CHAPTER 20 – PICKING UP THE PIECES
He said very little as he pulled White to his feet, illiciting a cry of pain as he caused him to put weight on his leg that now had a gunshot wound.
"Shut it... that was nothing to what I'm gonna do to you if you don't tell me where she is.." He growled this at him, and John saw a flicker of fear in his eyes that was quickly pushed back. This man knew that mission failure would result in death, one way or another, be it in this galaxy or his own. Failure had never been an option.
Ronon and John moved their captured men into the village square and surveyed the jumble of downed soldiers that littered the area, now held secure by both Lorne and his marines, as well as the village men, grateful for their stay of execution.
"Colonel. What do you want us to do with them?" All of the soldiers had gunshot wounds, mostly in their lower bodies. Their orders had been to bring them in alive as they needed the information from them, and while this went against every itch that permeated his body, John ground his teeth, wanting nothing more than to bring up his weapon and fire into them all. They had brought nothing more than disgrace to the country he had sworn to defend, hell, the world he had sworn to defend, and keeping them alive at this point was a small courtesy only.
"Secure them Lorne, then bring the jumpers and load them in. Take them back to Atlantis, put them in the cells there. Advise Elizabeth to contact General O'Neill, apprise him of the situation. These men are not to go back to earth yet - that is imperative. They'll be held accountable here, first. They don't go back until we get the information we need out of them. If O'neill wants to send through a team to do the interrogation, fine... otherwise you have the floor on that one, at least until I get back, then I'll be leaving my mark on them."
One of the soldiers, the Colonel, spat on the ground, inches from John's foot and without hesitation, he kicked out sharply, catching the Colonel in his bullet wound, causing him to scream out both in pain, and anger at John. John reached down and dragged his face up, using a choke hold around his neck. "You want mercy 'Colonel'? You'll not find any of that from me, nor respect..." and planted his fist in his face, watching as consciousness faded.
"Roger that Colonel." Lorne grimly gave orders to his marines and they began dragging the men to their feet, intent on securing them for transport back to Atlantis.
"Oh,and Lorne? Come back and pick us up once you have secured these men. I need to find Dani..." He received a tight nod from the Major and turning, giving Ronon a hard look, he headed off into the village area, to search all the buildings, while Ronon followed behind, not content to leave the task to John alone.
Frustrated and angry, John met Ronan in the village centre an hour later. Neither had managed to find any sign of Dani, and they had since organised as many of the village people as they could to assist with the search.
"We need to retrace their steps Ronon. Go back to where Lorne heard her cry out, track them from there. He can't have gotten that far with her, especially if she was hurt."
Using the information that Lorne had given them they moved back into the forest area and it was only a short time later that Ronon spotted the signs of a struggle in some bushes. "Here, Sheppard. This is where she was captured. He doesn't appear to have been concerned enough to hide his tracks, we should have no trouble following."
He had dragged her through the bushes and John was relieved to note that there was no sign of blood, indicating that she had likely not been shot or wounded by any other weapon that drew blood. The sun was beginning to set now and he did not wish to continue the search in darkness, so increased his pace, tersely asking Ronan whether he had found any further signs.
Ronon stopped, pointing downward. "Here - he threw her down on the ground - see how the grass has been flattened as though a body has lain here? From here he must have picked her up, the signs of a second person have disappeared."
"Unless she's around here... is there anywhere that a person can be hidden. Dammit Ronon, we need to find here... we don't know what sort of injuries she has... hell, we don't even know whether she's alive."
"She's alive Sheppard, or he would have left her here..."
"Dani? Dani!... It's John... Dani!" He cupped his hands around his mouth and turned in a half circle so that his voice carried outward. Waiting, he listened to see if there was any response, but was only rewarded with the shrieking of a bird of unknown variety, obviously reacting to the instrusion into his previously quiet environment.
"Dani!..."
"John..." The voice was weak, and they only managed to hear it faintly, carried on the breeze that had sprung up. Night was falling now, and the temperatures had begun to plummet.
"This way John..." Ronon took off in the direction he had heard the voice,and John was following in fast pursuit. They came to a gully and saw that a flurry of stones signified that something or someone had fallen and Ronon pulled on John's shirt as he went to head over the edge.
"Wait, John.. we don't know what's down there." Pulling a flashlight out of a pocket, he shone it down the embankment, which was steep and lined with loose scree and stones and saw the crumpled figure of a woman down the bottom.
"Dani... damn... how badly are you hurt? We'll get you up - just give us a few minutes to sort out the best way."
He heard a small laugh and mentally gave a sigh of relief. He clicked his radio. "Sheppard here. Lorne, you back yet?"
He waited until he heard his radio crackle and Lorne' voice came back. "Just arrived Colonel. Heard some help?"
"Need some rope Lorne. We've found Dani, she's down the bottom of a ravine and there's no way we'll get down without ending up the same way she did. What's your ETA?" He gave Lorne their location and waited for his reply, relaying the information back to Ronon, who stood at the top of the ravine shining his light down for Dani and keeping her talking.
Lorne arrived with rope and other climbing equipment that was always stored for emergencies in the back of the jumpers. Securing one end to a sturdy tree, Ronan and Lorne took the slack up on the rope and John edged his way down the slippery slope, trying to go as carefully as he could. Too fast, and he loosened more stones to send down on top of her. It took 20 minutes to get down, and John was quick to drop to his knees beside her, carefully turning her over and brushing dirt and sticks from her face and hair to see what sort of injuries she had. Covered in various abrasions and bruises, she still managed a smile at him that took his breath away and she reached up with her arm to lightly stroke his face, wincing as she did so.
"So Dani, is there anything that is not bruised or broken... I don't know what came off worse, you or the ravine? And I'm trying to remember just how angry I'm supposed to be with you at the moment, but can't seem to focus on that. Let's just get you out of here, and I won't kid you sweetheart, this is gonna hurt."
"Yeah John, I figured that much out. Just get it over quickly, consider it punishment for whatever stupidity I did, and we're even?'
"Not even close sweetheart... ok, I need to secure this rope around you, and I'm gonna tie you to the front of me. I'll take the weight, but there still be some pull from the rope, so take a breath..."
And it did hurt. He watched her face and heard her hiss of breath as the rope dug into damaged ribs, then saw her fade to unconsciousness when the pain became too much. They wasted no time when they got her to the top, taking off the rope and lifting her carefully to the jumper, which Lorne had landed nearby once he had been told of their location. It may have been a short trip back to Atlantis through the stargate, but the trip back to health both mentally and physically for Dani, would be a much longer one.