With big strides Sara exited the camp, too shocked to stay. What had just happened exceeded her limits to such an extent that all she could do was run. Running away from the situation, running away from Grissom.

A bit further down the path, she saw Rob who walked towards her from the opposite direction. 'You okay?' he asked in passing. 'You look like you've seen a ghost.'

'I'm fine,' Sara muttered and without giving her friend a second look she walked on stopping only when her legs trembled underneath her. Devastated she put her hand over her mouth and sobbed like she'd never done before. Her whole body shook and she crouched down to the floor. Is this what it's like? Was this just a preview of everything that their future held? All the pain and misery of Gil losing himself in that horrible disease. It now truly dawned on her. She was losing him.

Rocking back and forth she tried to think of what to do. Emotionally, she didn't want to go back. Not yet at least. Realistically she knew she didn't have a choice and that she had to go back. With the same breathing technique she'd noticed Grissom apply earlier she tried to calm herself down. Tried with all her might to convince herself that attacking her wasn't really Gil doing, but was what the disease made him do. A significant difference. It's hard convincing yourself of a fact like this though if you'd experienced it first-hand, she thought to herself. But she had to, she didn't have another choice. Her love for Grissom was too strong. And yes, she would lose him in the end, but there was still time. And if she'd end it right here and now, she was afraid she would never be able to forgive herself.

Besides, she thought, she had to put her emotions aside. Lesley was still in great danger and they needed to save her. Despite what had happened, Sara composed herself, got up and returned back to camp.

With a heavy heart Sara arrived back at the camp. Grissom was sitting in a chair, looking up to her with fearful eyes. At first she thought it was because he'd finally realized what he'd tried to do to her. That he'd tried to… hit her. Just thinking about it made her belly twist in a knot.

What she'd failed to initially see was that Rob was standing behind Grissom with a peculiar look on his face. Once she'd made that observation she also noticed the gun he was holding, pointing directly at Grissom's back. She gasped and looked from Grissom to Rob. 'Rob, what are you doing?'

'You guys found out didn't you? You smart CSI's. Maybe not active in the field anymore, but your clever brains won't ever stop will they?'

Sara had no idea what he was on about. 'Rob, what do you mean? What's happening here?' She stood frozen to the ground, not able to move.

It was like Rob hadn't heard, or had decided to ignore Sara. 'It all went perfectly according to plan. That was until you came in and messed everything up.' The latter was directed to Grissom. 'I knew from the moment I saw you that you were trouble. And of course we had to move quicker because of you.'

Cold fear spiraled through Sara. 'Where's Brian, Rob?' she demanded to know as she didn't see him anywhere.

'You didn't notice him, huh? In the bushes, just off the path. When you were so busy running off, wallowing in self-pity. That was pathetic Sara, by the way. I always thought you were this strong, confident woman, but instead you're just as miserable as all the rest.' He suddenly pressed the barrel of the gun against Grissom's neck.

Sara winced at the sudden maneuver, but Grissom didn't move or make a sound. The fear in his eyes was still there, but there was now also a sense of calmness. She caught him trying to catch her gaze, but she looked up at Rob instead.

Rob continued his account. 'I don't have time for this shit. I'm here for one thing only and you two lovebirds are not going to get in my way. Do you understand?'

'Listen,' Grissom tried in a calm tone of voice. 'We can help you, but you'll need to let us go first.'

A burst of laughter coming from Rob filled the air, sending shivers down Sara's spine.

'Letting you go? Wouldn't count on it Bugman,' he remarked disdainfully. 'You two know too much, can't risk everything coming out in the open. Like I said earlier, this is way too big for us. No, no. This is way too big for us'. The hand he wasn't holding the gun with started to shake. Only a little, but enough for Sara to take note.

'I'm afraid you're making a huge mistake Rob.' Grissom again. 'We don't know anything, except that Lesley was kidnapped yesterday and that it might have something to do with an international network of poachers.' His calm demeanors weren't new to Sara, but it surprised her after everything that had happened earlier that morning.

