A/N: This is a request/prompt fill for Ridley C. James where she said: I would so love to see you tackle a story where both Mac and Jack are in GI mode.
A huge thank you to Dlwells51, who is on the mend and back to correcting my horrendous punctuation and grammar. She has a way of interpreting what I'm trying to say and puts her magic touch on my stuff.
I absolutely love our military and have the utmost respect for our men and women. This story is pure fiction and not meant to offend.
Takes place a month or so before Hogan's Alley, and is loosely related but can be read as a standalone.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything having to do with the tv show. I do own the OC's and all the fictional gun's n ammo. XD
-Afghanistan-
Jack walked into the team's makeshift ready room, his hand full of folded up orders and maps. "Alright boys, listen up." He started to spread the map on the large upturned cable spool they had turned into a table.
"We got us some double duty action goin on here." Coop, Pete and Duncan walked over to the round table, glancing at the map Jack had spread out.
Jack's eyebrows raised and he exchanged a knowing look with the trio, getting variations of smiles and smirks from each. "Hey Mac, you mind gracing us with your presence, if you're not too busy?" Jack waved at the papers spread on the table. "You know... Army stuff going on over here and such."
Mac looked up from the colorful wire sculpture he'd been working on, using pieces of electrical wire from IED's he'd rendered safe to build it. "Uh, yeah, sorry, I was just..."
Jack cut him off with a wave of the hand. "Whatever dude, what the hell are you making anyway?"
Mac smiled proudly, glancing back at the sculpture. "It's a representation of a long-range allosteric signaling in red light–regulated diguanylyl cyclases." Mac's eyes shifted from one man to the next, at their confused looks, his eyes were downcast. "It's not finished yet, obviously... I need some yellow wire." He rubbed his fingers together as if he was twisting a wire.
Jack shook his head and rocked back on his heals before leaning over the table. "Ok, now that we all know exactly what Mac's been working on, think you brainiacs can wrap your head around a little map reading and operational brief?" Jack raised his eyes to see Mac's confused look, obviously not understanding the joke. Jack smiled, it wasn't often he could get that look on the kid's face but every time he did, he considered it a win.
"Alright, getting back to business," Jack cast a serious look at each of his men and received one in return. Satisfied he had their attention, he continued. "Our callsign for this op is Reaper, the first leg of Operation Viper Strike is a night insert to hook up with Briggs and his merry band of ANA's, callsign Saber." Jack raised a hand and shot a serious look at his men, keeping the less than flattering comments he knew would come, from taking over the brief.
Mac caught on that the men didn't like the situation but didn't know why, they'd been on ops with the Afghan National Army before and things didn't seem tense. Must be this Briggs they have a problem with, he thought, as Jack continued.
"Seems they've been hearing chatter of a possible weapons cache hidden somewhere over here in grid 42STA4." Jack paused as everyone scribbled down the grid in their notebooks. "The ANA's will take the lead on this leg of the operation, we'll be providing security, until they find something." Jack looked up at Mac, "if they actually happen to find anything, Mac, you'll eval, and lemme know if we can move the stuff or blow it in place, so bring the big boom-boom kit with ya on this one." Mac nodded his understanding.
Coop cleared his throat, "boss, wouldn't it be easier if we ran the op instead of that coward son of..." Jack cut Coop off before he started a rant and the others joined in.
"Briggs and his men have been training these guys for quite a while now, if they're the ones to find the cache, hopefully it will motivate them to start going out on their own eventually and actually be productive without us holding their proverbial hand." Jack fed them the same rhetoric he'd been given when he'd said as much about Briggs when he received the orders.
Jack sighed, "Look, as much as I'd like this to be a solo operation, intelligence suggests the area we're working in has seen a rise in activity, that brings me to the second leg of this op. Officially called Viper Nest."
Duncan laughed, and started writing in his note pad, "who comes up with these names?"
Mac looked at Jack and saw the near imperceptible nod, letting him know he could interrupt to explain.
Mac stood a little taller, "Actually, the Germans were the first to use operation naming as a way to enhance operational security, but Churchill really perfected it at the time, interestingly enough, it wasn't until..." Duncan waved a large hand in front of Mac, "Dude, how the hell do you know all this shit?"
The corner of Mac's mouth turned up, "Jack told me."
All three men looked at Jack with a mixture of surprise and disbelief. "What? Read a damn book every now and then you meatheads, you might learn something." Jack shook his head and leaned over the map.
"So, operation Viper Nest, we're going to set up a temporary O.P. on this peak here," Jack pointed out the landmark with the tip of his pencil. "We'll hang out for a few days and watch the scenery. Brass thinks the tallies are moving through the canyon to go back and forth across the border. Problem is, the satellites and drones can't get a clear picture, the canyon is too steep and they don't want to risk millions of dollars of aircraft getting tagged if they come in lower." Jack stood up stretching his back with an audible crack. He threw his pencil on the table. "We're Oscar Mike at zero two hundred, pack your bags for an extended stay gentlemen, this could be a long one."
The men stood, all joking gone from the group. Mac watched as his friends, the ones who made joking and pranking a national pastime, transformed into the all business all the time, serious soldiers. Jack had called it their "game face".
Jack looked at each man as he spoke. "Coop, you're on coms, rumor has it they're shit in the canyons so get your hiking boots on brother, it hits the fan and you're humpin uphill until you can get coms up. You're rear security in case the front element gets hit."
"You got it."
"Dunc, you and Pete are team two, in the middle of the pack. Anything hits us from across the canyon, looks to be about fifteen hundred meters so bring the Barret."
Duncan and Pete both nodded their acknowledgement.
"Mac, you're with me, we're team one, I'll have Wynona," Jack referred to his current sniper rifle, "If we get contact, Pete, you and Dunc hold off on the Barret until we go active or can find a hard target for ya, no sense in giving your position away for one or two guys." Both men nodded. Jack rubbed a hand over his short cropped head. "We get separated, need to bug out or need CAS evac, the temporary Observation Post is our fall back, we'll be operating on our freq until we make contact with Saber, after that, we'll run on their coms. Unless they piss us off then we'll go back to in-house chatter." Satisfied he'd covered as much as possible for the time being, Jack nodded at the men as they peeled off to go gear up.
