A/N: I have to admit I don't know a lot about computers, just your basics; so keep that in mind when I'm talking about the computer stuff. I hope it's alright. Just think of me as knowing as much as Jack does.
Chapter 8
The four officers were in the living room, three sitting and one lying down; they had finished the food that Mac had gotten from a nearby fast food restaurant. O'Neill had taken charge of trying to come up with a plan to find those behind the kidnap attempt, even though technically the General had put Rabb in charge.
"We need to get in touch with some of my people." O'Neill said not liking the looks he was getting from the two new additions to his so-called team.
"Look Colonel, I know you want to rely on your people, but we can't trust anyone from the base." Rabb reminded O'Neill.
"I know that's what you believe Rabb, but there are three people who can be trusted without any doubt. The general, Daniel and Teal'c." Jack was trying to hide the disgust in his voice but was failing miserably.
"Teal'c? That's an odd name." Mac said a little puzzled.
"Yes it's a foreign name, he's a civilian consultant." O'Neill tried to explain, hoping it would wash; at least he had Rabb to back him up on this point, since he knew who Teal'c was.
"Excuse me Sir, but if he's a foreigner how can you be sure he hasn't turned on you?"
This time Sam spoke up, feeling the need to defend her friend. "Teal'c is the most trustworthy person I know. I trust him with my life, and he has saved my life many times."
"Saved your life, what kind of work goes on in that mountain?" Mac said before she could stop herself. She knew women weren't allowed in combat situations, so why would this Major's life need saving.
"You know that's classified Mackenzie." O'Neill reminded her. "Anyway, if we can get word to Daniel I'm sure he can talk to Hammond and we can have an escort to the mountain."
"I'm sure that would work Sir, but I don't think I'd like taking up residence on the base." Sam said with concern.
"Yes but wouldn't you like to be in old doc Fraiser's infirmary right now? You know she has those oh so uncomfortable beds in there." O'Neill said raising his eyebrows.
Mac was really wondering now, this base had an infirmary and doctor, when there was the air force academy hospital in the same city.
"I don't know Sir; you don't enjoy Janet's care anymore than I do."
"And I thought she was your best friend Carter, what will she say when she hears about this?"
"Ah need to know Sir, and Janet definitely doesn't need to know. Anyway Sir I'm feeling much better now."
"I know I know your fine, right Carter?"
"Ah yes Sir." Sam said smiling a little.
"Right, but what about walking Carter? You're having quite a bit of a problem there." O'Neill said, wanting only to get Sam somewhere safe.
"A few pain meds and I should be walking just fine Sir." Sam said really wanting to get to the bottom of this.
"Let me be the judge of that." Jack said moving over to sit on the edge of the couch by Sam's feet. Sam just sighed in resignation, as O'Neill started pushing the leg of her sweat pants above her knee. He then started to unwrap it, noting the swelling had gone down some. "Okay Carter, can you move it around?"
Sam tried moving her knee around and bending and stretching it. It did hurt a bit, "It's a little sore Sir, but nothing I can't handle." Then she noticed she had the attention of the whole room, with Harm staring at her knee intently. She wondered if he was just staring at the knee with concern, of if he was staring at her leg. She couldn't help but grin slightly at that thought.
"Okay, keep resting it today, and we'll reassess it in the morning." O'Neill said as he rewrapped the knee.
"Do you think its wise Sir to stay in one place for so long?" Harm asked truly concerned.
"Well it should be okay for one more day and Colonel Mackenzie does take out so well."
"Why thank you Sir, I try my best." Mac said feeling a little more at ease.
"So what do you think Carter, should we contact Daniel? Have him do some digging around." Jack suggested.
"You know Sir, if I could get my hands on a computer, I could do a lot of digging around myself." Sam said with a gleam in her eye, which had been missing since this whole ordeal had started.
"I brought a laptop Major it's in one of my bags, if that will help?" Mac said finally feeling the situation was starting to look up.
"Yea that would be great Ma'am." Sam said as she shifted higher on the couch.
