The first thing the voice on the other end of the phone did was apologise.
There wasn't much sincerity in his voice, though. In fact Sam's eyes narrowed even as he expressed his sympathy for the supposedly accidental injuries Annie had been subjected to.
"Shut up." The sound of her own voice, of the venom in it, surprised even her. "I've had enough. You win. I'm not going to play anymore of your twisted games, I'm not going to let you lead me around in circles. You said you wanted to go up against me, that you chose me. Well this is it. Tell me where I can find you and we'll meet, face to face. We'll end it. One way or another."
There was laughter in his voice, laughter amusement and an edge of approval that made her nauseous. She didn't want his approval. Didn't need it. The thought of having it made her feel dirty.
"Very well, Colonel. We can meet. I will call you again with detailed instructions."
He hung up before she could ask what those instructions would entail.
"Problems, Colonel?" The President looked up at her, an eyebrow raised. "You're not considering meeting these people after this?"
His hand tightened inconspicuously on Annie's.
"I have no choice, Sir. I have to stop them from hurting anyone else."
"You're giving them what they want. They made it clear from the start they wanted you involved in this. Not only agreeing to see them but suggesting it... You're playing into their hands."
"Maybe I am." She shrugged casually and pushed herself up. Leaned down and busied herself with delivering a soft kiss to Annie's forehead. "But at least this way they don't go after anyone else. They wanted me involved, they got it. You ordered it. They went after people I knew to make it personal, they went after Andrew and Annie so I couldn't back out. It didn't start out being about me but somewhere along the way they decided I needed to be part of it. They've been in control this whole time and I'm not happy with that. It's time I took control and end it before anyone else ends up dead."
"Just make sure it doesn't end with your death." The President locked eyes with her and she was surprised at what she saw flicker on his face. "You mean a lot to Annie, Annie means a lot to me. If... When she wakes up, she'll need you. Make sure you're there for her."
Sam nodded, eventually finding herself breaking eye contact. "I'll do my best, Sir."
It wasn't until she'd been gone for five minutes and Annie's hand moved in his that the President realised what she'd promised.
To do her best. Not to stay alive.
He kept his promise and called back, all amusement fading from his voice as he issued her with instructions.
Instructions he insisted she followed if she didn't want to end up dead.
There would be a final game, he told her. One more round to it all. And she couldn't go alone.
He insisted on Jack being one of her companions but left it to her to choose the other. Some choice. Having to decide which of her friends she possibly took with her to their death.
She thought about taking David but decided to spare him. She wanted to talk him out of staying with the MIU when it was all over but couldn't do that if he was dead. She couldn't do it if she died either but told herself not to think about that.
In the end, her choice was taken from her.
She and Jack approached her rental car only to find Caitlin already there, checking it over.
"I'm going with you." The tone she used left no room for arguments.
Still, Sam argued. "You're pregnant."
"That doesn't mean I can't do my job."
"No but it means I can't put you in danger. I can't include you in this."
"You already included me in this." Caitlin crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. Jack glanced between the two women, saw an identical scowl on his lovers face and wisely chose to take a step back. "You handpicked me for this team, Sam, because you know I'm good. I might not be the best but I'm damn close. I'm the best you have left."
Sam's eyes narrowed slightly. "I wouldn't have picked you if you'd been honest with me. If you and Andrew had told me..."
"Told you we were dating?"
"Told me you were pregnant," Sam corrected. "I don't have a problem with you dating. You're two of my oldest friends, I think it's great you're together."
"MIU regulations say agents involved in a romantic relationship shouldn't be assigned to the same case."
Sam snorted. "And I have such a reputation for being a follower of the regs."
"You did until you started here." The statement was made with a small smile, and a knowing glance at the man doing his best to stay out of the conversation. "I don't want to argue with you, Sam. I heard what you said, they told you to bring General O'Neill and one other person. If you don't, they'll shoot you on sight. Let me come with you. I'll just sit in the background, I promise."
"Unfortunately I don't think they'll let you." Her eyes closed for a second and when she opened them, Sam found Jack standing slightly closer than before. "Okay. You're coming. But the deal is you don't say anything. Either of you. You let me handle it, no matter what they say to try and bait you."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Anything you say."
She threw a disbelieving look at them both and walked around to the driver's side of the car, hesitating with her hand halfway towards the handle. She glanced over at Caitlin, saw the rueful smile on her friends face. "It's safe?"
