CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

It took a while before the way was clear enough for Daniel to attempt to break through the wall of the shack.  He took his belt and one of his boots off, looped the belt around three of the planks, then stuck his boot into the belt.  Using the boot as a handle, he began twisting the belt, slowly tightening it around the planks.

"Shouldn't we at least wait till night time?" Bill asked.

"I don't think we have that long."

"We won't get a hundred yards before they kill us."

"Yeah, if we stay, they'll definitely kill us.  I saw the short-term effects of that device.  I know what a sarcophagus does to a person's sanity, and this is far more powerful.  I don't think we want to stick around to find out what long-term exposure does."

Just then, one of the planks popped loose.  Daniel put it aside.  Removing the belt, he turned his attention to the next planks and began repeating the process.  Just a few more, and they could get out of here.

A while ago, Jack and Burke had come across a surprise.  They found what they thought was a body lying beneath a tree.  It turned out that the guy wasn't dead, though he had been shot in the back.  Jack suspected that he was the guide Daniel hired to take them into the jungle.  This was confirmed when the man revealed that he knew Daniel and told them the rebels had taken the two scientists over the border.

Air Rescue would be there soon, so Jack and Burke had reluctantly left the guide with some gum – courtesy of Burke – and a canteen of water, then continued on their way.

That surprise was nothing compared to the one Burke gave Jack a while later.  After all these years, the man had revealed that the incident with their friend, Woods, had not been a case of friendly fire, an accident.

"Man, it wasn't my fault," he had said.  "I mean, I didn't choose, I just reacted.  It stinks.  The whole damn thing stinks.  You want to know what really happened?  Fine, I'll tell you.  Woods was ghosting us.  He sold out.  He was . . . he was no good.  He was sending out a rogue transmission; he was giving our position away.  Woods realized that I was on to him, and he turned his weapon on me.  And I . . . I just . . . I just reacted."

When Jack asked why Burke hadn't come forward with that, he said that it was because the three of them and their families had been so close.  If it had come out that Woods was a traitor, his wife wouldn't have gotten a penny of his pension.  Woods had been a month away from retirement, but Burke said that he'd had no intention of retiring, that he'd been setting himself up as a mercenary for a warlord.

Now, Jack wasn't sure what to think.  Had he been wrong about Burke all these years?

But that didn't matter right now.  All that mattered was that they find Daniel and get him and Lee out.  Everything else could wait.

Daniel gave another twist to his belt.  Just two more and they'd be free.  More than once, he'd had to stop because one of the rebels got too close to the shack.  Both he and Bill had feared that a rebel would walk around to the back side and see what was being done.  But their luck held out, and the rebels remained unaware of what their prisoners were doing.

Another board came loose, and Daniel began pulling it off.  He was startled by the sound of automatic weapons fire.  Wondering if a rescue attempt was underway, he ran to the other wall and quickly glanced out.  What he saw chilled his blood and sent him hurrying back to the hole he was making.  Chalo, the man killed by Rafael, was outside the main hut, firing upon the other rebels, having already killed three of them.  His eyes were white, like the eyes of that Goa'uld warrior.  Daniel knew what this meant.  The power of the Telchak device had resurrected Chalo, but not the same way that a sarcophagus brings the dead back to life.  He was, for all intents and purposes, a zombie, apparently a murderous one.

Knowing that every second counted, Daniel ripped off another board, and he and Bill squeezed out of the hole.  They ran into the foliage surrounding the clearing and stopped to see what was going on.  They could see Chalo still firing upon his fellow rebels, seemingly intent upon killing everything in sight.

"That's not good," Daniel said.

He and Bill ran, knowing that, at any moment, Chalo or the other rebels could come after them.

Rafael and the surviving rebels fired at Chalo, one of them hitting him with two blasts from a shotgun.  At last, he fell to the ground.  The rebels cautiously approached.  When a hard tap from Rafael's foot did not make the man stir, the rebel leader came to the conclusion that he was dead . . . again.

Rafael's thoughts suddenly turned to the prisoners.  He and his two surviving men ran to the shack.  They saw that the prisoners were gone.

"No!  No!  You let them escape!" Rafael yelled at his men.  Switching to Spanish, he then said, "Let's go kill them!"

They ran off in pursuit, Rafael's mind burning with the desire to kill.

Daniel ran and ran, Bill right there with him, but the rebels were gaining on them, gunfire blasting through the trees all around them.  Not only were the rebels not weakened from torture and lack of water and food, they were also likely energized and strengthened by the Telchak device.  Daniel remembered that strength and the feeling of energy, the feeling that he was powerful, invincible.  The difference was that, even under the influence of the sarcophagus, he wasn't a homicidal monster.  Rafael was.

