A/N: Could I end it here? Never! One more "Grave Danger" chapter after this one. Not that that's the end of the story, just of this arc.

Thanks for reading and reviewing! Enjoy!

I don't own CSI. Inspiration and some dialogue are borrowed from episodes 524 and 525, "Grave Danger" (Volumes 1 and 2). Sadly, I don't own Google. Oh, how my student loans would be paid off. And, finally, I don't own Superman, either, but I'd love to date him. :-P


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The drive to the drop site wasn't long, but it was nerve-wracking. Grissom was sure he had never been the one to transport so much money before; that alone was rather daunting. Then, there was what he would face upon his arrival to consider…

In all the years of his career, in all the kidnappings he had investigated, he had never once suggested that a family pay the ransom. It went against everything his training and years of experience had taught him. He could scarcely believe what he was about to do. But, this time the rulebook didn't matter. Nick was what mattered. He just wanted to see Nick safely back with his friends and family.

Grissom reached his destination, a forbidding, rather creepy, abandoned warehouse. It was in the middle of a desolate stretch of desert. Its secluded location made it seem like the perfect place to bury a live person – or a dead body, for that matter – without anyone noticing. As he climbed out of the car with the bag of money and walked toward the warehouse, Grissom looked around with practiced eyes. Any patch of earth that looked disturbed could be where Nick was buried. Unfortunately, he could not find what he sought. Based on his cursory search, Nick was not here.

He finally made it to the entrance. He slid the door open and slowly walked inside, taking off his sunglasses. He glanced around and saw the white SUV Warrick had been tracking on the traffic cameras. At least they had gotten that right. He put his sunglasses in his pocket and pulled out his flashlight, turning it on so that he could see better in the dim room.

"Las Vegas Crime Lab," he called into the cavernous building.

"Through the door," a man's voice called back.

Grissom, carrying his flashlight in one hand and the money in the other, slowly walked across the first room and through a narrow door into the second. A man sat behind a desk, staring at a laptop. Grissom's stomach clenched as he realized that Nick's kidnapper was probably watching the same webcam video that his team had been staring at all day.

"Very quiet outside," the man commented. "It almost sounds like you came alone."

"I've got your money," Grissom said.

The man stood up. "Put it down," he commanded.

Grissom set the bag down on the floor.

"Slide it over," he instructed.

Grissom gave the bag a kick that sent it sliding across the floor.

The man finally stepped closer; Grissom could see that he was an older man. His thinning gray hair was combed neatly, and his button-up shirt and jacket made him the best-dressed kidnapper Grissom had ever met.

"You're telling me there's a million dollars in that bag?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"Along with some cute little booby traps? Which is it – a tracer, a dye pack, er …?"

"Normally, you'd be a hundred percent right, but, this time you're a hundred percent wrong," Grissom said. "We want Nick back; no tricks."

The kidnapper crouched down to open the bag. He pulled out a stack of bills and looked at it, chuckling softly. "This looks real."

"It is real," Grissom said calmly. "Where is Nick?"

The man straightened up again. "You know, I was under the impression that it was against departmental policy to negotiate with terrorists."

"Are you a terrorist?" Grissom asked.

"Depends," the man said, shining his flashlight in Grissom's face. "Are you terrified?"

"Look, I don't really want to talk to you," Grissom said, his patience running thin. "Where is my guy?"

"Oh, so … he is your guy, huh?"

"Yes, he is. Where is he buried?"

"Are you two close?"

"That's none of your business," Grissom said, impatience slowly turning to anger.

"What does Nick Stokes mean to you?" the man asked. "How do you feel when you see him in that coffin? Does your soul die every time you push that button? How do you feel knowing that there's nothing you can do to get him out of that hell? Helpless? Useless? Impotent?"

Grissom stared him wordlessly. That was exactly how he felt, but he wasn't going to give this man the satisfaction of knowing that.

"Good," the man said, guessing Grissom's unsaid answer. "Welcome to my world."

