Leaning back against the straight tree trunk, Janet looked down at the sleeping archeologist in her lap and sighed in contentment. Daniel had had a treatment an hour or so before, the last of the healing sessions, according to Jacob, and he was always left tired by them. Sleep, lots of it according to Selmak, was what his body needed most to finish the healing process, and he was getting it for a change. It was a far cry from the normal four to six hours he got most nights back on base, up until two or three in the morning doing work research or translations, then up and moving to do daily mission briefings most morning no later than nine. How he kept it up, Janet had yet to figure out, though the look of exhaustion on his face had been more and more noticeable of late as the fight against Anubis and the Goa'uld had grown more intense.
One of the 'forbidden' subjects to talk about anywhere near the camp was how the fight was going back at the SGC. After three days at the beta sight, Daniel was still relaxed and getting some rest, and they didn't want to disturb that mood in any way, shape or form...
For now, at least, what was going on elsewhere wasn't their problem. Daniel's pneumonia had been reduced a major cold, and he was still recovering from the heart attacks as well. They didn't want him doing too much, too fast, which explained his current state, stretched out under a light blanket to enjoy the afternoon sunshine for a nap. His head ending up in Janet's lap had been due to a lack of a pillow and her thigh being conveniently close when the urge to sleep had hit him.
Not that she minded one bit...
Since his return to them earlier in the year, Janet had found herself growing closer and closer to Daniel in a completely different way than she should have been as his doctor and she was now fairly sure that he was feeling the same way. Both had held off making any sort of move since it would have meant that Janet could no longer take care of him, and Daniel simply hadn't gotten along with either Dr Brightman or Dr Carmichael. Dr Warner worked at the SGC primarily just a surgeon now and was seldom around as a GP, and this had left them with the dilemma of who would become his primary care physician in Janet's place. Abby's presence at the SGC was now official, though, and Daniel was agreeable to her taking Janet's place as his doctor. Finally, it looked like they could really start pursuing a real relationship together.
The double hoot of the Stargate alarm sounded in the camp, and she murmured to Daniel as it was quickly cut off. Looking around, she spotted Teal'c nearby; the Jaffa had been sticking with them for the time being instead of returning to earth. Given that he was strong enough to easily carry Daniel, it was handy to have him around at times, even though Daniel was now able to get up and move around as necessary.
Right now Janet could see Teal'c was frowning as he listened to the radio on his shoulder, speaking softly into the mike and suddenly growing angry as he nodded, clearly making a decision of some sort, then spoke again. A moment later the flashing warning light turned off, indicating that the gate had closed down, and he headed for them, his stride purposeful. "I must leave," he told her. "There has been developments back at the SGC that require my attention as soon as possible."
"Where's Sam and the Colonel?" Janet asked, perplexed.
"There has been a problem with one of Sarah Gardner's students," he explained. "They have left to deal with the situation in Chicago, leaving me to deal with the current problem at the SGC."
Janet nodded again. "Tell them if I'm really needed they just need to call me," she told him, though she knew the other doctors at the base could take care of just about anything. She felt Daniel starting to shift, and brushed her fingers through his hair in a soothing manner to help keep him asleep. "Take care, Teal'c," she told the big man, who bowed his head in a goodbye gesture and headed for the Stargate at a fast jog.
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Exiting the Stargate back at the SGC, Teal'c immediately turned his staff weapon over to a waiting armory officer as he looked first to the control room, then up at the briefing room above it. He finally caught sight of General Hammond standing next to the upper window, but he was talking to someone else in the room behind him and had his back turned to Teal'c at the moment. The Jaffa gave the airmen a nod of greeting, then headed for the stairs up to join the briefing already in progress.
Coming up the spiral staircase, he found the General going over planning with two SF officers that Teal'c knew fairly well, Anderson and Keg. Kevin Keg was in charge of commanding the SFs that guarded the upper levels of the entry into the SGC, and often took charge when military matters occurred outside the mountain itself if alien tech was involved. David Anderson worked primarily as outside security, dealing with the security of the entire mountain complex that didn't deal with matters concerning the SGC. However, because of the frequent lock-down situations, the man was aware of the true nature of the lower complex.
All three men looked up as Teal'c entered, and Hammond returned his greeting with a serious look. "Major Anderson and his men have been staking out the train yards here in Colorado Springs, following up on a tip that Colonel O'Neill received," Hammond explained. "It looks now as if their surveillance has paid off, and we have a chance to get the people responsible for Dr Jackson's current condition. With the Colonel and Major Carter heading for Chicago, I thought that you might want to join the security forces that are going to hit the site."
"The idea is most appealing," Teal'c assured him, giving the men a small smile that boded ill for the villains they were after. "Are their numbers known?" he asked.
"Currently, they're using three train cars on the outskirts of the yard and there are about a dozen people there," Keg told him. "I was just about to recommend that we go in with a few Zats for backup to be sure that we get at least someone alive."
"A wise tactic if there is little chance that the battle will be seen by the outside community. Security and discretion must be preserved," Teal'c pointed out.
"It wouldn't be a problem in this case," Keg assured him. "I'm not recommending they be used as primary weapons, but rather as backups if someone runs." As they all knew, shooting a running suspect, as often as not, ended with a dead suspect.
Teal'c also knew this. "Will the local authorities have to be informed?" he questioned. "They are not aware of the true nature of this base."
