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“I want you to take a few days off,” Matty says softly after they’ve been standing there quietly, looking out across the glowing city lights for a while.
Hugging himself, Mac shakes his head. “I don’t need time off, Matty,” he protests hoarsely.
She turns to him. There’s concern in her eyes as she looks up at him. “Mac,” she says in a kind voice. “Last week, you almost died. You barely recuperated, both physically and mentally, only to have someone die on your watch a few days later.”
Seeing him hunch his shoulders, she tells him firmly, “It wasn’t your fault. Zoe’s death, it wasn’t your fault. But that doesn’t lessen the heaviness you feel now. That you’ll be feeling for a while yet.”
He glances at her, then away again. “Matty…”
“Mac, I know very well that you’re not new to this, that you have almost ten years of experience in the field. But trust me on this, trust me as someone who’s been doing this much longer: you need time away from all this.” She waves a hand at the city.
This time, Mac doesn’t protest. He’s staring at the skyline, looking sad and lost.
Matty steps closer and lowers her voice to almost a whisper. “Take a few days off. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going. Not Jack. Not Bozer. No one. Just go, alone, and clear your head. You’ll have your phone with you. If anything - anything at all - comes up, I’ll call you and you can come back then. But right now, there’s nothing pressing that would require your presence.”
He swallows. “Bozer’s coming back home. And Jack won’t leave it be if I just disappear,” he points out.
“I will handle Bozer and Jack, don’t worry,” Matty assures him. “Don’t worry about anyone but yourself for a while. Alright?”
In the end, Mac nods, accepting her offer.
“Where is he? Where did he disappear to?” Jack yells as he barges into Matty’s office at the Phoenix Foundation.
Matty glares at him from behind her desk. “Good morning to you, too, Jack!” she greets him sharply.
But Jack’s having none of it. He slams his hands flat on her desk and leans in. “Where is Mac? He’s not at home and he’s not picking up his phone. I tried to have Riley trace it but she told me that you explicitly forbade her to do it! Where the hell did you send him off to?”
Matty’s glare deepens and she gets up to lean across her desk, too. “First of all, if I did send Mac anywhere, it would be none of your business, Jack. You might be his bodyguard when necessary but you’re still first and foremost both my agents! Is that clear?”
When it becomes clear that he won’t get any answers unless he backs off, Jack grits his teeth and utters, “Yes!”
“Good,” Matty snaps and straightens up. Then, in a softer voice she continues, “And second, I didn’t send him anywhere, Jack. I gave him time off. After what happened last night, the last thing he needed was to be back here.” She points down with her finger, indicating the building in general.
Some of Jack’s anger evaporates, leaving him looking unsure, almost regretful. “Is he alright?” he asks worriedly.
Matty gives him a pointed look. “He watched a young woman die on live webcam, Jack. She drowned and he could only stand there and watch and make sure she wasn’t alone when she died. How do you think he is?”
Jack straightens up, too, and rubs his face with his hand. “Shit,” he curses quietly. “I should’ve been there. I should’ve known something was wrong when I tried to call him last night and he didn’t pick up. I thought he just needed a little space.”
“He does,” Matty says and her tone’s almost kind now. “From everyone. We’re all his friends here but sometimes, we need to be alone for a while. To grieve.”
Jack sighs and then he stands there quietly for a moment with his hands on his hips. Suddenly, he turns to her with a strange look on his face and in an even stranger tone of voice he asks, “Are we? All his friends here?”
She frowns. She has no idea what he’s talking about. “Of course we are!” she replies. “Why would you think otherwise?”
He studies her intently for some time, so long actually, that his silence starts making her uncomfortable. Then he shakes his head slowly. “No reason. No reason at all.”
“Good! Because I don’t like it when my motives are being questioned,” she snaps with a dark expression.
Jack nods. “Fair enough.”
Then he asks, “Do you have any idea where he went? I’m not going after him,” he clarifies quickly, seeing her look. “I promise! If he needs space, then I’ll give him space. No spying will be done on my part. Cross my heart. I just-I hate not knowing where he is. It makes me…” He twists his mouth. “Itchy!”
“I have a general idea, yes,” Matty assures him. “Don’t worry. If he needs us, he will call. If we need him, we will call. He should be back on Friday. Until then, leave him alone!” she orders sternly.
Jack raises his hands in surrender.
“Besides, I need you here,” she continues. “Someone needs to pick up Bozer at the airport and bring him in for a debrief. And since Mac’s unavailable, that duty has fallen to you now. So, off you go. Bozer’s plane lands in two hours!”
It’s after hours but Matty’s still in her office. The building’s dark, everybody but the skeleton crew has gone home by now, her team included. It’s only her left.
Matty switches off the lamp on her desk then she walks down the hallway to the conference room where the screens are glowing darkly in a standby mode. She wakes them up with a tap and enters her personal security code. And then she lets a video feed unfold across the screens.
The camera’s monitoring a small cottage out north, in the woods near a lake. Matty knows the cottage. She’s been there several times. At one point to install the camera that’s now showing her a cozy room, lit by a fire burning low in the old stone fireplace. And also the man curled up under a quilted afghan in the armchair off to the side; he’s staring blankly into the flames.
It’s Mac.
While the live feed’s running on the big screens, Matty speeds through the day’s recordings on a smaller one in the corner, checking if anything happened since Mac arrived there earlier that day. When nothing comes up, she deletes the file.
She watches Mac for a while longer, sees him fall into slumber. She sets up the recording again and logs out, shutting down the screens. Then she goes home, too. It’s really late.