A/N: I made some minor changes to the previous chapter (and this, lol) when I realized that New Mexico and Mexico did not share a long border to the south, but that the border was to Texas ;) Sorry about the research!fail.
It was near sunset when they were getting close to the Mexican Border, having only taken a short break to get some food and use the facilities, when they passed a truck stop some time back.
"Damn it!" Jack suddenly swears, and quickly turns the car around. Ahead of them, on the road, there is a roadblock with several unmarked black cars.
"Careful!" Daniel exclaims, as he and the others tries to hold on as Jack swerves the car at high speed and accelerates on the gravel road.
"Not now!" Jack drives as fast as he can, back the way they came.
Teal'c looks through the window. "There are helicopters approaching."
Jack groans. "The NID, no doubt! Or some of their friends." He turns left onto a road that is more a faint track than a road, and they bump along through dry grass and bushes, towards the outskirts of a sparse forest with high cliffs all along the horizon. The beginnings of the national park they hope to hide in and where they hope to cross the border unseen.
"Black helicopters? Really? That too?" Jacob asks, exasperated.
Sam just sighs and stares at the approaching helicopters.
Teal'c sits stoically through it all, amazingly able to hang on better than all the other - just like when he was the only one standing after everyone else was thrown when Apophis's ship entered hyperspace.
Sam shakes her head in amazement, and Jolinar makes a comment about training. Sam throws her dad a worried look. He doesn't say anything, and is clearly ready to brave whatever comes, but he is paler than before. Frailer than she can ever remember him, she suddenly feels. Her heart constricts at the thought of losing him.
~We will get through this, and you will not lose him if the Tok'ra have anything to say!~ Jolinar promises.
~What if we won't agree to be a host?~
~Then, hopefully, our healers can cure him in another way. As long as he is not too far gone when we get there, then a symbiote may be his only hope.~
Silently, Sam returns to her own thoughts, as Jack pushes the rented car to the maximum and speeds into the forested area, following the faint tracks through low-hanging branches. She really hope he knows what he is doing.
"The helicopters are still following, O'Neill," Teal'c says, when they have driven through dusty bushland interspersed with patches of forest, for some time.
"I know!" Jack exclaims. "At least I think we lost the cars!" He tries to look back and keep an eye on the road ahead at the same time.
"Keep your eyes on the road!" Daniel shouts! "If you want to call it that!"
"Whoa!" Jack steps on the brakes, but it is not soon enough, and the car slides out over the edge and begins to slide down an incline. "Damn! Stupid!"
About halfway down, the car gets caught in a tree, and that stops the decline.
"Phew!" Jacob sighs. "I thought we were going to end up down in the water!"
"Just be happy it's summer! The water reaches up above here in the wet season!" Jack grumbles. "Get out of the car! Quickly!"
They all hurry out, and Daniel goes to open the trunk.
"The helicopters!" Teal'c warns, hearing them again, approaching.
"Can't we get the car loose?" Daniel asks.
"No, and even if we could, we can't get it back up to the, ah, road." Jack says. "Only grab the most important - water, blankets - and whatever valuables you brought. We're going to need them!"
Sam snatches the backpack she had packed, which contains the most important. The smaller bag only has some more extra clothes, and that she will have to buy where they go.
The others do the same, and soon they are ready to leave.
"You okay, dad? Do you need me to take some of your stuff?" Sam asks, worriedly.
"No, I'm fine." Jacob looks offended. "This is enough! I've been roughing it as much as you guys!" He holds up the small backpack he has taken, leaving the duffel bag behind.
"Get moving, guys!" Jack urges, looking worriedly at the sky. The sound of the helicopters is coming closer again, after having moved away for a moment. They are clearly circling, trying to see where their prey is.
"The somewhat dense foliage right here in the hollow is to our advantage. I don't think they'll even be able to see the car easily." Jacob says. "Especially not now, since the sun is down and it's getting dark."
"Perhaps, but I'd feel safer if we were closer to the border," Jack says.
"How far away is it?" Daniel asks.
Jack considers. "I think I saw Roy's Peak ahead to the right, in the distance, a little while back, before we, ah, crashed. So... my guess is... maybe 10 miles?" he answers slowly. "And the terrain ahead of us is pretty bad, because we can't just follow the public trails everywhere." He sighs. "We also can't just go in a straight line, because there's a canyon not too far ahead, I think, and it's too steep to go down the side. We have to find the trail, which is probably also what the damn NID guys would expect us to."
"Well, at least it's dark now, and there is no moon." Jacob points out.
"Because it's overcast. It'll probably rain." Daniel says, morosely. "And the air is cooling rapidly."
"Regardless, it'll help us escape the followers." Jacob says. "Especially since it looks like the trees are getting sparser ahead."
"Try disappearing all together. It's dusty cliffs with a few bushes and cactuses. But the darkness might save us. Unless they have infrared in the choppers, or send down men on foot," Jack says somberly, finding a compass in his pocket. He takes a look at it. "Come on, guys!"
"How did you manage to get this kind of enemies?" Jacob asks, rhetorically, as they start walking.
About an hour later, they have made it into the canyon. The terrain up until then had been treasonous and hard to walk in, and with the near total darkness, they are only making slow progress. As Jack had said, the forest had immediately changed to cliffs and bushland with only occasional larger clusters of trees.
"The helicopters are still circling, no doubt they have found the car by now." Jack observes. "It's a good thing we can walk under cover of darkness, especially here out in the open."
"It's starting to rain," Daniel says.
"Damn, you're right!" Jack swears. "It's pretty rare this time of year here. Let's hope it's not getting bad, because that's not what you want at the bottom of a long canyon!"
They continued walking for another hour, with the rain growing worse. They were pretty much soaked when they reached the end of the now very muddy track at the bottom of the canyon.
Overhead, lighting tore across the sky, followed almost immediately by rolling thunder. The rain grew worse and the wind picked up. They suddenly shivered from the cold.
"Over there!" Teal'c points. "There is a cave!"
They hurried to the small cave, and huddled together in there, hiding from the cold and the rain. Hopefully the rain would stop before morning, because they needed to get across the border before sunrise.