Project GateKeeper
By: Andalite Girl
Ms. Parker's high heels clicked angrily on the floor as she made her way to Lyle's office. People saw her and hurriedly looked like they were busily or simply turned and walked in the other direction. They knew that Ms. Parker was in a bad mood.
She usually was.
Parker found the right door and pushed it open with all her might, causing it to slam on the opposing wall with a thud that people across the building could hear.
" Is there any reason you called me here at six in the morning?" She demanded.
Her "Brother" Lyle, smiled cynically. " Just wanted you to get an early start on a new project, sis."
" Finding Jarod is my project." Parker growled.
"And since you haven't had any significant leads in... three weeks? I have decided to give you a opportunity to ah, freshen up." He pushed a vanilla envelope with the word GATEKEEPER printed on it, across the desk to her.
Parker looked at it like it was going to reach out and bite her. " And it is...?"
"Read and see." He replied lightly. " I think it will give you an opportunity to hone your Pretender catching skills."
******
Daniel Jackson walked down the corridor of the SGC with his nose stuck in a book, laughing every few minutes as he read yet another theory that he had proved to be completely and utterly wrong.
"Hey watch it!" Someone said as he narrowly avoided collision.
The young anthropologist mumbled an apology and kept reading/laughing as he continued to walk.
Finally he heard a familiar voice, " Hey did you find the comics or something?"
Daniel looked up, " Oh hi Jack."
" Oh hi Jack? That's all the greetings I get?" Cornal Jack O'Neilll exclaimed. "I feel real hurt Danny, expectably after that last mission where I had to save your butt... again."
Now Daniel looked up from his book. " You saved me!? Hey, who was the one who fingured out what the orb wanted?"
" Well, you know I would have if I had that chance, but I was sorta busy at the time." The coronal drawled.
"Yeah busy being posseessed by the stupid thing."
Jack grinned and changed the subject, " Well because of that oh-so-lovely mission, Hammond gave us a few days off."
"Good, I can catch up on some translations I've been putting off."
" And you can some time to come over to my place. I'm throwing a bar-be-Que. The whole team is invited."
"Jack, I had no idea you could cook!"
The older man shrugged, "First time for everything. It's tomorrow at eight. Be there." Then he walked away.
******
" What's this?" Sidney asked as Ms. Parker handed, or rather threw a vanilla envelope at him.
" A little present from Lyle." Ms. Parker spat the last word out as if it left a bad taste in her mouth. " He's reassigned us."
Signey's eyebrows lifted as he pulled out some papers in the envelope and read the profile. " Yes, I remember this case. Smart boy, almost as intelligent as Jarod."
"Let me see." Broots said and Sidney handed him the profile, " Hmmm...Oh yeah, I remember hearing about this. Didn't he escape or something?"
" He did..." The older man eyed Ms. Parker, "But the search was called off years ago. Why are they re-opening it now?"
" I don't know!" She paced back and forth in agitation. Damn, she really needed a cigarette. " I know that bastard Raines is behind this. It reeks of him." She quickly turned to Broots, " Run a computer composite of what he might look like now and put that and a copy of his finger prints out to any and every government agency you can find."
" You have a plan?" Sidney asked.
" It's been ten years since he escaped. He might have let his guard... slip."
*****
Sidney sat in his private office going over some old records when some one knocked on the door. " Come in." He called.
Broots poked his head in, his face was red and flushed with excitement. " You've got to see this." He exclaimed.
"See what?"
"Some guy just came into my office. Says he knows who our pretender is and where he's at."
Sidney was up in an instant, " Have you told Ms. Parker?"
"Yeah, she's talking with him right now."
Sidney followed the younger man to his office and opened the door. Inside was an older man, who was talking almost casually to Ms. Parker. The black T-shirt and loose jeans the man was wearing seemed to clash with his brash personality. The old man held himself rim rod strait like a highly disciplined soldier.
"Who's the mystery guest?" Sidney asked.
The man turned to him, " I saw the picture of this man," He held up the computer enhancement that Broots made up. " And I think I might know where he is."
"Might?" Ms. Parker echoed.
The man leaned back almost leisurely, enjoying this sense of power he held over these people. " I'm getting so old." He said coyly, "It's hard for me to remember such details nowadays."
Ms. Parker and Sidney exchanged glances and came to a decision within a split second. Ms. Parker leaned over the breathed into the man's ear, " And what would it take for your memory to be...jogged?
" From what I understand this is quite a powerful little corporation running here."
Broots nodded, thinking he was catching on, "A very rich one too."
" Rich and powerful." The man agreed, " I'll be frank, I have had a little Tee-to-Tee with a certain man quite a few times over the years and I want revenge. I don't what him killed... Yet mind you. I want him disgraced and thrown out of the service. I want it so he can't go for a stroll down the street without somebody pointing and laughing. I want him friendless, jobless and penniless.... Now, if your corporation is rich enough and powerful enough to do that then and only then will I give you all I need to know."
Ms. Parker smiled an evil grin. This was too easy! They made people's lives miserable all the time, is that all this old fart wanted? " Tell us and consider your little problem taken care of."
Broots jumped in, "Is that all you want Mr..."
"Yes that's all I'll need," The man said, "And call me Mayborne."
There was a slight sturing sound in the air vents but it was so quiet that no one even looked up. After all, Angelo had been spying on people his whole life and he had gotten good at it. Now all he needed was a computer....
****
Oh, so this is what cookie dough is! Jarod thought as he licked the already melting ice cream cone in his hands. This taste was almost better then Rocky Road.
He grinned to himself as he walked down the sidewalks of a cute little town deep in Colorado. It was basically military run, what with an old missile silo just up the hill. But you couldn't tell from the friendliness of the local townsfolk.
Jarod was between projects at the moment so he decided to come here to maybe try his hand at a little skiing. Of course when he got to the ski lodge he was told that it would have to snow before skiing possible. And with winter months away that didn't seem to be a possibility. But hey whatever, he'd come back when everything was good and snow-covered. After all, it's not like he had a demanding schedule to stick too.
Jarod had almost finished his cone by the time he had walked back to the seedy little hotel where he was staying. He had to try the key to unlock the door three or four times until the rusty tumblers let him in.
He was searching though the makeshift kitchen when something caught his eye. A little light was flashing on his lap top computer. Curious, he unfolded the screen and was greeted by a textbox message.
