Chapter Twelve
Sam's phone was still connected when she heard Pete walking towards the office. She tried desperately to disconnect the call, but whatever deity had been helping her out before seemed to have deserted her.
He walked over to her and knelt down beside her, just as a particularly loud static hiss came over her phone's speaker.
In the silence of the building he heard it clearly.
"What's that, Sam?" He asked, reaching for her pocket.
Sam jerked her body away, but Pete grabbed her and held her still while he put his hand into her skirt pocket and retrieved her phone.
Just as he looked at it to check the caller ID the phone call cut off.
"They hung up." He said.
Pete took a seat. "Y'know," he said conversationally, "O'Neill doesn't appear to be looking for you. Not very hard, anyway. He can't care that much for you, or he'd have found you already."
"He's looking." Sam said, but she was still weak and slightly disoriented from her concussion, and it didn't sound very convincing.
Shanahan smiled. "You think he'll still want you after this?"
"After what?" Sam asked, cursing herself for talking to him.
"After the press scandal. AF General and his subordinate, doesn't look good, does it?"
"Press scandal?" Sam asked.
Pete ignored her. "Then there's always the question of whether he'll want you after what I'm gonna do to you. What you're gonna let me do."
Teal'c was driving fast.
In the back of the truck Daniel and Cassie found themselves watching Jack.
He had been silent since they started moving, apart from urging Teal'c to drive faster.
Jack's cellphone rang. "O'Neill… Yessir… No, sir, I don't think we need… yessir. O'Neill out." Jack hung up, his head sinking into his hands. "Faster, Teal'c." The Jaffa obeyed.
When it became apparent that Jack wasn't going to say anything regarding the phone call, Daniel said, "Jack?"
"That was Hammond. He's sending a Special Ops team to 'help out'."
"And you don't sound too pleased about that."
"I'm not."
Teal'c's truck squealed to a stop outside a large disused warehouse.
"This is the place?" Daniel asked.
"It is." Teal'c replied.
Jack jumped out of the truck. "Wait here, Cass." The girl nodded.
Teal'c followed Jack out of the truck. Daniel turned to Cassie and said, "Lock the doors, okay, Cass?" She nodded.
"Daniel?" She said.
"Yeah?"
"I'm worried about Jack. I've never seen him like this before."
Daniel looked at her a moment, then said, "I'll keep an eye on him, okay?" She nodded and he climbed out after his friends.
Jack and Teal'c were standing by the van that had brought their escort there. They were gearing up, slipping on bullet-proof vests. Teal'c handed one to Daniel.
A large black van screeched to a halt next to Teal'c's truck. Five men jumped out, fully armed and geared up.
Jack's eyes narrowed.
The leader of the Special Ops team moved over to talk to Jack.
"General, sir, if you would like to stay out here, sir we will –"
"Do you know who I am?" Jack interrupted, his voice soft.
"Sir?" the man asked.
"Did General Hammond tell you who I am…" Jack paused, taking in the man's overall bearing and demeanour, "Colonel?"
"No, sir."
"I am Jack O'Neill." The man looked slightly taken aback. There was muttering amongst the Special Ops team. Jack smiled grimly. "Yeah, that guy. Now you listen to me. I want you to stay out here."
"But sir…" one began.
"This guy is armed and dangerous, and likely to shoot Colonel Carter as soon as anyone shows up. We're different, he knows us. He's likely to want to play with us a little bit. But you guys? Forget it. None of you are to enter that building without my say so. Are we clear?"
"Yessir." Several of them chorused.
"But, General…" The hapless Colonel began.
Jack glared at him. "Colonel. I gave you a direct order. You are either questioning my authority or my experience. Which is it?"
"Neither, sir." The colonel looked distinctly miserable.
"Good," Jack said, he turned from the colonel to address the man's team. "Now, I want you guys to take the perimeter. No one gets in or out unless I say. Got it?"
When the squad nodded affirmatively Jack said, "Move out." The Special Ops team began to move stealthily around the building.
"Those guys know you?" Daniel asked.
"Not personally." Jack said, handing him a nine-millimetre.
"Yeah but they-"
"I was Special Ops, Daniel, remember?" Jack reminded him "You saw the types of missions I did, Daniel, draw your own conclusions." Jack said.
Daniel looked at his friend's face. Jack was looking dangerously close to the man that Daniel had first met. The man who'd lost everything. Cassie was right to be worried.
Jack reached into the back of the van and retrieved three radios. He handed Daniel and Teal'c one each, hooking his own onto his belt. "Let's move out." He said and headed towards the building.
Pete cocked his head at the sound of tires squealing outside. "You think that's him?" He asked.
Sam refused to answer.
"Well, we should probably start early, just in case." Pete said. Suddenly his whole demeanour changed. He became predatory. He reached up onto the desk, bringing down a roll of duct tape. He used it to gag Sam.
