It didn't take them long after that to find Daniel crumpled in an alley just off the market, surrounded by onlookers. Another man lay near him, bleeding badly. Daniel was trying to stand, but the blood running from one ear was a visible cue of the head trauma he'd received. Teal'c gently hoisted the man to his feet.
"Who took her, Daniel? What happened?"
"I… we… were walking, and this group walked past us, and they just… God, I can't believe it…"
Jack grabbed the man by his chin and held Daniel's eyes level with his own. "Daniel, I need you to concentrate. How many men? What did they do?"
"There were… five or six, I think. One of them just walked past and stuck a needle in her arm, like… like it was nothing, and she… she just collapsed. I tried to… I mean, I got one… but when I woke up, she was gone. Oh, God, Jack," he gasped.
Leaving Daniel with Teal'c, the colonel rolled the other man to his back and slapped his cheeks, trying to wake him, but he was too late. The man was gone.
"Prometheus, this is SG leader," he barked into his radio. "I need a location on Carter. Now!"
"Sir, she appears to be just over a klick east-south-east of you, moving away on that bearing," a young voice responded.
"Can you get her out of there?" he asked, already moving in that direction. Daniel and Teal'c were following at a slower pace, the younger man leaning heavily on his teammate.
"No, sir, we can't seem to get a solid lock on her."
Of course not, Jack thought. Asgard technology really only worked when you didn't need it. "Teal'c and I are going after her. Get Daniel back up to the ship; he's injured."
"Yes, sir."
Within moments, light enveloped the doctor and he disappeared. Teal'c quickly caught up with O'Neill, and the two hurried in the direction indicated by the ship. "We oughta be able to outpace them, if she's unconscious."
"Indeed. Though by Daniel Jackson's description, O'Neill, it would seem that this is not their first abduction."
"I know, Teal'c. That's what worries me."
"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter has stopped at one-point-four klicks east-south-east of you, sir. It seems to be a building of some sort."
"Acknowledged, Prometheus. Keep us updated."
Damn, Jack wished he was ten years younger as he ran, pushing himself to keep up with the Jaffa's pace. A seven-minute mile didn't seem nearly fast enough with Carter taken and unconscious.
"Colonel O'Neill," the young voice said through the radio again, "She just… disappeared."
"What?" he gasped, still running.
"We're not sure, sir, but all signs of her just vanished off our screens. She's gone."
"Get us to her last known location, Sergeant," Jack ordered.
"You're getting close, sir. Point three clicks south of you, sir."
A block and a half. He could make that, he thought as he and Teal'c rounded a quick corner and found themselves just outside what seemed to be a warehouse.
"You should be standing right in front of it, sir," the man coached.
"Yeah, I know." He looked at Teal'c. "We have no idea how many guys are in there. This is a bad idea."
"Indeed, O'Neill. I will take point."
With no further discussion, the Jaffa stepped in the door, Jack on his heels. There were seven men scattered around the warehouse, and, of course, they all dove for weapons. Several zat blasts later, Jack announced, "Okay, weapons down, hands up!" and the men blissfully followed orders.
Smart guys, Jack thought.
Several minutes later, when the men were all lined up against a wall, Jack started in on the serious questions. "You all wanna tell me who's in charge here?"
They were silent.
"Okay, then tell me about the woman that was just brought in. Where is she?" When no one answered, Jack's temper started to flare. "Somebody's gonna say something, or somebody's gonna get hurt," he threatened.
Still no one answered, and Jack pulled out his knife. "Fingers, Teal'c?" he asked gravelly.
"I would recommend ears, O'Neill. I believe a Tau'ri can hear quite well with only one."
Jack made a face. "Yeah, but the ears are less scary because you can't see the blood."
Teal'c cocked his head for a moment, examining that thought. "Perhaps you are right, O'Neill."
"Fingers it is, then." The colonel headed straight for the youngest and most scared of the group. "All I want to know is who's in charge," he said softly.
"He is!" The boy pointed to an older man at the other end of the line.
"Coward!" the man spat. "You will never work in this solar system again!"
"Don't worry," Jack reassured the boy, "neither will he. Now, you all are gonna sit here nice and easy while we leave. Anyone who goes for a weapon will be shot – and not stunned this time. Clear?"
The men nodded, and Teal'c dragged their leader outside the warehouse.
"Prometheus, this is SG leader. Take us up," Jack ordered.
"We can't, sir," the sergeant responded. "Whatever's near you, we can't get a lock."
The man sneered.
Jack and Teal'c dragged him two blocks from the warehouse and tried again, but to no avail. "Okay," Jack said finally. "Strip."
"What?" the man demanded incredulously.
"You heard me. Take your clothes off."
"I will not!"
Jack pulled his knife out again and placed it at the neckline of the man's shirt. "I'll do it for you," he offered politely. The man immediately stripped to his boxers, and Jack threw the clothes into another ally. As soon as he stepped back toward Teal'c, he felt the light envelop him…
And he reassembled on the bridge of Prometheus.