He unbuttoned and opened his jacket to reveal explosives strapped to his stomach. Grissom's mouth dropped open. No, no, no, it was not supposed to happen like this! Grissom had turned over the money, now he was supposed to turn over the hostage! Panic raced through Grissom. He had to stop him – if he killed himself, he would kill their last chance of saving Nick …

Before Grissom could say a word, before he could even begin to dissuade the man from what he was about to do, he picked up the trigger switch for the explosives.

"Ah … if I were you, I'd back up a little," he said.

Silently, already feeling the effects of the shock that was seeping through his system, Grissom took a few steps back.

He pressed the button.

The force of the explosion threw Grissom backwards. He landed flat on his back on the hard floor. When the sound had stopped, he slowly sat up. Blood was spattered all over the room and Grissom, and money was flying through the air. Nick's kidnapper was gone, literally blown into a thousand pieces.

Grissom drew gasping breaths. What would they do now? Their one link to Nick was gone … how would they ever find him?

Slowly, slowly, he climbed to his feet. He swayed slightly as he surveyed the damage. Poor Catherine had gone to such lengths to get the ransom money … Ecklie had even begged the mayor for it … Warrick had tracked an SUV for hours on surveillance video … Greg had searched through stacks of files looking for suspects … Sara had processed the life out of fake evidence … Nick's parents had come all the way from Texas to see their son alive again, not to watch him die via webcam …

Grissom took a deep breath and swallowed. He had to pull himself together. At the very least, he had to get help.

He took out his cell phone and pressed the button to talk to dispatch.

"Dispatch, this is CSI Grissom," he began. "I'm at the site of an explosion …"


Sara stood in Grissom's office for quite some time, trying to compose herself. Once she felt that her emotions were firmly reined in, she returned to the A/V lab. Warrick, Greg, Archie and Catherine were all still there, their eyes glued to the monitor.

"Hey," she said, her voice slightly hoarse.

"Hey," Greg replied, sliding closer to Catherine so that she could join them. "We all decided that we wanted to be there to watch Grissom save Nick. You know, like Superman."

Sara smiled at that. She wasn't sure how Grissom would take to being called Superman, but she was willing to give it a try the next time she saw him.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Warrick exclaimed. "Grissom's been gone long enough to have gotten there and handed over the money. When are they going to get Nick out of that box?"

"We don't know where Nick is in relation to the drop site," Catherine said. "They might have had to drive a little way to get there."

Sara bit her lip. The idea of Grissom driving somewhere with a kidnapper was terrifying. Greg looked at her compassionately and grabbed her hand.

"Hey," he said, "it's going to be okay, Sara. They'll be back soon."

"This is maddening," she said. She made an attempt at a smile. "I don't wait well."

"Yeah, so I've noticed," Greg replied, trying to smile along with her. "But, a little patience can go a long way."

Sara looked at Warrick, who shook his head. He was just as anxious as she was for this whole thing to be over.

Catherine's phone rang, breaking the silence that followed Greg's comment. She picked it up and flipped it open.

"Willows," she said. "Hi, Jim. … I'm in the A/V lab. … Yeah, they're all here with me. … Okay. … Bye."

The others looked at her with raised eyebrows. She shook her head.

"Brass is on his way over. He says he has something to tell us."

For some reason, the idea that Brass was coming in person to deliver news sent cold fear through Sara's heart. She gripped Greg's hand even tighter.

"Um, Sara?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to need those fingers again sometime. Could you relax a little?"

She smiled slightly and dropped his hand. "Sorry. I'm a little nervous."

"It's all right. You have a good reason."

"Hi, everyone."

They all turned as Brass walked into the room. His face was ashen; it was enough to have Sara grabbing Greg's arm.

"What's happened, Jim?" Catherine whispered. She clutched the back of a chair with white-knuckled hands.

"Grissom dropped off the money," he said. "Unfortunately, the kidnapper blew himself up before Grissom could get Nick's location out of him."

Sara swayed on her feet. Greg reacted immediately, grabbing her to keep her upright.

"Is Grissom okay?" she choked out.

"He called it in, so I'm sure he'll be fine," Brass replied. "The EMTs are on their way there now."

"And, we don't know anything more about Nick?" Sara asked.

Brass paused and licked his lips. "From what I've heard, no," he said quietly.

