Chapter 67
A month later, Jack and Sam took Charlie and Grace to Berkeley where they would be studying for their undergraduate degrees. They decided to take a stroll around the main campus, and as they were passing one of the science labs, Sam saw one of her former professors. He was talking to a couple of his students, and Sam decided to wait until they finished before she approached him. When the students walked away, he turned to the woman who smiled at him.
"We get students of all ages here. Have you just enrolled?" Sam laughed.
"No, Professor. I learn something new every day, but I used to be a student here in, 1986." He looked at her.
"Your face looks familiar, are you sure you have the right year?"
"Yes I have... I'm Samantha Carter." His eyes widened.
"Oh my... Well, I'll be damned. Look at you all grown up. Did your dreams come true?"
"Air Force: yes, NASA: no. I found something even better."
"What can be better than NASA?"
"If I tell you I'll have to kill you," He laughed.
"So what are you doing here?"
"My son and daughter will be in your Astrophysics 101 class. They are twins, Grace and Charlie O'Neill."
"You're joking. They must be very young."
"They are. They turn fifteen in a few months."
"Smart like their mother?"
"Yes, they are and here they come." He turned to see an older man and two teenagers walking towards them.
"Mom, this place is so cool," Grace said.
"Yes it is. Grace, Charlie this is Professor Towers. He's an astrophysics instructor here."
"Hello, Grace, Charlie. Welcome."
"Thank you. Professor Towers... did Mom really win all the astrophysics awards?" Grace asked.
"Yes, she sure did. She is one of the brightest students I have ever known."
"Really? Did you know she made Air Force history?"
"Really?"
"Ok, you two, I'm sure the professor is not interested in what your mother does. Hi. I'm Jack O'Neill."
"With two 'L's," Charlie said.
"Hello. It's nice to meet you, Mr. O'Neill."
"Call me, Jack."
"Dad is a lieutenant general, in the Air Force, and Mom's a full bird colonel," Charlie said while smiling.
"Wow, a colonel, that is impressive."
"Mom and Dad both received the Medal of Honor," Grace said.
"Mom's the only woman to be awarded one," Charlie added.
"Really? You know, Sam, you should come to class one day, introduce yourself and share what you have accomplished."
"That would take all day," Jack said.
"I would love to, but there would be many things that would have to be left out because most of my work is classified."
"Ok but still, you know every now and then I hear your name mentioned among the students and I have read all of your papers that you have published. I was very impressed with what you did with your particle beam accelerator, and how you challenged the Laws of Physics. I thought it wasn't possible, but you did it."
"Yes, she did, even the President was impressed, although he couldn't understand all of it. He got some top scientist in to try to brief him, but Sam ended up explaining it to them," Jack said.
"Well sounds like they're not too bright if they couldn't figure out how it works."
"Now, that's what I thought, too. Well, we better get going, the kids are getting settled in, and we have a flight to catch. It was nice to meet you, Professor."
"You, too, General O'Neill, with two 'L's and it was very nice to see you, too, Sam." He shook their hands.
"Thanks. Ok, kids, we are heading for home. Remember: be good and don't try to blow up anything while you're here." The professor laughed.
"Don't worry, if they are anything like their mother..."
"It's their father's side you should be worried about."
"Hey, I'm not that bad." Sam turned to Jack.
"Jack, I can make a list." She raised her eyebrows.
"Ok, you win, come on." Jack and Sam said 'good bye' to the twins before walking away.
They had almost reached their rental car when they heard, "Professor Towers, the President gave Mom the Medal of Honor when she returned from the Gulf War."
"Really? What other medals does your mom have?"
"The poor professor," Jack said. Sam hit his arm.
"What?"
"Don't be a smart ass, Jack." Jack grinned as he put on his sunglasses and wrapped his arm around her shoulders just as she put hers around his waist.
A week later, Connor was walking out of the gates from his school when a black unmarked van pulled up. A man got out and walked over to Connor.
"Connor O'Neill?"
"Who are you?"
"Your parents asked me to come and collect you and to take you home," the guy said. Connor knew right away that the man was lying so he took a step back.
