05x07 - Golden Lancehead + Venom + Pole Vault + Blood + Baggage

[bunniefuu]

- Previously on MacGyver...

- _ You know, a lot of kids, they go to MIT and they think that they're gonna change the world.

Frankie was a double major in mechanical engineering - and biology.

- Yeah.

Mac, what the hell have you been doing since you dropped out of school?

Boy genius is a spy now?

But, hey, if you hit a snag, you want to brainstorm ideas...

I think we're smart enough to, uh, figure out how to use a telephone.

Or build one.

Mac, this is a bad idea.

Hey, just imagine we're back at MIT bribing the security guard for more time in the biology lab.

How is that the same thing?

Technically against the rules, but it's for a good cause.

$ , for the sample.

I have what you want.

The man who brought it from the island got bit.

I, uh, I watched his face swell.

Sangue...

blood poured from everywhere.

At the hospital, they cut off his arm, but he d*ed anyway.

If you want it, you will need to extract it from the creature yourself.

All right, we're gonna need supplies.

Uh...

Frankie, can you grab that jar, - empty it into this bucket?

- Yes.

- Yeah?

- Right here.

All right, that's it.

Wait, hold on.

- Ready?

- Yep.

All right.

Okay, now we're gonna - slowly position his head...

- Yeah.

over the jar until he bites down.

How do you know how to do this?

You know, YouTube.

Look.

Okay.

- Now...

- Uh-huh?

we massage his venom glands, which are here-ish.

Yes.

Be careful.

All right, I think that's it.

Now, if this venom does everything you think it can...

Then we will be saving a lot of lives.

Yeah.

All right.

First one might be your own.

How's anyone supposed to get excited about the research when they don't even understand how it works?

Well, the people who matter will understand it.

You can't dumb it down.

Oh...

Mac.

Finally, a voice of reason.

Help us settle something for our entry - into the Journal of Oncology.

- Please.

These two have been debating one sentence for an hour.

All right.

Let's hear it.

"The therapy uses protein complexes and strongly basic polypeptides extracted from virulent saliva to target tumorigenic masses".

That's the right idea, but can we put it into layman's terms?

We can.

This guy, not so much.

All right.

How about this: "The cancer treatment uses toxins extracted from snake venom, which billions of years of evolution have taught to att*ck the weakest cells in a creature's body, to target cancerous tumors".

Something like that?

You nerdsplained that perfectly.

Thanks, boss.

Hmm, so glad you could make it.

Here it comes.

No, no, it's my fault.

See, when you said you'd be checking in weekly, - I interpreted that to mean, like, every week.

- I know.

Last Thursday, I was halfway out the door when Matty called.

And then the week before that, I was on my way here in my truck, and then...

Matty called.

But, look, I'm here and I come bearing gifts.

Just in time.

We're almost out.

So, how's our friend at the pet shop doing?

Oh, you know, about as friendly as the last five times I went to visit him.

Have you made any progress?

Well, I've managed to cut the toxicity to surrounding epithelial cells down to %.

What?

Frankie, that's progress.

That's a huge deal.

Yeah.

Getting there.

Yeah.

Um, Mac, listen, while I have you, there is something that we need to talk about.

Yeah.

What's going on?

Matty?

Uh, uh, Desi this time.

- Okay.

- I'll hoof right back.

Morning, sleepyhead.

Where'd you sneak off to so early?

Um... a run in the canyon.

You back soon?

Um, nah.

Kind of hit a groove, so...

You know how it is, got to get those endorphins while the getting's good.

Okay, dork.

Pick me up one of those blueberry scones on your way home?

- You got it.

- Oh, and, Mac?

Yeah.

I'm sitting in your truck.

I followed you from the house to this creepy brick building, and your GPS history shows you've been coming here for months.

Desi...

You have the walk outside to think very carefully about the words you use next.

I can't believe you were tailing me.

What I meant was...

I'm sorry.

Look, after Codex, you and I promised to be brutally honest with each other.

That, and dealing with everything after Jack's funeral, is the only reason I've been ignoring my Spidey-sense that your Thursday morning jogs are bogus.

So why are you lying to me?

And what is this place?

It's a medical research laboratory.

