So, here we are. The final chapter. Let me know what you think. I pretty much haven't changed this from how I wrote it.

WARNING! Some graphic images written in this chapter. I have put a note to alert where they are.

Nope, still not mine. Bugger.

It was almost eight months later that everything changed. They had been tracking a group of terrorists that were doing gorilla style warfare. Sneaking out and attacking towns at night before retreating back into the mountains. Jack's team had been tasked with tracking down and finding them and putting a stop to them; by any means necessary.

Jack walked into the team's tent at the base it all started at. It was the first time in several months that they had returned. "We got it." He said as he entered.

"They give us the green light?" Mac asked as he looked up from working on the bomb robot. While he wasn't able to use it very often, he kept it in shape, just in case. It had broken down the week before and he hadn't been able to fix it until then.

"We going after those bastards?" Tim asked, looking up from holding a plate in place for Mac.

"Yep. We've tracked them to a hillside to the east. They headed out an hour ago, but Radise is sending another team to hopefully stop them, or at least reduce the damage they do. They want us in place for when they return."

"You want to set up an ambush." Mac stated.

"Darn right. These guys have done enough damage, and I'm not about to let them do anymore. Gear up guys, we're heading out in twenty." With that, he headed back out, turning once to look back. Mac was joking with Mason and Tim and, despite the danger they were heading into the next morning, they were treating the kid like one of their own. He was pleased that everything had worked out.

The next morning found them waiting for the terrorists to return. They had been there for several hours. Word had reached them that another team from the base had managed to keep them at bay and forced them to return early. Jack called out to them to surrender, even though he knew the chances were between squat and buckleys; and everything went to hell.

The first they knew that the ambush had spectacularly failed was when the bolder that Tim was hidden behind, exploded. They heard his short scream before it fell silent.

Next, a line of explosions went off, right under where Jason and two others were. Again, their screams were heard.

With four men down, and the ambush blown, Jack, Mac and the remaining members opened fire. The number they were up against was over thirty, odds they had faced before, but this time, there were no handy hidden bombs to re-model.

Another bomb went off, though thankfully (or not) no screams, and Jack noticed that Mac was digging in the dirt around them. Jack realised that the younger man had figured that there was a bomb nearby and was trying to find it before it was triggered. Turning back to the fight, he heard Mac's yell that he had found and disarmed it a moment later. A forth explosion went off, causing Jack to duck. More yells, both in pain and triumph. He caught word that the backup they called in since the first explosion was about five mikes out. Jack knew that the chances that they would survive the next five minutes were slim.

A fifth explosion in mid-air caught everyone by surprise, but Jack's team rallied quicker, using the distraction (no doubt thanks to Mac) to take out a few of the terrorists. They had somehow managed to whittle down the number they were facing to about half of what they had started with. They were still out-numbered at almost 2-to-1, but the backup would be arriving in two mikes.

A sixth and final explosion in the middle of the ranks of the terrorists decimated the last of them. Jack looked back to Mac, who had stepped into the open a moment before. His face was filled with hate, anger and overwhelming sadness. He realised that the kid had somehow found several of the bombs and had bound them together and tossed the lot right where they were standing. They hadn't even bothered to separate, that confident that their bombs would take them out.

ALERT ALERT ALERT graphic wording below!

A moment later, a helicopter was heard, and Jack could hear voices calling out to him. He radioed that they had wounded, then raced over to the nearest of the injured. It was Jason. The man had become a close friend of Mac's after the kid had saved all their lives with the directional bomb just eight months before. His lower half was gone, and so was he. Jack paused a moment before closing his eyes.

Jason La Crosse had been with the unit for seven years, had been in the military for over ten and was a father to two children.

The next man he came across had been blown clear, but his military career was over, with the loss of his left leg above his knee. Jack applied a tourniquet that would hold until the medics arrived.

