"Colonel Carter?" The voice came from somewhere behind her. And from the floor.
She twisted in her seat and saw a small hole in the floor of the backseat. A hole that wasn't there before.
"So the sawing sound I heard earlier wasn't you guys getting the bomb off my car?"
"Ah, no, ma'am." The vaguely familiar face grinned up at her and she struggled to put a name to it. Andrews, Anderson? Something like that. "We've encountered a small problem."
"A small problem? I'm guessing it's not the hole in my car? And quit calling me ma'am."
"No, ma'am... Sir. We seem to have activated the bomb. The timer started flashing and, well, it's got just under six minutes left." The sound of paper rustling accompanied the muffled voices. The face disappeared for a few moments, replaced by an arm clutching some photographs and waving them at her. "Agent Bartley told us to take a photo and give it to you so you could have a look and see if you can think of a way to disable it."
Sam stretched, leaning over and hoping her muscles would forgive her for it. She glanced from the pictures to the hole when the oil and grease smudge face reappeared. "Can I just ask why no one warned me you were cutting a hole in my car?"
She ignored the hastily mumbled reply and focused her attention on the images in front of her, running possibly scenarios through her mind.
Not one of them was worth attempting. She couldn't be more than fifty percent sure about any of her ideas and didn't want anyone hanging around attempting them in case she was wrong.
One life lost was better than two.
"Okay. Get your people together and get behind the line. That's an order." She spared him a glare when he hesitated and reached for the cell phone on the passengers seat. "Jack? Put Annie on the phone."
"What's happening, Carter? They won't tell us anything..."
"Just put Annie on. I'll explain later."
She heard him sigh, was pretty sure she heard him swear at her and then Annie was on the phone.
"Sam? What's going on? They made us move away while they tried something..."
"They activated the timer, Annie. There's probably less than five minutes left. I've looked at the photos you had them give me and there's nothing I can suggest. It's over." She ignored the grunt on the other end of the phone and continued. "Get everyone behind the line and wait. If it turns out the timers a dud and I'm still here in ten minutes, I'll give you a call and we can get back to work. No buts, no arguments. I won't have anyone else risking their lives. You're all going to be needed to catch this guy and believe me, he'll be thrilled if he wipes out half of us just by planting a bomb under my car."
"He doesn't want you dead, Sam. He wants to play with you." Annie sighed down the phone, her reluctance to leave clear. "I'll get everyone back and wait for seven minutes. If nothing's happened by then, we'll get back to work."
"Ten minutes, Annie. Give it time."
"I hate it when you order me around."
"Yeah, well, I hate it, too. That's why I retired."
"It isn't over, Sam. I'm going to go get people to clear the area and if I'm not mistaken, there's someone on their way to speak to you. Bomb or not, I don't think he's gonna leave."
"Damn."
Sam hung up without saying goodbye. Intending on it. Goodbyes, she decided, were what she was worst at.
After relationships, or maybe just before them.
She looked out of the window and saw Jack standing there, his expression dark and moody. She watched Annie approach him, hand him the phone and walk away quickly after casting what she decided was a sympathetic look towards the car.
Then her cell phone started to ring.
Sam glanced at him, saw him scowling at the closed phone in his hand and glanced down at the display on her own phone.
'Number withheld.'
Curiosity got the better of her and she flipped the phone open, lifting it to her ear as she let her other hand rest pointlessly on the steering wheel. "Carter."
"I'm very disappointed in you, Colonel Carter. I thought your people would have freed you by now. Instead they've decreased your chances significantly."
The voice was smooth, the tone sincere. She sat up straighter in her seat and saw Jack move closer out of the corner of her eye.
"It's touching that he won't leave you behind, Colonel, but that was the motto of the infamous SG-1 wasn't it? You don't leave your people behind. It's interesting how he remains yet your colleagues within the MIU flee for their own lives. Maybe we should involve General O'Neill in our plans for the future."
"Keep him out of it." Her voice was low, her words a growl. "He's not MIU. He's not who you're after."
"True." The sigh sounded disappointed. "But if you live, he would remain involved by default. Hmm." There was a slight pause and she narrowed her eyes, listening intently to what was going on on the other end of the call. She thought she could hear muffled voices but wasn't one hundred percent sure. Before she could listen any further, the voice was back, the tone considerably lighter. "We've decided to give you a chance, Colonel. You may attempt to exit the vehicle by whichever method you choose other than by using the doors. But hurry. You only have four minutes left."
