Chapter Three

Don and Sam sat in the back of the coffee shop, and sipped double shot espressos. Don looked warily at the woman in front of him, she sure didn't look like an Air Force spook, but looks can be deceiving, Charlie sure as hell didn't look like a math genius until you heard him talk.

"Daniel would love this place," said Sam suddenly, "He's a connoisseur."

"Daniel?"

"He's my friend, and we work together he was grabbed yesterday morning."

"Charlie was taken, two days ago, what makes you think the two are connected?"

"We were able to link them through a confidential memo sent by the DOD. The memo details the reallocation of certain important and sensitive government assets."

"Government assets? My little brother is not property!" Don practically growled.

"Preaching to the choir here Agent Epps," said Sam, "They pulled a fast one, used the alphanumeric code assigned to each man to get approval for the transfer."

"I don't understand, they took Charlie's clearance, he shouldn't even be involved in this stuff anymore."

"I reviewed his case prior to coming here Dr Epps is a brilliant and principled man. I'd have recruited him myself if his ties to LA weren't so strong." Sam took a long sip of her coffee. Her eyes scanned the room behind Don.

"What do you mean recruited?"

"I'm part of a project in Colorado; Charlie would do very well there."

"How do I know your people haven't snatched him?"

"We checked," said Sam with a grimace, "this is a civilian operation."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sorry, I've been living under a mountain for ten years, I forget myself sometimes," She flashed him a sheepish smile, "The reallocation memo was issued from the DOD, they don't have clearance for what we do."

"How does the DOD not have clearance for a military operation?"

"We report directly to the White House and the Joint Chiefs."

"What is it you've got my brother mixed up in, Colonel?"

"Don't forget that, my friend has been taken too, and unlike Dr Epps, Daniel didn't go quietly."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that Daniel knew that he wasn't getting away from these people through proper channels, he put up a fight, we found blood and hair at the scene, as well as a message."

"Charlie left a message too," said Don.

"Really what did it say?"

"Bryant, procedure 17,"

"Bryant you're kidding?" asked Sam surprised.

"Yeah, why?"

"That's the same stooge that snowed the General."

"You had this guy and let him go!" cried Don.

"We didn't know what was happening, it's not like they tried to take him on base! Bryant was a fake, it wasn't until he was gone did we realized they'd grabbed Daniel off the street in front of his building."

"Pretty gutsy," said Don.

"Pretty sloppy, if you ask me, Daniel dropped his cup with a chunk of hair off one of his attackers, he also managed to call our emergency line, it activated his tracking beacon, but the signal went dead."

"You lost him."

"We have one other method to track him, but it's going to take another week to get here."

"So what's that?"

"Classified," said Sam, a little smirk on her lips. Don shook his head in disbelief. "Can't be helped I'm afraid, I'll let you know some stuff, but only on an as needed basis."

"I hate this cloak and dagger, stuff," said Don rubbing his face.

"Yeah, me too," said Sam draining her cup, "Come on, we've got to go."

"Where?"

"Show me, where Dr Epps was taken from, and then we'll see."

"There's nothing there, we've been over it."

"I'm a hands-on kind of gal, let's go."

*********

Daniel woke up painfully aware that while it looked like an infirmary and smelled like an infirmary, it wasn't his infirmary, he wasn't waking up from some horrible alien induced nightmare. He was waking up into the middle of it. His wound had been well cared for and his arm was now strapped to his chest, he was actually feeling a lot better than he'd ever felt after having been shot recently. The curtain surrounding his bed was abruptly drawn back to reveal the Sheriff.

"How long have I been out?" Daniel asked.

"Since yesterday," said the Sheriff, "Feeling better?" he asked smiling.

Daniel nodded and blinked at the man, and looked around him slowly at the bag of liquid above the bed, "These must be the good drugs," he said, as brunette walked into the area behind the Sheriff.

"Drugs and artificial blood," she said, "Eureka has the best there is."

"Eureka?" asked Daniel frowning.

"That's where you are," said the Sheriff, "The town of Eureka."

Daniel sighed and tried to sit up, the woman put her hand on his good shoulder and hit a button on the table to raise the bed, "Thank you," he prompted the woman.

"Allison, Allison Blake, I'm the head of Global Dynamics."

"Thank you, Miss Blake," Daniel smiled.

"Call me Allison, please," she said.

"Allison, I'm Daniel."

