You can run, but you can't hide

A/N: Lilly, thank you so much for the review. Sorry it took me so long, got distracted with another story lol. I'll keep going with this one as much as I can so I hope you enjoy :)

"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked Mac as we laid in bed together with my head on his chest as he held my hand.

"I've just been thinking a lot lately, about everything Matty's lied about and I...I don't know if I can do it anymore."

I moved my head and looked at him, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I don't know if I can work for someone I don't trust anymore."

"So..." I began to ask him

"Val, if I made a decision that could change everything, would you stand me?"

"Mac of course I would." I tell him and he kissed me then I laid my head back down on his chest, "We'll get through anything."

Mac POV...

Okay, here's a tip most horror aficionados already know: an open door is never good, "Hello?" But that's only in the movies, right? I mean, the guy who lives here could've just left it open. Or he could be dead somewhere, after a violent struggle for his life. Oh, and in case you're wondering what I'm doing here, let me start from the beginning

Some Restaurant...

"Mac? What are you doing here?" Matty asked me as I walked over to her table at the restaurant and sat down

"We need to talk."

"Okay. It's gonna have to wait. I'm about to start a meeting."

"With Deputy Director Michaels of the FBI's L.A. field office? Yeah, he's not coming. I cancelled your lunch." I told her and pulled out the flash drive, "Do you know what's on this? Probably not, I'll tell you: it's the complete, unredacted dossier you compiled on my father."

"If that's true, do you have any idea how many laws you're breaking by being in possession of it?"

"Oh, yeah. But I'm not here to talk about what I've done. This is about what you've done. You investigated my father for months, Matty. Ran surveillance on him, tapped his phones, had him followed. You even interrogated him yourself, for a week. But when I asked you if you knew my father, you lied to my face. And now, you're gonna tell me why." I tell her

"MacGyver, I can neither confirm nor deny any details related to any investigation that I may have been a part of during my tenure at the CIA."

"That's it? That's your answer?" I asked her

"It's the only answer I can give you."

"Well, then, this is gonna be a lot easier than I thought. I cannot work with someone I do not trust, so I quit." I said

"I'm sorry, Mac, but you can't quit. Not like this."

"Just did." I told her and stood up

"You can't quit to me, because I don't have final say. Oversight does. So if you really want to quit, you need to tell him, in person."

"How do I find Oversight?" I asked her

And that is how I ended up in this ransacked McMansion.

I hear a whirring sound coming from another room and I walked over to it and saw some guy with his back to me so I walked over to him, "Wouldn't take another step if I were you." He says and I stopped, "That weak floorboard is actually a pressure plate attached to an IED."

"You're lying."

"Maybe. Take another step and we'll see. What do you want?" He asked me

"Director Webber sent me here to speak with Oversight."

"Oh, then, you got him." The guy says and turned around, I couldn't believe it.

"Dad?"

"Duck!" He says and I do then someone shoots at us then my dad grabbed something and threw it at the guy knocking him out then opened the safe he was working on, grabbing something out of it then grabbed my arm, "Time to go! Is it true?"

Val POV...

"It is true? Did he quit?" Jack asked Matty as we walked into the war room

"Excuse me. I'm preparing for a meeting."

"Then answer the question and we'll let you get back to it. Did Mac quit?" Riley asked her

"He tried. But I don't have the authority to accept his resignation."

"You're the director of the Phoenix Foundation. If you don't have the authority, who does?" I asked her

"Oversight. And that's exactly who I sent Mac to see."

"Then, where the hell is Oversight?" Jack asked

Mac POV...

"He's still behind us." Dad tells me as I weave between the cars on the road

"Appreciate you pointing out the obvious. So you're Oversight, huh? My father, who I've been searching for for years, has been my boss the whole time, and you didn't think about maybe stopping by and saying hi?" I asked him and my back window gets shot at

"You might want to accelerate." He tells me

"Yeah. Thanks for the advice, Dad." I said and accelerated, "So how long have you been in charge of Phoenix?"

"Since before it was called "Phoenix." Before it was DXS." He tells me and the person chasing us pulls up next to us.

"Hold on." I said and swerved away from him turning down a different road, "So who the hell is that guy?" I asked him

"Someone who wants to kill me."

"Yeah, no kidding, and what is that? Some sort of encryption key?" I asked indicating to my dash that he was writing on

"Eyes on the road, Angus." He tells me and I hit the brakes stopping the car

"We're not going anywhere until you answer my questions." I tell him

"You really want to do this now?"

