Trust (9&10/11)
Trust (9 and 10/11)
Title: “Trust”
Author: Obsessed1
Rating: K+
Genre: Gen, Action/Adv, H/C
Characters: Sheppard, Dave Sheppard. Team.
Spoilers: Takes place in Season 4. After Outcast.
Summary: Sheppard and his brother are forced to spend some time together when they're kidnapped by the Trust.
Thanks again to Kristen999 for the beta.
“Keep-“
John’s words were cut off by the sound of shots firing. Dave got the hint and double timed it, heading for the tree line as John had suggested earlier. He understood what John meant about them being too exposed. There was nowhere to hide out here and he felt vulnerable.
The men were following and they hadn’t been walking for hours on end so they were catching up fast.
“Go, go, go!” John shouted.
“We can’t outrun them!”
“Just get to the trees!” And then John stopped running, got onto one knee and started firing at the men that were coming towards them.
Dave saw something strike the mud in front of him and realized it was a bullet.
Time seemed to slow in that instant and Dave felt as if he was running through sand. Every step taking more effort than the last.
Another glance and John had shot one of the men. That left two more on their six. Six? Where had that come from?
He stopped in the tree line and waited for John. He’d dispatched of another man and was now running, full pelt, towards him. When John reached him he used his forward momentum to pull Dave along.
“Keep going, I’ll take care of this last guy.”
Dave shook his head. “No, we can’t split up.”
John was breathing raggedly and sweating from exertion. “We won’t……” he told him. “I’ll catch up with you.”
“Let me help!”
“Dave, I’m not asking I’m-“
“Ordering?” Dave was vibrating with anxious energy.
“Yes. I’m ordering.”
“Give me a gun. I know you have another one.”
John rubbed at his head and for a minute, his gaze vacant. Dave had to give his shoulder a shove as he watched their captor advance.
“John!”
John fired at the man advancing, no intention of handing him a weapon. When Dave glowered at him he said, “I had him.”
“You’re struggling……just give me-“
“No, Dave just-“ but then John’s word’s petered out because he was leaning forward and pressing a hand into his head.
“What’s wrong?”
John pushed his hand away and returned to his post. “Nothing.”
But it wasn’t nothing because he was obviously struggling.
“John?” Dave snapped his fingers in front of his eyes. “John?”
“Just…..dizzy.”
“Let me help!”
Dave had heard the old cliché about doing everything you could to survive. At that moment in time it had never seemed so appropriate. He forcibly removed the gun from John’s hand, peered out behind the tree and squeezed off a shot. The recoil hurt his wrist and the sound made his ears ring.
“What are you-“ John reclaimed his weapon, pushed Dave down as a bullet glanced off their tree and then shot their pursuer in the leg. He dropped to the grass, screaming and writhing in agony.
“Why the hell did you do that?” Dave asked. “I had him!”
Dave stood up and noticed that John didn’t move. He reached out a hand and John reluctantly took it. He swayed and braced himself on a tree. “You keep…….moving,” he said.
“We have to keep moving, remember?” Dave tugged his brother by the elbow and John followed him, his movements slow and sloppy. “I’m not leaving you behind.”
“You could have killed him.” There was no fire in the retort. Instead, John sounded resigned.
“I thought that was the point.”
“There’s a difference between saying and actually doing, Dave.”
Dave reached out for his brother’s arm and guided up away from a hidden ditch. The fact that John didn’t push him away was a sign he wasn’t doing so well. “You don’t think I could have done it?”
“Pulling the trigger is easy. Living with it isn’t.”
Dave angrily swiped at a tree branch in his path. John’s words sank in quickly.
“Is that why you’ve changed?”
John’s shoulders bunched up. “You’d never forgive yourself. Or me.”
The further they walked, the worse John’s condition seemed to get. He’d stubbornly tried to push ahead, but as time wore on Dave was stopping and waiting for John to catch up.
