Title: The Exchange

Date: 20th July 2007
Author: Kazavid
Chapter:
6/10
Rating:
M
Pairing:
John Sheppard / OFC – Tanisha Toryn (Nisha)
Archiving:
None
Warnings:
(Sexual Content /Violence /Possible Torture)
Spoilers:
Irresponsible
Feedback:
Yes
Disclaimer:
Stargate Atlantis and it's character do not belong to me.
Summary:
After being rescued from certain death, Sheppard must now escape, or persuade, his 'rescuers', not to hand him over, to face retribution, from someone who wants to see him dead.

The Exchange

CHAPTER 6

As Nisha walked away, Sheppard tried not to moan, as Sergio Kolya's fist connected with his abdomen, again. He bit down on his lip, when a crushing blow on his back, knocked him to the ground, he grunted as his face hit the hard ground. He was lying on his side, and he couldn't stop the sarcastic comment that fell out of his mouth, which earned him a couple of kicks to his stomach, knocking the breath out of him.

"I'm going to enjoy breaking you down." Sergio sneered, as he saw Sheppard trying not to show his pain. "By the time I'm finished with you, you'll be screaming, and begging me to kill you."

"I'm sure I won't." Sheppard croaked, as he drew air in to his lungs.

Sergio bent down and grabbed a handful of Sheppard's hair, dragging his head up, he stared at him.

"I'm sure you will." he snarled, and slammed his face down, hard against the ground. "Bring him in to the house." Sergio told his men.

"When are you going to start torturing him?" Sergio's brother, Valdis Kolya, asked, laughing as Sheppard was dragged away.

"What's the matter can't you wait." Sergio laughed at his brother's eagerness to get started.

Valdis just grinned and laughed harder.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Sheppard is dragged to an empty room, where they tie his hands to individual hooks that are hanging from the ceiling. He's barely touching the ground with his toes, and his whole body weight is pulling on his wrists. The men stand back, watching and waiting.

Sergio Kolya comes in to the room, in his hand he's holding a whip, which is made up of five leather strips. As he comes closer to Sheppard, he can see that each leather strip, which is about four foot in length, has a small piece of sharp metal threaded in to the end.

Sheppard grimaces, the whip looks very similar to the whips that he's read about, called a 'cat-O-nine-tails, that they used on Earth hundreds of years ago. They were used on prisoners and criminals, and were notorious for being extremely painful.

"You want me to cut his shirt off." Valdis asked his brother.

"No need, this thing cuts through cloth like it was paper." Sergio told him, as he stroked the leather strips through his fingers.

"But I want to 'SEE' what it does." Valdis argues.

"Then cut his shirt off." Sergio told him.

Sheppard waits for Valdis to get close enough to him, then he winces, as he rests his whole weight on his wrists, he lifted his legs up and kicked Valdis away from him.

"Son of a bitch." Valdis snarled, as he went falling backwards to land on his ass, he goes to run back at Sheppard.

"Wait!" Sergio told him, "You two, tie his feet together, and anchor them down." he told the two men who dragged him in here.

After a few kicks and grunts, they managed to tie Sheppard's feet together, then they tied them to an anchor point on the floor.

Valdis came back over to him, and laughed in his face. He pulled his knife in front of him, and ran it over Sheppard's chest.

"You think you're man enough to use that thing on me, I mean with me being tied up and all. Sure you don't need someone else to do the dirty work?" Sheppard spouted off, and bit back a moan as Valdis pushed the knife deeply in to his thigh. When he pulled the knife out of his thigh, it hurt just as much as it had going in.

Valdis then cut Sheppard's t-shirt off, exposing his chest, there's already some dark patches on his skin, where bruising would eventually show. He dug the knife in to Sheppard's chest just under his pectoral muscles, then he dragged the knife downwards scoring the knife against his skin. Sheppard couldn't stop the slight murmur that left his throat.

