So sorry for the long delay in getting this chapter posted. I promise to update regularly from now on! Warning – this chapter contains hints of torture and one or two descriptions not suitable for minors. There is nothing too graphic however.
Feedback – reviews – greatly appreciated! Thanks and Happy New Year.
The next day they got the van they'd been travelling in and put Abell in the back, where he couldn't be seen. Teal'c had begged for the privilege of guarding him – and Jack had agreed. He knew that Teal'c saw it as his duty to keep Abell from escaping. If he couldn't punish or kill the man in revenge for what he'd done to O'Neill, at least he'd insure he didn't get away.
Abell had told him that the evidence was hidden in a house in a small town in Northern California. It turns out an old buddy of his lived there and he'd gone to stay with him after dropping Jack off in LA. They had contacted Walter and told him they were headed west, but didn't give him any details. It wasn't that they didn't trust him, it was just that Samuels was too smart and had too many spys. They didn't want him discovering where Abell had left the video.
"You're sure Samuels doesn't know where you are?" Daniel asked the manacled man.
"No. If he knew I'd be dead", he said bluntly. "Look what he did to Gerry."
"How did you know about that?" Sam asked.
"I have my sources. Anyway, Gerry was a fool. I pretty much figured he'd do something stupid and Samuels would find him and kill him. Took less time than I thought though."
"But he knows you have evidence. Why would he kill you before he got a hold of that?"
"Oh, he wouldn't kill me right away. He'd torture me until I told him where it was and then he'd kill me. If you thought I was bad O'Neill, you haven't seen Samuels in action. I did it for a living – he does it for fun!"
Jack looked out of the window, refusing to let Abell bait him. It was hard hearing his voice, it brought back too many horrible memories. He didn't believe Abell when he said he'd only done it as a way to make a living. He remembered too clearly – the man had enjoyed what he'd done."
"Did the good Colonel tell you anything about his time with us?" the prisoner asked casually. He spoke as if he was making simple polite conversation. "You would have been proud of him. He held out longer than most I've – worked on. I think it was almost a week before he started to scream. Wasn't that right Jack?" he raised his voice to the man sitting in the front seat. "Yeah, he kept pretty quiet, although when he did finally let loose – God, you'd have thought we were torturing him or something!" He laughed uproariously at his own joke.
"Just shut up Abell", Daniel finally spoke from the driver's seat. "We don't want to hear your sick ramblings."
"No? Oh, that's too bad, cause I thought you'd be real interested at hearing how he called out for each of you. Oh yeah, he begged you to come and help him. I think he cried for –ooph!"
Jack turned around at the sound of pain from the back seat. Abell was bent over and was throwing up in the back seat. Teal'c was sitting back with a satisfied look on his face.
"I apologize O'Neill, Major Carter, Daniel Jackson. I believe my hand slipped."
"That's quite alright Teal'c", Sam said, anger throbbing through her voice. "If yours hadn't, mine definitely would have."
"I am afraid we will need to stop and clean out the car", Teal'c continued. "Mr. Abell has lost his lunch."
Jack turned back and continued to stare out of the window. He felt so ashamed, and yet so grateful to his friends. He really didn't deserve them.
It took two solid days of driving before they reached the town Abell had told them about. He had said little or nothing after Teal'c had stopped him from talking. He continued to look quite green and Sam wondered if he'd suffered some internal damage from Teal'c's punch. It worried her slightly, although part of her was glad for any pain the man suffered. He truly deserved the fate Jack had described.
They finally reached the friend's house. Abell said his name was Marco Sanderson and he'd served together with him in the Air Force.
"He was injured and was given a medical discharge. He owns a small diner here but doesn't have much."
"Does he know about the video?" Jack asked. It was the first time he'd spoken to Abell in two days. He stayed as far away from the man as he could. When they'd stopped for the night Teal'c and Daniel would share a room with him and Sam stayed with him. Normally he would have found it extremely uncomfortable and awkward (or maybe enjoyable), but he was too caught up with everything and was desperately trying to deal with all the memories being with Abell had brought back.
"No. I hid it under some floor boards and I'm sure he doesn't have a clue. I just told him I needed a place to hole up in for a while and he let me stay. I gave him a bit of cash too, which helped."
"There's no way Samuels would know about him?"
