From Here To Eternity: The Road to Redemption, The Second Step
Part 2
All disclaimers can be found in Part 0
***
Jack O'Neill had driven for hours after arriving back from Kansas and his meeting with Makepeace trying to accept what he'd been told. Trust was not going to come easy and the story Makepeace had begun to tell him stretched the limits of Jack's imagination. Granted he had seen a lot in his military career that would curl the hair on most, but this went far beyond your simple little dictator as monster scenario.
Makepeace hadn't given him any names yet, just a very broad description of a consortium made up of civilians that were behind what Maybourne had been doing with his 'shadow SG teams'. Both Hammond's contact and Maybourne had hinted at it, but there had as yet been no solid proof that this was true. In the back of his mind, he still thought Makepeace was feeding him a story. However if Makepeace was telling the truth and could give them names and facts that they could follow up on, this could give them the edge they needed to break this up and see that it never happened again. O'Neill decided it was time to report his meeting back to his commanding officer.
***
Robert Makepeace didn't know whether to be disappointed after his meeting with O'Neill, or relieved. As he sat on his bunk and reran the meeting in his mind, he attempted to 'read' O'Neill, but he was well trained as Makepeace knew and hadn't let his face or body show any signs as to whether he was believing him. All O'Neill had said when he left was "I'll make sure the information gets to where it belongs." That could mean he'd tell Hammond or would just relegate it to the trash bin in his head. He decided to follow training and just wait and see.
The only thing he was sure of, was that if the wrong people found out he was talking he would be eliminated. He'd expected that to have happened by now. Surely the powers that be had heard that he had been begging to talk to O'Neill and as paranoid about their secrecy as they were, he had figured they would take him out of the picture assuming that he was going to do just what he did. But they hadn't. What were they waiting for? The more he thought about it he decided that there was something that he didn't know about them ... about their plans, and that made him nervous. Maybe he was still being used and was too dumb to realize it. But how the hell could letting Hammond know about them advance their plans?
He'd been a soldier all his adult life. It was what defined him. It defined the way that he saw the world and the people in it. It defined the way he made plans and decisions. Military logic was not the same as the logic that civilians fell back on. If he was going to figure this out, he would have to change his method of thinking. Difficult, but not impossible. He prayed that O'Neill hadn't decided to blow him off because now he felt, more than ever, that the story needed to be told in its entirety.
***
"So, do you believe him?" asked Hammond after he had been appraised of O'Neill's meeting with Makepeace.
O'Neill had expected that question from his commanding officer and had contemplated it all the way back to Cheyenne Mountain and the SGC. He hadn't been able to find an answer then and he still couldn't. "I don't know, sir. If there is a conspiracy involving highly placed civilians and military, would they let an underling like Makepeace be privy to their plans ... to their identities?"
"You're assuming Colonel Makepeace was just a tool. Someone to go out and collect artifacts."
"Well that is what he did, sir."
"Agreed, but what if he did more than that? What if he was in on the planning stages from the beginning? Makepeace admitted that the reason he did this was because he believed in the concept that we needed to start taking technology to help ourselves against the Goa'uld. So he helps them out and along the way discovers that there is more to it than that," suggested Hammond.
"But sir, if these guys are as powerful and as smart as Makepeace is implying, then wouldn't they know that? I mean, Makepeace may have been deluded into helping them out but he's not stupid."
"Colonel, all it would take is for Maybourne to say what he said to you and mention that there is more going on here than we know. A man in Makepeace's position would run with that, don't you think?" Hammond asked.
"I would if it had been me, but I would also think that they might be aware of what I'm doing or suspect it at any rate. Then I'd become a liability to them. They'd want ... no need," O'Neill amended, "to get rid of me. And they haven't done that. Makepeace is still alive and well."
"Then maybe they aren't as smart as Colonel Makepeace makes them out to be and we're back to the same question ... is he telling the truth?"
The phone on Hammond's desk rang at that moment interrupting their conversation. Hammond sat forward in his chair and picked it up. "Hammond."
***
Makepeace was concentrating so hard that he didn't hear the guard approach his cell and walk in until the man was standing directly in front of him. He looked up unconcerned by the visit. "Yes?"
"Sorry to disturb you, sir, but the Assistant Warden would like to see you," announced the guard rattling a set of chains and manacles in front of him.
A warning bell started to ring in Makepeace's mind. The guard, whom he had the most contact with since being imprisoned, appeared for the first time nervous and jumpy. There were small beads of perspiration on the man's forehead and small, almost unnoticeable movement back and forth from one foot to the other that only someone trained in reading body language would see. Makepeace kept his face noncommittal so as not to alarm the guard. Maybe he had been wrong in his conclusions about the consortium keeping him alive. Maybe now was the time. If it was, he decided he wasn't going to go down without a fight.