"Yeah, maybe it means more to me than getting shot." I point out

"Look, son, I understand how you feel, but now's not the time for a Q and A."

"Fine. If you won't give me some answers, maybe this guy can." I tell him and put my car into reverse and started to drive backwards towards the bad guy.

"Angus, what are you doing?"

"Improvising." I told him

"Son. Son Son? Son!" My dad yelled and the guy swerved then crashed into another vehicle that was on the side of the road then I put the car into drive and drove up to it getting out and walking over to him following my dad. He opened the door and the driver tried to hold up his gun but my dad grabbed it, "Yeah, I wouldn't move if I were you. You hear that raspy, sucking sound every time you inhale? That's because both your lungs are punctured, probably by cracked ribs, due to poor driving decisions. You move even an inch, and your lungs will collapse. Deprived of oxygen, you'll lose consciousness in three minutes, and four minutes after that, you'll be dead. So stay just like that, and we'll call for help."

"How could you know he punctured both lungs?" I asked him

"I don't know he punctured any lungs, but he doesn't know that." My dad says and pulled out his phone, "I need a pickup. I'm at a construction site near 6th and Kirkwood. Subject is injured, and immobilized. Thank you, Director Webber." He says then hung up and I looked at him.

"Matty knew where you were the whole time, and neither of you bothered to tell me?" I asked him

"Look, son, I realize we have a lot to discuss, but I'm in the middle of something that is extremely time sensitive, and frankly, I could use your help. If you came along, we'd have time to talk. What do you say? You up for a little road trip with the old man?" He asked me

As I knelt down siphoning the gas from another car I looked at my dad, "What is it?"

"Nothing."

"You're lying." I told him

"I'm just surprised that you left home with a half-empty tank of gas. What happened to the Boy Scout motto? Be prepared."

"I came prepared, prepared to quit the Phoenix, not go on a mission. And I quit the Boy Scouts a few months after you left, by the way." I point out

"Yeah, I know. Your grandfather told me. He helped me keep tabs on you. I was never really gone, son. I mean, you think you ended up working for me by accident? I was always in the background, nudging you in the right direction."

"The background. I think you mean hiding, for reasons you still haven't explained." I tell him and hear a car pull up then saw it was Jack and Val, "Jack? Does he know, too? Huh? Or Val?" I asked my dad as they got out of the car

"Uh, - hello." Jack said

"What are you two doing here?" I asked them as they walked over

"Well I'm guessing Agent Dalton and Valarie heard you quit, and when you didn't return their calls and texts, he asked Ms. Davis to track your phone." Dad says

"That, uh, that's exactly what happened. Who's this?" Val asked standing by me

"Val, Jack, meet Oversight."

"Oversight. Well, it's nice to finally meet you." Jack said reaching his hand out

"Also, my dad." I added and Val looked at me then him

"Wait. Seriously?" She asked as Jack took his hand back

"It's good that the both of you are here. We could use you. But we got to get on the road, right now."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, the road to where, exactly?" Jack asked him

"Yeah, Dad. What's this about?" I asked

"Jonah Walsh. No time for a full brief, but here are the necessary details he's..

"A highly trained former U.S. operative, number six on Interpol's most wanted list." Val said cutting him off and he smiled

"Exactly and I have his current location, because of this." Dad said and held up the menu

"Thanks to a ratty takeout menu from a Chinese restaurant?" Jack asked as I grabbed the menu

"No, it's not just a takeout menu, this is a cipher."

"This is why he was trying to kill us? To keep you from getting this." I point out

"Correct. Walsh and his terrorist partners have been living in the shadows for years, using encoded communications our cryptologists haven't been able to crack."

"Because he was using this takeout menu as a key for a one-time pad." I said

"One-time pad. What's a, what's a one-time pad?" Jack asked

"It's a century-old technique that's still the gold standard for unbreakable encryption. What did it tell you?" I asked my dad

"Where Walsh is hiding."

"And where's that?" Val asked

"Mexico."

"Hey!" Jack shouted at the guy in the warehouse after kicking the door open and the guy started to run

"Stop!" My dad yells and the guy went out a door, I see him run by the windows so I jumped through one and tackled him. He pulled a knife out of his shoe and went to stab me but I moved then he tried again and I moved, then we got up and he kept swinging it at me and I dodged him then I grabbed his wrist holding him back from stabbing me.

