Not by blood, but by fire and water

Chapter 5

Speechless, Jack stared at his friend, mouth open in disbelief, his heart in his throat. He felt betrayed. How could Mac do this to him? They would have to kill him and drag his body out. He would never willingly leave his partner. Mac had to know that, didn't he?

Refusing to look at his friend, knowing what he would find if he did, Mac just glared at the lunatic in front of him.

"How fascinating!" Sinclair declared, "You care about your partner so much that you would trade your life for his. Oh my, this is interesting!" Sinclair stated, practically salivating.

Mac glanced towards his friend, the expression Jack wore, exactly what he thought it was going to be, hurt. His heart clenched for causing the hurt he saw on his friends face. He knew his selfless act was also a bit selfish at the same time because Jack had made it clear to him, on many occasions and tight scrapes over the years, how much he cared about him by putting Mac's safety and life ahead of his own. He knew the older man would have a hard time with this, but it would kill Mac if he lost Jack.

"I cannot let either of you go, I'm afraid. You see, I've worked too hard to keep my anonymity over the years, also I haven't had this much fun in a long time!" Their captor said, smiling evilly.

Relief flooded through Jack at their captors words. They weren't going to take him away from his brother. That's all that mattered to him.

"I can promise that I will make your deaths quick once I receive the information I desire. Everyone talks eventually, I have a perfect record." Sinclair bragged.

"Now that I know where your soft spot is, Mr. MacGyver, are you ready to end all this needless suffering?" Mac, casting his eyes at the floor, shook his head no. "I wonder how long you will let your friend suffer? Hmm, we shall see, I suppose." Sinclair sauntering over to the table.

The agents looked at each other, while their captor stood at the table, running his hand over the devices laid there. Mac's expression was apologetic, how had this backfired so horribly? Jack shook his head as he mouthed "Not your fault kid."

Mac knew Jack didn't blame him, but he felt guilty. His plan showed them his weakness and now they were going to hurt Jack more because of him. Mentally kicking himself, he looked towards the table and Sinclair. Their captor was seemingly having a difficult time deciding on what mode of torture he wanted to use next.

Feeling his partners gaze, Mac turned to face him again. Mac had seen this look from Jack many times, it was his 'I'm worried about you man, you ok?' face. Mac shook his head exasperatedly, only Jack would be worried about him when he as the one about to be tortured with Lord knows what.

Sinclair strode over knife in hand once more. "Mr. Dalton, do you have anything you would like to say before we get back to it?"

"Yeah I got somethin'" Jack replied, flashing a smile, "fuck you!"

As Sinclair landed a punch below his left eye, he felt blood start seeping out and running down his face again. He felt the cold steel of the blade slide up under his chin, which forced him to raise his line of sight to that of their captor. "I'm really going to enjoy this, Mr. Dalton," Sinclair said in a low menacing voice. Smiling as he slit open Jacks chin.

"Remove this ones shirt," he tossed the order over his shoulder to his goons.

Alex came forward, pulling out a pocket knife and began cutting off what was left of Jacks black t-shirt.

"You could've at least bought me dinner first," Jack snarked which earned him another fist to his midsection which forced out his breath with a pained oof. The last of Jack's shirt came away revealing one gash across his chest and one along his ribs on the right side and an impressive number of bruises in varying shades of purple and blue.

Sinclair made his way back over, knife still in hand. He slid it over Jack's abdomen, coming to a stop at the area just above his hip bone. Jack unconsciously held his breath. Sinclair glanced over to Mac, and after he was certain that the younger man was watching, he started pushing the knife into Jacks flesh.

The former Delta futilely tried to pull his hands free to stop the assault. He was unable to stop the raspy cry escaping his lips.

With the knife buried to the hilt Sinclair asked again, "where is my hard drive?"

"Go fuck yourself!" Jack spat, chest heaving. Sinclair grabbed the knife and started twisting it. Jack screamed, it felt like his insides were being shredded.

This was Mac's worst nightmare, being helpless to save his loved ones. Just like he was helpless to save his mom. His friend's scream was twisting his stomach into knots and breaking his heart.

Sinclair let go of the knife, looking pleased with his work. Jack's breath was coming in short gasps. Sinclair reached down with one hand to grip Jack's forearm and used the other hand to do the same to his other arm before leaning in close to the agent's face and talking at a whisper, "Have you had enough Mr.- ahhhh!" Sinclair screamed, having received another head butt to the bridge of his nose. "You son of a bitch! You are a dead man!" Their captor bellowed.

"I thought I warned you about staying out of my bubble, you don't catch on too quick, dude," Jack quipped. Looking towards his goons, "Surely next time he nose not to do that." Jack said flashing his brilliant smile at Mac, who chuckled.

The enraged Sinclair pounced on Jack, knocking the heavy chair backwards, with his knee on the agents chest he whaled on Jack until exhaustion took over. Turning to Alex and Levi, Sinclair shouted, breathing heavily, "Why are you just standing there! Do your job!" The goons looked at each other briefly, then walked over to their prisoners.

Rolling his head to the side to look at his partner, Jack saw him take a hit to his face. He tried to say no, but all that came out was a moan. Alex lifted Jack's chair upright and, not wasting any time, he delivered a punch to the agent's gut then another to his temple. The hit had Jack's vision greying at the edges. The darkness was a promising sanctuary. He still refused to willingly let go, his partner needed him.

A particularly hard hit to Mac's jaw had him spitting blood.

Jack, blinking hard to try and clear his fuzzy vision, took another hit to his temple, which proved to be too much for his thick skull. He succumbed to the darkness.

"Jack!" Mac called worriedly, seeing his friends chin drop to his chest. His partner didn't budge. Anger bubbled up in Mac. He couldn't hold back the pained shout when Levi hit too close to his broken rib.

He watched as Sinclair walked up to his unconscious friend and yanked out the knife that he had left in Jack. Sinclair said something to Alex that he couldn't make out and stormed out of the room, slamming the knife back onto the table as he left.

An idea came to Mac, but he was going to have to be conscious to test it out. The next hit landed just under his eye. He closed his eyes and let his head fall, praying his acting was believable.

The two henchman looked at each other, "Is it just me or are these guys heads extra hard?" Levi asked, rubbing his knuckles as they left.

To be continued...