Part Two
The sports bar where they had decided to enjoy their Saturday evening was relatively crowded for one a.m. in the morning. Last call wasn't for another hour, and the dance mix thumped with it's never ending bass-line chorus. The big screen across the room was showing Sports Center, and all of the day's sporting highlights. Jack, Daniel and for a change, Teal'c were enjoying some male bonding time. Jack was also admiring the scenery as two young, voluptuous women had teamed up to run the pool table on a bunch of guys. How foolish those guys were. The girls had been at the table since Jack, Teal'c and Daniel had walked in, and Jack knew that hustlers came in all shapes and sizes. He chuckled to himself as he saw the tall brunette shove another wad of money into the back pocket of her low-rise jeans, to which Jack was completely satisfied just to watch.
Daniel and Teal'c were engaged in a hot argument about which game was better. American football or European football, also known as soccer, although Teal'c was at a loss to explain the two different titles.
Teal'c had become quite a fan of the Denver Broncos, but only because that was the team which was the closest to the SGC. Jack had just ordered his fourth shot, with a beer chaser, and was feeling pretty warm and fuzzy. Daniel had kept up with him pretty well for the night, but Teal'c had them both beat. He was working on his fifteenth root beer, and the caffeine was sending him over the edge. Teal'c didn't drink alcohol, and Jack was seriously grateful, as he watched the Jaffa become increasingly rowdy and worked up.
Daniel was rather enjoying watching Teal'c get excited, and loud, and he kept shooting Jack surprised yet amused looks every time Teal'c said something out of character. Jack shook his head and turned his attention back to the pool table. He couldn't help but notice the empty chair next to him, and his mind wandered to what Carter might be doing tonight. He hoped she was enjoying her Saturday night, but he wished she would have come out with the rest of them.
"Jack." Daniel was trying to get his friend's attention.
"JAACCK!" Daniel reached across the table and grabbed his right arm to bring him out of his daze.
Annoyed at his thoughts interrupted, Jack looked at his glassy-eyed friend. "WHAT? WHAT?"
"Your cell phone is ringing. It's rang three times already. Pick it up will you? I hope it's not the base."
Jack looked down, and heard the familiar ring. He didn't know why he had chosen the death march theme, other than for the fact that every time his cell phone rang, it was potentially a dooming call for him to return to the base. He would have chosen the Simpson's theme had he been able to figure out how to download it from the internet onto his phone. He would have to get Cass to show him how to do it one of these days.
Silently praying, he flipped open the top to his cell phone as it rang for the fifth time. Daniel looked at him in anticipation, as Teal'c ordered another root beer.
"Hello, O'Neill here." Jack looked at Daniel as he thought he heard Sam's voice on the other end, and mouthed 'it's Sam' to him. Daniel relaxed, and watched appalled as Teal'c downed another half of a glass of root beer. And the guy hadn't gotten up to pee one time. Daniel had already broken the seal and gone twice more since. He looked back to Jack as a look of concern spread over the older man's face.
"Carter, where are you?" Jack said as he put a finger in the ear not occupied by the phone. His left ear was actually better. He had been too close to a grenade in the gulf, and when he was in loud, crowded places, it was hard for him to hear out of the right side. "It sounds like you're in wind tunnel!" He was almost screaming into the phone. He knew Sam must have been catching an earful of background noise too from his end.
Shivering now, from being wet, Sam was also screaming into her phone over the roar of the thunder, and the down pouring rain.
"I am at my house sir! I was trying to find Daniel; do you know where he is?" She was blinking as the water continued to run down her face. She made a mental note to thank the military for their cell phone technology. Any other phone would have died under the strain of being water logged. She barely heard Jack as he answered back.
" No carter, I won't give Daniel a kiss! Is there something else I can do for you?" Jack shrugged at the puzzled look he was getting from Daniel.
" Is Daniel with you Sir!?" He heard Sam ask in return.
"Yes, he's here, is everything okay?" Jack was wincing at the sound of static covering Sam's voice.
"I...ca......et...nto........y house!" The static was getting worse. ".ve...een....rying...to break in somehow....ut......it's locked.....p......ight! .....d...ou hear me?....am....cked...out sir!"
Jack sat upright in his chair, alarmed. Daniel and Teal'c took one look at his face, and leaned in to try and hear some of Jack's end of the conversation.
"Are you alone?!!" Jack asked into the phone. "Are you hurt?"
Static..... and a dial tone.
"CARTER?!" Sobering up instantly, Jack relayed the broken message to his friends, as he stood up to wave down the waitress for their bill.
"Someone's trying to break into Carter's house. She's alone and she can't get out!" Worry was quickly spread across the table to his teammates, as they all three jumped up to get their coats on and go. Knowing that there were in fact certain rogue groups that would like to get their hands on Carter made the situation all that more pressing.
"Well shouldn't we call the police?" Daniel asked, as he reached in his pocket to pull out a hundred-dollar bill. Without waiting for their check, he spotted the waitress and walked over to her and placed the hundred in her hand.
"This should cover our tab, you were great, keep the change, we have an emergency, and we can't wait for the bill!" Daniel hurried to catch up with Jack at the door.
"Where's Teal'c? Did you call the police?" Daniel said also sobering up pretty fast.
"Yes, I called them but Carter's house is only six streets away, and we'll probably beat them there. The root beer caught up with Teal'c and he had to pee. He'd better hurry the hell up!" Jack said, as he held his hand on the door to go out. He was trying to avoid the torrential downpour as long as possible.
"Maybe you had better try calling her back Jack, if she doesn't answer the phone, we know she's in trouble." Daniel said as Teal'c jogged out of the men's room, and they all ran out to Jack's truck through the rain. A crack of lightning streaked through the night sky, and Daniel's heart took a little leap down to his feet and back up to his throat. He hated thunderstorms, he always had.
Jack's truck was a quad cab Ford F-250, with plenty of room for all three men, but somehow, Daniel always got stuck in the back.
They jumped in, yanked the doors closed, and Jack handed Daniel his cell phone.
"You're right. Try Calling Sam again, and see if she picks up." Daniel always noticed that Jack used Sam's first name when she was in trouble. He didn't say anything, and dialed her number.
Jack smoked rubber, as he fishtailed in the wet parking lot, on the way over to Sam's house.
He ran all the red lights, too anxious to wait, or care about breaking the law. He was prepared to break whoever it was' legs that had broken into Sam's house.
"Jack, slow down! We aren't going to do her any good if we die before we get there!" Daniel was hanging onto what he affectionately referred to as the 'oh Shit handle' attached above the side window, as the truck swerved to avoid rear-ending a little blue-haired lady in a little Nissan sedan. Jack didn't hear him, he just keep weaving in and out of traffic, which was all slow because of the rain. Passing the blue-hair on the right, Daniel laughed in spite of himself as she angrily flipped Jack the bird. Jack didn't notice that either, but only glanced briefly in the rear-view at Daniel as Daniel continued to chuckle to himself.
Just then the streetlights went out, and as they passed houses, they saw all the lights go off in what was now the entrance to Sam's neighborhood. It was eerie, like a domino effect, as they traveled down the streets, the darkness traveled ahead of them creating a black path for them to follow to Sam's house.
"Well this sucks. This is the perfect time for a burglary too. It's completely dark, it's raining like a mother, and a suspect could just walk into any house he wanted because the alarms won't work unless they have a battery back up." Jack hit the steering wheel with his right hand as he was forced by Mother Nature to slow down in the darkness, so that he could get to Sam's house in time to help her.
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