A/N: Thank you all for the reviews and helpful tips. Dlwells51, thanks again for the assist, you'll find this chapter is a bit different in places since you've seen it. Hope there aren't too many mistakes in this one and the characters are still in character. ;-)

Warnings: Some bits of foul language. I'd say nothing explicit or too bad but I've been known to cuss like a sailor a time or two so, my opinion is a bit skewed. My apologies if there's anything in here that offends.

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything having to do with the show.

Chapter 9

Mac had watched the entire thing. The screen was filled with images in different shades of black and white, the warmest objects whiter than the cooler ones.

There was one white object that stood out above all the rest. Mac knew it was Jack. The red dot confirmed it. They had all watched the darker figure of the CIA agent being lowered from the tree. It was surreal. The infra red was detailed but not so much so that they could see ropes or individual small branches.

When Jack had fallen and then stopped it looked as though he was reaching to the sky. Mac had jumped out of his chair and stood in front of the screen. Riley gasped. "Oh my god." She said looking towards Bozer for confirmation that what she just saw was real. He was staring at the screen mouth agape.

Depth was difficult to discern but they could tell Jack was suspended above the ground when he started to swing from side to side. Mac knew exactly what Jack had planned.

He watched in desperation. He saw the rocks and watched as Jack held a long dark object. Machete... He's gonna cut the rope. Mac watched Jack swing, instantly calculating the optimal release point. Not yet... not yet... now! Now Jack, now! Desperately, silently, trying to coach his friend. But Jack couldn't hear him. "No, wait!" He said out loud, stepping even closer to the screen. He watched as his friend hit the ground and curl up into a ball.

Mac looked at the others. The looks on their faces confirmed what he had just seen. Turning his gaze back to the screen he could see Jack was sitting up. "That's good, that's good." He whispered out loud to no one in particular. He watched as Jack bent his leg and put his arms out. "Dislocated shoulder" he turned and said to Matty.

Bozer trying to be positive asked, "how do you know Mac. Maybe he's just uh, taking a break? The CIA dude hasn't moved yet."

A flash of anger hit Mac. He turned to set Bozer straight but the sincerity on his friends face snuffed out his anger.

Mac walked back to the chair and sat down. "I've seen Jack reset his shoulder a few times, I know what it looks like."

Mac pointed to the screen, "The CIA agent is probably dead Boze, that's why he hasn't moved and Jack hasn't checked on him yet so..."

Concentrating on the image, dislocated shoulder aside, Mac desperately needed to know if Jack could move. A leg injury could be a death sentence. Get up Jack... get up dammit! His inner voice was screaming.

As if he could hear Mac, Jack levered himself to his feet. He looked over to where Spooky Bob had landed. Lowering his head Jack made his way to the deceased agent.

He reached down and unclipped the small ruck pack.

Rolling the agent over, Jack began to go through the agents pockets, inspecting the contents and prioritizing items that could be left and things that absolutely had to be either disabled, buried or placed with his own equipment cache.

Jack pulled out the agent's tablet. The screen was cracked and the device wouldn't turn on. Holding the tablet up, "what'd I tell you? Can't rely on these things." He whispered accusingly to the dead man.

Jack continued to check the agent's gear, finding only one pistol and five mags, "You travel light partner. What were you planning on doing if the shit hit the fan?" Jack said quietly, checking the pistol.

He dropped the magazine and cleared the chamber. Jack dismantled the pistol breaking the spring. He kept the magazines and added them to his own vest. He checked the agents med kit. Finding the ibuprofen, Jack opened four of the blister packs. Popping the pills in his mouth, he reached to his shoulder, grabbed the camelback bite valve and washed the pills down. Securing the med kit, he placed it in his own ruck sack.

Jack looked around. There was a rock outcropping about fifty feet away. Standing up, he grit his teeth flexing his right hand. His shoulder and wrist had become stiff.

Jack slowly reached across his body with his right hand and undid the velcro straps that secured his vest, careful not to jar his shoulder. Sucking air through clenched teeth, he felt each rib and tried to take a deep breath. The action immediately caused him to cough.

