Sentinel Code by Legion (NC17)

[stargatesg1971.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE SENTINEL, NCIS
Pairings: Jim/Blair
Characters: Jim Ellison, Blair Sandburg, Dr Mallard, Jethro Gibbs, OMC
Length: 24516 words
Author on LJ: Unknown
Author Website: Legions Archive
Why this must be read: For the details and plotline alone.

Summary: When Jim and Blair break into a secure national facility to review Jim’s file, they discover a lot more than they bargained for.

If you enjoy reading a story that delves deeper into the Sentinel/Guide scenario then this is a great read for you. It’s a well written, plot driven story that takes Jim and Blair on a voyage of discovery and enlightenment, where Sentinel and Guide work together to unravel the sensory clues left behind for them. Along the way their paths cross with a greed driven man who for nefarious reasons, seems determined to follow them to discover what he believes to be, a ‘hidden’ treasure.

Please be aware that while this story *is* a crossover with NCIS its primary focal point is The Sentinel; in the grand scheme of things NCIS plays a relatively small, but cruical role.


****

Stealing silently past the dozing guard at the desk, Blair following in his slipstream with practiced ease, Jim frowned, annoyed for reasons that had little to do with breaking into a secure national facility. He led the way down the long, empty hall to the storage area they needed, dodging the surveillance cameras with hardly any effort. The keypad for the lock wasn't a challenge, either, and in moments they were inside, flipping on the lights with impunity because he knew what the guard's routine was to the minute and would have heard him coming in any case.

Though Jim stood motionless for a moment, running through his senses to be sure their intel wasn't wrong about the security measures inside the room, Blair eagerly leaped for the nearest file cabinet. It only took him a moment's study of the outside labels to understand the system used to organize the records, and then he was off, running down the row to the one they needed. It was locked, too, of course, but they had acquired a key earlier that day without much more difficulty than they had had getting inside in the first place.

Jim watched him from the door, resisting the urge to grumble at him to hurry. "This was just too easy."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Blair said, mind clearly on his gloved fingertips as they sorted through folder tabs. "Military service records might have sensitive information in them, but for the most part, I'd say it's hardly worth the trouble to steal those for retired or inactive personnel, like the ones stored here. Anything really useful probably isn't kept with them, but is indexed in another file in another location altogether. We already know the top secret stuff is blacked out from these."

"It's the principle of the thing. This is a federal building housing official government documents. Damn near any punk off the street could have gotten in here without any trouble. It only took us a day to scope this place out well enough to break in."

"Well, why… ah!" Blair triumphantly held up one folder. "Got it."

Joining him as Blair flipped through the sheets, Jim scanned the documents over his shoulder, shaking his head almost immediately. "Same as the one Kelso turned up for me when we wondered why the press didn't use my military service to hype up the feeding frenzy over Sid's publicity release. It's right, but not accurate. It's been changed, Chief."

"Your duty in Peru has been so sanitized, it's not hard for me to see the discrepancies, but I think it would take someone pretty familiar with your past to spot them." Slowing his perusal, Blair reflectively tapped the paper. "Bracket bragged when we officially questioned him that he took all your official files from the CIA and whoever as part of his plan to sell you to the highest bidder when he was done with you. We can only hope that dossier is as well hidden as he claimed, maybe even destroyed in the cleanup after his death. Could he be the one that fixed this?"

Without thinking, Jim took the file from him to do a more intense study, and was immediately hit with a fragrance far too complex and detailed to be simply called a smell. It brought to mind images from his years in college, playing on the football team, his time at boot camp, his team in the Rangers before the crash in Peru. Camaraderie, his memories whispered. Team, unity, brotherhood. Brotherhood.

"Not Bracket. Another sentinel has handled this," Jim murmured, holding the paper closer to his face to inhale the scent more deeply. "Not recently, but likely the last person to hold it."

Blair tried unsuccessfully to snatch the folder away from him, stopped only by Jim's upheld hand. Face pale and eyes wide, looking huge because of the black cap covering his curls, he turned his palm up beseechingly. "You were right; it was too easy. This has to be a trap of some sort."

Choosing his words carefully through the bombardment of sensory impressions, Jim said, "It's not like Barnes. There's no madness, no fury or hatred being forced on me. It's... it's welcoming. An invitation, not a demand or taunt."

Curiosity clearly getting the better of him, Blair ran his thumb over the spine of the folder. "A different lure, maybe?"

With a look around the room, Jim considered what he could sense. "This is an insulated, climate-controlled environment; not much in the way of air currents. I can tell that only a few people have moved through here at all in months, if not years. And none of them stopped at this cabinet. The other sentinel has to have known for some time where I am, how to get to me if he felt the need, and he had no reason to anticipate when I'd discover the tampering, if I did at all."

"Point." Blair worried at his lower lip with his teeth for a second, but apparently had to ask. "Can you pick up anything else? Maybe he left a clue behind for you as to who he is in case you did. That is, if you're sure of the, ah, intent behind the trace left for you."

"Not sure; just telling what I'm getting." Despite the clipped tone, Jim examined the file thoroughly, stopping several times when he caught a stronger whiff of scent. "Brother. He keeps tagging that word. And some numbers." He recited them for Blair, along with a few letters that always followed.

Barely able to hold in his excitement, Blair took off for another row in the long lines of cabinets. "That's a code for another file; one a lot older!"

( Sentinel Code )