Chapter 10 -- Scooped!

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Jack asked Lt. Antonov. They'd been sitting for hours watching the complex that Russian intelligence had identified as Metzov's illegal purchase, but there had been no movement to be seen inside the buildings nor on the grounds.

"It is the only one that can be connected to him," Antonov said. His English was faultless, better than Jack's in fact.

"Well, it's full dark. Let's move in."

They started forward at Jack's signal. Teal'c moved in rapidly, followed by the remainder of SG-1, Sumner and Antonov. Feretti's team was on the other side of the building. Jack had given them all their instructions earlier in the day. He expected this raid to go without a hitch, but he had a feeling that the hitch was already in place.

It was eerily silent as they approached. When they reached the door, Teal'c stopped dead. He gestured Jack forward and pointed. The door was ajar, which set off alarms in Jack's head.

His earbud chirped. "Colonel," Feretti said in hushed tones, "the door back here isn't latched."

"Here too," Jack said. "Go on, but be careful."

Teal'c was gazing intently at him and he looked back to make sure the others had heard him, then nodded. They started forward, moving with caution through the darkened halls. There was an odor, a familiar stench reaching his nostrils as they went deeper into the house. Copper and urine and other less than appealing aromas. His gut began to clench. The smells of death, and bloody death at that. Where the hell was Daniel?

Teal'c stepped through into a lighted room and paused briefly, as if startled. Then he kept going and Jack saw what he had seen. Three men had played cards here. The cards lay dropped haphazardly on the table, there were piles of money, cans of beer, bowls of chips, and all of it was spattered with blood. The chairs were overturned, and three guns had been set on the table, one at each place, as if to identify the owners. Three men lay on their backs, hands at their sides, clearly dead.

"This is creepy," Carter said as she looked around. Sumner was reporting their find to the other team.

"Ya think?" Jack muttered. "Let's keep going. We've got to find Daniel."

They moved on into another hallway, looking for signs of life. They hadn't gotten very far before Feretti called them. "Colonel, we've found some more bodies, all neatly laid out here too. It's the kitchen. Two men and a woman."

"Any weapons?"

"Yes sir. Two AK-47s and a Glock."

Jack nodded. "Keep going, but don't take any risks." They had to be careful, stay wary, but Jack was sure that the people who had done this were long gone. The only question that remained in his mind was what had happened to Daniel. Had they taken him? Had he escaped to hide in the woods? Or was his body growing cold somewhere else in the house . . .

Returning his thoughts resolutely to the here and now, Jack followed Teal'c and kept his eyes and ears open for movement. In the library there was another grouping of bodies. Jack recognized one of them. Here, then, was Metzov's daughter. Four men of varying ages lay with her, all neatly laid out as before. It was distinctly bizarre. Lizaveta Metzov had two black boxes above her head. One of the men had a neatly coiled whip placed on his chest. There were three AK-47s on one of the library tables, and other ordnance, all precisely positioned. There was also a note.

Jack walked forward slowly and leaned down to look at it, not touching anything. This was one hell of a big crime scene from the looks of things. He was just glad it wasn't his job to process it. His job was just to find Daniel.

The note was written in English, big block capitals, the kind that give handwriting analysts fits because there's not much they can do with them.

Colonel O'Neill,

We have removed Dr. Jackson from the care of these bumbling morons to a place of safety where his wounds will be tended by a physician and where he will receive excellent care.

Rest assured, he will not be harmed in any way. We have a great deal of respect for the good doctor.

It may be some time before you hear from him again, but don't worry too much. We won't let anything happen to him.

We left all his captors dead, but feel free to shoot the bodies if it will make you feel better.

Your Despised Friends

"Damnit!" Jack growled.

"What is it, sir?" Carter asked.

"According to this, someone came in, killed all the bastards holding Daniel and took Daniel away with them."

"He's been kidnapped from his kidnappers?" she exclaimed.

"So it appears."

"Colonel, we found five more bodies, sir," Feretti reported. "This is getting weird."

"Acknowledged," Jack said. "We've found indications that whoever did this took Daniel with them. Keep on your guard, but we need to cover this place top to bottom and make sure there's no one left."

"Yes sir."

Jack turned back to his team and Antonov said, "I must telephone my superiors. This . . . this is not what we were expecting."

"Not hardly," Jack said. "I think you'd better stay with the group, though. We don't want to risk someone still being here."

The young Russian soldier nodded and they headed out. A search of the entire house revealed that Daniel was not within, living or dead. They did locate the rooms where Daniel was held and where he was tortured. Once they had made certain that there were no living people in the building and that Daniel was most definitely not on the premises, both Jack and Antonov reported to their superiors.

