Okay, here we go! Only a short note this time-I have little Geographical / botanical knowledge- I did look up the tiny bit about flowers, but please remember I try to be as accurate as possible.
So, Read, Enjoy, Review!
Chapter Nine
Sara splashed her face with water and glared at her reflection. She wasn't selfish, was she?
Maybe she was. She had thought that she just wanted to make sure that Greg was okay, but maybe she was selfish. Maybe she just wanted to hear his voice.
What was with Nick, anyway?
Sara was worried about the Texan; it wasn't unlike him to lash out, but he practically never took it out on Sara or Greg. Nick sometimes argued with Warrick, but it was very out of character for him to snap at Sara the way he did. She always felt that Nick had her back – in fact she had often felt guilty about how Nick would endure her bad moods and snappy insults when she was tired or angry.
Then again, Sara thought, maybe there was nothing wrong. Maybe it was because he did think she would be willing to put Greg in danger to satisfy his curiosity. Oh, god, Greg.
Every time Sara closed her eyes, she saw Greg's scared confused eyes, the way he was after the lab explosion. She imagined the mangled bodies of victims from recent cases, all with Greg's head and face. She remembered the crush Greg used to have on her. She remembered being secretly flattered, turning the young lab rat down for many reasons, the two main being that she didn't like him in that way, and that she was positive that he could do a lot better.
She missed him, and she was terrified for him. When Nick had gone missing, at least they had known what was happening to him. They knew how much time they had left. With Greg, they had nothing.
Out of pure habit, Sara picked up her cell and dialled Greg's number. The words on her screen read 'Calling My Hot Best Mate Greg Sanders'.
She smiled to herself, wrapped in memory of the day just a week ago, when Greg had nicked Sara, Warrick and Nick's phones and changed his name on them. He had claimed that they had done it themselves. It wasn't unrealistic that Nick would have Greg on his phone under 'Leggo my Greggo', but Warrick's 'The Awesome and Amazing Greg Sanders', and Sara's 'My Hot Best Mate Greg Sanders' were obviously not what the owners had put Greg in as. It made Sara smile how none of them, not Sara, Nick or even Warrick had changed it back to plain old 'Greg Sanders'.
The cheery voice on the end of the phone cheered. "Hello?"
"Greg!" Sara gasped, but to her dismay, Greg's voice continued.
"Joking! You've reached the cell phone of Greg Sanders, and anyway, as you can probably tell I am unable to take your call at the moment, so leave a message and I will get back to you! Bye!"
Sara choked back a sob. Greg. Her Greg. He was one of 'her boys'. He was her Greg. And he was gone.
Sighing, Sara decided it best if she apologised to Nick and made up. It would be easier to find Greg, and Nick had forgiven her so many times. She meandered through the lab in search for Nick. Finally, she reached Hodges, beginning to grow impatient.
"Hodges, have you seen Nick?"
"Since you threw him into my door? No." Hodges said dryly.
"Which way did he go?" Sara huffed.
"Parking lot." Hodges muttered, his eyes glued to his work.
Sara rolled her eyes and decided to check the parking lot for Nick. Almost immediately she noticed the vacancy where Nick's car was always parked. She groaned. She knew there was something else on that tape.
Suddenly, a very familiar fear filled voice called-
"Sara!"
Sara whirled around to look in the direction the voice came from.
"Help me, please someone!" Greg's voice screamed
"Greg?" Sara began to run to the sound.
"Sara! Sara!"
As Sara drew nearer her heart pounded, but she could see no sign of her friend.
"Sara! Sara! Sara! Sara!"
Sara frowned. Something sounded off about Greg's voice. It sounded tinny, and strange like a recording. Each 'Sara' sounded exactly the same, same volume, same intonation, same everything. As Sara came to the back of a sleek but unimpressive sports car, she peered at the back licence plate. Taped to it was a child's tape recorder and it was playing.
Confused but with a falling heart, Sara watched as the boot opened automatically. She began to back away, all senses screaming 'trap!'
An enormous force crashed into her as something big shoved her into the trunk. Sara screamed to try and grab someone's attention, but no one came as a man over twice her size shoved her into the trunk.
Not one to go down without a fight, Sara let out an enraged version of a battle cry of sorts, kicking her legs and flailing her arms.
"Someone help me!" She shrieked, as the man swore, shoving her limbs into the car.
"If you don't wanna loose those, I suggest you keep them in!" The man grunted and Sara retracted her limbs at the speed of light as the trunk was slammed shut.
The space in the boot was miniscule, and Sara began to panic. There was no way out. Her arms were pinned by her sides by the cramped walls, but to her delight she was able to extract her phone from her pocket.
She couldn't help but think of the similarities of Greg's abduction as she pressed the first number on her speed dial.
CSIVCSIVCSIV
Grissom watched the little boy taunt Warrick.
"Your dad? Acolmiztli is your dad?" Warrick said, confused.
Grissom jumped as a hand felt his shoulder. He turned to see Jeff Watson, the security guard.
"Okay, son." Jeff said placating, holding out his hands. "Gimee the knife, kid. C'mon, it's okay, kid."
