Jack approached the building cautiously, shadowed by Teal'c and Sam. Getting there had been almost ridiculously easy. Once Jack finally had a location, they had acted quickly. They had played the being lost routine, using a van full of their youngest looking recruits to play the part of a youth group on their way to church camp. The building's claim to being a medical research facility and in no way military aided their deception; apparently the NID felt it was more important to remain unnoticed than to post the obvious guards to keep everyone out and security, at least on the outside of the building, was minimum. Jack was sure this was deceptive, and the real trouble would be to get into the building. For now, they were slinking about the garage while their 'youth group' checked things out, under the guise of a bathroom break.
Jack knew they had to be patient. So far, the reports weren't favorable. Despite the open appearance of the building, the elevators would only open if you had the proper card to swipe, and it had quickly become obvious that anything interesting was going to be several stories down.
"So," Jack whispered, "Any ideas on getting into the hidden underground lair and saving the scientist?" This earned a stare from each of his teammates. Just when he started to think they would actually call him on his inappropriate trivialization of the situation, Teal'c answered.
"I do not understand why in these stories the villains are referred to as evil 'overlords' if they dwell in underground lairs. Should they not be evil 'underlords'?" Jack blinked.
"So what's the plan, sir?" Sam asked.
"Right," Jack said, running what they knew through his head like and playing out the various possible scenerios, weighing them against their likelihood of success.
"First, we need one of those card thingies to get to the lower levels. Even more important, I think we could do with a guide. I think we need to grab one of these medical geeks to take us down."
"Someone approaches, O'Neill," Teal'c announced, and instantly everyone was on alert, Jack already assessing shadows and angles in case this was the person they needed to grab. Then he heard the voice. It wasn't possible. There was no way that he could be hearing right. Then the scientist was approaching their position, pulling at the elbow of another man, a man who appeared to be somewhat out of it but otherwise very familiar. Not quite able to believe his eyes, or his ears, Jack slipped out of the shadows.
"Daniel?" he whispered, hesitantly. With a happy cry of 'Jack!', Daniel leapt into his arms. The scientist who had been leading him along was now backing away, until he back right up into Teal'c.
"Daniel?" Jack asked again, frowning now that he got a good look at him. There were bruises forming on the side of his face, not to mention the blood that seemed to have splattered from his nose. His shirt, too was drenched in blood, and there was a strange look in his eyes that Jack didn't like. It seemed he had been drugged.
"Are you Jack O'Neill?" the scientist Teal'c was holding asked, and Jack jerked his head away from Daniel to look at him with an almost accusing stare.
"He keeps asking for you," the man explained, "I think he hit his head or something; he was just walking around the halls clutching that box. I was taking him to the hospital." Jack continued to stare at the scientist. Either the man was a very quick liar, or he really had no idea what was going on. Normally in a case like this Jack would assume he was lying, but the situation of Daniel showing up in the garage of all places, practically unguarded, was just bizarre enough to make him think it might actually be the truth.
"Daniel," Jack said, attracting the man's attention with some small difficulty. Daniel wasn't holding the box anymore, having let it drop to the ground in favor of Jack's arms, and Sam had picked it up to look at it.
"Jack?" Daniel asked, when Jack finally got him to look him in the eyes.
"Daniel, listen to me," Jack instructed, "How did you leave the building?" Daniel looked vaguely puzzled by the question, as though Jack had just asked him an enormously difficult word problem. Then he smiled.
"I found you!" he said, "I wanted to find you so I kept walking and told everyone to let me go, and they did!" Jack refused to be worried by the way Daniel was acting. They would get him to Janet, whatever drugs he had been given would get out of his system, and Daniel would be fine. He had to believe that, but for now, he had to get Daniel to work through whatever was muddling his mind and answer his questions.
"You told them to let you go, and they did?" he asked. Daniel was still smiling with that expression that was almost frightening in its open innocence.
"Yes," Daniel answered, and then the smile changed to a wounded frown. "They wouldn't let me see you," he said, his eyes filling with tears, "I just wanted to go home, and it hurt, and you weren't there…"
"Hey, hey it's ok now," Jack whispered, soothingly, "I'm here now; we're all here." Daniel blinked his eyes, and for a moment he looked almost normal.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry…I know I'm a bit…" he started and then gestured, letting go of Jack for a moment and then almost losing his balance, "I just…I was translating the box…only really it's a toy, but I didn't tell them…I didn't tell them anything and she got angry…"
"Should we not leave, O'Neill, now that we have found Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked suddenly.
"Yes of course," Jack answered, not quite able to get over the fact that Daniel was there, alive in his arms, that he had just walked right out of the building. It seemed too good to be true. He knew it was too good to be true, and so he almost felt relieved, in a horrified sort of way, when he heard the gunfire.
It took a second for Jack's shocked mind to realize he was hearing it over his earpiece; the men in the building must have been found out. Then he was shouting orders, making calls, while he half dragged Daniel towards their van. They had almost made it when a woman appeared running towards them, though by the look on her face she was just as surprised to see them as they were to see her. Jack felt Daniel stiffen in his arms, and then her gun was drawn, pointed towards them.
"Do not move," she ordered, and Jack recognized her from the photograph.
"Colonel Attison," he said, "You're looking…undead." He tried to get Daniel to move behind him slowly, but Daniel seemed disinclined to move. He was still stiff in his arms, his eyes wide. Teal'c and Sam had their own weapons drawn, but otherwise made no move. Teal'c still held onto the scientist, not trusting him enough to let him go but at the same time shielding him behind a stone pillar. If Teal'c had been free to move on his own, he might have been able to subdue her, but as it is all he could do was aim his gun and watch.
"Colonel O'Neill," the woman answered, her voice cold, and her gun aimed unwaveringly at Daniel, "I see you found your beloved." Jack refused to rise to the bait, either to deny or affirm.
"You are outnumbered here," Jack said, keeping his voice calm, "Don't make it harder on yourself. Put down the gun."
"Or what?" she demanded, "You'll shoot me? Not before I get off a shot. I might be dead, but so will your beloved."
"No one needs to kill anyone," Jack answered, his voice deceptively calm.
"You are wrong," Colonel Attison answered, "As I believe your major will agree." She smiled, and suddenly Jack found a gun aimed at his head. Sam looked at him, almost apologetically. Daniel started to move at last, distressed.
"Sam?" he asked, staring into her eyes.
"Carter?" Jack repeated, when she didn't answer Daniel.
"Sorry sir," she answered, "But this abomination of love must end." And she turned towards Daniel and fired. The sound was deafening in the garage, and the silence that followed was thundering. Daniel slumped back limply into Jack's arms.