Hello, hello… well, I probably should start by apologizing. I am *THE* worst action writer ever. xD Hopefully this has translated somewhat as my mind provided. (Odds are that you have a wonderful imagination and can fill the gaps xD)

As usual, enjoy!

M.

Chapter 7 – Second attempt.

"Walk with us, Doctor Carter and no one else will be injured." Assessing her chances, she did exactly as was told. The man with the gun directed her to turn around on a wide movement, not allowing her to see his face. She saw a second man waiting for them at the other side of the room and a third waiting just outside the store. She swore quietly.

"Ma'am? I thought you were picking some shirts?" The vendor asked from the middle of the room, Sam hoped the distraction wouldn't prove to be a reason to go wild west on the vendor and also, hoped that if the vendor did notice her situation, she wouldn't react badly. The gun in her back was pressed further in.

"Yes," she smiled brightly. "I just need some air. Please tell him I've stepped outside," the vendor frowned, noticing something off in her attitude, and the gun was pressed against her again, "don't worry, he's just a friend of my father," she smiled confidently hoping the moment the Colonel got that information, he would be able to know she was abducted or in the process of.

Then they both walked out of the room and the duo became a quartet. For the way they were carrying themselves she was pretty sure there were more than just the gun pressed at her back. A zat'nik'tel was hinted in one while they moved towards the elevator area, and she sighed.

Her mind pointed at her that their most probable plan was to make her cooperate with them to reach to the underground parking where no cameras were available and few people lingered. Then, with a quick use of the alien weapon she would be out for who knows how long and then she would be wherever they needed her to be for whatever they wanted her for.

She was comfortable with the first part of their plan, the second part she didn't agree on letting go on. She knew she could get rid of them if she calculated her steps clearly, but she also knew she needed to wait to get to the parking for similar reasons. Once she was sure no other civilians could get hurt, she could use her many fighting skills or die trying.

"Better a corpse than a traitor," she thought wearily.

They were still slowly walking away of the store when Jack came out of the changing room back on his own more comfortable clothes. He frowned when he didn't saw the Doctor waiting outside, and thought she maybe was picking the shirts she was talking earlier with the dependent. But when he walked out towards the main room, he saw no blonde hair picking out from over the racks.

"Your friend went out for air," the vendor smiled happily, "can you believe she found some friends of her father," the hairs in the back of his neck stood.

"Friends of her father, you say?" she nodded, "Did you see the way she went?" he asked alarmed.

"To the left, I think." He ran to the door,

"Ma'am… call the police, tell them Doctor Samantha Carter was kidnapped," were his last words to the girl before running towards the left.

He saw a group of three men and a blonde head and the way they moved told him they were the ones he was looking for. He swore, because he spotted them the minute they entered the elevators. He kept running, he noticed the thing was going down so he took the stairs, he checked the ground floor for a second or two, and not seeing the group, he continued to descend.

The doors of the sublevel 2 opened and just like she knew it would, it was half way deserted. Once more the one with the gun at her back pushed it forward, making her move. She smiled pleadingly at the 3 people who were standing waiting for them to vacate the small space, but they were too immersed in their own lives to notice her trouble. They walked out of the elevators lobby and out of the reach of the last camera available and the goon who had been leading her pushed her away towards the one she saw carried the concealed zat in his back. She used the shove to cover her intentions and when she was holding her shoved weight, she raised her knee as strongly as she could and hit him straight in the groin. He fell to the floor crying in pain and she gave him a second kick this time using her heel to make more damage. The warning shoot came seconds later.

"Try something as dumb again and I'm going to put a bullet right between your eyes, Doctor," the second man told her and she nodded quickly raising her hands. "Zat her," he said to the first man. She spotted Colonel O'Neill and tried hard not to sigh in relief. The third man groaned on the floor, and the first one went to him to try and retrieve his zat.

Jack saw the scene in front of him, and noticed that somehow she had managed to bring down at least one of her captors. And judging by the way he was laying on the floor gasping for air, and grabbing at his most sensitive parts, he had a pretty decent image of how exactly she had managed it. When he saw the middle man walking toward the one down, he used that window to act.

Stealthily moving, he stood behind the one pointing the gun at his charge and on a swift movement, Jack grabbed him holding his arms behind his back and using him as a cover. He was going to go for the gun as it flew however the Doctor moved quickly to get it, therefore he stood keeping his prisoner at bay.

