Lorne and his team were disheveled and out of breath but all present and accounted for, with one exception, when Sheppard ran into the gate room followed closely by Weir. It was an exception they immediately noted and the colonel bore down on Lorne. "Where's McKay?"
The major shook his head. "He was taken. A raiding party came through the gate…"
Sheppard's face drained of color. "Wraith? Genii?" He had Lorne by the shoulders and was shaking him. "Who took McKay?"
Weir put a hand on Sheppard's shoulder. "Take it easy, colonel." He dropped his hands and she nodded to Lorne. "Go on, major."
"The people at the colony said they're called Malosians. They're…" Lorne hesitated, then went on softly, "They're slave traders. We were able to fight them off and they retreated back through the gate, but they got Dr McKay."
Sheppard clenched his fists. "How the hell did that happen? And just what was he doing with you in the first place?"
"I don't know why he wanted to come along. He's the top scientist, if he says he wants to tag along, I'm not going to tell him no," said Lorne defensively. "It was kind of strange, though." The major frowned. "When we got there, he took off. I wanted him to stay with us but he said he needed some time alone." He met Sheppard's eyes squarely. "I told him if anything happened to him you would have my head on a stick and he said…" Lorne faltered, then went on resolutely. "He said he doubted you would notice he was gone unless there was a disaster Dr Zelenka couldn't fix."
Sheppard felt a jar go through him, like a blow before the pain is felt. Everybody was looking at him and he took a step back, trying to think. He hadn't seen McKay since before talking to Cameron Mitchell, and he'd been upset after that conversation and needed some time alone. It was why he hadn't gone to see the Odyssey off, and hadn't heard about McKay's offworld trip. Now he struggled to form a coherent sentence. "Did he...did he say anything else?"
Lorne shook his head and Weir asked, "John, did you have some kind of falling out with Rodney?"
"No! No, but…does anyone know where McKay was a couple of hours ago?"
"I sent him to get you," said Weir. "I wanted to go over the mission reports from the last month before they went back to Earth on the Odyssey. I just had a couple of questions, but he never found you."
"I was right there in the conference room with Colonel Mitchell. It's possible..." Sheppard swallowed hard. "McKay might have misunderstood something I said." He saw the question in all their faces and raised a hand. "I'm not going to go over everything Mitchell and me talked about. What's important now is retrieving our man." The colonel stuck his hands in his pockets to hide their trembling. He would have thought by now the scientist was over his insecurity, at least where their friendship was concerned, but there had been some real tension between them after McKay blew up a solar system. It had taken time for him to regain Sheppard's trust, and now the colonel felt sick as he realized McKay still doubted himself, still doubted the bond between them. His jaw tightened. When he got McKay back, and he was going to get McKay back, he was going to get it in the scientist's stubborn head that he was irreplaceable if he had to pound it in with a hammer. "Elizabeth, I assume I have a go?"
She nodded. "Of course. Get him back, John."
