Ronon jerked awake, his entire body humming with coiled tension. He froze. His senses sought signs of danger, but the air around him remained calm.
He opened his eyes, scanning as much of his room as he could see without physically moving.
Again, nothing.
He was alone.
He sat up and kicked his legs off the side of the bed. Shaking off the adrenaline rush he tried to reason out what was wrong. He rubbed his hand across the side of his jaw. Nightmare? Possibly. But those he always remembered. Right now he couldn't find any pieces of the dream other than a fading sense that it had something to do with Jennifer.
Returning to sleep would be impossible.
He stood and grabbed for his clothes. A couple laps should settle the restless energy back into its cage.
He stepped into the hallway, pausing as the door closed behind him. He listened. He looked. He waited. But despite a knot of unease coiling in his abdomen, he could sense nothing out of the ordinary.
Ronon scowled. Reaching up he twisted his dreads up away from his face then took off at a half-run. He let his legs decide the direction, not really caring where he ended up, so long as he went somewhere.
The empty corridors were dim and dark. The city herself seemed to be holding her breath. Waiting.
But waiting for what?
Ronon couldn't shake the odd feeling of disconnection. His heart was beating faster than the exercise required. He ran by two security teams, neither one paying any mind to his middle-of-the night session. They walked casually, no tension, no worry. He called out in passing, but both teams answered with an all quiet.
Several levels up from the crew quarters, Ronon approached the intersection of the gate level hallway. Right would take him to the infirmary. Left to the gate room.
He automatically shifted to the left side of the corridor, his body moving along the standard route he always took. Left to the gate room. Up to the Jumper bay. Across the catwalk. Down to the main level. Repeat until exhausted.
He eyed the corner. Left. Right. Left. Right.
He let out a low growl of dissatisfaction. Two strides from the turn he shifted and turned right towards the infirmary. Ignore your instincts and get yourself killed. Or someone else. And right now his instincts were screaming a death march across the back of his skull.
Whether anyone knew it or not… something was not right.
He was going to find out what.
John's dream of flying a bi-plane through the rockies shattered with the pounding on his door. For a brief second, he held onto both realities, mixing the knocking with a problem on his plane. As reality overpowered the dream, he realized it wasn't the engine… it was the door to his quarters.
He groaned and flipped off the covers. "Coming!" he croaked, padding barefoot across the cool marble floor. He swiped his hand over the control and retreated as the hulking shadow in his doorway moved forward.
"Ronon?" John frowned. His apprehension level spiked in reaction to the tense energy surrounding the Satedan. "What's wrong? What's going on?" He keyed the lights in the room, raising them to a low level, then turned to face Ronon.
"No one's seen Cadman or the Doc since this morning," the big man stated gruffly.
John blinked. "Um…," he rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay." The Colonel knew there was a little more to the situation between the Doc and his friend than they were letting on, but the paranoia was new. Or jealousy. Either way an upset Ronon was a dangerous Ronon.
John took a deep breath, struggling to think of an appropriate explanation. "It is Cadman we're talking about," he started. "Remember what happened the last time these two got together. Laura probably has her out—"
"Sheppard," Ronon interrupted. "No one has seen them since breakfast," he repeated slowly. "Not the control room, not the mess hall, and not Doc's patients. She missed a check in with Marie."
John straightened. That didn't sound like Jennifer—Laura's influence or not. And Laura, despite her penchant for causing a ruckus, would never step in front of Jennifer and a patient.
He glanced at his watch. Just after three. "When was she supposed to—"
"Before two a.m.."
John grabbed his BDU's and yanked the trousers on. "And you—"
"Already checked with Marie. Doc never came by."
John grabbed a crumpled pair of dirty socks off his floor. He sat on the side of the bed and pulled them on. "Did she—"
"Tried the radio. No one answered."
He stuffed his feet in his boots and quickly laced them. "Why didn't she—"
"She didn't want to interrupt her day off if she was having fun. Didn't think anything of it. It was just a check up appointment. Nothing critical."
"Doc doesn't miss appointments."
"No," Ronon stared at the Colonel. "She doesn't."
John stood and caught the t-shirt Ronon chucked at him. He yanked it over his head then reached for the com sitting on the table next to the bed.
"Doctor Keller, this is Colonel Sheppard. Come in."
There was no answer.
He followed Ronon out into the hallway. He tried several more times, requesting both Dr. Keller and Lieutenant Cadman to reply.
Silence.
Even on her days off the Doc was never without her radio. And Laura was a psychopath when it came to destruction. She'd never leave her com behind. Missing an opportunity to destroy something was a higher mental function with that woman. So if neither one would be without their radio, the remaining possibilities were limited. Malfunction. Location. Or trouble.
One of them having issues with their radio was one thing. But having both radio's malfunctioning at the same time was too much of a coincidence. And as far as John knew, Rodney had seen to it the communications system accessed ever corridor, nook and cranny throughout the entire city. So location wasn't an issue. That left option three.
They were physically unable to answer.
Walking into the infirmary, the two men were met by a concerned Marie.
"Colonel?" the nurse stepped forward.
"Dr. Keller missed a check in?" John prompted.
Marie pursed her lips. "Yes. No. I mean…well, sort of. We discussed having her double check Major Paulson's team to make sure the antibiotics were working as expected so she could up the dose if necessary. I know it's her day off and everything…" Marie glanced over her shoulder at the four men sleeping near the back of the infirmary. She turned back towards John and shrugged. "But it's not like her not to even stop by…even with Laura distracting her." Marie half smiled.