"There are ways of keeping them off the scene and just guarding the outermost perimeter to keep civilians out of harm," Hammond assured him. "Dangerous 'experimental' weapons have become our trademark excuse with the police, and it's damn near the truth."
"Some of my people have already started forming a perimeter around the area and are keeping a close watch on the place," Anderson added. "We'll be outer defense, you and Keg's men will make the attack force."
"Indeed," Teal'c concurred. Who knew what the NID had in those boxcars and was capable of getting in short order. Including... "Will there be a bomb expert with our group?" he questioned. "While it is cowardly to use poison to kill someone, they may well fear prison more than dying and set explosives on the boxcars or in the surrounding area."
Keg shook his head. "Colonel O'Neill should be in Chicago with Major Carter by now according to what General Hammond's told me, so that means two of our four experts are out of reach. Major Dore is in Denver, we could get him here, but it would take some time. That leaves Sue Ortega, and I haven't been able to reach her."
Hammond shook his head. "She's off with SG-21, and can't be recalled at this point." he stated, but was looking very thoughtful as he considered something. "However, there's another option... Let me make a phone call," he told them as he turned and headed for his office "This is going to be unorthodox, but we deal with that all the time..."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow, and wondered what the wily general had come up with now...
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With Carter right on his heels, O'Neill nearly hit the sliding doors to the hospital emergency room as he was moving so fast. Both of them were in full dress uniform and immediately every eye in the place was on them. They paused to scan the room for a familiar face, then headed to meet the frazzled blond woman who was rising to greet them from her place is a quiet corner. The two men sitting with her were clearly startled by either her move, or the sight of the two military officers heading their way.
Or both...
Sweeping off his hat, O'Neill tucked it under his arm, then reached for his reflective sunglasses and took them off, tucking them into his jacket pocket behind the impressive array of metals he wore. He had pinned on his full 'fruit salad', an impressive six rows of bars and stars with a pair of service medals hanging over them, to draw attention, and the awards never failed to do their job. He watched both men trade a look of 'what now' with each other as they rose to follow her, and made a bet with himself that they weren't used to dealing with Air Force colonels over things like this. Obviously they had tried to con Sarah into giving them information, but they were about to learn that dealing with an Air Force colonel with his experience was quite another. Especially one who was glaring at them with the intensity he was currently targeting their way.
Carter ignored the two officers completely, instead giving Sarah a reassuring hug, then taking a half step back. "How is she?" she asked softly, giving her a concerned look. The woman looked more frazzled than they could ever remember seeing her, and Carter steered her away from the two cops at O'Neill's nod before the pair could protest, leaving them to O'Neill's 'tender' mercies while she dealt with finding out what had really gone on.
Sarah let out a deep breath of relief as they headed towards a nearby coffee station. "We haven't heard from the doctors yet, but the ambulance personnel said that her condition was very serious. She's been badly beaten, Sam. They dragged her underneath the seating in the classroom and left her gagged and tied to a post where she may well have died before we could find her. I didn't even think of looking under there, most people just tend to think of the platform as part of the floor, but one of the officers did, and found her under there."
"It's all right, Sarah, she's been found, and she's here in the hands of people who can take care of her. You can relax now..." Carter murmured, rubbing the woman's back gently with one hand as she poured hot water with the other, then added a tea bag. Adding sugar took two hands so she had to stop the soothing rub, but once Sarah had her hands around the cup, Carter gently drew her to a very quiet area while watching O'Neill escort the two men outside for a proper dressing down.
Carter and O'Neill both knew that Sarah had gone through treatment for having been a 'hostage' for the last three years, but right now she was now concerned that the situation was about to send Sarah right into a severe panic attack. Even now, when she really had to talk about the particulars of her experience, Sarah tended to call Daniel... Carter knew that because he'd pulled her in to talk to Sarah just few weeks ago since she was familiar with the experience the woman had gone through.
Sometimes Carter really hated Jolinar, but when it came to dealing with the stress of having been controlled by a Goa'uld, she did understand, at least, and was able to offer Sarah some advice. It was more than the psychiatrists had been able to do.
Carter got Sarah seated again, then sat down beside her. "Were they giving you a lot of trouble?" she asked gently, motioning back towards the door outside. From the looks both men had had on the way out, neither officer had really expected the military to show up and interfere with their investigation.
Sarah nodded. "They were FBI, not cops," she told Carter. "They kept asking questions I couldn't answer because of the security of the project. They wanted to know what kind of jobs Teresa had been involved in, and did she have any prospects as to where she was going to be working when her schooling was done. Was there any chance that she could have been involved in artifact smuggling? They even asked me if I knew if she was into drugs. Did she get regular packages from out of state, or out of the country?" Sarah took a deep breath and slowly let it out, then took a sip of the hot tea. "Apparently there was a situation a while ago with drugs being smuggled into the country in artifact shipments since the shipments are too delicate to be checked by customs officials. I've been out of the loop too long, I hadn't heard about it yet, so they thought my reaction was suspicious. When I told them I had just recently returned to the school after a three year absence, they really got suspicious and started asking questions about that! Apparently one of them called in to get my records looked up and they found the kidnapping report from three years ago and then they wanted answers about where I had been. I kept telling them that the information behind my kidnapping was classified, but they just weren't going to accept my word on that. I wanted to call you back, but one of them took my phone, for 'evidence', he said, and wouldn't return it. They started getting onto the tangent that whoever I'd been rescued from was trying to get me out of the way, and went after her because they'd found Teresa instead of me in the classroom."