"Drop it!" I heard Val yell then saw her point her gun at him, "I said drop it! Turn around!" She tells him and the guy dropped the knife then I turned him around, my dad took the guys belt off and wrapped it around his wrists as Val moved over to me silently asking if I was ok and I reassured her that I was.

"Ooh, I've seen this little trick before." Jack says

"I like to say I taught my son everything I know." My dad told him looking at me

"That'd just be another lie, though, wouldn't it?" I asked him and looked at Val

"Okay, cocaine cowboy, my good friend and his very negligent father are gonna ask you some questions and I suggest you listen up." Jack tells the guy

"We're looking for Jonah Walsh. Where is he?" My dad asked the guy but he stayed quiet

"Hey, hey. Maybe no hablo ingles." Jack pointed out and my dad asked the question again in Spanish but the guy chuckled, "Oh, man, let me have a crack at him. Come on." Jack says and my dad head butted the guy, "Oh, damn."

"Ouch." Val says and I looked at her with a small smile. Then my dad asked again and the guy didn't say anything until my dad went to head butt him again

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you."

"Yeah, well, look who speaks perfect English." Val pointed out

"I spoke to him two days ago. He was heading south."

"Try to be more specific?" I asked him

"In the mountains."

"In the mountains. A lot more specific than that, dumbass." Jack told him and he started to laugh, "What is so funny? You want to let us in on the little joke, pal?"

"You're gonna be the joke, pal."

"Really? How's that?" Val asked him

"When Luis Gomez finds out you're looking for his new partner."

"Who?" Jack asked

"Luis Gomez, the head of La Ola cartel." I mentioned

"Walsh is working for a drug cartel. What is he doing with them?" My dad asked him and he didn't say anything, "If you don't know, then you're of no use to us." He said and punched the guy knocking him out.

"Good God. You-you sure he's, uh, not my dad instead of yours?" Jack asked me and I walked over to my dad

"What's going on? What did Walsh do to you?"

"Well, for 13 years, he watched my back in the field, kept me safe. Walsh isn't just some terrorist. He's my former partner and at one point, my closest friend. Then one day without warning, he went to the other side. I've been hunting him ever since and I'm not gonna stop until I lock him in a concrete box." My dad said and walked away

"I like your style." Jack called after him as they walked over, "So, so, basically, this is like you hunting for me." Jack pointed out

"If the intel from our unconscious friend is right, this is where we'll find Walsh." My dad points out on a map

"Remote. Defensible. Perfect place to hide a large-scale drug operation." I mentioned

"Yeah, a little too perfect. Only one way in and one way out. Those guys are gonna see us coming from a mile away on that road." Val says

"Who said anything about a road?" My dad asked her and she looked at me.

"How are you doing?" Val asked me as we rode behind Jack and my dad on the horses we stole.

"I'm not sure."

"Well I'm not sure if this will help or not but at least you found him ya know? Now maybe you can get the answers you've been looking for." She said and I smiled at her

"Always the optimistic."

"That's why you married me." She said with a smile then I see Jack move back towards us and Val moved forward up to my dad.

"Now, we didn't just spend the last year of our lives looking for him so you can avoid him. Why don't you get up there and do some bonding real quick?" Jack asked me

"Over what? The guy's just as emotionally distant and certain of his intellectual superiority as he was the day he left."

"Well, set aside the fact that you just basically described yourself, why don't you give him a break? I don't think we're catching him on his best day. I mean, can you imagine if I went bad and you had to hunt me down?" Jack asked

"I mean, I'd catch you in, like, a day."

"A day? Yeah, you wish." He says

"At most."

"Oh, really? You really think you'd be able to catch me in just one day?" Jack asked me

"You wouldn't even see me coming."

"Yeah, okay. Well agree to disagree on that one, but I think you should stop stalling. Have some guts, cowboy. Get up there and talk to him. He's not gonna be around forever. Go on." Jack told me and I hesitated then urged my horse forward and Val moved back by Jack.

"So, Walsh, he'd watch your back in the field? Does that mean you used to do what I do?" I asked my dad

"It's a long story."

"We got nothing but time." I point out

"Walsh was my Dalton when I was first recruited."

