DISCLAIMER:Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it.
RATING: T – Teen (language and adult issues)
PAIRINGS: GSR & Yo!Bling pre-established in previous fics of this timeline.
SPOILERS: Sequel to "Displacement" and "Transitions"
SUMMARY: Everything is changing around Nick Stokes. Can he deal with it, and how it will affect him in the end?
A/N:This might be coming along at a faster pace for a while, seeing as I have just joined the ranks of the unemployed. :p
REVIEWS: Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.
Chapter 25
10:00 – 2006.12.11
Lost Gringo Mtn. State Rec. Area: Cormier Trail
They had been driving around the winding paths for almost two hours, and Nick was beginning to think the place was a never ending maze. He had no idea how the woman could possibly know where she was at, let alone where she was going with all the turns and twists and steep grades they traveled on in those two hours. He was about to say as much when he felt the cart coming to a stop.
Looking around for a reason behind their pause, he finally noticed the very large, fallen limbs blocking the path from any further progress. Shutting down the cart, the Doc climbed out and went to the back to retrieve something. When he watched her pull a small chainsaw out, he shook his head and jumped out of the cart.
"Don't worry about it… I can clear it." He instantly moved toward the blocking offenders when he heard a disgusted noise coming from behind the cart. Looking up he asked, "What?"
"What makes you think I can't handle it myself?"
Nick choked back the smart ass comment that was threatening to spew forth and instead countered with, "Oh, I'm sure you could, but the fact is, I am here and instead of causin' a huge ruckus with that chainsaw, I figured I could throw my back into it and keep the critters from gettin' anymore spooked than that cart's already done." He waited to see what she was going to do or say and when she dropped the chainsaw back into place, he leaned down and lifted the limbs up and then out of the way. "One of my sisters is an environmentalist of sorts, and she's always tellin' me that the underbrush and fallen trees are important parts of the ecosystem, so, whenever possible, I should leave 'em intact."
As he dragged the branches off to the side of the path, he thought he heard her huff at his comment, but decided to let it drop as she climbed back into the cart and they proceeded forward up the path.
The area they were entering was rapidly becoming very dense with brush and timber. They also appeared to be continuing upwards at each turn, making him believe they were also climbing in altitude. Off to the right he saw what looked like a clearing, and just before they headed off around another bend in the path something else caught his eye. It was colorful, and shaking with the breeze up in the trees.
"Hey… What's over that way?" He pointed in the direction of the flapping, colored fabric and Dr. Desmaiseaux stopped the cart. She put a small, folded map on her lap and then brought the compass out of her shirt pocket with her left hand.
After a bit of careful consideration, she announced, "That would be in an almost direct line with the research site, along one of the typical debris paths from the rainfall." She scanned the treeline where he had pointed and then remarked, "Hmmm… I thought it would have been along a different vector, based on the condition of the body and the plant matter retrieved, but this area could also be a viable access zone."
Nick watched as she pulled out a pocket computer and took a reading off of the GPS unit mounted on the dashboard. After the Doc input a few things into the computer she came back with, "Actually, this is probably a perfect location for a drop… Or at least a possible overshot drop, since the clearing is a little further along the path."
Nick was intrigued by the idea of a clearing, "How far along?"
The Doc shrugged and said, "Just around the next bend, actually… Probably get us closer to that chute as well. And less walking is always good."
"You think that's a chute?" Nick was confused about how she could have jumped to that conclusion.
"Well, you're certainly not going to climb up there to leave such a colorful piece of fabric, and it looks to be light enough it never would have gotten that high from the ground with the way the wind whips down through these trees, so it had to come down from above the trees and a parachute is the only thing that makes sense." She put the cart back into gear and started off down the path again.
When she stopped the cart again, he realized just how right she had been, since they were standing almost directly next to the tree containing the chute material. Immediately upon looking up along the tree, Nick spotted the tell-tale marks of a gun blast. From the number of shots and the size of the holes in the bark, he figured it was probably their MAC-10. Looking around the ground surrounding the tree, he quickly found a few shell casings. He grabbed his kit from the back of the cart and pulled out some forceps and a few bindles to retrieve the casings. Hopefully they could get some prints off of the casings.
As he was bent over, collecting as many of the casings as he could find, the Doc started looking around as well. "Ah, you might want to check this out."
Nick dropped the last casing into a bindle and sealed it as he walked toward the Doc's voice. "What've ya got?"
She pointed at the ground where some tire tread marks were and said, "Those are from a dirt bike. At least 200cc's, judging from the depth and width of the tracks."
Shaking his head in confusion, Nick had to ask, "So, what's the big deal about that?"
Huffing in her obvious frustration with him she said, "Well, since there's no motorized travel on these trails, I'd say that's a big clue."
Finally understanding her, Nick retrieved a bag of the casting compound and shook it up to get a good cast of the treads, just in case they were able to locate the bike that left them. As he waited for the compound to harden, Nick decided to follow the treads and see if they led to anything else. It was not long before something down in the gully beside the trail caught his eye.
"I think I just found the getaway car." As he spoke, he could hear the Doc hobbling over to his side to look down hill.
