A/N: Thank you for the reviews, I'm glad you are still enjoying the story. Thanks to Dlwells51 for being my sounding board. And a special shout out to SlippedHalo8186 for some rank explanations. More on that in the ending A/N's.
Warnings: None really
Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with the show... If I did, we'd have better previews for the next episode.
Chapter 14
0-0-0
As soon as Jack was in the Blackhawk, the crew chief handed him a headset.
Jack removed his helmet and donned the headset, nodding to the two men in the crew compartment, "Thanks for the ride boys,"
"Your welcome sir." Jack heard one of the pilots over the com.
Jack pulled his map out and stood, crouching he made his way to the cockpit.
Jack stuck his head into the cockpit and pointed to coordinates on the map he'd marked. "I need you to make a pit stop, have to pick up a guy that didn't make it."
The co-pilot looked at Jack. "Sir, begging your pardon, but you don't look like you're ready for another trip on the cable, why don't you go sit down and let Doc check you out. We'll pass on the coordinates."
Jack wanted to do just that, but if he did, he wouldn't have been able to relax, knowing he'd left Bob in the woods. "Look, son... I made a promise and I intend to keep it. There isn't anybody around to fire at us right now, but there could be later."
Jack looked away from the co-pilot to the pilot. "We're already in the area so unless you want me to take over the stick, do me a favor and get on over there will ya."
The pilot was an older man, he looked at his co-pilot. "Don't worry Bell," he said to his co-pilot. "Delta operators always look like this." He nodded at Jack, "We'll head over there, shouldn't take too long, right?"
Jack sighed, "no, it shouldn't, thank you." Jack headed back to the crew compartment. He heard over the headset. "Be there in 3, Cavitt, get hooked up, you're going down to give the Sergeant a hand."
Jack hadn't told them anything about his former attachment to Delta. "I know you? I usually remember my pilots."
The pilot's voice came over the headset, "No sir, you wouldn't remember me, last time I picked you up was off the top of a mountain in Afghanistan. You passed out as soon as you got in the bird."
"Yeah? Well, I was probably just taking a nap." Jack smiled and winked at the crew chief. "Name's Jack by the way, I haven't been a Sergeant for a long time."
"Long sir, co-pilot is Hill and you've met Crew Chief Douglas and we brought along Doc Cavitt." The pilot said introducing his crew.
Jack nodded to the crew chief and medic. "Well, Long, thanks for the ride... again." He said over the headset.
"Welcome Jack, coming up on the site. Going to hold at one hundred, then peel off."
"Copy that, we'll give you a call when we're ready for pick-up." Jack said as the crew chief was hooking him into the winch.
Ten minutes later, Jack was back in the helicopter. He and Cavitt had placed Spooky Bob in a body bag.
His final task complete, Jack sat back and closed his eyes. He hadn't been sitting there for more than thirty seconds when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Opening his eyes, he was greeted by the concerned look of the flight medic. "Sir, you should really let me check you out."
Jack cleared his throat. "Cavitt right?"
"Yes sir."
"I am too tired to do much of anything, let alone get poked and prodded. And it's just Jack, leave the sir out of it." Jack eyed the young medic. "Got some busted ribs, a messed up shoulder and everything hurts." Jack gave the man a serious look.
"So, nothing that you can do, unless you've got a nice cold beer and an entire bottle of vicodin in that bag of yours, lemme get some sleep."
"I can't do anything about the beer, but I've got some morphine, at least let me take care of that shoulder." Cavitt pointed to Jack's shoulder.
Jack waved him off, "cant do morphine, makes me puke, and I already reset my shoulder."
"I've got fentanyl sir, and I wasn't talking about the dislocation, you've got a wound in the back of your shoulder." Cavitt said as he was drawing up the medication.
"Jack, you keep refusing my medic's services, I'm gonna set this bird down and Crew Chief Douglas will kick you out... Make you walk home." Long said over the headset.
Jack was too tired to argue any longer. "Yes sir." He turned to the medic, "alright Doc, do your worst."
0-0-0
Mac was exhausted, he looked around the room at his friends. Everyone looked a little disheveled, even Matty seemed less intimidating at the moment.