The third man caught in the explosion that had killed Jason had ended up with shrapnel in his legs. He would be able to walk fine, be he doubted that he would stay in the military. Making sure he was alright, Jack walked over to where Tim had been. Two others had been nearby, and had wounds. While Jack couldn't see the extent of them in the pre-dawn darkness, the amount of blood made black in the night, told him that they might not make it, or that they would be discharged. He found Mac there, looking at the place the bolder had been before the explosion. There was nothing but scattered remains to be seen of the first guy aside from Jack to accept Mac into the team.

Tim Shannon still had the Irish accent that he had been born with, and Jack knew that this would hit his mother hard. Joined at eighteen, he had been in the military just as long.

It was the third explosion that took out Tyler. He had been standing on it and hadn't even had time to yell. When Jack and Mac made it to the area, nothing but a crater could be seen. It would be another two days until the twisted remains of his dog-tags would be found.

Tyler Larson was the youngest out of ten and talked about his big family often. He was the 10th generation to sign up and the only one of his siblings to join.

End of graphic writing.

The pair stood a moment, looking at the destruction around them. Three dead, four severely injured; Jack had no doubt that the others wouldn't want to keep going. They had lost half their brothers that night.

"I don't want to do this anymore." Came the almost unheard words. Jack turned toward the youngest of what remained of their team. He saw the sadness had returned, only now it was ten times worse.

"Do what, Mac?" Jack asked, wanting to be sure that the kid wasn't thinking anything stupid. He'd seen others take their own lives after losing just one combat brother, let alone what they had lost.

"This." He gestured to the ground before them, including the terrorists that survived that the backup had tied up. "I just want to go home." He looked at Jack, and he saw that Mac really needed him then.

He flashed back to when Mac had joined. He had mentioned that he had a friend, Boza; but he wouldn't be able to understand this. The other survivors had families of their own. Not to mention the families of those that had died to comfort, to help them refocus. Mac was alone. He hadn't even met any of the others families. Jack nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder and leading him to one of the choppers.

The remainder of the unit left the country behind them as they all flew home with the coffins, three days later.

McGyver ... McGyver ...

It was at the end of the mission to find the bomber that Mac answered Jack.

"You remember asking what he did to me?" He asked, looking at the older man.

It was just him and Mac sitting on the porch at Jack's house a few days later. He nodded, wondering what the words would be.

"It wasn't just Pena that he took." Mac sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. Jack got the sense that Mac really didn't want to tell him. "He took the second family I had found over there."

Jack got the worst feeling in the pit of his stomach. "No." he said quietly, denial in his voice.

"The bombs that killed Tim, Jason and Tyler and injured the others, were his handywork."

Jack was silent as he processed that. He stood suddenly and walked around a bit, getting his breathing back to normal and keeping his emotions in check. "How do you know?"

"The bomb that Tim and I were working on that night I joined you. Simon had been tracking him at the time and had managed to get one to study. I think it was the only time he failed to set one off." Mac accepted the drink Jack handed him. "When I found the bomb near us and a couple of the others, I recognised the work. I had hoped that the bomb I threw into their ranks had killed him, but I guess he wasn't there that night."

"Why didn't you tell me.?" Jack asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Because the only way I could see it ending, was with one or all of us dead and him still getting away. And I didn't want to lose another friend; not to him, not again."

Jack processed that, knowing that the younger man was right. He would have stayed, asked those left to stick around. He knew how stubborn he was, and he would have stayed in country until they either caught the bomber, or they all died.

The pair continued to sit and stare over the landscape as the sun rose, signalling the end of one era and the start of another.

A/N: Ta Da! Finished. I hope I've ended this well. I haven't seen anything since the episode where they crash the helicopter. Australia isn't showing anything more until the show is renewed I guess.

I hope I've done the characters justice. I apologise if anything I've written has offended people or triggered anything. I have no military knowledge or experience. I have simply written this from what I read and seen over the years.

Thank you for reading.