"Recruited into what?" I asked him

"What we do, Phoenix. DXS, OPI. The name may change, but the mission never does. It's been the same since the Second World War. We were the first to put scientists and soldiers together in the field." He says and I looked back at Jack, "You two don't think your partnership was unique, do you? Who do you think pulled the strings to pair you two together in Afghanistan?"

"What, that was you?" I asked him

"Okay, now, you might've arranged the meeting, but our friendship was galvanized through hardship. We did that on our own." Jack pointed out to him

"Well, that's true."

"So what exactly happened between you and Walsh? Huh?" Val asked him

"I wish I knew. We spent years working together. One day he just left and I never saw him again. I found out months later that he went into business for himself. Decided to fight for money instead of for peace. He was one of our most talented operators. Now he's one of our most dangerous enemies."

"You all right?" I hollered back at Jack

"Yeah. Yeah. My, uh, my butt's just getting a little numb."

"Well, you want to take a break?" I asked

"No, I don't need to take a break. Okay? I'll just shift my body-weight a little bit and get the blood flowing again."

"We can take a break if you want to." My dad tells him

"Hey, people born in Texas do not need to take saddle breaks, okay? Sir Oversight. Hey, you know, while we're at it, maybe you could help me out with a little something. All this stuff that's going on with Matty, the file on you, days in interrogation, why was she investigating you?"

"Because I asked her to. I wanted to see what all the hype was about her. The interrogation was a job interview of sorts. Right after that, she became my handler." My dad mentions

"Right after that, you left home and you never came back. Was that your handler's idea as well?" I asked him

"No. That decision was all mine. When I was first recruited, I thought I could keep family and work separate. And for a while I did. But the more I worked, the more enemies I racked up. And I knew one day they'd come after me like Murdoc came after you." My dad says and I looked back at Val, I could see a little bit of anger on her face, to be honest I didn't blame her, "I'd already lost your mother. I wasn't about to risk losing you."

"Okay, so that's why you left. I'll still never understand why you left without saying good-bye." I tell him then he urges his horse and takes off

"Man, your father really doesn't like talking about his feelings, does he?" Jack asked and I see someone running on the hill

"No, look. He's got to be a spotter for the cartel." I said and the 3 of us urge our horses and run after him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Jack says as we come up on him after he hogtied the runner

"Dalton, Valarie, sweep the perimeter. Take out any more lookouts." My dad tells them and Val looked at me before going with Jack

"Yes, sir."

"Angus and I are gonna continue to the compound."

"Angus, I understand you still have a million questions, and they deserve answers, but we just need to just get over this hill, take out a few guards, capture Walsh, and then we can sit down and have a long overdue father-son chat. Sound good?" My dad asked me as we walked to the fence of the compound

"Sounds good." I said and we look through the gate, "A few guards?" I asked him

"That's uh a few more than I was expecting."

"I have another question. If you left all those years ago to keep me safe, why did you steer me into a profession where I nearly get killed all the time?" I asked

We both take out our pocket knifes and cut a hole in the fence then went through and hid down in the bushes, "Okay. So I count over a dozen cartel soldiers just in the courtyard. Two three-man teams patrolling the fence line. Seems like there's cameras at every ground level entrance, and I'm sure if we took the time to build our own thermal camera, we'd find a few more dozen cartel soldiers on the inside." I point out to him

"Having second thoughts?"

"I'm just trying to figure out how to get in unnoticed and avoid, you know, dying." I told him and we look back at the building

"I got it. What's the only unguarded area?"

"You're not quizzing me right now, are you?" I asked him

"Well..."

"Dad, it's not like I'm trying to learn long division. If you know the answer, save us the time and tell me." I said to him and he stayed quiet, "It's always a lesson with you. Unbelievable. The only unguarded area is the roof. Happy?" I asked

"Yes. Now how do we get up there?" He asked and I looked at him, "I'm not quizzing you. I'm-I'm actually I haven't figured it out myself." He tells me and we look, "How about a scissor lift? We could make it out of, um-"

"No. Anything that we could rig together to hold our combined weight - wouldn't be stable enough to rise 20 feet." I point out

"Yeah. So we're looking for something to pull us up?"

"Yeah, quickly and quietly." I said and thought about

"An ascender rig." We both said and looked at each other

"Yeah. You know what? We could source all the parts from those vehicles right there. Guard patrols, they pass by every four minutes, so if we time the start of our ascent right, we should be able to get to the roof easily without getting spotted." I mentioned

"The only other variable are the lookouts. Unless they're neutralized, they'll notice us the moment we start rising."

