The second chapter to my story. We'll take a peek where the bad guys are hiding and Mac is going to visit an old friend of his. Further on you'll find out what else is going to happen.

(We fade in with a view of the South American jungle with jungle music of Predator on the background)
Chapter II
Deep in the Jungle of South America
MacGyver and Jack Dalton Reunited
The Trail in the mail to the videotape

The jungle was wild and dangerous. The sun was setting and was just an orange glow at the horizon. Dark shades started to cover over the jungle and darkness creeps in. Here and there jungle animals were heard. Somewhere on a open place in the jungle there was big compound. On it’s left was a big tower formation and looked like some sort of hangar, on it’s right the same thing, but that was used for something else. In the middle the main building with four red siren lights on top of it. In most part of the buildings there wasn’t much movement, since the night came on. In the right building there was still some light though. (The music goes shifts into the opening scene of Stricktly Business) In one of the halls there a single man was walking around under a row of lights. Dressed fully in black and he was going down the long hallway. He passed by several doors until he reached the one he was supposed to go into. The man looked around but his face remains covered in the darkness, only his body is seen in the light. He opened the door and goes into another room. He could feel the presences of other figures in the darker room. He went to the middle of the room and suddenly a bright light from above him went on. It lit up the room only by half. Now he stood in full light covering his eyes from the intense light. He took a few steps forward to be out of the light. His back was now more lighted then his face. His eyes remained covered in darkness. The presence of other people in the room became stronger.
‘Hold it, right there. Don’t come any closer!’ a voice said. It was a raspy voice of a man.
‘Are you armed?’ a female voice said.
‘Yes,’ the man in the light answered.
A second later a table was shoved from out of the darkness to him. He didn’t know who did it. He could only see a leg. The person who shoved the table wore a jeans and had boots on.
‘Put them up there,’ the female voice said.
‘Why?’
‘Because we say so,’ the first persons voice said.
The man placed his weapons on the table. A nine millimetre Beretta, a few clips, a knife, a choking wire, a dart blowing pipe and a grenade or two.
‘That’s it?’
‘Yeah.’
‘We don’t believe you!’ the woman said.
‘That’s your problem then,’ the man said again.
‘Alright, alright,’ the first person said. ‘You actually wanna do this? Joining us?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Why?’ the woman asked.
‘It’s quite simple, you know. To have my revenge.’
‘We all want revenge,’ a third booming voice suddenly said.
‘Who’s there?!’ the man asked.
‘It doesn’t matter who I am, not now anyway. It’s perfectly clear what the four of us wants.’
‘You have captured two agents of the Phoenix Foundation, right?’ the man asked.
‘That’s right.’
‘To lure MacGyver in here.’
‘MacGyver. He caused us enough troubles during our times, now it’s time for him to pay and he will pay like hell,’ the woman said.
‘We all want the death of MacGyver,’ the first person said, ‘and the best way to do that is to kill the one he loves.’
‘MacGyver loving someone?’ the man asked. ‘That’s a complete joke. We all know how he thinks about commitment.’
‘MacGyver has changed over the years, but our hate towards him didn’t. We just wanna find out, how he’s going to react if we kill his girlfriend in front of his eyes. We’re going to break him down by killing everyone he loves.’
‘Then what about Peter Thornton?’
‘He’ll be no problem,’ the woman’s voice said.
‘So you join us?’ the first person asked.
‘Yeah, if this is my way to get even, so be it, then.’
‘I guess we have an agreement then.’
(The music changes into a MacGyver theme like thing)
The next morning. MacGyver arrived in his jeep at Jack Dalton’s hangar. He parked his car and went inside the hangar. (The music fades away here)
‘Jack? You in here?’
On the other side of the hangar and person with a big moustache and a pilot’s cap looked up to see who was there.
‘MacGyver?’
‘Jack?’
‘Buddy, you’re back!’ Jack said while he place a wrench back in the toolbox.
MacGyver and Jack went over to each other and embraced.
‘Long time no see, how you been, Mac?’
‘Well, can’t complain!’ MacGyver said smiling. ‘I’ve been busy for the Foundation. Travelled down the world, you know the usual.’
‘Yeah, I heard about your coma and your adventures in Romania and East Germany.’
‘And Turkey. It’s been way to busy. I haven’t seen you since we made the murderer of Kyle betray himself.’
‘I know it’s a long time. It’s been like almost a year since we seen each other.’
‘Did you heard anything from Jenny since then?’
‘No.’
‘Me neither.’
‘Mac, I just wanna ask you one thing.’
‘Yes, Jack?’
‘Don’t take this wrong but what was it like to be in a coma?’
‘Nothing I would recommend. I’ve been through a great deal on that one. Sometimes it still haunts me. I never have been so close to death.’
‘Any side effects?’
‘No, Jack. I didn’t came here to talk about what happened last year. I came here to do for what you called me for.’
‘So you heard the message.’
‘I sure did.’
‘Good.’
‘I’ll take a look at it, but I have to ask you a favour too.’
‘Shoot.’
‘And it has to happen tomorrow.’
‘What is it?’
