Title: One Eye Open
Spoiler: CSI up to season 3
Summary: It's been a year since Nick had a stalker. Nick's scary brush with death comes back in a terrifying manner when he finds out that his stalker has kidnapped his sister. Nick and the Las Vegas Crime Lab race against the clock to find Nick's sister before it's too late.
Disclaimer: I only own what you do not recognize. CSI Belongs to Jerry Bruckheimer and all of those smart people who created these fine CSI series.
My Note: Here it is. Took a little longer than I had hoped due to my other writing commitments. But it's here. Only one more chapter to go!
Chapter 4: Without End
Nigel brought Donna breakfast, as he had promised. The eggs were cold, overcooked, and bland. But Donna dare not complain. If she wanted to get out of this, she had to be good. She had to stay alive.
He hadn't hurt her so far, besides hitting her in the head and taping her wrists too tightly. When she ate breakfast, Nigel fed her, refusing to take the tape off of her hands. He confirmed that her fingers were bleeding, but he did nothing to help her.
She was in pain, but she couldn't complain.
After breakfast, Nigel left her alone again for hours. She had to pee so badly, but he was still gone. Donna sat uncomfortably on the floor, trying not to think about how badly she needed the bathroom.
She tried to instead focus on Nick and on positive thinking. He would find her.
He had to.
Nick was uncomfortably aware of the hours ticking by. Each one that went by was one more with Donna in harms' way.
What if they were too late? What if Donna was already dead?
Nick was sitting on floor in the lounge, his back against one of the walls. He had his hands pressed against his face, his eyes squeezed shut. He couldn't think about it. He wouldn't.
Every time he tried to see what the team was up to, someone pushed him away. He knew he couldn't be involved, but it was getting harder to just sit back and let them do all the work.
The sun had come up a few hours ago, but Nick was still sitting in the lounge, waiting. He worried that Donna wasn't getting food. He worried that she was being tortured.
"Nick," Grissom's voice shook Nick out of his thoughts.
Nick clamored to his feet, watching Grissom's face expectantly. "What news, Gris?" he asked.
"We've got little evidence, but if we can find the kidnapper, we should be able to make something stick. But there's something you should know." His voice was filled with apprehension and sadness.
A lump was stuck in Nick's throat. He swallowed hard and tried to shake the fear.
"Is it Donna? Is she dead?"
Grissom frowned. "We don't know. What we do know is that Nigel Crane got out of jail a month ago. Good behavior," he said.
Nick stumbled back a step, his jaw slack. His heart sped up in panic. Nigel Crane. Anyone but him.
"Did he…Gris, did he go this?" he asked. Nick almost didn't want the answer. He always knew this was his fault, but to get confirmation…it was too much. Tears stung his eyes.
"We don't know for sure, but it's a possibility we have to explore. Nick, we'll find her."
Nick sat on the couch and put his head in his hands. Nigel had killed before. What would stop him from killing Donna?
Catherine was back at the crime scene with Warrick. Once she had heard that Nigel Crane had been released, she became certain that the man was behind this. He was obsessed with Nick, this had to be him.
"Crane liked to be in the attic space, right?" Warrick asked. He was standing at the top of a ladder they had set up in the pantry. There was a door to the attic and they were hoping to find some evidence up in the attic.
"Yes, he did. He watched Nick and ? from the attic. If this is him, there has got to be something up there," Catherine answered.
Warrick sighed and nodded. He pushed up on the cover and pushed it to the side. Warrick shined the flashlight up and stuck his head through the hole. He sighed in relief when there was no one up there. He put the flashlight in between his teeth and pulled himself up into the attic. He waited and took the kit from Catherine and then helped her through the hole.
Catherine flashed her light around, looking for any evidence. As they had in the original Nigel Crane case, there were marked holes in the floor of the attic. A sick feeling hit Catherine's stomach. She couldn't imagine how hard this must be for Nick and even more so for Donna.
Catherine and Warrick spent the next hour taking photos and labeling the evidence they found. There wasn't much, but they did find several hairs and fingerprints. Warrick even found some dirt.
They both hoped that what they found here would help find Donna.
The pair returned to the lab with their evidence and began processing what they found. Warrick took the dirt to trace, while Catherine took the hair to DNA, and Sara took charge of the fingerprints.
The minutes and hours ticked by slowly as the team waited for the evidence to come through for them. Sara sat with Nick in the lounge. She was trying to get him to eat, but he refused. He just wanted to find Donna.
Grissom was in his office, looking over the old Nigel Crane case file, hoping to find something that might help lead them to Donna.
"Anything in there?" Catherine asked. Grissom looked up. She was standing in the doorway with a cup of coffee.
Grissom frowned. "Nothing that seems like it will help. Has anything come back yet?"
Catherine shook her head. She walked into the office and sat down in a chair in front of Grissom. "Everything's still working. It's a waiting game unless we get an e-mail saying, hey, she's here!"
"It's never that easy when it counts, is it?"
"No, it's not."
"Hey, we got something," Sara said as she walked in with a file. Grissom sat up.
"What is it?"
"The dirt. It's apparently some sort of special mixture that is very rarely used here in Las Vegas. A company out of Canada makes it and sells it to only one store in the area. Vartann called over," she said as she handed Grissom the file. "They sent over the list of people who have bought it in the past six months. An apartment complex over in Henderson has bought several bags in the past month. They use it for their yards."