"It's safe. I had the guys check and checked again myself. They're not blowing anyone else up, I promise."
"Good."
She had expected a warehouse. A damp, dark warehouse would have fit the people she pictured in her mind perfectly. It would've been a cliché but for some reason it was what she was expecting.
It wasn't what she got.
She got a brand new office building complete with security guards on the door and a too-happy-to-help receptionist who told them that "Mr. Tyson was expecting them."
Tyson. The name made her pause and she exchanged a glance with Caitlin.
"There's a Commander Tyson who used to be MIU," she told Jack quietly as the three of them moved into the elevator waiting to take them up to the penthouse office suite. "He was on the Board of Directors until five years ago."
"Didn't he leave because he thought the MIU was becoming more and more like the NID? That he thought it started going downhill and that they were letting anyone who wanted to join get in?"
Sam nodded, her gaze moving around the elevator and locking on the small camera in the corner. "If I remember right, he quit because his son was turned down for the fifth or sixth time."
"Commander Tyson had a son?"
"Yeah, Air Force. Just made the rank of Lieutenant before quitting, I think. They don't share the same name because Tyson and his wife split and the wife reverted back to her maiden name. Actually... I'm pretty sure his surname was Alexander." She inhaled deeply as the elevator stopped and the doors started to open. "Guess we'll find out soon enough."
Commander Tyson was standing at the entrance to the office, a broad grin on his face.
A manic glint in his eye.
"Colonel. General. Commander. Please, make yourselves at home." He stepped back from the door to allow them entry.
Sam wasn't surprised to see Belle Alexander standing behind one of the chairs at the round table, one of the view pieces of furniture in the sparsely decorated office space. Nor was she surprised to see a man she recognised sitting casually in one of the other chairs.
Lieutenant Peter Alexander. Tyson's son, Belle's brother.
"Please, please. Take a seat." Tyson grinned even as he closed the door behind them, locking it securely. It was only when he turned back to them and approached the table that Sam noticed the gun holstered at his side. He noticed the direction her eyes travelled in and his grin widened. "It's for the purposes of the game, Colonel, I assure you I'm the only person here who's armed. As per our agreement."
"As per your instructions," she corrected with a thin smile, taking the seat he motioned to. Jack and Caitlin positioned themselves either side of her and Sam was again unsurprised when Tyson took the seat opposite her.
With his back to the window.
That was a small surprise but one she didn't let show.
"You have a lot of questions," Tyson predicted, the smile still on his face. "Don't worry, Colonel. I intend on answering them." He took the gun from the holster and set it down on the table in front of him with a calm air. "Here are the rules. There's one bullet in this gun. I'm going to aim and fire at each of us in turn. Every time I pull the trigger and no one gets hurt, you get to ask me a question. Only then do you get to ask me a question. I'll answer it honestly, of course."
"Of course," Sam repeated. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Caitlin tense. Turning her head slightly, she saw Jack's hands clench into fists under the table. It was taking them a lot not to join in but she was pleased they were respecting her wishes to let her take control of the conversation. "Do you get to decide the order we go in or do I?"
"I wondered if you'd ask." He shot a look at his son and daughter, the pleasant smile giving way to a slightly disapproving sneer. "It's nice to have someone else around here with a brain. It's entirely up to you, Colonel. Would you like to go clockwise or anti clockwise?"
The look exchanged between the siblings gave her some satisfaction. At least she wasn't the only one who couldn't predict the behaviour of the man sitting opposite her.
"Clockwise." She glanced around the table. Clockwise meant it would start with Pete and end with the Commander himself. "Starting with your son."
Commander Tyson laughed and picked up the gun. "Fair's fair," he agreed cheerfully.
The expression on the former Lieutenant Alexander's face was laughable. The colour faded from his cheeks and he swallowed convulsively as his father's gun was aimed at his head. "Dad..."
Commander Tyson pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
"What's your first question, Colonel?" He asked conversationally, turning the gun on his daughter quite calmly.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Ah, straight to the point." Tyson grinned again. "I like that. Well, it's quite simple, really. The MIU isn't what it used to be. In fact, you and Ms. Masters were the last Agents I agreed were worthy of the role." He didn't notice his daughter flinch or his son glare at him. "Of course, I was never given the chance to approve my son. No matter how many times I nominated him for the MIU, he was always knocked back. It's a disappointment I've learnt to live with." With a perfectly still hand, he pulled the trigger again. The look on his face was almost disappointed as Belle sunk down in her seat in obviously relief. "Next question."