Just then, Bill stopped running, grabbing onto a tree to stay upright.  His chest was heaving with exhaustion.  Daniel hurried back to him.

"Bill, you gotta keep moving!"

Wood and bark from the tree peppered them as it was struck by a hail of bullets.  Daniel and Bill fled, hearing Rafael yelling in Spanish behind them.

A short while later, Bill fell.  Daniel tried to get him to his feet.

"I can't . . . breathe!" Bill gasped, holding his side.

"Yes, you can.  Come on!"

"I can't.  Daniel, I can't."

The archeologist realized that the scientist was at the end of his strength.  He couldn't go any farther.

"Okay, okay," Daniel helped Bill hide behind a tree.  "Stay there.  I'll draw them off."

Knowing that the chance of him escaping the rebels was small, Daniel ran.  He had not gotten far when the agonizing pain of a bullet strike flared through his thigh.  He fell against a tree and slid to the ground, his back against the tree.  Rafael and two other rebels were before him.  The rebel leader fired his AK-47 into the ground before Daniel, then into the tree just above his head.  Daniel ducked, raising his arms in defense.

Rafael threw down his gun and asked for a machete.  One of his men gave him one.  He came toward Daniel, waving the long blade about, a rabid light in his eyes.

"I'm going to skin you alive!"

Though he knew that he couldn't successfully defend himself against this man, Daniel looked for a weapon, any weapon he could use.  His eyes fell upon a rock, and he reached for it.  But, even as he grabbed it, there was more machine gun fire.  Finding that he had not been shot, he turned back to see one of the rebels fall to the ground, the other two already down.  Jack appeared out of the jungle in a crouch.

'What?  What's happening?  They're dead?  No, the device!  They'll come back to life!  Jack?  What's Jack doing here?'  His exhausted mind reeling with shock and expecting the rebels to come back to life at any second, Daniel barely registered the fact that Jack had just asked him how many more rebels there were.  Then his friend was beside him, grasping his arm.

"Daniel?"

That's when Daniel finally snapped out of it.  They were dead.  The rebels were dead.

"That's it.  You got 'em all."  He stared at Jack in surprise.  "Jack? What are you doing here?  I didn't think. . . ."

"What?  You didn't think we'd come get you?"

At that moment, Daniel realized that he was still holding the rock in preparation to use it.  He dropped it to the ground.

"How badly are you injured?" Jack asked, concerned that Daniel was going into shock.  He wasn't acting right at all.

"I'll survive," Daniel replied.

"I have no doubt of that, but that's not what I asked."

"Well, the bullet Rafael just put in my leg is rather painful."

Jack checked the back of Daniel's right thigh and saw the blood.  There was no exit wound, which meant that the bullet was still inside.

"We need to find Bill, Jack," Daniel said.  "I left him hiding behind a tree."

"Let me do something about your leg first."  Jack pulled out his bandana.  "So, what other injuries do you have?"

"I'm fine."

The colonel stared at him narrowly, not for one second believing him.  Jack's instincts were telling him that Daniel was hiding something he was really not going to like.

Jack began tying the bandana around the bullet wound to staunch the flow of blood.  "You gonna be able to walk on this?"

Daniel grimaced in pain.  "Yeah."

Suddenly, Chalo, reanimated yet again, appeared out of the jungle.  He fired a shotgun at them.  Jack got a good look at the man's white eyes.

"Telchak's device reanimates dead tissue," Daniel said in a rush.

Jack grabbed his arm.  "Yeah, whatever.  Come on!"

Jack hauled Daniel to his feet and dragged him behind the tree as Chalo fired again.  Jack leaned out and fired his P-90 into the man.  The bullets had no effect.

'Crap.  This is not good!'

At that moment, salvation came in the form of Burke.

"Hey, get down!" he yelled.  He fired a grenade from the chamber in his weapon.  It hit Chalo, virtually disintegrating him.

As Burke walked toward them, Jack helped Daniel to his feet, and they came out from behind the tree, Daniel's arm around Jack's shoulder for support.  Jack held onto his friend's waist.

"What's with the guy from Evil Dead?" Burke asked.

"Um. . . ." Jack responded.

"Classified?"

"Yeah."

Burke let out a laugh that was more of a snort.  "You guys are into some crazy crap, man!"

'No shit,' was Jack's silent response.

Burke looked at Daniel.  "He okay?"

"He will be," Jack replied at the same time as Daniel said, "I will be."

