Chapter 3
Jack slowly sat down next to Sam. Instantly she wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. Whispering in his ear she said.
"I should send you back to hospital but I need you here."
"It's me. I've got the files and I managed to get my hands on an old file containing the schematics of the X302 and X303. Someone's gotta be interested in these babies. I've also secured some naquadah."
"Good. You didn't have any problems?"
"Nah, it's real hectic around here at the moment. No-one took any notice of me what so ever. Do you want me to come to you with this stuff?"
"No. I'll meet you at the usual place. Bring everything that you have with you. We'll meet at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning."
"What about the kids? What are you going to do with them?"
"I haven't decided yet. I may take them with me. Never let their parents see them again, but then again I'm not too fond of kids anyway. It doesn't really matter, just meet me at 10 o'clock."
Hanging up the phone, Airman Joseph Kilpatrick looked up into the angry eyes of Col. Davis. To be honest, he didn't know who scared him more at this moment. Col. Davis or Steve Palmer. Thankfully he wasn't facing either of the O'Neill's. Actually, he didn't think he'd still be alive if they had of caught him.
"Where's the usual place?"
"South entrance to Jamison Park Sir. On the corner of 5th and Elk St. Third bench on the left as you head east."
"You'd better not be lying to me Kilpatrick."
"No Sir."
"I hope this was worth it, because you'll be a very old man by the time you can walk free." Handing him some files, Davis continued, "These are the files you will take with you and give to Palmer. Don't worry, the files are almost identical, he won't notice anything wrong with them."
"That tracking chip had better work Barrett or you can explain it to Jack O'Neill."
"It'll work Davis, don't worry. I'll have it sent over straight away. It's been embedded in one of the file folders."
"Good. I have to ring the General and Jack O'Neill and tell them what is happening."
Two hours later Jack, Sam, Daniel, Hammond and Teal'c were sitting in the back of a van listening to what has happening in the park across the street. Jack had wanted to kill Kilpatrick upon hearing that everything that had happened over the last two days was so he could get his hands, and therefore Palmer and the Russians, on some stupid files. How could they risk the lives of two innocent children? If Teal'c hadn't held him back, God knows what he would have done. When the phone call had come through, he and Sam had to fight Cassie into staying the house while everyone else came to the park. After finally getting through to her, everyone turned in for the night. Jack and Sam made their way down the hall to their bedroom. Cassie went to sleep in the kids' room, George took the spare room, and Daniel slept on the sofa while Teal'c took the floor. None of them really slept. They were all caught up in the events of the day.
Sam lay in Jack's arms with her head resting on his shoulder. He was slowly stroking her hair. Sam felt and heard his breathing change. He had fallen asleep. She was glad, his body needed to recover. Sam slowly drifted off to sleep.
So there they all sat, cramped into the surveillance van. The atmosphere was so tense you could feel it smother you. Suddenly the atmosphere changed. Palmer had arrived and Kilpatrick was talking to him.
"Well here they are."
"Is this everything?"
"Yeah, there's nothing else."
"And no-one noticed you?"
"No it was clean. As you suspected no-one even noticed me. Everyone was more concerned with O'Neill children."
"Good, so no-one will notice if you disappear for a while."
"Ah no, I don't think so."
With that Palmer nodded and suddenly the back of Kilpatrick's head had been blown away. Calmly Palmer stood up and walked away.
"Holy shit! He just had Kilpatrick executed."
"Daniel, we know but is the tracker working?"
"Ah yeah, he's moving east on Elk St."
Daniel and Jack watched as the van containing Davis, Barrett and his men took off after Palmer. They waited a few minutes and proceeded to follow at a further distance.
"He's turning into Simpson Road. Keep back we don't want to spool him."
"Ah Jack, who's that following our guys?"
"Damn, Davis take the next right. Looks like Palmer's shooter is in the dark sedan behind you. We'll follow on from here. Stay on Johnson Street and follow us on a parallel route."
Jack watched the other van veer off. Jack noticed that the dark sedan kept following Palmer. He sighed, glad that he had warned Davis. He couldn't let anything happen now to jeopardize the mission. He checked his gun and looked around the van. Sam, Daniel and Hammond were doing the same. Teal'c had his zat gun ready. Jack knew that everyone in the van would die to save his kids.
Looking at the monitor, Sam saw that Palmer had stopped. She let Barrett and Davis know where they were. Coming to a halt down the road from Palmer's car, everyone got out. Looking at the house, trying to decide the best entry, Jack turned to the others.
"OK. Daniel and Teal'c, you go round the back. Sir, you come in the front with Sam and I. When Barrett & Davis arrive, they can back us up. OK, here come the others."
Sure enough, the other van had just pulled up at the other end of the street. Davis and Barrett joined them and Jack filled them in on the plan. Nodding their agreement, they returned to their men. Slowly they fanned out and converged on the house. Staying low, Teal'c and Daniel made their way around the back. The others approached the front door.
When they reached the front door Jack went to open it. As he reached for the handle he noticed that the door was already opened. Stepping slowly inside with their guns drawn the three of them searched the house. When they reached the kitchen they found the body of Palmer lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor. Hearing the back door open they all raised their guns, ready to fire. Upon seeing Daniel, they lowered their weapons.
Looking around the kitchen they saw the file folders lying on the table. The files were gone. Knowing that the chip was inside the folder and not in the actual files Sam realized that they might never find their children. Stumbling over a fallen chair she reached out to Jack.
"Oh God, what are we going to do?"
Just then they heard a noise from further down the hall. Turning, they once again raised their weapons and made their way down the hall. When they reached a door, Jack stood to one side of the doorway and Sam stood on the other. Daniel stood on Jack's left and Teal'c stood on Sam's right. Opening the door, all they found was an empty room. Moving on to the next door they repeated the procedure. Jack reached down and turned the knob. Opening the door Sam crouched down and scanned the room. Letting out a scream, Sam ran into the room. Jack looked in and quickly followed her. Janet and Jacob were lying on the bed. They were still, too still. Sam felt for their pulses. It wasn't until he saw her smile that Jack released the breath that he was holding and relaxed. Lifting Jacob up, he cuddled his son, noticing that Sam held Janet.
Walking out of the hospital room, Sam and Jack joined the other in the waiting room. As they entered, everyone turned to look at them.
"How are they?" Daniel asked.
"They'd been sedated but they'll be fine. Any word on who killed Palmer?"
"None, but Jack we do know that Palmer was behind the kidnapping. Whoever killed Palmer has the dodgy files. Sooner or later they're going to figure it out. I suggest increasing security at the SGC. I don't think that you, Sam and the kids are in any more danger. As I said, it was Palmer's idea to take the kids. We arrested Slevanoc a couple of hours ago and he's taken the plea bargain we offered. He's singing like a canary."
Barrett paused and looked at Davis who continued.
"We've interviewed all members of the Russian teams. They've all been cleared. The Russian government is weeding out the perpetrators on their end."
"You know what, at the moment I don't really care. We have the kids back and that's all I care about."
Smiling at Sam, he put his arms around here shoulders. He looked around at his friends and felt at peace for the first time in days. Let the rest take care of itself.