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Grace Taylor slipped on her black heels, wiggling a bit in place to comfortably adjust herself in her slimming black dress as she admired how her earrings sparkled in the dim lighting of her hotel room. She hadn’t been nervous up until that moment, lightly glancing over her reflection as the man whom her employer partnered her with for her assignment (against her will, mind you) straightened his bow tie in the bathroom.
She knew the man as MacGyver, no first name given. He had brown hair and bluish green eyes, and apparently wasn’t very fond of suits.
“Dang it.” Grace heard Mac snap under his breath.
“Can’t get it, can you?” Grace teased, a sneer-like smirk crossing her lips while she fluffed her blonde shoulder-length hair.
“I have it, it’s just not…” Mac growled, and Grace finally gave in, walking across the floor to the bathroom door. “It’s not sticking.” Mac tipped his head to the side, momentarily meeting Grace’s eyes in the mirror. Interesting how a man who labeled himself as a ‘problem solver’ couldn’t figure out how to tie a tie properly.
Grace shook her head, stepping towards him as he turned to allow her to help him fix his tie. “Tell me again, MacGyver, what do you do, exactly?” She asked.
Mac lifted his chin, his brow furrowed, and responded, “I’m a troubleshooter… of sorts.”
Grace hummed lightly, smirking as her glittering fingers tightened the bow around MacGyver’s collar. “So, you’re good at figuring things out?”
Mac opened his mouth to reply but seemed to realize what Grace was picking at and pulled away from her. “You sound like Pete.”
“And I haven’t even known you that long,” Grace scoffed lightly, placing a dainty hand over her collarbone before turning away and exiting the bathroom. She grabbed her silver clutch off the nightstand and unclasped it to dig for and produce a cherry-colored lipstick to apply over her thin lips carefully and generously.
As normal as the action was though, she found herself reminded of the shirt MacGyver had been wearing when she met him.
~*~
“When you said this was going to be my first field assignment, I thought that meant I’d be the only one on the job.” Grace paced across the carpeted floors of Peter Thornton’s—the head of operations at the DXS (Department of eXternal Services)—office, awaiting the arrival of her appointed partner for the assignment.
“James Crowe is a very
dangerous
man,” Thornton (a short man with a round face and a balding head) stated. “I don’t want your first assignment to also become your last.”
“I chose this Mr. Thornton, I
want
this.” Grace was pleading with Thornton by this point, planting her palms on the edge of his desk to force herself to stop fidgeting. “I planned everything accordingly.”
“I know you have. And I’m not ashamed to tell you I’m impressed with your file. I’ve read everything you’ve written up on Crowe.”
“That man is a butcher!” Grace declared as she stomped her foot. “He’s stollen from orphans, families—people have
died
because of his actions—”
“But as I’ve said before, this is your first field assignment,” Thornton interrupted. “And I’m not going to take any chances with one of my best operatives, Grace.”
Grace stopped herself from retaliating again and focused on Thornton’s words.
He called me his best operative.
How could she argue with such a warm notion?
“You can’t take Crowe down by yourself.”
Grace’s voice softened. “It’s just going to be a little reconnaissance mission, that’s all. If I could possibly
find
where he’s hidden the diamonds, then maybe in the future there won’t be people who starve to death.”
“I agree.”
Grace whipped her head around at a sudden new voice speaking up from behind her. A tall man wearing a red button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and worn blue jeans sat with his knee up against a cabinet, fingering the spine of a book.
“In fact,” the man looked up from the book in his hand and met Grace’s gaze. “I think we can do better than just a simple reconnaissance mission.” He hopped off the cabinet and stepped across the floor to Thornton’s desk. “I think we can find and take back the diamonds, all in one go.”
~*~
Grace blinked out of her memory to hurry out of the rented car she and MacGyver drove. Their relationship was new enough to not want to bear each other’s silences for too long. And anyway, they had arrived at their place of assignment, sitting beneath the modern luxurious hotel he owned: Crowe’s casino.
She entered alongside MacGyver, being sure to not make it seem like they were there together though. Out in front of them rolled velvety red carpets, crowded poker tables, brightly lit slot machines and groups of men and women in elegant club style dresses and suits. Above their heads hung glittering chandeliers and the ceiling was carved with decorative swirls that spanned the entire room.
Grace had never seen the inside of a casino this extravagant before. It was eye-catching, each little corner meant to draw you in. But even if it caught Grace’s eye, she couldn’t help but think about the owner of the hotel she stood within.
James Crowe stole sixty million dollars in diamonds that were supposed to be used for a famine relief charity. He ‘hid’ here in the Cayman Islands amongst his hotel guests and island goers. Grace had been following every bit of information she could grasp on everything from Crowe’s business dealings (which were more often than not dealt under the table through the black market) to his strangely chill lifestyle. Martial arts seemed to be a constant time-passing hobby of Crowe’s, even taking an hour out of his daily schedule to challenge other men within the mastery of the art to a duel. He certainly seemed to have a lot of fun for a man known as “The Butcher.”
It was almost hypnotic, the mess of greedy hands of people who convinced themselves they could continue playing until nothing was left in their pockets and they were forced to leave by an intimidating security guard.
Grace and MacGyver stood off to the side as they witnessed just that. A man hollering at two burly security guards to let him stay, ‘just one more hand’ he kept saying, trying to twist out of their hold.
As they watched them drag the man away Grace said over her shoulder, “So, what’s the plan here, troubleshooter?”
“Well, I don’t think these guys are gonna be courteous enough to let us sneak a peek at the vault,” Mac said, reaching up to tug at his collar.
“Not very friendly looking, are they?” Grace mumbled and glanced up beside her at Mac who narrowed his eyes at her playfully and shook his head. They began their walking down the length of the casino, weaving through herds of gamblers. Grace looked over at her assignment partner once and continued to stride alongside him. “What’s next? Flirt with the guards?” MacGyver only smirked and Grace looked away from him. “No, you’re right, you couldn’t handle that.”
“Well, if you think it’s such a great idea, maybe you’d like to test it out?” MacGyver chuckled, slowing his walk next to a craps table.
Grace rolled her eyes. “Please,” she said sarcastically, then turned her attention to the rambunctious dice rolling table that had seemed to reel MacGyver in. He was staring intently at the red and white cubes being tossed across the felted tabletop. Grace’s brow furrowed watching as the gears behind MacGyver’s eyes turned, like he was processing the game and its workings. “Hey,” Grace nudged his ribs with her elbow. “You alive up there?”
Mac turned to her without looking away from the craps table. “I think I have an idea.”
Grace shrugged a shoulder. “Care to share?” She asked snootily.
“Not really.”
“You know, I don’t like this situation any more than you do, but it might be nice to have some sort of feedback from my ‘partner,’ every once in a while.” Grace stressed.
“Any more than
I
do?” Mac repeated, this time connecting with Grace’s irritated expression. “You think I’m upset about being here with you right now?”
“This was supposed to be
my
assignment.”
“And yet you’re the one asking
me
how we get into the vault,” Mac lifted a hand to run his fingers through his short brown hair as Grace clenched her jaw and folded her arms around her middle, still holding onto her clutch. “Look, it’s times like these where I find I work better when I fly by the seat of my pants.”
“This is bigger than one of your little troubleshooter jobs back in the states,” Grace hissed. “You can’t just…” she sputtered a moment, appalled by the way he explained his methods. “’Fly by the seat of your pants’! That’s not how this works.”
