Nick carefully rolled back over so that he was face down, moaning as his body painfully protested. It took him a moment to breathe through it and prepare himself mentally to move. When he was ready, he pulled his right leg up, bent at the knee, and then pushed off with it. He felt his foot slip on the wet grass and mud, but it soon took hold and he was able to move a few inches. Another wind blew, and he shivered and looked at the cloudy sky, unable to tell where the sun was or what time of day it was. But he didn't need the sun to tell him. He knew. Night was coming.
"Catherine…listen…we've got a lead. It looks like they were heading to Caliente. Find out if anyone on that list of Becker's friends lives there." Gil Grissom sat at the table in Sergeant Lars Kinsey's office at the Indian Springs Police Department as he spoke on his cell phone.
"Got it," Catherine answered. She was talking on her phone as she walked the halls of the Las Vegas P.D. lab.
"Any word yet on ID'ing the body found in the truck?"
"No, not yet. Hang on." She entered the Audio Visual lab and gave Archie the new information. As he began searching records on the computer, she continued, "Okay…Archie's searching. We've got the P.D. up there on the lookout, right?"
Grissom sighed. "Yes…we do. It's a small town, but it would help to know what they're driving. What about the evidence Sara picked up?"
Catherine leaned against a table behind Archie, watching him work. "You know what I'm going to tell you, Gil. Becker's and Juarez's prints on the bottles, Nick's epithelials on the tape and his blood on the pillow."
She was right. He had known what the evidence would show, but he had to ask. "Okay…so we have proof now to implicate Walsh in helping them."
"Is he talking?"
"He was when I left them. I'm not sure how much help he can be as far as finding these guys though."
Archie turned toward Catherine with a somber look on his face, shaking his head.
She leaned over to look at the computer screen and followed his finger as it traced down the list of cities. Caliente was not on it. "Damn it!"
"What is it?" Grissom asked.
Catherine spoke into the phone. "There's no match, Gil…there's no one…" She stopped speaking as her voice broke. She took a few seconds to regain her composure, unwilling to let her supervisor think she might be losing focus or becoming too emotionally involved. Although how could she not be? Not only was a member of her team…a friend…missing and injured with no way to find him or help him, but she felt even more helpless having to stay in the lab instead of being out actively working the case. And she knew that Gil Grissom was not capable of understanding that.
Except that he was. He simply could not find the words to express it without betraying his own vulnerabilities, something he felt was not appropriate in a CSI, especially a supervisor. To examine evidence and solve crimes meant he had to detach himself from everything else involved…the why…the emotion…the people. Unfortunately, he had yet to discover a way to do that on the job only and not also in his personal life. As he gave Catherine a moment to collect herself, he tried to think of the right thing to say to her, finally coming up with, "I'm sure we'll find him."
It was not what she wanted to hear. "Find who, Gil? Becker? Yeah, I'm sure we'll find him too, but I don't give a shit about Becker!"
"Catherine, I…"
"Oh. You mean you're sure we'll find Nick? Is that it? Yeah…we will…lying dead somewhere out in the desert or shot and crammed into the next car we find! Jesus, Gil, the longer this goes on the less likely we are to find him at all, let alone alive! They aren't going to keep dragging him around with them! At some point…" She stopped her tirade as she noticed Archie trying to get her attention. "What is it, Archie?" she asked impatiently. But when she saw the information he had pulled up on the screen, her eyes grew wide. "Whoa."
"Catherine? What? What do you have?" Grissom asked.
"Hang on," she replied. "I'm putting you on speaker." She hit the button on her cell phone and laid it on the desk next to Archie. "Go ahead, Arch."
"Looks like we do have a connection between Becker and Caliente after all," the A.V. tech said. He punched a few keys on his computer and a photo of a dark-haired woman in her thirties popped up on the screen.
"His public defender," said Catherine. "Anna Mathis."
"What?" Grissom's voice rang out from the phone. "Why would he be going to see her?"
"Revenge?" asked Catherine. "For not getting him off at his last trial?"
"Oh, I don't know about that." Archie punched a few more keys and brought up a court document. "She might have gotten him off…just not at his trial. Take a look." He pointed to the screen.
