A/N: It would really be great if someone could please review and let me know how you're feeling about this story. I know I'm having fun with it, but I'd like to hear from you guys, too!

See the first chapter for the disclaimer. Enjoy, and please review! 3

Chapter 2: The Ghost

There was a dark, hollow place hiding behind her eyes, something that Jack had never seen before. To her credit, Kayla hid it well behind her verbal quips and jabs, but he saw it. Knew it and could tell it kept her awake. Which is why she barely slept more than twenty minutes at a time.

Mac knew it, too, which was a bit of a surprise to Jack. When it came all the science and math and all that other crap, Mac was a whiz kid. But human stuff? Well, that wasn't always his strong side.

Wasn't that what they had Kayla for anyway?

Well, that and a human Google translate. Girl spoke more languages than anyone he'd ever known. And just when you thought she'd finally met her match, bam! She'd pull it right out of her ass. Mac, of course, was convinced that she'd created some sort of translation device that she always had hidden on her somewhere, but if she did, she definitely wasn't sharing.

And forget playing poker with her, unless you want to lose… or get revenge on someone, because she would clean them out. Her expertise definitely lied in all things human: behavior, language… hell, even some medicine. She was a nurse or something at some point, according to Riley, though Jack couldn't be sure if she still was or not.

She could kick your ass and heal it too. She was also a damn good shot, although like just about everyone else on the team, she usually chose not to. But at least she did carry, unlike the others. Although, Mac was plenty dangerous without a gun…

"Bang," Kayla said, tapping Jack on the back of the head and breaking his train of thought. "Dead, Dalton."

"Nice try, darlin', but I heard you comin'," he replied.

She chuckled. "You did not. And if I didn't even bother walking up to you, it'd be light's out."

He shook his head. "Never gonna happen."

She leaned up against him, her hair brushing against his arm lightly as she whispered in his ear, "that's what they all say."

He gave her a confused look as she stood up, winked at him, and walked away. Riley made her way over, looking at Jack. "You okay?" she asked.

"She's weird," Jack replied.

"Who?"

"Kayla."

Riley scoffed. "Really weird. Like, what even is she? Does she even sleep?"

Jack shrugged. "I've only ever seen her cat nap, if that. Don't know how she does it."

Kayla reached into the bowl of paperclips in the war room, taking one and twirling it between her fingers. She stared at it as she did, thinking about the intricacies of a paper clip. All the possible uses for one, legal and otherwise. Mac usually twisted them into some unrecognizable version of themselves… something she had done, of course, in a pinch.

But that wasn't her role on this team. Hell, hadn't been her role in a long time. Mac was the ingenuity, the improvisation king. Jack was the muscle, Riley was the techie, and Kayla… well, she was everything else. The psych person, profiler, translator… whatever else the mission needed to be successful, she was there.

Her instincts realized the moment Mac walked into the room, but didn't bother turning her gaze away from the paperclip. She could sense, without even taking a look, that he was slightly hesitant, which wasn't how he normally approached her. So that meant one of two things.

First, either he was genuinely concerned about the fact that she appeared to be so mesmerized by a paperclip. Which, didn't make much sense to her, because Mac would just ask her about it and break her concentration. It was an ongoing thing around there…

The other option was that he was supposed to be cover for Jack to sneak up on her, which was more likely. Especially since she'd already caught Jack today in their game of, who can catch who off-guard every day. And Mac would be hesitant to try to distract her, because she already seemed distracted, so what would be the point of interrupting her?

"Tell Jack it's not gonna work," she said to Mac after a moment, still looking at the paperclip.

"What are you talking about?" Mac replied, confused but, in her opinion, attempting to be innocent.

"I know he sent you here to try to distract me, so that he can try to sneak up on me. It's not gonna work."

"Dammit," Jack said as he walked in.

Kayla finally peeled her gaze away from the paperclip to peer at him.

"How'd you know?" Jack asked.

"I always anticipate that you're gonna strike back at some point," she explained. "And Mac's your partner-in-crime. He'd always help you out."

Mac chuckled. "Told you it wouldn't work," he said, clapping Jack on the shoulder.

"Well, it's not like you even tried," Jack replied.

"He has a point," Kayla interjected as she went back to fiddling with the paperclip and focusing her gaze to it once again.

"Yeah." Jack paused, furrowing his brow. "Wait, what?"

"Well, it's not like he even said anything. He pretty much just stood there."

"I think he's more surprised that you're actually agreeing with him," Mac said.

