Chapter Thirty Six:
"No one else saw a white van, there's no evidence of a white van..."
"So you don't believe me?" I huffed at Grissom. I thought of all people, he would be the one to believe me the most. "What about the stolen evidence? Are we forgetting about that? If I was a bomber, the first thing I would do is cover up all the evidence against me."
"Your evidence is circumstantial at best Greg . . . there's nothing to link your case against the bomb case you worked a couple of weeks ago. Bring me some real evidence then maybe I can believe you."
"How? I'm not allowed to work my own case and the other case all the evidence was stolen."
"Didn't you keep any other pictures? I'll allow you to work with Sara on your case, as long as you don't take it too personally." Grissom explained as he sorted through the stacks of paper work on his desk.
"Personally? Of course I'm taking it personally. Someone tried to kill me. Who's to say they won't try again?"
"We're taking every precaution Greg. It's been three weeks. They haven't tried to kill you again, yet..."
"Oh thanks! You just jinxed me now! The white van is following me around everywhere Grissom. It was outside the coffee shop two weeks ago. Outside the Laundromat then this morning it followed me here. "
"Greg, don't be ridiculous. I don't believe in superstitions like that. We will find whoever did this to your car Greg..."
"I'm not worried about the car! I'm worried they're gonna do it again!"
"Greg, relax." Grissom climbed to his feet to face me. "Getting yourself worked up like this isn't going to help out any Greg. If your calm you can work this case with Sara, otherwise I'll have to send you home."
"Grissom!" Sara shouted, running into his office. "We got another bomb!" She motioned for us to follow her towards the TV in the breakroom. I stepped through the crowd in front of the TV to see the screen clearer. The reporter was stood outside a large apartment building that now lay in ruins. In the background was a team of fire fighters, putting out the flames from the explosion while some paramedics lifted badly bleeding victims from the rubble, getting them off to hospital to save their lives.
I walked off as my skin started to tremble, finding a quiet area all to myself.
I stepped out into the stairwell, sitting down against one of the walls, pulling my knees close to my chest as I struggled to calm my breathing down. I looked up as I heard the door open, seeing Nick stood in the gap. "Hey . . . you okay?" He closed the door behind him then knelt down in front of me, placing his hands on my knees. "You okay G?" He softly repeated.
"I'm okay." I nodded, placing my hands on top of his.
"You're shakin'."
"There was another bomb."
"I saw. You don't have to go anywhere near it Greg." He assured me, giving me a soft smile. "C'mon, it's gonna be okay baby. They can't getcha."
"I'll be okay." I nodded to him. "How many people died?"
"They don't know . . . they're still findin' survivors."
"I wonna help . . . I can help." I assured him. Nick leant across me, pressing a kiss to my forehead then climbed to his feet to help me up.
"You really should talk to your doctor about this Greg."
"I'm not helpless."
"I know you're not . . . meds might help you to stay relaxed so you don't keep havin' panic attacks." He reasoned with me, gently caressing my chin with his thumb. "Trust me, it'll help you. Drugs helped me to stay relaxed. Believe me doncha?"
"I believe you."
"Are you with me?" He asked, looking into my eyes.
I nodded taking slow deep breaths. "I'm okay."
"Good." He gave me one soft kiss to the lips then pulled the door open, allowing me to step by him first.
Grissom sent us all off to the crime scene as it was a priority case. I didn't see the men from the white van or their van anywhere this time, but they were bound to show up some time today.
Warrick and Catherine started work on photographing the seven victims that didn't make it out alive. A further eight were in hospital, expecting to make a full recovery while there was one person missing.
Grissom and Sara started to photograph the building, debris, survivors as well as taking their statements while Nick and I had to search each floor for the point of impact. From the looks of it the bomb was in the elevator which was stationary on the top floor. The fire spread outwards, catching each floor until the fire crew was alerted.
Some of the hallways were impossible to get through from the collapsed ceilings and the floors were caving in underneath us as the building was old and the flames had significantly weakened the once sturdy structure.
"Think I got it!" Nick shouted from down the hall. I stayed against the wall where I was, watching him photographing and retrieving a piece of melted plastic that could have possibly housed a bomb. "Same material as the one on your car and the apartment buildin' before that." He announced.
"So, what they just blow crap up for fun? They don't care about the people inside?"
"Well their first target was a lawyer then you. We'll have to sort through the residence of this buildin' . . . find out which one coulda been their target."
"Why me?" I asked.
Nick stepped over a collapsed wall, heading back towards me. "Maybe because you saw them, or they might be goin' after you coz you worked the last bomb case."
"You worked it too."
"Maybe we're both their targets then. C'mon, let's see if we can find anymore pieces of this." I nodded but I still couldn't move. There was a body just down the hall from us. The guy never made it out of his apartment. All his skin was singed off making him look somewhat like a horror movie monster. David hadn't made it to our floor yet, but my guess was he was the missing man off the list.
