Guard Your Heart
A/N: Okay, let me preface this chapter with an apology in its lateness and a forewarning that it is packed with details. I hope that doesn't drag it down, and I promise more action is on the way. Thank you for all the kind reviews and inquiries and I hope to post more regularly now that everyone is together and we've got some back story out of the way! A huge thanks to my friend Mary, who tried to assure me all this worked and found ways to make it better. Thank you all for continuing to read! Enjoy!
RCJ
Jack could feel the man's eyes on him as he took the last Malasada out of the bag and put it on the napkin he'd placed on the borrowed desk.
"Jerry, are you sure you don't want this one?" Jack dusted his hands together, ridding his fingers of the excess sugar. He briefly wondered if Bozer could recreate the pastry. It reminded Jack of the funnel cakes he had as a kid at the fair back home in Texas.
The big guy shook his head, but Jack still begrudgingly slid the remaining pastry over to the other side of the desk. It was the least he could do considering he'd commandeered the man's space. Steve had relegated Jack to some kind of basement office of Five-0's headquarters, where they apparently kept their very own Riley hidden away. Only Jerry Ortega was a gentle giant of a man with long riotous hair and from what Jack had learned so far, somewhat of a conspiracy theorist.
"So you really don't think the government is into building super soldiers?" Jerry pulled the napkin closer to him. "This guy Nobel could be like a Winter Soldier experiment gone bad."
"As much as I would love to think becoming Captain America was possible, especially as the years keep creeping up on me, I'm going to have to say Nobel is just plain old flesh and blood with a heavy dose of crazy." Jack had, per Steve's instructions, told Jerry enough about the situation that the man could work his magic, digging up whatever he could find on Jonas.
"He might as well be a ghost for as much as I could bring up on him." Jerry ate the Malasada in one bite. "Which tells me the government had a hand in making him disappear."
"Don't be too hard on yourself." Jack leaned back in the chair and rubbed at his tired eyes. "I'm guessing Jonas's file was scrubbed completely. This was bound to be a needle in hay stack kind of query from the beginning."
"Sort of like trying to dig up stuff on whatever agency you're tied to." Jerry leaned forward, looking hungry for something besides pastry. The guy was relentless.
"I didn't say I was a spy, Man."
"You didn't have to." Jerry grinned as if Jack had let him in on the secret. "I have an innate sense about these things. I can smell a cover-up from a mile away. You, friend, are a walking, talking covert operation, or maybe a super soldier."
Jack smiled, confident in Steve's assurance that despite Jerry's eccentricities and wild notions, he was a trusted member of their team. Although, as frayed as Jack felt he wouldn't mind having some kind of bionic reserves. "How about we just focus on the issue at hand. One mystery at a time is enough to handle, don't you think?"
"I'm guessing DXS," Jerry quirked a brow, still on his rabbit trail. "Or at least whatever DXS reverted to after it was compromised."
Jack took great care in schooling his expression. So much for ultra-secret. He arched a brow and tapped the computer in front of Jerry. "Weren't you supposed to be checking all flights coming into the island for anyone matching Nobel's description while Steve and Danny met with the governor?"
Jerry grinned at Jack again before he resumed his search. Jack hoped Steve and Danny would be done soon, as he was growing weary of fending off Jerry's questions. The lack of sleep and proper food probably wasn't helping matters. Jack hadn't slept but a couple hours since leaving San Diego the day before, but what he wanted more than rest was to have some kind of information on Mac. He was tempted to ask Jerry to try and reach out to Riley. But without knowing where Noble was or how wired into Jack's life he might be, the risk was still too high.
"I got something," Jerry flipped the laptop around so Jack could see. "James Stoddart arrived in Oahu at ten this morning."
"And why exactly did that ping on your sweep?" Jack looked at the screen, expecting an image but only finding a passenger list.
Jerry shrugged. "Because James Stoddart won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry this year. He's also a 2007 winner of the Albert Einstein World Award of Science."
"There's actually an Albert Einstein World Award of Science?" Jack asked completely off topic, wondering if Mac had one tucked away in his treasure chest.
"There is," Jerry nodded. "When you explained about the Alfred Nobel connection and how Jonas considered himself a scientific wizard I decided to cross reference all recent winners of Nobel Prizes and other scientific awards with passenger lists coming into the islands. Guys like Nobel have huge egos, sometimes to their own detriment they outsmart themselves. This is the only hit I've gotten so far and the time frame matches."
"That's smart, Jerry." Jack could see Riley thinking of something similar. "Can you run facial recognition from security footage from the airport?"
"If we had a recent photograph yes, but unless you brought one or can access one I don't think that's an option." Jerry tapped a few more keys on the computer. "Besides if this guy is as cunning and thorough as I think he is, he's probably going to avoid the cameras."
"Nobel is nothing if not thorough." Jack pressed the heel of his palms into his eyes, hoping to clear some of the fuzziness. A part of Jack had wished he was wrong about Nobel coming to Hawaii. Sometimes it sucked to be right.
"If you need more proof, James Stoddart's flight originated in Los Angeles." Jerry looked at Jack. "That's where you're from?"
"Yeah." Jack stood, paced the floor. "We need to let Steve know that Nobel's more than likely here. He needs to have your team and any family under watch."
"Two of our team is off island at a conference. Grover and Kono won't be back for a few days. You met Chin. He's not going to want a babysitter, and I barely leave the dungeon here."
