It was early evening. The sun had sunk slowly in the west and the trees were casting long shadows in the protective woods. O'Neill wanted to wait until the late evening to take his team into the facility. He figured that it would be easier on the way in for his men to blend into the shadowed places and harder for any pursuers to track them in the darkness on their way out. They knew where they were going, the guards would not.
Once Jack made sure the sentries had completed their shift change, he signaled his team. The three other men double-checked their weapons for readiness. They all carried the SGC standard issue P-90s and 9-millimeter pistols. Teal'c had not been permitted to bring his staff weapon or a zat with them due to security reasons. Jack really hated that.
They fell into a loose formation. O'Neill was on point, Daniel to his left, Sergey to his right and Teal'c on their six. They traveled swiftly and quietly through the heavily wooded area until they reached the narrow paved road. Jack glanced at the sign hanging from the chain link fence; the word he recognized was laboratory. They crossed the road singly then reassembled behind some convenient overgrown bushes. Jack looked at Daniel and in sign asked him what the marker had said. Daniel's eyes darkened ominously as he mouthed the words, Genetic Research. Somehow, he managed to get a tiny bit angrier. His eyes met Daniel's. Obviously the other man had already beaten him to that level of rage.
Jack nodded his agreement and then indicated a small single gate that was partially obscured by shrubbery. It was chained shut and had a padlock on it. Jack indicated for the second team to wait here, and then he slipped through to the darkness to the metal mesh portal with Daniel slightly behind him. He quickly pulled his lock pick kit from the side pocket of his trousers and as Daniel crouched behind him, he selected the proper size instrument. Five seconds later, the lock snicked open, and he motioned his remaining team members to come on in to him and through the gate. Teal'c and Sergey continued onward to the shadowed side of the large building, tucking into the small corners of darkness that it hosted. Daniel entered then turned remaining with Jack, crouching in the moon shade of a cedar tree, until the gate was closed and the lock twisted back to its original position giving it the appearance of being secure.
O'Neill traveled at a quick trot to the position of the other two members of his team. The younger man followed after a suitable interval. Once the four were reunited they skirted the footprint of the building and headed for what appeared to be a seldom-used side door. It too was locked, but again proved no impediment to the determined skill of the Colonel. Once more, Teal'c stepped into point position, with Sergey close behind and to his left. Slipping into the darkened hallway they insured the room was clear and then awaited their leader and his companion to resume forward position. Only some dim single bulbs at each corner of the hallways lighted the building on this floor. This made it navigable but still dark enough to assure them some safety.
When they were all in, Jack signaled for the search to begin. With both Daniel and Sergey being fluent in Russian, their job was to read any signs or posted information that would help them locate Carter. He and Teal'c took the strategic position to insure that they knew their relative location in the building at all times and act as security. Once they located the missing Major, the lucky pair would click their radio mikes twice, the other pair would rejoin them, procure her release and hit the proverbial road to the hidden van and freedom. After they were on the road, the worst part would be over, he hoped. Of course, this was assuming everything went perfectly...yeah, right.
The two pairs split up at the junction of the first hallway. Jack and Daniel went right, O'Neill slightly in front with Daniel tucked in behind his right shoulder. Teal'c and Sergey in similar formation headed left. After six doors that opened into offices, there was a cross-hall where the two teams could actually make eye contact for a moment. The hall continued on for another six doors then, at the end of the corridor, they met briefly at a central staircase. Since all they had discovered on this level were office cubicles, O'Neill made the decision to hit the second floor.
The second floor turned out to be labs and exam rooms. There was even a large, ominous appearing refrigerated area with several hospital gurneys sitting empty. Teal'c made a quick sweep of the space and left it with a shake of his head and a relieved look in his eyes.
On the third floor, there were several rooms that appeared to be fully set up hospital rooms. There was even a small complete nurse's station in evidence. The four split back into their teams and started a door-to-door check. Then, Jack heard something. Sweeping his right arm backward to push Daniel back behind him, the two flattened themselves back up against a door and into its shallow space.
As the two men waited, they could just make out the dark figure that was walking casually down the hallway. The man was obviously not expecting to meet anyone in the darkened corridor, especially a Special Operations trained Colonel. It was his last mistake.
As the sentry approached their position, O'Neill made his decision. As the man came closer, Jack carefully popped a button off of his sleeve cuff and in one abbreviated gesture, tossed it against the opposite wall slightly behind them. It hit the bare wood floor with a snapping sound, catching the approaching man off guard. As he turned his head to the sound, strong arms caught him from behind and quickly, cleanly, and quietly, snapped his neck.