Valdis pushed his face right up against Sheppard's and sneered.

"You won't be able to keep quiet for long." he told him.

Sheppard looked straight at him and gave him a big smile, Valdis snarled at him. Then he moved around to the back of Sheppard and started to score the knife down his back. He wanted to make him cry out, but Sheppard wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Not until Valdis dug the knife in to his back, just below his ribs, and pushed it in.

Sheppard tried to stop the moan, but it escaped anyway, making Valdis laugh. When Sheppard questioned his gender, Valdis started punching him.

"You hit like a woman." Sheppard told him, grunting as Valdis' fist connected with his back.

"You think so, well lets see if we can make you scream like a woman." Valdis snarled, his eyes spitting hatred at Sheppard

"I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you." Sheppard croaked, before drawing some much needed air in to his lungs.

Someone came in to the room and Sergio told Valdis to stop, he needed to do something first.

Sergio left the room for a while, and Sheppard had a slight reprieve.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Walking back to Lucas, felt like one of the longest walks she'd ever had to do. When she met up with Lucas, he immediately grabbed hold of Joshua, reassuring his son, and himself, that everything was Alright. When he looked at Nisha, he knew exactly what she was planning, he knew she wouldn't be able to live with the guilt. Besides he found Sheppard to be a likeable guy, a bit full of himself, sometimes, but he seemed decent enough. He hadn't really wanted to know him at first, he'd wanted to keep his distance from him. But Sheppard had insisted upon telling everyone his life story, and Lucas hadn't been able to ignore all of his rambling.

Nisha began checking all their stuff, hers and Lucas', she put all of it on the ground and asked Lucas what he needed, and she took the rest. All the food, water, spare clothes and anything else that she would need.

"You're sure you want to do this?" Lucas asked her

"I can't leave him there." she told him, wiping her hand across her cheeks, as a few more tears escaped, and ran down her face.

"Kolya, has an awful lot of security around here. Do you think you'll be able to do it. I mean you haven't had time to study the place, it will be very dangerous," he reminded her.

"He only got the extra security so that I wouldn't try to snatch Joshua back. So now that he doesn't have Joshua, he doesn't have to worry about me, I'm hoping he'll let the extra security go. I mean he wouldn't suspect that I'd try to get Sheppard back, would he?" Nisha pointed out, and just hoped that she was right.

"If they catch you, they'll kill you. And even if they don't catch you, they'll realise who took him, and then they'll come looking for you." Lucas told her.

"That's why you have to take Joshua back now and move, go visit your friend on Nisos, and find somewhere else to live." she knew she was asking a lot of him. But they had already decided to do this anyway, especially after the Kolya's had taken Joshua.

"You're certain you want to do this?" he asked again, just to make sure.

"Yes, very."

He hugged her and told her to be careful.

"I won't be able to do anything until tonight anyway, so you have most of the day to get back."

"Where will you be going?" he asked, realising that she'd not told him where she was going to stay.

"I have a place, I'll contact you when I get settled there."

"Alright, so I'll wait for you to contact me."

She watched Lucas and Joshua go, then she stashed the extra stuff she had, beneath some foliage. She was just about to start looking around the area, for some place to hide, when she saw a number of men walking along the path. She hid in the thick bush and watched them pass by. They were Kolya's extra security guys, he'd let them go, this made her plan a little more easier to carry out.

When the way was clear she started checking the area, she came upon a small cave, that was well hidden. She carefully checked inside, making sure no animals were occupying it. Then she carefully placed more foliage around the cave, which made it almost impossible to detect. She puts her pack in the cave, and then moved closer to the house, so that she can watch what is going on.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

When Sergio came back in to the room he picked the whip up and moved over to Sheppard. He stood behind him and Sheppard heard the whip before he felt it. The sudden feel of leather strips snapping across his back, hurt like hell, but it was nothing compared to the feel of the metal, which is attached to the ends of those strips. The metal part, at the end of the leather strips, bit in to his flesh and tore at his skin.

