Flashback- Chapter 12
Grissom's team gathered around the lighted table in the layout room. Standing on the opposite side of the table stood Captain Bower. He carefully lay out a photograph of a marine sergeant in battle gear on the table.
"This, ladies and gentlemen, is a photograph of Sergeant Mark Petersen just recently returned from Afghanistan. Sergeant Petersen is, rather was, a member of the Marines Special Operations Force, specifically Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance. He and his team were on a deep recon mission near the Afghan-Pakistan border. Here are several satellite and area photos of the area in which this particular recon mission was conducted," said the captain as he spread several photos out before the team.
Catherine studied the photographs and looked at the captain. "This terrain looks remarkably similar to Red Rock Canyon."
Sara opened the case files on the Red Rock Sniper and murder. She laid out the crime scene photos taken of the area next to those taken in Afghanistan. The photos compared favorably to the boxlike nature of the canyon area and the vegetation was similar. Except for the unique red hues of the Red Rock Canyon sandstone cliffs, one might think he was looking at the same canyon and terrain.
Catherine, with one hand on her hip and the other leaning on the layout table, asked, "Okay, the terrain is similar. Why do you think Petersen has our two guys?"
"Can I see all your photos that deal with the sniper case? Also, I'd like to see the photos of your two missing men. I have a hunch about this," replied the captain.
Sara proceeded to lay out all the photos including those of the bodies of Smithson, Harmon, and Swensen.
The captain examined the photos closely, giving special attention to the pictures of Swensen.
The captain looked at the team of people gathered around him and pointed to Swensen's photo.
"I'm pretty sure that Petersen took care of this man here," Bower continued, "His neck was broken and his death was instantaneous. I'm sure that your coroner will confirm this."
Shaking his head, Bower pointed at the photos of the two officers, "Petersen didn't kill these men."
"How can you be so sure?" asked Greg, "He is military trained and the person who shot Smithson had to be a pretty good aim."
"Petersen was trained in special ops. He was part of an elite team of men who were trained in undercover and intelligence gathering operations. It's considered a "green operations" detail in which they do not engage directly with suspected enemy targets unless forced to do so. If Petersen needed to neutralize any targets, he would have done it like the man with the broken neck where death is instantaneous. Stabbing and shooting are not necessarily instantaneous."
Conrad Ecklie stepped up next to Catherine and asked point-blank, "Okay, let's not beat around the bush. So this specially trained special ops marine has gone off the deep end in the Nevada desert. He's got two of my men and he's shooting up anything that moves. Is that what you're telling me? What can we do to find him and get our two guys back?' asked the assistant director.
Captain Bower regarded Conrad Ecklie for a moment before deciding on a reply.
"Sir, if Petersen doesn't want to be found, you won't be able to find him, no matter what kind of trackers you have out for him. Tell me, since this sniper has been shooting, has anyone been injured or killed?," said Bower carefully.
Catherine spoke up, "No, the only dead body we have is the original murder up Red Rock Canyon, which we have confirmed could not have been the sniper. The suspects of that murder are in custody."
"So this nut case is out there as a threat to general public and there's nothing that we can do about it?" hissed an incensed Conrad Ecklie.
Captain Bower straightened up and said forcefully, "Sergeant Petersen is not a nut case, and I would prefer that you not refer to him as such. You do not realize this man has had to live through. He's a hero in my eyes, and needs to be treated as such. As your own investigator has reported, save the one man, no one has been hurt or injured. Believe me, if he wanted to take people out by shooting them, he could have easily done so. I don't seriously believe he is a real threat, but he does need help. That's why I'm here- to see if I can help resolve this."
"I apologize, Captain, but YOU need to understand that the lives of two of my men are at stake here. One of them we are sure is injured quite seriously. Now what kind of information can you help us with that can resolve this situation," Ecklie fired back.
Having observed the proceedings without comment, Jim Brass stepped forward.
