Chapter Five

Sheppard tried to stay on his feet as he was spun around to face the man who had attacked him from the shadows, but his weakening state and dulled senses couldn't keep up with the sudden movement and he found himself dropping heavily onto his knees. His lungs burned with an intense fire as he struggled to pull in the oxygen that his body desperately needed, but it seemed that for every breath he pulled in, his lungs kicked out in rebellion and he found himself coughing up the warmth of sticky blood instead. He was slowly drowning in his own blood and he felt pretty sure that without help, he probably didn't have very much time left; he could already feel the heavy resistance growing in the left side of his chest with every short breath that he tried to draw in.

His attacker showed him no mercy as he pulled sharply on Sheppard's arms, dragging him up once more onto shaking legs. As Sheppard stood before the man, he looked for the first time into the eyes of his attacker. He struggled to find a name to fit the face in front of him, his brain fogged with uncertainty. The face looked familiar to him, but from where and why; and then it finally struck him.

"I-I know you…" he swallowed hard against the slowly building nausea in his belly which was verging on making a sudden appearance, " you were at the m-meetings, but… why.." he struggle to make sense of what his eyes were seeing, "you were ..ahh" he skewed to the side as his arms were yanked further up behind him, " y-you were in charge of the s-security detail at t-the meetings!"

"Very astute of you Colonel Sheppard. Yes, and I forget my manners, 'Chief of Security' Darik Stower at your service!" The sarcasm dripped from the man's tongue as he faced his victim, "I am indeed employed by the area's governing body to oversee their security provisions and if I may say so, I am very good at my job," again the leering smile, "our area has a comparatively low crime rate compared to other areas around us; I have developed a preventative system that seems to, shall we say, 'dissuade' criminals from coming here. They seem to find the threat of being exchanged for financial recompense, unpalatable."

"Y-you!...you are the bounty hunter!" Sheppard looked back at the man in amazement, hissing as the movement pulled at the raw flesh on his side and back.

"Indeed! It became necessary to supplement my meagre income with 'alternate employment' when the right opportunity arose, what can I say, I enjoy the finer things in life!" He smiled cruelly at Sheppard's shocked expression, "It proved quite fortuitous for me when I heard that your people had expressed an interest in a trade agreement with us, especially as my sources had already received details of your 'worth' in a certain market, it actually saved me the inconvenience of creating a fitting lure for you myself."

"But w-we, trusted you…."

"Ah, trust… What can I say, needs must!!!" The laugh that he produced sent a chill that penetrated through to Sheppard's very soul. "Now, if you would be so kind Colonel, we have a strict schedule to keep if I am to meet my commitments to my client."

Sheppard felt his head spinning as the new development worked itself around his fuzzy brain, and his forehead creased in anguish as he considered the fact that his disappearance would never now be investigated by the authorities.

"What happened t-to Makill?" Sheppard stumbled as he spoke, almost dropping down again to his knees, but once more he was jerked back onto his feet as they moved closer to the darkened perimeter of the wharf. He bit his lip hard as a red hot lance of pain drove through his chest, the blood salty on his lips as he tried to stifle the cry that fought to erupt through his clenched teeth.

"Ah yes, Makill," the voice dropped in tone, "unfortunate but necessary I'm afraid. The river here holds many secrets under its stinking depths and as head of security it will be my responsibility to search for his body in the coming days, unsuccessfully of course…."

"You k-killed him!" Sheppard couldn't believe that his life could be worth so much. He found it hard to imagine that any amount of money could justify the deaths of innocent people for the sake of a bounty payment, but then these people lived by a different set of rules entirely.

"He proved, how shall we put it, 'difficult'…"

Stower pushed Sheppard in the small of his back, eliciting a cry of pain as the wound between his shoulder blades flared up again in agony. Sheppard could feel a fresh trickle of blood running down his back as he stumbled forwards towards the grain silos at the perimeter of the dock area.

"So, w-who have I p-pissed off n-now.." Sheppard needed to find out what was going on, even if there was nothing that he could do about it.

"Who, or what more like!" Stower laughed once more, his bloated face shaking at his own joke.

"W-what do you m-mean?" Sheppard was confused, he looked back at the security man as he closely followed Sheppard towards the looming silos.