"And I'm Jack Carter," said the Sheriff loudly.

Daniel blinked and turned his attention to him, "You're kidding?" he said.

"No," Carter frowned, "why?"

"No reason, the universe has a sick sense of humor that's all," said Daniel.

Allison shot Carter a look, but the Sheriff just shrugged, "Do you feel up to telling us what happened?" he asked.

"I was kidnapped, off the street in front of my apartment," said Daniel, "I fought them as hard as I could but they managed to tazer me. I came to in some kind of facility, I fought them again made a last ditch run for it and got shot for my trouble."

"What happened then?"

"I was tossed into a cell with someone else, a kid named Charlie."

"Charlie, you mentioned him before," said Carter.

"Yeah, he said he was a Mathematician and he consults with the FBI. Bryant didn't bring him here?"

"He didn't bring him to me," said Carter, "I'll look into it though. How many math geeks work with the FBI?"

"How many archaeologists work for the Air Force?" asked Daniel, "For that matter, how many Sheriff's offices have automatic cell doors and routinely stock, non-lethal riot guns?"

"Point," said Carter, "I guess, you're wondering what's going on."

"Can I guess?" asked Daniel.

"Knock yourself out," said Carter with a smile.

"This is some kind of DOD sanctioned scientist's colony, you live and work in the town filled with the best the brightest and the most expensive toys. Global Dynamics is the legitimate face of this town's endeavors," Carter and Allison, looked stunned. "Am I at least close?" asked Daniel.

"Who are you?" asked Carter shaking his head in disbelief.

"Daniel Jackson," he said, "Pleased to meet you," The other two seemed a little stunned, so Daniel looked around a little and sat up a bit better, "So when can I get out of here?"

"What's your hurry?"

"I was kidnapped, I need to let my friends know I'm okay, before they start an intergalactic incident," Daniel suddenly grabbed the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut. "Oh, my god, Jack," he moaned running his fingers through his hair.

"What?" asked Carter.

"Sorry, not you, my Jack, those guys had too many resources for a rogue group gone solo they had something sanctioned, which means they got something by Jack," Daniel shook his head.

"Which mean?" asked Carter.

"Which means he's going to be pissed," Daniel almost smiled and then he stopped as if something occurred to him, "Wait, I was your prisoner didn't you scan my fingerprints?"

"That guy Bryant, wouldn't let us near you, said you were too valuable for us to mess with."

"Scan my fingerprints," said Daniel, "They'll verify my identity and it will get the right people moving in the right direction," Allison pulled out what looked like a silver pen, grabbed Daniel's hand and waved the pen over it, a light scanned the pads of his fingers and flicked off. Daniel blinked.

"The best and most expensive toys," said Allison, pulling out what looked like a silver business card, "Dr Daniel Jackson, Born July 6 1965...."

"What else?" Carter leaned over Allison's shoulder.

"That's it; the rest is blacked out, top level clearance only."

"Don't you have top level clearance?" asked Carter.

"Not top enough evidently," Allison shrugged, "I'll make some inquiries."

"Can one of those inquiries be, to General O'Neill, USAF, at the Pentagon?" asked Daniel, "Though if I know Sam, they're already on the way here."

"How can they be on the way, we can't even see any contact information!" cried Carter.

"Trust me, pulling my file sent up at least a dozen red flags. If they haven't already back traced you, they will have soon," said Daniel.

"The GD computer system is completely secure, there's no way to hack the system, or at least not that fast," said Allison.

"Didn't Fargo and Zane, hack the system a couple of months ago?" asked Carter.

"Technically, yes, but they already had access to our mainframe, and were familiar with the software," Allison's phone rang, "Allison Blake, yes, what? What's the timetable on that? Great keep me posted," she hung up, with a sigh, "There was a firewall breach, someone spiked my entry into your secured file, and now I have a General O'Neill, on his way from the Pentagon, and a Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, accompanied by FBI agent Don Epps."

"That's where I knew him from!" cried Daniel, "Dr Charles Epps, he's the Friendship Equation guy!"

"The what?" cried Carter.

"Charlie, the guy I was in a cell with, he said he was a mathematician, and that he worked with his brother at the FBI! I knew he looked vaguely familiar, I read an article about him in Vanity Fair ages ago!"

"So Special Agent Epps is Charlie's FBI agent brother," said Carter.

"Exactly, Sam must have made connection between our disappearances."

