Heart's Desire (41 page)

“We must hurry!” Teal'c said, and headed in the direction of the stairs Jack and Sam had come down.

“This isn't the way we came in!” Daniel protested.

“It is the way Keret went,” Teal'c said as he ran. “He did not seem inclined to wait for us.”

“We're going the right way,” Jack said. “Watch your step!” He followed Teal'c at as fast a run as he could manage. Reba seemed to have shaken off the effects of the device well enough that she could keep up with Teal'c and Daniel, but Carter dropped back, apparently intending to make sure he wasn't falling behind.

“Move!” he demanded, but he pushed himself harder, ignoring the pain that radiated from his knee with every step. His ideal world had certainly not included having a stupid injury that was slowing him down just when
—

He felt the stone shift under his feet before he saw it, and reeled backwards, throwing out his arms both for balance and to stop Carter from dashing past him. In front of him, the crack they'd jumped on their way in was quickly widening into an abyss, the other side dropping as the side he was standing on rose. The ceiling was cracking as well, showering down rocks the size of boulders.

“Jump!” he yelled to Carter, and after a bare moment's hesitation she did, flinging herself into space and landing with a scramble on the other side, Teal'c's arm going around her to steady her. Jack gritted his teeth, not sure if he could make the jump, but not seeing any other choice. If he hesitated, he'd lose any chance of making it.

He flung himself toward the other side of the chasm, aware almost at once that he was going to fall short. He threw out his hands desperately, grabbing for the rock face on the other side. The rock smacked hard against his fingers, his own weight smashing him into the rock and then swinging him out away from it, and he couldn't hold on, his fingers grating across the stone.

Then Teal'c's hand locked warm around his wrist, and he was being hauled up, getting one foot under him and then the other. Carter had him by the other arm, and he let her steady him for a moment.

“Hurry!” Daniel called from further ahead. Jack could see daylight filtering down from above, but it was at the end of a very long corridor, and parts of the roof were already collapsing, showering down stones. “I don't know how much longer
—”

“We're hurrying!” Jack yelled, and took off toward the end of the corridor. A pile of rubble blocked the way, nearly waist high, and Teal'c scrambled over it and then half-dragged Jack over it behind him. Jack wasn't in a position to argue. “Get your ass out of here!”

He ducked as another stone hit him on the shoulder, wishing for once for a helmet. Or at least for his tac vest. Teal'c hauled him over another blockade of fallen rock, his own face bloodied. Carter scrambled over it on her own, and then narrowly dodged as a huge strip of the stone facade peeled away from one wall, crashing down in front of her.

The end of the corridor was in sight. He ran for it, throwing himself at the stairs, which were now not much more than a steep slope of fallen rock and masonry. He started hauling himself up them, using his hands to take the weight off his injured leg, trusting Teal'c and Carter to get themselves up.

Near the top, the rubble began to clear, and a hand abruptly gripped his wrist, hauling him up to his feet on a clear expanse of step.

“I told you to get out of here!” Jack snapped as Daniel shoved him up the remaining stairs.

“I'm sorry, I didn't hear you because the roof was collapsing!” He sounded anything but apologetic.

“I swear to God
—” Jack began, and then realized that he was out in open air, the ruined buildings casting long shadows in the afternoon sun. He backed out of the way of the building's wall, which was now rocking alarmingly, and looked around. “Everybody out?”

“Everybody's out,” Daniel said. He was still retreating from the shaking building, and Jack did the same, scrambling even further back as the building's roof collapsed, thundering down to block the entrance to the stairs and making the ground tremble under his feet.

He managed one more step, and then sat down hard. The ground under him was finally stilling as the last stones in the building's roof settled. Jack looked around, but he couldn't see anyone heading toward them threateningly, which was nice. They could all use a moment to breathe.

Daniel was steadying Reba, although Jack wasn't sure which of them looked more shaken. Her dark hair was gray with dust. Keret was staring down at the remains of the staircase with an expression of angry disbelief, and Teal'c and Sam were brushing dust from their clothes and assessing what looked thankfully like fairly minor cuts and bruises.

“Keep your eyes open,” Jack said. “When we came down here, we had company.”

“My crew were waiting for me,” Reba said. “I expect they didn't stick around down here when the ground started shaking, though. They've got more sense than that.”

Keret rounded on her. “This is your fault! You and the blasted Tau'ri. We'll never get back to the treasure now.”

“There wasn't actually any treasure,” Sam said.

Keret shook his head with an unfriendly smile. “There might as well not be now. What were you thinking, shooting off thunderbolts down there! If you'd just waited, we could have hauled the treasure out
—”

“Sam's right,” Daniel said. “There wasn't actually any treasure. Just the Ancient device, which turned out to be really dangerous and have nothing to do with
—”

“I saw it!” Keret shouted.

Daniel glanced at Jack, who shrugged. “You explain,” Jack said. “This was your bright idea.”

“Yeah, I should probably say that I'm sorry if…” Daniel began.

“What about my treasure!”

“Deal with him,” Jack said. He turned his face up to the sunlight, feeling it warm on his face after the chill of the caverns below. “We'll debrief later.”

