Chapter 4: Lost, But Never Forgotten

Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine

A/N: So many responses! Thank you everyone! I'm sorry for the long wait, but I got swept up in the holidays. I'm back though and hopefully better than ever.

Enjoy!

Jack's breath came in short, ragged gasps. He couldn't believe it. He could not believe how stupid he had been, how careless. She had been right there…right there. And now she was gone.

Again.

He stared down at his palm, feeling betrayal mixed with anger. He had almost been able to grab her; she was so close. His own hand had betrayed him, refusing to reach the last few inches and grab her outstretched hand. He cursed again and again, slamming his fist into the wall until his knuckles were sore and bloody. Those bastards. Those bastards had taken her.

Jack ran full tilt towards the screams, not bothering to pause for thought when the sounds abruptly stopped. He stormed into a ruin of a building, the door splintering under his boot. "Carter!" He yelled, turning his flashlight and weapon to the right then the left. His heart skipped a beat when the light fell upon a familiar hand; a hand straining towards his light. "Carter!" But, he fought his instinct to run towards her. This reeked of a trap and he'd be damned if he was captured and Carter was left on her own. He moved sideways, his light traveling up the arms and illuminating Carter's torn and weaponless vest before landing on her face. She was deathly white, the only color in her face the bruise-colored smudges beneath her eyes. Even her eyes, slits in her exhaustion, were a pale blue.

Her mouth worked, but no sound came out. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, her little finger moved and pointed to somewhere near her feet. Jack nodded; she was telling him where the attackers were lying in wait. He let his flashlight travel down past her vest and that was where it all went wrong. As his light flashed below her knee, he froze. Her right calf was completely devoid of cloth and skin. A large pool of blood was starting to congeal around her wound. The injury itself was a red and black mass of coagulated blood and burnt flesh. Jack squinted, something was moving in the wound. His stomach rose into his throat and the taste of bile was bitter. Maggots. Maggots were crawling around, digging into the flesh, making odd little squelching noises.

Jack knew his mistake an instant later. A cry erupted from the darkness and a man launched himself onto the colonel, knocking his weapon to the side. The attacker managed to land a solid punch before Jack kicked out, striking the man's kneecap and shoving him off. Jack stomped on the man's hand as he reached for the gun, the slammed his booted foot into the man's temple. He stopped moving immediately. Jack spun around, knowing what he would see before he saw it. Two other men were standing beside Carter, holding her up by her rag covered arms. Her head was raised defiantly, but agony and fatigue were written in every inch of her face. Her eyes were alive though and in what was without a doubt the greatest effort of her life, she slammed her right elbow up and into the face of one of her captors. His head snapped back and blood gushed from his nose, his grip on her arm slackening. He ran towards her, reaching out with his hand and he thought it was over. They had won, escaped death again.

But as his fingers brushed hers, she was engulfed in a white light, her terrified, furious blue eyes the last thing he saw before she was gone.

Jack shook his head, the memory of her expression shaking him to his core. He was suddenly filled with a violent anger; he wanted to tear down what was left of this city, not stopping until he found her. But he needed to do this logically. He needed to do something.

Jack spun, retrieving his weapon and grabbing the collar of his attacker in one swift motion. Dragging the inert man to the entrance of the building he threw him out into the stifling night air. Still the man did not stir. "Wake up!" Jack growled, shaking the man. "Goddammit, if I have to shoot you, I will."

"Jack." The voice was flat and tired sounding.

Jack turned, barely stopping to think it strange that Daniel and Teal'c were suddenly there; back to help even after the general had said no help would be given. "What, Daniel?" His voice was sharp, eyes turning back to the seemingly unconscious man.

"If you shoot him, the chances of us finding Sam go way down." Daniel took a few steps toward the older man. "Can I try something?"

Jack hesitated, not wanting to give up his chance to do damage. Eventually, he relented, letting the man's head thunk back to the ground and stepping away.

"Thank you." Daniel knelt down, bending so that his mouth was just inches from the man's ear and he began to speak in a low, dangerous voice.

Jack and Teal'c glanced at each other, neither could hear what the archaeologist was saying, but his tone gave Jack chills. Without warning, the man's eyes snapped open and a strangled cry issued from his throat. Daniel took off his glasses and cleaned them with a scrap of cloth from the man's shirt. "Good boy." The attacker just stared up at Daniel, terror in his eyes, hardly daring to breathe.

Jack's cleared his throat and took a step forward, patting Daniel's shoulder. "Whoa there, Danny-boy. Easy."

Daniel merely shrugged and stood up. "He's all yours." He glanced at Teal'c and though little surprise was evident on the much older man's face, he bowed in deference.

Jack stood over the man, studying his face. "You look familiar."

"My name is Fred," Behind him, Daniel snorted. Jack turned with his eyebrows raised.

"I'm sorry. It's just, well, I'm…I mean, come on, Fred? Not exactly an alien name that strikes fear." Daniel shrugged, but composed himself. Jack frowned slightly, the younger man was acting very unlike his usual self.

"Go on." Jack addressed Fred.

Clearing his throat, casting a reproachful yet still fearful glance at Daniel, he took a deep breath. "I am a member of the President's cabinet; we met earlier yesterday when you first arrived."

"That's right, I remember you!" Jack snapped his fingers. "You're the little twerp who said we couldn't be trusted and "strongly recommended" that we be prevented from exploring the city."

The man didn't even have the good grace to look embarrassed. "That is correct."

"What do you want with Carter?" Jack rested his wrists against the butt of his gun.

"We don't anything with her. But we do need something from her." The man paused, waiting for some sort of reaction. When he didn't get it, he continued. "When the bomb hit, we managed to get the president and vice president out of the blast zone, but the terrorists intercepted us. They captured our president and killed our VP. We need Major Carter to trade."

"To trade?" Jack's voice was icy. "You trade people for people here?"

"You said your world was not so different from ours, how would you handle it?" Fred was belligerent.

"We don't negotiate with terrorists. Period."

"He's our president. If we have any hope of rebuilding our world we need him as a unifying leader."

"Rebuild your planet? Do you see what they did to you? You can't rebuild! Not the way it used to be. They will keep coming after you, again and again. And you have no way to fight back." Jack shook his head. These people had no chance here, they needed to move on.

"We think that Major Carter can help us with that too. She will be invaluable to the terrorists because of her intellect. We want to buy our president's freedom and our Sliver's."

Fed up with this man's ignorance, Jack cocked his weapon. "Where is she." It came out flat, a clear demand.

"With the others." Fred replied, never taking his eyes from the gun.

"Where? And, don't you dare give me some clever answer. I want the truth or so help me God, I will shoot you." Jack shook his P-90 a little, causing Fred to jump.

"They took her to the Southern Sliver. They're dealing with the trade as we speak."

"Thank you." Jack turned away. "Teal'c."

Teal'c nodded and stepped forward, raising his zat. "Wait, what're you-," But Teal'c fired before Fred could finish the sentence.

TBC

A/N: Please R and R!