BREAKING THROUGH
Late at night, in the darkened study of a well guarded residence, a tired, overburdened man answered the phone. The voice on the other end was not a welcome one.
"What now, Raymond?" the man asked.
"I wanted to thank you, my friend," was the deceptively jovial reply.
"For what, pray tell?"
"Your exemplary work on the Samantha Carter matter, Hank."
"It was hardly exemplary, Raymond. It was deceitful and fraudulent," the first man protested. "And stop calling me, Hank. No one calls me that anymore."
"No one but my wife," Raymond said with perverse satisfaction. "That's why I still use it, Hank. Have a good night, old friend."
OoOoOo
The next morning two unlikely visitors arrived at the posh suburban spa owned by Laura Francis.
Men were seldom seen at this resort where fabulously wealthy women went to pamper themselves. Men in full dress military uniform were even more unique. As such, Jack and Bobby stood out like two sore thumbs.
"The two of you look like you need Black Ops extraction from a hostile situation," Laura Francis said, coming up behind them. Jack turned to see a small smile of amusement on the diminutive woman's lips. He had to admit, he and Bobby were definitely out of place in the pastel-colored, softly lit antechamber.
"It's quite a place you've got here," Jack responded. "I have to admit it's not my style, but very impressive."
"Thank you, General O'Neill," Laura answered. "I'm very proud of it. And you must be Robert Cramer," she said, turning to Bobby.
"Guilty as charged, Ma'am," Bobby replied, holding out his hand.
"Thank you both for coming," Laura said, her face losing the lightness it had had only seconds earlier. Please join me in my office."
With that, General Francis' wife of forty years ushered Jack and Bobby into her private study. Once she closed the door, she realized there was no turning back from her fateful intent. The decision had been made. It was time for the unholy wall of silence and denial to be torn down. And she intended to do just that.
After offering refreshments which were politely refused, Laura began to explain the reason behind her invitation.
"I'm sure you're both wondering why I asked you here," she stated matter-of-factly.
"That's correct, Mrs. Francis," Bobby answered in his best professional tone. Jack remained silent, his face blank and revealing nothing. Bobby continued, "What can we do for you Ma'am?"
"It's more of what I can do for you, Mr. Cramer," Laura admitted. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "This has been a long time coming, over thirty years to be exact. It's time, now, before anymore people are hurt."
Jack was genuinely puzzled. He hoped this would be about Raymond Francis' indiscretions, but this, this seemed so secretive, her manner almost overblown in its intensity.
"Mrs. Francis, I'm afraid I don't understand," Jack said as gently as he could. He found himself feeling sorry for this woman. She'd always been pleasant enough to him. To have been married to someone like Francis all these years couldn't have been a bed of roses.
"As you've probably guessed, I want to talk with you about my husband," Laura said, attempting to clarify. "I have information that will allow you to convict him on multiple charges. Fraternization, assault and blackmail of 'a high government official', shall we say."
Bobby and Jack looked at each other for a moment, hesitant to believe their good fortune. What had happened that Laura Francis would be willing to speak against her husband now?
"You want to know why I haven't spoken up sooner," Laura asked, as if reading their thoughts. "There have been many reasons over the years, gentleman. Basically it boils down to the fact that I was frightened, scared of the consequences of defying him."
"Afraid he would hurt you?" Jack asked.
"Yes, but not the way you think, General," she said. "You see, for years, Raymond has been having affairs with women in his office. Some of these 'relationships' lasted longer than others. Some were with military women under his command, like Jessica Gilmore. I'm aware of more than one instance where he physically abused these women.
"I've known for years. For a long while I kept silent to protect the people I loved." Laura paused, took a deep breath and walked over to her desk. Smiling tenderly, she picked up a small framed picture. Looking at it lovingly, she continued.
"I had an affair too, very early in our marriage. My fourth child was a result of that relationship."
Jack looked at Laura Francis in puzzlement. She easily caught the unspoken question.
