AN: My plan was to write a Riley-centered story with a hurt Jack in it. Well, I did, but... I don't know how it happened… Somehow, Mac got himself hurt, too. What can I do? The kid just can't stay out of trouble, can he? ;-)

I can blame any language issues to the fact that I'm not a native English speaker and the medical inaccuracies to the fact that I'm not a professional of any kind in that matter. Besides, I'm taking plenty of creative liberty, so please don't try any of this at home! ;)

All the plot-holes... Well, I'm afraid they are entirely my fault.

Enjoy the first chapter! There are two more to come.

I own nothing, yadda, yadda, yadda…

…oooOOOooo…

Chapter 1:

Riley couldn't remember the exact moment when their mission started to go all the way to hell, but that didn't matter now. Fact was that it did. She was nervously shifting back and forth in the driver's seat of the pickup truck they'd commandeered as their escape vehicle. The sounds she heard over the comm in her ear became more and more alarming. Shouts, grunts, gunfire, heavy breathing. MacGyver and Jack were too busy getting themselves out of there alive to keep her updated. She could only guess what was going on, but according to the cacophony of noises, they'd run into a heavy fight.

Whatever happened to the 'quick and stealthy in-and-out without anybody knowing we've been here'?

It dawned on the young hacker that they'd already been made, before the mission even started. They'd been aware that their intel had been sketchy at best, but they hadn't anticipated to be expected like that.

Suddenly, there was a huge, earthshaking explosion, which she didn't only hear over the comm and from outside of the vehicle simultaneously, but also felt as vibrations beneath her. She jumped in fright, her guts churning. What the hell was happening to Mac and Jack in there? Were they okay? Riley started the engine. She'd have to move soon and she silently prayed that she'd be picking up her two fellow agents as planned.

That would be the first thing that went according to plan since they've gone in…

"Jack? Mac?" she shouted into her comm, "You guys okay in there?" She listened to more heavy breathing and running footsteps. After maybe half a minute, Mac's breathless voice answered her.

"Ri, be at the - meeting point – in exactly - 45 - seconds!" He was running for his life by the sounds of it, hardly getting the words out between wheezes.

"Copy," she acknowledged, put her foot down and the truck jerked into movement.

Please, be there! Be okay!

She kept repeating that in her head. Her heart dropped when she approached the meeting point with eight seconds to spare and couldn't see her friends anywhere. "Mac, are you two coming?"

"Don't stop – Just slow down - We'll jump on," Jack gasped in her ear. Finally, she saw them. They were running at top speed, zigzagging like hares to avoid the bullets that were being fired at them. Riley slowed down just enough to time her arrival at the gap in the fence exactly. The second she was right next to it, the men jumped, grabbed hold of the low sidewall around the truck bed, pulled themselves up and crawled into the relative safety of the truck.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Jack yelled as soon as they were safely on and Riley floored it. They were finally on their way to exfil, but they still had a couple of bumpy kilometers ahead of them. She checked the rear-view mirror. Mac and Jack lay sprawled on the truck bed and desperately tried to hold onto something to keep themselves in place, but there wasn't much to grab hold of. She kept the gas pedal pressed down as far as it would go. From what she could see, they seemed to be fine for now, but the other thing she spotted in the mirror was not fine at all, although to be expected: They'd picked up a tail. Three off-roaders were following the pickup, and in spite of Riley driving as fast as the truck would go, they were coming gradually closer.

"Keep it up, Ri. I'll take care of them," Mac shouted in her ear and she concentrated on the road in front of her. Well, calling this impressive collection of bumps and potholes a 'road' was a bit generous, but she could work with that, as long as her two passengers could get rid of their pursuers, or at least slow them down enough to reach exfil with a decent head start.

…oooOOOooo…

Behind her, Mac was fiddling with stuff as usual. This time, it involved - among other things she couldn't make out - several empty beer cans from the pile of trash that littered the truck bed, fuel from a spare canister and strips from his own shirt.

"Alright, Ri, slow down. Let them come closer," Mac told her.

She really, REALLY hoped she'd misheard.

"WHAT?" she yelled back, "Reception must be bad here. It sounded like 'Let them come closer'?"

"That's what I said," Mac replied calmly, "They gotta come closer so we can get rid of them." Riley didn't like it one little bit. "They're gonna catch up on us anyway. We can't outrun them in this thing," the blond agent went on. Riley knew he was right.

She still didn't like it.

"Whatever your plan is, Mac, it better works," she sighed and released the pressure on the gas pedal. The truck slowed down and the first off-roader made its appearance. Bullets ricocheted off the back of the truck and the two men ducked low behind the steel panels that surrounded the truck's bed. As soon as the fire ceased, Mac lit something and handed it to Jack, who threw it at the car closest to them. It obviously was some kind of makeshift grenade and it exploded right on target: under the front axis of the car. The vehicle jerked, skidded off the path and crashed into a tree. One down, two to go. Jack whooped over the comm.

