34: The Middle Man
It was late afternoon in Pittsburgh. Daniel and McKay had been seated in the rental car for a few hours now, parked in a lot across the street from the hotel wherein they had encountered the Herald. They had watched the police come and go, seen a police helicopter buzzing around high above for some time. After a while, the police officers bundled back into their cars and left, with only one police cruiser left parked outside the hotel. Those two officers who had left it there were presumably inside keeping the crime scene under watch. None had paid any attention to the grey sedan in the parking lot across the street, just one of a dozen cars in the lot which served as mostly visitors' parking for the nearby apartment building.
The police would not know what to make of the crime scene anyway. To them, it would be a break-in, one in which several shots had been fired but with no sign of any bodies. Had the Herald bled? Perhaps it had, Daniel could not recall. If it had, then there were now a few splotches of alien blood inside that hotel room. Any samples from that checked over by a forensics lab would only muddy the waters of the scene further, which suited Daniel just fine.
He could see that McKay was still reeling somewhat from the encounter with the Herald. Daniel was a little rattled, that was natural. Looking at McKay, however, suggested that the incident had affected the physicist much more. He had an uneasy, almost frantic look in his eyes, the same one Daniel had seen in him when they had first found him at his secluded cabin. The look of a very troubled man, and once again Daniel found himself worrying about him.
"No sign of him yet," Daniel said, if only to break the silence. They had been watching the hotel for hours now. If Conrad Holt had made his appearance, he had not done it here. Teal'c was watching the back of the building, ready to call if he saw the man. So far, the Jaffa had not reported anything out of the ordinary. The boredom within the rental sedan was palpable. It seemed to be a common element since they had started on this self-made mission: waiting around.
"You really think he's going to show?" McKay sounded doubtful. Daniel glanced at him and shrugged.
"It's worth hoping for. You never know."
"I knew the man, Daniel. He's careful and he knows how to cover his tracks." All valid points, but McKay was looking at it from a different angle than Daniel was.
"Rodney, you have to think about it in context. Holt isn't expecting anyone here to know his involvement. He can walk the streets like anyone else because he's sure of his place, sure of how secure it is. I wouldn't be surprised if he comes here to check things out himself, instead of sending some lackeys to do it. After what happened at the motel, chances are he'll want to do it all himself." A bit of an assumption on his part, but it seemed likely. Conrad Holt did strike Daniel as someone who would not tolerate failure, and with his hired thugs failing to kill them back at the motel, it only seemed logical to assume that he would take a more active role from then on.
"I heard some of what that thing said," Daniel added, turning around to look at McKay, seated behind him in the backseat.
"Some of what it said?" McKay quirked an eyebrow.
"Yeah." Daniel could remember it all quite well. One was not likely to forget being almost killed by a winged, demonic creature. Nor was he likely to forget its voice, working on a level that had to be partially telepathic, cutting into his thoughts as it spoke so that its message and intentions were clear as day. "You opened a window into another plane of reality, right?"
"Another dimension, another universe that exists between our own and subspace. That was where Project Arcturus drew its energy from. Tapping into it in a safe, controlled way would provide us with all the energy we would ever need without the harmful waste." McKay looked to Daniel curiously, wondering where he was going with this line of discussion.
"It spoke about the window you opened," Daniel said. He could tell from the way McKay narrowed his eyes that he was not at all keen on this subject. Still, it had to be pressed and explored further. There were answers contained in what the Herald had said, Daniel was sure of it. "About looking into the 'abyss'. Is that what you saw when you did that experiment on Atlantis?" Now it was Daniel's turn to narrow his eyes, watching McKay expectantly, waiting for the answer he felt he already knew. However, he had to be sure.
"If you want to call it that, fine," McKay said, waving one hand dismissively. "It was little more than a glimpse into that universe, the one I'd been hoping to tap into. Calling it an 'abyss' makes it sound much more dramatic than it actually was."
"The Herald mentioned his 'master'."
"Yeah, so the monster has a boss. That's not unusual."
