"You're not going to see him, Greg," Miss Parker said as she tracked Greg down one of the hallways.
"I don't see any other alternative, do you? Does Sydney know where they're located?" Greg asked and when Miss Parker sighed, he knew his answer. "I have no other choice."
"Raines was the man responsible for Sara's training?" Nick asked. He and Grissom were trailing close behind.
"Yes. And he's the only one we have right now who can tell us where the Triumvirate is headquartered and just maybe he can also give us some insight on why they, after all these years, targeted Sara." Greg stopped mid-stride, Miss Parker nearly running into him. "Hell, they didn't even attempt to search for her when she first escaped. For some reason they only wanted Jarod." Miss Parker dipped her head. "Why was that?"
"I don't know. I never did find out."
"Enough!" Grissom said. "I don't care about the reasons why anything was done. I just want to get Sara back and out of this mess."
Greg, feeling totally reprehensible, quietly acknowledged the truth in Grissom's words. It really didn't matter why.
"Where is this Raines, anyway?" Nick asked.
"He's in federal lock-up, at an undisclosed facility," Miss Parker supplied.
"I'm going to interview him, ask what needs to be asked and then get back here. In the meantime,-"
"I'm going with," Grissom said, interrupting the younger man.
"So am I." Nick added.
"We can't all go. Raines will feed on our frenzy to find Sara. If we keep this to a mere interview, we'll get the information without a lot of riddles along the way," Greg argued.
"Nick?" Miss Parker asked while looking the young man over from head to toe, he nodded, so she continued, "I could use some help making arrangements for travel. But Greg, I think that if you really feel you have to do this then it would be wise to allow Mr. Grissom a chance to meet Mr. Raines."
Nick glanced from one man to the other and then nodded in agreement that he should stay behind. Immediately, Greg and Grissom continued on down the hallway, while Miss Parker and Nick retraced their steps to the staging arena.
As he followed Greg, Grissom thought about Sara, here, in this cold, unloving, sterile environment. The DSAs he had viewed in Acapulco had shown glimpses of what might be hidden behind these closed doors. Although, he now guessed that the DSAs were actually filmed in other, deeper areas of the building, far away from the main entrance.
Sara had grown up here, had become the woman she is today even after living in such a world for so many years.
She was the strongest person he'd ever known, and yet she'd still been taken from him. If he didn't get a handle on his fear, and his heartache, he wouldn't be of any use to her, just as Greg had predicted on the plane. This was a case, it had to be, he had to detach and look at this as he would any other case.
"Where are we headed?" Grissom finally asked.
Greg pointed to a door on the right, directing Grissom to enter, without stopping. They went through the door while Greg explained that he needed to grab a few things. Grissom then realized they'd left Vegas with only the clothes on their backs.
"We were in such a rush, Nick and I didn't have a chance to bring anything along," said Grissom.
Greg stopped his rummaging and roared with laughter. "That's what she was doing."
"Who?"
"Miss - Parker," Greg stuttered through his laughing. "I wondered why she was taking such a long look at Nick. She was sizing him."
"Do we need to stop somewhere?" Grissom asked, still not understanding.
Greg shook his head. "No need, we have a storehouse of uniforms, suits and… other necessities. Miss Parker will see to Nick, I saw her looking him up and down while she directed us. I just didn't realize until now why she had." Still shaking his head and chuckling, he continued to gather a few items in a large duffel bag. Finishing quickly, he dropped the bag next to the door and they headed out. "We'll sort you out when we get back."
It was an hour in the air and two hours on the ground before they reached the compound. After three secured gates and several hallways, they finally reached the interrogation room. They stood before the one-way glass window, watching as the much older Mr. Raines was led in and sat at the lone table in the room. He wasn't handcuffed or chained and he was no longer dragging an oxygen tank behind him. It had been the last image that Grissom had of the man from a picture Jarod had shown him.
They entered the room, both showing the confidence that neither actually felt. The bile rose up in Grissom's throat at the sight of the man, and he yanked his chair back, drawing Greg's attention. One look from Greg reminded him to treat this like any other interrogation.
Mr. Raines' gravelly voice filled the air with, "What can I do for you two gentlemen?"
Grissom eased back in his chair and watched as Greg introduced them and started asking him about his time at the Centre. They were benign questions, nothing leading, vague in the extreme. Until he asked the one question Grissom had been waiting for, "Do you remember a young girl, her name was last known as Sara?"
Mr. Raines remained still for several moments until Greg asked again, "Did you know her?"
"I knew a Sara. She's dead. Died over 20 years ago," he replied carefully.
Greg pulled out a manila envelope, carefully opening it and then slipped out a photograph which he laid in front of Mr. Raines. "Is she really?"
Mr. Raines stared hard at the photo, his eyes narrowed and his back suddenly became ramrod straight.
"That was taken only three months ago, in Acapulco. By Jarod."
Grissom hadn't seen this picture but he recognized the setting. It was on the beach just down from the lounge where he'd gotten his first glimpse of her on stage after she'd left Las Vegas. She was wearing white linen slacks and a white, crepe textured blouse. Her hair was pulled up off her face, curls dancing in the wind. He wanted a copy.
"It's not possible. She died when I…" he trailed off, almost forgetting himself. "She died in an accident at The Centre."
