Chapter 20: Finding Doctor Jackson Part 3

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Near a Coffee Shop

Massachusetts, Earth

Thirty minutes later

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Ah, the "farm". The place they trained CIA spooks. Maybourne remembers getting kidnapped with a bag over his head. He was completely disoriented, uncertain, and unsure of himself the whole time, specially when he arrived at the training camp with his fellow trainee spies. They never gave Maybourne any time of the day in regard to rest or reflect. No, he had time only to do what they told. Where to sleep, eat, fight, shoot, run, takes note, question, trust, or be suspicious at. There's no surrender or determination. He became a robot there. Then, without warning, he graduated and was unceremoniously dumped into the first field assignment he ever has, which is to spy on a potential foreign agent or traitor.

Maybourne feels absolutely nervous. He just seduced a "spy" into letting him work for her or her organization. Now, he is outdoor in Massachusetts for god knows what reason doing something totally illegal and totally unethical so that he can then prevent further illegal and unethical actions from happening. What's exactly is that, he has no idea. He hopes only not to be the on the wrong side of history, like the guy opposite to Agent Snow.

Dressed in a plain suit and tie, Maybourne nervously walks into the parking lot where Carter and midgets parked their cars. He scans the surrounding for anybody or anything that might be looking at him. There's nobody in the parking lot.

"Yo, any camera I should be worrying about?" Maybourne mutters into the hidden microphone.

"Surprisingly, none," a female voice responds in a chrippy and totally unprofessional tone.. Spotting the red mustang, he makes his way toward the back of the car. Taking one quick scan, he sees nobody again. Feeling reassured, he takes out a round device in his left pocket and attaches the device to the bottom of the car. Then he repeats his procedure the second time with the Norwegian midgets. With his job done, he sneaks away back to his van.

"The job is done. Now what?" Maybourne asks his female "handler".

"I am planning an international incident," she says in a sinister tone. Oh god, what had Maybourne gotten himself into?

"Nature call," he says as innocently as possible. He walks into the bookstore and scribbles down a note to stuff it into one of the couch.

"Whoa! Great Teacher Jackson!" Maybourne overhears. "We knew that you were alive all along! See this? It's a death certificate." Oh dear, did his real handler pick the same exact place where Jackson and his pals are hanging out? No matter, he better scrams before they see his face.

Safe or not, he is back at the nondescript white van again. With this mention of "international incident", he better find out what it is.

"Say," Maybourne strikes up a conversation. "Why are we creating an international incident?"

"To sow distrusts of course. We can't let anybody gets their hand on top secret projects in Area 52. Since those Norwegians are spies, they are fair game." Maybourne stops himself from raising his eyebrows.

"You believe that they are spies?"

"Of course! My source fed me intel that the two midgets are spies. I even broke into their room and snatched a few files on what they are trying to find out."

"What is it?"

"They are trying to find out what Area 52 is doing with all the disappearing tanks and what "

"What do you think Area 52 is doing?"

"Another source told me they are building laser weapons and using those tanks as testing platform." In his mind, Maybourne feels a slight relief for this spy falling for his agency's lie. Of course, it's nonsense that the military would use perfectly good tanks as target practice for experimental weapons. That just makes him suspicious about the competency of his handler. Clearly, she got the right idea to attach GPS devices under the two cars, but falling for the lie? Maybe in reality, she realizes that's nonsense. It's too bad that he couldn't figure if she's telling the truth or not.

"By this international incident, do you mean kidnapping or an arrest?" Complete silence follows. The woman refuses to answer.

"We are doing this for America, right?" Maybourne says in a doubting tone.

"Of course! You and I will make money off of it too." Bingo flows through his mind momentarily, then he snaps back to attention. There's the worry about what this 'international incident' entails. If it going to happen soon, he need to warn his boss as soon as possible without blowing his cover.

-o0o0o0o-

Bookstore/coffeeshop

At the same time

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"So, what are you doing now, Doctor Jackson?" Eli asks, just realizing that the visit to MIT is all moot because they just found him in the coffeeshop.

"I am doing archaeology," Jackson tells Eli the truth. Wallace takes a step back in response to the unexpected answer. He has no idea how archaeology has anything to do with the air force.

"Oh really?" Rob replies skeptically. "Why would Great Teacher Jackson do that for the Air force?"

"Rob!" Eli scolds his friend. "Do not call him by that title, we aren't his 'students' anymore. Besides, he was never a real teacher, just a substitute."

"It's really true that I am still doing archaeology in exchange that I do practical works for them," Jackson lied. Archaeology is practical work. "Right guys?" Carter and O'Neill nod their heads.

"And who are you?" Eli asks of the group.

"We too are fans of Doctor Jackson," Loki speaks quickly before Kvasir speaks for them. "We came looking for Doctor Jackson, but he found us instead. "

"I am Doctor Samantha Carter, an astrophysicist," Carter introduces herself.

"Cool!" Eli exclaims.

"Hey! Don't forget me! I am Jack O'Neill, a colonel in the Air Force," O'Neill says truthfully without revealing too much.

Rob looks at the colonel with suspicious eyes.

"So what you guys are really in for?" Rob repeats Eli's question, except in a more serious tone.

"I already told you, I am doing consulting work for the Airforce," Jackson repeats himself.

"Let me guess," Rob begins to conjecture. "The Air Force is probably using your linguistic skills to create new code or something." No response were forthcoming from the group.

"Everyone from your original class signed you a thank you letter," Eli informs Jackson. "You know, ever since we figured that you are still alive. Where do we mail it?"

"Oh, thanks," Jackson says dumbfounded. He didn't know that he has that much impact on his student.

"Wow, you must be a really popular teacher," O'Neill remarks. Jackson ignores him.

"Um," Jackson tries to answer. Jackson's home is offworld, so there is no traditional mailing address, nor could it be found through google street. Even so, the Air Force set up an empty house and an address that Jackson didn't bother to remember.

"We'll be here in the Dam Good Hotel tonight and tomorrow, although I don't know what room we will be staying in," Carter improvises. "You can give us your letter during that time."

"We are?" O'Neill questions. The two teenager exchanges look at each other. "Anyway, I have to make a phone call. You two are welcome to talk." Eli's eyebrows raise a little, while Rob's face remains unchanged.

Several meters away, O'Neill opens up his secure phone and dials Stargate HQ.

"Um, hello? Get Hammond for me...Yes...Yes...We may have a breach, again."

-o0o0o0o-

Thirty minutes later

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With the shop closed, Eli and Rob walks into the street. They can hear the raw sounds of the car that Jackson and his friends are riding. Finally, the red mustang skirts out into the parking. The duo has to admit, Jackson got really cool friends.

"If you didn't say all that shit, they wouldn't get all that suspicious of us!" Eli yells. He has the look of fear on his face.

"You're kidding me? They got nothing on us if they raid our houses. What I did is completely legal."

"Still, I don't want that kind of trouble!"

"Oh yeah, when the last time that ever deter you? Besides, I got a cool mission for both of us."

"What is it?"

"Tonight, we go into the hotel under the guise of delivering the letter to Doctor Jackson, see if there's any information we could glean from watching the surrounding."

"That's stalking and espionage!"

"Not if we got a good cover story. Besides, don't you want to know what they do for a living? If they are any good, we won't find anything. However, it only takes a mistake for us to gather the tiniest of clues. Clues that will eventually build into a story without landing us in jail." Eli eyes Rob reluctantly.

"Fine, but if I am spooked one bit, I am out of here and I am going to sell you out." Having gained the cooperation of his friend, Rob smirks at Eli.