AN:

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Chapter 4

After a restless night their cell door opened and Mac knew it was his turn to be interrogated. Nevertheless Jack tried his old trick again. „I'll take bacon and eggs, and please make sure that my pancakes are hot and fluffy." It only earned him a punch to his gut, which had him doubling over as his ribs screamed out their protest. „Stop it Jack," Mac murmured as he was dragged away.

The Delta was restless. He was wandering around their cell, but there wasn't anything that would help him get out of there. He snorted. If there had been something, Mac would have arranged their escape already. The waiting grated on his nerves. Not knowing what they were doing to his friend.

After an eternity they brought his partner back. Mac was soaking wet and still gasping for air. Waterboarding. Jack didn't like the wet rattle, he could hear when the blond drew a breath. The Delta pulled his friend to his feet and Mac made it two steps before his knees buckled. Jack grabbed the blond firmly around the waist and laid his arm over his shoulder, ignoring the pain in his middle. Carefully Jack lowered Mac onto the cot and sat down on the edge.

Mac was shivering and only half conscious. Jack pushed the wet bangs out of his face. He grabbed one of the worn blankets they had and covered his friend. Slowly Mac came back to the present. „You were right Jack," he rasped with a small smile.

„Oh, I love to hear that hoss, but to be honest I'm not following your train of thought right now." Jack answered with a raised brow.

„Being punched is better than waterboarding," Mac choked out and was hit by another round of wet coughs.

Jack laughed and helped Mac sit up to breathe easier. „I knew it, sometimes you should simply listen to the Jack Dalton pearls of wisdom."

Mac snorted. „I'll never hear the end of it. How was your day?"

Jack smiled relieved that Mac was still up to their usual banter. „Not exciting, just hanging around, enjoying the view."

Riley was rubbing her eyes once more, as the numbers on her screen were blurring together. Bozer sat back on the couch in the war room and said. „I don't know how you do it all the time." He had been watching the traffic cams of the surrounding area for any clue.

Riley looked up frowning. „What do you mean?"

„Staring at the monitor all day long without pausing. My eyes start to burn and I can't concentrate after only a couple hours." Bozer rubbed his red rimmed eyes.

Riley smiled. „You get used to it after a few thousand nights." She pulled a small bottle of eye drops out of her backpack and threw it over to her friend. „Take these, they'll help and close your eyes for 10 minutes, then you'll be fine for another couple of hours."

Bozer smiled. „Thanks Ri. We'll find them." The hacker only nodded, without looking up. She didn't want Wilt to see the tears building up in her eyes.

Matty entered the room and asked for a sitrep. „Still nothing." Bozer replied and Riley only shook her head. The director sighed, taking in the tired appearance of her agents.

„When have you last slept?" Matty asked. Bozer answered with a guilty expression. „I got a couple hours this night. I didn't mean to fall asleep, but I couldn't stay awake any longer, sorry." Riley ignored the question completely.

„That's ok Bozer, don't feel bad about it. You both need to rest. Go home for a few hours and then come back refreshed. Looks like it could be a few more days until we're able to get them back." Matty stated with a calm voice.

„You can't be serious, how can you expect us to sleep, when we have no idea if Jack and Mac are still alive?" Riley stormed. She jumped up and made a step in the direction of her boss, when she started to sway.

„Riley, are you ok?" Bozer asked worried and moved to steady her, but he was a moment too late, because the hacker collapsed to the floor in a heep.

„Riley!" Matty and Bozer were at her side in an instant. Bozer held the hacker in his arms and tapped her face lightly, while Matty pulled out her phone and called Medical.

A few minutes later Doc Ward rushed into the room, when Riley began to stir. Together they laid her on the couch and the physician began to examine her. Riley pushed his hands away. „Let me be, I'm ok."

Doc Ward stood up and said. „She's exhausted, she needs to eat and she needs to sleep."

„I'm fine," came from the couch. Bozer smiled. „You're spending too much time with Mac," his smile vanished. „Sorry, I'm sorry Ri, that was inappropriate." He looked down.

