Finally, part five is ready to go! I'm sorry it took so long, but I had to find an opening I liked, and I've also been a little busy . I had to take my parent's cat to the vet to get fixed--yikes!
Anyway, it's ready now, and I hope you enjoy it! Pay attention to a small amount of violence if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, although I think most of you aren't.
After Deborah Part Five
Rated: PG
MacGyver and Anna barely made it to his jeep, several bullets showering over them, some of them ricocheting off the side of the jeep creating a spray of sparks.
“Go!” Anna shouted once they were inside.
MacGyver’s jeep roared away from the house boat, and he pushed her head down as the battery of bullets continued. Once they were out of range, he noticed that the men who had been firing at them jumped into a black sedan and began following them, racing down the street. He swerved in and out of traffic, trying to lose them, his eyes focused intensely on the road.
“Who are those guys?” He asked.
“My ex-husband’s a maniac,” Anna said. “He says I owe him money, and he’s been stalking me to get it. I just never thought he’d resort to hired gunmen.”
She watched MacGyver’s reaction, hoping he’d believe her. She figured this newest story was the best way to cover for the sudden, unexpected carelessness of her employer’s men. Not only that, but it would also keep building his sympathy and trust in her. When he didn’t say anything but squinted at the road, refusing to look at her, she knew he didn’t completely accept her explanation. She didn’t blame him. Her ploys were becoming increasingly outrageous and desperate as she continued. Even though she was a good actress, she didn’t know how much longer she could keep lying to him. Perhaps that was the conclusion her employer had come to as well, finding her ruse tedious and tiresome. He wasn’t known to be a patient man, demanding too much from her too soon. That would explain the appearance of his men. Angrily, she glanced back at the sedan as it weaved through traffic, trying to catch up to them. She sighed quietly to herself, vowing to find out why they had been sent once she and MacGyver were somewhere safe.
MacGyver glanced periodically back at the sedan as well, trying to figure out the best way to lose them. At least there was enough traffic that it made it difficult for them to catch up to the jeep. As he switched lanes and hid in front of other cars, the sedan did the same, not losing them for an instant.
“These boys are good, whoever they are,” he said, still not looking at Anna, but she could hear the doubt and anger in his voice.
Suddenly, MacGyver saw an opportunity to lose the men chasing them. A railroad crossing was up ahead, and the signals were beginning to flash, indicating an approaching train. The white gates were beginning to lower, and he heard the train’s whistle blaring loudly. It wasn’t too far away, and it was bearing down on the intersection fast, but he knew it was their only chance to outrun the men in the sedan. He winced, not fully prepared or willing to try to beat the train. His hands braced themselves, gripping the steering wheel tightly. He pressed his foot on the gas, accelerating past the stopped traffic, running the jeep off the side of the road, jostling them as it ran over the rough, unpaved terrain. Behind them, the stopped cars honked to warn them that what they were about to do was idiotic, but the sedan was still pursuing them and he had no choice.
“Normally, I wouldn’t have to say this, but hold on,” he said.
“MacGyver, we can’t beat the train!” Anna shouted, gripping the seats in panic, watching with wide eyes as they moved faster and faster toward the intersection, the train not far away, blaring its horn in a deafening, horrible sound that she was sure would be the last thing she heard, echoing eerily.
“It’s the only way we’re going to lose your friends,” MacGyver said.
Anna screamed as he sped the jeep up, crashing it through the lowered barricades. The train was inches away from them, ready to crush them. Its massive dark shape towered over them, threatening them. She closed her eyes and felt the jeep jostle as it moved quickly, darting over the tracks. She heard a continuous roar behind them, and the jeep had stopped. Slowly, she opened her eyes and realized that they hadn’t been smashed into a pile of twisted metal. The train was now behind them, continuing to rush towards its destination. MacGyver was looking up at it too with awe and respect and also a little disbelief that he had managed to beat it. His shock didn’t last long, however. He sped up again, driving down the road. He checked to make sure the men in the sedan hadn’t made it. They were nowhere to be seen. The train hadn’t stopped, so he knew that they had been trapped on the other side.
“That train won’t hold them long,” he said. “We have to get ahead a few miles to lose those guys completely.”
“Where are we going to go?” Anna asked.
“There’s a place we can go to in the mountains. My…uh…company owns it,” MacGyver said, careful of the words he used.