Tears filled Sara's eyes, and Catherine let out a muffled cry. Warrick dropped his head.

"Okay," Catherine said, pulling herself together as best she could. "We've got to get to the scene. Everyone change into coveralls first. I have a feeling we're going to get dirty."


Ten minutes later, Sara and Greg were in an SUV together, racing to the scene of the explosion. Sara was driving, speeding down the road as fast as safety would allow.

"You know, the scene isn't going anywhere," Greg said.

"Yeah, but, Nick doesn't have much time," Sara replied without taking her eyes off the road. "There has to be something there that will help us find him."

Greg nodded, and Sara sighed with relief.

Nick was a safe excuse. Her very real concern for him could mask her equally real concern for Grissom. She had to get to the scene to see for herself that he was all right.

Thanks largely to Sara's maniacal driving, she and Greg arrived at the scene ahead of Warrick and Catherine. They jumped out of the car as soon as Sara had it in park. Grissom was being led out of the warehouse by an EMT and to a waiting ambulance. Without a backwards glance at Greg, Sara ran to him.

"Sara," he whispered as she appeared in front of him.

"Hey," she said, giving him a lopsided smile. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," he said.

She looked at him, noting the blood that covered his face and clothes. She bit her lip. "Are you bleeding, Griss?"

"No … I don't think so …" He looked up at her with haunted eyes. "He blew himself up, Sara. Right in front of me. I watched it happen. There was nothing I could do to stop him."

Sara reached out and grabbed his hand. "Grissom, stop. It's going to be all right. We'll find Nicky. Greg's here with me, and Warrick and Catherine are on their way. We'll find something in this mess. There's always a clue, right?"

He shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry, Sara," he whispered.

"For what?" she asked in surprise.

"I promised you …"

"You promised me that you'd come back," she said, squeezing his hand. "You did that, Griss. You didn't break your word."

Greg appeared beside her. "Cath and Warrick are here," he said. "We should go see what Catherine wants us to do."

"Let the EMTs take care of you before you try to do anything with this scene, okay, Grissom?" Sara smiled.

"Yeah …" he said vaguely.

She squeezed his hand one last time, then followed Greg to where Catherine and Warrick were climbing out of their SUV.

"Is he all right?" Greg asked.

Sara shook her head slightly. "I think he's in shock."

"Hey, guys," Catherine said as they reached her and Warrick. "How's Gil?"

"The EMTs are working on him," Sara said.

"Did he say anything about the kidnapper?"

"Just that he blew himself up," Sara said with a slight shudder. "He said he couldn't get anything about Nick's location out of him."

"All right," Catherine sighed. The news was disheartening, but not unexpected. "As of now, we're going to consider this scene full of evidence that could lead us to Nick. Let's go inside and see what's here."

They walked in together, taking a moment to survey the car, the blood spatter, the broken windows, the torn money …

"Okay, here's the plan," Catherine said. "Warrick and Greg, take the SUV. See what you can get from it Sara, you and I will start on the rest of the warehouse. You take the back room; I'll take this one. Ecklie's sending the dayshift out to help us; they should be here within the hour. Everyone clear?"

They all nodded and immediately got to work.

Sara was glad that she had the back room. It was clearly the site of the explosion; body parts littered the room. It meant that she had more to collect, more to process. It meant that she could immerse herself in her work and not think about the fact that her boyfriend was sitting in the back of an ambulance in a state of shock.

She wanted so desperately to run back outside and to sit with him, holding his hand while the paramedics checked his vital signs and asked him health-related questions. She wanted to wrap a blanket around him to protect him from the chill that always accompanied shock. She wanted to use a soft cloth to wipe the blood off his face.

But, she couldn't do any of that. To do that would be to admit that they were dating, which would cause them innumerable problems.

So, she began her overall sketch of the scene while she waited for David to arrive. He needed to release the body before she could begin collecting the parts.


Several hours later, Sara and Warrick were sent back to the lab with the evidence they had collected. Greg, Catherine and the members of the dayshift remained at the scene to continue collecting evidence.

"What do you think of all this?" Warrick asked without taking his eyes from the road. He was driving far slower than Sara had on the way to the scene.

