Chapter 53:
Stone watched from his hideout as the British police scoured the countryside, looking for any indication of the whereabouts of the people involved in the Shapley incident.
Two men drew Stones attention; they were dressed in civilian clothing, among the uniformed officers, not the suits that detectives were dressed in.
"Hercules!" Stone said in a low voice, as he nudged Kingston and handed him the binoculars.
Kingston woke in seconds, and turned his attention to the individual's Stone indicated. "They are SAS, they are often brought in to assist the police in these matters."
Taking the binoculars back, Stone observed the two men. "Do you know them?"
"No, but I have been out of the loop for almost nine years."
Stone continued looking at the men for a moment. "How many do you think they will have brought in?"
Kingston took a moment. "Most likely four men, no more than eight. But it is highly unlikely, because of the deployments need for them."
"Yeah, well. We don't need a firefight with the SAS; we have our hands full with the Syndicate cronies."
"Boss, we have left bodies all over the country side, more than twenty bodies." Kingston objected as he settled down to get some rest. "Besides, they don't have any heavy weapons now; most likely they just have pistols with them. They will think we have left the area."
For the next hour Stone observe the movement of the police and the two SAS operatives, then two more men dressed in civilian clothing came up to the first two. Again Stone nudged Kingston, and handed him the binoculars.
Kingston looked at the two new arrivals. "Bollucks, mate. We are in trouble, I recognize those two. Staff Sergeant Henry 'Henno' Garvie and Pete Twamley, both are veterans of the regiment and both are good."
"We will have to cross that bridge when we come to it, our mission has priority." Stone said to his old friend, a reminder that was not needed.
Kingston looked at his watch and then the sky. "We have four hours until darkness; you should try and get some sleep. The night will be long and interesting, with the Syndicate and the SAS hunting us."
Stone took one last look at the four SAS men, as they walked back towards the house where Shapley owned, before he lay down.
Three and half hours later Stone awoke as Kingston shook his shoulder.
"Boss, it is getting darker." Kingston said as he checked his SAW.
Stone looked out of the hide, it was getting darker as Kingston had said, even better, it had started to rain. Which meant that most people would get in out of the rain, only the crazies would go out in the rain.
Clicking his radio once, Stone listened for the three answering click's, signaling that he team was ready to go.
In Cheyenne Mountain, the intelligence center was buzzing with activity, information was pouring in, most of it was crap, but it had to be looked over.
Mulder had spent the last eight hours helping Hudson, sort the essential information from the junk. Only taking a short break to look in on Scully and the children, she was on her eight month of pregnancy. The house was getting in shape, no thanks to him, it was all Scully and her mother, the bedrooms had been furnished first.
Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter had moved into the house besides them, they were the first two houses finished. Already ten more were almost ready, the engineers were working as fast as humanly possible to get the housing up.
Marla Kingston had moved in with O'Neill and Carter, temporarily until the third house was finished. She was helping with the O'Neill children, plus taking care of the infant Stone child.
Hudson came with the latest file and handed to Mulder. "General Patrich has asked for an update!"
Taking the file and skimming through it, Mulder then stood up and went to the general's office.
After knocking on the general's door, and receiving an okey to enter. Mulder handed Patrich the file as he sat down.
Patrich read the file. "So now we know that none of those killed were our people. And Shapley most likely committed suicide. How many bodies have been found?"
"Our latest information said twenty-four, sir!"
"Do we have any information on the men killed?"
"It seems that most of them were ex-Royal Marines or Paratroopers, two of them could have been former members of the SAS. We are gathering as much information as we can about them, but it seem that they are just the usual Syndicate hired help, well except for one, we can't seem to get any information about him."
"Thank you, Mulder. If there is any more development could you get that to me, please?" Patrich asked.
"Of course, sir!" Mulder stood up and opened the door, stopping with the door half-opened. "Sir, there is one other matter."
Patrick looked at Mulder. "Yes!"
"I think that the British government has sent in an SAS team. The information is not concrete, but with what we have it is more than likely." With that Mulder left.
For a long while Patrich just looked at the door. It was not new that Forlorn Hope team had to fight on two fronts, the syndicate forces and then men and women, just doing their jobs.
Stone came out of the hide first, scanning the surrounding area for any sighs of threat, the G36 in his hands. Moving five meter from the hide, he waited as Kingston came out and to him, then the two men moved off, to meet the rest of the team.
