Outside the Kennedy Center several days later, Clayton Webb waited with the tall statuesque woman who was his date for the evening as his car was brought around. Inside the pocket of his tuxedo jacket he suddenly felt the vibrations of his cell phone. He fished it out and hit the button to receive the call. "Webb," he said in greeting.
"Hello, Clayton" the voice at the other end said. "Long time since I heard from you."
Webb carefully looked around him trying to see if his caller was within view. "What do you want, Harry?" he asked as he walked away from the crowds not wanting anyone to hear who he was speaking to. "Still hiding out in South America?"
"Nope, I'm back in States, but don't think I'm going to tell you where," Maybourne replied. "I need a favor, Webb."
"You're a traitor," Clay reminded him in a voice as close to a snarl as he was likely to ever get. "I don't help traitors, Harry. I catch them."
"I didn't do anything I wasn't ordered to do, Webb. I think you know that," Harry said.
"You sold military secrets to the Russians!" Webb hissed quietly. "It doesn't matter who ordered you to do it."
"You owe me, Webb. I need you to get a message to Admiral A.J. Chegwidden about a mutual acquaintance," Harry said.
"Chegwidden?" Clayton asked. "What mutual acquaintance?"
"Just tell him that Jack O'Neill needs his help. He should contact General George Hammond at Cheyenne Mountain. Hammond's in command of a project called the SGC," Harry said. "Make sure Hammond is told that the NID are after the twins. You do this and all debts are paid, Webb."
"The NID?" Clayton asked. "Cheyenne Mountain? Harry what have you gotten yourself into?"
"That's classified," Maybourne told Webb with more than a hint of irony in his voice. "You want to bring down the NID don't you, Clayton? This is your chance. Save O'Neill and Carter."
"Carter? Who the Hell is Carter? Why do you care about this?" Clay asked suspiciously.
"Paying a debt," Harry answered before the closing the connection.
Webb stared at the phone in his hand for a moment before returning to his date. He pressed several large bills into her hand as he said, "I'm sorry, darling. Something's come up. Take a cab home and use the rest to buy something pretty." His date had been around Washington D.C. society in general and Clayton Webb in particular long enough to accept Webb's order. She gave him a kiss on the cheek before beginning to plan just what bit of silk she'd buy with his money.
Clayton climbed behind the wheel of his expensive European toy as he began punching numbers into his cell phone. "Rabb," he said when the commander's answering machine picked up. "Pick up, Rabb. It's urgent."
There was a snick as the phone was picked up and then a voice said, "It's always urgent with you, Webb."
"I need to speak with your admiral, Rabb" Webb said. "I'm heading over to your place to get you now."
"Chegwidden? Why?"
"I'll explain to both of you when we get there," Clayton said. "Meet me in front of your building in five minutes."
"This better be good, Clayton" Rabb warned him as he hung up.
A few minutes later, Webb arrived in front of Rabb's apartment building in time to see Rabb kissing a tall brunette good bye. Webb pulled up next to the navy commander. He allowed Rabb just enough time to climb into the car before taking off again.
"Where's the fire, Clay?" Rabb asked rhetorically.
"Colorado," Webb answered anyway.
"Colorado?" Rabb questioned after a few minutes of chewing on the answer in his mind. "What's in Colorado?"
Webb was saved from replying as they pulled up in front of Admiral Chegwidden's home. Rabb and Webb climbed from the low-slung car and walked to the front door. Before they could knock the door was opened to reveal the frowning face of Admiral A.J. Chegwidden. "Webb?" he asked. "What's going on?"
"Can we go inside, Admiral?" Clayton asked. "I've got a message for you."
The admiral led them inside. After all three men were seated in the living room he ordered, "Speak."
"I got a call tonight from a former colleague," Clayton said.
"Who?" Chegwidden asked though it came out as more of a challenge.
"Harry Maybourne," Clayton answered wincing slightly at the reaction he knew was to come.
"Maybourne!?" Chegwidden shouted. "Are you crazy Webb? He's been convicted of treason!"
"Why haven't I ever heard about this guy?" asked Rabb.
"It happened a couple years ago," Clay explained dismissively.
"And the reason you've never heard about it, Commander, is that the secrets he stole were so heavily guarded even his trial was classified," Chegwidden growled. "He escaped from custody more than a year ago."
"He said you had a mutual acquaintance, Admiral. Jack O'Neill," Webb said.
"O'Neill? What does O'Neill have to do with Maybourne?" Chegwidden demanded.
"How do you know this O'Neill, Admiral?" Webb asked.
"He's black ops with the Air Force. Or was," A.J. replied. "I worked with him a few times when I was still with the SEALs. He was just coming in, and I was getting ready to get out. Jack O'Neill wouldn't be party to treason, Webb. He's an honorable man."
"So's Maybourne. In his own way," Webb said with conviction. "Harry said he was paying a debt. I assume it's to O'Neill. He said O'Neill needed your help."
"Why would O'Neill need my help?" A.J. said. "Last I heard of him, he'd retired after the death of his son. There were rumors..." the admiral murmured.
"Rumors about what, sir?" Rabb asked.