They didn't have to wait long for the next car to catch up, although that one approached with a little more caution. Unluckily – for them at least – it didn't do them any good. Jack's aim was just as great and this time, the pursuing car ended up across the road, blocking it. The third off-roader was too close behind it to slow down in time and crashed into the other's side at full speed, tipping it over.

"Yeeeeeehhaaaaaw," Riley yelled excitedly, "that was freakin' awesome, guys! We're home free!"

…oooOOOooo…

She could hardly believe their luck. The bad guys chasing them were out for the count, they were hardly a kilometer away from exfil and they were right on time.

Only problem was, that said luck didn't last further than to the next turn of the road. A fourth off-roader appeared suddenly in front of them, heading their way. With a couple of massive trees to her right and a hillside to her left, Riley had nowhere to go, so she stepped onto the brake as hard as she could to slow them down but she knew it was already too late. She heard her own voice screaming a warning to Jack and Mac in the back. She realized in horror that they had no protection at all on the open truck bed when they crashed and they couldn't even see it coming...

The oncoming car didn't slow down and Riley managed to avoid ramming into it head-on by a fraction. The two vehicles scratched against each other's sides. She desperately tried to keep the pickup on the road, but it was too narrow for both cars, and so they started a barely controlled descent down the muddy and slippery hillside. Their way was spiked with trees and boulders, and Riley barely managed to avoid them. Her eyes widened in shock when the vehicle suddenly hit something with a crash, overturned and started to roll down the hill.

She desperately held onto the steering wheel, squeezed her eyes shut and prayed to whoever might be listening that they weren't all going to die. She heard herself yell in both panic and pain, as she was violently thrown around in her seat and into the seat belt. Her rucksack had slipped out of the niche under the driver's seat where she'd stored it and was bumping around the inside of the truck.

When the tumbling finally stopped, she first noticed unbearable pressure on her left shoulder. Blood rushed in her ears, her head pounded painfully and there was an obnoxious smell around her – diesel fuel. She knew it didn't explode as easily as the movies make us think, but better be safe than sorry. She had to get out. Now. She opened her eyes, and immediately closed them again. Everything was spinning, blurry and hanging upside down.

"Great! Landed on the roof," she mumbled, grimacing. Everything hurt. The comm was still in her ear and she tapped it.

"Jack? Mac? You OK?" she asked tentatively and then listened hard, but got no reply from either man. She tried a little louder, "Guys? Can you hear me? Answer, please!" Her heart clenched. She dearly hoped that their lack of response was just because of busted comms or something, but considering what just happened, their chances of being okay after this lay far beyond the border to a miracle. Riley fumbled clumsily with her earpiece and tried another channel.

"Matty? Do you read me?" All she heard was static and she felt a wave of panic raise up in her throat. They'll just know we missed exfil. They won't be searching for us in a hurry, unless we call for help.

She groped for her belt buckle to free herself. Left hand on the car's roof to avoid falling onto her already hurting head, she took a deep breath, opened the buckle with her right hand and eased herself down onto the roof as carefully as possible. She still landed hard, though. Her entire body was probably one enormous bruise, but after a quick inventory, she didn't think she'd broken anything. However, as she was crawling out of the truck's cabin through the shattered windshield, icy dread filled her insides. She might have been lucky, but she'd had the protection of the metal cabin and the seat-belt. Mac and Jack though...

As much as the young analyst urged to do so, she knew better than to call out for them. Their pursuers were bound to be still after them. And sure enough, when she looked up the darkening hillside, she spotted two flashlight beams shining around. At least two men were combing the woods for them. Riley reached into the wrecked truck and pulled her rucksack out. It contained her ever-present, trusty laptop, as well as a small first aid kit, a flashlight and a metal canteen filled with drinking water. She shouldered the pack with a groan.

She had to get away from the car, find Mac and Jack and try to keep them all from being caught. Easy, right? She couldn't help but chuckle ironically. A second later, she realized that she'd have to work under the assumption that neither man was likely to be in any condition to be of much help. She was going to be on her own.

Don't you two dare being dead when I find you! I swear, if you are, I'm gonna kill you, she thought bitterly, while she slipped away from the truck and from the dancing light beams that were approaching. She watched one of the beams hit the wreck, heard one of the men shout something to the other and saw both of them run towards the upturned car. It wouldn't take them long to discover that it was empty and then, they'd immediately start combing through the light forest. The darkness, that had fallen in the meantime, wouldn't hide her for long. While the two baddies reached the car, Riley sneaked up the hillside in a berth, to where the men had come from. She assumed, that in a place they'd already searched, she would be fairly safe for a short while.

Her next aim was to call for help. She crouched low between some bushes and pulled her phone out of her pocket - or what was left of it. She swore under her breath. Without having to look at it, she knew that it had been crushed to bits between her hip and the seatbelt. She'd felt it break at one point during her tumble. The sharp edges of the smashed device cut into her fingers as she closed them around it. She tried to switch it on against hope, but expectedly, it was completely dead.