YOU'VE GOT MAIL
"Oh I do, do I?" Jarod murmured in amusement as he opened the letter up. Inside was a simple WAV file. It quickly loaded up and started playing.
" Who are you?" Came a young voice that Jarod recognized immediately. It was his own, but as a young boy only six or seven years old.
"I don't know!" The other voice said. Jarod recognized this voice too, it was of his young friend. A fellow pretender who he would grow up with in the later years.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Young Jarod asked. "Everyone knows who they are."
"I don't."
"Sure you do. What did your parents call you?"
"Danny."
"Hi Danny, I'm Jarod."
"Are they mean to you here?"
Jarod remembered vividly how this question confused him.
"What do you mean?"
"My mom and dad are-were nice to me. These people aren't."
"Well they make me do Sims and sometimes those are hard, but everyone respects me and treats me fairly."
"Yeah right." A pause. " Jarod?"
"Yes?"
" I want to go home."
That was it, the WAV file ended. Jarod was puzzled, why would Angelo (That was certainly who it was from) send him this? He scrolled down a little more in the message and came to some words that were typed in bold like they had an important meaning to them.
GATEKEEPER
He sat back and considered what this could mean for about ten seconds until it hit him to go look in the Centre's mainframe. Everything seemed to be connected there recently and it was a good of place to start as any.
Jarod began to type at his little laptop furiously and a scant five minutes later he had hacked into and had logged onto the Main Frame. It was child's play. He looked up the word GATEKEEPER and came to an interesting looking folder. A very interesting folder.
Inside detailed the life of his friend, Danny in the Centre, but what it most focused on was his escape at the age of nineteen. It went into detail on just how he did it, what time he did it and the dates and times of his sightings outside the Centre. Eventually, a year after he escaped, they called off the search. The Centre still had one pretender to fall back upon and there were always numerous child candidates to fill the empty position... So why did they have to spend time and manpower to look for one boy?
This was all the stuff that Jarod already knew. So why... Then he caught sight of another date. One week the search was called back on and it didn't list the reasons why. That was strange. What was even more strange was that the search was labeled as passive meaning the Centre wasn't going out to look for him, rather they would "keep their eyes peeled." For any clues.
This was a real puzzle. Why after so many years and a week would Angelo send him this information now? And why would the Centre even reopen the search in the first place? Didn't they realize the probability of finding Danny after so many years was zero to none? This was mind boggling unless the Centre got incredibly lucky or Danny let his guard down...
Jarod froze in mid-thought. An icy finger of fear slipped into his heart. What if he did get careless? They could know where he is right now... That's why Angelo sent the file.
He wanted Jarod to get the warning through before it was to late.
*******
The phone in Signey's pocket chirped cheerfully as it received a call. He reached down and flipped it open with the ease of many years of practice.
"Hello?"
"Sidney," Jarod's voice came in, "Do you know about project GATEKEEPER?"
The older man paused for a moment, considering how much he should tell. "I've heard of it." He finally ceeded.
"Have they found him? Yes or no?"
Sidney sighed, he had hoped that Jarod wouldn't find out about this. But now that he had there was no point in lying to him. "Yes."
"Has he been captured?"
"No, not yet but Jarod, their on their way..."
"Where is he?"
" It's pointless..."
"Where is he?" He repeated
"A place called Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado."
That was all Jarod needed to know. "Thanks." Then he hung up. Cheyenne Mountain was the Missile Silo up the road.
******
Samantha Carter peeked her head into her friend's office. "Daniel, you coming?"
Inside the young anthropologist looked up from a fascinating Goa'uld artifact that he was busy translating. "Huh? What Sam?"
" I asked if you were coming to the Bar-Be-Que at the Colonals. It's almost seven you know." She said, well aware that Daniel lost track of time studying his artifacts.
"It is? Oh well, give me a few more minutes."
And a few minutes will turn into twenty, then into forty, then we'll be late. Sam thought. She crossed the room and said, "I don't think so!" And literally yanked him out of his chair. " You're not keeping me waiting."
"Hey!" Daniel pushed up his glasses with as much dignity as he could muster. "Fine, fine! I'm coming."
"Good or else I would have made Teal'c shoot you with his Zat gun again."
"Ha, ha."
The pair walked down the corridor and met up with Teal'c at the main elevators. "Oh before I forget, here's a hat." Sam handed the big guy a baseball cap.
"Thank you Caption Carter." Teal'c put on the hat, which covered up his very alien looking tattoo on his forehead.
They rode the two elevators up to the top level. That was trouble with working in a missile silo deep under a mountain. You worked deep under a mountain.
On their way out they passed an argument between a soldger and a man wearing Coronal pips.
"Sir, I wasn't notified of any visitors to this area." The soldger at the gate, whined.
" Well then there's a problem with your communication!" The Coronal said, " I was ordered to speak to General Hammond himself."
"But sir-"
By that time the group had moved out of hearing range and into the Parking lot.
"I'm driving!" Sam called.
"Then I get the front seat." Daniel said.
Teal'c who had no idea what the two humans were babbling about, merely raised an eyebrow. "I am unfamiliar of the term Bar-B-Que." He said, switching to a subject that also confused him.
"It means to cook food over an open flame." Daniel said helpfully. " Preferably without burning it, but in Jack's case..."
"I was not aware that Coronal O'Neilll could cook."
"He can't, Teal'c." Sam repressed a shutter, "He just likes to pretend he can."
"I see."
"But since he's our friend we have to pretend that he can too." Daniel said.
"Your customes are very strange to me Daniel Jackson."
Sam snorted, "Just wait till the Coronal teaches you about hockey. You ain't seen nothing yet."
****
Jarod was getting very, very annoyed at the little soldier blocking his path.
"Sir, I wasn't notified of any visitors to this area." The kid in front of him, whined.
" Well then there's a problem with your communication!" Jarod said, making his voice sharper. A small group of people walked out of the building giving the pair a strange look, but then moved on. " I was ordered to speak to General Hammond himself." Jarod continued.
"But sir-"
Ok, enough was enough and he didn't have time. Jarod stood right in front of the man and tried to make himself as threatening as possible. " I am carrying some confidential papers straight from DC to be delivered to General Hammond. And if you don't give me access right now then I will personally make sure that your military career is over. Get it? By tomorrow you will be shoveling snow in some God forsaken pit in the middle of Antarctica. Would you like that, boy?!"