"Yes, General O'Neill, my very proud, very public husband only shows off his three children, not my Noelle. He knew from the beginning. He knew and he used it against us."
"Us?" Jack questioned.
"My lover and I," Laura paused as if waiting for someone to ask a question, something that would make this easier. But no escape was forthcoming. "We both had much to loose if our affair was made public. Perhaps Hank more than I. Then again for so long I wanted to protect him too."
Jack O'Neill and Robert Cramer watched the far away, wistful look that stole over Laura Francis' features. Her thoughts were somewhere, with someone, far from this room.
"You were saying, Mrs. Francis," Bobby called her back.
"Yes, I'm sorry. I was thinking of Noelle. She would have been twenty-eight this year."
"Would have been?" Jack asked.
"She died, two years ago at Shorewinds," Laura said, cryptically mentioning a private hospital for severely impaired children. "My Noelle was born with fetal alcohol syndrome. It was awhile before we realized what was wrong with her. It was my fault, I drank during the pregnancy. And my little girl, she paid for that.
"Raymond used many things to buy my silence over the years. He used the threat of taking my other children from me, the threat of ruining Hank, my guilt about Noelle, whatever appeared to hurt the most at the moment."
"Why now? Why are you telling us now?" Jack asked, still curious what had changed after all these years.
"The time is right," she said simply. Noelle's gone, another family is hurting and I'm tired of keeping his secrets. My other three children are grown; they're strong enough now to handle the truth about their father. When that woman, Christina came to see me last week, she brought a picture of her grandchild, Raymond's son." Laura said the last few words with great difficulty. "I didn't think he had the power to hurt me anymore, but knowing he has a child by another woman, for some reason that still hurts.
"And Hank's ready now. You should talk to him. This has to end."
OoOoOo
George Hammond had known President Henry Hayes since they served together as young Air Force Lieutenants in the 1960s, many long years ago. They'd both changed dramatically over the past forty years. Where Hammond made a lifelong career of the military, Henry Hayes resigned his commission by the mid '70s, seeking his fortunes in the political arena.
Within 2 years of leaving the Air Force, George Hammond's friend had been elected junior senator from the state of Virginia. And the rest, as they say, was history. Dashing, well spoken, popular on both sides of the political aisle, he burst upon the Washington scene with great promise. Now as he served out his second term in the White House, that promise was about to be broken.
"George, come in, come in," President Hayes called good naturedly, rescuing his old friend from the Secret Service agents who'd accosted him as he attempted to enter the residence. "It's okay, boys, I'm in good hands," he said to the overeager bodyguards. "This is an old friend I've ignored all too long."
If General George Hammond were the type of man to be intimidated, now would be the time. When he called to request a meeting with the President of the United States, President Hayes had insisted it be conducted in the Residence, not the formal West Wing of the White House. Though Hammond had specifically told him this was a business meeting and not a personal call, Hayes remained adamant about the location. George had decided not to argue with the President. After all, he was the most powerful man on Earth, a man who looked extremely uncomfortable at this moment.
"George, I owe you an apology," Henry Hayes began. "You should have been invited here a long time ago. If I remember correctly, Gloria and your wife, Helen, were good friends for a while there."
"You remember correctly, Sir. Those years seem very far away right now."
"Yes, they do George. They certainly do. Life was a lot simpler then, wasn't it?" Henry said. "Then again, you didn't come to talk about old times, did you George?"
"No sir, I didn't," Hammond answered, taking the seat offered by Henry Hayes. "Sir, I came to talk about the charges filed against one of my people, Colonel Samantha Carter."
President Hayes nodded slowly. He looked away for the briefest of moments unable to meet his old friend's eyes. When he looked at George Hammond once more, he did so with the eyes of defeat.
"Yes, Samantha Carter, one of the most highly decorated officers in our military," Hayes admitted sadly. "A woman honored for feats most of us could never imagine, someone who's saved the whole planet more times than we know. Yes, George, I'm aware what's been done to Samantha Carter."
