I cannot believe I forgot to update this. I am so sorry. Thanks Lisa!
~~~~~
Chapter Four
After all the planning, it was ridiculously easy to get inside, Jack thought. The perimeter alarm system was quickly dispatched; Mrs. Kinsey had gone to a function of her own, letting most of the staff off for the night and leaving only the housekeeper around to let Sam in, who in return let Jack, Teal'c and Paul slip through the study window.
Daniel had figured with Kinsey being the type of man that he was, he would somehow have the items displayed for his own enjoyment, not jumbled up in a back drawer. And it would have to be where the senator would have some privacy getting at it.
Once in, therefore, the three men started a systematic search of the study as Sam watched for the housekeeper. Eventually though, they had to admit defeat, and as one their eyes lifted to the ceiling as if they could stare through the plaster and joists and see what they were searching for.
Her allowed time up, Sam reluctantly let herself out as Jack, Teal'c, and Paul crept upstairs, opening numerous closed doors and peeking into their rooms until finally, one revealed Kinsey's bedroom.
A low whine froze the men in their tracks as they entered; they glanced over to see a large dog lying on the bed, thumping its tail on the counterpane.
"Oscar!" Jack called out to the dog, his voice low. "Hey, boy, how ya doin'?"
With a soft chuff the animal
hopped down from the bed and came over to lick Jack's hand, his body almost
wriggling with pleasure. Scratching him
behind the ears, Jack made good-doggy noises to Oscar as Teal'c and Paul waited
not so patiently.
"O'Neill, should we not hasten to complete our mission?"
Jack gave the dog one last pat and stood up. "Yeah, all right. Spread out." Each man took a wall, his focus entirely in front of him until Oscar gave another low chuff.
"Not now," Jack called over his shoulder.
Paul glanced over to see Oscar sitting, almost expectantly, in front of a paneled section of the room. "Sir? I think Oscar knows where it is."
As soon as Jack walked over to him, Oscar began snuffling at a section of the wood molding. Jack fiddled with it for a moment, the with a dull click the section right in front of him swung in to show a narrow room with small spot lights accentuating the myriad of frames and their contents blanketing the wall.
Stunned at just how many souvenirs Kinsey had collected over the years, Jack, Teal'c, and Paul silently walked the length of the room, stopping at the display containing the three women from SGC.
Jack swore a blue streak to match the embroidery on Rose's panties, nearly tearing the material in his haste to take them and the accompanying picture down. As Jack folded the pair and stuffed them in a pocket, a furious Teal'c reached up to Joanna's thong and photo, his large hand almost covering the red silk, lifting it free of the pins holding it in place. Paul did the same, his jaw tight with anger as he retrieved Sam's pink cotton panties and the familiar snap shot.
Leaving the empty frame, the men made their way back to Kinsey's room, Paul pausing in the hidden doorway.
"Sir, I don't feel comfortable leaving the other… items there."
Jack sighed, tuning back toward the major. "We've done this, Davis. Frankly, it's not our place, and it gives us leverage over him. Don't have leverage if there's no… stuff to leverage him with."
Nodding, Paul moved to close the door.
"Leave it open, won't you?" a refined, feminine voice dropped into the silence.
Caught unaware, the men turned slowly to see Mrs. Kinsey standing in the doorway to the hall. She walked up to Jack, staring into his face with a look of half recognition.
"Colonel O'Neill, isn't it?"
"Yes ma'am."
Her eyes flicked past him to rest on Teal'c, then Paul. "I don't believe I've met your friends."
"No ma'am." Jack watched her, on edge, as she strolled past him and paused outside the hidden door.
Paul made a move to stop her, but was checked by Jack's shake of his head. The trio waited, the moments stretching on as Kinsey's wife walked the secret room. Oscar came and sat next to Jack, the dog's tongue lolling out, a comic counter point to the tension in the air.
Coming back to the bedroom, a paler, shaken Mrs. Kinsey looked at the men again. "I assume you emptied the last frame?"
"Yes ma'am." Jack looked at her with sympathy. "You're not very surprised."
A smile twisted her mouth. "I've been married to Robert Kinsey for over twenty years, Colonel." Her eyes dropped, glancing thoughtfully at Oscar leaning against Jack's leg. "He seems to like you. Take him, he's yours."