"No. Marco and I weren't even in the same unit. We got to know each other through some – extracurricular activity. The Air Force didn't know anything about it and it wouldn't be listed anywhere."
Sam wondered briefly what the 'extracurricular' activity was – but then decided she was better off not knowing. She glanced at Abell and saw that he was looking at her with a leer on his face. She had a pretty good idea what he'd been up to then, and decided he was even worse than she'd thought.
"So, Marco is as big a slime ball as you are?" Daniel interjected. Abell just looked at him and shrugged.
"Okay, we're gonna go in there and you're going to introduce us as your friends. Teal'c will take you to get the video and then we'll leave. If you try anything -" Jack said.
"I know, I know, you'll kill me, etc. etc.. God, do you think I'm a moron O'Neill? "
"Well, now that you ask – yes", the Colonel answered. Sam and Daniel both grinned and Teal'c raised his eyebrow. Abell just scowled.
In the end it was just Teal'c and Jack who accompanied Abell to Marco's house. Daniel and Sam both sat watching the house, making sure that Abell didn't escape or that no one else came by.
"Hey", a pock-marked, skinny man answered the door. Jack instantly knew the type. This was a guy who would sell his own mother for a few bucks. He felt himself instantly on guard but watched Abell and was surprised that the man seemed so trusting of this Marco. Maybe he had a weak spot after all.
"Heya Marco! I hope you don't mind but I brought a couple of friends with me. I told 'em you were a good guy and that we could get some good ganja here."
Teal'c raised the perennial eyebrow, wondering what this 'ganja' was, but he knew enough not to ask. As they followed Abell into the house, Jack mouthed 'Marijuana' to the big man.
"Who are you?' Marco turned to Jack and asked bluntly. "You ain't no friend of Abell's."
"No, I'm not his friend. I do know that he's good at procuring things so I approached him for his help." When the other man looked blank, Jack realized he probably had the IQ of a gnat. "He told me you could get good stuff so I offered to pay him – and you – if you could find me some good ganja."
Marco's face took on a crafty, greedy look. The talk of money always cheered him up. "Yeah? How much you want? I only get the good stuff so it'll cost you."
"Oh, money is no object. I just want to make sure what you have is good quality. If it is, I'll want a regular shipment."
Marco began to see dollar signs in his future. With a regular, high paying customer, he could get out of this backwater and go somewhere where he could have a life. His dream was to live in Vegas and spend his days in the casino. This guy looked like his ticket to paradise.
"You want a sample? I can get you one tomorrow and you can see what you think. I guarantee it's good stuff. If you like it I can provide you with as much as you want."
"What about cops or the DEA?"
"Nah, there's only one cop around here and I've got him in my back pocket. He takes a cut and will stay out of our hair."
"Hey Marco", Abell suddenly interrupted. "Murray here needs to use the John. Can I show him where it is?"
"Yeah, but can't he find it on his own?"
"He's from Africa – doesn't know North American houses – or Johns. He's never seen a flush toilet before."
Marco shrugged, unsurprised. He figured most foreigners were idiots anyway and he didn't really care about some big African guy. He figured Murray was this guy Jack's bodyguard, but, since it looked like they were doing business together, he wasn't going to worry about him.
"Fine. Jack and I are gonna sit here and do business so show him the toilet – or the god damned washing machine for all I care."
After Abell and 'Murray' left, Jack proceeded to bargain with Marco for the 'Ganja'. He had no idea what the street value of Marijuana was so hoped he wasn't coming across as an idiot. He hadn't smoked a joint since his early days in the Air Force and was more than happy that the dealer didn't have any 'samples' with him. He didn't know what he would have done if he'd had to try and smoke one. If he was anything like he was when he was younger, he probably would have started to sing opera music. It would have been embarrassing to say the least.
It was only about 5 minutes before Abell and Teal'c returned and by this time he had a deal with Marco. From the pleased look on the man's face, Jack figured he'd probably just been taken to the cleaners. It didn't really matter since he wasn't actually going to pay the man – or return – so he shrugged it off. He wondered how Marco would feel once he knew it had been a con!
They left shortly after that and headed towards the end of the street where the van was parked. Once they'd all piled in they headed out of town.
"How do we know this is the real thing?" Of course it was Daniel who had to ask.