Placing both hands on the layout table, Brass leaned forward. In a voice that commanded everyone's attention, Brass said calmly, "Gentlemen, this isn't getting us anywhere."
Turning to the naval captain, Brass laid the department photographs of Grissom and Nick in front of him.
"Captain, these are the two men we believe are with Sergeant Petersen. We are fairly certain that this gentleman," said Brass, pointing to Grissom's picture, "is the one who was injured…."
Bower held up his hand to stop Brass and stared at the picture of Grissom and then looked back at the police captain. "This is one of the guys that Petersen has?"
"Yes, why?"
The psychiatrist opened the file and thumbed through the papers inside. Finding the pair of photographs he was searching for, Bower laid one of the pictures next to the photo of Grissom.
The people gathered around the layout table carefully scrutinized the picture he had just laid down. Staring at them was a young man with piercing blue eyes and short medium brown hair, cut military style.
Clearing his throat, Bower pointed to the picture and said, "This is Lieutenant William Murphy. Umm. the lieutenant was a linguistics expert and part of the deep recon mission Petersen was assigned to."
"Except for the obvious age difference, the lieutenant could pass for Grissom," whispered Sara with wide eyes.
Bower nodded solemnly. "The lieutenant was fluent in multiple languages, one of which is Farsi. His job was to infiltrate the local villages and gather intelligence on movement of the Taliban. The area in which this recon mission was assigned was trying to track the hijacking of vital medical supplies meant for these local villages. To lessen suspicion among the locals, the lieutenant was "aged," and he wore dark brown contact lenses. It was felt that an obviously younger man coming into the area would create more questions than were necessary so this was the result."
The captain took out the second picture out of the folder and carefully laid it next to the picture of the lieutenant. The similarities between the "aged" version of the lieutenant and Grissom were striking. Everyone standing around the layout table let out a small gasp. Dressed in garments native to Afghanistan stood a man of medium height with a gray and dark brown beard.
"Captain Bower, so you think the reason why Petersen didn't leave Grissom and Nick behind was that he thinks that Grissom is this Lieutenant Murphy?" asked Catherine incredulously.
"I think so. I think that something happened to Petersen about two weeks ago that triggered a flashback," speculated the naval captain.
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," said Brass, "uh, Captain, that's quite a flashback this guy is experiencing. Is there something more that we need to know about?"
"I've been working with Petersen for a couple of months now. The sergeant has been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. A case such as his is very rare and fairly extreme. He was under a tremendous amount of stress for a prolonged period of time. I thought he was making significant progress to the point that I allowed him to have a pass and visit his family near Baker, California. He never arrived, and we've been searching for him ever since."
"Okay, he's been missing for a couple of weeks which coincides with the appearance of the Red Rock Sniper. How is this going to help us with getting Petersen into custody and getting Grissom and Stokes back," interjected Ecklie.
"For whatever reason, I think that Petersen is reliving the trauma from that mission. I'm speculating that he really believes that your Grissom is Murphy."
"But what about Nick?" asked Greg, "Where does he fit into all this?"
"The only thing that I can figure is that he thinks that your Nick Stokes is one of the locals that Murphy had developed a relationship with," said the captain. The psychiatrist debated whether he should reveal the rest of what happened, but Jim Brass beat him to it.
"Look, Captain Bower, let's just cut the crap here, okay? You've fed us piecemeal information about Petersen. Give us everything so we know what we're dealing with. You said you want to help resolve this and get our men back. If that is true, then give us everything. Can we contact the rest of the men on this team, including Murphy? Maybe they can help us," demanded Brass.
The naval captain solemnly shook his head, "The rest of the team is on another recon mission in Afghanistan. Petersen was sent stateside along with Murphy. At the present time, neither man will be returning to Afghanistan any time soon. Petersen, pending treatment and his recovery will be re-assigned. Murphy didn't make it. He died from the injuries he sustained within a week of be rescued. His injuries were just too severe."