'You're lying,' Rob hissed. 'All that CSI investigation stuff yesterday. All that alarmed whispering you guys did last night. All that secretive stuff this morning. You two were on to us and I'll need to stop you before you'll expose us. Because they'll kill me if you did.'

'Who's they?' Grissom asked.

'Like you wouldn't know! Like you wouldn't know about the Guerreros de la Vida, the Warriors of Life, who recruit people like me. People like us. Scientists and environmentalists infiltrating projects like ours.' Rob looked at Sara. 'It's easy money you know. 10% for each sale. It adds up quickly. And the only thing we have to do is pointing them into the right direction. To la vida, to the life. To the money-making treasures of nature. Sea turtles, secret rivers, other new smuggling routes, you name it.'

Sara tried to make sense of it all, but she simply couldn't believe it. Infiltrators in this line of work. People like her, whose mutual goal it was to protect nature, working together with international organized crime groups.

Rob caught his breath and laughed nervously. 'You asked me where Brian is? Well, Brian, being my partner in this whole story, of course chickened out as soon things became more serious. That son of a bitch was going to come and find you Sara and blow everything to hell. That's why I had to get rid of him this morning.' Rob paused for a few seconds and stared into the distance before continuing. 'Brian made that strange gurgling sound when I strangled him.' He demonstrated the noise a person makes when suffocating. 'Then… nothing. He just went completely quiet. I was surprised how fast it all went to be honest. Not even a minute? Maybe thirty seconds? You guys probably know better than me how long it takes for an adult male to die by strangulation.' He pressed the gun a little harder in Grissom's neck and Gil let out a painful groan.

Sara finally answered Grissom's gaze and she tried to communicate that she loved him. She knew for sure that this wouldn't end well and she had to let him know that whatever happened or whatever was about to come, she would always love him.

Then she refocused again on Rob. It was obvious to her that he was losing it. He was terrified of something and it made him scared and unpredictable. And that posed a serious threat to her and Grissom. She had to act fast. 'Where's Lesley? Where is she Rob?' Even though she wasn't sure she and Grissom would make it out alive, at least she had to try.

He didn't sound sincere in the slightest when he explained: 'That poor girl. That poor, poor girl. Stuck in the middle of things without even realizing it. No Sara, she was not part of our network. She was a hard-working and honest woman doing research here.'

'She's a mother!' Sara hissed. 'How could you do something like this to a mother of two young children?' Grissom gave her a warning look, but she couldn't help it. The way Rob spoke about her friend made her blood boil.

'It wasn't our intention to kidnap her,' Rob objected. 'But when your boyfriend paid us a surprise visit we had to improvise. You guys finding out what Brian and I were doing here was too much of a risk. So I called my friends at Guerreros de la Vida to help us out.'

'And now you're going to kill us and make us disappear, Grissom jumped in. 'We can be blamed for everything and you and your friends get their happily ever after in the limelight.'

'Again, I had to improvise, I know it's not perfect,' Robs replied almost apologetically.

'Where. Is. Lesley?' Sara asked again through gritted teeth, putting emphasis on each word of the sentence. 'Did you kill her?'

'Are you really this stupid? There's no point in telling you. It doesn't matter where she is or whether she's dead or not, because soon the two of you will disappear just like she did and there's nothing you can do about it.'

Sara still couldn't believe that this was the same Rob she had been working with for so long. She didn't recognize him anymore, he seemed like a completely different man to the soft-hearted, dedicated scientist she'd thought him to be. 'Why are you doing all of this? Is it really just because of the money?'

'It's easy for me Sara. I've no wife, no girlfriend, no children to worry about. I led a boring life. Don't get me wrong, saving turtles in Central America was nice. For a while. I just couldn't picture myself doing this my whole life, you know? I wanted more. Right at that moment Guerreros de la Vida got in touch and recruited me. So if you ask me if it's just for the money I'd have to say no. It's also because of the lifestyle. Although I never thought it had to come this far.' He scraped his throat. 'Right, I think we've chitty-chatted for too long and it doesn't matter anyway. Sara,' he added looking at her, 'I'm sincerely sorry.' With that he aimed his gun for Grissom's head and moved his finger towards the trigger.