. Fetch the kids around four o’ clock, so that we can have a proper meeting.’
‘Sounds like a great idea, Mac,’ Pete said. ‘We’ll have this arranged.’
‘See you within a few hours than,’ MacGyver said and left the gang.
‘MacGyver, wait!’ Nikki said.
‘What?’
‘I’ll show you the way to your cabin.’

MacGyver and Nikki walked side by side to his cabin. On their path they passed by a couple of doors that was dug into the ground like a storm cellar.
‘Hey, what’s in there?’ MacGyver asked.
‘That’s the supplies basement for the kitchen. Build solidly enough to serve as a storm cellar as well.’
‘For all the kids?’
‘It’s a pretty big basement but not for all the kids, no.’
‘Not for everyone?’
‘MacGyver, this basement can hold twenty-five children and people of the staff. Right now, there are like seventy-five arrivals. No storm is coming tonight and if we expand, we’ll build more basements. We’re prepared for everything.’
‘I know. Everything Phoenix has done before succeeded.’
‘MacGyver!!!’ someone shouted.
MacGyver looked up and saw Jack coming.
‘Hey, Jack.’
‘Jim send me over to bring you this.’
Jack pushed Mac his luggage in his hands.
‘Thanks, Jack.’
‘So? Do you like this place already or what?’
‘Yeah, I like this place. I like what it stands for and I like it even more that people I like are working here. It’s a great initiative.’
‘I’d like to think so and with the money I earn here, I can finally do my down payments on Dalton Air & Sea.’
‘Good for you.’
‘Well, I’ve got to get back, before Jim gets on my case again.’
‘Than, hurry up,’ Nikki said.
‘Great to see you, Mac.’
‘You too, Jack.’
Jack left the two on their own again and the duo continued their path to Mac’s cabin.
‘So, this is it,’ Nikki said when they arrived at the cabin.
‘Looks good,’ MacGyver said while looking around.
There was a bunk bed made out of the trees and he had two windows. One looking out on the main lake of the camp, the other one with a view on the jungle. There was also a desk installed to work on, a closet and a rug on the floor.
‘Do you like it?’ Nikki asked.
‘Sure I do,’ MacGyver said while putting his luggage down on the ground.
‘I missed you, sweetheart,’ she said wrapping her arms around his neck. ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t spend more time with you or be with you when you were in the hospital.’
‘I understand, Nikki. You were busy in developing this project.’
‘Not just that.’
‘Nikki, you did what you had to do. Besides I needed some time alone as well. Pete was bugging the crap out of me.’
‘He did?’ she smiled. ‘Well, you know Pete.’
‘Yeah, he was exactly like that after Deborah tried to kill me.’
‘He means well.’
‘I know.’
She kissed him and a loud grumbling noise occurred.
‘What was that?’ she wondered.
‘Guess, I’m hungry.’
‘I’ll get you something to eat than. What would you like from the kitchen?’
‘Got any tofu casserole?’
‘Sweetheart, I don’t think, kids like that. They’re not health freaks like you.’
‘Today’s special, than. Just get me whatever is cooking.’
‘I’ll see what I can get in the fridge than.’
She kissed him again and went off to the kitchen. MacGyver looked at her way of going and smiled. He’d never thought of the fact that one day he would truly love that woman. Though they are trying to keep it covert and as secretly as possible. He looked outside one more time to the children and than he crashed onto the bed. Nikki’s face was priceless when she came back with the food for him. Not that she was that surprised he fell asleep but it was the way he was lying down on the bed. One leg and one arm hanging weakly out of the bed and a gentle smile on his face.
‘Oh, sweetheart,’ she whispered.
Nikki walked to the closet and took out a white sheet to cover him under it. She pressed another kiss on his forehead, caressed his head momentarily and let him be than.

More than two hours later MacGyver woke up. Regaining his senses, he noticed the tray Nikki brought for him. The food was cooled down but he couldn’t care less about it and ate it anyway. What’d you expect? The man was hungry. When he was finishing up Nikki reappeared.
‘Hey, you’re up.’
MacGyver smiled. ‘Yeah.’
‘I was sent to come and pick you up. It’s a quarter past four, you know.’
