Collar Bomb
Collar bomb
Author: NYWCgirl
Fandom: Macgyver 2016
Pairing: none
Characters: Angus Macgyver, Jack Dalton, Charlie
Warning/genre: Friendship, Team as family, hurt/comfort, hostage, army days, EOD, bombs
Spoilers: none
Rating: Gen
Author's Notes: This fic fills the unconsciousness’ square on my H/C Bingo card
Word Count: ~ 2780
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine…
Summary: What if the Ghost gets his hands on Mac and makes him wear a bomb? It is up to Jack to get help.
This fic can also be found on AO3.
Jack is observing Mac through his scope. The kids is breathing hard in his ear. It is not that he can see it with Mac wearing the bomb suit, but he can hear it through the com link. He must be exhausted, it is the second IED of the day they have been called in for. It isn´t even midday but Jack is already sweating lie a stuck pig. He can only imagine what Mac must be going through in his eighty pounds blast suit.
Mac gets up, ‘I can´t disarm it, Jack, I’m going to blow it, there aren´t any civilians so it is a risk we can take. He turns around to take the remote control of Scooby, who names their bomb robot Scooby, when the world ends with a loud boom. The pressure wave hits Jack and he’s out before he realizes what happened.
* * *
When he wakes up, everything hurts, it’s the first thing that registers. Groaning, he tries to sit up. He sees everything double and his ears are ringing. What happened? He looks at the devastation around him.
The bomb! Mac!
He stumbles upright, grabbing his rifle but when he looks through the scope, he doesn´t see a thing, the damn thing is knocked out of line. Throwing it down, he looks down from his spot and can see Mac laying down from his spot and can see Mac laying down, sprawled out. He stumbles down the stairs of the building and unsteadily wobbles towards Mac.
Mac isn´t wearing his helmet anymore, which is odd. When he kneels down next to the kid, he reaches out with a trembling hand, until he notices the tube like thing around the kid’s neck. Shit! A necklace bomb!
‘Mac? Can you hear me?’
Hack wriggles his fingers under the suit’s sleeve to find Mac’s pulse and sighs in relief when he finds it. Now that he is up close he can see blood oozed from mac’s ears and nose. Someone was here and took off Mac’s helmet and fitted the bomb around Mac’s neck. But to what purpose? Why blowing the kid up only to put a bomb around his neck.
OK, he needs to calm down, his head pounds and he is getting nauseated. First things first. He needs to call for backup. His comms isn’t working anymore, so he stumbles back upright and makes his way to the Humvee. When he opens the door, there is a note.
DO NOT CONTACT HQ. I WILL KNOW AND I WILL DETONATE THE BOMB AROUND MACGYVER’S NECK.
Jack slowly straights out next to the car and scans his environment. Who did this? Who knows Mac’s name, this implies it is not some local terrorist group. It will have to wait for now, he needs to get back to Mac. He grabs two water bottles and the spare EOD set Mac always insists in bringing and goes back to the kid, who still appears out.
When he kneels next to the kid, he studies the bomb, studying the bomb, but this isn´t his forte. He will need Mac awake. He tries to assess if Mac has more injuries he needs to attend, but it appears that the bomb suit protected Mac from the brunt of the explosion. Only his hands appear to have sustained burns, but there isn’t much Jack can do at the moment.
‘Mac? Can you wake up for me?’
There is a twitch of his fingers and a frown appears on his face.
‘Mac? Wake up kid, I need you.’
‘W’ht?’ the frown deepens and a moan follows.
‘Good, but can you open your eyes?’
He can see Mac is clawing his way into consciousness. And with consciousness comes movement.
‘Stop moving kid. I want you to wake up, but can you do it without moving? Just open your eyes for me.’
Jack gently presses his hand on Mac’s jaw, so he can’t move his head. Mac’s eyes flutter and eventually squint against the bright light. Jack is not sure he is focusing but he is awake so that is a win.
‘J’ck?’
‘Yeah Mac, it’s me, you were kind of blown up, remember?’
Mac moves to get up, moaning.
‘Stay down Mac, blown up, remember?’
‘Splains the head… ache.’
Mac’s pupils aren´t totally equal so he has probably a concussion as well, which wouldn´t be a surprise according to the blast radius. The bomb suit is probably the only thing that saved the kid. While he tries to keep Mac down, he notices the sat phone in Mac’s suit, it looks intact so maybe he can contact backup. Dialing, he expects to be offed, but nothing happens and the connection gets through.
