Chapter 15:

Come on, come on, come on. He kept repeating the words to himself. It had already been twenty-five minutes since he left her. Another five minutes to go. Too long. Anything could have happened. Anything could be happening. Too damn long. Dammit, Carter, respond.

"Samanthaaa." Reynarc drawled her name. "I am disappointed." He was so close she could feel his hot breath against her face. His body pressed down heavily against hers. The knife was cold against her neck. "You should have killed me when you had the chance."

There was no point in calling out. No one was going to hear her in Volostra's version of motel hell. She was alone. They were going to be too late.

She was NOT going to let this happen again. Her initial fear was suddenly replaced with the same anger that propelled her earlier in the day. "Go to hell!" She said through clenched teeth. If she was going to die, she was not going to make it easy for him.

"In time." He said and pressed the knife a little harder. She let out a small gasp when she felt the cold steel break her skin and blood began to slowly trail down her neck.

"Carter, respond." O'Neill's voice sounded through her radio again. She could hear the urgency in his voice.

"Ah, your Colonel." He said. "It seems he has discovered my departure and is coming to your rescue." He moved the knife again. She could feel the tip of the blade slowly move down her chest as he lazily traced the path of the blood oozing from her neck.

"Did you know he threatened to kill me after your departure?" He stopped his movements as if he was suddenly offended by the thought of being threatened. He lifted his head from her face and looked her in the eyes. The normal smug, haughty look was gone. His eyes were glazed and unfocused.

"Why are you doing this? Why me?"

"No matter," he said as if he had not heard her pleadings.

Enough of this. It was act now or be killed. Dead or alive. She preferred the first choice and suddenly slammed her head into his

"Carter, respond." He said again. He was trying to keep his voice calm, but he knew he had failed miserably. He was not going to let this happen again.

"Teal'c, come in."

"O'Neill."

"Have you found the Midgren?"

"I have. They have retired to their rooms for the night."

"Reynarc?"

"I was unable to locate him."

"What of Major Carter?"

"She's not responding to her radio. I'm five minutes away. Grab Daniel and head to my location."

She heard bone crunch.

"Bitch!" He screamed as he instinctively reached toward his nose with the knifed hand. Carter used the small advantage to push her body upon against his. She moved him just enough that she was able to free her legs and wrap them around his body. She twisted. It was just enough. The tangled bodies fell to the floor in slow motion.

She felt the air push out of her lungs when she hit, maybe a rib crack when he landed on top of her but she was free.

"What the hell do you want with me?" She had managed to untangle herself and scramble to her feet. She now faced Reynarc who had also quickly recovered and blocked her path to her vest and weapon which lay across the small room.

"What do I want, Samantha?" He questioned as he raised himself to his full imposing height. His face was bloodied from where she had broken his nose. But he still had the advantage. He still had his knife and he was between her and the door. "I want you to die."

"Why? I. Don't. Know. Anything."

"The game was never finished, Samantha," Raynarc stated as he moved a step closer to her closing the gap ever so slightly.

"Game? This is all a game to you? You tortured me for six months for fun?"

"Yes," he said and took another step closer. "You never broke, Samantha. Never begged. Never stopped fighting. Unacceptable!" He yelled. "How dare you think you are stronger than me. How dare you survive. No one survives."

Reynarc was close enough now that she could strike. It was time to end this. "Fuck you." She said and charged him. She was pretty sure she was going to have a new scar from a knife wound or be dead but it would be over. When they hit the floor again, she felt the knife slice into her leg. The pain was excruciating. She could already feel the flow of blood soaking through her pants.

Reynarc was only slightly dazed and already beginning to move. Her mind was screaming at her to get up. Get up before he did. She somehow pushed back the pain and willed herself to get to her feet. She began to stagger toward her weapon that lay almost within reach. It may as well have been a mile she was never going to reach it in her condition or with Reynarc still conscious.

Carter suddenly felt herself falling again. Reynarc had managed to turn over and used his leg to knock her feet out from under her as she stumbled pass. She tried to brace herself for the impact but it was going to hurt. She landed hard. Pain ripped through her body. Her mind was still screaming at her. Get up! She tried to get back to her feet but Reynarc had managed to reach her first. He grabbed her injured leg and pulled her back. She screamed.