John was relentless in his desire to prove that he was okay. When he finally crumpled to his knees and didn’t get up, Dave was quick to steady him.
“You ready to admit you’re dead tired yet?”
John sighed and dropped his head. “Damn headaches making it impossible to think straight.”
“Can you walk?”
John went to stand up. “Of course I can walk.” He promptly sagged back to his knees. “Just give me a minute.”
“You know we have to keep moving, John.”
“When did you ever listen to me?” John looked up at him, eyes hooded, lips set into a tight line.
“I don’t have to. I’m the older brother remember?”
“Yeah, right. I forgot.”
“Are you this stubborn with your team?”
“No…..I….” he paused. “I don’t think so. I wasn’t being stubborn, Dave.”
“Yeah right. You ready?”
“I can walk.”
“Sure you can.” Dave pulled his brother’s arm around his shoulder and hoisted him into a standing position.
With John’s weight pressed into his side, he started forward, refusing to relinquish his grip.
They moved onward at a snails pace. Negotiating the uneven ground was difficult and a few times John’s unsteadiness nearly toppled them both.
“How much farther do you think?” Dave asked.
John didn’t answer. He was too busy trying to put one foot in front of the other.
“You think dad’s looking down on us and laughing his ass off?”
John stiffened and gave him a look that was bordering on guilt. “I think he’d be pissed that I got you into yet more trouble.”
“Yeah.” And Dave looked up through the tree canopy and smiled. “Probably.”
“I don’t know how he ever got it into his head that I was the troublemaker. As I recall, you were the one that took me to a bar when I was seventeen and-“
Dave knew exactly what he was going to say and stalled him before he could continue. “Now, hang on. That wasn’t my fault.”
“I was throwing up for three days straight.”
“Like you hadn’t already snuck into bars with your buddies.”
“Whatever. I still think that was technically your fault.”
“Fine.” Dave guided them over a shallow stream. “Maybe that was my fault.”
John leaned into him and Dave re-set their balance. When he spared a glance at his brother, he was closing his eyes.
“John?”
“Huh?”
“You can’t sleep while you’re walking.”
“Wasn’t sleeping.”
“Just keep your eyes open.”
John sighed, blinked a few times and nodded. “I’m with you.”
“So,” Dave had to keep his brother talking. He decided to broach a topic that had seemed off-limits. “You know dad was proud of you, right?”
John made a half chuckle, half groaning noise.
“He was. He regretted how you left things between you. I think, if he’d had more time, he would have finally told you that.”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Dave.”
“Why not?”
“Because-“
“I just thought you might want to know that.”
“Like I said, I don’t want to talk about it.”
Dave nodded and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.
“Hang on.” John told him. “Wait.”
For a fleeting moment, Dave thought that his brother might open up to him.
John swallowed thickly and clamped his eyes shut. “Here.” He passed Dave his gun. “Pull the clip back to load it and unlatch the safety before you fire.”
Dave stared at him, wondering what had changed his mind.
“No sense in me having the only gun if I’m in no position to fire it.”
With his free hand, Dave would be able to fend off any captors hiding in the trees. Though he still suspected John had another gun, he smiled and said, “I won’t let you down.”
--------------------------
It was dusk by the time they saw the light up ahead and they were both utterly shattered, shuffling along the roadside wordlessly. John had used him as a crutch for the whole walk. It was only when they arrived at the diner doors, did John finally take his own weight, pat his brother on his shoulder and reclaim his gun.
The diner wasn’t anything special. The windows were large and covered by blinds and there were rows of booths inside. The kind that you could hide in easily. While Dave slipped into one and ordered two black coffees, John headed off to use the payphone.
John returned a few minutes later, slumping into his seat and resting his elbows on the table. “Called it in.”
“How long?”
“They should be here in an hour or so.”
“So we just wait?” Dave asked, sinking back.
Two coffees were placed in front of them. The bitter smell reminded him of Doctor Henning and he shuddered involuntarily. This had been the first time since their escape that he’d had time to dwell on it.
