What A Tangled Web We Weave…
"Gentlemen," Hammond greeted, entering the briefing room at 0930 on the dot the next morning. Reminiscent of yesterday's meeting, he waved his subordinates back into their seats while settling himself in his customary spot at the head of the table. Offering Simmons a perfunctory nod by way of greeting, he got the ball rolling. "What do we know?"
"Not much," Jack replied, doodling idly on the notepad in front of him. "We've already run down everything we have and nothing new has turned up in almost thirty-six hours."
"My contacts have been monitoring communications through several channels of interest, so far to no avail," Simmons contributed, an air of boredom surrounding him.
"Yeah, I'm sure you've really been leaning on them for intel," Jack muttered, his words carrying easily in the otherwise silent room.
"Colonel…" Hammond said warningly. His 2IC had been radiating pent up frustration for the better part of two days and, knowing him as he did, Hammond could tell that it was going to start boiling over sooner rather than later.
"I have pledged all of the resources at my disposal to assist in locating Major Carter!" Simmons interrupted angrily. "And I resent the implication that I'm not making good on my word."
"None of us are saying that you're not trying," Daniel placated, sharing a look with Hammond, as if apologizing for stepping in. Hammond certainly didn't mind; he was happy to let someone else play the role of peacemaker between the two.
"No," Jack agreed, slamming his pen down as he leaned across the table to glower at the man sitting across from him. "But we are starting to question just how actively you're trying."
"It kills you that you need my help," Simmons smirked, sensing that a blow up was coming and trying to rile Jack up as much as possible before it did. "But you know you'll never find her on your own."
"Enough!" Hammond barked, looking back and forth between the two men sternly. "We're all here because we want Major Carter found…"
"Although some of us have more altruistic reasons for wanting her found than others," Jack interrupted, his steely glare locked on Simmons.
"Take a walk, Colonel," Hammond ordered sharply, hard blue eyes narrowed at his oft insubordinate subordinate.
"You don't seriously believe he's here because he cares about what happens to her!" Jack argued. His frustration level had finally reached critical mass and he slammed his hands down on the table in front of him. "Hell, if his people find her first, he's probably ordered them to hide her away so they can interrogate her! And that's assuming he didn't have her kidnapped in the first place!"
"Come, O'Neill," Teal'c interrupted abruptly, getting to his feet and moving to stand at his friend's shoulder before Hammond could reprimand him further.
With one last glare at Simmons, Jack roughly shoved his chair back from the table and got to his feet, storming out of the room with Teal'c trailing in his wake. In their absence, an awkward silence settled over the briefing room, broken only by the faint rustle of clothing as Daniel shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"Well, General," Simmons said haughtily after a few moments of silence. "I hope Colonel O'Neill's performance is not indicative of the disciplinary standards Stargate Command's officers are expected to adhere to. Although it would certainly explain a lot if it were."
"Jack is worried and frustrated. We all are," Daniel stated evenly, trying to reign in his own growing anger with Simmons. "Can we focus on finding Sam now?"
"Do you have anything else to report, son?" Hammond asked, not giving Simmons a chance to respond. The men of SG-1 were all strung so tightly right now that if Simmons pressed much more, even the team's normally pacifistic archaeologist would blow up at him.
"The local police are still co-operating. They haven't said anything yet, but they're losing hope pretty quickly," Daniel sighed, studying the tabletop carefully. "Unless we turn up something new in the next day or two, they're going to start scaling back the resources they're devoting to the search. At this point, they think our best bet is to get Sam's picture out to local media outlets and hope someone saw something."
"I thought we decided against that because it would draw attention to Major Carter's involvement in the program," Simmons reminded, leaning back in his chair.
"We did, but we're quickly running out of other options," Hammond reminded. "We'll have to run it past the president," he stated, hating that their best chance of coming up with new information on Sam's whereabouts could be shut down in the interest of national security, even if he did understand why it was necessary.
"Sir, if the president gives us the okay, we need to tell Mark," Daniel pointed out.
They'd put off telling Sam's brother that she was missing, hoping that they would find her quickly and not have to field a bunch of his very valid questions with the always frustrating non-answer, 'that's classified.' The issue had formed the basis of more than one heated debate in the last two days, but in the end, Daniel had grudgingly accepted Jack's position on the matter and agreed to wait until they had some real information or, even better, had located Sam before contacting him. Fortunately, Mark was so used to his sister being away for days on end, often with little or no advanced notice, that he had yet to realize anything was amiss. But now, if they were going to plaster Sam's photo all over television, Mark needed to be told.
"If the president gives the okay, I'll make the call," Hammond agreed. He fully expected Mark to be angry about not being informed of his sister's kidnapping sooner, and rightfully so. Hammond wouldn't dare ask any of the already edgy members of SG-1 to incur the man's wrath. "Doctor Jackson, I assume you're prepared to coordinate with the local police on this?"
"Yes sir," Daniel agreed, getting to his feet. He didn't point out that he'd been prepared for days, assorted pictures of Sam and a yet-to-be-approved press release outlining the un-classified details surrounding her abduction ready and waiting on the corner of his desk.
Disheartened at their lack of progress, Daniel dipped his head in Hammond's direction before making his way out of the briefing room. While waiting for the president's decision, he figured he'd track down Jack and Teal'c and update them on the, admittedly, little that they'd missed.
"I've set up meetings for today with the last of my contacts," Simmons informed Hammond, also standing, "I'll contact you if anything turns up."
"Thank you," Hammond nodded, although Simmons was already halfway out the door and didn't notice the gesture.
A/N: I'm off to soccer practice now, but I'll try to get another chapter or two posted when I get home. Thanks for reading!