So, Mac got caught by his own MacGyverism - is he okay?
And where´s Pete?
Part 7
The ringing in his ears and the throbbing in his head were the first thing, MacGyver noticed as he slowly regained consciousness. With his eyes still closed he did a quick mental check-up of his body. His shoulder and ribs also hurt badly form the impact. He was lying on his back on the cold, rocky floor of the tunnel, but felt nothing pressing on him or holding him down.
At least I´m not buried, he thought.
Cautiously he raised one hand and put it to his aching head, touching something damp and sticky behind his ear. Moaning MacGyver rolled over to his side and blinked his eyes open. The smell of the burnt explosives hung in the air along with enough dust to block his view. He couldn´t have been out for more than a few minutes. Mac noticed his penlight lying close by and reached out for it. He pointed it upwards along the tunnel and saw it blocked with rocks of different sizes and rubble only a few feet away from where he was lying. He sighed with relief, but only a moment later realized that the men were still out there, that he still had to get away and call for backup.
Groaning because of his aching body and fighting back a sudden wave of dizziness MacGyver slowly pushed himself up and rose to his feet. Steadying himself with the help of the tunnel wall he walked on downwards while looking out for further damage, mindful that his explosions might have destabilized other parts of the cave as well. Soon he sensed the fresh ocean air and the light coming in from the cave entrance. He turned his penlight off and pocketed it as he reached the end of the cave.
Mac approached the edge cautiously, listening closely. He didn´t know yet if the men had chosen to follow him over the ridge or to try and save their trucks. He hoped for the latter. MacGyver peered upwards along the cliff first, trying to make sure he was alone.
Then he looked down and his well-known fear of heights kicked in at the same very second. Holding on to the cave wall with one hand, fighting back a sudden vertigo, Mac let his eyes scan the rock face for a possible climbing route sideways and downwards to a less steep part of the shore closer to the vista point. He could climb up that slope on the opposite side much easier and faster. Once he had reached the Jeep, he would call in the cops, the DEA and Pete and get some distance between himself and the cartel´s men.
They wouldn´t try to shoot me in broad daylight while there were tourists up on the vista point, would they? Mac tried to reassure himself.
MacGyver swallowed hard as he looked down to the breaking waves again. At least he had the rope from the pulley to somehow secure his climb. When he reached out for the hanging rope, his bruised shoulder protested wildly. Mac tried to ignore it and looked up probing at the beam which held the pulley. The loop at the end of the rope was fixed on a seemingly sturdy hook.
If all this had been solid enough to hoist up a shipment of the size I have seen, it should be strong enough to carry my weight… But the hurting shoulder isn´t gonna make it any easier…
The lower end of the rope was just above water level at the moment, only a few yards too short to be able to reach the shore with its help as he had to take a diagonal route. He would have to free climb the last part of it. Terrific. MacGyver took a deep breath, turned around, wrapped the rope around his back and made sure he had a good grip with his good hand on it, before he started his way down the cliff.
He had only managed to pass a few feet downwards and sideways when he came to a small ledge. The rock surface was getting slippery and he had to rely more on the rope from here on. He found it more and more difficult to get a good grip on the rocks with his injured arm. Carefully he eased himself around the ledge until he was almost under the overhang.
Just then everything happened within the blink of an eye. One of MacGyver´s feet slipped on slick surface, and he wanted to steady himself with his hand, but this wounded shoulder couldn´t support his weight. Desperately trying to avoid falling he shifted his weight fully to the rope and tightened his grip on it with his good hand. His adrenaline shot up even higher when he felt a sudden jerk on his lifeline.
Looking up he saw the beam become dislodged off its mounting and the hook break free of the wooden beam. At once all tension on the rope was gone. He had no time to react before he felt himself falling back-first towards the waves. The fall itself seemed to happen in slow-motion, yet the impact on the water and the icy Pacific Ocean swallowing him came with a sudden shock.
