Not by blood, but by fire and water

Chapter 23

Mac saw it then, the dark red that stained the blanket, covering Jack's lower half, was more noticeable when he leaned forward for a closer look. The blanket wasn't touching the exit wound so it hadn't soaked up any of the blood that had pooled under Jack's leg.

Mac lifted the blanket to the side to expose Jack's leg wounds. The bullet appeared to have traveled right through the meat in his friends thigh. Blood flowed steadily out of the two holes.

The surgeon's assistant squeezed past the nurse and Mac to help Jack. She put a thick pad of gauze over each of the wounds, then cinched a pressure bandage snugly over the gauze, eliciting a groan from Jack.

"It's bleeding heavily, but it's not arterial. This bandage should hold until we get where we are going."

"Where are we going?" Dr. Costas asked, looking expectantly at Mac.

"I've been thinking about that, I just need to make a call first. Anybody have a phone?" Something in the back of his mind was screaming at him to pay attention, that he was missing something.

The surgeon reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell. He dialed Phoenix and listened to it ring. It was something Sinclair had said…

"Son of a bitch! That's how those merc's knew where we were." Mac had completely forgotten he was still on the phone until heard the line pick up. The young agent ended the call without a word and dialed Riley's private cell instead.

The hacker answered on the first ring. "Riley, we ran into some trouble at the hospital here and we uh… had to leave." Mac tried to explain their current situation gently. He certainly didn't want to tell her that not only had he been shot but so had Jack, again.

"What happened?" Riley asked.

"Listen Ri, I can't go into detail, but I think Sinclair had someone from The Phoenix on his payroll and now he is trying to get rid of uh, the evidence," Mac hedged.

"Are you guys okay?" Riley asked, with obvious concern.

"We will be." Mac unconsciously looked at his partner's heavily bandaged leg, then followed the bloody dressings and bruises that decorated his chest, his gaze stopped on his friend's face. It was still a shock to see Jack in that condition. There was hardly a spot on his face that wasn't marred by a bruise or cut. Mac could easily make out the hand prints around the former Deltas neck. His left eye was swollen and deep purple with a gash on his eyebrow and a large split on the same cheekbone, both had been closed with stitches. His bottom lip had also been split open from a particularly hard hit, gravity had pulled the bruising, from there, to just under his chin. There was a thin cut on his neck from when Sinclair had nearly taken Jack from him for good.

"Mac… hey buddy, you okay?" Jack questioned. His hoarse voice barely audible in the aircraft.

Mac met Jack's worried eyes and broke out of his daze.

The young agent cleared his throat. "Yeah. Uh, Riley, can you find another hospital a safe distance away and keep our location off Phoenix channels."

"Way ahead of you, Mac, Matty has contacted the Assuta hospital in Tel Aviv, they will be ready for you when you arrive, which should be in about… three hours, based on your current location and Mac… how's Jack?" Riley asked nervously.

Mac looked over to his friend again. Jack's attention was still focused on him. Mac could tell his friend was in a lot of pain and he was trying to hide it. Jack was a helluva spy and he could bluff with the best of them, but Mac could always tell when he was in pain, his eyes gave it away every time. Even with the evident pain and the additional bullet wounds, Jack seemed to be doing better. His vitals were much improved since the transfusion.