Mac got her laptop and took it over to Sam.
"So where do we plug this thing in?" O'Neill asked.
"It's wireless Sir." Mac answered.
"Yea, so where do we plug it in?" 'What didn't they hear me the first time?' O'Neill thought.
"Ah Sir, a wireless laptop, doesn't require any wires, like plugs or phone lines." Carter said trying to keep a straight face.
"Oh." Jack said with an impish grin.
Mac looked at Sam after O'Neill's answer and also tried to stifle a laugh.
"I think I may be able to get in touch with Daniel, without anyone knowing I'm contacting him." Sam informed O'Neill.
"What about the security protocols?" Jack asked.
"Well Sir…I can get in through a back door." Sam said nervously.
"Isn't that illegal Major?" Mac asked, knowing full well it was.
"Ah, I guess it depends on how you look at it." Sam said looking at O'Neill for some backup in the matter.
"Well seeing as how you are trying to find a mole, and plug a security problem, with your CO's permission; I can see how it could be construed as legal." Harm said, hoping to make the matter, something that wouldn't come back and bite them in the ass.
"How are you able to breach the computers of a high level top secret base anyway Major?" Mac said, finding being left out in the dark very frustrating.
"Ah the major is also a computer genius, we're just lucky she works for our side." O'Neill smiled, realizing just how much his 2IC was able to do, and how lucky he was to have her. "Any way, go ahead and try to contact Danny, if you're sure you won't be detected. Oh and that's an order." Jack said grinning; he was making sure to cover all the bases, so Carter wouldn't get in trouble for this little incursion.
As they waited for Sam to do her magic with the computer, Jack thought he might as well make himself useful and put on some coffee. They didn't have any fresh milk or cream, but at least his friend had some coffee whitener in the house. Jack looked around at the house, realizing they had messed it up a bit, not to mention some bloodstains; he just hoped his buddy wouldn't mind too much. After all what's a few blood stains between friends, when someone's life depended on it.
Sam had furiously been working at the computer that she didn't notice O'Neill handing her a cup of coffee.
"Carrrter." He said in a singing type of voice trying to get her attention. He saw the surprised look on her face when she finally looked up.
"Oh, thank you Sir." She said as she reached out for the cup, causing her to take a sharp intake of breath.
"Okay, I think its time for more pain pills Carter." O'Neill said taking the cup and placing it on the coffee table that he had moved closer to her. He then went to the kitchen to get the pills and some water.
"So how is it going Major?" Mac asked, while trying to seem like she wasn't trying to get any classified information.
"I should be through anytime now Ma'am."
"Ah this little endeavour won't be traced back to my computer, will it?" Mac was a little concerned that she could be in trouble if this ever got back to her.
"No Ma'am. I routed the connection through different servers, and crisscrossed it over the globe, there's no way anyone will be able to trace it back to you."
"That's a relief." Mac said as she moved away to give O'Neill access to Carter.
"Here's your meds Carter, I want you to take them all." He knew Sam hated taking pills, and would prefer to take only the minimum, but with her blood chemistry for them to work, she had to take more than the recommended amount.
Harm and Mac both noticed the amount of pills, Mac was about to say something, but Harm stopped her by putting his hand on her arm. "Ah Mac would you join me in the kitchen?" He was tugging on her arm, not giving her a chance to refuse.
"What?" She said angrily.
"Look Mac, leave it alone, they know what they're doing; or haven't you figured that out yet?" Harm said whispering to Mac, so not to be overheard.
"But Harm, he just gave her twice the dose of ibuprofen, don't you think that's strange?"
"Well if he were trying to kill her, he's taking a rather slow method of doing so." Harm said taking a breath, he did think it was odd, but so was what went on in that mountain, he just figured it had to do with the things they did there. "Ah Mac what's with the majors and ma'ams, why don't you just drop the ranks like I have, its not like she's in your command."
"Yes I noticed, and how soon after meeting the major, did you drop your…ranks?' Mac said the part purposefully to get the double entendre across.