"Sometimes it doesn't matter what the people we care about want, only that they're safe." Jack hadn't meant for the words to come out with quite as much edge, but his temper often grew shorter when he was stressed. And the fact Jerry's words struck a nerve didn't help.
"That sounds like the same kind of reasoning the government uses to keep average Joe Citizen in the dark." It was said without any malice. In fact Jerry propped his chin on his hand, looking as if he was used to countering such statements on a regular basis.
Jack narrowed his eyes at the computer guru, not feeling particularly in the mood for theoretical debate, or to have his line of thinking challenged. Jack happened to agree with a lot of the government's discrepancy in sharing information. "Ignorance is bliss for a reason."
"I wonder if your partner would agree with that." Jerry gave another unimposing shrug. "I'm guessing probably not."
"You don't know anything about my partner, Jerry."
"Actually I do." Jerry hit a few more keys and flipped the computer around so Jack could see it again. A familiar headshot from Phoenix's 'official' website stared back at Jack. "Angus MacGyver. Top of his class at MIT. Finished the program at a freakish accelerated rate only to sign on with the Army where he made himself invaluable as an EOD, specializing in disarming the most complicated of bombs including chemical and biological ordnance. I'm guessing that's where you two met. He was recruited by the CIA, FBI and the Joint Forces." Jerry shot Jack another knowing grin. "But he went with DXS-right? I know he's a spy, like you."
Jack folded his arms over his chest, taking a deep breath to calm his frazzled emotions. "If you did all that extensive research while I was eating my breakfast then you should have found out that Mac works at The Phoenix Foundation, a brilliant think tank where he does scientist-y things."
"And what did you say you did at this Phoenix?" Jerry asked, mimicking Jack's stance as he leaned back in his chair. "You don't exactly strike me as the science type."
Jack was spared an answer by the sound of footsteps on the stairs. It was Chin.
"Hey, Steve needs you up top." The police Lieutenant gestured for Jerry to stay where he was when the big man started to get up. "I was talking to Jack."
"But I have information…" Jerry started.
"Which I will be glad to relay," Jack smirked at the computer hacker, glad to finally feel as if he was getting the upper hand. He tapped the computer. "Besides you're going to be busy checking the car rentals at the airport."
"I am?" Jerry asked.
"You are." Jack started for the door. "See if our buddy James Stoddart rented a vehicle. If so, we should be able to track it. You probably want to search the rental properties in this area as well. I'm guessing Nobel would choose an out of the way location instead of a hotel or motel. If that's true, he might have used traditional means like rental agencies or realtors to get one. I have a feeling he's been planning this for a while."
"That makes sense." Jerry gave Jack a look of surprise.
"You're starting to see why the think tank recruited me, right?" Jack touched his temple as he moved from the desk to follow Chin. "I'm a man of many talents. Pretty doesn't always equate dumb."
"I still think you're a spy," Jerry grumbled as he once again began pecking away at the keyboard.
"Are you a spy?" Chin asked Jack as they moved up the stairway side by side. "Steve didn't really get a chance to explain what it was you did exactly."
Jack looked at Chin, sizing the other man up. "I work for a think tank."
Chin ran his gaze over Jack. "Right."
Jack snorted. "Dude, I am so a spy."
Chin shook his head and laughed in a way that told Jack he could have probably told Chin he was one of Jerry's government altered super soldiers from Area 53 and he'd been cool with it. "Knowing some of Steve's other long lost buddies, that doesn't surprise me."
"Just don't tell your pal, Jerry. I'm afraid I might end up on one of his conspiracy blogs with some kind of profile that makes me look like a blend of Jason Bourne and Steve Rogers."
"Jerry's an acquired taste, but trust me when I say he's harmless, and helpful."
"I believe you on both accounts." Steve had filled Jack in on his team on their drive in. If Steve trusted them, Jack could as well. "Jerry already found our first tangible lead."
"Make that our second lead." Chin gestured for Jack to precede him down the hall to their glassed in central command. "I think Steve found out more than he wanted to from our talk with Governor Mahoe. He's putting surveillance teams on mine and Danny's families."
"That can't be good." Jack pushed through the doors, finding Steve and Danny in front of the massive computerized table that Jack was certain would send Riley over the moon. Neither of them looked up, but continued to gaze at the bank of screens in front of them. When Jack got good view at the land region displayed he could understand why Steve was scowling. "Is that Matarengo?"
Steve glanced at Jack and nodded, then looking to Chin he added. "It's a remote village not far from Las Vueltas."
"Las Vueltas is the city that the governor said Miguel Quesan is coming from," Chin said.
"Who's Miguel Quesan?" Jack looked from Chin to Steve. He instantly recognized the grim foreboding in his former teammate's intense gaze. "And why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like your answer."
"Until recently Miguel Quesan was the self-appointed president, AKA crazy dictator, of Las Vueltas, a small country or should I say 'providence'," Danny air quoted, "near El Salvador."
"That area has a lot of 'providences'" Jack returned the air quote. "Which is short hand for strong holds of mercenaries and gangs who have delusions of grandeur. They usually work as outposts for much bigger bad asses."
"Long story short," Steve jumped in. "Quesan is coming to Hawaii as part of a deal with ICE and the DEA. He's apparently going to be turning himself over to our government in hopes he'll be their key informant for taking down the drug pipeline from El Salvador, Nicaragua and Venezuela."
Jack looked at Steve. "I'm guessing the history lesson means you think Quesan has ties to our boy Nobel."
