Hunted Part Six
Rated: R

MacGyver lay unconscious, surrounded by bags of ice and wrapped in cold blankets, an I.V. drip providing him fluids.

“We had to work quickly to reduce his high body temperature,” the doctor said. “He’s under heavy sedation to lower his alarmingly high heart rate and will not awaken for some time. Had we not intervened when we did to administer treatment, he could have suffered a cardiac arrest. So far, he’s been responding well to treatment. We’ve been carefully monitoring his vital signs and his organs. His progress will be slow, but we believe it will be steady.”

“Any indications he could become addicted?” Pete asked, watching him sadly.

The doctor shook her head. “That we don’t know yet,” she said. “It’s possible we won’t know any lasting complications from the overdose under he regains full consciousness. I won’t lie to you, Mr. Thornton. The way the drug was administered—injection—the relatively high dose, the purity of that dose…all of it could have an impact. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

“I understand,” Pete said. “Thank you.”

The doctor nodded politely, a sympathetic smile on her face. She checked her charts once again on MacGyver and then left the room, leaving Pete and Nadine alone with him.

“If only James had chosen me first,” Nadine said, staring at MacGyver. Tears welled up in her eyes and she quickly brushed them away with trembling fingers. “I feel worthless, as if I don’t deserve to live. I let this happen to him. He could have died, and it’s my fault.”

“Don’t talk that way,” Pete said.

A nurse entered, checking on MacGyver’s I.V. She was carrying bandages and antiseptic. “The doctor told me to come and take a look at your wrists,” she said to Nadine.

“I’m fine,” Nadine said. She looked at MacGyver again, unable to remove her eyes from him. “How is he?”

“He’s stable,” the nurse said. “Nothing has changed. Now, let me look at your wrists.”

“I told you already I—

The nurse was already looking at them, and for the first time Nadine noticed how badly chafed they were, dried blood scabbing around her wrists like bright red bracelets.

“Ouch,” the nurse said, wincing as she looked at the extent of the damage. She dabbed a sterilized pad with antiseptic. “Now, this will sting.”

Nadine closed her eyes and sighed, remembering how tenderly MacGyver had tended to her scraped knee. “Go ahead, I’m ready,” she said.

Nodding, the nurse gently applied the medicine. It stung and burned mightily, but Nadine didn’t make a sound or flinch as the nurse continued. Her physical discomfort was minor in comparison to the pain she felt over watching MacGyver suffer, images of him screaming, laughing wildly and uncontrollably like a maniac, throwing himself into walls and twitching violently from convulsions still vivid in her mind, haunting her, her inability to help him tormenting her. None of them, not even the doctor, knew what his final prognosis would be after such a strong overdose, or what the outcome would mean for the rest of his life. Would it permanently affect his health? Would he develop a craving for the drug that almost killed him, a dependence that would be difficult to break? The uncertainty, the waiting—that was the pain she could barely tolerate.

“There,” the nurse said, finished bandaging. “How does that feel? Better?”

Vaguely aware of the nurse’s presence, preoccupied with concern and anxiety over MacGyver’s condition, she nodded, staring blankly, her eyes once again traveling to MacGyver’s unconscious form. “Thank you,” she mumbled.

“That should protect you from infection. While your cuts were serious, they fortunately don’t require stitches. They should heal quite nicely on their own, but they may leave some scars.”

Scars. Bullet scars, injection scars, MacGyver’s arm bruised and swollen where the needle had pierced his vein, sending him into a nightmare, into a hell where he might not recover…Nadine had seen too many scars. She was tired, fed up. She didn’t want to see them any more.

“Thank you,” she said again, staring distantly, her voice sounding mechanical as if it were not her own.

The nurse nodded and then left the room. Pete watched her during the whole time the nurse was helping her, concerned. “Are you all right?” He asked.

“I think so,” Nadine said, more responsive to him than she was to the nurse. She turned to look at him, her eyes once again filled with tears. “No, actually, I’m not,” she said. She felt comfortable around MacGyver’s employer. She could be honest with him.

