Page 53 of Yankee in the Wind

She tried to turn the helmet, so she could figure out how it was attached, and had to realize that the helmet was part of the gurney, and she couldn’t see any clasps or anything else to figure out how to open it so she could free Tiger from it.

Fuck!

Maybe if she took all the other restraints off him first, she would be able to move him sufficiently to find an opening mechanism. Quickly, she undid the leather restraints on his feet, waist, and wrists.

“Tiger, wiggle your hands and feet if you can hear me,” she said.

Behind her, she heard a stack of pallets crash, and men cry out in pain, but she had no time to look at what was going on. She had to get Tiger off the gurney, though she realized that he wouldn’t be able to assist her in any way: his hands and feet weren’t moving. He was paralyzed, most likely from the drugs they’d given him. She looked at the tray next to the console. A vial and a needle lay on it. Midazolam, just as she’d suspected. She yanked the drip from Tiger’s IV port but kept the port in his hand. Most likely the drip was just a saline solution, but she couldn’t be sure that it didn’t contain more of the sedative to keep him paralyzed.

“Listen to my voice, Tiger, stay with me,” she said.

Lilly had some difficulty loosening the leather strap that was tightly bound across Tiger’s pectorals and biceps. She had to yank on it, using all her strength to unhook him from it. Her heart beat frantically not only from the physical stress, but also the mental one. She cast a quick look to where the Stargate agents were fighting.

She saw Ace running after a man in a white coat as he tried to flee through the back exit. Fox was still fighting his opponent, trying to wrestle the gun from him. She didn’t have a clear view of Jack and the man he fought with. Their confrontation had taken them behind the pallets.

Lilly turned back to the console, looking for anything that would indicate how she could get Tiger’s head out of the tight helmet. Maybe one of the buttons with a symbol on it? She felt sweat collect on her nape and forehead but forced herself to remain calm. She had to keep her wits about her if she wanted to help Tiger.

A movement to her right made her snap her head in its direction. Too late. The middle-aged man in the business suit was pointing a gun at her. She froze.

“Step away from the console,” he ordered and made a shooing motion with his gun.

Her gun lay on the console, where she’d placed it earlier to free her hands. The man saw it too.

“I said step away from the console, Miss Davis, and not a word out of your mouth, or it’ll be your last.”

She recognized his voice then. It was the same man who’d pretended to be Henry Sheppard. This had to be Smith. She took a step back and away from the console. Why hadn’t he shot her yet? She glanced toward the area where Fox battled it out with the man in the blue overalls. He wasn’t looking in her direction. When she turned back to look at Smith’s gun, she realized that it didn’t have a silencer.

She understood then. He didn’t want to shoot her, because it would alert Fox and Jack. She remained stationary, hoping that one of the Stargate agents would eventually see that she was in trouble.

Smith walked closer to the server tower, his gun still trained on her. He was only three feet from her, when he leaned toward the server, pressed a lever on it, and a compartment opened. He reached for it and pulled out a component that look like a hard drive. He shoved it in his jacket pocket. This was why he hadn’t fled yet. He needed whatever data the machine had collected.

Smith leaned toward the console again and hit a button. With horror, Lilly watched as the gurney moved back into the MRI machine, Tiger still hooked to it by the helmet. And even if the mechanism gave way, he wouldn’t be able to escape, the paralyzing drug still in his system.

“Lilly!” Jack screamed from somewhere behind her, his voice echoing in her earpiece at the same time. Jack had seen the situation she was in. He’d get her out of it and help her save Tiger.

Her relief was short-lived. Smith grabbed her, and in the process her earpiece fell to the ground. He pulled her in front of him, one arm around her torso, imprisoning her arms, the other hand pointing his gun underneath her chin, its muzzle pressing against the soft flesh underneath her jaw.

She was his hostage and his human shield now.

26

This was his worst nightmare playing out in front of him. Jack had dispatched his opponent into the beyond and rushed toward the MRI machine to help free Tiger, calling out to Lilly, before he’d seen the man with the gun behind her.

The way the man in the suit held the gun to Lilly’s head meant that even an experienced marksman like Jack couldn’t take Lilly’s captor out before he killed Lilly.

“Drop your weapon on the floor,” the man ordered.

Jack hesitated, but he had no choice. He bent down and laid the Glock on the ground, before standing up again.

“Now kick it in my direction.”

Jack did as he was told, never taking his eyes off him and Lilly. Lilly’s face was a mask of fear, and he wished he could tell her that everything would be alright.

“Let her go,” Jack demanded.

A chuckle came from the man. “Not gonna happen. She’s my ticket out of here.”

“What do you want?”