As soon as they touched down in Kalispell, Montana, Sam was dialing her cell phone, trying to get hold of Sheriff Lane. In the background, Daniel could hear her speaking while his gaze rested on the view outside his airplane window.

Daniel was nervous.

What were they going to find? What if they were too late?

They had wasted precious time today, Daniel thought, breathing a sigh of relief now that they were actually here. En-route to Helena, Montana, they’d been informed that they would have to make a brief stop in Chicago. Orders, the pilot had said. When Daniel had protested, Sam had pulled him aside and gently, but firmly reminded him that they were being given special treatment. They would still get to their destination, but it would take a little longer, that was all. General Hammond had arranged for the transportation, but had not indicated that it was a non-stop flight.

Daniel hadn’t been happy, but he had no choice in the matter. Arguing would do him no good. He couldn’t exactly offer to fly the plane himself.

The stopover in Chicago had turned into lengthier a stay than they had originally anticipated. Five hours later—and with no apology from the pilot—they were in the air once again, this time on course to Montana.

Finally, they were getting somewhere.

But, were they too late?

Trying to push his morbid thoughts aside, Daniel turned to his friend sitting silently beside him, a tower of gentleness on the outside with a core of inner strength that could never be exhausted. He offered Teal’c a half-hearted smile, the Jaffa’s eyes glinting in response. Teal’c’s comment, though, caused Daniel’s eyebrow to rise in surprise.

"I am not regretful to discover that Stephan Selig is dead."

"He was another human being, Teal’c," Daniel protested weakly, knowing full well that his heart wasn’t in it.

"Did you not wish the man to be deceased?"

"Well, yeah, Teal’c, but that’s not the point," Daniel argued.

Teal’c raised his eyebrows and tilted his head. "Then what is the point, Daniel Jackson?"

"It’s just that…well, death….well it’s really not…" Daniel started to explain, but the words would not come. Deep down he realized that he agreed with Teal’c. Even with all his reservations about murder and killing and the absolute wrongness of it, in this instance he couldn’t support it. If he really wanted to admit anything to himself, it was that if he’d been given the opportunity to kill Selig in cold blood for the things that he’d had done to his friend, Daniel would have taken it without hesitation.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to argue the point, as both men stopped talking and waited when Sam walked over, clipping her phone to her belt. "It looks like Sheriff Lane will be joining us shortly. He asked us to wait for him in passenger pickup at the main terminal." Sam sank into one of the overstuffed chairs, running her hands through her hair. "Janet’s also on her way, but she’s still about two hours behind us. Apparently, there was a delay in her getting off the ground."

Daniel narrowed his eyes, realizing what Sam’s words meant. "So, what do we do now?"

"We wait."

Daniel rolled his eyes heavenward and turned to look out the window. They were taxiing into the terminal.

"At what time will Doctor Fraiser arrive?" Teal’c asked, picking up the conversation where Daniel left off.

"Sheriff Lane is estimating she should be here around 2200 hours. It’s almost 2000 now," Sam replied, her voice thoughtful. Glancing back, Daniel saw her gazing at her watch and biting her lip. Yep, thinking again.

"What do we do now? Just wait?" Daniel asked, his voice plainly showing his growing frustration.

"Well, once we get to the terminal, we can grab something to eat and check in with General Hammond. He might have some more information," Sam said, her eyes flashing with anger. "It’s not like we have anywhere to go, Daniel. Montana’s a big state."

"You said the body was found in Bigfork. Why don’t we go there?" Daniel asked, leaning forward, his hands gesturing wildly as emotion entered his voice.

"What do you plan on doing, Daniel?" Sam queried, her voice rising in turn. "It’s eight o’clock at night. Do you expect to knock on everyone’s door in town asking if they know anyone named Nichols? Be realistic, Daniel. We need more information to go on."

"I don’t know," Daniel admitted, throwing his hands up in resignation as he stood, pacing a few steps away from her, before turning back around. "I just don’t want to spend another minute doing nothing when we could be looking for Jack."