Riley closed her computer and sat back on the couch. "How'd you find out about the weapons?" She asked looking at Matty.
"And who's Mike Briar?" Mac asked never having heard Jack mention the name.
"Yeah, I couldn't find anything on him," Riley chimed in.
"A hundred and twenty million dollars goes missing and this is the first we've heard of it? That would have been all over the news." Bozer said, adding his two cents. "Right?"
Matty sat down. She looked at each one of them then settled on Mac. "The money and weapons were for an operation that would have supposedly given us intel on the whereabouts of Bin Laden." She let the gravity of her words sink in.
"As for Mike Briar, he was with the agency and had been conducting operations in an area that Jack's unit was working." Matty paused.
"Jack and his team had built a rapport with several elders, and was gathering intel on Taliban forces in the area, where possible IED's were being planted, the works. Briar messed that up."
"In a round about way, he was responsible for the deaths of those elders. Subsequently, the locals turned on Jack's unit believing they were responsible. Jack and his team entered the village and were immediately attacked by the Taliban. Jack and his team were on the run for over two weeks until they were finally picked up on a mountain top." She sighed, "Jack lost two of his men because of what Briar did. Or at least that's the way Jack sees it."
She looked at Mac, "you met Jack shortly after that."
Matty sighed and stood. Jack's not going to be back for another eight or nine hours, we all need some rest.
"Bozer, you and Riley make sure Mac gets home." She walked to the table picking up the pain medication. Shaking out two pills, and grabbing a bottle of water, she walked up to Mac. "Here, you're way overdue Blondie."
Mac took the pills without protest. "Thank you Matty, and thank you for getting Jack out." He swallowed the pills. "What are you going to tell Langley?"
"I'm going to tell them they need to keep better track of their weapons next time. And if they want to arm and train people, don't ask my agents to clean up their mess when one of their pet projects goes rogue." At their stunned looks, she held up her phone.
"What? Did you think I was just texting my BFF's the entire operation?" Matty smiled and looked at Riley. "Not everything is available in the cyber world, this one took some digging."
Bozer was still confused, "does that mean all those people Jack killed were CIA agents?"
"No Bozer, they were possibly trained and may have been supplied by the CIA at some point, but not CIA." Mac explained still trying to get his own thoughts straight.
"So these guys are sort of like the Taliban then. We arm them and then end up having to fight them, that's just great." Bozer said shaking his head.
Matty headed for the door, "sometimes things don't turn out the way we want them to Bozer... Get used to it."
Matty turned looking at the trio, "go home, get some sleep... That's an order." She said and walked out of the room, phone to her ear.
Riley looked at her friends, everyone looked as tired as she felt, Mac even more so. "Here, Boze, I'll help you clean this up." She held a hand up stopping Mac from pitching in, "you go sit, we don't need Matty on our case."
Mac rolled his eyes but did as he was told.
Mac watched Bozer silently clean up the groceries he'd brought for sandwiches, thinking, until recently, Bozer viewed the world as one big potential movie plot. Fake blood, guns and well defined bad guys. I've ruined that for him.
Bozer looked up as if he could feel Mac watching him, "Mac, you mind if we stop by the store on the way home? I want to pick some stuff up to make burgers later when Jack gets back."
Riley looked up at Bozer then shifted her gaze to Mac.
Mac was surprised at the request. He didn't think Bozer would want anything to do with Jack after he'd seen what the man could do.
Bozer recognized the look on Mac's face. Bozer stood and began to explain. "Look, I am so not ok with what Jack did but I understand now, ok. I get it, good people have to do bad things sometimes to protect the people they care about. It just so happens, Jack got seriously screwed."
One corner of Mac's mouth turned up. Bozer my friend, you never cease to amaze me, he thought.
Bozer continued after seeing the smirk on Mac's face. "I just figure he's been running around shooting bad guys and blowing stuff up, he'll probably be hungry when he gets back, have a few beers, the usual... that's all." He said shrugging his shoulders and returning to cleaning up the mess, with the bounce back in his step.
At that, Mac's smile faded. He sighed, and prepared to put a damper on his friend's good spirits. "Boze, I don't think Jack is going to want to hang out too much. He's been through a lot, so he might seem a bit... off."
