CHAPTER 14

Sara stands beside the small truck, flexing her legs and feet, glad to be standing after such a long time of sitting bound in the car. Nash stands in front of her, giving her that glare she has feared for so long... the 'if you do one thing to piss me off' look. Then he holds up a finger, silently ordering her to stay where she is before he walks off towards the ATM machine at a branch of her bank.

Sara had been able to convince him to stop at this branch by claiming she had security on her account that would not let her card be used at non-bank locations. Nash had never been very smart about technology so he did not question how Sara had been able to control her debit card usage in such a way. Sara's bluff had worked and she was now standing in front of a branch's outer ATM bay that was well lit with a functional camera that had not been vandalized in some way.

She quickly looks around, rising up onto her toes to stretch her legs as she gives a fleeting thought to making a run for it right now. They were off the strip in a residential area and at just after midnight, the foot traffic was minimal. The vehicle traffic on the road was sporadic at best and she knew he'd be on her before she was able to flag down anyone to help. Instead, she opts for her original plan... the plan that brought her to this ATM where she had a chance of at least getting a last message out to her team. The best CSI's in the state were looking for her and would eventually examine her bank account activity... if they haven't already.

Nash returns, looking around suspiciously before grabbing her by the arm and pulling her with him towards the machine. His frustrations over the past days was about to end when Sara withdrew the money they needed for their trip home. He'd tried numerous times with no success to access her account so when she told him of the security measures she put on her card, he had readily believed her.

He places her in front of the machine, standing behind her, but close enough to watch the transactions. Sara's other lie to Nash had been when she explained she could only withdraw two hundred dollars at a time. She would have to stand here and make several transactions in order to get the money he was demanding and that would give her the time she needed to implement her plan. Luckily for her, Nash had always been a nervous talker and as they had driven around the city tonight, he'd let his exit plan from this city slip out. Sara knew her only chance was to get that information out to Grissom and just hope he saw it soon enough to intercept them.

"Do it!" Nash thrust the debit card at her and Sara took it, moving as slowly as she could while making it appear that the machine was slowing her down. With Nash standing behind her, looking over her shoulder, he could see the screen in front of her, but he couldn't see her hands positioned next to her body. Sara took a deep breath and prayed she remembered all the classes she took in sign language last year.

She'd taken the classes after learning of Grissom's hereditary hearing loss and the surgery that only bought him time before the inevitable deafness overtook him. She had been worried that he would further push those he worked with away if he could not communicate with them and she didn't want to be one of them. Now she takes a shaky breath and begins to slowly mold her fingers into the letters and symbols she recalled from her classes.

Her efforts were interrupted several times as she proceeded to make the cash withdrawals. Nash quickly leaning around her to grab the cash as it came out of the machine, then step back to let her conduct the next one. Sara kept up her efforts, signing the same message over and over again until she was sure she had gotten it right. Then, when she knew she had accessed her account for the maximum this machine would allow her to withdraw, she signed once more, this time with a personal message for Grissom.

When the cash came out again, Nash grabbed it and stepped back, but Sara didn't move to start another one. He quickly shoved her shoulder, "Quit stalling! Do it again."

"I can't. The bank only allows me to do six transactions in a twenty-four hour period."

Nash quickly counts the twelve hundred dollars in his possession and grumbles , "This this is barely enough to get us to the state line."

Recognizing the stress in his voice which was usually a warning of violence to come, Sara quickly placates him. "I can get more... tomorrow, Johnny. I promise."

His response is to roughly grab her by the arm and spin her around to face him. He glares at her for a moment, all the while squeezing her arm tightly in his grip until he saw her flinch. "You better be right." Jerking her again, Nash leads her back to his truck; unaware that the silent eye of the camera was recording their every move.

Back in the lab, Archie continues to monitor Sara's bank activity since it seemed to be the only link to their location. He'd sent an emergency subpoena to Sara's bank, getting authorization to monitor her accounts and to be alerted to any activity on them.

Not wanting to miss anything, Archie decided not to go home at the end of his shift. Instead, he pulled a cot out of storage and set it up in a corner of his lab to get some rest. He was just drifting off to sleep when a loud series of beeps alerted him to new activity. Archie shakes the cobwebs from his brain and hurries over to the computer monitor to check on it.

The activity was far outside their search area, which was strange, but still within the 'slingshot' theory of operation for Nash. He grabs his notepad and begins to make notations of the time and place when another alert tone startles him. The card was used a second time and he quickly jots down that information as well. It was done at the same location and before Archie can pick up the phone to call Catherine, a third series of impatient beeps fills his lab.

Greg had been walking by, just arriving back to the lab with the evidence he was tasked with processing from the motel room they located during the search. Nash and Sara had checked out of the run down little motel, but they knew there would still be valuable evidence left behind. The sound of loud beeps comes from the lab floated out into the hallway, but it is the expletive from the normally reserved A/V tech that catches his attention.

"Holy Shit!"

