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* TITLE: Affinity for Trouble
* AUTHOR: Redbyrd
* EMAIL: redbyrd (at) mindspring (dot) com
* RATING: PG-13
* CATEGORY: drama, action, missing scene
* SUMMARY: Missing scenes and tag for Affinity, S8, Krista's POV
* SPOILERS: Affinity
* AUTHOR'S NOTE: I thought that Krista had a harrowing couple of days in this episode, and surely she must have learned something from it, if not everything she wanted to...also it was fun to play with a minor character POV.
* DISCLAIMER:
The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.
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Krista sat limply in the chair, watching Teal'c sleep in the light from the window. The choking fear that had gripped her was starting to ease. She couldn't believe that she had done it, that this time when he swung his fist, she had blocked and struck in the same automatic movement that Teal'c had shown her. That she had stood there, paralyzed while he crumpled to the floor, wheezed once and then gone still.
Dead. He had tried to hurt her but this time she had hurt him. Killed him. Her mind didn't want to take it in. She couldn't stay in the room. She had waited for Teal'c, begged him to take her away, just for the weekend. And he had. She had never met anyone as strong and as kind as Teal'c. Tomorrow she would have to go back. Call the police. Teal'c would help her. She rose and moved silently to the door. She couldn't sleep yet. She'd go out to the courtyard and run through the exercises that Teal'c had taught her. Work out the knots of tension and try to find the strength to face the morning.
She shut the door silently behind her, checking that she had her key. As she turned toward the exit, she flinched. Where had that man come from? He wasn't big, but he was moving toward her fast, threateningly. She jumped back, opening her mouth to scream when a hand was clamped over it. She barely had time to realize that she had been grabbed from behind when she felt something sharp jab her in the shoulder. She wanted to thrash, kick, try to use more of the moves that Teal'c had shown her, but the hall was getting blurry, and the best her frantic mind could manage was to half raise her hand before it all went dark.
#
When she awoke it was dark. Her head hurt and she felt sick to her stomach. The memory came back in a rush. Her boyfriend. Teal'c, the motel. Going outside and being grabbed. She opened her eyes, but it couldn't see anything. She tried to touch her eyes with her hand, make sure her eyes were open, but the hand wouldn't move. Something hard on her wrist. She brought her other hand around to check. Handcuffs? Was she in jail? But why would it be so dark? More feeling around told her she was lying on a cot, and the cuffs were fixed to a pipe or something on the wall. She sat up awkwardly, the cuffs rattling. There was a glimmer of light along the wall. Light coming under a door. She was desperately grateful to see it, to know that it was dark here because there wasn't any light, not because she had been blinded. She tried calling out. "Hey! Is anybody there? Let me out!"
Then she wondered whether that was wise. Someone had grabbed her. Brought her here. Handcuffed her to a pipe. Not that it seemed to matter, since no one was coming. No noises from outside, nothing. She wasn't wearing a watch, but it seemed like an hour before she heard a door open and light come in. Then she had to shut her eyes, as the man in the doorway flipped a switch and the overhead lights came on. Fluorescent lights, and her eyes teared at the brightness but at least she could see where she was. Concrete blocks, like an industrial building. It was still quiet. She still couldn't hear anything from outside, but there was a faint murmur of voices from outside the open door. Two- there had been two men at the motel, but if one was here and there were voices outside, that meant more. 'What the hell is going on?'
"Who are you?" She asked. "What am I doing here?
The man came over, looked at the handcuffs, and turned to go.
"What do you want with me?" She jerked the cuff in frustration. Ow. "Tell me-"
"Shut up." The man's tone was flat. "If you keep yelling, you'll be gagged." He turned out the light and went out.
"Hey!" She called anyway, and then slumped back on the cot. A wave of tiredness washed over her. She lay back and fell asleep.
#
//She sat in the comfortable car, Teal'c driving competently beside her. It was a new SUV, a nice vehicle. Not for the first time, she wondered what Teal'c was doing living in her neighborhood. He never seemed to be short of money.
"I do not wish to alarm you but I believe that we are being followed." Teal'c said.
"Who would be following us?" Krista asked.
"Perhaps Doug."
"No." Teal'c looked at her enquiringly. She remembered Doug. He crumpled to the floor, wheezed once- "He doesn't know I'm gone yet."
"Then they are most likely following me."
' What? Why..' "You? Why would anyone be following you?" Krista asked.
"It is difficult to explain."
She looked behind her and spotted the dark sedan. "Can you lose them?"
"I believe so. However it will require me to violate posted speed limits and several safe driving regulations."
She wondered not for the first time if this guy was for real. "I'm okay with that."
"Hold on." The SUV accelerated.
#
They stood in the motel room.
"There are aspects of my life that I am not at liberty to divulge." Teal'c said.
