Siler was escorted back down into the lower floors of the SGC and then the guards simply turned and headed back to the elevator. They must not have thought he was a serious threat – either that or they were confident he would be unable to do anything on his own.
After the elevator doors closed on the guards he glanced around quickly but didn't see a single soul. He knew the SGC was operating with a skeleton crew, but surely there should be someone around. He needed help and he needed to figure out what was going in.
The one advantage he had, if he didn't get caught, was that he knew the nooks and crannies of the SGC better than any other living person. He would be the first to admit that Major Carter knew more about the gate than he did, but she didn't know as much about the running of the entire base. He and his team were the ones who kept it going, who fixed problems and kept track of who was doing what, where, when and why.
So – right now he had to find a place to stay low and then make contact with anyone else on base that he knew he could trust. Once he'd done that, together they'd have to figure out how to retake control of the SGC. He was confident that whatever was happening was big and that Colonel O'Neill, Dr. Jackson, Major Carter and Teal'c were all in danger. He wondered briefly about General Hammond, suspecting that he could also be in trouble. He knew that whatever happened, they'd all be a helluva lot safer if SG1 and Hammond were on the case.
He managed to make his way down to the very bottom floor where few, if any officers ever step foot. Colonel O'Neill was one of the few who knew his way around down here and Siler suspected that others would have been surprised to know that.
O'Neill had a habit of appearing like he wasn't doing much when he wasn't on a mission. In fact, it was a standing joke that his mission reports were always late and that he couldn't find his office. Even his teammates gave him a hard time. Siler knew that, in actual fact, the Colonel was one of the hardest working of all of them.
How anyone thought he'd gotten to his rank – and 2IC of the SGC – by not working was beyond him. If there was anything the slightest off on the base, O'Neill was often the first to know and the first one there. He not only knew every soldier and civilian on base by name, he knew what they did and why. And – which would have shocked more than one person – he could do most of their jobs as well as they could. Oh, maybe not the science jobs – but certainly just about everything else.
The Colonel was also a favorite of all the enlisted men and women. Again, many people 'upstairs' wouldn't know it, but he wasn't above coming down and chatting to everyone and asking them how things were going, both at work and in their personal lives. He was the farthest thing there was from an arrogant officer - and they loved him for it. They also knew that he was responsible, many times over, for saving their collective butts.
So – all Siler had to do was find a few of those people – and they'd do their damndest to make sure the Colonel and his team were okay – and probably help save the world in the process.
He went straight to the computer station he was looking for. It was a back-up computer – hidden deep in the depths of the base. It has actually been Major Carter who had thought of the idea and she had enlisted Siler's help to set it up. It was in an unobtrusive cabinet, in which no one would ever think to look.
He quickly typed in a few codes and then checked to see who was on duty. He discarded the names of anybody who had been recently transferred (anyone less than six months) or anyone he didn't know. That left six people, only one of whom was a combat soldier.
Great – he had to figure out how to take over the world's most secure, secret base with six people – Marie Jones and Irving Layton, both of them from food services, Mario from sanitation, Chloe from the science department, Mark Williams from Security and Captain Jonathan Toll from SG7. He wondered briefly what Jon Toll was still doing here since the rest of his team were off for the weekend. He was positive that it wasn't anything bad since he'd known Toll for the past two years and knew he could trust the young officer.
He scanned the screen to locate each of the six people, sighing when he realized they were spread throughout the base. At least he hoped they were still where they were supposed to be and that Colonel Moss hadn't locked them up – or even worse, gotten rid of them. The one good thing is that they were all in places that Siler could get to without suspicion. He was just about to go on to the next thing when he noticed a flashing red symbol in the corner of the screen.
"Damn!" He typed in a few more words and looked carefully, his eyes scanning the information in front of him. "What the hell are you up to?" he muttered. With a quick shake of his head he began to type. He knew it was a long shot, but he had to try. If this didn't work, he'd have to get into the system itself, otherwise they were all in big trouble.