‘When I was Turkey, Maria was in Brazil.’
‘Who?’
‘Maria Romburg, the girl I met on assignment in East Germany. She had to go to Brazil for Phoenix but then she disappeared there. Pete send Nikki Carpenter after her but she disappeared too and I wanna go there with your plane.’
‘My plane?’
‘Yes, Jack. You still owe me much.’
‘I know, that Mac. You can count me.’
‘Excellent. So let’s take a look a what you’ve been doing.’
MacGyver tried to figure out what Jack has done with his plane. It was a big puzzle to figure out and it took MacGyver the whole afternoon and a big part of the evening to solve it.
‘Jack, what have you been doing with this?’ MacGyver asked slightly annoyed.
‘Did I do something wrong with it?’ Jack asked.
‘Look at the mess.’
MacGyver repaired Jack’s final flaw. ‘There!’
‘All done?’
‘All done.’
‘So what’s going to happen tomorrow?’
‘Just be prepared tomorrow to leave. Pete and I will come here to you and you fly us to Brazil, that’s all.’
‘That’s it?’
‘Nothing more. Just plain simple.’
‘That’ll be arranged.’
‘Good, Jack,’ MacGyver said and was willing to leave but Jack held him back.
‘Mac?’
MacGyver turned around.
‘Yeah?’
‘Do you got any idea who might have got her?’
‘Pete thinks it’s Murdoc.’
‘Murdoc?’ Jack asked astonished.
‘Yeah, the one who blew up your bed, remember?’
‘And torched Pete’s cabin?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Who do you think it is, Mac?’
‘I don’t know. Murdoc is a good possibility but it could also be the ones she worked for when she was a Stasi agent.’
‘Stasi?’
‘Yeah.’
‘It sounds creepy, Mac, I don’t like it.’
‘What’s so creepy about it, Jack? Stasi agents had about almost the same line of work as I do. They’re doing assignments all over the world. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and now the Iron Curtain is gone the Stasi doesn’t exist anymore. I was in what was left of their headquarters, in East Germany.’
‘It gives me the creeps.’
‘Penny Parker would’ve said the same thing,’ MacGyver said smiling.
‘If she would’ve said it, I agree with her.’
‘Come on, Jack, don’t tell me you’re scared. We’ve been through a lot before. We shared many adventures and we’re going to share one more.’
‘I guess you’re right.’
‘That’s good.’
‘So I see you tomorrow then?’
‘Yes, Jack.’
‘When?’
‘Just be here tomorrow, we’ll make sure we’ll leave before noon.’
‘OK.’
‘So see you tomorrow, Jack,’ MacGyver greeted his friend.
‘See ya tomorrow, Mac.’
(Music from Bitter Harvest comes up here from the first scene)
MacGyver left Jack’s hangar. He was going home, to get a few things ready for his journey, tomorrow. He stepped in his Jeep and started the engine. He looked up at the sky and it was yet another grey day. Big grey clouds covered the blue sky and it was raining softly but at an average speed. MacGyver shook his head and drove away. He hated days like this. It’s not the fact that it rains, he loves rainy days, once in awhile, but twice or more in a week is too much. He cares more about the sun and a clear blue sky. Hey, he’s not the man of the forecast. What was he thinking now? The weather is the least of his worries. MacGyver flicked the button to get his windshield scrapers on and every now and then the scrapers passed by to clear the vision of the road. Maria was the main thing to concentrate on.

When he arrived at the Marina again, he parked his car on his place at the parking lot. (The music fades away here) He went to his houseboat and took the mail out of the mailbox; it was just the newspaper and a few pretty unimportant letters, then he went inside. As usually he threw the mail on the table with the rest of them. He looked at his answering machine. One new message. Someone called him while he was away. MacGyver rewind the tape and pressed play.
Nothing.
MacGyver’s eyebrows went up and then frowned. Maybe the tape got stuck.
‘What is…?’
He took the tape out of it and looked at it. Nothing’s wrong. He placed it back in the answering machine and rewind the tape again. Nothing. MacGyver looked through the dark glass of the machine but the tape was playing. Carefully he increased the volume of the machine. First there was only static but slowly on a sound was heard on the tape. On the background someone was sobbing, a cry for stop.
‘Please, no. Don’t do this. I haven’t done anything,’ the voice cried.
‘Maria?’ MacGyver said.
A high pitched scream was heard.
‘No, don’t. You ***s, I’ll get you for this,’ another voice cried.
‘Nikki?’
Then suddenly a blood gushing sound went through. MacGyver decreased the volume when another high pitched scream was heard. (Suspenseful music rises from Children of Light where Mei Jan tells her story)
‘MacGyver?’ a booming distorted voice said. ‘Yeah, I know that you’re there. Welcome back, by the way. How was Tunis? Or was it Turkey?’
‘It was Turkey, ya turkey,’ MacGyver said while becoming upset.
‘It doesn’t matter on that subject, now does it? No. You’ve got bigger worries, now. Two agents for the sacrifice of one. I got a Maria Romburg and a Nikki Carpenter. Got any reason to come to Brazil for a couple of days?’
‘I was already planning to.’
