Disclaimers in Prologue
Team One - Part Six
Once inside the apartment, Quinn went to her laptop. Sitting down, she pulled the two zip disks that Jack had given her from her pocket. "Well at least he labeled them. Disk one." She held it up. "And disk two." She raised that one. She opened the case and took out the first one. Turning on the laptop, she slid the disk into the slot.
SG1 joined her at the table.
"He writes well," said Quinn. She passed the laptop over to Carter who was sitting next to her.
"It's his story, Colonel. Damn. He knew it all: the discovery of the Stargate, your first trip to Abydos, everything up to our destroying Apophis' warships."
Jack sighed. "What's on the second disk?"
Quinn handed the disk to Carter and she slipped it inside the laptop.
"It's a journal, sir. It started about two months ago and it goes to ..." she scrolled to the last entry, "... the day we came to D.C. to get our medals. He says he's going to try talking to either you or me to get our side of the story."
"Does it mention who his source was?" asked Daniel.
"I don't know," she answered shaking her head. "He's pretty prolific. There's a lot of stuff on here. It'll take me awhile to read it all."
"Well you better get started then Captain and while your at it," he turned to Quinn, "you can take this damn cast off. It's starting to itch."
"Sure, no problem. I think I brought a hacksaw with me," she said.
"A hacksaw!"
***
A couple of hours and pots of coffee later, Carter had finished reading Zelig's journal and the cast was off of Jack's arm. He was still rubbing it where the Dremel had nicked him while Quinn was cutting. She'd been extremely apologetic and after a half an hour, Jack had let her off the hook and accepted her apology. She'd looked relieved.
"His source was Samuels," announced Carter.
"He knew that for a fact?" asked Quinn.
"Yeah. Samuels didn't identify himself, but Zelig recognized him after he'd seen him and Kinsey together in the Congressional Building. That's when he took that picture.
"Zelig got a phone call asking him if he wanted a story that would probably make him famous. The caller said he chose Zelig because of the stories he'd done it the past. How his pieces were mostly speculative but seemed plausible. Zelig agreed to meet him the next day at the Air and Space Museum.
"When Zelig got there, Samuels approached him. They wandered around the museum for about an hour while Samuels gave him little tidbits about the Gate. Zelig said he couldn't write about it without knowing the whole story and that he would need some proof that the Stargate existed and that this wasn't all just a ligament of Samuel's imagination.
"Samuels agreed to give it all to him, but not then. They arranged more meetings and over three weeks, Samuels had given him everything he had. The only thing he couldn't give him was proof. He did give him our pictures and that one of the Gate. There's a couple of scans in here of the Gate symbols and Daniel's original translation of the cover stones with the hieroglyphics."
"Damn it all to hell," muttered Jack.
"Sir, Zelig was fairly intelligent. He kept asking Samuels why he was giving him all of this. Samuels told him it was because he was tired of all the money the government was spending on covert operations like the Stargate. Zelig didn't believe him. For one thing, he formed the opinion that Samuels didn't have the chutzpah to take this on himself. He thought someone was behind him, pulling his strings. When he saw Samuels and Kinsey together, he figured it was Kinsey."
"Well he was right about Samuels not having the guts to do this himself. Did he get proof it was Kinsey?"
"No not exactly."
"Not exactly?"
"That's where the money and the bearer bonds come into it. He got a package in the mail a couple of weeks before he was killed. No return address. The postmark was Greenbelt. Inside the package was the $100,000 you saw and another $100,000 in bearer bonds. There was a computer printout with the money. All it had on it was 'Kinsey is one arrogant bastard and he keeps souvenirs. Use this to find them.'"
Quinn slapped the table, excitement rang in her voice. "Damn. Kinsey keeps journals. All we have to do it find them."
"How do you figure?" asked Jack. "All it said was that he kept souvenirs."
"And that he is an arrogant bastard, which we all know is true. Now what does a man who is smitten with himself do when he wants to relive his accomplishments?"
"He keeps a journal so that he can go back and reread it?" asked Daniel whose journal writing was common knowledge among his team members.
"Like yours, huh Daniel?" teased Jack.