The soldier swallowed and stepped aside. "No sir."
"Good man." Jarod strode past the kid and allowed himself to smile.
It was all in the attitude.
*****
"Excuse me mam'm." Jarod said to a young woman. He held out a computer compostie that he had found in the Centre's main frame. "Have you seen this man?"
Janet Frasir turned around and looked. "That looks a lot like Daniel Jackson." She said giving Jarod the old fish eye. " I haven't seen you around before, are you new here?"
"Yes I am but I won't be staying long. Do you know where he is, Doctor? It's very important."
"Go down the first two hallways. It's the fifth door on the right." Janet replyed, then turned back to look over a patiant who had gotten a broken arm on PH8759.
"Thank you." Jarod smiled and left. He started walking down the first hallway and wondered what the hell Daniel was thinking when he decided to work here. Working this close the the government was suisidal. Any suspitious persons were automaticly forwarded to the Centre for evaluation.
Jarod sighed and turned down the second hallway. What were they keeping in here anyway? What would be so improtant to keep twenty-eight stories under a montian in the middel of Colerodo?
Finally he came to the fifth door and turned the doorknob. It was unlocked. Jarod looked around to see if anyone was watching then slithered inside and turned on the light. Daniel wasn't inside. The office was littered with papers and strange artifacts of every shape and size. Jarod picked up a strange one with odd Hiroglphs all over it. Daniel always had a thing for Egupt but this was truly strange. The hiroglphs were like none other that he had seen before.
He shurgged and put the artifact down then he sat down at the computer whitch was still on. The skreen saver shut off with a click to reveal a speech dictator program that had been left on. Jarod scrolled down, it was just general notes so far. Then it apprutply stopped and was replaced with what looked like a conversation.
"Daniel, you coming?"
. "Huh? What Sam?"
" I asked if you were coming to the Bar-Be-Que at the Colonal's. It's almost seven you know."
"It is? Oh well, give me a few more minutes."
"I don't think so!. You're not keeping me waiting."
"Hey! Fine, fine! I'm coming."
"Good or else I would have made Teal'c shoot you with his Zat gun again."
"Ha, ha."
That was it, coversation ended. Jarod got up and shifted though some papers until he found what he was looking for. In the heading of one of the papers it stated:
Dr. Daniel Jackson, SG-1
Officer in charge: Colonal Jack O'Neill
Mission statis: Compleate
There was more but Jarod was too busy looking for a phone to read. It took him nearly a half hour to find one in the mess. But as soon as he did he dialed 411 information and asked for the number of Jack O'Neill. The cheery operator gave it to him and Jarod quickly dialed up.
"Hello?" Said a mans voice.
"Can I speak to Dr. Jackson?" Jarod asked.
****
" Here Teal'c, drink this." Colonel O'Neill said as he handed the Jaffa a bud light.
Teal'c opened the can and took a tiny sip. Then he looked at the can suspiciously for a moment then took a longer sip. Soon he had downed the whole can and went searching for a second one.
"Jack, now look what you did! He's going to get himself drunk soon." Daniel complained good naturally as he watched his big friend.
"Off of two cans Danny? I don't think so." The Colonel replied.
Teal'c, hearing the conversation, turned toward the two. "I believe my Goa'uld simbolite will protect be from any negative affects from this liquid."
"See?" Jack barked triumphantly.
"Sir," Sam interrupted. " Is the food supposed to be one fire?"
"What? Oh for cry'n out loud!" Jack jumped over a lawn chair and turned down the gas on the Bar-B-Que. "It's fine! Just a little... blackened."
"Why didn't we just have Teal'c shoot it with his staff weapon?" Daniel teased. "It would have produced the same result." He walked over to the Bar-B-Que. "Do you need any help?"
"Nope... Ow! Shit that hurt!"
"What happened?" Sam wondered.
" He just burned himself... And look! The food has caught on fire again." Daniel reached over to turn down the gas some more
Jack, who had until this moment been cursing though the pain of his burned finger, took one look at his ruined food and announced. "That's it, I'm ordering out. Anyone have any objection to Chinese?"
Teal'c raised an eyebrow and put down his fourth beer. " We are going to consume a human?"
***
Ms. Parker rapped on the door irritably. If Mayborne wasn't right about this she was going to kill him... slowly. There wasn't an answer so Ms. Parker and Broots simply kicked the door open.
The three pored inside the small apartment with their guns drawn. All they found were just a few stupid rocks and papers. No one was inside.
"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch!" Parker cursed.
"Hold on Ms. Parker." Sidney said as he picked up a small address book on the coffee table. Inside were a few numbers; SGC, Sam Carter, Jack O'Neill...
"Give me that!" The woman ripped it out of his hands and quickly read it. "Get a phone book." She snapped and Broots quickly handed her one that he found conveniently under the coffee table. Ms. Parker looked up the last names. Carter didn't have a listed address, but O'Neill did. "We're going." She said.
"B..But what if he's not there?" Broots asked.
" Then we get it out of O'Neill.. Forcefully if necessary."
****
Twenty minutes later the four were sitting in the living room, happily eating Chinese food. Sam and Jack had a good time trying to see how much spicy Kone-Pow Chicken they could eat without needing to drink water. Daniel was telling the slightly drunk Teal'c about the rich history of the Chinese dynasties.
Finally Sam and Jack ran out of Kone-Pow and reluctantly called it a draw.
" I vote that we watch a movie." Jack announced, interrupting Daniel just as the anthropologist was about to go into the Min Dynasty.
" You have movies here, Jack?" Daniel wondered.
"I do have a life outside the SGC you know."
"I never would have guessed, sir." Sam teased and was rewarded by a nasty glare from the Colonel.
"What is a movie?" Teal'c of course.
Jack got up and pulled out a cabinet drawer. "You'll see. Ok, I have Jurassic Park, You've Got Mail, Face/Off, Sports Illustrated Bloopers and of course, Stargate."
Daniel nearly spit out his water. "There's a movie called Stargate?!" He demanded.
"Yup, it's about this geeky anthropologist..."
"Jack!"
Just then the phone rang. O'Neill quickly answered it, "Hello?" His face screwed up into a grimace and handed it to Daniel. "It's for you."
"Hello?" Daniel said, wondering who would be calling him here.
The other voice on the line was one that Daniel had never heard before. "You must listen to me very closely." It said.