"Well," Chegwidden said. "Jack's son shot himself with his service pistol. More than a few people thought O'Neill was suicidal after his boy's death. There were rumors they'd recalled him for some sort of suicide mission, but that he'd survived and it had changed him. Went back into retirement."
"I was told to contact General George Hammond at Cheyenne Mountain," Clay said. "So whatever he's into, I don't think it's retirement."
"Why are you so interested in this, Webb?" Chegwidden asked.
"Because of the message I was told to have you pass on to Hammond," Webb replied. "Maybourne said to make sure Hammond knew the NID are after the twins."
"The NID?!" Rabb asked with wide eyes. "They're involved with this?"
"Who are the twins?" Chegwidden asked.
"I don't know, but I want to find out" Webb said. "Are you coming?"
"You're damned right," Chegwidden said as he glared at Webb. He picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Colonel McKenzie, I've been called out of town. I'm going to be taking Commander Rabb with me, so I'm leaving you in charge. I'll keep in contact. No, I can't tell you where we're going. I'll be in touch once we get where we're going, Colonel," he assured her before hanging up.
"Now how do we get to Cheyenne Mountain?" Rabb asked.
"I've got a plane if you can fly us, Harm" Webb answered. Rabb nodded with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Let's go," Chegwidden said.
"My name is Admiral Chegwidden," he told the young SF guard at the checkpoint to the lower levels of the mountain. After landing in Colorado Springs before dawn, it had taken them more than an hour to bully and finagle their way to this point inside the mountain. "I'd like to see General Hammond. It's urgent."
"Your name isn't on the list, sir" the young man replied.
"I know, son" Chegwidden told him before pointing to the phone on the wall. "I need you to get on that phone and call down there. Have someone tell him that Admiral A.J. Chegwidden is here. Tell him I've been told a friend of mine, Jack O'Neill, could use my help."
"You're here to help Colonel O'Neill?" the guard asked. There was a note of hope in his voice now.
"That's what I just said isn't it," Chegwidden growled.
The guard snapped his fingers calling another man over to cover his post and then picked up the phone. They listened as he stated his case quite a few times before finally receiving an answer he found acceptable. The admiral traded looks with his two traveling companions as they listened. Something was going on. Rabb nodded almost imperceptibly as did Webb. The guard came back over to where Chegwidden, Rabb and Webb waited. "Dr. Jackson's coming up for you," he said.
"Dr. Jackson?" Webb asked. "Is O'Neill ill then?"
"Dr. Jackson's an archaeologist not a medical doctor," the second younger guard informed them. The original guard glared at him for this statement.
"An archaeologist on an Air Force base?" Webb questioned.
"It's classified," a voice said from the end of the corridor as a thirty-something looking man emerged from the elevators accompanied by several more SF guards. "I'm Dr. Jackson. You said you were here to help Jack?" he asked. "How do you know he needs help?"
Webb warily eyed Jackson before replying, "Harry Maybourne called me. He asked me to deliver the message to Admiral Chegwidden. I have one for General Hammond as well."
Jackson blinked in surprised recognition when Webb said Maybourne's name, but he made no comment. "What's the message?" Jackson asked instead. The three visitors were all puzzled by the man in front of them. He didn't exactly have the bearing of a military man despite the fact that he was inside a top secret military base wearing military issue fatigues, but he didn't act entirely like a civilian either.
"He said the NID are after the twins," Rabb answered for him.
Jackson and the SF's gaped at him. "What?!" Jackson exclaimed at last.
"He said the NID are after the twins," Webb replied. "Didn't you hear him the first time?"
Jackson wheeled around and strode to the phone on the wall. "Get me the general," he ordered of whoever answered. "Sir, they say the NID are after the twins," Jackson said then waited for a moment. When he spoke again it was in a very quiet voice with his back turned to the visitors, but he wasn't able to speak quietly enough to avoid being overheard. "Harsesis, sir. They must think that the twins are Harsesis. Even so sir, they have naquada in their blood from Sam. With Sam and Jack..." He listened a moment longer then answered. "Yes, sir." After he hung up the phone he turned to the visitors and said, "Follow me, gentleman, and I'll take you to General Hammond," Jackson told them as he headed off down the corridor again.
When he saw the three visitors look at each other and hesitate one of the guards who had arrived with Jackson said, "Better hurry. He's not going to wait for you. Not with the NID after the twins."
"What twins?" Webb asked in frustration.
"Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter's newborns," the guard answered.
They had to jog to catch up with Jackson before he reached the elevator. As soon as the doors shut Jackson punched a number then turned to pick up the phone mounted on the wall. "We're in the elevator, sir" he said. "You can lock us down now."
"What?" Webb screamed. The guards surrounding them eyed him cautiously.
Jackson hung up the phone and turned to the three men staring at him. "The base is going into lockdown," he told them. "Nothing goes up, nothing comes down. We can't risk the NID getting the twins off base. We'd never find them again."
"Why is the NID interested in two newborns?" Webb asked.
"Do you know anything about the SGC?" Jackson asked.
"Of course," Webb lied with the practiced ease of his profession.
Jackson eyed him carefully for a moment before saying, "Nice try. The general will decide what to tell you."