Okay.

When my dad got sick, I started researching an idea for an experimental cancer treatment.

And then, a-after he d*ed, I decided to develop that treatment, do something good in his honor.

So I raised money through an angel investor and convinced my friend Frankie to do the day-to-day.

And it started as a total moon sh*t, but...

she's been making real progress.

You've been secretly, in your nonexistent free time, attempting to cure cancer?

Ow.

What was that for?

I have the right to be pissed at you right now, and you're ruining it.

Why didn't you say anything?

I just wasn't ready to talk about it.

Mac...

total honesty means total honesty, no matter how well-intentioned the lie is.

Yeah.

You're right.

You want to come inside and check it out?

We have snake venom.

If I do, it doesn't mean I'm not still mad at you.

- Deal.

- Okay.

Hey, guys?

I've got someone I'd like you to meet.

Sandra, Ben!

Fr...

Frankie?

Mac!

Mac.

You okay?

Yeah.

I'm fine, I'm fine.

Go.

I searched everywhere.

Frankie's gone.

Riley, update.

Security cameras in this building and all the surrounding have been scrubbed.

Whoever did this planned well.

Thinner nose.

Bigger forehead.

Ugly.

Very ugly.

Okay, Bozer, get that composite to every law enforcement agency in the country the instant it's done.

On it.

Look, I'm sorry, Angus, I know you're upset, but we need to keep going through all of your research.

Look, I told you everything I know, and I think we should be out there looking for Frankie - before it's too late.

- Mac, the Phoenix is doing everything possible to find Frankie, but only you can help us understand what happened here.

Except I can't.

It doesn't make any sense.

Well, whoever they are, they hired professionals.

They worked fast, quiet.

You know, I'd wager the man who att*cked you was part of a small team of ex-soldiers turned private m*llitary contractors.

They were sitting on this lab, saw me come in today.

They planned on executing everyone working on the project all at once.

If Desi hadn't called me...

What is that?

Something?

Uh, I'm not sure yet.

- Uh, Mac?

- Yeah?

The label on the vial says "Bothrops insularis".

Uh, yeah, it's a venom from a snake breed called the golden lancehead viper.

Aka one of the rarest and deadliest snakes in the world, found only on one island off the coast of São Paulo.

The Brazilian government has made it illegal to transport or own.

Bozer, how do you know all that?

Getting sh*t in the leg gives you lots of time to binge Planet Earth.

Hey, guys, uh, I'm not really huge on snakes.

"The golden lancehead's venom targets the nervous system of his prey with pinpoint accuracy, causing blood blisters, intestinal bleeding, tissue necrosis, hemorrhage!" All right, that's great.

I'm just gonna...

The fact that the golden lancehead is so deadly is precisely why I needed its venom.

The more fast-acting a toxin is, the better it is at attacking cancerous tumors.

But how did you even get it in here?

Uh, insulated hair spray bottle with a false bottom.

Guys, I think I found something.

Spyware embedded in the OS of Frankie's laptop.

Someone's been logging her every keystroke.

- What?

- It's reporting to a burner phone not too far from here.

That's got to be the sasquatch who att*cked us.

Y-Yeah, and he could have Frankie.

Let's go.

All right, Riley.

Where to?

The burner phone doesn't have GPS.

I was triangulating its location using cell towers, but now there's only one in range.

Come again?

It means he's in the park, - but this is as close as I can get us.

- Right.

Looks like we're gonna have to go old-school.

Form a dragnet, start at the edge of the park and work our way in.

Remember, if he makes us before we make him, our only lead to rescuing Frankie is sh*t.

He's still here somewhere.

Everyone's covered up.

It's hard to get a visual.

Yeah, hang on.

I've got an idea.

I can hijack the spyware and send a script to the burner phone.

What kind of script?

The kind that overclocks a lithium-ion battery.

Look out for a reaction.

Suspect ditched their phone.

We lost him.

Maybe not.

I've got one person walking away, red hoodie.

He's off.

He's off!

Sorry.

Need to borrow this.

Hey, what the... ?

Who are you?

I'm Nina Harris with the Department of Defense.

Check my coat pocket for my credentials.

Right.