Jack silently eased the body down to the floor, then glanced at Daniel. He looked back, expressionless.
They moved on down the hallway, checking every room on the third floor. Rounding the corner at the end, there were lights on and several voices could be heard. Then, Jack's mike clicked twice in his ear; Teal'c had found Carter. He backed Daniel and himself a short distance away from the lighted area and spoke softly into the radio.
"What's your location?"
We appear to be in the next hallway over from you. There is an area with lights and several people talking."
"Acknowledged. We'll circle around to the first connecting hallway and come to your side. Where's Carter?"
"She is asleep in a room on this hallway. I recognize her profile in the moonlight."
Daniel spoke into his mike for the first time. "Is she okay? Can you tell?"
"She appears all right. She is still carrying the child. I am concerned that we may not be able to move her without alerting the others."
Jack spoke again. "Gottcha. We'll be there in one minute. Stand by."
O'Neill and Jackson moved swiftly and silently down the hallway rounding the two corners to take them over to the other fourth and farthest hallway. Within seconds, they could see Teal'c and Sergey standing well back in the shadows. There was a second body lying on the floor, tucked back into a corner.
When they met, Teal'c indicated a doorway farther up the hall and close to the occupied area and said in a soft voice. "She is in there, and unaware we are here."
O'Neill glanced from the door to the lighted area. They could either go in covertly, try not to alert the office personnel and risk an alarm being set off; or they could do a preemptive strike, secure the area and possibly injure some innocent scientists, that is if anyone who worked in a Genetic research facility on human beings...particularly their human being...could be called innocent.
His team was looking to him for direction. O'Neill signaled Teal'c and Sergey to stand fast and guard. Then he indicated to Daniel to tuck behind and they would proceed to the door. They slipped up the corridor quietly and within seconds reached the indicated door. Jack reached over and silently turned the knob. It was locked.
Jack looked back at Daniel and nodded at the recalcitrant handle. Daniel nodded and brought his weapon up to ready. Jack allowed his to swing free from its neck strap while he got the lock pick out again. Then they repeated the choreographed movement as they had on the gate outside.
When the lock clicked quietly, indicating it had surrendered and unlocked, Jack stood up and slipped his hand into the doorway. Tucking it close to his body, O'Neill signaled to Daniel and the younger man slipped quietly into the room.
Sam was asleep on a double bed, covers pulled up and tucked under her chin. Daniel approached her quietly and reached to touch her on the shoulder. Thinking better of that plan, he shifted to her wrist and knelt down beside the bed where he was actually a bit more out of range of any defensive actions. "Sam," he whispered. "Sam, wake up."
When she didn't move, he gripped her a little firmer and leaned over the bed. "Sam, wake up. We have to go...Jack's waiting."
Carter startled up out of her sleep, narrowly missing Daniel with an open hand. He managed to deflect it with an up flung arm.
"Daniel?"
"Yes," he smiled at her confusion. "Come on, Jack's waiting for us, let's go."
Sam sat up awkwardly, her out-of-balance body hampering her movements. She blinked at him in confusion. "How did you get here?"
"Shsssh," He shushed her gently, "I'll fill you in later." He saw she was wearing only an open backed hospital gown. Daniel quickly slipped off his vest and took off his BDU shirt. "Here," he held the garment for her. "Put this on."
She gratefully slipped the shirt on over the gown and Daniel pulled his vest back on over his black tee shirt. "Are you ready?" He whispered.
Sam nodded eagerly. He took her by the hand and led her out into the hallway. O'Neill was standing in the shadows nearest the doorway. As the couple passed by under his watchful eye, he nodded at her smile and winked at her. As the two of them continued on down the corridor to the other waiting pair, Jack remained at his post covering them until they reached the darker area of the hallway. Once they were safely with Teal'c and Sergey and on their way to the stairs, he followed them.
The men surrounded Sam. Teal'c took point, Daniel and Sergey flanking her, and O'Neill covering their sixes. He stayed in the back, insuring that no one had been alerted by their movements.
The group descended the stairwell carefully, Daniel holding her firmly by the arm to help her balance. When they reached the bottom floor, Teal'c stopped to be certain all was still well with their charge.
O'Neill caught up with them at the doorway. He pointed to the floor and her bare feet. In a low whisper, he commented, "You forgot something."
