Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.
Part 4/?
Chapter 4
John exited the hut and tried to calm himself. He knew that he couldn't get much accomplished if all he could think about was Jadin on that cot and Teyla missing. He firmly forced himself to push that thought from his mind and started thinking of how he could contact Carson. He didn't know for sure if Carson was on the mainland or not since he hadn't seen him, but he also knew that Carson liked to come over for visits whenever possible.
John thought that he would try the easiest solution first, so he clicked his radio once and called: "Caron, you there?" John made sure to say it with panic in his voice. He thought that it might rush Carson's response.
"Aye, what's wrong?" Carson responded immediately, proving to John that the voice worked.
"Jadin is injured. He needs immediate medical attention. He is in the guard house on the western side of the village. I need you to get there ASAP." John was quite pleased that Carson was there, but knew that there was still more to be done.
"Colonel, I don't have any supplies, or anything to treat him with," Carson said, worried. His reaction was understandable; after all, what doctor carried his supplies with him all of the time?
John was not cheered about this unpleasant turn of events. He stood there for a moment trying to think of what to do. He couldn't fly over to the city and be back in enough time; Jumpers just weren't that fast. Wait that's it! Jumpers! "Carson, do you think that the first aid kit in the Jumper could suffice?" Though, in truth, it could hardly be called a first aid kit. It had just about everything medical that was ever invented. Okay, not exactly, but there was a lot.
"Aye, I think that'll do it, but where is the Jumper?" Carson started wondering what happened to Jadin. Knowing that little rascal, it was probably a broken bone. Jadin like to play, but when he got caught up in it, he could get a little wild.
"It's between the coast and the village. I will meet up with you there, and assist you." John knew that Carson could handle it and that it would be better for him to let Carson handle it so he could start looking for Teyla, but it would be nicer to lend a hand, and might get the doctor to Jadin faster.
They met at the Jumper and John got Carson set up with all that he needed. He explained the situation to Carson and gave him detailed directions on how to get there. With that accomplished, they went their separate ways.
It hadn't until then that John realized exactly how big of a task was ahead of him. He knew that Teyla wasn't where she was supposed to be, so now his search had to be expanded to include the entire village, if she was even still in it. No, this was not going to be a fun night.
It didn't take long for him to get back to the village and enter the heart of it. As he looked around he saw a lot of familiar faces, but none of them were Teyla. He knew that he had to be careful what he said, because for whatever reason, Teyla and Ronon weren't anywhere to be seen. There was more of a possibility that the reason wasn't a good one, and he didn't want to point out that they were missing. All that that would do was stir up excitement and panic.
So, now it was down to the big question: How was he going to ask people were their leader was without worrying them? It seemed impossible, but he had a thought and decided that he would start off with the one person there that didn't care.
Once more he hit the button to activate his radio. "Rodney, you there?"
No response.
"Rodney, this is important! Do you read me?" John knew that Rodney could hear him and the fact that he wasn't answering made him mad.
After a long pause he finally heard, "I'm here. What is it?" Rodney said it as if he were annoyed by having to talk to John.
"When was the last time that you saw Teyla? I need to know where she is." John was mad at Rodney right now, and it showed. He didn't know for sure why he was mad at the scientist, but he was.
"I don't know, I think that I saw her in the main shelter an hour or so ago." Rodney was playing defensive. Sure, he really hadn't seen them, but he was a little afraid of John right then.
"Well, she isn't there now, and I need to find her." He thought of someone else who would be helpful. "Or Ronon, do you know where he is?" John was desperately grasping at straws.
"No, last time I saw him, he was with Teyla. Your best bet would be to look around the village." It actually seemed as if Rodney was trying to be helpful, but there had to be a better idea than searching an entire village!
Hey! Maybe Kyana would know! If I can find her, then maybe she can lead me to them,thought John. It would certainly be a lot more discreet to ask around for a teenager than adults.
John quickly moved around the village and started asking people if they knew where Kyana was. For a long while, none of them were helpful. Finally he asked one person who told him: "No, but last time that I saw her, she was with Ariana. Your best bet is to check with her."
John was very pleased with this response. "Thank you, but do you know where Ariana is?" He asked the villager this with the friendliest of tones.
"Yes, I think that she is over there." The villager said as she pointed over to a group of people laughing.
"Thank you!" John called over his shoulder as he took off toward the group. "Ariana?" He said to no one in particular, since he knew nothing of who he was looking for.
"Yes?" said a timid voice from the crowd as a woman stood up. She walked over to John, looking nervous, as if she though that she was in trouble.
