Those We Gather Close

By: Ridley C. James

A/N: Sorry the update is a little late. I am trying to post a chapter at least each week. This one is important in that it explains and sets up some things but I hope you enjoy it just the same. Thank you for all the kind reviews that I have not gotten back to yet. I promise to be more on top of things soon. I do however have a missing scene for this past Friday's episode coming up as a giant thank you. Keep an eye out for Schrodinger's Dad and I will try to have a new chapter posted on this one soon. Thanks to Mary who took time from her relaxing weekend and holiday baking to make this better. Mike Briar is Gib's creation. She nicely lets me borrow him.

RcJ

"I asked you a question." Mac took a step towards Cage, emboldened when she retreated, seeming to recognize that she wasn't currently dealing with the mild-mannered, thought-focused man she'd come to know. It was a mistake Mac counted on most people making about him, that just because he chose to use his intelligence nine times out of ten instead of brute force, didn't mean he wasn't completely capable and competent of becoming physically engaged if the threat was high enough. His partner being in jeopardy was by far enough motivation and he recalled one of Cage's first revelations about herself. She'd confidently explained to Jack she could be a person's best friend, or his worst nightmare. Mac hadn't thought about it too much, but he supposed they were alike in that manner. He might have detested violence, but he was not hypocrite enough to believe himself above it. The fact that being angry kept the gut-clenching worry about Jack at bay for a little longer was another upside.

"I believe you accused me of some wrong doing." Cage folded her arms over her chest, holding her ground now. She lifted her chin. "I didn't hear a question. You of all people should understand the difference in an interrogative and declarative statement."

Mac clenched his fists and took another step towards his newest teammate. He found it easier to be pissed than afraid, which is why he'd much rather focus on the wrath he was feeling than the fear for what could currently be happening to Jack. Typically Mac didn't do either emotion well, his default fell somewhere between even-keeled and logical. Instead of off the cuff reactions, Mac tended towards solution focused responses. It's what made him an excellent EOD.

Defusing bombs demanded one be level-headed and steady, with a light, purposive touch even in the most combustible of situations. The same skills were required of a sniper, and although many thought Jack Dalton and Angus MacGyver were quite opposites, they could in fact be very similar when it came to their particular skill sets. Jack, just tended to swing the full pendulum when it came to facing situations that didn't require him to be behind the scope of a rifle. Mac, on the other hand, often stayed true to his professional nature, except when he didn't.

"I don't have time to play games with you." Mac's gaze never left Cage's, his eyes narrowing. He could feel his pulse beating in his throat. "I need to know what you told Briar and what it has to do with Jack being arrested."

"Mac, do you mind telling me why you think Cage has anything to do with Mike Briar or this latest situation, because if you're jumping at shadows…" Matty's gaze shifted from one agent to the other.

"Sutton called me Mac's little sister." Riley was the one to speak up. She glanced at Mac, whose steady gaze was enough of an answer for her to turn on Cage, her mind making the same leap his had upon hearing Sutton repeat Cage's observation about their team dynamics. Mac had also been privy to the race of emotion that had flashed through Cage's gaze at Sutton's casual, and obviously intentional use of the term. She was caught off guard, and looked a bit gutted. "You called me that at the casino when you were treating us like pieces of a puzzle you were trying to put together," Riley continued.

"It's not a leap of the imagination to peg you as such, Riley," Cage explained, calmly. Her eyes staying on Mac. "Anyone who's around Phoenix very long can surmise that Jack isn't some crazy uncle figure but one of a pseudo father, specifically to you and also to Mac."

"Only Franklin Sutton hasn't been around Phoenix." Matty tilted her head, also regarding Cage with a sense of distrust. "Not many agents here are privy to the intricacies of Mac's team. I know this because I asked around-a lot-before I accepted the job of director. I got nothing more than a recanting of facts, such as Mac and Jack's military records, their stats in the field, and Riley and Bozer's background checks."

"Sutton obviously knows Jack personally," Cage pointed out rather weakly, obviously grasping at straws. Mac saw something flickering in her eyes for just a second but it was gone before he could pin down it's base emotion. "It's not out of the realm of possibility that he extrapolated such an assumption from knowing what kind of man Jack is and how he relates to his teammates in a family hierarchy."

