Just as Harm takes a few steps with Mac in his arms, the plane explodes and
throws both of them several feet. The blast knocks them unconscious and
Harm awakes to find Mac just feet away.
"Mac! Mac!" He yells as he rushes over to her, ignoring the shouts of pain coming from his own body. She does not respond. He gently turns her on her back and cradles her head his lap.
"Mac!" He begs her to wake up. He makes sure she is breathing but she still is not responding to his voice. At this instant, all the times of competition, dangerous assignments and moments when they could have been more than friends, flooded his mind. The admiral's voice begins ringing in his ears, "You are willing to risk your career and possibly your life to go and get her? What are you willing to risk to keep her?" 'She has to be alright!' He thinks, as fear grips his heart. "M-- Sarah.... Sarah can you hear me? You have to wake up."
He holds her to his chest as the tears start to flow. "I love you." He says, slightly sobbing.
She groggily tosses a little and she whispered, "Clay.....Clay?"
A roller coaster of emotion ensues - relief to hear her voice, then the same gut-wrenching pain he experienced when he saw her kiss Webb. Instead of looking at this as another chance to finally affirm his feelings, he retreats, yet again, from those deep feelings for her. 'What am I doing?' He thinks. 'Maybe this plane crash was somebody's way of reminding me that Mac and I aren't supposed to be together.'
"Clay?" She whispers again.
"No, Mac, it's me, Harm. Can you hear me?" He answers gently, as he wipes away the tears before she can see them.
She moves her head gingerly and opens her eyes a little, "Harm? What...Where..."
"We were in a plane, remember? We were shot down by the terrorists...I got you out of the plane just as it exploded. You had me worried there for a minute." He says relief in his voice. He helps her sit up and they rest there for a couple minutes, getting their bearings.
"It's time to get some distance between us and the wreckage." He says as he scoops her up and starts walking.
It is getting dark and he knows that they have to stop to make some kind of camp. And he needs to do something for Mac's injuries and TRY to get some rest. Thankfully, he finds a good place - an over grown embankment. There are tall trees and some protruding rocks and bulging roots which made for a cave of sorts. He places Mac as far back as he can, then begins collecting fallen branches to enclose their little hide away. Her ankle swells more and he is afraid that if it has not already, infection will soon set in.
"Mac, I am going to find that stream I hear and try to get us some water."
Mac is still weak, maybe even a little weaker than before. "Ok. I'll be fine until you get back. I am so tired."
"I won't be gone long."
Mac watches him until he is out of sight. She cannot fight it any longer, she drifts off to sleep. Not surprisingly, with all that she has been through, she begins to dream vividly.
She is back in the kidnapper's compound with Webb. Their captors come in again for yet another round of "talks," when this time they reveal they know Mac has been faking her pregnancy. Clay was suffering so much she could not let them take him again. She goes with them instead. Webb tries to protest but there is not anything that he can do. Mac is taken to a shabby room, a hint of burnt flesh in the air. As she is shoved down and restrained onto a wooden table, she sees the car battery. They are about to start the torture......when a loud ruckus starts. She is left alone in the midst of the chaos of yelling and automatic gun fire.
Suddenly, the door bursts open. "Mac.......thank God I found you!" Harm holds her close "I was afraid ...so afraid...I really thought that this time we wouldn't see each other again. Now that I have found you nothing is going to keep us apart anymore. I love you."
All of a sudden Webb appears. "Sarah, Sarah. Look what I endured to protect you. I would do it all again... I love you. I have for a long time...I need you Sarah like I have never needed anyone in my life."
Mac's sleeps becomes very restless, her mind spinning back and forth between Harm and Webb. She has wanted Harm for so long.....but Webb, Clay, suffered so much for her.
Harm has saved her life many times...but has always waited to long or they just could not get it together some how. Maybe with Clay.
"Mac come with me," she hears Harm say.
"Sarah don't leave me. I need you," Webb pleads.