Carter shook her head, "They took them after my escape attempt, sir. Sorry."
Jack nodded at her in acknowledgement. He understood the helpless feeling of being a prisoner.
Teal'c slung his P-90 back over his shoulder and swung her up easily in his arms. "It will not be a problem, O'Neill." She gratefully put her arms around his neck.
"Sweet," Jack replied. "Carter, you ready to blow this Popsicle stand?"
"Oh, yes, Sir! More than ready."
"Let's go then," he replied with a quick grin at her, white teeth flashing in the near darkness.
The five of them made it out of the compound with only one small hold up. Daniel had stopped to secure the building's door, the others going on ahead by a few yards. As he turned around to join the team, he could see a sentry hiding and watching them from behind some bushes. The man obviously hadn't seen him, trailing so far back and had his blind side angled towards Daniel. So intently was he watching the other four as they traversed the yard, the sentry didn't see him scoop up a rock the size of a tennis ball, he didn't hear the stone as it flew towards him and he didn't hear the impact when it caught him right behind the ear.
When he hit the parking lot pavement, Jack spun around with his weapon on ready, but all he saw was the unconscious guard lying on the ground and Daniel moving swiftly to catch up with the group. When he had joined them, Jack nodded approvingly in his direction. They continued on out through the gate, locking it behind them.
As they were about to leave sight of the building and start towards the road and the hidden van, all the yard lights suddenly came on and people began running out of the structure. They had discovered that Carter was missing. The men started to speed up, Sam hanging on to Teal'c's neck as he increased to an easy jog. Jack motioned Sergey to hang back with him and Daniel to continue on with his two teammates. Jackson stopped and turned to look back at O'Neill and Kuryakin; Jack waved him on after the Jaffa. He finally turned and followed Teal'c and his precious burden on into the woods.
Sergey had also stopped and watched the interplay between the two men, but Jack caught his attention with a jerk of his head, and the two of them faded into the woods. After several minutes, the first of their pursuers burst into the small clearing. Jack dropped one with a well-placed shot to the calf muscle. The younger soldier picked one off with a bullet to the shoulder. Both were non-fatal wounds, but it would definitely slow down their tracker tails. When the first two fell, the following group took cover behind the brush. They continued to lay down fire to dissuade the pursuit.
After a few minutes, Jack signaled the other man to fall back. Every once in a while, they could hear some talking but O'Neill was unable to translate what they were saying, and Kuryakin was too far from him for him to ask.
After a few minutes, Jack caught some more movement in the trees. He signaled to Sergey who nodded his acknowledgement. Then, he saw more activity on his side. They were trying to flank them to get past their blockade to cut off their escape route to the van.
O'Neill and Kuryakin continued to fire, in a defensive fashion and finally settled into a leapfrog pattern, trying to slow down their pursuers and still be able to rejoin their teammates in their journey to the waiting vehicle.
They caught up with the three others as they rounded a corpse of trees, machine gun fire rattled across the ground behind them. The reunited team had to take cover in a drainage ditch beside a narrow paved road.
As Teal'c landed on both feet at the bottom, Sam stepped out of his arms. "I'm okay." She assured him and reached for his 9-millimeter pistol. Daniel, who had followed them into the ditch, handed her a full clip for the weapon and hunched down next to her, putting his P-90 to work against their followers.
After a few seconds, Jack slid down the bank to lay next to them, catching his breath for a moment. Sergey was the first to notice the bloodstain on his sleeve. "Colonel, you're hurt."
O'Neill waved him off. "I'm fine, nothing to worry about." He glanced over at Carter. "How ya doing, Major?"
She nodded in response to his question. "I'm okay. How did you find me?"
"We had a little help from the new member of SG-14." He nodded towards the young Russian. "Daniel, how ya doing over there?"
"I'm good, Jack."
"O'Neill," Teal'c called out from the other end of the line. "There are at least ten others in the trees."
Jack scooted up the bank and peeked over the edge. "Yep, we thinned them out a little, but there's still too many of them. Daniel, Carter, follow this road about another three or four miles and you'll come to the van." O'Neill reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys handing them to Daniel. "We'll stay behind and cover you, Daniel, get Carter to the van then you can think about coming back after us." He looked at two pair of blue eyes. "No arguments," he added. "If you drive towards us and still hear gunshots, just wait right where you are. We'll be along."
"Sir, I don't think we should leave you." Sam complained.
"Carter, You've got other things to worry about now...Daniel, you get her to that van, you hear me."
