WAITING

By Enola Jones



She sat in the holding cell, waiting for her interrogators to return. She had done all they had asked her to do, and it had not been enough.

When Beckett had been killed, the IOA saw that as their chance to plant a mole in Atlantis. Filling the position of CMO, the mole could ingratiate themselves to the senior staff while at the same time gathering information and sowing dissent among them.

Jennifer Keller had been chosen because of her beauty and her youth. She projected a sense of innocent vulnerabilitythat would make men fall over themselves to protect her.

And it had taken months, but Jennifer had found the perfect plan. Romance. She would romance a series of people, working her way up until she was the girlfriend and maybe wife of one of the senior staff.

It was working fantastically. She was just biding her time, dating Ronon Dex and plotting her next move, when a choice oppourtunity fell into her lap.

Rodney contracted Second Childhood. He became ... childish. When he called her "pretty", she got an idea. She knew his recovery wasn't assured, but on the off chance it would happen, she set him up.

"Rodney," she asked. "If you were to tell me you loved me....how would you do it?"

He looked at her with those childlike eyes and said, "I'd say.... I'd say.....I'd say, Jennifer....there's-there's something.... I-I love you. I think I have for awhile." Then he looked up at her. "How was that?"

She smiled. "That was fine, Rodney. Just fine."

His warm, open smile squeezed at her heart for a moment. But just for a moment.

After all, she had a job to do.

As Rodney recovered, she edited the tape. When she showed it to him, it appeared to be something that came from his own mind and heart.

And that was how their romance began. But there was one thing that constantly frustrated Jennifer.

No matter how she tried, how she plotted, she could not drive a wedge between any of the members of AR-1. Especially not between Rodney and John.

When they returned to Earth, John and Rodney drove her to the airport to visit her elderly father. She had been there less than three days when two IOA agents showed up at her door, informing her that Atlantis had left without her.

Her brain whirled. How had they discovered what she was? How had they managed to defeat her?

She didn't know. And that wasn't good, because "I don't know" is not going to satisfy the IOA.

The door of her cell opened and a woman with a bag walked in. "Hello, Agent Keller," she said, opening the bag and pulling out a syringe with clear liquid. "This won't hurt but a moment."

And Jennifer swallowed, beginning to shake.

THE END?




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