‘You’re kidding,’ he said while looking at his watch. ‘You’re not kidding.’ It was indeed a quarter past four already. ‘Son of a…’
‘Don’t you finish that phrase or you owe me a penny,’ Nikki said hushing him up. ‘Everybody’s late once in a while. That happens. Come on, we have to go back to the conference room.’
‘Alright.’
MacGyver and Nikki went back to the conference room. At the entrance of the building Eric and Pete were waiting for them.
‘MacGyver, you’re late,’ Eric said firmly.
‘Hey, Eric, come on,’ Nikki said in MacGyver’s defense.
‘Sorry,’ Mac said apologizing.
‘It’s alright,’ Pete said. ‘It’s a long day for all of us. Come on, the kids are waiting.’
When Eric was about to go in the building he saw three people coming.
‘Oh, no!’ he said.
‘What?’ MacGyver asked looking down at the same direction.
‘Great!’ Pete mumbled between his teeth.
‘What’s wrong?’ (The track Freeway Confrontation from the movie Judgment Night comes up starting from 4:30 until 6:31)

The three people came closer and MacGyver swore he knew these people.
‘Murdoc?’
‘Why don’t you just keep the champagne a little longer in the fridge?’ the man said taking off his sunglasses laughing.
‘Nicholas Helman,’ MacGyver said.
‘That’s right, MacGyver.’
‘Not as Dracula this time?’ MacGyver said while looking at his clothes.
‘It’s a little early for Halloween, MacGyver. No, I’m here for business as chairman for Homicide International Trust.’
‘Part time chairman. You can’t do nothing without me,’ Sonya said.
‘But you can’t be here. Sonya betrayed you and Murdoc killed you,’ MacGyver said. ‘You fell in that snake pit and got blown to bits.’
‘Does that still shock you?’ Murdoc asked. ‘I was consumed by a fireball, fell of a two thousand foot mountain, drowned, fell in a mineshaft, drove off a cliff. I’m still here.’
‘What do you want?’
‘To tell you, you can start packing.’
‘Packing? Why?’
‘Because this island was about the become a testing ground for hitmen and mercenaries.’
‘But you had that testing ground where you kept Ashton captive.’
‘That place burned down years ago,’ Murdoc said. ‘I kinda destroyed everything when I threw that grenade.’
‘We’ve been trying to claim this island for years,’ Sonya said.
‘To train new killers? Of course no one approved this,’ MacGyver said.
‘You really think you own this island?’ Nicholas asked.
‘This island is ours,’ Nikki said. ‘We own the property papers.’
‘We’ve claimed this island first,’ Sonya said.
‘Well, we paid first,’ Pete said. ‘In total we paid seven hundred and fifty million dollars.’
‘We made a deal with our stockbroker,’ Nicholas said.
‘And who might that be?’ MacGyver wondered. ‘The government of the United States?’
‘It doesn’t matter who it is, the man behind the scenes. What does matter is the kind of deal we made.’
‘What kind of deal?’
‘You’re becoming interested. That’s good,’ Sonya said.
‘The deal is that if something bad happens here, the slightest mistake or accident with the children, the island will be come the property of Homicide International Trust,’ Nicholas said.
‘You better take this as a good warning,’ Murdoc said.
‘If any of you lay one hand on the children, I’ll do everything to hunt you down,’ MacGyver said threatening.
‘Relax,’ Nicholas said. ‘We’re professional killers, we don’t do children.’
‘Phoenix has never failed on any program it started. We don’t intend on start failing now.’
‘You’d never know, what might happen. Imagine a kid flying on those hoverboards and it falls off breaking an arm or a leg. The tragedy, the scandal. Phoenix dishonored.’
‘Whatever you do, you’re not going to get away with it,’ Eric said.
‘I’m not so sure. We’re quick, neat and untraceable,’ Murdoc said.
‘So you’re here to inspect us?’ Pete asked.
‘You might say that,’ Nicholas said.
‘Than maybe you are the ones who can leave. Because that’s why they called me for,’ MacGyver said.
‘Are you even up for the job after seven months of hospital when you saved those children in that school?’
‘You might be surprised.’
‘Is that a fact?’
MacGyver raised his eyebrows in response.
‘Doesn’t matter. No matter what you do we’re going to close this camp down anyway.’
‘Just out of curiosity,’ Murdoc said. ‘What’s in that barn over there?’
‘That’s the supplies basement,’ MacGyver said.