‘If you haven’t, we can surely convince you with several reasons. Maria and Carpenter for one but this will really convince you. Have you checked your mail recently? I’m sure you already got the usual. A newspaper and some letters, like bills but did you notice our mail to you too? It’s a big brown envelope. If you have it open it, there are your first instructions. Follow them up correctly and you’ll get your proper results. Soon we will meet, MacGyver.’ (The music fades away)
End of the message.
MacGyver was shocked of what he had heard.
‘Two agents for the sacrifice of one?’
That line kept echoing through his head.
‘They want me for them. Sounds like a fair but treacherous trade.’
MacGyver rewind the tape somewhat again and listened.
‘Have you checked your mail recently? I’m sure you got the usual already. A newspaper and some letters, like bills but did you notice our mail to you too? It’s a big brown envelope. If you have it open it, there are your first instructions.’ MacGyver pressed stop.
‘The mail?’ MacGyver wondered. (Tense music comes up)
He messed through the mess of the mail but didn’t found a big brown envelope. He turned around and looked at his door. He went to the door and opened it gently. His face turned to the mailbox. Carefully with his hands in front of him, he opened the mailbox. (The music rises) He turned his face away, in case it would explode. He opened it but fortunately it didn’t explode. (The music slows down again and fades then away) He looked in it and saw indeed a big brown envelope laying on the bottom. Funny that he didn’t noticed that before when he came home. He took it out of it and went back inside. He closed his door and went to the couch. There he sat down. He waited a few moments before opening it. With his finger, he ripped through the closed section of the letter, ripping it open. He carefully opened it and noticed a paper inside of it. He took it out of it and read it.
“MacGyver,
This letter will lead you to a certain package in the industry territory near the forests. You know where if you take a look at the belonging map. Take your Jeep and go to it. Once you’re there, you’ll receive new instructions, that will lead you to the actual goal.”
The bad guys. (Music comes back on)
MacGyver shook his head. What’s going on around here? Should he call Pete and notify him about the letter or not? It would be wise to do it but he knew Pete. Pete was able to convince him not to go. He’d better wait until he has what needs to be found. He was still wearing his dark brown bomber jacket. He decided to do it and left his houseboat again. He took his Jeep and left for the industry territory near the forests. (Music from Ghost Ship where he searches the ship comes up here) Near the terrain he parked his car and got out of it. His alertness was working for the fully one hundred percent. He carefully looked around to see if somebody was following him or not, or in case something should happen. He began checking windows and doors of the few buildings that were there, to see which one were open. None and in front of the windows – broken or not – there were bars attached to it!
‘Backdoors then.’
The first one was closed, the second one too but the third one was open. He looked behind the door in case of a threatening danger. He stepped inside. The place was dark but here and there a light was on.
‘Those lights! They’re on.’
MacGyver got the feeling that somebody was there.
‘Someone is in here.’
His eyes darted in every direction while he proceeded through the building. Several doors and halls leaded to a dead end. He came in front of staircase that lead upwards.
‘Hello?’
No response.
MacGyver stood at the beginning of the staircase, thinking of what he should do. What do you think he’ll do? That’s right. He went up the staircase which came out on a hall with another dead end. Or not? There was a door at the furthest corner of the hall. But the door was locked. A Yale lock was attached to the door knot.
‘The Yale lock betrayed the contents behind this door. There has to be something behind this door, without doubt.’
MacGyver touched both his pockets, searching for his knife . He bend through his knees to take a closer look at the lock, when he took his knife out of his pockets. He opened his knife and began picking the lock. The lock gives in and the door is opened. MacGyver took a deep breath before entering the room behind it. He entered the room with his eyes closed. He opens them from as soon he’s inside. He was relieved.
‘An office?’
MacGyver was relieved but he was still feeling very uncomfortable. He continued to go in the room. A closet was set at the back of the office. He went to it and opened one drawer. He pulled the gripper and lots of files were in there. With his fingers he goes by all the files one by one. At some point, somewhere near the middle he suddenly stopped. At the ‘M’. He pulled the first one out.
“MacGyver, Phoenix Foundation,” was written all over it in big black letters.
He took a seat at the desk and opened the map.
‘What?’
He flipped through the pages.
‘This is my personal file from Phoenix.’ (The music becomes more claustrophobic)
There was a picture of him and all of his personal information.
Name: MacGyver
Age: 39
Joined in with Peter Thornton from the DXS and transfers to the Phoenix Foundation since 1985 and got worked in effectively in 1986. Working with Peter Thornton since 1980.
Living relatives: None.
Height: 6ft2inches.
Person(s) to look out for: Murdoc, Dr. Zito.
He kept flipping through pages until he founded pictures of himself during his assignments.
‘Pictures? How?’
Several pictures were taken while he was on assignment for the Phoenix Foundation, also his last four out of the country. He founded pictures of when he was in Peru, Romania, East-Germany and Turkey.
‘No!’ he said a little shocked and threw the pictures on the desk.
