Okay guys, here comes the story that I've been discussing with you. Again, please be forewarned that my portrayal of Sam is not 100% positive. If you like Sam, you might not want to read it, but if you like Sam and you're curious about my take, go ahead and read it!

A Crack in the Foundation Part One
Rated: PG

Colorado

“Ah, isn’t this place great?” Sam asked, tossing a baseball in the air and striking it into the deep mountain valley with his baseball bat. He paused, listening to his perfect hit reverberate through the mountains. He smiled and turned to look at MacGyver. “You should join me.”

MacGyver squinted against the bright afternoon summer sun. “I’m more of a hockey man myself,” he said.

Sam laughed. “Hockey? You can’t play that now! There isn’t any ice,” he said.

“Have you ever heard of street hockey?” MacGyver asked.

Sam kicked the rough, rugged, and uneven ground. “There aren’t any streets around here, either,” he said, grinning.

“Aw, you just don’t have any imagination.”

“What, are you telling me you’re going to make a street? Or better, you’re going to make ice?”

MacGyver winked. “It’s been known to happen,” he said.

Sam shook his head and continued to hit his supply of balls into the ravine below. MacGyver watched him. It had been a week since he told Pete he was finished with The Phoenix Foundation and had taken off with this young man who was supposedly his son. He still had difficulty fully believing it. As he watched Sam, he thought he could recognize some of his own mannerisms and movements, but he wasn’t sure. Once Sam told him he was his son, he began to notice these similarities, but he hadn’t before. He wondered if the power of suggestion was playing with his mind, or if it was only natural to see the resemblance after being informed. Shadows from clouds drifting lazily overhead rolled across the mountains, and MacGyver watched them for awhile, still trying to process that he had a son. It seemed inconceivable, although he knew it was probable. He did feel close to Sam, and had even chosen this camping spot for their first adventure together, away from international intrigue and pressure. They could just relax, alone in the wilderness together. He remembered coming up to the spot with Harry when he was a kid, so it only seemed natural to share the spot with his new found son.

“Dad? What’s wrong?” Sam asked, noticing MacGyver’s faraway expression.

“Huh?” MacGyver asked, snapping out of his reverie quickly. Being called “Dad” had a way of bringing him abruptly back into reality.

“You seem…a little spaced out or something.”

MacGyver sighed. He had to admit he liked this guy, but something was bothering him, and he wasn’t sure what it was. “I think I’m going to head into town for awhile,” he said. “I’m gonna call Pete and see how he’s doing.”

Sam laughed. “I can’t believe you,” he said. “After only a week of calling it quits, you want to see how work is going down there? Dad, I’m sure they’re doing fine without you.”

MacGyver nodded. He somewhat agreed, although it was painful to admit. The Phoenix Foundation had been his life for so many years that he was having a hard time adjusting to a different life, a life that had changed so drastically. He thought he was ready to move on to other things, but his casual acceptance of his new life hadn’t been permanent. He was longing for times past. He supposed it was nostalgia, even though he never considered himself that nostalgic before. He was used to moving constantly, but within his many years of travel one thing had remained the same—The Phoenix Foundation. It had been his home base even when he drifted.

“I know, Sam,” he said, “but I just want to touch bases with Pete. He’s probably going nuts without me, and I wanna reassure him. See, I’m more concerned about him than I am about my absence.”

“Well, you go ahead,” Sam said. “I know Pete and you are close.”

“Hold down the camp for me, willya?”

Sam gave a mock salute. “No problem,” he said.

MacGyver turned and headed for his new jeep, the bullet-riddled old one unsalvageable. As he got in and started the engine, he glanced in the side mirror back at Sam, who was still hitting balls and looking carefree in the beautiful mountainous setting. He seemed harmless. Still, something didn’t feel quite right. MacGyver wondered if he was just becoming too fatherly to enjoy life anymore, worrying too much about his son. Shrugging, he drove down the rugged dirt path, away from the campsite and into the nearest mountain town.

***

MacGyver called Pete in a small drugstore phone booth. As he listened to the phone ring, he glanced around at the dusty town’s store, selling unusual things not typically seen in the city—like elk jerky and homemade fly ties. A spooky stuffed elk head stared down at him with glassy eyes, and he turned away from it, not a big fan of hunting trophies. Finally, Pete answered his office line, and MacGyver wondered if his partial blindness due to his Glaucoma was the reason it had taken him so long to answer. After their usual friendly greetings and catching up on each other, Pete’s cheerful tone suddenly grew serious.