"Charles Epps? Yes, I have heard of him, he's brilliant," said Allison, "his signature work The Epps convergence, was amazing."

"So why hasn't he been asked to come to Eureka?" asked Carter. Allison referred to her PDA then pulling up Charlie's file.

"We vetted him along with all the up and comers a few years ago, but he's too deeply ingrained in his life in LA."

"That's probably why we didn't get him either," said Daniel.

"What is it that you as an archeologist would do with a mathematician?" asked Allison.

"You'd be surprised," said Daniel, "and I'm not just an archeologist, I'm a linguist too."

"Oh, I get it," said Allison, "You're a cryptographer."

"I've been known to break a code or too in my time," said Daniel smiling.

***********

Sam and Don walked out of the Coffee-Shop just as her PDA buzzed.

"Yes!" cried Sam.

"What is it?"

"They ran Daniel's file."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, I have them."

****

Daniel marveled at the lack of pain in his injury. He flexed his shoulder, and smiled at the nurse as she removed the IV insert and put cotton ball in its place.

"Last time, it took a good week before I could even go without the sling for more than a minute."

"The existing scar tissue served as a partial barrier, and we accelerated the healing with nanite technology."

Daniel grabbed his shoulder suddenly, staring at the woman, "You put nanites in me!" Daniel cried.

"Don't worry, they're perfectly safe and were removed as soon as your tissues began repairing themselves."

"They're gone?" asked Daniel, eyeing the Nurse suspiciously now.

"Completely," she said.

Daniel took a deep breath to calm himself, "Don't you have to warn a guy, when you inject him with experimental medical procedures?" he asked.

"You were unconscious at the time," said Allison as she came into Daniel's bed area, the nurse took the opening and fled, "and the treatment is perfectly safe."

"I just have a phobia of microscopic robots," said Daniel.

"That's very specific," said Allison.

"Are my friends here yet?"

"It's not as simple as that, as I'm sure you know there are procedures."

"Procedures! I was kidnapped!" Daniel cried.

"This is a secure facility, we can't have people just walk in off the street."

"These are people who have the ear of the Joint Chiefs and the President!" said Daniel, "How hard can it be?"

"This is the government we're talking about," said Allison.

"Yeah, the government that probably sanctioned my kidnapping," Daniel looked up at her suddenly, "That's it! They're stalling!" Daniel threw off the covers on his bed, "I have to get out of here."

"You can't leave!" cried Allison, "You've been shot!"

"I know," said Daniel, "I was there," Daniel looked down, he was wearing only pale blue scrubs, "Can I have some clothes, please?"

Allison smiled. Daniel scowled.

"So I'm your prisoner now?" he asked.

Allison's expression softened, "Of course not."

"Well then," said Daniel.

Allison sighed, and stepped back out of the curtained area. There was a brief conference with another person stood there and then she ducked back in. "I'll be right back," she said.

Daniel grinned and sat back in the bed, just then another smaller figure popped through the curtain around his bed.

"Hello," said Daniel to the young boy who stood at the foot of his bed. The boy grinned. "I'm Daniel,"

"I know," said the boy, "man in the stars," Daniel blinked in surprise then he realized that the boy looked slightly altered.

"What's your name?" asked Daniel.

"Kevin Blake," said the boy.

"Really?" Daniel smiled, "Is your mother Allison Blake?"

"She's worried about you," said Kevin.

"Why is she worried about me?" asked Daniel.

"Men have come to take you away."

"Ah, for crying out loud," Daniel sighed, "Hey, Kevin, do you know where to find some clothes for me to wear?"

"There are exercise clothes, in the cupboard."

"Could you get some for me?"

"Your shoulder is hurting," said Kevin.

"It's fine," said Daniel, wondering how the boy knew his wound had started to throb, "Could you get those clothes for me, please?" Kevin blinked and walked out of the enclosure. For a minute Daniel wondered if the boy had just run off back to his mother, until he came back holding a set of blue sweats. "Thank you, so much," said Daniel.

"Put on the robe and go to the bathroom to change," said Kevin, "The men don't like you."

Daniel laughed, "Thanks for the tip," He bundled up the sweats under the thin robe and walked to the bathroom on the other side of the infirmary. He slid inside unnoticed and latched the door. Just then an alarm sounded overhead.

Is it really a cliffhanger if you see it coming? This going to be fast story folks so hit that review button while you can to keep the momentum going! :D

Later Cynic