"We’re not doing nothing, Daniel," Sam said, her voice softening, her blue eyes kind and full of understanding. "The Colonel wouldn’t want us to push forward blindly, with no sense of direction or with no plan. He’d understand."

"It’s just that—" Daniel started, but turned away, his emotions threatening to overwhelm him.

"Daniel Jackson has doubts, as do we all," Teal’c said, his voice solemn. "But we all know that O’Neill is strong. He knows we will come for him. We are close."

"Daniel," Sam said, her voice suddenly close behind him, her hand resting lightly on his arm. "We’re all worried that we might be too late. We all saw the pictures, but you have to stop blaming yourself. This isn’t your fault."

"Tell that to Jack," Daniel growled, refusing the comfort in Sam’s touch.

He heard Sam sigh deeply before she spoke again. "Daniel, let’s get some food. It’s been a long day and it’ll be a longer night, I’m sure. We can check in with General Hammond while we eat."

"Fine," Daniel said, as Sam and Teal’c brushed by him, opening the door of the plane and descending the short set of stairs to the tarmac. Daniel followed a few minutes later, scrubbing a hand across his face.

Teal’c was right. Jack was a fighter. He’d be okay.

Sheriff Lane was late.

They’d finished eating quickly and had patiently waited for him to arrive. After an hour of waiting, Sam called and spoke with him again. Apparently, there had been an accident and he was just finishing up things at the scene.

After getting his assurance that he would be there shortly, they settled back down to wait—this time for Janet Fraiser.

They might as well wait at this point. She was arriving in less than an hour.

Sure enough, approximately 45 minutes later, Janet Fraiser, accompanied by one of her nurses, Anne Matthews, hurried into the passenger pickup area lugging various medical bags.

Janet had come prepared for the worst by the looks of things.

Sheriff Lane arrived moments later, one of his deputies driving a second unmarked car.

"Sorry about the delay, Major Carter," Sheriff Lane said, alighting from the sedan and introducing himself. "I wanted to make sure you had a set of wheels while you were here and we got delayed at the station."

"I guess it saved us from having to come back here to pick up our colleague," Sam said, offering her hand to the officer.

"I guess it did," he said, glancing at the five of them and their luggage. "Where do you want to start?"

"Well," Daniel said, stepping forward, "we need to find Wayne Nichols, but he doesn’t seem to exist. Where would you start looking?"

Lane paused for a few beats thinking about his answer. "Nichols was a well-known family in Bigfork for years, until their untimely deaths. It might pay to start with new housing purchases or new construction plans from the last four years. I don’t think Wayne would have gone far."

"Why is that?" Daniel asked, the pit of fear in his stomach growing exponentially, his dinner threatening to reappear.

"Well, for one thing his mamma is buried in Bigfork and I don’t think he’d go far from here. From a young age, he worshiped the ground she walked on. That, and the fact that he was a little…strange. A loner, he tended to stay by himself. Not a big traveler either."

"Okay, Sam said, nodding in agreement. "We can start there. Where do we have to go?"

"We can go into Bigfork. I’m sure we won’t have a problem getting someone to open the records office. We can work from there." Lane paused, glancing at the two women standing toward the back. "Doctor Fraiser," he called.

"How can I help you, Sheriff?" Janet asked, stepping closer.

"It seems our medical examiner has come down with a horrible cold. Would it be possible for you to take a look at the body? We’re kind of short staffed here, if you hadn’t already guessed." Lane looked a little sheepish, but Janet nodded, immediately agreeing.

"Until we find the Colonel, I have nothing to do. If it will help, Anne and I can do this for you."

Relief flashed across his face. "Thank you. Why don’t you come with me? I can give you all the details on the crime scene as we go. Major, if you follow me I’ll lead you to the town center. Once there, everything that we need is within walking distance."

"Sounds fine, Sheriff," Sam said, picking up her overnight bag and carrying it to the trunk of the second sedan. "Let’s go. Times a-wasting."