Chapter 7 - Detection
Just after Daniel went over the wall, Kinsey woke up to the sound of the guard dogs barking. He looked at the clock on his bedside table and saw that it was almost 1 in the morning. What was all the commotion about?
He got out of bed and looked out the window, just in time to see the outdoor lights go on.
"Damn it! What have those fools done?"
"Robert, what is it?" Monica asked.
"I'm not sure but I have a bad feeling about this. You'd better get dressed and head back to your place." He reached for his wallet and paid her the agreed amount for her services.
As she was getting dressed, he grabbed his gun, ran down the stairs, and out the back door.
As he ran, he noticed a group of guards running down the stairs from the garage loft apartment. One of them was on a cell phone, talking excitedly.
"What happened?" Kinsey asked, waving the gun around.
"We were patrolling with the dogs, sir. We thought we saw movement back here so Philip went to the house and flipped on the light switch, turning on the security lamps. We saw Dr. Jackson running away so we let the dogs loose. We called the other two guards and woke them up. They are headed to the wall to help track him.
As they approached the wall, the guard said, "He managed to climb this tree and went out over the wall on a limb and jumped down." The guard was looking up at the tree, not wanting to make eye contact with Kinsey.
"Of all the stupidest, asinine things ... He was too weak to run away. You saw how it was. There's no way he could have gotten away unless he was faking it. Take the dogs and go after him."
When he got back to the house, he changed his clothes and then joined the search for Daniel.
The first tracking team followed the trail the the river but they lost it after that. It seemed that Dr. Jackson was headed west, though, so they caught up with Kinsey and reported their findings.
"Great! Wonderful! You guys were so lax that he just walked out the back door and took off! What do I pay you guys for? Come on! We're going to head west on that road back there and see if we can find him. Bring the dogs!"
When they got to the road they followed the two guards with their dogs who were sniffing the ground, obviously not picking up Daniel's scent. There wasn't a trail for the dogs to follow. Daniel was gone and Kinsey had to find Daniel before he reported him to the authorities. Worse yet, before he reported him to O'Neill!
O O O O
General O'Neill had decided he was going along on this rescue mission and nobody was going to stop him. Daniel was one of his closest friends and he just couldn't leave it to anyone else to lead. If things went wrong, it would be his responsibility. He didn't want to have to blame anyone else.
He remembered the conversation in the locker room beore they left. He was getting geared up and talking with Colonel Reynolds and Major Feretti.
"Sir," Feretti said, "I'm sure we'll get to him in time."
Jack turned and looked at him. "I hope so. This is gonna be bad though, guys. By now, Daniel will already be hooked on that sarcophagus and if he survives the rescue attempt, it's gonna be a long road to recovery for him. That's why I picked your two teams. You two know what to do better than any others. I'm counting on you to get the job done."
"Yes, sir," they both replied.
Jack left the locker room and headed for the armory with them following close behind. The look he'd given them made them proud but it also conveyed the seriousness of the situation. This was Daniel they were talking about. The guy who was responsible for everything they were doing. If it hadn't been for him, they would probably be in another part of the world doing regular earth stuff. Instead, he opened the gate and because of it, they were able to go on adventures around the galaxy that nobody could have ever dreamed of. Even the SciFi channel can't come close with what they have.
President Hayes had contacted the Canadian Prime Minister and they'd been given a go for the mission. O'Neill felt he had the best 2 teams ready to go and another team of advanced medical personnel. They were all ready to depart within 20 minutes of the meeting in the briefing room.
They'd headed for Peterson Air Base and a few hours later landed at the small airstrip near Morristown, VT. From there, they taken a small plane north across the Canadian border to the airport near Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu. Three vans then drove out into the country, following the red blinking light on the globe, where they were able to zoom in on the image and pinpoint Daniel's exact location. And now they were getting close. The implant was going to stop blinking any minute now, but at least they knew he was in the area.
'Hang on, Daniel. We're coming.' Jack had to believe they would find him in time.