He watched as Mac picked up the wire sculpture he'd been working on earlier. "Hey Mac, you ok with spotting for me if we get in the mix? With Box and Stoney out, we're a bit short."
Mac set the wire project on his chair. "Yeah, I'm good, just distance and elevation right?"
There was a bit more to the process than that, but Jack figured he could do the calculations himself if needed, he knew for a fact Mac; if given the information, would be the best damn spotter the Army had ever seen but keeping the kid as far from being the one to call the actual shot was the goal here.
"Yep, you got it." Jack clapped him on the back. "I got a few things to take care of over at Intel, grab Coop or Pete to give you a hand when you go stock your kit."
Mac looked a bit embarrassed, "Yeah, sorry about that, I didn't think those supply guys would take me seriously."
"Dude, this ain't EOD, when Delta asks for six hundred pounds of explosives... we get..."
"Six hundred pounds" Mac said in unison with Jack, smiling.
0-0-0
Coop gave Mac a friendly shove as they walked to supply. "So, baby brother, how many pounds you gonna ask for this time?"
Mac, usually didn't like people referring to his young appearance but when the person that calls you baby brother is over six feet and pure muscle and could kill you with his pinkey, one tended to ignore any ill feelings. Coop used the label as a genuine monicker and Mac took no offence.
Mac took a deep breath, "Oh, I don't know Coop, based on what Jack said, if we come across a large cache, I figure a couple hundred pounds ought to be good."
Coop stopped, placing his hand on Mac's shoulder, he looked down at the younger man. "You do realize we're essentially climbing up a mountain on foot right?"
Mac held the man's serious gaze for as long as he could before he couldn't take it any longer. His face broke into a grin and he laughed, giving the much larger man a slap on the shoulder as he started walking. "Relax Coop, I'm just messing with you man." Cooper visibly relaxed and smiled wide.
"I figure I'll take fifty, that should be good for just about anything we come across, and I can carry that." Mac shrugged, eliciting a snort from his traveling companion.
The two friends continued their trek in silence for a few minutes, Mac replaying the briefing in his head. "Hey Coop, what's the deal with Briggs?"
Mac watched as the large man's shoulders bunched and his stride became less stroll and more steam roller. "That piece of shit is lucky he's not dead, ole Jack has way more control than I do, that's for damn sure."
Mac was used to the guys in Jack's unit making idle threats about who'd they like to kill or beat the crap out of when something pissed them off, but he knew they'd never actually follow through.
By the tenseness of Coop's body and the look in his eye, he wasn't sure that rang true in this case. Mac decided that whoever this Briggs guy was, he should be very nervous around Jack's bunch. "What'd he do?"
Coops hands became animated as he spoke. "We all entered selection at the same time, they paired us up based on prior service, you know deployments, all that jazz." He waved. "Anyway, we're doing hand to hand and Jack's got Briggs as an opponent." Coop looked at Mac and smiled. "Now, if you've ever had the chance to spar with the boss, you know there's no quit in him, he doesn't fight fair and he is a scrappy s.o.b."
Mac gave a short laugh, he'd never heard Jack described as scrappy, that was usually the way people described him, but it made sense coming from someone Cooper 's size.
"So, the boss, kicked Briggs' ass but Briggs cried foul, said Jack did something that shouldn't be allowed." Coop shook his head, "The instructors released him right there on the spot." He snapped his fingers. "Said they didn't need anybody that couldn't adapt, and when it came to fightin, there were no rules."
Mac knew the selection process just to enter the training program had a high attrition rate but he was still surprised.
None of the guys, including Jack would ever talk about what they had to do for selection or the actual training. Apparently it was some kind of unwritten rule, that the men who actually made it into the unit never talked about the process, so even this vague bit of information was equivalent to a Delta biography.
"So, fast forward a bit in time and we're all out celebrating." Coop chugged an invisible beer. "Jack wanted to go out and use the pay phone, call his dad, you know, to let him know we made it. Anyways, hour or so goes by and no Jack." He shrugged his shoulders. "Me an Box went out to get him off the phone. The place we were at was called Slappy's, little dive bar down by the river." Coop held his hands out and mimed the description of the place. "They had this walkway going over an old bike trail about fifteen feet below, that's where we found the boss, out cold."
Mac's brow furrowed not quite following what Coop was trying to say.
"Come to find out, Jack never even made it across the walkway. When he woke up, he said Briggs was standing on the other side when he went out. Next thing he knew, something hit him in the back of the head and over the rail he went." Coop clapped his hands together making a loud crack.
Mac sucked in a breath. "How is Briggs still in the Army? He should be in prison for attempted murder!" Mac felt his blood pressure rise. "Jack could have been killed!"
"That's what we said, but Jack said Briggs wasn't the one that hit him, he didn't know who did. Briggs said it could have been anybody, that as soon as he saw Jack was at the bar, he had left."
Mac harrumphed, "What'd Jack do?"
Coop became animated again, "Wasn't nothin to do, we hauled his ass to a doc in the box, got his head stitched up and some x-rays, told the doc we were bouncers and paid cash."
Mac was confused, "Why didn't you just take him to the ER?"
Coop laughed, "You've met our fearless leader right? We were due to be shipped out a week later, Jack didn't want to get knocked out of the rotation. Dude went on our first op with a busted damn shoulder and a couple a cracked ribs, tough bastard, that one."
Coop opened the door to the supply shed and winked at Mac. "Don't ever tell him I said that, everybody knows I'm the toughest badass on the face of the planet."
