Chapter 6 - Breaking Point

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// It glared at it's failures and fumed. Of all the work it had done, they were the only two to survive. And it was because of *him* that it was caught. Until these four arrived, it had never even come close to be suspected, much less caught. Death intended to avenge that transgression.

It had just two more doses of the spirit water, however. It had to use them wisely, until it could gain permanent control of this host or move to a new one. The previous host had fought only until Death had its way with his friends. Perhaps using this host to rectify it's failures would help as well. To borrow a human phrase, it would be like killing two birds with one stone. And it would leave the extra dose for emergencies. //

General Hammond had an expression of confused disbelief similar to those he gave SG1 when they arrived home too early, or with unexpected guests. Jack almost expected Hammond to turn to him for an explanation. Jack wished he could give an answer. He was as clueless as the rest of his team.

"Sgt. Ashton died of massive blood loss," Dr. Frazier said, answering the question Hammond had just posed. She hadn't slept since Daniel's latest episode. Like the rest of them, she had little to show for it. "There was multiple stab wounds to the abdomen, but it was the neck wound that killed him."

Jack blinked away the image her words called up, a nasty reminder of the body he found. He shook his head and tried to pay more attention the conversation. He didn't miss much, Frazier was giving them a rough estimate of the time of death, about three days ago.

"Which is just about the time the sergeant went missing," Hammond supplied. "What has Dr. Jackson had to say about all this?"

Jack and the doctor exchanged glances. "After his last vision," she hesitated, uncomfortable using the term, "he was understandably upset. I have him sedated right now. But he seems to think that Sgt. Ashton had been lured down to the storage area."

"Ashton didn't exactly have a high regard for scientists," Jack said with a role of his eyes. He ignored the glances he received from the women at that statement. Yes, he easily fit into the same category. But at least he had some *respect* for them. Ashton never had. He had been known to go out of his way to make life difficult for the scientists at the base. And Jack said as much.

"Sir?" Major Carter looked uncomfortably down at her hands, absently biting her lower lip. Jack knew that look. She was about to say something she'd rather not. "Daniel and Teal'c were the last ones to see Sgt. Ashton alive."

Until now, Teal'c had been quietly sitting in his usual seat, stoically watching the others. "Sgt. Ashton and Daniel Jackson had been engaged in an argument," he supplied, disliking his own addition.

"That doesn't mean anything!" Jack protested. Someone had to stand up for Daniel.

"I'm not saying it does, sir." But Carter wouldn't look at him. "But doesn't it seem a little too coincidental to you? Daniel's visions, Sgt. Ashton getting killed, his neighbor..." She grimaced as if the were had a bad taste.

Carter and Frazier exchanged looks. "I haven't spoken with the coroner or police yet," Dr. Frazier started. "But just from what Colonel O'Neill described to me about the body he found, I'd say they are connected, yes."

Jack sighed and scrubbed his face. "When we picked him up that day, Daniel was complaining about a neighbor playing his music loudly, keeping him up all night." He hated the words even as they left his mouth. "But he didn't do anything," he added firmly.

"Then what are you suggesting, Colonel?" General Hammond asked. "That a murderer has found his way into the SGC?"

"No, sir, I'm not suggesting anything." Jack slumped back and sighed. "I'm just saying that Daniel didn't kill anyone. I can't believe that."

"Neither can I," Carter added softly. Teal'c and Frazier nodded in agreement. Even Hammond looked as if he couldn't quite believe the idea being bandied about the table.

"Maybe," Major Carter started, breaking the silence that had befallen the room. Jack sat up, hoping she had come up with some dense scientific answer to all this. "Maybe the killer is someone who works here."

She threw him a very unappreciative look. "I meant someone else. Someone who was fixated on him or something."

"Or was trying to make Daniel look guilty," Jack ruminated. Anyone might have overheard Daniel complaining about the song played repeatedly through the night. And anyone here could have heard Daniel and Sgt. Ashton have their argument over the treatment of artifacts going through decontamination. It almost made sense.

Jack wanted it to make sense. Except... "What about these vision things of his?"

"Dr. Frazier?" General Hammond prompted when she made a noise while moving her papers around.

