7.
McKay poured a steaming cup of coffee, while saying a mental thank you for the new wave of supplies that had been shipped from the SGC. He took a seat, asking Elizabeth as he did so, "Coffee?"
She shook her head. "No thanks," then looked around the table at Colonel Caldwell, Doctor Beckett and Teyla. "Anything else to add?"
McKay took a slow sip and smiled.
"Rodney?"
"Hmmm?" he looked up, and found all eyes fixed on him. He sat the cup down, "Yes, I mean no…nothing." He thought it was a rhetorical question; it wasn't like he wasn't aware of what was going on around him…
"Doctor McKay?"
He realized Caldwell was now waiting for him to say something. "What?" One cup of coffee, that's all he'd wanted…
"Do you agree that Colonel Sheppard told everything pertinent under hypnosis?" repeated Caldwell impatiently.
McKay felt his stomach turn at the memory, and pushed the coffee away. "I'd say so, yes," he answered more harshly than he probably should have.
"Doctor Beckett, do you feel that Colonel Sheppard presents a security risk at this time?" Caldwell pursued his line of questioning.
Beckett seemed surprised by the question directed at him. He looked to Rodney and Elizabeth, and saw their hooded emotions. He caught sight of Teyla's pinched face, and recalled her own brush with being a security risk. He turned back, realizing that Caldwell was waiting and had seen him grasping for straws. He sighed. Was Sheppard a risk? He'd heard the results of the hypnosis. He knew that the Hoffans had programmed one more assigned task to Sheppard. There hadn't been any chance of attempting a deprogramming because he'd reacted physiologically to the memory of the initial programming.
"Aye," he finally admitted. "I do." If Sheppard were let loose, there was a real possibility that he'd tried to return to Hoff, and he couldn't be held responsible for his own actions.
Caldwell smiled tightly, pleased at the Doctor's ability to give an honest assessment. "But you said you have the cure?"
"Possibly, I believe so," he said. "It's still being tested, but early results are promising."
"How much longer?" asked Elizabeth.
"A couple hours, if the latest results come back good."
"Colonel," Teyla said, pushing a thick folder towards Caldwell. "These are the photographs we managed to take when we returned to investigate."
"Good, Teyla, you and I will meet with Lieutenant Dockers and review the plan," Caldwell stood from his chair, and lifted the file. "And I suggest, Doctor," he said, walking towards the doorway, "that once you've got the antidote, you release the Colonel as soon as he's physically up to it."
Teyla followed Caldwell out of the briefing room, leaving the other three sitting at the table, each one debating their own internal thoughts. Elizabeth stood first, and leaned towards McKay, murmuring softly into his ear, before leaving. Beckett hoped they knew what they were doing. This whole thing had the potential to blow up in their faces, and take a good man along with it.
McKay hesitated before leaving. "You don't think this will work," he accused.
Beckett was usually neutral when it came to the plans. There was always a plan A, and a B, but what happened when you were reduced to a C? He'd watched them scheme, he'd played his roles, but he'd never shouldered so much of the burden before. If this didn't work…
"No," he answered truthfully, and squeezed out the door, past McKay, and headed to the infirmary, to check on the object of the meeting and strategizing.
"Teyla, is your team ready?" Caldwell asked over the radio.
Teyla looked to the Lieutenant, who nodded briefly. She hunched behind the cargo crowded into the Jumper. The camouflage make-up itched, and she wondered not for the first time how this could possibly work. "Yes, Colonel, we are in place. Has Colonel Sheppard been released?"
"Not yet," answered Caldwell's voice. "Doctor Beckett said it should be within the hour. Be ready, we do not want to get caught with our pants down, is that understood?"
"Understood," Teyla replied, shifting her knees to try and get in a more comfortable position. An hour…did this Colonel realize how hard it was to stay crouched behind these cargo nets?
"I'm free?" Sheppard asked, incredulous. "Just like that?"
Beckett and McKay were standing like a pair of guilty lovebirds. "Just like that?" responded an astounded McKay. "Sheppard, you've been the subject of every test known to man, spent a combined week in the infirmary and incarcerated in the brig. Would you like more?"
"Why do I have the feeling I'm the rat in the maze, being released, and watched to find out if I can find the cheese at the end of the corridor," said Sheppard. "Or, if I get to the end and find out I'm going to get zapped for turning wrong."
Beckett shifted uncomfortably, folding his arms, and grabbing onto the stethoscope around his neck with one hand. McKay, though, snorted loudly. "Rat, weasel…rodent. If you are comparing yourself to vermin, maybe you should stay," deflected McKay. "A trained chimp, that might be…"
"Monkey see, monkey do…" sung out Sheppard, heading for the exit. He knew something wasn't kosher, but he'd be their little rat, and wait to find out what performance was expected. "Besides, you're imminently more qualified than I am, you've got more chest hair," Sheppard tossed out a parting dig, as he waltzed out the infirmary.
McKay glared at the doors as they slid shut after the Colonel's exit. He turned to Beckett, who shrugged, "He's right," he said, and headed into his office. A few moments later, Beckett called, "Rodney!"
