MacGyver wriggled as the rope his wrists were tied with dug into his flesh just a little too much.

Playing prisoner to Okilo’s soldiers was one thing, but the man assigned to “guard” him had taken his role just a bit too literally.

Mac fidgeted as he walked along with Jack at the center of the troops. This had been his plan, and yet now, as they approached Ademola’s stronghold, he couldn’t help but wonder if Okilo could be trusted.

Have I just given our heads on a plate to the President?

MacGyver shrugged off the feeling. No, he was a good judge of character, and Okilo was on their side.

Jack apparently wasn’t so sure. He leaned awkwardly over as they walked, his hands bound behind his back like Mac’s. “I sure hope we can trust General Custer over there…” He nodded towards Okilo as they came to a small gatehouse and paused.

Mac winced. “Did you have to use that particular reference? I don’t plan on this being our version of Little Bighorn.”

“Just look how famous we’d be, though!” Jack winked and then grew silent as Ademola emerged seemingly from nowhere.

The President was average height, but his stocky build and chubby features made him appear smaller. He wore a uniform and cap, even though he’d never seen a day’s military service in his life.

Surprisingly, his voice was high pitched and whiney. “I knew you would find this scum for me, Okilo! Were they hiding among the villages? If so, I want the people who took them in punished!”

“I found them near the wreck of your plane, Sir,” Okilo lied. “Cowering, like the invertebrates they are, Mr. President!”

Ademola walked up to MacGyver and circled him several times. Mac noted he held a small whip akin to that of a jockey’s tightly under his right arm. No doubt if they didn’t give the answers the president required, he and Jack would feel its wrath at some point.

“Take them to the room next to my office,” Ademola barked at the two guards watching Mac and Dalton, and then glanced to Okilo. “I will follow shortly.”

Okilo nodded and then prodded MacGyver to move, guiding him into Zambula’s version of a presidential palace with Jack and the two soldiers in tow.

Inside, the building was much more lavish than Mac had expected. The slightly barren outer walls gave way to rooms full of expensive carpets, wall tapestries, paintings, vases, even sculptures.

It reminded the troubleshooter of all the loot the German E.R.R. had stolen – but then, was Ademola any better than those people?

They moved up a shallow staircase and stopped outside a pair of doors. Okilo dismissed the two guards. “I will take it from here. I have questions for these two…”

The men backed away, obviously uncertain at leaving Okilo with the prisoners. When they had vanished back down the stairs, Okilo opened the door to the right and they all entered. Once the door was closed again, he untied MacGyver and Dalton.

“Are sure this is gonna work?” Jack asked, tossing down the ropes that had bound him. “I mean, laughing a bad guy into submission has to be a first!”

“It’ll work, just as long as Ademola and his aids stay in here long enough to breathe this.” MacGyver slid out a long metal cylinder from a flap he’d sewed into the inside of his jacket.

“And if the President goes next door straight away to interrogate us?” Jack asked with a scowl.

“Then I think,” Okilo joined in. “That as you Americans said earlier, our goose will be cooked.”

Jack scoffed. “Cooked? Heck, we’ll be burned at the crisp until even my moustache is cinders!”

Mac smiled at the banter as he fixed the bottle of nitrous oxide under Ademola’s desk with several strips of duct tape. The contents, commonly known as laughing gas, was used by Doctor Scott as an anesthetic, but release just enough into this room and Ademola and anyone else inside would be rendered pretty helpless, and true to its name, very giggly. The trick was getting it right.

He opened the valve up on the cylinder and nodded to the other two men. After a moment of recognition, all three used an adjoining door into the next room and quickly donned gas masks that Okilo had brought along under his jacket.

“Y’know…maybe it would be fun to get just a tiny whiff of that stuff,” Jack mumbled through the mask. “It might lighten you guys up a little.”

“Shush!” Mac put a finger up in warning as he heard approaching voices in the corridor. It was Ademola. MacGyver dared to open the door just a touch to watch the President.

Ademola entered through the right door as they had, and there were two other men in uniform at his side. He was mouthing orders to them and gesturing as if he was still angry from earlier.

The whip from under his arm abruptly appeared, and he swiped one of the soldiers across the face with it.

