Thank you so much for your reviews! I appreciate everything you guys say. I feel that I have to add a warning here. The rest of this story is going to be very intense. There is vivid description of violence and torture. It will get pretty dark.

Jack groaned and opened his eyes. He realized that he was being shaken by a gentle hand on his right shoulder. He grinned and rolled onto his back.

"Mac, you did it! I didn't think…" Jack trailed off in shock. A large African man with a kind face was standing over him. He was dressed in a grimy one piece beige mechanic's uniform. Jack realized the man was speaking to him. His head hurt and he felt dizzy. He pushed the man aside and sat up searching around him desperately. He saw Mac lying beside him. Jack felt a brief moment of relief followed by panic. He bolted to his feet. The world swirled around him and everything to turn a sick color of green. Jack felt agony in the back of his thigh, it collapsed underneath him.

The strong calloused hands of the mechanic steadied him. Jack squinted at him trying to parse English out of the lilt of his thick accent.

"Easy, you lost a lot of blood-" The man said. Jack grunted and pushed the man aside trying to lurch to his partner. He managed two steps before hard grey cement and gravel slammed into his face. He still tried to stand, but fell again face first to the ground. He felt himself being gently lifted and laid on rough weathered wood. He was dimly aware of a small boxy white vehicle attached to the flatbed sled he was on.

"Mac...Mac…" Jack gasped trying to turn to see his friend. He was relieved to see the large man gently carry Mac's limp body and place him beside him. Jack sucked in a panicked breath. Mac was weakly gasping for air. His face was grey and his lips were blue. More worrying was the blood running from his eyes, mouth and nose. Jack felt his stomach drop. He felt tears fall.

"Mac, no…" Jack put a trembling hand on Mac's neck. After eight hours, or so it felt, he felt a weak, thready pulse. Jack frowned as it jumped then skipped beats. He looked up at the man desperately. The man smiled.

"No worries, my sister is doctor. I'll get you to her she's not far. " Jack flopped back, but reached out to Mac, catching his cold hands. Not again, please not again. The man patted Jack's shoulder. "My name is Oscar Lupia, don't worry will be ok." The man climbed into the white vehicle and Jack felt it shake then roar to life. He closed his eyes to keep from puking. He turned his head and felt Mac's cold shoulder with his cheek. He grabbed his hand tighter as if he could will his life into Mac, will Mac to be well, that this was all a dream…

Jack hissed in pain, realizing he was being carried by Oscar Lupia into a small round thatched hut.

"No...need doctor...Mac…" Oscar didn't answer he ducked under the small doorway and gently placed Jack on a small military cot. Oscar pointed his finger. Jack followed it. One of the most beautiful women Jack had ever seen was bent over Mac. Jack blinked wondering why he got Oscar and Mac got a runway model. Jack shook his head banishing the thought.

The woman wore a bright red turban on her head. Her narrow neck, flawless skin and long lashes made her look like pictures Jak had seen of Nefertite. She wore native red cloth styled like a form fitting, western gown that both hugged her shapely figure and flowed free around her as she moved quickly around Mac's motionless body. Jack went to sit up, Oscar held him down.

"Easy, Sarana will fix your friend, you will see." Oscar put a hand woven linen blanket over Jack. Jack felt the dizzy pull of unconsciousness, he bit his lip, the pain chasing it to the corners of his vision. Jack forced himself up on shaking arms. He heard Oscar mutter something under his breath, but the man helped Jack sit up. Jack closed his eyes as everything spun around him. After everything settled down, he looked at Sarana who was leaning over Mac pushing on his chest. Mac gasped in air then after an infinite pause he wheezed out a shallow breath. Jack could see the skin over his chest was purple, almost black and the skin was swollen taunt. He also noticed that when he breathed out, a huge chunk of the kid's rib cage on his right side sucked in. Jack knew that was not good.

Jack looked with desperation at the lithe woman leaning over Mac's body.

"How is he?" Jack asked. She looked up with lively brown eyes that offered reassurance. The woman smiled, her face bent into caring lines. Jack instinctively knew she could help Mac.