“Mac, to be honest, I’m glad you called,” he said.

MacGyver detected the concern in his friend’s voice. “Pete, what is it?” He asked.

“Something’s happened here…I can’t explain it over the phone since you’re not on a secure line.”

“Pete…”

“Look, I know I have no call asking you to come back, especially since you’re on this big discovery road trip and you’re trying to start your new life…but Mac, in some ways, I’m afraid this concerns you.”

“Pete, can’t you give me a little hint?”

“I’m afraid not. Mac, I need you back at the Foundation as soon as possible so we can clear this situation up.”

“What situation? Pete…”

“Mac, just come, please. You’ll understand when you get here.”

***
California—The Phoenix Foundation

“So, we’re back at square one,” Sam said as he and MacGyver stepped out of the elevator in The Phoenix Foundation building and headed toward Pete’s office.

“I’m really sorry about this, Sam, but Pete said it was urgent,” MacGyver said.

“I still don’t see why we had to cut our camping trip short so soon.”

“Well, I guess we’ll find out what he wants, won’t we?”

“Yeah,” Sam said, sighing. “You know, I had a little bet going inside my head where I calculated how long it would take until you came back to the Foundation, and if it had been for real money, I’d be rich right now.”

MacGyver smiled. “I’ll try not to take too long,” he said.

Pete was waiting for MacGyver with the doors to his office wide open. He tried to appear calm and neutral, but MacGyver could read the agitation on his face and in his body as he stood there stiffly, his arms straight at his sides.

“It’s good to see you again, Mr. Thornton,” Sam said, smiling pleasantly.

Pete nodded. “Same here,” he said. “Listen, uh, could you wait for us outside, Sam? I need to speak to…your father…alone for a minute,” he said.

“Sure.”

MacGyver followed Pete into his office, and he quickly shut the doors behind him.

“Pete, what’s going on? Why did you have to see me?” MacGyver asked.

Pete sighed loudly. “MacGyver, we found a major leak in our classified information,” he said.

MacGyver groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. “Pete, I knew it!” He said. “You dragged me all the way back here because you have another problem you want me to solve! Just forget it! I’m finished! Look, I know how much respect you have for me, and I know you consider me your best man, but Pete, you’ve gotta learn to find someone else. I’m just not going to be around as much anymore.”

“We think it was an inside job,” Pete said.

“A mole?” MacGyver asked. “Who do you think it is?”

“Sam,” Pete said.

A tense, uneasy silence filled the room. MacGyver knew it was possible. After realizing that Pete’s son Michael was capable of selling secrets, anything could happen. One of the most challenging aspects of their line of work was learning who to trust. The dangerous and highly sensitive nature of their jobs made it a tempting target for anyone within the organization that had been tarnished by any number of motivations, from pure, simple, greed to actually being planted by an enemy agency—but Sam?

“My…son?” MacGyver asked. “But, how? He doesn’t have security clearance. He doesn’t work here.”

Pete winced, thinking momentarily about Michael. “No, he doesn’t,” Pete said, “but he doesn’t have to work here to obtain the information he’s been after. He’s savvy enough to find other methods.”

“You mean…through me,” MacGyver said.

Pete nodded.

“Pete, you know I wouldn’t tell him anything about what I’ve done here that’s classified.”

Pete looked at him. “I know you wouldn’t,” he said. “It’s more complicated than that. Apparently, he somehow managed to access our encrypted computer files. We have no idea who he gave the information to, but it’s out there and could potentially harm several operations we have going right now.”

MacGyver ran his hands through his hair. “This just doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “My own son?”

“It happens,” Pete said, a knowing look on his face and hurt in his voice. He sighed and felt around on his desk until he retrieved the file he was searching for and picked it up, handing it to MacGyver. “Mac, it gets worse. It turns out that Sam’s not your son after all.”

MacGyver stared at the file, afraid to open it. “I can’t believe this,” he muttered. “A set-up? Well, who is he, then?”

“Read the file,” Pete said. “It’s all there. I’m sorry, Mac.”

Slowly, MacGyver opened the file and began to read its contents.

