Evan stood in the armory, looking over the P90s available. He could have chosen one, but, like any good soldier, he had his favorite. Ahhh, there it is, he thought with a grim smile. Picking up the weapon, he checked to see that it had been cleaned to his specifications. The soldiers manning the armory kept these guns in prime condition, but they went above and beyond for their commanding officers. Even now, Sheppard racked the slide on his own P90, satisfied.

The last few hours had changed so many things. Sheppard had appeared at Sara's motel room, declaring that things had gotten complicated. McKay had traced the hack on Sara's computer to a convicted felon. That felon apparently planted incriminating evidence on Sara's computer of a murder in progress—one for which she'd seen the aftermath. The man shooting the woman in the photo traced back to none other than Colonel Thomas Shomake, retired Marine Corps. Apparently during his last year in the Corps, Shomake decided to start his own paramilitary group. Most of the group's operations were legitimate, but a few, like this hit on Sara, weren't. Sheppard decided to raid the mercenary's compound when McKay found evidence that Patriot Alliance, Inc. had been hired by the Trust to find a way onto Atlantis. He did so with the backing of the SGC.

Sara didn't know any of this. Oh, she knew the name of the murderer and that he ran a mercenary company. But she couldn't understand Evan's insistence on going on the raid. She had Keith, Marsh, and Solano with her, taking her to a new safe house as Evan rushed back to Atlantis to prepare for this mission. He trusted those three guys, and they knew that meant something. He caught the solemn nod Keith had given him after he tucked Sara into the car. She hadn't liked his involvement in this mission, but she'd not said a word. She simply kissed him, refusing to allow his natural reticence for showing affection to stop her from giving him a send-off he'd have a hard time forgetting.

This was what he'd hoped to avoid during his entire military career. Sara wasn't military, nor was any of her family. She had no way of understanding that his life could end today. She couldn't comprehend just how far he traveled when he went TDY. Part of him wanted to tell her, to share the wonder of the universe with her. But he also worried about what would happen to her if he never returned. Would she be able to recover?

Pushing the thoughts from his mind, Evan marched into Sheppard's Jumper and settled into a seat. Since returning to Earth, their TAC vests had been lined with Kevlar, and he appreciated the safety the extra layer provided. It gave him a fighting chance. With their destination minutes away in the cloaked Jumper, he allowed his senses to sharpen. He heard every shift of every person in the Jumper, how McKay fumbled with his computer, and how Ronon let out deep breaths as he prepared for the fight.

The Patriot Alliance compound in Los Angeles was located in the middle of a bunch of warehouses. The group likely housed their weapons and tactical gear there, as well as their central operations. From what McKay had found, the group wasn't that large. They were just extremely good at what they did. Their covert missions included assassinations, espionage, and terrorism. They used their legitimate defense contracts to disguise these covert ops.

And that's what got complicated. McKay had continued to dig until he found the people responsible for hiring Shomake to go after Sara. The Trust had decided to take an interest in Atlantis, like everyone knew they would, but Shomake made it personal by going after the lady Evan loved.

At the compound, Sheppard set the Jumper down and swiveled in his seat. "All of you are armed with stunners. Take as many down as possible with those." He glanced at Lorne. "That being said, if they shoot first, do what you need to do."

Evan nodded once. "And Shomake?"

"Take him alive if possible." Sheppard stood. "We need to know his connection to the Trust and how deep that goes."

Evan nodded again and followed Sheppard out of the Jumper. The sun had just risen after a long night, and the strike team spread out to cover the entire area. Evan spotted Coughlin on Teldy's team, as well as his own team and one other group from Atlantis. Sheppard had taken no risks. For some reason, Evan grinned. So he wasn't the only one going into this fight with a girl waiting at home.

