What A Tangled Web We Weave…
"Where the hell is she?" Jack demanded, his voice low and dangerous. He stepped forward menacingly, glowering at the man hovering just inside the front door.
"I certainly don't know where Major Carter is," Frank Simmons scoffed, leaning casually against the doorframe and slipping his hands into his pants pockets. "Though I do hope you find her. She's an invaluable resource that this government relies on."
"She's not a resource, she's a person," Jack snapped, every muscle tense with barely restrained fury. Of their own volition, his hands clenched into fists and he struggled to maintain enough of a grip on his self-control to keep from punching the other man out… At least until he'd gotten the information he wanted, anyway. After that, Jack couldn't make any promises.
"What are you doing here?" Daniel interjected, getting straight to the point. He was trying to minimize the number of opportunities Simmons had to say something that would make Jack snap, lest the local police officers now assembling outside decide to intervene and arrest Jack for assaulting the NID agent. Not that Daniel expected Simmons to make it easy – after all, the man had all but turned colonel baiting into a sport – but still, he was determined to try.
"I had a meeting scheduled with General Hammond this afternoon," Simmons snapped testily, brushing imaginary lint off his grey pinstripe suit as someone brushed past him on their way back into the house. "Needless to say, he's asked to reschedule in light of this unfortunate turn of events."
"What are you doing here?" Jack clarified, gritting his teeth so hard Daniel swore he could hear the enamel cracking.
"Offering the full resources of the NID to help you locate Major Carter," Simmons replied, the self-satisfied smirk he wore serving only to ratchet Jack's anger up another notch.
"Great! Do you want to tell us where she is, or would you rather I get a map and you can just point?"
"I hope for the major's sake you're willing to consider other possible explanations for her disappearance," Simmons retorted, turning on his heel and making his way out the door. "Otherwise you might never see her again."
Reflexes honed by five years on an active field unit allowed Daniel to catch Jack as the older man launched himself at Simmons' retreating back. Grabbing Jack's shoulder, Daniel managed to stop him in his tracks and redirect his friend, manhandling him into the kitchen instead. Jack didn't make it easy, but once Daniel had maneuvered him into the kitchen, he stopped struggling and moved away, his fists clenching and unclenching at random intervals. The pair were silent for a few long moments before Daniel decided to brave his friend's temper and try to reason with him.
"He might genuinely not know where she is," Daniel stated firmly, keeping his body between Jack and the door.
"You're the one who said the NID had her," Jack thundered, pacing back and forth across the kitchen in agitation, glad to have finally found an outlet for all the restless energy demanding that he do something, anything, to find Sam now.
"And I still think that's true," Daniel rebutted, keeping a careful eye on his friend. He fully expected Jack to make at least one more attempt to go after Simmons and needed to be prepared to stop him. "But the NID compartmentalizes information, you know that. It's possible that the NID has Sam and Simmons doesn't know about it."
"Carter is missing, Daniel," Jack snarled, turning to unleash the full force of his glare on him. "How the hell can you be so calm?"
"Because one of us has to be!" His patience was wearing thin and Daniel couldn't keep himself from snapping back this time. "I'm worried and scared and feeling just as guilty as you are, but more than anything, I'm desperate to find Sam! I'm not going to say 'no' to anyone offering to help find her, regardless of how I feel about them, and it would be nice if you could start taking the same approach!"
"I don't trust him, Daniel," Jack sighed, thumping his hands down on the kitchen counter in frustration.
"Neither do I," Daniel agreed, making a conscious effort to calm himself down. They were both worried sick about Sam; fighting with one another wasn't going to help them find her any faster. "But we don't have a lot to go on right now, Jack. We need all the help we can get. Besides if Simmons is involved, it'll be easier to keep tabs on him if we involve him in the search."
"Yeah," Jack agreed dejectedly. Loathe as he was to admit it, there was a logic to what Daniel was saying; including Simmons could very well be their best chance of finding Sam.
With a heavy sigh that spoke volumes about his reluctance to do so, Jack squeezed past Daniel and made his way outside to find Simmons and make nice. Daniel was right – they needed all the help they could get.