The guard yelped, clasped at his cheek and then began to laugh.

Ademola’s eyes bulged, and he swiped at the man again, but instead of retreating or apologizing, the soldier burst into fit of giggles.

Beside MacGyver, Jack almost did the same, although somewhat more quietly. Mac did a double take to make sure his friend still had his mask on, but Jack was just being Jack.

The second guard suddenly found his friend’s laughter intoxicating, and he too began to chortle uncontrollably until he was forced to slump down onto one of the President’s expensive chairs.

Ademola was mortified, his face reddening and his eyes popping.

And then, out of the blue, he started to giggle.

He dropped the whip in favor of holding onto his stomach; it apparently hurt so much to laugh so hard. Within a minute, he was also down on the chair behind his desk – the perfect cue for MacGyver and his companions to storm the room.

Grabbing a platted curtain tie-back, Mac cut it to size and used it to bind the two guards. While he did the same with Ademola, Jack and Okilo hid the soldiers in a cupboard, gagging them with more cut to size curtain accessories.

Maybe it was a good thing Ademola had such rich tastes in décor after all? MacGyver mused as he worked.

“Are we okay for time?” Jack looked at Mac. “Because, you know I have to be home in time for Double Jeopardy…”

Mac rolled out two body bags that Dalton had hidden in his own jacket, and they dragged Ademola into the first one.

“We’re okay,” Mac confirmed. “But I think it’s time “we died” or the other guards not on our side might get suspicious.

“Yes, Ademola would not let you live long.” Okilo agreed, reaching to his belt holster for his automatic. “Would you like it in the heart or in the head?” He asked in a somewhat bemused tone.

“If this was Ademola’s doing, I’d have more said in the back!” Jack jibed. “But I think I’d like mine in the wall, if you don’t mind.” He clambered into the second body bag, and MacGyver followed.

Okilo waited until they were secure, and then fired two bullets into the plasterboard opposite Ademola’s desk. For added effect, he spread a vial of “blood” near the holes that Mac had cooked up back at the clinic with a few chemicals.

By the time he had finished, there was a frantic knocking at the door. Okilo opened it to find two guards looking very flustered.

“Is everything alright, General? We heard gunshots?”

Okilo huffed. “The President was not happy with the answers his guests gave.” He moved back to let the first soldier see the body bags. “They will not be giving any more unsuitable replies. Take the bodies outside and dump them in the awaiting truck. I will make sure they are disposed of later.”

“And the President?” the guard pushed.

Okilo seemed almost blasé. “He has retired to his personal quarters and does not want to be disturbed. I fear he is still angry at the loss of his new plane.” He pointed to the bags. “Follow your orders and all will be well.”

The second soldier seemed more compliant and pushed passed his companion, picking up one end of the bag with Mac and Dalton in. Eventually the other soldier joined in, grunting as he apparently felt the weight of his load.

Okilo chuckled. “These Americans, they eat too much junk food, yes?”

Neither man dare argue with him. They left the room, and were back within five minutes for the bag with Ademola in.

Okilo followed them down with it, ever-watchful of their actions.

“This one is much lighter than the first!” One of the soldiers noted as he lifted the bag up over the truck’s tailgate.

The General opened his mouth to reply, but then stopped as his eyes spotted Ademola’s hands poking through a gap in the zipper. The direction of his startled gaze gave him away, and the guard that had spoken only moments earlier instantly looked in the same direction.

The President’s ring was all he needed to see to sound the alarm.

“The President is being kidnapped!” The soldier reached for his sidearm and spun to turn it onto Okilo.

Inside the other body bag, MacGyver instantly knew there was something wrong and fumbled in the darkness to find the zipper.

“Ouch! Do you mind, I just got your elbow right in my moustache!” Jack grouched.

Mac ignored him and used his knife to slice his way out. As he exited the bag, he rolled out of the truck, knocking the second soldier straight off his feet. Without giving the other guard time to react, he bounced up and shot a right hook straight at the man’s face.

The soldier ducked just in time and pulled back on his trigger, but the shot went wide, pinging off a nearby Jeep and through a window.

