Jack's shoulders sagged with momentary relief with he was able to move his arms properly for the first time in hours. Then he tensed again as he started to think through the new set of obstacles between him and getting out of this situation. Namely that he now had to watch out for Mac, too.

Not that Jack had any illusions about having been able to free himself or escape on his own. He was pretty sure he couldn't have done that based on the how and the who of his captivity. But damned if he was going to fail as the kid's Overwatch now, just because Mac had had to come in here and save his ass.

"Not that I don't appreciate you goin' all Luke Skywalker to rescue me, here, kid," Jack drawled. "But didn't you hear me tell ya to stay the hell away?"

Mac grinned. "Course I did. But being the sensible man I am, I ignored you." He tipped his chin up at the ceiling. "Now, let's get out of here."

"Mac, I can't just leave that way."

Mac nodded, thinking he understood where Jack was going with this. "Everybody here will be fine. I called for some outside help. As soon as we're clear the alarm is gonna sound and bring the cavalry down on these guys."

Jack's face scrunched and Mac knew he'd somehow misunderstood. Jack looked up at the opening in the ceiling. "How much room did you have in there, kid?"

"Shit," was all Mac had for an answer. Jack was quite a bit bigger than he was, and naturally broader across the chest and shoulders.

"That about covers it, bud."

Mac had a couple of moments where he felt like a boxer between rounds, puffing breath through swollen cheeks, knowing the beating he was ultimately in for. "We're gonna be okay," he said. "We'll just head to the control room and meet up with Elliot."

"What the hell is your doc doin' at DXS right now?" Jack asked.

"His other job apparently," Mac said, trying the door and finding the electrical lock engaged. Predictably, the Swiss Army knife appeared and he started taking the control panel plate off to see what he could do about it. "I get the impression that Elliot is some kind of spook."

"Huh," Jack said, frowning at Mac's back. "What're you doin', kid?"

"I was gonna try to short circuit the control panel so we can get out of here."

Jack grinned and moved him aside. "Or the guy who works here could just punch in the code."

Mac chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, kinda forgot about that part."

Jack smirked. "You just got a little focused on the whole 'escape' part of this little adventure is all, there Houdini."

Mac grinned sheepishly. That was true, he supposed. It didn't feel like a building he'd been in and out of a hundred times right now. It felt hostile as hell and he wanted to get them both out. He was going to have to slow down and think though if he was so wound up he lost sight of the fact that Jack had the code.

Jack eased the door open a crack and turned to grin at Mac. "Empty hallway. Let's go."

They made it almost to the stairs before O'Neill's men swept the level again. Jack and Mac flattened themselves to the wall, barely breathing, and hoping like hell the guys would head up the west hallway first.

They got lucky and as soon as the men disappeared around the corner, they bolted for the door to the stairs. And if Mac hadn't come in through the drainage tunnels under the building, they probably would have gotten out of the interrogation and holding wing with no further trouble.

Unfortunately, his boots were still wet and when he increased his speed, the bottoms squeaked loudly on the polished tile. He and Jack shared a brief look. Mac's was almost panicked and Jack's was more of a 'what fresh hell is this' but it only lasted for a second because they heard O'Neill's men coming back fast and one of them was rapid firing information in incomprehensible Pashto, probably into a radio.

Their only choice was to run up the stairs.

"Where to?" Mac asked, hoping maybe there was some sort of secret passage or panic room or something they could head to. It's not like a bad guy getting l

"Main level. We'll sound the alarm and hope for the best, man."

A deafening shot rang out from below and a bullet glanced off the metal banister. Even with his ears ringing from the sound, Mac heard Jack swear and start lamenting his lack of ability to return fire at the moment.

They were between levels so they had to keep running up.

Another shot rang out.

This one hit the wall right next to Mac and he knew he gasped, but he still couldn't hear much of anything. They burst out of the next available door a few seconds later. Jack knew exactly where they were, but it was a part of the building Mac had never been in when he'd worked here.

Jack said something to him but Mac shook his head, indicating he couldn't really hear. Jack mouthed, "Armory," slowly and pointed.

Mac nodded. They made their way slowly down the hallway. Thinking under this kind of pressure was hard. Sure he disarmed bombs all the time in the Army, but, in a way, that was just solving a puzzle. It used the part of his brain he was comfortable with. He supposed training would make a difference. Right now he sort of wished he'd taken the job here when Thornton had offered it to him because it would mean he'd have had some training to deal with things like this.

Wishing he'd taken the job was followed by wishing he'd never heard of X-Com or DXS or the US Army, quite frankly, when the guys who'd been on their tails busted into the hallway, angry and with weapons drawn.

Mac again narrowly missed getting shot as he took off in the opposite direction of the terrorists. He didn't know this part of the building at all, but he ran the way Jack shoved him down a side hallway. It felt like all twenty of the guys Vis had gotten on the cameras were now on this floor and all chasing them.

One second Jack was right behind him, and the next he was alone in a dim hallway. Shit.

O'Neill's men were getting close. His ears were still ringing something awful but he could hear their shouts to each other as they cleared rooms, He ducked into the nearest room. There were too many damned windows into the hallway here. It looked like a conference room or something. He crouched down below the level of the windows, hoping to catch his breath and clear his head.

After a minute he almost slapped his forehead with the obviousness if the thought that occurred to him. He had no idea if Elliot would know things had gone south and sound the alarm or even if Elliot had evaded O'Neill's men. Vis might still have the cameras but she might not. The encryption programming was cyclic so her access could be in and out. But … Mac still had his cell.

He got out his phone and texted Miles and Elliot what was happening, asked them to get the alarm going. Miles texted back that he was on it. Mac was trying to decide if he should text Jay or maybe Nikki to see if they were here and if so where O'Neill was keeping hostages.

But he hesitated. If they weren't here he didn't want to freak anyone out and if they were he didn't want to draw attention to them if their ringers were on. He also needed to move before they cleared this room and he needed to find Jack. He wished his ears would stop ringing so he could hear properly. It would make staying ahead of these guys so much easier.

Mac was about to get back to his feet when he saw the shadow. He didn't even have time to make a sound before the cracking sound and the sharp pain behind his ear.

Then the world went dark.