"No, don't worry about that. Dalton and Val are gonna cover. They'll never see them coming." I tell him

Val POV...

"Buenos dias." Jack said as he knocked the guard out then grabbed his walkie, "Okay, that's four down and how many to go? Huh? How many of there are you?" He asked the guy, "Should've asked you that before I put you to sleep."

"Ya think?" I asked him

"I'm gonna borrow your machine gun. We should probably ask the next one."

"Yeah, maybe not knock him out first huh?" I asked and he looked at me

"Shut up."

Mac POV...

Me and my dad got all the parts we needed gathered up and started to build the lift then we both grabbed a side, "Ready?" I asked him

"Yep" He said and I hit the switch making us go up.

We walked down the stairs inside the building and headed to the basement but stopped, "Okay. That is a lot of coca leaves. Walsh and the cartel must be planning on turning this place into an industrial scale cocaine production facility." I point out and looked at a few jugs that were sitting there, "Oxandrolone? Although, I've never heard of using anabolic steroids to make cocaine. And I've got some serious questions about this gurney here." I mentioned

"Walsh and the cartel are synthesizing drugs. Just not the one you think." My dad told me and we walked into another room and I see blood and bullet holes on one wall as my dad moves over to a computer.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked then walked over to him and he put something in the computer, "Is that Riley's decryption key?" I asked him

"Yes, it is. She's very talented, by the way. I wish she'd set up Phoenix's cyber security. Maybe we wouldn't be in this mess."

"What is all this? What are you talking about?" I asked

"I've been hunting Walsh since the day he betrayed me, but my best lead in over a decade came last year when he hacked into Phoenix and stole gigabytes of my research."

"Wait, he didn't hack into Phoenix last year." I point out

"Sure he did. You just didn't know about it. When Murdoc took over Phoenix, Walsh seized on the distraction and had his people force their way into our network. By the time we realized two people were in our system, it was too late."

"Okay, so what did he steal?" I ask

"Well, that's what I've been trying to find out the past year. Now I know. He's making KX7."

"KX...KX7, what is that?" I asked him

"It's a drug cocktail. Designed to do for soldiers what performance enhancing drugs did for Russia's Olympic athletes, and then some. KX7 increased strength and fast-twitch muscle response while dulling pain receptors in the brain. It was supposed to save lives, to keep soldiers awake, alert, able to fight, even after grievous injury."

"Why have I never heard of this?" I asked

"'Cause this is what happens to people who use it." He told me and I saw the video of two men holding another guy down as someone injected him with something and the man threw the other two off and the other one shot at him.

"And you made this drug?" I ask him

"I did. But I never tested it on anyone because all my research indicated the subject would suffer a massive heart attack within minutes of injection. The moment I realized how dangerous it was I abandoned the work."

"Well, looks like Jonah picked up right where you left off." I point out

"Indeed I did." We hear behind us as someone walked into the room we were in with 3 other men, "And the good news is, I'm getting very close. James MacGyver. It's been too long. nd is this Mini Mac? All grown up and following in your daddy's footsteps. You know, you probably don't remember me You were just a kid when we met but something tells me you're gonna remember me now." Walsh says and snapped his fingers, two of his men walked over and patted me and my dad down pulling out our pocket knifes, "Like father, like son. How cute. You know, I think you might be slipping in your old age, my friend. I've been waiting on you for hours."

"Waiting?" My dad asked him

"Oh, come on, Big Mac. The house, the safe, the menu, the code, my contact in Mexico City? What? You thought you followed a bunch of clues to get here? I left them for you. And it was a pain in the ass, to be honest, but I knew if I made it too easy, that big brain of yours would've picked up on it and spoiled my plan."

"He wants you to finish the drug." I point out

"He's got your smarts, Jimmy. You should be proud. See, KX7's still got some kinks to iron out before I can sell it, but with you back in the lab..."

"100% mortality is more than a kink, Jonah." My dad said cutting him off, "Go ahead, shoot me right now. I'm not finishing the drug."

"Ordinarily, I'd believe you, but in this case, I'm calling your bluff. You're gonna make my drug work or I'm gonna kill your boy right in front of you." Walsh says and pointed a gun at me.

