Blair had almost finished translating the plaque when Jack got his attention with a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and Jack pointed to the underbrush.
"We're being watched," he said quietly. Blair looked in the direction he was pointing.
The jaguar was there, in the bushes. It blinked at him before turning tail and disappearing into the underbrush. A moment later, Blair heard the quiet sounds of someone moving through the trees.
He heard a click behind him as Jack took the safety off his gun, and held out a hand to stay Jack's movements. He padded off towards the treeline.
"Blair – " Jack said in frustration, following. "I swear, if you get eaten – "
"Sandburg."
The man that stepped out of the trees was tall and muscular, dressed in jeans and a white sleeveless shirt that had been soiled somewhat by the jungle. He carried a law-enforcement-issued pistol with the air of one who knew how to use it.
Blair stopped and put his hands on his hips, his posture exuding annoyance.
"Jim. You can't be here."
"The hell I can't, Sandburg!" the man said, matching Blair's considerable irritation with self-righteous anger of his own.
"Whoa! Hold on just a second. How did you get in, Mister?" Jack asked. The big man gave him a look.
"I walked, Flyboy."
Jack looked flabbergasted. Blair groaned to himself. Jack's military ID was clipped to the bottom of his shirt. There was no way a normal human could have read it from as far away as Jim was – but Jim could, in the dark if he had to.
"Alright. What makes you think I'm Air Force – and you'd better spit it out quick because you are starting to make me real twitchy."
"You're carrying a military issue sidearm, and only flyboys have that holier-than-thou attitude."
Nice save, Blair thought. He was going to kill Jim.
Just then Daniel, Sam and Jacob came down from the top of the pyramid and headed towards them. Jim narrowed his eyes in their direction.
"So there's your lapdog." he said softly.
Blair fought to keep the rage at his partner's words down. It would do no good to blow up in front of Jack.
Daniel broke ahead of Sam and Jacob, heading straight for Jim. He extended his hand in greeting.
"Dr. Daniel Jackson." he said quietly. Jim blinked at him, sizing him up, before slowly taking his hand.
"Detective Jim Ellison."
They stayed like that for a moment, searching each other's eyes.
"Jack, did we miss something?" Jacob asked.
"Daniel asked me to bring two non-disclosure forms. I think he knew this would happen." Jack said under his breath. What he didn't say was that he had put two and two together – this man was the jaguar from his dreams, both last night and the night before.
Jim's eyes flicked towards him, as if he had heard. He dropped Daniel's hand.
"Looks like I'm staying, Sandburg." he said, amused. Blair ignored him frostily, looking instead at Daniel.
"Could we have a moment...?" he asked. Daniel nodded and backed away, motioning for Jack, Sam and Jacob to follow. He didn't want to be anywhere near his young friend when he blew.
Blair waited until the others were well out of range before ripping into his partner.
"After everything I've done to keep the military away from you..." he hissed, Sentinel-soft but full of venom. "You go and pull some stupid shit like this. Are you insane?"
"Chief, you ran out without telling anyone where you were. How many times has that happened and you haven't ended up in trouble?"
"I can take care of myself." Blair said icily. Jim sighed and tried another track.
"Look, Sandburg. If I wasn't meant to be here, would I have had those dreams the last few nights? Would the panther have led me straight to you?"
Blair pursed his lips and glared. Jim blew out a breath – this was gonna take a while.
"Daniel, who is this guy?" Jacob asked quietly. Daniel sighed, knowing Jim could probably hear them if he wanted to.
"The short answer is that he's Blair's partner."
"And the long answer?" Jack asked, giving Daniel a look. Daniel fixed his gaze on Jack's, remaining silent. After a moment, Jack groaned.
"You're not going to tell us."
"Sworn to secrecy. I don't go back on my word. But I can tell you that he's not a threat. Well, not unless something tried to hurt Blair."
"Uh-huuuuh." Jacob said, giving Daniel the full force of his eyebrow. "I see."