Moss, or whoever was working with him, had closed down the SGC pending orders from the top. No one could get in or out and communications, except those coming directly from the CO's desk were stopped. They were effectively cut off from the outside world. What had interested him however, was the phone log. There were three incoming calls from the same number. When Siler traced them back he discovered they'd come from Washington – but not from the President. No – this number was from the Vice-President, which was something he normally wouldn't have known, but after all the trouble Kinsey had given them, he and a number of others in the SGC had decided to keep track on the sneaky politician. Siler was now glad that he'd decided to memorize the man's phone number.
"So – you're behind this." Siler murmured softly, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "That explains it. Well Mr. Kinsey, we'll just have to see about that!"
He typed in a few more symbols and then closed the computer down. There were only four people who knew how to access and change the commands back; himself, Hammond, Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill. No one would be able to do a thing about what he'd just done unless they turned off and rebooted the whole system. He grinned – he was pretty sure Moss didn't even know how to do that and he certainly wasn't about to help. Based on the base logs, he was the only one here who knew how to get past standard protocols. He wondered if they'd given that any thought when they'd taken over.
Standing up he made his way to the stairwell. It was time to start Operation Homer – the name given in honor of the character both he and Colonel O'Neill loved.
After saying goodbye to Rebecca and thanking her for her help, Sam made her way back into the small house. She took one look at the Colonel and made him lie back down on the sofa. "I know you're in command Sir, but you won't do anyone any good if you collapse. Now's the time to get your strength back so you're ready to go when it's time." With much grumbling Jack complied, although his look of relief told both his friends that his protests were more form than reality.
Sam was concerned at how pale and tired he looked, even though he was trying to pretend he was fine. It had been good to see him standing, but he was still very obviously weak and in pain. She worried what this would do to his recovering spine – she remembered Janet saying a number of times how important it was for the Colonel to not overdo things, that it could have lasting consequences.
"So Major – tell us what happened?" O'Neill spoke to her gently, but with a look in his eye that told her he knew what she was thinking and that he didn't want to go there.
Okay – she could do that – for now – but she was determined to check him out afterward. She spent the next twenty minutes telling her teammates what had transpired and how she'd gotten away.
"Way to go Sam!" Daniel laughed. "You sound just like MacGyver!"
"You're right", she giggled. "I never thought of that. Well, he always was my hero – and he's sexy!"
"Hey, what about me?" Jack said, looking indignant.
"Well, I don't know if I'd call you sexy Jack", Daniel grinned.
"I didn't mean that", the Colonel grumped, looking slightly embarrassed. "I just keep hearing about this MacGyver guy and he was a damned TV character. And by the way", he glared at Daniel, "how the hell do you know about MacGyver? You don't even own a TV that works."
"I do to – and everyone knows MacGyver."
"Well fine", Jack scowled. "But if we're talking real heroes …"
"You're still my favorite hero Sir", Sam tried to look straight-faced although the grin was trying really hard to peek out.
"And I bet you think he's sexy too, don't you Sam?" Daniel gave her a knowing look.
"Daniel!" she squeaked, turning slightly red in the cheeks. She glanced apologetically at the Colonel but he was wearing a bigger grin than her traitorous, one-time archaeologist friend.
"Hey, Daniel did his own 'MacGyverying' you know", Jack said, deftly saving Carter further embarrassment – although he was quite enjoying the conversation. "Tell her how you escaped, oh boy wonder."
Daniel grinned and then spent the next few minutes telling of his 'bed frame' escape, which had Sam looking at him in awe
"Wow Daniel – that's pretty amazing. I didn't know you had it in you."
"Hey, I don't just look at rocks you know!"
"What about you Sir?" Sam turned to her CO. "How did you get out of the SGC if the guards were under Colonel Moss' control? You didn't walk up the escape hatch did you?" she frowned, thinking of how impossible that would have been with his back and legs in the condition they were in.
"No", Jack sighed. He knew she would want to know! He sighed again. "Siler helped me escape in one of the trucks", he answered.