"A master thrown into the 'abyss' by God?" Daniel cocked an eyebrow, allowing the notion to hang in the air between them. It sounded almost biblical, although Daniel figured there was a more scientific basis behind it. Then again, he was an archaeologist and he had studied ancient mythology his entire life. The story of a rebellious angel being cast out of Heaven by God was nothing new. Perhaps they had stumbled upon the origin of that story? Something may have happened millions of years in the past, an event that had etched itself upon the genetic memories of so many species? Even the Calsharans had a story of something similar in their creation myths, from what Daniel had researched over the past year. A 'Creator', as the Calsharans called their god, who had thrown from 'paradise' his chief 'protector' after an act of rebellion on their part. A 'protector' who had been plunged into a dark abyss far removed from the light of the Creator itself. So similar to some of the legends on Earth, and Daniel had suspected that the similarity was no coincidence.
"What are you saying, Daniel?" McKay's face was scrunched up with doubt. "Are you saying the Herald is working for the devil?" He proffered the notion somewhat jokingly, yet there was some uncertainty in his tone. Neither of them could discount the idea altogether, no matter how outrageous it sounded. They had both seen strange things during their time; a winged demon attacking them in a hotel room hardly seemed that unusual, which Daniel felt spoke much as to the state of their lives in general. If one wanted something 'normal', then a job in anything other than the stargate program was heavily recommended.
"I'm not saying anything," Daniel countered. "Nothing certain, I mean. We need more information. Holt can give it to us."
"He's not going to talk to us." McKay sounded sure of this. Daniel supposed McKay was the one to listen to on this matter, for he was the one who actually knew Holt. Neither Daniel nor Teal'c had ever met the man and would recognize him only through the photos of him McKay had shown them back at his cabin. Daniel thought of contacting General Janssen for an opinion, as he had met Holt nearly two years ago when he had pursued his own investigation. Perhaps later, he thought, when they had the man in their custody.
That in itself brought another problem: how would they get Holt in their custody? How would they keep him from escaping? A man like that must have been dangerous, given the kinds of people he was working for. Sending assassins to knock off the people giving you trouble was not the mark of a kind-hearted man, at least in Daniel's view.
Daniel was about to add something further when his phone rang, vibrating loudly against the dashboard where he had left it. He picked it up, seeing the single letter 'T' on the display: Teal'c was calling. Straight away he answered, putting the phone to his ear. McKay leaned forwards a little to listen in.
"Teal'c, you got anything?" Daniel asked him.
"Conrad Holt has arrived at the rear entrance. He has two others with him."
"Keep an eye on him and don't hang up. We're on our way." Daniel glanced at McKay. "Come on, he's here."
Daniel opened the door and climbed out, with McKay following suit. Phone to his ear, Daniel started for the street, McKay in tow. The road was relatively clear of traffic, so instead of waiting for the crossing signals to flash green, Daniel simply jogged across the road. He got one concerned honk from a passing car, but otherwise he and McKay made it across without incident. Immediately, they veered left around the hotel building and into the narrow lane that ran beside it.
"He is heading inside." Teal'c's voice broke in over the phone.
"We're almost there. Block his way if you can." Daniel had no real plan in mind, so this advice was given on a spur-of-the-moment idea. He sighted Teal'c further down the lane, and the burly Jaffa was rounding a parked black Chrysler as he set himself towards Holt and his two bodyguards. Holt was dressed in a normal black business suit, with his two lackeys outfitted in similar grey ones. They sighted Teal'c, who had since put away his phone, and immediately sprang into action. Perhaps they recognized the Jaffa from some SGC file? It would not be surprising if Holt had been privy to every operation conducted within Stargate Command. He would likely know Daniel when he saw him.
One of the bodyguards reached into his jacket to pull out a gun, but Teal'c was on him before he had the weapon free. Pushing aside the arm that had been reaching for the weapon, Teal'c delivered a sharp punch into the man's jaw, knocking him back against the wall. Another kick sent him falling, clutching his stomach before Teal'c bent over and punched him again, knocking him out cold.
The second bodyguard pulled out a pistol, but Teal'c was faster, reacting with a speed that one would not expect from someone who was roughly one-hundred and fifty years old. He ducked low and swept out one leg in a wide arc, taking the bodyguard's own legs out from under him. He fell down hard, hitting his head against a nearby bollard, the noise of his skull connecting with it resounding with a loud clunk. The bodyguard hit the ground unconscious and bleeding from a newly created gash at his left temple.
Daniel shut off the call and put his phone back in his pocket as he approached. Holt had turned to Teal'c, eyes widening slightly at the sight of the Jaffa and his all-business demeanour. Holt did not reach for a weapon, did not dare do with Teal'c only a few steps away. Anger creased his stern features then, and he instead gave the Jaffa a very aggravated appraisal.
