I'd like to make it clear that although this story involves incidents in Iraq, I have no affiliations with any political group or any other concerned in that country whatsoever and anything contained in these pages is purely fictional, coming entirely from my imagination. I mean no disrespect to any organisation or people herein.
I want to thank everyone for their wonderful reviews. I couldn't write this without some encouragement. Thank you all. Glad you're all enjoying it so much.
Title: Unity.
Author: LetitiaRichards.
Previously:
"Sam?" came the incredulous response.
He moved with difficulty towards the door.
"Sam? Is it really you?"
"Yes Daniel. We've come to take you home."
Chapter 14
"What about Jack? Where is he?" Daniel spluttered in sheer joy, but the thought of Jack's absence made him hesitate to leave.
"He's not in there with you?"
"No! They kept us apart most of the time."
"Damn!" Sam swore, then turned to the other room to see it locked tight too. "Any luck Teal'c?"
"Stand back Major Carter!" Teal'c ordered and he and Sam had just enough time to tell Daniel to take cover and get themselves out of range, before the bright flash and soft poof that signalled the opening of the heavy door.
"That one too Teal'c. I think the Colonel might be in there."
Teal'c dipped his head in acknowledgement and set to work to open that door too.
Daniel hobbled back to the door to meet up with Sam. She hugged him until he winced and she then recalled that he was in all probability hurting from the beatings he had obviously received. She didn't have time to look too closely, just enough to observe that Daniel was mobile and non too badly injured that would necessitate him being carried out of there.
Daniel saw her looking him over.
"I'm fine. Let's go find Jack." Daniel insisted impatiently. He laid a hand on her shoulder to show her he was okay, but that he was desperately worried about his friend. It had been many hours since he'd seen Jack and didn't really know what to expect when they found him. "He was in a bad way Sam," he said, breaking it to her gently with a hand on her shoulder.
Sam gulped down the bile that threatened to erupt and nodded silently, swallowing the unwanted news that wanted to choke her. She patted his hand and then slipped back into her professional role.
Teal'c was about to fire the controlled explosives which he'd attached to the other door when a bullet whistled passed his ear and embedded itself in the thick wooden door. They all took shelter in Daniel's cell.
A fire-fight ensued in the narrow passageway.
OoOoOoOoO
The sounds of battle were loud. Bullets ricocheted around him. He ran faster, his heart beating twice as fast in order for him to escape. It was cold here in the desert at night. He'd found some shelter but it wasn't much. He dived into the little wooden hut and slammed the door shut. It was then he found he had no weapon; he must have dropped it. He cursed himself for losing it, breaking the golden rule of combat; always keep a tight hold on your weapon. All he was left with now was his knife.
Suddenly the sound of the battle ceased; its noise suspiciously stilled. Then just as quickly the door splinted open with a dull boom and he cringed; shocked by the small explosion, and took refuge from the enemy below the cover of his arms. He knew it was useless though and he wouldn't go down without a fight. He was grabbed by someone, a soldier, and he struck out with his knife.
When the short lived battle against the enemy had ended, Teal'c fired the lock which splintered and disintegrated under the small explosion. Sam hurried in only to come to an abrupt halt at what she saw there. Jack was lying in on the rocky floor with no shirt, in just his tattered pants. His shivering body was covered in open sores, burns, cuts and bruises. His face, swollen, purple and yellow showing days old bruising, his eyes merely slits in his battered face. He was loosely tied to the wall behind him by his wrists but his feet were anchored to the middle of the floor so he was unable to escape the cold. His pants were soaked through with dried blood and encrusted with dirt from the filthy floor. It made a particularly harrowing sight and if Sam hadn't been so glad to see him alive, she would have lost her last meal.
Jack had flinched when the door splintered and at the sound of their footsteps approaching him. He cowed away from them, cringing in fear beneath his arms which he held over him to fend off their advance.
Daniel limped into the room behind Sam, he was supported by one of the SG team who had now joined them. He cried out when he saw what they had done to his friend. He held a hand against his mouth in shock, wrapping his other arm around his own sore chest for comfort. His own treatment had been bad, and he knew Jack was a mess, but it still came as a shock to see him reduced to this cowering individual.
Sam forced herself to stay back until Teal'c had control of the situation; Jack would likely lash out if he was at all unsure of anything, and right now he looked scared. Something which was hard to equate with the Jack O'Neill they all knew.
At Teal'c's touch, he did indeed lash out, but in his weakened state he was no match for the muscular Jaffa.
He stilled unnaturally at the calming voice of the warrior, trying to place it in his memory. The familiarity of it stirring his conscience, but another touch to his arm brought about a jerky reaction.
"O'Neill desist your actions. Major Carter and I are here to release you from this place," Teal'c's voice was firm and Jack finally stopped his feeble struggles, giving it up as hopeless. He was as good as dead anyway, he believed.
Daniel approached, and Sam pulled a blanket from her backpack and handed it to him.
"Jack it's okay. Hassim is dead. We can go home now," Daniel added to the illusion that Jack had only dreamed about.
Daniel was back again? Jack wondered. Were they really free or was it some sort of mind trick played by that evil Hassim to get him to talk? It wouldn't be the first time he'd been tricked.
Sam had tears in her eyes, but she leaned forward, safe in the knowledge that Teal'c still restrained Jack's feeble movements, though it hurt to see it, she knew it was necessary.
She placed the palm of her hand against his bloodied cheek and spoke soothingly to him.
"Colonel. Do you recognise my voice sir?"
Jack stilled his trembling limbs and listened; a vague shape sat beside him but he couldn't make out who it was through the double vision, though the voice did sound as if it belonged to his Sam, or so he thought.
"C...carda?" he rasped through cracked and swollen lips. "SSSam?"
Sam smiled sadly, and caressed his face gently, trying not to hurt him.
"Yes sir, it's me. We're gonna take you home sir. You can relax now."
"Real?" he gasped, needing to know if it was a dream or not.
"It's real Jack. I'm really here. Teal'c is going to carry you okay?"
"T?"
"I am here O'Neill. I will try not to injure you further, though it may cause you some pain for which I apologise."
Jack nodded but tensed and shivered deeply when Teal'c released him from his grip to undo the bonds holding him.
Sam kept her hand on his face the whole time, grounding him, letting him know that what was happening was real and it wasn't a dream.
When Teal'c wrapped him in the blanket and hoisted his frail body up to cradle him in his arms he cried out in pain, sounding pathetically weak. Sam draped the blanket closer around his chilled body and Teal'c could feel that Jack had lost weight too.
Jack whimpered but rode out the agony and the accompanying nausea. Sam's hand was reassuring in its contact with his arm and helped him to stay calm as they made their out of the house to freedom unhindered.
The guards in the house had obviously tried to escape their quarters and were killed in the ensuing explosion, not one of them escaped.
Ferretti and his team met up with SG-1 and confirmed that the enemy had been defeated and they'd captured three of the men alive for questioning. They were shocked by the appearance of the veteran soldier, as well as that of Daniel, but Ferretti hid the shock well under his training as a soldier. The outcome was that he and his men wanted nothing more than to tear them apart for what they had done to Jack and Daniel.
Sam radioed for the rendezvous, informing them of a successful mission. Once outside the building, they rigged up a stretcher and tried to strap Jack onto it, but he struggled against the bonds until Daniel clued into his distress, and said that Jack probably thought he was being tortured again because from what he'd witnessed he was nearly always restrained. By the time they realised this, Jack had slipped into unconsciousness and spent the rest of the journey in oblivion and wouldn't recall being taken to the rescue helicopter or of arriving at the base hospital.
TBC
