Jack had to jog to catch up with Sam, her long strides eating up ground fast as she re-traced their steps back to the front door of the station. As soon as she pushed open the front door to the precinct, she was running.
"Carter!" Jack swore under his breath when she didn't stop, breaking into a run to try and keep up. But even with her bruised leg she was faster, and he watched as she ran past the parked squad cars and his truck before rounding the district fence and running into the large commercial lot next door. A brick commercial building hugged the back corner of the lot, and Sam made her way to the far side of it, away from the coverage of the bright security flood lights, and into the darkness. She stopped and turned around, leaning her back against the cold brick before sliding down; wincing at the lingering pain in her ribs.
Jack turned the corner in time to see her slide down the wall and brace her elbows on her thighs before putting her face in her hands and sobbing. He slowed to a jog and then closed the distance with long strides until he was in in front of her.
All he could think to do was to try and comfort her. Ignoring the cracks from his knees, he slid down the wall next to her and pulled her into his arms. She tucked herself into his chest as he rubbed her back and rocked gently; her body shaking with grief. He bent his head to her ear, his voice low and soothing, "I've got you Carter."
Jack felt relieved when her crying subsided, and all he could hear was her shallow breathing and wet sniffles. When she spoke, her voice sounded small and hoarse, "Why would they kill him?"
He sighed. While he was comforting her, all he could think about was who and why. And after twenty minutes of brainstorming, he was still coming up empty. This didn't fit NID at all, it was too messy. "I don't know," he said softly.
"And now they think I did it, or you, or both of us." She pulled back and looked up at him, her eyes creased with concern. "What are we going to do?"
He turned to her and cupped her face with his hands and gave her a small smile, "Well first, you're going to find a forklift to get me off the ground." He paused as she let out a short, wet laugh, and then continued. "And then we're going to head back to my place and figure this thing out together, okay?"
She nodded, "Thank you."
"Let's get out of here huh?" He gave her a hug and a kiss on her forehead before she stood, and then groaned as he used the wall behind him to push himself up.
It was a quiet, short ride back to his place. He glanced at her a few times to find her staring out the window and could swear he could hear the wheels turning. He knew her well enough to know that she was sorting things out, compartmentalizing, and that was a good thing. If anyone could figure out what was going on, it would be her.
Once they walked inside his place, he headed to the fridge for a beer. She was right behind him and gave him a nod, so he twisted off the lid and gave her his before reaching in for another. He followed her out through the sliding glass doors and onto the back porch, before collapsing into the seat next to her.
Waiting in silence, he watched her peel at the label on the bottle in between sips. Finally, she looked at him, "None of this makes sense. If it has to do with the program, why Pete? Why not me?"
His stomach turned at the thought of her being targeted; that someone might want to torture her as well. Before he had a chance to respond, he heard his cell phone ringing from inside the house and got up to get it. He snatched it off the kitchen countertop and opened it, "O'Neill."
"Jack, get out of there now." Maybourne's nasally voice sounded panicked.
"What? What do you mean?"
"I'm not kidding Jack, both of you need to get out of there right now. They'll be there any second. Go out the back, meet me at Rash Field."
"Harry…" Jack heard a dial tone before he could finish.
His jaw clenched and his eyes darted around. He ran back to his room, grabbed a duffel out of his closet and opened his wall safe, mumbling angrily as he shoved the contents into the bag, "Goddamn Maybourne and his Cloak and Dagger bullshit nonsense!"
Sam heard the sliding doors open with a bang and jumped.
"We gotta go." He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the chair. Her empty bottle was jostled off of the armrest and fell onto the deck, shattering.
"Wait, what? Why? What's going on?" When he broke into a run toward the far end of his yard and into the neighboring woods, so did she. And before he could answer, they heard the screeching of tires coming from the direction of his driveway.
Hidden by the brush about 100 yards away, he turned around and ducked down, pulling her down with him. She knew better than to say anything and just watched as the red and blue lights reflected off the side of the house and against the night sky. They heard a loud bang and watched as a SWAT team entered the house to do a sweep.
He'd seen enough. "Come on, let's go," he whispered. They turned and headed into the woods at a brisk pace. Digging into his bag, he handed Sam her holstered gun. "Maybourne called, told me that we had to get out of there. Wouldn't say why; just told me to meet him at Rash Field." She lifted her shirt and tucked the clip of her holster over her belt at the small of her back. Jack removed his holstered gun and handed her the bag so he could put his on. "I only had a chance to grab some stuff in my safe and our weapons."
He took his phone out of his pocket, snapped it in half and dropped it in the dirt before looking at her wide-eyed face. He smirked as she took out hers reluctantly and groaned, "Damn, I just got this one," before following suit.
"How could they have enough for a search warrant?"
He shook his head, "I have no idea. Hopefully Maybourne will be able to fill in the gaps."
Jack wasn't happy. It had taken them an hour to walk what would've been a ten-minute drive. They'd been forced to circle around the outskirts of town to avoid detection and now found themselves at the corner of a clearing near Rash Field, hunkering in the tree-line to take a look around. The Field consisted of four baseball fields, backed up against each other, a popular spot for softball tournaments in the Summer. Besides the covered home field dugouts at each one, the area was wide open.
Jack looked at her. "Stay put. Let me make sure he's over there first."
She didn't look happy about but she nodded.
Jack tucked the duffel under his arm, got low and jogged to the closest dugout, stepping down into it quickly. "Hey Jack." Jack jumped and turned, seeing Maybourne coming down the steps behind him.