"Do you know where Kyana is? I need to talk to her," John said, trying not to let his stress bleed through into his voice.
"No, but I spoke with her earlier. We got interrupted, and she left with someone." The Athosian said and started to turn away.
"Who? This is really important. Who did she leave with?" John wondered who could possibly have taken her away and kept her this long without Kyana fighting.
"Um . . . I think that she called him Jake, but I don't remember for sure." Now Ariana sat down, looking up at John pointedly as if asking him to leave.
John ignored the look and thought for a moment. There is no way that it was Jake, he hasn't been seen for days. He wouldn't show up here, and Kyana wouldn't go with him, she is too mad at him. Or is she? "What direction did they go in?"
Ariana sighed impatiently and pointed to the western side of the village.
John thanked her politely and headed out. However, he didn't get very far before Elizabeth radioed in.
"John, have you found Teyla or Ronon yet?" She sounded anxious and worried.
"No, but I am on my way to where I think that Kyana might be. I have a feeling that she may know. Has Doc Beckett reached you yet?" John wondered if Jadin was okay, but the tone in his wife's voice certainly didn't hold good news.
"Yes, Carson just got here and checked him over. He said that Jadin will probably be okay, but you need to get his parents here soon." The way that she said it alone made John pick up pace.
"Working on it." He waited for another response, but none came. He figured that she just didn't have anything to say, and who could blame her?
----
"So what is it?" Elizabeth said with a ginger face as she watched Carson work on Jadin's leg. They had decided to give Jadin medicine so that he could sleep; he needed to stay calm, and this was the easiest way.
Alex and Skye were off to the side. Skye was asleep from the long day, but not Alex. She enjoyed watching her uncle Carson work too much to sleep. She was nervous, but distracted by what was going on. Elizabeth thought that it was good to get her mind off of what happened.
"It looks like a bullet. I think that Alex here was right." Carson said then, looking from Elizabeth with a worried look, to Alex with a proud one. He didn't want to worry the girl and was quite happy with her knowledge of medicine. He knew that whatever she had retained came from him.
"Who could have done this?" Elizabeth still didn't want to admit that a person could have hurt a child.
"I think that it was aimed at a higher place because of angle that the bullet went in. I also think that it was intentional." Carson didn't like saying that, but he knew it had to be said.
Elizabeth looked disturbed as she moved her gaze back to Jadin. "How does he look?" She knew that it was probably too soon to tell, but she couldn't wait. She loved this child as her own and wanted him to be well again.
"Well, with a little rest, he should be up going sooner than you think." Carson always tried to be optimistic, but this time he wasn't just acting for benefit.
"What's it going to take to get it out?" Although the sentence structure wasn't quite right, Alex had posed a good question. She knew enough to know that it wasn't an easy task to remove a bullet, especially with the few supplies provided.
"I don't know for sure, I need to examine the lad a bit more," Carson said over his shoulder to the girl that was nearly on the edge of her seat. Yes, he could definitely see a doctorate in her future and was proud.
"While Carson is doing that, why don't you tell me what happened?" Elizabeth asked as she walked over and sat on the ground next to her daughter, Carson's back and Jadin's face straight ahead of them.
"Well," Alex said as she scooted her feet under her and wrapped her arms around her legs, "we were racing, and we left the borders that Aunt Teyla told us not to stray past. I told Jadin and Skye that we needed to go back, but we were having so much fun," she half-defended them, not making eye contact with her mother. She knew that she had done wrong, and felt bad for it.
Then, slowly, she raised her head and looked into her mother's eyes, almost afraid to face the anger she knew would be there. But, instead of anger, she saw compassion. This warmed her heart, and with a quick smile she looked back at the ground and continued her story. "Then Jadin and Skye were just about to stick fight, like we do back home. Suddenly, without a noise to warn of anything wrong, Jadin screamed out in pain, and fell. Skye stood there with his mouth open and a stick in his hand, and I fell down to see what was wrong." She stopped and looked up at her mom.
Elizabeth had tears in her eyes, and Alex knew her mom well enough to know that it was her 'my daughter has grown up' look. (It was quite embarrassing though somewhat flattering.)
"What happened next?" It was obvious that Elizabeth was astounded by how factual all of her daughter's answers were. It was like she was asking an adult.