‘Interesting.’
‘Why?’
‘No reason.’
‘We’ll leave you be for now,’ Nicholas said. ‘But you haven’t seen the last of us.’
The threesome left leaving the others with cold feelings. (The music fades away here)
‘An island full of children and we have Murdoc running around here?’ MacGyver asked disgusted. ‘Was there a little something you forgot to mention?’
‘Not quite,’ Nikki said. ‘But we were dealing with it and we didn’t wanted to alarm you after your seven month hospitalization.’
‘Nikki, when I need to know something about whatever Phoenix is dealing with, I want to know everything, alright? With those three running around the island these children are in terrible danger. This is not good.’
‘So are you saying, you don’t want to be a part of this?’ Eric asked.
‘If it endangers children, no.’
‘You heard Helman,’ Pete said. ‘They don’t kill children. I’m pretty sure they’ll stay away from them. Killing children is not their style.’
‘You never know what they might do them. Maybe nothing physically but mentally? We’re going to have to look out for that guy and Murdoc.’
‘We will, MacGyver.’
‘Don’t worry too much and stay focused,’ Nikki said to encourage him.
‘Come on, we’ve wasted enough time,’ Eric said.

MacGyver and the others went back to the conference room were Cynthia and Sam were entertaining the children. They entered the room and everybody looked up at who was coming. MacGyver walked up front to stand before the children. The children were sitting down at the desks looking up at the tall man in front of them.
‘Kids, this is Mr. MacGyver,’ Cynthia said introducing him. ‘Mr. MacGyver is with us today as a liaison troubleshooter. You’re going to see him a lot when you’re here. He will keep an eye on you and everything else here on the island. If you got any problem, you can go to him and he will help you out.’
‘I’ve seen most of you on the slides,’ MacGyver said. ‘But we’re not properly introduced yet. Who wants to go first?’
No one responded.
‘Nigel, my dear, would you like to go first?’ Cynthia asked.
The boy shook his head in shyness.
‘Nigel is a bit shy, so you have to make sure he’s relaxed.’
‘I see. It’s okay, Nigel, you don’t have to go first if you don’t want to. Is there anyone else?’
Now the only two girls of the pack on the front row raised their hands.
‘Yes, you,’ MacGyver said pointing to the left one.
She stood up and introduced herself. ‘My name is Cheone. I come from Egypt and I can write in hieroglyphics. The name “Cheone” means Daughter of the Nile.’
‘Well, Cheone, the name’s MacGyver and I’m glad you’re here.’
‘And what does your name mean?’
‘Good question. It’s a Scottish name.’
‘Are you from Scotland?’
‘In a way, yes. My roots lies there.’
‘Do you wear…?’
‘No, I do not wear kilts. If that was your next question.’
The girl giggled and went back to her seat.
‘Who’s next?’
More hands were raised now, except for Nigel’s and a Chinese boy.
‘Yes, you over there,’ MacGyver said referring to the girl next to Cheone.
The girl stood up introducing herself. ‘My name is Endrani and I am an independent woman from India. Clear?’
‘Loud and…’
‘I think women should be treated as equals and I will fight for that so that my future daughter can lead a respectable life. I’m a Hindu and I really like the Hindu mythology. Endrani means Goddess of the Sky.’
‘Nice to meet you Endrani. Next?’
Less arms were up now. Nigel and the Chinese boy still didn’t raise there hands.
‘Yes, behind Cheone.’
‘My name is Kumoken,’ the boy said. ‘I come from Australia and I am a real Australian native. I like to enjoy everything nature has to offer. I’m also a medicine man in my tribe. The sign of my tribe is the crocodile. I know everything there is to know about nature.’
‘Well, Kumoken, I’m glad you enjoy nature. It’s very important for mankind to have a clean nature. I’ve done many projects around it and I like to take care of nature and the environment itself.’
‘That’s good. Interesting to know there are more peoples fighting for what I believe in and stand for. We must preserve the safety of endangered species. Too much species are pushed to the verge of extinction.’
‘True, and we will do everything we can to save these animals.’
The boy nodded and only one more hand rose up.
‘Yes, Anonda,’ Cynthia said.
‘Do you know where Bhutan is?’ the boy asked. ‘That’s where I come from.’
‘Somewhere in Asia?’ MacGyver asked knowing the answer.
