Over all the medical and science babble Mac sincerely hoped Jack only listened once. It was the part about the martial art technique to slow down one's heart beat.

Since Mac left his transmitter with the man he "killed", he felt extremely vulnerable. His mind was uneasy as he started to work his fingers.

"You are a killer, just like me. And the sooner you accept that my way is the right way, it is the only way the sooner you're gonna be ready."

Mac shuddered. Murdoc's voice resounded in his head. It was a terrible loop that made him feel more and more miserable. And even though he knew he didn't kill this man, he felt so incredibly dirty. He worked his hands even more, trying to clean them from an invisible stain of blood.

No, this was so wrong!

This whole mission was wrong, so wrong to begin with! What was he thinking, acting as a killer once again, miserably failing the last time. He, a man who favours every life over his own, standing up for the innocent, protecting every innocent soul. This was going against his true nature. He swallowed hard, massaging his fingers even more so they cracked. How long was he able to keep up with this act? He felt like breaking every second already, and he haven't even met his client.

Mac never had the urge of turning and running away, but his mission was pushing him to his limits. With abandoning his transmitter, he abandoned his way back. Now he was on his own, no one was knowing where he was going or what was happening. And with the underground tunnel they took, Mac was sure the others would lose track of him. So Jack was not behind him anymore.

Right after he killed the man, a lackey took over to control the pulse. As Mac intended to the man couldn't feel anything and concluded the victim being dead. He signalled it his partners with a little nod. Mac remembered being relieved at the exact same moment. But right then, a hand was reached into his direction, a demand followed: "Your cellphone, please."

Crap, this was his only connection he could still share with Riley! But Mac knew he should respond or else his cover and this mission were over. And that definitely would prove to be fatal, because it was four to one. So he reached into his pocket, handing over his cellphone.

The men didn't even bother to switch it off. Instead he crashed it with brute force onto the ground, even stepping on it to make sure it was broken. Mac flinched on the inside, desperately hoping it didn't show.

Then the group gathered and started to move towards the metal stairs, leading down to the basement. After choosing some heavy metal doors with all kinds of warning sings and descriptions not to enter, they ended up in a long, dark hallway. Just concrete, floor, walls and ceiling, only alight by some old neon lights. Every few some were only flickering, giving the tunnel an even more unending and unpleasant look.

Mac could do nothing than follow. He was surrounded by men, two leading ahead, two accompanying him right by his side. But as nervous as he was, he mustn't let it show. He was about to meet his client, he was sure he was waiting for him at the end of this hallway. And he was going there all alone.

The tunnel opened up in two directions. Great, Mac thought. Even for Jack and the others to somehow find this tunnel would be quite a surprise, but taking the right route was nearly impossible. You almost get a 100% chance to select the wrong 50% of a 50:50 decision, Mac recalled and in a normal situation he would actually be amused about his. But now his life depends on his team getting the right 50%. Mac felt his chanced slipping away.

They turned right. Should he left a mark? But how? There were two men beside him, he didn't have anything with him to drop nor was he able to leave a track on the ground. The floor was all concrete, so he could mark a sign with his foot. How?

He was too slow. As he thought over the problem, his chance slipped as they moved on. Behind him the other tunnel was getting smaller and smaller, disappearing into thin air. And even though this new hallway was as terrible lit as the other one, Mac felt like walking into darkness.

All alone.

As Mac was getting lost in his thoughts and worries, he somehow lost track of his way as well. The hallway split apart so often that he actually thought they were moving through an underground maze.

After they have passed some stair cases, his company finally decided to take one and they moved upwards, away from the dark tunnel system. As they reached higher, Mac actually felt like breathing again, the pressure finally lifting from his chest, but on the same time it was replaced with another one, a different kind of constriction. He was going to meet the boss.

The air got fresher with every stair they took and it didn't take long and Mac felt a cold wind on his skin. They have reached a parking deck with many floors, the stair case didn't have any massive walls but was rather only secured by a waist high concrete railing and some pillars. Mac tried to overlook his surroundings, but he couldn't make out, where he was. There were no remarkable buildings or marks in sight, no special sounds. He only knew, they walked maybe for twenty minutes to reach this spot, but with being in an underground maze, he just didn't know if they had been walking in circles or not. So maybe he was in a deck a few blocks from here or maybe just within the reach of the old factory from the beginning.