Daniel narrowed his eyes and glared at the elder Carter. Jacob held up his hands. "I know. Not asking, not telling."
Sam just shook her head, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth, as she watched Blair and Jim across the old pavement. Blair was yelling pretty hard now, his hands waving about wildly. Jim was just standing there and taking it, patiently. Sam had a feeling that was just making Blair madder.
"College must have been an interesting time for you." she commented offhandedly. All three men looked at her, puzzled by the non-sequitor. A slow smile spread over Daniel's face.
"Yeah, sure, you betcha."
"So. You're sure about this?" Jack said. Daniel looked up and saw him waving the non-disclosure form. He nodded.
"Yeah. I don't know Jim the way I know Blair, but, well...I have a good feeling. And in any case, I doubt we could get him to stay away." Daniel fixed Jack with his gaze again. "You just have to trust me."
Jack searched his eyes for a moment, then nodded and strode over to the arguing pair.
It had taken some doing, but Blair had finally calmed down, Jim had been introduced all around, and everyone had gone back to what they were doing. Jim was currently frowning at the plaque Blair had been translating.
"To a servant of the Sisters, the way is laid bare."
Jack looked at Blair. "Ringing any bells?"
Blair worried his lower lip with his teeth. "Not really. I don't think there were any famous sisters in Mayan or Incan mythology. Or Egyptian, for that matter. Certainly Ixchel and Ixtab were not sisters."
"Maybe it's not referring to a god. Some sort of, uh, secret order? Like an ancient Mayan nunnery?"
Blair gave Jack an incredulous look.
"Yeah, right, stupid idea." Jack, not feeling like yelling any more today, leaned his head to his radio. "Carter. Get yer butts down here. We've got a puzzle for you guys to solve."
"On our way, sir."
When they arrived, Jim repeated what the plaque said. Daniel and Blair immediately launched into a discussion of mythology, trying to decide what sisters the inscription might be referring too.
Jack pulled the Carters aside. "Don't these sort of things –" he indicated the raised pictographs on the plaque "– sometimes turn?"
Jacob nodded, knowing Jack was thinking of Apophis's 'doorknob' symbol. Sam went up and ran her hands over the inscription, looking for some part of it that moved. After a moment she drew her hand back.
"Sir, there's naquadah back there." she said quietly. Jacob raised an eyebrow.
"A control panel?"
Sam nodded. "Possible."
"Here, let me." Jim rumbled from behind them. All three jumped – they hadn't realized he was there. "Chief, I could use your help."
Blair stopped mid-sentence and was instantly at the bigger man's side. He placed a gentle hand on Jim's shoulder blade, talking quietly to him. Jack and the Carters looked at Daniel with varying degrees of confusion.
Daniel paid no attention – he was much too interested in watching the Sentinel work.
"Close your eyes." Blair murmured. "Ground yourself on me and listen."
Jim, on impulse, laid his hands on the plaque.
"Humming." he said quietly. "Subsonic. It's like white noise. Only a little, but it's distracting."
Not taking his eyes off his Sentinel, Blair raised his voice slightly. "There's something giving off subsonic vibrations behind the plaque." he said. Jim winced a little – he must have had hearing turned way up.
"Whoa, there. Bring it back, big guy. Try touch." Blair moved his hand gently, rubbing his partner's shoulder.
Jim ghosted his fingers over the surface. "It moved." he said. "Like a door with a deadbolt. Just enough to tell you there's something keeping it from moving more."
He pressed his sensitive fingers down a little more, running them over each symbol and the spaces between with careful efficiency. When he reached the underside of the last symbol, he smiled a little.
"There's a little catch." He got the barely noticeable sliver of metal under his nail and flicked it. The plaque dropped loose on a pivot in its bottom-right corner, revealing an alcove with a glowing panel.
"Awesome." Jack said approvingly. "Carter, you're up."
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