For My Friend Warrick
No they do not belong to me...wish they did though.
Nick picked up the gun that Mary had laid down earlier and started towards the embankment, he needed to find the man who had killed Mary, the man who had killed his best friend, Warrick. It was time for Nick to find deputy district attorney Jeffrey Sinclair.
"Nick, where are you going?" Brass called out, not knowing where the shooter was now located.
"To take care of what I should have already taken care of before it got this out of control." he muttered as he disappeared into the bushes, Brass following behind him, gun drawn.
"Nick, whoever is up there has the advantage, they can see us." Brass was quickly following behind his friend.
"Stay low and stay out of the line of fire Jim, I can't let it go, not when we're this close." Nick was already winded from the short hike, his lungs still filled with infection.
Brass looked down at the ground and shook his head, this was so far out of hand, the files that had been delivered to Nick's motel were mostly of cases that the CSI's had tackled over the years but he did remember a file in the stack that pertained to Nick's father. Did he want to uncover everything about this case? He followed after the man he called his son and followed him towards the last known position of the shooter.
Homeless Camp
Martin sat on the side of the road holding Mary's lifeless form, Stephanie stood behind him, tears streaming down her face, she had told the members of the homeless community that her name was Stephanie but they had insisted on calling her Annie, especially Mary, it had been her daughter's name, she had died when she was only thirty-five of ovarian cancer, that is when Mary had entered the community, wanting to make a difference.
Stephanie looked up from her sad thoughts of her friend and saw police lights coming up the deserted road. She could not help but to cringe, good guys or bad? She hoped that Nick's friends would show up, Nick and the older man needed their help.
The cars came to a stop and officers jumped as out an ambulance was seen waiting in the far distance, waiting for an all clear.
"Where's Jim Brass?" a voice yelled.
Stephanie and the others were at a loss for what to do, they had all seen Mary killed, another cop lay in front of Mary's make-shift home barely alive and now the there was a trust issue, do they trust these cops or not.
Suddenly a familiar face exited a black SUV and walked over to Stephanie,"Where's Nick?" he somehow knew or made a connection with her and she pointed towards the embankment."He is with an older man, someone shot Mary from that location." tears ran down her eyes as she attempted to assist Nick's boss, pointing towards the hillside.
Grissom nodded and looked down at the fatally wounded woman then back at Stephanie,"Thank you." pausing for a few seconds,"I'm so sorry for your loss." He then walked over and gave the other officers the location of the two men.
Stephanie gently patted Martin on the back and walked towards her car, she knew that Nick needed medical attention, that the man who was taking shots at them was hell bent on killing this man whom she had just met days before and she knew she had to do her best to help keep him safe.
The embankment
"Nick, they're gone." Brass announced at they reached the shooter's perch, a shotgun lying on the ground and tire tracks were leading away from the area, they had missed the shooter whom Nick was convinced was someone in the department.
Nick sat down, winded from the climb up the steep hill, he just wanted it to all be over with, he wanted to get back to his life, the one he had just days before.
Brass walked over and looked down towards the direction from which they came, police cars were everywhere,he could see officers starting to approach and he wanted to get Nick out of there quickly, suddenly he heard the roar of a engine, he turned wondering if the sniper had returned when he saw the young red-headed friend of Nick's pull up on the old dirt road.
Stephanie left the engine running as she got out of her vehicle, she had followed the dirt road to their location. "I hoped that I would find you here." Stephanie knew the area well, she had assisted the homeless for a long time and she had used this path many times, a short cut to Vegas.
Brass assisted Nick up from the ground, hurrying him almost to go with Stephanie."Nick, there are officers coming, right now we don't know who are the good guys or who are the bad , so the best thing to do is for Stephanie to take you with her to get you some medical attention."
Nick didn't argue, he just followed orders from the man whom he trusted with his life,he knew that Brass would take care of Mary and make sure she was given a decent burial, she had saved his life, gave her life to save him, he owed her and he would not forget what she had done.
Stephanie assisted Nick into her car and quickly pulled out on the old dirt road, she knew exactly where she would take him, she knew his life was still in danger from what she understood from the man called Brass.
A few minutes later the hillside was covered with officer's but Brass would not allow anybody near the shooter's perch, only the CSI's would be allowed to process the scene,the only people he could trust right now.
Grissom had made his way to Jim and looked around for Nick,"Where is he?"
"I sent him with Stephanie,she's taking him to get medical treatment,from the looks of him he needed some."
Grissom nodded, though he was very concerned that Nick was again out of their site with a killer still on the loose.'Any ideas who might be our killer?" Grissom asked as he picked up the high powered rifle.
"We need to talk Gil, this is way over our heads and I have a feeling that Nick might know hwho it might be, I think he figured it out but is a little hesitant to name names yet." he looked over an offer approaching.
"Sir, we found some shoe prints coming up the hill from another location, might have been his original location." the officer pointed to a brushy area.
Grissom and Brass made their way to the area with the officer and looked underneath the brush, a gun and a pair of binoculars were lying on the ground. "I need to get the team here, Catherine and Gregg should be available."
