Good morning campers! I need to correct myself a little here; the Marine Unit is SG-3 not 2. Very sorry about that folks. Thanks for continuing to read and review, I appreciate every single one of your responses. Oh and Marie, if you're reading this… HI! This chapter is for you.

This chapter has a lot more Kate in it, so if you've been missing her, this is her time to shine.

EDIT: Had to add a couple extra lines to the end, to make it sound more 'Jack-like'.

Chapter 7: Rescue

Kate sat and watched and waited; she was given thee meals a day and each time and by her estimate, the door would open a maximum of thirteen inches. She knew she had to bide her time if her plan of escape would come to fruition. Kate never allowed herself to fully fall asleep; she couldn't let the parasite that had invaded her body to take over her mind.

Her kidnappers hadn't returned for her after that first day, so by midday on the third day, she had formulated a rough plan of escape. She sat on her cot, staring at the thick metal door, waiting patiently for her lunch to arrive. When Kate heard the sound of footsteps coming closer and the clinking of metal keys together, she jumped up from her cot and rushed over to the door. Surprise was the key element. She stood slightly back from the door with her hand out, ready to catch it as it opened.

Kate held her breath and as the door hit the palm of her hand, she grasped it, swung herself around and yanked it open in one swift move. The suited man was startled and staggered back; Kate took the opportunity to aim a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. The man slumped to the ground and food splattered on top of him. Kate quickly knelt beside him and armed herself with his sidearm. She ran down the long corridor in search of a way out; when she reached an intersection, she didn't know whether to go left or right. She stood in silence until she heard gunfire coming from the left. Kate rocked on her heels slightly before pivoting herself and dashing towards the sounds of bullets being shot.

She ran with her gun pointing in front of her; always ready to defend. Kate came to an open area of the warehouse; it was scattered with crates that were stacked over seven feet high. She heard the sounds of flash bombs being released and saw the signs of smoke being freed from the confines of their canisters. Kate quickly pressed her back to one of the crates and covered her nose and mouth with her thin t-shirt. Only one thing was on her mind: survival. She knew she had to get out of there, and fast.

Peeking her head around the side of the crate, she saw the smoke coming closer towards her, but beyond that was a bright light emanating from an open roller door. There was about a twenty-yard gap between the last crate and that door and about forty more from her spot to that last crate. Sixty yards; in bare feet, through blinding smoke and a barrage of bullets that seemed to be never ending: piece of cake.

Kate took a deep breath and steeled herself, took another quick look at her next target crate, closed her eyes and ran. Time seemed to stop and it felt like an eternity before she hit her cover that was about ten yards away. The bullets seemed to have stopped for the moment and she took the opportunity to repeat her process. Finally she made it to her last crate; it was time for the mad dash out the door to freedom. Her heart rate quickened and she tried to calm herself down. You can do it, Kate, she told herself. Do it for Rick, do it for mom. You can do it. She repeated the chant over and over until she was safely outside.

She kept running, as fast as her tired legs could carry her; she was running on pure adrenaline now. Then she saw it, blue sky. Kate stumbled out onto the bitumen and scrambled to find a safe hiding place. She had no idea where she was or where to go, so she moved around to the far side of the building. As she rounded the corner, she noticed a man burst through the side door, doubled over and coughing. It was Former-Mayor Bob McIntyre. Kate raised her gun and pointed it directly at him.

"Freeze!" she yelled and he halted instantly. Kate came up behind him and put the barrel of the gun to the back of his neck. "So nice to see you again, Mr. Mayor. I believe you and I have some things to discuss." Her voice was even and calm and Bob slowly turned around with his hands raised in surrender.

"Detective Beckett, how nice to see you again." He grinned a slimy grin, "I hope your accommodations were to your satisfaction."

Kate narrowed her eyes at him and backhanded him across the face with her gun. His head whipped to the left and Bob spat out a couple of his teeth that she had knocked out of his mouth, along with a spray of blood.

"You'll pay for that, you bitch," he threatened as he recovered himself slowly.

Kate cocked the gun and pointed it straight between his eyes, "No, I think you're the one who is going to pay, but not before you answer some questions."

Bob spat out another load of blood and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "What makes you think I'm going to tell you anything?" he snarled.

"If you won't answer my questions, I know a few people who were in the black-ops that may want to ask you some instead?" she gave him a small shrug as if to say 'your choice'. "So now, why did you order the hit on my mother?"

Bob sighed, "She got too close."

"Too close to what?"

"The truth." Kate cocked her head to the side, her eyes glaring at him, telling him to explain further. "She found out about the we were doing and realised how high up it went. We had to take her out before she could leak it to the press."

"How high does this go?" Kate demanded.

"Right up to the Secretary of Defense. The mobsters we took out had ties, not only to the Italian mafia, but the Russian one as well. They were supplying Russia with weapons, money and information to plan an attack on the US." He paused, "We had to stop them by any means necessary. Your mother was collateral damage."

Kate's eyes blazed with anger and she backhanded him again; he fell to the ground, coughing up more blood and teeth, "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you now?"

Bob looked up at her and stared directly into her eyes, "Because you're not a murderer."

Kate aimed the gun at his head, "I may not be a murderer, but I am a big fan of justice." She quickly adjusted her aim towards his right shoulder and pulled the trigger. Bob screamed out in pain as he tried to put pressure on his wound.

"You bitch!" he spat.

Kate continued to aim the gun at him for what seemed like an eternity; it wasn't until she heard her name being called that she shook herself out of her daze.

"Kate! Kate!" It was Rick. Kate turned her head to see him rush towards her. Following him was her Uncle Jack and the rest of his friends. Rick pried the gun from her hands and he handed it over to Colonel Mitchell. She saw Teal'c hoist Bob up by his collar, and question as to what to do with him. Kate crumbled into Rick's arms and he slowly brought her down to the ground with him, holding her tightly to his chest. He kissed her forehead softly and whispered reassuringly in her ear, "You're ok, Kate. You're safe."

Jack looked down at the couple, "We've gotta get her to the Hammond."

Castle nodded in understanding and he kissed her softly again, "Kate, honey, we have to get up so that we get you to a doctor. Are you ok to walk?"

"Yeah," she murmured into his chest and she slowly pulled herself up off Rick and made her way over to the rest of the group. There were about fifteen soldiers in total, as well as a few men that had been captured as prisoners. Rick walked closely behind her as they all moved to the designated extraction site.

Sam tapped her radio, "Carter to the Hammond."

"Go ahead, Colonel," Major Marks replied.

"Transport when you're ready."

"Acknowledged, Colonel. Transporting now."

The bright light engulfed the entire group and they all found themselves back on the spaceship that was orbiting the earth.

Jack stepped away from them all and dished out orders; "Scott, you and SG-3 take the prisoners to the brig. Make sure they're separated. And take that treacherous bastard to the infirmary, I don't want him bleeding out all over my ship," he ordered, pointing to the former mayor. Major Scott nodded and he and his team herded out the men. "SG-5, good work. Head back down to the SGC and we'll debrief at 0900 tomorrow." There were 'yes, sirs' all around as they left.

All that remained was SG-1, Castle and Beckett and Jack turned to Sam, "You and Castle take Kate down to the infirmary so that Dr. Lam can have a look at her. The rest of you hit the showers and go home. Tomorrow is when all the fun starts."

So there is that chapter. So you have two choices for the next chapter, you can either have a) SG-1's version of the rescue or b) the rest of the story and why Kate never really was under the full control of the symbiote…it's more than the fact that it was only a larvae. If there are no requests then I'll just continue on with Plan B.

:-) Sam