Chapter 3: Hitting Home

Jack was fuming by the time Sam finished telling him what happened.

"I won't have some snub nosed politician coming in here and threatening my second in command with a court martial!" The colonel roared, throwing a crumpled piece of paper violently at the wastebasket.

Sam watched him from her perch on one of the stools by her lab table. Her chin was resting in her hands and she let out a tired sigh.

"Is what they're asking even possible?!" Jack turned, staring at Sam with one eyebrow raised.

"I don't know." Sam shrugged. "It could be, with help from the Asgard to make a small device capable of opening a hyperspace window…But even if it is possible there's a question of whether it's practical….I mean the naquadah required –"

"Damn the naquadah, damn it all to hell!" Jack shouted so suddenly that Sam jumped. "I don't give a rat's butt about the naquadah. They still have no right to come in here and threaten you like that just because you don't want to make their little nuclear toys for them."

Sam looked down at the grey concrete floor. "This is the military, sir."

"I know, I just…" Jack shook his fist, staring at it like he was frustrated with his own inability to do anything. Finally he sighed and said quietly, "it's late, Carter, you should be heading home."

Sam nodded dully and they walked out of the lab together, splitting directions when Sam headed to the women's locker rooms.

She knew something was wrong when she saw the strange car parked in her driveway. It was black with tinted windows; hardly inconspicuous. Sam parked a little ways down the street, pulling her handgun out of its locked box under the seat and sticking it in the waistband of her pants before getting out of the car and creeping up to the house.

A few minutes of crouching in the yard and she hadn't seen any movement in the house. Sam crept around to the back door and opened it as quietly as possible. The house was dark except for the lamp in the living room that she'd left on. As she stepped into the doorway she had a clear view of the chair by the fire, and the man who was now sitting in it.

"Major Carter." He spoke in a thick Russian accent as he got smoothly to his feet. "I've been waiting for you."

The gun was in Sam's hand in a second and pointed at the man. "Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?!"

"Please, lower the gun, Major." The man calmly held up one hand. "My name is Nickolai Salmanovitch. And if you ever wish to see Cassandra Fraiser again, I would suggest you come with me without complaint."

Ten minutes later an unarmed Sam sat in the back seat of the huge black car, next to Salmanovitch.

"Where are you taking me?" Sam asked, unable to keep the bitter tone out of her voice.

"Patience, Major," Salmanovitch replied. "We will be there shortly."

Sam was lead into a large abandoned warehouse that immediately made her think NID, but she knew they wouldn't have a Russian agent. Especially with the current events. True to the NID's MO, however, she found herself being strapped to a metal chair. Salmanovitch left the room and a moment later a tall man with horn-rimmed glasses and a scar on the side of his nose entered.

"So glad you were able to join us, Major," the man said, pulling up a chair in front of her and sitting down. He assumed a rather casual pose, leaning back and folding his arms over his chest. "Now, assuming you're cooperative, this all should be done relatively quickly."

"Ok, now what do you need so badly that you had to threaten the life of an innocent girl?" Sam's eyes were narrowed.

"Oh, we just need to ask you a couple questions, Major, nothing complicated."

"Questions like what?"

"Like what the Pentagon is asking you to do for them."

Sam frowned and actually contemplated telling him outright for a moment. But then the military, member-of-a-top-secret-organization part of her kicked in.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The man laughed. "Come on. We know two officials from the Pentagon spoke with you about a highly classified project. All you have to do is tell us what it is."

Sam frowned. Had her arms not been strapped down she probably would have folded them across her chest. But she didn't say anything.

The man with the horn-rimmed glasses sighed heavily, then stood up. "I'm afraid you're only making this more difficult on yourself, Major." He turned. "Agent Salmanovitch!"

Salmanovitch returned carrying a large black carrying case which he set on the table behind the man with the horn-rimmed glasses.

"You know what this is, Major?" Glasses tapped the case, smirking. He opened the case, revealing some glass bottles and shiny silver instruments. Sam's heart rate jumped up a few notches, though she didn't let it show in her face. Glasses took out a syringe and filled it with something from one of the glass bottles. "Now, Major Carter, you will tell us exactly what we need to know…"

The next morning SG-1 had a briefing at 0700 hours, and when Sam didn't show up they all began to worry.

"Maybe she forgot…" Daniel suggested.

"Come on, Danny, Carter's always the first one here!" Jack stood up and went over to the phone, dialing Sam's number. There was no response. He tried her cell phone as well, still no response. Jack turned to Hammond. "Sir, permission to go to Carter's house and see if she's, for some strange reason, sleeping in?"

