Chapter Three The Path

The Path

Yesterday's ten minute trip to the Harben house took the combined teams nearly an hour on this miserable morning. Sheppard and Dever Veron were on point with the rest of the group fanned out across the roadway. The weather conditions were as difficult as they feared and as Sheppard had expected, Teyla was getting blown about; Ronon and three other good sized Marines had form a wind break around her and she was able to walk better. He realized that Dever was trying to say something over the wind and he moved closer to the constable.

"Colonel, I agree with you; I think that we should stop at the Harben house for a few minutes and go over the plan. Once we get on the path, we aren't going to be able to discuss much out here."

Sheppard nodded and raised his arm to stop the group. He motioned Lorne over, "Get the team leaders and have them join us in the house, everyone else stays out here." Lorne nodded and went to get the others.

Sheppard walked over to Beckett and McKay and motioned for them to follow him. They trudged through the snow that had drifted against the stone fence and had to dig the gate out so they could move into the yard. They made their way to the back of the house and entered the kitchen.

McKay immediately sat down in a chair, "How are we going to go four more miles in this stuff Sheppard. We need to get the jumpers here."

"Rodney, the winds are too erratic to use the jumpers and with visibility so low, our sensors aren't working any better than the radios; a jumper could slam into a hillside or the ground. Not going to risk it."

"Colonel, it is going to be more difficult for your people to follow the path to the fortress than it was for them to follow the main road we just traveled. The men in my militia know this area; as children, we all played around the fortress and in the old mining caves along the stream just down the hill below the fortress. I think it would be better if some of my men were assigned to your teams, so that if conditions worsen, it could help to keep your people from getting lost."

Sheppard was quiet for a moment, trying to get his breath. He realized that Dever was making sense but he was also formulating something else in his head. His spidy sense was working overtime.

"Constable, I think that would be a good idea because my guys will not have a clue where they are. Major, go with the constable and get the teams set up and make sure they get updated on the terrain we'll be dealing with; I'll be right there, I need to check with Dr. McKay and get an update on the weather."

"Understood, colonel," Lorne left the house with Dever, Isaacs, and Stackhouse following.

As the two men walked out of sight, Sheppard turned to McKay and Beckett. "We don't have much time. I need for the two of you to stay here; the radio will have a better chance of working if you are closer to the jumpers. I want you to contact Captain Waters and tell him to get here under cloak; Lt. Salem is to stay at the gate in the other jumper. When Waters gets here, the two of you get in the jumper and tell him to stay cloaked and wait here until you hear from us."

Sheppard had slipped his backpack off and was pulling something out of it. "Here are four extra light sticks, take these and mark that intersection in front of the house, Waters should be able to land there."

"Colonel, I thought you said the jumper couldn't fly in this weather?" Beckett asked.

"I lied, it's not ideal weather and if the weather gets worse, it won't be a lie but Waters is an excellent pilot; he can get the jumper here, as long as his instruments and sensors are working. Now, I need for you to use these to get that lock off the basement door and find out what is down there." Sheppard was holding up a pair of heavy-duty bolt cutters he had also pulled from his pack.

McKay was getting just a bit nervous, "Sheppard, you're going to leave us here and expect us to check out the basement?"

Sheppard took a deep breath, "Worried about the boogieman, McKay?"

Beckett simply looked at his friend, "Rodney, the colonel would not ask us to do this if he thought it was dangerous."

"Look, something's up, I can feel it and I need for you to stay here, check out this basement, and get that jumper nearer to us. Carson, who's carrying your medpack?"

"Sergeant Parker has it."

"OK, I am going to have him come over to you, you act like you are looking for something, if anyone asked, tell them you getting pain meds for Rodney. I won't be able to give Parker these orders but you can; I want you guys to hold back until you can't see us anymore. Get back to the house and lay low to give us time to get out of the area, and then contact Waters and tell him to get here, that's a direct order from me. That way you'll have two SO's with you."

Looking at McKay, Sheppard asked, "Weather."