"And the reason I wouldn't here is…?" Kayla countered.

"You never do," Riley commented, having overheard the last parts of the conversation as she entered.

Kayla shrugged. "Never say never."

Thorton made her way over to the room, poking her head in. "Mac, a word?" she said. Mac and Jack both turned to move before Thornton said, "only Mac."

Jack nodded, sitting down as Mac gave him a nod and walked out.

"What do you think that's about?" he asked.

"Whatever she actually wanted him in here for, but you just dragged everyone else along for the ride," Kayla said.

Jack furrowed his brow. "I don't remember invitin' you along."

"You didn't."

"So, then what the hell are you doin' here?"

Kayla shook her head, fiddling with the paperclip once again as she contemplated her allies and trust. "Something's going down. I just feel it."

Jack stiffened slightly, nodding. He may not have figured out who Kayla was or how to trust her as a person/friend, but he'd learned quickly to trust her instincts. "How bad?" he asked.

Kayla only looked at them, but it was enough for them to realize that she actually might be as worried as they were.

"I chased this guy through Afghanistan," Mac said via secure video connection in New York while the others watched him from the war room at Phoenix. "I've watched him kill hundreds of people. We never came close to the man, but I've spent a lot of time with his bombs. I became very familiar with his style."

"And if anyone's gonna know a bomber just by looking at a bomb, it's the EOD guy who's studied the bombs," Kayla added as she continued to fiddle with the same paperclips she had been since this morning, the ones that she had when all of this started.

Mac shifted his weight. "Thornton, he's here. I know it's him. I'm going to find him."

"Hey, if you're gonna do somethin' stupid, you wait for me," Jack said. "We're gonna do it together, alright?"

"Count me in," Kayla said. "I haven't done enough stupid shit in my life yet."

Riley joined Jack and Kayla as they left Thornton behind in the war room, watching Mac walk away with Charlie.

Jack drove, but his attention was more on Mac than the road as Riley tracked the pieces given to her by Charlie. Kayla sat with Riley in the backseat, watching all three of them in their current situations: Riley focused on the work, Mac chasing something inside his head, and Jack wondering just exactly what had Mac so quiet and driven.

As Riley talked about the trail she'd been following, Jack asked, "Hey, who are you talkin' to, Riley?"

"Uh, I thought you guys," she replied, looking at the three of them. "But apparently, just myself."

"I was listening," Kayla said. "Buildings block signals in New York, you only had 3 of 15 digits…"

"Hey, cookie for you," Jack sniped as he glanced at her through the rearview mirror.

Kayla responded by flipping him off.

"Take the next right," Riley said, looking over at Kayla.

Kayla looked at Riley, then looked at Jack and Mac, before looking back at Riley, who nodded.

"I haven't seen you like this, Mac, since we first met back in the sandbox," Jack said, looking away from the road briefly towards Mac. "I've heard stories about The Ghost. Seems like every soldier I talked to had a different take on him. One guy said that he blew his jaw off buildin' a bomb, that he can't even talk anymore."

"Yeah, I heard that one too," Mac finally said. "I also heard that he, uh, burned his vocal cords out, breathing in fumes over the years."

"Yeah, well, whatever's true, guy sounds like a monster."

"Yeah, well, that's the one thing all stories got right."

"In all the years I've known you, from Afghanistan to being back home, you never told me what happened. What'd that son of a bitch do to you?"

Mac sighed heavily, shaking his head. "I'm gonna hold onto that one for now," he said.

"Okay," Jack said. "Just so you know, we're all here for you. Not just with the gun, and the laptop, and… whatever Kayla is. If you ever wanna talk about it."

Mac nodded solemnly while Riley and Kayla exchanged looks.

Jack grabbed Kayla's arm, stopping her briefly as she got out of the SUV. "What is it?" he said.

"What?" Kayla replied.

"What did The Ghost do to Mac?"

She sighed. "If I had to guess?"

"Well, your guesses are a helluva lot better than anythin' he's givin' me, so yeah, guess away."

"Before you knew him, who was he with and what was he doing?"

"I don't know," Jack said, shrugging slightly. "He doesn't talk much about that."

"Might be worth looking into," Kayla suggested. "Because probably somewhere in there is where you're gonna find Mac's obsession with The Ghost. Unless, of course, Mac doesn't tell you on his own first."

Jack nodded.

"Now, can we quit dawdling and go help him find the son of a bitch?" she said.

"Hell yeah," he replied.