"Who is this?" Daniel asked.
"They have found you. You don't have much time! Get out of there, now!"
A cold fear that Daniel hadn't felt for a very long time began to surface. "Who has?" His voice was shaking.
"Who is it?" Jack asked, hearing his friend's voice.
" The Centre." The voice replied.
Then the phone went dead. Daniel dropped the phone receiver and said, "I have to go."
"Why? What's wrong?" Sam asked.
"Nothing!" Daniel snapped in a very un-Daniel like way. He grabbed his coat and headed for the door. This couldn't be happening.. Not after all these years... He had made it halfway across the living room before someone began to knock at the door. Daniel froze in midstep and turned to his friends. " You have a back door?"
"Daniel, what the hell is going on?!" Jack demanded loudly.
"There's not enough time to tell you guys. Do you have a back door?" The knocks were getting more louder and more persistent now.
"Yeah," Jack finally said, seeing his Daniel's distress. "Right though the kitchen."
At that moment the door burst open and a dark haired woman carrying a gun followed by a balding guy and a man with silver hair rushed though. "Freeze!" The woman yelled, pointing her gun expertly. "Nobody move!" The two men immediately flanked her and pulled out their guns.
Jack slowly put up his hands wondering what he should do. These people didn't look like cops. That's for damned sure. "I think you found the wrong house, lady."
Ms. Parker leered at him. " One more remark from you and I'll shoot you in the head." Slowly her eyes drifted from Jack to Teal'c to Sam and finally rested on Daniel who surprisingly looked a lot like the computer composite.
Daniel looked them and said sarcastically, "Sidney, you haven't changed a bit. But Ms. Parker! You've let yourself go."
"You know these people?" Sam asked.
"You can say that."
"Enough chit-chat." Ms. Parker growled. She pulled out her handcuffs and walked up to Daniel. "Turn around."
Quick as lightning, Teal'c reached over and punched Ms. Parker in the face and took the stunned woman's gun. " I cannot allow you to do that." He said calmly. Then whipped her around and pointed the gun at her head.
Broots and Sidney each turned their guns upon the Jaffa, ready to fire. "Put down your weapon." Sidney said. "Or we will be forced to shoot."
"Put down your guns and Teal'c won't shoot your lady." Jack countered.
"What are you waiting for?! Shoot him!" Ms. Parker screamed.
Daniel saw were this was going. In a few moments everyone was going to fire. He couldn't let that happen. "No!" He cried, stepping into the line of fire. "Don't do anything!"
"What are you doing?" Jack demanded.
Daniel ignored him and turned to Sidney and Broots. "Don't hurt my friends... I'll.. I'll go along willingly. Just don't hurt them."
"Daniel are you out of your mind?!" Jack yelled angrily.
" Teal'c, put the gun down."
"No! Teal'c, that's an order."
Sam whispered to Jack, "Sir we don't have a choice. They'll shoot Daniel and probably Teal'c too."
The Colonel glared at her. Damn, this sucked. Finally, feeling like he was signing Daniel's death warrant he said, "Ok Teal'c. Put the gun down." Damn Danny, I hope you know what your doing...
Teal'c obediently let go of his hold on Ms. Parker who snatched her gun back. Ms. Parker went over and pressed the barrel of the pistol into the back of Daniel's skull with one hand and handcuffed him with the other. "Move it." She growled. She pushed him into Broot's arms and made her way out.
But at the door she paused and dug something out of her jacket. With one last glimpse of the three weirdo's in the house, Ms. Parker pulled the pin of the gas grenade and threw it. Then she walked out.
"What did you do?" Broots wondered as he led Daniel out to the waiting car.
"I gassed 'em. They won't be following us now."
"You bitch!" Daniel yelled. "You said-"
"Oh shut up." Ms. Parker smacked the young man in the head with her butt of her gun. He went down, unconscience.
High up on a hill, Jarod sat completely invisible in the darkness surrounding him. He watched silently as Ms. Parker, Broots and Sidney loaded a figure in the trunk of their Buick. Jarod cursed to himself and got in his own car.
****
Samantha Carter woke up with one hell of a headache. She shifted around uneasily then realized that she was laying on a hard surface, probably a floor. From the sound of the birds out side she could tell that it was late in the morning. She opened her eyes to find herself in... The Colonel's house?
"Oh I better not have..." She muttered as she sat up. O'Neill was laying right beside her. Uh-Oh. Sam glanced around and saw that Teal'c was also asleep, some feet away. Great, now all she would need was Daniel and-
Her thoughts froze. Daniel? Then it all came flooding back into her mind. She reached over and shook Jack's shoulder. "Wake up, Sir!"
"Huh?... Oh for cryn' out loud!" Jack woke up and was on his feet in an instant.
" I must insist that you lower your voice." Teal'c complained from his area on the floor. Then, "Why am I here?"
"I'm calling the police." Sam said reaching for the phone.
"Then while you're at it, call the SGC." Jack replied
****
Daniel was just waking up too. From the smell in the air he knew instantly where he was: The Centre, probably one of the lower sub levels from the look of it. He was chained to a wall with his shirt removed.
"I'm so glad you can make it, Daniel. I have been wanting to meet you for a long time."
Daniel lifted his head and met the gaze of a man a little older than him with a dumb business suit and a crooked smiled. "And you are..."
" Just call me Lyle." Said the man. " But enough with the pleasantries. I want to get started immediately."
"Started?"
"Oh yes." Lyle's eyes twinkled as he picked up a pair of jumper cables attached to a car battery. Then he walked toward him.
This could not be good.
***
"No, I don't know where he is!" Jack snapped at the police chief. "If I did know then I wouldn't have called you!."
The cop across from him made a couple of notes in his pad off paper. "And do you know of anyone who would hold a grudge against him? Someone who would want to hurt him in any way?"
You mean Hathor? Or Apopis or even his own damned wife, Sha're? "No, I don't have a clue." On this planet anyway...
The cop was about to ask another question when the door opened to reveal General Hammod. " I just got the message, Son." He said to O'Neill, completely ignoring the cop. "But something at the base has come up and you're needed there immediately."
Don't tell me you're going to send Sg-1 out. Not now.. Jack thought. He turned to the cop, " Is that it?" Or do you have more questions to ask that you've ten times already?
The cop flipped his notepad over and sighed, " Yeah that's all we have for now but keep in mind that we may call you for further questioning." Then he turned and walked away, wishing he were at a donut shop.