"Bad, winds are increasing up to 45, gusts at 55-60, temp up to 28°; long range the same and the magnetic storm is getting stronger."

"OK, let's go." Sheppard put his backpack on, pulled his goggles over his eyes and headed out the door. McKay and Beckett exchanged a nervous look and followed the colonel.

Sheppard stepped back onto the roadway and even in daylight, he was having trouble seeing more than a couple of feet in front of him, the wind was churning the snow that had fallen while more was coming down. He finally spotted the large Marine carrying Beckett's extra medpack and made his way over to him. He noticed that Dever was standing very near the front gate.

"Parker, Dr. Beckett would like his medpack; Dr. McKay's back is acting up and he needs some pain meds. Take the pack to Beckett, once he has treated McKay catch up with us; we won't be that far ahead. Sergeant, I need for you to follow the doctors' orders as if they were mine," Sheppard made this statement looking the sergeant directly in the eye. With a slight nod of his head, Sgt. Parker let his CO know that he understood, responded with a 'sir' and turned to join the doctors.

Sheppard quickly caught up with Dever, "Let's go catch up with the front of the line."

Dever looked back and could barely see the three men behind them; he could see that one of them was looking for something in the bigger bag. "Everything alright, colonel?"

Sheppard could hear the suspicion in Dever's voice, "Yeah, everything's OK. Rodney has a bad back and needs some mild pain meds; the cold's bothering him a bit. Once Dr. Beckett gets some pain pills in him, they'll catch up with us pretty quickly. Don't worry, Sgt. Parker comes from snow country on our world; he won't get lost." Sheppard picked up his pace and Dever did so as well but not before he took another look back. Sheppard noticed the look back; there was no doubt, something wasn't right.

The House

Sgt. Parker looked at Dr. Beckett and Dr. McKay and simply said, "I believe you may have some orders for me?"

McKay answered, "Yes, the colonel wants us to stay at the house but doesn't want the constable to know. We are to contact Captain Waters and have him bring the jumper here, cloaked. We need to check out the basement of this house and then get in the jumper and wait for orders. The colonel hoped that the blowing snow would cover the fact that we are no longer with the group."

Beckett handed the sergeant the light sticks, "The colonel said to put these out to mark the landing area for Waters."

"Doctor, I can barely see you; I can't see any of the others so that should work. Corporals Brenner and Rodriguez were at the very back of the convoy; they will not let any of the Glosterns double back or wait for us." Parker took the light sticks and laid them out around the perimeter of the intersection and then returned to the two doctors.

So, we need to check on something in the house?"

Rodney answered, "Yes, Sheppard is concerned about what might be in a locked basement."

"Then, doctors', lead the way."

The wind was beginning to pick up and Rodney and Carson held on to each other as they rounded the back corner of the house and entered the kitchen. Rodney took off his backpack and began rummaging.

"What the heck is in these things?" He pulled out power bars, MRE's, socks, medical supplies but when he got to the hand warmer packs, he ripped the package open sighing as he held the warm pack in his hands. "This is wonderful."

Beckett just shook his head. "Rodney, we need to contact Captain Waters and check the basement per the colonel's orders."

Rodney looked up a bit sheepishly and said, "I know, I just wanted to feel some warmth."

Parker who had just executed a sweep of the first and second floors remarked, "Doctors', I'm just happy to be out of that wind. Now, anyone tried to reach the captain yet?" When both the doctors shook their head no, Parker pulled out his radio.

"Captain Waters, come in. Captain Waters, this is Sergeant Parker. Come in. Over."

Static was all that that came from the radio and the sergeant repeated the message. Then, weak but recognizable, they could hear Captain Waters.

"Go ahead, sergeant."

"Captain, Dr. McKay has orders from Colonel Sheppard."

Parker handed the radio to McKay, "Captain, the colonel wants you to come to the Harben house under cloak, Lt. Salem is to stay in the other jumper near the gate. The road from town t-bones into another road and the house is at the intersection. We put light sticks out marking the area; Sheppard said you have enough room to land. We have to check something out in the house so give us about ten minutes before you take off."

