"Let's go." The skinny man stood in the doorway of the tiny room and glared at Jen.

Her hesitation was a fraction too long and he lunged forward, grabbing her arm and roughly dragging her into the hallway. She stumbled, but he didn't stop. His fingers pinched her upper arm so tightly, she grimaced.

They turned back up the corridor, and stopped outside one of the laboratories she'd seen on her way in. The large man was standing in the hallway, his arms crossed, his expression locked and cold. He stepped aside and Jen was dragged into the room and swung around to face... Michael Franks.

She took a deep breath, and rubbed her upper arm against the bruise she was sure to have.

"Doctor Keller. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Michael Franks. Your... host." Michael Franks words were pronounced with a slightly eastern-European accent. He nodded and stepped forward, smiling when she immediately stepped back. Dressed in an impeccably tailored black suit, he looked very much the part of a wall-street banker, if not for the cold, dead look in his eyes. "You don't look surprised to see me?" He said, a mock frown on his face. Then he smiled again. "No matter. I, however, am glad to see you. You are a very difficult woman to find. Almost as difficult as I am."

Then he laughed at his own joke.

"What do you want." Jen tried to sound firm, but her voice cracked. She cleared her throat. "My friends…"

"Your friends," Franks interrupted. "Have absolutely no idea where you are." He angled his head as though listening to an unheard voice. "I have it on good authority that your… GPS transmitter? Is it? Will no longer work if it receives a charge from a taser. Is this true?"

Jen clenched her teeth and didn't answer. Maybe if he thought it was still working…

"I could have Rousseau shock you again, just to be sure…" Franks offered, and the skinny man stepped closer.

"No…" Jen shied away, backing herself up against one of the lab counters. "It won't work."

"Good." Franks smiled and nodded. "Then we have nothing to worry about."

Jen swallowed. "Why am I here?"

Franks held his arms wide and waved his open palms at the fully stocked laboratory. "Why… to finish your research, of course!"

"My research?" Jen frowned.

Franks nodded. "This Wraith enzyme?"

Jen blinked at his pronunciation of Wraith… he accented both vowels so it came out Ra-ith. She wondered if he knew what exactly it was.

"It's useless to you." Jen tried.

"Ah, well that's where you're wrong." He stepped forward, stopping a few feet in front of her. "You see, it was purely by accident that I came into possession of your research on this animal's blood. A very enterprising young man thought it might be of value, and my contacts liberated it for me. I may be what I am, Doctor, but what I am, is not stupid. I read your research, and your notes on increased stamina and strength in humans is… well… lets just say… of interest to me and my men. I wish you to finish your research. Make me a drug to increase strength and stamina."

Jen took a deep breath, already understanding what it was Michael Franks would, and could do, with the enzyme.

"If you have my research, then you already have everything." She finally said.

Franks frowned, then shook his head. "Ah, Doctor. But what I don't have, is the product. I have notes… and files… and samples. But I do not have anything that works. And, as you can see, my facility is… unfortunately… empty. I had some of the brightest scientists in the world working on my drug… but… unfortunately for them…" He smiled coldly. "They all failed. So…" he pursed his lips, then tilted his head. "I decided… if I was going to have access to such a wonderfully promising drug, I would need to find the woman who's research I obtained. Doctor Jennifer Keller. Or… should I say Lorne? Imagine my surprise when I discovered that you were a last minute addition to the function? Although the fact that you are now married was missed by my… contact. The man has since been reprimanded for his inability to properly perform his job. Good people are so hard to find these days…" he sighed dramatically, then shook his head. "Now… where was I? Right. Your husband. A fine looking young man."

"Leave him out of this!" Jen blurted out, then snapped her mouth closed. Give him as little as possible. The man's a complete fruitcake. He'll kill you – or Evan – just for kicks.

"It is not your man I am interested in." he shrugged. "Or I would have just killed him already."

