Chapter 2- For Cryin' Out Loud!
Friday, 0730 found General Jack O'Neill, Leader of the SGC, at his desk, going through a mountain of paper work. This part of the job was unrelenting, but it had to be done. So he plodded through the stack of paper, industriously working his way toward the bottom of the mess.
He had some questions about one of the mission reports that Daniel had written so he phoned Daniel's house but there wasn't an answer. Odd. Daniel was pretty emphatic about wanting to go home and get some sleep. So, why wasn't he there? He rang up the guard shack and asked if Daniel had signed in, but the guard said no. 'Now that's really weird.'
He called Sam's lab and asked her if she had talked to Daniel today.
"No, I haven't talked to him since yesterday when we finished up in the infirmary. I don't think he plans on being back until Monday. And, even if he was here, you know how he is when he's working on something interesting. The whole world could blow up around him and he wouldn't notice." She laughed a little. "Have you called his lab to see if he's there? He might have come in for something."
"No, he's not on the base. Don't worry, I'll find him." He hung up and dialed Daniel's cell phone. No answer. This was peculiar. Daniel knew better than to be completely out of the loop. He twirled a pencil around his fingers and he thought about this. 'Come on, Danny. You gotta be home. You were too tired to be up this early.' After tossing the pencil into the cup on his desk, he grabbed his jacket and went to find Teal'c. He had a nagging feeling that Danny was in trouble. Again!
Teal'c was in the gym, teaching hand-to-hand combat techniques to a group of airmen. When Jack approached them with a worried look on his face, Teal'c told the airmen to take a break and said, "Is there a problem, O'Neill?"
"I don't know, T. Daniel's not answering his cell or his home phone. He couldn't wait to get home last night and he looked whipped. I doubt he went anywhere this morning. I'm gonna head over there. Wanna come with?"
Daniel's car was in the driveway, so he had to be home. They knocked on the front door and waited but nobody answered. Teal'c raised one eyebrow and headed around the sidewalk that led to the patio door and found out that it had been broken into.
They quietly entered the house and immediately noticed that there was blood on the carpeting and Daniel's phone and eyeglasses were lying on the floor in the living room. "Teal'c," Jack whispered, "check the bedrooms and bath, I'll cover the rest of the house."
They separated and then met in the kitchen. The oven door was open and a cold pizza was sitting on the rack. Daniel was definitely gone and it was obvious he hadn't left of his own free will.
"Damn it! Let's get back to the base. I'm going to send a team over here to check for fingerprints but I don't think we'll find anything."
"O'Neill, is it possible he had an accident and is currently in the hospital."
"Anything is possible with Danny, but he carries a special I.D. in his wallet that would tell them to contact the SGC, in case of emergency."
"If the wallet was stolen, they would not know that, O'Neill."
"Good point. I think he should start wearing dog tags. Okay, let's get back. I'll start making some calls."
After returning to the base, and sending out a forensic team to Daniel's house, he called for a briefing. Teal'c sat at the table along with the airman who was at the gate yesterday when Daniel left for home. Teal'c had his usual stoic expression on his face but Jack knew him well enough to know that he was very worried about his friend. Sam was pacing, between the observation window and his office door.
The airman reported that everything seemed normal when Daniel left. "He said goodbye, signed out, and left in his Jeep, Sir."
"Were there any people hanging around that looked suspicious?"
No sir, not that I can remember."
"No unusual cars in the parking lot? One that you hadn't noticed before?" Jack tapped his pencil on the table, which made the airman more nervous as time passed.
"No sir. All the cars were accounted for on the sign in sheet." Then, he stopped talking and looked pensively at General O'Neill. "Wait, sir, now that you mention it. There was a small car that was parked outside the gate along with some of the other vehicles. Not everyone brings their car onto base property. Some of the guys get a ride from their wives and at the end of the day, their wives pick them up, so that the guys only have to walk past the gate, show their badge, sign out, and leave."
"And you saw a car you didn't recognize?"
"Yes, sir. It was white. I don't know what kind it was, though. Sorry, sir. Cars were never my strong suit and so many of the cars look the same. After Dr. Jackson left, I noticed that the car turned around and followed but I didn't think it was unusual, at the time."
"It's okay. We might be able to pull an image up from one of the security camera's at the gate. You did good, airman. You can go."
"Yes, sir. Thank you sir." With that, the airman left to return to his duties.
Jack stared off into the distance, thinking quietly, still tapping his pencil. 'Where are you, Danny? What kind of trouble did you get yourself into, this time?'
At that moment, Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman entered the briefing room carrying an envelope. "This came for you, sir. Special delivery at the gate. And, I checked with all the hospitals in the Colorado Springs area. Dr. Jackson hasn't been admitted to any of them."
"Thank you, Walter."
Jack carefully opened the envelope and looked inside to find a VCR tape.
He glanced at Sam and said, "Let's take this to your lab and have a look at it. I have a feeling it isn't good news. Walter, get this envelope to forensics and have it dusted for prints."
"Yes, sir."
