Season 02 Episode 18: Riley + Airplane
Alex waited for Mac at the door to the examination room. He didn't change his clothes since they came back to the Phoenix Foundation, because he didn't want to waste time and be ready when Riley came in. Like all the other ones he was excited to hear what she has to tell. Alex couldn't avoid an admiring look. With the black trousers, the white button-down and the white jacket he looked quite elegant. The black bow tie hanging loose around his neck.
Alex wondered about Jack not being with him.
"He wanted to shower and get into his own clothes." Mac smiled. The 'borrowed' suit was embarrassing.
Matty and especially Riley shouldn't see him with it.
"Okay, so no explanations from Jack and I have to trust you telling me everything."
Mac raised his eyebrows, but saw the amused smile on her lips.
"Can I say, I'm fine?"
Alex shook her head. "Try again."
Mac stretched his left hand out for her. His wrist was swollen. At the jump to capture Beck's laptop Mac sprained his joint. Not an unusual or complicated injury. With a salve and a brace it would be like new in a few days.
During Alex' treatment, he told her about Riley's situation and how she saved all the people in the airplane. The nurse listened impressed.
"The decision to stop the engines can't be easy."
"Definitely not."
"But it must be an extraordinary feeling, if something like that works and you can save so many people. Did you fear for her?"
"Yeah, we all did." Mac told her honestly. „But I confide in her skills. I trusted her to get it done. Even if I had no idea how she would do it."
The small path through the jungle was barely visible. Carefully Mac went first of the group, while Jack watched the back against their pursuers. Their head start was enough right now, but with 28 people, some of them injured, they went too slow. It was only a question of time when they were caught again.
Mac and Jack found the headquarter of a drug cartel in South America. The plan to make pictures for evidence to get the boss of this cartel into custody and found guilty only worked as long as they realized that there were some young men and women for human trafficking. That added to the charge but to storm into the quarters wasn't possible anymore. It was too risky for the prisoners. They made a new plan, were able to free the captives and fled with them. But that went not unnoticed. Mac built a few simple traps in seconds that gave the little group advantage. One of the men were born in this area and showed them the small path, that led to a ropeway over a gorge. If they could reach it they could go to a plain field where helicopters could land for exfil. When Mac saw the bridge his disappointment was huge. Tentative the former captives gathered around the beginning of the ropeway.
Jack joined his partner.
"What's wrong?"
Mac pointed to a spot at one of the ropes. "You see that? They're damaged. We can't go on the bridge, it will tear."
„What now? We can't stay here. Can you build something ropey and ad a grab hook? We can catch the damaged part, pull it nearer and repair it?"
"I- Uhm, I don't know, Jack. That's not so easy." Mac looked at him. His eyes mirrored a trace of panic.
„Mac, listen to me." Jack grabbed his shoulders and squeezed them a little bit. „You can make it. It's up to you now. You disarmed bombs at Afghanistan and saved the life of thousands of people. You repair that bridge right now, then we all go over it and you save all the people here. You're working for DXS, that's not very different to the Army. Concentrate! I trust you."
Jack's words reminded him of Pena and a calming feeling went through his stomach. Mac nodded and looked around.
"I think I have an idea."
Mac was successful. They all reached the other side of the gorge and were flown out of the danger zone. It was his first mission at DXS, when so many people depended on his ideas.
"On a mission like Riley's, such an extremely emergency, it's important to have someone at your side, who calms you down and whom you trust. I'm glad Riley had Billy at her side. She wasn't alone and she did what she was able to do. Jack and I couldn't do that for her."
Alex thought a situation like that to be very hard. Not to panic seemed to be quite impossible. Luckily there were people like Mac's team that could think logically even in those situations.
Instead of getting up, Mac stayed seated. Alex finished her treatment, but Mac didn't hurry to get out of the room.
"Why don't you want to go to the debriefing?" She asked him critically.
Mac smiled over that question. „Again the Coltons got in our way. It was a catastrophe last time, when we should get Deckard. Now it wasn't really better. Matty will be mad at us and she will be right about that."
"I think she will be happy that Riley's still alive and the plane didn't crash. I don't think she rails at you too hard."
Mac hoped she would be right. When he left the room, Alex admired how naturally Mac moved in the elegant outfit. After such a critical situation he looked calm, as if he was at a dinner party this evening.
