AN: So apparently communication is the key with my boss at least. I tend to just... handle things. I didn't talk to her about her boss but we did discuss how much crap I'm doing that is WAY more then my actual job description says I'm supposed to do and possibly this might be why I never have time to do my paperwork or track the things I'm supposed to be tracking. Imagine that...

So yesterday magically I had tons of time to actually get a job done I was supposed to do... in January...

Chapter 4

Sean all but threw his overnight bag against a corner next to one of the beds. There were two doubles. This would not end well. He took the bed by the window. He didn't think they would need an overwatch for this and didn't have anyone set up for it anyway. The goal was find Jack and extract him with the least amount of violence possible. They would let the authorities handle capturing the bad guys. Whoever the hell they were.

He watched blandly as Sammy and Jon entered the room. Sean noted that even annoyed with each other, Jon took up support position with Sammy as her hands weren't free. She had her bag and the laptop to juggle so Jon walked behind her to guard her six.

Sammy looked around the room. There was a couch area with a desk in one corner and a coffee maker and sink in another. The door that should have led to their adjoined room was between the desk and the counter where the coffee maker was. Sam tossed her bag against the door and set the laptop on the desk. She looked around and noted the divider hid a pair of double beds with a vanity across from it and a small toilet and bath area behind it. The room was over warm. She crossed to the cheap window-mounted heating and cooling unit and turned it down. "I've stayed in worse." She said by way of acceptance. She pulled out the desk chair and started working on her program again. She wasn't quite done tweaking it.

Jon stopped in the middle of the room as though he wasn't sure what to do with himself after he'd shut the door.

Sean decided he's Switzerland.

Sammy was either ignoring Jon or was simply in work mode and was busily tapping away on Sean's laptop. Jon sighed and dragged his bag to the vanity, saw there was a minimalist closet and tossed it inside. He grabbed the TV remote on his way by and then shuffled back to the couch and plopped down on the brown nondescript upholstery and started flipping channels until he found something sports related. It didn't go unnoticed that Sammy rolled her eyes. Jon pretended to ignore her.

Sean joined Jon on the couch. "How long will that take?" He asked, pointing vaguely at Sammy.

"Less time than it does to invent a particle accelerator from scratch." Jon said absently, his eyes on the basketball players on the screen.

"Okay…."

Jon shrugged.

They had finally fed him. It had looked like it was probably dog food. It might have been a beef stew MRE. Either way his companion had liked it. Jack had chocked it down. He'd been made to eat worse. Since being abducted, Jack lost his sense of time. He figured it was about two days or so since he was taken. At least, his built-in ability to sense danger pricked him awake to the sound of the door quietly scraping open. His little furry buddy let out a low growl.

"It's all right, girl." He said to her softly but considering the growl, Jack was certain that whoever had wrenched her leg was among his new visitors.

"Pick him up." A male voice barked from behind the others.

Two of the goons walked purposefully towards Jack where he was propped against the wall and his hands were momentarily untied. His little companion growled but backed away. Jack figured at least one of them had hurt her enough that she was wary.

He was roughly lifted to a standing position.

A masked middle aged man, possibly a few years younger than himself, stepped out from between the goons and looked at Jack impassively.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you all here?" Jack quipped.

"Cut the crap, O'Neill. No one here thinks you're funny. Least of all me." His new visitor snarled at him.

"And you would be?" Jack asked, giving the other man a level look.

"I doubt you've ever heard of me at all… After all… you're the one that ended things."

Jack's eyes narrowed. "Hey, Kathy Morris wasn't pregnant when we broke up. She just said that to shut her dad up."

"What? No! I'm not your kid, you insufferable ass."

"Oh well, that's good." Jack said, shrugging. His mind, however, was on how many people he'd have to overcome to make it out of the room. In his younger years, he'd have given it a shot. Jack was no stranger to a beat down… but he had the feelings of his wife to consider and he had a three year old daughter who needed him so his current plan was stay alive until they sent in Frank's buddies. So when his captor said the name Frank, Jack startled a bit. "Pardon?"

"I said does the name Frank ring any bells." The other man huffed.

Jack frowned. "I know a lot of Franks. Do you mean Hopkins?"

"Who?"

"Not important." Jack said dismissively.

"Things rarely are with you."

"Hey." Jack replied, his tone injured.