When he looked up, John was staring at him, hands clasped under his chin.
“What?”
“Just…..sorry I guess. For all of this.”
John closed his eyes and didn’t open them for a long time. Dave left him, not wanting to wake him, knowing just how exhausted John was, and how much he needed the down time.
Dave drank his coffee and watched as people came and went. He noticed the stares and realised that they looked a state; caked in mud, filthy dirty and covered in blood. The waitress arched an eyebrow at John when she came over to refill his mug.
“This isn’t a shelter you know,” she remarked with little sympathy and then left them to it.
Dave could have elaborated. He could have told the waitress that they had escaped from a large compound, that they had been hunted for hours and explained that his brother needed this. Instead, he didn’t say a thing.
Twenty minutes later and John jerked awake, knee hitting the table in the process. He glanced around the diner. “Why didn’t you wake me?” he asked, rubbing his face.
“Thought you could use the sleep,” Dave remarked.
John took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders. “How long was I out?”
“You were asleep for an hour.”
“An hour?” John rubbed his neck.
“Not my fault you sleep like the dead-“ Dave cut himself off; visions of the facility and the bodies that they had left behind.
John yawned and ruffled his hair.
“I thought soldiers were supposed to sleep lightly?”
John prodded Dave’s mug of coffee. “You realise we have no money.”
Dave nodded.
“Guess we’ll have to charm our way out of the bill.”
“Or we could just daze them with this.” Dave placed the Ancient blinding device on the table top and spun it lazily.
John reached over and stopped its rotation. “Maybe, I should keep hold of this.” John smiled a little and then checked his watch. “My team should be here soon.”
------------------------
An hour later and John was tired of waiting. They’d been sat in companionable silence for a while, watching as people slowly left the small diner and the waitress started clearing the tables, dropping none too subtle hints that they were going to close soon.
“Where are you going?” Dave asked when John pushed himself out of his seat.
“To get some air.”
“You want me to come?”
“And walk out on the bill?” John waved a hand. “Nah, I’ll be right back.”
Outside the diner there were few cars parked up and dusk had turned into full blown darkness. John arched his back and rubbed at his head, still unable to rid himself of his lingering headache.
John had only been standing there a few minutes when he became aware of a man standing off to his left, hidden by the shadows. John smiled in his direction and walked out towards the road, still keeping the diner within view, to stare up the road and will his back up to arrive.
When they didn’t appear, he started back towards the diner, noting that the man had crept out of the shadows and was watching him without trying to make it obvious. There was a brief moment when they met eyes and John’s heart started to race.
He bought the gun up the same time the man did and suddenly they were locked in a deadly stand off.
“Colonel Sheppard,” the man said, unlatching the safety on his weapon just as John did.
“Why don’t we both put our weapons away,” John suggested as he took a few steps forward. “You could always join us for coffee?”
“Stay where you are,” the man ordered, gesturing with his gun for John to stay still.
“Of course, you’ll have to foot the bill. We forgot our wallets.”
“Stop moving.”
“My back-up will be here any second.”
“Mine will be here quicker,” and the man reached up to a hidden earpiece.
John listened to the one-sided conversation while weighing up his chances of escaping and getting inside in time.
“If you let us go, maybe this won’t end badly.” John informed him.
The man smiled and edged out of the shadows, glancing towards the diner. “I’m just the paid help. I don’t make the decisions.”
John refused to lower his weapon. “Clearly.”
What seemed like a second later a black car was screeching into the parking lot and John briefly thought that it might be McKay and Ronon. When the door opened and Mike was sat there, John turned his gun on him instead.
“Colonel. I’d suggest getting in this car quietly.”
“You should know by now that I don’t do quiet.”
All it would take was one person to leave the diner and see them. It didn’t happen.
“Your brother can go free, if you come with us.”
“I don’t think so.”