"Understood, doctor. It won't take more than a couple of minutes to get there, radio me when you are ready; if I don't hear from you, I will leave in ten minutes. Waters out."

Beckett pulled the bolt cutters out of his winter backpack. "Sergeant, we have a lock to cut."

The Path

Sheppard was positive that with the sun up the visibility had gotten worse and he admitted Dever had been right about one thing, the overgrown path was very difficult to navigate. He had gotten off the path twice in the thirty minutes they had been walking, once taking a nosedive into a snowdrift that had built up along a tree line.

At the farmhouse, he had pulled out a body heat pack and hand warmers and was more comfortable than he had been earlier. He knew that being out in blizzard conditions was suicidal but two women were in the hands of these raiders and he wasn't about to worry about the weather as long as they were in the danger.

At the rate they were traveling, it would probably be at minimum another two and a half ours before they reached the fortress with no guarantee that the raiders were using it as a hideout. He simply had a gut feeling that the fortress was being used as a hideout. Too bad there weren't any concrete facts to back up what his gut was telling him. Well, he thought, we've acted on less information; maybe we'll get lucky again.

Looking behind him, he could barely see Ronon who was staying beside Teyla. He thought he could see Captain Isaacs behind them but the visibility was deteriorating as the winds began to grow stronger. It was going to be long trek to the fortress.

The Harben House

Beckett had found an oil lamp and they could see better in the darkened hallway where the door to the basement was located. The hallway was not large enough for all of them, especially with the six foot four muscular frame of Sgt. Parker. The sergeant had the bolt cutters, Rodney had the oil lamp, and Beckett was waiting just outside the hall in the kitchen.

It took the strong Marine about three good squeezes on the bolt cutters to break the lock. Before he opened the door, he unhooked his P-90 and turned on the attached flashlight. Whispering, "Doc, I'll check it out and then give you the all clear. If the situation goes south, get out and radio Captain Waters to come ASAP."

Parker descended the wooden staircase, making absolutely no noise. Beckett and McKay were now both standing in the hallway barely breathing. Minutes passed before they heard the sergeant's anxious voice, "Dr. Beckett, get down here and bring your med kit. You have patients."

Pushing past McKay, Beckett said, "Rodney, get my kit and bring it down." He vanished down the stairs.

Rodney grabbed the smaller medpack and was in the basement in a matter of minutes but he wasn't expecting to see who Beckett's patients were. Sgt. Parker was holding the oil lamp while Carson knelt next to a pale woman and a young girl, both were unconscious and the woman had a nasty bruise and cut on her forehead.

"Carson, do you think that is Harben's wife and daughter?"

"Aye, Rodney, I do."

"But how could they be here, didn't Dever say that they found small tracks the day they were taken but lost the trail?"

"Rodney, that's what he said but the colonel's instincts were correct about this basement, there was something wrong here. I am now hoping his instincts are telling him not to trust the constable. I think that fellow might be part of this."

Beckett finished his initial assessment of the two women and stood up, "Sergeant, can you carry the woman up; Rodney, take the oil lamp and my kit, I'll carry the girl."

"No, Carson, I'll carry her." Rodney knelt down and picked the younger patient up and started climbing the stairs. The sergeant smiled at Beckett, "He surprises us sometimes, doesn't he, doc?"

"Aye, lad; sometimes he even surprises himself."

The sergeant smiled, gently picked up the woman and went up the stairs with Dr. Beckett following.

The Path

"Hey, broki, wait up." Corporal Ramon Esai Rodriguez grabbed his partner by the jacket sleeve. He stopped on the path once he had Brenner's attention.

Brenner had been concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and was a bit miffed at his friend for breaking his cadence. "What?"

"Something's wrong, man. I just know it."

"Why do you think something's wrong?"

"These militia guys, they don't act like any military I have ever seen and I think something's up. I've been watching them. "

"Watching them? How the hell can you even see them, Ray? It's all white out here."