The first couple of times, he managed to subdue the moans, but after that, the pain is too much and he can't stop himself from groaning, as his flesh is torn to shreds.

He loses count of how many times the whip is used on him. All he can feel is the pain, which make his skin feel like it's on fire. He loses consciousness, only to be woken up by the feel of water being thrown over him.

"You don't escape the pain that easily." Sergio, snarled at him, then laughed in his face.

"You call that pain." Sheppard said, sarcastically.

Sergio didn't like Sheppard's sarcastic reply, and he used the handle of the whip to hit him in the face, splitting the inside of Sheppard's mouth. Sheppard couldn't resist spitting the blood out of his mouth right in to Sergio's face. It's very satisfying to see that Sergio, doesn't appreciate Sheppard's little stunt. The rage that erupts from Sergio, is frightening, and Sheppard takes the full force of it.

It's a while later before Sheppard regains consciousness, he groaned as the pain, radiated, all over his body. His head is bent forward, and he can see the blood spattered all over the floor, and all around him. He lifted his head up and saw that neither Sergio or Valdis are in the room. Only the two men who dragged him in here earlier.

Sheppard doesn't know what time it is, but through the small window, on the far wall, he can see that the sky has darkened considerably. His wrists are killing him, as his weight continues to drag on them, but there's nothing he can do.

Valdis opens the door and calls one of the men out, a few seconds later the guy comes back in and they cut the ropes tying his wrists up. He can't stand up straight and falls to the floor, jarring his battered and bruised body on the hard ground. Then the two men, tie his hands together behind his back, and leave him where he is, then they leave the room. So he's definitely not going to get any water, he realises, coughing because his throat feels so dry.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Nisha had to wait until nightfall before she attempted to do anything. She stayed well hidden till it was very dark, watching Kolya's guards patrolling the property. The four sides of the property has guards at each section, and they walk along their section every so often.

She takes the best section, where she has less chance of being detected, and she waits till the guard is just in the right place. She aims her gun, and fires, the guard drops instantly, the darts she is using are very fast acting. She races over and grabs the man, and pulls his body over to the thick undergrowth, where she hides his body.

She moved back to the wall and started to climb up, using the foliage growth that covers this corner of the wall. When she reaches the top of the wall, she carefully lies along the top, to see how safe it is. The house is quiet, and dark, most of the people would be sleeping, so she carefully got down and moved closer to the house.

It should be a little easier as most of his security is outside the house, and not inside. She entered the house and set about locating Sheppard.

After searching quite a bit of the house she finds a corridor and peeks along it. There is a guard standing outside a locked door, she used the dart gun and quickly unlocked the door, she dragged the guard inside the room.

It's dark but she can see Sheppard lying on the floor, his hands tied behind him, but she can't see his face. She hesitated for a second, and wondered if he was up to escaping, then she tried to wake him up. He's shirtless, and although it's dark, she can see a lot of blood on his back and chest.

"Sheppard?" she whispered, but got no response.

"John?" she tried again, using his first name, she shook his shoulder and heard a muffled moan from him.

"Can you get up?" she asked, if he can't she doesn't know what the hell she'll do.

She cut the rope from his wrists and feet, and rolled him over on to his back, she winced as she saw the deep gash across his forehead. She can just see the dark discolouration over his cheekbone and another cut that reached in to his hairline. When she touched his stomach to try and get him to open his eyes, he flinched and moaned.

"John!" she said a little louder, she shook his shoulder again.

"Can you open your eyes?" she asked.

He opened his eyes and stared at her, then he closed them and rolled over on to his side.

"If you don't get up, we'll get caught." she told him.

"You're really here." he croaked, his throat dry and rough.

"Yes, I'm really here, now you have to get up."

He tried to pull himself up but was finding it difficult, he was in too much pain.