"Okay. I'm not saying I buy this idea," she started with a sigh. "But since it was suggested, I've done a little bit of research about visions and those who claim to be able to 'see' things. There is something that many of them have in common, that they have a certain... subject, I suppose you would call it, they see almost exclusively.

"Those who claim to predict natural disasters see only one kind, such as earthquakes, or tornadoes. Some only see things related to children. Others only with people they have a prior connection with, like family or friends. But there are some that seem to have a connection not the victims but to the killer. They claim it's as if they are seeing things through that person's eyes."

"Like Daniel?" Carter asked. "Did any of them say * why * they saw a killer's work?"

"I don't know, Teal'c." Carter shrugged. "But maybe there's something more here than someone killing people who have annoyed Daniel. Maybe it's not *Daniel* who's psychic but the killer. Maybe this person picks up on Daniel's feelings somehow and feels compelled to stop it."

"And Daniel, what?" Jack felt a headache coming on. "Get's a psychic backlash, or something?"

Carter shrugged. "It's just a theory, sir. Until we catch this person, we won't know for sure."

After a moment's silence, the General, looking as if he, too, was getting a head ache, asked if anyone had more to say. When no body volunteered, he said, "Until we have further evidence and can resolve this matter, I am ordering Dr. Jackson confined to base. I also want someone with him at all times."

"No arguments, Colonel. It's for his safety as well as for everyone else." He gave each member of SG1 a pointed look. "Dismissed."

"You're posting a guard on me?" Daniel gave Jack the most incredulous look he had ever seen. Jack would have laughed at the expression had the matter not been so serious.

"Not my call." Jack put his hand defensively. "The General ordered it last night. Just to be on the safe side."

Daniel's glance went to the man who unobtrusively stood just out of ear shot. His eyes went back to his hands. "Just in case I killed those people, you mean."

"No," Jack protested and meant it. "Just in case who ever did kill them decides you're next on the list."

Daniel didn't believe him. The young man seemed to hunch in on himself as he looked away. Jack hated the motion.

When Daniel finally spoke, it was in soft, uncertain tones that he could barely hear. "What if it was me?"

"What if I did kill them?" Daniel slid earnest, confused eyes at him, then away.

It occurred to Jack that Daniel really didn't know. He was that uncertain of himself. Jack hoped they found the bastard soon so that he could kill him himself. "You didn't," he said firmly.

Even if Daniel wasn't sure of himself, Jack was certain of *him*. Even when Daniel had Machello's little devices in him, when he couldn't tell his hallucinations from reality, Daniel never intentionally hurt anyone. As a matter of fact, Daniel tried to *help* them, several times.

"You have nothing to do with that." Jack waved vaguely at some point behind him. "You're just... seeing, what ever he did. That's all. Okay?"

// "You have shown me how to take control," he said, pointing the staff weapon down. "For that I am grateful." He touched the activation lever. The end flowered open without the usual spark that spoke of deadly energy. It did not need that surge of power to be fatal. "And for that, I will be quick."

And he was quick. He swung the staff weapon up, hitting the other man in the temple, then across the throat. The man crumpled to the hot sand. For a change, there was just a little bit of blood. A slow trickle, the same color as the lightning bolt painted on his limp hand. //

Daniel found himself leaning heavily over his desk, the lightning bolt still hovering in his view.

He breathed heavily, as if he'd just been running. Why did he hold his breath when these things came? His shaky elbows and rubbery knees coordinated their efforts to give out simultaneously. Only the strong grip of the guard guiding him to a chair saved him from hitting the floor.

"Dr. Jackson?" The worried guard asked again, glancing uncertainly at the door. Probably wondering if he should get help, Daniel thought. Threats with guns were one thing. Zoned out and panicked scientists were another.

"I'm okay," he said, trying to sound reassuring. The guard wasn't very reassured.

Daniel couldn't blame him. He wasn't very reassured himself. This had been the third time in little more than a day. The visions felt more intense, more real, with every happening. They were becoming more frequent, and he still didn't know what the trigger was.

For the first time, Daniel was glad for his living shadow. It was a little easier, somehow, knowing that someone was there. Even if that someone didn't know what to do with him.

He rubbed at his eyes with shaking hands. Goran. It was Goran's murder he saw this time. Thank God it hadn't been so painful, so bloody this time. He wondered what Sam would make of this one.