Sam forced herself not to look at Caitlin as the gun was aimed at her. She reached under the table for Caitlin's hand and grasped it reassuringly. "You said Liz and me were the last you approved. Is that why you started targeting the others who joined in 1989?"
"It is, yes. Had you not got involved and this meeting not taken place, we would have finished eliminating them and possibly started on those who were inducted into the MIU after that year." He said it with a pleasant smile, even as his finger pulled the trigger again. Nothing. The pleasant smile did fade as he moved the gun and aimed it at her head. "Next question, Colonel. Make it a good one, it might be your last."
Sam felt Jack tense beside her, and the grip on her hand was returned from Caitlin's side of the table. Strangely, she felt completely calm as she faced the man holding the gun. "Why involve me if you knew I'd make you stop? Why get me involved at all? You could've gone on getting rid of the people you deemed unworthy instead of ending it by playing Russian roulette with me."
Tyson's grin widened and the manic look in his eye grew. "I'm an old man, Colonel. I'm not going to be around forever. You know what happens to good MIU agents if they stay in the field too long. They burn out. That's why they made me retire, you know. I should've accepted the cosy little desk job instead of insisting I stay out in the field and I paid the price. I was medically retired from the Navy within months of leaving the MIU and now... Now I watch my children waste away in careers they aren't suited for. Neither of them are what I wanted them to be. The one who made it into the MIU wasn't worthy, the one who didn't is the one I thought was... I'm tired, Sam. Do you mind if I call you Sam?" He carried on regardless, without waiting for an answer. "Like you, I'm tired of all the crap they put us through. I just want it to end. I had high hopes once. I wanted to start a new agency, with my children. With you and those like you who still stand for what's right. But I see now that's not going to happen."
He pulled the trigger before she could react.
She didn't even flinch.
Nothing.
With a look of vague surprise, Tyson turned the gun on Jack. Then he reconsidered and turned it around, pointing it at himself. "Again, Colonel, this might be your last question. Make sure it's one you really want the answer to."
Her heartbeat sped up slightly as she realised what he was doing. As it struck her that he was changing the rules. That chances were the bullet would fire on the last shot and now that shot would be aimed at the man sitting beside her instead of the one sitting opposite.
"If you wanted to start another organisation, a better organisation, why did you choose this method of drawing attention to yourself? You had to be aware that no MIU agent worth anything would give you the time of day knowing you're responsible for the deaths of so many of our colleagues. Of good people. Paul McKellan was retired. His wife had nothing to do with this. Why kill them if you wanted sympathy and support?"
Tyson's smile seemed sad when she looked at it more closely. His face looked older. His eyes... His eyes looked crazed. "I'm afraid my exploits with the MIU have left me a little blood thirsty, just as they did Agent Locksley. Darren was a good friend of mine, you know. A good friend of the family. It was actually his idea to do this. Of course he'd assumed you'd be dead by the time we put our plan in action but I wasn't going to let it get in my way. My son and daughter were quite persuasive that this was the way to go."
Again he pulled the trigger.
Again there was nothing but a harmless click.
"You're crazy." She was speaking out of turn and knew it. Appreciated the surprise on his face as he turned the gun around and pointed it at Jack. "You didn't burn out with the MIU, you lost your sanity. You're sick, Commander. Maybe you need medical attention because you weren't always like this. You wouldn't have been inducted if they knew you were like this. You wouldn't have been voted to sit on the Board."
"You would have thought that, wouldn't you, Colonel?" Tyson sighed softly and she noticed his children exchange confused, uncertain glances. As if it had just occurred to them that maybe something was wrong with their father. "Like the good General here, I've had some... disturbing experiences in my career. Missions that weren't recorded in my personnel files. My wife left me because of those missions. She took my children from me, changed their names. Until they were old enough to decide for themselves, I could only see them four times a year. So I went on more missions. Lived through more nightmares. It's enough to change a man into a ticking time bomb. A time bomb that might go off at anytime. The man beside you is just like me, Colonel. I'd really be doing you a favour by taking him out of the equation now. I'd be doing you both a favour. I'd hate for your relationship to end the way mine did, because my wife realised what she'd married."