“Will you excuse me for one moment?” Mac suddenly held up a finger. He spun on his heel and swiped a scotch glass off a passing waitress’s tray. Grace watched as he walked forward slightly and purposefully tossed the glass’s contents onto the backside of a woman in a silky white gown.
The immediate reaction of the woman was an ear-piercing, high-pitched scream. She twisted around and swung her arms like she was trying to claw at whoever was standing in the general vicinity of her reach.
MacGyver had already swerved through the crowd back to where Grace stood. “Smooth,” she uttered with a sarcastic bite.
“That’s one word for it.” MacGyver thrust the glass into Grace’s hand and retreated to the craps table, swiping the two little red dice from the velvety surface, and tucking them into the pocket of his jacket.
Grace jiggled the glass in her hand, letting the ice rattle before swapping it for another passing plate of drinks right behind them. “Now what?” she asked, taking a decent gulp of the replaced scotch while observing the display of excitement in front of them, caused by MacGyver’s ‘accident’.
“I figure if I can roll big enough at a table, they may just allow me to keep my winnings in the casino vault,” MacGyver explained.
Grace nodded. “Giving you a nice peek at whatever he’s got inside.” She briefly looked impressed with what Mac said. But shortly remembered that this was his plan and not the simpler one she had come up with before even acquiring this assignment. “Nice,” she muttered into her glass.
“Just hang out here while I try and find something to cut these down with.” MacGyver patted his jacket pocket, starting to leave until Grace caught hold of his sleeve. “What?” Mac snapped.
“Be
patient
and I’ll tell you,” Grace grunted as she popped open her clutch. “You don’t have to go on a scavenger hunt.” Pulling out a crystal nail file, she snapped the purse shut and pulled Mac closer to her by his cuff and looked up at him. “Find a stall,” she whispered. “Do your little troubleshooter thing,” she slipped the file under the sleeve, brushing his wrist with her glittering manicure. “But you better get that back to me.”
MacGyver’s face was inches from hers, their eyes boring into each other’s. “I was kind of thinking about keeping it, actually.”
“Funny.”
“It feels expensive.”
“It is. It’s also made of crystal. So, it shouldn’t be harmed in the disfiguration of those innocent number cubes.”
“Smart.”
Grace’s brow furrowed slightly; their voices had turned to whispers amidst the loud casino noise. “Was that a compliment, MacGyver?” she asked in a more normal tone.
“Oh, no,” MacGyver sighed heavily. “I still hate you.”
“Really?”
“Uhuh.”
“Cause I’m not really getting that vibe.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well, you are
practically
standing on my toes.”
Mac smirked. “I’m not the one who pulled me in.”
Grace pulled further away, a brow raised as she tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and started towards a cards table without another reply.
~*~
How long does it take to file down a couple of dice?
Grace impatiently tapped her foot, sipping on a martini while she observed the room from a wall near the craps table.
He should be back by now.
Pete always talked MacGyver up. Made him sound like he had superpowers. Grace wasn't entirely sure she was there yet. So what if the guy knew how to cheat at craps? Or thought on his toes? Hasn't everybody at some point?
What she didn't appreciate was being left out of the loop. MacGyver's gears turned and Grace was left to watch. She wanted to be a part of this scheme. The least he could do was ask her opinion, but he hadn't even done that. This was supposed to be
her
assignment, not MacGyver’s.
Her martini was quickly running low but before she could take off in search of a refill, Grace’s stewing was interrupted with the smooth return of MacGyver. He held his hands in his pockets, observing the room from her side.
“I can’t believe you’re actually going to attempt this,” Grace muttered into her sparkling glass.
“Yeah,” MacGyver answered. “Neither can I.”
Grace realized something then, looking him up and down. If this plan of his failed, there might be an opportunity in her future to take this assignment by the horns herself. Have the chance to use her own plan instead of waiting around for Pete’s wild card to do his thing. “You know you only have one shot.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“I just did.”
MacGyver shot Grace a look which she received with a smile. “Well, go on Troubleshooter,” she waved him away. “Good luck.”
“I don’t believe in luck,” was all MacGyver said before leaving her side for the nearest craps table.
“You’re gonna need it.” Grace had plenty of time to configure the casino on her own, search for anything besides the main casino vault that might hide the stolen diamonds. Perhaps the back of a slot machine? No, too crude. Not Crowe’s style. Why would he ever keep the diamonds hidden in a place that could be easily accessible to casino employees. He’s too smart for that. He wouldn’t be that trusting. Not with 200lbs worth of sparkle like that.
Grace had wandered around the floor of casino enough for one night and was making her way back to the craps table where MacGyver was drawing a crowd. Men standing around impressed with how often Mac would roll a perfect seven with his crooked dice. Each and every woman seemed extremely taken with MacGyver, a few standing close enough flirtatiously brushing their glittering manicures against his arms.
Grace was unsure if he noticed or cared any, but he would smile periodically. Every time he rolled, the crowd would explode with excitement, shouts, hollers, laughter. It was almost overwhelming. Stepping up to the table, Grace was able to watch Mac roll from the opposite end. She couldn’t see this lasting him very long. There was bound to be someone who noticed something off with his dice, sooner or later. As Grace looked around, she realized it might be sooner.
There were men in dark suits popping up within the crowd. Grace could step up, get involved somehow, tell MacGyver to cool it. But the idea to do so didn’t stick around. The sooner MacGyver got out of the way the sooner Grace could take over.
What are you doing?
Grace folded her arms across her middle and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
MacGyver’s only trying to help. It’s his job. Pete trusts him…
She glanced over at Mac, instantly meeting his eyes through the shining lights. He smirked at her, and it made her mad that the first thought that flew to her was ‘gosh he’s charming’.
Ugh. Where did that come from? Of course, I’d find him attractive. It’s just natural, an instinct. He’s a man… I’m a woman…
Snapping out of her haze, Grace watched as MacGyver tossed the dice around in his fist for a moment or two, let the dark haired woman next to him blow on it with a forced sensual look in her eyes, and let the dice go, rolling a four and a three – a perfect seven.
Interesting act for a man who doesn’t believe in luck.
It was then that Grace’s heart started to beat harder in her chest, for in that moment the very owner of the hotel casino had slipped his way through the crowd to slink up beside MacGyver.
James Crowe.
Grace remained where she stood, bumping elbows with the people directly beside her. She tried to hear what Crowe told MacGyver, but the murmuring within the crowd was still too loud to hear exactly what was discussed. But she could waver a guess.
It seemed Crowe was egging Mac on. Seeing whether MacGyver would take one more roll and chance everything on it. MacGyver smiled simply and tossed his dice onto the table with a shake of his head. Grace looked to the numbers – a three and a one. Somehow Mac had swapped the shaved dice for a brand-new pair. Grace felt entirely left out. Was there nothing good for her to do here? MacGyver seemed to be a one man show, rendering Grace’s presence there useless.
Crowe and MacGyver walked off together, Grace assumed in the direction of the casino vault, and that’s when she decided she had had enough. She had wasted enough of her time there. Or rather,
MacGyver
had wasted her time there. At least that’s what she told herself was the issue. She didn’t even have to be there in the first place. Whatever MacGyver was capable of doing, he sure didn’t need her help. It was unfair. Where was the point in coming here at all? Why did she beg Pete Thornton to let her take this assignment?
And why did she have to get stuck with a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants troubleshooter?