Hands were grabbing him. Someone punched him in his wounded thigh and he sank to the tarmac in one ungraceful movement. They were reaching for his weapon. John twisted, managed to fire off three shots before his gun was knocked from his hand. Too exhausted to fight, he was pushed into the car.
----------------
Dave heard the shots fired and ran out of the diner as their waitress shouted something about the bill. He witnessed the scuffle, the moment John was battered to the ground and then manhandled into a familiar black van. He tried to run after them, willing his legs and his frantic breathing to co-operate.
He was left panting on the side of the road as the car sped off into the distance.
“Hey Mister! Aren’t you forgetting something?” The waitress had run out after him.
“You need to call the police!” he told her breathlessly. “They took my-“
The car that pulled up beside him looked identical to the last and for one chilling moment, Dave thought he’d been recaptured. But as the door slid open, Dave recognised the man in the front as Ronon. He remembered meeting him at the wake. Beside him was a man dressed in military fatigues with short cropped hair and in the back was a short, round man, who was grabbing him by the arm and hauling him into the seat.
“This is Sheppard’s brother? They look nothing alike.”
Dave’s indignation at that remark from the shorter one was overridden by all consuming panic for his brother’s welfare.
“Where’s Sheppard!” Ronon asked. In his eyes, he saw the same desperation that he felt.
“They headed that way!” Dave gestured wildly.
---------------------
John was back where he had started; pressed between two burly men and feeling distinctly nauseous.
This time he leaned into one of the men, too drained to try anything smart.
“Where we heading?” he asked.
“We’re driving to a private airfield. After you destroyed my lab I’m afraid we have to relocate.” Mike told him from the front seat.
John rubbed at his face, feeling aged and worn by the last few days. “Sorry about that.”
“I’m sure you are.”
“No really,” John leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “Sorry, you got out alive.”
“Sir.” The whispered voice got his attention.
John watched as Mike leaned in to hear the driver. “What is it?”
“I think we’re being followed.”
Followed? John glanced over his shoulder and watched as the black SUV behind them sped up to tail them. It was getting closer every second. That couldn’t be coincidence. One of the burly men slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Eyes to the front.”
If his team were trying to catch up to him then he had to think of something to slow these guys down.
Something bulky in his pocket had him remembering the ancient device that Dave had returned to him earlier in the diner. He couldn’t quite reach it. His legs were trapped together and the device was digging into burly guy’s thigh.
“I have something of yours,” John tried to sound innocent.
“Really?” Mike didn’t turn to him.
“Yeah, if these guys would just let me reach my pocket-“
One of the men pressed his hands against his sides while the other dug his meaty hand into his pocket and removed the device. He turned it over in his hands and held it up to show Mike.
He was only ever going to have one chance and he needed to take it so John grit his teeth and braced himself as he head butted one guy and then snatched the ancient device out of the other's hand. John was slugged in his already aching head but he refused to drop the device.
Mike laughed and closed his eyes. “Not this time Sheppard.”
John was being pounded in the back, splayed uncomfortably in the back seat and fighting to keep a hold of the ancient technology. He activated the device with an effortless thought and smiled. “Not you I’m aiming it at.”
“Cover your eyes!” Mike demanded.
Everyone did, except the one person who couldn’t. The driver. The device discharged, sending out a beam of light so blinding that even John was blinking furiously against the white spots.
As soon as the light had faded, John slipped back into his seat before the shit hit the fan.
------------------------
McKay watched as the car emitted a strange light.
Cameron Mitchell swerved the car violently. “What the Hell!” He hit the brakes and they went into a controlled stop.
The other car had hit an embankment and was starting to roll over.
“Sheppard!” McKay leaned forward and actually felt his stomach somersault along with the car.
After three revolutions the vehicle was lying upside down in a field, smoke rising from the engine.
Ronon was the first one out, pulling out his blaster and crossing the distance to get to Sheppard. David Sheppard was not far behind and ploughing after him.