Catherine began to read aloud. "A motion was filed for a mistrial when it was discovered that Ms. Mathis and Mr. Becker were engaged in a sexual affair. Mr. Becker refused to accept the agreement and be assigned a new public defender, although he did not deny the affair. He was subsequently convicted on all charges."
"Archie," said Grissom, "did Anna Mathis visit Becker in prison?"
"Checking now," he answered as he ran a database search. "Yep…looks like once a week starting right after the trial."
"For how long?"
"Up until…" Archie scanned the screen for the information. "…the breakout."
Catherine shook her head, disgusted. "We never thought a thing about it because she was his attorney. Damn it!"
"Okay, look…" Grissom spoke up. "Archie, get me the address. I'm going to go call this information in to the Caliente P.D. and state police and get them over there ASAP."
"Are you going up?" Catherine asked.
"There's no time." Grissom was already up and walking back to the dispatch room. "Depending on which way we go it would take three to five hours. They'll get him. They'll get him and bring him down here and when we're done with him he'll go back to High Desert." He arrived at the dispatch room and finished with, "I gotta go. I'll keep you posted."
His mother was calling him. But Nick didn't answer. Just a few more minutes, he thought as he lay in the grass on a hillside under his favorite tree. The other kids had gone inside as soon as it started to get dark, as was the rule in the Stokes' home, but he wasn't ready to go in yet. As his older brother ran toward the house, he had warned Nick that he would get into trouble, but he didn't care. He had to wait. It would take a little more darkness before he would be able to see it…Cygnus, the swan…a starry, brightly shining bird soaring across the night sky. He stared out from under the tree branches as one by one the stars came into view. The transformation was gradual, and yet he could not predict when or where each one would show. As he looked at one side of the sky, the other side would suddenly be dazzling with sparkling points of light and then he would look back and the other side of the sky would be trying to match it in brilliance and beauty.
His mother called again. She would not be happy that he was ignoring her, and she would be even less happy when he came inside with the back of his clothes covered in dirt and grass, wet from the evening dew. Come on, he thought, his dark, brown eyes scanning the sky looking for the bird. He figured he had one more call from his mother before the next call would come from his father, something he definitely did not want to happen. The summer crickets were beginning their song, soft at first, but as others joined in the chorus the sound swelled and filled the air around him.
He heard the back screen door slam again and his mother's voice ring out, more insistent this time…Nickyyyy! He sighed and sat up, brushing away the dirt and leaves that clung to his clothes, and slid a few feet down the wet slope on his bottom before looking up one more time. And there it was…the great swan's wings stretched out forming a diamond cross in the dark, blue-black sky above him. He smiled at it, satisfied, and stood up. He brushed the back of his shorts off and could smell the wet earth and grass as he headed down the hill toward the house with the brightly lit windows.
I'm on my way. Nick moved his head from side to side and tried to brush his clothes off, but his hands were underneath him as he lay on the ground, and they would not cooperate as he tried to pull first his right and then his left in front of him. He lifted his head and squinted in the darkness as he looked down the hillside, trying to find the windows. But there was only darkness. Exhausted, he lay his head back down and stared at the sky. Again he found only darkness…no stars, no moon, no swan. But the crickets were real, weren't they? He could hear them all around him singing loudly. And the wet dirt and grass beneath him…he could feel it…smell it. It had to be real.
He lifted his head again to look downward. She left…why did she leave? Was she going to get his father? He didn't care now. He didn't care who came looking for him or how angry they might be with him for being late, as long as someone came. But no one called for him. He should go anyway. He tried to sit up but felt a searing pain in his right side. He let out a muffled cry and lay back down, confused and frightened. Something was wrong. I should have gone in when the rest of them did. Were they going to leave him out here? He tried again to move down the hill, this time without sitting up, but agonizing pangs shot through his left leg, causing him to stop moving. He lay helpless on his back, gasping for breath and shivering, his dark, brown eyes scanning the dark, blue-black sky above, and he began to cry softly. Why hadn't he just gone inside? I'm sorry…I'm sorry.
Close to midnight, Warrick and Grissom sat in the break room at the Indian Springs P.D. sipping on cups of coffee.