"Damnit Harry," he muttered, "what the hell's going on?"
They both jumped when Sam came up behind them, gun drawn. Maybourne put his hands up lazily and gave her a smug smile, "Major Carter."
Sam rolled her eyes and holstered up, "Maybourne."
Jack was glaring at her, "I told you to wait."
She smirked, "I got worried…sir"
The corners of Jack's mouth twitched at her late tacked on 'sir' and Maybourne rolled his eyes, "Oh please, don't bother pretending with me."
Jack ignored him, setting down the bag and folding his arms across his chest, "Alright Harry, spill it. Is NID involved in this or not?"
Maybourne shook his head, his permanent smirk affixed, "Oh no Jack, this has nothing to do with the Stargate program or NID." He turned and looked at Sam, "This has to do with the Major and her fiancé."
Sam's stomach dropped, "What?"
He nodded, "Oh yeah…apparently, your ex got himself caught up with something while he was working undercover."
"Undercover?" she blurted. Obviously, there was a misunderstanding; eyebrows furrowed, she shook her head, "No, Pete was never undercover."
Eyebrows raised, Maybourne smirked as he shook his head and made a tsk tsk sound, "Wow, you really didn't know him at all did you?"
Sam's jaw and fists clenched as she closed her distance. Jack stepped in between them quickly, putting his hands on her shoulders to stop her progress. "Now now Carter, don't kill him…just yet." He spun around on Maybourne and walked into him, forcing Harry to back up to avoid contact.
When his back hit the wall behind him, Maybourne put his hands up, flashing a nervous smile, "Come on Jack, I'm trying to help you guys out here. You called me remember?"
Jack stared him down, his voice low, "Well, you better start making sense Harry. And I would advise that you think before opening your mouth, because I'm not stopping her again."
Maybourne looked down uncomfortably and nodded in agreement. Jack took a couple of steps back and side-stepped so the three of them could see each other. Harry glanced nervously at Sam, who was glaring at him with her arms crossed over her chest.
He exhaled. "My contact said that Shanahan was working undercover to find out information on a businessman by the name of Dennis Knight. Apparently, Knight is a high-profile attorney by day and a criminal broker by night. He has his finger on the pulse of every illegal activity in the State and acts as an intermediary between the criminal syndicates running the money and the gangs on the street handling the day to day operations."
Jack glanced at Sam who looked just as lost as he did. He shook his head, grasping at straws, "So…what, Pete found out something that would've taken this guy down?"
Maybourne tilted his head and shrugged, "My contact didn't know if it was enough to bring him down. He only said that they've been trying to tie up loose ends just in case."
Sam looked down and shook her head slowly, her voice low, "He never said anything to me."
"Well, it didn't stop them from trying to run you down on Independence Pass," Maybourne said smugly.
Jack's jaw clenched, "That was a planned attack?" He looked over and saw Sam staring back at him, gauging his reaction.
Maybourne nodded, "It fits with something these guys would do Jack. They tortured Shanahan to find out who he told and then decided to take out the Major here just in case he lied."
Sam held out her hands, "What about the police? If they knew about this Knight guy, they wouldn't be trying to come after me for his murder, right?"
Harry shook his head, "I don't think you realize the reach this guy has. These syndicates have people from every level of government on their payroll, including cops and judges…even congressmen." He thumbed over at Jack, "Anyway, it's not you they were after tonight, it was him."
Jack looked back and forth between the two, "Me?"
Maybourne rolled his eyes, "Yeah Jack, next time you want to choke someone out, try not to do it bare-handed. Come on, I thought you knew better than that," he teased.
Jack looked down, "Shit."
Sam looked confused, "Wait, what? How would they know any marks were from Jack and not the beating?"
Jack met her eyes, "There's an ultraviolet camera used in forensic science that can detect fingerprints on the skin of strangulation victims."
Sam eye widened as she nodded, "Of course, an alternate light source with the proper filters would provide the multiple wavelengths necessary to penetrate the skin at different depths, allowing details that would normally blend into the background, to be highlighted and visible to the naked eye."
For once Maybourne was at a loss for words, his face blank as he looked over at Jack.
Jack smirked at him knowingly before looking back at Sam. "Yeah…that."
She sighed, sounding defeated, "What are we going to do?"
Jack looked at Harry, "So, we can't go to the cops because we don't know if they're on the payroll or not. What about going after this guy?"
Maybourne shook his head, "Jack, even if you are able to get to this guy and take him out, every gang member and criminal associate he's involved with, wouldn't stop coming until both of you and anyone close to you, were dead. My guess is that they were hoping to separate you two tonight by locking you up. You would've been an easy mark in jail."
Sam swallowed hard at the thought that they had just barely escaped that very fate. "What about General Hammond? He would believe us."
Harry shook his head, "The Air Force has been notified and they've been ordered to detain both of you upon arrival. This is way above Hammond's head."
Jack groaned and rubbed his hands down his face, "Jesus."
"What now?" Sam's voice was so soft, he barely heard her.
Not caring about Maybourne anymore, Jack stepped next to her and put his arm around her, pulling her close, before looking up. "Okay Harry, what's plan B?"
Maybourne dropped his creepy little smirk and looked genuinely serious for the first time. "Jack, I only see one way for both of you to make it out of this alive.
"Which is?"
"To run Jack." Harry looked back and forth between the two of them, "You have to run."