Summary: Anna and Sheppard are both prisoners but Sheppard has to escape if he wants to live.

Spoilers: Minor references to all seasons.

Warnings: Some Sheppard whump.


The Life and Times of Dr. Anna Maria Kelton

Breakout

Sheppard and Anna both assumed that he was their jailer as he confidently strode into their cell flanked by four armed guards. He wasn't a physically imposing man but had a look of someone who was used to getting his own way; cold and arrogant with piercing blue eyes; someone who you wouldn't want to be your enemy. "I thought you would like some refreshments, as I always like to be as civilised as possible in these situations" he said as two women scurried in and placed trays on the floor beside them together with some cushions. "You have questions, yes?"

"As a matter of fact we do" Sheppard said with a glare as he stood up and stepped forward; the guards raised their weapons in response.

"First things first." he said "My name is Ballari keeper of this…" he paused and smiled before he continued, "….facility and I know that you are Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and Dr. Anna Kelton of Atlantis."

Anna's nervousness turned to impatience; she jumped to her feet and looked Ballari straight in the eye and said "Why are we here...and … what do you want with us?"

"Direct and to the point; I like that. Ok then, I do not see what harm it can do to tell you now." He looked at Anna "you, my dear have a price on your head and a pretty good one at that."

"A price….on my head?" Anna was incredulous.

He looked over to Sheppard "You, on the other hand, are an unintended complication; gathered up accidentally in the net, as it were. Negotiations are ongoing for you; wouldn't want to waste the opportunity."

"No, that would be a shame wouldn't it." Sheppard replied sarcastically.

Anna was aghast and tried to take it all in, "a price on my head?" she repeated.

"Bounty hunters," Sheppard muttered as he suddenly realised what was going on.

"Well done Colonel Sheppard; but only partly correct though. These people here are the hunters" he gestured towards his guards "while I collect the bounty." he replied with a satisfied grin.

"Quite the entrepreneur aren't we." Sheppard retorted.

Anna was dumbfounded "What would someone want me for?"

Sheppard looked at her with concern in his eyes and eased the tension in his neck with his hand.

Ballari caught the look and smiled. "In this particular case no, it's not for that reason, although….." Ballari looked Anna up and down "she would make a fair price on some worlds it's true. But it's what's in here" and he tapped the side of his head "that is wanted."

A guard stepped forward and spoke quietly in Ballari's ear; he looked at Sheppard and Anna "I have to leave you for a while, to make arrangements but do enjoy your food" and with that he turned and left with his men and the door slammed shut behind them.

"Not quite what I was expecting." Sheppard said while he made himself comfortable on the cushions and breathed a sigh of relief that his worst fears hadn't been realised; he knew that having more time was always good.

Anna considered what Ballari had said "What could possibly be in my head that they want."

"That is a bit disturbing, I agree."

"But I've only been in this galaxy a couple of months. What information could I possibly have that someone would pay money for?" Anna said, while she absent mindedly felt her head.

"I have no idea but for now just eat and drink; keep your strength up."

They both eagerly drank the clean water and Anna picked at the food on her plate.

"What on earth is this meat?" Anna questioned; pulled a face and stopped eating.

"Who knows, some kind of space cow?" Sheppard replied with a smile.

Anna forced a little grin "I think I'll just eat this then" and picked up a piece of fruit off the tray.

It wasn't long after, that Ballari and his men returned. Ballari's eyes narrowed as he looked down at Anna and said "well, it's going to happen like this. You can make this hard or easy; you are coming with me regardless. If you come quietly and with no trouble…. he" and nods towards Sheppard "gets to live. If not he gets taken upstairs for some…." he paused for effect "some interrogation."

He looked at Sheppard and exclaimed "It seems you have some what of a reputation Colonel Sheppard. I have just been informed that no one wants to pay any price for you; too much trouble they say."

Sheppard feigned a shocked look, "well I'm gutted, how about you?"

Ballari returned his attention to Anna and ignored Sheppard's comments. "Well Dr. Kelton? What's it to be then?"

