A/N: Wow! You guys have been great with the reviews! Thanks so much! You guys make writing and posting fics so much fun! Hope you enjoy this next chapter!
Chapter 3
The yellow police tape cordoning off Sam's house flickered in the gentle morning breeze with an eerie calmness. A calmness that was in stark contrast to the tumultuous emotions churning within Jack.
He was about to demand an update from one of the police detectives for about the fifth time when the sound of Daniel calling his name made him stop. He turned around to see Teal'c and Daniel crossing the street toward him. They made their way around one of the police cars and jogged over to where Jack stood keeping a critical eye on the police proceedings.
As Daniel reached Jack's side, he stopped and looked around at the police and forensics personnel coming and going from Sam's house with a stunned look on his face. "We got here as soon as we could. Do we know anything yet?"
"Nothing," Jack said bitterly. "Absolutely squat. They've got a forensic team in there now, but..." He clenched his jaw, unable to say anything more. He felt like kicking something. Anything.
"Did the scene inside give you any indication as to what may have occurred?" Teal'c asked.
Jack forced himself to remain calm. "It looks like whoever took her grabbed her while she was sleeping. The bedroom's a mess... whatever happened, she didn't go without a fight." He pushed away the sudden images of Sam struggling against an unknown captor as they came flooding unbidden into his mind.
"Was there..." Daniel was unable to finish voicing his question, but he didn't need to.
"No blood," Jack said flatly.
"And that's a good sign... right?" Daniel sounded uncertain.
Neither Jack nor Teal'c replied. There was a moment of grim silence before Daniel spoke again.
"Do you think this has something to do with Sam's work at the SGC? Maybe the NID or something...?"
"I don't know." Jack could feel his anger and fear focusing now, focusing into hard determination. "But I'm going to find out."
Jack turned in the direction of his truck, digging his keys out of his pocket. He couldn't stand around like this any longer. He had to do something.
"Jack? Where are you going?" Daniel called after him.
"Back to the base. To start my own investigation." He climbed into his truck and started the engine, and mere seconds later he was speeding away from Sam's house toward the SGC.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Strange, undefined images slipped across Sam's mind. Shadows and unseen horrors chasing her, haunting her. Liquid fear swept into her airway, flooding her lungs, suffocating her. She was sinking, falling...
With a sharp intake of breath, Sam awoke once more to find that she was still alone in her concrete prison. She lay perfectly still for a moment, concentrating on slowing her rapid breathing and heart rate. Crazy dreams. She could hardly believe she'd actually fallen asleep. No doubt whatever drug she'd been given was still wreaking havoc with her system. And there must have been a lot of it in her system to knock her out like that. She vaguely recalled a second needle prick. A double dose, maybe?
Pushing that thought aside, Sam struggled into a sitting position, her stiff and achy limbs protesting harshly. She still felt quite dizzy at the movement, but at least she was no longer on the verge of vomiting. Shivering against the damp chill of the basement, she drew her knees up to her chest in an attempt to retain as much body heat as possible.
She wiggled her ankles and wrists, trying to improve her circulation and test her bonds at the same time. But they were still as tight as ever and the rope bit painfully into her skin as she tried to work herself free.
Creak.
Sam froze. Her heart rate took off again as she realized that there was someone outside the door. She waited, her heart thumping and her eyes locked on the door handle, expecting it to turn. Instead, the room was suddenly flooded with light and Sam reflexively closed her eyes tightly, cringing against the unexpected brightness.
The spotlights had been turned on. But by whom?
Blinking, Sam tried to reopen her eyes to see what was happening. Her eyes were still adjusting to sudden light when she heard the unmistakable sound of the lock turning and the door handle began to move.
Momentarily paralyzed, Sam watched as the door unlatched and opened.
A man stepped into the room. A man who normally would have been utterly unremarkable, save for the fact that he was holding a knife. He closed the door behind him and stood looking down at Sam.
She glared back up at him, her eyes hard and fierce even though she was trembling with fear on the inside. She didn't know who this man was or what he wanted with her, and it was scaring the hell out of her.
The man smiled and Sam felt a shiver go down her spine.
"Sleepyhead's awake now," the man said, still smiling creepily. "Good."
He came closer to took hold of Sam's chin. Disgusted, she tried to turn away from his touch, but he tightened his grip and pressed the flat of his knife blade against her cheek, stilling her. She wanted to yell at him, to spit in his face, but with the damn tape over her mouth she could do nothing but make indistinct noises.
"Don't be frightened," the man crooned. He released her chin and began stroking her hair clumsily.
Again, Sam tried to move away, but the cold flat of the knife blade pressed warningly against her cheek and she stopped. She felt sick.
"I'm going to save your soul," he told her. "I'm going to capture it and add it to my collection. Then you'll be safe. Safe with the others."
Sam shuddered involuntarily. The guy was a psycho.
He stepped back, removing the knife blade from her cheek. "We will begin shortly."
Sam felt the fear coursing through her. Begin what?
"I'll be back soon."
As he turned and left the room, Sam found herself gasping against the panic that was threatening to overwhelm her.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
When she heard the door reopening some time later, Sam wondered if she was about to die. Or perhaps he had something worse in store for her. The thought made her dizzy and she silently cursed her helplessness. If her ankles and wrists weren't bound so tightly and if she weren't feeling so weak, she could've taken out her captor no problem. But as things were, she was at his mercy, and that filled her with a fierce anger.
She was momentarily puzzled when the man returned, not with his knife, but with a camera. He smiled at her again, that horrible smile that in any normal situation probably would seem like just an average, regular smile, but in this context was so creepy that it chilled Sam right through to her bones.
He raised the camera to his eye, pointing it at Sam and fiddling with the focus dial for a moment. Then he lowered the camera slightly to look at her.
"You'll be safe soon."
And then he began.
Flash.
Flash.
Flash.
He snapped off picture after picture, and with every click of the shutter, with every burst of white light from the flash, horror ripped through Sam, wiping all clear thought from her mind and leaving her only with terror and fear.
TBC…