"Trucks Sir?" Sam looked puzzled.
"Gargage trucks", he answered shortly. "I went out with the trash", he finally admitted.
"The trash?" She looked slightly confused. "How – oh! You mean you took the service elevator up with the trash? That's brilliant Sir!"
He suddenly felt immeasurably better. Samantha Carter had just called him brilliant! So there MacGyver, he thought to himself.
"But it must have been pretty stinky", she continued. "And you told me I smelled!"
"Well you did", he grinned. "Okay, it's true I was a bit fragrant – but at least I made it out safely. I'd say we're all brilliant. Kinsey doesn't know what he's in for!"
"Yeah maybe", Daniel repeated, sounding somewhat skeptical and depressed. How the hell were they supposed to do anything if the whole US government and military were against them? "I just wish Teal'c were here although somehow I don't think he'll be able to pull off a miraculous return to Earth. He probably doesn't even know anything is wrong."
Teal'c felt like something was wrong, although he couldn't tell what it was. He'd planned to spend a few days on Chulak, visiting friends and family, but now he felt like he needed to return to Earth. He shouldn't have left when O'Neill was still so ill. The General had given Major Carter and him an order to go and relax, but he was pretty sure that if he'd spoken to Hammond he would have been given permission to stay.
He had actually been surprised at the General who usually didn't let the Colonel's bad moods irritate him to the extent that he would punish him by sending away his team. He knew that Hammond had been dealing with all sorts of things lately from the NID and from the Pentagon and was human like anyone else. He had most likely simply reached his limit – but it still was not like him to take it out on Colonel O'Neill. Oh, Teal'c had been irritated at his friend too, but knew it was a result of the man's frustration, pain and fear and was something easily overlooked.
No – he should have stayed. Now he felt as if something was wrong and that he was needed back on Earth. There would be disappointment here, but they would understand that duty came first.
"I am sorry Master Bra'tak, but I must return."
"Something is wrong Teal'c?" his old master enquired, looking calm but curious.
"I feel my brother O'Neill needs me, although I do not know for sure."
"If your heart is telling you, then you must go."
Teal'c said goodbye to his family and then made his way to the Stargate. There was a unit of Free Jaffa guarding it, many of whom were friends of Teal'c. The captain – Ja'el, spoke briefly to him and then commanded that the gate be dialed.
"Something is wrong Teal'c", he said, when it was obvious the seventh chevron would not engage.
"Is it us or Earth?" Teal'c asked his friend. Ja'el attempted another address which immediately connected.
Teal'c stayed by the gate as they continued, every few moments, to dial Earth. He finally thanked the Captain and headed back to his house. He would have to find another way to make it back to Earth. He was now convinced that something was happening and that his friends and teammates needed him.
"So, any ideas what we're going to do?" Now that they'd told their individual stories Daniel asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"We know that Kinsey is in control, and that the President is either hurt or dead. We don't know who, if anyone, in Congress is involved, although it appears as if the Pentagon is on high alert and seems to be backing the VP." O'Neill outlined where things stood.
"They may not know what's going on", Sam reasoned. "As far as most people are concerned there was an assassination attempt on the President and until the culprits are caught they would naturally be on alert."
"The culprits being us?" Jack asked sarcastically. "What about Barrett?" he finally asked, although he didn't particularly like the man. He was too – too – too cloying for Jack's taste. Of course, the fact that the man practically drooled anytime Carter was close in no way affected his opinion of him.
"He was in a meeting when I called the last time. I can try again now. Paul is someone else I think we can trust. Should we contact him again?"
Jack sat thinking about it for a minute. Kinsey knew that Davies had worked with them on a number of missions and would probably be watching him closely. "Does Kinsey know of our – your – connection to Barrett?" he asked Sam.
"I doubt it. He knows that Barrett knows about the SGC and has worked on a couple of cases but I'm pretty sure he thinks Barrett doesn't have much use for us and that he's a good NID officer. Barrett has been able to keep under the radar for years."