"You bastard," Holt snarled, realising he was cornered. "I know you, Jaffa. I've seen your picture enough to know you and I've read every file they've got on you." He looked past him, directing his gaze towards Daniel and McKay as they neared. "Looks like the whole gang's here. Almost, anyway."
"McKay, go back and get the car." Daniel stopped a short distance from Holt, and he looked back at McKay. The physicist looked annoyed, no doubt wondering why he had raced over here and left himself a little puffed out, only to turn around and head back for the car. Nonetheless, he did just that, leaving Daniel and Teal'c to deal with Holt.
"So, what's it going to be, boys?" Holt asked, practically jeering. Daniel, unimpressed, looked to Teal'c.
"Search him. He's probably got a transponder on him somewhere." His mouth formed into a smirk when another idea came to him. "Better yet, strip him to his underwear. At least then we'll know he's not hiding anything."
Teal'c quirked an eyebrow at this, but otherwise said nothing. He no doubt saw it as a wise course of action, especially when faced with a man of such a dangerous and dubious moral character as Conrad Holt. As for Holt himself, his visible anger gave way to a look of deep worry.
Ten minutes later, the trio were back in the rental car. Teal'c drove whilst Daniel, seated to the left of their reluctant passenger, attempted to gleam something useful from Holt. McKay was seated in the front passenger seat, and so far he had said little to his former boss, the man who had run the Atlantis expedition in its final few years.
Conrad Holt was down to his underwear now, his clothes having been unceremoniously thrown in a dumpster behind the hotel. That had included a five-hundred-dollar suit, or so Holt had claimed, leaving him in an unflattering pair of faded grey trunks. He was a fit man for someone of his age, well-built from a regimen of regular and thorough training. His hands were tied behind his back, his ankles roped together. From there, another length of rope went from his hands to one of the small handles above the window next to him. Hopefully the near-naked man in the backseat did not draw any outside attention. Daniel half-expected them to get pulled over by the police, but so far no cops had made themselves known.
"Who are you working for?" Daniel asked him. Teal'c took them further out of town. During their impromptu kidnapping, McKay had removed the SIM-card from Holt's phone before smashing the device altogether, ensuring that it could not be traced. From all appearances, it seemed that they now had Holt firmly off of the radar. That did not mean that he was encouraged to be forthcoming with his information, and Daniel found Holt's continued silent treatment annoying, if completely expected.
Holt stared off into space. Or, more specifically, whatever happened to be outside the car as they casually drove through the streets of Pittsburgh. He pretended not to have heard Daniel, treating the archaeologist with the sort of contempt one would give a nagging child. Just ignore them and they will shut up, or so the notion went. In Daniel's case, it was not going to work.
"Holt, Conrad, can I call you Conrad?" Daniel offered the question innocently. All Holt did was offer him a quick glance in return before he returned to staring out the window. "All right, be that way, Conrad. All we want is information. That's it."
"I told you he wouldn't talk," McKay interjected, turning his head to look back at the pair.
"Surely there's a way we can find out what we need to know?" Daniel had not thought this plan through. Sure, he had figured that Holt would not give them information freely, but he had not considered how they might find derive the necessary information from him. Daniel looked to McKay, remembering the one thing they had kept that had been on Holt when they had searched him.
"Can you pull information off of that SIM card?" He asked.
"Sure, that's easy."
"Teal'c, get us out of town." Daniel turned to the Jaffa at the wheel. "Find us somewhere where we can speak to Conrad in some peace and quiet. Somewhere the police aren't likely to look."
Teal'c gave a nod and continued driving them down the road, heading onto a highway that went out of town and towards the west. Daniel noticed that Holt was looking squarely at him, and so he returned the intense gaze, curious as to why he was suddenly acknowledging his existence.
"You won't get away with this," Holt said. His voice was level, yet the threat was clear. Daniel had expected just this kind of remark and so gave Holt a smile instead.
"Yeah, I've heard it all before. Next, you'll tell me we're all dead men or something."
"It's not me you should fear," Holt countered. "It's the people I work for. And it's those they, in turn, work for. You're messing with things you don't understand."
