Daniel woke once again in the small storage room. He carefully opened his eyes, but from past experience knew to wait before trying to move any more. He mentally took stock of his injuries. 'Suffered worse before,' he decided finally then winced from the truth of the statement rather than the physical pain he felt.

"So you're awake," a voice to his right said.

It was a statement, not a question, so Daniel felt no great need to respond to the man who had been his friend. Stephen stood with his back to the stone wall opposite Daniel. "I knew you had a dark side, Stephen" Daniel said instead as he carefully pushed himself into an upright position with his own back braced against the stone wall. "Too much ambition and too much pride, but I never would have thought you'd stand by and watch while someone was tortured...especially someone you used to think of as your friend."

"Sarah..."

"Sarah is just an excuse," Daniel growled back. "This is about getting back at me for finding something you hadn't. This is about beating me...literally this time, it seems." Daniel lifted his shirt as he spoke to inspect the damage the tribunal's thugs had done to him. As such, he didn't see Stephen swallow as he looked at the mass of bruises on Daniel's chest.

"I didn't know they were going to do that," Stephen protested quietly.

"You didn't try to stop it," Daniel reminded his onetime friend turning his attention from his injuries back to the other man.

"What could I have done?" Stephen demanded.

"Leave here," Daniel suggested. "Call the police. Call the embassy. Let my friends in Colorado know what's going on."

"The Air Force?!" Stephen objected. "You want me to go to the Air Force...after Sarah."

"They don't have Sarah!" Daniel shouted then found himself curled almost in a ball as his bruised (and probably broken) ribs protested the deep breath he took.

"Daniel?" Stephen questioned straightening away from the wall to move towards the body writhing on the floor. Daniel waved him away though. "Is she alive?" Stephen asked slowly a moment later.

"Yes" Daniel answered immediately drawing a careful breath before continuing, "As far as I know she's still alive. Sarah was taken by the same...group...that took my wife. We're trying to get her back. I can't tell you more than that Stephen."

"How can I trust you?!"

"You know me, Stephen" Daniel reminded the other man. "Do you know the Council? Have they told you their secrets?"

"No," Stephen admitted. "Why don't you tell me?"

"I can't, Stephen!" Daniel argued. "They're going to kill me when they're done," he predicted deciding to try another tact to gain Stephen's help.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Stephen snapped.

"No matter what I tell them, they're going to kill me. They've gone too far for anything else to happen," Daniel argued. "They can't take the chance that I'll talk."

"I won't go to the Air Force," Stephen said.

Daniel heard the concession in Stephen's voice. "Fine," he agreed. "Where are we?"

"England," Stephen answered. "At the Council's headquarters."

"Okay," Daniel acknowledged options rapidly considering and discarding his options. He needed help, but he also didn't want to endanger Stephen. "I had a friend when I was here. His name was Adam, Adam Pierson. He's a researcher. Find him and tell him what's going on, Stephen. He may be able to help me. Will you at least do that?"

"Alright," Stephen agreed as he moved towards the door. "I'll find your friend, Adam."

"Stephen," Daniel called before his friend could knock on the thick wooden door. When Stephen turned back towards Daniel's prone form, he said, "Be careful. They can't take the chance you'll talk either."

Stephen noticeably paled before nodding. He knocked on the door. "Let me out," he said. He took one last look at Daniel's battered form on the floor of his makeshift cell, perhaps realizing it could be him next, before stepping out.

Stephen found himself being escorted by the guards to the room he'd been assigned. He opened the door and entered catching a quick look behind him as he did so of the guard taking up station outside his room. Stephen swallowed as for the first time, he realized he had gotten himself into a situation he didn't understand that could very likely cost him his life. Worse, it seemed that Daniel had escaped these psychos years ago and now Stephen had led them right to him.

These people were well organized and well funded, Stephen knew. For the most part, that was to their advantage, but not this time. Since his arrival they'd treated Stephen like a welcome guest, even allowing him to connect his laptop to their network so that he could keep up with his e-mail. Stephen was by no means a techo-geek, but he was a university academic so wading through the Council's computer network looking for the information he needed was easily within his realm of knowledge. It was not a quick search, but eventually Stephen found a memo detailing the resignation of one Adam Pierson from the Watchers. The memo continued describing concerns about Pierson's friendship with one Duncan McCloud of Seacouver and Paris. There was also mention of Pierson maintaining contact with Joseph Dawson, the North American coordinator of the Watchers. Armed with that information, Stephen got his satellite phone from his suitcase and phoned his grad assistant in Chicago who kindly looked up phone numbers for all three men in Seacouver.

He phoned Pierson first only to get an answering machine. A call to McCloud's number reached an establishment called DeSalvo's Dojo, but when Stephen asked after McCloud and Pierson the manager who had taken the call told him to call Joe's bar and gave him the number. Stephen's heart was pounding in his chest as he made this third call. A small paranoid part of his mind was sure he would be caught at any moment.

"Joe's" a gravelly voice greeted him from the tiny speaker in his phone. "How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Adam Pierson," Stephen said. "I was told I could find him here."

"Hey, Adam!" the voice said. "Phone call. I'm gonna start chargin' you rent..." Stephen heard the voice fade away.

"Yeah, yeah. Joe" a new voice said in a cultured British accent. "This is Adam."

"Daniel Jackson needs your help," Stephen said. "The Council has put him on trial. I think they're going to kill him." Stephen disconnected the call having done what he'd said he would for Daniel. He looked anxiously at the door to his room before quickly storing his phone back among his belongings.