One more for you guys,
Enjoy.
M.
Chapter 55
Friday, January 6, 2012
If there was one thing that had always surprised Jenna about one Samantha Carter, former USAF Major, and mastermind behind the plan to get all of them back to their real lives. It was the apprehensive look she would get whenever someone new came close to her or whenever she found herself needing to go out into the real world.
Now, as she straightened her suit for the umpteenth time, she understood perfectly. The fear of being recognized as Jenna Black settled in the pit of her stomach early that morning. As she was getting out of the bed she had at a small condo in DC. The reason they chose to start in DC instead of in one of the other thirteen possible places was beyond her comprehension. She thought it might be because of the highly confidential situations that might arise from this if they ever got a chance of getting it to trial.
The worst part was that she needed to do this by herself. Convincing the court that she had a case and that the case was worthy of their time. It shouldn't be as hard, but she knew there was a huge chance they would dismiss it for how it came together and the steps that had been jumped.
Her "name" was called. She gulped.
Two hours later she was still trembling with a mix of fear, dread, angst, and hope as she walked out of the courtroom. There wasn't any time to lose, and she didn't remain in the building long enough for them to try to hinder her progress.
She found the car with the right plates and rounded it to grab the key from the top of the left-back wheel cover. While rounding it, she also turned on the small device that was given to her to check there weren't any kind of explosives, bugs, or GPS signals coming from it. The device was surprisingly small to cover such a range, but she figured they had the best minds working on it.
The car was amazingly clean. Losing no more time, she drove to the second address she had learned by heart. They had provided her with several lists, one of around thirty different addresses that she should use to keep herself unattainable. A list of over fifty license plates that she needed to learn to find the car waiting for her. A list of names that she could need to respond to, along with directions on how to find the ID in any address she ended up in.
She wasn't surprised. The entire plan was a clusterfuck of things placed together in such a way that it made sense. So, the means they had planned to keep her safe weren't as impressive in her mind. Now, knowing that Sam had come up with this not only for her but for over a hundred fifty people that might or might not get called was aweing.
Jenna didn't stop nervously sweating until she got to the house and locked herself inside. She finally ran the device again inside the house. Then found the place where her new ID and phone were waiting for her. Finally, with trembling fingers, she placed the call.
"We have a chance." She announced.
"Did someone figure who you are?"
"I don't think so."
"They will. When we start this, you'll have to get yourself to the witness seat too."
"I know."
"Are you ready for this?" Sam asked at the other end of the call.
"Are you?" Jenna countered.
"I'll never be fully ready for this until we finally get back to our lives."
"I know the feeling." Jenna sighed.
"Did they give you a possible date?"
"Yes. No sooner than February 12."
"For your own safety, get your ass out of there ASAP," Sam ordered.
"Will do."
"Thank you, Jenna. You have no idea what this means to me."
"I think I do."
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Sam didn't know who was more nervous that morning, Jenna, Jordan, or herself. She had asked Jordan to join her if only to keep Parker under his care. The moment they left the house they were occupying, Jordan would take Parker to another house, in case someone came looking.
They knew they would.
For security reasons, Sam and Jenna drove separate cars to the court. Separated cars would also be waiting for them once they got out. Jenna would only go to the same safe house if she knew she wasn't being followed.
Sam was sitting inside the courtroom, her head cast down. She couldn't be passed on as one of the many tourists that usually sat inside the courtroom. Mostly because their case was closed, because of the high level of security some of their claims had. So, she was sitting all by herself in an almost empty courtroom. A handful of other people that were hiding before scattered throughout the room.
"The next witness I want to call is Samantha Carter," Jenna announced. Sam stood up and walked to the stand.
"Please state your name for the record," she was asked. Sam raised an eyebrow.
"I was born under the name of Samantha Carter. For the past few years, I've also been known as, Emma Irvine, Isadora Willis, Parker Bennet, Annabelle Jenkins, Hannah Stevens, Emily Konstantin, Nadine Gomez, Morgan Reynolds, Sienna Danvers, Norah Sumner, Ella Collier, Karen Matthews, Angela Clarke, Michelle Boyle, Lorelai Brigs, under Witness protection. I was also recalled to active duty for a quick mission under the name Vivian Barnett."
