I couldn't tell Simmons about Makepeace, he was the only person free to do
what he wanted who was inside the operation. Maybe if Simmons didn't know I
knew, then he would give me my reward anyway. I needed to come up with a
plan, and I needed to do it quickly.
"I didn't believe even you would be capable of such cruelty!" I spat at him, trying to sound as angry and upset as posible, "It's bad enough that you made me give you names that might have been my friends, but to send them to me and make me physically betray them? That's nothing short of torture! You can try to hide behind your 'overall good' moralistic bull but then you go and do this and prove you just enjoy watching people suffer. No lies you spin could possibly explain this as something good. Why didn't you just tell Makepeace to get Sam? You thought it would be worth the risk of losing her just to make me do it personally? You're a monster! You're worse than the Goa'uld!" At least that last part was true. I think my angry tirade threw him, he expected me just to roll over and give him the answers he wanted. It's shocking to have something like this suddenly happen, making you realise that you've just been an obedient slave for so long that people expect nothing else. It was time for that to change. It's good to know I could still come up with tricks he didn't expect. It took him a while to respond, and I was already beginning to plan out what my story would be. I needed to plan this very carefully or I would lose everything I'd worked so hard to gain.
"How did Makepeace know your address?"
"Because you told him, I'd expect. How long's he been working for you?" I expect Simmons was planning to ask me that same question, and my asking of it threw him again, just has he was recovering. Keep the enemy reeling, as Jack always used to tell me when he was complaining about my complete lack of military knowledge. It would have been easier if I'd had more time to come up with the perfect replies, but that had to seem like something that just came out. The quicker I said them, the more truthful they would appear.
Simmons recovered again. "There is no use pretending, Dr Jackson, I know that Makepeace has been working with you." Damn! My pretences hadn't fooled him. Maybe if I kept them up longer he may begin to doubt his convictions.
"I don't know what you're talking about. And I don't know what you want me to say."
"I'm sure you do, Dr Jackson, now I want you to tell me everything, or there'll be consequences." Again he didn't specify what they would be, but I knew. He thought that would be enough to turn me, and maybe I could use that against him. It was about time that I used my weak-willed obedience for my own advantage.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Please." I begged him, pleaded with him for a short while, all the time pretending I had no idea about Makepeace. All the acting skills I had used in tricking Sam I now put to good use on Simmons, trying to make him believe I really didn't know.
"You can't fool me."
"I'm not. Please. I don't know. I can't tell you what I don't know." Again I carried on with that train for a while, acting like I was scared of what he was threatening, which I was. If he thought I was that scared, then he would believe I was telling the truth. I think he may have begun to doubt, but then he called for Makepeace. Maybe he wanted to be sure that I was lying.
I think Makepeace's face when he saw me spoke volumes, and said enough to condemn both of us. "What's going on?" he asked once he'd got his features under control again.
I never thought I would be able to hate Simmons any more, but I underestimated him. "Dr Jackson has been kind enough to fill us in on your work here." That son of a bitch! I wanted to leave across the desk and strangle him. I wanted to make sure the throat that had said that never spoke again. I saw the reaction on Makepeace's face as the shock sank in. There was disbelief, shortly followed by anger, and it was the anger that resided there.
"You son of a bitch!" He screamed at me the very thing I had silently been calling Simmons. "I thought you were a decent man, DANIEL!" He used my first name. Always before he had called me Dr Jackson, as a sign of respect. This was a sign, just as clear, that he had no respect for me any more. He said it with my name more than the words he chose. "What about that conversation we had?" Any thought of hope was gone now. "You were the one trying to make me see how immoral this work is, and now you're siding with them?" I closed my eyes to shut out his face, I couldn't bare to look at it. Yet again, my unwilling actions had betrayed someone I cared about. Maybe Makepeace saw the guilt, but he went quiet.
Simmons turned, smiling slightly, to the security men who had accompanied Makepeace. "Kindly escort Colonel Makepeace to the holding facility." I watched them take him out, asking forgiveness with my eyes. He stared right back with eyes full of hate. Another friend was gone.
"You realise you will be punished for this," Simmons said, and my true grief came back. "It will take a lot to convince you I can just give you what I want now." That threat told me everything I needed to know. He had never planned to give me my reward, so maybe it was time I stopped being a wimp and just took it. I had nothing left to lose now, with Makepeace gone as well. But I needed some answers first, and Simmons would never respond to a direct question.
"You've probably already done all the things you threaten to do. They could be dead already for all I know." That was probably the closest either of us had come to mentioning his threats out loud, after that first time he had made them.
"I'm sure we can reassure you on that count tomorrow, and perhaps see to your punishment at the same time." For once luck was on my side. They were on this base, and I would get them out. My unwitting actions could cause pain, Simmons's unwitting action would end it.
