The Rescue December 12, 2001 A stand alone chapter of the Novel Daniel ran his hands over Jack's body, searching for concealed weapons of any kind. Jack moaned low in his throat, feeling those long fingers caressing him through his clothes. He unconsciously thrust his hips back against the man behind him. Daniel laughed huskily, scratching his nails down Jack's cotton clad back. "Why Jack O'Neill, I do believe you're enjoying this," he purred. "You're such a slut." He pinched Jack's ass as he said this. Jack gasped and moved his hips again. "Only you have this effect on me," he panted out, unable to deny the effect the other man's touches were having on him. Daniel snaked a hand around to cup Jack's bulging erection. Jack's legs automatically slid further apart, allowing the touch. Daniel's other hand kneaded Jack's butt hard. Jack moaned again, head tipping back as he enjoyed the sensations the younger man was arousing in him. "Enough of that," a voice barked out. "Is he carrying anything or not?" Daniel stepped away from Jack slowly, lazily and turned to the third figure in the room. Jack moaned at the loss of the other man's touch and the warmth of the body that had pressed against him. "No, he's clean," he replied in a drawl. Jack trembled at the tone in Daniel's voice. It was not something he had heard from the younger man before. He was still breathing hard as he tried to recover from Daniel's touches and the effect they had undeniably had on his body, despite the situation they were in. "Good," the stranger nodded, "bring him along then." He gestured towards the far corner of the warehouse impatiently. Daniel took one of Jack's arms by the elbow and led him forward. Jack was still blindfolded and had to trust to Daniel to guide him safely. He was fighting his instincts hard, wishing he could see Daniel, wondering if he could still trust him. The other man's face was so expressive, his emotions clearly visible in his blue eyes. Not being able to see them put Jack at a distinct disadvantage. Daniel led Jack deeper into the warehouse, keeping a tight grip on his arm the whole time. Jack could feel the warmth of his hand burning through his shirt to brand his bicep where Daniel was touching him, keeping Jack in a low-key state of arousal the whole time, despite the edge of fear he also felt. After a few minutes, they stopped again. This time, the blindfold was removed from Jack's eyes and he stood blinking against the light, dim as it was as he looked around, automatically threat-assessing the situation. Daniel stood a few inches away, a Zat gun held steadily in his hand, pointing directly at Jack's heart. Another spike of arousal-tinged fear burned through Jack at the sight. There was a knowing smirk on Daniel's face as he intently watched the emotions play across Jack's face. Jack guessed his lover knew exactly what effect he was having on Jack as he stood there, close enough for Jack to feel the other man's breath on his skin and smell his unique Daniel-scent. A few feet beyond Daniel, two other men stood watching over them. Neither had guns on show, but Jack could guess with a high level of certainty that they carried them anyway. Both had the look of men who could handle themselves in a fight, whether it was physical or a shoot-out. Jack guessed they were Forces of some sort, probably ex-Marines from the size and shape of them. Beyond them, almost hidden in the shadows, was another man. Jack assumed he must be the leader, the one who had been present whilst Daniel had searched Jack a few moments ago. Presumably, he was the brains of the outfit. Jack's eyes returned to Daniel, disturbed by how aroused he still felt by the situation. He remembered Daniel telling him about the dream Shifu had given him, and how Jack had tried to shoot Daniel in that dream. Daniel had admitted that he had found the power play between the two of them erotic, even with the gun involved. They had talked about it and Daniel had admitted to having a kink about bondage. However, the one time they had tried anything, Jack had had a panic attack, flashing back to his time in Iraq. He had been more embarrassed than he could remember ever having been before, but Daniel had been calm and understanding. He had apologised to Jack for not having realised something like this might happen and promised they need never try anything like it again. And they hadn't. It had never been mentioned by either man ever again, although Jack did think about it on occasion and felt guilty for not being able to indulge that aspect of Daniel's pleasure in sex. The growing silence was suddenly snapped by a voice, dragging Jack from his thoughts of the past back to his present, precarious situation. He was unsure what was supposed to play out here and what part Daniel would be taking in proceedings. He felt a need to resolve things as quickly as possible so that he could work on rescuing Cassie and getting the hell out. "Now that you're finally here, Colonel O'Neill," it was the voice of the leader, the one who had been in the warehouse whilst Daniel had been "searching" Jack for weapons earlier, "I need to know if you will co-operate with us. Doctor Jackson tells me that having given your word you will behave and submitted to us, I can trust you. Is that the case?" Jack peered intently through the shadows, but could still make out nothing of the man's features in the all-pervasive gloom. "Forgive me for not shaking hands," he said sardonically, not immediately replying to the question. He raised his still-bound hands in front of him. "We will be able to remedy that for you as soon as we have an assurance of good behaviour," the man said. Jack shook his head. The guy was speaking in clichés, for crying out loud! Did bad guys have some sort of manual with this stuff in that they got given during their training or something? "I keep my word," was all he said. A nice, bland, remark, which his listeners could take any way they chose. "In that case, perhaps you would be so good as to untie the Colonel, Dr Jackson?" the guy gestured between the two of them. Jack breathed a small sigh of mixed relief and regret. Having Daniel be the one to untie him made Jack's next move simultaneously both harder and easier. Daniel would be easier to take down than one of the muscle men, but it would be hard for Jack to forgive himself for hurting his lover. As soon as Jack's hands were free, he moved into action, punching