"Chechnya?" Mac was frowning at the screen, which displayed the familiar face of one of Phoenix's most productive foreign independent contractors, a young man about Mac's age, whose sly grin and bright eyes advertised his intelligence and slight cockiness even in the grainy press ID photo. "What was Kolya doing in Chechnya?"

"Nicolai Sokolov illegally entered Grozny last week after breaking off contact during an interview with Phoenix related to a human rights violations story he had reported on."

Mac and Jack both stayed silent, waiting for Matty to continue as Riley keyed a few things into her laptop and several new images popped up on the screen. It was strange to see their team's analyst more in the know than they were, but Matty had taken a liking to Riley and had been briefing her ahead of missions so she could have contingency plans in place to back up the rest of the team. The images were a lot to take in: A satellite image of what had every appearance of being a prison, with high walls and armed guards. A very grainy black and white photo of that facility's yard filled with thin men, in grey ragged clothing, milling around listlessly, bringing to mind images of the Holocaust. And finally, beneath the picture of Sokolov, another young man, wearing one of those ragged grey uniforms, on the ground in front of a guard who was preparing to strike him with the butt of his rifle. Even in the poor quality image, the similarities in facial structure left little doubt.

"Our Russian friend became privy to these images while speaking with one of our agents about the rumors of concentration camps in Chechnya. He recognized his brother immediately."

"Alexei," Jack murmured. When Matty looked at him he went on, "Helluva nice kid. Since their parents died he's at Nikolai's when he's not at school."

"So you know both of them." Matty wasn't asking; instead, there was a hint of concern in her voice.

The lines in Mac's forehead made him look older, and the way his eyes were narrowed it looked like he had a headache. "Yeah, we do. What happened?"

"Nikolai knew his brother was part of a humanitarian aid mission after the most recent sweep of anti-LGBT violence there. They were both known to be dedicated to getting Russians to condemn the actions and support those looking for refuge. Not that Russia is much better." Matty frowned, and nodded to Riley and another image appeared on the screen. It was a photograph of a handwritten note. "He left this note for our agent after looking at the intel. He snuck out the back and disappeared. It says …"

Before she could read it, Jack surprised all of them by translating the Russian words, "My brother is in the camps. I'm going to get him. Kolya."

Mac was on his feet. "When do we leave?"

Matty would have smirked if the situation those two boys were in wasn't so grave. "Slow down, Blondie. You don't even know what the mission is yet."

Mac looked at her with an expression of slight disbelief. "Um … Nikolai Sokolov and his brother are probably both in one of the Chechen concentration camps – seems pretty likely it would be the closest one to Grozny based on this intel. We're going to get them out. Pretty simple."

This time a small smile ghosted over her face. "More or less. I guess you can read the specifics in the air. Grab your gear. Wheels up in an hour."

Mac strode from the room, barely even looking at Jack or Riley and headed down the hall to gather his things. Riley's eyes were slightly wide at Mac's reaction and she looked to Matty who, in turn, looked to Jack. "Mac seems to be taking this one a little personally."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, he would." Matty raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was about to learn about her agent. Then seeing her expression Jack chuckled. "See, the Sokolovs are people Mac considers friends, and our boy will go to crazy lengths for his friends, as you maybe noticed." Matty and Riley both smiled fondly. "But the thing is Mac takes their situation, the situation in Chechnya a little personally."

Riley tilted her head, "I never realized Mac's …"

Jack shook his head. "Oh, he's not … But, think about it … Slight kid, pretty face, atypical interests, who grew up in a pretty small town that's maybe a little conservative? I know Mac's 'fessed up that he was bullied a lot as a kid." Both Matty and Riley nodded. "He probably hasn't gotten real detailed with you guys, so I'm gonna let you in on a little secret that long hours of yakking to pass the time during surveillance has enlightened me about … One of the things Mac got bullied about in high school was the assumptions people made about him."

Riley raised her eyebrows. "But, if he isn't gay why didn't he just say so and get the other kids off his back?"

Jack chuckled with real warmth. "Because, Mac says nobody should ever defend themselves from something that shouldn't be seen as negative to begin with. Nobody should attack someone for who they are. You see?"

Riley got up and slid her laptop in her bag and turned to go grab her bag. "Just when I think I can't love the guy more …" She was shaking her head affectionately as she strolled out.

Matty was giving Jack a speculative look. "Our boy's got more layers than an onion."

Jack grinned at her. "What about cakes, Matty? Everybody likes cakes."

"Don't tempt me to start calling you Donkey, Dalton … Of course, that is pretty close to Jackass …"

"Now Matty …" Jack began.

"Get outta here, Dalton. They're already warming up the jet."

Jack nodded and got up to leave. He turned to say something else and saw that Matty had sat down in the spot Mac had vacated and was playing with the paper clip art he'd left. "What is it?"

At first Matty didn't answer. She looked almost sad. "He makes these a lot, I've noticed." Jack waited, and she held it up for him to see. "It's a dove."