Catherine sat up and stared at Grissom. "She could be there somewhere," she said.
Grissom looked up and nodded. "I'll call Vartann, see what we can do." He moved to pick up his phone but paused. "Don't tell Nick. We don't need him running off."
Sara nodded.
Grissom picked up his phone and dialed Vartann.
Donna jerked awake. She had fallen asleep again. Her wrists were still bound behind her arms. She had tried to pull her arms underneath her, but her arms seemed to be too tightly bound behind her. Her shoulders ached from trying to move.
Nigel had bound her ankles with tape after she had tried to move around the room. He wanted her to stay in one spot. He kept promising he would work this out with Nick.
She was beginning to think he was just plain crazy and wasn't talking to Nick at all. She also wondered if he even really knew Nick.
Donna didn't know how long she had been down there. Sometimes it felt like minutes and other times he felt like hours.
Every few hours it seemed like Nigel would come to bring her food. Once he took her to the bathroom, but he had covered her eyes so she couldn't see. She couldn't hear anything where she was. There was a small window so she could see the sun shining through.
The longer she was kept in that room, the more panicked she became. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to be kept here forever. She had to get out.
But Nick would find her, wouldn't he? He had always talked about how good the team was. They would find her.
But what if they didn't? What if Nigel had left no evidence? She had to be a part of her rescue, didn't she? She had to do something to help them find her.
What could she do when she was taped up?
Donna looked around the room, searching for anything she could use to cut this tape off. She wasn't that resourceful of a person, but she had been kidnapped and this man could kill her at any time. She had to do something.
Donna's eyes swept over the room. It looked like Nigel had taken all of the sharp objects out of the room. Donna tried to shimmy to her left to turn, even just a little bit.
She turned her head to the left and that's when she saw it. A metal box with sharp edges.
Now she just had to get back there.
Donna turned back and began to scoot herself backwards, inch by inch. She tried to move as fast as she could, but her hands kept getting stuck under her butt. She didn't know when Nigel would be coming back and she needed to move. Finally, just when she thought she couldn't move anymore, she backed into the shelf with the box.
Using her feet to move around, Donna backed right up against the box. She could feel it with her fingers. Donna leaned forward and tried to pull her hands up. She found the corner of the box and began to rub the tape against the box. She sat there for what seemed like hours, just rubbing, but it didn't seem to be doing her any good. Then she heard a voice.
A male's voice.
Fear struck her heart and she began to sweat. If it was Nigel, he would catch her.
Donna pushed harder, rubbing even faster.
And then, the tape tore. Donna brought her arms up to her side and stared in surprise. She had done it.
The voice was getting closer. Donna crawled back to her original spot and put her arms behind her again. She prayed Nigel wouldn't look at her hands, otherwise she was caught.
She closed her eyes tightly, trying to pretend to be asleep.
The door opened and Donna slowly opened her eyes. It was Nigel and he looked very unhappy. He closed the door behind him and began to wring his hands together.
"Something wrong?" Donna asked. She cringed immediately, knowing she shouldn't have said anything.
Nigel turned to look at her, surprised she was talking.
"Nick is being uncooperative," he said.
Donna narrowed her eyes. "Nick would do anything to get me back. I'm his sister!"
Nigel smirked and shrugged. "Guess you're just not that important." He began to walk towards her, putting his hands in his pocket. Donna watched him closely. He stopped in front of her and kneeled down. "Your brother isn't coming for you," he whispered.
Donna smirked back at him. "Then I'll just go to him."
Donna had never hit a person before in her life. Until now. She swung up with her right hand. Her fist slammed into Nigel's cheek. She watched it like it was in slow motion. Her knuckles slammed into his cheek and it rippled as his face swung to the right.
Nigel fell back and Donna leaned forward, grabbing him by the throat. She squeezed tightly with all of her strength.
It didn't take long for Nigel to begin fighting back. He slammed the palm of his hand into her nose causing Donna's head to snap back. Her eyes went wide as she slumped backwards. She had never been hit before.
It hurt.
Donna fell back as she saw stars in her eyes with Nigel on top of her. His hands wrapped around her throat and he began to squeeze.
She was so close to getting away. She was so close to getting out.
She couldn't give up, not now, not when she had come this close.
Donna looked to her side and saw a clay flower pot. She reached out for it and her fingertips just barely skimmed the rim. She tried to move closer, but Nigel had almost his full body weight over her. Her lungs were screaming for air. Donna reached up and jammed her thumb into Nigel's eye.
His screeches filled her ears. He moved off of her just enough for Donna to reach out and grab the lip of the pot. She picked it up and slammed it against Nigel's head.
The pot shattered, blood dripped down, and Nigel slumped over.
Donna grabbed a pot shard and sat up. She began cutting into the tape around her ankle. She kept glancing over at Nigel, who was rolling around on the floor. Quickly, the tape ripped and she tore it off her.
She began to stand up, but Nigel grabbed at her leg. Donna picked up a clay piece and swiped at his hand. Blood welled up as he pulled his arm back and screamed.
Donna turned and headed for the door as quickly as she could. She was close, so close.
She grabbed the door handle and pulled the door open.