Finished picking up the groceries, Bozer smiled at Mac. "I get it, dudes gotta be tired, but have you ever known Jack to turn down one of my world famous double cheeseburgers, I don't think so, come on bro, let's get outa here."
The trio walked out the door, Mac, wishing Bozer would just decide to cancel his future dinner plans.
0-0-0
Jack sucked air through his teeth, "what's it look like Doc?" He asked as the flight medic inspected the back of his shoulder.
"Can't tell, would be better if you took off most of your gear, so I could get a better assessment." Cavitt said eyeing Jack.
Jack looked at the medic and sighed, "gimme a hand will ya," Jack said reaching for the clip to release the M4. "I'll take care of the weapons, if you don't mind, gonna need a hand with the vest though."
Leaving the M4 in his lap, Jack leaned forward, lifting the strap of the sniper rifle over his head with a grunt. He ejected the clip, pointing the weapon at the floor of the copter, opening the bolt and ejecting the round.
Jack stuck the magazine in his vest and handed the empty weapon to the crew chief. "Douglas right?"
"Yes sir." The crew chief replied.
"Don't get too used to that thing, It's not staying on this bird when I get off." Jack smiled and repeated the process with the M4.
"Alright doc, let's do this." Jack said to the medic, as he undid the velcro on the left while Cavitt released the straps on the right.
As soon as the compression of the vest was released, Jack groaned. "Doc, you got any more of that happy juice?"
Cavitt took in the pained expression on Jack's face. "Sorry Jack, can't, I give you any more and you'll be laying on the deck drooling on yourself." He said with a smile.
"No problem, Doc, just thought I'd ask," he grunted as he shifted positions, trying to get comfortable, without success.
Cavitt pulled a pair of trauma shears out of the pouch on his belt. He held the scissors up for Jack to see. "You want me to cut your long sleeve or you think you can get out of that shirt?"
"I can get out of it," Jack said starting to undo the buttons.
Cavitt and Douglas helped Jack get his arms out of the sleeves. He looked up at Douglas nodding a silent thank you.
Cavitt looked at Jack, "wanna try for the t-shirt?" He said holding up the scissors again.
"Nah, go ahead and cut it, got a million of em." Jack replied tiredly.
Cavitt started at the hem of the short sleeve, cutting the shirt up the side and under Jack's arm pit. Readjusting, to the top of the sleeve, he continued to the collar.
The shirt fell away from Jack's right side. Cavitt nodded at Douglas, "alright Jack, lean forward just a bit."
Jack did as he was told and the crew chief slipped the remnants of the t-shirt off of Jack's left arm.
With the shirt removed, the medic got a good look at Jack's upper body. "Well, Jack, looks like you're going home with some souvenirs."
Leaning over to get a better look at the wound on the back of Jack's shoulder, he reached down and blindly grabbed Jack's forearm. "Lift your arm up a little, sir, like you're firing a weapon."
Jack did as he was told. He could feel something over and above the pain in the shoulder joint. "What is it?" he said trying to look over his shoulder. "I can feel something, can't tell what."
Sir, keep your head forward please. Cavitt's head popped up, "Douglas, hand me my bag," he said releasing Jack's arm and sitting back on his heels to look Jack in the eye.
"Well sir, you may have a bullet or a piece of shrapnel in your shoulder from what I can tell," he said, grabbing his bag and opening a bandage. "I can't tell how deep it is, so I'm just going to bandage it for now."
Cavitt leaned over Jack's shoulder again taking one last look at the wound before putting the bandage in place. "You got any other holes in you I should know about?" He asked eyeing Jack's lower body, while tying the ends of the bandage around Jack's shoulder and upper arm.
"Don't think so, and you are not cutting my pants off, my legs are just fine thank you." Jack said smiling.
Jack held up his arms showing the medic the minor wounds scattered on his forearms, "don't suppose you've got a box of band-aids."
"As a matter of fact, I do, you want the Sesame Street or Marvel pattern?" The medic joked, while grabbing a few swabs and antibiotic ointment from his bag. "Some of these might sting a little." He said warning Jack.
Jack smiled "ain't nothin, think the good stuff's kickin in, do your worst."
