Sorry for the long wait. I wanted to follow very generally what happened in Screwdriver, while letting this story develop.

Mac stepped back to let Sarah Adler into the house.

"I guess congratulations are in order," Jack said sourly.

"I did send you an invitation," Sarah replied. "The least you could have done is replied one way or the other." Jack had the good grace to look sheepish.

"Well...you know...with one thing and another...," he equivocated, but Sarah looked to be done with this line of conversation.

She took a deep breath. "You've had contact with Nikki Carpenter," she said without preamble. "I need to know why."

Mac knew that he should not have been surprised by the question, after all, Nikki was a wanted fugitive. He opened his mouth, but Jack stepped in.

"Do we now have inter-agency cooperation," he asked sarcastically. "I was not aware that we were sharing information," he paused meaningfully, "but then again, I supposed not sharing information is what you do really well."

"Jack," Sarah started to say, but then shut her mouth, her lips pressed together into a thin line as she tried to hold on to her emotions. "Look. I need your help. I know Nikki contacted you. I believe that she has information that may be critical to a case that I am working on." Another deep breath as she looked around. "It may very well be a matter of life and death."

"OK," Jack softened slightly, "Tell us. Whose life and death?"

"An agent," Sarah said simply.

"What's his name," Mac asked.

"I have no idea," Sara said, frustration evident in her voice. "It's a top secret project and to maintain operational security we're siloed. I do not know the names of the other agents. Just their code names."

"Tell us what you do know," Jack said

"Her code name is 'Spinner'," Sarah continued. "She's my profiler on this project and I think she's missing."

"Why do you think she's missing," Jack asked, trying to sound casual. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mac go several shades paler.

Sarah missed the interaction and continued, "I've no idea who she is or where she is stationed, but she was due to log in yesterday at 7 am. She had not logged in and has gone totally silent. I have not been able to reach her at all." She took a deep breath. "This project is serious and has...," she searched for a word,"...implications. I'm really worried that something has happened to her."

"Something may have happened to her," Mac said quietly. For the first time, the CIA agent noticed how haggard the younger agent looked; his face pale and his eyes red rimmed. She noticed new lines of exhaustion and tension around his eyes and mouth. Something really hit Mac hard, she realized.

"Mac," she said, tentatively. "Are you OK."

Jack was about to reply for his friend, but this time Bozer spoke up.

Looking from Sarah to Jack to Mac. "I think that its time we put all the cards on table," he said somberly. "We can't solve this until we have the whole story."

"You first," Sarah said. Jack was about to argue, but Mac sat down heavily on the couch and started talking.

"My younger sister, Cory, is a profiler at the CIA. Yesterday morning, she was kidnapped by an assassin that we believe was hired to kill me." Mac stopped for a moment and then continued. "We found her, but she...she," he stopped and tried to regain control of his voice. Sarah noticed the pain in his eyes. "She was shot trying to protect me," Mac finally ground out, his voice peculiarly flat. "She is currently as Cedars-Sinai in a medically induced coma. " Mac stopped talking.

"Oh my God, Mac," Sarah whispered. "I am so sorry." Mac nodded, his eyes hollow.

Jack put a hand on his partner's shoulder and went on.

"Mac called Nikkin because we think she had something to do with hiring the assassin. She denied it up one side and down the other, but I think she's full of sh..."

Mac interrupted the profanity, "Nikki swore that it was not her and she said that it was somebody close to us...somebody powerful."

"What do you know about Project Ocelot?" Jack asked, cutting to the chase.

The question caught Sarah by surprise. She paled and then felt color creeping up her face. "The truth, Sarah," Jack growled. "Or all bets are off."

Sarah sighed, but squared her shoulders and began. "For the last eighteen months, we have been aware of a group... we're calling it 'The Organization'. As far as we can tell, they are very powerful people within the US government and intelligence communities. The China hack...the Iranian Cyber worm, the Myanmar unrest... are just some of the activities that we have been able to trace back to them."

"What's their end game?" Jack asked, every inch the intelligence agent.

"That's one of the questions that 'Spinner' was working on. We knew that these activities were just test runs and that they would be leading up to something much bigger. Her job was to take what information we had on both individuals and on the organization as a whole and figure out what they were plan."

"You are having her create a profile of the entire organization," Mac said.

Sarah nodded. "This is work that's beyond what most profilers can do, but 'Spinner'...she really had a feel for this. She'd been working on it for a while and she told me that she felt she was getting closer. " Mac and the team listened attentively...more and more Mac was feeling like Cory had to be Spinner. Sarah continued, "It was not part of her specific assignment but on the side, I know that she was also trying to develop profiles of the top echelon – of the leadership of The Organization." Sarah took a breath and continued. "If her work proved out, Spinner would be able to identify the true motivations of The Organization as well as predict what they were likely to do."

"So how does Psycho Bitch fit into all this," Jack asked. Sarah noticed that Mac flinched a little at the question

"We think that she's been recruited by The Organization," Sarah said. "We believe that she has information that may be useful to us in identifying the key players. She's reached out to The Agency. She may be ready to come in. She may be ready to talk."

"So what do you need us for?" Mac asked.

Sarah straightened her shoulders. "We believe the current target of The Organization is The Phoenix Foundation, so out of professional courtesy," Jack interrupted her with a bark of laughter and was met with a dirty look. Sarah continued,"….out of professional courtesy, I would let you know what we knew and ask you to back me up on the mission." Sarah looked around into four sets of eyes that looked at her with something between incredulity and open hostility.

I hope that you liked this chapter. It was a little transitional, and hoperfully the next chapter we will go back to mystery and action. Please let me know what you think of this chpater. Your thoughts and reviews are very much appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time