Samantha stumbled down the dark hallway, supporting herself against the wall.  She was having trouble breathing.  Coming to a stairwell, she looked up.  The pain from her ribs coursed through her.

The stairs cornered half way up.  There was no way to know what was at the top.

She checked the clip of the gun.  If there was one good thing Dad taught me was how to handle a gun.  A full magazine less the one shot George fired.  Kerry.  She looked back down the hall, regretting leaving the woman.

No one heard the gun shot. Samantha considered.  This was good.  So long as no one else knew of what happened in the cell, she had time.  Maybe no one is close by?

Taking as much breath as her ribs would allow, she started up the stairwell, gun raised and ready.  Halfway up, she heard the sound of a door at the top opening.

Hauling Ashtarte up from the floor Jack turned her away from the door.

"They are both through that door, down stairs in a cell. There is only the one Jaffa." Ashtarte informed him.

"Let me go now.  I will keep B'aal and his Jaffa from discovering you.  All I ask is for you to allow me to depart with the teltak."

"Why would we allow you to escape?"  Teal'c questioned, placing the barrel of his zat against her back.

"Because I desire exactly the same as you.  To see B'aal defeated.  I want nothing more to do with your planet and your people."

More gun fire and zat blasts could be heard from behind the door.

"Masterson" Jack yelled into his now open radio.

The Colonel leading the second team responded. "Sir?"

"Are you at the teltak?"

"Two hostiles down, we have the teltak."

"Daniel?"

"Jack, we have two Jaffa headed your way."

Jack looked the Gou'ald up and down.  He needed a clear path out of the building if they were to survive.

"All right.  You keep the two Jaffa headed here from entering and you can have the teltak."

"Jack?" Daniel spoke in his ear.

"Daniel, Ashtarte is coming out.  She will get rid of the two Jaffa. Masterson, you will give her a clear path to the teltak, and only her, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Daniel, if she sends them in, take her out."

"Okay Jack."

"Teal'c, follow her out.  Be ready."

"Yes, O'Neill."

Turning to the door, Jack grabbed a hold the knob, reading himself for what lay beyond.

Before he could open it he heard Ashtarte call out,

"Oh, Colonel.  You have excellent taste in women."  With this she turned away, Teal'c following closely behind.

Samantha was crouched at the foot of the stairs.  As soon as the man came into her view he had raised his weapon and fired.  She ducked and headed back down the stairs.  Firing to keep him from descending, she huddled close to the wall at the corner of the stairs.

She counted each of her shots, two bullets left.  She needed to get a clearer site of her attacker.  Backing away from the wall she hid herself in the open door of an empty room.  She waited for the man to make it to the landing.  A clear shot of his body, that's what she needed.

Her labored breathes quickened as she listened to his cautious steps coming down the stairs.  Eight steps on the stairs.  She counted each foot fall.  Four, five, six.

Twisting her pained torso she leaned out from her hiding place and fired.

The shot ricocheted off the metal frame of the stairs.  She could make out the man aiming his weapon at her just as she passed out from the pain.

Ashtarte walked out into the night.  Seeing two Jaffa almost upon the entrance she halted them.

In Goa'uld she spoke, "You will return to your Lord."

"Goddess, our Lord B'aal has commanded you return to his chamber."

"I will.  You will go to him now and tell him that the T'auri woman wishes to beg our Lord for his forgiveness.  She is ready to do his bidding.  I will bring her to him."

"Yes, Goddess."  With that the two turned and headed back to the main entrance of the mansion.

Ashtarte looked over at the corner of the building where Daniel was waiting.  Nodding slightly to him she headed in the opposite direction, to the teltak.

Ashtarte could see the open rear entrance of the teltak twenty yards away.  She passed by the unconscious body of a Jaffa.  There was no sign of the T'auri men, but she could sense their presence deep in the woods beside the teltak.

Closing the distance between her and her freedom she was shocked to feel a cold hand reach out and grasp her throat.

"What did I warn you of Ashtarte?"

B'aal clutched at her throat, pulling her close. Three Jaffa passed by her heading to the teltak.

"My Lord, I sensed men here by the teltak, I was coming to warn you."

"Enough of your lies witch."  He began to drag her back to the mansion.

From the darkness gun shots, one Jaffa going for the teltak fell.  The two left standing fired into the woods.  B'aal pushed her in front of him toward the teltak.

The Jaffa covered them as B'aal pushed her into the vessel.  One Jaffa made it onboard just as the second was hit by gunfire.

Masterson and his men continued to fire on the vessel as it lifted off and took to the air.

Jack could see the back of a Jaffa at the end of the hall.  Just as he took aim, ready to fire, the man stepped down.  Covering the distance as quickly and quietly as possible he came to the top of the stairwell.

The head of the man was visible to Jack, as he stood on the landing; he was starting down the second flight of stairs.

Taking each step as the man did, to mask the sound of his own, Jack sought an opportunity to fire, but the metal frame of the stairs obscured his view.

Suddenly a single gun shot ricocheted at the foot of the stairs.  Taking the last steps in a leap, Jack landed behind the man now at the bottom of the stairs, just as he was about to fire.

Three shots in the back and the man fell dead.  Looking up to where the man had been aiming he saw a prone body on the floor.