"Well Lantean, lets just say that my client is 'very' keen to make your acquaintance again and was willing to make it very worth while for us to make that happen. Apparently, you have some 'unfinished business' that needs to be attended to, but you will find out soon enough who 'he' is; my client is meeting us later to collect his 'package'.

"If there's a-anything l-left by then.." Sheppard's whispered words were met with anger as Stower rounded on him.

"Stavin disobeyed my direct order! We were hired to deliver you 'alive', but my colleague obviously decided that dead would be easier, even though the payment is far less, but then he won't be making that mistake again will he Colonel Sheppard, you saw to that! And we will just have to make sure that you are still alive when the exchange takes place won't we, because whatever happens after that is really none of my concern."

"H-how much.." Sheppard's whispered voice betrayed the weakness that was permeating his body, "How much did he p-pay you..?

"Oh, enough Lantean, enough…" Stower pressed Sheppard forwards once more as they approached the edge of the largest silo. He paused in front of the silo's metallic cylindrical body and withdrew a control box from his jacket pocket. He pressed a series of buttons on the box and as Sheppard watched, a door suddenly appeared in the body of the building as its hidden shielding dropping away.

Sheppard felt the fear bite in his stomach as they walked towards the opening in the towering building. If the building was shielded, then it was going to prove almost impossible for his team to find him; that was, if they were even still alive themselves.

"Impressive isn't it Colonel Sheppard." Stower indicated towards the now apparent doorway, "Our side line meant that we were in need of a place to, how shall I say, contain our stock! We were able to make certain 'alterations' to this building which have enabled us to conceal ourselves extremely well, and especially as this building had been unused for many years, we have had no difficulty in maintaining the illusion,"

Stower pushed Sheppard through the opening and closed the shield behind them, "We are virtually undetectable in here Colonel, thanks in someway to a piece of technology loaned to me by one of my more regular clients, so I am afraid that your colleagues will indeed fail if they come looking for you around here."

Stower pushed Sheppard into the centre of the room and towards a series of individual holding cells set within the circular boundaries of the silo. Each 'room' contained only a low bed that had been bolted into the solid floor. The looming walls that rose up past the ceiling of the cell and on into the darkened heights of the silo above, were of a dull grey hue and tarnished in places with the unidentifiable stains from the habitation of their previous occupants. Behind the thick metal bars that made up the front walls, the rooms was small and dank, with the fetid smell of stale sweat drifting from within.

Pushing Sheppard in front of him towards one of the cages, Stower pulled a key from his jacket pocket and inserted it into the solid lock of the barred door. The lock clicked loudly, the sound echoing around the cylindrical walls of the tower. Stower pulled the door open with one hand and pushed Sheppard forward with the other, releasing his arms as he did.

Sheppard felt himself falling towards the floor, his legs now unable to support his weight. He tried to bring his numb arms around to break his fall onto the hard floor, but they refused to obey his commands and he hit the floor face first.

His body exploded with pain. He gasped as his chest flared into a burning fireball of agony, reducing him to tears as he struggled to draw in a healing breath. His chest wouldn't work properly, the air wouldn't come and he squirmed on the dirty floor as he struggled to supply oxygen to his starving lungs. His brain had reached a state of over load, the agony washing over him in waves of acidic fire, blocking out any other sensation. He grasped at the floor, struggling to find something to focus on other than the agony, but the strain of trying to draw in air that wasn't forthcoming was becoming too much and he could feel himself sliding away into the depths of the black abyss.

He felt his body pulled up off the floor and he was jerked back to awareness as he felt himself pulled onto his feet and manhandled towards the low bed. He could feel the rough blanket under the back of his head as Stower lowered him down onto the low surface. As he opened his eyes again, the bulky figure of the bounty hunter stood looking down at him.

"Hmmm, looks like Stavin decide that a dead bounty was definitely easier to handle than a live one, but then he was always lazy. Ok Colonel, lets see if we can keep you alive a bit longer shall we, I know my 'client' was quite adamant that he needed you alive , apparently you have some unfinished business that needs discussing personally!"

Stower laughed grimly at his own joke, then lent over Sheppard and pulled the blood soaked vest and jacket over his shoulders and off. The bounty hunter smelt of fresh sweat and coffee as his face passed within Sheppard's eye line and Sheppard turned his head away in disgust.

