Jack had been watching Shawn talking to Gina. It wasn't that he was really spying on him, since the two of them were too far away to be able to hear what they were seeing, but Jack was in the habit of watching Shawn and he couldn't really help himself. Even as he was listening to Daniel and Teal'c tell Bra'tac and Anise about the tradition of throwing a bouquet, Jack watched as they turned from the drink table they'd been heading for and started for the door.
He turned back to Bra'tac when the old Jaffa asked him as question, but turned back when he heard a shout of surprise coming from the door Shawn had just left. He wasn't the only one that heard it, either, because the room suddenly stilled and all eyes turned towards the door. Jack was already moving towards the door, with Jaffer close at hand.
........
"Hey!"
Shawn had been slammed to the floor pretty hard, but it didn't hurt. He'd landed on someone else. And not Gina. A man he didn't know, who Shawn saw wasn't wearing formal clothing, which put him out of place immediately.
"Get off me you little bastard!"
The man struggled out from under him, but Shawn felt himself being grabbed by the back of his tuxedo jacket and pulled to the side, roughly. He heard Gina shriek as someone did the same to her as the three men that had run into them tried to untangle themselves. They didn't have time to deal with some kids! They had bigger problems. But the leader of the group suddenly realized that the kids weren't going to be a problem, they'd probably be the solution.
He grabbed Shawn again, dragging the boy to his feet in a powerful grip.
"Let go of me!"
"Shut up, or I'll blow your fucking head off here and now."
"Wha-?"
Shawn jerked his head to the side and felt something hard suddenly pressed against his cheek. He looked down and saw the man was actually holding a sawed off shotgun in his hand.
"Hold still!"
He stopped struggling immediately; shocked that anyone would want to break up Jack's wedding. What was the point?
Looking around quickly, the leader of the group tightened his grip on Shawn's jacket and pulled him backwards into the open door.
"Grab her and bring her."
Gina tried to dodge as one of the addicts grabbed her, but the sight of the guns had her just as shocked as Shawn was, and a rough hand grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the door so hard and fast that she was literally pulled off her feet.
"Get up!"
She was pulled to her feet and pushed to the door, but she ran into the back of the leader of the little group. The man had stopped cold when he turned around and saw the room he'd just dragged Shawn into.
It wasn't empty, but he'd known it wouldn't be. The sight of the boy and girl in their finery had made him assume – quickly – that there was some kind of dance going on. That was no problem. He could intimidate a roomful of kids just as easily as the ones they had hold of. What he hadn't expected was what he'd seen.
A roomful of men and women in uniform. Military uniforms. And all of them were far quicker to get over their shock at seeing him than he was at seeing them. The barrel of the gun dug harder against Shawn's cheek, and then was jolted when Gina was pushed against the man's back.
"Everyone freeze!"
It hadn't worked for the cops, but it did work in this instance. The people in the room knew that the gun was deadly – most of them knew first hand just how much damage a shotgun could do – and they froze. Then the two addicts saw what was in the room as well, and one of them spoke what was clearly in the mind of both of them.
"Oh, shit! It's the fucking Army!"
.............
Jack had frozen immediately, feeling a sudden cold ball of fear in his gut when he saw the gun so tightly pressed against Shawn's cheek. It wouldn't go off. It couldn't.
"Jack!"
"Shut up!"
The man shook Shawn so hard that the boy actually winced, but the barrel of that shotgun didn't move. "You say another word and I'll kill you, and then I'll kill your friend here."
He liked the look of fear that was in the boy's dark brown eyes. Loved the way it felt to know that he had the kid's life in his hands. That a single twitch of his finger would snuff him out in an instant.
"Let him go..."
Jack couldn't hold himself still. He couldn't. Not when Shawn was in the hands of someone so dangerous. Jack could see the look in the man's eyes, and knew that Shawn was in far more danger than anyone knew. He was enjoying this too much, and he'd gotten over the shock of seeing the room full of military personnel far too quickly for Jack's comfort.
The shotgun didn't move.
"Go fuck yourself."
In the crowded room, no one saw the black lab moving. Jack had the attention of the leader of the group, and the other two were scared but desperate enough to hold tight to the girl and point their shotguns at the rest of the crowd. Jaffer was very good at moving quietly, and he was far more agile than his size made him seem. The big lab moved to get into a better position.
"Let him go."
Jack's voice was deadly calm, but inside beyond the fear there was a terrible fury rising up inside him. He didn't know what the guys were doing there, but they weren't supposed to be here. Not today. And they sure as hell had no business putting that gun to Shawn's head, or threatening to turn what was supposed to be the best day of Jack and Sam's life into a bloodbath.
"How about I kill him, big shot? How'd you like that?"
The leader of the group didn't really know all that much about the military, but he saw all the ribbons on Jack's chest and assumed he was someone high ranking. He was enjoying this almost as much as he was enjoying the fear in the boy's eyes. Taunting a General! How much better could it get?
The entire room was silent. The other kids had frozen, almost all of them at the table where the refreshments were. Sam, Jacob and Hammond were all standing close to Dotty, but none of them could do anything. None of them had brought a weapon with them. Who brought guns to weddings? Dotty had a weapon, but it was in her purse, and it was in her car, locked in the trunk. Despite all her advanced technology, she was just as helpless to stop the man who was threatening her son as Jack was.
Jack had a weapon, though, and Jaffer was at the edge of the crowd, now, his head low and his hackles raised. He had already judged the distance between him and the man who was holding Shawn and knew he couldn't attack just yet, but he was patient, and when the opportunity presented itself, Jaffer would be ready. He'd worked with Jack enough to know that his Jack would make an opportunity for him. All he had to do was wait.
The leader of the men knew he'd made a mistake with that statement. Jack had maneuvered his way close enough to the men that he was in the front of the group of wedding goers – himself between the danger and his people – as it should be, and the man could see his expression quite clearly. Before, he'd seen fear in the General's eyes. Now, though, the brown eyes held a smoldering fury that actually made the leader of the group a little nervous. And he reacted to that by pushing the weapon barrel harder into Shawn's cheek, eliciting a gasp of pain from the boy.
"Don't make me do it, chief... I don't want to..."
He did want to. He didn't have a problem killing everyone in the room, including the kids. But he didn't want to die, and he knew the moment he lost his shield, the man in front of him was going to kill him. He didn't see any kind of weapon, but two killers can recognize each other, and the man holding Shawn knew that the man in front of him was far more deadly than he was. Even without a gun.
"Let him go."
The gun barrel moved slightly, away from Shawn's cheek until it was pointed directly at Jack's chest.
"Make me."