MacGyver held his breath out of reflex when he felt himself going underwater, but the sudden cold stunned him. It took seconds before he opened his eyes, started to move and swim to the surface. Relieved that he hadn´t hit any hidden underwater rocks, and the beam had hit the water a few feet to his side, he fought his way up. Mac came up in the midst of the rolling waves gasping for air. He had let go of the rope at the moment he had sensed himself falling and now felt lucky, that he had not entangled himself into it underwater. Looking around he tried to reorient himself, when the next breaking wave caught him and carried him towards the cliff.
Before he could counter, he hit the rock hard. A red-hot pain shot through his already injured shoulder and head and his vision blurred. Dazed from the impact, MacGyver was unable to act and sunk underwater again. Only a sudden hurt in his back revived him when the next wave threw him against the cliff once more.
He realized in a flash that he was drowning and started swimming desperately, with all his energy left. His leather jacket seemed to be getting heavier and stiffer with every stroke, but once he had broken through the surface again, he headed for the shore, ignoring his protesting shoulder and back, willing away the throbbing in his head, focused on breathing and surviving.
MacGyver barely made it through the waves to the small, rocky shore and crawled out of the water on his hands and knees, coughing up water. Once he was on dry ground he allowed himself to collapse, gasping for air, striving to calm his breath, shivering with the cold from his soaked clothes. He lay there quiet for some moments and rested, knowing that this shore was almost totally hidden from view from the cartel´s property above.
When Mac turned to lie on his back he saw black smoke rising over the ridge.
Good. The tires are still burning.
It felt like an eternity since he had set the trucks on fire, but thinking about it, he realized it had happened only minutes ago. Then something else caught MacGyver´s attention.
Sirens. Police sirens.
They were hardly audible over the rushing waves and the wind. But they were heading for the property he had just fled from. Mac´s senses were on high alert in the blink of an eye.
What the heck? How? Why?
Still trembling from the cold MacGyver rose up and hurried to climb the slope towards the cartel´s land. If the cops were already there, he had to take advantage of the situation. He had just passed the lower, rocky part of the slope and reached the overgrown part when he noticed another sound from above.
A helicopter.
Instinctively Mac rushed to crouch down in the shadow of the closest tree so he wouldn´t be visible from above. Gazing upwards he waited for the helicopter to come into sight. He flinched when he heard gunshots from the other side of the ridge and saw the chopper fly out over the ocean, obviously trying to get out of the range of the bullets. Mac got a first good look at it as it circled back towards the property some moments later. It was white with a blue sign on both sides behind the doors.
MacGyver recognized it instantly. The helicopter belonged to the Phoenix Foundation. He didn´t have to see through the chopper´s windows to know who was inside. MacGyver held his breath. Pete!
Despite his jumbled feelings towards his best friend and boss since yesterday Mac felt a wave of relief wash through him. He felt his body relax, closed his eyes for a moment and puffed out the breath he´d been holding. The gunfire behind the ridge had ceased, and the helicopter approached to land on the property.
Realizing that his situation probably wasn´t all too tense anymore, MacGyver slowly got up and continued his way to the crest. With the adrenaline rush now ebbing away, all his bruises made themselves known again. His head, his back and his ribs were throbbing, his lungs still aching from almost drowning and a stabbing pain shot through his shoulder every time he had to move or raise his arm. It didn´t feel as if anything was broken, nevertheless Mac was exhausted and trembling from the cold of his wet clothes and the wind when he finally, some minutes later reached the crest.
Aware that the situation on the cartel´s land might not be settled entirely, he remained cautious and paused keeping low in the cover of a few trees and bushes. From up here, right above the workshop and the lab he could oversee almost the whole property. MacGyver´s eyes scanned the territory, taking in every detail of the situation.
