Thank you to all that have reviewed! I'm still blown away by how nice you all have been and how much you like the story so far. Thank you to Lifeart for being my beta for this story, you are amazing! All remaining mistakes are mine. Here we go…
Sinclair pushed a rolling metal table into the room.
The table contained numerous devices of torture, among those items, Jack saw one particular device that made him sick to his stomach, the picana.
The picana is essentially a cattle prod powered by your average car battery, it delivers a very painful non-lethal shock and was made specifically to inflict pain on its victims in order to extract information. Jack was personally familiar with the device and it was bringing old memories to the surface he really wanted to stay buried.
Jack really hated electric shock.
His hatred and fear started well before his previous experience with the picana.
He would never forget a particular incident on his uncle's ranch in West Texas when he was a kid (a rare snow storm had drifted over the electric fence and young Jack straddled the fence, the snow acting as a conductor and shocking little Jack in a very
sensitive area. His uncle had found the whole thing quite humorous, Jack however had not.)
Jack was yanked back to the present when Alex roughly pulled a rag over Jack's face, covering his eyes, mouth, and nose, tying it tightly behind the former Delta's head.
Water boarding wasnt the worst kind of torture Jack could imagine, in fact he held a record at "The Farm" for holding his breath for three minutes and 21 seconds, during their training there, but it isn't just about holding your breath, when it comes to water boarding, when the water is poured over the persons face some of it is forced up their nose and that's where most people start to panic, the trick was to close off the nostrils internally as much as possible and slowly pull in air whenever you can, and don't panic if water does make its way in, which is easier said than done.
Shoving Jack backwards, his metal framed chair slamming against the concrete floor, Jack flexed his neck to protect his head from bouncing off the concrete.
The older agent took a few deep breaths to calm his rapid heart rate. Focusing on his breathing he felt the beats begin to slow.
Ice cold water splashed on his chest first, he quickly drew in a breath before the water saturated the rag on his face and made it nearly impossible to breathe.
The frigid water felt like hundreds of needles sticking in his skin.
The shock of the icy water made his heart rate increase, he had to concentrate to get it under control again.
Blocking out the sensation of the water trying to force its way up his nostrils, Jack pictured him and Mac relaxing by the fire pit, feet kicked up, and drinking a beer after another successful mission.
Mac felt like there was a vice squeezing his heart. This was bad. He had no idea how he could get Jack and himself out of this. He's never been waterboarded nor witnessed it happen to anyone. Now it was about to happen to his best friend and there wasn't anything he could do about it.
The longer Jack withstood the torture, the more pride swelled in his chest for his partner. He couldn't help but be impressed with the former Delta after a minute came and went with Jack seemingly unfazed.
Near the two minute mark, Sinclair became increasingly frustrated at the lack of "results" from Jack. "Why isn't it working?" Sinclair growled at Alex, who shrugged in reply.
Mac couldn't help the small grin that appeared on his face.
This enraged Sinclair further and he charged forward and violently stomped down on Jack's chest and followed up with a vicious kick to his lower right side.
Jack could just make out the rumble of someone speaking over the sound of the water rushing over the cloth and his face, before he felt something come down on his chest hard, which instantly forced all the air out of his lungs, like a very deep and involuntary cough. Jack writhed in obvious pain and any air his partner had was forced out in a garbled whine.
"You son of a bitch!" Mac yelled.
The pain in his rib cage and side was quickly replaced with the need for a breath.
His grip tightened on the ends of the wooden arm rests bolted to the chair, the instinct was to immediately suck in the breath that was lost. He jerked his head to the side to try and find some air, but the saturated cloth only allowed water in. He tried to force the water back through the cloth but had next to no air left in his lungs to do so. He shook his head from side to side and pushed as much out as he could and desperately tried to pull in more air.
He sucked in a partial breath greedily and choked slightly when the water hit his airway. He managed a small cough and shook his head from side to side again hunting for another gulp of much needed air. He sucked in more water and choked again.
Jack! He heard his partner calling for him with worry thick in his tone.
His heart was pounding in his ears and getting louder.
The water, coming in a steady stream from the hose, unrelenting in its assault. Jack tossed his head from side to side trying to escape the stream long enough to pull in more life sustaining air.
"Jack!" Mac called, watching helplessly as his partner fought for air. Worry for his friend and anger towards their captor growing by the second.
Mac looked at the asshole that was torturing his best friend, seeing the twisted grin and gleam in Sinclair's eyes, Mac had never hated another person as much as he did Sinclair in that moment.
Mac jerked his focus back to his partner when he heard Jack gagging and trying to cough and could tell he didn't have enough air to do so.
"Jack!" He called desperately. His best friend was drowning, just feet away from him and he couldn't stop it.
Jack continued to gag and choke on more water. Mac could hear the fluid in his partner's lungs. Mac unconsciously pulled at his restraints, while Jack did the same. Every muscle and tendon in Jack's arms were taut and his wrists bled where the zip ties held him securely to the arm rests.
If he told Sinclair where the hard drive was, then he would have no reason to keep them alive. Mac desperately ran through scenarios in his mind as he tried to find a way to stop this. He couldn't just sit there and let his best friend die. Mac was starting to panic as he watched his brother fight to breathe and his movements begin to slow.
Jack's lungs burned and everything started to get fuzzy. His chest expanded trying to pull in air and his head thrashed from side to side trying to escape the water long enough to get a breath.
His need for air overrode his brain, Jack opened his mouth to pull in the much needed oxygen, immediately choking when all he got was water.
Completely out of air he tried to force out the water, by flexing his diaphragm for all it was worth to expel the water. Jack tried another breath and got mostly water again. He could feel it in his lungs and he felt his movements start to slow.
"Enough Sinclair, I'll talk." Mac said resolutely.
Jack's vision started to gray the same moment the saturated cloth was yanked off his face. Jack still couldn't breathe. He just lay there with unfocused eyes and his head turned to the side. Water drained from his mouth and nose. Mac feared he had been too late. Several seconds went by before Jack's chest spasmed a few times and then he gasped a very watery sounding breath. Jack coughed and coughed and wished he could pull his knees to his chest and curl in on himself.
Mac looked at the floor and watched as clear and red streaked water swirled around the drain in between him and his partner. Why was there so much red in the water? The blood he had seen on Jack did not account for the amount he was seeing stain the water.
He coughed up water for the next couple minutes and then Alex and Levi grabbed the back of Jack's chair and lifted him upright.
Mac looked at his partner, the water had washed most of the dried blood away, making the bruises and gashes on his face stand out in contrast to Jack's paling skin.
"Thanks for the bath, I needed that. "Jack said hoarsely, but still managed a smirk.
Sinclair smugly walked over to stand in front of Mac. "Okay Mr. Macgyver, you were saying?"
Jack looked over to his friend, confusion written on his face, clearly he had missed something while he was fighting for air a moment ago.
Mac glanced over at Jack, his eyes trying to tell Jack that he was sorry.
Looking back at this captor, "I'll tell you where it is, if you let Jack go."