0-0-0
The insertion went off without a hitch Jack and his foursome were making good time to the rendezvous with Saber, keeping the man in front in sight but at a distance. "Wouldn't do any good for Uncle Sam to send us out after spending all that time to train us if we just bunched up and got ourselves blown all to hell in one shot, now would it?" Mac had heard Jack explain to someone once while on another op.
Jack and Pete had been taking turns leading, always leaving Mac in the middle with Duncan behind him and Coop bringing up the rear.
Jack's voice over the coms broke the silence. "Hold up here, we should be gettin close to Saber, Coop, switch freqs, everybody else stay on our coms. I'm going up ahead, move out in ten."
Mac sat down, resting his pack on the uphill side of the mountain trail they were on. True to his word, Mac was carrying the fifty pounds of explosives he and Coop had procured, plus the weight of his normal gear. All told, his pack was heavy and he could use the break. Mac looked to his left and right, and watched as Pete, Duncan and Cooper silently spread out, each moving to a different vantage point, rifles up scanning the area.
Mac had been confident in his abilities as part of EOD, but watching Jack and his men "do their thang" as Duncan had described it, sometimes made him feel like the odd man out. He pulled a piece of wire out of his pocket, twirling it between his fingers. Jack and his men had been accepting of him at first, for what he was, just another resource they had at their disposal provided by good ole Uncle Sam is how Jack had described him. It wasn't until after their third operation together that the close knit group really warmed up to him. Mac smiled, at the memory, or rather the feeling of acceptance he'd felt at the time.
Of course, being adopted as the team's baby brother as Cooper had put it had it's disadvantages too. Privacy, was not in their vocabulary and they could turn even the most mundane activity like going to breakfast at the mess into some form of covert op.
He had been adopted into what could best be described as the craziest, most overprotective bunch of older brothers, whose idea of personal space and privacy meant nothing.
Jack was the worst of the bunch. Absolutely nothing, short of water boarding would deter the man from prying whatever he wanted from Mac when the team leader thought something might be bothering him.
His musing were interrupted by Coop's transmission. "Alright kids, time to get movin, boss made contact with Saber, got another two clicks until we join up."
Mac hefted his pack, adjusting the straps as he moved forward.
0-0-0
Twenty minutes later, they caught up with Jack. "Hey boss, what are we looking at here?" Duncan transmitted.
"Reaper, form up on me," Jack responded.
Once the group was together, Jack squatted, Mac and company followed suit. "Alright, so, Saber is pretty well bunched up along the trail, I want you guys to start spreading them out, get em squared away, sounds like we got a ways to go. Coop you're still in the rear, keep anybody from coming in the back door. Dunc, Pete, you two keep in touch but get this rear element spread so we don't look like a God damned parade. Mac, you're with me, I'm gonna work my way up the line and do a face to face with Saber actual." Jack stood adjusting the strap of the sniper rifle slung on his back.
Cooper leaned into Jack's side speaking quietly in his ear. "You good with Briggs?"
"Haven't met up with Saber actual yet." Jack said, using the official op name for Briggs wasn't really an answer but he left it at that.
"Let's get movin, got a ways to go." He turned and headed up the trail.
Mac followed Jack as they headed up the line, in search of Briggs. Jack pulled Mac up after they'd gone a fair distance. "Mac, I'm gonna head up a ways pretty quick, just keep moving up the line and get any bunched ANA guys to spread out, you know the drill."
"No problem, got it."
"Stay on our freq I won't be far away," Jack whispered, patting him on the back.
Mac moved up the trail, moving the soldiers like chess pieces. He, like the rest of the Delta men had memorized the terrain map they were given, so he had a good idea of where they were at in relation to other landmarks Jack had picked as possible ambush sites. Based on that information, He'd positioned the moving column as best he could as he kept moving forward.
They'd been following the route for what seemed like hours, when Jack's voice came over the radio. "Reaper, Reaper, Saber's gonna take ten, set security."
Mac moved off the trail a few feet and sat against the hillside and took a drink from his camelback.
He flipped the night vision up on his helmet, letting his eyes adjust. When they did, he looked at the stars as they faded into the purple hues of the early morning sky. Mac let his mind wander back to when his grandfather would take him camping and he'd spend hours just looking up at the stars. When he heard movement coming from up the trail, he looked to the soldier behind him to see if he'd heard it too, but the soldier seemed more interested in eating his protein bar than he was on security.
Looking to his right, where the noise had come from, Mac put his hand on a softball sized rock, ready to throw it at whatever was coming up the trail when he heard Jack's whisper. "It's me, don't even think about throwin that thing at my noggin."
Mac relaxed, and glanced at the rock as he let it lay. His brow crinkled, "How'd you..." he stopped his question when Jack stood next to him and lifted his night vision. Jack reached over and tapped Mac's monocular flipped up on his helmet. "Might want to keep these things on a bit longer next time. Don't want you going all Nolan Ryan on these guys," Jack smiled.
Another soldier was standing behind Jack. He looked to be about Jack's age and was a bit bigger than Jack. Like Jack, he had career soldier written all over him.
Jack turned to the man. "Briggs, Mac."Jack waved a hand at Mac. "Mac, Briggs." Mac stood, wiping his hands on his pants when Briggs offered his hand at the introduction, albeit not the most friendliest offering, as it came with a glare.
Jack smiled. Never let it be said Mac didn't have good instincts. Most of the crowd Jack ran with never shook hands, the courtesy head nod as they sized up the other person was more the norm.
It wasn't that he and his crew didn't have manners, so much so that it was trained out of them. Offering a hand was offering a potential enemy leverage.
When Mac didn't take the offered hand, Briggs let it drop to his side.
"Mac here got tasked to our unit from EOD, dude knows his stuff." Jack said proudly.
Briggs looked him up and down, something Mac had been accustomed to when he first arrived but he'd forgotten what it felt like since he'd been with Jack's unit for a while.
"Doesn't the Army train dogs to sniff out explosives?" Briggs sneered.