Carter raised an eyebrow at that one. "Given how much they don't know, that's actually not bad reasoning on their part," she admitted. "Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately given the truth of the situation, that's not the case. We're pretty sure it was rogue NID. It seems that they didn't want Teresa coming into the SGC..."
Shaking her head, Sarah continued. "Unfortunately, those officers didn't seem to believe me when I told them my captors were dead since there's nothing in my police file except that I was rescued, and not to be questioned over the matter. That made them even more suspicious, and I heard one of them mumbling something about 'Stockholm syndrome' before they finally found Teresa and I joined the ambulance crew bringing her in."
That made Carter wince in sympathy. Yes, being accused of being a collaborator with the Goa'uld would not be something that would go over well with Sarah, not after what she'd endured under Osiris' control.
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Leading the two men outside, O'Neill headed for his waiting car, nodding to the driver as he put his hat back on and then turned to face the pair, scowling at them both. "To say that I'm not happy with you boys is an understatement," he told the men. "But, formalities first, it's always good to get them out of the way before the yelling starts. I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, second in command of the lower Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Now, who the hell are you?"
The two men were caught off guard, but one of them quickly spoke up. "David Evans, FBI," he stated, drawing out his badge and card to show them to O'Neill. "This is my partner, Mark Woods. Colonel, we have no idea what the military has to do with this case, but we sure don't appreciate your attitude..."
"My attitude, at the moment, is civil. Don't push your luck and get me really pissed off, all right?" O'Neill interrupted, giving him a glare. "As for the military's involvement, Dr Loring signed on with the Air Force as a civilian advisor just yesterday. This makes her an employee of the US government. And at Cheyenne Mountain, we take care of our people. That's why I'm here."
The two men traded looks, both frowning. "You think there's a connection between her taking the job and being attacked?" Woods asked.
"Oh, pretty sure of it," O'Neill admitted, but didn't change his hard attitude. "By the way, I know you boys interrupted Dr Gardner when she was talking to us on the phone. Which reminds me, which of you has it and why are you keeping it?"
Woods reluctantly pulled it out of his pocket. "Dr Gardner wasn't exactly forthright with answering our questions, Colonel."
"She told you the matter was classified, didn't she? I know I told her to tell you that before you interrupted her call," O'Neill stated, holding out his hand to take back the phone with a scowl. "Our project has the highest classification, gentlemen. She should have told you that, and she should have told you that she was talking to someone with the project since she can't answer your questions. But you didn't accept that, did you? You kept right on pushing..."
"This is the fourth kidnapping we've had this last month," Evans told him, sounding a bit desperate. "Same MO. Her actions hit us as suspicious; she kept saying she couldn't tell us anything. She didn't tell us that she didn't know anything, only that she couldn't tell us anything."
O'Neill considered this, starting to see where some of their insistent questioning had been coming from. "Were they all scientists, by chance?" he asked, his tone still firm, but not quite as aggressive. "If so, what fields?"
"Students actually. Basketball player, Physicists and an engineer. All female," Evans told him. "All found dead later on. First look, the situation with Dr Loring matched what we'd found with them."
O'Neill shook his head. "Not the same people, the MO is a coincidence. Dr Loring's attack was likely planned to keep her out of our project, someone wasn't happy with our hiring her."
"Who?" Evans asked. "And why would the military want to hire an archeologist to begin with?"
"An archeologist who happens to work in the Middle East, Agent Evans. She knows the languages, and she knows the people. This is something the military needs right now." Turning back to his car he opened the back door and drew out a briefcase, set it on the roof and took out a folder. He closed the briefcase and put it back in the vehicle, then turned and offered the folder to them. "Anyone here look familiar to you boys? Two or three of them are likely responsible for what happened last night to Dr Loring."
Taking the folder, Woods began to flip through the profiles inside, looking at the pictures on each one with a frown. "NID? National Intelligence Department?"
"Yep. They've gone rogue, turned vigilante. For all intents and purposes, if we catch any of them, they'll be on trial before a special court for treason."
Woods continued to work his way through the file O'Neill had given him, then paused to consider some of the photos and pulled out three pictures. "These three we saw this morning," he told O'Neill, laying them out. "It was the case we were looking into before we got the call about Dr Loring being missing."
"You got them in custody?" O'Neill questioned.
"Kind of. They should be on ice in the morgue by now. They were found in an alley, shot execution style."
"Damn, Scotty was right," O'Neill breathed to himself, though the comment was heard by the two investigators. "There's actually two groups, one is drawing too much attention, and the other is starting to take them down. Doesn't break my heart, but I want to know who's at the top, and these guys could have told me."
"What we know, Colonel, is that we got three bodies and a lady in the hospital who you say are linked, and you seem to be the one holding all the cards. . ." Woods told him. "Come on, give us something to work with here."
"Sorry, boys, but this isn't your case any more, and it's not related to your other investigation. We'll be taking Dr Loring out of here as soon as she's fit to move, and from what I saw, we may be taking Dr Gardner with us as well." O'Neill's scowl returned as he thought about how frazzled Sarah had looked. "You boys didn't go looking up her records and start dragging all that out, did you?" he asked, the scowl growing when they didn't reply, pretty much confirming his suspicions. "Damn it all, she was kidnapped and held by hostiles for three years, we just got her back a few months ago! And you two decided to use the old 'good cop, bad cop' routine on her, I bet, and dragged all that shit out looking for a motive for this..."