"Mac."
"Sarah."
"Mac. Mac. Mac! Wake up!"
Mac jerks awake, a little startled, soon realizing it was all a dream.
"That must have been some dream." Harms says as he lightly caresses her face. "Everything is ok. Do you want to talk about it?"
"No. Not now." Thinking to herself maybe not ever.
"Ok. Let's see what we can do to get this wound looking better."
As Harm pulls back her pant leg she cries out in pain. It stuck to the mangled flesh. Thankfully no new bleeding starts when he finally gets it off. It is red, not just from dried blood, and very swollen. He begins to clean her wound with wetted down strips of his undershirt. Again, the thought of infection comes to mind as he cleans off the dried blood and dirt. Mac is in great pain, but she does not allow herself to cry out again. They both fear being found by the terrorists.
'I will just have to work really hard to find some civilization tomorrow. And pray even harder that infection will be held off by a miracle,' he thinks.
"Harm! Did you hear that?" She whispers.
"No."
She puts her finger to her lips to shish him. They both hear not far away the sounds of several people looking through the area. Harm puts Mac as far back into the "cave" as possible, placing his body in front of hers. He positions brush around the opening and they huddle there quietly, almost not breathing.
Mac's body grows tense as she hears their angry voices, "Find the infidels and kill them!" One shouts to the other.
Knowing Mac understood their language, Harm pulls her close to reassure her with his embrace.
They must have found the wreck and seen there were not any bodies.
They stomp and trample through the area for what seems like hours. At one point they are right on top of them, but somebody upstairs is listening because they go right by.
Harm and Mac wait until things are really quite. They wait as well as Harm could guess another 30 minutes or so. He finally decides to check and see if the coast is clear.
Quietly, he gets out of their little hiding place and looks around. Not seeing or hearing anything, Harm heads back to Mac. Just as he is about to bend down, he hears a branch snap behind him.
Harm slowly turned around, as not to provoke whoever was behind him. When he saw who was standing there, he blinked in disbelief. There stood the farmer, from whom they borrowed the plane.
The farmer noticed the shock and surprise on his face. "You are wondering how I found you?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah, now that you mention it."
"So this is how you use my plane, for a suicide mission." He asks incredulously.
"I am very sorry about your plane, and I will answer your questions later. Right now I need your help to get my "wife" some medical attention."
"Well I suspected that you would be in need of some supplies when I heard the whispers in the village, about someone using my plane to attack a convoy, and then crashing afterwards."
"I am afraid you have wrong information. As you know, I was taking my "wife" to the hospital and we experienced some mechanical problems, which caused the crash."
"How is your partner?" The farmer asks, continuing to push, as he looks past Harm to where he was obviously headed.
Harm protectively moves into his direct eye sight, "Why did you call her my partner?" he asks, still trying to keep some kind of cover.
"If you are who you claim to be, why are you hiding?" The farmer asks, grinning with a look of checkmate.
Harm new the jig was up. He sighs, pushing his hands through his hair and clasping them at his neck.
"Come. Come. Who else would try something as stupid as you did, if you weren't some kind of government people, either American or working with the Americans."
"So you know the people in the convoy?" Harm said resigned to the fact their cover is blown.
"Who doesn't know of Sadik and his people, they intimidate, threaten and kill to get what they want. And they hate Americans."
"But how did you know where to look for us?"
"I am a very quite man. I keep to myself and listen. I knew they would be looking for you. I decided to discreetly follow along. How else am I going to get repayment for my plane?" He answered with a warm smile, trying to ease Harm's suspicions. "Now let's look at her. I have a few things here that may help until we get her somewhere."
Harm moved the brush, uncovering their hide out. The farmer removes some items from his bag and begins to tend to Mac's wounds. He has supplies for a splint, real bandages and surprisingly, a little penicillin. This man really intrigued Harm.
"So what brought you to Paraguay?" Harm quizzed.
