Chapter twelve
They were crouched down at the edge of the clearing, concealed by some large boulders and fallen trees. Sam kept her eyes on the pathway the Jaffa had taken, just in case they returned. It was odd not to see a Goa'uld mother ship hovering nearby, and she wondered where it was.
"I kind of expected to see Apophis' ship sitting up there," Sam commented.
"I guess he took it to get an oil change," Jack joked. He really didn't care where the ship or Apophis was. All he cared about just now was where O'Neill and Teal'c were being held prisoner!
"Carter, I want that trail up the mountain rigged to blow. If we have to come back that way, I'd like to leave them something to remember us by! Once we find a way inside that place, we'll stick together. Daniel, Samantha and me will wait up top to the left of the trail, behind that outcropping of rock. See it?" Sam looked up the hill and nodded.
"Okay, let's do it!" They all took off running, Sam falling back when they reached the steep, dirt pathway that led up to the large, stone buildings above. The light was beginning to fade now, but she could still see well enough to set the Claymores, one on either side of the trail. As soon as she was finished, she ran to catch up with the others. They made their way quietly over the rise and lay on their bellies, peering through the growing darkness, along the path. Seeing only one way in from this side of the wall that surrounded the buildings, Jack shook his head.
"We can't go in the front door," he decided, and then he slipped off his pack and dug into it, pulling out a bundle of nylon cord and a small, collapsible grappling hook. He attached the hook to the cord and began walking. "So, we'll take the back door," he quipped as he led the group around to the left, where the wall rose fifteen to twenty feet above their heads.
"But Jack, we have no idea what's on the other side!" Daniel hissed in alarm. Jack ignored him, as he often did. After walking about 100 yards, Jack stood with his back to the wall and threw the hook up over his head. It came down on the other side of the wall, making very little noise. Jack pulled on the nylon cord, looping the excess around his hand, until the line was taut. Then he gave it a couple of hard jerks, just to make sure the grappling hook was holding firm.
"That's why I'm going up first. If anything happens to me, you guys get the hell out of here," Jack ordered, and then he began to climb the rope hand over hand, hauling his body up with seemingly effortless ease. The others stood below and watched him disappear from sight entirely, as he reached the top and went over. Suddenly his head reappeared, and they heard him call out to them. "Piece of cake! Come on up! Samantha, you're next!" he called out, keeping his voice just above a whisper.
In a couple of minutes Samantha disappeared over the wall, and then it was Sam's turn. Finally all four were on the other side of the wall, where the ground was only about twelve feet from the top. They dropped down with ease and ran to hide behind some hay that was stacked up against the wall. Apparently this area was where the livestock was kept, because they could smell animals, and hear them as well. Jack's nose had noticed the odor even from outside the wall, or he wouldn't have been so keen on climbing over! The group hunkered down and took the opportunity to drink some water, as they formulated a plan of action.
"If we could disguise ourselves as locals, we might have a chance to locate O'Neill and get close to him," Jack suggested. He was also counting on Teal'c being nearby and able to help when the time came.
"I can probably fit in easier than the rest of you," Daniel said, suggesting that his ability to speak Goa'uld, Jaffa and many other languages would give him an advantage.
"Okay. Let's see if we can find some appropriate clothing for Daniel to wear," Jack said, as the four left their hiding place in the cover of darkness. They headed toward the main gate and soon came up behind a group of three Jaffa, who were obviously supposed to be on guard duty. However, they were clearly at play while their sovereign was away. The men were sitting on barrels around a tree stump and were immersed in some sort of game involving sticks and stones. The men were also drinking and were clearly not counting on having any visitors at this hour of night, particularly not anyone approaching from inside the wall!
Sam had an idea how to separate the men and take them down quietly, one at a time. Now she'd have to see if Jack went for it. She began taking off her vest and other military paraphernalia.
"What the hell are you doing?" Jack asked her.
"I'm going to lure one of them back here," she told him.