Matty thundered. „Enough! You are both going home. Bozer I trust you to follow my orders, if you want to keep your job and your testicles." Bozer blanched and nodded meekly. She turned to Riley. „Listen to me Riley and listen good. I have two guys accompany you home, they will stand watch at your door and they aren't allowed to bring you back here short of six hours. This will be the rule for every day until we get our boys back. I can't let my agents kill themselves over this. Jack would have my hide, if I let you work yourself to death." Matty the hun has spoken and Riley didn't dare to disagree, although she wanted to.

Matty sighed and added softly. „I don't like this any more than you do Riley, but our boys need us to function. We can't think straight and make the right decisions if we're running on fumes. We all need a minimum of rest or else we wouldn't be any help for them." Riley didn't say anything, she only nodded, she felt shaky if she was honest and she hadn't eaten anything in … well, she didn't even remember. It was probably, before this whole mess started.

Riley sat in her apartment staring at her phone. Jack always checked in with her, before he went to sleep. Often it was only a short message, wishing her a good night and sweet dreams, but sometimes they were texting back and forth, teasing each other about their day or sharing a few thoughts. Riley finally lost the fight against her tears and started sobbing. „Please Jack, you have to hang on. I need you so much. I miss you and Mac, come on big guy, don't do this to me." She pleaded brokenly.

Riley showered and laid down in her bed. After turning around for over an hour, she stood up and grabbed her rig. Matty might force her to come home, but she couldn't stop her from working. She owed it to Jack and Mac to give everything. Riley sucked down an energy drink and started pulling up some files.

The cell door opened and Jack was pushed in, collapsing to his knees and breathing hard. Mac was at his side and steadied him, a concerned look on his face. He helped the Delta to his feet and guided him over to the cot, where he sank down. The blond didn't like how his partner was trembling.

„What did they do to you?" Mac wanted to know. The last days their torture alternated between beatings and waterboarding, but Jack wasn't wet and he didn't sport any new bruises as far as Mac could tell.

„They found a new toy, obviously. A cattle prod, I think it was modified. Hurt much more than the average cattle prod." Jack chuckled and winced in pain. Mac was confused. „What's so funny?"

„Ya know hoss, a man shouldn't know how much an average cattle prod hurt, when it's shoved into your chest."

Mac was stunned for a moment and then started to laugh. „You're right bud. No man should know how different kind of tortures feel at all."

Jack grinned, while absently rubbing his aching chest. „Hey, if we get out of here alive, we could write a handbook ˋEffective ways of torture for beginnersˋ"

Mac shook his head. „You're an idiot Jack." But he couldn't suppress a laugh which turned into a coughing fit. Jack rubbed his partners back in slow circles, but he couldn't do much to help Mac.

The Phoenix agents were trying to keep up their usual banter, but it was not longer a natural thing to do. They were getting weaker with each passing day. They were lucky, so far their torturers hadn't done serious damage to their bodies. Mac and Jack had bruises over bruises and probably a couple of broken ribs. The waterboarding had hit Mac harder than Jack. The blond was coughing almost constantly and was running a slight fever and Jack was concerned about pneumonia. They didn't get much to eat, just enough to keep them going, at least they had enough water.

Jack sobered. „We need to get out of here, as long as we're able to walk. When they come in the morning to get you, we'll be ready. We need to jump them, I don't see any other way." The Delta outlined his plan. Mac sighed and agreed. „I thought of it too. There's simply no other way. It's been too long, if there had been a lead Matty would have sent out a tac team already."

Jack nodded. „Ares is too good at hiding. We need to get out and let them know, where we are. I'm sure Matty has everybody on their toes."

Riley was itching to get back to Phoenix. She had been working while her enforced stay at home, but she didn't have complete access from her rig. Energy drinks and coffee had helped her through the night and she managed to choke down a power bar. Back in the war room Matty informed them, that there weren't any news. The next 18 hours were filled with checking the same data, going over satelite images and watching traffic cams. Riley tried to talk Matty into letting her stay, but the director didn't budge.

That was the pattern for the next days. They were working on every lead and then going home for six hours every day. Bozer seemed to adjust well to their new timetable. Riley wasn't able to rest peacefully. She showered, napped for an hour or two and got back to her task. The hacker didn't eat much, mostly power bars, because she didn't waste her time with shopping groceries. Coffee and energy drinks were her fuel. She was running out of clean clothes, but she didn't care. Hoodies and leggings it was. Riley ignored the occasional bouts of dizziness as well as the fact that she was losing weight every day. She had more important things to worry about.