Jack sent a glare at Briggs before turning to Mac and thumbed over his shoulder at the man. "Don't worry about Briggs here Mac, he's just sore he washed out of the unit selection process." Jack fired back.
Briggs' eyes narrowed. "Where'd they find you kid? Some high school around here I don't know about?"
"The name's MacGyver and I'm no damn kid," Mac snapped back.
"You got yourself one young pup of a mutt there Jack, didn't know Delta lowered their standards." Briggs crossed his arms and lifted his chin. "No wonder you made it in, nothin but a bunch of cowboys and kids."
Jack turned to face Briggs, feet spread and arms at his sides as if he were getting ready for an old west gunfight.
Mac's fists clenched and he stepped forward. He was stopped by Jack's outstretched arm. Jack shot Mac a warning look which made the young man stop in mid stride.
After spending time with Jack and the rest of his unit, Mac had started to take on some of the more self assured traits of the group. One being never back down from a fight and protect your own. Problem was, there was a time and a place for everything. Standing on the side of a mountain in enemy territory was neither.
Jack, growing tired of the conversation, shook his head, "You ever get tired of hearing yourself talk Briggs? Break time's over, we need to move."
Jack turned, planning on heading back up the trail to check on his men.
Briggs, not wanting to let Jack get the last word, glared at Mac, "You're mama know you're out here playing soldier, boy?"
Mac had told Jack that he'd lost his mother at a young age and as soon as Jack had heard the insult, he spun around and grabbed the advancing Mac by the back of his vest. In one swift move, Jack shoved Mack behind him and was standing toe to toe with Briggs.
Briggs for all his bravado had been through extensive training just to be considered for unit selection, stood his ground.
Jack was seething, he'd like nothing more than to kick Briggs and his bunch back down the hill but orders were orders and no matter how much he loathed the man, they needed the force strength.
Jack lowered his voice to a menacing level. "It takes a man to disarm a bomb, Briggs. Last I checked you don't know shit about explosives, so if I were you I'd shut that pie hole and get your ass up the damn trail before I forget who's side your on. We'll settle this back at the base... unless you wanna get one of your buddies to do your fightin for ya, that's more your style ain't it?"
Briggs turned his head to the side and spat in the dirt. "Whatever you say Dalton," he pointed at Mac. "You just make sure your new pet stays outa my way." He turned and started up the hill.
Jack shouldered past Mac, still trying to get his temper under control.
''Jack, I don't need..." Mac didn't get to finish as Jack whirled on him, grabbing him by the front of the vest and pulling him in close.
"You stay away from him Mac, I don't have time for his bullshit and I sure as hell don't have time to..." Jack never got to finish as a high pitched whistle sounded followed by an explosion sent rocks and debris raining down from above and to the right.
"Contact! Mortar!" Someone yelled. Jack let go of Mac's vest, "You stay on my six!" Jack brought his rifle up and started to run up the hill toward what little cover the rocks would provide.
"Any body got eyes on?" Jack huffed over the radio, legs churning as he and Mac scrambled up the steep slope.
A round of "negatives" were relayed by Jack's men based on their location.
Another round exploded, this time closer to the trail where Mac and Jack had been seconds ago.
The sound of return fire filled the air. Jack dropped to his knees, sliding to a stop behind a basketball sized boulder, he unslung the sniper rifle and shoved his M4 to his back.
Jack felt Mac hit the dirt on the uphill side just behind him. Flipping up the scope caps, He shouldered the rifle. Jack glanced at Mac before turning and looking through the scope. Mac was lying flat peering through binoculars, scanning the country side.
Jack didn't take his eye off the scope to order, "Keep your damn head down, Mac."
Reaching down, he keyed his radio. "Briggs, what the fuck are you guys shooting at? You got eyes on?"
"Negative, but it's got to be coming from over on the other side of the canyon." Came the reply.
"Cease fire dammit, you're giving away your position," Jack let go of the mic and settled behind the rifle.
"Got em'" Mac reported a moment later. "Two o'clock, on the other side of the canyon."
Jack adjusted his position, kicking his legs out to lay parallel to the hillside.
"Got another one, ten o'clock, saw the flash," Mac kept scanning for more threats.
"Dunc, you and Pete get your asses up here, the kid's got eyes on," Jack paused and keyed the mic again, "Coop, get on the horn and see if we got any air support close by."
Jack couldn't hear the acknowledgment as two mortars exploded causing Mac to duck and Jack to curse as more small rocks rained down on them.
Jack looked up to see where the rounds had hit. "They're walking them in Briggs, move your ass up the damn trail, Mac thinks he's got a bead on em at my two and ten o'clock."
"We've got good cover here." Briggs answered.
"Move up the fucking trail, we've got security." Jack yelled.
When he didn't get a reply, Jack changed to the Saber frequency. "Saber, Saber, this is Reaper actual, get your asses moving up the trail, they're walking the rounds in on your position." Having done what he could for the ANA's of Saber, Jack switched back to the Reaper frequency.
"Mac, how far up the hill for two o'clock?" Jack settled his cheek against the pad on the rifle, scanning the area for distinguishing landmarks.
Mac didn't drop the binoculars to answer, instead he propped himself up higher on his elbows. "They're uh, about halfway up the mountain."
Jack heard him move and looked back. "Dude, keep your damn head down. In fact, get your ass up here, so I can keep an eye on you and you don't have to shout. I can't hear shit right now anyway."
"Coop, any word on air?"
"Negative, these canyon walls are blocking the signal," came Cooper's reply.
Mac scrambled across the loose rock and stopped so he was even with Jack's right side.
Jack smiled at him, "Alright, gimme some landmarks."
"Reaper One, this is two, where you lookin?" Duncan asked.
"My ten o'clock Dunc, Mac'll get you on track, stand by one mike," Jack took a breath. "Coop, get up on high ground and see if you can get us some damn support, they've boxed us in."
"Already on it Boss."
Mac knew from past missions that when Jack asked for information, sometimes other priorities got put in front of the request so he waited his turn until he could finally get a word in. "Jack, you see the cluster of trees just below that big pointed rock outcropping?"
