Chapter Three: 'Not again…'
Sheppard paled as he heard Colonel Carter's worried voice on the radio;
"You'd better come to earth, Colonel Sheppard. Something's definitely wrong."
He turned to Woolsey, whose face had just drained of colour.
"What happened?" Sheppard asked, failing to hide the worry in his voice.
"We're not sure, but we need you here. And the rest of your team."
The three worried soldiers didn't bother with packing, choosing to go to Earth then and there. Mr Woolsey made them change first, into relatively normal earth gear, and then they were allowed to go. As they stepped through the wormhole, a whole load of scenario's waltzed through John's head, dancing to the tune of worry.
What if he got hurt?
What if he died?
What if they, his team, should have been there?
He shook his head. Whatever had happened, they couldn't have known.
And so, they stepped into the Stargate, heading for home.
xxxxXXxxxx
The grey walls of the SGC welcomed them home. Colonel Carter and General O'Neill were waiting at the bottom of the metal ramp. Carter's face held barely concealed worries, whereas the General's face was displaying no emotion at all, something that made Sheppard shiver. When O'Neill wasn't happy or sarcastic, something was wrong.
Teyla, Ronon and John were lead to concrete briefing room, where they were told to sit at the large rectangular table and wait while the General and the Colonel got a few thing sorted out. Sheppard's worried face made Teyla reach across to his hand and say, in a gentle voice, like one would speak to a child;
"I am sure it is fine."
Her face said differently.
John wondered how she kept so calm, and hid her worry so well.
Seriously, he thought. Whatever she uses, I need some.
Carter and O'Neill settled down at the table and Carter began to speak.
"Well, McKay's not at his house. Because, well, his house got raided by a load of ex-military soldiers about an hour ago."
Sheppard froze.
"What?"
"The neighbours say that everything was fine, until 1000 hours, when someone blew up the back wall of McKay's house and raided it."
The room fell silent with only Carter's concerned voice filling the space.
"Then, apparently, he ran out of the house, and they started firing at him. But," She paused. "He wasn't alone."
"Wasn't alone? There was someone with him?" Teyla said, worry hidden in her tone of voice.
O'Neill spoke up. "Yeah. Some girl, looked about sixteen, apparently."
Ronon was bothered by the information. "What the hell happened…..?"
The General tilted his head slightly. A flicker of a smile crept onto his face.
"I just wanna know who the girl was." Carter shot him a look. "Well, it's a good question, and you know me. Always the curious little scout."
Sheppard looked down at his tense hands and furrowed his brow, ideas zooming through his mind. What had McKay gone and done this time? God, he was getting into trouble right left and centre nowadays. What had he done to make a load of ex-military personnel raid his house and fire at him? And who was the girl? She had to be involved somehow.
He leant back and sighed, putting his hand over his eyes to shield them from the harsh light of the bulbs on the ceiling. He dragged it slowly down his face, the cold feeling of apprehension filling him. He looked over at Carter, who looked equally worried, fiddling with her long blonde hair, and at Teyla, who did the same with her caramel brown locks. Ronon's face was meant to be unreadable, but John could see he was worried. And General O'Neill looked as serious as he could. Aka like he still found something amusing, but wasn't quite sure how he would react.
Then, a man walked into the room, a man dressed in a blue maintenance uniform, who whispered something to Colonel Carter and handed her a tape. Her eyes widened.
"We've got something here. Looks like intelligence got a call a few minutes ago, one that concerned McKay."
Sheppard exchanged a look with Ronon and Teyla.
Carter slotted the cassette into a machine in the corner of the room and clicked play.
"Hello, this is Cheyenne Mountain, who are you?"
They could hear cries and squealing wheels in the background, as well as a loud techno tune that they assumed came from the radio of the car.
"Thank god! Look, I'm Doctor Rodney McKay, and this goddamned woman has just- pszzzzpzzz!"
The phone was filled with static for a few seconds, and then they heard rubber screeches and a short cry from McKay.
"You gotta help me for god's sake! She's a maniac and-"
"SAMUEL! PUT THE PHONE DOWN! NOW!"
