"I hate coincidences."

"What?" Jack asked as he looked over at Mac. They were riding in Mac's rental car, looking for anything that could give them a clue as to where Lindsay could be held. They all knew it was a long shot, but at this point they had run out of anything else to do and both men hated to sit around waiting for anything.

"Did I say that out loud?" Mac asked. He was driving the car, with Jack riding shotgun and Teal'c in the back seat. Their ride had been silent up to that point, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Yeah," Jack responded. He had been running through scenarios of actions they could take against the kidnappers, while at the same time worrying about them finding out that he hadn't done anything about getting the cloaking devices. Hell, he was more worried about what Mac would do to him.

"Well?" Jack prompted when Mac didn't elaborate.

"It's just that we've only met less than a week ago, and here I am in Colorado looking for my daughter who was kidnapped because she is your niece - just days after we find out, by the way. Do you think this is all part of an elaborate plan?"

Jack just stared out at the buildings they were passing. He had harbored the same thoughts and he still hadn't come up with any answers. "I don't know," he finally replied. "It seems that would be a lot of work just to get some translations and alien devices."

"It would appear that they have not been able to learn the Asgard language on their own," Teal'c spoke up from the back seat.

"Thor is well aware of these people. He and his friends are not going to be too receptive in helping them learn their language," Jack said with confidence.

"Thor?" Mac asked, looking at Jack in surprise.

"The Supreme Commander of the Asgard," Jack told him. "He's a good friend of mine."

"Why am I not surprised that you are 'good friends' with an alien?" Mac asked with a grin. "It's getting so I'm not surprised by anything that goes on in that place," he added.

"I'm good friends with a lot of aliens," Jack said, giving Teal'c a meaningful look before turning back to look out the window.

"Teal'c?" Mac said, his surprise was evident in his features and the tone of his voice. Jack had to grin as he realized what Mac was thinking. "He's an alien?" Mac asked Jack, while staring at Teal'c through the rear view mirror.

Teal'c bowed his head in acknowledgement before responding, "Indeed, I am. I am a Jaffa from a planet called Chulak."

"Thought nothing surprised you about that place anymore," Jack said, grinning at Mac's expression.

"Well there goes the theory that aliens are little green men," Mac said trying to grasp everything he was taking in.

"Gray," Jack corrected him. "The Asgard are little gray men."

'Oh, well excuse me," Mac said with a grin at Jack. His gaze went back to Teal'c, "You're not gray nor are you little. Am I wrong in assuming that you are human?"

"I am Jaffa," Teal'c responded. "The Tau'ri – humans - were taken from your world thousands of years ago and brought to several planets throughout the galaxy to become slaves to the Goa'uld. My people were chosen to become warriors and to protect the infant symbiotes."

"Daniel mentioned the Goa'uld," Mac said. Jack could see he was struggling to make some sense out of what he was being told. "He said that the people on some planet were hiding from them," Mac added. "Are they still holding people as slaves?"

"They are evil, malevolent worms that control their subjects with fear. They pretend to be Gods to keep the people in line," Jack spat out.

"I take it you don't like them," Mac said, stating the obvious. Jack stared at him for a moment before turning back to the scenery outside the window.

"I can't stand those snake heads," he said matter-of-factly. "They're one of the reasons the SGC exists. We are at war with them and we will do everything it takes to keep them from taking over Earth."

"I suppose I can understand why I've never heard about all this," Mac said. "Tell me; is there really an Area 51?"

"Yep," Jack said with a grin. He could tell Mac was contemplating everything he'd ever heard about aliens, probably wondering what else was true.

"These Goa'uld," Mac said. "Are they little gray men, too?"

The grin left Jack's face abruptly. He felt the anger and the hatred swell up in him as he stared out at nothing. He hated those slimy bastards.

Teal'c answered Mac's question instead. "They are snakelike in appearance and can only survive inside a human or similar being. A Goa'uld will burrow its way into a human and wrap itself around the spinal cord in the neck, taking over the human's actions. The host has no control over his or her own actions, although they are aware of what the Goa'uld does on their behalf."

"Burrow their way in?" Mac asked with a grimace. "Can't be a pleasant experience."

Jack grunted in response and went back to looking for anything that would help them find Lindsay. He didn't know what he was looking for, but anything was better than dwelling on the memories of his own personal encounters with Goa'uld symbiotes, even if one of them did happen to be a Tok'ra.

"You know," Mac said, breaking into Jack's thoughts, "I've long ago learned to read people through their expressions and by what they aren't saying. Take you for instance," he continued pointing at Jack. "You are hiding a lot behind that façade. There's a lot of anger and pain behind that mask and the humor. You use those techniques to keep the world from knowing that you aren't as emotionally well off as you seem to be."

Jack turned to stare at Mac wondering what else he could see, then decided to throw him off the track. "You are so full of shit," he snarled.

Mac just laughed at that, grinning at Jack before telling him, "If you say so."

Jack continued to glare at the jerk before turning back to look out the window. It unnerved him that Mac was so astute in assessing him. That incident with the sarcophagus withdrawal had changed him in more ways than one, and he knew he would never be the same man he was before Ba'al had gotten hold of him. So he tried to hide his fears and insecurities from the rest of the world by resorting to humor and a quiet demeanor that he hoped would throw off suspicions of his inability to cope with certain memories. He hated this weakness within himself and he was determined no one else would ever see it.

He was grateful that his friends accepted this change in him, never mentioning it although he knew they had their suspicions. He had caught Carter staring at him with concern on several occasions, her eyes reflecting her worry at times when they would just be sitting there talking about mundane things. And now here was Mac laying it all down on the table. Maybe he wasn't as good at hiding things as he thought he was.

He was so caught up in his own musing that he jumped when Mac slapped him on the arm. "That's him!" Mac exclaimed, pointing toward a tall man that was walking toward a car parked in front of a grocery store.

"Who is he?" Jack asked, watching the man as he switched the plastic grocery bag he was carrying from one hand to the other, then reaching into his pocket for something.

"The bastard who took Lindsay," Mac snarled, as he pulled the car over to stop next to the curb. The fact that he'd stopped right in front of a driveway, only barely registered with Jack.

"You sure?" Jack asked. The man had pulled his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the car door, throwing the bag in before getting in himself.

"I'm sure," Mac growled. He waited until the car pulled out before discretely pulling away from the curb in an effort to follow it.

Jack pulled out his cell phone and dialed the SGC to let Carter know that they were on the trail of Lindsay's kidnapper. She was in and told him that she had not been able to get in contact with Agent Barrett, but she would come out to meet them with some back up. Jack agreed that would be a great idea and told her he would call her when they got to where they were going and hung up.

They followed the car until it turned down a dirt road just outside of town. Mac continued to drive straight through when he got to the intersection, hoping to throw off any suspicions. As it was, they had stayed back behind another car when they'd followed Lindsay's kidnapper through town.

Mac turned the car around about a quarter mile down then drove back to the dirt road. He turned down the road and slowed down while they all looked for the car the kidnapper drove. It was Teal'c who told Mac to turn down another dirt road because he saw that the dust on the road had been kicked up.

"Way to go Teal'c," Jack said with a grin as he saw that the dust had been kicked up by the vehicle they were following. The car turned right again and Mac slowed down to a stop when he realized that the car had stopped in a driveway of a house. Jack pulled out his binoculars and began scouting the area, watching as the man got out of the car and entered the house.

"I do believe we've found Lindsay," he told Mac with a grin.