Jack looked over at Hammond, who frowned, but then nodded, giving him permission.

"This morning your Admiral Leaf's guys lured River Hayden out of the Air Force academy – apparently sending him a phone message or talking to him on the phone telling him that he was a friend of his father's. River went to meet him at a coffee shop downtown, and they told him about the Stargate, the SGC, and the Trust…"

"Figured if they couldn't have Ian they'd have the next best thing?"

Jack shook his head.

"What they were hoping to do – according to Morgan – was recruit River, get him in deep and have him recruit Ian for them. What they didn't count on was that Shawn was suspicious of the whole thing, and enlisted Ian's help to go looking for River and this guy he was supposed to meet."

"Good for him. What happened?"

"They found them and interrupted things. I got more information from Morgan – that's Phillip Morgan, by the way – than I've managed to get from the boys, because they're still not sure exactly what was going on, but Morgan told me that he hadn't quite reached the pitch part of his proposal when one of his men spotted Ian coming through the door and panicked. He busted into the back room telling them they had to get out of there, and instead of leaving River where he was, they grabbed him and forced him to go with them. Even fired a shot to scare off Shawn and Ian."

"Those bastards," Nate growled. "Were they hurt?"

"Shawn took a hit to the upper arm, but it's a clean wound – he's already up and about more or less. Ian wasn't hit."

"And then what happened?"

Nate knew if Shawn's injury was serious, Jack wouldn't have brushed it off so easily, and aside from the flare of anger in his brown eyes, O'Neill didn't look upset.

"Ian got Shawn into his car and they took off after the Trust guys, ran a car chase through the middle of town until River apparently decided he'd had enough and grabbed the wheel forcing them to crash."

"River and another man were tossed through the front window," Sam said, before Nathan could ask. "River's okay – just bruises and some scratches – but the other guy was in surgery when we left the hospital, and they weren't sure if he was going to live."

"And the rest of them?"

"They're all still at the hospital. They wouldn't speak to the police until they had lawyers present – and were probably waiting to hear from their Superior – although I hadn't gotten that far with Morgan when I was interrupted."

"They're going to be waiting a long time if they're waiting to hear from Leaf," Nathan said. "And Kinsey had nothing to do with this. As far as his orders to Leaf went, they were supposed to stay the hell away from Ian and from your boy, Jack."

Jack nodded, taking Nate's word for it, although he wondered now just how much Leaf had said to Nate if he'd managed to get even that little tidbit of information from him – and what Nathan had done to get him to say it. He really didn't want to know, though, and didn't care at all. They had other problems.

"You do realize that you can't say anything about the Stargate, right? Not even to Maggie?"

Nathan scowled. He didn't need to be reminded what he could and couldn't tell anyone – and he'd fucking tell Maggie whatever the hell he wanted to, because she'd never tell anyone.

"No one would believe me, anyways. How long has Ian been mixed up with this?"

"Some time after Thanksgiving," Jack said. "He found out about it accidentally, and while he was recovering, we let him in on a few more things, to see if he was interested in it."

"I don't like him being in so much danger, Jack…"

"He's not, Nate. Not really. Most of the time he helps Sam with research on the technology we find… We know he's not completely trained yet, and we'd never put him in a situation he couldn't handle. Not on purpose, anyways."

Which didn't include the whole captured by the Goa'uld and escaping only to deliver a baby on a faraway planet with absolutely no one there to help him thing. Ian had handled that just fine. And had returned alive and mostly well – along with Sam and Jake. Really, as far as Jack was concerned, Ian had already proven himself to be exactly what the SGC needed in their future officers – minus the language and people skills – and he could understand completely why the Trust were drooling over him. Although he didn't like it.

"He's the only son I have, Jack…"

"He is a fine young man," Teal'c said, speaking for the first time. "And a capable warrior. You should be proud of him, Nathan Brooks."

Nate looked over at Teal'c, noticing for the first time the golden seal on his forehead.

"I am proud of him," Nate said. "You're not human, are you?"

"I am not."

"You're one of those… Jaffies… Leaf mentioned."

"Jaffa," Daniel corrected.

Brooks looked at Daniel, scowling at the correction.

"Are you human?"

Daniel nodded.

"We all are… just not… Teal'c."

"Huh…"

"What else did Leaf tell you, Nathan?" Hammond asked.

"A bunch of propaganda bullshit about how the SGC was originally brought into being in order to find the ultimate weapons and technology to defend this country from her allies, only to have it fall into the hands of those too weak to take what they weren't able to get fair and square from their new allies… shit like that…" He gave Sam an apologetic look for the use of the bad language, but looked at Hammond again. "I made sure to remind him that those weak hands belonged to someone I knew very well – and he didn't mention that again."

Hammond smiled, slightly, despite the seriousness of the situation.

"Thanks."

Nate shrugged.

"Don't mention it."

"I don't suppose you asked this talkative admiral for other names?" Jack asked. "Names of other guys who might be in the Trust?"

"Of course I did, Jack. Do I look stupid?"

"You did?" Hammond asked. "I want those names, Nathan."

Brooks shook his head.

"I didn't bring them with me."

Actually, he had them memorized and had absolutely no intention of sharing that information with anyone. Unlike Ian, Nathan lied very well and wasn't afraid to do just that. Nathan Brooks didn't like the fact that the bastards in the Trust had gone after his son – even if it was a back handed compliment that they'd wanted him so badly – and he was going to make sure that they all knew just how deadly a game they'd joined up in.

He knew where to start, too. With the four in the hospital.

"I'd like to see Ian, now…"

First things first.