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Harm said still whispering, but his anger showing.
"Oh I think you know. Ever since I got here, it's been like you two have been flirting blatantly. I just wonder if O'Neill wasn't here how long would it be before you were in her pants." Mac was also letting her anger show.
"Oh yea Mac, I always try to jump the bones of women who have been beaten senseless, and can't run away from me. Is that what you think of me, really?"
Mac thought about what he said, and remembered how Carter looked in the bathroom. It was true there was no way he would take advantage of a woman in that condition. "I'm sorry Harm, I don't know what came over me; I know your right, there's no way you'd go after her." Mac's anger had gone, and was now exchanged for shame.
"So do you think you can cut her some slack and drop the ranks? I think she deserves it, after all she's done I think we're the inferior officers."
"You know I wish you could tell me more about what they do, and then maybe I could make sense of all of this." Mac's curiosity was getting the best of her; she knew things were classified, and she didn't have the clearance, but damn it why did Harm?
"Yea I know Mac, I wish I could tell you also, just trust me when I say what they do is very important and can be very dangerous." Harm was now more sympathetic now that his anger was gone.
"I've made it through Sir." Sam said with a grin on her face.
"So what, you're hooked into Daniel's computer?" Jack was a little relieved now he could contact his friends. "So how can you tell if someone's looking over his shoulder reading his computer?"
"There's no way to tell Sir. If we could write in a different language, then Daniel would be the only one who could read it. So know any foreign languages Sir?"
"I'm afraid most of what I do know, wouldn't be of any help. Doesn't that genius brain of yours cover languages?" Jack said grinning slightly.
"If it did Sir, then we wouldn't need Daniel would we?" Sam was feeling inadequate at the moment
"Ah, I speak Russian and Arabic." Mac chimed in, maybe now she could be of some help.
Sam and O'Neill looked at her with surprise. "Can you write in both languages Ma'am?"
"Yes I can, and why don't we drop the ma'am, just call me Mac." Mac said looking at Harm who gave her a nod and a slight smile.
Sam looked at Mac, not knowing what to think about the sudden change in the Lt. Colonel. 'Why thank you…Mac, and please call me Sam."
"Okay ladies, now that the niceties are taken care of, can we get back to the matter at hand? So Carter which language should we use?"
"Arabic would be the best, it would look like his normal translations." Sam said not wanting to give too much away.
Mac took the computer that Sam had handed to her, "So what would you like to say Sir?"
"Let's see, now we can't use names that will stand out. Space monkey, it's your best friend, are you alone? What do you think Carter?"
"Sounds good, once we know he's alone we can talk a bit more openly." Sam answered trying not to laugh at Daniel's much-hated nickname.
"Space monkey?" Mac said with a puzzled look.
"It's a nickname I gave him, he just loves it so much."
Mac just shook her head and typed the message. "He say's he's alone Sir."
"Okay, tell him we're using an interpreter, so be careful with your answers." Jack said shrugging his shoulders at Mac.
"He wants to know what's going on, and how Sam is."
"Tell him everyone's fine, but we are unable to talk securely this way. Tell him to go to the place I took him, when he first got back home and wait for my phone call, tomorrow at two. Don't tell anyone we've contacted you until we talk."
They waited a few moments for a reply. "He says okay, be careful and take good care of Sam, then he writes… if my translation is correct, burro?" Mac couldn't help but look puzzled at the last part
Sam just shook her head and laughed.
"What, why would he say burro?" Jack asked looking baffled.
"Think about it Sir, burro is another word for donkey; or a jack…" Sam was quickly interrupted.
"Okay Carter! I get it." He then noticed Carter was holding back a laugh.
"Remember what I said about giggling Major." Jack said in his most stern voice, oh he was going to have get Danny back for that one.
"So what now Sir?" Mac asked trying to hide a grin herself.
"I guess we give the computer back to Carter and see if she can dig up anything." O'Neill said looking at Carter still seeing the smile on her face. 'Geez its good to see her smiling for a change.' he thought to himself.
