Mac skated into the briefing about two minutes before Matty. Jack had been starting to worry something had flagged him at Medical and that he wouldn't be part of this. Not only did Jack want Mac on the team to help outsmart The Organization, no matter what Mac said about his mental health right now, Jack thought it could be a real setback for him. He might be learning to let go of some things, but control was important to Angus MacGyver and that wasn't going to just go away. Mac slid into the seat Jack had saved him at the back of the room, tipping friendly smiles to the other team members who had positioned themselves conveniently close by. Jack asked him quietly, "Did you get lost between the entrance and Medical, Mac? 'Cause I know you were in the building right on time …"

"You're hilarious, Jack. I went straight there." Mac rolled his eyes, but he was still half-grinning, thrilled nothing had disrupted his plan to be included this morning.

"Everything's good though?"

"I'm here aren't I?"

Jack smiled. "Hell yeah, buddy. What took so damned long? Doc think you'll need more surgery or ..?"

"Nothing that drastic." Then Mac rolled his eyes again. "They took blood and I had to wait around for …"

A slight twinge of concern flitted across Jack's otherwise agreeable expression. "How come ..?"

"Matty was very specific about what constituted mission ready. I lost blood, then got a couple of units during surgery, and they didn't have any follow-up blood counts …"

"You had a follow up. In Norway at about three weeks out right, got your stitches removed?"

"Um …" Mac looked at the ceiling.

"You took out your own stitches … You didn't go to your appointment at all. Where did you chicken out to?"

"I didn't chicken out. I just didn't feel like dealing with Landvik." Mac gave Jack a slightly sheepish grin. "So I went and made a video call that didn't involve you being all awkward and nosy in the background."

"To who? And if you say 'Nikki', brother, I swear ..!"

Mac blushed. "No! It was … um … Becca Madden … I mean Rebecca … I … You know, Dr. Madden from …"

"You and Dr. ..?"

"We'd been emailing." Mac grinned. "So you were right. She is interested. Turns out, so am I."

"Nice!" Jack was genuinely pleased. "I'm not even gonna yell at you for blowing off a doctor's appointment and fibbing about it. Especially since you actually went today."

Jack was about to start asking for details about whatever was going on between Mac and the beautiful scientist, who he had known without a shadow of a doubt had been interested, but Matty chose that moment to call the group's attention to the screen at the front of the room. It displayed a still frame pulled from Mac and Bozer's security camera. Mac shifted uncomfortably. He'd already watched the footage of Nikki breaking into their house, but he hadn't told Bozer he'd turned it all over to Phoenix. He wasn't sure how his friend would feel about it, but he wanted to distance him from this as much as possible. After everything Boze had been through this year, dragging him deeper into the more dangerous side of the business either physically or emotionally was not what Mac wanted. Jack could almost hear what Mac was thinking as he glanced at the tense profile next to him. He chuckled to himself as he thought, 'Yeah, a protective streak is a helluva burden some days, kid.'

Matty prevented even a whispered comment when she opened with, "Nikki Carpenter, CIA employee and former senior analyst for the Phoenix predecessor the Department of External Services, was recently filmed breaking into the home of our lab tech Wilt Bozer and his roommate, our very own Agent Angus MacGyver."

She wasn't saying anything the taskforce hadn't gathered from the meeting summons they'd received, but she thought it bore saying out loud.

"We've been under the impression that Miss Carpenter is an ally, although her behavior recently begins to call that into serious question. Knowing that she was at one point romantically involved with Agent MacGyver makes this even more concerning than it might first appear." She paused; heads tilted, a few whispers were heard. "When you know, not just that someone's a trained operative with extensive personal security measures in place, but you also know the most intimate details of their life including just how inventive and damned tough that operative happens to be … Well, walking through a locked door seems like a stupidly bold, or quite possibly boldly stupid move."

Mac shifted again. Nikki was not either of those things. Matty continued, reading his mind, it seemed. "Miss Carpenter is neither of those things."

Mac was too focused on the screen to notice the look she threw his way, but Jack saw the slight approving raise of one eyebrow at his look of quiet intensity, that spoke of none of the vulnerability she had been at least a little worried about. "Which begs the question, what could she have wanted badly enough to take a risk like that?"

She paused so everyone could think about it. Everyone in the room had already been involved in researching The Organization and investigating potential ties to past missions, and Mac's team was more involved than Phoenix had known until last night when all three of them had told Matty about Mac's independent investigating, which while she disapproved of, she understood. "She claimed that she was concerned for MacGyver's safety. But despite the fact that he hadn't been in communication with her, Mr. Bozer assured her he was alive and well mere days before the incident."

Mac hoped that whatever the point was, she would come to it. He wanted the rest of the information about the tangential investigations to date and he wouldn't get the full file until this briefing was over. "Then, when Agent MacGyver refused to entertain her inquiry she left and the next morning he and his partner Agent Dalton reported the break in to me. I made a few phone calls to my contacts in the CIA and to the best of their knowledge Miss Carpenter was working out of the Atlanta office but I was assured that the appropriate inquiries would be made and the Phoenix would be kept informed. Before CIA got back to me, MacGyver received this communication." Matty brought up a split screen of the card Nikki had signed, if not verifiably sent, so the front and back were visible at once. "This is an obvious reference to Operation Bethlehem that MacGyver's Ops team was part of two years ago." She paused for just a moment so she could see that everyone was still focused. "We have reason to believe, apart from this strange communication, that Bethlehem is threatened again. Since there is now an indication that the past mission may have some connection to the present threat, we are temporarily changing the operational objective of this taskforce from simply an investigatory one to locating Miss Carpenter and bringing her in for questioning, as well as addressing the threat to Bethlehem that is ostensibly posed by The Organization. Bethlehem is too important a strategic asset to allow him to be compromised."

At that point, the full file was distributed to all members of the taskforce. Mac spent a laser-focused couple of hours reading and re-reading every detail with which he was unfamiliar. Predictably, the other team members circled up and started hashing over what they knew. Synthesizing new information was Mac's strong suit; covering him while he decided what to do with it was theirs. Mac listened while he read, interjecting the occasional distracted comment or question. He was thoughtfully chewing a pen when Matty called the group back to order. "As you can see, there are webs within webs here and, as we previously suspected, nothing relating to The Organization, Former-Director Patricia Thornton, Nikki Carpenter, or Chrysalis is as clear as it seems. Since Miss Carpenter seems to be seeking out Agent MacGyver, I think she is the best place to start picking at these threads and unraveling some of this. Mac, would you be comfortable trying to reach out to Nikki, maybe try to draw her out?"

Mac leaned back in his chair, stretching a little and glancing around the room at all the serious eyes now trained on him, waiting to see where this mission might take them. There was no malice in his question, no cynicism, just a desire to be clear. "Are you saying you want to use me as bait?"

Matty was deadly serious. "I don't use my agents as bait. If I ask you to take a risk, you will know it and I'll be upfront with you. All of you. What I'm telling you Mac, is that I want you to take point on this mission."

One edge of her lips curved up, knowing this was the last thing Mac was expecting, if only by the slight widening of his eyes.

"And I've got your six, Mac," Jack added.

Matty nodded. "We all do."

The End … For now