A/N: Okay everyone, I'm going with the majority, I will be posting two chapters a day now, so long as I still get enough reviews for each chapter. Here is the next chapter, not as long but don't worry, it's good. Plenty of angst. Poor Greg. So, I know you all want to kill my villains, but I request you wait until I'm finished with them okay? Thanks
Chapter 9
He had watched it all happen, up to the point where desperate little Grissom was kneeling by her body. He didn't bother to watch the rest, the deed was done. No point in watching any longer. He turned back to Greg. The boy was still unconscious but that was to be expected as he'd only been in the abyss for fifteen minutes at most. He sat there, staring at him, thinking of what he would do next. He'd be lying if he said he thought it would be this hard to get information from the boy.
He would have to get creative. He may have overwhelmed the kid so much that he made his job harder. He needed a new tactic. But what could he do? It was a puzzling though. Most of his victims crumbled by mere anticipation. What surprised him the most was that the kid had done some serious damage all on his own just trying to get away. He wondered why he'd jumped from a second story window. They hadn't done too much to him at that point, roughed him up some yes, but he had to learn the rules somehow.
It had been a short half hour after watching the business with Sidle before he got an idea. He signaled to his men to wake Sanders up. It was hard work, he'd really been out. James waited until they had him nearly coherent before he pulled out a phone and dialed the number slowly. He smiled as the phone barely finished the first ring before anxiously being answered.
"Evening Nicky." Nick bristled.
"Where's Greg? Let me speak to Greg."
"Now now Nicky, don't be rude, it wouldn't be in Greggo's best interest to be rude."
"What is it you want to talk about James?" Nick was struggling to sound polite.
"Well I thought I should tell you that we'll be having a video conference in say…an hour, so stay close. I do recall saying in our last, meeting, that there was something you could do to get our dear Greg back alive, so I supposed I should tell you what that was."
"You could just tell me where he is and make things simpler."
"True, but then I wouldn't get anything I needed done. But there is something you can do for your little friend now. It would help keep him alive longer."
"What is that?"
"Well, you see, he and I have been having several lovely chats, you know, getting information and all, but he doesn't seem very cooperative with me. It would be in his best interest if you convinced him to cooperate with me." Nick gulped. He was going to get to talk to Greg after all. He hoped Greg was okay.
"Alright, let me talk to him."
"You can try, not that he's coherent. Barely conscious that boy." Nick gritted his teeth at the pointed taunt. He had to keep his cool, for Greg. "Alright, he can hear you."
"Greg? Greg, can you hear me?" Greg's head lolled in little circles as he fought to keep it halfway up. That voice, that voice was so familiar. It made him feel safer. It took all his strength to speak a single word.
"N-N-Nick?"
"Hey Greggo, I need you to hold on okay, we're gonna find you okay." Greg had to really focus to hear what Nick said. He sounded so far away. So faint. But hearing a friendly voice, someone who would find him, protect him, someone who would keep him safe. Hearing that voice he just broke down. He couldn't be strong anymore.
"Nick! P-please…help me….hurts so bad…so scared…p-p-please N-Nick…y-you g-gotta g-get me out of h-h-here….p-p-p-please h-help m-me." Greg was now sobbing between short gasping breaths, his voice barely above that of a whisper. It broke Nick's heart to hear such a close friend so broken and scared.
"It's okay Greg, I'm going to find you okay? I. Will. Find. You. I just need you to hang on okay. Just hold on for a little longer." Nick was fighting for his voice to remain steady. Greg needed to hear him being strong, he needed someone to be strong for him.
"C-can't…hurts…so bad….so t-t-tired" he could hear Greg was fading fast. He had to find him.
"Greg, stay with me buddy. I need you to do something for me."
"Wha--" his words slurred terribly.
"I want you to do what they say okay, whatever it takes to stay alive."
"C-cant, w-won't tell 'm who…witness." so that was what they were after. They wanted the witness he'd found. Greg was trying to protect the witness, even at the cost of his own life.
"Greg, listen to me. You have to tell them. No one here will think any less of you. We couldn't be any more proud then we are, no matter what. Just stay alive for us. We all want you back alive. Just hold on."
"C-can't, w-won't kill 'nother….t'save me" Nick nearly cursed Greg's sense of justice out loud. He had to tell them or they would kill him sooner rather than later, which greatly shortened the chances of finding him. Suddenly Nick had an idea.