"Yeah, got it."
"The flash I saw was about fifty feet above that." Mac watched Jack make a slight adjustment.
"Range?"
Mac looked through the binoculars and dropped them, squinting to pick out the distant landmarks. "Thirteen hundred and seventeen meters, I'd guess."
Jack looked sideways at Mac. "That's a guess?" He reached up and adjusted the scope.
"Well, with the shadows and the angle of the sun behind the mountain, accounting for the..."
"How about we just go with thirteen hundred and call it good," Jack interrupted.
"Elevation? And just ballpark it will ya, you know, whole numbers." Jack smiled behind the rifle.
Mac mentally calculated the elevation between their position and where he'd seen the flash. "Two hundred meters."
Jack adjusted the scope and settled in again. Ten seconds later, "On em."
Mac was looking through the binoculars at the position he'd picked but he couldn't see in as fine a detail through the binoculars as Jack could through his scope. When Jack fired, the report of the rifle startled Mac, even though he knew it was coming.
He'd lost the location briefly and was trying to find it when Jack reported, "One down at two o'clock."
Mac knew he was looking in the right spot as soon as he saw a body tumbling down the mountainside. He turned his head to the side, closing his eyes to try and erase the image from his mind.
"Mac, get Pete lined up on the second mortar before the bad guys get lined up on us." Jack was still on the target and fired another round. Three seconds later, he keyed the mic. "Two down, two o'clock."
Mac didn't bother looking this time, he would take Jack's word for it.
Mac cleared his throat and looked down the hill to where Dunc and Pete were at. He keyed his own radio. "Pete, twelve hundred meters your nine o'clock, about two hundred fifty elevation." Mac relayed to the spotter.
"Got more guys moving down to my two," Jack followed the men, anticipating their route down to the mortar site and lining up a shot.
Pete's voice came over the radio, "On target." Mac raised up on his elbows to look over Jack's back at the ten o clock target. Instead of hearing the report of Duncan's rifle, Duncan transmitted, "Shit, Incoming!"
Jack felt Mac move against him, abandoning the shot he was lining up, when he heard the whistle. Rolling to his left side, he reached up with his right arm and grabbed Mac around the shoulders pulling him in as if he was tucking a football. "Down!"
The shell Duncan had seen fired exploded less than fifty feet away, the shockwave, shrapnel and debris hitting the pair like a freight train.
Mac couldn't breathe, his face was still firmly buried under Jack's shoulder.
When he tried to squirm out from under Jack, he felt Jack's grip tighten and a sharp burning pain in his right leg.
Mac could hear, or more accurately, feel Jack yelling, as the older man's grip got tighter as he tried to curl in on himself, something sharp scraping his neck every time Jack moved.
"Jack! Let go!" Mac tried to reach up with his left hand to shove Jack's arm off of him and push himself up at the same time.
As his hearing started to come back, he could hear Jack's pain filled grunts mixed with a litany of curses between breaths.
"Jack, dammit! Let go! I can't breathe!" Mac continued to struggle out of the hold.
Jack's grip loosened, allowing Mac to squirm out from under the man.
Jack rolled onto his back, eyes squeezed shut, left hand reaching up to the radio mic. "Dunc, take that fucker out before he hits us again." Jack's words coming between short clipped breaths.
Mac lay on his stomach, bending to the right to get a look at his leg. He reached down to his thigh and could feel the sharp edge of the piece of shrapnel sticking out of his pant leg.
He turned back to look at Jack, his eyes widened when he saw Jack supporting his right hand with his left, a piece of metal sticking through his wrist. "Jack? You ok?"
"Son of a bitch!" Jack took several deep breaths and grabbed the metal shard.
"Wait! Don't pull..." Mac didn't get to finish before Jack pulled the shard out.
Jack's face went pale, cradling his hand against his chest. He rolled over, coming up on his elbow. "You alright?" He asked swallowing hard.
"Yeah, got hit in the leg, you need to let me..." Mac didn't get to finish as Jack scrambled on top of him, patting him down, looking for wounds.
"Ow!, dammit Jack, get off of me! It's minor." Mac squirmed, trying to get away from Jack's rapid assessment.
"You call this..." Jack pulled the quarter sized piece of metal from Mac's thigh, causing him to yell, "minor?" Jack rolled off of Mac, hand still cradled against his chest.
"One down at ten," Jack heard Pete call out. "Pete, Dunc, stay on em, we're movin."
"Come on Mac, we gotta move before they hit us again," Jack nodded at his rifle, grab that for me will ya?" Jack reached forward and put the safety on before shoving himself to his knees.
Mac grabbed the rifle as Jack stood offering his left hand to help Mac up to his feet.
Mac took the offered hand, and pulled himself up.
Jack offered his shoulder but Mac waved him off. "I'm good, we need to bandage your wrist."
"It can wait, come on, we gotta move." Jack shoved Mac in front of him, and steered him in the direction he wanted to go.
Mac was frantically trying to pull out his med kit one handed while holding Jack's rifle as they moved across the mountain.
Jack keyed his mic, "Coop, you got coms yet?"
"Negative, moving to higher ground, you guys ok? That was a close one."
"Affirm, lemme know when you get something."
The sound of steady gunfire in the distance up ahead of them filled the air.
"Shit! Sounds like Saber is in the mix, keep goin Mac, we gotta get up there, gimme the rifle." He held his hand out, the blood from his wrist had slowed, so he took that as a good sign.
Mac frowned and gave Jack a stern look. "You need to wrap that." He handed Jack the rifle and gave him an "I told you so" look as the older man sucked air through his teeth.
"You first, didn't look too deep but that leg will get infected if you don't." Jack stepped past Mac and kneeled, setting the rifle down.
Mac walked up behind Jack with a bandage in his hand. "Jack, I'm serious..."
Jack waved him off and began to talk on the radio, ignoring Mac.
