Disclaimer: I do not own 'Stargate: SG-1', 'The 4400' or any of the characters associated with either show.

Author's Note: For those who aren't familiar with 'The 4400', Tom Baldwin and Diana Skouris are NTAC agents based in Seattle. NTAC - the National Threat Assessment Command - is responsible for the welfare of the 4400 and for figuring out what happened to them. Tom's nephew, Shawn Farrell (disappeared April 22, 2001) is one of the 4400. His son, Kyle, was present when Shawn was abducted and would spend the next three years in a coma until Shawn brought him out of it with his newfound healing ability. Maia Rutledge (disappeared March 3, 1946), whom some of you may remember from earlier chapters, is currently living with Diana.

Chapter Thirteen

It had been General Hammond's idea that her interview with the two agents be conducted at Cheyenne Mountain rather than at the local branch of NTAC but, while Sam agreed with him that it was better if the interview was on her turf rather than theirs, ensuring that they could not record it without her knowledge, the fact that they did not have the security clearance to be allowed down to the lower levels was raising a few red flags.

"What is it you do again, Captain?" Diana Skouris asked, her polite tone unable to disguise her suspicion.

"Deep space radar telemetry." Sam repeated her cover story with a straight face, her eyes meeting Diana's unwaveringly.

"And that's above our security clearance." Tom Baldwin looked as disbelieving as his colleague. "What could possibly..."

Sam shrugged innocently. "You'd be surprised."

It was clear that she was unwilling and unable to say any more on the subject and, knowing better than to press her, Diana concentrated on the matter at hand. "Do you know who it was that abducted you, Captain?"

"I'm afraid not." Sam's lie was so convincing that even Jack would have been fooled, had he been present. "They didn't exactly make formal introductions."

"So you have no idea why you might have been targeted?"

"Aside from the obvious," Sam demurred, deeply thankful that General Hammond had filled her in on the attacks that had been made on other 4400s over the past couple of days, "other 4400s have been targeted recently, haven't they?"

"Not like you," Diana countered immediately. "Most of the attacks took place in Seattle and were the work of the same two people. There were one or two others, but those attacks were intended to kill. You are the only 4400 who was abducted and, unlike the bombs rigged to kill other 4400s, the one that was set off in your house was a professional job. Any idea why you might have been singled out?"

'Either the Tok'ra symbiote that died inside me or the fact that I can now move stuff with my mind, maybe both.' Sam thought grimly before speaking aloud. "None."

"In your statement, you said that you were able to get away from your captors and contact your superior officer," Tom noted, skimming through her admittedly brief written statement.

"That's right."

"Could you elaborate on how?"

"I got lucky," Sam was aware that the cover story she and Jack had concocted between them to explain her escape without mentioning her ability wasn't the most convincing ever, but it had been the best they could come up with on such short notice. "The guy driving must have lost control of the van, he skidded off the road and crashed. The door opened and I got out of there as fast as I could."

"Are you sure?" Diana pressed. "There mightn't have been some other reason why the van crashed?"

Sam shook her head. "You'd have to ask the guy driving." She responded, knowing that anyone working for Kinsey and the NID would be even less likely to come clean to NTAC about the reason behind her abduction than she was.

"We would, if that was an option." Diana stated flatly. "Both men are dead; they were recovering nicely until a nurse on the evening rounds found their guards out cold and the men themselves each had a couple of .22s rattling around inside their skulls ." There was no mistaking the shock or the horror on Sam's face, so she knew that the other woman hadn't been responsible and that she hadn't known of it before now, but there was still something in her eyes that suggested that this wasn't a complete surprise to her.

There was definitely more to Samantha Carter than met the eye.

"Captain, are you aware that you are the only 4400 in the United States for whom special arrangements have been made regarding medical check-ups?" she asked, knowing that her chances of getting a straight answer were slim at best.

Before Sam could reply, a man standing in the doorway, a voice came from the doorway. Sam gave a slight start, as did the NTAC agents. Apparently they hadn't noticed him entering, either.

"Given Captain Carter's exemplary service record and the importance of her work in this facility, General Hammond was able to secure a concession from your Mr Ryland regarding her medical check-ups – with the President's approval, of course." The speaker, a mostly-bald man in a black suit, moved stiffly across the room and assumed the empty chair beside Sam's. "She travels quite a lot between various facilities, and has quite a hectic schedule. Obviously, this makes it difficult to tell when she'll be able to take time for her check-ups, but we do our best to stick to the dictated schedule and Dr Fraiser forwards the requested information and samples to NTAC."

Skouris looked the newcomer up and down, while Sam waited for one of them to ask who the stranger was, thinking it would look somewhat amiss if she let them know that she herself had no idea who he was.

"Please tell me you're not her lawyer," said Baldwin.

"Not quite. Richard Woolsey, I'm with the NID. I was sent to take a statement from former Senator Kinsey, but he wasn't feeling very chatty. Not that I blame him. Until a few hours ago, the Senator held a top-tier position with NID, and now I'm one of the runners for his job. Not that I'm very likely to get it; I don't have the type of connections one generally requires for such work."

