By Carrie

Mac swallowed hard as her eyes welled with tears. "Shit, shit, shit," she said, loud enough for the Admiral and the SEALs to hear. She had really hoped this was the end, that they were going to get out of this, that they would be able to explore what ever it was between them. But now, she wasn't so sure that it would happen, that it would ever happen. And it was all her fault. She had dragged the Admiral and the SEALs in, getting them trapped as well. Just for good measure, she added another "Shit," to her string of words.

Harm's gaze met Mac's. He wasn't aware of the rescue team or the Admiral and he was only distantly aware of the two men holding him.

Mac was battling with herself. The woman in her was broken. Her best friend, the best friend she'd ever had, the man she loved, was beaten and broken. In front of her, he was only a shadow of the man he had been. His body had been pushed to its physical limits and she knew he couldn't take much more. Mac just wanted to fall to her knees and give into her tears. But the Marine in her knew that Harm would never give up, that as beaten and broken as he was, he'd hold on. He wouldn't give anything up to these guys; they wouldn't get that satisfaction. And she knew that they had to do everything they could to get Harm out of there, and sinking to her knees and surrendering to the pain wouldn't accomplish anything. "I love you, too, Harm," she whispered.

Only the Admiral heard her.

But Harm saw her lips move and he knew. She wasn't giving up on him, not now, not ever. He mustered the best smile he could. It was mostly in his eyes. And the last thing he saw as he was dragged out of the building was Mac's nod and a single tear trickle down her cheek.

The moment Harm was out of the building, Mac, the Admiral, and the two SEALs got to work. The SEALs radioed for back up, Mac wiped her eyes, and the Admiral climbed down from their perch on the platform. He stepped over to the door and peered out of the opening, watching as Harm was dragged off through the trees by his captives. Mac quickly joined him, watching as he faded from sight. "We're going after him, right?" she asked, her voice sounding stronger than she felt.

"You bet," the Admiral confirmed. "Just give them a few minutes head start and we'll set off after them. The two SEALs will follow a few minutes later, once the first of the back up arrives."

Mac nodded her comprehension.

A few seconds later, the two SEALs joined them. "In five," the taller of the two said.

"Good," the Admiral nodded. He turned back to Mac. "You ready?"

"Yeah."

The Admiral led the way out the door. Just before entering the forest in front of them, he grabbed her arm. "Mac?"

Stunned at the use of her name, she turned to him, "Sir?"

"I usually don't want to know these things about my people, so I'm asking you this as a friend. I'm asking you because both of us are about to risk our lives to save a man that doesn't really look like he's going to make it anyway. Did you mean what you said, just before Harm left?"

Mac paused before she answered. No matter what happened after this, no matter what the result was of their last night together, and even after all of their mistakes, she would always love him. "Yeah, I did."

"Good," the Admiral said firmly. "Let's roll," he instructed as he released her arm and led the way, stalking quietly through the trees, Mac close on his heels.

Within minutes, they caught sight of Harm and his captors. Their movement was slowed due to Harm's injuries. Neither Mac nor the Admiral was sure of where they were headed or what they would do after they got there, but they weren't about to leave Harm alone with these men.

According to Mac's internal clock, twenty-three minutes later, the men came to a stop. They dropped Harm to the ground and the one who had done most of the dragging sank to the ground. Harm didn't even raise his head; he was unconscious. They were taking a break. Mac leaned back against a tree, trusting the Admiral to keep an eye on the situation. She was so tired of
this. She only wanted to get out of this and go home.

Two minutes later, the two SEALs that had arrived with the Admiral showed up, followed by another four men. It looked like now was their chance. The men hadn't reached their final destination and they were alone. The SEALs whispered a few words, exchanged signals, and spread out, surrounding the men.

On one SEAL's nod, the men moved in, surrounding the captors. They quickly overtook the two men. Just before Mac ran forward to Harm, someone grabbed her from behind. Without thinking, she elbowed whoever was behind her and while he was bent over, she spun around and kneed him in the groin. He was a small man and appeared to be Vietnamese, like Harm's captors. Looking up, she noticed that the Admiral had also subdued a man, but there wasn't much they could do about the large group of men surrounding them.

They had encircled Harm's captors, only to be encircled themselves. What the hell was this about, Mac wondered. The missing Marine, the drug running, something else? Her one hope of escaping had evaporated when she saw the men circling them. And her chances of understanding the situation were diminishing.

And somewhere out there, Mac couldn't help but feel that somebody was playing a game with them, pulling their strings, directing them where to go. Somewhere, Mac felt that someone was laughing at them, manipulating them, determined to see how much they could take before they could all go home.

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