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The game was going fantastic. But seeing as MacGyver was cheating, there wasn't really any other way for the game to go. He had a woman on each arm, the crowd was hyped and encouraging him to keep his streak up, and he just might have caught the attention of the casino's owner.
MacGyver's fist let out another roll. Seven. Grace's crystal file had done wonders on those two little dice. But he wondered how long he could keep this up for without becoming suspicious. About halfway through the game he ordered a red drink, and it was brought his way moments later. He only sipped from it once while he continued his trick.
For a moment he held the dice between his fingers, then rolled them within his palm before letting the woman next to him blow on his hand for good luck. MacGyver wore a simple smile, like he was enjoying himself, but all the while he had ideas churning in his head. He was up 100 thousand. Could he go for more? Should he just stay? Had it been too much already?
"I'm sorry sir, that's over our limit," Mac heard. He wasn't disappointed though, that only meant he could get to check out this vault sooner rather than later. But then he heard another, Australian accented voice from beside him and the table got quieter, mumbles."Let it ride."
MacGyver looked up to the face who spoke. James Crowe. The hotel and casino owner. The one he and Grace were after. Crowe appeared sophisticated, to say the least, wearing a white suit jacket with a
shiny black shirt beneath it, his black hair slicked back. He wore the faintest of smiles under his chevron mustache, leaning casually against the table, waiting for Mac's response.I've come this far, Mac thought. With a grin and a shrug, he made a show for preparing to roll for a last time. Pretending to be giddy with excitement.
Crowe eyed him for a moment, then uttered a "Good luck," through the mumblings.
"Somehow I know you mean that." MacGyver smiled again and tossed the dice, another perfect seven. The crowd collectively gasped. Now he was done. He was up to 150 thousand dollars. He couldn't risk it anymore, not with Crowe standing right there watching him.
"Would you care to double that number?" Crowe nodded to the dice in Mac's hand. "One more roll. Three hundred grand. All or nothing."
There was a dangerous glint in Crowe's dark eyes. One MacGyver didn't want to provoke any further. With whatever slight of hand abilities he possessed, Mac dropped the cheating dice into his murky drink and slipped out from his pocket two brand new dice. Un-filed, so to speak.
"You know," Mac started. "I think I'll quit while I'm ahead." He tossed the untouched dice to the table – which produced a three and a one – with another quick smile. The crowd, unamused, began to disperse among the rest of the casino. "Hey," he turned to Crowe. "I'm going to feel... a little nervous walking around the hotel with your money in my pocket. I was curious if you might have someplace that I can store it for now."Crowe stood up from his relaxed position and without a word gestured for Mac to follow him. Two large men in dark suits walked close behind them. "What's your name?"
"MacGyver.""You here for business? Pleasure?"
"Pleasure," Mac lied, unhesitating, tucking his hands into the pockets of his dress pants.
Crowe glanced behind him at Mac briefly with a smirk. "How long are you staying in the Cayman Islands?"
"Haven't decided yet," Mac answered as they rounded a corner into a dark hall. One of the bodyguards opened a very plain looking door that the four of them passed through. Before them now was the door to a human sized vault which was opened without further questioning. Mac hadn't noticed until then, but they were being followed by a man with a tray of chips he had won during the craps game. The man stepped around them and slid the tray onto a shelf and Mac was able to get a good idea of what was kept in the vault.
There was maybe enough room for the five people standing there to fit inside the vault. All he could see were stacks of green printed money and poker chips. No shiny diamonds to be seen.
"Well," Crowe said, sticking his hands into his pockets. "Your money will be kept safe here until you do,"
Mac returned a simple smile. "'preciate it."
• • •Grace was sitting comfortably on her bed in the hotel room she and MacGyver were sharing, flipping through a provided magazine when Mac came up from the casino. It was almost three in the morning, yet it hadn't been long since Grace left the casino floor. She had time to put a nightgown on and unwind from the evening. That was, until Mac walked in.
"You left."
"I did." Grace didn't even glance up at Mac to acknowledge him. "You were busy." Grace flipped another magazine page.
Mac frowned, starting to take the tie from around his neck. He stepped up to the bed where Grace sat as he unbuttoned his dress shirt. "In case you forgot, we are on this assignment together.""In case I forgot?" Grace snapped, rearing her head up to glare at MacGyver. "What about the great MacGyver? You didn't let me hear a single thing going on up in that head of yours tonight. Which reminds me – how was your trip to the vault? Uneventful I assume.""You – how did you – ""I was supposed to be point on this assignment."
Mac watched her scoot off the bed to swerve around him, making her way for the bathroom. "You are point.""So why didn't you ask what I knew about Crowe's vaults?"
"You didn't mention – "
"I've been researching Crowe for months." Grace went on. "I know the hotel's schematics, Crowe's past, his hobbies, the number of people who have died at his hand – I know more about that man that I know about you."
Grace flipped the light switch on in the bathroom and folded her arms in. "I'd like to be a part of this assignment instead of watching you do your troubleshootery-MacGyverism-thing!"Mac waited until he was sure she wasn't going to continue, then asked quietly. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Like I said," Grace answered, starting to shut the bathroom door. "You were busy."
MacGyver had one way of going about an operation, and it sure seemed he didn't need Grace's help in the slightest. This was what she was afraid of the whole time. Someone invading her assignment, making all her hard work meaningless.
•••"If the vault in the casino didn't have the diamonds, then where do you 'spose Crowe hid them?"
Grace looked up from her scrambled eggs as MacGyver made his presence known, leaning over the back of the chair from across the table. Was this his way of apologizing? Offering to hear her plan?
She took her time before deciding to answer him, sipping down a good portion of her juice. "I have a pretty good idea."
Back in the shared hotel room, Grace pulled a file out from her duffel bag. "Out of all the people he employs, Crowe wouldn't trust anyone else but himself with the security of those diamonds." She walked over to the desk where Mac slouched comfortably and opened the folder."What's this?"
"It's the layout of Crowe's penthouse."
"You think he just has them in his apartment?""I think this –" Grace tapped a finger down on a figure in the layout that looked like a small square within a closet. "– his personal safe – is where he's got them."Already Grace could see MacGyver's brain start firing. Before anything else happened, she wanted to make something clear – this was her operation. She placed a hand own over the file and leaned over Mac, her brow lowered, mouth open to say just that until Mac began to speak.
"What's your plan?"
Grace paused. "What?"The corner of Mac's mouth turned up in a slight smirk. "You have a plan, right?"
Grace blinked. "I – ""Well, let's hear it." The blank look on Grace's face wiped Mac's grin away quicker than it had appeared.
"You don't have a plan?""Well, my plan is," Grace growled, her irritation returning, brow furrowing, "to steal back the diamonds. I'm still working on how."
Before Mac could reply in any sort of way, a knock came at the door. A banging more so. Grace hurriedly shoved the map back into her duffel bag and shoved it under the one bed as MacGyver made his way to answer the knock. Then Grace perched herself against a corner near the door as Mac unlocked and opened it to see two large security men in sharp black suits standing there.
"You MacGyver?" One of the men responded.
Mac glanced over his shoulder at Grace. "Can we help you?" He offered, folding his arms across his chest.
"Mr. Crowe wants you out of his hotel."Grace's heart began beating quicker against her ribs. They couldn't have figured us out already, could they?
"And whys that?" MacGyver asked, fearless.
The shorter of the two men held his fist out in front of him and opened his fingers to reveal MacGyver's filed dice.
"Mr. Crowe doesn't care for cheaters in his casino."