"Stop lying!" Mac snapped, tired of the verbal cat and mouse exchange. They were wasting time. Time they needed to get Jack out of whatever Briar had planned. Cage might be the expert at spotting obfuscation but Mac had become well-versed in detecting insincerity. It had become a skill he'd never hoped to need, especially one he'd have to use within his inner circle, but Nikki's betrayal had made a very strong impression, Thornton driving home the point. "You're not helping your case. Just tell me."

"Mac, take it easy," Bozer stepped to his side. "Maybe she's telling the truth. I know you're worried about Jack. We all are, but…"

"Really, Bozer?" Mac glared at his best friend, feeling the illogical sting of betrayal. Especially when remembering Bozer was the suspicious one when Cage showed up that first day in the War Room, his reaction rightfully colored by what had recently transpired with The Organization. "Have you forgotten Nikki and Thornton? How about the good doctor Murdoc arranged to take care of you?" It was a low blow, but Mac didn't have time to coddle his roommate or to use the kid gloves he'd kept on the last year Bozer had been at Phoenix. If he wanted to be an agent, Mac was going to start treating him like a colleague and not someone he needed to buffer. "We don't know her, and she obviously knows Mike Briar."

"You're right, I do know Briar, but I have no idea who Clay Craddock is nor do I have any information about what just happened with Jack."

"Clay Craddock was Jack's first handler in the CIA," Matty supplied, glancing cautiously to Mac. It was clear she had read the file on what had happened in Cairo. He wasn't surprised considering Jack had asked her to investigate Briar. "Craddock was rather new to 'talent spotting' and Jack was one of his first recruits. They worked together for a few years before I came onto the scene."

"Recruiting to the CIA is complex." Mac spoke up, attempting to explain for Bozer and Riley just how relevant the fact Craddock had recruited Jack was to what had happened many years later. The man's betrayal was beyond personal. He worked hard to distance himself from the rush of unpleasant feelings that thinking about Craddock brought. Mac could feel his heart speeding up but for Jack's sake he had to stay detached, a monumental effort not made easier by the fact Jack was usually his touchstone when it came to chasing away the demons that Craddock and Cairo summoned. "Case officers like Craddock manage human agents, they spot potential recruits, train them in the tradecraft. They go about that by spending time getting to know them and their strengths and weaknesses before they ever offer them a position." Mac had tried not to look at anyone but now his gaze shifted to Bozer and Riley. "Craddock recruited Jack from Delta. They were friends before Jack agreed to come on. Jack's relationship with him was complicated to say the least."

"As mine is with Briar."

"Wait," Mac raised a hand, his hard gaze going form Cage to zero in on Matty. "Mike Briar recruited her? He was Cage's handler?"

"He did and he was," Cage responded, although Mac's gaze never left Matty. "I didn't think my past affiliations were so important when I was asked to join your team, and being former CIA, I assumed Jack knew." Her voice was hard.

"But you knew Jack would have never been so opened arms and accepting if he had known the truth." Mac continued to watch their director. As usual the woman was a stone fortress. "How could you not tell us-tell Jack-that bit of information?"

"I think everyone deserves a second chance, Blondie, and you know as well as I do Jack would have let the very mention of Briar set his mind to whirring with all sorts of conspiracy theories." Matty returned Mac's glare with one of her own. It held no room for reproach, nor was it apologetic. "It was a need to know piece of information I didn't feel any of you needed to know considering our dealings with Briar have been less than pleasant and I wanted Cage to have a fair shot as I knew she'd be an asset."

"Mexico made it relevant, Matty." Mac wasn't sure just what Cage had over Matty or what their relationship in the past had been, but this felt a bit like a betrayal to the relationship their director had forged with their team. For a second Mac's head was swirling – how could a normal day, one that he had been looking forward to for weeks, become so screwed up? "Our current and still on-going, off the books, investigation into Briar made it relevant."