"I know he does." Steve tapped a few places on the table and the scowling face of who Jack assumed was Miguel Quesan appeared on the screen. "Quesan made his way up the ranks in typical Guerilla warfare, dictator fashion. Monterango was one of his first strongholds he used to stockpile weapons for the small army he was hoping to amass, along with the drugs he was using to bankroll his rag tag outfit. There's no way he didn't have a hand in recruiting Nobel all those years ago."
"This information come from the important meeting you had with the Governor?" Jack asked.
Steven nodded. "Guess who she wants as protection detail for Quesan's exchange?"
"Your team," Jack said, his gut clenching at the implications. "Damn."
"Quesan's being brought here by military escort, all very hush hush," Danny said. "They're handing off to the DEA and Federal Marshals in the next forty-eight hours at a yet undisclosed location."
Jack sighed, rubbing at the taught muscles that were knotted at the base of his neck. "You're right, that can't be a coincidence. Nobel has to be here because of Quesan."
"It sounds like the sooner we find your old friend the better," Chin said what they were all thinking.
"The problem being we don't even know for sure he's on the island," Danny interjected.
"Actually we do," Jack told them. "Jerry found a flight holding one of the possible aliases he believed Nobel might be using. It landed early this morning in Oahu. I have him checking car rentals in the area."
"We need a picture of Nobel," Steve said. "I'm going to see if Joe can get his hands on one and send it to us. Me, you and Danny will head for the airport, start canvasing the taxi services that might have had people running the airport route this morning."
"What do you want me to do?" Chin asked.
"See if you can reach out to the DEA and Marshals, maybe even ICE. It's possible they'll share some more specific information now that Governor Mahoe has briefed us."
Chin nodded. "I take it we're not mentioning the threat of Nobel being in the area just yet?"
"Not until we have some more intel to share." Steve shook his head. "They're not going to take us seriously considering the magnitude of the operation and what they're hoping Quesan will give them."
"We need to know Nobel's agenda." Jack said as Chin moved to his office and Steve and Danny started for the door. He was already frustrated with the cat and mouse game, and the new pieces of information putting even more people on the playing board was dizzying. "Why bring me here? Why elaborate this whole reunion and what does it have to do with some crack pot despot turning traitor to his people?"
"The quicker we find Jonas the sooner we can question him." Steve slapped Jack on the back as he passed.
"And by question he means the sooner you two can dangle your old pal off a ten story building," Danny added following his partner and coming alongside Jack. "While I try to be the voice of reason, which of course will go unheard and unheeded. I could give you the script but I have a feeling you already know it by heart."
"Dangling Jonas from a building pales in comparison to what I have in mind." Jack would slowly take Nobel a part for shooting MacGyver, damn the consequences. Just thinking of the pain he was going to inflict on the man gave Jack a fresh rush of adrenaline that convinced his body to keep moving through his exhaustion.
"Although I'm sure your CIA interrogation methods are far more effective than Steven's bash in the head and blow away the knee caps kind of tactics," Danny said as they made their way into the bright sunshine. "You should still keep in mind that it's hard for the bad guys to give us answers if they're not breathing."
"How would you feel if he shot your partner?" Jack cut his gaze to Williams, glancing past the detective to scan the buildings beyond them. Knowing Nobel was on island gave Jack a keen awareness to their vulnerability.
"Half the time I want to shoot my partner," Danny gestured to where Steve was moving towards the black Camaro.
"I heard that," Steve called over his shoulder without stopping.
"Because you have the ears of a bat," Danny shouted back, before raising a brow at Jack. "Tell me in all that time you crawled around in the desert with him, you haven't thought about it."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Jack couldn't help but to give the detective a half smile. His and Steve's relationship hadn't always been smooth. Steve was a SEAL after all, and Jack being Delta instantly set them up for a healthy and sometimes intense rivalry. "He does have a way of pushing a person's buttons."
"I also heard that." Steve opened the car door and regarded the two men over the roof. "You both can hitch a ride to the airport for all I care."
"And miss out on seeing your old pal's reaction to how you handle mid-day traffic on the island?" Danny opened the driver's side door and willingly climbed in the back this time. "Never."
"You forget I've ridden in a Lightweight tactical All-Terrain Vehicle with the man." Jack got into the front seat and shut the door, shooting Steve a grin. "Not to mention a Bradford tank and numerous choppers. Besides did you forget how I got to this island via our old friend Bama. I don't think anything can phase me at this point."
"We'll see," Danny warned, patting the back of Jack's seat when Steve turned on the siren and flashing lights. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."
RCJ
In the end it wasn't Steven's insane driving that did Jack in, but the fact they had absolutely no luck despite the hours of footwork they did canvasing the airport with the picture of Jonas that Joe had been able to get to them. A check in with Chin, had added to Jack's misery. Jerry had drawn a blank too, and no one in the DEA or any other government agency seemed willing to offer any more details about the meet up. As it was Jack was feeling not only the hours he'd logged without sleep and proper food, but the quickly passing time to the proposed DEA operation set for a still undisclosed hour and place.
"How you holding up?" Steve was sitting across from Jack at a picnic table near a food truck owned by one of Steve and Danny's informants. Steve had promised that the food was legit and cautioned Jack to look past any first impressions he might have about Kamekona's culinary prowess, even though Danny explained to Jack that the big Hawaiian had used to sell shaved ice and run guns out of the same truck that now bore his likeness and proclaimed to serve the best shrimp on the islands.
"I could use about twenty hours of sleep but besides that, I'm okay." Jack rubbed a hand over his face, realizing he was also in desperate need of a shower and shave. He'd take a phone conversation with a certain genius over any of it.
