Author's Note: Wow!! I'm amazed at all the reviews. I really, really appreciate every last one of them. Thank you!


Usually Jack paced when he was nervous or angry. His nervous energy would cause him to wear a hole in the carpet if he didn't keep busy, but instead of pacing as he waited for a report from Colonel Reynolds, commander of SG-3, he stood riveted to the spot behind the control console, straining with all his might to hear what he'd wanted to hear - that SG-1 was safe and on their way home. The reports he had so far were not encouraging in this respect, but he still held out hope. Times like these had him wishing he was there with them, dragging them all through the mud or the underbrush or whatever they were facing at the moment, pushing them with words and commands to make it to safety.

He found himself worrying about Daniel; he had heard the fear in Carter's voice as she casually mentioned the incident where some animal had tried to 'eat' the Archeologist. He had worked with her for far too long to not hear the emotion behind the words she spoke and he knew that the situation was much worse than she said it was. Daniel had probably tried to feed it a power bar or something, Jack thought disgustedly, remembering a chase through the burning desert of Abydos when Daniel had gotten too friendly with a native animal.

Jack had been concentrating so hard on the Stargate and his fears that he'd jumped when an airman cleared his throat next to him. "Sir, you have an emergency phone call. Shall I have it transferred in here?"

"What?" Jack asked. "What kind of emergency?" He didn't have time for this, whatever it was.

"He didn't say sir. Just that it was an emergency," the airman replied.

"Did you find out who it was?" Jack asked, turning to glare at the airman. The airman, who hadn't expected the glare, started stuttering. "Yes s..s..ir. He said his name was MacGyver and that he would never have called you at work unless it was a dire emergency sir!"

"MacGyver?" Jack asked in surprise, then sighed when the airman nodded. "Alright, I'll talk to him," he said. "Send it in here."

He turned his attention back to the monitor that was showing the images of the battleground on the other side of the active wormhole. His teams had gone through the Gate shooting their weapons before they had even stepped into the wormhole, hoping to get a healthy start on the inevitable battle they would be forced to fight. The second MALP was sent through along with the teams and had survived this time, allowing those in the control room an opportunity to view the scene playing out on the battlefield.

The phone rang and he answered it, never taking his eyes off of the monitor. "O'Neill," he said into the receiver. The camera showed that the Tau'ri had been victorious in this skirmish, but no sign of SG-1, just the members of SG-5 who had been left behind to secure the Gate while SG-3 went out to find their comrades. The wormhole would shut down soon and Jack briefly wondered if all this stress was good for his heart.

"Jack," Mac replied, the coldness of his voice surprising Jack. "We're in trouble and we need your help."

"What kind of trouble?" Jack asked with a frown. This had better be good, he thought menacingly.

"Some men who thought I was you kidnapped Lindsay. I need you to help me get her back," the calmness in his voice was laced with fear and Jack heard it loud and clear. In fact, it had captured his full attention.

"What?" Jack exclaimed with shock as the implications of what Mac said seeped through. "They thought you were me?" He was sure that this added stress was going to kill him.

"They said that in order to get my daughter back, I would need to do a couple of things for them," Mac continued as if he was telling Jack the sky was blue.

"What kind of things," Jack asked with trepidation. He was sure he wasn't going to like the answer.

"They want something translated and for you to get them some alien devices," Mac growled, apparently deciding to drop the calm, cool and collected act. "What the hell are you into?" he added as his anger took over.

"Where are you?" Jack responded.

"In Denver, at the airport," Mac said. "We had just arrived when your friends tried to break my arm and grabbed Lindsay. We have to get her back Jack. You're going to tell me where to start."

"Alright," Jack said, as he was thinking through possible suspects. "Tell me who they were, what they looked like, anything that could tell me who we are dealing with."

"I didn't get a good look at my attackers, except for the guy who was sticking a knife into my daughter's ribs," Mac replied, the fear creeping back into his voice. He cleared his throat then continued, "That guy was fairly tall with dark hair and a mustache. I think he may have had a scar on his neck, but not positive on that. Hang on," he said and Jack heard him confer with Lanie and Pete. "Lanie says one of the guys was short with balding dark hair and the other was a tall blond man with a long nose."

"Did they say anything to you to give us a hint as to who they were," Jack asked. The descriptions didn't help him much.

"I was just told what they wanted and that they would contact me in the morning to get the status on the translations and the devices."

"Jesus," Jack said under his breath. He tried to think of who had attacked Mac and his family, then realized that every one in the control room was watching him with concern. He glared at the intruders, who all looked away guiltily, before bringing his attention to the monitors and noticed some movement at the edge of the picture. He nudged Walter, who had just begun his shift, and pointed at the monitor – telling him with his gestures that he wanted to see what it was that was moving out there.

Walter nodded, and Jack jumped again when Mac shouted into the phone that was still held against his ear. "Jack?" Mac yelled. "We have to get Lindsay back."

