Disclaimer: I still own nothing.

A/N: I have never been to Denver and have imagined all of the places used in this story, none of the places are based off of real locations and are entirely fictional. Several people have sent me PM's asking if I plan to continue my fifth story in this series, Seeing is Believing which has been previously posted on Granger Enchanted, I do. I never planned to abandon this series, and in fact have a huge number more stories to finish for it, but life got in the way. I haven't owned a computer for several years now and a move across the country left me without any of my outlines until recently. I will continue to post this story regularly up through what I have of story five, after which I will try to have a once a week update schedule. Thank you to those have stuck with me over the years.

Keeping to the shadows, Hermione crept into the parking garage, holding the stolen keys in front of her, hoping to find the car they belonged to. Just about when she had given up, the lights of a SUV flashed. Jumping into the vehicle and adjusting the seat were easily done, but exiting the parking structure proved more difficult as she tried to avoid the notice of security.

After she had managed that and was on the highway, Hermione had to pull over to a gas station to ask for directions to the Clearwater Bar. Frustrated, she pushed the speed limit, needing to get to her teammates as quickly as possible.

Pulling into the parking lot, Hermione rushed into the building and began searching the crowd. They weren't there. Finally spotting someone she recognized, Sergeant Davik, she ran over.

"Sergeant," she yelled over the music.

Looking at her through dazed eyes, he blinked. "Dr. Granger, what ya doing here? Shouldn't ya be with the other chicks doing your hen night, thingy?"

As he laughed as his own pun, Hermione could only sigh in dismay. Grabbing his hand, she dragged him off to the side so they wouldn't be overheard. In a firm voice, she explained, "Listen! Someone just tried to kidnap me, and there is another team coming here to grab the rest of us. We need to find the others and get out of here now."

Sobering up at her tone, Davik straightened and cast a glance around the bar. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I overheard them talking about this place. Where is everyone else?"

Pausing in thought, Davik replied, "Last I saw of the rest of your team, they were going to take Kyle back to the hotel since he over did it a bit. Major William was here a minute ago." Scanning the crowd, he grabbed the attention of one of the other wedding guests. "Ben, my man, have you seen William around anywhere?"

The aforementioned Ben nodded. "I just saw him going out back with some waitress."

Sharing equal looks of concern, Hermione and Davik both approached the back hallway and followed it toward the exit. Before he could try and walk out the back, she pulled out the firearm she had taken off of her attacker to take the lead. Swinging open the door, they both took defensive positions and used hand signals to slowly begin to search the area. Coming to the end of the alley, they both spotted a van surrounded by several guards and two of them loading an unconscious Major William into the back. A woman dressed as a waitress was standing off to the side and looked to be receiving some instructions, probably how to draw Davik out of the bar.

Hermione signaled that they should back off. As they eased back into the darkness of the alley, Davik stumbled over a trash can, drawing the attention of the crew. The guards opened fire with tranq-guns the moment they spotted the pair. Using the stolen gun, Hermione managed to disable and confuse the group enough that she was able to escape even after her partner was taken down.

Even as she ran back through the bar and out to the stolen vehicle, she knew that it was highly unlikely she would be able to catch up with the van that had sped away with her teammates and fellow SGC employees. It didn't take her long to be proven right; the van was nowhere to be found. Slamming her fist into the steering wheel in frustration, Hermione turned back around to the bar and pulled up next to the alley hoping that one of the men she had injured was still alive. Holding the gun steadily, she swept the area and spotted a body slumped against the alley wall.

In a weak voice, the man spoke, "Help."

Cautiously, she approached the figure who was holding his jacket against a bleeding wound in his stomach, looking quite pale with blood loss and on the verge of passing out. "Shit." Quickly shrugging out of her jumper leaving her only in a thin tank top, she pressed it firmly into the man's belly, causing him to let out a grunt of pain. Locating an open mobile phone laying off to the side smeared with blood, she quickly dialed 911 for an ambulance.

Now that the man was able to focus on her presence and that an ambulance had been called, Hermione began her interrogation. "Where were they taken?"

Still looking a bit dazed, he answered. "Warehouse, urrh. Over on Grant and Pa-Parkway."

