I hope this was worth the wait. I had a little bit of trouble getting this one on paper (or rather 'on screen'). Thanks for all the birthday wishes and reviews…

A stunned silence hung over the crime lab. The cold voice of Anthony Collins was still echoing through the break room.

After a while, Sinclair cleared his throat. Mac had sounded so hurt, so tired. It was hard to believe that he was the hard ass detective that kept the crime lab from cracking under the pressure.

"We need to find him," he said, stating the obvious.

"What did Mac say?" Don asked- he had a frown on his face, and the same look he always had when they tried to explain a complicated procedure. Something was puzzling him.

"Something about the Reagan," Danny said, also frowning. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had heard the name.

"Adam, please tell me you recorded that?" Jo asked, turning to the pale lab tech.

"Yeah, I'll uh, I'll go play it back and get back to you." With those words, he rushed out of the room towards his corner in the lab.

"We need…" Lindsey began, but was cut off by Detective Levato running into the break room.

"Some of the hostages escaped. They just phoned 911." She sounded out of breath and the excitement was written all over her face.

"What?" chorused up through the room.

"Yeah. It was one of the teachers. Listen." Levato pulled out a small tape player and pressed the play button.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"We, we were on the tourist bus, we escaped. Please help us."

"Please stay calm, ma'am. We will send someone to your position. Is anyone hurt?"

"Ok ok, thank you. No, we are all fine, I think."

"How did you escape, ma'am?"

"They were hitting that poor detective, we ran while they didn't see us. It was horrible." Sobbing could be heard in the background. The sirens were a welcome sound.

"They were picked up and taken to hospital, fortunately only bruises and mild dehydration, nothing serious," Levato said.

"Yeah, they ran while Mac was being beaten to death!" Danny spat angrily.

"Danny!" Jo was shocked, "You know as well as I do, that Mac probably kept their attention to help those people get away."

"Danny, Jo is right; Mac would never blame anybody for taking the chance they did." Lindsey had placed her hand on her husband's shoulder to calm him.

Just then, Adam came running in.

"Guys! Someone just called saying they saw the tourist bus heading for the docks!" he panted.

"The docks?" Sheldon asked.

"That was the other thing," Levato said, "one of the kids that escaped said they heard the guy talking about dumping the bus into the river. With everyone in it." A gasp went around.

"Oh, and the Reagan will be sailing past New York tomorrow. It's a Navy destroyer and it's on its last tour before being destroyed."

"OK, Levato, send a message to the coast guard to warn the ship of a possible attack. The rest of you, get to the docks. As far as I know, the old docks would probably be the easiest place in New York to run a bus straight into the Hudson. I'll phone for back up and medical support and meet you all there." Shocked faces looked at Sinclair. They didn't know he had a heart, never mind cared.

"GO!" he shouted, making everyone jump into action. As the team headed for the elevators, he headed for the nearest phone...

The team ran out to their cars, they had to get to the docks. A message had been sent to the Reagan, warning them of a possible attack. Problem was, they didn't know when or how. They flew down the road, weaving through traffic, hoping they'd get there in time…..

When the team arrived at their destination, they were just in time to see the bus go over the edge of the dock.

CSI NY

An hour earlier…

The only sounds in the bus were the harsh breathing of Mac Taylor. He was back in his seat after the beating he took not too long before. Ellie watched him out of the corner of her eye. She had taken her belt and, under Mac's instruction, tied it around the stab wound on his thigh. His knee was already swollen so bad that it stretched the material around it. His face was bloody and one of his eyes was swollen shut. He had said that he was fine, but she didn't believe him - her mom once said that a building could fall on Mac and he would say he was fine. She couldn't see how someone could be fine after a beating like that.

"Uncle Mac?" Ellie spoke softly.

"Yeah?" The reply was but a whisper.

"Are you sure you're ok?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"I'll be fine," he answered, as expected.

"Do you think we'll get out of here?" Ellie had to know, because it felt like they've been on the damn bus forever and she didn't know how long she could hold on.

"We will. You have to believe that Ellie. Promise me…" Uncle Mac stopped to catch his breath, "promise me you will keep on believing. Your mom will find us. You have to believe that."

"I promise," she answered softly. The bus fell into silence again.

After a while, footsteps sounded and Ellie looked up to see the leader of the gang standing next to them. He had an evil smile on his face.

