Chapter 5 - Hang on, John

While Dave stared into his breakfast without seeing it, his teammates exchanged concerned glances. The wordless conversation through facial expressions and nods ended with Talaan being chosen to speak.

"Are you alright, Dave?" Talaan asked cautiously.

Dave looked up from his untouched plate. "Huh?"

"You seem a little distracted," Talaan told him.

Confused, Dave queried, "I do?"

"Yeah," Coden affirmed. "You haven't said much."

"Or eaten anything," Jeannie added.

"It's nothing, I'm fine," Dave dismissed and took a first bite of his food in order to prove that point.

Jeannie glanced at her two other male teammates and frowned because they knew now something was definitely wrong so she racked her brain for a minute. If a problem with the soldiers was worrying him he would be on it with Coden and Talaan backing him up and the problem would be gone as fast as it came. A geek problem would have been brought to her at once. Running the possibilities through her methodical mind, Jeannie decided that it must be a personal problem and she only knew of one personal aspect of his life. "Is something wrong with John and Nancy?"

Dave looked up at her in mild surprise. See? This is why she's a genius.

Frowning at the plate and moving around his beans with his fork, Dave admitted, "I don't know."

"What makes you think something is wrong?" Coden asked, shoveling a rather large bite into his mouth while Talaan rolled his eyes in mild disgust, as was normal.

"We usually exchange emails every week or so. Since we have a weekly dial-in to Earth I get one from him one week and he gets one the next," Dave explained.

"And?" Jeannie prompted when Dave hesitated.

"I haven't heard from him for almost three weeks," Dave revealed, still poking around his plate interestedly.

Swallowing another sizable bite before he spoke, Coden said, "Maybe he's just busy and forgot."

Elbowing Coden, Talaan shot him a 'you are not helping' glare and suggested, "We could visit him, just to make sure."

"There are a couple of interviews the IOA wants to conduct. We could go and make sure he and Nancy are fine. If they are then we will have put some awful interviews behind us and if they aren't then it's a good thing you listened to your spidey sense." Taking a sip of her water, Jeannie added. "I'm sure Woolsey will let all of us take some time off."

"All of us?" Dave parroted in surprise.

Coden grinned. "If you're gone there won't be much to do."

"And I would like to see more of Earth," Talaan told him. "I have not seen much."

Smiling gratefully at his two alien teammates, Dave turned to Jeannie.

"You might need my help," Jeannie pointed out matter-of-factually.

"Thanks, guys." Dave told them sincerely, relieved by the fact that his team was right behind him all the way.

Personally Dave thought these interviews were entirely unnecessary. Especially since they had held similar ones a year ago when James Coolidge had become part of the IOA. All four team members were thankful that it was only a face to face senior staff interview so Coden and Talaan didn't have to go through them as well.

Dave had finished his meeting and met up with his team for lunch when a tech approached him bearing news.

"Colonel Sheppard, there's a message for you relayed from Peterson."

Frowning as he wondered who it could be, Dave stood from the table. His team came with him, of course, and they were there when Dave saw the message was from Nancy. With a sense of foreboding Dave didn't look at the message and went straight to pick up his cellphone and call her.

"Nancy? This is Dave. Is there something wrong?" he asked at once.

"Yes." A choked sob came from the other end of the line.

Worry building in his chest, Dave pressed, "Is it John?"

Seeming to get a hold of herself, Nancy was able to respond, "Yes. He... he went missing two weeks ago. His," – sob – "Kidnappers contacted Patrick three days later. They made demands... a ransom but the police told Patrick not to do anything until they find the kidnappers."

Dave almost didn't believe what he was hearing. "John is being held hostage?" It almost seemed laughable. Every week (with a few breaks) people captured, chased, and shot at his team Pegasus. But Earth was supposed to be the safe haven where none of that happened. Even though Jeannie's brother, Rodney, had been abducted, that had been directly related to the Stargate Program. This? This seemed so comparatively simple.