"We needed information..." Woods began.
O'Neill cut him off. "When someone tells you information is classified, and that they need to contact someone else to talk to you, then you let them make that call! If you had waited another thirty seconds, you would have been on the line with a two star general. But no, you had to grab the phone out of her hand and turn it off without asking who the hell she was talking to..." He shook his head. "Not too bright, boys."
"For all we knew, she was talking to a reporter or something," Evans pointed out.
Leaning forward, O'Neill's brown eyes narrowed as he drove his point home. "Did you even bother to ask?"
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Leaning on his cane, Ferretti watched the carpet layers bring in their rolls of new carpet to start redoing the floors of his old home. Thanks to a dozen or so SGC personnel who had volunteered to help, as well as his three recruits, they had gotten scrubbing and painting out of the way over the weekend while a group of carpenters took care of some dry wall patching and the two broken windows. The garage needed a bit more work, but at least the main house was done and ready for the new appliances to show up, the old ones having gone to the dump the first day. The attractive wood floor was ready for waxing where the new carpeting didn't cover it, and once the floor work was completed, all they needed was the furniture. All in all, the house had been repaired and cleaned up in a remarkably short time thanks to all the willing hands
The SGC personnel were all people he knew well, either from off of one team or another, SF's or from among the tech and maintenance personnel. Siler himself had shown up the first day to go through the house from top to bottom, checking the plumbing and electrical to be sure that nothing had been damaged.
The Master Sergeant's presence had been welcome for more reason than one: It was he who had quietly informed Ferretti that Daniel Jackson was very much alive. Daniel's death had been faked and Siler had assured him that after being smuggled off world to recover from the attempts on his life, the archeologist was doing very well. To say that Ferretti had been relieved to hear this was an understatement.
His boys were definitely fitting in well, getting along with the base personnel after a surprisingly short time. Heasley was the most open of the three, able to easily talk to anyone no matter what branch of the military they were in. He seemed to be completely lacking the 'we're the best' attitude that many Marines seemed to have, but with friends in other branches of the service, that wasn't too surprising. The others followed his lead, and with all the cooperation going on, it was no surprise they were getting done so fast.
Ferretti's cell phone rang as the first of the workmen were arriving for the second day of repair work in the garage, and the volunteers were deciding on who was going to be working on what projects that day. He pulled the phone out of his pocket and checked the number, recognizing it at once as being the SGC. He quickly hit the answer button, wondering what was going on. "Ferretti," he stated crisply, his tone formal.
"Colonel Ferretti, this General Hammond. Would your boys be available for an assignment? We believe we have the rogue NID group that went after Dr Jackson cornered in the old train yard, but we don't have a full assessment of the situation yet, and there's a possibility of explosive booby-traps around the area."
Ferretti's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Sir, where is Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter?" he questioned, knowing both members of SG-1 were explosive experts.
"Unfortunately, both are on their way to Chicago right now. Our other two demolitions personnel are also out of reach. But having read through their files, I know that your man Carlson has a history of using explosives and that's what we need right now."
"Yes, sir, he does. Who's in charge?" Ferretti asked, knowing the three were going to be going in. There was no way any of the three would turn down a chance for action.
"Teal'c is in charge of setting up the assault plans, along with Colonel Kevin Keg, who runs security in the SGC. Ask for Keg when you reach the train yard, and you'll get your full briefing from them. They'll have supplies for your men since I'm going to let you bring all three of them in. Carlson can use the other two for backup."
"On our way, sir," Ferretti told him, waving his three in as he hung up his phone. "Got a mission for the three of you," he told them, then paused to wave over Siler to let him onto what was going on. Once the Master Sergeant had joined them, he turned his attention back to his trio. "We'll be meeting up with an assault team in the train yards. Carlson, they need you in particular as a demolitions man, but the General is open to all three of you going in on this one. Heasley, Morgan, your main MO will be to cover Carlson while he works. There's some suspicion that this group has booby-trapped the area where they're hiding, and we'd rather they didn't catch any boobies."
"Booby protection is my specialty," Carlson assured him, looking pleased. "Assault sir?"
"Yes. They'll have flack vests and P-90's for all of you at the site," Ferretti assured them as they headed for his waiting SUV. The house was in good hands; Ferretti knew that Siler would oversee the work and take care of any problems that came up...
The trio quickly piled into the SUV, leaving the driving to Ferretti since he knew the area. "Any chance we can go by the academy sir?" Carlson asked. "I'd like to grab my kit if I might be dealing with explosives."
"We can do that, it's not to far out of the way," Ferretti agreed, deciding that was a good, reasonable request. Tools of the trade, after all, would be needed if there were explosives on the site. "My Segway came in today, we can pick it up as well. I'd rather not be limping around through a train yard, and they are quiet."
The detour only took a few minutes out of their time, though Ferretti did wonder at the second, longer case that Carlson returned with by the time the other two had the new Segway XT loaded into the back of the SUV. It was a piece that he remembered seeing with the man's gear but was by no means part of a normal kit. "What is that, anyway?" he asked when they were on the road again.
"English longbow, very efficient for taking out sentries," Carlson told him. "It's got a range of about four hundred yards or so. I've used one for years, has the advantage of being completely silent."