"Who are you? How do you know who my parents are?"
"They are General O'Neill and Colonel Carter, come on." He put his hand out.
Connor could hear a couple of teachers not far behind him so he turned and ran through the gates with the man behind him.
"Mrs. Dixon, Mrs. Dixon!" Connor screamed out her name.
She turned around to see that Connor was running towards her. She also saw a man in a suit, who was following him, stop suddenly, and start walking backward. He quickly turned around and walked back through the gate.
When Connor stopped, he was shaking as he stood in front of her. She wrapped her arms around him. "What happened, Connor?"
"That man wanted me to go with him. He said that Mom and Dad sent him but that's a lie."
"Come inside." They walked back inside the school and went to her classroom.
Connor looked out the window to see that the van was still there. Then he turned to Mrs. Dixon who was dialing a cell phone, so he looked back to see if the van continued to sit on the street, just outside the gate.
"This is Donna Dixon; I need to speak to General O'Neill ... Four, eight, three... General O'Neill, it's Donna Dixon... someone tried to pick up Connor in an unmarked black van... he's here with me... he's a little bit shaken up... the man told Connor that you and Colonel Carter sent him to pick up Connor... ok, yes... sure." Then she hung up.
She walked over to Connor.
"Is Dad coming?"
"No he can't make it, but he's sending Dave and his team." Connor turned to the teacher.
"Your husband?"
"Yes. What you did today was very brave, Connor." He smiled.
"Mom and Dad told me, before I started school, what to do, and what not to do."
"Well they taught you very well." She looked up to see the van leaving.
Then she turned around to see the principal walking into the room. "Mrs. Dixon, what is this child doing here in your class room?"
"Mr. Ross, someone tried to kidnap Connor O'Neill." Mr. Ross stared at her in shock.
"What, when?" he stammered.
"Just a few minutes ago. A black unmarked van showed up. A man tried to convince Connor to go with him, but he turned and ran to me, yelling out my name. When I saw what was happening, I was amazed. Connor got to me before the guy could get him."
"Who or why this boy?"
"His parents are General O'Neill and Colonel Carter from NORAD. As for reasons those men tried to kidnap Connor, I don't know."
"Did you call his parents?"
"Yes, his father is sending some one over now."
"How would you recognize whoever they are sending?" she smiled.
"One of them is my husband."
"Oh, so he works at NORAD?"
"Yes and is General O'Neill's second in command."
He nodded. Then they heard two HUMVEEs pull up outside the school, and saw several uniformed men getting out of them. Connor smiled and ran out of the room. Mrs. Dixon and Mr. Ross walked out of the classroom then outside to see Connor running up to a man whose hair was starting to turn grey. They saw the man pick up Connor and they hugged each other.
"Donna. She turned to the voice and smiled.
"Dave." He walked over to her and gave her a hug.
"Can you show me where the van was?"
"Sure." He followed his wife to the gate and outside, while Jack walked over to the principal.
"Mr. Ross, I'm General O'Neill, Connor's father." Mr. Ross raised his eyebrows when he saw the three stars on Jack's collar as they shook hands
"General, any idea who would want to kidnap your son?"
"Yeah, I do. Connor did the right thing, I'm proud of how he reacted. We tried to explain to him that he might be a target someday, but we certainly hoped it would never happen." Jack ruffled his son's brown hair.
"Are you going to take your son out of school for few days?"
"That would be up to him. If he stays, I'll make sure that his mother, my mother, or I will be here to pick him up every day, until those guys are caught."
"Who was supposed to pick him up today?" As they talked, a car had pulled into the parking lot. An older woman got out and looked around as she walked over to where they were standing.
"Jack, what's going on?"
"Someone tried to kidnap Connor. What happened, Mom? You're never late unless..."
"It's strange, really. My car had two flat tires at the same time while I was in town shopping." She pulled her hand out of her bag to show him two metal spikes and passed them to Jack.
"These were found in the tires."
"Damn. You must have been followed. Did you notice anything strange, Mom?"
"Yes. There was a dark SUV that I thought had been following me to the supermarket, but he went past, so I thought nothing further about it."