The helicopter had landed on a clearing at a small distance to the main house. The sirens he had heard, but were quiet now, seemed to belong to three usual looking sedans with flashing blue lights behind the windscreens. One of them was blocking the road between the highway and the main house; two were parked in front of the lab and the burning vans, one of them also blocking the road that led away from that parking space. Up around the main house everything seemed quiet, whereas between the sheds, the trucks and the sedans he could make out several men, he had never seen before. As one of them turned his back to MacGyver he could read the DEA inscription on his jacket and nodded to himself.
So Pete has brought the DEA along… but where´s Pete?
Mac slowly got up on his feet, observing how the DEA agents arrested and handcuffed the cartel´s men one after another and lined them up kneeling on the far side of the parking space. Mac looked up to the helicopter and recognized Jonas standing next to it, guarding it. MacGyver had just begun to think about the best and most secure way for him to reveal his presence to the DEA men when he spotted Pete in the still slightly chaotic situation between the burning trucks, the lab and the DEA vehicles. He was talking to some DEA official.
MacGyver sighed, ran a hand through his wet hair and started walking down the slope along the edge of the thicket. Pete would keep the DEA agents from shooting him at once when he would turn up out of nowhere. He had to move down carefully, step by step, because he was still a little unsteady on his feet and shivering from the cold.
Suddenly he stopped, realizing that the DEA had four men lined up and cuffed with three agents guarding them.
Where´s number five? Who´s number five?
Mac looked closer and saw Tian Chen missing. His mind went back into high gear.
Aw man… Do they even know that one is missing? I need to tell them fast…
MacGyver took another step, wanted to quicken his pace, but froze again in the next second. At the corner of his eye he had seen something blinking, reflecting the bright sunlight. His head turned and his gaze automatically locked on to that blinking on the edge of the opposite slope, right behind the first tree.
Focusing on the movement Mac saw Chen standing there, a sniper´s rifle complete with riflescope in his hands. The sun was slightly blinking on the front lens of the scope – just enough to unwillingly catch Mac´s attention. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl while Mac´s stomach formed a tight knot. Chen was preparing to fire, picking his aim and adjusting his stance. His body somehow stiffened with shock, only MacGyver´s eyes followed the direction the barrel of Chen´s rifle was pointing at.
Pete… oh, no…
He was alone now, standing between the lab and one of the DEA cars, observing the chaos on the parking space. Mac felt the adrenaline rush into his veins and in the next split second his paralysis loosened. Then everything happened within a flash.
All the pain from his bruises and the cold forgotten, his exhaustion gone, MacGyver ran off as fast as he possibly could.
“Pete!” he shouted at the top of his voice. “Get down! Take cover!”
Mac rushed down the remaining slope and crossed the open space between the trucks, frantically hoping that his shout had distracted Chen long enough so he would have sufficient time to reach Pete. His long legs were covering the distance fast, while he saw Pete turn to him like in slow motion, with a stunned and surprised expression on his face.
The shot rang out in the same very second that he grabbed Pete, crashed into him and pulled him down with him. Instinctively MacGyver had managed to put himself between Pete and the rifle and between Pete and the ground. They hit the ground hard, rolled over with the momentum and slid behind the DEA car.
Again Mac felt a red-hot pain shooting through his shoulder and his back; he had to let go of his hold on Pete. The impact on the ground drove the air out of his aching lungs. When their movement had stopped, Mac lay there dazed, unable to move for a few seconds. He heard men shouting; he heard more gunshots, but then everything was quiet.
A moment later he felt Pete moving at his side and focused again. MacGyver pulled together his last ounces of strength as he sensed Pete turning around and rising to his hands and knees. Mac opened his eyes, turned his head and reached out to him with his good arm, rolling over to Pete and finally holding on to his arm.
“Stay down, willya…” Mac asked hoarsely and coughing. “Are you all right?”
Pete´s expression was still unbelieving as he looked down on MacGyver.
“I am.” he answered slowly. “Thanks to you, I think.”
Pete watched Mac for a moment; he saw him breathing hard, his wet clothes, the bruises on one side of his head. His surprise mixed with concern.