Burke stared at the two of them and shook his head.  "Oh, by the way, I found your other pal."

"Bill?" Daniel asked.  "Is he okay?"

"Yeah.  I told him to stay put."

Jack looked at Daniel.  "Are you sure there aren't any more of those guys running around?"

"Yeah.  I'm pretty sure that Chalo killed the rest of them.  That's the, um, Evil Dead guy."

"Nevertheless, we're going to have to move with caution."  Jack turned to Burke.  "Go get Doctor Lee.  Then we'll head toward the camp."

As Burke went off to fetch Bill, Jack insisted that Daniel sit back down.

"Could I have some water?" the archeologist asked in a quiet voice.

Jack pulled out his canteen.  The look in Daniel's eyes told him it had been a while since his friend had any water.

"Drink it slowly," Jack instructed as he handed the canteen over.

With shaking hands, Daniel uncapped it and brought it to his lips.  The taste of the water nearly overwhelmed him, and it took a lot for him not to gulp it down.  He forced himself to take small sips.

Jack watched in concern.  Daniel looked awful, like he'd been through hell, which he probably had.

"How long has it been since you had any water?" he asked.

"They gave us about half a cupful on the first day.  That was it."

"And no food?"

"No.  But I got to look at some very nice pineapple while Rafael ate it."

Jack cursed silently.  The bastard deprived them of food and water, probably to make them talk.

"I'm sorry, Daniel."

The archeologist looked at him.  "For what?  This wasn't your fault."

"Wasn't it?  I should have insisted that I come with you."

"Jack, even if you'd been here, we'd still have been taken.  It wouldn't have made a difference, unless you tried to shoot them.  Then they'd probably have killed us.  Actually, you'd probably have ticked Rafael off within five minutes and gotten yourself shot."

Just then, Burke and Bill came into view.

"Oh, he's got your number, all right," the CIA agent said, grinning.

Jack glared at him.  "No remarks from you."

Bill spied the canteen in Daniel's hand.  "Please.  Some water?"

Burke handed over his canteen.

"Don't drink it fast, Bill," Daniel quickly warned.  "You'll get sick."

In spite of the warning, Bill began gulping.  Burke snatched the canteen away.

"Hey.  I don't want you puking all over my boots."

"I'm sorry," Bill gasped.  "I'm just so thirsty."

"Take it slow," Daniel advised again.

This time, Bill listened and drank slowly.  Daniel drank some more as well.

"You ready to go?" Jack asked him a moment later.

"Yeah.  We need to get to the device and turn it off."

"Oh, so you found this mysterious, classified device, huh?" Burke asked, smirking.

Daniel stared at him uncertainly.  "Yeah," he replied with caution, not sure how much he should say.

"Ignore him, Daniel," Jack said.  "He's always been a jackass."

Burke laughed and popped a new piece of gum into his mouth.  "Like I always say, it takes one to know one."

Ignoring the comment, Jack looked down at Daniel's leg.  "We need to find you a crutch.  It'll be faster going."

He and Burke looked around the area for a suitable stick.  One was found, and a few branches were lopped off with the machete that Rafael brandished against Daniel.  Daniel tried not to think about what that machete would have been used for if Jack hadn't arrived when he did.

Jack put his arm around Daniel's waist to help him to his feet.  The younger man abruptly gasped, jerking sharply.

"Daniel?"

"I'm okay," Daniel said between gritted teeth.  "You just hit a sore spot."

"I think I'd better take a look."

"No."

Jack looked at his friend sharply, surprised at the refusal.  Okay, now he was getting really worried.

"Daniel."

"I'm okay," Daniel insisted.  "We need to get to the camp."

Choosing not to make an issue of it now, Jack helped Daniel up, being careful not to touch the archeologist's side.

The trip to the camp was slow-going because of Daniel's leg.  Jack frequently glanced at his friend, seeing the exhaustion in every line of his body.  And there was pain, too, quite a bit, if Jack was reading his friend right.   Daniel was trying to hide it, but he could only hide so much.  Bill Lee wasn't looking all that great either, but at least he didn't have a bullet in his leg.

As they neared the camp, they moved with caution, eyes and ears open for trouble.  The place looked deserted, except for the bodies on the ground.

"So, where is it?" Jack asked as they entered the camp.

Daniel pointed at the hut that had been the command center and Rafael's quarters.  "In there.  Bill and I will get it.  It would be best if as few people as possible are exposed to it."

"Hold off on that."  Jack turned to Burke.  "Check the perimeter."

"Yes, sir, colonel, sir," the man replied with anything but respect, shooting off an irreverent salute.

