Hey guys!

I hope you've all spent a wonderful Christmas, despite everything that's going on all around the world right now.

Thank you guys so muh for reviewing and following this story.

Here's chapter two.

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He could feel shards of glass rain down on his back, some biting into the skin on the back of his neck. But despite that, Jack didn't move an inch. He wouldn't allow any more harm to come to his kid. Of course, having Jack Dalton's entire weight lying on to of oneself while injured couldn't be much fun, but it was still way better then the alternative.

Another volley of bullets hailed across their transport's rear, making his two younger colleagues, who were still up front, flinch violently. Unfortunately, while doing so, Riley managed to pull the steering wheel a little bit to roughly, making the car go over some patches of rock very close to the edge of the road.

He could hear Mac yelping sharply as his and Jack's bodies were thrown around a bit by the sudden and unexpected movement.

?Hey man, you doing okay?" Jack didn't care right now that he was basically screaming into his friend's ear over all the noise around them.

Sadly, the terrorists didn't leave the blond time for an answer. A sudden explosion very close to their right flank almost threw the car right off the street.

?Was that a grenade?" Bozer's panicked shierk as they continued to speed through the desert almost drowned in the sound of another explosion.

From somewhere under his chest, he could hear a muffled voice.

?What was that buddy?"

He could feel surprisingly strong hands pushing him a bit to the side as his annoying former EOD tried to weasel his way out from under him, a.k.a heavy protective blanket.

"I said ?rocket launcher'!"

"You serious man?!"

He only revived an eye roll as an answer.

"Of course you are." Deciding that his partner was coherent enough to manage on his own for now, and since there wasn't any more glass flying around, Jack decided to risk getting up and maybe start shooting back.

"Stay down!" Without waiting to see if his order was being followed, Jack carefully rose up from the back seat enough to barely make out anything that was going on behind them. And what he saw didn't look to promising for them at all.

"Riley!"

"What?!" Her voice shook slightly and sounded a bit high pitched right now.

"Can't you go faster?"

"What do you think I'm trying to do here Jack!"

He knew asking her something like this wasn't very fair and that the young hacker was doing the best she could, but they were running out of options. As far as he had seen, those guys had a whole arsenal with them. There was no way he would be able to get them out of this with only his handgun.

The only good thing that came to mind was the fact that he had almost all of his ammo. The only bullet he'd used so far today had been the one used to shoot that stupid lion earlier.

After carefully aiming, he fired a few shots at their pursuers, hoping he'd at least manage to slow them down. Once he heard the satisfying noise of a tire exploding, he knew he's succeeded for now.

"Nice Jack, I think they're slowing down!" He only now noticed that Bozer had turned around and was watching out for any more surprises while he had fired his gun. "Now we only need to get away before they'll be able to call in reinforcements."

While the tension in the car lessened, the ex Delta took a closer look at his comrades. Bozer and Riley miraculously seemed fine, save for a few small cuts and bruises from the rough ride they'd just been through. And thankfully, his Partner hadn't suffered any more injuries either.

Letting out a relieved sigh, he let himself relax a little bit. Of course, he still held on tight to his gun, which was, as far as he was concerned, their only chance of survival right now. He needed to be able to react on a moments notice if those guy's caught up to them faster then they expected.

So far, though, it didn't look like they would have to worry about that happening any time soon. He watched on, as they got smaller and smaller and finally disappeared into the distance.

Continuing to drive along the road they were currently on, their small group was enveloped in tense silence. The only noises being the humming of the engine, gravel on the road and the occasional hiss of pain coming from Mac, who was now lying down with his head on Jack's lap once again. Everything seemed to go as smoothly as it could, considering their current situation.

But, since things never went too well for them, or at least not without some kind of incident, and especially this close to Cairo. This time, it came in the form of thick smoke coming from their engine and their speed suddenly dropping in a very unpleasant and uneven pace.

Cursing, Riley tried to do anything to prevent them from stopping completely, cursing as her efforts didn't pay off at all. The only thing she managed to do was to keep them on the road until they were standing still.

"So uhhm, does anyone know where we are?"

Jack and Riley shook their heads. Seeing that, Bozer started to panic slightly.

"So, you're trying to tell me that we're stuck in the middle of the desert with terrorists chasing us while we don't have any provisions and are trying to take care of my best friend, who's injured?!"

