EpilogueJo watched Mac through the glass partitions of the AV lab. She could just make out the grainy image of a young man in combat dress on the screen in front of him. She couldn't hear the words but the young man's posture spoke of his sadness. Jo could see a muscle twitch in Mac's jaw, his stance conveying the tension of the moment. Jo sensed Sheldon come up behind her.
"James Donnelly?" he asked. She nodded. They watched as the young man straightened up and nodded. He said something to Mac who gave a small smile albeit one tinged with sadness. Then the young man on the screen drew his hand up in a salute which Mac returned before pressing a button to end the video call.
Sheldon placed a newspaper in front of her. "See this?" He pointed at a side-line. 'Diplomat's brother in freak car accident.' Jo sighed as she read the article.
"Has Mac seen it?" she asked.
Sheldon shook his head. "I think he's had enough for today."
Danny and Lindsay wandered in. "So you guys ready?"
"Oh yeah!" Jo turned, a wicked little smile on her face. "This should be fun!"
Forty minutes later Jo dragged Mac into the bar. Mac screwed his face up as he heard Simon's raucous laughter and saw the open-eyed astonishment on the faces of his team who were all gathered around some high-tables that had been pulled together.
"Ah gorgeous lady, come join us!" Simon's voice boomed around the empty bar. "Louise, a glass of wine if you please and Mac's usual. I was just about to tell everyone about the time Mac earned his Silver Star."
Mac grimaced. "Simon!" Mac's voice held a warning but one Simon Yates was obviously happy to ignore as was Jonathan Finch who came up and slapped Mac on the shoulder oblivious to the wince it elicited.
"Ah come on Mac. No need for modesty. It was thoroughly well deserved." Jonathan grinned at his former C.O. as he pushed towards him towards a seat.
"Yeah come on Mac. Don't spoil the fun. How come you've never said anything about it?" Danny was clearly enjoying himself.
"It was nothing." muttered Mac as he climbed onto the bar stool. He looked distinctly embarrassed.
"There you go Major." Louise gazed at Mac admiringly as she placed a beer in front of him. "Can I get you another one Adam?"
Mac glanced across as his young lab tech who was blushing and fiddling with his glass. He looked back at Louise who was smiling shyly at Adam. "He'd love one. Drinks are on me." answered Mac hoping to draw the conversation away from Simon's story but it wasn't to be. Simon was in full flow.
"So as I was saying … there we were caught out in the open. The transport immobilized. Two of us wounded. There was no way back and then this sand storm blew in ..."
"Dust storm!" Mac cleared his throat as everyone turned to look at him. "Strictly speaking as there wasn't actually any sand present, it was a dust storm..." Simon threw Mac a dirty look.
" ...And then this DUST storm blew in. We knew we were in a tight spot as the other platoons were deployed in a pincer movement and would have taken some time to reach us. Orders came down to fight it out. There was no way we could get to and deploy the main gun as there was a whole contingent of enemy soldiers holed up in an elevated bunker." Simon was getting into his rhythm by this point and everyone was on tenterhooks, everyone except Mac that is.
"A few!" Mac looked at Simon his face serious but his eyes twinkling. "Strictly speaking a whole contingent makes it sound like there was a lot of them. Better to say … a few." As everyone turned to look at Mac sitting there with a supercilious look on his face and then at Simon who looked like he was about to strangle Mac, they began to catch on that this was some kind of game.
"...there was a NUMBER of enemy soldiers holed up in an elevated bunker! ... Time was of the essence. " Simon's voice took on a dramatic tone as he drew them back into his tale. "Cole was badly injured and needed urgent medical treatment. The threat from the bunker had to be neutralised." His audience hung on his every word. "The Major ordered us ..."
"Captain!" Mac interjected, earning another glare from Simon and his audience. "I wasn't promoted to Major until after that campaign. Strictly speaking I was a Captain at the time..." Simon gestured with both hands pointing towards his chest. With a condescending look Mac waved at him to continue and reached for his beer, a small smile playing on his lips.
"The CAPTAIN ordered us hunker down and sent the rest of the convoy to take up position on the hillside and provide us with covering fire. By this time you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The storm seemed to continue for hours, battering the transport, choking us with dust. All night we remained inside with the enemy taking pot shots at us, none of us knowing whether the next bullet would have our name on it." Simon was really ramping up the drama determined to get his story told although he kept one eye on Mac just to ensure he didn't sabotage it any further. "Of course we had no idea what the CAPTAIN was planning until the storm began to clear. And then all of a sudden the bunker exploded. Next thing we knew medivac's could be seen on the horizon and reinforcements were tearing towards us. We were saved."
Simon knew he had his audience in the palm of his hand. They were all leaning towards him eager to hear how Mac had managed to do it. "Unbeknownst to us, in the midst of the raging storm the Captain armed only with a combat knife..."
"I had grenades and a rifle!" Mac was incredulous. However Simon continued undeterred.
"...had low crawled 200 yards ..."
" It wasn't 200 yards ..." spluttered Mac.
"...through a minefield … to single-handedly take out the enemy bunker. … And, as the storm abated, rise like a Fata Morgana in the morning sun." Simon paused his hand in the air. Everyone fell silent bemused looks on their faces.
Mac and Jonathan were staring at him in amazement. "Fata Morgana?" they asked in unison.
Simon looked at them both. "A little too much …?" he asked sheepishly. Mac and Jonathan nodded slowly. "Oh I thought it sounded better than mirage." He looked disappointed.
"Oh I thought it added a rather nice touch of abstract surrealism." Sid patted Simon on the shoulder.
"Thank you Sid. I'm glad someone appreciates my efforts at poetic dialogue. And it's a true story folks. Right how about a second round?" Simon hopped off his stool and called for Louise as Jonathan muttered something to Mac about Simon's stories getting more over the top with every telling. Mac chuckled. He reached for his beer as Jonathan joined Simon at the bar. Mac's fingers had barely touched the glass when he noticed that the rest of his team were staring at him strangely.
"You crawled across a minefield?" Lindsay asked.
Mac looked a little put out. "Well er ..." He hesitated.
"As in land mines?" added Danny.
Mac opened his mouth and closed it again.
Don looked at him. "Strictly speaking?" Mac grimaced hearing his words repeated back at him.
"Strictly speaking … there might have been … a few." Mac blushed looking distinctly uncomfortable.
"How did you know where they were?" Adam looked horrified.
Mac looked at him intently for a second. "I didn't. To be honest, if I'd have known there were any at all I'd have gone for plan B."
"What the hell was plan B?" spluttered Don.
"Rappelling down the escarpment and tossing a grenade through one of the gun slits."
"Hey." called Jonathan from the bar. "Personally I thought you should have gone for plan C."
As everyone twisted around to look at Jonathan, Mac tried to suppress a grin. "No that never would have worked! ... Besides ... where the hell was I going to get a trampoline in the middle of the desert?"
As the others finally worked out that this was some form of soldier humour, Jo smiled at Mac knowing it was mostly a coping mechanism. She reached out and put her hand on Mac's shoulder leaning in towards him "You certainly know how to pull out all the stops when it comes to dramatic rescues."
Mac turned to look at her. A small enigmatic smile curved his lips as he too leaned closer and whispered in her ear. "Only for you." It was then Jo's turn to blush though whether it was from his words or his fingers brushing gently over her thigh under the table it was hard to say.
Simon approached and pushed a tray of drinks onto the table. "Now let me tell you about the time we were sent to Liberia." This time both Mac and Jonathan buried their faces in their hands in despair.
"SIMON!"
The End – Thank you for reading and a special thank you to all those who left me reviews.
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