"Known him long?" Daniel asked Jack as the CIA agent went off to do as ordered.

"Yes, unfortunately."

Jack checked the three men lying on the ground.  They were all dead.

Burke returned a couple minutes later.  "Perimeter's clear.  Just heard from Air Rescue.  They got the guide."

Daniel stared at him in surprise.  "Rogelio?"

"Yeah, he's gonna be okay.  They'll be here soon."

Rather reluctantly, Daniel and Bill went to the hut where the device was while Jack and Burke waited outside.  As they entered the structure, Daniel's eyes were drawn to the battery sitting on the table.  He quickly looked away and focused on the thing that had turned one of Rafael's men into a zombie.  He studied the symbols on it, quickly deciphering them.  With the push of a few of them, the device turned off, much to the relief of the two men.

The danger past, a sudden feeling of claustrophobia hit Daniel, and he quickly left the hut, telling Bill to bring the device.

Jack looked at the nasty little thing that had nearly cost Daniel and Bill Lee their lives and might be the key to destroying Anubis' drones.

"Is that that thing that made that guy do that thing?" Burke asked.

"Yeah.  It's okay.  It's off now," Daniel replied.

"Good.  That's good," Jack said, not wanting to find out what it would do to him.  Like Daniel, he'd tasted the effects of addiction to a sarcophagus, though the withdrawal he suffered after the events with Ba'al wasn't even a fraction of what Daniel had gone through.

"Yeah, at least we think it's off," Bill said.  "It's not glowing anymore, so. . . ."

"The glowing thing really gives it away," Daniel remarked, "so if it's not glowing anymore, it shouldn't be on anymore."

Bill looked at Daniel.  "Do you want to hold it?"

"No," the archeologist instantly replied.  "No."  He hopped a couple of times sideways, putting a few more inches between him and the device.

Burke laughed.  "It's crazy!"

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Daniel muttered.  A wave of weakness suddenly washed over him, and he swayed on his feet.  Jack was immediately at his side, holding his arm firmly.

"Let's sit you down out of this sun, Daniel," the colonel said.  He started leading Daniel toward the hut where the Telchak device had been, but Daniel balked.

"No.  Not in there," he said, his voice tight.

Warning bells clanging in Jack's head, he helped Daniel to a shady spot against the wall of the shack within which Daniel and Bill had been kept.  Insisting that the archeologist lay down instead of just sitting, Jack gave him his rolled up jacket for a pillow.

As soon as Daniel's eyes closed, Jack was on his feet and heading for the hut.  The light was dim inside, but not so dim that Jack couldn't see what was on a table off to the side.

Just then, Burke walked in.  "So, what's . . . damn.  Did they use that on them?"

Not replying, Jack strode outside and over to Daniel.  Kneeling beside his friend, he lifted the archeologist's shirt.  Daniel's eyes jerked open, and he pushed the material back down, but not before Jack saw what had been done to him.  Daniel's torso was covered in bruises and electrical burns.  There was virtually no undamaged skin.

Jack met Daniel's eyes.

"I guess you saw the battery," the archeologist said wearily.

"Daniel, why didn't you tell me?  Did you think I wouldn't find out?"

"I kind of hoped you wouldn't."

"Did they use it on Bill, too?"

"A couple times.  Bill told them what they wanted to know."

"But you didn't.  How many times?"

"I don't know.  I lost count after the eighth or ninth time."  He gave a strained little laugh.  "I'll never complain about being zatted again."

Rage welled up inside Jack.  If Rafael and his men weren't already dead, he'd kill them – very, very slowly.

"Daniel," Jack said, his voice full of emotion.

"I'm okay, Jack," Daniel assured him.

The colonel scanned Daniel's eyes closely, looking for the truth in the man's statement.  What he saw did not completely set his mind at ease.

Anything else Jack wanted to say was put on hold by the sound of an approaching helicopter.  A moment later, they caught sight of a military chopper, which landed just outside the camp.  Several Marines and some corpsmen emerged from it.

"Nice to see you guys," Jack said.  He pointed at Daniel and Bill.  "These two men need medical attention."

"What about the unfriendlies, sir?" one of the Marines asked as the corpsmen took care of the scientists.

"They've been neutralized, Lieutenant," Jack answered.

"Yes, sir.  Colonel, we should get out of here as quickly as possible.  We're in unfriendly territory."

"We've got no reason to dawdle."

Daniel was loaded onto a stretcher and put on the helicopter as Bill was helped to the aircraft.  Jack wrapped the Telchak device in his jacket and boarded with Burke and the Marines.