Pete reached out and gently grabbed her shoulders. “Look, I know this isn’t easy for any of us,” he said, glancing at MacGyver. He then turned back to her, his eyes earnest and sincere. “I’ve visited him here in the emergency room more often than I’d care to remember. I will tell you this about him, though—he’s got the strongest, most stubborn wills I have ever seen. He will pull through this. You have to believe that. I know from experience, unfortunately. But he will. I know it.”

Nadine nodded and sniffed, looking down at the bland, tiled floor, worn to a dull finish from numerous floor treatments.

“Come on,” Pete said, looking at MacGyver again. “I know it’s hard to leave him, but he’s doing fine, as well as can be expected given the circumstances, and he needs rest. I think it would do us both some good if we stepped away from this crisis for awhile and talked without him being such a strong presence in the background. You can tell me what you know about James Mondragon’s syndicate, and we can both try to relax. It’s over now, Nadine. You’ll be protected. MacGyver will recover. Believe it.”

Nadine nodded again, dabbing her eyes. Her life had never been easy, but she had always managed to overcome her adversity and survive. She was a survivor. She knew MacGyver was, as well. She had known that the moment she carried him onto her yacht, subsidized by drug money, almost drowned and bleeding to death. She had watched him fight. He would do it again, but this time she wondered if the challenges would be far too great.

“All right,” she said quietly.

Pete wrapped his arm around her supportively. “We can talk in my office. It’s secure there,” he said. “The hospital will inform and update us on MacGyver’s condition. It’ll be fine. Remember, it’s over now.”

***

Pete’s office was warm and inviting compared to the cold, sterile environment of the hospital. Both Nadine and Pete were still worried about MacGyver, but without his silent, constant presence to distract them, to remind them of the seriousness of his condition, they were able to discuss James Mondragon’s drug operation freely. Nadine told him everything she knew, her information proving to be a valuable resource. She knew all about his schedules, his smuggling, money laundering, contacts, how his business served as a clever front to conceal his illegal activities so he could operate, flourish, and thrive without law enforcement suspecting anything, where he hid his supplies, and his suppliers, linking him to several well known drug cartels. Pete learned more from her than he had from months of undercover work on MacGyver’s part, which made him feel guilty again about sending him in there, only to get shot, overdosed on cocaine, and now fighting for his life, addiction possible, turning him into a junkie, a man desperate for the product he had tried to expose as Mondragon’s main source of income, power, and influence, a dangerous, poisonous product that had nearly killed him. At least his efforts had paid off through meeting Nadine. He had to remind himself that had MacGyver not met her, they would never have been as far along as they were in the investigation, leading to cooperation with other federal agencies and the arrests of Mondragon and several key members of his syndicate.

“I felt ashamed when I found out,” Nadine said. “I felt stupid. I should have known. Maybe I had all along. He told me he loved me, treated me well…I thought he was honest. Then it turns out that he turned me into one of his customers, hooking me not on cocaine but another kind of servitude where I was dependent on him for survival. He imprisoned me with the illusion of love, wealth, security, glamour…once I found out his true identity, his real occupation, I knew he would kill me if I ever told anyone else. I heard rumors of what he’d done to people, informants who had turned on him and tried to report his activities to the police. I knew he had killed before, many times, covering up mysterious deaths and disappearances with convenient ‘accidents’ and excuses. If he had no qualms about killing them, why should he care about killing me? He told me he loved me, but that was a false declaration. I was his trophy, his property, his whore, something he felt he deserved and could control, showing me off to his admirers to arouse their jealousy, make him feel good about himself and his nefarious profession. He was an addict as well, Mr. Thornton—not to his product either, but to power. He lusted after it more than he lusted after me. Power, control, domination—those were his interests. When I saw MacGyver that night, shot, near death, I knew it was another hit performed by James personally, leaving his mark, letting people know that they had cause to fear and respect him, otherwise they would end up the same way. It was a frightening, terrible existence. I felt helpless and trapped, but something changed when I rescued MacGyver that night. I knew I had to stop him, damn the consequences.”

“It’s an admirable, brave thing you’re doing, Nadine,” Pete said. “I want you to know that you won’t have to live in fear any longer. You’ll have your freedom in exchange for your testimony. You’ll be protected for exposing his syndicate. You’ll be rewarded richly for your efforts, I assure you. The government is grateful for your cooperation.”