"Yes. The police have been looking for about two weeks but there's been no sign of him. I just... I don't know what else to do so I tried to contact you a couple of days ago." Nancy told him, her voice breaking again.

"Calm down. I just got back to Ear– America this morning. I'll be there soon as I can," Dave assured and received a weak but relieved, "Okay," from Nancy.

As Dave opened his mouth to explain, Talaan cut him off, "You can tell us on the way, go talk to Landry."

"I'll be right back."

Dave left Talaan and Coden in the SGC under the supervision of SG-1 and took only Jeannie with him. Unsure how his father would react to a tall, burly, almost savage-looking man and an another man who was just as muscled, Dave settled for promising them he would call them as soon as he needed the back-up. He and Jeannie arrived at Patrick's home in Virginia not five hours after Nancy's call. They came to the living room at once and found two police officers and Nancy.

"David. Jeannie," Nancy greeted, relief coloring her voice when they walked in. She looked terrible with dark circles around her red eyes and worry had rumpled her usually pristine appearance.

"Nancy," Dave acknowledged his sister-in-law as she came over and gave both him and Jeannie hugs. Glancing around the room and not seeing his father, Dave questioned, "Where's Dad?"

Wiping away a tear, Nancy replied, "Since his blood pressure has been acting up with all the stress of the situation, he's upstairs resting."

"Not anymore," Patrick said, announcing his presence as he appeared at the bottom of the staircase. "What's he doing here?"

Nancy stiffened at the animosity in Patrick's voice. "I called him, I hoped that he could do something to help."

"What could he possibly do?" Patrick questioned icily.

Shooting Patrick a glare, Nancy bit, "In the very least he deserves to know."

"Um..." One of the officers stepped forward, no doubt feeling awkward.

Dave turned away from his father and offered his hand to the man, introducing himself, "Colonel Dave Sheppard, US Air Force. I'm John's brother."

Grateful for the clarification, he took the proffered hand and shook it. "Captain Arnold Moore, Colonel. Good to meet you. This is Detective Ian Cox."

Studiously ignoring Patrick, Dave requested, "What can you tell me about the situation?"

"How much do you know?" Moore asked.

"Just that my little brother's being held hostage," Dave responded.

Moore nodded. "We have a few ideas on other cases we might be able to connect to these guys to, but we have yet to find any indication of who they really are. They have definitely done this before though, they know what they're doing. As you've probably guessed, the ransom is a very large sum of money. A few million. It's big enough to probably last these guys awhile but small enough not to damage anyone by the loss," the captain explained.

Dave nodded, it made sense. A lot of money, but the person paying wouldn't think so.

"We were actually about to set up a call. The kidnappers said they'd contact us in just a few minutes," Cox put in.

The video connection established, Dave got the feeling that this had happened a few times already.

Nancy looked as if she was bracing herself for something awful. Out of some gentle, womanly instinct, Jeannie wrapped a comforting arm around the other woman. For that Dave was extremely grateful. He shuddered to think how awkwardly non-emotional his team would be if they had Rodney instead of Jeannie. They would probably be obliviously skirting around the important topics if not for Talaan and Jeannie.

While the officers moved out of the camera range and Patrick took center stage, Dave wondered if he really could do anything. After all, the only interest the Stargate Program would have in this affair was John's blood connection to the commanding military officer of Atlantis. They wouldn't get involved. So, what could Dave possible do to change things? That remained to be seen, but whatever he could do he would do. That was all Dave was completely sure of at that time.

"So! Patrick, I have an update for you!" a disembodied voice declared. Then a man wearing a ski mask came into view. "As much as I hate to discontinue our lovely little talks, our business is done."

The statement took Patrick aback. "What! Why?" Patrick demanded.

The masked man clucked disapprovingly. "Patrick, Patrick, Patrick... You've have several chance to pay the ransom and you have foolishly taken the police's advice and stalled."