"Did anyone notice who delivered it?"
"I'll check and get back with you, sir."
"Do that."
In the lab, they turned on the TV and VCR and popped in the tape. At first, the picture was distorted by the image flipping and then it stopped and focused. They saw Daniel, lying either unconscious or dead, on a cement floor. Everyone watching reacted with a hiss. He looked badly beaten and hardly recognizable as he laid on the floor, unmoving. His eyes were blackened and swollen shut and he was lying in a pool of blood. Then the camera panned to the right and they saw a familiar man sitting in a chair.
"Jack, that looks like Senator Kinsey," Sam said. She looked closer at the TV and frowned. "But that's impossible. I thought he was dead?" She looked at the screen, hardly believing what she was seeing.
"Well, apparently not! How did that rat bastard survive getting blown up? And how did he get Daniel?" Jack was seething as he watched the screen.
"Indeed." Teal'c's face was troubled. He was very upset that his closest friend was hurt. He felt a personal responsibility to watch over Daniel's safety and was afraid that he'd let him down.
Sam used the remote to turn up the volume on the set and they heard Kinsey saying, "Hello, O'Neill. As you can see, I have Dr. Jackson here with me. I just wanted you to know that I had him kidnapped and brought here. If it weren't for him, the Stargate Program wouldn't have gotten started; I would be the future President of the United States; and you would be fired. Since I can't do anything about restoring my career, I knew that I could get at you by killing Dr. Jackson. Oh, don't worry, I don't plan on killing him right away. I have a sarcophagus, Jack. I know all about his addiction and by the time I'm done with him, he's going to beg me to kill him. I can think of countless ways to hurt him, even different ways to kill him and then bring him back like new. And then I can start all over again! Let's just call this a pay back for all the trouble SG-1 caused me over the last 9 years. Oh, and don't bother searching. You'll never find him." Kinsey grinned at the camera before it panned over to Daniel as he was being dragged away by two men, leaving a bloody smear on the floor in his wake. And then the film abruptly stopped.
Jack remembered all to well what Daniel went through because of Shyla and his subsequent addiction to the sarcophagus. And he also knew what it was like because of his own horrifying experience at the hands of Baal.
"I want answers, and I want them now! I want to know where he is and I want to know how Kinsey got his hands on a sarcophagus! Somebody had to help him and I want to know who! And am I the only one here who noticed that Kinsey seemed conspicuously Un-Goa'uldish? I want to know if the Tok'ra had something to do with this!"
"You are correct, O'Neill. And yet, I do not believe that even the Tok'ra would remove Senator Kinsey's symbiote without notifying us. That would not foster good relations between them and the Tauri."
"You're right, Teal'c. But they don't usually tell us what they're doing until we happen to find out some other way, or if they want something from us. Okay, kids, we need answers and we need them yesterday!"
"I will contact Master Bra'tac and inquire about any Jaffa intelligence he may be able to assist with."
"Thanks, Teal'c. Maybe one of their operatives knows what's going on."
"I'll try to contact the Tok'ra and see if they know anything. And, I'll give the tape to the com tech's. Maybe they can pull something out of it that will give us a clue." She paused, trying not to tear up. "Jack, this will destroy Daniel! We've got to find him before it's too late." Sam stopped talking and looked at Jack, desperation showing in her eyes.
"I know, Sam, I know. I'm gonna call the President ... I think he needs to be notified that his former VP is on the loose and what he's done to Daniel. Maybe he can do something from his end. Oh, and call Agent Barrett and see if he can help. Maybe he can find out if the Trust helped Kinsey out. "
"O'Neill, Daniel Jackson cannot use the sarcophagus. Even one time could cause serious damage." Teal'c normally was very calm but you could see him trying to hold his emotions in check.
"That's one reason we're pulling out all the stops to find him. Kinsey won't be able to find a deep enough hole to hide in. He's going to be sorry when I'm done with him, believe me!"
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Sam headed straight for the communications lab with the video tape, hoping that there was something more they could pull out of it that might give them some insight to where Daniel was being held. Airman Jonathan Newsome downloaded the video tape's sound into the computer and transform was selected. The noise reduction was chosen with different levels selected. The technician chose to amplify the sound but nothing different came out of the tape. It was useless.
"Ma'am, the only thing I can tell you about this tape is that there is virtually no other noises coming out of this tape. In my opinion, it was recorded underground. It would have to be in order for it to have a completely silent background. There's no cars, trains, people... nothing."
"So, it's worthless."
"Yes, ma'am, as far as trying to locate Dr. Jackson. I can't get anything out of it. I'm sorry Ma'am."
"Thanks, airman. I appreciate your trying."
Sam left the lab feeling disheartened. She was hoping there would be something. She went back to her lab and called Jack's office and gave him the report.
"Jack, we don't have any other leads."
"We'll find him, Sam. We're still waiting to hear from the Tok'ra and I contacted Thor. He might be able to find out something. Don't give up hope."
Sam hung up the phone and dropped her head into her hands and sobbed. 'Not again, please God, not again.'