Not by blood, but by fire and water

Chapter 23

"I think he's going to be okay, Riley."

The hacker let out a sigh of relief. "You two really scared us this time," Riley admitted.

'He scared me too.' Mac silently agreed. He threw his eyes back to his partner, who looked close to sleep, each blink lasting longer than the last.

"Whoever this mole is, talked to Sinclair at least once, can you search for any calls made from the Phoenix to Turkey? Maybe they were stupid enough to use their private cell or a Phoenix line."

"You got it, Mac." Riley answered.

"Be careful, all of you. If Sinclairs informant is willing to go after us, he might go after you too."

"We will, Mac." Riley answered then ended the call. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she hacked into the cell records of Phoenixes employees.

"What's the plan?" Dr. Costas asked. Her expression was one of discomfort. He guessed she wasn't used to being the one asking for direction. The other two women just looked scared. A pang of guilt shot through him. He had put these women and his best friend in mortal danger. Anyone of them could have been killed because he didn't think about the informant Sinclair had bought at The Phoenix and Jack had been shot, again.

"The Assuta hospital in Tel Aviv. We will be safe there." Mac answered.

"You guys aren't missionaries, are you?" The assistant asked.

Well, at least he knew what their cover ID's were now.

"I can't tell you what we do. I can only say I'm sorry for dragging all of you into this mess and for putting you in danger. I made a mistake and I will make it right, I promise." Mac assured. Dr. Costas conveyed the destination to the pilot and he nodded in acceptance, then he gently pulled the stick to the left to adjust their course.

Mac felt drained. The adrenaline from their encounter with the mercs had worn off and left him exhausted. It wasn't long before the steady whoop whoop from the helicopter blades lulled him to sleep.

Jack glanced over to where his partner sat and his heart leapt into his throat when he saw his friend unconscious with his features lax and his head resting on the chopper wall.

"Is he okay?" Jack asked worriedly.

The assistant curled two fingers around Mac's wrist to check the agents pulse. It was strong and steady. "He's fine, he's just resting. You should get some rest too," She advised.

Jack relaxed his head back onto his pillow. With his concern abated it wasn't long before he too went to sleep.

Jack drifted in and out of consciousness, his sleep disturbed by dreams of missions gone wrong, pain, and death. The older agent groaned loudly, his eyebrows pulled together in a grimace.

Mac jerked awake at the sound of his friend in pain. He leaned forward to take Jack's hand in his own, trying to offer any comfort he could.

"His rest has been fitful. I'm afraid he is going into septic shock. Those IV bags contained antibiotics, pain medicine and fluids and as you know they were destroyed by those men." The assistant spoke forlornly. "His fever is increasing as is his pain level and there's nothing we can do to help until we get to the hospital." She shook her head hopelessly.

Sinclair's goons hammered away on Jack's midsection. His insides throbbed and burned as they traded off pummeling him. Alex got bored with Jack and stepped over to Mac, he reared back and slammed his meaty fist into the kid's abdomen. All the air whoosed out of his partner. "No! Mac!" Jack screamed at the son of a bitch to stop his attack.

"Jack, hey buddy. It's okay, I'm right here." Mac consoled after hearing his best friend call out his name in anguish.

Brown eyes fluttered open and searched out the owner of the voice he knew so well. "Mac..." Jack's face crumpled up in misery as another wave of pain hit. His breathing quickened and a deep guttural groan was ripped from within him. Jack's left hand gripped and twisted a wad of blanket tightly. "Mac, somethin's wrong…"

"Is there anything we can do to help him?" Mac asked, pleadingly.

"Not until we get him to the hospital." The assistant responded apologetically, while she adjusted a blood pressure cuff just above his elbow.

Mac placed his bandaged hand on top of Jack's shoulder, being careful to avoid the knife wound. He was taken aback how hot his partner's skin was to the touch. Once again he felt utterly helpless.

The monitor beeped and 72/41 flashed onto the screen.

The pain caused Jack's breath to catch with every inhale, which made him feel even more breathless. "Breathe through it buddy, just breathe through it." Mac coached.

Jack's eyes locked onto his partner's. He tried to focus on blocking out the pain in his abdomen and slowing down his breathing. Just as he felt the pain start to lessen another wave crashed into him. The former Delta cried out again, too weak to hold it in.

"How much longer until we reach the hospital?" Mac shouted so he was heard above the noise of the helicopter.

"About ten to fifteen minutes," The pilot responded.

Mac frantically looked around the chopper searching for a solution. He had an overwhelming urge to get up and make something until he realized there was nothing he could fashion that would help his friend, not this time.

Jack let out another anguished cry. Guilt slammed into the young agent again. This was all his fault. If only he had remembered what Sinclair had told them about there being an informant among the higher ups at the Phoenix, when he had called Matty, then Jack wouldn't be going septic, he wouldn't have been shot again, and he wouldn't be in so much pain right now.

He hated seeing his friend like this. Moisture threatened to breach his lower lids. "I'm sorry, Jack." Mac apologized softly.

"Don't do that. This isn't on you, brother. Okay?" Jack said through clenched teeth.

Mac just shook his head, he doubted his friend could ever say anything that would make him feel any better about this.

Jack started shivering uncontrollably. After searching a few compartments, Mac found a blanket and spread it out over his friend. He could feel the heat from his partner coming through the blanket.

"Better?" Mac questioned. Jack nodded yes in return.

"Five minutes out," The pilot tossed over his shoulder.

"Almost there," Mac said more to himself than to Jack.

"Hey, stay with me," The young agent commanded, when he saw his friends eyes droop down for too long.

"Mm tired," The former Delta slurred in reply.

"I know buddy. I'll let you take a nice long nap after we get to the hospital. Okay?"

"Kay." Jack agreed.

Seconds later, they touched down on the helipad. The back doors opened and two ER nurses carefully unloaded Jack. Mac followed, at a jog, beside his partner.

To be continued...