Hammond nodded. "All three of you go. If there's trouble, call back here. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir." Jack nodded then turned and, along with Daniel and Teal'c, hurried up to the surface.

A few minutes later they were standing on Sam's front porch and pounding on her door. When this brought no results Teal'c suggested they break in, but Daniel shook his head and produced a spare key from his pocket.

"How come you've got a key to her house?" Jack asked testily as Daniel pushed the door open.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "I watch her plants when she goes to visit her brother."

"Her plants?"

"And the cat."

"Oh."

They walked into the entry hall, and said cat immediately came out of the dinning room and rubbed itself against their legs.

"Carter?" Jack called, walking into the living room. He looked around and spotted her laying on the couch. "Carter, hey…wake up…" Jack went so far as to shake her, but the only response he got was a slight groan.

Daniel walked over and peered over Jack's shoulder. "Is she ok?"

"I hope so…Hey, T, go get a glass of water from the kitchen." Jack called, before shaking Sam again. "Carter…"

Sam's eyes opened slowly and she blinked groggily up at them. "Hmmnnhmm….sir? Daniel? What - "

"We had a briefing scheduled about half an hour ago…what happened?" Jack asked

Sam tried to sit up, mumbling something that was completely incoherent, and swayed a little. Jack put his hands on her shoulders.

"Easy there, you feeling alright?"

"Agents…" Sam mumbled, laying back down.

"She feels clammy…" Jack said, putting a hand to Sam's forehead as Teal'c returned with a glass of water. "Let's get her back to the infirmary." He tried to get Sam to drink some of the water but she just mumbled something else and pushed it away.

"Oh, definitely that is not how Sam normally acts in the morning," Janet said after running a few tests. "The tests show she's full of a strong sedative, but there's some other substances in there that worry me."

"Is she going to be ok?" Jack asked, his eyes widening.

Janet nodded. "She'll be fine. I meant worried as in worried about what happened to her. She's in there resting off the effects of the drugs right now, but maybe you want to go talk to her in a little bit and try to find out what happened."

"Yeah." Jack stood up.

"I have to go tell the general she's most definitely not getting cleared for the mission today…" Janet murmured, turning and heading down the hall.

Jack headed into the infirmary where Sam was sitting up in bed, rubbing her face.

"Hey, Carter," Jack pulled up a chair and sat down.

Sam looked at him. "Sir…what…"

"Danny, T and I found you passed out on your couch…quite literally actually…" Jack gave her an almost apologetic look. "Doc Fraiser's worried about you. Says you were drugged."

Sam groaned, closing her eyes and leaning back against the pillows. "This guy showed up at my house last night…" She began recounting the events of the previous night, pausing only when General Hammond and Janet came in. As she concluded she gave Hammond a worried look. "I'm sorry, Sir, but I told them about the IPBM's…" she shook her head. "They were threatening Cassie."

"You did the right thing, Sam," Janet said, reaching out to give her friend's shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"The fact that someone outside the SGC knew about the request made to you poses a problem," Hammond said, looking angry. "Did you recognize him, Major?"

Sam shook her head. "No. There were two of them…a Russian and an American." She closed her eyes, trying to remember what they looked like, but the previous night had become nothing more than a groggy blur of questions and answers and finally being dumped on her couch. She opened her eyes again. "I'm sorry, sir…I can't remember what they looked like."

"That's alright, Major." Hammond replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have a few calls to make." With that he turned and left the infirmary.

Sam made a full and quick recovery and by the next afternoon was sitting in the commissary with Jack and Daniel eating lunch. Their mission had been put on hold, not that any of them were complaining; it was only a simple recon mission after all.

A nervous looking young officer approached their table. "Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, General Hammond wants to see you in his office."

"Damn…" Jack muttered as they stood up. "I hope he didn't find out about that vending machine I broke…"

Sam and Daniel exchanged confused looks, then Sam followed her CO up to the general's office.

"Sir, if this is about the vending machine…" Jack began, but Hammond cut him off.

"What are you talking about, Colonel?" Hammond shook his head. "Wait, never mind. I wanted to tell you that you're both needed at a meeting at the White House."

Sam looked mildly surprised. "What about?"

"I have no idea." Hammond replied. "But we leave at 0900 hours tomorrow, so be ready to go."

"Yessir." They both replied in unison.

Jack was frowning as they left the office. "Ookkayy...this really had better not be about the vending machine…"