Chapter 8:

The neighborhood of Mr. & Mrs. Dillon Everett: 2 days later

Jack O'Niel had come up with his plan. It was a good plan he figured. Simple, nothing too complicated. Wait till it gets dark then pick the lock and walk in. Once inside he finds his old pall and they catch up on old times. The guy would be so surprised that a kid knew all this classified top secret stuff he would have no choice but to believe it was him. Yah, good plan. "Who am I kidding," Jack says to himself. "There is his wife and I know he has a dog in the backyard." He leans back into the car seat. "I need some sleep," he said allowed. "And I've got to stop talking to myself."

Jack sits back up and turns the ignition. The rental car came to life. Jack pulled off of the curb and drove back to his motel. He had paid in advance for 3 days so he was going to have to pay for some more if he didn't get on with it. Going to his room to fell on top of the bed and closed his eyes but didn't sleep.

He kept thinking about what it was going to be like explaining this to Dillon. He remembered what it felt like to find out he was…wasn't the original. When he left and decided not to keep in touch with…anyone it made things easier. Even when Bill showed up there was no explanations needed the whole thing was just there and they moved on. Accept for the few hours he had the Other O'Neil in the back seat he didn't have to face he wasn't…Explaining all of this was going to be hard. "Just do it…" jack said to himself burying his face in the pillow. After just lying there he eventually fell asleep.

Private Air Port:

A young woman with shoulder length brown hair exited a small jet. She slung over her shoulder a black backpack and carried a medium sized black back in her opposite hand. She walked down the steps and touched down on the paved surface. She had been feeling anxiety all along the flight. She had been warned that she should have remained medicated but even then she had continued to feel anxiety worrying if the plane would fall out of the sky because of her.

The young woman used a fake ID to leave the private airport and collect a rental car. Using the GPS in the console she plotted a course to an address that read as some kind of motel. It was going to be a several hour drive. Leaning back into the seat she got comfortable and looked at the driving instructions on the small screen when…WISH-SPOTCH-STATIC and finally a small boom emanated from darkened computer. "DAMN," She hissed. Small sparks came from the dashboard before dying down. She quietly muttered other profanities and started the engine. At least that wouldn't short out…would it?


Jack's Motel:

Jack woke up at about 3:00 am. His sleep cycle was all messed up. He took an hour to shower and change cloths. He laid out the file and his other things on the table in his small room. This really shouldn't be all that hard. How often had he done this before? Hell, he broke into a Senator's house and got out without firing a shot. Everett was an old buddy.

Nearly jumped when his cell phone rang. He hadn't expected a call for another week till their big green leader got back. He looked at the number, unknown. He hit the answer button, "Frank Jones' phone," he spoke into it using his alias.

"Zero-four-zero-five, and the date." Came a feminine answer. It had been a code word the other O'Neil had suggested to say it was one of them before he replaced General O'Neil.

"Cassie," Jack said. "Where are you?"

"About an hour from your motel. Any progress with Everett?"

"No, not really," Jack felt a little embarrassed to admit it.

"Bill suggested I come and provide tactical support."

"I thought you were in some big training thing. It's been three days," Jack said grateful to change subjects.

"Yeah…I'll fill you in on that. See you in an hour."

"Look forward to it. Out." They both hung up. Jack set the phone down slowly. Well being alone wouldn't hurt. Knowing he was having company new motivation poured into Jack to start going over the house plans with more enthusiasm.


An hour later:

There was a knock at his door. Jack slowly got up from his chair and looked through the peep hole. He opened the door and let Cassandra in. He took a quick look at her in the light. Wow…Cassandra was dressed in an all black outfit consisting of a black T-shirt, and black jeans with basic black boots. And he didn't want to admit it but she had lost weight in all the right places and even looked like she was bigger…she blinked and focused on her face. "So three days huh?"

She gave a half smile…


Next night:

Dillon sat in his easy chair in his living room looking at the lap-top screen. His eyes were not able to focus so he had a large magnifying glass to make the words more readable. His hands shook as he typed his email. Maggie came in and set a cup of tie on the table next to him. He didn't turn his head to look at her. He had seen her face…her eyes when she saw him.

When he had come back from Atlantis in the hospital she had been startled but there was this hope. She was sure it was all temporary and things would one day be back to normal. But after more than a year that hope had died. He didn't know why she hadn't left him. Each morning he woke up and expected her to be gone but she was always there making his breakfast. Then he just felt guilty. Maggie had just turned 43 when he left for Atlantis, now she was taking care of a man that could be her grandfather. And he was only getting worse. His eyes were fading and his teeth hurt every time he chewed.

Maggie walked away and left Dillon to his email. He was writing an old serves buddy to say he couldn't come to a bar and reminisce of old times. Everett hadn't seen anyone since his honorable discharge. When Maggie went to see friends which was rare she never brought them home. Sometimes Everett thought of going upstairs and getting his nine-millimeter and…The phone rang.

Maggie answered it. "Helen…oh, I'll be right over." The phone hung up. "Um, Dillon, Helen has to go to the hospital and needs someone to look after the kids."