"Okay," he said standing up and preparing to defend himself. If it came now, he knew he'd be able to take down the guard rather than the guard taking down him. The man was shorter and weighed less than he did. He knew that his physical conditioning was also much better than the guard who stood in front of him. He raised his arms to shoulder height and watched as the guard put the chain around his waist. When that was accomplished Makepeace lowered his arms and let the guard attach the manacles to his wrists preventing him from using his hands defensively or offensively. However the guard hadn't brought the leg manacles or chains so he still had his feet he could depend on and Makepeace hoped that would be enough.
The guard backed out of the cell and waited for Makepeace to take the lead down the deserted corridor. When the guard halted him and told him to turn towards the showers instead of the Assistant Warden's office, he knew that the time had come.
The shower room was completely tiled. Shower heads bristled from the walls at regular intervals. A modesty barrier that substituted for a shelf to hold soap and shampoo ran down the center of the room. The room was empty and before Makepeace could turn, the guard bounced a sap off the back of his head.
Makepeace had been expecting something of this nature, but it still didn't help when the lead filled sap hit him just where the skull meets the spine. The pain exploded in his head and he dropped to his knees and then fell on his side in a fetal position, fighting to keep from passing out. He knew he had to remain conscious or someone was going to find his dead body in the shower. His vision darkened around the edges heralding total black out, but he concentrated on keeping the guards boots, which was all he could see now, in focus. Summoning all his strength, he kicked out with his own feet towards the them and was rewarded with hearing a yell of pain and seeing the guard's feet suddenly vanish from his site to be replaced by the guard's chest as he fell to the ground. Again Makepeace kicked this time aiming for the man's head. He watched as the guard's head snapped back and blood gushed from a now broken nose. The guard, still conscious, curled up on his side dropping the leather covered sap and grabbing his nose instead.
Makepeace's vision began to clear and he slowly made his way to his knees where once again blackness threatened and he retched. Sour tasting bile burned its way up his throat and out his mouth and nose. In between convulsions he gulped in large breaths of air and soon his stomach settled as all its contents were purged. Ignoring the mess, he slid forward and grabbed the keys off the prostrate guard. Then he slowly raised himself to his feet and looked at the man who was still rocking back and forth, hanging onto his face, and moaning.
Makepeace's head throbbed with each beat of his pulse, and his vision kept dimming and brightening along with it. His knees were weak from the pain and from the vomiting threatening to send him to the floor once again, but he managed to wobble his way to the doorway of the shower. Once there he used the wall for support and slid along it until he came to the Panic Button that the guards used to set off an internal alarm if they needed help. He searched the key ring and found the key that would activate it, thankful that he had just enough reach to insert it and turn. He cringed as the alarm sounded making his head throb even harder and he slid to the floor and waited.
***
O'Neill watched as Hammond's face grew dark as he listened to what whoever was telling him on the other end of the phone. "Thank you for informing me. I'll get back to you shortly," he said through clenched teeth. Hanging up the phone he aimed his eyes at O'Neill. "Well, Colonel ... either a guard just tried to kill Makepeace or Makepeace just tried to kill a guard. The warden at Leavenworth isn't sure."
O'Neill sat forward in his chair. "What happened?"
"Well according to Makepeace the guard told him that the Assistant Warden wanted to see him then took him to the shower room and hit him over the head with a sap," explained Hammond. "The guard is saying that Makepeace asked to go there to clean up and once there attacked him. The only thing going in Makepeace's favor is that he was the one who sounded the alarm."
"If he sounded the alarm then wouldn't that exonerate him?"
"Well the guard is making noises that Makepeace just wanted to hurt him for something that he had said some time ago."
O'Neill looked unconvinced. "That's pretty weak, sir."
"I agree." Hammond leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I'm going to recommend that Makepeace be moved to a safe house and I want you to go along."
"Sir?" O'Neill wasn't sure if he wanted to hear what he knew Hammond was going to say next.
"You'll have complete authority. You pick out where you want to put him, you choose the people to go with you, and while you're there, you can get Makepeace's complete story about this consortium," ordered Hammond. "No one outside this office is to know where you've gone. Is that clear?"
O'Neill fought against his distaste at having anything to do with Makepeace ever again. He'd hoped that once he reported to Hammond, he'd be in the clear. Cursing whoever put the hit out on Makepeace, if that's what happened, he said, "Yes, sir."