‘Snake bite one-two, this is Snake bite one-one. I need EOD backup at my last location. Do you copy?’
‘Snake bite one-one, copy. EOD will be contacted, ETA fourteen hundred hours. Over.’
‘Copy.’
‘Why EOD?’ Mac mumbles.
‘I want you to stay calm, Mac, can you promise that?’
Mac blinks lethargically, ‘yeah, why?’
‘You have a bomb around your neck.’
Mac’s hand comes up before Jack can stop it.
‘They’re normally not motion activated.’ Mac slurs. He feels along the bomb with shaking hands and gives a sad smile.
‘Impressive.’
Jack stares at Mac.
‘What are you looking?’
‘There is a freaking bomb around your neck and you say Impressive?’
‘Yeah well, it is glued to my skin so you can’t take it off of me and the bomb seems to be completely encapsulated in a steel tube, so yeah, I’m impressed.’
‘Back up, hoss. It is glued on.’
‘Yeah, it feels that way, so I am not getting out the easy way.’
Sweat is running in his eyes and he can see sweat pouring off the kid.
‘OK, let’s drink some water before we figure out what to do next.’
He cracks the bottle and wants to feed Mac, but he rolls his eyes and takes the bottle out of his hand and drinks.
‘Not motion activated. Do you know who did this?’
‘”My best guess, it was the ghost.’
‘Seriously? The Ghost?’
‘Yeah, the bomb that detonated was almost certain made by the Ghost.’
‘OK, what do you need?’
‘I see you brought my back-up gear.’
Jack pulls the bag closer and unzips it. Mac asks for the mirror so he can check the bomb better.
‘And?’
Before we can do anything I want you to go back to the car. You don’t have a bomb suit.’
‘Mac, if you go kaboom, I go kaboom.’
‘Jack, please, don´t do this.’
‘Snake bite one-one, EOD will come in by helo. Do you copy?’
‘Copy.’
‘Did you hear that Mac, more bomb nerds on their way.’
‘There is nothing wrong with my ears Jack.’
‘No, but you are in pain, let me get you some Tylenol.’
‘Good idea.’
Jack worries, Mac accepting pain medication without resisting. Not good. He runs towards the Humvee to get the first aid kit. When he turns around he sees Mac grabbing a small saw and with help of the mirror, Mac starts to cut in the steel in front of his neck. The stubborn little brad. Jack is just about to go back to the kid when he hears the telltale whopping of an approaching helicopter. It lands at a safe distance and two EOD techs and two overwatches exit with all their gear. Jack drives towards the men to help with their gear. While driving back introductions are made and Jack tells them what he knows and remembers. While the others wait once again at a safe distance, one of them gears up and walks towards Mac. When he arrives, Mac face brightens, ‘Charlie.’
‘Hey Mac, what did you get yourself in this time?’
Mac shrugs his shoulders.
‘Jeremy, let Jan and Luke take positions and check out the perimeter, OK?’
‘Sure thing.’
Jack comes over and Charlie looks up at him ‘Jack was it? I want you to stay with Jeremy at a safe distance, no need to whoever did this to take out more men than necessary.’
‘I’m not going anywhere.’ Jack states.
‘Jack, it’s…’
‘NO!’
Charlie seems to study Jack and looks back at Mac, ‘ is he always in papa bear mode?’
Mac nods with a smile, still studying the bomb in the mirror.
‘Tell you what Jack, you can stay, but you put on Jeremy’s suit.’
‘Deal.’
Jeremy is already getting the suit ready for Jack. The moment Jack is strapped inside it, he can’t imagine how a skinny kid like Mac can move in it. A new level of respect forms.
‘You OK, Jack?’
‘Yeah, I’m good.’
‘Than I will put on the helmet, that way I can also start the cooling system.’
Jack nods, he is not sure how they all stay so calm. Even Mac, he is sitting there with a bomb around his neck, but doesn´t seem too stressed out.
‘Jack can you help?’ We need to make Mac more comfortable, he can’t sit like that for a long time.’
‘sure.’
Jack awkwardly walks up to the two men, they gather stuff behind Mac, so he can rest against it.
‘Did you seem him pour liquid on it?’
‘I was unconscious, Charlie.’