At the forth level they exited the stair case and walked over the deck. No person was in sight and not many cars parked up here. Mac eyed his surroundings wearily, but nothing fishy. Regardless Mac kept his guard up. He was happy his eyes were hidden under his base cap, so he could view the area relatively inconspicuous and still keep his act up. But with every step it was getting harder and harder.

Because he was alone.

No backup.

Finally Mac made out his destination. It was a large limousine, an expensive BMW, new model, the kind of car high ranked politics or CEOs use to go to some unimportant meeting to negotiate about some extra millions for their profit. The kind of car Mac never wanted to have – or even sit in.

As expected Mac was led to the car. For a split second Mac had the feeling to leave a trace for the others, but then he realized it was good for nothing. Jack and the others wouldn't even find this parking deck, and particularly not this car. So his only chance was to mark the car somehow, so it would be showy on the street, so Riley or any pedestrians would notice it. But now was not the time to do something about it.

The door on the co-driver's side was opened by a man in black. He didn't have to motion Mac to get into, Mac understood it right away. With the turtle neck right on his neck, it didn't show his hard swallow that would give away his nervousness. A deep breath, briefly closed eyes and some reassuring thoughts, then he slipped in.

Jack just wanted to be helpful to the man coughing hard in front of him, but as he reached for him to hit his back, the man flinched and shifted backwards till he was stopped by a concrete pillar. One hand at his throat and breathing heavily he eyed Jack with panic.

"Ho, my friend", Jack tried to calm him down by reaching his hands in the air, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk to you."

No change. The man just stared at him.

"Okay", Jack breathed, "My name is Jack and I want to know where my friend is."

The man stared at him. Just then he began to process Jack's words and his eyes grew wide in fear. He tried to shift back even more and Jack was sure, if this guy could crawl into the pillar behind him, he would do so.

Suddenly Jack understood the meaning of his own demand. Unconsciously he slapped himself for this stupid phrasing.

"No, I'm not a killer, so is my friend. This is the reason why you're still with the living."

The man stopped breathing. Just as if he noticed he was not dead right now.

"Who are you?", the man asked. His accent was Indian.

"As I said, my name is Jack", Jack repeated as calm and friendly as possible. This man was his only chance to get a track of Mac, so he mustn't scare him away. "I'm working for the government, so does my friend, a guy about this height, black clothes, blond hair."

"He killed me!", the man whimpered and pulled up his knees as to protect himself.

"No, he didn't", Jack said, "He just knocked you out to make it look like you're dead. And I woke you up just now. And now it is really important if you know anything regarding my friend." Jack was growing impatient with every second. Every second that Mac slipped out of his reach.

The man breathed heavily. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because my friend left his transmitter with you, so I could bring you back", Jack said and showed the device. It was still blinking.

The man's trust grew in him. "If you're working for the government", he started in perfect Indian English, "why was your friend ordered to kill me by these men?"

Jack moaned. This conversation was taking so freaking long. "Long story short, it was part of an undercover mission, but we never thought, he would actually have to prove himself before the actual mission even started."

The Indian eyed him, not sure to believe this story or not.

"Look", Jack said, "You're still alive, my friend just knocked you out and even left his transmitter with you, so I could find and revive you, but now my friend doesn't have any backup for this undercover mission and he might be in danger. So it's very important you tell me everything you know."

"I don't know anything", the man cried out, suddenly being overwhelmed with the situation.

"This not getting us anywhere, Dalton", Jack could here Matty in his ear.

"What should I do?"

Silence.

"Get this guy into custody, we need to question him right away", Matty ordered.

"And Mac?"

Silence again.

"We need to trust him", Matty said then, a little worry in her voice, "We definitely need any information we can get out of this man."

And her next sentence made Jack's heart stop beating. It hit him like a sharp knife, right through his heart. He felt like loosing his ground. And the sad thing about it was he knew. He knew it all along, but none or less it ripped him apart as Matty said it:

"We officially lost track of Mac."