"We found where Daniel was being kept, sir," Jack said once he had Hammond on the phone. "But he's gone."

"Gone?" Hammond exclaimed. "Gone where?"

"That's the trouble, sir, we don't know. Someone came, killed all the bad guys and left a note saying that they took Daniel someplace safe, but that we may not hear from him for awhile."

"You must be joking. Who on earth would have done such a thing?"

"Wish I was, sir. Whoever did it has quite a sense of humor, and a morbid tendency towards ritual."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the note is addressed to me directly, and they suggested that I should shoot the bodies if it would make me feel better. And they left all the bodies lying straight, arms at their sides, with their weapons carefully placed. The guy who presumably whipped Daniel had a whip coiled on his chest."

Hammond was silent for several seconds. "I've got to report this up the chain of command. I'll get back to you."

Jack nodded and hung up the phone, then he turned to the others. Teal'c looked serious, and Carter just looked confused. Sumner was a few feet off, talking to Meyers, and Antonov was still making his report.

"So, what do you think?" Jack asked.

"I think they probably left in cars of some kind, so we're not going to be able to follow them real easily," Carter said.

"I think they were Americans and soldiers," Teal'c said. "There is a sense of . . ." He paused and appeared to be searching for a word. "A sense of vendetta about all of this."

"It's an awful lot of effort, sir," Carter said, looking around uncomfortably. They'd returned to the library for the calls. "They killed eighteen people, moved them into position, put their things into position, then carefully left the doors so that they were just open enough to be open, but not so that we could tell that they weren't closed from a distance."

"What I wish to know is how much of this DanielJackson witnessed," Teal'c said. "I believe it would disturb him."

Carter nodded fervently. "Daniel would freak at something like this."

"And then he'd start babbling, explaining it so he could avoid thinking too hard about it," Jack said. "We can't know the answer to that question till we find him."

"And we can't find him here," Sumner said, coming up to them suddenly, trailed by an uneasy looking Meyers. "Where are we going now?"

"Now we're waiting for orders from Hammond," Jack said.

Sumner looked ready to explode. Jack knew the feeling. He couldn't help wondering if they'd have gotten Daniel back if they'd found out about this place a little earlier in the day.

After nearly forty minutes, two groups arrived. Jack watched with amused horror as the CIA started trying to work with the Russian intelligence agency to investigate the crime scene.

His phone rang, and half the people in the room reached around towards their hips. Jack answered it and said, "O'Neill."

"This is Hammond. I'm ordering you all home."

"Sir!"

"You are not trained in investigation, Jack, and neither is anyone else on your teams. We're sending along someone to monitor things. We need you back here to do what you are trained for."

Jack took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes sir. Is transport already arranged?"

"It is. I'll see you in about ten hours."

Jack acknowledged the order and hung up. "We're going back stateside," he said.

"But, sir –" Carter started.

"Those are our orders, major," Jack said flatly. Carter winced at his tone, but she stopped protesting. "Let's go home," he said, and saw the distress and anger in nearly every face that they were leaving the job undone. The general was right, not one of them had the knowledge or skills to be of use in this situation. They'd barely had the right abilities for the mission they'd just flubbed.

It was time to let the professionals do what they knew how to do, but Jack wasn't going to relax and not worry about it. He was going to ride Hammond and anyone else he could find. They weren't just going to accept this MIA thing with Daniel.

He was waiting. He knew they would come for him. Jack would not allow him to be wrong.

Tired, sore from the rough handling at midday, a little light-headed from the pain meds, Daniel wanted to sleep, but the one time he dropped off, he leaned back against the seat and woke himself up. He looked around at the other people on the plane, and though two of them were looking at him, they turned away quickly, back to whatever they were doing. So far it had been a fairly silent flight. None of the others had initiated any conversation with him, and he wasn't up to trying to talk to them.

Hours had passed, and Daniel wondered where they were. He very much doubted they were going to try and fly this little plane all the way to the states, so it was no surprise to him when they started banking for a landing. He looked out the window at the airport. This wasn't a little airfield out in the middle of nowhere. This was a serious airport. Maybe he'd get lucky and be able to let someone know that he needed help.

Even if he only managed to make a commotion, if he made himself stand out, searchers might be able to locate him by that alone.

They landed at some distance from the large terminals. Daniel couldn't see anyone but the ground crew nearby. He watched out the window as they taxied. From the signs he could see, he guessed they were probably in either France, Switzerland or Belgium. They slowed to a stop beside a much larger plane that was clearly waiting for them. The stairs were pushed up to the door, and there were people at the base of them, waiting.