“Maybe I should ask you the same thing…” he continued.
Mac relaxed a bit and attempted a little smile.
“I´m fine… kind of.”
Only the pain in the back of his shoulder was getting worse with every moment, but Mac decided to cope with it for now. Then both heard the DEA men shouting once more, confirming that the sniper – Chen – had been shot and the situation was safe again. Pete stood up first, looked into the direction where Chen had been, where MacGyver had come from and then back at his friend, who had also wearily managed to get back on his feet with the help of the car.
Mac was leaning against that car now, still breathing ragged, trembling with the cold and his face marked with pain. Pete got a first good look at him and his concern turned into deep worry.
“Kind of?” he repeated. “MacGyver, what happened to you? … And where did you all of a sudden come from?”
Mac smiled weakly.
“That´s a long story, Pete.” he replied, reached into his jacket´s pockets and pulled out the opium and heroin packages. He winced at the amount of pain the movement caused in his shoulder and felt a wave of dizziness rush through him. He tried to hide it and held out the packages to Pete.
“But I found what I came for. The DEA will just have to do a little digging to recover the rest of the shipment.”
Pete took them from him silent, and suddenly agent Coleman was next to him.
“What´s that?” he asked.
Pete handed the packages over to him.
“Part of the drug and weapons shipment we assumed to be here… Agent Coleman, meet MacGyver. Mac, this is agent Coleman, head of the team assigned to the cartel investigation from the DEA in San Francisco.” he introduced the two men.
Mac nodded to Coleman.
“I can give you directions on where to dig for the rest of it. I managed to make the whole shipment kind of ‘inaccessible’.”
“I guess you also set those trucks on fire…” Coleman smiled.
Mac shrugged apologetically, cringing with pain in the next moment. He took a deep breath and tried to straighten himself.
“My choices were limited at that moment.” he admitted with a wry grin.
“We can deal with the details later. Get yourself checked through first.” Coleman returned the grin. “All the stories I heard about you weren´t exaggerated, hm?”
He nodded to MacGyver and strode away towards the lab with the drugs in his hands.
Pete Thornton had been observing his friend intensely the whole time.
“Mac, what´s the matter with you?” he asked worried as soon as Coleman was gone. “I brought Dr. Thompson with me. I think he´d better have a look at you…”
“Yeah, I guess you´re right.” Mac nodded weakly. He suddenly felt too weak to object. His vertigo had grown worse, his legs were wobbly and his shoulder brought hot burning suffering. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to calm his breath, but unexpectedly felt Pete grab his upper arms in an attempt to stabilize him. Mac gasped with the pain it caused and concentrated on Pete again.
“It´s my shoulder.” he said, coughing once more. “I don´t know, why…”
“The doc has stayed with the helicopter.” Pete cut him off. He sensed how cold Mac´s wet brown leather jacket was, felt Mac shivering in his grip. “Do you think you can make it up that slope, if I help you?”
MacGyver´s probing gaze wandered up the few yards of the slope and he nodded wearily.
“Yeah, I should be able to…”
Pete held on this his good arm and slowly, carefully led his friend around the sedan. They had only taken a few steps from the car to the slope when Mac´s vision blurred without warning. He froze as everything around him started to turn and move, closed his eyes, tried to blink the haze away. He felt Pete´s hands tighten on him as he swayed.
“Mac? … MacGyver?” he heard Pete ask alarmed.
Pete´s concern instantly grew as he saw Mac go pale within seconds. MacGyver tried to focus his eyes on the slope again. He desperately fought to stay conscious, but knew he might lose the fight. He turned to Pete.
“I can´t, Pete.” His voice was breaking. “I need to… rest… I…”
Only the blink of a second later the darkness took over, his legs gave way and he collapsed at Pete´s side. Pete managed to catch MacGyver´s limp body just before he hit the ground. He pulled his unconscious friend into his hold and adjusted his position so Mac was lying partly on his side and partly on his back. Pete felt for Mac´s pulse on his neck.