Sam had theorized that the alien he saw might have been a real past deed. The killer might be a member of any of the SG teams, she pointed out, and the three eyed alien may have been his first victim.

When he had described the fragments he remembered that included her and Jack, she suggested that this killer had been visualizing, planning ahead for his next kill. After all, luring Sgt. Ashton to the storage room proved that at least one of the murders had been premeditated. Possibly all of them were.

Sam and Jack were so quick to grasp the idea that he was somehow linked to the murderer. Daniel wasn't so sure. If it had been someone in the SGC, then how was it he 'saw' Goran's death? The only people who had been there were SG1.

Daniel sighed his frustration. Maybe he'd put off telling them the specifics about this one. They steadfastly refused the idea that he might have killed and not remembered it. Daniel appreciated their loyalty in this. If only he could be so sure of himself. Because the person in those visions certainly felt like him.

He finally found the last symbol. He was afraid for a little bit there that he would have to guess at the last digit of the alien writing. But he finally got it figured out. Daniel walked back to the infirmary feeling like a happy camper.

Daniel had thought for certain that his yelp of pleasure at finally solving that puzzle would wake everyone up. But aside from the nurse, he remained the only one awake. Even his shadow still slept, canted back in the chair he had adopted.

His beaming smile had soon turned to a frown when Daniel studied the completed Stargate address. It looked familiar, somehow. Had they been there before? His mind was too fuzzy to recall all the symbols of all the planets he'd been to, much less the ones he might have just seen the address to. And it would take too long to look through all his notebooks. So he had decided that the techs in the control room were his best bet.

Sgt. Harriman had graciously accepted the paper with the sloppy writing - the shakes did nothing for penmanship. He had even promised to get on it as soon as they saw SG6 off. He had even refrained from inquiring about Daniel's tremors.

Daniel stopped a moment and leaned against the wall. Either he was really tired or they were getting worse. He hadn't had complete control of his hands for going on four hours now, since the last flash. Now, fighting a wave of dizziness, he regretted not waking his personal guard first. But he honestly expected to be down to the control room and back before anyone missed him. He wasn't supposed to get nauseous on the way.

Daniel pushed himself off the wall and started again, keeping one hand out for balance. The corridor abruptly disappeared, replaced by the sickeningly familiar storage room.

// Jack and a woman he vaguely recognized were inside. Jack had his back to him, his head bent over a crate, as if reading something. The woman was standing up from her examination of area where Ashton died.

He made sure she was dead turning toward Jack, who was still prone on the floor. //

Daniel found himself staring at an empty floor. No bodies. He was leaning heavily against the wall, his knees barely supporting him. He couldn't hear himself gasping for breath. That sound was drowned out by the alarms.

Jack's head pounded in rhythm to the ringing in his ears. "Teal'c?" he asked thickly, managing to get to his hands and knees only with his friend's help. "What happened?"

Jack blinked and shook his head. That only made him dizzy. It wasn't until he heard running feet and the clicks of weapons being readied did he realize the ringing wasn't just in his ears.

He got his focus back as Teal'c pointed out the body to one of the new comers. Jack saw the pain still etched in her face, the blood smeared on the wall, and felt anew the pain in the back of his head. Something told him he had come this close to being the next victim. He fuzzily wondered how much Daniel saw.

Getting back to the infirmary was slow going. Daniel couldn't catch his breath, and his knees refused to work in a consistent manner. His whole body shook and he felt cold, despite the coating of sweat on his face. Where was everyone when he needed them?

The alarms went quiet shortly before he reached the infirmary. He paused at the door way, frowning at the bustle.

Jack sat on a bed, head down, eyes closed. Teal'c stood next to him, frowning. Janet was in the process of cleaning the wound on the back of Jack's head. She lifted bloody gauze from his head and quickly applied a clean one. Jack flinched and grimaced. And it started again.

// Jack's eyes were closed tight, his face screwed up in pain. "Jack?" His voice came out as little more than a whisper. He tightened his grip on his friend. Brown eyes slitted open. Chiseled jaws clenched, went slack. Lips parted. He used his last breath to ask the one loaded question. "Why?" //

Daniel blinked. The infirmary returned, as did its occupants. This time reality did not reassert itself.