Mac pushed himself harder. He was already past his personal best. Mac huffed, his legs burned and sweat-drenched him from head to foot. The team was between missions, and he was going crazy. A sharp stab in his side slowed him to a walk. He took deep breaths that fogged in the early morning air. Mac closed his eyes and wiped his forehead. His muscles were loose and warm. Mac glanced at his watch and did a quick calculation and nodded. Ten miles in 90 minutes, not bad. He rolled his shoulders as he contemplated the run back. He was going to regret it later.
Mac turned bracing for the return leg when something hurtled into him knocking him on his ass. He grunted and looked up. A girl, probably Riley's age stared at him with wild eyes. In the dim street lamp's eerie pale glow the girl looked like a ghost. She had short black hair shaved on one side of her head and straight on the other. She had a nose ring and multiple earrings in each ear. A tattoo of some sort of creature circled up her neck. Mac thought it was a snake or dragon. Her face looked pale, her lips dark. If it weren't for the bruising around her eyes and blood flowing down her cheek, Mac would have assumed she was a goth high schooler out too late on a Friday.
"Help me!" She yelled looking over her shoulder eyes wide as plates. Mac glanced behind her and saw four dark shadows. Two separated from the group moving to cut them off up the trail. Mac hopped to his feet grabbed the girl's arm and hauled her after him up the steep grassy hill beside the trail. Neither spoke, spending their energy on climbing. They reached the top. Mac pulled her across another path into woods that surrounded all of the running trails. They crashed into the woods, and Mac dragged her behind a boulder. She went to open her mouth, he held up a hand and shook his head. She nodded and dabbed at blood dribbling from a split lip. Mac noticed every finger had a ring and her hand shook with terror. He put a hand on her shoulder and offered her a reassuring smile. He didn't know if she could see the smile, but she did pat his hand and took deeper breaths.
From behind them, they heard men shouting. Mac frowned. They weren't speaking English, Russian? Polish? Ukranian, Mac decided the more he heard them talk. He felt the girl tighten and shake more.
"My name's Mac." He whispered in her ear. She looked at him surprised. Mac wondered why.
"Evelina." Her accent was Russian. They listened, the men's voices were getting faint. Mac crouched searching the area. He stood up and let out a pent-up breath.
"I think they're gone." He said softly. She stood up and moaned grabbing her abdomen. Mac crossed to her side. She stiffened and jerked away. Mac stopped held up his hands and stepped back into the open, "Are you ok? I can help you." She eyed him as she edged out of the forest. Her dark eyes darted around them like a skittish horse.
"Evelina?" Mac said softly. She jumped and looked at him. The desperation in her eyes almost broke his heart. She rattled off a long speech. Mac was sure it was Ukranian, but it was not one of the several languages he understood. She smiled turned and ran. Mac frowned shook his head and followed her at a slower pace. The way she was limping and holding her side he was pretty sure she wasn't going very far.
They reached the sidewalk along the street before she doubled over. Mac jogged toward her, his body yowling its own complaints about his exertion. Black shapes seemed to break from the shadows around her.
"No!" Mac yelled as he broke into a sprint, knowing he was already too late. He saw a silver gleam of metal and the four men were clubbing her. Mac didn't slow he shoved into them. They staggered. Mac nimbly stepped over Evalina's slumped body and blocked one swing. He kicked out grabbing the pipe. It was hefty, probably lead. He slammed the edge of it into the gut of the guy behind him then spun smashing the guy in front of him hard enough to drop him. Mac managed to block an attack from the guy to his left but not a devastating blow from his attacker on his right. The right side of his head exploded with a crunching white flare of pain. He fell to one knee and spun the pipe back and up catching the guy in his nuts. The guy in front of him kicked him in the chest.
Mac fell onto his back, his breath stolen by the blow. He kicked at the closest black mask then screamed as a pipe shattered his knee. From a mile away he felt more bangs against his bruised body before everything faded into black. Mac groaned and opened his eyes spitting out blood. He pushed onto his side and moaned. Evalina was gone. It hurt to breathe. Mac winced as he moved his arm to pull his phone out. His shoulder was killing him but still worked. Mac had to stop to breathe. Everything was blurry. He squinted as he hit speed dial. Mac laid his head on the cold cement listening to each ring with a new stab of pain.
"What's up, kid?" Jack didn't sound like Mac had woken him up, even though he knew he had. Mac tried talking but had to spit out a mouthful of blood which made him cough. He cried out and took in ragged breaths.
"Mac? What's wrong? Where are you?" Mac blinked.
"Jack...hurt. Need you…"
"I'm on my way, where are you?" Mac's eyes sagged with fatigue, "Mac, dammit, don't pass out on me, where are you?" Mac mumbled his best guess. He dropped the phone no longer able to keep his hand working,"...up! Angus! Wake up!' Mac moaned.