"After my disappearance from the program, I also was Tara Coleman, Denise Walsh, Laura Hess, Adrianne Kemp, Delilah Benson, Lara Baldwin, Amy Booker, Melissa Daniels, and Susan Buchanan, among other names that were so short-lived that aren't worth the mentioning. I'll hope you won't mind if don't mention my current alias. I can if you deem it necessary, but for my own safety, I'd rather not."
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sam takes a deep breath. It took her a while to find the courage to start this one. It'll hopefully be the last one she'll ever have to do. She looks up to the camera and smiles.
"Happy Anniversary, my love," she says. "By now, you know all I discovered. What a mess, huh?"
Their trial had lasted three weeks for the number of people involved in it. Sam was a nervous wreck because her protected people had started to show up in DC. All claiming the same thing. 'We were forced out of our lives.' The evidence was damning. There was no possible way for them to escape their charges. Sam was surprised at how it didn't become as public as she thought it would.
If she was honest, she'd confess she was still nervous now. Even with everyone back in their hiding places, as they waited for the people of the Trust to be captured and dealt with.
"Did you ever think so that 'rogue NID' thing would involve many people? God… Jack, when I found out about our pictures, our videos… I wondered who the fuck would be keeping those things even when they couldn't use them against us. I don't think I've ever been as nervous as the moment they asked Davis about my retirement letter. It surprised me too, but Jenna knew about it. She had met with Davis before, as we prepared for our case."
She could remember the fear she felt when the defense asked Davis about her resignation letter. Trying to prove she disappeared by her own means. That she went AWOL because she wanted to. That he was the one who included her resignation into her folder was shocking news for her. But then again, he also said he was responsible for her assignment. Finding a way to fight corruption after the disappearance of so many valuable members under the same program she was in.
Sam had listened to most of the trial accessing the courtroom feed. So, when Davis had mentioned the assignment. She had turned to her other screen, and broken into the Pentagon in search of those files. She couldn't believe her eyes when the file number he gave to court opened a USAF Mission file. That started the day she disappeared from the WITSEC, back in 2003.
"Jack… I'm not sure if you know this… but I have no idea where that assignment came from. I was never in contact with Davis, not directly. Not after he called me in for that stupid mission that resulted in a replicator clone of myself. I don't know how he hid that folder from me. Now, I wonder if he has more things protected somewhere, inaccessible even for me."
She rubs her face tiredly before she continues. "I'm sorry you had to be called. I'm sorry they tried to blame you for this. I'm sorry about being confronted by those pictures and videos. I hoped they wouldn't bring them up."
The defense had tried to show that they were compromised. Just like they had called Davis before, they had called Jack, too. He was presented with the videos and pictures of them having sex. Jack'd studied the videos and pictures, clenching and unclenching his jaw until he squared his shoulders again. 'I can't deny this happening. However, I'm aware of a resignation letter from one Major Samantha Carter that effectively took her out of my chain of command. When she was reinstated, after the last picture you have, she wasn't in my command anymore.' He'd said back then.
"It broke my heart, Jack. I wanted to be there when you were called, I fought with Jenna… my lawyer… to convince her I needed to be there. She said that for once I wasn't being rational about it. That I was emotionally compromised. She was so right… then… they called Hayes. I couldn't believe they risked calling him in for this. I don't know how his presence didn't bring a whole lot of attention towards it. I couldn't believe it when he confirmed he was the one who asked me to complete the assignment."
"I can't believe this is finally over, Jack. I can't believe I only need to wait until everyone is in jail and they restore my name to rush back into your arms. God, at least I hope I can rush back into your arms. I've missed you so much, Jack." Sam smiles lovingly. For a second, she frowns, knowing that even if they solved the issues, she still won't dismantle the current safe house she's living in. Not until the end of the school year. She shakes her head to get back on track.