The Colonel wasn't sure if the second man turned around out of the sound of the gun when reached the floor before Sam caught it, or of the grunting sounds coming from the one whom he was forcibly grasping, or if he just finished whatever he was trying to do when he reached down for the other man. but when in a blink of the eye, his gun was aiming at him, he knew exactly which one was.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you," Jack told to the second guy, with a smirk.

"And why is that?" the goon asked smirking too. The Colonel simply nodded towards the side, where the Doctor was coming to stand while keeping the gun aimed at the only 'active' one. "God darnit!," he swore and kept changing his aim from the Colonel to the Doctor not quite deciding what would be his approach. If he went to the Doctor, he might kill her and despite the previous menace of killing her, it wasn't acceptable. If he went to the man, he had a good chance of getting his partner. He could try and grab the zat but his partner put the weapon on his back and he couldn't get to it too quickly.

"Well, as I see, you can kill each other, which I don't think is what you are trying to do here. Or you can kill him while trying to get me… or, you can let us go now," Jack offered, coming closer to Sam, and then he heard it. The sound of a zat being armed, with widened eyes, he shoved the man he was grabbing towards the Doctor and shouted "run!"

On a moment of sheer luck, the first discharge of the zat got to where the Doctor was standing at the same moment the body of the goon did, allowing her to scape. She ran as fast as she could and hid behind a line of cars, noticing quickly that her heels sound's on cement were too loud to allow her to move freely. She crouched behind a car and undid the clasps of her shoes, put her weight down on the floor and slid under a car, and inhaled deeply thinking of her next move. Clearly she couldn't stay put there, she was a sitting duck, and she didn't like that a bit.

The Colonel also managed to use the distraction to run towards the line of cars. He thanked that, even though the parking was desert, it was jam packed with cars of all heights and brands, he noticed some cement walls too that would put some real separation between them and the goons, if he managed to find her. He moved crouching behind the cars, trying to listen where she could have gone not getting any sound but the shouted swearing from her attackers. He listened carefully again, but there weren't any clicking sounds coming from anywhere. He moved past a couple of cars and crossed over to the next line when he saw it was safe to do so. Again, he had not seen a hint of his charge, he decided to change strategy, on a swift move he pressed himself against the floor and then he saw her and couldn't help but smirk at her cleverness, he spotted her moving crouched and barefooted between the cars.

Then he looked up and saw they were not far away from where Phillips told them he would be waiting, and he hoped she had noticed the same. If she did, getting to the SUV would be the easiest way out. He looked around from his position and thanked his luck that the kidnappers weren't as smart as they should. Screaming to each other, they loudly divided themselves to try and find her, he saw the second man entering the line in which he was hiding before and he moved. He knew he had to knock the man out doing the less possible noise, he was about to strike him quietly when he heard a hiss and a loud, 'you bitch'. And with the momentary distraction he lost his target.

After getting herself together under the chassis of a beaten up Volvo, she looked around to try and find where her attacked were in relationship with her current position. She deemed it safe enough to continue moving and rolled out of her hiding place. She looked up and smiled when she noticed she wasn't as far away from Phillips and her hopes raised. She had managed to put at least four lines of parked cars between them when their shouting reached her ears. Flattening herself behind the back of a tall SUV she saw the classic colors of a fire extinguisher not far away from where she was and smiled. She moved slowly and surely to that place, but she failed to notice she would be visible for the length of two parking spots, and completely visible if she tried to get it. She looked around but didn't see any of her former captors nor she saw the colonel, taking her chance she rushed to the wall with the red and white marks. She was running back to hid behind the cars, and at the same time she pulled the safety of the extinguisher out thinking she was safe until she heard the "you better stop now, Doctor" and felt again the weight of the gun on her back.

She turned around as fast as she could and hit the man with the heavy object in her hands, making him stumble backwards and then, she covered him on the white contents of it. "You bitch!" he screamed at her as she ran away again.

She was breathing hard and she was really thankful that she was a runner, otherwise she knew she would have been out of the fight longer before, but when an arm snaked around her waist and a hand came to cover her mouth, she almost fainted.

"Shh, there's only one of them left. The one you took down first," the Colonel whispered into her ear and she both shivered and exhaled heavily at his words. "But he has the zat"

"The car is just on the other side of that wall," she whispered.

"I thought so, stay hid and I'm going to try to get to the car. When I get there, I will create a diversion so Phillips can pick you up safely," she frowned

"What about you, Colonel?"

