I'm not sure how you guys are taking this story, but I'm posting the next chapter anyway. As I said, things aren't what you think they are. Please let me know if you're reading this and maybe are intrigued just a little by it. It gets better as it goes along; I promise, and your comments will help me to write quicker.

Talking of which, I'm off down to Kent tomorrow for the weekend to attend my brother's wedding, so I won't be back on line until Monday evening at the earliest. I'm having withdrawal symptoms already! LOL. Sorry, but you'll have to wait for chapter 3 until I get back!

Danger Zone.

By Lingren.

Previously:-

Jack smiled to himself and settled down, taking a sip of his beer. The place wasn't one he'd have chosen if he was given the choice, but she was obviously familiar with the place and seemed to be enjoying it. He sighed inwardly, almost regretting asking her. She was far too young for him to string along like this. He resigned himself to opening the conversation, totally unaware that they were being observed by a middle aged man sitting at the bar, pretending to drink his beer.

Chapter 2

After an hour in the noisy bar, Jack was more than ready to leave. They'd had a good chat, and he'd learned more about her than he really wanted to know. She'd been pleasant enough, but his ears were burning. He was tired after the long flight, then the boring lunch with Kinsey in which the stuffed shirt had droned on about how important he was and that Jack had better know he wasn't going to give in easily; and that had been followed by the overly long crappy meeting in which he'd played no part as of yet. He stifled another yawn as they left the stuffy room and hit the cooler air outside.

She looked apologetically at him.

"I'm sorry," she said shyly, "I shouldn't have kept you out so long. You're tired."

He denied it of course. Was he just getting old? Couldn't he take the night life like he used too?

"Actually, it's been a very long day," he sighed, realising he'd been up since the early hours of that morning, and he'd gone to bed late after the usual team night had gone on longer than usual. He'd finally kicked Daniel out at midnight. Not as late as other occasions but plenty late enough when he had to report to Peterson at 06:00 hrs for the flight. Then there were the inevitable delays. It all added up to one very weary Colonel.

Sharon had chatted non-stop and he'd now gotten a headache that was threatening to escalate if he'd have to listen to her any longer. Not that he hadn't enjoyed the company, but well, young women weren't really his scene. He'd much prefer listening to the more mature Carter prattle on about Wormholes and Naquadah Generators, even if it did send him to sleep. Hers was a voice he could listen to all day without any problems.

She was a nice enough young woman, but not the one he was looking for.

They reached the hotel and entered the lobby. He thanked her for the evening and she blushed when he took her hand and brushed a light kiss over it, thanking her for a pleasant evening. Sharon was charmed beyond anything and blushed at the gesture, completely besotted over him.

He left her in the lobby as she took the back way to the hotel parking lot for her car and he retired to his room. Once there he studied the room thoroughly, noticing that someone had definitely been going through his things, though nothing had been taken and his brief case was still locked.

Moving to the bathroom, he ran the shower and switched on the TV rather loud, hoping whomever was in the next room wasn't too upset over the volume. It would only be for a little while. He slid the balcony door open and stepped outside, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. He slumped down tiredly into one of the chairs there and pressed the speed dial.

After a few rings it was picked up.

"Hey, Carter!"

"Colonel. Hi!" Sam answered.

"Whacha doin'?" he asked, wondering where she was at this point in time.

"Ah..." she hesitated, knowing what he was about to say. "I'm going over a few figures sir," she replied.

"Carter. Go home! It's late here, and I'm pretty sure it's getting late there too. You need to sleep Carter."

"Yes sir. I will."

"Promise?"

"Yes sir, as soon as I put the phone down, I'll go home!"

"Great. You do that. I made a contact, but I'm pretty sure she's got nothing to do with the leak," he sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes and up through his hair.

"You okay? You sound tired?" she asked, concerned about how weary his voice sounded.

"Yeah, tired. It's been a long day and I'm definitely not used to the high life any more. We went to a bar a few blocks away and...well, it wasn't really my scene, ya know?"

He could hear Sam snort with mirth on the other end of the line.

"That's not funny Carter!"

"No sir! Of course not!" she said though he could tell she was still amused. "So you enjoyed your night out then?"

"I must be getting old! It was too crowded, too noisy and full of kids, Carter, what do you think?"

He giggled again and he frowned.

"My room's been searched, but the briefcase is okay. They tried to open it but the trap I set is still intact."

"So do have any idea who it could be?"

"Not yet," he said round a surprised yawn.

"I'll pass the message on to General Hammond, Jack. You're tired. You should get some rest."

"Yeah. Sam...?"

"Uh huh?"

"Love you!"

"Love you took Jack! Take care. I miss you already."

He could hear Sam's smile even this far away.

"Miss you too. Night!" he sighed wistfully!"

"Goodnight Jack."

