AN:

Hey guys, I'm back. This story centers around Jack and Riley, although the rest of the Phoenix team is involved as well. It was a request from Nicole Miklos, so I hope I didn't disappoint you, Nicole.

I don't own any of the characters. Sorry, for the mistakes I've made, but English is not my first language.

Chapter 1

„His social security number?"

„Are you crazy? You will NOT harass the guy, Jack! You got me?" Riley was furious.

„Hey, you don't know anything about him. He could be a mass murderer, or worse an Eagles supporter!" Jack was seriously concerned, but he tried to hide the fact by adding that last sentence.

„I'm telling you once and for all. Stay out of my love life. You are not my father." As soon as Riley had spoken the harsh words, she regretted it. She tried to smooth them over: „Look Jack, I appreciate your concern for me, I really do, but I'm a grown up. I make my own decisions as well as my own mistakes."

Jack tried to hide, how Rileys words had hurt him. He knew he overstepped the line a bit, but he couldn't help himself. He thought about Riley and Mac, and even sometimes about Bozer, as his kids. Jack always worried about them. More than they could imagine. He loved these kids dearly and it would kill him, if anything happened to one of them. Jack took a deep breath and apologized: „I'm sorry Ri, but you don't know this guy. Just promise me, to be careful and listen to your gut feeling."

Riley gave him a hug: „I promise, if you promise, not to worry so much about me, Pappa Bear."

Jack enjoyed having his girl in his arms. He tried to memorize the moment. „That's a promise I won't make, because the moment I stop worrying about you, is the moment I'm dead. Have a good time sweetheart, and if anything should happen, I'm just a phone call away."

„I know. See you tomorrow at work." Riley left the deck of Macs apartment. Jack stood there alone and was thinking.

„She's got another blind date?" Mac stepped out and handed Jack a beer.

„Yeah, and it's killing me every time she does it. I just don't get it. She's a beautiful woman with a sharp mind. Why can't she meet guys the old fashioned way at a football game or in a bar?"

„Welcome to the 21st century Jack. Relax buddy, Riley's smart, she can take care of herself pretty well." Mac tried to calm the Delta down.

Jack took a long swallow of his beer. „You're right Mac, but I think I'm gonna haul her into the gym to show her some more tricks to defend herself." He yawned. „I'm gonna go home."

„See you tomorrow brother. Try to get some sleep." Mac said as an goodbye.

The next morning the team had gathered in the war room. Jack tried to find out, how Rileys date turned out. „Did you have a nice dinner with Mr. X?"

„His name is Justin and yes, we had a pretty good time." Riley smiled mysteriously.

„You didn't take him home with you, did you?" Jack was alarmed.

„Jack what are you thinking of me? And if I did, it's nothing to you." Riley answered, her temper flaring.

Jack wanted to respond, but was cut short by Matty, who had just entered the room.

„Do you need more time to discuss your dates, or can we start working?" She asked in a sarcastic voice.

Mac stated: „What's up Matty?"

„Well, something really serious, that could have desastrous consequences, if we're not able to prevent the deal. There's a code on the black market for sale. This code is able to change the direction of a fired long-range missile. That means every long-range missile, that is fired all over the world could be deflected."

Jack whistled. „Wow, that could change the outcome of a war, or even create a new one. That's bad."

Matty agreed: „Correctly. We know, where the code is. It's at an old junkyard two hours outside of LA. We just have to get the code, before the deal is going to take place. Riley, I want you to make a copy, so we can find out, who invented it. Then you'll destroy the original."

Riley nodded. „I'm ready."

„Good. Mac you go with her. Jack will stay outside as a backup. Bozer you are in the van."

„No!" Jack disagreed. „I'm going in with her. I'm better at protecting her, if it comes down to a fight. And genius here is the best choice, if we need a distraction to get out."

Mac spoke up: „I agree with Jack, we have to consider the compound will be heavily guarded. A junkyard is the perfect location, when we need to distract the bad guys." Mac looked like a kid in a toy shop.