‘Jack?’
‘I didn´t see anything, sorry.’
‘No problem, OK Mac, I’m going to finish what you started in opening the tube.’
Jack can see Mac trying to see what Charlie is doing in the mirror. The sun is climbing and even with the cooling system Jack is starting to sweat. He can´t imagine how it must be for Mac; The kid is too pale and he stopped sweating which isn´t a good sign. The hand that holds up the mirror is shaking.
Jack wants to bend to get a bottle of water, but the suit won´t let him. So he kneels on one knee but when he wants to get up, he can´t. He starts cursing and he can hear the laughter from the other guys in his comms. He eventually gets up and hobbles towards the men, handing Mac a bottle of water. He gratefully guzzles it down.
‘Doing OK, Kid?’
Mac nods, although his whole body language radiates misery. The different pains must make themselves known by now. Several hours later, Charlie is still working on the bomb but they seem to be entering a more crucial phase, Jack can tell as everybody seems tenser.’
‘How are you doing Mac?’
Mac is squinting and his words are much more slurred. Jack fears the concussion combined with a building heat stroke isn´t taking his toll on Mac.
‘I’m fine.’ Mac’s voice seems weaker and Jack doesn´t like it one bit. He also doesn´t like the look Charlie gives him.
‘Charlie stops what he is doing, ‘OK, Mac , here is the deal. The remaining part is motion activated. Once I start working and you move…’
‘Pretty pink mist.’ They both finish at the same time.
Jack thinks this must be EOD humor.
‘I can stay still Charlie. I can.’
‘I know you can, but you know the drill Mac.’
A resigned look comes over Mac´s features.
‘I don´t want it, Charlie.’
‘Mac, it is not only for your safety Mac, you know this.’
‘Yeah, I know.’
‘What do you know, Mac?’
‘In cases like this, the victim is sedated, so he doesn´t move, even involuntarily.’
‘Sounds logical.’
But Jack knows how much Mac hates not being in control.
‘I don´t want to be a pretty pink mist, hoss, I want to see the great State of Texas again.’
Mac’s face shows determination, ‘do it, Charlie,’ Mac says firmly.
The robot is already on its way with the necessary supplies before they can ask for it. Once it arrives, Jack is the one who takes the first aid kit and disinfects Mac’s hand, starting an IV-port.
‘Ready?’
Mac nods.
‘We are going to take care of you, Mac, promise.’
‘When you wake up, it will be all over.’
Jack injects the content of the pre-filled syringe and it takes some time before Mac’s eyes start to droop. Jack makes sure Mac will stay in the same position when he will go limp.
‘Don’t fight it Mac.’ Jack chastises Mac, but there is no heat to it, a soft smile on his lips.
He knows how hard this is for him. He smiles tiredly before his eyes close. Charlie checks his pulse and breathing and takes out an orange tube out of the packaging.
‘What’s that?’ Jeremy asks.
‘A nasopharyngeal airway. Now that Mac is unconscious, the muscles in his jaw relax and can allow his tongue to slide back and obstruct his airway. With the nose hose we make sure he has an open airway.’ Jack explains.
‘Jack, I want you to join Jeremy, Mac is out so you don´t need to be here anymore.’
‘I can help you.’
‘You will when you stay with Jeremy. I need to concentrate, Jack.’
‘Jack nods and hobbles back to Jeremy, who unfastens the helmet.
‘Charlie is the best Jack, well the second best.’
‘Not comforting, who is the best?’
‘Your boy, Jack.’
Jack smiles, pride flaring over his worry for a split second.’
Now that he is here, he checks in with the two snipers who give the all clear.’
An hour later, Charlie freezes when a high tone can be heard. Jack’s heart stops. Is this it?’
‘Charlie, talk to us?’
Charlie doesn´t respond but continuous to work frantically. A couple of minutes later he gives a thumbs up. Jack lets out the breath he didn´t realize he was holding.
‘IED is neutralized.’ Charlie’s tired voice comes over the comms.
Jack stiffly runs towards the two men. He helps Charlie out of his helmet.
‘You did it Charlie, goddamn, you did it.’
Charlie smiles, Jack checks over Mac, satisfied that his vitals remain stable.
‘Jeremy, did you can a medevac?’
‘Already done, ETA is seven minutes.’