As soon as Sam was handed the computer, she was back at work, quickly typing away.
"Well I think Carter will be busy a while, why don't we go get some food."
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The afternoon sun was shining through the small basement window. It was a large room, with bare grey walls and two concrete support columns, at the front of the room was a wooden table with a black phone on it. The phone was being used by a large burly man with short dark hair with his back turned to the door. "Yea okay, we'll be waiting for word."
"What's going on?" said a much thinner man with short dirty blonde hair walking in the room.
"Looks like we'll be moving out sometime tomorrow." The first man said turning around.
"Geez Stan, every time I see your face it looks worse. She really did a job on you." The second guy said laughing, putting his hand on Stan's shoulder.
"Yea well thanks to you Frank, I didn't get my revenge."
"Are you kidding? If I didn't pull you off her, you would have killed her; then we'd be in a lot of trouble. You know they want her alive, and able to answer questions."
"Well they didn't say what shape they wanted her in, just as long as she can answer." Stan said getting an evil look on his face. Nobody broke his nose and gave him two black eyes without getting some payback; and it looked like he'd get his chance tomorrow, as soon as they got word.
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"So Carter, find anything?" O'Neill said as he handed her a bag with a burger and fries.
Sam looked up at him and took the bag, setting it down beside her. "Actually Sir, I think I've found out some interesting things."
"Why don't you take a break, and eat something." O'Neill took it upon himself to make sure she would eat. He did not like how thin she had become, remembering how she looked when he first checked her out.
"That's okay Sir, I'm not really hungry."
"Ah ah, Carter, eat now; work later." O'Neill said reaching for the computer, so she would have room to eat her lunch.
"Okay, what ever you say Sir." Sam sighed, and picked up her bag.
A while later after everyone had finished eating and cleaned up, they all gathered around in the living room waiting for Sam's report on what she found. "Well Sir when I was looking around Colonel Maybourne's records I found some things that were not on his official records. In fact they were not to be found anywhere in the …" She looked at O'Neill worriedly not sure, if she should continue with a room full of JAG lawyers. It was one thing to be hacking into the base's computers with permission of her CO; but another to breaking into the NID's computers.
Harm noticed Sam's reluctance to continue; "its okay Sam, what ever you say will be confidential, consider it client lawyer confidentiality."
"For both of you Sir?" Sam said not knowing what Mac would do with this information.
"Yes Sam, for both of us. Don't worry about illegalities right now." Boy this woman was smarter than most people she knew, worrying about illegalities at a time like this, Mac thought.
"I found a few places that Maybourne had control of, that weren't found anywhere on the NID's database of holdings."
"So you think the people behind this could be using Maybourne's hiding places?" O'Neill asked.
"Well Sir, I'm sure Maybourne didn't buy these places himself, and who ever is taking over for him will most likely use them for themselves." Sam speculated.
"Waste not want not right major? After all it is the military way." Mac added.
"Why don't I copy these places down on paper, so we can have easy access to them if needed." Sam offered.
O'Neill left for the den, and a few moments later returned with a pad of paper handing it to Carter. Once she had finished, he took the copy from her and looked it over. Most of the places were out of the state, but a couple were right here in Colorado Springs. "Well at least now we have a couple of places to start. I can get Daniel and Teal'c to check them out tomorrow when I make contact."
"Are you really sure that's a good idea Colonel? We still don't know who we can trust." Harm reminded O'Neill.
"Well tomorrow we have to move to another hiding place, we can't stay in one place too long, while we're moving, Daniel and Teal'c can check the places out. Believe me they know what they're doing. I trained them myself." Jack said smiling.
"Well if you trained them anything like Sam, I'm sure they'll be a force to recon with." Harm said with a slight chuckle.
Mac looked puzzled at that remark, "How do you know how well Sam is trained?"
"That would be from when Carter attacked the commander." Jack said laughing.
"Why on earth would Sam attack Harm?" Mac said bewildered.
"It has more to do with not waking a sleeping major." Harm said rubbing the slight bruise on his face.
