The Coldest of Hearts - Part Seven
Mayer listened ... they all listened ... static was their only reply.
"Palmer, Sharpe, do you copy? Over!" His voice rose a little.
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The helicopters taking off again made Daniel turn around to Sam, his eyes wide and questioning.
"It's SOP," she explained, speaking close to his ear as they moved to the edge of the landing strip. They'd barely had enough room to set down the two helicopters and the storm raging in the open made it all the more difficult.
The blizzard was in full swing now, the wind cutting. The dawn wasn't brightening at all and its eerie gray light wasn't helping. The army team moved ahead of them silently, fanning out, keeping low, moving in harmony through years of hard training and experience.
Sam held her team back for a count of four minutes. The soldiers had been quickly lost from her sight in the blizzard as they moved towards the buildings.
The first building they came to, she downed Janet and her medics. She gave them the silent signal to stay put and moved out with Daniel and Teal'c.
Janet squatted and gave her staff a reassuring smile, which she simply did not feel at heart. She was in full black, earpiece; radio ... the works for the first time in her career. Her stomach was twisted in knots of agony ... she'd exhausted her prayers for Cassie and the Colonel and she tried focussing on her part in the operation. She knew though that by the time she was called in, it would be all over ... and the worse possible scenario was playing out in her head!
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The units CO's voice came over Sam's ear piece. "All clear so far, no signs of targets. Moving to warehouse buildings and barracks. Over."
Sam silently moved her team forwards. She'd blocked out from her mind the worse case scenario and she concentrated on the fact they were doing something ... and they would be in time!
"The Colonel's truck is in the first warehouse." The CO's voice betrayed no excitement, just a stating of fact. "Goal One is here. Repeat Goal One is here."
Sam felt Daniel's hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him, his eyes questioning her. "They've found the missile," she mouthed back at him.
She could see his anger building. "Goal One? Goal One," he repeated in disgust. His voice was a fierce whisper. She shook her head warningly. "Focus Daniel," she hissed.
His anger didn't abate, but he nodded and once more gave his attention to the whirling landscape around them.
"Barrack block is showing signs of life. Possible targets inside. Hold your position SG1."
Sam downed her team and they waited.
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Jack waited ... the hiss of the radio broke into voice.
"Mayer?" came the response.
"Palmer, get the girl." Mayer ordered abruptly and cut the radio off.
"No," said Jack, scrabbling to his feet.
Si moved close and pulled the Colonel's arms behind him in a tight grip. Jack gasped as the manoeuvre pulled on his chest painfully, making him gasp for breath, hot stars of agony shooting in his vision.
The radio clicked and Mayer gave Jack a cold smile. "The Colonel isn't being very co-operative Palmer. Leave the radio open, I want him to hear her pain."
Jack pulled as hard as he could and twisted, but Si's mocking laugh behind him showed how ineffective his struggling was.
The fury rose in Jack and he threw his head back hard, smashing into Si's face. The huge man howled as Jack's head broke his nose and blood spurted. Si didn't let go, but it was enough to loosen his grip and Jack used the advantage to break free.
Cannon made a move towards him. Jack used his training to side step the man and with a sweep of his foot, used the momentum to send him flailing over the side of the cliff.
Jack felt a bullet tear into his shoulder, but despite the pain and exhaustion he somehow kept his feet, the adrenalin pumped furiously and leant him badly needed energy as he launched himself at Mayer, his aim to stop him ... somehow!
His first attack resulted in the radio flying from Mayer's grip but Mayer managed to throw him and his arm smashed across Jack's throat. As Jack rolled he brought his legs up and across and kicked out with all his strength. His boots made contact with Mayer's head and the man grunted and flopped. Jack rolled to his knees, breathlessly.
A searing agony in Jack's back dropped him and he flopped like a rag doll to the ground. A kick turned him over and he rolled helplessly, trying to bring his knees up and arms down for protection.
The next kick caught him full in the groin and Jack howled in pain, retching and coughing as he rolled.
"I'm going to kill you!" snarled Si, bringing his leg back, this time connecting with Jack's back. Jack cried out as the pain rocked through him and he arched against it, struggling to breathe through the coppery mass that filled his mouth.
Jack lay helplessly as Si loomed over him, massive hands grabbing him around the neck. The grip on his throat was crushing and there was nothing he could do ... his limbs weren't responding too well, he thrashed weakly, stars exploding in his head, the blackness was tunnelling up fast...
The grip on his throat diminished suddenly and Jack's brain barely registered the sound of the single shot that dropped the man. He was gasping trying to get air into his lungs, desperate to breathe. His vision was graying, the buzzing loud in his ears.
Jack could barely see, he was dimly aware of Mayer standing over him, the gun in his hand, the barrel pointing straight at his head.
