Mac watched the whole thing with a combination of amusement and discomfort. He had to admit, though not out loud if he could help it, Jack was a funny guy. Even hypnotized there was humor in many of his friend's words. It helped break up the discomfort. It was a weird combination of not knowing what happened, knowing Murdoc was involved, and wanting, but not quite being able, to trust Matty ever since he'd seen her face in the film he'd found at his father's cabin.

Mac hoped this would give them the answers they needed so they could just get out of here.

Jack had apparently been conditioned enough through his smoking cessation program that inducing hypnosis was easy because it only took Matty a few minutes to get Jack to take a trip back through his thoughts and experiences to that bar where all this started.

He half smiled at Jack's third, "Well shoot, I didn't notice. She was awful pretty." It was invariably followed by Jack beginning to describe Ailbe in the enraptured terms of one both slightly smitten and in the happy state of being able to recall every detail.

Matty's voice was soft and neutral, almost soothing. It was strange to hear her speak without her signature acerbic wit or sharp tone. She was even keeping her annoyance at Jack's tangents out of her tone, though she couldn't quite keep it off her face.

"So then you went back to your hotel room?"

"No, no we went to their room. They had a room over the pub for the night."

"They had a room rented over the pub?" Matty cocked an eyebrow at Mac. He shrugged. He remembered lying down on a bed, but couldn't for love or money remember where that bed had been or to whom it belonged.

Mac shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. Jack saved him from further scrutiny by frowning and mumbling, "Yeah, they did. But they lived in town. Sersh said …" he trailed of. "Words," he concluded lamely.

"Murdoc rented the room," Mac observed, quietly enough that he hoped it wouldn't disturb Jack. Riley started clicking away on her keyboard and Matty resumed questioning Jack.

Unable to sit anymore, Mac got up and paced the room, trying to ignore both how beat up and miserable he felt, as well as the gnawing certainty that none of this mattered, that it was all another sick game of Murdoc's that served no purpose other than giving him some suffering to entertain himself with. He seemed to find Mac's suffering especially diverting.

Mac alternated between wearing down the carpet by passing back and forth in front of Riley and leaning against the window sill with his arms folded sighing quietly at how little additional information Jack was able to come up with despite the enhanced focus and guidance of the hypnotic state he was in.

Mac's ears perked up when Jack said, "They came back though. Well, maybe they came for their money but they cut us loose. It wasn't in time for Mac to disarm the bomb but …" Jack's slow sleepy voice paused for a long moment. "They helped us get away but … I … it's all black again."

So the women had helped them. Twice. And Murdoc has rented the room. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get started with. Mac returned to sit in one of the beds across from Jack. He studied his friend carefully as Jack sat up and gave him a grin. "I swear that's always like the world's best nap. And we got somethin'!"

Matty looked equally pleased. "Anything on that room, Riley?"

Riley glanced up and shook her head. "The pub and inn are ancient and it doesn't look like they have much in the way of tech I can get into. All I've got so far is their credit card reader, but I'm mining that data for names against what these guys gave us on the women and Murdoc's known aliases, but so far, nothing."

Matty turned to Mac. "You've got a better natural memory than him, Blondie. Maybe we should see what we can get out of you."

Mac fidgeted for a second. "I'm not a good candidate for hypnosis. I already told you that."

Her forehead creased. "Would it hurt to try?" she asked, managing to sound less irritated by his resistance than she felt. She'd been damn near frantic when they hadn't shown up for exfil and had spent the two days they were off the grid having Riley and half of the rest of Phoenix comb every satellite photo and street cam in Western Europe for their faces.

Mac shrugged. "It won't work … Let's not waste the time." Neither she not Jack could fail to notice the way Mac's eyes flicked between his father's watch and Matty's face. "We've got a lead in Dublin and if we're going to investigate it, we should probably hit the road before the trail gets any colder than it already is."

He stood, as if that alone would close the subject.

Matty stood as well, if only to put herself between Mac and the door. "A lot of people are difficult to hypnotize, Mac. But I'm good at it."

Mac shrugged again, an almost uncharacteristically young gesture. "I've tried it," he said in an unusually insistent tone. "It doesn't work."

"I could see if we could get something from the local pharmacy to …"

"Not a chance," he said in a much more normal 'I know what I'm talking about' manner. "I've had enough of people drugging me to get what they want to last a lifetime. Or drugs in general, really. It was true before, but after the last couple of days here, I may be off Tylenol permanently," he finished was one of his most charming grins.

If Matty could see the mistrust that Jack noticed in Mac's eyes, she didn't give any indication. "Alright. Seems like we have enough to get started investigating what happened more seriously. At least the room over the bar in Dublin is a place to start," she concluded. "I'll arrange for a team to come in and get on it, and we'll get you guys back to Phoenix to …"

Mac and Jack interrupted her simultaneously. "No way! This is our op." Then they exchanged a slight grin. Always nice when your partner was on the same page.

"Guys, you're banged up, possibly still suffering from whatever you got dosed with, exhausted, and too close to this! We all know if you get a sniff of Murdoc you're going to be more prone than usual to doing something stupid. Shape you're in, stupid will probably get you killed."

This time Jack was the one to try a charming smile on the boss. "Well now, that's what you're here for Matilda. Who'd dare do somethin' stupid with you watching and bein' right there to holler at them?"

Riley snorted and she and Matty shared a look. Mac and Jack both got the feeling that the two of them commiserated about the trials of caring about this ops team a fair amount.

Matty sighed, but nodded, getting out her phone. "Alright. We'll go to Dublin. But if the room is a dead end, we're going home."

"Yes, ma'am," Jack agreed readily.

Mac gave a non committal shrugging nod, but stayed silent.

Everyone one else had the fleeting thought that if that room in Dublin turned out to be a dead end, they could take Mac home, but it would make Murdoc even more difficult to pry out of that busy blond head.