"At least nobody shoots at us and it's not a safe." Sara sighed. If they had just open an ordinary safe, she would be disappointed now.

"A small room." Sofia's head was through the door and the rest of her body followed it. And a door. Looks like this is a double protection. You come through the safe, you've to get through the door next."

Brass followed her through the safe door, not as elegant as Sofia.

"You think we'll be safe in there?" Sara asked Grissom.

"We're in a safe, where else do you think we'll be safe?"

"Malibu Beach?" She climbed through the whole.

"Open sesame." Sofia turned the doorknob. To all their surprises the door wasn't locked.

"Too easy." Brass said. Inch by inch Sofia opened the door. All they could see was a white wall.

"Shoeprints on the floor." Grissom mumbled. Somebody had been here recently.

"I hope there are not forty thieves waiting for us." Sara got her gun ready.

"Hallway's clear." Sofia was out of the small room. "There's a staircase."

"Not the way to the promised land but to the second level."

"I like your sense of humor, Grissom." Brass took the lead. Step by step they climbed up to the second level. It seemed like the place behind the safe door was for nothing else than entering the second level. No other doors, no windows, only a small one on the second level.

A new door was waiting on top of the stairs. Brass and Sofia got ready, she opened the door, he stepped in. He was barely in the room when a bullet flew through the room and entered the wall only inches away from him. Immediately everybody was down.

"LVPD, get your guns down!" No answer. Instead a new bullet flew through the room, this time it hit the door and ran through.

Brass got his radio and called for back-up when some more bullets made their way through the door.

Sara looked at the wall. It was a wooden wall, a bigger gun and their protection was gone, like the door.

"I'll get in there." Without waiting for an answer Brass jumped from behind the door behind a desk, that was a yard away from the door and returned the fire.

"Get the officers in here." Sofia's words were addressed to Sara and Grissom, but only Grissom moved.

"Sara, get down with Grissom."

"What are going to do?"

"I've got three shooters in here." Brass called.

"I'll follow…" The loud crack let both dove to the floor, Sofia on top of Sara, protecting the investigator, who held her arms and hands over Sofia's head to give her some protection. Not a bullet, a big rock was only two foot away from them. Where the hell got they a rock from? They were in a room and not in the Rocky Mountains.

"You're alright?" Sara asked.

"Yeah. Get the hell out of here, Sara."

"What about you?"

"I'll go in. Go. Now!" She pushed Sara down the stairs. Sara hesitated.

"Sofia?"

"Sara please, don't…"

"Take this one if you have to go in." Sara took off her bullet proof vest and handed it to Sofia.

"You stay down."

"Promise." She saw Sofia putting on the vest. When the detective closed it, Sara was down the stairs, trying to get out of the way of the two officers, who were coming up.

"Three shooters according to Brass." She told them.

"Thanks."

Grissom was in the little room, on the phone, calling for back-up. Sara heard the bullets, she heard people yelling but when Brass's words entered her ears, she felt like the whole world stood still and didn't hear anything anymore; only the echo of his words.

"Officer down!"

It was too early for the two officers, they just arrived, he must talk about…

"Oh my god! Sofia." Before she could turn and ran upstairs, Grissom had her arm and pulled her towards him.

"You can't go there, Sara."

"They need help."

"You can't go there." He repeated.

"Where's your vest?"

"I…I gave it to Sofia."

"Get the hell out of here, Sara. Now."

"I have to…"

"Get out! Get the back-up in."

"An ambulance."

"I called one already when I came down, they'll be here soon. Get the back-up in, the sooner the police has stopped the shooting, the ambulance can help Sofia." He pushed her through the hole, making sure Sara left the room before he went up himself.

When Sara left the house two black and whites stopped. Remembering that she wasn't wearing her CSI vest anymore, she held up her badge.

"They're upstairs." Not that the bullets didn't tell them. "You need to take the last door left and climb through a hole in the wall.

"Thanks Ma'am. Stay clear, please."

"There's an officer down." It didn't sound better when she repeated that. A broken window over her let her jump. And Sara wasn't the only one who had jumped. Through the window came a man, clearly not an officer. He landed on hands and legs, moaned and didn't move for a second before he started to crawl.

"You stop right there or I'll shoot." All she needed was the thought that this maybe had shot Sofia and her voice was very calm and very dangerous. He looked up. Sanchez.