"You don't have much time left, Colonel," said Mayer. "Tell me now and I will spare the child."
Jack's world closed in around him. He saw Mayer raising the radio toward him as he thumbed the switch. "Say goodbye to her, Colonel."
Jack numbly watched as the radio came closer to him. The gray buzzed viciously into black and he felt himself falling ...
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The greatest pity was that Jack wasn't able to hear the words that flicked out from the radio next.
"Mayer, we've got company. We're surrounded."
Mayer's face lit with rage, then calmness overtook him. The black iciness that settled over him would have even the strongest of men quail.
He wondered how they had been found so quickly, but no matter. He calmly gave the order for them to kill the girl and make good an escape.
He frowned down at the unconscious man. This Colonel had caused him so much trouble; he'd blown his mission open and the chance for him to retire overseas, somewhere warm for the rest of his days ... the bitter taste of retribution rang through him and his finger tightened on the trigger.
The ice flowed back into his blood - no - not yet, not while the Colonel could not be aware of his fate...
Maybe the Colonel would perish here in the snow ... maybe not ... but it was enough for Mayer to feed on, enough – for now!
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"Targets have spotted us. There's movement," warned the CO.
SG1 moved in closer. The CO had his team spread out, surrounding the barrack block that showed signs of life.
Sam squatted beside the CO. "We want their hostages alive, Sir," she reminded him.
The CO nodded. "I know Major. Believe me when I say that I want Jack O'Neill alive as well!"
The vehemence in the man's voice threw Sam for a brief moment. She knew that although every effort would be made to protect the hostages, at the end of the day they were expendable and Goal One had been met, to secure the NEM. Goal Two was to secure the men, dead or alive!
The opening of the door to the barracks made everyone drop and still.
"Hold your positions!" called the CO.
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Since Mayer's last call on the radio Palmer and Sharpe had been arguing. Cassie had been flung across the room and she lay shivering in a corner, waiting for her fate.
"He said to off her!" spat Sharpe.
"We do that and we ain't walking out of here alive!" retorted Palmer.
"The Colonel's dead. How many times can they kill us for murder! We killed a lot of men at the heist!"
"You wanna die now? Mayer's free and Si ... there's a chance they can get us out if we give up now."
Sharpe's eyes narrowed as he thought hard. "Maybe we can deal. Mayer's much more of value to them!"
"Are you crazy? Give Mayer up?" snorted Palmer. "We'd be dead men walking, just a question of who would do us first."
"Suit yourself!" he spat. He grabbed Cassie up and dragged her in front of him, holding her shaking body firmly against him, an arm locked around her throat. He hefted the gun in his other hand and swung the door open.
"Hold your fire. I'm coming out ..."
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Cassie felt real bone chilling fear when she heard the radio message. The cold voice ordering her death, calmly, so matter of fact, sent tendrils of sheer terror coursing through her young body. She felt so alone ... She'd held onto the hope that Jack would be coming back for her, for what seemed to her to be so long now, that the final nail driving home shattered her resolve. She crept silently into the darkness of her mind, the world around her winking out ...
The warm wetness between her legs as she was dragged to her feet didn't even register for what it was... Jack was dead, nothing else mattered now ... nothing ... the fact that the next few minutes would decide her fate didn't matter... nothing mattered now.
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Sam thought her heart would burst when the door opened to reveal Cassie. Dirty and dishevelled, but it was Cassie and she was alive!
The gun pointing at her head, the strong arm around her throat didn't waver as the gunman made his demands.
"I have information to trade. We deal and the girl lives!" called the man into the gusseting snow.
The shelter from the buildings kept the worse of the wind from them and his words were clear.
"No deal," shouted the CO calmly. "Surrender yourselves and your weapons and let the girl go. You are surrounded."
"You want Mayer," called the man. "I can give you him, he's not here!"
The man moved forward slightly. Cassie didn't struggle in his arms, nor did she strain to see who was out there. She was very still, her gaze seemingly fixed on nothing.
The CO gave Sam a sharp look. "Where is Mayer?" he called.
"He's out there. He killed your Colonel by the way – I didn't have anything to do with it!"
Sam's heart plummeted to its deepest depth when the words smashed into her head. The single shot that rang out from behind the man holding Cassie brought her up, breaking her cover and she raised her weapon immediately.
The man holding Cassie staggered forwards, his eyes showed his surprise, his mouth opened in a silent 'Oh.'
Cassie's body was pinned beneath the dead man. The man that came running from the barrack door, gun blazing, was taken down by Sam Carter.
"Move, move!" shouted the CO over his radio and his unit converged on the building at a run, moving quickly to search it.
Sam stood still for a heartbeat. The split second shock broke when Daniel and Teal'c both broke cover to run to free Cassie from the body.
