A/N I can not express enough thanks and appreciation for your continued interest and reviews of this story. It certainly wouldn't have been possible without the continued support from my beta piccolina789, who I think is doing a remarkable job, and has my heartfelt thanks. :D
Trying not to jump to the obvious assumption, Catherine grabbed Grissom's cell phone, and accosted the first male officer to check the men's restroom. It could simply be that Mitch had taken Gil for a bathroom break. The officer returned barely five minutes later, shaking his head.
Archie was still working on trying to clear up the quality of the dash cam footage from Sara's car. Ecklie and Brass were stood behind him, watching the blurry image on the big screen, with their arms folded.
"What is that?" asked Brass tilting his head at an angle as he tried to figure out the image on the screen.
Archie managed to clear up the image marginally.
"Looks like a crack…possibly a stray bullet hit the windshield and damaged the dash cam in the process."
Ecklie and Brass turned as Catherine burst back into the lab.
"We have a big problem," she announced holding up Grissom's cell phone. "Gil's gone missing, and he's left this behind. I told you, that he needed something to focus on," she said desperately. "Now we have no idea where he is, and Sara is still missing!"
Ecklie shook his head in frustration. This was turning into a day from hell, and this was the last thing he needed. Then reminded himself that it wasn't exactly a bed of roses, for Gil and Sara, either.
Ecklie rubbed his forehead, failing to rub away the building headache.
"How long before we can get anything useful from Sara's dash cam?" Ecklie wanted to know.
Archie glanced at the main screen as he typed away at the keyboard.
"The footage isn't the best quality, so it's hard to say. Could be a couple of hours."
"We don't have hours!" Catherine insisted. "Anything could happen to them in that time!"
"Try bringing up the footage from the cameras covering the exits and the car park," Brass suggested.
As Archie complied with the request, he casually said, " Just a thought, but why would Grissom leave his cell phone behind? He'd have to know that it would be the only way to contact him when Sara's found…unless there was a reason, he didn't want to be contacted."
Ecklie considered what Archie had said for a moment.
"Bring up the footage from Interrogation Room 2."
Curiously Archie did as he was asked and a video of a handcuffed Grissom paced the room, agitatedly. Ecklie quickly fast-forwarded the video, until Catherine appeared in the footage. He skipped ahead a little further before pressing play.
Catherine rose to her feet, giving Grissom a brief hug. She whispered something into his ear, as she squeezed his shoulders reassuringly, and he nodded, before bowing his head.
She'd only left a minute or two when Grissom's phone rang and he quickly answered it. "Sara!" he said without checking the caller ID, his voice filled with hope.
His body tensed and his voice dripped with hate. "Garrett, you son of a bitch! Where's Sara?"
Grissom leapt to his feet, the phone held firmly against his ear as he listened to Garrett, his fury increasing.
"If you've hurt her, you son of a bitch!..." Grissom snarled viciously, his tension increasing as he continued to listen to Garrett.
Grissom shook his head. "Not until I talk to her!" he demanded, as he continued his anxious pacing. "I'm not doing anything until I've talked to her!"
Grissom paused. "Sara! Sweetheart are you okay?" his voice was flooded with relief. "I'm going to do everything I can to get you out of there. Sara!" he's voice filled with panic. "Sara!"
Fury and anxiety fought for dominance on his face as he once again listened to Garrett's instructions. When he spoke his voice cracked. "Just don't hurt her, " he said fearfully. "I'll be alone, just please…. don't hurt her."
The call ended and Grissom bowed his head, his shoulders sagging, as he covered his face with his handcuffed hands.
He sighed jaggedly and looked at Mitch frantically as he put the phone on the table.
"Mitch, I need you to let me out of here, Sara's and our child's life, depend on it. He's already killed two officers," Grissom's voice was edged with panic. "I have no doubts that he'll carry out his threat."
Grissom held out his handcuffed wrists.
"I have to save them, Mitch," Grissom's voice quivered, and he visibly tried to pull himself together. "I couldn't live with myself, knowing that I didn't do everything I could to save them."
After a pause, Mitch stepped forwards and unlocked the handcuffs.
Catherine picked up Grissom's phone, as Ecklie stopped the video.
"That's why Gil left his phone behind," Catherine grinned "He knew we'd be able to track Garrett if he tried to use it again."
She quickly accessed the last number called and found Garrett's number, quickly giving it to Archie.
"See if you can pull up the records for that number," ordered Brass as Archie set up a trace. "Maybe we can find a few useful contacts. I don't think he's working alone; he's getting help from somewhere. He's getting cocky. He's always been two steps ahead of us, until now."