Anna looked at him and did her best to control the anger rising within her. "I'll come with you because I have no choice but don't think for one minute I believe a word of what you say about not harming John …do you think I'm stupid, you bloody… arrogant….evil….little….bast………."

Sheppard put a hand on her arm and interrupted her. "Anna don't; trust me, just don't."

Anna tried to compose herself and took a deep breath; she struggled to free herself as the guards gripped her arms tightly. "Don't touch me you big apes" she said with frustration as she continued to struggle as she was taken out of the cell.

Sheppard was held down by the guards as he tried to stand. "Anna, remember; I'll find you." he shouted after her. Ballari turned and threw Sheppard a final dark look as he left. "We'll deal with you later."

Sheppard heard the footsteps gradually fade into the distance, with Anna still berating Ballari and the guards. He was left on his own, with his thoughts; he was reassured that she wasn't in any immediate danger, as they wouldn't want to damage their merchandise. He guessed that he would now be disposed of. They had said it themselves; he was too much trouble and he laughed at that; little did they know. One thing was for sure, Anna was relatively safe for now and he could put an escape plan into action; he had nothing to lose.

ooooOoooo

"I'll do it, it won't take long" a guard replied to his comrade while making his way to the holding cell. "You can wait outside if you like."

"I think you like this kind of thing far too much; you're sick you know" the guard said with a smirk.

Sheppard could hear the footsteps and voices coming towards his room and he prepared himself. Earlier he had searched every inch of the room for anything that could be of use. There wasn't much but he found a nail sticking out of the wall which he pulled out; a shard of glass tucked in the corner which he picked up; they were both put into his pocket.

Sheppard was already hiding behind the door as it opened; the guard scanned the room, with his gun poised and ready. Sheppard smacked the door into him with all the force he could muster and the guard cried out as he sprawled onto the floor. Sheppard made a grab for his weapon and at the same time punched him hard on the side of the head and knocked him out. Hearing the commotion, the other guard poked his head around the doorway, saw what was happening and opened fire. Sheppard fell backwards as he manoeuvred his body in position to shoot off a round towards his target and then quickly jumped to his feet. He stood flat against the wall next to the doorway and waited, hardly daring to breathe. After what seemed like an eternity the guard cautiously started to enter the room; gun first. Sheppard wasted no time. He grasped hold of the weapon, pulled hard and caught the guard off balance; his fist found its mark on the guy's jaw. The guard slid across the floor but quickly scrambled to his feet, wiping blood off his mouth with his sleeve. "You're a dead man Sheppard," the guard growled.

"And I thought we were friends" Sheppard retorted as he went for the gun which had been dropped in the scuffle, but he was too slow. This guard was big; big but very quick. He lunged forward, grabbed Sheppard's head and brought his own down on Sheppard's face.

"Gaaaah" Sheppard yelled, as a searing pain shot though his jaw, while still desperately trying to feel for the gun on the floor.

The giant of a guard had grabbed Sheppard around his throat and was squeezing the life out of him. He gasped for breath. He floundered around for a few moments, as he felt himself losing consciousness; his hand found the nail in his pocket, which he quickly withdrew and stabbed the guard in the thigh. The shocked guard cried out in pain and loosened his grip. This gave Sheppard his chance; he twisted his body into a position behind the guard so that both his hands were around his neck and with one swift move twisted the guy's head around with a crack. He felt him go limp and pushed the lifeless man off him and sat there gasping for air. A few minutes later when he had got his breath back, he moved his jaw back and forth; felt his nose and wiped the blood off it. He decided that even though it hurt like hell, nothing was seriously damaged.

He searched both bodies for anything useful and then proceeded to take off the smaller of the guard's uniform. A few minutes later he had donned the clothes, done up the last of the buttons on his shirt, checked the newly acquired pistol into his holster, selected another of the weapons and peered out of the doorway. He was ready to find his way out.

ooooOoooo

Ballari was feeling very pleased with himself; this last operation had gone extremely efficiently and he had been well rewarded. He had hardly finished thinking about his triumph when he answered his communications device. "This is an extremely worrying development," he said "four men dead you say…..one in the infirmary? And he's taken what? Damn that Sheppard to hell."