"Hey, man, I am a sniper remember? Got the eyes of an eagle. And I am telling you something is up. Those guys have been whispering to each other for a while now. I think it's a good thing that we don't have an escort. The colonel put us back here because those guys don't think a couple of young corporals are a threat. I think we need to drop back a bit and see what's gonna happen."

Brenner scoffed, "What? You think you have a spidy sense like the colonel? Not likely."

"Hey, maybe the colonel got his spidy sense from me. Now stay back here and be ready to slip off this trail if I tell you to, broki."

Ahead of them, Colonel Sheppard and the constable were planning how to approach the fortress in the blowing snow. Sheppard had stopped, he decided he wanted to close ranks a bit but it appeared that most of the teams stopped where they were with the exception of Ronon and Teyla who were soon standing next to him.

"Ronon, Teyla, you guys OK?"

"Yes, colonel, although I must say, I might have made it off this planet without using the stargate if Ronon had not been with me. You were right, the wind is fierce."

"I would say that fierce is a good word for it, Teyla. Guys, we should reach the end of the path in roughly another hour or so. We're going to be in a wide open field where the fortress is located, which means we are going to be really exposed. I'm counting on the blowing snow to give us enough cover so that we can get close to the building without being seen.

Dever added, "Colonel, I think if we keep our people in small groups it is less likely that all will be seen if any of us are. We should put some distance between the teams once we get there."

Sheppard nodded in agreement, "This might be the only advantage we're going to have, if we have one; we'll do it that way." Turning to Ronon and Teyla, "Dever says we will approach the fortress from the west. The only entrances are on the north which is the largest entrance and smaller doors on the east and south.

"Be careful if you take the south side of the building, there is a steep incline that starts about fifteen feet from the building and it levels out right at a stream." The constable added.

Sheppard continued, "We will need a way to coordinate everyone, I think what we need to do is set enough time for everyone to get in place; then storm the building together at a set time. Once we get to the clearing, we'll evaluate the storm conditions and determine how much time we need."

"You guys OK with this?" Sheppard asked, wondering if Ronon would tell him the truth.

Ronon just stared at Sheppard, which Sheppard knew meant he wasn't happy but he said, "OK." If things hadn't been so serious, Sheppard would have laughed instead he asked a favor.

"Get Lorne for me." Ronon nodded and turn to find Lorne.

Teyla tugged at Sheppard's arm and motioned for him to move away from Dever. When they had put some distance between them, Teyla asked, "Colonel, you seem unsettled, Ronon and I are concerned."

"You know me, always the worrier. I'm a bit concerned about this whole situation and I want you to stay close to Ronon. I don't trust these people. Stay alert and be careful; let Lorne know to keep his eyes open."

Sheppard walked away and rejoined Dever while Teyla watched Lorne walk up to the two men. He spoke with Sheppard for a few minutes as the colonel updated him and asked him to pass the plan though the group. Lorne then walked back to his group, Teyla followed.

Once the message had been passed along, they headed out again. Sheppard and Dever in the lead, with Ronon trying to keep an eye on them.

The Jumper

Captain Waters was able to land the jumper safely and had helped the others get the two women into the warm ship.

Rodney was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, staring out the window at the incessant snow fall. The jumper had been sitting on the road for just over two hours and snow drifts had already covered the jumper to the bottom of the windshield. Sgt. Parker was sitting in chair behind Waters leaving the back of the jumper to Beckett and his patients.

Rodney looked over at the captain, "Waters, shouldn't we try to contact the colonel?

Captain Waters shook his head, "Dr. McKay, we have gone over this several times, according to your own words, the colonel said to wait for orders. That's what the colonel meant and we are not going to contact him. We are going to wait."

"But Waters, we didn't know then that these women weren't with the raiders. Why were they in the basement and why did the constable search the house? Sheppard needs to know about this."

Waters started to answer him but Beckett walked to the cockpit door. "Rodney, Colonel Sheppard already knew something was wrong. He'll have his guard up."

"Carson, you and I both know why Sheppard went out there in this blizzard. He went out because of them." Rodney pointed to the women in the back of the jumper. "Mr. Hero has to go and save the ladies."