"I'm pretty sure she didn't," Greg scoffed.
Mr. Raines stared at Grissom then at the younger man asking the questions, "I believed her to be dead. Why are you here?"
This time Grissom spoke, "Another… terrible accident has happened to her. She was abducted last night by a small army. She was quickly knocked unconscious, and then injected with… something. We'd like to know what you know about it."
Mr. Raines laughed at them, looked around at the room and nodded toward the window, "I don't get out much these days. I don't have any information."
"But you do," Greg started, "We believe your bosses were behind this abduction. And we want to know where they would take her."
Mr. Raines' smile slowly slid off his face. The mention of the Triumvirate sobered him quickly. "If the Triumvirate are involved, don't bother. She'll already be too far gone for you to reach."
Greg shook his head, not about to accept that they wouldn't be able to retrieve her. "We've tracked them, on a flight to Hawaii. We're assuming they're heading for Africa."
Mr. Raines sneered, "You know what they say about assuming…" Greg shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "But in this case, you'd be correct."
Grissom leaned forward over the table, his voice nearly hoarse and asked, "Where are they taking her?"
He wasn't overly intimidating to Mr. Raines. The only two people ever to fully intimidate him were Miss Parker and Jarod. He stared blankly back at the man who seemed overly invested in Sara's kidnapping. Under other circumstances, he wouldn't even have been speaking with these two men. In this instance, however, he learned he'd been lied to about one of his most challenging projects. He had believed Sara dead for so many years. When the Centre was raided and overtaken, he thought he had glimpsed an image of her amongst the invasion force. Now he knew for sure. And damned if the Triumvirate would lie to him and he not be able to repay them for their deceit.
"Jarod is missing also," Greg offered as incentive.
Mr. Raines blinked and then steered his gazed back to the younger man. "They don't have him. I don't know where he'd be, but he was chased too long for them to ever get the upper hand. Sara, on the other hand, never had to. She gained normality in her life and with that she became negligent."
"Until the normality was stripped away from her," Grissom countered. "She was recently tracked and trapped by someone else you should know... Mary Jane. And now Mary Jane is dead, at the hands of the Triumvirate."
There was no emotion on Mr. Raines' face. It just proved to Grissom that all the pain and terror he put these kids through was only a job to Raines. The man was incapable of human emotion for anyone other than himself. So Grissom was sure it wasn't remorse that motivated him to divulge useful information on the Triumvirate. It was revenge.
"If it was the Triumvirate, they'd have taken her to their headquarters. It's hidden away and buried deep within the Congo. They do have an airstrip, but if you attempted to fly in, they have their defenses…" Grissom and Greg sat back and listened as Raines continued to tell them what he knew of their headquarters.
After they left the building and began the long drive back to the airport, Greg pulled out his cell phone and called Sydney. Grissom listened as Greg asked the other man what he thought of what Mr. Raines had told them. When Greg finished his call, he told Grissom that Sydney agreed on both accounts as he'd already told Miss Parker. Jarod was more than likely free and somewhere doing research or verifying whatever it was he had already found in his search of the Centre. If the Triumvirate had Sara, as he believed they did, then yes, they'd head straight for home.
An hour later, they pulled over for gas and Grissom went inside. While he was gone Greg called Jackson and filled him in on what they were able to extract from Raines'. When Grissom returned, he clicked his phone shut but not before Grissom heard Greg say, "We'll meet you there."
"Sydney's coming in?" Grissom asked.
"No." Mouth twisted wryly, Greg eyed the older man, his eyebrows waggling. "Are you caught up on all your travel inoculations?"
"Miranda Quinn."
"Hi, Miranda. How are you?"
"Oh, hi, Uncle Bobbie, it's good to hear from you. I'm doing great. How've you been?"
Robert Quinn sat back in his chair, swiveling around to look out his office window, the enthusiasm in his nieces' greeting warming his heart. "I see my reference letter helped. Are you enjoying Las Vegas?"
"Oh, yes. We've had some very interesting cases lately. And one of the team's former investigators returned for a couple of days. But you know, it's suddenly very tense here. Mr. Grissom and Nick have disappeared."
"Disappeared. Really? Have they been abducted?"
"Oh, no. They've been called away I guess, on another case. And the former CSI, Sara Sidle. I guess they went with her."
Mr. Quinn swiveled his chair around and leaned forward on his desk, suddenly very interested. Sara Sidle. He knew she was in Las Vegas. He also knew she'd had a relationship with Mr. Grissom, and Nick Stokes. And now all three were missing. No information had been passed onto him by his contacts, officially or unofficially.
"Uncle Quinn?"
"I'm sorry, Miranda. Something just came across my desk. I guess I got distracted. You were saying."
"I was just saying that the case must be big. The tension is so thick here that it could be cut with a knife..."
Mr. Quinn half-listened to the rest of her conversation, his mind now elsewhere, and his hands typed quickly on the keys of his laptop. It didn't take long to learn that Jackson Haisley along with A.B. Stiles and Terri Lowell were unreachable.
TBC. . .
Please Review!
A/N: I have 2 very wonderful beta's and forgot to say thank you to them on the last chapter. So, thank-you Freddie and Danielle for all the help and listening to me ramble on and on about my fic. It really helped me get through the lack of motivation.