"Colonel O'Neill," Said General Hammond. " I have just learned that papers were filed indighting you of several crimes including reports of you leaking confidential secrets to non-military personal."
"Say what?!"
The General almost smiled at Jack's reaction. Almost. " I know son," He said gravely. "If it's any consolation neither I nor the President of the United States believes this piece of Hoo-Haw. No one really knows who filed it to begin with."
"I can think of a couple of people." Jack growled, thinking of strangling Senator Kinsley or maybe Samuel's. It would be so fun to squeeze harder and harder..
"At any rate you aren't under arrest... Yet." Hammond's voice took on a more reassuring tone, "I'm letting Sg-1 take some time off. Find Doctor Jackson and then we will deal with this minor.. problem."
"Thank you, sir." Jack said stiffly then walked off to find Sam and Teal'c.
****
Daniel screamed as the battery cables were jammed into his exposed skin again and again. He didn't know how long he had been here, minutes and hours had lost their meaning a long time ago. Now all there is was the pain...
"Did you think that you could leave us forever?" Lyle demanded. "The Centre is part of you, Daniel. Admit it!" He jabbed the cable again and was rewarded with another scream. "Admit it!"
But Daniel just shook his head in defiance. He knew what Lyle was trying to do. He was trying to break him, make him a slave of this place again. It was a common brain washing technique: Get the victim to admit something he/she doesn't believe in and after a few weeks they *will* start to believe it.
Never you son of a whore. Jack and Sam and Teal'c will find me. They'll get me out of this place and I'll never... God that hurt... Never see this place again. NEVER! But Daniel kept those thoughts to himself, not really wanting to provoke Lyle anymore then necessary.
Lyle himself was getting very, very annoyed. Even Jarod had been sputtering alliance to the Centre at this point.... Of course it all turned out to be a farce and only bought him time to escape but still....
" You're a very stubborn person." Lyle said, switching tactics. "But Jarod and I agreed, you will see the errors of your ways before long."
With a great effort, Daniel lifted his head and whispered, "Jarod?" He was still working for these people?
Lyle nodded, finally finding a weakness. " Oh yes," He said. " He's our top pretender. Specializing in top secret sims. Including the Sim that finally found you."
"No... He wouldn't... What have you done to him?" Daniel demanded, the pain from his injuries was washed away from the sheer rage that suddenly engulfed his body. "What have you done to him?!"
"Nothing. He works for us on his own."
A mirthless smile twisted Daniel's lips. "Liar." He said. Jarod wouldn't have done that and he was too strong to be brainwashed. What was Lyle trying to pull? He couldn't really be this dumb and work for the Centre could he?
A spark of hope flared up inside him. If all these people were this stupid... Daniel's thoughts were interrupted as Lyle jabbed him again with the cable, but this time Daniel just gritted his teeth and tried his best to ignore it. He would find a way to get out. He did it once before and he would have to do it again.
Part 2
****
It's been a week. A god damn week since Daniel was kidnapped. O'Neill thought bitterly. How did Danny know those people? Were they some sort of crazy business partners from a long time ago? What was happening to him now?
Those were the questions that burned ceaselessly in his head. Jack was barely aware of anything else sometimes. Vaguely he knew that even with Hammond's best efforts he was going to be court marshaled any day now for leaking secrets... But he didn't care. Not any more, not with a member of his team missing.
"Sir?" Came a soft voice from outside his body. It was Carter. She had found him, staring off into space at Daniel's office. The Colonel had been doing more and more of that lately and it was starting to worry her. Sure, they were all scared for their lost friend but O'Neill was taking it personally, like it was his fault that this happened.
"Sir," She began again.
"Is there any news?" Asked Jack without preamble.
"Yes."
He grunted, "Any of it new?"
"No."
"Then I don't wanna hear it."
Sam took a deep breath. "You can't beat yourself up like this." She said fiercely. "You are not helping Daniel and you are certainly not helping yourself."
Jack turned his eyes on her and gave a chilling look. "Now wait a damn minute I..." He stopped and seemed to sag within his uniform. "Yeah, well... Shut up."
Sam almost smiled. " I don't think so, sir."
Jack grunted again and looked away into Daniel's office. "I just wish... I wish that there was some way I can help him."
"You can." Said a voice.
The startled pair turned around to face a man with dark hair and smiling eyes framed by a dark face.
"Hey, aren't you that guy we saw at the enterence gate?" Sam asked.
Jarod smiled although it seemed a little strained, "I was. I would have contacted you sooner but I had to wait until you were alone."
Alarm bells went off in Jack's head. "What? Why?"
"Because I have information on your friend." Jarod gestured to Daniel's office. "But we need to be in a more private place."
O'Neill scanned the man up and down. He didn't like the looks of this, some strange guy out of the blue trying to get them in a isolated area gave him the chills. But he didn't have a choice. 'Besides, I could take him.' He thought as he walked in, followed by Sam and Jarod.
Jarod shut the door and took a deep breath. He was about to tell these people would be hard to except. He had spent part of the last few days accessing files to get evidence so these people would believe him. They had too.
"Have you ever considered that the Daniel Jackson you know might not be who he says he is?"
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
Jarod reached into his jacket and brought out pictures. He tossed one on the desk, "This was Daniel when he was twenty. He was working as a computer programmer under the name Daniel Smith."
Jack picked up the picture and looked at it in amazement. It did look like his friend... But this was insane, impossible. "What are you trying to pull here?" He demanded angrily.
"Nothing." Jarod said, he tossed down some more pictures "Two months later he became a policeman under the name Daniel Skeet. A year later he was Daniel Tocher and was a 6th grade teacher." He dumped the whole packet of pictures down. "The list goes on and on."
"These pictures could have been faked." Sam said, "Using the right equipment it's easy."
"It is but their real."
"Oh I've had enough of this!" Jack snapped, heading for the door.
"Wait!" Jarod produced three more pictures and put them on the desk. "These were the people that captured your friend."
Jack paused and looked at them. "Yeah they are." He said resentfully. "You expect us to believe this load of crap? That Daniel would lie to us? I don't think so."
"He didn't have a choice." Jarod said flatly. "He was probably worried that if he did they would get him."
"They?" Sam echoed.
