The man behind Sam wrapped his hand firmly around her upper arm and pulled her to her feet. She swayed a bit and her head pounded harder than ever, but she was determined to stay upright.
"Where are we going?" She asked. No one answered, not that she had expected anyone to. She was jerked forward from between Daniel and Teal'c following the masked man who was walking towards the front door. She looked back over her shoulder at Daniel and Teal'c. The remaining attackers who were surrounding them had unholstered their weapons and had them pushed into the back of their heads.
"Hey," Sam called desperately towards the man in front of her. "Look, you were right. They don't know where the General is. Just let them go and you and I can talk."
"Uh Sam?" Daniel questioned from behind her sounding concerned.
"It's okay Daniel," she said, trying to project confidence or at least sound like she had any idea of what the hell she was doing.
"Oh," the man in front said, turning to look at her. "That is exactly what we are going to do Colonel. But their lives are in your hands, and whether or not they live depends on how cooperative you are willing to be." He reached the front door and yanked it open, the remaining hinge protesting loudly. He walked out onto the porch and the man holding Sam's arm shoved her out after him. Sam heard the door close again as she stumbled and just barely kept her balance. She turned to glare at the masked face standing impassively next to her. "What the hell do you want from us? You went to an awful lot of trouble to make sure the four of us were all up here. And you can threaten us all you want but I know you want us alive or we'd already be dead and you wouldn't be going to this much trouble to find him."
"Excellent deductions. But it'll be worth it."
"You won't find him, you know," she said, trying to roll her shoulders to ease the ache her bound hands were putting on them. "Not if he doesn't want you to find him."
"I know that," he said simply.
Sam's blood boiled at his words. "Then why the act back there? You've been monitoring the house since we got here, you know everything we know. Is this just about revenge for us taking you down?"
He chuckled. "You and the SGC may have thrown a wrench into some of our dealings, but you could never take us down. The Trust has a bigger plan than that. And as for the act…" he looked her up and down and she had the feeling his gaze was lingering over her battered face. "Well lets just say we had to put on a good show if we were ever going to flush out your precious General."
He reached up and pulled the mask over his head revealing a freckled face she immediately recognized.
"Malcolm?" she said disbelievingly.
"Hi Sam," the NID agent said, smiling at her. "What do you say you and I go for a walk?"
Jack was trying to move silently through the trees which was difficult as water was not so much dripping as pouring off his soaking wet clothing.
He looked around and then ducked down in a particularly dense patch of undergrowth. Slipping his shirt over his head he twisted it up tightly in an effort to wring as much water as possible from it.
The shirt was far from dry but he still slid it back on. At least he was no longer dripping. He considered his flannel pants but he'd had enough of being caught pants-less this weekend and had no desire to do it again. He left them on and peered carefully out of the undergrowth.
A snap of a twig caught his attention and he saw one of the gunmen slowly making his way through the trees. He was sweeping his weapon back and forth but gave no indication that he'd seen Jack.
The General consisted for a moment. There were no reinforcements in sight, but there was a good chance there were others close by. His reflexes may have been dulled slightly by three years of being a desk jockey, not that he would ever admit it, but he still could take out one guy.
He tensed up as the assailant neared his hiding place, he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he waited for the right moment.
3, 2, 1, he counted down in his head… and go! In the blink of an eye he had sprung out of the branches and had one hand over the man's mouth to muffle his yells and the other arm hooked around his neck. He yanked him back and down into the brush with him. The man tried to struggle and his legs kicked out fruitlessly, but Jack could already feel him losing the fight. Within a minute he went limp and Jack lowered him the rest of the way to the ground.
He grabbed the man's gun, an AK. "Piece of crap," Jack muttered as he checked the mag. He found an extra one in his vest and took it along with his radio. It was silent for now, but Jack knew the man's disappearance wouldn't go unnoticed for long. He looked up at the sun to check his direction and headed back to the cabin. Weapon, check. He thought to himself. Hang on, I'm coming Sam.
Malcolm had grabbed Sam's arm just above the elbow and pulled her down the small steps, off the porch and into the open space in front of the cabin.
"Malcolm, what happened to you?" She asked, trying to pull out of his grip which caused him to simply tighten his hold. "The NID said they'd broken Baal's brainwashing. What are you still doing working for the Trust?"
"I told you Sam, there was never anything wrong with me. How could they break brainwashing when it never happened?"
"So you're just voluntarily working for them then?" she asked disbelievingly. "What was the plan then? Just to get us all up here for a fun reunion?"
"You don't understand yet, but you will," he said, stopping in the middle of the open area and turning to face her.
He blood turned icy as a sudden realization swept over her. "That's their plan, isn't it? To try and brainwash the four of us as well. They think they'll get access to the SGC plus Washington and the Free Jaffa Nation."
"Once you see it their way it all makes sense Sam, they just want to help Earth," he said earnestly.
"See, that's how I know it isn't you. The Malcolm Barret I know would never help them."
"Maybe you don't know me as well as you thought."
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not buying it. You're my friend and you would never do this voluntarily. You don't have to do this Malcolm. You're not one of them, we can help you." She spoke firmly but inside she was worried. If the NID had failed to break the mind control but Malcolm had convinced them he had, was it even possible to get him back? They had to avoid letting the Trust mess with their minds at all costs. There was way too much at stake to compromise any of their positions. Especially if they didn't even realize they were doing anything wrong.
There was a crackle and she heard a disembodied voice say, "Sir?" Malcolm fished a radio out of his pocket and pressed the talk button with his free hand.
"What's going on?" he said.
"Sir, I can't raise Johnson on the radio. He should have finished his patrol ten minutes again."
"And there he is. Got you General," Malcolm said triumphantly. "Fall back to the house," he continued into the radio. "It's just a matter of flushing him out now."
"Yes Sir." The radio went silent and he slid it back into his pocket.
"You really think he's just going to come out and surrender to you," Sam asked incredulously.
"Yes, actually, I do. And you're going to help me."
"Not a chance in hell," she said.
He sighed, reached under his jacket and pulled out a pistol from a shoulder holster. Still holding her arm with one hand tight enough to leave bruises he pushed the gun firmly into her ribs with the other. "Unfortunately Sam, you really don't have any choice in the matter."