Coughlin and Teldy set charges on each side of the large overhead doors at the front of the warehouse. Reed and Mehra set charges at the regular door. Sheppard used hand signals to send others around the corners, ready to capture anyone who tried to escape out the back. Once the radios clicked twice to let them know everyone was in place, Sheppard nodded to Teldy and Mehra. The two women pressed the button on the detonator's, and the air filled with smoke, shouts, and men scrambling for weapons.

Evan moved into the warehouse, his knees bent and P90 lifted to shoulder level. One finger on the trigger, he saw everything that happened around him. One of the mercs opened fire, and Mehra took him down with a single stunner bolt. Evan turned to quickly survey the area.

They moved through several cars, all of them poised to escape should something happen. With the teams coming through them, the mercenaries were forced backward, toward tables lined with weapons being cleaned, computers, and several offices. The first of the bullets whizzed past Ronon's head, and the Satedan ducked behind a car, popping up to take out the guy who fired on him.

"Switch to live rounds!" Sheppard yelled. It was his signal to take out as many of these bad guys as possible. Evan acknowledged the order and took aim, dropping a kid around twenty-five years old who tried to take off his head. He felt little regret at the moment, his quick gaze moving on to the next guy. And the next. He knew this mission would bug him later, and he'd find a gym somewhere to pound out the frustration on a punching bag. But, for now, he needed to do this. Sara needed him to do this.

The Atlantis personnel moved forward, herding the mercenaries toward the center of the room. Just when he thought they had things in hand, Evan's leg crumbled beneath him as fire blazed down the limb and up into his torso. He let out a loud yell, unable to stop the natural reaction to the pain. Mehra whirled, her eyes wide at seeing her CO go down with a bullet in his leg. Evan fell, forcing himself back to a sitting position and grabbing for his leg. He clamped a strong hand on the wound, trying to slow the blood loss.

Chaos exploded as he went down. Sheppard and the Atlantis personnel yelled while more gunfire from hidden weapons took down two others. Another bullet, this one stronger than the first, slammed into Evan's chest and threw him backward. He struggled to breathe as his body writhed in pain. He could only groan, knowing that something had gone terribly wrong. The Kevlar should have stopped normal bullets. These guys had armor piercing rounds?

"Lorne!" Coughlin's voice echoed in his head, but an angry Marine Corp colonel appeared.

Thomas Shomake knelt over Evan's body. "So, this is the mighty Lorne." He sneered. "I thought you'd be harder to take down."

Evan couldn't get any words out through his clenched teeth, but he took great pleasure in seeing his blood splatter on the man's face as if he'd spit on him. He struggled to breathe as Shomake stood, grinding the heel of his boot into the wound on Evan's leg. Evan yelled again, this time drawing more attention.

Shomake chuckled. "You killed my son." He aimed. "I'd love to make you suffer, but I don't have that kind of time. Just know this: your girl is dead already. And you're the one who did it to her."

Evan closed his eyes, shaking his head as Ronon's blaster sounded. The weight on his leg lifted, and he blinked as Coughlin hovered over him.

"Stay with me, Sir." Brian's hands fumbled with the front of his shirt, finding the bullet wound and pressing down. "I need a medic!" he yelled.

Evan felt the darkness closing in on him and knew he wasn't gonna make it. "Brian." His voice came out in a whisper. "Tell Sara. . . ."

"You tell her yourself, Sir." Brian shifted to allow Mehra to crouch down. "I'm not losin' my brother-in-law before I even have a chance to make it official."

Brother-in. . . .? Evan's thoughts drifted as he blinked. He couldn't leave Sara like this. He needed to get to her. To save her. Forcing the pain to the back of his mind, he tried to sit up. Or so he thought. He heard Sheppard yelling at someone for a beam-out, and he realized that he wasn't coming back from this. He'd seen the last of the action for his life.

Angry at himself for putting Sara into the position of grieving for him, he ground his teeth as his world disappeared in a blinding white light.

oOo

Jennifer McKay slipped from the isolation room in Atlantis's infirmary with a sober expression on her face. She'd already changed into clean scrubs and ensured that Colonel Lorne rested comfortably. Now it was time to break the news to Colonel Sheppard and Lorne's team.

