Sheppard met his men outside the door to Radek Zelenka's quarters. Lorne was there, the colonel having caught him up via radio on the way. "How do you want to play this, sir?"

"By ear, Major. I'm still not sure if she's part of a plot or an innocent victim."

"We'll find out, sir."

"Yes we will," Sheppard agreed. He reached out and activated the Ancient equivalent of a door chime. It took a moment, but then Klia answered the door, sleepy and buttoned up in one of Radek's shirts.

"Colonel Sheppard?" she yawned, finger-combing her messy hair. "Is something wrong? Is it Radek?"

"He's not here, I take it?"

She shook her head. "He said he would be working late. To help Doctor Beckett."

Sheppard peered past her into the darkened room. "Franklin, head down to Zelenka's lab and send him to Biomed. And tell him to put his damned radio on. Lorne, close your mouth before you catch an Iratus bug." His second-in-command shut his jaw with a snap and managed to drag his gaze away from Klia. Radek was not a tall man, and on Klia his shirt left what seemed like miles of curvy leg exposed. "You mind if we come in?"

Klia looked confused and a little alarmed. "All of you?"

"No, just Lorne and me. The rest of you, wait out here." Sheppard and Lorne followed her into the room and waited while she ducked into the bathroom to put on some clothes. "Sorry to wake you so late," the colonel called. "It's kind of important."

"I understand," the woman said, emerging and seating herself on the battered couch. "What can I do for you?"

Sheppard took a moment to look at her carefully guileless face and wide, helpless eyes, and then he knew. He'd seen that expression before, if not on this face. "You can tell me why the Wraith sent you here to kill Carson Beckett."

If he hadn't been watching her so closely, he might have missed the way her eyes hardened before they flared wide with shock. "The Wraith? Colonel, the Wraith slaughtered my people. I was lucky to survive!"

"Save it," he said abruptly. "I've run into your kind before. Tell me, do you actually believe the Wraith are gods, or do you just figure it's better to be a servant that dinner?"

"We know about the nanites," Lorne said. "We know you were supposed to infect Beckett so the Wraith could control him through his dreams."

"What we don't know," Sheppard continued, "is why. Why do the Wraith want Beckett dead?"

Klia's expression had slowly darkened during their accusations. Her pretty face was twisted by the calculating, hateful look she threw at them. "Beckett has committed crimes against the Wraith and must be punished," she spat. "Beyond that, he is the single biggest threat we face, the most dangerous human in this galaxy."

Lorne was as stunned by her pronouncement as he was by her sudden personality shift. "Beckett? Little guy, afraid of his own shadow?"

"Don't be dense, Major," Sheppard snapped. "Beckett's work is the most effective weapon we've found against the Wraith. He's probably the key to defeating them."

"You will never defeat them!" Klia was smiling, the gleam of a fanatic in her eyes. "With the doctor dead, you will have no defense. Your city will fall to the Wraith."

"Yeah, there's just one problem with your plan," Sheppard drawled. "Beckett's alive, and I intend to see that he stays that way."

Her smile grew wider and very, very cruel.

Sheppard felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. His eyes searched the room, checking every surface and shadow, until they lit on the bedside table. He felt the blood drain from his face even as he lunged across the room and grabbed her by her arms, shaking her so hard her head flopped back and forth like an infant's.

"Where is he? Where's Radek?"

Klia laughed, totally unmoved by his threatening posture. "You are too late!" she crowed. "You are already too late to save him!"

Sheppard thrust her away with enough force to topple her onto the bed. "Send a security team to the infirmary, now! And lock her up," he directed Lorne.

"Sir, what—"

Sheppard scooped up the objects that had caught his attention and held them out for the major to see. Radek's earpiece –

and his glasses. Both men knew the Czech was practically blind without his glasses and would never leave his quarters without them, in his right mind.

Sheppard hit the corridor running.