He looked at his left and his right. There were more drawers in the desk. Two on each side. Three of them were open, but the fourth one – the second one of his right – was locked. MacGyver sighed, now he had to take his Swiss Army Knife again. Or not? He looked around in the office and noticed on the floor a crowbar. He immediately took the crowbar and forced the drawer to open. In there was a small white envelope. It was the only thing in there. He opened the envelope. Two more pictures were in there. His face twitched a nerve of what he saw on them. It was so disturbing. (The music bangs here)
It were pictures of Maria Romburg and Nikki Carpenter. Black and white pictures. Nikki lay unconscious on the floor bleeding out of her nose and here left eyebrow, chained up to a wall. Her clothes torn. On the second picture Maria was photographed. She had a head injury and blood was dripping out of her mouth. A big black arm was wrapped around her neck to keep her under control. A syringe needle was pressed deep in the side of her throat.
MacGyver covered half his face with his hand.
‘I gotta show this to Pete.’
He placed everything in his file of the Phoenix Foundation. In his hurry he dropped one of the pictures on the ground. The picture fell on the floor with the blanc side up. He went of his chair and bended through his knees to pick it up. But what he saw drew his attention again. (The music becomes creepier again)
A message was written on it.
“MacGyver,
Go outside, three hundred yards straight ahead into the woods. It’ll lead you to a cave, there you’ll find what you seek.”
(The music changes into the music from Prometheus Syndrome when MacGyver is lured into the trap)
MacGyver tried to let the message go through his mind when he suddenly heard a sound. He jumped up and looked around. He went out of the office and noticed something on the wall.
‘What the hell?’
MacGyver saw his name written on the wall. It wasn’t written there before. He touched it. It didn’t look like ink. It was way too thick and smooth to be ink. His index finger went trough a dark red coloured part of the first letter of his name.
He sniffed it and licked his finger. MacGyver’s face cleared up against his will.
‘Blood!’
A low distorted voice called his name: ‘MacGyver!!!’
MacGyver looked fast at the stairwell. His eyes lit with that fire again. The alertness was again working fully for the one hundred percent and that voice sounded damn familiar.
‘That voice!’ MacGyver whispered out loud.
‘I’m over here, MacGyver.’
‘It’s the same voice from my answering machine.’
MacGyver looked one more time at the wall where his name was written all over in blood and then again to the stairwell.
‘Well, I haven’t got all day,’ the voice said again.
MacGyver went down the stairs again. His eyes darted again in every direction they could to track down the voice to see where it came from.
‘Those pictures you found are very important! I knew you would find them.’
It came from his right. MacGyver took a right turn and proceeded down the hall.
‘How does it feel that two of your precious ones got so badly abused, like on those photos?’
MacGyver stopped and thought it over. If he had to answer that question, the answer was very obvious to him.
‘Well, MacGyver don’t just wait there. Don’t you want to get me?’
MacGyver thought that the voice could see him, but then where the hell is it? Everywhere and nowhere. Maybe it’s just his imagination. No way, it was way too real for it. MacGyver heard a sound near a half open door. Something fell on the floor. He heard glass breaking. With a few quick passes, he came at the door and kicked it open. It was another old office, probably not used in years. He noticed a chair. That was what must have fell and a window that was shattered. MacGyver looked out of the window and saw a mysterious figure with a black cape on running into the woods. (The music speeds up)
‘Hey!!!’ MacGyver screamed.
He jumped out of the window – not touching the sharp sides of the broken glass – and landed on the ground with both feet. Not hesitating for a moment he also ran into the woods. In the not so far distance, he could see the figure run. He was gaining on him until the figure suddenly stopped and turned around and took a shot at MacGyver. MacGyver stopped too and hid behind a tree. (The music slowly fades away)
‘Not bad, MacGyver. Really a nice try, but we ain’t going to do it this way.’
MacGyver listened very good and peeked from behind the tree he was hiding.
‘What do you want me to do?’ MacGyver yelled.
‘You’ll have to follow my lead, my voice. If you ever want to see Maria and Nikki again, you do what I tell you to do.’
‘Why don’t you just come and get me?’
‘Because this is much more fun.’
‘Fun?’
‘Yeah, fun. Let’s keep it fun as long as it can be.’
MacGyver shook his head.
‘Who are you?’
‘I am someone, who you believed to be dead.’
‘Murdoc?’
‘Could be.’
MacGyver went down a list in his mind of peoples deaths during all the years he worked for the Phoenix Foundation, and believe me it’s a long list.
‘Deborah?’
‘Possible. But it doesn’t matter just yet. You’ll find out sooner or later who I am. Come out from behind that tree.’
MacGyver did what he was asked. He came from behind the tree and looked at the figure in front of him. The figure was standing with the back to him now.
‘Follow me, now, MacGyver.’
‘Where are we going?’
He didn’t got an answer. MacGyver thought it was suspicious and ran up to the person in front of him.
‘I didn’t got any answer on my question. I asked you where are we going?’ MacGyver asked again and grabbed the persons shoulder. (Tense music appears here) Suddenly the person pushed MacGyver against a tree holding a knife to his throat.
‘It’s a universal truth. He who has the gun or in this case the knife asks the questions. You are not the one who should asks the questions around here. I am that one and I don’t have any questions to ask. I’ve been send here to do a task and that’s all she wrote.’
