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Jack was mad. Not just mad, but spittin' fire mad as his momma would say. Matty had sent Mac and Riley into the field without him. That wasn't supposed to happen because Jack had broken his leg during an impromptu wilderness trek on their last mission. The whole team was supposed to be on inactive status; they all needed some downtime anyway.
Now, he was sitting on the war room couch with his leg propped up on the coffee table listening to the whole thing play out on comms. He shot a glare at Matty every time she walked into his line of sight but was otherwise ignoring her to pay attention to the mission.
Mac and Riley had been sent on an observe-and-report at a four-story apartment building in the Valley. Intel was that an FBI safehouse had been compromised, most likely by an internal mole, and that there was a valuable witness stashed there. Matty was doing this as a favor for a friend at the FBI, and she assured Jack that this was a simple mission in Los Angeles. It was practically in their backyard.
Jack not-so-kindly reminded her of Bozer's first field mission when they had been disavowed during a simple observe-and-report. This was worse. Much worse.
"Uh, there's a lot of explosives here," Mac reported with surprise. "Every support pillar in the first-floor garage is wired. Must be twenty devices."
"Can you disarm them?" Matty asked before Jack could open his mouth.
"No, they're on a timer. Less than fifteen minutes to go. I'm going to pull the fire alarm and evacuate the building."
"No!" Jack exclaimed. "That's what they want. Whoever knows about that safehouse and planted those explosives is probably waiting outside to pick off the witness when they leave."
Mac huffed out a breath, and Jack could picture him standing in the middle of that garage, eyes darting everywhere, calculating air density and explosive power and whatever else he thought of when he was weighing these things in his ginormous brain. "I don't have a choice," he finally said. "Matty, call in the LAPD bomb squad. Riley, move the van to the next block to be safe."
A moment later, the shrill sound of the fire alarm echoed through the comms.
"Fuck." Mac never cursed. Jack could count on one hand the number of times he'd heard Mac curse, and they'd all happened in combat zones.
"Sitrep!" Jack demanded. This time he'd beat Matty to the punch.
"The bombs were wired to the fire alarm," Mac responded breathlessly as if he were running, "or whoever set them triggered them early. Less than thirty seconds now."
"Get out of there, Blondie!"
Mac didn't reply, but they could hear his rapid breathing as he rushed toward an exit.
The huge wall screen was connected to Riley's computer in the field and showed the details of the mission, along with the two camera feeds that Riley had been running from the van as part of the observe-and-report. Those camera feeds had changed as she moved the van per Mac's instructions. Now, the screen changed to show a satellite view of the apartment building.
The explosion was abrupt and devastating. The entire building collapsed in on itself in a plume of fire, smoke, and debris.
"Mac?" Jack and Matty said his name in unison.
When there was no answer, Jack tried another tactic. "Riley, do you have eyes on Mac?"
"No," she replied. "I didn't see him exit the same way he went in. Maybe he was on the other side."
Jack could hear her typing, and he'd been on enough missions with her that he knew she was trying to pinpoint either Mac's comms signal or his cell phone.
"No," she whispered just as the satellite image on the screen changed to include a green dot where one corner of the building had once stood. The image was currently obscured by smoke from the explosion, but it was obvious that Mac was in the wreckage.
Jack levered himself up and got his crutches under him while glaring at Matty. "Simple mission, huh?"
Matty met his gaze unflinchingly, but he could see that she was worried too. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To get my boy."
"Sit down, Dalton."
Jack ignored her and started hobbling toward the door.
Matty was faster as she moved to block his path. "Jack! You're in no shape to be digging him out of that building. LAPD will bring in engineers and search and rescue teams. They'll get him out safely."
Looking down at his casted leg, Jack was loathed to admit that she was right. There wasn't anything he could physically do to get Mac out any faster. "I want to be there. I need to be there."
"I'll arrange it. Sit down and keep an ear on comms in case he comes back online."
Jack reluctantly sank down in the nearest chair and waited while Matty made arrangements.
~~!!~~
Bozer was the one to drive Jack out to the apartment building while Matty stayed behind to coordinate any help they might need. Only about thirty minutes had gone by, but the site was bustling with activity. News crews, looky-loos, EMS, LAFD, Urban Search and Rescue teams, and LAPD officers were everywhere.
Jack and Bozer quickly found Riley standing outside the non-descript Phoenix van with her computer open on the hood. Her eyes darted between the ruins across the street and the computer screen, monitoring Mac's position and the quality of their comms. All of them had comms in their ears now, but Mac's had been worryingly silent so far.
Riley brought them up to speed, but she didn't have much information to share. Several people had been pulled from the wreckage or the surrounding area with injuries, and there were no fatalities so far. USAR teams were examining the building to determine how best to proceed. Matty had gotten her a contact on the LAPD bomb squad, and she'd relayed Mac's location to them so they knew where he was.
It was the northeast stairwell. This being southern California, the stairwell was heavily reinforced to withstand an earthquake. While it had not faired quite as well through a bomb blast, it was the best place Mac could possibly be inside the rubble.
They waited in silence, listening intently for any change on comms. Even though it felt like a lifetime, it was probably less than ten minutes later that they heard something: a scuffling sound, a painful cough, and then more scuffling. His comm must have fallen out, but he'd been able to find it and put it back in his ear. That would explain why they hadn't been able to hear even his breathing before.