"It's okay," he said in a raspy voice. "I'll be fine." He heard the door open and close as Helen went to go see their old neighbor. Dillon just hit send when he heard footsteps on the wood floor. As gone as he had been he still could tell the steps were too heavy to be Maggie and he hadn't heard the door open. He thought about Bruce, their dog who normally howled at anyone coming into the back yard. Possibilities flooded his brain; the most likely one was robber. There was nothing he could do. He stayed quiet hoping whoever it was would just go upstairs and not notices him in the separate room. But the steps stopped outside the room's entrance.

Dillon Everett, former black-ops colonel wasn't going to go by some punk. He got up and tried to make it to the fire-place where the fire poker was. He managed to make it there but before he could place his shaking hands on the metal rod a voice spoke out behind him. "Hi Dillon, been a while."


Cassandra opened the car door for Jack. "How did it go?" Jack bucked in. He was quiet. "O'Neil." She prodded. "Is he going to help us?"

"Yah, he will do it." Jack said and looked out the window deep in his own thoughts. Cassie decided not to press again. She put the car in drive and they left.

It wasn't till Cassie was dressed for bed and took the opposite bed to Jack's in the motel room did Jack start talking. "He looked awful. I mean he was…it was like looking at a ghost of who he was." Cassie watched and listened silently while Jack looked at his own hands. "His hands were so week they couldn't even lift a fire poker to defend himself."

"All this time I felt like I had gotten a raw deal…but Dillon. And he still was willing to help us." Jack stopped and just sat there on the edge of his bed.

Cassie didn't know what to say. "Life sucks…"

"Yah," Jack agreed. He was thinking about the man Bill killed in the barn and how he wasted away. Something like their boss did that to Dillon, and I tricked him into working for him, Jack thought to himself.


Everett House: Jack talking to Everett:

Everett tried to grab the poker and tried to swing. A young blond man didn't even need to move. The heavy metal rod fell far short of him. "Hi Dillon, you might not remember me. I'm Jack O'Neil."

The old man that was shaking not from fear but from just a failing body looked like he was going to have a heart attack. Younger man flashed a carefree grin. "I know you must have a lot of questions but trust me…it's me." The poker finally fell from the old man's hands because he couldn't hold it any more. He started to totter. "Hey let me help you to…" Jack stopped remembering the old marine's pride. Yah bad move there.

Everett managed to regain his balance by putting the unsteady arm against the wall to steady himself. "I'm Jack, O'Neil." Jack decided to press forward. "I know I look young but I'm Jack O'Neil. Ask me anything, I'll know."

Everett looked skeptical after the young man didn't do anything else but just stand in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. "What was your wife's middle name?"

"Margret," the young man said. "Try something else, like the Stargate, or what we did in 1983. I remember that waitress, you know."

"Okay, assuming I believe you, what do you want?"

"First, relax. I'm not going to hurt you." The young man went to a chair and sat. "This might take a little while."

"My wife will be back soon." Everett warned trying to see if this guy might lose his nerve and run or show some sign of aggression. "No, my partner was responsible for that phone call, don't ask me how but she promised no one is going to get hurt."

"WHAT!" Everett tried to jump forward but he lost his balance and fell over. On the ground the young man rushed to help him.

"Okay, stupid pride aside come on and get into the damn chair." He helped drag the man into a chair. "And I said no one will get hurt. You have my word on that."

"Alright, Alright!" Everett pushed the supposed O'Neil away. "Okay, if I believe you, what do you want?"

"Here," the blond man handed a folder over from inside his jacket. "The Goa'uld are on earth. But you already knew that. They infiltrated the Trust at the highest level. The CIA, NID, Stargate Command, no one has come any closer to stopping them."

Everett took the folder and using a giant magnifying glass he started looking at pictures and files. "So, what does this mean to me? I'm out."

"Yah, that's why. The Trust only cares about people who are in. You, me, the others I work with. No one's looking at us. So that is why we can go and finish them off. My boss the guy putting all this together has it all set up."

"And me, what do you need from me?

"People. The man I work for is on the inside." Jack saw Everett's look, "He isn't a Goa'uld. But he is on the inside and he has a plane. What he needs are people who can take the fight to the enemy. And figuring you might know some people."

Everett looked at Jack, "How did this happen to me?"

Jack held Everett's eye contact. "A wraith fed on you. He didn't kill you but as far as anyone knows they take life and leave their victims either very old or dead."

"What did I say when we first met?"

"You didn't say anything, you were a Lieutenant and I was your CO, I did all the talking. Especially to some young gun crazy Marine."

"What happened to you?"

Jack didn't hesitate. "An asguard named Loki kidnapped me and cloned me. But an anomaly Thor put in my genes to protect me from stuff like that. Well something went wrong and now I was the mini Jack. And yah, I'm not the original. I'm not General O'Neil but I didn't say I was I said I was Jack O'Neil and that was the truth."

Everett didn't show any sign of letting up. "Let me call my wife to make sure she is okay. If she is I'll do what you want."

"Go ahead."


Note: Short Chapter I know. But it has been far too long and I need to get back into the game. Thanks for all those readers who reviewed and didn't forget about me and to all of you that just kept my work in mind. I'm sorry but I promise before I die I will finish this story.