Pulling up in front of Selig’s house, Daniel wasn’t impressed. Working at the Pentagon apparently didn’t pay as well as Daniel thought it did. He turned the car off and removed the keys from the ignition, listening to the engine as it cooled.

He turned, looking over his shoulder at Sam, noticing that she had a faraway expression on her face.

"Sam?" Daniel asked, trying to get her attention. "You okay?"

Sam blinked suddenly, her eyes focusing on Daniel, offering a weak smile. "Yeah, I’m fine, Daniel. I’m just thinking."

"About?"

"I don’t know," she said shrugging. "Nothing and everything I guess."

"You have misgivings about our presence here?" Teal’c asked, tilting his head as he posed the question, his eyebrow starting to rise.

"No," Sam answered immediately, but she paused before she continued. "Okay, yes. I’m worried. What are we going to say?"

"The same thing you were going to say in his office at the Pentagon," Daniel said, turning around further so he could look at Sam without twisting his neck. "That hasn’t changed."

Sam sighed. "I know. It’s been days already since…" Sam said her voice trailing off.

Teal’c nodded solemnly. "O’Neill will prevail."

"Come on, Sam," Daniel said, shoving the door open with his shoulder. "Let’s get this over with."

Stepping out of the car, Daniel stood silently, breathing in the cool evening air as he waited for Sam and Teal’c. Glancing at them, Daniel led the way to the door, walking silently up the brick path. Even though the house was modest, the doorbell was a bit presumptuous, in Daniel’s opinion at least, the deep chimes of the doorbell sounding throughout the house.

An older man answered the door, his thin gray hairs out of place, his eyes wide in bewilderment. "How can I help you?"

"Mr. Selig?" Daniel asked.

"Yes," he answered hesitantly, glancing back and forth between the three of them, his gaze lingering the longest on Teal’c. To Daniel’s eye, it looked as if something clicked in the older mans’ eyes when he looked at each of them—but it was only a flash, less than a second in length and it was gone. Daniel brushed it aside quickly, instead launching into an altered version of his "we come in peace" routine.

"Mr. Selig, my name is Daniel Jackson. This is Major Samantha Carter, and this is Murray. We’re actually hoping you would be able to help us on a case we’re working on."

"Major Carter, huh?" Selig said, his tone thoughtful. "You’re persistent aren’t you?"

"Yes, sir, I am," Sam answered, her voice calm, but Daniel could tell that it was because of her vast stores of self-control.

Selig’s eyes narrowed in displeasure at Sam’s calm reply. Apparently, he was not pleased to see them at his home. But why? Daniel thought. They were conducting an investigation. It wasn’t too far-fetched that they would try to contact him at his place of residence after Sam’s unsuccessful attempt to speak with him in the morning. Daniel could almost see the older man’s back stiffening. What was he hiding? Did he already know why they were here? If so, how?

"What can I do for you?" Selig asked, his voice resigned.

"Like I said, we’re working on a missing person’s case and we were hoping that you might be able to shed some light on the whereabouts of the person," Daniel said, trying his best to remain non-confrontational. In reality, he wanted to shake the man before him until he confessed. That, however, would not be the best way to get information—especially if they turned out to be wrong.

"And why would I know this person?"

It was clear to Daniel that Selig knew something. The way he held his body screamed to Daniel that the man was not telling the truth. And they hadn’t asked him anything yet. "We’re looking for an Air Force Colonel by the name of Jack O’Neill."

"I don’t know what you’re talking about." Selig’s voice was adamant. He moved to step back, effectively ending the conversation.

"I believe you are lying."

Daniel turned to Teal’c, surprise filtering across his face. You have to love the outspokenness of aliens. When he turned back to Selig, Daniel swore the man had dropped several shades of color from his face. "I don’t know of any Colonel O’Neill."

"You might have known him when he was younger. He served with your son in the 1980s," Sam said, stepping forward.

"I know a lot of people, Major," Selig’s voice had hardened, his eyes narrowing. "My son died in Europe on a mission. That’s all I know. My second son died in Washington two years ago."

"Yes, Sir," Sam said, lowering her head a little. "We know that. Colonel O’Neill and I were there at the time. The Colonel was one of the witnesses to your son’s accident."

"So why are you beating down my door? I’m the one who’s lost two sons. Now, I have nothing further to say. Good night."

