Los Angeles, 1994

MacGyver scrubbed a hand through his unruly hair, feeling the bruise where Cooper had hit him.

“And then they buried it, Pete. They threatened me with everything under the sun if I ever talked about it to anyone, and they buried the whole thing.” He took another look down the street, relieved to find it empty. “No court martial, no-one held responsible for all those deaths. Officially, it was an unsafe IED that blew its maker to bits.”

“So why has it come out now?” Pete sounded both confused and horrified. “Mac, you need to get somewhere safe. Can you get to my place? We can figure out what to do for the best.”

“Sounds like a plan.” MacGyver balanced the phone on his shoulder and pulled a Calgary Flames hat out of his bag, tipping the brim down low and tucking his hair up under it to try to disguise his appearance. “Gonna take me a while though, if Cooper knew the route I take home from hockey practice, I bet he knows where I live too. I’ll get on a bus instead of going home to get the Jeep.” He took off his jacket, exchanging it for the sweatshirt he wore for training.

“OK Mac. I’ll try to get hold of that artillery report. But Mac, Vietnam was a long time ago – even with my contacts, I may not be able to find it.” Pete’s voice was worried. “Stay safe, Mac.”

“Thanks Pete, I’ll do my best.” MacGyver hung up and set off for the nearest bus stop, where he spent an anxious five minutes waiting for one to arrive. He boarded the bus and chose a seat at the back, stowing his bag and stick under the seat.

Vietnam, 1973

Corporal MacGyver boarded the bus and chose a seat at the back, stowing his kit bag and rifle under the seat. The two weeks he’d spent at the outpost had been eventful. He’d defused four kitchen-chemistry bombs, supervised mine clearance of a road that ran past a school and safely exploded some antique grenades that an old South Vietnamese soldier had been hoarding since Korea. He was pleased to be returning to his usual team. The outpost had a strange feel to it, as if there was a lot going on under the surface.

MacGyver leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. Perhaps he was being unfair. Perhaps he was letting his frustration at his report being hushed up colour his perception of an otherwise perfectly good squad. The bus lurched over a rock and Mac’s head bumped against the window. As uncomfortable as Jeeps were, they were far better than travelling by military bus. His Jeep had been commandeered by a Sergeant heading back this way the day before, leaving MacGyver with no option. He held onto the seat in front as the bus rattled and skidded over the muddy ground. At least they weren’t getting bogged down this time. On the way back from the bombed village they’d got stuck three times, and MacGyver was sure that the experience of digging the truck out while snipers shot at them from the dripping jungle would haunt his dreams for some time. He’d helped to push plenty of trucks over the last few years, but never one as heavy as that.

He must have fallen asleep, because the bus was pulling into MacGyver’s home base when he opened his eyes again. Charlie Robinson, his fellow EOD expert and general partner in crime was waiting for him when he got off. His usually cheery face was grim and he caught MacGyver’s sleeve, pulling him aside before speaking.

“Mac, am I glad to see you. You heard what’s happened?” Charlie’s eyes darted to Cooper’s office and MacGyver followed his gaze.

“What’s wrong, Charlie? Did something happen to Cooper?”

“Oh, yeah.” Charlie nodded. “You hear about a village getting flattened last week? IED went up, killed everyone and levelled the place!”

“Hear about it? I was there, Charlie!” MacGyver frowned. Charlie picked up gossip better than a radio receiver, so if Charlie had only heard the official ‘unstable IED’ story, the truth must have been sewn up very tight indeed.

“Turns out," Charlie continued, “that Sergeant Cooper had a Vietnamese girlfriend and a kid living there. He’d kept it real quiet, of course, but he’s just about off his head with grief about it. We’re all covering for him, but…” Charlie shrugged helplessly.

“Good grief, Charlie, I had no idea!” MacGyver blinked hard, images of broken bodies and a small hand clutching a doll swimming up out of his memory. “How bad is he?”

“Pretty bad.” Charlie pushed back his cap and scratched his head. “You know Cooper, he’s buttoned up pretty tight at the best of times. You maybe wouldn’t notice if you didn’t know him, but it’s like there’s no-one home, you know?”

“Yeah.” MacGyver left his kit with Charlie and walked across to Cooper’s office. He tapped on the open door and stepped into the room.

“Corporal MacGyver, welcome back.” Sergeant Cooper’s voice was quiet and even.
“Sir.” MacGyver saluted. “Reporting back for duty.” Cooper nodded without looking up.

“You’ve had an… interesting couple of weeks, Corporal.” Cooper’s tone was unchanged, but when he looked up, MacGyver took an involuntary step away from the pain on Cooper’s face. “I read Commander Tyler’s report, Corporal. An IED destroyed a village near us, yes?” Cooper put down his pen and steepled his fingers, staring at MacGyver with empty eyes.

“The village was already gone when we got there, Sergeant. We’d got a report of an IED and-" MacGyver stopped as Cooper stood, his chair scraping on the floor.

“I went, Corporal. I went to see for myself. That was no home-brewed bomb and you know it!” Cooper was pale, his eyes shadowed. MacGyver wondered if he had slept at all since finding out.

“Sarge, I-"

“No.” Cooper cut him off. “I know you can’t say anything. You’ve been told what will happen to you if you talk about an… incident that the chiefs have decided is to be kept quiet.” His tone was bitter. MacGyver nodded but didn’t speak. “No, that damage was caused by a mortar. And if I ever find out who ordered the strike, I will find him. And I will kill him.” Cooper fell silent, so still that MacGyver couldn’t even see him breathing. Then Cooper turned away and stared out of the window.

“You’re dismissed, Corporal.” MacGyver nodded and saluted to Cooper’s back. At the door, he paused.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Sir.” He waited for a moment, watched Cooper nod once and then went through the door, shutting it quietly behind him.