"Are you wearing that?" Bozer asked slowly walking around Mac. Mac's brow wrinkled as he looked at his room mate. He tightened his tie and looked down at the suit he wore.

"Yeah?"

"I think it looks nice." Riley offered from the recliner where she pulled out a fistfull of popcorn from a giant bowl resting on the table between her and Jack.

"Thank you, Riley."

"It's just, you start out wearing a suit, where'ya gonna go after that?" Jack said around a mouth of popcorn. Mac scowled at him amused.

"See, Jack knows what I'm talking about. This is only your third date, Mac…"

"Fifth." Mac said softly straightening his cuffs. Jack twisted to sitting.

"Five? You told me three."

"Me too." Bozer said crossing his arms. Mac opened his mouth looking at both of them then shook his head.

"Whatever, I gotta go." Mac growled as he stalked out the door. He shut it loudly, just shy of slamming it. Jack stood up and crossed to Bozer's side.

"This isn't good." Bozer said.

"No it isn't." Jack added both men stared at the door listening intently.

"Don't do it." Riley called. Both men turned with guilty looks.

"What?"

"We aren't doing anything." Riley laughed and stood up. She crossed to the window and peered out watching Mac climb into his Jeep. She grinned crossing to her other two teammates.

"So you aren't standing here waiting for Mac to leave so you can follow him and spy on him."

"I wouldn't say spy…" Bozer said in a drawn out aw-shucks tone.

"It's our jobs to keep him safe." Jack asserted.

"I can't believe you two." Riley said. All of them heard the Jeep roar into life and watched the headlights as Mac pulled away. Jack and Bozer hurried to their jackets. Jack paused grinning back at Riley.

"Coming?"

"Oh hell yeah!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Mac couldn't see the team following him and relaxed. He'd caught them a couple of times. He huffed in frustration. If his buddy's worried about their own love lives instead of his, there'd be a triple wedding someday. Mac found himself grinning without realizing it.

Hanika Namid. They had met when Mac had represented Phoenix at an international convention about green technologies. There had been an instant attraction that Mac hadn't felt since...Mac swallowed and glanced at his watch. He pushed the still open ache away. Zoe. Hanika had the same spirit, the same excitement and life in her eyes. Dark sapphire eyes that seemed to be worlds of their own. Her long neck and pale skin marred only by a light sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheeks made her look like a swan. And her long shining black mane...Mac shook his head and frowned. He rolled his eyes. He'd driven past the restaurant.

Mac went around the block. His eyes narrowed at a white minivan with tinted windows. As far as he could tell, it was empty. He had never seen it before, but wouldn't put it past his friends to rent a vehicle to spy on him. Mac gritted his teeth and pulled into the closest spot. He buttoned his suit jacket as he strode to the door. He was late. Mac hope he fell into the fashionably late category rather than annoyingly late. He paused at the door. The baked bread smell made his mouth water as he pushed through the glass doors of Dans Vottre Attente.

If he was being honest, Mac had to admit he wasn't a big fan of French cuisine. This was a new restaurant and looked it. The tasteful curtains in the window, the soft red carpet and modern black tables and chairs looked like they had come from the show room. The restaurant was quiet. Murmured conversations and clink of silverware on China barely covered the soft Habanera a string quartet plaid from a raised dais in the center of the room.

Mac's heart skipped as his eyes darted across the room looking for his date. He let out a pent up breath when he saw her sitting in front of the largest window. She sipped wine and gazed out the window. She looked beautiful. She wore a dress the same color of her eyes. Her hair folded into a graceful twist on her shoulders. She looked like a work of classical art. Mac fought the urge to straighten his hair and forced himself not to run across the room.

He nodded and side stepped graceful waiters and well-dressed patrons. Hanika either sensed his presence or saw his reflexion in the window. She turned and stood in one fluid motion.

"Angus! You're here." Mac could only grin as he crossed to her and kissed her on the cheek. She smelled of flowers and mystery.

"I am sorry I'm so late." She laughed and sat as he held her chair and eased it forward. Mac slid into the seat opposite her and absently unfolded the napkin and laid it across his knee. "You look beautiful." She looked away her face pinkening.

"I am so glad you could come here on such short notice." She said leaning forward. Her smile always seemed sad to Mac. He felt every nerve scream with the need to help her.

"Of course, I thought you were flying back to Paris tonight."

"No, my plane got delayed. It's this project I'm working on…" Hanika looked away and paused. Mac reached out and grabbed her hands. He was surprised to feel how cold they were. Her eyes were distant and Mac swore he saw the glitter of suppressed tears.

"What is it?" Mac asked. He gazed into her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something. Mac could tell she wanted to ask for his help. She sighed and nodded. She sat back and loosed her hands from his.

"Hanika, what's wrong? Let me help you." Hanika smiled.