"Who do you work for?" she demanded, trying to keep the man focused.

"Guy called Mr. Stern."

The name didn't sound familiar. "Who is this Mr. Stern? Why did he take my team?"

Hissing in pain, he responded. "Urgh. He had some deal go-going on at the hotel. Something with the NID, I-I don't know what."

Hermione stilled for a moment as a surge of disgust shot through her. She had never personally had any dealings with the NID, but she knew of their reputation. The organization was known for their less-than-scrupulous ways and had more than once tried to take control of the SGC. More often than not, it was controlled by rogue agents out for their own personal gain. In its own way, it reminded her very much of the corruption of the Ministry.

In the distance she could hear sirens getting closer. It suddenly occurred to her that the police would probably be arriving as well, and unless she wanted to be arrested, she should call the base. Opening the man's mobile once again, she quickly made another call to the SGC to inform them of the situation and request back-up. She was instructed to surrender herself to the police and wait for a local Air Force officer to be sent to arrange her release. She would then be put in charge of coordinating a rescue operation, since it would take too long to organize a group to come from Colorado Springs. SG-1, SG-4 and SG-5 would begin mobilizing to infiltrate the hotel to find this Mr. Stern and his team of NID operatives; her priority would be to rescue her team.

Finishing her call just in time, a voice rang out from behind her. "Freeze!"

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Taking in the lovely view from his hotel suite, Mr. Stern enjoyed his glass of scotch. The ring of his cell interrupted his reprieve and he brought the offending object to his ear, not bothering to look at the caller ID. "Is it done?"

"No, sir. The girl got away and intercepted the ambush at the bar. We lost an agent at the scene, but were able to acquire the rest of the personnel. She is armed and tried to pursue, but we evaded."

"I want her found before she causes any more trouble," he demanded.

"Sir, we believe she has already called in for back-up and got the location of the warehouse off of the injured agent. The police scanners have an ambulance and cop car in route to the area. It's safe to assume she has already contacted the SGC."

Staring at his reflection in the sliding glass door, he let his thoughts race toward the next logical step in the woman's actions. She so far had proven quite resilient in disrupting his carefully laid plans. Something, he thought with distaste, that had not been in the files he had procured about her. "Bring those you have back to the hotel instead; Dr. Granger will most likely be mounting a rescue to the other location. Make sure that they continue to be sedated; I don't want any more slip-ups."

"What about the girl?"

A grim smile slipped on to Mr. Stern's face. "She will be handled." With that, he ended the call and began to punch in a new number. The other line rang once before being picked up.

"Sir."

"I have a job for you."

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Hermione shifted her weight in an effort to ease the pressure on her wrists from being handcuffed and shoved into the back of a police car. At the moment, she was staring straight ahead, waiting for the idiot police officers to stop their incessant questions and the officer General Hammond had promised to send to show up.

She was having a really bad night, and the fact that she was sitting in the back of a police cruiser, which smelled like urine, freezing to death in nothing but a filthy tank-top was putting her into an increasingly foul mood. After she had surrendered her weapon, one of the cops had pushed her into the asphalt to slap on the handcuffs, getting a little too grabby, in her opinion. In the process, the muck of the alley had the opportunity to seep into her clothes, leaving her cold and wet.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione could see that the medics had finally been able to stabilize their patient and were about to transport him to the hospital. It also looked like a pair of detectives had arrived to take her in for questioning.

Where was her back-up?

Before she was subjected to another round of accusation, a military jeep pulled up. Stepping out of the vehicle were two men in uniforms; a Major and Lieutenant, from the looks of it. The pair intercepted the detectives, and after a rushed conversation and showing them some paperwork, she was released.

The Major approached her and executed a salute. "Ma'am, I have orders from General Hammond to follow your lead. A team has already been assembled and is on stand-by outside of the warehouse waiting for our arrival."

Nodding, Hermione asked, "What have you been briefed about so far, Major...?"

"Cartwright, ma'am. We were just told that this mission would be highly classified and that you were in charge." Pausing in his explanation, he gave her a searching look. "I don't much like the idea of sending my men in blind, ma'am."

