Mac was still getting used to the War Room. The multiple screens, overlaid with images similar to a heads up display, the flashing data on all sides … it's was a lot to process. And normally his agile mind enjoyed it.
Right now, however, he couldn't focus on any of it. He'd sort of checked out after Thornton put up the first satellite photos. The earliest images confirmed, to Mac who swore he'd know the set of the man's shoulders from a million miles away anyway, that O'Neill had been at the camp in Libya. The most recent ones indicated that he'd departed though. That meant he was out there again. Waiting for a chance to strike.
That was enough to distract anybody. Especially the guy who'd spent years having nightmares about leaving him behind in a war zone, only to find out he was a traitor, and be captured and tortured by the man. Combine Mac's general discomfort over all that coming up for him with Thornton's detailed descriptions of the technical aspects of the intelligence gathering, and it wasn't long before Mac's brain was off woolgathering. He was on edge about O'Neill and kind of bored with the tech talk. Computers were not really his thing. He was competent with them, but not overly interested.
So instead of listening to Thornton, Mac was contemplating the smart glass that made up most of the walls of the war room. He had discovered that it worked through an electrostatic liquid crystal mechanism that aligned or scattered the crystals depending on the level of opacity you needed. He was pretty sure he could rig something up on the picture window in their living room and was taking a mental inventory of the garage, deciding if he needed to stop at the hardware store in the way home.
His pleasant reverie was interrupted by Thornton's deceptively pleasant query, "Which option appeals to you, Mac?"
He startled just a little. "Um …" He racked his brain for what she'd said leading up to her question. Unfortunately, he came up empty. "Whatever you think is best, Director Thornton," he hedged, hoping whatever she said next would offer some clue as to where the conversation had been.
The way one corner of her mouth twitched he knew he'd blown it. "No preference at all?" she prompted.
The perfect response occurred to him. "I'm interested in what you think, Director Thornton."
He heard Jack mumble something that sounded almost like a warning, but didn't look his way. Thornton blinked. He couldn't tell if she was annoyed or not though. "Well, personally, I wouldn't want someone else making a decision like this for me," she said very seriously, giving him a look of what he interpreted as intense concern.
"I …" He cleared his throat. Doubling down, his shoulders squared and his jaw firmed just a little. "I wasn't asking you to decide, just what your opinion was," he replied with what he thought was more than believable confidence.
Silence hung in the air for a long moment.
Mac resisted the urge to shift uncomfortably, but couldn't quite stop nervously scratching his jaw. He forced his hand quickly back to his lap though.
Thornton's lips curled up on one side. "I'd prefer to send out for sushi myself, but I seem to recall you're not all that enthusiastic about fish."
God. Damn. It. Of course all she was asking about was dinner. What the hell else would the boss, who was apparently somebody who could make any spy in the world shake in their boots, ask a junior agent, who was already getting a reputation for being a little impulsive and unlikely to stick to the script, about. He hoped he kept all that off his face. He shrugged. "I don't mind it. Soft shell crab is alright."
The other side of her mouth joined the first in what could only be interpreted as a highly amused smile from the boss and Jack chuckled audibly. "Told ya he wasn't listnin'," Jack drawled.
Mac threw him a half-hearted glare. Then he returned his gaze to Thornton. "I … um … I apologize, Director." She didn't offer anything so he went on. "I suppose I'm still getting the hang of this. The data gathering and computer aspects of the operation are a bit beyond me and …"
"And you got distracted by general boredom listening to them."
"Oh, no, ma'am!" he hurried to assure her, despite the fact that what she said was absolutely true. But she clearly knew he hadn't heard a word she'd said for a while so he figured he'd better try to cover his ass. "I was trying to recall the reading on the subject and I can get very much lost in my thoughts bringing that sort of thing up word for word in my memory."
Her smile didn't waver. "That's alright, MacGyver. You needed bother with trying to master it, so long as you have a general understanding. Given that neither you nor Jack are particularly inclined toward the computer-based end of things, I'm assigning you an analyst."
Jack frowned. "Patty, ain't watching out for one nerd enough for somebody like me? And don't say you'll give us somebody else from tactical. Last time we had two security folks we almost had us a real nasty friendly fire incident."
Mac was about to agree when Thornton cleared her throat. "I'm giving you someone who can handle themselves in the field and who doesn't share MacGyver's aversion to firearms."
"I don't know that I want …" Mac began.
"Nikki Carpenter will be joining your team, effective immediately." Thornton paused.
"Oh," Mac said softly, feeling a blush creep up his neck.
Jack laughed openly this time. "Well, I guess I'm on my own if I wanna lodge a protest about this one"
Mac ran a hand through his hair. "Well, tech help would be nice …"
"Sure," Jack laughed. "For you. Bet you wouldn't be so agreeable if she'd assigned that Knight kid from her department."
Mac's shrug was convincing, but his increase in color robbed it of some of its believability. "Josh is alright." He paused. "But he's not exactly the most physical analyst DXS has got. He might not fit in with a field team. Especially one that likes to move as fast as we do."
"Mmm, that's what's up," Jack said with a double raise of his eyebrows.
"Shut up, Jack," Mac groused with a roll of his eyes.
"Since how you felt about a new team member was actually my original question and it seems the answer is 'just fine' …" Mac didn't think it was possible to blush more, but here he was, ears burning. "I'll actually ask what you'd prefer I have sent up since Nikki will be joining us shortly so I can brief all three of you on an unrelated mission."
Mac forced a smile to cover his slight embarrassment. It wasn't forbidden to work with your girlfriend at DXS but it was sort of embarrassing when everyone in the room seemed to know the nature of that relationship. "I'm really not picky, ma'am. So long as you don't let Jack play field chef with some questionable MREs I can eat pretty much anything."
"Duly noted," she said, cocking an eyebrow at Jack that clearly communicated that she wanted to hear the MRE story. "Now, Mac, if you hurry, you can probably be back while your meal is still hot."
Mac blinked. "Hurry where, Director?"
"To Medical. As previously ordered."
"I went straight to Medical earlier," he protested.
"Well, you signed in, certainly."
"So I went!"
"But you didn't stay to be evaluated or treated," Thornton observed with slightly amused disapproval.
Mac sighed. "They were really busy. Anton's team came in with … I don't know, but infectious disease people got involved … I was in the way."
Thornton was sympathetic but still amused. "And?"
Mac flushed again. "And your new nurse yelled at me." He paused. "She … She kinda kicked me out. Sort of."
"I … I can actually see that." Thornton snorted a little laugh. She glanced the the clock. "She's off duty now."
"So what do you ..?"
"Head back down there and actually let them check you over. I'll hold dinner for you and …"
"Ma'am?"
"And if you hurry, I'll hold the briefing so you can join us, even if you have to wait for imaging."
"Ma'am?" he asked again.
"I mean Nikki will be heat when you get back." She smiled. "So shake a leg."
Mac managed a grin. "Yes, ma'am."
He rose and hustled out the door.
Jack smirked. "You're good, Patty."
Patricia Thornton smiled her Cheshire Cat smile.
"Count on it."