"Bozer, calm down! Maybe we can still work something out, okay?"

"But Riley...-"

"No, Bozer, listen to me for a minute. We do know where we started and where this road is leading, so we're not completely lost. Also, don't forget the SAT phone we still have with us. We'll just call Matty and have her send someone to pick us up and…" She trailed off as she pulled out the phone they'd used a while back to talk to their boss. Sadly, this particular piece of equipment had a bullet sized hole right in the middle of it.

Jack could clearly see the devastation on the two younger agent's faces. He could also see their gaze wander over to Mac, who had been out again since they'd managed to loose their pursuers.

"Maybe Mac could… "

"Hey now Bozer, stop right there." Of course, the older man knew what was going through his teammates heads. And if he was completely honest with himself, he had thought the same thing as well the second their engine had shut down. "I know that this isn't what you want to hear, but I don't think our genius here is in any shape to build anything right now, okay? Maybe we should start trying to fix this ourselves."

"Jack, I don't want to insult you or anything, but do you really think, any of us could pull off something like that? If we were talking about fixing up a computer, I'd be all over it, but I have no idea about mechanics, not to mention, fixing an engine."

Turning to Bozer, he could see the dark skinned male shrug. "We can try, but I see things like Riley. I can fix my waffle iron, but that's it. Whenever something at the house breaks, Mac's the one to fix it. "

Realistically, they were right of course, but he sill intended to at least try. "Come on now, I know that this is probably not going to be easy, but Mac needs all the rest he can get since we don't know what's still going to happen. Let's just try, okay?"

Very slowly, in order not to wake his partner, Jack started getting out of the car. Gently, he positioned the kid's head on the back seat, regretting that he didn't have anything he could use as a pillow for now. "Sorry bud, but you've got to hold on a little longer, I promise to get you home soon." With a soft pat on the shoulder, Jack left his partner and closed to door after exiting.

Riley and Bozer followed.

Opening up the hood, they were hit by the disgusting smell of burned rubber. After the smoke had cleared, they could start searching for, what they were dealing with.

"Man, do you really think we'll manage that on our own?"

Jack really had to agree with Bozer on this one. He'd hoped it would only be something simply, maybe a cable that had come loose or a hole in the gas line, but no such luck. As far as he could see, half the plastic and rubber parts of the thing had melted.

Letting his shoulders sag, he shook his head. "I don't even think Mac could fix this in the time we need to get moving again."

"You serious?!"

"Think I'm joking? We're lucky the thing isn't burning! I mean, look at it, it's basically one pile of melted garbage!" He hadn't meant to loose his temper, but the whole situation was completely stressing him out. If it were only him, he could probably manage, but with the two less experienced agents and his partner badly injured, he didn't see any way out of this right now. If only the phone hadn't been destroyed… Why were bad guys so good as destroying those things anyways? It just wasn't fair!

Rubbing a hand down his face, he tried to calm himself down. If he couldn't keep it together, they were lost. Mac currently wasn't able to Macgyver their way out of this, so Jack would have to be the one to lead them. However, just as he was about to apologize to Bozer for snapping at him just now, he heard the car's back door open slowly, followed by a grunt and the sound of someone moving inside.

"Mac!" He hurried over in order to assist his partner. "Come on kid, you shouldn't be up!"

The blond however, ignored him completely and continued to slowly try to climb out of the car.

"Mac, I'm serious, you need to lie back down!" He could see droplets of sweat forming on the younger man's pale face. Pain was clearly visible in those sky blue eyes as the kid grit his teeth and finally managed to get to his feet, leaning heavily on the car and Jack in the process.

"What are… we dealing with?" Jack didn't like how strained his partners voice sounded. "We can't stay here for much longer."

"Seriously man, we've got this, don't worry." Using as much strength as he dared, Jack tried to maneuver Macgyver back into the car. But the stubborn blond simply wouldn't have any of it.

"Jack, I may be injured, but I still can hear what's going on around here. Either I'm doing this with, or without your help, okay? "

Jack knew when he'd lost, so he gave in to the determination his friend currently displayed and pulled Mac's uninjured arm over his shoulder. "Fine, but don't you dare move anywhere without me, got it?" He wouldn't risk his partner falling any maybe hurting himself even further.

After receiving an affirmative grunt, they started walking.

"Well, basically our engine is fried, that's all we've managed to figure out for now."

