The Heart's Refusal to Believe – Ch. 6

Thanks to NG and TZMaverick for taking the time to Beta read this chapter!! You two have helped me tremendously!!

Thanks to everyone that has reviewed!! I promise all will be revealed in the next four chapters. I will warn you it will not be the end of the story there is a twist ahead. I hope you like it. :)

The next morning those at the SGC were watching the tracking device on Jameson and Pete's car and were starting to get worried. Their only two suspects arrived early for their morning shift. It was now nearly lunch time and neither of them had left the Police Station. The guys at the SGC knew time was crucial. This was the fifth day that Sam had been missing. The tracking devices had been added to the suspect's cars the night before. However, Jameson and Pete had not tried to visit her, or go anywhere out of the ordinary. They kept to their routine. Jack, Jacob, General Hammond, Daniel, and Teal'c were all worried that maybe someone else was helping them; maybe she had already been moved out of the state, or maybe … the possibilities were endless and as each hour passed the scenarios became a little grimmer.

So here the men tired, anxious, and worried were sitting in the SGC conference room, watching a small screen, hoping Jameson or Pete would do something to give them any hope of finding Sam today. Jack was trying to keep his mind off of Carter. He was worried the longer they waited the worse their chances were of finding her. He was driving everyone crazy with his nervous energy. Daniel, Teal'c and even General Hammond were use to Jack's idiosyncrasies. Jacob, however, was ready to zat Jack for just 15 minutes of peace for his already frazzled nerves. Jack was currently throwing a tennis ball at different angles to see how many times he could get it to bounce off the walls or floor before it would return to him. Jacob may have been able to handle the situation better if it had not been proceed by Jack tapping the pen against the table, the beeping of his gameboy, or his fingers tapping against his ceramic coffee cup. Teal'c noticed Jacob's irritability and intervened.

"Hey!" Jack protest when Teal'c caught the ball as it passed him.

"Perhaps we should leave General Hammond and Jacob Carter to monitor the devices while we go to the commissary."

Jack thought about and finally said, "I'm not really hungry, Teal'c."

"Then perhaps we should attempt a sparing match in the gym."

"Uh … nah. I think I will just wait here."

"General O'Neill, I think Teal'c is trying to get you out of here for a while to stretch your legs." General Hammond tried a different strategy.

"I'm fine." Jack went back to tapping a pen against the table.

"You're driving everyone nuts, Jack!" Daniel said exasperated.

"What?" Jack said clueless to Daniel's explanation.

Daniel just pointed to pen in Jack's hand.

"Ohhhh … sorry." Jack put the pen down. However, a mere five minutes later Jack was rocking back and forth in his chair making it squeak.

"Jack!" Jacob said finally voicing his irritation.

"Yeah, maybe I'll go see when the next team is due back." Just as Jack stood he noticed a light blinking on the laptop indicating one of the cars they had been watching was on the move. "Hey, it looks like the blue sedan is leaving."

Surprised, the other four men in the room looked over at the laptop for proof. The sedan was making its way toward the interstate. Once they knew for sure the car was going out of town, Jack grabbed his keys to follow and began barking orders as he left.

"Teal'c, you and Daniel stay here in case Pete's car leaves as well. We're not sure if only one or both of them are in the car."

General Hammond spoke up to say that he would stay there to keep an eye on the SGC.

Jacob had already made up his mind that he was going after his daughter, so he was following Jack as he left.

Shortly after they were gone General Hammond informed Jack and Jacob that the car was heading towards an old warehouse district. Teal'c and Daniel left the SGC to provide back up. After a while the group decided this was probably the break they had been waiting for.

Jack and Jacob arrived at the old warehouse about 15 minutes after the blue sedan. A search of the perimeter was immediately started. The area appeared to be quiet, a little too quiet for Jack's taste. Gen. Hammond directed them towards where the car was located. They quickly did a search and found the car almost immediately, but not the occupants. They were surprised that there weren't any other cars in the area.

Finally they located Jameson through the windows on the north end of the warehouse. Out of safety they scanned the area for Pete or anyone else, but saw no one. From their view at the window they could see inside of, what appeared to be an observation room, with glass above the partitions. The room was equipped with tables, monitors, and a small kitchen. Unfortunately, they couldn't see what was on the monitors, from their viewpoint.

Through the glass in the observation room they saw a concrete box about the size of a small room in the middle of a very large open space. Jameson was in the observation room talking on his radio. They could very faintly hear him talking about transporting something. Jack and Jacob's eyes widened at the realization that the situation was fast becoming critical. There was no way that they could allow him, or them, to leave with her.