"My faith brought my wife and I here many years ago."
"Your faith taught you how to tract people without being detected?" Harm replies, now the one pushing.
"Some things life teaches you, you never forget." He answers as finishes tending to Mac. "Ok. That should hold you for now." He stands, turning to leave. "There is some food and water and more bandages if you need them, but only one more dose of penicillin. Give it to her in the morning."
"Wait, where are you going?" Harm asked some what alarmed, not certain he trusted this man.
"I must leave; it will take a while to get back. I came on horseback and then on foot, as not to get caught. I will tend to my normal business and return when it is safe." He said patting Harm on the shoulder, as to assure him their secret was safe. Then he turns and walks away.
Harm had no choice but to trust this stranger. He was all the help they had. Harm literally prayed that he hadn't misplaced his trust.
"Don't worry. We don't have any other choice, we have to trust him." Mac said trying to bolster his mood.
"Thanks. You read my mind." Harm replied gratefully, trying to lighten things up. "Let's see what he brought us to eat."
Harm went through the bag and dug out some bread, cheese and fruit. He broke off some bread and made a cheese sandwich for Mac. "Here you are madam, a feast fit for a queen." He holds it out to her and gives her a servant's bow.
"Give my complements to the chef." Mac volleyed back in the same spirit. Yet as she bit into her sandwich, Harm's wounded expression returned.
"Harm this goes beyond your uncertainty about the farmer. Tell me." She coaxed.
"Mac this is my fault." He said disgusted with himself. " I came here to find you and bring you home. And now here we are stranded, with you injured and unable to get to a hospital. I couldn't live with myself if something I did were to cause you to."He couldn't finish.
"I am not going to die Harm. I just have a broken ankle." She locks eyes with him, "And I don't blame you. You were right to take out the convoy. We couldn't let them use those weapons against our country. We are soldiers in a war."
"Well at least on of us is." Harm thought aloud.
"What did you say?" Mac asks somewhat confused.
"Nothing, I was just thinking out loud." Wishing he could take those words back.
"You don't have permission to be here do you?"
"I don't need permission. I am an American citizen and I can go where I want."
"You are not an ordinary citizen Harm you're a Naval Commander you can't just go....Harm you didn't! You didn't resign your commission!" Mac said amazed by the action.
"Mac I was willing to do whatever it took to find you. And when the Admiral refused to grant me TAD status or leave I had no choice. I had to come find you." Harm said choking back the emotion.
The emotion didn't go unnoticed by Mac. She took his hand and said, "The Navy is your life, I don't want to be the one responsible for you losing all you have worked for."
"And I couldn't trust that Webb and the CIA would get you back to.back in one piece." He corrected himself.
A distressed look came over Mac's face when Harm mentioned Webb, prompting that nauseating feeling in his stomach yet again.
Harm let go of her hand and turned away. She was worried about Webb and after witnessing that kiss it was obvious things we no longer just professional between them.
Mac sensed his pain, he was shocked and confused by the kiss he had seen. She surprised herself. But what has her even more perplexed is Harm. She has grown accustomed to his ambiguity in this area of their relationship. Now he has given up his commission and come thousands of miles to find her. Timing is definitely not his strong suit.
"Harm, Clay protected me." She tried to explain. "He kept them away from me as long as could. It wasn't until some other hostages figured out that I wasn't really pregnant that things began to change. Even then he did all that he could to keep them from me."
The pain intensified as her remembered the conversation he had with Mrs. Webb. 'Does he love this woman? She asked I'm sorry? Harm answered taken aback. Clayton is very protective of those he loves.' Where did that come from? How could this have happened?' He thought.
It is obvious that Webb has feelings for Mac. The pain moving from his stomach and becomes an anxious feeling in his heart.
"Harm, Are you listening?"
"I am grateful to Webb for looking out for you." He said quietly.
"I promised I wouldn't leave him behind. I can't leave Paraguay without him."
