Author's Note: This is my first attempt at a CSI fanfiction. Until now, I've only written Castle related stories, but this week's episode caught my interest and I just had to write. For now, the story will be focusing on the events that happened in the hotel during episode 1505 "Girls Gone Wilder", which means we will only see things from Sara and Finn's POV. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not and probably will not own anything in the CSI universe. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 1
Sara wasn't thrilled to be attending this particular presentation. Dr. Jane Snyder was probably the last person she wanted to listen to right now. Especially after the way she'd acted in the lobby. Her self-promotional attitude and general me-ness had grated Sara's patience to say the least. And then there was the way Dr. Jane had brought up the time she'd skewered Sara's trainee on his first trip to the witness stand. Sara wasn't entirely sure if she should forgive Morgan for signing them up for this.
Morgan was trying to be encouraging as they sat down. "Come on."
Sara sat down with Morgan on her right. A dark-haired woman grabbed the seatback of the chair next to Morgan. "Hey Morgan, is anyone sitting here?"
Morgan smiled and shook her head. "It's all yours."
Sara kept her attention on her phone until the house lights dimmed. Dramatic music started to play and strobe lights on the stage started to flicker. Men in jeans and white lab coats walked toward the stage in a line, followed by Dr. Snyder and a few more men. The audience began to applaud the way you might when a theater performance began. The men in lab coats arranged themselves on the stage, hands behind their backs with Dr. Snyder at center stage.
Sara was credulous. "Strobe lights? Really?"
Morgan shrugged with her hands, excitement on her face. "I told you, she puts on a good show."
Sara looked at Morgan briefly before turning her attention to the stage where Dr. Snyder was beginning her presentation. "I am Dr. Jane Snyder."
The audience applauded again, a few people calling out "Yeah!" like they were at a sporting event. Dr. Snyder laughed and then continued. "Thank you! I am so excited to be here to teach you how to defend your evidence."
Sara sighed, resigning herself to sit through this presentation no matter how much she wanted to be somewhere else. "First and foremost, the court room is a stage. And it is your job to perform!"
Dr. Snyder threw her hands in the air as different music came on and the men on the stage with her broke into stripper dances. They popped open their lab coats or removed them entirely to reveal six-pack abs and chiseled chests. Women in the audience shrieked in delight at the show.
Sara couldn't believe her eyes. "Oh. My. God."
Next to Sara, Morgan laughed. Several people in the audience now had their phones out to record the performance. Dr. Snyder was dancing with the men, though not nearly as provocatively.
The sound of a gunshot rang out and one of the male dancers jerked as he was struck with the fired bullet. Two more shots quickly followed and at least one hit the same dancer. Sara's head whipped from facing the stage toward the open side door to see a man with a stocky build and long hair standing in the doorway with an assault rifle in his hands. Bullets continued to pour into the room in bursts of one or two shots. Sara grabbed Morgan's arm and the two of them hit the floor like many others. People screamed in panic, but the shots didn't let up. Now the gunman was starting to shoot into the rest of the room. Chaos reigned as people tried to get out of the line of fire. Glass broke and cascaded to the floor as a vase, display, and glassware around the room were hit with bullets. Morgan's friend tried to make a run for it.
"Vicki, no!" Morgan's head popped up briefly until the sound of another gunshot forced her to duck again. Vicki was hit and collapsed. Morgan moved to crawl forward, but Sara's hand on her back stopped her. "Vicki!"
Sara's head was rabbiting up and down, trying to capture as many details as she could to aid in the investigation later without getting shot in the process. The gunman had long blonde hair and was carrying what looked and sounded like an AR-15. He was by the side door and had come in just a couple minutes after the presentation had started, meaning he entered and started shooting at 4:17pm. Along the back wall, another attendee tried to make a dash for the back door and was shot down too.