"No bullet holes or anything like that?"

The delta only shook his head, keeping a close eye on his partner. "Doesn't look like it. I think, this car simply wasn't build for being chased through the desert by terrorists." It concerned him greatly that the short walk to the front of their car had caused Mac's breathing to pick up to an almost unhealthy level.

When they'd finally made it, the younger man took one look at the mess that had once been a perfectly fine engine and groaned miserably.

"This bad, eh?"

"I could definitely repair it, but I don't think we have the necessary parts with us. There is only so much even I can do with tape and some gum wrappers. Have you told Matty about this already?"

"No, we can't."

By now, Mac had started to look even more pale. "Oh come on Jack, this is hardly something she'd blame you for."

"Hey now bro, that's not even...-"

"Mac, what he's trying to tell you is, that we can't because those terrorists managed to shoot our phone."

After having Riley say that, Jack could almost hear the gears turning in his partners head.

"Can I see it?"

Wordlessly, the hacker handed over the destroyed device.

By now, Mac was swaying slightly and looked ready to fall down any minute. Jack decided that he'd need to intervene before his kid started feeling even worse. "Come now hoss, at least sit down while working on that thing, okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed Mac's arms and carefully guided him to the ground. "Can't have you falling over now, can we?" Bozer and Riley nodded in agreement.

"Oh, by the way Mac, how are you feeling man? You don't look too good." The concern in Bozer's voice was almost as thick as the one, Jack was feeling himself right about now.

"I'm good, don't worry Boze."

A skeptical look on his face, their favorite chef nodded. "Well, if you say so…"

Riley looked just as skeptical. "Mac, you've been barely couscous for the … actually for most of the time since we left the camp, so sorry, but I don't really believe that you're anywhere close to being okay."

Relieved, jack nodded in appreciation. At least, he could count on those two in order to keep an eye on Mac. No surprise there, really. Riley was pretty smart, and Bozer had known Mac way longer then he had himself after all. It didn't come as a surprise, that they wouldn't be fooled by any of Mac's usual BS when it came to his own health. Sometime, Jack really needed to spend a day alone with Bozer, having the younger man tell him all about the crap his genius partner may have pulled as a child.

Said partner hadn't reacted to Riley's comment at all, completely focused on the phone, he was still tinkering with. Jack had seen that kind of concentration on the kid's face almost constantly in the past when they'd still been deployed in Afghanistan. His expression was the same he wore while diffusing bombs, it was the expression he wore, when lives depended on his work. Mac's entire posture spoke volumes about the level of concentration he was currently working under. He knew what and who depended on him doing his work properly after all.

"So brother, what's the verdict?" Of course, Jack knew breaking the kid's concentration wasn't cool, but he needed to know their next step in order to plan ahead. Seeing his kid first flinch and then grimace in pain send guilt shooting through his body, but it couldn't be helped, not during the mess they were in right now.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Mac looked up at them. "Well, the phone's a mess, but I think I may be able to send some sort of morse code to Pheonix if I use some parts of the car, but that's about it."

"That's good new's, isn't it? We can tell Matty to get us out of here!"

Mac just rolled his eyes at Jack's enthusiasm. "Yeah, we can. But that will only work once, so after we make contact, that's it. There is no way I'll be able to get that car back on the road right now. That means Matty will have to send someone out here to pick us up, or we'll have to walk to exfill on foot, without any supplies. Also, there is one other problem."

Of course there was. "I was afraid you were gonna say that buddy."

"Would you prefer me lying to you?"

"Of course not! So then, what's that problem you were mentioning just now?"

"We'll be able to send out a message in morse code, but we won't be able to receive an answer, which means, we'll need to plan exactly, what's going to happen from now on, and what message we're going to send out to Matty."

"Oh."

Jack knew of course, this wasn't the smartest answer, but right now, this was all that came to mind.

"But Mac, that would mean…"

"Yeah Riley. We'll have to work out a plan that needs to go off without any problem or delay since we won't be able to change anything later on. Also, we need to make sure it'll be something she can actually make happen without having to adjust any details."

it took a moment for this to sink in.

In their line of work, nothing went ever according to plan, at least not without making some minor adjustments. What he was asking of them was as close to impossible as things could get.

"And if we simply send her some co ordinates and a rough estimate about when we'll be there?"