Racing, but strong.
“Mac?” Pete tried to get any reaction.
Brushing back a few wet strands of his hair Pete felt for Mac´s temperature on his forehead and realized that the clammy skin of his face didn´t match the warmth on Mac´s shoulder and back, where he was holding his friend. Pete cradled Mac even closer; turned him to his side and pushed back the leather jacket a bit, hoping to get a better look at Mac´s shoulder. He froze for a moment with the first glimpse he got under the jacket. Everything was crimson red. On the second look he saw the small hole in Mac´s jacket, at about the height of the shoulder blade, but more to the middle of Mac´s back. There was hardly any bloodstain to see on the outside of the wet brown leather.
Oh, no, Pete thought. That darn bullet hit you…
Suddenly Pete heard hurried steps coming down the slope and looked up. Jonas was running towards them.
“Jonas! Get the doctor down here!” Pete ordered at once. “Now!”
Jonas slid to a stop and turned on his heels immediately.
Then Pete focused on MacGyver again. Pulling back the jacket even more, he spotted a matching hole in Mac´s shirt. Without hesitation Pete pressed his free hand firmly on the wound below, hoping he could slow down the bleeding. Mac´s body stiffened instantly; Pete heard a faint groan.
“MacGyver?” he asked. “Wake up, willya… Come on, don´t do this to me… not now… not like this…” Pete´s voice grew desperate at the end.
Mac strained to turn his head and open his eyes.
“Like what, Pete..?” he replied hoarse. His gaze was unsteady and clouded.
“Like reappearing out of nowhere and saving my life by taking a bullet that was meant for me.” Pete told him.
Mac nodded slowly, while he seemed to be thinking back for a few seconds.
“So that´s why…” he answered with a low voice. “I felt the pain in my shoulder spike when I pulled you down… but it was injured before… I thought the impact on the ground had worsened it… I didn´t feel the bleeding because I was still freezing so badly…” His voice trailed off to the end. He was breathing heavy with the effort it took to speak.
Pete noticed it.
“Stop talking, Mac.” he advised. “Spare your strength. The doctor is on his way.” He felt Mac trembling again. “Just hang on, pal.”
MacGyver relaxed a little into Pete´s hold. His head rested against Pete´s arm as he tried to will the pain away that Pete´s firm pressure on his wound was causing. He allowed his eyes to close in an attempt to fight the dizziness.
“Mac, stay with me…” he heard Pete plead only seconds later. “Please, stay awake…”
Mac forced his eyes open again.
“I´m working on it…” he replied feebly, striving to focus on Pete´s face.
Only a moment later they heard steps dashing closer. Pete looked up, and MacGyver tried to follow his gaze, but recognized Dr. Thompson only when he felt his hands on his neck feeling for his pulse and assessing his overall condition.
“MacGyver? Didn´t I tell you not to return to my care too soon?” the doc asked with a forced grin, trying to ease up the tense situation, when he saw Mac looking up at him. “What happened?”
Mac managed a feeble and apologetic smile.
“I´m sorry.” he said. “But I had to evade three guys with guns, doge two bombs in a tunnel, fell down a cliff into the Pacific and nearly drowned, so I guess, I got a little too slow at the end.” He had to cough after his explanation.
“He took a bullet in his back while saving me.” Pete added. “It´s bleeding badly.”
Thompson nodded, all serious again.
“All right, we need to get you out of that jacket.” He turned to open his emergency case. “Help him to sit up.”
MacGyver had recovered some of his strength over the last few moments and was soon, thanks to Pete´s assistance, sitting upright, leaning against Pete´s shoulder. The doctor helped him to shrug out of the leather jacket and then quickly cut his shirt open on his back. With Pete steadying him, Mac felt the doc´s hands examine his back from the bullet wound sideways to a point, where even the slightest pressure made him gasp in pain. Suddenly he was aware of the bullet and where it was scraping against the bone.