Agent Harris, your bona fides check out.

And your superior agrees that you should fill us in.

So he did.

If you work for the DoD, why'd you run?

I clocked someone tailing me, did what I was trained to do.

That doesn't explain why you were spying on my lab.

We flagged a very dangerous substance being imported - illegally from Brazil.

- Mm.

The, uh, snake venom was being used for cancer research.

So we learned when we watched Dr. Mallory's computer.

And we also learned that her proprietary method for extracting toxins from the venom had potential alternative applications.

You're not just DoD, are you?

You're black budget.

Her group runs operations that are illegal but necessary.

Or at least that's the company motto, isn't it?

If one of our enemies is gonna create a w*apon, it's better that we do it first.

What are we talking about here?

I approached Dr. Mallory about using her technique to engineer the golden lancehead venom into a nerve agent for the U.S. m*llitary.

What did Frankie say?

She refused.

Hold on.

Uh, you guys finish this up.

I'll meet you back at Phoenix.

Hang on, where are you off to?

Back to the lab.

Mac, Taylor said you left in the middle of interviewing Nina.

Yes, earlier I found this scrap of paper.

It's got Frankie's handwriting, molecular equations...

related to golden lancehead venom, but at the time...

I couldn't figure out... how.

And that's why you're trashing the place that's already been trashed?

Okay, so one time at school, another student, Frankie realized, had hacked into her computer and lifted parts of her thesis, so...

the next semester she wrote the entire thing out longhand on legal paper and hid it in her dorm room under a floorboard.

So, Frankie refused Nina's offer but then did the work in secret.

Frankie's disappearance, the murders...

all of this is happening because she solved how to turn the world's deadliest snake venom into a nerve agent.

Okay.

Everything Agent Harris told us checks out, but I still have more questions, starting with: what would be the timeline for someone to transform Frankie's ideas into a reality?

Short.

According to her notes, she cracked the whole thing.

How to extract toxins from the golden lancehead saliva, how to stabilize them, uh, how to aerosolize those toxins.

The only real barrier to production that I saw was sourcing a supply of venom.

They didn't steal your vial from the lab.

So we should proceed as if someone's already crossed over that threshold.

Agreed.

Let's talk about leads.

He's still even uglier in person.

All attempts to I.D. this man have failed, so for now we're calling him UnSub One.

Likely a former soldier hired by a t*rror1st group or hostile regime to obtain Frankie's research.

Well, that's one theory.

What's the other?

Frankie partnered with this man and his team to stage a robbery, and then she covered her tracks by k*lling everyone involved with the project.

W...

Are...

- That's insane.

- Is it?

Yes.

Frankie may have done the science on paper, but she'd never do that.

Have me k*lled?

What are you talking about?

Why?

The usual reason.

Riley.

Last week $ million - was deposited into Frankie's account.

- _ Sent from a shielded account in the Seychelles.

Why didn't Frankie tell you she'd been approached by the DoD?

- I don't know.

- How did UnSub One learn about the nerve agent if you yourself didn't know about the project in your own lab?

I don't know, but there's got to be some sort explanation for this.

Yes, there is.

After Frankie was turned down by the DoD, she realized there was more money to be made in the black market and she reached out to this man for help in pulling it off.

Okay, Mac, we need to be open to all interpretations of the evidence.

If Frankie were involved... if...

... how would we locate her?

In order to scale and produce the nerve agent, she would have to set up a lab.

Somewhere off the grid.

And I know the type of equipment she likes.

I can cross-reference lab equipment point of sales from shipments - to a single location.

- Let's do it.

We came to the right place.

It doesn't make any sense.

If Frankie wanted to make money, she could make money.

She became a scientist to help people.

People change, Mac.

I'm worried about more pressing problems, like how do we get in?

I got an idea.

Problem: feet of cement wall and razor wire.

Solution?

The scientific principles behind my favorite Summer Olympic sport.

- Hold tight.

- He's not...

- Pole-vaulting?

- Oh, yeah.

A running pole-vaulter builds up kinetic energy, which is then transferred to the pole, propelling the vaulter vertically.

Too bad Matty doesn't give out gold medals.

Sick nasty.

You were hard on him before.