"Gunny took him to the hospital. I am sure Webb is working on a way to get us all out of here."
"Mac! Mac!" He yells as he rushes over to her, ignoring the shouts of pain coming from his own body. She does not respond. He gently turns her on her back and cradles her head his lap.
"Mac!" He begs her to wake up. He makes sure she is breathing but she still is not responding to his voice. At this instant, all the times of competition, dangerous assignments and moments when they could have been more than friends, flooded his mind. The admiral's voice begins ringing in his ears, "You are willing to risk your career and possibly your life to go and get her? What are you willing to risk to keep her?" 'She has to be alright!' He thinks, as fear grips his heart. "M-- Sarah.... Sarah can you hear me? You have to wake up."
He holds her to his chest as the tears start to flow. "I love you." He says, slightly sobbing.
She groggily tosses a little and she whispered, "Clay.....Clay?"
A roller coaster of emotion ensues - relief to hear her voice, then the same gut-wrenching pain he experienced when he saw her kiss Webb. Instead of looking at this as another chance to finally affirm his feelings, he retreats, yet again, from those deep feelings for her. 'What am I doing?' He thinks. 'Maybe this plane crash was somebody's way of reminding me that Mac and I aren't supposed to be together.'
"Clay?" She whispers again.
"No, Mac, it's me, Harm. Can you hear me?" He answers gently, as he wipes away the tears before she can see them.
She moves her head gingerly and opens her eyes a little, "Harm? What...Where..."
"We were in a plane, remember? We were shot down by the terrorists...I got you out of the plane just as it exploded. You had me worried there for a minute." He says relief in his voice. He helps her sit up and they rest there for a couple minutes, getting their bearings.
"It's time to get some distance between us and the wreckage." He says as he scoops her up and starts walking.
It is getting dark and he knows that they have to stop to make some kind of camp. And he needs to do something for Mac's injuries and TRY to get some rest. Thankfully, he finds a good place - an over grown embankment. There are tall trees and some protruding rocks and bulging roots which made for a cave of sorts. He places Mac as far back as he can, then begins collecting fallen branches to enclose their little hide away. Her ankle swells more and he is afraid that if it has not already, infection will soon set in.
"Mac, I am going to find that stream I hear and try to get us some water."
Mac is still weak, maybe even a little weaker than before. "Ok. I'll be fine until you get back. I am so tired."
"I won't be gone long."
Mac watches him until he is out of sight. She cannot fight it any longer, she drifts off to sleep. Not surprisingly, with all that she has been through, she begins to dream vividly.
She is back in the kidnapper's compound with Webb. Their captors come in again for yet another round of "talks," when this time they reveal they know Mac has been faking her pregnancy. Clay was suffering so much she could not let them take him again. She goes with them instead. Webb tries to protest but there is not anything that he can do. Mac is taken to a shabby room, a hint of burnt flesh in the air. As she is shoved down and restrained onto a wooden table, she sees the car battery. They are about to start the torture......when a loud ruckus starts. She is left alone in the midst of the chaos of yelling and automatic gun fire.
Suddenly, the door bursts open. "Mac.......thank God I found you!" Harm holds her close "I was afraid ...so afraid...I really thought that this time we wouldn't see each other again. Now that I have found you nothing is going to keep us apart anymore. I love you."
All of a sudden Webb appears. "Sarah, Sarah. Look what I endured to protect you. I would do it all again... I love you. I have for a long time...I need you Sarah like I have never needed anyone in my life."
Mac's sleeps becomes very restless, her mind spinning back and forth between Harm and Webb. She has wanted Harm for so long.....but Webb, Clay, suffered so much for her.
Harm has saved her life many times...but has always waited to long or they just could not get it together some how. Maybe with Clay.
"Mac come with me," she hears Harm say.
"Sarah don't leave me. I need you," Webb pleads.
"Mac."
"Sarah."
"Mac. Mac. Mac! Wake up!"