"I think we've got a lot of work ahead of us," she said.

"But, you think we'll find him?"

Sara turned to look at him. "We have to, Warrick. We can't fail."

"Yeah, but, Sara …"

"I know it seems impossible," she said. "But, we … we just have to do this. Think of all the evidence we've collected at this point. There must be something there that will lead us to him."

"When did you become an optimist?"

"When did you give up on one of your friends?" she shot back.

Warrick turned to look at her. "Okay," he said. "Okay. I won't give up on Nick. When we get back to the lab, I'll go check on him."

"Good," Sara said. "I've got to get to work on my thumb."

Sara's prize find from the scene was the kidnapper's thumb. She could hardly wait to print it. She was sure she'd find a match. Just having the kidnapper's identity could lead them to Nick.

They arrived at the lab and walked in together. Warrick helped Sara log the evidence in, then they separated. Sara took the thumb into the lab to print and then to give to Mia to run a DNA profile. Warrick went in the opposite direction to the A/V lab, where he found Archie watching over Nick.

"How's he doing?" Warrick asked.

"Hard to say," Archie replied with a shake of his head. "About the same, I guess." He paused and glanced at Warrick. "I'm going to get some coffee."

"Yeah," Warrick agreed. Archie and the CSIs had an unspoken agreement that Nick would never be left "alone." With all of the CSIs in the field for so long, Archie had likely been sitting in front of the monitor for hours.

Warrick had only been watching Nick for a moment before the feed was lost. He clicked he link to bring Nick back into view.

Warrick watched as Nick pulled a piece of gum into view – he must have taken it from his pocket. Nick put the gum into his mouth and started chewing it. Warrick frowned as he watched Nick take the gum out of his mouth and pull it into two pieces. He jammed the gum into his ears.

"What are you doing, Nicky?" Warrick asked.

Nick pulled a gun into view. Warrick's pulse rate shot up.

"What are you doing, Nicky?" he asked again, starting to stand up.

Nick held the gun up on his chest, pointing it toward his chin as he looked down. Tears filled Warrick's eyes.

"Don't do it, Nicky," he begged.

Nick held the gun against his cheek for a moment. Warrick was all the way on his feet now, watching in horror. A gun blast, and the screen went black.

Warrick jumped. "You son of a bitch!" he yelled.

A moment later, green light from a glow stick filled the screen, illuminating Nick, who had turned his head to the side. He had apparently shot out the light. Warrick began to laugh.

"He's still alive," he muttered.

Archie returned a moment later. "Did I miss anything?"

Warrick just looked at him for a minute. "I need a break."

"Yeah, go."

Archie sat down again, and Warrick left the room. He went into the locker room and opened his locker. He stared into it for a minute, then slammed it shut and sat down hard on the bench. He lowered his head into his hands.

"Hey."

He looked up as Sara walked into the locker room. "Hey."

"Are you all right?"

"Did you know that Nick still has his gun?"

Sara slowly sat down next to him. "No."

Warrick nodded. "I just watched him shoot out the light. I thought … I thought …"

Sara grabbed his hand and held it tightly. "He's still alive, Warrick. We'll find him."

"Yeah," Warrick said. "How did you do with that thumb?"

Sara shook her head sadly. "It's all up to Mia now."

Warrick looked at her for a minute. "I can't stay here."

"Where are you going?" Sara asked as he jumped to his feet.

"Back to the warehouse. I'm going to help Cath and Greg."

Sara nodded and watched as he nearly ran from the locker room. Sighing, she got her feet. She should start processing the other evidence she and Warrick had brought back.

"Sara!"

Sara stopped short as she passed the A/V lab. Grissom came bounding out of it, looking far better than the last time she had seen him.

"Hi," she said, trying and failing to repress a beaming smile. "It's good to see you on your feet again."

"Can I see you in my office?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied.

Sara followed him down the hall to his office, fighting the urge to touch him the whole way. She wanted so desperately to hold his hand, to lace her fingers through his, but she held back. They couldn't let anyone know how their relationship had evolved.