"It's not good, but I've seen worse. He has crush injuries across his chest. Here, "she indicated the side of his chest out of step with the rest of his breathing, "is a flail chest, my guess is about five ribs are broken and separated from his sternum and chest wall. It will heal by itself given time and wrapping. This, " she indicated the black swollen area on his chest, "is more worrying. He has blood pooling against his heart." The woman frowned and shook her head. Jack could see worry run across her face. She looked at Jack and forced a smile. She said something else, but Jack flopped forward out cold.

Riley was dimly aware of being pulled out of the truck. Maya supported her as they slowly made their way to an unlit house. Everything was blurry and her face felt like a black vortex of pain sucking her brain out. Tears ran down her cheeks. She tried to talk but it felt as if a sponge had been pushed into her throat and was swelling to stopper her throat. Maya helped her up to the door and leaned her against the house beside a screen door. She opened the door and pounded on the wooden door under. Riley's knees bent, she leaned herself against them, trying to stay awake. There were a lot of enemies out there that would be hunting them. They had to…

Riley gasped and put a hand on her side. Her eyes closed. Maya looked at her worried. She paused in her pounding to lift Riley's shirt making sure there wasn't another wound there. Maya saw the puckered red area on Riley's side. She raised her eyebrows.

"You folks really do get into trouble don't you. How long ago were you shot?" Before Riley could try to answer bright lights flooded the house and the stoop. Riley groaned the brightness felt like razors slicing up her brain. Her knees gave out. She felt Maya catch her and heard the woman speak a language Riley had never heard. Riley used the last bit of strength to look up at a tall skinny man with a long ponytail of snow white hair. His face was wrinkled with lines of worry and mirth. He nodded and crossed to Riley. She felt the world tilt as she was lifted and carried into the house. Everything seemed to be floating away. The man had old eyes, eyes that had seen too much, but still there was a flame of life and joy. He reminded her a little of Jack. She closed her eyes and felt her head tumble into the flannel covered arm. He smelled of cheap cigarettes and beer.

"Jack…" Riley whispered as everything faded and floated. A sharp stab into her neck followed by a searing burn in her throat jolted her awake. It was a trap! She swung out managing to clip the man's cheek bone. He stepped back and laughed. Maya pushed Riley back to the cold hard surface she was laying on.

"Easy, easy Riley. Your ok, this is my brother Diving Sparrow. He was a corpsman in Vietnam. He's the closest thing we have to a doc on the res." Riley gasped reaching out to grab the woman's wrist, the burning in her throat made her gag.

"It will hurt for awhile, the moonshine takes awhile to kick in, but it will relax your vocal cords." Diving Sparrow said. His voice was deep and hypnotising. He looked at her with a sorrowful gaze. "I'm sorry about this next part, it's going to hurt like fucking hell but the only thing I have for pain is moonshine and you'd just puke it up and probably die from choking." Riley shot a panicked look at Maya. The other woman looked down at her grimly. She took Riley's hand in her own.

"Try to go somewhere else...in your head." The older woman said softly. Diving Sparrow gently smoothed Riley's hair back from her sweaty forehead. He pressed down. Riley sucked in, she had an image of an unsharpened pencil in the man's hand then her body exploded in white hot agony. She felt like he grabbed her whole face and was smashing it to bits with a tire rod. She bucked as bone ground against bone in her forehead. Tears ran freely down her face. There was a short pause when Diving Sparrow pulled the bloody pencil out of her nose. Riley sucked in a breath tinged with wet blood. She closed her eyes just as the pain exploded again. She writhed, arched her back and screamed. Only a moist gurgle came out of her mouth. Maya winced at the white knuckled grip that was twisting the skin of her wrist bloody. She put her body across Riley's and tried to offer support how she could. Riley wasn't aware of the woman's words, she was trapped in the center of a tornado which thankfully swept her away…

Jack's eyes popped open. He stared up at the flax ceiling a second until memory stirred. He sat up, he felt woozy but not as dizzy as before. He looked down. The metal had been taken from his leg and he could feel the biting teeth of staples. An ace wrap hugged his thigh. Jack sat up. With heart pounding with dread, he turned to look at Mac. A grin split his face as he found himself looking into Mac's calm, heavy lidded eyes looking back at him. Jack jumped to his feet and swayed a second. When it calmed, he limped over to his friend and took inventory.