They figured him out. Grace started to panic. They're going to throw us out of the hotel. We can't leave now! What could she do? She couldn't fail her first assignment because MacGyver got caught. Maybe..."Cheaters?" Grace shrieked.
Mac spun around to face her.
"How could you?"
"You didn't know about this, miss?" Asked one of the men.
Grace stormed over to stand directly in front of Mac, a look of fury in her eyes. And without a word she raised a hand to strike MacGyver on the cheek, leaving him with an expression of confusion and hurt. Grace wasn't entirely sure he was faking."Ouch!" He complained, touching the tender spot with his fingers.
"I never want to see you again," Grace said, welling up fake tears in her eyes as she backed further into the hotel room. "I thought you were going straight! For me!"
"Grace – "
"Pack your things, sir. It's time to go."
Grace perched herself on the edge of her bed to watch her assigned partner gather the few items of his together, while not quite meeting his eyes. Just before he left for the door though, MacGyver leaned towards Grace as he tucked his cell into his back pocket."I'll call you."Grace shifted her jaw, hugging her arms around herself as MacGyver left the room, escorted by Crowe's security. Well, this wasn't exactly what she wanted to happen. But there was no fixing this issue. At least having alone time would give her some peace and quiet and the freedom to come up with an actual plan on how to steal the 200 pounds of diamonds right from under Crowe's nose.
• • •
"She did what?"
"Yeah, and she had me escorted out by Crowe's security," Mac explained briefly, holding his phone between his ear and shoulder while he unlocked the door to his new room in an entirely different hotel than Crowe's.
"Well, why would she do a thing like that?" asked Pete on the other end.
"What was she supposed to do, Pete? If we had both been thrown out I don't know how we'd get back in. Besides, she hates me, and I don't exactly enjoy her company either, so this is a perfect way to stay on task without biting each other's heads off!"
"Calm down, Mac, it can't be that bad."
Okay, maybe he was throwing it a little out of proportion. MacGyver didn't hate her. If he ever said he did he said it with sarcasm. He let the heavy door shut itself behind him and tossed his duffel bag to the floor.
But she certainly didn't like him. She had made that very clear.
Mac ran a hand through his hair with a short huff. "Maybe you're right, Pete."
"I know I am."
Mac couldn't help but smirk at his older friend's tone. Pete may be a more experienced man than he was, but they were still great friends that were just as close as brothers more often than not.
"Now, I think what you need to do is have a conversation with Grace about getting those diamonds back. She might even have a plan on how to do just that."
"You know; besides her oh-so-great knowledge of Crowe, she doesn't have a plan."There was a slight pause on Pete's end, then a simple chuckle in response. "That shouldn't be any trouble for you. You're usually pretty good at thinking on your feet.""I might be, but Grace doesn't seem too sure."
"Mac, I think you know what I'm going to tell you."
Something along the lines of 'work together,' 'compromise,' 'this is her assignment,' and 'communicate,' ran through Mac's head. And yes, he did know. He knew this was supposed to be discussion about team effort, one person can't handle every aspect of an assignment all at once –
Before either of them could say anything else, MacGyver's phone started to buzz in his hand. He glanced down at it to see the caller's name then inhaled slowly.
"She's trying to get a hold of me, Pete, I'll call ya back." Mac pulled back to answer the incoming call. "I did say I would call you.""I know," Grace said. She sipped from her mug of hot chocolate, sitting with a leg tucked under her knee at the desk in her room. The schematics of Crowe's hotel rolled out atop of it. "I was tired of waiting for the phone to ring."
Mac was silent for a moment. I'm going to pretend that was an apology and just...move on, he thought to himself, then cleared his throat and went on. "This is your assignment; you've been waiting for a chance to tackle something on your own and now you've got it. And I know that it might make you a little defensive,"For a second she wanted to interrupt and tell him to shut up. Maybe make it seem like he got it all wrong. Instead, Grace bit the inside of her lip. Letting MacGyver continue.
"But I'm only here to be an extra head to bounce ideas off of– "
"Slow down, Troubleshooter," said Grace. "I've started mapping out a plan. And though it may be vague..." She sighed. It wasn't that she didn't want to hear him try to make amends, which was admittedly kind of nice, but she felt they were running out of time, and she just wanted to cut to the chase. "I'm going to need your help."
•••2 o'clock in the morning, Grace glanced about the casino floor. Now that she was truly on her own - finally in control of her own operation - she felt excited about the oncoming confrontation. All she had to do was get James Crowe to invite her into his apartment and the rest would fall into place.
She walked easily throughout the large casino, her shoulders square and head high, finally locking onto her target who was overseeing a game of poker. Grace paused to pop open her purse and pull out her rosy lip gloss, making duly sure that her pepper spray was packed away beside it. The purse hung nicely from the long homemade paracord strap on her shoulder, just long enough to sit at her thigh. She reapplied the gloss, glancing past her circle mirror at the man she would "stumble" into momentarily.
With a deep breath Grace dropped her things back into her purse and walked on to the poker table.
Is this even going to work? She asked herself as she was just feet away from him.
Grace suddenly felt incredibly nervous and discouraged from doing anything directly to Crowe. Instead she turned herself to walk by one of the guards standing a ways back from their boss. Reopening her purse she began digging around inside it, making herself seem preoccupied.
Grace practically body slammed herself right smack into the bodyguard, purposefully allowing the contents of her purse to go flying all over the casinos red carpet. Grace let loose a yelp of faux surprise and immediately started apologizing to the guard, squatting in her short, body clinging, white strapless dress to start fussing to pick up her things.
The guard - who also seemed surprised she had missed him standing right there like a brick wall with shades - told her not to worry about it and bent to try helping her."No!" Grace exclaimed, putting a hand on the man's forearm before he could pick up the carabiner clip that had fell out. "You shouldn't have to help me, I'm such a klutz, it's my fault really." Come on Crowe, take a hint already. She snatched both clips and threw them back into her purse before he noticed. She hoped.
"Is everything alright over here?"Grace's eyes shot up to see James Crowe standing over her, dressed in his ever so pristine, white tux, his hands tucked neatly into his pockets. A nervous lump suddenly gathered in Grace's throat and she forced a swallow to combat it. "Just fine, thank you." How does one flirt with a man who's committed heinous crimes? You force yourself to remember the reason you're doing it in the first place.
"Can I be of any assistance?""No, that's alright." Grace tucked a strand of blonde hair swiftly behind her ear and continued to shove the rest of her things in her purse. "I was just telling your security what a klutz I am."
Beside her Crowe had brought himself down onto the balls of his feet, picked up her lip gloss and held it out for her to take, a simple smile over his dignified features. Grace slowly reached out to take the container from his hand, letting the tips of her fingers brush his, making direct eye contact with him as a smile of her own tugged at the corners of her mouth.
"Thank you, sir," she said. Crowe took hold of her hand and brought her to a standing position once more."Please, call me James."
Grace ducked her head shyly, still smiling as she again tucked her hair back. "Thank you, James." She put the gloss into her bag and turned to start walking away, hoping - praying - that what little bit she had done would be enough for him to want more from her. Thankfully she didn't have to pray too hard. Crowe was walking a mere two steps behind her.
"I didn't catch your name, miss."Grace hummed in question and looked back at him with feigned interest. "Well, you haven't exactly asked for it."
"Alright," Crowe chucked with amusement, jogging just ahead of her to stop her in her tracks. "May I ask the lady's name?"
