Chapter 7
Carter kept still for a moment, listening hard for any sounds that would alert her to intruders. Then, hearing nothing, she entered the shelter of the tree, taking care not to disturb the ground around where Janet had lain.
Sam was no tracker, but there were numerous scuff marks around the area, and she could see at least one boot print that was much too large to be the doctor’s. Fresh blood stained the blankets lying askew on the ground, but it was not a lot, so Sam assumed her friend wasn’t too badly injured. Of course, internal injuries didn’t bleed onto the ground, but Carter didn’t want to think about that just now. Instead, she thought about her course of action. She should probably still wait until dark, since it would provide her some cover when the time came to act. She would just have to be extra careful.
Her mind made up, Sam stood and reached out to part the branches. A fist came flying at her through the leaves, connecting with her jaw and sending her crashing back, where she sprawled onto the ground.
The fist resolved itself into a man who swaggered into the shelter, leering at her as she shook her head, trying to rid herself of the stars popping in front of her eyes.
“Well, well, what have we here? You’re a pretty one, aren’t you? What say we have a little fun before I take you back to camp, eh?”
“Go to hell.” Sam glared daggers at him, and then, keeping her eyes on his ugly face, swept his feet out from under him, scrambled to her knees, pulled her knife and slammed it into his ribs. He gave a single surprised grunt, and then was still.
Breathing hard, Carter got up and cleaned her knife on the cooling body. Then, after looking at it contemptuously for a moment, she collected his weapon and left the shelter, heading for the rise where she’d scoped the compound earlier.
She reached it in good tome, adrenaline helping her move more quickly than she otherwise would have, and settled in to wait for nightfall.
She waited. She tried hard not to think of Janet, of what she might be going through right now. Sam hoped with all her heart they had stashed her with Daniel and the Colonel. Then she would at least not be alone.
She waited. After a few hours, Sam was regretting not grabbing the pain killers before she left the tree. Her jaw ached where the idiot had hit her, adding its distinctive pain to the myriad of her other discomforts. She shifted, grimacing, trying to stretch the kinks without moving too much. Then movement at the compound caught her eye. Several figures were leaving the area, loping away in the direction Sam knew the stargate to be.
She was too far away to see much detail, but one of the figures seemed to be carrying a large black…something…over his shoulder. She squinted, trying to make out what it was, but gave up once the group rounded a bend and sped out of sight.
Probably a weapons case. Sam thought. We’re going to have to be very smart about this if they’re packing anything bigger than a rifle in that bag.
She waited. Tried not to think about Janet, but instead about how she was going to free her three friends once the sun went down.
She waited, watching the sun make its solitary journey across the sky, thinking of her father, wondering when she would see him again.
She waited. The shadows grew longer, her aches and pains continued to plague her, and she tried her best to ignore them.
Then, with a gunshot that blew apart the tree beside her head, her waiting was over. Rolling to her right, she pulled her pistol and fired in one smooth motion. Her adversary ducked behind a tree, but Sam saw his rear end show itself out the other side and she shot it.
She lurched to her feet and, leaving the man howling in agony behind her, scrambled down the hillside toward the compound. There was no help for it. Her cover had been blown with the noise of those shots, and she was going to have to do this now, before she was swarmed with too many to handle.
Sure enough, no few than four guards were running straight at her through the trees, ducking and dodging the branches as they came. Sam saw them first and dropped behind a log, her thigh screaming, and proceeded to dispatch three of the men in quick succession before they knew what hit them. The fourth was quicker, and dodged behind a big rock before she could hit him. He fired without looking, forcing Sam to duck as bullets sprayed the dead wood that hid her. The man kept firing, and she started to worry about the punctures coming through the wood. Then abruptly, the bullets stopped, and Sam poked the top of her head over the log. The man was trying to reload and Sam lost no time taking advantage of the situation. Moving quickly, she closed the distance between them and pointed her pistol at the man’s chest.
“Drop it.” she said, panting and trying to keep her weakness from showing on her face.
He sneered at her, but lowered the gun to the ground, coming up much too quickly, his hand scrabbling at his boot for a knife hidden there.
