MACKAY: A Tactical Advantage

Chapter Ten : Truth

"I became a mage at 15," she admitted. "Didn't see it coming."

Ben's head bobbed up and down. "How did you find out?"

She blinked at his silhouette, the flickering firelight behind him casting shadows. She had buried the story deep in her heart, but the image surfaced almost instantly, like it had been waiting. She licked her dry lips; they burned. "I was attacked by a refrigerator door. I walked into the kitchen for a drink, and the next thing I know, the thing knocks me out. My—Mana, I guess you call it—doesn't do a whole lot, but it has a magnetic component. It can attract or repel different kinds of metal."

Ben nodded and then, very seriously, he asked, "It knocked you out?"

Her instinct was to snap at him, but the image of her 15-year-old self staring up at her mom from the kitchen floor was clear in her mind, and it was, at that moment, a very funny memory. The laugh leapt from her in a snort and slipped into a fit of giggles that pained her ribs and stomach.

"Explains why you don't want anyone knowing," Ben jeered.

"Shut up." They laughed a bit more before quieting down.

"I don't pretend to be an expert about Mana or magic or whatever you want to call it." Ben glanced around the cave as he spoke. She appreciated his delicacy. "What I do know is that everyone's magic is different."

"What do you mean?"

"Yours has a magnetic element. Others can work with particles in the elements, some break down matter, stuff like that." Ben shrugged. "I don't know anything about those, but it stands to reason your magnetic abilities aren't all that unusual. Those nightmares, however," his eyes did not move from hers. She watched him pick at a bandage around his wrist as he studied her expression, "those are unique."

She felt heat rush to her face. "Dangerous?"

"No," his eyes broke away, and he looked at the back of his hand as he spoke. "I do know there are abilities even mages are wary of, but you don't have that."

"How did you know about the dreams?"

He glanced cautiously around again before looking at her. "Merely a suspicion. But you need help. You have to trust us, or someone else will notice."

"I'm trusting only you," she insisted.

"You're not trusting me. You're only telling me now because you might be dying, and I had already figured it out."

"You figured it out from merely a suspicion?" She didn't believe that. It's a long jump from frequent nightmares to mage. "You and Clint know more about this than..." She couldn't say "anyone she knew." It's not like the word "mage" comes up in casual conversation anywhere in her known universe.

Ben bit his lip strangely before answering. "We lived on Kiev. It's probably one of the few places in the galaxy that stores that information." Ben shrugged. "Clint actually enjoyed studying it."

A loud grunt brought their conversation to an end. Deep scraping followed, and Ben's eyes traced to the mouth of the cave, just out of Mackay's line of sight. She watched as Ben snatched his sidearm from its holster, finger resting alongside the trigger. The tension didn't last.

Familiar voices followed the sound, and Ben relaxed as soon as they came into view. Jax and Traeger were carrying something heavy between them. But Mackay couldn't quite make out what it was.

"Who is that?" Ben asked, which meant it was a person. Mackay stretched her neck to catch a glimpse, but her head didn't move. Ben also disappeared from view; all she could hear were the extra scrapes and shuffles from his boots added to theirs.

"We didn't catch his name; he already looked like this when we found him," Jax answered. Their movements finally settled. "Hey buddy, can you wake up?" Silence. "He's still alive."

"Found his ID," Traeger stated. "He is Staff Sergeant Sean Shapiro. That's a lot of S's."

"He's got a large gash on his left side, and it's infected," said Jax.

"That's explains the fever. Where'd you find him?" Ben asked.

"Found him and his hover mule around the mountain. Clint's checking out the vehicle to make sure it's still functional," Jax explained.

"Whoa," Ben breathed, and that was about all Mackay could take. She needed to see to understand. So, she tightened her gut, preparing to roll over, but the only thing that shifted were her feet. The scratch of the dirt quieted all in the cave, but she didn't stop trying. Her elbows dug into the rock at her sides, but she'd been holding her breath. Once she released to take a breath, her body went limp again.

"Didn't we talk about how moving could kill you?" Ben asked.

Through labored breaths, "I was pretending to sleep when you mentioned that."

"Then I'll repeat. Stop moving, or you'll die."

"Describe what's going on."

Jax's smiling face appeared above her. His eyes, too, were red with exhaustion, though his smile was sincere. The dimple in his right cheek beamed down at her. "Good to see you're awake."

"Can you lift me up?" she asked, but Jax shook his head. He would be one to take the "no moving" order seriously.

"That's not a knife wound, is it?" Ben interrupted putting the focus back on Shapiro.

"No, it's not," Traeger answered.

"We're going to focus on getting this guy to wake up." Ben called Jax over, and they all went silent. Except for the rustle of clothing and things being passed around, she heard nothing until Traeger appeared above her. His hesitant smile caused her heart to sink.

"Sorry, Mackay, you need to rest, and we can't worry about you right now." Jax said, reaching for her neck, his hand just out of view.

"I promise I'll stop trying to move."

Jax clenched his teeth together in a fake grin, then she felt a pinch in her neck. "For the record, I'm just following orders."

"Seriously! It's not like I'm going to get in the way. I'll just lisssss..." She tried to mumble the rest of her objections, but the words slurred, her lids closed, and she was out.