"I see you are still alive, Hot Shit," he said, kicking Uncle Mac's leg. Ellie wanted to scream as Mac turned even paler than what he already was. Still he made no sound and Ellie's respect for the injured man grew.

"Well, you and the little rats have spoiled my fun, so now I have to leave. Don't fear though, you won't live much longer." He gave another evil laugh. Ellie cringed, 'when I get out of this mess, I will never watch a horror movie again,' she thought.

"Let…let the kids go." Mac pleaded with the guy, "You've got me, isn't…is that not enough for you?"

"Nope! It's not. Your tantrum little earlier brought this on, Taylor, so this is all your fault." He laughed as he saw the fear in the CSI's eyes. With that he turned around and left, leaving Mac and Ellie to wonder what the bastard was planning.

CSI NY

The bus stopped at a shady apartment building and the group walked down the aisle. Each of them had a taser and they tasered the kids as they went - dazing them as the whole group got off the bus, except for the driver who drove off again.

Jo drove as fast as she could – Sheldon had to hold on for dear life. They had a lead, now all they had to do was get there in time. 'Please let them be safe…..'

As the bus sped along the almost deserted road, Mac noticed them heading to the docks. He looked for an easy way out, finding none. 'Now would be a good time, Jo….'

Don and Danny were following Jo and Sheldon. Both men were silent, only the sounds of the siren breaking through. 'Please let us get there in time….'

"We need to get out of here. The driver has a gun; he threatened to shoot anyone coming closer," the teacher said as he helped a shaky Mac to his feet. They couldn't jump; the bus was going too fast. 'I wish Don was here, he'd have a plan….'

Lindsey was last in the line of cars. She had to wait for Adam. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the steering wheel. 'Please let this be over…'

"Hold on!" Mac yelled as the bus neared the edge of the dock. 'I'm sorry…'

CSI NY

The kids screamed as the bus ran over the edge and crashed into the water with a big splash. The bus tilted forward and groans could be heard as the kids fell out of their seats. The only remaining teacher grabbed one of the smaller kids while Mac held on to Ellie and her friend. Grabbing onto the seats the two men pulled their way towards the end of the bus and the teacher smashed the window with one of his shoes. Mac positioned himself to hand over the kids and with the help of the other man, who was now on the outside of the rapidly sinking bus, they got all the kids out.

"Come on!" the teacher yelled.

"Go, I'll be right behind you!" Mac yelled back, trying to be heard over the sound of water rushing into the downed bus and the ever present buzzing in his ears. Mac saw the man disappear and was on the way to grab onto the edge of the bus were the window had been, when one of his legs was grabbed from behind. He turned around and saw the driver pulling him under. Mac tried to fight it, but his strength was all but gone. After a brief fight, he slowly sank down with the now drowned driver and the bus, watching the bubbles rise out of his mouth with a weird fascination…

CSI NY

The team watched in silent horror as the bus slowly disappeared beneath the murky water. Not a minute later the back window of the bus was broken and a head appeared. Jo recognized the man as one of Ellie's teachers. The children soon followed him, and he directed them towards the edge of the water. He followed soon after the last child got out of the bus and Jo could have cried as she recognized Ellie swimming towards the edge of the water.

The kids were seen to by the medics as they got out of the water and Jo ran to Ellie and wrapped her arms around her daughter, hugging tightly. Silent tears of relief ran down her cheeks mixing with those of her daughter. After a while Ellie was taken to a waiting ambulance.

"Mom, where is Uncle Mac?" Ellie suddenly asked, looking around in panic.

"I don't know, sweetie," Jo answered, "I'll go and find out, and you go with the medic. I'll be with you soon." Ellie reluctantly walked away with the medic. Jo walked over to Sheldon who was staring out of the water. She followed his gaze where she saw Don and Danny swimming towards the bus which had now all but submerged completely.

"Sheldon?" Jo asked nervously, the hard hand of panic gripping her stomach in a vice.

"Mac didn't come out with the rest of the kids," Sheldon said not taking his eyes of the water as first Don then Danny dived under, looking for their friend.

There you have it. Thoughts? Ideas? I'd love to hear them all. Thanks to my beta for making this readable and making sure I don't sound like an idiot.

Oh, I didn't get the show for my birthday, so I still don't own it.

Till next time,

Flea

PS: keep an eye out for my new story 'what was lost, is found' – it's a rewrite of Sneakyflea's 'is it really you?'