Who?

Unnecessarily.

One of my agents didn't disclose he'd been running a secret lab researching lethal and illegal substances.

I have a right to be pissed when it all goes pear-shaped.

This job requires a lot from us.

I won't fault Mac for wanting something outside of it.

Ah, yes, there it is.

That excuse.

That justification for the lie.

That small fissure is all it takes for something far more sinister to slip its claws in and tear us all apart.

Mercenaries for hire, shady divisions of democratic governments, dangerous weapons.

You're thinking about the bioweapon you built for the U.S. government, aren't you?

Hades-X also started off with good intentions.

At least that's the lie I fed myself.

The money helped it go down easy, and the next thing I knew...

a w*apon of mass destruction existed with a patent issued to yours truly.

We've both done things we're not proud of.

It's the price we pay for the world we operate in.

Look, I've struggled with the moral traps of this job for a long time.

But at the end of the day, I've made peace with the fact that...

there's just no simple answers.

Why is it so hot in here?

Huh.

What?

Uh, nothing.

Just, those are UVB lights, also known as reptile lights.

That plus the temperature makes it the perfect climate for...

Oh, oh, no, no, no.

No, don't say it, don't say it, don't say it.

If you don't say it, I can pretend they're not here.

Pretend what's not there?

You're making it worse.

Sorry.

Matty, bad news.

UnSub One has acquired a lot of venom.

He has everything he needs...

for the nerve agent.

Did you know the national animal of Scotland is a unicorn?

Hello?

I'm in here!

- Hello?!

- Frankie?

- Hello?

- Frankie!

Uh, just hold on one second.

I'm gonna get you out of here.

Here's another fun fact.

When a golden lancehead att*cks, its venom reacts with the iron in the red blood cells of its prey...

... creating an acidic by-product strong enough to eat flesh and corrode metal.

Frankie, are you okay?

Yeah.

Yeah, I am now.

I didn't think you guys were gonna find me, thank you.

Listen, we talked to DoD, I found your notebooks.

And this lab... what's going on?

Okay, I-I swear I had no choice.

The men who grabbed me, they said they were gonna k*ll Ben and Sandra and you if I didn't do exactly what they said.

I swear.

You got to believe me.

I believe you.

We can talk about all of that later.

Priority is getting you out of here before they force you to finish that w*apon.

Oh, but the nerve agent's done.

I already gave it to 'em.

Updated the composite with the new info from Frankie, still nothing.

Desi, animal control is on the way to pick up those snakes.

Any luck getting the PMCs to talk?

Well, they're the strong, silent type.

That's warfighter code.

Soon as they talk, they become unhireable.

Which means Frankie remains our only hope.

Okay, go through her story again.

See if you can shake loose any details that'll help us I.D. UnSub One before he ghosts with that nerve agent.

Mac's working on it.

Ben and... Sandra.

I just can't believe it.

I'm so sorry, Frankie.

But you know what?

I need your help.

Or they won't be the last ones who get hurt.

Can you, uh, run us through the story?

Um...

I, uh...

I was approached by the DoD woman Nina Harris to engineer a nerve agent from the golden lancehead venom.

I said no.

Of course I said no.

But once the idea was planted, you know, it-it hooked onto my brain.

It became this...

this logic problem I couldn't stop trying to solve.

You know, I needed to know that the DoD was right.

That the techniques we developed could make this w*apon.

So I kept my work off-line.

And after a week of all-nighters, I cracked it.

What about the $ million deposited into your bank account?

Okay, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but a few days after I met with Nina, it just showed up.

Two million bucks, just like that.

And then at the same time, I-I started noticing people, like, following me, uh, noises on my phone, um, a car parked outside my place late at night.

At first I thought I was just being paranoid, and then I realized, if the DoD figured out what I was capable of, then...

maybe somebody else did, too.

That's why you didn't tell me.

'Cause you were being watched.

You know, this all sounds very familiar.

Intimidation, cash falling from the sky.

What if Frankie was wrong about who was following her?

Angus, Matilda and I are gonna follow up on a lead.

You get Frankie somewhere safe.

Copy that.

All right, let's get out of here.

Oh.

If we don't move, it can't see us, right?