Just after the man fell, the gunman stopped firing and ran for the back door. Sara's ears were ringing. She looked around the conference room. People were crouched behind chairs or sprawled on the floor either injured or trying to play dead. Most importantly, the gunman was nowhere in sight.
"It's all right." Sara started to stand and some people started to move again. "It's over." Sara could see that they were no longer in immediate danger. "It's clear! It's clear."
One attendee stood and headed for the door. "I'll go get some help."
As he left, and despite the attendees being trained in some level of law enforcement, most of the rest of the audience rushed for the doors, eager to get away from what was now a crime scene. Dr. Snyder extracted herself from under the body of the dead dancer with a gasp of horror, her previously clean outfit now splattered and stained with his blood. Morgan finally stood, shock and fear clearly written across her face. She spotted her friend and a sob crossed her lips. She rushed to Vicki's side, desperate to help her fallen friend.
"Vicki! Hey. Just hang on, okay?"
Sara raised her phone to her ear to call it in. "This is CSI Sidle. There's been a mass shooting at the Mediterranean Hotel Forensics Conference. Roll paramedics and PD. Code three!"
Morgan had started CPR to try and revive her friend. She was sobbing; her body knew Vicki was gone, but her mind refusing to accept it. "Come on! Come on! Come on!"
Sara could sense what Morgan couldn't accept and moved to intervene. "Morgan…"
Morgan checked for breathing again. "Come on. Come on."
"Morgan." Sara saw the empty look in Vicki's eyes and knew it was far too late.
"Please, come on."
Sara's voice was gentle. "She's gone."
Morgan continued chest compressions. "You're good. You're good." She checked for breathing again.
"Morgan…"
Morgan sobbed again. "Come on."
Sara grabbed her colleague's shoulder gently. "Morgan, she's gone. She's gone." Morgan finally stopped trying to save Vicki, defeat and pain in her eyes. "Morgan! Look at me!" Sara was starting to get concerned for Morgan's wellbeing when she wasn't responding. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Morgan's voice was eerily calm when she responded, brushing her hair out of her face with the back of a bloodied hand. "No." She looked down at her hands, saw the blood and started to panic as she sobbed. Anger suddenly surged through the blonde's features. "What the hell just happened?"
Sara looked around the room again and the horror of what she saw was reflected in her eyes as she responded without words. Three people were dead, more injured, most of the others still present were either despondent or helping the injured. None of this was something anyone expected would happen when they came to the conference today.
Morgan was finally snapping into work mode. "How many shooters were there?"
Sara responded in kind. "Just one. An assault rifle. It looked like an AR-15."
Morgan was surprised. "So you saw him?"
Sara choked on her words as emotions started to fight for control of her reactions. "He went out the back door. I'm gonna call Finn." Sara pulled out her phone again and dialed the number. It just rang and rang, eventually dumping to voicemail. Sara left a quick warning to be on the lookout and to be careful. With that done, Sara called Russell.
Meanwhile...
Finn loved the way she could flirt with Mark and know that nothing was taken very seriously. After two marriages that had ended in divorce, she had started to see serious relationships as pointless and painful endeavors that were best left to others to enjoy. Right now she was boarding an elevator with Mark to head up to one of their rooms while discussing their favorite football teams.
Being from Boston meant that Mark was a Patriot fan. "Admit it, Russell Wilson is no Tom Brady."
"You're just saying that because he's married to a supermodel."
"No, I'm saying that because he has three Super Bowl rings. And he's married to a supermodel."
Finn moved in like she was going to kiss him, but shot a playful zinger at Mark instead. "Yeah, well, at least my team doesn't cheat."
Mark looked a little hurt. "Ouch. You really know how to hurt a guy."
Finn smirked a little and leaned in some more. "Aww, poor baby." They were about to kiss when her phone started to buzz.
Finn looked down at it, saw that Sara was the caller and decided to ignore the call. She knew they were at a forensics conference and she was supposed to be paying attention, but a bed was calling their names and she wasn't about to pass up the chance to have hot, casual sex with Mark.