"The Centre." Jarod gestured for the two to sit so he could tell his story. Sam sat down right away but Jack glared at Jarod for a minute then grudgingly moved away from the door and sat in an empty chair. Jarod began.
"At the age of six, Daniel was taken away from his parents. He was put in a place called The Centre where they exploited him for his guineas. They held him there as a prisoner, taught him how to get inside other people's minds, to become a pretender. He eventually escaped at the age of nineteen and used his skills he learned in there to pass as anyone he wanted to be. The Centre searched for him of course. But they called it off after a year. Then for some reason, I don't know why, they called it back on and found him. Now he's back in the Centre. Their probably trying to break him right now, to get him to work for them again. I can help you get him out of there but you just have to trust me."
"And how do you know this?" Jack demanded. " Do you work with The Centre too?"
"Not anymore." Jarod said gravely. "I was a pretender there too, until I escaped two years ago. They are looking for me also which is why I have to be careful."
Sam looked at Jack and he looked back. They had a brief, silent conversation before reaching the same conclusion: They really didn't have a choice.
"All right," Jack said finally, "What's your great and wonderful plan?"
"My name is Jarod, and is there anyone else we can trust?"
"I'll get Teal'c." Sam said, quickly rising. She found the Jaffa when he was in the middle of meditating, filled him in and brought him up to where Jack and Jarod where at.
"Took you long enough." Jack commented as the pair walked in.
"You know the whereabouts of Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked Jarod.
"Yes, I'll tell you that later, though. Here's the plan..."
****
Daniel heard footsteps down the hall and shuttered. It was probably Lyle with those jumper cables again. It had been a week, a week with little food, water or sleep and with long bouts of the jumper cables between. He didn't know how much longer he could hold out before he gave in or just died.
He was way too weak to escape. The only hope he had left was that Jack, Sam and Teal'c would find him. But as each day wore on that seemed to be less and less of a possibility.
The door opened and Lyle appeared, but for the first time he wasn't carrying jumper cables, he was carrying a news paper. He tossed it right next to Daniel.
"Do you want me to read the stock report or something?" The former pretender asked snidly.
"Just read it. It's on the front page." Lyle voice carried within it a quality Daniel had never heard before from him. Pity? Concern? That didn't seem too likely.
He looked down at the front page. It bold letters it read:
SUSPECTED ARSON FIRE KILLS THREE
What was so special about that? Daniel read on:
At three O'clock a.m., police say a fire broke
out in a small home in northern Colorado. The fire spread
rapidly and soon consumed the entire complex. Fire-
Fighters rushed to the scene but they were not able to save
the three occupants: Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter and an
yet to be identified body....
It went on but Daniel didn't notice, "No." He whispered, looking up at Lyle. "No... It can't be!" He threw the paper, violently away. "NO!"
"I lit the match myself." Lyle said.
"No! It's not real! It's not real."
"It is very real, I'm afraid."
Daniel snapped, he lunged for Lyle but only got a few feet before he collapsed in a heap on the floor. Lyle smiled to himself, he kneeled down by Daniel and said, "It was so easy, we tied them up in the living room. The older one, what was his name? Oh yes, O'Neill, he was screaming your name-"
"Stop." Daniel pleaded. "Don't tell me..."
"- He was saying that he was going to find you. Then I lit the match, and he stopped screaming your name... and just started to scream."
Daniel started to sob freely. They were gone, his last hope gone. It was all his fault, he knew that he should have left the Stargate project. It was too much of a risk to work that close to the government but he had stayed and now his best friends were dead.
"I'm so sorry guys." He whispered to the still room, forgetting that Lyle was still there. "If you can hear me... I'm sorry."
"They can't hear you." Lyle said. "There dead, burned to a crisp... Because of you."
Daniel wanted to argue, to scream that it wasn't his fault but deep down he knew it was. They would still be alive were it not for him.
The last spark of hope died within him and he wanted to die with it. He would be a prisoner here forever... Even if he escaped then how could he face the world again? He had no one. Sha're was living a living death, Jarod was working for the Centre and the others were dead. "Oh God." He moaned, burring his head in his hands.
"Join us, Daniel." Lyle said. "We can help you forget. After a few weeks you won't even remember any of it any longer. I can make the pain go away."
It didn't sound like a bad idea anymore, it really, really didn't. He opened his mouth to say yes but something else came out instead. "Fuck off."
***
"Here we are kids." Jack said as drove up behind a whitewashed building.
Sam looked at it and frowned, "It looks so normal."
"You were expecting, what? Razor wire? Guards? Because I was expecting the same thing."
"I believe this could very well be an elaborate trap." Teal'c piped up from the back seat. "Was it not for Daniel Jackson I would not trust Jarod."
"Same here." Jack said then sighed. The plan that Jarod had given them was risky to the extreme and it depended on their trusting him. O'Neill didn't like that, not one bit. Furthermore Jarod had refused to go with them saying he had unfinished business to take care of. "This sucks."
"You've mentioned that before, sir." Sam said dryly. "What we need is a plan B."
O'Neill grinned for the first time in a week, "Already way ahead of you, Caption." He reached under his seat and pulled out a dusty case. Opening revealed it's contents: Three Zat guns. He passed them out and said, "Ok, let's get dressed."
*****
Mayborne was a very happy man. The order for O'Neill's arrest had just come though. Too bad that bastard disappeared from the SGC, but it was no mater. He couldn't hide for long and then he'd have him. He'd have that son of a bitch and when he was through O'Neill would be begging for mercy.
His thoughts were so delightful that he wasn't watching where he was going and ran into a young man.
"Watch it!" He growled.
The young man looked stunned for a second then gave a crisp solute and said, "Colonel Mayborne, I have a message to deliver to you."
"And it is?"
"General Hammond has issued an emergency meeting in his office at twenty-two hundred."
Mayborne thought fast, Hammond was probably getting desperate and wanted to call a meeting to discuss what to do with O'Neill. He really should attend it. "Thank you." He said curtly, "Dismissed."
***
Lyle stared at Daniel in shock for a few seconds, then his face started to grow red with rage. He thought he had him, he thought that forging the news paper would finally take all his hope away, finally break him. But that wasn't the case.
He kicked the anthropologist as hard as he could. Daniel tried to scream but the wind was knocked out of him. He felt more sharp blows as Lyle kicked him again and again then he stopped. It took every ounce of strength for Daniel to sit himself up. He looked at Lyle and started to laugh.