McKay was the last one out, edging slowly towards the wreckage.
Title: “Trust”
Author: Obsessed1
Rating: K+
Genre: Gen, Action/Adv, H/C
Characters: Sheppard, Dave Sheppard. Team.
Spoilers: Takes place in Season 4. After Outcast.
Summary: Sheppard and his brother are forced to spend some time together when they're kidnapped by the Trust.
Thanks again to Kristen999 for the beta.
“Keep-“
John’s words were cut off by the sound of shots firing. Dave got the hint and double timed it, heading for the tree line as John had suggested earlier. He understood what John meant about them being too exposed. There was nowhere to hide out here and he felt vulnerable.
The men were following and they hadn’t been walking for hours on end so they were catching up fast.
“Go, go, go!” John shouted.
“We can’t outrun them!”
“Just get to the trees!” And then John stopped running, got onto one knee and started firing at the men that were coming towards them.
Dave saw something strike the mud in front of him and realized it was a bullet.
Time seemed to slow in that instant and Dave felt as if he was running through sand. Every step taking more effort than the last.
Another glance and John had shot one of the men. That left two more on their six. Six? Where had that come from?
He stopped in the tree line and waited for John. He’d dispatched of another man and was now running, full pelt, towards him. When John reached him he used his forward momentum to pull Dave along.
“Keep going, I’ll take care of this last guy.”
Dave shook his head. “No, we can’t split up.”
John was breathing raggedly and sweating from exertion. “We won’t……” he told him. “I’ll catch up with you.”
“Let me help!”
“Dave, I’m not asking I’m-“
“Ordering?” Dave was vibrating with anxious energy.
“Yes. I’m ordering.”
“Give me a gun. I know you have another one.”
John rubbed at his head and for a minute, his gaze vacant. Dave had to give his shoulder a shove as he watched their captor advance.
“John!”
John fired at the man advancing, no intention of handing him a weapon. When Dave glowered at him he said, “I had him.”
“You’re struggling……just give me-“
“No, Dave just-“ but then John’s word’s petered out because he was leaning forward and pressing a hand into his head.
“What’s wrong?”
John pushed his hand away and returned to his post. “Nothing.”
But it wasn’t nothing because he was obviously struggling.
“John?” Dave snapped his fingers in front of his eyes. “John?”
“Just…..dizzy.”
“Let me help!”
Dave had heard the old cliché about doing everything you could to survive. At that moment in time it had never seemed so appropriate. He forcibly removed the gun from John’s hand, peered out behind the tree and squeezed off a shot. The recoil hurt his wrist and the sound made his ears ring.
“What are you-“ John reclaimed his weapon, pushed Dave down as a bullet glanced off their tree and then shot their pursuer in the leg. He dropped to the grass, screaming and writhing in agony.
“Why the hell did you do that?” Dave asked. “I had him!”
Dave stood up and noticed that John didn’t move. He reached out a hand and John reluctantly took it. He swayed and braced himself on a tree. “You keep…….moving,” he said.
“We have to keep moving, remember?” Dave tugged his brother by the elbow and John followed him, his movements slow and sloppy. “I’m not leaving you behind.”
“You could have killed him.” There was no fire in the retort. Instead, John sounded resigned.
“I thought that was the point.”
“There’s a difference between saying and actually doing, Dave.”
Dave reached out for his brother’s arm and guided up away from a hidden ditch. The fact that John didn’t push him away was a sign he wasn’t doing so well. “You don’t think I could have done it?”
“Pulling the trigger is easy. Living with it isn’t.”
Dave angrily swiped at a tree branch in his path. John’s words sank in quickly.
“Is that why you’ve changed?”
John’s shoulders bunched up. “You’d never forgive yourself. Or me.”
The further they walked, the worse John’s condition seemed to get. He’d stubbornly tried to push ahead, but as time wore on Dave was stopping and waiting for John to catch up.
John was relentless in his desire to prove that he was okay. When he finally crumpled to his knees and didn’t get up, Dave was quick to steady him.