“You…remember how we had to gather a sample of your DNA just in case we needed to identify you if something…unfortunate happened out in the field,” Pete said, explaining the reports MacGyver was reading. “Well, when you were with Sam, I had some of my people gather a DNA sample on him, too.”

MacGyver looked up at him angrily. “Why didn’t you tell me this?” He asked. “What else have you done without my knowledge?”

“Please, Mac, keep reading,” Pete said. “I think you’ll understand why.”

“You never believed he was actually my son, did you?”

“I had my suspicions,” Pete said. “I was…reluctant to tell you…”

“So you did this behind my back. Wonderful.”

“I was trying to protect you, Mac! I knew that after being betrayed several times by people who claimed to be close to you, I just couldn’t take another chance that you might be hurt. Well, it turns out I was right. Take a look. There’s no match between his DNA and yours. You’re not related.”

“Who is he?” MacGyver asked, leafing through the documents.

“We ran his DNA in our system and found a match.”

The next page MacGyver turned found him facing a photograph of Sam. He looked wholesome and innocent, unlike the description of him that followed on the next few pages.

“Sean Maxlin,” MacGyver read aloud.

“He was a photojournalist. That part of his story is true,” Pete said. “What he failed to mention is that he’s also been spying for numerous enemy governments. I’m afraid our classified information has gone to them, but we don’t know who he sold the secrets to. We’re still trying to figure that out, and until we do, I want you to stay close to Sam. You see, he earned your trust. In order to keep him from suspecting that we know about his true identity, you have to keep earning HIS trust.”

MacGyver went over to the windows and stared out them, holding the file limply in his hands and nearly dropping it.

“Pete, I just can’t believe it,” he said. “I guess in a way, I should’ve seen it. Learning I had a son was shocking enough, but this…”

Pete reached out and placed a supportive hand on MacGyver’s shoulder.

“I’m truly sorry, Mac,” he said. “I wish you had learned about this some other way.”

MacGyver turned to look at his friend, stifling the tears misting his eyes. He grasped Pete’s hand, squeezing it. “It’s okay,” he said. “I mean, it’s not like this hasn’t happened before.”

“It’s happened too many times, as far as I’m concerned, especially to you. You don’t deserve it. I guess if I hadn’t touted you all these years as my top man, you wouldn’t be such a target for this kind of activity.”

“Pete, don’t blame yourself. This isn’t your fault. Sooner or later I would be a target for something like this, your top man or not. It’s just the risk I took being in this line of work. But you know something? I don’t regret a day of it, and you are the best man I know to deliver this kind of news to me.”

“I’m surprised,” Pete said. “I thought you would be furious with me.”

“I am,” MacGyver said, smiling, “but you’re right. We had to know for certain Sam’s identity, even if…it turned out unfavorably.”

MacGyver scanned the file again and then placed it back on Pete’s desk. Pete noticed the sadness in his friend’s voice.

“Mac, are you telling me that you were ready to be a father?” He asked.

MacGyver smiled slightly and looked at the floor. “Not really,” he said, “but I was willing to give it a shot.”

“Well, maybe someday you still can.”

“Maybe, Pete.”

“For now, you can still be a father to Sam. What he’s done is illegal and endangers our country’s security, but there has to be a reason for it. Find that reason, MacGyver. We might be able to help him.”

MacGyver nodded. “I’d better get back out there to see him,” he said. “I’ll just tell him that you had a few loose ends to tie up with me that you had forgotten about.”

He couldn’t believe the irony of his words. It turned out that Pete did have some loose ends. He just never imagined that the question over Sam’s identity would be one of them. Slowly, he opened the doors, expecting to find Sam waiting outside for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

“He’s gone,” MacGyver said aloud.

“Gone, what do you mean gone?” Pete asked.

“I mean, he’s not here, Pete. He was out here waiting, but I don’t see him now.”

“My God,” Pete said. “He must know that we’re onto him.”

“I’ve gotta find him,” MacGyver said.

To be continued…

I know you're trying, this first chapter wasn't bad but there're things that aren't too believeable. Sam doesn't sound like the Sam from The Stringer at all and MacGyver believes Pete a little too easy about Sam being the bad guy. I know it's just fiction.
If this was like in the series, I think MacGyver would've been doubting Pete's results.

I can imagine this on tv. The shot of MacGyver walking to the office with Pete standing behind his desk.