Grace eyed him for a moment, letting the silence between them linger before she stepped around him. "I haven't decided yet."Crowe, very much intrigued at this point, continued to follow Grace who was making her way closer to the exit of the casino floor. "Do you keep all the men you meet in such suspense?"Grace slowed her step so they would walk in unison. This part of the plan wasn't so terrible. It was the part where they might finally make it up to Crowe's penthouse that she worried about. How long could she keep him in the dark before she made her move?
"Never for too long," she admitted falsely. "You might have the opportunity to learn it later tonight." She stopped walking as they neared the exit and she turned to face him. "Over drinks perhaps?"A bedroom like gaze crept into Crowe's eye, a smile stretching beneath his chevron mustache. Grace didn't know what had done it, or how it happened as quickly as it did, but Crowe then offered to have drinks served up in his private penthouse. That's when Grace's chest started to squeeze due to what she thought was excitement, but she soon realized, as they stepped inside the penthouse elevator, that the squeeze was fear. She was literally on her own now.
The elevator doors pinged and slid open to reveal a lavish penthouse great room. Two towering walls made entirely out of glass met at the far corner of the room, looking out onto the night. You could barely tell that the ocean was just below, if it wasn't for the brightness of the party filled beach and the waves that met the shore. A long L shaped grey couch occupied the majority of the room, a lux fireplace at the center of it flickering with a warm light. There was a staircase that led to a second floor with a balcony that looked over the great room.
Grace caught sight of what appeared to be Crowe's office. And if the layout she had memorized for months was correct, the safe would have to be up there. The kitchen was on the lower level, along with the door to Crowe's master bedroom, and just across from there was the bathroom door. It might have seemed cozy had it not looked so industrial.After turning in a complete circle Grace finally noticed the thing she hoped would be there. The garbage chute.
Grace's nerves were enough to make her shake at this point, and she hoped to God Crowe wouldn't see it.
"What does the lady desire?"
Grace was broken out of her examination of the penthouse to see Crowe waltzing over to a bar she hadn't seen until just then, beside one part of the giant window wall. She forced a smile to return to her face, holding tightly onto her purse strap with both hands, trying to appear nonchalant. "Surprise me."
"As you wish." Crowe nodded, starting to create a concoction he decided might suit her.
Just the thought of ingesting any alcohol made Grace's stomach tie itself in ten different knots. She had flown through so many of the previous steps to get here that she almost felt vomit coming up her throat.
"Can I use your bathroom?" She asked. "I'd like to freshen up a bit.""Of course," Crowe gestured to the room. "Don't be too long now."
Grace hummed a little laugh. "Oh, don't you worry 'bout that." She turned and made her way swiftly for the bathroom where she shut herself in and tore her cellphone from her purse, her jittery thumbs rushing across the screen to text MacGyver that she had made it inside the penthouse. When he responded that he had also infiltrated the garbage chute room, she got to work.
Grace put her purse over her shoulder and head to keep it from going anywhere, then she pulled out the pepper spray container and firmly gripped it in her shaking right hand. She would have to be fast in order for this to work like MacGyver said it would. She stood as far back from the door as the space would allow for, but not so far as to not be near it.
Grace was absolutely sick to her stomach. This was her first real assignment. If she screwed this up now, Mr. Thornton would probably never let her have another one.
It was now or never. With a deep breath in, Grace let out a long, loud, and horrifying scream. Hopefully drawing Crowe to where she was. Just as planned, and not any longer after she had stopped screaming, Crowe burst in through the door.
"What's going on?" he yelled, turning to Grace's direction and unfortunately for him, her pepper spray.
Grace instantly let loose on him, spraying his face with the substance, making sure she got him in the eyes.
Crowe hollered in in defiance, holding his hands up to try and save himself from the painful experience, but it did him no good. He flopped backward into the shower tub combo, allowing Grace her moment of escape. She left the small room and closed the door from outside.
She unclasped the long paracord strap from her purse and wrapped one end around the door handle using one of the carabiner clips, then tautly held onto it as she brought the other end to the door to Crowe's bedroom. She pulled the door shut and wrapped the cord around the handle with the other clip. It was the perfect length. Just enough to tie both doors together and prohibit them from opening.
"Thank you, MacGyver." Grace uttered under the yelling from the bathroom, then took off for the safe on the upper level, grabbing her purse and kicking off her heels as she did.
Her heartbeat felt like a drum inside her chest. But she figured the worst was over. All she had to do now was open the safe and slide the 200 pounds of pure diamond down to MacGyver through the garbage chute. Easier said than done.
Grace dug through her purse to find the makeshift USB MacGyver set up for her to connect her cellphone to the safe with. She took the paneling off the number pad and connected the wire, allowing the device to run through any possible number combinations the safe might have programmed into it.
Mac said it would probably take a few minutes. Grace was so antsy that she could hardly remain still for the entire time. After a solid minute of banging on the bathroom door and hollering from her captive, suddenly the light on the safe blinked green, bringing forth a shifting sound from the door.
The safes door slid all the way open and Grace left her phone, hanging by the cord, attached to the lock device. Finding the shelf that held all 200 pounds of diamond was easy. The four brown cloth bags sat in the open. Compared to the rest of the items in the safe, which were weapons, money, and the occasional box which potentially contained even more stolen jewels, the brown bags didn't have a precise spot reserved for them.
Grace took both hands, lifted the first bag of diamonds and hurried, as quickly as she could with 50 pounds of weight in her arms, for the stairs. This wasn't going to be as easy as she thought it was, but she pretended to not care how much it hurt to carry each bag from upstairs to downstairs.
Finally, she was lugging the last bag to the kitchen where the garbage chute was.
With quick breathing, Grace took her phone and shot another text down to MacGyver, announcing the dropping of the bags. She lodged the chute open with a utensil and hoisted one of the 50 pound bags up and dropped it in.
The banging on the bathroom door escalated, and Grace could hear the angry rantings of Crowe inside. She knew if she didn't get out of there soon, he would be mad enough to kill her.
The diamonds came first though.
The second bag was dropped in. Every time Crowe would hit the door to the bathroom, Grace's stomach leapt into her throat, worried that with each time he came closer to breaking it down.
The third bag was dropped in. Grace's arms were burning, her hair sticking to the sweat at the back of her neck.
Then came the loudest bang. Crowe had kicked the door out and he marched himself out of the bathroom into the kitchen where he watched as Grace hurriedly dropped the final bag of diamonds down the chute.
Grace made eye contact with a furious James Crowe who pulled a gun out from under his white jacket - one she hadn't noticed he had been carrying at any time before now - and pointed it directly at her. If she was worried about puking before, she definitely would have now. She was shaking again, and pale, and this time she was sure Crowe noticed.
"Who the hell are you?" He snarled, slowly walking to get closer to where she stood.
Grace wanted to run away, but her knees were so wobbly she probably wouldn't have made it very far. Instead her feet planted themselves where she was and she didn't move for fear of causing Crowe to fire his gun at her. All that mattered was that the diamonds were safe. She wanted to convince herself that she could die knowing what she did was something good and worthwhile. But a sinking feeling in her gut told her she had to stay alive at all costs.
"Do I have to ask you a second time?"
Grace shook her head, but her lips remained fused to each other.
"Well then you better start talking, lady. I want to hear a name."
"Grace," came her whisper. "My name is Grace."Crowe cupped his hand to his ear.
"I'm waiting for a last name."