Simmons sent for another security member to take me down to my quarters. It was just for formality of course, he didn't expect me to do anything, which is why I could. I silently thanked Jack for insisting on my self-defence training as I hauled the unconscious guard into a storeroom and took his gun. I'd been here once before so I knew where the holding facility was. As I ran, I thought of the last time I'd been here. That was when they'd taken Susanne, and Simmons had told me about Jonathon. I'd known from the start that Susanne was my daughter, a part of me even. I knew that NID had taken my genetic code, and altered it to grow this child. Susanne had no mother, she was made from my cells and mine alone. I'd known this when Hammond had her brought to the SGC. I'd never told anyone, and I don't think anyone knew, except maybe Janet. There was no way Janet could NOT know with all the tests she ran on her. But neither of us told anyone, even Susanne didn't know. She grew up not knowing she had any relatives, because I wasn't sure what telling her would do.
But I didn't know about Jonathon. A child created in the same way as Susanne, her brother, and my son. My two, thirteen-year-old children, in the hands of my worst enemy. With them, Simmons had forced me to do things I would never forgive myself for, like betraying Sam, because he knew I wouldn't let them be hurt. They'd been prisoners here, Susanne for four years, Jonathon his entire life, and now it was time I put that right.
I reached the holding facility and peered through the grating on the windows to see which cell it was I wanted. I soon discovered I didn't need to do that as I saw the only cell with guards outside. It had to be the one. I quickly took out the guards, hoping that the sound of the gun wouldn't attract too much attention. I quickly moved the bodies, grabbed the keys and opened the door.
Makepeace stared at me with shock as I went in. The anger was still there, and I was worried he'd attack me, but he held it in check. "What do you want?"
"Your help." There was no point in beating about the bush.
"Why should I help you?"
"I never betrayed you. There was a camera in my house and when Sam mentioned your name Simmons realised what had been happening."
"But how did he get the camera in your house?" There was no way I could tell him about that, he wouldn't understand in time to get us out, or at all. But maybe if I didn't answer then he would trust me less. I couldn't know for sure and too much rested on this for me to make the wrong decision. My children were too important for that to happen. I needed to make Makepeace see this from a different angle, or I'd lost everything I hadn't lost already.
"Look, there will be a whole load of guards heading this way. And, unless you feel like spending the rest of your life as a scientific experiment, I suggest you trust me." I held out the gun, the handle towards him, as a gesture of trust. If he was armed and I wasn't, then he may be more willing to listen. "Trust me," I begged, thinking of how many lives hung in the balance of this one decision. "Trust me."
"I didn't believe even you would be capable of such cruelty!" I spat at him, trying to sound as angry and upset as posible, "It's bad enough that you made me give you names that might have been my friends, but to send them to me and make me physically betray them? That's nothing short of torture! You can try to hide behind your 'overall good' moralistic bull but then you go and do this and prove you just enjoy watching people suffer. No lies you spin could possibly explain this as something good. Why didn't you just tell Makepeace to get Sam? You thought it would be worth the risk of losing her just to make me do it personally? You're a monster! You're worse than the Goa'uld!" At least that last part was true. I think my angry tirade threw him, he expected me just to roll over and give him the answers he wanted. It's shocking to have something like this suddenly happen, making you realise that you've just been an obedient slave for so long that people expect nothing else. It was time for that to change. It's good to know I could still come up with tricks he didn't expect. It took him a while to respond, and I was already beginning to plan out what my story would be. I needed to plan this very carefully or I would lose everything I'd worked so hard to gain.
"How did Makepeace know your address?"
"Because you told him, I'd expect. How long's he been working for you?" I expect Simmons was planning to ask me that same question, and my asking of it threw him again, just has he was recovering. Keep the enemy reeling, as Jack always used to tell me when he was complaining about my complete lack of military knowledge. It would have been easier if I'd had more time to come up with the perfect replies, but that had to seem like something that just came out. The quicker I said them, the more truthful they would appear.
Simmons recovered again. "There is no use pretending, Dr Jackson, I know that Makepeace has been working with you." Damn! My pretences hadn't fooled him. Maybe if I kept them up longer he may begin to doubt his convictions.
"I don't know what you're talking about. And I don't know what you want me to say."
"I'm sure you do, Dr Jackson, now I want you to tell me everything, or there'll be consequences." Again he didn't specify what they would be, but I knew. He thought that would be enough to turn me, and maybe I could use that against him. It was about time that I used my weak-willed obedience for my own advantage.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Please." I begged him, pleaded with him for a short while, all the time pretending I had no idea about Makepeace. All the acting skills I had used in tricking Sam I now put to good use on Simmons, trying to make him believe I really didn't know.
"You can't fool me."
