Daniel ignored the man sitting behind him, just as he ignored the gun in the man's hand. Jiro had always emphasized to the women in the dojo that their chances of survival against an assailant with a gun were around forty percent; however, those chances dropped to less than two percent if they were forced into a car.
Now, all he could do was wait.
He'd requested that an airman drive him home. The woman behind the wheel had been taciturn, and Daniel hadn't felt like talking, but he'd realized that something was wrong when the car had pulled up to the curb, and a man had run from the scrub on the edge of the road toward the vehicle.
Daniel had recognized the NID agent almost as soon as he got a good look at him, but by then it was far too late. There was a gun on him, and the man had quickly clambered into the backseat. In such a confined space he had little to no chance against the weapon.
He had no idea where they were going; all he could do was memorize the directions and the roads to their destination. Aside from the determination that they were traveling roughly west, he had no idea where he was. The roads were becoming increasingly deserted, and as fewer cars passed them by, Daniel grew more and more nervous.
He didn't really know what the NID wanted him for, but it was common sense that when someone forced you to remain in a vehicle, they were taking you somewhere secluded. Somewhere that they wouldn't be disturbed by trivialities like the law, and its enforcers. Somewhere you never wanted to be, especially when outnumbered with the weapons all on their side. He didn't even have much of the element of surprise; the NID man knew at least some of what he was capable of. Daniel tried to keep his mind calm as he discreetly stretched his legs and hands, preparing to run at the first opportunity.
He never got the chance.
After turning down a road that was more of a path than a throughway, Daniel caught a glimpse of their destination through the thick forest. The car pulled up around the outside of an abandoned hydro-electric power generating facility, circa 1970, and was surrounded by armed soldiers before it had finished braking. The clearing they stopped in was ten yards from the building, situated on the bank of a river where the remnants of a dam could be seen. There were trees all around, creating thick walls of greenery that shielded them from the main road, forty yards distant down the winding, rocky trail.
The woman in the driver's seat reached around to her opposite side and pulled out a hypodermic needle. Daniel, having long-since unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door and quickly got out, holding his hands up and praying that they wouldn't shoot him as soon as he left the car. Years of leaf buildup crackled under his shoes.
The NID operative jumped out from the back and held the pistol on him. "Weapons," he snapped, looking Daniel over.
The linguist stopped just short of rolling his eyes. "I don't have any."
"Check him," the operative ordered.
The woman, who had gotten out during their exchange, rounded the side of the car. For a moment Daniel contemplated grabbing her, but he didn't have anything other than his hands as a weapon with which to threaten her. Also, he was surrounded. While he could use her as a human shield, one of the soldiers might just shoot him in the back. In addition to that was his knowledge that to the NID, anyone was expendable – having a hostage would likely do him no good.
He endured the efficient frisking, his face impassive as he heard the woman's voice for the first time.
"He's clean."
That cemented it – he'd never met this woman before. He tried to get to know as many people at the SGC as he could by name and voice, but he had no idea who she was.
Daniel could feel frustration and fear welling up. He wanted, more than anything, to try to free himself somehow. It went against everything he was to just stand quietly and play the passive victim. But to try anything with no less than fifteen sub-machine guns and a pistol aimed unerringly at his body was sheer lunacy; and despite the claims of his academic peers, Daniel was in full possession of his faculties.
The NID operative glanced toward the sky, and without meaning to, Daniel did the same. The weather was clear, only a few clouds dotting the bright blue. The operative swore, and Daniel frowned a little.
"Do it." His tone was impatient, and Daniel looked quickly around to see the woman had pulled the cap off the syringe. Her brown eyes were flat, and cold. Dead to emotion. He took a swift step back, palms out in a placating gesture even as his feet found a solid defense position.
The soldiers cocked their weapons, and the sounds of over a dozen safeties being removed echoed loudly in the clearing. Everyone froze. The only noise was the wind whispering through the leaves.