"Bring in baby boy." I heard Walsh say after he led my dad into another room, "Your drug's no good to me if it kills everyone who takes it. So find a way to make it work, or you'll bury your son tonight." Walsh said and a voice came over the radio, "Sounds like your two friends have been busy. Guess I need to go say hi myself, maybe even give an extra welcome to the girl." He said and I moved forward to attack him but his guys grabbed me and he laughed, "Honestly, kid, I don't even know what you're doing here. What, you think you're gonna patch things up with Dad and go play catch? Come on. If you were my son, I never would've abandoned you. But when the professor here left you behind, it was like you didn't even exist. He never even mentioned your name again. Not once." Walsh says to me then looked at my dad and left.

"So shall we get to work?" My dad asked taking off his coat

Val POV...

"Any word from Oversight and Mac?" Matty asked us as we dragged an unconscious guard out of sight.

"Nope. And we got a couple of jeeploads of cartel killers hunting us, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say we've lost the element of surprise." I told her

"Which means we're gonna need a speedy exfil for the two Macs. Problem is, I have no earthly idea where they are. And this facility looks, uh, you know, looks pretty big." Jack added

"Okay, you two leave finding them to me. Just be ready to pull them out the second I have their exact location." Matty says

"Yeah, okay." I said

"And Val, Jack, now that you know who Oversight is, I can tell you that that man has saved my life more times than I can even count. The world needs him every bit as much as they need his son." Matty says and I look at Jack, "I'm counting on both of you to save them both.

"That's money well spent." Jack told her and hung up

Mac POV...

"I'm not helping you make this stuff, even if it is the only way to save my life." I said to my dad

"Son, I have no intention of making this stuff in order to save your life."

"Gee, thanks, Dad." I tell him sarcastically

"Don't be so sensitive. I worked with Walsh for 13 years, and trust me, he's gonna kill you whether we complete this drug or not. Now, do you remember the first thing I ever taught you to build from that old electronics kit?"

"A wireless telegraph." I answered

"You think you can build one from this magnetic stirrer?"

Riley POV...

"Matty, I just picked up something on the cartel's comm system. Intermittent bursts of static of two distinct lengths." I tell her walking into the war room and set my laptop down.

"Morse code. Well, that definitely sounds like a MacGyver talking. What's the message?"

"Tell Val wait for signal." I said

"Any chance you could use the bursts to triangulate their exact position?"

"Already on it. I should have coordinates for you in 30 seconds."

Mac POV...

As I stood there sending the message the guard walked over to us, "The last guy never had a problem with that thing. And he never used those chemicals." He pointed out

"That's because he's an imbecile. If you don't trust me, take a look for yourself." My dad told him and held a vial up after dropping something in it causing it to flash in the guards face, I tore out the wire from the device I was using and shocked the other guard that came running in then disabled his gun.

"Okay, that's two down, but we're still trapped in here. And even if we do manage to escape this room, the place is still crawling with cartel soldiers. And I just destroyed our only means of communication, so what's next?" I asked my dad

"Haven't really figured that one out, yet."

"Man, that is really annoying. I got to stop doing that to people." I mentioned and lifted up a chemical bottle, "Hey, Dad, remember what I accidentally did to your tool-shed when I was seven?" I asked him

"I'm still not sure that was an accident, but that is a good idea, son."

Val POV...

"Okay, Matty, we got the coordinates you sent. We're working on getting some wheels right now." Jack tells her as we run through the woods, "Hey, hey, what is this signal Mac's talking about?" He asked and I patted his arm and pointed towards the smoke, "Oh, wait a minute we got it."

Mac POV...

"Okay, if this is the way things are going, I don't think we're gonna have time for that father-son chat, so I just have one question. Why?" I asked him

"I already told you why I left."

"No, no, if you wanted to protect me from the dangers of this life, then why did you bring me into it?" I asked

"Because even though I knew it wasn't safe for you to be near me, I-I couldn't let you go. At least this way I could be with you, watching over you."

"Dad, you weren't with me, you left me. You left me. And you know what, if you wanted to, you could have taken me with you anyway. You could have protected me from anyone." I told him

"It was me, it was me I was protecting you from! Your mother's death changed me. It made me so angry all the time. I did-I didn't know how to relate to you anymore. You were such a brilliant kid. You reminded me so much of her, and every time I looked at you, I saw her. And then I'd get angry all over again."

"Oh, I get it, so this is my fault then." I said to him a little hurt

"No! No, no, no."