Teal'c calmly checked the man to ascertain he was indeed dead as he rolled the weight from the still form of the teenager.
Daniel's head was bursting from the words the man had shouted ... a jumble of thoughts racing and diving around, nothing making sense. He thought Cassie was unconscious at first, she was so still, so it was a shock to find her eyes open, eyes dark and unblinking.
Sam knelt beside him and quickly drew the unresponsive girl into a hug, checking her with her free hand the best she could.
"Area secured!" announced the radio. "All clear. Continuing search of the other buildings and setting perimeter guard."
"Copy that," said Sam into her radio. "Doctor, area is secured. Move up. Cassie is alive."
"Cassie, Cassie can you hear me?" called Sam to the girl. "Damn, I think she's in shock," she cried to Daniel, not allowing herself to focus on anything else for the moment.
"Allow me, Major Carter," said Teal'c and he gently drew the girl into his arms and carried her into the barrack room.
He placed her on one of the several sleeping bags lain out in the room and then placed another one over her, before drawing Daniel back to give them some privacy, claiming to need assistance with the removal of the body from just outside the door. Daniel helped, functioning on autopilot, as they placed the body next to the other one.
The CO of the army unit, Colonel Draper, joined them and knelt over the bodies to search them. "Bastards," he spat as he straightened. "Stay alert. We still don't know the whereabouts of Mayer and Carconi. There's also Brinks and one other to find according to the information we have," he warned them.
"What about Jack ... where ..."
"We'll find him, Doctor Jackson." Colonel Michael Draper straightened his back. "If they've made an escape down the road then they'll run into our other units out there. There's a chance that he was bluffing when he said Jack's dead, he could still be a hostage. Mayer is clever, totally insane but very clever."
Daniel wasn't sure if the words comforted him or not ... held hostage by an insane man wasn't comforting ... on the other hand, a chance of Jack being alive was ...
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Draper changed channels on his radio. "November Lima three, this is November Lima One Leader, do you copy?"
Static burst out loudly and he winced and tried again. This time he was successful. "Con, Mayer is not here, I repeat Mayer and three others are missing. We have area secured. Two targets are down. Goal one is secured and the girl is alive. Colonel O'Neill is still unaccounted for." He listened briefly then signed off.
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Janet Fraiser and the two medics ran as fast as they could with all their equipment as directed. They were met by Teal'c who showed them the rest of the way. Janet's heart nearly stopped when she saw the dirty still form of her daughter laid on the floor covered by a sleeping bag.
Sam quickly moved out of the way. "I think she's gone into shock. Pulse erratic, but strong. Other than bruising and cuts I haven't yet found other injuries, conscious but unresponsive."
Janet's hands shook slightly as she quickly pulled the bag back to begin checking her daughter. Cassie's dark eyes didn't falter from their gaze at nothingness. As much as Janet wanted to sedate her, she couldn't just yet until she was assured of her condition. Janet gave the order for fluids to be started and she concentrated on her search. The dirt warred with the cuts and bruises to Cassie's face. The sticky dark patches of blood on her clothing made Janet's heart beat faster until she ascertained that it was only blood stains. She just hoped to God it wasn't the Colonel's blood!
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Teal'c piled the wood into the burner and shut the doors to keep the heat in. He stood guard. Although a perimeter guard had been set, he was leaving nothing to chance.
Daniel stood beside him, a feeling of helplessness seeping from him and Teal'c could offer nothing to help in that respect.
"They could be long gone, Jack's body dumped ... long gone," said Daniel miserably, his eyes bright, and he pushed his glasses up to rub them.
Draper moved to watch the small Doctor working on her daughter. He was at a loss as to how she had been allowed on this mission, but then again, nothing in her behaviour so far had given him reason to doubt her worthiness.
"How's she doing, Doc?" he enquired gently. "Do we need to get her out or can it wait?"
Janet sighed and rubbed frantically at her neck as it cricked when she looked up to him from her seat on the floor. He crouched down to her to listen.
"I can't sedate her, she's unresponsive, shocked. Other than cuts and bruising, she's dehydrated and weak. I've started fluids. Yes I would like to get her back as soon as we can, but I don't think she's in any immediate danger, in fact the journey might just make things a little harder on her. Keeping her calm and warm and getting fluids in is the best thing for her at the moment."
Draper nodded. He gave the Doctor a reassuring touch on her shoulder before resuming his position at the window.
Cassie's eyelids dropped and for a heartbeat Janet felt a thread of panic. She quickly checked her vitals and let go a sigh of relief when she found the girl to be sleeping, deeply.
Sam had dropped to her knees close to her when Janet pulled at the sleeping bag checking vitals. She watched Janet breathe out heavily.
"Sleeping?" she guessed, at the relief on Janet's face.
