Part 48
Bubbles dove out of the way, and the zat blast skimmed just over his arm. Sam immediately returned fire, taking down the man who'd tried to shoot the conservation officer plus a female agent nearby. The other two agents got their own weapons out--regular handguns this time, not zats--and Sam had to duck behind a large tree. Bullets pinged off the trunk and chunks of dirt and wood flew. Pausing for just a moment longer, she then risked a peek back at her adversaries.
The two men were racing for a pair of dirt bikes parked next to the nearby lake, still firing covering shots behind them. Sam squeezed off two more rounds, and managed to hit one operative in the leg, bringing him face-down in the dirt. Her next two shots missed the fourth agent and merely showered him with clods of dirt as he climbed aboard the bike and started the motor. Accelerating so suddenly the back end slid around, he took off down the shoreline.
Blue lightning snaked out and enveloped the rider and vehicle, turning the bike sharply to the side and pitching the fleeing agent into the shallow water. Nodding in satisfaction, Sam turned to see Bubbles standing next to the first of their fallen foes, eyeing the recovered zat with an inscrutable expression.
"Useful device," he commented as Sam stepped out of the trees.
"Very," she agreed. "It's classified, though, so I can't tell you anything about it. Sorry."
"I see." Handing the alien weapon to her without further question, Bubbles straightened imaginary wrinkles out of his uniform and stepped up to the downed agents. "These people will require medical attention."
"I know." Sam dug her cell phone out of her jacket pocket. She tried the colonel's number first, but it rang several times before going to voice mail. She left him a brief message explaining that she and Bubbles were successful in taking down the NID agents lurking in the woods, and that she was going to call Hammond to make the arrangements for securing the prisoners.
Her next call, as promised, was to the SGC, and she was put through to the general's office after only a short wait. Immediately, she let him know that she was standing next to a civilian law enforcement officer, and would therefore be unable to give him complete details. She then went on to explain that the O'Neill cabin had met with an accident, and that Teal'c and the colonel had gone to look for Daniel while she and Bubbles tracked down the rogue NID agents who had been haunting the area.
"According to Officer Bubbles, they began camping out in the woods well before the, uh, UAV crashed, sir, so it's pretty obvious why they were really here."
"Understood, Major. Use your discretion to determine if you'll need further assistance from the local authorities and hospitals, and I'll make arrangements to have our own people take it from there." He chuckled with little humor. "All else fails, there's a Reserves wing of the 934th at the air field in Minneapolis that can fly all of you back here."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that, sir," Sam winced. She did not have any desire to bounce around in the back of C-130 for even as short a flight as the one to Colorado would be.
"I'll hold that option for the last resort," Hammond promised. "Officer Bubbles... he wouldn't happen to have an unusual first name, now would he? Rather large black fellow with a head full of hair?"
"Uh, no hair, sir, but yes. Er, the colonel said his first name was... Cobra?"
This time, Hammond's mirth was genuine. "And I bet he doesn't trust you much at all, does he?"
Now really confused, Sam found herself giving Officer Bubbles a curious eye. The subject of her attention was, in turn, giving her a look rendered imperceptible by his dark sunglasses. "Probably not even as far as he could throw me, sir." Which, given the impressive circumference of the man's biceps, was saying a lot.
"That's what I thought. Tell him you're working for Georgie H, and remind him that he still owes me one. That should net you a little more cooperation, Major. I'll contact you or Colonel O'Neill when I have further information."
With that, General Hammond hung up, leaving Samantha Carter confused. Even with all her unusual experiences traveling off-world, she'd never felt anything so odd as being stuck in the middle of the Minnesota woods with four unconscious rogue agents and a conservation officer who was definitely more than he seemed.
Author's Notes:
Grrr... have you ever heard of a class having an eighteen-page syllabus? Well, one of mine had one... so I dropped it yesterday. It was supposed to be a web-enhanced course, but the pompous turd teaching it was treating it like a full web course... but still required attendance.
//rolls eyes//
Since my other four classes this semester are all computer-related (and mostly stuff I already know how to do, like code in HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and use Excel and Access), things should go well this term, too. Of course, now that I have a job again, my available free time still isn't quite what it was last semester. Drat.