"Dr. Jackson," the operative addressed him for the first time. Daniel's brows lowered at the smug satisfaction in his tone. "I believe you can see that escape is not an option. It would behoove you to cooperate, and allow Rachel inject you. It is a sedative, nothing more. Should you refuse, we will have no option but to incapacitate you in a more – permanent manner."
Daniel's furious gaze made the operative smile, slightly. But recognizing the true threat behind the words, and knowing that a bullet to the knee or elbow would cripple him for life, Daniel could only tense as the woman – Rachel – approached. They wouldn't kill him; they wanted him alive.
He lowered his hands, clenching fists at his side. The needle slid smoothly into the skin on the side of his neck, and he winced a little at the sharp sting.
Within moments, his eyes wavered out of focus and he couldn't feel his legs. He blinked, and the next thought that entered his consciousness was that he was being lowered to the ground. He didn't even have time to register the vague surprise that thought generated before blackness swallowed him whole.
It seemed like only moments later that he was opening his eyes. But in that time, everything had changed. His entire body was a distant numbness, refusing to respond to him. He opened his eyes, and the fuzziness in his brain started to clear away. He tried to move again, and found that though he could, the motions were curtailed by something. Looking down, he saw that he was lying on a gurney, restrained by familiar straps encircling arms, legs, and torso. He strained with all his might, and his body jerked against the straps.
A blurred face moved into his line of sight, and Daniel slammed back into the thin mattress, surprised. With the movement, all his muscles relaxed and his vision grayed out before slowly fading back in.
There was a roaring noise in his ears, and light all around. He felt a sharp prick again, and this time he struggled, fighting against the restraints until the drug stole all control from him and darkness claimed him once more.
The next time he woke, it was a slow process. Before he opened his eyes, he registered the sounds of people moving around him, not troubling to mute their voices or actions in any way. The smell was the second thing he noticed – the air was dusty, yet had the antiseptic stench of a hospital or lab. Cold, unwelcoming.
The light was harsh, and he squinted, raising his forearm to protect his eyes. He was free – but so groggy that forcing himself to process was an ordeal. Shaking his head, Daniel braced himself and tried to sit.
Mere seconds later, he dropped back to the mattress, eyes squeezed shut and hands clamped to his stomach. Breathing harshly through his mouth, he tried to open his eyes again.
"Dr. Jackson? Dr. Jackson?"
Someone was calling his name, sounding concerned. Daniel's brow furrowed. This time his eyes stayed open, and he felt cool frames in his hand. Wondering at the sense in trying to focus a world that was tilting crazily, he nevertheless slipped the glasses on.
In front of him was a youngish man with curly chocolate-colored hair twitching nervously at a lab coat that was drooping of his shoulders. Daniel rubbed at his temples and said brusquely, "Who are you? Where am I?"
The room had simply the two of them and a cot. There was one window – about six inches by twelve, set in the steel door. Daniel could see the shadow of someone standing guard outside it.
"Ah – I – I'm Joe Campbell," he stammered. "And you're at the NID base of operations outside Ain Ghazal."
Daniel blinked, incredulous. "I'm in Jordan?" he demanded.
Campbell twittered nervously for a moment. Daniel stared and he eventually managed, "Ah, well, yes."
The door opened at that point, and the NID agent Daniel had apprehended walked in and smoothly inserted himself into the conversation. "Dr. Jackson. I'm pleased to see that you're finally awake."
"And you are?" Daniel asked, wanting to put a name to a face.
The man's resulting expression was more a grimace than a smile, but he replied nevertheless. "I am Lt. Sanders."
"I assume you're going to let me know why I'm here," Daniel snapped after a moment of silent consideration.
Again, the man's face contorted. "Yes," he returned tersely.
Campbell was looking on with undisguised curiosity. Sanders turned to him and said, in a surprisingly gentle voice, "Joe, would you wait outside for a moment?"
The man nodded and walked out the door, carefully closing it behind him.
Daniel stared at the NID operative for a moment.
"You're here because the NID requires your expertise on a matter of much – delicacy." Sanders was choosing his words carefully.
"What makes you think I'm inclined to willfully cooperate with the NID?" Daniel inquired, almost gently.