It felt like someone had stabbed him in the side. Jack bent over cradling his side and dropped to one knee. Eyes squeezed tight he couldn't breathe. He knelt there for a few seconds getting his breathing under control and the pain shoved back. Dammit that hurts! He thought. What a cluster this turned into. Finally able to take a breath and holding in a cough, he said to himself. Come on Jack get your shit together. Time to suck it up.

Pep talk over, Jack stood securing his vest, pulling the velcro straps as tight as he could get them and still breathe. The vest helping with the pain in his ribs, he reached down and grabbed Bob's hand. "Sorry dude. This is gonna hurt me more than you." He whispered to the dead man.

Clenching his jaw, Jack dragged the body of the CIA agent towards the rock outcropping.

After hiding Bob as best as he could, Jack walked back to the tree. Walking around it he found enough of Bob's chute that was within arms reach. Thanking the stars, Jack reached up and pulled it down slowly. He did not want to get the cords tangled and have to climb the tree again.

The moon had come up providing beams of light through the canopy. Jack checked his watch, it had been over two hours since they'd jumped. Un tucking the shemagh scarf that was under his vest and wrapped around the back of his neck, Jack sat between two boulders and placed the scarf over his head and shoulders.

Safely concealed, Jack flipped up the night vision goggles and reached up to the light on his helmet turning it on. His makeshift tent concealing the red glow. Using the sat phone, he first marked the coordinates he had placed Bob, then he checked his position against his map. Marking his position and using his compass he figured he was about fifteen clicks away from the compound.

Jack studied the topo map noting the terrain between his position and the compound. There were a few drainages that looked fairly steep but they would provide better cover than the direct route along the ridge top.

His path marked and mentally catalogued Jack dialed the phone.

A robotic voice answered, 'You have reached the department of water resources our offices are closed right now. Please leave your name and phone number and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.' Jack waited after the beep for two clicks.

To the average person, it would have sounded like the call had been dropped. "Maverick 338." He said, waiting.

After just a few seconds he was rewarded with a live voice. 'Maverick sit rep.'

Mac watched the images on the screen, silently interpreting what he was seeing. The CIA agent was definitely dead, Jack wouldn't drag a live person to the rocks. He thought.

Jack was hurt, that much Mac knew. How bad was something he couldn't determine.

Watching all of this unfold without being able to communicate with his friend made Mac almost sick to his stomach. He sat in the chair staring at the screen, lost in thought when his view was blocked by Bozer.

"Here Mac, one of my world famous Dagwood sandwiches." Bozer said holding out the sub. Leaning to the side to get look around Bozer, Mac waved him off and mumbled, "I'm not hungry Boze."

Matty spoke up from the couch. "Remember what I said Blondie... eat or leave, that's the deal."

Frustrated by the interruption, Mac took the sandwich from Bozer. He studied the sandwich for a quick second before taking a huge bite. Chewing a couple of times, he washed it down with a gulp of water. Four bites and an entire bottle of water later, the sandwich was gone. He looked up defiantly at Matty.

She just shook her head. "What are you five?" She said eyebrows raised. "Never mind, don't answer that."

Riley set her sandwich down looking at her screen. "Jack's sat phone just went active, he might be making a call." She said excitedly. Matty looked at her phone. Nothing happened. "Can we listen to the call?"

"Not without knowing what satellite he's using." Riley said as she hit a few keys. "There's fifteen communications satellites he could be using, I could try to find the one he's on but it'll take a while."

Matty waved her hand. "Don't bother, by the time you find it he'll probably be done with the call. He's probably checking in with Langley. It is their op." She said perturbed.

Mac just sat in the chair watching the screen. He looked down at his hands. One strapped to his chest. He mentally cursed the velcro monstrosity. Standing up he started to pace.

"Can the cartel intercept sat phones?" Bozer asked concerned.

"Well technically they could but they'd have to know what satellite the phone was using and I doubt they'd monitor all of them, that would take a lot of time and a lot of people to sort through all the code." Riley attempted to reassure her friends.

"Jack will call right?" Riley asked.

Matty's phone buzzed. She picked it up recognizing the number. "Speak of the devil, Hey Jack."