Ferretti was doubtful about its uses, but Morgan assured him he'd seen Carlson use the thing, and the man was very proficient with it. "Did you bring the stars as well?" Morgan asked Carlson
Carlson nodded. "They're in the cap of the case," he assured him.
"Do I want to know?" Ferretti asked. He wasn't going to complain about the man's choice of weapons; after all, it was what they were bringing him into the SGC for.
"Shuriken," Carlson explained. "I've killed with them before, and they're useful for snipping trip wires from a distance."
Ferretti decided he wasn't going to ask for details on that one. If the man wanted to tell him the story later, he would.
Reaching the train yard, they passed through the outer layers of police security to the second layer, which was mountain security. The outer sentry that stopped them looked at Ferretti's ID, called in something over his radio, then directed them onwards to the inner layer of SGC security. It was there that they were directed to the waiting Teal'c.
The big Jaffa met Ferretti with a small smile and a familiar arm clasp that brought a grin to Ferretti's face. "It is good to see you again, Colonel Ferretti," Teal'c stated, then looked past him to the three younger men who were getting gear from other officers. One of the three, Teal'c noted, was turning down the offered P-90 and instead opening a very long case to withdraw a weapon that Teal'c was familiar with, but had never used. He had actually seen O'Neill craft one on the Nox homeworld when their weapons had been taken from them there. "Your recruits?"
"Oh, yeah," Ferretti told him, turning as the guys pulled the Segway out of the back of the SUV and set it up for him. "Interesting trio, I think you'll like them. Free thinkers, probably a bit more free than the military is used to. I thing they'll do great at the SGC, especially on a team."
A dark eyebrow flickered up. "We shall see," Teal'c stated as they brought over the Segway for Ferretti and took up at ease positions to get their orders.
"Guys, this is Teal'c, he's in charge of this operation," Ferretti told them, looking amused as he stepped up onto the Segway platform and locked his cane into the clip that was attached to carry it. "No, he's not military. Yes, he's able to kick your collective asses in a fight. So make sure you listen to him, he can teach you a hell of a lot."
The three men looked at Teal'c and nodded, though Heasley's eyes, Ferretti noticed, were on Teal'c bald head. Or, more to the point, the gold symbol that was there.
Teal'c looked the three over, then called softly to one of the other guards for a Zat for Ferretti. The man's eyes lit up with surprise at the order, but he swiftly buckled the alien gun to his upper thigh, moving his handgun to his belt under his jacket. "Surprised you got these out of the mountain," he told Teal'c.
"We do not know who all their numbers are, or who is, as O'Neill would say, backing them. We do not believe they could have come so far without a great deal of assistance from within the government itself."
"Good reason to want them for that questioning. So, what's the situation?" Ferretti inquired as the group moved further into the yard to join up with the rest of the assault team. There he was introduced to Colonel Keg, a relative newcomer to the SGC, but apparently good at his job.
They were shown maps of the area, the box cars drawn in to show current positioning. "These three have the guys on board," Keg told them, pointing out three cars on the edge of the map that were currently lined up on the other side of the train yard. "We checked on their ownership, all three were bought six months ago and brought into the train yard shortly thereafter. They were parked on a side line near the woods, so it's pretty easy for the guys we're after to get to them without really being noticed."
"We're going to move in the same way?" Heasley asked, examining the map, then turning to look around them, studying the ground carefully. "This area is pretty much scoured down to bedrock," he stated. "If the rest of the train yard is the same, we won't have to worry about land mines at least, no real way to hide them."
Carlson nodded. "All right, which means any explosives are either trip wires in the woods, or suicide explosives on the train cars themselves," he stated, then looked at Anderson and Keg. "Anyone tried to get close to the cars yet? Close enough to detect motion detectors?"
"None that we've found so far," Keg told him. "We're hoping there's no explosives at all, but we wanted you here just in case."
Carlson nodded, his look thoughtful. "I need to get in and under those train cars," he stated. "Preferably before you start your attack so we don't get blown to hell during the middle of it."
Teal'c agreed. "This way," he stated, mapping out a course that would get them in to the train yard end of the train, while their forces came in through the woods. "I will go with you as backup."
"They're not green recruits, Teal'c, but thanks," Ferretti told him, looking relieved. He'd seen the three young men in training, and on practice maneuvers, but not under fire, and was relieved they'd have the far more experienced Jaffa with them.
The trio got their flack vest situated, admiring the trimmed down vests as they loaded them with items they might need. Carlson, in particular, loaded his carefully, putting the many pouches on the front and sides of the vest to use as he emptied part of his bag, and then belted on a tool kit to take what was left. Last of all was a second, smaller pouch into which he slipped a half dozen star shaped objects and a fistful of what seemed to be thin metal spikes. A third pouch came out of his bag, and he tossed it to the watching Morgan. "Caltrops. Just in case."
"Got you," Morgan agreed with a soft laugh as he looped the bag on his belt. Seeing Teal'c watching, he quickly explained. "Think of jumping jacks with long, sharp spikes," he stated. "One point is always up. Nasty things if you step on them."
Though he didn't know the term 'jumping jacks', except as a kind of exercise which didn't quite seem to be relevant, the idea of an upward pointing spike laid to catch the unwary did make some sort of sense. If placed under the steps leading in and out of the cars, for instance... Yes, he could definitely see the advantage to such items, and nodded in agreement to the young man's statement.