What looked like a bamboo shunt stuck out of his side and was attached to a black hose the black hose ran into a jar half full of water and another tube went to another jar half full of blood. Enough linen to make Mac look half mummy crisscrossed his chest. Mac was a pay grey Jack didn't like and his eyes had a slight yellow tint to them Jack really didn't like. The last time he'd seen eyes like that his uncle had died of liver failure. Still Mac was breathing easy. Jack took his hand, his blessedly warm hand. Mac twitched his fingers. Jack realized he was trying to squeeze. Jack smiled and squeezed gently.

"How do you feel, kiddo?" Mac's mouth twitched up at the corners.

"Fine unless I breathe." He whispered. Jack couldn't stop grinning.

"Too bad, old son, you're going to be doing a lot of breathing for a long, long, long time like eons long." Jack babbled feeling tears well up in his eyes. Mac frowned.

"We have to get out of here." Mac said softly. Jack nodded looking around them. He could hear Oscar and Sarana talking outside a ways from the door. Jack knew all of them were in trouble. He had no idea how far the Lupia's hut was from the airport, but it wouldn't take Hugh Silverman long to track them down. Jack let go of Mac's hand and began to circle the hut.

"I know we have to find a way of moving you…" Jack trailed off seeing his partner's eyes were closed again. Jack cussed and looked around the hut. Other than the two cots they both laid on there was only a small table with a water basin and basic medical supplies on it. He frowned, what this where the Lupia's lived? If so, why wasn't there any other stuff. It occurred to him that they might be too poor to own anything or maybe this is what passed as a clinic. Jack had seen much worse. He scowled. He couldn't find anything to use as a weapon. He knew Mac would find a hundred, but try as hard as he could, he saw nothing useful.

He turned to the doorway as Oscar ducked in. He grinned at Jack.

"Ah, you are better! Sarana will be so pleased." The man held out a heavy pottery bowl filled with a brown liquid. Jack took it and raised an eyebrow. "It is tea. Sarana said it will help build your blood back." Jack tasted it, expecting it to be bitter and medicine instead it had a strong licorice taste. He shrugged and downed it to Oscar's smiling face. Jack handed back the bowl and looked at Oscar with a grim look.

"I need to talk to you and your sister, we're all in big trouble if we don't get out of here, now!" Oscar laughed. It was deep and rumbled like thunder.

"Oh, friend Jack. We will be fine, never fear." Oscar said. Jack frowned. Sarana glided into the hut.

"Ah, awake at last. How do you feel?"

"Fine…" Jack paused frowning. His mouth was tingling. He watched as Sarana moved over to Mac. She ran a sharp nailed finger gently down the blonde's cheek. Mac's eyes fluttered open. She smiled down at him.

"What an exquisite specimen." Jack's mouth was numb. He took a step and stumbled. Sarana looked up. Gone was any kindness or warmth. She looked at Jack with the dark eyes of an attacking viper. Mac looked at Jack confused, his confusion changed to alarm as Jack fell to one knee. Mac tried to sit up, but he had no strength. His lips were moving. Jack could dimly read his lips yelling his name. Jack fell onto his side, all of his bones felt like wet noodles. His eyes widened as a familiar figure stepped into the hut.

"Freya." Hugh Silverman said in greeting. He bent over Jack and smiled.

"Here he is as promised, Loki." Sarana smiled waving her hand over Jack like Vanna White. Hugh's sharklike smile never faded, without turning from Jack he said.

"And MacGyver is yours, as promised." Jack knew he said it for Jack's benefit. Jack let out a breath. She had saved his life, she must need Mac alive. As always Hugh could almost read Jack's mind. "Oh, Jacky boy, you remember when I said that Mac would be better off dying before he got here? I wasn't lying." He stood up and turned indicating figures behind him. Jack's eyes met Mac's panicked gaze, but he couldn't even move his jaw to speak. Jack tried to move anything, to do anything but he no longer had control over his body.

Mac closed his eyes and turned away as soldiers lifted him none too gently and carried him out of the hut.