"Then the Senator was involved," Skouris cut in. It wasn't a question. Sam wondered why they hadn't brought it up before; a United States Senator arranging a 4400's kidnapping wasn't the kind of little detail you left for later. "There were a couple of eyewitnesses along Colonel O'Neill's street, one of whom was pretty sure he saw Kinsey being carted into an ambulance."

"Officially, Mr. Kinsey was the victim of a head-on collision with a tree after his driver suffered a seizure, and is currently being treated for a minor coronary crisis as a direct result," Woolsey told them as simply as if he were reading from a script. "In a week or two, we'll reveal that his medical condition inexplicably worsened. The autopsy report will reveal an exceedingly rare pre-existing heart condition that had previously gone unnoticed. The then-Senator lost his wife last year and has no other family, so it won't be too difficult to arrange for an empty casket to be buried while Mr. Kinsey remains a guest of the United States Government. Obviously none of what you've just heard will leave this room," he told them, his tone slamming home an unspoken 'or else'.

Regaining composure after a moment, Tom asked Woolsey "Exactly what is the NID's interest here? Apart from grabbing one of your own who went rogue, I mean."

The look Woolsey gave the other man couldn't have been more superior had he been an elementary school teacher lecturing an unruly child. "Consider, for just a moment, if you can, what little we know about the 4400. Seemingly plucked at random from various times and places, all returned to the same time and place, modern day America. Then we have reports of numerous 4400s developing apparent super-human abilities. And, the big one; they returned in a massive ball of light that came from outer space, and Captain Carter just happens to be one of the foremost astrophysicists on the planet, currently studying deep space radar telemetry."

He sat back in his chair and sighed a little, as if he had suddenly been relieved of a heavy burden. Sam's guard had gone up the moment he had announced he was with NID, but now she almost felt like applauding his acting skills.

Diana was the first to recover from this second blow. "Are you saying you know what happened to the 4400?"

"Who took them?"

"And why?"

"I'm afraid we don't know anything," Woolsey told them sternly. "However, I can assure you that our suspicions are likely to be more informed than yours, and of course, far, far, above your security clearance."

Glancing briefly at the clock above the door, Woolsey rose and made for the door. "I'm afraid it's time for me to make my way to Andrew's. I have a flight waiting. If you have any questions, you can reach me at the Pentagon, though I can't guarantee I'll be able to give you any answers. Good day." The door clicked quietly behind him, leaving a somewhat stunned silence.

Eventually the agents managed to get back to the issue at hand, though both were somewhat dispirited, knowing they'd just run into what might very well be the mother of political brick walls.

"One last question," Diana said after a few moments of silence. "Mr Woolsey mentioned that some of the 4400 have developed superhuman abilities – have you developed an ability, Captain?" The fact that a few of the other 4400s – including the eight year old girl living in her own apartment – had developed unusual abilities was highly classified but since Woolsey had already referred to it, she didn't see any point in beating about the bush.

"None so far."

"I see." Diana studied her expression for a few moments, searching for outward signs of deceit but finding none. "In that case, thank you for your time, Captain. We'll be in touch if we have any more questions."

"That's fine." Sam agreed, shaking hands briefly with them both before nodding to the airman standing guard outside the door, indicating that he should escort the two agents to the surface.

Neither of them spoke until they were in their own car, exiting the parking lot.

"So," Tom began, "do you think she was lying? About not knowing why she was kidnapped, I mean."

"I know she was. That Woolsey guy barging in there playing Dumbledore to her Harry Potter wasn't exactly a subtle warning."

"Does that mean you're gonna let this one go? She seems to have the Presidential seal of approval, and it's pretty clear nobody wants us asking questions."

"What's your point?" If anything, Skouris seemed more determined than ever to know everything there was to know about Samantha Carter. And she had a pretty good idea of where to start. "NID gets more funding from the private sector than the government, right? Companies like Halliburton and Haspel Corp?"

"Almost every penny." Tom didn't like where this was going. "Why?"

"Remember what Ryland told us yesterday? With the word out on 4400 abilities, there are a lot of rumblings from big business hoping to turn a profit using 4400s. They'd already be handing out contracts like candy if they could be sure about the legality of trying to market 4400 abilities or use them in some other way that might give them one up on the competition. All it will take is for one 4400 to put their ability on the market. Thing is," she grinned, "Ryland heard this directly from the horse's mouth. He owns stock in Haspel Corp. Bought it for a pittance when they started up ten years ago."

"Fair to assume he's made a few friends in the company since then," Tom mused. "And if any of Ryland's friends have an interest in NID..."

"Ryland might be able to find out what everyone's so desperate to keep from us."

"I don't know why you're looking so smug," Kinsey grumped. "You really think your little crisis of conscience will get you out of any jail time?"

"What crisis would that be?" Mitchell was only half-listening to Kinsey's rant at this point. He stood in the open doorway to the former Senators' cell, as he had been since he'd escorted Woolsey down almost an hour ago. "Granted, I considered whether or not it would be safer to put the bullet right in the middle of his face to prevent him from accidentally firing. An inch to the left and Carter would have lost an ear."