The person released MacGyver from his grip.
(The music carries on here and then fades away)
After walking for another fifteen minutes through the woods, they arrived where they were supposed to be.
‘We made it.’
‘This is the cave,’ MacGyver said.
‘Boy, you’re clever. Go inside,’ the person said while grabbing his gun.
‘Oh, come on, what’s up with this gun?’
‘Inside.’
‘How sure can I be that you won’t shoot me in the back?’
‘You just have to got to trust me.’
‘I don’t,’ MacGyver said and went inside the cave.
‘Whatever.’
MacGyver walked upfront now with a gun aimed at his back. He was getting tired of the situation.
‘Why are you doing this, really? Is there a certain price on my head?’
‘Shut up!’
‘No really, I wanna know. A lot of peoples wanna kill me.’
‘Who said, I wanna kill you?’
‘That’s how it usually goes.’
‘Just shut the *bad word removed* up, alright? It’s a task, that’s it.’
‘And what’s up with that distorted voice? You got vocal chords problems?’
The person was getting sick of MacGyver’s botheration and knocked him out cold with the back of his gun.
‘Now you’ll shut up.’
(Tense music comes up again)
The person pulled at Mac’s arms to drag him further into the cave. Still dragging MacGyver, they came at a door in the cave. The person opened the door with a key and dragged MacGyver in. The figure locked MacGyver up in there and then left.
MacGyver slowly came around again. He was holding his right hand at a sore spot on his head. His vision was blurry but he regained his senses fast.
‘Ow, that’s going to be a big nasty bump, on my head.’
MacGyver tried to sit up straight. It worked but painfully. MacGyver sat down for a couple of minutes until the pain was nearly fully away. After a few moments the pain was gone.
He succeeded in getting up and tried to figure out where he was.
‘It looks like I’m in some sort of storage room.’
One light in the middle of the room lit up the small area. MacGyver was right though, he was in some sort of storage room. Boxes were stored there to go to Brazil.
‘These boxes are set for Brazil. That must have it’s reasons.’ (Now we hear the music of The Visitor where MacGyver is searching the trailer)
Most of them were empty, when MacGyver checked them. But in one of them, he founded something. It was a small black box with something black in them.
‘A videotape?’ (The music fades away)
Well there was no VCR in that storage room nor a TV so he had to get out of there first before he could see what was on the videotape.
‘Let’s see what we got here.’
MacGyver looked at the door. This was just a normal lock, no Yale this time.
‘Forcing? Maybe.’
He looked through the lock and saw the cave on the other side. MacGyver turned around.
‘There’s got to be something to work with here. There’s always something.’
MacGyver kept searching those boxes and yes in one he found something he could use.
‘Tubes of gunpowder?’ (Music comes up)
A light went on in his mind and he took a few tubes of gunpowder.
‘That’s one thing, now the other.’
He kept looking in those boxes. While he searched an idea developed in his mind.
‘Last box, last chance.’
MacGyver opened the last box and founded what he needed.
‘I can’t believe it. Cotton balls is exactly what I need.’
(The music changes in the music of Stricktly Business when MacGyver finds away to get underneath the wires)
MacGyver took a pack of the cotton balls with him along with the few tubes of gunpowder. He cut open the pack of the cotton balls with his knife and took a few out of them. He made a ball big enough to press it in the lock. He opened a tube of gunpowder and poured it all over the ball. Then he rubbed a few other cotton balls over to a fuse. Making a long fuse, also there he poured gunpowder over it. He pressed the big cotton ball in the lock and attached the fuse to it. Now all he needed was a match , which he had in his pants pocket. He lit the match and then he touched the fuse with the flame. Immediately little sparks worked their way up to the lock. MacGyver ran for cover behind a few boxes, keeping an eye on the flame. The flame worked up to the lock. (The music goes over from Gunz 'N Boys where MacGyver escapes the first time out) MacGyver completely ducked away when the flame reached the cotton ball inside the lock, but nothing happened. MacGyver’s head popped up from behind the box again. He waited for a moment there and ducked away again but still nothing happened. On the moment he decided to check out what was wrong the lock exploded, blowing the door open. MacGyver ducked away just in time. (Music becomes traditionally uplifting)
‘Piece of cake,’ he said while he took the videotape and his knife with him.
He was out of there, but on one thing he didn’t count. The mysterious person was still wandering around there. When MacGyver almost reached the entrance of the cave again, the mysterious figure appeared. Both men were no matter what surprised. (Now we hear the music from the fight scene in Trail to Doomsday)
A moment of silence went through the forest when they saw each other. Then without a warning the mysterious figure attacked MacGyver by running at him. MacGyver ducked and tried to tackle the figure. But the figure just threw MacGyver at the ground. They rolled over it, then they both released their grip on each other. They got up and the figure smacked MacGyver against the wall of the cave. The person was willing to hit MacGyver but again MacGyver ducked and the figure hit the wall. MacGyver got out of the way when the person tried to hit MacGyver with the left hand. MacGyver grabbed the arm and hit the person in the face, three times. The person swung the left arm again and hit MacGyver in the face with the back of the hand followed by a right uppercut to the head. MacGyver pushed the figure against the wall and his knee went to the body, followed by two shots to the same spot. A left one to the face and a right uppercut. The last blow knocked the person unconscious and made MacGyver fell over as well. (The music fades away here) MacGyver picked up the tape again that he dropped during the fight and placed it in his inside jacket pocket. The mysterious person moved again and began to wake up again from the unconsciousness. MacGyver saw the movement.
