Chapter Text
mac knew something was wrong from the second he stepped out the door this morning. shortly after desi left him, riley moved out, leaving mac all alone again. sure, the down time was nice, but he missed riley a lot. her laugh, her smile, her (failed) cooking, just her overall presence always brightened mac's day. mac pulled out his cell phone to dial riley's number. "hey, riles it's me. please call me back, i just uh had a bad feeling about today." he stared at his phone for a second after leaving the message and slipped it in his pocket with a sigh.
she was fine. probably. it wouldn't hurt to check , mac reasoned. he took a left towards riley's apartment instead of the right towards phoenix at the end of the road. as he pulled into riley's apartment's parking lot, a sinking feeling of dread settled in his stomach. her car was still parked at front, looking pretty normal, so maybe she was just sleeping in?
she did do that a lot. mac smiled at the thought but his face quickly fell when he noticed her door was open. opening the door slightly, he called out "riles?" the sight that greeted his eyes made his stomach plummet. riley's usually-somewhat-clean apartment was a mess. her lamp had been knocked over, and books and papers littered the ground. someone had obviously searched the apartment.... or somebody had put up a struggle.
"riles?" mac called again, his voice rising. "riley!" he yelled, throwing open her bedroom door. the sheets were crumpled as if she was dragged from bed. her phone and laptop lay on the bed, untouched and mac swallowed hard. "oh god, riles...." he pulled out his phone and immediately dialed bozer. "man where are you? you're never late. tell riley to get her ass here."
"boze, it's riles. i'm at her apartment, it's been broken in. she's gone and all her stuff is here." bozer immediately sobered up and called for the others in the background. "you're on speaker man." he informed mac. "alright. i came to riley's to check over her and the door was unlocked. her apartment has been seriously messed with, but her phone and laptop is still on her bed. someone was here, can you check security cameras?" the words tumbled out of mac's mouth in-discernibly fast.
"got it." matty spoke and the team collectively gasped at the sight of riley being hauled into an unmarked van just half an hour before mac showed up. "what is it?" mac's voice was high and russ sighed. "she was taken by two men in an unmarked black van." desi crossed her arms by her chest, staring at the screen in shock. "wait, mac she's blinking weird." mac's spirits soared at the words. that was his girl.
"morse code. i'm on my way." he cut the call, and rushed to his car. mac had never drove as fast as he drove to the phoenix, speeding past stop signs and red lights. finding riley was his only priority and nothing was going to get in his way. minutes later he came rushing into the room, slightly out of breath from all the running. "show me." he demanded and bozer silently replayed the video.
"riles." he whispered, heart sinking at the sight. her hair was adorably messed up, pieces of hair falling into her face as she struggled. the men were wearing black hoodies and turned away from the cameras. but riley had locked onto the camera. she blinked quickly, just barely having enough time to convey six letters.
six letters that sent mac's world reeling.
m u r d o c