"You don't look okay." Steve picked up one of the bottles of water he'd grabbed from the big bucket of ice by Kamekona's order window and passed it to Jack.
"So I might be kicking myself a thousand ways to Sunday for not killing Jonas when I had the chance but hey, what's a little more guilt in the grand scheme of things." Jack took the water and opened it. He hesitated before taking a drink. "This is all my damn fault. Mac getting shot, and now whatever Jonas is trying to pull here in your neck of the woods."
"You're not responsible for what Jonas is doing, Jack."
"Says the guy who ordered me to take him out seven years ago." Jack took a long drink to keep from having to see the 'I told you so' look in Steve's gaze. When he finished half the bottle and Steve was still staring at him, he recapped the drink and faced his old friend trying to remember what Mac had once told him about apologies being a good starting point for hard conversations. "I'm sorry about that by the way. If I haven't said so, which I know I haven't. I shouldn't have lied to you and I shouldn't have put Freddie in a position where he had to cover for me."
"No, you shouldn't have, but I should have talked to you about the directive instead of following Hammond's lead to keep the kill order under wraps until we located Jonas." Steve took a drink of his own water. "And just so we're clear, Freddie didn't tell me. He didn't have to. I knew the moment you reported back. Hell, maybe I knew all along you wouldn't go through with it, and that's why I didn't insist on doing it myself."
"Come on, now," Jack grinned, hoping to lighten the mood. They had enough current problems without dragging the past into them. "We both know why Hammond tagged me for the job. I'm the far better shot. Always have been."
"Keep telling yourself that, Tombstone." Steve snorted. He eyed Jack for a moment. "You've changed, Man."
"I could say the same for you, Smooth Dawg." Jack hadn't talked to Steve in years. He felt a pang of regret for letting so much time pass, even if rationally he understood it to be a protection device of sorts. As good as it was to see Steve, even under the circumstance, there was also a heaviness, a cloud of bad memories that Jack would just as soon not revisit. The incident with Jonas just topped the list. "I never thought you'd be a cop. I figured you for a lifetime Navy man. And now here you are. Practically domesticated."
"I don't think I'm the only one that's settled down." Steve smirked. "A small covert operation based stateside was never in your grand plan."
"Hey, I'll have you know I still live a very exciting life." Jack wasn't about to admit that Steve wasn't the only one who had ended up in an unlikely place. Jack had always thought he'd retire from the military like his old man ,or maybe ride it out with the CIA. Meeting Mac had changed all that. "The world is my oyster. One day I wake up in Switzerland, the next Tel Aviv, and I still speak fluent super model, a language that despite your chiseled jawline, you never quite got."
"No more lone wolf, though." Steve ignored the jabs, gesturing to Jack's head with a smirk. "And there's the new haircut, which is ridiculous by the way. Did one of your super models suggest that look?"
"Ha ha." Jack snorted, picking up on the first part of Steve's observation. "Wait. Did you call me a lone wolf?"
"Those were Hammond's words, not mine, Pal." Steve leaned forward on his elbows. "I always thought he put you on our team as a way of giving you some bearings."
"And here after all these years I thought it was some kind of punishment." Jack took another drink of water, hoping to wash down the large lump that was lodged in the back of his throat. "You know he's the one who put me and MacGyver together. Hammond played it off like I was the most capable to watch the kid's six, but later I came to realize he was maybe trying to give me something to anchor me, maybe a reason to keep my head in the game."
"Ohana can definitely do both those things." Steve peeled at the paper on his water bottle.
"That means family, right?" Jack asked and Steve nodded. Mac was most definitely family. "This may sound crazy, but my partnership with that kid is the most functional relationship I've managed to have."
"If it's crazy, I'm right there with you. Danno and I are practically married." Steve glanced to where Danny was claiming their order at the shrimp truck. He gave a thoughtful smile. "It's not all bad, though. He's got a couple of great kids, probably the closest I'll come to having any. His daughter seems like my own."
"Mac has a Bozer." Jack shook his head, thinking about the unlikely places they'd each landed, the people they'd chosen to tie themselves to. "I've kind of gotten attached."
"I have no idea what a Bozer is, but here's to family." Steve lifted his water bottle in a toast.
Jack bumped his against it. "To Ohana."
"I'm glad you two are having such a good time, toasting one another." Danny grumbled as he made it to their table having waited at the window for their orders. "Was there some kind of breakthrough in the case while I was playing waiter? Did you manage some kind of lead that evaded us this whole morning? Because from where I'm sitting or standing with this very large, heavy tray, loaded with food that I again paid for, we don't have a lot to celebrate."
"We're just catching up, Danno." Steve grabbed his plate of shrimp. "We wouldn't do any of the hard work without you, buddy."
"That I believe." Danny claimed the seat next to Steve, with another grumble beneath his breath. He slid Jack's food across to him, before handing Steve a generous stack of napkins with a huff. "I know your strengths and I'm guessing your buddy here, Delta Dalton, also has muscle where he should have properly firing synapses."
"Did he just call us meat heads?" Jack wasn't too offended, more interested in the amazing smell coming from his plate than Danny's insult.
"Insulting is his love language." Steve dug into his food. "At least that's how our therapist explains it."
"I think he may just call them as he sees them." The man who spoke had come up quickly to their table, sliding onto the bench seat next to Jack before any of them could react to the intrusion, like a friend they were expecting, only Jack felt the familiar unwelcome intrusion of a blade press against his lower left side. "Long time no see, Tombstone."