Daniel and Teal'c arrived a few minutes later and together they decided to rush the building. Jack and Jacob advanced through the north entrance closest to Jameson. Daniel and Teal'c approached through the south entrance. They all moved swiftly making very little noise. In fact Jameson didn't even know they were there until he felt the room's sudden change in temperature meaning the door was open. He turned around quickly and tried to pull his gun out of his holster just as Jack zatted him. Jameson crumbled to the floor with a thud. Satisfied that he was unconscious Jack and Jacob joined Daniel and Teal'c in a sweep of the rest of the building.

Jack and Jacob tried to open the steel door leading to the Concrete room, but found it was locked. Feeling hope rising in his chest, Jack called for Daniel to get the keys from Jameson. Daniel and Teal'c had not found anyone else in the area and were now in the observation room in case Jameson woke up.

Just as Daniel and Teal'c approached them with the keys, Jacob noticed a bright flash of light coming through the bottom of the door, and then it faded away.

"Jack … hurry up!" Jacob yelled anxiously

"Jack quickly opened the heavy door as another bright flash of light blinded them and then faded away again. As their eyes adjusted to the dimly lit area, they quickly scanned the small room. There was a mattress on the floor, a desk, and a chair beside it, but nothing else. The room was empty.

Jack was so sure they had found her. He couldn't believe that they arrived too late. 'If I had driven faster or searched quicker, then she would be here with us where she belongs. Instead she is on a ship to who knows where.' Jacob talking to General Hammond was the only thing that could break through Jack's misplaced guilt.

"George. Please tell me the Asgard's are in the area."

"We're getting a report now of a ship orbiting Earth. It will take about five minutes to determine what kind of ship. I'll let you know as soon as we know something. Hammond out."

Teal'c was picking something up off the floor as he spoke, "O'Neill."

"Did you find something, Teal'c?"

"I believe Colonel Carter was in fact being held at this location." He said holding up a photograph.

Daniel, standing beside Teal'c, took it out of his hand to look at it. "Oh."

"What?" Jack said as he crossed the room and took the picture from Daniel. Jack was stunned looking down at the photo, "This is from her funeral." He saw "her" coffin in the forefront with her family and those from the SGC behind them.

"Indeed. I found it along with the others."

"What others?" Jacob said now joining group. He was witnessing his daughter's 'funeral' through still shot images. As each photo was passed to him, he could feel the guilt rising at the fact that he had not made it back to Earth in time.

'Samantha understands why you were not here, Jacob. She does not fault you for joining the Tok'ra.' Selmak said trying to comfort Jacob.

'I'm sure she understood, Selmak, but is it really worth it? I thought she was dead and I wasn't even there for her own funeral! Hell, the last time I left she was in the infirmary. Anubius' supersoldier was hunting her for days. She almost died then, and I was playing diplomat trying to save the Tok'ra alliance instead of looking for her.'

'I know it has been difficult leaving your family, but what we do is vital for the safety of not only this planet, but for the entire galaxy.'

'We've had this conversation before, Selmak. The Tok'ra are slowly squeezing us out of the High Counsel's decisions.'

'You have said yourself, Jacob, that they are becoming as bad as you own government. I do not see how we could fight affectively by serving with your government.'

'We could do so much more if we were to be stationed here, especially with Jack in charge. At least we would know where we stand with them.'

'Perhaps now is not the time to discuss this matter any further.'

'Alright, but we're not through with this, not by a long shot.'

As Jack passed the last picture to Jacob, he mumbled a sickening realization, "She doesn't even know we're looking for her."

"Oh. You're right Jack. We've got to do something." Daniel said with wide anxious eyes.

"We will, Daniel, but first we have to find out where they are taking her. I'm going to go check on Jameson to see if he is awake. Daniel, why don't you continue to look around in here and see if you can find anything else?"

As Jack and Teal'c were leaving the room he looked over at Jacob. He knew this was the first time he had seen pictures of Carter's funeral. Jack knew the reality of almost losing a child and now having to rescue her from an unknown enemy, was taking its toll on Jacob. He decided to give him a few moments to collect his thought, before he would ask for his assistance.

Jameson was waking up when Teal'c and Jack entered the room. Teal'c picked him up and roughly pushed him into a chair. They bound his hands behind his back using his own handcuffs. Jack wheeled him out into the larger warehouse area to question him, allowing Jacob, who had just joined them, to search the small observation room.

"Where is she?" Jack yelled knowing time was crucial.

Jameson remained silent.

Jack took out his pistol, cocked it, and aimed it at Jameson. "You have to the count of three to tell me where they are taking her. One … Two … Three."