Jen paled, her heart stopping before skittering back into its frantic beat. Would have… she repeated to herself. He said would have already…

"Relax." Franks waved his hand dramatically. "He is of no use to me. I would not waste a perfectly good bullet."

Jen sucked in a shaky breath while Franks continued his monologue.

"Your attendance tonight… Coincidence? I think not. However, if it was somehow made known what I was doing, I do not believe the powers that be, would have left you alone to attend this party. So I will continue to think you were there to support the auction, and it is simply my good luck that has brought you to me." He gave his fingertips a dramatic kiss and place his palm over his heart. "I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say. You are here. And that is all that matters."

"I still don't understand what you expect me to do."

He swept his hand across the room. "We have the latest, and greatest technology. A lab that rivals any research institution on the planet, I am told. All the supplies and machinery you could possibly need. I wish to control the super-strength your research alludes to. I wish to control an army of super-strong soldiers. So what do I want? What I want... Doctor… is for you... to finish… the… drug. Make me an army worthy to lead!"

With each word he stepped closer until Jen was completely pressed against the counter top. There was no way she could tell him she couldn't finish it, and even if she could, he didn't have nearly the level of equipment she'd need to do it. And she didn't have the enzyme.

"You help me?" He said, his smile not reaching his dark eyes. "And I will return you to your husband. Refuse, and you die."

Jen's heart was pounding with such force she was pretty sure it could be heard in the hallway. She swallowed, and took a deep breath, her wobbling voice betraying her fear.

"You're going to kill me either way." She managed to croak. "So why should I bother?"

Franks blinked. Blinked again. Then tipped his head back and laughed. "Ah, Doctor." He looked down at her. "Such refreshing honesty!"

Then he turned towards the door and snapped his fingers, then pointed to the right. "Kotko!" The big burly man nodded, then disappeared from view.

"While I did not quite expect you to be so forward, you should know I am not a man who doesn't not have a… how you say it… plan B?" Franks stepped away, and Jen sagged with the return of her personal space.

Kotko reappeared suddenly, and in his arms was a small child. Jen stepped forward with a gasp. It looked horribly wrong to see such a cold hearted man holding such a sweet little child. The little girl was barely older than two, dressed in pink fuzzy-foot pyjamas, and rubbing her eyes against the light. Dark, curly hair twisted out of two floppy pig-tails above each ear and she squirmed in the man's meaty arms.

"You, perhaps, feel your are able to sacrifice yourself for the greater good." Franks began, reaching up to thread his finger through the little girl's hair. "But would you sacrifice a child?"

Jen gasped. "What?!"

"You help me. She lives. You refuse. You both die." Franks blinked at Jen. "It is simple, no?"

The little girl started to whimper, and Jen stepped forward, grabbing her out of the big man's arms. He seemed more than willing to let her go. Jen shushed the child, cradling her against her shoulder. The little girl fussed, then quieted, the small, sleepy fingers reaching up to hold Jen's ear.

"Who is she. Why is she here? Where are her parents?!" Jen demanded, tightly clutching the little girl.

"Things that do not concern you. All you need to know is that she is merely an insurance policy. Her family wishes her no harm, and so they will give me everything I ask for."

In that brief moment, Jen understood just how much of a monster the man was who stood before her. And just how far he would go to get what he wanted. She had no help, but she did have hope. Only hope wasn't going to keep her, or the child, alive. She couldn't make the formula work, and she couldn't not make it work. She was left with only one option.

Do everything she could to find a way out of here.

If that meant playing along… then she would play along. But she couldn't take the chance they'd harm the girl in her absence.

"She stays with me." She finally answered, staring at Franks.

Franks raised his eyebrow, but smiled to know he'd received her consent.

"I'll finish the research." Jen said quickly. "But she stays with me."

After a moment of tense silence, Franks finally nodded, and Jen felt safe to breathe once more.

"As you wish." Franks said quietly. "But be warned, Doctor. I would not hesitate to kill her if you were to insult my… hospitality. Is this understood?"

Jen nodded.