"I'm not. Please. I don't know. I can't tell you what I don't know." Again I carried on with that train for a while, acting like I was scared of what he was threatening, which I was. If he thought I was that scared, then he would believe I was telling the truth. I think he may have begun to doubt, but then he called for Makepeace. Maybe he wanted to be sure that I was lying.
I think Makepeace's face when he saw me spoke volumes, and said enough to condemn both of us. "What's going on?" he asked once he'd got his features under control again.
I never thought I would be able to hate Simmons any more, but I underestimated him. "Dr Jackson has been kind enough to fill us in on your work here." That son of a bitch! I wanted to leave across the desk and strangle him. I wanted to make sure the throat that had said that never spoke again. I saw the reaction on Makepeace's face as the shock sank in. There was disbelief, shortly followed by anger, and it was the anger that resided there.
"You son of a bitch!" He screamed at me the very thing I had silently been calling Simmons. "I thought you were a decent man, DANIEL!" He used my first name. Always before he had called me Dr Jackson, as a sign of respect. This was a sign, just as clear, that he had no respect for me any more. He said it with my name more than the words he chose. "What about that conversation we had?" Any thought of hope was gone now. "You were the one trying to make me see how immoral this work is, and now you're siding with them?" I closed my eyes to shut out his face, I couldn't bare to look at it. Yet again, my unwilling actions had betrayed someone I cared about. Maybe Makepeace saw the guilt, but he went quiet.
Simmons turned, smiling slightly, to the security men who had accompanied Makepeace. "Kindly escort Colonel Makepeace to the holding facility." I watched them take him out, asking forgiveness with my eyes. He stared right back with eyes full of hate. Another friend was gone.
"You realise you will be punished for this," Simmons said, and my true grief came back. "It will take a lot to convince you I can just give you what I want now." That threat told me everything I needed to know. He had never planned to give me my reward, so maybe it was time I stopped being a wimp and just took it. I had nothing left to lose now, with Makepeace gone as well. But I needed some answers first, and Simmons would never respond to a direct question.
"You've probably already done all the things you threaten to do. They could be dead already for all I know." That was probably the closest either of us had come to mentioning his threats out loud, after that first time he had made them.
"I'm sure we can reassure you on that count tomorrow, and perhaps see to your punishment at the same time." For once luck was on my side. They were on this base, and I would get them out. My unwitting actions could cause pain, Simmons's unwitting action would end it.
Simmons sent for another security member to take me down to my quarters. It was just for formality of course, he didn't expect me to do anything, which is why I could. I silently thanked Jack for insisting on my self-defence training as I hauled the unconscious guard into a storeroom and took his gun. I'd been here once before so I knew where the holding facility was. As I ran, I thought of the last time I'd been here. That was when they'd taken Susanne, and Simmons had told me about Jonathon. I'd known from the start that Susanne was my daughter, a part of me even. I knew that NID had taken my genetic code, and altered it to grow this child. Susanne had no mother, she was made from my cells and mine alone. I'd known this when Hammond had her brought to the SGC. I'd never told anyone, and I don't think anyone knew, except maybe Janet. There was no way Janet could NOT know with all the tests she ran on her. But neither of us told anyone, even Susanne didn't know. She grew up not knowing she had any relatives, because I wasn't sure what telling her would do.
But I didn't know about Jonathon. A child created in the same way as Susanne, her brother, and my son. My two, thirteen-year-old children, in the hands of my worst enemy. With them, Simmons had forced me to do things I would never forgive myself for, like betraying Sam, because he knew I wouldn't let them be hurt. They'd been prisoners here, Susanne for four years, Jonathon his entire life, and now it was time I put that right.
I reached the holding facility and peered through the grating on the windows to see which cell it was I wanted. I soon discovered I didn't need to do that as I saw the only cell with guards outside. It had to be the one. I quickly took out the guards, hoping that the sound of the gun wouldn't attract too much attention. I quickly moved the bodies, grabbed the keys and opened the door.
Makepeace stared at me with shock as I went in. The anger was still there, and I was worried he'd attack me, but he held it in check. "What do you want?"
"Your help." There was no point in beating about the bush.
"Why should I help you?"
"I never betrayed you. There was a camera in my house and when Sam mentioned your name Simmons realised what had been happening."
"But how did he get the camera in your house?" There was no way I could tell him about that, he wouldn't understand in time to get us out, or at all. But maybe if I didn't answer then he would trust me less. I couldn't know for sure and too much rested on this for me to make the wrong decision. My children were too important for that to happen. I needed to make Makepeace see this from a different angle, or I'd lost everything I hadn't lost already.
"Look, there will be a whole load of guards heading this way. And, unless you feel like spending the rest of your life as a scientific experiment, I suggest you trust me." I held out the gun, the handle towards him, as a gesture of trust. If he was armed and I wasn't, then he may be more willing to listen. "Trust me," I begged, thinking of how many lives hung in the balance of this one decision. "Trust me."