"Senorita, you don't…"

"Don't move your hand an inch more or I'll blow your head away." She saw the gun on his leg. A security gun, like the police wore it.

"You don't shoot anybody."

"No, not anybody, but a man who sells women to wealthy perverts." The ambulance arrived, but Sara didn't hear them, nor did she hear anything from above her. She was focused on this man, ready to shoot as soon as he moved.

Sanchez sensed that too and didn't move.

"Tell me, did you shoot the officer?"

A little smile appeared on his face but was gone when a bullet entered the ground an inch from his left hand away.

"No."

"Liar." Sara loaded her gun

"I didn't, it was Albarez." He yelled out, obviously in panic.

"You get on your stomach, slowly, hands in front of you and if you move in any kind of way I don't like, I'll shoot you like your friend shoot the officer and believe me, with an officer down, no one in the law enforcement will give a second thought about a dead rat like you." She waited until Sanchez was lying on the ground, grabbed his hands and cuffed them behind his back.

Grissom came out of the house.

"We need the EMTs in here, officer down and two suspects." The EMTs ran into the house. What if they were too late? What if they couldn't help Sofia anymore? What if they needed to carry her out of the house? There was no space, they couldn't move her from…

"Sara!" Grissom shook her. "Get the sledgehammer out of the car, we need to make the hole bigger." He got Sanchez, pulled him up and got him towards one of the police cars.

Sara woke up out of her rigor. Grissom was right, she had to do something. With the sledgehammer in her hands, she entered the house, a police officer coming out of the safe door.

"May I?" He took the sledgehammer and started to enlarge the hole. The wooden wall was thin, he didn't need much time to get a big hole in it. Sara slipped through and flew more up the stairs than she ran them. She tried to prepare herself for whatever was waiting for her, but she knew, it was impossible. She hadn't been prepared when she saw Greg on the ground after his attack, no matter that Sofia had told her, he was alright, everything in her had been broken when she saw her younger friend lying there in his own blood.

There she was, there was Sofia. She was on the stretcher, an EMT next to her.

"Sofia." Sara got on her knees. There was no blood, nothing that looked like it belonged to Sofia. But why didn't she move? Why was nobody doing anything?

"She's alright, Sara." Brass was sitting on a chair, the other EMT on his left arm.

"What happened to you?" He had his own blood on him.

"A bullet gazed me, don't worry, I'm used to worse."

"Sofia?"

"Sara?" Sofia's voice was thin. The blonde opened her eyes. Pain was in them, but she was alive.

"Officer, can you give me a hand, we need to bring her down."

"I can walk…I think."

"No, you can't. Stay there, we'll take care of you."

"What happened?" Sara asked.

"She took two bullets, she'll be fine."

"She took bullets!"

"In the vest." The EMT smiled lightly. "She'll be alright, we get her to Desert Palms to make sure she didn't get anything else."

"Don't forget to bring some chocolate when you come and visit me." Sofia pressed Sara's hand for a second. Then the EMT and one of the police officers got her up and carried her out of the room.

"And Sara?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

For the first time Sara had a look around. Two men were on the side of the room. They were stretched out long on the floor and didn't move. Further in the room, in a small corner, were two women sitting, trembling and didn't dare to move at all. Sara recognized them from the photos.

"Albarez and Cassias are dead." Brass clenched his teeth when the EMT sprayed something on his wound.

"What about them?"

"They're alright."

Sra got up and walked to the women. Full with fear they tried to hide in their corner.

"They brought you into the country. I saw photos of you. Two weeks ago, right? Who are you? Where are you from?"

No answer.

"They don't speak English." Brass informed her.

"Nobody will hurt you anymore." She got on her knees. "You're safe. Do you understand?"

They obviously didn't. Sara sighed. She had no idea where they were from and even if she'd know, she didn't speak any other language than English.

"Sara?" Grissom was back.

"Yes?"

"Come on." She got up. "What about them?"

"I called somebody from the immigration office, they'll bring an interpreter."

"We don't know where they're from."

"They'll know what to do." He got his arm around her and guided her slowly out of the house.

"This is a crime scene, we have to process it."

"Dayshift will come in. We go back to the lab."

"But…"

"Sara, we won't process this scene, they shoot at us, we're out. Get in the car."