DISCLAIMER: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of the people who made them up. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

A Snake In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush

Part twenty-two

Jack, Teal'c and Daniel had left. Half an hour later a large van drew up in front of the house and two well-muscled men climbed out and knocked on the door. Sam opened the door and they pushed past her, looking around them searchingly.

'Er, can I help you?' Clare asked nervously, glad that Sam was with her. Just then, Mr W came hurrying over from his house and greeted the two arrivals like long lost friends.

'This is Simon and Andrew, not their real names of course,' he winked at the two women. 'They're here to carry out the next part of my plan - to get you two out of here unobserved.'

'What did you have in mind?' Sam asked cautiously.

'Well, Clare's been talking for some time about getting rid of some of the furniture that's been cluttering up the house, I figured now was a good time to take care of it. What else are friends and neighbours for, heh?'

'And how exactly does that help us get away from here?'

Two hours later Sam felt the van pull to a stop. They clambered out from the piles of furniture they were sat amongst, relieved when the doors opened and they were able to get out. They'd been carried out inside some of the furniture, concealing their departure. After they'd left, Mrs W had gone over to the house and stayed there a while as if she was visiting them.

Blinking in the bright light they turned to thank their unorthodox rescuers, receiving grins and nods in return. Wasting no more time, the van was on its way leaving Sam and Clare to head away from the road and into the protection of the woods as quickly as possible.

They'd been walking for an hour when Sam realised that Clare was no longer beside her. Looking around she noticed the other woman was angling away towards a clump of bushes about a hundred metres away where she dropped to her knees and started scrabbling away in the undergrowth. As Sam hurried towards her she saw Clare pick something up and turn back to her.

'Qu'ilar hid this. I don't know what it is but I think it's important.' Clare held the item out to Sam, a puzzled look on her face.

Sam studied the object for a moment, seeing a series of wires attached to sensors, but unable to make anything of it in such a short time. Handing it back, she instructed Clare to put it in the pack she was carrying for further examination later.

They continued on their way, reaching the spot where Daniel was due to pick them up any time now. Remaining concealed in the woods, they waited.

A car came racing towards them, going way over the speed limit and stopped suddenly, Daniel hissing at them to get in as quickly as possible and to keep down. Once in the car, he explained further.

'Someone was following me, I managed to lose them backalong I think, but I don't want to take any chances. Keep your heads down and hang on.' Wasting no more time Daniel sped off again at top speed, taking corners and bends too fast from the sound of the squealing coming from the tyres until eventually they appeared to be travelling along a straight stretch of road.

'Ok, I think it's safe to come out now,' Daniel called back to where his passengers were still crouched. Relieved, they eased themselves to an upright position, stretching cramped and protesting limbs.

Jack and Teal'c were making good time once they reached the open road. Jack was keeping a careful eye on the road both in front and behind and soon spotted a red car keeping its distance behind them.

'I think we've got ourselves a tail,' Jack informed his companion. Teal'c's twisting and turning to get a good look at both his own backside and Jack's momentarily distracted him. 'Not that kind of tail, Teal'c, I meant someone is following us.'

'Ah.' Teal'c accepted the explanation but continued to look mystified. Sometimes the language that O'Neill spoke just did not make sense.

'Hold on tight, you're gonna see some pretty fancy flying,' Jack advised, then quickly added before Teal'c could question him, 'It's just a saying.'

Putting his foot to the floor, Jack pushed his car to near its maximum speed, noticing the red car also increasing its speed. They reached a bend in the road and Jack skilfully swung the car off the road and down a dirt track, barely slowing as he did so until he reduced speed and drew alongside some bushes which would conceal them from the road. Looking back they were rewarded with the sight of the red car continuing along the road, then Jack added his final parting shot as he spoke into his cell phone.

'Hello, I'd like to report a robbery. A couple of guys in a red car just robbed my store.' Jack supplied details of a store they had passed on the way along with those of the car and was assured the police would do everything to apprehend the criminals. 'That should slow them down a bit,' Jack grinned at Teal'c before rejoining the highway.

