When It Goes Too Far

Chapter 17

24 hours later.... 8 hours left, Third Person POV

"We've got 8 hours left to find her and you're telling me the closest we are is a fucking 2 block radius?! What the hell have we been doing then?" Mac raised his voice, causing everyone in the room to shrink back ever so slightly. Jack, Riley, Bozer and Maddy all knew he was under amounts of stress that none of them could ever imagine. That's why they didn't think about his frequent freakouts over the past 24 hours, much. This stress would kill him before they ever found Raelynn.

"We're closer than we were 10 hours ago. We're doing everything we can to search those blocks. Hopefully we-" Jack winced once he said the word hopefully. Oh god, this wasn't going to go well.

"So these past 40 hours have been just so we HOPEFULLY find her! You know, if you didn't think we were going to find her, why didn't you just tell me before leading me on, huh?" Mac snapped at the four of them. No one really knew what to say. What could you say in this situation? Sorry, we've got 8 hours to find the love of your life and we're most likely not going to be able to do it.

Maddie narrowed her eyes at Mac, having enough of his shit. She got that he was going through a hard time, she understands that he is. That doesn't mean she had to take him snapping at everyone in the room.

"Mac, I suggest you take it down a notch before your ass gets grounded."

"Take it down a notch?!"

"You know what? Never mind. You're grounded at Phoenix until we find Raelynn. Everyone in this room, including yourself, is doing everything they can to find her." With that, Maddie huffed and walked out of the room.

With a wide look in his eyes, Mac soon followed, slamming the door behind him as he left. Jack, Bozer, and Riley all looked at each other, none of them saying anything until Jack was the first to speak.

"I'll go talk to him, see if I can get him to pull his head out of his ass."

(Mac's POV)

I've never been the type of man to give up, or at least I like to think of myself as that type of person. I've saved the world more times than I care to count, I've broken into countries that should have gotten me killed, not to mention I DISFUSED BOMBS! I can do all of those things, but I can't even save my girlfriend from certain death? What kind of person does that make me? And now I've gotten grounded, which pretty much means I'm sitting twiddling my thumbs, praying to god that they find her before the 8 hours is up.

I sat on the floor, my back against the wall as I put my head in my hands. I only brought my head up when I heard a door opening, then closing very slowly. Jack began making his way towards me, a smile slowly starting to creep its way onto his face.

"Well, I'll be damned. I'm usually the one to let my anger get in the way of things. This is a new one for me." Jack came to sit next to me, slowly sliding his back down the wall.

"The past 40 hours have just been FULL of new experiences." I could tell that Jack wanted to chuckle, but based on the situation, it was probably best that he didn't.

We let the silence fill the space around us as we stared at the wall that was in front of both of us. I don't know what it was, the silence or the fact that I was near to the closest people to me that I trust, but a few tears started to make its way down my face.

"I'm not angry Jack, well, not as angry as everyone thinks I am. I just- disappointed in myself. I work for one of, if not the most secretive branch of the government and I can't even protect my girlfriend while she goes to work! What kind of person does that make me?!"