Franks turned to the skinny man – Rousseau. "Set up two cots. And make sure our lovely Doctor has food and drink. We do not want her… fainting from lack of nourishment." Then he turned back to Jen. "Do not delay too long, Doctor. I have more of your enzyme being delivered within the hour."

With a polite bow, and a blown kiss to the child, Franks disappeared into the hallway, leaving Jen and the child behind with the bodyguards. She watched Rousseau and Kotko move to stand in the hallway just outside the door. She briefly wished she were Teyla. Teyla would kick both their asses, while holding the baby.

Jen sighed.

But then Teyla wouldn't have gotten herself into this situation in the first place.

With a heavy heart, Jen sat down on one of the three wheeled stools and cradled the sleeping toddler, terror creeping into her bones that she wouldn't be able to keep the little one safe. She had an hour until the fake canister showed up. If the canister was still in the statue, she would be fine. The statue had a transmitter. But if the transmitter was discovered, or the canister had already been removed from the statue…

Jen shook her head and shuddered, fighting back the fear. There were far too many unknowns. She couldn't do this alone. She had to do this alone.

Either way, she had to do - whatever it was - fast.

"Hurry, Evan." She whispered, staring up at the ceiling. "Please hurry."

The mission briefing took twenty minutes, with each of the four assembled teams being assigned a different section of the airport.

It was quickly discovered that several things worked in their favor, namely the assistance of the Daedalus.

They would not require vehicles or air transportation to give them access to the airfield. There would be nothing for any scouts or lookouts to spot in warning because the teams would be beamed directly to their marks. They could also confirm that there were no life-signs outside the building, which could mean Franks was overconfident – which none of them believed – or Franks had electronic eyes on the ground. A more probable explanation.

By tapping into the local power grid, Rodney would kill power to the entire sector, plunging half the county into blackness. A little extreme, but useful if you wanted your target to think it was everyone, and not just him, who'd lost his hydro. Team 3, headed by Major Shannon, would plant charges on the generators located behind one of the smaller hangars on the east side, and wait for the signal to blow them. Teams 1 and 2, lead by John and Evan respectively, would flank the building from north and west, their objective to reach the inside of the building and the entrance to the underground facility. Team 4, tasked with blowing the fuel tanks, would also cover the south quadrant.

They would be working in the dark - a bonus and a hindrance - even with the NVG's. So the Daedalus would track all transmitters and life signs, and help coordinate the strike force from its lofty position.

Waiting for their orders, most of the men jostled and joked, ribbing each other on past missions and odd outcomes. Evan wasn't much in the mood for joking, but he understood the underlying need. It was something to think about other than all the what-if's.

Marks hurried into the armory, and cut a path directly to John, waving Evan over. "I just heard from Ryan. Wilsher's in the brig and screaming court marshal."

John made a face. "Tell him to stand in line."

"Actually it's the Major's tail-feathers he wants." Marks grinned slyly at Evan.

Evan smiled coldly. "Oooh, a rematch."

John raised an eyebrow.

"I'll explain later." Evan shook his head.

"Do I want to know?" John frowned.

"No."

John blinked. "I'm not going to like this am I?"

Evan could almost picture the explosion once his CO found out just how forward that idiot Wilsher had gotten with the Doc… He couldn't stop the grin.

John sighed, then shook his head to clear it.

"All right…" Rodney huffed, striding in from the hallway, his eyes on the small Ancient hand-held scanner. "I'm a genius and you can thank me later."

John rolled his eyes. "Because?"

"Because I have confirmation that our statue is, at this very moment, approaching the airport. It's coming in on a small Cesna, and should be landing in... seventeen minutes and thirty six seconds. Give or take a second or two, based on… wind speed resistance. Hard to calculate with-"

"Nice work, McKay." John interrupted, then turned towards the group of men scattered across the room. "All right gentlemen. Playtime's over. Time to get our people back, and blow some shit up."

A boisterous echo of Ooh-rahs! followed them out and into the corridor.