"You...You think you can scare me?" He demanded though chuckles. "I've been dead more times then I can count and you..." He raised a hand at Lyle in mock parity. "You are so ignorant and stupid.... It will be your downfall."
Lyle's face got even darker with rage. If they weren't in such need of a pretender.... He abruptly turned and walked out the door, slamming it behind him.
Daniel sat there for five minutes or more, letting it all sink in. They were gone. He would never hear Jack's bad one liners, never make another scientific discovery with Sam, and never discuss cultures with Teal'c again. Never. They were dead. After all the battles, all the missions... It was so senseless. Daniel felt tears dribbling down his cheeks again and brushed them away. He would mourn later. Not now. He had a hunch about Lyle and if it worked...
He forced himself onto his feet. They had removed the chains a few days ago so he had been able to roam around the small room. Yippee. But now things were different, he staggered to the door and turned the knob.
He was right, Lyle forgot to lock the door.
"It will be your downfall, Mr. Lyle." Daniel muttered as he carefully opened the door. The world dipped and spun around him but he had to ignore it. He had to get out of here.
***
"Identification please." A young woman at the front desk said cheerily.
O'Neill plastered a smile on his face, dug around in his doctor's smock and held out the ID card that Jarod had forged for him. "I'm the new doctor here and these are my two associates." He said pleasantly, like the whole idea didn't make him sick. He pointed to Sam and Teal'c who had similar fake grins on their faces.
The young woman smiled at him and processed the ID card. After a moment the computer beeped affirmative. " Welcome to The Centre, Doctor McMann. Just down that hallway is Mr. Parker's office, he'll give you the new assignments."
"Thank you mam'm." Jack said then he gestured to Teal'c and Sam, then made his way down the hallway. Once he was out of sight of the young woman he turned and addressed his friends. " Jarod said that Daniel would probably be kept in one of the lower sub levels. We'll take the elevator down, understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Yes, O'Neill."
Jack nodded and they got into one of the elevators. He was excited, hyped up with the possibility of finding Daniel again. But one stray thought kept echoing in his mind: What if they were too late? What if Daniel had succumbed and didn't want to come with them?
"Then I'll make him." He muttered.
"Sir?" Sam asked.
"Nothing, just thinking out loud." The elevator came to a sudden stop and the doors opened. They walked out, Zat guns drawn and ready to fire. But it was pointless, no one was in the dark halls.
Without further ado, Jack opened the nearest door and looked inside. Nothing. He glanced back at Sam and Teal'c who were covering him and moved to the next door. Still nothing.
"This could take hours." Jack realized as he looked down the hallway, that was filled with doors. "We don't have time."
"I think we should-" Sam began, but was silenced as a scream echoed down the hallway. "That way." She pointed toward the direction where it came from.
****
Daniel lurched into the doctor's lounge. The room was spinning wildly around him and he couldn't tell up from down anymore. He stumbled to a counter with a box of crackers and ate the whole thing within minutes. Then he turned on the tap water and drank his fill.
After a few minutes, strength began to return to his body. The room stopped spinning around him and he wasn't so tired. He rifled though the refrigerator and ate someone's turkey sandwich. There, that should be enough to sustain him until he got out again. He needed to move fast, Lyle was sure to come back to his cell and when he found it empty...
Daniel went over to the air vent... It was smaller then he remembered. Could he still fit? There was only one way to find out. He removed the grate and crawled inside, it was a little more snug then last time he used them but it would still serve it's purpose.
He would crawl around the network of air-vents until... Until what? Until he got out of the building? Until he joined the work force again under some assumed name and tried to forget anything happened? Forget Jack, forget Sam and forget Teal'c? They died because of his stupidness-
"No!" Daniel yelled. "I can't think that way. I can't... I can't."
But he had a really vivid imagination. He could clearly imagine how they must have felt when Lyle lit that match and tossed it...
No, he couldn't think this way. Daniel leaned back and willed the images to the dark recesses of the back of his mind. They would come up again, sure. But right now they were gone. He had to focus.
Daniel quickly closed the air vent grate behind him and crawled down the air vent shaft. Funny, he had used these same shafts before when he had escaped all those years ago. Seemed like they would have locked them up better or something.
He crawled around twists and turns slowly, not wanting to make a sound. But even the smallest scuffle was amplified and echoed relentlessly in his ears. Suddenly he came to a dead end. A dead end? He didn't remember that.
It all became clear to him in a flash of understanding. He desperately tried to go backwards but in his heart he knew it was far too late.
The bottom of the air shaft opened beneath him and he fell to the concrete floor, only three feet below. Daniel scrabbled to his feet only to come face to face with Lyle's smiling face.
"Got ya."
****
Mayborne walked into the conference room in a rush. He had spent all day imaging, anticipating how this meeting would go over. He had it down to a little dramatic play in his head with himself as the star.
General Hammond would be frantic, wanting to protect his dear Colonel O'Neill yet not able to do a thing. He would call on suggestions from his staff but no answers would come. They'd have no choice but to cede to the court marshal and let someone track down O'Neill, Carter and the Jaffa.
Maybe later, Mayborne would take a trip up to the Centre and visit Jackson... Or what was left of him.
Mayborne schooled his grin as he opened the door to the conference room. It was dark inside. "What the hell?" Mayborne wondered as he flicked the light switch on and entered the room. It was completely empty... Could that soldier gotten the orders wrong?
The door behind him suddenly closed. Startled, Mayborne tried to open it again, only to find it locked. "What's going on?" He yelled to the empty room.
A voice boomed out from some hidden loud speakers. "Welcome to your new home!"
"My home? This is the conference room."
"Not anymore." The voice said with sick pleasure. "It's your cell now. Think of it like the cell that you condemned O'Neil and Jackson too."
Mayborne's blood ran cold. "Who are you?!" He yelled then thought for a second. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure you do." A pause. "Don't you feel like the walls are closing in above you, Mayborne? Think of all the tons of weight pressing on these flimsy walls-"
"Shut up!" Mayborne yelled. How did this voice know of his clusterphobia?! "Shut up!"
The lights went dead and it was pitch black. This freaked out Mayborne even more and he threw himself against the door. "Let me out! Let me out!"
" I don't think so. Don't worry, it will be over soon enough."
Soon enough?! What did that mean? Then to Mayborne's horror he heard the scream of medal as it was about to give way to the dirt and rocks above. "Oh... Oh no. Let me out!"
