Chapter Text
"A strip club?" Jack says excitedly after Thornton's debrief of their newest case. Apparently, the only way to get close to a foreign diplomat was through his personal vices.
"Yes, Dalton," Thornton says, with a small grin. She lifts her head, "You think you can handle it?"
"Wait a minute," Riley raises a hand. She points at the older agent, "JACK is the one you want to send undercover in a strip club? As what? The bartender?"
"Oh ye of little faith," Jack answers the techie with a cheeky grin. "It's a well known fact that everyone loves a cowboy."
- - -
Techno music pounds in the darkened room as low colored lights shine bright enough for people to move around. There's a small, thin stage in the center of the room, surrounded by chairs. The diplomat is sitting at the center, a dark haired young guy already sitting in his lap.
"Guy doesn't waste any time," Mac remarks under his breath from where he was trying to stay out of eyesight in a corner booth. He waves away his second drink offer of the night with a forced smirk. The blonde waiter shrugs, indifferently and walks away.
"Do we really expect Jack to pull this off?" Riley questions over the comms, knowing the other agent would be out of the loop. The techie is keeping an eye on her teammates through the security cameras from a van two blocks away. Not all of the rooms were monitored, for obvious reasons, but the main room had plenty of camera to hack.
"A few hours ago, the thought of him in a strip club 'participating' wouldn't have even entered the furthest point of my mind," the agent hides his words with a hand over his mouth. "When does 'the show' start again?"
A drum roll follows the question and a spotlight shines on the curtains at the stage.
"For your viewing pleasure," a speaker announces lowly, drawing even more attention to the show before it starts. "In his debut performance, The All-American Cowboy."
Mac huffs out a laugh. He doesn't know what he should be thinking. He just keeps imagining his teammate with an inflatable guitar and too large cowboy hat. It doesn't instill much confidence in the man's ability to swoon their target.
A guitar parts the curtains and a hand follows to play a few strums of an unknown song. One riding chap steps out, then the other, followed by the rest of the man.
For the first time in his entire life, Mac's brain stops working.
Jack is shirtless, with only a leather vest and the guitar to hide his abs. The man's arms flex as he continues to play his little song. There's a black cowboy hat atop the agent's head and a piece of straw sticking out of the corner of the man's mouth. The chaps cover a low rising pair of tight jeans and the black cowboy boots have metal tips that reflect the spotlight.
Jack stops playing and slides the instrument of his shoulders. Mac KNOWS the man is purposely flexing parts of his body he does NOT need to flex.
The instrument goes to a waiter's hands and Jack winks at the person, pulling the straw from his mouth as he does so.
A western starts playing and Jack moves slowly into the beat, turning his body and sticking out his rear in time to the beat.
Mac just stares. His mouth may or may not be open; he can't work up the brain power to figure it out.
The vest slides off Jack's shoulders as he turns to show off his toned back. The vest sways as the man tilts back and around in an impressive contortion so that the article can fall in a heap in front of the diplomat.
The heat of the spotlight and the effort from Jack's dancing is making the man sweat, adding a shine to the muscles on display and Mac's mouth runs dry. He idly wishes he had taken that last offer of a drink.
The song ends and Jack walks off the stage with a controlled strut. He pauses at the curtains to tip his hat at their target.
The diplomat is as gob-smacked as Mac, his mouth most definitely hanging open in shock. He clutches to the discarded vest tightly as he hunts down a manager.
"I have to wash my brain out with soap now, but it looks like Jack managed to impress our diplomat," Riley comments with a touch of pride.
"Not just him," Mac murmurs, eyes watching as the manager smiles and nods at their target. The manager accepts a sum of money the diplomat then directs him towards the area with the private rooms.
"Did you say something, Mac?" Riley asks.
"What? No," Mac clears his throat. "I think Jack's headed towards part two. You ready on your end?"