It was a loud voice, a voice they hadn't heard before. Definitely female and possessing a power that made you want to obey
"A gun?! Seriously?! For the love of go-"
There was a single gunshot, and the phone went dead. They could hear the operator try to establish contact, but the tape ended when he gave up.
The colour drained from Sheppard's face.
The room was void of noise.
"Ok. That is not good." Said the General, worry finally creeping onto his face.
xxxxXXxxxx
The phone flew out of Rodney's hand, and he cried out. The bullet had missed him, and hit the mobile, wrenching it out of his hand. He clutched his wrist, biting back insults. He felt his stomach lurch again, and the car came to a sudden stop. He rubbed his shoulder with his good hand, and heard the door open behind him. He was pulled out by the collar, yelping.
Cammie stared down at him, her eyes wild and began to drag him, ignoring his thrashing.
He looked around, and with a shock, saw that they were in a field, full of waving corn and a few startled farmers. The occasional cow stared back at them. The sky was bright blue, when the weather had been forecast as rain, and had been grey in the morning. He gave up struggling and let himself be dragged over the rocks and mud, wondering where the field had come from.
I live in a city, don't I? There aren't any farms for about 145 miles. We were only driving for an hour, but even at 70mph, how did we get here? He thought, his scientific mind jumping around, trying to figure out what was going on.
Eventually, after ten minutes of pondering, he couldn't stand it anymore.
"Let me stand, goddammit!"
Cammie stopped and let his head thud to the ground.
"Get up." She ordered, her voice tinged with a dark anger.
He obeyed, standing up quickly. His hand, his shoulder, and now his head too, throbbed with pain. His ankle stung where a bullet had grazed it. As the pair made their way to a unknown destination, leaving the wrecked orange car in the car of the bewildered farmers, Rodney sighed, and was about to start complaining, when he saw the fully loaded gun in Cammie's hand. He didn't say anything.
The field melded into trees, and eventually, after hours of trekking through woods, they had arrived.
xxxxXXxxxx
"What do you mean, 'they got away'?!"
Outterridge hid behind his chair as the leader flew into a full blown tantrum. Not that Outterridge would tell that to his face. The leader had an anger problem, best described as a 'childlike tantrum complex'. That's what Guillory had said anyway. But, then again, Guillory had ended up dead. So Outterridge kept his mouth shut. After all, Guillory had been a vice commander, and Outterridge was only a techie. He shuddered, thinking what would happen to him if the leader knew what he was thinking.
He quickly glanced at Alves, who lurked in a corner, smirking. He knew what Outterridge was thinking. He knew what everyone was thinking.
The leader calmed down for a few minutes to catch his breath.
"Now, Outterridge, remember this; I keep you here only because of your useful… abilities. Now, if I choose, I could get rid of you in a heartbeat. Understand?"
David Outterridge nodded quickly.
"Now, everyone." The leader gestured to the screens on the opposite wall and they flickered on, revealing six shadowed faces.
Jareth's cold blue eyes were the only ones visible.
"We will find them, understand? If we don't, and the remnants of the Jasmine Project are sewn back together… We will all fall. Now, go."
The leader leaned back in his chair.
"And don't fail me."
xxxxXXxxxx
Sam was confused.
Now this didn't happen very often, and when it did, she usually had an annoying bunch of scientists to help her.
But, the main annoying scientist was in trouble, and the readings on the Stargate were all mixed up. She was alone on this one. It felt like she was offworld, in a life or death situation, with no one to help her, and the clock ticking abnormally fast. Her heart was beating a little too often for her liking. The adrenaline didn't help. There was no reason to feel like it; after all she had been in worse situations.
But she suddenly felt so alone.
John Sheppard felt the same way. He felt empty, as if the constant, nagging, voice of Rodney McKay was necessary for his normal functions to take place. But, unlike Sam, he had a real friend on the line. To Sam, he was a fellow scientist, and she had known him for longer, but what she didn't realise was that he had changed. A lot. He was still nervous, paranoid, condescending and annoying, but he had a new kind of friendly quality to him, a quality that made Sheppard both confident in his friend and worried for his safety. Sheppard sighed, walking up to Carter.