"Okay then – let's go through him and see what we can find out. I don't think we should try and contact Paul – at least not yet. We don't want to get him into trouble and I suspect they're watching him closely to see if he'll lead them to us."
"What about Maybourne?" Daniel asked. "He's been good for information in the past."
"Yeah – we might need to contact him, but for now let's go through Barrett."
It took a while but eventually they got through to the NID man. One of the things Rebecca had done was to purchase a whole stack of cell phones from a number of stores. This way they could use untraceable numbers and discard the phones after one or two uses. They still had to be careful, but at least it should help.
"Hello Malcolm? Hi, it's me Stella – yeah, that's right – from the Karaoke night."
Jack and Daniel grinned as they listened to Sam – aka 'Stella'. Daniel looked at Jack and mouthed 'Karaoke?'. Jack shrugged, although he suddenly had a desire to see his Major standing up and singing 'I Will Survive' or something similar on a karaoke machine. After that quick daydream he returned to listening to the conversation, although he didn't get much from just Carter's side of it.
"So?" he asked as soon as she hung up.
"Things are pretty bad. Kinsey has taken over everything and has guards posted just about everywhere. There have been a few calls from some members of Congress to find out what's happening, but he's basically got everyone believing this is some terrorist cell, run by you Sir, and that it's highly dangerous."
"Terrorist cell? Jack? How can they believe that?" Daniel wanted to know. "And what about the President?"
"Still listed as critical. Barrett thinks he'll 'die' as soon as we're captured and that Kinsey is most likely keeping him alive at this point for insurance just in case things don't work out as planned."
"Even as powerful as he is, surely Kinsey didn't mastermind this whole thing alone?" Jack wanted to pace and was cursing the fact that he could barely sit up straight, let alone stand and walk around. He was feeling nervous and needed to move.
"Barrett thinks there's someone backing him, but he didn't say who. I expect he doesn't know, although it may be that he was just being careful. He had to speak in pretty general terms – just as if he was to a girl friend about the President being shot."
"So did he give any hints about what we should do?" Jack wanted to know.
"Not exactly, although from a couple of things I think he thinks the only thing we can do is find the President and save him. If we do that – and Hayes can tell who it was who really shot him – then we'll be safe and we can go after Kinsey." Carter had stood by this time and was pacing herself. It was something she rarely, if ever, did. Maybe it was the fact that the Colonel usually did it that meant she didn't have to. Someone however, needed to be wearing off some of the team's adrenaline and this time it was her.
"So, we go find the President" Jack's eyebrow's lifted into his hairline. "Uh, any idea how we're going to do that?"
"No Sir – he didn't say."
"Did he give a hint where he thought they might be holding him?"
"No", she frowned slightly "but he did say something rather unusual."
"Do tell Major?" O'Neill prompted, when she grew silent.
"Well, before I signed off he said he heard my boss was away and then asked me if I had a good time on my vacation – said he enjoyed getting the pictures."
"You sent him pictures of your vacation?" Jack wanted to know, feeling and sounding rather peeved. What the hell was she doing sending the man pictures for god's sake. She never sent him any pictures.
"No, that's the point. I've never sent him any pictures and the fact is I haven't really been on a vacation in – oh years I guess."
Jack looked at her in surprise. "No vacations? Never?"
"Well, I usually go to see Mark and his family if I have time off – or I just stay and relax at home. It's not like we don't do a lot of travelling for our job!" she answered, almost indignantly.
"Yeah", he smirked. "If only we could get air miles for all our travel! So – he thanked you for pictures you haven't sent of a vacation you didn't take. Weird."
"I know. That's why I think it must mean something."
"Like a hint maybe?" he smirked.
"Yes Sir – I think he was trying to give us a hint about where we should look", she responded gently.
"Oh. I meant a hint that you needed to take more vacations", he told her.
She sighed – her usual 'long-suffering, responding to Jack O'Neill obtuse comments' sigh. "I don't think so Sir. I meant something really important."