Grissom led her into his office, closing the door behind her. He looked at her for a long moment, then pulled her close, crushing her against him in a tight embrace. Sara clung to him, feeling tears spring into her eyes.

"I was so scared," she whispered. "When I saw you, covered in blood …"

"I'm so sorry, Sara," he said, his voice just as low as hers. "I feel like I failed you … all of you …"

"No," she said firmly, pulling back. "You did what you thought was right, Griss. We got a lot more by doing it your way than by following protocol and not paying the ransom. Mia's working on this guy's DNA, Warrick, Cath and Greg are processing the warehouse, I've got tons of evidence to go through …" She swallowed hard as she trailed off.

"This is all good," Grissom said. "You're right, you know." He looked at her, watching as a tear slid down her cheek. "We'll get there in the end."

"What if it's not soon enough?" she asked. "We have so much right now, but it's all going to take time to work though. What if we don't have enough time? Nick doesn't know that we're working on this. He doesn't know how close we are."

"Sara?" Grissom asked, grabbing her face in his hands as it crumbled.

"Warrick said Nicky has a gun," she said.

Grissom exhaled. "Yes. But, according to Archie, he shot out the light because it and the fan are running on the same battery. He was trying to get more cool air, not to hurt himself." He moved his hands to her shoulders, gripping them tightly. "Nicky's holding it together, Sara. You have to believe that he's holding out hope, and that he knows we're not going to rest until we find him. You know that, right? Sara?"

"Yes," she said, swallowing her tears. "Yes, I know that. I'll never give up on Nick."

"None of us will," Grissom said. "And he knows that."

Sara looked at him for a moment. "I should get back to work."

"Yeah. Me, too."

"Yeah."

Sara leaned forward and gave his cheek a lingering kiss. "Thank God you're all right," she whispered. "I don't know what I would have done …"

He smiled and touched her cheek again. "I'll always come back to you, Sara."

"And I will to you."

One last meaningful look, one last unspoken promise, and they left the office. They had work to do.


Sara stood in the hallway at a water fountain. She had been processing evidence for what felt like years, and had not found anything they could use. She pressed the button to make water flow from the fountain, but didn't bend to drink it. She stared at it without really seeing it, thinking of Nick.

He had been her first friend when she came to Vegas. He had helped her find her apartment, had taken her to his favorite restaurants, had shown her around the city, had cheered her up when she was down, had laughed with her, had joked with her, had been her rock and support system …

"Sara!" Mia exclaimed, throwing open the DNA lab door. "I got something off your thumb!"

Sara ran the short distance down the hall to join Mia in her lab. She listened as Mia explained that while the kidnapper's DNA was not on file, it was matched to the DNA of Kelly Gordon. Based on their ages, Mia was sure that she was his daughter.

"Mia, you are the best," Sara grinned. "Thank you so much."

Mia smiled. "Just doing my job."

Beaming at her, Sara left the DNA lab and went to Grissom's office. After updating him on what Mia had found, they pulled the files on the crime that had put Kelly in jail for five years as an accessory to murder. They went through them together, searching for a connection between this girl and Nick.

While there was no connection to Nick personally – further proving the theory that any CSI would have done as the victim – they found that nothing about the case was random. The Styrofoam cup was identical to the cup that had been recovered at the murder scene. Kelly's DNA had been found on the rim, placing her at the crime scene and sending her to jail for her involvement in the murder. The murder had been committed at the same address from which the package that Hodges had wrestled away from the delivery man had been sent.

"Will this help us determine where Nick is?" Sara asked.

"Doubtful, but possible," Grissom said. "Brass is bringing Kelly in for questioning. Why don't you go give him a hand with that?"

Sara nodded and stood up. "I'm there."

"Sara?"

"Yeah?"

Grissom smiled at her. "Nice work."

She smiled and shook her head. "This was all Mia. The credit is hers."

"You're the one who found the thumb," Grissom said. "Take some of the credit."

Flushing, she smiled at him and left his office.


"Hey, Sara," Brass said as she walked into PD.

"Hi," Sara smiled. "Is she here?"

"We've got about five minutes," Brass replied. "Listen, I want to show you something before we go in there."

"What?" Sara asked.