“You ready to admit you’re dead tired yet?”
John sighed and dropped his head. “Damn headaches making it impossible to think straight.”
“Can you walk?”
John went to stand up. “Of course I can walk.” He promptly sagged back to his knees. “Just give me a minute.”
“You know we have to keep moving, John.”
“When did you ever listen to me?” John looked up at him, eyes hooded, lips set into a tight line.
“I don’t have to. I’m the older brother remember?”
“Yeah, right. I forgot.”
“Are you this stubborn with your team?”
“No…..I….” he paused. “I don’t think so. I wasn’t being stubborn, Dave.”
“Yeah right. You ready?”
“I can walk.”
“Sure you can.” Dave pulled his brother’s arm around his shoulder and hoisted him into a standing position.
With John’s weight pressed into his side, he started forward, refusing to relinquish his grip.
They moved onward at a snails pace. Negotiating the uneven ground was difficult and a few times John’s unsteadiness nearly toppled them both.
“How much farther do you think?” Dave asked.
John didn’t answer. He was too busy trying to put one foot in front of the other.
“You think dad’s looking down on us and laughing his ass off?”
John stiffened and gave him a look that was bordering on guilt. “I think he’d be pissed that I got you into yet more trouble.”
“Yeah.” And Dave looked up through the tree canopy and smiled. “Probably.”
“I don’t know how he ever got it into his head that I was the troublemaker. As I recall, you were the one that took me to a bar when I was seventeen and-“
Dave knew exactly what he was going to say and stalled him before he could continue. “Now, hang on. That wasn’t my fault.”
“I was throwing up for three days straight.”
“Like you hadn’t already snuck into bars with your buddies.”
“Whatever. I still think that was technically your fault.”
“Fine.” Dave guided them over a shallow stream. “Maybe that was my fault.”
John leaned into him and Dave re-set their balance. When he spared a glance at his brother, he was closing his eyes.
“John?”
“Huh?”
“You can’t sleep while you’re walking.”
“Wasn’t sleeping.”
“Just keep your eyes open.”
John sighed, blinked a few times and nodded. “I’m with you.”
“So,” Dave had to keep his brother talking. He decided to broach a topic that had seemed off-limits. “You know dad was proud of you, right?”
John made a half chuckle, half groaning noise.
“He was. He regretted how you left things between you. I think, if he’d had more time, he would have finally told you that.”
“I don’t want to talk about it, Dave.”
“Why not?”
“Because-“
“I just thought you might want to know that.”
“Like I said, I don’t want to talk about it.”
Dave nodded and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.
“Hang on.” John told him. “Wait.”
For a fleeting moment, Dave thought that his brother might open up to him.
John swallowed thickly and clamped his eyes shut. “Here.” He passed Dave his gun. “Pull the clip back to load it and unlatch the safety before you fire.”
Dave stared at him, wondering what had changed his mind.
“No sense in me having the only gun if I’m in no position to fire it.”
With his free hand, Dave would be able to fend off any captors hiding in the trees. Though he still suspected John had another gun, he smiled and said, “I won’t let you down.”
--------------------------
It was dusk by the time they saw the light up ahead and they were both utterly shattered, shuffling along the roadside wordlessly. John had used him as a crutch for the whole walk. It was only when they arrived at the diner doors, did John finally take his own weight, pat his brother on his shoulder and reclaim his gun.
The diner wasn’t anything special. The windows were large and covered by blinds and there were rows of booths inside. The kind that you could hide in easily. While Dave slipped into one and ordered two black coffees, John headed off to use the payphone.
John returned a few minutes later, slumping into his seat and resting his elbows on the table. “Called it in.”
“How long?”
“They should be here in an hour or so.”
“So we just wait?” Dave asked, sinking back.
Two coffees were placed in front of them. The bitter smell reminded him of Doctor Henning and he shuddered involuntarily. This had been the first time since their escape that he’d had time to dwell on it.