Mac had been taken prisoner in Mexico after Matty had sent him there with another agent. Tortured for information regarding a book that allegedly contained a list of names, rouge agents and supposed traitors. Briar had been on the scene and Mac was convinced he'd been giving the orders to the men who'd not only questioned Mac, but killed the man Mac was supposed to meet up with to collect the book.

"Matty and I reconnected because of her investigation," Cage interjected as if that piece of information might put her in a better light. On the contrary, in Mac's eyes at least, it proved his point. "Our paths had crossed before and she came to me with questions about Briar, thinking I might have some light to shed on his current state of affairs."

"But she hadn't had contact with him in over a year," Matty's tone was emphatic. "Disappointing for my investigation, but good for Cage when she later came to me about helping her with the rescue mission. I owed her a favor considering she pointed me to the people who had been dealing with Briar."

"Although this is all really interesting in a screwed up 'spy games' kind of way," Riley interrupted, her arms crossing over her chest. "I don't see how it's helping Jack or answering Mac's first question about Cage betraying us."

"I didn't betray anyone, or at least I didn't do so intentionally." Cage's words were lacking their defiant tone from before.

"What does that mean?" Bozer asked before Mac could. "I might be the newbie to this work, but even I know you don't just stumble on an opportunity to screw over your friends. Nikki and Thornton had to work at it for a while."

"Briar contacted me a few weeks back, after our trip to The Bermuda Triangle and our run in with Harper Hayes." Cage sighed, avoiding Mac's eyes. "He asked to meet up for drinks under the premise of discussing my impression of the prisoner. Briar wanted to pick my brain for ways to best go about interrogating her seeing as how I'd had an up close encounter with her."

"He what?" Matty looked genuinely caught off guard, the emotion of surprise not one Mac tended to associate with their director. On the contrary he'd learned early on that Matty liked things to go as she expected them. Going off book was not looked upon favorably especially by one of her team. "You didn't tell me any of this."

"Maybe she thought it was a bit of need to know information you didn't need to know," Mac offered, hoping Matty understood that she'd unknowingly set that precedent herself and was a hypocrite if she thought Cage should have come to her immediately.

"Can it, Baby Einstein." Matty moved toe to toe with Cage. "Did Briar ask you about our people?"

"Not directly." Cage shifted. "Looking back now I can see that some of the things he did toss out might have been baiting statements to perhaps test the waters on just how well I'd come to know each of you."

"Meaning he pumped you for information and you maybe said more than you'd intended, which is why you didn't want to tell Matty about it." Mac remembered how Cage had left his house on Halloween, begging off from Penny's party when Bozer and Riley asked her to go with them after all the candy had been given out. She'd also turned down Jack's invitation to hang out with him and Mac for movies and pizza.

"When Matty came to me about Briar she never eluded to the fact that Briar was a threat to your team, or that he and Jack had history. I honestly didn't' think it was a big deal." Cage sent a quick glance to their director before returning her gaze to Mac. "So, I might have had a little too much wine, and after the unpleasant business in the tank…"

"You slept with him." Riley's statement had all eyes going to her, Bozer's bulging a bit at the out of the blue revelation. She kept her heated gaze locked on Cage. "That's why you didn't make a point of mentioning it to Matty, because you didn't want to explain why you slipped up and fell right into bed with your old boss. That verbal walk of shame wouldn't have been pleasant."

Cage didn't deny Riley's accusation, but her features hardened. "I didn't realize my personal life was under scrutiny by our team or that I had to report my off the clock activities to any of you."

"So much for not fishing off the company pier." Mac had not seen that one coming but it made a sick sort of sense. As far as he knew Cage had no connections or family nearby. The near drowning had obviously shaken her and any familiarity-especially that of an old lover- would have brought a feeling of comfort.

"Who do you think taught me that lesson?" Something closely resembling hurt rolled through Cage's icy eyes before they reverted to their typical aloofness.

"So, you literally screwed us over." Bozer shook his head. "Damn."

Matty shot Bozer a sidelong glance that spoke to him canning his play on words before focusing her full attention on Cage. "One, gross. I thought you had better taste. Two, you know not to put yourself in a compromising position-no pun intended-with someone like Mike Briar. What the hell were you thinking, Samantha?"