"You can watch it if you want", Abell said. The 'video' had been recorded on a small camera and then downloaded to a computer. Abell had taken a copy before it was destroyed and it was now contained on the small flash drive they'd recovered from Marco's.
Jack knew that Sam had her lap top with her and that they could watch it on that. However, the thought made him sick. The last thing he wanted was for his friends to see him being tortured. He figured the best thing was for him to verify that it was real, but he didn't know if he was up to seeing it himself.
"Let's find a Motel and we can worry about it then", Sam said, glancing worriedly at the Colonel. She suspected how he must be feeling.
It was almost an hour later before they found a place they could stay. Once they were all checked in Daniel and Sam ran across to the small restaurant and ordered take out for everyone.
"You think he's okay Daniel?", Sam asked as they walked back. "I'm worried about him. He's so quiet."
"I know. I think this thing with the video is really getting to him."
"Yeah", she agreed. "I – I really don't want to see it but I think we have to", she commented. "I think it bothers him that we're going to see what they did to him."
"I'm sure it does. He's a pretty private person and this has to be eating at him. I worry that he'll end up back the way he was before."
"No, I don't think so", Sam said. "I think he's mostly better but this has to be stressful. I just wish there was a way we could verify it without all having to watch it."
"Maybe we could ask Teal'c to do it. He's more used to this kind of thing and I think Jack would find that easier."
"I thought about that too", she said. "I'm afraid though that he'll get so angry he'll do something to Abell. It's not that I care about that idiot, but I wouldn't want Teal'c to get into trouble."
Daniel sighed. 'I'll do it", he said. "I can simply fast forward until we find the part with Samuels. Once we know it's legitimate we don't have to watch it anymore."
"Thanks Daniel, but that's not fair to you. Anyway, I want to copy it so that if something happens to the flash drive there'll be at least one other copy."
"How are you going to do that?" he asked.`
"Oh, I'll send it to a few safe locations. Even if Samuels finds one or two, he won't find them all."
When they brought back the food it was obvious that no one, with the exception of Abell, was hungry. Everyone picked at their food although after a couple of minutes Jack just pushed his away and stood up. "I'm going for a walk", he announced. "I need some fresh air. I can't stand the stench in here!"
Abell glanced up at that and grinned, his mouth full of food. "Your insults need a bit of work Jack", he said. "You were much wittier when you were tied to that table – although now that I think of it, your famed wit kind of deserted you when I used the cattle prod. If I remember correctly -"
No one would ever know what it was he remembered because, at that precise moment, Sam punched him in the nose. His head flew back and his plate of food went flying. He groaned and grabbed his nose. After a couple of seconds he pulled his hand away and it was covered with blood. "You hit me you bitch!" he yelled. He looked like he was about ready to launch himself at her when Daniel cracked him over the head with a beer bottle. It broke and beer, and more blood, began to run down his face.
Abell sat there groaning, while Jack went and retrieved a towel and threw it at him. He couldn't help a slight grin at how his team was 'protecting' him. He knew they were filled with a lot of anger as well and it was as hard for them to sit and put up with Abell as it was for him. Still, he knew he had to keep them from going too far. He didn't want them getting into trouble for his sake.
"Clean up and keep your god-damned mouth shut Abell. As you can tell, my team doesn't need much of an excuse to hurt you and believe me, if you keep opening your mouth I may find myself losing patience. And believe me, now that you don't have me strapped to that table, I can do you some serious harm!"
Abell glared at him, while trying to hold the towel up to his nose and over his head. Jack was pretty sure the wounds were superficial, but they couldn't take any chances.
"Daniel, get the first aid kit. We need to bandage him up and make sure no serious damage was done." He turned to his team and smiled slightly. "Thank you guys – I appreciate your 'defense' but we don't want to kill him."
"You are wrong O'Neill", Teal'c said calmly. "We do want to kill him. He deserves to die, for what he did to you."
Jack watched Abell's eyes grow big and had to bite his lip to keep from grinning. Instead, he sighed. "I know buddy, and we may get our chance if he tries something. But we really mustn't go around hitting him every time he says something – irritating."
"I'm sorry Sir", Sam said softly. Daniel just stood, his arms wrapped around himself, and looked defiant.
"Well I'm not. He deserved it!" the archaeologist said.