When he looked up, John was staring at him, hands clasped under his chin.
“What?”
“Just…..sorry I guess. For all of this.”
John closed his eyes and didn’t open them for a long time. Dave left him, not wanting to wake him, knowing just how exhausted John was, and how much he needed the down time.
Dave drank his coffee and watched as people came and went. He noticed the stares and realised that they looked a state; caked in mud, filthy dirty and covered in blood. The waitress arched an eyebrow at John when she came over to refill his mug.
“This isn’t a shelter you know,” she remarked with little sympathy and then left them to it.
Dave could have elaborated. He could have told the waitress that they had escaped from a large compound, that they had been hunted for hours and explained that his brother needed this. Instead, he didn’t say a thing.
Twenty minutes later and John jerked awake, knee hitting the table in the process. He glanced around the diner. “Why didn’t you wake me?” he asked, rubbing his face.
“Thought you could use the sleep,” Dave remarked.
John took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders. “How long was I out?”
“You were asleep for an hour.”
“An hour?” John rubbed his neck.
“Not my fault you sleep like the dead-“ Dave cut himself off; visions of the facility and the bodies that they had left behind.
John yawned and ruffled his hair.
“I thought soldiers were supposed to sleep lightly?”
John prodded Dave’s mug of coffee. “You realise we have no money.”
Dave nodded.
“Guess we’ll have to charm our way out of the bill.”
“Or we could just daze them with this.” Dave placed the Ancient blinding device on the table top and spun it lazily.
John reached over and stopped its rotation. “Maybe, I should keep hold of this.” John smiled a little and then checked his watch. “My team should be here soon.”
------------------------
An hour later and John was tired of waiting. They’d been sat in companionable silence for a while, watching as people slowly left the small diner and the waitress started clearing the tables, dropping none too subtle hints that they were going to close soon.
“Where are you going?” Dave asked when John pushed himself out of his seat.
“To get some air.”
“You want me to come?”
“And walk out on the bill?” John waved a hand. “Nah, I’ll be right back.”
Outside the diner there were few cars parked up and dusk had turned into full blown darkness. John arched his back and rubbed at his head, still unable to rid himself of his lingering headache.
John had only been standing there a few minutes when he became aware of a man standing off to his left, hidden by the shadows. John smiled in his direction and walked out towards the road, still keeping the diner within view, to stare up the road and will his back up to arrive.
When they didn’t appear, he started back towards the diner, noting that the man had crept out of the shadows and was watching him without trying to make it obvious. There was a brief moment when they met eyes and John’s heart started to race.
He bought the gun up the same time the man did and suddenly they were locked in a deadly stand off.
“Colonel Sheppard,” the man said, unlatching the safety on his weapon just as John did.
“Why don’t we both put our weapons away,” John suggested as he took a few steps forward. “You could always join us for coffee?”
“Stay where you are,” the man ordered, gesturing with his gun for John to stay still.
“Of course, you’ll have to foot the bill. We forgot our wallets.”
“Stop moving.”
“My back-up will be here any second.”
“Mine will be here quicker,” and the man reached up to a hidden earpiece.
John listened to the one-sided conversation while weighing up his chances of escaping and getting inside in time.
“If you let us go, maybe this won’t end badly.” John informed him.
The man smiled and edged out of the shadows, glancing towards the diner. “I’m just the paid help. I don’t make the decisions.”
John refused to lower his weapon. “Clearly.”
What seemed like a second later a black car was screeching into the parking lot and John briefly thought that it might be McKay and Ronon. When the door opened and Mike was sat there, John turned his gun on him instead.
“Colonel. I’d suggest getting in this car quietly.”
“You should know by now that I don’t do quiet.”
All it would take was one person to leave the diner and see them. It didn’t happen.
“Your brother can go free, if you come with us.”
“I don’t think so.”