The scream of medal continued and the General became panicked. "I'll... I'll do anything! Please let me out!"
"So you'll do what? You've done enough damage, Mayborne."
"Damage?! What are you talking about?" Even in the iron grip of panic he kept to his lies.
"You know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Jackson and O'Neill and what you did to them."
Finally Mayborne caved. "Yes! Yes! I... I falsified those reports... I turned Daniel in! Let me out... Please... Please." He fell to the ground, begging.
In the room next to Mayborne's, Jarod smiled as he turned off his tape recorder. He would let Mayborne out... In a few hours.
***
Two bulky guards came over and grabbed Daniel as he stood in front of Lyle in stunned silence.
"No." Daniel whispered.
Lyle grinned, "Do you really think I would let my star pretender escape?"
"It was all a trick, wasn't it? I didn't really... you left that door open on purpose!"
"Of course." Lyle replied smoothly. "Face it. You are never going to get out of here again." He turned to the guards. "Take him back to his cell."
Daniel was too stunned to move for a few seconds. Then he snapped back into reality. "What? No! NO!" He started screaming and kicking for all he was worth.
"Hold him!" Lyle roared, punching Daniel across the face.
Suddenly, there was a faint call. "Daniel?" Someone yelled, their voce echoing down the hallway. Daniel couldn't believe his ears. It sounded like Jack... But he was dead... wasn't he?
"Jack?!" He yelled and was rewarded by another punch from Lyle, but he was far from caring.
"Daniel?"
"What the hell is going on?" Lyle demanded.
"Jack! I'm in here!" Daniel called again.
At that moment the door burst open to reveal Carter, Teal'c and O'Neill, Zat guns drawn. Daniel couldn't believe his eyes.. They were alive!
Jack wiggled his Zat gun at the guards and Lyle. "Let him go." The guards reluctantly released their grasp and stepped away to stand next to Lyle. O'Neill quickly stunned them.
A span of a few seconds passed before the trio rushed forward to meet their lost friend. "Nice to see you again, Daniel." Jack said then in a rare show of emotion, hugged him.
"I... I thought you guys were dead." Daniel gasped between tears.
Sam wore a smile that seemed to split her face in half. "We're hard to kill."
"I am very happy to see you alive and well, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said, stepping up to his friend. "But we must depart soon." He gestured towards the stunned men on the ground who were struggling to get up.
"Right." Jack snapped into his Colonel mode. "Carter, give him the extra smock. Can you walk, Daniel?"
" I can do anything, as long as it means getting out of this place."
*****
Epilogue
*****
O'Neill sipped his beer and waited for the man across the table to tell his story. It had been three days since they had gotten Daniel out of The Centre. Jarod never turned up again. O'Neill's charges had been dropped and Mayborne had been accused of falsifying reports and was now sitting in a jail cell, awaiting trial.
On the way back to the SGC, Daniel had made up fake police reports and a cover story on what had happened to him. It was good enough to convince Hammond and Jack was impressed.
"So why did you do it, Daniel?" Jack wondered. "After all these years why didn't you just tell us the truth?"
Daniel sighed and pushed up his glasses, once again playing the part of the geeky anthropologist. " When I first started pretending to be an anthropologist I had only planned it to be a month long thing. Two months at most." He said. "During those two months I formed a few theories and decided to propose them in front of the scientific world. It didn't go well as you know... When Catherine found me and told me that she had a job offer I went along for fun. It didn't seem to dangerous, translating old material."
"And you translated the Stargate." Jack said.
"Yes, and I went along on the mission and fell in love with Sha're. That year on Abydos was the best in my whole life because for once I didn't have to worry about not leaving tracks. I didn't have to worry about the Centre because they were a whole world away. Then when Sha're was taken... I had to stay on the project to find her, Jack. I really love her, that's not a lie."
"I see." O'Neill played with his beer mug a little before asking. "So do you really like looking at all those rocks, Danny? Or do you find it as boring as any sane person?"
Daniel chuckled for the first time in days. " Actually I really like studying artifacts." He was interrupted my Jack's groan then went on. "So how did you guys find me anyway?"
"Well that-" O'Neill stopped as he saw a familiar face come into the bar. He grinned and waved the person over to the table. "That is not something I can answer myself. I'm gonna get some more beer." With that he got up and walked to the counter.
No sooner had Jack left his chair then someone else sat down in it. "Hello Danny." The man said. "Or do you call yourself Daniel now?"
Daniel studied the unfamiliar face of the man for a second before coming to a startling conclusion. "Jarod?"
"Yep. How you doing?"
"I've been better." Daniel replied dryly, "When did you get out?"
"Three years now." He replied.
"It was you on the phone, wasn't it? You tried to warn me before...Thanks."
"No problem, I only wish I got there sooner."
Daniel grunted in agreement then asked. "So how has it been for you on the outside?"
"Interesting." Jarod said then began to tell his story of the years he had been out of the Centre. Jack came back with some beers, and listened almost politely as Jerod finished his tale. Then at the end of it he said a rather surprising question. "So what are you going to do, Daniel? You can't stay here."
"What?" Jack explained.
"It's too dangerous." Jerod continued. "The Centre will find you again."
"Maybe not." Daniel countered. "They'll be expecting me to move on and hide somewhere else." He saw the look of surprise on Jerod's face and smiled. "And to tell you the truth... I fell in love with someone there and I really can't leave her."
"You're sure about this?" Jerod asked, eyeing his old friend like he had lost his mind.
"Of course he's sure." Jack said. "He's not even here half the time-"
"Figuratively speaking of course." Daniel added.
"Of course." Jerod got up. "I have to be going now. But I'll stop by to say hi every once in a while."
"Thanks Jerod."
***
"You want me to what?" Ms. Parker almost shrieked as she got her news from Lyle. "We know where he is. I can get him and this time you won't screw things up."
Lyle decided not to take the bait. "Listen," He said. "That Colonel used a gun and technology that I had never seen before. I want it and Daniel can lead us too it. Furthermore I have a hunch that he has been associating with Jerod."
Ms. Parker was catching on. "So you just want me to keep an eye on him." She spat. "And just hope he leads us to Jerod?"
"Not hope. He will, just give it time. Either he or Jerod will slip up and then." Lyle clenched his fist. "Then I will have them both!"
****
THE END
Or is it??????