Daniel jumped when he heard a shot rang out. His first instinct was to drop to the floor for cover. He slowly made his way out of the concrete room with his own pistol drawn.

Jacob flinched as he too heard the shot echo throughout the warehouse. Although unlike Daniel, he knew who had fired the gun and as such ran out into the warehouse with Sam's watch and cell phone he had just found.

"Jaaaaack?"

"I know what I'm doing Jacob," Jack said while his eyes remained on Jameson the whole time. "The next bullet is going through your shoulder. Now where is Colonel Carter, and who took her?"

Jameson's eyes were wide in surprise as he was looking over his body to see where he had been shot. He was surprised when he discovered no wounds. 'He missed … on purpose.' Jameson found it difficult to swallow. A bead of sweat was forming on his forehead. He had heard how unpredictable General O'Neill could be. So he was fairly sure the General was serious about shooting him. Then he heard someone counting again.

"One … Two …"

"Wait! Look all I know is a guy named Robert wanted us to fake her death."

"Did this Robert have a last name?"

"No … I don't know. We have talked on the phone. I have never met him." Jameson was hoping the half truth would buy him some time. "We were just supposed to hold her here until they arrived."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know. Other than Robert we haven't been in contact with anyone else."

"Who else is helping you?"

Jameson remained quite and looked down at the ground. Jack cocked the gun again as he spoke. "I don't have a lot of time for this. Now. Who. Else. Is. Helping. You? Is Pete Shanahan involved?"

Jameson looked up with a wicked grin on his face. "How else could we have gotten to her?"

"So he helped you kidnap her?" Jacob asked while Selmak tried to contain his anger.

"Pete set the plan in motion. He planned the accident, although it didn't go quite like he hoped." Jameson laughed."He called and told me when she was in town and where she was going. It was just a matter of picking her up before she got to the scene of the accident."

It took all of Jack's self control not to pull the trigger. "Is there anyone else involved?" Jack said through gritted teeth.

Jameson sat there for a long while, with a serious expression, apparently contemplating the answer. He looked up at Jack and opened his mouth to respond. "Yeah, He…"

Jameson was suddenly silenced when another shot rang out, but this time it wasn't from Jack's gun. All four men took cover as Jameson slumped out of the chair and onto the ground. After several minutes of making sure there was to be no more gunfire, Teal'c and Jack moved towards where the shot had came from. Looking through the windows they couldn't see anyone. They slowly made there way outside when a cloud of dust coming from a gravel road caught their eye in the distance.

"I believe any attempts to apprehend the shooter will prove useless. It appears he has escaped."

"I know Teal'c. I should have known this was going to happen," Jack said mentally kicking himself for not taking more precautions.

They walked back into the warehouse. Daniel was kneeling beside Jameson's motionless body. Jacob was standing on the other side and shook his head as he saw Jack and Teal'c walking back inside.

"Did you guys see anything?"

"Yeah, but they were long gone by the time we got out there."

Their radios cracked. "O'Neill this is Hammond over."

"What have you found, Sir?"

"An Al'kesh was seen entering hyperdrive about ten minutes ago. It was apparently cloaked, so I'm unsure how long it has been in Earth's orbit. I have already given the coordinates to the Prometheus. They will follow in the same direction and report any findings. What have you found there?"

"Apparently Carter was being held here, but was transported out just seconds before we could get to her. Sir, I suggest sending over the forensics team to collect any data they can, to give us a better idea of who has her and where they are taking her. Also I would suggest you send a couple of MP's to pick up Pete Shanahan."

"Are you telling me he is involved in this?" General Hammond had his suspicions, but had hoped for Colonel Carter's sake he wasn't involved.

"According to his partner, yes Sir."

"I'll take care of it, General. Will you be bringing any prisoners back to the base?" General Hammond asked.

"Negative, Sir. The prisoner was terminated during questioning." Jack said without any emotion.

"General O'Neill, are you telling me ..." Hammond began to scold O'Neill.

"It wasn't Jack, George. Jameson was taken out by a sniper and he was gone before anyone could get to his location," Jacob said jumping to Jack's defense.

"We're heading back to the base, Sir. Teal'c and Daniel will remain behind to wait for the clean up teams. O'Neill out."

Jack turned to Daniel and Teal'c. "Take a look at that laptop and Jameson's personal effects and see if you can find any clues. Jacob and I are going to head back to the base to find another ride to go after Carter."

Daniel looked disappointed that they were going to leave without them. "Relax Daniel. It'll take a couple of hours at least to get transportation; we aren't going to leave without you."

Smiling, satisfied they weren't being left behind, Daniel said. "Alright. We'll see if we can find anything else around here."

Jacob and Jack then left to return to the SGC.

TBC