‘Get ready Jack, you are going with him. The IED is neutralized, but tell the surgeons that Mac will want the parts they take of him. Here are the other parts.’
Charlie hand him a plastic evidence bag which Jack accepts.
‘Now, get out of the suit. The guys and I will take the Humvee back to base.’
‘Thank you, man.’
Jack fist bumps Charlie.
‘Beers are on you!’
‘You bet.’
* * *
Jack waits for Mac to wake up. The doctor explained that he woke up earlier, but they were still in the middle of removing the remains of the device and Mac had panicked so they had added some sedative. Now, he is here, there is a bandage around his neck, apparently the glue caused some chemical burns but they are expected to heal without too much scarring. The burns on his hands are also treated and the concussion needs to be assessed when he wakes. It is clear his bomb suit did its job and protected the kid.
He has been showing signs that he is waking up but Jack doesn´t want to rush the kid, it’s been one hell of a day. Charlie came over already, but Jack told him he would call him if Mac is awake.
Mac’s face starts scrunching up in pain, so Jack starts talking, he doesn´t want the kid to wake up confused or in panic.
‘Hey kid, I’m so impressed, your buddy Charlie came through. He saved our asses. You’re going to be OK.’
‘J’ck?’
‘The one and only.’
‘You OK?’
‘Asks the kid in the hospital bed. Yeah, bud, I’m fine, a mild concussion, but they gave me some good pain killers.’
Mac snorts, followed by a painful grimace.
‘I’m calling the nurse.’
‘No, it’s OK, Just a headache.’
‘Do you remember what happened?
Mac nods, ‘yeah,’ his hand goes towards his neck, ‘I’m not dead and they got it off.’
‘Yeah, they did. They are optimistic that it won’t scar.’
‘It was the ghost, Jack.’
Jack pulls out the bag Charlie gave him and the box with the parts the doctors took off of the kid. And puts them on the bed. Mac’s eyes widen in surprise and he smiles, ‘Thanks Jack.’
‘Thank Charlie, he collected everything. Why do you need them?’
‘I have been collecting parts so I can try to figure out if there is a pattern. If there is, maybe I can identify him.’
‘Well, we lived to tell the tale, so when you get out of here, we will go after this bastard.’
Author: NYWCgirl
Fandom: Macgyver 2016
Pairing: none
Characters: Angus Macgyver, Jack Dalton, Charlie
Warning/genre: Friendship, Team as family, hurt/comfort, hostage, army days, EOD, bombs
Spoilers: none
Rating: Gen
Author's Notes: This fic fills the unconsciousness’ square on my H/C Bingo card
Word Count: ~ 2780
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine…
Summary: What if the Ghost gets his hands on Mac and makes him wear a bomb? It is up to Jack to get help.
This fic can also be found on AO3.
Jack is observing Mac through his scope. The kids is breathing hard in his ear. It is not that he can see it with Mac wearing the bomb suit, but he can hear it through the com link. He must be exhausted, it is the second IED of the day they have been called in for. It isn´t even midday but Jack is already sweating lie a stuck pig. He can only imagine what Mac must be going through in his eighty pounds blast suit.
Mac gets up, ‘I can´t disarm it, Jack, I’m going to blow it, there aren´t any civilians so it is a risk we can take. He turns around to take the remote control of Scooby, who names their bomb robot Scooby, when the world ends with a loud boom. The pressure wave hits Jack and he’s out before he realizes what happened.
* * *
When he wakes up, everything hurts, it’s the first thing that registers. Groaning, he tries to sit up. He sees everything double and his ears are ringing. What happened? He looks at the devastation around him.
The bomb! Mac!
He stumbles upright, grabbing his rifle but when he looks through the scope, he doesn´t see a thing, the damn thing is knocked out of line. Throwing it down, he looks down from his spot and can see Mac laying down from his spot and can see Mac laying down, sprawled out. He stumbles down the stairs of the building and unsteadily wobbles towards Mac.
Mac isn´t wearing his helmet anymore, which is odd. When he kneels down next to the kid, he reaches out with a trembling hand, until he notices the tube like thing around the kid’s neck. Shit! A necklace bomb!
‘Mac? Can you hear me?’
Hack wriggles his fingers under the suit’s sleeve to find Mac’s pulse and sighs in relief when he finds it. Now that he is up close he can see blood oozed from mac’s ears and nose. Someone was here and took off Mac’s helmet and fitted the bomb around Mac’s neck. But to what purpose? Why blowing the kid up only to put a bomb around his neck.
