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INGRID BANNISTER

Ingrid Bannister

Ingrid was a Soviet agent in the Red Army, working with Army Intelligence. Because she appeared so young and fragile and could easily pass for an innocent American girl, she had been specifically chosen for an undercover role as a Soviet spy, making her all the more lethal than known agents like her associate Anton Lem.

Ingrid had married Craig Bannister, a DXS operative working for Pete Thornton. She appeared to be the happy newlywed and young devoted wife, but for the four weeks during their honeymoon Ingrid had used sophisticated techniques each day to program her new husband to act as a mole within the agency. Under hypnosis, and without realizing that he was being used, Craig had been feeding information to the Soviets through Ingrid and her partner Lem.

In an effort to identify the mole and stop the leaks that had led to the deaths of four DXS operatives, Thornton turned to MacGyver and engaged the cooperation a Soviet defector named Viktoria Tomanova to set a trap. The plan made Viktoria a target, and at the prestigious and formal International Peace Through Science Symposium, Anton Lem attempted to assassinate Viktoria by using similar programming techniques on Reverend Mather, one of the keynote speakers. Certain chemicals had been introduced into Mather's bloodstream, and he had been programmed to draw a gun during the event to shoot Viktoria. However, the assassination attempt failed, and Reverend Mather was eliminated when Lem used a small remote device to trigger what appeared to be a fatal heart attack by creating a magnetic field that would cause the chemicals in Mather's bloodstream to form artificial blockages in his arteries.

In a second attempt to eliminate Viktoria, Ingrid programmed her husband Craig to believe that Viktoria and MacGyver together had been behind the agency leaks and the deaths of the four DXS operatives, and that Craig must now kill them both. The intention was to frame MacGyver as the mole in the hope that Thornton would be so heartbroken by his friend's betrayal that he would resign, making room for Craig to step into his position as Director of Operations at the DXS.

MacGyver and Viktoria had returned to the Exhibition Center to search for clues behind Mather's suspicious death when Ingrid and Lem arrived with Craig, still under the influence of their programming. At Ingrid's orders, Craig fired the first shot, but MacGyver and Viktoria were able to disarm Lem and Ingrid, and as MacGyver turned to Craig and reminded him of their friendship and their missions together, the effect of the programming began to weaken. Craig lowered his gun, but Ingrid was determined to maintain control. As with Reverend Mather, chemicals had also been introduced into Craig's bloodstream that would cause artificial clots to form when exposed to a magnetic field, and Ingrid used the same remote device to trigger a heart attack in Craig. Rushing to his aid, MacGyver fashioned a makeshift defibrillator using a pair of candlesticks, electric cords, and rubber insulation, and the electric current successfully broke the magnetic field and counteracted the artificially induced heart attack. Craig Bannister survived and recovered, and Ingrid and Lem would have been taken into custody.

Portrayed by: Lynn-Holly Johnson

Cross Reference: Craig Bannister, International Peace Through Science Symposium, Anton Lem, Reverend Mather, Viktoria Tomanova

Episode Reference: The Enemy Within