"Why don't you grab some sleep, Warrick?" Grissom asked as the younger man yawned.
"Nah." Warrick finished up the yawn by shaking his head vigorously from side to side as if to try to wake himself up. "What about you?"
"Me?" Grissom raised his eyebrows along with his cup. He took a sip and put the cup down. "I grabbed a couple of hours earlier."
"Yeah…well." Warrick studied the small paper cup held between his two large hands, turning it around and around as he did.
"What is it, Warrick?"
"You missed the press conference this afternoon. They had it up on the TV earlier."
Grissom shrugged. "Sheriff Atwater doesn't have any more information than we do. I didn't feel the need to watch. Did I miss something?"
"He was just…I mean, it's his job. I know that. But man…" Warrick shook his head and looked at his supervisor. "He was all about trying to keep the panic down…making sure everyone felt safe, even though all the papers today were reporting on the body we found."
"Right. Well, like you said, that's his job."
"He didn't even mention Nick. After the conference, one of the reporters called out a question about him and Atwater…he just said the 'hostage' was still unaccounted for. He didn't even use his name." Warrick's eyes were blazing with anger. "This is the third night, Gris. You know he's not with them anymore. They'd be crazy to take him this far with them." He lowered his head and looked down at the table.
"We don't know that. They kept him inside the trailer with them the first night and then took him with them. They could still have him." Grissom leaned over, trying to make eye contact.
Warrick shook his head and still did not look up. "Okay then…second night…second night that we don't know if he's inside somewhere with them or if…Jesus."
"Come on, Warrick, we…"
"The guard…Keller…" Warrick interrupted. "The one killed at the prison. They have his funeral yet?"
Grissom nodded, confused by the sudden change in subject. "Yes. This morning, actually. Why?"
"We had…uh…in a cooler in the SUV…we had his ear. Did they happen to…?"
"Yes. When Sara and Catherine got everything back to Vegas, they made sure Doc Robbins got it."
It looked as if a huge weight had been lifted off of Warrick's shoulders. He let out a deep breath and nodded. "Good…good."
"Hey! Guys!" Jim Brass' voice broke the mood as he came into the room, snapping his cell phone shut. Both Warrick and Grissom stared at him expectantly, waiting to hear what he had to say. The captain grinned. "They got him! They got Becker. State police are on their way down here with him now. Should be here in about four hours."
The two men continued to stare at him until Warrick finally said, "And?"
Brass knew what he wanted to hear. His smile faded and he let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Rick. He wasn't there. There was no sign of Nick or of Juarez."
Warrick glanced at Grissom as if to say "I told you so" and then looked back at Brass. "Was there anything there? Any clues? Any evidence?"
"Well, Becker was there with the woman…Mathis." Brass helped himself to a cup of coffee and then sat down at the table. "They were…uh…in bed…when the cops broke in. She's been arrested for harboring him, but I don't think she knows anything else. They found a car there…plates say it belongs to a Louie Boardman from down in Goodsprings."
"He could be our John Doe," said Grissom.
"Probably," agreed Brass. "State police are checking with his relatives, and the car's being towed down to the lab garage for processing. It was full of a bunch of…well…it looks like he was out on an alien hunt."
Warrick leaned back in his chair. "Huh. Well, that fits with where the car was found…out near Area 51. That means they must have been heading north through that area up to 375 and then on over 'til they hooked up with 93 to Caliente."
"That makes sense," agreed Grissom. "But we still don't know if they took Nick with them the whole way."
"Or Juarez either, for that matter," said Brass as he got up to refill his coffee cup.
"At least it narrows down the search area to along those roads," said Warrick hopefully.
Grissom frowned. "It's still a pretty big area, Warrick." When the CSI shot him an almost pained look, he quickly added, "We'll find him. We'll get the information from Becker. We will."
"Damn right we will." Warrick leaned back and tried to hide another yawn.
"Go ahead and get some sleep before he gets here, Warrick. A few hours at least. I have a feeling once we talk to him we aren't going to be resting for awhile."
Now we're getting somewhere, huh? :-) I hope you enjoyed this one! Thanks so much for reading and please leave a review to let me know what you think! I really appreciate it!