Brass opened a file. "I have Kelly's visitors' log."

"Okay …"

"Her father, Walter Gordon, visited her all the time for the first six weeks she was in jail. After that, he stopped."

"Kind of him," Sara said sarcastically.

"Well, this is where it gets interesting," Brass continued. "He visited her last week."

Sara stared at him. "What?"

"Yeah," Brass said. "Maybe …"

"Maybe she knows something," Sara said, feeling excitement fill her for the first time in what felt like years. "Maybe she knows where Nick is!"

"We've got to be kind with this one," Brass said. "We need to go slowly."

"I think that 'slow' is the last thing we need right now. It's definitely the last thing that Nick needs."

"Well, at the risk of sounding like Grissom, it's the best thing we can do. We have to go slow –"

"Yeah, yeah, go slow to go fast. I've heard it before."

Brass smiled at her. "Come on. Let's go talk to Ms. Gordon."

Not surprisingly, Kelly was less than cooperative. She was extraordinarily bitter toward the cops and CSIs, feeling that they had unfairly jailed her.

Jail had not been kind to her, and had only served to make her angrier toward the men and women of law enforcement. She claimed to be completely unaware of her father's plans; she did seem shocked when Brass informed her that he had kidnapped Nick and blown himself up. Her only question was if he had managed to kill any police officers in the explosion.

"Hey, we're all still here," Brass said with a smile.

"Nick is still missing," Sara said, leaning forward as her anger and impatience took over.

"Who?" Kelly asked.

"The CSI is still missing," Sara repeated angrily. "Do you know where he is?"

"It's pretty funny," she said, "you guys not being able to find something."

"Yeah," Brass said. "Look, if you'll cooperate, we can get your sentence reduced."

Kelly went on and on for awhile about the horticulture she had studied before being sent to jail, and about working outside, making things grow. Finally, she leaned forward, anger sparkling in her eyes just as it had in Sara's only moments before.

"I hope your friend dies," she spat at them.

"Okay," Brass said. "Okay. Officer, please return Ms. Gordon to her cell."

"Yes, sir."

Kelly was led away, and Sara bowed her head.

"Hey," Brass said, "it wasn't for naught. We did learn a few things."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"We learned Gordon's true motive – avenging his daughter's imprisonment."

Sara shook her head. "Motive isn't my business, Jim. You know that."

"We learned that Kelly worked in horticulture," Brass continued. "That might be useful later."

"Yeah," Sara said sarcastically. "If I see Nick being attacked by a man-eating plant, I'll be sure to give her a call."


Sara felt defeated as she walked back into the lab. She found Grissom and Archie together in the A/V lab, still watching Nick, each sitting in front of his own monitor.

"How did it go?" Grissom asked eagerly.

Sara shrugged. "She claimed she didn't know anything. But, she hates us all enough for putting her in jail that she'd say that even if she were sitting on top of Nick."

"You did your best, Sara," Grissom said. "You found a lead and you followed it."

"Yeah," Sara said, sitting down next to Archie. "I just wish it had led somewhere." She looked at Nick for a minute. "How's he doing?"

"It looked like the plastic started to crack a bit ago," Archie said. "But, it's stopped, and he seems pretty calm."

"Good. Any other news?"

"Catherine, Warrick and Greg think they've found the prototype for the coffin," Grissom said. "It was buried at the warehouse. They're with Hodges tearing it apart right now."

Sara nodded and looked back at Nick. She could see a tape recorder in his hands. "What's that?"

"I haven't seen it before," Archie said.

They watched as he pressed a button and his lips begin to move. Grissom's eyes were riveted to the screen, his lips moving silently as he watched Nick's, reading his muted words. He sighed. Nick was taping farewell messages to his family and friends. Grissom prayed that he was only being overly cautious and not giving up entirely.

Grissom

Grissom sat up straighter as Nick's message switched from the team in general to him.

I'm sorry if I ever disappointed you.

"No, you never did, Nick," Grissom said quietly. He would tell him that in person, the first chance he had.