"Who cares what she was thinking." Mac was tired of wasting time. Dread had once again won over the anger he was feeling, especially in light of what they had just found out. It made it harder to make Cage the sole focus for his fury. He wanted to give Cage the benefit of the doubt, but wasn't in the currently in the right frame of mind to do so. She wasn't the first person to give into urges that were blatantly self-destructive. He wasn't about to throw a stone, not when he'd so quickly slept with Nikki, knowing full and well she was a liar and prone to manipulate those around her to accomplish whatever goal she set, but his only focus at the moment was helping his partner. "I just want to know what she told Briar."

"I told you that Briar didn't ask anything specific. I spoke in generalities, about the same things we'd been discussing the previous weeks. How I found it fascinating and novel that you functioned as a pseudo family." Cage looked from Mac to Bozer, Riley and then finally Matty. "You have to believe me that I wouldn't betray any of you purposively, not after you took a chance on me."

"But with Jack out of the way maybe you believe you can step into the role as tactical leader," Riley said almost matter of factly. Mac knew out of all of them, Riley had been the hardest sell on Cage. For all of Bozer's attempts to be guarded, it wasn't in his nature to hold people at arms lengths for any amount of time. He'd made more friends at Phoenix in the short time he had been there than Mac had in the years he'd been with the foundation. Jack had surprisingly welcomed Cage, and even Mac had started to relax his guard. Riley was still sitting on the fence. "Don't even pretend it doesn't irk you to follow his orders after you've been used to being in charge. You've told me as much, all in the name of girl power-right?"

"I respect Jack, despite him acting like a very large child at times," Cage returned. "And I don't need any assistance in proving I'm qualified to lead in the field. I'm as skilled as any man, more than most."

"Briar obviously thought our interaction with Harper Hayes would give him a plausible excuse to reach out to Cage." Mac brought the conversation back to the issue at hand. A part of him did wish that Cage was innocent and had been screwed over just like the rest of them. They had experienced enough loss and betrayal to last for a really long time. "Maybe he was testing the waters to see if Cage knew anything about our search for the notebook or how close we were to finding it."

"As Cage pointed out I never talked with her about the specifics of why I was curious about Briar's recent missions." Matty glanced around the room. "In fact, only you and Jack have been briefed about our progress-or lack thereof in our search."

"Briar never asked anything about a notebook," Cage added, her eyes going from Matty back to Mac. "As I've said before, he didn't inquire about anything that made me suspicious of his motives."

"Which only proves how smart he can be." Mac could see Briar grasping the opportunity that had fallen into his lap when they'd captured Harper Hayes. The man had carefully put out feelers to see what Cage knew, cautious enough not to alert them. The drunk hook up was brilliant actually, certain insurance Cage wouldn't be so forthright in mentioning their serendipitous rendezvous. "It could be that he realized quickly you hadn't been at Phoenix long enough to be a useful source."

"What's so special about a notebook that Briar would go to such lengths to get it?" Bozer asked, sitting down with a sigh. "I'm beginning to feel like I missed the punch line."

"We believe the notebook contains the names of rogue agents across the board-a sort of Who's Who of traitors." Matty glanced at Mac. "I sent Mac to meet with a contact over six months ago who claimed to have it in his possession."

"Was that the mission with Agent Sang?" Riley arched a brow in Mac's direction and Mac nodded grimly.

"The one Jack didn't know about," Bozer clarified, the look he flicked towards Matty showing he still disapproved of the move. "The same one in which you were taken hostage and injured."

"It was," Mac nodded, glancing at his father's watch, hoping General Hammond was still in his office considering the time difference in D.C. His anger was abating, leaving him jumpy and agitated. The need to finally act growing stronger by the minute.

"So how does Briar play into all of this?" Cage asked.

Mac's building distrust of their teammate might have been unfair and completely inflated because of what had just transpired with Jack but he couldn't bring himself to abandon his caution in giving her any more ammunition. When he remained silent, Matty sighed, giving him a hard glare.