Their plane came to a stop and Daniel marshaled himself. If he was going to make a noticeable fuss, now was the time. He was so tired, though, and so achy even with the pain pills that the idea wasn't very appealing. When the steps were lowered, Daniel looked over at Makepeace, who nodded. "Come on, Jackson," he said as he stood up himself. Two of the other men were already going down the steps. The other two were waiting for him, so Daniel got himself out of the seatbelt and used the seat in front of him to pull himself up.

He walked wearily down the steps to the tarmac. He was considering how best to make his fuss so that at least the ground crew would notice and remember him when one of them nodded at him. "Hello, Dr. Jackson," he said and Daniel blinked at him. "Meadows?" he said after a moment.

"Yes sir," Meadows said, and grinned at one of his fellows. "I told you he'd remember me. That's ten bucks."

Daniel smiled weakly. The ground crew was part of this organization, clearly. Airman Meadows had been with the SGC until shortly after the sting operation that had netted Makepeace, in the support staff. He'd been transferred a few weeks later. Apparently he had been part of that rogue operation, but Daniel hadn't known it. Between the five men from his plane, the four or five ground crew and the four guys from the plane they were getting onto . . . he looked across at the distant terminal. There was no way he was going to get anyone's attention under these circumstances.

He got onto the plane with reluctance and stared in dismay at the chairs. None of them looked remotely comfortable for a man who couldn't lean back.

With a sympathetic look, Makepeace took him gently by the arm and led him to a door. Unlatching it, he opened it and said, "You might want to get some sleep."

Inside this compartment there was a bed. Upon seeing it, all thought of escape or troublemaking left him, lost to the simple desire for rest. He walked inside and lowered himself gently to the mattress, face down, barely noticing the door shutting behind him. Within moments, he was asleep.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he woke up with a rumble in his gut. He rolled gingerly onto his side and pushed himself up to a sitting position. The windows in this space were closed. He reached out stiffly and opened one. They seemed to be flying into the sunset. He knew he'd been traveling for hours, yet there was still sunlight, barely, touching the ocean below. Rising, he walked to the door and tried to open it.

To his surprise, it didn't budge. He knocked on it, feeling foolish to be knocking from inside the room. "Hey! What's going on?"

After a moment the door opened and Makepeace looked over his shoulder. "Who locked this?" he asked. There was no reply. "What do you need, Jackson?"

"Food," Daniel said, squinting. "Where did I leave my glasses?"

"I don't know, but I'll get you a sandwich."

Daniel turned around and found his glasses, then walked out into the main cabin of the plane. Three of the five men who'd accompanied him on the first plane were sitting around a table playing cards. Two of them were about the same age as Makepeace, and cut of the same cloth. One had dark hair cut very close to his head, and one had nearly no hair. What hair he did have was gray. The third was younger, probably mid-thirties.

Daniel walked over to where there was a chair beside a window and sat down, carefully sitting forward. "So, where are we heading?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it, Dr. Jackson," said a dark haired man. "We'll be landing in about six hours, and that's all you need to know."

Daniel blinked at the man. "Oddly enough, that's not all I want to know." The man shrugged and then stretched. "So, do I get to know anybody's name?"

"This operation is on a strictly need to know basis," the man said.

"Well . . . I need to know your names," Daniel said reasonably.

"No, you don't," the other man said. The younger man had an odd sort of grin on his face and the gray haired man rolled his eyes.

Daniel nodded slowly. "I suppose not. I could just call you Stooge Number One, Stooge Number Two and Stooge Number Three. Not sure how well you'd like it, though."

"My name is Kevin," the young man said with a grin. "That's Mike, and that's Stuart. You could also call us Larry, Moe and Curly, but I'll let you assign those names."

"Probably wise," Mike said with a straight face. Stuart said nothing, just glowered at Kevin.

Makepeace walked over to Daniel and handed him a freshly unwrapped ham sandwich on a plastic plate and a Coke. "I told you he could talk monkeys out of trees, Stu."

Stu scowled. "That's why I locked the door," he muttered.

"What's he going to do?" Makepeace asked. "Convince one of us to help him escape over the Atlantic? It's one heck of a long swim."

Not sure whether to be amused or alarmed by this estimate of his persuasive capacity, Daniel ate in silence. Makepeace rejoined the game, but the conversation around the table seemed stilted, as if his presence was inhibiting them. He finished his sandwich and was still drinking the soda when Makepeace stood up again. He walked over and pulled out one of the pill bottles.

"Antibiotics. It's time for another one."