Hammond sat stiffly, watching the man he'd known for so long. Clearly, he knew more than met the eye. The phrasing he'd just used was telling. "Are you also aware that the charges are completely unfounded?" Hammond asked.
Ready for a polite rebuttal from the chief executive officer of the country and his Commander-in-Chief, General Hammond was taken aback by a totally unexpected response. The leader of the free world simply nodded.
"Yes, George. I'm ashamed to say, I am aware." The slow tortuous verbal response reflected the turmoil raging inside Henry Hayes. Time was up; it was time to call in all his cards, time to call Raymond Francis' bluff.
President Hayes was silent for long moments, taking in the puzzled look on his companion's face. When he spoke next, what he felt was akin to relief.
"Raymond provided me with 'evidence' that could pass. For most anyone else, in most any other circumstance, I may have believed it," he said sadly. "But not about Colonel Carter and not at the time of his court martial; it's unbelievable and too much of a coincidence. Obviously, it was a ploy to convince Jack O'Neill to back off."
"Then, excuse me, Henry, but why sign it?" Hammond asked, raising his voice in spite of himself and dropping the honorific intentionally. "What's going on here? And what do we do to stop it?"
"I know what I have to do to stop it," Hayes said softly. "I should have spoken up long ago. I didn't have the balls, George. Maybe that's why I couldn't stick it out with you in the military. When it comes right down to it, George, I think I 'm a coward. Nothing else explains what I've done the past few years.
"It's strange you called when you did. I was about ready to call you," he admitted. "George, Francis has been blackmailing me for years."
"What are you talking about, Henry? You mean you've been paying him?"
"Not with money, George. The man's too smart for that," Hayes said, snorting derisively. "Cover-ups, bribes, witness tampering, making evidence disappear, things I assured myself never compromised national security, those are the things he's demanded."
"I'm afraid I don't understand, Sir."
"Of course you don't. You see, Raymond Francis has abused the trust of those serving with him for years and he's certainly abused the trust and love of his wife. So he needed someone to cover for him, to make things go away. And I was the perfect ace in the hole for him," Hayes said.
"What does he have on you?"
"What doesn't he have on me, George?" was the answer. "It started out simple by today's standards. A long time ago I had an affair with Laura Francis. I believe I truly loved her George, but I didn't stand by her, even when she became pregnant. It was a long time ago, a time when those indiscretions spelled disaster for political ambitions. And was I ever ambitious, especially back then. Nothing was going to stand in my way. It didn't seem so hard to give Raymond what he wanted to keep his mouth shut. At the start it was fairly simple, a promotion, convincing a female airman he wasn't the miserable bore she thought he was, things like that.
"Of course it didn't end with that. Over the years I've done some fairly illegal things for Raymond to keep my secret. The blackmail started out about the affair. By the time Laura and I didn't care about that anymore, I'd done things that even today could ruin my political career. My actions were inexcusable. Sure, I rationalized them. This last promotion, I told myself he wouldn't be able to do much harm with you and O'Neill watching over him. Looks like I was wrong on that one too.
"Bottom line, on more than one occasion I've misused the powers of this and other offices I've held. What I allowed him to do to Samantha Carter, that's the end, George. It stops now."
"What are you going to do, Henry?"
"It's time Raymond and I faced the music. I'll share what I know about the charges against Colonel Carter with the convening authority. Hopefully, that will discredit most if not all the evidence at trial."
"But wouldn't it be better if General Francis renounced the charges for the record, saved Sam the misery of a formal court martial?" Hammond asked.
"Francis is a lot of things George, but a person who puts others before himself? I don't think so."
"Oh, we've got a plan, Sir," Hammond said. "And with you on board, Raymond Francis won't know what hit him.
TBC
A/N: Glad to see the chapters are still getting lots of hits. Hope this means readers are still interested and reading! We are finally coming to a conclusion.
Please review and let me know what you think!