***
continued in part 3
Part 2
All disclaimers can be found in Part 0
***
Jack O'Neill had driven for hours after arriving back from Kansas and his meeting with Makepeace trying to accept what he'd been told. Trust was not going to come easy and the story Makepeace had begun to tell him stretched the limits of Jack's imagination. Granted he had seen a lot in his military career that would curl the hair on most, but this went far beyond your simple little dictator as monster scenario.
Makepeace hadn't given him any names yet, just a very broad description of a consortium made up of civilians that were behind what Maybourne had been doing with his 'shadow SG teams'. Both Hammond's contact and Maybourne had hinted at it, but there had as yet been no solid proof that this was true. In the back of his mind, he still thought Makepeace was feeding him a story. However if Makepeace was telling the truth and could give them names and facts that they could follow up on, this could give them the edge they needed to break this up and see that it never happened again. O'Neill decided it was time to report his meeting back to his commanding officer.
***
Robert Makepeace didn't know whether to be disappointed after his meeting with O'Neill, or relieved. As he sat on his bunk and reran the meeting in his mind, he attempted to 'read' O'Neill, but he was well trained as Makepeace knew and hadn't let his face or body show any signs as to whether he was believing him. All O'Neill had said when he left was "I'll make sure the information gets to where it belongs." That could mean he'd tell Hammond or would just relegate it to the trash bin in his head. He decided to follow training and just wait and see.
The only thing he was sure of, was that if the wrong people found out he was talking he would be eliminated. He'd expected that to have happened by now. Surely the powers that be had heard that he had been begging to talk to O'Neill and as paranoid about their secrecy as they were, he had figured they would take him out of the picture assuming that he was going to do just what he did. But they hadn't. What were they waiting for? The more he thought about it he decided that there was something that he didn't know about them ... about their plans, and that made him nervous. Maybe he was still being used and was too dumb to realize it. But how the hell could letting Hammond know about them advance their plans?
He'd been a soldier all his adult life. It was what defined him. It defined the way that he saw the world and the people in it. It defined the way he made plans and decisions. Military logic was not the same as the logic that civilians fell back on. If he was going to figure this out, he would have to change his method of thinking. Difficult, but not impossible. He prayed that O'Neill hadn't decided to blow him off because now he felt, more than ever, that the story needed to be told in its entirety.
***
"So, do you believe him?" asked Hammond after he had been appraised of O'Neill's meeting with Makepeace.
O'Neill had expected that question from his commanding officer and had contemplated it all the way back to Cheyenne Mountain and the SGC. He hadn't been able to find an answer then and he still couldn't. "I don't know, sir. If there is a conspiracy involving highly placed civilians and military, would they let an underling like Makepeace be privy to their plans ... to their identities?"
"You're assuming Colonel Makepeace was just a tool. Someone to go out and collect artifacts."
"Well that is what he did, sir."
"Agreed, but what if he did more than that? What if he was in on the planning stages from the beginning? Makepeace admitted that the reason he did this was because he believed in the concept that we needed to start taking technology to help ourselves against the Goa'uld. So he helps them out and along the way discovers that there is more to it than that," suggested Hammond.
"But sir, if these guys are as powerful and as smart as Makepeace is implying, then wouldn't they know that? I mean, Makepeace may have been deluded into helping them out but he's not stupid."
"Colonel, all it would take is for Maybourne to say what he said to you and mention that there is more going on here than we know. A man in Makepeace's position would run with that, don't you think?" Hammond asked.
"I would if it had been me, but I would also think that they might be aware of what I'm doing or suspect it at any rate. Then I'd become a liability to them. They'd want ... no need," O'Neill amended, "to get rid of me. And they haven't done that. Makepeace is still alive and well."
"Then maybe they aren't as smart as Colonel Makepeace makes them out to be and we're back to the same question ... is he telling the truth?"
The phone on Hammond's desk rang at that moment interrupting their conversation. Hammond sat forward in his chair and picked it up. "Hammond."
***
Makepeace was concentrating so hard that he didn't hear the guard approach his cell and walk in until the man was standing directly in front of him. He looked up unconcerned by the visit. "Yes?"
"Sorry to disturb you, sir, but the Assistant Warden would like to see you," announced the guard rattling a set of chains and manacles in front of him.
A warning bell started to ring in Makepeace's mind. The guard, whom he had the most contact with since being imprisoned, appeared for the first time nervous and jumpy. There were small beads of perspiration on the man's forehead and small, almost unnoticeable movement back and forth from one foot to the other that only someone trained in reading body language would see. Makepeace kept his face noncommittal so as not to alarm the guard. Maybe he had been wrong in his conclusions about the consortium keeping him alive. Maybe now was the time. If it was, he decided he wasn't going to go down without a fight.