"What's going on, Colonel?"
Carter looked up from the console, her face in a frown and began to explain.
"The Stargate records wormholes, right? Well, the 'Gate says that there were five wormholes opened in the time span of an hour, at about 1000-1100 hours. But it makes no sense, because the only wormholes we opened in that time span were the two wormholes to and from Atlantis. It makes absolutely no sense."
"Maybe a malfunction?"
"The computer's pretty sure."
"Hmmm…" Sheppard began to think, knowing he was useless when it came to this sort of thing, anyway.
"So, um…" He began. "Why is the General here?"
Sam pulled a face and rolled her eyes.
Sheppard stared at the Stargate for a few minutes, before the pair were called back to the briefing room.
Carter and Sheppard walked in hurriedly.
"What you got?"
xxxxXXxxxx
The office was quiet.
The walls were painted a sky blue, and the floor was also blue, of a deeper shade. Officer Simon Jefferson leaned back in his chair, grinning. He put his big booted feet up on the plastic desk, next to the two cups of coffee, knowing that Charles would kill him if he knew.
He heard a cough from behind him.
Speak of the devil, he thought.
He swung round, his grin widening. Charles glared back at him.
He held out the second cup of coffee, and Charles stormed past, snatching it up with a venomous glare. Jefferson knew he would get over it. He always did, that Charles.
Charles Griffin seated himself at the other desk, pulling a huge pile of finished paperwork towards himself, and checking it through. Jefferson pulled his pile of (un)finished paperwork towards himself and smiled. Charles was gonna kill him for not finishing it.
"You haven't done it, have you?"
"Nope."
Charles groaned. Jefferson knew he was about to go off on one, when the screen in front of them beeped, and a picture flew onto the screen.
Jefferson sat up. "My god… Who's searching her?"
Griffin snatched up his phone, and hit a bunch of numbers.
"What should I tell them?"
"Stargate Command... is searching for I.D on the Project. We need to find out why now. And tell him that Jasmine 2 is active again. Now!"
xxxxXXxxxx
Sheppard stared at the television screen, on which a strange scene was unfolding.
It was a CCTV camera's view of the square outside Rodney's house, where he could see one of the neighbours putting out the trash, in fast forward motion. Suddenly, the set stopped fast forwarding, and began to play normally. Sheppard saw the edge of the explosion at the back of Rodney's house, then seconds later, saw a small woman burst through the front door, dragging a startled Rodney behind her. Bits of debris flew everywhere.
The woman who had been putting out her garbage screamed, and Rodney, who seemed to be shocked, started running. Sheppard saw the woman pull out a gun and start firing expertly at the soldiers, who were chasing the two across the screen. The woman pushed Rodney into a bright orange car, got in the driver's side and sped off, taking the somewhat helpless scientist with her.
The tape rewound at a push of the button, and froze on the girl's face.
Teyla, Carter, Ronon, Sheppard and O'Neill studied the face intensely.
She had a curved face, with large glossy eyes that were narrowed in an angry scowl. She fit the voice perfectly.
"We're searching the databases for this girl, but we've got nothing so far." Admitted Carter, handing the remote back to the technician. "It seems she's- Yes?" Carter held the mobile to her ear, and her face changed to one of slight hope. "Ok," She continued. They've got a hit on the girl, and they're beaming in two agents we have to speak to about her. Apparently, she's wanted by quite a lot of people."
Two columns of beaming light appeared, leaving behind two men, with serious faces.
xxxxXXxxxx
Rodney gawked at the size of the cave.
It was hidden away in a little section of mountain, covered by bushes. Rodney wouldn't have noticed it if Cammie had not told him to pull the branches away. And now they were inside, Rodney could see the sheer size of it. It reached up farther than the eye could see. Brown rock stretching up for miles. The section in front of them was filled with chairs, tables and computers, with a few pillows and such thrown in. It was a mess.
Rodney sighed and went to sit down, tired after so much walking.
He froze as a knife curved round his neck and settled on his throat.
"Not again…" He muttered.
Like it? I hope you do. I love cliff-hangers. ^_^