"What are you? A spy or something. One thing's for sure. You're not really Dr. Jackson's research assistant. That much I figured after about thirty seconds." Krista was wondering why she hadn't asked more questions about Teal'c's job before now.
"Krista-" Teal'c looked unhappy and more serious than she had ever seen him.
"It's okay. For now, I'm just glad you're here."//
Krista awoke with a jerk, hearing a rattle from her wrist. Handcuffs, concrete room, darkness- it all came flooding back. Teal'c. The meaning of the dream suddenly came to her. They had been followed. Teal'c had said that they might be following him. So this must be something to do with him. She felt a sudden wash of relief. This wasn't about her at all. The handcuffs rattled as she tried to change position to ease her aching muscles. Okay, it was too soon to feel relieved. Why had they grabbed her? She tried to force herself to think.
There were at least two men. They had followed her and Teal'c to the motel. They had been creeping up on the room when she came out. That sting in her shoulder- drugs. They had had drugs ready to use. Had they meant to kidnap her? Had they meant to grab Teal'c? Why hadn't they taken them both if they had intended to? May be Teal'c was here somewhere. She wet her lips. She would kill for a Coke. Or even water. Teal'c had said there were 'aspects of my life that I am not at liberty to divulge'. So he was doing something that he had to keep a secret. Well, she had kind of wondered when he told her that he had come to the US to work with an archeologist She had been surprised to actually to meet the man. Actually, if Daniel Jackson had told her he was an archeologist, she probably would have believed him. There had been a sharp intelligence in his bright blue eyes He had seemed nice, friendly. He had talked to Teal'c more like a friend than a boss. In retrospect, she wondered if he had not seemed a bit surprised when she had mentioned Teal'c working for him.
So this was something to do with Teal'c and she had no idea what. She grimaced. Teal'c was never talkative, but in a relaxed, easygoing way that never came off as secretive. Mostly he seemed content to let her rattle on, never seeming impatient or inattentive. He talked the most during her lessons, but that was all about technique, body position. He had slowly and methodically walked her through each exercise, correcting her calmly until she got it right. He had taught before. The insight came to her suddenly. It wasn't all innate patience, he had taught the techniques he had shown her to others.
It seemed very little to discover in the months he had been her neighbor. Surely she must know more. He liked television. Had once mentioned that he had never seen it before coming here. That had not surprised her at the time, surely television was not as common in Africa. He often watched television as if it were research, as if he were using it to puzzle out how to fit in. She sighed. All that meant was that he really wasn't an American. Of course that was something in and of itself.
But he was educated. More than she was- she thought with vague shame. English couldn't be Teal'c's first language. He had no trace of an accent, but it showed in his slightly formal patterns of speech. And he not only spoke fluently, but he seemed to easily follow anything she said, and only the most modern slang seemed to puzzle him even momentarily. She wondered how old he was. From his appearance, she would have thought perhaps thirty, but didn't people from primitive cultures age faster? His immense dignity and self confidence argued for a greater age. Older than her, younger than Daniel, then. She thought of Teal'c's friend. He was probably close to forty, judging by the lines around his eyes. She thought, 'I bet he was cute when he was younger.' Not that he probably still couldn't turn heads, even if he was a bit old for her.
She became aware of a murmur of sound, like faintly heard voices. Was someone coming? There was no sound from the door. She raised her head off the cot and the voices went away, laid down and they came back. She shifted around and looked down between the cot and the wall. There was a faint glimmer of light. She maneuvered awkwardly to pull the cot away from the wall. The light was shining through a hole drilled through the wall, possibly for a wire or cable. After pulling the cot completely away from the wall, she managed to put an eye to it. She could see almost nothing...the hole did go all the way through both sides of the concrete but the wall was so thick she could make out nothing on the other side except for a brief flash of darkness when someone walked past it.
Well, how about hearing, then? She put her ear to the hole. That was better, the faint murmur of voices she had detected lying on the cot became slightly more clear, though only partially intelligible. There seemed to be a bit of an echo and the men were too far away from the wall to be heard clearly. Occasionally, they seemed to move closer and then she would catch a few words.
"-uplink working?"
"Yeah, we're good to go as soon as we get it."
"-work?"
"You know -wasn't my idea. I'm not happy with this meeting. We'll see. - going to feed the girl. We might as well keep her in good shape until we know how this is going to fall out."
Feed the girl. That was her. She hastily squirmed around and shoved the cot back against the wall so they wouldn't see her with her ear pressed to the hole. 'Might as well keep her in good shape-' that didn't sound encouraging in more than the short term.
She was sitting up on the cot slumped against the wall when he came in.
"Here." The man handed her a paper plate with two slices of cold pizza and a bottle of water.
