crossoverfic | [FIC] Transient Reality (Part 8)

Part 8 of my Stargate SG-1 (Mini!Jack)/Tomorrow People crossover is now ready for reading. Previous parts can be found in the Memories section.

Transient Reality – Part 8

Santian Corporation turned out to be as complete of a dead-end lead as MB first suspected. The address of record for Santian Corporation was actually a deserted warehouse decorated by a For Sale sign that apparently was hanged there so long ago that it was beginning to rust. The building boasted several broken windows, a family of feral cats and a smell that Kevin revealed MB should "simply be grateful you're not here to experience it."

Ami described the malodorous environment in far more colorful and agitated terms, not the least of which included a mini-rant questioning whether she would ever be able to get the smell out of her clothes and hair with repeated showers that would probably cause her water and gas bill to skyrocket. Her other thought was that perhaps she should just burn the clothes and be done with it, followed with a lament on how much she really did like the boots she was wearing today.

River summed it up with a simple, "It smells like shit in here, man."

Confirming that the warehouse was a complete and total red herring, MB continued to plug away at various systems to locate more information on the "who" behind Santian Corporation. Kevin, Ami and River left the warehouse in favor of Taiphani Island and the well-hidden millennia old alien spacecraft that served as a safe haven for their kind to perform a "mind merge," or psychic scan for Katie with a few of the others.

While his friends and fellow Tomorrow Person probed for the elusive psychic signature of one kidnapped and clearly unconscious seventeen-year-old American red head girl, MB plugged away at the layers of camouflage used to hide where Santian Corporation came from. And, more importantly, where it had gone to and why anyone attached to that phantom corporation would want to kidnap a Tomorrow Person. As information scrolled across his computer monitor and downloaded to his laptop and a secured safe drive that he had created for himself, MB thought that he was having more luck than the others.

Without giving it a conscious thought, he turned his attention to the security camera hidden behind the drywall of his office, his mind and thoughts working to examine and pull apart the circuitry and re-programming the system to loop back on itself. Now, rather than recording it would continually play the same footage of MB diligently at work. That accomplished, his attention returned to his computer delving and the tampering with the camera fading to the back of his mind even as the familiar static and energy build up began in the air around him.

"Nothing?" MB asked, still not turning around.

"Not a bloody thing," Ami was annoyed and in his mind's eye, MB could see her shaking her head in frustration. "That was after we went back to the warehouse area."

That got his attention. He glanced over his shoulder, acknowledging Kevin with a brief nod. "You went back?"

Kevin leaned against the edge of the desk and folded his arms across his chest. "While the others were scanning for Katie, Ami and I thought we'd take another look around the warehouse –"

"For all the good that it did." Ami leaned over his shoulder. "It certainly looks like you haven't been idle."

"I might have gotten a few leads on the true origins of Santian Corporation."

MB felt, rather than saw, Kevin perk up at that. "What might you have gotten?"

"You're going to love this." MB swiveled around in his chair to face his friends. "Santian Corporation doesn't exist."

Ami and Kevin exchanged quick glances and looked back at him, quite unimpressed. [You've already told us that,] they said in unison.

"Yeah, way to jump the gun you two. Just let me explain before you start making assumptions, all right?" MB looked from one to the other, waiting for an objection. When none was forthcoming, he continued. "Santian Corporation was a dummy corporation. There are tons of them out there and they're used for everything from money laundering to drug imports to bankrolling accounts for embezzlers. But there is always something that points back to the original corporation: tax records, invoices, and receipts, that sort of thing. It may take some digging to find it, but it can be done.

"Santian isn't like that. There was nothing more to this place than a false address and registered van. No bank accounts, no tax records, no bankruptcy records, absolutely nothing. What that tells me is that someone with a lot of money and a lot of connections, or maybe both, went through a lot of effort to hide Santian Corporation from the public sector. They even hid it from a vast majority of the private and security sectors. I'm betting that the FBI wouldn't be able to find the origins of this company unless they all ready knew where to look and what to look for."