"I'll keep the other site secured, we don't want any evidence disappearing." Brass turned and walked back towards the other site,hoping that Nick was safe with the young woman.
VEGAS
"Nick, wake up." the sweet voice was prodding him but his eyes were heavy and he just wanted to sleep, his body suffering from lack of sleep and his mind from the trauma of the past several days.
Stephanie opened her door and walked into the clinic and came back out with a doctor and a nurse pushing a wheelchair. She opened the passenger door,the smell of sweat and soltice hit their nostrils, he had been too long without medical care, the doctor was worried immediately, the man's color and his congested lungs gave him great concern.
"We need to get a chest xray right away Carol and we should go ahead and get some IV antibiotics started." The doctor instructed as he assisted the nurse in transferring the man into the chair.
They quickly wheeled him into a vacant room in the small clinic, the nurse and doctor started to assist undressing the man, noting the healing bullet wound to his left shoulder, a drainage tube still intact. "Where the hell has this man been?" the doctor asked as he smelled the thick smell of soltice on the man's clothing and the strong smell of alcohol on his breath. "Carol, let's give him a duoneb treatment for his wheezing."As he removed the bandage he saw what looked like the inside lining of an egg, an old time remedy for pulling out infection, must of worked, the drain was full and the site looked good.
The doctor shook his head and looked at Stephanie,"You take care of everybody, don't you?" he smiled,then continued to work on his patient who was staying very quiet.
Stephanie held back saying anything,not allowing him to know that his patient was a CSI, she didn't think he needed to know everything. She was worried for the man though, his color was pale and his cough was definitely bad, the congestion was confirmed to pneumonia by the xray and he was started on intravenous antibiotics.
Six Hours later
Vegas Community HEALTH CLINIC
The room was dimly lit and the taste of copper and metal filled his mouth, the antibiotics were permeating his system, he could even taste them.
The staff had wanted him to answer questions earlier but he was too tired, how much should they know, or for even that matter, how much should Stephanie know, because if you know too much you die,especially if within close proximity to me, he thought to himself.
He felt as if he was in shock, the events in his life since his best friend had been murdered had snowballed out of control and he felt as if he needed to let someone know that Sinclair was the man in control, though McKeen had pulled the trigger,it was because Warrick had come too close to the truth, money laundering,theft and murder were just the tip of the iceberg, if the truth be known there was a lot more they were involved in, including possibly the mob.
His thoughts were interrupted by the soft sounds of voices near by, the staff had left him alone to sleep and Stephanie was nowhere to be seen,maybe she knew what was best and left,staying as far away from him would be the best, the best for everybody.
He looked down to see that his clothing was missing except for his boxers, which looked new and a sheet that covered some of him. He almost laughed because it seemed that every time he passed out or went to sleep he woke up without his clothes,it felt a tad embarrassing.
Suddenly the silence was broken and a nurse with a big bun on the back of her head walked in with a tray of medicines,"Hi, how are you feeling?" she asked as she took out a syringe.
Though he wanted to reply with an, 'I'm fine.' ,all he could manage to get out was "What's in the syringe?"
"Medicine, the doctor wants me to give you a couple of shots of steroids for those lungs, it will help with that wheezing and that tight feeling in your chest." She flipped off the cap and assisted him to his side,"This will hurt a little, it's a steroid and they do hurt." she then rubbed the area on his hip with an alcohol pad and then jabbed the needle into his skin, the liquid burned as it entered and he could not help but to let out a weak moan. She repeated the same on the other hip, again he let out a soft moan, the burning liquid was the least of his problems though and he allowed the pain. It actually made him feel human again.
"It's okay honey, I know it hurts but it will feel better in a few minutes." she assisted him back to his back and then raised his head,"You are looking better though." she smiled.
He only nodded, what else did she have in store for him, he thought to himself as he watched her pull out another syringe but this time she emptied the contents into the IV line.
"This is to help you rest, your body is suffering from malnutrition and exhaustion plus you have this infection in your arm and in your lungs." she then pulled out a cup of medications for him to swallow,"This is a vitamin, an iron pill, and an oral antibiotic." she smiled as she handed him the cup of pills and gave him a cup of water to swallow them with,which tasted like copper as he took the offered medications.
"Where is Stephanie?" his voice sounding weak,almost pathetic to even to himself.
"She had to go to class but she will back back in a while." she smiled,picked up the tray and left the room.
The doctor took that moment to enter, the effects of the medication starting to take over his tired body,"Sir, I am going to transfer you to the community hospital, they take indigents there and will treat your pneumonia and your wound."
He wanted to laugh, they thought he was an indigent,well, he wasn't going to argue because he was too sleepy and too tired to argue."Whatever." his only reply as his eyes slid shut.
"I need your name." he needed for the transfer.
"John Doe." he replied as his eyelids closed, too tired to argue ,too tired to care.
I know what your thinking...is he ever going to get better? Yeah he is...and he will see Warrick again!