Cavitt returned the smile and began to clean and inspect the wounds bandaging a few of the larger ones.
Jack looked around the helicopter while Cavitt cleaned and treated the small punctures and scrapes. "Hey, this bird isn't gonna make it all the way to L.A., we planning on refueling somewhere?"
Long answered from the cockpit. "No, sir, we'll be setting down at Soto Cano in twenty-three minutes. There's a KC-130 waiting there to take you and a bunch of Marines back home for leave."
"We're just about timed out, so we'll stay there to get refit and refueled." Long finished.
"Great, perfect ending to a screwed up mission, gotta ride home with a bunch of Marines." Jack joked, "at least we beat em last year, fourteen losses in a row was a bit hard to swallow."
Various agreements could be heard over the headsets. Jack sat back and let Cavitt finish up. He closed his eyes and let the hum of the rotors lull him to sleep.
0-0-0
Mac had waited in the car while Bozer went shopping. He had tried to relax and get some rest on the drive, but he couldn't figure out if Bozer was going through some type of mental breakdown or if he was really ok.
He hadn't expected the sudden change in his friend's attitude toward Jack. Bozer had always been a bit wary of Jack, but they were friends. Seeing Jack in combat was a disconcerting thing to watch, even for him.
When they reached the house, while Bozer was unpacking the groceries, Mac sat on a bar stool.
He watched Bozer, trying to come up with the right words for his friend.
If Bozer was really genuinely accepting what Jack had done, Mac didn't want to screw that up.
On the other hand he thought, if he's not ok, I need to make him understand that avoiding the issue isn't going to make it go away.
"Boze, you ok?" He asked
Bozer stopped putting the groceries away and looked at Mac. "Yeah, I'm fine, don't need any help Mac." He moved to the spice rack. "You should go get some rest, I'm just gonna make my spice blend and get the burgers made so they have a chance to marinate." He said quickly avoiding eye contact.
"Boze, that's not what I meant," he sighed "I'm asking if you are ok with, all of this. It's a lot to process."
Bozer stopped and turned to look at Mac. "Honestly, no, I'm not ok, I'm not ok with any of this."
Mac waited for him to continue, watching Bozer open the package of hamburger. Bozer's hands froze. "Boze?"
Bozer suddenly turned and ran out of the kitchen down the hall to the bathroom.
Mac slowly followed his friend.
Standing in the hallway, he could hear Bozer throwing up.
Wanting to give Bozer his privacy, he returned to the kitchen and put the hamburger back in the fridge.
Mac grabbed a couple bottles of water and moved to the couch. He sat down and waited for his friend.
A few minutes later, Bozer shuffled back down the hallway towards the living room, looking up he saw Mac sitting waiting for him.
Mac held up the bottle of water indicating with a nod for his friend to sit. "You ok, Boze?"
Bozer sat on the couch taking the offered water. "Yeah, sorry about that." He said, opening the water. "I don't know what happened."
"Nothing to be sorry about Boze, you've experienced a lot these last few days." Mac looked down at his hand, flexing it. "We all have."
Bozer leaned back on the couch. "I just... I don't know how I feel, I mean Jack can be a scary dude when he wants to be but this... this is so different." Bozer raised his head to look at Mac. "He just killed those guys and kept on going, like it didn't even bother him."
Mac saw the turmoil in his friend's eyes. "Boze, Jack is a soldier first and foremost, but if you think this stuff doesn't bother him, you're wrong. It does." Mac paused to let his words sink in.
"You have to understand something Boze. In combat, there isn't time to let emotion get in the way. A soldier that does isn't going to last long."
Bozer sat there suddenly finding a loose thread in his jeans very interesting. "I understand Mac, it's just, this is Jack we're talking about. He's always joking and even though I think he's a little off sometimes, he seemed like, I don't know... normal I guess." Bozer abandoned the thread and looked at Mac.
Mac smiled, understanding Bozer's line of thinking. "Jack is a normal guy, Boze, he just happens to have a skill set that most people don't ever see put to use. It wasn't like he was supposed to go over there and kill all those soldiers, it just happened." Mac shook his head and sighed.