The door slammed shut quickly, nearly shaking the doorframe. Daniel rocked back on his heels, his hands deep in his pockets. "Well, that went well," he said sarcastically, before turning to follow Sam and Teal’c back down the path to the car.

Leaning on the roof, Daniel gazed at his two companions. "So, what now?"

"We go back to the hotel and I’m going to see what else I can dig up on him. He knows something. I just don’t know what it is," Sam said resolutely. "And tomorrow, I think we should come back here for another visit—after he’s left for work."

"Breaking and entering, Sam?" Daniel teased. He wasn’t really going to argue with her. He was just a little surprised that she would suggest it.

"I’m not saying that we’ll have to come back here, just that it’s a possibility." Sam flashed him a fierce smile. "Well, it all depends upon what I can dig up tonight."

General Hammond sighed deeply as he hung up the phone in his office. Apparently, SG1 was doing a little too well on their trip to Washington. Stephan Selig had
registered a complaint with the Air Force regarding their inappropriate behavior. Hammond doubted that they had done anything wrong, but it was time to place a call and find out what was going on.

Flipping to the page in his address book, Hammond jabbed the outside phone line and dialed Major Carter’s cellular phone. After two rings, she picked up.

"Carter."

"Major Carter, this is General Hammond. What’s the status of your investigation?" It was hard to be angry with them—even if they had stepped out of bounds. He was worried about Colonel O’Neill—very worried. He’d put out his own feelers and apparently the Colonel had made his share of enemies over the years. There were a number of rumors going around in the darker side of the street about a contract on the Colonel, but no one would confirm or deny the validity of the rumors.

But, according to one, the contract had come out of Washington DC.

"Well, Sir," Carter replied. "We got back to the hotel an hour ago and we’re trying to dig up some more information. Have you found anything?"

"I just got a phone call from the Pentagon, Major. Apparently, Stephan Selig took offense at your questions."

"What?" Carter exclaimed, pausing for a beat before she continued, her voice controlled once again. "Sir, that’s impossible. We barely had the chance to ask him anything."

Hammond closed his eyes, rubbing his free hand across his face. "I know, Major, but a complaint was filed with the Air Force against you specifically. I merely said that I would look into it."

"Sir, he has something to do with this whole situation," Carter said, her voice confident. "I just can’t tie him down to anything." She paused for a beat before continuing. "Daniel thinks he might have recognized us. How could that be?"

"What do you mean, Major?" Hammond asked, his back stiffening. There might be more about O’Neill’s abduction than met the eye. He’d been getting increasing pressure about his position regarding the accumulation of alien technology. This couldn’t have something to do with that, could it? Could this have been aimed at him—a message to him to cooperate?

"Sir, from what I’ve been able to piece together," Sam said. Hammond could read between the lines, recognizing her dodge to keep him from knowing that she’d hacked into the Pentagon’s mainframe again. He chuckled to himself, and listened as she continued. "It seems as if Selig only joined the Pentagon during the 1980s, not long after the death of his son, Geoffrey. He worked his way up through the ranks pretty quickly until he finally settled in at his current position two years ago."

"What position is that?"

"See, that’s where things get a little fuzzy. He has no official title, but he is involved with information gathering as far as I can tell." Carter paused and Hammond knew the other shoe was about to drop. "Sir, he also has numerous ties with Senator Kinsey’s office."

Damn. He had been hoping that wasn’t what she was going to say. "Are you suggesting that this was a sanctioned mission out of Washington, Major? Our government does not carry out missions within its borders."

"I know, Sir," Carter said, her voice showing her frustration. "But, what other explanation could there be? He knows us, he knew the Colonel. He could have been getting information from Kinsey and we all know where the Senator stands in regard to the program."

Hammond sighed. It did fit the facts that they had. Now it was just a matter of finding out where they’d secured the Colonel for the time being. They wouldn’t go as far as killing O’Neill. Jack was far too valuable alive and far too high profile. Could this be their way of sending a message to Hammond to watch his own back? He wouldn’t be surprised if it was. "What is your plan?"

"We’re going to call it a night soon and try to stop and visit Mr. Selig’s residence again tomorrow."

"Major, be careful," Hammond said. "You’ve already rattled some cages down there. I don’t need anything to happen to anyone else."

"Understood, Sir. We’ll do our best to keep a low profile."