‘Why don’t you just go back to sleep?’ he asked and kicked the person again hard in the face. (Music comes up here again)
The person lost his consciousness again. MacGyver was willing to leave but he suddenly stopped. He wanted to know, who that was. Even during the fight he didn’t saw the persons face. Maybe it was Murdoc after all. Maybe it wasn’t. There was only one way to find out. MacGyver went back to the unconscious person and took away the black cape. What he saw, he couldn’t believe. There was no way that, that person could’ve been… him! (The music reaches it's peak as we fade out, we fade in with "that-couldn't-be-right-music")
‘No way,’ he said, ‘no way. It’s got to be a fake. It must be mask, but that can’t be me.’
With his hand he tried to find the edge of the mask. By the end of the throat he founded the edge of the mask and pulled the mask off. What he saw shocked him even more then at first. (The music becomes more apprehensive) It wasn’t Murdoc, it was…
‘Deborah?’
Not so long ago a troubled high school sweetheart pulled this trick on him with a mask, but she went to jail. If it was that woman, he wouldn’t be so surprised about it but Deborah… She died at Whistlers Cliff when he was trying to save her. There was no way she could’ve survived that, plus they found her body along and if she was still alive, she must have broken her back on several places. This all happened two years ago and a year before that they had a brief relationship together. So many peoples dies because of him and somehow they always comes back. MacGyver was troubled. He didn’t know what to do.
‘***!’ he said.
Should he leave her there? He should’ve left when he had the chance. He hate it to have that curiosity of him. He rubbed over his face. Damn it, what to do? It solved one thing: Deborah is involved on this.
‘Alright, she’s in on it.’
MacGyver tried to think straight but he couldn’t. Deborah is in on it, that’s all there is to it and there was not much else to do in the cave. So MacGyver decided to get away from there. No matter what Deborah did to him, he hated to leave her there, unconscious. If he knew before who she was, he probably didn’t fight her. It’s not the first time he fought with a woman before, but during that first time, he didn’t lay a hand on her. MacGyver began to leave to cave, looking with this almost apologising look in his eyes. He went back to that office where he founded his file and the pictures. He placed the videotape inside the file and took it with him. Then he went home.
(IMG:http://rdanderson.com/features/location/housebtx.jpg)
The houseboat came insight when MacGyver took a turn to the right. He parked his Jeep and got out. With quick paces he went to the houseboat and entered. He took the file out of his dark brown bomber jacket and placed it on the living room table. He took off his jacket and threw it on the couch. He went to the TV and pushed the button. It began playing. While taking both remote controls, he opened his file and grabbed the videotape. He pushed zero on the remote control of the TV and his screen became all grey. With the on/off button, he managed to get his VCR working. The video jumped on. Channel 2 was playing now on the TV. By pushing eject the video inside came out. He took the video out of the VCR and placed it back in his box. Then he took the videotape, he founded and placed it inside. (the music becomes more tense) He sat down on the arm of his couch and took a deep breath. He was scared of what he might see. His thumb went to the play button and pressed it. The video starts playing. First there was only a black screen. A black screen only. MacGyver looked at his VCR counter. It was definitely playing. The counter went 0:00:08, 0:00:09, 0:00:10. All this time the screen remained black. MacGyver waited patiently but after half a minute, he started to lose his patience. Forty-eight seconds passed by before something appeared on the screen. (The music fades away here) The footage quality wasn’t cinema’s best, these were definitely amateur footage. There wasn’t much colour either. Plain black and white images. The camera zoomed in and out for the perfect image.
Maria was on screen now. Crying. She was chained up to a wall. Fearful she looked around in the room. Then suddenly wham, the back of someone’s hand came against her face, hard. Blood drips out of her mouth. MacGyver shrieks, he covered his mouth with his hand. The peoples around her were only half seen. They wished to remain unrecognisable.
‘Say it, goddamn it!!’ a distorted voice said.
‘They all use voice distorters,’ MacGyver whispered in himself.
‘Woman, say it!!’
‘Say what? What does she got to say?’
MacGyver’s look was glued to the screen, he was focussing badly on Maria and the voices. Maria didn’t say anything.
‘Alright then. We’ll do it different. Gimme that syringe.’
‘Syringe?’
MacGyver took the picture of Maria in front of him.
‘This is the moment where they’ll take that picture.’
‘Try it, if you dare,’ Maria dared them. During her days as a Stasi-agent she’d learned never to give in. Never! On the remark, she received another blow, hitting her head on the hard cold tiled floor, causing a head injury. A kick in her stomach followed. Then the big arm wrapped around her neck and without even warming up to it they stabbed the needle in her throat. A flash went through the screen from the photo camera.