Mac's head turned at the sound of his friends name. He practically sprint to Matty's side.

She put the phone on speaker. "Hey Boss. You remember our deal?"

She leaned forward. "I do Jack I can have them there in twelve hours."

Mac leaned forward toward the phone. "Jack, you ok? We watched a little on the screen but we're going to lose the feed in a while, we'll be dark here." Concern evident in his voice.

"Yeah, Mac. I'm alright mostly, got a little banged up on the uh... landing. Me and you might be on vacation for a while I think when this is over." Without elaborating, Jack continued.

"Hey Matty, this is turning into a regular cluster, Spooky's KIA, but the op's still a go. I'd like to get comms up with you guys. The uh... other guy's intelligence is anything but... If you know what I mean."

"What kind of gear did they give you Jack?" Riley asked.

"We were running simple two-way for ground comms. But other than that, it's all sat phone. I can run the sat phone through the system if you guys can give me a minute." He said grunting. "Gotta rearrange a few things. Call ya back."

Turning the helmet light off, and coming out from under the scarf, Jack removed the throat mic and ear piece, then his vest to get at the radio that was kept on the back.

Disconnecting everything and running the wires through the vest to reconfigure the set up went fairly quick. To test the system before donning the vest, he tried to contact Phoenix.

"Hey, you guys hear me?" Jacks voice quietly came over the sound system in the war room.

"We've got you Jack." Mac answered. Still hearing Jack's end of the transmission. "I think your mic is open. Jack?"

Jack satisfied he had communications, donned the vest grunting as he did so. "Yeah Mac, sorry about that. I can't use the radio so, I essentially made a hands free phone." He said a little breathlessly.

"Listen, I'd love to chat but I'm gonna be movin, no sense in you listening to me huff and puff my way up the hill." Jack cleared his throat.

"When you guys get the satellite back, give me a call and let me know if there's any bad guys around will ya." He said with a whisper voice.

"Alright Jack, we'll be in touch." Matty said as the line went dead.

"Matty, when this is over, I'm going with the exfil team." Mac said defiantly.

"We'll discuss it later Mac. Right now, we've lost the feed and other than watching a red dot on the screen there's nothing we can do."

All of us are going to take a break and you're going to get some rest. I've got a few phone calls to make." She said as she headed out the door.

Mac sat down and watched the red dot move. Jack's hurt I can hear it in his voice. He thought. "Riley can you get the topo up and send a copy of everything you sent Jack to the printer?" The topo map appeared on the screen.

Jack's moving at a decent speed, that's good. Mac thought.

Bozer walked over to his friend. He held another pill out to Mac with another bottle of water. "Here, take this. Maybe it'll help you catch a couple of z's."

"I'm not going to sleep Bozer, and I don't need another pill." Mac said quietly. "I'm going to sit here and just... watch. If Jack needs anything, he'll call. I want to be here."

Bozer held the pill out again. "The bottle says take one to two pills every four to six hours. I figure the less pain your in, the more you'll at least relax so when it's time to go get Jack you'll be ready."

Mac sighed. He sat up with a wince and grabbed the pill. Trying to open the water his wrist flared. Defeated, he held the bottle out to Bozer.

Without a word Bozer opened the bottle and handed it back, silently chastising himself for not thinking of opening the bottle for his friend.

Bozer returned to the couch and had just put his feet up on the table when Riley stood up. "I'm gonna go stretch my legs." She gave him a pointed look. "There's nothing I can do until the satellite comes back so..."

Bozer jumped up. "I'll go with you, I uh... you wanna go down to the lab with me. I have some molds I need to check on."

After they had both left, Mac had the room to himself. Besides the fan on Riley's computer, there was no sound in the room. The silence was deafening.

Mac studied the terrain, judging the speed of the dot and trying to determine what route Jack was going to take. He's ok, he's still moving. He's still completing the mission... Of course he's completing the mission, that's what he does.

Feeling the affects of the first pain pill, he sat back farther in the chair watching the dot. He closed his eyes imagining Jack making his way stealthily through the forest. Jack is in his element, he told himself. Right at home, armed to the teeth.