"Saber, Saber, this is Reaper actual, sit rep?"
"Contact, small arms, they're dug in, across the canyon, we need some air support."
"Copy, Reaper coms is working on it, coming up on your six, we're taking the high ground, tell your guys not to shoot us."
Mac shook his head and sat down, unwrapping the bandage. He grabbed Jack's right arm and yanked it toward his lap. "You're going to go up there and you're going to tell me to stay back. I can wrap my leg then."
Jack grit his teeth and shook his head. "Fine, but leave my fingers free, will ya."
Mac looked at the wound, the edges were jagged, the bright white of tendons contrasting with the blood and skin. "This looks bad, can you move your fingers?" Mac looked up, worried.
Jack's eyes squeezed shut, his jaw clenched as he squeezed his hand shut, slowly cracking one eye open to see if in fact his hand had closed.
Once he realized it mostly did, he opened both eyes and gave Mac a lopsided grin. "See, still works, now hurry up."
Mac started to wrap the wound, trying not only stop the bleeding but to provide support to the joint as well, he suspected there were probably a few broken bones.
"Can you open your hand?" He was still concerned, he knew there was no way the metal shard hadn't done some damage to important structures, it was a mathematical improbability.
Jack sighed, "Dude, just wrap it." Jack turned and keyed his mic. "Reaper one, sit rep?"
"Mortars are down, Reaper one is Oscar Mike, bringing up the rear." Pete transmitted.
Jack keyed his radio, "Saber, Reaper is bringing up the rear, mortars are down, still working on air, how copy?"
"Saber, good copy," Came the reply.
"Coming up on your six, what's the situation?" Pete transmitted.
"Saber's got contact, small arms so far but they've got position on Saber it sounds like. When you get up here, we're gonna set up above Saber, see if we can't help em' out a bit, how copy?"
"Good copy, see you in a few."
Mac finished the bandage on Jack's wrist, satisfied he'd done the best he could to provide some stabilization to the joint. "That's the best I can do."
"Thanks man, now, take care of that leg, Dunc and Pete are coming then we're movin." Jack inspected the bandage and tried to open his hand. His pinky and ring finger didn't straighten out all the way and his wrist was on fire but Jack was satisfied he could still pull a trigger.
"Coop, sit rep."
Cooper had been running up to the ridge line since the first mortar had hit, "Just about to the O.P. site, got coms but they're a bit spotty." Coop reported breathlessly.
"Copy, get together with Saber actual, see what he needs for air support." Jack stood looking down at Mac.
Mac had pulled his pants down to get at the wound and was sitting in his underwear on the side of a mountain with gunfire off in the distance. Jack's brow crinkled, "you uh, couldn't just bandage over your pants? Had to drop trou in the middle of all this?" Jack waved at the hillside.
Mac looked up, embarrassed. "The bandage won't stay if I put it over my pants." He explained.
Jack cocked his head to the side and scowled. He reached his hand out and pushed Mac's chin up inspecting his neck. "You got some cuts on your neck, don't look too deep but we need to cover em with some antiseptic."
Mac reached up to his neck to feel the cuts and Jack slapped his hand away. "Dude, leave it, your hands are filthy."
Mac looked at his hands, his fingers were covered in dirt and dried blood. "I guess your right, I'll take care of it when we stop again."
"Reaper, air is coming in, eta five mins, cover your ears, got a big boy comin." Cooper transmitted.
"Nice job Coop, we're movin." Jack reached down and picked up the sniper rifle, slinging it over his shoulder.
He grinned as he saw Dunc and Pete coming up the hill. "Nice work boys."
"Thanks Boss," Pete smiled.
Duncan laughed, "Mac, what the hell are you doing? Taking a shit?"
Mac jumped up hastily pulling his pants up and fastening his belt.
"Kid got hit in the leg," Jack pointed at Mac.
"Shit, you ok?" Duncan asked walking up to Mac. He circled him inspecting every square inch. "Looks like more than your leg there Mac, your pack's got quite a few holes in it."
At that, Jack's head snapped up. "Get your pack off now, Pete check him out." Jack rapid fired.
Mac was fastening his belt and looked over his shoulder trying to inspect his pack. Before he could say anything, he had two very task oriented Delta Operators stripping him of his gear.
"Coop, get CAS evac in the air." Jack ordered, walking in front of Mac, he shoved the M4 to his back and reached out, undoing the front of Mac's vest, the pain in his wrist forgotten.
"Got em in the air already, Saber has one non surgical to evac. Should I tell them they have another patient?" Cooper's concern was evident even over the radio.
"Guys, I'm fine, and I can undress myself, this isn't necessary." Mac tried to turn around and face them only to be shoved back so they were standing behind him.
"Got blood." Pete lifted Mac's shirt up, "found it," he lifted the shirt over Mac's head, Duncan finished pulling it off before Mac could help.
Mac tried to turn to see what they were talking about, the sudden movement with no weight on his back let him know they weren't messing with him.
"How bad?" Jack asked kneeling down and bringing the M4 up to look through the optics, scanning the other side of the canyon.
Jack could make out muzzle flashes but couldn't see the people. The optics on the M4 weren't as powerful as the scope on the sniper rifle.
"He's gotta go Jack, I can't see how deep but we've got a decent hole here, don't want to go pokin around, could have hit a kidney." Pete answered just as the other side of the canyon was bombarded by a series of explosions. Causing the group to involuntarily duck, the noise enhanced by the canyon walls.
Jack stood and faced the group. "Alright, Pete, you get him up to the O.P., Coop's got a bird comin, let him know what we've got. Dunc you and I are gonna head up above Saber just in case those bombs didn't do the trick."
Mac hadn't said a word, through the entire process. He knew when these guys made up their mind, especially when it came to his well being, he had no say. Couple that with the fact he was starting to feel a little light headed, he couldn't argue.
"When you get up there, give Coop Mac's pack. If Saber finds anything, we're just gonna blow it in place." Jack rested his right arm on his rifle.
