Author's note: Sorry this one took so long. I had it typed out once and it was accidentally erased, and then I was so miffed I went to my bedroom and pouted for a while before coming out and redoing it. So here it is!

OOOOOOOO

"If you do anything stupid, you do know I'll shoot you, right?"

Major Clay nodded, reaching for the phone that was on the table.

"Acknowledge it," Jack said, his brown eyes as deadly as the weapon in his hand.

"I know that if I do anything stupid you'll kill me."

"I didn't say kill you; I said 'shoot you'," Jack corrected, picking up a cordless extension so he could listen in on the phone call.

Clay nodded, his face an unhealthy pasty color.

"Make sure you mention to Kinsey that there was an extra roommate, and that you had to take all three of them."

Clay didn't even ask why, he just nodded again and started dialing the number he knew by heart. There was an answer on the second ring.

"Kinsey."

Jack felt a surge of fury at the excitement in the voice that answered the phone. The bastard sounded like he was drooling, for God's sake.

"This is Major Clay, Sir."

"You're calling late."

"We had a few problems."

"Did you get him?"

Clay looked over at Jack, who didn't bother to nod or coach him. The Major knew what to say, and knew the consequences of what the wrong words would bring.

"Yes, Sir. We got the target."

"Excellent."

Jack's jaw clenched at the eagerness in Kinsey's voice, but he didn't say anything or make any noise that might give his presence away.

"We have a problem, though, Sir," Clay said, hesitantly, his green eyes locked on Jack's brown ones.

"Problem?"

"Your intel was incomplete. There weren't two students in the room; there were three. We ended up being forced to take them all."

"You have three cadets there?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Please tell me you weren't seen..."

"The cadets have seen us, Sir. It was unavoidable. But no one else did."

There was a slight pause as Kinsey thought it out, and Jack wondered what was going through the sonofabitch's mind. He found out a moment later.

"It's too late to do anything right now – I have a breakfast I have to show up at in only a few hours – so I want you to hold on to those cadets."

"What are you orders, Sir?"

"Hold them in the cells at the house." Kinsey told him. "It'll give O'Neill a chance to find out..." This last was said in a softer, far more smug tone of voice and Jack thought it sounded like he was talking to himself. "What kind of condition are they in?"

Clay looked at Jack.

"They're fine, Sir..."

"That'll have to be changed," Kinsey said.

"Yes, Sir."

"But don't do anything until I get there," Kinsey said. "I want to watch for myself."

"Yes, Sir. When will you be here?"

"Not until this evening. Keep the cadets in their cells and don't go anywhere. I'll be by after dark."

"Yes, Sir."

The line went dead, and Jack waited for Major Clay to hang up before he did.

"He said O'Neill..." Clay said once the phones had been hung up.

"Yeah, I heard that, too.

"What did he mean?"

"Who cares?" Jack pointed the Beretta at the man once more. No sense in letting the Major know who he was; that would just complicate things. "Let's get back down and make sure your men are behaving themselves."

OOOOOOOOO

"He's going to bleed to death..."

"So you've said." Ian's voice was a fair match for Jack's when he was at his coldest, but he was getting heartily tired of the man trying to convince him to let them go. He'd started only a moment after jack and the other guy had left, and hadn't let up.

"We need to get him to a doctor, God damn it!"

Ian didn't answer. He looked at the steadily growing pool of blood that was forming around Payne, who was lying on the floor of the small cell at a very awkward angle, but the gun he was pointing at the two never wavered.

"God damn it, kid! Listen to me. This isn't some kind of fucking game, you know. He-"

Ian pulled the other weapon out of the waistband of his sweats and pointed it at Sergeant Graf, causing the man to stop what he was saying.

"I didn't tell you guys to come," Ian said. "I didn't tell you to sneak into my room and attack me and my friends and I sure as fuck didn't tell your buddy to hit Shawn over the head with a gun and knock him out."

'That was an accident. We-"

"I don't give a shit! He can fucking bleed to death for all I care."

Ian knew that the soldiers would never have taken him or his roommates to a doctor if they needed it, and he'd never been one to believe in turning the other cheek. If not for O'Neill, he, Shawn and River would almost definitely be on the other side of that cell and probably facing the business end of a gun themselves, and he was sure there'd have been no mercy.

"You're dead, kid," Graf said; his own temper breaking in the strain of watching his companion bleeding – although he wasn't really bleeding to death; he'd just been hoping to scare the kid into calling for a doctor, or any witness. "When I get out of this cell, you little mother fucker, I'm going to track you down and strangle you with-"

"Fuck you." Ian pointed the gun at Graf and pulled the trigger.

OOOOOOOOOO

A shot rang out just as Jack and the Major were heading down the stairs to the basement.

"Shit!"

"Holy Shit!"

Without O'Neill telling him to do anything, Major Clay broke into a run, heading for the cell he'd been let out of only a half hour before with Jack right behind him. Both men came to a stop as Ian turned at the sound of their approach, his Glock coming up and swinging towards them.

"Ian, no!"

Jack held up his hands, making sure the cadet knew he was him, and was relieved when the deadly gun was lowered. He looked at the cell. Graf was lying on the floor of the cell, clutching his side and gasping.

"You shot him!"

Clay swung at the cadet before he could remember that Jack was even there, and found himself tangled in a crushing bear hug from behind as O'Neill grabbed him and immobilized the Major with surprising ease.

"Owwww!"

"Don't even think about it," Jack murmured in a soft voice a he put pressure on Clay's arm, almost taking it to the point where he'd break it.

"He shot him!"

"So I see..." Jack looked at Ian. "Unlock the cell."

The cadet put the other gun back in his waistband, and hurried to do what the Colonel told him to. He opened the door, and Jack pushed Clay into it, pulling it shut behind him. The Major dropped down next to Graf, who was now still, and Jack turned to Ian, incredulous.

"You shot him?"

"He called me a mother fucker." Ian said, defensively. "You said I could shoot them."

"If they did anything-"

Ian grinned, suddenly, and pulled the gun out of his waistband once more.

"Relax, Colonel. He's not dead or anything." He handed the gun to Jack, who saw it was a dart gun of some sort, designed with a barrel that could hold a silencer – and probably was the kind of weapon the Rangers had used on the cadets when they'd invaded the academy dorm that evening. "I just wanted to shut him up."