"I don't write those to 'relive my accomplishments'. I write them for posterity ... to keep track of events. That sort of thing," said Daniel trying to defend himself.
"Uh huh."
"Dammit Jack!"
"Daniel, he's teasing you," said Carter.
"I know, it's just that sometimes it's so ..."
"Frustrating?" finished Quinn.
"Yes, exactly. Thank you."
"He probably took the same class the Reverend Mother did."
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
"Who sent Armin Zelig the package?" asked Teal'c. "And for what purpose?"
"Good questions Teal'c. His partner in crime perhaps?" suggested Jack.
Quinn nodded her head. "I would imagine."
"But why?" asked Daniel.
"Greed more than likely. Whoever said there was honor among thieves, didn't know too many."
"Do you want to explain that?"
"First I think we need to figure out what and who would benefit from control of the Stargate. Have you guys come up with any ideas?"
"Naquadah," said Carter.
"Naquadah?"
"It's the stuff the Stargate is made out of and in liquid form, a very small amount is what powers Teal'c's staff weapon. Almost all Goa'uld technology is based on it. If someone had access to Naquadah, they could use it in almost anything that needs power. You haven't seen the damage a staff weapon can do. It's phenomenal."
"Advanced weapons designs. There's those two companies that Kinsey supports in his state. I think you're onto something Carter," said Jack.
"Thank you, sir."
"But if Kinsey goes down, wouldn't those companies lose out?" asked Daniel.
"Possibly, it depends on how good of a record Kinsey keeps. If it was me and I was going to turn on my partner, I'd make sure that my name didn't appear anywhere with Kinsey's except in a legitimate manner. If someone knows Kinsey keeps a journal, whose to say that they haven't been edited somewhat? But it doesn't have to be one of those two companies. It could be ... say a mining concern," suggested Quinn. "And if this Naquadah of yours is that versatile, it could be almost anyone who manufactures products that need a small, portable power supply. First, we find those journals."
"I realize that, but how is that going to help us find who sent Zelig the money?"
"Well, if it's one of those two weapons companies, it's the one whose name doesn't show up in the journals."
"And if both names are there?"
"Then we have some more digging to do."
***
To be continued ...
Team One - Part Six
Once inside the apartment, Quinn went to her laptop. Sitting down, she pulled the two zip disks that Jack had given her from her pocket. "Well at least he labeled them. Disk one." She held it up. "And disk two." She raised that one. She opened the case and took out the first one. Turning on the laptop, she slid the disk into the slot.
SG1 joined her at the table.
"He writes well," said Quinn. She passed the laptop over to Carter who was sitting next to her.
"It's his story, Colonel. Damn. He knew it all: the discovery of the Stargate, your first trip to Abydos, everything up to our destroying Apophis' warships."
Jack sighed. "What's on the second disk?"
Quinn handed the disk to Carter and she slipped it inside the laptop.
"It's a journal, sir. It started about two months ago and it goes to ..." she scrolled to the last entry, "... the day we came to D.C. to get our medals. He says he's going to try talking to either you or me to get our side of the story."
"Does it mention who his source was?" asked Daniel.
"I don't know," she answered shaking her head. "He's pretty prolific. There's a lot of stuff on here. It'll take me awhile to read it all."
"Well you better get started then Captain and while your at it," he turned to Quinn, "you can take this damn cast off. It's starting to itch."
"Sure, no problem. I think I brought a hacksaw with me," she said.
"A hacksaw!"
***
A couple of hours and pots of coffee later, Carter had finished reading Zelig's journal and the cast was off of Jack's arm. He was still rubbing it where the Dremel had nicked him while Quinn was cutting. She'd been extremely apologetic and after a half an hour, Jack had let her off the hook and accepted her apology. She'd looked relieved.
"His source was Samuels," announced Carter.
"He knew that for a fact?" asked Quinn.
"Yeah. Samuels didn't identify himself, but Zelig recognized him after he'd seen him and Kinsey together in the Congressional Building. That's when he took that picture.
"Zelig got a phone call asking him if he wanted a story that would probably make him famous. The caller said he chose Zelig because of the stories he'd done it the past. How his pieces were mostly speculative but seemed plausible. Zelig agreed to meet him the next day at the Air and Space Museum.