At the once again surprised expression on Patrick's face, the man laughed. "You didn't think that I didn't know, did you? The first thing anyone of your stubborn nature would do is call the police. I imagine two or three of them are standing in the back right now."

Patrick clenched his fists and, trying to regain what little control he had of a situation that was far out of reach, asked, "Why? What are you going to do with him now?"

"Well, I got an interesting offer. You see, a woman approached me yesterday and told me that she would take your son off my hands for half my original ransom price."

Everyone shared disbelieving looks, particularly the two police officers. A third-party buying a hostage? Virtually unheard of in this line of business. The hostage being killed before or even after the family paid the ransom was more familiar. This was not.

All that Patrick managed to stutter out was a rather inarticulate, "What?"

"She was a bit secretive about it but we were able to confirm that she wasn't part of any law enforcing organization. All she said was that it is connected to big brother. David, is it?"

Dave's eyes widened as the full implications of that statement hit him. The only thing that 'big brother' was connected to was the Stargate Program, which meant that interested party must be an enemy of the Stargate Program. The biggest one and the first that came to Dave's mind was the Trust. Even though the SGC – SG-1 specifically – had dealt them some hard and destructive blows in recent years, the Trust was still a formidable enemy. The beat of Dave's heart increased as he ran through the possible reasons that his little brother would be an interest of the Trust. The gene was the first thing that came to Dave's mind along with a dozen more sinister scenarios.

This was staggeringly dreadful, and not just for John. If the Trust gained ground again the SGC was going to have another big fight on their hands. When the Trust had been at its peak under Baal, they had possessed many locations, symbiotes, and operatives. It was impossible to know how far the Trust had extended itself but it was enough to give the SGC a hard time.

Come on, Dave, think current problem, Dave ordered himself and it occurred to him that, knowing the Trust's ironic distrust of almost everyone, this could be problematic for John's abductors as well. "That's a very bad idea," Dave told the unnamed man. "These people are definitely not a good bunch to do business with."

Scoffing, the man said, "Nice try, David. But I think we'll stick with this arrangement."

"Let me rephrase that," Dave restarted. "By 'bad idea' I mean these guys will kill you to avoid leaving witnesses."

"I'm sure they're dangerous," the man allowed, unconcerned. "But, as I said, we'll stick with this arrangement. I'm sure it'll work out just fine. Sorry, Davey, you're out of luck. Guess you were a little too late to the party. Now Patrick, I'd say it was a pleasure doing business with you but that'd be dishonest." Grinning, the man reached toward the camera and switched it off.

A thick silence settled over the room as they all took in what had just happened. Jeannie and Dave were the first to come to their senses.

Sharing a meaningful look with Jeannie, Dave addressed the officers. "Captain, Detective, how many places could they be sending that video from?"

Helplessly the detective replied, "Anywhere. There's been no indications of where they are whatsoever."

"What about the signal?" Jeannie tried.

Moore shook his head. "No we've only been able to determine that they're somewhere in Virginia or possibly DC."

Dave raised a questioning eyebrow towards Jeannie, asking her if she could do it or not.

Shrugging, Jeannie said, "Maybe."

"Can you help?" Nancy inquired, and everyone could see her battling valiantly against tears.

"I can try." For the benefit of the officers, Jeannie added. "I'm a physicist and, if I do say so myself, one of the smartest people currently on the planet. With some... experimental equipment. I might be able to trace the signal better than the stuff you use. It might narrow the search area."

"Even if you could narrow the search area, we'd never be able to find him before this other groups flies the coop," Moore reasoned.

"Maybe they won't move him right away," Nancy offered hopefully.

Everyone looked to Dave for the answer to that question and he shook his head. "We'll be lucky if he isn't in Russia by the end of the week. Look, we just need you to give Jeannie what she needs to find him and I'll supply manpower."

