He tried to block out all the bad thoughts that wanted to take him over the edge and hit speed dial on his phone for Hammond's office.
Life on Hold part 9
Jack had gotten back from his trip to Washington to see Simmons a very angry man. This had something to do with Maybourne and he was pissed to put it politely. He was pissed because finding Sam was taking too long, pissed because Maybourne had lied and pissed because they still only had limited information. Okay so there was a guy called Arian Conrad and his company that had paid Maybourne the three million dollars for information.
Jack was now waiting by Maybourne's car in an underground car park. As predicted he had found it with ease confirming that Harry was connected somehow.
"Harry." Jack said walking up behind the man.
"Jesus, Jack. You're stealing my routine."
"Consider it an homage."
"What's up Jack? I thought we trusted each other?" Jack almost growled at the man in front of him.
"You lied to me. Get in."
When they were both in the car Harry continued.
"Technically I didn't lie. I said I didn't know where Carter was or why she was taken."
"What was the three million dollars for?" Jack asked still suspicious.
"I acquired a piece of merchandise from the Russians and sold it to Zedatron."
"What?"
"A symbiote."
"What?" Jack didn't think that Maybourne would be that stupid, then again it was Maybourne.
"On their second mission, back when their Gate was active, the Russians ran into a group of Jaffa.
"I read that report."
"What the report didn't say was the Russians managed to take one of the Jaffa alive. They've held him in custody ever since."
"Man, you gotta love those guys." He said sarcastically.
"The Russians or the Jaffa?"
"Both actually."
"Apparently the symbiote was reaching maturity, I don't know what the Russians had planned. I assumed Zedatron wanted it for their biotech division."
"So why kidnap Sam?" It still didn't make sense, he was sure he was missing something major here.
"Carter once had a symbiote inside her."
"How'd they know that?"
"I don't know. I also don't know how they found out about me and my connections. But when people offer you three million dollars, you don't ask too many questions.
"Why not?" Jack was getting fed up now.
"Believe me Jack, I never thought it was going to come to this."
"What did you think was gonna happen?" He couldn't honestly expect them to use it for the advancement of medicine or anything.
"Well, in the right hands a symbiote could lead to all kinds of medical breakthroughs." Then again this was Harry Maybourne-dumb and dumber in one.
"What, you're a humanitarian now?"
Jack had an incredible urge to shoot Harry, but he couldn't. If he was going to find Sam and their baby then he needed Harry's help.
They arrived at the office of the doctor that delivered the symbiote, a Doctor Neil Brooke. Harry hacked into the computer at the same time as he tried to persuade Jack that they made a good team, which really got him angry. As soon as the files on Adrian Conrad had been found, Jack sent them over to the SGC for Fraiser and Jackson to go over and narrow the field down a bit.
-----------------------------
Sam was lying on the hospital bed, pretending to be asleep. She had overheard two of the doctors speaking so she had a good idea of why they had her strapped to the bed. They wanted to know about the Naquada in her blood and the protein marker left from Jolinar, she still had no idea who was keeping here there. They'd questioned her about the symbiote but she refused to give any information away.
As she feigned sleep, she tried to cut through the straps around her wrists with the scalpel she had acquired. She had some ideas why there was a scalpel near by, that along with the other equipment on the tray told her that she might not make it out of there alive. Or if she did, would the baby be all right after all the drugs she'd been given?
Her thoughts went to her baby and Jack. She'd failed him, his second chance at a family and she'd failed him. Tears threatened to spill but she held them back. She would never see Jack again, never know what it was like to be Mrs Jack O'Neill, to have a child and be truly happy. She would never watch her child playing in the garden with her husband, never see him or her grow up and make her proud, never be able to go to little league games or school plays...
The strap broke.
She quickly went through the other and started on her ankles. She was soon running out of the room and down the corridors trying to get out.
Then she'd met him, Adrian Conrad. She'd heard of him before; head of a multi national corporation called Zedatron Industries, he dealt with everything from shipyards to sportswear factories after he diversified from his fibre optic channel adaptors. He didn't look like a billionaire-he looked weak and helpless.
Sam would have shot him if he hadn't given her the chance to live, she had threatened.
"Go ahead. If I let you go, I'm dead anyway. Please Major Carter, if you put the gun down, there's a very good chance we can both live." He said. "As well as your baby."
She had had to give in; she couldn't let Jack down again.
Conrad and his doctors had explained about the symbiote and how she could help them, it wasn't a choice she was given either way they would try and find out how to remove it from the host without killing them. Then Conrad had had a coughing fit and was wheeled out of the room and she was left alone again, this time locked into the straps.
She tried not to think of the future or lack there of. It was hard but she tried.
A while later one of the doctors walked back into the room and over to the tray where she had found the scalpel.
That was not a good sign.
"What's happening? What are you doing?" She asked, as the doctor got ready to give her the lethal injection.
"You're going to kill me." Sam said. The guilt trip wasn't working on this man-how evil can you get?
"We could be saving millions of lives." The doctor replied.
Sam screwed up her eyes to stop the tears.
"Hold it! Drop it! Drop it! Right now! Don't even fool around!"
Sam opened her eyes to see Jack pointing his gun at the scared doctor. She felt like laughing, everything was going to be okay, or she could just be on the verge of hysteria.
"Come over here." Maybourne said to the doctor.
Sam frowned. Maybourne?
Jack walked over to the bed, to Sam.
"You all right?" He asked stroking her face.
"Yeah." She smiled. "Very dramatic, thank you."
Jack wasn't having any of it; she defiantly didn't look all right.
"You bet." He said looking at the straps around her wrists and ankles. He'd make sure she was properly all right once they were out of the hospital.
"The keys for the cuffs are in his pocket." Sam added aching for freedom.
Maybourne slung the keys at Jack who started to undo the straps. Sam was soon free and flung her self into Jack's open arms.
"Never do that again Sam, never leave me." Jack whispered into her hair.
"I'm sorry Jack, what about the baby?" She pulled back and he could see the pain in her eyes.
"Janet will check it out when we get back, the baby will be fine Sam." He assured her before radioing Daniel to tell him that Sam was safe only to find that Conrad and the Gould are missing.
TBC