Jack saw recognition race across Steve's face despite the hat and sunglasses the stranger was wearing. His hands moved lighting quick to the weapon at his side. Jack grunted as Nobel increased pressure on the unseen knife.
"Keep your hands on the table, Commander. You two Detective Williams or I will run this pig sticker I have at Jack's back through the good Captain. You know how well trained I am in this technique, Smooth Dawg. If my memory serves, you taught it to me. One swift thrust and I tear a hole in his kidney maybe hit a Suprarenal vein if I'm lucky, and he's bleeding out way before any ambulance gets here."
Steve met and held Jack's gaze, unspoken words passing lighting fast. A part of Jack wanted to tell Steve to go ahead and waste the bastard, but then again, he wasn't ready to die, and Nobel no longer warranted a quick death. It would be slow and painful if Jack had any say in the matter.
"If that's not motive enough then check out the nice red dot on your partner's shirt." Nobel chuckled as both Steve and Danny located the laser sight bright against the detective's white dress shirt. Jack winced, hating like hell that he kept endangering innocent people. From the angle and lack of buildings in the area, he guessed the shooter was in one of the treed areas. He had not anticipated Jonas having help.
"A guy like me can have a partner too." Nobel seemed to read Jack's mind. "And though I'm really not that invested in mine, I'm guessing the seven years you've endured the detective's company has made you somewhat partial to him."
"I will kill you, Jonas," Steve growled.
"Not if I do it first." Jack understood well enough that he nor Steve were in any position to currently see any such threats to fruition, but it felt good to say it just the same.
"You had your chance, Jackie Boy." Jonas increased the pressure on the blade. Jack grit his teeth to keep from letting the pain register on his face as the knife slid through his shirt and breached skin. "But we all know you were too much of a coward to finish the job."
"He showed you mercy," Steve growled. Jack appreciated his old friend defending him but he could feel blood trickling down his side now, dripping onto the top of his pants. "Mercy you didn't deserve because you betrayed us and your country. This is how you pay him back?"
"Mercy?" Jonas's voice vibrated with barely controlled rage. "The only thing Jack did was ruin my retirement plan and deny me a swift death. Something you had a hand end, I might add. I ended up in a godforsaken prison run by unforgiving men who believed I had set them up, that I was some part of an intricate plan to learn their location and destroy their outpost, which you did, by the way, making me look even more complicit with Jack's shoulder shot."
"It sounds like you got what you deserved." Danny spoke for the first time. "Karma and all."
"You don't get to talk, Detective Williams. You're just collateral damage. Ask the SEAL and Delta boys what that makes you worth in the big picture?"
"What the hell do you want, Jonas?" Jack kept his voice even, working hard to force his emotions in check. "The gang's all here. Don't keep us hanging in suspense any longer."
"What I want?" Jonas shook his head. "What I wanted was to see my life's work put to use. What I wanted was to be paid back for what the Army cost me. Seeing as how there's no chance of that now, I'll take punishing the people who ruined it for me. Starting with Miguel Quesan."
"Who?" Steve asked.
"Come on, Lieutenant Commander. We both know your lovely governor filled you in on the DEA's meet up with a Delta escort. She might not have shared all the details, as I haven't even been privy to those yet, but Quesan's coming here to sing like a canary, willingly walking into our government's cage to keep from being roasted by his own people. I can't let that happen."
"So you came here to kill Quesan?" Steve, glanced to Danny, who rolled his eyes.
"No. I brought Jack here to kill Quesan."
"That's not going to happen." Jack looked from Steve to Jonas. "Do your own damn dirty work."
"So this is all about revenge?" Steve raised a brow. "That's your big plan? It's not smart on your part, and despite everything, you were always smart. If you made it out of that prison, you should have disappeared for good."
"Believe it or not killing Quesan is payment for my freedom. I'm still on a bit of a short leash, and it took some brilliant strategy on my part to set this whole plan in motion. Getting Jack to do the dirty work as he called it, is just icing on a very sweet cake."
"Why not just do it yourself?" Danny asked, earning him glares from both Steve and Jonas. "I hear you were some hotshot sniper."
"Because if these boys didn't tell you, I ruined my hands serving my country. Having no fingertips makes it impossible to finesse a trigger, unlike a blade, which only needs power and close proximity. " Nobel demonstrated by shoving the knife through a few more layers of Jack's skin. When Jack couldn't stop the pain gasped that escaped him, Danny raised his hands in surrender. Jack let out a string of four lettered words and tried to stay as still as possible despite having an inch of steel buried in his side.
"I get the point," Danny said, then sheepishly added, "No pun intended."
"This job takes someone with a special skill set," Nobel backed off the pressure but Jack could still feel each beat of his heart thrum through the pain in his back, nerve endings demanding he pay attention. "And as much as I hate to admit it, even in my hay day, before the accident, I didn't have the range that old Jack here did. He was our top shooter. You wouldn't believe how many men he's killed. He's the one they should have called Merchant of Death."
"Your old injuries didn't keep you from shooting my partner." Jack looked down at the table, where his fingers were clenched against the wood slats. Jonas had his free hand fisted as well. He was wearing leather gloves in the Hawaiian heat. Jack realized he hadn't completely considered all the ramifications of Nobel's old injury and how it might figure into the equation of Mac's shooting.
"I didn't shoot your partner." Nobel revealed, looking at Jack. Even through the darkened lenses Jack saw a glint in his old friend's green eyes. "I was at ground zero, by the street light near your nice car where I could see your face when it happened. You looked like someone had just put down that old horse you loved so much, what was its name, Damascus?"
