AN: So sorry for the delay in posting. Real life has been absolutely crazy! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 8 – Beyond Negotiation
"What's going on in here?!" A voice boomed as the door swung open.
Sam was standing behind and off to the side of the door where the man wouldn't see him when he entered. It was great place for Sam as it gave him a few extra second before he was discovered.
Sam kicked the door closed behind the man who spun around in surprise. He clearly wasn't expecting Sam to be there, much less able to fight him.
As the man spun around Sam swung his chains with all his might, catching the man off guard and knocking him to the ground. While the man was still dazed Sam ran to him and punched him in the face a couple of times. The man wriggled around and managed to get in a couple of hits of his own. Despite the man's best efforts though Sam had gained the upper hand and it only took moments for Sam to put him in a choke hold, then a few moments more before the man passed out.
Sam dropped the man to the ground panting. That had taken a good deal of the energy that he had left. Sam wasn't sure if he would be able to find the strength needed to fight three more plus Mark. He had to find a way to get the team freed from their chains.
Slowly Sam stood and looked around the room. He spotted the chains on the wall where Jules had been chained and allowed a slight grin. That will work, Sam though.
Taking a deep breath Sam dug for the strength needed to move the man. The team watched, fascinated at Sam strength and resolve, as Sam drug the man across the room. It took a lot of effort, and ignoring a lot of pain, for Sam to accomplish the job but several minutes later he was done. The man was now shackled to the wall where Jules had been not all that long ago. He wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.
Once the man was secured with the chains Sam took a half step back and drew in as deep of a breath as he could. He did his best to lock away the pain that radiated from every fiber of his being and focus on getting his team free now.
Sam searched the man from head to toe looking for something, anything, that would help him free the rest of Team One. He sighed in relief when he finally found what he was looking for. Keys!
Sam made quick work of getting the shackles off of his own hands. He breathed a sigh of relief when the chains fell to the floor. As he looked at his wrists he knew that they would bear the scars of those chains for a while to come.
Turning back to the team Sam made a quick decision of who to free next. He needed someone that could help him defend the team from anyone else who came in, or who could free the rest of the team. Wordy was the best option. He was their hand to hand expert and one of the only guys left that wasn't injured besides the Boss.
As Sam made his way across the room he heard the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door.
"Wordy!" Sam called to the other man. As Wordy met his gaze Sam tossed the keys across the room.
Wordy easily caught the keys that were thrown at him and quickly went to work on getting his shackles open. He knew he needed to get freed so that he could help Sam. Wordy clearly heard two distinct voices on the other side of the door. Sam would be outnumbered in moments.
"Come on Wordy!" Ed urged as he too heart the voices.
"I'm trying Ed." Wordy responded in a clipped tone. He was working as quickly as he could!
The door swung open just as the second shackle dropped form Wordy's wrist.
"Ed." Wordy tossed the keys to the other man as he stood and quickly joined Sam who was now fighting two to one.
Sam was doing his defend himself against the two goons in the room. He was drawing upon every ounce of energy that he had, all his survival training, to try and knock out the two men. But he just didn't have it in him. In his weakened state, with all his injuries, he was barely holding them off. That is until Wordy joined them.
As soon as Wordy tossed Ed the keys he immediately went to Sam's aid. He could see that the younger man was barely holding his own and knew that if he didn't get in the fight then they might just lose their rookie after all. Wordy came up behind one of the man that was trying to beat Sam up and pulled him away.
The man whirled around with fists already seeking a target. Wordy ducked the flying fists and came in under the man's raised arms, tackling him to the ground and knocking the air out of the man. Wordy wrapped his arms and legs around him until he passed out.
Meanwhile Sam was facing off with goon three of four. This man had at least a bit of martial arts training which was forcing Sam to draw upon his own in order to not get knocked out by the man. As they circled each other Sam noted that they were getting closer to Jules and he knew that would not be good.
As Sam faced the man he carefully moved him away from Jules who was still shackled to the ground. He made quick note of the fact that Wordy was engaged with the other man in an effort to knock him out. Ed on the other hand was quickly getting his shackles unlocked. He just had to keep this man occupied, or get him knocked out, before more goons showed up.
Ed watched Sam and Wordy even as he worked at his own shackles. He had one off but the second was being difficult and he couldn't help but wonder if it was because he was in too much of a hurry to get it off. Wordy had his man in a choke hold and would soon have him unconscious. Sam, on the other hand, he wasn't so sure would be able to knock this goon out. Ed could tell that Sam was doing his best to get the man away from Jules even while he defended himself against the attacks of the man. He knew he had to get freed to help, and soon.
Sam was carefully luring the goon away from Jules to keep either of them from hurting her where she lay shackled to the floor. He hated that any of the team had gotten hurt. But, if Jules was injured because of him he didn't know if he could live with himself. As they circled back around towards the wall Sam had an idea. He just hoped it wouldn't be the one that got him killed.
"Come on you idiot. Don't you know how to fight?!" Sam taunted as he took another small step back.
"Sam, what are you doing man?" Lew asked as he watched the fight unfold before them.
"Does he have a death wish?" Spike wondered aloud.
Sam almost smiled when the goon took the bait. The man lunged at him and Sam simply stepped to the side. He used the other man's momentum to propel him into the wall where the force of his head hitting the rock wall rendered the man unconscious and he slid to the floor.
"Oh, that's what he was doing." Lew grinned.
"Finally!" Ed exclaimed triumphantly.