‘Correct. I am a Buddhist and Buddhism is my religion. I got pen palls from all around the world and from now on, I will get many more.’
‘Okay, Anonda, nice to meet you. I think it’s great you have pen palls from all around the world. I have some of them myself.’
‘We’ve had everyone know, except for our two little troopers over there,’ Cynthia said.
MacGyver saw Nigel was still uneasy with the circumstances and his eyes went over to the little Chinese boy.
‘Let me guess. Bruce Lee, right?’ MacGyver said in an attempted joke.
The boy smiled and shook his head.
‘That’s Yung Li,’ Cynthia said. ‘A highly intelligent student like all the others, from Peking.’
‘Nice to meet you, Yung Li,’ MacGyver said.
The boy acknowledged his greeting.
‘I know a lot of people in China and now I can add you to the list as well.’
MacGyver smiled at the kid and the kid returned that smile, than he turned over to Nigel.
‘What do you say, Nigel? Are you up for this?’
‘My name is Nigel,’ the boy said.
‘Hey, Nigel, how are you doing?’
‘Fine. I am a pacifist. Pa-ci-fist. I like to be very decent and I treat everything with love and respect. This is my first time in a summer camp. No violence, please.’
‘Nigel, don’t worry about violence. I hate it too and I like the fact you try to be very decent. Decency is a good thing. You’re brought up the way it should be and that’s cool. I’m sure you can do a thing or two to make this world a better place.’
The boy sat down again.
‘Well, now you’ve all met Mr. MacGyver, you know who to go to whenever you got a problem,’ Cynthia said. ‘You can go out and play now again. Remember, tomorrow we start our first introduction class about Foreign Accommodations.’
The kids left again. The two girls and Nigel said goodbye.
‘Goodbye, Mr. MacGyver!’
‘Bye, kids.’
‘What do you think?’ Nikki asked.
‘They look smart,’ MacGyver responded.
‘Excuse me,’ Eric said interrupting them.
‘What?’
‘Just wanted to let you know, MacGyver, that this meeting has wrapped everything up for you today. You’re free to do whatever you want now.’
‘Thanks, Eric.’
‘If you need me, I’ll be in my office,’ he said and left.
‘So MacGyver, what are you thinking?’ Pete asked.
‘It was great to get to know the children but having Nicholas Helman, Sonya and Murdoc here troubles me. He’s my greatest enemy and he just skidded back from out of the dark in front of those children. With another dead man, I might add.’
‘We’ll make sure they won’t do anything bad.’
‘Sure but that’s not going to make my job easier.’
‘MacGyver, enjoy it here. This is your first assignment in seven months. Just relax and take everything at ease. One step at the time as you always say.’
‘Right.’
‘You can also find me in my office, if you need me.’
‘Later, MacGyver,’ Cynthia said and left with the conference room.
‘Dad, I’m going up to my cabin, if you need me,’ Sam said and left too, leaving MacGyver and Nikki only in the conference room.
‘So what are you going to do now when the day’s end is nearing?’ Nikki asked.
‘Checking things out, I’ll guess. I wanna check out that supplies basement actually and maybe visit the laboratories across the lake.’
‘Sounds like a good plan to me. What the supplies basement is concerned, Pete told me to give you this,’ she said while giving Mac a small note from her purse.
‘What’s this?’
‘It’s the code of the lock of the supplies basement.’
‘911?’
‘Ssshhh! Don’t say that out loud.’
‘Convenient number.’
‘In case of emergency, get it?’
‘Got it.’
‘What about those safety prescriptions on those hoverboards, I’ve been asking to all afternoon?’
‘They’re in my office, I’ll go get them for you.’
‘Nah, just bring them up to my cabin. I’ll read them tonight.’
‘Okay, you got it.’
‘Great, now let’s get out of here. I want to be outside, right now.’