Daniel hard on the jaw and murmuring an apology as he did so. He lowered Daniel to the floor, taking the time to pull the Zat gun from the waistband of his pants, where Daniel had tucked it to allow him to free Jack's hands. As soon as Daniel was clear of his line of fire, Jack was bringing up the Zat gun, activating it and firing at the other men in one smooth, practised move. All three of them were writhing on the floor within seconds, without having had a chance to even pull their own weapons free. Jack immediately hurried over to the three men, using their own belts to secure their hands behind their backs. He had first removed the jacket from one of the men, and tore strips from it to gag them as well. All three were throwing him murderous looks, but were as yet incapable of speech, being unused to the effects of a Zat blast. As he finished his handiwork, Jack wondered about tying their feet too. He glanced quickly around the warehouse and finally spotted a coil of wire. It proved to be long enough to allow him to tied each man's feet together and also left them fastened to each other as Jack didn't have his pen knife with him to allow him to cut lengths off the wire. As he finished his task, a groan behind him alerted him to the fact that Daniel was recovering from the punch Jack had given him. He turned and went to kneel at Daniel's side, waiting for his eyes to come into focus. Once he was sure Daniel was aware enough to understand what Jack was saying, he said clearly "I'm sorry I had to hit you, Daniel." Daniel felt his jaw carefully, knowing he was going to have a hell of a bruise there within a few hours. "S'okay, Jack, I understand," he said. He held out a hand to Jack and they helped each other upright again. Jack handed one of the guns he had taken from his former captors to Daniel, along with all the ammunition they had carried. He kept the Zat gun for himself. The other two guns, Jack threw into a distant corner of the warehouse, where they landed with a metallic clang. He was sure the three men could not free themselves or reach the now-useless guns, regardless of whether or not they could reach them. "Ready to go?" Jack asked Daniel, who was looking at the three men trussed like turkeys at Thanksgiving with something of a wide-eyed stare. He turned to look at Jack, laughter plain in his expression. "Remind me never to get on your wrong side, Jack," was all he said, shaking his head in amusement as he moved across the warehouse to a door half-hidden behind a pile of boxes. Once they reached the door, both men paused. "Cassie's in a room through here," he said. "I think it used to be an office. There will be a couple of men outside, I think." Jack nodded understanding. "What else is on the other side of the door?" he asked. "It's a narrow passage, with offices either side of it. Cassie's room is at the far end of the corridor, but there's no cover once we go through," Daniel explained. "In that case, you go first to get their attention and I'll come up behind you and Zat them," Jack said. "I'll give you a count of fifteen, then come through the door. As soon as I call out, hit the deck and I'll shoot." It was Daniel's turn to nod understandingly. He opened the door and stepped through. As it swung closed behind him, Jack had a brief, clear view of the corridor beyond and the room with the guards outside. It was all he needed to show him his plan should work well enough. Having reached fifteen in his head, Jack pulled the door open and came through it quickly, calling Daniel's name as he did so. He watched, seemingly in slow motion as his lover dropped hard to the floor, leaving Jack a clear line of fire. The two men looked up in surprise. They were so close together, it only took Jack one shot to take them both down. As he moved down the corridor, Daniel was already reaching to unbuckle the first man's belt, again giving them an instant method of securing the guards' hands. When Jack reached him, he dropped one hand on Daniel's shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze, then knelt beside him to assist in securing their latest prisoners. Daniel pulled a key card from one guard's shirt pocket, showing it to Jack, who nodded at him to use it. Seconds later, he heard Cassie's joyful cry of "Daniel!" He smiled to himself. One up for the good guys this time. He joined Daniel and Cassie in the bleak, barren little room, which contained a chair and table but nothing else. He frowned, not liking the idea that Cassie hadn't even rated a bed. "Jack!" the excited cry from the teen distracted his thoughts and he was engulfed in an exuberant hug. He returned it just as enthusiastically, noticing as he did so that Cassie had lost weight and looked pale and dirty, even in the dim light of the room. He carefully eased free of the hug, but still held on to the girl as she seemed reluctant to let him go. "Ready to blow this joint?" he asked her, keeping his tone light and cheerful. "More than," she nodded vigorously in agreement, finally letting her hands drop to her sides. "Is mom here?" "'Fraid not love," Jack said. "But you'll be back with her in no time." Cassie nodded, her face falling slightly. "Is she mad at me?" she asked fearfully. "No, just worried as anything," Daniel said reassuringly, putting an arm around her shoulders as they followed Jack from the miserable little room. They wasted no time in looking at the guards as they left. People tied up by Jack tended to stay that way unless helped by someone else. Once outside the warehouse, Jack took out his cell phone to call the SGC for help. He talked for a few minutes, watching Cassie and Daniel talking out of the corner of one eye, keeping an ear out for sounds of trouble at the same time. Finally, closing the phone, he moved back over to the other two. "Cavalry's on it's way," he told them. "How long?" Daniel asked. "They're sending some people from MacDill, so about half an hour," Jack said. "They'll take those guys into custody and get us onto a plane back to Colorado as quickly as possible. Hammond is sending some of our SFs to bring the prisoners back separately to SGC for questioning." Daniel nodded understanding. "I can't wait to get home," he told Cassie, keeping half an eye on Jack as he spoke. "Me either," Cassie agreed. Jack smiled at them, chatting quietly together. Thank god this was almost over at last. Use your browser's back button to return to the Index.