"Come to Colorado Springs," Jack said, having made a decision on that issue. "I'll make room for you at the house…. What the hell is that?" he asked Walter, as he tried to get closer to the monitor.

"I don't know sir," Walter responded at the same time as Mac said, "What the hell is what?" Jack watched the monitor closely as the object in question, an animal that looked like it could destroy a large bear with one swipe of its paw ran across the field, stopping momentarily as it saw a possible victim. The members of SG-5 apparently saw it as well, as they began to shoot at it to chase it away from one of their teammates.

"SG-5 report!" Jack yelled into the radio having dropped the phone in his concern over his people. He barely registered that the airman had picked up the phone and spoke into it before hanging it up. "What was that thing?"

"It has to be the animal that Colonel Carter mentioned earlier," Colonel Dixon said as he stepped back from the monitor he was studying. "That thing was huge!" he added with enthusiasm.

"SG-5 is secure for the moment," came the response from P4X-903. "The animal seems to have been scared off sir."

"Stay alert," Jack ordered. Where the hell was SG-3, he wondered. How was he going to explain losing two teams?

"Sir, the Gate will be shutting down in two minutes," Walter told him.

"SG-5, the Gate will be shutting down. We will re-establish a wormhole in one hour if you haven't done so yourself before then. Stay alert and contact us the minute you hear from either SG-1 or 3."

"Yes sir," came the response. Jack waited until the wormhole disengaged before heading out of the control room, signaling for the airman to follow him. He led the airman into his office, sitting down in his chair before turning his full attention on the nervous young man.

"Thank you for taking care of that phone call for me," Jack began, shocking the man standing in front of him. He must have been expecting a thorough reaming, Jack thought.

"You're welcome sir."

"Did you get a number for me to call him back?" Jack asked.

"Yes sir," the airman replied, relaxing a little. "Shall I call him for you?"

"No, I can do it," Jack replied. "What did you tell him was going on?"

"Just that there was a crisis here and that you needed to take care of it. He was very understanding, telling me to have you call him the first chance you got. Here's the number," he said, putting a slip of paper on the desk.

"Thanks again," Jack said, giving the airman a small grin as he nodded his dismissal.

The grin disappeared when the airman shut the door behind him. He stared at the phone on his desk, wondering which one of at least three organizations had taken Lindsay. He didn't need this on top of his worry for his friends, but he knew he couldn't let anything bad happen to the little girl who had begged him for a necklace that matched her mother's.

He sighed as he picked up the phone to call the number the airman had given him. Mac answered on the first ring, "Everything alright?" he asked with concern.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Jack said sheepishly. "You caught me at a bad time."

"Apparently," Mac said dryly. "What do we do about Lindsay?"

"They won't hurt her," Jack said with a certainty. "If they know me, they'll know I will not negotiate over a dead hostage. We just have to find her before the deadline."

"Do you know where she is?"

"Somewhere near Colorado Springs," Jack responded. "They said they would contact me tomorrow? The only way they could contact me is through my home phone or my office phone. Very few people know my cell phone number. And if they want to contact me in person, they will have to come here to find me, which means they will be here by tomorrow."

"What if they want to contact me here?" Mac asked. Jack was impressed with the coolness Mac relayed in the face of this mess.

"They will follow you to Colorado Springs if they really want the information they are looking for. Do you have a car or do you want me to arrange for a ride for you?" Jack asked, almost as an after thought.

"We were going to rent a car to drive to Grand Junction," Mac said. "Where do we meet you?"

Jack was at a crossroads here. He wasn't about to leave the Mountain until all three of his teams came home from that God forsaken planet, but he knew deep down he had to help Mac find his daughter. He tried to come up with a logical solution, but the only thing that came to mind was probably not a good idea.

"Jack?"

"Go to my house," Jack said, deciding on the second most logical solution. He didn't think it would be a great idea to bring them to the Mountain complex. "I can't leave here until this present situation is settled, and I have to tell you that I don't know when that will be, but you and Lanie can make yourselves at home there. I'll try to get away later tonight so that we can discuss this in more detail and come up with a plan."

"You sure they will come to Colorado Springs?"

"Yes Mac, I'm sure." Jack assured him, then proceeded to give him the directions to his house and told him where he could find the spare key. "The house is yours while you are there. Just make yourselves at home," he insisted.

"Will do," Mac replied before hanging up the phone.

Jack sat at his desk after hanging up the phone, staring at nothing. What was it about this day that everything had to come down on his head at once, he thought. He rested his elbows on the desk and put his head into his hands, closing his eyes tight as he tried to ease the tension running through him. He stayed in that position until a knock on the door interrupted the temporary peace he had found. Walter opened the door and told Jack that the video of the beast from the planet was ready to be studied and had been set up in the briefing room. Jack nodded, then got up to go see what was terrorizing his people.