She took them, her hands shaking and tried not to stare at him too obviously. It was a different man from the one last night. A black man, perhaps Teal'c's age or a little older. Ordinary casual clothes, not street chic. The sort of person she wouldn't look at twice on the street. She drank half the water first, and then attacked the pizza. God, she was hungry. Even cold it tasted good. "Sorry, it's not much." The man offered. He seemed to be aware how afraid she was. "This shouldn't be for long. "
She shuddered. "Not long because you're going to let me go, or not long .." She wasn't sure she really wanted to hear the answer.
The man looked at her with a hint of compassion. "When we get what we want, we'll let you go."
"What do you want?" She asked.
"Finished with that?" The man took the bottle and the plate out of the room, leaving the door open. He was back a moment later. "Do you need to use the toilet?"
She nodded. "Yes, please."
He called in another man to stand there with a gun while he unlocked the cuff. She wondered about running, but the cold watchful gazes and ready weapons were too intimidating. Even the guy who'd been nicer to her didn't look like he would hesitate to shoot. They brought her down a short hall, with several closed doors. No windows, no sign of where they were. In the other direction she had caught a glimpse of an open space and some tables with computers. It all looked very temporary. "This way." The man with the gun prodded her. She'd caught a glimpse of another man. That made three, she thought.
The bathroom was utilitarian, without windows. When she tried to close the door, her escort said, "No."
"What?" She didn't understand.
"Door stays open. Five minutes." When she looked ready to argue, gun or no gun, his eyes narrowed. "Unless you'd rather we come in with you?"
She went in and left the door open, grateful that at least it half hid the toilet, her face burning. There would hardly have been room for more people in the bathroom, the room contained only a toilet, sink and wastebasket. She wouldn't have believed that something as little as not being allowed privacy in the bathroom could bother her so much. She finished as quickly as possible and washed her hands, splashed some water on her face. She felt grimy, but didn't think a shower was going to happen. She shivered. Possibly she'd never get another shower. What did they want? Her captors hadn't answered any of her questions. 'This isn't about me, it's about Teal'c. They want something from him. They took me to make him give it to them'
She patted her face dry with the towel and looked at her reflection. Almost normal, she didn't even have dark circles underneath her eyes after the long sleep. She exited the rest room, and was swiftly and efficiently locked up again. She waited several long minutes to be sure they weren't coming back before she pulled the cot away from the wall. There seemed to be nothing that she could do, but she couldn't bear the suspense of waiting to find out what they were going to do with her. Perhaps listening would give her a clue.
Several more hours went by, and Krista heard nothing more than snatches and occasional footsteps. Twice she restored the cot to its former position, thinking her captors were coming back in, but they never did. At last the voices became clearer.
"He's what?! Is he crazy?"
"-said he didn't have it." The person he was speaking to was probably turned away from her, she thought. That was why the man facing the tiny hole in the wall sounded clearer.
"That's no reason to bring him here. It's insanely risky." Bring 'him' here? Were they talking about Teal'c? Her eyes widened and she felt a sudden surge of hope.
"Why? Sees anything- can just kill him." Krista crammed a fist in her mouth. No, please. She wondered why she was hoping Teal'c was coming. He was just one man. All these men with guns would kill him.
The other voice was responding, "Haven't you read the profile? There're at least three reasons we can't kill him. First, he's too important. Nobody has his skills, we can't afford to lose him. Second, his team would go berserk. There would be no place far enough, no hole deep enough to hide us. O'Neill would see to that."
The other man sounded impatient. "So we don't kill him, we just bend him a little, and then take off."
Now the other one sounded disgusted. "You really haven't read any of his files, have you? Wouldn't work. He's been tortured before. We'd need time to break him, and I'm not sure it would work even then, unless we were prepared to do permanent damage. And we wouldn't have time. We may not have a day. I refer you to reason two that I just mentioned. And believe me, taking off is definitely part of the plan whether we succeed or fail."
"Ah. So what was reason three?"
There was a brief pause. "Well, we're not actually sure that he can be killed anymore." Krista frowned. Had she heard that right? It didn't make any sense. She strained to hear more.
The other voice sounded equally dubious. "He can't be killed?"
"Read the file, all of it. The last time he got killed, he- well, we really don't know, and neither does anyone else. Just say, it didn't work." Krista was baffled. They seemed to have left James Bond territory and taken a hard left into the X-Files. Why on earth would they think Teal'c couldn't be killed? And they had talked about him getting killed but it 'didn't work'? That made no sense. Why not just say that they tried to kill him and failed?
There was a brief pause. "They're on the way in. Check the outside cameras and make sure that everything is ready so we can just split and run once we get what we need. I'm not willing to bet on us having a lot of time here." Krista decided that she'd better stop eavesdropping. If Teal'c was coming, they might want to bring her out to show him and she was having an increasingly bad feeling that she wouldn't want to be caught listening. It was only ten or fifteen minutes before they came in and unlocked her from the pipe again, this time handcuffing her hands in front of her.