Jack laughed. "You don't need to be sorry Sam. That was a helluva punch and all I can say is I'm proud of you! As for you Daniel – you go Rock Boy! Just don't ever get angry at me like that!"
"Rock Boy?" Daniel said in disgust. "Where the hell did that come from?"
Jack looked innocently at Daniel. "The Nox", he said with a straight face. "that's what they call you."
Daniel looked at him in horror. "It is not Jack. You're making that up!"
"No I'm not Daniel. That's what they call you. You can ask Antaeus or Leia the next time you see them."
"What? But they didn't say anything like that when we -" He stopped suddenly when Sam's elbow hit him in the side.
Jack frowned. "When you what? When did you see them?"
"Uh – oh, I don't know. When was it we last saw the Nox Sam?"
She glared at him. "I don't remember Daniel. Uh Sir, about that walk, would you like some company?"
He looked suspiciously back and forth between his two friends but finally nodded. "Sure Carter, let's go."
They'd been walking in silence for almost 5 minutes before he spoke. "What was that all about Sam?"he asked.
"What was what Sir?" she answered, trying to sound unconcerned.
"You know, about the Nox. Have you guys seen the Nox recently?"
"Uh", she stopped, unsure as to what to say.
"Kind of Sir."
"Kind of? What does that mean Carter?"
"Well, they told us they were going to help you when you were – sick."
"Before Thor dropped me off?"
"Uh no, it was afterward", she said. Damn, she wished she was better at lying. She was definitely going to kill Daniel.
"Oh" He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and could tell she was uncomfortable. There was something bothering him about this but he couldn't put his finger on it. Still, it was only logical that the Nox had been in touch with the SGC since he'd been with them for so long.
"Sam" he stopped, not sure how to continue.
"What is it Sir?" she asked, looking at him.
"I – thank you for everything" he said carefully. "You've all – given up a lot to help me and I can't tell you how much -"
"I know Sir", she answered when it appeared he was too tongue tied to continue. We all – care for you Colonel. We'll do whatever we can to help."
"I know", he said softly. "Sam, I have a favor to ask of you."
"Of course Sir, what is it?"
"I want to ask you not to look at that film. I know someone has to but I really don't want it to be you."
At first she was hurt, wondering if he saw her as weaker than the others – or maybe more judgmental. Surely he must know that she wouldn't think badly of him, no matter what he'd said or done. She knew that torture, especially prolonged torture, could make men or women say and do just about anything. "Sir", she went to explain when he interrupted.
"Sam, it's not that I don't trust you – I just – watching something like that, especially since it's being done to – a friend – is very hard and even harder to get out of your mind. I don't want you to have those memories and I really don't want you seeing me like that. Please", he turned and reached out and grasped her arms. "I'd trust you with my life – hell, with my soul – I just don't want to think of you seeing me like that."
She smiled tenderly at him and slowly nodded. "Okay Sir, I won't look – but it'll be just as hard on Daniel you know. Teal'c – well, he'll be more stoic about it but it will be painful for him too."
"I know. That's why I'm going to be the only one to watch it."
"Sir! Do you think that's wise? I mean, that's going to be awfully traumatic for you."
"Probably", he agreed, "but I already have those memories and I have to deal with them. I'll just fast forward until I reach the part with Samuels."
She knew there was no way to dissuade him, although she worried about how this would affect him. "Okay Sir, under one condition." Not, of course, that she had the authority to lay down any conditions, but he nodded. "That one of us is with you while you're watching it. We don't have to see the screen, but one of us does have to stay with you. Okay?"
He bit his lip but then finally nodded. He didn't say anything, but she was pretty sure he was relieved. She would like to have been the one to stay with him, but she figured it would be Daniel or Teal'c whom he would ask.
"Sam", he said suddenly. Surprised to hear her first name, rather than 'Carter' or 'Major', she halted and looked at him.
"Yes?"
"Would you – I mean – could – hell, would you stay with me?"
"Of course Sir. I'd be honored." For the rest of their walk they were silent. It was a good thing, thought Sam, because she was ready to burst into tears. God, how she loved this man!
By the time they returned they were both feeling calmer although Jack was looking rather pale. "Let's get this over with", he said as soon as he walked into the room. "I'm going to check out the video and make sure it's real. If it is, Carter is going to send it to some secure locations and then we'll head towards Washington and our meeting with Samuels."