The three men following close behind him, Teal'c headed into the train yard, Heasley and Morgan flanking him while Carlson and his longbow followed directly behind him. The weapons expert had a quiver of arrows across his back, and one on the string, half drawn and ready to shoot at a moment's notice.
That moment came sooner than expected when they rounded a train car well away from their target, but found themselves face to face with one of the men they were hunting for. He backed up two steps, startled, then turned and ran for the three train cars where his accomplices were hiding.
Teal'c was ready to bolt after him when a hissed command of 'down' came from behind him, and a moment later something whistled past his ear as he ducked, a feathered shaft appearing in the running man's thigh to bring him down. The entire group rushed forward together, and in seconds they had the man pinned and gagged, Heasley binding his hands while Morgan drew the familiar silver sheen of duct tape from one of pouches on his vest and used it to tape the man's mouth shut and muffle any screams.
Impressed, Teal'c called in, letting Keg know where to find the bound man as the trio got him out of sight under a parked train car nearby. This entire yard was shut down for the moment, so they had no worries that the cars would be moved and reveal the man's position before they could get back to him. A tourniquet on his leg made sure he didn't bleed out before a medic got to him with a security team. The entire process took barely over one minute.
The three men got their breath back as Teal'c took the lead again, and took up the positions they'd had before. This time, though, they were all far more wary as they continued on to their target. Good luck usually didn't last through two encounters, and they didn't want to run any further risks of being taken unawares.
They did run across one more guard, but Teal'c found himself behind the man. Raising his fist in a command signal for the three young men to hold their ground, he moved up swiftly to subdue him. Wrapping one heavy arm around the man's throat, Teal'c pulled him back out of sight, his companions swiftly moving to help him get the man pinned down, bound and gagged.
As soon as their second prisoner was secured, the three of them began to move in on the train cars, Carlson leaving his bow behind by Teal'c at this time and instead pulling something from one of the small pouch the Jaffa had noted earlier. Staying by the prisoner, Teal'c kept close watch on the trio as they began to check the closest car, Carlson looking it over very, very carefully from underneath, then moving on to the middle car, the other two hugging the sides to present as small a target as possible if anyone came out. Fortunately, the three cars were hooked together in such a way to really make them one large car, it wasn't possible to exit them except through the ends of the line up. So as long as both ends were covered, there didn't look to be any other way in or out.
Carlson looked over every inch of the train cars as he started at one end and began moving down towards the other, looking for any signs of the explosives he and the others were pretty sure were there. The first car proved to be clear, which he'd half expected, but the second car, towards the middle, he found just what he was looking for. There in the middle was a concealed box, and he smiled as he signaled to the other two to stay put. Both of them ducked under the car on either side of him, out of immediate sight, to cover the area while he worked.
Opening the box took a few minutes, but it was fairly clear they hadn't really been trying to hide their little trap. He removed the cover and set it aside, then looked over the bomb inside to see what it was he was dealing with. The remote control box was set for a certain frequency, he noted, and hooked to several pounds of high powered plastic explosives set to either side of it. It was these he went to work on, carefully carving away large chunks of the clay like material and handing it to his companions to be stashed away. When he had it sufficiently carved away from the wires on either side that it would make only a very, very small explosion, he then carefully drew the wires out of it, molding only a thin layer of left over clay around them in case the exposure set the thing off...
It was something he'd done many times before during training, and in the field. Still, he had the feeling there was a great deal more riding on this than usual, and he was especially careful as he pulled first one wire free, then the other before motioning to the team that he was done, rolling over and moving on.
Checking the rest of the car, and the third one, didn't take too long, and it was time for them to draw back. Slowly and carefully they did so, all three of them with weapons of one type or another at the ready as they moved back down to where Teal'c was standing watch and waiting for them. Morgan, again wearing that wicked grin Teal'c had noted earlier, pulled out the small bag Carlson had given him and proceeded to toss a handful of small items in front of the stairs that led down from their end of the cars. Teal'c could just make out the items as they landed on the ground, but they really weren't very noticeable if you didn't know they were there. And if he understood at all what they were, anyone fleeing down the back steps was going to be in a great deal of trouble.
The three men rejoined him, and Carlson gave his report. "Middle car only, got all the plastics off of the wires so that it they set it off, it won't make much more than a weak area in the floor of that boxcar. Do we need to work our way around to be sure there's nothing hidden in the woods?"
"That has already been done," Teal'c assured him, then clicked on his radio. "Colonel Keg, you are clear to proceed, the explosives and the outside guard have been dealt with."
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Carter looked up as O'Neill rejoined them, minus the two FBI agents. "They left?" she asked.
He nodded. "Hammond talked to their office, likely threatened to call the President if they didn't back off the case. At any rate, they were recalled and left. They did give us one piece of good news though. The three that likely did this were found dead just before they got the call out on Dr Loring's disappearance. Shot execution style and left in an alley not far from the college. Hammond was going to get a hold of Agent Barrett so that he could arrange to collect the bodies." O'Neill paused a moment, then continued. "Any word on her condition yet?"
"Not yet," Carter told him, rubbing Sarah's back in a soothing manner.
O'Neill hesitated, then reached out to take Sarah's hand. "Are you sure you don't want to reconsider our offer to come back to work at the SGC?" he asked softly. "I know you love teaching, but it can't be easy for you here."
