The screen turned to black and the theater went silent.
“Don’t get squeamish on me, Robert. Stick to the plan.”
Makepeace stood without a word, retrieving the gym bag from the floor. He hesitated a moment before dropping it in the empty seat next to Maybourne. Then he was through the theater door and out of the dark, into the clean air of the park as Trish’s call to ‘come back real soon’ echoed in his ears.
Pain woke him, jangling nerves crawling back to life, limbs heavy and unresponsive and his mind sluggish. His mouth felt dry, tasted foul, and someone was using a jackhammer inside his skull.
“God…” Jack dragged a heavy arm across his eyes, blinking and dazzled by flickering yellow light. The world was blurry and it took a moment for his vision to clear. When it did, he found himself staring at a rocky ceiling. And then he remembered — cave.
He was a prisoner.
Stifling another groan, he forced his uncooperative arms and legs to work and pushed himself up so that his back rested against the wall. He stayed there for a few moments, catching his breath, using the time to assess his position.
First, he was unarmed: both his MP5 and Beretta were missing.
Second, he was in a small cell, there was some kind of straw or grass on the floor, and in the corner a lantern hung from a crude iron hook. It cast enough light to reveal a rough-hewn wooden door — shut — and Carter. She was a couple of feet away, flat on her back and out cold.
Third, Daniel and Teal’c were missing.
“Carter?” His voice was no more than a croak, but his limbs were recovering from what felt like the world’s worst case of pins-and-needles, and he managed to drag himself over to her. “Carter.” He pressed clumsy fingers to her throat — her skin was warm, her pulse steady. He shook her shoulder. “Major, wake up.”
Nothing. Whatever it was they’d hit them with, it was powerful — he’d never felt anything quite like it. Definitely not a zat. Sagging against the wall next to Carter, he kept his hand on her shoulder and waited. He could feel his body slowly recovering, but it wasn’t there yet, and until they were both up and running no one was going anywhere. Besides, he needed to think and this was as good a time as any.
He flexed his tingling fingers and tried to pull his thoughts together.
Their situation was bad. Daniel — wherever the hell he was — needed urgent medical attention and the mission to Tollana was a little over twenty-four hours away.
Worse still, he felt like his team was falling apart, and he was starting to doubt that, even if they got out of this mess, he’d be able to rebuild the trust that had once bound them so closely.
He was tempted, so tempted, to drop the whole charade and just tell them everything. But Hammond’s orders had been explicit: No one can know, Jack. Not even your team. The future of the planet depends on the success of this mission.
Jack knocked his head back against the rocky wall in frustration. Sometimes he wished he was more of the maverick everyone imagined him to be, but while there might come a time — and soon — when he felt it necessary to disobey Hammond’s orders, he hadn’t reached that point yet.
So he had to carry on. He had to keep up the jackass routine, get them home, save Daniel, betray his team and save the world. Again.
And after that? Hell, after that he was going fishing. And no one could stop him.
Beneath his hand, Carter stirred. She opened her eyes, winced in pain, and groaned.
“You’re okay,” he said, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “It gets better.”
“Sir… ?” She blinked, rubbed at her face with clumsy hands. “God, what happened… ?”
“They shot us,” he said. And what he wanted to add was, You were right, by the way. We should have stayed at the camp, close to the gate. But he couldn’t — all part of the act — so he just said, “Daniel and Teal’c are missing.”
“What?” She struggled to sit up and he helped her, resting her back against the wall next to him. “How long have they been gone?”
“I only just woke up,” he said, watching as she started shaking the pins-and-needles out of her hands. “That’ll take a few minutes.”
She nodded, but didn’t look at him. He hated that she was wary around him now. “That was no zat, sir,” she said.
“No.”
“But I’d sure like to take a look at one of those weapons.”
A creak drew his eyes to the door. “You just might get that chance, Major,” he said, pushing himself to his feet. She tried to follow, but he waved her back down. “Stay there.”