A/N: So I've been excited about this fic for a while now. I like to write one thing at a time so I had to finish up on the story I was currently working on before I could start this. When I finally got to it, I finished the rough draft in a week, yeah, I usually don't write that fast, I'm like super excited to share it with ya'll! A huge shout out to Axxonly for the Beta, I appreciate your hard work very much! As always I don't own MacGyver (cause if I did, well there would be some changes, lol)

Jack Dalton passed the binoculars he was using back to his partner Angus MacGyver, so that Mac could also get a good look at the compound they were going to be breaking into. Jack, Mac, and Riley Davis were hiding in the woods overlooking a non-descript compound. But calling it a compound was a gross exaggeration of the word. It was one large building with a fence all around it, and only one exit and entrance. Jack had spotted three guards, one that stood sentry in front of the building and two more that patrolled the fence line. "Are you sure that the stolen goods are in there?" He asked not bothering to look at Riley.

She answered, "Yes Jack, I tracked the signal that Matty sent me back to this building … you know, the only building in the area. I'm sure that the stolen DARPA laptop is in there." She sounded huffy to his trained ears, but he decided it was better not to say anything since they were in the middle of an op.

The three of them and their fourth partner Wilt Bozer had been on their way back from another mission when they were reassigned mid-air by their boss at the Phoenix Foundation, Matty Webber. Matty had explained that a group somehow had got a hold of an old DARPA laptop that still had top secret information stored on it, and they were the closest assets to where the laptop was sending a signal from. So they had been rerouted, and the three of them were squatting in the woods spying on the compound, while Bozer waited a short distance away with a vehicle for a quick exit. Due to Mac having to repurpose three of their comms to make his doohickey work on their previous mission Bozer didn't have comms for this mission, so Matty had to relay any pertinent information to his phone.

"So what's the plan Jack?" Riley asked. "Storm the gates? Crash the van through the front gates A-Team style? Maybe we can tunnel under the compound and pop up right where the laptop is."

Jack turned to look at Riley with a frown on his face, "As great as those ideas are Sweetheart, I do believe boy genius over here has something else in mind. Mac?" Mac was still looking through the binoculars, but he had his thinking face on, as Jack liked to call it. "Care to share with the class?"

Mac pulled the binoculars down, "If we cut through the fence at the back of the building, it will give us cover from the guards. Then we can take the first guard out as he gets close. Then Jack can take the guard at the door, and pose as him while Riley and I make entrance to the building. We can take down anybody we might stumble onto in the building, and retrieve the stolen laptop, without disturbing the other guard. If we get lucky he might not even notice until we are long gone."

After snorting Jack asked, "Hoss do we ever have good luck?" then he nodded, it was a good plan but there was one major flaw. "Well that sounds good and all, but we don't know how many people are in that building."

"There are three vehicles parked in the small parking lot, so theoretically each guard could have driven their own car here." Mac offered as he surveyed the area again with the binoculars.

"Or each vehicle could have come filled to capacity, so there are twelve people waiting for us in that building, which we can't see into." Riley countered.

Mac sighed, "I want to build a thermal imaging device, but I'm lacking several important components."

Jack thought for a minute, "Hey Riles, how quickly can their people hack into that laptop?"

Riley shook her head, "It could be minutes or it could be weeks, It really just depends on the encryption, which I suspect is top notch, and who they got to hack it. Without knowing those two things it's impossible to say."

Jack had been afraid of that answer, "Webber?"

"Yes, Dalton." Came the reply over their comms.

"What do you want us to do Boss Lady? Should we go ahead against an unknown amount of unfriendlies or wait and gather more information."

They heard a sigh, "I was afraid that you were going to ask that. I contacted DARPA, and from what they told me it would be in our best interest to get that laptop back as soon as possible."

"Understood." Jack said. Then he turned to his friends. "Riley do you have a weapon? I don't want to send you in there without some sort of protection." Nodding she reached into her backpack and pulled out a small pistol. "Good, now we are going to follow Mac's plan. Once you're inside the building stay sharp, and call if you need me. I hate sending y'all in against an unknown force." Jack still had reservations about sending them into that building without knowing what was in there, but that was part of their job, and Mac was the best person to send when you didn't know what was going to happen. 'Hopefully there are just a couple of computer nerds, that Riley can charm into some felx-cuffs.' Jack thought.

They waited for one of the perimeter guard to pass then quickly and quietly made their way down the slope to the fence. Mac started hunting around on the ground. "Hey Slick, what 'cha doin down there?" Jack asked. Mac looked up, "I'm looking for something to give my knife more leverage to get through the fence."

"Might I suggest using these?" Riley passed him a pair of wire cutters from her backpack. Answering the unspoken question Riley shrugged and said, "Thought they might come in handy."

Mac quickly made a hole in the fence big enough for them to wiggle through, but not big enough to be obvious. The three of them crossed the space between the building and the fence and flattened themselves against the back of the building so the guard wouldn't see them until too late for him. They heard the guard coming before they saw him, and pressed tighter against the building. After he passed the group Jack snuck up on him and grabbed him in a choke hold. 'Don't fight it, just relax, it'll be over quicker.' Jack thought. The guy in Jack's arm must have been listening, because he quickly passed out. Jack made short work of dragging him back to Mac and Riley. Mac slapped some duct tape over the guy's mouth, and Riley zip tied his arms and legs. Then the three of them stowed him under a bush. Jack knew they only had a set amount of time before the second guard made his round.