‘MacGyver, if you see this,’ the voice said, ‘we have your loved one and a colleague of yours. Come and get them.’
‘What’d you shot her with?’ MacGyver wanted to know.
‘This is some sort of truth serum by the way. Not lethal yet but very effective. If this doesn’t convince her to cooperate, we’ll use something deadly. Something more deadly then that hallucinogen Kurt Neilson once used on you.’
‘Neilson? He can’t be on it too, can he?’
‘You probably think that Neilson is in on it too, don’t ya? Well he’s not. Not entirely that is. He just gave us the recipe for this serum. Now, woman are we ready to talk.’
‘*bad word removed* you.’
‘Bad language, Maria, but well said.’
The arm around her neck squeezed her very tight, making her choke.
‘What’d you say to me? “*bad word removed* you?” *bad word removed* yourself, ***.’
He putted a lot of pressure on her. Maria choked, trying to get the arm off of her.
‘STOP IT!!!’ MacGyver screamed.
‘Hey, man, stop it,’ another voice on the background said. ‘We need her.’
‘Are we going to talk then?’
Maria nodded fast.
‘I can’t hear you.’
‘Yes,’ sounded the answer.
The man released his grip. Maria coughed like hell. She tried to regain her breath. From behind the camera a plastic bottle of water appeared. They threw it at her. She nearly drank the whole bottle.
‘That’s enough. Now say it.’
‘MacGyver,’ Maria started, ‘whatever you do, and I know you can do a lot. But whatever you do, don’t do what they tell you to.’
Then wham! She got slugged down again, the big man grabbed her head and kneed her in the face. He slapped her and kicked her some more.
‘You stupid *** that wasn’t what you were supposed to say. If you don’t say it, then I will.’ The big man kicked her against her chin. ‘As I said before, MacGyver, I will say it since Romburg isn’t up for cooperation even with or without the serum. Strange it is ineffective!’
‘It’s not!’ Maria said from on the ground. ‘I will say it.’
‘No joking around this time, woman.’
‘MacGyver, don’t call the police, not even when you’re here. They say it’s personal. If you want me back, you’re going to have to come and get me on your own.’
‘What’d you think I had in mind? Bring along the military?’
‘They’ve been keeping me captive for several weeks now,’ Maria said and paused for a moment before saying, ‘I love you, MacGyver.’
‘Alright that’s enough. Let’s get Carpenter,’ the voice said.
For a moment there the screen fade to black and after a long 15 seconds it faded back in. Nikki Carpenter was now to be seen on TV. Her clothes were torn on several places. She was also chained up to a wall. Tears were running down from her cheeks. Black tears from her mascara. She wasn’t crying though. Knowing Nikki, she always tried to act tough. Even in situations like this. Hatred and fear was to be seen in her eyes.
‘***s!’ she snarled.
Nikki got whacked over the remark by the same big man as before. She fell with her head against the wall. Blood came from her left eyebrow.
‘You got something say?’ the distorted voice said.
‘MacGyver, get these ***s and get them good.’
Another blow to her nose.
‘I’m so sorry, MacGyver. Pete had send me on this assignment because you were out of the country. I tried to get Maria away from here, but I got caught myself. I don’t know how. My plan was solid, I swear.’
MacGyver shook his head.
‘Make sure you get this lowlife, make them regret this.’
‘Shut up woman, you had your say.’
‘*bad word removed*s!!!’
The big man hit her nose again and with a thump she landed un-soft on the side of her head. Her nose was bleeding now.
‘Oh, great, you knocked her out cold,’ another voice on the background said.
‘Just shut up and take the *bad word removed* picture. She’ll come around.’
A flash went through the screen.
‘The second picture,’ MacGyver nodded.
‘This was just a warning for you MacGyver, not to call the cops,’ the big man’s voice said. ‘If you do, we’ll do something worse to your loved ones. Then we really are going to torture them. We have plenty torture devices here, so you better take this seriously. We’ll see you soon, MacGyver and from then on it’s going to be; Goodbye, MacGyver!’
The screen fades to black again and then a sudden thunder crash went through the skies above the houseboat. MacGyver just sat there on the arm of his couch. Several minutes passed by before MacGyver pressed stop on his video remote control. He pushed the TV off, placed the remote control back on the table. Then he putted face in his hands. All the shocking discoveries he made today. MacGyver stood up and slowly with a bad feeling in his stomach, he went to the windows that gave a view of his terrace and the rest of the ocean. It was raining like hell and the sound of that thunder a few minutes ago, marked the coming of yet another storm. The silence was deadly with only the sound of rain and thunder. MacGyver had to call Pete and notify him about the videotape and what happened.
‘Got to call, Pete,’ he said while he took his phone.
He pushed the numbers in from the Phoenix Foundation.
‘Hello, Phoenix Foundation. How may I help you?’ Pete’s secretary said.
‘Helen, it is MacGyver here. Is Pete there?’
‘Yeah, he is in his office. I’ll put you through. Hang on.’
Helen pushed a button on her phone, that came out in Pete’s office.
