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-three
Jack woke to an appetising smell of coffee and bacon floating up from the kitchen. He'd been relieved by Carter and once his head had hit the pillow he'd fallen asleep. He glanced at his watch, surprised to see it was nearly nine o'clock - it had been a long time since he'd slept in like this. Daniel, it appeared, was still dead to the world. Well, he'd soon put a stop to that - it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day, just right for fishing.
'Gerroff!' Daniel mumbled as Jack flicked water on to his face, followed by a stifled yelp as he felt the bedcovers removed.
'Wakey, wakey, smells like someone's been busy and breakfast is nearly ready,' Jack greeted him in an unbearably cheery tone.
'Coffee?' Daniel's nose was twitching as he caught on to that smell above the other which soon had him up and getting himself dressed, beating Jack downstairs.
Clare was humming away to herself as she busied herself in the kitchen, the coffee was ready and the bacon was cooked just right. Turning to ask Teal'c to fetch the others down she was surprised to see them all sat around the table watching her at work.
'Morning,' she greeted them. 'I woke early so I thought I'd make a start on breakfast - you don't mind do you?'
'Absolutely not,' Jack responded, as he sniffed suspiciously. 'You're not trying to poison us again are you?' Clare ignored that and handed out plates of food.
As they ate they talked about what they were going to do with themselves that day.
'I propose to take a walk through the woods,' Teal'c announced before Jack had chance to ask him if he wanted another shot at fishing.
'Want some company?' Sam asked, too eagerly as far as Jack could tell.
'What - you come to the best fishing spot for miles and all you want to do is walk?' Jack asked, not understanding why nobody wanted to join him in his favourite past time.
'O'Neill, it is my belief that there are no fish here,' Teal'c frowned at Jack.
'Sure there are,' Jack insisted defensively. 'So what about it Carter? You could change your mind.'
'I could do with some exercise after spending nearly three days in a car,' Sam tried to explain.
'Don't worry, I'm not offended. What about you two?'
'I don't mind giving it a shot,' Clare replied.
'Uh, oh, well I thought I'd take a look at some of the books I brought with me, I made some notes on …'
'Daniel - whatever, just make sure you do it outside. It's much too nice a day to be stuck indoors, and if you fancy a break, there's always a spare rod.'
The sun was filtering through the trees at Jack's favourite fishing spot as he instructed Clare in the finer points of fishing, patiently repeating what he'd said several times. On her first attempt she managed to hook one of Daniel's books from the pile beside his chair as he sat watching, an unreadable expression on his face. After that, he'd moved a little further away and to the side to make sure it didn't happen again.
Eventually, after numerous attempts, she got the hang of it and they sat there in companionable silence, waiting for a bite. Occasionally one or other of them would say something and they would hold a brief conversation, Jack making the most of someone who actually appreciated that the finer points of fishing weren't necessarily about catching anything.
The day passed peacefully. Clare and Jack remained at their posts, Daniel continued with his reading and Sam and Teal'c, on returning from their walk just before lunch, played cards and supplied the others with refreshments at regular intervals.
No-one was surprised that there was no fish for supper that night, instead Jack pulled some steaks out of the fridge and tossed them on the barbecue, which along with baked potatoes and salad made a very nice meal, leaving them all pleasantly full.
They sat around drinking coffee and talking quietly while music played softly in the background. Sam found herself struggling to keep her eyes open and a quick glance around told her she wasn't the only one.
Leaving Teal'c to first watch, the rest headed for bed and soon the cabin was silent.
It was much later. Teal'c had been relieved by Daniel and then Daniel by Sam. Sam was just doing the rounds of the downstairs rooms, peering out of the windows to make sure there was nothing untoward there when she noticed the bushes moving, just slightly. Moving away from the front of the window she watched for a moment more, then was on her way upstairs as quickly as she could.
