Page 49 of Yankee in the Wind

“I’m coming with you too,” Lilly said.

Jack whipped his head toward her. “No, not happening.”

“But you just heard Michelle. There are plenty of Kevlar vests for everybody. And you’re letting Michelle come.”

Jack ground his teeth. “That’s not my decision. It’s Michelle and Fox’s.”

“And this is mine,” Lilly said firmly. “I’m a doctor, and Tiger may need medical assistance. You have no idea what condition he’s in.”

“And what makes you think you do?” Jack growled. “You said yourself not too long ago, that it’s been years since you dealt with patients.”

“That doesn’t mean that I can’t detect what symptoms someone has and what they mean. We might not have a lot of time to help Tiger. Or are you gonna drive him to the hospital once you free him?”

Jack remained silent, as did his fellow Stargate agents. He knew full well that going to a hospital to seek treatment meant exposing themselves to their enemies.

“Well, that’s what I thought,” Lilly said after a few seconds of silence.

“We’ll bring him back here,” Jack said, even though he knew he’d already lost this battle with Lilly. She was no pushover, but then, had he really expected to win this argument?

“Not good enough. I’m coming with you.”

Ace and Fox suddenly exchanged a look and chuckled.

“You’re not gonna back me up, are you?” Jack asked them. When they shook their heads, Jack looked at Lilly. “You’ll stay outside the building, until I ask you to come inside. Is that clear?”

Lilly nodded. “Crystal.”

“Okay,” Ace said, taking charge. “Let’s roll.”

24

The facility Smith had transferred the machinery to after abandoning the one in Great Falls was located in a wooded area outside of Manassas, Virginia. The drive should only have taken an hour and fifteen minutes, but an accident on the freeway resulted in a long delay. The detour they’d been forced to take had added almost another hour to their trip. By the time they arrived at their destination, it was fifteen minutes to five.

Ace had been driving, with Jack riding shotgun. Michelle, who sat in the back of the van with Fox, Lilly, and a laptop, had been keeping them apprised of what was going on in the vicinity of the building. Everybody in the car was wearing a Kevlar vest and was equipped with earpieces so that they could communicate easily once in the building.

“There’s definitely something going on,” Michelle said now as they stopped about five-hundred yards away.

Jack turned in the passenger seat and looked at Michelle. “Can you tell if they have surveillance cameras around the building?”

“It’s hard to see on the satellite image, but let’s assume there are cameras to warn them about anybody approaching,” Michelle said.

“We need to take them out,” Jack said.

“Easier said than done,” Michelle said. “Problem is if I cut the power to the facility, they’ll know we’re coming.”

“We’d better keep that in our back pocket,” Ace interjected, then looked at Jack. “How good of a shot are you?”

“Good enough,” Jack said, understanding what Ace was planning. “Michelle, how many entrances are we looking at?”

“One in the front, one in the back, plus the loading dock.”

Michelle turned the laptop for everybody to see as she pointed out the spots on the grainy satellite image.

“We have to assume they have cameras at all three entries. If we can get a clear shot at them, taking all cameras out at the same time, they might think that it’s just a technical glitch,” Jack mused.

“Okay,” Ace said, “we can do that. We’ll have to use the silencers and approach on foot through the woods.”

“Let’s do it,” Jack agreed. “Fox?”