Sam set up her computer in the room she was sharing with Jack. It was better not to have Abell present and this way it was just the two of them. She sat behind the computer, facing Jack. That way she could keep an eye on him as he watched the movie.
"Earphones", he said, knowing that hearing the video would be almost as bad as seeing it. She silently handed him her earphones and he plugged them in. With a nod at Sam he reached down and hit enter and the video started to play. He quickly began fast forwarding, all the while keeping his eyes on the screen.
He had to divorce himself from the blurry images. He could so clearly remember the thoughts and feelings that had run through him as he was being tortured and this was bringing it all back, even if he could not hear and only saw things in flying images.
According to Sam, there was about 96 minutes of tape. From what he had seen so far, it was taken from a number of different episodes and had been put together. It was pretty much an amalgam of some of the worst times. He began to feel sick as he watched the cruelty of the men who were abusing him. A part of him wondered how he'd survived with as much sanity as he'd had.
There was more than once when he'd had to close his eyes. At one point he'd had to stop the computer. He'd ripped out the earplugs and had raced into the bathroom where he'd thrown up. By the time he'd returned, he was shaky but ready to go on. He looked at Sam and she was paper white and had clearly been crying. What had he been thinking?
"Sam, you don't have to stay", he said gently.
She looked at him, fury in her eyes. "Damn right I'm staying Sir!" she'd answered. "And there's nothing you can say that will make me leave, I don't care if you court martial me – I'm not going!"
He looked at her in surprise and then in amusement and finally in affection. "Okay Major, you can stay." He grinned. "And thank you."
"You're welcome Sir", she answered fiercely. He was reminded of a mother bear guarding her cubs. Nobody better get in the way of Samantha Carter right now, he realized.
He took a deep breath and hit enter and continued to watch the video. There were a few other painful memories but for the most part he could handle what he was seeing. Every time it got too bad he'd look up and catch Sam's eye. It immediately calmed him down and he thanked God that she was with him.
He suddenly reached down and hit pause. This was it. This was the point where Samuels had come to watch, he was sure of it. He began to play it at regular speed, being forced to watch every humiliating, painful moment.
There! He heard Samuel's voice first and then his body entered the scene. I've got you, you bastard, he thought.
"So O'Neill, I see you're been enjoying my hospitality", Samuels said, a smug smile on his face as he looked down at the broken and bloody man in front of him. "Whew O'Neill", the evil monster said, holding a Kleenex up to his nose, "don't you ever bathe? Someone should explain personal hygiene to you! You stink!"
Considering the fact that his captors hadn't provided water or soap for bathing – that, added to the fact that some of the torture caused him to soil himself, it wasn't any wonder that he stank. Jack watched the video closely and was actually surprised that he remembered Samuel's visit at all. Looking at himself he really wondered how he'd survived. He looked half dead, lying there, and certainly didn't look as if he was coherent or aware of anything around him.
He watched, fascinated, as Samuel's picked up one of the tools off the tray his torturers had kept handy. He could tell it was a knife. He watched, in morbid fascination, as Samuels began to cut him, all over the chest and arms. He vaguely remembered this, although it was a foggy memory.
He did remember, quite clearly, the next scene. Samuels had held the knife to his genitals and had threatened to castrate him. Samuels had laughed then, and had cut him, although not seriously – just enough to make him whimper. He remembered thinking that the man was really going to carry through with his threat and he knew he would have wanted to die.
"Colonel. Colonel. JACK!"
He jerked back, startled, until he realized that it was Carter, trying to get his attention. He didn't know what was wrong but something had obviously disturbed her.
"Are you okay Sir?" she asked. What he didn't know is that she'd been watching him closely and had seen him begin to tense up again and to breathe quickly and shallowly. It was when tears had begun to run down his face that she'd grown frightened. It had taken her quite a while before she could get his attention.
"I'm fine Carter", he said, although clearly he was lying. "This is the tape." He reached over and hit stop and closed the video. "Make your copies and get them out. Then we're going after that ugly bastard!"
Jack sat, frozen, as Sam did her work. It was only when she finished and put the computer away, that he came out of his trance-like state.
"We'll get him Sir", she said, "Don't worry."
"You're right Carter, we will." His voice sent chills up her spine.
She closed her eyes, wishing it was all over and yet knowing that it was only the beginning!