"Where's my daughter, Jack." It wasn't really a question.
Crap. Jack had forgotten for a moment that Jacob had joined them this trip. Great.
"Dunno yet," he answered. "But this guy does."
Jacob nodded and stepped up to the nearly naked man. "Where's my daughter?" he asked.
The man laughed in his face.
Not to be outdone, the older Carter grabbed the man by his throat, his eyes flashing as Selmak repeated in a much lower, more threatening voice, "Where is my daughter?"
Jack thought the guy's eyes were about to bug out of his head as he realized that Jacob was not your ordinary human. "She's… she's gone," he stammered. "I sold her."
"You WHAT?"
It took Teal'c to pull the old man away before he did serious damage.
"Sold her to whom? And for what purpose?" Colonel Pendergast, commander of the Prometheus, spoke up.
The man snickered. "Your friend is taking up a new career. Or, should I say, an old one. The oldest profession in the galaxy."
~/~
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Sam woke to a low moan – which, she realized as she slowly came to, had been her own. She was face down on a stone floor, and she was freezing. Her jacket, as well as all her weapons, had been removed, leaving her in only a thin tee shirt, and that wasn't doing much.
Her neck ached from her position on the floor, and she groaned as she pushed herself to sitting and looked around. The room was small, stone, no furnishings – a cell. Underground, too, she thought, by the look of the tiny, high windows. It was dark outside. What was this place?
Carter gradually became aware of the throbbing in her arm, and she yanked up her sleeve to take a look. A small red lump had formed in the a few inches below her shoulder. A bite? An injection? She couldn't seem to remember. Last she knew, she had been looking at fine printed silks in a market with Daniel.
There was a window in the door, and Sam went to it, hoping for a clue. It was dim, but there seemed to be several rooms like her owns along a hallway.
Suddenly, a man came storming down the set of stairs at one end, yanking a young woman behind him. She was wearing almost nothing, her hair disheveled, as though she had been dragged straight out of bed. He slammed the girl into one of the doors, holding her back by her neck. "You may be one of my best, but that was unacceptable!" he yelled in her face.
"He hurt me. You promised not to send me the rough guys," she gasped, tears streaming down her face.
"He paid good money for you and I don't give a damn what he did. You know the consequences."
That sounded bad. Sam was starting to get the feeling she knew exactly what this place was, and she didn't like it at all.
"No, please," the girl begged as he opened the door and shoved her through. "Sileem! I'm sorry!"
She ran for him, but he raised some sort of stick and jabbed her with it. Her body contorted, as if shocked, and she fell to the floor. He locked the door behind her.
As he turned to leave, he caught sight of Sam staring through the doorway and headed for her. She backpedaled swiftly as he entered and flashed her a smile. "It's good to see you're awake. I'm Sileem," he said graciously.
She already knew he was not the nice man he was trying to seem. "I was taken against my will," she said sternly, "I think." She really wished she could remember how she got there. "I want to see my team."
He shrugged. "I do not know of any team. You came to me alone."
"Where am I?"
"Your new home," he said simply.
"Oh, I don't think so. Release me."
"What spirit!" he said with a smile. "My clients will enjoy you."
"Not a chance."
The smile disappeared, and the man's face went disturbingly cold. "You seem to think you have a choice," he growled, "but I'm afraid that is not the case. You will do as you're told."
Sam shook her head, jaw clenched. He reached for her, but she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind him, shoving his face hard into the wall. She was out the door like a shot, rounding the corner and halfway up the steps when she heard his voice.
"Grab her!"
Two men appeared as she hit the top of the stairs, each one grabbing an arm. She struggled, kicking valiantly, but she couldn't make them let go. They dragged her back down the steps and into the room where Sileem still stood. "Tie her up," he ordered.
They shoved her against the back wall and clamped her wrists in chains high above her head, her toes just barely touching the floor. The guards left, leaving her alone with Sileem. "Are you feeling more cooperative now?" he asked, approaching her.
In response, she let her full body weight rest in the chains and swung both feet up to kick him squarely in the stomach. "No," she spat.
He hit the floor but quickly recovered, grabbing the weapon he'd used on the other girl on the way to his feet. When she tried to kick again, he tapped her leg with it, and she snapped it back as all the muscles tensed and pain shot through her body. He moved in closer and jabbed it into her ribs, causing pain to explode through her torso and her vision to black.
When she opened her eyes, he was pressed up against her, his breath hot against her face. "You should not bite the hand that feeds you," he threatened, "or there will be no food at all. Things can get much, much worse."
Abruptly, he moved to leave the room, stopping at the door with the same gracious smile he'd entered with. "You will learn your place," he said. "You are not the first woman I've broken. Besides, some men like the fight."
With a laugh, he was gone.