Taken On Trust
By Ann3
Writer's Note: Yes, yes, I know - damn rotten of me to torture the poor wee thing in the very first chapter ! More to come, of course, but... well, before he gets too badly whumpified, we'd better get a rescue plan laid out. Okay, Shep - you're up... ;o)
Chapter Two
Damage Control
John Sheppard's day had started out perfectly happily. Now it was ending in his worst nightmare. For all his attempts to avert its consequences, Carson Beckett was now a prisoner of a dangerously volatile enemy – two soft words summing up every bit of his anger, every bit of his frustration, for letting it happen
"Oh, crap…"
Leaving the fretting panic to its unrivalled master, he left McKay to it and turned instead to Ronon.
"If we don't find him soon, the doc's done for… can you track him…?"
"I'll find him…" Ronon vowed fiercely, already sprinting, hell for leather, into the adjoining forest.
Following at full pelt beside him, McKay and Teyla on his heels, John thumbed his radio. He'd already lost one member of his team to the Vorans' treachery. He was damned if he'd lose any more.
Carson's headset, unwisely discarded by his captors, now lay smashed and useless in John's hand. To horrified dismay, its owner had been spirited away in a flurry of dust and horse-hooves. At full gallop, Carson Beckett and his captors were already lost from view.
But at least now John Sheppard could turn their denial of tracing his captive friend back to Carson's benefit. That, at least, granted him some measure of satisfaction as he fought to match Ronon's massive stride.
"All teams, this is Sheppard… we have a hostile situation… I repeat, we have a hostile situation… forget the goodwill mission, all Jumpers get into orbit and await orders… Lorne, do you read…?"
"Loud and clear, sir… we figured something was wrong when you didn't check in, sir, and…"
"Yeah, we were kinda tied up at the time, chatting with our charming hosts…" Sheppard cut in dryly – using this outburst of bitter sarcasm to clear potentially disastrous, non-productive anger out of his mind. A slow deep breath dispelled the rest, allowing the strength of a military leader to make a vital return.
"The Vorans have taken Beckett hostage, and without his headset we've no way of tracking him. Ronon's gonna pick up his trail through the forest, and I need you to keep a fix on our position. Once we find him and get him out of there, we're gonna need instant evac, so stay close… understood…?"
"Roger that, sir… we'll be tracking you all the way… Lorne out…"
Breaking the connection, Sheppard then hurried across to join McKay and Teyla at Ronon's side – the ominous redness on the Satedan's fingers causing him to curse in the sheer irony of its blessing.
How strange it felt to be grateful to a trail of blood, a friend's blood, in the race to save his life. And if the frequent regularity of that trail was anything to go by, they were going to have to find him fast.
The race to save a friend's life, Carson Beckett's life, was now well and truly under way – John Sheppard's quiet words speaking for himself, his shellshocked team - and a city which, however gently Lorne had broken the news, had just had one hell of a bombshell dropped on it.
"Hang in there, Carson… hold on, we're gonna get you out of this… just hang in there…"
Seeing McKay staring, ashen faced, at something in his hand, John hurried across to find its cause – the cause of Rodney's stricken expression instantly mirrored on three other faces around him
The broken remains of Carson's watch, its strap still wetly tainted with blood, rested in his fingers – the responsibility for his friend's ordeal pressing with visible strain on the scientist's shoulders.
"I – I thought I was doing Carson a favour, that – that praising him up like that would help him gain their trust, and… and…"
"Hey, come on, Rodney, we haven't lost him yet… we're gonna get him back…" John cut in softly, drawing on all the past experience he'd had to keep McKay from falling apart at the hysterical seams. "But if we're to get Carson out of this, we're all gonna have to keep our heads... okay…?"
Waiting until a shaky smile finally answered him, John then gave McKay's shoulder a heartening pat.
"And keep that safe…" he added gently, nodding towards the bloodied watch in Rodney's hand – making a point of holding the scientist's haunted eyes so that they could draw strength from his own. "That way you can fix it and give it back to him when we get him back to Atlantis… okay…?"
Managing a shaky nod this time, McKay then hurried with him to catch up with Teyla and Ronon – the snarking nickname which he'd never dare voice to the Satedan's face replaced by silent hope that 'Conan' could somehow save his best friend's life
For several hours, through dense, ever darkening forest, the race to find and free Carson Beckett from his captors continued.
Twice in one of those hours alone, they lost the trail. On both those occasions, the second especially, Ronon had to use all the skills he had to regain it.
At a muddy riverbank, they lost it again. For fifteen terrifying minutes, Carson Beckett was lost to them
Then, at last, as night fell over a blessedly moonlit clearing, they finally found him - John Sheppard's stunned silence still conveying volumes of helpless fury, utter disgust, as he struggled to take in his friend's unthinkable fate.