"Why the hell did I leave Florida?" muttered Teri as she continued through the snow, with nothing else to follow but her determination and a bleep on the screen. Her feet felt like they had frozen solid in her spike heeled shoes but she kept on going.
The flashlight gave her some help in the darkness but she was completely lost, she didn't know the terrain or the place she was at.
Suddenly she heard the distinct sound of a car engine and thought she was safe. Perhaps she could hitch a ride up to what ever cabin Jack was at.
But as the car drew nearer she recognized it as the tired old pickup the two men at the gas station had been standing by and she knew that she was heading into trouble.
"What took you so long, boys?" she muttered as she made sure that her gun was right where she had put it.
The pickup got up alongside her and pulled to a halt. One of the men stuck his head out the window. "Problems, lady? We saw your car down the road."
"Yes, it broke down" Her British had returned.
"Well, get in, we'll take you to wherever you are going."
She took the offer.
Tony looked at his wrist watch and then up at Crawford's office. It was essential that the buffoon didn't find out what was going on.
"Relax, will you? You're making me nervous" muttered Michelle.
"First Jack and now Teri leaving without a trace. We have lost track of two of our best agents."
"Yes, everything is back to normal, isn't it?" She gave him a reassuring smile. "You shouldn't doubt Teri and you certainly shouldn't doubt Jack."
"What if he had fallen back on his addiction? What if he had gone somewhere to get a fix and is in some kind of trouble he can't get out of? It's just like him to do something like that. In the meantime he has probably lead Teri on a wild goose chase."
"They can handle themselves and if Jack really has fallen back on his addiction it's safe to say that he'll be booted out."
Tony just sighed and went back to work. "If they don't show up within the next hour I'm sending a chopper after her."
She wondered when the two men would strike and about ten minutes up the road they did. The driver stopped the car and she stared at him, deciding that it was best to play stupid, naive tourist. "What's going on?"
The next she knew that she was looking into the muzzle of a 357' revolver, something she hadn't counted on and so the surprise was on her.
"Get out" the man told her.
Calm as could be she muttered "yes" and elevated her hands as she got out. Her mind was racing as she tried to figure out what to do without having to hurt the two men. Too badly anyway.
"Check if someone is coming" driver told the other one and off the guy went.
"Give me your car keys" said the man as the other one walked off.
Here was her chance. "Sure, here you go" she said and tossed him the key chain where it hung.
As the guys focus was directed on the keys she launched a kick at his arm, knocking the gun out of it but his finger squeezed the trigger in the process and a shot was fired.
Jack stared at the door as he clearly heard a gun being fired. What the hell was going on? He dismissed it as hunters and focused on the still form of himself again.
He sunk down against the wall and buried his face in his hands. He did want to live, at least a part of him did. A part of him wanted to follow Teri's advice but another part of him continuously whispered to him that he couldn't trust anyone, that he was completely alone in the world and that it was the way it had to be.
It had sounded so easy, to just let go of his fears and his paranoia but now when he faced the choice he still couldn't determine the path.
As long as there was a shred of doubt he couldn't be saved.
He heard a car engine and got to his feet.
Teri parked the pickup outside the cabin and got out. His car was there and there were footprints in the snow but they had nearly been drowned by the fresh snow coming down from the sky. He was here.
She opened the door to the cabin and shook the blanket. It was almost as cold in there as it had been outside. "I found you!" she called out. "And for all the troubles you have managed to put me through for one day you have no idea how deep shit you're in."
It was dead quiet.
"You have no idea how much I've been through trying to find you." She continued into the cabin. "You're in so much…" She saw a pair of boots sticking out between the couch and the table. "Trouble" she finished as she rounded the corner and saw the boots leading up to a pair of legs.
"Jack!" she called and threw herself down over him and gently slapped his face. When she didn't get any respond she checked for a pulse. It was terribly weak. "Christ! Jack!" she called again before she started searching for any wounds on him but before she got too far in the process she noticed the syringe underneath the table and knew.
"Jack, no" she muttered and tried to turn him over to open his air passages better. Having done that she reached for her cell phone with shaky hands. She was starting to panic and quickly hit one of her speed dials.
It took a few seconds before there was a reply. "Holly" she said in to the phone with a desperate voice filled with tears. "I need your help."
"Honey, what's the matter?" said the worried voice in the other end.
"It's- it's my partner, I think he's taken an overdose, I think he's dying. I don't know what to do."
"You have my medical bag, don't you?"
"I'm sorry, I never meant to take it, it was just forgotten in the car. Look, he's going to die. I need help." She looked at Jack. "I can't loose him, Hol."
"You won't! Now listen. Do you have the bag?"
"Yes" She closed her eyes as a tear ran down her cheek.
"In the bag there are a lot of different drugs, one of those drugs are epinephrine."
"Adrenaline" muttered Teri and dropped the phone before she rushed to the car to get the bag. Thank God she had brought it with her in case someone should come across the car and steal it. She hurried back inside.
Jack had seen the reaction on her face as she saw his still body and recognized it as shock. He saw as the shock was replaced with fear and pain and felt really moved by it.
But it wasn't before he saw the tears that he felt a lump in his throat. How could he ever have doubted her, how could he ever have thought her to be the enemy.
He watched as she made a phone call and rushed out of the cabin to return with a medical bag. He wanted to say something but knew that no sound would reach her ear.
Instead he continued watching as she brought the phone back up to her ear and filled a syringe with a clear liquid he just knew was epinephrine. He saw her inject it into his arm and started giving him CPR.
"It's not working" she said into the phone. Then there was a short pause. "W-what?" she said in shock and started fumbling in the black bag.
The needle she pulled out had to be the largest needle Jack had ever seen.
"What do I do?" The reply was given and a short moment later she stabbed the needle into his heart and emptied the syringe. She continued giving him CPR and he just watched.
He just had no idea what to do. He wanted to live, he did, so why wasn't he alive, in his body.
He watched her face as it turned in desperation, her motions becoming more frantic as it was clear that there was no response.
"Live!" she demanded before she blew air into his lungs. "Live, please!" Now she was begging as she tried to get his heart going again.
The sound of a rib cracking broke the monotone sound of her whimpers. "Oh, God" she muttered and withdrew her hands for a short moment.
"Don't die on me, please!" her tears ran down her cheeks and onto his face and now Jack really had problems controlling his emotions.
"I want to live" he said. "I want to live! Put me back! Please…" It pained him to see her in so much pain and knowing that he was the one who had caused it. He felt moved by her compassion and the clear display of love.
He got no reply. Didn't anybody care about the pain he was in?
"Don't die on me, you son of a bitch!" she cried out and started banging on his chest in a mixture of anger, pain and frustration. Then she collapsed onto his chest and clutched his face. "Please" she begged one last time.
He couldn't hold the tears back anymore. He wanted so badly to comfort her, to hold her and say that everything would be ok. He wanted to rock her like a child in his arms and caress her hair, to keep her safe. But if he couldn't do so in life, he would do so in death.
He crawled on all four over to her and placed his hand on hers.