There was a click and the line died.
She frowned, glancing around the car as she thought about alternate methods of escape. If the car had a sunroof, she could climb out of that but it didn't. The hole on the floor in the back was nowhere near big enough for her to squeeze through...
... Her eyes landed on Jack's concerned face through the glass of her window and inspiration struck.
Aware of his eyes widening, she started winding down the window on the driver's side of the car.
"Are you insane? Didn't they tell you not to try to leave?"
"They had a change of heart. Guess he really doesn't want to play with anyone else." She pulled her legs up onto the seat and crouched, surveying the small gap she had to climb through. "Okay, I've got less than four minutes to get through the window and for us both to get as far away as possible. Give me a hand?"
"I'll give you two."
Together, they managed to get her out of the car. Not without a few scrapes and bruises but eventually he managed to pull her free of the vehicle and steady her while she found her feet.
Sam glanced at her watch and grimaced.
Less than two minutes.
"Time to run. Fast."
The barriers set up to keep everyone at bay were in sight when the bomb went off. They were far enough away to escape the worst of it but still found themselves caught up in the smoke, in the heat and found themselves knocked off their feet by the sheer force.
When the echoing in her ears subsided, Sam lifted her head and glanced back over her shoulder, wincing at the sight.
Her car was gone. His truck was in flames.
The garden she'd ordered him to make neater was covered in warped metal, shattered glass and clumps of grass were home to small fires.
Fortunately, because of the way the house was situated, their neighbours homes and cars remained intact.
Their own was in danger of the fire spreading and was already smoke damaged if nothing else.
She turned her head and winced again, this time due to the various twinges of pain sprinkled up and down her body. Looked at him. Saw the smears on his face, the dirt and the blood. The scratches that were thankfully superficial.
"You okay?"
She took a deep breath in preparation for answering and found herself coughing. Licking her lips, she tried again as he got to shaky legs and offered her a hand. "I told you I was bad at the relationship thing."
He stared at her in concern, no doubt wondering if she'd hit her head and if so, how hard.
Sam motioned to the wreckage, to the house, to the gaping neighbours already speaking in raised, almost hysterical voices behind the barriers. "I think we can safely say I should give up on making a good impression on your neighbours. That's one of the golden rules on 'how to make a relationship work'. One I just failed."
"Ah, but you failed it spectacularly." He grinned and wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her away from the crowd, both of them staring at their house. "Don't worry, they'll probably love you for it. They don't get much excitement around here."
She looked at the remains of her car. The car she'd devoted so much time and energy into restoring and sighed, letting her head rest on his shoulder as she reviewed her morning.
Wake up way too early and get dragged back into the MIU: check.
Capture a bad guy and celebrate prematurely with a big ugly bruise to the site: check.
Get called to the SGC for an emergency and fail to show up: check, and check.
Get trapped in a car with a bomb underneath: check.
Get out of car: check, eventually.
Watch beloved Volvo get blown to pieces: check.
Ruin all and any chance at being on her new neighbours Christmas card list. All of them: check times however many neighbours she'd had and isolated.
She sighed again, her eyes closed.
"I should've just stayed in bed."
It was a sentiment she felt with a vengeance as the day wore on.
At the insistence of Jack, Annie and Daniel – and the look she got from Teal'c – she let herself be whisked away to the SGC to be checked out by Doctor Brightman, leaving Annie and the rest of her team to arrange the various MIU agents investigating the scene – leaving them to make nice with the local authorities, the FBI and the CIA.
Something she knew would come back to bite her in the ass and had done by the time they reached the SGC.
Admiral Michaels, a retired Navy officer who sat on the board of directors for the MIU, was on the phone waiting for her by the time they arrived. As he was based in Washington, he primarily acted as a liaison for the MIU with other government agencies.
Two of which had already issued complaints on how the situation had been dealt with.
"With all due respect, Sir, we didn't make this an MIU issue. The bastard responsible for it all did. If the FBI and CIA want a piece of it, they can damn well wait until one of their own is taken out."
A pause, a wince.
A glare at Doctor Brightman when she prodded a tender patch of skin.