McKay gave one last disgusted look at the air in general, before trailing after Beckett. They had a job to do. They'd just sent the rat into the maze, and now they had to get the cheese. Sheppard's almost psychic use of the analogy had hit home. Boy was he going to be pissed when he found out just how right he had been…
Sheppard's first destination was his quarters. He was going to take a shower, a real, bonafide shower…with nobody hovering. He was walking towards the corridor where his room was, but then his feet started moving towards the command center. He had somewhere to go, and he needed to make sure he could get there…
The tech's console beeped. He entered a command, and tapped his radio, "The sheep is leaving the fold," he announced.
Elizabeth's voice responded. "Sheep?"
"It was McKay's idea," Hartford explained brusquely.
"It's a perfectly good code name, Elizabeth," interrupted McKay over the comm. "Sheep…Sheppard." There was a brief laugh, then a pause. "It's logical…" he said defensively.
"Mark, you released the controls?" asked Elizabeth, purposefully ignoring McKay.
"Released, and…" Hartford paused, watching the event horizon burst forth from the gate. The Jumper lowered from the bay above, and he made a show of frantic button pushing in case Sheppard was watching, or was even aware of what was happening. They'd found the device Sheppard had planted, and removed it, but now they had to let him go. "He's gone," he announced, as the Jumper's ass-end slid into the blue liquid.
"Rodney?" Elizabeth addressed McKay. "Are you and Doctor Beckett ready?"
"Just call me double-O geek," cracked McKay.
Silence.
Then, "You've been waiting a year to say that, haven't you?" asked Beckett.
"Yes," an unrepentant McKay replied. "Yes, I have."
"Just go," a tired Elizabeth ordered. God bless the children, the elderly, and every adult that had to deal with Rodney McKay, she thought, but still, she said a quick prayer to the powers that be to keep them all safe.
"Tell me, Colonel Sheppard, did you release the vaccine into your water supply?"
Sheppard eyed the man defiantly.
The man sat at a small metal table that was situated in front of Sheppard, who was shackled to the same chair he'd been in before. He knew that now, he could remember it, because Heightmeyer had released those memories. But he couldn't remember how he'd wound up back here. Everything was blank after he left the infirmary. He'd been heading to his room…
"I understand that you have questions," the man offered genially. "And I propose you consider the situation you find yourself in."
Sheppard remained quiet.
The man sighed, and leaned back in his chair, pushing one hand on the armrest while the other twiddled with a pencil or pen that was on the table. "Let me tell you a little story," he began. "A few months ago, a group of individuals contacted my government. You see, they had heard about the Genii, and in a round-about way, heard about the particular grudge the Genii have with the people of Atlantis," the man paused and pointed the pencil casually at Sheppard, "That would be you."
He reached for a pitcher of water and poured himself a glass, taking a slow drink. He set the glass down, every action measured and intentional. "These people had a very interesting proposal. It was beneficial, not only to the Genii, but ultimately, to everyone around."
Sheppard's mouth tightened, but he wasn't going to allow himself to be goaded into responding.
A small smile from the man proved he knew Sheppard was fighting to keep quiet. He continued, "But we needed an effective method of dispersal," the man pushed away from the table, and stood up, approaching Sheppard, and leaning in behind Sheppard's back, lowering his mouth to within an inch of Sheppard's head. "And then the Hoffan's came up with a plan that was stunning in it's simplicity, and beautiful in the irony of it; the injustices reigned upon the Genii would be somewhat atoned for."
"What better form of spreading the ultimate Wraith-killing virus, than the Atlanteans, hopping from planet to planet, and practicing their self-contrived do-gooding, while managing to muck up everything and everyone, in their path."
Sheppard flinched.
The man held his head close to Sheppard's for a moment more, hoping the Colonel would give in to his anger, but when Sheppard didn't, he pulled back, stifling his disappointment.
He began circling Sheppard. "We know you returned to Atlantis; we know you had the vial. We also know that by the very nature of you returning, you had to have delivered the contents of that vial into the water supply," his voice had risen from a quiet speech to a shout at the last word. He slammed his hands down on the arms of the chair, one on each side of Sheppard, and put his face in front of Sheppard's. "It is pointless to refuse to talk, we already know everything we need!"
Sheppard raised his head, and looked the man in the eyes with steely determination. "Then tell me this…if you know so much, why are you asking me?"
The man pulled back, and Sheppard thought he was going to step back to his table, but he spun around, and slammed a fist into Sheppard's head, snapping him back with painful force.
"Disrespect will not be tolerated," he said calmly, pulling his shirt back into place.
Sheppard's head dropped back forwards. A rat…he was a rat in a maze…
AN: Just a short note about using the Jumper. I can't recall if they specifically showed the gate in the episode Poisoning the Well, so for the sake of my plot I'm using the Jumper, and if I'm wrong, repeat three times, "It's only fanfic, she does not mean to blasphemy!"
Edited AN: I had to change a name, for those of you who caught it, kudos to you...I accidentally used Peter Grodin...big whups on my part, but I fixed it...what can I say except old habits die hard and I'm still not happy over that little thing and hoping for some miracle (though I know there won't be).