Hands were grabbing him. Someone punched him in his wounded thigh and he sank to the tarmac in one ungraceful movement. They were reaching for his weapon. John twisted, managed to fire off three shots before his gun was knocked from his hand. Too exhausted to fight, he was pushed into the car.
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Dave heard the shots fired and ran out of the diner as their waitress shouted something about the bill. He witnessed the scuffle, the moment John was battered to the ground and then manhandled into a familiar black van. He tried to run after them, willing his legs and his frantic breathing to co-operate.
He was left panting on the side of the road as the car sped off into the distance.
“Hey Mister! Aren’t you forgetting something?” The waitress had run out after him.
“You need to call the police!” he told her breathlessly. “They took my-“
The car that pulled up beside him looked identical to the last and for one chilling moment, Dave thought he’d been recaptured. But as the door slid open, Dave recognised the man in the front as Ronon. He remembered meeting him at the wake. Beside him was a man dressed in military fatigues with short cropped hair and in the back was a short, round man, who was grabbing him by the arm and hauling him into the seat.
“This is Sheppard’s brother? They look nothing alike.”
Dave’s indignation at that remark from the shorter one was overridden by all consuming panic for his brother’s welfare.
“Where’s Sheppard!” Ronon asked. In his eyes, he saw the same desperation that he felt.
“They headed that way!” Dave gestured wildly.
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John was back where he had started; pressed between two burly men and feeling distinctly nauseous.
This time he leaned into one of the men, too drained to try anything smart.
“Where we heading?” he asked.
“We’re driving to a private airfield. After you destroyed my lab I’m afraid we have to relocate.” Mike told him from the front seat.
John rubbed at his face, feeling aged and worn by the last few days. “Sorry about that.”
“I’m sure you are.”
“No really,” John leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “Sorry, you got out alive.”
“Sir.” The whispered voice got his attention.
John watched as Mike leaned in to hear the driver. “What is it?”
“I think we’re being followed.”
Followed? John glanced over his shoulder and watched as the black SUV behind them sped up to tail them. It was getting closer every second. That couldn’t be coincidence. One of the burly men slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Eyes to the front.”
If his team were trying to catch up to him then he had to think of something to slow these guys down.
Something bulky in his pocket had him remembering the ancient device that Dave had returned to him earlier in the diner. He couldn’t quite reach it. His legs were trapped together and the device was digging into burly guy’s thigh.
“I have something of yours,” John tried to sound innocent.
“Really?” Mike didn’t turn to him.
“Yeah, if these guys would just let me reach my pocket-“
One of the men pressed his hands against his sides while the other dug his meaty hand into his pocket and removed the device. He turned it over in his hands and held it up to show Mike.
He was only ever going to have one chance and he needed to take it so John grit his teeth and braced himself as he head butted one guy and then snatched the ancient device out of the other's hand. John was slugged in his already aching head but he refused to drop the device.
Mike laughed and closed his eyes. “Not this time Sheppard.”
John was being pounded in the back, splayed uncomfortably in the back seat and fighting to keep a hold of the ancient technology. He activated the device with an effortless thought and smiled. “Not you I’m aiming it at.”
“Cover your eyes!” Mike demanded.
Everyone did, except the one person who couldn’t. The driver. The device discharged, sending out a beam of light so blinding that even John was blinking furiously against the white spots.
As soon as the light had faded, John slipped back into his seat before the shit hit the fan.
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McKay watched as the car emitted a strange light.
Cameron Mitchell swerved the car violently. “What the Hell!” He hit the brakes and they went into a controlled stop.
The other car had hit an embankment and was starting to roll over.
“Sheppard!” McKay leaned forward and actually felt his stomach somersault along with the car.
After three revolutions the vehicle was lying upside down in a field, smoke rising from the engine.
Ronon was the first one out, pulling out his blaster and crossing the distance to get to Sheppard. David Sheppard was not far behind and ploughing after him.
McKay was the last one out, edging slowly towards the wreckage.