‘Mr. Thornton? MacGyver is on line two.’
‘Put him through,’ Pete said.
Helen putted MacGyver through.
‘MacGyver?’
‘Pete!’
‘Yeah, what’s up?’
‘Oh, Pete. You can’t imagine what I went through today,’ MacGyver explained.
‘What do you mean? What happened?’
‘I went to Jack’s place today to ask him about tomorrow, right? So we arranged everything. I came home and did what I usually do. The mail you know, then I noticed a strange message on my answering machine.’
‘I know you and strange messages, MacGyver. You made me hear one yesterday,’ Pete said.
MacGyver sighed, not able to laugh with Pete’s answer.
‘Pete, I ain’t fooling around with you. This is serious, man. It most certainly wasn’t a message from Jack Dalton.’
‘You mean…,’
‘Yeah, Pete. I mean… It was a message from them.’
‘What’d they say?’
‘They said I got mail from them. I didn’t notice any suspicious. When I checked my mailbox again, I founded a brown envelope with instructions on it. It led me to the industry terrain near the forests. I checked everything out and I founded my own personal file.’
‘What? MacGyver that can’t be, your personal file is here in the Phoenix Foundation.’
‘Then you explain me why I got my file here on my table.’
Pete was speechless.
‘Pete?’
‘Hold on for a minute.’
Pete checked out MacGyver’s file. ‘It’s still on the Phoenix Foundation’s network.’
‘I know that, Pete. That’s our backup system for missing files.’
‘Wait up. I’ll put you on speaker.’
Pete got up and went to his file cabinet. ‘MacGyver?’
‘Yeah, Pete, I hear you.’
‘I’m opening up my file cabinet and…,’ Pete suddenly stopped.
‘Pete?’
‘You’re file is missing, MacGyver.’
‘Not anymore since I have it, but you know where I found it? In the industry terrain.’
‘I can’t believe this. I’ve been working here days and nights since you were in Turkey. Except…, last week. Man, they’re good.’
‘When I was snooping around there, I founded pictures and got lured down in a trap by a person. After knocking me unconscious I woke up in a storage room where I found a videotape. There I escaped of course and had a fight with the one who locked me up in there.’
‘Do you know who it is? Is it Murdoc?’
‘Pete, it was a woman.’
‘A woman?’
‘Yeah, that’s what I said.’
‘Which woman? Who?’
‘Deborah.’
Pete’s mouth fell open of astonishing. He couldn’t believe of what he had heard just now.
‘What?’
‘Pete, I can’t believe this either but it doesn’t shock me anymore about dead peoples coming back to life. Not after all our run ins with Murdoc.’
‘But they had found her body when she fell off Whistler’s Cliff.’
‘I know. We were there. Then she wasn’t dead.’
‘In our files she’s categorized as “deceased”.’
‘That’s wrong then. Place her under the big question mark along with Murdoc.’
‘Have you found out if Murdoc is in on it too?’
‘No, but I just got this feeling that he’s part of it. But this is so not his style.’
‘Well, you got those pictures. That is Murdoc’s style. Taking pictures while his victims are dying a horrible death.’
‘Maria and Nikki are on these pictures and they don’t look dead yet to me. They’re wounded for sure. I’ve seen the videotape and it ain’t pretty. Pretty shocking stuff.’
‘Like what?’
‘I can’t tell you that over the phone.’
‘You want me to come over and talk about this?’
‘Only if you can make it.’
‘Yeah, I’ll be there in a half an hour. Is there something else?’
‘The weirdest thing about these discoveries were pictures of me while I was on assignment.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘They must have send someone after me while I was at work.’
‘How long have they been doing that?’
‘For like the past year or so. Peru, Romania, East Germany, Turkey. My last four assignments out of the country and they got pictures of me there. Something is definitely going on.’
‘Yeah, tell me about. Look I’ll be there in half an hour and we can continue our conversation.’
‘OK, Pete, thanks. Bye!’
‘See you in a bit, MacGyver.’
MacGyver hung up the phone with a troubled and worried look in his eyes. He sighed. What he saw on the videotape made him mad. He turned around and went back to the VCR. His blood was boiling through his veins. He pushed the rewind button and waited for the tape to be rewind. While it rewind, MacGyver took the pictures of the table and looked at them again with his rage only gaining on it. The VCR suddenly stopped at a moment and MacGyver pressed eject. The VCR made a sound and the videotape appeared. MacGyver took the video out of the VCR and looked at the black object. (Suspenseful music comes up here)
‘I’ll get them for this,’ he said certain. ‘No matter what, no matter when, no matter where, no matter how. I’ll get them for this.’
MacGyver’s mind was set. He’s going to get them anyhow. Maria was his girlfriend, colleague just like Nikki is his friend. MacGyver was toying with the videotape in his hand with a focused angry look. He was trying to think of a plan for the rescue. He looks at the videotape and started to take deep breaths. He knew what he had to do.
(The music goes over to the dark suspenseful MacGyver theme from the final scene of The Negotiator as we fade out here)

Originale date of story post: Aug 12 2005, 01:24 PM.