"It won't." They said it together. Sam glanced at him quickly, got a shrug in apology for speaking out of line and let her attention drift back to the mad man holding the gun. "I appreciate the concern, Commander, but we know what we're getting into. We don't need you or anyone else telling us not to bother."
Tyson laughed, further confirming her suspicions that the once well decorated Commander wasn't the man he once had been. She felt pity stir in her chest, for both the Commander and his children who seemed to have reached the same conclusion and were frantically thinking of a way to resolve the situation without the gun going off a final time.
To her relief, Tyson lowered the gun but still kept it in his hand. He stood up and walked around the table.
Her gaze followed him the best she could.
"Stand up."
The voice was soft but the order was clear. Sam did as she was told.
Tyson gripped her arm, not hard enough to bruise but hard enough to hurt. He pulled her back around to his side of the table, pushed her down into the chair he'd just vacated.
Stood behind her and put the gun in her hands, holding it up and pointing it at Jack.
His finger moved over hers. Moved towards the trigger.
Sam forced herself not to look at Jack, not to stare down the barrel of the gun as she fought for control.
For a man who was considerably older than her, Commander Tyson was still stronger and he had insanity on his side.
"Dad, what are you doing?"
"This wasn't part of the plan."
Belle and Peter both got to their feet, both moved to stand either side, but neither attempted to intervene.
"We were just supposed to talk her into joining us."
"We were supposed to make her tell the Board what we wanted."
Tyson chuckled, his breath tickling Sam's ear as he leaned over her. "The Board won't listen. Not to me, not to her. All of us are expendable. As long as they're safe in their little offices. We should've gone after them," he muttered. "We should've killed them all.
"You don't have to do this, Commander." Sam's voice was steady. A lot steadier than her hand. "You can stop this right now. Let us all go and you and your family can walk out of here. Go wherever you want, go somewhere safe. I'll let you go if you promise not to hurt anyone else. They'll let you live."
"That's a lie and we both know it, Sam. I have to say I'm disappointed in you. You're not the agent I thought you were. I thought you could stop me," he whispered. "I thought you were the last decent MIU agent accepted by the Board. Obviously I was wrong."
The sound of glass shattering muffled his last statement.
Two thuds followed the sound.
The hand gripped around hers loosened and Sam saw her chance. She pulled her hands from between his, clutching the gun desperately as she spun around and up, elbowing him sharply as he tried to fight back.
As he tried to comprehend that the two thuds had been the sound of his children hitting the floor as they were taken out by sharpshooters.
Sam followed the jab to his ribs with a well-aimed fist in the stomach, lifting her knee at the same time.
Commander Tyson was on the floor, doubled over, breathing heavily, by the time Caitlin and Jack moved around to her side of the table. Sam held the gun in hands that were now steady, aiming it at his chest as the former MIU director stood staring up at her.
"You said I was a disappointment because I didn't stop you." She motioned with the gun in her hand, tilted her head to the side casually even as her heart pounded and the blood raced through her head. "Care to revise that opinion?"
Tyson didn't answer immediately and the chance was lost. A team of MIU agents, the team she'd alerted to her position before leaving the SGC and had ordered to follow after ten minutes, entered the room with weapons pointed at the three suspects on the floor.
Sam only lowered the gun when all three of them were restrained, her eyes still fixed on Commander Tyson. She let Caitlin move to brief the leader of their back up team, felt Jack move to stand closer to her side.
"It won't happen to us," he told her quietly, reading her thoughts easily. "Neither of us will get like that."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I can't be. I just know." He shrugged, gave her a reassuring grin when she looked at him. "It'll just be different. You and I both understand the kind of nightmares he talked about. Things his wife couldn't understand, things other people wouldn't understand. We won't end up bitter and alone and crazy."
"No." A hint of a smile curled her mouth. "We'll end up together and crazy."
"Sounds good to me." Gently, Jack prised the gun from between her numb fingers. Handed it to the MIU agent hovering uncomfortably beside them and reached out to take her hand. "Let's go home."
"Back to the SGC, you mean." Her mind was already ticking, already moving back to Annie, to Andrew. To Caitlin and her baby.
"SGC first, then home. We're still owed a day off."
