For the five or six of you still following this, the torture is almost over. ;) Thanks Ice for the help.
Jennifer finally squirmed out of Todd's grasp though she didn't dare try to take a step, afraid that her knees would finally give way and let her collapse onto the floor. Her stomach had dropped into her shoes and her heart, even though it was beating wildly in her chest, had never felt so empty and dead. Her lungs felt as though they'd been filled with cement, making her breaths short and shallow. Rodney was… Delilah had…
"Why?" she croaked pleadingly, knowing that one of Rodney's truly deepest fears was being fed upon by a Wraith.
Delilah still stood before her, blocking her view of Rodney even though she doubted she could see him anyway through the torrent of tears that were falling from her eyes.
Delilah's eyes narrowed and for a moment Jennifer thought she saw confusion on the Queen's face. She never had time to dwell on it though, as the sounds of heavy footfalls and the telltale whines of standard issue energy weapons powering up signaled the arrival of heavily armed security personnel.
Jennifer continued to gape beseechingly at Delilah as the Wraith slowly looked about the room at the dozen or so weapons pointed at her. When Delilah looked back to her Jennifer felt anger and frustration at the way she continued to look so blasé about the situation.
"Son of a bitch!"
Jennifer and Delilah turned in unison towards the source of the profane exclamation. John was standing, his right hand rubbing gingerly at the back of his head. After a moment he stopped and leaned down to check on Stone, then motioned for the two nearest security guards to remove him from the area. Only when they were gone did John turn to face them.
John pointed at Todd and said through clenched teeth, "If he so much as twitches, shoot him."
Jennifer felt Todd stiffen behind her and she shuddered. It unnerved her, the realization that he was still behind her so she quickly moved over to where Cadman was starting to sit up.
"Easy, Laura," Jennifer said as she leaned down next to the Colonel.
"Son of a bitch," Laura growled in a tone of voice that eerily mimicked that of her CO. She winced and brought her hand up to gently probe her cheek. "I'm gonna kill him!" She looked into Jennifer's eyes and noticed the tears still flowing from her eyes. "What? Is it… is it," she gulped and finished with a whisper, "Rodney?"
Jennifer couldn't talk, nor could she miss the fury that instantly materialized in Laura's hazel eyes.
With the grace of a highly trained and athletic Marine, Laura rolled up onto all fours and in one fluid motion picked up her weapon and then got to her feet within the blink of an eye, her weapon pointing to the middle of Todd's chest.
Jennifer got to her feet and stood next to Laura as they watched Delilah move to stand next to Todd. The queen looked from John to Laura and then to Jennifer. "You humans with your suspicious minds."
Before Jennifer could ask what she meant by that, a voice she'd given up ever hearing again filled the room.
"Can someone please get me some pants!"
A/N: "Suspicious Minds" was written by Mark James and released, and made famous by the way, by Elvis in 1969.