Unfortunately, I don't think T. rex rules apply here, so we're just gonna slowly back away towards the other exit.

Oh, whoa, there's another.

All right, everybody keep your eyes open.

We have no idea how many are out right now.

We are all aware that they climb trees, right?

Yeah, but somehow being up here makes me feel so much safer.

Mac, I read that when poachers go on the island in Brazil, they bring ultrasonic repellers.

Oh, Frankie, you're a genius.

Snakes' inner ears are fixed to their jawbones, only allowing them to hear low-end sounds.

But vibrations of higher frequencies, they can feel through receptors in their skin.

- Frankie, that pole.

- Yeah.

Thank you.

All right, everyone.

Watch my back.

All right, everyone, move my way... now!

All right, that's it, like we're going out of business.

Everything must go.

Hey!

You can't be in here!

Russel Taylor.

Director Webber, I presume?

You do not have permission to be here.

Oh, well, judging by how fast your boys are packing up shop, I'm guessing neither do you.

At least not officially, anyway.

And speaking of not following laws, some details of your operation have come to light since our last conversation.

I answered all of your questions.

Yes, while omitting just enough to stay out of trouble.

In fact, I realized I've been in your exact position before.

And so I asked myself, what would I do if Frankie declined my offer?

Would I respectfully walk away?

No, not a chance.

I would go to plan B: intimidation.

Make the target think they're being followed, then spring the payday, reconnect, but this time the cash comes with protection.

Protection against the person that you hired to scare her.

Matilda, what sort of chaps would you use to do that?

Not DoD.

Too much red tape.

Chaps like me.

Private muscle, professional, dubious morals.

And that answers another question.

How did UnSub One even learn about Frankie's research in the first place if not even MacGyver knew about it?

Unless he was one of the PMC chaps that you hired to intimidate Frankie.

But I also know that m*rder isn't in the DoD playbook.

So tell us, Nina, what went wrong?

After we talked in the park, I did some digging, and I found out that the guys I hired to intimidate Frankie had gone to ground.

Hence the bug-out operation.

I see you're cutting ties.

Best I can tell, he saw the bigger payday.

He k*lled the lab techs, he abducted Frankie, and he's probably forcing her to finish the nerve agent.

Well, that all checks out, except for the last part.

Frankie finished the nerve agent, past tense.

Your rogue muscle already has enough in his possession to k*ll thousands.

So we need to know...

... who is he?

Donick Luca.

Court-martialed Marine turned mercenary.

Has a reputation for taking jobs nobody else will.

I've got a rental in Donick's name heading for the U.S.-Mexico border.

They're taking back roads.

Can I see this?

- Yeah.

- Look.

If we hurry, we can cut them off at this gas station right there.

Give me directions to Stoke Road, Dulzura, California.

Please proceed to the highlighted route.

Des, we're minutes out.

- Hit it.

- With pleasure.

Anyone got Donick?

He's not up front.

Not in back, either.

Mac?

Yeah?

Is the nerve agent back here?

Half of it is.

Where's your boss and the rest of the nerve agent?

Don't worry about it.

This truck will talk way faster than he does.

Looks like they made one stop between here and the lab.

San Diego Airport.

Boze, run a facial rec scan at the international terminal.

Okay.

Got him.

Donick used an alias to check into a flight to Ecuador that's still boarding... and get this, he checked a bag.

He checked a proprietary nerve agent on a commercial flight?

They hedged their bets.

They sent half out of the country by road and half by air, hidden in plain sight.

I'm gonna ground all planes and lock down the airport.

- Get there and secure that package.

- Copy that.

- Wait, wait, wait.

- What's wrong?

These guys used an iron-alloy container for transport, which would be fine, except the TSA switched to ionizing radiation for baggage scans.

Which destabilizes the formula bonding the nerve agent...

the venom's gonna react with the iron.

- If we don't get that bag and contain the breach...

- Yeah.

Then everyone in the airport will be exposed to the nerve agent and die.

TSA and local police are evacuating the airport, but there are a lot of people to move and it's gonna take time.

What about Donick?

Police didn't find him at his gate.

They're searching the airport now.