He had hardly recovered from that revelation when he received another call "It's Lassand on communications Sir." Ballari nodded to his officer, sighed and said to put him through. "Yes, yes I know but you didn't pay for him to be delivered.…" Ballari insisted……"I think I can find someone else for that purpose…………. Give me 24 hours……….. Same rates as before?... OK then, that can be arranged; I will contact you when it's done." He tapped on his earpiece "Get me all available data on Dr. Kelton and ready the men for another excursion; alert our agents as well; we have another assignment."

ooooOoooo

Sheppard had made his way back though the gate to M2S-181 before gating to Atlantis. He was debriefed in the conference room with Carter, McKay, Ronon and Teyla listening to the events of the last two days.

"You stole a dart?" said Ronon; he was impressed.

"Yeah left it on M2S-181, gave the people there a bit of a fright though; we can go back for it later."

"How on earth did they get they hands on one?" Ronon queried.

"Who knows, same way as everything else they do; they stole it, I guess."

"You didn't have much trouble escaping then?" Teyla asked.

"Well I wouldn't say that exactly. After fighting my way out of the cell, it was just a matter of avoiding detection as I made my way through the maze of underground corridors within the complex. They had the dart under heavy guard but I took them by surprise; they definitely weren't expecting me to come at them weapons blazing. I was in need of some luck. The hardest thing though was actually flying the damn thing."

Ronon smiled "wish I'd been there."

"No sign of Anna then?" Mckay asked.

Sheppard sighed "I checked every room as I went but no sign of her. They must have moved her out very fast."

Ronon had heard of these bounty hunters before; "I remember this guy Ballari when I was on Sateda. He was a mercenary back then; our military didn't have much time for him."

"Well, can't say I do either; a real pain in the ass." Sheppard replied.

"Well, we mustn't waste any more time," Carter said as she tapped on her control console "Major Lorne to the conference room, please." She turned to Sheppard and studied his face "Colonel, please get Dr. Keller to look at that face of yours before you do anything else."

Sheppard touched his jaw as he moved it from side to side "its fine Colonel, just a bit bruised, that's all."

Carter gave him a look of disapproval and carried on with her attention turning to Teyla and Ronon. "I would like you two to go to M4T-332 to check on something; it seems that our Dr Leonard Brown was with an expedition there and has been reported missing. I also have reports that the village is a trading mecca, with travellers and traders from a large number of worlds passing though. It would be the ideal place to pick up any possible information about these bounty hunters; check with these people to see if they have heard anything, anything at all that would prove useful."

"Yes Colonel, we will leave at once." Teyla replied and Ronon nodded his agreement.

The door opened and in walked Lorne; he glanced over to Carter "Ma'am." he said before he looked over to Sheppard. "Colonel, I heard that you were back. It's good to see you Sir; but what's happened to………….."

"I'm afraid Dr Kelton didn't make it back with me." Sheppard interrupted and looked a bit uncomfortable.

"She's not….." Lorne couldn't bear to say the rest.

"No, she's alive but she's been sold to someone; don't know who." Sheppard replied flatly; he couldn't believe that he actually had to say such a thing.

"Sold? You're kiddin'… Really? What…..whatever for? …." Lorne looked horrified.

"Whatever they want, Major, it's something she knows or they think she knows. I don't think she is in any immediate danger." Sheppard reassured his second-in-command, as he caught the downcast look on his face.

"Well from what you were saying it could be research we are doing here, ancient research perhaps; just about anything." McKay responded.

"Well it doesn't matter what they want; we are going to find her and bring her back." Carter insisted.

"What's the plan Ma'am? I'll have my men ready as soon as you want." Lorne offered eagerly; glad that he was getting to do something.