"When Zelig got there, Samuels approached him. They wandered around the museum for about an hour while Samuels gave him little tidbits about the Gate. Zelig said he couldn't write about it without knowing the whole story and that he would need some proof that the Stargate existed and that this wasn't all just a ligament of Samuel's imagination.
"Samuels agreed to give it all to him, but not then. They arranged more meetings and over three weeks, Samuels had given him everything he had. The only thing he couldn't give him was proof. He did give him our pictures and that one of the Gate. There's a couple of scans in here of the Gate symbols and Daniel's original translation of the cover stones with the hieroglyphics."
"Damn it all to hell," muttered Jack.
"Sir, Zelig was fairly intelligent. He kept asking Samuels why he was giving him all of this. Samuels told him it was because he was tired of all the money the government was spending on covert operations like the Stargate. Zelig didn't believe him. For one thing, he formed the opinion that Samuels didn't have the chutzpah to take this on himself. He thought someone was behind him, pulling his strings. When he saw Samuels and Kinsey together, he figured it was Kinsey."
"Well he was right about Samuels not having the guts to do this himself. Did he get proof it was Kinsey?"
"No not exactly."
"Not exactly?"
"That's where the money and the bearer bonds come into it. He got a package in the mail a couple of weeks before he was killed. No return address. The postmark was Greenbelt. Inside the package was the $100,000 you saw and another $100,000 in bearer bonds. There was a computer printout with the money. All it had on it was 'Kinsey is one arrogant bastard and he keeps souvenirs. Use this to find them.'"
Quinn slapped the table, excitement rang in her voice. "Damn. Kinsey keeps journals. All we have to do it find them."
"How do you figure?" asked Jack. "All it said was that he kept souvenirs."
"And that he is an arrogant bastard, which we all know is true. Now what does a man who is smitten with himself do when he wants to relive his accomplishments?"
"He keeps a journal so that he can go back and reread it?" asked Daniel whose journal writing was common knowledge among his team members.
"Like yours, huh Daniel?" teased Jack.
"I don't write those to 'relive my accomplishments'. I write them for posterity ... to keep track of events. That sort of thing," said Daniel trying to defend himself.
"Uh huh."
"Dammit Jack!"
"Daniel, he's teasing you," said Carter.
"I know, it's just that sometimes it's so ..."
"Frustrating?" finished Quinn.
"Yes, exactly. Thank you."
"He probably took the same class the Reverend Mother did."
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
"Who sent Armin Zelig the package?" asked Teal'c. "And for what purpose?"
"Good questions Teal'c. His partner in crime perhaps?" suggested Jack.
Quinn nodded her head. "I would imagine."
"But why?" asked Daniel.
"Greed more than likely. Whoever said there was honor among thieves, didn't know too many."
"Do you want to explain that?"
"First I think we need to figure out what and who would benefit from control of the Stargate. Have you guys come up with any ideas?"
"Naquadah," said Carter.
"Naquadah?"
"It's the stuff the Stargate is made out of and in liquid form, a very small amount is what powers Teal'c's staff weapon. Almost all Goa'uld technology is based on it. If someone had access to Naquadah, they could use it in almost anything that needs power. You haven't seen the damage a staff weapon can do. It's phenomenal."
"Advanced weapons designs. There's those two companies that Kinsey supports in his state. I think you're onto something Carter," said Jack.
"Thank you, sir."
"But if Kinsey goes down, wouldn't those companies lose out?" asked Daniel.
"Possibly, it depends on how good of a record Kinsey keeps. If it was me and I was going to turn on my partner, I'd make sure that my name didn't appear anywhere with Kinsey's except in a legitimate manner. If someone knows Kinsey keeps a journal, whose to say that they haven't been edited somewhat? But it doesn't have to be one of those two companies. It could be ... say a mining concern," suggested Quinn. "And if this Naquadah of yours is that versatile, it could be almost anyone who manufactures products that need a small, portable power supply. First, we find those journals."
"I realize that, but how is that going to help us find who sent Zelig the money?"
"Well, if it's one of those two weapons companies, it's the one whose name doesn't show up in the journals."
"And if both names are there?"
"Then we have some more digging to do."
***
To be continued ...