"Escape vehicle primed and ready for a speedy escape once you secure our guy," the techie makes a strange noise. "I am SO glad Jack could have a comm on him. I do NOT what to hear what sort of things he tells...'clients'."
"Ahuh," Mac comments as he skillfully follows the diplomat to the door leading to the back rooms. A man at the door is only allowing workers and their clients though, making it difficult for the blonde to get passed as his teammate is lead through with their target.
Mac searches the room for the dark haired guy that was on the diplomat's lap earlier. He sees the guy sitting in the same spot, looking a little lost. The agent walks straight for him.
"Hey, there," Mac smiles at the guy, "You wanna go to the back rooms?"
The dark haired guy looks up at the blonde and shrugs indifferently. "Sure. But I'm expensive."
"Right," the agent doesn't let his smile falter. "You lead the way."
The guy takes Mac passed the guard and leads him to a room.
"How do you know which ones are already empty?" Mac asks with fake concern.
"There are signs," the guy answers. He points to the door on the other side of the wall. "There's a match in the doorjamb, meaning it's taken."
"Ah," Mac quickly scans the other two room, no match; so Jack has to be in the room across the hall. The close proximity is a relief to the blonde, he'll be able to hear if his partner gets into trouble.
"You going to stand there all day?"
Mac snaps out of his head and follows his 'date' into the room. Once inside, the dark haired guy goes straight for the bed and starts undressing.
"Wait," the agent stops him with a raised hand as the other goes for his wallet. He pulls out a three hundred out and offers it to the guy, "Just take the money. I changed my mind."
The guys shrugs indifferently, "Suit yourself."
There's something wistful in the guy's face that Mac can't place. He can't dwell on it, though, so he presses an ear to the door to make sure everything was clear. When he doesn't hear any footsteps, he goes out the door and into the one across the hall.
Jack looks up at him from the floor, one arm around the diplomat's throat as the other holds it in place.
"Evening, Mac," the agent greets his partner. "You're just in time. Nearly done here."
Mac quickly closes the door.
The diplomat falls unconscious.
"I take if from Jack's happy voice that he's got our target unconscious?" Riley surmises over the comms.
"We'll be out in a few minutes," Mac answers. "Can you get the car to the designated spot in time?"
"Already moving."
Jack pushes the man off his body and gets to his feet. He's still wearing the cowboy outfit, so he starts unfastening his chaps as he nods his head towards the bed.
"You wanna wrap him up while I get a shirt on?" Jack asks his partner as he finishes one leg and moves to the other.
Mac swallows back down the words that won't come out and decides to nod instead.
"I forgot how uncomfortable these things are," Jack grumbles as he finishes unfastening the chaps and tosses them to the ground. "And these pants have absolutely NO breathing room. I'm surprised I haven't split the seams yet."
Mac continues to nod, refusing to comment on how the pants complimented his partner's fine rear end.
'Wait.' the blonde's brain does that 'not-thinking' thing against. 'Since when do I appreciate Jack's a-"
"Mac?"
The agent jumps a little as he looks up towards where the voice came from. Jack stares down at him, a t-shirt covering his toned torso; Mac is sad to see it gone.
Jack frowns at him, "You okay, kid? You've been holding that blanket over our target for over ten seconds."
"Sorry," Mac shakes his head as he quickly wraps the diplomat up. Jack moves in to take the covered man onto his shoulders.
"Whatever naughty thoughts you've got going on in that brilliant head of yours," Jack makes a circular motion to encompass Mac's entire head. "You just keep them to yourself until this mission is over."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Mac remarks as he checks the door for noises. He nods when he hears none. "We're good. You ready?"
"Yeah," Jack adjusts his hold on the bulky object. "Let's hurry things up too, this guy's heavy."
Mac nods, opening the hallway door to check for other people before motioning for his partner to follow.
The two agents make it safely out of the club without anyone noticing.
Everyone heaves a sigh of relief when they actually drive away without any angry people shouting at them or trying to shoot at them.
---End Version 2---