Beckett knew Rodney was worried, so was he and from the faces of the two military men with them, they were just as worried. "Rodney, you and I were out there because of those ladies. We were all concerned about them being in the hands of killers."

Waters leaned over in his chair, "Dr. McKay, someone locked those women in that basement and left them to die in this cold, it is wonderful that we have found them, but Colonel Sheppard will still want to find those who are responsible. Even if you let him know we found them, he would still go on with the mission. The bad guys have to pay."

"Yeah, yeah, OK, you're probably right." Rodney sat back in the seat and crossed his arms.

"Dr. McKay, let's wait a bit longer, they should arrive at the fortress within the next couple of hours, if we haven't heard from them in a reasonable amount of time, then we will try to contact them. Fair enough?"

Before Rodney could answer, they heard a moan coming from the back of the jumper. Beckett spun around to find Losa coming awake.

"Where am I? Where's my daughter?" She was frantically looking around and Carson moved a bit to the side so that she could see her daughter lying on the jumper seat across from her.

"Now, now calm down, Losa. Your daughter is right over here; she is going to be fine and so are you."

"Who are you? Where have you taken us?"

"We are from Atlantis, Leader Veron asked us to come help your people find the raiders. I am Dr. Carson Beckett, this is Dr. Rodney McKay, Captain Waters, and Sgt. Parker and you are in our ship."

"Help me sit up." Losa reached for Beckett's arm with his help she sat up; her face was pale but not as pale as when they found her in that cold basement.

"You are sure my daughter is alright?" Her voice was pleading, her eyes filled with fear.

"Yes, Losa, I promise that Clessa is going to be fine; she just needs rest. You do not need to worry about her."

"What is that?" She asked as she pointed to the IV bag hanging above Clessa's head and needle in her daughter's arm.

"I have been giving her fluids, she was severely dehydrated, the fluids will make her feel much better; I gave you fluids as well," Beckett pointed to the needle port still in her hand.

Losa sank back against the side of the jumper, pulling the blanket Carson had covered her with earlier tightly around her. She inhaled deeply as she looked into Beckett's eyes, "He killed my husband. He gunned him down in front of Clessa and me and then tied us up and put us in the basement. He laughed as he started up the basement stairs, saying that if Paut had cooperated with him, he would still be alive. He tore my home apart looking for something; when he couldn't find what he was looking for, he left us to die as well."

Beckett took her trembling hand in his, "Losa, who killed your husband?"

"The man who is sworn to protect us but instead, he is killing us. The man who killed my husband was the constable, Dever Veron."

The Path

Corporal Brenner was beginning to worry about his buddy, Ray Rodriguez. For the last hour, he had been playing cat and mouse, dragging him along for the ride. Rodriguez's latest move was to move past the group in front of them, two Glostern militiamen and Sergeant Johnston. Brenner listened to Ray as he lied and told the sergeant that they had promised to report to Lt. Stackhouse, who was midway in the line, for orders. Once they moved past Johnston and his companions, they kept on going until they were out of sight of them and could not see the group in front of them. Brenner was about to ask what the hell Rodriguez thought he was doing when his buddy grabbed his arm, put his other hand across his mouth and pushed him off the path.

Brenner and Rodriguez fell into a snow bank and stayed there for a few minutes, mostly because

Rodriguez wouldn't let Brenner up. Once Rodriguez rolled off of him, Brenner grabbed his buddy by the front of his TAC vest, pulled him close and whispered, "What the fuck was that about? You coulda warned me."

"Hey, you catching on, broki, keeping quiet is a good thing." Brenner let him go.

Rodriguez smiled at Brenner and said, "Come on, let's get back on the path. Don't want them to get too far ahead of us."

Once they were back on the path, Rodriguez leaned toward Brenner's ear and quietly told him what was up, "Listen, we needed for those last guys to think we were ahead of them. That way they'll think they were at the end of the line. We can keep an eye on them and slip off the path if something happens."

"You're loco, you know that don't you?" Brenner was looking at Rodriguez as if he had two heads.

'No, broki, not loco; you will see."