The rain and darkness hid their movement from prying eyes and ears.
Member of the team came two and two in, until the eight man team was together again, Stone took a moment to assure himself that everyone was okay, before moving off.
What now mattered was getting some distance between them and the police, the team would have to travel fast.
Stone set of towards the north-east, double-time. There would be no stopping until before daybreak, unless there was some sort of an emergency, or they ran into trouble.
For the next four hour the team was able to travel unhindered, this was not a difficult journey for the member of the team, during the advance training they received, a 36 hour run was mandatory for all recruits.
Stone kept them just below the edge of the hills, so they would have the high ground but also to keep them from being spotted or siluetted by lights.
Each member of the team had a certain area to cover, since Stone was in the led he cover the front arch.
As Stone was coming to a ridge line, something was wrong, so he stopped and held up his left and in a fist, indicating for the team to stop. And lower them self down. Stone's eyes scan the area in front of him, everything look alright, but something felt off.
Pulling out a map, Stone skimmed the area, before signaling a retreat.
Patrich walked into the intelligence center, and saw Hudson and Mulder hurled over a desk, going over some information. Heading to the two men, Patrich was startled to note that the men were working so well together. Mulder an FBI agent, and Hudson a NSA agent. Mulder was not yet forty and Hudson was over sixty, Mulder leaped to conclusions while Hudson was so methodical it was almost frightening.
"Gentlemen, I hope you have some news for me!" Patrich said as he came to the desk where they were working.
Both men looked up at the general. "Well, sir. We have been aided by Pearce; we cracked the SAS and police frequencies." Hudson offered.
"And?" Patrich said impatiently, wanting them to get on with it.
"We now know that our team is alive and well, they have escaped from at least three traps set by the SAS, the British are getting frustrated, with this lack of results." Then Hudson and Mulder broke into a big grin. "We have also discovered that the Syndicate are frantic, it seem that Shapley had keep a detail record of his transaction for them. If Stone and his team has it, it is the intelligence find of a lifetime. We would have an inside track on almost every transaction they have made in years. If Shapley was not directly involved, he had a hand in moving the money around." Hudson grinned even broader as he told Patrich the news.
"Sir, with this information, we will be able to trace all transaction that the Syndicate has made in years, get the location of their base and laboratories. This is the goldmine." Mulder reiterated the point.
Patrich understood the importance of the information and its implication. "So Stone and his team, must get out of a zone filled with police, an SAS team hunting them and Syndicate also on the prowl for them."
"Sir, is there any way to draw Syndicate attention away from them?" Mulder asked.
Patrich took a long moment to think the matter through. "No, not without drawing more of the British attention also."
"So they are on their own?" Mulder asked unnecessarily.
"Stone is one of the best, and the member of his team are also among the best, that is the reason they were chosen. I am sure if there is any way of getting out of this mess, they will find it." Patrich said sadly.
A member of the intelligence team came over. "Sir's, you should look at this!" Pointing at the TV with a British News network on one of the tv's.
The British announcer was explaining the situation in Wales. "The police has disclosed that the tragic death of Sir Edward Shapley was a suicide, not a murder like first was thought. The police have not been willing to speculate as to the reason behind the suicide, or the bodies discovered on and near the property where Sir Edward Shapley was found. Despite numerous attempts to get the identities of the individuals kill, the police has denied to release them. Speculation has been rampant on the financial markets, about the reason for Sir Shapley suicide, ranging from his bankruptcy to personal reasons."
Patrich turned away. "Gentlemen, keep me apprised of the matter." With that the general turned to leave.
"Sir!" Mulder spoke up to stopped Patrich from leaving. "Can't General Hammond not help in this situation?"
Patrich turned back to Mulder. "I am afraid that Hammond is off world at the moment, direction an operation against Anubis."
Mulder glanced at Hudson, then back to Patrich. "What is this situation with the man they brought back, the man they thought was dead?"
"You mean Daniel Jackson, the truth is I don't know what the situation is. This is way beyond anything I have ever dealt with." Patrich said as he shook his head slowly, then walked out.
Mulder and Hudson, could do nothing else but look stunned.
"And I thought my life was strange before!" Mulder spoke uploud.
"I thought my life was normal, god, this beats the routine at the NSA!" Hudson said happily.
"Don't get me wrong, my life is much better now. I don't want the old life back. But it is stranger." Mulder replied.