MacGyver dodged behind the truck to avoid another slug, but was just in time to see Jack use his now empty body bag to knock the automatic from the guard’s hand. He then stuffed it over the man’s head and chest. For good measure, Okilo quickly wrapped his belt around the bag to secure it.

Jack winced. “Oops…remember earlier when we were talking about our gooses being cooked?” He gestured across the yard as a dozen of Ademola’s men approached with rifles. “Well, I think that moment has arrived. I can feel the skillet frying me up already…” A barrage of bullets agreed with him as the troops opened fire, spattering the truck and nearby outer wall with holes. “Jeez, I’m gonna be the first human sieve!”

Mac put Ademola over his shoulder, then grabbed Jack’s arm, yanking him backwards behind the truck’s hood. Okilo joined them after giving return fire with his automatic.

“So now what, Mac, me boy?” Jack was getting vocal. “We can’t drive outta here, and we sure as heck can’t walk…”

“May I suggest we fly?” Okilo slipped another clip into his Browning.

Jack huffed. “Hey, I might be a pilot, but I can’t just grow wings ya know?”

Okilo pointed to their right. There was a Hughes 500 sitting on a helipad painted in Zambula’s national colors. “I suggest we use the President’s current form of transport?”

Jack’s expression changed from exasperation to one of pure joy. “Well now why didn’t you say so?” He rubbed his hands together, and then slapped MacGyver on the back. “We’re back in business, back in the clouds, back…”

“Back in a whole lot of trouble,” Mac groused. “Do I really have to fly with you again? I mean…maybe I should just give myself us to these guys. It might be safer…”

Jack didn’t hear the jibe. He was already dodging more of the soldiers’ gunfire as he zigzagged his way across the yard into the cordoned area where the chopper sat.

Amazingly, there wasn’t a guard anywhere to be seen near the chopper, and he jumped behind the controls with a whoop of joy.

Mac rolled his eyes and Okilo actually looked afraid, but they both followed Dalton across to the Hughes, MacGyver taking point with the President as Okilo brought up the rear with covering fire.

As Mac clambered aboard, he laid down Ademola on the rear seat and dived to miss another volley of bullets that spattered the Hughes’ glass. By now the rotors were moving, and the noise and downdraught were almost a godsend.

“I sure hope you took lessons since I last saw you with one of these things!” Mac shouted above the gunfire and the helicopter’s engine.

“Sure…” Jack’s eye twitched uncontrollably. “I’m a certified expert. Kind of…”

“It’s the certified part I’m worried about!” Do I really have to do this? Do I really have to fly with him again?

MacGyver pushed away the bad vibes and helped Okilo into the bird. As the General swung his body onto the seat next to Ademola, the Hughes finally began to rise off the ground.

The chopper’s skids hovered, then bounced back on the pad, then rose again before finally taking flight. It was far from a gracious liftoff, but Jack whooped for joy anyway.

Mac winced as the Hughes banked, its tail spinning around wildly before leveling off and soaring skywards. “Is everyone okay?” he asked, checking the body bag Ademola still lay in for extra holes.

“I’m more than okay!” Jack oozed. “I’m airborne and loving it!”

Okilo’s expression said he was not loving it, and neither was MacGyver.

“Jack, do you think you could actually fly this thing in a straight line at a consistent height?” Mac bemoaned as they were tossed from side to side by Dalton’s efforts. “I’m starting to feel sea sick…”

Jack shook his head. “Hey, I know I’m still kind of a beginner with these things, but it’s not me, I swear! This bird has a mind of its own.” He pointed down to the controls which were shaking violently in his hands.

Mac felt the color drain from his face as quickly as the bullets had faded into the distance once they taken off. “Are you telling me we’re in trouble? Again?” He looked down, realizing the African grasslands below were flashing by in blur. Were they going to be a mangled and very dead part of that blur soon?

“I think the term “we’ve been hit” might be an understatement!” Jack gritted his teeth as he spoke, apparently using all his strength to keep the Hughes’ nose up. “I’m going to have to land or we’ll be off Tarzan’s Christmas list when we tear up his neighborhood!”

To confirm Dalton’s fears, the helicopter’s tail began to spin around again, and this time he didn’t seem to be able to stop it.