The sound of heavy boots announced the arrival of the guards. Jack and Mac were ready. The blond stood five foot away from the door and Jack was behind it. It were always three men, who were coming to get one of them. As soon as they were in the room, the Phoenix agents started their attack. Jack elbowed one between the shoulder blades and the man went down to his knees. Mac drove his fist into the face of the guy next to him and followed with a few punches to the middle. Jack was already on the second guard, kicking him in the knee and taking him out with a hit to the throat. The first man was still on his knees, but had recovered enough to yell for help. The Delta knew they were running out of time. He drove his knee into the face of the guy and saw that Mac had knocked out his enemy. The blond was breathing hard, but shot his partner a grin. „Let's go!"

As soon as they entered the hall, they were facing a small army. Mercs were running in their direction from both sides. „Left," Jack yelled and barrelled into the smaller group of enemies. He fought furiously, but there were at least eight guys now and the Delta went to his knees, stunned after receiving a heavy blow to the head. A guard took his arm, ducked and turned. The snap of Jacks shoulder popping out was tuned out by the Deltas scream of pain. He hunched forward and was dimly aware of a guy holding a metal pipe coming at him. A second later his bad arm exploded with new agony when the guy smashed his forearm with the pipe. The world went dark and Jack was out before he hit the floor.

Mac knew, they failed when he saw the number of men coming at them. But the blond simply wasn't a quitter so he followed his partner right into the middle of the fight. Mac threw punch after punch, but in his weakened state he didn't do much damage to the enemy. He heard Jack cry out as one of the guys dislocated his shoulder. His eyes widened, when he saw another guard breaking Jacks forearm with a heavy pipe. Instinctively Mac tried to get to his partner, but he was thrown to the ground by a kick in his back. He quickly rolled onto his back and drew his feet back to kick out, but was met with the pipe, that was crushing his leg. Mac screamed until a kick to the head put him into oblivion.

Riley knew she was missing something. It had been 12 days since Jack and Mac had last contacted them. She could feel their time was running out. After rolling her neck and gulping down the rest of her coffee, she turned to her laptop again. Her hands started to shake violently and her vision blurred, she felt panic rising but shoved it back. Now was not the time to fall apart. Riley clenched her shaking fingers into tight fists and took some deep breaths. „I got this," she murmured and closed her eyes for a moment until she got control of her body.

Riley was going over the financial data once again, when she suddenly spotted something, that didn't add up. Matty entered the war room, smiling when she saw Bozer had fallen asleep with his head on the laptop. When she looked at Riley, she frowned. The girl was pale and she clearly had lost weight. Her hair was hanging losely over her shoulders and she wore leggings and a hoodie. Riley was hacking away at her keyboard and Matty laid a hand on her shoulder. The hacker looked up startled. A flicker of hope appeared on her face.

„Matty, I think I got something."

„Put it on the big screen," Matty ordered. Riley did as she was told and moved to stand up to explain what she had found. As soon as she was upright, the room started to spin and the hacker had to grab the back of the couch to keep herself from falling.

„Riley, are you ok? I'll get the doc," Matty uttered and grabbed her phone.

„No! I'm good, just stood up to quickly." She smiled and stepped forward, adrenaline fuelling her weakened body.

Matty frowned, but let it go for the moment. „Ok, what have you found?"

„There is one transaction that stands out. It is the same amount every month, but it is always redirected many times. I finally managed to track one of the transactions. It is a payment for an old folks home in Switzerland. It covers the costs for Rose Jäger." Rileys voice was getting louder and Bozer woke up and listened intently.

Riley smiled. „Jäger is the German word for Hunter. I think, it's maybe his mother. I checked her properties and she owns a former military training camp, that was abandoned in the eighties."

„Where is it Riley?" Matty held her breath.

„Idaho," the hacker answered.

„Great job Riley. Send the coordinates to our tac teams. We're sending in all three teams and I'll get back up from the CIA." Matty promised.

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