Resignedly, Daniel took the pill and downed it. He did not want his back to get infected. With the food settling his stomach, he began to grow sleepy again, but he didn't want to go to sleep. He wanted to get a look at where they were landing through the windows. In order to make good his escape, he needed an idea of where he was in the country.

He wondered how long they'd been in the air. Seven hours to go. A few minutes later, he blinked at the window and realized that he'd fallen asleep sitting up. He straightened more and tried to focus on something, anything that would keep him awake. It happened again and took a firmer hold of himself. He had to stay awake.

Abruptly he found Makepeace standing next to him. "Get up, Jackson."

"The name is Daniel."

"Fine, get up, Daniel. You're falling asleep where you sit."

"So I should get up?" Daniel allowed Makepeace to help him to his feet and sighed as the other man walked him to the bedroom. "This doesn't make any sense. Why do you wake up someone who's sleeping so they can go to sleep?"

"Even for you that's . . ." Makepeace paused. "Do you have a fever?" He sat Daniel down and felt his forehead. "Damn, I think you do."

"Is it okay if I lie down now?" Daniel asked, mustering a bit of sarcasm.

"Go ahead."

Daniel barely heard the response as he lay down face first. The next time he awoke, he pushed himself upright, blinking, not immediately certain where he was.

"You might as well stay lying down, Jackson," said a voice he didn't immediately recognize. Blinking, he turned and saw a dark haired man sitting by the window across from him. Stu, his memory supplied him after a moment.

"Why's that?"

"Because you can't look out the window, and we're almost there."

Daniel stared at him for a moment. "I see," he said. He felt wretched. He had a headache, his face felt very warm, and he had to . . . "I need the bathroom."

"Nice try, Jackson," Stu said condescendingly. "Just lie back down and –"

"According to you I've been asleep for nearly seven hours, and before that I was asleep for a good two to four hours. I haven't urinated in at least nine hours by that count. I need the bathroom."

Stu looked disgruntled at that, but it got him moving. He raised a radio to his lips. "Hey, Robert, your friend in here needs the head."

"Thank you," Daniel said. A moment later, Makepeace came through the door. Daniel got up and went with him. When they were out of the room, he said, "What's the matter with him?"

"Stu?" Daniel nodded and Makepeace shrugged. "He's just in a bad mood." He snorted. "He's like O'Neill, doesn't think much of scientists."

Daniel glanced back over his shoulder, not certain that Jack would appreciate the comparison. The toilet, naturally enough, had no windows. He half expected to be locked in by Stu so that he couldn't sweet talk anyone into letting him see out a window, but the door opened without problem. Makepeace was standing right there, though, and all the windows had their covers down.

"You're going to want to sit down, Jackson," Makepeace said. "We're landing shortly." Daniel nodded and headed over towards a chair by a window. "Nope, sorry, over here would be better."

Sourly, Daniel walked over to the chair Makepeace indicated and sat down. "This is pretty stupid, you know," he said.

"Orders," Makepeace replied shortly.

"That is such an easy excuse," Daniel commented. "Where have I heard that before? 'I was just following orders. . .' Oh, yeah, the Nuremburg trials. Believe it led to a fair number of executions."

Makepeace glowered at him silently for a few moments. "Would you prefer we'd left you with the bitch?" he asked.

Daniel shook his head vehemently. "No! No, I'm glad not to be there anymore. But, theoretically, Jack would have been there in a few hours."

"They would have killed you."

"They didn't kill me when you came in."

Makepeace shrugged. "We have fewer restrictions than O'Neill, being outside the standard military hierarchy."

Daniel blinked as he took in the implications of this. "What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.

"That's not your problem, Jackson," Stu said, coming out of the bedroom. "I thought we'd agreed to keep him in there."

"What difference does it make if he's in there or out here?" Makepeace asked reasonably. "And all I recall is you saying that it would be a good thing if he slept all the way till we landed."

Stu shrugged and sat down. These chairs were grouped in a semi-circle, so now Daniel had a man on either side of him, neatly penning him in. He was sitting forward, not very comfortably, so he was a little too close to both his companions. He tried to slide back a little, but the seat wasn't very deep. He didn't have far to go before his back hit the chair's back and he bit his lip.

Makepeace must have noticed his expression because he hitched up his hip and pulled out the bottles of pills. The door at the forward end of the compartment opened and Kevin walked in. "Hey, could you grab a soda out of the fridge?"

Kevin nodded and opened the fridge under the bar, pulling out a Coke. He walked over and handed it to Makepeace who was already holding out a pair of pills to Daniel. "I really don't want the analgesic," Daniel said.

"Don't be an ass," Makepeace replied. "There's no reason for you to be in pain."