"I'm going to repeat what I did here, with the guard in front, then y'all can make your entrance." Jack quietly reminded them of the plan. After nods of confirmation from both Mac and Riley the three of them eased up the side of the building and Jack repeated the process just as he had before, this time though, he borrowed the guard's jacket, cap, and rifle. After depositing the second guard next to the first one Jack dawned his new clothing, the items were a bit big, but if anybody was close enough to tell then they were trouble, and took his post. Mac squatted down behind Jack a few turns of his wrist and the flimsy lock was unlocked. Jack was relieved to see that Riley had her gun out and at the ready. After Mac finished with the lock he and Riley slipped in, and Jack was left to stand guard, which didn't usually disturb him as much as it did right now. He couldn't figure it out, but something wasn't sitting right. Mac and Riley had only been inside for a few minutes when Jack noticed that the other guard was approaching, and then his spidey - or as Bozer liked to call it - Mac senses, went off.

At first Jack wasn't sure what set it off, but then he realized that the sound of Mac's breathing had sped up. Then he heard the faint shouts of surprise as the unfriendlies discovered Mac and Riley inside. Jack wanted desperately to dash inside to protect them, but he had to take care of the last guard first. So Jack stayed put playing the sentry, despite all of his overprotective instincts yelling at him to burst in and make sure that Mac and Riley were ok.

The perimeter guard drew ever so closer.

"Mac, Riley, can one of you give me a sit-rep?" It was Matty's voice over their comms. She sounded concerned, but not overly so.

The perimeter guard was still a distance out, but he had a clean line of sight to the front of the building. After staring at Jack he slowly came to a stop. When the guard picked up a radio from his belt Jack realized that the ruse was up. Hearing two shots, Jack pulled his gun and shot the guard before the guard could fully bring his rifle up. It was only then that Jack realized the shot he heard came from inside the building, not outside. All he could hear from his comm right then was ragged breathing and whimpers. Enraged at what might be happening to his kids Jack took the door with a well placed and powerful kick. The doors exploded inside thudding against their hinges. Jack was able to see at least one unfriendly using Riley as a human shield dragging her into a room down a short hallway and the door slamming shut behind them. But what stopped Jack's heart was Mac lying on his stomach in a spreading pool of blood.

Jack was not even conscious of his muttering, "Please be ok, please be ok, please be ok, please be ok."

"Jack, sit-rep now!" Matty demanded, breaking through the haze.

But Jack was too numb to obey his boss, with his gun still pointed at the door that Riley had been dragged through. He knelt and shakily placed his fingers on Mac's neck praying that he could find a pulse. While keeping an eye on the door he tried to see where all the blood had come from, and if Mac's chest was rising, but the jacket that Mac wore wasn't moving. Jack looked closer and realized that the other side of Mac's neck was awash with blood, looking down Jack could see another area on Mac's lower flank where it looked like he had been shot. Not feeling anything under his fingers, Jack was about to push harder, praying that he could find some proof of life in Mac's still body, on high alert Jack noticed when the door started to open ever so slowly and when a rifle barrel poked out of the room.

"Sit-rep now!" Demanded Matty, all pretenses of patience gone.

Jack left Mac's body shoving the grief deep down in a box and locking it tight. He took shelter behind the wall that led to the hallway. "Mac is down Matty. I don't know how bad it is, and they've got Riley." Jack was surprised at how steady his voice was, but he knew it was from years of having to store his emotions until after the conflict was over, and he couldn't bear to tell Matty that he was pretty sure that Mac was…well he couldn't even admit it to himself.

"Stop!" Came over the comms. It was Riley's voice.

"I'm coming, sweetheart." Jack said hoping that it would give Riley the reassurance that she needed.

"Go get our girl." Matty demanded.

Jack brought up his acquired rifle, and after inspecting it to make sure it had enough rounds, he took off down the hallway at a run letting his frustration, anger, and fear fuel him. He again kicked the door sending it violently crashing into the man standing behind it. The blow sent the man to the floor. Jack them double tapped the two other guards that were hiding off to the left with their guns pointed at him, and kicked the door guy in the head making sure he stayed unconscious. That left only him, Riley, the thug who was holding Riley hostage, and two nerdy looking scientists cowering under a computer table.

Jack pointed his rifle straight at the thug who was holding Riley like a shield in front of him. He had a hold of her hair in his left hand, and with his right he held a knife at Riley's throat. She looked a little rumpled with blood trickling from a split lip, and the beginnings of a bruise on her cheekbone.

"It would be in your best interest if you laid that toothpick down and let her go." Jack told the thug, his voice icy and mean.

"And let you shoot me? Not going to happen." The thug begun to smile, and pressed the knife harder against Riley's throat.

Jack noticed that Riley kept on looking down, so he followed her eyes, and noticed that she was using her tied hands to signal him her plan. With a nod he confirmed he understood. Then on a three count Riley dropped suddenly, leaving the thug without cover, so Jack shot him without any hesitation.

Riley sprang up pulling her wrists free of her bonds and took off down the hall to where Mac was laying. Jack couldn't face Mac's limp body yet, so he walked over to where the nerds were still cowering under the table. "If you come out I might not shoot you." He growled.

The two came scrambling out with their hands over their head. With a sigh he quickly secured them with zipties, being none too careful. He could hear Riley speaking, but was trying to give her time with her grief when she screamed, "Jack!"

He went running, and what he saw made his heart stop.

A/N 2: Let me know what you think! I want to hear it!