Mac jerks awake, a little startled, soon realizing it was all a dream.
"That must have been some dream." Harms says as he lightly caresses her face. "Everything is ok. Do you want to talk about it?"
"No. Not now." Thinking to herself maybe not ever.
"Ok. Let's see what we can do to get this wound looking better."
As Harm pulls back her pant leg she cries out in pain. It stuck to the mangled flesh. Thankfully no new bleeding starts when he finally gets it off. It is red, not just from dried blood, and very swollen. He begins to clean her wound with wetted down strips of his undershirt. Again, the thought of infection comes to mind as he cleans off the dried blood and dirt. Mac is in great pain, but she does not allow herself to cry out again. They both fear being found by the terrorists.
'I will just have to work really hard to find some civilization tomorrow. And pray even harder that infection will be held off by a miracle,' he thinks.
"Harm! Did you hear that?" She whispers.
"No."
She puts her finger to her lips to shish him. They both hear not far away the sounds of several people looking through the area. Harm puts Mac as far back into the "cave" as possible, placing his body in front of hers. He positions brush around the opening and they huddle there quietly, almost not breathing.
Mac's body grows tense as she hears their angry voices, "Find the infidels and kill them!" One shouts to the other.
Knowing Mac understood their language, Harm pulls her close to reassure her with his embrace.
They must have found the wreck and seen there were not any bodies.
They stomp and trample through the area for what seems like hours. At one point they are right on top of them, but somebody upstairs is listening because they go right by.
Harm and Mac wait until things are really quite. They wait as well as Harm could guess another 30 minutes or so. He finally decides to check and see if the coast is clear.
Quietly, he gets out of their little hiding place and looks around. Not seeing or hearing anything, Harm heads back to Mac. Just as he is about to bend down, he hears a branch snap behind him.
Harm slowly turned around, as not to provoke whoever was behind him. When he saw who was standing there, he blinked in disbelief. There stood the farmer, from whom they borrowed the plane.
The farmer noticed the shock and surprise on his face. "You are wondering how I found you?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah, now that you mention it."
"So this is how you use my plane, for a suicide mission." He asks incredulously.
"I am very sorry about your plane, and I will answer your questions later. Right now I need your help to get my "wife" some medical attention."
"Well I suspected that you would be in need of some supplies when I heard the whispers in the village, about someone using my plane to attack a convoy, and then crashing afterwards."
"I am afraid you have wrong information. As you know, I was taking my "wife" to the hospital and we experienced some mechanical problems, which caused the crash."
"How is your partner?" The farmer asks, continuing to push, as he looks past Harm to where he was obviously headed.
Harm protectively moves into his direct eye sight, "Why did you call her my partner?" he asks, still trying to keep some kind of cover.
"If you are who you claim to be, why are you hiding?" The farmer asks, grinning with a look of checkmate.
Harm new the jig was up. He sighs, pushing his hands through his hair and clasping them at his neck.
"Come. Come. Who else would try something as stupid as you did, if you weren't some kind of government people, either American or working with the Americans."
"So you know the people in the convoy?" Harm said resigned to the fact their cover is blown.
"Who doesn't know of Sadik and his people, they intimidate, threaten and kill to get what they want. And they hate Americans."
"But how did you know where to look for us?"
"I am a very quite man. I keep to myself and listen. I knew they would be looking for you. I decided to discreetly follow along. How else am I going to get repayment for my plane?" He answered with a warm smile, trying to ease Harm's suspicions. "Now let's look at her. I have a few things here that may help until we get her somewhere."
Harm moved the brush, uncovering their hide out. The farmer removes some items from his bag and begins to tend to Mac's wounds. He has supplies for a splint, real bandages and surprisingly, a little penicillin. This man really intrigued Harm.
"So what brought you to Paraguay?" Harm quizzed.
"My faith brought my wife and I here many years ago."