"You know, 'cause I lost her, too she was my mom. I was a little kid, and I needed my father, and you weren't there!" I yelled at him

"I'm not saying I did it right. I'm just trying to tell you why I left. Why I couldn't stay."

"If you wanted to stay away, then why-why the cryptic clues? Why all the mind games? The watch, the gear. The dossier under my Christmas tree." I tell him

"I'm sorry, son, I don't know what you're talking about."

"If that wasn't you.." I started to ask and the door opened, a guard walked in and pointed his gun at us

"Let's go! Now!"

"Nobody's going anywhere." My dad said moving me behind him then suddenly a truck came smashing through the side of the building hitting the guard and I saw Val in the drivers seat with Jack next to her.

"Let's go boys." She tells us and I smiled at her

"The smoke, right? I mean, that was the signal?" Jack asked then me and my dad climbed into the bed of the truck

"Hold on." Val tells us and reversed the truck then whipped it around driving off

"In case I haven't mentioned this yet. I like her." My dad told me and I gave him a small smile then looked at Val.

"Hey, Matty." I greeted walking into the war room

"Glad you made it back, Mac. Unfortunately, Walsh escaped before our Tac Team arrived, but we hear that the head of the cartel is pretty pissed at him, so we think he's on the run." She tells me and I sit on the coffee table in front of her

"Thank you, Matty."

"For what?" She asked me

"The watch, the dossier all the bread crumbs. I know it was you. You couldn't tell me the truth about my father without violating your oath and any number of laws, so you gave me the tools to find him myself. You took an enormous personal risk because you care about me. And him."

"Mac, I can neither confirm nor deny anything pertaining to.." She started to say and I cut her off by hugging her

"Hey, you ok?" Val asked me and I walked over to her then kissed her and she wrapped her arms around my neck, "Not that I'm complaining but what was that for?"

"Sorry, I couldn't help it, you were pretty badass smashing that truck into the building. It was kind of hot." I tell her and she giggled

"I love you Angus Macgyver."

"And I love you as well, Valarie Macgyver." I said and kissed her again

"You sure about this?" She asked and I nodded my head

"Are you?"

"I'd do anything for you Mac, even this." She says and I kissed her once more

"Well, we finally found your long-lost father. You got any other relatives you want to go looking for real quick?" Jack asked me as we headed to the war room

"Honestly, I feel a little stupid spending all this time looking for my absentee father when the only family I really need has been right in front of my face all along."

"Ah, well, feeling's mutual, brother. But, you know, that's the great thing about family is it's never too late to add one more. And hey, hey, this, uh, well, this whole dust-up between your old man and Walsh Something like that could never happen to us, could it?" He asked me as we stopped walking

"Come on. Besides, if you went to the dark side, I'd just figure a way to bring you back."

"Then I would find a way to make you join me, and together we would rule the galaxy." Jack said and imitates Dart Vader's breathing, "No, no, I-I'm more of the kind of guy to be frozen in carbonite."

"I don't know, I just always thought that you were the Wookiee in all this." I point out as we start walking and he makes a wookie sound, "See what I'm saying?" I laughed and walked to the door of the war room seeing Val standing there talking to my dad.

"So, hey, listen, I'm sure you two have several decades of catching up to do, so I'm gonna bounce. Sir." He said to my dad and walked away then Val walked out and we shared a look then I walked into the room.

"You wanted to see me?" I asked my dad

"Yesterday, you came to me asking to quit Phoenix. And while I think the past 36 hours have changed a lot for both of us I need to ask if your request still stands. So, do you want to work with me or not?"

"I'm really glad I found you, and that we were able to talk about things that haven't made sense to me over the years. And as for me working here, I'll tell you the same thing I told Matty. I can't work with someone I don't trust. I'm sorry, Dad, but I can't work for you." I tell him and saw hurt on his face.

"You're quitting?"

"Effective immediately." I said and walked out of the war room heading towards the doors to the Phoenix.

Val POV...

"What just happened? Val?" Jack asked me and I looked at him then the others then Mac's dad.

"Mac quit." I tell them and they looked at me in shock, "And so did I. " I said and left

"Got everything ready?" Mac asked me as we finished packing up our bags.

"Yeah, yeah I think so." I said and he walked over to me pulling me into a hug

"It'll be ok hun."

"Yes it will. For all of us." I tell him and he kissed me then we gathered up our things and headed to the airport.