Matty walked in the war room, stopping as soon as she had cleared the door. She immediately turned around and walked back into the hall. Pulling her phone out, she sent a text to Riley and Bozer. Mac is asleep. Do not return to the war room for at least an hour.

Jack was making good time according to his map. Just keep at it Jack. You can stop when you get there. He thought, putting one foot in front of the other. Watching the terrain and occasionally stopping to check his position. The M4 slung across his chest helpfully doubling as a support for his shoulder. Knowing he had comms with his friends was comforting.

Jack kept moving, alert to anything out of the ordinary. When he was training for Delta, Jack had learned to keep his mind occupied and pay attention to his surroundings at the same time. He once told Mac it was his mental version of a walk and talk, sort of like having an audio book playing in the background. It helped to take his mind off of how tired or sore he was.

Jack knew Mac was upset. Kid's probably beating himself up for not being able to be here. One of these days, he's gonna have to learn there are just some things in life he can't control. Hell, if I had it my way he'd be stuck in the van with Riley wrapped in bubble wrap surrounded by a freaking force field. It'd be nice to have him here though.

Jack reached the base of a hill, stopping his mental musings.

The trees didn't look right. Throughout the night, he'd become acclimated to the natural vegetation and the sounds of the night. Stopping, he knelt down bringing the rifle up using the magnifying power of the optics to carefully inspect the area above.

The trees had been thinned and halfway up the hill he could see what looked like a game trail. Looking to his left, there was a small rocky drainage.

The moon had long since been blocked out by the clouds that had moved in. Jack could feel the temperature dropping slightly.

Making his way over to the rocky drainage he found an area that he could take a break and study his map.

Placing the scarf over his head again, he pulled the map out checking his location. Studying the terrain a bit more, he decided he could go up the draw and cut over the top of the ridge, avoiding the trail.

His route set, he started to make his way up. The drainage looked like it had been cut out of the side of the hill. Looking up, Jack tried to imagine how much water it would have taken to create the drainage. Roots were exposed on each side and the bottom was a mixture of loose gravel and sharp bedrock.

The climb was going slow. Jack had to reach out to grab hand holds in a few spots to get up the steep dry waterfalls, each time pulling painfully at his ribs.

By the time he had reached the top he was out of breath. His ribs and shoulder were on fire. No time to stop, got to get to cover, he thought. Moving silently he made his way to a stand of trees.

Once there he stopped and kneeled, trying to catch his breath while looking over the area. The drainage had led him to the top of a hill. There was a clearing and Jack could see a tower or some other tall structure in the center.

The cloud cover had blocked out all of the moonlight. Normally he would prefer to be working in complete darkness, it had it's advantages. But, when it came time to recon a potential hard target... Having a bit of light would have been ideal.

So far he hadn't seen any wide trails or roads to indicate people had been there. Staying in the trees Jack stealthily made his way around the clearing.

It's an antenna or a repeater site. He thought, looking up, Solar powered, hmm.

Jack moved, rifle at the ready, eyes constantly scanning the ground in front of him. Years of training and experience, analyzing the slightest disturbances in the ground, determining in a split second if it was safe path. If this belongs to who I think it does... Better watch your ass Jack. He reminded himself.

Once he reached the tower, he turned and scanned the tree line. With no threats detected, he turned his attention back to the tower.

Jack didn't know exactly what the tower did, but what he did know was, no electronic device could work without wires. Silently he removed a pair of wire cutters from his vest and began to cut the smaller wires, leaving the thicker ones alone.

No sense in getting myself electrocuted, he thought. If Mac were here he'd know exactly what these wires did.

Jack wasn't going to risk calling Mac. Being out in the open was exposure enough.

Wires cut, Jack left the tower and went back to the trees. That's the most productive thing that's happened on this entire damn mission... He told himself. Or I just wiped out everybody's cable. He thought.

Checking his watch. He had lost time climbing up the draw and disabling the tower. The most direct route to the compound, was across the ridge he was currently on. If the cloud cover holds out, I'm sticking to the ridge top. No more drainages, definitely not one of my better ideas.