Sam shot him point blank, in the chest. His blood sprayed over her, hot and sticky, making her grimace, but she immediately continued on toward her goal. She could hear shouting at the compound now, but not a lot of it, and hoped most of the remaining guards had gone with the group to the stargate.
The tree line was coming up fast and Sam slowed, looking for anyone who might notice an approach from the west, but seeing no one. She slipped up beside the outbuilding she’d used earlier and listened hard. People we re still shouting, but there was nothing nearer than that, so she slipped around to the north side of the building. No one was in sight, until she remembered to look up. A black boot was disappearing over the side of the roof from a ladder she had missed in her scouting earlier that morning. She cursed silently. Sniper. Well, she’d just have to take care of him first.
Grabbing the ladder, she pulled herself up, noting vaguely that her leg was not going to take this for long. No help for it, though.
Finally at the top of the ladder, Sam looked carefully over the high ledge that surrounded the roof and saw a single guard sighting over the edge toward the courtyard., a mean looking rifle gripped with depressing confidence in his hands. Sam stepped over the side and pulled a throwing knife from her belt before stalking toward him. She wasn’t nearly as good at throwing knives as she was at shooting guns, but she’d give it a go, although she’d much rather just bash him over the head with it.
As it turned out, she did both The guard hear her steps on the gravelly surface and turned, swinging his rifle with him. Sam threw her blade, catching him in the leg, and then jumped at him and clubbed him with the hilt of her pistol before he got off a shot.
Satisfied that she’d kept the noise level at a minimum, Sam glanced around tat the rest of the roof for any more snipers, and then at the floor of the courtyard, where she noted two armed guards and their positions. They were stationary. Good for her, bad for them. Unfortunately, she could also see only two figures tied to the ground. Where was Janet??
She half climbed, half fell down the ladder to the ground. Her leg gave out on her on the last rung and she crumpled to the ground, almost sobbing as white hot agony burned through her already jangling nerves. She looked down and saw a large patch of blood spreading out from the wound, staining her pants.
Sam rested for a minute, all the time she could spare, then got up and tested her weight on her leg. It held, but barely, and she knew this last push would do it in. But she was almost there! She hobbled along the passageway, keeping to the left side where the guards wouldn’t be able to see her, then, coming to the end, flattened her stomach against the wall, peered around the corner and fired twice, taking each guard in the chest. Moving as quickly as she could, she dropped behind the guys, severed their bonds and handed Daniel a knife and O’Neill a pistol. The Colonel took the weapon and opened his mouth to speak.
Another gunshot rang out and Sam was spun in a circle with the impact of the bullet hitting her shoulder. She dropped, stunned, and Jack raised his own weapon and fired back as Daniel grabbed Sam and dragged her back to the hallway. More shots were fired, ending with the man on the roof falling forward to land with a sickening crunch on the ground below.
Jack joined the other two in the passageway and blew out a breath at the look of the wound in Sam’s shoulder. “We heard shooting earlier. How many did you get?” he asked, pressing hard on the gunshot to stop the bleeding. She gasped, her back arching with pain, but she fought to think.
“Seven.”
O’Neill looked impressed, then nodded at Daniel, and, even in her hazy state, Sam saw the look that passed between them. “Seven, huh? Well, mine makes eight, and I think that ‘s all they left. Everyone else seems to have taken off.
“Where’s Janet?” Sam asked, her teeth clenched tight. She was going into shock, she knew, and frustration welled up in her as her body began to shake. Why, in the name of all thinks idiotic was she going into shock now? After all she’d been though??
“She’s not with you?” O’Neill asked
Sam shook her head a fraction. “No. We g-got separated. D-don’t know where they t-took her.”
“Hang on, Sam.” Daniel said as he pressed something to her neck. A hiss and a sting, and Sam’s head began to clear.
“What was that?” she asked.
“It’s a stimulant that these guys use to keep themselves awake and alert. There’s not a lot of them, so they have to take long shifts.” Daniel explained. “It’s addictive as hell, but I think you’ll be able to resist.” He grinned at her. “Thanks for the rescue.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Jack said, studying her as she studied him. “But we’re not home yet.”
“We still need to find Janet.” Sam’s voice was steady now, and she could feel the drug taking affect.”
“Right.” Jack nodded. “Any ideas?”