"You do that, Major. Report in as soon as you know something more."

"I will, Sir. And thank you."

Hanging up the phone, Hammond closed his eyes and expelled the breath he’d been holding. It was going to be a long night.

"Sam, do you really think that Kinsey has something to do with this?" Daniel asked after Sam had relayed the call she had just concluded with General Hammond.

She shrugged. "I don’t know, but it does offer a logical solution to the facts we have on hand."

Daniel shook his head, refusing to meet her eyes. "I don’t know, Sam. What good would it do for them to kidnap Jack? I mean, he’s a favorite of the president. If this came out Kinsey would lose his bid for the presidency. There has to be something that we’re missing."

"What of the sons of which you spoke earlier?" Teal’c asked, his deep timbered voice loud in the thought-filled silence that had settled over them.

"What Teal’c?" Daniel asked, turning to face the seated Jaffa.

Teal’c’s expression was thoughtful. "We had spoken of Stephan Selig’s two sons. On Chulak, if someone were responsible for the death of two children, the father would have had the right to avenge their deaths. Is it not the same here?"

"No, Teal’c. We don’t do things that way, but you may be onto something," Daniel said, tapping his fingers against his leg as his thoughts spun quicker, running possibility after possibility through his mind. "What if Selig did blame Jack in some way for the deaths of his sons? Sam, didn’t you say that Jack was Geoffrey’s commanding officer at one point?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "He was killed on a mission that the Colonel was commanding, but Selig would never know. All those missions were classified."

"But what if he were able to find out?" Daniel’s eyes had narrowed as his thoughts solidified. "What if he joined the Pentagon staff in order to find out what happened?"
Sam shook her head back and forth. "Daniel, I don’t think that’s possible. If you’re right then he would have been planning this for years. I just don’t think that’s possible."

"But it would fit. You said that his other son—Armin, was it?" Sam nodded silently and Daniel continued. "He had information about the Stargate program. Accurate information."

"Yes," Sam nodded again, her eyes narrowing a bit as she pieced the lines of Daniel’s thoughts together in her own mind. "The Colonel said that Armin was very specific regarding his knowledge. He knew how many teams there were, what Colonel O’Neill did, the team he led. He even knew enough to track the Colonel down when we were in Washington for the medal ceremony."

"What if Selig was feeding information to his son in an effort to expose Jack?"

"What would that have accomplished, Daniel Jackson?" Teal’c asked. He’d been silent through most of Daniel and Sam’s conversation.

"I don’t know," Daniel said shrugging. "Maybe it was just enough to get Jack out into the open, but then Armin was killed."

"They said it was an accident," Sam argued. "General Hammond looked into it at Colonel O’Neill’s insistence. The Colonel was very upset by the whole situation."

"What if it wasn’t? What if someone else didn’t want the information to become public?"

"The Colonel—" Sam started, her voice rising.

"No, not Jack, someone else."

"What does this have to do with O’Neill?" Teal’c asked, clearly becoming frustrated.

Daniel turned to Teal’c, his hands gesturing wildly. "Nothing, Teal’c. It only has to do with Jack because he was there. Maybe Selig blames Jack for the deaths of his sons and thinks that somehow by kidnapping him now, he’ll be able to exact some sort of revenge."

"If that’s the case, Daniel," Sam asked, drawing Daniel’s attention back to her. "Then, where is he? Here in Washington or somewhere else?"

"Jack was picked up in Colorado, right?"

Sam and Teal’c nodded affirmatively, so Daniel continued, pausing as he spoke, trying to formulate a plan and its motivations in his mind. "Maybe Jack’s still there."

"Then why is Stephan Selig here?" Teal’c asked.

"Maybe because he hired someone else to do his dirty work." Daniel swung around again to face Sam. "Sam, can you find out anything about that?"

"I don’t know, Daniel," she protested. "It’s not like there’s a website listing contract killings or kidnappings for God’s sake."

A light went on in Daniel’s head. "Sam, what if he did this via email? It’s a nice anonymous way to get things done."

"I can’t do anything from here," she said, realizing what Daniel was suggesting. "I’d have to do that from his computer."

Daniel settled back, a satisfied expression on his face. "Then, I guess we should pay Stephan Selig a visit first thing in the morning and see if we can convince him to let us borrow his computer."