Greg pops his head into the A/V lab to see Archie frantically trying to write with one hand while dialing his office phone with the other. "What's up, Archman?"

"I'm getting hits on Sara's debit card! They're coming in one after another... it's crazy, Greg. I'm trying to call Catherine to let her know, but the alarms are coming in every few minutes. I don't know if it's a system glitch or what?"

Greg steps up to the work bench and glances down at the five notations Archie has made on his notepad. He sees the same location on all of them and realizes what is happening. He knocks Archie's hand away from the phone and quickly dials Catherine's cell number.

"Yea, Cath... yes, I'm at the lab. Archie's getting hit after hit on Sara's debit card. All the same location at 97404 W. Sundance Boulevard. It's a branch of Sara's bank." He listens as Catherine quickly relays the address and information to the command post lieutenant. When she returns her voice is quick and intense due to her excitement.

"Pull that video, Greg! See what's going on at that ATM!"

"On it. Looks like she's buying us some time by making multiple small withdrawals of two hundred dollars each."

"Then we have to act fast because the bank's computer will freeze her out if she does too many attempts within a twenty-four hour period. How many do we have so far?"

"Five..." Just then another alert tone sounds in the lab and Greg looks to Archie for confirmation. "Make that six, Catherine. Another one is coming in right now."

"Okay, Greg, work with Archie and pull everything you can. We've got units on the way over there, but its way outside our search grid. The closest unit is probably fifteen minutes away at the least."

He hears Catherine talking to someone on her end of the line and then it goes dead as she disconnects the phone in her distraction. Greg turns to his friend and raises a questioning brow, "So wanna take a guess on how far away from that ATM they'll be before the closest unit can get there?"

Grissom was standing next to Catherine when the call came in and he knew by her urgency it was something big. The address she called out to Lieutenant Justin Davis did not ring any bells with him other than a realization that it was far away from where they were circulating after the shoplifting report came in two hours ago. Desperation fills him as Nash has once again managed to keep himself and Sara far out of his reach. And not only his reach, but the combined efforts of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, Metro Police and the Las Vegas Sheriff's Department who was assisting with the search.

How could a man who, by Sara's limited description, had never even completed high school be so clever at staying under the radar? Was he more devious than they were giving him credit for? Or was he simply a witless thug as Sara portrayed him that had the luck of those itinerant street people to operate underneath the veil of decent society?

When Catherine snaps her phone shut, she is already relaying what Greg told her to Davis and Brass. Grissom knows he is supposed to be hands off on this case, but he moves in close to listen to the information anyway.

"Okay, people, listen up! New information. Sara's debit card is being used multiple times at a branch of her bank out on west Sundance. Looks like he's slingshotting again. We have the video being pulled now and from the pattern it looks like Sara is trying to buy us some time by doing small withdrawals over and over again."

"Why would she do that? And do we know its Sara doing the transactions?" Davis may have been the tactical leader, but financial investigations were something new to him.

"No, we don't, but up until now, all attempts to use her card by Nash were unsuccessful. We have to assume that because these transactions are going through; Sara is the one doing them. Also, Nash has never tried more than one or two attempts before he takes off. There have been six withdrawals at the same ATM, one right after another."

"She's either trying to buy us time by staying there longer, knowing we would monitor her accounts... or she's trying to trigger her account to be frozen so the bank will alert to the suspicious activity."

Everyone has turned to listen to Grissom's explanation, but it is Catherine who once again takes control and finishes his thought. "Either way, we need to get there as soon as we can because when that ATM stops spitting out money, Nash will disappear again with Sara."

She puts a hand on the arm of her friend, feeling him tremble as the frustration of the moment overwhelms him. She guides him away from the group of officers who are now on a mission to coordinate a dragnet around the latest sighting of their quarry.

"You okay, Gil?"

"I... I don't know, Catherine. I've never felt so lost... so out of control."

"Well, then we need to get you back into your comfort zone. There isn't much we can do out here now and they'll notify us if they find anything. Lets head back to the lab and take a look at the video Archie is pulling on this."

Grissom gives her a partial smile, grateful for her understanding of his emotional state. He definitely was not helping anyone by hanging around out here. He needed to be in his comfort zone and right now that meant being at the lab... overseeing and monitoring every aspect of this case. She gives Brass a quick wave and heads up they are heading to the lab and his responding smirk tells them he couldn't agree more.

Archie and Greg have downloaded all of the ATM surveillance footage as well as the other two exterior cameras for that branch office. It had taken a phone call to a very sleepy and irate bank manager, but after hearing the circumstances he had given them the remote access code to download the footage.

By the time Grissom and Catherine walk into the A/V lab, Greg and Archie are watching the third of six segments of video. This portion shows Sara standing in front of the ATM, appearing nervous and fidgeting with her hands. They can see Nash hovering over her shoulder and as soon as the cash is dispensed, he pushes forward to grab the money as if afraid Sara will keep it from him.

"Man... he's pretty intense."

"Yeah, look at how he grabs the cash, like it's going to disappear if he doesn't get his greedy little hands on it right away."