Janet nodded and relaxed a little. "Sound asleep," she agreed.
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Colonel Draper stood looking through the window, his back to the room. He listened to the quiet voices, feeling somewhat at a loss himself. His radio burst into life.
"November Lima One Leader, a body has found us."
Michael Draper straightened abruptly. "Say again – found? November Lima Three, any id?"
"Negative, but it's not the Colonel."
"What's your position?"
"On the road, still a couple of clicks below the ridge. You won't believe this, but the guy literally hit us. He came over the cliff, and bounced on us so hard he smashed the screen. We're proceeding up until we can climb off the road."
"Full alert. Don't take any chances, this is Mayer we've got out there!" warned Draper.
"I won't forget that Mike. I owe that bastard big time!"
"Be careful. Oh and Con ..."
"We'll find Jack if he's out there Mike. I promise."
Draper smiled a little. He had every faith in NL3's team leader. Con was a good man to have around ... almost as good as the man that helped to train him ... one Colonel Jack O'Neill.
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Draper filled in SG1 quietly, after briefing his own team. "It's giving us hope that Jack is alive," he finished.
Daniel's puzzled look made him tut with impatience. "Men don't take hikes over drops like that on their own, Doctor and certainly not these men. Hey ... what's a doctor doing on Jack's team? You're not a medical doctor are you?" Daniel Jackson was something of an enigma to him. The big guy, Teal'c, although he didn't come across as Air Force, certainly showed his value to a team, but Jackson puzzled him. Although the man certainly handled a weapon and could move, his mouth ran away too much for him to be military.
"Well, no ... I'm errm, a linguist. We err, travel a lot," he said knowing how weak that sounded to someone like this Colonel, who actually reminded him of Jack ... in a strange way.
"Huh, right," drawled the Colonel.
"You seem to know Jack, right?" asked Daniel, hoping to turn the talk away from himself.
Sam listened with interest to the conversation. She too liked this Colonel – not as much as her own of course, that went without saying, but she found him a comforting presence.
"Oh Jack and I go waaaay back," drawled Draper, sensing the fascination on the subject of their leader that Jack's team held.
"You're army," said Daniel, his tone not just a little accusing.
"You would be right there Doctor," bit out Draper sarcastically giving the younger man a hard glare.
Daniel squared his shoulders. He'd faced Jack O'Neill on a bad day and lived, this Army Colonel held no fears for him!
"Special Ops?" asked Sam.
"Yep. I owe Jack big time, more than once I might add, and without his help I would be stuck at Captain still." He stretched and changed his position a little. "Yeah, I hated the extra work we had to get through and without Jack's coaching I would have chucked it!" he smiled, thinking back over the years.
Daniel coughed. "Coaching?" he choked out. "You mean ahem, drill, weapons and such?"
"No Doctor Jackson, weapons and such like are second nature to me, just like Jack. It was the paper assignments I hated. You got degrees right?" he continued, unaware of the bomb he was building. He didn't wait for the Doctor to agree with him. "Well, to say I was struggling was an understatement and if Jack hadn't helped me out, given me the extra coaching, I would have blown it big time!"
Daniel coughed again. Sam had moved closer to them, her head cocked as her brain began ticking over.
"Let's get this straight, sir, just for the record. Colonel Jack O'Neill coached you through your degree? In what subject?" asked Sam.
Mike Draper looked a little uncomfortable as the three members of SG1 were staring at him waiting. Even the big guy, who's face gave nothing away, was interested ... he could tell.
"Jack don't talk much does he, huh?" he asked, suddenly grinning. "Oh I know he says an awful lot at things, but you get to the end of it and find out you don't know anything more about him than when you started it."
The looks on the faces of SG1 confirmed this. He gave them a small laugh. "'Well Jack, I hope you're around to kick my ass - well sort of - here goes. Colonel Jack O'Neill has three degrees. He walked through them. His master's thesis was in military history.
I met Jack as a Lieutenant seconded into Special Operations and we and five others were a training unit. I served with Jack for almost five years before I joined a new branch of Special Forces, where I am now the first unit's leader. He's a good man to have on your side and saved my ass on more than one occasion. I've returned the favour a couple of times, but I still owe him big time. I managed to keep abreast of his career until '97 then I lost track of him. I have good security clearance Major, but whatever you guys do goes way beyond that! He contacted me a year or so ago and I helped out with a favour and another mutual contact. Then that's it. Now care to fill me in on the last couple of years or so? Deep space radar telemetry is a bag of crap, even if he does have a degree in astronomy!"
Sam and Daniel's mouths were hanging slightly. The look of surprise on their faces had him chuckling. "Jack can play dumb real good can't he? Even when faced with his record I know of one General who made the mistake of believing it!" His chuckle froze as his radio burst into life.
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