“That’s it! I’m never, not ever flying again. Not a plane, not a chopper, heck, not even a kite!” Mac wasn’t sure whether he was joking or serious, but the quip made the knot in his stomach loosen just a touch.

Jack didn’t hear – for once he was concentrating on flying, or rather avoiding crashing for the second time in just two days.

The Hughes seemed to appreciate his efforts, and slammed into the ground in one piece, its skids shuddering as the ungainly momentum of the chopper was jarred to a halt.

“Are we down?” Okilo had his hands in front of his face, and MacGyver wondered if he had been saying a prayer to whatever god he worshipped.

“We’re down,” Mac confirmed, sliding out of the back as the rotors above began to slow. “And for once, in one piece!”

Jack grinned. “That’s because I’m getting good at crashing!”

“It’s about the only thing you are good at!”

“Mac, I’m wounded that you’d say that, and after all we’ve been through!”

MacGyver ignored Dalton and unzipped Ademola’s body bag. The President glared back at him, but Mac tugged away the gag that silenced him anyway.

“How dare you treat me this way?” Ademola didn’t waste a second before beginning his tirade. “I will see you all die a slow and painful death for this!” He turned his head to Okilo. “I will save the best torture for you, my friend. I promise.”

Okilo turned away, but Jack appeared to find the verbal assault quite amusing. He waited until the President ran out of air and then put his finger to his lips in an un-vocalized hush. “I’d be quiet if I were you,” he warned, nodding towards MacGyver, who was now appraising the Hughes for damage. “You see my buddy there? If he gets his hands on a gun, why he’s likely to just shut you up the old fashioned way.” Jack’s eye twitched madly, but Ademola had no way of knowing what that meant.

The President’s eyes narrowed, but he continued his threats.

MacGyver, oblivious to Jack’s joke, moved to the pilot’s now open door and sighed. “I can’t see any significant damage apart from a few holes in none-vital areas.”

“That,” Dalton replied, “Is because the problem is right here!” He tapped one of the controls in front of him. “See how loose this thing is? If we hadn’t landed I got the feeling it was going to come away completely in my hand.”

Mac leaned in, craning his neck to look at the base of the stick. “I think a stray bullet has shattered the cyclic controls’ shaft where it connects at the bottom here…” He shook it to prove his point.

“I don’t suppose you have a spare up that magical sleeve of yours?” Jack teased. “And maybe some tools to fit it?”

“I’ll see what I can do.” MacGyver glanced around the front of the Hughes, but there was nothing to work with unless he could put two headsets to use.

He moved to the back of the chopper and started to rummage behind the rear seat. There was a rather ancient rifle, but it held no clip. That didn’t matter, at least, not for what he had in mind.

“…tomorrow I will see you all hang, my troops will be upon you within the hour. You didn’t get far enough from my enclosure with your little escape plan…” Ademola was still in full swing until his eyes spotted what MacGyver had found. Suddenly his voice turned into a stammer. “You wouldn’t kill me..? I can stop the soldiers from hurting you. I can issue a full pardon…I…”

Mac looked at the man in front of him, one minute an evil tyrant, the next a sniveling coward who begged for his life. It was a sobering thought. “I’m not going to kill you,” he assured. “I’m not that kind of man, even if you are. Trust me; I don’t ever want to stoop that low.” He shook his head and moved back to the front of the Hughes.

Ademola watched him go, his face a masque of incredulity, and also relief. He didn’t attempt to make any more threats, or even speak, but instead curled into a ball on the rear seat, watching his captors work.

“You sure told him!” Jack noted as MacGyver pulled out his knife. “So what are you really gonna do with the gun?”

“Shoot you, for crashing again maybe?”

Dalton sniffed, feigning hurt pride. “That’s harsh. I like to think of it as more of a controlled decent.”

MacGyver didn’t grace his old friend with an answer. Instead he pulled out the saw blade on his knife and examined it. He really wasn’t sure it was up to the task he was about to give it, but if they had any chance of escape, this had to work.

Measuring with just his judgment, Mac marked the barrel of the gun with the edge of his thumb, placed it on the raised end of the chopper’s skid, and began to hack away at the metal, praying the blade didn’t snap.