Nick looked as though he would go on with personal message for each of the team, then his face contorted. He looked down toward his feet, his mouth opening in what was probably a terrified, painful scream. He began to shake uncontrollably, still screaming. Grissom leaned even closer to the screen, shock crossing his face.

"He's going into convolutions," Sara said to Archie. She turned slightly toward Grissom. "He's losing it!" she cried. "What's going on?"

"Wait a minute," Grissom said, noticing movement in one corner of the box. He enlarged part of the image; Sara and Archie turned to look at him as he studied it. "Ants," he said quietly, watching in horror as they crawled all over Nick. "My God. He's being eaten alive."

"Griss, tell me that's a hyperbole," Sara exclaimed.

"We need to find him," Grissom said, controlled panic bubbling beneath the surface. "This might just be the thing …"

Sara jumped out of her seat and took a spot just behind Grissom. For what felt like the thousandth time, tears filled her eyes as she watched the ants crawling all over Nick's face. They watched as Nick squeezed his eyes and mouth shut. He ripped off part of his shirt sleeve and shoved it into his nose to keep the bugs out. Then, he did his best to hold as still as possible.

"That's it, Nicky," Grissom said with a trace of pride in his voice. "Hold still. They won't bite. … As much."

"Grissom," Sara sighed in exasperation.

"Sorry," he smiled. "But, it's true."

She shook her head. "How can these bugs help us find him?"

"I just need to identify them," Grissom said. "If they like a particular type of soil, we can trace them that way."

"Sounds like a long shot."

"Sounds like the best shot we've got right now."

Sara nodded, conceding his point. She stood and watched as he showed a patience she had never possessed, waiting for one of the ants to crawl across the webcam lens. He coaxed the bug in the same gentle voice he used with his dog, hoping to get a clear shot of it.

"Gotcha!" he finally exclaimed, freezing and printing the frame. He picked the picture up off the printer. "I'm going to go look this up," he said. "You two get the rest of the team together. Call everyone into the layout room. Get some maps, too."

Sara and Archie sprang into action while Grissom ran back to his office. He searched his bookshelves for a minute, then pulled down the textbook he wanted. After rifling through the pages, he found exactly what he was looking for.

Grissom burst into the layout room, where the rest of the team had already assembled.

"Fire ants," he said. "Very rare in Nevada; they don't like our soil. The only places you find them around Vegas are around plant and tree nurseries."

"There's eleven nurseries in the greater Las Vegas area," said Catherine, who was searching nurseries on the computer.

"Okay," Archie said, pulling out a black dry erase marker. "I've got the webcam trace down to here." He circled a somewhat narrow area on the transparency map.

"And the data from the black box in Walter Gordon's truck gave us a twenty-three mile travel radius," Greg said, drawing his own, red circle that overlapped with part of Archie's.

"Okay," Warrick said, moving from the computer to the table. "I've got two nurseries in the overlap area. Here and here." Two blue x marks were added to the map.

"Wait," Sara exclaimed. "Wait, wait, wait! Kelly Gordon – the daughter – worked with plants. Hold on."

She ran out of the layout room and to Grissom's office, where Kelly's file was still sitting on his desk. She picked it up and scanned the information, looking for Kelly's place of employment. When she saw it …

She ran back into the layout room, feeling almost jubilant.

"Guys, Nick is here," she exclaimed, putting her finger on one of Warrick's nurseries.

"You're sure?" Grissom asked.

"It's where she worked," Sara replied. "Griss, you know as well as I do that this whole thing has been about Kelly. The cup, the address …"

"Yeah," Grissom said. "Okay. Let me call them to make sure they have fire ants. If they do …"

He pulled out his phone. Catherine called out the phone number that Google had provided. Tense silence filled the air as Grissom listened to it ring.

"Hello," he said at long last. "My name is Gil Grissom. I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab, and I'd like to ask you a few questions. … No, I don't think that you've committed a crime. I think a crime may have been committed at your nursery. … No, no one has reported anything. It's all part of an investigation. … Thank you. Can you tell me if there's a fire ant hill at your nursery? … There is? … Yes, that's exactly what I needed to know. I'll be there shortly with some police officers. … Thank you."

He closed his phone and gave them a grin. "It looks like we've found him. Let's go."