"Your faith taught you how to tract people without being detected?" Harm replies, now the one pushing.
"Some things life teaches you, you never forget." He answers as finishes tending to Mac. "Ok. That should hold you for now." He stands, turning to leave. "There is some food and water and more bandages if you need them, but only one more dose of penicillin. Give it to her in the morning."
"Wait, where are you going?" Harm asked some what alarmed, not certain he trusted this man.
"I must leave; it will take a while to get back. I came on horseback and then on foot, as not to get caught. I will tend to my normal business and return when it is safe." He said patting Harm on the shoulder, as to assure him their secret was safe. Then he turns and walks away.
Harm had no choice but to trust this stranger. He was all the help they had. Harm literally prayed that he hadn't misplaced his trust.
"Don't worry. We don't have any other choice, we have to trust him." Mac said trying to bolster his mood.
"Thanks. You read my mind." Harm replied gratefully, trying to lighten things up. "Let's see what he brought us to eat."
Harm went through the bag and dug out some bread, cheese and fruit. He broke off some bread and made a cheese sandwich for Mac. "Here you are madam, a feast fit for a queen." He holds it out to her and gives her a servant's bow.
"Give my complements to the chef." Mac volleyed back in the same spirit. Yet as she bit into her sandwich, Harm's wounded expression returned.
"Harm this goes beyond your uncertainty about the farmer. Tell me." She coaxed.
"Mac this is my fault." He said disgusted with himself. " I came here to find you and bring you home. And now here we are stranded, with you injured and unable to get to a hospital. I couldn't live with myself if something I did were to cause you to."He couldn't finish.
"I am not going to die Harm. I just have a broken ankle." She locks eyes with him, "And I don't blame you. You were right to take out the convoy. We couldn't let them use those weapons against our country. We are soldiers in a war."
"Well at least on of us is." Harm thought aloud.
"What did you say?" Mac asks somewhat confused.
"Nothing, I was just thinking out loud." Wishing he could take those words back.
"You don't have permission to be here do you?"
"I don't need permission. I am an American citizen and I can go where I want."
"You are not an ordinary citizen Harm you're a Naval Commander you can't just go....Harm you didn't! You didn't resign your commission!" Mac said amazed by the action.
"Mac I was willing to do whatever it took to find you. And when the Admiral refused to grant me TAD status or leave I had no choice. I had to come find you." Harm said choking back the emotion.
The emotion didn't go unnoticed by Mac. She took his hand and said, "The Navy is your life, I don't want to be the one responsible for you losing all you have worked for."
"And I couldn't trust that Webb and the CIA would get you back to.back in one piece." He corrected himself.
A distressed look came over Mac's face when Harm mentioned Webb, prompting that nauseating feeling in his stomach yet again.
Harm let go of her hand and turned away. She was worried about Webb and after witnessing that kiss it was obvious things we no longer just professional between them.
Mac sensed his pain, he was shocked and confused by the kiss he had seen. She surprised herself. But what has her even more perplexed is Harm. She has grown accustomed to his ambiguity in this area of their relationship. Now he has given up his commission and come thousands of miles to find her. Timing is definitely not his strong suit.
"Harm, Clay protected me." She tried to explain. "He kept them away from me as long as could. It wasn't until some other hostages figured out that I wasn't really pregnant that things began to change. Even then he did all that he could to keep them from me."
The pain intensified as her remembered the conversation he had with Mrs. Webb. 'Does he love this woman? She asked I'm sorry? Harm answered taken aback. Clayton is very protective of those he loves.' Where did that come from? How could this have happened?' He thought.
It is obvious that Webb has feelings for Mac. The pain moving from his stomach and becomes an anxious feeling in his heart.
"Harm, Are you listening?"
"I am grateful to Webb for looking out for you." He said quietly.
"I promised I wouldn't leave him behind. I can't leave Paraguay without him."
"Gunny took him to the hospital. I am sure Webb is working on a way to get us all out of here."