"What about you boss?" Duncan pointed at the bandage and blood covered sleeve.
Jack held up his hand and moved his trigger finger. "I can still shoot."
Pete had finished wrapping a bandage around Mac's waist and handed him his shirt as he walked toward Jack. "What happened?"
"Got hit with a little shrapnel." Jack took a step back as Pete reached out to grab Jack's hand. "It's fine, Mac patched it up, we gotta get movin."
Mac reached into his pocket and pulled out the metal shard he'd picked up after Jack had dropped it. "Pete, this is what went all the way through Jack's wrist. I saw tendons and would bet based on the location, his wrist is broken."
"You kept it?" Jack pinned Mac with a glare.
"Yeah, I kept it for proof, so the docs could see exactly what was sticking out of your wrist, instead of whatever your version was going to be." Mac stood his ground.
Pete shook his head, "I swear, you two are the most stubborn, uncooperative, thick headed... Pete keyed his mic. "Coop, let the medics know they've got two more comin, one surgical, non-critical, wrist injury and one surgical unknown penetrating trauma to the right flank."
Jack was in a sour mood, when it came to decisions and orders, he was in charge of everything. Everything except medical. Pete, the team's medic outranked him on that front.
"Copy, you coming to the O.P? Or do I need to give them a different L.Z.?"
Jack walked off a few feet away from Pete so their radios wouldn't interfere with each other. "Saber actual, this is Reaper actual, how copy?"
"Loud and clear, go for Saber actual."
"I've got two wounded, we're gonna evac, we're going to rally at the L.Z. The rest of Reaper will remain, Cooper is now Reaper actual, we're not going to eval any ordinance you find, it's getting blown in place, my EOD is down."
"Understood, I will see you back on base, we have some business, Saber out." Briggs' message was received loud and clear by the group.
"What an asshole, he knows your hurt so he decides to throw a challenge out now. What a pussy, you want us to kick his ass for ya boss?" Duncan cracked his knuckles.
"Just leave Briggs to me, I don't want any of you to tangle with him, he's mine." Jack started up the trail, "Let's get a move on, Dunc watch our six."
Mac concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other while they made their way up the side of the mountain. His leg was starting to hurt and the dizziness he felt earlier was getting worse.
Noticing the limp and the slightly wandering gate, Pete walked up to Mac and placed a hand on his forehead. "Jack, we gotta stop for a sec." Mac slapped Pete's hand away. "I'm fine, just thirsty is all."
"What's up," Jack slid to a stop in front of the pair. "How ya doin Mac?"
Pete dropped his pack and pulled out an I.V. "Gonna give you some fluids, you can hold the bag while we move but you need to tell me if anything changes ok?"
Mac held out his hand for Pete. "Yeah, ok, I'm fine Jack, just a little dehydrated is all."
Jack looked him in the eye, trying to determine if he was telling the truth or just trying to tough it out. "Alright, kid, we got about another ten minutes of uphill, you let us know if you need a break."
Mac opened his mouth to speak but was cut off as Jack held up his bandaged hand in an attempt to point, when it didn't work, he dropped it. "I mean it Mac, we don't need you passing out or something on the side of this damn mountain. Last thing I want to do is have to carry your skinny ass up from the bottom of the canyon."
"Alright Mac, you're all set." Pete handed him the flowing I.V. bag. "That should last until we get to the L.Z."
0-0-0
When they landed at the base, the medical staff met the helicopter with a gurney and a wheelchair. Jack stepped out and stood to the side much to the chagrin of the Air Force PJ. Having already let one patient escape, he was bound to keep his hands on the other.
Mac sat up and started to head for the door of the copter. "No you don't sir, please stay here until I can get you situated."
Mac held up a hand, "Look, I'm fine, I can get out on my own, I don't need any help."
The PJ threw his hands up in frustration. The entire flight had gone pretty much the same way. He wondered if the two men secretly had some type of bet going to see who could out do the other when it came to denying how serious their injuries were. "Fine! You God damned Army guys can walk yourselves all the fuckin way home for all I care!"
Jack poked his head in the door and laughed, "Mac, didn't I tell you to play nice with the Air Force," Jack slapped the floor of the copter with his left hand, "Come on out now, these nice people have gone to all the trouble to bring you a gurney."
Mac rolled his eyes, "I told you..."
Jack shook his head, "You're fine, right, we got it." Jack straightened his back, pinning Mac with a laser stare. "Now get your ass out of the chopper and onto the gurney or so help me, I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you in!"
Mac got out of the chopper and sat defiantly on the gurney, arms folded and feet crossed.
He knew better than to test Jack's resolve. The man didn't make idle threats when it came to Mac's health and right now, he was in full "I'm in charge don't mess with me" mode, as evidenced by the "I'm not getting in that thing and if you try to make me, you're gonna find out just how not injured I am, do I make myself clear soldier?" Mac heard as he was being wheeled away.
0-0-0
Jack walked down the hallway, looking in each room checking the occupants, moving room to room until he found his target. Ducking into the room, Jack smiled, "Hey man, how ya feeling?"
Mac propped himself up on his elbows taking in Jack's appearance. "I'm fine, you?, I see you skipped the part where you were supposed to get that looked at." He nodded at Jack's wrist.
Jack put his hand behind his back, "If your fine, then how come you got all these little bags of..." Jack leaned forward and squinted, trying to make out the words on the I.V. bags, "whatever this stuff is dripping into your arm?"
"Mac sighed and started fiddling with the edge of his sheet. "Antibiotics, doc said it wasn't shrapnel that hit my back, it was a piece of rock, they're worried about infection."
Mac looked up at Jack, the older man smiled, he propped himself up on the edge of the bed and patted Mac on the calf. "Hey, don't worry about it, you'll be outa here in no time." Jack tried to reassure the kid.
When they were all geared up, watching Mac do his thing, he just seemed older. Now that he was cleaned up and wearing the loose fitting hospital gown, he looked younger than his twenty plus years.