"I was fine with the naproxen."

"The doctor ordered them, you need to take them."

"Why are you arguing with him, Robert?" Stu asked, sitting forward. "Give me those pills. Keven, put your hands on his shoulders."

Neither man moved, but Daniel felt his stomach knot up. They were suddenly way too close. "We're not going that route, Stu," Makepeace said. He turned to Daniel and held out the pills. "Take your medicine." Daniel felt conflicting impulses. One part of him wanted to say no in the face of the obvious intimidation tactics. On the other hand, antagonizing them was stupid. Makepeace shook his head. "Come on, you know Fraiser would make you take it anyway."

Daniel slumped and held out his hand. He washed the pills down with the Coke and sat there, the center of attention and not thrilled with it. "So," he said, "what happens when we land?"

"You do as you're told," Stu said.

"Lighten up," Kevin said. "Give him a break."

"When we land, this plane will taxi inside a hangar," Makepeace said. "A hangar indirectly owned by a member of our organization, so don't think you can get any help there." Daniel nodded tightly. "We will then transfer you to a van where you will ride with me and Stu in the back."

"No windows?" Daniel asked.

"I'm afraid not."

"Figures."

"When we arrive at our base, the driver will take us inside a garage, and after that I'm not altogether sure what happens."

"Did you ask?"

"No," Makepeace said, and his mouth twitched a bit. "I don't need to know."

Daniel nodded, more than a little alarmed that the one familiar person in the room didn't seem to know or care what was going to happen to him. "So, do they give you guys something in basic that destroys your curiosity? Or just your conscience?"

Stu let out an irritated sound, got up and walked away. "Jackson, no one's going to hurt you," Makepeace said. "And I'm on the team that's supposed to keep you safe."

Annoyed that Makepeace had seen to the heart of his reaction, Daniel took another drink of the soda. "Sounds thrilling," he said. "So, what earned you babysitting duty?"

"I volunteered," Makepeace said with a grin. "When I heard you'd got yourself into trouble again, I knew someone had to pull your fat out of the fire."

"I didn't do anything," Daniel protested.

"No, you didn't." Makepeace shrugged an apology. "Still, with that second video tape it was abundantly clear that someone had to get you out of there and fast. You're too stubborn for your own good, sometimes."

"Would you have done what they told you?" Daniel demanded.

Makepeace made a face and said, "I'm a marine."

"And that makes you better than an archeologist?" Daniel put the soda down in a little drink holder in the arm of the chair.

"No," Makepeace shook his head and Kevin had an oddly stuffed look on his face as he sat down in the chair Stuart had vacated. "It means I have different rules."

Crossing his arms, Daniel looked sourly at him. "So archeologists are just supposed to give in?"

Makepeace rolled his eyes. "No, Jackson, you're supposed to stay alive to be rescued. Hasn't O'Neill ever explained that to you?" Daniel opened his mouth to reply, but Makepeace forestalled him. "No, I know he has. More than once probably."

"Those people were lunatics, I wasn't giving them anything that might help them figure out how to use Goa'uld technology."

"Laudable, but –"

"Hey, Robert," Kevin said softly, "let's not argue." Makepeace's eyes widened, as if in realization, and he stopped talking, leaning back in his chair. Kevin turned to Daniel and said, "Dr. Jackson, we're just glad you're safe and out of the hands of those sadistic idiots."

"Yeah, I'm glad to be out the hands of those sadistic idiots, too, but I don't feel particularly safe."

Kevin smiled. "I can understand that, but you don't have to worry. You are safe with us. Safer than you have been for awhile, I'd wager."

The plane began its descent, and Daniel wanted to get up and open a window. He wanted to see where they were. He clenched his fists under his arms, which were still crossed tightly over his chest. They made their way through the traffic patterns both in the air and on the ground, until finally they stopped. Makepeace and Kevin got up, and Daniel grimaced. Even if they weren't already in the hangar, he wasn't going to see anything outside beyond a runway that wouldn't tell him much. He stayed sitting down, his eyes closed with resignation.

Even Jack might have had trouble getting out of this, but then they wouldn't do this to Jack. If Jack had been caught the way Daniel had been, they'd have left him to his fate.

The door opened and Makepeace came over to him. "It's time."

"Right." Daniel got up and went down the stairs outside. More guys. More guns. One of those ubiquitous plain white vans that you pass a half dozen times on the freeway without thinking twice. They made for that and Daniel stepped up into the back of it at Makepeace's urging. There were seats on either side and Daniel sank down onto one of them feeling as if he'd come full circle. At least he wasn't tied up.