When the telephone first rang, MacGyver was sure it was part of his dream. But when the persistent ringing didn’t let up, he dragged himself to sit up. He could hear Sam groaning on the other side of the room.

“Did you order a wake-up call?”

“No,” Sam muttered. “Did you?”

“Guess I better answer it, then,” MacGyver replied, picking up the phone as Sam clamped a pillow down over his ears. “Hello?”

“Hey, MacGyver, this is Neil.”

MacGyver’s throat went dry. Neil wouldn’t call him at 4:30 in the morning without a good reason; so what could it be?

“Hey, Neil,” he replied calmly. “What’s going on?”

“I just brought in three teenagers who broke into the local fish hatchery, of all places. They won’t tell me why they did it---senior prank, I guess---but I’ve got a young lady here who wants to use her phone call to talk to you.” Neil paused. “You don’t happen to know anything about what’s going on, do you? It’d be a big help to me if you did.”

“I might have an idea,” MacGyver replied. “I’ll see what I can find out and get back to you. I promise.”

“Thanks, MacGyver. I appreciate it.”

For a second, the only sound was a background rustle, and then Alix’s crystal voice came over the line. “MacGyver?”

“Alix! What were you thinking, breaking into the fish hatchery like that?”

“I was thinking that we could find something that you and Sam could take to the city council or something. Any kind of proof or something. Damien’s dad is the town locksmith and he taught Damien how to pick a lock, so he and Jake and I went in there together. And then we got caught.”

“Did you find anything out?”

“Well, we found a locked room right past the offices. It had a padlock on it---a really big one, and too complicated for Damien to get open. Jake brought bolt cutters just in case, but I wasn’t gonna use those on it because that would’ve been a dead giveaway, so instead, we snuck into Dr. Phelps’ office to look for the key. He really sucks at hiding things, but right after we got the key, we heard voices coming back into the building. Dr. Phelps and Dr. Owens were arguing over whether or not to continue with some kind of experiment. Things got heated, and then Dr. Phelps barged into his office and found us. That’s when he turned us in to the police.”

MacGyver ran a hand through his hair and frowned. “Sam and I met Phelps yesterday after we left the park. We knew that he was hiding something, and that experiment is probably it. Do you have any idea what they could be working on?”

“No clue. But you can find out for us. Phelps doesn’t know that we took the key. I still have it. Officer Ryder says that we’ll be released to our parents later today because they’re not pressing charges, but the school’s still suspending us for three days, so Jake’s mom is going to take him by there around noon to pick up our homework and stuff. Jake told me that you went to school here too, so you ought to know where all the outdoor lunch tables are. He’s going to leave the key---” Abruptly, her tone changed. “Yeah, I knew you wouldn’t be able to get me off the hook with my mom, but thanks anyway.”

“Alix? Everything okay?” MacGyver said before realizing why she’d changed her tune. “Did Neil come back?”

“Yeah. Thanks anyway. Goodbye, MacGyver.” Then the line went dead.

“Sam? You still up?”

“Wide awake,” came the journalist’s voice from beneath his pillow.

By the time Mac had finished giving Sam the rundown on their early morning telephone call, Sam was bright-eyed and sitting up straight with an intense look on his face. “So, what are we going to do now?”

MacGyver smiled at his son affectionately. “Well, you’ve been pretty eager to take the lead so far. What do you think we should do?”

Sam beamed with pride. “I think we should get that key, break into the hatchery tonight, and find out for sure what those scientists are up to.”

Mac’s smile grew wider. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

MacGyver had an eerie feeling up his spine as he stared up at the burnt-red bricks of his alma mater. A feeling of nostalgia and foreboding at the same time. He and Sam had arrived at the school around half past three, just after school was out and the buses had left for the day. The wide parking lot and grassy grounds were deserted.

“C’mon, Sam,” he said finally. “The picnic tables used to be around back, and Alix made it sound like not much has changed.” He led Sam to the back of the school, to the cluster of wooden tables haphazardly arranged around a looming, gnarled oak tree.

“There’s got to be ten, fifteen different tables out here,” Sam said. “How are we going to find this stupid key? Looking for it will take us all day!”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. Think about it, Sam: you’re not so far away from being a teenager yourself. If you were going to hide something, where would you put it?”

Sam considered it for a moment. “My favorite backpack has a secret pocket inside. I used to hide my stash of Twinkies in there.”

“Twinkies?”

“Sometimes field notes and stuff too,” Sam said defensively. “What about the tree? I bet a tree as old and as big as that must have all kinds of good hiding places.”

MacGyver grinned. “Exactly. When I was a kid, there was a big knothole on the right side of the trunk. I used to leave notes that things in there for my friends. It’d be a perfect place for Jake to hide the key.”

Sam bounded over to the tree to check. “Uh-oh.”

Mac’s smile faded and he went to look at the tree for himself. Someone---likely a well-meaning custodian---had plugged up the hole. “I guess we’ll just have to look for it, then.”

“Hey, Dad!” Sam called excitedly. MacGyver moved to the other side of the tree to see Sam grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Sam pointed down to where a root protruded from the ground and the rain-washed soil had eroded away from the bark. “Found it.”

Mac squatted down to look and, sure enough, the key was stuck to the underside of the root with a piece of duct tape. MacGyver smiled. “Good work, Sam.”

They waited until nightfall before sneaking to the fish hatchery.

“We should go in the service door on the side,” MacGyver said, leading Sam along the right wall. “It’s darker over there, and there’ll probably be less security.”

“I can get the lock,” Sam offered.

Mac hesitated. “Are you sure you want to do this, Sam? There’s a pretty big risk if we get caught.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve done something risky for a story. Besides, I think that doing the right thing is worth it.”

MacGyver smiled. “I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh?”

“Sure doesn’t,” Sam replied as he picked the lock and the two of them slipped inside.

The facility was empty and quiet, and it took a lot of effort to keep their footsteps from echoing on the concrete. The “Employees Only” door swung open noiselessly.

Finding the locked room was all too easy---at the end of the hall, one door was padlocked right in plain sight. MacGyver did a cursory check for booby traps as a precaution, but it was unnecessary. He glanced at Sam, shrugged, and unlocked the door.

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