CHAPTER SEVEN
"What? How?" Ana pushed herself up, confusion overtaking her fury. The boat tilted as Cae and Cia abruptly changed direction. Everything slid across the deck.
"Sheppard!" Ronon pointed to the shore.
The Colonel quickly spotted the same thing Ronon did… a dark haired man quickly gathering up gear… gear with a distinctive metal glint. He struggled with his burden, running into the trees along the shore.
"There!" He pointed. "Cae, take us there!"
"But.."
"We'll never catch those boats, but get us to shore and we can catch him."
John motioned to the island ahead of them.
"It was Pallus." Ronon growled. "I'm sure of it."
"How could you have seen…" Ana began, but Toni placed a hand on her arm.
"He saw. Ana, let them handle this." Toni looked over at John. A strange look crossed his face, noticing her choice of words.
The older woman gave a brisk nod. She rushed to the side of the boat where the small canoe-like rower was tied. "You'll have to take this." Ronon and Teyla rushed to help Ana release the small craft.
John turned to Toni. "Stay here, but keep a look out. If those other boats come back, fire off a few shots to let us know." She only said 'okay' so he jumped down to join Ronon and Teyla.
With the three of them rowing, they reached the shore quickly. Ronon took off running before they were even fully beached. John and Teyla pulled the small boat up as they jumped onto shore.
The sand quickly gave way to volcanic rock and rich soil. The thick vegetation pulled at their legs as they crashed after Ronon. John could hear him ahead of them, climbing the steep terrain at an alarming rate.
Sheppard about tripped over a black metal case dropped on the ground. He took a mental note of the location, but didn't stop. When he heard Ronon's gun fire, he pushed harder up the hill.
John and Teyla crawled over the top of a large black volcanic rock. Ronon stood just on the other side with his gun held at the ready. "He's in there." There was a crevice in the rock, sheltered by thick brush.
John motioned to Teyla. They flanked the spot Ronon focused on.
"Pallus!" Sheppard shouted. "Come on out! We don't want to have to shoot you!"
There was movement in the brush, but no answer. The Colonel looked to Ronon, motioning slightly. The other man nodded his understanding.
"Alright, fine!" Sheppard yelled. "We'll shoot you!"
He fired his P-90 just outside the crevice. Pallus dove out the other side and Ronon blasted him. The man hit the ground hard, unconscious. The three rushed in to search the man for weapons.
"Colonel." Teyla pulled a hand gun out of the man's pack. "It is a Genii weapon."
0o0o0o0o0
Toni stood on the deck looking to the surrounding water, waiting. No other boats approached. The three retreating boats disappeared around the point of the island. She began to look down into the water, wondering what kind of damage had been done.
If I go down there, John will probably kill me. Still, the thought of there being another device down there worried her. Maybe if she stayed at the ladder, so the others could get her attention, she could see enough.
"Okay," Toni kicked off her pants. "If anything starts to come our way, or if they come out of trees, get my attention."
"What are you doing?"
"Just looking around. Please, Ana, just stay right here and keep your eyes open." Toni lowered herself into the water.
Looking around underwater the damage was much more evident. Huge chucks of coral were blown to pieces. Judging by the level of damage, she guessed this wasn't their first blast. They were tearing the area apart.
Among the pieces of coral, she spotted something black. Coming up for air, she said "I'll be right back" and dove under. As she got closer, she could see the straps of two black nylon bags. She fought to pull them free. Feeling the burn in her lungs, Toni kicked off the bottom. Breaking the surface, she only took enough time for a breath before diving down again.
When Toni came up by the boat's ladder, Cae stood there. Toni handed him the bags and climbed out of the water. "Anything?" She asked.
"This device began to make a noise." Ana held up her com.
Crap, she thought. Putting it on quickly, she activated it. "Yes?"
"What took so damn long?" John barked.
"I, ah, took it off for a second." She began to dig through one of the bags, feeling the blood drain from her face.
"You went in the water, didn't you? Damn it, Toni..."
"It's another charge." She cut him off.
"What?"
"I found another charge." Toni turned it over carefully in her hands. It wasn't very sophisticated. A pin held the detonation device in place, much like a grenade.
"Are you out of your mind?" He yelled. "I'm on my way."
"Wait. It's not going to go off. I don't think."
"How the hell do you know that?"
Toni described the device, including the pin locked in place. "The other bag," she looked inside again. "Is full of stones looking like the diamonds Ana had."
"Okay, um, we got Pallus. He's out. We're coming back. Stay there." He took a deep breath. "And don't go in the water again. Got it?"
"Got it."
0o0o0o0o0
"Colonel," Teyla opened the two cases Pallus had with him. "Do you know what these are?"
"Looks like survey equipment." He opened a notebook. Inside, hand written notes and sketched maps confirmed it. "Toni said she found diamonds they collected, probably from the blast area."
"We need to get him secured." Ronon commented.
"Right." John threw the book back in the case. "Let get him back down to the shore. We'll take this stuff too."
Ronon carried the other man in a fireman's hold. Sheppard hauled the cases and Teyla took point. Midway down John collected the case he nearly tripped over. This one was heavier than the others. His curiosity would have to wait until they were back on the boat.
Ana offered her hand when Teyla climbed back aboard her family boat. She then turned on Sheppard, fury in her eyes. "Why didn't you kill him?"
"There's more going on here. He's not working alone." He answered steadily, not rising to her anger.
"He's working with Tay."
"That's not what I mean. He's got to be selling this stuff to someone. If he's doing this on someone else's order, then killing him will just bring more." John explained. "We need to know where all of this is going." He shook the bag of stones with emphasis.
"Ana, you said these stone washed out of these northern islands during spring storms?" Toni asked. She had been looking through the notebook.
"Yes."
"I have a hypothesis." She began flipping through the book. "Pallus was just going for the easy stuff first. Hundreds of years worth of these stones are laying on the reefs, only they're being covered in coral. He's blowing apart the coral and picking out the stones he needs." She turned a page around to face John. "I think he wanted to eventually mine out these islands."
"That's a lot of karats." John's brows rose reading the estimated yield of mining.
"Why?" Teyla frowned. "There are a limited number of societies that value these stones."
"The Genii being right at the top of that list." Ronon smirked.
A moan interrupted their conversation. Pallus rolled his head to one side and fought to open his eyes. John squatted in front of him, slapping his face. "Wakey, wakey."
"Wha...?" The man's eyes began to focus. "You."
"Me." John smiled wickedly.
"Me too." Ronon's voice rumbled behind him.
"Now, we're going to ask you a few questions. If you cooperate and answer them honestly, everything is going to be just fine. If not, and you don't cooperate…well"
"I get to help you cooperate." Ronon pulled a large knife from his hip.
"What do you want?" Pallus pushed tighter against the railing.
"What were you planning to do with all those pretty diamonds?"