They turned her toward the open room and pulled her forward. The space was filled with tables and fancy looking computer gear. She was looking around for Teal'c when she realized that she recognized the man seated in front of the table. "D-Daniel?" she stammered in surprise. She couldn't seem to stop trembling. Whatever was going to happen was happening now, and she suddenly wished she could be locked back in the dark room until it was all over. As they pushed her forward to a chair beside him, she realized that Daniel was also handcuffed, though he didn't look especially scared. More like pissed off.
"What's happening? Who are these people?" She asked him pleadingly. They escorted her to a chair in front of the table full of computer hardware.
Daniel sounded calm and reassuring. "It's going to be okay," he told her.
The black man was holding out a clipboard to Daniel and one of the others said, "The symbols. Now. Or we kill the girl." His voice oozed satisfaction, like he was enjoying this.
Krista looked frantically from the other guy to Daniel. They were using her to threaten *him*? A guy she'd only met once? He was saying calmly, "She's got nothing to do with this.
The black man dropped the clipboard and said, "Look, Dr. Jackson. If it had been up to me, things never would have gone this far. It was supposed to be a simple surveillance operation." He glared at the man behind Krista, the one who had sounded like a Bond villain as he threatened her life. "But then this little domestic dispute happened, Teal'c got involved. We knew you weren't going to help us voluntarily."
"So you decided to try a little blackmail instead." Daniel Jackson sounded very pissed and not afraid at all. 'Well, he shouldn't be, no one wants to kill *him*.'
"Let's just say one thing led to another." Krista caught Jackson's quick flickering glance sideways, tallying up the four, no five, bad guys. And the two of them unarmed and in handcuffs. Yeah, they were so outnumbered. "But in any case-" Oh, no. The black guy was pulling out a gun. "It's too late for all that now. So either you give us what we want-" He leveled the gun at Krista and pulled back the hammer. She shrank back in her chair. "-or I will kill her." He didn't seem to enjoy it the way the other guy did, but she didn't doubt his sincerity for a moment.
Daniel looked consideringly at her. She stared back, feeling her lips tremble, wondering what he was looking for. Wondering what she could say to make him understand she wanted to live. Her mouth was so dry she couldn't have said a word if she wanted to. Then he looked back to the man with the gun with a grim expression and held out his bound hands for the clipboard. The black guy instantly lowered the gun, and she remembered to breathe with a gasp. Daniel took the clipboard and pen awkwardly.
The black man pointed the gun back toward Krista and she held her breath again. "Oh and by the way? We'll know immediately if the symbols are incorrect."
She didn't see his expression because she couldn't take her eyes off the gun, but Daniel started to write something on the board, slowly, and with occasional scratching out. She glanced sideways and blinked. They were indeed symbols, like nothing she had ever seen before. And he wasn't translating them into English. He was drawing in a different set of symbols below them, something that looked vaguely like Egyptian hieroglyphs.
"Faster, Doctor," the black man said. "We know you're the expert in this."
Daniel looked up and glared at him. "Given that it's such a small fragment *and* I don't have any context for it, it's going to be a miracle if I get it right anyway, let alone if I'm rushed." They locked gazes for a moment and then the man's eyes widened.
"And stop stalling." The gun moved back to Krista, and Daniel gave her a quick glance before his pen started moving again. The black man looked around at the others. The Bond villain guy leveled a gun at them as well, and the other two started moving around, doing things with equipment.
Finally Daniel finished and slapped the pen down on the clipboard. Black guy nodded to one of his henchmen and the other man took it from Daniel and put it on a scanner.
The woman sitting behind the computer spoke for the first time. "Scanning. Transmitting symbols." There was a brief pause. " Translation confirmed." Krista breathed a sigh of relief, but Daniel looked unhappy.
"Good." The black guy was gesturing with the gun. "Get up." They were dragged to their feet.
"Outside cameras show an assault force incoming." The woman sang out.
"Over there. Face the wall." They were shoved impatiently toward the wall. Krista stumbled. Rescue was coming, but it was going to be too late.
"I gave you what you want." Daniel insisted. He had turned with his back to the wall, and was trying to make eye contact.
"I said face the wall." The men were pointing guns at them and all Krista could think of was an execution scene in a mob movie.
"Look, you don't have to do this." That was the first time she'd heard any stress at all in his voice.
Krista couldn't understand how Daniel could stay so calm, as if this happened to him every day. She suppressed a hysterical giggle, remembered black guy's comment about torture. May be this did happen to Daniel all the time. "Daniel?" Her voice sounded unnatural even to her, shaking and an octave higher than normal.