"Taylor."
"Very good."Grace closed her eyes, her own fury starting to burn inside her stomach. How could I have gotten caught? I should have moved faster! I'm going to die and I'm going to lose everything I've strived to accomplish. I can't allow that to happen."Now, Miss Taylor," Crowe continued to make his way closer to her. "I assume you aren't here alone. Are you?"Grace bit her tongue. No. MacGyver needs to get out of her with the diamonds, alive. Crowe can't know about him.
Crowe's brow lowered. "Are you?""Yes."
His head tilted to one side. "You're lying.""How do you know?" Grace snapped, defense laced in her shaking voice. He was getting too close. There was no where for her to go except backwards and even then she had little room.
"Your body language, Miss Taylor."Grace glared at him.
"Gave it all away." Crowe waved his hand as his expression shifted from complete and utter anger, to one of intrigue and amusement. "You didn't even have to say a word to me, and I would have known the truth."Grace swallowed past a lump in her throat. Her lips felt dry, her stomach was killing itself with deep pangs of fear. She planted sweaty palms on the edge of the counter she found herself up against. "Are you going to kill me?" she asked.
Crowe began to nod, this time stepping near her enough to slowly press the end of the gun onto her forehead. Grace pinched her eyes shut, a cold tear running down her pale cheek. "Eventually," Crowe admitted. "But first I'd like to meet this partner of yours."•••"This is the grossest thing I've ever done for a woman."MacGyver stood in trash knee deep inside the giant dumpster in the lowest level of the hotel, tossing each bag of diamonds onto a rolling utility cart as they came down the garbage chute. He was wearing overalls, thankfully, and a pair of rubber gloves. But there wasn't much he could do for the smell.
At last, all four of the bags had been put onto the cart and he could jump out of the dumpster. Mac brushed off any loose trash still clinging to him before taking a tarp to cover the top of the bags. Then he ran the cart out to the back alley of the hotel where he had parked the rental convertible. He hastily loaded the diamonds into the trunk of the car, making sure no one would walk up on him during the act.
When he had finally completed his end of the job, Mac tossed his gloves to the side, took out his phone, and dialed up Grace. It rang longer than he expected. If everything had gone like they planned it to, she would have already been in the elevator and on her way to meet him at the door. Worry grew a bit in his chest until the ringing stopped and Grace answered."It's done," Mac said. "They're all in the car, we can be at the boat by morning."
"MacGyver..."
There was a shake to her voice he hadn't heard when she picked up. Mac stopped breathing for a second. "What? What's wrong?"
"Don't do what he tells you - Mac! Don't do what he - mph!"
Grace's voice suddenly became muffled, and another voice took it's place. A mans voice. MacGyver listened intently as the voice he figured to be James Crowe's spoke.
"Mr. MacGyver, I'm only going to say this once. You've taken something from me, now I've taken something from you. If you ever want to see Miss Taylor again, you'll bring my diamonds to my private airstrip at O eight hundred hours tomorrow morning."
"What happens if I don't?""If I don't see you on the tarmac before that time, I'll kill Miss Taylor..." Crowe's voice became lower as he continued. MacGyver heard a faint whimper behind the receiver. "And leave you to clean up her body."
A mute beeping cut Mac off from the call as Crowe either hung up on him or, as he imagined, stomped the life out of it.
What could MacGyver do but cooperate with Crowe? He couldn't risk the life of Grace just for a few lousy diamonds. She would probably tell him to take the diamonds and leave the islands without her. Tell him there are people in the world who are starving and need these diamonds. Tell him to stick it to Crowe and make sure he never lays eyes on the diamonds ever again.
Tempting, Mac thought, hopping into the convertible. He wasn't going to let them kill Grace. He would never let that happen.
•••Approximately five hours later MacGyver came barreling down the tarmac of Crowe's private airstrip, 60 million dollars of diamonds bouncing around in the trunk. A cargo plane sat at the ready just ahead of him with a small collective of people standing, waiting for him just beside it.
He skid to a stop near the plane, jumped out of the convertible, and immediately had to throw his hands up in the air. Around five pistols were pointing his direction.
"Glad you decided to show up, Mr. MacGyver." said Crowe with a grin on his face. He had his own gun trained on Grace who looked like she hadn't slept a wink for twelve hours straight. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were dark and drooping and she was wearing scuffed up heels that were giving her heels blisters. A fresh and distinct bruise starting to form on her left cheek."I didn't exactly have a choice, did I?" Mac looked at Grace who seemed relieved he had shown up.
"Well, if you did, you certainly chose the right one. Open the trunk," Crowe gestured to his security. Two of the men walked forward to do as he asked, untying one of the four bags to make sure what was inside was indeed the stolen diamonds.
When the man nodded, Crowe's manner relaxed a bit. "Load it up." As one of the guards drove the rental car up into the cargo hold. "You too, Mr. MacGyver." Crowe gripped Grace's upper arm and sneered in her face. "You too Miss Taylor." He shoved her to get her to start walking toward the ramp. MacGyver and Grace didn't say a word to each other as they walked up into the plane together, hands raised.
Crowe's grin could be seen from miles away as they turned to look down at him. "Thank you for being so cooperative my friends." The ramp started to raise to close. "Enjoy the ride, it wont last long for you unfortunately."
The ramp sealed the plane shut and surrounded Mac and Grace in a darkness that only allowed a small amount of light in from little rectangular windows on the sides. Grace found a place on the floor and sat with her legs tucked against her chest, arms wrapped around them.
She failed. She was a failure. They were going to die as failures.
"Well, that went well."
"Shut up," Grace groaned, planting her face into her knees.
"What happened?""I don't want to talk about it!"
MacGyver bent down to tap her arm until she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "You did what you set out to do. You locked Crowe in a bathroom, hacked a high security safe and stole back the diamonds you've worked so hard to find."Grace shook her head slowly. "What do I have to show for it?" she whispered. "We're going to die and Crowe will still have the diamonds.""I'm not going to let that happen."
"What..." with a sigh Grace looked directly up into his sea green eyes. She could tell the gears had started to turn again. For the first time she wondered to herself what made his brain work the way that it did. "What can you do, Troubleshooter? I guarantee that you and I will both suffocate before we can do anything."Suddenly the ramp started opening up! MacGyver brought himself up from his crouch and walked over to the door that separated the cockpit from the cargo hold. Grace scooted back further into the cargo hold, her eyes widening.
MacGyver turned to look back at Grace then pointed at the wall where a few parachutes hung on the wall of the cabin. "Would you grab me two of those chutes please?" he asked as he went to the trunk of the car and reached in for the car jack. "Quickly!"Grace, figuring she'd do as he says now and ask questions later, got to her feet and went for the parachutes. "What do you need me to do?"
"Open them up," Mac says, jumping back to the cockpit door and barricading it with the jack so Crowe's men wouldn't barge in on them. "We're going to attach them to the car."
Grace's mouth fell open while hanging onto the first backpack she grabbed. "No. No no no no no no no! You can't be serious!"
MacGyver didn't answer, instead he snagged another chute from the side and started undoing the pack. As quickly as the both of them could work, Mac and Grace secured two parachutes to the open top convertible. All the while Grace voiced her concerns for the eventual feat they would attempt to make when they were done.
"What if the parachutes wont hold the car? How do you know we wont die?" she exclaimed, backing away from the vehicle, her hands in her hair.
