Page 5 of Yankee in the Wind

Jack must have stared at the walls, because Fox said, “It’s a special paint. It shields the room and its equipment from being eavesdropped on.”

“Hey, guys.”

Jack pivoted and saw the woman who’d let him into the house come up from under one of the computer consoles, a few computer cables in her hand.

“So, I guess that means the new guy is kosher?” she asked.

“Jack, meet Phoebe. She’s my fiancée,” Ace said.

Jack raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected his fellow precognitive to have a private life. “Nice to meet you, Phoebe.” Involuntarily, his gaze drifted to her belly again. Yes, she was definitely pregnant, though he had no idea how far along she was.

“You can stop staring now, Jack,” Ace said from next to him.

Jack lifted his hands in a show of surrender. “Sorry if I stared, it’s just… ahm… I’m surprised.”

Phoebe chuckled. “Yeah, that makes two of us. And if we don’t find the people who’re coming after the Stargate agents in the next four months, I’m gonna have to give birth to this baby out of wedlock.”

Jack cast a look at Ace but didn’t say anything.

Ace held his gaze. “We can’t exactly get married while people are after us. It’s too risky. If anybody found the marriage license, they would have a way of tracking us.”

“Makes sense,” Jack said, even though he kept his mouth shut so as not to say what he really thought: that it was foolish to be in a serious relationship and bring a child into this world while being hunted by the people who killed Henry Sheppard and sent his agents running for their lives.

But he also knew that Fox was in a relationship too. And a serious one at that. Jack had met Michelle only a week earlier. “Is Michelle here too?”

Fox nodded. “Yeah. Where is she, Phoebe?”

“Somewhere in the attic. It’s something about a line she has to run to bypass whatever… so that the servers run faster,” Phoebe replied. “You know I don’t speak tech.”

“Somebody looking for me?”

Jack recognized Michelle’s voice immediately. He looked over his shoulder and saw her enter the room. Her dark clothes were dusty, and there was a cobweb in her hair.

“Oh, hey, Yankee, you made it,” she said, while Fox plucked the cobweb out of her hair. “Ew! The attic is so dusty. I hope that was the last time I have to go up there.”

“I would’ve done it, if you’d told me,” Fox said.

“Nah, it’s not a problem. You had other things to do.” She looked at Jack. “Is anybody hungry?”

Several replied in the affirmative.

“Okay, Phoebe and I will throw something together in the kitchen, and let you guys get on with it,” Michelle said.

“Thanks, babe,” Fox said.

When the two women left the room and shut the door behind them, Jack tipped his chin toward Ace and Fox. “So you guys all live here? Like in a commune?”

“Definitely not,” Fox said.

“Only Phoebe and I live here,” Ace replied. “On the second floor. But there are several guest rooms, in case Fox and Michelle can’t go home for whatever reason. If you need a place to crash, you can stay here.”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t wanna cramp your style. I’ve got a secure place in D.C. It’s not luxurious like here, but it’s safe.”

Ace motioned to a large desk, and they sat down around it. “Well then, let’s figure out what to do next.”

Meanwhile Fox pulled a laptop closer and logged in. Moments later, he’d pulled up a document and sent it to a larger screen on the wall.

Ace pointed to it. “This is the list Fox managed to get off the servers at Langley. These are the details on thirty-two Stargate agents. We can take several off the list: the three of us, as well as Zulu and Echo.”