Lifting his brows, Cox queried, "May I ask where you'll get this 'manpower'?"

As he flicked a quick glimpse toward his strangely silent father, Dave explained, "If my little brother gets into the hands of this group, then the situation will have become a matter of national security. I know some people who can help."

No one in the room had expected that.

While Nancy and Patrick stared at him with open mouths, Moore and Cox nodded mutely.

With a deep breath Dave glanced at Jeannie and pulled out to call Landry for that manpower. He was going to need Talaan and Coden for that back up, too.

At once Moore and Cox accompanied Jeannie by to get the data she needed and Dave remained at John and Nancy's house. After informing General Landry of what had happened, Dave called Coden and Talaan directly on the cellphone Jeannie had set up for them. Then he received a call from Agent Barrett from the NID and they discussed the Trust's interests and what they could be trying to accomplish by taking John. That conversation didn't last long but the call after with Bates did. Using a secure line of course, Bates gave him details on known Trust safe houses, warehouses, and activities.

Somewhere in the middle of the conversation Talaan and Coden arrived. Nancy greeted both of them with her customary hug (which even Coden had finally gotten used to) and gave them the information on everything they'd missed.

Patrick, who had been pacing on the other end of the room since Jeannie and the police officers had left, narrowed his eyes at the familiarity of two warriors and his daughter-in-law. However, he said nothing and, as if everything was perfectly normal, resumed pacing with an expression so neutral that Dave couldn't decipher the old man's feelings on the matter. Instead of trying, Dave refocused his attention on Bates' summary of the Trust movements in Greenland.

"Learn anything?" Nancy asked when Dave hung up.

"Lots. Whether or not it's useful is another thing." Dave looked at his watch and commented, "Jeannie should be done soon and we can get this show on the road."

After that quiet reigned over the room, heavy and oppressive. Talaan spoke in hushed tones with Nancy to keep her occupied while Dave sat in one of the hard wooden chairs. Patrick still paced on the other side of the room and Coden did, too, over by Dave.

When the cell phone finally rang, everyone watched Dave hopefully as he talked with Jeannie.

"It worked. We have a fairly small area to search but it's packed with possible buildings. However, Bates is fairly confident that we should be able to cover the place quickly with teams from the SGC and the Hammond," Jeannie reported.

"Good, we'll be up in a few minutes." Dave disconnected the call and nodded to Talaan and Coden. "Nancy, I'll call when we have something."

Taking a deep breath, Nancy nodded and managed a small smile as she watched the three men hurry out of the house to save her husband.

When the daylight abruptly spilled into his cell, John couldn't help but groan. How long he had been in the same frigid, windowless, concrete room, he had no idea. All he knew was that food and water came irregularly (and not often enough), a bucket sat in the far corner, and he had been out of the room a total of five times. Now it seemed he was getting out once more.

Someone with an iron grip and calloused hands hauled him up from the floor and another helped him support John. As they started walking, John was able to organize his feet under himself and coordinate his feet into a shuffle so that he wasn't leaning entirely on the guards. Stupid Sheppard control addiction.

Though he blinked continuously, the world around him still shone unnaturally bright because of all the time he had spent in unbroken darkness. To discern the outlines of anything he had to squint and even then it was painfully bright.

Then they reached the spacious room that appeared to be the center of his captor's operations. John had to shut his eyes completely because several overhead lights were on as well as some lamps. Thus he was unprepared when slender fingers gripped his chin and tilted his head.

He jerked back weakly but the stranger held on tight. Venturing to open his eyes to slits, John saw the vague outline of a woman.

"Hmm... they don't look alike at all," came the mindless remark as the woman let go of him and stepped back.

"So we have a deal?" That voice John recognized as the head honcho of his abduction.

"Yes, I believe we do," confirmed the woman.

As another man took him from the other two guards, John felt uncomfortably like a piece of merchandize being carelessly bought and sold.

