THE HERE AND NOW

CHAPTER 19

"DEGREES OF DESPARATION"

He was pissed. No, scratch that, he was beyond that. He was in a whole new plane of anger and they all knew it. Hell his whole demeanor screamed stay away or else. He was royally pissed; something had happened and he was not a happy camper. Walking towards his office, Daniel turned towards Walter, his look was one of pure worry and concern.

"Walter, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Some one got into the General's personnel file."

"What?"

That was huge and now Daniel knew why Jack was all over the place. Janet arrived next, some files at hand, ready to start the daily meeting with Jack. Only this time she was stopped by a very worried Daniel, who silently pointed at the General's office. She could see why he had stopped her. The General was anything but happy at the moment.

"Harriman, get your ass in here!"

The poor man's pale face turned a bright yellow as he walked in. Janet could see Jack's anger trying to break free. Yet every time it reached the breaking point, he held back and delivered orders that Walter was writing down. Fifteen minutes later, Jack O'Neill was out the door and Walter was in front of them.

"Well, the General is taking the rest of the week off. Ah… Colonel Roberts is in charge. He needs some one to look after April."

"That would be me and Cassie."

"Yeah I think so... I'm not supposed to talk about this but he... you're his best friends, I think you should know this but…"

"Walter!"

"The CIA sent a couple of guys to deal with the leak so... Jack is trying to stop them."

Cleaners. The Mafia had them, so did the government and they would send their best to deal with this leak and Jack was going to try to intercept them and find out everything he needed to know in order to save lives. Daniel nodded to Janet who approved his unspoken course of action. He rushed down to hallway following his friend and praying that he would listen to what he had to say.

Teal'c looked at Jack and nodded. He would help him in this quest and try to aid him no matter what. Yet as he reviewed the information it was quickly apparent who had requested the search. He did not like it and neither did Jack, but they had to establish that his motives were purely personal and not of the espionage kind.

"It would seem Pete Shanahan is nothing more than a pest. He is no danger to your government's security."

"I know that, you know that and they know that."

"Then for what purpose are we reanalyzing our facts O'Neill?"

"Because my government has a bad habit of making examples out of people like Pete, just to keep the others in line."

"I see… Should we not procure assistance from Daniel Jackson?"

"Yeah… about that… nice to know I'm needed"

Jack groaned and glared at Teal'c who just raised and eyebrow and did his half smirk deal. Jack just chuckled and threw a file at Daniel. Yeah the three of them could get to the facts better together, and show that Pete was nothing more than a jealous husband, who had run a background check on not only Jack, but Carter as well. That made him a two time offender.

"We've got all this and all we have as proof that he's not some criminal, is our word."

"He did hack into their systems and try to gather information which was un-attainable through proper channels… he is no more than a crook."

"He still shouldn't be put to death."

"Ok, so how do we stop these cleaners?"

"They sent Strife's kids. I can handle them."

"Are you certain?"

"I trained them."

The other two men nodded. Jack clenched his fists and took a deep breath. He needed to tell Carter that her life and possibly her kid's life was in danger, but his orders were clear and he knew that everyone in Pete's family was now considered a suspect. He took a deep breath and told Daniel to go ahead. He would go talk to Carter.

"Is that wise O'Neill?"

"Ah yeah, we should really think about that."

"Her kid is in danger Daniel."

The one weakness O'Neill had was children. Teal'c said no more and nodded as he began to walk away. Daniel however, glanced at his friend. If there was one thing that he worried about it was his friend's feelings and even though time had passed, he could see that Jack's emotions, even though distant, were still there.

"Jack."

"I know, but if it were my kid…"

Teal'c and Daniel arrived at the house and observed. Yeah there was definitely a black van in front. The house was probably bugged by now. Teal'c could see every entry point and every surveillance individual who was posted. He glanced at Daniel and pointed at the area. Daniel smiled. Yeah, his friend was an expert.

"This is one hell of a way to jump back in our lives."

"She has not."

"Teal'c, come on, she is back. We know why she joined up again with the SGA."

"Indeed, yet that does not mean she is back in our lives."

"Then what does it mean Teal'c?"

"Her intentions are unknown Daniel Jackson."

"So we shouldn't trust her? Come on Teal'c this is Sam, I know she kind of messed up but…"

"She did not mess up. I understood why she left. Her actions, however are another matter."

He was right, Daniel knew that, but he also knew Sam. She was his friend and even though they were on rough terms right now, he wasn't sure what the future held. But for now he needed to focus on helping her. Jack was right; this was more than Sam and their petty problems. This was about her child and life possibly being in danger for a mistake her husband had made.

Jack knew he needed to tell her, but first he needed to cover his ass. He smiled when he saw his sparkplug, Hailey, rushing towards him meeting him halfway through her lab. He knew she was smart and could figure out something was wrong from a mile away.

"Sir, Siler said…"

"Yeah, need your help, off the record."

"Of course Sir."

"I need you to find everything you can about Deluise, an FBI agent and his connection to Carter's husband."

"Right on it sir."

She was good, knew when not to ask questions. He liked that about her. He also liked the fact that the girl was as smart as Carter. Heading towards the lab he wondered just how he was going to tell Carter that her life and her son's life could be in danger because of her husband. What would she think and worse, what would her reaction be?

He knew not telling her was the worst he could do to her. That was why he was going to tell her, despite what his superiors said, despite the consequences, and for the life of him, he didn't know why he was doing it. Was it out of a sick sense of satisfaction at seeing her be betrayed by her beloved husband? Was he that petty? He didn't know, but he knew it was right to tell her. He could feel it.

"Sir?"

"Ah yeah, Carter I need to talk to you."

"If it's about the report that was due today I..."

No, it wasn't about the report. She could tell by the way he looked at her, the way his eyes betrayed his composure. Something was going to happen or had already happened. She sat on one of her stools, waiting for his news and as he spoke she began to feel confused and angry. What the hell had become of her life?