He snapped the phone shut but sat there for a few moments longer, basking in the notion that Sam Carter loved him. He had no idea why; he was a lot older than she was, he was a tired old soldier with bad knees and a just as bad attitude; only that she did, and that he was the luckiest SOB in the world.

Finally feeling the chill of the night reach into his bones, he moved himself, reluctantly standing and re-entering the room. He flicked the remote to shut off the TV and turned off the shower.

A few minutes later he was stretched out in bed sound asleep.

OoOoOoOoO

Matt Benson was waiting at the door for him as soon as he appeared, refreshed if not a little reluctant to go to the meeting with Kinsey and his cronies. He returned the salute and slid into the back seat of the car and took the opportunity to go through the evidence once more as they drove to the venue.

Kinsey had set him up to attend this round of budget talks, he wasn't sure why it had to be specifically him, but it had been a double edged assignment. The hotel was one used frequently by Air Force personnel, but just lately there had been a series of leaks of information and it was his mission to discover where those leaks were coming from.

The President didn't know if it was someone on the hotel staff or an outsider, but posing as a genuine guest was one way to find out. Either they would sneak in and search his room, or they would approach him and pump him for information under the guise of appearing to be a friendly guide to the city. He'd had both last night, and as a result, he was almost certain that Sharon had nothing to do with the leak; she, and he smiled at the memory of her incongruous, yet blatant hero worship of him. She was a young dreamer, she just had high hopes of which she didn't stand a change of attaining. And he was already spoken for thank you, besides, he wasn't into cradle snatching.

She'd been fascinated by his lifestyle, his uniform and his charm. She yearned for adventure, so she'd said, being bored out of her skull with her present employment. She would have liked to join the AF but for the fact that she felt she wasn't brave enough to do what he did for a living, and they'd probably kick her out for being a coward. Of course he'd listened and agreed in all the right places but he had encouraged her to try, because nobody knew their full potential until they tried. She'd gone away with a new resolve to at least look up the internet for all the information about serving her country.

OoOoOoOoO

The meeting was dragging on interminably, and Jack was almost numb with boredom. He listened to a whole load of waffle that had nothing to do with the SGC budgets and was feeling a little miffed at being dragged there when it didn't concern him.

However, his wandering thoughts and lazily drawn doodles were pulled up sharply when it was proposed that they cut the budget to the SGC in order to supplement the finances of another scheme; one of which was Kinsey's latest pet projects.

Jack objected straight away and received a death glare from Kinsey for his interruption.

"Your turn will come soon enough Colonel. Please have the decency to wait until you are called upon to state your case!"

Kinsey's cutting remarks left Jack itching to strangle the SOB. He slumped back in his chair but decided to kept his ears open as to what the other members opinions were about that proposal. Of course, he knew that with at least half of the committee members being afraid of upsetting Kinsey, he would be hard put to carry his case over successfully.

They broke for lunch. A torrid affair due to the fact that he was obliged to try and charm these people into favouring the SGC's proposals. He had to work hard to be nice which went against the grain where Kinsey was involved. Most of these folks were the Senator's friends and were eating out of his pocket.

Already at the end of his limited patience when he resumed his place around the table, he was subjected to further proposals from a very long list of equally important projects. Time dragged on and he was wondering when they were ever going to get around to letting him speak.

He was dumbfounded when after a glance at his watch found it was after 17:30hrs and Kinsey was calling a halt to the day's agenda. He spluttered softly, bemoaning the waste of time when Kinsey caught his fractious scowl.

"Don't worry Colonel, you'll get your chance to put forward your details tomorrow," the Senator said mockingly. A half smile, half sneer on his lips. "I'm sure that a man such as one in your position Jack, can show a little patience when it's needed."

Jack would have liked nothing better than to punch the aggravating man's lights out, but he held his temper in check and chose instead to ignore the hidden jibe.

Jack abruptly turned and left the building, sliding into the back of the car in quick jerky movements showing Matt the driver just how annoyed he was.

Matt drove him around a little until he noticed Jack had calmed somewhat. He caught Jack's eye in the mirror and Jack nodded his approval.

"Back to the hotel now sir?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Is there a decent restaurant near the hotel."

"Yes sir! What sort of food are you wanting Colonel? Italian, Indian, Chinese...?"

"Ah...Italian. I'm in the mood for a good Pizza tonight."

"Mario's is just a coupla blocks away sir. They make really great Pizza. You'll love it Colonel!"

"Great. Thanks Matt? Can I call you Matt?"

"Yes sir!"

"Okay. Matt it is."

"We're here sir," Matt said after a while and Jack climbed out of the car to go upstairs and change. He really didn't want company tonight, and although Sharon was at the reception desk she just waved a friendly greeting, for which he breathed a sigh of relief.

TBC