John took a deep breath. "Have you heard from her at all today? Either one of them?"
Marie shook her head.
"And she was supposed to check in with you by…?"
Marie glanced at her watch. "Over an hour ago."
"Did you try her radio?"
"Not at first," Marie glanced at Ronon, "but Ronon thought it might be a good idea." She shook her head. "She didn't answer."
"When's her next shift?" John asked.
"Tomorrow morning," Ronon answered.
Marie nodded in agreement. "You don't think there's something wrong, do you?" she asked, her eyes betraying her worry.
John shook his head. "I'm sure it's just something Laura's cooked up. She probably just got distracted."
Marie nodded slowly, but John could see she didn't believe for one minute Jennifer would let something distract her from a patient.
And neither did he.
He tipped his head towards Ronon and the two men retreated to the corridor.
"So what now?" Ronon asked as they walked towards the gate room.
John made a face. "Well, we have two choices. Wait until morning and if they're still not back, we send out a search party."
"And two?" Ronon shifted his weight, clearly not happy with option one.
"We piss of an entire city."
Ronon shrugged. "I'm good with that."
They climbed the stairs to the control room. "If these two are passed out drunk somewhere, I'm going to lock them both in the brig," he muttered.
Chuck looked up from the paperback he was reading. Seeing both the Colonel and Ronon approaching, he flipped the book onto the floor and snapped upright in his chair. "Colonel…Ronon…," he greeted.
"Patch me into the city-wide intercom." John requested. "Give me corridors and public areas only. And give me return audio?"
"Uh… sir? Yes, sir." The gate tech nodded. "You do realize—"
"Oh yeah," John muttered. "Wakey wakey!"
"Ready." Chuck nodded. Once.
John keyed his com. "Dr. Keller, this is Colonel Sheppard. I need you to respond immediately."
There were a few muted groans and one startled squeak. But Jennifer's voice did not answer.
John tried again. And then a third time. He then called on Lieutenant Cadman, who's name earned more than a few snickers from the listeners. But neither woman answered.
The Colonel turned to Chuck. "City wide," he ordered.
Chuck nodded. "Go ahead."
John took a deep breath. "This is Colonel Sheppard. I need Dr. Keller or Lieutenant Cadman to contact the control room immediately. If anyone is with, or has seen Dr. Keller or Lieutenant Cadman, please respond."
The resulting audio was a cacophony of groans and sleeppy mutters. John repeated his message. When there was no resolution, he indicated to Chuck to cut the feed. Cleared of the city-wide address system, John switched back to the military channel.
He turned towards the stairs, shadowed by Ronon. They descended the stairs double-time and cut out at a run towards the transporter.
"Meet you there," Ronon called over his shoulder. He jumped into the transporter and jabbed his finger at the map. The doors slid closed.
A moment later they re-opened, revealing the now empty transporter. John stepped in and poked the map on the lower level. "Major Lorne, this is Colonel Sheppard."
"Sir." Evan's response was fast and alert.
"Assemble the security teams and meet me in the armory."
"Already there," Evan acknowledged. "Standard sweep?"
"Standard sweep." John ordered, stepping out of the transporter and breaking into a jog. "McKay."
"No," Rodney's muttered reply was curt and brisk.
"Yes," John answered. "They could be in trouble, Rodney."
"It's Cadman," Rodney whined. "She is trouble."
"Now, McKay."
Rodney sighed. "Fine. But if this is just another one of her stupid jokes…"
"You'll be next in line," John acknowledged. "Now please. Just get your ass down here."
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Rodney mumbled amidst the sound of rustling. "Three o'clock in the morning. Just who does she think she is…dragging everyone of bed at this ungodly hour. One of these days I'm going to—"
"Rodney." John interrupted. "Just do it."
The Colonel jogged into the armory and stopped near the lockers. The room was a flurry of activity as three teams assembled their gear.
Evan grabbed his P90 and stepped forward. John caught a flash of worry before the Major buried it beneath a stony glare.
John knew there was more than just concern lurking behind the Major's clenched jaw. There was enough emotion in there for his second-in-command to risk his career. It wasn't public knowledge, but it wasn't a complete secret either. The Major was dating the Lieutenant…and had been for some time. John gave his people carte-blanche here in Pegasus, but within reason. Rules were still rules—especially if the IOA got wind of it.
"You're not cleared for duty, Major," John reminded him.
"Bullshit," Evan glared.
John raised an eyebrow.
"…Sir." The Major finished curtly. Evan's expression left little room for interpretation. He wasn't about to be left behind.
"Fine," John relented. "We'll ask the Doc her opinion when we see her." He moved over to the storage lockers and donned his gear.
Teyla stepped up beside him. "John," she nodded.
"Teyla," he straightened. "Listen, we've got this…"
"Torren is with Kaanan," she replied, reaching past him for a Tac-vest. "And I am coming with you."
John didn't bother to argue. He simply nodded. Turning, he caught sight of a second emotionally charged wall. Ronon. Another man on a privately driven mission. The Satedan was now sporting a lets-kill-something glare, his blaster, and what John suspected would be a half-dozen or more well hidden blades.
Shifting his gaze from Ronon to Evan and back again, John silently prayed whatever was going on with the women wasn't serious.
For his sanity, and everyone else's.