“I just know that
—”

“
Daniel
,” Jack said. “Later.”

“Right,” Daniel said after a moment, and turned back to Keret. “I know you may have believed you saw a treasure. I can explain that.”

“Of course you can,” Keret said.

“Sir, I think it would be better if we all moved so that we weren't standing right on top of the tunnels we just partially collapsed,” Carter said. “If we went a little further up the hill, I think we'd be on much more stable ground.”

“You had to say up,” Jack said, but he reached up a hand and let her haul him to his feet. “Let's move, people.”

“L
ook,” Daniel said once they'd worked their way far enough up the hill that Sam seemed satisfied they weren't all going to fall into a hole in the ground. “The treasure you may think you saw back there was only an illusion.”

“I saw it with my own eyes,” Keret said. “Enough precious metal that we could give up raiding forever and live like the High King. And you had to come and ruin it! Your people may be rich enough that a hoard like that is no consequence to you, but those of us who have to work for our keep
—”

“Oh, give it up,” Reba said, but her voice was ragged. “There or not, it's lost now.”

“Lost because you couldn't keep your prisoners after you ran off with them. Where's your ransom for them now?”

Reba smiled sharply. “And where's your thunderbolt, Keret? For that matter, where's your crew?”

“We had to let them go,” Jack said, leaning back against one of the tumbled slabs of masonry. “They weren't working out.”

“You probably shouldn't lean on that,” Daniel said. “Unless you want that wall to fall on your head.”

“That would be bad,” Jack said, shifting his weight, although he looked like it hurt to do it. Daniel thought about asking him if he was hurt, but decided that in Jack's present mood the best he was likely to get was
You think?

He shrugged instead. “Not to mention that this is an important archaeological site that ought to be preserved for future exploration, but given that we've already destroyed what was probably the most interesting part of it
—”

“You did not object when I proposed to fire at the Ancient device,” Teal'c said.

“I know,” Daniel said. “I'm not saying we shouldn't have. I'm just saying that we did.”

“Now you admit there was a treasure,” Keret said.

“Well, no, that's not exactly…”

“Just shut up and keep out of trouble,” Jack said. “Or do I need to zat you?” He brandished his zat in Keret's direction, looking like he would be happy for a good excuse to zat somebody.

“We probably do need him to fly the ship so we can leave,” Sam said. “Speaking of which, we might want to think about doing that.”

Jack gave her a look. “Then why did we climb up the hill instead of down? I'm assuming that's where we parked.”

“Sorry, sir, I was just thinking that we shouldn't climb over the most unstable part of the hillside, because of the danger of falling into a sinkhole and dying.” Daniel was getting the picture that everyone's tempers a little strained by this point. “I think maybe if we head that way, we can climb back down pretty safely.”

“What about her?” Jack said, jerking his head at Reba.

“We should probably bring her along,” Daniel said. “If we run into trouble getting out of here, I think she could be a useful bargaining chip in dealing with her crew.”

“We had a deal, treasure hunter,” Reba said. “You gave your word I'd get to ransom you back to your people, the ones you promised
—
endlessly and tiresomely
—
were going to pay handsomely for your return. And after all the trouble you've caused me…”

“I thought it was that if we didn't find any treasure, you were going to throw us overboard,” Daniel said. “Forgive me if I'm not eager to hold up my end of that bargain.”

“Not such a great deal,” Jack said.

Teal'c glanced in his direction. “The terms of our arrangement seem to have been extremely flexible.”

“Bring her along,” Jack said. “Let's get moving before anyone else starts poking around here or more rocks become falling rocks.”

Reba frowned, but moved out in front with Keret in response to Jack's emphatic gesturing with his zat. She looked like she was considering making a break for the ridge, but since it would have involved more sprinting than climbing, he wasn't surprised when she seemed to decide against it.

Of course, she was probably planning to hijack Keret's ship once they got aboard it. Daniel was pretty sure that Jack and Sam were aware of that, though, so he let them take care of covering both Reba and Keret as they hiked, hanging back with Teal'c to take up the rear.

“I'm sorry,” he said in a low voice. “I screwed up, and I think we all know it.”

Teal'c shook his head. “You could not have predicted that the effects of the device would render us unaware of our surroundings even when they became hazardous.”

“Or that it would be so tempting to stay unaware. It felt like… getting everything I've ever wanted.” Daniel shook his head. “I'm actually not sure what it says about me that I was willing to give that up for anything. I would have said I'd do pretty much anything to be with Sha're again.”

“You prefer the truth, however painful, to illusion,” Teal'c said. “That is hardly a thing to be ashamed of.”

“I know you do, too,” Daniel said. “I can only imagine how hard it must have been to give up your belief in the Goa'uld as gods, when the reality is so… well, so awful. And whatever you saw, which, I'm not asking, I'm just saying…” He glanced over at Teal'c. “I guess I just want you to know that I've always respected that about you.”

Teal'c inclined his head. “As I respect you, Daniel Jackson.”

“The story I told Reba…”