Sarah reached up and pushed back her hair. "No, it hasn't been easy," she admitted. "There have been... a lot of questions... about where I was those last three years. People knew Daniel was there at the museum when I disappeared, and Steven hasn't helped much. He remembered a great deal of what had happened, enough that he's been pressing me to tell him more and not taking 'no' for an answer. He went so far as to accuse me of hiding archeological artifacts to support Daniel's work, which is nearly true since the Isis canopic jar and the ten thousand year old amulet were never returned to the museum."
"No, there was no way we could have returned those for further study, they're with other artifacts under tight lock and key," Carter admitted. "Sarah, why didn't you tell me this when I was here a few days ago?"
"Because things had calmed down with Steven going out on tour with his latest book, taking a lot of the pressure off. I really thought it had all blown over, but when you showed up and started talking to Teresa, and talking to me, all the questions came back up again. Most of the professors in the field still think that Daniel's theories are absolutely insane, but thanks to Steven, they know now he's working with the military in Colorado as a consultant. Since a few of them know that civilian advisors get very, very good pay, and grant money for digs and other work is getting harder and harder to get, there has been a great deal of jealousy building up, as well as some anger and resentment. After all, if crazy Dr Jackson can get money from the military, why isn't the government hiring more reputable scientists for this kind of work?"
"Oh, for crying out loud... We've looked at some of those scientists over the years, most of them won't pull their heads out of their asses long enough to even look at the evidence to see if Daniel might be even close to being right," O'Neill exclaimed irritably.
"A few have been rumored to have gone as far as destroy artifacts that might have proven Daniel's claims. Not that Daniel would have had any comment on the matter even if that evidence had come to light..." Sarah stated with some disgust at the very idea. "I seem to recall that he was very, very intense about hiding anything that might draw attention back to those theories." She looked from O'Neill to Carter and back again. "I hope the government realizes how much it owes Daniel for his silence," she told them. "He's put up with a lot of harassment and ridicule for the sake of keeping your secrets."
Carter hugged Sarah's shoulder. "We know," she assured her. "And so do others."
O'Neill noticed a doctor coming through the emergency room, looking around and coming their way, and rose to meet him as the two women turned as well, then rose to join him. The physician hesitated a moment, then looked at Sarah. "Dr Gardner?" he asked, then continued when she nodded. "I'm Doctor Zigaidy," he stated. "I was told you came in with Dr Loring?"
"Yes," Sarah told him. "This is Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter, How is she?"
"She's been very badly beaten, but fortunately we don't believe there's any major injuries to her internal organs besides some bruising around the kidneys. We'll be keeping a close eye on things over the next few days to be sure. She has several cracked ribs, though, and a dislocated jaw that we've dealt with and have ice on it to keep the swelling down. Our main concern right now is her concussion, and the amount of damage done to her feet. All indication is that both feet were severely beaten, bruising the tissue bone deep and possibly breaking bones in the sole of the foot itself. There are questions of how much nerve damage may have been done. With a great deal of time and therapy she may recover enough to walk again, but not without some degree of discomfort, or even pain."
O'Neill's jaw worked as he fought to keep his anger in check. "How was she found? Did anyone tell you?" he asked Sarah.
She was looking downright nauseous. "Face down on the floor, her feet tied to either side of a support post... They bastinadoed her feet, didn't they?" she asked.
O'Neill nodded and explained. "Saw it happen more than once when I was MIA in Iraq," he told the doctor and Carter. "It's not a nice picture."
"I don't know what they did, but they definitely did damage," the doctor told them. "X-rays are being taken now, I'll know shortly how bad the damage really is, but she was in a great deal of pain when she woke a short time ago. We had to sedate her to finish the examination, she'll be out for some time now."
"How soon could she be medivaced out of here, doctor?" O'Neill questioned.
"She's got a concussion, it will be a few days at the very least, any change of blood pressure would be very bad right now. She would definitely have to be under medical care during the flight, no taking her out of here on a cargo plane, Colonel."
"Lear medical jet, doctor and nurses on board," O'Neill explained.
"Two days, if your doctor is good he would insist on that as well."
"Oh, she's one of the best. Okay, I'll need to make arrangements for a full time guard on Dr. Loring, though hopefully the threat to her is gone now. If they wanted her dead, they could have killed her under that platform and not bothered beating her. Carter, I hate to do this to you, but I want you to stay with Sarah and talk to the other students interested in joining on. Have them keep quiet about hiring on with the project and make sure they still want the job, no sense Davis doing all that work if they're not going to stick to it. Sarah, how soon could that group get their degrees and get moved down to Colorado?"
"One to two months," she told him. "Teresa was the only one working on her doctorate, most of them are just after bachelor or master degrees. And she turned in her dissertation yesterday, she's done with school."
"Good, I would hate to screw that up for her, taking her out of here early," O'Neill replied, then turned to look at the medical doctor. "Can you have her ready to move in two days?" he asked.
The doctor considered. "It depends on what we find with her feet," he told O'Neill. "They may require some surgery if there are broken bones, but with the way they've swelled up, we might not be able to do that for several days anyway. If you're really set on moving her, then we'll concentrate on getting the swelling down so that your surgeon can go to work as soon as she arrives."
O'Neill nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan..."