Nisha helped him to get up and got him over to the door, where she told him to wait. She arranged the guard in the same place where Sheppard had been. If somebody looked in to the room, she hoped he'd be mistaken for Sheppard. She got Sheppard outside the room and locked it, hoping they'd think the guard had gone for a bathroom break and not be overly suspicious.

She was helping him along the corridor when she heard voices, she pushed Sheppard in to one of the darkened rooms. She manoeuvred him behind the door, and stood in front of him, she just hopes that they don't enter this room. She could see he was finding it hard standing upright, he started pitching forward. Nisha pushed her whole body against him, to try and keep him upright.

Sheppard is in a lot of pain and can't stop the groan that's slowly rising in his throat. The pressure that Nisha is exerting against him, to keep him upright, is only adding to his pain.

"Shh." Nisha whispers, as the moan begins to escape from his throat.

"Can't..." he moans, as the pain increases.

Nisha does the only thing she can think of to keep him quiet, she presses her mouth over his, to smother the sound of his moan. Sheppard reacts by kissing her back, pressing his mouth firmly over hers, which effectively stems the sound, but he's still in pain.

When Nisha heard the men move past she tried to pull her mouth away but Sheppard was a little reluctant to let go. He finally lifted his mouth up from hers, he's leaning heavily on her shoulders, because standing upright on his own is just too painful. She managed to get him outside, and over to the wall, she's not so sure he'll be able to make it over the wall, but there isn't any other way out.

With a lot of difficulty she helped him to get on top of the wall, where she told him to stay. She climbed over and told him to drop down, while she tries to break his fall. As he dropped down, he fell back in to her, and they both fell on the ground, luckily they don't make a lot of noise.

She wanted to put as much distance between them and the Kolya's as she could, but with Sheppard being so injured, the only thing she can do, is head for the cave. And hope that they can stay there for a day or two, to give Sheppard a chance to recover some strength. She got him inside the cave, then went back outside to make sure that any tracks they made are covered, and that the entrance is well concealed.

Inside the cave she throws a blanket on the floor and helped Sheppard to lie down on it. His skin is cool and clammy, and he has a lot of blood on his pants and on his skin. She decided to tend to his wounds, better do it now rather than later. She used the night light which gives off a low dimmed light, just enough for her to see by.

She didn't want to cut his pants off, so she undid them and pulled them down, to reveal a deep knife wound in his thigh. It's still seeping blood so she cleaned it up as best she could, and she used some plant extract, and covers it with a dressing. Then she pulled his pants back up, and helped him to roll on to his stomach, he's barely conscious.

His back looked the worst, covered in deep gouges where the whip had bit in to his flesh and torn it. There were too many cuts to distinguish individually, so she cleansed his back as much as she could. She took the medicinal plant, which was the leaf part of the plant, that has been crushed down to a powder, she sprinkled it all over his back. The plant will help with the healing process, and would also help to stop any bleeding.

Finally she got the extra t-shirt out, that had been Lucas', and put it on him. Then she covered him up with the other blanket, and he fell asleep. But after about an hour he started moaning and moving about.

"John, you have to keep quiet, someone might hear you." she told him, but he kept moaning and shivering. She got under the blanket with him, and spooned in against his back, careful not to put any pressure against his back.

He seemed to quieten down, but Nisha stayed awake, listening for anyone who might venture near the cave, but eventually she fell asleep.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

When she awoke a while later, the daylight was filtering in to the cave, so it was bright enough to see everything. She was lying on her side, and Sheppard was spooned against her back, with his face pushed in to the back of her neck.

She moved from beneath the blanket and turned around to look at him, he was still asleep. His skin looked pale, and she could see the bruising on his cheekbone and along his chin. She can see a few cuts across his arms where the whip had caught him. She just wondered how much pain he was actually in, and would he be able to make it to the Stargate.