"Do you remember the license plate number?"
"Yes. It was a Colorado tag, P52941." Jack pulled out his cell phone and pressed couple of numbers.
"Jack, it was a Ford."
"Thanks Mom... Walter, find out who owns a black SUV, Papa 52941... Yep, I want to know as soon as I get back... thanks." Then he hung up.
"Will you be ok now, Mom?"
"Yes, Son, we better get home before the ice cream melts." Connor's eyes lit up.
"Cookies and cream, Grandma?" She laughed.
"Yes, that and chocolate." Connor grinned.
"Thanks. Mom, if you notice someone tailing you, or if you see anyone strange around the house, call me right away."
"I will, Son. Come on, Connor, let's go. We can do whatever you want until dinner, since Charlie and Grace are away at school."
"That sounds like fun, but I miss them already, Grandma. And, you know what? We won't have to worry about them taking apart the microwave and the toaster!" he said as they walked away. She laughed and pulled him in for a hug.
"Those two are so much like your mother."
"What about Dad?"
"Oh, him too, no wonder I'm going gray," she said laughing. Jack shook his head and turned to Mr. Ross.
"You don't want to know," Jack said.
"How old are Charlie and Grace?"
"That's right, you're new here. They graduated last spring, at the age of fourteen."
"Oh, yes. I do recall hearing about them."
"I better go and see what my team has found. It was nice to meet you."
"You, too, General." Jack walked over to the uniformed men. "Find anything?"
"Yes, Sir. There's oil from where the van was sitting and several cigarette butts," Colonel Dixon said, as he lifted up the bag that contained a butt.
"Are you sure it's from the van?"
"Yes, Sir. Look behind you, Sir." Jack turned to see the No Smoking sign on the fence.
"Very good. Are you finished here?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Good. Let's head back to the Base. Donna, you did well."
"Thank you, General." Dave gave his wife a kiss.
"Come on, Dixon, you can finish your smooching when you get home."
Donna and Dave grinned as he got into the HUMVEE and gave his wife a wave before they drove away. On the way back to the base, Dave filled Jack in on what Donna had told him and what the person looked like.
When they arrived at the base, Jack went down to his office. As he walked in, Walter was behind him.
"General, here's the info on that license plate." He passed Jack a sheet of paper.
"Thanks, Walter." Jack sat down and looked at the info. He wasn't surprised to find that the plate number belonged to an entirely different vehicle, which had been reported stolen a couple of days earlier, in Denver.
However, he was hoping for some clue to determine who was in that van trying to kidnap his son. He knew he would have to tell Sam but she wasn't due home until the next day, so he had some time to decide how to tell her and to ask the President to authorize security for Grace and Charlie. He knew Sam would be upset, but things would go much better if he had some answers for her.
That night he got a phone call from a stranger who told him that the incident with Connor had been a warning, and that the only way to keep his family safe would be for him to resign from the SGC. His response was not what they were wanting. "You know what? You people have gone too far. As soon as I know who you are, I'll be coming after you, so don't you try to threaten me or any of my family ever again. And I am not going to retire from the SGC, you got that?" Jack said in his commanding general tone.
"You've been warned, General."
"So have you!" Jack hung up, then he called the SGC. He spoke to the head of the Security Forces. They had made a plan to monitor Jack's home and cell phones, in hopes there would be some kind of contact that could be traced.
"Sorry, General. They used a scrambler."
"Ok, thanks anyway, Sergeant."
The next day, when SG1 returned, Jack went to greet them just as he normally did. He dismissed them for their showers and post mission exams. However, he held Sam back until the others were gone.
"Jack, what is it?"
"The NID tried to take Connor, yesterday, and they phoned me last night." Sam's eyes widened in fear.
"Connor?"
"He's a smart boy. He ran to Donna Dixon, and she called me immediately."
"Just like what happened to Uncle George."
"Yeah. I'll tell you more about it later."
"Bring it up at the briefing, Jack. I think the whole team would want to help, and they would be upset if we didn't tell them."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Ok."
Author's Notes: Feed back, yes please
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