"You don't have a choice." Daniel shot him a hard look, but Sanders' expression didn't change. "We need your expertise, and you will give it, or I imagine you won't like the consequences."
"Excuse me?" Daniel asked coldly. He could play this game too – and a slight uneasiness passed over Sanders' face as he was reminded that not too long ago, Daniel had held a gun on him with the same threats he was issuing now.
Daniel was inwardly compressing all his emotion. To show anything of his fear, anger, and confusion would be to let them win, to become a victim. He had never been a victim, never allowing himself to loose sight of his integrity in his life, and he was damned if he started now.
Not allowing him to think of the literal connotations of that determined thought, Daniel kept his focus on Sanders, who had quickly assumed an expression of confidence, secure in the knowledge that Daniel was helpless – unknowing of where he was and with whom, and even of when he was. Leaving the SGC in a dissipating cloud of anxiety seemed simultaneously mere moments and ages ago. The drug still coursing through his system had lingering effects that only served to confuse the archaeologist and add to his disorientation.
"You are, as Joe has no doubt told you, in Ain Ghazel, in Jordan," Sanders informed him. "The organization for which we work has – requested your talents in deciphering several texts which have been unearthed."
Daniel raised a brow, and Sanders continued unhurriedly. "We have a need for your particular skills." The man moved to the door and knocked on it twice as he spoke. He moved toward Daniel once more, and the archaeologist readied himself for a fight. "You will help us."
Daniel didn't even bother to refute this statement as Sanders came in reach. Quickly he struck out, moving forward and pulling his hand into his chest and twisting his torso slightly to strike Sanders in the face with the flat of his elbow. He felt the man's nose break under the sharp impact, and the Lieutenant dropped, cupping his bleeding face. Daniel looked up to see two swarthy men, decked in cammo, enter the room, guns on him. They, however, were not foolish enough to get close, and Daniel's options were limited. He took several quick steps toward the door but was halted as a bullet buried itself in the linoleum floor inches in front of his feet. "The next one means a knee," one man, who was positioned to Daniel's right, warned.
Daniel froze, and Sanders painfully hauled himself to his feet, moving in front of Daniel. Blood streamed down his face, which was twisted in fury. He moved to strike the linguist, and Daniel raised his arms, shielding himself from the blow.
Sanders spat blood at his feet, and snarled, "This is a little taste of what your life will be like for the next few weeks, Doctor, if you insist on being . . . difficult."
Sanders stepped backwards, out of arm's reach, before turning to the door, giving a sharp nod to the man who had fired his gun. The lieutenant exited, and the man who had fired the shot backed up to the door, keeping the weapon sighted on Daniel as his compatriot moved in, holstering the weapon on the side farthest from the linguist, and thus out of his reach. He removed a hypodermic from a large pocket, and Daniel felt a thrill of horror. He had no desire to be drugged senseless again.
The man at the door was very good. "Don't think it," he warned, catching the almost-imperceptible tensing in Daniel's body as he moved through the terrifying limbo of being caught between fight and flight. Simultaneously, the guard shifted farther to Daniel's right, keeping a clear line of sight at all times. These people were extraordinarily good, and taking no chances.
The man closest to him – yet still out of range – pointed to the gurney. Daniel moved slowly back to it, watching as the soldier maintained precise distance. These men were professionals.
He hit the gurney, but refused the instructions that would have had him buckling himself into the restraints. Thus, he could only lie passively as he was tightly restrained, and the contents of this hypodermic were injected into the major vein in his arm.
The guards then left, locking the door and turning off the light, leaving Daniel alone in the silence of the dimly illuminated cell. And as he waited for the darkness, Daniel cursed his own inability to take action.
- - - - - - - - - -
Arg. Delays – yes, I know. Exams (voracious and terrifying) attacked. And the general decline in reviews had me relatively unmotivated. Sorry. I think I've been spoiled awfully by the massive response generated by the first few chaps, which tapered off significantly during the last 2. But, in light of that, please review!!