"Greg, you still there?"
"yeah" barely.
"Tell them the witness is McPherson, that's the name, we can protect 'm, but we need to get you back alive."
"But…that's n…"
"No! Just tell them. We need you to hold on as long as possible okay, just tell them."
" 'kay." Nick couldn't hear Greg anymore, at first he'd thought that Greg was unconscious, but then he realized the phone was being taken. The last he heard of Greg were two little words barely audible.
"help….me…" he then heard a sickening thud and Greg was gone.
"DON'T DO THAT!"
"Calm yourself Stokes. Your friend is fine. You'll find out in an hour just how well Greg listens. If he does well, he'll not be in any worse condition…if not…." the man never finished but instead hung up. Nick let the tears fall. His heart broke at hearing Greg. All he wanted to do was hold Greg tightly in his arms and tell him everything was okay, that he was safe, but he couldn't. He felt what little hope he'd had slowly slipping away. He was beginning to believe they would never find Greg alive. Only by what he sounded like Nick knew Greg was in very bad shape. His time was running out. It was now that he finally noticed Archie asking him questions about the call. Numbly he gave him everything he needed to know about the conference that would occur in an hour.
He needed some fresh air, but remembering what happened to Sara, he couldn't bring himself to go outside. Instead he went to the roof, opening the door to the outside and sitting to the side of it so he could feel the chill wind blow against him, but no shots if fired would hit him. He laughed at his thinking. When had they become so afraid? Afraid of the world around them?
He longed for this all to be over, for them to not fear what was outside the walls of the lab. For them to be healthy, happy, and together again. To be safe. He was so tired of being afraid, afraid for Greg. Suddenly he remembered Grissom. He might want to be present for the video conference. He knew he should call. He would, but he couldn't quite bring himself to speak to another yet. He remained where he was for a short time more before regaining the strength to speak. Slowly he dialed Grissom. He gave him the details of the call, speaking little of his conversation with Greg, only speaking of what he learned about the connection with the witness. That may have been the bit of information that led them to saving Greg. He could only hope.
Slowly, he rose to his feet, taking each weary step back towards reality and life. He had work to do. Archie was already dissecting the audio tape. So far they weren't getting anything from the audio tapes or the video tape. They had all the authorities in San Francisco on alert for Greg's whereabouts, but these men were being cautious, too cautious. If they didn't slip up soon, they may never find them, or Greg. Even if they knew the identities, which they probably would soon thanks to Greg mentioning that witness, it would be hard to find them. If ever there was a time to be at their best, this was it. Archie gave him a reassuring nod as he walked by. Nick had a call to make. They needed names, and now. He dialed the number hastily.
"This is Nick Stoke from the Las Vegas Crime Lab, you are currently processing a witness connected to the Emmanuel case and I need a list of names that the witness can give ASAP!" he listened impatiently at the man's reply.
"Why! I'll tell you why, because MY crime scene investigator has been kidnapped and is being tortured for the identity of that witness, not to mention two more of MY people have been hospitalized due to attempts on their lives for this witness and we need those names to find MY guy and the criminals before this escalates to murder. THAT IS WHY I NEED THOSE NAMES. NOW GET THEM TO ME ASAP!' Nick snapped the phone shut angrily instantly after giving the phone number.
He'd been given a spare phone to use so he could still be functional. Nick spent a great deal of time pacing, waiting for the list of names. Hoping they had taken him seriously. He wasn't sure whether he'd actually had the authority to demand that information from the witness, he just hoped that if he didn't, that they didn't know it. He paced and wandered aimlessly in thought. There was nothing else he could do so far. His thoughts wandered, mostly replaying the phone calls and video tapes over and over again in his head.
They would plague his every waking thought, and haunt him in his sleep for a long time after this he knew. After a long while he looked at the clock. Fifteen minutes until the hour had passed. Fifteen minutes until Grissom would be at the lab. Fifteen minutes until Warrick, Archie, Grissom, and he were in the tech lab, participating in a video conference. Fifteen minutes until he would actually get to see Greg again, hopefully not for the last time. Fifteen minutes until they found out what they could do to save Greg's life. Fifteen minutes not saving Greg from torture. Fifteen minutes too long.
A/N: Okay, hope you liked it. Press the neat little purple button at the corner of the screen(the left one) and check up around oh, Ten-ish to Noon-ish for the next chapter!