For most of the day he slept, moaning and groaning, especially when he moved to find a better sleeping position. She hadn't heard anyone near the cave, but she had heard people in the distance, shouting and talking. They had been following the path to the Stargate, and hadn't ventured near the cave.

When Sheppard woke up it was early evening, the first thing he wanted, was water.

"Where are we?" he rasped, his throat still felt dry.

"In a cave, a few miles from the Kolya's place." she told him. He seemed to be thinking about something.

"So, last night, wasn't a dream, we really did escape?" he asked.

"Yes, but we still have to get to the Stargate, which I don't think you're capable of doing at the moment." she told him, taking the water flask from him.

"Won't they find us here?"

"I don't think so."

"Don't think so!" he repeated.

"Well, it's not like you could have gone any further anyway, is it." she remarked, what had he expected her to do, carry him.

Sheppard rolled on to his back, and had to bite his lip as the pain tensed his body, he quickly rolled back on to his side.

"Are you Alright?" she asked, watching him grimace.

"Lying on my back doesn't seem to agree with me at the moment." he joked.

"I'm not surprised, considering the amount of damage there."

"Where's Lucas?" he asked, looking around to see if any of his stuff was here.

"He took Joshua home."

"Joshua, is that the boy's name."

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me about him in the first place." he asked.

"You were a stranger, why would I tell you about him."

"Because, maybe we could have come up with a plan on getting him back. One that didn't involve you handing me over."

"The guy had extra security, what ever plan you could have come up with, could have put Joshua's life at risk."

Sheppard sighed, he didn't like it but she was probably right. He couldn't say that he wouldn't have done the same thing as her. He fell asleep, leaving Nisha to watch and listen for anyone coming near the cave.

He'd only been asleep for a couple of hours when he woke up moaning that he was freezing. When she checked him, he didn't feel hot, maybe it was delayed shock from his injuries. She couldn't risk lighting a fire, the light could attract some one.

"Freezing..." he muttered, as his body trembled, trying to pull the blanket further around him.

Nisha got under the blanket with him and laid on her side, so that he could snuggle in to her back. But after a few minutes he was still shivering, and he kept fidgeting, she knew he was uncomfortable, and in pain.

"Could you lie on your back." Sheppard asked, his voice shaky, with all the shivering.

Nisha moved on to her back and he immediately draped himself over her, letting his head rest on her shoulder.

"Mm...you're nice and warm." he muttered, and fell fast asleep. It took a while for the shivers to go, but they went eventually. Nisha couldn't put her arms around his back, because the pressure on his back was too much.

It was early the next morning before he woke up again, Nisha woke up, because he was shaking her.

"Is something wrong." she asked.

"I'm gonna be sick." he croaked, he got up on his hands and knees and crawled a short distance from the blanket, where he threw up, but it was only water, as he'd had nothing to eat. Nisha hadn't wanted to give him anything to eat in case it made him sick.

He came back to the blanket and dropped, face down, on to it, and slept. She felt his forehead, he was a little hot, but not overly so. The next time he woke up, he watched her take one of the water flasks and mix something in to it.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"It'll help to get your energy levels up." she told him, and handed him the flask.

He took a sip, it was slightly sweet, but tasted very pleasant, so he took a few more drinks, then handed the flask back to her.

"I'm curious as to why you didn't just go with Lucas. Why did you come back?" he asked her.

"Surely you know why I came back?" she threw the question at him. He stared at her, he wasn't sure why she came back.

"You fell madly in love with me?" he said jokingly, but he did wonder if it could be true.

"More like I fell in to the guilt trip you decided to lay on me." she said, watching his face redden slightly.

"It's called survival." he said, smiling at her.

"I would have felt guilty without any help from you." she told him.

"So the sex didn't influence you any." he asked.

"No."

"Yeah, right." he said with disbelief, and saw her blush. She got up and began checking the entrance to the cave.