The couple left the conference room back to the sunny outside world. They parted ways as Nikki went to her office and MacGyver took a visit to the laboratories. All the familiar faces from the Phoenix lab were working there in order to make this project the best one the Phoenix Foundation has ever done. MacGyver took the liberty of the occasion to say hello to the familiar faces like Willis and Dr. Kozby and to meet newer faces. Willis guided him around in what the labs and architects were doing to expand and improve the island and the original goal the project was made for in the first place. (Tense music comes up again)
After the tour, MacGyver thanked Willis for his time and continued his way back down the path to the supplies basement. He looked around to see if anybody was nearby. The coast seemed clear to him but actually it wasn’t. Several feet away from behind him, hidden deep within the bushes Murdoc was aiming his sniper rifle on MacGyver’s back. The way this looked, would’ve been like as if Murdoc was about to shoot him in the back. But he wasn’t about to try and kill him like this. Murdoc zoomed in on his sniper telescope until it was like he was directly looking over Mac’s shoulder. MacGyver pushed the 911 code on the lock to open the supplies basement.
Murdoc grinned and shot.
*Click*
The rifle wasn’t even loaded. Murdoc grinned some more and than he left the area. He found out what he came for and disappeared into the jungle. (The music fades away)
MacGyver went down a flight of solid wooden stairs as he came down in the supplies basement of the camp. The place was a bit dark, but the light from the outside enlightened the place enough to see so he didn’t bother to find the light switch. MacGyver took a close look of everything down there. There were wooden barrels and sandbags in one end of the basement. An electrical cable and socket near the stairs.
‘Whoa! Electrifying!’
There was also a fishing hook at the back wall.
‘Interesting,’ Mac said when saw the fishing hook.
On his right side near the corner there was a whole rack stashed with cans.
‘Well, if nothing works out, than we’ve still got corn in a can.’
Next to the rack on the same wall there was whole set of…
‘Life preservers!’
In the darkest corner beneath the fishing hook there was a very old lawnmower.
‘That old thing will never start, believe me.’
MacGyver took a last look around and was ready to leave. After a few steps over the wooden floor, he noticed one step sounded differently than the other. He took a few steps back and forth and again there was that sound. He crouched through his knees and examined the floor. With his fist he knocked on the boards until he noticed the sound again. The sound was hollow. His fingers were searching the edge of the board and tried to press them in it, but his fingers were too thick. He took out the Swiss Army Knife from his pocket and pressed the blade in between the boards. By using it as a crank, he could lift the board up.
‘A secret hiding place,’ he whispered. ‘Cool!’
It was deep enough to hide stuff in it but not to go in and hide there yourself. MacGyver looked at the board and realized he might come down here more often, so he should work on the wood. With the wood file on his knife he filed off a small edge where he can press his fingers in to open up the floor without having to use the knife all the time. Simple and easy. After filing it off he blew off the wood flour to make it smooth and placed it back with the other boards. He tried it again and was satisfied by the result. It just looked like a crack in the floor now and no one would ever know about this or notice it.
‘Alright,’ he said and placed the board back, than he left the supplies basement.
MacGyver appeared back on the surface closing the doors down when Nikki reappeared.
‘Hey, honey!’ she said and waved at him.
MacGyver waved back.
‘Hey, baby.’
‘Are you alright?’
‘Yeah, sure. I did some checking out down there and guess what.’
‘What?’
‘I found a secret hiding place underneath the floor,’ he whispered in her ear.
‘Really? Neat.’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘Guess what.’
‘What?’
‘I got the safety prescriptions for those hoverboards.’
‘Great,’ he said when he received the safety prescription files. ‘You want to go through this with me? I don’t feel the need to be alone right now.’
‘Sure,’ she said. ‘Lead the way.’
MacGyver wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her back to his cabin. That was it for MacGyver’s first day of his assignment. Arriving on the island, getting introduced to his assignment, the kids and the island. The sun was slowly setting, coloring the sky orange and disappearing behind the horizon of the so gigantic but serene sea. It became darker around the island as the night fell and the kids were summoned to their cabins to go to bed. Everything in and around the island became dead silent. The hoverboards were placed away and the lake was also quite. The activity of the day was nowhere to be seen or heard as if it never occurred. (Slow tense music comes up again) There was a bit of rustling in the bush as if an animal was passing by. But than footsteps were heard in the dead of the night. Someone was sneaking down to the supplies basement. The code was entered in the lock and the doors got opened. Somebody made a loud noise down there for the next couple of minutes, though the island remained undisturbed like it’s inhabitants in their sleep. The noise faded after a couple of minutes as the person walks out again. The familiar evil laughter of Murdoc echoed through the dark jungle.
‘Let the games begin!’
(The music reaches it's peak and we fade out here)