"Pleasure to do business with you, Ms. Mayfield," Head Honcho said, no doubt smiling though John couldn't be sure without being able to properly see the man.

A laugh that set John on edge emanated from the direction of the woman and she told him with a malicious tone, "You should have listened to Colonel Sheppard when he warned you."

John heard the distinct click of a gun being cocked and the bang as the bullet exited the chamber. Then a dull thud as a body hit the floor. The action was quickly followed up by two more that took out the men who had escorted John from his cell and several more that took out people John hadn't noticed.

Oh, crap, was all John could think. Things seemed to being take a turn for the worse. A turn for the worse being a 180 and worse being a steep, downhill crash and burn.

"Cuff him to a chair and help me erase their security footage," the woman, Mayfield, commanded.

The man holding him pulled John over to a chair, shoving John into a chair and cuffing one of John's wrists to the arm.

For his part, sitting down was a relief for John because he was becoming dizzy. He hoped that was a normal part of malnutrition and dehydration and not another problem. Stubbornly peeling his eyelids open, John tried to focus on the table in front of him. His eyes managed to partially adjust to the light, but not totally. Everything still glowed the way white does when exposed to direct sunlight. Then John saw a piece of paper and a pen resting on the table in front of him and remembered Mayfield mentioning his brother's involvement. Glancing behind him to make sure he wasn't being watched, John grabbed the pen and scrawled down the only useful thing he knew. He could only hope it would help Dave.

"Alright," announced Mayfield. "Get him. It's time to leave before Colonel Sheppard shows up."

As soon as Jeannie brought them up to speed on what she'd learned, Dave organized everyone into groups with three buildings to search respectively. Only a few hours of scouring passed before Captain Springer and his team found the correct building.

Immediately Dave rendezvoused with the Captain, calling along a second team as a precaution. When Dave arrived with Jeannie, Talaan, and Coden in tow, the first thing that he noticed was the bodies.

"Looks like you were right," Jeannie commented. "They probably didn't want to leave any witnesses."

"Yeah," Coden agreed, looking at the corpses. "They probably weren't expecting it either."

Dave turned away from the grizzly sight of death and ordered Jeannie, "See what you can get off the computers. Captain, get Bates down here and hopefully he will find something useful."

Both Springer and Jeannie nodded and obeyed.

Talaan placed his hand on Dave's shoulder. "I am sorry that he was not here, Dave."

Giving his friend a half-smile, Dave replied, "We knew the Trust moves fast, it wasn't likely that he would still be here anyway."

"We will find him," Talaan assured him confidently.

Half an hour later Jeannie had linked Benjie Febe to five separate kidnappings and found nothing about the Trust. Also, Bates proclaimed that the building held nothing inside it that had to do with the Trust either. It looked as if the Trust had discovered the Sheppards' predicament and simply walked up and taken advantage of it.

"Sheppard."

Dave turned towards Coden, who had been unceasingly pacing since their arrival, and saw him bend down and pick up a piece of paper from under a table. Walking over Dave took the sheet and read the three names scrawled onto it.

Dave,

Mayfield

John

His first reaction was relief that John was intact enough to write and his second was to wonder about the name because it meant nothing to him. Dave motioned Bates over. "You know this name?" he questioned.

Bates' eyebrows rose. "Yeah, I do. He must mean Charlotte Mayfield, also known as Athena. She's one of the higher-ups in the Trust and, as far as we know, that last Goa'uld on Earth."

"Can you find her?" Coden asked.

"Let's find out, shall we?"

As Bates pulled out his phone to begin the search, Dave took a deep breath. He looked at his team and saw each of their faces set with determination and a new hope that came from the clue that John had been able to give.

Hang on, John.

Yeah, it had to happen :) Who else saw that one coming? Tell me what you guys think!And to those reading Mortifero Morbo as well, it's coming, I promise. It's just taking a while to get my momentum going with the next chapter.