Eventually, MacGyver finished tying the chutes down and whirled around on her, taking hold of her shoulders with wide eyes. "Listen!" he said. "We're going to die up here anyway. I'd like to think we'll try one more time before giving up. How 'bout you?"Grace slowly reached up to grab his hands from her shoulders. With a deep breath she nodded and they both rushed to jump into the car. Mac turned the key in the ignition starting the engine up.
This is really happening, isn't it? We're really going to attempt this. I actually might die today.
With one more glance at MacGyver, Grace realized she wasn't nervous. Not like she was before when she had to lock Crowe in his own penthouse bathroom. She wasn't sure if she was at peace seeing Mac as confident as he was or if she just felt numb. He might have been faking it for all she knew, but even if she tried to convince herself that he was, she still didn't feel any worse.
"Keep your head down," he said, shifting the car into reverse. "This might be rough!"
Grace balled herself up in the space between the passenger seat and the dashboard, her eyes pinched shut as the convertible lurched backward. The feeling of the wheels rolling off the platform made her heart drop into the pit of her stomach. A scream belted from her throat. The car flipped halfway around in the air before balancing out as the chutes deployed above them.
A brief silence held Grace in the most terrible suspense, until she heard a simple "Hey."
Grace peeled her eyes open at MacGyver's voice.
"You can come up now."Trying not to make too much movement, Grace peeked her head up from her hiding spot and carefully climbed back onto the passenger seat.She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
They were floating high above the beautiful green Cayman Islands in the midst of the sparkling Caribbean Sea. The sunny, blue horizon was full of fluffy white clouds and littered with soaring birds.
Grace's hair blew about in the wind as she took this all in, then looked up at the parachutes still tied to the car. Her voice came out faint, amazed they were still alive.
"You... you did it." Grace turned to MacGyver, her mouth agape. "Hey, Troubleshooter?"
Mac was already watching her through his wind blown hair. "Yeah?""Never, ever do that to me again."
MacGyver, though he looked absolutely traumatized by his own flying car idea and suddenly all the thoughts about how the heck they were going to land in this thing came flooding in, he still broke into a smile. "I'll try."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
A warm salty breeze blew gently through Grace's hair she had pulled up in a ponytail, while she leaned against the red rental convertible. She scuffed the sole of her shoe into the coarse pavement and tucked her hands into the deep front pocket of her university hoodie. She'd never gone to college, this was just one of those sweatshirts you'd get at a tent sale that your hometown only held three times during the summer, and it very quickly became your favorite go to comfort hoodie.
MacGyver was inside the gas station paying for the fill up. Grace could just make out his figure through the window, standing in the line for the register. He seemed unfazed after their run-in with James Crowe. They hadn't talked about it once since getting back from the Cayman Islands. Grace made it clear she wasn't ready to discuss any of what happened that night. She was still processing the fact that she had spent four hours locked inside Crowe's walk-in safe. No bathroom, no water, no light... she didn't bother banging on the door, he told her he wasn't going to let her out until daybreak. She practically froze in there sitting on the hard floor; not even her feet were safe from the cold seeing as she had kicked her shoes off to rush up and down the stairs of the penthouse. Crowe had brought his heel down on Grace's phone just after MacGyver's call. The threat he made sent shivers all the way down her back. The rest of the night she worked herself into a worry so terrible that she convinced herself Mac wouldn't show up on time. She felt absolutely helpless. Humiliated. But the worst of it all came from Crowe's fury that was released on her just before she was locked away. He had gripped her by the arm and swung at her with the end of his gun, hitting her right on her cheekbone and immediately tears welled up in her eyes -
Realizing she had zoned out while staring at Mac through the gas station window - he was now making his way back for the car - Grace turned away to study the cloudless Miami sky."Hey, you ready to go?" Mac said. Grace, without answering, plopped into the convertible passenger seat and slid her sunglasses onto her nose, waiting for Mac to start the engine and pull out of the station. Instead she noticed Mac set two cups in the center console. "Carmel or vanilla?"
Grace glanced at him. "What?"He paused, hands still on the drink containers. "Do you... like... coffee?" he asked, trying to gauge her expression behind the circular shades as he tucked the coffees carefully into the cup holders.
"Oh," she sighed, reaching for the closest cup. "Yeah."
"That's the vanilla," Mac explained, gesturing for the one she touched."Oh?" she reached for the other cup instead."Do you want vanilla?"Grace lifted her hands up with a shrug. "I'm fine with - ""'Cause you can!" Mac threw up his hands also."I'm fine with vanilla!""I'll have the caramel then."Grace tipped her head down to glance between the two choices. Neither was marked with any sort of indicator to tell which was which. She looked back up at him with her hands out, palms up. "Which is?""Uhh..." Without thinking, Mac reached for one of the cups and lifted it to taste. "This ones vanilla."Grace picked up the other cup of caramel flavored coffee. "Yep, and now it's yours."
With a slight chuckle MacGyver turned the key in the ignition and started to pull the car out of the gas station. She still hadn't said anything about Crowe, or the diamonds, or how they had managed to stay alive after dropping a vehicle out of a cargo plane. He could tell it was eating her up though. He could see she was mulling it over behind her sunglasses with an emotionless expression. Mac figured he would have time to ask her at some point, but he left her alone for the rest of the day.
Finally after driving for hours, only stopping to fill the tank and use the restroom once in a while, MacGyver found a little motel off the highway he figured would be nice enough to sleep the night away in. The sun had set, and now that cloudless sky was littered with stars that sparkled just like the stash of diamonds hiding in the trunk.
"What are you doing?" Grace asked.
Surprised, Mac glanced over at her while he pulled into a parking spot. It was the first thing she said since they had gotten coffee that morning. "I'm tired," he told her and turned off the engine, the sound of crickets chirping now filling the night air.
"Well then let me
drive." Grace unbuckled her seat belt.
"Grace,""I can drive, it's no big deal.""Grace," MacGyver reached over to put a hand on her arm which she yanked away just as quick. He couldn't see her eyes through the darkness, but he could sense the glare she shot his way. Mac hadn't asked her about her bruise, but his concern for her continued to grow with each passing hour of her silence. "I'm not going to make you stay up all night."
Grace sighed. For a long while she fought the urge to argue with him, try to convince him that they just needed to keep going. Keep driving until they got to the next check point... "Fine." She opened her door and stepped out, Mac following suit.
"It's just for one night, and we can leave early," he reassured her. Grace nodded hesitantly, taking her duffle bag over her arm and starting for the motel office. She sounded like she was trying to convince herself rather than Mac. Before following her to the motel, Mac made doubly sure he had the trunk securely locked. No one would ever suspect there might be 200lbs worth of diamonds just lounging in the trunk of a seemingly regular red convertible. But carelessness wasn't something they could afford. Not when they had made it this far.
Pete had set up for them a safe house along the road to California. It would come to be the place where the diamonds would swap handlers. But MacGyver understood the comfort of a bed, even if it wasn't your own. The passenger seat of a car could never quite cut it.
The problem Mac saw now was how off Grace was acting. She wasn't the same sassy woman he had met only days ago. What happened to her that night? What did Crowe do to infect the beautiful smile that MacGyver deemed snarky the first time they met.
~*~
"I think we can do better than just a simple reconnaissance mission." MacGyver hopped off the cabinet and stepped across the floor to Thornton's desk. "I think we can find and take back the diamonds, all in one go."
"You think..." Grace paused, catching glimpse of the books spine in his hand. The Demolished Man. A strange choice of fiction. "How exactly do you suppose we do such a thing?"