"Do you know what I've done? Do you have any idea of how much of my soul this has eaten out? I'm not the same person I once was. I'm not carefree, I'm not that trusting… I'm not the Samantha Carter you knew and loved…. Will you still want me? I've wondered that every fucking day that's gone by…" she chuckles. "I can't even stop myself from saying fuck… while before my best swearing was a mere holy Hannah. Will that make any difference now? Do we even get to share a future after all that's happened?"
"Are you still the same man I fell in love with? Are eleven years just ten too many since we got separated? All I know is that watching you from afar, from feeds and pictures is one thing that's kept me whole all this time. That there's a void in me that I never had until I had to leave you. But I'm afraid, Jack… I'm afraid that I'm waiting for a chimera. That what I have in my head isn't even the right memories anymore. I'm terrified that when I see you and you see me… We won't recognize each other anymore. Will you recognize me after all these changes?"
"I hope you do, Jack. Yet, my gut says you won't. My mind keeps telling me we've spent more time apart than together. That we've grown old, evolved, changed so much that there won't be anything there but the memories of what it really wasn't. Your memories will be filled with the last threads of the one I wasn't for you… And my memories of you aren't anything more than scraps of who you were and what I wish you still are. Can we survive that?"
A tear runs down her face and she clears it with the back of her hand.
"Oh, well. I love you. I'll love you, no matter how much I won't recognize you anymore. No matter how much I still do. You'll always be the one for me." She stands up, turns the camera off, and makes herself presentable again. Going out as Victoria Crane, to pick Parker up from school.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
He can't remember working so hard in his entire career. Since that trial back in February, things have been crazy. They appointed him as one member of the "clean-up commission" as he called it, along with military and civilian personnel across the entire government.
Hayes had called them the people he could trust in. If only to dump onto them the colossal task of getting all the data presented on that case, sorted, and people involved prosecuted in fair trials of their own. Jack himself had sat in over three hundred trials as a witness, while they tried to use the same card repeatedly.
He opened the folder and shook his head as the various images of Sam and him entangled together over different sets of furniture. He gulped. Jack saw her in the first trial, albeit only through the recordings of it. He saw her numbness as she recited all her names, all twenty-six of them, with a complete detachment.
Was that his Sam? Was she holding onto an image? Trying to show that having gone through what she had gone through was nothing for her? Was she soldiering on? Or was his Sam really lost for good?
Daniel knocked on his door just then. He quickly put together all the images of them back in the folder. The last thing Daniel needed to see those was those. Even if he'd been brought along and he'd learned about Jack and Sam being together during that last entire week.
"Hey, you should turn that TV on. They're talking about the case again."
"Whistleblowers were taken to a whole new level! I mean, what a huge pair of balls to take over a mission when you don't even know if you can fulfill in the allotted timeframe."
"I agree with you, Janice. The masterminds behind this can certainly be proud of themselves."
"If you're just connecting to the news. We're speaking about the people vs the government that happened back in February. When a group of people brought out a massive network of bribery, corruption, and espionage. This network was planning to become the government behind the government, and for the extent of the people arrested… Well, they were well on their way to getting there."
"We have their lawyer LT Commander Jenna Black with us. Your case was brilliant. What can you tell us about it?" Jenna smiled.
"All I can say is that if it wasn't for one person who fought with tooth and nail to get us here. I wouldn't be Jenna Black once again."
"Do you know what motivated him to get this far into their mission?" Jenna chuckled.
"She'll kill me if I tell you. I just hope he's proud of what she's achieved."
"You think?" Daniel frowned in questioning.
"Daniel. Even if she's talking about Carter… I had no idea about half of the things going on Carter's mind when we used to know her. What makes you think I'd have any clue now?"
"Right. Do you think she'll just take her name and rank back? I mean, after all this time as a civilian… getting back to being 'just' a Major…." Daniel trailed. Jack pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I wish I knew Daniel… Oh, I wish I knew."