"Yea I think Rabb learned not to startle a well trained soldier when they are waking up."
Sam was listening to the conversation, turning slightly red with embarrassment, and looking down.
O'Neill noticed Carter's reaction and thought he'd like to see just how red she could turn. "Well Rabb, you did mention that you didn't mind having a beautiful woman on top of you?" Oh yeah O'Neil good one, he chuckled to himself.
"Yes, very true Sir." Harm said smiling at a now beet red Sam, who was shaking her head in disbelief at the conversation.
'Wait a minute! Did the colonel just call me beautiful?' Sam thought to herself. "Ah could we change the subject please?"
"Wow Carter, nice shade of red." Jack said smugly.
Sam just ignored the comment and hoped her cheeks would stop burning soon. "Ah hem, so where are we moving to Sir?"
"Oh I have a few more friends that wouldn't mind putting us up for a while." Jack said grinning at the lack of information, he was giving out.
"You realize Sir, we can't involve outsiders." Mac said concerned with the lack of Intel she was receiving.
"Oh come on Mackenzie where's your sense of adventure?"
"I'm afraid it's far behind my sense of self-preservation Sir." Mac said half smiling.
"Don't worry about it, I know for a fact no one will be home for a while." Jack said smirking.
Sam noticed the look on his face, "What aren't you telling us Sir?"
"Nothing Carter, nothing." Jack said shrugging his shoulders.
"How come I don't really believe you Sir?" Sam said smirking at him.
"Ah well don't sweat it Carter. So anymore surfing to be done?" O'Neill said pointing to the computer that was still on her lap.
"Well I haven't come up with anything new for a while, but who knows how much is buried out there." Sam said shaking her head.
"Well I think you've done enough for today Carter, you really need to rest up for tomorrow." Jack said looking at her.
"I can still put in a few more hours Sir, its no problem." Sam said, she was feeling tired and sore but didn't want to show any signs of weakness.
"Yea well, I think it looks like you could use the rest; you can always get back to it tomorrow after we get settled again. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before you can go home again." Jack said as he held out a hand for the computer. He saw Sam look up at him giving him a slight grin as she pressed a few more keys before handing the computer over to him.
"That's good Carter, now why don't I get you some more pills so you can rest more comfortably." He noticed the scowl on her face as he said this.
Harm and Mac were still seated in the living room and watched again as O'Neill handed Sam a large dose of pills. They made eye contact and Harm just shook his head for Mac to leave it alone.
"So I think we should set up three watches tonight, Mackenzie you get the first, Rabb second and I'll take the third." Rank had its privileges he thought as he gave Rabb the worst watch.
"Okay then I think I'll hit the hay, Mac you can take my bed on my watch; he said giving her one of his boyish grins.
"Yea yea, just go to bed Harm." Mac answered him shaking her head. She watched as both Harm and O'Neill left the room.
"That's one dangerous smile he's got there." Sam said smiling.
"You got that right; he's one hell of a charmer." Mac said smiling at the thought.
"So do you…find it difficult working so closely together?" Sam felt a little uneasy asking the question, but they were alone.
"Sometimes more than others, I don't know it can get strange some times. What about you, do you find it difficult working so closely with O'Neill?"
Sam looked down at her hands and thought before answering. "Well he is my CO, so there can't be anything between us besides friendship; and sometimes I wonder about that even."
"What do you mean? He obviously cares about you, even I can see that."
"Really?" Sam said looking truly puzzled.
"You should have seen how worried he look this morning when he was waiting for you, and then when Harm offered to go in and wrap your ribs." Mac started to laugh, "I thought he was going to blow a gasket."
"Really?" Sam couldn't believe what she was hearing; did the Colonel really care about her?
The two talked a little while longer, until Mac noticed Sam was starting to fall asleep. She got up and went to the kitchen allowing her new friend to get her much needed sleep.
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A/N: I have the feeling that Sam is in need of a nice massage, I'm just not sure who the masseuse should be. Let me know what you think. The majority may get it their way.