"Greg C'mon!" Nick shouted from down the hall.
"I'm coming. I'm coming." I sucked in a deep breath, wishing I hadn't as I could taste the smoke on the back of my throat. I climbed over the collapsed wall, following Nick off down the next hall in the direction of the blast. We couldn't search the top floor as it was no longer there though.
We were two floors down from the top, finding out we couldn't go any further because the next floor was completely sealed off with rubble from the destroyed floor above, so Nick had a very unintelligent idea to climb the elevator shaft.
Luckily he volunteered to do it, as I would never, but it's still a stupid idea.
"Nick, you don't have to do this." I tried to persuade him still.
"It's okay, I'll be fine Greg." Nick assured me as the fire crew strapped him to a safety harness so he could repel down the shaft.
"Have you ever done this before?" I asked, looking up the charred shaft that was very badly damaged.
"This . . . in an elevator shaft, no. But I've done it in a cave once." Nick smiled at me like nothing was happening. "I'll be fine Greg."
"Okay Mr Stokes, are you ready?" The larger fireman asked him.
"Why does Nick have to go?" I asked them, trying to stop this stupid plan before it went ahead.
"I know what we're lookin' for." Nick gave me a wink then swung out into the elevator shaft, slowly being hoisted down by the hunky looking fireman to look for any stray bomb parts. They better be built for power and not comfort! If they drop my boyfriend . . . I'll...
I'm never good at threats. I'll probably talk their ears off.
"Nick?" I shouted a few seconds later to make sure he was still breathing.
"I'm okay G. Stop a sec!" He shouted up.
"Mr Sanders, don't stand so close." One of the firemen cautioned me. I shot him a glare trying to look over the edge to see if Nick was okay.
"Found some wires G!" Nick shouted up, carefully retrieving them then shoving them into an evidence bag in his pocket. "Okay, keep goin'." The firemen carefully began to lower him again, watching me nervously as if I was going to push them over. Only if you drop my boyfriend I will.
"Nick! Keep talking!" I desperately shouted as the building was very unstable, it could collapse or cave in at any moment, especially since the elevator was the primary impact point.
"I've found the lift! It's caught between the sixth and seventh floor." He announced.
"Don't go in!" I shouted, hoping he wasn't that stupid.
"I can't anyway!" I looked over the edge down at his flashlight in the dark tunnel. "Hold on, I found somethin'!"
"Nicky, don't go inside. You could be crushed." I started to fret.
"Mr Sanders, could you please step back." The firemen asked again.
"It's CSI Sanders actually." I pointed to my badge. "Is your boyfriend repelling down a very un-sturdy elevator shaft?" I snapped at him. "No, so you shut up mister!"
"Greg, play nice." Nick cautioned me. I glared at the firemen as they looked at me again, desperately waiting for Nick to be returned to me safely.
"What was that?" I asked as a loud screech echoed through the elevator shaft.
Both firemen shrugged looking at each other.
I held the edge of the doors tightly as I looked over the edge. "Nick! What you doing? The elevator can't take your weight, you'll be dropped to the lobby before you even realised what happened."
"Thanks for that Greg!" He shouted up to me sarcastically.
"I'm serious Nick, I'm not gonna process Nick soup tonight before I head home."
"I'm fine Greg. I just need to get this!" I slammed my hands down at my sides angrily, making the firemen jump in fright.
I heard another loud screech echo through the shaft, making me even more angry at Nick. "Nick! What are you doing?" I shouted, but there was no answer. "Nick! Nick! Pull him up, right now pull him up!" I demanded the firemen, but they both just stood there completely clueless. "Nick!" I shouted down the shaft. "Son of a bitch! If he ain't dead, I'm gonna kill him." I muttered to myself as I walked off towards the staircase, taking them down two at a time to reach the seventh floor. I burst out the door heading off towards the elevator doors, looking down at the stuck lift below.
"Nick! What are you doing!" I shouted angrily, following the safety harness cable with my eyes that was hanging into the roof of the lift.
"Hold on!" Nick shouted.
I watched in horror as the lift started to move under his weight. "Nick, you gotta get outta there!" I desperately shouted, knowing the stubborn Texan wouldn't listen to me anyway.
The lift started to slip further making a very loud screech as the metal grinded against the damaged elevator shaft. "Nick! Get Out!" I jumped back as the lift slid down the shaft, hearing the firemen shouting from upstairs.
I ran for the stairs again, taking them down two at a time, checking each floor for the lift.
The lift finally stopped moving at the third floor. I jumped over the large hole in the floor towards the lift, desperately searching for signs of life. "Nick! Nick!" I frantically shouted.
He climbed out the hole of the lift, wiping the blood from his forehead. I reached out for his hands to pull him up, helping him find his footing. I waited for him to catch his breath then slapped him round the face.