"No, Sir. I'm not saying I want them to be targets but I don't see why we should involve them in the investigation... Yes, I appreciate them being there this morning and for helping clear the scene but... No, Sir. No."
A heavy sigh, a sigh of defeat.
"If you can get clearance for some FBI and CIA agents to work from NORAD for the duration of the investigation, I'll consider it. I want through background checks on them all before they join the team, though. Sir. There is someone, possibly a group of someones, who are targeting my friends, my people, and now focusing on me and the people I care about most. If I don't like the look of someone, they're not getting in. End of story."
She rolled her eyes when her SG1 teammates exchanged amused looks.
"Well that's as near to a compromise as they're going to get, Admiral. As near as anyone gets with me. Goodbye." She slammed the phone down into its cradle and looked up to find Jack staring at her with a raised eyebrow and half grin on his face. For some reason it made her scowl. "What?"
"How'd you become the golden girl of the MIU if you speak to your superiors in that way?" He glanced to Doctor Brightman, the brunette woman hovering over her. "She okay?"
"She's fine, General. Nothing a few days rest and a nice hot bath won't fix." Doctor Brightman gave him a small nod. "Now if you'd like to take the opposite bed, I'd like to check out your injuries."
Jack couldn't miss the smug look his lover shot in his direction. "I'm fine, Doc. It's just a scratch or two."
"I believe you, Sir, but I couldn't in good conscience let you out of here without making sure you're not concussed." Doctor Brightman smiled brightly. "Besides, Colonel Carter made me promise."
The smug look vanished into one of utter innocence even as he glowered. Daniel tried hiding a grin behind his hand and Teal'c suddenly took up an interest in studying the cracks in the ceiling.
"Anyway, Jack got us caught up on the whole MIU thing," Daniel started as the former base commander was led towards the gurney opposite Sam's. "Like the NID but better."
"Much better. The NID are – were – evil. MIU are the good guys." Sam slipped her BDU jacket over her vest top, gritting her teeth against her body's protest. "You understand why I never told you about it, right?"
"Sure. Top secret government deal. Like the SGC but... not." Daniel shrugged and took a step closer, his hands in his pockets. His voice lowered. "Jack said the people you go up against... They've tried using us against you before. Tried to kill us."
Sam nodded, stifling another wince though not one caused by physical aches and pains. "Yeah... I haven't let them. I'm good at what I do, Daniel. I promise I'll keep doing it wherever necessary."
"I know that, Sam. It's just... Jack's kinda concerned you've been hand picked for this... mission. He's recommended we stay at the SGC until it's all worked out. Maybe even go off world." Daniel stared at her intently, watching for a reaction. Any reaction. He saw it in the way her gaze dipped towards her hands before lifting back to his face. Almost guiltily. "You think he's right."
"I know you guys are capable of looking after yourselves, especially now you're aware of the danger you might face off-base but it would mean a lot... It would help me a lot to know you were here. Or off world somewhere. To know you were safe." Her gaze shifted from Daniel to Teal'c and back again. "Due to the fact I'm now an active MIU agent again, and that the people responsible for this have chosen me specifically, everyone I care about is a walking target. I'll be going through those people this afternoon, making sure they're somewhere safe or otherwise protected." Her mind was already working on the problem of getting her brother and his family out of harms way without them being alerted to it. "You guys are the closest thing I have to family after my brother. Jack and I will be staying at the SGC if I can get clearance for it and it would mean a lot if you'd agree to stay, too."
Daniel shifted uneasily at her words and threw what she deciphered as a nervous glance in Jack's direction. "I don't think you'll need to worry about getting clearance to stay here. For Jack, I mean."
"Well he is the former CO of the base." The smile she gave him was lopsided, and more than slightly suspicious. "That'll probably help convince Landry he can be trusted. Then again maybe I'm the one who'll need clearance. Landry seems to have a problem with me..."
"Not anymore."
"General Landry has been removed from the SGC." Surprise and disbelief registered on her face. "There were complaints from several members of staff about his behaviour. You will be required to make a statement, Colonel Carter, regarding his treatment of you."
Sam shifted uncomfortably on the bed and let her gaze drop to the floor.
Teal'c knew, she remembered. Daniel suspected but hadn't witnessed anything.