"Jack." Steve's voice held an unspoken order to stand down. Nobel was trying to push Jack's buttons, a task made much easier by the surge of adrenaline coursing through Jack's system, pain activating his fight or flight reaction.
Jack forced a grin, his ability to compartmentalize physical pain almost as impressive as Mac's talent for doing so with emotional trauma. "For a man who wants me to do him a favor, you sure seem hell bent on staying on my bad side, Jonas."
Nobel scoffed. "I don't need to be nice to you, Jack. I've already made sure you're going to do whatever I want you to do."
"By shooting my partner? Holding a knife on me?" Jack's smile turned feral. He jerked his head to the tree line. "You might as well finish me now and have your partner shoot Quesan?"
"While given the right gun and setting it was easy enough to coach a semi-decent shooter through a short distance shot, it is not so simple to teach them all the intricacies of being an accomplished sniper. I'm quite sure Quesan is going to be exchanged in a location that requires the shooter be at a great distance and have exact precision despite measures that will be taken to cover the target. They'll be trained guards. With no room for error or a do-over. I need you Tombstone. So what do you say? Have we got ourselves a deal?"
"I can tell you what I think of your deal in two words…" Jack started, one of his favorite four-lettered words primed and ready on the tip of his tongue.
"Careful," Jonas hedged. "Before you answer let me tell you that MacGyver's life hangs in the balance."
Jack no longer felt the pain in his side, the increased beating of his heart overpowering every other sensation. "Mac is safe."
"Wrong." When Nobel grinned Jack glanced once more at the glaring red laser on Danny's shirt. If Nobel had one partner it was possible he had another. Jack had left his family unprotected on the premise that Jonas was a lone wolf. After all, as Steve pointed out, it took one to know one. Only Jack hadn't accounted for the fact that he was now a member of a pack, and that if an old dog like him could change, then maybe Jonas could adapt as well. "You're partner is dying."
"That's not…" Jack started, about to insist that no such thing was possible when the truth hit him. There was no other shooter. Nobel didn't need one. Mac had been in jeopardy from the moment he was shot two days ago. Jack flashed a panicked look at Steve. The realization seemed to catch them at the same time if the expression on his former teammate's face was any indication. Jack jerked his head back to Jonas, not caring if the knife slid a little deeper. He was beyond feeling anything but rage. "You sonofabitch. You didn't."
"Oh but I did, Tombstone. It's ironically beautiful if you think about it. You have no idea the torture I endured when you left me there in that village wounded, patting yourself on the back that you'd spared me. The things they did to extract information I didn't have…" Nobel's voice dropped, and for a moment Jack almost ached for his old friend. The buddy he'd laughed with, trained with, trusted enough to open up to about his past. Jack might not have known specific details but he could see the traces of agony etched in Jonas's scarred face, the premature gray hair, the lanky body that spoke more to malnutrition and abuse than any lithe fitness. Clothes couldn't hide such atrocities, not when one knew what to look for.
But all of Jack's momentary empathy faded as Jonas regained his composure, right along with his desire to rub salt in Jack's wound. "I instructed my friend to shoot your brilliant partner using a gun I knew you'd recognize, with one of my new and improved biologic bullets, the very kind that got me put on our government's hit list in the first place. The poison it contained in its casing is slow-working, but relentless. Sort of like me. It will systematically make its way through the body, shutting down necessary functions along the way. Believe me, Jack, when I tell you MacGyver is going to suffer. Oh, how he is going to suffer."
Jack's grandfather had once told him that love was nothing more than a willingness to suffer. Jack was seventeen and had just put down his horse. Damascus was old and had endured enough hardships in life that Jack had vowed not to let him linger in pain, even if it meant his own heart was shattered in the process. Jack understood his grandfather's words, accepted them as truth. Choosing to leave your heart vulnerable always came at a cost. A high one, but worth it.
Just as Jack accepted that responsibility he also clung to the idea that it was his job to protect those he loved from any pain. Jack loved his country, and he had suffered so others didn't have to. Jack loved Mac, willingly knowing he might suffer because of it, but he had never signed on for or agreed to let Mac suffer in turn. In fact, Jack's priority mission had always been just the opposite. Like Damascus, Mac had already had more than his fair share of bad breaks in his short life. Jack had vowed to protect him from any others.
"I'll do whatever you say, just make this go away."
"Jack." Steve's voice held a different kind of warning this time, one that spoke to things like not dealing with terrorists and the inability to trust anything Nobel was saying or proposing. There was also the fact that Jack was a government agent and killing a Federal protected witness would be frowned upon even if Jack's motives were self-sacrificing. Thornton would not be able to help him. It would be the ruination of his career, and most likely the end of his freedom. Not to mention that taking a life, even a bad one, would steal just another little piece of Jack's soul. But he'd do it, if that was what it took to spare Mac.
"Shut up, MacGarret," Noble snarled. "Before I add your partner to the equation. The bullet chambered with his name on it has the same kind of toxin. One so intricate and precise in design that no chemist, however brilliant is going to untangle the exact proportions needed for a proper antidote before those poisoned from it expire. I made sure of that. We'll see how quick you are to take your high and moral road when it's your best friend writhing in pain, begging you to put a bullet in his brain."
"Just give me the damn antidote and I'll do it." Jack held Steve's gaze, willing his old friend to just go along, to let him do what had to be done. It wasn't like Quesan was some innocent. The man was a drug lord and had probably murdered and maimed God only knew how many people. Jack had killed many men for much less, and it wasn't like they had another choice.