Jack stood outside the open door to the room Clare was in, sensing as much as seeing the people in there. As his eyes adjusted to the dark he could see one of the men force Clare to sit up, a hand over her mouth to stop her from crying out, could see her struggling against this threat. A second man moved towards her, holding up a thin object that reflected light and Jack immediately knew what it was.
He turned to Sam and Teal'c who were close to him, issuing silent instructions, before the three of them moved noiselessly into the room, too late to prevent the third man from pushing Clare's sleeve up and sticking her with the needle. Jack snapped the light on just as Sam and Teal'c took care of one man each, leaving only the one who was still holding on to Clare. Jack could see Clare looking from him to the rest of SG1, a puzzled look on her face as though she didn't know who they were. He could see even from this distance that her pupils were like pinpricks, showing the effect of whatever it was they had injected her with.
Even as he watched a level of awareness returned to Clare and she began struggling against the man holding her, working her head free and biting down hard on the arm nearest to her face, at the same time wriggling as hard as she could. The unexpected attack took him by surprise and he let go of Clare when she was not expecting it, causing her to fall heavily to the floor on her hands and knees.
Instinctively she rolled out of the way, allowing Jack and Teal'c free access to the remaining intruder while Daniel and Sam hauled her safely out of harms way.
Ten minutes later the three intruders were safely tied up, the area outside the cabin had been searched, turning up another couple of men hiding in the bushes. These two soon joined their friends and Jack felt that the area was secure for the time being. Now they were all dressed and in the living room.
'Ok, kids, vacation's over. We'll leave those five where they are - someone will be along to find them in a day or so when they don't report in. In the meantime, on to plan B and back to Colorado. Teal'c and I will take my car, you three take the hire car. It's 0300 now, we want to be in Colorado by tonight. How's she doing?' Jack asked Sam who was sitting beside a nearly comatose Clare.
'She's less responsive, sir,' Sam said. 'She managed to get herself dressed but whatever they've given her seems to be acting like some kind of narcotic.'
'Well, we're heading in the right direction to get any help we might need on that front, I don't want to have to explain her condition to some small hospital full of busy-bodies if I can help it. Ok, see you all in Kansas then.'
'O'Neill, it is my belief that we were going to Colorado?'
'I'll explain later, Teal'c,' Jack assured him, patting him on the shoulder.
Daniel pulled the car into the parking lot of a diner after they'd been driving for four hours. He stretched luxuriously, easing the kinks out, watching as Sam woke Clare. Clare had fallen asleep soon after setting out from Jack's cabin, apparently soothed by the movement of the car. She had begun stirring as the car had stopped, making the job of waking her easier.
'Breakfast,' Sam informed her.
Clare rubbed her eyes to try to wake herself up and stumbled out of the car, steadied by Sam as she looked around her. Then she started talking.
'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day according to my dad. He always made sure he had a good breakfast before leaving the house.'
'Yeah, I've heard that too,' Daniel agreed with her statement.
'He also said you should only ever eat a light meal in the evening. Maybe there's a medical reason. We should ask Dr Fraiser, she'd know.' She continued to ramble on, Daniel and Sam looking at her strangely as they made their way to the diner. 'I've never fancied eating a big meal at lunchtime myself, I much prefer to eat in the evenings, and I can't say it's ever done me any harm. Did you know that in Europe they eat cold meat and cheese for breakfast? I don't think that seems normal, I'm not sure I'd want to eat that for breakfast. Mind you, I suppose it's what you're used to and I expect you've seen some pretty weird food when you've…' she was cut off abruptly by Sam nudging her sharply.
'Clare, is everything alright?' Sam was concerned, Clare had not talked this much in all the time they'd known her, and she was starting to get careless.
'Yes, why?'
'Well, you seem to be acting a little - strange,' Sam told her.
'I'm fine, a bit tired though.'
'Ok, well just remember, this is a public place and you need to be careful what you talk about,' Sam spoke kindly, but firmly, knowing how easy it would be for the wrong ears to pick up some classified information.
Sam and Clare found a table while Daniel ordered for them all before joining them.
'So, how much longer before we arrive?' Daniel asked.
