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A Tropical Nightmare.

By Lingren.

Previously:

The only consolation he had, was that now he could open his mouth and take in some of the moisture, helping to quench his raging thirst. He choked over it at first, but kept gulping down the precious commodity. The rain didn't last very long, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mendoza laughing at his antics as he tried to drink the rain.

The clouds rolled by and once more the stars came out, and Jack drifted off into a restless sleep again.

Chapter 6

The sound of a helicopter drawing nearer, alerted Mendoza that the American's were coming in to rescue his prisoner, and he ordered his men out to shoot it down. Suddenly it swept over the tops of the trees, firing tear gas into the camp, which was immediately engulfed in a thick fog of choking smoke. Gunfire still echoed through the camp and suddenly Mendoza's men found themselves under heavy fire, with explosions around them. Those that could manage it, fled into the jungle, leaving Mendoza without protection. He himself took off somewhere to hide from the battle, leaving the SGC personnel with nothing to do except guard their injured Colonel.

Jack had felt the effects from the gas too, but he knew as soon as he heard the rotor blades sweeping through the air, that rescue was finally here. The Huey had hovered above him; the down draught effectively clearing the gas from around him, but he was already choking on it, and the tears were streaming down his face, and with the downdraught of hot air from the rotors, it was making it almost impossible for him to breathe.

The next thing he knew a soft distorted voice was yelling in his ear, telling him, to relax and allow them to cut him free. He nodded carefully, not wanting to aggravate his headache and unable to talk or see through the stinging eyes and throat. He felt a mask being placed over his face and he welcomed the feel of the cool oxygen flooding his lungs, easing away the pain, and then he felt his bonds being released. The relief of being free was tempered by the pain of stiffened limbs.

Sam knelt down beside her CO and knew at once he'd been left like this since his capture, for his body to be in such a poor state. It made her heart bleed to see him like this, but even more determined that they got him out quickly. Daniel appeared beside her with a wire basket stretcher and with Andrews' help they managed to manoeuvre Jack into it.

He'd been aware of their presence, but it was obvious to her now that he was in extreme pain when they'd moved him. She'd watched as his eyes rolled back in his head when he passed out from the agony of moving his cramping muscles and any injuries he might have received in the fall.

She was glad he'd given in, because in a way, it made moving him so much easier now. Soon they had him covered up and they carried him off to one side while the helicopter landed in the deserted camp, making access easier. Jack's team hauled the stretcher into the Huey, followed by the rest of the little band of rescuers. Once they were all on board they took off, leaving the camp in chaos, leaving behind very little of the rebel fighters as they disappeared once more into the night sky.

OoOoOoOoO

Janet could barely move in the cramped confines of the helicopter, but she somehow managed to kneel down beside her patient and assess his condition. His blood pressure was low, and she could see he'd lost quite a bit of blood. Quickly inserting an IV needle into his vein, she hooked up the fluids and blood bags she'd brought with her. Jack's heart rate was rapid, and his breathing shallow and noisy. Running her professional fingers over his torso, she discovered a couple of broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and plenty of bruising.

His skin was burned and blistered from lying exposed to the sun, and although the bullet wound had stopped bleeding, it was now infected and oozed pus. The red lines radiating from it showing her that he would need a lot of nursing to get him back to being healthy once again. Janet did all she could for him on the flight, but a proper full examination would have to wait until they reached the base hospital.

A gurney and several medical personnel were standing by when they landed and they off loaded Jack onto the trolley and rushed him away to the ER. Sam watched as they hurried away, lost in a daze of guilt and horror at what they had done to her CO; the man she loved. Would he still love her, knowing she alone had been responsible for letting him fall? Would he blame her for leaving him behind, breaking his one golden rule; how could he not when he discovered the truth about what had happened?

Daniel placed his arm around her shoulder and urged her forward to follow the emergency team. She automatically moved following his lead, although in spirit, she was elsewhere. The tears no longer fell, she'd already cried them all out, now only the guilt hung heavily on her shoulders and she hated herself for putting him though hell. She would go through the motions of making sure he was going to be all right, but after that she would leave him alone to lick his wounds, unable to face his accusations when he recovered.

Sam and Daniel sat outside the ER in silence. They were supplied with coffee by a kind nurse who took pity on them when she'd seen the state of them all. By the blank look on their faces from shock and the obvious hurt from knowing that their friend had been badly injured, she felt they needed a little TLC to recover too.

It seemed like hours before Janet emerged and Daniel shot from the chair, almost pouncing on her as she emerged from the double doors that had kept them out.

"Janet?"

"Well as far as I can tell, he'll be just fine, but it's going to be a long time before he's really fit again, but he's a fighter guys, you know that."

"What did they do to him? He's a mess!" Daniel asked, still shocked by Jack's appearance.

"Well apart from the obvious bullet wound he'd received in the original battle, and the head wound, which is fine by the way; he has two broken ribs, and a hell of al lot of bruises just about everywhere you can imagine. Then there's the dislocated shoulder which has a piece of bone chipped out of it, and that's gonna hurt; a lot. The damage was probably caused when he fell from the helicopter. The worst thing right now is the fever which has set in from the infection in his leg around the bullet wound, and he has severe sun burn over his face and upper body. He's dehydrated, but it's nothing too drastic that we can't easily fix. I want to get him back to the SGC as soon as possible so I can keep a proper eye on him."

"Can we see him?" Daniel asked, worried for his friend.

"Sure, but he's sedated and will be out of it for some time. I'm going to arrange for transport back to Peterson for tomorrow afternoon.

OoOoOoOoO

General Hammond had done a lot of digging in his time, but now it was revealed to be real dirt he was delving into. His contacts in Washington had come up trumps and provided him with proof of more dirty dealings concerning the late Colonel Frank Simmons from his days as one of the NID's top brass operatives. It was revealed that Simmons and Mendoza were old acquaintances. Their connections stretched back over two decades, but their last encounter was as recent as two years ago, not long before Simmons had been arrested.

At that time Mendoza was just starting out on his quest for a revolution and funds and equipment was hard to come by. Suddenly it had been reported he'd acquired a lot of arms and the money to buy more modern ones. Gradually building up his army, he spent months training new recruits until they were ready for the battle to begin, ending with the piecè de résistance, the final strike. A bomb made from a new material promised to him by his American friend to wipe out the entire Government in one go.

When Simmons mysteriously disappeared, Mendoza planned to steal it himself, finally settling on Blackmail. Dr. Paul Cruz, an exile from the island and one time employee of Mendoza, was chosen not only because of his work with the new powerful ore, but because Mendoza could threaten the rest of the Cruz family that were left behind on the island.

Hammond now made contact with an old friend who owed him a favour and agreed to sanction a mission for him. While Mendoza was still reeling from the blow to his army and his ego, a team of Spanish Americans would enter Santa Christiana posing as fishermen, and rescue Dr. Cruz' family, taking them across the sea to freedom and a reunion with their Son and brother. A new identity would then be given to all of them in a new location, and a new job awaited Paul, all of which would put them out of Mendoza's reach. Hammond would miss the affable scientist, but the man's family and safety came first. Nothing was worth risking their lives for, just for an unpopular revolution that had been doomed to fail from the start.

General Hammond sat in his office, his arms leaning on the desk and fingers entwined in a loose grip together, a smile across his face. He was satisfied with the results of his labours, and now all he wanted was the phone to ring and tell him his teams had arrived home, and that Jack was going to be okay.

TBC