"Yes Major, I would like you, your team, Col Sheppard and McKay to go back to the planet and take a look around."

"They're not likely to still be there are they?" McKay said with some apprehension.

Sheppard stood as he answered. "No, I doubt it but it's a start; we may find some information that can help us."

Sheppard was still feeling his face as he said "we'll take the Puddle Jumper; the bay in 15."

ooooOoooo

Sheppard and McKay had split up from Lorne and his men as they separately searched the vast facility; they found the place deserted just as Sheppard had expected. When Sheppard found the cell that he and Anna had been held in a few hours earlier, he considered what had happened there and winced at the thought of it; he then tapped his earpiece "Major, anything to report?"

"Yeah, tell McKay he needs to see this." Lorne replied.

Sheppard, and McKay met with Lorne in the dingy control room which had obviously been left in a hurry with papers strewn around and bare wires hanging from various bits of equipment. Lorne then left as he continued his sweep of the facility with his men; there was a lot of ground to cover and he was determined not to miss a thing.

"This looks interesting; a temporary base of operations; Hmmmm …..looks like they've left only the most basic stuff behind." McKay said as he scrutinised all the various bits of equipment. "They've wiped all the data as you'd expect…… …but…..aha….. hellooooo…..; but not this." McKay smiled at his ingenuity.

"OK what have you got?"

McKay tapped the keys on the control panel furiously. "Just wait a minute" and he carried on tapping and "…..not sure if this is what………"

"McKay!" Sheppard interrupted.

McKay turned with a self satisfied grin on his face as a screen lit up. "And if I'm correct…….." …..yet more tapping of the control panel………. "Communications with the buyer; details of his plans; transcripts of various conversations. Is that good enough?"

"Hey let me take a look at that first" Sheppard said. But McKay had already skimmed through the first lot of information.

"Hmmmm. Interesting conversation you and Anna had." McKay smirked.

Sheppard snapped at him. "Just take anything that's useful and let's go." It had been a long day and he had had enough. When he turned to look at Lorne as he entered the room; saw the grim look on his face, he knew that it was about to get worse, as Lorne informed him "I know where Dr. Brown is Colonel; just found his body."

ooooOoooo

When Teyla and Ronon stepped though the gate they had Colonel Carter waiting for them and they exchanged greetings and smiled as they walked towards her office.

Carter spoke first, "so……. anything?"

"One particularly disturbing piece of news Colonel; there seems to be someone willing to pay a substantial amount of money for the capture of Major Lorne."

"Major Lorne?" Carter was surprised "another bounty?"

"Apparently so." Teyla confirmed "Also, a bit of gossip here and there, nothing concrete but there is a definite excitement amongst some of the travellers; they talk of a bringer of knowledge that will soon fulfil their destiny; another, that the Wraith will soon be destroyed by the harbinger of doom."

"All superstition" muttered Ronon.

Teyla added "Perhaps……. and normally I would agree but although it could be the peoples way of coping with the reawakening of the Wraith …….with everything that has happened……….I am not so sure."

Ronon continued, "didn't find any trace of Dr. Brown; no one would talk. I'm sure they knew something though."

Carter looked solemn, "unfortunately I do know something on that score; not good news I'm afraid."

ooooOoooo

"Interesting, McKay, but will it work?" Sheppard asked McKay after being told of his plan.

"Of course it will work. If the Major agrees I can implant a tracking device in him that is almost impossible to detect."

"Almost?"

"Yes almost!" McKay exclaimed and continued "Nothing is absolutely certain is it? The one drawback is that because it is so very small and virtually undetectable it will be absorbed into his body after a few hours; we will need to work quickly when he's taken. I'll be able to track him virtually anywhere though. If he agrees that is."

"I am standing right here you know." Lorne declared as he folded his arms and glared at McKay.

McKay was oblivious to him and enthusiastically looked over at Sheppard. "So, what do you think?"

Sheppard looked over to Lorne and raised his eyebrows, "well Major?"

ooooOoooo