And Jack had had no idea.
Had being the operative word.
She could feel his gaze on her and tried to shrug it off.
"So who are they going to get to replace him?"
Even as the question left her mouth, the ramifications of Daniel's comment hit her.
Jack wouldn't need clearance.
Jack, the former CO of the base.
She turned her head to fix the retired General with a look of her own.
"They want you back."
His eyes met hers. Held.
"I haven't said yes."
"But you're considering it."
No comment. No denial.
Sam sat up straighter and got down from the bed she was sitting on. She squared her shoulders, schooled her expression into a neutral mask.
"I see. If you'd excuse me, I have an investigation to run."
She heard him swear even as she walked away. Heard the sound of his feet hitting the floor as he followed her out into the corridor.
"Carter..."
She turned on him before he could continue, her eyes flashing. "Is this some sort of revenge? Is that it? I get called out of retirement so you jump at the chance when it's offered?"
"I haven't accepted the position yet, Sam. I wanted to talk to you first... I'm just here in a temporary capacity while they look for someone else and so I can oversee the investigation into the allegations against Landry. Some of which involve you. It's why we were both paged this morning." He reached out for her. Stopped when she took a step back. "Don't be like this. Don't make this about us."
"Isn't it?" The fire in her eyes faded, giving into a hurt, betrayed glint. He'd choose the anger any day over the look in her eyes as she stared at him. "This is about us, Jack, or have you forgotten a little thing called regulations? I know you've been struggling to adjust to life at home but if you come back... That's it. For another three or four or however many years we're both still alive and working here. That's the end of us. I can't go back to the way it was before..."
Her voice lowered and she broke off. Admitting they'd once broken regulations to be together wasn't something either was proud of.
Wasn't something either of them wanted to have thrown back in their faces.
Jack stared at her, his silence speaking for him.
There was nothing he could say that wasn't potentially a false promise.
"I can't... I can't focus on this. I can't have this argument with you now, not here." She ran a hand through her hair, letting her arm drop limply to her side as her back straightened. "You are my commanding officer. This is an inappropriate conversation for us to have. If you'll excuse me, Sir, I have to set up for a briefing. If you need me, I'll be in conference room 3C."
With a smart salute that made him wince, Sam turned on her heel and strode off in the direction of the elevators.
Jack looked over his shoulder when he sensed Teal'c and Daniel move out into the hallway, both men no doubt having been listening and waiting for it to be safe.
He squared his shoulders and turned to face them, staring first at Teal'c, then at Daniel. "Okay, guys," he said with a sigh. "I've got to get started with an investigation of my own and you obviously know something about it. I know Landry wasn't one of Carter's admirers but she didn't tell me about the complaints he lodged against her in her file. Is there anything either of you want to tell me?"
"Colonel Carter feels that to divulge that information would only make the situation worse." Teal'c met his gaze evenly. "Although I disagree with her, I must adhere to her wishes."
"T, it's over. Landry's long gone and he won't be coming back. I know where Carter's coming from, if she'd been the only one to say something then it would've just made it worse but he's history. I'm trying to make sure he's history. To do that I need to know everything that happened and since she's not in a talkative mood right now..."
"You mean she's not talking to you."
"Yes. Thank you for pointing out the obvious." Jack spared Daniel a look and continued. "Since she's obviously been keeping it from me, I need to know what was said. I know he had a problem with her but I didn't know it was this bad so can you please give me something to work with till I can ask her about it myself."
"General Landry implied that Colonel Carter reached her rank due to having relations with yourself, General Hammond and her previous superiors. I believe on more than one occasion he suggested to do so with him would benefit her career." Teal'c's expression never faltered. Never changed. "If you require more information than that, you will need to speak to Colonel Carter."
Jack watched his friend walk away and clenched his hands into fists. He saw Daniel open his mouth to say something, change his mind and shrug before Daniel, too, walked away.
He squared his shoulders, his back straight and took the long route back to the office he'd once called his own, sitting down at the desk and staring at the phone for a good five minutes before eventually picking up the receiver and pressing the number of an internal line, requesting to be put through to the right room in a no-nonsense tone that had the person on the other end transferring him immediately.
"Carter."
"My office. Five minutes. No excuses."
He hung up as she started to speak and sat back in his chair, staring at the door expectantly.