"We have reason to believe Briar was in Mexico at the same time Mac was there. It's possible he could be tied to the death of our contact, as well as having good reasons to want to get his hands on the notebook before anyone else does as well."

"Meaning you believe it's quite possible he's on the list." Cage looked doubtful. "You really think he created this incident with Jack as a means of what? Discouraging your investigation into his connection to the notebook?"

"Whatever Briar's endgame is, I can guarantee you Jack's arrest is no coincidence especially seeing how Briar is the investigating operations officer in charge." Mac had no qualms imagining Briar to be devious and resourceful enough to devise such an elaborate and timely scheme. "Maybe he was afraid we were getting close to tracking down the location of the notebook."

"If he was, his fears were unfounded. My people have run in to one dead end after another. It's possible there's something there that the other analysts have missed but as far as I know, there has been no other mention of the notebook in the intelligence community and any leads on the dead informant are as about as cold as he is down in the morgue." Matty nodded to their computer tech. "Maybe Riley can have more luck. I'm afraid your trip to Canada will have to wait."

"It's okay," Riley nodded, glancing to Mac. "Jack's family and I won't be going anywhere until he's home."

"Speaking of bringing Jack home, surely this Briar can't just trump a bunch of charges up and pin our man as a murderer." Bozer looked hopefully from Mac to Matty. "Can't you just get him a good lawyer to prove Jack's being set up?"

"Only he's not innocent, is he?" Cage folded her arms across her chest, her gaze holding Mac's. "Jack killed Craddock in cold blood just like Sutton said." It wasn't a question.

"It's complicated." Mac wasn't about to tell a story that was only his partner's to share, especially to a person he still wasn't completely sure was on their side. "Let's just say Jack did what he thought he had to do and leave it at that."

"What about this witness that Sutton mentioned?" Matty asked, sparing Mac any further explanation. "The one who supposedly provided you with an airtight alibi?"

"There was only one other person who was with us in Cairo." Mac had been fighting off a feeling of dread since Sutton had explained why Mac wasn't being arrested right along with Jack. "Nikki Carpenter."

"Well this just keeps getting better." Matty let out another sigh, one finger massaging her temple. "I suppose I'll see if I can work that angle while you see about getting Jack a lawyer, preferably someone who is far out of Briar's reach if you get my drift."

"Or I could reach out to Briar," Cage suggested. When Mac's gaze narrowed, she raised her hands placatingly, rushing to explain. "Maybe I can reverse his little game, at least find out what evidence he has on Jack."

"Briar won't talk to you now, Cage." Mac crossed his arms over his chest. He hated to burst the agent's bubble, although her appeal to be of some help seemed sincere. "He knows what went down here today because he orchestrated it. He'll also knows that in all likelihood we know about you and him which makes you ineffective to his plan. Briar won't be willing to show any of his cards until he's ready for us to know what he wants."

"She can help me with going through the information Matty's investigation has gathered." Riley surprised Mac by offering her own olive branch to the other woman. Of course knowing Riley, Mac understood she could just as well have been embracing the idea of keeping one's enemies close.

"What should I do?" Bozer asked, getting up again.

"I have a special research assignment for you, Boze." Mac motioned for his roommate to follow him to the door. Once they were outside the War Room, Mac lowered his voice. "I want you to find me everything you can on General George S. Patton."

Bozer looked momentarily puzzled. "Wouldn't Riley be better at doing that?"

"No, because I don't want typical facts, buddy. I want the man's back story. Pretend as if you're making a movie about him, and you want to tell the side no one else knows about." Mac's hunch that the notebook's nickname was a key had been dismissed by Matty and her team early on, but he still couldn't shake the fact that it held relevance. If nothing else it gave Bozer something to do.

"That I can manage," Bozer assured, his momentary smile fading beneath a concerned frown. "This is bad, isn't it? For Jack, I mean. He really murdered this Craddock?"

"It's bad." Mac answered simply, his throat threatening to close up at the legal term as he let the fear he saw reflected in Bozer's gaze summon his own. "Very, very bad."

To be continued…