"You'll have the antidote in your possession after the job is done. I want to be there. My associate as well. He'll want proof, after all." Jonas grinned. "This isn't all about me, after all."
"We won't even know the location until right before the exchange," Steve said. "Not even the time when it will occur."
"Then I guess you better do some research" Nobel used his free hand to reach into his jacket pocket, pulling out a cell phone which he tossed on the table. "I'll be in touch with more details. And don't think about moving from this table to come after me because Detective Williams will not be out of danger until…"
The shift in Steve's demeanor was almost imperceptible. Jack had barely caught it in time. His old teammate must have realized the moment Nobel would have adjusted his hold on the blade at Jack's side, just a fraction to enable him to deliver the phone. It offered a window for action, a possible chance to reclaim the upper hand, and Steve McGarrett was not one to not take advantage of such chance.
Jack rolled right, just as Steve took him and Danny backward off the bench with a clothes-line sweep of his arm. A shooting burn raced up Jack's side, as Jonas cursed and bolted to the left. A bullet struck the table.
Another round from the sniper kicked sand up just a few inches by Jack's head and he scrambled to get behind the protection of their table, which Steve had flipped to use as cover. Another shot struck one of the legs, sending chunks of wood flying. People screamed. It was like the night in Los Angeles all over again as those enjoying their quiet lunch in the park in front of Kamekona's realized what was happening. Jack heard the roar of a motorcycle engine above the melee.
"He's in the tree-line, six o'clock," Steve yelled, gripping his gun but unable to take a chance of breaking from cover as another bullet splintered more table.
"Thank you for that enlightening information, Mr. Helpful," Danny shouted back. "But unless you want to fire through a crowd of scrambling tourists and possible passerby's in the park I don't see how it's going to do us one bit of good."
"Where's Nobel?" Steve turned his blazing gaze on Jack as another round whacked the ground beyond them.
"Gone." Jack had one arm wrapped around his side, his gun in hand in the other. He jutted his chin towards the parking lot. "I heard a motorcycle fire up, but didn't get a look at it."
"Damn it." Steve's curse preceded a wail of sirens in the distance. Someone had called the police.
Jack became aware of the sound of his own harsh breathing as quiet fell sudden around them. He shared a look with Steve who gave a barely perceptible nod before popping his head over the top of the table as Jack peeked out from the side to cover him. Silence remained, and Jack let out a sigh of relief as no shots came in and a quick scan of the area revealed no bodies scattered in the wake of the shooting spree. At least no one else had gotten hurt because of him. All the tables were deserted. Kamekona's food truck appeared untouched. Even the big Hawaiian had popped up in the open window, shaking his head in exasperation as if he wasn't as shell-shocked as he should have been.
"You think we're clear?" Danny asked.
"I think the shooter and Nobel are long gone." Steve stood, gesturing to the patrol cars that had just rolled in with a squeal of tires and breaks. "I'll get a team to the trees and see if they might have left anything behind."
"Are you alright?" Danny shifted to face Jack, his gaze going to the blood soaking Jack's gray shirt.
"A couple of butterfly bandages, maybe some Duct tape, and I'll be fine." Jack holstered his gun and pressed a hand over the puncture wound in his side. Jonas had delivered a decent slice over his ribs as well when Steve made his move, but it was more painful and messy than deadly, not surprising since Jonas obviously needed them alive for his plan to work.
Danny stood, offering a hand to Jack along with a roll of his eyes. "Spoken like a true Neanderthal from Steve's tribe."
Jack accepted the hand up, wavering just a bit when he was vertical. He nodded to Nobel's phone that was now near Danny's feet. "Can you grab that?"
Danny let go of Jack and picked up the phone, dusting the sand from its cover before sliding it into his pocket just as Steve jogged back over to them. "I've got a patrol going in and put a bird in the air, but I doubt we're going to find anything."
"I need to call Mac," Jack said with a nod. "He has no idea he's been poisoned."
"Not to be Devil's Advocate here," Danny interjected. "But please note the source of that information."
"I don't think Nobel was bluffing." Steve propped his hands on his hips. "He's a lot of things, but a liar isn't one of them."
Jack swallowed hard, wishing like hell Steve had agreed with his partner, even if Jack knew in his gut that what Nobel had told them was true. "Mac will need to get to Phoenix. We have a top notch medical staff."
"We can secure a safe line back at headquarters." Steve lifted a brow. "We'll get Jerry checking traffic cams, too. You need a hospital run first?"
"No." Jack shook his head. What he needed was for this to all be a bad dream, or maybe a time machine so he could go back into the past and follow through with the shot that should have killed Nobel to begin with. Neither scenario was possible so he just prayed that he'd be able to pull off whatever was necessary to get Mac the help he needed in time. He glanced at Danny. "But do you think your buddy Kamekona could box some more of that shrimp to go? I'm still freaking starving."
"Neanderthals." Danny tossed his hands in the air but moved towards the food truck with another muttered. "Complete Neanderthals."
Once Danny had reluctantly headed for the food truck, Jack turned to Steve, no longer bothering with the front he'd been maintaining. "What the hell are we going to do?"
"Take it easy, man." Steve held up a hand in an attempt to ward off Jack's panic. "We're going to figure this out. I promise you."