Sara gripped the edge of the table, taking a moment to process what the captain had just shared.
"What does this mean in getting Grissom back alive?" she asked. Though her voice was just above a whisper, everyone at the table heard the question.
Bower looked directly at Sara and said truthfully, "I don't know. The best chance we've got is to try to recreate the whole scenario Petersen faced in Afghanistan."
After reaching the top of the bluff, Nick kneeled near the edge and reached down to grab Grissom from Petersen's arms. Even with Petersen hefting Grissom's limp body up above the edge, Nick had a difficult time pulling the man all the way up to safety. Grissom had mercifully passed out and so did not consciously feel the rough handling up the cliff's side. Nick glanced briefly down the distance they had climbed in awe of, not only the distance, but the steep incline they had managed to climb. Sunrise had finally come and he could see the terrain they had managed to climb up. The CSI shook his head in amazement. It would have been difficult enough trying to make it up the rock face on his own let alone hauling a semi-conscious man between the crevices and boulders littering the incline.
Groaning softly, Grissom allowed himself to be carried in Nick's arms to a nearby boulder where the younger man gently set his boss down on the soft sand.
Despite the warm early morning, Grissom shivered uncontrollably. "Nick, why is it so cold? I…I'm so cold," Grissom whispered in a shaky voice.
Nick quickly slipped off his own vest and put around Grissom. Then he sat down next to the injured man and carefully pulled him up against his chest, wrapping his arms around Grissom. The younger man rubbed Grissom's arms, careful of the injured left arm, in an attempt to warm the man up.
Petersen finished climbing up over the lip of the ledge and peered down the rock face. It looked as though they had not been followed during the night, and the marine visibly relaxed. He crawled over to the boulder where Grissom and Nick sat.
Slowly, Grissom's shaking lessened, and his breathing evened out, though the man was still straining for each breath.
Speaking to Grissom, Petersen said in a low voice, "I'm sorry that we had to take the long way around, but I had to make sure that we weren't being followed. Just a short walk over there, Murph." He pointed in the general direction of a short ridge facing back towards Red Rock Canyon.
Feeling the warmth from Nick's body seeping through him, he gathered strength from his young protégé. Grissom nodded slightly and croaked, "Then you'll let Nicky here go back to his people, right?"
Petersen gave Nick a brief glance and nodded back to Grissom, "Murphy, I know you're worried about them locals finding out about him, but it'll be okay. As soon as we get there, he's free to go, like I said. Why…why are you so antsy about this?"
Grissom felt the tension in Nick rise, but ignored it.
"Just concerned about his safety, that's all, y'know?" said Grissom softly.
Nick carefully sat up straighter and stared in the direction to which Petersen had pointed. He saw nothing but brush growing along and against the ridge. He had expected to see some kind of structure or shelter in the distance, but instead, just the desolate desert landscape lay before them.
Petersen stood up and dusted off his legs, suddenly energized by the fact that they were so close to their destination.
"Murph, are you ready to go then or do you need to rest a little longer?"
"Give…me…a minute. I just need to catch my breath, okay?" ground out Grissom between clenched teeth.
"Fine…fine, Murph. Take all the time you need, but I don't like being this exposed," said Petersen. "I'm going to scout a little bit, just to be sure that we aren't walking into a trap."
Waiting for Petersen to move away, Grissom asked, "Ni…Nicky, do you see where Petersen wants to take us?"
"Griss, all I see is a another ridge a little ways away, but it looks like there's not much of a climb to get there. Looks like we're into the next box canyon that parallels Red Rocks," said Nick is a soft voice.
Pausing for a minute, Nick cleared his throat, "Hey Grissom, I'm not leaving you. No way, man."
Grissom shot back as forcefully as the pain would allow him, "If you don't go and get help, I don't think that I can wait until this guy comes back to reality…and if he does, there's no telling what he will do. Do you want that?"