"Don'...mean…" Mac mumbled. He felt his head floating in a fog; he wanted to sleep.
"Don't make me be mean," Jack countered, "tell me what happened." Mac blinked. He started babbling but frowned pretty sure the words he wanted to say were stuck in his head and not coming out right. Jack didn't complain, only encouraged Mac to keep going when he paused or drifted. Mac blinked surprised to see the world brighten. Was it dawn already? Jack didn't answer so Mac figured he didn't have to say anything. He breathed out in relief. His chest hurt too much. He closed his eyes. When Jack decided to be mean, he stuck by it. Mac growled as a hand gently touched his sore shoulder. He blinked up into Jack's worried face.
"Hey," Mac mumbled anything else he would have said was lost in a cascade of pain as Jack ran his hands along Mac's body. Everywhere the man touched exploded into flame. Mac cried out and tried to push the hands away.
"I'm sorry, brother, I need to check." Mac arched his back and screamed when Jack touched his swollen knee. Mac gasped shaking with cold sweat.
"Jack." He begged reaching out. Jack's hand was warm as he took Mac's.
"It's ok, partner, just relax and breathe." Mac closed his eyes and complied shaking with cold. He heard Jack talking from far away. Jack's buzzing voice was muzzled like static, "Ok, help's on the way, kiddo. How are you doing?" Mac gasped and squeezed Jack's hand as his shoulder throbbed with movement. Jack moved closer and ran his hand gently through Mac's hair. Mac began to shiver only partly from the cold, "I'll be right back?" When he felt the older man move away, Mac began to pant with fear feeling alone, broken and afraid. When Jack sat back down, Mac grabbed the sleeve of his flannel shirt and bit back a sob. Tears trickled from his eyes most from pain, some from the shock wearing off.
"Easy, kiddo. You're ok." Jack said covering Mac with a scratchy warm blanket. It smelled of grease and sweat. It was heaven. Mac let out a deep breath relaxing as Jack gently rubbed his back, "So what happened?" Mac blinked trying to stay awake.
"Was a girl..four guys...had pipes...she's gone…" Mac paused having to catch his breath. Jack frowned getting the basic picture, "Ukranian...named Ev...Eval...Evalina." Mac could barely keep his eyes open. Jack looked up in relief as a Phoenix medic transport pulled up accompanied by TAC team Alpha. Doc Carl and Laura bent beside the two men. Doc Carl frowned turning to Laura.
"Call surgery to get ready." Jack frowned looking at the young doctor. Jack moved to stand up, but Mac jerked awake his eyes round with fear and pain. Jack sat back down. Mac squinted his eyes and cried out as Doc Carl managed to find all the same spots of agony as Jack had. Mac passed out after they lifted him on the gurney. Jack nodded at the med team as they took off squealing for Phoenix.
Jack strode to the APC and pulled out a TAC com and M-5. He turned to his team.
"Ok, we have four hostiles armed if I had to guess with some sort of pipe or bat. There is also a female victim, no ID yet. Spread out 2x2 four miles." The team nodded splitting into pairs. Jack nodded at Jenkins his number two, and they took their corner of the grid. After an hour Jack smelled it before he found her. Blood, a lot of it and the bowel smell of death. He glanced at Jenkins who nodded. They crept forward sweeping with their flashlights.
If Mac hadn't told him it had been a girl, Jack would have no way of knowing. She hadn't been beaten she'd been systematically obliterated. Jack took in the body and frowned. The killers had concentrated on her face and hands, anything that could be used to ID her.
"Damn," Jack muttered.
"Alpha one, this is Alpha four we have a torched car." Jack sighed and rubbed his eyes.
"Acknowledged. Get all you can."
"Affirmative, Four out." Jack shook his head and looked at Jenkins.
"What the hell did the kid walk into?" Jenkins asked. Jack sighed and shook his head.
"I have no idea." Jack muttered, "yet."
"What the hell was he doing running at three in the morning?" Matty almost shouted at the others grouped in the war room. Jack rubbed his eyes and poured his third coffee. He shrugged. Bozer shook his head.
"I got one camera that caught part of the fight," Riley said looking up at the big screen as it flared into life. The picture was an exercise in frustration. It was a wobbly mess of grainy shades of gray.
"Can you clean that up?" Matty asked. Riley typed then frowned.
"That's the best I can do."
"There's Mac," Bozer said taking a step closer to the screen. They saw Mac half-dragging a girl across a parking lot. They vanished out of sight. Four shadows appeared and paused forming a square to talk. Jack narrowed his eyes.
"Ri, can you close up on this guy?"
"You know him?" Bozer asked. Jack shook his head; his face was grim.
"No, but I know that." He pointed to a pistol on the hip of the man closest to the light, "that's a Yarygin pistol, an MP-4 Grach, a favorite of Russian police forces." The others glanced at him.
"What the hell did Blondie run into?" Matty growled.