"Doc?" Coughlin jumped to his feet, asking the question before Sheppard had a chance to get it out.

Jennifer glanced at Rodney and drew strength from her husband's presence. "I've done all I can. The leg wound wasn't too severe, but he will need some PT. However, the other bullet bounced around in there. He had a ruptured spleen, internal bleeding, and a punctured lung. Not to mention the cracked ribs. He lost a lot of blood and is in a coma right now. I don't know how well he'll do when he wakes up. If he wakes up." Her voice broke, and she took a moment to steady herself. "Right now. . . ." She took another deep breath. "Right now, he's in a coma and on a respirator. I reinflated the lung and repaired the damage, but only time will tell the rest."

Sheppard nodded and stood, not happy with the report on his 2IC. He walked out of the room before anyone else could say a word.

Jennifer waited until everyone but Rodney left before she fell apart. Tears came to her eyes, and she let her husband hold her. "I don't know what Atlantis will be without him."

"He's not dead, yet." Rodney had once been jealous of Lorne but realized that Jennifer saw him as an older brother. "He's a fighter. He'll pull through this. We'll make sure of it."

Jennifer nodded and hoped Rodney was right.

oOo

Sheppard didn't wait for Woolsey to acknowledge his presence when he walked into the office. As they flew back to Atlantis after Lorne had been beamed over, Ronon told him what he'd heard from Shomake. That criminal was in SGC custody, already transferred to Cheyenne Mountain for interrogation. While they'd waited for Jennifer to complete Evan's surgery, McKay had done some digging into the Patriot Alliance's computers. It seemed that Shomake had learned Sara's location just before the raid, the work of one Mark Stanton, Internal Affairs at the San Francisco Police Department.

Now, he stared at Atlantis's director. "I want to bring SaraLeigh Johnson here."

Woolsey straightened. "Colonel, you know we can't do that. I don't care what Colonel Lorne's condition is. She doesn't have the clearance."

"She's sitting in a safe house right now, waiting for news of Evan's safe return. Have you received a report from Jennifer yet?" Sheppard let out a quick breath when Woolsey shook his head. "Good, because I'm here to give it. Lorne may not make it. He's barely holding on, and, from what Ronon told me, he thinks Sara's already dead. Apparently Shomake told him that just before he lost consciousness."

Woolsey pressed his lips together. "Be that as it may. . . ."

"We owe this to Lorne." Sheppard glared. "The man gave the last four years of his life for this city. He nearly died with me on the Hive that attacked Earth. General O'Neill told both of us that he owed us big for what we did. Now, I'm willing to call in every favor I have to get her to Lorne's side. Will you allow it?"

"Colonel, I just can't imagine what Ms. Johnson has to offer the Stargate Program."

"What about the life of one of the best men in the Program?" Sheppard dropped into a chair and leaned forward. "Lorne's dying. Jennifer says it can go either way, but we've gotta get Sara here so that he knows she's still alive.

"And think about this." He continued to lay out his case. "McKay found ties linking the Patriot Alliance to the Trust. That means their hit man may not be human. Or, not entirely human. Do you want a bunch of civilian cops out there fighting a Goa'uld simply because you refused to bring Sara to the safest place on the planet?"

Woolsey stared at him. "You've made your point, Colonel." He let out a deep breath. "If you convince General O'Neill, then I'll allow it. And only if you convince the general."

"Yes, Sir." Sheppard bounced out of his chair and headed out the door, already pulling out his cell phone. After a few minutes, a voice on the other end picked up. "General O'Neill, please. Tell him it's Sheppard calling."

Several minutes passed, and Sheppard had resorted to pacing the control room before he heard Jack's dry voice. "Whaddya want, Sheppard?"

John straightened. "Sir, I need to call in that favor."

~TBC