"Hey, Doctor Jackson," Rogelio greeted with a smile from his stretcher.  "Good to see you."

"It's good to see you, too, Rogelio."

"Ah, but you may not say that when I give you my bill, senor."

Daniel smiled at the comment.

Moments later, they were airborne and heading for the Enrique Soto Cano Air Force Base, the primary U.S. base in Honduras.

Jack sat down beside his teammate.  "You doing okay?"

"Yeah, although I'll be glad when the morphine takes effect."

"There's a medical facility at the base.  They'll get you and Lee fixed up."

"Um . . . yeah, about that."  Daniel glanced about, seeing if anyone was listening.  "Jack, look at the burns."

Detecting the note in the man's voice, Jack lifted Daniel's shirt and peered at the burns closely.  Now that he was really looking at them, he realized that they were already partially healed.

The colonel met Daniel's eyes.  "The device?"

"Yeah.  I was exposed to it for several minutes.  If anyone sees those burns, they're going to wonder what's going on."

"The medical facility at the base is military.  They know the meaning of classified."

Daniel settled deeper into his cot.  "So, where are Sam and Teal'c?  I'm betting they wanted to come, too."

"Actually, they're very likely on a mission right now.  I'll tell you all about it on the flight home."

As he had suspected, the doctor who treated Daniel did ask about the burns.  Jack did his tough colonel act and told the doctor of the classified nature of the events, making it clear that the physician was not to make any note of or remark about the present condition of the burns.  With a "Yes, sir," the man had complied.

The bullet that was still imbedded in Daniel's leg took surgery to remove.  The archeologist was now on a bed in the main ward of the facility, Jack in a chair beside him.  Bill was in the next bed, fast asleep, and Rogelio was farther down the row.

A doctor came up to the two members of SG-1, a chart in his hands.

"So, what's the verdict?" Jack asked.

The man addressed his reply to Daniel.  "Considering what you went through, Doctor Jackson, you're in fairly good shape.  Dehydration and low blood sugar from lack of food and water, which is to be expected.  There is no indication of infection in those burns.  The bullet wound should heal well, though some physical therapy may be needed.  I'd advise that you remain here overnight, at the very least."

"That won't be necessary, Doc," Jack replied.  "There's an infirmary bed with Daniel's name on it waiting for him back home in the States."

The doctor did not push the issue, only nodding.

"How's Bill?" Daniel asked.

"His injuries were not nearly as extensive as yours, but he's suffering more from the dehydration and lack of food.  He'll be fine, though.  You both need to get some nourishment into your bodies.  That dextrose you're being given is helping, but what you really need is food."

"I'll make sure they get fed, Doctor," Jack stated.  "Don't you worry."  He turned to Daniel.  "So, what'll it be, Daniel?  A big, juicy steak?"

"Pineapple," Daniel replied softly.  "I'd like some pineapple."

Soberly, Jack met his friend's eyes, understanding.  "You bet, Danny Boy.  Pineapple it is."

Daniel got his pineapple, as well as some soup, the doctor having suggested that, since it had been quite some time since he had eaten, heavy food would not be recommended.

While Daniel and Bill ate, Jack put in a call to General Hammond.

"Colonel.  I was informed that you got Daniel Jackson and Doctor Lee out.  What is their condition?"

"Daniel got shot in the leg, and they were both beat up quite a bit by their captors and denied food and water.  And. . . .  Sir, the rebels used a car battery on them.  Doctor Lee got off light, but Daniel. . . .  He wouldn't tell them anything, so they kept shocking him."

There was a long silence on the other end.  "How is he doing, Jack?" the general finally asked in a soft voice that had an edge of anger in it.

"Physically, all right, better than he should be.  I'll explain about that when we get back.  As for psychologically, I don't know.  Daniel's tough, but being brutally tortured like that is not something you can just bounce back from with no problems."

"No, it isn't.  When will you be heading back?"

"After Daniel and Doctor Lee have finished eating."

"All right.  Colonel, there's something you should know before you get back.  I'd recommend that you not tell Doctor Jackson until after you've landed."

The general told Jack about what happened with Danny.  Crap.  That poor kid.  Daniel was going to freak when he found out.

"Thanks for telling me, General.  I'll let Daniel know just before we get to the base.  Did Carter and Teal'c go on that mission?"

"Yes, along with Bra'tac and Jacob.  I'll brief you when you arrive back here."

"Yes, sir."

"Tell Doctor Jackson that we're all thankful that he and Doctor Lee are safe."

"I will, General.  I just wish that they were more sound than they are."

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