Chapter 6
That night around 2am local time, the two women began to see lights in the distance. The road forked, a sign bearing the word “Tokana” and an arrow pointing to the east heralding the route to the next nearest city. They kept to the left fork, knowing that the lights the were seeing were burning at the compound that was their destination.
“Any idea what we’re going to do once we get there?” Janet asked.
“None.” Sam smirked at her. “But I’m sure we’ll figure it out once we see what we’re dealing with.”
“Sounds like fun.” the doctor said, rolling her eyes and smiling a little. She would never understand the military tendency to enjoy danger.
They continued down the road, watching the lights grow brighter and more defined. Sam was limping heavily and Janet was bracing her side, her ribs burning, but they were both in good spirits. They were almost there.
At some point, indefinable to Janet, Sam called a halt and motioned the doctor into he trees beside the road. They had long since shuttered their lamps, but now Sam opened hers just a crack to find shelter where they could rest and plan.
The pair had to look for a while to find a suitable tree this time. The forest was thinning somewhat and the cover wasn’t as good as Sam would have liked, but after about a half hour of looking, they found one. It was an old, gnarled thing, the radius from the trunk to where the boughs bushed the ground being easily fifteen feet, which provided plenty of room for the two women to spread out.
Sam looked around and nodded. “This will do nicely.”
“Sam,” Janet said, “Don’t you think the Socar will search these trees for us? They’re not exactly an unknown haven.”
“They won’t if they don’t have any reason to.” Sam answered. We’re just going to have to be careful.”
“So what do we do now?”
Sam considered her options for a moment. “We’ll wait until it starts to get light and then use the trees as cover to scout the area. The guards’ alertness level will be at its lowest at daybreak. Once we have what the intel we need, we’ll come back here and wait for dark. Then we can sneak in, grab the guys and make a break for the stargate.”
“Won’t the gate be heavily guarded?”
Sam hefted one of the pistols that Ella had given them. “That’s what these are for.”
“Oh. Right. Of course. How silly of me.” The dryness of her tone made Sam smile at her.
“Try and get some rest. We’ll move out in three hours.”
Frasier turned away from the major and began to pull out her sleeping roll, trying not to cry out as her ribs ground together. Something was wrong, but since there was nothing Carter could do about it, Janet stayed silent. She slipped a couple of painkillers into her mouth, accepted her meal from Sam and ate as much as she could, then laid down and tried to rest.
But she couldn’t. Breathing was starting to hurt again, and Janet could feel the beginnings of a fever stealing over her. She kept still until Sam’s breaths evened out into a sleep pattern, then quietly pulled up her shirt and probed her ribs. The area was tender and hot, an it felt like one of the ribs had slipped out of place again. She had probably re-broken it when she’d been helping Sam into the their shelter the night before.
Janet knew she was in trouble. If that rib slipped anymore, it could puncture her lung and could easily kill her. But she didn’t see any way to get out of going on this rescue mission. She certainly wasn’t going to ask Sam to leave her behind, not when they were so close.
Finally, the doctor sat up and ripped one of her extra shirts into one long strip, then wound it around her torso, wrapping it tight to give her ribs some support and protection. It was all she could do for now. She would just have to try and not get too acrobatic the next night.
Sam’s internal clock went off three hours later and she sat up, fully alert and ready to get on with her mission. She looked over at Janet and didn’t like what she saw. The doctor had dark circles under her eyes, and her shirt looked strange, lumpy. Sam reached over and lifted it a bit to reveal the bandage underneath. Sam groaned internally. Couldn’t anything go right on this god forsaken planet?
She shook Janet gently, careful not to jostle her too hard, and was pleased when the doctor came awake easily. Her skin was hot, and fevers had a way of affecting the sleep/wake cycle.
“How are you feeling?” Sam asked her softly.
Janet tried to sit up, but then winced and laid back down. “I’ll be alright. I just need to get up and move around.”
“Listen, why don’t you stay here while I scout the area? It won’t take very long, and then I’ll be back and you can help me plan how we’re going to do this.”
“No. I’m going with you.”
“Janet, we’re not going to be doing anything until tonight. Why don’t you rest?” She paused for effect. “You’ve got a fever, you know.”
“Yeah.” the doctor said glumly. “I know.” she sighed. “How long will you be?”
“Just long enough to get an idea of where the guys are being held and how many people are around. If I’m going to be longer than three hours, I’ll come back and let you know, okay?”