"Yeah, and I've heard that one before as well. Very recently, in fact." Daniel made it very clear that Holt's attempts at intimidation were not going to work. He thought that maybe Holt showed a hint of irritation, but he surmised that this was simply towards his situation as a whole. An important man such as himself was not going to be pleased that he had been abducted so easily. That was what this was, in essence: a kidnapping, a serious crime at that. Even more so as Holt worked for the NID, and kidnapping a Federal agent was the kind of thing that could get someone imprisoned for life. Even so, Daniel was not too concerned about those potential consequences as he was certain Holt was their means at blowing a greater conspiracy wide open. And when they did blow it open, then things such as 'Federal crimes' would likely not have as much meaning behind them.
The 'quiet place' they found was a rundown gas station on the highway, its windows boarded up, the signage out the front falling apart. It had not seen use for years, from the look of it, a victim of the ever-unpredictable economy. Teal'c brought the rental car to a stop at the rear of the establishment, putting them out of sight of any passing cars. The rear door was locked, albeit with a simple padlock. Teal'c found a piece of rebar lying about the edge of the small gravel lot at the station's rear. With it, he forced it between the lock and yanked down, hard. The old padlock gave way, allowing them access to the rundown gas station.
Inside, the place was mostly bare, save for the shelves and the odd carton of long-life milk or tin of corned beef. The cash register was wide open but empty, as Daniel had expected. Still, it did not hurt to take a look. There was an adjoining public bathroom and a small office down a short hallway at one end of the main shopping area. Some old posters were still stuck to the walls, advertising motor oils and nearby auto mechanics. Very little sunshine found its way past the boards over the windows, and what did find its way inside came in narrow slivers that cast the inside of the gas station in a subdued, yellowish illumination. Daniel found a pamphlet of a map of the state of Pennsylvania and took it, just in case they ever got lost on the roads.
Teal'c lead Holt through the defunct and dusty shopping area. He took him into the office down the hallway, little more than a small rectangular room containing one boarded-over window, a dust-covered desk and a pair of empty filing cabinets at one corner. There was still a chair behind the desk. It was to here that Teal'c lead Holt, pausing by the chair as he quickly searched the drawers. There was nothing inside them that might have presented Holt with any opportunities. Somewhat forcefully, he pushed Holt down into the chair. The man, still tied up at the wrists, was soon tied to the chair by Teal'c's quick work with a length of ordinary rope. All the while the Jaffa performed the task, Holt kept on a harsh frown that made it very clear he utterly despised the situation he had found himself in. This was a man who was used to being in control. To be lead around like a dog on a leash, tied to a chair like some kind of criminal or hostage, it infuriated him on a deep, powerful level. And that fury was a sort he kept contained for the time being, knowing that he simply had to bide his time for an opportunity to get out of this mess would present itself. And Conrad Holt already had a few ideas in mind of varying practicality. Daniel, Teal'c and Rodney McKay would all regret having humiliated him like this.
The chilly air inside the rundown gas station caused gooseflesh to sprout up on his bare skin, and he shivered where he sat. Looking at him now, he did not seem all that intimidating.
Daniel and McKay stood just inside the doorway, watching Holt as he was tied up in what would have to be the makeshift interrogation room. How they would get him to talk, Daniel did not know. He was not one for torture, and even now when the thought crossed his mind he frowned inwardly, repulsed. That was not his style.
"We'll leave you with him, Teal'c?" Daniel suggested. Teal'c, who stood by Holt and was looking down at him with an stone-faced expression, simply nodded in reply without looking back. Daniel, satisfied that Teal'c would have better luck with Holt than either he or McKay, turned around and left the room. McKay followed, with Teal'c walking over and closing the door after them. Flecks of dust fluttered through the narrow streaks of sunlight that filtered in around the boards over the window at one wall. In the dim light, Teal'c's figure was that of a bulky shadow, and he walked to the opposite side of the desk where Holt was seated and glared at him. His eyes were widened slightly, narrowed in a look of pure intent, caught in a strip of light that served only to amplify their odd hypnotic quality.
Holt looked up at Teal'c, shaking his head dismissively.
"You're going to have to try harder than that," Holt said. "I've taken shits more frightening than you." Teal'c was no stranger to such talk, the kind that he expected to come from a man attempting to distract himself from the realisation that he may very well have fallen into deep trouble.
Teal'c leaned over a little more, so that he was practically looking straight down at the man, both hands upon the desktop. Holt followed his gaze, delivering a firm look of his own, showing again that on the surface, he was not intimidated.
"Like I said, you're going to have to try harder."