"If Jack would have scrubbed the mission as soon as Bob was killed, believe me, I would have been happy about that. But, that's not how Jack thinks. He was there to do a job, which was supposed to be reconnaissance and capture." Mac said, not only trying to explain to Bozer but trying to explain it to himself as well.
"Yeah, I know, it wasn't supposed to go down like it did." Bozer rolled his eyes, "can't get a lot of that stuff outa my head, you know."
"Yeah, Boze, I know exactly what you mean. Look, Jack didn't go there with the intention of getting into a firefight, as much as he seems to like guns, getting into a firefight was the last thing Jack wanted to do, they forced his hand and he reacted." Mack took a deep breath, thinking about how close Jack had come to being killed.
"Most Delta operators pride themselves on getting in and out without anyone knowing they were even there." Mac laid his head back on the couch cushion looking at the ceiling, "the fact that this whole thing was less than up to snuff, only makes it worse."
"Yeah, that definitely sucks, you think Jack's really ok with all of this?" Bozer asked curious.
"I don't know Boze, I hope so." I still have a hard time wrapping my head around some of the stuff he does, I'm just glad he's coming home in one piece."
Bozer laughed, a genuine laugh. Mac looked at his friend wondering if he'd pushed him over the edge and he was having a mental breakdown. "Boze?"
"I'm sorry, Mack," Bozer said while still laughing. "But did you hear what you just said?"
Mac looked perplexed. "I said I was glad he was coming home."
"Yeah, I know that, so am I... I guess." Bozer stood up still smiling, "Bro, if you have a hard time trying to figure out the stuff he does, how do you think the rest of us feel watching you do your thing?" Bozer walked away heading toward his bedroom. "I'm gonna go to bed Mac, I'll drive you to the airport to pick Jack up."
Bozer paused before going to his room, "good night Mac."
"Good night Boze, and thanks." Mac sat in silence running through the events of the past few days.
Suddenly very tired and sore, he lay his head back and closed his eyes. Jack's coming home, Bozer's gonna be ok. He thought before letting the exhaustion take over and he fell asleep.
0-0-0
When the Blackhawk had landed at Soto Cano, Jack had only minutes to board the KC-130.
Cavitt helped him out of the helicopter watching every move, Jack had put his long sleeve shirt back on covering the bandages and spectacular bruises along his back and side.
Jack reached back, grabbing his vest and sliding it out of the helicopter, letting out a groan, not ready for the weight of the vest in his hand. "Ever notice how things get heavier the closer you get to home." He commented to no one in particular.
Douglas exited the helicopter with both of Jack's rifles and his helmet. "Here you go Jack, I've got to get this bird serviced and fueled, have a safe trip home." He said as he walked away.
Jack clipped the helmet to his vest and took the rifles, slinging the straps over his shoulder wincing at the pressure on the bandage. "Thanks chief, appreciate the ride."
Long walked around the front of the helicopter coming to a stop in front of Jack. "Well Jack, good to see you walking off my bird this time around." He said holding out his hand.
"Thanks man, appreciate the ride." Jack smiled shaking the pilot's hand.
"Better get movin, don't want to miss my flight," Jack said as he walked away from the helicopter headed toward the waiting KC-130.
Jack turned and yelled "you guys make it back to L.A, look me up, I'll buy the beer!"
The crew smiled and waved as Jack made it to the transport.
Once on board the large plane, Jack was greated by wide eyed stares from the six Marines that were on board.
He knew he must be a site to look at, after running around the forest for the last 24 hours.
He just nodded as he passed, making his way to the front of the plane.
Jack lay his rifles down in a seat and set the vest on top ensuring the weight would keep them in place.
Sitting down in the canvas seat, he laughed to himself. I must be tired, this seat actually feels comfortable. He thought as he felt the plane moving.
Jack leaned back and closed his eyes.
To be continued...
I hope you enjoyed this, I had a hard time with Bozer in this one. Still not sure if I did him justice. Anyway, Jack's rank... Trying to find detailed information about Delta is just about next to impossible. There are some great sources for Army ranks and even special forces ranks and what the job titles are. In this story I picked Sergeant as Jack's rank based on the information from the Army and from SlippedHalo8186 who has a reliable source. Anyway, it's fiction so...