He was turning to face the wall like her. "It's going to be okay, " he whispered. Still with the calm. Then the world went white- pain like nothing she'd ever felt before, like every nerve in her body was suddenly on fire.
#
The pain was still there when she woke up, barely lessened. There was a man she didn't know standing over her. He had a round friendly face and a concerned expression. "Miss James, are you all right?" He asked.
She didn't think so. She hurt all over and her limbs were trembling and spasming. She couldn't seem to get her breath.
"S-silly question." She heard a voice beside her, and turned her head to see Daniel, looking about the same way she felt. Or possibly a little better, since he was talking. "They- stunned us. She feels like crap, but unless she damaged anything falling down, she's fine." He had managed to scoot himself to sit against the wall. The cuffs he still wore were jingling with the tremors in his arms. There was a man dressed all in black standing beside him.
She managed to find her voice. "Ow. I never thought a taser would feel like that." The man in black was carrying a gun slung over his shoulder, she saw, and looked rather like a SWAT guy from TV, except it didn't say SWAT on his vest. Or anything, for that matter. He came and checked her head, arms and legs and didn't seem to find anything to worry about. "What happened? Did you guys rescue us?" She looked around, but if they had arrested any of the men that had been holding them, she didn't see them.
The man looked at Daniel before he replied, but said, "Unfortunately no. They were gone when we got here. You wouldn't have any idea where they went?"
She shook her head, and Daniel said, "Sorry, not a clue." His hands seemed to have stopped shaking, and Krista wished she knew how he did it, because she still felt like every muscle in her body had been pounded out flat. He jingled the cuffs at the man in black. "Major, can you get these off me?"
The Major replied, "Sorry, sir, we're looking for the keys now." He rose and joined the searchers.
Krista looked around the room. It seemed to be filled with men clad in black, searching the place, shooting video of it and dusting for fingerprints. Aside from the man standing beside her, the only other of their rescuers dressed in casual clothes was a tall blond woman. Krista looked from one to the other thinking they both looked like police officers. When she saw them looking over at her, the woman came toward them, pulling out a cell phone. When she got in talking range, she asked Daniel curtly, "You okay?" Krista had opened her mouth to reply, but shut it again, since the woman was pretty much ignoring her.
Daniel replied, "I'm fine."
She was punching the buttons on the phone and raising it to her ear even as he spoke. There was virtually no delay before she was talking into the phone. "We found them, sir....yes. Okay." She looked down at Daniel. "He wants to talk to you." Krista wondered who she was talking to.
Daniel didn't seem to be in any doubt. He grimaced and took the phone. "Jack...yeah, Krista and I are both fine.... No, really, not a scratch." Then he winced and held the phone several inches from his ear and just listened for a minute. Finally he put it back to his ear, and said in a normal conversational tone. "Right. See you later." He shut the phone and handed it back to the blond woman. "He says he's going to kill me."
She smiled tightly at him. "You'd better hope he takes his time. I get whatever's left."
He said, "I'm sorry, Sam," and gave her an apologetic look.
She didn't seem mollified and her voice dropped to low tone that wouldn't carry to the center of the room. "Damn it, Daniel. You *know* better than this. What were you thinking?"
He ducked his head in an abashed gesture. "Later, Sam." She shook her head and moved away to speak to another one of the men in black. The two men still with Daniel and Krista helped them to stand up and brought them back to the chairs on in front of the computers where they sat down. "Anyone found those keys, yet?" Daniel asked plaintively.
"Sorry, sir." One of the men said. "We'll have those off you shortly." Daniel grimaced.
Krista asked, "Why is she mad at you?"
Daniel glanced at her quickly and raised his eyebrows. "Oh, she thinks I.. well, it's kind of complicated. She was worried is the simplest way to put it."
Krista blinked, "She's a friend of yours?" If she was his girlfriend, Krista could understand why she'd been worried but couldn't quite work out why she was mad. She dismissed the thought. "Who were those guys?"
Daniel looked at her steadily. "I'm not really sure."
"Oh c'mon!" It was nearly a wail. "They wanted you to do something for them. You have to know.."
Daniel sighed, "Well, I could make a guess. But I'm afraid I can't tell you. Classified government stuff."
She gasped. "You really are spies."
He looked startled and laughed. "No.. look, I just can't talk about it."
She frowned. "They were watching Teal'c...oh, god. Where is Teal'c?"
Daniel said, "Well, he's in a little trouble."
Krista looked at him dumbly.
"Can you tell me what happened with your boyfriend, Krista?" He asked.