"No?" Mark was checking if they were still "in the mood" or if the phone was going to interrupt.
She shook her head. "No." They chuckled as they turned their attention back to each other and let the phone go to voicemail. They kissed until the elevator car stopped at a floor and hurriedly broke apart to ensure any incoming passengers wouldn't be embarrassed by their PDA.
The doors opened and a man walking passed the elevator paused and looked at them. Finn and Mark looked back; Finn noticed he had long blonde hair and was carrying a large gun. After a moment of everyone looking at each other, the man raised his gun and pointed it at them. Finn was reaching into her purse for her gun on instinct even though it wasn't there. Mark yelled, "No!" and threw himself in between Finn and the gunman while trying to pull her to the floor and out of the way. The man started firing, his bullets missing them, but hitting the elevator walls and bouncing off to become deadly and unpredictable projectiles. Thankfully, the elevator doors closed before the shooter could get off very many shots.
Finn and Mark ended up kneeling on the floor of the elevator embracing each other. They pulled apart moments later to look at the other. Finn was breathing heavily from fear. Mark looked down and saw blood on his shirt. Finn saw it too and then felt a wet spot on the front of her blouse; she quickly checked it to find she was unharmed, but there was blood on her blouse. She looked at Mark, her eyes zeroing in on the wound to his abdomen again and realizing that was the source.
Mark was concerned about the blood on her torso. "Are you…" He was crawling back to lean against a wall, pain coloring his voice.
"Yeah, I'm okay. That doesn't look good." Now that he knew she was fine, the full force of his injury came to the front of his mind and he groaned, eyes squeezed shut against the sudden rush of pain. Finn hurried to grab the scarf from her purse and passed it to him. "Here, hold this really tight."
His hand covered hers over the wadded scarf and pressed it to his wound, still groaning from the pain. Finn went back to her purse and retrieved her phone to call for help. The elevator groaned and the lights flickered before plunging them into darkness.
Finn was distraught that in the midst of an already bad situation, one more thing had gone wrong. "Oh, no!" They were trapped.
The paramedics, SWAT officers, and PD had finally shown up. First SWAT secured the scene and then the paramedics moved in to assist the wounded. The coroners came in as well to collect the dead. Morgan had been called back to the lab by Russell, but Sara decided to stay behind and help collect any evidence that might help them identify the shooter. She'd given her statement to Ecklie over the phone and grabbed supplies from the nearby vendor's tables. The police and paramedics were swarming the room, taking statements and helping the wounded. Radio chatter filled the air as Sara clipped her crime lab I.D. to one pant pocket and then her holster and gun on her right hip.
Someone to her right was getting treated. "Let's go ahead and set her up."
The phone on her left hip started to ring. Sara pulled it out of its holster to see the caller was Russell. "Hi." She felt like a kid who'd just been caught were she didn't belong.
Russell didn't sound happy. "SWAT leader just called me and told me you refused to evacuate. I told you to get out of there."
Sara wasn't willing to budge. "Shooter came in through the side door. I'm hoping he left a print. I grabbed supplies from the venders…"
"Sara, the shooter is still in the building. Look, you survived once today. Please don't push your luck."
"SWAT has cleared the room. There's deputies posted. There's no way he's getting back in here. I can help, Russell. Please, I need to do something."
Russell finally gave in. "All right, all right, all right. Just…be careful and get out of there as soon as you can."
"I will." Worry clouded Sara's voice as she continued. "Listen, I just talked to Finn. Her friend's in bad shape."
"I know that. I know, I know. Engineering is on standby. They'll get them out as soon as it's safe."
Sara realized there was nothing she could do on that front. "Okay." She ended the call and got to work processing the scene, starting with that side door.
A/N: For my readers that follow my Castle related Shadow Fox stories, don't worry, I won't be postponing that story to focus on this one. For everyone else, please leave a comment in the box below to let me know what you thought! Thanks!