“Sorry, Mac.” Thompson apologized.
He reached into his case for some gauze swabs and bandages, pressed them on the wound and taped them to Mac´s back. He signaled Pete to press on that bandages.
“That bullet hit you at an odd angle.” he explained. “It went sideways between your shoulder blade and you ribs. It seems as if it got stopped by your scapula. That´s what makes it that painful… It´s more the intense pain than the blood loss, which weakens you and makes you go into shock.”
Mac nodded and relaxed into Pete´s hold. He felt Pete lower him cautiously until he was in about the same position as before. Dr. Thompson felt for his temperature.
“Are you shivering from the shock or from the cold, wet clothes?” he asked.
“Both, I think…” Mac still had difficulty focusing his eyes.
The doc exchanged a concerned look with Pete and turned to his case again, preparing some meds.
“We shouldn´t wait for an ambulance.” he said flatly.
Pete tore his gaze off his friend and looked at Jonas.
“Get the chopper ready. Now.”
The pilot, who had been assisting the doctor, nodded and ran off at once.
Mac had been lying with his eyes half closed, but when he felt the doctor preparing his good arm for the injections, he opened them and concentrated on him. Thompson noticed it and remembered what Mac had endured during his torture.
“This will help stabilize your circulation and take most of the pain away.” he said with a look at the syringes. “Are you all right with it?”
Mac nodded without hesitation and held out his arm.
“Yeah… I´m fine… just go ahead.” he reassured the doc.
“It will take a few minutes until the medication takes full effect.” Thompson explained while injecting the meds. “I´ll take my case back to the helicopter and come back so we can help you both.”
He looked up at Pete.
“Just keep him awake until I return.”
All of a sudden agent Coleman was back. He had been inside the lab and had only noticed Mac lying on the ground when he had left it a moment ago. He crouched down beside the three men.
“What the heck happened?” he wanted to know. “Do we need an EMT?”
Pete Thornton looked up at him.
“There´s no time for that.” he replied. “We´ll take him to a hospital with our helicopter.”
“Are you sure about…” Coleman doubted, but was cut off by the doctor.
“Give him a few minutes to recover quietly, and he will be stable enough for transport.”
Thompson shot Mac a last probing look, grabbed his case, got up and hurried to the helicopter. Coleman looked from Pete to MacGyver and back again.
“We will take care of him.” Pete confirmed. “You´ll have to take care of the situation here. We´ll stay in touch.”
Coleman nodded reluctantly, stood up and returned to his men.
Once he was gone Pete focused back on MacGyver. He got aware, that Mac´s trembling had lessened and seen some color return to his face.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked.
Mac nodded silently, his eyes half closed. Only a moment later he straightened himself a little and looked up directly at Pete´s face. His dark eyes cleared a bit, some of his energy and determination seemed to return.
“Pete… about yesterday evening…” he began. “I owe you an apology. I shouldn´t have...”
“Don´t, Mac. Not now.” Pete tried to cut him off. “You need to rest.”
“But this is important.” Mac sighed. “I shouldn´t have yelled at you…”
“Mac, please…” Pete tried again, but MacGyver wouldn´t keep quiet.
“I know you were worried about me.” he continued. “But I felt hurt. I felt like you didn´t trust me anymore. That double of yours had me feeling the same thing during the torture.” He had to pause for a few seconds. His voice was breaking with the strain on his lungs. “Pete, I´m sorry. You didn´t deserve this.” Mac held on to one of Pete´s arms with his good hand.
Pete had to swallow hard to keep his composure. He felt some tears stinging in his eyes.
“MacGyver, I am sorry. I´ve done you wrong.” he answered after a moment with a lump in his throat. “I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to make you feel like I didn´t trust you anymore. All I wanted was to protect you. … You know that I always worry, but this time I overdid it… Maybe I´m still too anxious after all that we´ve been through…”
He felt Mac squeeze his arm and saw a feeble smile forming around his lips.