He hadn’t told Anna the nature of his job out of security reasons, so he made sure not to say the words “safe house.” Since they had men shooting at them and chasing after them, it seemed wise to keep concealing parts of his job from her. He didn’t know what to think of her now that something like that happened. He had known his share of angry, jealous, and possessive husbands who hunted their wives. He had protected several of these women. It was possible that once again Anna was telling him the truth, but he didn’t know what to believe. Confusion overwhelmed him. As they kept driving, the sedan now gone, he tried to connect all the events that had happened since meeting her, deciding that none of it made sense. Once they were at the safe house, he knew the chaos would die down and he’d be able to focus better. Right now, all he could do was drive, saying nothing, not even looking at her once.
***
When they reached the safe house, dusk had settled over the mountains. A full moon was out, keeping it light enough to clearly see the pine trees dotting the rugged hills that jutted out, carving a jagged line across the pale sky. The moonlight was bright enough to make it look like midday, seen through a filter. The house was a simple log cabin that reminded MacGyver of Pete’s cabin, except it wasn’t as sparsely furnished or as frugally appointed inside. It was carpeted and had nice furniture. MacGyver made a fire in the fireplace, and while he was occupied Anna made a call in the bedroom, closing the door. She made sure he’d be busy for awhile and wouldn’t notice her activity. She sighed and sat on the bed, dialing the number she had memorized.
“What did you think you were doing?” Anna asked her employer in a quiet yet angry voice.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” her employer said coldly.
“You decided to send your men after MacGyver without consulting me!” She hissed. “I am nowhere near finished with him!”
“Nothing has changed with our plan,” her employer said. “You’re still going to deliver MacGyver to me. I’m just helping you speed up the process, that’s all.”
“What are you talking about? If anything, you’ve made my job harder! He’ll never believe that those men weren’t connected to me somehow!”
“Anna, you disappoint me. He’ll believe what he tells you. Meantime, just trust me. Things are working according to schedule.”
Anna heard an abrupt, sharp click, and the line went dead. Quietly, she opened the bedroom door and saw MacGyver standing there, glaring at her with piercing dark eyes. She shuddered, not wanting to look at them. They were haunting and filled with rage.
“Tell me who you are, Anna,” he said, his voice firm.
“What do you mean, MacGyver?” She asked, managing a smile and a light laugh.
“Come on, I’m not blind. Not this time. I see what’s going on, here. Did you think you could easily use me after what has just happened to me?”
“MacGyver, I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Those men who were after us. They’re not associates of your jealous ex-husband.”
“They are, MacGyver! Why can’t you believe me? Listen, you have got to get rid of your paranoia. I’m your friend. And right now, I’m in danger. I need your help.”
MacGyver raised an eyebrow, remembering something she had said after the men began firing at them. “If you’re in danger, why didn’t you say you were when those men came to my house?” He asked.
Anna looked bewildered, but she quickly recovered. “I did,” she said.
“No, you didn’t,” MacGyver said, approaching her slowly until he stood inches away from her, staring down at her. “You said I was in danger.”
Anna did her best to hide her nervousness. She knew he was close to finding out the truth, and she silently cursed her employer for unleashing those men prematurely. “Well, you are MacGyver,” she said. “If my ex-husband finds me with another man, he told me he will kill him.” She jumped when MacGyver reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders, half expecting him to lash out and grab her with force.
“It’s time to stop lying, Anna,” he said, looking directly into her eyes, searching them for honesty. “This whole thing has been a setup, from the very beginning. Everything from the car accident to now was designed to gain my trust, to lure me into something. I’ve seen it before. I just can’t believe I was stupid enough to almost fall for it again the second time.” He turned away from her in anger and disgust, sitting on a nearby sofa and staring at the floor, trying to comprehend the whole thing and finding it difficult to accept. He sighed and it developed into another coughing fit, the remnants of his drug-induced cold still evident.
Anna stared at him. “It’s true,” she said. “I was…hired to do a job, but it’s not what you think. I wasn’t hired to kill you like Deborah was.”
“Then what were you hired for?” MacGyver asked, looking at her, sadness in his eyes.
Anna looked away. “I was supposed to earn your trust, just as you said. I knew that after Deborah it would be difficult to reach you, but I had to try. So, I tried everything I could think of. The car accident and even your cold were manufactured by me. I figured that if you rescued me and then I took care of you, I could open you up to me.”
“Well, I have to admit, you did a first rate job,” MacGyver said, hatred and biting sarcasm in his voice. He angrily pushed himself up from the sofa and turned away from her. “Once again, I was a fool.”