"Ma'am?" This wasn't what Jack had been expecting, and it made him nervous.
"Take the dog. I insist. Oh, and use the front door when you leave, I don't want you stepping on the hydrangeas."
Mrs. Kinsey and Jack stared at each other a moment before Jack finally relaxed a touch. "You heard the lady. Let's go."
Teal'c bowed as he passed her, Paul muttering an awkward 'Ma'am' as he left. Halfway out the door Jack looked back over his shoulder to see Mrs. Kinsey enter the hidden room again.
~~~~~
"You took his dog, sir?" Sam stared in shock as Oscar scrambled into the back seat to sit between Teal'c and Jack, his doggy breath quickly filling the cramped sedan and fogging up the windows.
"The missus gave him to us," Jack said casually.
She looked over at Paul who just shrugged and glanced away, fighting a grin.
Sam turned back to Jack. "Mrs. Kinsey wasn't supposed to be there."
"Well, she was."
"And? Sir?" she added belatedly.
"She didn't call the cops if that's what you're asking, Carter. It's obvious the Kinsey marriage isn't on as solid ground as it used to be, if it ever was. Now let's go. I'm getting hungry."
Sam started the car, pulling smoothly into the light traffic on Foxhall Road. "Did you call Daniel?"
"Yes, Carter, I called him on our way here." Pulling Oscar onto his lap, Jack scratched the large dog behind the ears, sending one of his back legs into spasms against Teal'c's thigh.
Teal'c sighed imperceptibly and pointedly looked out the window.
~~~~~
Coming out of his club, Robert Kinsey jogged down the steps to his waiting limo, pleased with the world and his place in it. He hadn't had time earlier to do much more than hang the item Jones had retrieved for him, and was looking forward to spending some quality time with a glass of aged scotch and Samantha.
Barely acknowledging his driver with terse instructions to take him home, Kinsey passed through the car's open door and slid across the leather seat. It took him a few moments before, out of the corner of his eye, he registered the shoe and khaki pant leg, with a start he looked up to see Dr. Jackson smiling coolly at him.
True to form, however, the bland political mask slipped over Kinsey's face even as his mind was churning with a few off-the-mark reasons why Daniel Jackson would be waiting for him like this, late at night and alone.
"I'll make this brief," Jackson said, still wearing the enigmatic smile. "We know about the room, and we know what's in the room. Although not as many as before," he added, the smile turning mockingly apologetic.
Kinsey quickly controlled the icy spike of fear that shot through him, the limo rocking slightly. This overgrown geek and his gung-ho cohorts couldn't possibly know anything. "I haven't the slightest idea of what you're taking about, Dr. Jackson."
"Of course you don't," the smug bastard replied smoothly.
Kinsey ground his teeth at the dismissive tone in the other man's voice. SG-1 and their arrogant, know it all attitude, playing fast and loose with Earth's fate was an affront to him and the American people. Kinsey took great pleasure in dreaming of the day when he would seize control of the Stargate program, ousting that incompetent Hammond, court-martialing him, O'Neill, and Carter, and throwing Jackson and MacGyver in jail for a very long time. The alien Jaffa, along with that cloned lover of his, was going straight to the NID labs. The scientists there had been chomping at the bit to dissect him for years, and they had practically gone into spasms when the other O'Neill had shown up. Her and Teal'c's very existence was an abomination in Kinsey's eyes, as was their relationship.
"There was talk of castration," Jackson continued offhandedly while Kinsey continued to fume, "and mention of cutting your liver out as you watched, but in the end the petty revenge plans were abandoned. However," and here Jackson leaned forward to make his point. "If it happens again, they won't be."
"You piss-ant little man," Kinsey ground out, finally losing his temper. "You dare to come to come here and threaten me? Over those harlots?"
The smile was back, and Kinsey longed to wipe it off Jackson's face. Sitting in impotent frustration, he watched as Jackson reached for the door and hopped out, the limo having come to a stop at a red light.
"I won't forget this, Dr. Jackson!" he called out after him.
The solid thunk of the door closing was his only answer.
*****