"You are very sweet, I'm sorry." Mac looked at her puzzled. She stood up, "I'll be back in a minute." Mac nodded and watched the tall woman glide to the back of the restaurant. Probably going to the restroom. Mac said leaning back. He frowned. Something didn't set well with him, but he didn't know what. He found his gaze automatically bouncing around the room. The hairs on the back of his neck were curling. He looked out the window. The reflection of Los Angeles in the calm water of the harbor was soothing as the quartet began the third movement of The Ode to Joy. Mac didn't see any suspicious movement out the window. No traffic moved on the frontage road and the freeway was too far for gunfire or accurate deployment of any kind of LAW.

Mac shooed the waiter away impatiently. He stood up. His heart pounded with a sense of wrongness. He took a step to follow Hanika.

"Sir, your date's purse?" The waiter asked. Mac took the blue sagging bag absently. He froze when he felt the heft. Mac's mouth went dry and his gut dropped. He leaned over the table and opened the purse. He leaned back his heart shattering into pieces. A thick square of plastic explosives with a timer ticking down was not what he'd wanted from his fifth date.

Mac leaned over and studied the bomb. It was complex, designed not to be disarmed by people like him. Mac shook his head. Three minutes. The room suddenly seemed overcrowded and noisy as he realized that this bomb would kill them all and there wasn't time to evacuate. Mac acted with thought. He lifted the closest chair turned and threw it through the window shattering it. He ignored the cries of protest and alarm. He grabbed the bag and held it close to his chest as he jumped onto the table and leapt out the broken glass. Sharp edges sliced his arms and side. In midair he curled into a ball and whumphed as he fell and rolled across ten feet of air then a sloping bank of gravel.

Mac groaned pushing to his feet. He slid to a stop at the edge of an empty parking lot. He ran across the parking lot forcing his long legs to pump as hard as they could. Mentally the seconds ticked by. Mac felt as if he was running underwater. He reached a dumpster enclosure made of brick. Through a solid wooden gate he could the dumpster was open. He knew there was no chance he could break through the lock and chains quick enough. He set himself and tossed the purse over the gate. He had a brief glance of it going into the dumpster then he turned and sprinted away as fast as he could.

His silent clock reached zero the same time as the bomb. Mac forced his body to relax as he was thrown through the air. He felt like he was soaring hundreds of feet although his brain automatically did the math and knew that was impossible. Everything was silent and slow as Mac covered his head with his arms. He had a quick moment to think "this is gonna suck." Before he hit. He slid across stone and tar, bounced through a deep wet pothole then was spinning end over end. Then he hit something hard. Mac rolled onto his back trying to make his chest work again. He saw the mushroom plume of fire then bricks, wood and twisted metal were showering down. Mac rolled onto his front and covered his head.

Mac must have blacked out because the next thing he knew, gentle familiar hands ran over his body checking for injuries. His ears were ringing. He had a pretty good idea what Jack would be saying to him even though he couldn't hear him. Everything was cloudy. He didn't know if it was because of his eyes or smoke. Jack gently rolled him over. Mac moaned as the pain hit. He closed his eyes and took stock. His head had more lumps than a bag of rocks; his lungs were finally remembering their natural rhythm. Mac could feel his suit soaking with blood.

Mac opened his eyes with Jack's gentle pat on his cheek. Mac blinked slowly. He hadn't realized they had closed. Jack looked worried and his lips moved but Mac only heard a high buzzing. Jack turned to talk to someone over his shoulder. Mac followed his gaze surprised. Riley knelt beside them pulling out bandages from a first aid kit. Bozer was pacing behind her talking on the phone. Mac frowned. Bozer was plugging his other ear as if it were too loud to hear.

Mac moved to sit up. Jack's meaty hand pushed in the middle of his chest. Mac flopped back wincing as his head again hit the pavement. He closed his eyes against the sparks firing across the sky. Jack mauled his head pinching and probing every inch. Mac hissed and grabbed Jack's denim jacket as the sparks became bonfires of pain.

Mac's breath hitched. He could feel himself cry out when Jack hit a moist bump on the lower back of his skull. Mac only heard it as a muffled moan. Mac's eyes closed and he felt his body becoming heavy. A far away voice must have been shouting to be heard.

"Damnit, Mac. Open those baby blues." Mac's head drifted to the side as his body relaxed. He could feel Riley taking his hand and could hear the garble of her voice. She was worried. Mac moaned and forced his eyes opened. He winced in pain as strobes of red and blue blazed deep into his cranium leaving smoking agony in their wake. Mac again tried sitting. Jack put his hand in the center of Mac's chest again, but he didn't have to push. Mac had all the strength and coordination of a suffocating fish.

Mac's eyes sank closed. He was dimly aware of frantic movement around him. He felt someone open his shirt, the cold circles of a monitor, oxygen mask. Mac took a deep breath. The humming voices around him sounded like a distant ocean. Mac felt his body sink under its black waves.