"Sure thing," replied Archie eagerly as he set to work, glancing briefly at the main screen again for progress on the dash cam footage. It was still too blurry for anything to make sense. With a sigh, Archie set to work on Garrett's phone number with Catherine's help.
Ten minutes later, Catherine entered Ecklie's office, holding a piece of paper, looking excited.
"We've pulled Garrett's phone call history and the same number keeps showing up over time. Some days, it's more than once. Archie is setting up a trace, in case they decide to make a call. He thought he'd try accessing Gil's dash cam, but he disabled it, as well as the GPS. Right now, all we have to go on is the footage from Sara's car. From Industrial they could have headed in any direction. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack."
"All we can do, is hope that we get a hit on that new phone number. Keep working on clearing the image on the dash cam," Ecklie encouraged. "Let me know if anything changes."
"Is this true?" the sheriff asked, looking flustered as he hurried into Ecklie's office some fifteen minutes after Catherine had left. "I've just watched the missing person alert for Sara Sid…Sara Grissom."
Ecklie looked up from the report he was reading.
"Yes, it's true. Garrett took her from the crime scene she was working at, after killing the two officers that were with her."
"Are you sure this Garrett has taken her?" Rory asked sounding worried.
Ecklie nodded.
"He's following through on his threat towards Gil a few weeks back. Sara hasn't been answering her phone, and we have no idea where he's taken her. I just hope this doesn't end as badly as my gut tells me it is. If anything happens to Sara and the baby…" Ecklie's voice trailed off as he looked down as his desk, with a slight shake of his head.
"I'm due in a meeting," the sheriff replied, glancing at his watch. "But I want to be kept updated on everything that's going on. And I hope for everyone involved that your gut is wrong."
Ecklie nodded as he returned back to the report he was reading. Hoping that they'd finally get a break, and receive some good news.
Catherine glanced at the main screen. The image was still blurry, but much better than had been.
"What is that?" she asked as she pointed to a shape to the left of the screen, obscured by the crack in the windshield. "Looks like a road marker, maybe?"
Archie quickly tapped away on the keyboard and a road sign appeared, announcing US-93 South.
"I think I know which way they were headed," Archie announced, with a smile as the trace for the number that had called Garrett, alerted them.
"We've got a hit!" Archie exclaimed excitedly. Then his face dropped. "According to this, it's coming from inside the lab." He looked up with a puzzled look on his face as he glanced at Catherine and Brass. "Garrett's getting inside help?"
Brass and Catherine quickly glanced at each other, their fear mounting for Gil and Sara.
"Where's the call coming from?" Catherine wanted to know, a hard edge to her tone.
"An office on the second floor."
Jim turned to Catherine.
"Stay here and see if the signal moves or stops. Contact me by phone. I'm going to find Ecklie."
In the dimly lit office on the second floor the figure paced nervously.
"Come on, you son of a bitch, pick up!"
Finally on the third ring, the call was answered.
"What the hell have you done, Garrett! Taking Sara Sidle wasn't part of the deal!"
"You broke the deal first!" Garrett hissed furiously. "By setting me up in that so-called safe house! The cops were crawling all over the house next door and so was that bitch! You took too long in delivering Grissom and I got tired of waiting. I saw an opportunity and took it. And it certainly got that son of a bitch's attention!"
"The deal was all about Grissom, and Sara wasn't part of it! If you've hurt her..."
"You'll what! You're not running this anymore! I am! The deal's changed, and I'll get Grissom my way!"
"You do this, and you're on your own, I won't protect you, Garrett!"
The line went dead.
"Damn it!"
The door burst open unexpectedly as he turned to face the startled faces of Brass, gun drawn and Ecklie framed in the doorway.
"What the hell have you done, Rory!" Ecklie demanded furiously as he grabbed the sheriff by the shirt front and threw him, savagely against the wall, his eyes blazing.
"I have no idea what you're talking about! Now get your hands off of me!" the sheriff bluffed.
Brass' eyes quickly checked the room, making sure that no one else was in the room. Apart from the sheriff they were the only people there.
Keeping his gun trained on Dunbar, Brass placed his cell phone up to his ear. When Catherine picked up she confirmed that the signal had stopped, just before they'd burst in. There was no doubt that Rory Dunbar was their man.
Ecklie's eyes blazed as he stared at the sheriff. His hands gripping the shirt more tightly.
"Where has Garrett taken Sara!" he demanded, his face inches from Dunbar's.
Dunbar shook his head.
"I don't know!" he said shaking his head. "He wouldn't say…"
Ecklie pushed Dunbar harder against the wall, furiously.
"If Garrett's hurt Sara or that unborn baby, I will personally nail your ass to the wall along with his!" Ecklie vowed, venomously. "That's if Gil doesn't get you first!"