It was slow going, and as he worked, Mac knew the blade was becoming damaged, but he took his time, and eventually his patience paid off.

The section of barrel came away in his hand and MacGyver sighed with relief. Now came the slightly easier part. Shooing Jack from the pilot’s seat, he leaned in and examined the damaged shaft. There was no accurate way to replace it, so he was going to make a “splint” just like the makeshift ones used on broken bones.

Offering up the barrel section to the original part, he pulled out a flattened roll of duct tape from his jacket pocket and began to wind it tightly around the two metal pieces until they effectively became one.

Once complete, he stood back and tugged on the control shaft, testing its strength. There was still play in the rod, but whether Dalton would be able to compensate enough was anyone’s guess.

Jack’s a better pilot than you give him credit for, MacGyver hoped silently.

Jack had less confidence in his abilities. “You’re not actually asking me to fly this puppy like that, are you?” He raised a brow.

“All the wrecks you’ve got me to fly in and you ask me that?” MacGyver raised a brow of his own. “I seem to remember a certain DC-3 with no landing gear for starters. You know the one I kinda fell out of trying to fix?”

“Hey, at least you had a parachute! MY parachute!” Jack poked his own chest with his forefinger. “Besides, we needed to get that down on the ground. This bird is already down; we don’t need to push our luck and take back off again!”

MacGyver shook his head and pointed to several dust trails already appearing in the distance. “See those? They belong to Ademola’s elite guard. If we stay here, that will really be pushing our luck. C’mon, this time you can fly my piece of junk for a change, Kemo Sabe!”

Okilo watched the exchange in apparent fascination, but as Jack saluted MacGyver and dived back into the cockpit, the General retook his seat, seemingly relieved that they would soon be moving again.

This time, MacGyver sat up front next to Jack, just in case the pilot needed a hand.

Jack, however, was already muttering to himself as he got the rotors whirling. “If this works, I’ll never lie again…at least not on a Sabbath…” He looked skywards, and then grabbed the controls, getting a feel for Mac’s handiwork.

After a few expletives under his breath that earned him a scowl from MacGyver, he finally tried to take off.

The Hughes groaned and seemed to refuse to move for a few frightening seconds, and then it slowly moved sideways, soaring into the sky at an odd angle as Dalton attempted to find the cyclic control’s new “center”.

“See, I told you I was good,” Jack chuckled as they reached a decent height. “Now all you have to do is sort out all the fuel we’re leaking and we’re home and dry…”

MacGyver’s throat suddenly felt drier than the ground they were sweeping over. “Not again…”

Jack slapped him on the back so hard Mac almost slammed into the windshield. “Just kidding, me boy! We actually have plenty of gas, for once!”

Mac blinked, resisting the urge as always to punch his friend, but his anger soon turned to a smile as he heard Okilo nervously laugh from the rear.

Maybe for once, one of Jack’s schemes had done some good. Maybe now they could all go home happy and safe – even the people of East Zambula.

He patted Jack’s shoulder and then pointed to the two headsets. “Do you think you can get us over the border and in touch with the nearest authorities? I think we’re going to need Pete’s help to finish what we’ve started.”

Jack nodded and bravely let go of one of the controls just long enough to slip on a headset, settling the mike over his mouth, he began to put out a mayday.

MacGyver allowed himself a moment, closing his eyes and imagining returning to Zambula some day to find it a flourishing country that’s nation ruled by democracy, not tyranny.

And maybe with Phoenix’s time and political connections, that day would be soon.

* * * *

East Zambula
Southern Province
Somewhere South of The Avery Clinic
Sometime Later…

The Land Rover bounced across the rugged terrain, jarring the bones of its occupants over and over as it raced through a patch of burnt grassland.

MacGyver didn’t notice the ride quality. His eyes were fixed on the beauty of the landscape and its very wild occupants. A giraffe munched aimlessly at a treetop as they passed, not a care in the world, a group of gemsbok drank at a small waterhole, and in the distance, a lion bathed in the warmth of the sun, watching and waiting for its next meal to pass by.

Is that Jack’s lion, Mac mused, maybe I should point it out to him?