Starting off toward the compound sticking to the trees as much as he could, Jack stopped every now and then to listen and check his position.

Bozer and Riley tip toed into the war room. Mac was still asleep, slouched in the chair.

Bozer cringed at the sight. His neck is going to be stiff sleeping like that. He thought.

Riley and Bozer looked at the big screen. Jack had definitely covered some ground. The track was a series of zig zags then it back tracked, circled a ridge top and continued away from the top of the mountain to where the dot was currently moving.

Mac stirred but didn't wake. He was mumbling. Riley and Bozer shared a glance. Bozer shrugged his shoulders as if to answer Riley's questioning look. Neither one could decide if they should wake him up.

Jack was running. Mac could see him but every time he tried to call out, his voice came out as a whisper. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get Jacks attention.

Jack turned around and was shooting. Bullets were flying all around him and he fell.

Mac tried to step forward, but he couldn't move. Jack got up and began running again. Mac's view changed from ground level to an aerial view. He could still see Jack but now, he could also see the men chasing him. They had M16's and machetes.

There was a cliff in front of Jack. The men chasing Jack were going to catch up to him when he reached the cliff. Mac was yelling at Jack to go right but Jack kept heading for the cliff. The men kept shooting. Jack fell again. No! Mac yelled. His heart was racing.

He looked at the other men. They were still coming. Get up Jack! Mac tried to yell. It was as if he had no vocal chords he couldn't yell loud enough.

Jack got up again and kept running. He reached the edge of the cliff and went over.

Jack! Mac tried to yell. He was standing just within an arms reach of Jack.

Jack looked up and smiled a bloody smile and then winked at him. He put his hand out toward Mac but Mac couldn't reach him. No matter how hard he tried his arm was too short.

He looked down at his arm and it was shorter than the other. The top half of his arm was stuck to his side and the only thing he could extend was his forearm. He strained and struggled to reach Jack. Finally he felt his arm move. A white hot pain erupted and Jack disappeared. Jack!

Riley and Bozer watched Mac, his breathing was becoming faster. The hand that was strapped into the brace flexed.

When Bozer realized Mac was trying to fight against the brace in his sleep he started to make his way over to his friend.

Before Bozer reached him Mac's eyes flew open and he sat up abruptly clutching his shoulder. "Jack!" He said through clenched teeth. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He started rocking back and forth.

Bozer put a hand on Macs shoulder. Mac looked up and confusion crossed his face. Taking in his surroundings, he wiped the moisture from his eyes and turned to the screen. There was a Jacks red dot still moving.

"Mac, it's ok bro." Bozer reassured.

"Where is he?" Mac asked looking at Riley trying to compose himself.

Riley walked to her computer a few key strokes later and the map view changed. Jack was almost to the clearing around one of the long metal buildings that was on the outskirts of the supposed compound.

Mac ran a hand down his face still trying to shake the nightmare. "When do we get satellite coverage again?"

Riley checked her screen and looked at her watch. "We've actually had satellite coverage the whole time. Problem is, it's night and even when it becomes light out the cloud cover is going to be a problem. The Chinese satellite won't be back around for another hour and IR won't help with the clouds. I don't know if Matty can get the Predator back."

"We're blind" Mac said to no one in particular.

Matty walked back into the room. She took in Mac's appearance. He looks worse than he did before his nap. "Where's our boy?" She asked the group.

Mac cleared his throat and pointed to the screen. "He's almost to one of the buildings."

To be continued...

A/N: Well, the entire communications fiasco kind of drove me nuts. I finally decided to punt and just make something up. Hope it worked out ok. As for resetting a dislocated shoulder... The move Jack makes only works in certain cases. Don't try this at home. ;-)

As always, please feel free to point out any mistakes. Grammar, punctuation, continuity. This chapter had a lot of rewrites and every time I read it, I found something to fix. I think I got everything, but you never know. I've read other authors comment on their stories that every now and then they get to a particular point in their story that was hard to write or it just stalled. I found that with this chapter. I've moved on and have a couple more chapters written so, hopefully I've gotten over the chapter nine hump and it's smooth sailing from here.

Hope you enjoyed.