As the jacket and vest were removed and dropped to the floor, the cool air hit Sheppard's over heated skin and he shivered violently, his teeth chattering as his body tried, and failed to maintain its core temperature. The sudden movement of his body and the change in his body temperature had an almost immediate effect on his nausea ridden belly and he found himself clutching at the rough blanket at his side as he felt the acid sting of bile rising up and hitting the back of his throat. He gagged, trying desperately to keep from throwing up, but his body had other plans and he couldn't stop himself from retching. Stower stood back as Sheppard's body rebelled violently and his eyes widened as he looked down at the blood stained vomit splashing down onto the flagstone floor.

Sheppard was in hell, his torment complete. As he spat out the last of the foul fluid onto the floor of the room, he felt his head spinning and he collapsed back onto the bed, wiping his hand across his mouth but too weak to move any further.

"Water….?" Sheppard whispered the request to the silent room, his eyes still closed against the agony that assailed his abused body and not expecting an answer, but then he felt a cup held against his lips and he sipped on the cool fluid. He coughed as the water hit his dry and burning throat, but it felt good as it cooled his raging thirst.

"Ok, lets see what Stavin managed to do to you shall we and if we can keep you alive a bit longer Lantean" Stower's voice vibrated around Sheppard's fevered brain and he opened his eyes a crack to look up at the bulky man leaning over him. He felt his shirt pulled up and over the wound on his torso and his head span once more as he was turned roughly onto his side.

"Tsk..tsk…That's not so good Lantean, my client will not be happy if you die before he gets his hands on you, so it looks like we need to sort those wounds out."

Sheppard felt the blood soaked field dressing pulled away from the wound under his left arm and he pulled in a stuttered breath as he was turned once more onto his back on the blanket. Stower disappeared briefly into one of the rooms on the other side of the silo's structure; then reappeared again carrying a box which he set on the floor beside Sheppard's bed.

"Those wounds need sealing up Lantean, I'm fairly sure you've got a hole in your lung, I've seen it before and if it's not treated properly, you're going to die quickly enough anyway." Stower sighed deeply as he shook his head at Sheppard's abused body, "but then, I get paid much more if you are still alive when you are collected, so I suppose it's in my best interests to keep you alive until then." Stower leant over and pulled the box towards him across the floor, its metal casing grating along the rough stone underneath. Sheppard heard the creak of the box lid as it opened and then the sound of supplies being pulled out.

Stower placed the dressings and bandages on the bed beside Sheppard's shivering form and once more pulled the blood saturated shirt up and over his ribs, exposing the jagged wound under his arm. He picked up a bottle of fluid from the box and poured the cool contents over the wound site. Sheppard cried out as the fluid stung his raw skin and he pushed limply at the bounty hunters hands as his body cramped in pain.

Stower washed both wounds thoroughly before placing the bottle back in the box again, ignoring Sheppard's protesting hands. Satisfied with his efforts, he then took clean dressings from the battered box and prepared one for each of the oozing wounds. As the dressings were applied to his skin, Sheppard could feel the sweat dripping off his face and running down his neck to drench the covers under his head, but his dulled mind couldn't coordinate his limbs enough to wipe the liquid away from his stinging eyes.

"Well, that will have to do for now Colonel Sheppard, hopefully you will last until my client arrives in," he looked at the dusty time piece on the wall, "approximately two hours, that is if he keeps to the agreed time."

Sheppard opened his pain filled eyes and looked up at the bulky man standing over him. His throat felt dry and cracked and as he tried to speak, his voice came out as no more than a dry whisper, "Who, …who paid you..?"

He coughed as the effort of speaking drained his strength, but he needed to know who he had pissed off so badly. They had made so many enemies over the past few years and a lot of them had been Wraith, but why would any of them go to this extreme to get hold of him when they had a whole fleet of cruisers and darts to use when they needed. That was the thing that his confused brain was struggling to come to terms with. If it was a Wraith who had set the bounty, why was he or she acting alone and not as part of the hive, or was he completely wrong and could it have been a hive decision?

"You will find out soon enough Colonel, he will be arriving shortly and you can become … reacquainted with each other, he seemed very eager to meet you again" Stower chuckled as he moved off towards the doorway and closing the door he walked away towards one of the other rooms.

As Sheppard heard the key turn in the lock, he finally allowed himself to surrender to the encroaching darkness and his body finally drifted away into unconsciousness.