Jack was sitting on the opposite side of the Land Rover and was unusually quiet. Still, a great deal had happened in a short time, and it was a lot to take in for the wayward pilot – well, for everyone.

After Jack had landed the helicopter in neutral territory, the Phoenix Foundation had quickly become involved in the people of Zambula’s struggle.

To be fair and impartial an election had been arranged in which President Ademola was allowed to stand, along with representatives of the people. The understanding had been clear – if Ademola should lose the election, he would stay in exile and hold no claim to Zambula or its treasury any longer.

Ademola had protested, naturally, but given that Okilo and the rest of the army had already arrested the President’s elite guard, he’d had little choice in the end but to capitulate.

The election had taken place one week ago now, and as expected, Ademola had lost. MacGyver sighed. He was probably living it up on some tropical island by now, given that his secret bank accounts hadn’t been traced in time to freeze. But at least the locals were safe from him and his tyranny.

“Are we getting close?” Pete, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, broke MacGyver from his thoughts. “I’m eager to meet these people.”

Mac looked up and realized he could already see the clinic on the horizon. Outside, there was a crowd waiting for them, and even at this distance he could see Helen’s bright blonde hair standing out like a striking beacon against all the locals. The sight made him smile, and he realized just how much he liked the doctor.

Maybe in another time, another place…

“Just about there,” Mac acknowledged as the soldier driving them began to ease off the gas. “And it looks like they have a surprise party waiting for us!”

At the words “party” Jack looked up and his slightly dour face tweaked into a smile. “Did somebody say party?”

Mac shook his head. “Not your kind of party, that’s for sure! No women, no drink, no wild…”

“Hey, I can be normal sometimes ya know? Well kinda…” Jack complained.

The Land Rover squeaked to a halt and Mac clambered out, followed by Dalton. The soldier came next, opening the door for Pete and guiding him out next to his friends.

Helen and Ife were first to greet them.

“It is good to see you again, my friends!” Ife clasped her hands together in delight. “I know Ayo cannot wait to give you a hug!”

On cue, the little boy appeared and ran straight into Mac’s arms, grabbing the troubleshooter and squeezing hard. “You saved everyone!” His big brown eyes looked up and MacGyver almost melted. It was so good to see the kid alive and well, and so happy. Mac squeezed affectionately back.

“See! I told you this trip would be worth it in the end!” Jack oozed. “Okay, so the original plan was kinda a disaster, but look what we achieved! Who knew that I could be such an international savior?”

Dalton was bristling with all the attention the locals and their children were giving him, and MacGyver was sure he could see the pilot’s head swelling under that cap of his.

“You know what would really be the icing on the cake to all this?” Mac smiled innocently back.

Jack frowned, possibly sensing the calm before the storm. “Err, I get the feeling you’re about to tell me..?”

“If I finally got to punch you right about now!”

Jack ducked reflexively, even though MacGyver didn’t actually take a swing. He moved so quickly, he actually lost his footing and tripped over, landing in an undignified heap next to a mule.

The crowd, especially the children roared as if the best clown in town was playing before them. But then, maybe he was.

Finally, Mac felt like he’d gotten his own back for years of torment and chuckled uncontrollably. Pete joined in, even though he couldn’t see what was happening.

“Oh funny, very funny! Now I’m never going to cut you guys in on my new Dalton’s Flying Circus deal.” He tried to brush off dirt from his trousers and then his head cocked to one side as something apparently hit him “Actually, maybe the Phoenix Foundation might be interested in throwing a little funding my way?” Jack started to babble about helping the needy and cheering up the old, the sick, and the underprivileged.

The exaggerated pleas didn’t wash.

“No WAY!” Pete and Mac chimed together between fits of laughter as they joined in with the crowd, poking fun at the man who had gotten them here in the first place.

Jack let out a long breath and finally gave in, chuckling himself as Ayo bounced down beside him, a huge grin on his face.

MacGyver watched as the two began to chat, relaxing and enjoying the moment. And when Helen Scott appeared beside him and silently took his hand, guiding him back to the clinic, he didn’t argue.

Maybe he’d like to get to know her better, not in another time and another place, but here and now.

Because in this life, you never did know just what was around the corner.

The End