"Yeah, I know it's just, it's too quiet here, you know?" Mack started fiddling with the sheet again as another helicopter lifted off from the helipad.
Jack snorted, "You call this quiet?" He pointed at the ceiling.
"No, well, I mean, maybe quiet wasn't the right word, it's... boring." Mac dropped the sheet and pushed his head back into the pillow with an audible sigh.
Jack jumped up off the bed and started for the door. Mac looked up, brow wrinkled.
Jack held up a hand, "Don't go anywhere, be right back."
Mac held up the hand with the I.V. waved the other over his bed. "Not going anywhere Jack." As Jack disappeared into the hallway.
Fifteen minutes later, Mac heard someone down the hall yelling "Slow down!" He smiled when he heard Jack yell "Sorry, priority mission for the general, look out! Comin through!"
Jack skidded to a stop at Mac's door. Quickly stepping inside he closed the door, setting a large box on the floor on the other side of the bed. He rummaged through the cabinets, "ow, ow, ow, dammit, aha!" Jack turned around and held the hospital scrubs.
"Jack? What the hell are you..." Mac's eyebrows raised. As Jack stripped off his sweaty t-shirt and donned the green shirt.
He held a finger to his lip, "Shhhhh."
Mac heard the sound of boots in the hallway, they were close. Jack grabbed a magazine out of the box, jumping into the chair, legs crossed and flipped the magazine open just as Mac's door opened and two very large, very angry looking MP's stepped in. Jack looked up from the magazine. "Fellas, what's up?"
"You see a guy running through here carrying a box?"
Jack shook his head, looking from Mac back to the MP's. "No, we had the door closed, heard somebody run by a minute or two ago, but didn't think anything of it. What'd he do?"
The MP's didn't answer as they turned and hurried down the hall.
Jack smiled and waggled the magazine. Mac pointed toward him. "You know, that's upside down."
Jack turned the magazine to look at the front and shrugged. He tossed the magazine on the chair as he reached forward, wheeling Mac's tray over and positioned it next to the bed. He reached down and brought the box up one handed and plopped it on the bed. "Thought you might want to work on this." Jack pulled the wire sculpture out and set it on Mac's tray.
"Jack how in the world did you? You were only gone for like fifteen minutes." Mac reached forward to touch the sculpture. "It takes at least thirty just to get to the ready room."
Jack reached back and grabbed the magazine off the chair and threw it in the box. "Got a whole stack of Popular Science magazines in here for ya too." He beamed as he reached into the large pants pocket on his thigh, pulling out a rolled up clear plastic bag and shook it out with a flourish. The bag was filled with Mac's collection of IED wires. "So, this ought to keep ya occupied for a while yeah?"
Mac felt the moisture building in his eyes and covered it by clearing his throat and giving Jack a stern look that was lost on the beaming Delta operator. "What'd you do and how did you get this stuff so fast?"
Jack backed up and plopped bonelessly in the chair. "Dude, don't look at me like that, in your current state, it's like getting hissed at by a kitten."
Mac rolled his eyes and looked expectantly at Jack. "I'll tell ya Mac, this AO is not a target rich environment for transportation, takes too long to requisition a Hummer, believe me I asked. That's where I got the magazines from." Mac picked up one of the magazines and glanced at the label then looked back at Jack.
"So, I'm plannin on running back to the shack to get your stuff and wouldn't you know, the Air Force boys were kind enough to leave their helicopter runnin on the pad."
Mac's eyes widened, "Jack you stole a helicopter!"
"Shhhhh, not so damn loud dude. And no, I did not steal it, more like borrowed," He grinned. "I left em a bottle of the good stuff on the front seat." Jack leaned back in the chair. "Wasn't easy flying that thing with this hand but I got it done without crashing."
Mac shook his head and started laughing. "You are crazy you know that right?" Mac wiped the corner of his eyes. "Thank you." He held up the sculpture, "For this, means a lot."
Jack leaned forward and patted Mac's leg quickly before pulling his hand back and cradling the injury. "Dammit."
"You really should go get that checked out, you know it's broken right?" Mac watched as Jack straightened carefully setting his hand on his thigh.
"Yeah, probably, but Boxer and Stoney are due back tomorrow. If Dunc, Coop and Pete aren't back by then, I figure we'll head out there and give em a hand."
Jack looked at his watch. "Speaking of which, they're supposed to check in pretty soon, I'm gonna head over to the TOC and monitor their coms." He stood up looking at the stuff he had procured and smiled.
Mac watched as Jack slowly opened the door and checked the hallway. "Let me know how their doing will you?"
"Will do, man, take care of yourself and don't give the nurses any crap." Jack winked and stepped out into the hallway only to stick his head back into room. "Rumor has it the base commander had some lobster flown in for his staff, whaddya say we have us a nice lobster dinner later, courtesy of the higher up's?" Jack winked before he disappeared down the hallway.
Mac laughed and shook his head. Everything is a covert op with this bunch... and they call me the kid, he thought. He lay back on the pillow and closed his eyes still smiling.
End
A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed this. I had fun writing it. If you've sent me a prompt, sorry I haven't gotten to it yet. My muse abandoned me there for a while. Hopefully I can catch it again. I might write a tag to this, after all, Brigg's needs to be put in his place I think. :-)
For those that are interested, the name of the wire sculpture Mac was making... yeah, that's a real thing. Don't ask me how to pronounce it, I just did a search for colorful scientific representations or something like that, but now that you have the name, check it out. It's kind of cool looking and I could see Mac making it. It's discovery doesn't fit the timeline but I took creative license on that one.
The coordinates Jack gives for the mission... Those are real. If you want to know where I planted the guys, look it up under the (MGRS) system. Also, there's a great report written by a former Lieutenant Colonel that discusses how our military names operations. He's a Navy guy but the report is on the Army war college site, it's entertaining. At least to me it is.
Until next time -Gib-