„Ok, you have a point blondie. There are some satelite photos of the junkyard. It's a pretty secluded area. Only a single dirt road, that is leading there. As you can see, on one side the compound borders on a river. On the other sides there is only forrest. There is a small parking lot beyond the woods for hiker. Bozer you will wait there with the van. That's the closest, we can get without risking to be spotted. Any questions? Good. Your heading out in 20. Good luck."

The team was gathered in the van, going over the last details. „I've hacked the cameras, they are running on replay now. There is only a mesh wire fence and we're in." Riley informed them.

„Ok, the trip through the woods will take us about 45 minutes at least. We should be back in 2 hours maximum," calculated Mac.

Jack checked his guns one last time and adjusted his Tac vest. „You guys are ready to go?" Everybody nodded. „Coms are working? Ok, let's go."

The trip through the woods was nasty. A lot of underbrush and thorn bushes. They remained silent except from an ocasional curse. As they neared the compound, Jack took Riley by the arm. He handed her a hunting knife. „I know, you don't want to carry a gun Ri. Put this in your boot, just in case."

Riley smiled. „Thanks Jack." She stored the knife in her boot. Meanwhile Mac had cut a decent hole into the fence. „The code has to be in the main building. I'm waiting over there, between the stack of old cars."

There were two armed guards patrolling around the building. Jack took the first one out without sound. He had choked the man unconscious and pushed him under one of the cars. The second guard turned around and was met with an iron fist, that sent him into oblivion immediately. Jack gave Riley a signal and she sprinted over to him. Together they entered the unlocked building.

They had to search every room, because they hadn't any intel where the code was. It was a long straight corridor with three doors on either side, before it turned the corner. The first four doors were the wrong ones. A kitchen, a storing room, an empty room and a bed room. They could hear voices from the next room and decided to avoid it for now. The last room looked like an office, with all the usual stuff. „Bingo!" Riley whispered and moved over to the computer and began to work. „Hurry up, Riley. I have a feeling, we don't have much time for this."

„I've rigged up something. Just tell me, when to set it off." Mac informed them over the coms.

„Copy that," Jack confirmed and observed the hall through the door, that was open a split. „How long do you need Ri?"

„I've already cracked their firewall, but the download will take at least two minutes. After that I've to install the virus, that'll destroy the code. So, three maybe four minutes in all."

Jack sighed and closed the door. „We don't have four minutes. They're coming, take cover behind the desk. Mac blow it up, now." Seconds later, there was a loud blast and angry voices were heard rushing down the hall. Jack stood behind the door his gun ready. „Good job, Mac. Stay out of sight. There are at least six guys heading out."

Mac took cover behind a crane. Jacks intel was correct. Six guys with guns at the ready were swarming out carefully. Two of them were heading in Macs direction. Mac pushed a button on his remote an the tires of a pile of cars exploded and the whole stack came crashing down.

On of the guards shouted: „Release the dogs, we have some rats here."

Dogs! Oh shit. Mac thought. „Jack be careful, when you head out they have … crap that are Rottweiler. I try to get over to the other side." Mac took off running. He tried to zigzag through the cars, but the dogs were closing in on him. The bullets flying through the air and bouncing of the junk didn't make this task any easier. Suddenly Mac had to stop, he had reached the river bank. It was really steep and Mac turned around and raised his hands. „Mac where the hell are you?" Came Jacks voice over the coms.

„Look, what we got here," one of the guards snarled. The dogs were growling and closing in on Mac. He tried to step back a little further, but the ground was getting unstable under his feet.

„Hey guys, I can explain …" Mac started, but was cut short by the bullet, that hit his upper body. He cried out and fell over backwards. Mac tumbled down the river bank right into the cold water with a splash. The river had a strong current due to the heavy rains of the last days and Macs body was washed away and out of sight in moments.

„Don't have to worry about that one. Let's go back and see, if he was alone."

While Mac had started the first explosions, Riley had finished the download. She took out the USB drive, closed it and clipped it into her hair, because it was designed as a hairclip. She had just started the upload of the virus, as the door opened and two men stormed in.