Proceeding at a more leisurely pace now, they drove for another couple of hours then headed towards a small town to get more gas and something to eat before heading out again, stopping at a motel when it started to get late.

'Well, we've made good time,' Jack informed Teal'c. 'Just another couple of hours tomorrow and we'll be getting the fishing rods out by lunchtime.'

'Indeed,' Teal'c replied neutrally, concealing his dislike of this occupation.

The next day they reached the final stretch leading to the cabin, seeing signs that no one had been near it for months. Just to make doubly sure, Jack stopped the car and studied the track with Teal'c.

'I do not believe anyone has passed this way for some time,' Teal'c assured Jack.

'Yeah, I think you're right,' Jack agreed, continuing to scan the area. 'With all the rain we've had recently the ground is pretty soft and it would be easy to see tyre tracks.'

'It would appear that our enemy has not been here then,' Teal'c stated, eliciting a grimace from Jack. Teal'c made it sound like they were trying to evade Jaffa or something.

'No,' was all Jack said in response, looking thoughtful. 'I've got an idea…' Teal'c looked at him curiously, or as near to curious as he was capable of getting, but was to be disappointed. 'It needs some work still, but it could work…' Jack grinned but refused to say anything more for the time being and climbed back into the car , continuing the rest of the way in silence, still checking constantly for signs of disturbance.

Daniel, Sam and Clare took longer on their trip. They'd spent two nights on the road, the first night they'd hired another car from the same rental company, although they'd lost their tail, it didn't hurt to be careful.

'My wife just can't seem to get on with the car, says it's the wrong colour,' Daniel had told them in the rental office. 'And I'd really hate to get on the wrong side of her again.' He did his best to look defenceless, and the rental place had happily handed over the keys to a completely different car.

'My wife doesn't like the colour?' Sam demanded an explanation. She had been waiting in the reception area while Daniel sorted the new car out.

Daniel merely shrugged and replied 'Well, it worked didn't it? It would have looked odd to just want to swap the car for no reason.'

'Hmm.'

During the long journey they had chatted about their interests, but more importantly from Clare's perspective, Sam and Daniel told her more about some of their missions and their involvement with the unscrupulous NID, particularly Colonel Simmons.

Now it was their third day on the road and Clare was starting to feel tired and apprehensive about what lay before them. While they were travelling it was as if they were in limbo, waiting for something to happen, but now they were nearly at their destination and she wondered what would happen next, worrying that she might be forced to leave her new friends.

The car had stopped and Jack and Teal'c were coming out to greet them. Clare hadn't realised they had arrived.

'Hey, you made it in one piece then? Thought you'd never get here - barbecue's lit and ready to start cooking.'

Daniel grabbed their bags from the trunk, dropping them in the lounge before joining the others outside by the barbecue. After they'd eaten and cleared up, they sat around as the sun started to go down while Jack filled them in on the plan he had been working on.

'I'm pretty sure the NID will get here sooner or later, hopefully it'll be later and give us a chance to catch our breath,' he began, 'but we do need to be ready for whatever they try. If we're able to put them out of action for a day or so we'll have a head start to get back to Colorado and get ourselves settled in somewhere they won't expect to find us. And it will have given General Hammond time to sort something out. Just make sure you're all alert, ok?'

Later that evening they sat in the lounge playing poker for quarters, a harmless and fun past time, particularly as Clare had never played poker and was learning as she went and Teal'c struggled with the concept of the game. As the evening wore on, the coins in front of Clare and Teal'c were starting to pile up while everyone else's was looking severely depleted.

'Are you sure you've never played before?' Jack asked suspiciously.

'Yup. I was never really interested - we always used to play board games, you know, like snakes and ladders.' Clare replied, grinning wickedly at him, one of the few things she remembered about that night at her house after they'd talked.

'Well, it's good to see someone else winning my money for a change,' Daniel said, sighing deeply.

'Are we going to play another game?' Teal'c enquired, sounding excited for him. He may not have understood the game but it was nice to be winning.

'I don't know about you guys but I'm beat - nearly three days on the road and all I want is some sleep.' Sam announced. 'Good night.' She departed, followed by the others, leaving Jack alone in the lounge area to check everything was as it should be.