Kevin pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "MB, that's … interesting . . . but what does it have to do --"

"With finding Katie?" MB interrupted. "More than you think. See, Kev, this type of hiding isn't done just for the heck of it. This type is deep. We're talking that someone with security did this, high security. Someone very well connected with the powers to make this type of thing happen. And someone with that kind of connection would have a very good chance of knowing about Tomorrow People from anything left behind by the SIA."

MB watched Kevin visibly flinch and stand up straighter. The relaxed demeanor vanished, replaced by rolling tension. "There aren't any SIA files left." It wasn't a question.

Ami hadn't had the pleasure of being 'acquainted' with Colonel Masters, Professor Galt and the SIA, but she knew enough about what happened before she broke out to also come to full attention. "I thought you said that WorldEx and the NID completely obliterated SIA."

"They did, but as much as we might not want to consider it, there's always the possibility that some information is still out there. Lady Mulvaney died about five years ago, but Masters and Galt are still alive, even if they are imprisoned. And one thing I've learned from working at WorldEx, these underground shadow agencies aren't as small or insignificant as the first world governments want us to think."

Kevin considered it. "You think that we're dealing with one of these secret organizations?"

"I'm sure of it."

"Then why Katie?" Kevin prompted. "Why not me? Why not you or Lisa?"

"Accessibility," MB answered without thought. "As far as the free world knows, Lisa Davis and her mother dropped off the face of the earth almost ten years ago. They don't know to look for Alyssa Michaels. There was never any proof that I was a 'teleporter' and even if someone found something recently the fact that I work for WorldEx and my father is one of the big higher ups is going to make them at least think twice about coming after me."

"But why not me?" Kevin repeated.

"Katie was easier to access," Ami supplied the answer. "You're too aware, too in tune to everything around you. You probably would have noticed if you were being followed or watched."

"You think this was planned?"

"It would have to have been, Kevin. We can't contact Katie. We've all tried and we're doing nothing but hitting a brick wall. Even if she was accidentally knocked out, we'd have some sense of her by now, you know that. But we don't have anything. It's as though she is being deliberately hidden from us.

"And as horribly frightening as it sounds, anyone who knows how to hide one of us that well, knows they what they were looking for and knew when they found it." Ami's bitterness and disgust were palatable as she wound down her explanation, folding her arms across her chest and staring off at some point on the floor to avoid eye contact with either of the men in the room.

Reaching out, MB placed a hand on her arm and gave it a comforting squeeze. He focused all the reassurance that he could through that tactile contact while keeping focused on the matter at hand. "I do have one final lead. I don't think we should get our hopes up, but it's certainly worth checking out.

"The best I could do to track Santian Corporation was to link it to one of its original investors, Carey Lawhorne."

Kevin blinked in surprise. "The pharmaceutical man?"

Now it was both MB and Ami's turn to mirror Kevin's surprise. MB shook his head, "I am not even going to ask how you knew that."

"Useless trivia," Kevin shrugged modestly.

"Not so useless anymore," Ami remarked quietly, then asked, "But so I'm not the only one without a clue, who is Carey Lawhorne?"

"The heir apparent to one of the largest pharmaceutical corporations in the US," MB punched in a few keystrokes in the computer, bringing up a full dossier on one Carey Elias Lawhorne III. A tap and click later and the file began printing out on the printer in the corner. "You can read all about him on our way to ask him a few questions. He lives right in Denver, practically your backyard. You know, if your backyard was the size of the state of Colorado."

"Not to be Mr. Pessimistic here but, MB, how are we going to get an appointment with the man, never mind get him to answer our questions about Katie's disappearance?"

"Because a man like Carey Lawhorne is not going to turn aside three WorldEx agents showing up on his doorstep on a Saturday afternoon." MB scooped the papers up from the printer tray and passed them off to Ami. "It's a public relations nightmare to be investigated by WorldEx."

"And where and how exactly are you planning on getting three agents to go along with this?"

"Kev, pay close attention. I'm only going to say this once." MB's face broke into a big grin. "We are the agents. Welcome to WorldEx."

~ End of Part 8 ~