The little boy smiled sweetly and passed Jeff the knife gently. Jeff quickly took two of the boy's hands in one of his own. Warrick stared at the boy, who let himself be led away by Jeff, who muttered to Grissom "I'll pat him down, keep him in an interrogation room until child services arrives."
Catherine came running up as the little boy was led away. "Cayden?" She called in shock. The little boy jumped and looked at her in sudden shock, almost fear, before trying to hide his face.
"Cath-" Warrick began as Catherine strode up to the little boy.
"Whatare you doing?" Catherine ordered. The little boy shuffled.
"Nothing Miss. Catherine." He mumbled, avoiding her eyes. Grissom looked on in shock-it seemed like a completely different child.
"Don't you nothing me, young man! Why did you shoot my friend Warrick? You know that's naughty, Cayden."
"Acolmiztli told me to." The little boy whined.
"Who?" Catherine demanded.
"My real daddy."
Catherine raised her eyebrows. "Cayden, your daddy is in prison."
The little boy suddenly reverted back to his previous self and he laughed in Catherine's face. "You know nothing!"
"I know more than you think."
"Then do you know that Sara Sidle is currently being shoved into the trunk of a tiny sports car at gunpoint by Heracles?"
Catherine scoffed. "Sara Sidle is in the print lab, I saw her five minutes ago."
Cayden laughed. "Think again, Miss. Catherine."
Grissom's phone rang, and for a moment he ignored it. Remembering the last message left on his phone, Grissom glanced at the caller and his spine started tingling.
Sara Sidle calling.
Grissom picked up his phone. "Sara? Is everything okay?"
"Grissom? Jesus Christ Grissom, I'm...I'm in the trunk of a car!"
"What?" Grissom cried, his blood running cold as Cayden began to laugh.
"God, Griss, is it so hard to handle?" Sara hissed. "I just got shoved into a sports car trunk in the crime lab parking lot. A...Toyota Supra I think. Grey, no licence plate. That I know of."
"Out of the parking lot? Where the hell was Nick?"
Sara let out a choked sob. "I don't know. His car was gone. Grissom, I don't know what to do. I'm sure it's the same people that took Greg. They tricked me Grissom. They tape a recording the back of the car, it was Greg..." Grissom could hear the broken shame in Sara's voice. "He was calling me, Grissom. But it was a recording."
"Okay, Sara. Hang on, hold on, I'm getting Archie now. We are going to find you, and Greg, and Nick, don't panic, don't panic."
"Hypocrite."
Grissom laughed sadly as he ran through to the AV lab, where he found Archie. "Archie, trace the phone calling my cell phone, now. Sara has just been kidnapped from the parking garage."
Archie had had his head buried in his hands, but when Grissom said that, he jumped up and began typing as fast as he could. Grissom could hardly see what he was doing.
"He's using a signal jammer, boss, I can't do anything." Archie's voice sounded devastated.
"Okay, okay, Sara. Sara are you still there?" Grissom cried.
"You can't get a trace." Sara's voice was quiet but accepting.
"Sara, just...just hang in there." Grissom didn't know what to say. He wasn't a people person.
"Grissom, I think I have to hang up...I don't want the guy to know I have my phone..."
"Good call, Sara, hang on, okay?"
"I'm hanging on." She said quietly. "But, please, Grissom, I don't want to be a crime scene."
Grissom felt like screaming to high heaven as his connection to his lost CSI was broken.
CSIVCSIVCSIV
Nick pulled up outside the Chamberlin's Warehouse. He was confused as to the location, it was only half an hour out of Vegas, and he doubted that it was the best place to keep a hostage. On the other hand, if it was where Greg was, Nick wouldn't care if they were on the strip or in Alaska. As long as Greg got home safely.
A small part of Nick's brain was protesting to get the hell out of there and save his own skin. There was no doubt in his mind that staying was not going to be good for his health. But Nick's heart refused to do that. Family ties ran deep in Nick's blood, and he was not one to abandon family.
Leaving Texas had been a hard decision for Nick – he loved his family deeply and was proud to say that he had a close relationship with each of his two brothers and four sisters (not an easy feat in a family of seven) not to mention his mother and Cisco. However, two very successful parents and six very successful siblings meant a very big shadow hanging over Nick's head. The expectation and judgement were more than Nick could handle.
Nick realised at that moment how he had created his surrogate family around himself, after moving to Vegas. Lacking his blood relatives, the team had transformed in Nick's mind slowly but surely into a family he felt just as close to and comfortable with as his true family in Texas.
Greg's blood may not run in Nick's veins, but he was Nick's brother all the same.
As Nick climbed out of his car, he clutched his gun tightly. He felt strangely alert as he cautiously entered the warehouse. His eyes picked up every detail of the derelict warehouse, his nose unearthing an out of place floral scent, and his ears noting music. Music?
The warehouse was large but empty, with a small table in the middle. Lying on the table was a yellow, red and blue tape recorder, and a song that sounded vaguely familiar to Nick was playing out loud.
"She was driving last Friday on her way to Cincinnati
On a snow white Christmas Eve
Going home to see her Mama and her Daddy
With the baby in the backseat."