Then he knelt in front of her and began to push her skirt up her legs.
Sam's eyes went wide in terror.
The windows of the warehouse were filthy, and didn't let much light through.
Once they entered the building, Jack signalled that Daniel and Teal'c should search the lower level, while he took the upper one.
There were several offices on both levels. Daniel and Teal'c moved stealthily towards those on the lower level, while Jack silently climbed the stairs.
Jack crept along the upper corridor, checking the rooms as he went.
"Quit struggling, Sam. You're only making this harder on yourself." Pete whispered.
Sam ignored him and kept moving.
Pete sighed and brought out a knife. "I didn't want to have to do it this way." He said, sadly.
Sam stopped moving. Pete smiled, thinking his threat had worked. He was wrong. Sam could sense something. 'Naquadah?' She thought. It was very faint, but she could feel it all the same. And it was getting closer.
Suddenly, Sam realised she could sense something else, something uniquely… 'Jack?' She thought, getting the feeling that always caused her to know when he entered a room.
Pete used the knife to cut away Sam's underwear. This brought her back from her thoughts with a rush. Sam thought she was going to throw up.
Just as Pete's hand went to his fly, the office door behind him burst open.
Looking into the room, Jack could only see Pete. "Up, Shanahan." He ordered.
Shanahan stood, revealing Sam, lying on the floor beyond him, cuffed to the desk, her skirt gathered around her hips. Sam wriggled upwards, forcing her skirt down. She didn't look at Jack.
For a split second, Jack took in the scene, his brain processing what Shanahan had been about to do.
Then he was on Shanahan, throwing his gun down, his brain not registering where it went.
Shanahan, who had been expecting to get shot, reacted just a little too late. He tried to bring the knife up to O'Neill's stomach, but the other man gripped his wrist and bashed his hand on the wall. Shanahan swore as the blade sliced his hand and he dropped the knife.
Shanahan pushed back against Jack, using his greater bulk to his advantage. Momentarily, Jack stumbled. Then he scooped up the knife from where it had fallen. He shoved Shanahan against the wall, bringing the knife to his throat.
"You gonna kill me, O'Neill?" Shanahan asked. "Go ahead, it's what you do best, right?" He sneered.
Jack just pushed the knife further into Shanahan's flesh. "Fuck you, Shanahan."
"Actually, Sam was just about to-"
Jack punched Shanahan, bouncing the man's head off the wall, hard. Then he returned the knife to Shanahan's throat, pressing hard enough to draw blood.
"Jack." It was a broken sound. And it came from Sam.
Jack crashed Shanahan's head into the wall once more, and the man fell to the ground, semi-conscious.
Jack bent and fished in Shanahan's coat pocket, removed the handcuff keys and turned to Sam.
He knelt down beside her and she flinched. "Hey, shh, it's me. I'm not gonna hurt you, Sam. Shh."
Jack undid the cuffs and pulled Sam into a sitting position, absently noting that his sidearm had landed close by.
Ignoring it, he turned back to Sam.
She was still not looking at him, just sitting there, numb. "Jesus, Carter." He muttered. She looked up at that, her eyes full of tears. Jack pulled her to him and held her, one hand stroking her hair.
"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"I let you down." Sam seemed to crumble at these words and began to sob in earnest.
"Shut up." Jack ordered, pushing her away slightly. She whimpered and tried to get close to him again. "No, Sam, look at me." She reluctantly obeyed. "You did not let me down, okay? You got that?" Sam nodded and he pulled her to him again. "I let you down." He murmured into her hair.
He felt Sam tense in his arms at the same time as he sensed movement behind him. Jack let go of Sam, standing and spinning to face Shanahan who was rising and aiming a gun at him.
As Jack's hand went to his holster, Shanahan fired. His shot hit Jack in the right arm, putting it out of commission.
Shanahan stepped forwards, raising the gun to fire at Jack again.
Then everything happened at once. Left handed, Jack threw the knife at Shanahan. The blade hit the man in the chest and stuck.
From somewhere behind him, Jack heard his sidearm fire. Shanahan stopped, blood pouring from the bullet wound in his chest. Sam fired again and again, emptying the clip. Then Shanahan fell to the ground, dead.
Jack turned to see Sam standing behind him, his sidearm in her hands. She was still shaking and crying. Unsteady through loss of blood, Jack walked towards her, taking the gun from her shaking hands and tossing it aside. Then he all but collapsed in her arms.
As they sank to the floor, Jack was dimly aware of the sound of people running along the corridor outside, calling for him and Sam. 'Daniel and Teal'c,' he thought.
Then he remembered something. Shaking, Jack thumbed the radio in his vest pocket. "This is O'Neill. All units: stand down. Send medical team. Threat eliminated. Repeat: Threat eliminated."