"Well, I hope the girl has called the police. But if she didn't, I will make my way to the upper level and mix with the people. It's not me whom they are after of" he pointed. She bit her lower lip and nodded. He crawled between cars slowly, until he reached the divide. He spotted her car and huffed. Looking around he ran towards the wall, the electric sound pointed him that he was spotted but luckily too far away of the zat range. He stood and ran the last steps separating them from Phillips and checking he wasn't giving the driver away, knocked the front door.

"Colonel?" Phillips asked surprised when opening the door, he found the man in a far more unkempt state than he last saw him.

"Start the car! She's over there…" Jack pointed to the area where he left her.

"What?"

"Just go! Stop in the middle of the lane, between line F and G. She's going to make a run to the car." Not quite understanding the issue, but trusting that whatever it was, the Colonel was far more prepared than him to create a plan, Phillips did as told.

Half expecting that the sounds of the car starting where enough distraction, he ran back to where he had left her. But she wasn't there anymore. The shouts coming from several directions let him know that the two not zatted were back into action. He never had wanted a zat of his own more than at that moment. The only improvement on the whole situation was that there were sirens approaching the building. He just hoped she was as well-known as Daniel pointed she was and that her name resulted in dozens of police cars taking over the all the possibly escape routes.

As he couldn't see her between the cars, he pressed his body once more against the cold concrete and looked around, she wasn't far away but she was better covered under a truck than she was before behind the cars. She also saw him and then she heard the noises of her suv as it stopped in the middle of the lane. She rolled out of under the truck and into a crouching position. Both Colonel and Doctor moved behind the cars to get closer to the waiting car. When they were as close as they could, Jack stood up and assessed the situation.

"Crap!" he exclaimed and then he added "go, go, go" and she was running to the opened doors and so was him. Until an electrical sound echoed the parking lot and he wasn't running anymore. A police car entered the parking area at that time and behind the wheel, Phillips saw how three large men ran towards the elevators.

"Ma'am? Are you okay?" he asked looking at the woman who had jumped at the back seat. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She nodded once.

"There should be 3 men out there, they were looking for me," she commented her voice trembling a little.

"Bulky, and dressed all in black?" she nodded, "I saw two ran towards the elevators when the police patrol came," he answered. She looked around with a frown

"Where's the Colonel?" A tap on Phillips window, distracted him from answering. A police officer stood on the outside.

"Is everything okay?"

"For what I understand, 3 men were trying to kidnap my boss," Phillips explained and Sam got down of the car again. She heard the police ask if she was Doctor Samantha Carter before she saw him, he was laying in the floor and she couldn't help but run towards him, her heart constricting at the vision of his limp body.

"Colonel O'Neill?" she asked with a trembling voice as she neared the man, "Colonel O'Neill, are you okay?" she came closer, there wasn't any blood around him. She thought about shook him slightly but she knew better than to try and move an injured person, with trembling fingers she pressed them against his pulse point and a tear left her eye the moment she felt the faint throbbing. "Oh thank God"

"Doctor Carter?" Phillips voice shouted

"Over here! We need an ambulance!"

The ambulance was there in less than 10 minutes, in which Phillips had managed to find her shoes and also provided her with a pack of tissues, her clothes were ruined between oil and dirt from rolling on the ground. But at least it helped her to improve her disheveled status. There was a second ambulance requested to transport the man who was zatted and cuffed. He would be a good place to start in trying to find answers, she knew she would have to place a call to the SGC to get the prisoner under their jurisdiction.

Judging by what Phillips told her, the news of her almost kidnap had escaped the 911 lines and filtered towards the press, Anita had called him to let him know what was happening and confirmed that the building was surrounded of news vans and police cars. She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to come up with a solution.

"Ma'am, if you go on the ambulance… I speed to the house, you can call your press manager from the safety of the hospital and let them know you are okay and they can deal with the press. They will follow me"

"They won't know you are in there, I will go to the house to 'drop-you' and get an overnight bag so you can fix yourself and then make your statement." Phillips finished, having dealt with many close calls with the press before, she nodded accepting his solution.

"Thanks Phillips, I'll call Anita to let her know what I need." She smiled but he still could read the worry in her eyes.

"Don't worry ma'am. Everything is going to be okay," she nodded not feeling half of the confidence her driver felt, but she turned around and jumped into the waiting ambulance.

"Ma'am, he's stable. But we still have to get him to the hospital. Are you injured?" The paramedic came to her

"I'm okay, no injuries. I might faint later due to shock though," she smiled tiredly to the paramedics.