Then our only hope is that they find the nerve agent before it eats through the container and contaminates everyone at the airport.

It's easier said than done.

All right, Mac, each luggage tag has a unique RFID signature that gets scanned as it moves through the system.

So we can use those scans to find the suitcase with the w*apon.

Exactly.

All right, now, somewhere around you, look for a pink bag with a pony on it.

That's the bag Donick's using to transport the nerve agent in?

No, but it's heading towards Donick's bag, and you're hitching a ride.

Well, good news, Matty, we found Donick.

He must have figured out why the airport was closed down and came to recover the nerve agent before we did.

Mac, I know you've got your hands full, but the train's about to leave the station.

Go!

I got him.

Okay, that was fun.

Can you stop this thing?

No, I'm operating on read privileges only.

All right, what next?

Now, any minute you're gonna be near another conveyor belt traveling the opposite direction.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Mac.

The nerve agent's in a black hard-shell suitcase.

It's coming your way on a baggage cart in three...

two...

one.

I need some identifying feature.

The one you're looking for has a built-in lock.

The containers are already deteriorating.

I don't have enough time to get it out of the airport.

Mac, what are you gonna do?

Improvise.

Wait a second.

Riley, all of these bags have been scanned by the TSA, right?

Yeah.

Why?

Okay.

I need you to help me with a shopping list, starting with nail polish remover.

- Look for a makeup kit.

- All right.

Uh...

Red duffel, outside pocket.

- What else?

- Shaving cream.

Look for the oversized stuffed backpack coming by you right now.

All right, now for the hard part.

Glue.

Mac.

Canvas satchel, service rack, right above you.

He's creating a fast-hardening sealant.

Frankie's right.

I can't use another bag to contain the aerosolized nerve agent, because even a microscopic hole would allow the toxin to escape.

However, when these items are mixed together, they'll expand to times their liquid volume before hardening into an airtight shell.

Now, let's just hope that happens before the nerve agent leaks.

It worked.

It worked.

It's contained.

Great job, Mac.

Sit tight.

Hazmat's on the way.

I'll notify local authorities and let them know the thr*at has been neutralized.

We have the nerve agent.

Placing it in containment now.

How you holding up?

Fine.

Told the hazmat team everything they needed to know for transport and disposal.

And I volunteered to work with them until they develop an antidote.

That could take months.

Well, years, probably, but eventually someone's gonna discover the same thing I did, - and we have to be ready.

- Yeah.

Hey, who better to lead the team than the monster who created it?

Frankie.

This mess is as much my fault as it is yours.

Well, there's plenty of blame to go around.

You know, this cancer treatment could still work.

It's a good idea, Mac.

But honestly I wish I'd never walked into that pet shop.

All right, talk soon.

So, uh...

remember that, uh, secret that I was keeping?

It kind of sort of blew up in my face.

Yeah.

But even if it hadn't, I'd still owe you an apology.

So...

Apology accepted.

Thank you.

But you're still not off the hook.

I want an explanation on why you did it.

The real reason.

Just, at the time it felt like...

Codex was infecting everything around me, and I just wanted to do this one good, pure thing the world couldn't get its hands on and mess up.

And the irony is, I was willing to do a whole lot that I'm not proud of to make it happen.

Was that so hard?

All right.

I got to go talk to Matty.

- Okay.

- Okay.

Hey, boss.

You wanted to see me?

Yeah.

Close the door.

Let me start by saying I'm sorry.

I really should have...

told you what Frankie and I's research entailed.

This isn't about the research.

It's not?

No.

Mac, when you asked me for funding for cancer research in your father's name, it was my choice not to ask you any questions.

I knew that it was something that you wanted, needed to do alone.

And I understand why.

I wouldn't have agreed otherwise, because I trust you.

And so I hope that this trust is a two-way street, because...

we may need to lean on each other now more than ever.

Of course.

What's going on?

When we searched Donick's belongings, we found a cell phone.

The last message received included a location for a dead drop to deliver the nerve agent.

- The message was from the buyer?

- Yes.

Signed with this.

Codex?

But...

who?

How?

I don't know.

But if someone's using Codex's encrypted communication system, - it could mean...

- Somebody's putting the band back together.