"No you're not!" Jack hissed at her. But it was too late; she had already left their hiding place and begun to walk toward the three Jaffa. Tugging her black t-shirt out of her pants, she pulled it into a knot under her breasts, baring her midriff. Then she ruffled her hair and licked her lips. When she got to where the torchlight shone down on her, she spoke to them.
"Hey, big guy! Why don't you come over here and see what I've got for you," she said in a seductive voice, as she wagged a finger at one of the men. Even though she knew they couldn't understand her words, she hoped the gist of her message would come across in her tone and in her actions, and apparently it did! One of the men had reached down to the ground for his staff weapon, but he put it down again and rose from his seat. Then he began to weave in her direction. Sam backed up slowly, leading him into the darkness to where she knew Jack was waiting. The Jaffa reached out toward Sam's blonde hair, and Jack grabbed the man from behind. The only noise anyone heard was a slight gurgle when Jack slit the guard's throat. Then with Sam's help, he dragged the dead Jaffa behind a pillar and began to undress him.
It wasn't long before the Jaffa's two friends decided to see what had happened to their cohort. First they called out to him. When he didn't reply, one of them came to look for him. He was greeted with Jack's fist in his face, which knocked him out cold before he could utter a sound. Jack caught the man and dragged him away. By this time Daniel was dressed in the Jaffa uniform, and Sam had put on her vest and other equipment. To make himself appear darker-skinned like the guard, Daniel rubbed some damp soil on his face. Then he slowly approached the third Jaffa, who began to address him animatedly, waving his hands about. Daniel said something that Jack didn't catch, and the Jaffa replied, albeit cautiously. Daniel kept walking slowly forward, until he got within ten feet of the guard. Upon seeing Daniel's face in the glow of the torchlight, the man began to reach for his zat gun, but Daniel was faster, dropping him with one blast.
Back in the shadows Jack used the guard's zat to shoot both of the men twice and then a third time to make them disappear. He strutted forward toward Daniel's location, the two women following him. "Take care of him, Daniel," he told the younger man. When Daniel hesitated, Jack shot the Jaffa two more times.
"You didn't have to do that, Jack," Daniel complained.
"We've got no choice, Daniel. Leaving them here would announce our presence. And I don't want to meet a couple of pissed off Jaffa on my way out, do you?" he asked. Daniel didn't argue. He could see Jack's point, he just hated seeing people killed...even Jaffa loyal to Apophis.
"Put on his helmet and scout ahead. Let's get this show on the road!" Jack said, urging them forward. After traversing a long hallway lit by torches placed high on the wall, and finding nothing but storage rooms on either side, they finally came to a fork in the road, where they had to make a decision...to go up a flight of stairs or down.
"Most likely prisoners are held down below," Samantha remarked, and Jack nodded in agreement. Daniel headed down the stairs first, after removing the helmet. It was really hard to see very much with the damned thing on, especially in these dimly-lit passageways!
Suddenly from somewhere down below they heard men shouting. Hurrying their pace, they came to the bottom of the winding, stone stairs rather abruptly. In front of them was a landing constructed of wood, with a railing around it and an attached wooden staircase that led straight down to the right, deep inside the mountain. They could hear the sounds coming from down below...the sounds of flesh hitting flesh, an occasional scuffle of feet and men calling out excitedly.
Samantha wanted to dash to the railing and look below, but she knew that would be a bad idea. And so she waited with Sam and Daniel, while Jack crouched down and literally crawled to the edge of the five-by-five foot, square platform on his belly. He looked down and what he saw made him smile. There were two bare-chested, sweaty men slugging it out down there, and one of them was Teal'c! Jack suspected that this sparring match had been his wily friend's way of getting out of his cell. Jack guessed that Teal'c had challenged the other Jaffa to a bare-handed fight, so he would be free to help once Jack and the others got there. It was also a good way to take the guards' attention off of Lt. Col. O'Neill, who had undoubtedly taken enough punishment from them already.