Striding over to the jeep, and Hermione climbed into the back, while Major Cartwright got in the passenger seat and the unnamed Lieutenant the driver's side. "I understand your concern, Major, and I will inform you of what I can." Glancing at the passing traffic, she began to give orders. "Tell your men to do a sweep of the perimeter for any guards. I want to hit these bastards before they have a chance to learn we are coming. Have them ready with the information for when we get there."

Reacting to the authority in her tone, the Major got on the radio and began to direct the team into place. The drive through the dark streets was accomplished swiftly and their group was soon pulling into a mobile unit that had been set up for coordinating the assault. Not bothering with pleasantries, Hermione followed Major Cartwright into the surveillance area. "What do you have?"

She was shown the blueprints for the building and told of the tactical situation. As far as the team could tell, there were no guards in place, but they had spotted several security cameras placed at the entrances. There would be no cause for subtlety, they would have to use a frontal assault and fight their way through.

Once the decision was made, everyone loaded up their gear. Hermione grabbed a much needed jacket, a tac-vest, a firearm and a gas mask before making one last announcement. "I just want to remind everyone that this mission is classified. Whatever you may see is not to be talked about; do I make myself clear?"

A round of, "Yes, ma'am," was heard.

The team of twelve, plus Hermione, arranged themselves around the facility and split into two groups; one to cover the back exit and the other for the frontal assault. Taking charge of the assault group, Hermione placed Major Cartwright in charge of the other. Taking a deep breath, she made a hand signal to the group and they swiftly jumped into action. One of the soldiers placed a charge of C4 on the door and blew it open while another threw canisters of tear-gas into the room.

Pouring into the room, the team spread out in a standard sweeping pattern, looking for any hostiles. Finding none, they began a room-by-room search.

No one was there.

Hitting her radio, Hermione called the Major. "We have nothing here. Anyone on your end?"

"No, ma'am, nothing."

Clenching her fists in fury, Hermione reined in the urge to curse. Those bastards must have figured out that the location wasn't secure since they had left a man behind. Before she could give into the childish impulse to stomp her foot, an airman caught her attention. "Ma'am, I think you should come see this."

Following his lead, she entered a room with a large cage in the center of it; probably where they had intended to keep the prisoners. "We are on the right trail. This is where they planned to bring the captives. Get those outside to come help have everyone search these rooms; I want to know if they left anything behind to indicate where they might have gone."

The soldier nodded and went to collect the others to coordinate the search. Left in the room, she ran her eyes along the cage in silence. Where had they taken her team? As much as she disliked the idea, Hermione almost felt that she should throw caution to the wind and take this unit to secure the hotel before Mr. Stern and his associates had a chance to escape with any clues as to the whereabouts of her teammates.

Deciding that the best course would be to re-interview the guard at the hospital, Hermione was surprised by a blow to the back of her head, causing her to crash into the floor as darkness closed in.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

The search didn't take long; there was nothing left of the group that had occupied it or where they planned to hide next. Ordering his men to pull back, Major Cartwright had everyone meet back at the surveillance unit to start packing up.

Looking a bit confused, Captain Malcolm cornered him for a moment. "What about Dr. Granger? She hasn't left the building yet, sir."

He waved away the man's concern. "Don't worry about the doctor. I'm going to be taking her over to the hospital to question the witness some more. Her people are going to be taking over the rest of this operation from this point on." Handing over the issued equipment, he said "Here, take these; Dr. Granger won't be needing them anymore."

"I understand, sir."

"Good. I want you to arrange for everyone to pack-up and get back to the base. Debriefing at 0900 tomorrow," Cartwright made sure to add.

"Yes, sir." Turning, the Captain set about doing exactly that.

As the unit drove off, he took out a cell phone and punched in a number. "I've got the girl."

"Excellent."

"What do you want me to do with her? Lock her up with the others?"

There was a silence over the line before his employer spoke again. "She's been too much trouble already. Find out what she knows, then get rid of her."

"Understood."

"Your usual fee will be deposited into your account."

Hanging up the phone, Cartwright opened up the bag he had left in the jeep with his supplies and double-checked that everything was in order before he walked back into the warehouse to deal with Dr. Granger.