Nick frowned. Next to the recorder was a bunch of fresh pink flowers. Nick recognised them as Oleander, a beautiful, sweet smelling but deadly plant. They had been used in a suicide that Nick had investigated a year before.
"Fifty miles to go and she was running low
On faith and gasoline
It'd been a long hard year
She had a lot on her mind and she didn't pay attention
She was going way too fast
Before she knew it she was spinning
On a thin black sheet of glass."
Lifting the flowers up Nick found a large metal key. With a gloved hand, the picked it up and inspected it. A small old paper tag hung from the end. On it was written in red ink, 'Third door from the right.'
Glancing to the end of the room, Nick watched the five doors carefully, and counted the third from the right.
"She saw both their lives flash before her eyes
She didn't even have time to cry
She was so scared
She threw her hands up in the air..."
Nick tried the key in the lock, and slowly pushed the door open. Suddenly the music intensified as he stumbled into what looked like a security guards office. The whole wall was covered in screens, one large one in the middle surrounded by smaller ones.
"Jesus, take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
To save me from this road I'm on
Jesus, take the wheel."
As the chorus of the song ended, the volume dropped and on the middle screen a man appeared.
"Mr. Stokes. Tut, tut, tut. Did your supervisor not tell you to stay with Sara?" he leered.
"Where is Greg?" Nick asked, taking a gamble that the man could hear him. Apparently he could.
"That, Mr. Stokes, is for me to know, and you not to find out. Not for a while anyway."
Nick's anger bubbled dangerously, and his voice shook when he demanded. "Where the hell is Greg?"
"Ah, Mr. Stokes. You should listen to the song. You like country, right? It's Carrie Underwood. Can you let Jesus take the wheel, Mr. Stokes?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Nick spat, losing his patience.
"Can you put your faith in God to save you and Greg? Can you let Jesus lead?"
"Look," Nick's voice broke. "I want to find Greg!"
The man sighed impatiently. "Fine. Look, he's right behind me."
Nick squinted but the background was black. As he opened his mouth to complain, another screen flickered to life. Greg's pale face filled the screen, and if Nick had to guess, he would say his friend was lying down. His brown eyes flickered open and he blinked twice at what Nick assumed to be the camera.
Nick couldn't help but smile slightly as Greg rolled his eyes into the back of his eye in an obvious groan. Then his eyes focused on something behind the camera, and they lit up with something. Nick couldn't tell if it was hope or sorrow.
"There, see Mr. Stokes? You can see him, you can hear him, he can see you and he can here you. Aren't I kind?"
"Greg?" Nick called hesitantly, unable to tear his eyes from the screen.
Greg swallowed. "Nick. You gonna come get me sometime or not? The rest of the kids got picked up hours ago."
Nick laughed hollowly. "Sure, kid as soon as mommy brings the car home." It broke Nick's heart that Greg still felt ashamed to simply ask for help unless he was forced to, but he knew that embedding his pleas within a joke was how Greg did things.
"Now, Nick. If you want to see Greg again, I suggest you go back to Vegas, onto the strip. Then-"
"Nick, what's the time?" Greg interrupted. The man scowled.
"Mr. Sanders-"
Understanding immediately that Greg needed something, he replied. "Ten thirty am."
"Mr. Stokes! Do not speak to him unless I allow you to, or I will hurt him." Nick could see Greg counting on the screen, but he didn't know why. "Now, Mr. Stokes. Go to the strip, straight past the crime lab-"
Suddenly Greg's eyes lit up in horror. "It's been half an hour." He muttered. Then he started to yell. "NICK! IT'S A TRAP, NICK THEY'RE GONNA GRAB SARA! THIS IS A TRICK, TO TEMPT YOU AWAY FROM SARA, TO GET HER ON HER OWN! HELP HER, NICK, GO, GO!"
Nick looked at Greg, shocked, and despite the man's angry roars, Greg kept shouting. "THEY'RE GONNA TAKE HER FROM THE LAB, SHE'S NOT SAFE!" Greg grunted and was cut off. A hand slipped over the camera and a smooth male voice drawled, "I got it, sir."
"No!" Nick cried as the screen went black. Trusting Greg he fumbled for his cell, but the man stopped him.
"You are too late Mr. Stokes."
A familiar parking lot came into view on one of the other screens, and suddenly every screen lit up with an image of the same place, but from different angles. The lab's security cameras.
Nick watched helplessly as Sara walked towards a Silver Toyota Supra. "No!" he moaned, as she was shoved into the back.
"It's all your fault, Mr. Stokes. Had you not gone to Mr. Sanders' house, you and Mr. Sanders would not have been burnt, and Sara Sidle would still be safe and sound. If only you had followed protocol, Mr. Stokes. Now two of your friends are in danger. It's all your fault." The man laughed and the screen went black."
Don't listen to him, he's a psycho! Nick's brain screamed.
But it was a broken Nick Stokes which sank to the floor, clutching his cell phone, a single phrase reverberating around his head.
It's all my fault.
AN. The song at the end was Jesus Take the Wheel by Carrie Underwood. Please leave a review if you can!