“I’m sorry,” Anna said.
“No, you’re not,” MacGyver said, turning back to face her. “You did this all for money, all for some motive I’m still not sure about, but whatever plans you have for me, you might as well get them over with, because I’m tired of being manipulated.”
Anna looked at the floor again, trying to avoid his eyes. “I’m supposed to…deliver you to my employer,” she said, “nothing more. I was to earn your trust so he could have access to you more easily than he could have had he been working alone.”
MacGyver compressed his lips into a thin, angry line. “So, what are you trying to tell me? That I should forgive you just because you’re the delivery person, nothing more? Gee, that’s convenient. You don’t even get your hands dirty, is that right?” He asked, raising his voice.
“Stop it, MacGyver,” Anna said, tears forming in her eyes. “Please. I didn’t count on actually liking you. Before, you were just a report to me, not a man. I…I want to help you.”
MacGyver scanned her eyes, still trying to find the truth in them. “You really want to help me?” He asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you shouldn’t have taken the job. Short of that, you can allow yourself to be turned in, along with your fellow conspirators. Deborah at least had the decency to do that.” He sneered at her.
“All right,” Anna said. “But MacGyver, my employer is an elusive man. He won’t be easily caught. He would much rather let me take the blame and disappear.”
“Sounds like poetic justice to me.”
“I deserve that. I will help you, though. I will help you try to catch him. He’s a brutal man, MacGyver. I don’t want to see you fall into his hands.”
“How do I know I can trust you after all this? How do I know you’re sincere?”
“You don’t,” she said. “Trust is never fully guaranteed, MacGyver. Life is uncertain.”
“You can deal in clichés all you want to, but until I see some serious action on your part to bring this man down, I won’t trust you at all.”
“All right, MacGyver, but we’re going to have to do this carefully. For now, we’re in a secluded location. We’re secure. He can’t reach us.”
“I wouldn’t sound so confident if I were you,” a man’s voice said, entering the cabin along with several other men, brandishing guns. They were the same men from earlier.
MacGyver stared for a long time at the man who had spoken. He wasn’t a tall man, and he had a thin frame, but he was the most menacing man that MacGyver had ever tangled with, surpassing even Murdoc.
“Li,” he said.
The man’s name was Li, even though he was of European descent and had blazing blue eyes. He smirked when MacGyver spoke.
“It’s nice to know you remember a friend, MacGyver,” he said.
“You were working for Li?” MacGyver asked Anna, his eyes wild with rage and stunned disbelief.
“Of course she was, and she did a wonderful job. She told me she could bring you to me, and it looks like she kept her promise. You see, I’ve been tracking your jeep ever since you left the house boat.”
“MacGyver…” Anna said, looking at him with genuine sympathy.
“Come on, Anna, you don’t have to feel sorry for MacGyver anymore. You’ve done what I asked, and now you’re finished. I think it’s time you accept your payment,” Li said, a cruel smile slashing across his face.
He pointed his gun at her and shot her. She released a painful cry and collapsed to the floor, blood slowly pooling around her. MacGyver stared at her still body, mute with shock and rage. Even though she had betrayed him, he didn’t want to see her dead. Unlike the corrupt, unscrupulous world that Li operated in, MacGyver preferred justice for his enemies. He lunged at Li, but his men quickly grabbed him, restraining him. He struggled violently.
“I thought it would work to send a woman to do the job,” Li said, coldly and clinically staring at Anna’s bloody body. “It seemed to work before, but it does become repetitive and trite after awhile, doesn’t it?”
One of Li’s burly men punched MacGyver in the stomach, and he doubled over in pain, groaning. Li watched his suffering and laughed. “I should’ve just gone after you from the beginning, but sending a woman in did seem to make it easier, at least for awhile until she became useless baggage.” He looked down at Anna’s body in disdain, as if she were nothing but bodily waste, something vile to be disposed of quickly. “It doesn’t matter now. She’s eliminated, and now you’re mine, MacGyver.”
MacGyver began to struggle again, desperately trying to free himself from the grips of the men, but they outnumbered and overpowered him. He felt a sharp blow to the back of his head, and darkness swallowed him. Li smiled as he watched MacGyver lose his battle with consciousness, slumping limply in the arms of his men.
“Take him,” he said, “carefully. He’s going to be very useful to me.”
To be continued…
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."
--Henry David Thoreau
brains+brawn+beauty+personality=MacGyver