Janet nodded weakly. “Okay.”
Sam handed her a loaded pistol. “Take this. I’ll signal you before I come in, so if anything else comes through those branches, shoot it.”
Janet nodded again, and Sam grabbed her own pistol, the extra clips, and two of the knives, and ducked out of the shelter.
Sam headed for the compound, staying within the tree line and being as quiet as her injured leg and pronounced limp would allow. She moved northwest, approaching a rise in the terrain that would allow her to scan the compound without being seen. She climbed the slight incline, grimacing as her leg protested, and made herself comfortable in the brush.
She had a good view from here. The compound was made up of one large square building with a small courtyard in the center, and a few smaller outbuildings surrounding it. She could see several guards milling around, maybe seven or eight of them, all moving to keep themselves awake, but she couldn’t see much else. She was too far to make out what, if anything was in the courtyard. She would have to get closer, and there was no time like the present. She studied the main building again, memorizing as much of the layout as she could see, then she spotted a narrow hallway that seemed to extend from the courtyard to the exterior of the structure. The entrance was facing away from her, but she was pretty sure it would be guarded. She would have given a lot for a pair of binoculars right about now, but if wishes were horses and all that. She got up slowly, pausing to sit for a minute and rub her leg before rising completely and moving down toward the building.
She knew from her initial survey that there were only two guards on the side of the building that she was approaching. There was no road leading away from this direction, so the protection here was less than perfect. She still had to be careful, however. Firing her pistol would bring everyone in the place down on her, and a dead guard, even if he died silently, would be almost as bad.
Sam reached the edge of the tree line and squinted through the ever lightening darkness, watching the guards moving around. She was looking at the western face of the building, and needed to get to the northern side, but there was no cover between here and there except for two of the outbuildings.
She stopped for a few minutes, watching the guards’ patterns. They moved together so that they could carry on a conversation, and did not seem to be too worried about intruders. So much the better.
Sam waited for the pair of them to pass her position, heading south, and then moved quickly and quietly to the western wall of the outbuilding closest to her. She was not far from the corner now, but forced herself to wait for the guards to pass her again before running to the edge of the wall. Here there was no cover at all, and she only had a few seconds before the men behind her turned around again. She peeked around the corner, and, not seeing any patrols in the immediate vicinity, she slipped around, flattening herself against the building.
She could hear the guards she had just evaded approaching her position, and she held her breath, praying they couldn’t hear the thudding of her heart in her chest. She looked toward the opening on the northern face that led to the courtyard and could make out two figures, one on either side of it.
These two seemed to be even less vigilant than their comrades. They were asleep. Sam crept up to them, walking lightly on the balls of her feet, took out her knife and clubbed them both on the side of the head before they had any idea she was there. Then she painfully hauled them both back into sleeping positions, slipped into the passageway, and knelt in the shadows, breathing deeply and suppressing a groan as her leg, and now her back and arm shot hot knives through her body. She was going to have to be more careful if she wanted to be able to move at all tonight.
Slowly, Sam got up and crept down the long passageway to the end where it opened into the large courtyard. Sam stuck her head out to get a good look, then hissed in fury as her eyes fell on two figures sitting on the ground facing her, both with their hands tied behind their backs to long stakes driven into the dirt.
Jack and Daniel were not very far from where Sam was hiding, and she was tempted to call out to them, but refrained.
She took a good look. They were both beaten bloody, bruises and lash marks crisscrossing their bare upper bodies, their pants torn to shreds, and their feet bare. She hoped they would be able to move quickly once she got them out of there, but it didn’t look good.
“I’ll be back, sir.” she whispered, then turned around and vanished back the way she had come.
Sam reentered the tree line using the same trick she had coming in, and headed straight back to the shelter where Janet was waiting for her. She’d only been gone about 90 minutes, but the sun was over the horizon now, and anyone looking for her would be able to see her easily in the bright sunlight.
She approached the tree carefully, not wanting to scare Janet, and called softly, “Janet, it’s me. Don’t shoot, okay?”
No answer. Either she was asleep, or something was wrong. Alarm bells went off in Sam’s head, and she pulled her pistol, ready to defend herself against attack.
Reaching out with the nose of the gun, she pushed the branches back and looked inside, keeping her body to the side of a direct line with the weapon. Janet’s sleeping pallet was empty. She was gone.