Author's Note: Whew! That mountain looks sooo cool! All steaming and red... and there's lava! I'm off tomorrow, and not going to the mountain, so I promise even more chapters tomorrow for you guys!

OOOOOOOO

It was nearly noon by the time Vice President-elect Robert Kinsey drove up the tree-lined driveway of the safe house. He was in a lousy mood, too. It'd taken him forever to get free of all the toadying politicians at the breakfast that had wanted to use his new position to further their own causes – and don't even mention all the corporate people who had their own agendas for the Vice President! Bunch of leeches... of course, it was easy for him to forget that only months before he'd been one of those leeches, too.

By the time he'd manage to leave the breakfast and send his Secret Service detail off on some other errands so he could get some time to himself – there was no way he'd take any of them with him to the safe house – he was frustrated at the wait, and still trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do about the extra cadets Major Clay had captured.

As near as he could tell, the officials at the Air Force Academy were keeping the disappearances hush hush – probably they thought the cadets had taken off for a rousing night of doing whatever it was that cadets did when they snuck off-campus in the middle of the night, and just hadn't made it back on time or had gotten into some kind of trouble. Maybe they had Air Force personnel looking for them in gutters or in alleys behind whorehouses, thinking that his roommates might have taken Adams out for a night on the town. Who knew? He was just glad that it wasn't out in the open, so he didn't have to worry about that retired General coming down to snoop around looking for his son.

He was so wrapped up in that thought as he drove through the gate at the base of the driveway that he didn't notice the very well camouflaged forms that were crouched in the brush by the edge of the driveway, watching. Nor did he notice one raise a radio to his lips.

Of course, that was the whole idea, right?

OOOOOOOOOOO

"He's coming... and he's alone."

Nathan Brooks and Jack O'Neill both looked over at the Major – Garcia – and nodded. There was no need to tell everyone to get into positions; they already were. All of them were professionals, after all. All except for one. Jack looked over at the lone cadet.

"Ian, time for you to get out of sight. Go to the basement and wait for someone to come get you."

"But-"

"Goddamn it, son, do what you're told."

The younger Brooks glared at his father, and opened his mouth to say something – no doubt something wildly inappropriate. Jack didn't give him a chance.

"Do it, or I'll drag you down there myself."

Ian's glare transferred from his father to the Colonel, and he looked more than ready to tell them both where to go, but he must have seen something in Jack's face, because he wheeled around without a word and headed for the door that led to the basement.

"He's got your winning personality, Nate."

Brooks grinned, despite himself, and there was no doubt in Jack's mind that even though the General wasn't pleased with the way his son had acted, he was proud of him.

"You noticed..."

Jack smiled.

"Well, he hides it so... not at all."

"I was-"

They were interrupted by the sound of tires on gravel outside, and both men realized that this wasn't the time to talk.

"Places, people!" Brooks called, moving into his own position and vanishing. He was the only one moving, though. Everyone else was already where they were supposed to be.

Jack waited until he was out of sight, and then turned to see Teal'c bringing out Major Clay, who had been untied and given a uniform to dress in – no weapon, though, of course.

"You behave yourself, Major," Jack told him in a low voice. He bent down to slide his hand meaningfully along Jaffer's silky shoulder. "The minute you say the wrong thing, I'll have him rip your throat out, do you understand?"

Since the black lab looked more than willing to do just that, Major Clay nodded.

"Yes, Sir..."

"Good."

Teal'c vanished, and Jack and Jaffer walked over to a coat closet that was in the hall between the living room and kitchen and disappeared into it, but Jack left the door cracked slightly so he could see what was happening.

Clay stood in the middle of the living room alone, watching the door and well aware that there were half a dozen guns pointed at him that minute – and two big labs who were more than capable of causing almost as much damage to him.

They hadn't had time to replace the broken windows, but the men had swept all the glass up as well as they could, and had hidden the damage – from the outside, at least – so Kinsey shouldn't have too much cause to be suspicious. The front door that had been broken down had been replaced with the door leading to the garage, so unless Kinsey wanted to use the garage – and they didn't think he would – he shouldn't notice anything from that side. He wouldn't notice anything, they hoped. At least not until it was too late for him.

OOOOOOOO

"What the hell...?"

As he pulled up to the front of the house and stopped the car, Kinsey frowned. The idiots had been screwing around, apparently – or maybe they'd just gotten bored. They'd taken the blinds that normally covered the big picture window and had put them outside, covering the same window, but in a position that anyone who wanted to see in could just raise them up himself. What were they thinking?

"Fucking morons... it's a wonder we've managed to win any wars if this is an example of Military intelligence..."

He got out of the car and walked over to the window, thinking to peek inside. Not for any particular reason – it was just part of his weasel nature to want to look through a closed window – even if it belonged to him. The landscaping prevented this, though. There were heavy bushes in the way and he didn't want to make himself scruffy by forcing his way through them. With a muffled curse, he turned and headed for the door, not noticing that there were three heavily camouflaged men who had been right under that very window, guns out and pointed at him.

Oblivious to the chaos he had almost started, Kinsey went to the door and walked right in. It was his house, after all; he sure as hell wasn't going to knock. The first person he saw was Major Clay, who was standing in the center of the living room floor, looking pale and wan. The man had probably been startled by his sudden appearance, Kinsey decided, smugly. Special Forces my ass.

"Senator Kinsey..."

"Vice President Kinsey," Kinsey corrected him with a slight sneer on his face. What the hell was wrong with the man?

"Um... yes, Sir. Sorry."

"Where are my prisoners?"

"In the basement, Sir. In the holding cells."

Kinsey looked around, suddenly feeling the hairs on the back of his neck start to rise as something – some weasel instinct, no doubt – told him something wasn't right. Clay looked too nervous.

"Where are the rest of your men, Major?"

"In the basement, as well, Sir."

"Let's go see my prisoners," Kinsey said, shaking off the ill-feeling in his excitement at having Jack O'Neill's son under his thumb. "I think they're all going to be involved in a nasty – and unfortunate – accident. Probably one involving a lot of bleeding and pain."

Jack had heard enough. As Kinsey headed for the hallway towards the kitchen, O'Neill stepped out of the closet, with Jaffer right beside him, blocking the Senator's path. Kinsey stopped dead at the sudden appearance of the one man he least wanted to see just then – and had definitely not expected to see.

"You!"

"Hello, Senator..." Jack said, his voice so low and dangerous that it probably frosted the rims of every glass in the cupboards.

Kinsey took a step back. And then another.

"What-?"

A movement at his right drew his attention, and despite the fact that he knew O'Neill wasn't a man to take his eyes off, Kinsey's gaze went that way, and he saw the Jaffa Teal'c suddenly coming out of the doorway that led to the den – with his yellow lab right beside him. If O'Neill was intimidating by his anger, Teal'c intimidated by sheer presence and size, and Kinsey wasn't immune to it. He gasped, and turned, intending to run for the door and outside where at least if he screamed one of the neighbors would hear him and hopefully call the police before the two could hurt him.

Clay stood still, watching as the Senator ran past him wondering why the Colonel or the big black guy didn't sic their dogs on the man. He hadn't been in on the plan, after all, and didn't know that Jack had no reason to worry about Kinsey escaping. Before the Senator had reached the front door, another closet was opened, and this time a man that Kinsey didn't know stepped out into his path. Kinsey almost ran into him, but managed to slide to a halt before he could.

The stranger had a gun in his hand and raised the weapon to Kinsey's forehead. His blue eyes were filled with a hatred that the Senator didn't understand. He didn't know the guy, what was he so-

The gun cocked, and Kinsey felt himself lose control of his bladder.