"Not intense, Archie... desperate. The only thing keeping him in the Las Vegas area is a lack of funds needed to get out of here." Grissom's voice makes both techs turn around sharply.

"Which would mean... our chances of locating them just got a lot slimmer, huh?" Greg's comment drew angry glares from his co-workers. No one wanted to admit that the sand had almost run out of the hourglass window they were operating in.

"Archie, que them up again for us. We want to see them all from the start."

"Okay, but they're all the same so far. Sara is doing the transactions while Nash hovers behind her to grab the cash."

"Sara seems... off. I can't explain it, but she just looks different and she acts very un-Sara." Greg tries to redeem himself by contributing his observations to the discussion.

"Greg, it's been a long day. What exactly does 'un-Sara' mean?" Grissom had no patience for the usually entertaining musings of his newest field agent.

"Uhm, well... she just doesn't act like she normally does... you know, confident, carefree?"

"She's been kidnapped, beaten and who knows what else! And you think she should be acting confident and carefree?!" Grissom's anger at this comment is upstaged by Catherine's angry outburst at the young CSI's stupidity.

"NO! I mean... well, watch the video... you'll see. She's fidgeting, nervous... it just isn't like her."

This time, Archie jumps in to agree with Greg by nodding his head and then pointing to the screen as the first clip begins to play. Archie and Greg stay back at the work bench while Catherine and Grissom step forward to get a better look at the large plasma screen. They watch the first three clips and Catherine is about to agree with the two lab techs about Sara's behavior. She was definitely not acting like Sara.

"Wet? ... blue?" Grissom is squinting at the screen, even though the image is nearly four feet wide on the huge plasma screen. "Archie... stop the tape, run it back to..." Archie does as instructed, "There! Stop... play it forward at half speed."

Grissom again squints at the screen, but this time, his hands are in front of his body mimicking the movements Sara is making on the screen. The others watch him, not sure what to make of his strange behavior.

"Wet, maybe... then I think she's saying blue... but I can't understand the rest."

"You mean her hands? Gil, is she using sign language?!" Catherine is shocked to notice that now with new eyes, she too can make out the slow and deliberate movements of her hands. Sara was not nervous or fidgeting... she was trying to give them a message!

"Yes, but I can't make out all of it. Archie, start again, from the first clip and play them all at half speed for me." He steps closer to the huge screen and ignores the whispered comments from the two young techs who are discussing their lack of knowledge that Sara even knew sign language.

After several minutes, Grissom turns around and sighs heavily as he admits he can only detect a portion of her cryptic message. "I... I just can't make it out. Either she's not fluent enough in ASL to be making sense or she's afraid to draw Nash's attention and is being too careful not to let him see her hands moving."

"It's probably a little of both. None of us even thought Sara knew American sign language." Catherine is as shocked as the other two techs, but doesn't voice her opinion as to why Sara would have gone to the trouble to learn it.

"Actually, Catherine, there are three main types of sign language. ASL is only one of them, but for the layman it's the most common. And before you say it, yes... I am aware she probably learned it for me."

Archie and Greg exchange a grin, having just realized yesterday that there was much more to Grissom and Sara than a working relationship. Catherine gives the two a stern glare before focusing Grissom's mind back to the task at hand.

"So, what is she trying to tell us?"

"I don't know, Cath. All I can make out is 'wet' and 'blue' and some numbers, 'one, six and zero'."

This time when Greg opens his mouth, he actually has something worthwhile to contribute. "Hey! What about a direction? West... not wet. And a street? West Blue Diamond Road! It turns into highway one sixty when it leaves town heading out to Pahrump. Could that be what she's trying to say?"

"Archie run it again, from the fourth clip, please." Grissom turns to watch it again with new insight into the vague movements of her fingers this time. He nods and points to the screen. "Yes! I believe she is trying to sign diamond, there!"

"AMEN!" Catherine fist pumps the air for a moment at this breakthrough then flips her cell phone open with a flick of her wrist. Dialing quickly, she relays the information to their search command post. "Brass, we got something! Sara left a cryptic message on the ATM camera... in sign language. They're heading out of town on West Blue Diamond Road towards Pahrump."

"You're sure? Blue Diamond road? Okay, we're on it. I'll mobilize the Pahrump LEO's to shut down all exits out of town until we can get there." Brass snaps his phone shut and then grins down at it as Catherine's words sink in, "Sara knows sign language... whatta ya know."

Back in the lab, Catherine has hurried out to make the arrangements for the operation in Pahrump to ensure there are no holes left open for this slimy character to slither through. Grissom remains in the lab, just staring at the image of Sara on the screen as she continues to give them the discreet clues. When the last clip begins to play, Grissom gasps at the different message he sees repeated now. Archie and Greg look up suddenly, wondering what caused Grissom's response and they don't need to know sign language to recognize the universal gesture for 'I love you'. They silently step out of the room, giving Grissom some time alone with the closest thing he has to the woman he loves.