"I saw that he needed more help than I could give, so I sent Skye out. I knew that if I left, he would just stand there the whole time with his mouth open. After he left, I realized that it was probably a gunshot wound, and where there are guns, there are people that use them. Knowing that they either hadn't left or might be back, I hurried up and brought him in here. I guessed that it would still be a while until someone got here, so I found a run-down cot and fixed it up with some stuff that I found lying around this old place. It was all pretty easy, but it was getting him on the cot that was the trick. It took a lot of work, but I got him up." She finished and looked up at her mom again, nervously biting her lip. She could tell just by the look on Elizabeth's face that she was proud of her, and that brought a smooth blush to her face.
They shared a moment of silent mother/daughter understanding before they both looked over at Carson, who was staring at Alex with respect for all that she had done. After all, that, it was no wonder Alex was so dirty!
"What?" Alex hated it when people looked at her like that. "It was nothing big. Just stuff that dad and Uncle Carson taught me." Okay, so she liked the attention, but she also didn't think that she deserved it.
"Alex, you make me prouder and prouder each day. How could you bring Jadin all of the way in here? He is so much heavier than you." Elizabeth's eyes revealed her happiness.
"Mom, it was all adrenaline. Don't you remember this stuff from when you went to school? The thing that I can't figure out is who would do this and why." Alex then decided to change the subject; she was sure that the school comment hadn't gone over well with her mother.
"Are you sure that you didn't hear any other noise besides Jadin?" Carson asked over his shoulder, trying to help by double-checking.
"Yes. Positive," Alex said with a slight nod.
"Well, they probably did use a silencer, but where were they?" Elizabeth asked, half-way as a rhetorical question.
"I don't know for sure; I think that Jadin was facing the village, and if he got shot in the back of the leg, then they would be in the eastern most part of the woods. But, I really can't be sure because I was looking somewhere else at the time." Alex said this with a puzzled look on her face, as if something else was hovering just out of the reach of her mind.
"What's wrong?" Elizabeth picked up on her daughter's confused look, recognizing it as the same one that John got when something important was eluding him.
"I don't know. I just feel like I am missing something. The more that I run through it, I am starting to remember something. There is a reason that we weren't looking at Jadin." Alex paused and looked around, as if searching for an answer. "That's it! The snap!" She exclaimed suddenly as she snapped her fingers and leaned back against the wall with a self-satisfied grin.
"What? What snap?" Elizabeth was very caught up in this story.
"I don't know for sure, but none of us were watching each other because we heard something about two seconds before Jadin went down. It was just enough time for us to ask each other if we heard 'the snap.' Wait." She paused as she said this, scrambling to her feet to go over to the window that was made to look out to the woods.
Alex stared out for a long moment before turning back to face Carson. "You said that you think whoever shot Jadin slipped, right?" She waited for her Scottish uncle to nod, which he did almost immediately, before speaking again. "Ok, so whoever did it probably knew what they were doing up until the slip. And we weren't close to the woods for very long before Jadin was shot." As she said all of this, a cunning look slowly crept across her face.
"Honey, please just tell us what you are thinking," Elizabeth said as Carson finished up on Jadin. She was not in the mood for twenty questions.
Alex gave in somewhat reluctantly. "Okay, I think that whoever it was wanted to shoot Jadin and he was going to do a good job, until he slipped, and I think that he was half-way pulling on the trigger. Then, either he fell, something hit him, or he stumbled, and he pulled the trigger the rest of the way as he fell. That would explain it," Alex said as she pointed out to the window, illustrating where Jadin and the mystery person would be.
"That makes sense, but don't you think that a hit-man would have better gun control?" Now that Carson was done, he was getting more involved. Both Carson and Elizabeth were treating her like an adult right now, since she had more than proved herself.
"Yes . . . unless it wasn't a hit-man. What if it was just a bad-guy that wasn't that good with a gun? It didn't have to be his job to kill him, he just changed his mind or something." Alex was trying really hard to explain what was so clear in her mind, but wasn't sure if she was getting her point across. She knew that she had done her best and thought that they understood.
"Whatever the scenario, it all ends in someone trying to kill a ten-year old boy. What is going on?" Elizabeth was worried at that thought, and she could tell the others were, too.
Without another word, she hit the button to bring her radio to life. "John, you there? I think that this is worse than we thought." Elizabeth tried to stay calm and not translate her concern and fear over the radio to her husband.
"Yes, I am here. What's going on?" John asked a moment later.
Just the sound of his voice was comforting. "Long story, just try and hurry." Elizabeth didn't want to get into the whole story then, there would be time for that later.
"Okay. I will tell you as soon as I get something. Bye." John sounded distracted as he said the last.
"Bye. And hurry," Elizabeth said as she stood up and walked over to the window to stand with her daughter.
To Be Continued. . .