The same was unfortunately true for her laptop, as she found out when she took it out of her pack and opened it. Her trusty piece of high-end technology had obviously taken offense to being thrown around inside the rolling car. The phone was clearly beyond repair, but she hoped that she'd be able to fix whatever was wrong with the portable computer, as soon as she found a place where it was safe to switch on her flashlight.

…oooOOOooo…

While Riley sneaked through the woods on her search for her teammates and a halfway safe place, a towering dark mass suddenly appeared in front of her. She realized that several tall rocks protruded from the ground, touching each other at the top and creating a recess large enough for a couple of averagely built adults to sit in. She edged closer to have a look.

Just as she was trying to decide whether that would make a great hiding-place or the worst ever trap, a pair of hands suddenly shot out between the rocks and grabbed her around the face and neck, before she could even yell. They were holding her in an iron grip and mercilessly dragging her into the rocky space. She struggled and fought with all her might, but she never stood a chance. She tried to bite the hand that was clamped over her mouth, kicked out and dug her fingernails in as hard as she could, but the grip effectively cut off her air supply and she felt her strength fading quickly. She knew she was only seconds away from losing consciousness, and maybe subsequently her life.

Sorry, guys, I tried, was her last thought before...

Before the man who held her suddenly emitted a surprised gasp and let go of her. She was too stunned and too busy gulping in wheezy breaths to react for a moment.

"Riley?" gasped Jack's voice in total disbelief and shock, "Jesus! I didn't realize it was you! I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

"Jack," she croaked hoarsely, squinting at the man who had attacked her seconds before, but wasn't able to see anything in the dark space they were in, "Thank god it's you! Are you okay? When the car flipped, I thought-" Her voice caught in her aching throat and she couldn't finish the sentence.

"Riles? Where's Mac?" Jack's voice was very solemn and full of dread. Riley's heart sank.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since..."

Since the crash.

"We need to find him, before they do."

Judging by the pained strain in his voice, Riley gathered that the older agent was far from okay. "Jack, how badly are you hurt?"

"I'll live," Jack replied vaguely, "hurt my leg a little," he conceded after a short pause, not reassuring her the least bit.

"So, how bad, exactly, is 'a little'?" Riley demanded, trying in vain to make out the extend of the damage in the darkness.

"You – uhm- you might need to make a splint," he pressed out through clenched teeth.

"A- splint? You mean you broke your leg?" The hacker was even more terrified now. Jack didn't respond, but his silence, along with his fast and shallow breathing, said it all. Riley sighed. She rummaged through her pack and pulled out the Maglite and the first aid kit she carried. It wasn't much, but it'd have to do. "Lemme take a look," she ordered firmly and switched on the light, with her back turned towards the opening to shield most of the treacherous glow from shining outside and giving them away. She took a deep breath to steel herself, but still, when she took a closer look at the mangled limb, she felt the color drain from her face.

"Oh God, Jack," she breathed, horrified. There was just too much blood! She opened the first aid kit with shaking hands, put on disposable gloves, took out a pair of scissors and cut the leg of Jack's pants open to unveil the source of all the blood that had soaked the fabric and was forming an alarmingly large pool on the ground. Jack bit back a moan when the scissors accidentally touched too close to the wound, but couldn't suppress a sharp intake of breath through his teeth. "Sorry, sorry," Riley hastily apologized.

"Just get on with it," he hissed, "we need to find Mac!"

Riley had now removed the fabric up to a point above the knee and was looking at the bloody mess that had once been Jack's right lower leg. A jarred piece of broken tibia was sticking out of the skin, halfway between knee and ankle. By the unnatural angle of the extremity, Riley felt safe to assume that the fibula was broken as well.

"I guess movin' around to get in here wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had," Jack admitted grudgingly.

"How did you figure that out?" She couldn't help her sarcasm. "How did you even manage?" she asked exasperatedly, watching the man's already ashen face loose even more color, "You have a friggin' piece of bone sticking out of your leg. I need to patch that up, if you don't wanna loose that leg to some nasty infection; that is if you don't bleed out too fast for any germ can get the better of you."

"Don't mind me, I'll be fine. Go find Mac. He might need ya help more'n I do." Riley didn't fail to notice the slur in the injured man's voice.

"Stop it right there! Didn't you listen? You're bleeding like a pig at slaughter! That is light-years away from 'fine'. I'm not leaving you behind to die, no matter what!"

Jack didn't argue any further and Riley was torn between being glad that he'd shut up, and being beyond worried about it. Good was that she could concentrate on treating the wound instead of getting involved in any more pointless discussions; on the down side, she knew that Jack must truly be in a bad way if he gave in that easily. She was worried sick for Mac as well, of course, but there wasn't anything she could do for her younger colleague right now. For all she knew, he could be unhurt and already working on their way home. Or dead. Or gotten captured. Or... She had to shove those thoughts aside for now and concentrate on saving Jack, before she'd go out there and look for Mac.

To be continued…

…oooOOOooo…

I hope you like it.

Feedback will be very much appreciated. ;)