"Okay," he said standing up and preparing to defend himself. If it came now, he knew he'd be able to take down the guard rather than the guard taking down him. The man was shorter and weighed less than he did. He knew that his physical conditioning was also much better than the guard who stood in front of him. He raised his arms to shoulder height and watched as the guard put the chain around his waist. When that was accomplished Makepeace lowered his arms and let the guard attach the manacles to his wrists preventing him from using his hands defensively or offensively. However the guard hadn't brought the leg manacles or chains so he still had his feet he could depend on and Makepeace hoped that would be enough.
The guard backed out of the cell and waited for Makepeace to take the lead down the deserted corridor. When the guard halted him and told him to turn towards the showers instead of the Assistant Warden's office, he knew that the time had come.
The shower room was completely tiled. Shower heads bristled from the walls at regular intervals. A modesty barrier that substituted for a shelf to hold soap and shampoo ran down the center of the room. The room was empty and before Makepeace could turn, the guard bounced a sap off the back of his head.
Makepeace had been expecting something of this nature, but it still didn't help when the lead filled sap hit him just where the skull meets the spine. The pain exploded in his head and he dropped to his knees and then fell on his side in a fetal position, fighting to keep from passing out. He knew he had to remain conscious or someone was going to find his dead body in the shower. His vision darkened around the edges heralding total black out, but he concentrated on keeping the guards boots, which was all he could see now, in focus. Summoning all his strength, he kicked out with his own feet towards the them and was rewarded with hearing a yell of pain and seeing the guard's feet suddenly vanish from his site to be replaced by the guard's chest as he fell to the ground. Again Makepeace kicked this time aiming for the man's head. He watched as the guard's head snapped back and blood gushed from a now broken nose. The guard, still conscious, curled up on his side dropping the leather covered sap and grabbing his nose instead.
Makepeace's vision began to clear and he slowly made his way to his knees where once again blackness threatened and he retched. Sour tasting bile burned its way up his throat and out his mouth and nose. In between convulsions he gulped in large breaths of air and soon his stomach settled as all its contents were purged. Ignoring the mess, he slid forward and grabbed the keys off the prostrate guard. Then he slowly raised himself to his feet and looked at the man who was still rocking back and forth, hanging onto his face, and moaning.
Makepeace's head throbbed with each beat of his pulse, and his vision kept dimming and brightening along with it. His knees were weak from the pain and from the vomiting threatening to send him to the floor once again, but he managed to wobble his way to the doorway of the shower. Once there he used the wall for support and slid along it until he came to the Panic Button that the guards used to set off an internal alarm if they needed help. He searched the key ring and found the key that would activate it, thankful that he had just enough reach to insert it and turn. He cringed as the alarm sounded making his head throb even harder and he slid to the floor and waited.
***
O'Neill watched as Hammond's face grew dark as he listened to what whoever was telling him on the other end of the phone. "Thank you for informing me. I'll get back to you shortly," he said through clenched teeth. Hanging up the phone he aimed his eyes at O'Neill. "Well, Colonel ... either a guard just tried to kill Makepeace or Makepeace just tried to kill a guard. The warden at Leavenworth isn't sure."
O'Neill sat forward in his chair. "What happened?"
"Well according to Makepeace the guard told him that the Assistant Warden wanted to see him then took him to the shower room and hit him over the head with a sap," explained Hammond. "The guard is saying that Makepeace asked to go there to clean up and once there attacked him. The only thing going in Makepeace's favor is that he was the one who sounded the alarm."
"If he sounded the alarm then wouldn't that exonerate him?"
"Well the guard is making noises that Makepeace just wanted to hurt him for something that he had said some time ago."
O'Neill looked unconvinced. "That's pretty weak, sir."
"I agree." Hammond leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I'm going to recommend that Makepeace be moved to a safe house and I want you to go along."
"Sir?" O'Neill wasn't sure if he wanted to hear what he knew Hammond was going to say next.
"You'll have complete authority. You pick out where you want to put him, you choose the people to go with you, and while you're there, you can get Makepeace's complete story about this consortium," ordered Hammond. "No one outside this office is to know where you've gone. Is that clear?"
O'Neill fought against his distaste at having anything to do with Makepeace ever again. He'd hoped that once he reported to Hammond, he'd be in the clear. Cursing whoever put the hit out on Makepeace, if that's what happened, he said, "Yes, sir."
***
continued in part 3