"Ouch." He looked at me shocked, holding his cheek. "What was that for?"
"Don't do that to me asshole!" I shouted angrily at him. "Why do you always have to do that? Why do you always have to be the big hero in everything you do?"
"Greg, I'm okay. See, I'm here and okay."
"But why? You should care more about your own life Nick!" I shouted, feeling as though I was going to cry at the thought of losing him.
"I do. Stop shoutin'." He spoke in a much softer tone. "I do care Greg."
"Then why do you keep risking your life for things? Like me. Why would you do that?"
"You're still on that? I explained that Greg..."
"Ahem!" We both looked down the hall at Grissom. "You wonna take this lovers' quarrel someplace else boys?" He suggested, slowly approaching us. "I can't allow my CSI's to engage in a romantic relationship for exactly this reason. You quarrel on the job, you jeopardise the investigation."
"Sorry." We simultaneously apologised.
"Nicky you okay?" Grissom asked him, seeing the blood on his head.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He nodded, wiping the blood away on his sleeve. "It's just a scratch." He looked at me to say the next part. "I'm fine."
"Get it checked out by the EMT's downstairs. Greg I want you with the body on the ninth floor with David." He instructed, heading back off down the hall.
I glanced up at Nick then made my way off up the stairs to meet David by the body. I took some more photographs of the body, collecting anything I thought might come in use around it then resumed searching each floor for any trace or evidence that could help us out in our investigation.
Nick and Warrick found the missing body... or parts should I say at the bottom of the elevator shaft. He appeared to be right next to the explosion when it went off as all his flesh was burnt off and he was in pieces.
We spent a further six hours there until we stopped for breakfast at a local police diner. It had been a while since we all ate together, but it wasn't like the other breakfasts we shared together, this one was deadly silent, I could seriously hear crickets.
I didn't know if it was because of the case or because of me and Nick being found out, but no one talked to anyone.
"Well, c'mon on then looks like we're pulling a double as it is." Grissom announced, climbing to his feet. We all reluctantly climbed to our feet, getting back to the crime scene to work another shift on collecting evidence that we still had to process.
Six hours later we sleepily made our way back to the lab to go through everything we collected. I isolated myself in an empty layout room to look over the list of tenants from the apartment building to try and find a link between anyone in this building and the lawyer from the last one, but as usual a bit fat pile of nothing.
"Hey Greg," Nick leant on the other side of the table, looking across the evidence at me.
"Here to save me from paper cuts?"
"Very funny," He mumbled sarcastically. "Do you want me to apologise for savin' you?"
"Nope." I shook my head, avoiding eye contact with him as I kept looking over the lists in front of me, trying to find a connection.
"Then what Greg?"
"I didn't say anything." I shook my head then changed the subject. "Hey, I found something. Did you know the lawyer had a client living in this building? The client moved out less than a week ago though. You think the bombers didn't catch the memo?"
"Greg, we need to talk about..."
"He lived right near the elevator on the top floor too. The apartment now lays vacant. If you are right and they're targeting specific people then what do I have in common with a lawyer and this guy who was arrested for... credit card fjord . . . twice."
"Nothin' . . . Greg, we have to talk."
"We really don't, unless you're about to tell me our evidence from the last crime scene showed up or we have more leads." I pulled my I-Pod from my pocket, selecting one of my playlists then stuffed the buds into my ears so I couldn't hear him anymore.
Nick stayed leant against the table a moment longer, staring at me as I tried to get back to work. It proved to be a lot harder with someone staring at me and he refused to go away like I expected him to. Instead he pulled up a chair and sat down, going through the lists with me to determine a better connection then the one I found, even though I thought it was a pretty promising lead.
"I think you might be right about that bein' our only lead." Nick shouted over my music an hour later. "No one else in that building has any connection to the lawyer, unless his apartment was just targeted at random."
"I don't think so."
Nick looked up at me expecting to hear my explanation. "Greg . . . what?"
I pulled the I-Pod buds from my ears. "I said . . . I don't think so. Let's assume the lawyer was their target since it was on his door. This time around the bomb was in the elevator. You know how some apartment buildings still have door and elevator operators?" Nick nodded. "Well this one does. A Michael Whitely."
"Was he one of the deceased?" I nodded. "So, what's the big deal about that?"
"While I was sleeping with Ryan, he was sleeping with a Michael Whitely on the side." Nick looked up at me wide eyed. "And our lawyer . . . he is in fact gay. Still think I wasn't a specific target?"
"They're goin' after gay guys?" Nick asked confused.
"Why not? The lawyer was gay, there was a bomb on his apartment door and he's dead. I'm gay; there was a bomb in my brand new car. Michael Whitely was gay and he's laying in pieces at the bottom of an elevator shaft. I think it's safe to assume they may be targeting gay men, not just any gay men, but ones that have a membership card to Babylon. I checked . . . we all do and it's the only other thing we have in common, besides the gay thing . . . and possibly the sleeping with Ryan thing."