"Oh, cut the crap. I'm surprised the trail of dead team members isn't longer when it comes to you."

"Well, that's just uncalled for." Jack said, his tone still injured. He'd grieved every one of those guys. Some of them more than once he thought as Daniel came to mind. Hell once or twice for his wife too.

"Is it? Because you have a track record… sir." The younger man told him.

Jack's eyes narrowed. Who the hell was this guy?

"You really don't remember, do you?"

"Kid, I've served with a lot of guys that went by Frank over the years. You might help narrow things down a bit with a last name." Jack answered, annoyance creeping into his voice.

"Let me refresh your memory." He said and flicked his hand. One of the goons holding him up sucker punched Jack in the gut.

Jack oofed in reaction. It had been a solid punch that was going to leave a wide bruise later.

"'Nam. You served with then Lieutenant Frank Cromwell."

"Oh… him." Jack said and winced. "You his kid?"

"No, you insufferable ass. I was his second in command when they dragged us into that shithole base you served at in the late nineties and sat outside while you made sure he died."

Jack blinked at the guy. "I'd know you if you were part of that team. They all served under Hammond after Frank died."

"All of them but one. I resigned after his death." The guy told Jack. "I knew you killed him and I knew I'd want to kill you if I had to serve under you."

"So, you waited all this time just to get back at me? Why now? What changed?"

"Simple really. Access. As long as you were at that base, I couldn't get at you. None of you seemed to go home and when you did one of your team was always around. Especially that hot blond you were nailing."

Jack canted his jaw and frowned to hide the fury at the other man's description of Sam. All that time he'd been watching them, waiting. He could have turned them in at any point and hadn't over their frat reg violations… He'd waited until Jack was alone… because this wasn't about ruining his career. It was about revenge. The guy didn't give any shits who Jack was sleeping with nor did he want to wreck anyone else's career. Just Jack's. How honorable of him… But at least that meant Grace and the kids were safe.

"Look, I'm sorry about Frank. I never forgave him for what he did but I didn't want him to die. I swear."

"Bullshit. You blamed him for Iraq. I heard you."

"I did. I do. Sometimes following orders is wrong but Frank wasn't the kind of guy to know that."

"Oh, so it's his fault, your dumb ass got captured now?"

"That's not what I'm saying." Jack grumbled.

"Either way my CO is dead because of you."

"It's a rough gig. Lots of us die." Jack pointed out.

"But not because of what you did." He said.

"No… not because of what I did." Jack agreed tiredly. It was partially his fault Frank was dead. The man had only volunteered to prove to Jack that he'd never intentionally left Jack behind and Jack had kicked sand in the guy's face anyway.

The other man arched a brow sarcastically. "Why don't you tell me why?"

Jack sighed. "Frank volunteered. He didn't say why. I guess he figured it would prove he was still on my side. A piece of debris cut through his line. I… I had him. I could have hauled us both out but... he let go." Jack finished lamely.
"Sure… because you're such a stand up guy."

"Look even if I hated his guts for what he did, it didn't mean I wanted him dead. We'd already lost an entire team that day. What purpose was more death going to serve?"

His captor smiled meanly at him. "So what's one more now?" He said and waved his hand. The two guys behind him approached Jack and started wailing on him with their fists. His captor laughed. "Don't worry, 'General'. You'll still be alive at the end of the day." He said and walked out of the room.

After he left, the beating continued until Jack was too sore to put up much resistance at which point the guys holding him dropped him on the floor and started kicking him.

Jack's furry buddy growled and lunged at one of the kicking feet. The goon kicked at the dog but Jack was faster. He rolled over and punched the guy's knee as he grabbed the dog and landed on his bad leg and twisted it hard in a direction it wasn't designed to go. Jack saw stars but did not release his cowering companion.

"I'm going to kill that stupid damned dog," said one of the other guards and lunged at Jack only to receive a solid head butt to the chin. The guy went down like a load of bricks but Jack was cuffed from behind by a meaty fist and knew only blackness himself.

It was hours before he woke again in a pool of blood. Some his own, some his guards…. But his furry little friend was nestled against his arm. He nudged her tentatively and was relieved when she lifted her head and licked his sore hand. Arguably every part of him was sore… and tired… and hungry. Oh well, Sam had been on his ass about losing weight…