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Keg looked over at his men, about fifteen or so hand-picked troops used to dealing with tight quarters inside and outside of Cheyenne Mountain, and motioned for them to start moving slowly forward, all of them staying alert for any sort of traps or warning devices. Two tripwires had already been found, set to trigger an alarm if pulled. Both had been marked by everyone on the team and carefully avoided, but they were all fairly sure there was going to be more of them.
Teal'c's report had been promising, and it seemed that Ferretti's boys had come through for them, taking out two outside guards without an alarm being raised and disarming the bomb under the central box car. However, it was Teal'c's warning about the far end of the car that had his curiosity up as to what the four of them had done. At any rate, they were still down there covering that end of the line, so Keg just had to worry about getting in there to begin with...
Moving in at his signal, two of his officers went to work on getting the door open as quietly as possible, officers who were wearing snug fitting gas masks to keep from inhaling the tear gas in the canisters they had at the ready. Keg would have loved to have used a Jaffa sonic grenade, but they were treading a fine line bringing Zats on this mission. Good old tear gas would have to do.
And it did very nicely. Shouts immediately started going up inside the cars as the canisters did their work, flooding the place with the noxious gas as his people got back and under some cover, waiting for their targets to emerge. A small 'bang' came from under the middle car as they waited, but other than making noise and shaking the place a bit, that seemed to have no effect.
Keg knew that explosive probably should have taken out all three cars, killing everyone on board and destroying all the evidence, but now that it had failed, they would be up against some very, very dangerous people. With nothing to lose, the rogue officers wouldn't come easily.
They didn't, but some of them went down easier than expected. Two people, obviously scientists, finally bolted, choking and coughing out of the nearest car and falling to the ground as Keg's men began to shout at them to do so. Another came jumping out the other end, obviously planning to run, but fell screaming to the ground as soon as his feet hit the leaf litter. Two more followed him, but one also fell with a shout, while Teal'c and the trio shouted for the third to raise his hands and surrender. The man took several shots at the four of them with a semi-automatic, then fell, clutching his shoulder as a six pointed, steel star dug deep into tendon and muscle to stick into bone.
Three more came out the forest end of the train fighting, but each one quickly fell before they got off to many shots. Still, two of Kegs' men were hit before they went down, and the place got quiet fairly quickly as everyone waited to see what was going to happen next.
Ten men from the rogue group were accounted for. Keg's intelligence had told him there were eleven on board. That meant that one man was still inside the train car, and Keg was considering how to get him out of there when a single shot rang out from inside.
After three minutes of silence, Keg headed in with two of his men, Teal'c joining them at the doorway as they headed down through the car, masks in place to protect them from the lingering remains of the tear gas. They found their final man right where the bomb had been placed, the remote for it lying half smashed at the base of the nearby wall and a bullet through his head. Obviously, to him at least, capture had not been an option.
"That should be all of them," Keg stated, looking around at the computers that had been bashed in in an effort to keep them from getting anything off of them. "Let's let this place air out a while, then the techs can come in and go to work, hopefully they'll find something useful out of this mess."
Teal'c agreed, and the four headed back out, Keg's men dragging the last man between them to add him to the few other dead agents they'd had to kill. More SGC troops had come in to help now, and Ferretti was with his trio at the far end of the car, shaking his head as the three of them helped deal with the agents they'd faced. "Okay, I want to know, what did you hit that guy with?" he asked, motioning to where one of the three was moaning on the ground, his feet shaking with pain as they bound his hands behind his back.
"Don't come to close over here, or you may find out the hard way," Carlson warned. "Morgan threw down some caltrops I gave him," he explained, carefully picking up a small item off the ground and bringing it over as Teal'c rejoined them. "Very effective little things, been around a few thousand years now. Roman legions used to throw them into the water when they were forced to retreat through streams. Think what kind of damage that would do, going through a sandaled foot or a horse's hoof..."
Ferretti shook his head, then handed it over to Teal'c to look at. The item was four sharp nails welded in a pyramid form in such a way that no matter how it landed, three points would form the base, and the fourth would stick straight up into the air. Stepping on one would definitely be uncomfortable even if you were wearing heavy boots, but jumping onto one, as the agent had done... Well, there was no way to protect against theresults when you landed on the things, as was clearlyshownwhen one of the medics with the group went to work on getting the man's shoes off his bloodied feet. Morgan had to pull the spikes out with pliers before they could do it.
Teal'c watched the three men work, Heasley carefully picked up any remaining caltrops to keep anyone else from a similar fate as Carlson turned the collected plastic explosive over to Colonel Keg to be stored away for possible reuse before going to talk to the medic who was dealing with the second agent's injured shoulder. The man was bleeding profusely, but not to an extent that his life was in danger as long as he got medical attention soon.
Watching the Jaffa watch his men, Ferretti smiled. "Well?" he asked.
Turning, Teal'c looked up at him from his place on the Segway platform and nodded his head in a bow of agreement. "They will do very well," he told the Colonel as an ordinance officer came to collect the Zat Ferretti hadn't needed to use, then turned and went on his way.
Chuckling, Ferretti made sure that the throwing star would get back to him later, then called his men in. "Come on troops, let's head back. They don't need us here any more..."
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Hello, I'm back! Yes, here is chapter 10 for your enjoyment and hopefully I can move a little faster with this now. This chapter took four rewrites to even get it started, breaking my previous record. Hopefully the rest of this story won't be so difficult.