"Carter!" She heard Colonel O'Neill voice bellow again through her radio.

Through the pain Carter somehow managed to kick out with her free leg and connected again with Reynarc's broken nose. He was stunned enough that he let go. She turned over again and crawled toward her weapon that was now within reach.

"Do you think your Colonel is going to save you?" He teased as he recovered quickly from the kick. He grabbed both legs this time and flipped her over.

The bullet tore through his chest. Reynarc looked down as if in shock at the hole and the red that was slowly seeping through his clothing. He looked down at Carter who was on her back holding her weapon waiting to fire again. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He smiled and fell to the floor.

Carter managed to push herself up against the closest wall she could find. She still trained her weapon at the unmoving body on the floor. She heard Colonel O'Neill call through the radio one more desperate time. She wanted to respond but that would require moving. Moving was not a good idea right now.

She was losing the battle to stay conscious when she heard the door open and Colonel O'Neill call out to her.

"Carter?"

"S…r?" She tried to answer.

"How ya' doing?" He dropped to his knee and felt him take her face in his hands and turn toward him. She tried to keep her eyes opened. She tried to let him know that she was okay. "Stay with me, Carter."

"Ov…r?" She slurred out.

O'Neill looked over his shoulder at the very dead body of Reynarc. "It's over."

"Perm…sn to pa…s out, s…r?"

He smiled. "Permission granted." He said as he looked once more at the body. "You did good, Sam." He said to her now unconscious figure. "You did good."

General Hammond stood at the bottom of the ramp and watched three fourths of SG-1 walk toward him. It was really late or really early. Hell, it was 3 am and he was tired. This better be good.

"For what it's worth, welcome back, SG-1," he greeted the approaching men.

"Good to be back, sir."

"Colonel, you were gone for less than 24 hours. What the hell happened? And why did Major Carter just return on a stretcher with a knife in her leg?"

"Speaking of Sam," Daniel spoke up. "Where is she?"

"She was taken directly to surgery."

"Colonel?" He implored.

"Old acquaintance." O'Neill repled cryptically.

"And she ended up with a knife imbedded in her leg. What of her assailant?"

"Oh, he got exactly what was coming to him, sir." He said, clearly pleased with his response by the slight smirk he gave to the General. "Permission to be dismissed?" His expression changed quickly to one of concern. "I...um…we would like to check on Carter." He said motioning to Daniel and Teal'c in an attempt to cover up his slip.

"Very well, debrief at 0700."

This was really getting old.

She could feel the veil of the drugs slowly lifting. She heard familiar sounds, beeping instruments, murmured words. Definitely the infirmary. Her leg hurt. Check that, her whole body hurt. Right, knife wound and several hard falls to an unforgiving floor. Maybe a broken rib or three. Moving was probably not the best thing to do at the moment.

After several unsuccessful attempts she finally opened her eyes. She blinked few times in an attempt to focus on the figure by her bed. Colonel O'Neill. She smiled and watched him for a few unguarded seconds. He sat in one of the hard plastic infirmary chairs too small to accommodate his long, lanky frame. His head was down and elbows rested on his knees. He twisted a tongue depressor restlessly in his hands. A small pile of previously broken victims accumulated at his feet.

"Sir?" She said weakly and barely audible but it was apparently enough. His head shot up, the wooden stick quickly dropped to join its brethren on the floor.

"Carter," he replied. It was his standard answer, reply, and question when he did not know what else to say to her, much like, sir, was hers. Keep it professional. Keep it in the room.

"How long have I been out?"

"A while." He stood and moved toward the bed. He was close enough to almost, almost touch her hand. "Good drugs will do that to you."

"Yes, sir," she replied tiredly. Damn drugs.

"So, um…" She could tell he was not sure what to say next. She was also sure that he was blaming himself, again, for what happened. "Do you want to talk about it?"

The question seemed to surprise them both. It was not like the Colonel to delve into the personal stuff.

"I'm fine, sir," she replied with her second most used response. It was now up to him whether he was going to call her bluff.

He studied her briefly before responding. "Yes you are," he said as she watched his hand creep closer and lightly brush hers before he quickly stuffed it deep into his pocket. "Get some rest, Carter."

"Yes, sir." She closed her eyes and let her body succumb to the call of the drugs and dreamless sleep.