"Jack?" Mac's voice was weak, but it was the best sound Jack had heard in a long time.
"I'm here. Hey, it's good to hear your voice."
"You too."
"How are you doing? Are you hurt?"
Mac coughed again and moaned, which answered Jack's second question better than anything Mac could have said. "Hurts."
"Tell me where it hurts, bud."
Mac was quiet for a minute, but they could hear his harsh breathing. Busted ribs, Jack thought with a wince.
"Mac?" Jack prompted when his partner had been quiet for a little too long.
"Sorry," Mac replied immediately. "Everything hurts."
Jack scrubbed one hand down his face and looked to the sky as if patience was something that would rain down on him at that moment. He took a deep breath and said, "Let's take it from the top. Does your head hurt? Concussion?"
"Yeah."
"Neck or back?"
"Not really."
"Can you move your arms and legs?"
Mac gasped and whimpered but reported back, "Yes."
"Good. That's good. What hurt just then?"
"Left arm or shoulder. Maybe a broken collarbone. I don't... I don't know."
"That's okay. You're doing great."
Mac took a shaky breath and started listing his injuries like Jack had been coaching him. "Ribs hurt. There's something across my legs. Don't think they're broken."
"Okay. We're going to relay all of that to the rescue team." Jack pointed at Riley, indicating that was her job. She nodded once and ran off to find her LAPD contact.
"How long?"
Jack glanced at his watch. "You've been in there less than an hour. The whole building came down, so the rescue teams are proceeding with caution. Hopefully, we'll get an ETA on when they can get to you soon."
Bozer had been pacing the sidewalk directly behind Jack the whole time. In a show of serious self-control, he'd stayed quiet on the comms, letting Jack take care of things. Now, Jack looked over his shoulder and motioned Bozer forward. Jack tapped his comm to turn off his feed for a moment. "Talk to him, Boze. Keep him awake and talking. I'm going to call Matty and see what she's doing to get him out of there. Let me know if anything changes."
"Of course," Bozer assured him. "Hey, Mac, Jack is coordinating with the rescue team, so you get me for a bit. Did I tell you my latest movie idea? James Bond meets Star Wars."
Mac was alert and oriented, so Jack felt okay with stepping away for a few minutes to talk to Matty. Bozer was as deeply attuned to Mac as Jack was and would alert Jack to the slightest problem, even if Mac didn't directly voice it.
They took turns after that, talking to Mac to keep him company. The building ruins were unstable, and it took several hours to get to Mac and get him out. He was rushed to Providence Saint Joseph's and immediately went into surgery. There was a large piece of concrete pinning him down from his ribs to his toes, and it had caused a ruptured spleen, some broken ribs, and a lot of bruises.
Everyone was there when Mac woke from surgery, even though it was the middle of the night. Riley and Bozer were sleeping in chairs against the far wall, leaning against each other and sharing Jack's Cowboys snuggie. Matty was working on her tablet in the corner, and Jack was sitting beside Mac's bed in a recliner so that his leg cast could be propped up while he kept his vigil. His leg had been swelling because of all the activity and standing he'd done at the bomb site.
Mac shifted with a slight moan, which drew Jack's attention away from the Jack Reacher novel in his hands. It wasn't the first time that Mac had done this, but Jack thought he might actually be waking up when his eyelids fluttered. He set his book aside and gently squeezed Mac's hand.
"Hey, hoss. You awake?"
Mac's head rolled toward the sound of Jack's voice, and his eyes finally cracked open.
"There you are." Jack smiled, using his free hand to smooth Mac's hair away from his face. "You in any pain?"
"Hmmm," Mac murmured as his eyes swept around the room, taking in the familiar sights and sounds of the hospital. "Wh't 'appen'd?"
Jack chuckled softly at the mangled words. "What do you remember?"
Mac's eyes darted over to Riley almost immediately. "Explosion."
"That's right. Ri's okay. You're the one who got caught up in it."
Mac breathed a sigh of relief as his eyes slid shut in exhaustion.
"Are you in pain?" Jack repeated the question that Mac hadn't answered.
"Feel numb."
Jack's hand was resting atop Mac's head, and his thumb was gently rubbing back and forth across Mac's forehead. "Numb is better than pain. Go back to sleep."
He'd almost dozed off when he gasped, and his eyes shot back open. "Everyone get out?"
"Fortunately, it was the middle of the day, and most people weren't home. There were some injuries, and USAR will be combing through the debris for days. No fatalities as of a couple of hours ago."
In the end, that probably wouldn't hold true, but there was no point in saying it. Mac knew, and he'd done what he could to alert the residents and get people to safety. The explosion was not his fault, and Jack would spend the rest of his life telling his partner that if Mac needed to hear it.
"'Kay," Mac replied, eyes closing again.
Jack kept rubbing his thumb gently over Mac's forehead for a few more minutes, making sure that he was sleeping peacefully and that he knew he wasn't alone. Mac and anesthesia were sometimes a rough combination, but he seemed to be tolerating it better today than he usually did.
Once he was sure Mac was asleep, he leaned back in his chair and picked his book up. He'd offered to take first watch since he was still keyed up from the day's events. There were a couple more hours before he was supposed to wake Bozer to take over bedside vigil duties.
Mac was going to be okay. It would take some time, but he would recover and be back out in the field with Jack watching his back like it was meant to be.