Sam turned and noticed that Ed had managed to finally get his shackles undone.
"Here Greg." Ed passed the keys off to Greg before heading over to where one of the goons lay on the floor. "Let me help you get these guys chained up before the rest show up."
Wordy, Sam, and Ed quickly worked at restraining the two men in the shackles that had just been vacated by Ed and Wordy. By the time that task was accomplished Greg had released his own shackles and was working to free Jules from the metal plate on the ground.
Wordy approached Sam and gently lay a hand on his shoulder.
"Good work Sam. I know you've got to be in pain, why don't you sit down." Wordy kindly suggested.
"Not going to happen until Mark and the last subject are contained." Sam stated as he fought the urge to sink to the ground where he stood.
Ed didn't have time to argue with Sam because, as had been the case up to this point, the subjects had impeccable timing. Just as Jules stood from where she had been shackled the doorway was darkened by another figure. This was the last subject to go through before Mark it seemed.
The man came rushing into the room, but, with five SRU officers freed and waiting for him he didn't stand much of a chance. He only got in one good hit to Wordy before he found himself pinned to the ground with his hands painfully pulled behind his back.
Wordy and Ed pulled the man across the floor and shackled him next to his buddies. They wouldn't be going anywhere until Team One said so.
As the guys took care of restraining the last man Greg quickly released the rest of his team. Lew and Spike were both very happy to finally be able to move around. Both still had sore muscles from the electric shocks that they had endured.
"Wordy, help me do one last check to see if they are carrying any weapons." Ed instructed. They had already searched the men once but Ed was hoping they would find something that could be used as a weapon.
"Sam, how are you holding up?" Lew asked as he approached his teammate.
"I'm fine. We need to find Mark." Sam answered.
Sam wasn't about to tell the team how much pain he was in. How he was pretty sure he was going to pass out as soon as the adrenaline was gone. He wouldn't tell them because they still had the most formidable foe ahead of them and he needed to keep his head in the game. Sam couldn't handle the concern that would follow should he admit to how he was really doing. He pulled out his soldier persona even more now in order to accomplish the task ahead.
"Are you sure Sam? You don't look so good." Greg was concerned for his rookie, and the fact that Sam was brushing off their concern for his physical state.
"I told you… I'm fine." Sam pushed away from the team that was gathered around him and turned towards the door just as Mark's voice could be heard.
"You may be now, but you won't be for long." Mark snarled from the doorway.
Mark had been on the phone with the General when he decided to freshen up before having his way with the beautiful Julianna Callaghan. He was looking forward to it for so many reasons. He would not only get physical pleasure from it but he knew that watching him violate one of his teammates in that way would ultimately drive Sam to the edge emotionally. Mark knew that as he raped Jules he would be breaking Sam's spirit.
However, when he had gone looking for his men they had been nowhere to be found. He had a gut feeling that something had happened and so had retrieved his sidearm before heading to the room where he was torturing Braddock and his team. To say that he was surprised that Team One was free and his men were in shackles would be an understatement.
Mark raised his sidearm and fired off a shot into the room. He wanted to make sure he had their attention.
"Don't think that just because you're free you aren't going to suffer more." Mark growled as he lowered his weapon at Team One's Sergeant. "I'm going to take you out. One. By. One." He took half a step forward.
Ed started forward only for Mark to point his weapon directly at him instead.
"I don't care who dies first so come on. Just go ahead and try." Mark taunted.
Wordy glanced at Ed. His friend lifted his hand ever so slightly telling them to back down. As much as it went against everything within Wordy he took a breath to control his emotions. He saw the same emotions cross Spike, Lew, and Jules' faces too and he knew the team wanted to go into action just as much as he did.
"You all just don't get it do you?" Mark was enraged. "Braddock took my brother from me. He sat on a ridge two kilometers away with his .50 caliber rifle and blew a massive hole through my brother's chest. The damage to Matt's body was so extensive that…" Mark had to take a deep breath before raising his voice and continuing. "Braddock was supposed to be Matt's best friend! How could a best friend do that to someone? How could you do it? How could you kill my brother you heartless son of a…"
"SRU! Hand in the air!"
"Hands in the air!"
"SRU! Put the weapon down!"
The calls echoed through the room as Team Two poured in, guns at the ready should Mark make even the slightest of wrong moves.
"You can't stop what's to come." Mark said after a beat, his voice lacking any emotion.
"Sir, if you don't put the gun down then we are going to have to shoot you." Rollie informed the man simply.
Rollie knew that if negotiation would have worked then Greg would have been the one to get through. The fact that Team One was standing stone still told him that this man was beyond negotiation.
Greg saw the moment Mark made up his mind. He had switched from intent to murder to suicide by cop. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Mark would die today. Greg just hoped no one else would be injured in the process.
Mark took a long moment to observe Team One. This was it. He knew that he couldn't bring Matt back. He couldn't bring his dad back. He couldn't bring his mom back. His family was gone. He had nothing left to live for. Mark knew he had only one chance, he knew what he had to do.
Sam watched as Mark took the two seconds needed to look over Team One. Most of the others probably missed the fact that Mark was considering his options, but Sam knew. He also knew the moment Mark made his decision.
In the split second it took Mark to move the weapon that had been pointed at his own chest Sam launched himself at Mark's new target.
Sam's cry of "NO!" echoed through the room as two gunshots rang out and three people fell to the ground.
AN: I know... another cliffhanger. Please don't Scorpio me ;)