OK, he needs to calm down, his head pounds and he is getting nauseated. First things first. He needs to call for backup. His comms isn’t working anymore, so he stumbles back upright and makes his way to the Humvee. When he opens the door, there is a note.
DO NOT CONTACT HQ. I WILL KNOW AND I WILL DETONATE THE BOMB AROUND MACGYVER’S NECK.
Jack slowly straights out next to the car and scans his environment. Who did this? Who knows Mac’s name, this implies it is not some local terrorist group. It will have to wait for now, he needs to get back to Mac. He grabs two water bottles and the spare EOD set Mac always insists in bringing and goes back to the kid, who still appears out.
When he kneels next to the kid, he studies the bomb, studying the bomb, but this isn´t his forte. He will need Mac awake. He tries to assess if Mac has more injuries he needs to attend, but it appears that the bomb suit protected Mac from the brunt of the explosion. Only his hands appear to have sustained burns, but there isn’t much Jack can do at the moment.
‘Mac? Can you wake up for me?’
There is a twitch of his fingers and a frown appears on his face.
‘Mac? Wake up kid, I need you.’
‘W’ht?’ the frown deepens and a moan follows.
‘Good, but can you open your eyes?’
He can see Mac is clawing his way into consciousness. And with consciousness comes movement.
‘Stop moving kid. I want you to wake up, but can you do it without moving? Just open your eyes for me.’
Jack gently presses his hand on Mac’s jaw, so he can’t move his head. Mac’s eyes flutter and eventually squint against the bright light. Jack is not sure he is focusing but he is awake so that is a win.
‘J’ck?’
‘Yeah Mac, it’s me, you were kind of blown up, remember?’
Mac moves to get up, moaning.
‘Stay down Mac, blown up, remember?’
‘Splains the head… ache.’
Mac’s pupils aren´t totally equal so he has probably a concussion as well, which wouldn´t be a surprise according to the blast radius. The bomb suit is probably the only thing that saved the kid. While he tries to keep Mac down, he notices the sat phone in Mac’s suit, it looks intact so maybe he can contact backup. Dialing, he expects to be offed, but nothing happens and the connection gets through.
‘Snake bite one-two, this is Snake bite one-one. I need EOD backup at my last location. Do you copy?’
‘Snake bite one-one, copy. EOD will be contacted, ETA fourteen hundred hours. Over.’
‘Copy.’
‘Why EOD?’ Mac mumbles.
‘I want you to stay calm, Mac, can you promise that?’
Mac blinks lethargically, ‘yeah, why?’
‘You have a bomb around your neck.’
Mac’s hand comes up before Jack can stop it.
‘They’re normally not motion activated.’ Mac slurs. He feels along the bomb with shaking hands and gives a sad smile.
‘Impressive.’
Jack stares at Mac.
‘What are you looking?’
‘There is a freaking bomb around your neck and you say Impressive?’
‘Yeah well, it is glued to my skin so you can’t take it off of me and the bomb seems to be completely encapsulated in a steel tube, so yeah, I’m impressed.’
‘Back up, hoss. It is glued on.’
‘Yeah, it feels that way, so I am not getting out the easy way.’
Sweat is running in his eyes and he can see sweat pouring off the kid.
‘OK, let’s drink some water before we figure out what to do next.’
He cracks the bottle and wants to feed Mac, but he rolls his eyes and takes the bottle out of his hand and drinks.
‘Not motion activated. Do you know who did this?’
‘”My best guess, it was the ghost.’
‘Seriously? The Ghost?’
‘Yeah, the bomb that detonated was almost certain made by the Ghost.’
‘OK, what do you need?’
‘I see you brought my back-up gear.’
Jack pulls the bag closer and unzips it. Mac asks for the mirror so he can check the bomb better.
‘And?’
Before we can do anything I want you to go back to the car. You don’t have a bomb suit.’
‘Mac, if you go kaboom, I go kaboom.’
‘Jack, please, don´t do this.’
‘Snake bite one-one, EOD will come in by helo. Do you copy?’
‘Copy.’
‘Did you hear that Mac, more bomb nerds on their way.’
‘There is nothing wrong with my ears Jack.’
