"I thought they had naquadah," said Hammond from his seat at the head of the table.
"Supplies running out?" suggested Jack.
"That's just it," said Sam. "Where did they get the naquadah in the first place?"
There was a clattering of footsteps on metal grate as Daniel arrived. "Sorry I'm late. But I think you'll all want to see this." He waved a piece of paper.
Jack raised an eyebrow. "We see it, Daniel."
"Um, right. Well, I just got off the phone with Agent Barrett. He faxed me this."
Jack's eyebrows threatened to push back his hairline. "The NID?"
"Seems your first guess was right all along. A while ago, the NID was researching the medical benefits of naquadah."
"We've never seen any evidence – " Sam began, and cut herself off. Both she and Cassie had naquadah in their blood but no symbiote.
Teal'c voiced her thoughts out loud: "I do not recall Major Carter falling ill since she was host to Jolinar of Malkshur."
Cassie nodded. "And the only time I was sick was from Nirrti's retro-virus."
"True," said Daniel. "But the two of you have unusually high concentrations of naquadah in your blood, and they were put there by the symbiote" – he gestured at Sam – "or, in Cassie's case, a Goa'uld who knew what she was doing. In the NID lab experiments, they found that injecting animals with small amounts of naquadah didn't affect antibody levels, but it did increase the effectiveness of certain medicines. So they could take less of the drug and still get the same effect. The problem was, the body's reaction varied for each subject. There was a high risk of overdose, because even the tiniest bit of a drug would be amplified by the naquadah. So when scientists asked to continue their tests with human subjects, they were denied. And here's the fun part – after the experiment ended, several of the agents involved went rogue."
"So they're using illegal drugs to test the naquadah?" Cassie exclaimed.
"I don't think so," said Daniel. "There'd be no way to keep a controlled situation."
"But what if they wanted to make some money?" Jack wondered. "Buy drugs, mix them with naquadah, and sell them for the same price but in lower concentration. Same effect, more cash."
"The girl who died must have had an extremely strong reaction to the naquadah," said Sam. "That's what caused the overdose."
"If we exchange naquadah for Dominic's life," said Teal'c, "those rogue agents will continue in their illegal activities."
"That's why we're not going to give them what they want," Jack declared. "All right, Carter. What's the plan?"
Everything was set up: microphone, backup, naquadah...there was just one more thing for Sam to check on.
"Are you ready, Cassie?"
Cassie was memorizing the tops of her shoes and hugging the naquadah-filled briefcase to her chest like a long-lost lover. Her knuckles were turning white. "I don't think I can do this."
"Why not?" Sam asked gently.
"It's my fault Dominic got kidnapped."
"Cassie, it's not – "
"Yes, it is! He wanted to help me. He thought I was getting into drugs. So I told him what was going on. I asked him to help me get the drugs. If I hadn't told him, he wouldn't be involved. They probably would have kidnapped me and called you."
Well, it wasn't like Sam had never been in this situation before. But now wasn't the time for guilt and what-ifs. "You had no way of knowing what would happen," said Sam. "And right now you're the only one who can help him. It doesn't matter whose fault it is, or if it's anyone's fault at all. What matters is that we get Dominic out of there."
Cassie frowned. "I guess you're right."
"Of course I'm right," said Sam, and Cassie finally cracked a smile.
"Okay," she said. "Let's get this over with."
Sam nodded. They'd have a talk about revealing classified information later.
Of course, the appointed meeting place was an abandoned warehouse. As Jack had pointed out, "The bad guys always have this knack for cliché." But if they did, it was because the cliché worked; when Cassie opened the huge sliding door, she suddenly felt very alone.
Alone wasn't such a good feeling after all.
"Hello?" she called into the darkness.
"First things first," came a male voice. "Take your wire and drop it outside."
Cassie complied. "Worth a try," she said, trying to sound lighthearted, but a quiver in her voice gave it away.
The lights came on, revealing a man in a suit who was standing at the opposite end of the warehouse. "Come here," he commanded.
In seconds that seemed like an eternity, Cassie crossed the expanse.
"You have the naquadah."
She held up the briefcase.
"Open it."
She showed him.
He smiled. "Very good. Now give me the briefcase, and I'll tell you where to find your boyfriend."
This wasn't part of the plan. "Wait a minute," she demanded. "How do I know you're telling the truth? How do I know you won't kill him as soon as you get the naquadah? You were supposed to bring him here."
"I never said I would bring him here, did I? I only told you that an exchange would be made."
A technicality, but he was right. Suddenly Cassie felt very stupid.
"All right," she said finally. "Where is he?"
He held out a silent hand for the briefcase.
Cassie gave it to him. The loss felt like an amputation.
"He's in the basement of the apartment building on the corner of Main Street and Fifth."
She exited at a brisk walk that soon evolved into a run. When she turned back to look, the man was no longer there.
They found Dominic tied up and blindfolded, a bit bruised and shaken but otherwise fine. Until Cassie attacked him, that was.
"Dominic!" she screamed, and threw her arms around him. "I'm so sorry!"
His cracked lips curved into a smile. "Hey, Cass. Don't worry about it. But do me a favor?"
"Anything."
"Untie me?"
She laughed and, with the help of Jack's pocketknife, undid his ropes, then hugged him again, while Dominic looked a bit embarrassed at all the attention. Sam hated to break up the party, but they had one more thing to take care of.
"Freeze! This is the police! We have you surrounded!"
Minutes later, two handcuffed men were brought out of the building. Cassandra smiled at them as they walked past, and they scowled back.
"How'd you find them?" Cassie asked Sam.
"We added a radioactive isotope to the naquadah," Sam explained. "All we had to do was track the source."
"I'm guessing more secret, classified information?" asked Dominic.
Sam looked questioningly at Cassie, who shrugged. "You didn't think I told him everything, did you?"
"What I wanna know is," said Dominic, "do you guys do stuff like this every day?"
Jack shrugged. "More or less."
"Our job is making the world a safer place," said Teal'c.
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Teal'c, what did I tell you about watching too many super hero cartoons?"
"Hey, it's the truth," said Daniel.
Not the whole truth, Sam thought. But if that was their job, then they were succeeding.