7
It was less than a mile to the gate, but the SF at top station sent a jeep down for him when he contacted Dixon, who was on duty. Dr Brightman was still waiting by the sign in desk when he got there and she was accompanied by Daniel and Teal'c, Jack told them with a minimum of swear words… he used less than 50 he was sure!…, all about the idiot Shanahan. The SFs from the base of the hill had no news and he debated reporting his truck stolen. But he did not want Sam to get arrested in the state she was in, she was too unstable, though he had no solid reason, he was afraid for her if she was confined by anyone who didn't know the background.
Walter had the transcripts of all the calls Sam had made to Mark, and Daniel had already been through them, they told him nothing. There was still no word from either Jacob or the Asgard.
They were back to square one again! He called Cassie to make sure she had got back to school in time, once again it was a waiting game.
At 13:00 the switchboard put through a call from Mrs. Carter, who whispered that she had Sam on her land line, she managed to manoeuvre the phones close enough so SG1 could hear their team-mate, while carrying on a conversation with her.
"No one seems to know where he is" they heard Sam telling her sister-in-law
"I understand he is on his way back from being posted abroad Sam, he should be in the US soon, I've left a message for him to get in touch, if you tell me where you are I can tell HIM and he will come find you after he lands"
"I… I don't know where I'll be, I've been trying to get hold on Aunt Mary but her phone has been disconnected, Oh Jenny! I am so confused"
"I know honey" Jenny Carter said "tell me where you are" Sam sobbed into the phone, Jacks heart was breaking at the sound, but the next words out of Sams mouth almost made him want to curl into a corner and die
"I want Jack, I need him, but he… there's something wrong, he isn't the same, he was cold"
"Who is Jack, Sam?" Jack realised that Marks wife only knew him as Colonel O'Neill.
"Oh GOD! I am going insane! I have to find Aunt Mary, or dad!" the phone went dead.
Jenny Carter sighed and spoke to her listeners "I'm sorry, if you just hold on I'll find out what number she called from…" She read the number out and Jack wrote it down.
"Who is Jack?" she asked, he cleared his throat and told her who he was, then it was his turn to ask something.
"Who is Aunt Mary?" She had no idea, as far as she knew the Carter siblings didn't HAVE an Aunt Mary!
Jack thanked her for her help and told her to contact them if she got in touch again, while Walter was running the number he called Hammond, getting him just as he was about to enter the meeting with the new President.
"Jack! Are you sure she said Aunt Mary?" his CO asked. Jack confirmed that he had heard it himself.
"If she's gone back 6 years and is looking for Mary she will be headed to DC, one of you get here and I'll give you directions once you arrive" Walter placed a paper on the table on front of him, the number was of a café in Topeka. He raised his eyebrows, she must have been constantly over the speed limit to get that far already!
"But Jenny Carter did not know of this woman" Teal'c spoke into the mike.
"Jenny wouldn't, Mark probably would refuse to call her Aunt as he is so anti AF" the three SG1 males looked at each other
"Sir, who IS Aunt Mary?" Jack asked
"She was my wife" came the answer.
Jack had heard from the General about his wife's struggle against cancer that ended weeks before the two men met. Part of the reason Hammond was a typical stick-up-the-rear-end General when Jack first met him was because he had just buried his wife of 30 years.
If Sam and she were both in DC back before her death then chances were that Hammond was correct, she would be heading there, hoping to find, if not her 'Aunt' then SOMEONE she knew who could help. The café she had called from was on a direct route from the springs to DC. He left instructions for the others and hopped onto a plane to DC, arriving less than 2 hours from leaving the base.
It took him almost as long to get to see Hammond, who he pulled out of his meeting for detailed directions, not only to the old Hammond residence, but to Sams old apartment as well. He was also told to try Catherine Langfords home, as Sam and she had spent a lot of time consulting on the project before the first Abydos mission, and had become good friends.
He reckoned he still had plenty of time before she could get to the city, even at the same average speed it would take until around 03:00 for her to arrive. She would need to sleep somewhere on the way, or when she arrived. Jack spent the rest of his day tracking down an old buddy from his Special Ops days.
Bill was a small, non descript man with a weathered appearance, he was one of the best undercover men that Jack knew, you wouldn't give him a second glance if you saw him in DC, or even in Baghdad! He was running a night club nowadays, and from the look of the place, he was doing very well. He headed for his place at 20:00, early for that kind of scene, but the place was already busy.
He was stopped on the door by the bouncers, dress code, he was told, he looked down at his jeans and trainers, he was about to get his phone out when their earwigs squawked and one of them suddenly became very polite and offered to escort him in to see the boss.
Jack found his friend watching a bank of monitors, the door, the bar and the stage being just 3, he noticed at least one camera was looking straight down a woman's top, she wasn't trying to hide much by the look anyway!
He gave a grin and called his friend a dirty old bastard, to which statement he received a grin in return.
Bill offered him a drink, but Jack just asked for somewhere to crash for a couple of hours.
He was directed to a small soundproof room behind the one they were in where he found a huge bed, mirrors on the ceiling, he could tell what THIS place was used for, he turned and called his buddy a few more names, and then threw himself onto the mattress and went straight to sleep.