“Yeah, well I’m not doing this for a reward,” Nadine said. “I’m tired of rewards. They’re meaningless. James thought he could reward me for my silence with the trappings of wealth—security, luxury.” She shook her head in disgust. “No, I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do, because I couldn’t stand back any longer and watch him ruin people’s lives for a profit. I’m also doing this because of MacGyver. I love him, Pete. He tried to stop James, and I helped him finish what he started. After this is over I just want a nice, simple, clean life, one perhaps with complications now and then, as life is supposed to be, problems not solved by having money thrown at them. I want to live like a human being again, not some glorified object, a rare beast in a crystal menagerie on display.” She looked down at her bandages and then back up at him. “I want to be with MacGyver, Pete. I want to live with him if possible. I know he loves me, too.”

“I want him to be happy, don’t misunderstand,” Pete said. “I want you both to be happy. But…” his voice cut off as tears threatened. All this time he had wanted Mac to love someone, and now that he had, he had to take her away from him. He sighed. “Miss Easton, it’s complicated…”

“I know what you’re saying,” Nadine said. “I can’t see him anymore when this is over, can I?”

“I’m sorry…if there was some way we could arrange it…MacGyver’s life has already been threatened…”

“I understand,” Nadine said sadly. “The last thing I would want to do is endanger his life. Look at what has already happened because of me. I’ve sure made a mess of things, haven’t I?” She struggled with more tears. “You’re probably right. The greatest gift I could give him to show him I love him is to disappear from his life.”

“I’m sorry...Nadine, I don’t mean it that way. I mean, I’m sure you love him. I want nothing more than for you two to be happy, but…”

“Pete, it’s not your fault.” She looked at him, giving him a pitiful smile, her quivering lips straining to make it. “Maybe we can meet on occasion at an undisclosed location in the mountains where this never happened, where we can become other people for awhile, isolated from the world…”

Pete’s phone rang.

“You’d better answer that,” she said, wiping her eyes.

“Are you going to be all right?”

“Forget about me. It could be the hospital. Answer it.”

Pete watched her for awhile, amazed by her incredible strength and vulnerability, how they combined and played off one another. In some ways, she reminded him of MacGyver. He could see why they would have a connection. Turning from her, he answered the phone.

“Thornton here. Yes? Really? Okay. We’ll be there in a moment.” He hung up the phone and turned back to Nadine. “It’s MacGyver,” he said, his face drained of color, shock registering in his eyes, revealing his dread, his worst fears realized. “There could be a problem.”

To be continued…

Ack!! Mac in a hospital bed! Mac in a hospital bed!

O_o He should really move from the house boat and get a permanent hospital room XD

Bye-bye Nadine! (I'm evil!! >:3 )

Eek! More problems!!! (hides under the bed with cats). This story is so addictive I'm starting to think is writen with cocaine programs! XD I'm too hyper today, sorry! I'll behave better, I promise.

I'm so glad you're enjoying this. I felt this part dragged a bit and was a little boring, but I have to slow the action sometimes and explain things. I'm still working on what will happen next to poor Mac , so I hope you'll join me next weekend!

Defenitely!!
*glomps you*

I really enjoy this weekend schedule that you set up. This way I can concentrate in my school and job stuff during the week and then give myself a prize by reading your stories on the weekend. Tons of hugs for you, MacsChick. Have a nice week as well! *hug*

Absolutely loving this story MacsChick.

No way was it boring or slow, but it did give us a chance to catch our breath ready to find out what's happening with Mac.

OMG have to hold my breath again until I can find out.

So looking forward to the weekend

don't worry macschic, your stories are never boring you could write a story that would tell about Mac brushing his teeth and i think you would write it so well that it would be good
and i should really try to sleep more so that my messages would have better quality...
well, anyway nice chapter and i will be here with sharjan holding my breath till the next chapter so there might be two blue people here next weekend...

*stares at dragonfly and sharjam blue faces*

*sigh*

*bring oxigen tanks to this forum*

(Can't allow the few fans to die, right?)

That's a really intriguing story. And what a cliffhanger.

Need to go to read the next part (That's the good thing when reading a story after it's completed, hehe)

Awesome writing.

Come on, Mac, you gotta pull through!

Great chapter!