"Vacations are -" he stopped when she glared and tried to shrug – although it hurt his shoulder so he stopped. "So fine. What do you think it means?"
"Well – where was the last trip we took." she looked at the two men who were closer to her than her own father and brother and couldn't help but smile. They were such dear people. She was so thankful they had each other. "I mean, before this last one." She grimaced slightly, hating to bring up their last mission when she didn't know if the two men had resolved their issues yet.
"P5C 2Y0" Daniel answered without hesitation, seeming not to think about the final mission where Jack was hurt.
"How can you possibly remember something like that?" Jack glanced at him, irritation oozing from his mouth.
"It was the planet with the hundred foot monolith", he explained briefly.
"You mean the one with all the writing on it? The one you said would probably take years to translate, although you decided to start trying immediately – even though it was snowing and was 50 degrees below zero? Is that the one Daniel?" Jack glared at his friend, irritated again although he didn't really know why.
"Yes Jack", Daniel glared right back. "That's the one! And it could have said something very important."
"So we were to wait around for years while you decided whether or not it said something important?" O'Neill growled.
"Uh Sir – Daniel – I think we have something pretty important to figure out now, don't you?"
They both turned to her and glared – and she burst out laughing. Yup – they were both so dear - and could be such pains in the mitka when they chose.
Almost immediately the Colonel relaxed and then looked rather sheepish. "Yeah you're right Carter. Okay – so you went to this - monolith – planet. What does that have to do with Barrett?"
Sam thought for a moment and then shook her head. "I don't think it does. Even if he does get copies of our mission reports he can't have seen that one yet. General Hammond waits until the end of the month before he sends our reports on to Washington and it's only the 18th today. No, it must be something else."
"Well, where was the last mission you were on when Barrett was around?" Jack finally asked.
"It was when Kinsey was shot and you were framed Sir", she said, suddenly sounding excited.
"And he thinks that was a vacation?" O'Neill said, sounding annoyed.
"Well, you are my boss Sir", she grinned. "And you know what they say - when the boss is away."
"I was in prison Carter and you were playing?"
"No Sir – I was trying to figure out who had framed you. Kind of like now" she answered.
He nodded, once again becoming serious. "It certainly seems familiar. Kinsey really is out for our blood isn't he?"
"I think yours more than anyone's Jack", Daniel broke in.
"But you got to shoot the President this time", he told Daniel, as if giving him a treat.
Daniel sighed and shook his head. "Not an honor I was really looking for Jack", he answered. Jack was in a strange mood – going back and forth between irritation and silliness. He expected the Colonel was feeling miserable – wanting to do something but still too weak. "And anyway, they say I shot him, but we all know I was thousands of miles away at the time and we still don't know where they're keeping the President."
"In prison", Sam answered.
"What? Why would he be in a prison Carter? If he's been shot they'd take him to a hospital."
"What more secure place to keep him?" she asked. "And they have medical facilities at prisons – much more secure ones than in a hospital. I'm sure that's why Malcolm mentioned you were away. He would have known you were in prison when you were framed for Kinsey's death.""
"Too bad it wasn't real", he said. He was surprised when his teammates didn't say anything – but when he looked at them he realized they both agreed with his statement. He thought about it for a moment but then nodded. "I guess it's possible they're keeping him at a prison, but how are we to know which one?"
"They'd take him to a military prison", Daniel interjected, suddenly seeming to agree with Sam. "It's logical, isn't it? I mean, the military must be involved and he is the Commander and Chief."
"It would have to be somewhere close to Washington", Sam sounded excited now that she had something tangible to consider.
"Quantico", Jack said calmly. "It has to be Quantico. It's in Virginia, which is close and has incredibly tight security. I'd bet my last dollar that that is where he is being treated."
"So", Daniel looked between his two military friends. "What does this mean?"
Sam glanced over at Jack and shrugged, as if to say it was totally the Colonel's decision.
"It means Daniel", Jack gave a half smile and forced himself to sit up. "That we're going to Quantico to rescue the President!"