Jack stopped the first one with a punch to the throat, which sent the man down to his knees, clasping his throat gurgling. He shot the second right between the eyes, a split second before the other could pull the trigger of his gun. „Get a move Riley," Jack shouted and Riley pushed the enter button. „Ready," she answered, stepped over the dead man and followed Jack out into the hall. Four more men appeared in the corridor, blocking the way out. Jack threw himself forward right into the pile of men. He managed to knock one out with a single punch, but was kicked into the knee from the side. Jack went down as his leg gave out, but elbowed another in the gut. The guy went down with a grunt. Jack got up again, as his head was smashed into the wall with such force, that he almost passed out, he felt blood running down his face and into his right eye. He dimly heard Rileys cry of pain, as one enemy grabbed her by the hair and forced her down. That was all it took to bring him round. He threw his head back with force and broke the nose of his attacker. One of the others had recovered from the blow, he received and came at Jack again. They traded punch after punch, with Jack getting the worst of it, due to the heavy blow to his head. Jack had enough and threw his whole body into the guy, who lost his balance, he wriggled around him, brought his hands up and with a quick snap, broke the neck of the guard. Jack had just turned around, as the man with the broken nose, barreld into his middle with his head down. Jack felt his ribs crack and the air driven out of his body. He went down, but took the other guy with him, reaching down for his knife and with one swift move cut the throat of him. Jack rose to his feet panting. The guard, who was knocked out first had made it to all fours and Jack sent him back into darkness with a heavy boot to the head. Jack turned around and almost fell over as the room was spinning wildly. Riley, take care of Riley screamed his mind. He blinked to focus again and saw Riley on her knees, the last guard holding her hair with one hand and a knife in the other. He moved to make the kill, but Jack took him out with a perfect shot to the head.

Jack stumbled over to Riley and pulled her to the feet. „Are you hurt honey?" His voice was full of concern. Jack had problems to get his breathing under control. Riley shook her head, no, too shaken to speak. Jack took her by the arm and limped to the door.

Then came Macs warning over the coms. „Jack be careful, when you head out they have … crap that are Rottweiler. I try to get over to the other side." They could hear Macs heavy breathing, as he was running, over the coms. „Let's go over to the other side. Hopefully we'll meet Mac there. They probably have discovered the whole in the fence by now." They moved silently along the buildings and soon reached the fence. Jack pulled out a wire cutter and opened the fence. They heard another crash from the junkyard. Angry barking dogs and Macs voice „Hey guys, I can explain .." A shot followed by a too familiar cry of pain, rustling, breathing, moving rocks, a splah and then … nothing.

„Mac! Mac, answer me, please! Come on brother, talk to me," Jack pleaded, but it was in vain. He contacted Bozer, who had heard everything and was on stand by. „Bozer, I think Mac's been shot and has fallen into the river. You have to move and move fast buddy. The water is freezing and the current is strong. Hurry Bozer, hurry. We can't reach him from our position. We try to circle around and reach the parking lot. Matty send another van to pick us up there."

„I'm on my way." Bozer answered and tore out of the parking lot.

„Backup will be there in 30 minutes Jack, is the code secured and the original destroyed?"

„Yeah, that's the only thing that went well. Jacks pretty banged up Matty." Riley couldn't hide her concern.

„I'm fine." He wheezed.

„How bad?" came at the same time.

„Nasty head wound, maybe broken ribs and something's not right with his knee."

„Just some bruises Matty. Nothing to worry about, we're on our way, now." Jack was all business.

„Why did you play down your injuries. You look like a mess!" Riley couldn't understand.

„Well, a) it's not as bad as it looks b) I've had worse and c) there's nothing we can do about it anyway. So why don't we stop taking and get the fuck out of here." Jack was in no mood to discuss his injuries and he was too worried about Mac. He didn't even know, if his friend was still alive. The other thing, that bothered him was, that he almost had lost his girl.

Please let me know, what you think. I promise to answer every review!