"You have a membership card to Babylon?"
"Yeah, they gave me a good deal." I smiled up at him. "So, you like my theory or not."
"It's a dumb theory. How'd you know this lawyer guy slept with Ryan?"
"Ryan's slept with everyone who ever stepped foot in Babylon, I'd say it's very likely. And I meant my theory about the gay thing." I corrected to him. "You know, I heard that place was hacked a few months ago. Their security system went down and someone got into their system. Maybe these guys did that and are now targeting all the men who have membership cards with them?"
"So this is a hate crime?"
"It's a theory. There's only two dead guys at the moment, it doesn't exactly make a pattern though. Maybe they'll try to kill me again and you'll be scraping up my charred remains off my apartment floor in a few days . . . then that backs up my theory."
"Don't say that G."
"I think I'd of preferred to have died by Ryan's hands, rather than an explosion or fire. Drowning doesn't seem like such a bad way to go though . . . but there is the raped to death thing. That's still better than fire."
"Greg! Shut Up!" He shouted in frustration. "Don't talk like that."
"You two fighting again?" Grissom asked, poking his head round the door.
"Greg has a theory." Nick mumbled, giving me an evil eye. "He thinks our bombers are goin' after gay men and the target of this explosion was the doorman at the bottom of the elevator shaft."
"The guy in bits and pieces?" Grissom asked, looking over the evidence on the table.
"Yes, the doc found shrapnel in the body pieces, similar to the bomb's casing. And he had a membership card to club Babylon, just like the lawyer from our previous case . . . and me." I added.
"You think they're going after homosexual men then?" He asked the two of us. I nodded but Nick still wasn't sure. "Then we're looking for homophobic men, possibly with a record of building bombs or arson . . . nice work Greg." He smiled at me then walked out the layout room, stopping at the door. "You two should head home and catch a couple of hours sleep. Stay by your phones though." He warned us before he head off.
I collected up everything on the table in front of me, stuffing it back into an evidence file then replacing it to the box. Nick stood back watching me, remaining deadly silent the whole time.
I picked up my I-Pod off the table, looking up at Nick. "I'll see you later then."
"Whoa . . . you don't want me to come with you?" He asked surprised.
"No, I'll take a cab." I stuffed my I-Pod back into my pocket, grabbing my jacket off the back of the chair. "See you later."
"Greg, what'd I do wrong this time?"
"Nothing, I'm just tired is all. I wonna go home and get some sleep." I proceeded to walk off down the hall, collecting my bag from my locker.
Nick caught up with me, but he didn't stop me from leaving like I thought. Instead he awkwardly shoved his hands into his pockets, struggling to think of something to say to me. "Greg . . . are you mad at me about somethin'? Coz if you are, can you tell me what I did?" He pleaded with his puppy dog expression.
"No, nothing." I lied. The truth is I was worried sick about him. He has a hero complex in which he thinks everything and everyone is far more important than him. He risked his life to save me then he risked his life to collect evidence. I was scared I was going to lose him, but instead of telling him I shut him out to spare myself of the pain, just like my father does.
"I'll call you later." I spoke softly, stepping past him.
I hailed a taxi outside, giving him the directions to take me home. As we got further and further away from both the crime lab and Nick I started to feel a little less safe. It didn't take long for the taxi driver to get me home. I tossed him some money then headed straight inside, leaning against the back wall of the elevator as I rode it up.
I sighed heavily as I stepped out of the elevator on my floor, just reading a text from Nick saying how much he loved me and he'd give me some space if I needed it.
I pulled my keys out from my pocket, heading off towards my front door. My face and clothes were still covered in black soot from all the crap I had been digging through all night. The bleached spikes in my hair were actually black now. I desperately needed a shower and a good few hours sleep before Grissom summoned us all back into work.
I slowly turned the key in the lock of my front door, pushing the door open slowly. I heard a strange click; looking through the gap in the door I saw a wire. Oh Shit! I dropped my keys and bag, running back from the door, towards the staircase door. As I ran the blast from the bomb caught up with me, sending me flying down the flights stairs as I lost my footing.
I rolled down the next flight of stairs, smacking my head hard against the solid wall.
As I looked up I could see the flames of fire starting to spread. Luckily for me the stairwell wasn't exactly a fire hazard, but I did get swamped with the smoke of the burning furniture, walls and carpets... possibly even bodies.
I suddenly began to feel really dizzy and queasy from my head wound. I struggled to move but everything started to blur. I felt sharp pains in my head and sides then suddenly dropped to the cold stone floor, looking at the bloody red pool of liquid trickling out from beneath me before I passed out.
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Will Greg survive? Keep reading to find out...