Krista was surprised. She had hardly thought of the act that had sent her away from her apartment hours ago. She felt a wave of fear. She killed him. The police... she looked into Daniel's blue eyes full of sympathy and kindness. He'd saved her life. She could trust this man with anything. "He.. tried to punch me. And I blocked it and hit him the way Teal'c showed me." She looked down at her hands. "I killed him, I guess. And I panicked." Suddenly she realized why he was asking. "Oh, no. You don't think Teal'c had anything to do with that? I- he didn't even know. I told him that my boyfriend and I had a fight and I wasn't going to see him again and asked him to take me away- driving, just to get away from the building...he was just being kind. He didn't know. Honest."
Daniel smiled at her. "I know, Krista. He told me. But the police weren't so sure, especially after the bad guys-" He gestured around at the piles of abandoned equipment-"whisked you away. You're going to need to tell them what happened, you know."
Krista gulped and said in a very small voice, "They arrested him?"
"Sort of." Daniel told her. "He's in the custody of the government right now. These guys-" He nodded to the men in black swarming over the building.
She looked around in surprise. "Oh. I didn't think 'Major' was a police rank."
"That's right." Daniel said. "What happened at the motel, Krista?"
"I went out- I was going to go to the courtyard, but those guys were right outside the door. " She looked down at her shoulder, where she remembered being stung, and wasn't surprised to find a bruise there. "They drugged me, I think. I never had any time to scream or anything."
"And after that?"
"I woke up here." She nodded down the hall. "In a room down there. Handcuffed to a pipe. They didn't do anything to me- mostly left me alone."
His voice was warm and reassuring. "That must have been pretty scary." She nodded and he went on. "Did they say anything about who they were, or why they wanted you?"
She shook her head. "I did overhear something though. I don't think they knew- there was a little hole in the wall of the room, and I pressed my ear to it."
"What was that?"
"They were talking about you, or at least I think they were. I thought they meant Teal'c when I heard them, but they were talking about bringing someone in, and that was you so-"
"What did they say?"
"Um, something about bringing you here was a bad idea. I think that was the black guy. Then the other guy said that if you saw anything they could just kill you, but the first man told him there were three reasons they couldn't do that." She paused and tried to remember exactly what they had said. "They said first that you were too important, you had skills that no one else did." She looked at him cautiously, but could only read polite curiosity in his gaze.
"Go on."
"Ah, the second reason was that somebody- O'Neill?- would go crazy. Something about no place being far enough away for them to hide if they killed you. That was when they other guy suggested just torturing you instead but the first one said that wouldn't work either, there wasn't time." Daniel didn't comment, and she continued. "And the last one was really bizarre, he said he wasn't sure they could kill you. Something about you being killed before but it didn't work."
"That does sound pretty strange." Daniel said. "Are you sure you didn't mishear them?"
She said uncertainly. "I don't know. I suppose I must have. You don't know what they meant?"
He said, "No idea. Did they say anything more?"
"Just that you were almost here, and they should check the outside cameras and get ready to split quickly. He seemed to think that there once you got here the cops wouldn't be far behind. " She looked around at the swarm of people, then back at Daniel. "Guess he was right."
One of the men finally came over and released them from the handcuffs as well as offering them some water, which Daniel refused, but Krista took gratefully.
She looked over at Daniel, who was pinching the bridge of his nose as though his head hurt. "Thank you."
Daniel smiled wryly. "Thank them. I didn't really do anything."
She couldn't believe he said that. "They were going to shoot me. If you didn't tell them what they wanted. And you did."
Daniel shrugged. "Teal'c would have been very upset if I'd let you get killed."
The major who had spoken to them before called over to him, "Dr. Jackson. Come see this."
Daniel got to his feet a bit painfully and walked toward the table of equipment. Krista got up more slowly and followed him. No one seemed to pay her any attention. Several people were standing around looking at a video camera. The Major said, "This is the only thing we can see that they left. Everything else was wiped clean."
Looking into the camera's tiny screen, Krista could see that it was an outdoor shot of the window of a building. With a shock she realized that it was the window of her own apartment. She could see Doug raise his hand to punch her, and her own defense. He fell, and the pictured Krista stood there, hands covering her mouth in horror, staring down until she whirled around and fled. The tape stopped there, picture dissolving into snow.
Daniel had his hand under Krista's elbow, and the other man in civilian clothes was standing at her other side looking ready to catch her if she passed out. Vaguely, she wondered what color she had just turned. "Krista. You okay?" Daniel asked. She nodded, swallowing hard.
The blond woman said, "Why would they take everything else but leave this?"
Daniel replied. "Keeping up their end of the bargain. " She gave him a sharp look and he said again. "Later, Sam." He turned to the other man, one in casual clothes. "You here officially, Pete?"
The other man nodded. "Detached to help you guys, yeah."
Daniel exchanged a long glance with Sam and she said, "Why don't we make a copy of this tape, and then let you take Krista back to your headquarters and get her statement on the murder." She turned to Krista. "I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you not to tell anybody - not the police or anyone else- about what happened here. It's part of a classified investigation. If anyone asks- refer them to us. As far as they're concerned, you left Teal'c at the motel and went for a walk and got lost or something."