"Maybe you should have just killed him. And me too. If you'd done that you might have been able to talk your way out of this. I promise you, son, by the end of the week you'll be lucky to be scrubbing toilets in Antarctica. Chances are you'll wind up in the same non-existent hell-hole they stick me into.

"I kinda doubt that," Mitchell chuckled. "Not exactly quick on the uptake, are you Bob?"

Kinsey scowled at first, and then dropped his gaze, looking more disappointed in Mitchell than angry. "You were playing me. From the beginning. You stupid ba…"

"Ah-ah!" Mitchell chided. "Do you want me to have to call my grandma in to wash your mouth out with soap?"

Kinsey looked beyond him to the woman standing near the doorway. "Believe me, Major, a day will come when you're going to regret siding with… that ahead of me. This is only the beginning; they're not through with us yet, not by a long shot. Abomination begets abomination."

"That's why we're all happy you never had kids."

Mitchell glanced over his shoulder. "Y'know, Captain, if you wanna Force-choke him, I won't tell anybody."

Sam raised a surprised eyebrow, ignoring Kinsey's indignant spluttering. "You like 'Star Wars'?"

He shrugged, grinning sheepishly. "Vader rocks."

"You really think it'll be as easy as that idiot Woolsey thinks to 'disappear' a United States Senator?" Kinsey cut in.

"These days," Sam considered, "it just might be. People all around the world are already up to their necks in conspiracy theories about the 4400. Unpopular Senators already suspected of being involved with criminal organizations probably won't get a hell of a lot of consideration."

Kinsey paled a little, but his voice remained harsh. "What the hell are you talking about? I've never been implicated..."

"Turns out your colleagues have had you under investigation for the past few years. Something to do with a possible shadow organization within the NID. The Trust?" Sam didn't even try to suppress her grin at Kinsey's reaction to this news, and Mitchell barked a laugh. "Obviously, a lot of what they think you were involved in can never be revealed to the public, but if we let a few small details leak out, that's our problem solved. Business deal gone bad, vengeful former associate. I'm sure the 4400 will show up among the best theories. Either way, that's all anyone's ever going to have. Theories."

Flashing Kinsey one more nasty grin, Sam walked away, and heard Mitchell's cheerful "Bye-bye, Bob" as he closed the door.

"Okay, that was fun." He declared as they made their way to the commissary, where their teammates were waiting for them. He glanced at Sam as he held open the door for her. "Sorry about… y'know. I never expected Kinsey to go so far, so fast. When he showed up at my apartment, I figured that it'd be best to play along while he was there and then tell Colonel O'Neill."

"You did the right thing." She assured him, leading the way across the room to the rest of the team.

"…just don't understand why you couldn't tell us!" they could hear Daniel's complaint before they reached SG-1's customary table. "We were going through everyone's phone and computer records with a fine tooth comb for hours," he added, indicating himself and Teal'c, who, while he was not saying a word, was giving Jack a less than pleased frown. "You could have let us know that we were on a wild goose chase before you guys got back here with Kinsey and Makepeace!"

"What part of classified don't you understand, Daniel?" Jack demanded impatiently, nodding a greeting to Sam and Mitchell as they took their seats and turning his attention to Sam. "How'd your interview go?"

"Fine, sir, especially after Woolsey showed up."

"Did he tell you what Kinsey has to look forward to?" Jack asked, unable to keep a smirk from his face at the thought of being rid of the man who had been a thorn in the SGC's side for the past seven years.

"I believe the term he used was 'guest of the United States Government'. What's going to happen to Colonel Makepeace?" She still found it difficult to believe that one of the longest-serving officers at the SGC had been working for Kinsey all this time.

"Well, for starters he's not going to be a colonel any more." Jack told her. "Woolsey offered him a deal; if he testifies against Kinsey and discloses everything he knows about the Trust and tells us what information he's been feeding Kinsey over the years, he'll be dishonorably discharged. If he doesn't, he's looking at jail time – and that'd be even less fun than usual for a guy with one leg." It hadn't taken long for Janet and Dr Warner to realize that there would be no saving Makepeace's injured leg and Jack was far from sorry to hear it. "I'm thinking that he's going to talk. Now do you see why this had to be kept classified?" He demanded of Daniel.

"Even from me, sir?" Sam asked, more than a little annoyed at having been kept out of the loop. A little warning that she was in danger of being kidnapped and having her house blown up, not to mention being shot by a colleague, would have been nice.

"I wanted to tell you," Mitchell assured her quickly, "but Colonel O'Neill didn't want to worry you unless we had to."

Jack couldn't help flinching slightly at the reproachful frown Sam gave him. 'Looks like I need to have a little chat with Mitchell about loyalty to his CO.' He shot her his most winning smile, the one that had gotten him out of more trouble than he cared to admit in his younger days... at least until his Mom had developed an immunity to its charm. "Who wants blue jello?"

TBC.

Author's Note: Just the epilogue to go now, and I hope to have that posted as soon as possible. For those who don't watch 'The 4400', it may answer a couple of questions.