‘No, but you are in pain, let me get you some Tylenol.’
‘Good idea.’
Jack worries, Mac accepting pain medication without resisting. Not good. He runs towards the Humvee to get the first aid kit. When he turns around he sees Mac grabbing a small saw and with help of the mirror, Mac starts to cut in the steel in front of his neck. The stubborn little brad. Jack is just about to go back to the kid when he hears the telltale whopping of an approaching helicopter. It lands at a safe distance and two EOD techs and two overwatches exit with all their gear. Jack drives towards the men to help with their gear. While driving back introductions are made and Jack tells them what he knows and remembers. While the others wait once again at a safe distance, one of them gears up and walks towards Mac. When he arrives, Mac face brightens, ‘Charlie.’
‘Hey Mac, what did you get yourself in this time?’
Mac shrugs his shoulders.
‘Jeremy, let Jan and Luke take positions and check out the perimeter, OK?’
‘Sure thing.’
Jack comes over and Charlie looks up at him ‘Jack was it? I want you to stay with Jeremy at a safe distance, no need to whoever did this to take out more men than necessary.’
‘I’m not going anywhere.’ Jack states.
‘Jack, it’s…’
‘NO!’
Charlie seems to study Jack and looks back at Mac, ‘ is he always in papa bear mode?’
Mac nods with a smile, still studying the bomb in the mirror.
‘Tell you what Jack, you can stay, but you put on Jeremy’s suit.’
‘Deal.’
Jeremy is already getting the suit ready for Jack. The moment Jack is strapped inside it, he can’t imagine how a skinny kid like Mac can move in it. A new level of respect forms.
‘You OK, Jack?’
‘Yeah, I’m good.’
‘Than I will put on the helmet, that way I can also start the cooling system.’
Jack nods, he is not sure how they all stay so calm. Even Mac, he is sitting there with a bomb around his neck, but doesn´t seem too stressed out.
‘Jack can you help?’ We need to make Mac more comfortable, he can’t sit like that for a long time.’
‘sure.’
Jack awkwardly walks up to the two men, they gather stuff behind Mac, so he can rest against it.
‘Did you seem him pour liquid on it?’
‘I was unconscious, Charlie.’
‘Jack?’
‘I didn´t see anything, sorry.’
‘No problem, OK Mac, I’m going to finish what you started in opening the tube.’
Jack can see Mac trying to see what Charlie is doing in the mirror. The sun is climbing and even with the cooling system Jack is starting to sweat. He can´t imagine how it must be for Mac; The kid is too pale and he stopped sweating which isn´t a good sign. The hand that holds up the mirror is shaking.
Jack wants to bend to get a bottle of water, but the suit won´t let him. So he kneels on one knee but when he wants to get up, he can´t. He starts cursing and he can hear the laughter from the other guys in his comms. He eventually gets up and hobbles towards the men, handing Mac a bottle of water. He gratefully guzzles it down.
‘Doing OK, Kid?’
Mac nods, although his whole body language radiates misery. The different pains must make themselves known by now. Several hours later, Charlie is still working on the bomb but they seem to be entering a more crucial phase, Jack can tell as everybody seems tenser.’
‘How are you doing Mac?’
Mac is squinting and his words are much more slurred. Jack fears the concussion combined with a building heat stroke isn´t taking his toll on Mac.
‘I’m fine.’ Mac’s voice seems weaker and Jack doesn´t like it one bit. He also doesn´t like the look Charlie gives him.
‘Charlie stops what he is doing, ‘OK, Mac , here is the deal. The remaining part is motion activated. Once I start working and you move…’
‘Pretty pink mist.’ They both finish at the same time.
Jack thinks this must be EOD humor.
‘I can stay still Charlie. I can.’
‘I know you can, but you know the drill Mac.’
A resigned look comes over Mac´s features.
‘I don´t want it, Charlie.’
‘Mac, it is not only for your safety Mac, you know this.’
‘Yeah, I know.’
‘What do you know, Mac?’
‘In cases like this, the victim is sedated, so he doesn´t move, even involuntarily.’
‘Sounds logical.’
But Jack knows how much Mac hates not being in control.
‘I don´t want to be a pretty pink mist, hoss, I want to see the great State of Texas again.’
Mac’s face shows determination, ‘do it, Charlie,’ Mac says firmly.
