Downtime Mystery

New Transport


The small but efficient engine buzzed contentedly beneath them as Sam slowed the bike just at the south of the small town in which they had found themselves. They had ran out of road some 100 yards ago, the bike wobbled slightly as the gripped without hope on the ever moving sands, bringing the bike closer to the banks of the Nile.

It was barely past noon and the sun was as high in the sky as it could be with little to no shadow evident as the bike slowed to a crawl.

When they finally stopped Jack's arms where still wrapped comfortingly and protectively around Sam's waist, his chin resting gently on her shoulder. The low bike allowed them to keep upright with both feet on the ground (i.e. four feet) and without the bike tilting to a 45-degree angle. Killing the engine Sam leant deep into Jack's embrace, enjoying the soft sounds of the deceptive waters some 10 feet away.

"So," said Sam, "fishing?"

"Well, you didn't think I went there every downtime and sat there doing nothing for weeks on end?"

"Well… yeah, but…" she didn't finish, and neither did she look like she was going to in the next few minutes.

"Are you disappointed?" asked Jack, wondering once again whither this entire ordeal was a good idea.

"No, not at all. I'm just …overwhelmed."

At this Jack chuckled slightly before placing a tentative kiss on her neck. "Me too, I never thought it could be like this." He said with a deep reverence in his voice.

"Yeah, bear wrestling, NID bashing, 'tattie' eating, bike stealing and everything else doesn't usually fit into my idea of downtime." she spoke playfully.

"Oh, so you'd rather be back at the SGC playing with your doohickeys, pulling all-nighters while trying to avoid Felger, than being right here? And don't worry about the bikes, McHoan is used to sorting this sort of stuff out. Mind you US officials aren't usually chasing me down the Nile."

"They must have heard about the phoenix." She said, with slight worry in her voice, the gravity of the situation finally taking effect.

"Yeah, they must have. But I doubt if it will be of any scientific value." his voice light, but with a noticeable undertone of worry.

"Since when has that been a problem for the NID? And morals don't exactly rank high in the eyes of people like Kinsey."

He smiled and kissed her neck.

"Your right," he said with reverence, "Your always right, but I don't think that will be the last we see of them."

"Yeah." agreed Sam.

The couple remained silent for a moment, watching entranced at the sun caught in the ripples of the fast flowing river before them.

"How did they find us?" she said speaking her thoughts aloud.

"I don't know." Jack murmured drawing her closer.

At this she closed her eyes and snuggled deep into his chest seeking the safety she felt in his embrace. All of a sudden the sound of another bike approaching could be heard. They each could feel the other stiffen slightly, still aware that there were rules and that they were in fact breaking them.

Sam reached forward, settling her hands on the handlebars, silently jumping for joy as Jack moved with her to ensure they were still close.

Ren and Marcus pulled up along side them, stopping abruptly in a flurry of sand and yelps of a Scotsman.

"When I said stop, I did'nae mean emer'jancy stop Can ye drive at'aw'?" shouted Ren leaping from the now dusty contraption.

"Yes, I can." Replied Marcus in indignation.

"No' very well!" screeched Ren.

"Stupid Scottish ba…"

"Right!" Jack said in his usual commanding tone, making the two men almost glare in his direction, then each other, no doubt filled with internal promises to finish this later.

"Now that we've got those guys off our tail," Jack continued, "for now at least, we need to work out where we're gonna go and what we're gonna do."

There was silence between them before Ren spoke up, almost instantly forgetting about his quarrel, while Jack saw a dangerous glint in Marcus' eyes, knowing that while he would focus on what's going on just now, that he was a patient man and would always wait for the opportune moment to get what he wanted. Jack would have to keep an eye on the hapless young man who had angered him.

"Well, if this is Hisranna, I know that one of Jeff's cousins that stays here. We should be able to borrow his land rover and contact Jeff and let him know what's happened, and warn him about those MIB guys."

"MIB guys?" asked Marcus.

"So you think that if America had a secret government agency saving us from the worst scum of the universe, that they'd be in charge of it?" Asked Jack sceptically, his eyebrows lifting on high, and the creases now more visibly showing his age.

"They couldn't catch us!" added Sam, further putting down the NID and their questionable ways.

"I know that would just be stupid," said Ren, "I just couldn't remember what they were called."

Marcus' gaze was still icy cold, though it was slowly warming in the early afternoon sun.

"NID," said Jack, "As in 'not into details', but your right Ren, we should warn Jeff. Let him know about the extra company that we seem to have, and that we seem to have gotten into a little more trouble this time."

"This time?" enquired Sam.

"Yeah, these trips aren't usually this much fun!"

"I might have known," muttered Sam, clearly realizing that SG-1's luck seemed to follow them everywhere; routine missions turning into 'fun' ones with lots of bad guys and guns and everything else. And hopefully their inexplicable ability to beat the odds had followed them to Egypt as well.

"A land rover does sound good though." added Jack, bringing the conversation back on topic.

"Yeah It sure does, 'cos I'm not going on that thing again!" said Ren pointing at the bike.

"Well, then we'll walk." Said Jack sliding form the bike, almost instantly missing the warmth that came from having Sam pressed against him.

"Walk?" asked Sam, "Don't you think that the town is going to be absolutely crawling with NID?"

"Yes, don't worry I have that covered but the most important thing that we can assume is that if they knew that we were here, then they knew where going and no matter what we need to get there first."

Sam got up from the bike, kicking the stand down and letting the weight of the bike rest on it carefully. She stealthily made her way over to Jack and pulled her shirt over her arms to stop her cream skin adopting a red angry glow in the harsh sun.

"Ok," said Marcus, speaking for the first time during the civilized exchange, "so how far away is Jeff's cousin?"

"Not far." answered Ren in a steely voice as if realizing that he had, indeed, decided that he did not like the man.

"Right kids," Said Jack kneeling down and reaching deep into one of the duffel bags, and pulling a cream coloured mass from it, "Now to get passed the NID we're going to play a little dress up."