Krista looked at the ring of serious faces around her. "Does that mean those guys are going to get away with kidnapping Daniel and me?"
"Not at all." Daniel assured her. "In fact, I give you my word that when we catch them, they will be charged with kidnapping you along with all their other crimes. It's just that it would help us a lot in terms of catching them if the investigation was not public right now." He looked at Sam. "In fact, we might want to get Krista's account of what happened here on tape now, while it's fresh in her mind."
She nodded and turned to one of the men in black. "Okay, set it up."
He said, "Right away, Colonel," and called over one of the men with handheld cameras. He put in a fresh tape and pointed the camera at her.
Krista looked nervously at the lens, and Daniel smiled at her. "Don't worry about the camera. Just look toward me and answer the questions." He gave her name, the date and asked Krista if she understood they were being recorded.
She nodded. "Yes."
Then he walked her through the story again with calm, neutrally phrased questions, and she gained confidence, telling them about Doug and what she had done. "And then I waited for Teal'c and asked him to take me away-"
Daniel broke in for the first time. "Krista, did you tell Teal'c about killing Doug?"
She shook her head, "Oh, no. He's so- straight. He would have insisted on calling the police right away."
"Did you give Teal'c any reason to suspect, at any time, that anything illegal had happened?" Daniel asked.
She said. "No, I sort of implied that we'd had another fight and I had thrown Doug out and broken up with him for good, and that was why I was upset. When we saw the car following us, I thought it might be the police-"
Daniel interrupted again, "But you didn't tell Teal'c that?"
"No, I didn't." She looked at him wide-eyed.
Daniel said to Pete, "Pete, would you mind taking a walk for a few minutes?"
Pete looked from him to the blond woman, who nodded. He said, "Sure." He didn't look especially happy.
Daniel watched him out the door, then turned back to Krista. "Okay, Krista, go on. Tell us about the car that followed you."
Krista continued, watching faces curiously. The men in black were impassive, Daniel's expression was bland and unrevealing. The blond woman, Sam, listened seriously, though her lips twitched with amusement when she got to the part about no place being far enough to hide if they hurt Daniel.
When she finished, Sam said. "Okay, dupe the tape up to the end of the part about the murder for the police." One of the men in black nodded and she walked off in the direction that Pete had gone.
As they finished with the tapes, Pete came back. He seemed to be over his irritation at being asked to leave, and smiled at her. "Hi, I don't think we were formally introduced. Detective Shanahan, Colorado Springs PD." He put out a hand.
She smiled and shook it. "I was beginning to wonder if there were any normal police here. Everyone here seems to be military. Even her- " She nodded at the blond woman, Sam, whom the men had called "Colonel".
Pete looked over at Sam with an expression that made her wonder about the relationship between this Shanahan, the colonel and Daniel. She decided that there was no possible polite way to ask, and it certainly wasn't any of her business. In fact she had enough to worry about. "How much trouble am I in?"
Shanahan seemed sympathetic. "Some, but this tape should get you pretty much off the hook. I doubt the DA will even want to charge you once they've seen this. And if they do, the government will get you a decent lawyer, that's part of the deal for keeping quiet- officially he'd be working pro bono, but actually they'd arrange it. But it's unlikely to come to trial."
"Oh." Krista supposed she should be relieved but all she could think about when she remembered that day- was it only yesterday? -all she could think of was the crunch when she hit Doug, and the little wheeze he gave as he stopped breathing.
#
At the police station, Shanahan loaded both tapes and the captain, the other two detectives and the DA viewed them. "Where did you get these?"
Shanahan looked at the captain. "The feds turned them over, sir."
The man swore. "So they were holding out on us?"
"No, sir." Shanahan said. "I-" he stopped. "They did not have this information until today," he said carefully.
Krista looked uncertainly at Shanahan. The captain continued. "I'm not really thrilled with this playing on both sides of the street, Shanahan. The ink on your transfer here was barely dry and we're being asked to loan you out to the feds. This going to happen often?"
"Sir. I doubt it." Shanahan sounded conciliatory. "They asked for me because I, um, had some prior experience that got me limited security clearance. As a result, we have Ms. James, who has come in voluntarily to make a statement. We have video of the crime in progress. Sir, we'll be able to close this in record time. That can only be good for everyone."
The man still looked kind of pissed off. Krista hoped that Pete wasn't going to get into a lot of trouble over this.
When Krista had finished making her statement, the detective asked her about leaving the motel.
"I just wanted some air," she said.
"And then?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. They asked me not to talk about it." She wanted to look at Shanahan, but thought perhaps she should try not to bring more trouble on anyone. He wasn't on the same page though.