That was something Jack loved about Riley. His girl was often one to use complicated and technical solutions for various problems, but when it came to thinking up simple plans, no one was better then their number one hacker.

Mac seemed to think so as well since he nodded. "I was thinking something along the same lines, we'll only need to make something we can use to navigate. Also, we'll be moving on food which means, we'll be slow. Also, there are still those terrorists. I don't think, they'll simply give up on finding us."

Jack had really enough of this theorizing. "Okay, so why don't you start building your communication thingy and we'll… I don't know… make something we can use as weapons and salvage anything that might be useful for us from the car?"

"Sound's good Jack, but we'll really have to start thinking about, where we'll be getting some water from."

He could feel himself pale. He had completely forgotten about that, but now that Mac mentioned it, he could feel the dryness in his throat and on his lips. They'd never planned to stay longer then their initial assignment, so they hadn't brought more then enough rations for one day.

"We'll probably be able to find some out there, but I can't give you a guarantee for that."

"Okay, but that's better then nothing, right?"

Mac nodded slowly, just as their younger teammates started searching through the car.

"Listen man, I didn't want to say anything in front of Riley and Bozer, but do you really think you'll be able to walk through the desert in your condition?"

Sighing as deeply as his bruised ribs allowed him to, Mac shook his head. "Not as long as we'd need to."

"Okay, but we can't simply leave you here, now can we?"

By the way Mac's gaze didn't meet his eyes, Jack knew exactly, that this was what his partner had initially planned.

"Nuh uh, not happening. I go kaboom, you go kaboom, remember? We'll find a way out of here together, or we'll stay and die out here together, got it? Besides, you're the only one who would be able to build the shit we need to get around!"

Jack couldn't believe they were having this conversation right now. He knew that Mac really disliked being a liability to anyone, especially during an Op, but to ask to be left behind like that…

"Jack, it's the only-"

"Don't even finish that sentance1 I'll carry you myself if I have to, but I won't leave you behind, end of discussion!"

"Who's discussing what now?"

"Yeah, why do you guys look like you're about to seriously have at it?" Riley and Bozer had just returned, carrying their bags and anything else they had found that could be of any use to them.

Dark look on his face, he shook his head. "Doesn't matter, there is no way we'll continue this conversation anyways." Turning back to his partner, he had to suppress a smile at the sight before him. Mac was sitting on the floor, leaning against the car and playing around with their phone, making him almost look like a little kid on a playground. "And you buddy better figure out how we're going to transport you, got it?"

Absentmindedly, Mac nodded, while continuing to ensure their communications.

Going through, what the others had managed to pile up, he nodded in appreciation. There were some spare clothes for each of them, a few protein bars and the first aid kit. Also, the two had found a few tools and, to jack's delight, a bottle of water.

Sure, one bottle wasn't enough, but it was better then nothing. Continuing to look through their supplies, he was impressed to see that they had even thought to include their empty bottles in case they would find some more water long the way as well as various pieces from the car itself that could be used as weapons. The pile was completed by a roll of tape, which he was certain, Mac would be very delighted about.

"You think that's enough?"

"Yeah, Bozer, you did good. Maybe Mac will want to take a few more pieces from the engine or something, but except that, you did perfectly fine."

Meanwhile, Riley had sat down next to Mac, who was by now finished with building his device. Now, the kid was using his knife to write down equations and muttering under his breath from time to time.

"He hoss, what'cha up to?

"I'm figuring out, where exactly we are and where it would be best for Matty to pick us up. I've also managed to build a sextant for us to use for orientation."

Taking a closer look at the blond's scribbles, he tried to make sense of at least part of it. From behind him, he could hear Riley laugh quietly.

"Jeez, Jack. Don't try to hard, or you might hurt yourself."

Grumbling, the man sat down as well. Now, all they could do was to wait for the kid to finish with his math project. Thankfully, it didn't take him more then another ten minutes.

"Okay, I'm done. Once we've sent out the message, we'll have to go as quickly as we can. Even if we will have some time to reach our new exfill coordinated, we shouldn't risk being late. If we miss our chopper, we'll be stuck in the middle of the desert for good."

"Okay, and what about…" Jack made a gesture towards Mac's entire body.

Sighing, the blond nodded. "We'll build a cart. It won't be the most comfy thing ever, but it'll have to do."

After Mac had given them instructions, involving tires, a car seat and other things, it proved to be a pretty simple task to build the contraption, the blond had in mind.