The doors where closing and the paramedics announced where they were taking him, she asked if it was possible to move him to a different one, and they agreed with her since he was out but in no apparent life threatening situation. They smiled knowingly when she gave them the name of the hospital, it was well known for its underground emergency entrances and their no press on the underground policy and judging by the amount of press presence when they left the parking lot, one of them was someone quite known.

Fighting her body which was desperately trying to shoot down, she called Anita, and her personal doctor, who also called the hospital, she decided she would have time to dwell and panic later that day, and in the safety of her own room. "There was quite a circus out there, but I don't think they've followed," the driver commented loudly when they reached the hospital. Soon, he was rolled out of the car and quickly assigned to a private room. An emergency Doctor walked with her asking for information on the patient, and she repeated everything she knew from his file. It took Phillips another half hour to get to the hospital and not long after, he entered the designated room with a bag, making the only person inside straighten. He shook his head as the reaction of his boss who to most people would only appeared to be staring out of the window.

"The Colonel was just taken to get a ct." she added, turning around with a serious expression. She sighed in relief, "Phillips"

"You should shower ma'am. The press is out there, I took my own car to be get here without alerting them of your presence, you'll be considered at your home until Hallowell arrives with Ms. O'Neill." She nodded, "Anita told me she put everything you asked and something she thought you might need here, I can stay here while you are in there, if it helps?" he asked softly.

"Thank you," she whispered, before grabbing the bag he brought and disappearing into the bathroom.

After 20 minutes and a good scrub, she emerged from the bathroom feeling refreshed and clean. She opened the door fixing her jacket and raised her eyes when she noticed the bed was occupied again. Then, she regretted having taken so long when she found the accusing eyes of Sarah O'Neill throwing daggers at her from the bed side of the Colonel. She placed the bag beside Phillips who was currently standing on a corner of the suite.

"This is your fault," Sarah hissed

"I know," The Doctor admitted, because it was true. She knew whomever was appointed for this plan of her dad had a high chance of getting hurt before they could catch them and at the end of the day she wouldn't be in such position hadn't her stepped in for her husband. But before she could explain further, her quick acceptance only put some more fire into the O'Neill woman.

"You know? And you are still in here? You still agreed with this? What kind of person are you?" she said louder each time, and walking towards her. Phillips noticed this and started to come closer, a quick no from his boss made him stay put, allowing Sarah to stand nose to nose with the Doctor. Sam didn't flinch. For all she knew the O'Neill woman had all the rights in the world to be mad at her, she had managed to put not only herself but the other woman's husband on a very delicate situation.

"I know what he signed for the moment he was assigned for this mission; and so did he. I didn't agree with any of this nor I like to be a fountain of distress. I can't change who they appointed for this mission. And I have no fault on people trying to kidnap me. Nor I have a fault on your husband's career path, his own career is what made him the chosen one," Sarah clenched her jaw, "I will take care of all the bills, and my personal Doctor is currently attending him, he's okay. He's just out." She affirmed knowing his current status had lots to do with the alien weapon that made an appearance during the whole incident, "Now, if you allow me, Ms. O'Neill, I will go and sort all of the mess he has been dragged too"

Sam left the room quickly squaring her shoulders she found her Doctor and discussed the situation, her press manager had appeared when she was doing so, but had already organized a small press conference to show she was okay. Sam sighed, she hated press conferences, it felt she was putting her private life out there to be judged, but there was nothing she could do. She only hoped no one mentioned her kid, the last thing she needed was for them to try and get Jess and make and exchange.

"Yes, there was an injured, he received an electrical discharge," Sam voice came from the tv on his room. "He's in perfect health state however he's kept under observation for safety measures,"

"Do you know who might want to get you Doctor Carter?"

"Sadly, I have no idea, in my line of work could be anyone." She told them, firmly. Being attacked by Goa'ulds on Earth was something she couldn't say out loud. Her press manager finished the meeting and they went back to the floor in which the Colonel was staying.

"Sam, I have no idea what could put him on this sort of status. A real electrical discharge wouldn't produce what we are seeing here, I'm guessing this, the attempt of getting you has to do with some of your projects, or at least to one related with the Air Force since he is an officer."

"Yes, that's why his name can't be given out. I would endanger his family," she explained, "Look, Andrew, I can contact his CMO, she will be able to provide more information about his current status, all I know is he should be awake once the effect runs out"

"I'll let you know the moment that it happens, then"

"Thanks Andrew, I'll wait for your call"