She looked back and forth between the tree containing the chute, the tire treads and the ditched mountain bike at the bottom of the gully. "Hmmm… Probably a safe bet, since I haven't heard any reports of lost bikers in the area for over a month."
Nick hopped over to the cart and grabbed his backpack, strapped to his shoulders and then leaned over to tighten his shoelaces. He was interrupted by the Doc asking him a question. "What are you doing?"
He continued tightening up his laces as he shrugged off her question, "I'm gonna go get that bike… It's evidence."
Shaking her head in disgust she replied, "Like hell you are… Evidence or not, there's no way you can just hike down into that gully."
"Why not? It looks like it's less than two hundred feet, and it's not too stee-"
"Look, Wild Bill, it's got nothing to do with the distance or the grade. That's loose scrabble soil, and the recent fires in the area have made the erosion even worse around here." She was leaning against her crutch with her left arm and gesturing in a loose manner with her right arm. That was when Nick saw that her right hand was balled up into an atrophied clump. "Within five steps, you're gonna find yourself two hundred feet down in a real hurry, ass over tea kettle the whole way."
Nick huffed at her analysis of the situation, but he knew he had to get that bike. "Well, you got any other bright ideas on how I can get that bike? 'Cause I can't leave here without it."
She looked back and forth between the edge and the cart. "Yeah, gimme a sec."
He watched as she limped back to the cart, started it up and repositioned it so that the front end was pointed at the ledge, directly above the discarded bike at the bottom. When she climbed back out of it, she left the cart running, which confused Nick until he watched her kick on the winch attached to the front end and let out a length of the cable.
"Grab the rope in the back… We'll make you a harness and I'll lower you down with the winch." Nick instantly went to get the rope and when he got back around he handed her one end of the rope as he fashioned a harness for himself with the other end, leaving a trail of rope that he could fasten to the bike for lifting it out of the gully.
After she had pulled the slack rope up into the winch she went to check on Nick's progress with his harness. "How're you doing with that?" Inspecting his work, she gave the length of rope a test tug and satisfied herself with his proficiency. "You've done this before?"
"I've done a little climbing." Nick was pleased that he managed to remember everything his brother taught him when he used to take Nick climbing in his younger days.
"Okay, go down backwards, and watch your footing… I'm telling you, that ground is not stable." Her final admonition gave him cause to give her a sarcastic look.
On the way down, after having lost his footing three times, he felt a little foolish for having questioned her analysis of the situation. His bashful smile and the thumbs up he gave her as he finally reached the bike was his tacit apology for having doubted her expertise.
He had brought a few tape lifts with him down into the gully and he proceeded to print the bike, hoping they would yield something useful. Once he was satisfied he had gotten all he could, he strapped the bike into the makeshift harness and gave the Doc his signal that he was ready to head back to the top.
Nick felt the slight tug of the winch driven rope and immediately began to carefully climb his way back up the gully. Being much more careful after the missteps on the way down, he managed to make it almost all the way up the gully, with the bike dangling below him, without a single incident. Within a few feet from the top, that was about to change.
Suddenly and without any warning, the ground below his feet gave completely away, thus causing the ground above that spot to fall away as well, forcing him to fall back and dangle upside down from the rope, his head banging alternately into the ground and the bike. There was dirt falling all around him and covering him in a thick coat of debris, making it hard for him to even tell which way was up. Still blinded by the falling dirt and rocks, he almost missed the hand that was thrust down to him, but eventually its existence registered to him and he grabbed for the hand, instantly righting himself once more. Once right-side-up, he scrambled and found some tree roots to grab hold of to steady himself further. Once on his feet again, he felt the pull of the winch and began to claw his way up the last few feet to the edge.
Just as he made it over the edge, he saw Dr. Desmaiseaux unstrapping herself from the bumper of the cart as the bike was pulled up from the edge by the winch. Nick suddenly realized that it was the Doc's hand that found him to bring him back from the edge and that information left him speechless.
The only acknowledgment she gave about the incident was a simple statement, "I told you that soil was unstable." Nick could only nod his head in agreement as the stupor descended upon him. She did her best to change the subject quickly when she asked, "So, did you get what you needed?"
Nothing else was said about the incident, and Nick went about processing what he determined to be his primary crime scene. Photos were taken, the cast of the treads was bagged, and he managed to find a few pieces of oddly stained paper at the base of the tree. He also collected a small sample of blood from one of the bullet holes in the tree trunk, and if he could tie it to his victim, then he would be certain of the primary scene location.
After bagging up all of his evidence, Nick looked once more up at the chute wafting in the breeze, way up in the tree branches.
"Got a problem?" The Doc's voice interrupted his glance.
Looking back down and directly at her, he said, "Yeah, but there's no way I can get up there to fix it."
She climbed back up into the cart and stowed her crutch once more. "Take a look in that crate in the back… Should be something in there to help you out."
Nick found the crate and discovered there was a pair of climbing spikes and one of those thick straps he had always seen in the lumberjack competitions on ESPN between football seasons. Without even thinking, he let loose his sarcasm for the first time that day, "Lemme guess… These are yours, too? Is tree climbing one of your many talents?"
The Doc fought back an oddly unsettling smile and said, "Nah… That's what undergrads are for."