THREE

John tried to determine if anything else was missing, but he didn't know what she'd brought with her. He skimmed through the notes that were strewn about the ground but couldn't understand much of the terminology. The only noticeable thing missing, besides the doctor, was her knapsack.

The few villagers he'd quickly questioned didn't see or hear anything – but the tent was placed on the edge of town so it didn't surprise him. It was late and most people had been inside for the evening.

Something moved near the entrance to the tent and he spun, weapon aimed. "You should really start wearing a bell." John lowered his weapon as Ronon pulled back the edges of the tent.

Ronon's face was grave as he walked in. All McKay said when he'd arrived back on Atlantis was Jennifer was gone and Sheppard wanted Ronon to get to the settlement.

Ronon didn't wait for any more details.

"What the hell happened?"

"Near as I can figure, two men came in through the back and took her." John pointed towards the tear in the tent. "The trail leads into the trees. Villagers are no help."

Ronon stepped forward until he was chest to chest with Sheppard. "You were supposed to be watching her."

"Watching her for what?" John shrugged. "The town's full of bed ridden sick people. The woman's luck is worse than McKay's." John shook his head quickly, his hand landing on Ronon's shoulder. "Well find her." Then he stepped past Ronon and looked out the entrance towards the town. "Where's Major Lorne?"

"Still packing." Ronon moved to the back of the tent, inspecting the edges of the tear before stepping out into the darkness.

"On Atlantis? How'd you get here so fast?"

"I was already packed." He patted the holster secured firmly to his thigh.

With a glance at the sky Ronon watched the moon disappearing behind the clouds. A cold drop of rain touched his cheek, followed quickly by another. Tracking could be difficult enough in the daytime. Darkness would make it hard – yet not impossible. But rain - rain would wash it all away, leaving him little or nothing to follow.

"How long ago?" He asked as he jogged across the field towards the trees.

"Don't know exactly." John answered, following directly behind him. "Sometime in the last two hours."

Ronon growled. Two hours. A lifetime of pain and suffering could be inflicted in two hours. Anger clenched across his chest. He'd known something was going to go wrong. He'd known and kept it to himself. Asked Sheppard to go when he should have gone himself. If anything happened to her…

"When the jumper gets here we can track her from the air." John said from behind him, the rain now coming down in a steady drizzle.

They reached the tree line and stopping under the leaves where it was still dry. The jumper could track Jennifer's subcutaneous transmitter, alerting them to her location, as long as she wasn't underground or behind thick metal. In the mean time, Ronon wasn't about to sit around waiting. In the dirt under the trees the trail was clear and obvious. Two large sets of footprints – men – and a third set – smaller and closer together.

Stay strong, Jennifer. He willed his thoughts into the night.

Turning, he dug into the pocket of his jacket and extracted a small black box. "McKay said to give you this. Said you'd know what to do with it."

Sheppard grabbed the device and smiled. "Well why didn't you say so? It's a portable tracker." After a couple of quick taps on the screen Sheppard held it up. "There." He pointed off to the left. "About four clicks that way."

Ronon grinned and took off at a run. Okay so maybe McKay had moved up another notch.

Jen stumbled again, her footing unstable in the dark. Shaking limbs didn't make for easy walking, and her limbs were most definitely shaking. The rope binding her wrist rubbed her skin raw as her captor yanked her forward. She scrambled to her feet and slid in the wet mud, landing hard on her tailbone.

The taller of the two men who'd wrestled her from the tent turned towards his companion, who was yanking the rope. "Take it easy. Burnon said to deliver her unharmed."

The short stocky man grumbled and reached for her arm, dragging her to her feet. "I don't know why we're bothering. The other two were useless. What makes Burnon think this one's any different?"

"I don't question." The first one warned, shifting Jennifer's backpack which he wore across his shoulders. "I just follow orders. And so should you, Durock."

Durock shrugged and shoved Jennifer forward. "Keep moving," he grumbled. "We have a long way to go."

The first man held the lantern higher and continued forward into a small clearing. The lack of leaves above gave the rain free access and her jacket was soon soaked through.

Jen used her shoulder to rub at the disgustingly dirty cloth they'd shoved in her mouth to keep her from calling out. Her hair was caught in the knot they'd tied around the back of her head and it pulled every time she moved.

"Mrfrrr." She muttered, wishing she could get it free just long enough to tell these two disgustingly smelly goons just what their fates were going to be when Ronon Dex tracked them down. Although her madly slamming heart quickly reminded her – she probably should just keep her mouth shut. Rescue wasn't coming.

Ronon was back on Atlantis, and John and Rodney were at the pub.

Having a beer.

While she was being kidnapped.

No one knew where she was. And no one knew she was even missing.

Why did all her off world trips have to involve something bad happening? She wasn't trained for this kind of stuff! She was a doctor for God's sake!

She stumbled again, catching her foot on a piece of undergrowth. Her hands, bound in front of her, reached forward to break her fall but Durock tugged on the rope causing her to spin. She hit the ground hard and cried out when an incredibly painful jolt shocked through her left shoulder.

Oh yeah, that was going to leave a mark.

Durock muttered something under his breath and his companion turned around, once again yanking her to her feet. Jen cried out when he pulled on her left arm.

The first man stepped forward and snatched the rope out of Durock's fingers. "I told you to be careful."

"What's the big deal, Silus?" Durock countered, stepping up into the other man's face. "She's just going to end up like the others anyway. What does it matter if she arrives a little messed up?"

Jen's heart skittered. End up how? Oh lord this couldn't be good. She had to get away.

Silus dropped the rope and grabbed Durock by the front of his long jacket. "If she's a healer then she needs her limbs in order to heal, understand? Pulling her arms off isn't going to make Burnon very happy, now is it? And you know damn well what happens when Burnon's not happy. Don't you?"

Jen stepped back slowly, gathering up the slack in the rope until she was holding the entire loop in her hands. Backing away she stepped out of the clearing and into the shadow of a large tree.

With Silus and Durock still arguing the merits of keeping her in one piece, Jen spun and started running. Praying for sure footing amongst the undergrowth she jogged and stumbled, landing hard and scrambling back up. She bounced her injured shoulder off the low hanging branch of a tree and couldn't stop herself from crying out. A snap of a twig behind her and she tried to move faster but it was too late.

Something hard and solid slammed into her back and she crashed to the ground. With a dizzying flash of pain across her forehead the world went black.