Teal'c sat down in the chair opposite Holt. He kept his dark eyes locked upon Holt's own blue-grey ones. The pair seemed to size each other up, in a way not dissimilar to two opposing boxers regarding their opponent before a bout. However, Teal'c saw the slightest flitter in Holt's gaze, the smallest trace of uncertainty. And where there was uncertainty, there was fear.
Teal'c clasped his hands before him upon the desk. Holt looked down at them, and again his eyes betrayed some small twinge of underlying doubt. It was as if he had expected Teal'c to use those very hands to hit him then and there, instead of simply putting them upon the desk.
"I won't talk," Holt protested. "I've interrogated people before. I'm trained in resisting torture. You are an amateur in comparison." Was he sounding a little more anxious? Teal'c thought so, and so he leaned his head in a little, just enough to once again place his piercing eyes upon Holt's increasingly anxious ones.
There was a pencil on the floor. Teal'c, not taking his eyes away from Holt, leaned over and picked it up. He tapped it innocently upon a table, like one might if they were waiting in their office for an important phone call. Holt's eyes went to the pencil, and then back to Teal'c's own. Now the uncertainty was plain as day, and Teal'c made sure to lightly tap the rubber end of the pencil lightly upon the desktop a few more times.
"All right, fine. You want to know the truth?" Holt seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, like a heavy weight had been taken off of his shoulders.
Teal'c quirked an eyebrow, cautious as to what Holt might have to say. A man like this could not be trusted, and any information he gave would need to be checked carefully. Nonetheless, Teal'c slipped the pencil into a pocket in his black leather jacket. Something like that might come in handy later.
"There's a place you can go. It will have the answers you need." Holt sighed, resigned. Of course, Teal'c straight away thought that the man would simply direct them into a trap. If Teal'c was in Holt's position and had the same level of moral dubiousness, he would do that very thing.
"Sword Exports warehouse, over in Cleveland. I can show you exactly where you'll find your answers." Holt smiled then, a knowing smile at that. Teal'c had seen that look before. Seeing it come from a man like Holt, he knew straight away that it was a bad omen. "You just might not like what you find."
Daniel and McKay had been waiting outside the office, seated behind the counter of the shopping area with its empty shelves and faded posters. McKay had managed to find a box of old energy bars in the back storeroom, and he had so far eaten two of them during the minutes they waited for Teal'c to work his magic on Holt. And now McKay was starting on number three, apparently unperturbed by the fact that the bars were expired by about five years.
"I'm starving," he said, as he unwrapped the bar. Chocolate-caramel flavour, or so it said on the packaging. To Daniel, it looked like a rock-solid brown log, and that in itself did not spur on pleasant imagery.
"You could have waited a little longer," Daniel said. "I saw a KFC back down the highway."
"Could we stop there?" McKay's eyes lit up at the sheer mention of that well-known fried chicken establishment. "I could do with something greasy and fried in fat."
"After those?" Daniel gestured to the energy bar that McKay had bitten into.
"This is just an appetiser," McKay replied between chews. He swallowed the piece, smiling. His mood had improved the further they had come from the hotel. Distance had allowed the memory of that chilling encounter to fade, slightly. Daniel himself remembered it all too vividly, and he still wondered what kind of awful implications the presence of a Herald could bring with it.
The door of the office opened then, and both Daniel and McKay stood up to watch as Teal'c emerged. He stopped a few paces from them, his expression serious.
"Conrad Holt gave me a location to investigate," Teal'c explained. "A warehouse in Cleveland."
"It could be a trap."
"My thoughts exactly, Daniel Jackson." They had been in the game long enough to know all the dirty tricks. "However, it is something we should investigate."
"It would be dangerous to ignore," Daniel agreed, and he nodded his head. It was another of those 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situations. They could easily walk into a trap, but they simply could not afford to not follow it through. Besides, Daniel had faith in Teal'c's 'interrogation' skills.
"We'll bring him along," Daniel suggested. "Have him walk in first. That way, if there's an ambush waiting for us, he'll get shot first." He was partially joking here, even if it struck him as a workable plan of action. "You know, I've never actually been to Cleveland. Should be fun."
"I've been there," McKay interjected, and he appeared less than happy when Daniel turned to him. "I was there for a conference about ten years ago. Miserable place." He shook his head in dismay, and Daniel could tell that he was being dead serious.