'Probably another seven or eight hours, want me to take over with the driving?'
'I was hoping you'd say that, I was starting to get cramp sitting in the same position all that time. I think I'm still working out the kinks from the drive up.'
'Whenever we went anywhere in the car my dad would always stop every three hours for a break regardless of where we were or how much further it was. He said if you carried on driving for longer you were more likely to have an accident. I've never driven very far myself, mainly around town and into the country. I'd much rather be a passenger, though, especially on long journeys as I like to watch the scenery. Some people say they get bored when they're a passenger on a long journey but I find there is so much going on outside the windows that I never find it boring.'
Their food order arrived just then but didn't halt the seemingly endless flow of words from Clare. Daniel and Sam exchanged worried glances, something was definitely not right, but at least she was keeping off more dangerous subjects.
'So,' Daniel began, trying to keep the talk to neutral ground. 'What do you like to do in your spare time? I know your writing probably takes up pretty much most of your time, but you must do other things?'
'Um, I help out with the Girl Scouts whenever I can, I go along to meetings most weeks and I help out at camp if I'm around. I enjoy reading, nothing too heavy, but I do like to read uncomplicated stuff about people's lives - you know the everyday things that people got up to, how they cooked, what they ate, what they did, I love all that stuff. And when I go to museums I always head straight for all the domestic stuff and how we used to live. I know it's not as old as all those things you're interested in, but I do like to see how people lived at any time, all the details are fascinating.' As she talked, Clare took a few quick mouthfuls of food, but for the most part she picked something up, and then put it back on the plate. When Sam mentioned this, she ate a few mouthfuls with a distinct lack of enthusiasm but still continued with her ramblings.
After Daniel paid the check they headed back to the car, Daniel climbing into the back next to Clare.
They'd been driving for ten minutes before Clare started talking again.
'He wasn't working alone you know,' she announced. 'There was another goa'uld working with him. Between them they planned to overthrow the system lords and take their place. He allied himself with Hathor, Nirrti and Cronos. He tried to work with Apophis as well but Apophis didn't trust him. He said all the right things to them, that he had the means to defeat the Tau'ri, and that with what he knew he could persuade the Tau'ri to destroy their enemies. What he really meant was that he knew how he could get them to defeat the system lords for his own benefit. He knew that he could persuade the Tau'ri that the information he had was valuable and that he had changed sides. He knew that they would want to believe him, that he could help them. They were good at their job and had already killed many minor goa'uld, he wanted them to do the rest of his dirty work.'
The car swerved slightly, Sam was too busy focussing on what Clare was saying and momentarily lost control.
'Sam,' Daniel spoke through gritted teeth, 'I'd prefer to stay in one piece. I'm listening for both of us, if you miss anything it will all be in here,' he waved his notebook.
Clare continued talking. 'They were based on Coresten, a planet that no one knew about, the only thing of interest were some worked out Naquadah mines. You know that device I picked up? Sar'akan was working on how to use it to get the information that would get into Qu'ilar's mind once you found the Map of the Worlds. It was Nirrti who worked on his mind, to enable him to interpret and store the information in his mind. She wanted the information for herself, she was too stupid to realise he was working for his own interests.'
Clare fell silent at last, Daniel glanced up in surprise from his notebook where he had been busy scribbling notes, and saw that her eyes had closed, her head resting against the car window. Daniel leant forward, resting his arms on the seat in front of him and spoke to Sam.
'Well this has been informative,' he said.
'I don't know what that stuff was that they gave her but it certainly had some unexpected results,' Sam returned. 'I'm a little worried though, something seems wrong, it's almost as if she's talking in her sleep.'
'Yup, you're right there, she had a kind of glassy look about her eyes. Still, we're not going to be far from help if we need it.' He checked Clare again. 'I'm not sure whether she's getting much rest, though. She looks as if her mind's working overtime, even in her sleep.'
'Just keep a close eye on her Daniel. I'm going to concentrate on driving for a while.'