And how did you come up with that name?

Ahh, you didn't disappoint! I like the setup for the reat of the story... the reference to Michael; the others who've betrayed Mac and Pete.

Looking forward to how you're going to flesh this out.

Well, MacGyverGod, I just figured that MacGyver knows Pete better than he knows Sam. They've been friends for a long time, and they've established trust in each other, so why would he spend too much time questioning the results? Of course it's upsetting and a shock to Mac, but the results are clearly there from a reliable source. As a man of science, he can't dispute lab test results and the dedicated work of several members of The Phoenix Foundation.

Do you honestly believe that Pete would try to hoodwink Mac or that he has some personal agenda? Not Pete. He's too good of a friend to do that to MacGyver. He's being a friend by telling him the truth. What would he gain by intentionally hurting his best friend? It's a difficult situation and tough news to learn, but he feels MacGyver has to know all the same. Plus, I added the Michael example to show that even those closest to you can sometimes disappoint you. Did you see Pete doubting Mac when he broke the news to him that his son might be stealing classified information? As much as he didn't want to accept it, he knew it was true when presented with valid evidence. MacGyver has been given evidence to support Pete's claim, and he must reluctantly accept it as well.

I watched The Stringer again for research purposes, and I'm not sure where you're getting that Sam doesn't sound right. The impression I got of him was that he was serious and confident, yes, but also had a friendly, easygoing side to him. They're on vacation at the beginning of this story, and they're trying to establish a father/son dynamic, so of course he's going to be a little more teasing and playful as he gets to know his "old man." I also showed how respectful he is to Pete, which he was in the show. So, I don't see any incongruities at all. Besides, we barely know him as a character, so there's more room to develop him. He's not a character we've known for years like Murdoc or something.

As for your answer to how I came up with the Sean Maxlin name, it just came to me. I wanted to keep his name Sean, but I thought I could change his last name, keeping just the first initial of "M." It was just a last name that popped into my head. Maybe it's cheesy, but there it is.

My whole purpose of this is merely to explain my motivations to you. I'm not trying to be defensive, and I appreciate your criticism. I just think that you like Sam, so this concept it tough for you to swallow, and that's okay. You can keep reading it or not, it doesn't bother me. I appreciate you giving it a chance, though.

Maybe we should wait till the end? Maybe in the end Mac will prove that Pete's informations were wrong? This also can be a setup to let Mac think that Sam's after something...

I wonder which directions the story will take!

There was only one thing I wondered about (in case, Pete is right): Would Mac really be able to act towards Sam as if nothing happened? I picture that his feelings would show through so that Sam would get suspicious after a while.

Oooooo! This is rather interesting!

And, though I do agree with some of what MacGyvergod had to say- I think that we should wait this out until the end and see how it is finished up.

All in all, I can't wait for more!!!!! So, hurry!

Part two is taking longer than I thought--this is a challenging story to write! I'll probably have it posted by tomorrow, pending any new power outages from more spring snow storms.

Ah, the pleasures of living in the mountains...

I got suckered into reading another one… all that hype. You have a good writing style but there’s always some problem with the basic premise of the story or major unbelievable flaw that throws me about half way through the first chapter.

How could SAM have infiltrated the Phoenix Foundation when he never worked there and since their first adventure been out on the road traveling with Mac?

I know you kinda skirted over it with “He’s savvy enough to find other methods.” But I think Mac is experienced enough that if his “son” was pumping him for top secret information on a camping trip, he’d recognize it. That’s not exactly in lines with… “So, what kind of bait works best for you?”

Maybe that was what I was looking for. Than again, Sam could've been in the area for a while trying to get to know things about MacGyver.

Well, I can understand. I HATE power outages!

Anyway- maybe Sam is more sly and slippery than he appears. I mean he is young. Maybe he uses that to his advantage? Often, some older people will think of kids in a sort of light, like "they can't do that- they're too young!" Maybe Sam is using his young looks to his advantage???

Unfortunately, I did suffer another power outage and was unable to post the second part--man, am I good at predicting those things or what?

Anyway, the second part is coming today. I guess what I really should have done was provide more back story about Sam, but yes, Firn is right--he uses his youth to his advantage. I explain a little bit more about his methods in this next part.

I absolutely agree: we wait and see. Can't wait long, though...