Wunderkind

1.11-Scissors

MAC AND BOZER'S HOUSE

SUPPOSEDLY THE HOME OF THE WORLD FAMOUS BOZER FAMILY PASTRAMI

Riley's not sure how she got roped into this. It's the day before Christmas Eve, she's finally enjoying some of her hard-earned vacation time, and she's up at the crack of dawn because she for some reason agreed to Bozer's invitation to come watch him make a Christmas pastrami. Sam, having had the good sense to turn him down cold, is still in bed. Riley tried to guilt her into coming, but there's no out-psyching the mind reader.

Still, Riley's in a good mood when she finally gets to the house. She stopped and got her caffeine fix at a Starbucks on the way, her radio is playing her personal favorite playlist of holiday music, and she's more than ready to help get the house ready for the party, which Mac insisted on having it at his house because it was bigger than either Riley or Jack's apartments, and Thornton refuses to give the location of her house to anyone.

But that good mood takes a hit as soon as Riley turns into the driveway. The last time she was at the house, after they all got back from Mr. Ericson's retirement party, the house looked like a holiday movie threw up on it. There were lights everywhere, the second they got in the house Bozer started blasting Christmas radio on his phone, and there was a tree in the corner that was actually slowly spinning, probably courtesy of one of Mac's moments of genius. Riley's already been wondering if she's going to get a headache from the combined smell of cinnamon, WD-40, and candles that seemed to permeate the house the second she walked in. Only Mac and Bozer's house would smell like a car repair shop that doubles as a bakery.

Today, not only are the porch lights conspicuously not on, and the house dead quiet aside from an insistent beeping, Bozer's car isn't in the driveway. There's probably nothing wrong. Maybe Mac's sleeping in and Bozer went to get something he forgot for the pastrami. Sometimes Riley overreacts to normal life events. Not everything is an international emergency. She wonders if it's possible to ever really leave this life behind once you're in it. Jack once told her soldiers never really come home, not all of them, whether they lose a limb or not. She wonders if the same is true of spies.

You're jumping at shadows. But she knows, knows, something is wrong. Bozer is nothing if not methodical. He wouldn't have forgotten an ingredient for his pastrami. Riley knocks on the door. "Hey guys, it's me. Riley." She doesn't want to sound worried, but something about this whole situation screams disaster.

The door's locked.

She dials Mac's phone, it rings through to voicemail. So does Bozer's. She pulls up her location tracking program while she walks around to the back deck. Mac's tether says he's at the house. She doesn't recall getting an alert that anything was wrong.

As soon as she steps around the side of the house, she notices the smoke, drifting lazily from the deck. Why would you have a fire going now?

There's a burnt smell, charred meat, and Riley freezes. That never means anything good, good God don't let this be something horrible. She's seen too many bomb sites and body disposals to not feel sickened by the smell.

She pulls her gun and tucks it against her leg. Thanks to Jack's training, she always carries her duty weapon around with her, at least in the car, even when making social calls. She peeks around the corner of the porch and breathes a small sigh of relief when she sees the source of the smoke, the grill. Maybe Bozer decided to let Mac cook, and Mac ruined the pastrami. Maybe that's why he went to town.

But it doesn't explain why Mac isn't answering the door. Riley steps up onto the deck. Everything says he's home. So what's wrong?

There's a very, very blackened pastrami in the grill. And beside it is Mac's smashed phone and his ankle tether. Riley feels her stomach drop out as she dials Jack. What the hell happened here?