"You know what Jonas is capable of, the things he wanted to use on people all in the name of winning a war." Jack remembered looking at some of their old teammate's plans, trying to laugh them off as fanciful plots that Nobel wouldn't possibly be capable of pulling off, hoping they were as fanciful as Jerry's super soldier theories, but knowing in his gut they were far too tangible, and then realizing that even if their own government might hold to ethics that prevented such tactics, others were not as moral. "This is my partner we're talking about, not some enemy that might be easy to villainize and write off."
Steve reached up and squeezed Jack's shoulder. "And losing it now is not going to help MacGyver. We're going to keep it together and use all our resources to get Nobel and that antidote before Quesan comes into the picture."
"And if we don't?" Jack searched Steve's gaze, hoping he'd find that the man he'd known all those years ago, the one who would do whatever it took to rescue one of their people, was still there, despite wearing a badge now and answering to the governor of Hawaii. "Get Nobel, and the antidote in time?"
"Then you'll take out Quesan." Steven nodded, not letting Jack down. He gripped the agent's shoulder once more before letting his hand fall away. "I'll spot the shot for you myself. Mac's not going to die. Not on our watch."
Jack let out the breath he'd been holding in a relieved sigh. He swallowed hard, hoping to keep his voice light as he forced a smile. "Danno's not going to like that."
Steve let out a bark of a laugh. "That goes without saying."
"I have a feeling I'm quickly getting on his bad side?" Jack added, following Steve as the other man turned and started for the car.
"No, I think he likes you," Steve said. "He gave you a nickname, after all. Delta Dalton has a ring to it."
"I don't know." Jack limped along behind, cursing as the cut on his side pulled with each step. "He was right about the whole being shot at and nearly dying before the day was through."
"In all fairness Danno thinks he's going to be shot at and killed basically every day he spends with me." Steve sent Jack a sideways glance as they reached the Camaro. "If you haven't noticed, he has a pessimistic streak a mile wide and cynical is his middle name."
"He does have you for a partner," Jack shrugged. "It could just be a healthy dose of realism and self-preservation."
"Very funny," Steve grinned. "I could always make you hobble back to headquarters."
"Which is a plan I intend to get behind unless Kamekona can do something to fix your leak." Danny said as he joined them, the big Hawaiian chef in tow. Kamekona was bearing a white duffel, and despite just having his lunch crowd run off by a rogue sniper, he was smiling widely at Jack.
"Is that my shrimp?" Jack ignored the detective, looking instead to Kamekona.
"Something better, Brah." Kamekona patted the small bag. "It's my doctor kit."
"Excuse me?" Jack took a small step back, not liking the gleam in the other man's eyes as he reached in and pulled out a stethoscope.
"I brought medical treatment." Danny extended his arm to Kamekona. "Kamekona is going to keep you from ruining my seats, and from going into shock, too, of course."
"Before I was a culinary expert I took night classes to be a medic." Kamekona placed the stethoscope around his incredibly thick neck. "You're in good hands, Haole."
Jack frowned, holding an arm protectively over his injured side. "I thought you sold shaved ice and illegal weapons before you became the master of all things shrimp?"
"That too."
"Kamekona is a real Renaissance Man," Danny explained. When Jack gave him an incredulous glare, the detective added. "Let me put it this way, Double D, you're not getting in my car until he stops the blood from oozing from your body."
Jack looked to Steve who shook his head. "It's his car, Man. I just drive it."
"Poorly, I might add," Danny inserted.
Jack sighed, resigned to his fate. "Can I at least have some shrimp afterwards?"
Much to his dismay, Jack didn't get one piece of shrimp or even a stinking lollipop for his trouble. Admittedly, after Kamekona's grueling patch-up job, that probably wasn't such a bad thing. As it was his side hurt, he felt nauseous, and his head was pounding. Danny was lucky Jack didn't throw up in his precious car, rendering the beach towels he made Jack sit on despite no longer oozing blood pretty much useless.
Jack was doing good to make it into Five-0's headquarters on his own accord without collapsing from pure exhaustion. The one thing that kept him putting one foot in front of the other and ignoring the throbbing, burning sensation in his back and ribs was the thought of getting to a secure line and reaching first Mac and then Thornton.
He could feel Steve's gaze on him from where he and Danny were a few steps behind, possibly placing bets on how much longer Jack could actually stay upright. It was actually more encouragement for Jack to speed up and get into headquarters as quickly as possible. He didn't have time for the hospital run that Steve once again suggested when Jack had gone three shades of white when Kamekona none so gently applied the butterfly strips to the deepest knife wound.
Getting his hands on some Ibuprofen, which the Renaissance Man's pitiful medical kit had lacked, would have to take priority if Jack was going to continue to push his body past its limitations. Jack would later blame his laser-like focus and lack of rest, blood loss, hunger and anything else he could pull from a hat for letting his guard down when he finally crossed into Five-0's inner sanctum.
After all, blocking a right cross, even one thrown with sweet precision and a hell of a lot of pent up aggression was something Jack could usually accomplish in his sleep. If not successfully dodge all together, then at least take the hit with some grace. Instead, he went down like someone with a glass jaw, knocked flat on his back. Maybe now Jerry would finally let go of his super soldier theory.
When Jack caught his breath and managed to look up to see what or who had taken him out, there were two blurry, blond, blue-eyed, extremely pissed-off versions of his partner looming above him.
"Damn, Mac," Jack slurred, managing to bring a hand to his jaw. "What the hell?"
If Mac answered Jack didn't hear him. He was too consumed by the ringing in his ears, all the pretty stars exploding around him, then completely swallowed up by the beckoning black night.
To be continued….