The robot is already on its way with the necessary supplies before they can ask for it. Once it arrives, Jack is the one who takes the first aid kit and disinfects Mac’s hand, starting an IV-port.
‘Ready?’
Mac nods.
‘We are going to take care of you, Mac, promise.’
‘When you wake up, it will be all over.’
Jack injects the content of the pre-filled syringe and it takes some time before Mac’s eyes start to droop. Jack makes sure Mac will stay in the same position when he will go limp.
‘Don’t fight it Mac.’ Jack chastises Mac, but there is no heat to it, a soft smile on his lips.
He knows how hard this is for him. He smiles tiredly before his eyes close. Charlie checks his pulse and breathing and takes out an orange tube out of the packaging.
‘What’s that?’ Jeremy asks.
‘A nasopharyngeal airway. Now that Mac is unconscious, the muscles in his jaw relax and can allow his tongue to slide back and obstruct his airway. With the nose hose we make sure he has an open airway.’ Jack explains.
‘Jack, I want you to join Jeremy, Mac is out so you don´t need to be here anymore.’
‘I can help you.’
‘You will when you stay with Jeremy. I need to concentrate, Jack.’
‘Jack nods and hobbles back to Jeremy, who unfastens the helmet.
‘Charlie is the best Jack, well the second best.’
‘Not comforting, who is the best?’
‘Your boy, Jack.’
Jack smiles, pride flaring over his worry for a split second.’
Now that he is here, he checks in with the two snipers who give the all clear.’
An hour later, Charlie freezes when a high tone can be heard. Jack’s heart stops. Is this it?’
‘Charlie, talk to us?’
Charlie doesn´t respond but continuous to work frantically. A couple of minutes later he gives a thumbs up. Jack lets out the breath he didn´t realize he was holding.
‘IED is neutralized.’ Charlie’s tired voice comes over the comms.
Jack stiffly runs towards the two men. He helps Charlie out of his helmet.
‘You did it Charlie, goddamn, you did it.’
Charlie smiles, Jack checks over Mac, satisfied that his vitals remain stable.
‘Jeremy, did you can a medevac?’
‘Already done, ETA is seven minutes.’
‘Get ready Jack, you are going with him. The IED is neutralized, but tell the surgeons that Mac will want the parts they take of him. Here are the other parts.’
Charlie hand him a plastic evidence bag which Jack accepts.
‘Now, get out of the suit. The guys and I will take the Humvee back to base.’
‘Thank you, man.’
Jack fist bumps Charlie.
‘Beers are on you!’
‘You bet.’
* * *
Jack waits for Mac to wake up. The doctor explained that he woke up earlier, but they were still in the middle of removing the remains of the device and Mac had panicked so they had added some sedative. Now, he is here, there is a bandage around his neck, apparently the glue caused some chemical burns but they are expected to heal without too much scarring. The burns on his hands are also treated and the concussion needs to be assessed when he wakes. It is clear his bomb suit did its job and protected the kid.
He has been showing signs that he is waking up but Jack doesn´t want to rush the kid, it’s been one hell of a day. Charlie came over already, but Jack told him he would call him if Mac is awake.
Mac’s face starts scrunching up in pain, so Jack starts talking, he doesn´t want the kid to wake up confused or in panic.
‘Hey kid, I’m so impressed, your buddy Charlie came through. He saved our asses. You’re going to be OK.’
‘J’ck?’
‘The one and only.’
‘You OK?’
‘Asks the kid in the hospital bed. Yeah, bud, I’m fine, a mild concussion, but they gave me some good pain killers.’
Mac snorts, followed by a painful grimace.
‘I’m calling the nurse.’
‘No, it’s OK, Just a headache.’
‘Do you remember what happened?
Mac nods, ‘yeah,’ his hand goes towards his neck, ‘I’m not dead and they got it off.’
‘Yeah, they did. They are optimistic that it won’t scar.’
‘It was the ghost, Jack.’
Jack pulls out the bag Charlie gave him and the box with the parts the doctors took off of the kid. And puts them on the bed. Mac’s eyes widen in surprise and he smiles, ‘Thanks Jack.’
‘Thank Charlie, he collected everything. Why do you need them?’
‘I have been collecting parts so I can try to figure out if there is a pattern. If there is, maybe I can identify him.’
‘Well, we lived to tell the tale, so when you get out of here, we will go after this bastard.’