"Jack..."
"Daniel, we don't have any time here. Now, go!"
Daniel nodded. As much as he hated leaving the others, he knew that Sam's safety and that of the baby was of primary concern to all of them. He reached a hand down to her and helped her to her feet.
The two of them followed the drainage ditch for as long as they could. Finally, it got shallower and they could easily climb up to the road. Sam was holding up bravely but he could tell her bare feet were causing her problems.
"Feet hurt?" Daniel asked her.
"Well, yes, they're actually cold, so the bruises bother me more too." She replied honestly. "I'm sort of cold all over."
"Could you wear my boots?" He nodded, knowing her state of undress was making her uncomfortable. He looked at her feet.
"No, they're way too big."
"Hummm," He thought a moment and dug into the large pocket of his utility vest. He pulled out a pair of socks. "They're not much, but they are better than nothing. Here, sit down for a minute and I'll slip them on you. "
Sam gratefully leaned back against the embankment and put her hand across her belly. A cramp caught her unawares and she grunted softly.
"What's wrong?" Daniel looked up at her from where he knelt at her feet.
"Nothing, just a cramp." She replied with a grimace.
"A cramp?"
"Yeah, I've been having them on and off since last night." She admitted.
"On and off? How far apart?" He stood up next to her and put his hand on her abdomen. He felt a contraction.
"Um, they've gotten worse, been happening about every hour or so. It must have been something I ate. Why?"
"Sam, you're in labor." He told her grimly.
"No," she said calmly. "That's supposed to hurt; besides it's too soon."
"Sam, you're at least at eight and a half months. You're not that early." He said worriedly.
"Daniel, I had an appointment with Janet last week, I'm at thirty-two weeks."
"Sam," He looked at her in frustration. "Sam, you've been missing for three and a half weeks. You're closer to..." He did some quick math in his head. "You're closer to nine months."
She looked at him in disbelief. "Three weeks? It couldn't have been. Where have I been?"
Daniel looked at her oddly. "I'd say you've been in Russia."
The three SGC marksmen concentrated their firepower on the pursuing guards. At three against ten, it didn't take Jack, Teal'c, and Sergey to cause them to lose all remaining enthusiasm for the chase. Finally, after thirty minutes of a hot firefight, the residual bad guys finally determined that their pay was not equal to the task of taking on these three particular sharpshooters.
Finally, when Jack was satisfied that the soldiers had all turned tail and headed back for the Genetic Research Center, the three of them started out towards the van. They'd only gone about two miles when they saw Daniel and Sam moving slowly up the road. Daniel had his arm around her shoulders supporting Carter. Breaking into a trot, they soon caught up.
As they reached the couple, Jack jogged up to Carter's side across from Daniel. "What's up?"
Daniel glanced over Sam's head to his friend. "Sam's in labor. I didn't want to rush her."
"Labor?" Jack looked at him in surprise. "Whadda mean labor? How close are the contractions?"
"I mean, Jack," Daniel said calmly, "she's in labor, and they're at thirty minutes apart now."
Carter looked up at him through her tears. "I'm sorry, Sir. I thought I had indigestion."
"Indigestion? For crying out loud, Carter." He looked helplessly from her to Daniel.
"Jack, shut up! She can't help it." Daniel scowled at him. "She's almost at nine months you know."
"I know, I figured she might do this." He looked grim.
"What do you mean by that?" Carter sniffed.
Jack noticed that Carter had tears running down her face and she was biting her lower lip. "Carter?" He immediately felt bad about his frustrated comment.
"I'm sorry, I tried not too, but... "
"Damn it, Jack..." Daniel was getting mad now.
"Carter, Sam, I'm sorry." Jack looked helplessly around at Teal'c, who shrugged his shoulders. "Sam, don't cry. Carter, I'm sorry. All I meant was we should have been more prepared for this."
"I'm sorry, Colonel. I didn't mean it." She raised her tear-streaked face to him.
Teal'c came up from behind the three. He took one look at them, picked Carter up and started walking at a fast pace in the direction of the waiting van. Carter wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. As Daniel ran past him to keep up with his two teammates, he glared back at Jack.
O'Neill stopped and waited for Sergey to catch up to him. As the young Russian took his place next to the Colonel and the two men started to follow the others down the road, Kuryakin looked at O'Neill in confusion.
"What happened?"
Jack looked over at him and shook his head. "I don't know."
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What Do You Do When Bad Things Always Happen To The Good Guys? (15/End)
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