He couldn't stay awake any longer, and fell in to a deep sleep.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Sheppard didn't wake till the following morning, when Nisha told him that they would have to try to get to the Stargate. She packed the stuff up and helped him to stand up, then they carefully, and cautiously made their way towards the Stargate. Nisha judged that it would take them a few days to reach it. And they would have to stay off the main path, so as not to be seen by anyone.

Sheppard found it hard going, he was in a lot of pain, and his leg hurt every time he put any weight on it. He had his arm around Nisha's shoulders, and he knew he was leaning heavily on her, but he couldn't help it.

He asked her where she lived and she told him that she had a property on a planet called Andavar. He'd never heard of it before, but she said it was nice, and that her house was right by a huge ocean, it sounded pretty idyllic to him.

Nisha had to grab hold of his hip as she couldn't touch his back. And they only managed a short distance before they had to stop. Then, after a rest, they went a little further, they kept doing this until it got dark. Then they bedded down for the night, Sheppard threw up, again, he'd thrown up a few times during the day, due to exertion and, she suspected, infection.

It took them a few days to reach the Stargate, and Sheppard was looking pretty bad. They used the Stargate to gate to another planet from where they could contact Atlantis.

Nisha helped him to sit down by the DHD, he really didn't look very well, and he was still in a lot of pain.

"You should be Alright now. I'll dial Atlantis, and you can use this to make contact with them. Tell them to come and get you." she told him, handing him the communication device.

"You're not coming with me?" he asked, frowning, he thought she'd be coming with him.

"No, I need to sort things out."

"Sergio Kolya won't let this go, he'll come looking for you." Sheppard didn't want anything to happen to her.

"They won't be able to find me. No one, knows where I am, only you."

"Not even Lucas?" he asked, he was a little stunned that she'd told him, while her cousin didn't know.

"No, Lucas doesn't know, I never told him." she saw him grimace in pain. "Are you okay?"

"Not really, can I ask for one last request, before you go?" he asked, feeling a pang of sadness that she wasn't coming with him.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Kiss me."

"Is that it." she asked, smiling.

"Well I would ask for more, but I don't think I could cope with anything else, not at the moment."

Nisha leaned over him and kissed him, he put his hand behind her head and pulled her closer. He didn't want to let go, but he knew he had to.

"Don't go...stay with me. You can come to Atlantis..." he said, groaning as the pain suddenly gripped him.

"I have to go." she told him, reluctantly.

"When you've sorted things out, you'll let me know?"

"I'll see." she answered, and he had to be satisfied with that. He kissed her again, and let her go.

Nisha watched from a distance, making sure that he didn't pass out before his people came for him, to take him back to Atlantis.

>>>>>ooooo>>>>>

Atlantis

Ronon was in a real bad mood, because they hadn't found any sign of Sheppard, on any of the planets. He'd wanted to go back to Ladon, to see if he could get any more information out of him, but Weir had stopped him.

"Damn it! We can't just sit here and wait, we need to do something, now." Ronon shouted, banging his fist on the table.

"I assure you Ronon, we are doing everything possible to locate Colonel Sheppard." Weir told him, her eyes holding his in an unwavering stare.

"It's not enough." Ronon bit out.

"Doctor Weir, we have an incoming message from Lt Colonel Sheppard,." the technician who'd just ran in to the room told her.

"Colonel Sheppard! You're sure." she asked, stunned.

Ronon was immediately on his feet and headed to the Stargate, closely followed by Weir, and the others.

"Put it on the speaker." Weir told the technician.

"Yes ma'am."

"Atlantis, this is Sheppard..." they could hear the strain in his voice.

"John, are you Alright?" Weir asked.

"No, you'd better send someone to pick me up." he said, his voice, slurred.

"We'll come get you right away." she told him.

As soon as the Gate shut down they dialled the planet and Major Lorne's team, along with Ronon, went to pick him up.

TBC...

>>>>>>>>>>ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo>>>>>>>>>>