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The punch hit him square in the face, hard, but not enough to make him fall. The second, on other hand…
Jack felt the grip of a gun hit him close to his left eyes, too close, and he stumbled aside, leaning against the wall just for a second before someone pulled him back and forced him to walk.
“Please, don’t do anything stupid until I’ll be there, ok?” Mac asked him last time they talked through the phone.
In his defense, Jack did not promise, because those guys got him before he could, destroying his phone and dragging him away... So, now, he felt absolutely allowed to suddenly turn around and punch one of them in the face. That worked, but, as soon as he was shot in the leg, he crashed on the floor with a gasp of pain and surprise. A third punch was the reward for his behavior.
That’s why we don’t split up, Jack’s mind casually commented, Because I need someone to keep me on track, and the genius needs someone to cover his backs while he does- the genius stuff.
They forced him to stand and moved him into a large room, punching him into his side and making him drop on his knees, lifting both his arms, handcuffing his wrist to the wall.
Jack tried to kick one of them off, but the gun hit his temple again and his vision turned completely white for a moment.
“Since you look so in a hurry,” one of them said crouching in front of him, “why don’t you tell us where your friend is so we can kill you now and keep going with our day?”
Spitting some blood on the floor, Jack then laughed, looking up at him. “Are you asking me for help? Kinda pathetic, don’t you think?” and that earned him another punch- at least this one was expected.
“We already have the girl. How long you think is it gonna take us to find the blondie that was with you before?” The man said.
Jack grinned, trying to move a bit his arms, tightly locked above his head. “She’s too smart for you…”
“I can go get her right now if you want?” He insisted, smiling when Jack’s expression became colder. “You know what? That’s what I’ll do. I’ll bring her here, so you can watch as I cut her throat and let her die in front of you.”
Jack growled angrily, pulling on the chains. “If you touch her with a finger-!”
“I won’t. The blade will be enough.”
Jack watched them laughing while leaving the room with the rest of hs group. “I’m gonna kill you if you touch her!” He kept yelling, but they ignored him and closed the door.
“She’s fine… Riley’s fine…” Jack told himself, looking up at the chains: there was no way he would have been able to break them, or pick the lock, not in that position.
“Damn it!” He screamed, pulling his arms forward again, the metal painfully scratching his wrists. If there was something he hated more than losing, was not being able to fight at all. Unable to help, unable to protect his team- his family.
He pulled again, and again, crying his anger out as he felt the skin burning. As he stopped to breathe, he only then noticed the pool of blood that was forming beneath his leg: the gunshot wound was bleeding profusely.
“Not- gonna stay here…” he murmured trying to stand, but the pain made him scream and realize the bullet was still inside. Breathing hard, he tried again, welcoming the pain if that would have allowed him to save the others. If something happens… If something happens and I’m not there...
“-and stop, that. Jack!”
He blinked and dropped on his ass. Looking on the left, he saw Mac working to get a window open. “Mac…?”
“I told you to- wait for me, didn't I?” He said putting his pocket knife away and opening the window, kicking the single, old wooden plaque out of the way so that he could get inside, landing on the floor below.
“Riley… They said she’s-“
“She’s fine, Bozer got her out. Jack, your leg…” Mac sighed with a worried expression as he looked at the wound.
“I’m fine. Are you sure she’s ok? She wasn’t hurt?”
“You’re the only one that got shot so far.” He said shaking his head, looking around before running towards a table, ripping a long stripe from a blanket left there.
“Are you really, really sure?”
“She's- wait, you don't have your comm?"
“Lost it. They left to go get her, Mac, and if Bozer didn’t-“
Mac removed his earpiece and moved it closer so Jack could hear.
“-that I’m fine! Just get out of there!” Riley was screaming.
“Hey... Riley. You ok?” Jack said with a smile, his shoulders finally relaxing.
“I am, but they’ll come back for you once they’ll see I’m gone, so get a hold of yourself and get out!” She insisted.
“Yeah… Yeah. Will do.”
Mac put the earpiece back in place and started bandaging Jack’s leg. “Feel better now?”
“It’s just a bullet…”
“I wasn’t talking about this... Even if you're bleeding too much. I could try-”
“I’m fine. I just… I hate this…” He hissed pulling the handcuffs again.
“Jack-“
“I got caught like an idiot and I couldn’t-“
“Jack.” Mac grabbed his arm to stop him and the man looked back at him. “You’re just hurting yourself. Let me do it.”
Jack swallowed down the anger and nodded, flinching when Mac blocked the bandage with a tight knot.
“Sorry,” Mac said quickly grabbing his pocket knife again, moving next to him to work on the handcuffs.
“I’m the one that should apologize,” Jack said, staring at his wounded leg, "But you know that I hate waiting.”
“I do. That’s why I came to find you.” Mac said, and, with a click, the handcuffs opened. “We better go.” He added offering a hand.
Jack looked at it and nodded, accepting the help, forced to move an arm over Mac’s shoulders to keep his balance. “Ah, man, this is gonna hurt…”
“Next time just wait for me, ok?”
Jack laughed a bit, “Next time, I’ll wait.”