Nick was adamant. "Let's…let's cross that bridge when we get to it, okay? Save your strength. Maybe we can figure something out in the meantime."
Grissom, too tired and in too much pain, conceded for now. Both men raised their heads as they heard Petersen return.
"The way is clear. Tell Nic here that we need to get going. My Farsi is too rough. I don't think that he fully understands me when I tell him directions," Petersen said quietly to Grissom.
Grissom held his breath, unsure what to do. Through his various contacts through entomology conferences, he had a learned a smattering of various languages. He understood most of what Petersen had conveyed to Nick but his own knowledge of Farsi was indeed limited. The other unknown was whether whatever he said to Nick would be translated to Farsi automatically in Petersen's mind. An idea formed in Grissom's mind and he turned to Petersen.
"Petersen, Nick here understands some English. You can tell him in English what you want," rasped Grissom, hoping that the man would believe him.
"He does? Why didn't you tell me that before, Murph? Does he understand everything that we're saying?" asked Petersen.
"I would say he understands a lot more than you think, Petersen," said Grissom quietly.
Petersen considered Nick for another minute and then slowly said in a loud voice, "We're going over there. It's not far."
Nick gave Grissom a look and then rolled his eyes. "Right, whatever you say," mumbled Nick, bending down next to his boss. "I think that I preferred when he thought I didn't understand any English," he whispered to Grissom.
"One thing at a time, Nick," Grissom whispered back as he grasped Nick's shoulder while being pulled gently to a standing position.
With the world spinning around him, Grissom clung tightly to Nick's shoulder to avoid losing his balance.
"Hey, you doing okay?" Nick asked.
"Jus…just give me a minute for everything to stop spinning. I'll be okay in a sec," panted Grissom.
A couple of minutes later, the three men made the slow walk to the low ridge. The ground was rocky and uneven, but at least they did not have to climb over boulders or go up and down any steep inclines. When they got close to the ridge, Nick realized that they would still have to climb to get to the base of the cliff if that was where they were headed.
They soon made their way to a seemingly solid rock wall that formed the highest part of the ridge. As they approached, Nick could only discern thick vegetation along the foot of the cliff.
Looking questioningly at Petersen, Grissom asked in a low voice, "Is this it? This is the rendezvous point?"
Petersen gave him a strange look and asked, "You don't remember this place at all, do you? That hit on your head must have made you forget. You're the one who discovered this place."
The marine made sure that Nick had a firm hold of their injured companion and then walked to the base of the cliff. Climbing up the incline to the creosote and sage growing along the rock wall, Petersen pulled enough of the vegetation aside to reveal the opening of a cave.
Grissom cast weary eyes up at Petersen and groaned. Though the cave opening looked to be only some fifteen to twenty feet above them, it might as well have been fifteen hundred to two thousand feet above them. Petersen was eagerly motioning them to follow him up.
Nick gave Grissom a questioning look.
"Griss? You want to try to make it up there? It's a pretty steep climb. Wait. Petersen's coming down now. I don't think he's going to give us a choice."
Grissom remained silent, trying to muster enough strength to either talk Petersen out of the climb or to just try to control the pain and throbbing enough to make the climb up.
Both Nick and Grissom watched Petersen as he slid down the steep escarpment.
Slightly out of breath, Petersen said in an encouraging tone, "Murph, I know it looks like a rough climb to get up there, but I've got a comfortable place for you to rest. There are medical supplies up there which will fix you up until it's time to go. We're too exposed out here. With the sunrise, it's going to be heating up soon and the sooner we can get you to a cooler place, the better."
Grissom nodded his head in acknowledgement and squeezed Nick's shoulder.
"Let's just get this over with so Nick can leave," gasped the injured man.
A/N: Happy New Year everyone. I go back to work tomorrow which means that I probably won't be able to post as often. The reviews are much appreciated as they have encouraged me to keep going. As always all mistakes are mine. becky