"What happened after that is part of an ongoing federal investigation. Classified. Or in other words, we don't need to know." Shanahan told them.
The detectives scowled at him. "And you're okay with that?"
"Fuck, no." Krista was startled at the strength of this objection. "But I've seen enough of these people to know that we don't want to screw with them. Not the feds, and not the guys they're after. Sticking our oar in is likely to get people killed. Starting with us." His tone was deadly serious. "No shit, guys. I'm not keen on them stomping all over our turf, but there are some situations we just aren't equipped for." He stopped abruptly.
The other two cops were staring at him like he'd grown a second head, but seemed somewhat impressed with his vehemence. "Okay, Shanahan." The captain said. "We'll let it go this time."
Pete walked Krista to the door. "Your apartment is still a crime scene, you know." He told her. "Do you have somewhere else to stay tonight?"
She nodded. "I can go to my friend Sue's place." She looked at the detective. "Um, you've been really kind. Thank you."
Pete Shanahan shrugged. "No problem."
She said, "What you said in there. You really don't know what was going on?"
He smiled faintly. "No, not really."
"But you must have some ideas?" Krista persisted.
His expression turned serious. "Krista. I wasn't kidding about not wanting to screw with this. You don't need to know. You don't want to. It wasn't about you. Walk away and forget about it. Because prying is going to get you at best into a heap of trouble. At worst it could get you killed."
She stared at him. "How can I pretend it never happened?"
"Go stay with your friend Sue." He said gently. "Tomorrow you can get back into your apartment. Get up and go to work in the morning, hang out with your friends in the evening, go to sleep. Get on with your life. Pretty soon it will start to seem like a crazy dream. Let it."
She stared at him, uncertain. "I don't.. I can't just let it go. If for no other reason than I messed up. I messed up totally, and my friend Teal'c almost went to jail."
Pete smiled. "Then remember that you need to take responsibility for the things you do, and let the rest go."
She nodded unwillingly. "I'll try."
#
She told Sue about Doug and about Teal'c being arrested, but none of the rest. She slept badly that night, waking up over and over seeing the expression of fear in Doug's eyes as he collapsed. Remembering the fear she had felt herself looking into the barrel of that gun, wanting nothing more than to live. She killed Doug. How was she supposed to live with that? How was she supposed to deal with the guilt? She dawdled in Sue's kitchen the next morning, before finally screwing up the nerve to go back to the apartment. When she arrived, she found Teal'c loading boxes into his SUV.
"Hey." She didn't know what to say to him.
He nodded with his usual half smile. At least he didn't seem to be mad.
"So, you're really leaving," she said.
"Indeed I am." His tone was calm and friendly. Normal.
Krista swallowed. And here was something else to feel guilty over. She never meant to drive him away. "You know you don't have to do this. The whole thing was my fault."
"There is no reason for you to blame yourself." Teal'c said.
She wasn't so sure. She blamed herself. She was starting to wish that someone did blame her. She felt like she deserved to be punished for something. "The men in the warehouse? I didn't know who they were. No one told me anything. But I know they were using me to get to you."
"If it had not been you, it would have been someone else. They would not hesitate to exploit any relationship to their advantage." Teal'c said.
There was something wrong about that, but she couldn't pinpoint it. "What did they want?" she asked. Like he was going to tell her.
"That I cannot say."
"Right." She scuffed her shoe uncomfortably. "So, where are you going to go?"
"Back to where I came from," he said.
Her eyes widened. "What does that mean?" Surely he wasn't being deported?
If he was, he seemed to have no plans to tell her. "It means I must say goodbye."
The kid who was helping him brought down his mangy all-but-dead fern. "This is all that was left."
Teal'c accepted it with a smile. The kid picked up his skateboard from the sidewalk and showed off the copy he had painted of Teal'c's gold tattoo on the underside. "Check it out."
"I am honored." Teal'c assured him.
The boy said, "Later, T," and then looked stricken as he realized that he wouldn't be seeing Teal'c again.
Teal'c put the fern in the back of the SUV and shut the hatch.
He turned and exchanged a long glance with Krista. She suddenly realized what was wrong with the earlier statement. They hadn't exploited her to get to Teal'c. They had framed Teal'c for murder, exploited Teal'c's relationship with her to get to Daniel. That was why he had to leave. He didn't want to be used against his friends that way. She felt a slight lightening in her heart. At least it wasn't her he was trying to get away from. She raised her head and Teal'c smiled slightly before he put a hand on Eric's shoulder in farewell. Then he got in the car and drove away.
Krista and Eric drew together to watch him leave. Krista felt about a hundred years older than she had two days before. Teal'c had thought she was worth teaching, worthy of his friendship. She still wasn't so sure, herself, but may be if she took responsibility, stood up for herself. Perhaps she could be.
*end