"Ready?"

Mac nodded and started sending out their report about what their situation was and how they were going to precede from here on out. Once he was done, Jack was happy to finally leave what was left of their car and the road behind. In his opinion, they'd been here for way longer then he was comfortable with. It really surprised him, that no one had started shooting at them yet.

Also, he needed to get his partner to lie down. The kid was white as a ghost, sweating buckets and shivering at the same time. Jack would have really liked to check on him more closely, maybe re-bandage his wounds but there simply was no time for that, at least not if they wanted to be found by the enemy.

When he'd finally convinced his stubborn partner to lie down on the cart instead of trying to walk by himself, the sun had started to set. They'd been on the road for almost two hours by now. If their pursuers were still at it, they'd be here very soon.

When the group had made it over the first dune, Jack relaxed a little bit. "So Mac, you said we could maybe find some water out here, right?"

"Hmmmh"

"Hey now, don't leave us hanging bro, tell us how to find some!" Mac was way to quiet. Normally, he'd never pass up the opportunity to tell them about anything concerning science, but for him to barely react to Jack's question told him more then he needed to know about, how the kid was feeling.

"Look for plants and insects, when you find a spot with some greenery, start digging."

Mac's voice was slightly slurred and way to quiet. His blue eyes were almost shut completely and his breathing had become quite shallow.

Halting in his step, Jack carefully put down the cart's handle and knelt down beside his partner. "Hey Mac, you doing okay?"

By now, Bozer and Riley had stopped as well and were looking at their seniors, worry shining from their eyes.

Instead of an answer, Mac only continued shivering.

Gently tapping his kid's cheek, Jack tried to get the blond to focus on him. Blue eyes cracked open and a quiet whimper escaped Mac's dry and cracked lips.

"There y'are buddy, what's wrong?"

"...don't feel good J'ck."

"Aw, kid I know. Don't worry, we'll be home before you know it." Uncapping their meager water supply, he tenderly pressed the bottles rim to his ailing friends perched lips. "Here, drink a bit, you'll feel better." Before leaving, He, Bozer and Riley had agreed on to let Mac have all the water if he needed it. Thankfully, the blond was way to out of it to protest.

After a few sips, Mac turned his head away.

"You done already?" Jack couldn't quite keep the concern out of his voice this time. The kid hadn't had much to drink over the duration of the day due to them sneaking through enemy teretory. But the kid nodded and Jack put the bottle away reluctantly. Giving his partner's shoulder one last reassuring squeeze, he got back up to his feet and started pulling the cart again, praying to everyone he could think of that his kid would pull through this just fine.

If everything went as planned, they should get picked up some time tomorrow night about ten miles east from their current location, provided they made It this long.

Night started falling fast and the temperature was dropping considerably. He wished they had anything to make a fire, but for speeds sake, they had foregone taking anything suitable with them. After stopping shortly to put on their spare clothes, they hurried to get back on the road again. Mac had told them earlier that it would be smarter to rest during the day since it got way to warm to travel then anyways.

Since he hadn't wanted to disturb his, now restlessly sleeping, partner, he had merely used some pieces of clothing to cover the younger man. Sadly, this had done nothing to ease his young friend's shivering.

When he was doing this, his hands had made contact with Mac's skin again, and he'd found something, he'd hoped wouldn't happen, at least not until much later.

Since it had been so hot during the day, there was no way of knowing how long this had been going on and the high temperature also explain, why Jack hadn't noticed sooner, but now that it was cooler, there was no room for doubt anymore.

His kid was running a fever. Not high enough to be concerning yet, but still… In an environment like this and with next to no water, fever and infection could prove lethal very fast.

Gritting his teeth, the soldier marched on. Riley and Bozer held their own as well. As fast as they could, they hurried towards their destination. Except for the silvery light, the moon and the stars provided, it was completely dark. Nothing except the noise they were making themselves could be heard.

If their situation wouldn't be so serious, Jack could have actually enjoyed their nightly hike through this huge ocean of sand.

Jack only hoped Mac hadn't been too out of it while calculating their coordinates and planning the route they would have to take to reach exfill in time. If there were any errors in their plan, they were as good as dead.

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So then, Chapter two done.

I hope you guys like this story so far, please let me know what you think.

Thanks again for all your support.

See you guys next time

nahesa