And now the big alien, who Jack had come to love as a brother, was toying with the naive Jaffa, while a half dozen of the man's comrades looked on. Jack knew that Teal'c was holding back...not wanting the show to be over too soon. When either man landed a blow to the other, comments were made and coins were tossed in a pile that was growing at the men's feet. Jack looked around the perimeter of the large room and saw a face peering back at him. For a second it spooked him to see Lt. Col. O'Neill's face looking up at him through the bars of his cell. Jack backed up the way he had come and dropped back into the shadows of the stairwell.
"Teal'c's softening them up for us," Jack whispered. The others gave him a confused look, which Jack ignored. "O'Neill's in the first cell opposite the stairs. Daniel, go out there and tell them some of the villagers are causing trouble. Tell them their rioting, stealing, whatever!...and they need to get into town and take care of things asap. Remind them that Apophis will be really pissed, if he finds out they were playing, when they should have been working. And tell them that you'll watch the prisoners while they're gone. Then head on down there."
Daniel replaced the heavy, metal helmet and closed the face plate, before stepping out onto the landing. After he spoke to the men in his most austere voice, one man shouted back to him, obviously arguing with whatever Daniel had said. Daniel yelled back at the man, and this time the man said something to his fellow Jaffa. The men scrambled to retrieve the money and to put their armor back on. Daniel began to slowly descend the stairs. And just as Jack had hoped, the Jaffa left the area by way of a hallway that led further into the mountain. Now they could use this staircase to escape, without running into these guys!
"You women stay here," Jack ordered, but Samantha was already heading down the stairs before he could stop her.
"He's her husband, Jack," was all Sam said. Jack just grunted. She watched from above as Samantha ran to the cell where Lt. Col. O'Neill was being held. O'Neill reached his fingers through the bars, touching his wife's hand for the first time in months. Teal'c knew where the key to the cage was kept, and he quickly got it and unlocked the door. The instant the door opened, Samantha ran inside and into her husband's arms. He picked her up off the floor, kissing her soundly before letting her down. Jack watched them from above, glad to see that his double seemed to be in pretty good health, considering his lengthy imprisonment.
"Come on, you two! You can play kissy face later...once you're safe at home," Jack called down to them. His double came out of the cell, holding Samantha's hand as he looked up at Jack.
"You're just as crazy as I am!" Lt. Col. O'Neill called back to him. He had just asked Samantha how many SGA teams they had brought with them. When she said 'none', he knew this Jack O'Neill not only looked like him, but he was just as wacko as him too! They reached the landing, and the two sets of black eyes met at close range for the first time.
"I'm not really crazy. I just don't believe in leaving anyone behind. Come on!" And then Jack began climbing the stone stairs two at a time. The group followed him. "If we hurry, maybe we won't have to scale the wall again," he told them as he almost ran down the hallway. And when they got to the main gate once again, Jack's prediction was correct; thanks to his earlier decision to remove the Jaffa from their post, the gate was still unguarded. Jack just smiled smugly to himself, as they walked out effortlessly.
As they quickly made their way back down the path through the forest, Daniel worked at removing the heavy armor, tossing it aside as he went.
"So what did you say to that guy when he questioned your right to order him and his men around?" Jack asked him. Now it was Daniel's turn to smile smugly.
"I told him that if he didn't do exactly as I said, I would tell his wife that he was sleeping with my wife as well," Daniel replied. "I overheard one of his men joking with him about his extra-marital affair, while we were hidden on the stairs. Apparently, in Jaffa land, a an angry wife is the one thing all husbands fear above anything else."
"Indeed!" Teal'c responded with more enthusiasm than they had heard from him in quite a while, and everyone but him laughed.
"Say, Teal'c, I really have to thank you for starting that sparring match," Lt. Col. O'Neill told him. "I was really getting tired of being the center of attention down there," he joked. Both Sam and Samantha smiled at how easily he could joke about what had happened to him.
"It was nothing I wouldn't do for any friend," Teal'c said, bowing his large, bald head.
They encountered no problems, and in less than a hour they were safely through the stargate and back at Captain Carter's SGA.
TBC
AN: I am soooo excited about my new book! WHAT THE HEART WANTS will be released on February 17, 2014. Go to MarieCaron .com to find out about it.