"Not sure yet," Mac said with a shrug.
Why is he smiling? thought Grace. Her brow lifted as she turned to look back at Mr. Thornton.
"Grace Taylor," Pete said, standing up. "This is MacGyver."
Without even so much as a 'hello', Grace spun around again to face MacGyver. "I hope you understand that I'm not planning on stealing anything. I'm just planning on doing some brief reconnaissance."
"Aren't you familiar with Crowe's casino?" MacGyver asked.
"Well it's not like I've stepped foot in the hotel or anything. We can't just go in head first without an idea of what we're getting into."
"I thought you said she had done extensive research on Crowe," Mac said to Pete who responded by simply throwing his hands up in defense.
"Yes I've done my research. But what you're suggesting is - "
"Crazy?" MacGyver interrupted.
Grace's mouth turned up in a sarcastic smirk. "How self-aware of you, Mr. MacGyver."
~*~It wasn't that Grace didn't want to sleep, it was that she couldn't even if she tried. While MacGyver readied himself for bed, Grace found herself wandering back out to sit on the porch just outside their shared room. She tucked her arms deeper within her sweatshirt and rested her cheek against her arm. The last couple of days had been such a blur. One thing that she repeatedly regretted over and over again in her head was the reason she wanted to be the one who found the diamonds, and why she needed to be the one in control of the assignment... it was her assignment... she started to wish she never asked Pete for it to begin with.
The reason she wanted to take this whole thing on in the first place was just to prove to the DXS that she was ready... Obviously Pete knew that she couldn't do it all by herself, seeing as he thought sending MacGyver with was the best option. If only she hadn't advocated for the assignment as confidently as she had, maybe Pete would have held her back.
This whole week had been a mistake. Now she started wishing she wasn't sitting outside a motel staring at a red convertible filled to the brim with shinning, expensive rocks...~*~The next morning MacGyver and Grace prepared themselves to start down the road, and again Mac noticed how quiet Grace was. Should I ask if she's okay? He didn't want to upset her any further; she hadn't been very nice to him throughout their assignment, but he wanted to make sure -
"What?"
"Hm?" MacGyver's brow arched."I'm fine." Grace stressed."I didn't say anything."Grace slid into the passenger seat. "You were staring at me."
"I was just... got lost in thought I 'spose." Mac watched Grace for a moment behind his sunglasses before getting into the convertible himself. What could he say but he was concerned about her. It seemed like she was still replaying the night of the heist in her head. She hadn't changed out of her sweatshirt since yesterday, and her hair remained in that same ponytail. There wasn't anything wrong with her appearance, but it made MacGyver wonder if she had gotten any sleep last night.
"It's not that bad."Surprised, Mac glanced back at her. "What?""It's not as bad as it looks." Grace gestured up at the black and blue mark on her cheek hiding just behind her sunglasses.
Seizing the opportunity to ask about what happened after they had stole back the diamonds, MacGyver turned the key in the ignition and tried his question: "Did... did Crowe do that to you?" A long pause drew out between them while he drove out past the town limits and down a seemingly empty and never ending road. Just when MacGyver accepted that she wasn't going to reply, he heard Grace take a deep breath.
"He did.""You must've made him pretty mad."
Grace simply gave a half shrug that Mac barely caught out of the corner of his eye. "I think we both took part in that." MacGyver's brow raised in agreement. "Do you think he'll come after us?"He started to nod at her question, then switched into a shrug. "Maybe. It wouldn't surprise me."
Grace nodded.
"We'll be okay though. We'll be at the safe house before you know it."
"When will that be?"
"We should make it there by tomorrow night if we keep on drivin'."
Grace, observing the empty road ahead of them, turned to her side of the car and pulled her hood up. Maybe if she paid less attention to the drive it would go by faster. All she wanted was to go home, but two very important things needed to happen before she would be able to do that: the diamonds needed to be handed off and returned to where they were stolen from. And she and MacGyver had to stay in a safe house for a few days. Just to be extra cautious. While Grace appreciated being so well taken care of, she would much rather be home in her own bed, curled up with her own blankets, her own pillows...It didn't take long for Grace to fall asleep. The last thing she saw before dozing off was a large bolder by the side of the road, an hour later she awoke to some of the same scenery passing by. It felt like time was going in reverse. Like a never ending dream; one where your feet wouldn't even take you across the room. She wondered how it was that she was able to so easily fall asleep. She wasn't scared of the dark after what happened in Crowe's apartment, but she felt she should be.
After grabbing a bite to eat, they were on their way once again. Grace wasn't in any better spirits, and nothing MacGyver said seemed to work. But after getting down the road a few miles he tried a new tactic. After taking a sip from his fresh coffee, he said: "You don't like me very much do you.""What?" Grace shot a look at him through her dark lenses.
MacGyver glanced her way. "Do you?""I - " Grace shook her head. "I don't understand the question.""Well, one would think if you liked me, even a little bit, you'd talk to me like you did."
Grace sputtered, shaking her head again. "Well - it - it's not like I hate you or anything."
"Okay, so you like me then?"Grace stifled a short laugh. "No."
"Not even a little bit?""Mac...""I mean," MacGyver lifted a shoulder. "I did kinda save your life not too long ago.""Mac - ""What?""Look." Grace pointed out the front at a vehicle pulled over on the side of the road. A young woman sat on the pavement with her legs crossed, and leaning against one of the tires while a man paced along the shoulder. MacGyver slowed the car down beside the couple.
"Hey folks," Mac said. "What seems to be the issue?"
The young woman glanced up at them and then at her partner before answering. "Well we're - ""Just experiencing some car trouble," interrupted the man. "That's all.""Frank..." the woman hissed, pushing her sunglasses up on her head to hold her shoulder length brunette hair out of her eyes.
Taking a glance at the hood of the car, MacGyver took note of the thin line of smoke coming from the engine. "Do you guys need a ride somewhere?" asked Mac. "I could take a peek for ya.""No that's fine - "The woman slapped her tan knee in defiance. "Frank!""It's really okay," Grace said. "He's pretty good at that sort of thing." Mac looked at Grace even though she didn't turn to meet his glance. Surprise faintly etched into his features.
"No, that's okay," Frank explained. "I'm pretty sure it's not fixable."
"Frank, they said they could give us a ride.""Penny," Frank warned through clenched teeth. He ran his fingers through his dark wavy hair. "It's not a good idea."
Grace and MacGyver exchanged a look. "It's no trouble, really," Grace said, turning to the couple once more. Although inside she secretly wished they hadn't even drove down this road. She just wanted to be home already. But she didn't want to neglect helping these people either.
"Just to the next town, Frank..." Penny pleaded .
Frank glanced between Penny, Mac and Grace. He looked like he was mulling over their options, looking to the smoking hood of their vehicle with a huff. "Fine," he gave her a sweet smile that simply lifted the corners of his lips. "Let's get your things, Pen."
Penny smiled at Grace before getting to her feet to grab her bags from the car. Grace turned to Mac, her eyes wide behind her glasses. "We can't let them put their bags in the trunk.""Why?" Mac whispered."You're kidding right? The diamonds!" Grace growled through her teeth. Before Frank could pop open the trunk, MacGyver and Grace turned in their chairs to shout over each other, each saying something about not opening the trunk. Stunned, Frank and Penny looked between them and then the couple offering them a ride. Grace cleared her throat with a smile and continued. "The trunk's full."