“Remember what I told you yesterday morning?” Mac asked.
Pete raised his eyebrows questioning. He wasn´t sure what to remember. Too much had happened in the last two days.
“We won´t allow those guys to break our friendship apart.” Mac stated with a firm voice that allowed no room for doubt. “Right?” The smile on his face had widened.
“Right.” Pete confirmed.
Pete sighed with relief and returned the smile. He pulled his friend a little tighter into his hold and felt him relax into his arms. Mac took a deep breath as the pain, the weakness and the vertigo slowly diminished due to the medication. Only a minute later Dr. Thompson returned, instantly feeling for Mac´s pulse and his temperature.
“Ready to give it a try?” he asked.
“I think so.” Mac gazed up at him and nodded.
Holding on to Pete with his uninjured arm, and Pete holding on to him, he cautiously rose to his feet. Mac held his other arm pressed to his body, mindful not to move his shoulder. The doctor helped stabilize him while they slowly, carefully made their way the few yards up the slope. They had almost reached the helicopter, when MacGyver saw Tian Chen´s body lying under the trees at some distance.
He paused for a moment to allow the picture to register in his mind. Pete felt him stop and followed his gaze.
“He won´t be able to harm you again.” Pete said reassuring.
“Or you…” Mac sighed and turned back to the chopper. “Let´s get out of here.”
Pete climbed inside the helicopter first and helped Mac getting seated right beside him. Dr. Thompson was close behind them.
“I´d rather like you to lie down on one side across the seats.” he suggested to Mac. “If you´ll sit on the far end, Sir, you can steady his head and shoulders.” he instructed Pete.
Again Mac felt Pete hold on to him, while he pulled up his legs and lay down until he was resting in Pete´s arm, leaning with his upper back against Pete´s belly. Dr. Thompson covered him with a blanket.
“We need to keep you warm.”
Mac sighed, relaxed a bit and let his head drop on to Pete´s arm. He felt Pete adjust the blanket around him.
“Are you comfortable?” Pete asked.
“Yeah… thanks, Pete.” Mac nodded. He saw Dr. Thompson close the door and signal Jonas to take off while he seated himself on the opposite seats and opened his case once more. He watched the doc straighten out his uninjured arm, prepare and set up an IV, but he didn´t really concentrate on it. Mac sensed the helicopter move when it lifted off the ground, and Pete´s arms cradling and stabilizing him. Though badly wounded and weakened he felt safe. For the first time in months. Real safe.
It reminded him of how he had felt in Willis´ apartment, after they had taken down Chen, but this time the relief was thorough. Not only his torturer, but also the men behind it were under arrest. Pete had survived. It was over. MacGyver looked up at Pete, saw his concerned expression and attempted a little smile.
“Relax, Pete.” he tried to reassure his friend. “I´ll live…”
Pete returned the smile, yet remained silent.
Relax.
As soon as Mac had said it to Pete, he felt it register in his own mind. His emotions calmed down, allowing him to become aware, how exhausted he still mentally was. Everything around him grew distant, as his mind and body demanded him to rest. For the first time in months he didn´t feel any inner urge to stay alert, so he gave in, slowly closed his eyes and let his head tilt sideways in Pete´s hold. Within seconds he was asleep.
Pete was alarmed instantly, when he sensed Mac´s body going limp. He looked up at the doctor and back to his friend.
“Mac?” he called out to him. “MacGyver!”
Dr. Thompson quickly felt for Mac´s pulse. A moment later he held up a hand to interrupt Pete.
“Don´t!” he said softly. “Let him sleep. He is stable.”
Pete shot the doctor a doubtful look.
“He´ll be all right.” The doc continued. “He´s totally worn out after the ordeal he´s been through in the last months. He needs the rest. Just hold him… and be there when he wakes up.”
Pete had to swallow hard. His eyes were fixed on MacGyver´s pale face as he tightened his hold a bit and nodded.
“I will, doc.” he replied with a low voice. “I will.”
*****